(Arrival of Clara and the Nutcracker)

Ahiru woke up floating in a small amount of water and in quite a lot of pain. She groaned before opening her eyes. From what she could see, she was somewhere in the water system. The ray of sunlight in the distance from her meant she hadn't moved far from where she fell. She put two and two together and realized the raven had caused her to fall down the well.

She got up and made her way to lean on one of the walls. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to rest. She ached all over, and yet she felt this pull to go further up and into the water system. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it seemed like something or someone was calling to her from further down the path in front of her. Trusting her instincts, Ahiru made her way down the passageway. As she walked further along, Ahiru thought she could hear chattering. By the end of the passage she found the source of the noise. A sense of relief washed over her. Before her were three large cages full of what had to be the flower fairies. They looked very weak, like flowers that needed sunlight. As Ahiru stumbled over to them, she locked eyes with one of the fairies, mostly because she had Pique's face. She made her way to the bars of the cage. The Pique fairy ran up to face her. "You're here to rescue us?" She said weakly.

"Yes." Ahiru answered as she fumbled with the lock. "Key? Where is the key?" She mumbled.

The fairy gasped, "Turn around."

"What?"

"Behind you!"

Ahiru turned as a raven soldier descended from the ceiling. It cawed in her face, making her freeze. This was very bad! Not only was she defenseless, she was still pretty weak from the fall. The raven seemed to have caught on to her condition, as he immediately began to pull out his sword and swing at her. Ahiru tried to move out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough.

The raven had managed to gash her arm. Ahiru stumbled from the pain, grasping her arm to hold back the blood flowing out. She had to think of something quick, or this rescue mission would be all for not! Ahiru began to crawl away before getting up and trying to put space between her and the raven.

The raven prepared to attack her again. Thinking quickly, Ahiru placed herself in front of one of the stone walls. As it rushed towards her, Ahiru waited until the last second to duck out of the way. The raven slammed into the wall, but not before slashing Ahiru's back. She screamed in pain.

Ahiru pushed herself up and looked over the hopefully unconscious raven. On his hip was exactly what she was looking for, the keys!

Ignoring the pain from her wounds, Ahiru grabbed the keys and made her way to the first cage. After trying a few, the lock clicked open. She opened the cage door. "The opening to the well is down that way. Look for the column of sunlight." She commanded. The fairies were quick to follow her orders, only the Pique fairy stayed behind with Ahiru.

"Let's make sure everyone gets out." She said to her. Ahiru nodded as she flipped through the keys to try in the next lock.

Among the commotion of the fairies escaping, the raven soldier angrily shook himself as he stood up. He sharply pivoted to Ahiru and Pique's direction and let out a loud ferocious caw! The Pique fairy was afraid. Ahiru was ready however. She stood in front of the open cage door and waited. In a blind fury, the raven rushed at her, but Ahiru spun out of the way. The raven ran into the cage, but not before slashing at Ahiru again. In its blind attack, the raven had given Ahiru the opportunity to close the door behind him and lock it. She almost fell over from the pain, but the Pique fairy caught her. "Thank you." She said weakly.

"No problem. Here let me help you the rest of the way." The fairy said. Ahiru was barely hanging on. She leaned on the fairy for support as the two went to the other cages and freed the other fairies. Out of the last cage, another fairy came to help Ahiru. She looked just like Malin. "Let me help as well." She said.

The two fairies carried Ahiru back to the column of light. "How will we get out?" Ahiru mumbled, starting to lose consciousness.

"Just wait." The Malin fairy said. As the fairies stood in the sunlight, they began to get their color back. Once they were strong enough, they flew up and out of the well, Ahiru still hanging off their shoulders.

(Stop)

They arrived on the surface where all the other fairies and citizens of the Land of Sweets gathered around. The nutcracker was quick to push through the crowd to get to Ahiru. The Malin and Pique fairies gently placed her in Fakir's arms. Ahiru faintly smiled, greatful to be back in Fakir's familiar embrace. Her eyes gently closed as she finally passed out.

"Let her rest for a bit." Malin said, "We'll heal her when she has a bit of energy."

"What happened?" Fakir asked, clutching Ahiru tightly.

"She had to outsmart the raven guard." Pique said as she crossed her arms with a pout, "Unfortunately he didn't make it easy for her."

Seeing her wounds made Fakir angry. Angry at the raven that attacked her, at himself for not being able to protect her, and at the Raven King for causing all of this suffering. Before he got too lost in his emotions, Hermia walked up to him. She leaned over and stroked some hair out of Ahiru's face. "She's certainly full of surprises. Why don't we take her back to camp so she can rest?"

He only nodded as they left the settlement.

(Waltz of the flowers)

The flower fairies didn't wait very long to revive the Land of Sweets. With the fairies free to use their magic, the Raven's minions didn't stand a chance. They were quick to retreat from their hiding places and back to their master's palace, knowing full well of the tides of battle turning against them and their master.

As much as Fakir wanted to stay by Ahiru's side while she rested, Mother Ginger, the Ms. Ebine look-a-like, fussed over needing space to bind Ahiru's wounds. Instead he had to settle for waiting by the tent the other soldiers occupied. Once Ahiru had awakened (and finished being dotted on by Mother Ginger), she left the tent. To her surprise, she was quickly tackled by one of the two fairies she remembered. Ahiru yelped in pain, her injuries still fresh.

"Oh, sorry!" Pique said.

The Malin fairy helped pry Pique off of her. "Sorry, we were hoping to catch you after you woke up. We wanted to thank you for saving us by healing your wounds."

Ahiru nodded, "I would appreciate that."

"Then come dance with us!" The Pique fairy said, hooking her arm and pulling her towards a few other fairies. Ahiru was surrounded by five fairies, as the dance started. Ahiru started very lightly to follow in their steps, so as to not strain her injuries. As the dance continued and Ahiru could feel her wounds healing, she became much more active in the movements. From leaping to one fairy, échappé with another, grande jeté with the next, pas de bourrée with Malin and a pirouette with Pique. By this point, they had gained an audience member. Fakir had watched from the side, smiling as they went. What he wasn't prepared for was Pique practically tossing Ahiru in his direction. She stumbled into him, unsure of what to do.

Fakir with a gentle smile then took her hand, twirled her a few times, and sent her back to the fairies. Ahiru easily slipped back into the dance. As she did this, Fakir felt strange. Specifically in his hand. He looked at it mystified. For a breif second, it was real! Not made of wood, but flesh and blood. But just like that, it was turned back. He stared back at Ahiru in awe. Was this her magical potential?

He hesitated. At this point, he had to talk with someone about this. However, he couldn't bring himself to stop watching Ahiru's dance. He could see plainly on her face how much she loved it. He was spellbound by her. Her joy and energy was truly something to behold. It warmed his heart very much.

The dance finally finished, and Fakir quickly took the opportunity to step away.

(Stop)

He went off to find Lysander and Autor. The two were inside one of the large tents talking in hushed tones over what looked like a map of the palace. Fakir, standing in the opening, cleared his throat. The two turned their attention to him.

"Something wrong, Sir Fakir?" The Lysander look-a-like asked.

The nutcracker walked up to them before speaking, "I need to discuss part of the plan for the attack on the Raven King."

"Well good, we were just talking about that. What do you need to say?"

"It's about Ahiru."

The Autor look-a-like scoffed, "If you think she's coming with us-"

"No, she's not." Fakir said flatly, "I can't risk the Raven King finding her."

Lysander squinted at these words, "Why would the Raven want her?"

Fakir frowned. "The Snow Queen said she had some kind of magical potential. I haven't figured out what that is yet. When we rescued the snow fairies, we only found them because Ahiru heard them singing." He looked down at his hand, "And just now, while she was dancing with the flower fairies my hand momentarily turned real." He looked back at his hand, slowly clenching and unclenching his fist, recalling the memory once again.

"Hmmm, that is interesting." Lysander said, stroking his chin. "Does she know anything about this?"

Fakir shook his head. "No. All she knows is that the Raven King is after her."

"So what are you proposing we do about her?" Autor asked.

"I was hoping she could stay here while we finish off the Raven. The other citizens will be here hiding here too, correct?"

Lysander nodded. "That can be arranged, but you'll probably have to tell her before we leave. I don't think she'll take it well unless it comes from you."

Fakir nodded. "I know."

Ahiru took notice pretty quickly that something was about to happen. She could see a lot of soldiers rushing about, while the citizens of the Land of Sweets seemed to be mourning and embracing the soldiers when they could. 'What is happening?' she wondered.

Fakir came up to her. "Ahiru," he said gently, "I need to talk to you."

She looked at him expectantly. He caught sight of her eyes, full of concern. He sighed, barely meeting her gaze. "I need you to stay here while I go face the Raven."

Her eyes went from concern to pure fear. "What?" Ahiru said, "I can't come with you? I mean, I know I can't fight, but maybe I can help some other way!"

He shook his head, "No, Ahiru. Not this time. I need you to stay here where you'll be safe. If you come with me, I'll be giving the Raven what he wants, you. Not to mention there's no telling what kind of dangers we would face." That last part was said barely above a whisper. It pained him to think what horrors they might face at the palace.

Ahiru wasn't ready to give up so easily. "I don't care about the dangers, I…" she looked away. That horrible nightmare of the nutcracker engulfed in flames flashed across her mind. 'I care about what will happen to you…' she thought.

Fakir clenched his fists. He wasn't sure how this conversation would go, but he knew how he wanted it to end. Facing her directly he said, "Ahiru, I don't want you in any more danger."

She turned back to him. "I just said-"

"No, I can't put you in danger again!" He snapped, "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you." His voice was growing weaker with each word. "After the Sea of Storms and what happened to you in the well… I can't go through that again…" his gaze moved to the ground, chest fallen.

Ahiru was quiet now. She could see it in his face. This was very important to him. She gingerly put her hand on his cheek, forcing his eyes back to her. "Okay… I'll stay." She said in a small voice.

Fakir placed his hand over hers, leaned into it and sighed with relief. "Thank you."

Ahiru watched as Fakir and all the others headed off to the castle. It was scary not knowing what would happen to him, especially since there wasn't much she could do. The nightmare still lingered in the back of her mind. She looked over the horizon where the castle could be seen in the distance. "Please come back…" she whispered.

"Why aren't you going after him?" Someone said from over her shoulder. Ahiru jumped and turned around. The Lillie fairy giggled. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

"What are you doing here?" Ahiru asked.

"The Snow Queen asked me to check on you. And look, I made a friend!"

The Pique fairy poked her head out from hiding and smiled. Ahiru waved at Pique, albeit with a little confusion.

"But you didn't answer my question." The Lillie fairy spoke, "Why are you not going after him?"

Ahiru shook her head. "He asked me to stay here. He seemed really scared about me going."

The two fairies leaned into each other with stars in their eyes. "Aww!"

Ahiru's gaze turned to her feet as she smirked. 'Same as Pique and Lillie.'

"But she's right," Pique interjected, "Why don't we go after them?"

"Right? It would be so exciting and romantic!" Lillie cheered, "Not to mention how much help we could give."

"What?" Ahiru said.

"Yeah, let's all go!" The Pique fairy shouted. The two hooked arms with Ahiru and dragged her off to the castle.