Hi there everyone! So, this is a one-shot I decided to write and I really hope you like it! Thank you for reading! ^_^

Please comment/review and let me know what you think of it; I'd really appreciate it, thank you!

There is like, one or two curses so I'm not sure about this rating, so, just to be safe, I put it under 'T'. Let me know what you think though, thanks!

Enjoy!

I OWN NOTHING; I DO NOT OWN HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS.

"Scarred"

. . .

Hansel is sleeping on the wooden floor, using his leather jacket for a pillow. He is sound asleep while images play in his head; he's dreaming.

His chest is rising and fallen quickly; showing he is breathing heavily. Sweat is dripping down the side of his face and his face is pale while his eyes squeeze shut. His body is slightly shaking as he sleeps, but he is not shaking because he is cold; he is shaking because he is having a nightmare.

Gretel is sleeping peacefully on the bed beside where Hansel is sleeping. In the room next to theirs, Ben is sleeping and Edward is outside behind the small inn, sleeping by the cart that holds the witch hunters' weapons.

As Hansel sleeps, his body flinches from time to time; a look of pain creeps onto his face. He moans slightly in his sleep and his breathing continues to speed up; his heart beating much faster than it should be.

Images from the ritual the witches performed just a few days ago during the Blood Moon replays in the witch hunter's head. Images of his sister being chained and the witches all are surrounding her, preparing to kill his sister. The look of horror and fear is on his sister's face, but she tries her best and uses all the strength in her to look strong and fearless.

The events from that night keep coming to his dreams; haunting them and scarring him. That night is imprinted in his head and they keep coming to his dreams; reminding him that his sister, the one person he loves more than anything in this world, almost died.

What if he didn't make it to her in time and she ended up dying? What would he have done if that happened? He wouldn't be able to go on without his sister; his sister was everything to him. She was his best friend, his companion, his sister, his life, and if he lost her to a bunch of old witches, he would not even know what to do with himself.

He could not even imagine thinking of what the world would be like without his sister standing by his side. That night though, that night almost took her away from him and that night is scarred into his mind.

As Hansel sleeps, tears leak out of his eyes and slide down his cheeks. One thing the nightmare changed about that night's events is that he was too late and Gretel ended up dying. That scared him the most in this same nightmare he keeps on having ever since that night.

It's the middle of the night and the sky is pitch black with the bright, glowing moon high in the sky, hidden behind grey clouds.

Out of nowhere, Hansel jolts await, panting and gasping for air. His dark, chocolate brown eyes are wide open as a layer of sweat covers his body. His entire body is shaking violently and he is clenching his head with his hands. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to get the images out of his head, but they won't escape and leave him alone.

Hansel swallows the rock that is stuck in his throat and tries to calm himself down, but it's not working. As he tries to calm himself and zone out, he doesn't hear Gretel calling him name and he doesn't see her kneeling in front of him.

"Hansel! Hansel, can you hear me? Hansel!" Gretel tries shaking him gently, pushing and pulling his shoulder, but she receives no response. She spots the dried tears on her brother's cheeks and it nearly breaks her heart at the sight. She has never seen her brother so . . . scared? She has never seen him this fragile and scared before.

"Hansel, please, can you hear me?" Gretel softly says to him as a look of concern and panic rises to her face. She caresses her brother's cheek and stares at his face, hoping he will open his eyes and look back at her. She could feel her brother shaking and she is starting to really worry about him.

Finally, after what seems like forever, Hansel's eyes snap open and he looks straight at Gretel's concern face. He stares at her, his eyes still wide and a look of panic and fear on his face. She nods her head slowly and says in a soothing voice, "It's okay. You're okay. What happened?"

He takes a long, steady breath before saying with a shaky voice, "N-Nightmare. I'm fine." He takes another deep breath and tries to put on a reassuring look, "Go back to sleep. I'm fine."

Gretel rolls her eyes at him and raises an eyebrow at him, "Nice try, but you're not fine." She stands up slowly and walks over to the small table in the corner of the room. She grabs a cloth and dips it in a bowl of water. She wrings the water out of the old cloth and walks back over to her sweating brother. She taps the wet cloth on his forehead and smiles at him, "Feel any better?"

He shrugs his shoulders and leans his head against the wall, sighing, "Fantastic."

Gretel rolls her eyes at her brother's sarcasm and places the cloth on the floor beside them. She looks at him with a concern look on her face as she quietly says, "You have been doing this for the past few days now, Hansel. I hear you moaning and crying in your sleep. I was waiting for you to bring it up; waiting to see if you were okay, but you haven't said anything." She pauses for a second and then adds, "Hansel, what do you keep dreaming about that is scaring you like this?"

Part of Hansel wants to tell her about his nightmare, but the other part of him doesn't. Even though they promised one another that they would never keep secrets, Hansel feels like he is protecting her if he doesn't share this information. He feels like if he tells her about his nightmare, about how he keeps dreaming of the ritual that almost took place and how she dies in his dream, it would scare her and she would blame herself. However, he knows he could trust her and the only person he knows that could make him feel somewhat better would be his sister.

He looks away from her and instead stares up at the ceiling. He swallows hard and closes his eyes, taking in deep breaths. Gretel watches him carefully and when he remains silent, she says, "You know you could tell me anything. Hansel, you shake, you cry, you flip out, and when you wake up you have a look of fear on your face and in your eyes. I want to help you."

Hansel slowly opens his eyes and looks down at his worried sister. He watches as she folds her arms across her chest and watches him. He thinks about whether he should tell her or not, but when he looks into her eyes that are filled with worry and concern for him, he makes his decision. "I keep having these . . . nightmares. It's the same nightmare every time."

Gretel knows this must be hard for him. He hates showing his weak side and he hates showing his fear. He likes to be strong, independent, and fearless, but Gretel is the only one who knows he is like everyone else and he can be scared and scarred as well.

"I keep having these nightmares of what happened a few days ago." Hansel begins to explain to his younger sister, "The night of the Blood Moon. The ritual keeps replaying in my head when I'm sleeping, but the ending is different from what really happened."

"What do you mean it's different?" Gretel questions him as she slightly cocks her head to the side.

"Instead of me being able to save you in time, you end up dying. Muriel and the other witches kill you and . . . and Gretel it kills me knowing you could have died. My dreams just seem so real and the images are so . . . graphic. It feels real and that . . . that scares me." Hansel says in a whisper as he looks down at his lap. He could feel the tears come to his eyes, but he refuses to let them escape his eyes and slide down his cheeks.

Gretel's heart breaks and she shakes her head while feeling tears of her own come to her eyes. "Hansel, I'm sorry."

He quickly shakes his head and forces a small smile on his face, "Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for." He then adds with a soft chuckle, "It's these fucking witches. I really can't stand them."

Gretel laughs and nods her head, agreeing with him completely. She sighs and looks up at her brother before adding quietly, "Hansel, I'm okay and safe now because of you. I wouldn't be here because of you. You have nothing to worry about, okay? Nothing is separating us and nothing is going to take one of us away from each other."

That forms a soft smile on his lips and he nods, "I will never let anything hurt you, Gretel." She only smiles back as she adds while placing her hand softly on his leg, "Hey, and I'll never let anything happen to you either. You protected me that night and I'm always going to protect you too. That's just how it is."

"I wouldn't want it any other way." Hansel says with a grin and wraps a strong, protective arm around his sister. She leans her head on his shoulder and he places his head on top of her head.

They stay like that, in silence, for a few moments before Gretel's soft voice cuts through the silence, "Hansel?" He glances down at her and she continues with a soft, gentle smile on her lips, "Thank you for saving me."

He shakes his head, "Don't thank me. I had pleasure killing every single one of those old hags anyways." She elbows him in the stomach, which makes him groan, but he chuckles, "Hey! You didn't let me finish." Gretel rolls her eyes, laughing while he adds with a wide grin, "And I would protect you all over again a thousand more times if I had to."

She looks up at him with a wide smile. Her eyebrows then knit together and her lips purse together as she thinks. She shrugs one shoulder before adding, "But the revenge of killing those stupid witches was great, wasn't it?"

"Oh, definitely." He says with a laugh, "Revenge is sweet."

"Sweeter than candy." Gretel adds with a wink.

The two siblings share a laugh until they both fall into silence, staring at the wall ahead of them, zoning off. Eventually Hansel feels his sister fall asleep against his shoulder and he smiles down at her. He gently moves, careful not to wake his sister up as he carefully picks her up in his arms and places her on the uncomfortable bed. He brings the blanket over on top of her and sighs.

There is nothing he wouldn't do for his sister and he knows she feels the same way about him. He promised not only to himself, but to his parents that he would protect her and he plans on doing that for the rest of his life.

He smiles down at her sleeping figure and thinking how wrong his nightmare is. Despite the beginning of the nightmare being true of how she was chained and almost killed, the ending was wrong. She is alive and safe and he plans to make sure it stays that way.

Hansel turns around and goes to lie back down on the wooden floor when Gretel's hand catches his wrist. He raises an eyebrow at her as her eyes are looking up at him, half-open.

"Love you." She says quietly, falling right back into a pit of darkness and unconscious. She is right about to fall back to a peaceful sleep, but before she does, she hears her brother quietly reply, "Love you too, sis."

He lies back down on the floor and lies his head back down on his jacket. He stares up at the ceiling with a small, soft smile resting on his lips. His sister is safe and she's okay.

Hansel then closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. After the talk he had with Gretel, he has a feeling that he won't be having the nightmare again. He may be scarred of that night, but that goes to the back of his head and doesn't haunt him anymore.

He knows his sister is alive and safe and that is what he focuses on. He ignores everything else and for the first time in a few, he dreams of his family: Edward, Ben, Gretel, and himself and that's what matters to him.

Hansel finally dreams of something else besides the tormenting nightmare he has been having and for once, he falls into a peaceful sleep.