HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III
Amidst the smoky haze that blinded Stoick from his sight, it was a miracle that he was still able to spot the Night Fury, settled on the land before him. The Red Death was gone now, and there were so many things the Viking chief had to talk to his son about; his son who had proven their whole village wrong about dragons.
Stoick approached the Night Fury, and he held out a hand to graze the side of its body gently. It was an unusual gesture, especially since it had already been instilled in him to slay a dragon the moment he spotted one. And here he was, grazing his son's Toothless with affection. The Viking's exhausted face managed a smile as Toothless turned to face him, its eyes locking with his. It was not as wide and lively as he had last seen it. In fact, the Night Fury's eye lids seemed especially heavy - sure it was tired from the battle, but something did not tick right. Toothless' eyes showed how he seemed...bereaved. Stoick's weak smile fell as Toothless shuffled around where it was resting. It lifted its ebony wings and revealed a limp body.
"Hiccup!" Stoick's face livened to see his son. He quickly took him to his side and hugged him. He was glad to see that his son was not as badly injured as he feared him to be. He was unconscious, but he was bound to wake up any time soon. Stoick ran his hand through his son's brown hair, expressing the amount of love and pride with every stroke of his hair. That was when Stoick caught sight of Toothless' face again, and this time, the Night Fury bowed its head and shook, letting out an undecipherable sound that could have passed for a whimper if it was human.
At this, Stoick's hand froze on his son's head, the blood in his veins freezing throughout his body, his eyes wild with terror and disbelief.
"No," he let out, his voice shaking, "Nonono!"
He looked down at his son once more and pulled him closer. "Hiccup, it's time to go - Hiccup!" He was shouting at his son's face now, and that was when he finally noticed that Hiccup was not breathing, his chest was flat and there was no form of movement. Not even a heartbeat. "Hiccup!" Stoick screamed at the lifeless body before him.
MERIDA
"Hu-arh! Com'n Angus!" Merida kicked her heel once more against the horse's body as it galloped faster through the woods. She held tighter onto Angus, not daring to tear her eyes away from her brothers who were being taken away by wild wolves who had gotten into Dunbroch.
"Harris! Hubert! Hamish! Hold on, I'm comin'!" Merida yelled to them as she got her balance on Angus before carefully sitting up and pulling an arrow from her sheath. She propped it immediately on her bow and aimed at the nearest wolf's hind leg. It was trickier to get a good aim because of the violent movement Angus was making as it charged after the wolves.
Merida released the arrow and it whizzed through the air and struck just at the softest spot of the wolves' leg. It slowed down and whimpered, eventually falling behind from its pack and Hubert, whose shirt was still trapped between the razor sharp teeth of the wolf, was finally released immediately and started tumbling on the ground. Merida scooped him up onto Angus as the horse passed by him. "One dow', two more."
She tugged onto Angus, signalling him to pick up his speed. Angus caught up with the wolf carrying Hamish, and when they were racing side by side, Merida yelled behind to Hubert to hang on. She motioned Angus to move closer to the wolf and as soon as they were literally next to each other, Merida bent side wards, grabbed any part of Hamish and pulled onto him before giving the wolf a hard kick on the face. It released Hamish and toppled on to the ground just as its other companion did and Merida threw Hamish behind her with Hubert. "A'ight, let's get yer brother."
The wolf clan was nearing a dead end now. This, she knew, because Merida herself had been to this part of the woods before and it had a hanging cliff as a dead end. "They can't go far now - hol' on, boys." Angus, trying to keep up his pace, neighed as he hopped over a huge decaying tree that had toppled over and blocked the pathway.
"Harris!" Merida could barely see the top of her last brother's curly red hair. Unlike his other two brothers, instead of being carried by the shirt, Harris was clinging tightly onto the fur of his speeding wolf. "Harris! Let go!" Merida ordered him as they neared the wolf. "Harris, let go!"
The trees were far behind them now, and they were heading towards the end of the cliff. The wolves were bound to turn either left or right soon and Merida couldn't afford to follow them forever. And they were still reaching the tip of the cliff. "HARRIS!"
Harris finally unclenched his fist around the fur and jumped off it, rolling violently onto the ground as he wailed in despair. Angus came to a halt and Merida jumped off him, making a run for her last brother before he fell off the cliff.
"Merida!" Harris yelled, trying to gain control of the speed he was rolling at, but his head kept on bumping onto the rocky ground that the pain distracted him from what he was trying to do. And before he knew it, he felt his back leave the land. "MERIDA!"
"HARRIS!" Merida grabbed the front of Harris' shirt. She was now leaning at a dangerous angle over the cliff, silently praying that the fabric of her brother's shirt would not tear off. "Harris, quick! Take my hand!" Harris struggled to reach for his sister's wrist, not daring to turn and look what was beneath him; a deadly river with jagged rocks sticking out that led to who knows where.
"Um, Merida...?" She heard her other two brothers behind her. The moment Harris got hold of her wrist, she looked over her shoulder and saw the pack of wolves encircling them, approaching at every step. She knew she could not pull her brother onto land at that moment, or she would be inviting the wolves to cave in on them.
"Angus," she said, just audible enough for her horse. "Go." With an alarmed look, Angus neighed and made a dash towards the wolves, hopping over them to get away just as Merida pulled Harris back onto the ground. But the wolves were fast approaching them.
Thinking fast, Merida carried Harris and warned him, "Brace yourself!" And the wolves charged at them as Merida lifted her brother and threw him with all her might towards Angus and their brothers. Angus caught him swiftly and dashed back into the woods to return the brothers to safety.
Merida, on the other hand, posed herself for a brutal fight. It was one against a pack of wolves, at the end of the cliff. She smirked at the challenge thrown upon her. With her quick senses and agility, a wolf pounced onto her, and she dodged it nicely, making it jump over her and off the cliff. She had taken the opportunity to pull out another arrow from her sheath and aim it with her bow at another wolf. But just when she released her arrow, she felt a strong force knock the breath off her as her attacker lunged at her off the cliff.
RAPUNZEL
"What did you do?" Tears stung her horrified green eyes as she absorbed the scene before her.
"I only want the best for you, my sweet," Mother Gothel said, a smug smile creeping up onto her face as she wiped her bloodshed knife.
Not wanting to believe what she had just seen, she cried out desperately, "Eugene!" But the pool of blood continued to stretch out the floor, shards of mirror scattered all over. The body that once breathed with life to give her one was now lying far away from her reach. "Eugene! NO!"
"He's gone now, Rapunzel - he is not coming back."
Hot tears spilled off onto her face. "What do you want from me? I already traded my whole life to be imprisoned to you just so I could heal him an-and - "
"You ask for too much, Rapunzel," Mother Gothel clicked her tongue in annoyance as she started tugging onto the chain to reel the blonde into the dungeon. "If he had continued to live, he would find every way he can to free you, my dear."
At this, Rapunzel tugged onto her side of the chain, her chest beating wildly with burning hatred and loss. "You're - you're a monster!" Rapunzel finally let out to her so-called mother, hissing at her, her words stinging with venom. She never knew this day would happen. The obedient little Rapunzel finally going against the monster within her mother. But the woman before her did not seem to be the least affected. "You don't want the best for me, you just want the best for yourself!"
She fought on, trying to free herself as Mother Gother started to pull her harder. "Pascal!" Rapunzel yelped for help. Immediately, Pascal revealed himself from the dark, jumping onto Mother Gothel's face that led her screaming and going haywire as she lost her footing and fell into the hole in the floor that led to the dungeon. A sickening thud was heard, but neither Rapunzel nor Pascal could hope that she was gone for good.
There was a long silence before it occurred to Rapunzel that she had to do something already. She struggled to stand with her hands still chained behind her when Pascal let out a warning sound. He frantically leaped onto Rapunzel's shoulder just when she turned to look over it. The pale (and and not to mention, frail) arms of Mother Gothel emerged from the dungeon hole and her angered demonic face came into view. "How...dare...YOU!"
Mother Gothel got onto the floor faster than her now-frail body seemed to allow her and she dashed forward towards Rapunzel who was trying desperately hard to break the chain and escape through the window. Mother Gothel's long fingers stretched before her, wanting to wring her own foster daughter's neck, and just when she leapt forward towards Rapunzel, Rapunzel jumped out if her way, sending Mother Gothel out the window where she was just able to grab hold of a piece of protruding brick beneath the window. She was now hanging on to her life on the tower and Mother Gothel seemed to age rapidly the more she consumed her energy.
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Help me!" Her voice was drowning into that of an old woman's. Rapunzel did not know her and although her instinct would be to help her, she felt disgusted by her selfishness and the fact that she had ruthlessly robbed the life out of her new dream; Eugene.
"Who are you?" She looked down at Mother Gothel in disgust, tears still streaming off her eyes, and that was when she watched her mother lose her grip on the wall and fall to the ground beneath. Rapunzel just had enough time to look away when she heard the official thud that signalled the end of Mother Gothel.
[A/N: So I've decided to start on a new fanfic for The Big Four because I absolutely love them! And they are the best team ever! Tell me what you think! And don't worry, Jack Frost will be appearing next.]
