Act 13: Goodbye Morning came far sooner than Rue expected. She and Mytho had spent the night in her parents’ guest room, making the most of their last few hours together. Waking up next to him, Rue felt like crying, knowing that it would be the last time, but she was determined not to lose it until it was time for him to leave. “Rue, are you okay?” Mytho asked when he saw her brush away a few stubborn tears with her hands. “I-I’m fine,” she lied, rolling over on her side. “I just got something in my eye, that’s all.” “Rue…” He kissed her bared shoulder, his hand running up her arm. “Don’t do that.” “What?” “Pretend that your heart isn’t breaking, the same as mine.” At his words, the dams broke, and Rue began sobbing, burying her face in Mytho’s shoulder as he held her close. Though she couldn’t see his face, she could feel the shudders running through his body and knew he was crying as well. They stayed like that for long moment until they heard soft footfalls outside the bedroom door. “That’s probably Mama,” Rue said, sitting up and wrapping the sheet around her. She used a loose corner to wipe away her remaining tears. “We should probably start getting dressed. She told me that she wanted to make a special breakfast for us before you leave.” “Right.” When they had announced to the rest of the family that Mytho planned to leave, Uncle Henry had volunteered to go back to his apartment to retrieve the regal attire Mytho had worn when they first arrived. Mytho dressed in his own clothes, leaving the ones he had borrowed from Fakir neatly folded on a chair in the corner to be returned when they asked him to send Mytho back. Since Rue didn’t have another change of clothes, she again wore the blouse and skirt she had worn the day before. Once they were both dressed, they headed downstairs, hand-in-hand. Rue, though having little experience living in a family setting, had expected to find everybody already up, Anneliese and Josef busy getting ready for school while their mother cooked omelets at the stove and their father sat at the table, drinking a cup of coffee as he read the morning paper. That had always been her idea of the perfect family breakfast, but, when she and Mytho made it to the bottom of the stairs, Rue was surprised to find nobody around. “Mama?” she called out. “Papa? Anneliese? Josef? Is anybody here?” “Rue, look over there.” Mytho nodded toward the front door, which was wide open. They could just barely hear Josef’s voice shouting something outside. “Wha--?” “Gisela!” At her name, Rue turned around, looking up at the top of the staircase for the source of the voice. It belonged Anneliese. In one arm, the little girl clutched an adorable teddy bear, while her other arm was used to drag a large suitcase that was almost as big as her. “Anneliese, what are you doing?” Rue asked as her younger sister proceeded to join them at the bottom of the staircase, struggling a little with her suitcase. Mytho met her halfway, carrying it the rest of the way. “It’s moving day!” Anneliese replied happily. “Prince Seigfried, can I pick any room in your castle to be my new bedroom? I want one with a huge canopy bed, just like a princess!” At a loss of what to say, Mytho exchanged a confused look with Rue. “Uh…” Rue sighed. The poor girl must have misunderstood something when they explained that Mytho was leaving to return to his kingdom. Taking her hand, she was about to remind her that Mytho was the only one leaving when Josef came back inside. “Anneliese, what is taking you so long?” he demanded to know. “Papa told you to pack just the things you couldn’t bear to leave behind, not your entire doll collection.” “I’m coming, I’m coming!” Letting go of Rue’s hand, Anneliese grabbed her suitcase and dragged it toward the door. “Come on!” she said, motioning for Rue and Mytho to follow her and Josef outside. Rue had absolutely no idea what was going on. Shrugging her shoulders at Mytho, the two of them headed outside, where they were shocked to discover a horse-drawn carriage in front of the house. Josef was helping Anneliese hoist her suitcase onto the back of the carriage, while her father appeared deep in conversation with Uncle Henry. Her mother, upon seeing Rue and Mytho emerge from the house, ran over to greet them, smiling brightly. “Gisela! Seigfried! Good, you‘re up. I was just about to come rouse you.” “Mama, what is going on here?” Rue asked as her mother gave her hug. “Why does Anneliese seem to be under the impression that she’s moving to Mytho’s castle? And what is with the suitcases?” “There’s…been a change of plans,” her mother said, linking arms with Rue as she led the two of them toward the carriage. “You see, after you and Seigfried retired for the night, we all held a family meeting. None of us thought it was fair that you had to give up your marriage, just so you could stay here with us, so we decided that it would be best for everybody involved if we all moved to your husband’s kingdom -- provided he doesn’t mind the intrusion, of course.” Stopping, she glanced behind at a startled Mytho. “Y-You and your family are more than welcome in my kingdom, Mrs. Hoffmann,” he said, “but are you truly willing to sacrifice the life you’ve built here to move to a foreign land?” Rue, who could only stare at her mother in complete disbelief, had the same question. It was one thing for her to decide to leave her former life behind to marry Mytho and become princess of a fairy tale kingdom. At the time, she had precious few ties to the world of reality, other than her friendship with Ahiru. However, for her newfound family to be so willing to leave their own lives behind just so that she and Mytho could stay together… “It’s already been decided,” her mother said matter-of- factly. “Henry has already agreed to take full control of the store, and he will take care of any loose ends that we may have forgotten in our haste.” “But you may never see this world again, Mama,” Rue reminded her, finally managing to speak. “I-I appreciate the gesture, but how can we ask you to leave your friends and the rest of your family to cater to our selfish wish to stay together?” “Love is not selfish, Gisela.” Turning to face Rue, her mother took both her hands in her own. “To love somebody means that you are willing to do everything possible to make that person happy. Even though you barely knew us, you loved us enough to agree to stay with us, even if it meant giving up the man you love, a man who loved you enough to let you go. We love *you* enough not to let either of you make such a sacrifice. We just want everybody to be together, and if that means moving to another world, then that is a sacrifice we are more than happy to make.” “Mama…” Her eyes welling up with tears, Rue threw her arms around her mother. “Thank you. Thank you so much!” “Yes, thank you, Mrs. Hoffmann,” Mytho echoed. “I don’t know how we can ever repay you.” “We’ve already received payment enough,” Rue’s mother insisted, smiling as Rue let go of her and hugged Mytho. “After all, we have our daughter back. That’s all we could ever ask for.” By that time, the rest of the family had finished loading their suitcases onto the carriage. Since neither Rue nor Mytho had anything to pack, other than Fakir’s clothes, which Mytho ran up to get, they climbed right in. Rue’s father had decided to drive, so after everyone had said goodbye to an emotional Uncle Henry, Mytho gave him directions to Fakir’s house by the lake. When they arrived, they found Fakir and Ahiru laying face -up on the wooden pier over the lake, Ahiru pointing up at something in the sky. Rue had to smile at the sight as Mytho helped her out of the carriage, thinking how unusual it was to see the normally uptight Fakir so relaxed. Ahiru had been a good influence on him. “Hey, shouldn’t you be at school, Ahiru?” Rue called out, startling the two cloud-watchers, who evidently had not heard the horses when they pulled up. “Mytho! Rue!” Upon seeing them, Ahiru ran right over and gave Rue a hug. Fakir, looking a little sheepish, was slower in following. “I was hoping you would come today. How did it go with the Hoffmanns’? Did they believe you were the true Gisela?” “See for yourself.” Rue nodded toward her family behind her. “Ahiru, Fakir, I’d like you to meet my mother, my father, my brother Josef, and my sister Anneliese.” Ahiru curtsied. “It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Ru-- I mean, Gisela’s -- friend, Ahiru, and this is my…” Looking over at Fakir, she blushed. “And this is Fakir.” Rue’s father came forward and shook Fakir’s hand. “So you are the one they call a Story Spinner?” “I prefer not to be called that, but yes,” Fakir replied. His eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. “Why do you want to know?” “Forgive Fakir, he can be a bit...direct sometimes,” Mytho said. Turning to Fakir, he announced, “Fakir, it’s about time Rue and I headed back to the story.” “What?!” Ahiru exclaimed. “But you just got here! We barely spent any time together.” “I’m sorry, Ahiru,” Rue apologized, “but Mytho’s worried about what might happen if he stays in this world for much longer. You know what happened the last time.” “But what about your family? You’re going to leave them again, just when you‘ve finally found each other?” “Actually…we were hoping Fakir would send them inside the story as well.” Looking over at Fakir, she asked, “Do you think you can do that?” “You want to bring your family with you?” Fakir frowned. “I can probably do it, but your folks do realize that they’ll be permanently giving up their lives in this world, right? If they don’t like it in the story world, they’ll be stuck there forever. There’s no going back.” Coming forward, Rue’s mother took Rue’s hand. “Young man, we are fully aware of the sacrifice we would be making. We’ve given this a lot of thought, and we just want us all to be together, no matter what the cost, so please, use your power to send us all to Siegfried’s kingdom.” “Please, Fakir,” Mytho said. Fakir’s faced softened at Mytho’s plea, and he sighed. “Okay, I’ll do it,” he finally agreed. “All of you, you should get back in the carriage. I’ll use it as the plot device to cross you all over.” Doing as they were told, Rue’s family once again loaded into the carriage as Rue and Mytho said goodbye to their friends. “I really do appreciate everything you two have done for me,” Rue said. “Without you, I may have never found my family. I can’t begin to tell you how that much means to me.” Ahiru gave her another hug. “I’m so happy we were able to help, but I still wish you could stay longer. Maybe Fakir can bring you back again someday?” “Ahiru…” Fakir warned. “What about if Fakir brings us all back every year for Christmas?” Mytho suggested, surprising Rue. “Despite what Rue’s parents said, I’m sure they would still like to see Uncle Henry and the rest of their family over the holidays, and it should be fine for me to occasionally spend the day in this world.” Fakir looked doubtful. “Are you sure, Mytho? I don’t want you to feel like I’m controlling your life, like Drosselmeyer did.” “As long as there‘s a set schedule, I wouldn‘t mind at all.” “I guess it’s decided, then.” For the first time since they arrived, Fakir smiled. Though he probably would never admit it, Rue knew he was pleased with the idea of being able to see Mytho again as well. “Well, you two better get in the carriage, too. Ahiru, run back into the house and bring me some paper and ink, will you? I need to think about what I want to write to send them back.” “Right!” Doing as she was told, Ahiru went back to the house to grab Fakir’s writing materials while Rue and Mytho rejoined Rue’s family in the carriage. A few minutes later, Fakir was hard at work on the story that would send them all to Mytho’s kingdom. “Are you absolutely sure you want to come with us?” Rue couldn’t resist asking her parents one last time. “Fakir agreed to bring us back once a year for Christmas, but…” Smiling, her mother, who was sitting across from her, reached over and grabbed her hand. “We have never been more certain of anything in our lives, Gisela.” And, with that, the carriage began glowing a bright golden color, taking them all to their home, where they would hopefully live happily ever after. Together. DISCLAIMER: "Princess Tutu" doesn't belong to me. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com. Sorry that it took so long to post this last chapter, but first we got hit by Hurricane Ike, then our computer died. Fortunately, though, I managed to save a back-up of this chapter before we evacuated, so whew! Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story!