...And His Home Is Grimm [Hamelin, Gretel]

[Guest]

A porch light illuminates a familiar doorstep.

Hamelin comes to staring at the yellow bulb until his vision focuses and his remaining eye begins to throb. He cringes and slaps a palm over the uncovered socket. It waters something fierce, like he’s been staring straight at the sun.


Although he’s pretty sure he fell asleep outside of town (putting aside how waking up in the middle of nowhere is hardly a phenomenon to him these days) there is no mistaking that the estate he’s found himself standing in front of belongs inside one of the ruling class’ neighborhoods.

This neighborhood and this estate--they belong to him.

But, how…?

His single lavender eye widens. Gripped by cold realization, the piper blinks at the door in front of him.

He did not--would not--come here on his own.

This is not his doing.

This is its’.

Hamelin’s anxiety climbs. He has never been afraid of the dark, but suddenly, the blacked out streets and the empty spaces between the houses terrify him. If he is dreaming--if he is dying, at least his home is softly glowing.

If his company is undesired even here, or if this is indeed a cruelty of fate, he still doesn’t want to leave it.

It is a warm, inviting beacon.

It sings to him, “safety” and  “sanctuary”.

Hamelin takes a step forward and pauses as his feet slide against the door mat. He curls his fingers around the doorknob--and pauses.

He shouldn’t go.

This is, in fact, no longer his home. With reason, he does not have a place in this town.

To argue further, he does not trust this situation.

At a loss, the piper decidedly steps away from the door and seats himself on the porch below one of the windows. He can’t bring himself to leave, but he knows he really can’t go inside.

It’s out of the question.

Though it is torment, for now, he will allow himself to sit here.

Perhaps later, alone once again, he will look back on this moment and instead see it as a blessing.

[Gretel]

What a day it had been. Dealing with that Arisu was always annoying, though she wasn't nearly as bad as her actual target; Kyrie. Just thinking about him put Gretel into a bad mood. She was still convinced he was the one to blame for the fireworks. But even without that, her hatred for him still burned brighter than for anyone else. One of these days she'd get him back for everything, especially the hole in her family and her heart.

As she turned to enter the gate she saw a figure stalking around the main door. This was just what she needed! She opened up her satchel and searched through the bag, what tricks did she have today? A bunch of grenades, a knife and... A flash bomb! That could be fun. She hoped it was someone from on of the other families, like Ande trying to sell matches late at night, though it was more likely that it was one of the common folk coming to visit. They did that on occasion, but if there was any justice in this world it would be someone Gretel could play with.

She crept along the gate, her eyes fixed on the man. What a weirdo! She thought as she watched him move from the door to the porch. Who looks at a door but doesn't right the bell? A stalker or a spy from another family! More and more it was looking like she was going to get to blow off some steam. Gretel felt a bit better already, as she moved stealthily through the yard. As she got closer, she could see that the man was deep in thought. Plotting something, for sure! But she'd put a stop to it. Maybe, this time, her house would be the one to get compensated.

She readied the grenade in her hand, pin still in place just in case it was a commoner and leapt out at her mystery guest. "Come to cause trouble, eh? Well, you picked the wrong day to mess... with..." As Gretel's eyes adjust to the faint light of the porch, she could finally make out the figure seated before her. The familiar long blonde hair pinned up just as she always remembered it being, the lines of the face that she had burned into her memories, his lone lavender eye which had always looked at her with kindness.

The grenade fell to the ground and rolled off the veranda, pin still in place, as her hand flew up to her lips. It couldn't be. It was a trick of the light or the cruelest of pranks. It couldn't possibly be...

As much as she'd wished for this, she wasn't ready! She hadn't done nearly all she'd set out to do! She wanted to have their home intact before he'd returned. She wanted everything to be as it was before, so it could be like it had never happened, and she wanted to be able to show him just how much she'd grown.

"Hamel—" the words stuck in her throat. Tears began to fill her eyes, blinding her. She couldn't lose him, not when she'd finally found him again! She ran towards him, throwing her arms around him. There were so many things she wanted to say, wanted to tell him but she only managed to cry. She was afraid she'd alert the whole town, but she couldn't get the sounds to stop coming out. Her knees felt weak, and she held tightly to him to keep herself upright, her tears soaking through his shirt. Between her sobs, she managed to get out two words.

"Welcome home."

[Guest]

Hamelin leaned back on his hands and uncrossed his long legs. He tilted his head up and stared at the single, yellow light.

He thought it was probably about time for him to leave.

He figured he'd been there for a good half an hour. Fate, his cruelest mistress, must have seen reason to smile on him today, for the minutes he'd spent here had been peaceful and undisturbed. In the quiet, starlit night, familiar sounds and old memories had reached out to comfort him.

He wondered how Scarlet was doing. Did he still wear that stern look on his face? Had he gotten any taller?

The twins were probably raising seven kinds of hell for their little family, even now.

Gretel would call the shots and Hansel would happily follow along with whatever it was she'd decided they would do that day.

They were very earnest kids. He missed them all.

He missed their smiles.

Hamelin felt his chest tighten uncomfortably. ...Ah, right.

Now leaving La La land!

The piper weakly laughed without humor.

...He was leaving, wasn't he?

He still had no idea what had brought him here, but staying was definitely not an option.

Hamelin was just drawing his legs in and preparing to stand when an oblong object bounced off his boot and skipped across the porch.

It looked an awful lot like a grenade.

Hamelin lifted his head in alarm and sure enough, there stood a softly weeping Gretel.

At a loss for words, Hamelin froze in place as she threw her arms around him. As her crying escalated and her tears dampened his shirt, he realized he hadn't been anticipating this scenario at all.

He still... He couldn't... This wasn't...

Was it?

Her 'welcome home' caused his eye to prick, but he would save his tears for later. He wouldn't cry in front of his caporegime--not his Gretel, who was tough as nails and sweet; who was like a daughter. He didn't want to upset her more than this.

Hamelin wrapped an arm around Gretel and placed his hand on the back of her head.

"There, there..." he whispered, chuckling softly despite himself. "Is Gretel auditioning to be the town's new alarm system? Can you guarantee to ward away suspicious people like me?"

[Gretel]

Gretel didn't think she could get any louder, but the touch of his hand on the back of her head reminded her of how much she had missed him.

Grimm was a 'Family' more than most the other mafia families in town. With Oz, Gretel wasn't even sure is Axel and Kyrie would talk to each other if they weren't forced to on occasion; Adelheid and Stival had underlings, and although Pashet was somewhat friendly with Bercy, but it wasn't the same. Anderson was about as close are you could come either than the Grimm family, but they were more like children playing house than a real family.

But Grimm was different; they might not all be perfect, but they were there for each other, through thick and thin. There was so much love is this house it was hard not to see them as an actual family. And finally, after all this time, it was complete again. Their father was home.

Hamelin began to speak softly, but Gretel couldn't hear him over the sound of her cries. Almost immediately she was able to find the will to quiet down. Just the idea of being able to hear his voice again gave her strength to do so.

He chastised her for being so loud by making a terrible joke. He hadn't changed at all! She was so happy, even though, his joke was in poor taste. How could he even joke about her avoiding him when he'd been gone for so long. But, that wasn't unlike him, so she'd forgive him this once. It was more important that he was back.

She buried her face into his shirt again, embarrassed to have been so emotional in front of him. It was unlike her, to say the least. But it was all his fault! She never said he could leave! She didn't care what the rest of the town had said; she'd burn the whole place to the ground if it meant keeping him near.

"You stupid useless man! Where the hell have you been!?" Finally, Gretel was able to act somewhat like herself again.

[Guest]

Hamelin let go of Gretel as she drew back to reprimand him, demanding to know his whereabouts up until now.

He flinched as the teal haired girl shouted at him, her face still damp with tears and her voice still raw from crying. It was probably bad of him to think this way, for her current disposition was completely his fault, but just then, he received a thorough reminder of how scary Gretel could be when she was upset.

Trying to calm her growing rage, the piper held his hands up in meek surrender. "Aha... Gretel, we can talk about this later, can't we? Maybe when we're all here."

Except, was there really going to be a later?

In the cover of shadows, the teasing look her wore turned grim.

If he couldn't' stay, allowing this situation to progress any further was no better than lying to his precious family.

...What was the purpose? What did it mean for him to be here?

Or maybe there was none at all. No one to hurt. No chaos to incite. Just a means to show him what he couldn't have, and remind him of the terrible things he'd done.

That upsets you, right?

He hears it, even when he doesn't hear it.

Hamelin swallowed against the sharp constricting of his throat; pressed a shaking hand to his face as cold terror scraped through him.

He needed to leave.

Right away, while he could.

Stepping away from Gretel so she would not witness him coming apart, he did precisely what he told himself he wouldn't do.

"...Gretel. I won't go anywhere, so why don't you go get the others?"

He lied.

[Gretel]

Hamelin retreated from her scolding, and Gretel had to fight back the tears again. It really was him and he hadn't changed at all! He wasn't that crazed murder from that night; he was the same ridiculous man he'd always been. As a Don, he was the absolute worst, but as the head of the Grimm family, he was perfect as far as Gretel was concerned. Flaws and all, she loved him and she wouldn't have changed a thing about him.

'...when we're all here.'

Gretel felt a pang of guilt. Scarlet and Hansel would probably be just as excited to see him. Their family back together again. She straightened herself out, pulling herself together like the caporegime she was supposed to be and nodded. Hansel was already inside but Scarlet? He was probably out patrolling. Most likely he'd be back soon so they could just wait but there was something else Gretel was worried about.

That look on his face, his hiding in the shadows; he didn't look all that well. Maybe he'd come back here because he was sick and he'd come home to—.

She couldn't bare where he thoughts were leading her. She had thought him was invincible before; but then he'd lost that eye. She couldn't stand it if anything else happening to him.

'why don't you go get the others?' he said. She'd barely been listening but caught the end of that. "Yeah..." She nodded once more. Sure, she'd go out but it wouldn't be to find Scarlet, she would go and get Lilith so she could make sure that he was alright. She'd pick up Scarlet on the way back if he wasn't already home by then. And after she knew that Hamelin was alright, they'd figure out where to go from there.

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