Leaving a house made of sweets was a girl carrying a lantern in one hand, and a sword in the other. The lantern glowed with purple flames, and within the fire, a floating white sphere could be seen. The girl spoke to the lantern, the cage, with happiness and longing, as though it were the normal thing to do
"Brother… I came back to the house"
She paused
"No, I could not find the witch. Don't worry, I will protect you no matter what"
"She speaks to her brother?"
"She speaks to a head"
"Who are you!" The girl yells out, hugging the lantern close to her chest, ignoring the flame burning her skin though her hood
"We will guide you"
"We will show you"
"Brother, is it the witch? Is she here!?"
"The witch is long dead"
"Your brother is long-"
"Don't worry Hansel, I'll keep you safe. You'd do the same for me after all..."
The girl spoke to the lantern, either ignoring the puppets in front of her or being unable to acknowledge their existence. Waiting not for a response, Gretel continued her walk in the forest, leaving the candy house behind. She kept her view on the lantern, speaking to it and answering to silent responses that never left the flames in the cage she held.
"Does she know we're here?"
"Will she accept we're here?"
"What is it, brother? Our author?" Gretel asks the lantern, tilting her head, "If it's what you want, I'll bring him back, just for you"
"You must kill to make that happen"
"You must kill to bring him back"
"If it's what you want, I'll kill the witch and anyone else who gets in the way"
Parrah and Noya looked at each other with blank stares, turning back to Gretel, who was gently caressing the bars on the cage she held in her hand. While she walked she had a glazed look in her eyes, paying attention only to her brother, leaving her body in charge of maneuvering around in the forest. She began to speak once more to the lantern, asking mundane questions such as "What should I make for dinner" and "What happened to the bread crumbs you dropped?". Though all that could be heard was the crackle of the purple flames, Gretel nodded enthusiastically as though receiving a satisfactory answer to everything she asked
"She is stuck in an illusion"
"She lives inside a delusion"
The puppets turned to Gretel once more and began to laugh, their voices echoing in the forest, with hollow, empty, monotonous giggling filling the air around them. Gretel's lips twitched momentarily and continued on to her brother
"We don't have much food, brother," she said slowly, "if we ever get hungry… please eat me"
Gretel paused, nodding her head slowly
"It's as you said, if needed, I would do the same to you"
"Gross..."
"She's gross..."
Gretel slowly vanished into the forest, her figure shrinking in the darkness that surrounded her and her brother. Her voice and her laughter, directed at her brother, slowly faded away and were drowned out by the silence of the forest, where Parrah and Noya were left staring with their lifeless eyes, and shrugged their arms stiffly, shaking their heads
"Hopeless"
"Delusional"
"Lost in herself"
"Void of reason"
"Has she desires?"
"She's deprived of ambition"
"Consumed by depravity?"
"No, but the next one is"
"A damsel in distress?"
"If the glass shoe fits…"
Laughing once more, the puppets vanished and sought after the next story character: a princess covered in cinders, not from the fireplace she once slept next to, but of the burning remains from those who got in her way
