FIRST HANSEL AND GRETEL FIC.
Hansel flipped off his feet, whirling around to face the witch that had knocked him down in the first place. He was tired. He didn't want to banter, or threaten like he usually would. Gretel was down, protected somewhere in a corner. Or so he hoped. He turned in circles, calmly looking for the witch whose type he hadn't bothered to note. This was the fourth witch of the day and he couldn't have cared less.
"Can we get on with this, I have somewhere I need to be." He called wearily into the darkness. A hiss sounded from behind him and he spun on the heel of his combat boots, whipping his fist into her cheekbone, doubling her over with a punch to her gut. Movement out of the corner of his eye automatically drew his attention and he instinctively turned his back on the witch. "Ben?" he shouted angrily. "I told you to stay with the cart!" he yelled furiously, only getting a second of reprieve to watch the younger boy crouch down beside Gretel before he got the butt of an axe to the back, sending him stumbling forward. He recovered, regaining his balance, only to find that the witch had once again disappeared.
"Hansel." A choked voice called. Gretel sat up in the corner, conscious but still groggy by the looks of it. But she wasn't the one who had called for him. The witch stood in front of his sister, Ben suspended by her fingers in the air. Hansel glanced discreetly at Gretel, nodding minutely. She tilted her head in understanding, reaching inside her skin tight leather coat.
"Ben, watch me, got it?" Hansel growled lowly.
"Yeah." Ben's chin quivered slightly in fear he didn't want to show. He wanted to be brave like Hansel, like Gretel even. Still, he was young, inexperienced and worked with witch murderers for a living. He was entitled to a breakdown. Just not at this moment.
"Now, Gretel!" he shouted, diving forward while Gretel rose up on her knees and plunged her dagger into the witch's back. The witch howled, turning on Gretel and letting Ben fall to the dusty hardwood floor. Gretel cringed away from the witch; something she would usually be ashamed of if she weren't injured, exhausted, bordering blacking out, and trapped in a corner. As the witch raised her arm above her head, preparing to bring her axe down on the witch hunter, she was knocked to the side by a heavy body barreling into her. Hansel glared down at her with the angriest expression Ben had seen on his idol's face yet. "Don't go near my sister." He growled, repeatedly slamming his fist into the witch's face. She writhed underneath him, wriggling her hand in the little space there was between the man's body weight and the floor to reach her wand. Hansel watched as an evil smile spread across the witch's face, letting the hunter know she'd reached her wand. As Hansel was thinking of a way to get away from her quick enough, Ben hurled himself between them so that he was awkwardly splayed out over the witch's chest.
But whatever he had meant to do, had worked. At least in the teenager's mind. He cried out as his body intercepted the spell, suspending him in the air for the second time that day. The witch pushed Hansel off of her, using his momentary preoccupation to her advantage and swinging the axe into Ben's torso without hesitation or regret. Ben fell to the ground one again, and Gretel crawled towards him. Hansel took a deep breath.
"You mess with my sister, and the kid?" he growled dangerously. "Big mistake." He concluded, whipping another weapon out of the pack on his back. "Gretel!" he warned.
"On it!" she shouted back, bending over Ben covering her head in preparation. She didn't watch the witch explode, or look at the burning pieces of her body raining down around them as Hansel fired one of the more dangerous weapons they possessed.
"She's…" Hansel started, propping the weapon up against his shoulder. "Gretel?" he asked. "Ben." He remembered, jogging towards his sister and her friend. "Is he?" he asked quietly, laying a hand on his sister's back. Ben's torso was almost severed in half, proving he was long gone. She nodded, covering her mouth with her blood painted hands. Hansel wound one arm around her shoulder and the other around her waist, pulling her against his chest. Gretel clutched her brother's jacket, letting herself show weakness, even if it was only to him. He tracked his fingers through her undone braid, hushing her and holding her as tight as his injuries would allow.
"He shouldn't have…We told him to stay…I shouldn't have let him…Hansel, its my fault." She cried. He rested his cheek on the top of her head.
"Gretel, no. It's not your fault." He assured her. He was never any good to her when she cried. Hansel had never been able to figure out what to say when she was upset. He'd soon learned that her breakdowns were worse when she was alone, so he held her and did his best to calm her down. The familiar beeping emitted from his watch and Hansel immediately started to feel dizzy. Gretel flipped out of his arms and pushed him back to lean against the wall while she sifted through the leather pouch for the syringe. Her fingers quickly brushed against it, and she wasted no time plunging it into his thigh and emptying its contents into his blood stream. He leant forward and clutched his head. Gretel stood in front of him, tears still streaming down her face as she twisted her fingers into his short brunette hair, pulling his head against her stomach.
"We should go." She whispered. "Before Edward decides to come in and save us." She muttered, voice breaking. He nodded but didn't move. Gretel sighed, realizing in that second just how beat up he was. She grabbed his hand in hers, pulling him forward and off his feet. Pausing, she dropped down on one knee, pressing a kiss to Ben's forehead. Hansel squeezed her hand as more tears leaked out of her brown eyes.
"Come on, sis." He whispered. She didn't need to be here when the bugs came. She dragged the back of her hand over her eyes, before standing under her brother's arm and supporting his weight as they left the witch's cottage. And Ben.
REVIEW IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN MORE TO THIS.