Chapter 12: The Clever Girl and the Wooden Boy
Miku felt herself falling from an immense height, followed by a jolt…
Her eyes snapped open and she found herself lying in her own bed, clothed in her night gown with her arm wrapped in the bandage. The light of the sun shone through the window of her home.
Miku tried to leap up, yelping as she felt a sharp pain in her arm. She crawled out of bed more slowly, her eyes traveling across her room. Nothing appeared to be disturbed… save for her nutcracker, who lie upon the floor.
She carefully picked up the nutcracker, examining him carefully. "Kaito?" she whispered.
The doll didn't react to her at all. He also appeared to be in perfect condition, unlike what she remembered of him being torn up and ragged by the end of his fight with the Great Mouse Lord…
Miku stood and rested him gently on her bed. The events she'd experienced flew through her head… they were all so real… what did it mean?
A rapping at her door disturbed her thoughts. "Miku, are you ready for breakfast yet? Gakupo is going to be here any minute now!"
"I… I'll be right there, mother!" Miku called out.
She walked over to her toy castle and knelt down, examining every single inhabitant in a new light. "Meiko?" she whispered, tapping her finger to the red-garbed princess.
But the little doll princess didn't react either.
She opened up her closet, where she'd long ago stored old toys granted to her by Gakupo. All of them were in perfect condition… including the pink haired ballerina. She picked up the faerie, staring into its painted eyes. "Luka?"
The ballerina stayed as silent as everyone else.
Miku turned back to the Nutcracker on her bed, waiting for him to leap to life again… but he stayed as silent as everything else.
"…. No! I know this can't be false!"
She ran to her wardrobe and threw her clothes on as quickly as possible. She was going to get to the bottom of this! She grabbed hold of her nutcracker as soon as she was clothed and marched out of her bedroom.
"Oh, Miku, good, I won't have to call you a second time!"
Her mother walked over and began to fuss over her bandaged arm. "Oh good, it's healing well… you don't need any more laudanum?"
She finally noticed Miku carrying her nutcracker tight in her arms. "Oh, you're showing Gakupo how well that little toy was fixed?"
Miku felt her nerves rising. "Mother… his name is Kaito."
At that the older woman gave a sigh. "I hope that's Gakupo's idea… honestly, I know he means well, but it's not right for a girl your age to still…"
Miku interrupted her. "Kaito is the boy I saved from the Mouse King and Queen in the living room the other night."
For just a moment, her mother's jaw hung open in surprise. "Miku, we've been through this… that was a dream! You were sleep walking!"
The girl held firm, clutching the Nutcracker tightly to her chest. "The mice came back last night too!" Miku continued, "They tried to take this poor Nutcracker away with them… and they put a spell on me when I tried to save him! We had to escape… we fled for our lives into a kingdom of dolls and sweets and fought a war… we were gone for days…"
By now Miku noticed her brother was in the room with her. "Miku, are you sure you just bumped your arm and not your head?"
But she would not be so quickly silenced… she loved her mother and brother dearly, but she had to assert herself as well!
"We met so many kind people… dolls and humans both! We even made friends with a princess, and a faerie and –"
"Miku, that's ENOUGH!"
Clearly her mother was tired of being interrupted. "Look at that doll, right there! How could it possibly have gotten up and walked around?"
She pointed to a calendar on the wall. "And how could you have been gone for days? I tucked you in myself only last evening! And you're here, right now!"
Miku tried to hold on just a little longer, but she didn't have an answer for this.
Her poor weary mother let out a deep breath as she held a hand to her forehead. "It sounds like you had a very beautiful dream, but you must put such dreams out of your mind."
Miku tried to listen for a moment… her mother wanted what was best for her… and yet…
"Mother… Gakupo…. Kaito is Gakupo's nephew!"
No sooner had the words left her lips than Mikuo's rollicking laughter filled the room. Even her mother seemed rather amused by the mere idea. "Miku… that's ridiculous… I'm pretty sure if Gakupo has any nephews, none of them are a toy nutcracker!"
On that, the woman tried to pry the poor Nutcracker from his protector's arms. "Now, stop this nonsense at once or I'll throw it right out!"
Miku tried to shield him from her. "No, I shan't let you hurt him!"
"Oh dear, have I come at a bad time?"
Miku managed to wiggle away from her mother as she heard a most welcome voice – her dear godfather. "Gakupo, you straighten things out!" she said, running over to him, "Tell them about Kaito! Tell them about the faerie! And and…"
She heard a ticking sound as she approached him. "Tell them about your clockwork heart!"
Mikuo was still laughing so hard he looked ready to collapse. "Miku, you've lost your mind! Godfather isn't a clock, he's a man!"
The older man let out a long sigh. "Oh dear, dear, dear…" he said.
Miku's eyes widened at his strange tone. "Miku, I must apologize… I think I got carried away in that last bedtime story I told you."
She turned to Gakupo with worried eyes. "No! You were there… you saw all of it… I built you a new heart and…"
While he didn't laugh as Mikuo was, he didn't exactly react well either, looking at her with sympathy. He pulled out a small, worn silver pocket watch on a short chain, softly ticking in his hands. "Miku, I'm impressed with your imagination, but I told you I keep a pocket watch on me… and surely I'd have dropped dead if someone tried to give me a toy heart."
Miku took a few panicked steps backward. How could Gakupo turn on them like this? He'd been there, he'd seen everything…
"Godfather, you don't just have a clockwork heart, you have a nutcracker nephew according to Miku!" Mikuo said between great guffaws.
Finally her poor mother couldn't stand it any longer. "Miku, you're going to give up that silly toy this instant!"
Gakupo moved to calm the rather cross woman down. "Now now, she just had a fantastic dream! I should be honored to have played such a brilliant part!"
Was that really all it was? The more she heard them speak, the more it seemed like another fantastic dream…
"Miku, I'll make it simple to you," Gakupo said calmly, "If you went to this fairy kingdom, then how did you get home?"
His question shook her to the core. "I… I…"
Her lips shook. "I woke up in bed…"
Again her mother reached for the Nutcracker and she felt it slip from her grasp…
'I… I was still thinking of the mice because of my sleepwalking… nutcrackers… aren't real…'
"Such ridiculous, foolish nonsense," her mother muttered, "I'll give him back to you when you've regained your senses."
Gakupo wouldn't straight up lie to her – he had nothing to gain! If the Nutcracker really was his lost nephew, Gakupo would have done anything to save him. Yet he didn't even flinch as the doll was pulled from her arms…
Miku watched as her dear Nutcracker was carried away from her. Everything she'd felt, everything she'd done… just the dreams of a hopeful girl…
'No… I can't abandon my Nutcracker! I promised him I'd never do that!'
She ran into the next room as her mother began to open a cabinet to lock the toy up. She rushed forward and took the toy from her mother's hands. "Miku! What's gotten into you!?"
"I won't be told that I'm lying!" Miku protested, "I know what I saw! I… I don't care how impossible it sounds! And I won't let poor Kaito suffer any more for it!"
With that she tore out of the back of her house, clutching the doll tight in her arms. She could barely hear her mother's quick footsteps, before they stopped at the sound of Gakupo's soothing voice. "Let her run it off… clearly that dream meant a great deal to her… she's a clever girl, she'll come around…"
Eventually she heard nothing as she ran into the snowed over garden, collapsing onto the bench. She turned the Nutcracker over in her hands and stared at him sadly. "Kaito… did you fall asleep again?"
The small toy gave no answers – not a word, nor even a true smile. Just that little boxy lifeless body, its painted face, and permanent toothy grin.
She touched its hair gently as she tried to summon her memories of him from what felt more and more like a lost dream. The last words he spoke to her drifted into her mind… an emotional question she'd left unanswered.
"Oh Kaito... whatever you may be, you're my dear Nutcracker… of course I love you, to the end of my days."
A loud cracking noise sounded out at once, a great force knocking Miku right off the bench. As she regained her senses, she patted around in the snow and realized her Nutcracker had simply vanished. "Where did it go?" she cried out in confusion, sifting through the snow for any sign of her beloved friend.
"Hey! Miku!"
Mikuo's voice cut through the chilly air as the older boy trotted through the snow, his short teal hair hanging out of his light cap. "If you're done playing with dolls… Gakupo's real nephew just showed up."
He snorted with laughter. "Just try not to embarrass yourself telling him that crazy dream-"
Mikuo's words were cut off by the rapid running of his sister through the garden. She had her hands balled into fists as she tried to keep up a pace… she saw the familiar front walk and the stoop… she could see two people standing in front of it… a woman clothed in white with long pink hair and a young man in a long white and blue lined coat, his scarf the same shade as his brilliant hair…
"KAITO!"
He turned his head to her slightly… only for Miku to rush forward and put her arms around him with such force that both of them tumbled right into the snow.
"My god, Miku! I… I must apologize for her behavior, she's not well!"
Her mother's stumbling apologies meant nothing as Miku quietly held the person she loved. She ignored the burning sensation in her bandaged arm as it pressed against the ground, because all she could focus on was the warmth of his body, the sound of his breathing, the beating of his heart…
For just a moment she panicked as she looked into his face – had she just rushed up and hugged a stranger?
Until she saw something in his brilliant blue eyes… she pressed one of her fingers to his cheek as she caught a few stray tears beginning to trail down his face in spite of his broad happy smile.
"Miku… you did it…" he whispered to her.
"Well… I guess we can assume Kaito will get along fine with Miku!"
A familiar rich laugh echoed out of the house as Gakupo stood leaning against the doorway. Reluctantly, Miku got up and allowed Kaito to stand. He briefly gripped his back – apparently he felt pain again, but he tried to avoid showing too much of it. Mikuo finally caught up to them and extended a hand. "Hey there. Sorry about my crazy sister."
Kaito shook the boy's hand. "Mikuo, right? My uncle said you wanted to be a solider like him!"
"Yea… he talked about us, huh?"
Mikuo seemed to be carefully examining the young man in front of him before letting go of Kaito's hand. He looked over to the elegant woman at Kaito's side. "I didn't know he had a girlfriend…"
"Oh for goodness sake!" By now Miku's mother had been more than embarrassed enough for one day, "Please, all of you, come inside, I'll show you the proper hospitality my children seem incapable of displaying."
Miku looked to the woman face and saw that ever familiar stoic smile. "Thank you, miss."
'Luka… you made it.'
Naturally Miku's curiosity was brimming over as to the odd events of the morning. Aside from Kaito's tears, neither Gakupo nor Luka were terribly forthcoming with her. Hearing her godfather speak of things, Kaito had lost his family and Gakupo was taking him in to be an apprentice in his toy empire. Luka was the daughter of a business partner whom Gakupo had met on one of his recent business travels… and an acclaimed ballerina. Miku's elaborate dream seemed more and more impossible, but how could she have imagined going on an adventure with people she hadn't met!?
Fortunately, Kaito's jovial attitude endeared him to both members of Miku's family. Her mother was happy to meet a bright young man with a solid trade, and once Mikuo picked up on Kaito's experience as a soldier, he was peppering him with questions about what it would be like to fight in a real battle or fire live cannons.
Miku noticed Kaito was very selective in what he chose to share. But the entire time she sat there watching him speak, she couldn't stop studying his face. She'd only once seen Kaito as a human, and only in an illusion… she couldn't stop contrasting his appearance with that of the doll she'd known. He still smiled, but they were so much more natural when his cheeks actually moved. He was still prone to blushing, but now the rosy shade faded naturally.
As for Luka, she seemed surprisingly adept at handling the many questions about herself and her life. While normally a career such as dancing might have gotten Miku some disapproval, there was a level of prestige a prima ballerina carried that allowed her to transcend it. Luka discussed performances for royalty, and her many travels, and Miku thought she detected some pride slip in to her otherwise calm voice.
But finally the children were released from their "hospitality" and Miku practically dragged Kaito off with her, to Gakupo's great amusement.
Kaito walked quietly at Miku's side as she pulled him through the snowed over garden again. Finally they'd reached the same bench where she'd sung to her Nutcracker on Christmas Day. She bunched up her fists tightly… suddenly her nerves were tense as she took a seat and patted for him to join her. So many questions rushed through her head...
It was Kaito who broke the silence first. "Miku… I heard what you said… this morning…"
Her heart began to pound. "All of it," he added.
He seemed at least as nervous as she was… but finally the most obvious question passed through her lips.
"How did you break the curse?"
At that, Kaito gave a happy laugh. "I didn't do anything!" he said, "You broke the curse!"
Miku recalled her emotional pledge to him before the toy vanished… "You can't tell me it was simply the power of love?"
Kaito began to blush again as he looked out into the snow-coated trees. "Well… um, after you fell asleep… you kind of vanished into light… Luka said you were probably back home, in your room safe and sound the night you left. But… if that was the case, you'd start to recall everything as a dream…"
Miku crossed her arms and huffed. "Well Gakupo could have straightened it out for me!" she said.
Kaito chuckled. "Ah, please don't be cross with my poor uncle!" he said, "Right after you left, Luka told me she'd held back part of the truth about my curse… she did know the last step, after I defeated the Mouse King… but… it meant that my fate was entirely in the hands of another again. My horoscope showed that… well… a certain person would have to pledge to love me as I was even in the face of denial and scorn…"
On those words, Miku began to calm as she started to understand Gakupo's strange behavior. She even found herself feeling sorry for him, having to deny his own nephew's existence like that. She started to wonder why Luka would conceal the truth, when it occurred to her that perhaps the woman who seemed so detached from social mores might be more keen to them when she observed them in others.
"Kaito… if that's the case… then how did you get back into my bedroom again? You were a tiny little doll again, like… when you 'fell asleep.'"
Kaito was so much less adept at concealing his emotions when he had a working face again – even as he tried to keep a solid expression, Miku could see some of the muscles in his face tensing at her question. "I told them…" he said, his voice catching for just a moment before he gathered the courage to continue, "If… if it really was you, I wanted to be there when it happened. And if it wasn't…"
She felt his warm fingers close over her hand. "I wanted to be able to watch over you for the rest of your life anyway."
Even as Kaito spoke of such a sad event, his smile never entirely left him. The boy who never cried, who tried to conceal all of his burdens, a steadfast soldier. Miku's heart began to pound with anticipation from the intensity of his words…
He released his breath in one long sigh, a little white cloud disappearing into the chilly air as he did so. "Ah, I forgot what that looked like!" he said in awe, "You have no idea how strange it feels! I'd completely forgotten what the cold is like! When I started shivering again, I thought I was about to die! Ah, I'm so glad Luka gave me these warm clothes… and my new scarf!"
Miku found herself caught up in laughter… could Kaito really be this clueless? Confessing his plan to stay her loyal toy soldier in one breath, then talking about the weather in the next?
Kaito looked down at her in confusion. "I don't think they look that funny…" he remarked.
"It's… it's not that!" she said between laughs, "It's you! You're so hilarious sometimes!"
Now he looked downright nervous as Miku snuggled up a little closer to him, sensing the warmth radiating from his body even underneath the clothes. "You never think about how boldly you talk to us sensitive young ladies!" she teased.
Clearly Gakupo had never passed on any of his easy charms to his nephew, though there was something rather endearing about the rosy color in Kaito's face. "I… I just don't want to say the wrong thing…" he finally admitted.
"Kaito, you already know how I feel about you, because it set you free from that long curse," Miku said more seriously, "You asked me if I could love you… will you do the same for me?"
She thought she saw a few happy tears in his eyes again as he put his arms around her, tracing his fingers along her face as her pulled her closer. "Miku… I love you… I'll always love you… the clever girl who saved me…"
And with that, he pulled Miku into a soft, warm kiss.
Gakupo stood out by the window in the living area, his eyes out on the garden as he watched a bench in the distance. He knew he needed to give his nephew and his goddaughter just a little bit of privacy, but surely he could be excused for worrying over two children he'd raised getting their proper happy ending?
He'd never suspected, not once, that the curious little girl he'd spent his spare time fawning over would be the very same girl he'd spent so long searching for. It was almost too convenient, frankly – that he'd raise his own goddaughter to dispel the powerful magic that swallowed himself and his nephew? Yet he was a storyteller in his own right, and he had to admit there was a romantic if sentimental tone to the story playing out now.
When Kaito had chosen to let himself become a normal toy again, it had taken every bit of strength the toymaker still possessed not to lose himself to fear. He had faith in Miku, but even so… it had nearly broken his new heart to set the little doll in his sleeping goddaughter's bed before Luka whisked him away again…
"I think you should have a little more faith in the two of them, Gakupo. Surely they've earned it?"
He turned to Luka, who still sat at the coffee table enjoying a glass of tea. "Now now," he said, "They're family! Surely I can meddle a little bit?"
"Even I know when to step back and let events play out as they should," Luka said.
Gakupo still couldn't quite wrap his head around Luka deploying humor against him. His image of her over the fifteen years he'd spent apart from her had certainly elevated her to another type of creature altogether. Fifteen years he'd spent as a clockwork man pretending to have a human heart.
In the end, his wish had been born of darkness and desperation, but now that everything had worked out in his favor, he couldn't fault himself for the results. He'd stayed a young man for those fifteen years, able to keep seeking out the opportunities he needed to save his nephew without being downed by the ravages of aging. But those days were over – if he stayed in this world as he was, he'd grow old and die just as any other human would.
So would Luka as her power withered away. Even if she was several orders of magnitude weaker in her home world when she wasn't amongst her celestial kin, she was still a faerie. Here she barely had the power to return home, and staying here too long would take even that from her.
A number of paths lay ahead of him. He couldn't live forever, but surely he could give the immortal creature in front of him as many years as possible? If he just rationed out his time spent managing his enterprises here… but he couldn't just vanish either. He needed another person he could trust…
"When you get quiet like this, I know you're planning something."
Gakupo laughed and took a seat next to Luka on the sofa. "Well, I might have to handle a lot of complexities if those two move as fast as they already are!"
She set her glass down and looked up at him warmly. She leaned over to him and rested her head right against his chest. Her eyes closed as she listened to his heartbeat. "To think of the many miracles that took place so swiftly," she whispered, "Every time I hear your heartbeat, I will think of how hard I worked to ensure I heard it again…"
The toymaker tenderly put his arms around his faerie, his savior of so many days. "No doubt the lady Hatsune assumes we're getting married," he said quietly, "Believe it or not, it would be rather scandalous for us to be this affectionate otherwise."
"Is this how humans normally propose?" she asked, raising her head up with a neutral smile upon her face.
She could still ruffle him, even now. "I… you're not human, Luka…" he stuttered, "I just… thought I should…"
"Then the next time you propose this topic, I want you to speak to me as if I was just another human woman… the way you always have."
She leaned up and gave him a light peck upon the lips before unraveling herself from his embrace. Just in time, as soon the lady of the house was present again. "I'm sorry for how ill-behaved my children were this morning… I do wonder if it's just going to get worse as they get older…" she said.
Gakupo glanced out the window, though he had a hard time making out what the two "children" were up to. "Oh, I have faith in them," he said, "Miku is a very smart, capable young lady. Mikuo is a strong and stubborn young man. They'll figure things out, just like we all did."
As the older woman took her seat, an idea popped into Gakupo's head that might ease some of the tensions in his surrogate family. "You know, with Kaito coming back to apprentice with me again, I was thinking… Miku seems to get along quite well with him. And while it wouldn't be the most conventional arrangement, she is rather good with mechanics."
Far beyond "rather good", but he could spare the tale of the giant clockwork "King of Cats" for another day.
"Frankly, my enterprise is such I need more than one apprentice," he continued, "Instead of shipping her off to the marriage conveyor, I could arrange to have her start up with me in the spring."
The older woman cocked an eyebrow at him. "Would your men really be all right seeing a woman take on such a profession?" she asked.
It wasn't a rejection. "I think they'd manage," Gakupo said, "We're a little bit of an unconventional operation anyway. Besides, I think if we play our cards right, we could even solve the 'marriage problem'!"
Not that Miku needed to have such a farcical "problem" solved, but it would remove a number of otherwise artificial barriers for her. Besides, he already knew what she wanted to do.
For once, he saw a smile on his old friend's face. "I think… that would make her very happy," she said whimsically. "Yes… very happy indeed. Besides, I'd feel more comfortable if she marries someone related to you anyway. I just hope he doesn't stay as eternally youthful as you have or she'll be quite jealous of him as she gets older."
Gakupo grabbed for a cup of tea.
Rin sat on top of the rock, soaking in the warm breezes of early spring. "Heh… late again…" Len laughed, "I'll bet Miku was distracted by some new toy idea and lost track of time."
Rin curled her fingers around a small cloth heart. She'd sewn it herself as a memento of the odd dreams she still sometimes had. Like snippets of another life she'd lived.
Ever since she and her brother had awoken in the woods, their lives had been different. While it felt like they'd only been gone a matter of minutes, the town they returned to revealed years of lost time. At first she had been certain she and Len had gone to the wrong one but even with the amount of newness, there were still familiar landmarks, streets, some of the houses…
The orphanage still stood, but it was in surprisingly better shape. It had a new name, and a fresh coat of paint. None of the children who played in the yard looked familiar. She'd grabbed Len's hand tightly as they walked inside, expecting a serious thrashing for having run away all night.
Inside they received an even odder reception. None of the adults were the same people they'd seen before – and they seemed utterly flabbergasted at having a pair of children show up claiming to have lived there! A call was made to try and seek out their actual parents in town, as surely these twins must be playing some kind of prank…
… eventually a man with green hair ran into the orphanage and at first Rin barely recognized him until she spotted his bucked teeth.
Ryuto.
Nobody entirely believed him, even as he protested that the two children in front of him were the same as the two who had vanished fifteen years ago. His friends. Rin began to wonder if her old life was a dream somehow as well… but Len assured her that something magical had happened. He told Ryuto that they'd sought out the faeries that night… and now they'd returned.
Even though many of the adults assumed it must be a coincidence, that Rin and Len simply looked like two children given up for dead, their story spread like wildfire once the idea of them having an adventure with faeries caught on. Even the mere idea of two children vaguely resembling the missing twins seemed like some kind of divine providence.
In their absence, the loss of two charges had caused an uproar – the orphanage's management was replaced and it became a far more pleasant place to live for those left behind. All the talk of splitting them up had vanished.
Not that they were going to be staying there much longer. A nice couple had heard the stories and sought out the sleepy little town in the hills where the "faerie children" lived. Leon and Lola… no, soon to be her mother and father. She liked them – they were well-off performers in a big city, but they were childless and ready to start a family. Rin could already imagine being part of a big concert with Len and her new parents and hundreds of people clapping for them…
But there was to be a sad parting along with the happiness of a family… their new parents lived quite far.
"Kaito! Miku!"
Rin stood up and waved as she saw them coming through the woods, smiling and laughing together as they held hands. "You made it!"
"Of course we did!" Miku said with a smile, "When have we ever let you down?"
In all the chaos of trying to piece together what had happened to them in the fifteen years since they disappeared, Rin and Len realized that they both possessed some kind of shared dream. Some of it was frightening and hard to recall. But there was one part that she recalled with clarity. A kind girl and boy promising to be her friends.
And so Len had taken Rin into the woods where they had awoken and waited. Before long they saw two people that looked exactly like those in their shared dream – though she'd thought in the dream that the boy had looked like a giant doll.
Perhaps the "dream" wasn't of the past, but the future. After all, she couldn't recall the circumstances in which she met with Kaito and Miku in the dream, and in the present they didn't seem to know who they were anyway. She decided she preferred that – she was fairly certain in the dream she'd hurt them somehow, and now that they'd become close friends, she didn't want to imagine that!
"Len, are you getting taller?" Kaito asked cheerfully, touching a hand to the shorter boy's forehead.
"Yep, I measured, I've grown a whole two inches over the last two months!" Len said proudly, "Hey, maybe I'll catch up to you some day!"
Miku walked over to Rin and smiled. "Hey, Miku, before Len and I go… could you make me something? Like a new toy?"
Miku seemed to have a talent for crafting unusual toys – something the kind Gakupo had started to teach her. Technically so did Kaito, but he wasn't as good at it yet… it rather worked out that Rin and Len would be moving soon, as Gakupo was supposed to be taking them on as apprentices soon.
"Sure, I think I can manage that!" Miku said, bouncing on her heels, "What would you like? Something cool to remember me by?!"
Rin clutched her little cloth toy again. She'd sewn it not long after she'd awoken, based on some half-forgotten memory. But now she desired a real one. "A music box… shaped like a heart."
At first she thought she'd made a rude request when Miku made a shocked expression. "Is there something wrong?"
The twin-tailed girl shook her head quickly. "No… of course not."
She thought she saw Miku wipe a tear from her eyes. "I can already think of just the song!"
Rin smiled. "Good… then whenever I hear it, it'll be like we're still together!"
She heard Kaito laughing. "Oh, stop talking like that!" he said, "We'll come visit, I promise!"
"But we're going all the way out to the capital!" Len said, "Where exactly are you two going anyway?"
Kaito put a finger to his lips. "Somewhere… very far… but very close…" he said with an impish smile.
Now it was Rin's turn to laugh. "Kaito… you're always saying the weirdest things! I can't wait to see what you get up to when you're a full apprentice!"
In the past she'd been broken hearted about losing a loved one, but now… she had faith it would turn out okay. They would stay together even across vast distances. And the next time she saw Miku and Kaito after their long separation… she and Len would have so many wonderful stories to share.
"'If everything has to end, I won't fall in love,' I said. But if you don't fear loss, it's not that bad to reach out…"
Miku smiled as she could hear her godfather singing along the humming assembly. His workshop looked so much lovelier now that it was in full production and restored to its proper glory, his "Gearbolt Girls" wandering the lines and checking on each toy, each one wearing matching uniforms of white shirts and tan overalls. Miku herself wore a simple white blouse and black trousers – perfect for the assembly line and toy work!
"Words are always a betrayal, I'm running away from my promises… But now I'm putting aside grim speeches and going to meet you, so be ready for me!"
"Ahhhh… Sir Drosselmeyer's voice is so dreamy…" Gumi enthused nearby, "Miss Luka must be missing it so…"
Miku sat at a small drafting table, hard at work with an idea that had seized her in the middle of the night. She had to see it through to completion so she could show it to her teacher as soon as possible!
"Parade in a night full of light… A kaleidoscope of a scene you saw in a dream… Drumroll in crescendo… A story with no end…"
Luka was spending some time up in the stars again, restoring her powers and performing her long neglected tasks. At first Miku had thought Gakupo would be broken hearted, but he seemed rather positive – she always came back, and this time it wouldn't be nearly such a long separation. Besides… he still had logistics of his own to work out.
"Miku! Miku, you have to see this!"
She heard Kaito's excited voice ringing out in the basement. "I think I got it! I mean it this time!"
Miku set her pencil down as she stood up, watching Kaito coming bounding down the hall… right as he slammed into poor Gumi, bouncing away from her soft rubber body and making her drop an entire box of bolts. "OH! Gumi, I'm so so sorry, I didn't see you…"
Kaito tried to help the rubber doll woman gather the rolling bolts from the floor again. "Ah, Kaito, it's okay… I should know by now to just duck and cover when I hear you get excited like that!"
She laughed at her own joke… then blushed deeply as she saw who was standing next to her to help. "Well, at least Gumi isn't as badly hurt when these accidents happen!"
Gakupo scooped up the last of the bolts and handed them to his awestruck worker as she stood to her full height. "I thank you for forgiving my clumsy nephew for his enthusiasm! Oh, these are the hexagon head bolts I was looking for! Why don't I show you where they're going to go?"
"Sir Drosselmeyer…" she said softly as Gakupo whisked her away to another part of the assembly line.
Kaito returned to Miku with a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry about that…" he said, "If you still want to see it…"
Miku smiled for him. "But of course!"
Kaito led Miku back outside, past the many new and old faces now hard at work. Gakupo's workshop was in the process of expanding… many of the workers now lived in temporary housing outside, but soon they would have proper homes. Even if dolls didn't exactly need the same trappings as humans, Gakupo still wanted to treat them with respect. He already expected a little factory town to grow up, with the promise of no additional interference from the Marzipan Crown.
Not that it was remotely a possibility anymore. Once "Princess Pirlipat" returned home with an army more loyal to her than to her parents, it was very easy for her to start changing how her kingdom was run. Life wouldn't get easier for dolls overnight, but they were at least getting easier for Kaito now that he wasn't being chased around by the king's men anymore. After many letters were exchanged between the two old friends, the princess finally arranged to come by on an official visit to the renovated workshop just a few weeks earlier… though for her close friends, she refused to be known as anything but "Meiko."
That was fine… Miku knew her and learned to trust her by that name in the first place. She could never see such an important friend with any other name.
Miku stepped outside into the warm summer sun, smelling the fruity scent of the Rose Lake on the soft breeze. Kaito had lined up several small clockworks toys in the grass. Most of them were holding instruments, but one stood alone in the center. A little doll with a pair of pigtails and a little boy with a scarf.
"Kaito, you made a full band?" Miku asked, examining all of them.
"I always wanted to try it…" he said, "I think I've finally got the nodes working correctly though. The hardest one was the singer and the dancer…"
He walked behind each one, turning the keys. A distinct melody began to play. The little girl began to twirl around as the boy with the scarf began to sing…
"Continuation becomes strength," Other people can say it easily but the reason we've come all the way here is because we supported each other, right?"
Miku glanced over to Kaito, who was watching his toys while biting his lip. The doll had his voice – likely because he'd had to use the magic to give it a voice at all. Yet from his nerves, it was almost as if he was expecting something to go wrong. All his recent training with forging the star nodes, and he still made mistakes…
"I'm right in front of you but I can't touch you at all, this is the only thing I can do so… I hope my message reaches you! Let my voice reach you!"
Now Miku half expected the singing doll's pitch to vary out of tune or for the girl to trip over or smack one of the little band mates with her hair. But she stayed perfectly steady as she danced around the boy, just out of the reach of his hands.
It's okay if you cry, It's okay if you cry, only tonight! I'll be right next to you! Oh oh oh oh oh! Yes, because I'm your one loyal prince!
The little singer's words had such passion… it really sounded just like how Kaito would sing, whenever the mood struck for him, yet this song was a passionate plea from a little boy that had to settle for being heard when it couldn't be touched.
"Every day bathes you like the starry night and lights up tomorrow! Ten years ago, tonight, and ten years from now, your smile is my most precious treasure!"
Miku could have burst out laughing at watching Kaito fall backwards into the grass as the song finished, the two dancers close but not quite touching as they stared into each other's clockwork eyes. Their creator had relief etched into his face. "It took me forever to get that part right!" he said.
"Day and night, any time I'm here, thank you, so grateful! If we're all warm, your heart's relieved so we have to be a duo, you and me!"
Miku took a seat at his side, watching the little doll singer and his lovely partner proudly take a bow before returning to its motionless state. "But you never gave up on it, Kaito… that's why you got it eventually…"
He put his arm around Miku, clutching her tightly to his side. "After everything I've been through, I think putting a little more work into being a toy maker's apprentice is pretty simple…"
Miku snuggled up closer to him, listening carefully to his calm heartbeat and enjoying the warmth of his body, the soft grip of his hands. The song he'd chosen for the dolls he'd crafted couldn't be any more blatant in its intent. It wasn't just a song for others… it was a song for her.
'It's kind of sappy… but he's got so much heart, I can't help but love it anyway…'
"Hardships are unending, until we're drowning in despair… Our world is in darkness, reaching out becomes frightful…"
As Luka stepped into the busy workshop, her soft white tutu bouncing with every step of her light dancing shoes. His inviting voice laid out the path to the person she sought. The person she loved.
"But if we hold on to one thing, no matter how paltry, it'll be fine if we have the courage to step forward…"
She could have laughed watching the little green haired rubber doll hanging on her boss' every note as he sang without abandon. This was the way she wanted to remember him – so caught up in what he loved that he thought of nothing else.
"I told them to you at the start, lost things inside of your dreams… The flames will go out some days, but it'll fine if we'll rekindle them each time"
She almost felt guilty interrupting Gakupo with her presence, but she wanted more of him than his songs…
"Ah… Sir Drosselmeyer!" Gumi gasped, "I… I… Lily is… and… Ineedtodoathingnowbye!"
His song ceased as Gumi skittered away. His look of confusion shifted to joy as his blue eyes met Luka's. He dropped his work at once as he swept over and embraced her tightly. For once he had little in the way of his charming words.
As she happily returned his embrace, she thought she could get used to him being more of a man of action…
"I hope it wasn't too long…" she whispered.
"It's always too long," he said, "But you always come back…"
The light ticking of a clockwork heart in a pouch hanging around her waist was barely audible over the machinery. "You won't let me forget you," she said.
They parted just enough that they were still holding hands. "Gakupo, I had to come get you at once…" she said, "Tonight's my return to the stage. It's just not right to dance up there without my biggest fan watching."
"I thought that was the princess?" Gakupo joked.
Of course the brunette would come to see her idol. "Then I guess I'll have to settle for you," she said slyly.
Gakupo looked around the workshop. "That's all well and good, but how do you plan to get us there in time?"
Now this required some delicate work in her home. She hadn't just returned to get her powers back. She had a job to do – after the disaster with the mice, she had to ensure the faeries understood the danger of ignoring the world below.
Far less important to the universe itself, but extremely important to her however…
"How would you like to walk along the Celestial Road?"
The toymaker blinked several times. "I can do… what?! You said humans can't get up there!"
Luka laughed lightly – his reaction was as hilarious as she'd hoped. "For the three of you, three humans who fought against fate and saved so many… I am allowed to let you cross with me. We'll arrive at the theater in mere minutes."
After so many years of her watching the humans, of learning all about their worlds… now a human would learn about hers. She eagerly awaited his reaction to seeing the stars as closely as she had for thousands of years…
Gakupo pulled Luka close to him all over again. "Then I suppose I'd better get my best clothes ready…" he said softly.
As she leaned in and kissed him, she placed one of her hands along the back of his neck, the light from the basement windows glinting off of a small diamond ring on her left hand…
Kaito clutched Miku's hand tightly as he walked along the river bank in the late afternoon sun. He loved holding her hand, knowing she was right there and she was as alive as he was. Something most people would take for granted had become a precious gift to him.
"In a canvas of a dusk, I watched a wine red sunset go down, on my way back home… I wonder if your heart already painted what my feelings are?"
Miku sang softly as they walked, her heart at ease. He loved that voice, the one that had pulled him out of so many long darknesses. The one that cheered him up every single day. The one that had inspired him to write his own song, just for her, and work day and night to make sure his toys could perform it properly.
"This evening, we have plenty of time… I just want to spend all of it with you! Let's be at ease and take a deep breath, watch closely, It's going to start!"
The warmth of the end of a summer's day, the scent of the Rose Lake, the wind tossing his scarf, even just feeling the sticks crack under his boots… every sensation felt brand new.
He thought about Rin and Len… the last letter he got from them included a sketch of them from the newspaper with their new parents. He couldn't imagine those happy smiles belonging to the frightened Mouse King and Queen.
He thought about Meiko. No doubt she'd be present at Luka's concert… he couldn't wait to show off the little toy band he'd finally managed to get functional. She'd become a hero to the dolls who she stood up for… a change from the proud yet lonely princess who kept herself sheltered.
He thought about his suddenly larger family. Miku was eager to get her brother and mother a place in the Land of Dolls and Sweets, but they both understood this task was delicate. Even so, he couldn't wait to show Mikuo a true clockwork army.
Most of all, he thought of how every breath he took felt like freedom after so long without. It seemed that every day was filled with possibility. Even if there were setbacks again, he didn't feel trapped into eternally smiling and staying silent.
He never felt alone.
"Miracle painting, wonderful technique! The finishing touch is not done so hold on a while! When I'm done I'll tell you just how much, I really do…. I love you!"
He turned to Miku as she serenaded him with the last verse. He still didn't know how to talk to her as smoothly as Gakupo did, but sometimes it didn't seem to matter. She liked his honesty… and more and more, she understood the meaning of his silences.
"I love you too," he said, "My clever girl."
Miku's smile felt even warmer than the sunshine reflecting off the lake. "My Nutcracker," she said.
Kaito reached out and kissed her, her lips soft and smooth. He ran his hands through her hair, just absorbing the sensation of how silky it felt. He always loved having her close, and the reassurance that he would always be able to feel her light caresses, just like now as she brushed her fingers along his neck.
They parted just briefly. "Did you need to get anything else done before we leave tonight?" he whispered.
She pulled him closer. "Nope… I finished the drawing… I can start building it tomorrow..."
And she leaned up and kissed him again.
On Miku's drafting table, a small golden clockwork heart lay atop the blueprints she'd sketched up, holding them in place. A picture of her mother and brother was pinned to the corkboard, next to another of Rin and Len smiling and making faces into the camera in front of a glamorous theater.
Sketched onto the paper was an elaborate plan for a clockwork nutcracker.
THE END
A/N:
And so my third great Vocaloid novel comes to a close. A little longer than I expected, but a bit cleaner I hope.
So this chapter is special for a lot of reasons. First of all, two of the songs in the story were translated by readers so I could use them in this story! I love this kind of synergy =D But more of that later.
Second, happy birthday AGAIN to Kaito! This is actually his official birthday, though he got a lot of love on Valentine's Day already. I hope this is an acceptable birthday present to him. Writing for Kaito has gotten me through a lot of difficult times.
And to that I say thank you to everyone who read the story, whether you ever left a single comment or review or lurked in the background. I really appreciate all the support. I learn a lot every time I write, and I always enjoy talking to new readers and old readers alike. This story was very interesting – all throughout, I'd hear from other people about what versions of the Nutcracker they remembered as a child. And apparently a lot of you seem to all remember the Barbie video, so perhaps I should have actually watched the Barbie version at some point and made a cheeky reference XD But it seems to be a story a lot of people remember and get nostalgic for, then rediscover as adults in some fashion. Welp, that's what happened to me and that's why I made Kaito into our Nutcracker. It was so fun hearing people talk about the stories they remember!
Early on I was asked how I would handle the "just a dream" ending of the original story. That kind of surprised me, because as far as I knew, the original story never did use a dream ending. But as it turns out… most versions of the story, even the ballet, imply that some or all of the events were a dream even though Marie/Clara usually meets a human version of the Nutcracker at the end of the story.
Well, the source novel sure doesn't. It just straight up tells the reader that Marie fell asleep and was taken home by the Nutcracker's servants. She still faces derision and disbelief when she tries to tell everyone about her adventure. Even Drosselmeyer debunks her story rather thoroughly. But she refuses to give up on the Nutcracker and finally pledges she'd never treat him as poorly as Princess Pirlipat did… which lifts the curse over him.
So I did a variation on that, except I gave a lot of the harsher lines quoted from the novel to Miku's mother because in my version of the story, Gakupo would have been a total jerk to tell Miku she was speaking "rubbish" when he darn well knows what happened ;) And being a sentimental sap, of course it's loving Kaito that would break his curse, not simply being okay with him looking ugly. I still tried to get some elements of the original ending into the scenes at her home, even if I obviously did my own thing past that point.
If you want to know what's next, right now, it's nothing, but don't worry too much about me resting on my laurels. The writing has been amazingly therapeutic for me, and this story will always be very important to me for how personal many of the conflicts became. If you're looking for potential updates from me, I will post them on my DeviantArt page, my Wattpad account, and my Tumblr (all of these as Rebochan) since those let me notify readers effectively. I'll periodically update my FFN profile as well, but that doesn't send out notices to my followers on that site.
Song Credits: I know the Gakupo song will leave a lot of folks scratching their heads. It's "Prince of Stars" from the album "DEBUTANTE VI". Most of the songs at that album were never released and there's no PV, but I was complaining about how hard it was to find perky Gakupo songs and Gakupo god Narumo translated this one for me. It kind of works too given Gakupo is basically dating a space fairy in this story ;) As for Kaito's song, well how terribly appropriate, this one is "Attakaito" by halosy, producer of Snowman! It was written for the Glorious Blue album, and the PV was released right on Kaito's 10th birthday! That's right, it came out less than a week ago! I shared it on DeviantArt, lamenting that I had no translation so I could make use of it… and reader ha-nata had it translated just in the nick of time. So enjoy Kaito, singing a song WRITTEN for Kaito's birthday, as part of a story being dedicated to Kaito's birthday. I wasn't sure the lyrics would work, but ha-nata suggested otherwise and once I read her translation, I understood immediately how well they worked for this Kaito's tale.
… and there was still one more Miku song, but I think "Miracle Paint" is pretty well known by now.
Since I can't share links in story documents on FFN, I've gone ahead and added links for Prince of Stars and Attakaito to my profile.