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๐
And then the curtains drew
ft. honourably mentioned couple
” ๋ ๋น๊ธฐ๋ ํ์ ๋ “
–
Act II;
The Wooden Soldier’s Heart
Apart from the fiercest tin warriors, roaming the empty shelves at nightfall, the Wooden Soldier often found himself sitting by the carousels alone. Words like splinters of hardwood and having a hard time understanding feeling, the handcrafted soldier was an outcast among the colourful toys.
The other dolls whispered, it was he was devoid of a heart. That when the craftsman was carving its smooth surface with his calloused hands, he had forgotten to place a heart inside the soldier’s chest. Maybe such reason was why it felt especially cold at night. But he could never approached the fireplace too close, or the warmth would swallow his wooden body whole.
After watching the tragedy of the jack-in-the-box goblin, the soldier wordlessly observed from the sidelines. Perhaps it was truly heartless, but he did not wish to sacrifice his own body to protect those who had done nothing but jab fingers at his empty chest and threw plastic teacups at him at any given chance. But when dawn had almost broke, he heard the familiar tunes of the Ballerina’s music box of her perpetual performance. Luckily, the commotion had gone down when the other toys returned to their original positions to await for the toynaker to arrive for the day.
The Ballerina was still spinning away on her stage, eyes closed and mouth slightly ajar open. Her dress gleamed in what little moonlight was left. As soon as the music box paused its churning, she placed her foot back onto the ground and slowly approached the window in thought.
“For what is this beautiful shell if even a single tear would shred it apart?” Smoothing out the wrinkles on her paper dress, the Ballerina woefully gazed back at her reflection. “Oh, my dearest moon….”
-My most precious wish, is that I could encounter one with a fiery heart that would swallow us whole from this world. A paper body like mine or a hard tin armour, please send one with the purest heart of all.”
The heartless Wooden Soldier frowned, peeking from his place to gaze at her once more. He rarely heard the Ballerina speaking, she only wore an unchanging smile that would bring flowers to shame. So how come her fair face looked ever so crestfallen? His hand subconsciously placed itself on his chest. A heart…
Perhaps she was devoid of one also? Was that why she was wishing for someone who did? To think the fairest toy in the shop, words more graceful than a wax swan and twirls that swayed like ribbons, was also heartless. Just like him.
Although they trekked different worlds, maybe they weren’t so different after all.
“Who are you?”
The Soldier jumped as a shadow loomed over his figure. None other than the Ballerina was facing him, both feet gracefully perched on the ground with a concerned look. Her eyes landed on the cracks that aligned his chest, a breathy gasp escaping. Out of habit, he got ready to run away into the shadows, back to where he belonged. The cobweb-ridden corner where even the toy shop’s owner forgot about his existence. “Wait!!”
Frozen in his steps, he slowly turned around to a gentle paper hand wrapped around his wrist. “You’re the Wooden Soldier, are you not?” Shyly looking up, the Ballerina walked a step closer. Then another. The poor puppet did not know what to do, frozen in place as though the toy maker has just walked in.
A soft laugh escaped her delicate lips. “I have seen your chivalry, the kindness more precious than the shiniest jewels, a few days ago you see.” Making a gleeful twirl around him, she leaned into his back and whispered with a playful expression. “It was you, who rearranged my paper rose garden, was it not?” She gazed at him expectantly. The toy soldier flushed and turned away. This was the nothing of the infamously elegant and timid Paper Ballerina he had only seen glimpses from shelves away. After all, they lived in different worlds.
He was only passing by, fading into the shadows that day. It was the brink of daybreak, and all the toys went to slumber earlier than usual due to the lack of activities. While taking a peaceful stroll he usually didn’t have the pleasure of enjoying, the glimpse of a crushed paper flower garden caught his eye. It was none other than a part of the Ballerina’s castle, he had mindlessly walked much further than he planned on doing so. The sight of such delicate, helpless creations lying helplessly on the ground kept his feet glued to the ground.
Begrudgingly, he spent until the sun shined through the windows. Unwrinkling each petal, smoothing out their crimson surface with delicacy the marching parade that passed this area earlier on didn’t know of.
Little did he know, a pair of eyes were curiously watching him the entire time from inside the windows.
“I knew it was you, my soldier!” She gleefully embraced him. Her fragile paper limbs stopped his usual action that would have been pushing her away. Despite the sigh that left his lips, the Wooden Soldier reluctantly allowed her to keep her surprisingly stubborn hold. Secretly afraid he would crush her delicate body should he move ever so much more. “The moon has most certainly granted my wish. I’m sure of it.” With a relieved sigh, she closed her eyes.
Not knowing how to respond, he asked a question in return. “But I don’t have a heart. How would I care for you?” He looked into her eyes. However, the Ballerina remained indifferent to his confession. A frown came to his face. Usually, the rest of the toys were reluctant to interact with him after reminder of his lacking part. “The porcelain dolls have glass hearts deep in their chest. Even stuffed animals possess sewn red hearts amidst their fluffing. But my chest, remains as vacant as an empty tea cup. You too, have a heart made of paper.” The Soldier explained bitterly.
“Then why do you seem so distraught, my soldier?” She placed a hand on his face, caressing the hard surface gently. Surprisingly, the snappy Wooden Soldier didn’t seem so imposing anymore. “Do you truly believe a heart defines yourself? I don’t think so.”
Gently releasing her featherlight hold on him, she made loops of pirouettes over her empty stage. Breathtaken by her movements, he found himself entranced by her. “You claim to have no heart, therefore lack value, and yet you were the only one who tended to my paper roses that could not even speak or help themselves. Whenever the toy maker forgot something and returned to the shop, you are the one who rings the cuckoo clock to notify everyone.” She pointed out in a hum. “Everyone is so amazingly different. But some decides to view us in one way that they find most righteous in their mind.”
Reaching out a hand to him, the Paper Ballerina smiled. Although nothing beat within him, his chest never felt hotter. Fuller.
“May I ask for a dance, my soldier?”
Before he knew it, his foot had already stepped onto the stage. “…Just until sunrise, I suppose.”
The music box letting out a faint melody from its cogworks beneath, the pair spun and twirled under the moonlight for who knew how long.
They remained blissfully unaware of the seething eyes peeking out at them from a colourful box.
–
Halfway through, Y/n lost focus and ended up zoning out again. Most of the other roles were either backstage or in the waiting rooms with her since this Act was mostly of the three main actors. One more and it was her turn. But as time ticked on and the final act before the epilogue loomed near, the students continuously grew antsy. Well, it was a large scaled performance, she could understand.
Brushing the weird feeling off, Y/n tossed another chip into her mouth. She was feeling suspiciously off today.
Oh. Another toy soldier got beheaded by the Jack-in-the-box. Confetti exploding on the stage in place for blood.
The story from here on went something along the lines of Itto’s character growing increasingly jealous of the Ballerina and the Wooden solider. Eventually, he began to threaten everyone in the toy store to give him the Ballerina.
“Ms. L/n!” Hu Tao burst the door open with a grin. She wasn’t a part of the theatre team, but joined for the prop setting to be involved. And have front line seat to… Whatever was about to unfold in less than two hours. “Hu Tao, get back up. They’re rolling the curtains in.” One of the students in the room sighed. The brunette shrugged and dove into the couch, leaning her head against her teacher’s shoulder.
“I’m sure that jack-box’s got it.” She stuck her tongue out while Y/n swished one of her pigtails around in circular motions. “Is mr. Zhongli here today?” Y/n hummed. The said man didn’t respond to texts much, but he did promise to come watch, so she trusted his word. And it turned out, Hu Tao was even a distant relative of mr. Zhongli. Small world. With perked ears, the girl sat upright and yawned. “Yep. I’m sure that grandpa’s somewhere.” “Old man.. He takes two weeks to respond to texts.” Y/n jokingly added.
“I gotta teach him how to function a phone one of these days before he gets hacked with another virus.” She agreed.
Everyone was off the main stage now, Furina back on for some in between dialogues and bring back the audience’s focus scattered over the last few hours.
“MR. RAIDEN’S COMING OVER TO WHERE MS. L/N IS, DO SOMETHING!!”
A panicked voice screeched into the headpiece of the prop staff behind the curtains. Immediately, everyone snapped their heads towards one end of the backstage. Sure enough, they saw the door swing open and out came an indigo haired teacher. The whole crew were thrown into silent panic, trying to carry out whatever they were doing previously as naturally as possible, given the situation. Curtains were drawing in five minutes, mr. Raiden somehow left the room and heading towards the one place he shouldn’t be for some unknown reason.
Props sliding. Lights flickering. It was chaos.
“Mr. Raiden..! What are you doing out here??” A brave sacrifice popped up in front of him with a crooked grin. Scaramouche stopped in his tracks with an unamused look on his face. Cold sweat ran down the student’s back under their shirt. “Move.” He sighed.
“You should probably go back, curtains are drawing in… In twenty seconds! Right guys?? Get moving!!!!”
Everyone mentally saluted the student who sacrificed his life turning mr. Raiden around and rushing him back to the other waiting room. As soon as the door clicked shut, it was a miracle the ground didn’t crumble at the simultaneous sighs that left the students.
–back to Y/n….
“Huh?” At the sounds of weird noise coming from her device on the table, Y/n peered over to see what was going on. She squinted and picked her phone up, raising a brow at what she saw. “Call ended with Scaramouche.. Thirty seconds ago.” Hu Tao almost fell over the couch from frozen shock. The art teacher tilted her head. “Video call..?”
These two adults were going to give everyone a premature heart attack and gray hair.
She did text shortly with him regarding dinner menu tonight, her finger likely slipped to the video call button while swiping up to close her screen. Wait… Does that mean he saw the ceiling of the waiting room??
Eyes wide, she unlocked her phone again and tapped onto the message icon. No further messages. Was this good or bad.
–
Kabu abuser 99
Kabu abuser 99
where are you.
thats not the auditorium
wait.
read 7 : 27 PM
–
Shit.
“Um… Hey, kiddos, so..”
Act III;
The Final Dance
The jack-in-the-box saw green when his vision landed upon the two toys waltzing gracefully under the loomed luminescence of the moonlight. Teething gritting and grinding against each other, he clenched his fist, knuckles turning pale in fury. His brows furrowed, face twisting into that of an ugly snarl from jealousy.
With a mellow gaze, the Wooden Soldier’s hand snaked around the waist of the Ballerina and the Ballerina’s on the soldier’s shoulder. Their fingers intertwined with each other as they started to dance to the melody sounded from beneath the Ballerina’s tiny stage. The soft moonlight guided them in their performance.
Step by step, breath by breath.
Close up, the Wooden Soldier’s eyes shifted to the face of the Ballerina. Under the ethereal glow of the moonlight casted from the window, the soldier was bewitched by the ballerina’s beauty. Being dragged into a haze, the soldier found himself unable to take his eyes off the ballerina’s figure.
Delicately sculpted lashes that fluttered with each time the Ballerina’s eyes blinked. Perhaps it was that she felt the Wooden Soldier’s gaze, she lifted her head to look at the soldier.
The moment she stared back at the soldier, their gaze met fondly together. The Wooden Soldier’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden eye contact, the tip of his ears flushing red slightly. Drowned in utter embarrassment, the he turned his head away from the Ballerina, allowing his tucked strands of hair to fall down to his face, covering his flustered expression.
For the rest of the dance, the Soldier refused to face the Ballerina, though he frequently peeked at his company from his peripheral vision. The aria dulling accompanied by the cogwork’s lethargy announced the finale of the lover’s waltz. The two came to a halt.
Seeing as the soldier was still in denial, unbothered to look back at the ballerina, soft bell-like chuckles erupted from her lips which, to the soldier, sounded like that of an angel’s voice.
A paper hand lifted to his wooden face, tenderness in her actions as she tucked the soldier’s fallen strands of hair behind his ear. The ballerina’s hand brushed over the soldier’s face sending a jolt of electricity through his body, a spiritual kiss was what the soldier felt.
In franticness, the soldier fled from the ballerina in panic, breaking his promise of dancing with her till sunrise. The Ballerina stood in her place, watching as the soldier disappeared into the shadows of the toy store.
The Ballerina stared into the palm of her hand which the Wooden Soldier previously held. His touch lingered on her skin, reminding her of the surreal moment.
Ba-dump… Ba-dump…
She felt a pounding within her chest, then followed by the heating of her cheeks. The Ballerina was in love.
Meanwhile, the Wooden Soldier escaped to his hideout. Collapsing down with his back against the wooden shelf, he felt something in his void chest clench. The soldier’s chest ached at the sudden separation with longingness.
The ground to which the Ballerina stood started quaking as a hostile aura filled the atmosphere. Before she could react, an iron fist gripped at her waist. Lifted up from the floor, shivers running down her spine at the acknowledgement of whom the hand belonged to.
Swooped away from the comfort of her stage the Ballerina was enslaved by the jack-in-the-box.
The jack-in-the-box presented his captured beauty with the shiniest of rhinestones and prettiest of origami floras, yet nothing cheered the sorrowful ballerina up. It was then when the jack-in-the-box started to lose his patience, irritation seeping through his cracked mask of feigned kindness created by a sickening obsession.
The Ballerina could no longer count how many days she has been caged away. Though she was alive, the only thought she felt was she was merely surviving.
“Why must you rob me of the embrace I longed for after letting me have a glimpse of its saccharinity?”
The jack-in-a-box heard the Ballerina mourn for her loss towards that barely visible moonlight the moment he stepped in her cage. His body trembled in anger at the apathy of the Ballerina towards his feelings. Loathing blinded his eyes, unable to accept the fact that the Ballerina… His Ballerina’s heart belonged to another toy despite being owned by him physically.
Gripping onto the her hand tightly, he dragged the paper doll out of her cage. Cries of pain fell to deaf ears as he forcefully brought her towards the direction of her stage.
When the two arrived, the silhouette of the Wooden Soldier was revealed. Consumed by hatred, the jack-in-a-box let go of the Ballerina’s hand. Stomping up the Wooden Soldier, he pushed him off the cliff of the table the Ballerina’s stage was on.
“The damned soldier’s gone! Your heart will finally belong to me now!”
The jack-in-a-box laughed hysterically, his hand reaching for the Ballerina’s once more. The Ballerina stood frozen, overwhelmed by all that had happened. She had lost her love.
Perhaps it was demise that brought sympathy to fate that before the boxed toy could hold onto the Ballerina’s hand, a gust of wind from an unknown place blew her body off the table.
The warmth of a familiar embrace brought the Ballerina back from her trance. Only then did she realize her beloved soldier was holding her tightly within his arms.
“Shall we perform a final dance…?”
The Ballerina offered, her gaze full of an emotion the soldier felt so foreign yet he yearned for.
For until the wrath of the flames consumed their ‘blood and flesh’ whole, the lovers born from misfortunes continued to waltz, unbothered at the fire that nipped at their bodies. Their serene movements casting silhouettes out of the firepit even as the heated flames licked the grounds the trekked. The fluctuating glow illuminated the pair in an amber spotlight, brighter than anything they had seen. But the lovers remained blissfully unbothered, their focus solely on each other the whole performance.
As the flames closed in, their dance ended with a gentle kiss, devoid of any lust or carnal desires.
For when the flames extinguished, what was left of their remains, a lead heart and a pair of spangles buried within the ashes, solely belonged to one another.
–
As expected, fake flames frolicked in the background. The concert band was slowly continuing the melancholic melodies that provided shading to the colour while the audience clapped, some standing up front their seats to leave. Curtains drew and lights began to dim. But the epilogue still remained.
On different ends of the stage, two people stood up with a heavy sigh. One act left to go.
“Ah ah, please wait ladies and gentlement.” Furina hopped onto the stage with a dramatic gesture, making the departing watchers turn back to the snowy haired girl. Making eye contact with the behind stage crew, she grinned softly. “Although the tale of the Ballerina and the Wooden Soldier has come to an end for today.. Their souls that longed for one another transcended their cruel destiny that abandoned them amidst the flame-devoured stage.” Her shoes making small clicking sounds across the stage, she made a halt upon arriving by center.
“In another universe, would they truly have been able to love one another without the chains of fate that keep binding them away?”
Y/n drew another breath, fixing her hair one last time. A certain someone on the other side was staring at the crimson fabric with an unreadable expression.
“We present to you, the epilogue. Please welcome our actors of honour, ms. L/n and mr. Raiden!!”
“WHAT?!”
Before either of them could say anything more, the curtains had already begun to open.
โโ
A/n Cliffhanger dun dun
HUGE CREDIT TO MysticOffl FOR WRITING THE THIRD ACT
All these beautiful fanarts made by tjem too ๐คง
say thank you to them bc if they didnt write it it couldve taken me another month to publish
Sorry for lying in dc no kiss this chapter lol but next one i sweat on my life
3383 words
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