Chapter 8: The Clockwork Man
The battlefield swarmed with hundreds of soldiers, dolls trying valiantly to stand up to their sudden ambush, and mice utterly overwhelming them. Miku tried to keep a steady eye on Kaito, trying to ignore the chaos around her. She could hear the carbine fire from the doll soldiers, but the mice appeared to favor melee weaponry. Their sheer numbers tended to mean bullets alone weren't holding back their waves.
"How are we supposed to keep up with them in this ruckus?!" Meiko shouted, her sword drawn, "We need to reach the king if Kaito's to deliver the killing blow!"
If Kaito had any reservations about his task, Miku didn't see any remaining. His hand slipped from hers and to his weapon.
"We cut a path to him!" Gakupo replied, "Kaito has to be the one to defeat them, but we can still help keep him alive!"
Miku steadied her shaking hand. She'd made a promise to herself to see the battle through – she was no longer allowing herself to be scared. She watched the small contingent of Gakupo's clockwork soldiers move away from them to join the dolls. He'd warned them ahead of time that the simple commands he could give them wouldn't be much use against the crafty Mouse Royals, so he'd dispatched them to try and thin out the army itself. Anything to peel some of the King's guards from his side.
"Gakupo, I don't see the Queen!" Luka cried out, "Just the King!"
"The Queen is the one we really need to worry about," Meiko warned, "You've never seen sorcery like hers… no offense, Luka…"
"None taken," Luka replied, "I shall do my best to provide a worthy counter-balance."
"Meiko, Gumi, help me protect Luka and she'll cut us a path!" Gakupo ordered, "Kaito, take the advantage when you get it!"
'Wait… what about me!?' Miku thought in a panic.
Gumi looked surprised. "You… you think I can, Sir Drosselmeyer?" she said nervously.
He shot her a wink and a smile. "After hearing your brave ballad, I know you can!"
Miku watched as suddenly the doll's rubber face grew more and more excited, the eyelids opening all the way and the mouth curling into a goofy smile. "YES SIR! I'll kill a HUNDRED mice for us!"
The three of them began to surround Luka and Miku wondered what she was about to do. She was a faerie… she must had some kind of powers she could wield in their favor…
Luka began to move around as though she were dancing – she recognized the initial foot positions from her most basic ballet lessons. The faerie raised her arms above her head, her arms moving delicately as she summoned an orb of white light between her hands. 'Wait… is she such a good ballerina because she's a magic user?!'
Several small light orbs flew from the orb in the faerie's hands, shooting straight up into the sky before crashing into the ground again. A serious of explosions sounded out around them, as if stars were falling out of the sky themselves. "BY THE HEAVENS!" Meiko shouted.
Puffs of smoke surrounded her as the mice vanished at once. Luka leapt through the snow, tracing her hands through the air as she kept the orb steady and this time Miku could see white traces of light where she swept her arms around rhythmically.
"Just stay close to me!" Luka called out, "I'll protect you as long as I can!"
"Does she even need our help!?" Meiko cried out.
"She can't keep this up forever," Gakupo explained.
"AhhhhHHHHH! I know that I can! Down you miserable rodents, stabbity stabbity stab!"
Gumi seemed to have entered a pure battle rage, slicing into every soldier that crossed her path. Gakupo himself was practically a machine, moving with utter trained precision. Miku had often wondered how many of his "war stories" were fiction, but clearly at least some of them were true given how comfortable he was in the heat of a fight. Years of making toys hadn't dulled his battle senses in the slightest.
Kaito gave Miku's hand a tight squeeze – almost painful, though she held her tongue. He had no idea how strong he was. "There's our opening… I'll keep you safe, Miku…" he said quietly.
She shuddered when she saw the look on the King's face – he wasn't scared.
He was excited.
"Destroy the army! The Nutcracker is mine!"
"GO!"
He released her hand and barreled forward, Miku valiantly trying to keep up with the Nutcracker's furious pace. She'd been afraid he'd try to stop her, but he accepted her decision at once. Now she just needed to not hold him back.
'I don't know what Gakupo needs me to do, but I'll figure something out…'
She heard King Len's order and kept her eyes wide open for his assault. She kept trying to beat back the soldiers approaching her, but she still found herself getting pushed close to Kaito.
A sudden blast of wind knocked her off her feet. "MIKU!" Kaito shouted.
Miku tumbled through the snow, trying to get up again and fight. "You're not helping her, Nutcracker. All I want is you. And it's quite fortunate of you to deliver yourself to me."
Len's tail whipped around furiously behind him as his blade glowed green. "Now, come at me alone, unless you're so cowardly you need a little girl to use as a shield."
Kaito looked back at her with worry and already she knew what he'd do… he stepped forward as a circle of mice closed in around him, blocking her from seeing either of them…
A loud blast and flash of light distracted the soldiers with Miku. She pushed herself up and saw Meiko leap forward and stab them one by one. "Sorry we're late!"
Miku gestured to the ever growing crowd around the Mouse King and his opponent. "We have to do something, they're going to tear Kaito apart!"
"I see… they're trying to keep him separated… I don't think they'll try and attack until he orders them too…"
Meiko was trying to plan in the moment. She glanced backwards at the battlefield where the doll army still tried to keep themselves alive. "The more mice that come back here to aid the King… the faster the dolls will be able to cut through them…"
Miku heard Gumi's frantic yelling and saw her and Gakupo chopping their way through several more mice as Luka danced forward with her wild spellcasting. She held out her sword and prepared to do her part in this fight… whatever that was…
Kaito tried to keep up with the furious thrusts of King Len. "Not much of a soldier, are you?" the King taunted him, "You can't even keep up with a mouse!"
He tried to keep looking for an opening, but the speed of the Mouse King left him little. Most importantly, though, he refused to allow Len to unnerve him anymore than he already was. He needed to kill this boy and end the war.
'Boy?' Why was he thinking of him like that? This was a monster, not a child.
A blast of wind shot out of his sword. Kaito dropped and rolled clumsily on the ground – he saw several of the mice disappear as the blasts crashed into them. Kaito leapt back to his feet and stared at him in anger. "You don't even care about your own soldiers?!"
"Everyone exists only to be used!" Len shouted, his voice empty and free of cheer as he spoke. He closed in on Kaito who tried to parry every single furious blow. "The mice, the humans, the dolls, even the faeries! They only try to use each other to their own ends! They discard that which they no longer need!"
Kaito managed to get a thrust past Len's assault, forcing the boy back as he moved into an offensive position. He tried to remember what Meiko's trial had admitted – a long time ago, the mice had been betrayed.
'But that doesn't justify what they're doing now! They're hurting so many more people!'
'You could have done that too, when you were pushed far enough... instead you…'
He stood over his uncle's slumbering form. The bandages seemed to be holding. He would live for now. He chanced returning to his old room, but the remnants of his old life only tore at him further, reminders of something he couldn't be anymore.
As he entered his old room once more, he saw his reflection in the vanity and he barely had the strength to look upon his doll's visage even one more day. An ugly nutcracker that his uncle nearly died for…
"Uncle…" he whispered, "I don't ever want you to get hurt because of me again."
And for the first time since his curse stole the sensation of touch from him… he did feel something. The sensation of magic pressing down against him. His wooden body began to tingle, the closest he had to "feeling" anything since he'd lost the sensation of touch. All he could think of was how badly he needed to cease existing and then everyone would be safe… there was no way out for him, nothing he could do to change his own fate. But perhaps he could at least change the fate of everyone he loved… if he stopped being a factor in it…
His body felt heavy and empty as he let himself be consumed by the crushing force wrapping around him, the mattress of his bed seeming to grow as his wooden body collapsed onto the surface…
Len's sword impaled straight through his wooden torso and Kaito could hear a sickening crack at the impact site. "Are you even paying attention?!" he chided.
The Mouse King roughly wrenched the sword back out, taking a large chunk of wood out of Kaito's chest along with it. The Nutcracker glanced down at the large unsightly hole… but of course he couldn't actually feel any type of injury. 'It's fine… it's just wood, that won't kill me!'
He didn't want to die. He promised Miku he wouldn't die. He couldn't start obsessing with the past again, but where did that memory come from?
'Was that… how I fell asleep?'
He saw a series of small flashes followed by tiny explosions. Len leapt back, watching his soldiers start to vanish into smoke. "This is… celestial magic, isn't it?" he murmured, "You have a faerie with you."
Just the thought of Len hurting his "auntie" drove any charity of out his mind. "I won't let you hurt her or anyone else ever again!" he shouted, charging straight at the Mouse King.
'I have to kill him, I have to stop all of it!'
He was glad he didn't have a heart to race or blood to chill at the direction of his thoughts…
Miku screamed when she heard the sound of wood crunching, but once she heard Kaito's voice again, she tried to convince herself he was still safe for now. She tried to keep her sword steady – she'd managed to kill a few soldiers, but in these numbers with this ferocity, she kept finding herself outmatched. Like a child fighting amongst grown men. She heard a shriek behind her and tried to get her sword up in time as she saw a spear coming at her… only for the mouse to explode into a black cloud as Gakupo sliced through it with his own blade. He looked exhausted, but he extended a hand to help Miku back up again. "Gakupo… I… I can't fight them the way you can… how am I going to help Kaito? How am I supposed to help him beat the Mouse King?!"
He tried to give her a reassuring wink. "You're a clever girl, you'll seize the opportunity when it comes," he said, "Just stick close to me and let me protect you. You are my only goddaughter."
Miku watched several more of Luka's light orbs hit the ground and explode. For just a moment she glimpsed Kaito trying to drive back King Len's strikes. She panicked as she saw the horrible gap inside o her poor Nutcracker's chest.
And for just a moment, Len's eyes locked with hers again and he smirked.
"Leave the Nutcracker to me, tear apart his friends!"
Even as dozens of voices approached her, she could still hear the reassuring tick-tock of her godfather's watch as he pulled her close to him. "They won't lay a hand on you," he said gruffly.
He looked down at her. "Miku, we haven't seen the Queen here yet. She could arrive at any moment. Stay alert and shout when she gets here."
Finally… something she could do… Miku scanned every mouse on the field for the one blonde mouse with the white bow…
Kaito tried to read his opponent's face for any answers, but all he could see was the King's cruel smile. Was he enjoying all of this madness? Yet as the soldiers peeled off to fight his friends, Kaito reminded himself that none of it mattered – he could end this and keep them all safe.
"You mocked me for considering my soldiers disposable, yet you're leaving your family and friends so you can keep fighting me?"
Len laughed at him. "It's just as I said. Everyone exists to be used. There are no bonds so strong that the right motivation can't break them."
Kaito only just barely parried a blow meant to take his head off. He wasn't actually sure losing his head would kill him, but he didn't expect being headless would help him defeat the Mouse King either. The Mouse King pressed his blade against Kaito's, trying to force it closer. "You're wrong," Kaito said, pressing outward against his foe's sword, "I'm not abandoning them… if it were up to me, not one of them would be here…"
"Right! Because you can't trust anyone!" Len shouted, "You understand!"
Kaito let Len press his sword even closer, to the point that they were only inches apart. "No… because when I kill you… every one of them will be safe."
Kaito kicked one of his heavy wooden feet straight into Len's very not-wooden torso. The sword slashed across his neck, cutting a deep gash into the wood and tearing through his blue scarf. The Mouse King fell into the snow and in a flash Kaito ran forward and stepped on the mouse's hand to stop him from getting his weapon back.
'This is it! I have seconds at best! Just one thrust right over his heart and…'
Kaito's sword stopped inches over the Mouse King's heart…
… Len was crying.
'No! I have to be stronger than this, I have to… I… why is he crying?'
It felt as if time stood still as Kaito tried to study his opponent's face, the tears freely falling from his eyes. Even with the monstrous mouse-like features, all the nutcracker saw were the eyes of a scared child.
Did anyone know who the Mouse King and Queen were? Where they came from and why they wanted to cause so much pain?
He expected Len to taunt him for his sudden weakness but… the boy's whiskers trembled with fright as he looked up into Kaito's face…
'I… I have to kill them to be free… but…'
"… I can't… kill you…" Kaito whispered.
"GAKUPO! That sled, the Queen's in the sled!"
Kaito felt the familiar tingling of magic before he saw it – a black bolt of lightning extending straight towards him in seconds, slamming into his body and hurling him across the snowfield… his body convulsed even as he hit the snow…
For the first time in the entire fight, Kaito felt weakness in his body. He tried to move his arms, but they barely responded. He couldn't manage to do more than lightly shake his feet. No matter how hard he willed his body to move, it refused, like he was an outsider.
Was he finally mortally injured, by magic instead of a sword? He watched an enormous black sleigh come to a halt near the downed King of Mice, tugged by one multi-legged feral mouse. The Queen delicately dismounted and knelt over the King, whispering to him quietly before she took his hand and helped him to stand under his own power. The King's tears had left him as he stood with his Queen. She glared back at Kaito, her tail rigid, her eyes burning with fury. "You tried to kill Len, didn't you? You miserable Nutcracker, I'll tear you to pieces for even TOUCHING him!"
He'd failed… he'd let Len live…
Miku saw Kaito go flying and at once abandoned her position next to her godfather to chase him through the snow. She heard him shout for her to stop but she was already terrified Kaito was truly dead…
She saw Rin turn her head towards her, her mouse ears wiggling slightly as she glared at her. "Get out of my way, human!"
She raised just one gloved hand and Miku saw the lightning flying at her… deflected as it crashed into a white, shimmering wall of stars. She didn't even need to ask who'd shielded her, she simply continued to run towards Kaito. She reached his side and knelt over him, fearful of that dead eyed face again as she touched her hands to the long crack in his torso… but his eyes tracked towards her, if slowly. "My Nutcracker, I'm here…" she whispered.
Kaito didn't speak, but she kept watching his fingers start to twitch as if he was trying to move on his own.
"What did I tell you, Nutcracker?" Rin hissed, "Len and I will tear apart anyone that stands between you and us."
Miku tried to pull Kaito close to her, shielding him with her body. "Even her."
"Miku… just let them have me…" Kaito whispered quietly, his voice seeming out of sync with his mouth movements.
"SHUT UP!" Miku shouted at him, "If I have to make you keep that promise to not die, I will!"
"It's not polite to break a promise to a lady, Kaito."
Gakupo stepped out in front of Miku, his rainbow blade casting an array of colors into the snow as the sun bounced off of it. Luka leapt to Gakupo's side. "Gakupo… you know you won't be able to defeat them…" she said in a low voice.
"I know…" he said, "I know I can't save my nephew… but…"
He touched his hand over his chest, near his heart. "I have to protect my goddaughter, right?"
Luka briefly clenched his other hand, smiling serenely. "Then I have to protect you."
Miku watched as the faerie rose onto the tips of her toes, summoning her orb that cast a thousand lights. "If you intend to get to Kaito, you'll have to fight your way through us first!" Gakupo challenged.
"Gakupo! No, don't!" Meiko shouted, trying to enter the fight herself.
He cast a glare her way. "Princess," he said harshly, "You have an army waiting for you down there. If you want to make a difference, make sure they win their battle."
"P… Princess?" Gumi said in awe.
Meiko clenched her fist then stared down the hill where the dolls continued to fight their losing battle. "Private," Meiko said, "We have a war to win."
Gumi saluted her and began to run down the hill following behind her. The Mouse Royals let them leave without hesitation. "All I care about now is the Nutcracker…" Rin said harshly, "You're the one that attacked our army though. If I have to break you to get to him… then I'll consider it a pleasure."
Len drew his weapon. "I fight by the side of my Queen."
All at once the two pairs clashed. Luka's elegant movements involved her leaping across the field, easily bypassing Rin's projectiles as she tried to stay close to her partner. She made her magical spells flow as easily as if she were performing a grand pas deux, with Gakupo her less elegant but no less synchronized partner. Where Len would try and press forward, Gakupo's blade always found a way to counter him. When Rin's magic grew too close, a celestial shield held back it's advance.
Miku looked back to Kaito and she started to tear up again as she watched him struggling to move on his own. Finally one of his wooden hands touched her cheek, letting her tears fall on his finger. "Miku… I'm sorry… I couldn't stop him…" he said quietly.
"He's not a weak person. You did your best." All he could think of was the Mouse King and not his own weak condition?
But her assurances did little to calm him. "No, it wasn't that he overpowered me… I had the chance to end it and I… I let him go…"
"Wait… what?!" Miku couldn't believe what Kaito was confessing to, "You could have killed him and you…"
He finally began to sit up, even as his arms quaked. He watched the battle carefully. "Look at him… he kept swearing that everyone exists to be used, that he can't trust anyone… but I think he was lying… because they're clearly capable of trusting each other…"
Where Luka and Gakupo had an easy, relaxed movement as if putting on a performance, the Mouse Queen and King had no such beauty. Their movements were brutish and violent, a chaotic counter to their ordered foes. Yet even as vicious as their battle formation was, Miku recognized that each one of them formed a perfect mirror to the other. She started to notice they too had a rhythm they followed, an unspoken ability to read each other's motions without speaking.
"It's like watching two people fighting as one…" she murmured.
Miku felt a chill as Rin started to laugh in the middle of the fight. "Len, Len, look! There's something shiny, a glorious treasure!"
Len shoved Gakupo back, observing him carefully. His tail swished with excitement as his whiskers tingled. "You're right… I'm not as good at magic as you are, but I can smell a valuable from miles away!"
Gakupo didn't seem to react, but Miku finally began to read worry on his face. Len pointed his sword towards him. "Do you want me to carve it out of his corpse then?"
Luka danced close to her partner, protective of him as she held her magical orb. "There's no need to be so violent," Rin said waving her hands, "Just let me handle it."
'A… treasure? Inside Gakupo?!'
Kaito finally managed to stand up again, looking worried on hearing those words. "What are they planning?"
Rin began a furious assault of magic against Gakupo. Luka tried to counter quickly and cleanly, but Gakupo wasn't able to move forward as bolt after bolt covered his vision. Their rhythm began to dissipate…
… as Len swept in close to attack Luka.
He never so much as scratched her, so quickly did Gakupo dive forward to stop him. But the maneuver left him exposed to Rin's next attack. With one expertly timed bolt, she blasted apart Luka's orb right in her hands.
The fairy and the toymaker were blown apart.
"UNCLE! LUKA! NO!"
Kaito tried to stumble forward, collapsing as his legs gave out again. He tried to reach out in the snow somehow. In seconds Rin's arms began to elongate, turning transparent and wispy, her hands becoming two enormous ghostly claws. She reached forward through the air to Gakupo as he bounced back to his feet… and her hands slammed right into his chest.
Miku tried to keep Kaito stable as she watched in horror. Her godfather looked like he was trying to scream but no voice emerged as the Mouse Queen's hands rooted through his body. "Oh… oh my! This is full of magic, isn't it?! You kept the best treasure you had hidden from everyone didn't you?!"
Just as swiftly she ripped her arms back and Gakupo fell to the ground like a broken marionette. In the Mouse Queen's wispy arms, Miku could just barely make out the shape of a small, toy clockwork heart.
Rin clutched it close to her chest. "Okay, Len, now you can kill him and we can finish off that nutcracker and…"
The sound of cannon fire broke her out of her speech. Rin jumped back before she lost her head to a cannonball. The army charged up the slopes, several of them hauling wheeled cannons with all their strength.
"Full fire! Don't let them escape!"
Meiko held her sword out proudly, barking out orders.
A blast of light fired towards Rin as Luka leapt towards her… beating her back effortlessly with a bolt of lightning she was forced to shield herself from. "They defeated another part of our army…" Len muttered as he approached his Queen.
"It's fine. We got a nice treasure from that rude toymaker that hurt us so," Rin said, staring greedily at the heart.
"Give that back at once!" Luka shouted, and for the first time Miku saw the faerie's placid face contorting with rage.
Rin beckoned as her black sled began to move through the snow. Several wisps of smoke formed in front of it, summoning her monstrous mount. "What did we promise you, Nutcracker?!" Len shouted as he and Rin jumped inside, "There is nothing that will keep us from our revenge on you!"
Miku watched as Luka actually tried to chase their sled on foot… a futile effort as it picked up speed.
The Mouse Queen and King had fled the battle.
Miku walked over to Gakupo's still body. "Godfather?" she whimpered.
She halted as she took one look at his still face. 'He looks just like Kaito when he… when… he…'
His lovely blue eyes had turned solid grey, staring straight forward with a blank expression on his face.
She collapsed right next to his body and began shaking him, shouting to him as she had to Kaito. "Godfather, please! Godfather, don't fall asleep! Don't leave us!"
That was when Miku noticed another absence besides his emotions. The ever-present sound of his pocket watch. She pressed her head close to his chest… but she heard nothing.
Not even the sound of a heartbeat.
"… he is a man without a heart."
Miku beheld Luka standing over her. The faerie knelt in the snow, taking off one of her gloves and touching Gakupo's skin with her bare hand, her light blue fingernails shining against his paling skin.
The faerie pushed open the familiar run down doors of the workshop. Nobody had lived here for years – but if Drosselmeyer had no home any longer, surely this old home would have been his retreat. 'He would choose to hide somewhere I would know to seek him out…'
But her eyes darted through the dark room and she saw no signs of life inside. Several toy soldiers slumped against the walls, as if they'd been carelessly wound then died out. Perhaps she had simply arrived too early… or he'd been chased back out. She would have to try to find other mortals that had seen him. She didn't dare alert the mice to his alliance with a faerie so soon.
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw movement near the cellar door. She stared at another arrangement of soldiers… and watched another automaton emerge from the cellar. She gasped as she recognized several of its features as it moved forward with mechanical precision – the soft purple hair and ancient purple coat, the shape of its build. Yet its hands exposed wires and segmented joints. Its "skin" was a dull metallic sheen with flaking paint. Its face was a large, carefully curved metal plate bearing a blank expression, and she could see the seams between the metal plating that formed its outer shell beneath its clothes.
She began to approach it with caution, her breath catching as the automaton finally became aware of her. Its head jerked her way and she observed its solid grey eyes. She could hear a rough clicking as they moved across her form.
"State your purpose."
On hearing that sharp yet familiar voice, it took all of her strength to maintain her composure. "I seek Drosselmeyer and his nephew."
The automaton stared at her for several moments. "They are not here."
And with that, the automaton turned back to its work, trying to repair the soldiers.
The faerie's footsteps quickened as she hastened to where she remembered the bedrooms to be… his nephew's room was just up the steps…
"You are not authorized to enter that area."
She stopped walking, turning back to the automaton. Her lips pursed. "Why not?"
Its mechanical eyes and frozen face gave nothing away.
Left with nothing but silence, she turned back up the steps and marched forward. In seconds she heard rapid heavy footsteps and found the automaton's fist clenched tightly around her delicate wrist.
"You are not authorized."
The faerie turned back to it and studied its face again for anything amiss. "… why not?"
The steady grip of the automaton on her wrist had momentarily frightened her, but she gradually lost her fear of it striking or injuring her.
"Are you protecting something? Someone? Out with it!"
"I cannot let anyone hurt him ever again."
In spite of the lack of expression, in spite of the solid unwavering voice… she started to understand. She tenderly touched her free hand to the automaton's cheek. "Gakupo…" she whispered, "You don't even trust me?"
On hearing that name, the automaton's grip on her wrist loosened just enough for her to pull her hand free. She ascended the stairs and pushed open his bedroom door…
There, carefully arranged on the sheets of his bed, was a tiny wooden nutcracker doll.
She gently approached the doll, touching her fingertips to its forehead and feeling lifeless wood. But underneath, she could still feel a small spark of magic. Something in this little nutcracker was still alive, if dormant.
She bent over the bed, whispering quietly. "Sleep well, little Nutcracker… you carry the heaviest burden of us all. I know it seems impossible now, but there is someone out there who will love you with all her heart…"
She heard the automaton's heavy footsteps climbing the stairs. She rose to her feet again, steeling herself for the problem she'd come to resolve on her own. The fate she needed to change. In the doorway, the automaton stared out at her, his face still motionless. Yet when finally it spoke of its own volition, its mechanical voice shook with sorrow.
"Sugar… Plum…"
She felt a dampness on her own cheeks. Why was she crying for him so? She knew logically why he'd become like this. There was no great curse that had transformed his body into this creature of metal in which ancient echoes of the past occasionally rushed forth. He'd utterly collapsed into a well of his sorrows and the magic of this world he'd become unanchored in had granted him an escape he sought. Like this he could forget his past – he could forget the people he'd lost and hurt. And he himself would never feel anything again.
And logically, she knew she was expected to leave him to his fate. She'd already interfered so much… this was supposed to be his problem to solve… or fail to solve…
She stepped forward and lightly embraced his cold, lifeless shell, willing herself to remember how he was before. His vibrant laughter, his joyful songs, the warmth of his embrace, the tenderness of his kisses. She finally accepted that he'd become an inspiration to her to finally stop merely observing the world below, endlessly charting stars and guiding wayward souls and then departing as if they were nothing. Because of him, she had the courage to dance like they did, to laugh like they did…
… to love like they did.
As she held him, she half expected him to return her affections, yet he remained utterly motionless, staring ahead at nothing. Yet he didn't simply walk away as if she was nothing either.
If he were simply dead, she could accept that. He was mortal after all. But he wasn't bereft of life. His soul was trapped in this metallic prison, and she had no way to release him.
Her silent embrace offered nothing. All she could hear was the barely silent gears turning in his body… and the sound of the ticking clockwork heart in her coat. "You said…" she whispered, "that I could listen to that noise and know somewhere down there your heart beat as readily for me as this… but you don't have a heart any longer, do you? This is all I have left to recall it…"
She felt a deep warmth in her coat, tingling of magic. Yet it wasn't the crushing despair she feared… she pulled it out and saw several specks of light emitting from it, the window to the gears revealing a soft glow from the visible nodes of stardust within its casing. "What is this? Is it because… I walked with it amongst the heavens for so long?"
Within her hands she allowed the heart to levitate as it glowed. She dared not hope for a miracle, but deep in her heart she prayed that she had a way to save him. If he had no heart, perhaps she could replace it with something else… at least regain his soul if not the rest of him…
The heart gently floated towards his chest and at once the automaton shuddered in her arms, twitching back and forth. She held him close but his strength caused them both to fall to the ground in the bedroom. Yet as she landed on top of him, she could already feel it – warm blood and flesh. Breath flowing through his chest as he gasped out for air. His eyes opened again, that beautiful brilliant sky blue that sparkled with the love he held for her.
"How… did I get here?" he asked, "And not that I'm complaining, but is there any particular reason you're on top of me?"
She silenced him by drawing him into a joyful kiss, clutching his living body close and silently thanking the heavens for granting her this precious gift. As their lips parted, he patted his chest in curiosity. "Luka, I don't wish to alarm you but… I seem to be ticking…"
"Gakupo… you lost your heart… so now you've got a clockwork heart keeping you alive…" she said happily, "So take very good care of it, because you only made one!"
Now it was the toymaker's turn to look surprised. "You just… told a joke, didn't you? Oh my, I am having a truly corrupting influence on you…"
She dared not release him, that steady tick-tock within his chest reassuring him that he was alive, he was hers, and she had one more chance to preserve him so long as it stayed there…
Miku watched as Luka traced her fingers along Gakupo's cheek. "Gakupo…" she whispered, "Please… tell me you're all right… You're already growing so cold…"
At once Gakupo blinked his eyes and stared up at Luka. "Luka?" he muttered, "Where did they take it?"
But she held no answers. "Luka… does Gakupo need that heart to live?" Miku asked.
"Gakupo… needs that heart to stay whole," Luka responded, "It's all that he was… without it… he'll become a soulless toy, no different than the automatons he built in his shop…"
The faerie tried to keep her lover steady as he tried to stand. Already his movements seemed stiffer, like he was having trouble properly bending his body. "I don't know if he'll die, but I can't say that the alternative is preferable… and I don't know how long we have to retrieve it before Gakupo is lost to us..."
Miku didn't want to accept what she was hearing. Was this why Gakupo knew he couldn't help her? Because he knew with such certainty that standing against them would break him like this?!
"Uncle… Miku… Luka…" Kaito whispered.
Though the Nutcracker finally seemed capable of standing under his own power again, his head hung so low Miku couldn't even make out his eyes. "This is all my fault…"
Meiko charged through the snow, flanked by several other officers in red colors – a stern looking wooden woman with waist-length blonde hair and a sharp looking cloth doll with a gigantic red ponytail. "Is Drosselmeyer safe?!" the princess asked.
She jumped when he looked at her, and Miku guessed his eyes gave away his condition at once. "No! Did the mice curse him!? How did this happen!?"
But Gakupo interrupted her as he looked over the two dolls at her side. "Cul and Lily… right?"
Cul's stitched eyes twitched at hearing him say her name. "… yes, it's us… er, Boss. I'm glad you remember me..."
Gakupo smiled softly for them. "I'm glad to see you both safe."
His smile in light of his condition seemed to have little effect at calming either of the doll women, Lily trying awkwardly to put on a cheerful face in spite of the ill mood.
Luka seemed quite done with conversation for now, and it was eerie to Miku how much she seemed to struggle keeping her emotions in check. "I'd rather explain somewhere safer…" she said calmly, staring out in the direction where the Mouse Royals sleigh had escaped, "We can't dally here. Their soldiers aren't normal, and they've not even shown a fraction of their force. The losses they've suffered… are nothing."
"Princess Pirlipat!" Lily said as she saluted, and just hearing that name made Meiko cringe again, "We have a camp not too far from here, down in the valley… we need to patch up our soldiers anyway."
"How many casualties, Lieutenant Lily?" Meiko asked somberly.
"Well… frankly, the confusion of you lot showing up flanking the Mouse King and scattering those automatons gave us a chance to break the stalemate," she said, "We still have supplies for fixing structural damage, but nobody was completely broken. Your clockwork soldiers aren't in great shape, but better something that wasn't alive take that kind of a beating instead."
'No wonder the dolls keep getting drafted…' Miku thought to herself, 'They're still so hard to kill!'
Cul examined Kaito, grimacing at the great hole in his torso and the shredded scarf hanging around his neck revealing the unsightly gash that could have torn his head clean off. "We probably have enough for him too," she said, "You're lucky you know. I've seen the Mouse King chop other dolls into pieces. But we should be able to have someone repair your structural damage."
Kaito nodded his head but seemed incapable of adding anymore conversation.
"If your camp is in the valley," Gakupo said hoarsely, "You probably aren't that far from my old workshop. We could make use of the supplies I have…"
Slowly Luka and Meiko managed to get Gakupo walking as close to normal as possible, trudging through the snow towards their camp. A cold wind settled over her as the sun was setting. She immediately noticed one person missing and stopped walking.
Kaito was standing still in the snow. "Kaito… we need to get back to camp… we can get you fixed up and start figuring out how to get Gakupo's heart back…"
"I let him live… and now Uncle is hurt…" he said softly.
She walked back over to Kaito, watching his eyes having turned to thin black lines. "I promised… I'd kill the Mouse King but… I couldn't do it… I lost my nerve…"
Miku grabbed his hand before remembering he couldn't feel it. She flicked a finger along his cheek, the small knocking sound causing him to notice her presence, the thick lines turning back to normal eyes. "No, you promised me you wouldn't die," she said, "And you kept that promise to me."
Seeing Kaito so devoid of cheer frightened her – not because the dire circumstances felt insurmountable, but because she feared what could happen to him.
"Think about it, Kaito – you have to defeat the Mouse King and Queen anyway, right?" she said, "Well, now they have Gakupo's heart. It's not like we weren't going to pursue them anyway…"
She tried to smile for him. No matter how weak she felt, so useless to him in battle… she wanted to try things his way. To smile for him, no matter how false it felt, just to make him feel stronger. Just as he kept doing for her. "We'll chase them down and get the heart back… and then Gakupo is going to be just fine."
Kaito seemed to acknowledge her words, though no matching smile ever formed on his face. But this time when Miku began to walk through the snow, he followed closely behind her.
'Kaito… I don't have a plan to save you… I don't have a plan to get that heart back… but…'
She swallowed. 'Even if I'm not a soldier or a warrior, I'll come up with some way to get us both home again…'
A/N:
So apparently there were a lot of folks that guessed what was up with Gakupo and the ticking from as far back as the first chapter, but I hope I still kept some folks surprised. Namely because it's not a plot point from any other version of the Nutcracker, it's just me throwing my own twists into the existing story!
Believe it or not, I actually was not thinking of a certain anime that also includes a Drosselmeyer, large sections of the Nutcracker Suite, and a main character without a heart though I felt preeeeetty stupid when that was asked of me point blank after releasing the first chapter. Actually, it's meant to be a reference to another fairy tale about toys altogether, The Steadfast Tin Soldier. That's a Hans Christian Anderson story about a tin soldier who falls in love with a toy ballerina until they're driven apart by fate and they both die in after falling into a fireplace together. Now, see guys? As rough as I am on my characters, I could be so much worse.
I told you guys I'd get some ballet in here, even if Luka's ballet sorcery is a bit unorthodox.
You guys have no idea how hard it was to not have Gumi scream "SENPAI NOTICED ME" after Gakupo fired her up for the battle XD