What Once Was Mine (Marianas Trench Ever After Album fanfic)

What Once Was Mine Chapter Nine

Ha ha. Six of the chapters in the story have been posted in the month of May, though 3 of them were posted three years ago. Hopefully I don't keep up the trend and write the rest next May.

Chapter 9-Toy Soldiers

First they had to create their own army to face the Queen and her soldiers. She had a army, while they were only three. They had to free the citizens of the kingdom from the Queen's grasp in order to fight the Queen. They found out though, when they finally reached the prison in which the toys were being held, that they were reluctant to follow their prince into battle. He had disappeared when they needed them most.

Josh's P.O.V.

We traveled for a while, never stopping to rest. The toy soldiers were nowhere on our path, most of them still focused on the Forest of Creatures. The Prince talked as we walked, never worried about drawing attention to us.

"And so he merely picked the thief up by his tail and flung him far far away," he tells Porcelain, "and he was never seen in the kingdom again."

"Where do you suppose he went?" Porcelain asks him.

"To another land perhaps."

"Have you been?"

"In my year abroad," he says, his face lighting up from the memories, "though never far enough."

Suddenly he is glowering. He met Carolina when he went abroad.

"What are the people like?" She was oblivious to the distress it caused him.

"Porcelain told me something," I interrupted. "and it had been what convinced me to look for you." I hoped this question would not pain him as much as the last. "She told me that you have the other half of the key to the treasure chest."

His face gave nothing away, but his pause told me enough. "I know of its location. I'm sorry I cannot give more."

The very thought of the key scared him, though I couldn't quite figure out why.                                                                      

[The Prince showed us the secret entrance to The Factory. All toys were born in the factory. We snuck down to the basement, to the fiery forges. There were hundreds of Toys. They were working on a giant assembly line, assembling new soldiers.]

Eventually I could see the ruins of the village, some houses melted while others were burnt to a crisp. Those unaffected by the fires were smashed. The place was desolate, not a person remained. Not a single toy soldier stood guard.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

The prince points to the factory ahead. "They're all working the factory now, making soldiers for Carolina's army. My messenger pigeon has seen it from the inside. She plans to create even more soldiers, better, more powerful soldiers, so she can expand her rule to the world."

Smoke billows out of the smoke stacks, adding to the already dreary atmosphere. The factory itself seems to glow from the heat.

"We were all born in the factory," the prince tells us. "Me, my brother, all of our citizens... But outside of our rule, the process is a little like magic. Something from nothing- like the trees in the Forest of Creatures. We create from them, but they always come back- they grow. There is a process within themselves, and they get bigger and stronger, while we only wear out. But what Carolina has created is neither. The soldiers have qualities of toys, and while they look like toys, they certainly aren't. They don't become destroyed as easily as they should. Honestly they scare me to death."

"So what can we do about it?"

"First we stop her from making more. She makes her new soldiers in the factory." He answers. "There is a secret way into the factory that nobody would ever expect."

We walk towards the factory for what feels like forever until we reach the front doors. Surprisingly there are no soldiers here.

"So where's the secret entrance," I ask the prince.

He grabs a hold of the handle. "Right here." He pulls open the door and a wave of heat hits me in the face. "The secret is to be obvious."

I laugh a little, but my expression turns sour the moment I look into the factory.

Rows upon rows of toys were chained to stations for sewing and gluing and hammering. Each toy had their own personal overseer who'd whip them when they were believed not to be doing their work as quickly as they should be.

Except the overseers had no eyes. Either born without eyes or having had them removed, they whipped their assigned toy when they felt like it.

The one thing in common they had with the toys though, became very clear with the prince beside me. None of these people had hearts.

[Numb soldiers who are born without hearts at all. Stolen, before they were ever born. We stood on a podium, overlooking the factory floor. We pleaded with the Toys to join us. If we worked together, we could overthrow the Queen and everyone would get their heart back.]

One soldier sat in the factory, but it was too busy to notice our entrance. Its job was at the very end of the assembly line. It was a simple task. It took the hearts out of its brethren before they were born.

Some of the workers noticed our entrance though, stopping production for a second. They resumed working quickly, however, in fear of being whipped.

"How do we stop this?" Porcelain asks.

He walks up to the toy soldier, who finally realizes our presence. It's too late though, for it is at this point the prince slices off the soldier's head with his sword.

"Like this," he stated. They all turn to him at this moment, even the overseers. He stands upon the chair the soldier was sitting on, turning it into a makeshift podium. "Enough is enough. Why are we making the weapons of our demise, when we should be making weapons for their demise?"

He approaches the nearest toy and slices its shackles in half. "We are better than this. We are better than the Evil Queen. We are the ones creating her soldiers. Without them she is nothing."

As he speaks he walks, slicing the shackles to pieces.

"Whether you help me in the cause is up to you. After all, it was me who abandoned you in the first place." He pauses. "You can leave this place. You're free to do as you wish. But be warned. If we do not succeed in this war, the Queen will continue on, and she will find you, and she will imprison you once again. If we do not stop her now, her domain will only grow."