This rendition of Hansel and Gretel will be featuring two characters from Kingdom Hearts. I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the Grimm Brother's enchanting tales. Enjoy the first of, hopefully, many more installments.

"She's trying to off us," a fifteen year old Roxas whispered.

"You're just imagining things." Sora shook his head. Roxas was always coming up with ludicrous summations especially since their father remarried. Maybe he wasn't over their mother's death. It had only been five years. But Heide was such a sweet lady. She made them cookies that smelled like heaven and had the face of an angel.

"We're just on a normal family outing," Sora replied. The brothers were walking behind their father and stepmother.

Roxas sighed deeply, rolling his eyes. "When she first moved in she almost fed me arsenic."

"It's the same color as the salt. You can't really blame her for that."

"She tried to mix mercury into your hair gel."

"She only wanted to help its gravity defying-ness."

"Heide tried to stab me with a butcher's knife."

"Ugh, I keep telling you she was just sharpening it and it slipped from her hands."

"Sora you were in that room with us. You know very well that didn't happen." Continuing Roxas said, "Just last week she tried to burn the house down-"

"A common mistake-"

"With us in it!" Roxas whisper-yelled.

"Uh," was the unintelligent response of the eldest. He scratched his head in semi-defeat and shrugged. Sora may have been the older one, by a year, but he was dense as the woods they were walking through. "She's just getting used to us. We're the only kids she's ever had to take care of. She'll warm up to us in no time." A grin spread across his face.

"If you say so." Roxas crossed his arms. "I don't know if we'll last puberty let alone the next month. I saw her come back from the apothecary's with at least three baskets full."

"Probably restocking our medicine cabinet," Sora waved him off.

"Or trying to kill us."

Klaus, Heide, Sora, and Roxas were on a family outing that morning.

"We should all get some fresh air while spring is still young." Heide had suggested.

Roxas was beginning to regret that decision the moment he said "I guess."

Sora and Roxas were lost not too long after.

"I wonder where they went." Sora took another look at his surroundings.

"You're so einfältig, Sora."

"Am not."

"They lost us on purpose."

"And why, dear brother, would they do such a thing?"

"More food for them. Haven't you been listening to them lately?"

"No…should I have-"

"There's not enough food for the four of us. Father's business is in sore straits."

"Yeah ever since that dolt caught an attitude in the store people have stopped coming as frequently."

"Back to what I was saying. I heard them talking last night," Roxas continued.

"Yeah you were rattling about something or the other."

"I heard Heide saying that they should get rid of the both of us, Sora."

"We just got lost that's all. I get lost all the time."

"Yes, sadly you do. But seriously. I couldn't sleep last night so I got up to get some water. Heide was talking to Father. She said "There are too many mouths to feed. And we might have another on the way. We can't afford to feed all of them. They need to go."

Sora began to feel the reality of the situation sink in. "So Father agreed with her," he said sullenly.

"Sora," Roxas placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hey it'll be ok. We can make it home."

"How?"

"I left some stones on a path to our home. You know, the brightly colored ones we collected at the beach. So we'll be able to find our way home no problem."

"I still can't believe I ate her brownies and cakes," Sora pouted.

"There there." Roxas comforted his older brother as they made their way back through the woods.

"Ok I'll get something from the garden." Heide was speaking to herself. Klaus was at the shop and Heide needed to have supper in the pot before he got home.

A meager garden at that. This is not what I signed up for at all. When I married Klaus I thought I would have a comfortable life. After all, his tool shop was the only one in town. He is so well liked. But then the lands had to go bad, the rains were awful. The locusts destroyed what was left. Then that idiot of a son had to mouth off at one of the town's most well-liked nobles. So what if he pushed him around a little? Business is food in our mouth. And now no one dares to enter our shop for fear of the repercussions. We'll starve to death like the poor in the streets.

Heide made her way into the small garden located behind the house.

Hmm this carrot will do. And it's just enough for the two of us since those two Neanderthals are gone. I almost feel bad for lying to poor Klaus about being with child, but we have to be realistic. Those two are eating us out of house and home. We've not the means to provide for all of us. Besides they could always learn to fish or whatever it is people do in the woods.

Hmm maybe I'll even throw in a few potatoes.

The sun had begun its decent and cast small shadows on the garden. Heide picked up her produce and rose when she heard laughing from a distance.

"Sora you can't play with that maiden like that." Roxas said.

"Pshh she's knows I'm just flirting with her."

"Yeah and when Selphie kills you, or worse tries to get you to marry her, then you're on your own."

I thought I left them to die! What is this? Mother fu-

"Hello boys." Heide rushed up to greet them. "We thought you would never make it back." She had dropped her vegetables and placed both arms around them. Hugging them close she continued, "I thought you were lost. Oh Klaus and I had stopped to pick some delicious berries. The next I knew you two were out of our sight." She brought a hand to her chest. "I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you."

"Um you've only known us for a year."

"Well you've certainly grown on me." Heide picked up her dropped food and started walking towards the house with the boys in tow. "Your father is going to be so excited." She turned around to hide a scowl that began forming on her face.

Hänsel und Gretel

"Heide, honey I'm home," Klaus said dejectedly. After leaving his beloved sons in the woods to die, working long hours in a ghost town of a shop was the last thing on his mind. He had let Heide go home hours earlier. This gave him time to wallow in his guilt.

I really wish I hadn't agreed to Heide. What was I thinking? I'd rather us all be together as a family even if it means starving. I can't believe I willingly separated my family. Will this really help our financial problems? I don't think so. I don't even know if this will help the baby we have on the way. What if she wants to do the same to him or her? I don't know that I could bear to do this ever again. Oh Angelika please forgive me. You would never have let this happen if you were still here. Maybe you would've been the voice of reason in this dark and despairing time.

Klaus set his hat on the coat rack and walked into the living area.

"Hey Father. How was work?" Sora asked bright eyed.

Klaus stopped dead in his tracks. "So-Sora?" he asked in disbelief.

"Father." Roxas appeared before him.

"My boys! How did- the forest was it- Oh my." Klaus wrapped his children in a bear hug as he sobbed. "I thought I lost you." His grip tightened. Klaus resolved to never let his err in judgment cause him to make the same decision ever again.

"Your father will be so surprised when he sees what we've caught for him. Bachpricke is his favorite!" Heide exclaimed. She had convinced the younger men to come fishing with her by the river in the woods. Two months had passed since their venture into the woods and Roxas had sworn never to go back. Sora was convinced at the prospect of food but his younger half wasn't going to let him go with the wicked stepmother of theirs. Heide was holding a bag with the Bachpricke inside. When they finally reached a clearing so turned to give them instructions.

"Ok now you two fetch some wood so we can start a small fire. I'll go look for some berries. Then we can roast these fish."

"Ok," Sora said jovially.

You einfältig, Roxas thought as he shook his head. It was only a matter of time before that hag left them to die again. Sora was too dense to realize that.

Roxas was correct in his summation.

"Aaaaand we're lost again," Roxas said. That evil wench.

"What the-" Sora looked around the empty clearing.

"I knew she was up to no good."

"What do you think Father is going to do when he finds out?"

"She'll get kicked out. Even if she has a bun in the oven."

"Please tell me you did the same thing like the first time this happened." Sora asked.

"Yes, but this time I left bread."

"Bread?"

"I couldn't find the stones anywhere. Heide must've taken them. I took a loaf from the pantry."

Hänsel und Gretel

"Roxas we've been wandering for hours. There's no sign of the bread trail."

"Blasted birds ate it then."

So they continued deeper into the forest. Roxas seething with frustration and hunger.

"This would've never happened if Mother was still alive."

Sora sighed. He loved their mother just as much as Roxas, but he had let her death go. The persistent cough she had was just too much for her frail, lithe body. The doctors just couldn't cure her or do anything to prolong her life. But she was just as beautiful in her suffering as she was in her life.

Roxas and Sora's mother had the most beautiful tresses that were like the 'sweetest dark chocolate from Belgium' as their father had put it. Sora and Roxas loved playing in it. Braiding it or using twigs and flowers to decorate it.

On the other hand Heide's mane was a fiery mess. She always wore it in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. It reminded Sora of the hot, sweet candy that Klaus often brought home. It had a lovely sweet taste when you first experienced it. But once you delved further into the experience it become overbearing. And if you weren't too careful it could tear your insides to shreds. Roxas had a similar feeling about Heide's hair.

"Her hair is red because she has no soul," he commented.

"She works for the devil himself," Sora joined in.

"She has Father under a voodoo spell of some sort."

"I hope they burn her at the stake."

Roxas stopped in his tracks wide-eyed. "Um I agree with you there. But it's surprising to hear this from you."

"Rox you-"

"Don't call me that."

"She may have been the best pastry chef ever but she still tried to turn our father against us and kill us. Twice."

"You decide to listen to me when we're fending for ourselves in the woods. Einfältig."

"Stop calling me that. I am not stupid." Sora turned to look ahead of them. "What's that in the distance?"

"Looks like some house. Maybe they can help us."

"Maybe they have food," Sora rubbed his stomach as it growled.

"Is that all you think about?"

"Pretty much."

"Rhetorical question, Sora."

Hänsel und Gretel

"Helloooo?" Sora called out as Roxas knocked on the odd pastry-like door.

Roxas touched the violet doorknob with interest. "Why is it soft?" As he pulled his hand away he rubbed the crystal-like residue on his pants. "How odd."

"Different decorators' maybe. The Hans Brother's seem to be making more of those strange 'fairytale' homes."

"Yeah remember that castle made of glass?"

"Didn't last very long with peeping toms and all." They both snickered.

"But this is certainly peculiar." Roxas put his hand up to the window sill that was made with green and white swirls.

"Ish tash pretty goof if you ashk me." Sora said with his mouthful.

"Why are you talking like that?" Roxas turned to see what was obstructing his brother's speech. "You- did you tear that from the house? You can't eat someone's home!"

Sora had broken off a piece of the door mantle. "Pshh no one lives in here. It looks empty. Want some," Sora held his hand out.

"Smack smack, chew chew. Whatever now, am I going to do?" someone from inside the house said.

Both teens froze at the third voice that accompanied them. Turning around in fear Roxas whispered, "Sora I knew someone lived here. Now they're going to chop off our hands for eating their home."

"Oh stop worrying. Maybe it's just a recording," Sora replied. "I don't know whatever you are talking about. Don't call the cops and we'll be out." He spoke to the 'recording.'

"Sora that'll never work-

"Be on your way and in good peace and may the eating of my house cease," the voice replied.

"Well I guess it did," Sora said smugly.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Come on let's get out of here."

"But let me get a snack for our way out."

"No don't-" before Roxas could stop him, Sora had ripped the doorknob right off.

Roxas gasped. "What have you done, you idiot!"

They both heard creaking of a chair.

"Uh oh," Sora said with his mouthful.

Meanwhile Roxas was looking around frantically.

"We need to get out of here. Or find a place to hide. Don't just stand there!" While Roxas was desperately trying to fit himself into a flower pot Sora just stood there eating his treat.

They could hear shuffling and the tapping of a cane against the floor. The youngest brother grew desperate in fitting his legs into the small pot and it tipped over with him in it. The gingerbread door swung open.

"Um hello ma'am," Roxas said from the ground. Sora shoved the rest of the delectable sugary goodness into his mouth.

"Oh my, you really were eating my house." A small hunched over woman who looked old enough to be a grandmother was standing in front of them. She was wearing a dark pink dress with a white and red shawl draped over her shoulders. Her plump presence gave the appearance that she was well-off. Sora was hoping this would be true.

"We're lost," Sora said after swallowing his goodies. He decided to play up their act if they were to get off scot free. "Our stepmother left us out here to die. We-we just stumbled upon your little cottage." Sora started to sniffle. "And I just couldn't help myself. So I just ate. And I'm so sorry. We were just so hungry. My little brother and I have been traveling for days. I'm so glad we found you." Here he clutched the bottom of the old lady's skirts. "Please show mercy on us!"

"Oh you poor things. What a tragic event for you. You don't have anywhere to go, do you?" She asked as she adjusted her white bonnet.

The brothers shook their heads.

"Well you can take lodge in my house until you do." She introduced herself as Grandma Hilda and agreed to let the brothers stay in her house as long as they wanted. "On one condition." She looked at the eldest. "Do not eat what's left of my house."

The grandmother sat Roxas and Sora down at the kitchen table and let them eat until their stomachs were about to burst; Freshly squeezed apple juice, meat and potatoes, borscht, bread and butter, streusel, marzipan, and Berliner. As the sun was setting, she showed them to a decent sized room with two beds waiting for them with clean linen. The next day Grandma Hilda made a hearty breakfast for them, much like the dinner they had the previous night.

"In exchange for staying here, do you think you boys could help me with some housework? My bones are old and I can't get around the way I used to."

So off both of them went. Cleaning the dishes, weeding the garden, sweeping the floors and things of the like. Grandma Hilda made sure to make them a hearty lunch and dinner as well.

Sora and Roxas spent the next two weeks with Grandma Hilda. Them helping her with chores around the house and her fattening them up. It was surprising that they didn't suffer from heart burn or clogged arteries.

One night Roxas got up for a glass of water and passed by the old lady's room.

She was cackling to herself. But she looked much different in appearance. In place of her pink robes was a dark purple dress and black pointy hat. Her skin was green and her nails black and sharp. "I can't wait til they're nice and fat! Oh they'll be sweet and juicy after I roast them."

Roxas did a double take to make sure his sleepiness wasn't affecting his eyesight. After making sure what he saw wasn't imagined he quickly retreated to his shared room. He shook Sora awake. "Sora, Sora," he whispered. "We need to get out of here. That witch is gonna eat us when we're fat and ready."

"No, what are you talking about?" Sora rolled over on his other side.

"I just heard her."

"Now who sounds like a fool? Just go back to bed. You were probably dreaming."

Roxas went back to bed, but didn't dismiss what he heard.

As the next week passed by Roxas started paying more attention to Grandma Hilda's interactions with them. He didn't eat much when she cooked a banquet. He tried to persuade Sora to follow suit but to no avail.

Hänsel und Gretel

"You know she's fattening you up just to eat you."

Sora stopped with a chicken leg by his mouth. "No Roxas, you're just looking for something bad to harp on. You did the same with Heide."

"Yeah and she turned out to be the evil wench I made her out to be," Roxas said.

"Yeah yeah." Sora waved him off. "That may be the case but Grandma Hilda isn't like that. Who takes in orphans out of the goodness of their hearts and feeds them like they're kings?" Roxas said nothing. "Exactly."

Roxas sighed. "When she tries to put you in the stove don't say anything." He got up to work on the shed outside. He poked Sora in the stomach before leaving. "You've put on like fifteen pounds, tubby." They had been taking residence in the old lady's home for three weeks.

"Ugh whatever," Sora said before stuffing another crepe into his mouth.

Later that afternoon Grandma Hilda was mixing a bowl of cookie dough. "Sora dear, could you please help me?"

"Sure thing Grandma Hilda." He waddled over to the counter. "What are you making?"

"Oh just some cookies deary. Could you please turn the oven on? I want them to be ready by the time Roxas gets back."

"Sure thing." Sora walked over to the oven and started placing some logs in the compartment underneath the metal stove. He lit a match and watched as the stove got hotter and hotter.

"Now can you check to see if it's hot enough?" Grandma Hilda asked with an evil glint in her eye.

Sora stuck his hand close to the outside of the stove. "Feels warm enough to me."

Grandma Hilda came closer to the oven. "You'll have to crawl into the oven and feel it from the back." She backed away from the oven and let Sora look into it.

"I can do that," he said before sticking his head in. "Hello~ anyone in there? It feels the same to me."

Sighing Grandma Hilda said, "Honestly, for someone of sixteen years of age, you would think that you could work a kitchen appliance." She sighed. "I'll show you how to do it." She climbed into the oven.

Sora was resting his arm on the counter when he slipped, taking down some utensils and bowls with him. He slipped onto the floor, bumping Grandma Hilda into the, now hot, oven. One of the wooden spoons lodged itself in the oven handle.

Sora was lying on the floor when Roxas rushed in. "You ok? I heard noise from outside. Sora-what kind of mess did you make?"

The bowl with cookie batter was on the floor as well as wooden and metal spoons. The counters were wet with milk and water.

"I just slipped. It was an accident."

Roxas sighed. "Where's the granny?"

"Uhm…..I don't know?"

"You don't know?" Roxas scanned the kitchen. "So what's cooking?"

"Oh. I think I know where she is." They both turned to look into the oven.

"You cooked her?" Roxas exclaimed.

"No she must've fallen in when I slipped."

"So what do we do now?"

"I guess we ransack her house."

"Sounds good to me."

So off the brothers went to raid the old witch's house. They left with jewels, gold, and a copious amount of food.

"So we killed a witch, stole her gold and food, and now we're on our way to home?"

"Sounds about right," Roxas replied.

"I'm going to miss her baked goods and borscht," Sora said while rubbing his stomach.

"Is all you think about food?"

"Yes," Sora replied without missing a beat.

"What's that up ahead?"

They had come across a river.

"How do we get across this?" Roxas asked as he put his sack down.

There were no boats in the area. It was just trees and the large expanse of water before them.

"How about those geese!" Sora pointed to a few of the birds to their right.

"Woah. These aren't normal birds," Roxas said. The geese were as tall as the brothers. And just about as fat as the old witch had been.

"Eh whatever," Sora said. He picked up his pack and made his way onto a goose. Roxas shrugged and followed his lead. They placed their goody bags on the backs on the geese and climbed on.

"This is the strangest thing ever," Sora commented as the geese began to swim.

"Stranger than the candy house and the witch?"

"Yes."

Roxas shook his head. "After all that we've been through I don't think anything would surprise me."

"Hey look up there!" Sora exclaimed. There was a small flock of flying pigs.

"I really have seen everything," Roxas said as a sweat droplet rolled down his face.

Hänsel und Gretel

"Hey I know where we are."

"Oh my God, I'm going to expire right here," Sora panted.

As he was catching his breath Roxas took in his surroundings. It looked like the same woods where Heide had 'lost' them.

"We're close. So the house should be right over there." Roxas looked down at Sora who was lying on the ground. "Come on lazy." He nudged the older brother with his shoe.

They made their way passed the clearing and some oak trees.

"What should we tell Father?" Roxas asked.

"The truth I guess," Sora said.

"That we killed a witch and ransacked her home?"

"Yes? Although he probably won't believe it anyways." Sora waved it off.

"He probably also won't believe that Heide is a lying hag of a-"

"Ohoho my boys. I'm glad that you're back. But I really don't believe your little 'adventure.' A witch and a gingerbread house. You must be delirious from hunger. But I do have to ask, whose house did you steal from?" Klaus had run to greet both boys as he saw them approaching the meager cottage. He was ecstatic that they weren't dead. But he didn't believe a word they said about the evil witch and her house made of sugared treats.

"Told you he wouldn't believe us," Sora said.

They were all sitting in the living area on the couch relating their tales.

"Father," Roxas looked around, "where's Heide?"

"Well after finding out that she was not with child I was at my wits end. The day you two disappeared she had told me that wild animals had run off with you. Now I knew that couldn't be true. Sora, I love you, but you are such a couch potato. The outdoors is like an enemy to you. And I know that Roxas is smarter than to let some wild beast out best him. I didn't want to think badly of her, but I let it go for the sake of the child. I tried many many times to look for you, but to no avail."

"So how'd you know Heide wasn't pregnant?"

"Found her in the town's pub, drunk as a skunk. She went through five pitchers of brew before I dragged her home." Klaus shook her head. "A woman who is with child, or at least cares for her unborn child, would not indulge in such activities. I divorced her and now she's….Well I'm not sure where she is."

"Well good. She can't have any of our gold and riches," Roxas said.

"Now let me see about these 'riches' you are speaking so highly of," Klaus said.

Bag after bag that Klaus went through was filled with riches fit for a king. On top of all the food Sora had taken, they had enough rubies and emeralds to open a jewelry business. The gold covered the entire floor and weighed more than all three of the men put together. They would never have to go hungry again.

Hope you liked it!

Sook