Hello. I'm back! For anyone who was wondering, I've been dead for two years and was recently brought back to life by the magic of...the full moon. I may also be a werewolf now but that's another story.

Anyway, I'm super sorry for being gone for so long and I hope to start writing my fanfics again so I decided to start with this one. Might as well, right?

Please don't hate me and enjoy!

Chapter 3

JOURNEY THROUGH THE CLOCK

"WAAAAH!" she cried as she found herself sliding through the darkness that loomed inside the Clock. She was certain she had made a horrible mistake when she suddenly landed on something hard. Surprised by the sudden impact, she paused as she caught her breath, noticing the loud ticking and grinding that surrounded her.

She looked up to notice that she was inside the clock. The thing she had landed on was a large copper gear and right as she tried to stand up, it jolted under her, causing her to fall back down on her butt.

"Oof," was all she said before a familiar voice called out, "Miss Duck? Are you okay?"

It was her Nutcracker! He was standing on a large gear above her, looking down as she got back onto her feet once more and brushed her slightly wrinkled skirt down.

"Yes!" she called back up to him. "I'm fine. What about you? Can you get down here?"

He didn't say anything. He just looked around before he disappeared behind the gear. She watched in anticipation to see if he would come back when she heard the sound of wood scrape against metal and a grunt as he apparently landed somewhere nearby. After a few worrisome seconds, he appeared from her left, completely uninjured.

"You're not hurt," she beamed at him. "That's good."

He tilted his head a bit in confusion and stated, "I'm made of wood, Miss Duck. I don't tend to get hurt."

"Oh," she muttered. "I see."

He didn't spend anymore time dwelling on it as he made his way to the edge of the gear, thinking silently to himself. Duck slowly walked up behind him and stared at him. This was the first time since he came to life that she could get a good look at him and she had to admit she was very curious about him. When he was just a doll, she found him handsome, but now that he was alive, he was even more so to her with his deep green eyes, long black hair and his wooden uniform only adding to the intrigue.

He didn't seem to notice her standing directly behind him and he turned around, nearly bumping into her and startling her. She nearly fell over her feet, but he was able to grab her quickly and keep her standing.

"Please forgive me, Miss Duck. I didn't see you," he explained.

She couldn't help but look into his eyes and notice how deep they were. They were no longer painted on his face but somehow they were still the eyes of a doll, just with an added presence to them.

She didn't realize she had been staring and her face flushed, causing her to push away and ramble, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to stare. Or almost fall. Or have you catch me. I'm just a big klutz. I'm sorry."

He simply looked at her with confusion, quickly shaking his head then turning back to the edge of the gear.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to climb down, Miss Duck," he explained, ignoring her jittering. "I just wish you weren't wearing that dress and those shoes. They'll only make it harder for you."

"It's okay," she said quickly. "I'm sure I can manage. I may be a klutz sometimes but I always try."

He looked back at her to see her smile sheepishly. He couldn't help but crack a grin at her and held out his hand. "Then let's go, Miss Duck."

Her smile faded for a second as she hesitantly reached for his hand, but as soon as his fingers wrapped securely around hers, her smile grew on her face once again. She just felt so safe with him and even as they made they're way down the inside of the clock, sliding down treacherous slopes or jumping from gear to gear, she knew he wouldn't let her fall.

She was so caught up with how strong and kind he was that she didn't notice the snow that began appearing on the gears or even the clouds her breathing caused to escape from her mouth until her foot sank into a pile of the freezing cold fluff.

"Snow?" she asked. "In a clock? How is that even possible?"

"It means we're getting close," he said absently as he took a few steps forward. "Just a bit further and we'll be there."

"Where?" she asked as she made her way next to him.

"The Kingdom of Gold Crown."

Just then, the gear shifted below them and they slid onto another hard surface, only slightly cushioned by a thick layer of snow. Duck gasped as she swiftly sat up from where she had fallen, her orange hair matted down by the snow and she shivered slightly.

To her right, the Nutcracker sat up with surprise as well, but he had no real hair to be matted down and he simply sat there with snow on his shoulders and now hatless head. He looked over to Duck and quickly asked, "Are you okay?"

She shook her head yes and pointed to his head. "You lost your hat."

"It seems I did," he shrugged as he stood. "Not that serious."

She quickly scurried to her feet and argued, "But, you don't look right without it. We should find it."

"We don't have time to waste on petty things right now, Miss Duck," he explained calmly. "What's important now is to find a way out of this cave. It seems the Raven King collapsed the way out to keep us from following him."

"Oh, that's not good," she breathed, looking at the fallen ice and rocks mixed with a few random gears from the clock. "Maybe there's another way?"

"This is the only way to Gold Crown," he stated certainly. "If we can't get through here, then we'll never be able to get to the Raven."

She sighed. Her Nutcracker new this kingdom better than her, so if he knew there was no other way, then there was no other way. She took a few steps back as he tried to break through the ice with his sword and looked around. She felt useless, just like she did at home. She knew if she tried to help she'd just get in the way and she didn't want to anger her Nutcracker. He was already under pressure to return his Prince's heart and now he had a no good, useless girl to deal with.

She sighed again and walked over to a rock covered in snow and sat down. But just as she put her weight on it, her butt slipped on the thin layer of ice and she fell backwards, completely submerging herself once again in the snow. This time she just laid there, staring up at the blackness that was the inside of the Clock when she saw a small yellow light wiz above her. She turned her head in confusion and gasped when the small light turned out to be a tiny girl with wings, staring down at her and giggling.

The Nutcracker heard her gasp and called, "Miss Duck? Is everything alright?"

"Um..." was all she could say as the tiny girl fluttered up to her nose and poked it, sending cold shivers down Duck' s spine.

She heard the Nutcracker's feet crunch through the snow towards her when he stopped. "Huh. A snow fairy. Not many people see those."

"A fairy?" Duck asked, giggling as the fairy started playing with her hair, leaving frost in her red locks. "She's cute."

The fairy then flew over to the Nutcracker and circled him, as if studying him. She then giggled as she made it snow over his head.

"Thanks," he muttered, brushing the new snow from his shoulders. "So you're the cause of the snow."

The fairy giggled and flew around him again, landing on his shoulder playfully.

"I think she likes you," Duck smiled, watching as the fairy played with her blonde curly pigtails.

"I'm flattered, but we really need to get out of here," he said to the fairy. "You wouldn't happen to be able to help us out, would you?"

She giggled again and flew to his head where she laid on her stomach and looked down at him.

He groaned and muttered, "Should have known a fairy wouldn't take this seriously."

Duck smirked and took a step closer. "Miss fairy," she started sweetly. "We really need to get out of here. The Raven King has been doing some bad things and we need to stop him."

That struck a cord. The fairy jumped up and began to angrily talk, however Duck couldn't understand a word she was saying. In a final act of anger, the fairy stomped her foot and crossed her arms with a pout on her face, causing snowflakes to rain down on the Nutcracker once more.

"You know of the Raven King?" he asked hopefully.

She sternly shook her head yes but still stood defiantly on his head.

"If you showed us a way out, we'll be able to stop him," Duck carefully explained. "I'm sure you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

The fairy flew up to Ducks face and seemed to study her carefully as well. Finally straightening her back and saluting, she flew off into the darkness above them, leaving the girl and the wooden soldier alone.

"Not sure if that was a 'I'm going to help you' or a 'you're on you're own'," the Nutcracker mused.

"I'm not sure," Duck merely whispered back. "I was certain she'd help us."

Just then, snow began falling from the darkness and with the snowflakes came more specs of light, each seeming to dance with the softly wafting snow. Duck laughed gleefully as she watched more and more snow fairies appear before her while the Nutcracker watched in awe and slight confusion. The fairies began to circle her as they danced and the little blonde who was with them earlier pulled her finger as a means to dance with them. Duck was uncertain but the joy she felt as the fairies and snow danced around her seemed to make her feet move on their own.

As she danced, the Nutcracker watched silently, unsure what the fairies were intending by having the girl dance, but smiling softly at how much fun she was having. The fairies started circling him, but he just brushed them away and went back to watching with his arms crossed, completely content with standing on the sidelines.

Duck continued to dance happily, even if she did think she wasn't very good, when the fairies all swirled around her, creating a small vortex that caught up her skirt, her hair and quite a bit of snow at her feet. For a second she could have sworn she was flying when the combined light from the fairies caused both her and the Nutcracker to look away. When they looked back, all the fairies were gone and the cave was silent.

The two of them looked around when they both spotted it. The entrance to the cave was open! Somehow, the fairies had been able to remove the ice and rocks from their path and the Nutcracker took several eager steps forward.

"How did they..." He stopped and shook his head. "This is incredible. I never would have thought they would remove the rocks. Miss Duck, come on."

She was still a little dizzy from her dancing, but she quickly ran up to him, both stepping out into the sunlight and blinking from how bright it was. When she was finally able to see again, Duck' s eyes grew wide and she stared at the land before her in amazement.

She heard her Nutcracker chuckle at her reaction and he took a step forward, saying, "Welcome to Gold Crown."