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Eric had never felt worthy of the title of Prince, King made him startle whenever a subject referred to him as such.
How could he be a King when he could not even protect the one he loved the most, his beloved Queen?
How could he keep his subjects and his kingdom safe knowing he had failed Clara?
He was no King.
A King would have made sure the Mouse was dead before celebrating.
A King would have made sure to prevent the Mouse from getting within ten yards of his Queen.
A King would have struck the Mouse down with his sword before his grubby claws could scratch Clara’s delicate neck as he ripped the locket away.
A King wouldn’t have been as helpless or scared or frozen in shock as he watched Clara fade before his eyes.
He had found his princess but in the end the villain who’d taken it all from him, who he’d thought they’d beat once and for all, stole her away to make their victory bittersweet. To make it mournful instead of celebratory. To make it a day of loss instead of freedom.
If his father was alive, this situation would have never happened to Eric’s mother.
If his father was alive, the Mouse would not have been King.
If his father was alive, Eric would not have been turned into a nutcracker.
If his father was alive, Eric would not have met Clara.
If his father was alive… at least Clara would be safe.
He didn’t know for certain if Clara had indeed been taken back home. The Owl had said that the Sugar Plum Princess would also be found across the Sea of Storms and they had been led into a trap; never mind that Clara herself was the fabled Sugar Plum Princess.
What if the Owl had lied to her?
What if the Owl and the Mouse were in cahoots?
What if Clara was dead?
If she was, then her death was all his fault.
He didn’t deserve to be King.
Why did the others make him King?
He was a fraud.
You and I know you’re much more than that, Prince Eric.
It was cruel of his memory to replay her words and it was a cruel ghost who kissed his cheek.
Eric looked out the window and through the reflection, he could almost make out a faint outline of-
“Your majesty?” Captain Candy announced his arrival.
“Yes, my friend?” Eric closed his eyes but he could see the mountains and valleys of Parthenia in his mind; the ice caves where Clara danced with the snowflake fairies, the valleys where Clara danced with the spring fairies and restored the land back to its original splendor, the forests where she whispered his real name, the ocean where she led them through the fog, the land she brought back to life with her kindness and love.
He saw it all from the windows of the palace that should have her as Queen.
“Eric,” Captain Candy said gently.
Eric turned and faced his friend; his dear friend who had taken it upon himself to search for Clara’s locket without prompting, who loyally rounded up all the mice with the guards. His face was full of concern and sympathy. His hand was closed.
“Eric.” Captain Candy held out his closed hand.
Eric felt as if he was wood again as he stiffly made his way over to his friend.
Eric felt as if someone were manipulating his limbs, someone else was holding out his hand, someone else was closing his fingers as the locket touched his palm, someone else was keeping him upright so he did not collapse onto the floor in wretched sobs.
“We found a den of mice. They had taken the Mouse and Pimm after… They… Major Mint and the Peppermint Brigade made quick work of them. We found her locket in the rubble.” Captain Candy gave his report.
Through tears, Eric opened his palm and cursed how fragile the thing was that ripped his Sugar Plum Queen away from his embrace.
The golden chain was broken from when the Mouse ripped it off Clara. The heart locket was scratched and bent and would have to be repaired to get it to close again. He wanted to destroy the thing that took Clara away from him but he could not lose the last thing that remained of his beloved Queen.
“Thank you.” Eric gasped.
Captain Candy hesitated but then he gathered his courage and spoke. “Clara would not want to see you like this. It would hurt her to see you like this. It hurts us to watch you throw yourself into the role of King and we are worried about you.”
“And what would you know about what Clara wants?” Eric snapped but regretted it as soon as the words came out. “I’m sorry. I am not the only one who lost her.”
Captain Candy placed a hand on his shoulder.
“She would have made the best Queen, my friend.” He said. “I only wish I got to know her longer.”
“I told her ‘I love you,’ before she disappeared.” Eric’s voice cracked. “I don’t know if the Owl was lying when the locket said it would take her home but I needed her to know that I loved her. Even if it was the last thing she ever heard. My mother died before I could remember her. I was too foolish to think I would have more time with my father to tell him I loved him in his final moments. I did not want Clara to leave without her knowing-”
Eric choked down a sob.
“Clara knew you loved her. Wherever she is now, she knows you love her, just as she loves you. I choose to believe that the Sugar Plum Queen is alive.” Captain Candy assured him. “Just as I choose to believe that our Nutcracker King will find her again one day.”
“I don’t know where she is. She could be anywhere. I could die before I find Clara again.”
“Or, Clara could be exactly where the Owl said she would be. At home and waiting to find you once more. You would never know unless you try.”
Eric looked out the window once more.
“Clara sacrificed much to save this Kingdom and return it to life. I can’t just abandon what we worked so hard for.” Eric didn’t want another to rise up and be even worse than the Mouse.
“Well, whatever you decide to do, know that you have me as a friend.” Captain Candy left.
The library was Eric’s mother’s favorite place and he wondered all the time if Clara would like it too with its tall windows, labyrinths of books, and views of Parthenia.
Eric looked around at the silent bookshelves.
The windows felt like bars on a cage.
Despite the airyness of the room, Eric felt suffocated.
What would his father do? If his father was in his situation, and his mother had disappeared, how would he go about getting her back?
Well for one, Eric’s deceased King father would not have lost the Queen in the first place.
Eric began to pace through the aisles of bookcases as he pondered the hypothetical.
But if he did, his father would go to his advisors.
“But his advisor was the Mouse.” Eric clenched his fist and hit the side of the nearest bookshelf.
A dusty old letter fell from the highest shelf to his feet.
Eric picked it up and opened it, finding a scrawl he didn’t recognize.
Major Mint,
The Mouse has cursed Prince Eric into a Nutcracker. I will not let my dearest friend’s son be destroyed by the creature; I shall take him to safety far away until he can be awakened once more.
He shall be safe with me where I nested as a young owlet.
I will never forgive myself if I let my dear Pallas’ son follow her fate.
If you find this letter, destroy it.
~ Athena
“Athena?” Eric furrowed his brows as he rescanned the letter.
Whoever this Athena was, she knew his mother. Enough to steal him away from the Mouse King and take him to safety. Obviously the letter never made it to Major Mint or was found by the Mouse. Eric didn’t know if he ended up with Athena at the nest but he knew he found himself in the care of Clara.
At her home.
Where she had spoken of her aunt returning after traveling far.
He reread the letter and he picked up the words ‘nested’ and ‘owlet’ but surely it couldn’t be…
Eric took a breath.
He was transformed into a Nutcracker.
Clara was shrunk small by the Mouse.
Mice and humans have been turned to stone.
Why wouldn’t be possible for the Owl to turn into a woman?
Could it be that the Owl was Clara’s aunt?
He would have to speak with Major Mint about this. The Major was no nonsense and if he could trust anyone’s judgment, it would be his; he spoke his mind and he spoke the truth, no matter how harsh it seemed.
Eric left the library and made his way to the stables where Major Mint was helping his granddaughter care for Marzipan.
“Now Pepper, you are obviously too young but you have the makings of a Calvary yet!” Major said with pride.
Pepper scrunched her face.
“Major, if I could have a moment of your time?” Eric cleared his throat.
“Yes, of course. Pepper, why don’t you go run along.” Major Mint ushered Pepper to the door and turned to the King. “Yes, lad?”
Eric said nothing as he held out the letter.
The Major took it and his eyes widened as he read it.
“Who is Athena?” Eric asked.
“She was a friend of your mother's. She distrusted the Mouse and urged the King to rid himself of the vermin. Of course your father and she had a falling out because of it.” The Major cleared his throat. “We had believed she was lost like your father but if this letter is to be believed then-”
“Then Athena is Clara’s aunt.” Eric said.
“I beg your pardon?” Major Mint said incredulously.
“Where can I find the Owl, Athena?” Eric asked.
“Anywhere and nowhere, I’m afraid. Athena never showed up when it was expected of her and she always came when you least planned for it.”
So Eric was no closer to finding Clara than he was before.
“I’m so sorry, my boy. I miss the young lass too, but Clara would not want you to put her above your Kingdom and if I may speak frankly, we are in disarray due to the Mouse’s coup. We need leadership now more than ever.” Major Mint said.
“You’re right. Clara would want me to be the King she saw when no one else did. I won’t disrespect her like this.” Eric said, though in his heart, he wanted nothing more than for Clara to be here by his side as they worked together to restore the Kingdom.
Clara had done all the hard work by restoring the magic and breaking the Mouse’s spell but there was still the politics to be done with the Flowers and the Snowflakes.
That night, Eric looked up at the moon and the stars and desperately wished that when he turned his head to the side, Clara would be there beside him. That night in the treetop village seemed so long ago, when it was just Clara and her Nutcracker. He had started to fall in love when Clara had nursed him back to health but that was the moment that Eric knew, if he was ever granted the fortune of beating the Mouse King and becoming human again, that Clara would be the one he would crown his Queen.
She saw the good in him when he didn’t think there was any left.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement.
He lives in a land of magic and fairies and talking mice; surely, this once, his wish was granted and Clara had returned.
It was not Clara, but a tawny brown owl with emerald eyes and a knowing twinkle.
“Hello, King Eric.” The Owl said.
“Athena?” Eric inquired.
“Here I go by that name but my flock knows me by another.” The Owl, Athena, said.
“Clara, is she-”
“She is home, safe and sound. Lorded over by her Grandfather and tormented by her boyish younger brother. She dreams of mice and sweets and princely Nutcrackers. Clara is safe.” Athena assured him.
Eric collapsed to his knees in relief; she was safe, she was alive, she was really, truly back home.
“She’s safe?”
“She’s safe.”
“Can I see her?” Eric asked, whispering the prayer as if Athena would strike him down for speaking aloud.
The Owl’s eyes twinkled.
“Of course.” Athena cooed.
The deep bells of the grandfather clock in the parlor rang the morning hour as Clara awoke to the soft rays of light filtering through the curtains on Christmas morning; the fireplace held only the ashes of last night, the tree was in slight disarray with a few shattered ornaments interspersed with the presents, and there was no Nutcracker in her arms.
“Nutcracker!” She called out and much to her dismay, received no answer.
Desperate to find her love, even if he were only wood and still, Clara searched the couch and around the tree hoping to find her lost prince.
“It’s about time you got up.” Grandfather Drosselmeyer strode into the parlor and sneered at the mess about the floor. “I see the mice had a party of their own last night.”
“It wasn’t a party! It was a war! The Nutcracker was fighting the Mouse King who shrunk me with his golden septre!” Clara’s hands shook as she couldn’t find her beloved Nutcracker in the aftermath of the battle.
“I’ve never even heard of such a story, not even from your Aunt!” Grandfather disliked such fantastical stories, no matter how true they were.
“It isn’t a story! It really happened!” Clara insisted.
“Time to open presents!” Tommy cheered as he ran into the parlor.
If anyone knew where her beloved Nutcracker was, it had to be her gingerbread, thieving, younger brother.
“Tommy!” Clara grabbed her brother’s shoulders and stopped him in his tracks. “Have you seen my Nutcracker? Did you take him?”
“Why would I want him? He’s just a hunk of wood.” Tommy gave his sister a look of annoyance.
“You’re wrong!” Clara cried in frustration; they didn’t understand. They didn’t know him like she did. They didn’t love him like she did. “He’s really a king! The evil Mouse was ruling his land!”
Clara released her brother who quickly backed away from her as she turned on her grandfather.
“The Mouse had a bat-”
“What is all this madness?” Grandfather then took on a look of concern. “Perhaps I should send for a doctor…”
“And this is where I grew up,” Clara could hear Aunt Elizabeth down the hall.
Desperately, Clara turned to the one family member who never believed that she was anything but mad, who spoke of wonderful adventures, who had the most amazing stories. Aunt Elizabeth would understand. Aunt Elizabeth would help her find her Nutcracker.
“Aunt Elizabeth, have you seen my-”
Then he entered the parlor after Aunt Elizabeth.
It was Eric!
He no longer wore the red soldier coat. Nor was he made of wood or radiated any magic from the night before, from her dream. He looked almost ordinary in the plain black suit but he held himself like the king he was; the king Clara saw he could be.
He stared at her as if she were a dream and he was trying to determine if she would vanish if he were to close his eyes. Clara could understand, after all, she was staring at him just the same.
“Nutcracker!”
Clara wanted to run to him, throw her arms around him and cry because he was here; alas her grandfather would not approve of such “impropriety.”
“Look who I ran into when I was taking my morning stroll.” Aunt Elizabeth had that gleam in her eye she got when she made an inside joke. “Uncle Drosselmeyer, Clara, Tommy, this is Eric. A son of a dear friend of mine.”
“I’m very pleased to meet you.” Eric only had eyes for Clara as he stepped forward and kissed her hand.
Clara blushed furiously as he did so.
“Such familiarity! In my day we would never-” Grandfather stepped forward but Aunt Elizabeth intercepted and pulled him aside.
“I have taken the liberty to invite Eric to stay for Christmas Dinner.” Aunt Elizabeth winked at Clara.
“But this is a most-” Grandfather began to protest.
“Wonderful idea.” Clara cut off her grandfather with a pointed look, daring him to be rude to a guest.
Grandfather looked resigned at having two willful women under his roof and in his family at the same time. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have the young man stay for supper.”
Grandfather left the parlor to inform the staff of the new guest.
Aunt Elizabeth promptly went over to Tommy and pulled him out of the room as he protested the entire way, his desire to open presents blinding him to the strange and familiar way his sister and the man were around each other.
Clara didn’t care.
Her Nutcracker was real and he was in front of her and he had found her once more.
He pulled her hands into his and he placed the gold heart locket into her open palm.
Clara refastened the locket around her neck.
It was real!
It was all real!
Eric grinned at her and held out his hand.
“May I have this dance?”
Clara smiled brightly back at him.
“I couldn’t say ‘no’ to the King.” She said as she took his hand.
What an odd sight they were, a young lady in her nightgown and a young man freshly out of the cold, dancing around the parlor as if they were a lord and lady at a ball.
If one were to look upon the snow globe closely, they would also see the King dancing with his Queen.