"Could I be in someone else's story as well? Well, if so, that person can do as they please." -Drosselmeyer
Once upon a time, there was a man who died. Rather than resting in peace and leaving the mortal world alone, the man tried to play God; for he had a marvelous and strange gift: the stories he wrote would come to life. Unfortunately for him, his last story rebelled against him and gained a happy ending rather than the tragic one he intended. Unable to meddle in his favorite story any longer, the man who was dead moved on to other tales, but rebellion had spread to the other stories under his authorship. Rather than resigning themselves to tragic ends, the characters began to fight their fate.
Frustrated by this insubordination, the man turned to a powerful sorceress for the power to quell the revolt and have his revenge on the story that had dare defy him first. But the man who should be dead forgot one thing - the sorceress was not giving wishes away for free. In her shop, the granting of a wish required an equal price to be paid - but was the wish worth the cost?
The thin, snakelike strands of smoke wafted about the room. The sorceress turned to her strange customer, a man calling himself Drosselmeyer. As to the question of whether or not that was his true name, the tall, dark-haired beauty had some doubts; that was not the important thing at the moment, though. This insolent man – or rather, ghost, it seemed - had come to her shop expecting his wish to be granted without much effort. She had, of course, set him straight on that account. His price mightn't sound all that awful to some, but given the wish he had in mind, she was sure that the price would be a high one for him. After all, he had asked to regain the power to write a certain story with his peculiar ability - and to do that without hands. Paying the price for a wish such as that was no easy task; he would be paying with what she assumed was everything he held dear.
She turned to Drosselmeyer. "In order for me to grant you this wish, you must pay a price. This will be your last story. If you fail to make the characters bend to your will, not only will you lose your writing ability, but your spirit will be forever banished from the world of the living. Either way, this story will be the last written by Herr Drosselmeyer. Are you willing to pay this price?"
His insane smile answered her before his words did.