Christmas is fast approaching here, my friends! And so I'm on a bit of a time crunch here to get this done in time for the big day. So in this chapter, we'll see how Marshall's parents are doing, check back with the villains, before continuing the adventure with Russell's group, when they come across some familiar friends.

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

Chapter 6: Worries, Plans, and Old Friends

The next morning...

Donald, Mush, Wendy, and Ray were in the dungeon since that evening. From time to time, the fairies working there would mock them, as well as the other imprisoned souls trapped down there. Mr. Franklin was constantly worried about his wife. He had no idea what those awful rulers had done with her. What did they plan to do when the baby was born? Was the baby already here? What would they do to the baby itself?

The man sat on the bench of the cell he was in as a couple of the fairy guards fluttered by.

"Enjoying your stay in here?" One of them asked as he smirked wickedly.

"Please..." The man stood as he gripped the bars of the iron door, "Talk to your queen to let me free. I need to be with my wife... she's going to have a baby any time now."

"Tough luck, sir. Your lady is the king and queen's now. If you really wanna know about her... we'll be willing to give updates... every month or so..."

With that, the fairies laughed as they fluttered away. Ray sighed as he sat back down, "What a mess... we're in the middle of a tyranny, my son is nowhere to be found, and my wife... who knows what they're doing to her..."

Donald, Mush, and Wendy looked at the man with sympathy, "I'm ssure Mrs. Franklin will be okay." Wendy said softly.

"And the baby too," Donald added.

"Yeahb." Mush agreed.

"I sure hope so..." Ray replied, "Since she's expecting, I hope they're treating her well..."

At the same time in one of the guest bedrooms of the palace, Marge lied comfortably on a soft bed. Despite the initial scare she had the previous day, the baby had yet to arrive, so it was most likely a false alarm. The woman had woken up not too long ago as there was a knock on the door, "Come in..." She called softly.

The door opened to reveal Stella, who fluttered over with a tray full of food, "D-Did you sleep well, M'am?" She asked.

"Yes..." The woman smiled, "And so did this little one." She patted her stomach.

"I've brought you something, along with some Sugar Plum Tea. O-Our finest..."

"Thank you very much."

As Stella set the tray down and was beginning to pour the tea, the door opened again and there stood Lulu, "What are you doing?" She asked her fairy in waiting.

"I w-was making Mrs. Franklin comfortable, j-just like you said." Stella stuttered.

"Right... look, there's some business to attend to upstairs. Get to it. I'll take it from here."

"Yes, your highness."

The fairy bowed and made her way out of the room. As for Lulu, she smirked as she approached the pregnant woman in bed, who smiled back, "I thank you for your hospitality, your majesty." She said warmly.

Lulu wore a small, evil grin, "It's my royal pleasure, Mrs. Franklin. And rest assured, when the time comes, we'll make sure your baby enters the world safely." She assured the pregnant lady.

"Thank you. Will I be able to see my husband again? And my little boy...?"

The wicked queen chuckled, "Your child... my fairies are already on the lookout. And your husband... it depends on how well he cooperates. Because I'm not afraid to deliver... penalties should any of my prisoners cause trouble. I'm a force to be reckoned with. That goes for you as well, even if you are expecting."

Marge shuddered a little. Based on the princess's description of what has happened, and what the fairy just said she could tell just how ruthless she truly was. She figured that by staying civil, the evil queen wouldn't hurt her, Ray, or hopefully Marshall. The woman secretly prayed that Russell and the others would return to save this poor kingdom.

"Oh!" She gasped as she held her stomach, "Another contraction. Is the doctor coming?" She asked the queen.

"Oh, it's probably just a little kick that'll pass. The doctor should be arriving... soon..." Lulu replied. "For now, just get all the rest you need."

"Oh... okay..."

With that, the wicked fairy left the room. As for Marge, she knew the doctor wasn't really coming. In fact, there probably wasn't a doctor at all. And if there was, they were probably locked up. She just looked down at her belly and hoped that the baby could wait a little longer...

Lulu fluttered out of the room, and into another room with a table. Her Rat King was sitting there, as he handed her a cup of sugar plum tea, "So how is she?" He asked.

"Stable and comfortable... for now..." Lulu snickered as she sipped her tea.

Rudy smirked, "Who knew we'd be holding a pregnant lady captive? And once we find her kid, we'll put him to work."

"Splendid idea, my handsome rat."

"So uh... what do you plan to do if... when that woman has her baby?"

Lulu smirked evilly, "Simple. We'll have her put inside the dungeon with her husband since he wants to be with her so badly." She answered. "As for her newborn, we can take care of it and raise the child to become our heir!"

"Hmmm, another ruler on the throne? You really are a clever one, my queen. Someone to carry out our legacy."

"Exactly!"

Rudy pulled out his scepter and stroked it, "And I have some special plans for that little shrimp who calls himself the Nutcracker. He's not gonna get away from me so easily this time."

"This is just getting better and better. And once we find the princess as well, I'll make sure her life as my slave is filled with misery!" Lulu said with glee, "She'll follow my every command! Not to mention, we'll continue my reign across the entire Winteria Realm!"

Lulu and Rudy cackled as their voices echoed across the room, just as Stella knocked on the door

"Your wickedness?" she asked.

"What do you want now, Stella?" The Queen answered arrogantly, "I told you to tend to business upstairs."

"Um... t-the guards have found more outsiders. Do you wish to bring them in for questioning?"

"If that little brat of a nutcracker or the princess is one of them, yes. If not, just lock them up. I'll deal with them later..." Lulu demanded.

"Yes, your highness." she agreed as she flew out of sight.

Rudy rolled his eyes, "The days continue to get busier... but where were we...? Oh yeah."

The two villains resumed their evil laughter.

Meanwhile...

The sleigh was still moving. Everyone was wide awake and having some breakfast as programmed by Bill using said sleigh. Russell was glad for that since he hadn't had anything to eat in a whole anyway. As he ate, however, he couldn't help but think about the dream he had last night...

He still couldn't believe what he witnessed when he slept. All the fire, the dead bodies, seeing Carla get incinerated right in front of him. Somehow, he could still see those flames, complete with the Rat King and Fairy Queen laughing maniacally. It was so vivid. It felt as if that dream was telling him something...

Telling him... that if he didn't do something soon...

What happened in his nightmare... may actually happen.

The mere thought of that made Russell shudder slightly. He couldn't imagine Rudy and Lulu going that far as to raise all sorts of heck on the Winter Kingdom and start a massacre. They weren't that crazy... were they?

Who was he kidding? Last time he was here, Rudy tried to outright kill him. And Lulu seemed to be just as bad, if not worse.

So of course they were that crazy.

If I'm not careful... those two no-class villains could do so much worse... Russell thought, But I can't let that happen. I can't let my friends get hurt or killed. I'm the Nutcracker. It's my job to protect the people and fight the bad guys. I gotta make sure my dream doesn't come true. I just gotta...

"We should be arriving in Saint Nick Village in the next two hours." Bill announced, "Not too long now."

"That's great." Russell smiled.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can save the kingdom," Carla added.

"Yeah."

"So do you think that Bertha will help us?" Bucky asked, "What if she doesn't want to?"

Harold looked confused, "Why wouldn't she? She's supposed to be a soldier like us. If she's loyal to the Winter Kingdom, surely she'd want to help defend it from evil... wouldn't she?"

Cheryl shrugged, "I guess it depends. She's apparently retired, and might not fight like she used to."

"Well... we won't find out until we speak to her face to face." Bill concluded, "In the meantime-WHOA!"

The captain of the guard began to bring the sleigh and horses to an abrupt stop. The others were confused as to why, until they saw something that was blocking the path.

A huge something.

Clara and Fritz neighed in terror as they stopped... right in front of a big hairy creature that growled slightly. The guards immediately stood in defense, brandishing their swords. "Hold!" Bill commanded.

Russell took a quick look at the creature, before smiling, "Hold up, guys. I know this guy. It's the snow beast that King Rudy sent to kill me last time I was here. But he actually helped me out because..." He then whispered, "He's not too bright..."

Carla looked at the beast as well, "Oh you're right. It was funny that he got distracted by your scarf."

"Yeah!" The little soldier waved at the beast, "Hey! Remember me!"

The snow beast looked down at Russell, before letting out a happy grunt. He reached down to pick the boy up and bring him to his chest for a hug. Russell chuckled, "I honestly thought you went away with Rudy's magic, but I guess you're still here. And these are my friends, so you don't need to go crazy."

"Oh, hello, Young Russell!" Called a high pitched voice.

Confused, Russell then looked upon the snow beast's shoulder, to see the little Winter Sprite family he had met before. Miss Isla and her five babies, Ivan, Lucy, Piper, Bella, and Russ.

"Oh, hey you guys. What are you doing here?" He asked.

Isla smiled, "Oh, we were on our way to the Winter Kingdom for the Christmas Ball. But we heard that there was some peril..."

"Yeah... there is. But rest assured, I'm on a journey to save the kingdom yet again."

"Oh, that's great. Oh, I should introduce you to the newest member of my family, Stan."

"Stan?" Russell looked back at the snow beast, who nodded, "You have a name?"

Stan nodded.

"Wow."

Isla nodded, "Yep. We met not too long ago and sparks flew. Anyways, we won't hold you up much longer. Best of luck to you on your journey, Young Russell."

The sprite babies jumped up to give Russell a face hug as he laughed, especially when Russ gave him a lick, "Hey, that tickles."

As soon as the hug ended, Stan set him back down in the sleigh, before stepping aside to let the sleigh pass. Bill nodded as grabbed the controls, and the horses were off again. Everyone waved to the small (and big) family, who waved back.

"That was so sweet." Camille smiled.

"Thank the Winterian Star that beast knew who you were, Russell." Bill sighed, "Otherwise, he might have eaten us."

Russell grinned, "I doubt it. Miss Isla probably would've prevented that from happening either way. But at least we're back on the move again."

"And thankfully, we don't have much longer."

"We don't?"

"Nope... because look."

Bill pointed ahead. Russell had to get up to see. What they were approaching was what looked like a village in the distance, "Is that Saint Nick's Village?" He asked.

With a smile, the captain nodded.

"Cool! Wait, I thought we had another hour or two."

"I guess my measurements were off. But hey, at least we're getting there."

About five minutes later, the group arrived at the main entrance of the village. A bridge over a small river. The guards got out of the sleigh and opened the door for Camille, the princess, Russell, and Marshall. Bill punched in commands to shrink the sleigh down the pocket size, placing the horses in a convertible space, "Get some rest, you two." He smiled, putting the sleigh away.

The village itself looked like a pretty homely place. Small, yet sizable. Looking up at the sky, Russell could see that the purple was still slightly there, almost looking like the Northern Lights.

"Aside from the sky, it doesn't look like the Sugar Plum Queen conquered this part of the realm yet..." He commented.

"Yeah..." Carla agreed, "And we'll be lucky if she doesn't. Queen Lulu will want to take control of every part of the realm, even those that are far away from the actual kingdom."

"Then we better make sure that doesn't actually happen. Let's go find Bertha!"

So the crew is off to find the soldier. Marshall's parents are okay for now, the villains still have wicked plans, and we meet the Winter Sprites and the snow beast from the first story. Next chapter is when the group meets Bertha for the first time, and we'll see what she has to say about this whole situation. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you guys later, and as always, don't forget to review, please. Thank you.