The Nutcracker's Queen

Chapter 2

Clara and I climb the stairs quickly so that we can join everyone and hope that Mr Stahbaum didn't notice we were gone. We arrived just as the ballerina on stage finished her solo. We clap with the other people around us. We stop just as Drosselmeyer walks onto the stage. "Ladies and gentleman, my favorite part of Christmas. My favorite part of this evening, I present to you your gifts!" He says. I smile at Clara before we run off with the others.

And just as we were about to leave and find our ribbons, Mr Stahlbaum appears. I stand at the doorway and wait as Mr Stahlbaum chews out Clara for not dancing with him. I give a light huff. I caught sight of Clara's name and it was hanging on the same string as... as the name tag labeled (y/n) (l/n). My eyes widened and I rushed back to Clara. "Sorry, Mr Stahlbaum. But, Clara, we share a gift." I tell her.

Her eyes widened too as I drag her out the door. I grab the string and show her the two tags. She walks in front of me as we hold the string and rush along it. We walk through the hallways of the manor once again. We get to the stairs and a grinning Fritz runs down them holding a Nutcracker Soldier. I had always loved Nutcrackers. "Look at my present." Fritz cries as he waves it at us.

He gives a small rawr as he thrusts the Nutcracker into Clara's face. It causes Clara to jump a little before giving a little laugh. "A nutcracker soldier?" She says to Fritz. She even compliments him about how handsome the soldier was. Fritz teased her as I grab ahold of her hand and pull her up the stairs. "Come on, I want to see what our gift is." I order her. Clara laughs as she lets me pull up the stairs.

We follow the string down a dark hallway, the red wallpaper with it's owls made me feel like they were all watching me. Until we found it. A door at the end of a very, very dark hallway that was partially open, the gold string going through the ajar crack of the door. My mind was sort of blown when on the other side of the we discovered a large log leading out to a snowy woods. I run ahead of Clara and into the snow.

At that moment, my hair seemed to become a mixed shade of red and (h/c). I laugh as snow fell about me. I loved the snow, no matter what I wore. That's when I noticed that Clara was gone. Then, I heard her. "My key!" I follow Clara's voice to find her chasing a mouse holding a little golden key. I run to follow her voice and when I finally find her, she was standing in front of what looked like a gate to a bridge.

As I go to yell at her, I am caught off guard by...by...by the beauty of the man standing frozen by the Bridge. While Clara tried to figure out how to cross the bridge, I reach out and brush my fingertips against his cheek. I flinch back at the cold of his cheek before I reach up again and brush some snow from his nose, his cheeks, even his eyelashes. He looked better now. I wanted to brush away the snow from his helmet when it happened.

His eyes opened causing me to fall back into the snow. "Who goes there?" He demands, pointing his sword at us. I stand from the snow and walk closer to the gate. Something seemed to call me from the other side. There was something out there for me. "We have to get across to the fourth realm." I tell the nutcracker, a little irritable that he kept when he called Clara her name but adding just me.

"Can you stop? Her last name is Stahlbaum. Clara Stahlbaum." I hiss at him. He freezes for a moment. "Are you a relation to Marie Stahlbaum?" The nutcracker asks. Clara nods before explaining that she was Marie's daughter and I was Marie's sister. The nutcracker drops down onto one knee as I jump over the gate. The tiara slips from my dress and I scoop it up before leaving and following the mouse.

I run into the woods, faintly hearing Clara and the nutcracker calling for me. But I ignored them, even when the Nutcracker called warnings about the Fourth Realm. The further I ran, the less I could hear their voices. But I could hear something else, bells. Bells that I could remember I had ever heard being used by clowns at a circus. I scream as the clowns surround me, clapping cuffs and chains onto my wrists, ankles and even around my waist.

My tiara tumbles from my pocket and one of the clowns scoops it up. "Put that down you foul thing!" I shriek at the smallest clown. Clara's screams filled my ears and my head turns in the direction of it. As I become distracted, the clowns run off with my tiara. "Give that back you horrible thieves!" I shout as I pick up my skirts to chase after Clowns. All the clowns stop and run away when they ran into a pair of horses, taking my tiara with them.

"You awful horses. I nearly had them." I growl at them before pulling myself up onto the horse whose coat matched the colour of the snow we had escaped from. I take the black horse's reins and tie them to that of the horse I was riding. "Well come on. I have to find someone." I tell them before nudging the sides of the white horse. It started moving as I sighed. I'd have to give them a name, I couldn't just keep calling them 'it'.

"Perhaps you and I could be friends, Darla." I say to the white horse. We walked until... "Who's there?" The deep voice of the nutcracker soldier demands as the three of us come round the corner. "Put that away, will you, Captain." I order and he does as I tell him to before taking the reins of the darker horse, which he had called Jingles. I look over at the younger girl and hold out my hand to her.

"Clara, we need to go." I inform her but she was adamant. She wasn't leaving without her key. That was when we heard her. "Who's intruding in my realm?" The female voice purrs and a deep part of me wants to rush to her, hug her the way I used to hug Marie. Like she was my mother. But I knew I had to shake that off. Captain Nutcracker hoists himself up onto Jingles as Clara turns to face the massive lady that was making her way towards us.

"Is that you, Clara Stahlbaum?" The echoing voice questions Clara, then I feel eyes on me. "No...It can't be. You were just a baby..." The voice coos softly towards me and I felt a little unsettled. I call Clara's name while the echoing voice of the woman tempts Clara with the key to her Christmas present from Drosselmeyer. "Lead the way, Captain." I inform him and he nudges the horse's side and takes off, myself and Darla following his lead.

But I paused. "I have to go back for it." I whisper, Clara and the Captain looking over at me. "Marie said I'd need that crown. I want it back." I shout at them. I don't get much of a choice as the Captain climbs of the horse he was sharing with Clara to take over Darla. "We are leaving, Your Majesty." The Captain says firmly, even after seeing the tears flow down my face. But there was something about the voice. The way it sounded so familiar. Like cinnamon and nutmeg. Like a dream.

Like I had always imagined my mother would sound like.