Hello, everyone! Time for yet another chapter of TLN 2. This is where we meet the wicked fairy queen for the first time and see just how mean she is. Plus, Rat King Rudy returns as well. Things have changed thanks to them, and you're about to see how. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's. Nostalgia-Margo owns hers.

Chapter 3: Enter the Fairy Queen

The Winter Kingdom never looked so purple. Mostly because it never was purple before. This was all thanks to the new 'ruler' of the kingdom.

Queen Lourdes ruled with an iron fist. She may have been the overseer of the Sugar Plums harvest, but she was anything but sweet. She was ruthless, cruel, bossy, and did anything to get her way, not caring in the slightest who she hurt in the process. All of the Sugar Plum fairies respected her but mostly feared her, especially with what she could do if one of them happened to step out of line.

And whatever she did in regards to that, it always had to do with the magic wand she owned. A wand full of fairy magic unlike any other. And she was the only fairy with that kind of power, while her servants could only use but so little.

But now, Lulu had another thing in her power. The Winter Kingdom of Winteria. Just a few months ago, she had carefully crafted an invasion of the kingdom that was a success. She was able to easily infiltrate the palace, attack anybody who stood in her way, capture some of the residents of the land to either imprison or enslave them, and even sent the princess, her advisor, maid, and a few of her guards for the hills. However, she sent out a warrant to have the young royal brought back to be imprisoned and enslaved.

Carla would make a good personal servant.

Oh, but she wasn't alone either. She had her (in her opinion) handsome Rat King Rudy by her side. When the prince tried to confront her with the Nutcracker sword... and his attempts to flirt with her. Unfortunately, she was not swayed by his charms, but she was intrigued as she had heard of his history of the Rat King. She was able to convince him to team up with her on the promise that he'd have power. Not to mention, she made him really think about how much did he really wish to be a soldier.

One truce and zap later, Rudy had turned against the princess and the kingdom.

Right now, the Queen was making her way down the halls of the palace. The fairy servants bowed as she passed, some of the male ones smiled a little. Although she had a less attractive attitude, there was no doubt that she was a beautiful thing to behold. Her elegant wings fluttered, her dress has purple as the plums she harvested. Her hair was in a bun and decorated with a tiara. By her side was her wand...

As she approached a door, a fairy opened it for her, allowing her to walk through. The room she entered was the throne room, which was decorated with purple curtains, a purple carpet, and two violet and magenta-colored thrones.

King Rudy smirked as he saw his beloved queen approach, walking up the steps that led to the throne, "There's my Sugar Plum..." He chuckled, taking her hand and kissing it.

"My Rat..." She replied with a wicked smile, "It's good to be bad..."

"It sure is..."

The two evil rulers sat down on their thrones, as another fairy came in, "Your Majesties, we have found a young female who fits the bill for your entertainment ring." He informed.

Lulu nodded, "Very good. Bring her in..."

As if on cue, two more fairies flew in, and in between them was a little girl wearing a yellow ballerina outfit. The servants dropped her in front of the King and Queen, to which the small girl began to tremble with fear.

Lulu stood and approached the ballerina, "Welcome to our throne room, little one." she greeted, lifting her head by the chin with her wand, "Tell me, what's your name...?"

"A-Angie... my name is Angie. W-W-Who are you... and what do you want with me?" The frightened child questioned.

"I... am Lourdes or Lulu for short. Queen of the new and improved Winteria. Oh, and this is my humble Rat King, Rudy." she gestured to the rat, who also stood and made his way over.

"Charmed to meet you." He greeted with an evil grin, "And just to let you know what we want with you... you're ours. We rule this kingdom, and you have to do everything we say.

Angie whimpered in fear, "Please don't hurt me. Please..."

"We won't... if you'll dance for us."

"Huh?"

Lulu smirked, "You're gonna be part of our entertainment group. See, we've been meaning to find some new... talent. Basically, you'll dance whenever we want you to. Whether you like it or not. In fact, why don't you give us a little something right now?"

But the little ballerina was too afraid to do anything. So she just shook her head.

Lulu frowned, "Come on now, there's nothing to be afraid of. All you have to do is dance ballet. It's simple..."

Still, Angie refused to budge out of fear. The Fairy Queen sighed in annoyance as she tried another tactic, "Alright, how about this? Either you dance for us... or else I'll have to resort to drastic measures." She warned as she held up her wand. Angie's eyes widened as it glowed, "And I'm sure you don't want that now, do you...?"

Not wanting to end up imprisoned, she had no choice. "Okay, okay... I'll do as you say." The ballerina stood herself up, on her tiptoes, and began to twirl around in circles.

The two rulers, sitting on their thrones, watched the young dancer's performance. Lulu even used her magic to create music. This lasted for a good fifteen minutes until after all that twisting and turning, Angie soon became exhausted. She stopped and started to pant, much to the villain's dismays.

"Why are you stopping? DANCE!" Rudy demanded.

Angie felt tears building up, "Please! I'm super tired. I need to rest... I can't dance anymore."

Rudy stood and gripped his scepter, until Lulu put her hand on his shoulder, "Allow me..." With a wave of her wand, she fired a beam at Angie, "Now dance for us!"

Now the poor girl was under a spell that caused her to dance nonstop. Her body was working against her, she was beyond exhausted, and she finally started to cry. The Rat King and Fairy Queen laughed at her misery.

"Your Majesty?" a voice called from behind the curtains as the two stopped cackling. It was Lulu's personal assistant, Stella.

"Yes, Stella?" The Queen asked.

The fairy in waiting fluttered into the room to stand in front of the two villains. She bowed before them, "W-W-We've spotted some peasants near the edge of The Freezing Forest." She stuttered.

"Really now?" Rudy was interested, "Perhaps it's the princess and her guards..."

Lulu smiled evilly and thought of a scheme. "Hmm, if that's the case, looks like we'll have to throw them a little surprise then," she wondered, "After all... there are so many ways to be wicked..."

Meanwhile in The Freezing Forest...

Russell watched from the top of a tree. Because of the fairies fluttering around, he asked the guards to set up a distraction so that he could sneak past them and get to the kingdom. And so far, it seemed to be working. The guards were busy with the fairy guards.

The small child slid down the tree, and after getting a thumbs up from Bill, ran through the forest (using the path underneath the rock that Carla told him about) in hopes of getting to the palace and getting that sword. As for the guards...

"Put your back into it, guys, these fairies are starting to become unstoppable," Bill yelled as he tried to confront the male sugar plum fairy towards him.

"We're trying, Captain," Bucky shouted.

"But they're swarming like flies," Harold added, waving his candy cane sword at one of the fairies flying above him.

"Yeahb, bub whab aboutb theb princessb." Mushmouth blubbered, waving his sword.

"D-d-don't worry, I got her covered," Donald called from the hideout, as he was keeping Carla safe and hidden.

Cheryl was holding her own pretty well, whacking a few of the fairies out of the way, "I just hope that Russell will make this quick. I'm getting tired." She swung her sword at a fairy to the ground.

"Don't worry. He will." Carla called, "Just keep fighting."

"Yes, your majesty..."

Back with Russell, he could see the palace in view. Somehow, this path was much quicker to get through than normal. He had to thank Carla when he got back. If he got back...

Looking from behind a tree, Russell could see that the backdoor was guarded by a fairy. How was he going to get past him? Looking closer, the guard seemed to look very familiar.

"Is it me? Or is that a fairy version of Devery? Hmm... maybe he won't be so hard to fool..."

With a plan set, the boy approached the guard, who held up a spear, "Halt! Who goes there?" He demanded.

"I'm here to speak with the Queen. I'm... a huntsman. Here to discuss plans to find the missing princess." was Russell's response.

The fairy guard then looked down at the young boy, "Sorry, short stuff but The Queen's got some royal business to do. She has specifically asked not to be bothered with visitors right now. So you'll just have to come back another day." He said lifting up his spear and shield, going back into his same old position as any guard would.

Russell frowned. Maybe this wasn't going to be so easy, "Please, It's important,"

"It's the Queen's orders." The guard answered.

Pouting, Russell turned away, "Oh well. I guess she won't hear that the princess is still in the vicinity... and that I have an idea on how to capture her..." He shrugged.

Devery looked at the kid before rubbing his chin in thought, "Her royal highness had been looking for the princess for a while now..."

"And if you don't let me in... you might risk her not knowing any information... and I bet that has a punishment like dungeon time... or the death penalty. I'm sure you don't want that..."

The guard gulped, "No... alright, pipsqueak. I'll let you in. Just be quick. And don't tell anybody I did this."

Russell smirked, "Thank you..."

With that, Devery stepped aside to allow the child to enter the door. Russell continued down a long hallway, looking for the treasury. He had no idea how the layout of the palace was. Even during his fight with Rudy all that time ago, he never paid attention to the rooms. So he had no idea.

The small boy ducked and dodged as the place was swarming with more fairies. Just how many were there? After looking around, he found himself in front of a curtain and heard voices. He listened closely...

"I think we're getting close to finding the princess and her pathetic guards, Sugar Plum."

"Indeed. She can't hide forever."

That was definitely Rudy, much to Russell's dismay. Peeking behind the curtain, he could see that he was behind the two tyrants sitting on their throne, having a conversation.

"So, just to be curious. What do you plan to do to the princess and her guards once they are captured?" Rudy asked as Lulu grinned evilly.

"Simple. I'll make poor Carla my personal slave, and if her father happens to return, I'll banish him to another realm with no way of returning. The guards will also be locked up, the rest of the peasants in this pathetic land will be our slaves, when that's all done, it'll secure two of us being the rulers of this kingdom forever!" she explained as Rudy smirked at her.

Russell glared once he heard the fairy queen's evil plot. He wasn't surprised at all. This was almost too similar to Rudy's plan from before.

"And I thought Rudy was already bad..." He said to himself, "Oh well, no matter. I'll stop both of them... once I find that stupid sword..."

Speaking of...

"And the best part is..." Rudy continued, "Is that we won't have to worry about no dumb Nutcracker to stop us since we locked the magic sword in the treasury down the hall."

Down the hall...

Russell smiled, "Thanks, Rudy. Even when you're evil, you're still stupid and have no class..."

With that, he continued down the hall, and at the end was a bunch of double doors, and of course, two fairy guards were in front. Russell recognized them pretty well too.

The guard on the left looked just like Larry, the kid who got him and the gang in trouble for stealing a car and the guard on the right looked like Hector, who sneaked into a nightclub with Rudy by using fake IDs.

"Now I remember those two... but how am I gonna get past them?" He thought to himself.

As he pondered how to work this out, luck seemed to be on his side, as a couple of female fairies fluttered by, carrying a large crate. But it was too heavy, so they had to put it down. Russell recognized them too, as one looked a lot like the guy's friend Undeen, whose late uncle was a talented and lovable goofball. The other girl looked like Carly, who has a speech impediment but did not let it get in the way of her life.

Staring at the box, Russell had a new idea.

"This box is to g-g-g-go in the t-t-treasury," Carly said.

Hector looked at the box and nodded, "Very well."

"Let us unlock the door," Larry added.

Now was his chance. While the fairies were distracted, Russell rushed by, lifting the cover off of the crate slightly, and jumping in, just as the door to the treasury was open. The crate was carried inside, and the doors were shut again.

Russell popped out and looked around. The room was covered with jewelry and weapons... and sitting on a pillow on a pedestal... was the Nutcracker's sword.

"Bingo..."

Russell picked up the sword off the pillow and lift it up. "Time to save the kingdom once again," he said as he slowly began to sneak out the doors of the treasury with the sword in his hand. To his surprise, the guards were still there.

But... he remembered one of the sword's powers.

"Time to disappear..."

Holding the sword up, Russell concentrated hard, and in a flash, he was gone. He actually ended up in several locations in the palace. In the garden, in the bathroom, and the empty hallway again. He was trying to get back to the princess's hideout.

"C'mon, I know it's been a while. But work for me..."

He tried it again, and in another flash, he disappeared... and reappeared in the throne room. Russell awkwardly found himself standing right in front of the Rat King and Fairy Queen.

"Uh... hi..." He waved nervously.

Rudy was shocked, but it soon turned to outrage as he stood and held his scepter, "You..."

Lulu was also surprised to see the little kid appear right in front of them, but The Sugar Plum Fairy Queen decided to approach the unexpected visitor, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" she grinned.

Russell gulped nervously. He tried to concentrate again, but this time the sword refused to teleport him. This wasn't going to end well.

"A little kid has happened to make it past our security..." she said to The Rat King.

Rudy approached Russell as well, "Yes indeed... this is Russell, the little shrimp Nutracker, who took everything from me including my henchmen," he explained, glaring at the kid.

Russell frowned right back at him, "Um, excuse me. But you're the one who decided to turn good. This queen here just turned you back." He argued.

"To be honest, being the Nutcracker was a bore. I'd rather be a Rat King. And why serve a kingdom... when you can rule it? And with a beautiful Queen by my side as a bonus."

"Well, you may wanna kiss those dreams goodbye. Because I'm gonna stop you like I did before."

Lulu laughed as her wand glowed, "You think you have what it takes, small fry? Rudy was just easy. But as for me... ha! I'm unstoppable! I have magic and fairies at my disposal! What do you have?"

Russell held up the sword, "I have this! Your worst nightmare."

"How did you even get that? I locked it in the treasury." Rudy demanded.

"I managed to sneak in... also, your door fairy, Devery happened to let me in." The small child winked.

The queen groaned at the king, "I told you the treasury was a stupid place to hide it... ugh, remind me to hurt Devery later for this. But for now-" With a wave of her wand, she attempted to spell Russell, who used the sword to swing the blast back at her. Lulu dodged, and the blast hit the hall, blowing a hole in it much to her outrage, "I just had that wall cleaned, you little brat!"

"Now you see what I had to deal with last year..." Rudy grabbed his scepter, "But no matter, Sugar Plum. I'll handle the shrimp."

"I see you wanna rematch." Russell glared, "I'd love to fight, but I gotta go. And when I return... your reign over the Winter Kingdom will be over."

With that, he held the sword up as it glowed, and in a flash, he was gone, just as Rudy was about to fire a blast. The Rat King growled, "Gah! He got away!"

"I'm sure he'll be back..." Lulu assured him,"... and we'll be waiting for him..."

The sword transported Russell back into the Freezing Forest. He found himself in the hideout, where he spotted the princess and the rest of the crew waiting.

"Russell, you're back! Oh, thank goodness you're safe." Carla said with a sigh of relief.

Everybody then laid eyes on the genuine Nutcracker blade Russell held in his hand. "I don't believe, you got the sword," Bill said.

"I don't believe it either. But that's the good news." Russell replied, "The bad news is, I was trying to teleport here, but the sword was working all weird, and I ended up accidentally exposing myself to the Rudy Rat and Queen Sugar Berry. They know I'm here."

"Well, they were going to find out sooner or later." Carla smiled.

That's when Russell noticed the guards looking rather bruised and banged up, as Camille and Wendy were tending to their injuries, "Wow... looks like those fairies got you guys good." He chuckled.

"Yeah, and I thought we were a lot stronger than they were," Harold said as Cheryl helped him stood up.

"At least they're gone now," she added looking above.

"Dealings with the rats was easier than this..." Bill sighed.

"But I think the fairies are bound to come back anytime sooner," Camille said as she helped Bucky and Wendy helped Mushmouth.

Russell nodded, "I won't be surprised if they do. And I won't be surprised if the king and queen start looking for me... which is why I think I have an idea on how to take back the kingdom."

"What should we do, Nutcracker?" Bill asked.

The little boy looked at the sword in his hand... and smiled.

"I think it's time for a rebellion."

So, we meet Queen Lulu, see Russell infiltrate the palace and retrieve the Nutcracker's sword, and now he has an idea on how to take back the kingdom from the villains. Plus, we see Winter versions of other characters like I mentioned. And we'll be seeing other characters pop up, including a certain family from a certain holiday special that'll play a bigger role here. Next chapter is when we'll learn about Russell's plan and meet said family.

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

PS: I added two references to the Disney Channel movie franchise, Descendants. Can you find them?