As Ahiru made her way down stairs and back to the party, she noticed something strange. The house was deadly quiet. From the staircase, she heard the clock chime.

8, 9, 10, 11, Midnight?

That couldn't be right! Ahiru took a good look around. There was not a soul in sight. All the candles, the lights on the tree, and even the fireplace was pitch black.

"Papa? Mama? Rue?" She called out to no answer. She hugged her nutcracker tight. Being surrounded by darkness, Ahiru began to wonder if she had shrunk. Everything seemed so much larger than she remembered!

"Mytho? Pique? Lillie? Mr. Droselmeyer? Anyone?"

There was a strong gust of wind that blew past her, causing her to tumble over. She fell to her hands and knees, dropping her precious nutcracker. She looked over her shoulder to see what was causing the wind. To her horror it was a colossal raven! Her blood ran cold as she cowered beneath the raven in fear. It cawed loudly as it looked down on her.

"Somebody help me!" She cried.

(The battle)

Afraid, Ahiru closed her eyes and curled into a ball. As she waited for the worst, Ahiru heard a shout followed by the sound of a sword clashing with something.

She opened her eyes to see her nutcracker had grown to her size. He was currently holding the raven's beak at bay with his sword.

"Hurry!" He told her, "Get up and run!" The nutcracker pushed the raven back then swung his sword at its head. The large bird reeled back, giving the nutcracker the opening to stab the bird through the heart. The nutcracker grunted as he clutched his side. Ahiru stood up and watched this all happen. She rushed to the nutcracker and placed a hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'll be fine. But you need to go hide! More ravens are coming."

As if on cue, the ravens landed around the two. The nutcracker threw a protective arm in front of Ahiru. Keeping the ravens at bay with his sword, the nutcracker tried to find a way out.

"When I say so, run to the tree." He commanded. She nodded as she cowered behind him. They continued to circle the ravens until the tree was behind them. The nutcracker leaped forward to swing his sword down on the next raven.

"Now!"

Ahiru rushed to the Christmas tree, not daring to look behind her. As she got closer there was no doubt about it now, she had definitely shrunk. As she ran, Ahiru found someone's toy soldiers that were left on the floor. What she had failed to notice was that when Ahiru had touched the toy soldiers, they came to life.

The captain mechanically marched up to her. "What's wrong, miss?" The soldier said. Ahiru stared in amazement, then shook her head. "The ravens!" She answered, "He needs help defeating the ravens!" She pointed back to her nutcracker, still in combat. The soldier nodded. He pulled out his saber and shouted, "Men, to war!" The other soldiers shouted and began to charge. The nutcracker looked over his shoulder for a moment, only to witness a small unit of toy soldiers rushing to his aid. No longer outnumbered, the nutcracker stopped fighting cautiously.

Ahiru watched as some skirmishes between the soldiers and ravens were victorious, and some where not. Luckily, these were tin soldiers. They could bounce back rather easily. An advantage the ravens couldn't overcome. She also watched as her brave nutcracker led the charge while still injured. However, it seemed the surviving ravens had had enough! A strangely humanoid raven stood before all his fallen comrades. He cawed in anger as he drew his rapier. He appeared to be calling for single combat against the nutcracker! The nutcracker was quick to oblige. The two parried each other's attacks very well, it almost seemed like an even match.

As Ahiru drew closer though, it was starting to become less of a fair fight. Her nutcracker was still weak from his injury, and the raven commander was preying on that. Every chance he had, the raven commander would stab or kick the nutcracker in his wounded chest. Ahiru didn't know what compelled her to do what she did next; perhaps it was her promise to Drosselmeyer to look after the nutcracker, or perhaps it was because she admired the nutcracker's bravery in protecting her from the ravens. Still fearful, Ahiru took her dancing shoe off and tossed it at the back of the raven's head. "Leave him alone!" She shouted. The raven was stunned once her shoe made contact with his head. That gave the nutcracker the opening he needed to slam the raven to the ground. The raven's rapier fell out of his grasp. The battle was over.

(Stop)

Now defeated, the raven found his chest underneath the nutcracker's foot. The nutcracker pointed his sword in the bird's face. "Where is the Raven King?" He said.

"In the castle." The raven hissed.

"And the prince and princess?"

The raven didn't speak. The nutcracker pressed down on the raven's chest. "Answer me!" He commanded.

"They… yet live…" he said quietly.

"And what about her?" He pointed to Ahiru, "Why attack her?"

The raven barely saw Ahiru and wailed in anger. "No, no, no!" He said, "More will come for her!"

"Why?"

"More will come for her!" The raven repeated.

Seeing as he was getting nowhere, the nutcracker gestured to the tin soldiers. They surrounded and tied up the raven.

"We will secure this parameter, sir." One soldier said.

"Good. If our new friend gives any more information, contact me immediately." The soldier saluted and marched with his men and their prisoner back to the Christmas tree. Ahiru watched as this all happened, unsure of what to do. The nutcracker noticed her staring, then noticed her missing shoe still on the floor. He picked it up and brought it to her.

"That was very brave of you." He said.

"Thank you." She said, taking the shoe back. After a pause, Ahiru spoke again. "What did you mean by all that? Who's the Raven King? And the prince and princess?"

The nutcracker shook his head. "I can't remember everything. What I do remember is the Raven King usurped the throne before the prince of the Land of Sweets could take over. He put the prince in a sleeping trance, then trapped his bride, the princess, in a crystal. For trying to lead a revolt against him, he turned me into a nutcracker."

Ahiru stared in awe of the nutcracker. That sounded terrifying! She wasn't sure if she wanted any part of this adventure. It seemed like the nutcracker could read her mind. "That raven commander said more would be coming for you. I know this may seem overwhelming, but I need to get you somewhere safe."

"Are you sure?"

"If you stay here for too long, the Raven King will send more troops to overwhelm the soldiers here. Then who knows what will happen to you."

Ahiru was so confused. Why did the Raven King want her? Where did everyone go? How did she get so small? And how was she going to get back to normal? The nutcracker could see she was very lost. "I don't pretend to know why the Raven King is after you, but I promise to protect you, miss…?"

"Ahiru. My name is Ahiru."

He nodded, "I'll protect you, Ahiru."

A/N: Thank you to yonaakatsuki10 for following and favoring! I really do appreciate it!

And thank you to you, for reading this far with me!