Snow made by the snow fairies was always soft, beautiful, delicate, and never cold. It was the snow that little children believed in during the winter days when the schools would be closed and they could stay home to play outside. Doing fun activities like building a snowman, having a snowball fight, ice skating or riding their sleds. In other words it was the snowfall that could make any place a winter wonderland.
But no such snow came from the storm that Vox conjured up. This snow was the kind the came from the view point of realistic adults. It was hard, heavy, icy, and cold. It was the type of snow that urged parents to keep their children inside during certain winter days because it was too cold and too dangerous. Because it could make a person terribly ill if they stayed in it too long. Or maybe slip on the ice and injure themselves.
A swirl of cold air travelled through the forest, locking everything in ice, and releasing powerful winds that sounded like an unholy voice howling.
There was a raging fog the carried ice shards and threw all about in every direction. At a certain angle, they almost looked like white bees swarming around or broken glass falling from above. It was probably the must awful blizzard that had ever been created. If you were to ever end up trapped in a storm like this, you would most likely never be seen or heard from again.
Now to someone like Alastor, Anthony, and Niffty, the cold was no threat to them for they were no longer beings of flesh and blood. Their bodies were now wood, cloth, and china, materials that didn't have senses. Those three would be perfectly safe and un-effected by the storm. But Charlotte was still made of flesh and blood, she still had senses, and she could still feel cold. The snow hit her face hard, blinding her, while her hands and fingers became sore. She could feel herself becoming weaker with each step she took, sinking into the snow building up.
"Achoo!" She sneezed.
Alastor immediately stopped and turned to look at her. There she was trembling, struggling to walk, and her lips turning blue. He was at her side in the same time it took for someone to blink.
"Are you alright?" He asked her.
"I'm...I'm..." She stuttered. "I'm fine. Just a little...A little cold. Achoo!"
Alastor took off his jacket and covered her with it.
"Alright we can't go on any further until this storm clears up." He decided. "We have to stop and find shelter."
"Oh no, we can't." Charlotte shivered. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Suddenly she collapsed. Alastor caught her. He scooped her up into his arms and held her close for warmth, but without skin there wasn't much he could do.
"Is she alright?" Niffty asked.
"She's freezing." Alastor said. "We better find a way to get her warm or she's a goner. Anthony, Baxter said you had magic, is there anything you can do?"
"Nothing that will help her." Anthony said. "All I can do is conjure up a few snowflakes and I don't think we want that right now."
"Could we try to make a fire?" Niffty said.
"Neither one of us can do it. Anthony is made of fabric and I'm made of wood, we'll burn too easily. And you're made of china so you'll melt." Alastor said. "Oh dear, what a calamity we've gotten ourselves into."
"Maybe there's something in this satchel that can help." Anthony pointed to the bag that Alastor carried. "Mind if I take a look?"
"Not at all. Try to find something to help her, and hurry!" Alastor said desperately.
Anthony took the satchel from Alastor and dug through it.
"There's an oil lamp in here." He said pulling it out. "But I'm not sure if that'll help."
"Is it full?" Alastor asked. "Is there oil in there?"
"Yes."
"Alright, I have an idea but first we have to find some form of shelter."
"I know a cave that's not too far from here." Anthony said. "It should be just over that hill."
"Splendid."
He looked down at Charlotte who was slowly drifting away in his arms. "Oh no Charlotte, no don't go to sleep. Not yet. Please stay awake."
"I'm sorry. I'm just so tired." She replied weakly.
"I know you are and I promise you'll get to sleep but not now. If you go to sleep now we may lose you to hypothermia. Just hold on for a little longer."
"I'll try."
The cave was small but had just enough space to protect them from the storm. Alastor then asked Niffty and Anthony to break off some branches and gather a few sticks, then make them into a pile in the cave. After that he told all of them to stand back and handed the oil lantern to Charlotte.
"Alright sweetheart you're going to be warm soon but first you have to do something." He told her. "Can you turn on the oil lamp?"
She nodded and proceeded to turn the metal knob until a flame sparked inside the lamp's glass frame.
"Good. Now I want you to break the lamp on that pile." He said.
"But won't the fire hurt you?" She asked.
"Not if I keep my distance. Now hurry."
Alastor stepped back and Charlotte approached the pile. She threw the lamp down on the sticks and branches, the glass broke and the flame spread on to the wood, changing into a campfire. Charlotte sat down in front of the flames and let the heat radiating off of it warm her.
"Feel better?" Alastor asked.
"Much." She said, unconsciously pulling the jacket tighter around herself.
Alastor glanced at the cave's opening and saw that it had now become dark.
"We'll sleep here tonight and continue on in the morning. Hopefully the storm will have passed by then."
"I can't believe a storm like this is actually happening here." Anthony said. "In all the years I've lived in this forest there's never been any cold snow. Where did it even come from?"
"Not important right now. For now, let's get some sleep."
"Good idea." Niffty said sitting down in a corner and cuddling up to her lamb plushy. "Don't worry Kiki, you'll be a cat again soon. Now that the nutcracker prince has come."
Charlotte saw Alastor's eyes dim again and she found herself unable to sleep for the longest time. She just sat in front of the fire, watching the rag doll and china shepherdess fall asleep, and by good fortune, the nutcracker remained awake. She eventually stood up from her spot and sat down beside him.
"Good gracious my dear, you shouldn't be so far from the fire." He said.
"I'll be just fine over here." She assured him. "I'm not so cold anymore. Do you want your jacket back?"
"No. Keep it until tomorrow. It's best thing you can use as a blanket."
"Thank you for keeping me warm. You really do have the heart of a prince."
"I really wish you wouldn't say things like that." He sighed. "You and pretty much everyone I've met here seems to think that I'm some kind of a hero."
"And that upsets you?" She inquired. "I know it does. You get uncomfortable every time someone brings up you defeating the mouse king and saving everyone. Why?"
He was quiet for a long time before he answered her question. At first he was impressed that she was able to tell how he really felt despite his best efforts to conceal his emotions. Even before he was turned into a wooden doll with a permanent smile painted on to his face, no one could ever tell if he was angry, sad, scared or uncomfortable because he had kept his true emotions hidden inside. He didn't want to appear weak or vulnerable to anyone. Only someone who really paid attention to what was under the surface could really know what went on in his heart and mind. Charlotte was truly a special girl if she could do that.
But his feelings of amazement soon turned to shame upon realizing that now he had to confess the embarrassing truth to her.
"No one else is awake right?" He asked her.
"No. They're all asleep."
"And...Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course." She smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to die, I won't tell anyone anything you disclose to me in this moment."
"Alright, the truth is I don't think that I can actually defeat Vox." He admitted. "And I don't think I'm the great and wonderful hero everyone is making me out to be."
"Well the sugar plum fairy said-"
"I know what she said but I think she made a mistake. I mean, I was only twelve years old the last time I was conscious. I was a child, and I passed out. Now I wake up and suddenly I'm an adult, I'm a nutcracker, and I'm supposed to be a hero? That's a lot for a boy to comprehend."
"But you're not a boy. You're technically twenty."
"My body is twenty but my brain is still twelve. For those eight years, while my body was growing, my brain was completely shut down. I never developed mentally and emotionally. I didn't grow up Charlotte, I had my childhood stolen and, it left me a boy trapped in the body of a wooden man."
Charlotte looked at his face carefully as she took his words to heart. For the first time since she met him, she could see him for what he truly was. She could see the soul of a scared and confused little boy within those dim eyes of his. It made her sad.
"I don't want to become a prince. I don't want to rule a kingdom, I don't want to fight Vox, I don't want to be a hero. I just want to be a boy again and go home to my aunt and uncle."
For a moment the nutcracker looked like he was about to cry but chose not to. Or perhaps he wanted to cry, but couldn't because his eyes could no longer shed tears. Charlotte couldn't tell at the time but she could tell that he was so very sad.
"I just want a chance to actually experience growing up." He said. "I'm not ready to be a man, and if I'm not ready to be a man, then how could I possibly be ready to be a hero? I'm…"
He hesitated before continuing.
"This isn't easy for me to say Charlotte but I'm scared. I'm scared of getting killed by Vox. I'm scared of failing everyone. And most of all, I'm scared that I'll never see my aunt or my uncle again."
Charlotte's face crumbled and her eyes became forlorn. Poor Alastor, how terrible this all must've been for him. To spend all these years in the dark and then awaken to be under so much pressure. No wonder all this talk of being a hero discomforted him.
She slid closer to him and gently grasped his hand. This made him feel a little flustered.
"I'm sorry." She said kindly. "I wish I could make you a boy again. But there is something I can do to make you less afraid."
"What?" He asked.
"I won't leave you to do all this alone. No matter what happens, no matter what you have to do, I'll do it with you and I'll help however I can."
"Do you really mean that?"
"With all my heart."
"Thank you Charlotte. I actually feel a lot better now."
She smiled at him softly. He gave her the same smile. Charlotte then turned her attention to the fire, watching the warm flames glow in the darkness of night. She could feel herself getting sleepy again. Her head slowly came to rest on his shoulder and she fell asleep. Alastor could feel his heart beating fast as he cradled the beautiful, sleeping girl in his arms. Charlotte was truly astonishing. One of a kind, the most charming belle he had ever met. He wondered what it would have been like if they had met without the spell interfering.
He most likely would have been seven when she was born, no way they would be this close in age now. In fact a twenty year old man being this close to a thirteen year old girl would be very inappropriate. It might even land him in jail. But that didn't occur to Alastor because he only looked like a man, just like how Charlotte only looked like a woman. In actuality they were both still just children. Children who were still innocent, and didn't have any "mature" thoughts if you will.
Right now all they focused on was how safe and warm they felt that night, and to the nutcracker, it was the first true happiness that he had known in so long.