Hammerschlag Presents: A Very Merry Christmas Special 2017 Episode 6: Chadsel and Cathel
So this is my second story in my little Semi AU in which Cath and Chad were siblings, and added bonus, Matthew and Leila were their parents. Enjoy!
Cath and Chad were falling behind on their chores. Chad was too hungry to focus on work, and Cath was simply bored with the droll task of cleaning a kitchen.
"Cath, is there really nothing to eat?" Chad moaned.
"Chad, when we finish our chores, I'm sure Mother will reward us with something," Cath sighed.
"But who knows when she's going to be home? I need food now!"
"…Alright. If you promise you won't tell," Cath whispered, grabbed a chair and climbed on it to reach a jar above the fridge. Chad's eyes widened and his mouth watered.
"The neighbors brought this over, as they felt sorry for our hardships." Before Cath could blink, Chad snatched it from her and began to sing and dance. His charisma proved infectious, as Cath soon joined in. An hour past, then another, then finally Leila walked in the door. Upon seeing his mother, Chad gasped and dropped the jar onto the floor, shattering it."
"You haven't cleaned the kitchen, yet you're singing, dancing, and breaking the only reserves we have?" Leila was incredulous.
"Mother, please forgive us," Cath's eyes began to well up.
"Go to the woods and gather some wild berries, then you will have earned my forgiveness," Leila folded her arms and sent her children out with a wicker basket, "do not return until the basket is full."
"Yes, mother," the children said in unison and walked out the door.
"Oh, what am I going to do with them," Leila put her hands over her eyes.
"Worry not, my dear! A great bounty is here!" Matthew cheered as he ran through the door, a large sack over his shoulder. Leila's eyes lit up as her husband emptied its contents onto the table: greens, potatoes, and meats galore, enough to last at least a week.
"Matthew, how ever did you get such a large quantity?" Leila said, her mouth watering.
"Come now, Leila, I'm me!" Matthew winked, which more was enough for his wife to infer his methods, "now where are the children. They should help prepare tonight's supper!"
"They did not complete their chores, so I sent them to the woods to gather berries."
"The woods?! Are you crazy?!"
"What?"
"In the woods lies an evil witch and her servants, all of whom eat stray children regularly! Not one child who has ventured into that dark place has ever returned!"
"Oh, no! What do we do?!"
"We have to find them! Gather your weapons from the old days, we must make haste!"
Chad and Cath wandered the forest, searching for the berries their mother instructed them to find. The time of night did not make things easy, as the trees appeared dark and the bushes darker.
"Oh, Cath, how are we supposed to find berries at this rate?"
"I have faith that God will show us the way." As the young girl said that, the moon appeared from behind the clouds and caused the berries on the bushes to glisten, as well as several flowers sprawled over the ground. Chad then ran off to gather berries as Cath weaved herself a circlet from the flowers before her feet.
"My dear Cath, how queenly you look with that crown!" Chad smiled as he looked back at his sister, "Queen of the Forest, you should be named!"
"If I am your Queen, then present me with your gifts," Cath laughed cockily.
"As you wish, Your Highness!" Chad ran to his sister, knelt at her feet and presented her with the basket full of berries, "I present to you these fine berries, and I shall guard them as we return to our mother with them."
"Yes, but first, I shall taste one to make sure they are of the utmost quality!" Cath took a berry from the basket, and as she ate it her eyes lit up.
"Oh, Chad, this might be the greatest thing I've ever tasted! You must try one!" The young boy acquiesced, and before they knew it, the two had consumed the entire bowl. They laid prostrate on the grass before them, their bellies more full than they had been in years. It was then a tiny man came out from the darkness.
"I am the sandman, and I shall claim you for my lady," the man smiled, and from the flowers on the ground and weaved on Cath's head created an intoxicating sand that caused the two children to fall asleep, but not before Cath could utter one final prayer,
"When in need or dark despair, God will surely hear our prayer." As she collapsed, fourteen angels descended from on high to watch over the children as they slept, leaving with the stars as the sun rose over the trees.
Chad and Cath wake to see a fairy sprinkling dust over their bodies. The fairy bid them good morning and farewell, then revealed behind her a small gingerbread house. Curious about what it might entail, the siblings entered the house, seeing nothing but a great kitchen surrounded by life-sized gingerbread children. Then appeared the old woman.
"Hello there, children! Welcome to my humble abode," the woman said with the voice of a man.
"Who are you?" asked Cath.
"I am the owner of the house you stumbled upon! Now, you two look absolutely famished! Do your parents feed you nothing? Come, have some delicious sweets!" the woman said and used her magic to create enough cakes and candies to fill the table in the center of the room. Chad dug in immediately, but Cath was more reserved.
"How do we know this isn't some trick? The berries rendered us still, the flowers put us to sleep, how do we know this candy won't turn us into the gingerbread figures you have lying around?"
"Quite the precocious one, aren't you? I assure you I just want to fatten you up some, for your own benefit! Do I look like a liar to you?" the woman said with a smile, but her tone betrayed her intentions.
"Chad, we're leaving," Cath took her brother by the hand and ran to the door. Before they could leave however, the woman revealed herself to be a witch as she trapped them with her magic. She hoisted Chad onto the table, bound him and began to force-feed him.
"Yes, with some more fat in you, you'll make the perfect meal!" the witch chuckled, "come, girl, you will help me lest you yourself become food!" Cath, fearing her and her brother's safety acquiesced to the witch's commands. Chad, in the mean time, listened closely to the witch's words, hoping to conceive a plan to defeat her.
"Yes, once the girl gets close enough to the oven, I shall push her in and turn her into another gingerbread child to consume!" the witch said under her breath. Chad smiled as he devised his plan. When Cath walked over to check on him, Chad told her as much,
"My dear sister, the witch intends on pushing you into the oven to cook you. If you can unbind me, then get her to step in front of you near the oven, we can push her in together and escape!" Cath nodded and cut her brother's bindings, and sure enough, the witch called for her.
"Come, girl, I need you to check on the oven's temperature."
"And how do I do that, ma'am?" Cath said as she approached the witch.
"Open the oven door and lean in so you can read the thermometer."
"I don't know what that is… can you please show me."
"Oh, you silly girl!" the witch scoffed, opened the door and poked her head and hand in, indicating the thermometer's position. As she was distracted, Chad leapt from the table and assisted Cath in pushing the vile woman into the oven and closing it on her. The witch screamed as she burned, slowly turning into a gingerbread figure herself. Almost immediately afterward the gingerbread around the room began to break apart, revealing live children underneath. The children opened their eyes and looked upon their saviors. Cath and Chad smiled back at them and the whole lot began to dance, celebrating the fall of the witch. It was then that Matthew and Leila entered the house.
"Cath? Chad? Are you here?" Matthew called out.
"Here, father!" the two boys appeared from the crowd and hugged their parents. When they explained what happened, Leila simply shrugged,
"She got what she deserved. One who commits such atrocities will no doubt receive divine punishment."
"When the need is greatest, God the Lord puts out His hand," Matthew said and looked to the sky. The children repeated his words and the day itself brightened around them.
Originally, this was going to be purely light-hearted, but considering the dearth of spirituality amongst my other one-shots I've released today, I decided to add a little, which was in the original story. Hopefully it wasn't too distracting.
The writing tune for today is, fittingly, the opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck, the English version of which I saw live at the Metropolitan Opera House last week.