#i now want *all* the hansel and gretel witchhunter content

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters AU

So, Lena as Gretel is the daughter of a grand white witch, right? Which means the grand dark witch is hunting her heart for the ritual. The grand dark witch being Rhea, of course.

I like the idea of Mon-el being the asshole sheriff who tries to turn the town against Lena, Lex, and even Kara. Sowing violence and mistrust so that his mother can act with impunity. He's totally human tho, like his dad. Rhea barely tolerates him but for the role he serves.

When Lena and Lex are separated following the witches' raid on the town, they eventually find their way back to each other by stumbling upon their old childhood home. They barely recognize it, but they know that's a witch's lair in the cellar. And Lena, who has been putting the pieces together, tries to tell him what she suspects, but before she can Rhea arrives, reveals Lena's nature as a witch, and knocks them both senseless. When Lex regains consciousness, Lena is gone.

When Kara offers her knowledge and help to stop Rhea (and save Lena), Lex isn't in a position to refuse. With her help, and the book of light spells they find in the lair, they gain just enough of an edge that Lex stands a chance of getting his sister back.

At the ritual site, Lena is tied up for the slaughter. Rhea monologues in front of the other witches who have congregated, waiting for the blood moon eclipse to begin. As the eclipse draws closer, Lena starts to feel a new power build within her-- her own magic swells, itching to be released.

Lex arrives and starts blasting witches' heads off. In the commotion, Kara scurries through the fray to cut Lena loose. But the ropes are thick, and Kara's knife is small. As she saws through the ropes, Lena spots Rhea marching towards them with murder in her eyes.

"Must hurry, must hurry--" Lena mutters, trying to keep her cool.

"I'm almost-- there!" Kara cries, ducking aside as the ropes split apart and Lena surges from the altar to meet Rhea on her feet. Kara tosses her the knife as she goes, and Lena catches it deftly before swiping at Rhea with the blade.

Rhea easily dodges, snarling. Even after Lex flips her a weapon (her favorite crossbow), though, landing single scratch on Rhea proves difficult. She is a grand witch, after all.

Knocking Lena to one side, Rhea looks up to find the blood moon has passed. Her chance to complete the ritual is gone, and won't return for another generation. With Lena still recovering from the last blow, Rhea whirls towards Lex, and slashes her wand through the air between them.

Lena looks up just in time to see the spell gather on the tip of Rhea's gnarled wand, aimed straight for her brother. She screams.

"NO!"

At her cry, a snarled mess of roots pulls from the ground as though bidden, twisting themselves into a savage point that pierces through the back of Rhea's head to protrude through her mouth, widening until the constraint of her gaping teeth halts its growth.

It's too late. Even as Rhea falls limp, hanging lifelessly from the giant thorn of twisted vines, her spell leaves her wand and blasts into Lex's chest. He drops to the ground like a marionette whose strings have been cut.

"Lex!" Lena scrambles to her feet, dashing towards her brother, skidding to her knees beside him. She cradles Lex to her chest, looking to Kara for help. "Please!" she begs. "Please save him!"

Kara can only shake her head. "I can't. He-- He's already gone..."

Horror washes over Lena as reality sets in. After so many years of having only her brother, of protecting him, loving him-- he's gone. She's lost the one person in the world who never left her.

She's alone.

Grief rises sharp and hot within her. Tears fill her eyes as her ears roar. Emotion overcomes her, blinding them both to the unnatural sounds of bony joints clicking out of place behind them as Rhea's limbs begin to bend the wrong way, gripping the roots piercing her skull and climbing off them like a beetle.

By the time Rhea stands her skull has rebuilt itself. Instead of reaching for her wand, her fingers close around the ritual dagger, intent on taking advantage of the distraction of Lex's death to finish the last remaining Luthor sibling.

Just as she draws the knife back to strike, Lena's power surges through, amplified and made unstoppable by Lena's heartbreak as she sobs.

"No!" she screams to the void, sobbing. "NO!"

Her power blasts out of her in every direction, a bright white light that blinds Kara and saturates their surroundings with warmth and love. The force of Lena's magic halts Rhea in her tracks, and ultimately eats her away to nothing. The dagger drops harmlessly to the ground with no one the wiser.

When the light fades and Lena sags, suddenly spent, hopelessness nearly overcomes her. But then Lex sucks in a lungful of air, audibly gasping as he jerks back to life. Kara can only stare as Lena cries out in joy and relief, wrapping her brother in a fierce hug while Lex reels.

Kara has never seen anything like it. Somehow, Lena's power was enough to pull a life back after death had already claimed it. Truly, Lena is a grand white witch.

In the aftermath, Lex and Lena receive their payment and head off to their next adventure. Kara doesn't see them off from the village-- after all, the townsfolk had nearly murdered her. But her heart is still heavy as she sits in the forest outside her lonely cottage. The woods suddenly feel much smaller than they had before she'd met Lena...

"Hey."

Kara looks up to see Lena leaning against a tree, her crossbow slung over one shoulder. Lex stands with a horse and cart just a bit beyond, his features largely unreadable but not nearly so distrustful as they had been a few days ago.

Kara looks back at Lena in time to see a lazy smirk curl the woman's features.

"You coming?"