Nutcracker Sweet

The next morning dawned with Victoria’s mother standing anxiously over her daughter until she saw her eyes open.

“Oh thank heavens you’re awake dear. You took quite the fall last night. What were you doing in the main room last night so late?” She asked, concern and worry lacing her voice as she waited for her daughters answer.

Victoria winced and re-closed her eyes, bringing her hand up to her aching head. her foot hurt too, most likely a nice bruise forming on te top of it. "The Goblins." she said softly, her own voice too loud for her sore head. "In my room and..."

Victoris'as eyes flew open and she sat up with a start, gasping. "Where's Hans?!"

She regretted the outburst immediately, wincing horribly. Gods above, she must have hit her head hard...

“Goblins dear? There are no goblins dear.” Her mother said, watching her daughter with great concern. What could she be rambling about? When she mentioned the doll so frantically, her mother frowned slightly before walking over to her night stand and picking it up from where she had propped it up the night before.

“You’re doll is right here dear. Right where you put it last night. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Victoria frowned and winced a bit, easing herself back down . "I must've just been sleep walking.... Such a vivid dream..." she sighed. "... Mother." she said opening her eyes. "If there WERE goblins in my room... What could I do to get rid of them? With no magic I mean-- even in my dreams I felt so... defenseless."

Sleepy as she was, it wasnt often she asked her mother for any sort of advice, in any given form. It was rare for her to openly seek guidence to the answer of a problem; riddle or otherwise.

Her mother was quite taken aback by the question, finding herself at a loss for words for a moment. It wasn’t often that Victoria ever asked her mother anything, especially about anything magical. Once she’d given up hope that she’d ever manifest any powers of her own she had tried to shut out magic as much as possible.

“Well Goblins are rather nasty creatures dear that don’t have many weaknesses. The only thing I could recommend doing would be to step on their feet.”

At the incredulous look of her daughter she laughed lightly before continuing.

“Goblins have incredibly sensitive feet. Step hard on their feet and it will stop them for a moment. Won’t defeat them but it gives you enough time to run away. But please don’t think too much on it. There are no Goblins dear and you father and I would never let anything hurt you. Just rest today okay? You hit your head very hard.”

She stood up and kissed her daughter lightly on the head before leaving the room, her full skirts swishing around her as she left the room.

Victoria waited until the door to her bed room clicked shut before turning her head to the new doll, frowning at the throbbing in her temples that traveled to behind her eyes. "Such a weird dream....." she said lightly. her eyes moved, falling onto her doll brush, placed beside the lamp on her night stand. She blink, quirking an eyebrow at that. After all, she never left it on her nightstand. The wire brush was always always placed on her desk next to the trunk of doll cloths.

She sat up slowly, her eyes turning back to Hans. Perhaps it hadn't been a dream at all...

Reaching one hand out, she carefully lifted the doll from his spot beneath her lamp an looked him over in search of damage from the fall. Not a hair out of place. "... Well Hans... On the off chance that you were at one point human, and if you can hear me, I sincerely apologize for the ruckus last night..." she said them smiled, finding her own words foolish. she stood up, still holding her newest doll, carefully and closely. "And if you were a real boy, I can only imagine how bored you must be simply sitting all day."

She stopped in front of her window and turned the doll to look out at the city. Buildings had been build half on stilts and half carved into the mountainside, trickling down to the Vally below. "That building there, with the silver roof, is Uncles shop; though I'm sure you've seen the inside for yourself. The building two over form it is where most young folk my age dorm while training, learning their future careers... right now you're in Montinue Point Manor; my family's estate... Of course, the only reason I am here at all is because of the estate... Normally, children with no magical talent or other worldly features are abandoned and die young... Though, I guess you knew that. I suppose I should consider myself lucky for being around at all...." she pointed. "That building there, with the rounded edges is where I dance. Well, I practice dancing anyway... Typically I dance whenever I feel like it."

She paused and looked down at hr foot. There was, indeed, a nice sized bruise surfacing from where she had kicked the goblin. Or perhaps her best post while sleep walking?

She sighed and turned away from the window, carrying with her Hans, over to a glass hutch full of other glass dolls. Even more dolls and figures of animals lined the walls on stands on shelves. all perfectly pampered and often played with and held.

"This is Rose." she said holding the male at eye level with a red haired glass doll. She wore a long silk robe the color of rich wine, and golden slippers. "She's the first doll I was ever given, and I keep her here to watch over my room as I sleep. Mother put a charm on her to ward off any evil spirits... When I was little, I had a horrible fear of Ghosts, ever since my cousin told me the story of 'Bloody marry'." she shuddered. "I've since gotten over my fear but still, she's good to have around you know."

She continued on, introducing Hans to her other dolls before returning to her bed, her headache too much to ignore now. "My dolls all mean a lot to me." she informed Hans, as if he could hear her while she pulled the covers up again. "They don't mind that I don't have magic... I like to think I'm not a disappointment at least to them... And they're the only real company I keep..." She sighed, setting Hans back under the lamp. "Don't get me wrong, I love them all dearly.... However, I do wish I had some real friends to keep my company.... Someone to share ideas with who could share theirs with me... I feel rather selfish at times, always talking ad never listening..."

Victorias dark eyes turned back to her window before closing. "I guess some people just aren't meant to have social lives...." she murmured as she drifted off back to sleep.

Night fell once again over the manor, dousing the world in darkness. Steadily the members of the house fell asleep and the clock kept ticking until it struck that magical hour. Midnight came and the great clock tolled its twelve chimes. Once again a scratching could be heard, a giggling, though menacing sounding in its glee.

“We’ll get him this time.” Was the whispers that seemed to float through the hall and into young Victoria’s room. “This time we’ll break him.”

Victoria opened her eyes, and didnt bother to look around. she reached forward, grabbing the Doll Prince. She hugged him to her chest and frowned, looking to her window. It was dark out, aside from a few stray lights of the homes below.

She sat up, her head still sore though the throbbing was mostly gone. She was grateful she had locked the door to her room when she was up earlier.

Sleepily, she slid her feet into her slippers, still holding the doll close.

She watched the door, frowning when she heard the lock click. Of course... She should have known a simple lock wouldn't keep magical creatures out.

She held the doll ever closer, a fear starting to burn in her chest. she had no magic of her own.... And the goblins could easily do quite a bit of damage to her, as well as her beloved dolls. Those ugly, nasty, horrifying creatures.

She bit her lip to keep from crying, though the tears were a result of the mind-numbing terror currently building in the poor girls chest.

She hurried to her glass cabinet, pulling out Rose as well. her two most treasured dolls.

When the door creeked ope, she threw on the light, hoping to at least slightly blind the littel buggers. Afterall, Goblins hated light.

The light did indeed blind them momentarily, causing the group of goblins that had been pushing through the door to fall in a heap on each other. However, it didn’t stop others from climbing over their stunned comrades to get into the room to surround her, or the Goblin King himself from standing atop his men like some kind of bloody hero and snapping his fingers, plunging the room back into darkness.

“Nice try little girl.” He said, cackling.

The other goblins laughed too as they tightened their circle around the girl.

Victoria frowned, then huffed, clearly annoyed. "Stupid bullies..." she muttered, bending at the knees. she lept over the small crowd, landing and twirling on her toes before making a dart to the door. she took her mothers advice, stepping on the Goblin Kings foot with all her weight before slipping by.

“YEOW!!!!” The King cried, hopping on one foot while he held the other tightly in pain.

“GET HER!!” The other goblins cried, bounding over the pile of their comrades who hadn’t been able to get up with their king standing on top of them. They raced down the hallway chasing her, one of them reaching out and just missing her ankle with his knobby hand.

"W-woah!" Victoria grabbed the banister once she reached the main floor, having slipped. she spun and took off into the dining room where the tree was located. She was so frustrated. so anoyed. how had her parents not heard all of the noise?

She fought back tears as she teached the kitchen, grabbing a knife out of the butcher block, balancing Rose under her arm, Hans still in her other hand.

The goblins advanced slowly, laughing at her attempts to fend them off with the knife. Sure it might, just might, nick their skin but not much more than that. Their skin was too tough.

“Just give us the doll girly, and we’ll leave you alone.” They said, one of them reaching out to grab her ankle tightly in his leathery skin.

Victoria pulled her feet up quickly, letting out a startled cry. She was seated now on the counter, looking down at the goblins. Gravity pulled on her tears, pulling a single drop off of her eye lashes and down onto the glass princes cheek. In her panic and mystery, it was only natural for her not to notice, or even care. She turned on the kitchen light, the switched behind her. "Go away!" she all but begged.

The Goblins advanced ever closer, trying to get the porcelain doll, that before their very eyes was looking less and less like a doll and more like a miniature man.

“ARGH YOU STUPID GIRL!” The goblin king roared, as he watched Hans come to life before their very eyes. His spell was supposed to hold forever. Never was Hans supposed to have movement again and yet here he was, pulling himself forward out of the girls surprised arms and glaring down at him. The Goblin King was truly infuriated now. Somehow Hans had come to the one girl who could lift his curse. The only solace the king had was that obviously the girl had no idea what she had done, or even how.

“I can move again.” Hans said quietly, looking down at his hands and legs, moving them experimentally.

“It doesn’t matter what you can do doll prince, I’ll destroy you!” The Goblin king roared, brandishing his weapon threateningly. Hans looked at the goblin and scowled.

“You did this to me didn’t you. I remember saving the princess and then everything went dark.” Hans said thoughtfully, unsure of himself in his new predicament.

Victoria's heart was in her through. Gods... she hated magic... Had she mentioned that? She thought she had...

When the doll leaped form her hand she half expected to hear a crash of glass. Not to see a miniature man standing on her counter by her feet.

She placed the knife down on the counter, for a moment forgetting she still had her precious Rose doll in the nook of her arm. She sat pale skinned under her dark hair with her eyes fixed on Hans before moving to the goblin king. Truly, she was at a loss of words.

“You broke my curse you stupid fool! Now I’ll destroy you once and for all!” The goblin king cried before slamming himself into the counter. Hans lost his balance and went tumbling to the floor. One would have expected him to break at that fall, but he was no longer just a doll. He landed heavily, but picked himself up quickly because the goblin didn’t wait for Hans to regain his footing before he began to attack.

Without a weapon Hans was at the goblins mercy as he dodged around the kitchen, avoiding the sharp sword that the king kept trying to stab him with. Seeing a goblin and a doll battle should have been comical, in fact had it been a puppet show children would probably have squealed from laughter at the amount of acrobatic tricks Hans used to try and escape and the many times the Goblin King fell flat on his face trying to get to the doll prince.

Victoria pulled her slipper off her foot and took aim, throwing it at the Goblin King. "Leave him alone!" she said. "He's half your size, he can't hurt you!"

She had set Rose down on the counter, closer to the wall where she would be safe, careful of the old dolls wings and dress.

The slipper hit the goblin in the head, disorientating him a bit. Shaking his head he turned to look at the meddling girl and growled. Literally growled.

“I’ve had enough of your meddling girl.” Suddenly his hands glowed bright blue, and Hans cried out “No!” But it was too late. The light shot out and hit both Victoria and her little doll, blinding them for a moment with its brilliance.

Before the goblin could gloat over what he had done, Hans jumped on his back, throttling him around the throat. The goblin choked for a moment, dropped his sword, and ran around in a circle trying to dislodge the doll.

Victoria instinctively threw her arms up to cover her face, flinching... 'Stupid- idiot." she thought to herself. She should have known better than to provoke a creature that could use magic.

She expected pain. Instead, a strange sort of pulling feeling filled her chest, working its way all the way to her fingers and tows, tingeing. When she finally opened her eyes, afraid to do so really, she blinked at her arms. She seemed alright.... She looked herself over. No blood... No massive damage. Though, she was only wearing one slipper.

Then she blinked, looking at the floor. Her heart nearly skipped a beat. She wasn't looking at the floor- and she realized that instantly. Under her feet was the counter.

Instantly her mind went numb. she had to wrap her mind around it. She was small. Very small. Only about 10 inches tall. Looking around; she realized even faeries were taller than she was.

Finally the goblin dislodged Hans and he went flying into the door of the nearby pantry. He spun on the spot to see what had happened with his spell, and cried out in frustration yet again. He’d only shrunk her! Not turned her into a doll like he’d wanted to.

The goblin king grumbled in anger and looked over to Hans as he stood up to fight again.

“Fall back men!” He called, deciding he’d have to rethink this. “I’ll get you yet Doll Prince!” With a loud crack he disappeared leaving Hans and Victoria alone in the large kitchen.

Victoria stayed where she was for a moment then blinked, looking around. She took a shaky breath. HOW was she going to get down?! Sure, she could jump.... But last time that hadn't ended so well for her.

"U-um..... are you alright?" she called to Hans, standing on the edge of the counter. Her voice nearly cracked. It shook enough, that was for sure. She was as pale as the glass dolls she loved, just this side shy of panic.

Hans looked over and nearly fell over in surprise when he saw what had happened to Victoria.

“Umm, you weren’t always that size were you?” He asked carefully, not sure what else to say.

Victoria stared flatly, though hr eyebrow twitched. "No..... I'm only recently ten inches tall, as opposed to my usual five foot 3 inches." she muttered taking a deep calming breath. "YOU on the other hand have some explaining to do!"

“Explaining?” Hans asked innocently, unsure what she could possibly mean. He looked around for something to use as a rope to throw up to her. She’d have to get off the counter eventually. Might as well find a way to get down.