Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Phoenix didn’t really celebrate Christmas, and neither did the Feys, but with the time they had spent together, he figured they should have a tradition of their own. Phoenix, however, did not have any time to prepare for their little Christmas since he and the girls had gotten caught up in the Max Galactica trial the few days preceding Christmas Eve.

In one of his nicer surprises, Larry covered for him. He brought gifts for Maya and Pearls, drinks, and an ungodly amount of takeout to Phoenix’s tiny apartment. It was a good night by Phoenix’s standards. Pearls met Larry for the first time, Maya got reacquainted, and Phoenix experienced the first good interaction with Larry in over a year. 

After most of the takeout had been devoured (mainly by Maya), they ended the night with the girls opening their gifts. Larry left, suddenly, explaining that he forgot something in his car.

“Surprise! Saved the best for last,” Larry said as he handed a large gift bag to Phoenix at the door. He leaned closer, resting a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder, and whispered in his ear, “Don't worry about paying me back, dude. This one’s on me.”

And then he left.

Back on the couch, Phoenix handed the gift bag to the girls, wondering what Larry considered “the best”. Maya pulled out what looked like a brick wrapped in tissue paper and tape, handed it to Pearls, and then took out another for herself. Pearls unwrapped hers gently and found a nutcracker inside, looking like it had been made by Larry himself.

“It’s her favorite character from her favorite book,” Maya whispered to Phoenix after Pearls’ gasp took him by surprise. “My turn!”

Eager to see what was inside, Maya ripped hers open. Another handmade nutcracker by Larry, this time modeled after the Steel Samurai. She shrieked with pure joy, falling off the couch in the process.

(Ouch.)

Keeping her nutcracker in one hand, Maya pulled the gift bag out from under her, inspecting what she might’ve landed on. 

“Looks like there’s another one.” She pulled out a third tissue paper-wrapped gift from the bag. “This one has your name on it, Nick. I might’ve broken it when I fell, though. Sorry,” she said as she handed it to Phoenix and returned to the couch to watch him open it.

“Hey, Nick…”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you think it… kinda looks like…”

(Thin ice, Maya.)

It looked like Edgeworth. His homemade nutcracker, handcrafted by Larry, looked exactly like Edgeworth. Besides the standard nutcracker face, it had his wine (magenta) -colored suit, his vest, his cravat. Larry had even painted on little bangs under its hat. Phoenix wondered how Larry thought this was a good idea, or if he really didn’t know.

“These nutcrackers give me an idea,” Maya said, bringing Phoenix out of his Edgeworth-induced haze. “I’m gonna need your laptop, Nick. And an HDMI cable.”

After putting on the movie Maya begged him to (“It’s a classic Nick! How have you not seen it!”), Phoenix commented on how bad the animation was, and passed out almost immediately.

He didn't remember the movie ending, saying goodnight to Maya and Pearls, or falling asleep, but Phoenix woke up to a noise in the kitchen. With the stealth of a snake, god forbid he wake Maya, he tried to investigate. 

While peering into the kitchen- which was honestly more of a kitchenette if you asked Phoenix, you barely have to leave the couch to see it- he fell over the back of the couch. On his way down, he realized three things at once but verbalized them as “Oh shit it’s a fucking rat”.

Firstly, there were three rats, two dressed in some sort of soldier’s uniforms and the third, larger rat in full regalia. Secondly, the noise didn’t come from the rats, it came from his nutcracker dueling the king rat. Thirdly, he had to have been hallucinating. Or dreaming. That would be the only logical reason for the king rat to somehow resemble the elder, more murderous von Karma.

In his tangle on the floor halfway to the kitchen, Phoenix also realized that falling over the couch and yelling “Oh shit it’s a fucking rat” had alerted the king rat and distracted the nutcracker long enough for the king rat scamper full speed towards him. 

He heard a voice somewhere behind the rat shout “Get up!”. With his hands pretzeled beneath him and his feet still hooked on the back of the couch, Phoenix was helpless as he watched the rat point its cane ( scepter? ) at him. The now Phoenix-sized rat lifted Phoenix by the chin with one rat-hand and ripped his badge ( Wait I’m still wearing my suit? ) right off his lapel with its other rat-hand.

Phoenix, too confused to follow, let the king rat and his minions push past his nutcracker and escape through a previously unnoticed hole under his cabinets. 

“Why didn’t you get up like I told you?”

His nutcracker was standing over him now, one hand out in an offer to help him up. 

“I don’t know, I was in shock? Maybe?” Phoenix sputtered. “Why didn’t you fight better? Why are you and the rat huge? I feel like there are more important questions to ask right now than why I didn’t get up.”

“Firstly, your friend broke my dominant arm. It’s a miracle that I held him off for as long as I did. Secondly, he is the Mouse King, not “the rat”. And thirdly, if you look around, all evidence points towards you being small, rather than us being large.”

Phoenix realized that his nutcracker didn’t just look like Edgeworth, it sounded like him too. He never thought he’d miss their less-than-friendly conversations.

“This is some sort of freak coping mechanism, isn’t it?”

“Pardon?”

“Like, this,” Phoenix said, waving his hands around, gesturing to nothing and everything simultaneously, “is some hallucination, and I get one last chance to see you to help me get over the fact that you- that you're gone.”

“Have we met before?”

(Of course. Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, isn’t a duck.)

“No,” he sighed. “we haven’t. But,” Phoenix said as he clapped his hands together, “let’s fix up that arm.”

His coat, honestly useless to Phoenix since he couldn’t show off his badge, ended up as a pseudo-sling. He twisted the jacket into more of a rope shape, placed his arm over the middle, and tied the sleeves into a knot around the opposite shoulder.

“So,” Phoenix asked, “do you know how to make me normal again, or…?”

“Yes,” the Nutcracker confirmed. “I have an idea, at least. Follow me.”

Phoenix did as the Nutcracker requested, his heart rate picking up as he was led through the same hole the mouse king escaped through. It was as dark and empty as he expected the space between the walls of his apartment to be, but, at the same time, he knew they weren’t in the walls of the apartment. It felt like they were somewhere else entirely. 

“What’s your name?”

The Nutcracker’s voice startled Phoenix out of his thoughts. A welcome change to the silence, however.

“Phoenix.”

“Well, Phoenix, I suppose I should thank you.”

“For what?”

“For treating my arm.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” Phoenix insisted. 

“I wasn’t finished.” The Nutcracker slowed his pace, not quite walking next to Phoenix, but coming closer than before. “If you hadn’t… distracted the mouse king when you did, I… you have my gratitude.”

Phoenix nodded, unsure if the Nutcracker, picking up his pace again, could even see him in the darkness. He followed the faint outline of the nutcracker’s silhouette in the darkness, or maybe just the sound of his wooden boots. Phoenix couldn’t tell if they’d been walking for minutes or hours.

“Where are we going?” he finally asked. (This is actual pitch black darkness that you’re leading me through.)

“It doesn’t matter. Just follow.”

“How do I know you’re not leading me somewhere to murder me?”

“Murder you? I-” the Nutcracker stopped and turned to Phoenix. “What makes you think I’d do that? I’m only a nutcracker.”

“Nutcrackers are soldiers,” Phoenix pointed out. “And you looked pretty handy with that sword.”

“I assure you, I’m no soldier,” he said, quieter than before. Although he couldn’t really see him, Phoenix could feel the nutcracker’s presence next to him, sounding like this time he’d slowed his pace to match Phoenix's.

“I apologize for not simply answering your question. We’re making our way to the Sea of Storms.”

“Wait, I thought we were going to fight the Rat King. Is this on the way or something? It sounds… dangerous.”

“It is. Both, actually. And we are going to fight the Mouse King ,” the Nutcracker explained. “We just need to see the Sugarplum Prince first.”

“The Sugarplum Prince?”

“He’s said to live on an island in the Sea of Storms. He’ll help us return to normal.”

“‘ Said to ’?” Phoenix was astonished. “So you don’t even know for sure- hold on, ‘ us ’? What’s your-”

“Phoenix, look!” 

The Nutcracker pointed ahead, towards a light in the distance. The pull away from the conversation alerted Phoenix to a crunch under his shoe he hadn’t noticed before, a shift in the air and temperature. The snow at his feet glittered in the slight light.

Coming closer, the light was now clearly coming from an arch, a mouse hole to match the one they entered through. “We’re not in L.A.,” Phoenix commented. 

“But you already knew that,” the Nutcracker added, offering a hand to lead Phoenix through the arch.

Thinking he was out of the woods, Phoenix found himself in a cavern instead. It was nice, he’d admit, with a lavender hue lighting the cave and reflecting off the snow. (It’d be nicer if it wasn’t so cold.)

“Here,” the Nutcracker said. He untied the makeshift sling and returned the coat to Phoenix. “My arm is fine now anyway. Thank you, again, for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

Phoenix would’ve been grateful for the minimal warmth it gave him, but the wind picked up as soon as he put his coat back on. Among the snowflakes taken up by the breeze, he noticed a few that shone brighter than the rest. His eyes followed one coming his way, and he clapped his hands together to catch it, like one would with a firefly.

When he opened his hands, he did not find a bright snowflake as he thought he would, but instead a small girl with wings like a bee’s. A tiny girl, almost familiar, with a tutu and bodice as lavender as the cave and her hair in a pretzel bun.

Almost as quickly as phoenix had caught her, she flew off again, only to return and try to tug Phoenix somewhere by the cuff of his coat. The little force she exerted was not enough to move him, but enough to crumple her wing when her grip loosened and she stumbled back into the nutcracker. Phoenix tried not to laugh as she yelled at the Nutcracker in her little bell’s-jingle voice.

The Nutcracker’s response, telling her that she should watch where she’s going, led to a tiny pout. Phoenix opened his hand to her and attempted to straighten out her wing once she stepped back on. He could only assume he did an okay job when she flew away again without warning.

“Does that happen a lot here?” Phoenix asked after a moment.

“I don’t know,” the Nutcracker responded. “I’ve never been here before.”

Phoenix’s face fell. “Why am I even following you? How are we suppose to get out of here?”

The Nutcracker walked to the edge of the cavern and placed his hand on the wall before tracing it along the perimeter for a moment. “It’s ice, Phoenix, it won’t be that hard to break.”

Removing his sword from the scabbard, the Nutcracker thrust it into the ice, only for it to bounce back off the wall. Before Phoenix could comment, the wind picked up again, this time with more of the bright lights than before. 

He watched as, one by one, the sparkles became small girls identical to the one from earlier. They twirled as they descended towards him, eventually forming a large ring around his feet and then circling up above his head in a spiral. Their dance was mesmerizing, he thought, more so than any firework or light show he’d ever seen.

But he had places to be. “Thank you,“ Phoenix started, “this is very nice but we have to-”

“Phoenix,” the Nutcracker said, sternly, “you have to let them finish. You wouldn’t want to upset the fae, would you?”

Before he could wrap his head around the fae, one grabbed him by the cuff (again?) and led him to an area unoccupied by the others. She floated a bit away from him, making sure to stay at his eye level, danced, and then motioned to him.

Phoenix waved his hands in front of him. “Oh, no, I...,” ( don’t upset the fae ), “alright.” 

He wasn’t sure if he’d retained more from his theatre classes than he thought he did or if the fairy had used some magic on him, but he wasn’t as awful at dancing as he expected to be when he first tried to refuse. He wasn’t great, of course, but he followed what she showed him well enough. 

After his brief interlude with the fairy, Phoenix found his way back to the Nutcracker and the rest of the fairies. They circled him again, this time around the Nutcracker as well. When Phoenix noticed that they were moving closer to the edge of the cavern, he laughed, thinking the fairies were almost herding him and the Nutcracker. The fairies flew through the ice, leaving an exit behind them.

“Thank you!” Phoenix shouted after them, doubtful they could even hear him with the speed at which they left the cave.

“Have you dealt with the fae before?” the Nutcracker asked as they made their way out of the cave.

“No,” Phoenix answered, “but you made them sound kinda scary, honestly, so I tried to be as polite as possible.”

“It’s obvious you haven’t, you’re not supposed to say thank you to them. Anyway, I suppose this is your official welcome to Parthenia.”

Phoenix, previously distracted by the Nutcracker’s comment (more of an insult) had failed to notice the view upon exiting the cavern. He’d never really used the phrase, “a breathtaking view”, since he never traveled very far, but he thought if it wasn’t used here, when would it be? 

The scene seemed like a watercolor, with pastel yet vibrant pinks, purples, greens, and bluest sky possible. They stood on a cliff at the mouth of the cavern. A haphazard stone staircase lead down the mountain, covered in half-melted snow at the top and disappearing into a lush pine forest on the way down. He could see various floating islands around, something that must be normal here, he supposed. What was most interesting, however, was the hilltop castle in the distance. 

“Do you like it?”

“It’s gorgeous,” Phoenix stated matter-of-factly, surprised by the Nutcracker’s question.

“It won’t be like this much longer if the mouse king is allowed to continue. We should move along.”

Phoenix followed the Nutcracker’s lead down the stone steps and through the pine forest. He wondered if this trek would be as long as the dark passage earlier..

“The pines smell like peppermint,” he said, hoping not to be cursed to travel in the same silence as he was most of the way earlier. 

No such luck, apparently, given the Nutcracker’s lack of response. After a few more minutes of silence, Phoenix tried again to break it.

“You’re sure the Sugarplum Prince can help?”

The Nutcracker snapped back at him. “Of course. The Sugarplum Prince is our only hope for defeating the Mouse King.”

“Only hope? Earlier you said he’d help return us to normal, and now he’s our only hope for defeating the Mouse King? And, again, what do you mean return us- ”

“The Mouse King’s magic is too powerful for me to fight with only a sword,” the Nutcracker interrupted. “We’ll need the Sugarplum Prince’s magic. We’ll be returned to normal after defeating the Mouse King, both with the help of the Sugarplum Prince. It’s really quite simple if you’d think about it for more than a second.”

Phoenix was stunned by the Nutcracker’s exasperation.

“Please stop asking about me.”

He respected the Nutcracker’s wishes, and, despite his own wishes, the trek continued in silence.

After some time hiking down the mountain and through the woods, Phoenix and the Nutcracker passed a village previously hidden by the pines. 

“It’s creepy,” Phoenix commented. “All abandoned, with the fog.”

“Let’s investigate,” the two declared at the same time.

Chapter Text

“This used to be the Gingerbread Village,” the Nutcracker said when they came back together.

“I think the villagers evacuated,” Phoenix responded. 

“What makes you think that?”

“The fires and all the shattered candy canes,” he explained. “And some of the walls of the gingerbread houses are missing.”

The Nutcracker nodded. “I agree. With everything reduced to rubble and smoke, it’s obviously the work of the Mouse King.”

“Not just rubble and smoke,” he added slyly. “Come with me.”

“Did you find something?”

“Come on!” 

The Nutcracker did as told, following Phoenix through the ruined streets. There was a horse, complete with a saddle, reins, and a sleigh, at the furthest edge of the half of the village Phoenix had covered. Phoenix stopped the Nutcracker from getting any closer.

“Do you know anything about horses?”

“Not particularly.”

“Me neither,” Phoenix said. “When I saw it earlier I kept my distance so I wouldn’t scare it. Do you think we could use it to get to the Sugarplum Prince faster?”

“Most likely. That would be stealing though, wouldn’t it?”

“Fair,” Phoenix conceded. “Why are we whispering?”

“You were the one who said you didn’t want to- Phoenix!” 

The Nutcracker followed quickly behind Phoenix as he went up to the horse, only for the both of them to be hit with something. Phoenix screamed, and the Nutcracker pulled him aside behind one of the remaining snowbanks.

“An ambush,” the Nutcracker thought out loud. “The Mouse King’s men must still be here.”

Phoenix, instead, got up from behind the snowbank. “They’re just kids, you can-” 

He cut himself off with another scream, rejoining the Nutcracker after being bombarded with a round of snowballs. 

“Why are you screaming?” the Nutcracker asked, laughing. “You said they were just kids.”

“I’ve never been in a snowball fight before!” Phoenix whisper-yelled. “Honestly, I'm out of my depth. And it hurts more than I thought.”

“You’re making this much harder than it needs to be.”

“I’m not gonna throw a snowball at children!”

“I wasn’t saying you should,” the Nutcracker said, standing up. “Is this your horse?”

Two girls came closer, one answering no while the other answered yes. 

“It’s our sisters’ horse.”

“You’re sisters?”

“No. The horse is our sisters’.”

Phoenix zoned out of the conversation at this point, trying to figure out where he’d seen the girls before. They both looked in their late teens with similar half-up-half-down hairstyles, one with black hair and the other with a lighter brown to match the gingerbread men outfits they were wearing. 

“What happened here?” Phoenix thought to ask, giving up on trying to place them.

“We took Marzipan out into the woods to see if we could find any strawberries, because we were all gonna make an angel food cake tonight.”

“And when we came back,” the other interrupted before the first could continue on her tangent, “everyone was gone.”

“This is all Prince Miles’ fault!” the first shouted.

“Who’s Prince Miles?” Phoenix questioned.

“The son of the king that ruled before the Mouse King took over,” the Nutcracker answered. 

“He wasn’t very princely,” the girl with the black hair added, being rewarded with a punch in the arm from the other.

“The Mouse King was originally the king’s royal advisor,” the Nutcracker continued. “When he passed away, the throne and royal scepter were given to him, as the prince was too young at the time.”

“And then when the prince was old enough to retake the throne, he left!” the girl with the black hair cut in again. “Now we’re stuck with the stupid Mouse King.”

“Everything wouldn’t be ruined if Prince Miles had just assumed his responsibilities like he was supposed to. I wish he’d come back,” the brown-haired girl sighed.

“Well I think we’re better off without him.”

After a moment’s pause, Phoenix thought to continue their quest. “Could we borrow the horse? Marzipan, I think?”

“You’d come with us, of course,” the Nutcracker clarified, “until we find someplace safe for you to stay.”

The girls nodded and crawled up into the rear bench of the sleigh. Phoenix sat in the front with the Nutcracker, who had taken the reins. 

The four of them rode in silence, following the path out of the village. A ways up the road, Phoenix put a hand on the Nutcracker’s arm, urging him to slow Marzipan. “look,” he whispered. “the Mouse King’s army.”

The Nutcracker slowed the four of them and Marzipan to a stop and exited the sleigh with Phoenix following close behind. 

“They’ve taken what’s left of our village.”

The girls startled Phoenix and the Nutcracker. Phoenix motioned them to duck down and come closer, while the Nutcracker advised that they stay in the sleigh, out of sight. Peering over the ledge, a group of about twenty of the Mouse King’s soldiers carted the remains of candy cane supports and gingerbread walls towards the castle. 

The four whipped around at the sound of Marzipan whinnying to find her reins being pulled by two mouse soldiers. In a single moment, Phoenix started towards Marzipan and Marzipan ran into the woods past the mice, who then noticed Phoenix and his companions and alerted the rest of the soldiers. 

“Into the woods!” Phoenix shouted, while the Nutcracker unsheathed his sword. Phoenix ran ahead of the girls, with the Nutcracker covering their backs. 

Deeper in the woods, when the mice had started to gain on them, Phoenix noticed a rope ladder hanging in the middle of the path. He climbed first, to make sure there was nothing dangerous ahead, and the Nutcracker climbed last, making sure the mice didn't reach the ladder.

At the top was a large wooden platform with a few treehouses surrounding it. Phoenix wasn’t sure if it was an isolated structure or if there was an entire treehouse village, but either way, it was a welcome change from the soldiers. 

The inhabitants, however, were not as welcoming. 

“Are you a spy?” one woman asked. “Perhaps a new wooden soldier made by the Mouse King?”

“Or kidnappers?” another questioned. “Girls, you know better than to leave without our permission, especially with strange men.”

The girls’ protests overlapped, leaving Phoenix unable to hear what either of them had said.

“Pardon,” the Nutcracker interjected. “We didn’t mean any harm. With the gingerbread village in such a state, we thought it’d be best if the girls came with us, rather than to leave them there.”

The two women looked between each other and the girls before the second offered a hand to the Nutcracker.

“Captain Candy,” she introduced herself, moving on to shake Phoenix’s hand. “This is my partner, Major Mint. I see you’ve met our sisters.”

The other woman, Captain Candy, came forward to shake their hands as well. “Thank you for watching them. We hadn’t heard about the village,” she said. “Would you mind answering some questions?”

“Not at all,” the Nutcracker answered. He and Phoenix followed the Captain and Major into one of the nearby houses.

Captain Candy shut the door before the girls could join them inside. “Go stay with Masha,” she shouted through the door.

“What happened to the gingerbread village?” the Major inquired after all were seated and a lantern was lit.

“We don’t know exactly,” the Nutcracker started.

“It was in ruins by the time we passed through,” Phoenix continued. “We think it’s the Mouse King’s work.”

Captain Candy snorted. “Of course it’s the Mouse King. Unless Prince Miles decided to burn down a village to challenge the Mouse King for worst regent?”

Major Mint laughed in response. “Why were you passing by anyway? The gingerbread village is pretty remote.”

“We’re looking for the Sugarplum Prince,” Phoenix answered.

“Why?” both women questioned simultaneously. “Who are you, exactly?”

“This is Phoenix, and I’m just a nutcracker. We’re victims of the Mouse King’s magic.”

“You expect us to believe that? Either way, the Sugarplum Prince is a fairy tale,” the Major scoffed. “We have greater things to worry about. We have to keep our sisters and the rest of the citizens of Parthenia safe from the Mouse King.”

“You should come with us to find the Sugarplum Prince, then,” Phoenix suggested. “The Sugarplum Prince will help us take down the Mouse King.”

“The more people with us, the easier he’ll be to find,” the Nutcracker added. 

“I just said it was a fairy tale,” Major Mint corrected. “A waste of time.”

Captain Candy spoke up. “They may be right, though. When I used to work with the king on occasion, I remember him mentioning something about this Sugarplum Prince. And everything we’ve tried so far has failed.”

The Major considered the suggestion. “Do you have any idea where he’d be?”

“On an island in the Sea of Storms,” the Nutcracker responded. “That’s the only lead we have so far.”

Major Mint hummed. “Alright,” she finally said. “We’ll leave in the morning.”

Phoenix and the Nutcracker were given two rooms in the upper branches of the pines, with a small bridge connecting them. Phoenix crossed it to knock at the Nutcracker’s door, despite his fear of heights. Discovering that the door was left open, he walked through the room to sit next to the Nutcracker where he found him at the balcony.

“Can’t sleep?”

“I don't actually need sleep as a nutcracker.”

“You’re more than a Nutcracker though, aren’t you,” Phoenix mused. “Prince Miles.”

The Nutcracker sighed. “Is it really so easy to figure out?”

“You never seemed to have any opinion while everyone else has, honestly, very strong opinions of him. You,” he corrected. “Why haven’t you told anyone?”

“You’ve heard what they think of me.”

“They would think differently if they knew the truth,” Phoenix explained.

“Perhaps,” the Nutcracker considered. “Or perhaps not. I only wish to help my people and restore Parthenia, now, and we need the Sugarplum Prince for that.”

The Nutcracker rose, returning to his room. “You should get some sleep. We have a long journey ahead.”

Phoenix was not a fan of bridges. Nothing had ever happened with a bridge specifically, he simply had a debilitating fear of heights, and by extension falling and dying. When they arrived at the bridge the next morning, Phoenix decided he hated it more than anything. Not only did it lie across a large and unforgiving gorge, it was also made of completely separate floating rocks, and had no type of railing or support. 

Although he was thankful he wasn’t the one to fall off the bridge that morning, he did feel bad that his usual luck was transferred to Captain Candy. 

No one was sure what had happened exactly. Major Mint had gone first, with Captain Candy following behind. Before Phoenix or the Nutcracker could take a step onto the bridge, the Captain had fallen off the side. Luckily, she’d managed to grab onto a tree branch on the way down. In the end, Phoenix and the Nutcracker had lifted her back onto solid ground, and (with Phoenix needing much help from the Nutcracker) everyone made it safely across the bridge. 

“I’m sorry about your bag,” Major Mint said a few minutes down the path from the bridge. “Falling into the ravine like that.”

Captain Candy hummed in agreement. “We had most of our supplies in there.”

“There should be an orchard ahead, if I remember correctly,” the Nutcracker mentioned, “right on the coast. We can gather some apples at least.”

“Captain Candy and I will try to make a boat,” Major Mint said a few hours later upon arriving at the single dock on the beach.

“Could you look for supplies?” Captain Candy asked, more of an order.

The Nutcracker nodded. “Phoenix, follow me.”

Phoenix did as he was told, walking behind the Nutcracker a bit further down the beach, to an area with more stone and mountain than sand. He stood by, watching the Nutcracker pace and mutter to himself. 

“The well used to be over there,” he said. 

“I’m guessing this was supposed to be the orchard you mentioned earlier?”

The Nutcracker didn’t answer, clearly frustrated with the state his country was in under the Mouse King’s rule. Phoenix opted to help him, walking around and occasionally pushing a few rocks out of the way. He heard a metallic clang when one of the rocks he kicked landed.  

“Nutcracker,” Phoenix called, “ over here!”

The Nutcracker helped Phoenix clear the remaining rocks covering the well. “Someone must’ve put a cap on it,” he murmured. 

The cap itself was rusted, with nowhere to grip it from. The Nutcracker drew his sword and used it as a lever to open the well. Once the cap was removed, fairies like the ones in the cave emerged in a burst.

Like before, one came up to Phoenix, but this time to greet him rather than drag him off somewhere. The tiny girl looked exactly like the other one, but outfitted in green, rather than lavender. Looking around at the other fairies, he could see they had a bit more variation in color than the blues and lavenders of the fairies in the cave, with greens, purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows. The tiny fairy left Phoenix’s side to speak to Miles for a few moments in her jingle-bell voice.

“What did she say?” Phoenix asked. 

“Exactly what I had expected,” the Nutcracker explained. “The Mouse King had his army trap them in the well, destroying the valley and this orchard in the process.”

Phoenix laughed. “That can’t be everything, she talked for, like, two minutes. What else did she say?”

“A type of thank you, and,” the Nutcracker paused. “And she said that you’re handsome.”

“Oh,” Phoenix blushed. 

His attention was drawn away from the conversation to the fairies, dancing as the ones in the cavern had. While they flew across the ground, the grass returned and flowers bloomed. A few split off, restoring the trees as they spiraled up the decaying stumps. Phoenix watched with amazement as the leaves grew back as the branches extended, a few apples sprouting along with them.

“Supplies,” the Nutcracker murmured.

In the time it took the Nutcracker to gather a few, Phoenix had almost filled his bag, due in no small part to the fairies’ help. He laughed once some of the apples fell on the Nutcracker, becoming too heavy for their branches. He wondered whether the fairies had played a part in that as well. 

After the Nutcracker picked his last apple from the tree, the fairies circled him, pushing him closer to Phoenix. Meanwhile, another group pushed Phoenix closer to him. The fairies tugged at the Nutcracker’s hand, and he offered the apple he’d picked to Phoenix. Phoenix, sure it would be the best apple he’d tasted in his life, barely had a bite before the ground shook and the apple fell.

Seeing the fairies fleeing, the Nutcracker shouted “Run!” rather than wait and see what had caused the rumble. After sprinting halfway back to the dock after Phoenix, he looked behind to see a gargantuan made of stone. 

“Captain, Major!” Phoenix yelled as he approached their stretch of beach. “This way!”

They all made their way behind a large rock nearby, hoping the giant wouldn’t see them. Seemingly targeting the Nutcracker, the giant threw a boulder and hit the newly-built boat instead. The Major yelped. 

With the Nutcracker joining them, the four were safely hidden behind their rock, and the giant turned to them after hearing Major Mint. Trapped between a rock, a stone colossus, and an impossible-to-cross sea with no boat, the snow fairies appeared. They flew around the four and the giant before creating a whirlwind just off the dock, with every fairy leaving in a different direction, freezing the sea as they went. 

Following a few remaining snow fairies, Marzipan returned, sleigh and all. The Captain and Major rejoiced, their horse unharmed, and called for Phoenix and the Nutcracker to join them in the sleigh. 

Even with Marzipan going her fastest, horses on ice weren’t the best method of travel. The rock giant still trailed them, somehow not breaking through the ice. (Maybe the snow fairies did their magic a little too well.) 

The Nutcracker jumped off the back of the sleigh without any warning. Phoenix shouted after him, causing the Major to stop Marzipan and the sleigh after realizing what was happening. Now standing between the sleigh and the rock giant, the Nutcracker drew his sword and plunged it through the ice. 

It worked more or less as planned. The crack grew, the ice became unstable, and the rock giant sank through, not to bother them again, but the crack approached the three in the sleigh. They had trouble at first, with getting Marzipan to start moving on the ice again, and then with finding the rhythm of moving slow enough for the Nutcracker to reach them without allowing the growing crack to reach them.

They managed, though. With the Nutcracker rejoined and the rock giant gone, they moved forward, further into the sea.

It didn’t take long for them to realize they had no idea where they were going. The Nutcracker knew the most about the Sugarplum Prince out of the party, and all he knew was that he was on an island somewhere in the Sea of Storms. With an already impossible task at hand, the sea seemed massive.

“If this fog doesn’t clear up, I doubt we’ll be able to find the Prince’s island,” the Nutcracker said. 

“What if we don't?” Phoenix asked. “I think we could manage.”

“We’re no match for the Mouse King by ourselves,” the Major added. 

“I think we could,” Phoenix asserted. He turned to the Nutcracker. “You’ve already battled the mouse army a few times, you rescued Captain Candy, and you saved us from the rock monster.”

“To be fair, you had a hand in much of that.”

“To be fair, you did that all without the Sugarplum Prince’s help!”

The Nutcracker paused for a moment, considering what Phoenix was saying. “But none of those were the Mouse King . And we’d need the Sugarplum Prince anyway, to return you back to normal.”

Phoenix looked down at his lap, unable to think of anything to say. 

“That is what you want, isn’t it?”

“Of course,” he mumbled. 

There was little conversation for a period after. With the fog still lingering, the Sea of Storms started to act as it was named, and thunder began to rumble in the distance. Marzipan snorted. 

“Maybe we should turn around,” the Captain suggested. “The weather is getting worse.”

“Wait.”

“I don't think we can wait, Phoenix. It’s dangerous,” Major Mint said. “A storm is brewing and we have no idea if the ice will be melting soon.”

“And there’s been no sign of this island,” Captain Candy added. 

“No,” Phoenix said, letting himself out of the sleigh. “I think Marzipan saw something.”

“I think we’d know if Marzipan saw something, she’s our horse ,” the Major scoffed as Phoenix walked into the fog with the Nutcracker trailing him.

Reluctantly, Major Mint drove Marzipan forward, following the two through the fog. They found that both Phoenix and the Nutcracker were right - Marzipan had seen something, and there was an island in the Sea of Storms. Once off the frozen sea, the Major helped Captain Candy out of the sleigh and untethered Marzipan, allowing her to rest and graze.

Much like the rest of Parthenia, this island in the middle of the sea was colored in vibrant greens and purples with lush grass, dense forests, and a few small mountains. A stone walkway started sparsely by the beach and wove a path through the trees ahead. 

“We should get going. I’m excited to meet this prince of yours,” Captain Candy said, pulling Phoenix from his aesthetic appreciation of the island.

“I think we should follow the Nutcracker,” the Major suggested. “The island was his idea, his quest, and he’s the reason we’ve made it this far in the first place.”

“I’m only half the reason, frankly.” the Nutcracker offered his hand to Phoenix and led him forward, the others walking behind. 

The walk was long, but Phoenix was grateful for it. The further into the island they went, the more magical it became. The trees graduated from cypresses by the beach to birches, willows, and oaks to trees Phoenix had never seen before, with even stranger fruit. The flowers did the same, with a few lonely flowers as sparse as the path at the start, to seemingly endless fields of wildflowers. Looking down, he noticed the stones of the walkway had at some point transitioned from a dull grey to a pastel pink. His hand finally slipped from the Nutcracker’s.

When he raised his head, the other three were a ways further, and a castle the same pink as the walkway stood before them. 

“Are you coming?” 

Phoenix nodded.

Ahead of Phoenix, the Captain opened the front doors, holding them open for the Major, who then held them open for the Nutcracker. Upon reaching the front of the castle, Phoenix heard a yell, and found the handles of the door translucent when he tried to open them. Backing away, he watched as the entire castle had begun to fade. Clearly, though, he could see the Nutcracker, Captain Candy, and Major Mint trapped in some sort of cage before they disappeared in an instant. 

Phoenix raced back to the beach, planning to ride Marzipan back across the sea and straight to the Mouse King’s castle. When he returned, the ice had melted, and the sea churned. He sat among the grass and wildflowers.

“What was I thinking,” he muttered to himself. “Of course there wouldn’t be a magical prince that can fix everything.”

He patted Marzipan’s head as she grazed. “Nothing ever works out the way it’s supposed to, does it?”

One of the flower fairies tapped Phoenix on the shoulder before he could think of anything else to converse with the horse about. 

“Hello,” he said, coming out as more of a question as a greeting.

She motioned for him to follow her. Not wanting to upset any of the fairies like the Nutcracker had suggested, Phoenix rose and did as she gestured. She brought him back up the walkway that lead to the faded castle, and at the point where the trees started in full, more flower fairies appeared. They carried a thick vine with leaves and flowers, fashioned as a sort of swing-like chair. 

“Are you sure this’ll hold me?”

Phoenix hated the idea. The vine was too thin, there was no way a handful of fairies would be able to lift him, and the chances of him falling into the sea were astronomically high. But he knew it was the only way off the island. The only way to save the Major, the Captain, and the Nutcracker. 

When she nodded, he got on the swing.

Chapter Text

Phoenix would never know how to express his thanks to the fairies for not only carrying him off the island, but dropping him off at the Mouse King’s castle. They waved him goodbye and flew off with the vine swing, and he climbed the stairs behind the door where they left him. 

He maneuvered the main part of the castle staying against the walls, listening for the soldiers and guards that would pass by. After a bit of wandering, Phoenix found himself on a second-floor balcony that wrapped a circular courtyard. Peeking over the edge of the half-wall, he watched as mice brought kindling to a pyre at the center of the courtyard.

“More wood!”

Looking further to the side, Phoenix saw the Mouse King walk into the courtyard.

“This will not be a night soon forgotten,” the Mouse King said. 

For a moment, Phoenix could’ve sworn the Mouse King made eye contact with him from the other side of the courtyard. He ducked down behind the half-wall of the balcony and made his way to a door at the end of the balcony, rather than back inside the main halls of the castle. 

The door led to a tower at the edge of the castle, with stairs spiraling down. Phoenix followed the stairs to the bottom, he wasn’t sure how many floors down, and through a hallway with more turns than any hallway should have. Around the last corner, he came face to face with two guards.

“Oh!” he recovered after starting with a gasp. “The Mouse King’s been looking for you. He said if you don’t come soon, he’ll, uh,” (think, Phoenix, think!) “turn you into chess pieces! Or was it chessboards...”

With the mice gone, Phoenix took their key ring from the wall and tried the few hanging from it in the lock. The door opened to an empty room.

There wasn’t anything else by the door save for the key hook and a few torches. “Why would there be guards assigned to an empty room?” Phoenix asked himself as he checked along the walls. His hand stopped flat in front of him upon reaching the center of the room.

Going back to the door, he removed one of the torches from its holder on the wall. Feeling for the invisible wall he found, Phoenix wound up with the torch and swung. It shattered, revealing Captain Candy, Major Mint, and the Nutcracker behind it. 

Phoenix ran to the Nutcracker and wrapped his arms as far around him as he could reach, before pulling back with a laugh. 

“We have to leave,” he said, more serious. “The Mouse King’s building a pyre.”

The other three nodded, and together, they left the tower. Phoenix brought them back to the balcony to show them the courtyard, where they saw that the Mouse King’s army had been capturing Parthenian citizens.

The Nutcracker was furious. “Sugarplum Prince be damned, that rat must be stopped,” he said to Phoenix before leaping onto the half-wall railing of the balcony. 

“This is not how a kingdom is meant to be run!” he shouted down to the Mouse King. 

“Ah,” the Mouse King responded, “how very kind. You’ve saved me the trouble of sending someone to fetch you.”

With a single movement of his scepter, the pyre at the center of the courtyard was lit. The Nutcracker turned back to Phoenix, for a moment, and jumped off the balcony to face the Mouse King.

“You are no king,” the Nutcracker challenged. “No king would treat their people like this.”

“And you are?”

“No,” he admitted, “I’m not. Not until I’ve earned their trust and respect, and not until they know the truth. Not unless they choose me as king.” The Nutcracker drew his sword. “They most certainly haven’t chosen you.”

“I don’t need them,” the rat laughed. Just as the fire was lit with a wave of the scepter, the residents of Parthenia that had been brought to the courtyard were turned to stone, exactly as they stood.

“Almost perfect, wouldn’t you say?”

“Enough!” the Nutcracker shouted. 

He lunged at the rat, missing him by a hair as he dodged to the side. The scepter transformed into an axe, which the rat swung around at the Nutcracker, who rolled under. Now behind the rat, the Nutcracker lunged towards him again, only for his sword to be blocked by the axe. They went on, parry and riposte, parry and riposte, until the rat jumped backwards. 

He raised the axe back over head as it transformed back into a scepter. Magic flowing down his body, he grew twice his size and swung at the Nutcracker. With his new strength, the Nutcracker was no longer able to parry like before. After a few weak attempts at blocking, the Nutcracker was hit by the scepter and sent flying back into the stone support of the pyre. 

“Nutcracker!” Phoenix shouted. He’d left to find a way down to the courtyard when the fight began, and finally reached the Nutcracker, kneeling at his side. He searched for a sign of life, for as much of a sign of life that one could get from someone made of wood. Phoenix glared at the Mouse King as he approached.

“I was going to ask whether you’d like to be thrown into the fire or chopped into kindling first,” the rat said, coming nearer. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter either way.”

Phoenix rose and stood between the rat and the Nutcracker, his head only reaching the bottom of the rat’s regal doublet. “No! You’re a coward, you wouldn’t even have any power without that scepter,” he proclaimed. 

“I never make mistakes, but perhaps I did when I shrunk you earlier. I obviously didn’t make you small enough!” - Phoenix’s eyes wandered around the rat, around the doublet, catching something - “This, however, can be fixed.”

While he raised the scepter above his head, Phoenix ran forward and kicked the rat in the knee, as hard as you can to a 10-foot rat, and jumped in the midst of the distraction. He grabbed at the open sections between buttons, climbed higher as fast as he could, until he reached the collar and took what he’d had his eye on.

The rat swiped at him, throwing him on the ground by the Nutcracker. Luckily, as bad as the landing was, he landed with his (slightly too large) badge in hand.

The rat grunted, enraged, before pointing the scepter at Phoenix.

“No!”

The Nutcracker jumped in front of Phoenix and held up his sword to block the magical attack. The beam hit his sword, pushing him back closer and closer to the fire, until Phoenix wrapped his hands around the Nutcracker’s at the hilt. He angled the sword and the reflection hit the rat, shrinking him and the scepter smaller and smaller into non-existence. 

The Nutcracker collapsed, the weight of the battle catching up to him. 

“Oh, Nutcracker.” Phoenix knelt down to the Nutcracker and held his head in his lap. 

“Don’t worry about me, Phoenix. I’m only wood, after all.”

“We both know you’re more than that,” Phoenix said. He looked at the Nutcracker, really looked at him. Limbs were bent at all angles, his dominant arm coming out of the socket. He was covered in hacks and dents, and a few scorch marks from being so close to the pyre.

He pressed a kiss to the Nutcracker’s cheek. “Prince Miles.”

The Nutcracker Prince began to glow, first looking almost translucent with gold and white light, but then sparking with brighter lights and colors. Trails of light circled him, much like the trails following the fairies they’d seen, and he was lifted off the ground. Standing upright, wearing an outfit of cloth that was previously painted on him, Prince Miles extended a hand of flesh and bone to Phoenix.

(He looks familiar) , Phoenix pondered while taking Prince Miles’ hand. Something about the parted bangs framing his face, something about his eyes, something about the way he carried himself-

His thoughts were cut off when he was lifted off his feet and started to glow in the same way the Nutcracker Prince did. (Nicer colors, though,) he joked, engulfed in pinks and purples and sunset hues. His eyes followed the trails of light as they spiraled down from his head towards the ground. 

“What?” Phoenix thought out loud. He looked back and forth at himself to observe his newly gifted outfit, a rose-colored uniform similar to the Nutcracker Prince’s own. 

“Of course,” Prince Miles muttered. “Of course it’s you!”

“Wha?”

“It makes perfect sense,” he said, taking Phoenix’s hands in his own. “The Prince has been with us all along!”

“Well, yeah, we already knew you were the prince though,” Phoenix laughed.

Prince Miles smiled. “The Sugarplum Prince. He’s you.”

“But,” Phoenix stared. “But I couldn’t be. How?”

“Don’t you see it? You saved me from the Mouse King, not once, but twice. You found and helped the children from the Gingerbread village, and you helped save Captain Candy. You rescued us from the Mouse King’s dungeon, your bravery led to his defeat, and your kiss has broken his spell.

“You have more courage and compassion than anyone I’ve ever known. You are the Sugarplum Prince!”

Phoenix realized that he was right. With his own acceptance, his recognition of all he did to become the Sugarplum Prince, the Mouse King’s work was undone as they stood there. They watched the people come back to life from stone, the dark, dull castle restored to its original pink, climbing flowers grow up the balcony pillars, the pyre return to a fountain. Phoenix could feel more than he saw, though; he could feel further places in Parthenia have nature and color and life returned to them. 

The Prince looked at him with awe. “You’ve broken all the Mouse King’s curses.”

Phoenix nodded. “Now you can take your rightful place as king.”

“No,” Prince Miles said. “That will be left up to the people.”

The citizens previously gathered in the courtyard were elated, to say the least. The Prince went from person to person, reintroducing himself to everyone, asking their forgiveness where it wasn’t needed. Some wandered the castle, searching for the kitchen and pantry and supplies to make a feast. Others, in search of entertainment, found a few instruments to celebrate with.

The girls, having been brought to the castle at some point, were reunited with their sisters. Phoenix and Prince Miles found the four of them, where there were re-greetings and congratulations and hugs and a few tears. 

Hearing the music pick up, the girls left the conversation to go dance. Major Mint and Captain Candy followed soon after, hand in hand. After a while, after everyone else had already joined in, Phoenix and Prince Miles found themselves dancing as well, quieter, to the side of the crowd. 

The music their mismatched orchestra played was slower now, sweeping and grand. Phoenix wouldn’t call himself the greatest dancer, but he remembered the basics from various musicals during his late teens and early twenties. This was different, though. One hand held Prince Miles’, the other around his waist. Swaying together, the rest of Parthenia melted away.

Prince Miles took his hand off Phoenix’s waist for a moment to reach into his pocket. “Here,” he said. “I found this. You must’ve dropped it in the middle of…” he trailed off briefly. “In the middle of everything, I suppose.”

Still holding the badge, he touched his hand to Phoenix’s cheek. “Oh, Phoenix, why are you crying? I thought you wanted to go home.”

They stopped now, dropping their clasped hands between them. Phoenix removed his hand from Prince Miles’ waist and cupped the hand already resting on his cheek.

“I miss you.”

“I know.”

Miles pinned Phoenix’s badge on for him and pressed a kiss to his lips as he faded.

Phoenix opens his eyes, finding himself on the floor next to his couch. He doesn’t remember falling off, or falling asleep. Looking around, Maya and Pearls must’ve finished whatever movie they were watching and went to sleep. Probably in his bed, going off the last few months. 

There’s a knock at the door. Phoenix is hit with a split-second panic of (oh my god what’s that- oh that’s probably what woke me up- oh my god someone’s here and I   look awful- wait I'm still dressed from yesterday) , but pulls himself together enough to quickly fix up the room on the way to the door.

“I’ve brought gifts.”

Phoenix is face to face with a man previously thought to be dead. A ghost, his best friend, his enemy, his rival, his partner, his god-knows-what.

Phoenix smiles.

(My Nutcracker Prince . )