A little version I made from the classic Hansel and Gretel story but with ocs! Starring: Jetbird, Stormwing, Jetstorm, Darkfire (SG Phoenix)/Phoenix and Blackarachnia.
Out in the deep woods there was a small cabin and in the cabin lived a small yet poor family. A mech with his bondmate and their twin children. The mech did his best to keep his family well fed, but often it was a hard task. His bondmate would complain and nag that there was never enough but there was nothing that he could do. He did everything he could to keep her happy but it seemed to be hopeless no matter how hard he tried.
Though the femme was beautiful she was cold at spark. A green feathered fury whenever she became impatient or crossed; which was unfortunately almost often. She only stayed with her bondmate because he begged her to and that she was bearing his sparklings soon after they bonded. (The frags weren't too bad either.) Though she could have left and removed the new sparks; she did not, for she was vain and did not wish to cause any harm to her curvaceous frame.
Much to her displeasure but plenty to his; she had given birth to a lovely pair of twins; a mech named Stormwing and a femme named Jetbird. She showed neither kindness nor love for the little twins; she hated them with severe spite and criticized them whenever she could.
"What's that supposed to be?" she lured over Stormwing colouring with bits of broken crayon.
"It's a deer mama." He held up the piece of paper proudly.
"Looks like a piece of crud to me." She sneered crudely.
"I….guess it does a bit….oh! I forgot the antlers! Thanks mama." His wings fluttered.
"Whatever."
He did not take her disinterest to spark as she walked away with a bored expression. Despite her insults and slaps upside their helms whenever she claimed they were 'naughty' they still held love for her. If it there was anything that they held dear it was the lesson that their father taught them; to always look on the bright side of things. But sometimes it was hard to do.
"Momma Darkfire." Jetty chirped happily, brushing her cable like hair, smiling into the small broken mirror. "Can you help me tie up my bow please?"
"Why? It's not gonna make ya look any better." The femme sniffed, walking by the door way.
Jetty put down the brush sadly. Later that night when their father tucked them in Jetty asked "Papa Jetstorm,"
"Yes angel?" he sat on the berth's side.
"Why doesn't momma love us?"
He wasn't quite sure what to say, the truth would only hurt them. Quickly his mind came up with a story. "She can be cranky….but…that because momma is under spell."
"What?" the twins gasped.
"But how papa?" Stormwing asked worryingly.
"I not sure," he rubbed his helm "but patient you must be. One day we will find way to break it."
"How?" Jetty hugged her bunny.
"I say; we must wait. Just be remembering; whenever momma seem like she is mean it only cause she is under spell. When in truth she really loves you."
"Ok." The twins smiled as Jetstorm kissed their foreheads goodnight.
The twins stayed positive for as long as they could but as months went by; the town soon fell into a famine. Their good spirits could not be held up for very long on empty fuel tanks. The small loaf of bread the family shared was becoming smaller and smaller. There soon came days were the mech could not afford it at all because of little work he found, leaving the family hungry.
One night he twisted and turned worryingly in his and bondmate's berth, unable to sleep. He turned to Darkfire, "What are we to do? I not make enough to feed poor sparklings." He moped.
"Them? What about us!?" she grumbled. "Look hun….theirs only one thing we can do; ditch the kids."
"What?" He jolted upward "I cannot be doing that!"
"It'll be easy; we'll just take them out into the deepest part of the woods, make them a little campfire with their last piece of food and we'll leave them there for the buzzards."
"No! I not be-"
"HEY! It's that or you can just make a couple of coffins right now and bury us all."
He looked away.
"Sigh….face it. We are never going to survive trying to feed four bots. Beside…they always did nag on how they wanted to go camping anyway."
He did not want to admit it but she was right. He could not afford for all of them. But he loved his sparklings very much and he knew he would never have the spark to leave them to such a horrible fate.
"No. I cannot. I will be finding other way to make credits for more food. You see."
She grumbled under her breath, watching him snuggle back into the sheets. But then…an idea clicked in her head, and sly smirk crossed her face. "Your right," she slid over his chestplate, servos rubbing his sides lustfully. "That was a little harsh of me. I don't know what I was thinking. Why don't I make it up to you hmm?"
His faceplates burned up, stuttering with her lips pressing into his, "Uh...s-s-sure." He smiled.
"Goooood." She disappeared under the sheets.
Stormwing and Jetbird took their audio sensors away from the wall. Too hungry to sleep they couldn't help but over hear the parents in the next room.
"You…don't think papa would do something like that do you?" Jetbird looked to her brother hugging her raggedy stuffed bunny.
"I not think so. You hearing him; he love us too much." He gently tucked her back into bed smiling.
"Well….ok." she smiled back and drifted to sleep.
Stormwing waited till he was certain she would not wake as he jumped from the little berth and ran to the backdoor (and ignoring all the 'noises' from the parent's room.) Though he loved his parents, there was something that tinged at the back of his mind.
The little pathway leading to the back of the house was made of white shining stones. Filling his servos as much as he could; the little mech quietly ran back to his room and filled his coat pocket with the small white rocks. Hearing a creek outside the bedroom door he quickly scurried back into bed and fell asleep.
The next moring; the femme waited until her bondmate left to find work before barging into the twin's room. "Alright, wake up you idle brats were going for a walk."
Quickly getting up and changing they followed their mother into the deep woods. On the way she handed them a piece of bread each, "Here. This is gonna have to last you the whole day, so don't eat it too fast."
"Yes mama." They said, Jetbird shoving the pieces into her apron.
"Stormwing! What are you doing? Your being slow!"
"Sorry mama I just looking back at the house. It look pretty in this light." She rolled her optics, not noticing the small white rock that was dropped every couple of steps.
As the woods became so thick it was impossible to see through them; Darkfire stopped and made an eerie smile at the little ones. "Now, why don't you two go get some wood and we'll make a small campfire?"
"Ok!"
The twins quickly brought back a small pile of kinder. Darkfire lit the wood and waited till the flames were good and high. "Now you two come and sit right here." She pushed them close to the fire together, sitting them down on a log. "And I'll be right back with some more wood…..enjoy." she wiggled her digits in good-bye. Disappearing into the darkness of the woods.
The twins waited and waited as moon rose into the sky; but she never returned. Jetty began to tear up in fear "W-wheres mama? How will we get home!?"
"Not worry sister." As planned Stormwing lead his sister back through the woods, following the trial of stones until they reached the cabin. Knocking on the door Darkfire looked down in surprise and sneered "Great…your back. I mean! You naughty sparklings! Why didn't you come back when I called you!"
"But we-"
"Just get in here." She shoved them into the door to be greeted by Jetstorm's arms.
"Lost we thought you were!"
"No papa were ok!" Jetty hugged tightly.
"Indeed." Darkfire mumbled and left for her room. "Good night."
"Good night! Now you two going to be bed!"
"Yes papa." And to bed they went. Later that night, Stormwing quietly slid from his berth again and headed for the backdoor, hoping to collect more rocks but could not get it to open. Looking above the top latch had been locked and unfortunately he was too small to reach it. Disappointed; he crept back into bed trying to think of another idea.
The next morning the femme did the same thing; she waited for her bondmate to leave, scowled at the twins to get up, handed them smaller prices of bread and told them to follow her into the woods. Deeper they went, until it was almost black between the trees, while behind her; Stormwing was dropping bits of crumbs onto the ground from his pocket as he crushed his bread when they were given their slices. Coming to a stop, the twins collected the pile of kinder and Darkfire set it on fire for them. "Now…you stay here until I call you home understand? And this time make sure you listen!" she barked, disappearing with a smirk back into the forest once again.
Again they waited till the moon was high in the sky. Jetbird's optics once again filling with tears and sniffling. "P-p-papa was wrong! M-mama doesn't love us! She's not coming back!"
"No worry sister! We follow trial back like befo- oh no!" he gasped as a small bird flew down from the trees and nibbled on the last visible crumb on the ground. "Uh…still no worry! We just keep going straight till we find trial!" Taking her servo the two ventured down through the trees, but never finding a single crumb. Deeper and deeper they traveled, hungry and exhausted, eventually falling asleep under a tree.
When they awoke the next day, the sun was high in the noon sky. Rubbing their optics their jaws dropped in sudden astonishment. There, was a small little house completely made of candy. Its walls and roof made of gingerbread, its windows made of icing sugar and cake. Mouths drooling at the site, Stormwing and Jetbird ran toward the house looking over it sweet textures. "Should….should we?" Stormwing looked at his sister.
"I don't know, but I'm so hungry I could eat a mansion made of cake!" she giggled, breaking a piece off the windowsill, her wings flittering with joy.
"Hehe, I could eat whole city hall building!" he chipped off a piece of liquorice.
As they reached for more of the delicious sweet tasting food; the door swung open. "WHAAAAA!" they screeched dropping whatever was in their servos.
"Hey! What ya think you're doing eating my house ya lil vermin!" the femme hissed. Her plating was purple and black like her long draping dress and two long appendages stuck out her back. She wore a pointed hat and bared white fangs, looking down on them with four eerily glowing red optics.
"We…we…uh…um."
"Oh..um..*ahem* sorry I thought your were someone else." She leaned in resting her servos on her knees, her scowl turning into a smile. "Now where did you cute little morsels come from hmmm?"
"We….we got lost." Jetty muttered, hugging her brother's arm.
"Dawww now ain't that a shame. From the way you were munching on my home here I'd say your very hungry and tired aren't you?"
The twins nodded.
"Well don't be shy," she gently shoved them in. "Let me make you some dinner."
Sitting at the table, she made them a giant pile of pancakes with sugar and milk and whatever else they wished. Feeling their fuel tanks grumble they dove right in, eating every morsel off the plate. "Mmmm thank you so much miss-?"
"Call me Blackarachnia."
"Miss Blackarachnia." Jetbird wiped the sugar powder from her mouth . "This is really good."
"Mmhmm." Stormwing nodded, his cheeks full.
"I am so glad you enjoy my cooking." She sat across the table watching them.
"Um….I have a question." The little femme waved her servo in the air.
"Yes?"
"Whats that stuff over there?" she pointed to a small shelf among the wall, covered in strange covered jars.
"Just my shelf of…..unusual mixtures and sauces. Oh! And usually where I keep my potion for my poor optic sight. But unfortunately I'm kinda out. But other than that; nothing to be concerned about. Though I do hope you can stay for a while."
"Oh yes," Stormwing finally swallowed. "Wish we could stay forever!" he chugged down his milk.
"That's exactly what I want to hear." She smiled, a fang glimmering through. Tapping the tips of her index digits together.
When all done and full, feeling like they were about to pop; the spider lady lead them into her spare bedroom. The twins looked over the room with glimmering optics. The room was large and spacious with two separate beds in the centre. The pillows and sheets where the whitest and softest things they had ever seen like a soft cloud. The twins ran to a bed and jumped right in, sinking into the softness. "These are so fluffy!" Jetbird hugged her pillow.
"Only the best for my….guests." the femme leaned against the doorway. Watching their happiness in minor amusement. "Now…time for bed kiddies." She waited for them to snuggle in before flicking off the lights with a single digit.
It was before the crack of dawn did she return to the sparkling's room without noise. Her shadow casting over Jetbird with an unsure grunt gently squeezing her arm. "Hmm…appetizer prehapes." She turned to Stormwing, "Yes….he will be an excellent main course." Picking him up she carried him off into another room; lying him down in the bottom of a steel bird cage.
The sudden coldness stirred Stormwing from his sleep. Slowly opening his optics he quickly realized he was no longer in the comfy bed and bars that suddenly surrounded him. "Wh-what…what going on?!" He shot up to his pedes, shaking the bars. "L-let me out!"
"Nuh uh uhhh!" She waved a claw in his face. "Not until you are all nice and plumpy." She poked his stomach.
"W…what? N-n-no! Let me go!."
"Tsk tsk tsk such bad manners. And after all I did for you." A low cackle escaped her lips as she turned for the doorway. "But I know a way you can pay me back." She locked the door behind her.
Jetbird did not stir until a vicious shake woke her up. "Get up!" the spider lady screeched into her audio sensor, scarring the poor thing out of stasis.
"W-w-what?"
"I said get up! You've got chores to do missy!"
"Ch-chores?"
"What you got a hearing problem? Move!"
Jetbird quickly crawled out from the bed, and looked to her brother's; but he was not there. "Where's brother?"
"I said hurry up! That water ain't gonna fetch itself! And I hope you know how to bake cause if you don't want you brother to starve," she eerily leaned into the terrified femme's faceplate. "You better make it good and filling."
Spark racing in terror Jetbird started to cry. "What have you done to him!?"
"Keep whining like that and you'll end up the same way, now MOVE!" a swift slap to the back of her helm and Jetbird ran from the room, tears pouring from her optics. There was certainly no bright side to this.
"This…is why I don't have kids. Well…not for long anyway." She darkly chuckled.
As the spider witch waited, poor Jetbird was forced to slave away fetching water and cooking for her brother, giving whatever Blackarachnia ordered her to give him while she only received plain oatmeal for herself. Almost every morning, Blackarachnia would go into the room where Stormwing was kept and ask for a digit to feel. But Stormwing remembered what she had said about her poor eyesight and stuck out a bone for her to feel, making her leave irritated.
One day as Jetbird was sweeping the floor; she watched quietly, as the witch mixed a strange yellow brew in her cauldron in the corner of the room. She stared curiously while blackarachnia scooped up some of the liquid, sipped some of it and corked the top of the bottle. "Ahhh…now I can see much better. Hmm…but still not strong enough….can't fragging see far distances. Scrap." Shrugging, she made her way to the shelf on the other side of the room and placed it with the other strange coloured jars. Turning she snarled, snapping her digits at Jetbird "Did I tell you to stop cleaning!?"
Snapping back into consciousness the little femme quickly turned away and kept sweeping, waiting for the witch to leave. When the door where he brother was held closed, she shoved a chair over to the shelf and lifted herself into it. Odd where some of the names on the jars, there was a blue one that said 'Quick Night' and a green one that said 'Sick Fix' but the oddest one had to be the one labeled 'Nice Sweets' which were oddly enough; regular looking candy. And on the top shelf there was an old rusty key lying between two jars. What did that open?
Shaking away from the distractions she grabbed the yellow bottle, jumped from the chair, opened a window and dumped the contents out. With footstep heard coming towards the door. Jetbird quickly placed everything back and grabbed the broom again before the witch marched in. "Grrr….that's it! I can't wait any longer. I don't know what you're feeding him missy but it's obviously not enough!"
"W-what's wrong?" she gripped the broom tightly.
"He's not fat enough! That's what's wrong! You, go get wood for the stove. It's cooking time."
"W-what do you want me to make?"
The smile that ran across the tall femme's face sent shivers down Jetbird's spinalstruts. "YOU will not be cooking anything. I will be the one doing the cooking this time."
Fear spread through her, asking "What…are you making?"
"Something I like to call 'brother a l'orange' HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"
"N-NO! You can't eat my brother!" the little femme's optics teared up.
"Hush you!" she shoved Jetbird harshly out the back door "and quite your snivelling! It won't do you any good."
Jetbird sadly did as she was told and warmed up the stove, shoving the logs into the fire inside. "Good," Blackarachnia cooed, "now you can bake some bread for me. Why don't you just hop on in there and see if it's warm enough yet?"
"What!?"
"Oh don't be such a sparkling! It's safe." The witch lied through her fangs. 'Just lean in,' she thought to herself 'and it will be TWO little birdies for lunch.'
"I…uh…I…don't know how."
"WHAT!? YA CAN BEND CAN'T YOU?!"
"Um….I forgot?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU NOT ONLY ANNOYING BUT SLOW AS WELL? Grrrr, move!" Jetbird quickly dodged the swiping servo, jumping to the side as Blackarachnia leaned down. "See? THIS is what you do. Think you're at capable of doing that?"
Without hesitating Jetbird rushed from behind, bumping herself into the spider witch who fell forward near the stove but even before her helm could slip on the oven's mouth; she pushed a servo on the outer wall of the metal casing, stopping her fall. As she screeched in pain from her burnt servo, Jetbird backed away, realizing that she did not give enough force to shove the taller femme in. Panicking in fear the femme began to run. "YOU LITTLE!-"
Jetbird screamed as Blackarachnia chased her around the kitchen and under the table. She wanted to get out of the room but the doors were locked; except for one. Barely passing the swipe of a sharp digit servo; the femme opened the door and ran down to her brother's cage. "Sister!" Stormwing held her arm through the bars smiling.
"Shhhhh!" she whispered to him, watching the witch squint, looking around the room.
"Where are you you little tramp!" she screeched. "Where's my elixir!" Blindly she reached for the strange jar shelf, feeling for the bottle, she pulled the cork from the bottle but no liquid came out. "WHAT? GGRAAHH!" the bottle was thrown to the grown, smashing into small pieces. But it did not stop her from running forward towards the twins.
"Run sister!" Stormwing cried.
Jetbird did so, barely avoiding Blackarachnia's grasp as she tripped over Stormwing's cage, breaking the door open and for him to run out free. "Quick brother!" she waited for him to catch up, grabbing his servo and pulling him along to the exiting door. Together they pulled but the door it would not budge, nor could they reach the door latch above. "What do we do?" Jetbird asked terrified.
"I..I not know. Is key somewhere?"
"There!" she pointed to the top shelf of the odd jars. There lying was the old rusty key. "But how do we get it without getting caught?"
"WHERE ARE YOU MY LITTLE DINNERS!?" the growling femme barged from the other room.
"Quick! Run!" Stormwing pulled along his sister as they twist, turned and where chased by the witch. Again around the kitchen they ran, jumping over the pile of shattered glass, which unfortunately the spider witch could not see. The small amount of liquid that was still in the bottle left a small slippery puddle, sending Blackarachnia to fall to the ground and smashing into the wall and the shelf above her to fall down, sending all the strange jars to the ground. The twins ducked under the table to avoid the falling glass and the contents inside. The last to fall was the Nice Sweets jar, sending the candy to fly everywhere; even into the Blackarachnia's gasping mouth.
The twins watched helplessly as she made choking noises and grasped at her throat. A moment later she became silent, leaning limp against the cupboard and her hat covering her face.
"I….is she?" Jetbird clung to Stormwing's arm, both nudging themselves closer to the witch's unmoving frame.
"I…I think so." He hesitatively raised a servo towards the hat, but yelp and retracted as it began to move. They stood hugging each other, shaking in fear.
When then pointed hat fell, it was a face the twins did not recognize; her plating was a sunny yellow, nothing growing out from her back, and only had two optics that where sapphire blue. Moaning, she rubbed her helm like she had just woken from a long sleep. "Oooooh….what….happened?" gazing up, she looked surprised seeing the twins, still in a tight hug. She smiled sweetly, "Hello there." She cooed to them. "It's ok. You don't have to fear me anymore. I won't hurt you I promise. My name is Elita 1 now." She reached a servo to them.
They looked at the servo, then to each other and back again, slowly taking hold of it. "Y-your not a bad witch anymore?" Jetbird asked.
"No." she replied softly, "I'm not a witch anymore thanks to you. It was because of these," sitting up onto her knees the yellow femme picked up a few of the fallen sweets and held them close to the twins. "These can make the meanest bot into the nicest person in the world. And…they don't ever wear off."
"Wow." Stormwing looked over the candies hungrily.
"Now that you have given me a chance at a new, nicer life; I should return you the favour and help you back home."
"Home." Jetbird moaned sadly. "I don't think I want to go back. Can we stay here with you now that your nice?"
Elita looked at the sparkling in sudden shock "Now why would you want to do that? Don't you have parents?"
"Yes. Our papa loves us but." Stormwing scuffed his pede on the ground " he not around lots because we poor and our mama…."
"She doesn't love us. That's why we got lost in the first place." Jetbird sniffled.
The femme looked sadly down on the two, until an idea struck through her mind making her optics light up. "Hang on now." She rose to her pedes and shuffled through numerous cupboards. "Ah ha! Here we are!" a bright blue bag was dragged out. "I think these, will help you and your family immensely." The twins awed, peeking inside Elita's bag. Lying inside was more than a fist full of shining jewels and pearls.
"There beautiful!" Jetty exclaimed.
"We can have?" Stormwing's wings fluttered.
"Of course," the femme smiled. "And as for your mother…..I think I know a way to convince you she loves ya."
Changing into a yellow sunny dress, Elita 1 took Jetbird and Stormwing's servo and together they left the wreaked gingerbread house and into the woods. It was not long before the woods and trail became familiar to the twins and soon a small cabin was seen in the distance with a saddened blue mech sitting on the porch, starring a raggedy bunny doll. "PAPA!" the twins let go of Elita's servo and ran to the surprised mech.
"Jetbird?...Stormwing?...MY SPARKLINGS!" he swooped them up into his arms as tight as they hugged his neck. "I been sick worried! I not had happy hour since you gone."
"We missed you too papa" Jetbird kissed his cheek.
"Bugsy miss you too." He handed over the bunny to the little femme who squeezed it so tight.
"We brought friend papa." Stromwing point to Elita as she walked up.
"Ello. Who you?"
"You could say I'm the one who found your kids…..and…..to fix the um *ahem* 'love' problem with your bondmate."
"Good luck with that." Jetstorm grunted. "I realizing she quite is sparkless gli-"
"I'M…gonna stop you right there." She smiled. "trust me….when I'm done. You're gonna be one happy family." Passing the confused and giggling sparklings, she knocked on the door until the green colour femme stepped out.
"Who are you?" she cocked a hip, "And what do you wa…..when did THEY get back?" she glanced at the twins.
"Tell ya later, now here. Have some candy." Elita held out a piece in the palm of her servo.
"No thanks, I don't eat sw-"
"Just eat it!"
"Fine! Geesh!" the femme took the candy from the servo and chewed. Only a moment later was she clinging at her throat and sounding like she was choking. Jetstorm rushed forward wanting to help but Elita held him back.
"It's ok papa." Stormwing explained. "You see. We breaking the spell!"
Jetstorm looked at his son confused but watched when his concern turned to shocked.
Her green feathers turned into a bright friendly purple, whatever little green that she had it was bright, and her face had such softer features. Her harsh red optics where now a soft blue, and her voice sounded ever so light. "What…..happened to me?"
The yellow femme patted her shoulder "An improvement."
"Darkfire?" Jetstorm stepped closer.
"I… think it would be better…. if you called me Phoenix." She smiled.
"I can work with that." He returned the gesture and set the twins down in front of her.
Phoenix bent to down to them with saddened optics. "Stormwing….Jetbird…..I just want to say….I am so sorry for all those years I've mistreated you. And for all those times I never said I love you when deep down I knew I did. Can you forgive me? And give me another chance?"
They looked at her, then each other and back to her again; but with large smiles crossing their faces. "Of course we do mama." They hugged her tightly as she swooped them into her arms.
"As sweet as this all is I better get going." Said Elita. "Here," she handed the blue bag to Jetstorm. "I think this will help you for quite some time." With a turn on her pede she waved, heading back into the woods. "Now if you'll excuse me; I have my own new life to get to."
"Bye!" the twins waved.
"What's in the bag dear?" Phoenix asked, holding up the twins.
"HOLY PRIMUS!" He cried. "JEMS!"
"Really?!"
"Ya mama," giggled Jetbird "Now papa won't have to work anymore."
"Hehe that right angel" he kissed her helm, Phoenix kissing Stormwing's. "We be happy for long time."
"As long as where together…as a loving family." Phoenix cuddled her twins close, Jetstorm hugging her at the hip.
"As a loving family!" the twins jeered.
THE END
Hope you enjoyed!