When it was mid-day, they saw a beautiful snow-white bird sitting on a bough, which sang so delightfully that they stood still and listened to it. And when its song was over, it spread its wings and flew away before them, and they followed it until they reached a little house, on the roof of which it alighted. And when they approached the little house they saw that it was built of bread and covered with cakes, but that the windows were of clear sugar.

Once the morning sun peeked through the window of Goldilocks’s hut, Hansel and Gretel yawned and stretched as they sat up under their covers. Looking at each other, they rubbed their eyes and stood. The siblings made sure not to wake Red or Goldi while walking to the kitchen.

The children and Red had stayed the night with Goldi, all of whom slept in her bedroom. Hansel and Gretel grabbed one of the bags Goldi used to carry extra ammo in and emptied the contents on the table.

“Make sure you grab enough bread. Who knows how long we’ll be out,” Hansel ordered Gretel in a hushed tone and she nodded once in response.

Rummaging through the kitchen and the house, the two packed everything that might come of use to them. They gathered two handguns with extra bullets, two knives, bread and water, a first aid kit, and various other items.

“I see you two are already getting ready?” a small voice questioned still half asleep.

The pair’s head spun to meet the owner of the new voice and they grinned.

“Yeah. We thought we should get a early start. Maybe then it won’t take us so long,” Hansel explained.

“Sorry if we woke you up, Red. I know right now you could use all the rest you could get.”

Rima shook her head lightly at Gretel, “Don’t worry about it. I can sleep later.”

The room grew silent again after that, save for the noises coming from Hansel and Gretel getting ready. Minutes passed and Hansel smiled brightly as he threw the bag over his shoulder, making sure to strap it tightly to himself.

“I guess you two are off then,” Goldi said as she entered the room.

“Yes, Goldi. We’ll be back by nightfall to report what we did--or didn’t--find.”

Rima and Goldi nodded at the kids as they watched the pair both walk out of the front door and shut it tightly. The girls listened closely as they heard the door click and knew without a doubt that the siblings were gone. Rima prayed that everything would go okay and that nothing bad would happen to the children. She knew Hansel and Gretel were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but she couldn’t help but worry. They were only children, after all.

“Should we go ahead and try to figure out how the kill the witch?” Goldi questioned, falling back into one of the chairs in the kitchen.

Rima smiled and nodded as she made her way to the refrigerator. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It won’t be easy, y’know. Plus, there’s the wolves.”

Rima paused.

‘We don’t need your help. We have her to take care of us.’

“Bunch of idiots,” Rima muttered, opening the refrigerator and pulling a few things out to set on the counter.

Goldi watched Rima as she searched Goldi’s cabinets until finally finding what she had been looking for. Rima’s eyes lit up as the corners of her lips pulled into a smile. Twirling the handle of the pan in her hands, she turned to Goldi.

“How about I show you what a certain trolling wolf taught me in my last fairy tale?”

“Are you sure we’ll be able to find our way back home later?” Gretel questioned her brother as she made sure to stay close to him.

The pair was walking through the forest. It was actually quite beautiful to look at. The sun shone brightly in the sky and not a cloud was to be seen. Flowers bloomed all around, causing the air to smell of the sweetest aromas. The trees stood sky-high, their fallen leaves covering the ground beneath their limbs.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. All we have to do is find the house and then we can report back to Goldi and Red,” Hansel answered, reassuring his sister.

Glancing back at the younger girl, Hansel found a cautious look in her eyes. Something wasn’t right. As beautiful as this day was, something was very wrong and she knew it just as much as he did.

“But what if we find nothing? Or...what if we run into the wolves? You know there are no rules here. They could very much kill us both if we ran into them. I’m not sure if I…” Gretel whimpered at the thought of dying; or even worse, watching her brother being shred into tiny pieces by three sets of razor sharp teeth.

Noticing the fear in Gretel’s eyes, Hansel smiled warmly and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Listen to me...if something does happen and the wolves do come after us, I want you to take off as fast as you can. Understood?”

Gretel’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what her brother was suggesting.

“But-”

“‘But’ nothing. If you were to die, or if anything would happen to you, I really don’t think I could live with myself. You’re my little sister and I’m supposed to protect you. Now, do you understand what I’m telling you to do?”

The smaller girl froze, but eventually slowly nodded her answer. Hansel grinned and gave her a stern nod.

“Good. Now lets keep going.”

Hansel turned around, facing the forest as he continued to walk ahead of Gretel. She gulped as she could feel tears in the corner of her eyes. Gretel quickly blinked them away and smiled. She hurried to catch up to her big brother and looped her arm through his.

“You’re such an idiot.”

Hansel smiled down at Gretel after her comment. The siblings quickly fell into silence.

Walking down a narrow path and following a small river downstream, Hansel and Gretel stopped when it turned into a waterfall. They watched the river run off into absolutely nothing as they stood at the edge of the cliff. The bottom of the waterfall was nowhere to be seen. Gretel let go of her brother and knelt down beside the river, staring down into the hole with astonishment.  Her eyes widened at the sight of it.

“Gretel…” Hansel mumbled, tapping her shoulder to get her attention.

Gretel hummed in response, her gaze never leaving the water.

“Gretel….” Hansel urged, rapidly tapping the girl’s shoulder.

Gretel hummed once more, sounding more annoyed at him this time while her gaze never wavered.

“GRETEL, LOOK!” Hansel finally yelled, staring down at his sister before turning back at the sight before him.

“WHA-” Gretel’s yell stopped as she looked and immediately followed where Hansel was pointing. She froze and dropped to the floor.

Silence filled the air as the siblings stared slack jawed at the darkness before them.

“I don’t think that’s edible….” Hansel mumbled under his breath.

Gretel stood to her feet and clung to the older boy. “No...but we are….”