The firm, large hand resting on her back brought Gretel back to the world of the living with a start. Flinching away from the unknown contact, every muscle radiated with white hot agony. She frozen in place with a sharp gasp in an attempt to appease her body's protests and quiet the pain. Edward lowered his head into her line of sight, his eyes conveying concern more articulately than his words ever could.

"I'm alright," she pressed through clinched teeth. Looking around she took in the state of her two other companions, both unmoving on the ground. "Help Ben," Gretel managed, surprising herself with how even her voice was.

The troll looked at her as if to argue, but the determined look in her eye caused him to move over to the youngest member of their group as asked. He stopped short at the blood painting the rocky surface and steeled himself for the worst. Humans were very fragile and delicate, not the best for this line of work. With a gentle finger Edward poked at Ben's shoulder; the body moved limply but no measurable response from the soul that was supposed to dwell within.

With great care he slipped his hand beneath Ben's neck and raised the boy enough to lean against the troll's massive body. Ben's hair was matted with blood that seemed to be still oozing freely. The bigger motion caused the injured man to scrunch up his face and turn into Edward's warm hand but still he didn't open his eyes.

Edward's eyes paused on the red painting his hand; this was his friend's blood spilt. He never thought he would have people, human's no less, to call friends, let alone three and his silence had caused them harm. Quickly his hand roamed to the bottom of his shirt, ripping a stretch of fabric to wrap around Ben's wound and keep some of the precious liquid where it belonged.

With great determination, Gretel pulled her left leg underneath her. It was slow, agonizing work that left her panting but she managed to do it. Bracing herself with a deep breath she got her right leg underneath her, her hand coiling in a tight fist to give her something to focus on other than the pain. Finally on her knees she began to crawl towards Hansel. Carefully she moved each limb, trying not to aggravate them further and cause her to stop before she reached his side.

Hansel was eerily still and the familiar worry of losing him pressed upon her like a mountain. Her hands fluttered over every inch of him, frantically searching for any sign of injury, anything that would explain why he was unconscious. In the back of her mind she had a theory but it was too horrible to let see the light of day. She tried very hard not to replay events, Hansel's worried cry, the bright blue light that seemed to come from… It didn't happen like that, it couldn't have happened like that.

A relieved sigh filled the silent space, as Gretel found nothing more than scratches and small bruises on Hansel. One horror was eliminated and the steady rise and fall of his chest promised to keep her worst nightmare at bay. Without turning her head she called out, "How's Ben?"

The troll gave a throaty growl, pausing in his clumsy wrapping of the young man's head. "Not good. Alive."

It was all Gretel needed to hear at the moment; everyone was alive, that was something she could work with. "Hansel," she barked at the man in her arms, hoping to see those pale green eyes that offered her so much comfort whenever things were going so wrong. No response. Her heart hammering in her chest she slapped him across the face hoping to knock him back into this world. The unconscious hunter's brow creased minutely but he remained dead to the world.

"Hansel!" louder this time, the urgency tingeing the name with desperation. Gretel's hands coiled around his chest pressing him even tighter to her as though she could keep him in this world through sheer force. The weight of his prone body against her kept her grounded, reassured that maybe things could work out. They had survived worse before and lived to tell about it but what if they had used up their allotment of miracles already?

"We need to get them to the next town, see if they have a doctor…" Gretel voice shook, the words on the verge of cracking as they left her lips. She flinched, tightening her grip on Hansel as Edward's voice hit her with a force uncharacteristic of the gentle giant.

"No!" echoed off the weeping trees and stone cold cliffs. Gretel wasn't the only one startled by the shout, birds and other small woodland creatures that had taken refuge in the mighty trees when the fight began, risked fleeing their sanctuaries. Edward turned sharply to look at his friend. Her eyes were blurry with unshed tears and a look of fear he hadn't seen since she woke in his arms at the pond when they first met flashed across them. In a more subdued tone he added, "No towns, no people."

"They need help. This is no time to worry about people's reactions to us or you," she hissed through clenched teeth. Every second they wasted could mean the difference to both men.

The troll frowned and shook his head. She didn't understand, she couldn't understand, more importantly he lacked the words to make her understand just what was lurking on the horizon. This would not go unnoticed, it couldn't. They would sense it and come; the villages and towns would be the first places to look.

Very gently he scooped Ben into his arms and ambled over to where Gretel was still kneeling on the ground. Slowly, as not to jostle the damaged boy anymore, he laid him next to the pair of hunters. Gretel's eyes were glued to him, following his every movement with a wariness he'd never felt before. There was tension between them, where none had existed before and it weighed on Edward. "Take care of them," he said. His voice was remorseful; there was more he wanted to do, to say but it had to be this way. With a heavy heart he took his first step away, moving through the darkening forest and away from his friends.

Gretel watched in horror as Edward started to walk away. Her anxiety began to rise as she looked at Ben then back to Hansel. She wasn't sure she could stay on her own two feet right now, let alone move either of her companions and the troll was just leaving? "Edward! Where are you going?" she cried, but the retreating figure didn't look back, didn't even stop. "Edward," she whispered into the twilight; a silent prayer, that like all others she had made, went unanswered.

The young woman slumped forward, defeat coating every fiber of her being. A feeling of loneliness unlike anything she had ever felt poured into her chest, stealing her breath. She had to do something, Hansel and Ben were counting on her but the constant throb that ran through her body made it hard to think. The vastness of the forest dwarfed them, leaving Gretel feeling small and week in its wake; her best hope had just abandoned them. There was no way she could carry one of them let alone two, assuming she could find her way to the next town. The area was unfamiliar and regretfully she hadn't been giving Ben her full attention when he was prattling on about the area, future work and the distance to the next town.

A crack of thunder rattled the sky before the harsh whispers of the wind foretold of the coming storm. Ignoring the sharp, almost violent protests from her body, she managed to find her feet once again. Using one of the only skills she remembered from her father, one that was well honed through years of vagrancy, she began to fashion a shelter in the crock of a nearby rock formation. It wasn't anything to be proud of, but it was a shelter, something to keep them warm through the night until Gretel could come up with some sort of plan to get them out of the mess they so often found themselves.

The last of her strength gave out just as she dragged Ben's body in the shelter. Darkness had descended blanketing the forest in dark nothingness which was held at bay by the modest fire the hunter had managed to start. Gretel fell asleep to the pitter-patter of rain, wedged tightly between her two companions as she huddled them together for warmth.