A/N: If you are following along with the music, please note that for the song Waltz of the Snowflakes the tempo seems to change from version to version. The timing in that song is really important for this chapter. Hopefully it all works out! Please enjoy, and thank you for reading this far with me!
"So, what's your name?" Ahiru asked the nutcracker. He shook his head. "Part of the Raven's curse. I can't remember my name."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's not your fault." The nutcracker looked around. "Now the question is, where do we go now?"
"I don't know." Ahiru answered.
(Scene and Grandfather Dance)
Suddenly, a familiar tune began to play. Ahiru looked around for a moment. "Edel?" She said, mostly to herself.
"What?" The nutcracker asked out loud.
Ahiru followed the sound of the music to the grandfather clock in the parlor. Standing before the clock was a miniature Edel.
"Edel!" Ahiru called, "What are you doing here?"
Edel stopped running the crank on her music box and looked at Ahiru with a smile. "Greetings, Ahiru." She looked at the nutcracker, "Greetings, brave nutcracker."
She gestured to the door of the grandfather clock, "To get to the Land of Sweets, you must first help the Land of Snow. From there you must be brave to cross the Sea of Storms. Only then will you arrive at your destination."
"How do we get to the Land of Snow?" The nutcracker asked.
Edel smiled again then tapped twice on the door of the grandfather clock. It gently swung open. "Good luck." She curtsied and began to run the crank of her music box again before vanishing.
(Stop)
The two looked at each other and nodded. The nutcracker climbed up first, then reached down to help Ahiru up. As the two walked through the clock tunnel, the nutcracker spoke up. "How did you know who that was?"
"She was a part of Drosselmeyer's magic show." Ahiru answered.
"Drosselmeyer?"
"It was part of our celebration for Christmas Eve."
"Oh." The nutcracker said, "I guess I took you away from that. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I was probably going to duck out of it pretty soon."
"Why's that?"
Ahiru sighed. "I'm sixteen now. Yet everyone continues to only see me as Rue's little sister. Nobody sees me like they do her."
"Why would you want to be seen like your sister?"
"I… I don't know. Rue seems like she has everything figured out. She's beautiful, she's the best dancer, and everyone respects her. People look at me then pat my head like a child and say how adorable I look, no matter how hard I try to be like her…"
"Do you think maybe wanting to be like her instead of yourself is why people don't see you the same way?"
"Maybe. But even then, I don't think Ahiru is as impressive as Rue."
The nutcracker looked at her. "Why do you think that? I mean, would Rue be brave enough to throw her shoe at a raven commander?"
Ahiru giggled, "Probably not."
He nodded, "Well alright then. Ahiru seems pretty great in my book."
"Thank you." She looked down and smiled.
By then, they reached the end of the clock tunnel and were welcomed into a glittering forest of snow.
(Waltz of the Snowflakes)
"So this is the Land of Snow?" Ahiru said.
The nutcracker nodded. "Now, how do we help it?"
He stepped forward. When he expected a thick crunch of snow, the nutcracker found his foot on a thin amount of sleet. He looked back at Ahiru in dismay. "It's melting. The Land of Snow is melting!"
"But how? Is there a way we can stop it?" Ahiru asked, walking up next to him. The nutcracker pondered this for a moment. "The Land of Snow is left in charge of the Snow Queen and her snow fairies. Maybe if we find them, we can undo this."
"Then lead the way."
The two hurried through the melting forest. On closer look, it made sense the snow and ice was sparkling, seeing as it was turning into water. The nutcracker had warned Ahiru if they failed, the Snow Queen and her fairies wouldn't have a home. Not to mention, no one knew if there was any land underneath all the snow and ice. That was a terrifying thought all on its own.
It didn't take long to find the ice palace, and no sooner to find out what had caused the melting of the ice and snow.
"The Raven King sent his minions here too." The nutcracker grumbled.
Ahiru was scared, "What do we do?"
"If we can find the Snow Queen or any of the fairies, maybe we can stop them."
"But where are they?"
"That's what we have to figure out. Stay here, I'm going to try something."
He started to move away until Ahiru grabbed him, "Be careful."
He nodded and went off. She watched as he crept through the snowy pine forest. He made his way behind one of the patrolling raven soldiers and quietly pulled him behind the trees. If she had to guess, he must have been looking to get information as quietly as he could. Hopefully he would find out what was going on without alerting the others. She couldn't see well from her vantage point, but it looked like the nutcracker was getting somewhere. The raven soldier didn't seem to raise the alarm yet. After a few minutes, she thought she saw the nutcracker knockout the raven soldier.
Before she could attempt to get a better look, she heard singing. But where was it coming from?
The nutcracker appeared next to Ahiru again.
"Hey." Ahiru jumped at his voice. "Everything alright?"
"Sorry. Do you hear that singing?"
"Singing? No. The Queen and her fairies are in the dungeon. Now if only we could figure out how to get there."
Ahiru was quiet for the moment. She could still hear the voices. She took a deep breath. "I think we should follow the singing."
He shook his head, "But I can't hear it. If you want to follow it, you'll have to lead."
Ahiru looked pretty nervous. He put his hand on her shoulder, "It'll be okay, I said I would protect you and I will." She nodded.
She was fearful, but Ahiru did her best to lead the nutcracker to the source of the signing. The closer they got to the singing, the closer they got to the castle. Or more specifically, the lower part of the castle.
"That's it!" The nutcracker said, "That has to be the entrance to the dungeon." He looked at her, "I'll take the lead now. Stay close to me."
They snuck carefully into the underground passage. After creeping around for some time, they had reached the dungeon. Before them were many bars made of ice and many pale-faced prisoners dressed in white and blue. It was clear these were the snow fairies. Among the faces in the prison, was a familiar one to Ahiru.
"Lillie?" She said.
The prisoner looked at her. "Who's Lillie?"
"Sorry, you look like someone I know. Were you the one singing?"
The girl looked surprised, "You heard me?" Ahiru nodded. She looked excited, "You're here to rescue us!"
"We are." The nutcracker said. The other fairies began to talk excitedly. The nutcracker was quick to shatter the bars with his sword. The fairies exploded out of their cages and out of the dungeon. The Lillie look-a-like came up to them. "The rest of the fairies are going to restore the land. Come with me so we can rescue the Snow Queen."
The two followed the fairy through the castle. With all the chaos of the fairies escaping, it made it easy for the nutcracker to defeat any ravens in their way.
The Lillie fairy stopped before a grand set of blue doors. "This is the throne room. The raven commander is here with the Snow Queen. We must be careful." Her eyes rested on Ahiru.
"I won't get in the way." She replied. The fairy looked confused, but didn't say anything.
The three pushed the door open. Before them was a cage made of iron in the center of the room. Inside the cage was a sad beautiful young woman that Ahiru had seen before.
"Freya?" She said to herself. Freya was dressed in white with a crown of snowflakes over her tied up blond hair.
Behind Freya was an icy throne with another humanoid raven. The nutcracker stepped forward with his sword pointed at the raven commander. "Release the Snow Queen!"
The raven commander unsheathed his sword. He cawed as a challenge. The raven flew over the cage to land in front of the nutcracker. The next second the two were clashing blades.
The Lillie fairy took Ahiru's hand. "Come with me."
Ahiru didn't move. "What?"
"We're going to help the nutcracker and the Queen."
"How?"
"Dance with me."
"How is that going to help?"
"Trust me!"
The fairy took Ahiru's hand again and began to lead her in a waltz. However, Ahiru was much too afraid to really participate. "Fairy magic is strongest when we dance! Don't be scared." The fairy reassured her, "There will be no reason to be scared if we do this right."
Ahiru took a deep breath and tried to focus on the fairy's dance. Silver and blue lights started to swirl around them. "It's working! Keep going!"
The ice magic swirled around them more rapidly. "That's enough." The fairy spun to the cage, avoiding the fight between the nutcracker and the raven. She touched the iron cage. Ice began to spread through the metal. A light groaning sound could be heard from the cage until it shattered. The queen hugged the snow fairy. The Snow Queen did a few twirls with the fairy, then extended her arm towards the nutcracker.
"Receive the blessing of the Snow Queen." She said. The next instance, the nutcracker's sword began to glow blue. Realizing what had happened, the nutcracker avoided another swing from the raven and focused on his next strike. He finally landed a blow on the raven, turning him to solid ice.
(Pause)
After the excitement died down, the Snow Queen was returned to her throne and the rest of the ravens were thrown out of her kingdom. With the rest of the fairies freed, the Land of Snow was revived within no time.
"I thank you for saving my kingdom. May I know your names?" The queen asked.
"This is Ahiru. As for me, I don't remember my name." The nutcracker answered.
"Well brave nutcracker, I see you are injured. My magic can heal you."
"Thank you." He said.
The Queen stood up and offered her hand to him. The nutcracker looked like a deer in the headlights. The queen smiled. "Fairy magic is strongest when we dance." The nutcracker was still visibly nervous. He looked from the queen to Ahiru, who started to giggle.
"Go on." She whispered.
(Waltz of the Snowflakes cont. from the pause)
Stiffly, the nutcracker took the Snow Queen's hand. At first it seemed like the nutcracker was so nervous, his dancing was quite stilted. However as the dance continued, whether it was due to his injury healing or he became more comfortable, the nutcracker found he was actually pretty good at dancing. Ahiru smiled as she watched the two dance. Around them swirling colors of blue and white appeared, as well as delicate snowflakes. Although Ahiru wasn't sure, she thought she could hear the singing again.
When the dance concluded, the nutcracker bowed to the Snow Queen, who returned the favor by curtsying to him. Ahiru applauded them.
(Stop)
"I would ask you both to stay the night, so that we may prepare a boat for you to cross the Sea of Storms." The queen said.
"Your majesty," Ahiru said, "You were able to heal the nutcracker's injuries. Is it possible for you to remove his curse?"
The queen shook her head, "I'm afraid my magic is not powerful enough. The only one capable of removing the Raven's curse is the Sugar Plum Fairy. But she has been missing for a very long time. If she cannot be found, the only other way to remove the curse is to defeat the Raven King. In the meantime, wait here a moment while I gather a few fairies to attend to you."
The queen exited, leaving the two alone in the throne room. Ahiru looked to the nutcracker. "You seem to have quite a talent for dancing."
He laughed nervously, "I think you're being a little generous there."
"Well, it did take you a second. But once you warmed up, you did really well."
"Well thank you." He looked down, "Oh right." He untied the handkerchief around his chest, "This was yours, right?" He held it out to her.
"Yes… though I guess it's more of a blanket now?" She grinned as she took it from him.
"I can take that!" The Lillie look-a-like said. She snatched the handkerchief… or blanket from Ahiru. She hooked arms with her and shouted, "Follow me to your room!" As she led Ahiru out the door, the Snow Queen returned and sat down on her throne.
"Before I have you sent to your room, I must ask you something, dear nutcracker. One of my fairies informed me that Ahiru was able to hear her singing. But you could not?"
He shook his head, "That was how we found the other fairies. She followed their singing."
The queen looked down and placed a finger to her lips, as if in thought. She put her finger down and continued. "This is very curious. There are only so few who can hear fairies sing. They often have incredible magic prowess. Do you know if she has any?"
He shook his head. "If she does, she doesn't know. Do you think that's why the Raven King is sending his minions after her?"
"It is possible. Unfortunately, this does mean you both cannot stay here for long. Until we know how Ahiru was able to hear the singing, it's best not to leave her anywhere for too long. Especially if she cannot defend herself."
He nodded solemnly.