It’s a bit mellow… no, silent yet peaceful. The snow fell softly onto the pavement, the bells rang in the calming windy trees. Rabbits, reindeer, and even small Siberian cats pranced around as they cuddled into the majestic snow. Though, it smelled a bit like coconut frosting… and tasted like it, too. There were no houses nor anything of the sort that would remove the snow off the trees, or any fires, but the animals didn’t care if there were any of that as they just sang a beautiful woodland creature melody. The mixed feelings on one hand was joyous and relaxed while the other was “Where am I” and “What is this place?” which seemed odd to think about.

It didn’t matter as the journey continued as I examined through the beautiful yet cold forest. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to wear a tank top, but I had to suffice for now. It felt beautiful in a sense… I didn’t know what to say about it, but in the calming minds, I felt it to be that way. I held my arms close to my body to give me a bit of warmth as I journeyed deeper into the forest. Likewise, I could just gaze at the surrounding wildlife, along with the singing bells which held out a majestic tune which oddly could be the Waltz of The Snowflakes. Like mentioned before, It didn’t matter.

The only question I had in mind though…

Where was the nutcracker?

I scanned the area for him, but to no avail, I couldn’t spot him. This felt odd yet crazy like I just took too much medication. Thank god I still had it on me, but I knew that I couldn’t spot him from this area, so maybe if I ventured further, I’d find him.

“Nutcracker…?” I spoke softly as I examined the area. Where is he? He could be anywhere. Nevertheless, I continued forward towards a little archway which had a sign that said, “WELCOME TO THE LAND OF DOLLS!”

The Land Of Dolls… huh?

And I thought this was some stupid dream, but to make sure that it was, I pinched myself. I yelped in pain and when I opened my eyes, it wasn’t a dream. It was real. Oh boy, did this mess up my brain so freaking badly. I sat on the floor, thinking about my life choices. Should I go inside the Land Of Dolls, or should I find a way back home? It felt all scrambled up in my brain.
“HELLO?!” I screamed like a ridiculous moron.

Silence…

I was alone in the forest, considerably but just when I was about to turn back, I hit my nose… AGAIN! I hollered in pain, holding my nose as I felt blood trickle down my hands. I then felt warm hands connecting with mine; my eyes trailed towards the floor to where I noticed the type of feet that were on the floor. I slowly trailed my eyes up again and I saw the nutcracker… he had a worried expression on his face as he tried to cover my nose.. Which probably made it worse. I knew he was trying to cover up the blood, but it just felt ridiculous in the way he was doing it.

Soon enough, I lost my balance. Landing in the coconut snow, with him pinning me to the floor. The soft blush arose on my face, but soon enough I shook it off. He stood up, shaking off all the snow before looking at his hand, which was covered in blood.

I saw in his crystal blue eyes, an emotion of worry. But I couldn’t put my finger on why he was worrying over the fact that he gave me a bloody nose. I wiped the blood away from my face and sighed. Holding his hand, I spoke softly:

“It’s not your fault. It was my stupid clumsiness.”

“But I disrespected you.. And you’re a woman… I deserved to be scolded.”

“How about you tell me what’s going on?” I asked him kindly while still giving out that stern tone.

 He took my hand as we entered through the archway. I could just feel the cold breeze on my face, but soon I heard his voice, “I was cursed for a long time… 13 years, like you said, but during those years, I remember overhearing my uncle about a way to break every curse… I don’t know if it exists though…”

“What exists?”

“The Majestic Silver Bell…”

“Like… A Christmas Silver Bell? The ones that ring in the streets?”

“Eeeeh, you can say that.” He answered with unease.

It felt like something important to him, like an heirloom or something of his. I didn’t know what was crawling through his mind, but I knew it could be something that he was in a rush to go see. He sped up as it felt like he was dragging me along to the fork in the road.

There were signs pointing to four different areas:
The Doll Kingdom
SnowSide Showdown
The Marionette Kingdom
The Kookoo Kingdom
Dark Chocolate Woods.

I didn’t know what most of these areas were, but just imagining most of these areas felt like a beautiful place to be at… Especially The Doll Kingdom. When he stared at the sign, he trailed towards the left to The Doll Kingdom. I followed, humming a little song in my head.

The nutcracker though… he kept a small stern expression on his face; not even showing a symbol of happiness in his smile. I ran in front of him, waving as I continued forward to the Doll Kingdom.

“M-MISS STAHLBAUM!!” He exclaimed.

I wanted to see this glorious kingdom, full of life and dolls walking around each corner of the kingdom. I laughed as I skipped through the path of peppermint bricks, through the marzipan gardens.

The nutcracker pulled me back as he spoke, “I feel like you should be supervised, as you rambunctiously dashing off to discrete important locations would prove faulty in the long run. ”

“Oh, loosen up, will ya, grumpy?” I laughed as I grabbed his arms, twirling him around. He could see that I was excited, like I was a little child again. He loosened his grip a bit as I proceeded to dash forward towards the end of the path. I laughed, feeling my inner child spark inside of me.

Of course, Mr. Buzzkill grabbed me and dragged me down the same path but at his pace. He gave me a disapproving stare, like he was my bodyguard or something. I shook it off as I started squirming to make him put me down. But he stood his ground, walking more and more towards the end of the path.

It felt like hours, though it was just a measly half an hour. But soon enough, he stopped. He held me out like Simba and then just let go of me; I landed on my tush as I yelped in pain. I stood up and exclaimed:

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!”

“It was a precautionary measure for you not to wander off. Now, look over there.” he answered in an unsurprisingly rude manner. Though, I felt him to be a silly man; trying to act all tough and serious despite him just being a stupid nut job. And when I mean nut job, I mean nut job.

The thoughts still stuck in my head as I looked at what he was pointing at. What I saw… devastated me. I saw a kingdom, ruined as vines covered the buildings including the majestic castle that supposedly once looked beautiful on the top of the hill. Seeing the streets of the kingdom, there was blood and torn up sheets of cloth almost everywhere.

This was the Doll Kingdom? This was not what I had in mind. My heart sank as soon as I saw a toy doll on the floor. I picked it up, seeing that it had been scarred with a mark on it’s face.

“Yeah, It’s not what you thought of it to be.” The nutcracker explained, “Especially since I used to be a prince here… Prince Saragona Levoy Drosselmeier… Son of the King and Queen of the Doll Kingdom.”