Wirt panicked as he saw his younger brother, -his baby brother!- entangled in the center of a young tree.
Greg was there because of his mistake...They were all his mistakes, and now Greg was suffering...
Wirt's eyebrows furrowed together, and he touched his little brother's cheek, recoiling at how cold it was, and at how Greg didn't even seem to flinch at his brother's warmer touch.
Beatrice nervously landed on his shoulder, her tiny talons digging into his shoulder as she pleaded
"Wirt, come on, don't just stand there! Start taking branches off of him!"
He paused, but quickly snapped back to life, tearing branches off his little brother with ferocity he never knew he was capable of, while Beatrice pecked, lifting some of the smaller branches giving Wirt easier access to them.
"Fools."
Beatrice gasped, and Wirt held his breath, as he slowly turned around to face none other then the Beast.
"Oh, and speaking of fools..."
Suddenly faint wheezing was heard, and the huntsman emerged from the forest, axe in hand.
"There is your next tree huntsman."
He continued to wheeze, but he turned toward the beast angrily, as his grip on the lantern tightened
"I-I didn't know...I had no...Why couldn't you leave these boys alone?!"
"The same reason I continued to pursue your daughter"
The beast seemed to almost chuckle, the noise ringing throughout the forest like bangs on a broken piano
"I felt like it."
The Huntsman closed his eyes in despair, as the Beast continued to laugh his wretched laugh.
Right up until they were interrupted by tweeting
Beatrice fluttered angrily in front of the beast, trembling because of the beast's cold intimidating aura, but despite her fear, continued, knowing that Greg could die at any second.
"Alright! We get it, you've got a history together! Now tell us how to save Greg!"
The beast looked at Greg blankly, as Wirt trembled and shaked but continued to hopelessly rip tree branches off of him, only to see them replaced by more.
"Well...There is one way..."
Wirt quickly turned around, and feverishly walked towards the beast, and on his way tripping, falling to his knees in front of his mighty foe.
"Please..."
"You could bear the lamp, with your brother's soul inside, then your only task would be to keep it lit. If you continue, one day he will have the strength to wake up."
Wirt looked up, certainly persuaded, but not convinced.
"Am I...Am I supposed to just assume you're telling the truth? I mean clearly this guy here has been doing this for years..."
The woodsman looked down and clutched the lantern to his chest, while the Beast somehow looked aggravated.
Until Wirt's next suggestion.
"Take me instead."
The Huntsman's eyes widened, and Beatrice landed on his should, her talons piercing his skin in anxiety
"Wirt?! You're crazy!"
The Beast however, simply stood there watching Wirt, as the boy picked himself up.
"No Beatrice, it makes sense. He feeds on the misery of souls right? Why would he want Greg, who is nothing but a ball of hope and happiness, when he could have me...A loser who blames his own brother for his problems..."
Beatrice flapped her wings in anger
"Wirt stop! We can figure this out, there are other magical beings, we can get them to he-"
"Actually little birdie, I rather like young Wirt's plan here."
Wirt felt roots crawling up his leg, but continued to stare down the beast
"But you have to let him go."
The Beast nodded, and while the roots on Wirt's legs soared towards his torso, the ones on Greg retreated back into the ground.
The huntsman looked away in anguish, unable to live with the fact that he would most likely be chopping branches from the boy's tree later.
Meanwhile Beatrice flew upward to avoid the roots soaring up to Wirt's shoulder, and yelled angrily
"Wirt you nimbus! There could have been something else! Please, please fight it!"
Wirt sighed, and turned his head the best he could, looking at Beatrice sadly
"Please...Help him get home."
Beatrice looked at him in silence, and nodded once, with her face set as she flew over to Greg, who had just fallen to the floor, the last of the branches crumbling back into the ground.
"Greg...Greg, wake up..."
But he stayed asleep, and Beatrice heard a horrendous noise coming from Wirt.
Desperate gasping and gagging...
The beast's branches were strangling him, and yet she heard a noise that almost sounded like gargling water..
That's when she knew that he was going to die.
But...
She refused to let it be in vain.
"Greg!"
Said little boy twitched.
"GREG!"
She landed on his stomach and walked around , hoping it would stir him.
But was so focused on her task, she failed to notice Wirt's wheezing had stopped, replaced only by the sound of water dripping on the floor.
"Greg, please! Please!"
Greg's eyelids fluttered open, and he looked at Beatrice with an almost tired expression, quietly whispering
"...Good bye Beatrice..."
TWO DIFFERENT ENDINGS FOR TWO DIFFERENT BROTHERS
On the outskirts of town, right next to a river. One little boy, Gregory Dean, rode in the ambulance last night, after almost drowning in the lake. He would have died if not for some mysterious phantom force helping him float up. However, his older step-brother Wirt Woods, now deceased was not as lucky, and was discovered an hour later floating on the surface. The coroner suggests that due to a freshly pulled muscle, that Wirt pushed something with great force in his final seconds. More details will be reported as they come.
Wow, I haven't written fanfiction in a while, if you followed me for my Hetalia, I'm sorry, I will get around to updating those stories, it's just that high school kicked me violently XP. And if you just found this in the Over The Garden Wall section, hey! This is a pretty short thing, and it won't be continued, but who knows, maybe I'll write more stories for this fandom, it needs them XD