A oneshot dedicated to the spooky season! This is based on the Salem Witch Trials. It will get rather dark, so if you're uncomfortable with the themes that you're about to read, I suggest you skip. Reader discretion is advised.

SUMMARY: "On Gallows Hill they sleep.

where their souls were left to reap.

One wishes to leave this wretched land.

on which she left her severed hand."

WARNINGS: cursing, hanging, body mutilation, homophobia, old-timey bigotry, major gore, angst, religious themes, sexism, death, brief mentions of unsafe binding.

DYNAMIC: Strangers to lovers

~~~

2021

"Have you heard of the One-Handed Witches curse?"

"No? What is it?"

"Right, you just moved into town, didn't you? Well, lemme tell you what history says."

"They say every year on Halloween Night here in Salem, the curse is brought back, but the fathers and Priests at the churches always perform this sacred Christian ritual to keep it away."

"What is the curse?"

"The One-Handed Witch was apparently one of the last few to be convicted during the Witch Trials, along with her lover. Both were hung at the same time, and she promised everyone who wronged her that she would be back for revenge."

"Does anyone know what really happened?"

"No one does, besides her ancestors. But they've been in hiding for a long time."

"Maybe no one will ever know."

"But let me tell you the story as I heard it."

~~~

1693

Yelena let out a grunt as she loaded another bale of hay onto the back of the Wagon. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her right hand. Who knew it'd get so damn hot in the spring time?

A figure caught the corner of her eye, making her focus her gaze to look.

The farmers daughter, Y/N, was carrying a basket of apples in her arms into her house that she shared with her mother, father, and brother.

The girls father was in the process of trying to marry her off to the Mayors' oldest son, one that she didn't bother to learn the name of.

For almost all of her life, her parents had raised her as a male for her exaggerated androgynous features. Despite that, they still wanted her to marry a man to bear them grandchildren. She internally scoffed at the idea. Having children? No thanks.

​​​​​Even though she knew it was considered wrong by the church, and literally everyone else who followed Gods' will, she still found herself attracted to women in a way she knew for certain would have her hung, or burned, or drowned, etcetera.

She eyed the girl one more time, before pushing the hay back to fit against the others on the wagon.

Her own parents decided to take a trip down to the Jamestown Colony for trade buisness. Although her mother didn't really have a need to tag along, her father wanted her to come to give him "much needed moral support" as he had put it.

They untrusted her to take care of everything while they were gone. Such as making the deliveries from the town farm to the market. Their village was a rather small settlement. Only consisting of about twenty houses, a farm, a church/town hall, the Mayor's house, and a very small plaza.

Her parents had left early this morning, meaning she had alot of work to do before she could even be bothered to think of going to bed tonight.

Lifting the final bale into her arms, she hauled it onto the cart and sighed, wiping her hands free from any dirt.

Something rubbing against her leg caught her attention, and she looked down, seeing a fat, furry house cat rubbing itself on her shins and purring.

"Cordelia!" A voice cried out.

The farm girl, Y/N, came running up and scooped the cat into her arms. She gave the taller woman a nervous smile, holding the cat close.

"I am so terribly sorry! She just cannot help herself sometimes when it comes to new people." She said, chuckling softly.

The noise rang softly in Yelena's ears, making her insides churn and twist, as if someone had just stuck their hand through her gut and began yanking her organs around inside her.

She cleared her throat and sent the girl a small smile in return.

"It's alright, really. She wasn't bothering me." Her deep voice seemed to make the shorter confused, as she then tilted her head questioningly.

"I'm sorry, would you like something to drink or eat, um, sir? You look famished."

Having already been refered to as a man multiple times in her life, she simply brushed it off and shook her head at the woman in reply.

"I'm quite alright. I'll manage." She patted the cat the other was holding on the head before walking to the front of the wagon and getting on. She cracked the reins to make the horse pulling it walk forward, then began to make her way home.

She looked back over her shoulder and saw Y/N waving at her as she left. She smiled softly and simply waved back, then turned forward to see where she was going.

What a strange girl, indeed.

~~~

"Witch!"

"Hang her for her crimes! She's been confiding with the devil!"

"Kill the witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

"KILL THE WITCH!"

Yelena gasped awake in her bed and shot up, grasping at her neck, still feeling the way the rope had tightened around it in her dream.

She breathed heavily, sweating profusely. Taking a deep, final breath, she pulled the thin blanket off of herself and swung her legs over the sad excuse for a matress she had. Her bare feet hit the cold wooden floor, sending a chill up her spine.

She grabbed her shirt and pants from the day before and set them aside. Then, she grabbed the abandoned used bandages she tossed on the ground last night and began wrapping them around her chest, flattening it.

After getting completely dressed, she walked into the small kitchen her family had, and got a loaf of bread out of one of the cupboards.

She tore at the stale bread and ate it. Cringing in disgust when it ran down her throat.

After finishing it, she grabbed the wooden bucket off the counter and walked outside and headed for he town well.

She internally rolled her eyes at the sight at the mayor's snobbish older son, Jean. He was sitting at the edge of it, chatting with one of his friends named Marco.

She ignored him as she tied the handle of the bucket to the rope on the well, then lowered it.

She heard Jean laugh out loud, and she glanced up, wondering what made him do so, but not really caring either way.

"I can't believe my father is actually making me marry some stupid farm girl! The only thing she'd be good for is cooking for me! I heard the girl can't even hold a basket right! I should be marrying some nobles daughter down by the coast, not some wretch covered in fleas."

His sentence ended as Yelena pulled the bucket up, which was now filled with water.

She glared daggers from behind him, then glanced at the bucket. She untied it from the rope then came up beside Jean. She placed a hand on his back before shoving him to the ground.

Then dumped the bucket of water on him.

She smirked as Jean cussed out, wiping water from his face and pushing his long hair away from his eyes.

"What the hell?!" He exclaimed.

"Apologies." Yelena said, "my hand must've slipped."

Without waiting for a response, she turned her back to the man and walked back towards her house without her water.

~~~

Two weeks pass by, and for some reason Yelena finds herself more and more drawn towards the farm girl. She's not stupid, she knows what this means, and it pains her.

She sits in her home with her friend, and the man she's expected to marry in the next year or so, Zeke. He's the only one who knows who she truly is, not that he has a problem with it. The slight older man has always been the more open minded one in their village, but that's what made them hate him and her parents love him.

Apparently, her own mother was a member of a Slavic family that was all women. They would get pregnant then abandon the men to go off with those they love, which were other women. Yelena found it admirable, how lucky those women were in getting to be who they are.

Of course, the whole family was slaughtered save for her mother, who fled to Jamestown in the height of the massacre, but that's besides the point.

Zeke stared down at his cup full of mead while Yelena was lost in thought. 

He glanced up at her.

"You know you can't tell her, right?"

She sighed through her nose, before snapping her gaze to Zeke's.

"I know."

"You could die." He said.

"I know."

"They'll hang you, or even worse, burn you."

"I know." She said through gritted teeth.

"Or they could drown you, or-"

"I know!"

"You don't need to explain all the ways I could die from this! Not only by being in love with a women, but pretending to be a man as well! I don't need it shoved in my face!"

Zeke let a sigh pass through his lips, setting down his cup.

"I want what's best for you, Yelena. Not just as your friend, but your husband-to-be, as well."

Yelena scoffed at that.

"It pains me to see you in this much grief about a girl, but you can't come out about this to anyone. The only reason you're telling me is because I accept you for who you are. The rest of the village will blame you for witch-craft if they found out. They might blame her, as well."

Yelena dug the nails of her right hand into her palm, almost drawing blood. She let out a shaky breath through her nose, and nodded.

"The best I can do is stop interacting with her so much, maybe then my feelings will go away."

Yeah, maybe that's work.

~~~

It did not, infact, work.

Because now, Yelena was laying down on Y/N's bed with said girl on top of her, kissing at her neck and running her calloused hands under her shirt and over her bare chest.

How the hell did this happen, you ask? Well, that's a looong story.

But, I'll put this into simpler terms:

The blonde carried the last of the baskets full of vegetables into the cart Infront of the farms girls house, heaving a breath as sweat dripped down her forehead and onto her neck, making her skin look like it was glowing in the afternoon heat.

Y/N watched her from your porch, a fond look on her face.

She tried not to glance her way, but ultimately failed when she walked towards her.

"Would you like to come in for some water? It sure is hot, and I'd hate for you to be exhausted and sweaty when you get home.

Yelena couldn't help the heat of a blush coming into her face, but she decided to internally blame it on the sun making her so flustered and light headed.

Reluctantly, she nodded, and followed her inside.

she sat down at the wooden table in the girls kitchen, as she stood at the opposite end, filling a cup with well water from a basin.

Y/N walked over, giving her the cup. She glanced down at it briefly before taking it into her hands, and taking small sips from it.

she was thirsty, but she didn't want to bother the very same girl she had feelings for with downing the whole cup in one sitting and having to get up to get her more.

She glanced at said girl out of the corner of her eye, watch as she sat extremely close to her, her leg just barley grazing against her own.

Huh. Maybe she was thirsty for something else.

Y/N fiddled with her fingers, almost nervously. She bit her lip, catching Yelena's eyes for a split second in her gaze, then looked away.

"My mother and father are making me marry the mayor's son. They sat it'll bring our family good fortune and profit."

Yelena set her cup down, listening intently.

"But, I barley even know him. From what I do know, he's a slob who benefits off of his father. He and everyone else in the village says I'm dumber than rocks, but that's not true. I'm forced to play the part of the dumb farm girl so boys will like me better."

Yelena glanced down at her hands nervously, before whispering.

"I don't think you're stupid."

Y/N looked at her in shock, before smiling and leaning up, pressing a feather light kiss to Yelena's cheek bone.

This caused her face to erupt in red, all the way down to her neck. Y/N let out a small laugh at that, causing the blondes heart to practically pound out of her chest.

God, what was wrong with her? She's never acted like this before! Why was she getting so worked up over some kiss on the cheek?!

before she could come to a rational conclusion, she felt someone brush a lock of hair behind her ear.

Glancing down her nose, she saw Y/N extremely close to her face, their lips almost touching.

She panicked and shot up out of her seat, pushing the other girl away.

No. This couldn't be happening. She allowed herself to get too comfortable. If Y/N found out who and what she was, she'd for sure sell her out to the entire town.

Yelena leaned against the girls kitchen counter, gripping at it as if it were a life support, her knuckles turning a stark white.

Her chest heaved up and down as she took in heavy gulps of air. The room seemed like it was spinning, her head was all fogged as she tried to focus on everything, anything to get her mind to stop it's racing.

A hand grasping her own made her stop.

"Yelena, calm down."

she glanced down, panic once again rising as she saw Y/N's worried expression.

How- how did she know her name? She always used the fake one her parents made her use in the presence of other. So how did she find out?!

The girl reached up, placing her hand against Yelena's cheek, rubbing it soothingly with her thumb.

"Calm down." She whispered.

Taking in a shuddered breath, she tried to find her breathing.

Y/N gently tugged Yelena into her room, which was separate from the kitchen, on the opposite end of the small house. She made Yelena sit down, then sat down next to her and rubbed her hand up and down her back.

​​​​​Gripping her hands tight, she finally felt herself calm down. She slumped her shoulders, exhausted.

After a long minute of silence, Yelena finally spoke up.

"How did you know about me? I've never told anyone besides one other person."

Y/N glanced away, taking a deep breath.

"The people in this town aren't the brightest, they're all rather dim. But, I could tell. The way you hold yourself is more feminine then you realize. Flattening your chest and using a fake name doesn't change much about you as a person. You're still yourself, even if you look different to other people. You don't view women as objects as most men do in this town, that was the first sign."

"Yeah, but shouldn't everyone? We shouldn't be put into such a stereotype like that."

"I agree."

Yelena thought for a moment, furrowing her brows.

"Wait, but, if you knew I was a woman, why did you kiss my cheek?" She asked.

Y/N gave her a teasing smirk.

"You're not the only one who doesn't like men."

Yelena's eyes widened a fraction.

She was wrong.

All this time, she thought she'd for sure be dead if she ever told anyone about who she was, but she was wrong. Well, she was wrong about Y/N atleast.

Before she even knew what was happening, Y/N had leaned up and pressed her lips against Yelena's, causing her to let out a surprised noise in the back of her throat.

She felt the girl smirk against her lips, before she brought her arms down the her waist, wrapping them around her.

Y/N laid both of them down on her bed, then broke away from the kiss.

"You're pretty when you're yourself." She said.

So, yeah, that's how this happened.

As Y/N kept kissing against her skin, going lower and lower as she did so, both of them failed to notice the man in the window, watching them with an enraged look on his face, before he dashed off into town.

Minutes passed, and Y/N began untying the string on Yelena's pants. She hitched a breath, but didn't stop her from doing so.

Just as she was about to take them off, Y/B's door slammed open with a loud bang! Making both of the girls flinch and shoot away from eachother.

Y/N's father and mother glared down in horror at both of their disheveled figures. The father scowled down at the blonde woman.

"You witch. You've tainted our daughter with your sinful hands."

Yelena's eyes widened as everything came crashing down.

'Shit!' she thought 'I'm going to die!'

Before her brain could register anything, the man had grabbed her roughly by the arm and practically dragged her through the house.

"Father no! Leave her alone, please! She didn't do anything, this was me-"

Y/N's mother slapped her hard across the face, making her fall to the ground.

"You don't have a say in this. That witch will pay for what she's done to your soul."

"I'm not tainted! Yelena didn't do anything to hurt me! Please just listen!"

Y/N scrambled up off of the floor and ran out of the house, with her mother screaming after her. She followed the sound of Yelena's begs and pleads to be let go, tears springing into her eyes.

"Let go! Let go of me! I don't want to die, please!" The blonde cried out, kicking and screaming as the man grabbed a rope and tied her arm to a fence post.

He grabbed an axe that was sticking out of a log, then walked over and raised it over his head.

"This is so you can never touch our daughter with your devil hands again."

In one swing, the axe can down.

And cut off Yelena's right hand in one slice.

She let out a blood curtailing scream of pain as blood oozed and squirted out of the stump where her wrist used to be. The grass, her clothes, face, everything, was covered in her blood.

Red. All she saw was red. A firey pain shot through her whole body, as the man above her began stomping his boot covered foot down onto her back.

He beat her bloody and bruised as she clutched her severed wrist to her chest. She didn't dare fight back.

For what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes, the man beat her. Breaking her bones, her spirit. It was all broken.

Until, he finally stopped.

Yelena gasped for air as her cracked and broken ribs scratched at her lungs. She didn't know what was going on, now. All she knew was the pain she felt in her entire body, starting from her wrist.

"You'll be killed for this, you witch." The man spat before walking away.

His heavy footsteps retreated, but were only followed by quickened ones, and shouting.

A pair of frantic, but gentle arms wrapped around her body comfortingly, but only made the pain worse.

She felt her upper half being lifted up and pressed against a chest. The warmth spread throughout her body, making her relax. It didn't stop the pain, though.

Finger raked through her short hair,m her breathing slow and her mind clearer.

She heard the sound of someone shushing her, then something soft wrapped around her mutilated limb, making her whimper in pain.

"Shhh, it's ok." She heard Y/N whisper.

"Everything is going to be ok."

But it wasn't ok, because both of them would surely die.

~~~

The town's people gathered around the curved tree, on a place the founder had called Gallows Hill. They all watched as the ropes were wrapped around both of the girls necks.

The mayor looked upon them in disgust, his son behind him with an almost proud look on his face.

The man turned to the people, gesturing to both of them.

"These sinners, these witches, are why we must all follow the will of our God. For he punishes those who do not, and this is his example."

The crowed murmured amongst eachother.

"We stand here today to hang these two for the act of confiding with the devil. They have left Gods grasp, and chosen a path of sin. So, now, they must die for it."

Zeke looked at Yelena with sadness in his eyes, but all she did was stare blankly at the ground as the mayor continued on.

He turned to them both.

"You sinners still have the option to admit you were in the wrong. Maybe then, your lives will be spared."

They stayed silent, not confessing to anything.

The man scoffed. "Alright, any last words?"

Y/N was the first one to speak up.

"I don't regret a single thing. My love for Yelena is greater than my faith. I don't care if I die for it, or if I'm considered a witch, but I love her with everything I have, and I stand by that."

The mayor scowled, but said nothing.

Yelena took a moment, before deciding what she wanted to say.

She glared up at the crowd, her face forever etched with a look of rage that would haunt their dreams forever.

"You will all pay for what you've done to us. All of your families will be plagued with the same fate. All of your children, grandchildren. All of your ancestors will learn of this day and regret it. You will all pay, and you will all die in the most gruesome ways possible, as reminders of the ways you've wronged us!"

Everyone looked upon Yelena in horror, as the reality of the situation came crashing down upon them.

"The witch had cursed us! Hang her! Kill the witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

Everyone except for a select few, chanted as the ropes were risen. Both Yelena and Y/N choked and kicked their legs, ad they both slowly died.

Then, they fell limp.

The town's people kept chanting, even as their bodies hung lifelessly in the air, swinging softly back and forth.

"Kill the witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

"KILL THE WITCH!"

~~~

2021

Mikasa trudged through the forest, a shovel strapped to her back, a bouquet of flowers in one hand, and something wrapped in a cloth in the other.

She thought back to what her friend had told her, the story of Yelena The One Handed Witch.

She felt bad. They were just two girls in love with eachother, not witches. Just women who society at the time couldn't see were special.

Finally, she got to the curved tree at the top of the hill. Gallows Hill.

She placed both objects down, then took the shovel off her back.

'If I remember correctly' she thought ''they were both buried somewhere near the base of the tree.'

Mikasa patted the ground with the shovel for a few minutes, before finding a patch of hollow ground.

"Found it!" She said with a smile.

Then, she began digging.

As she dug, and found nothing, she began to lose hope, until her shovel hit something hard.

She looked down, seeing a skeletons arm peek out from the dirt, except it didn't have a hand.

She smiled softly.

"Found you, Yelena."

Setting the shovel down, she grabbed the wrapped up cloth.

Unfolding it, she gently lifted up a single boned hand, then placed it in the unmarked grave.

"There," She said. "Now you're complete."

Picking up the shovel again, she hauled the dirt back onto the bodies, completely covering them once again.

She then took the flowers, she decided red roses would have been the best option, as they symbolize love, then placed it on top of the dirt.

On a card, it read:

"To the girls who just wanted to love eachother.

Yelena and Y/N, you are set free now.

You can both rest easy."

letting out a satisfied him, Mikasa stood up, and turned to leave, but stopped when she saw to figures standing about seven feet Infront of her.

They were both holding hands, looking at the black haired girl fondly, smiles on both of their faces.

The taller one of the two opened her mouth, and only two words were spoken.

"Thank you."

And then, they both disappeared.

Mikasa felt tears falling down her face, but wiped them away.

Sniffling, she turned to the grave.

"You're welcome."

Then, she walked away, back home.

WORD COUNT:4,262