The first thing I felt when I woke up was wet and cold.

Which isn't the best combination.

Slowly, I peeled open my eyes, ignoring the pounding in my head. Everything was white. The sky, the ground, the trees--all were the dullest white they could be.

Is this... snow?

I placed my hand on the ground and plunged my fingers into the soft, cold snow. When I lifted it up, water droplets clung to my skin.

Definitely snow.

But where was I then? The palace at Arium hadn't seen the smallest snowflake in over forty years.

I gently moved my head to the side, then did the same with each arm and leg, trying to see if anything was broken. While I did that, I racked my brain to try and remember what happened. An image of crackling flames shot into my mind, along with Nutcracker's sword through the murae leader's chest.

I could still hear a deafening crash fill my mind, but that was it. Everything after that was gone.

Coming to the conclusion that nothing major was snapped, I pushed myself up from the ground. Pain flared through my ribs at the slight movement. I cringed and grabbed at my side.

"Forgot to check that," I mumbled.

Another voice broke through the stillness. "Don't worry. Nothing's broken, just bruised."

Raoul. Good to know he was still alive.

I twisted my head too quickly and felt a pop at the back of my neck. "Ah!" I cried. "Now something's broken."

"No, if you popped where I think you just popped, you'd be dead."

I stared up at my brother. He sat down, leaning against an ice-covered tree. "Thanks for the reassurance," I snipped. I looked around at my surroundings again. Trees covered that land as far as I could see. "Where are we?"

"In a forest not far from the castle that has with magical woodland pixies who we don't need to make mad."

I glared at Raoul. "Very funny. Where are we?"

He shook his head. "Told you."

I rolled my eyes. "No, you just told me a load of bullsh--"

"Language," Raoul cut in.

"--tink. Bullstink." I bobbed my head up and down. "That's what I was saying."

He scanned the woods. "I'm sure."

I walked over to him and bent down. His side had stopped bleeding, but the skin was red around his wound. I picked up some snow in my hand. "How'd we get here?"

Raoul still searched the trees. "We walked--well, Woodboy the Wonderkid walked, carrying you, and I hobbled. It's been about a day, for your information."

"Ah." I placed my hand--along with the snow--against Raoul's side.

He yelped and jumped to his feet, shaking off the snow. "What was that for?" he shouted.

I threw my arms into the air, exasperated. "I was trying to help you! That--" I pointed at the cut, "--needs to be cleaned, and considering the amount of dried blood on you, you haven't done anything about it!"

Raoul slowly lowered himself back to the ground. "Give me a warning next time," he mumbled.

I grabbed another handful of snow and thrust it against my brother's skin. "No."

"Clair!" Raoul raised his hands in protest, trying to shove me away. I dodged them easily and went back to tossing snow on my brother, not at all tactfully that time.

"Will you two cut it out?"

We froze. Straightening, we both said "Cut what out?" in unison.

I giggled quietly. I loved it when things happened like that. Raoul caught it and grinned at me.

Thunking of wood tore my attention away from my brother and to Nutcracker. He kicked a pile of lumber multiple times, moving it closer to Raoul.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

Nutcracker didn't stop. "Being lazy and kicking this over instead of carrying," he replied. He looked up. "Wanna help?"

"Not particularly." Still, I walked over and began kicking the wood with him. A curl of hair fell in my face. I brushed it away. "Where are we?"

"In a forest not far from the castle."

"Mhm." I glared at Raoul. At least someone would give me a straight answer.

Raoul wrapped his arms around his chest. "Care to tell her who the forest belongs to Woodboy?"

"Oh, yeah." Nutcracker grabbed my arm, telling me to stop. "That's far enough. We just need some warmth for tonight."

I wrinkled my brow. Night? It was that late? I looked at the sky and was met by a canopy of tree branches. It didn't look dark.

"We're stopping here for tonight. We need rest before tomorrow." Nutcracker answered my question, almost like he sensed the confusion. He placed one of his hands on the snow and another on top of the pile of wood.

I titled my head, watching. "What are you doing?"

"Trying not to burn myself to a pile of ashes." He stared at the woodpile for another second. "Flnis," he whispered.

Fire appeared on top of the pile. The snow where Nutcracker had placed his hand was gone, melted away, leaving shriveled up, dead grass.

My breaths caught. "Was that... magic?" I breathed. Was he a magic-wielder? Woodboy the Wonderkid? "You can use magic?"

Nutcracker shrugged. "Sort of? I know the words to some spells, but I can't use it."

Raoul let out a short laugh. I turned to him. My brother had yet to take his eyes away from the fire. "Looks like you can use it to me," Raoul stated.

Nutcracker fell to the ground. "Let me rephrase. I can use it, but I don't have it. It's more like, ah--" he broke off, hunting for the right word, "--aftereffects. It's left over from a spell, and I can use the remnants."

Raoul nodded slowly. "Uh-huh."

I grinned. I rocked back and forth on my heels excitedly. "What spell? Did someone use it on you?"

"I'd rather not--"

I gasped. "Your parents! I bet they did this! Or maybe the muraes had somethi--"

"I'd rather not talk about it!" Nutcracker shouted. He pulled his knees up to his chest and stared into the flames.

Tears sprang to my eyes. I reeled back. "I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I was just surprised. I thought magic wasn't used anymore. There are very few wielders left."

"What do you call what your father did, then?"

"What?" I looked up from the ground. "What my father did? What did he do?"

Nutcracker lay down in the snow. "You didn't see him? That kaique thing he yelled was what started some of the fires."

Raoul looked at me with surprise. He pushed himself up against the tree some more. "Dad knows magic?"

My mind raced. It was a lot to take in. My father knew magic--how? When did he learn? Why hadn't they been told?

But at the same time, it made sense. There was a time I thought I had lost one of my mother's books. It was missing for weeks, up until I told my Dad. Then, that night, it suddenly reappeared.

There were plenty of other times something had happened that there really was no explanation for. Raoul had been cut with a knife by accident one day, and my father was the one who responded. That night, Raoul's cut had healed. I could still remember the pained look on my father's face the next morning when we seized his arm, shouting that Raoul had been healed.

It was the same arm that Raoul injured.

Something ticked in my mind. Something was off. It wasn't the magic thing--that actually made sense. Why he hadn't told us was a question, and also if my mother knew about it, but it wasn't what was bothering me.

Kaique.

It was...

"How did you know that Dad caused the flames?"

Nutcracker sat up. The lever against his back was somehow still up. "Sorry, what?" he laughed.

It was forced.

I stood, still facing the fire. That was what was wrong. Nutcracker wasn't in the room when my father said the spell.

I crossed my arms over my chest and straightened. "How do you know what Dad said? You were taking care of Raoul. I was the only one of us in the room."

"I--I came back." Nutcracker stammered. His hand found its way to his side. "I heard him yell it after I brought Raoul outside."

Raoul stood. "Wait a minute. I know I was a bit out of it, but you didn't bring me outside. You told me where to go, but you didn't help me."

Slowly, Nutcracker rose from the ground. He forced a laugh. "Of course I brought you out. You even said something to me, don't you remember?"

Raoul moistened his lips. "No. I don't."

If it had been two days earlier, I would've been scared. As it was, I just got angry. "Where were you if you didn't bring my brother outside?"

Raoul grabbed a piece of burning wood from the fire. "The truth this time."

Nutcracker was silent.

Raoul waved the flame around. "Speak!"

"I don't think that'll hurt him, Raoul," I said. "I think he's immune to fire. He hasn't burned yet, and he went diving through flames to get to the murae leader. Come to think of it..."

I trudged over to Nutcracker and examined his chest. The gash from the murae in the bedroom was still on his shoulder, but no water stuck to the wood. He was completely dry.

"You're protected," I whispered. "You get hurt, but don't bleed. You run through fire, but you don't get burned. You're outside in the cold, but yet..." I touched my own nose lightly, then his. While mine was cold, his was neither warm nor chill.

The stone. The muraes didn't show up until the stone was in the castle, and he didn't show until the muraes did.

Faster than Nutcracker could register, I snatched the lever up. His mouth dropped to a little lower than his shoulders, leaving me with a clear view of what I wanted.

Before Nutcracker could push his mouth down, I grabbed the small, crimson stone from in his mouth. "I left this in my room when the muraes first showed up. You took it back."

Nutcracker finally managed to push the lever down. He held up both his hands in surrender. "Clair, it's not--"

It was too late. I was on a roll. The more I spoke, the more rage built up in my stomach. It was his fault the muraes invaded the castle. It was his fault that my parents weren't with us. It was his fault that so many people died.

All of it was his fault.

"You did this!" I shouted. "You're with the muraes! You're leading them to us!"

"No, I'm not, I'm just--hang on a second!"

I had turned around and stormed away. I crossed my arms and let out shaky breaths, trying to calm myself.

A chill hand touched my arm gently. I found myself staring up into my brother's eyes. He gave me a small smile. "Clair, it's..."

It wasn't okay. He couldn't say "okay," because it wasn't. There was no more "okay."

He turned away quickly, coughing into an arm. I stared at his side where he had yet to be taken care of. While he acted like he wasn't hurt, I knew the truth.

Snow crunched under Nutcracker's feet as he came up to them. "Raoul, Clair..." he pleaded. "I'm sorry. The muraes--I didn't know that they'd do so much."

All the fury that dissipated came back full-force. I clenched my fists tightly. "You didn't know that they would cause so many deaths?" I choked. "That means you knew they were coming!"

He shook his head. "I didn't think they would put up that much of a fight! That's why I went to Arium--because I thought you could beat them!"

I felt Raoul stiffen. "You led them here?" he shrieked.

That was it. I snapped. One second I stood beside my brother, the next I was on top of Nutcracker, punching him as hard as I could.

"You--stupid--son--of--a--"

The next string of words I said were ones that--if I'd said them in front of an adult--I'd have been punished until I died. With every curse and word I spat through my teeth, I hit the wooden boy as hard as I could. My skin split at the knuckle, but it didn't make me stop. The pain wasn't noticeable as I pounded way at Nutcracker, each hit shredding my hands more than the last.

Finally, something pushed me away. I fell onto the snow, landing on me back. My small body shook with pure fury as I struggled to my feet again, ready to pounce onto the one who shoved me away.

"Wait a minute!" Nutcracker yelled. He rose to his feet, placing one slightly behind the other so he wouldn't be knocked over again.

I didn't miss his stance.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Nutcracker cried. He shrugged. "I was being hunted because of the cavalier--the stone."

Raoul raised his eyebrows. "You realize that 'cavalier' means a horseman, right? Or a man escorting a woman? That is the dumbest name for a stone I've ever heard."

Nutcracker shrugged. "I didn't name it. If you have a problem, find the person who called it that."

I tapped my foot. "Hello? Back to the present?"

Boys.

"Why were you running with the stone, Nutcracker?"

"Because the muraes wanted it."

"And why didn't you fight them off or hide the stone?"

"Because I would be dead, protection spell or not, and the muraes would have the stone."

Raoul let out an exasperated laugh. "Then hide the stone and die like a man."

I had to say I agreed with my brother.

Nutcracker placed his hands against his forehead. "Then my parents would have died in vain and the muraes would have the four stones, instead of rotting in you-know-where."

I scanned the ground, trying to see a glimpse of crimson in the snow. The white sky had turned to black while they argued, leaving the dwindling flames of the fire and the few days of moonlight that escaped their prison of trees as the only light source.

Revenge. He dragged us into his quest for revenge.

I found the stone, or cavalier, in a hole of melted powder a few feet from her. It was where I threw it before attacking Nutcracker. I reached down and picked up the thing.

"How can a kingdom be so fragile that it falls with just a pebble? If something as small as this can knock down stone walls and tear apart families, then what can four do?"

I stared at Nutcracker, finally tired of everything. I just wanted to sleep and wake up in her bed. I wanted all of it to be a dream--a wonderful, horrifying, dream that was just as real as anything else.

But it wasn't a dream.

"I don't know," was the answer. "I don't know what they want with them."

I pocketed the stone. I looked at Nutcracker. "If you aren't working with the muraes, then prove it. Tomorrow morning, the stone will still be in my pocket, and you will still be sitting against the tree." I pointed to a tree about ten feet away from the fire.

Nutcracker nodded and moved to it. "I swear."

Raoul coughed. He slid down the tree closest to the fire. "And I swear," he began, "that if you've vanished, you won't have to worry about a protection spell anymore. I will find you. And I will kill you."

I bit her lip. I slid next to my brother and let him put his arm over my shoulders. It wasn't for warmth-- we had been wet and cold for so long we didn't care anymore--it was for comfort. For strength.

"I want Mom and Dad," I heard myself whisper.

"I know," Raoul replied sadly. "But we can't. We run the risk of the muraes still being there, and we don't need to get caught."

I nodded. I knew that. I knew, even though I didn't want to.

"That's why I haven't tried to go back." 

Raoul held me closer. "Good girl."

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This is probably where I start majorly branching off the original Nutcracker story. I have a few ideas that I get to start writing out--none of which are included in the ballet/book.