Drosselmeyer's time

'Even the tiniest crack can lead to wondrous places. Find yourself a way through walls. Everything is set, nothing is certain. Time is absolute, a place of silence does not exist. Time is always moving, it is like it always has been.'

"Drosselmeyer can stop it. Please answer me. Tell me how I can reach him while I'm frozen in time!"

'No, he can't.' The oak tree corrected him in its calm soothing voice. Fakir was glad it was past its point of only reciting riddles and a feeling of optimism welled up inside him.

"What do you mean he can't? Please tell me, I need to help my child. She cannot do this alone!"

'Drosselmeyer exists outside time. It is a void where time is only pretending to count and one second can count for many hours. Drosselmeyer can only do that, hold one second to his needs. However, a world cannot be held captive by time and soon it will move on.'

"So he can never be here for long?" Fakir pressed on. Hope and desperation rushed through his head, making his contact with the old spirit become vague and the tree's voice began to sound distant. Fakir could hear one more line before he was pulled back to his own reality and found himself on the ground in that strange garden again.

'He needs to make his time count.'

'What exactly does that mean? Fakir wondered as he stood up and turned around to meet Mytho's anxious face.

"What did it tell you?" He immediately asked and he hardly allowed himself to breath while he waited for his friend to reply. They both had the same heart in this and it tore Mytho apart that he couldn't speak with the tree himself. He knew almost nothing about Drosselmeyer, it all always happened around him. It didn't matter Fakir had two daughters involved and Mytho had one, Myre was Mytho's only child and so his heartache was the same.

"Apparently time can't be stopped, not even by Drosselmeyer, so I guess it means that when Drosselmeyer appears he needs to make his visit quick. He can't tear up time, it will force itself to move again at some point. The tree said that he needs to make his time count."

"Could that mean that his visits are beginning to become impossible? Is he disappearing because he is supposed to be dead?" Mytho guessed.

"That's my guess as well. I think he can control Isa when time isn't moving and when it does, what she has written will happen, but when he visited me at the time of the Raven, Duck was moving into the lake of despair while I had to write it, so something is not adding up here." Fakir was now thinking out loud.
"At any rate, time is taking its toll on his abilities. Last time he only visited us twice."

"Can he draw power by using Isa?" Mytho asked.

"Maybe." Fakir mumbled. He was deep in thought now. He had thought of something. Something that a memory had brought him.
"I am going to break Drosselmeyer's control and contact Isa with my own pen, Mytho. I have to try."

"That might work." Mytho agreed and he nodded encouragingly. New hope began to blaze in his eyes.

"Myre! Myre, it's me, Uzura! I want to help you!" Uzura circled a few times around the house. It was noon and even though it was a Sunday she knew Myre was the only one at home. Rue was not home and neither was Mytho. Normally Myre was very social and she too would have gone into town to hang out with friends, but she no longer did that. Uzura heard flapping wings and low calls coming up from Myre's bed room window and took a few steps away from the house to look up to the right window. As far as she could see six seagulls had gathered on Myre's windowsill and four of them were half way inside, they were making low noises and Uzura got the eerie feeling the birds were speaking to her.
"Myre!" Uzura called again. Then suddenly all six seagull hopped on the edge of the windowsill and dived down. With a cry Uzura bent through her knees and made herself as small as she could to protect herself. But all the birds did was give her a fright. They remained silent as they gathered around her. Myre suddenly seemed to materialise in front of Uzura. She stood there silently and watched Uzura straighten up as if nothing was wrong. She looked coldly, as if Uzura came to her rarely.
"Myre, I'm so sorry that I didn't come to you sooner." Uzura said to her kindly and she stepped closer to her young neighbour. Myre stayed nailed on the spot, but her eyes were active and showed every emotion she felt and the coldness made way for shock and hurt.
"Oh no, it's alright!" Uzura tried, but Myre flinched away. A seagull landed on her shoulder and made a threatening call to Uzura and the latter withdrew the hand she had reached out.

"You make me realise what I will become. I don't want to know that." Myre whispered with staring eyes. Her voice was weak as if she hadn't spoken in a long time. Uzura wasn't sure she understood what Myre meant and feverishly shook her head.

"No, no, I want to help, but you have to let me. Please!" she pleaded. "I know what is happening to you and I know why, Drosselmeyer created a new story, based on La Sylphide. You suffer from heartbreak. I've seen it before, but I already helped a few." The desperation rang loudly in Uzura's voice as she told Myre all this. She had to gain Myre's trust right now, because she had wasted enough time as it was.

"Van wears his heart on his sleeve." Myre remarked dryly. "He never rejected me, but I will not bother him to, because I already know his feelings."

Uzura knew this and she knew what she could say, she had pondered over it for a while now.
"Listen Myre, you are still so young and Van is too. I'm sure nothing is certain yet. You have to wait and see."

"He has no interest in me, other than pity. Once we played together and he understood me without me having to share much. He isn't like other boys, because he can look past my legacy, skill and looks. But that is over now. He doesn't see me differently, because there was never really something there. I imagined it."

Uzura began to feel very uncertain. She didn't know of this connection Myre spoke of. She, Myre and Van were once playmates, but this seemed to happen away from her. maybe she should have talked to Van first. Maybe she should ask him about Myre's nightly visits when she transformed into a Sylph.
"Listen Myre, Van wants to help you. He thinks it is his responsibility."

It is his responsibility!" Myre spat back and the birds around her began to shift on their spots and flap with their wings. Uzura took a few involuntarily steps backwards. She saw the blazing fire in Myre's eyes. It was very similar to the gaze Ella had and Uzura thought it best not to try too much. For one thing it would be better to remain Uzura and not transform into Princess Marionette. It wouldn't do any good, she was certain of that.
"Myre, can you tell me what you feel? Why is Van the cause of your unhappiness?"

Myre sighed and released Uzura from her intense gaze by shutting her eyes for a moment.
"You remember that we used to play together, always?" Myre locked her eyes with Uzura again.

"Yes I remember."

"I know that I am the youngest, but that never really seemed to matter. Even though Van is two years older than me, he was always with me and for years we could speak to each other with great understanding. Van is more than a friend to me, one that gives you hope and happiness, but when you moved one, he began to move with you and now I am left behind. I don't even know your best friend, but he does and she replaced me." Myre's last words were bitter and venomous. So much that it startled Uzura. Van was not the only person Myre blamed.
"Now I'm left with people who don't understand me and assume I don't have anything bothering me!" Myre's voice was filled with sorrow and frustration and it drove the birds into an attack. They all rose up from the ground and opened their beaks and flapped their wings threateningly.

"Stop it! Stop!" Uzura screamed over the deafening noise the birds were making and several pairs of wings hit her and knocked her to the ground. When Uzura looked up she saw Myre looking at her, but there was hardly an emotion to read on her face. Uzura refused to let Myre stay like this. She stood up and stared hard into her eyes. Myre was stubborn and proud, just like her mother, but Uzura knew a thing or two about being stubborn herself, not to mention persistent!
"Myre, Van hasn't forgotten you and I haven't either. Van wants to help you and it pains him to know that he has to stay away to do that. Van told me that he tried many times to talk to you, but you wouldn't let him. I've seen your reaction to him. You have to try as well, Myre. You have to see that it is not over!"

"It is over." Myre said bluntly. "It is over and he only wants to tell me that. His pity for me is not enough, it is not an excuse nor a remedy."

"You may be right about that." Uzura said gently. "Right now he wants to help you as a friend and a really good friend, but who's to say that can never grow into something more. You both are still at the start of this and years can change things. Van might love you if you let him. Just wait." Uzura tried out a smile, but Myre rejected it and bit her lip.

"You better go." She said steely.

Isa shut her door with a heavy heart and tried to calm herself down as she took her seat behind her writing desk. Drosselmeyer would soon be with her and force her to write a terrible display for her sister and her friends. Uzura had succeeded to free twelve Sylphs in one night and Drosselmeyer would want to get even with her. He was bound to plan something cruel for somebody else in Gold Crown Town. Hans had told Conrad about her fate and Isa was certain Conrad told Uzura. Isa tried to tell herself that it was better that Uzura knew and maybe her parents found out as well, but Isa wanted to be alone in this. It was better for her to suffer alone. Uzura was already in danger and she wanted her parents to be spared. Their fates had always been tied to Drosselmeyer's existence and she wished that, for once, they would be left out of it. If only she could have kept Uzura out of it as well, but Isa couldn't even write one letter on her own ability! She glimpsed at the black dummy that sat on the corner of her desk. Absentmindedly she drew it towards her and opened the blanc book on the first page.

'Isa would not write on her own while Drosselmeyer had his influence in town. She was unsure of what might await her.'

Isa was surprised. These were the thoughts that occupied her mind ever since Edel warned her not to write, but someone else had told her this. Like a narrator he had told the story of her thoughts, directly into her head. Her heart began to beat faster, but it was not from fright, but with hope and relieve overwhelmed.
Her father had found her. He had to be writing. Maybe he was not even home, but he wrote a story about her as he once had done for her mother to give her courage and guidance.

"Papa." She whimpered and her vision began to blur with tears. She felt save as she let her father speak to her and narrate his thoughts.

'The father hears his little child's reply and it fills him with hope and sadness. He wishes he could be with her, let her shed her tears in his warm embrace, but they both know it had to be this way. He still is a knight who would fail in wielding a sword, but that would never stop his need to protect the ones he loves most in this world. He knows of his daughter's bravery well, she inherited it from both him and his wife. He understands that it sometimes seems easier to bear the burden alone, but his daughter has to understand that that will never be true. She has to understand that her father wishes to share all her pain so that he can lift it off her shoulders, bit by bit.'
He then speaks directly into her ear with a caring voice.
'Isa, don't be afraid. You are not alone anymore, I promise.'

Isa became aware of all her father's feelings as he wrote them down and then she heard his warm voice, telling her these caring words. The tears that had filled her eyes started to roll over her cheeks and drip from her chin as she automatically nodded her understanding, knowing that her father could not be aware of it. She understood how much she had longed for this moment, to give her burden away and depend on someone to be there for her, for at least one of her parents to reach out to her during these impossible moments and be with her.

"Hello again, my little Isa." Drosselmeyer's deep voice said from the far corner of her room and Isa froze on the spot, afraid to move. Drosselmeyer laughed at her reaction like he always did and his voice became an ominous cackle that hit all four walls of her room.

'It will be alright, because my daddy found me.' Isa thought to herself but she felt her hands and knees tremble.

"Well my dear, we need to fix the wrongs in the story today. We don't want to give anyone the wrong impressions. That's fatal for a story, you know?"

"But sure there are people who like these impressions?" Isa opted with only a small sliver of hope he might consider her thoughts about the matter. She knew it was wasted breath, but she had to say something to this insanity!

"Oh my dear, as a writer you can't afford to be swept off by another public, you should stick to your plans. You have to be passionate and don't let other people's opinions rule over you. Come now my dear, that's just plain logic." Drosselmeyer shook his head sadly as if Isa had disappointed him with her question. He always liked to pretend she was his 'willing' apprentice.
"Now let us start, shall we?" He said and a turning wheel appeared on the wall facing Isa. Courage left her again as she watched her sister and her friend Van materialise in the slow spinning wheel. No doubt Drosselmeyer had high plans for their conversation.

Uzura had called Van to meet her on the edge of the park. She had to help Myre and she could not do that without Van, despite what he had said. Myre was not just a Sylph, no, she was something else. Drosselmeyer made sure she would not be forgotten like the others and sent those birds to her. No doubt he wanted Myre to play a role similar to the roles her parents had played in the time of the Raven. Van came running into view and called out a greeting before he came to a halt in front of Uzura. She wasted no time either and came right to the point. She told him what had happened and told him what Myre had said to her. Van took it hard. He swallowed and brought his right hand to his frowning forehead to help him think.

"I never knew she looked so deeply into our friendship, I'm sorry, I never knew." Van said finally and his hand trailed on to the back his head and his voice rang with frustration.
"You know that, don't you Uzura? How I see Myre?"

"Yes Van, I do and I told her that, but.."

"But what, what Uzura? There's nothing to it than that!" Van suddenly burst.

Uzura was truly taken aback by Van's anger towards her. She couldn't say she understood the exact reason for it. She had told Myre the truth and Van too was worried about her.

"How do you imagine we possibly change this?" Van went on in growing volume. "You told Myre to hope, but that's just a lie she will soon figure out, it will not help her! I want to help her as much as you do, but I cannot change my heart!"

"Yes I know Van, but think about it. You two are young, but already have a good bond, maybe something will happen!" Uzura tries and she tried a calming smile, but it fled as soon as she saw the growing rage on her friend's face. He remained silent, but stared at her hard and Uzura felt herself crumble under his glare.

"Is that what you would like, Uzura?" He said at last with controlled anger. Uzura took another step backwards and tried to find the right answer. She wanted Van to calm down, but she doubted any answer would lessen his anger. She really didn't mean for him to be under this much pressure.

"No Van, I only want Myre to hope again."

"You only gave her false hope!" Van Snapped.

"Please calm down Van. I know how much you want to help Myre. How you feel responsible for her pain. Maybe it's because you overlooked something. Haven't you tried to save her all this time?"

Van didn't reply and a painful silence fell between them. Then Van relaxed his shoulders and looked at Uzura with deep disappointment.
"I am leaving now Uzura and I ask you never to bring this up again." He said sharply and with that he turned around and left.

Uzura was hurt and shocked. This wasn't how she had thought this conversation would go. She had thought Van more open to it. After all those nights talking to Myre he had to know exactly how Myre felt and have processed it by now, but he hadn't. Now he acted as though he never really knew Myre that well. Had Myre imagined their connection? Was age not the only wall between them? Uzura wanted to know what it was that Van blamed her for not knowing, but Uzura was wrong about how quickly she wanted to find out. Just as she turned around to head home as well, her path was blocked by the sudden arrival of Rina and she looked far from happy.

"Uzura, what do you think you are doing?" Rina asked her coldly and a shiver ran down Uzura's spine. She had never heard Rina speak in that way. Her chocolate brown eyes harboured hate and her lips formed a stern thin line.
"Uzura I ask you to please think of what you are doing. You cannot be this ignorant! How can you possibly ask Van such a thing!"

"Rina, were you here the whole time?" It was the only thing Uzura could think of to say to this. Her mind had melted by the shock of having hurt her two best friends. This Rina was not the good friend she had known from her childhood. This Rina didn't see the world in a brilliant light, but with hurt, hurt that came from betrayal. Uzura had let both Rina and Van down and she began to understand that too late.

"I never thought you would think of such a thing." Rina went on. "It's true then, you really don't know the human heart, otherwise you would know that it would never work!" She accused and Uzura took the blow right into her heart.

"Rina?" she chocked with a growing lump in her throat. Her knees trembled, but what she had done to deserve it soon became clear to her like a thunder clash.

"How could you ask Van to try and love Myre, just to save her?" Rina asked her and she seemed close to her breaking point. All her anger had been a protection shield from her pain that was now failing her. She suddenly stood right in front of Uzura and she grabbed the latter's upper arms and shook her violently for a short time.
"Uzura, aren't you my friend?" She asked in a high voice when she let her go again and her voice shook heavily with tears. "How could you do that? How would you like it if I had asked Conrad to open his heart to Ella because that was what she wanted?"

Now Uzura understood, Rina loved Van as well, but it was more than that. Myre hadn't said it, but when she managed Rina it was clear that she feared Van might be taken away. Rina was different, it had been what Ella had seen in her when she looked into her soul. Rina wasn't possessive or jealous, but by asking Van to look into his heart for Myre's sake, Uzura had unwillingly unlocked a hidden fear in Rina's heart. The fear of losing Van's love for her. Now Uzura understood why Van had been so angry.

"I'm so sorry Rina for not understanding, but I do now." Uzura cried out, still shocked of her own stupidity. She hung her head and shook it in shame. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt any of you."

"What is this?" Drosselmeyer asked and he stared at the written scene in his book. "This was not supposed to happen. Uzura's friend should have broken all bounds with her. She should have cursed Myre and even want to hurt her, what happened to my beautiful plans? I have to check Isa's work. This won't do!" With a swinging motion, Drosselmeyer wrapped his cape around his shoulders and wanted to leave, but he stopped to think.

'Wait, I have a better idea.' Broadly grinning he sat himself down again and took his book in front of him and wrote some lines, then a spinning wheel moved in front of him. Drosselmeyer looked at the written words on Isa's desk through the spinning wheel and noticed a change.

"I can't believe it!" he exclaimed. "It's that useless knight again! My meddling great-great-grandson. I had thought I had outsmarted him this time, but here he is messing with my tragedy again! And to think he would change it exactly the same way he did the first time. How pathetic of me to let this happen! Well, I'm sure he is watching now, I will show him what I can do." Laughing to his own plan, he suddenly stopped writing and watched what happened. It took only a second to take effect. Isa had been unaware that he had suddenly released her from his control and wrote on by herself. Blood began to creep from under her nails onto the paper and her face twisted in a painful scream as the tremendous strain from the power shot through her body.

"See, you better watch out, little one." Drosselmeyer told her laughingly as he began to rock joyfully in his chair.

AN: I AM SOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! I truly am and I hope you all can forgive me for updating so late, but my exam is really becoming a pain and I'm still not finished and with it came three essays I had to write :( So please do think too badly of me and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review!

Also I have a question, has anyone a good idea for Markerhein's punishment? I know it is a little back into the story, but he still needs to be punished by Drosselmeyer and I want something really cruel.