Chapter 5

Rating: PG13…at the moment…

Spoilers: BTVS season 4 and Steven Sondhiem play Into the Woods.

Summary: I was told to write a fic involving the gang and the Steven Sondhiem play Into the Woods. So here you go.

Dedicated: This Chapter is dedicated to Bloodshedbaby…for so many, many reasons

Author’s Note: Thank you to everyone who was so kind to leave comments. It was pointed out to me that I messed up the beginning line to the play. I appreciate that being pointed out to me. I’d written that part of the fic really late at night and I didn’t have the script at the time. To make life a little saner on my side just want you all to know that if it’s in bold italics, the character are singing. I’ve got a lot of really great ideas for this fic. For those of you who know the play this chapter should look familiar, but don’t worry I’m not gonna just copy the whole play word for word.

Also this chapter is a…well a practice run to see if it all makes sense. As many of you have guessed, yes, the gang is now in the play.

Cinderella-Buffy

Baker-Xander

Baker’s Wife-Cordy

Witch-Willow

Narrator-Giles

~*~

"Once upon a time," he began. The orchestra followed close behind.

"I wish," Cinderella sang as she kneeled down to scrubbed the floor.

"…in a far off kingdom," the narrator continued.

"…more than anything," Cinderella’s long, blonde hair fell in front of her face.

"…lived a young maiden,"

"...more than life," she pushed her hair back out of her face.

"A sad young lad," the narrator gestured towards Jack.

"…more than jewels," Cinderella sat up and tied her hair back so that it would stay out of her way.

"I wish," Jack looked out ahead of him.

"…and a childless baker," the narrator gestured towards the baker.

"More than life," Jack picked up a wooden brush from the floor and began brushing the white cow that stood in front of him.

"I wish," Cinderella and the baker sang.

"…with his wife."

"More than anything," Jack brushed the old cow with such care.

"More than the moon," the three of them sang.

"I wish," the baker’s beautiful wife sang. Her long dark hair was held back from her face with a kerchief.

"I wish to go to the festival…" Cinderella smiled.

"More than riches," the baker and his wife sang.

"…and the ball." Cinderella clasped her hands together.

"I wish we had a child," the handsome baker sang as he reached a hand out for his wife.

"Please, pal…" Jack sang to his cow.

"I want a child," the baker’s wife took her husband’s hand and stepped close to him.

"Squeeze, pal."

Everyone looked out ahead of them as their voices began to over lap each other.

"I wish..." the four voices trailed off.

Cinderella’s stepmother and her two stepsisters walked over to stand beside her.

"You wish to go the festival?" the three women sneered.

"The poor girl’s mother had died," the narrator pointed out.

"You, Cinderella, the Festival? You wish to go to the Festival?" The stepmother scoffed. She wasn’t an attractive woman. She tried to make up for this with expensive dresses, large jewels, and heavy makeup.

"What, you, Cinderella, the Festival? The Festival?!" Florinda mocked.

"What, you wish to go to the Festival?!" Lucinda’s voice over lapped her sister’s.

" The Festival?! The King's Festival!!!??" The three women’s voices reached an almost high-pitched screech as they laughed together.

"…and her father had taken a new wife," the narrator continued.

"The festival?" the stepmother asked again.

"A woman with two daughters of her own." The narrator took off his glasses and began to polish them with a soft cloth he’d taken from his pocket.

Florinda sneered down at her stepsister, "Look at your nails."

"Look at your dress," Lucinda chimed in.

"People will laugh at you," her stepmother pointed out.

"She still wants to go to the festival and dance before the prince!" the three women mocked.

"All three women were beautiful, but vile and black of heart." The narrator pushed his glasses back into place. "On the other hand, Jack had no father, and his mother…"

A short overweight woman walked up behind Jack. Her hair was wiry and stands stuck out from under her kerchief.

"I wish," she sang, her voice slightly cracking.

"…well she was not quite beautiful."

"A warm environment might just be what milky-white needs to produce his milk," Jack explained.

"It's a she! How many times must a tell you? Only ‘she's’ can give milk."

There was a knock on the baker’s door and his beautiful wife went to answer the door.

"Why come in, little girl," she said.

A little girl with blonde curls who had yet to lose her baby fat walked in, her red hooded cape swinging slightly behind her.

"I wish…it’s not for me it’s for my granny in the woods…a loaf of bread, please. To bring my poor old hungry granny in the woods, a loaf of bread please," the little girl sang.

"Cinderella’s stepmother had a surprise for her," the narrator pointed out.

"I have emptied a pot of lentils into the ashes for you. If you have picked them out again in two hours' time, you shall go to the Ball with us."

"And perhaps a sticky bun…or four," the little girl reached out and began munching on a cookie.

"Birds in the sky, birds in the eaves, in the leaves, in the fields, and the castle and ponds." Cinderella sang.

"And a few of those pies," the little girl grabbed another cookie.

"No squeeze pal." Jack tried without luck to milk Milky White.

Birds flew down to Cinderella as she held up a small bowl.

"Quick little birds, flick through the ashes. Pick and peck, but swiftly, sift through the ashes. Into the pot!" She smiled and held the bowl out to the birds.

"Listen son," Jack’s mother said, "Milky White must be taken to the market."

"But mother, no! He’s the best cow-"

"Was. Was! She's been dry for a week. We've no food nor money and no choice but to sell her while she can still command a price."

"But Milky-White is my best friend in the whole world!" Jack whined.

"Look at her! There are bugs on her dungs. There are flies in her eyes. There’s a lump on her rump big enough to be hump…"

"But…"

"Son, we’ve no time to sit and dither, while her withers wither with her. And no one keeps a cow for a friend! Sometimes I fear you’re touched."

~*~

Little Red Riding Hood watched as the Baker and his wife gathered things together for her.

"Into the woods, it’s time to go, I hate to leave, I have to, though. Into the woods-it’s time and so I must begin my journey. Into the woods and through the trees to where I am expected, ma’am. Into the woods to Grandmother’s house." The little girl took a huge bite from a sweet cake, "Into the woods to Grandmother’s house."

"Are you certain of your way?" the Baker’s wife asked, concerned.

"The way is clear, the light is good," she smiled, snatching up cookies with each phrase, "I have no fear, nor no one should. The woods are just trees, the trees are just woods. I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a basket?"

"Don’t stray and be late," the handsome Baker cautioned.

"And try and save some of those sweets for granny!"

"Into the woods and down the dell, the path is straight I know it well. Into the woods and who can tell what’s waiting on the journey? Into the woods to bring some bread to granny who is sick in bed. Never can tell what lies ahead. For all that I know she’s already dead…but into the woods!" the little girl shrugged, "Into the woods, into the woods, to grandmother’s house and home before dark!" The little girl grabbed one last sweet and ran out of the door.

The birds were done with their task and flew away, leaving Cinderella alone.

"Fly, birds. Back to the sky, back to the eaves and the leaves and the fields and the…"

"Hurry up and do my hair, Cinderella," Florinda sang as she walked into the room, followed closely by Lucinda.

"Are you really wearing that?" Lucinda asked her sister.

"Here, I found a little tear, Cinderella," Lucinda gestured towards her skirt, adding mockingly, "Can’t you hide it with a hat?"

"You look beautiful," Cinderella smiled, as she moved a stool behind Florinda.

"I know," Florinda said smugly.

"She means me." Lucinda replied.

Cinderella took a deep breath and stepped up on the stool. She rubbed her hand across her forehead, smudging soot across her face. She took Florinda’s hair in her hands and began to put it up.

"Mother said be good. Father said be nice. That was always their advice. So be nice, Cinderella, good Cinderella, nice, good, good, nice…" She jerked Florinda’s hair with each word.

"Tighter," Florinda growled.

"What’s the good of being good if everyone is blind, always leaving you behind? Never mind, Cinderella, kind Cinderella, nice, good, nice, kind, good, nice…" She jerked the hair she held in her hands harder, forcing Florinda’s head to jerk with it.

Florinda screamed in pain, and turned around and slapped Cinderella.

"Not that tight."

"Sorry," Cinderella whispered.

~*~

"Because the Baker had lost his mother and father in a baking accident – well at least that is what he believed – he was eager to have a family of his own, and concerned that all efforts until now had failed," the narrator spoke up once more.

There was a knock at the Baker’s door and the couple looked at each other confused.

"Who might that be?" the Baker wondered and walked to the door to see.

"We have sold our last loaf of bread," his wife said tiredly. She removed her kerchief and let her long, black hair fall about her shoulders.

"It’s the witch from next door!"

The Baker ran to his wife and the watched as the witch came into their home. The old crone (played by Willow) walked slowly into the room, her back hunched over due to her age. Her red hair was streaked with gray, falling in curls around her face and shoulders. She gripped her crooked walking stick with her long, knobby fingers. Her torn and tattered black dress and robe trailed behind her making a sound like a snake slithering across gravel.

"We have no bread," the baker’s wife stated.

"Of course you have no bread!" the witch spat.

"What-what do you wish?" the Baker stuttered.

"It’s not what I wish. It’s what you wish." The couple looked at each other, confused by the witch’s cryptic words, causing the witch to scowl. "Nothing cooking in there, is there?" the crone asked, pointing to the wife’s belly with her walking stick. She sighed exasperated and sat in a nearby chair.

"The old enchantress went on to tell the couple that she placed a spell on their house," the narrator explained.

"What spell?" the Baker asked.

"In the past, when you were no more than a babe, your father brought his young wife and you to this cottage. They were a handsome couple, but not handsome neighbors. You see, your mother was with child and had developed an unusual appetite. She took one look at my beautiful garden and told your father what she wanted more than anything in the world was - Greens, greens, and nothing but greens: Parsley, peppers, cabbages, and celery, Asparagus and watercress and Fiddle ferns and lettuce-! He said, ‘All right,’ But it wasn't, quite, 'cause I caught him in the autumn in my garden one night! He was robbing me, raping me, rooting through my rutabaga, raiding my arugula and my champion! My favorite! - I should have laid a spell on him right there! Could have turned him into a stone or a dog or a chair or a sn…" the old woman slipped into what looked like a epileptic fit but quickly recovered as if nothing had happened. "But I let him have the rampion - I'd lots to spare. In return, however, I said, ‘fair is fair: you can let me have the baby that your wife will bear. And we'll call it square.’"

"I had a brother?" the baker asked.

"Noooo! But you had a sister."

"But the witch refused to tell him any more of his sister. Not even that her name was Rapunzel," the narrator spoke softly, as if the others could hear his secret.

"I thought I had been more than reasonable," the witch continued, "and that we all might live happily ever after. But how was I to know what your father had also hid in his pocket?! You see, when I had inherited that garden, my mother had warned me I would be punished if I were ever to lose any of the beans."

"Beans?" the Baker and his wife asked.

"The special beans!" she cried. "I let him go I didn't know he'd stolen my beans!
I was watching him crawl Back over the wall- And the bang! Crash! And the lightning flash! And, well that's another story, never mind… Anyway, at last the big day came and I made my claim. ‘Oh don't take away the baby,’ they shrieked and screeched. But I did, and I hid her where she'll never be reached. And your father cried, and you mother died. When for extra measure - I admit it was a pleasure- I said, ‘Sorry, I'm still not mollified.’ And I laid a little spell on them… You too, son… That your family tree would always be a barren one!" the witch cackled. The baker’s wife cried out, sinking to her knees. The old witch laughed and the chair she sat on began to levitate.

"So there's no more fuss and there's no more scenes and my garden thrives…You should see my nectarines! But I'm telling you the same I tell Kings and Queens: don't ever never ever mess around with my greens! Especially the beans!" Her chair slowly lowered back to the floor.

~*~

"Now listen to me, Jack. Lead Milky-White to market and fetch the best price you can. Take no less than five pounds. Are you listening to me?" Jack’s mother slapped the back of his head.

"Yes."

"How much are you to ask?"

"No more than five…" The sharp pain of his mother pinching his ear cut his answer short.

"Less! Less than five!" She let go of his ear and sighed, "Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, head in a sack. The house is getting colder. This is not a time for dreaming. Chimney-stack starting to crack… the mice are getting bolder… the floor’s gone slack. Your mother’s getting older, your father’s not back, and you can’t just sit here dreaming pretty dreams. To wish and wait from day to day will never keep the wolves away. So into the woods, the time is now. We have to live, I don’t care how. Into the woods to sell the cow, you must begin the journey. Straight through the woods and don’t delay-we have to face the market place. Into the woods to journey’s end…"

"Someday you’ll have a real pet, Jack."

"A piggy?"

~*~

"Meanwhile," the narrator laughed, "the witch, for purposes of her own, explained how the baker might lift the spell."

"You wish to have the curse reversed? I'll need a certain potion first. Go to the wood and bring me back: One: the cow as white as milk; Two: The cape as red as blood; Three: The hair as yellow as corn; Four: The slipper as pure as gold. Bring me these before the chime of midnight in three days' time, and you shall have, I guarantee, a child as perfect as child can be. Go to the wood!"

The Baker held his wife close, running his hand over her soft hair as the old witch left.

~*~

Cinderella’s stepmother walked into the room and smiled at her daughters.

"Ladies! The carriage awaits."

"Now may I go to the festival?" Cinderella asked, as she held out the full bowl of lentils to her stepmother.

"The festival?" she scoffed, "Darling, those nails! Darling, those clothes! Lentils are one thing but darling with those, you’d make us the fools of the festival and mortify the Prince!"

An older man walked into the room: Cinderella’s father. "The carriage is waiting."

"We must be gone," her stepmother said as she turned to leave.

"Goodnight, father," Cinderella said softly. Her father didn’t reply, merely grunted and left the room. "I wish…" Cinderella began to cry and sank to the floor, her heart breaking.

As the rest went over their plans of why they had to go into the wood: the Baker and his wife to find the ingredients for the witch’s spell; Jack to sell his beloved cow; and Little Red Riding Hood to visit her Grandmother, Cinderella pulled her knees close to her chest and cried. She felt lost and alone and she wished her mother were with her. She looked up suddenly as she realized what she could do.

"I know! I’ll visit mother’s grave, the grave at the hazel tree, and tell her I just want to go to the festival."

Her plan in place, she stood and wiped her tears from her face. She smiled, picking her shawl up from where she’d laid it on the floor earlier that day. With one last look around the room, Cinderella smiled and went to get her wish.

"Into the woods," her soft voice filling the room.

~*~