A/N: Hey everybody! Just to let you all know that this is my first RotG fanfic so, I'm a little nervous about posting this. I got this idea when I finally went to go see The Nutcracker ballet live the other night. I've always loved The Nutcracker and when I seen that no one had came up with my idea before me (at least from what I've seen), I decided to quickly type this up and release it here for you all to enjoy. For all my readers that are currently reading my Lorax fanfic, don't worry. I'm not gonna abandon The Hanging Tree for this one. The title for this story I got from one of the score and dance pieces for The Nutcracker. I thought it was only fitting. Happy reading!

DISCLAIMER!: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE RISE OF THE GUARDIANS CHARACTERS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO WILLIAM JOYCE AND DREAMWORKS ANIMATION! THE STORY AND BALLET OF THE NUTCRACKER BELONGS WHOLEHEARTLY TO E. T. A HOFFMANN, MARIUS PETIPA, LEV IVANOV, AND THE COMPOSER PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY!

The Waltz of the Snowflakes

Prologue:

The Nutcracker

Blankets of pure white snow covered the extending land as far as the eye could see. Little flurries of snowflakes descended down from the sky to further add to the build up. Footsteps were the only thing that stood as an imperfection to the untouched bed of snow. Dancing along with the snowfall while on pointe and doing several chaînés, was a dark haired girl dressed in an elegant ballerina costume. She leapt in the air with a sauté and followed by a grand jeté. Once landed, her feet fluttered about in bourrée. Balancé was performed next; taking three steps in a down, up, down motion and then spun several grand fouettés; becoming faster with each turn, and eventually coming to a complete stop with her feet placed in fourth position.

In front of the lone dancer stood a red-painted, scruffy white-bearded nutcracker. His large blue eyes stared blankly at the girl who, in return, stared curiously at the Christmas decoration. Then, as if an invisible being had pushed up the nutcracker's back lever, its mouth popped right open. Like it were apart of the dance, the ballerina bourrée backwards and searched about the place with her green eyes as she then felt an ominous presence. In the horizon ahead, stormy dark clouds loomed in and headed towards the girl's direction.

Quickly, she grabbed the nutcracker and then bounded away in a fast paced traut down the snowy field. Running straight into a bare and wickedly arched forest, the ballerina gracefully maneuvered around the grabbing branches. She halted for a brief moment to regain her breath. A sinister hissing slithered throughout the air and grotesquely large rats snarled. The girl's eyes widen in terror before she bolted away with the chasing rodents. All the while clutching the nutcracker close to her chest.

Out of nowhere, darkness consumed her surroundings completely. She no longer could avoid the tugging branches of the trees and her once beautiful outfit started to be ripped to shreds. The loud gnashing of sharp teeth and scurry of clawed feet were all a dreaded noise that cause the girl to desire to run faster but with her fighting against the forest slowed her down.

Whirling about the place as she ran straight into the arms of a hideously frightening creature. Opening her mouth to release a scream, but to her surprise, no sound came out. She tore herself away from the monster, however her feet didn't take her far for she had quickly avoided another insidious creature that appeared instantaneously. Everywhere she turned they continued to pop out of the darkness and she had to reroute her direction.

For a long while, it felt as though there was no escape. Then, to her dismay, the ballerina tripped over an unseen object. Remaining on the cold snow, she began to think about giving up and allowing the eternal darkness to take her away. To her far right, an intimidatingly large shadowy figure towered over her. Its red eyes glowed mysteriously and its massive taloned hand reached out. Just as the sharp nails grazed the crown of her head, a blissfully blinding white light roared and startled the dark away.

A marvelous richly-red sleigh stood before the bowed dancer. She stared up in awe and wonder at it and the reindeer that anxiously stirred within their bridles. Before she knew it, she was lifted off the ground by a pair of extraordinarily cold hands. What -or rather who- she saw next caused her eyes to widen in shock, disbelief, and a small mixture of excitement; this big-bellied, white bearded, and jolly faced man would be recognized by anyone whether they were child or adult.

A/N: So that's the prologue! I hope you all enjoyed it. If you weren't able to understand the ballet terms, please let me know and I'll put footnotes down here in the author's note.