A/N:Hello there. This is a late update, and I've got no other excuses but for having to take care of my finals and another writer block. I apologize for that, and thank you Wolfa Moon, janechen88, Dean, Hansel lover101, and a guest for reviewing last chapter as well as anyone who had favorited/ followed this story of mine, I appreciated it a lot, your feedback had kept me going

ONLY DEATH AWAITS...

A "Hansel and Gretel" fanfiction

Hansel centric

Genre: Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/ Comfort, Family

Warning: This is a DARK fanfiction that includes torture, suicidal thoughts and attempts, violence, psychological problems, abandonment, incest, etc.

Pairing: HanselGretel, (a little) BenGretel

Disclaimer: I do not own the plot of "Hansel and Gretel: witch hunters" or any of the characters in this film.

Do NOT attempt to read this if you dislike any/ all of the above.

You have been warned!

And for the rest who are staying, please enjoy.

Chapter 5: Shadow

"How dare you?" Gretel said through gritted teeth, seething with anger as her eyes glared daggers at Ben, whose lips then were pressed into a thin line. " I have specifically told you to never touch Hansel's gun."

"I was just... joking with you." He tried, and it was a damn poor excuse.

"Joke not accepted." She hissed, voice low and alarmingly strained like she was about to snap at any time. And, yes, she was. "Do you have any idea what you have done just now?"

"How am I supposed to know that he was just going to wake up all rise-and-shine now, am I?!"

"That is completely besides the point, Ben! You're not supposed to touch Hansel's gun!" The brunette spelled out each words, eyes fixed upon him accusingly with all the anger and frustration boiling underneath her skin. He kept quiet for a while before setting the weapon in his hand down back to where it belonged and grabbed another one for himself, the gun with a long and slender barrel, then headed towards the door.

Gretel turned to pick up her own double crossbow then went over to Edward, the troll looked somewhat uncomfortable, it was probably because of what happened just now.

"Edward?" She called and placed a hand on his shoulder, his tensed muscles relaxed considerably when he hear the softness had returned to her voice. "Can you watch over Hansel for me while I'm gone?" He nodded with a soft grunt, not that he didn't like her asking him to do it, that was just the way he expressed himself. Edward didn't talk that much unless it was something really important and necessary. Him grunting didn't equal to him disagreeing.

"Thank you." Gretel whispered with a soft yet sad smile, her voice was slightly worn around the edges. "I'll be back soon." With that, she left as the door was shut behind her.

Heavy.

That was one of the few things Hansel could actually make out. His body, mind and soul felt incredibly heavy... like something was weighing him down. It was getting hard to breathe... Amidst this thick and cold fog that was wrapping itself around him, he could hear somebody whispering something. That was, by no means, Gretel's voice. And it made him feel jumpy inside. He was curious about what that voice was saying, yet nervous of figuring out the words that it was speaking.

His ears were beginning to ring annoyingly as the crease between his eyebrows deepened. The continual screeching sound that went through your ears when you couldn't hear anything was invading all his senses... slowly deafening him.

Breathe.

He told himself, willing himself to listen to that one single word of wisdom and clarity that was breaking through all of this hectic haze.

Breathe...

But he couldn't. He was listening to it, but he couldn't. His lungs were burning in his ribcage and every fiber of his muscles were screaming at him for straining himself too much just to breathe. Even so, he couldn't feel a tiny bit of air entering his nostrils or mouth... Sweats beaded down his forehead, he couldn't for the life of him decipher whether he was hot or cold anymore, and those whispers seeped into his ringing ears. And he thought that there was nothing but complete silence.

Just breathe!

He opened his mouth wide, painstakingly gasping yet, like before, nothing was get through to his body. His hands went up to wrapped themselves around his throat, dull nails digging into his skin desperately for something, anything! The stinging feeling around his eyes built up, his vision was blurring, not that there was much to look at in the first place, and he was starting to get extremely light-headed.

You can't even save yourself.

Hansel squinted his eyes to look around, startled that for a second there for he thought he heard someone saying something to him.

You did.

His throat tightened, if that was even possible. That was a voice, a clear voice speaking clear words. Clearer than any other sound he had ever heard, strangely clear that it felt almost like it was... it was inside his head. Hansel opened his mouth to try and say something back, but only a strangled sound came out.

You're such a burden, you know that?

Hansel's eyes widened as a jolt of pain shot through his skull.

They hadn't spoken a word ever since the argument, save for when the had to discuss their plan of attack with the town mayor, and Gretel intended to keep it that way. She didn't want to even be near him, not when this boiling anger still resided within her like a dead nail. What Ben did wasn't something that was so easily forgiven.

"Here you go." Gretel placed a small bundle of candy into the big hands of the troll, they had found out for a while now that Edward liked to have a little sweet every now and then. "Thank you." She whispered with a gentle smile and was answered with his usual grunt.

Opening the door leading to Hansel's room, she found him already fast asleep. A twinge touched her heart as she closed the door behind her then rushed to his bed side. He was whimpering, stirring restlessly in his sleep, it was a worrying sight, but at least it was miles and miles better than him being unresponsive.

She sat down and held his hand in hers, like she had always done, squeezing it tightly. "Hansel? Hansel." The brunette called, fear sparked in her voice at the thought of those vicious nightmares were once again plaguing his mind. Even when he had been under, no matter how subtle it was, she could never miss the discomfort in his expressions, undoubtedly seeing another dark memory arising. Hansel feared nothing, but when it came to her, he feared that anything and everything could happen to her, Gretel knew that for a fact. She had seen the worried glint in those beautifully intense yet sad eyes of her brother every time he turned his attention to her when they were mentioning even the tinniest of thing that would endanger her well-being. And she knew that all those times when she had come close to death and he wasn't around or couldn't protect her... all of that still haunted him.

Sometimes... she silently wished that sometimes Hansel should just be afraid of dark witches, the horrible and awful monsters that they killed during their jobs, instead of concentrating on planning and working up something that wouldn't mean harming her in the process. But there was nothing that he could do to fully and completely fend her off from the scary and pain-filled world. Sometimes, she really hoped that he would listen to her and understand that enveloping her in his arms wouldn't get them anywhere.

Sometimes... he needed to think for himself first. He never did listen... always too stubborn and proud to allow himself be swayed by her persuasion.

" Idiot." She whispered and kissed his knuckles softly with a sigh, fighting back the prickling tears at the corners of her eyes. Ever since their parents died, nothing had ever been the same again. That much was obvious, even so... Gretel still longed for those days where they had finished all their daily chores and would start racing through the woods, stretching out their arms to feel the cool rush of air passing by their skin. Laughing and playing and not caring about anything in the world except for what was right there and then. Those were the warmest and brightest memories of her life where the golden sunlight along with that care-free and innocent grin Hansel had had on his lips dominated over absolutely everything.

A strangled sound suddenly escaped his throat as the frown between her brother's eyes deepened, Gretel was immediately on high alert, leaning forward and closing the gap between them.

"Hansel?" She tried calling her again, specks of what was the beginning of panic sprinkled over her voice. Her other free hand came up to rest on his chest, feeling for the reassuring steady heart beat underneath the layers of clothes, skin, flesh and bones. It was still there though thumping ever so louder than before. "Hansel-..."

Grey eyes snapped open, surprising her for a second there as his dilated pupils frantically looked around, seeming very much shaken up. Gretel sighed, feeling a fraction of her worries faded away. He finally focused on her again, panting heavily before swallowing thickly, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Another bad dream?" She asked, sounding more like a statement than a question, voice as soft as a breeze. As his sister, Gretel knew full well that her brother liked listening to her whispers after having just woken up from a nightmare. Of course she didn't bother asking if he was alright, it wouldn't have been appropriate because the look he wore had said it all.

He gasped for a while longer, licking dried and chapped lips then cleared his throat before speaking. "I think so." Hansel managed to say, his voice remained hoarse and slightly cracked.

Brown eyes studied him for a minute or so before reaching out, planning on placing a hand on his cheek to soothe the edges of fright and distress from him, but he pulled away. "Don't." Came his quiet whisper, he was well aware of the fact that his skin was very clammy due to the dream just now though his mind couldn't recall much of it. Of course he didn't want to get his sister's hand dirty.

However, Hansel wasn't the only child in the family that had inherited the stubborn streak as he could feel Gretel's warm and calloused palm pressed against his skin. Turning his head and ready to protest, he saw the set and determined look in her eyes that mirrored their mother's own and everything just got blown away along with the winds. She shook her head, telling him in a sort of telepathy that they had between them most others didn't have that she would have her way and there was no stopping her from getting it. He sighed, he could never really deny her of anything when she was like this.

Slowly, he could feel peace was once again returning to his stormy heart, her warm and affectionate touch had always had that magical effect on him. Gretel had always been warmer than most, literally and figuratively, and that was all he needed to survive this cold, harsh and unforgiving world.

"I'm fine now." He whispered, still finding it strange to be uttering these words, it had been a long time since he last actually vocalized something other than strained groans and small, almost unnoticeable whimpers.

Her eyes never left him as her thumb rubbed circles on his cheekbone, contemplating whether that was really the case or not. Seeing the drained colors and comfort seeping back to his skin, she decided that it was time to let go, knowing that Hansel's pride was too large to let his own sister hold him even just for a while. Her hand left his cheek though the want and need for it to linger there even just for a little bit longer flared up in both siblings, either spoke up about it.

"How about some chicken broth?" Gretel suggested after a while of silence involving Hansel looking out the window and her looking at him. The dazed and slightly unfocused look hadn't left his still dull eyes as he shifted his attention back on her. He blinked several times, either trying to find the stomach in him to hold down the simple dish or just plainly letting his brain register what exactly she had just said.

"Yeah... sure." He finally replied a few minutes later, Gretel nodded then came dashing out of the room over to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients as she started boiling some water then carefully took out a small cup then set it aside before putting the chickens she had bought from the market into the pot. When everything was finished, the brunette returned to the cup and put in some salt, blending it gently with a spoon before returning to the usual spot next to her brother once more. "No need to rush, Gretel. You'll fall if you aren't careful." Hansel spoke softly, the tone of protectiveness was returning to his voice.

"I'm fine, Hansel. I think I can handle myself." She smiled lovingly at him, listening to his voice, watching him make even the smallest of movements stirred up this gentle fluttery feeling in her heart that had not been present since the moment his eyelids closed without a promise of ever re-opening again. And now, now that he had woken up, this almost suffocating happiness was overwhelming, it took a lot to just stop her hands from trembling in sheer bliss.

Gretel helped her brother to sit up, padding a few extra pillows behind back for support and comfort. After he had settled into place, for the first time in a long time, she got an overall look of him and realized that... ever since his state of health took the wrong turn, his already lean body just seemed really frail, thin, undernourished, weak... anything but strong, lively and healthy. A sharp twinge of pain seized her heart, but she knew it was inevitable. The last time Hansel actually had some solid food in him was more than a month ago, so this was bound to happen. She wasn't surprised, she had prepared herself mentally for this, or at least tried to... Even so... it still... ached so very dully.

"Where exactly are we?" He rasped somewhat, clearing his throat to no avail.

"Southeast of Ulm, I hired a small cottage on the outskirt of town. Here." She answered simply then handed him the cup. "Just to refresh your mouth." Hansel nodded mutely and took hold of it, steadying himself, trying to utilize the muscles he knew he had. Once he had taken a sip of the salty blend, she bent down to pick up a basin from the floor so he could spit the water back out again afterward.

"Thanks." He murmured and handed her back the cup, tremors visibly running through his fingers and hand, looking rather appalled at himself. Then, suddenly, he began to realize what he had missed before. "You said 'partly'." His voice was barely above a whisper, but she heard him all right as he looked up at her questioningly. "What does that mean?"

Pursing her lips together, Gretel placed the cup onto the nightstand and set the basin back down to the ground next to her feet then straightened herself once more. She knew he would be asking about that sooner or later, and, therefore, had prepared an answer for him, an explanation. However, through experience alone, Gretel knew that no matter how much she had prepared herself for something, as long as it had something to do with Hansel, nothing really went according to the scenario she had thought up. Her brother was the combination of simplicity and complexity, which was awfully wonderful. It had never been easy to predict his reactions toward something.

He stayed quiet as she carefully told him about the concoction Arnold had made, how it both saved but, possibly, damned his life. It was a strong and concentrated dose, and as it coursed through the body, it helped lessen the firm grip the symptoms of Hansel's illness had had on him... with a price. The well-developed muscles were now worn down by the drug's instant effects, softened them out sort to speak, and with more than a month of immobility... Hansel was as weak as the child he had been some fifteen years ago. The person he had tried with all his might to escape from. Now... it was back to square one, literally.

She watched as realization dawn upon him, the information sinking down harder and harder like an invisible pair of sharp, metal teeth that dug into his soul, tearing him apart from the inside out. Of course, Hansel didn't really show how much this was bothering him, the only indication that it did was that the frown and tired look he had considerably deepened. Gretel subconsciously tightened her fists, the pain at the pit of her stomach was coming back with a spiteful vengeance as she could feel the bile rising in her throat. She didn't want to be the one to explain this to him, to tell him that he was almost utterly powerless then for she was the reason he wanted to be strong in the first place.

Life was cruel, she knew, but why did it have to be especially this hideous to her brother as if it was mocking him, toying with his own existence? She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to not think about that, not for the moment at least. The future and present was already as bleak as it could be.

Gretel leaned forward, closing the gap between her and her brother, studying him with concern painting her face and eyes filled with despair. He turned away, shied away from her as he tended to recoil back into his shell whenever he didn't want to show his weaknesses. It pained her, he could tell, as she still determinedly reached out and pulled him into a tight, yet gentle and warm embrace, her fingers clinging to his back as if clinging on for dear life. Her scent filled his senses, the aroma of newly bloomed spring flowers, of wind and sunshine and everything that had been associated with peace and quiet by him ever since they had been little. It hadn't changed, not for one single bit. The softness of her lips pressed against his cheek, lightly and fleeting at first, but slowly retained more strength as she tenderly kissed him on the temple, cheekbone, nose, jaw and chin. She had always done that to soothe away his troubles... but they both knew it wouldn't do the trick this time... Even so, she was doing everything she knew to calm his hectic mind, providing him with as much comfort as she could and was allowed to, while he was gladly accepting whatever she had to offer to ease away the darkness that was invading his heart because she was and would certainly remain as his source of light even on the cloudiest of days.

Like plant being drawn to the radiant sun... except for that the plant was now unable to crawl properly anymore.

"I'm here, Hansel. Always." She whispered gently into his ear as he finally let himself lean into her touches and rested his forehead in the crook of her neck, too drained to resist the comfort he knew he desperately needed.

"As soon as we finish everything here, we're going back to Arnold." Gretel informed Ben of her decisions rather curtly, the foul mood she had had with him hadn't at all dissipated, not that much anyway, because she was busy hiding the new, raw and swelling tear in her heart to be focusing on anything else. She could have easily forgiven him for other mistakes, but not ones what were related to her brother. Even if she did let it slide, it didn't equal her forgiving, she would remember this for as long as she lived and would, one way or another, get Ben back for this... not too much though, just enough so that it would annoy him days and days on end. And Lord, did she love the idea to do just that.

Ben stared at Gretel, she could feel his eyes on her, telling her to continue, but instead she stayed quiet and pretended like she didn't know what was happening. If he wanted to know something, he would have to ask for it.

And he finally caught on with this. "Why?" It sounded almost as if he was growling inside his throat as she turned to look at him with one raised eyebrow. His jaw was set, but he knew why she was acting like this and decided to just swallow it down and tried again. "Why are we going back to Arnold?"

"We need to let him take a look at Hansel. He told me to should Hansel wake up." A tint of sadness resounded in her voice, but Ben had never been one to pick this sort of thing up. "Just pack your things up before hand, we'll leave immediately after finishing our job here." With that she retreated back to Hansel's room.

Hansel gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as though trying to override the burning pain in his muscles, every fiber was screaming at him, protesting the sudden stress he was putting on them. Beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead and despite hating being the one in need of help, he had to hold onto the supporting hands of Gretel and Edward tightly and bit down on his lower lip.

They had only managed to help him walk for... five steps. It was humiliating, really, to be rendered this weak, helpless and vulnerable. He was wrong, this was even more pathetic than his twelve-year-old self.

"Maybe we should-..." Gretel spoke up gently on his right, he shook his head.

"No." It came out more harshly than it should have, but he was desperate to get back on track, not wanting to rely on others for too long.

"I know that you want to make progress, brother." She tried again. "But pushing far pass your limit will do you more harm than good, and it will only lengthen the time you have to spend in bed." Her grip on his hand was firm and strong. "Please, listen to me."

In the end, she managed to coax him back into sitting on the edge of the bed as he sat there, eyes glued to the ground and listened as his sister thanked the troll then closed the door before sinking down into the spot next to him. Seconds later, he found her handkerchief reaching out to wipe away the sheen of sweat on his skin.

"I'm fine, Gretel." His voice was much softer than last time.

"I know you are." She replied quietly, otherwise continued what she was doing. He wanted to stop her, but thinking about the hurt look flashing through her eyes made him rethink his decision. Even he couldn't deny the immense comfort of getting taken care of by her like this... But it just felt so wrong...

Quite useless, aren't you?

His eyes widened, snapping out of his trance and started looking around, eyes darting back and forth in the small room occupied by only the two of them.

"What's wrong?" He heard her asked, but it wasn't until a little later on after he had checked out for countless of times that there was no one there beside him and her did he turn his attention back to her once more.

"It's... It's nothing." He said, but not at all agreeing with it, feeling slightly chilly and sick to his stomach all of a sudden. "I just thought that I heard something." He told her truthfully, hoping to receive some sort of agreement in return.

"Really?" Her eyes started looking around also. "It must have the wind." Apparently, she didn't hear what he had just heard as she stood up and went to close the window as securely as she could after taking a look outside at the falling night.

They had dinner, another day of soup and bread, he appreciated the fact that Gretel tried hard to cook up many a variety of soup, but Hansel didn't think he could live on it for too much longer. Chatting about random things, the siblings talked into the night as Hansel did his best to hold his thoughts from drifting back to the what he had heard, distracting himself with her voice until Gretel gave him his evening shot then started to gather the dishes.

"I think we should call it a day." She smiled gently at him. "It's getting late." He nodded, feeling rather exhausted even though he wanted to say that it wasn't really that late, but he couldn't really help himself. "Good night, Hansel." Gretel planted a kiss on his cheek, hands pulling up the blanket to cover more of his torso.

"Sweet dreams." He whispered back, enjoying as the smile on his sister's lips widened as she turned and left the room, leaving only a small candle behind on the small drawer next to the door.

His grey eyes stared at it, the flickering, weak yet mesmerizing golden light that burned through the darkness, swaying from left to right as if dancing along a tune and rhythm that only it could possibly ever understood. Somehow he felt drawn to it, like a sort of spell, slowly hypnotizing him, not letting his eyes stray to anywhere else.

"Feeling a little artistic tonight, are we?"

His eyes snapped to the far edge of his bed where he definitely had heard the voice coming from, and a figure was sitting there, a dark, dark figure that even the rays of light from the candle couldn't penetrate. His heart raced as he shifted in an attempt to move backward, trying his chances of getting away when that thing was still not looking at him.

Hansel's heart almost stopped when the head of that dark shadow turned suddenly toward him with a kind of speed that was rather hard to understand. It resembled a human being, but the aura was menacing, like a demon disguising itself with a human form.

"Yes." It purred as his eyes widened, was it reading his thoughts?! "And are you trying to run away, dear?"

He was stuck, suddenly feeling even more paralyzed than ever before as he couldn't find his voice... or any word for that matter, to answer. It chuckled, low and chilling with a hint of playfulness in it. And in a split of a second, it was now on top of him, pushing him down easily into the bed despite how much he struggled to get it off of him... Cold breaths brushed against the crook of his neck, burning hot but icy cold as goose bumps traveled through his body, he couldn't but shiver helplessly in pure panic and terror. The heart in his ribcage was thumping loudly and rapidly, almost painfully so too, letting fear freely course through his veins.

"You're supposed to be the protector, the shield... and yet here you are, planning to run away. How low can you stoop?" It whispered mockingly into his ear, the nails of those hands ghosting over his shoulders were now digging into his flesh. It shouldn't have hurt, it shouldn't, but it did, like needles were piercing into his skin. "Don't be such a shameful thing even to yourself, Hansel."

Like the world was once again a place with light, the candle now lit up the dark space along with this figure pressing down on him to reveal bloodshot, wild grey eyes with a malicious and twisted grin, baring the rows of white, glinting teeth much like a predator trying to terrorize its prey and soon-to-be meal.

"Hello... me."

His eyes snapped open, panting as he struggled to sit up. The crushing weight on his body was gone, he flung the bed sheet to the side, turning to look at the candle that had long since burnt out, probably somewhere around early morning... Morning?

From the cracks on the windows, golden beams of sunlight slid through, blending with the sound of chirping birds filled the entire room. He didn't even notice that it was morning already...

"Hansel?" He immediately turned to the door, still feeling rather jumpy, all of this sudden movements were making his head swam, but he didn't really care though... as long as that... shadow had disappeared. It was just a dream... just a dream, he kept on repeating to himself, he wasn't real... that thing... it couldn't possibly had been him. "Shall I bring you some breakfast?" Gretel asked, her soft voice managed to calm down his strained and agitated nerves for a bit as he nodded mutely, and the door was closed gently.

"It could and it very well is, my dear self."

To be continued...

A/N:Please read and review everyone! Your feedback is very much appreciated!