Disclaimer: I don't own The Brothers Grimm or any related material.

I hope you enjoy this story. I know it's a little rough but it's my first fanfic and I'm still getting used to it. Once again I hope you enjoy the story so here you go!

Once Upon A Nightmare

Chapter One: Leonie Grimm

"And the wolf gobbled her up, picking his teeth as he did so," her uncle's whispered voice floated through the room, chilling her spine and making the room feel like ice. "And then, oh, maybe five minutes later the Little Red Riding Hood came along, smiling and swinging her basket filled with treats for her grandmother!" Wilhelm Grimm's voice paused. "And then when she opened the door, she looked towards the bed where the wolf lay, disguised as her grandmother and as she approached the bed she said, 'Grandmother, what big ears you have' and that tricky wolf replied, 'All the better to hear you with, my dear.' And Riding Hood said, 'Oh, grandmother, what big eyes you have!' and the wolf said, 'all the better to see you with my dear!' and finally Riding Hood asked, 'But Grandmother what large teeth you have!' and the wolf said, 'All the better to eat you with my dear!' and opened her mouth and swallowed her whole so all that was left was her little red riding hood..."

"Will, you're scaring her!" Angelika smiled at her daughter, who was huddled on the floor, her blue eyes wide and scared. Will smiled kindly at his niece. "It's only a story, Leonie," he ruffled her dark brown hair. Leonie made a little noise and shook her head. Jakob Grimm looked up from the book he was writing in. He took the quill he was chewing on away from his mouth and shook his head, stubbornly. "No, Will, it was real and you know it!" Will made a "shushing not-in-front-of-Leonie" gesture that Leonie saw, despite. Jake shook his head and continued chewing on his quill.

Angelika kissed him on the side of the head and scooped Leonie off the ground into her arms. "Bedtime, Leonie!" she stepped into the next room which Leonie shared with her parents and Will. Jake and Will looked at each other for a moment and then Jake spoke.

"It wasn't a story, Will," he said quietly. Will shook his head angrily.

"She's only five years old for God's sake," he said, still shaking his head. "What do you think she would do if she knew they where real? It scared us Jake and we where already full grown men!" Jake blinked and Angelika came back from the bedroom.

"What's going on?" she asked suspiciously. She couldn't leave the two in a room together for five seconds without them having a go at each other. Jake shook his head and Will got to his feet. "I think I'm going to bed," he disappeared into the next room. Angelika glared at Jake with her famous stare. Jake muttered something about "Will thinking Leonie's his child..." and Angelika smiled again. "Leonie's fine. She's going to sleep as we speak, you worry too much, Jake," she sat down at his feet and closed her eyes.

-x-

The big, bad wolf was chasing her. She ducked behind trees and ran as fast as she could. Her red riding hood flew behind her. She ran out into the field right before the village. She could even see her home, the window lighted. She hoped her weak knees could carry her a least to the village border. And then she tripped on a rock. She didn't even feel the pain. One second she was running the next she was sprawled on the ground. She turned around. The wolf jumped, she screamed and...

She woke up. Sweat had gathered on her forehead and she was twisted in the blanket of deer hide her mother had given her. Her father snored on the other side of the room, accompanied by mutterings coming from Will in his bed near the door.

It was only a dream, she reminded herself, the fairytales aren't real. But yet there was something so real about the way that her parents and Uncle Will told the stories that she believed them.

Leonie wiped the sweat on her forehead and brought up her knees to rest her head on them. The moonlight hit through the window and illuminated the room. She could see her mother's tangled dark hair and her father's glasses on the table beside the bed.

The nightmares that haunted her dreams never hunted her reality. Probably because Father or Mother or Uncle was always telling a story she never had time to be scared of them. Life was never dull around here.

She slipped back down and placed her head on the pillow. As she drifted off to sleep she had the distant picture of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf who ate her.