Title: Shadows
Fandom: Princess Tutu
Rating: G
Length: 200 words
Summary: It's not the shadows she fears, but the mirrors.

Sometimes Rue wanders the palace at night, alone. Much has changed since Mytho rescued her from the depths of despair and slew the Raven, her father. And much has not.
Rue is a princess now, and Mytho her prince.

Her life blazes now with joy and light, but still the shadows linger. They rest along the edges of rooms and gather in corners, waiting to snare her.

Rue walks past them and doesn't look back. They can wait. They don't bother her much anymore.

It's not the shadows she fears, but the mirrors. They are everywhere in the glorious, gilded palace that is now her home, haunting her like specters of her former life.

Every time she glances in a mirror, Rue expects to see Kraehe sneering back.

Instead she sees hair dark as feathers, tamed by gold pins and pearls. She sees a young woman's face, filled with innocent wonder and free from cruelty, a woman garbed in the silks and jewels of a storybook princess.

She pauses before the mirror and waits, but the jewels and the dress do not fade, the face does not alter.

There is no sign of the monster within, but the memory remains.