Piper and the Nutcracker

Jasper Nutcracker AU

So I was watching Barbie in the Nutcracker because I love it so much and thought Why the hell not? So here we are! I thought it would be fun to write this, I'm still working on it but here's the first chapter for now, though I made change it later we'll see.

Ch.1 Bring you down to size

Piper and her sister Drew live with Pipers grandpa Tom; they are half-sisters on their mother's side, after Drew lost her father their mother remarried and had Piper, they had lost their parents just a few years ago.

It's Christmas Eve and for their family tradition everyone is to open one gift that night. Piper unwraps her gift from Grandpa Tom and sees that it is a Nutcracker dressed in Purple and gold, while Drew gets a beauty kit that she has wanted for the past two months. Drew looks at the Nutcracker when she saw Piper examining it. "It doesn't look so great, kind of ugly if you ask me." Drew says as she looks more closely at it. "Well I think he's wonderful." Piper says looking at her sister then she smiles at her grandfather "Thank you grandpa." He smiles back "You're very welcome, and I'm glad that you think so, he's special this one. He might not seem like much on the outside but on the inside dwells the heart of a prince." Drew rolled her eyes and went back to sorting through the makeup kit she had received.

After grandpa Tom had gone to bed the girls sat up going through their gifts, Piper couldn't bring herself to put down her Nutcracker, she felt the need to keep him near her, it just felt so right. Finally Drew gets annoyed and picks up the Nutcracker from beside Piper and turns it over in her hands "This piece of junk is supposed to be princely? Give me a break he probably just ran out of money after my gift and picked this up from a flea-market or found it in the trash outside." She started fiddling with the left arm until it popped off. "Oops… Oh well you're too old for stupid toys anyway." She throws the Nutcracker down by Piper and walks out of the room with her present leaving Piper sitting on the floor upset and trying to fix the arm on her new precious gift.

"Don't listen to her. You are not junk I know Grandpa Tom is right, there is something special about you, I can feel it." She uses a ribbon from one of the presents as a makeshift bandage and sling to hold the arm in place until she can find a better way. Piper looked closely at the Nutcracker's face, though it seemed like any old nutcracker anywhere else, the eyes seemed to draw her in, they were such a beautiful shade of blue and almost seemed to shine with a life of their own and just above his mouth was either a small chip or crack that gave the impression that he was smiling.

That night Piper slept in the living room, like she had when she was little and wanted to see Santa, or on nights when her parents would come home late, those nights she would fall asleep on the couch and wake up the next morning tucked into her bed. But tonight she just wanted to be near the tree and the beautiful decorations that reminded her of a time long ago when their family had been complete. She slept hugging her Nutcracker close for comfort, she felt at peace with him near.

As Piper slept the clock ticked away on a quiet night until it chimed the midnight hour, then things began to stir, the room began to glow, on the far wall by the tree was a small hole barely noticeable. From that hole emerged a troupe of mice like little soldiers, they marched into the room like an invading army, the Nutcracker had fallen to the floor as Piper had turned in her sleep and now stood up on his own, he blinked his eyes as the magic of the night filled him with life, the spell that had rendered him immobile was now lifted, he looked around and saw the invaders and drawing his sword with his good hand charged the mice army "Oh no you don't you darn mice!"

Piper blinked open her eyes when she thought she heard voices around her, she sat up and noticed that she was no longer clutching the Nutcracker so she looked around for him. As she looked over she noticed a mouse nibbling on leftover snacks from Christmas Eve that hadn't been put away. "Hey! Get away from there!" she shooed the mouse away and once again caught the sound of voices but this time she was awake… wasn't she? What she saw was the Nutcracker that Grandpa Tom had given her fighting against more mice over a stack of presents under the Christmas tree. "Back! Back you traitors!" he said as he fought them off. Was this all just a weird dream? Must be she thought. But as she watched more mice entered the room from the hole and one was wearing a golden crown on his head.

The mouse king glanced around the room and spotted the Nutcracker on top of the presents he grit his teeth and glowered at the Nutcracker "Even as a Nutcracker you still manage to be a thorn in my side!" he growled out. The Nutcracker having defeated the mice nearest him pointed his golden sword at the mouse king in challenge "That's right, and a thorn I shall remain!" he jumped down and engaged the mouse king in battle, they circled one another and the mouse king thrust his golden sceptre at the Nutcracker who parried it with his sword, they traded blows back and forth, though the Nutcracker seemed well versed in swordplay with his broken arm it was clear to Piper that he wouldn't be able to hold out for long so she snapped out of her stupor caused by the strange events unfolding before her, dream or no, she wasn't about to let anything else happen to her Nutcracker tonight.

The mouse king had managed to disarm the Nutcracker and had knocked him off his feet and now stood over him menacingly "This time I'll turn you into something more useful…" he raised his sceptre and swung it towards the Nutcracker "Like kindling!" Piper reached for the nearest object "Not in my house you won't!" she said as she readied herself to smash a vase on the evil little mouse king. He turned towards her just now noticing her presence in the room and directed his sceptre at her instead "Meddling human towering tall, let my sceptre shrink you small!" he chanted "Look out!" cried the Nutcracker but it was too late, a shimmering light shot from the sceptre and enveloped Piper where she stood. She began to shrink until she herself was the size of a doll or mouse. Even if this was a dream this could not be good.

The mouse king edged towards her "Not so fearless now are you girl?" He smirked at her as he approached, Piper stepped back trying to keep her distance from this creepy rodent. Just then the Nutcracker kicked the vase that had fallen to the ground when Piper had shrunk and knocked the mouse king away. He placed himself between Piper and the mouse king and his soldiers as they crept closer weapons drawn and ready. The Nutcracker had his sword again but only being one handed and having to protect Piper while fighting multiple enemies, he was clearly at a disadvantage once again. Piper silently cursed Drew for carelessly breaking the Nutcrackers arm even if she was dreaming right now -which she was beginning to doubt she was- she was still scared and confused by what was happening.

As the Nutcracker fought back the mice soldiers he glanced over his shoulder at Piper his blue eyes shining in the light of the fireplace that was still burning. "Can you make it up the mantel?" he asked as he fought back another mouse. Piper looked at the fireplace and shook her head "Not going to happen." There was no way she could climb that. But then she looked past the Nutcracker as another swarm of mice approached and spotted some garland hanging on the edge of the fireplace "Then again…" she began climbing and looked back at the Nutcracker as he fought a little easier now that he didn't have to protect her at the same time, as he knocked down one mouse another ran up behind him but just as Piper was about to call a warning to him he twisted around and in a graceful arc brought down his sword to disarm and knock away that mouse too. Piper couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips, just then a mouse soldier grabbed at her by the ankle while she had been distracted and tried to pull her down but she kicked him away. She wasn't completely helpless after all.

But as she looked back at the Nutcracker she began to worry because no matter how well he fought, still more mice appeared in the room and rushed towards him with their weapons at the ready. Even if she could climb to safety, or relative safety until the mice followed her, the Nutcracker couldn't climb with just one hand and now the mice were backing him up to the fire. Piper felt as though her heart were in her throat as she watched unable to do anything to help him. Just as the Nutcrackers back hit the grate of the fireplace an idea hit him, he jumped up and planted his sword into the mesh and kicked away the closest mice but as he hung there the mouse king approached on the side his sceptre now a wicked blade aimed right at the Nutcracker "You have nowhere to run now Nutcracker." He smiled maniacally as he prepared to swing his blade, the Nutcracker tried to free his own blade but it stuck fast in the mesh of the fire grate, just in time as the mouse king brought his weapon down the Nutcracker swung his body like a pendulum and leapt out of the path of the mouse kings blade. Unfortunately he had lost hold of his sworn and was now weaponless.

The mouse king momentarily thrown off balance from the force of his swing regained his stance and turned towards the Nutcracker once again. Determined rage burned in his eyes as he made for the Nutcracker "You're not going to get away from me this time." He said an evil grin twisting his face "Unless you'd like to feed the fire." The Nutcracker moved back and glanced around for a way out then he jumped to the side and Piper saw that she had been wrong before, the Nutcracker began to climb the fire grate despite his one good hand, he managed it by hopping and grabbing onto the mesh with his hand while finding footholds, but the mouse king wasn't far behind him. "Nutcracker!" Piper called out in concern, she wasn't sure what else to call him, she watched as the mouse kings blade just missed the Nutcrackers foot as he continued to climb. Once he got to the top of the fire grate he jumped to the garland hanging on the opposite side of the fireplace from where Piper was. She watched in horror as the mouse king this time turned his sceptre into a crossbow and aimed it right at the Nutcracker as he struggled to maintain his hold on the garland.

At the very last second the Nutcracker dropped from the ornament he had been hanging onto just as it shattered he landed on one below it and Piper let out the breath she had been holding. The shattered shards rained down on the mouse king and he readied a new shot at the defenceless Nutcracker and Piper refused to hold her tongue any longer. "Hey! Up here!" she shouted and swung out her foot and let fly her slipper that sacked the mouse king right between the eyes as he turned towards her voice, Piper felt very proud of herself for that, especially since it had knocked the mouse king from the logs he had been standing on and left him dazed on the floor. The rest of the mice were shocked and rushed forward to help their king, they gathered him and his fallen sceptre and scurried back to the hole from whence they came.

But before Piper could move from where she was, the tacks holding the garland in place had come loose when she had swung herself to launch her slipper and now she found herself being swept by the now loose rope of garland to the other side of the fireplace where it was still secure and knocked into the Nutcracker still there, they were both flung to the ground and had landed on the pillow Piper had dropped onto the floor when she had awoken. The Nutcracker stood up first and helped Piper to her feet, as they stood there the Nutcracker seemed to smile shyly at her. "Thank you for saving my life." He said and then he indicated the ribbon holding his broken arm "And for this." Piper still felt drawn to his blue eyes even when they weren't looking right at her "Y-you're welcome…" she stammered out. Then they looked around them at the aftermath of the battle that had just happened. "This has got to be a dream…" Piper breathed still looking around the now enormous room.

"I'm afraid that it's all real." The Nutcracker said as he retrieved his sword while Piper picked up her slipper and put it back on. "And I have to return home to my homeland while I still have the chance." Piper felt sad hearing that he had to leave so soon but tried not to let it show. "Could you at least turn me back to normal before you go?" she asked instead. "You know, because I used to be taller, not the size of a doll." Those words felt so weird to say. But the Nutcracker just shook his head regretfully "I'm afraid that I can't; only the sugarplum princess can reverse the mouse kings spell." Piper blinked was this some sort of fairy tale? "The sugarplum-what?" the Nutcracker nodded "I've been searching for the sugarplum princess ever since the mouse king cursed me to become a nutcracker." Piper wondered how powerful this mouse king really was. "You mean you used to b-" she was going to say human "Not a Nutcracker." was all that he said though so for all she knew he could have been a bird or something, though she doubted that a bird could have used a sword so well.

Suddenly the wooden owl that adorned Grandpa Tom's old grandfather clock flew down to land on the arm of the chair by the fire. "Perhaps I could help." The owl said. Oh sure now the furniture was coming to life, why not? Thought Piper as the Nutcracker stood between her and the once wooden owl. "You will find the sugarplum princess on an island across the sea of storms." The Nutcracker lowered his sword and addressed to owl "But it's impossible to cross the sea of storms." He said. "It's dangerous yes, but not impossible." the owl replied. The Nutcracker sheathed his sword and turned towards the hole that the mice had fled through. Piper watched him begin to leave, uncertain what to do next. Then the Nutcracker turned to glance over his shoulder at her "Well," he said "Aren't you coming along?"

His question caught Piper off guard "You want me to go in there? I don't know…" she couldn't help the feeling of trepidation in the pit of her stomach. The owl who had been watching them decided to speak up then "Surely you don't want to remain this way the rest of your life." Well when you put it that way… "How would I get back though?" if this was real and she somehow managed to go through some magical mouse hole into another world, how was she supposed to get home once she returned to normal? The owl flew from its perch on the arm of the chair over to the Christmas tree and plucked the necklace from Pipers favorite ornament, a ballerina that her mother had given her one Christmas long ago. Then the owl flew down and dropped the necklace into Pipers hands. "Once you've found the sugarplum princess, just open the locket and you will return home back to normal." Piper wanted more information but before she could ask anymore the owl returned to its place atop the grandfather clock and back to being wooden once more.

Piper heaved a sigh and after turning the locket over in her hand once more, put it on and headed towards the entrance to the mouse hole where the Nutcracker waited. They looked at one another "Are you ready?" the Nutcracker asked, concern clear in his voice. It warmed her to know that he cared, Piper nodded "Yes, let's go." And with that they entered the mouse hole.

Please let me know what you think!