ONLY DEATH AWAITS...
A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction
Hansel centric
Genre: Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family
Warning: This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc.
Pairing: HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel
Disclaimer: I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: the witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film.
Do NOT attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above.
You have been warned!
And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy.
Chapter 1: Injured
They were witch hunters, they were the heroes of many towns and villages. They were the saviours of many who fell prey to those vicious and hideous dark witches. However, more importantly, they were brother and sister. They looked out for each other, took care of each other and helped each other out in needed times. Hansel loved his sister, his sister loved him. She was worried about the slightest of wounds on his body when they first started out as hunters, but he would waved it off with a faked and sheepish smile, saying that he was fine and that she shouldn't worry too much. Even so, whenever she was injured, he would hold her tightly in his arms, apologizing for nothing. Gretel had to reassured her brother that she was all right, no harm done, yet, he just kept on saying he was sorry. When he stopped saying that, Gretel could still see that regretful and sour look in his eyes every time he saw the wounds on her body and face. Though he quickly controlled himself with a smile, she could still see it.
And damn, she hated that smile with a passion.
She didn't know when it had started, but somehow, that smile had developed its place on those lips, and now, when she had finally stopped to look back, she couldn't take it off anymore. He was always smiling with that easy-going attitude of his. It was frustrating really because he never actually opened himself up to anyone, not even his sister. Since when had the only expressions he ever worn on his face was either due to the seriousness of situations, pain, fake happiness or the occasional worry because she was hurt? Since when did he get so distant? They were still close, yes, very close in fact, but Gretel could feel a wall being put up between her and her brother. What lay under that smile? She wanted to know. She had to know.
But she couldn't. He wouldn't let her in. What should she do?
" Alright, we've got ourselves some dinner." Came Hansel's voice, snapping Gretel out of her train of thoughts as she looked up at him from the fire she had just made. Quite a big boar was thrown down to the ground in front of her, already cleaned and gutted, Hansel smiled cheerfully. " Quite a feast, don't you think, Gretel?"
" Yes, quite a grand feast. Good job." She smiled at him and Ben, they both had gone into the woods to bring back something for dinner while Edward and her stayed behind to gather twigs and necessary things to build a fire and something to lie on instead of contacting the ground directly. Hansel had said that Ben needed more experiences in these sort of things.
" The only thing missing is wine!" Hansel complained with a slight whining voice, eyebrows furrowing as if he was deep in thoughts. Gretel couldn't help but snort.
" Don't say that, brother. I'm sure you can't handle much wine even if you want to." ' But of course you'll never want to. I have never seen you drink pass two cups.'
" Oh come on, I can-!" Gretel spun immediately over to where her brother was when she heard a sharp hiss coming out of his mouth as he was bending down. His face contorted with pain as his hand went up to clutch his side protectively, Hansel was obviously hurt.
" Hansel! Hansel, are you okay? What's wrong?! Speak to me!" She helped her brother down and leaned him back to a tree trunk nearby. His teeth was gritting together, sweat beading down his forehead as his eyes were squeezed shut, but he didn't utter a single word either from the pain or he wasn't planning on telling her.
" H-he... Hansel was-!" Ben stuttered as Gretel turned to look at him, this was probably the reason why the boy looked pale and acted to jumpy when they got back. Hansel must have told him to keep quiet even though he hadn't wanted to.
" Ben!" Hansel's voice was loud and commanding even though he was hurt. His chest was heaving as his narrowed eyes glared daggers at Ben, threatening him not to spill another word. It did succeed on intimidating the boy as Ben looked terrified as though he had seen a witch.
" Tell me, Ben." Brown eyes turned to look at her, fear shone in them, it seemed that Ben was even more afraid of Hansel than any other witches they had faced. Gretel schooled her face to look as calm as possible that moment and looked him in the eyes. " Ben, what happened?" Sensing that her brother was going to open his mouth again to stop Ben from speaking up, she squeezed her hand around his forearm, preventing that from happening.
" I-... It was all my fault. The boar was there and Hansel told me to draw its attention and he was going to shoot it down, but I... I was too scared! When it started chasing after me, I couldn't run fast enough, and it was catching up with me, so I-... I..." The look of guilt painted on his face as Ben bit down his lower lip.
" Yes, Ben?" Gretel urged him to continue after taking a glance at her older brother, who then looked like he was going use his gun and make Ben shut up.
" I ran and hid behind Hansel. The boar caught up, and Hansel couldn't react in time... He had to hold it down with his bare hands so I could shoot it."
" What?!" Gretel turned back to look at her brother, who looked away to avoid her eye. " Damn it, Hansel! You could have just told me, you know! Let me see it!"
Despite her saying so, Hansel kept a vice like grip onto his side, not wanting for her to look at the injury even though the motion just served to hurt him more than before. Gretel's fingers kept on digging in, determined to get his hand off of his own wound. " Hansel! Let me see it!" She demanded as used as much force as she could to push his hand away without hurting him further than he already was doing to himself.
" Hansel." Gretel panted slightly as she looked at him. " We don't have time for this. Worry about your dignity later on after I have taken care of the injury, will you? It's getting dark, and you know full well how witches tend to crawl out during night time." Her voice was calm and serious as her hand squeezed softly around his own, silently told him to listen to her. Hansel turned to look at his sister, after a couple of moments, slowly, he let go of his hand. Relief washed over Gretel face as she immediately assessed the situation.
His clothes was already torn around that spot, and the wound was swelling and bleeding pretty badly, the boar's tusk no doubt had caused this. Damn it, Hansel. Gretel cursed under her breath as she told Ben to grab her some bandages. They didn't bring a long any cooking utensils, so there wasn't anything to boil the water to disinfect his wound. Only bandages would have to do until they reach the next town by perhaps the following day. The boy scrambled to open up the bag and brought what was needed over to Gretel. There was only a little of it left, just enough to change his bandage if necessary once or twice. Damn it.
Gretel was about to take off Hansel's shirt when his hand came up to stop her. " I can do it myself."
" Don't be stubborn, and just let me do it. I'm your sister, remember? If you let Mina do it, why can't I?" Hansel's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before averting them back to the ground. Gretel immediately shut her mouth, she had unintentionally touched something she shouldn't. It just came flying out of her mouth before she could help it. " I- I'm sorry, Hansel. I shouldn't have-..."
" No." He looked at her then smiled apologetically, letting out what sounded like a tired sigh. " It's okay. I should be the one to say sorry. You were trying to help, and I was just... I don't know, being an ass I guess." Then he chuckled ever so softly, hand brushing against her.
Gretel just kept quiet and undid his shirt, she knew it for a fact that Hansel was trying to make her feel better... he had always had, always trying to make her feel better, whether she was saying the right words, doing the right things or not. Hansel had always been sweet despite acting like he didn't really care sometimes. Gretel knew that Hansel did have a kind of special feeling for Mina, she had helped him a lot, and with her letting out her last breath in his arms... It must have hurt him, no matter how short their time together was.
Using the clean water Ben had brought over, she tore a part of bandage and soaked it before gently cleaning the wound. She could tell her brother's body jolted slightly the moment the rag touched his swollen skin, but Gretel couldn't afford to stop then. This had to be done, sooner or later. Slowly, the gash was cleaned and was then only bleeding somewhat as the little sister wrapped fresh bandages around Hansel's abdomen, covering it up nice and tight. Hansel's grey eyes studied his sister's handy work when she was done before looking up at her again with a small smile.
" Thank you."
" It's nothing." She murmured quietly and pushed up his shirt again then stood up, leaving the rest for him to deal with on his own, he could manage that much. Bending down next to the boar, she helped Ben shave the fur of the animal then told Edward to lift it up and roast it on the open fire.
The sun set quite quickly afterwards, painting the sky with an orange and purple hue then disappeared below the horizon. It would take a while for the boar to be cooked completely so they cut out the part that had been exposed to the fire first before turning the thing a little. It was good meat, Gretel used her blade to pierce through the meat and ate it elegantly. Then there was Ben ( who brought a long his own set of handmade wooden plates, spoons, bowls and forks and lent it to everyone except for Edward because the troll said he wasn't using it ) eating in quite a relaxed way, but still very much wary that Hansel would pay him back for telling Gretel earlier. Edward was eating with one hand holding the meat while the other one hungrily picked up the perfectly roasted pieces of pork.
And Hansel? He was Edward with a plate. That was about to sum it up. Gretel sighed, she should have persisted him on exercising better manners than that. Just like how he kept on tossing and turning every time he slept on the floor then ended up in the dark and dusty space under the bed. She couldn't understand why, sometimes when they were short on money and had to hire a single room, she could understand where he was coming from by insisting on sleeping on the floor. However, when their pockets were full of money, he would still keep on telling her to hire a single room so he could sleep on the floor next to her bed. The same goes for when they were offered a double room by the town people. Hansel just simply refused to sleep on beds, and Gretel couldn't really understand it... Was he trying to protect her? Even so, what was the point if he slept like a log? And it's not like she couldn't fend for herself anyway. The one needed fending was Ben without his gun. She had already tried talking to him about it before, but he just changed the subject instantly after telling her that he just liked to sleep on the floor.
And the night stretched on with small chatters and laughter...
It was a hot day, sweat was pouring out profusely on his forehead and whole body just by moving. Hansel huffed slightly as he kept on walking forward determinedly, lying to himself that the discomfort and occasional jolt of pain in his side was his own imagination drawing it up to trick him due to the intense heat. Grey eyes strayed toward his sister's back just a few steps ahead, Hansel bit down on his lip and told himself not to make anymore unnecessary sound or movement that could make his sister suspect that he wasn't feeling well. Of course he was feeling fine. Perfectly fine!
Yes, keep on telling yourself that. He thought sarcastically to himself, he wouldn't be the one to lag behind the whole group like Ben... Yes, that boy just carried around too many junks, he should give up on one or two things if he wanted to move faster than this. And not to mention the way his eyes kept on sweeping over to Gretel whenever she wasn't paying attention. Hansel didn't like it because he knew what that kind of action meant. Although it seemed like Gretel hadn't realized that he was looking, and Ben himself hadn't realized why he was doing such a thing, Hansel had still got to keep an eye on Ben. The thought of having someone touching his little sister didn't sit well with him. Not to mention the fact that the boy was down right strange. Yes, he was strange. Not that he was saying witch hunting wasn't strange, but the boy was strange enough on his own, and now with him being on a witch hunting team just bring this up to a whole different level.
But how could he even call himself a witch hunter when a boar could hurt him this easily anyway?
How far until they could reach the next town though? He needed to clean up this wound since he was starting to think trash... but the last one was true enough. Hansel knew that he was weak, weaker than his sister perhaps, and he wasn't that smart either. He had known that since they were younger, and that had shown clearly the moment they were up against that witch in the house made of candy in those woods long long ago... He didn't have the will nor the strength to fight against her until his sister bravely set him free when the witch was about to throw him into the burning oven. If she hadn't, he wouldn't even be alive with only this disease that he believed Mina had called "diabetes" before her untimely death.
Anyhow, the heat was still unbearable. He concluded in his mind and pushed himself to walk forward with an acceptable speed. What was he good for if he wasn't strong, smart or completely healthy? That horrible Muriel of a witch would have been finished sooner if he hadn't had this messed up disease that required a shot every few hours... After that night in the woods with the ginger witch, Hansel had silently swore that he would do everything he could with himself to protect his sister, not the other way around. However, through the course of time, he learnt that Gretel had saved him more times than he had hoped... And truth to be told, he was ashamed of himself, he wasn't worthy of a brother, he wasn't worthy to be Gretel's brother. The only thing he could successfully do was to joke around, piss her off, worry her and let her save him...
Good Lord, he was pathetic. He didn't want her to know how pathetic he was, that is if she hadn't already known.
" Hansel... Hansel. Hansel!"
Snapping up to look, he found that Gretel was already three steps away from him. Since when had she gotten this close? And how did he end up holding onto a tree trunk, panting? There was possibly nothing Hansel could do to ease up the situation at hand but to blindly smile at her.
" Yes, Gretel?" One final grip before letting go as Hansel straightened up as best as he could.
" Don't give me that." His smile almost faltered, but he maintained it smoothly. " The wound is bothering you, isn't it." It was a statement, not a question. He didn't answer it and pushed her hand away as it was making its way to his throbbing, sweat-covered side.
" I'm fine, Gretel." He looked at her, hoping/ begging for her to believe him and squeezed his grip around her hand. There was Ben and Edward, a boy and a troll, and he still didn't want to look weak and helpless just because of a small wound in front of the both of them. With just Gretel was far more than enough. And Mina... well, the only reason why he let her examine his injuries was because it did hurt, falling down from a tall tree with your back and head first before you could even prepare yourself hurt, a lot. He needed to regain his strength, so... One thing led to another... and Mina was just a mere stranger then. She didn't talk much to anyone else, he doubted she would go around telling everybody that she had tended for Hansel as in Hansel and Gretel, the witch hunters. And she wasn't Gretel...
A moment passed by, those brown eyes tore away from his gaze with a sigh as relief washed over him. They continued their trip, everything was still the same except for the fact that Gretel was then walking beside him, no doubt trying to keep an eye on him. Hansel mentally cursed at himself for being such a weakling, so he decided to start up a topic about witches then let Ben do all the talking and pestering Gretel to answer his questions. Hansel knew that the kid had a thing for his little sister, but this had to be done if he didn't want to have her full attention being focused solely on him.
It did just the trick.
Hansel headed out to the stream nearby to fetch fresh water while the rest of the group stayed behind and prepared lunch. Gretel protested against it, but using his right and authority as the eldest, excluding Edward, Hansel walked away with their water canteens.
Shrugging off his black leather protective jacket, Hansel lifted up his under shirt and quickly peeled off the layer of bandages to find it swelling even worse than he last saw it. The heat and sweat and all of this walking must have caused it. Dipping them into the water, Hansel pressed the cooling rags onto his burning wound to ease up the pain and discomfort. Biting down onto his lip to keep himself from hissing aloud, he didn't want Gretel to hear it even though he was sure that the stream itself was out of earshot from their stop. Despite that being so, he couldn't help but feel a little unease, Gretel's hearing was exceptionally good.
And so, Hansel kept on washing up his wound while keeping his mind occupied with not really reassuring thoughts about how Gretel wouldn't find out what he was doing here aside from getting some water. He felt like a little child trying to sneak out and play behind his mother's back though it was supposed to be napping time. He chuckled at the thought, he actually had done that with Gretel when they were still ten-year-old children or something. Sneaking out to play hide and seek in the woods while waiting with swelling anticipation of getting caught by either or both of their parents then laughed and ran around, challenging them to catch his sister and him. Those were the good old times... And now they were still playing in forests, but there was no one who would come to fetch them home if they were late...
" Having fun, are we?"
Hansel spun around.
Gretel was worried, the moment Hansel strolled off with the canteens in his hands, she didn't feel at all alright to let him go off on his own when he was wounded like that.
" Listen to me for once, Gretel." The words had pierced through her ears like needles, Hansel had never actually said anything that was similar to such. It bothered her, she knew for a fact that Hansel was trying to relief the discomfort in his wound without her being needed. She respected him, yes, but... Gretel couldn't but let him go alone in the forest like that even though this was sort of a familiar place because they had gone passed here once or twice. Looking at the abandoned gun Hansel had left behind in his haste, Gretel stood up and brought along her trusted crossbow... just in case.
After walking long and winded steps to the direction her brother headed to, Gretel couldn't help but feel that she must talk to him about this afterwards. She couldn't afford having him like this... worrying so much over his dignity even though all of them were the closest to him and ones he could trust also, especially her. She was his sister for crying aloud. She had seen and taken care of his injuries more than enough, so there was-...
Wait... Was that the reason why he was acting like this? The thought made Gretel feel very much curious, and she was determined to ask him later on to clarify this. There was no way she would let this continue any longer.
Then she heard the rustling of dried leaves and loud thudding then they accompanied by a painful and choked shouting...
" Hansel?! Hansel!" She cried out and ran forward, preparing her weapon for battle. No, no, no... please don't let anything happen to him, please... She begged in her mind much like how she had done so while running in search for her brother after hearing that he had been dragged away into the forest during the time that rotten witch Muriel was still around.
Then she saw a dark and strange figure standing, it definitely wasn't Hansel and, immediately, the trigger on her crossbow was pulled, sharp and straight arrows shot out from their slots. It immediately moved away to avoid her piercing arrows and revealed Hansel lying there unmoving on the ground.
" Hansel!" Gretel shouted aloud, running to her brother's side. His leather shirt was laying quite far away from him, and the white undershirt was now stained with dirt, mud and Hansel's own blood. The crimson liquid caked his hair and bruised face, cuts and gashes were bleeding all over his body. He must have been attacked unexpectedly... it didn't even look like he was able to respond to all of this beating. " Hansel... Hansel!" He wasn't responding and Gretel's blood boiled up inside of her.
Snatching her crossbow, Gretel stood up after carefully laying her brother down onto the ground. The damn witch must have been lurking around and grabbed the perfect chance seeing as Hansel was hurt and not carrying his gun with him. Brown eyes darted around, observing, waiting for the foul creature to make its first move, and when the tree rustled even just for a bit, arrows shot out towards that direction, earning a satisfying scream.
The witch fell down onto the ground, snapping its head over to glare at Gretel before dashing forward, ready to go all out on the witch hunter. However, as it claws were inches away from Gretel's face with her about to bend down to strike it in the stomach, a slashing sound could be heard when that incredibly sharp and shiny blade Hansel had always kept polished and sharpened plunged into the creature's throat with a sickening sound of gurgling as blood splashed out from the wound. The witch's head was half way hanging off her shoulders, drops and drops of bluish blood splattered on Hansel's face and torso.
" Hansel...?" Gretel's brown eyes were widened as she stared with disbelief as her brother, who was supposed to be unconscious. He panted shallow breaths then averted his eyes to looked at her, his pupils were dilating. This was bad.
" You okay?" He smiled again, heavy and urgent pants escaped his lips as he took a step forward, the blade fell out of his grasp with a dull clang then reached out shakily to slightly brush his sister's cheek before tumbling down.
" Hansel!" She yelled out in surprise and pulled his battered body into her arms immediately, bracing herself so that her legs wouldn't falter and give away when she needed badly for them to stay strong. Slowly, she managed to get them out of that bloody mess of a witch and sat down onto a fresh patch of grass with his head in her lap. Only then did she realized that the back of his head was bleeding profusely. " Hansel. Hansel!" She desperately called out, patting his cheek gently, but her brother remained unresponsive despite moving with stunning speed just a moment ago.
" BEN! EDWARD! HELP! BEN! EDWARD!"
Gretel screamed at the top of her lungs, praying that those two would hear her. Hansel was in grave danger, and he was slowly slipping away, she could tell. Fighting back the tears and pile in her throat, Gretel focused on calling out her brother's name, trying to wake him up. Being unconscious at a time like this could be fatal, that much she knew as the girl kept on shaking her brother, calling out his name, begging him to open his eyes.
And he did as she could see grey iris peeking out from underneath those eyelids, but they were unfocused and glazed over, he was looking at something before turning to her direction. It seemed like Hansel was looking at her, but she knew well that he wasn't, it was rather he was looking through her, those eyes were unseeing just like how they would be if they were closed.
Fear spread throughout her entire being, shaking her up from the core. Biting down hard on her lip to stop herself from crying, Gretel blamed herself for letting him go out all alone in the woods like that. She shouldn't have let him do that even if it had been him who had persisted on doing so. Dear Lord, it hurt. It hurt more than any injuries she had endured during all her years working as a witch hunter.
From afar, she could hear Ben and Edward rushing toward them as Gretel's hands tightened protectively around elder brother before leaning down to whisper into his ears.
" It's okay. You're going to be fine, Hansel. This will never happen again. I'll protect you, Hansel. I'll find a way to heal you. I promise... So please... please don't leave me. Please Hansel... I beg you... stay. Please..."
You're all that I have left, Hansel.
To be continued...
A/N:I guess I'm too into Hansel and Gretel to resist writing a fic about them! . I won't abandon my other fic though, I promise! Please Read and Review! Tell me what you think about this!