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Chapter Text

Out of all the things that could’ve happened today, Hiccup Haddock did not expect to be violently pulled from his dragon and falling through the morning multi-colored sky. He should’ve been scared, terrified actually, praying to Thor that Toothless would be able to grab him before he hit the waves below. But considering that doing crazy stuff like this was what he was known for at this point, he was more worried about whether they’d be able to beat the hunters before the others noticed they were missing. Again. (Astrid was going to kill him)

The salty sea air shot passed him as he continued to plummet, roaring in his ears that he was an idiot for not realizing dragon hunters were below. He already cursed himself out as it was for not only missing them but forgetting to attach the newest prototype of the flight suit to his armor as well. But the insult to injury was not needed in any way shape or form, thanks. 

He tried to engage wind resistance as much as possible by spreading out his arms and legs, something he learned in the various attempts to perfect the suit in the past. The dumbass wasn’t even wearing a helmet, something he promised everyone he’d do after almost crashing into the rock formations during a test run of his latest prototype. Though in his defense, he hadn’t designed one yet that could stay on during the high speed flights. 

The world was quickly racing up to catch him as he crashed through the last layer of clouds separating the Heavens from Earth. Toothless was still several feet above, struggling to dive because the prosthetic’s release switch was stuck. The hunters must’ve damaged the contraption when they pulled the viking off his saddle by his good foot. It looked almost destroyed based on the piece of metal still stuck in the broken stirrup. 

Fear finally began to creep its way into the rider the more his brother struggled and the louder the hum of the ocean got louder. As if struck by lightning, it dawned on Hiccup to try to get the ropes still stuck around his leg off. But his heart froze as he looked down at his feet. 

His metal foot was missing. That broken piece of metal still stuck in the stirrup was what was left of it. No wonder Toothless couldn’t dive. 

“Oh for the love of-!” He cursed aloud. Toothless’ face contorted at realizing the same thing his brother did, “It’ll be alright bud,” Hiccup tried to reassure him but even his voice sounded strained above the wind, “Just like we practiced!”

The dragon folded his wings in tighter than before, hoping to make up for the wind resistance his prosthetic fin was giving him. Despite the odds, he managed to make it close enough to grab him. Hiccup ignored the ocean rapidly approaching beneath him and reached up to his brother, relief flooding his system as Toothless reached out his claws to grab him. For a fleeting moment he allowed himself to hope. 

In a blink of an eye, that was ripped away. Toothless was enveloped in a net and pulled away onto the hull of an unseen ship. Hiccup could barely react before crashing through what felt like icy stone. Darkness clouded the edge of his eyes as his breath left his lungs and returned to the surface in bubbles. Salt stung his eyes as the rider came in and out of semi consciousness. 

There wasn’t any time to acquaint himself with what would’ve been his watery grave as the rope still attached to his leg yanked upwards. Jerking his head too fast in a way that gave him whiplash. Again, thanks. Very helpful. 

The rider was pulled aboard the hunter’s ship and brought to his knees, coughing and gagging on the water that made his way into his lungs. Adrenaline drained from his body and was quickly replaced by the white hot pain from the fall. His neck is already becoming stiff from the whiplash.

The salt lingered in the back of his throat as the last bit of water was rejected from his lungs. Toothless’ panicked cries drew Hiccup’s eyes to the top of the ship. The Night Fury was already being contained with dragon-fire proof chains. Something Toothless would usually be able to avoid but had been too distracted by Hiccup’s fall to notice. 

The two met eyes from across the ship, and the dragon’s panic quickly receded quicker than the one quickly forming in his brother. Hiccup clumsily threw himself against a guard in an attempt to let him go but without a second leg and hands that were wrapped around the top of his forearms. There wasn’t enough room to move, much less to knock them down. 

“Let us go,” Hiccup sneered, he began to reach for his sword Inferno but a hunter was quicker and grabbed his hand to restrain him. 

“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary, My Dear Hiccup.” Some of the faceless thugs parted for the owner of the voice as he waltzed to the front. But Hiccup already knew who he was before he even revealed himself.

The last time he heard it was moments before Hiccup threw him into a volcano.

For a moment his breath failed him as he stared up at the man who should’ve been a ghost. He blinked, hoping that this was just some horrible nightmare that he could wake up from. Hiccup blinked again when the man, now with a charred, milky eye, didn’t disappear back into the depths of Hel’s realm. 

No, he can’t be here. This can’t be right. Hiccup shook his head but the man grabbed this chin, forcibly keeping his attention. No, there had to be an explanation. This had to be another waking nightmare. Yes, that’s it. Ever since his death they’d plagued him endlessly. There were times he somehow threw himself into the Clubhouse screaming about nonsense and paranoia, scaring the others who didn’t know how to help him. 

This isn't real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This can’t be real. He tried pinching his arm to induce a wake up, just like Gothi had told him to in situations like this. But no matter what he did the dark haired man didn’t disappear. 

He wasn’t asleep. And this wasn’t a dream.

“Surprised to see me?” Viggo asked with a mock innocence, titling his head.

“H-how-? You… you died. ” Hiccup breathed, water seemed to fill his lungs again as the man’s death scene replayed in his mind. He wore his familiar smug expression as his gaze tore through the 17 year old. 

“Looks can be deceiving,”

“You fell in a volcano !”

He shrugged, clicking his tongue like a disappointed teacher, “Oh my dear boy, I thought I taught you by now not to judge a book by its cover. Of course you should know, you used to be quite unimpressive yourself.” Hiccup lunged again but the guards didn’t let him go far. Viggo shook his head and let go of his chin. “You may want to cease your struggling, it’ll only make your pain worse.”

“And who’s fault is that?” He hissed through the gritted teeth, his body screaming at him to stop moving. 

“Well we couldn’t have you poking around our business now could we?”

Whatever energy Hiccup had was quickly fading, being consumed by the pain overwhelming his body. But a fire was lit somewhere deep in his gut. Something primal and frenzic like what he imagined dragon fire to feel like. It crawled at the walls inside of him, begging to be free. He sucked in a breath and tried to focus it. He didn’t even care about getting out of here anymore, he knew that was pointless. All he needed to do was get one punch. Just one. That would be enough to shut him up.  

“Gone quiet, have we?” Viggo taunted, causing the brutes to laugh in a chorus of stupidity. Then Hiccup struck, somehow getting loose enough to lunge forward to chin level. But it wasn’t enough. Viggo saw it coming, moving just out of his reach to be irritating to the Viking. “Come on now Hiccup, use your words instead of this-” He gestured to all of him, “Petulant display.” 

“You want to- you know what? Fine. I don’t care how you somehow cheated death. I don’t know and I don’t care. Just let Toothless go, this is between you and me.” 

Viggo shook his head with disappointment, “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out by now.” He said softly, almost like he didn’t want the others to hear him, “No matter. I assume you’ll figure it out soon enough. Guards, place him with the other.”

The rider did what he could to resist but the efforts were quickly shut down when a burly guard kicked him in the gut. His whole body crumbled in on itself as the pain flared through him again. He hung his head, trying to blink the stars out of his eyes and let the fire dull to a burning ache. He found himself letting out a sob that was drowned out by the commotion going on around him. 

The light of morning was soon replaced by the dim firelight of torches. He lifted his head to try to scope out a means of escape before he was no doubt tossed into a cage when he saw a weirdly shaped box at the other end. He didn’t get a good look at it before he was thrown into the cage. The smell of barnacles and blood hit his nose, nearly making him throw up what little breakfast he had eaten. He propped himself up on his elbow to try to absorb his surroundings but flinched when a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder. 

“Oh- sorry!” A girl’s voice with a heavy Scottish accent exclaimed. His senses flared at the new unknown presence in the cage with him. Hiccup rolled over and pulled a tiny dagger the guards didn’t get. It was a prototype of a smaller Inferno. He only caught a glimpse of red hair before the girl decided to smack him across the head.

“Ow!” 

“What the hell lad!” The girl scolded him, “I’m not one of them!”

He rubbed the area where she got him, hoping to hide the bafflement on his face. “H-how exactly do you expect me to trust you?” 

“If I was one of them I wouldn’t be here with you in this bloody dungeon-?! Seriously, that would be the most idiotic thing they could do! Do you even have a brain?” 

“Ok, that- makes sense actually. Alright, yeah, that was my bad,” Hiccup groaned, “‘Sorry,”

“You should be! I’ve had the worst 4 days of my life. I didn’t ask to be here! I don’t need some fishbone to pull a knife on me of all things, calling me a liar for no reason at all!”

“Alright, alright I get it, I’m an idiot for not realizing-  I’m sorry.” He sighed, settling back onto the ground to hide his face, “I’m sorry, I really am. It’s been a very long morning…”

“Well that seems like an understatement,” She said, quieter than before.

A small chuckle bubbled out of his chest, “Yeah, it definitely is.”

Hiccup peaked his eyes off of the ground to see the girl had finally calmed down. She even looked a little worried as Hiccup brought himself to his knees. 

“What happened to yer leg?” Something close to horror danced behind her eyes, “Did they-?”

“Oh gods no. Viggo’s men are ruthless but they would never…” Could they? “Well not without permission anyway,” 

“So how did you lose it?”

Hiccup kept down the chuckle that nearly made its way to his throat, “To make a very long story short: dragon attack.” 

The girl’s eyes widened, “Dragons? How far north are we?”

“Only few degrees off freezing to death,”

“Oh no, no, no,” The girl put her hands to the side of her freckled pale face, “You can’t be serious! Only the northern tribes get attacked by dragons. Unless vikings are involved…” Her face dropped and her eyes went wide. In the little light they had he could almost make out tears forming in the corners.

Unsure of what to do, Hiccup cautiously took one of her free hands in a careful comforting gesture. “I’m sure it’ll be ok,”

“You don’t understand, we were attacked by them.”

“What do you mean?”

“We were attacked by vikings. They don’t take prisoners usually. At least not for very long,” The girl said finally. A look of realization in her eyes as a tear broke free of her eye, “My parents will think I’m dead,”

A pang of guilt and sadness stabbed through his heart, “I’m sorry. But they won’t for long. I'm gonna get us out of here.” 

Stormy blue eyes met his steady green ones, “How do you expect to do that? We’re in a ship in the middle of the ocean with no one knowing where we are,”

“That’s never stopped me before. I’m sure we’re not too far from land. I was only a couple miles from the Edge when I got captured. Once we know exactly where we’re going, we’ll make a game plan.” Hiccup tried to keep his voice light despite feeling the hopelessness begin to set in, “Besides, I got people who are looking for me. We’ll be saved in no time.”

“Are you sure?”

No.  

He bristled at his sudden shift in his internal monologue. Sure, the Riders were Muttonheads on a good day, but he had faith in them. They came through exactly when they needed to. He pushed that voice away but the thought still lingered somewhere in the back of his mind. Right where he put his other doubts, “Positive. Everything is going to be ok. Me and the dragon riders do this all the time,”

The girl looked at him like two more heads sprouted out of his neck, “Dragon riders? Are ya daft?”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know how it works around these parts, but where I come from you get gobbled up by one if you cross its path.”

An embarrassed itch flared at the base of Hiccup’s neck drawing the attention of his hand, “Well I mean- it used to be like that around here too. Until I befriend one anyway,”

“ You befriended a dragon?” She looked him up and down, “You?”

“I don’t appreciate the insinuation,” Offense coloring every word, “But yes, I did. He’s my best friend. We have a very tight bond and he trusts me enough to allow me to ride him.”

She nodded, looking slightly impressed, “I’d expect someone like my dad to ride a dragon- wait, you said ‘him’?”

“Yeah, he’s a he, and his name is Toothless,”

“Toothless…?” 

“Yeah, Toothless. I thought it was fitting. He has retractable teeth.”

“Retrac– wha?” She pressed her index fingers to her temples, something he liked to do as well. Maybe she got the same everlasting tension headaches that he did? Or more likely trying to wrap her mind around everything, “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have teeth. Who names things like that?”

Hiccup shrugged, “It’s meant to ward off trolls.”

The girl arched an eyebrow, “How would that drive away trolls? If I was a troll, I’d go for him first…”

“And we’d catch them off guard,” He had to fight a smile as he watched the girl try to wrap her mind around the concept. Of course he didn’t tell her that his tribe knew their names were terrible and that’s how they kept the trolls at bay. Because where would the fun be in that? 

The girl’s eyes twinkled with a tentative understanding, “Guess yer right…” She trailed off. “Sorry, uh, where are my manners? What's yer name? Unless it’s Toothless too?”

“Close, it’s Hiccup.”

The girl blinked, “Did yer father hate you?” 

He shrugged, “It seemed like it at times for sure. But no, he doesn’t. What’s yours?”

“Merida.” 

“Alright Merida, how did you get here? It sounds like your ship got attacked? Did you see anything important that might’ve clued who they were?”

“Yes, we…” She trailed off, her eyes searching for a logical answer that didn’t seem to be there. “W-we were coming for a… negotiation after the Northern clans were attacked.” 

“Negotiation? Are you like a chief’s daughter or something?”

“Something like that I suppose.” She sighed, putting her head in her hands, “I had a fight with my mother. Coming here seemed like the better option than dealing with her which is why I was even on the fecking boat in the first place. Then just when things seem to calm down the next thing I know I get snatched by some dragon with an iron muzzle-”

“Hold on, dragon? Iron?” 

“Aye, they had iron armor and a muzzle. The boatmen could barely get a hit on them. Why?”

Cold dread poured through him, extinguishing the pain he felt. His eyes fell to the wooden floor. “Dragon armor? With iron? Gronkle iron?” Now, Hiccup has seen the hunters pull many things with the dragons they lock away. But dragon armor? What did they need armor from, they’re dragons. Unless the armor wasn’t meant for protection from dragons.

“Aye, that’s what I said. Don’t know about the Gronkle iron though,”

His lungs felt tight like he couldn’t breathe, “This must be their plan. Oh gods,” They’re going to use us as bait–

“What plan? What are they going to do to us?”

Hiccup’s eyes snapped up when she spoke, forgetting someone else was in the room with him, “How long have you been here?”

Merida shrugged, “Almost a half day. I don’t know, I can’t-” She stopped for a moment. Her hands clasped together in a comforting gesture, “I can’t tell anymore.”

“Why? Half a day can’t be that bad?”

Merida began to speak but her words were quickly cut off by the opening of the door at the end of the hallway. The two watched helplessly as the rest of the dragon riders were put in the opposing cage. The door closed with a thunk and echoed through the dungeon. Hiccup tried not to let the surprise or relief show on his face. Yeah, he expected them to come but not this quickly. Did they really notice he was gone that fast?

Astrid, trusted companion to the only other brain cell the team had, made her way to the front of the cage and immediately he knew something was wrong. She looked terrible, her blond braid was barely hanging together, her winter gear tucked in her weapons belt haphazardly, and the shadows under her eyes were darker than he’d ever seen. Something that seemed to be shared between the rest of the riders. 

 Astrid's eyes visibly relaxed and hardened quicker than Hiccup ever saw. “Where have you been?” Was all she could ask. There was a dulled edge to her voice, too overwhelmed with tiredness to be threatening.

He shrugged, dread beginning to sink its teeth in his bones, “Here.”

“For 2 weeks?” Her voice broke along with whatever understanding Hiccup might’ve had.

“2 weeks,” He repeated, numbness spreading through his core. 

“We were really worried, Hiccup,” Fishlegs chimed in, his voice just as grave as Astrid’s. Only then did he notice heavyset viking’s crooked helmet and unkempt hair, “We thought-”

“We thought you’d gotten yourself killed by dragon hunters!” Snotlout bellowed. Had Astrid not looked the way she did, the award for worst-for-wear Viking would’ve gone to him. His helmet was on backwards and leather armor was worn and crooked, “And here you tell us not to do reckless things but when you do it-!”

“Yeah! Why do you get to be stupid but we don’t!” Tuffnut agreed. 

“Seems unfair,” Ruffnut, always joined at the hip with her brother, added. “You can’t just disappear for two weeks and act all high and mighty when we wanna break a world record for most gassy dragon.”

Astrid huffed but didn’t acknowledge them, “We all thought-” Her voice was choked by a sob. Hiccup couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Her best friend disappears after another one of his stupid unscheduled, secret flights and then he’s found in the dungeon of a dragon hunter ship. Not even mentioning the amount of time he’s apparently been gone. She gripped onto the bars as if they were a lifeline, “And nobody thought you could’ve just been captured because there would’ve been a bargain. There would’ve been word. There would’ve been- something. We had to tell your father Hiccup. We had to tell him that his only son had vanished without a trace,”

“What?” He felt Merida’s eyes turn to him but he couldn’t find it in himself to look at her. All he could picture was his dad’s face when he heard the news.

“And yet here you are, completely fine.” 

“No.” Hiccup said despite himself.

Astrid’s eyes hardened again, “What do you mean no?” 

“I wasn’t– we weren’t–”

“Now you understand?” Merida asked. 

Astrid’s eyes met Merida’s, “Who’s this?”

“Lassie, I should be asking you the same question.” Merida snapped.

Hiccup sighed and recollected himself, “Astrid, this is Merida. Merida, Astrid. She’s my friend and fellow rider.”

“Ohhh, so you're crazy too,”

Astrid’s mouth dropped in offense and disbelief. Hiccup had to restrain himself from chuckling at the girl’s lack of filter. This was definitely not the time for that. He didn’t have the energy to even if he wanted to, 

“I am not!” Astrid protested. “Who in Thor’s name do you think you are?” 

“Crazy hot maybe,” Snotlout said, which earned him a punch in the gut by Astrid. “Ow, what was that for?”

“Time works differently here,” Hiccup muttered under his breath, “Do you know why?”

“How am I supposed to know, lad? I’m as clueless about this as you are.”

“A mystery is afoot!” Tuffnut exclaimed butting into their conversation. “Why is that girl’s hair so red? There’s no way hair can naturally be that color, the chief’s hair isn’t even that bright! She must be a troll,”

“Maybe she drinks the blood of her enemies? Dagur used to and his hair is pretty close,” Ruffnut suggested.

Tuffnut gasped as if they’d cracked the world’s hardest riddle, “Sister, your a genius,”

“We’re doomed,” Merida flopped onto the bedroll that was conventionally right under her. Hiccup had the urge to agree with her, but another voice adding to the gloom was not going to solve their problem. Besides, someone needed to be stupidly optimistic. The responsibility fell to him most times anyway. 

“We don’t know that yet. We just need to figure out why time works differently,” He explained out loud. “Anyone have any ideas?”

“How do you even know that?” Astrid asked accusingly.

“Because I’ve only been here for an hour. Maybe less than that,” Now, Hiccup knew the riders barely took anything he said seriously, but he didn’t expect them to burst out laughing at his claim. Even Astrid, who most times barely played along with their theatrics.  

“There’s no way,” She said breathlessly, laughter and a deep exhaustion painted her voice.

“He’s just lying. Trying to make up excuses for being gone for two weeks,” Snotlout tried, but he didn’t sound too convinced.

“He’s not lying,” Merida tried.

“How do we know you’re not just trying to cover for him?” Snotlout crossed his arms and leaned onto the right wall.

Merida looked at him as if he had three heads, “Are you daft? Why would I do that?” 

“You’re both about to die!” Tuffnut exclaimed.

“Tuff, no, how many times do I have to say it? Hiccup has a gambling addiction and the girl’s clearly trying to help him cover it up.” 

Merida looked up to Hiccup for an explanation, “You have a gambling addiction?” 

“No, I don’t know where that came from.” 

“You once lost all of Berk’s gold!” Snotlout defended himself dumbly, “How do we know it wasn’t cuz of gambling?! Hmm?”

“He does have a point there,” Tuffnut agreed. 

Hiccup sucked in a breath to explain before Merida could bite the idiots’ heads off, “I can prove it to you guys. Please. When me and Toothless got captured, the dragon hunters pulled me off him by shooting me down. I don’t know how they did it but they did. Toothless couldn’t save me in time and I fell in the ocean. If I was really gone for two weeks, how could I still be wet?”

The dragon riders’ faces dropped, even the twins. Nobody must’ve realized his brown hair was still wet with how dim the lighting was, or hear the slight squeak in his leather armor with every slight move over their argument. They were too relieved he was found alive. He could hear the twins begin to utter half brained solutions but they didn’t finish. There was no explanation that could’ve justified it. 

All the usual silliness was drained dry from the air. Even the twins took this seriously, following Fishlegs as he began to pace around trying to rack his encyclopedia in his brain. Astrid suggested something to Snotlout who didn’t make a whole production out of it and even tried a different plausible one. 

“Hiccup, we’ve never seen anything like this before.” Fishlegs said finally, “I can only think of one thing that might explain it: Magic,”

Hiccup’s heart clenched with fear. Magic? Viggo’s… magic? Is that how he got away? How long has he been magic? Is that how he’s always been 5 steps ahead of us?  

“Fishface, don’t be ridiculous. Everyone knows magic isn’t real,” Snotlout rolled his eyes. “There has to be a better explanation.”

“Lad, what are you on about? Of course magic is real,” Merida said, “In fact, I just came from a witch before I got tangled up in this fecking mess.”

“Witch?” Hiccup made the mistake of letting the fear slip into his voice. Snotlout began to bellow a laugh after hearing it.

“What’s wrong Hiccup, you’re afraid of a little magic?” But was quickly cut off by Astrid punching him in the gut. Again. 

Before he could respond, the torch at the other end of the hallway went out. Everyone’s eyes turned to the now charred stub, staying quiet in fear of something pouncing if they made the slightest noise. Nobody dared to look away, they were frozen in place.  

With a soft hiss another torch was stolen of its light. Then another. Then another. Then another and another. Until all that was left was darkness. Hiccup didn’t dare take a breath, like the air was stolen from the space as well. 

Merida grabbed his arm, nearly making him jump. She pressed a finger to his lips before sound could escape them. Without notice, light began to pour in from the cracks in the floorboards above. And just as quickly it vanished without a trace. 

That was sunlight. His stomach dropped.

Creak.  

The floorboards began to buckle at the other end of the hallways. Someone stepped out from the other end of the hallway. The only problem with that? There was no door on the other end. More sunlight came flooding in cracks and disappeared again.

Creak.

The footsteps continued, growing louder with every step. Panic, dread, and apprehension grew as the steps, and whoever they belonged to, got closer. The once heavy silence was now replaced by the shuffling of dragon riders trying to escape the cage. Someone began banging on the ceiling, hoping someone would let them out. 

But no one came. 

Another couple of rotations went by as Merida grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him onto his foot. He went to ask her what she was doing but she shushed him. He leaned onto her for support before he could accidentally fall forward. The silence returned when the dragon riders heard her. The sun began to disappear once again but not until the silhouette of a lanky man appeared in front of them. 

The lights above flickered and sputtered before disappearing entirely. Like someone shut off the sun. 

Hiccup stifled a gasp as two orange lights appeared through the dark. They were so small he almost didn’t see them. But the longer he looked at the sickly orange, the more he felt sick from the dread and hopelessness, the more realized that those orange lights had a dark center. Like a black hole in the center of a star. 

They weren’t lights. They were the color of someone's eyes.

Hiccup lost his center of gravity and nearly fell forward. Had Merida not grabbed him, he would’ve crashed into the bars. His stomach dropped. The eyes narrowed and a collective chill went down both their spines. 

An icy hand clasped his chin and dragged him into the cold metal. “Who are you?” The voice was flat and even, yet was as intimidating as the Red Death. 

Words bubbled and died in the back of his throat. He stared up helplessly at the shadow with a deeply familiar terror. “H-h-h,”

“Not you,” He said pointedly, “The girl,”

 “I’m not telling you anything,” She growled, voice breaking at the edges. 

A chuckle came rising out of him, “That’s a shame really. It would’ve made things easier.” The grip became iron as the shadow began to pull his face forward, much to the protest of basic physics. New pain flared up under his skin despite the cold of the bars. 

Hiccup acted without thinking. He quickly pulled his sword, Inferno, from where it laid in his belt. Must be they didn’t notice his work-in-progress sword when they were pulling him from the sea. If the shadow was startled by the display, he was too shrouded in darkness to reveal it. 

“Hiccup!” Astrid shouted from behind them. The eyes disappeared and a soft whimper came from the dragon riders’ cage. Shuffling and banging on the roof occurred again. This time more frantically than before. Hiccup could only imagine what the shadow was doing to provoke this much of a reaction from them. 

“Shut it,” Merida hissed.

The eyes snapped onto the two of them again and the clutch on Hiccup’s chin hardened. Hiccup took a deep breath to steal his resolve. “Leave them alone.” 

“Why?” The shadow asked, his eyes widening like a predator who caught its prey. “What would a talking fishbone have to offer me?” 

An icy feeling entered his chest, “Anything,”

“Lad, don’t,” Merida warned him.

“Just leave them alone,” Hiccup finished regardless. Extinguishing Inferno for good measure. 

The hold lightened as an ear splitting laugh filled the limited space of the hall. “Your fear, it’s delightfully familiar. Have we met before?” He crooned, his eyes shrunk down to slits. 

Hiccup’s breath caught in his lungs. The light reappeared from the ceiling, better illuminating the man’s figure. A feeling of deja vu hit him hard, throwing off his center of gravity. The only reason he didn’t fall to his knees was because of the shadow’s grip on his chin. 

The shadow seemed to shift with every second, growing taller and more unnatural in the sliver of sunlight. His eyes grew while his face became more slender and uncanny. Hiccup tried to tear his eyes away but found he couldn’t. 

Moments moved like molasses as the shadow looked over the Viking. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as the shadow let him go. This is a trap. Kept repeating over and over again in the back of his head.  

“Yes… You’ll do quite nicely.” 

The shadow disappeared as the light flooded into the dungeon, freeing Hiccup from the hold it had on him. Inferno fell to the ground with a heavy clank . Air finally seemed to return to his lungs as he fell on his side. Merida loomed over him with a grave look on her face. 

“I hope this goes well fer you. It’s never a good idea to bargain with the Boogeyman.” She warned him.

“The what?”

The door opened and Hiccup was dragged out of the cage. Protests of his friends and the girl told him they were taken too. When he was pulled onto the deck, a rogue sunbeam from the sunrise hit him in the eyes. Momentarily blinding him from the rest of his surroundings. 

Morning again? Hiccup thought miserably. Couldn’t they have let us out at noon?  

Viggo waltzed in front of him when he wasn’t looking and threw his spare prosthetic in front of him. Hiccup stared daggers at the man. “Come now, don’t look at me like that. You’ll need both your legs for what comes next.” 

“What are you planning, Viggo?” He growled.

“Patience, you’ll see in time.” 

The hunters forced his leg on but put it on in a way that uncomfortably poked into his skin when he took a step. Pronouncing his limp more than usual. He gritted his teeth through the discomfort until he’d eventually have time to adjust it later. He just had to wait it out. At least he could walk again.

The ship lurched forward as they landed at their location. A large Citadel of ice loomed over the small dragon hunter ship. It stood strong in the sky. It looked gracefully built yet awkwardly rested at several bent angles, jutting out spikes and icicles to keep intruders away. If one would look closely they could almost confuse it for a castle made of ice. It consumed the rest of the horizon, like the wall of ice that marked the end of the world. A collective gasp went through the captives as they beheld the sight. 

Is this where the sky ends? Hiccup wondered as the hum of ice sliced through the air. Did he take us to the end of the world?   

“So this is niflheim?” Snotlout asked, unintentionally echoing Hiccup’s own thoughts.

“Don’t be ridiculous Snotlout, it’s clearly Jotunhiem. Which is great because that finally means we’ll get to meet Loki.” Tuffnut said, completely unfazed. 

“Or Jokul Frosti,” Ruffnut added, “Ooh, do you think he’ll give us ice powers if we sacrifice Viggo to him?”

“Hmm, maybe.” 

The hunters whisked them off the boat once they were docked. The snow under their feet shifted unevenly, making Hiccup nearly fall more times than he’d like to admit. Muffled laughs came from behind and he found himself biting down a smile. At least he could make them laugh despite the circumstances. 

The orange eyes were waiting for them in the dark of the cave, even the hunters paused in surprise. “What is that?” One hunter asked. 

“Good, so I’m not crazy.” Hiccup muttered under his breath. 

“Oh no, you are,” Merida told him, “But about that, no.”

The shadow waited for them patiently with Viggo by his side. The hunters were apprehensive about following their leader into the darkness’ clutches. Even disregarding the shadow, the cavern looked too treacherous for burlier vikings to navigate. 

“Men,” Viggo began, “Let Hiccup, Astrid, and the Redhead go. Guard the rest of them until my signal.”

When the thugs let go of him, Hiccup immediately went to fix his leg to see where their dragons were. Meatlug, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch were clearly displayed upon the deck of the ship in the garish green dragon-proof cages. But Toothless and Stormfly were nowhere to be seen. 

Viggo grabbed the Rider’s shoulder, “Looking for something?” He asked in a knowing tone.

“Where is he?” 

Viggo smirked and went ahead of them into the cavern; opening an almost perfect replica of his own flaming sword. Except it had different open chambers that could retract given the circumstances. Hiccup would’ve been impressed had he not been in a hostage situation with his mortal enemy. If he was honest, he was impressed by it regardless of the hostage situation with his mortal enemy. 

Viggo smirked back at them before disappearing into the thick fog of darkness. 

“This is clearly a trap, right?” Astrid asked.

“Way to point out the obvious lass,” Merida deadpanned. 

Astrid shot her a look that would’ve killed an average man before clarifying to Hiccup, “I mean seriously, how does he expect us to just follow him like that?”

“I don’t know. Viggo must have something up his sleeve.” He said.

“You mean like he always does?” 

The terrified scream of a dragon came from the cavern and the hair on the back of his neck shot up. Because of echos he couldn’t tell which one it was, but it was undeniably either Toothless or Stormfly. 

“Well that answers my question,” 

“Ba da da, we’re doomed.” 

“So we just– charge head first into the scary-demon-filled cave, eh?” Merida asked.

“Yup,” Astrid replied.

“Well, there could've been worse ways to go.” She shrugged before charging ahead into the cavern after Viggo. Carefully picking up her skirt so she wouldn’t accidentally slip on it. 

The two exchanged a look before Astrid helped Hiccup along the icy hill. They met back up with the Scottish Princess, who was evidently dragging her feet, a couple seconds after going through. Apparently the girl wasn’t as fearless as she led them to believe. They blindly followed the light of the sword, anxiety growing with every step, through the twists and turns of the tunnel system. 

On the walls there were some sort of weird markings that were older than the runes they wrote in. Hiccup would’ve taken a closure look but the light Viggo had barely helped in illuminating the chamber. 

After what felt like hours of careful navigation through the endless winding tunnels, they entered a crypt with a very high ceiling. In the center was a large skeleton, almost human looking, covered in ice atop an ancient stony altar. Surrounding it were torches that glowed an eerie blue that somehow was enough to fill the entire chamber in light. Almost ceremonial, like a memorial for a forgotten god. 

Two hunters passed them with a large device, unlike any of them had ever seen, carried between them like a log. They placed it carefully in front of the altar before fleeing the crypt quickly. It was built with technology he’d never seen before. The steelwork was more for an aesthetically pleasing intricate design of interwoven steel than anything actually useful. The corners of the shadow’s mouth turned up into a smile that grotesquely stretched his features in several mind boggling ways.

“What do you want Viggo?” Hiccup asked, holding his arms protectively over his chest. “What even is this place?” 

“This is the tomb of Jokul Frosti.” He returned flatly. “The hasbeen-spirit of winter. If you believe in that sort of thing,” 

Hiccup didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or completely despair. Viggo either had to be a madman or a complete genius to bring them here in a place that would probably be cursed by the gods above. Of course Hiccup believed in the myth, most of the archipelago did. So why did he think this was a good idea? The only thing rattling around in Hiccup’s mind was the question: what could be strong enough to kill a god?

“Dear Thor,” He whispered. 

A troubled warble drew the trio’s attention to the dragons in the corner. They weren’t tied to the usual dragon proof chains, instead bound by a chain of solid ice that kept them tied to the wall. 

“Now do I have your attention?” 

“Stormfly! Let them go!” Astrid cried, having to be held by Hiccup in order to keep her from charging at Viggo. They both knew that if he didn’t, she would’ve pummeled the man even without the use of her trusty axe. She could’ve done it too, she was stronger than both of them combined and had the muscle to prove it. He was half tempted to let her do it but they desperately needed answers. Astrid's repressed blood lust could be satisfied another day.

“In time I will.” Viggo promised, “But for now they will remain there. Now here’s what’s going to happen.” 

“We aren’t going to do anything you say,” Merida declared, “You’ll have to kill us first!”

“Let’s not be hasty,” Hiccup tried.

“Yeah, what the red head said!” Astrid agreed. “We don’t know what you're planning Viggo, but we aren’t going to be a part of any of it! I don’t know why you decided to separate us but when we get back with our dragons, us and the riders will turn this place into slush!” 

“Listen to her lad, and pray I don’t get my hands on a bow because there’s already an arrow with your name on it!” 

Astrid turned to the girl and sealed a silent truce with a nod. Great, just what Hiccup needed: Two scary women who could easily kill everyone if they really wanted to. At least in this circumstance they’d be better off for it. Gods forbid they stick together when dealing with Snotlout. He made a note to start preparing his obituary when he got back to the Edge.

“Just give up Viggo, you know our threats aren’t empty.” Hiccup made the last attempt to warn him before letting go of Astrid’s arm. 

She began to charge but suddenly stopped in place. She stumbled back, beginning to clutch at her head. Small winces and moans turned into screams of pain. Hiccup was at her side in an instant but she lunged at him instead. 

A dark, crazed look entered her eyes as she violently swung at him. Hiccup grabbed her fist in an attempt to restrain her. Something that looked like solid darkness crawled in and out of her ears, trying to overtake the whites of her eyes.

“Astrid?” When she came too it was just as violent. She collapsed to her knees with her head in her hands, shaking as if she’d just walked through a snowstorm. She wouldn’t respond to anything, she just kept muttering something under her breath. 

“What did you do to her?” Hiccup screamed after checking on his best friend. 

“The Nightmare King only showed her truest fear. And she took it in stride,” Viggo said nonchalantly. Merida came to their side as well. Stealing a knife from Hiccup’s pocket to defend herself with. Not that it would do them any good if Astrid of all people fell so easily. But it might come in handy later.

“The Nightmare King?” Hiccup echoed, deja vu once again splintered through him. His mind began to peel through itself to try to find where he first heard the name. 

The Nightmare King began to smile again, making his face shift once again as Hiccup’s mind tried to desperately make sense of it. His heart began to pound against his chest, thundering warnings to leave the crypt while he still could. A name drifted out of the haze the fear put his mind in, a name familiar but he’d never heard it before.

 “Pitch Black,” 

Pitch titled his head to the side in confirmation. His features cemented into place. His changing features became more human-like than before. Somehow that only made him more terrifying than the shifting shadow from the darkness. 

“That’s me.” He hummed, “You remind me of someone. And now you're going to help me destroy him.”

“Now why would I do that?” 

“Well unless you want your friend to become my next fearling,” He gestured to Astrid, still writhing in pain, “Then I suggest you help me get what I want.”

Hiccup looked over to the both of them. Merida’s eyes were pleading with him to not go through with it while Astrid gave a curt nod. She stayed silent as she stopped writhing around in agony and refused to look him in the eyes. If it was powerful enough to stop ‘Fearless’ Astrid Hofferson in her tracks, he didn’t want to know what else the Nightmare King had in store for them if he didn’t cooperate. He steeled his nerves and steadied his resolve before rising to his feet. He repeated the process with each step he took, slowly losing his courage with every step as Pitch watched expectantly.

Pitch grabbed his shoulder, his grip like steel. An icy cold began to worm around through his brain. Moving with a mind of its own, it slithered through every secret and thought Hiccup had ever had. Pressure began building at the front of his skull, starting steady at first until it became unbearably painful. A long nailed finger came to his temple and traced his hairline before stopping suddenly. The pressure began to recede quicker than it came as a dark strain tied to the tip of Pitch’s finger came squirming out of his brain. 

“I’ve found another kindred spirit it seems,” Pitch’s words almost were sympathetic. “Maybe you could accompany me to the future when we were done.” 

“Future?”

“Yes Hiccup,” Viggo confirmed, reestablishing his presence in the crypt, “Almost a 1000 years if I’m not mistaken.”

Hiccup couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “What did you get yourself into Viggo?” 

“I did not get myself into anything. On the contrary, it was Pitch who found me after I escaped the volcano.”

“How did you even-? Ugh, nevermind. I’m assuming the device you brought in here is the thing you want me to fix?”

“See, I told you he was who we were looking for.” Viggo boasted, his face full of pride. “I’m sure his fear will be powerful enough to get you back to your own time. You won’t have to resort to using mainland magic like what we originally planned.”

Pitch studied him, circling the boy like a panther. “Maybe.” Within a blink of an eye he vanished. The only thing that alerted anyone of where he went was the sharp hissing noise that escaped the machine by the altar.

Hiccup’s head whipped around so hard he almost gave himself whiplash again. His neck screamed in protest of the movement, but he didn’t seem to feel it. The snake that he pulled from his brain was now being fed to the machine like an offering to one of the gods. It sparked to life, sputtering around for a moment before dying quickly. Pitch’s cat-like eyes returned to view and locked onto him. Narrowing with doubt.

“Can you fix this?” He asked carefully. Something in Hiccup lurched at the words. He slowly made his way towards the machine, never taking his eyes off of Pitch. 

Think of this like a new dragon. He told himself, You’re good at training dragons. This is fine. 

A burst of sparks flew upwards at Hiccup’s arrival. He knelt down to its level and began his usual inspection. He found the problem almost immediately. He almost couldn’t believe they didn’t know what was wrong, it was only a loose gear out of place. With a little tightening it would work just fine. 

But things could never be that easy, could they?

His gut churned with the same dread before stepping into a trap. A feeling he’s been more acquainted with than most. And if Toothless’ worried warbles were anything to go off of, everyone else felt it too. Ideas of how to get himself out of the situation flew through his head faster than the dragon races the gang loved to throw but nothing came to him. 

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. One idea did. One idea so stupid, reckless, and dangerous that Astrid would rip him a new one before he had a chance to face the consequences. But it was an idea. And at this point, any idea was a good idea. He just wouldn’t tell any of the other riders because they would never let him hear the end of it. 

“I need a stick,” He stated. Here goes nothing.  

“A stick?” Pitch repeated, dumbfounded at the odd request.

“Do you want the machine to work or not?” Hiccup almost feared the Nightmare King would kill him on the spot with the look he shot him. Instead he complied with his weird demands. 

Viggo rushed over with a metal spear that Hiccup guessed could’ve passed for a stick. He didn’t know why he immediately gave him a dangerous weapon, it seemed a little dumb to give your prisoner something that could at least stab out your second eye. But hey, he wasn’t one to judge (to your face at least).  

He took the spear with care, making sure not to arouse any suspicion. He caught Merida’s eyes who immediately understood what he was about to do. He sucked in a breath as he raised his spear above his head. 

You can do this. You can do this. He closed his eyes before plunging the spear into the heart of the machine. The redhead jumped to her feet as a loud screech was let out by the machine and raced to where the dragons were held. To her surprise the knife lit up in flames just as she struck the ice chain. See, the need would always arise for a fire knife. They were all just lucky she picked the right button and happened to understand stressed eye contact. 

Nothing happened to the machine at first. A couple more sparks sputtered and fell to the ground but nothing else. Viggo was more concerned about Toothless being free than anything. But a light more brilliant than the sun soon pierced the air above the heart. Hiccup was thrown into the air, and for a moment he wondered if the entire half hour/2 weeks he spent with the hunters had all been in his head. But the gods were never that merciful. 

“Hiccup!” Merida exclaimed. Hiccup was pulled from the darkness that consumed his vision and saw he was floating in mid air. Just in time for Toothless to intercept him. 

The huge ebony dragon tackled him to the ground beside the portal. “Toothless!” His brother peered down at him swiftly before tracking the enemies still left in the crypt. A low growl of warning stirred deep from Toothless’ throat, his pupils narrowed into slits as he prepared for whatever Pitch was planning to do. 

But the Nightmare King did nothing, just glowered at the two and their attempts to escape. And somehow that was scarier than retaliation. Hiccup got to his feet as he heard Stormfly’s draconic war cry split the air. Astrid was by his side in a moment, Merida trailing alongside her. The three didn’t know how the battle that was about to commence was going to turn out. But they all knew that whatever was about to happen: they’d be in it together.

The light burst open and consumed whatever was in its path. Which happened to be our newly formed trio and their dragons. Hiccup reached for something to hold him down, blinding grabbing for anything as his scrawny body was sucked backwards. The last thing he saw was Pitch’s smiling face from the opening of the cave. 

All at once Hiccup realized why they didn’t protest when he asked for a stick. Why there was minimal resistance from Pitch as they tried to escape. He wanted this to happen. This was the trap that they sensed and they walked right into it. Now gods knew what he was planning on doing without their interference. He thought to the riders, to his father, to his people that relied on him. Now all at the whims of a mad man.

Now Hiccup was violently pulled backwards and once again did he fall through the multicolored morning sky. Only this time he didn’t know what was waiting for him when he hit the ground.

Chapter Text

The day started out like most for Jack Frost, fighting for his life against the remnants of Pitch’s army simultaneously blasting music to drown out the screams of the other Guardians. You know, fun times with your found family. He would definitely recommend it.

The winter winds of the North Pole whipped against his face. Carrying the distinct and  indescribable smell of ice. It was cold of course, but it didn’t bother the Spirit of Winter as much as it did his family. He couldn’t enjoy the beauty of the world beneath the ice as much because a Nightmare’s head reared back, hitting him straight in the ribs. Ripping him out of his own head. 

Sometimes he wondered why the Nightmares had to attack the North Pole so much. Yeah, there was North’s Workshop, the headquarters of the Guardians of Childhood, but there wasn’t really anything special about the place other than that. No dark secrets (That he knew of), no super powerful magic sources, just a really nice workshop run by a guy as jolly as he was scary. Jack had to take points off for originality, at least try to attack in a different location for once. There was the Warren, or the Tooth Palace. He would’ve even taken Santoff Claussen. It’s nice there apparently. At least that’s what North likes to tell him anyway.   

The opening notes of ‘Cool Kids’ by Echosmith began to ring through Jack’s headphones as he dodged another one of Pitch’s nightmares. A tip he learned after the first couple attacks to keep his spirits (Haha, get it?) high during battle. Sadly he was very out of practice. Workshop duties and- other things kept him away. At least the constant stream of attacks meant he didn’t have to stay at the Workshop while they did actual Guardian duties. 

Wisps of wind wrapped around him, effortlessly evading him from the second dark horse about to charge him. He fell backwards, allowing him to melt into the wind's currents. He could already feel the beginning of taxation on his powers and needed a second to recharge.

“‘She sees them walking in a straight line–’” Jack began to mumble but the war cry of an angry Russian Santa Claus pulled him from the momentary peace he felt. “North, you doing ok over there?” 

He flipped out of the currents just in time to shoot a stray nightmare in the face. A choice he immediately regretted just by the heavy tiredness that invaded his bones. North’s older face came into a blurry view just before his twin sabres did. The winds just barely snatched him away before he could accidentally slam into the ends of them. Though they weren’t quick enough to keep him from face planting in the crisp feeling snow. 

North picked him up by his blue hood, lifting him high off the ground. “What do you think you’re doing, Jack?” 

He gave a mock innocent shrug, “Helping?”

“What did we say about that, hm?” 

“You know, it was never clear,” He quipped, which earned him a stray snowball from one of the others. He had a feeling it was Bunny. It was always Bunny. “Ok, ok, I get it!” 

“You should not be out here,” 

“I know, but I couldn’t just stay back and guard the Workshop. This is the third attack this week! You guys are probably tired and well- I thought you would need me,” Why would they? You’re the reason for this mess in the first place. A venomous voice entertained in the back of his head. The doubt bled through to his face. North’s hard expression immediately softened once he saw it. 

“Of course we need you.” He assured him practically reading his mind. “But we need you alive. Staying put helps calm nerves. Not just mine, everyone’s.”

Jack sighed, “I guess that makes sense.” 

“See? Keep music up. We’ll be back–” North’s reassurances were cut off by Toothiana’s battle cries. She became quite the brawler since the last time they fought Pitch, especially since her wings were practically swords. North sighed, reluctant to turn around, “Shortly. Stay put.” 

The winds seemed to side with North, whisking him away to the Sleigh. Sandy and Bunny were nearby defending themselves from practically nasty nightmares. Jack went to cast at least a snowball (Maybe an icicle too, who could know really?) to help them but Sandy shut him down real quick. The symbols appeared above his dream sand filled head, warning him to stand down. 

“Well, if it isn’t the runaway?” Bunny exclaimed, “See you didn’t bugger off far now did ya, mate?” His jest’s were quickly cut off after another attack. 

“See you’re getting slow, Cottontail,”

Bunny grunted a response before returning his full attention to the dark stallion. Jack looked for Toothiana or anyone he could pester next, anything to feel included, but just like the others she was busy. The chorus kicked in as Jack began to give up.

“‘I wish that I could be like the-’ Ugh,” He muttered along with the music. “‘Wait in the Sleigh’ he says, ‘Stay put’ he says,”

Jack’s life since becoming the ‘Guardian of Fun’ has been anything but. It wasn’t the hard work and deadlines that was a problem (though it did sour his mood at times). No, it was the fact that he was slowly losing his powers. The oath of the Guardians tied his powers and existence to the belief of children (Adults too he guessed, but it was almost impossible to get an adult to believe). Which he barely had. As much as Pitch was a liar, he didn’t lie about the consequences of the oath. The lack of believers he had was so apparent that it almost killed him when he tried to leave the Workshop for the first time. 

Even though Jamie and the rest of his friend group, who called themselves ‘the guardians of belief’, had done their best to spread the belief of Jack Frost nobody had cared to listen. Seriously; it got so bad that Jamie and his friends went around the neighborhood knocking on doors asking if they knew who Jack Frost was. Nobody did. 

Apparently, according to Tooth and he never doubted her, there’s a Norse legend that many people used to believe in that crosses over or inspired his own legend. Jokul Frosti. Not that it would help because he was still barely able to make a flurry. But it was enough to keep him alive or whatever happened to Guardians after nobody believed in them. Pitch called it a ‘second death.’ Where nobody would remember you and you’d fade away into the ether. But how true could Pitch’s word be? He’s lied about a lot of things. And besides, Sandy’s been around the longest and he said that it’s never happened before. 

Still, the power downgrade sucked. And sucked hard. 

While nobody wanted to admit it, Pitch’s disappearance had put a strain on all things. Whatever dream sand he had left from the Easter of 2012 had been very well hidden. Now they were unprepared for all these Nightmares and they were down to four again. North was behind in his supply for Christmas, Bunny couldn’t do his duties for Easter and physically be at the battlefield too, and the Tooth Faeries were struggling to pick up the slack between Easter and still doing their tooth duties. Jack insisted on helping with at least the teeth. He owed it to them anyway. If Baby Tooth didn’t grab his teeth from Pitch the first time ‘round, he might not have had most of his memories today!

If he wasn’t helpful, then the dreadful doubt that still lingered faintly in the back of his mind would rear its ugly head again. Sending him spiraling back to the memories of the day Pitch escaped once and for all.

“Soon Jack. They’ll forget about you, just as they did me.” Pitch sneered before being consumed by the light. 

Quit it. We’re not going back there.

“Jack, what did you do?!” Bunny’s disgusted face flashed through his mind. Suddenly he was back in that dim moonlit forest. Standing over two limp bodies in the snow, clutching his staff with shaking white knuckles.  

“He said-” Jack began. 

Nope. We’re not going there. Stop it. He scolded himself. He cranked up the music to try to drown out the setting in fear the remnants of Pitch’s forces had begun to plant in his mind. Though he didn’t get to enjoy it much because of the phone he was rudely interrupted by the chime of his ringtone. 

‘Raps’ the name on the screen read in bold letters. Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my actions. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes in case it was an actual emergency and not just another mean spirited prank the elves played on the girl again. The girl, Rapunzel her name apparently, was one of the two people who got pulled through time after Pitch escaped. 

Sandy explained that Father Time put in a fail safe in his machines. When one person activates the machine to teleport to another time, another has to take their place. It keeps the balance between time and prevents something really bad from happening (Jack spaced out unintentionally at this point.) Rapunzel and her little friend Varian were the sacrifice made to let Pitch leave. The Guardians found a place for them to stay in the Workshop- a decision Jack was sure meant to delay their eventual exposure to the modern world- and the two have been staying there ever since. 

Varian really liked it there the last time he checked in on them but Raps had the hardest time settling. 

While Jack really liked the two of them and wanted to take a bigger part in their adjustment to this new time, it was hard to fully appreciate their presence. Not when his guilt squirmed and tightened in his gut every time he saw their faces, not when the questions of who they were before they got dropped there always lingered around in his brain. It was a lot less intense for Varian than it was for Rapunzel. 

Grief took the form of different things for people. Rapunzel, like him, liked to hide it whenever she could. She hid it behind a smile that seemed too perfect to be real. But there was a crack in the armor of positivity she built around herself. You just had to look just right in order to see it. Her sweet summer smile never seemed to reach her eyes. Paintings she created always had a sense of yearning. Whenever he visited there was another one, usually depictions of one of two people. A man who looked like one of those handsome princes in fairy tales with his brown hair and tanned skin and a warrior woman with ebony black hair. 

Her grief for her friends was suffocating and consumed the air around her even though she desperately tried to deny it. He saw the familiar way her eyes went blank when something reminding her of those friends appeared. It was the same look that he had when he remembered something of his sister, Mary. 

And no matter what Jack did, he could never distract the kind girl from it. He just kept it from drowning her. To him that was enough. But the question of how long until enough wasn’t good enough anymore still weighed heavily on him.  

“What's up Raps?” He asked, hoping to be louder than the battle around him. He forced an upbeat tone, the mask he normally wore harder to upkeep. 

“Heyyy Jack, how’s the battle going?” Rapunzel’s sing-songy voice rang through the phone. She always sounded like she was a breath away from breaking into song.

“What happened?” Jack asked knowingly. “The elves didn’t hide your brushes again did they?” 

“No, no, no, everything is fineee. Varian just wanted me to check in on you,” 

“You guys checked the globe again, didn’t you?”

He could hear a defeated sigh on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, we did. We were worried, the last time you came over you looked terrible.”

“Thanks,”

“You know what I mean! You said something about belief being tied to your powers right? The globe only had, like, 11 lights. Should you even be out in that condition?”

“I’m fine, Raps,” He lied, “Is there anything else you need before we come back?”

“No, I’m pretty stocked up on paints-” A large, booming explosion came from the other end. For a second, Jack let his mind jump to the worst possibility. Maybe the Nightmares were attacking here as a distraction and now that they were out in the open they were going to attack the workshop– “Varian!” Rapunzel exclaimed. Though Jack noted she sounded more annoyed than scared.

“What’s wrong?!” Jack sat up quickly, getting Toothiana distracted and nearly hit by one of the nightmares.  

“Varian caused an explosion with another one of his experiments, sorry!” Her usual cheerfulness returned and Jack released a breath he was holding. He waved an apology to Tooth for the interruption. 

“It’s fine, trust me. I’ll talk to you later.” 

“Just- don’t push yourself. I know technically you're dead but like- don’t die again. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. Definitely one of the less confusing things you’ve said.”

“When has anything I’ve ever said been confusing?” 

Jack felt a chuckle rise out of him. “I’m sorry, weren’t you the same girl who did an entire musical number when you first got to the workshop about how this was the ‘next big adventure’ or some shit like that?”

“Hey! Musical numbers are common where I’m from, how was I supposed to know that it’d be considered weird here!”

A smirk fought its way onto his lips, “Point proven.” 

He could hear her scoff from the other end of the phone. “Goodbye, Jack Frost.” She hung up before he could get a chance to tease her more. He had to admit, she was better at this new fangled technology thing than he was. Maybe it was just his age finally catching up to him. Had to happen eventually. 

“Yikes, I'm 322 years old and still don’t know how to use a phone.” He mused to himself.

“322 years old and still talks aloud to himself,” Toothiana added with an impish smile, her crystal-like wings flapping behind her imperceptibly as she sped over head. Two nightmares followed her closely. 

Jack shot up from where he was laying in the sleigh. The battle had gotten worse since he was hung up on. More reinforcements came on the howling west wind as the full moon made its way to its resting place. The Guardians were already overwhelmed, but how would they do with more? Despite warnings and- well- logic, Jack jumped to his feet and readied his staff for battle. 

“Winds!” He exclaimed and jumped into the air. The winds met him halfway and wrapped around him, pulling him into their icy currents. 

He shot through the air like a kite, rocketing past the rest of the Guardians. He gritted his teeth as he charged at the herd of dark stallions- barely preparing for impact. Tiredness still clinging to his bones. 

He could hear the protests from North and Bunny but he ignored them as he slammed the hook of his staff into the nightmare’s head. It disappeared just as the next two began to ambush him. The winds noticed it before he could and shifted to a lower altitude. 

“Thanks,” He wheezed, trying to summon what little strength he might’ve had in his veins. But like the adrenaline that didn’t flow, he had none to spare. “Come on, Frost, let’s go,”

He weaved through the air in an effort to lose them, collecting the rest of the nightmares that the Guardians were fighting. Whatever Pitch had against him must’ve passed down to his minions because there was no way a 322 year old kid that was barely believed in was more dangerous than the ‘Big Four’ of the spirit world. Jack jerked to the right, making a U-turn. A couple of the stallions on his tail couldn’t turn fast enough and knocked into the nearby mountain base. 

“ That’s about- 3 down!” A playful smile crept onto his face despite exhaustion swiftly hitting him. “Hundred to go!”

Toothiana flew up beside him, “What are you doing Jack? I thought you’re supposed to stay in the Sleigh,”

“No, he said I’m not supposed to use my powers. And I’m not, am I?”

She huffed a laugh as her Tooth Faeries surrounded her, chirping protests of Jack’s antics to their friend. “Tell me about it girls.” She chirped. “Let’s try to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed though,” 

The mob of tiny flashes of green and pink dispersed, beginning their assault on the Nightmare’s extremities. The ears were their favorite weak spot. Sickos. Two more stallions fell back to dream sand though, so how much could he really complain?

Bunny’s boomerangs hit one more in the back, allowing North to catch a couple more off guard. The pack was beginning to dwindle noticeably.

See, they do need you. Jack reminded himself. They do. One screw up is not going to change that. 

“Next time think , Jack. Do you ever think?” Bunny’s words began to sound through his head again. “He’s Pitch Black, do you think some sob story is going to change that?”

Jack, stop it. He tried. But the voices persisted. “ He had a family!” He heard himself argue back. “He- he said-!”

“Jack, you had good intentions,” Tooth began. “But you let your heart get in the way.”

“Do you think you were the first one he fed that shit to? Huh, mate? He’s played that card before. Even if he didn’t-! We all knew not to trust him. You saw what he did to Sandy. You met him. You’ve seen what he’s capable of doing! You’ve seen just how callous and uncaring he can be, didn’t ya?! You saw what he tried to do in 2012. Yet you still fell for it! WHY? Why did you? Because he had a family? Because you didn’t want him to be forgotten? Maybe some people are worth forgetting. Have you ever thought about that?”

His mind involuntarily flipped back to North’s face. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to, the disappointment was written all over it. He silently took the two limp bodies into the Sleigh. He refused to look at him the entire time. 

“Stop!” He clasped his head and the winds suddenly let go of him. He fell to the ground unceremoniously, he almost doubted anyone noticed until he felt a hand grab his shoulder. 

North was waiting for him when he escaped that terrible night. “Jack…”

“I know, I know. ‘This is why I say stay in Sleigh,’.” He chuckled dryly at his impression, “I just- I couldn’t stay away.” The cold wind whipped against his cheek but he barely noticed it. 

But North didn’t scold him like he usually would. Instead he did something that surprised the Spirit, “Come on. These nightmares don’t exterminate themselves.” 

Somehow they won. The remaining nightmares fled back to wherever they’re coming from. And Jack was able to participate for the rest of the fight, summoning small icicles and distracting the stallions on the wind. Still the Guardians were really the heavy hitters, as they normally were. Jack fought hard to keep the effects of Pitch’s spell out of his head before he would be swiftly returned to the thought process of- They would be better off without you.  

Any attempt of celebration after felt hollow. Must be he wasn’t the only one returned to that horrible night. Yes, they were still a family. Yes, they loved each other. But there still was a tension that nobody could verbalize between them now since Pitch escaped through time. The nightmares only brought it to the surface once again.

“Alright, let’s go home. It’s time.” North declared cheerfully, always the one who was the most unfazed by it. Maybe it was all the practice from years of trying to keep the Guardians together and working productively that helped him. 

“Woo! Let’s go girls.” Tooth’s smile seemed almost forced as she flew to the Sleigh but maybe that was just in his head. Probably. Though he wouldn’t blame her if it was. She lost one of her best faeries because of him.

“Nice work, Snowflake.” Bunny hit him on the shoulder playfully. 

“You weren’t too bad yourself, Cottontail.” 

Bunny gave him a curt nod before departing as well. The symbols above Sandy’s head flickered and danced in the moonlight as they explained what he was trying to say. ‘Jack, are you coming too?’  

“Nah, I got my own ride. Thanks.” He threw his staff over his shoulder as Sandy floated towards the rest on his cloud of dream sand. None of their faces looked surprised as Jack shot into the air like a rocket. “Winds, take me home!” 

                                                             …

The winds were restless today, as Jack still was. The moon still remained stubbornly in the air well into the day. Taunting him about this repeat of history. It seems that Jack Frost was just destined to be alone. Whether it was his own wish or not. He passed some of the wind spirits who didn’t get tied to this ridiculousness of a belief power system. He almost envied them for using their full range of power without limitations. And they probably envied him for being a Guardian. 

Oh how he wished he could’ve told them it wasn’t all that was cracked up to be. Yeah, he could have his powers become more powerful than ever before. But did that happen? No. No it did not. Because of that stupid oath and the fact nobody believed in him. Not even his own friends!

“Won’t you quit it? They believe in me.” He scolded himself once again.

He soared over the sea of reds and oranges of Autumn. The sapphire sky above was already getting blotted out by the ominous clouds riding the same winds he was. He could feel the snow churn in the clouds as his presence drew a storm near. Burgess must’ve been near because the winds had begun to slow. At least he’d have playing with Jamie and his friends to look forward to.

A tug pulled at his heart, pulling him out of his self loathing. At first he contributed it to the pity party he’d begun to throw himself. He shook away the feeling until it pulled at him harder and harder until he couldn’t ignore it anymore. 

He gingerly landed on the highest branch of a pine tree. The surrounding woods of Burgess were thick, perfect for spirits to hide. Where he spent most of his 300 years of lonely winters. He gazed up at the barely visible moon. He could almost see its smile even though it was half visible due to the sun. Taunting him about bringing him back here.

“Oh, now you do something? Now you say something? 300 years of silence. 300 years of questions with no answers and now all of a sudden you want to tell me something? You didn’t even tell me when I became a Guardian 4 years ago. Now all of a sudden you got something to say? Well, I’ll tell you what buddy. I don’t want to hear it!” 

He lept down to the next branch, ready to go on his rant for the rest of the day if he had to. He’d already accepted the fact that nobody was listening anyway. However fate and a giant overgrown lizard had other plans for him. A large purple-ish colored orb came speeding towards him as he landed. Jack barely had time to leap off before it hit the branch he had just landed on. 

He landed with a cat like grace as he readied his staff for battle. But the moment he gazed to where the attack came from in the shadows- he saw it gaze back with piercing green eyes. His breath caught in his throat as it stepped out of the shadows. 

“Dragons?” He asked quietly. He could barely believe it. There hadn’t been dragons down here in thousands of years . It gave a growl in response and Jack could hear the warning in it. He didn’t dare take a step closer as he resisted the urge to twirl his staff into a more offensive position. 

To the dragon’s right, the air itself caught on fire and collected itself into a sword. Jack nearly jumped back in surprise. He didn’t know how fire would react to him if it got too close. It used to mean practically nothing, warmth in general was barely a problem. But since the oath- well he very well might melt into a puddle if fate had a sense of humor. And when it came to him it usually did. 

A sharp, nasally voice speaking a language he did not understand sounded out through the pre battle tension. It drew his attention to the fire sword’s wielder. His green eyes gave a withering glare and his wild brown hair seemed almost red in the firelight. Freckles covered the bridge of his nose and cheeks and peaked out onto the skin of his hands. His pale skin seemed almost gaunt from lack of sleep. His eyes were trained right on him. Not past, not beside, they were on him . 

Jack looked around in disbelief. There had to be someone else there. Because nobody believed in Jack Frost. The voice repeated the statement, drawing Jack’s attention back to him. 

He can see me.

“You can see me?” Jack asked aloud. The boy pointed his weapon at Jack and it had the opposite effect that he was probably hoping for. A bout of laughter so loud it nearly shook the rest of the leaves off the trees. 

“You can see me!” The boy grumbled in response to his excitement. He probably thought he was crazy or something but that didn’t matter. Because he was seen . Wait, who is this guy?

He reassessed quickly, noticing how his hands shook a little while holding the sword. How his withering look was overpowered by the fear that peaked through. His leather armor was worn from the elements with shoulder pads that did an attempt to make his frame look broader than it actually was. Jack remembered doing the same thing with his father’s cloak before becoming Jack Frost.

He was just a kid. He had to be around his age. 17 or so. 

Wait, he's my age? Biological age he meant, but the statement still rang true. His heart did an impression of an acrobat in a three ring circus. A guy his age? With a dragon and a sword that could light on fire? Was this someone like him? A spirit or actual guy? Someone new believed in him. And they could see him. 

“Um, hey.” He tried, hearing how his excitement bled through his words.

The boy repeated his statement in a language Jack could vaguely pin as something Scandinavian. But he didn’t understand said language because he'd barely been there in the centuries he’s been alive. He cursed his years of trying to break into the Workshop. 

He raised his hands in surrender, “I mean no harm.” He attempted to take a step forward but the boy stumbled back as if Jack struck him. The dragon reacted immediately to the boy’s reaction and shot another purple bomb thing on the ground in front of Jack. 

Ok, so the dragon knows the guy. Good to know. It was times like these where he desperately missed Baby Tooth. Her language abilities would’ve saved so much time. “You really don’t need to worry. I’m one of the good guys. Do you know where you are?”

The dragon guy barely acknowledged what he said, instead his eyes fell to Jack’s bare feet half buried in autumn leaves. He half thought about dropping his staff but knew that was a terrible idea. Besides, he loved his staff. If last time was an indication of what happened when he let it go, he was never going to make the mistake again. 

The amount of time between the idea coming to him and him doing it was shorter than a lightning strike. Because he didn’t think that doing a small little flurry above the dragon guy’s head was going to warrant the boy charging at him. He, once again, just barely missed his attack. The fire sword swung in an arc, coming down on the ground beside him. Jack swung his staff and disarmed the boy, kicking him in the knee above his prosthetic. He fell to the ground with a thunk, giving Jack some time to escape.

He kicked up into the air to gain some distance but the dragon came flying after him. Shooting more of those purple death beams. The winds expertly guided him away from the crazy duo, but not before separating the boy from his dragon. 

Jack watched in horror as the dragon fell into the lake beside Burgess. And for a split second he was pulled back into the memory of how he himself died. A scream split the air and Jack returned to the present. It didn’t take a genius to realize it came from the boy the dragon was with. He didn’t need to understand him to understand the pain that scream held. He needed to act fast. 

 Jack dove down to where he last saw the dragon and found the Lady of the Lake. No, not the one from Camelot (Though she probably was nicer). The snobby wannabe socialite who guards the lake outside of Burgess. 

“Hey lady,” He said to the raven haired spirit lounging on the rocks with her oh-to-fancy clothing.

“What do you want, Frost? Here to freeze my lake and ruin the scenery as usual?”

“No, it’s actually kinda an emergency. A dragon fell in your waters. I don’t think he can swim. Can you get him to that small island over there? I’d owe ya one.” 

She pursed her lips and Jack felt himself rock on his feet. They didn’t have time for her bullshit, the creature was probably drowning. 

With a flicker of her wrist the dragon was lifted from the water and brought to the island in the center. He let out a sigh of relief as the dragon entered the cave carved into the hill in the center to escape the cold chill. 

Now to take care of Dragon Boy. Jack mused. The winds curled around him and lifted him into its embrace, “Thanks Lady, your lake won’t freeze in tonight’s storm!” 

She rolled her eyes, “Another early storm?”

He shrugged, “Yeah, happens when I stay for long periods of time. Enjoy your un-frozen lake!” He flew over the woods but could not find the leather armored boy with the sword of fire. It was like he disappeared entirely. A pang of sadness rippled through his heart that he couldn’t fully understand. He shook his head and focused on the more important thing. He needed to tell the Guardians.

Jack pulled the snow globe out of his pocket and threw it in front of him. Instead of falling to the Earth, a bright light split the air in front of him. With a summersault, he flew through the portal. The Workshop once again graced his sight for the second time that day. 

After passing through Phil and the rest of the Yeti-Squad, the chaos of the Workshop revealed itself to him. But its wonderful and magical atmosphere was nowhere to be found. He passed the rooms where Rapunzel and Varian were staying. New paintings were added to the door, so it wasn’t completely drained of spirit. 

“Jack, there you are.” North said, drawing his attention to the rest of the Guardians. He flew up to the platform where they were standing, noticing all of their grave expressions. “Where have you been?”

“Burgess, I took a detour.” North began to say something about responsibility but the absence of their fifth member immediately drew all Jack’s remaining attention, “Where’s Sandy?” He blurted out.

“Gone.” Bunny answered before North could explain. “Our sensors detect that there’s been another time switch. And Father Time’s still nowhere to be found.” 

“Another one?” Jack thought out loud. 

“Yeah, another one.” Bunny’s voice was deadly serious. “Don’t suppose it’s ‘cause of our buddy Pitch Black, eh?”

“Aster,” North warned. 

“No, I’m going to say it again. I can understand to some extent why you did it. I can forgive the Nightmare spikes if that’s all that’s going to happen now that he’s gone but clearly this is only step one of Pitch’s plan. And Jack needs to know what he did was stupid and irresponsible! You don’t just trust Pitch Black mate. And now we lost one of our own,” 

“How do we know it was even Pitch that caused the switch?” Tooth suggested, “Maybe someone else figured it out.”

Jack almost let out a laugh, “Please, people in the past thought the world was flat,” 

Tooth shrugged but her feathered covered face remained deadly calm. “We’ve seen how smart Varian is already. How do we know there’s not some genius out there that Pitch pushed in the direction of the time machine. I mean, he needs Sandy’s powers to make more nightmares. And fearlings are hard to form for short term plans. Why wouldn’t he manipulate a genius to switch places in time so he could grab Sandy.”

“You don’t really think that, do you? We’d know if there was someone touched by Pitch, wouldn’t we?”

Tooth shrugged, “Dangerous people are sometimes the most fearful. Maybe we should be more cautious with these newcomers.”

“Maybe Tooth’s right.” Bunny agreed, “We need to treat the next switchers like the enemy. If we find anyone who’s suspicious of being from another time, we bring ‘em here, we learn what happened even if we have to beat it out of outta ‘em, and we won’t take no for an answer.”

Jack’s core shuddered at the bluntness of his tone, “What if it’s just a kid like Varian? He told us that he briefly became a villain because he was scared and clearly he’s not one. We’d be focusing on rehabilitation right?” 

Bunny’s eyes narrowed, “This isn’t a game, Jack.” 

“I know, that’s why I’m asking.”

“We would mostly be focusing on detaining. What we will do about his influence comes later,” Tooth responded cryptically. “We just want what’s best for the world and belief. You know that right?” She gave a warm smile that Jack wanted desperately to trust. 

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that if he did, the boy would be in more danger than he already was.  

“Of course.” 

He didn’t say anything about the dragon or his friend. That would be his secret to keep for now. And hey, if he screwed up again what more could be done? He had nothing to lose. But one more person believed in him than before. One more person who could see him. And to Jack, that was more than worth the risk.

Chapter Text

The north wind brought in a snowstorm in the early morning. Covering the earth in an ivory blanket that kept building as the day began to bleed through the night. The birds that had not yet had the sense to migrate South chirped a happy morning song as the sun peaked its head out from behind the earth. It would’ve been peaceful, if not for the fact that Jack was unable to find that Dragon Boy with the leather armor. 

Yes, he knew that it was easy to hide in the woods. But he figured that at least there would be some evidence of the guy’s presence. Maybe he was a spirit like Jack thought. But that still wouldn’t make sense because even he left evidence of his extended periods in the woods. There were always extra fern patterns etched along the bases of the trees that never seemed to fade and the snowfall was a lot lighter than the rest of Burgess. Even if the guy wasn’t a spirit he should at least have left footprints in the snow. 

“Hello. Anyone out here?” He called out as he made a third loop around the woods. 

But nobody responded.

Now it’d been a week since the last time he saw him. And the snowstorm he accidentally conjured has continued to bury Western Pennsylvania in its contents. Nobody could survive out here for too long, not without a fire. A fire would create smoke. Smoke would be evidence that someone was out here. 

Jack was beginning to believe he imagined him. 

Mounted frustration of the past several screw ups began to weigh heavily on his shoulders. The lingering effects of Pitch’s magic began to worm its way into his mind again. Whispering its vile poison and planting seeds of doubt in his mind. He ran a hand through his white locks of hair as he tried to shake the thoughts away. When he accidentally shot a random tree with a heavy helping of permafrost, he knew he needed to calm down. And the exhaustion of using those powers agreed with him.

He huffed a sigh as he pulled the phone North got him a year ago and flipped through the song choices. Anything cheerful was preferable. He finally landed on one of his favorite pick-me-up songs he found thanks to a recommendation from Tooth and Bunny (He never thought Bunny would ever gravitate to this song but the guy was full of surprises). 

“Natasha Bedingfield, save me.” He plopped to the ground as the opening chords to ‘Unwritten’ began to play. Thus began the best 2 minutes of his life where he just let the world pass by. No regrets, no worries; just him, the snowy earth beneath him, and the vocals of his cheery song. 

On a normal day, this would’ve been where he stayed for the next day and a half. But the looming face of Dragon Boy interrupted the little peace he briefly had. Now, the thought that first came to Jack’s mind was not ‘oh my god, he found me?’ or ‘who is this guy and why did he just now decide to find me?’, y’know like a normal person’s thought process. No. The first thought that came to the Guardian of Fun’s mind was:

Damn, he’s hot. He paused for a moment to realize that the first thing you're thinking when facing a possible enemy on a possible battlefield should not be a statement of attraction. Still, it wasn’t an incorrect statement. He had a face straight out of a 2000’s rom com.  

“Oh hey, it’s you,” He stated carefully. The boy just stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying. Slowly in fear of spooking the boy, he sat up so he could get a better look at him. 

Jack’s heart involuntarily did a stutter as he reassessed him. His eyes were glassy and skin was paler than the last time he saw him. Body vibrating from shaking, cheeks thin, probably from not eating. His mind returned him to those days in his colonies. Back when Bugress was still called Hawthrone. He’d seen a lot of these symptoms when a hunter got lost in these very same woods for the night. Except where now we’d call it hypothermia and take precautions, back then was a death sentence. 

The boy said something in his native tongue before his rolled into the back of his head. He fell face first into the snow. “Oh sh-” Jack rushed to his side, trying to keep the boy from suffocating. But everytime he tried to roll him over his hands just- phased right through him. 

Oh god, what’s-? how-? why? His gaze burned holes through his hands hoping to find the answers in them. But they never came. 

The snow felt cold for the first time in 3 centuries. Was this a result of the lack of believers he had? Was this a cruel trick by Manny? 300 years and finally more than one person can see him. And now he can’t save him?

A soft sound came from Dragon Boy and Jack was tethered back to reality once more. He wasn’t dead yet. Something told him it would take more hypothermia to take Dragon Boy out. Panicked, he used the hook of his staff to turn him upright. Thankfully that was still solid. When the boy surfaced, the cold had already hooked its claws in him. His eyelids fluttered rapidly, trying to fight to stay awake. 

“Come on, stay awake. I know you can do it,” He tried, but the cold seemed to be winning in the battle. Remembering his staff, he acted quicker than he should’ve and bumped the staff against his head. “Hey, what did I just say?”

It worked, thankfully. Though Dragon Boy didn’t need words to indicate that he definitely did not like the method he used. 

“Don’t look at me like that, you’re awake now aren’t ya?” 

Dragon Boy blinked, still unable to understand. A heavy sigh escaped Jack’s chest at their strange predicament. What exactly was he supposed to do? He couldn’t exactly bring him back to the Guardians now could he? Sure, maybe they were right. Maybe this boy was someone they should worry about and locking him up would be a good idea. Maybe it was his dumb heart getting in the way of making a smart decision. But even if this guy was wearing a bright neon sign that says ‘Pitch infected my mind and I’m half a fearling already’ he couldn’t shake the way the guardians were so quick to jump to that conclusion. Their fear was so intense he could feel it in their auras. 

Besides, there was something about the guy that made Jack want to trust him. But like previously mentioned, it was probably just his stupid heart.

The guy’s eyes began to drift shut again which earned him another bonk on the head. “No, stop that. Keep your eyes open dumbass.” 

The snap of a bow was the only warning he got before an arrow just barely whizzed past his ear. His head snapped to where the arrow came from and dodged the axe that swung at his head. The wind pulled him backwards and onto his feet in a snap. So the Dragon Guy wasn’t the only one who got pulled through time. Except these girls seemed way more dangerous than the guy. The one with the bow wore a mess of fiery red curls and a sleepy yet angry expression, the other was a muscular blonde who’s only indication of tiredness was the fact she held the giant axe a little looser than what would’ve been effective in getting a hit.

“Ok, what is it with you people shooting at me? Is it ‘shoot at Jack’ day or something?” 

The red head shouted something in a tone he knew distinctly as Scottish. So they were Scottish then? But the boy didn’t sound scottish? Were they Scottish Vikings and the girl had a thicker accent? 

“Sure, we’ll go with that. Scottish Vikings. Just my fucking luck.” He muttered under his breath. He knew talking to them was useless, he could be reciting the Gettysburg Address (Which he saw by the way,) while spinning his staff in a circle and they’d probably think he was threatening him or something.

The blonde kept repeating something over and over again. It sounded like a name. He almost wanted to say it sounded like ‘Hiccup’ but that was ridiculous because who names their child Hiccup? It was probably just a translation error or his brain trying to wire the words to something to resemble english. At least now his eyes were fully drawn to the blonde. He saw how her eyes were as glassy as Dragon Guy and her posture was slacked. Carrying the axe must’ve been draining her of whatever strength she mustered to find him. His gaze slowly turned to the redhead who didn’t look remotely present anymore. Her makeshift bow lazily drooped to point at his feet instead of his heart. 

They were fading quickly, all of them. The air shifted and the familiar magical thrum of it revealed itself to him once again. With his staff held high he reached into the storm and stopped the snow around them. It felt like a truck had hit him but it suddenly became still and quiet in that little clearing between the trees. Don’t worry, the fates still seemed to have their humor intact. Jack blinked and the blonde was already charging at him, the glassiness in her eyes vanished and replaced with bloodlust. The winds reacted before he could and lifted him by his hood carefully landing him on the branch above. 

Jack rocked on his heels, debating if this was even worth the trouble he was putting himself through. Those god damn Scottish Vikings. He could just deliver them to the North Pole and let the rest do what they needed to do. There was no doubt they were dangerous. But they were also his age. A fact he would’ve forgotten if the blonde didn’t go stumbling towards the boy. They were his age, in a new world, probably scared shitless, and definitely fighting off hypothermia. She’d probably never know it, but the blonde strengthened Jack’s resolve to protect them. He could figure out a way to communicate, he knew he could- 

Well, that was until both the redhead and blonde passed out at the same time. That for sure was going to complicate things. Dragon Boy also lost the battle against the elements and drifted off into darkness. 

Once he was sure they were fully unconscious, he leapt down to the ground. Snow crunching under his bare feet. His hand unconsciously went to the draw straps of his blue hoodie as he began trying to craft a plan. 

“Aha! Winds?” He asked hesitantly. The winds ruffled against his skin cautiously, their question glaringly obvious. ‘ Are you sure about this Jack?’ “Of course I am. Dragon Boy was friends with a dragon, who’s to say he won’t like flying? It’ll be fineeeee.”

The wind whistled its protests but ultimately decided to just go with it. It wrapped each member of the hypothermia party in its embrace, lifting them high above the clouds. Jack conjured more clouds and storms to hide them from possible Tooth Faeires that might’ve been a little late in getting the teeth around Burgess. Not enough to keep the little guys late to get them though. 

There was just- one itty bitty tiny issue he forgot to think about. Where was he going to take them? 

“Fu-”

There was probably one person who could take them in right now. One person who could understand their situation enough to help him without question and not tell the rest of the Guardians. The only problem? He was 12. 

                                                 …

The Bennetts were a remarkable family. Joyce, a single mother of two, was very well loved and respected by the community. According to Jamie, her dishes at the neighborhood potluck were incredible. Sophie, a wild 8 year old with an alternative choice in fashion, had one of the most active imaginations anyone have ever had and a loyalty to the ones she cared about that could rival Jack’s. And of course there’s Jamie. The only one who believed in him when no other kid did. The one who helped them take down Pitch Black the first time. The only light who never went out. 

So, naturally, Jack came back whenever he could find an excuse to. Even during the warmer month when it was practically impossible for him to fly there. What else was there to say other than Jamie was his best buddy? And Jamie deserved the best buddy perks a kid could ever ask for. 

Jack was definitely not the only one who gave Jamie special treatment as he often reported an extra present for Christmas, special eggs during Easter, and extra tokens when he lost any remaining baby teeth. But he was definitely the most insufferable about it. He showed up at the most important events, the most insignificant, and the ones that wouldn’t even matter to anybody else. From his 6th grade graduation to a play date with Pippa, he was there with loads of frosty fun for Jamie and his friends to enjoy. 

So it wasn’t that much of a surprise to the young boy when Jack landed gracefully on the sill of his window. 

The crook of his staff knocked carefully on the foggy glass, “Hey, anyone home?” 

The windows flew open and Jack had to drop off the edge to avoid them. “Jack! You’re back!” 

“Hey, how’s my favorite believer?” 

“Things have been great! I lost my last tooth, there’s this new girl in my class named Katherine and she’s super cool-” 

Jack’s eyes playfully rolled. “Ohhh, little Jamie’s got a crush.” 

Jamie nudged the staff still resting on the window. “No! I just have a believing buddy! Katherine’s one of the only kids in my class who still believes in this stuff,” 

His playfulness dropped for only a split second, “What about the rest of your friends?”

“Oh they still believe. Just not as- not as openly as before.”

“Why not? Afraid of being judged for liking the Easter bunny?”

“Well… yeah. There’s a couple kids who are kinda mean to me about it. They say belief is for babies. But they don’t scare me,”

“Who?” 

“Nobody important.” Jamie shrugged.

“If they’re being mean to my best buddy then of course it’s important.”

Jamie’s eyes went as wide as quarters, “I’m your best buddy?”

“Of course pal, who else would be?” Jack ruffled the boy’s hair which caused him to let out a laugh, “Alright, you can tell me who they are later. What else do you wanna tell me?”

“Right! You’ll never believe it! Katherine showed me a picture and then it was on the news, I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it! There was evidence of a UFO over Burgess! So many people got pictures of it, come on!” 

Any evidence of laughter slowly disappeared from Jack’s throat as he saw the picture. It wasn’t a UFO in the sense of what Jamie believed (the whole alien thing was probably a hoax created by a very bored spirit), it was a large black silhouette chasing something smaller in the distance. The dragon had been caught on camera, taking him with it.

“Um, kiddo, about that-”

“Do you know what this means? Do you think the aliens are more like the xenomorphs or good like Star Trek? I’m thinking probably Star Trek,” 

“Definitely Star Trek. But this time it’s not aliens,” Jack interjected, “Sorry to burst your bubble but it’s not. It’s a dragon,”

Surprisingly, the kid didn’t sulk about it which was odd because he wanted to be the first one to find aliens one day. Instead he looked like Christmas had come early, “Dragons?”

“Yeah, it was kinda scary but nothing Jack Frost couldn’t handle.”

“I thought they were a myth!” 

Jack scoffed playfully, “Wow, so spirits can be real but dragons can’t?”

“You know what I mean!” 

“Not really, no.”

“I mean that I thought we’d find evidence of aliens before dragons. Because they said that they all disappeared.”

“I mean, they still might be.”

Jamie arched an eyebrow, “Jack, what did you do?”

“Wow, ouch. You were so quick to jump to that conclusion. I’m kinda offended. At least let me explain first,”

Jamie shook his head, losing the fight with the smile on his lips. “Fine, explain,”

“Alright. So you know how Pitch went back in time, right bud?”

“Yeah, it’s why you haven’t been coming over as much. Why?”

“So, I don’t know the specifics. But when someone travels through time, someone else has to take that spot or else something dangerous could happen.”

“Like what?”

“Jamie I’m going to be very honest with you right now, I zoned out before I could hear it.”

“Of course you did,” The impish little grin crawled its way onto his face and it nearly threw Jack’s center of gravity off. Suddenly he was a colonial boy again, chasing his sister around after she threw a snowball his way. 

“Yeah,” Jack said ruefully, “But anyway, when Pitch went back in time I think he did the switch again. Now there’s a dragon on the island in the lake outside Burgess.”

“Evergreen Lake?” 

“That’s the one. But he wasn’t alone. He had a… a boy with him. Then I found him today, nearly dying from hypothermia and he had two friends with him.”

“Oh my god, where are they going to stay?”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know. I don’t think the Guardians can help us out this time like the last time,”

“Why?”

“They’re… being very cautious about everything. Which, definitely is not a bad thing. But I don’t fully think that their way will- help them as it should.”

Jamie’s face was hard to read. Even though he was 12 now, Jack didn’t want to ruin any perceptions he might’ve had of the Guardians. Hell, even with the fact he didn’t fully agree with their approach he didn’t want to speak bad about them either. They were his family through and through. Different perspectives were not going to change that.

“Maybe they could stay here?” Jamie said finally.

Jack raised an eyebrow, “How exactly is that going to work? Your mom won’t be happy with three Scottish Vikings living in her house,”

“VIKINGS?” Jamie exclaimed, nearly falling out of the window in the process. Thank god for his staff still being solid.  

“Watch what you’re doing kid!”

“Sorry! But seriously, why didn’t you lead with that? Of course they can stay,”

“Again, your mom.”

“We can hide them in the garage until she believes in magic again. I promised you she would and now there will be more of a reason to do so!”

Jack shook his head but kept up his playful smile. He didn’t want to burst the kid’s bubble but he doubted an adult could believe in him. It was already so hard to get kids to. But Jamie had a way about him that made him want to believe. So he tried, for Jamie’s sake, to entertain that possibility. To be hopeful that he could do it. But as these 4 years have passed, doubt bloomed over any hope he might’ve once had. 

“Can you fly me down?” Jamie asked excitedly. 

Jack stared down at his hands and the very vivid images of Jamie falling through him and onto the ground ran through his mind. He blinked them out one at a time, quietly bristling at how dark his mind got. It wasn’t the first time in his immortal afterlife that his mind turned against him like this, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“It’d draw too much attention,” Jack lied, “I’ll drag them behind back and you can let us in through the back door.” 

“Sure, I’ll get Sophie to distract mom.” 

“Thanks Jamie. I owe you one,” 

Jamie gave a quick two fingered salute before disappearing into the hallway. A chuckle found its way out of Jack’s chest despite the circumstances. Jamie always found a way to make circumstances better. There was no one else better deserving of the title ‘Guardian of Belief’ than him. Yet Jack couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was making a mistake bringing him into this.

Howling winds wrapped him into their currents and brought him back to the mission at hand. Thanks to the Bennett family’s unlocked shed, he was able to find towels the Vikings could keep somewhat warm in. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was a solution. It was a win in his book anyway. 

With the winds’ help, he pulled the trio over to the door where Jamie helpfully unlatched the door. “Sophie’s keeping her busy with a makeover, we have about 3 hours.”

“Jeez, what happens in these makeovers?”

“Girls, man, how should I know?” 

“Fair point.” 

It took about half of the three hours to get the trio situated. Jack made the decision to hide their weapons if only because he was terrified of what the blonde could do with that giant axe. He left the strange mangled sword thing on Dragon Boy solely because he didn’t know what it was. So it couldn’t be that bad, right? (He soon realized what it actually was too late but we’ll leave that dramatic irony for next chapter.) 

Jack thought about leaving. But with how trigger happy these vikings seemed to be and how thick their language barrier was, he didn’t feel comfortable with it. Sure there was like a very small chance they would hurt Jamie, but he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. So he watched on diligently from the raptors of the garage. He didn’t need sleep anyway, he was a spirit. Well technically he didn’t sleep anyway when he was still mortal.

The house creaked and groaned in the winter wind as the trio slept soundly. Their breathing began to steady out as the night went on, soft snores even erupted from Dragon Boy. Nearly sending him flying off the perch he was sitting on but regardless. 

A small part of him wondered how Rapunzel and Varian were seeing this would be the first real day they didn’t see him. Another wondered if the Guardians even noticed he was gone. So he did the only thing that he knew how to, he pulled out his phone and blasted another song until the sun rose over the Earth again. 

Chapter Text

The steep cliffs of Berk returned to view as Hiccup and Toothless dove through the clouds, leaving the weight of the world with them. The familiar salt that rode on the chilled sea air hit his face and swept through his already messy hair. The familiar silhouettes of children and baby dragons ran through the streets, their lively screams ringing through the air. The forge was well lit and smoke billowed into the air in droves. Gobber must’ve been fuming that Hiccup hadn’t arrived on time. The smell of Berk’s underwhelming cooking wafted through the air. And if he closed his eyes he could almost hear his father bellowing something about someone being an idiot.

 The sky had already faded into the sapphire blue of noon and the world was as it should be.

“Gods, I missed this,” He muttered under his breath. Toothless dodged a stray Night Terror that was in the middle of delivering terror mail. Hiccup felt his heart skip a beat as the dragon zoomed over the familiar mountains evergreen. He wondered if they should try to visit the cove where they first met, escape the worries that being the ‘Pride of Berk’ often brought.

Toothless’ worried warble vibrated throughout his body. Pulling Hiccup off the cloud nine the flight had put him on. “What’s wrong, bud?”

A chilly wind struck him, bringing small snowflakes with it. “But it’s not-” Berk was cold, he’d accepted this a long time ago, but it was unusual for snow to fall so late in the warmer months. 

“Hiccup!” Astrid’s voice sent every nerve in his body on high alert. She flew in on her Deadly Nadder looking completely distraught, “We’re under attack!”

This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening. He thought, trying to prevent himself from spiraling. This can’t be real.

“Oh but it is, Hiccup.” A voice drifted in on the wind, each syllable sending chills down his spine. He knew the haunting voice of Pitch Black from anywhere. 

He barely had to turn his head before a herd of shadows flew past him, spooking Toothless and nearly sending him falling off the cliffside. Toothless warbled an apology and Hiccup brushed down the top of his head, “No, it’s alright bud. Don’t worry about it,”

Astrid’s cry for help registered to him too late. Helplessly, he watched as his best friend was consumed by the shadows he just barely dodged. A choir of screams erupted from the peace of noon. A sound that unfortunately became familiar to him. They reacted instinctively and charged forward to protect the village. 

He flew into a cloud of them that was heading towards Berk. Shadows with eyes that glowed a hollow imitation of moonlight. Hiccup gave a quick glance to one that almost threw him off the saddle, the blood draining from his face as he did a double take. The shadows wore the faces of the dead. He remembered several of them from throughout the village but almost none of their names. All of them were warriors who decided to follow whatever was calling them beyond the Archipelago. As a boy he’d been inspired by them. Hoping to be just like them when he was older. 

Shadows reached for him, grabbing at his armor, his metal leg, and his loose hair. He grabbed his sword and ignited it. Swiping it in a wide arch that cut through most of the shadows trying to claw at him. However, one of the crafier ones wrapped its claw around his wrist and knocked the sword from his hand. Light was once again extinguished from the shadows.

Bile rose in his throat as he broke out of the cloud of dead men with the roar of a plasma blast. “See you’ve met my Fearlings, Haddock?” Pitch taunted. His voice surrounded him but the Nightmare King was nowhere to be found. 

“Come out and face me, coward!” 

The Fearlings started mirthlessly laughing and Hiccup could hear the threat in it. Suddenly the winds turned against them, driving Toothless off course and sending them flying into a rock formation. Toothless acted without thinking, throwing Hiccup off the saddle as he braced for impact. 

Adrenaline began to race through his body as he fell to the Earth again. His arms failed through the air trying to grab onto something, anything, that he could. He managed to catch the edge of one of the cliffs sending a painful jolt through his arm. Though the pain in his heart far outweighed the one in his arm. When he pulled himself up, Toothless was nowhere to be found. 

He trailed the cliffs by foot. The fog clung close to the ground the closer he got to civilization but he had no time to waste. He needed to get back to Berk before anyone else could get hurt–

He could feel his heart stop when he saw the state of his village. Smoke filled the sky, blocking the gods’ view from the massacre that befell the once beautiful place. Now it resembled nothing like the Berk he knew. He almost felt sick from the smell alone. It was all hot and metallic that he knew wasn’t just the destroyed blacksmith’s hut. Blood painted the grass in its crimson color, removing any traces of any other color. It didn’t take long to find where it all had come from. 

Every viking that lived on Berk was on that field. Pale and ghostly like they should’ve belonged in Niflheim and not Berk. Villagers he barely knew was the first ones he found. He found his friends soon after. Then Gobber. Then his father. He could barely recognize them anymore. Numbness had begun to seep into his core before he could stop it. He should’ve been angry and avenged them with the might of Tyr and Odin. But there was nothing there. No righteous fury or insatiable bloodlust. Nothing.  

 He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He just stared helplessly at the lifeless bodies and wondered what he could’ve done to stop this. 

“Nothing.” An apathetic voice crooned from behind. Hiccup forced his eyes away from his friends and turned to Pitch who finally materialized behind him. “There is nothing you can do to prevent this.”

Hiccup glared daggers into the willowy shadowman. “This isn’t real.”

“No. Not now anyways.” He admitted, “But what exactly can you do to stop me? You destroyed the only thing capable of taking you home.”

His emotions ignited in the pit of his gut. All the anger, all the rage, all the pain of seeing his home in such a state hit him all at once. “ You tricked me. ” He growled.  

“Astute observation. Viggo said you were clever. I didn’t believe him much seeing how easy it was to trick you.”

Every single intense emotion suddenly extinguished just in an instant. Doused by the icy feeling of guilt. He was never going to get back to Berk. Astrid was going to get back to Berk. Merida would never get to tell her parents she was alive. He’d never become chief, the position would have to go to Snotlout. Astrid was never going to become a shield maiden. Merida was never going to see her home again. His father will not only have lost the love of his life but his son too.  

And all of it was his fault. 

“Then why did you show me?” Hiccup asked in a quiet voice. “You’re- you’re supposed to be in the past.”

“I marked you when we met all those years ago. Remember, don’t you?” 

“What are you-?”

“Must have blocked me out entirely.” Pitch bellowed a laugh, “I guess I still got it.”

Despair almost brought Hiccup to his knees, stabbing him at the heart and working its way to his gut. “I was chasing gnomes,” He breathed.

“You were so young, couldn’t have been older than young Jamie I presume. 8 perhaps? Ugh, how did I not take advantage of this opportunity the first time around?” 

“This is all my fault,”

“Precisely.” Pitch agreed, “But you can fix it,” 

“What?” He felt his stomach twist, “How? I already destroyed your machine!”

Pitch chuckled at the thought, “You’ll see in time. Say hi to Frost for me.” And with a flick of his wrist the bloodsoaked battlefield disappeared into nothing. And Pitch was gone with it…

                                                     …

Hiccup woke in a start, cold sweat clinging to his body like a newborn. His breath came in gasps as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and cradled his head in his hands. For a second he pretended he was 8 years old again when he had a nightmare. How he’d crawl into his father’s room and he’d reassure him everything was going to be alright.   

The last week came back to him in flashes. He bristled at how they hid in caves in the hills around the edge of the woods, how they slowly ran out of rations they scavenged, how the cold messed with his head and he thought it was a good idea to hunt by himself without Toothless. 

He unconsciously reached for him, to try to sooth his frayed nerves. Instead of the usual soothing feeling of rough dragon scales, his hand met the cold hilt of his sword. Devastation washed over him once again, had it not been for that gods damned winter sprite they might’ve not- Toothless wouldn’t be- 

He wrapped the blanket around him tighter— Wait, blanket? They didn’t have blankets in the cave. They had to huddle for warmth in order not to freeze! He was clearly alone but he wasn’t cold. His mouth filled with cotton as he absorbed his surroundings. They were trapped in a stone room. With shelves filled with objects he’d never seen before. 

All his weapons were gone except for Inferno (Why would anyone leave him with his sword?) He was almost afraid to see how it’d still ignite after using it against the winter sprite. Yeah, that gods damned winter sprite. He almost forgot about him. How he found him yelling into the sky in a language he didn’t know and nearly attacked him with ice. How he found him the week after, laying in the snow of all things. He didn’t know why he didn’t attack him, or why he kept him awake. He didn’t know why a chill went up his spine when he found him again. Probably the magic. Only Odin knows at this point. 

Hiccup let out a groan as he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes. Chipped paint glared at him from where it hung on the walls, repeating the same thing his dream told him.

This is all your fault!  

His whole body went stiff. He was alone. In a stone room. Without armor (something he just now realized). And with his sword. With no friends. 

“Hiccup…?” Merida began, her voice groggy from sleep. His eyes snapped to the redhead in the corner. So apparently he did have friends. But where was she looking? Her eyes were fixed to something above them and Hiccup felt his gut lurch with dread. 

Despite his better judgement, he followed her gaze to the top of the room. His soul nearly left his body and went to Vahalla when he saw the winter sprite from before sitting above. A blank expression rested on his face and eyes hung dead in their sockets. He clutched his staff with white knuckles as he continued to stare into the middle distance. 

“Don’t move,” Hiccup warned her. 

“Wasn’t planning on it, lad.” Merida said with a quiet voice. “Is Astrid near you?”

Hiccup’s heart dropped into his stomach. He haphazardly looked for her over on his other side but found nothing. No trace of the fierce, scary, brave girl who stood by him when no one else did. Not even her axe. 

“No…” Rage quickly took the place of the fear in his heart.

“What’s wrong?” 

“She’s gone,”

“What? Where is she?”

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling he has something to do with it,” He sent a glare up to the sprite’s direction as he slipped on the shoe beside his bedroll. He grabbed for anything and found a dull pebble that would do it’s job. He jumped to his feet and threw it at the sprite’s head. 

The winter sprite took something out of his ear and gave Hiccup a look of offense. He said something in his native tongue. It sounded vaguely continental, maybe english? He only heard it once or twice and it definitely didn’t sound like that. 

“Get down here,” He growled, “Where are we? Where’s Astrid?” And where are his shoes? He internally added. But seriously? What person doesn’t wear shoes?

The winter sprite looked confused and adjusted one of the two strings of his odd looking tunic. “He can’t understand you.” 

“Yeah I can see that, Merida.” 

“Sorry, it’s hard to tell sometimes,” She got to her feet too and slowly approached where Hiccup was standing.

The winter sprite suddenly jumped down to their level. Hiccup picked up Inferno and ignited it, causing the boy to jump back. Fear crawled over the boy’s pleasant looking face, revealing just how young he was. 

He looks my age. Hiccup vaguely thought. But the rage, despair, and pain the last several days had brought him clouded his mind. Hiccup took another step towards him, gripping Inferno like a crutch and holding it to the sprite’s neck. 

“Who are you?” He asked. “And where are we?”

“Hiccup, shut your trap and listen!” Merida gripping her hand on his shoulder tight enough to make him wince, “I know things look bad now, but you need to keep your head.”

“She’s gone. And he did something, I know it. I can’t-”

“You can, please. Before you do something daft, just listen-!” 

“Where are we? Who are you? Why did you bring us here? Where’s Astrid?” He asked again, way more louder and less coherent than before. The door opened and slammed in an instant and a little boy with a bag that looked as orange as gronkle fire came between them. He looked almost like a perfect copy of the winter sprite, except he was visibly human with hair and eyes that were both brown. 

He started rambling, which was rich coming from the Archipelago's winning rambler, using his hands in big gestures and vivid facial expressions to try to explain what was going on. Hiccup, unfortunately, got none of it. 

Merida tightened her grip on his shoulder, “Look at the wall to the left. Don’t make it obvious,” She muttered, so quietly he almost didn’t hear it. 

He spotted the door in an instant. It was left open slightly and neither of the boys seemed to notice it. Hiccup gave Merida a knowing look and she released the grip on his shoulder. Neither knew where that door would lead, but they have nothing left to lose by going through it. 

Merida let out a scream at the top of her lungs, so loud everyone who wasn’t her when to cover their ears. Hiccup almost caught his hair on fire from forgetting about Inferno’s fiery blade. He swung his sword in a wide arch like the one he did in the dream, carefully dodging the boy’s head. Merida grabbed his arm and continued to scream as they bolted past them and through the door. The brisk wind tried to push them back into the prison they were held in, but the two threw themselves against it. 

“Look lad, footprints!” Merida exclaimed. “Maybe she escaped!”

“We can only hope!” 

“Yeah, hope this isn’t a mistake and get on with it.”

I really hate to agree with you sometimes. Hiccup thought bitterly. And they made their way down an unfamiliar street with buildings that they’d never seen before.

Chapter Text

Rapunzel sat alone in her room in the workshop contemplating murder. She’d never do it of course. But she was very close to considering it. 

Today was the first day she’d even been alone since arriving in this strange new time in a strange new world. Varian was off trying to fix something with Mr. North to pass the time. He’d been enchanted by the place the first time he saw it, so it didn’t surprise her one bit to see him so quick to help their host so he could explore it. Unfortunately he didn’t realize it would’ve left her without anything to do. 

It was almost like her days stuck in the tower. Except she wasn’t being gaslit into thinking what was best for her (which nobody thought by the way), but it was still just as isolating. The elves weren’t exactly great company seeing as they either were too busy or too mean. They often stole her art supplies for the toys Mr. North didn’t want them to make. Jack always made them give them back or got her new ones, often with a new joke or anything that kept her spirits up.

Jack was one of the only people who seemed to not be walking on constant eggshells around her. And she appreciated that immensely. Because she needed to stay positive. To have things to look forward to in her life. Or else she’d drown in what she didn’t have. Eugene, Pascal, Max, Lance, her parents, Cassandra as much as her betrayal destroyed her spirit in every way, even her cousins Anna and Elsa who she met the year before. 

Apparently it was called a coping mechanism or that’s what Mr. Bunny called it anyway. She did this especially in the tower. Everyday for 18 years as she did the same old morning routine she’d look forward to something, anything . It helped her pass the time that would’ve driven a normal person mad. She would look forward to teaching herself new things that Gothel would bring to the tower or the floating lights on her birthday. Something that she longed to see in person. And now, Jack had become the thing she would look forward to seeing. As scary as their situation now was, as scary as he was when they first met, he became a calming presence in her day to day life.  

And now he wasn’t here. And for once in her life she didn’t know what to do. 

She tried to force herself to paint, something that she’s hasn’t had trouble doing since she took that art class with a servant to Zen Tiri, but everything she wanted to draw was a reminder of home. It was kind of funny in a very ironic way. She was so desperate for adventure when it first called out to her and now all she wanted was to go home. Where Eugene was waiting for her, where her parents had their arms outstretched for her, and where everything made sense. 

But that wasn’t where her story took her. And now she had to make the best of it. So she took a stroll around the grand and multileveled workshop in order to escape her room and the madness of her own mind. 

The air thrummed with magic. It was almost mind bending, it was bigger than the interior of Corona’s castle and she thought that would be the biggest thing she had ever seen. There were ‘toys’ of all sorts flying around and nearly taking her head off in the process.  

The smell of fresh paint, sweet gingerbread cookies, and peppermint wafted through the air completing the wondrous atmosphere the place had. She was certain that the village children would have a grand time exploring it. It seemed almost made to invoke wonder. Wonder, however, was not the thing that painfully pierced her heart as she explored. 

A harsh voice with a heavy accent she learned was something called ‘Australian’ exploded through the hall she was walking through. She followed it and found Mr. Bunny and Miss. Toothiana chatting about something that she didn’t really get. 

“I’m serious, Easter is wayyy more important than Christmas mate.” Mr. Bunny went on, “Christmas is just more marketable,”

“Sure, whatever you say Bunny,” Miss Toothiana said with a laugh.

“Ugh, that’s what you always say but I’m telling you. Nick just likes to amp up the fact that there’s two days for Christmas. But he forgets the fact that ankle biters love Easter cus’ it brings spring.”

“Or because they like chocolate.”

“Crikey Tooth, always thinking about those chompers, eh?” 

Rapunzel crept to a nearby wall accidentally stepping on a loose floorboard which released an embarrassingly loud creak. The two’s attention quickly turned to the lost princess causing a rare embarrassed flush to crawl onto her face. 

She gave a very awkward wave, “Heyyy, you two. Nice to see you,”

“G’day princess,” Mr. Bunny greeted her, just as awkwardly.

“Um, how are you?” Miss Toothiana asked, “Do you need anything…? Loose teeth?” 

“Ha, no. I’m good. I’m just… looking for Jack. I was wondering if Mr. North had an idea where he might be?” 

“You don’t have to call him that, Princess. We’re all friends here. If you want, we can help you out best you can,”

Are we? Rapunzel asked herself. “Oh ok, well then, do you know where he is?”  

“You seemed to have grown close with him,” Toothiana commented, “I’m sure he’s not avoiding you or anything.”

What if he is? What if he’s betraying you just like Cass? A voice whispered in the back of her mind. “Oh ok,” She gave the brightest smile she could to hide her fear.

“Check his room, if he’s not there then he’s out causing winter.” Bunny informed her. 

“Thank you Mr. Bunny,”

“Just Bunny, mate.”

“Okay then… Bunny.” The word felt weird in her mouth. She turned her heel and left before it could get any more awkward. Just when she thought she was understanding how social interactions went, she had to go and meet a guy named Bunny . Well, maybe not because that North guy keeps calling him Aster. But nobody else does so what is going on with his name?

It was rather easy to find Jack’s room, the door was covered in frosty fern patterns and a couple spikes of permafrost. Like a little mosaic painting made from ice and snow. 

Her knuckles rapped against the chilled wood door and it opened under her fist. “Hello?” She called out. But Jack didn’t respond.

Despite better judgement, Rapunzel carefully crossed the threshold of the room. A deep chill washed over her and dug its claws into her bones. She lost her breath for a moment, puffing out as smoke in front of her. 

“Jack, why do you have to have your room this cold?” She hugged herself tightly trying to preserve her own body heat. “Right, you’re a winter spirit thing. Forgot for a second.” 

She nearly lost breath again at seeing the sorry state of his room. There was no color, no furniture other than a bed and a couple of hoodies, and barely any light. It was like a prison cell back at Corona except way colder. She scanned the room, but didn’t find him. Not that she expected to find him, but at least she was hoping to find a note or something. 

A glint of light kept her rooted in place after it caught her eye. A sphere that looked like it had a mini blizzard in it. Like a little globe. Why would Jack have this? What even is it? Rapunzel asked herself. A lightbulb seemed to light up in her brain. Why don’t I just ask him myself? She pulled out her phone and clicked on the snowflake icon. 

She held it to her ear as it rang its bells from inside it. “‘Ello. This is Jack, I’m a little busy at the moment being the super cool Guardian of Fun. Ha, get it? Anyway, send a message at the beep. BEEPPPP.” 

“Gosh, I hate his voicemail.” She pulled the phone away as the obnoxiously loud, earsplitting beep continued for another good 5 seconds. “Jack, I found this globe in your room. I don't know what it’s for, I don’t know where you went. And it’s been two days. Did I- did I do something wrong?” 

The snow in the globe spiraled around itself until inside displayed a house that she’d never seen before, built in a way she’d never seen before either. Cheerful yellow walls and white boards along the windows gazed at her from inside the small device. A far Cry from the houses built of wood and stone back at Corona.

“What are you trying to tell me?” She asked the globe. 

It began to shake aggressively as if it just woke up. Continuing until it clattered to the ground. The snow broke out of it and swirled around her until she couldn’t see anything else. With a sudden pop, the air around her changed and she was no longer cold.

                                                  …

Jack was beginning to get sick of these Scottish Vikings. As evidenced by the skinny Dragon Boy nearly cutting his head off with a fire sword. Why didn’t he realize it was a fire sword? How did he know how to make those in- whatever time he came from??? The questions were racing around his mind as they stared at the two morons running down the street. 

“We should probably tie up the blonde, right?” Jamie suggested, as they watched the two race out into the morning snow. 

Jack had to suppress a laugh. This was a serious situation and no amount of hilarious Jamie quotes was going to change that. No, he had to be serious. “That’s probably a bad idea. She’s the angriest.” 

He looked back at the sleeping girl tucked away behind the shelf. While he didn’t understand them, he was sure half their panic was from not knowing where she was. Maybe they should’ve just lined them up and left them in the middle of the room. But at the same time he wanted to prevent something like this from happening. At least they don’t have an axe wielding maniac running through traffic with them.

“We should still probably locked the door,”

“Oh definitely. We’re absolutely locking the door. If she gets out I’m worried what will happen to Sophie.” The door locked with a click as they left the garage. 

Jamie’s eyes widened, “You don’t think she’s gonna hurt her right?”

Jack realized his mistake and quickly tried to back track, “Of course not,”

“That’s your lying face,” Jamie said, crossing his arms.

Jack raised an eyebrow, “I have a lying face?”

“Oh yeah, it’s really bad. You’re eyebrows go like this , and your nose goes like this- “ 

“Woah, woah, I don’t look like that,” Jack said in mock offense. But how would you even know? A voice reminded him. He suppressed a sigh as he pushed it away again. “I’m serious. She’ll be-”

They were interrupted by the sudden explosion of snow from behind. When the snow settled, a high pitched scream erupted from the center. Oh god-

“Rapunzel?” Jack asked once the gold haired girl came into view. 

“Jack, oh my gosh- what was that?” Her green eyes scanned the new world frantically, “Where am I?”

“Woah, is she a princess?” Jamie asked in shock.

“Uh, one question at a time please.” 

“I was looking for you,” Rapunzel began to explain breathlessly, “Then I found some globe with snow in it- now I’m here.” 

“Raps, you’re safe.” Jack assured her. He would’ve given the poor girl a hug or something to help her calm down but he was terrified of finding out about phasing through someone again. “You just kinda found us at the worst time.”

“Why? What’s- what’s wrong?” 

Jack was left unable to tell her as the loud crash of a window shattering split the air. He turned around just in time to see a car parked in the middle of the street and Dragon Boy waving his sword around wildly. The winds wrapped around him and pulled him into the air. Jamie and Rapunzel followed close behind.

“What is happening?” Rapunzel screamed after them, her long braided hair flying behind her.

“Vikings!” Jamie yelled, “Jack found them in the snow,” 

“Yeah, Dragon Boy nearly chopped my head off,”

“Are they dangerous?” 

“No, just confused. There wasn’t anyone to break the language barrier like they could for you. They’re probably hungry, tired, and deeply afraid,”

“Why can’t we get M- Toothiana to help break it?”

Jack spotted the two heading straight to Main Street, while it was brimming with morning traffic. God, this was going to be a long morning. “Because they won’t.” 

“Why not?”

Jack landed with the grace of a gymnast beside the girl with the golden hair, “Raps, I get your confused right now. I promise I’ll explain, but those two people are in the same situation you were in when you first showed up here. And I can’t explain to them what’s happening. So I need your help bringing them back to the garage so we can figure out a plan forward. Ok?” 

Rapunzel nodded wordlessly, a determined smile painted across her face and a far off expression in her eye. Like she was recalling a memory.  

“So how are we going to stop traffic?” Jamie asked, already figuring out part A of the plan. 

“Hey Jamie, you like snowball fights?” 

Thus began the GREATEST SNOWBALL FIGHT BURGESS HAD EVER SEEN. Jack really shouldn’t be using his powers, let alone the one that’s one of his strongest. But it was either that or have to explain to the Guardians while a Dragon Boy with a lightsaber was run over by a car. 

It started off with the civilians in the streets who were completely and utterly confused about the entire thing. They were hit square in the face with an enchanted snowball courtesy of the Guardian of Fun himself. Chaos soon followed as it always did. Grown adults ran around in the streets, tossing snow at each other like they were Jamie’s age again. The familiar sound of laughter filled the air.

 Drivers were putting down their car windows to watch it unfold and that’s when Jack struck. And they decided to join in the fun too. Leaving the perfect amount of room for Dragon Boy and Scary Redhead to escape through traffic.

There were definitely some cars who slid off course due to the extra snow build up but there were no fatal injuries. So Jack counted this as a spectacular win. But the inevitable consequences almost certainly weren't. He was definitely feeling a plastic bag floating through the wind (He was listening to Firework by Katy Perry) at this point as the winds helped him follow the Vikings close behind.  

They reached the treeline of the woods, causing the redhead to trip. The scary redhead looked back at him with wide eyes. She screamed something in her native tongue and ran ahead  faster than before. Dragon Boy took a chance at a glance and immediately had the face of a man who regretted every life choice he’d ever made. 

“Hey, I’m not that ugly am I?” He called after them as they ran faster into the woods. The winds dropped him hard onto his back. He released a pent up groan as he felt his bones melt into the slush beneath him. 

“Uh, Jack? You look pretty scary right now,” Jamie said, hesitation present in his voice. 

Jack sat up quickly and the world began to spin around him, “Excuse me, what?”

“Yeah…” Rapunzel added, inching closer, “You kinda look like a ghost.”

“Technically I am one,”

“No, Jack, like ghost -ghost. Like the ghosts in those horror movies my mom doesn’t want me to watch,” Jamie gave Jack a little pocket mirror his sister had given him from his pocket. 

When he saw his own reflection (For the first time in 300 years) he froze. His eyes were sunken and dark looking, his skin more gaunt than normal, even losing the normal sparkles that usually shone like freshly fallen powered snow. His eyes weren’t their normal color of blue either, they were more close to the white of ice than the waters that it protected underneath.   

“What’s a mov-iee?” Rapunzel asked, pulling his attention away from his freaky appearance.

Jamie squinted at her, intrigue lurking just beneath the surface. “You’ve never seen a movie before?” Rapunzel shook her head, “Jack, can we keep her? I need to educate her in the classics,”

Jack fought the laughter crawling up his throat, begging to be released into the world, “We gotta find Dragon Boy and the Scary Redhead. Then we can indoctrinate her into the cult of American movie culture.” 

Jamie’s eyes lit up, “Got it,”

“You guys are in a cult? I was kinda in one once and it was not fun. Ha. So I’d rather not get forced back into one,”

“You were in a cult?” Jamie asked.

“Guys, the vikings nearly died out here. Can we focus on them instead?”

“Right,” Jamie and Rapunzel said in unison. 

                                                           …

Jack still couldn’t figure out how the Vikings were so good at hiding. There were almost no footprints in the newly freshly fallen snow, no objects that they could’ve dropped, nothing at all. Maybe they had some sort of Viking magic on them or something? 

“So, do I still look scary?” Jack asked from above the others about an hour into the trek, “Nightmare invoking perhaps?”

“Nah. You’re a little pale but it’s nothing too weird.” Jamie waved his hand dismissively.

“Um, I hate to see what normal is for you guys.” Rapunzel attempted to quip but it fell flat on its face. 

“So… What brings you here, ‘Punzie?” 

“Don’t call me that.”

“It suits you though,” 

She rolled her eyes but the nervousness never fully escaped her expression. “I found your globe with snow in it. It broke and I came here.” 

Jack snorted. Did she never hear about a snow globe before? “Did you say anything that had to do with me? You’ve never met my best buddy here so I doubt you could’ve told the snow globe to bring you to Jamie’s house.” 

“Nice to meet you by the way, Jamie,” Rapunzel smiled, “That’s a nice name.”

“Yours too. I have so many questions for you!” Jamie quickly pulled out a notebook from his pocket, “So how long is your hair?”

“About 70 feet?”

“How do you hide it all in your braid? Is it magic? Can you swing on it? Does it change length if it’s magic-?” 

“Woah Jamie, slow down, let Punzie breathe for a moment.”

“Thank you Jack, but that’s still not my name.”

Jack shrugged as an impish smile crossed his lips. He was about to follow up with his questioning of how exactly Rapunzel showed up when an inhuman growl came from the cliffs above. He jumped into the air and the winds caught a hold of him. Carrying him to the source of the sound. A golden lasso of hair attached itself to a sturdy log at the edge of the cliff. He glanced down in their direction and saw how Rapunzel was using her hair to climb the distance. Jamie waved him to go on, they’d be up there soon. 

Jack inched forward, dread curling into the pit of his gut. His eyes glanced widely around the area, hoping to avoid a surprise attack from either Redhead, Dragon Boy, or both. He wouldn’t put it past them at this point. 

He stopped dead in his tracks, carefully gliding to a spot behind a tree. In the middle of the clearing was a dragon with spikes that were as long as North’s swords and the teeth at side of its head were longer, blue scales dimly glinted in the cloudy sun, toxic yellow eyes with pupils in slits, and on its head was a crown of spikes that were double the size of the rest of them. There was nothing that would have suggested that this dragon was friendly. So when Dragon Boy appeared all alone in the clearing, extinguishing his only defense against the beast, Jack wondered if the boy had a death wish. 

The boy raised his hand above his hand, his jaw set with a fearlessness Jack hadn’t seen in centuries. Mutters of the boy’s native language softly echoed throughout the clearing, slowly putting the dragon at ease like it was under the boy’s spell. He took small steps forwards, inviting the dragon to clear the gap and meet him halfway. As soon as the boy’s hand met the dragon’s snout it collapsed into the snow with its tongue out like a large puppy. 

Jack could barely conceal his shock as the boy began to scratch the underbelly like how Jamie pet his Greyhound Abby. An unmistakable laugh came bursting from the boy and Jack could visibly see a weight lift off his shoulders. The dragon got to its feet and ran circles around the boy. 

It's playing with him. Jack noted. Bits of snow from the light snowfall fell from the creature’s tail and landed gracefully on the still laughing boy. He shouted a name as the dragon flew around him merrily. For once in the short time he knew him, he felt as if he was finally understanding who this guy was. 

Jack stood there mesmerized by the display. Not sure whether he should interrupt the moment or continue to watch silently. He heard the distant faint grunts and shuffling of Jamie and Rapunzel climbing the cliff and he was suddenly tethered back to reality. If he didn’t reveal his presence then there was a good chance he’d assume they were going to attack him out of defense. 

He took a breath as he strolled into the open. The dragon’s spikes immediately stood up, preparing itself to attack. The boy’s relieved face quickly contorted into anger. He grabbed his sword as quick as lightning. But it gave Jack enough time to drop his staff. 

The boy’s eyes softened as Jack kneeled close to the ground. “Look, I don’t know you. And you don’t know me,” He began as the boy circled him, trying to figure out what his deal was, “But I’m not going to hurt you. What happens next is up to you.” 

Hopefully my hunch is correct. Jack thought, bracing himself for the possibility that he was wrong. At least he could phase through the weapon. Hopefully.  

When the boy finished his circle, Jack held out his hand similar to how the boy tamed the dragon earlier. He heard Jamie and Rapunzel enter the clearing and summoned a couple icicles to block the path, refusing to tear his eyes away from Dragon Boy.

Seconds felt like hours as the boy contemplated what to do. If only he could understand him or know what was going through his brain. The dragon stood eerily still as if it was waiting on the boy’s command. He said something in Norse and the dragon warbled a protest. He repeated himself, louder and turning to the dragon this time. Finally the dragon conceded. It beat its wings and flew away to god knew where. 

The boy’s green eyes rested on his and a strange sort of understanding crossed between them. Finally the boy kneeled beside his staff and handed it back to Jack. He released a breath he was holding as the icicles behind them disappeared. 

“Jack, you did it!” Jamie exclaimed. 

“Is he going to- y’know-?” Rapunzel made a stabbing motion and Jack shook his head.

“He’s on our side,” Hopefully. Jack added internally. Wait, there’s one missing. “Where's the redhead?” 

Right on que, the redhead ran into the clearing wielding a new makeshift bow, aiming directly at Jack. Before she could fire, Dragon Boy stepped in front of him. 

“Merida?” Rapunzel asked, standing beside them. 

The redhead’s eyes lit up with recognition and she immediately disregarded the bow. The two girls ran into a tight embrace, speaking in a language Jack immediately knew was an older version of Scottish Gaelic. He also didn’t learn this language, not because of lack of time but because he rarely visited Scotland. Why? He didn’t talk about it. 

Dragon Boy’s eyes shot to him with a questioning gaze, “How am I supposed to know what they’re saying dic-” Jack cut himself off when he remembered the twelve year old who could see and hear him very clearly. “Uh, dummy.” 

“That’s not what you were about to say.” Jamie said.

“And how do you know that?”

Jamie shrugged, “I’ve been in a middle school locker room.”

Jack rolled his eyes but kept up his teasing smile. He turned back to Dragon Boy who wore a crooked half smile of his own. Something in Jack’s heart returned to life for the first time since joining the Guardians. A feeling he couldn’t quite explain properly. But it was warm. And for the first time in 300 years he wanted to lose himself in it. 

                               …                                     

The girls squealed and continued to speak as they made their way to their home base. Causing Hiccup to be even more confused than he already was. He knew the basics of Scottish Gaelic, since Berk wasn’t too far from the Scottish Isles, but between freeing dragons and smiting dragon hunters he was embarrassingly out of practice. 

And the last thing he needed was more confusion. He already had more than enough, thanks.

The winter sprite and his brother spoke their own language beside him. Now that one he had no grasp of whatsoever. The words went through one ear and out the other. This felt like one huge divine joke, well if he was being honest that’s what his whole life felt like. He thought about just saying nonsense to fill the air with something he was familiar with but was shut down by the crushing relief of Astrid punching through the door to the house.

The world shifted beneath him and gravity seemed to let go of him for a moment. 

“Astrid!” Hiccup exclaimed, charging forward.  

Astrid’s anger was quickly extinguished and she dashed towards him, bringing him into a bone crushing hug. Shock didn’t come close to describe what he was feeling as she nearly squeezed the life out of him. Because Astrid was Astrid, she didn’t show much affection in public because it would’ve made her ‘weak’ (Sometimes she reminded him of his dad a little too much). So she must’ve been very shaken to disregard that. 

“Where were you?” She asked once she set him down, “I woke up and you were-” Her eyes snapped to a figure behind him. Somehow he knew it was the winter sprite. 

Hiccup put a hand on her shoulder, “I know what you’re about to say.”

“Hiccup, he could be dangerous,” Astrid hissed.

“But he’s giving us a place to stay. I think we need to trust him,”

“And that worked out so well the last time,”

He fought the urge to roll his eyes but that wouldn’t have helped him win this case. “Leave Viggo out of this.”

“Hiccup I’m serious-”

“So am I.” Astrid blinked, caught off guard by his sudden conviction. “Think about it, Astrid. We’re in a place we don’t know with no armor, no weapons, and no dragons.” Astrid’s eyes flashed with worry, “I found Stormfly and she’s in a safe place. But we’re not. We can’t fight our way out of this. We’re outnumbered and severely underpowered.” 

Astrid huffed but nodded along, “You’re right.” 

“Let’s just stay here for now. And if something goes wrong–” He gave her shoulder a light squeeze, “We’ll take Stormfly and form a plan from there.” 

“Alright,” She conceded, “But if anything goes wrong it’s on you.” 

“When has it not been?” 

Something flashed behind Astrid’s tough expression. She faltered. And Hiccup didn’t know why. Of course he knew she wouldn’t tell him because she’s Astrid , but he couldn’t imagine why she would. 

Merida grabbed his shoulder, “Hiccup, if that is your real name-”

“Ah, I see we’re doing this again.” 

“Aye, and we’ll keep doing it until you tell me it’s a joke.” Merida said bluntly, “But I wanted to thank you. For getting me out of that ship-”

“Well, I didn’t really. It was more a coincidence than anything I did,”

“Will you take a compliment, lad? I’m trying to thank you for keeping us alive. You can’t be a skinny fishbone and a lad who doesn’t take the admiration he deserves, you gotta pick one and stick with it. As my mum always says.”

Hiccup didn’t know to be hurt or weirdly grateful, “Thank- you?”

“Don’t mention it, lad, always here to put your head on straight.” She patted his shoulder and went back to talking to the Golden Hair girl. Right at that moment, the winter sprite thought it’d be funny to bonk him on the head with his Shepherd's staff. The unmistakable sound of mischievous laughter came bubbling out of the winter sprite. 

Astrid caught his eyes nervously as the others disappeared into the house. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No,” Hiccup said quickly. His eyes lingered on the winter sprite, a strange feeling beginning to unfurl itself in his chest, “But he had the chance to kill me. But he didn’t take it. We just have to use that as confirmation of their intentions.”

“But are you sure you're sure?”

“No. He shot at me several times. But then again so has Snotlout, so who knows? Maybe they’ll surprise us.”

And for Thor’s sake he certainly hoped they would.

Chapter Text

Merida thought all the craziness was finally done and over with for the day, but that was quickly proven wrong when the Ghoulish Lad they found earlier fainted as soon as they crossed the threshold of their safe spot. Because of course he did. 

“Well, that was unexpected,” Merida stated, crossing her arms.

“Jack!” Rapunzel exclaimed and began to speak in the language that the guy, Jack apparently, was native in. She didn’t know when she learned the language seeing as her gaelic was still pretty rough, let alone how she could speak it so fluently.  

Rapunzel fluttered around his unconscious body, trying to tend to him the best she could. The boy Merida assumed was Jack’s little brother came to her side, trying to help her wake him up or something. He couldn’t have been too much older than her brothers. A sudden and unexpected ache began to overwhelm her heart and flood her senses. Her thoughts sent her crashing back to her home back in Scotland with the images of her brothers dancing around her. 

She could clearly see their faces in front of her, as if they were really there. She could almost smell the faint and familiar scent of Iced Rolls on their breath and almost hear their little mischievous laughs. It was like she could reach out and grab them.

But she only had to blink and they were gone. Sending Merida crashing back to the present. Sorrow eagerly growing from the root planted in her heart. 

The dungeon wrapped time so much she didn’t know how long she’d been gone. How old were they now? As old as Jack’s younger brother? Or maybe they were their dad’s age with their own families? She could almost hear them telling their own children cautionary tales about their long deceased aunt who never met the age of 17 because she was too stubborn to get married. 

Tears stung her eyes, begging to roll down her suddenly too hot face. She stifled a gasp as Hiccup grabbed her shoulder. 

“Are you alright?” He asked in Norse.

“I’m fine,” she hissed. Hiccup took the hint and let go and tried to help where he could with the wake-Jack mission. Astrid scouted to stand beside her. 

“Take a breath.” Astrid couched her, “I bite my cheek when I feel it coming. Do not let them see your weakness.”

Merida bristled at the suggestion that her longing for home could be a weakness, but she bit her cheek and said nothing. It was exactly the kind of thing her mother would’ve said to keep the upper hand during negotiations. If it was just that she would’ve made a snide comment under her breath that her mother would chide her for. Beckoning a laugh from her because of her mother’s bemused face. But Astrid was not her mother. And she wasn’t in a negotiation.

She let go of a stifled breath, inhaling the dingy dust that floated around the stone room. She was 99% sure it was going to kill her because it didn’t smell remotely clean. It wasn’t because of the normal, natural smell of horse dung she’d been used to from the stables. It was just something so sharp and pungent and- wrong , but that could just be the princess in her talking. 

That’ll be the first time I will ever think that, huh mum? She snorted, which earned her a shoulder check from Astrid.

“I see you’re better.”

Merida fought the urge to roll her eyes, “That’s one word for it.” 

“Guys, come check this out,” Hiccup called over his shoulder. 

Merida snapped into her serious mood hearing the concerned tone of his voice. The last thing they needed was another thing to go wrong. 

The Ghoulish Lad’s breath hitched as Merida and Astrid stalked to his side. “What’s the matter with this wee lad, eh? Even Hiccup’s bigger than him, that’s what.”

Hiccup shot her a confused glare over his shoulder, “Again with the fishbone jokes?”

“Had to keep you on your toes,”  She swallowed down her remorse over her slightly mean joke. 

She didn’t have many friends growing up seeing as she was the princess of Clan DunBroch. Throw in the fact she grew up in a household full of boys, handmaidens who were 10+ years her senior, have the ‘Bear King’ as a father, and a mother who she was almost always at odds with and one can imagine that your social skills would not be as advanced as the average person’s. 

Astrid shot her a look but kept quiet; silently observing the chaos from the side. Rapunzel tried to grab the boy’s shoulder, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. Merida blinked, trying to wrap her mind over the moment.

  It has to be a trick of the light. She thought. 

Jack’s breathing became labored, and Hiccup tried to grab his chest to what only the Morrigan knew. But Hiccup’s eyes went as wide as coins as his hand phased through his chest. 

Chaos unfolded in front of her eyes. Merida didn’t remember when she joined in the screaming but she knew it was about the same time when Astrid grabbed a strange looking bucket and attempted to banish him back to the Otherworld with water. 

Hiccup drew up some Norse banishing runes, Jack’s little brother got between them and got drenched by Astrid, and Rapunzel began pacing around muttering something in german. She couldn’t get the entire thing considering she was talking very fast but she got enough to know she was panicked. 

“Alright, let’s-” She began in Norse once she had her head on straight but the chaos drowned her out. Astrid grabbed a long false snake and began trying to pounce on Jack, “Lass, don’t-!” Hiccup got between them because of Jack’s little brother being too close, causing a tussle to break out between the two of them. 

“This is fine, this is fine, this is fine,” Rapunzel kept muttering, pacing around the back, “He’s a spirit. This is normal, it has to be. He’s not- he can’t be dying- we just have to figure out- we just have to figure out…” She trailed off as her breathing became erratic, but Merida was more concerned about what she meant. She was lucky the girl had said it in Gaelic and not her mysterious other language.  

Jack’s little brother jumped down from a weird looking shelf that he apparently climbed up on and landed on Hiccup, sending them both crashing to the ground and stealing a curse word from the viking that should never be repeated anywhere else. Right at that moment, Jack decided now was the best time to wake up from his wee little nap. Merida could only imagine the sheer horror of waking up to a burly viking woman with a false snake in her hands and bloodlust in her blue eyes.

“SHUT IT!” She screamed in Gaelic. Everyone’s eyes snapped to Merida and cotton filled her mouth. “Astrid, put down the false snake,” She said in Norse. “Let’s not kill the ghoul,”

Astrid clutched the snake tighter but stepped away from Jack-ghoul. Hiccup scooted away from the little brother before he could get beat up more than he already was. Rapunzel tried to help Jack up but must’ve remembered that she couldn’t physically hold him and drew back. A look of hurt flashed across Jack’s face but quickly hid it behind a tense smile. 

“Rapunzel,” Merida said in Gaelic, drawing her attention. “We can’t understand him,”

“Yeah, we know,” She replied back, her pronunciation was a little off but it was better when they met what felt like a couple months ago. “That is kind of a problem.” 

“Can you translate?” 

Rapunzel shook her hand in the air in a noncommittal manner, “Kind of.” 

“Do your best, lass.” 

She nodded. “I will try,”

“Ok. WHAT IS HE?” Merida exclaimed, forgetting her calm while pointing at Jack. Rapunzel side eyed him and shrugged, “Lass, you are great and I get your freaked out. But I meant ask him,”

“Oh,” She nodded. She had trouble switching back to their language but once she did Jack and his brother grimaced. Great, just great. Merida thought bemused. 

Rapunzel nodded along to the long winded explanation they gave and summarized it the best she could, “It is… complicated,”

“Aye, I can see that.”

“They didn’t make sense,”

“I can also see that.”

“I can’t tell you much other than Jack is in charge of winter,”

Merida blinked, “Winter? Like a god?”

“He’s not a god, he’s like a…” She trailed off, trying to find the word, “Spirit?”

Before Merida could properly absorb the information, Jack’s little brother pulled out a glowing rectangle and began speaking slowly, overly pronouncing his words, and making big vague gestures. Even Jack looked at him weirdly as he continued this little show. 

“Do you know what’s happening there?” Hiccup asked, leaning down a little bit as if they could understand them. 

“Yeah, he’s going to sacrifice you to the Morrigan. No, of course I don’t know. I’m as confused as you are,” 

“Great, I’m so glad we cleared that up,” 

“He’s referencing something called… Reddit?” Rapunzel explained, “I- we’re all kind of… confused.” 

“Aye, I can also see that.”

The three flinched as a voice sounded through the prison they were being held in. Great, just what we needed. More trouble.

                                                                …

“Jamie, what’s going on down there?” The booming voice of Joyce Bennett called from the house. 

Jamie thankfully dropped the show of trying to explain to the Vikings via Reddit thread the concept of time travel and ran to the house door. “What is she doing here? She was supposed to be out at a meeting with the school board!” 

“Why was she going to a school meeting?” Jack asked, still dazed from the overuse of his powers.

“I don’t know! Something about better bully programs?” He opened the door a crack and peaked through. His mother was furiously typing something on her phone while his little sister played with their dog around her. “Crap, I forgot about Abby,”

“Didn’t she nearly eat Bunny when he first saw her?” Jack giggled, before falling back asleep.  

Jamie bit back his worried groan as Rapunzel gasped in surprise. He couldn’t afford to freak out, Jack was counting on him to help the Vikings and he couldn’t let him down. “Rapunzel, that’s your name right?”

“Yeah,” She said cautiously. 

“Ok, do you think you got this down here?”

“No,” She folded her hands together nervously. 

Jamie exhaled a heavy breath, “I’m going to need you to try ok? Jack’s not in a position to protect us right now, so we have to protect him.” 

“I know,”

“So you need to keep this under control while I distract my mom and bring you guys food. I won’t be back for a while, so it’s your job to make sure those lunatics don’t kill him. I know you can do it, Jack believes in you. So I believe in you, so I trust you can take care of this,”

Rapunzel’s eyes brimmed with tears as she nodded. Jamie didn’t think twice as he slipped into the kitchen, quietly clicking the door shut behind him. His mother’s eyes immediately snapped up from her phone. 

“Why were you in the garage?” She asked, her voice still having trails of previous annoyance. 

“I was just…” Jamie began, “Being a boy?” 

“By being in the garage?”

“Yeah,” Jamie was very unconvinced in his own lie and it betrayed his own performance. Despite the cold, sweat beaded on the edge of his brow. 

Joyce sighed, pulling up a chair at the dining table. “Come sit, please.” Sophie’s giggles from the living room broke some of the tension from the air, “You too Sophie, you’ll want to hear this.”

Sophie’s face dropped as she set down the dog toy to where Abby could try to tear it apart. She waddled to the table and set herself at the head of it. “What’s wrong mama?”

“I don’t know how to say this,” She pinched the bridge of her nose, “My proposal about the anti bullying policy didn’t go through to the school board.”

Jamie’s gut twisted instinctually. He heard about his mother’s plans to petition the school board for harsher punishments on bullying after Caleb got beat up by one in the school parking lot. He and his friends tried to tell the principal but he explained that he couldn’t do anything about it since it was after school hours. Though that was clearly not the case since it was during their lunch break. Jamie and Joyce both suspected it was because their biggest bully was the principal’s son. 

“What?” Jamie asked carefully.

“I know, I tried my best. But the school board believed that smug-” She took a calming breath to prevent herself from breaking, “They believed the principal over my word. Despite how many years I put into that district. And my petition got rejected because our school is ‘so great’.”

Jamie wished he could say he was surprised but he wasn’t. The bullies were openly antagonistic in front of the teachers and nobody did anything except his mom (Which is why science became his favorite class). As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, life wasn’t as fair as it was in the stories his mother told him growing up. 

“I’m sorry mom,” 

Joyce brushed his brown hair out of his face, “It’s not your fault. They’re just… There’s some things that I can’t fix,” 

“So what are we gonna do, mama?” Sophie asked.

“This is what I wanted to talk to you about actually.” She took both of her children’s hands carefully, “I know you guys love the stories I tell you. I love the fact you believe in them with all your heart, even Jack Frost-”

“Mom, I’m not going to stop believing in them!” Jamie snapped. It was an instinct, really. After so many bullies tried to ruin his belief by telling him that Santa wasn’t real or that he was crazy. God, Jack was starting to rub off on him. “And they are real! That’s why we have to believe,”

Joyce barely flinched and squeezed his hand, “I’m not saying you need to stop believing. But I’m asking for you to keep your belief to yourself,”

Jamie blinked, “But why?”

“Jamie, you’re 12. Kids get really mean at this age and don’t really stop- like ever. And when kids don’t believe the same things you do, for example about Santa Claus being real, they get mean about it. They’ll use anything they can to make fun of you. They already have started to do that when you went around the neighborhood asking if Jack Frost was real,”

Jamie’s face flushed in embarrassment, “That was one time…”

“We’ve already discussed it at length, yes, and I know you’ve learned your lesson. But that doesn’t change the fact it happened. Nobody forgets something like that overnight.”

“I know,”

“So just… Maybe just talk about it with your friends? You’re a pretty convincing kid Jamie, but not everyone is going to believe everything that you will. Not everyone is as open minded as you are,”

Jamie sighed and nearly rolled his eyes, “Fine,”

“I mean it Jamie, you can’t just ‘fine’ me.”

“I know mom, I understand, I just think it’s stupid.” 

“I agree with that, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s the unfortunate reality we live in,” Her thumb traced circles on his palm, helping calm some of his nerves. “I’m sorry I just- I can’t afford to pursue this further.” 

The unspoken reason lingered in the air. I can’t afford to lose this job. The familiar painful clench of his heart returned as he thought of his dad. His dad died only 7 years ago and left them struggling ever since. Jamie knew it was wrong to judge him for something he couldn’t control, but he couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened had he not left so soon.

“I know mom,” He forced one of his signature smiles and got up from his seat. He could almost see the invisible tears form in his mother’s eyes as he gave her a hug. “Can I help with dinner tonight?”

She pulled away, almost surprised, “Sure honey, any special reason?” She quirked an eyebrow and fought off a knowing smile, “Another food experiment? Or potion that will give you superpowers,”

“I just wanna help,” Jamie said. “Is that so suspicious,”

“I know my son Jamie,” 

Laughter filled the kitchen as the three Bennetts went to work making Joyce’s most famous dish: her homemade chicken pot pie. They danced, they (poorly) sang, and Jamie almost forgot he had 5 traumatized teenagers in his garage. Though thankfully his memory was jogged before Joyce could walk out there and stumble across the Scottish Vikings and the Golden Haired Girl.

“I can put dinner away mom,” Jamie volunteered quickly, sliding beside her at the counter. 

“Ok, now I’m extra suspicious. What are you up to?” She said more seriously though laughter still lined her voice. 

“Nothing mom, I just appreciate you.” 

Joyce didn’t look overly convinced but relented anyway, “You’re lucky I’m behind on grading papers.” She said as she went to her office. 

Now’s my chance! Jamie took out several slices of pie and wrapped the rest in the fridge. He would’ve crept to the garage had Sophie not jumpscared him. He may or may not have jumped 10 feet in the air, you can’t prove it though. 

“Sophie,” He said breathlessly, “What are you doing here?”

“Why are you taking 5 slices of pie?”

“I’m still hungry,” 

She narrowed her eyes, “I’m sure mom would love to hear about this,” She crossed her arms like a young kid would when they didn’t get their way. Jamie was very used to these types of stances, it was practically his second language.

“Wait, are you telling on me because I beat you in Smash Bros last time?”

“Maybe… unless you tell me why you're stealing pie.”

Jamie sighed, “It’s a secret mission from Jack,”

Sophie’s eyes went wide, “Really? From Jack?”

“Yeah, and I need your help in keeping mom out of the garage. Ok? Because Jack needs us right now,”

“Can I see what’s in the garage? Is it treasure? Or a pony?”

“No,” Jamie thought back to Jack’s little slip up when the Boy Viking and the Redhead escaped. He couldn’t quite stop his mind from lingering on the way Jack said it. How he didn’t want Sophie to be hurt. Could they hurt her? He knew for sure he wasn’t going to risk it, “I have an extra special assignment for you,”

“What?”

“I need you to distract mom. Whatever happens she can’t go into the garage.”

“Got it!” She happily skipped away, taking guard at the seat facing mom’s office. 

Jamie smiled a little to himself as he stole the pie pieces and crept into the garage. Everyone was asleep, even Jack who was curled up in the middle of the ground. Rapunzel wrapped herself in her long hair while the Scottish Vikings were laying beside each other faraway from Jack. The Viking Boy that he jumped on was practically sprawled out over the foot of the two ladies’ bed, light snores blasting out of him like a horn. 

Seeing as they had one crazy day, Jamie set the pie pieces out in the middle of the floor. Hopefully they’d wake up soon to get it before it went bad. Jamie quietly crept back out of the garage and hoped that the next day would be a little less scary for them. 

Chapter Text

Hiccup woke in the dark as the moon still hung high in the sky. He killed the scream still lingering in his throat as he blinked the tiredness out of his eyes. He couldn’t say that his nightmares were getting worse after confronting Pitch in the first one but they certainly weren’t better. They were too terrifying to remember and left him staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling until the sun rose again the next day. He filled his day with distractions, there were plenty of them considering they were in a place that was unfamiliar and hostile. By the time that lights out rolled around he’d collapse from exhaustion.

This was the routine for the first couple days in the shelter they were in. The only windows sat above the large door, depriving the place of natural light. The dark was oppressive at first. He was sure that something was watching him from the inky black, he stayed frozen in place in fear that the same orange eyes of Pitch Black would appear out of the dark if he moved an inch. He seemed to jump at every creak of the house and at every whistle of the wind.  

As much as he hated to admit it, had it not been for the Winter Sprite he probably would’ve stayed stuck like that. 

He wasn’t lying when he said he was terrified of him when they first met which only seemed to be justified when he shot that ice blast at him. His only real experiences with magic other than the creatures of folklore that hid in Berk’s mountains were Pitch and (probably, the jury was still out on this one) Viggo. The only reasonable conclusion to draw was that those who wielded magic always had ill intentions.

But the Winter Sprite, as annoying as he was, made him question his previous perception. Not even just his attitude (which grated Hiccup’s already frayed nerves), but everything about him too. His magic, his strange half alive form, even his heart which by all accounts should’ve been as cold as the magic he welded. He could’ve let them freeze in that forest but instead he took them to shelter, he could’ve hurt him and Stormfly when they were off guard, but he chose to make peace instead. 

Despite the positives, Hiccup couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the Winter Sprite. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it. And no, it wasn’t the fact he was probably a ghost.

Hiccup propped himself up on his elbow to better survey his surroundings to protect his friends and found the Winter Sprite awake as usual. Had he not literally passed out a couple nights before Hiccup would’ve been convinced that he didn’t sleep. 

The moon’s dim light spilled in through the small windows, basking the boy in its silver light. It might’ve been his imagination (Which he seriously doubted at this point) but the boy's snow white hair seemed to almost sparkle like diamonds as the light danced in and out of the window. It was fascinating, he was nothing like the stories he heard of ghosts that caused misery to those they hung around. That seemed to be a common theme with him though. 

The Sprite didn’t notice him at first. He was content to exist in his own world for a time, mindlessly drawing with frost on the dark wall. Hiccup strained his eyes to the image and that caught the Sprite’s attention. His sapphire eyes locked onto him with an unreadable expression. Hiccup felt exposed in a weird way, like a less intense version of the anxiety of an enemy spotting you during a battle. He fought the urge to squirm under his gaze as the Sprite continued to inspect him. He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped midway, leaving the two to just awkwardly stare at each other for a painfully long time. 

Finally Astrid was the one to break the unnecessary eye contact by flinching in her sleep. Hiccup held his breath as he waited to see if she’d wake up. He glanced at the Sprite, both coming to their second mutual understanding. Astrid should not wake up just yet. She’d force Hiccup to go back to sleep where he'd be put through another terrifying nightmare. And the Sprite… Well, she nearly strangled him with something Merida translated as a ‘hose’ so he was sure he didn’t want to see if she’d do it again. 

Eventually she resettled back into sleep and Hiccup released the breath he was holding. Soft snickering came from where the Sprite came from the corner, drawing back Hiccup’s attention. With an impish smile that Hiccup was certain would be the end of him, he beckoned him over to the wall.

Hiccup weighed his options. Either he could continue to sit there paralyzed with fear or potentially get frozen by someone who couldn’t understand him. Push come to shove maybe there wouldn’t be any more attempts of communication and they could just sit in silence. 

He shuffled over and inelegantly sat beside the wall. The Sprite shifted awkwardly, clearly not thinking he’d actually come over. Several moments clicked by and Hiccup thoroughly began regretting his decision. The Winter Sprite seemed to recover better, almost immediately going back to drawing with his powers. His skin seemed to lose some of its sparkle at his prolonged use of his powers. Hiccup’s mind involuntarily jumped back to his appearance in the forest, sending a wary chill down his spine. 

Try as he might, the Sprite couldn’t ignore his presence. He turned back with a hesitant expression and a weird hand movement. As weird as it was, Hiccup knew exactly what he was trying to ask him.

‘What do you need?’

To go home. Hiccup thought bitterly but kept his mouth firmly shut. Instead, he gestured for a sketch pad. Anything to draw with would’ve been nice to try to get his mind off things. The Winter Sprite turned behind him and snatched a notebook full of paper from the Golden Haired girl’s side. It probably belonged to her but the pages were blank. 

He turned to pat his pocket for a loose piece of charcoal and found one resting in the hem of his pants. Thank the gods for that invincible charcoal. The pen barely hit the page before the Sprite began to chuckle again. Hiccup quirked an eyebrow and The Sprite shrugged with barely contained laughter. 

Hiccup really didn’t know what was so funny about the fact he had a pen in his pocket and doubted he ever would. But the Sprite kept going; his whole body vibrated with his soft laughter, eyes crinkling at the corners, and the blue of his eyes were brighter than a dragon’s flame. Despite only knowing him for a short time, Hiccup knew this state was his natural one. Laughing at nothing while he glowed in the pale moonlight. 

He half knew what he was doing when he put his pen to paper but soon the almost perfectly recreated face of the Winter Sprite. Almost meaning he could quite capture the pure– magic the Sprite gave off. He couldn’t quite describe it. 

The Sprite caught a glimpse of his drawing and his laughter died with it. Heat rushed to Hiccup’s cheeks as he realized. The Sprite awkwardly wiggled his eyebrows and Hiccup felt himself roll his eyes. He quickly covered up his mistake by drawing other things to create a silent question.

‘What’s so funny?’  

The Sprite pondered this for a moment, before stealing the pen. In a few moments a cruder drawn version of Hiccup appeared on the page. Hiccup scoffed and narrowed his eyes in an unserious manner. The Sprite smirked with self satisfaction at his little jab and began to doodle something else. Hiccup was half tempted to steal the pen away and tell him to get back to his own wall art but decided against it. 

‘Why are you still awake?’ The Sprite’s drawing asked with a picture of him sitting up beside his sleeping friends. 

Hiccup stared down at the drawing, in shock of how clear the message was despite how choppy the drawing was. The Sprite offered him the pen back and Hiccup got to work trying to draw his answer as clearly as he could. 

‘Nightmares.’

The Sprite’s face dropped for a moment before resuming his usual carefree attitude. Hiccup began to wonder how much of that was a facade. The thought vanished when a loud crash came from the other end of the room. Or it seemed that way at least but nobody even stirred in their sleep. Hiccup instinctually put his arm out in front of The Sprite as he braced for those orange eyes to come poking through the darkness to come and grab him. His stomach curled into a ball, his nerves were on fire and alert, and he was ready to jump out of his seat at the moment of danger. 

But nothing came. 

The Sprite cautiously pulled Hiccup’s arm down with his staff. The phantom embarrassed itch returned with a vengeance and demanded his attention. Hiccup turned his eyes away and wished he could just disappear into the dark. However, The Sprite had other plans, those of which included stealing his pen once again and getting to work on his next question.

‘Why are you afraid of the dark?’  

Hiccup tried to find it in him to be offended, but the Sprite’s sympathetic face put him at ease. His hands shook as he came in possession of the pen. He couldn’t bring himself to draw more than the prison cell him and Merida were in before he dropped it. 

The sharp, biting feeling of snow riding on a chilly breeze brushed against his hand, pulling his eyes off the paper. He gulped down the remainder of his fear as his eyes met the Sprite’s. He shook his head with a ghost of a gentle smile dancing between the shadows. He raised the palm of his hand to rest in the air between them. With an uneasy breath, the Sprite created a mini version of Toothless. Hiccup felt his breath caught in his throat as it soared in the air around him, landing on his forehead and erupted in a flurry of snowflakes. 

Hiccup’s chest became a little lighter as for once he forgot the heavy load he always carried on his shoulders. He hadn’t felt this light since he was only a boy. The Sprite went scribbling away at the paper as Hiccup allowed himself to relish the feeling and briefly forget about his worries. When he was done, the Sprite proudly showed him what had happened.

‘I place a protection on you, the dark can’t hurt you anymore.’ Hiccup must’ve given him a skeptical face because he quickly drew a line between the drawing and the one Hiccup made at the beginning. ‘Not while I’m around,’

Wait, I can understand him. Hiccup’s brain finally caught up with the conversation as he snatched away the pen.

‘Can you understand me?’

‘Verbally, no. Nonverbally, eh, pretty sure as long as you're saying what I think you are.’  

‘Where are we?’

‘Loaded question,’

‘Time period?’ That question took a little while to get answered since their definitions of a ‘clock’ was clearly not the same.

‘The 21st century’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means you got screwed over. I’m sorry.’

‘How old are you?’

‘You just love loaded questions, don’t you?’

‘What does that even mean?’

‘I’ll just give you biological-’ The Sprite drew a chart of the four seasons with a couple unfamiliar symbols. He started firmly in the leaf section and followed the seasonal pattern until he made 18 loops. 

‘Why was that a loaded question? You’re basically my age!’ The Winter Sprite patted his head in mock understanding. Gods, he infuriated him so. Hiccup tried swatting his hand away but it phased through, ‘Right, what’s that about?’

The Sprite looked away guilt brimming in his eyes, ‘I don’t know,’

Hiccup’s annoyance quickly melted like the frost on the door. ‘Loaded question, right?’

‘Yeah, exactly.’

‘What title can I call you then?’ Or in a more modern sense, ‘What’s your name?’ 

The Sprite looked confused before writing it in his language. The charcoal letters stared at him with their cautious gazes, he’d never seen a language like it before. He traced the first letter to try to commit it to memory. 

‘How do you say this?’ He made sure to emphasize the fact they needed to be quiet. 

The Sprite leaned in close until Hiccup could feel his chilly breath on his cheek that sent a chill down his spine. “Jack.”

Hiccup made an effort to try to say the strange name but he ended up over pronouncing or mispronouncing some of the vowels in it, but at least it made the Sprite, no Jack , laugh. It was like they were swapping secrets during a camping trip like he saw the other kids do back at Berk. They doodled on the page, perfecting their newly created language until the sun came up and woke the world. 

Slowly the dark seemed less unnerving and more like the place he could finally breathe again.

Chapter Text

“Ok! So that didn’t go according to plan, but we can work with this!” Varian exclaimed as he fled the explosion in the Workshop’s new alchemy lab. He clumsily dodged the elves who were carrying overflowing buckets of water towards the chemical fire. Obviously this wouldn’t put the fire out so he needed to get to the dry powder before they spread it.

The next few moments turned into a blur as he quickly went about extinguishing the flames. “‘Cuse me, pardon me! Coming through!” Sweat blurred his vision to the point he didn’t see anything other than his goal. He didn’t stop moving until the light was finally gone and the silence rang out in its place. 

A fluttering sound of hummingbird wings broke it almost immediately. He wiped the sweat from his brow and the Guardians came into his restored view. Ruddiger, his pet raccoon, poked his head out of his goggles as the last little bit of sparks sputtered out. 

“Oh, hey guys.” He gave an awkward wave, “Did you find Rapunzel? Jack maybe?”

“Crikey mate, what did you do?” Bunny asked, ignoring his question. 

“Well, I was studying the nightmare sand like you said and it accidentally triggered a reaction-”

“That caused a fire?” Toothiana asked.

“Oh no, it bubbled up near the bunsen burner. That caused the explosion. Well… That and the elves throwing water on it. Can you like- tell them not to do that? Maybe?” 

“Maybe we should rethink letting him work down here, Nick.” Bunny commented. Varian tried not to squirm under his disappointed gaze. It was uncomfortably familiar to his father and others in his village. 

Anger bubbled underneath his skin the more the two discussed things under their breath. He didn’t know what it was but by the side eyes he was getting from the Bunny guy, he didn’t imagine it was anything good. Typical. Ruddiger jumped on his shoulder and hugged his neck as if he sensed his distress. It was a comfort that kept him going when he missed home the most. And now it was one of the only things keeping him from blowing a gasket.

“We’ll see what we can do about elves,” North assured him, “As long as you promise not to cause another fire,”

“I should be able to work that out. No problemo! ” He shot them with a couple of finger guns that he immediately put away after realizing how embarrassing he must’ve looked with a couple awkward chuckles. “So, uh, d-did you find Rapunzel?”

The Guardians looked between each other, none really sure what to say. 

“It’s alright, you don’t have to say it.” Varian relented. Biting his cheek and trying to keep his composure. “I’m sure you’ll find her eventually.” 

Tooth fluttered towards him with a warm expression. “We’re working on it. Trust us. But how are you holding up? You’ve been through a lot these last couple weeks.” 

Varian shrugged but was flattered she even cared, “I’m fine. Just trying to study this nightmare sand.” He flashed a crooked smile that the faerie seemed to be enchanted by. He barely had time to process before she plunged her fingers into his mouth.

“Oh my gosh, look at all your teeth! So shiny and white. You’re really taking to toothpaste. Ooh, and you must be flossing too! No plaque in sight!”

“Tooth! Fingers out of mouth!” North commanded, he sounded like they’ve had this conversation several times. Which considering the fact she was called the ‘Tooth Fairy’ he could wholeheartedly believe.

Her feathers around her head and cheeks stood up and ruffled in embarrassment. “My bad, I- I just get excited with good dentals. Great job by the way,” She patted his shoulder and fluttered away. 

“Do you need-” He gestured at the entire lab behind him. “Anything else?”

Varian shook his head innocently, “No. I’m good, thanks!”

“Very good, very good. Keep going on this- experiment. We have faith you will succeed!” North flashed a proud smile that almost put Varian at ease.

Varian watched with bated breath as the Guardians and elves poured out of the room, finally letting go a few moments after the door slammed shut. He turned his heel and pulled out the covered box full of broken pieces found in Jack’s room. 

“Alright, where were we?” He asked himself.

Now, Varian was never someone who was just willing to ‘stay put’ and ‘have someone else do it’. Did this get his father trapped in one of his amber-like compounds? Yes. Yes it did. But at this point, Rapunzel has been gone too long for him to care. And he couldn’t just sit here and twiddle his thumbs when she could be out there all alone in this strange and foreign world.  

The smell of rubble and the shaking beneath his feet told him of another nightmare attack. It seemed ever since Jack left the nightmare attacks have leveled out. Now they were twice a week instead of three times. Varian had once tried asking the Guardians about it but they were very reluctant to answer. The only one who didn’t dodge his questions was North and even still it was impossible to get any substantial information out of him. 

It became even harder when Jack disappeared that one day. While he never dropped his jolly attitude and kind demeanor, he was significantly less bright than before. The twinkle in his eye was duller and there were times when Varian wandered through the halls when he found him sitting alone at his desk. He’d always be cradling a small figurine that Varian couldn’t make out the details of with tears in his eyes. It was like he was in mourning over someone. And by his calculations, it had to be Jack. It could’ve been Sandy, who disappeared around the same time. But nobody kept that grief hidden. And every conversation that led to Jack ended abruptly like a train falling off the tracks. It was almost like Jack took some of their spirit with him when he left to wherever he went.

Varian shook the thought out of his head as he focused on trying to recreate the thing that must’ve whisked away Rapunzel from the Workshop. Understanding what it was like the world’s hardest puzzle game. And he seemed to be getting worse the more he worked at it. Funny how that worked. He just needed something that could’ve mended it. Maybe restore the magic to?

“One step at a time, Varian. Rapunzel’s counting on you.” 

He opened the drawer to find some more chemicals to try a new compound when a loud tap flew through the air. The source? The vial of Nightmare Sand he promised the Guardians he’d study. Apparently a corrupted version of Sandy’s magic that gave sweet dreams to people from wherever. The sand moved on its own accord, trying to break free from the vial. 

Weirdly it was trying to break out from the Southside. And only the Southside.

A lightbulb flickered to life in his brain as he took the vial and pointed it the opposite way it was trying to break out from. This only upset the sand more, causing it to try harder to escape. 

“Fascinating,” Varian said, rubbing his chin in heavy concentration. The only thing north was the Globe Room. Or as North had called it, a beacon of belief and wonder. 

A hypothesis giggly tickled at the edge of his brain. And being the scientist he was, he knew his only option was to test it. He quickly gathered any supplies he might need (He’d been there for over a month and he already knew not to mess with Nightmares) and carefully mixed the chemicals he needed to create his lamp as the shaking eventually died down. He carefully threw some extra compounds into his leather satchel and threw it around his shoulder. If he was a little younger and a lot less cynical, he would’ve geeked out over the fact he looked like Flynn Rider. 

“I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?” Varian asked himself, “It doesn’t get worse than time travel,”

His heart thundered in his ears as he crept through the southside of the Workshop. North took him there briefly when Varian offered to help fix the Sleigh (Which he really loved by the way. The science behind it had to be spectacular.), but he wasn’t there for long. 

He crept alongside the walls, pulling the few belongings he brought with him close to himself. There was a light rattle in his bag but other than that it didn’t make too much noise. He made sure not to make any sudden movements as he got to a busier part of the Workshop.

“Are you sure we should be leaving that Varian kid alone, Nick?” Bunny’s booming voice called out from somewhere in front of him. He stopped in his tracks as he heard his name being uttered by the giant bunny. Or Pooka was the proper term he believed. He inched closer towards the conversation and found the quiet part of the workshop. 

“Aster, you worry too much.” North told him, his thick, tired accent punctuating every word, “He’s a sweet kid.”

“A sweet kid that kidnapped the queen of his kingdom and threatened its princess. He even helped a group of terrorists take it over!” 

Bile rose in the back of his throat at the reference to his past. He couldn’t even disagree with the arguments, it was the exact thing that kept him from returning home after he realized the group was bad news. His stomach clenched when he remembered the Corona prison cells and how starving they were. It was no secret the king ‘forgot’ to feed his captives. Either it was join a pirate gang or starve in that prison while everyone continued to call you a monster. Maybe he was one.

North let out a sigh and for a suffocating few moments he said nothing. “He deserves a chance to prove himself.” 

“Nick. He’s a nice kid, I’ll give him that, but he’s dangerous too. All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t let him have unsupervised access to the corrupted sand! You saw what it did to Jack-“

“What happened with Jack is my fault.” North said suddenly, “I won’t make same mistake with Varian.” 

Bunny froze for a moment. “Nick… it wasn’t.” He assured him quickly once he recovered. Like he was caught off guard by the sudden declaration, “The only one to blame is Pitch.”

Varian poked his head out from behind the pillar, allowing him to see North’s sullen face. “He was still hurting. I should’ve seen that,”

Bunny took a step forward, “But you didn’t. No one did! And Pitch took advantage of that,”

North shook his head and approached the fireplace in the middle of the room. Varian didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t come in and comfort him, they’d figure out about his scheme, but he couldn’t find it in himself to move. 

“Why were you so hard on him?” North’s voice sounded more vulnerable than before. 

“Wha- I- I wasn’t! I was very kind about it, actually!” Bunny said defensively.

North shook his head and refused to face the Pooka who began to pace around the room, “He made a dumb decision that I reacted to. What was I supposed to do North? Pat his head and tell it’s alright?”

“Yes!” 

“I’ve done that hundreds of times already!”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sand taunted him in the firm grip of his hand. Right, I’m not supposed to be hearing this. He sucked in a breath and crept past the opening and behind another pillar. The Pooka suddenly stopped his rant when a light clanking sound came from his bag. 

“What was that?” Bunny asked, “Who’s there? Another bloody nightmare?”

Varian clamped a hand over his mouth and held his breath to make himself small. He couldn’t be caught now. Not when he was so close to finding something. 

“Aster, you’re getting paranoid.” North told him.

The Pooka stared off into the opening, hoping whatever it was would just pop out. But relented eventually, “I think we all are,” He commented with a dry chuckle.

Varian didn’t release his breath until he was far from that room and finally out of sight. “It’s ok, that was a minor setback, we got this.” He repeated this almost twenty times as he wandered down the bright halls.

The Sand suddenly changed directions. Instead of following the hallway that would’ve led him to the sleigh, it was itching to go down the dimly lit hallway instead. It was startlingly empty and yet the hair on his back and arms stood up like someone was watching him from the other end. The walls got closer together the further it went on like the gullet of a monster. Nausea began creeping into his gut as alarm bells went off in his head. It almost reminded him of the Corona catacombs he and Rapunzel went through to steal the corpse of the sundrop. Before he realized that she was the sundrop. 

‘This is a bad idea, Varian. Turn around.’ The ghost of his father’s voice whispered in his head. But he couldn’t listen to it no matter how much he wanted to. Rapunzel was gone and she was his last link back to his home. And despite what the Guardians said, Jack had to be missing too. 

He steeled his nerves, ‘you can do this, Varian. I believe in you! ’ Rapunzel’s voice replaced his father’s. Encouraging him further. He owed it to her to find her, afterall he kinda kidnapped her mom. And joined some terrorists. And tried to destroy the city…. 

Yeah. Saying he owed her was a bit of an understatement. 

“It’s alright Rapunzel. I’ll make you proud. I promise.” He stepped over the threshold and nearly slipped on the new floor material. Instead of the well loved silver birch wood floors, slippery ice dragged him closer to the darkness at the end of the tunnel. Where peppermint and hot chocolate hung in the air was now the earthy smell of ice.

His stomach shot up to his throat as the hallway took a downward turn and gravity took hold of his free falling body. The only light being his makeshift lamp as the darkness consumed him whole. He clung onto the vial until the blood fled from his knuckles on it as it desperately tried to escape his clutch. 

He felt like he was freefalling forever, icy adrenaline flowing through his veins as he mentally prepared for the landing. He hit the pile of snow with a thud, barely cushioning his body from the hard ice. He suppressed a groan as he got to his feet. 

Black and blue bloomed on the skin around his knees but he knew that it was only going to get worse when the adrenaline inevitably ran out. He brushed the snow off that strangely didn’t feel too cold. Yeah, it was chilly but it wasn’t the normal icy knives that dug into uncovered skin. 

Carefully putting his lamp on the ground and grabbed a handful of snow. His chemical gloves were too thick to properly test it on himself, so he shoved it in his own face. He was a scientist after all. 

Strangely, it was still not cold. It was just there. Like a stage prop. “Ugh. Magic’s weird,” 

Magic at this point was just his go to bullshit answer. Glowing hair? Magic. Glowing rocks? Magic. His father’s tattoo? Magic. Giant portal in the middle of his house? Magic. Scary white-haired guy who can fly and shoot ice out of his staff? Magic. Not-super-cold snow? Definitely magic.

 He wiped off his eyes and picked up his lamp, trying to slice through the impenetrable darkness. He resorted to the right-hand rule, clinging to the wall in case there was a hole or trap he couldn’t see. He was so absorbed in staying safe that he missed the markings that were etched into the crystal walls. 

The Nightmare Sand grew impatient, tapping more aggressively than before. Whatever the nightmares wanted was waiting ahead of him. He only hoped it wouldn’t kill him before he could help his friends. 

Snow crunched beneath his feet as he took one step at a time. Caution overwhelmed his normal excitement for discovery. However it seemed to pay off when the tunnel opened into a large wide open chamber with the ruins of a golden ship in the center. Inside of it was machinery that he could only dream off!

Varian crept towards it, cautious not to disrupt it in case the rest of this fallen nightmare was around the corner, waiting to strike and steal whatever this was. Just as he took another step, he stepped on something gold in the snow. He kneeled down beside it, dusting it off to better see. It almost looked like a pocket watch. Etched into the gold was the words, ‘ for Nightlight’ . 

“Who’s Nightlight?” He wondered aloud.

The bag at his hip began to shake. Too carefully he opened it and found the pieces glowing with moonlight and Ruddiger too who decided to follow him. He just barely had time to process as the air suddenly still. Snowfall began to circle the 14 year old scientist. He searched for a cause, maybe thinking it was just Jack or someone like that. But there was none. 

The snow fell until it was too thick to see. Finally letting up all at once. He blinked as the smell of rot and decay filled his nose. He wasn’t in the cavern anymore. He was standing in the middle of a paved road with large machines that looked like nothing he’d ever seen before (which apparently was a common thing nowadays) and a graveyard right next door.

A bell rang beside him and he found himself side stepping a girl who looked around his age. She had auburn hair and a fierce look in her gray eyes. 

“You nearly ran me over!” He squawked. 

“It’s not my fault you got in my way! What are you even doing in a snowstorm anyway?” She hissed, getting off her bike. “Being in the middle of a snow squall isn’t exactly my idea of a good time!” 

Anger pierced through his heart and his eye twitched, “Well you should try it! It’s actually really cool!” 

The girl looked taken aback, “I’m good thank you.” She was quite unsure about how to respond to that. 

Varian shifted back and forth on his feet, “Sorry. I’m not good at talking to people,”

“I can see that,” She pulled her yellow coat closer to herself, trying to block out the wind chill. 

Speaking of wind chill, another gust decided to strike him at that very moment. Varian regretted not bringing a jacket as the bitter cold stabbed at any exposed skin. Sneaking through his lab clothing and biting at his skin. It settled into his bones, turning them to lead. His body shook violently, trying to produce enough heat to survive. 

“What are you doing out here without a jacket?” She asked, her voice full of concern.

Varian shrugged, “I got a little lost. I miscalculated the weather and well… here we are.” 

The girl pinched her brows, “Do you live around here?”

“Uhhhh, well… eh, ah? No. I-I mean I don’t think so,” He struggled to find the right words often. This just happened to be the worst time to have it happen.

She didn’t look too confused, strangely enough. She looked even less confused when Ruddigar poked his head out of his bag to say hi.

“Uh, Ruddiger, what are you doing here?! You were supposed to stay in the lab!” The girl giggled when Ruddiger squealed in protest. “I’m sorry he’s not- no, actually yeah, he is a- a bit of a pest.”

“My goose is the same way.”

“You have a goose?”

“Hey, you have a raccoon!” 

“Oh, no please don’t get offended- I meant it’s cool! What’s its name?” 

“Kailash,”

“Awesome!” He hugged himself tighter as another frigid wind chill whipped through the air. Carrying the smell of more rotten meat and decay. “Oh god that’s cold.” 

“I can get you a coat if you want,” She said quickly. Varian would’ve been suspicious if he wasn’t completely frozen. 

“Sure, yeah, that- sounds really nice.” He heaved a heavy sigh of relief, “I’m Varian by the way,”

“Katherine. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Katherine led him away while she walked beside her bike. She looked over her shoulder several times on the way back. Maybe looking for those strange machines. Varian tried to ignore it but the lingering feeling of eyes crawling down the back of his spine didn’t go away until they were well beyond the Burgess Graveyard.

Chapter Text

Halloween was one of Jack’s least favorite holidays to endure, which is weird because kids had the most fun when they were high off sugar. He had two reasons for this. One, kids came down wayyyy quicker than they got high off that sugar and there was rarely anyone to mess with after that. Two, he hated the (Unofficial) Halloween spirit who always stuck around long after it was necessary. 

The Headless Horseman was a strange spirit. He banished any traces of his old existence in the shadows he lurked in. Hiding in cemeteries and burial grounds waiting for those who would’ve been foolish enough to enter. You could tell he was coming from the distinct and overwhelming smell of earthy rotting meat and mildew, sometimes by the clip-clop of hooves against the pavement and the rattling noise of a candle inside a pumpkin. Scaring anyone who might accidentally cross his path. Even if they didn’t see him, he always found a way.

Fear was an ally to the horseman’s schemes, though he never officially aligned with Pitch’s side. He never officially aligned with anyone actually. Not Mother Nature, the spirit in charge of the seasonal changes, not the Guardians, not even the stray spirits who never aligned themselves with anyone. No, he chose to be alone. 

That was the part that Jack couldn’t wrap his mind around. After 300 years of exile and isolation, he didn’t understand how anyone could forgo a community that might’ve been offered to them. How anyone could willingly isolate themselves from the rest of the world. Sure, people had different ways of living; he was getting more used to that fact with the Vikings and Rapunzel hanging around. But living in solitude? By choice? No way. 

It was probably the drastic viewpoints that made the two at odds in the first place. That and the fact that Jack (And by extension winter) had a knack for coming early in places like the north. Halloween was often covered in snow in places like New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, you know- The Northeast. Apparently that’s exactly where the Horseman was from (Jack’s theory was that he was Paul Revere having an afterlife crisis after he became known for only ‘The British are Coming’ and not the other things he did in the war).   

Even though Halloween had long passed at this point, Jack couldn’t stop smelling the whiffs of mildew and decompose on the wind. He tried to brush it off as imagination, but he could never rid himself of the dread making a home in his stomach. Especially when he was getting so close to finally understanding the vikings! 

It’d only been a few days after he and Dragon Boy finally found a way to communicate despite the language barrier and things had already begun to look up with the gang. For one, Dragon Boy was much more comfortable around him now that he knew that Jack wasn’t some sort of soul sucking demon. He had a sort of godly patience when it came to trying to iron out the shaky details of communicating (Which by any means wasn’t perfect), which made it easier for the others to get the hang of it. And two, the vikings no longer feared him as much as they did before. They no longer bristled at his presence or gave him long, weary looks when they thought he wasn’t looking. If he was being honest, it almost seemed like they kind of enjoyed him being around. 

Jack shook the notion out of his head, nearly tearing him out of the empty middle space he found himself zoning out in after long periods of time. He knew it was probably just his desire to connect with them that fooled his mind into misinterpreting things. Because they couldn’t call each other friends. He didn’t even know their names. Dragon Boy, Scary Blonde, and the Devil Herself were not their names (Well, if he was being honest, he probably knew the Devil’s name. Rapunzel called her Merida enough times in English for him to pick it up. But his private nickname was a lot more fitting in his head). And other than Dragon Boy, nobody knew his either. Maybe Rapunzel was his friend, they knew each other’s names, though that wouldn’t change the fact she wasn’t happy and given the option she’d choose to be home with her family. He couldn’t blame her for that, if he was in the same situation he’d choose going home to the Guardians any day. 

Speaking of the Guardians… “ Shit ,” he muttered under his breath. Rapunzel had been out of the workshop for a week and there was no way nobody had not noticed. Especially not Varian, poor guy must’ve been terrified when she went missing.

He blinked and he could make out a hand waving in front of his face. The world around him materialized slowly and he was returned to his body. Dragon Boy pulled away his hand, saying something in Norse to the Blonde. His eyes snapped back but they didn’t land on him, only past him. He only had a second to wonder before his eyedrum was broken by the loud, obnoxious and garbled voice of the Devil Herself.

“Ah! What the hell?” He glared up at the girl with her smug grin, already drafting his war declaration on the communal sketch book they all used.

“Merida,” Rapunzel said, not looking up from the cards she had in her hand.

 The Devil Herself walked away and rejoined the intense game of uno they were playing. ‘A bonding exercise’ Rapunzel called it. But he suspected it was actually because she loved the thrill of giving a draw 4 to the person sitting next to her. In this case, it was Jamie. 

“Draw 4,” She said with overt cheerfulness.

“Oh come on!” Jamie exclaimed, “That's the third time this game!” 

Rapunzel giggled maniacally as Jamie pulled four cards from the deck. “Hey, we still have unfinished business,” Jack called, pulling up his blotchy, half done war declaration on the sketchbook. 

The Devil shot daggers at him, snatching the notebook while the others continued on with the game. Jack situated himself in between Rapunzel and Dragon Boy and watched as the game exploded into a full blown war. Dragon Boy kept hitting the Scary Blonde with draw fours which visibly aggravated her every time, Jamie kept reversing the order and Rapunzel always reversed the reverse. The only thing Jack was certain of was that no one was going to win the game unscathed. 

It was hilarious to watch the chaos unfold, so much so that Jack completely forgot about his little war with the Devil. Which proved to be a mistake when she took him by surprise and threw water at him. 

“Refreshing,” Jack deadpanned as he blinked out the water. Don’t feel sorry for him, he was the one who started the pranks in the first place. He was shocked when he found out girls don’t like being woken up by snowballs in the middle of the night! He knew he should stop but it was just so easy to rile her up!

Unmistakable grunts of disgust came bellowing from Dragon Boy as he flicked off the rest of the water on his sleeve. Jack’s heart deflated at the sight of his drenched tunic. There probably wasn’t anything in his size for him to wear; his torso was longer than Joyce’s so they couldn’t steal her clothes. And as much as he knew she would try, Rapunzel couldn’t whip up a new outfit out of old tarp and jump rope.

“Shit,” Jack quickly clamped his mouth shut as Jamie’s watchful eyes fell onto him. 

“What was that Jack?” 

You see, after the dickhead incident back in the woods, Jack had been doing his best to keep his mouth reasonably clean. Jamie didn’t think he could and so the bets started. Rapunzel tried to act like she was above the pettiness but she secretly added some of her coins to ‘Jamie will catch Jack swearing pile’. The Devil herself even added something to the pile as well! No, when Jack goes zoning out it doesn’t count, or else Jamie would’ve won tenfold.   

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Jack shook his head, redirecting his attention to the matter at hand. “Jamie, is there possibly something else they could change into?” 

Jamie pondered this for a moment. “No. I don’t think so. The dude’s a giant,” Gesturing at Dragon Boy as he placed his last card on the deck. Another draw four to the Scary Blonde.

The Scary Blonde threw down the cards and shouted something in Norse. For a second, Jack thought she was going to lunge at him and he readied himself to stop her. (Jeez, he didn’t know Uno could get violent.) But instead she got up and began to circle the tiny garage, wildly gesturing to the walls and windows. Dragon Boy’s eyes quickly lost the mischievous spark that the win ignited with him. The Scary Blonde kept away from the sketchbook as she continued on with the rant that he wasn’t supposed to hear. Though the message was crystal clear to Jack. It was something that he was dreading but knew would happen eventually.

Cabin fever was finally setting in. 

Jack released a groan that had been building in him since the start. Of course they didn’t want to stay in one place for too long, Vikings were warriors and probably not used to hiding out for long periods of time. And while the three of them were young they were clearly warriors. You could tell by the scars that peaked out from under their worn clothes and the Blonde’s muscles that were the size of Jamie’s head. 

“What’s wrong, Jack?” Rapunzel asked. 

“How do you obtain money?” He asked no one in particular. 

Rapunzel scrunched her eyebrows, “That’s an odd question. Aren’t you 18?”

“I’ve been 18 for 300 years, Raps. Things weren’t exactly the same as they were back when I…” He found himself trailing off before he could choke on his words. Before the memory of his sister could come running back to haunt him. “Back when I wasn’t a spirit.”

Rapunzel studied him quietly before giving a sweet smile, “I’m sure it’s been interesting to see the world change,”

Jack gave a dry chuckle, “Yeah. But I haven’t been able to stay in one place for too long. So things like money, oof , that- that didn’t really make sense to me. Too many currencies, so little time,”

“Well, why do you need money right now?”

“Shopping trip?” Jamie asked excitedly. 

“Yeah, they need it. You guys have been in the same clothes since you guys came here.”

Rapunzel looked down at her well loved lavender dress with the black corset, “Technically, I’ve been in the same dress for about- 3 months. Give or take.” 

Now, Jack didn’t have much ground to stand on since he’d been wearing the same frost covered blue hoodie for 30 years. But the disgust couldn’t help but appear on his face. Which earned him a swat from The Red Headed Devil for offending her friend. Of course it went through him, but the message was still clear.

Rapunzel said something in gaelic which got the girl to back off. “Back to what you were saying- I couldn’t help it. I was on an adventure to find the moonstone with my friends. And we lost our luggage around the abandoned island. We washed it every other day though.”

Jack blinked. Moonstone? Does Manny know about it? Is that the thing that gives the Guardians they’re powers? He knew he was staring when Rapunzel gave him a funny look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s- well I’ve never heard of a ‘moonstone’ before.”

“Never did I, until the rocks appeared. Treacherous little thing it is,” Her eyes welled up with a familiar pain, similar to the one he’d been well acquainted with at the Workshop.

 He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Jamie. “I’m staging a jailbreak.”

“How are you going to get them new clothes though?” 

“The same way I got this hoodie. Stealing.”

Jamie stifled a laugh and tried very hard not to let his face show his amusement. He failed spectacularly, “But stealing is wrong,” 

“ Oh Jamie, ever the moral compass. The most fun things are.”

“But what if my mom finds out?”

“How…” He began before it finally dawned on him, “Jamie, no you’re not coming with us.”

“But-”

“No buts. You need to stay here on look out. I’m not risking you getting caught, or getting on North’s naughty list.” 

“Yeah, he’ll send Krampus after you.” Rapunzel added.

“Who?” Jamie asked.

“Some regions that celebrate a version of Christmas include Krampus, which in the most basic terms is like an evil Santa Claus.” Jack explained.

“Oh,”

“Who steals children in the middle of the night,”

“OH!” Jamie nearly jumped at the sudden switch. “Ok, I guess. Uh, is he like- a guardian?”

“There’s only 5 guardians.” Jack told him, “Me, North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy. We protect childhood. Other spirits can correlate to seasons and holidays but they aren’t tied to belief in the same way,” 

“Then what makes a Guardian, a Guardian?” Rapunzel asked.

Jack shrugged, “You’re asking the wrong white-haired blue-eyed winter guy. Maybe try the one with the tattoos and the sleigh that everyone loves,” He added North’s signature Russian accent at the end there (Which he thought was incredibly spot on). The memory of climbing into the sleigh that first time wormed its way to the front of his mind. He could immediately see why he was the Guardian of Wonder as they took off across the sky at light speed. 

Dragon Boy rejoined the conversation once Scary Blonde was done with her rant. ‘I’m sorry, what’s the plan? ’ He asked through his drawings, holding up the notebook. 

‘We’re getting new clothes,’ This message took a few tries to get through but eventually Dragon Boy got it. 

‘ It’s going to be fun! We’ll get to try on stuff and blend in with the times!’ Rapunzel drew with a bright smile on her face. Jack was thrilled she was so excited, especially after that last bump in the road.

The Devil Herself kneeled between them and scribbled a question herself, ‘How exactly are you expecting us to get them?’

‘ Just follow me.’  

‘My mum told me never follow fae,’

‘Well I’m not fae, am I?’

‘How can we even be sure?’

‘Guess you’ll just have to trust me,’

‘Give me a good reason why I should. Ever since we got here you’ve shot ice at my friend here, chased us through the woods looking like a banshee, dragged us to a place we don’t know, and have told us we aren’t allowed to leave. Now, at this totally random time you’re telling us to follow you into a place we aren’t familiar with. I don’t know how you tricked my friends with your fae magic but it won’t work on me.’

‘ I didn’t trick Rapunzel or Dragon Boy with any fae magic.’

The Devil waved his claim away, ‘You had to. Sure, Rapunzel found us by your side but not him. First he was trying to banish you back to the Otherworld, now he’s trying to have us give you a chance and do these dumb trust exercises. I bet your trying to steal them back to the fae realm,’

‘For the last time, I AM NOT A FAE! ’ 

Rapunzel said something to The Devil in Gaelic and she looked visibly exhausted. Wearing an expression that said not you too. Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the redhead finally relented. Finally, we can move on from this bullshit already. 

“Tell her to be ready at midnight,” Jack informed Rapunzel. “And Jamie, make sure your mother’s distracted enough to not hear the door open tonight.” 

Jamie gave a two fingered salute, “On it,” 

Jack snatched back the sketch book and scooted towards Dragon Boy. ‘You should probably get some sleep. We’ll be heading out at midnight.’

Dragon Boy’s eyes narrowed as he retrieved the pen, ‘So is that to give you enough time to come with a plan or..?’

‘Hey! I have one!’

Dragon Boy cocked an eyebrow with an unconvinced expression which nearly drew a laugh out of him. Jack couldn’t understand why but god he was funny. His little sarcastic glances and sassy looks were a sight to behold, especially when it was at one of the two girls. It almost gave him a little insight to the things they were saying. It was especially funny in the middle of the night (Because everything is funnier in the middle of the night) when he couldn’t laugh too hard or else he’d wake everyone up. He bit down his laugh and continued drawing.

‘I do, trust me. Nobody needs to worry about anything!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,”

“Oh and you will!” 

“Sure, sure.”

Jack sighed in playful defeat, “I won’t convince you, will I?”

“Probably not in this world, no.” Jack didn’t realize he made a face until Dragon Boy let out a laugh. 

Jack paused for a moment, he’d never seen him laugh before. His shoulders that were usually tight were suddenly at ease, the crows feet that rested in the corners of his eyes deepened, his green eyes were as bright as a warm spring day in the forest, and the sound of his laughter almost reminded him of the dragon cry the blue dragon gave when he first began to trust him. Jack didn’t know why, but something in his heart wanted to hear him laugh more often. It was a weird and warm feeling that he didn’t mind at all. Maybe it was just because it was nice to see him so at ease. 

The Blonde came back and sat down on an old industrial tool box with her axe. Yes, it was despite everyone’s better judgement that they allowed her to have it. But it was the ultimate show of trust between the group. So they really didn’t have a choice. She went about sharpening it, grumbling something in Old Norse. 

'What was Scary Blonde talking about?’ Jack asked, killing whatever cheerful mood there might’ve been.

Dragon Boy looked away sheepishly, ‘Nothing much. We just miss home.’

A heavy weight settled in Jack’s chest as he inspected the drawing. A small island in the middle of an unforgiving sea, they must’ve had a tight knit community there huh? Guilt began creeping in where his heart’s defense were down. How dare he wish they enjoyed his company when they were thousands of years away from their home? They were scared and afraid and they had a life to get back to at home. A life he didn’t fit into.

‘We’ll find a way to get you guys back. I promise.’ 

Jack wasn’t thinking ahead as usual. If he was, he never would’ve made a promise he couldn’t keep. But Dragon Boy gave him a grateful smile and for just a moment, he allowed himself to believe that they were really friends.

                                                            …

Night fell faster than any of the teens thought it would, apparently it was because of something called ‘Daylight Savings’ that had gone into place the night before. Rapunzel thought it was odd that the people of this ‘America’ would limit the hours of beautiful sunlight they had but she wasn’t one to judge. At least she got a couple more glorious winks of sleep before Jack was bonking her on the head with his staff to wake her up.

She grumbled despite knowing there was no other way he could possibly wake her up. Still, she did not appreciate the rude awakening. “Hey Raps,” 

“Hey Raps!” Cassandra’s voice called.

Rapunzel blinked and saw her former handmaiden and best friend standing in front of her. A smile etched across her face as if she didn’t betray her last time they saw each other. As if she didn’t resent her for reasons Rapunzel didn’t fully understand. For a moment she was back in her room in Corona like nothing happened. The same painted walls full of her own artwork. The same mile high bookshelves full of stories she never got to read in the tower. Pascal squeaked a snore on the nightstand beside her. The distant but distinct voices of Eugene and Lance drifted in and out of the room.

‘It’s time to wake up now. We got work to do,’ Cassandra told her. Rapunzel rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes and the phantom of the past disappeared. 

Jack titled his head with an weary look that didn’t fit his young features. Looks like that were painful reminders he wasn’t a normal kid with white hair. He was a 300 year old spirit who only looked like her age. The edges of her vision blurred as her eyes began to sting. A breath released itself as she averted her gaze, hoping to gain some composure. 

“Hey,” She tried with false cheeriness. 

“You ok?” He asked knowingly.

“Not at the moment. But I will be.” She forced a smile that couldn’t reach her eyes no matter how hard it tried.

“Flashback?” He asked knowingly. She found herself nodding despite how much she didn’t want to admit it, “Yeah, I know how hard those can be. They’ve been happening to me recently too,”

“Any way to make them stop?”

Jack shrugged in an attempt of carelessness, “Nope. You just wait them out until they can’t bother you anymore.”

“Has that ever happened for you?”

“No,” He laughed but it sounded as forced as her smile. “But I’ll let you know if it does,”

“Thanks Jack,”

“Now, can you wake everyone up for me? I’m pretty sure if I wake the Redhead with a snowball again she will kill me so….” 

“She has a name you know,”

Jack gave another one of those cheeky grins he liked to use, “Of course. But she already thinks I’m a fae, if I have her name she will freak out and wake Mrs. Bennett.”

“What’s wrong with knowing and calling her by her name?” Rapunzel asked as she began getting up.

“It’s not just your name, it’s your identity.” Jack explained, “Like the thing that ties you to your soul, y’know? Fae take that and hold it over your head to control you,”

Her mind forcibly brought her back to Eugene. Flynn Rider was the name he went by for years before he changed it back, “But what if you change your name?”

“Depends I think,”

“What do you mean?”

“Like- say you were named Susan at birth. But you really feel that your name is John. John is your true name. But if your name was Susan and you wanted to be called, ‘Sexy Mama’ or something like that, that’s not going to count.”

“Why do I feel like that’s a very specific thing you're referencing?”

“Cuz it is, back in the 90’s there was a lady who insisted everyone call her that.” Jack rolled his eyes, “It was like watching a train crash, I just couldn’t look away,”

“Oh. Could she see you?” 

A shadow fell over his face, “No. No one could– not ‘til Jamie anyway,” 

The remaining pieces of her heart shattered on the floor. Nobody deserved to be alone for 18 years, let alone 300. She wanted to give him a hug but quickly thought better of it. Why hurt him more than he already was?

The fleeting shadow was chased away as Rapunzel set to work on waking the others. She started with Merida which quickly proved to be a mistake when she refused to get up immediately.

“Mum, 5 more minutes. The sun isn’t even out,” she groaned in Gaelic.

Rapunzel’s heart ached for her friend, not fully sure how to wake her without crushing her spirits, “Merida, please wake up.” 

Finally she opened her eyes with a look of confusion that melted into begrudging acceptance. “Hey lass,” She said in a quiet almost broken tone. 

“Hey. It’s time to get up. Jack says it’s time.” 

“Ugh,” She rolled her eyes half heartedly, “You know he might be leading us to our deaths right?” This earned her a little pat on her shoulder from Rapunzel.

“Come on, give him a chance before immediately assuming he’s trying to kill us!”

She chuckled without humor, “I am. That’s why he’s not dead.”

“I mean it.” She stated, which sucked whatever humor Merida might’ve still had.

“I know.” She admitted, “It’s not easy, lass.” 

A smile crept onto her lips as she squeezed her shoulder, “I know. It was scary when I first met him too. But if you actually get to know him, he’s very sweet.”

“A snowball to the face doesn’t prove that.” Merida began, “But I suppose I’ll give it a shot. He still can’t have my name though.”

“That’s fine, he doesn’t want it anyway.” 

The two giggling girls went to wake the male Viking. Rapunzel barely spoke to the guy but he seemed a lot nicer than the Blonde woman who’s scowl could curdle dairy. (She’d fit right in with the ruffians back at the Snuggly Duckling.) Rapunzel softly spoke his shoulder and his fist instinctively jerked in her direction. She fell backwards as Merida caught his fist. His green eyes snapped open as he shot up, ready for a fight. He screamed something in Norse, almost as if it was through sobs. Jack materialized by their side with the sketchbook at the ready. 

Merida yelled something at him in Norse as he relaxed at seeing it was just them. Jack offered him the sketchbook to explain but he shook his head. He sent Rapunzel an apologetic glance as Merida told him something, probably to wake up the Blonde. He obediently got up to where she slept in the corner, his face hidden in his wild mess of hair. 

“What did he say?” Rapunzel asked carefully.

“‘It was all my fault’. I- I don’t have a clue what he means by that.” 

Jack softly nudged Rapunzel with his staff, “What did he say?”

Rapunzel shrugged, too tired to properly switch languages. It made her head spin trying to translate not only slang but the vowels as well. 

“Well if he cursed me for the rest of my life, it’s kinda on you Punzie.” 

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and grabbed the sketchbook. ‘He said that something was his fault.’  

Jack’s eyebrows shot up as he observed the drawing, “What was?”

Rapunzel shrugged once again, ‘That’s what me and Merida were wondering.’

“Did he say anything else?” 

“No.” She eventually got out, “I doubt he wants to talk about it further.” 

An emotion Rapunzel couldn’t properly describe flashed across his face. Almost like understanding with a hint of something else buried deep beneath it. The Male Viking and the Blonde approached from behind, pulling them from their impromptu staring contest. The Blonde was doing her best impression of Eugene in the morning with crazy hair flying everywhere and a dead, bemused look in her blue eyes. She had to bite her cheek to keep herself from laughing. But all that work ended up being for nothing when she made the fatal mistake of looking at Jack who was doing the same terrible job of keeping his composure. 

Before they could stop themselves, hordes of laughter came pouring from them. They only contained themselves enough not to wake the entire house. The Blonde shot them a glare and they shut up almost immediately. The Male Viking jerked his head, telling them it was time to go. Jack nodded and jumped to his feet, offering his staff to help her up. Rapunzel thought it was funny that the viking was dictating when it was time to go when Jack was the one who came up with the mission in the first place. But she didn’t bother commenting on it. 

When they were all good and ready, Jack carefully opened the door. A winter wind blew in and nearly knocked her off her feet. Jack winced like he got struck.

“Can you like- turn off the wind?” Rapunzel asked.

“Turn off the wind?” Jack echoed, “Uh, no. I don’t control the wind, it’s just a friend of mine that gives me a lift.”

“But don’t you control winter? Can you make this stop?”

“Also a no on that, Punzie. This isn’t my doing, it’s Mother Nature’s.” With the way he said it, the woman sounded like some sort of queen. Maybe a god. Maybe she was a god-queen? Whatever she was, she was definitely more powerful than Jack. “I tried to stop the storm a while ago. That’s how I know it’s not mine,”

“Ok. I figured as much,” 

A ghost of a smile made its way onto Jack’s face, “Thanks,”

“No problem,” Rapunzel didn’t really know what he was thanking her for but she didn’t want to be rude to someone who helped her so much. 

The group set off into the winter night, a blanket of clouds blotting out the stars from view. Jack led the way through the urban jungle that was the town of Burgess. The town was enticing to the time displaced teens. At least one of them was getting distracted by the strange machines that Jack called ‘cars’ or the buildings that littered the main street’s road. Rapunzel was one of the biggest culprits of this of course. But how could anyone not be? 

Merida took the opportunity to throw a snowball at Jack when he wasn’t looking. “There! Now we’re even!” She exclaimed. Rapunzel couldn’t stop the laughter from bursting unrestrained from her chest. 

Jack wiped the snow off his face and his annoyed face was tinged with a couple spikes of permafrost. Rapunzel couldn’t believe it, he was embarrassed. It only caused her laughter to grow louder. She hadn’t laughed like that since before the dark Umbra Kingdom when she still had Eugene and Cassandra by her side. 

Jack would’ve taken his revenge had a light not turned on from one of the taller buildings in the square. “Hide,” He conjured a pocket size version of him and had it fly to the alley in between the tall buildings. Rapunzel chased after it and despite their better judgement, the viking trio followed them. The pungent smell of garbage nearly made her lightheaded as she and the vikings hid behind a large metal container with overflowing bags of trash.   

The winds were almost visible as they lifted Jack into the air. He carefully drew frost on the window to block their view. A dark silhouette appeared and for a moment Rapunzel held her breath, worried Jack would get caught. But her worries were quickly dashed when the silhouette retreated back into the comfort of its own home.

“Oh, she could see you?” 

“No. No one could– not ‘til Jamie anyway,”  

Rapunzel silently scolded herself for being so thoughtless. The others seemed to notice her distress as the Male Viking put a hand on her shoulder. She unconsciously flinched in surprise and the viking pulled his hand away. Scratching at the bottom of his neck in embarrassment but Rapunzel pulled it away, giving him a soft smile instead. The viking seemed to appreciate the gesture and gave a crooked smirk in return.  

She bit her lip when Jack landed in front of the group, the sparkle of freshly fallen snow he usually gave off was now gone and replaced with a dull sickly pale. She could almost see spikes growing from his ears to give them more of an elf-like appearance. While his eyes still had the same compassionate yet mischievous spark, they were sunken in enough where they were halfway shrouded in darkness.

“I frosted all the neighborhood windows. It should make seeing you a lot harder.”

Rapunzel didn’t miss the phrase ‘you’ instead of ‘us’. But she didn’t feel she could say anything to help him feel any better. He jerked his head to motion for them to go and nothing more was said.

                                                                …

Hiccup had to admit, he wasn’t getting any closer to feeling comfortable around magic. But the way Jack’s magic curled around the glass door to the building and shattered the mechanism inside of it was one of the coolest things he’d ever seen in his life. Almost as cool as when he and Toothless took off on their first flight together. Didn’t beat it out, but it was definitely close. 

Jack turned his heel and spread his arms out like he won a battle with a smug smile on his face. The Golden Haired girl ran past him and into the building with wide eyes as the room beyond lit up with blinding lights. Hiccup barely took a second to think before he ran after her, stumbling on the piece of metal on the threshold. Back at the Archipelago if a sudden blinding light suddenly happened, it was very likely to be dragon fire.

In a couple of bounds he reached her and pulled her behind him, looking for the source and pulling his sword out in a defensive stance. Merida came running to his side, brainishing the fire-knife (Inferno Jr. she called it) in front of her. The Golden Haired girl grabbed both of their shoulders and turned them around to face her. She told Merida something in gaelic which made the redhead throw up her hands. She started going off about something in Gaelic, waving around the knife like a crazy person.

“What’s wrong?” Hiccup asked. 

“She says this isn’t dangerous. But it has to be.”

Hiccup blinked, “What? What are you even saying?” 

“Think about it, look around! There’s all these clothes that are just laying around? How would J-ock even be able to find this place? Where’s the seamstress? Where’s the clark! And the lights! Look at the lights-!”

“Merida, there’s nothing wrong with the lights!”

Merida suddenly stopped and slowly turned to him, “Are you saying I’m mad?”

“No! No- uh, of course not!”

“Kinda sounds like yer calling me mad, lad.” Merida hissed, “This is kinda suspicious don’t you think? I mean look at those lights, where are they even coming from?”

A soft hum came emanating from the lights, almost sounding like bug’s flapping wings. Maybe Merida had a point. Maybe it was dangerous. Fae maybe? “I’m not sure…”

Merida looked like she was going to blow a gasket, turning as red as her hair. “How can you not be sure?”

“Guys, you need to come see this,” Astrid called from a couple feet away. Hiccup’s stomach turned as he saw where she was. 

She was standing in front of several people, as shiny as glass without any of their human features. They were frozen in place as a bunch of colorful garments were placed on the husk of their corpse. Astrid’s face was grim as she clutched her axe with white knuckles. Hiccup nearly lost the last meal he had.  

“See what I’m talking about!” Merida exclaimed, “The myths say that the fae freeze you in their fairy garden! Where you’ll never be able to leave!”

“But this isn’t a garden,” Hiccup stated quietly, unsure of what to believe anymore. “And don’t the myths say that you have to eat their food?”

“Maybe they were wrong! Maybe clothes are food for the fae!” 

Hiccup quirked an eyebrow, “Ok, that's stretching it.”

“I know! I know I am,” She exclaimed, “But lad, the proof is right in front of you!”

“I agree with her, Hiccup,” Astrid added, “This isn’t safe. I’ve tried giving them a chance but this is too far. There’s people who’ve died here and they’re being propped up and displayed like totems. I won’t allow us to meet the same fate,”

Hiccup couldn’t deny the proof now. But still something didn’t feel quite right. It didn’t feel quite- magical? There was no other way he could describe it. He’s seen both types of magic, both dangerous and less dangerous. It wasn’t enough to make him less weary but it was enough to make him pretty familiar with the sensation of being around it. And strangely enough, there wasn’t any of that around the corpses. 

The Golden Haired girl approached the group with a cautious look on her face. She pulled out the sketchbook with a new drawing. ‘I’m not sure what’s wrong. But please trust us.’ It read. 

Hiccup shifted from foot to foot, taking a peak at Merida and Astrid. Merida’s face had completely turned pale while Astrid looked more determined than ever not to. He sucked in a breath and took a step forward.

In his heart he knew it’d come down to this. By his logic he should’ve seen it coming. He was always the one to take the jump of faith. From ending the war with dragons to beginning Dragon’s Edge and starting a war with the Dragon Hunters, all of them were risks he took uncertain if they’d ever pay off. He carefully took the sketchbook out of the Golden Haired Girl’s hands. 

‘ Where are we? Is this fae-terrority?’

The girl shook her head, ‘ No. Apparently it’s called a “Store” and it’s where people of this time get their clothes,’

‘Then why isn’t there a seamstress present? And what about the frozen statues of people? Are they dead?’

The girl’s eyes widened and she asked Jack something in their unknown language. He violently shook his head and the girl immediately went to scribble her response.

‘No. It's a statue meant to look like people. To advertise their wares.’

‘Then why are they so scary?’

The golden haired girl looked to Jack who simply shrugged, ‘Nobody knows,’ She replied.

Great. Very helpful. Hiccup fought the urge to roll his eyes as he scribbled his last question. ‘ How do we know we can trust you? To be frank, this kind of looks suspicious,’

The Girl bit her cheek as she took in his drawing of the store with a fae inside with her and Jack with big blotchy angry eyebrows (Apparently that was a universal sign for evil-ness no matter what time period). He could see her try to fight off a smile as she traced the eyebrow drawing and was losing terribly. 

‘There’s not much I can do without showing you. And that needs trust. I understand if it’s hard for you right now. It was hard for me to trust Jack at first too. But I need you to keep an open mind and we can make it through this. Ok?’

Despite his better judgement, he gave a nod of confirmation. Which proved to be her go ahead because she grabbed his wrist and pulled him to one of the shelf type things with a bunch of stuffies sitting on them. She pointed to the one on the shelf that was conveniently in reach for Hiccup but not her. 

“Wait, did you only want me to trust you so you could get one of these?” He asked despite knowing she wouldn’t be able to understand him. The stuffy looked like a green lizard with a curled up tail and it seemed to have some sort of significance to the Girl. He knew this because she kept silently pleading with him to grab it for her. Giving him the eyes that Toothless used to get his way when he wanted more fish, (she even had the same shade of green eyes) and just like Toothless he couldn’t find it in himself to say no to them. 

So he obliged, fae curse be damned. And her face immediately lit up as she hugged it with the ferocity of two friends separated by time. Hiccup felt a pang of despair at remembering his own missing best friend. How he got taken off course and thrown somewhere like a doll. Metal coated the inside of his mouth and his eyes began to burn. He kept his eyes trained on the girl to keep himself grounded. To keep himself from breaking. 

The girl pulled herself from her own melancholy and noticed his own. He tried to brush it off but before he knew it she grabbed his arm and they were running through the store once again. He could hear Astrid and Merida racing after them, Jack somewhere from above laughing at the Girl’s excitement. 

She stopped them at a place with a bunch of racks full of more clothes. After pulling him to the side, she began rifling through them like a crazy person. Excitedly holding them up to herself and twirling in front of the nearby mirror. Hiccup only briefly caught Jack sneaking up on him before he placed something on his head. 

His heart froze for a second as he struggled to remove the thing that was obscuring his vision. The sounds of manic laughter further disorienting him. For a horrifying second he worried that Astrid and Merida were right. That this was a trap by the two, maybe fae or otherwise. But those fears were quickly dashed when he ripped it off and found it was some sort of hat with a brim on only the front and a design of a dragon he’d never seen before on it. He shot daggers at Jack who was still laughing by the way.

Merida and Astrid skidded to a stop as they arrived in the maze of clothing racks, both with horrified faces as they saw the hat in his hand. “Astrid-” Hiccup began, already knowing she was going to lose it. 

“Tell me you didn’t put that on,” She asked in a rare vulnerable tone. She only used it once when she’d pleaded with him not to trust Viggo when he tried to make that alliance with him. 

“Astrid. It’s not fae.” He said softly. “You don’t have to trust them, but trust me. Please,”

Her eyes were weary and her face reluctant but she took a couple steps into the maze by his side. “I do trust you. You better be right about this, Hiccup.”

Yeah, I hope so too. Hiccup internally replied, half curious if he was going crazy or not. Instead of clever words he gave a half smile. It was all he could muster at the moment. “Thank you,”

“Eh, someone’s gotta bust you out of trouble if it arrives.” Astrid said dismissively, swinging her axe over her shoulder as Jack began to head towards them. 

Jack stopped for a moment, clutching the sketchbook in an iron grip. Astrid gave a nod to confirm he could approach. ‘Hey, I see you’ve finally come around.’

Hiccup took the sketchbook after Astrid refused to, ‘Slowly but surely. So what exactly are we looking for here?’

‘Anything to blend in. Teens around your age wear tee shirts and jeans typically. But just pick out anything that feels the most comfortable at the moment. You’ll be wearing them for a long time I fear.’  

‘ That works. Thank you, ’ 

Thank the gods for their visual language or else they never would’ve found what they were looking for. Jack led the four deeper into the labyrinth of clothing until they finally found things that might be comfortable to wear. 

The Golden Haired Girl convinced everyone to try a couple options on. Even trying on miscellaneous accessories until they made their heads look like all different shapes and sizes and clothes of garish colors and styles. The serious mission of finding this to wear soon turned into a contest into who could make someone laugh first before anyone else (Spoiler, it was Jack and as soon as he lost it, everyone else did too). Even Merida joined in on the fun after talking to the Golden Haired Girl once again. Even though her shoulders never lost their tension, for the first time since they’ve gotten to Burgess she looked like she was free. 

Finally, after they all had sufficiently busted a seam from laughter, they finally found something that blended in with the modern world. Merida wore something called sweatpants, a plain tank top, and a teal plaid jacket. Hiccup wore black pants and an oversized shirt with some words that he couldn’t read on it (Jack gave it to him and he was immediately suspicious of what it says. But that was a bridge they could cross another day). Astrid wore a blue shirt with a puffy jacket she could fit her armor under. And the Golden Haired Girl wore a purple top with a flowy skirt. 

‘ You guys look ready to spray paint the school’s walls,’ Jack said through pictures. None of them knew what that meant but they assumed it had to be a good thing. 

Jack’s head snapped away to somewhere behind them in an instant. The good vibes the trip had given them were quickly shattered by a soft rattling in the distance. Something like rotting meat hit Hiccup’s nose and nearly sent his gag reflex off. 

Invisible eyes from an unknown vantage point suddenly locked onto him making him feel exposed without his armor. Light footsteps coming from the side caught his attention and he placed himself between the sound and the Girl and Merida. Hiccup began to draw his weapon as a short young boy with black bangs and weird googles came running into the alcove looking disheveled and out of breath.

“Varian?” The Golden Haired Girl and Jack exclaimed at the same time. 

The boy hunched over, unfortunately not giving Hiccup enough room to see what precisely was chasing him. Merida froze beside him, looking into the distance beyond the boy like she saw a ghost. He would’ve marked this off as coincidence had Jack not wore the same expression. He kept shaking his head no as he took a step back. 

Hiccup felt himself transported back to the bottom of the ship when he met Pitch for the first- (second?) time. Only this time he wasn’t the one paralyzed in fear. This must’ve been what it was like for the dragon riders back then. 

“We need to get them out of the way,” Astrid whispered to him. 

Hiccup turned to her quickly. Half surprised at her sudden turn and half pleased that she was extending her natural protectiveness to the others. Well if he was being honest it was probably more Merida but still the thought was there.

“On three.” He agreed, pulling Inferno out and praying to the gods there would be enough Monstrous Nightmare gel or Zippleback gas

“One.” She began, readying her axe.

“Two.”

“Three.”

It was only three seconds before chaos broke out.

Chapter Text

“And with the ghost not returning to purgatory immediately like he said he would in Hamlet, we cast doubt on his honesty which only continues to get further doubted when he makes sure Horatio keeps quiet about his appearance. Blah, blah, blah, Hamlet is a complex character. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Hamlet is being fooled by a ghost. Blah, blah.”  The click-clacking of keyboard keys suddenly disappeared from the room as the narrator released a heavy sigh and raised her fists in triumph despite the feeling of weights in her arm.

“Finally, my schoolwork is done! I can finally sit down and continue chapter 10 since I won’t have a chance-”

The Narrator was suddenly interrupted by a loud bang from across her room. The Narrator of course will tell you how she bravely fought the source of the noise in the real chapter 10, but I can confirm she did nothing of the sort. Instead opting for the advanced technique of diving off her bed at the sudden sound. 

“What the f-“ the Narrator exclaimed, kicking the blankets in an attempt to untangle herself from them. She blindly grabbed a squishmellow that had fallen off with her and threw it at the person standing in the other end of her room. “Take that you motherf-”

“Great hells! What on earth do you think you’re doing?” The unmistakable voice of Pitch Black asked, almost echoing through the room.

“Jude Law?” The Narrator asked, peeking her head out from behind the bed. She could almost feel her heart sink when it was only the embodiment of nightmares themselves. “Oh, it’s you.”

“And who might you be?”

“I go by many names-” The Narrator said calmly, tripping on the blankets still tangled on her feet. “Shell, Shelly, I prefer Ellie. I don’t have to share that with anyone,” She said, glaring up into her ceiling. Little did she know where she got that nickname from. 

Pitch scrunched his face in disbelief, “Ellie? This is the cruel god that’s made my life a living hell? Was it your bright idea to kill my wife? Or to make the Fearlings imitate my daughter?” He asked, anger rising in him at the memory of his rebirth as the Nightmare King. 

Ellie raised her hands in front of her defensively, “Oh goodness no. I- I’m not the writer in my friend group,” 

Pitch cocked an eyebrow, “Then who are you?”

“I’m the narrator,” Ellie shrugged, “I don’t really know how it works either.” 

This back and forth continued for far longer than either will care to admit, probably due to Pitch not asking different questions and Ellie keeping her answer the same. Ultimately realizing that neither was going to get the answers they were hoping for, they decided to switch roles.

“So how are you here? Normal people don’t exactly pop into girl’s rooms out of nowhere.” She crossed her arms with a hint of a scowl on her face.

“I don’t know.” He answered honestly, not fully knowing why. Usually his words had a bit of a twist to them, a lie between the truth that made no one sure which was which. Though, as the Fearlings would agree, if one couldn’t tell which was truth and which was lie then wouldn’t that make them both true?

“Is this because you haven’t shown up for a couple chapters? You’re still torturing Hiccup with night terrors and attacking the Workshop at least twice a week. What more do you want? To carry dream-Stoick’s severed head in front of Hiccup and try to get him to kill Jack? To make Astrid a fearling? To finally explain what Jack’s no good very bad day is? (Because I’m actually really excited to learn what that is.)”

Pitch blinked, “Huh, I never thought of doing that.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “Thanks for the inspiration,” 

She grabbed a nearby magazine off her glow-in-the-dark star covered bookshelf and hit him in the nose. “No. Bad Pitch. You’re not going to do that. You’re only going to tell me how you got here.”

“I don’t know exactly! I simply picked up an orb that said ‘take me’ and it brought me here. Why? Do you think I wanted to be in this neon monstrosity you call a room!?”

Ellie grabbed her chest dramatically and gasped, “How dare you? My teal is not neon, it’s seafoam!” 

“Who cares?” Pitch bellowed, outgrowing the room and hunching over the petite girl with black hair. He channeled the power of both his past self and the tangible fear of the people he terrorized in the past. The room around him seem to shake with terror as he grew to a more opposing size, “You’re going to tell me exactly how I’m going to get home! Or else-”

Ellie cut him off with another swat with her magazine to his terrifying face, sending him back to normal size. “Or else what?” 

“You-? You aren’t scared of me?”

“Oh no I am. But I have several more important things to be worried about. For example, school.”

“School cannot be your worst fear.”

“No, it's butterflies.”

“Butterflies?” 

“Butterflies.” Ellie confirmed, “But it’s not going to stop me from doing my coursework.”

“Coursework?”

“That’s right.” A soft buzz came from her phone laying on the couch across from the bed. “Are you serious? How could I forget the memo? How am I going to write an entire memo in one night?!” 

“I’m sorry to break up this- whatever this is. But I need to get back to Corona. There’s still work to be done. I’m this close to convincing Zentiri to share Cassandra’s fractured mind. She’s filled with- unlimited potential. If she wasn’t the guardian of the Moonstone she’d make a terrific Fearling.”

Ellie waved away Pitch’s plotting, “Can you keep it down over there. I’m trying to get a good grade over here.” 

“Well I don't really have much to do! I don’t know where I am, and I can barely feel the fear that I have been meticulously sewing throughout the entirety of the Barbaric Archipelago and the outskirts of Corona.”

“Listen, it's most likely the author causing tricks.”

“The author?”

“Yeah. That’s all I can think of right now. She’s probably just stressed because of school and stuff and doing a funny one off thing or something like that! I don’t know!” 

Pitch felt like his head was going to explode. An author? What could this mean? Was their life planned out with no way of changing it? Did Pitch have the Author’s favor, and that gave him the opportunity to go back in time? 

“You’re scheming.” Ellie commented.

“I am not!” 

“You are. I can sense it. Can you do it quieter please?”

Pitch shook his head, beginning to pace around the room. “This is ridiculous. What kind of lunacy is this Author trying to pull?”

Ellie sighed, clapping her hands together to get the author’s attention. “What did I just say?”

“I have nothing to do, what do you expect?” 

“I guess this is what’s happening today.” Ellie shoved her laptop off as she shot to her feet. However the calendar caught her gaze and nearly defeated the fight still left in her. Glaring at her from behind her wall of plants was a big red date. 

April 1st.

April fool’s day. 

Except the only fool there seemed to be was the author for thinking this was funny.

“Are you kidding me?” Ellie exclaimed to the sky, “I know you can hear me!”

Hey El, what’s up?

“Are you really that creatively bankrupt that you had to pull me from my school work in order to do a prank on your readers?”

Yes and no. I’ve been quite busy lately and haven’t really had time to write. Which is why you’ve been so busy with schoolwork lately. Sorry!

“Ugh!!” Ellie shook her fist in the air. 

“Wait, you’re the author? Are you the one controlling fate?” Pitch asked hesitantly. 

Ehhh, kind of. I say I have control but then I open a document and you guys just do what you want. I only know where the end of the story happens, and a couple scenes too. Everything else is just- up to you guys.

Pitch blinked, “Up to us? So free will exists.”

Technically yeah. 

“So I can fulfill my plan?”

Umm… you can try. Oh buddy you’re going to try so hard. 

“What does that mean?”

Uhhh, any other questions? Ellie, our lovely narrator, what do you think?

“What do I think? Well- Yeah, actually I do have a question. Is Hiccup going to talk about Toothless? At all?”

Soon! Actually, I meant to add more references to how much he misses Toothless, but with how short and plot progressive his povs are I forgot to add them! I probably will add them later. (Along with deleting this chapter)

“What?”

What?

Ellie sighed, “Who’s Varian?”

Wait, I thought you watched Tangled the Series! You know, cuz I did?

“Nah, haven’t seen it.”

Ok, Varian’s an alchemist who first helped Rapunzel learn more about the Moonstone Rocks! They were the black spikes that were poking up throughout the kingdom! He’s a lot like Hiccup in a lot of ways so I had to include him! He has a cool blue streak in his hair too! (That may or may not be important). 

“When are we going to learn about Jack’s no good day?” 

Um. Soon. I can’t say when. But probably a couple more hints in a couple upcoming chapters. I can’t say when the full thing will get revealed though.

“Of course you can’t. You never do!”

Hey, don’t back sass me young lady! I’m doing my best over here! This is why I’m gonna delete this chapter later.

“What?”

What? 

“No, go back. Delete this chapter?”

Well would you look at the time! Sorry, gotta go. Homework isn’t going to complete itself! Pitch how bout you go back to the Viking era right about now? I hear you’re trying to get Cassandra on your side? Good idea! Way to build that army! Maybe go after Drago next!

“Who?”

Drago Bludvist, ruler of the Northern Alliance. Real bastard, you’d love him! 

“Huh?”

Shoo, shoo. I’m wishing you luck! Go annoy someone else who has time!

“Wait!” And with another loud bang , Pitch Black was gone. Hopefully with the memory of this interaction gone. At least most of it.

“Are you done with the April Fool’s special now?”

Yeah, I’m done. Get back to your schoolwork now.

“Can’t you just make it so I’m already done?” 

No! Or else I’d have to write more and I’m already getting a headache! I don’t even think I’m gonna edit this chapter! 

“Ugh! I can’t believe I’m named after you!”

Hey! Shel’s a cool name! And if you do the memo, I promise you’ll be able to do some planting! Spellcasting maybe! I hear Theo’s almost done with her spells, maybe you can work on them together? 

Ellie shrugged, “I’m good with the planting, thanks. Theo’s got enough to worry about right now.”

Alright. Have fun!

“Oh fuck off.”

Fair. And hey, what are you still doing here? Thanks for reading— whatever this was! Let’s just- check on how Jack’s doing. Where was that doc- oh here it is.

“WHAT THE FUCK???” Jack screamed, just barely getting out of the Headless Horseman’s path. Had he not been tackled by a certain brunette Viking he would’ve been trampled by a foul smelling horse. Unfortunately Dragon Boy’s quick thinking also led him into knocking into Rapunzel. Now he was laying there with Dragon Boy’s sword poking into his back and nearly suffocating into the rope-like strands of Rapunzel’s hair.

Well, on the bright side Hiccup’s never gonna give him- no, no Rick roll. I’ve hurt you all enough already. Thanks for reading!