Snippet #1974970

Hansel didn't like waiting. Absolutely hated it in fact. He leaned further into the gate, the sharp black metal piercing into his back and causing a thoroughly uncomfortable sensation. He wiggled slightly, allowing the pain to pass through his skin and settle into the small of his back, where it was cushioned by the heavy folds of his vest. How long had he been waiting like this? He didn't know, but one thing was certain. Peter had rattled his carriage down the road a while back, and many of the guards had abandoned their positions at the gate as the sun settled further and further into the west and day gradually became blanketed by the darkness of oncoming night. How much longer would it take for Gretel to arrive? It seemed as though she surely wouldn't arrive until the night was full-fledged. Impatient, Hansel began wiggling again. When this movement wasn't enough to relieve him of his agitation, he detached himself from the wall and started pacing. The more he paced, the greater the agitation and frustration inside his mind. Finally, after a few minutes, he decided that, if Gretel could not arrive in the next few minutes, he would take his anger out on the nearest person at hand: namely the unfortunate guards a few steps away.

As though some sort of fate had willed it, a carriage pulled up at that moment. Hansel could tell immediately from the great tree carved into the carriage side on the right side of the door that it was, indeed, a carriage from the Kingdom of Ashwood. That meant only one thing: Gretel had arrived. As he waited for his little sister to come out of the carriage, Steven nearly fell as he clambered out of the driver's seat. Knowing he'd have to wait even longer, Hansel wanted to push the man out of the way and open the door himself. This driver was nothing but a hindrance after all. Maybe Hansel should just get rid of him. Before he could make up his mind though, Steven had somehow managed to untangle himself off the ground and leap with uncommon speed to the carriage door and open it. A second later, Gretel appeared. With her blue-white dress, ballet flats and porcelain like face, she didn't seem like a killer. Yet Hansel could smell that there was blood on her. He grinned immediately, crossing the few steps towards her and slinging an arm over her shoulder.
"Do you know how long you've kept me waiting Gretel?"

He asked playfully, rubbing her shoulder vigorously with his hand. As he did so, he caught the whiff of blood again coming from her skin, and his grin broadened.

"Oh, it seems as though you've been at it again. Who was the unfortunate victim this time?"

Hansel knew that it was probably one of the unfortunate maids that attended to Gretel. All those girls never seemed to last more than a month in his sister's murderous hands. The minute one of them made even the slightest mistake, she would find herself with a knife in her throat and a premature visit to the god of death-whomever that may be.

As he fussed around playfully with his sister, another carriage pulled up on the same road. Hansel glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. It was from a Kingdom that he didn't recognize-or maybe one that he just couldn't remember. From inside, he could barely make out the silhouette of a girl with a red hood. How strange. She appeared to be staring intently at the the two of them, and he instinctively moved a bit closer to his sister. A silly move really. Gretel didn't need anyone to protect her. In fact, out of the two, she was definitely the one more capable of killing. After all, if his memory was to be relied on, it was her that pushed the witch into the oven all those years ago.

The door to the mysterious carriage opened, and Hansel's playful grip on Gretel's shoulder turned a little tense as the girl inside stepped out. She greeted the two, and while her 'hello' seemed to be kind enough, he wasn't about to let his guard down. Still, two could play at the same game.

Hansel grinned his usual cheerful grin, and laughed.

"Hi! Who are you?"