Brothers Grimm: An Unfinished Story – By: Bon Bear

The vain queen was so protective of her beauty that she put more than one enchantment on the castle, should the first one be broken. The brothers must finish the adventure that they unexpectedly stumbled upon...once and for all.

A/N: Welcome, with open arms, to my fan fiction on Brothers Grimm. I hope you all enjoy it and write lots of reviews! Please review!

The sky was gray and stormy as Jakob sat unsteadily on his horse. He looked down at the crowd of people who had gathered to see him and his brother off.

"Good-bye!"

"Come again!"

"Thank you!"

"Farewell!"

"God Bless Ye!"

"Safe journey!"

There were tears in many peoples' eyes, and Jake could feel his glasses stained with droplets of tears as well. He glanced at his brother – and started.

Wilhelm, the one who always was so strong, the older one who looked after all of them, was balanced precariously on his horse. His head lolled weakly like a rag doll and he looked like he was going to fall. But like always, he was putting on a brave, big-brotherly smile to comfort the others.

Jake stretched out a trembling hand and touched his brother's shoulder lightly, almost afraid. He licked his lips, "Will? Will – are you…" but he trailed off and Wilhelm didn't give any sign of hearing him. Jake shook his head. It felt strange to hear those words coming from him. He was not one to say those things. Neither was Will.

"Will! Jake!"

Jake looked up at the strong, female voice from the crowd. Something in his chest hiccupped when he saw Anjelika pushing her way through the crowd. She arrived at the foot of the horses, breathless. He noticed that there were no tears in her eyes, but rather – a fierce, burning blaze.

"I have something for you," she said quickly, "It's from all of us."

The rest of the crowd murmured their agreement as Anjelika held out a small package. Without a word, Jake took the package and nodded to show that he was grateful. He didn't want to say anything; for fear that his voice might crack un-heroically. He didn't have the heart to open it either. Anjelika stood on her toes and brushed her lips against Jake's cheek, whispering, "Take care, and come back…" Then she straightened Will on his horse and kissed his cheek too.

Jakob clicked his tongue, and the two brothers, along with Cavaldi turned their backs to the crowd, and rode past the town limits. Jake tried to block the sad cheering from his ears.

……

"Do you have any idea?" Jake asked his brother, trying to block the worry out of his voice.

"What?" Will asked, fighting his waning strength with every word. His hands were holding feebly onto the reins of the horse, and Jake knew that if the horse decided to bolt, Will would stand no chance of staying on.

"What we're going to do of course!" Jake couldn't help but sound annoyed. Here he was, playing big brother to his own big brother. Will was supposed to take care of him! He was supposed to bark, "Beans!" to keep Jake's wits intact. He was supposed to remind Jake that there was no such thing as happy endings; that they didn't live in a fairy tale.

Will shrugged, "I dunno. What do you think…?"

"Maybe…" Jake paused. "Maybe we should go back to helping people with their problems. It's the only thing we know how to do."

"Sure…"

"Will? Will - are you alright!" Jake's voice rose in panic and alarm. Will had slumped over on the horse's neck.

"Will! Will!"

Jake clambered awkwardly off his horse and tried to stop his brother's chestnut haired one. Luckily, it was a slow, amiable animal that gladly obliged to stopping. The French torture guy stopped. And watched.

Jake lugged the robust figure of his older brother off the horse, somewhat clumsily and heaved him to the side of the rode.

A light drizzle had started.

"Go get help! Go get help!" Jake screamed at the French torturer who was standing dumbly, watching. The French man jumped.

"Moi?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes you, you great big…go get help!"

"But me no speak no German!"

"Oh for Christ's Sakes will you just go! Just go and drag whomever you can over here. Can't you see he's dying!"

At Jake's insistent shrieks, Cavaldi started running, black cape flapping behind him, to get help. Jake breathed heavily and looked into his brother's pale face. Had he meant it when he said that his brother was dying? Surely he couldn't be…

His mind flashed to when he was 10 years younger. When he had traded in all they had for some magic beans. And the beans…hadn't been magic. His younger sister suffered the most from hunger. Jake shivered as he heard Lotte's child-like voice whispering,

"Am I dying Mommy? Will I die?"

His mother and sister hadn't yelled at him, but the silent rebuke was worse than any yelling. Will had yelled. Will had ranted and raved, screamed and pounded. He had grabbed Jake by the arm and threw him to the floor in disgust.

Ever since his father had died, Will had been the fatherly figure. He had been the one in charge of them all. He had helped them get through the hard times. Except Lotte. He lost Lotte on the way. But Will had managed. He had managed to pull them through the thick, brambly forest of "hard times" relatively unscathed with only Lotte being caught on the branches of the scaly trees.

Jake shuddered. Please, he begged no one in particular. Please don't let me be responsible for the death of someone else…

He kept thinking, he kept thinking that if he hadn't had the stupid idea to play hero to the 12 girls around the castle, that Will wouldn't be so ill.

What a stupid thought, he chided himself. So stupid, like you always are. Like you would leave any of the girls to die. Especially not Anjelika. But I wish… Jake fingered his brother's sandy hair and forced his mind to stop thinking.

"Will?" Jake whispered.

"Will? I just want to say that I'm sorry…for…everything. Okay?"

There was no answer.