:D finally! The epilogue! Yaaay! I hope you enjoy, and thanks to everyone who stuck with my long story! ;D Here goes!

I do not own Princess Tutu! Only poor Miss Lorna....R.I.P ;_;

"It's finally over..." Rue whispered.

"For now at least." Mytho sheathed his sword and let out a heavy sigh. He knew how high the chances were that all this could happen again in the near future.

"Mytho..." Fakir shook his head and began walking back in the direction of his house. "C'mon, for now, why don't we head back to my house."

They all nodded and began to follow him. As they began walking, Ahiru stopped suddenly. She felt faint and she noticed her legs beginning to buckle. Then, before she knew it, everything went black and she felt the cold, hard ground beneath her.

"Ahiru!"

Suddenly, Ahiru found herself sitting in the dark. She had no idea where she was. "What happened? Where am I?" Then, a bright light flashed before her and faded away to reveal the image of her as Princess Tutu reasoning with Autor back in the Raven's belly.

"All right then, but what about you? Your power is simply borrowed once again. Once this story ends, it's highly likely that you'll simply go back to being a duck and live the rest of your life miserably!" Ahiru quacked at his harsh statement, causing herself to turn back into a duck. After digging her head out of her clothes she sighed. But he's right, isn't he? Chances are, it'll be just like before. Maybe I'm just destined to always turn back into a duck? Just as Ahiru was about to sigh again, Princess Tutu spoke up, grabbing her attention.

"That is not true either. Even if I were to revert back into a duck, I would still be happy. I missed all the things that I took for granted as a human, but as long as Fakir was with me...as long as he was by my side...that's what kept me going. That's what gave me hope." Ahiru blushed slightly as she remembered what she had said. That's true too. I was a little sad as a duck, but having Fakir with me always made me happy again...but, even saying that...I...I'm not afraid of turning back into a duck anymore, but for some reason, I think a part of me still doesn't want to go back.

"You don't have to..."

"Quack?" Ahiru looked up to see Princess Tut standing before her. She knelt down and picked Ahiru up into her arms.

"Uh..." Ahiru opened her eyes slowly and sat up. "Huh?" She looked at herself thoroughly before finally concluding, "I'm still a girl!"

"Huh?" Fakir groaned and sat up stiffly in the chair beside Ahiru's bed. "Oh, Ahiru."

"Fakir!" Ahiru beamed. "Look! Look! I'm still a girl!"

Fakir raised an eyebrow at her. "Moron, why wouldn't you be?"

Ahiru frowned and became sober. "Well, you know...the story ended and all, and now that I think about it, I think I was just so happy being a girl again, that I completely forgot to think about stuff like, why Princess Tutu was able to help me become a girl in the first place."

"So you think that you'll end up having to return the pendant to the Prince again...?"

"Yeah....I mean, my role as Princess Tutu in the story is over again...so I have to give back what I borrowed, right?"

"No, you don't." Ahiru gasped and looked down at her pendant. The jewel became little sparks of light that floated into the middle of the room. They all came together and formed and faint image of Princess Tutu. "You won't have to give up anything this time, Ahiru."

"What? But, don't you have to go back to the Prince?" Ahiru realized something and smacked herself in the head. "Ooooh, I'm so selfish! I was so happy being a girl again and busy with all that happened, that I didn't even wonder about the Mytho's emotions! With you gone, doesn't that mean the Prince is missing the feeling of hope?"

Fakir shook his head. "No, that can't be. Ahiru, you should know. We were only able to defeat the Raven because each of us had hope."

"That's right." Princess Tutu agreed.

"But then...how?"

"You see Ahiru, although I am the Prince's feeling of hope, I am also a separate being. Unlike the rest of the Prince's emotions, I am not bound to simply one emotion." Princess Tutu closed her eyes with a smile and put her hand on her heart. "I have many different thoughts and feelings...I have a heart of my own, a mind of my own, a soul of my own. So, although my feelings for the Prince are strong, my feelings for you, Ahiru, are just the same. I could not watch you live your life without even a chance to live out your hopes and dreams, so, I decided that I would split myself in two." Ahiru nearly gasped at this.

"Y-you split yourself...in two!?"Fakir rolled his eyes and nudged Ahiru in the arm.

"Not like that, Moron." Princess Tutu giggled at Ahiru's naivety and continued.

"Yes, not quite like that."

"Then..."

"Ahiru, my heart of hope belongs fully and undeniably to the Prince. But, my soul...my spirit belongs with you."

Finally, Ahiru understood. "Tutu....Thank you." Ahiru began to cry but Princess Tutu only smiled as she returned to her form as Ahiru's pendant. "Thank you so much, Princess Tutu!" Ahiru wiped away her tears and Fakir smiled slightly. After a while though, Fakir got up and stretched his arms.

"Ahiru...are you feeling okay now?"

"Huh?" Ahiru sniffed. "Yeah, I'm okay now. Why?"

"Well, the funeral for those who had their hearts eaten is today."

Ahiru's smile fell. "Oh...so then...we really weren't able to save everyone..."

Fakir looked away regretfully. Ahiru sighed. "Well, I'll get ready now. I have to apologize for not being able to help them."

Fakir nodded and headed towards the door. "Ah, wait, Fakir."

"Hm?"

"You said that the funeral was today, right? Isn't it a bit late? I mean, we only defeated the Raven just this afternoon..."

"Actually, you've been sleeping for about an entire day. It's already the next afternoon."

"Qu-!" Ahiru quickly muffled her quack. "So I've been sleeping that long!? ....oh! Don't tell me I missed seeing off Mytho and Rue!"

Fakir rolled his eyes again. "Idiot, they haven't left Kinkan yet. They'll be there at the funeral, don't worry."

"Oh, okay!"

After Ahiru finished getting dressed, the two of them had lunch and headed off towards the graveyard. Once there, they saw a crowd of people surrounding a row of coffins. Ahiru recognized most of them as students and the rest were probably family members.

It seemed that Ahiru and Fakir had managed to join the ceremony just a little before it ended and Ahiru sighed. "Aw, I feel bad now. We couldn't even make it in time to hear the...the..." Ahiru tapped her chin as she looked for the right word.

"The epitaph?" Fakir finished.

"Yeah, that. It was partly our fault so I feel guilty for not being here to listen to the whole thing." Fakir sighed. As everyone else began to disperse, Fakir led Ahiru towards the tombstones nearby.

"If you feel so guilty about it, then send off their spirits with a good message." Fakir knelt down in front of one of the tombstones and closed his eyes. Ahiru guessed that he was praying and knelt down as well. Ahiru looked at the name written on the tombstone in front of her. It read, Here lies, Alice Lorna, beloved sister, daughter, and teacher. Rest in peace.

Miss Lorna...you too? Ahiru could feel tears brimming in her eyes. However, instead of sobbing, she smiled. I'm really sorry Miss Lorna...we couldn't save you or the others....Um, even though I didn't know you too well or for very long, you were still one of the most caring teachers I've ever had. Whenever you taught, you always tried to help your students, and you really cared for their health, like when you sent Mytho back to his dorm to rest, or when you excused Fakir from class to come take care of me... Thank you so much for all you've done and...goodbye.

Ahiru bowed her head once to her teacher's tombstone and then stood up. She nearly quacked when someone pulled her into a hug.

"Ahiru! You're okay!" Rue gasped.

Ahiru gently pushed away from her friend and smiled. Beside Rue was Mytho. "Mytho! Rue!"

"We're sorry Ahiru. We wanted to stay with you until you woke up, but Fakir told us to go back to the dorms and get some rest. He said that he would take care of you so we left."

"Yes." Rue agreed. "While we were at Fakir's house, he stayed right by your bedside the entire time! So, we knew that you would be in good hands. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't have left." Ahiru blushed. Fakir...

"Oh, you two." Fakir joined their circle. "So, now that everything's cleared up, what are you going to do?"

"Oh, Fakir. Well, I think that Rue and I will return to my kingdom again. I need to get back to my work before things get too out of hand in my absence."

"Also, we'll have to get started on searching for a way to get rid of Mytho's raven's blood." Rue said soberly.

"We'll help on our end too!"

Fakir nodded. "Yes, if we learn anything, we'll contact you as soon as we can."

Mytho and Rue smiled gratefully at the two. "Thank you both so much. We'll be leaving later this evening so we have to go make sure all of our things are in order." Mytho and Rue gave their friends warm goodbye hugs and set off towards their dorms again, leaving Ahiru and Fakir behind.

"Come on, time for us to go home too." Fakir began walking and Ahiru trailed after him.

"Hey Fakir?"

"Hm?"

"How long do you think things will stay like this?"

"Who knows. That's why we have to work really hard to find a way to remove the Prince of the raven's blood."

"Oh...I see." Fakir glanced down at Ahiru who now wore a frown on her face. He sighed.

"But, in saying that, we should make the most of whatever peace time we have." Ahiru perked up and smiled.

"...Thank you, Fakir."

"What?"

"Um, well, for always being there to help me. You always cheered me up when I was sad and saved me when it counted. I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for you." Fakir blushed but kept his eyes forward.

"Well I wouldn't have to do any of that if you weren't so klutzy and troublesome all the time."

"Excuse me!" Ahiru puffed up with anger and began lecturing Fakir about ruining the moment. And thus, they lived ever after, the ending to this story, becoming the beginning of a new one full of love.

The end

^_^; woo! I'm done! ...and about that last bit *coughcough* *hinthint* yeah I couldn't help myself. I just had to add in a little Fakir/Ahiru sign somewhere. And the ending seems a little out of place...oh well. ^_^ Thanks to everyone who read it and commented! I love you all!...no homo!