FD: Birth of a Wishing Heart

13. Starvation vs Ignorance

Hansel woke up first, still holding his sister. Her face against his chest. The wolf had gone, and the symbol had been brushed over with dirt. The sun was beginning to peek out. They needed to get out of here today now that there was light again. Hansel checked the compass. It was fixed! He patted his sister's shoulders. "Gretel! My compass is working! If we went only north and back yesterday it shouldn't be too hard to retrace our steps!"

Gretel turned to him, waking up slowly. She was scared remembering again where they had been left. Seeing Hansel's face comforted her even though plenty of his hair had escaped their holder through the night and clung to his face. Gretel took a minute to respond, during which she decided to retie his hair. "If we go back, what keeps papa from leaving us again?" there was a definite hurt to her voice, one which Hansel had no clue how to comfort.

He frowned. "nothing." He admitted. "but we can't stay here. I don't know what'll happen tomorrow Gretel, but I know what we can do right now and that's staying together, and trying to get out of this forest." With that he stood up with his compass in hand, heading to yesterday's marking. Yet again, the further they went the more unfamiliar things seemed.

"This doesn't look any better than before..." Gretel whined, somewhat shaking. It was colder than yesterday, with a bit of wind that kept leaves scurrying across the ground. With the branches waving and the clouds darker signaling rain, any hope of getting home was beginning to disappear. Hansel looked around, she was right. The compass might've still been damaged.

"I think there's still something wrong with my compass-" He shook it in frustration. They needed to get home soon. Hansel was cold, hungry, thirsty, and getting weak. He would've regretted not eating anything in a day and a half but bread crumbs if it hadn't given Gretel the strength to keep going for the night. He looked down at her, not knowing what to do anymore. He was beginning to feel hopeless. When he first met her he promised her safety, and that promise still stood. He slid off his coat putting it on her shoulders for warmth, before untying his hair to cover the worry in his eyes. If it rained the pearls would be covered in mud, no longer visible and useless.

"But Hans-" She protested. Her brother shook his head. Gretel hated how selfless he could be, he wouldn't take it back. Gretel searched around for an answer before Hansel started walking again. "Where are we going?" she asked. He didn't answer, his compass clanked against his chest forgotten. She began to pray in Rhioninian, hoping for another miracle. The scariest thing of all was probably the tear that she could have sworn strolled down her brother's cheek. It made him almost start sprinting, Gretel could hardly keep up! "Hansel, can we- can we sit down!" He stopped, leaving her to catch her breath.

Hansel let go of her for a moment and lay against a tree, covering his face with his hands as he fell against it. The clouds had reached their peak, and he could feel a drop of water make its way to his shoulder. They couldn't start a fire in the rain, and he didn't have the tools to catch any sort of meat. He couldn't hear a river, and collecting raindrops wouldn't be enough. His head ached with hunger and stress, and now he had run out of ideas.

Gretel watched her brother cry silently. She wanted to join him. If her brother had run out of ideas... then it really was hopeless. She crawled next to him before she caught sight of something new in the distance. Was that smoke? There couldn't be a fire during the rain like that unless it was indoors. Did someone live out there? She tugged at his shirt. "Hansel!"

His sister's quick call made him spring up bringing her with him as she pointed at the smoke. That was enough to wake him from his self-pity as they wandered towards it.

"Why would someone live out here?" he asked.

"Does it matter? Warmth Hansel! Safety! Maybe they know the way out!" Hansel shook his head softly. That's what a predator would want them to think, but what else could they do? Just a minute ago he was crying in front of Gretel. She didn't need another reason to lose hope. At least now they were headed somewhere. The smell was faint at first but almost instantly filled them with need. "It smells like a pie fresh out of the oven!" Gretel exclaimed rushing ahead. This made Hansel fear it further, whatever it was, it wanted them closer. Was this what took the others?