The Girl and the Nutcracker ~ A Once Upon a Time Story

2x10: The Land of Sweets

"Settle down, children! Settle down, come on sit." Drosselmeyer said as he stood in front of the big Christmas tree, and all the children sat down in front of him as they listened to him, "I've brought gifts for each and every one of you. Let's see what's in my bag, shall we?"

The children cheered and Drosselmeyer opened up his bag. First, he started to grab the smallest gifts and put them down near the tree. The more presents he grabbed, how deeper he had to reach. With the last and biggest presents, he even had to climb down into his bag to get them out. He smiled upon all the Christmas gifts under the tree and looked at the children, "Go search for the gift that speaks to you!"

All the children started to rush over to the gift that they wanted, and Clara smiled as she looked at the glee of all of them. Drosselmeyer walked over to her and Fritz, "Fritz, my boy! You have grown so much."

"What's my gift, uncle Drosselmeyer?" Fritz asked and Drosselmeyer chuckled, "Have patience. First, I shall give Clara her gift."

He grabbed the gift out of his bag and handed it over to Clara, "Now, be careful. This one was made with much care."

As Clara unwrapped the gift, she saw it was a handmade wooden nutcracker doll. She immediately loved it, and smiled at her godfather, "Thank you! He's beautiful."

"Let me see!" Fritz said as he grabbed the nutcracker forcefully out of her hands, Clara glared at him as he started to run away from her, "No, it's my gift, Fritz! Give it back!"

She caught up with her brother and tried to grab the doll, but Fritz wouldn't budge, "Just let me play with it!" He then moved around with the arm that was holding the sword, and then the arm broke off, "Oops... Sorry, Clara."

Clara took back the nutcracker in her hands, and held the broken arm in her other hand. She frowned as she looked at her brother, "Why do you always have to break my things?! Can't you just play with your own toys?"

"I said I was sorry..." Fritz mumbled. Drosselmeyer walked over to them with their father, "Don't worry, Fritz. I'm sure I can fix the arm."

Clara handed over the doll and the arm to her uncle, as she looked at her father, "Can you try and tell Fritz that taking other people's stuff isn't normal?"

Her father sighed, "Your mother is the one that acts out authority in this castle, and outside of it. I can't do anything other than listening to her."

"Well, mother is a tyrant." Clara responded, "Remember when I almost died a couple weeks ago? Luckily, Grand Pabbie was able to help with his knowledge and you went all the way to Misthaven to search for the man he mentioned. Mother did nothing but think about how my death would look upon her reign."

Clara's father shook his head, "Your mother did nothing of the sort. She can be a little... uptight. But that does not equal tyranny. And you said it yourself, you've been feeling more alive than ever since we contacted the man."

"Yeah, well..." Clara sighed, "That doesn't mean mother did anything about it. And also, last night I felt this... surge of energy. The whole room was embedded in light, I still don't know what happened there."

"I'm sure it is just a side effect we won't have to worry about." Her father answered, "Remember, the man was a magician, like your uncle. Magic can have unusual effects sometimes."