Once upon a time there lived a warrior. The warrior considered himself the most upstanding citizen in the land; he disciplined criminals for their misdeeds, killed wizards to break curses on people and slew dragons to save damsels in distress. The warrior was sure everyone would love him by the time he died. But could everyone love him…even the victims of his justice?


Act 31: The Kingdom of Mice

(((The White Witch)))

The scene was set; upon a raised platform now sat Helios, bound with twine to a wooden stake. The citizens of the Kingdom of Mice were gathered around the platform, squeaking and rustling about curiously. Queen Nezumi, adorned in a regal red cloak and a gold and ruby crown, stepped up a set of stairs to the platform and walked coldly up to the Nutcracker, loyal Reepicheep behind her.

Reepicheep eyed Nezumi in concern as the Queen reached out a clawed paw to touch the Nutcracker's wooden cheek.

"Behold," she proclaimed very icily toward her citizens, "the Nutcracker Prince."

The mice began muttering amongst themselves angrily.

Nezumi's raised paw slapped across Helios's cheek, leaving four slash marks where her claws had met with wood. If Helios could've moved and his face were of flesh, he likely would have cried out in pain and been bleeding.

"Tell me, Nutcracker," Nezumi stated in a cold, carrying whisper. "Do you know what happens to those who injure a mouse?" she paused for a moment, her eyes becoming quite red indeed, and then shouted, "They die!"

There was some shouted assent from the audience of mice, but some mice were looking a little frightened now.

"A-after his trial, of course, my Queen," a white mouse advisor added quickly, noticing the fear from some of the public.

Nezumi gave the white advisor such an angry red glare that all the advisors shrank back, and even Reepicheep couldn't stop himself from giving a very slight tremble. The Mouse Queen did not challenge the white advisor's remark, however; instead she turned back to the Nutcracker with a wicked smile.

"Yes…of course," she murmured. "We must honor the law…so, Nutcracker…what do you have to say for yourself?"

Of course, Helios couldn't answer in a way Nezumi could understand.

"I never meant to cause you such pain!" the Nutcracker implored the Queen frantically. "I was only trying to protect Clara…she's so naïve, she couldn't have defended herself to your husband, or anyone else!"

No matter what Helios tried, his explanation of his actions couldn't be heard by any of the mice.

"No?" whispered Nezumi, smirking heartlessly. "You have no defense for your actions? Very well, then…you're guilty. And for that…you shall die!"


"Quack!" Ahiru assured Demi as the ballerina hesitantly prepared to jump from the wire ladder down to the sewer floor.

Obviously intimidated by the height of the jump, Demi took a deep breath, before leaping with another less-than-perfect sauté to the ground beside Ahiru…

Or, rather, on top of Ahiru.

"Oh my gosh!" Demi whispered worriedly, climbing off of her and checking her quickly for injuries. "Are you all right, Ahiru-chan?"

"Quack," Ahiru assented, although her face held a look of slight pain from the ballerina puppet's weight on top of her.

Demi gave her a small, regretful smile as the two continued their way down the sewer pipe.

"I'm sorry…I wasn't kidding when I said I'm not very good unless Madame Ruza's controlling my strings."

"Quack, quack," Ahiru told her, waving a wing in a dismissive way, gesturing to herself and giving an extra-clumsy pirouette. "Quack quack, quack quack!"

Demi giggled. "I guess you can relate?"

Ahiru nodded with another sheepish quack.

Demi looked like she was thinking. "You and Fakir-sama were in The Prince and the Raven, right Ahiru-chan?"

"Quack," assented Ahiru.

"And you two stopped your destinies in the story from coming true?"

"Quack."

"Hmm…" Demi looked at her feet in awkward sadness.

"Quack-quack?" Ahiru asked her concernedly.

Demi shook her head. "I was just thinking…if you and Fakir-sama could escape Drosslemeyer's control and take control of your own story…why couldn't I?"

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders lightly. "But you guys hated Drosslemeyer and his love of unhappy endings…I don't hate Madame Ruza. She has been kind to me…she's not a bad person. And my fate isn't as sad as the fates you and Fakir-sama had."

"Quack quack," Ahiru disagreed gently, gesturing to Demi and tracing a line from her eye to mime crying, "quack-quack quack qua."

"Yeah, I'm not happy," Demi murmured sadly, "but…at least everyone else is. Isn't that what everyone should wish for, happiness for others?"

Ahiru frowned, thinking of Edel sacrificing herself so she could save Fakir and lead her and Mytho away from the underground lake where the Tutu-dressed Ahiru had confronted the Kraehe-dressed Rue.

"I just wanted to try imitating a human heart," the puppet had said to Ahiru as the bright, warm fire burned her body, discharging her soul from the wood.

Ahiru felt her eyes well up with small tears at the memory. 'Edel-san did it to help us…to be human just once…but Demi-chan's not like Edel-san. She was human, and she has feelings! Shouldn't she feel happiness too, like Mytho did after he got his heart back?'

Demi stopped abruptly. Ahiru came back to earth, looking ahead to see the large pipe they were walking down split into two smaller ways.

"Quack qua…" Ahiru whispered, meaning to say "Oh no…" but being unable to speak in a way humans could understand.

Demi looked very upset. "Which way do we go?"


Madame Ruza came back from looking out the window at where Demi and Ahiru had been, looking over Fakir's shoulder as he wrote.

"'The duck…and the puppet…'" Fakir read his words as he wrote them, "'stopped in their journey…however…when they reached a crossroads…in the maze of pipes…'"

His eyes narrowed in irritation. "Damn it!"

As his hand continued to move, the writer's thoughts moved to Ahiru.

'Maybe I can reach her like I did in The Prince and the Raven…'

"Ahiru!" he muttered, closing his eyes and forcing his thoughts on nothing but the yellow duck. "Can you hear me?"


Fakir's voice suddenly rang out in Ahiru's head, making her jump.

'I'm here, Fakir!' the duck thought in his direction.

She heard Fakir sigh in relief. "Good…I can still hear you when I'm writing a story about you."


'Fakir, the pipe has split in two and we don't know which to go down,' Ahiru told him, her voice filled with worry.

"I know," Fakir answered her. "Don't worry, I'll write something to help you…let me focus…"

His eyes narrowed as he turned back to his writing.

"'Just then…a scurrying past them…signaled to the two…which path to take.'"


Ahiru jumped as a young mouse shot past her and Demi through a left pipe so fast it was just a blur of light brown fur. On the floor of the pipe along the path the mouse were a bunch of breadcrumbs, obviously falling off of a piece of bread the mouse was carrying.

"C'mon, Ahiru-chan!" beckoned Demi, and the two took off along the left path to follow the breadcrumbs of the little mouse.

"Ahiru," Fakir warned the duck, "you and Demi don't have much time left; her hour of life is almost up."

Ahiru quacked in surprise. 'Fakir, we don't have enough time! We haven't even found Helios-kun yet, how can we get out of here in time?'

There was a tense silence; likely Fakir was thinking. "I don't know, Ahiru…but I'll think of something…just hurry!"

'Okay!' Ahiru assured him, nodding firmly.

The puppet and the duck followed the trail of breadcrumbs like hounds tracking a scent. As they zigzagged further and further down through the arrangement of pipes, a chant of obstinate squeaks became louder, until the two peeked around the edge of the final pipe to find the pipes' meeting-place: the Kingdom of Mice.

It was actually charming in its own scavenging, mouse-like way. Old food boxes were stacked upon and around each other to create quaint houses and town buildings, and in the distance stood a wooden-crate castle with tin can turrets and an old clipboard as a drawbridge. What caught Ahiru's attention, however, was a rush of mice toward the very crowded town square where the chanted squeaking was coming from.

'Maybe that's where Queen Nezumi is,' Ahiru thought to herself. 'If we can find her, we can find Helios-kun!'

She quacked at Demi, gesturing toward the square to convey her thoughts to her, and Demi nodded in agreement.

The two raced toward after the mice to the square, before they got close enough to see the source of the ruckus: their Nutcracker friend, tied to a stake on a raised platform in the center of the square.

"Prince Helios," Demi whispered, her eyes wide with concern and terror.

The regal-looking black mouse that was the Mouse Queen Nezumi grabbed a fiery torch from one of the mouse bodyguards and walked up to the helpless Helios, her wrist positioned to set the cursed prince on fire.

"QUACK!" Ahiru shouted, running forward trying to tell her to stop.

Demi, however, didn't even try diplomacy; with an inhumanly grand jeté, she leapt past the group of mice, and with another, she jumped up onto the platform in front of Helios, her arms held out in front of her protectively. Ahiru flapped past the mice to join Demi on the stage, quacking imploringly at Nezumi.

"Demi-san!" Ahiru heard Helios cry out in relief. "Ahiru-san!"

Ahiru was the only one of the observers who noticed Demi's movements falter slightly, before she stood up as straight as before.

'W-what?' Demi thought in shock. 'What was that? It…was like Ruza's power wore off…but it was only for a moment…'

"It did wear off," a male voice rang through her head.

'Fakir-sama!'


"I'm controlling your movements," Fakir explained under his breath as he focused on the human-hearted puppet. "If I don't, you'll be useless."

'But Fakir-sama, Madame Ruza said you've only been able to control Ahiru-san in your stories,' he heard Demi think concernedly.

"I haven't been able to control the story of anything living besides Ahiru," granted Fakir, "but I've never tried writing about something immobile besides Helios, and he has a will that could interfere with mine. You're a puppet…as long as your will doesn't fight against my will, I can make you do whatever you need to do."

'Thank you, Fakir-sama,' Demi answered him gratefully.

Fakir glanced at the page as his hand continued moving in loops and lines to create words on the page.


"Who are you?" the Mouse Queen demanded of the duck and the puppet, her eyes a dangerous red. "How dare you interrupt an execution!"

The puppet focused her attention back on the Mouse Queen, her violet eyes blazing with determination as she proclaimed her desire to save the Nutcracker, and the duck quacked in agreement besides her. The Mouse Queen's eyes widened dangerously at their answer.

"Is that so?" she whispered. "Well then, you are assisting a criminal…and for that, you shall die as well!"

The mice surrounded the stage on which the puppet, duck and helpless Nutcracker were standing, blending together into a wall of dark faces. Even the duck's hope-filled heart trembled slightly, wondering if their end was in sight…


Fakir's eyes narrowed in resolve. "No, it's not."

His hand tightened around the quill, his mind focusing solely on Demi as he made himself write,

"'The puppet…forced her fear…aside…and touched the duck's wing gently…to convey the writer's reassurance…before she…ripped the bag of magic dust Madame Ruza had tied to her back open. She twirled around in a pirouette so fast…she was, for a moment…a mere blur of color…and the magic dust was propelled onto the Nutcracker behind her.'"


"Quack!" cried Ahiru in relief.

"This can't be!" shrieked Nezumi.

Demi turned to look behind her, her face breaking into a smile of relief, as Helios came to life.

Helios blinked, holding his head in his now-mobile hand, before he smiled to Demi and then to Ahiru.

"Thank you," he murmured warmly.

He looked at Demi, almost surprised. "Demi-san…did Madame Ruza allow you to dance on your own to assist me?"

Demi shook her head, her cheek slightly pink. "Fakir-sama is controlling me…Madame Ruza's magic on me wore off. I just…I had to come…I wanted to help you…after you were so kind to me…"

Helios's eyes were filled with compassion. "Demi-san…"

But before he could say anything more, the mouse bodyguards jumped onto the platform around them, pointing lighted torches and needle swords at them.

Ahiru quacked, moving back toward the other two in slight alarm, and Demi stepped back slightly.

"We shall arrest the intruders, my Queen," Reepicheep stated firmly, his sword and glare directed toward Helios.

Nezumi, however, pushed him away with almost enough strength to throw him to the ground, surprising the mice as well as Ahiru, Demi and Helios.

"I don't need the help of a worthless wretch like you," the Mouse Queen growled in a heartless voice that almost reminded Ahiru of Mytho when his heart was tainted by the Monster Raven's blood.

Nezumi removed her regal red cape with a flourish to reveal a black ballet leotard, before arching her arms above her head in third position with her paws crooked into menacing claws.

"You want to escape with your life, Nutcracker Prince?" she scorned, her eyes twinkling with red vice. "You'll have to go through me, then!"

Helios's eyes narrowed, and he stepped in front of Ahiru and Demi protectively.

'Do we have to fight?' Ahiru thought, her eyes full of anxiety. 'Madame Ruza said the Mouse King thought he was doing the right thing, just like Helios-kun did…Nezumi-san is in mourning for him!'

She tried imploring Helios in quacks, but he quieted her with a shake of his head.

"Nezumi will not negotiate with us, Ahiru-san. She is so angry towards me that she will not listen to any rationalizations…I have no choice but to fight her."


"Helios…" Fakir muttered, his eyes narrowed in his own type of gruff concern. "Do you have to kill both the Mouse King and the Mouse Queen to have peace?"

Nevertheless, his jaw tightened slightly in determination as he read the words his hand was writing.


The Nutcracker Prince raised his hand into the air and closed his eyes, chanting in a distinct whisper. "Komadori, sword that hath helped me protect the innocent, aid me once more!"

A robin appeared from a burst of light, flying down from the sky in quick, graceful spirals of light. The light wound itself together tightly to create an extraordinary sword with rubies encrusted into the shape of a diamond on the base of the blade.

The Nutcracker Prince's sword, Komadori.


Helios's outstretched hand grabbed Komadori's hilt and pointed it at Nezumi in a challenging manner.

"I will not allow you to harm my friends!" Helios whispered adamantly.

"I will not allow you or your friends to live!" Nezumi snapped back.

"And so the battle finally begins!" Drosslemeyer crowed.


Chuckling as if he was watching a comedy, he eyed the gear image of Helios and Nezumi glaring at each other, the image of the worried Demi and Ahiru and the hurt Reepicheep on their respective sidelines, and finally the image of the focused, writing Fakir.

"Who shall be victorious, hmm…Helios-baka or Queen Nezumi? Either way tragedy shall follow! Either Helios-baka will die, and Ahiru-chan and Demi-chan will mourn and vow vengeance…or Nezumi will die and the mice will mourn and vow vengeance! No matter what happens, the Mouse Kingdom will be soaked in blood…and the useless Knight is even more useless now, what a nice change of pace! After all, no one can move a puppet's strings and write a story at the same time! Ha, ha, ha…"


I'm afraid that is all for today. Is a fun story awaiting us? A sad story? Or maybe…?


Name Notes:

Komadori - "robin" in Japanese

Music Notes:

"The White Witch": starts at the beginning of the chapter, moving around to include shots of the Kingdom of Mice, the crowd of mice, Nezumi, etc. Nezumi acknowledges Helios at 0:45, and claws him at 0:50. Nezumi shouts, "they die!" at 1:19. The music ends at 1:45, when Nezumi repeats that Helios will die, and the scene moves to Ahiru and Demi.

"From Western Wood to Beaver's Dam": starts as Ahiru and Demi start to walk down through the sewers, with Demi mentioning The Prince and the Raven at 0:11 and saying, "Why couldn't I?" right before 0:32. Stops at 1:38 as Ahiru and Demi realize they have reached a crossroads.

"Carol of the Bells": starts when Ahiru quacks in relief. Mice start to swarm as the music starts to move from classical to rock (at 0:32), and Reepicheep offers to fight at 0:40. Nezumi pushes him at 0:47 and throws her cloak off at 0:55. The piece ends at 1:30.

The pieces "The White Witch," and "From Western Wood to Beaver's Dam," arefrom "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" soundtrack.

This arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" is by Metallica and the Transiberian Orchestra.