Vocaloid Tales: The Nutcracker

Chapter 9: Uncle and Nephew

"But did the fairy make any friends?!" Miku asked in a panic.

The toymaker tapped her lightly on the nose. "I'll have you know, she had one very dedicated fan who came to every single one of her shows. And yes, they did become friends."

Miku let out a dreamy sigh, leaning up right against his chest. "Tick, tock, tick, tock..." she said, "Tick, tock, tick, tock."

"You know Miku," her father teased, "I'll bet that old pocket watch Gakupo is carrying around is a token from the faerie too."

Her mother started to laugh. "Oh, because she knew Gakupo would lose himself in his workshop if he didn't have the loudest pocket watch in the world to remind him to check the time!"

The toymaker hugged his goddaughter close. "I dare not lose it," he said softly.

His eyes rested on the unnoticed blue haired nutcracker sitting on the chair. And the words of his "Sugar Plum" returned to him.

'You must give him away to the first person that asks for him. After that, you won't be able to help him. Only she can.'

Miku bent up close to his ear and whispered inside. "Mama and Papa won't let me have a cat... will you make me one? Then he can be friends with my ballerina."

He envied this little girl's imagination. "Of course Miku," he said.

Miku never thought she'd come to miss that familiar ticking she heard whenever her godfather was around. Of course, she also never thought his "pocket watch" was actually a magical artifact he was using to sustain his human self.

Right now she, Luka, and Gakupo sat gathered in a makeshift tent out of the elements. The dimming light outside was broken up by a few torches. Right now her head was still swimming with the long explanation from Luka of what had happened to Gakupo... what he was and what he would become.

Now that explanations had been made, Kaito and Meiko had departed – Meiko trying to take stock of the army she suddenly found herself in charge of, Kaito being tended to by skilled craftsman to try and repair the more extreme damage to his wooden body.

By now the toymaker was sitting up under his own power, but his jerky movements worried Miku. "Is that why you don't get any older? Because you're not really human?"

It felt strange to say that about her godfather when he still looked like a human. He looked annoyed at the question, but this time he didn't brush her off either. "Yes. I don't age, the same way... a toy doesn't age."

"But how did that work in our world?!" she exclaimed, "I thought you said magic isn't that strong there!"

"It isn't..." Gakupo had said, trying to smile, "I think that's why it worked. I couldn't very well turn into a clockwork man in my old home, so it didn't have to use as much magic to keep me like my old self."

Unlike Kaito, they had no way of knowing what would reverse Gakupo's condition. The heart was merely a stopgap – a lucky break that helped preserve most of what he was. Getting it back in time was tantamount to trying to stop his slow deterioration.

"So the mice aren't that far... right?" Miku asked hopefully, "We could just sneak in and take it back..."

"Sneaking won't be an option," Gakupo said, "Luka and I took our time trying to scout their castle before we came to the workshop. There's a nearly endless horde there."

He started twitching his fingers, and Miku tried to suppress a shudder as they creaked like rusty joints, barely articulating. "Hmph... I was planning to try and build more of my soldiers to help us out... but..."