Author's Notes: And here's my first piece of fanfiction for the anime series "Princess Tutu." It was written for the 'Once Upon a Time' Fanfiction challenge (see my profile for the link) and was one of the winning stories there (thanks again to all that enjoyed it!) Anyways, I decided it was long past due to get it posted up on , so here we go:

-- Does contain spoilers of the end of the series. --

-- Based loosely off the fairytale/ballet "Beauty and the Beast." Chapter titles are named after the titles of songs from the "Beauty and the Beast" Musical.--

"Princess Tutu" does not belong to me and neither does the fairytale/movie/musical "Beauty and the Beast". This is merely a fictional piece based off of it and I'm making no money from it. Give your credit to the original creators of the series for making such a great show!

"plain font" – is speaking

"italics" -- thoughts

italics -- is text written into the story

(italics) – is the translation of what Ahiru quacks.

Enjoy the story!

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For the Love of a Duck

Chapter of Swan

Act 1- Prologue: The Enchantress

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Once upon a time, in a village called Kinkan,

There was a small yellow duck who lived by the edge of a lake.

Although she was but a duck, she fell in love with a prince

And longed to help him find his smile again.

But then, one day,

An old story spinner by the name of Drosselmeyer came upon this duck.

After seeing her strong feelings for the prince,

He gave her a magic pendant and cast her into his tragic tale.

The duck then transformed into a girl known as Ahiru.

And this girl had the power to fight as the prima donna- Princess Tutu.

But she was warned of Princess Tutu's fate,

For if she ever spoke of her love for the prince,

She'd disappear in a flash of light.

For many weeks she fought bravely,

Searching for pieces of the prince's heart.

But the final piece was her magic pendant-

And if she gave it up- the spell would be broken.

She would return to being a duck for all time.

In the end, she gave up the pendant,

Her human body gone as she returned to her true form.

And the tale ended, happily.

Or so they say….

But underneath her bright eyes,

There was a longing.

She had lost the prince,

Yet her heart still longed to love someone.

But who could ever learn… to love a duck?

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