Soon, the soldiers left the fog from the abandoned regent of this world and were right back into safety once more away from Mother Ginger. They left their horses once they were back in the castle as the people scrambled about, but a certain someone was seen fleeing away from the crowd.
"Children!" Sugar Plum soon called out as she rushed over to the young trio.
"We have it!" The kids announced once they saw the fairy woman dashing right toward them.
Sugar Plum squealed in response. "You clever children! Down, quick!" she then said, taking them back to the special room she had shown them before their quest. "Quickly! Finally! How long I've waited for this moment!"
Clara then gave Sugar Plum the key who then took it and put it in the lock, clicking it instantly. This began to make the gears and the machine whir as it was soon turning on, much to the excitement and anticipation of Sugar Plum. Clara, Jack, and Jill smiled as they looked happy to see Sugar Plum so exuberant.
"Wonderful!" Sugar Plum soon cheered before looking over. "Bring me the tin soldiers."
Cavalier and Harlequin soon walked by, pushing a rattling shelf with a collection of tin soldiers all lined up in boxes together.
Phillip looked unsure of this idea, however. "You can't use tin soldiers." he then said to the fairy.
"Well, of course I can," Sugar Plum defended. "Don't be silly."
"You have no idea how they'll behave," Phillip retorted. "They're completely hollow."
Jack and Jill soon looked a little unsure as well as Phillip.
"Sugar Plum, are you sure that this will work then?" Jack asked.
"Oh, don't worry~" Sugar Plum replied warmly. "They'll behave exactly as I tell them to. The perfect soldier. Put them on the platform!" she then told the two soldiers there before she winked at the kids. "It is time to think big."
The kids nodded before they hopped down as the tin soldiers were getting sorted out and Sugar Plum begin to turn the crank until they suddenly ran into Phillip.
"Are you sure about this?" Phillip whispered to the kids, but mostly to Clara for obvious reasons.
"She has to protect the realms." Clara replied softly while Jack and Jill nodded at her sides.
"Exactament~" Sugar Plum added as she stood at her post.
Cavalier soon climbed up the steps and dumped a box of tin soldiers right on the platform he was requested to do so.
"Ready... Steady... GO!" Sugar Plum began to cue before she pushed the button.
This soon lowered and activated what appeared to be a ray gun before it then instantly shot down on the tin soldiers right away. All anyone else could do right now was watch and wait to see what would happen next.
"So this will bring the soldiers to life?" Jack asked Phillip.
"It should, yes." Phillip nodded.
"Good to know." Jack replied as he looked forward along with his new friend and twin sister.
Soon, the ray stopped as the tin soldiers were soon growing to a larger size and were then slowly coming to life.
"Hello, boys!" Sugar Plum grinned once she saw that the tin soldiers had come to life, slowly sitting up and adjusting to their surroundings.
One soldier was soon looking around, right over to the kids. Jill let out a startled gasp before Jack comforted and protected his twin sister instantly.
"They're huge!" Clara gasped.
"I know," Sugar Plum grinned. "Isn't it magnificent?"
Clara, Jack, and Jill then looked over at Sugar Plum, looking a bit horrified at her reaction.
"Soldiers... Attention!" Sugar Plum soon called out to the soldiers with high anticipation.
"What is she up to?" Jack wondered.
"Hopefully something helpful?" Jill shrugged bashfully and nervously as she knew as much as her brother did right now.
The soldiers then stood up perfectly straight as they listened to whatever Sugar Plum told them to do.
"Report!" Sugar Plum then told the soldiers.
The soldiers then turned around on the platform and began to march over to the staircase that Cavalier was standing on and were slowly coming down.
"Prepare to march on The Fourth Realm." Sugar Plum then told the soldiers.
"Huh?" Jack and Jill soon asked out of confusion.
"March on the-" Clara began to repeat until she realized what was truly going on right now. "I thought this army was to defend us." she then said to the fairy.
"Well, attack is the best form of defense, my dear." Sugar Plum replied.
"Sugar Plum, what are you doing?" Jack asked.
"Yeah! This is wrong!" Jill added.
"My mother wouldn't have wanted this." Clara soon said softly.
"I don't care what your mother wanted," Sugar Plum retorted coldly. "She's not here."
"What are you talking about?!" Jack cried out.
"This isn't the Sugar Plum we know!" Jill added.
"The Sugar Plum you know is gone!" Sugar Plum retorted. "I'm in charge of this place now!"
"No! This isn't the way of a good fairy!" Jack replied.
"Not even Aunt Briar's fairy godmothers would do this!" Jill added before she paused. "...Except for maybe Carabosse, but she turned bad."
"Not to mention a delusional cannibal witch who was obsessed with Death." Jack scoffed quietly in memory of that adventure with The Avengers Grimm.
"Forget the way of a good fairy!" Sugar Plum retorted. "I'm doing it my way! I can handle The Four Realms myself! Besides, what do you two care?" she then added. "You're not even from this world or even Queen Marie's children!"
Clara frowned at how Sugar Plum was acting and how she was treating her new friends. "I... I order you to stop." she soon said, trying to be brave and strong, but was very sad and broken on the inside.
Sugar Plum scoffed in response. "You order me? Well, well, well. Finally ready to play queen, are we?" she then retorted. "Too late. I only needed you to bring me the key, and now that I have it. I have no more use for you, especially you two. Seize them!" she then yelled out to the soldiers who soon surrounded the kids and grabbed them instantly.
"Take your hands off them!" Phillip called out protectively as he drew his sword out at the tin soldiers.
"Oh, they won't listen to you," Sugar Plum taunted. "I gave them life, so they'll only listen to me."
"Traitor!" Phillip then snarled in response.
Clara pouted at the fairy they thought was their friend. "Why are you doing this?" she then asked weakly.
"Your mother abandoned us. And then... She just expects us to carry on and play nice," Sugar Plum defended coldly. "Well, I don't want to play nice!"
Jack soon realized something based on how the fairy was behaving. "Mother Ginger isn't the bad one... It's you, isn't it?" he then asked suddenly.
"She didn't do anything wrong," Clara added. "You lied to us!"
"To everyone." Jill then concluded.
Sugar Plum gave an icy smirk toward the three youngsters. "But I have a very special plan for Mother Ginger and the other regents. Watch," she then retorted coldly before she spoke a bit flirtatiously. "Oh, Guard... Will you stand over there, please?~"
The soldier was going that way, stepping onto the platform where the giant tin soldiers came from.
"Yes, just right in the center." Sugar Plum nodded sweetly before she then grabbed the lever and clicked it instantly.
Electricity crackled from the machine before shooting down on the soldier and it soon shrunk him down into a lifeless toy soldier suddenly.
"You see, there's a funny little perk to your mother's invention," Sugar Plum soon smirked at Clara. "It works both ways."
"Sugar Plum, I can't believe that you would do this to us!" Jack cried out. "Have you no heart?!"
"You are horrible!" Clara added.
"You are probably colder than Jack Frost and The Snow Queen!" Jill hissed as bravely as she could.
"How dare you speak to your queen that way!" Sugar Plum snapped before yelling out to her new soldiers to escort Clara, Phillip, and the twins away. "Guards! Lock them up. There's no way to escape."
As the group was being taken away, a certain mouse was sniffing around after coming into the work room. He then darted away while Sugar Plum was beginning to relish in her demented victory. She then pushed the button to get more living tin soldiers.
Meanwhile, Clara, Phillip, and the twins were being sent away to hopefully be locked up and to never be seen again. They were then thrown into a room together and the door was slammed shut in front of them to keep them in there.
"She can't get away with this!" Jack called out. "There's no way she's getting away with this!"
"I just can't believe she played us like that," Jill frowned and sadly shut her eyes. "I thought we were all going to be friends after this."
Jack frowned a bit and soon put his arm around Jill protectively and comfortingly. "It's okay, Jill. We couldn't have known that was going to happen," he then said. "Yes, she played us, but we'll get back at her. We helped stop Rumplestiltskin, Magda the Mad, and even Death himself."
Jill just sniffled and buried her face in her brother's shoulder.
"Heck, even Blackbeard," Jack then added. "We'll face even more after this and always have each other. Because, it's like Aunt Cinderella told Red. We're avengers."
"...Yeah, I guess so..." Jill then said softly and rather sadly.
"It's going to be okay," Jack comforted before he then looked at Phillip and Clara. "I'm sure that it will be."
Clara and Phillip looked soft as they weren't too sure about that, but they tried not to look too sad or hopeless for Jill's sake.
"Hey, there's a staircase here." Jack then said.
"Yes... We can go up it if we want," Phillip replied. "Would you like to? Clara probably needs to see something up there anyway." he then offered.
"Sure. I think that sounds good... At least as good as it can be in a place like this." Jack replied before looking at his sister.
Jill wiped her eyes as they dripped from her tears before she sighed. "...Okay," she then said softly. "Where are we going?"
"Follow me." Phillip told them before he began to go up the stairs before they would go after.
Clara gave a small smile to Jill before she went after Phillip first and soon, the twins finally went behind the two in front of them. They came into a room that had a giant telescope inside before Phillip headed over to the doors deep within the room above their prison before they came out onto a balcony together. It was a very long way up and a long way down while Jack and Jill watched their step with Clara as they looked down into the kingdom.
Phillip came in through a window on the roof as he looked about. "There's no way to escape." he then told the kids with regret in his voice.
"There has to be a way out of this." Jack said hopefully.
Jill just sighed as she looked defeated before she flinched and looked over as she heard other voices right behind them. Luckily, they both sounded very familiar and a lot more trustworthy than Sugar Plum right now.
"Get your hands off of me! Don't touch me!"
"Hands off!"
"How dare you!"
"I've never been treated like this in all my life. Get off! Oh, my God!"
"Shiver! Hawthorne!" Jill called out once she saw the two regents who soon looked back at her, Jack, and Clara.
"Alas... You're here as well, my children." Shiver soon said with a weary sigh.
"What's happening?" Hawthorne soon began to ask. "What's Sugar Plum doing? Why are we locked up here?"
Clara frowned as she began to look hopeless. "It's all my fault. I've let you all down." she then said.
"No. No." Hawthorne said softly.
"Clara, that's not true." Phillip told the girl.
"Besides, Sugar Plum lied to all of us." Jack added as a reminder.
"But I gave her the key and now she's going to use it to destroy the realms and everything that my mother loved." Clara retorted.
"...I guess that's true." Jill said softly.
"Jill!" Jack scolded slightly as that really wasn't helping right now.
"Clara, listen to me." Phillip began to tell the girl.
"No! I wanted to go home, but you stopped me, and now I've ruined everything." Clara retorted, very sad and angry right now.
Meanwhile, back with Sugar Plum as more and more tin soldiers were being created right before her very eyes. "This is more like it. A proper army," she then noted. "To create discipline, order, control. Boys in uniform with weapons. Sends a quiver right through me~" she then swooned a bit toward the soldiers rather eagerly.
Back with the others, Clara soon removed her soldier hat and went to sit alone, firmly pouting in defeat.
"Clara, you can't give up." Jack told the girl.
"Hmph! That's probably easy for you to say," Clara replied with a huff. "You and your sister might be avengers, but I definitely am not."
"Clara, don't say that..." Jack said. "Even in most stories we all know, things always look bleak right before there's about to be good news."
"Well... Sometimes I'm not sure about that either," Jill said softly as she stared out the door. "We probably shouldn't have gotten involved in this story."
"Now Jill, don't you say that now," Jack replied. "It's a good thing we came, especially since Aunt Alice got to reunite with her family after finding Wonderland and being busy with Looking Glass."
"No offense, Jack, but I really don't think even avengers can get out of this scrape." Clara huffed to the boy who refused to give up.
"Well, you two might wanna give up and call it quits, but I won't," Jack replied. "I've always been the stronger one between me and Jill, so even when things are getting dark for all of us, I'm going to hold onto hope no matter what it takes."
Jill looked over before looking down and away from her twin brother.
"I'm too determined to give up now, so I won't let either of you hold me back even if Phillip says that there's no escape," Jack replied. "...At least that's what Sugar Plum would want us to think."
"How do we get out of this then?" Jill then asked Jack.
"I don't know for sure, but we should probably look inside ourselves and then find the answer that way." Jack suggested.
Jill soon paused thoughtfully. "Hmm... Look inside ourselves..." she then said.
"What does Mother always tell us whenever we're in trouble?" Jack then prompted his twin sister.
Jill sighed softly before looking back at him. "'No life is worth a kingdom'," she then quoted. "I don't know how it can help us right now though, Jack."
"Something will turn up..." Jack replied thoughtfully. "I know it will."
Clara soon shook her head before they all suddenly heard random music. She then looked around before she reached into her skirt pocket and took out the egg music box as she examined it before flipping the inside of it around and soon saw her reflection was it was a mirror obviously enough as she decided to look inside herself like Jack had suggested. "'Everything you need is inside'..." she then memorized before realizing that she now had an answer. "It's me."
"It's you?" Jill asked.
"All of us too, but mostly me," Clara replied. "I think I know what I have to do now."
"That's good," Jack smiled warmly and proudly at Clara. "Just don't forget about us too."
"Right, of course, I couldn't forget about two of my new best friends too!" Clara beamed and nodded in eager agreement.
Jack and Jill smiled warmly as they loved that enthusiasm so far as it sounded very promising.
"So now what?" Jill then asked.
"Come on," Clara replied. "Let's go see Phillip then."
The kids then left their current spot and then went to see the very nice and helpful soldier who had truly been their friend throughout this whole adventure so far. They approached the man who sat across from them with his head kept down low, almost though as he had been ashamed of what had been going on recently.
"Captain. I'm sorry for blaming you," Clara said as she approached the soldier first with her egg in her hands. "This is all my fault, and I'm going to fix it."
"Will you help us help Clara?" Jack soon added.
Phillip sighed as he bowed his head, looking very unsure at first.
"Please?" The kids then added hopefully.
Phillip looked away before nodding his head with a small smile as he looked willing then. "Of course I will. Nutcrackers are very loyal." he then told them.
Jack and Jill were soon very happy along with Clara.
"You are indeed." Clara warmly replied to Phillip.
"So what do we do now?" Jill soon asked.
"Just leave it to me, Avengers Grimm," Clara replied. "And perhaps one day I could become one like you and Aunt Alice?"
"I think that would be very nice, Clara." Jack smiled hopefully at that possibility.
"After all, we've recruited Peter Pan and Tinkerbell," Jill added. "...Hopefully Tinkerbell doesn't betray Peter though as Sugar Plum betrayed us."
"I don't think she will though." Jack replied softly.
Clara then began to sort out a plan with Phillip, the twins, and of course Shiver and Hawthrone which involved using somee rope.
"Are you ready?" Clara then asked once the plan was set.
"Make sure it's good and tight." Jack added.
"It is and I'm ready." Phillip nodded as he held onto the rope.
Clara then also nodded before signaling Shiver and Hawthorne. "Go!" she then told the other two regents.
Shiver and Hawthorne nodded, though stepping out of the way as Phillip pulled on the rope and soon came crashing down was a chandelier, shattering into pieces in the middle of the floor. Everyone flinched a bit from the broken glass, but luckily, no one was hurt by it.
"Sorry." Phillip then said after dropping the chandelier.
"That's okay, Phillip." Jack and Jill reassured since no one was hurt.
Clara then pulled on the rope to bring it out the window as Jack and Jill joined her.
"Just don't look down." Jack warned Jill.
"Don't say that while we're going up!" Jill replied firmly to her brother as that almost never helped.
"Sorry. Sorry." Jack then said before they went out the window with the rope.
Shiver and Hawthorne looked very worried and concerned for the kids as this would be a very precarious task to their escape plan.
"A bit more." Clara said as she went to move the rope as Phillip took the other end before Jack and Jill would join her.
"My dear, that doesn't look very secure." Shiver warned Clara from the window as he began to live up to his name, worrying about the kids instantly.
"You can't," Hawthorne frowned. "It's not gonna work."
"It's just the laws of physics." Clara reassured them.
"She's very smart." Jack said to Jill with a small smile.
"I'm sure that you think so~" Jill replied as she seemed to have a knowing smirk.
Phillip looked over to Clara from the other side in concern. "Do those laws always work?" he then asked her cautiously.
"Always!" Clara replied loudly before adding something quietly to herself. "As far as I know."
That then began to concern Jack and Jill.
"Ready." Clara then said once she got set.
"Ready." Phillip nodded.
Shiver and Hawthorne only looked on in fear for the dear children.
"Go!" Clara then said before she hopped down from the swan head first with the rope.
Shiver, Hawthorne, Jack, and Jill stood together looked down as Clara swooped down with the rope. As she went all the way down from the building, she carefully landed on her feet and the end of the rope at the top that latched and spun tightly onto the swan head above where others stood and waited from the roof of their prison.
"Clara..." Hawthorne whispered worriedly.
"Are you coming down too?" Phillip asked the twins then.
"Just give us a moment." Jack nodded.
"Well, okay." Phillip said before he went climbing down after Clara.
"Okay, Jill, since you can't use your water power because it'll just freeze from the coldness in this world, just relax," Jack said before he took a deep breath. "Just follow right down after me and it will be okay."
Jill took a deep breath in and shivered. "Can't you turn into a dragon or something and help us down?" she then asked.
"I'm sorry, Jill, but I don't think I have the power to turn into mythical creatures," Jack said softly. "It's either you go down the rope with me or you just stay and wait here for the rest of us."
Jill swallowed thickly as she looked down from the height. She then took a deep breath before she mustered as much courage as possible before reaching the rope and going down.
"Don't worry, Jill. I'll make this up to you someway, somehow." Jack promised quietly before he went down after his twin sister.
The two continued to climb down before they were soon on the ground with Phillip and Clara who waited for them down there.
"There you are," Clara said in relief. "Congratulations, Jill. You did it."
"Believe me, it wasn't easy." Jill nodded, still a bit scared but was luckily more calm since she was down on the ground again.
"Now, what's our next task?" Jack then asked Clara.
"We be quiet and go after Sugar Plum." Clara instructed.
"Right." Jack and Jill nodded.
And soon, they walked off and went to go back from where they had come from and heard a hauntingly familiar voice.
"That's more like it!" Sugar Plum's voice soon announced.
"There she is." Clara said once she heard the evil fairy's voice.
"Out with the old, in with the new," Sugar Plum commanded her new army who marched about and even beat their own drums. "Gather at the gate. Wait for my command. Jog on, boys." she then added before walking in a different direction.
"She's going," Clara noted. "We have to get to the Engine Room and stop this."
"We can't get in this way." Phillip warned.
"There must be some other way then." Jill guessed.
"But how?" Jack then wondered.
Soon, a very familiar mouse squeaked and scampered over their way.
"Mouserinks. Get out of here!" Phillip glared about to step right on the mouse in disgust.
Jack and Jill heard the mouse squeaking and it sounded rather urgent.
"Wait! I think he's trying to tell us something." Jack warned.
"Do you know a different way to the Engine Room, Mouserinks?" Jill soon asked the mouse.
Mouserinks squeaked a bit before dashing away again.
"Quickly." Clara then said, deciding to trust the mouse.
"Are you sure that we should trust this mouse?" Jill soon asked her brother.
"If Sugar Plum was our friend only to lie to us, who's to say that this mouse is the opposite of what we were told?" Jack replied.
"...I guess that's a good point," Jill said after thinking it over. "And Mother Ginger is innocent."
"Exactly." Jack nodded before they followed after Phillip, Clara, and Mouserinks.
Soon, they followed the mouse as he squeaked, finding a cover on the floor that hid a hole as the others caught up that way. Seeing the cover on the floor, Clara looked over at Phillip and nodded at him so that he could remove the cover for them so that they could continue downward since Mouserinks seemed to want them to go down that way. Phillip then moved the cover for them which prompted the kids to go down too as they soon trusted Mouserinks, especially a lot more than Sugar Plum right now. Mouserinks then hopped down into Clara's hands right away and Phillip closed the hole above them once they all made it gently down underground.
"Thank you for your help." Clara told Mouserinks warmly who seemed to smile at them for trusting him.
"Good mouse." Jack added.
"Now that you helped us down here, do you know how to get to the Engine Room from here?" Jill then asked Mouserinks hopefully.
Mouserinks squeaked in response.
"I'm still not sure if we can trust him." Phillip commented.
Mouserinks then seemed to squeak a little angrily at the nutcracker soldier in response.
"Don't start with me, mouse!" Phillip then glared at the mouse in warning.
"All right, stop!" Clara scolded. "We don't have much time. We need to work together."
Mouserinks soon began to squeak at them to tell them what to do next.
"Show us." Clara then told the mouse.
Mouserinks then squeaked before running off through the underground. Jack, Jill, Phillip, and Clara then ran after, splashing through the waters in the catacombs and they were led to a door with a pair of swans on the front of it. Phillip then opened the door and soon, they were outside and the waters were rushing outside, leading to a waterfall down below. Though, they seemed to have lost their mouse friend.
"Where'd he go?" Phillip then wondered.
"This way!" Clara then said once she found their new friend.
Soon, they rushed after the mouse who came to a stop. They looked around and found water wheels as that seemed to be their answer on what to do next. Or at least what Clara thought on what they should do next.
"We should be able to ride the wheels up to the Engine Room." Clara soon suggested to the others.
"All right... I'll go first." Phillip soon told the young ones.
Jack and Jill nodded until Clara said something that made them look her way in concern.
"No! You have to warn Mother Ginger," Clara told Phillip then. "Those soldiers will be heading to The Fourth Realm."
"What? I'm not going to leave you, children." Phillip replied.
"We can handle this. You have to trust us," Clara said as bravely as she could muster. "Please."
Phillip looked thoughtful before he then nodded. "I do."
"Mouserinks, can you take the captain to Mother Ginger?" Jill then asked the helpful mouse.
Mouserinks squeaked and nodded.
"Thank you." Clara said thankfully as the mouse left her shoulder to go on Phillip's shoulder.
"Be careful. That's an order, Captain." Clara then told Phillip.
Mouserinks then squeaked to Phillip and seemed to imitate Clara even by wagging his paw at the nutcracker soldier like how Clara wagged her finger. Soon, Clara was about to climb down the rock wall first while Jack and Jill would go down after her. However, Clara stepped down on one wrong spot and soon nearly slipped and yelped before Phillip then quickly grabbed her before she would fall any further, much to the relief of Jack and Jill.
"Thank you, Captain." Clara sighed in relief.
"Please, Clara, call me Phillip." Phillip replied after saving her bravely.
"Thank you, Phillip." Clara then said.
"Yes, thank you, Phillip." Jack added.
"And good luck," Jill added before she gently patted Mouserinks on the head with her finger. "You too, Mouserinks."
Mouserinks squeaked in response as though to thank Jill.
Phillip nodded before looking at his new partner. "Let's go, mouse. Lead the way." he then told Mouserinks.
Mouserinks soon began to squeak at him as though to talk to him, though the nutcracker soldier didn't understand the mouse like Clara, Jack, and Jill could.
"I don't speak 'Rodent'." Phillip then told Mouserinks.
Mouserinks soon squeaked again before pointing directions for the nutcracker soldier. Phillip sighed and shook his head before he soon went to follow Mouserinks' directions to go and find Mother Ginger. The kids soon climbed the rock wall, trying to make it to the water wheel, but it was not as easy as it sounded, especially since they noticed that the rocks were very slippery. It got worse as crows cawed and swarmed out from the rocks, startling them, but they luckily didn't fall as they tried their best to continue onward.
"Okay, there's the wheel," Jack soon said. "Now be very careful and we can all make it there."
"Right." Jill and Clara nodded in agreement.
The water wheel came closer into view. The kids took their time and soon pulled themselves over and soon made it right onto the water wheel and soon spun around a bit and made it! They then held on tightly before they were soon being brought back up to the top, splashing within the water, but that was hard to help.
"Phew... We made it." Jill sighed in relief.
"Yeah." Jack panted breathlessly as that took a lot of hard work and effort.
"Now, this way," Clara told her new friends before crouching down and finding a door for them to go through with the water wheel. "Be very careful."
"We're right behind ya, Clara." Jack and Jill nodded as they crouched down after her.
They soon slid across on their stomachs as the wheel spun over them.
"All right, grab onto the wheel and it'll bring us up." Clara then told the twins as she thought as quickly as possible.
"Right." Jack and Jill added as they nodded, agreeing with that.
They soon waited for the right time and soon, they each grabbed one way as the wheel spun and they were lifted right off of the floor and brought onto the next platform to lead them right inside of the Engine Room.
"Okay, right that way and we should be very quiet like mice." Clara then said.
"Clara, you are very amazing," Jack said to the girl. "I guess you are your mother's daughter after all."
Clara smiled as that seemed to really make her day. "Thank you, Jack. You too, Jill," she then said. "You two are really good friends."
Jack and Jill smiled back as they soon continued. They just hoped that Phillip had enough time to warn Mother Ginger.