"So you're telling me that Princess Mimzy rejected Alastor all because she thought he was ugly?" Octavia said to her teacher.
"Yes." Mrs. Gracey said.
"But he saved her, and saving him is the only way to free everyone from the mouse king."
"I know, but sadly that didn't matter to her or her father. They didn't see the kind, loyal, and brave prince that Alastor truly was. All they could see was a homely doll made of wood. And what had been happening to everyone else, had no effect on them as long as they stayed in the Sheltered City. So they saw no reason to help."
"That's awful." Octavia declared with disgust and disapproval. "Poor Alastor and poor Charlotte, how could Mimzy and her father be so horrible to them? And to their own people?"
"To this day I still don't know." Mrs. Gracey said.
"But even if Mimzy had kept her promise and married Alastor, it wouldn't have changed anything."
"It wouldn't?"
"No, because she never loved Alastor and he never loved her. True they had been arranged to be married, but they had barely spoken more than a few sentences to each other. There was no real love between them to break the spell and defeat the mouse king."
"I don't understand. I thought this all knowing sugar plum fairy said that everyone would be saved by the nutcracker prince and the princess."
"No. The sugar plum fairy didn't say that."
"Yes she did."
"No she didn't."
"Yes she did."
"No she didn't."
"Yes she did."
"No she didn't." Mrs. Gracey argued playfully. "The Sugar Plum Fairy didn't say that the nutcracker prince and 'the' princess would save them. She said that it would be the nutcracker prince and 'his' princess."
"Okay I'm confused now."
"Just keep listening to the story."
"Alright, but it all just keeps getting more and more confusing."
"So Charlotte took the guard's advice and set out on the path to find the veiled woman he had spoken of. Discouraged and alone, she felt that this woman was the only person left who could help her. Little did she realize that the person who would save Alastor was closer than she ever suspected."
The guard had said that it would only take Charlotte five minutes to find the mysterious veiled woman with knowledge on magic and sorcery. But five minutes had passed since she went down the path and she saw no trace of anyone. She stopped a few times and looked around, calling for help, but it was all in vain. There was no one here. No one who could help her. She was all alone, and sunrise was just a few more hours away.
"What am I going to do?" She asked the nutcracker in her arms. "Everyone will die if I don't do what Vox wants, but I can't just let him kill you! I can't!"
A moment of silence passed and Charlotte then heard a voice humming a little tune in the distance. She recognized the melody, it was one she had once heard in a ballet. She followed the humming and it led her to a woman cloaked in red with a veil over her face.
"Help me!" Charlotte cried running toward her. "Help me please!"
The woman turned to look at Charlotte, only her eyes could be seen.
"I...I'm sorry but are you the veiled woman?"
"I am called that at times." The woman answered.
"Can you help me? I was told that maybe you could. Oh I hope you can. I have no one else to turn to."
"I know why you've come." The veiled woman spoke softly. "You are hoping that maybe I can undo the wicked spell that plagues your friend."
There was something about her voice that seemed familiar to Charlotte. A very gentle and maternal like voice that made her feel as though she had heard it many times.
"Yes I have." Charlotte confirmed. "Can you save him?"
"Alas no." She said. "Only you can save him."
"Me? How could I save him? I don't have any magical powers."
"Magic will not free him. Did the Inventor not tell you? Only through true love can things be made right."
"He did say that, but Princess Mimzy refused to marry Alastor. She wouldn't love him, because she thought he was ugly." She hugged the nutcracker as if to comfort him over the princess's cruel words. "All she cared about was how he looked as a nutcracker. She couldn't see his beautiful heart, she didn't even try to. And if she can't love him, then what else can be done?"
The veiled woman chuckled quietly.
"My dear child, there's more to love than winning the favor of someone with a pretty face. Real love is not so vain and shallow. Real love is always truthful and unselfish. It means speaking of what it is in your heart and making sacrifices."
"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked.
"True love cannot stay inside, it always shows itself. To break the spell, Alastor and his princess must confess their love, then somehow prove their words to be sincere."
"But I already told you, the princess won't love him. If what you say is true, then how in the world is it supposed to be accomplished?"
"Look deep within yourself Charlotte. Trust your heart, and the rest will just fall into place."
Those were the last words that the veiled woman started to slip away.
"No wait! Don't go!" Charlotte protested. "I don't know what that means! Can't you explain it to me better? Please come back!"
Charlotte chased after the veiled woman, begging her not to leave yet, but all too soon the mysterious woman faded from sight. Charlotte tripped over her feet and was sent tumbling down a hillside, dropping the nutcracker and skidding down until she hit the flat surface. The only injury she sustained was a skinned knee and a bruised leg, but that fall was the final thing that made it impossible for Charlotte to hold her tears back any longer. She began to cry.
"I wanna go home!" She wept. "I should have never come here! What was I thinking? That I could be a real hero like in one of my stupid, made-up, fairy stories?! Father was right! The world is full of rejection and disappointment! And that's what I am! I'm a reject and a disappointment!"
The poor girl had never felt so helpless in her entire life, all she could hear were her own broken sobs and all she could feel was a cold loss.
Then she lifted her head up and spotted the nutcracker laying only a few inches away from her. She observed a large spot of blood on his neck, which had been caused by the fall. She carefully picked him up and commenced rubbing it with her nightgown. After that Charlotte held the nutcracker close to her heart and cradled him lovingly, wishing that there was anything more she could do for him.
"I'm so sorry Alastor." She spoke to him softly. "I tried, I really tried to save you. But I couldn't. I just wasn't good enough. I wish..."
She had to briefly stop to swallow down another sob.
"I wish that I could have been a princess, then I could have saved you with my love. It wouldn't have mattered to me if you were a prince or a nutcracker, I would have loved you with all my heart."
A tear, a single tear formed by all the love Charlotte held for Alastor dropped from her eye, slid down her cheek and landed on to the chest of the still, stiff, and cold nutcracker. The tear penetrated through the wood surface and found its way into Alastor's heart which laid underneath. The nutcracker suddenly grew warm and he shed a tear formed by the love he held for Charlotte. She felt the tear fall into her hand and she saw him begin to move. Charlotte quickly put him down with care and watched as the wooden man started to become larger.
"Puh..." His jaw struggled to speak again. "Puh...Please don't cry Charlotte."
He slowly raised a hand to her face, caressing her cheek and wiping away her tears with his fingers.
"Don't cry...It's alright...I'm here. There's no need to cry...So please smile."
She looked at him with relief and astonishment. Without warning, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"My prince." She now wept tears of joy. "My dear sweet prince! Don't ever leave me again!"
"Charlotte." He sighed, clinging to her. "I thought...I thought I had lost you. As everything was getting dark, I was terrified that it would be the last time I'd ever see your lovely face."
They embraced each other for the longest time, appreciating the joyful miracle of being together again.
"How long I was out for this time?" He asked her. "Are you an adult for a real or still a child in disguise?"
"Don't worry, you were only out for a couple hours." She smiled, but her smile turned to a look of worry when she remembered what had happened to her other friends. "Oh Alastor I'm so glad you're back now, something terrible has happened. Vox has taken Vagatha, Anthony, and Niffty. He's going to turn them inanimate at sunrise if I don't give you to him to kill and if I don't..."
She almost gagged at the idea.
"And if I don't marry him too."
Alastor was more disgusted by the sinister offer than Charlotte was.
"He really is a dirty rat." Alastor said in revulsion. "You're not actually thinking about accepting, are you? You can't possibly marry that vermin! That's a fate worse than death!
"Of course, I'm not considering it." She confirmed, surprised that he was more concerned with the idea of her accepting the proposal instead of being handed over to die. "But we have to do something to save the others."
"Alright, let's take stock here." Alastor said. "What do we have to work with?"
"Nothing. Vox took the bag of tricks and all I could carry besides you, is the map. Not to mention that sunrise is only two more hours away."
"Hmmm...Let me check my apparel. I'm certain that I managed to pocket one or two items from that bag." Alastor checked the pockets of his coat and trousers. All he found was a wind up key. "I'm trying to be optimistic here, but I don't see how this key type can be of any use to us. Now if it was a key to a jail cell-"
Instantly the wind up key mechanically shifted into a skeleton key.
"That kind of key works too." Alastor said. "So we have this and the element of surprise."
"We do?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes. As far as Vox knows, I'm just a motionless block of wood. I no longer pose any possible threat to him, or so he thinks." Alastor chuckled.
"Clever, but exactly how do we use this to our advantage?"
Alastor thought for a moment, taking into consideration everything he knew about his enemy, until he was able to figure out his fatal flaw. And when he did figured it out, an idea was formed.
"You trust me?" He asked her.
"I do." She assured him.
"Then here's the plan."
Thus the two proceeded to come up with a clever and calculating plot to rescue their friends and put an end to King Vox once and for all.
