Deep within the forests, I could feel the cold winds relaxed on my body.  The solemn response of the cold weather increased as I sat there, embracing my body while feeling the cold snow that laid to rest on my feet. I knew wearing Care Bear slippers was a bad idea, but what more could I have chosen as those were basically comfort shoes to walk within the nights back at the Ol' Stahlbaum Household. 

Oh, I do wish I hadn't fallen down that hole, barricaded by the small door that was in my room. Most likely enough, the thoughts rushed into my head. 

Though Saragona reassured me that everything was to be alright and that I'll be home before morning, I became awfully frightened of what would happen to my family if that giant rat remained in my room; I feared that it would probably go ahead and kill Fritz, My parents and Pavlova! 

Louise is a lost cause because honestly, I didn't like her even though she's my older sister. The thoughts disappeared when another gust of cold winds blew onto my body; I shivered as I felt like I was about to fall to the floor. Saragona held me close, possibly to keep me warm from the cold. He held my hand and smiled, "When we get to our destination, I'll see if there is anything comfortable and warm for you to wear." 

Continuing forward, we passed by a small village to my eager anticipation, I noticed a glowing light from the floor. I held out my hand as the glowing light approached closer and as it faded, I saw that it was a beautiful fairy. The fairy had golden locks and a beautiful blue dress. She curtsied as she approached my hand, sitting on it like there was something wrong. I turned my hand slightly to see that her wing was bent out of shape.

 I stopped Saragona as he also noticed the fairy. His face when he saw the fairy was what felt like he was astonished and surprised. He approached, holding out his hand for the fairy but the fairy remained on mine. Saragona sighed as he then saw the bent wing. He gently placed his wooden fingers on the wing, straightening it out.

 The fairy then started flying around, twinkling happily and flying around in circles. She caught hold of my finger and pulled me towards the small village, as more fairies appeared from out of nowhere. They spawned from the tree's holes and from the little cottages below my feet. The fairies surrounded me, twinkling as each of them flew close to my hair, only for a couple of them to make my hair stylish. I chuckled, I didn't expect this type of kindness from them, "Oh no, I-" but they twinkled at me like they insisted on doing something for me in return.

I smirked as I then spoke, "Then you wouldn't mind also braiding the nutcracker prince's hair, would you?" The fairies looked at Saragona as he stood there, shocked to see them wanting to style him up as well. He shrugged as he sat next to me while he was getting a new hairstyle. 

The fairies also started twinkling at Saragona, and I felt like he understood them more than me. He faced me and spoke for the fairies, "They want to know if it's okay if they give you something warm to wear because they sorta noticed how you aren't wearing anything long sleeve." 

Of course, having long sleeved shirts was important to wear during cold winters but I accepted, despite the remarks. The fairies then pulled me up from the floor with their magic and then they came out with a night robe that was filled with cotton and sewed with soft silk. It even matched the colors of my tank top, which I felt like was a unique detail to what I was already wearing. 

I put the night robe on, feeling it's warm embrace on my body. I smiled happily as I thanked the fairies for their kindness. 

The fairies twinkled like they were laughing, but if they were, I didn't get what was so funny. Saragona approached me and spoke, "They like to be called Fay. Not Fairies. Of course, they have the same meaning." I held in my laughter as I then thanked the Fay for the night robe and for styling my hair. 

As we waved goodbye to the fay, we then saw another sign that said, "This way to Snowside Showdown: Home of the Casa de Vitium Casino." 

The word 'Casino' stood out to me as it reminded me of when I was a child and I traveled to Las Vegas with my parents. Vegas was fun, but Saragona knew otherwise, as he so gradually spoke, "Do not be tempted, Ms. Stahlbaum. Casinos are the sinhouse, who’re owned by-"

"The Devil?" I interrupted so abruptly.

You should've seen the look on his face when he was so rudely interrupted by me. He looked seriously offended, I nearly cracked open a laugh when I saw his face but luckily, he looked away as he spoke, "As I was saying, Casinos are basically-"

He was once again interrupted as he tripped on his own foot, landing his face in an area that I didn’t even want to describe. My face turned beet-red and I exclaimed, "SERIOUSLY?!" Even though it felt like a warm sensation on my chest, the fact that he was nuzzled in between my breasts just made it even more uncomfortable. I pulled him out of my cleavage but his head was missing! I narrowed my eyes down to see that his head was stuck on my cleavage still! “GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF ME!”

He quickly pulled his head out as his face was as red as a tomato. He moved away from me in embarrassment, speaking: “I apologize for doing that! It was an accident!”

I chuckled a bit before saying, “It’s fine. It was just a sudden surprise.”

We continued walking down the path before I started to daydream about something; it was the fact that Saragona used to be human and he had a family. He had a mother, father, brother and sister but they are dead. They were murdered by the only brother that he respected but even then, his brother probably had his reasons. 

As we continued walking through, we arrived at Snowside Showdown where it was a quaint walkway through a small village. There was a small little fire where the public can sit at and warm up; I guided Saragona to the fire and we sat down, warming up. He looked at me confused and I spoke, “I freeze, you don’t.”

We sat there for quite a while before I popped the question, “Can you tell me more about your family? Like what happened?”

He sighed, glancing away from me before responding: “My father was a well-known king of the land. He was a role model to the entire land of dolls, but most of all he was a respectful husband. He met my mother in a gypsy encampment that was in Marzipan Meadow where my aunt/godmother lives.”

“Marzipan Meadow?”

“It’s on the other side of the land; home to the seven fairies. My aunt is named Mistress Marcella or as some people call her The Silver Fairy.”

“Like Sleeping Beauty?”

“Yeah, and the others were there as well, including the Sugar Plum Fairy. Anyways, when my mother was saved by my father, they were married years later and gave birth to my brother: Lucanus Peter Drosselmeier III. 15 years passed, then I was born. All I could remember from an early age was playing around in a jungle gym that my dad said I could play in after he gave me a shot of something on my shoulder.”

“A shot?”

“Yeah, and I don’t know how but it made me stronger that ever!”

When he said that, my heart sank to my stomach. Shot… Stronger… ON SHOULDER… This Nutcracker Prince… The damn one that fought the mouse king in my bedroom… WAS GIVEN STEROIDS AT A YOUNG AGE?!

“Nutcrack- er, Saragona? How old were you when you got that shot?” I asked him.

He answered, “According to Mistress Marcella, I was 7.”

“What the fu-”

“Anyways! Then, my brother went to go fight in a war for 5 years, and when he returned… I don’t know what happened. I was playing the SNES that was in the living room only for me to hear screams. I saw my brother on the floor with his clothes slowly ripping and then… I don’t know what I saw next but a 7 headed monster in the place of my brother… ”

“Oh dear…”

It lingered in my mind that Saragona had to witness such tragedy happen to his brother… I felt a bit worried until I heard fireworks, it was at the near end of the small walkway at a large casino. This casino was built out of what looked like marble and diamonds, but looking at the inside of the casino was something out of Las Vegas entirely.

The air smelled like peppermint and each area was loaded with either a game of BlackJack, Poker or any other game you'd play in a casino, especially a slot machine. 

When we entered, there was a banner that said: "Welcome to the Casa de Vitium. Play your heart and soul away with wonderful games to make you richer than you are today." 

Unfortunately, I didn't have any money on me whatsoever but Saragona found a lone coin on the table and inserted it into the slot machine.  There, he won a jackpot of €400, which in Am would be $434.90 but I was a bit displeased. Not the fact that Saragona won money, but something that had lingered in my mind for almost about a while. 

I glanced away, looking at all of the other attractions that the casino had in store; most commonly were slot machines; but when I looked back to see Saragona, he had vanished.  I looked around for him, and I was concerned about where he might be. "Shit! Saragona!" I exclaimed as I ran off to find him once again. As I ventured deeper into the hallways of the casino, I finally found him, but he stood by a stage as I heard someone announcing from the speaker:

"Introducing: Your entertainment for tonight here at the Casino of Sins! From the 1950s was the doll's upcoming year to shine, give it up for Sally the 1950s Barbie!" And walking out on the stage was exactly what was described. There was a barbie doll who looked sorta curvy but she was also a Barbie doll from the 1950s; she opened her mouth as she began to sing like an angel, but something about her seemed off putting. 

As she sang, most of the men laughed and blushed; surprisingly enough, most of these men were toys. 

They laughed and talked about something that I will not mention at this time, but when I turned away for a moment, I heard Saragona's voice but... he was singing. His singing voice sounded so peaceful and majestic, but when I turned back to see why he was singing, I got my answer.

He was in a trance as he sang with Sally, even dancing with her which shattered my heart a bit. I felt like something was up. My face yet again, hit the wood of a random wall that I didn’t even know was there  and I had another bloody nose! This was like, what? My 3rd bloody nose I had in a single day!  As I held my nose, I looked back at the stage. Then I screamed out a random question: "WHERE IS SARAGONA?!"