Hey guys, I'm here with the second chapter of Russell's winter adventure. He returns to the Winter Kingdom to find that something isn't right. And soon, he's about to find out why. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OC's. Nostalgia-Margo owns her OC's.

Chapter 2: Return to Winter Wonderland

Russell shielded his eyes from the snowflakes that blew his way. He was following the direction of Carla's poster... and the mysterious voice that was calling his name. He had no idea where he was going. The poster was getting farther and farther away, and the boy was having a hard time

Soon... he somehow reached the other side of the woods and found himself on the edge of a downward slope... looking out towards a very familiar setting. A forest and village at the bottom, and in the distance... looked like...

"The... The Winter Kingdom!" Russell realized, "I... I'm back. But... why does everything look purple?"

He wasn't wrong. The sky and the palace especially... was a shade of purple. Something that wasn't there before. Curious, Russell started to slide down the snowy slope in hopes of figuring out what was going on. Immediately, he found himself in the Freezing Forest at the bottom of the slope. The child walked around, still looking for Carla's poster.

"Where could it be...?" He wondered.

As he walked, he noticed something in the distance... coming his way. Nervous, the boy hid behind a tree, peeking behind to see who it was. It appeared to be two teen boys dressed in purple... and they were... flying. They had wings. Were they... fairies...? He started to see more of them flying around as if they were looking for someone or something.

If Russell had to make a guess, these seemed to be guards of some kind, judging by the purple spears they were holding. But guards of what... or who... and where did they come from?

"The princess can't hide forever. The Queen wants her dead or alive." He heard one of them say.

"It's been a while. She might have fleed the kingdom at this point."

"No matter. The Queen wants her found."

What?

The princess is wanted dead or alive? Where is she? Why was she hiding? And who is this 'queen' they're talking about?

He leaned against the back of the tree, as and he did... the bark opened up as if it were a door, and Russell ended up falling into the tree, down a pathway, and into an underground room. The child felt in a daze as he lied on his back, "What a ride..."

"Halt!"

Suddenly, a candy cane was pointed in his face. Russell held his hands up in defense. He looked up at what was a female guard in front of him, until someone else walked up to her, "Stand down, Cheryl. It's okay. It looks like an old friend..." He said.

"Oh? Well, alright."

"Yeah. I'm completely innocent." Russell said, finding this greeting rather familiar.

"Russell... is that you?"

"Huh?"

The child looked up to look at his surroundings. It appeared to be a snowy hideout, with a rug, a bookshelf, a chair, and a couch. He quickly found that he wasn't alone as he was suddenly picked up and hugged tightly by a familiar friend, "Oh my goodness! You came back! You actually came back!" She beamed.

"Princess Carla...?"

"Yes, Russell!"

The other company in the room was delighted to see the boy, "Looks like the Nutcracker has returned." said Bill, Captain of the Guard.

"Good to see you, North Philly native." Harold greeted.

"Welcome back." Bucky also greeted.

"Yeahb." Mush added.

There were three new people that Russell didn't recognize, but he just smiled, "Nice you see you guys again. I never thought I'd make it back. But I heard someone calling my name and well... here I am."

Carla smiled, "I guess my calls worked after all... oh! I must introduce you to Camille, my lady in waiting and advisor. Wendy, my handmaiden. And Cheryl, the newest member of the Royal Guard."

The three girls smiled as they introduced themselves.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Camille greeted.

"Nicsh to meet sha." Wendy curtsied with her usual lisp.

"It's such an honor to be of assistance," Cheryl added, shaking the little kid's hand.

Russell made note of how they each looked like the Camille, Wendy, and Cheryl he knew. It was starting to look like his first adventure. And if there were Winter Kingdom versions of those three, then there had to be Winter Kingdom versions of the rest of the girls, right?

"Well, it sure is good to see you all... but now that I've heard your cries for help, I need to know what's going on. Why are you hiding? And what's happened to the Winter Kingdom? The sky's all purple." He pointed above, "And what were those strange fairies? I heard them saying that some queen wants the princess dead or alive..." he asked.

Everyone looked at each other, before Bill spoke, "It's a rather long story. You might wanna take a seat."

Russell sat down on a couch, next to Carla, as Bill started to explain, "It started off like any other day here in the Winter Kingdom. My crew and I doing our usual patrols, and the princess preparing for the Winter Ball. As we were reporting back to her as we do, we suddenly heard noises from outside the palace. To our shock, we were getting invaded by fairies."

"They were attacking the Toy Village and the Freezing Forest animals." Harold added, "We tried to stop them, but there were so many."

"Not to mention, we realized that they weren't just any old fairies... they were the Sugar Plum Fairies... led by their queen, Lourdes. Or Lulu for short."

"Queen Lourdes?" Russell was confused.

"Yep. Of the Sugar Plum Forest. The fairies are in charge of growing and harvesting the Sugar Plum trees. They grow the plums to make tea and juice, delivering it to other cities and towns."

Carla spoke up, "We've never been able to get our hands on sugar plums for unknown reasons, but I would sure love some of their tea."

Bill smiled at her, "Don't we all, your highness? Anyways, Lourdes directs the whole process to make sure it goes swimmingly, I believe. She has magic, and uses a wand to her advantage. However, there have been rumors that she has gone mad with power... and has set her sights on our kingdom. Now it appears that the rumors are true, and we failed to heed the warning signs."

"We tried to keep her out of the palace, but she used her wicked magic to get passed all of our defenses," Bucky spoke up, "Even when we tried to fight back, she was tough to beat.

Russell nodded in understanding, now knowing that Lulu had a counterpart in this world. And it honestly made sense. Lulu wears purple. Sugarplums are purple. Rudy's nickname for her was 'Sugar Plum'. And if Rudy was an evil King at one point, and obviously Lulu would be an evil Queen. Duh!

"This Fairy Queen sounds mean." Was all he had to say.

"S-She sure is." Said Donald (who had kept to himself most of the time) as he walked over, "She's really mean. Just as mean as the Rat King was."

The Rat King...

Speaking of...

"So... where is Prince Rudy? The Nutcracker?" Russell asked.

Everyone frowned, "That's another story..." Carla sighed.

"Rudy attempted to fend off the wicked queen, but she used her magic, and manipulation, to transform him back into the old, evil Rat King he once was, just to rule on her side. And now, they're a united force of evil." Bill explained, "Again, we tried to fight, but their magic combined was off the charts. We had no choice but to retreat, just to keep the princess safe. So that's why we're here."

"We're the only members of the court to get out in time. All the others were caught." Harold added.

"And we've heard that the queen sent out a warranty on us," Cheryl added, "We're wanted dead or alive. So we can't even go anywhere. It's been almost four months at this point..."

"Wow... that's crazy..." Russell couldn't believe it.

"Yes, especially being exiled from the kingdom," Camille added with a sigh.

"But wait. Where's the King? Can't he do something?"

Carla frowned, "Dad was actually on a royal business trip when this happened. I have no idea where he is, or if he's even aware of what's happened. I just hope wherever he is... he's okay."

Russell had a lot to take in here. In such a short time, the princess was overthrown by an evil queen, had her Nutcracker turned against her, her people caught and enslaved, and now is hiding for her life. He leaned over to give her a hug, "I'm sorry you had to deal with all of this, Carla. I can see why you called."

"Yeah... 'cause I believe we can use some help... from our Nutcracker."

"But I gave up the position."

"Well, then perhaps you can return to it." Bill smiled, "Although we've never had a Nutcracker who stepped down but stepped back up before. You've broken so many grounds, Russell."

The small child looked conflicted, "I don't know. I was able to handle Rat King Rudy just fine, but even then I nearly died several times. How will I fair against this Sugar Plum Queen? From what you told me, she sounds like she's even worse, and she already took over the kingdom. I know what you said before, but..."

"Please, Russell. We need our kingdom back." Carla took his hands in hers, "You're our best hope right now. I know you can do it."

Russell was still unsure. Last time, he was barely able to keep Rudy from taking over the kingdom. This time, Lulu has actually succeeded. How would he be able to take it back, especially with her overwhelming forces? However... he was still able to save the day before. This time shouldn't be so different... should it?

"Well... alright! I'll do it! I'll become the Nutcracker... again!" He announced.

Everyone in the room cheered. Things were finally starting to look up.

"I just need the sword."

Silence...

"Um... well... about that." Bill chuckled nervously, "When Rudy got zapped by the Fairy Queen, he dropped the sword. And because we were in such a rush to escape... we sort of left it behind. So... it's still at the palace."

Russell stared at him, mouth agape, "So you mean to tell me that I have to go to the palace, which I'm pretty sure is heavily guarded by fairies, and get the sword..."

All Bill did was nod.

"You just like making things hard for me, don't you?"

"Rest assured, North Philly native. I know you can do it. You've done it before."

"... You're right. But if I do go get it, how will I find it?"

"It's possible that it may be in the Royal Treasury," Carla suggested, "You can definitely check there. And you're small enough to sneak past the guards. To get to the palace, you can use one of the secret paths that we used to come here. When you come out of the tree, go right and continue 'til you reach a huge rock. It's easy to move, so just push it outta the way, and there will be a tunnel that will lead to the back of the palace. That should work."

"Yeah..."

And so, Russell was about to start his journey... the faith of the kingdom... once again rested in his hands.

Would you look at that? Russell's back in the Winter Kingdom is reunited with Princess Carla and her guards. He also meets Camille, the royal lady in waiting/advisor, Wendy the handmaiden, and Cheryl the newest member of the guards. Plus, he learns about the evil Sugar Plum Fairy Queen, Lulu, whom we'll meet in the next chapter. She has taken over the kingdom and had turned Rudy back into a Rat King. They both have control of the kingdom, and it looks like Rus will have to save the day yet again.

Not to mention we'll see Winterian versions of other characters of the show as well.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you guys later. And as always, don't forget to review, please. Thank you.