"I can feel a slight breeze. We're approaching the exit." Basil announced suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the group.

That was a reliefto hear, the journey through the tunnels had grown longer than Noelle was comfortable with and the darkness of it all unnerved her.
At some point after the talking had stopped, and all that was left to fill the still air was the sound of footprints she was left alone with her thoughts. Worries swirled in her mind, her predicament seeming unreal and impossible to deal in the dark she had felt for a moment as if she was sleepwalking through an uncanny dream.

A faint light in the distance took shape, illuminating the walls around them, revealing the tunnel walls to be made of a natural wood, almostlike tree roots that had been woven together over time.

Oliva's pace picked up and Noelle had no choice but to follow the child's obvious excitement. "We're almost home." She said with a smile. "Come on!"

Noelle giggled as the girl dragged her past Basil and Dawson, running out of the darkness of the mouse-hole and into the daylight that was awaiting them. Daylight? Perhapsthe journey had taken a bit more time than she'd originally anticipated, the walk to get here had been long but surely not that long.

Noelle squinted as she stepped out into the light, her eyes taking a moment to adjust, nearly gasping when she did finally take in the world that surrounded her.

It appeared as if they were at the edge of a sprawling pine forest, on a hillside that gave her a dazzlingview of the imposing mountains in the distance.
A light layer of snow coveredthe trees like powderedsugar, weighing their branchesdown. Below the hillside was a frozen lake, with ice so clear it reflected the perfectly blue sky above it. Deer watched the group from a distance, sprinting away when Noelle staredat them a little too long.

"The air...". The girl mumbled, taking a deep breath. "It smells faintly like-."

"Peppermint!" Oliva exclaimed, eagerly finishing Noelle's thought. "It's becauseof the trees." The small toy mouse explained proudly. "This is the Peppermint Forest."

Noelle looked around her, realizing only now that-almostimpossibly it seemed like they had emerged from a wide gaping hole in the trunk of an old pine tree, which towered over all the others in the forest. She wasn't exactly sure how that worked, but she knew better than to question it, stranger things had happened to her tonight.

"And this snow." The girl said, crouching down, letting her blonde hair fall in frontof her face as she scooped up a handful. "It's not even cold." Sniffing it, Noelle came to another realization. "It smells like Vanilla!" Without thinking the girl shoved the handful into her mouth, instantly regretting her decision.

"And it tastes like Vanilla." Basil smirked, watching Noelle spit out the bitter snow. "That is to say it tastes like vanilla extract . A grown woman should know better than to eat anything she finds on the ground."

Noelle's cheeks turned red, she huffed, crossing her arms as she got back up to her full height.

"Now uhm-." Dawson began, stepping in to diffuse the situation. "I believethat we should start our journey posthaste if we're to evade the Rat King. Wouldn't you agree Basil?" The round mouse turned to the Nutcracker who snapped back into the same sour mood he was in previously.

"Right the 'Sugar Plum Fairy." Basil sighed.

"Do you know where she would be?" Asked Noelle. "I don't suppose you know any legends or stories that tell you where to find her?"

"The Land of Frost." Basil stated bluntly. "If there is a Sugarplum fairy-which there isn't-." He added sternly, glancing over at Noelle.

Noelle rolled her eyes.

"-She would be there."

"Perfect! Now which way would the Land of Frost be?"

"North." Basil replied. "Beyond the mountains."

The young woman looked over once more at the towering mountains in the distance, they were so large she could see them over the treetops. Seemingly looming above the forest. Thethought of climbing up steep rocky pathways entered her mind and suddenly the task seemed much more daunting than before. "And uhm, how exactly do we cross them?"

"We don't." The nutcracker spoke as he walked over to Noelle. "The mountains are perilous and far more dangerous than they once were. Even the bravest souls and the strongest soldierswould perish before they ever reached the summit."

"Ratigan cursed the land to ensure his 'loyal subjects' dare not leave him." Dawson explained, the words coming out in a bitter tone.

"No one has been able to leave the Land of Sweets since he stole the throne. So you see even if the Sugarplum Fairy was real there is simply no way to reach her." Basil explained with a smugness that Noelle could have done without.

"There must be a way!" She protested. There had to be a way, if there wasn't that could mean that she'd be stuck like this forever. "There has to be something!"

Dawson cleared his throat, raising a finger in the air as if to bring up a point. "Well there is one way through."

Both Noelle and Basil turned their attention towardsthe plush mouse with seemingly opposite reactions. From his expression it was clear that the Nutcracker was bitter that Dawson was even bringing up the idea.

"There is a river that flows through the mountain pass, if memory serves correctly-it should take us to the other side."

"That's great!" Noelle exclaimed. "Where is it?"

"Well my dear, I'm afraid that's the problem." The plush mouse sighed. "The only way to get to it is going through the kingdom. And I'm afraid Ratigan doesn't leave the only pathway to escape unguarded."

"We'll have to be sneaky." Oliva piped up, determined, without any hint of fear or doubt in her little voice.

Noelle wished she could say the same but even she was doubting their odds. It seemed nearly impossible. She looked down at her hands, her cream-colored fur reminding her of just how dire the situation was. If she gave up now she'd be stuck in this form for the rest of her life, forced to live out her days running through alleyways, eating scraps and avoiding mouse traps. Or she could remain here in the Land of Sweets under the reign of a tyrannical rat. Neither option was particularlyideal.

"Oliva is right." Noelle said with a smirk, attempting to look confident. "We'll just have to outwit that awful rat and his soldiers!"

"Oh wonderful." Basil scoffed. "So not only are we running a fool'serrand but we're also serving ourselves up to Ratigan on a silver platter. Why not simply walk into the castle and announce our surrender while we're at it?"

Dawson placed a hand on the Nutcracker's shoulder, there was a tender friendliness to it that Noelle spotted. "Now Basil." The plush mouse spoke up. "It's not like you to be so doubtful of your abilities."
Those words seemed to gain his attention, the nutcracker looked down at Dawson who smiled up at him. "You know Ratigan better than any of us, and you know more about this Kingdom than even him. It should be easy for a mouse of your intelligence to outsmart a brute like him. Surely there must be some way we could sneak through the kingdom unnoticed."

Basil seemed to think for a moment. "I'm afraid there isn't-." He stopped, interrupting himself with another thought. "Unless...no, no it would never...or perhaps..." Thetoy mouse broke away from Dawson, beginning to pace back and forth, crossing his arms and raising one hand next to his mouth as he began to mumble something. "The guards would...hhmm no...unless! No...but if the current was right-."

Noelle watched as the wooden mouse paced back and forth, leaving a path in the snow. Looking over at Dawson with a confused expression to try and gauge if this was a normal occurrence. "Is he-."

"Give him a minute dear." He said quietly.

"Yes!" Basil suddenly exclaimed, causing both Noelle and Oliva to jump in surprise while Dawson remained unphased "Yes I believe I've got it! It's so simple! Why couldn't I see it sooner!" The Nutcracker grinned widely, putting Noelle on edge with his sudden change of demeanor. "Come now! We can't just be standing around, time is of the essence!" He proclaimed, marching down the hill and into the pine's below.

Dawson took Oliva's hand before following,following his tracks down the hillside, stopping after a few steps he looked over his shoulder at the young girl behind him. "Well miss, are you coming?" He asked Noelle, who was frozen, taken aback by Basil's sudden mood swing.

"Hhm? Oh uhm yes!" Noelle rushed to follow, stumbling in the deep snow as she began to slide down the hill, stopping herself by falling onto her hands. It was now that Noelle appreciated most of all that the snow here wasn't so cold.

"Are you okay miss?" Dawson asked.

"Oh! I'm fine!" Noelle quickly got back up on her feet, dusting the snow off of her clothing. "I just wasn't looking where I was going."

"Please try to keep up now ." Basil shouted back from a distance.

The woman could barely suppress an annoyedgroan, it seemed that he was becoming more and more insufferable with every passing minute.

"Nice work stroking his ego." Noelle whispered to Dawson. "But it seems to have worked a little too well."

"I didn't 'stroke his ego' so much as I simply reminded him of who he is." Dawson explained. The two of them watching as The Nutcracker prince lead the way, scouting ahead. "Basil is a brilliant mouse, if anyone can help you it's him."

"Unfortunately you may be right." The girl sighed. He may be infuriating to be around but Basil was her only hope in this dire situation.

She had only taken a few more steps when a pinecone suddenlyhit her head. "Ow!" Noelle stopped, rubbing her head as she gazed up at the trees above her. Their branches were so thick and heavy with snow that they seemed to block out the sky.

"Keep up !" Basil shouted back.

Noelle grumbled some rather choice words to herself as she picked up the pace, following the group as they disappeared into the forest.

From above, high in the trees a pair of yellow eyes watched them closely. Waiting until the party was out of earshot to shake off the snow that had piled up on top of him, revealing the mysterious watcher to be a rather scruffy looking bat.

"Oh the boss isn't going to like this, no no no!" He said, seemingly to himself, before launching himself from the tree and flying, quite clumsily above the tree line."Gotta tell the boss."

ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐ᕐᐷ

Soothsaying was a particularly troublesome magic for those who were not naturally gifted with the talent.

Dark magic always demanded something in exchange. You could not make something from nothing, there had to be a price, and in recent times Ratigan had to begrudgingly be more careful with how much of that price he could pay.

Which is why as eager as he was for an answer, even a rodent as prideful as himself seemed hesitant to preform this spell. Doubtful of his abilities.

Seeking an answer to a question wasn't an easy magic to master, but if that pesky wind-up-ballerina insisted on being unhelpful, than it seemed like he was left with no choice.

Ratigan studied to crystal ball in his hand, raising it up to eye-level, as he held a spell book in the other. It's pages yellowed and torn, filled with ancient knowledge and writings that begged it's readers not to use the powers it promised.

There was a chance that this act would drain him if he did not preform it correctly, there was a chance it may not even work, however desperate times called for desperate measures.

And as much as he hated to admit it, Ratigan was desperate.

"Last chance my dear, just tell me what I want and I'll grant you your freedom." He said, looking back over to the cell in the corner of the room where the Ballerina stood watching from the shadows.

The porcelain mouse couldn't help but crack a sly little smirk at the proposition. "Even if I did know who-or where she was, I know better than to believe your pretty little lies."

It was true, Ratigan had no intention of freeing her, and yet her resistance obviously angered the rat king more than he would have liked to admit.

"Suit yourself my dear lady." The king said with a wide grin, attempting to mask the rage that was bubbling up inside of him.
He turned back to the book, muttering a sentence in a language lost to time, the letters on the page glowing as if they had been awakened.

The crystal ball in his clawed hand glowed as well, green light swirling inside it like a contained windstorm.

"Show me the sugarplum Fairy."

As he spoke, the orb lifted off of his palm, hovering just above it, the green light inside forming into a rough shape that couldn't be made out.

"Boss! Boss!" An exasperated and tired voice called out to him. Ratigan groaned as he recognized that draining voice before he even looked up.

Fidget had landed on the window, out of breath and panting heavily. The bat fell off the ledge and onto the stone floor, shaking it off quickly, unphased by the fall. "Boss! The Nutc-!"

"Not now Fidget!" Ratigan shouted, attempting to focus on the spell.

"B-but the price-I mean the-the-."

"Silence you blabbering fool! I am trying to concentrate!"

That seemed to shut the bat up, the bat simply nodded, backing away from the king slowly.

Whatever it was that useless buffoon wanted to tell him it could wait, and if this spell now failed for any reason-Ratigan would have someone he could easily pin the blame on.

"Show me the Sugarplum Fairy! He asked again, more aggressively this time.

A wind began swirling around him, picking up a number of stray papers and rattling the vials of potions around the room. The book in his hand flipped through its own pages, slowly at first, and then faster as the wind seemed to pick up.

Yet he saw nothing within the crystal, the magic inside the ball struggling to form a picture.

"Show me the Sugarplum Fairy!" The king shouted yet again, growing more and more impatient. Either unaware or uncaring that a miniature storm seemed to be brewing around him.

Fidget was huddled up in a corner of the room, fearfully trying to avoid both the king's wrath and the many small objects that were now flying around the room. Crystals, skulls, and candles swirled around at a terrifying pace, and were only getting faster and faster as the wind picked up.
Furniture was now being knocked around, the desk toppling over, shattering the many potion bottles and experiments that were placed on it.

Ratigan either didn't notice or didn't care, to focused on the task at hand. The king could feel his energy-his essence slipping away-If he broke concentration now it would all be for nothing.

"Show me The Sugarplum Fairy." Ratigan demanded.

The orb flickered violently, a blurry image appeared, a figure, but it was impossible to make out. Without hesitating Ratigan poured more magic-more of his very being into the spell. Green energy surrounded himself and the orb as the storm around him raged on. Feeling himself growing weaker by the second, and yet he was so close!

The faint flickering of the image didn't stop, appearing clear for a moment before going back to simple blurred colors, then nothing, and then appearing again, over and over and over, to fast to take in.

"Show me!" Ratigan shouted, his voice booming.

In that moment an image appeared before him,displaying a figure that was all too familiar to the rat.

And in a flash it was gone, the wicked king loosening his grip on the spell and collapsing to the ground.

The crystal fell to the floor, shattering on impact. It's many piecescascading across the room. Joining the other shards of broken glass and scattered paper that now lay on the floor of the study.
Colorful liquids and ink stained the cold stone ground, and furniture had been toppled over, most broken beyond repair.

"B-boss!" Fidget cried out, running over to his master's side. He stopped short of reaching

"I've never been better!" Ratigan said with a maniacal laugh. He stood to his full height, stumbling a bit but catching himself before he could fall.

"Fear not Fidget, there is nothing to worry about." Ratigan casuallywalked over to hiscrown which he'd spotted in the corner of the room, picking it up and dusting it off before placing the gaudy thing back on his head. "For at this very moment a delightfully devilish plan is brewing in my brilliant mind!"

"A plan?" Fidget repeated. "Yeah, yeah! Plans are good! Uuuhh, a plan for what?"

"To do-away with that pesky nutcracker and cement my place as the ruler of all mousedome once and for all!" The large rodent exclaimed in an almostgiddy tone. "You see Fidget, we are about to partake in a theft! A theft that will be most challenging, for it is the one thing that I-admittedly-have never attempted to steal."

"...Uh flowers?" The bat guessed, not realizing that Ratigan had not been asking him a question.

Normally such a response would have annoyed and angered the king, but at the moment he seemed too caught up in his brilliant scheme to even acknowledge the bat's words.

"Let me ask you Fidget." The rat grinned widely, taking the bat's face in his hand, handling his lacky a little too roughly as he pulled him closer.

"How does one steal a heart?"