A Bittersweet Fairy Tail by: HelpfulPurpleButterflyIt was a crisp autumn afternoon, the leaves were changing color and the air was getting colder. There were two children wandering through the woods in old, tattered clothes.
“I’m getting tired,” whined Marilyn to her brother.
“Just keep walking, we’re lost,” replied Leif.
Something rustled in a nearby bush and out strutted a black cat with a coin around its neck and a basket filled with greens next to it.
“Hey, a kitty!” Marilyn exclaimed as she ran to greet it.
As soon as she was in the cats’ striking range, it let out a loud hiss, gashed her arm, and ran away leaving a large cut.
The cat ran until it arrived at a large house in the middle of the forest. It morphed into a tall human with long, flowing black hair, slammed open the door, stared at the man sitting inside and said, “You know, some kind of greeting would’ve been nice, Anon.”
“Did you get the herbs, Lucifer?” Anon asked calmly.
“I wasn’t able to find the verbena you wanted,” answered Lucifer. “So you’ll just have to get it yourself the next time you go out.”
“You sound sort of flustered,” observed Anon. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” defended Lucifer. “I just ran into a couple of-“(knock, knock) There was a knock at the door followed by the faint and innocent voice of a child. When Anon opened the door two small, frightened children stood before him. What stared back at them was a tall, kind-looking man with a shaved head.
“We were looking for our mommy and daddy and got lost,” Leif explained to Anon.
“You look exhausted,” Anon said. “Come on in and get some rest.” The children thanked him and he escorted them to an extra bedroom where they plopped down on a bed and fell asleep. As Anon was leaving the room, he saw a flower on the floor with yellow pedals and a long stem, but he thought nothing of it and exited the room.
Later that night Lucifer approached Anon and asked, “You aren’t going to let them stay here, are you? You know I can’t stand humans.”
“Just a few days,” he replied. “Just a few days.”
The next morning, the children were up early to help Anon make breakfast.
“Take the flour and mix it with in a large bowl.” He instructed them. “Then pour some of the mix into a heated pan and let it sit for a few minutes.” They finished making them and sat down at a large table to enjoy their creation. They had turned out great, and with maple sugar on top of them they were arguably the greatest pancakes in the world.
“I have some errands I need to run,” Anon announced at the end of their breakfast. “You are more than welcome to stay here today while I’m gone.” At that he waved goodbye to them and left for the day.
“We should do something nice for him while he’s gone,” suggested Marilyn. “After all, he is feeding us and letting us stay here.
“That’s a great idea,” agreed Leif. “Let’s clean his house.” They quickly devised a plan of who would clean what. Leif would clean upstairs; Marilyn, the downstairs. By lunchtime they had the house sparkling like a thousand lights. “What should we do now,” questioned Marilyn to her brother.
“Well, we’re done cleaning the house, so we can do whatever you want.” He replied
“I wanna go pick blueberries, so I can make a pie!” she said. So off they went into the thick, lustrous forest.
“Heh heh,” Anon chuckled as he sat on the roof of his house. “I wonder what they’re up to now. Hey, there’s Lucifer. Is he going into the forest too? Well, it’s a nice day, and I have nothing better to do, so I might as well watch and see what happens.”
The grass was still moist against Lucifer’s’ paws as he followed the children into the forest. He didn’t think they could be trusted, so he wanted to keep a close eye on them, but seeing as he was part cat he got distracted, wandered off and began frolicking around. He suddenly morphed into a human, scaring the nearby wildlife and then changed back again, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt…content, but then he remembered why he had gone into the forest in the first place and bolted off to catch up to the children. He quickly found them and snuck around them as quiet as well, a cat stalking its prey. They seemed to be just normal kids, but when he met Marilyn in the forest, all he could see in her eyes was bloodlust. “It’s probably just me,” he thought and walked on.
“I don’t think there are any blueberries around here,” Leif told his sister.
“But I can’t make pie without berries,” Marilyn persisted.
“Fine,” Leif responded, “we’ll keep looking.
“Hey, Leif,” she said with surprise. “Look, it’s that cat again.”
“Where?” he asked.
“Up in the tree,” she said. “It’s got a blueberry branch in its mouth. I think it wants us to follow it.”
“They’re following him to the cliff,” Anon said as he watched through a pair of binoculars.
“They’re getting pretty close to the ledge. Wait a minute, what are they doing? OH MY GOD!!!!”
Later that night, Leif and Marilyn walked back through the door with cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Leif looked at Anon and said, “We followed a cat to the ledge and, and, he fell off.”
“It’s okay,” Anon said trying calming them down. “Go get some rest.”
Later that night Leif and Marilyn approached him and offered him a cup of herbal tea which he graciously accepted thanking them as he took a sip.
“Heheheh,” the children giggled in unison.“What’s so funny,” he asked.
“That’s not herbal tea,” they said.
“What?” he asked.
“We used a plant that grew at our house,” they said. “We tried it on a bunny and it died. Mom and Dad tried to ditch us, so they got some special tea too. It’s getting boring here. There’s nothing to do. I’m sure we’ll find someone to take care of us. I mean, look at us, we’re helpless children.”
“Heh, do you have any idea who I am?” Anon asked grinning.
“What, how can you not be dead?” asked Leif. “I know I put it in.”
“You mean that yellow plant?” he asked. “I’m sure it works, because your parents are dead, but it won’t work on me.”
“They really don’t know what you’re capable of doing, do they?” said Lucifer as he jumped in through the window.
“W-what do you think you’re going to do with us?” asked Leif. “No one’s going to believe we killed our parents, and a talking cat? You’ll be burned at the stakes for being a witch.”
“Oh, I’m not going to do anything to you,” Anon said with an evil smile. “I’m just going to hand you back over to your parents.” Suddenly the door slammed open and out in the cold, foggy night stood their parents.
“NO!” the children screamed as Anon grabbed them and began to throw them outside. “DON’T MAKE US GO OUT THERE. NOOOOOOOO, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” But it was too late, the door shut and as they looked into their parents’ eyes, everything stopped.
