Great. Another oneshot from yours truly. Haha. I've already failed a damn exam writing my last few oneshots, and now THIS?! My once so planned out life has suddenly been turned upside down. Charming. Damnnit.

So, without further ado, my next story. Haha. This is getting out of hand. On the bright side, this is my last week of classes, so I'll have more time to write freely! YAY! xD

Remember, this is a DRABBLE. I'm not quite sure what direction I planned on taking it to, looking back. I just hope its pretty good. Cross posted on tumblr, too, under the same author thingy.

Disclaimer: How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, Brave and Tangled all belong to their respective owners, Dreamworks, Disney and Pixar, not necessarily in that order. Or something like that.

Jack watched, unable to do anything, as Hiccup battled Pitch and his army of nightmares. Things weren't going in his favor.

"What would your friends think?" Pitch said, mocking him. "If they could see you now?"

A nightmare pounced on the boy, sending him off of his dragon, Toothless, and slamming into the ground, face down. Above him, Pitch cackled.

"Pathetic."

"Don't you dare call him that!" Jack yelled, but Pitch didn't seem to hear him.

"Couldn't even weaken me." Pitch said, hovering close to the boy until he was standing over him. He pressed a foot down on his back, earning a grunt of pain.

Above them, Toothless was being attacked by the nightmare army, unable to rescue his rider and friend.

"What did you hope to accomplish by coming here, alone? Your leader is incapacitated, lying in his own death bed, and your princess allies wait in fear of my next attack."

Pitch leaned down and grabbed hold of his neck, dangling him. Choking him.

Jack watched, pained.

"And you were the smart one. Did you think you could take me down without your little band of misfits?"

He threw Hiccup to the side, where he slammed, again, into the ground, rolled a couple of meters, then stopped. He tried to push himself up, but started coughing, blood coming out of his mouth as he struggled to get oxygen back into his system.

"Useless." Pitch said, walking over. Black sand swirled around him, until they concentrated to his right hand. Jack watched in horror as they materialized into a knife.

"That's….where…you…you're wrong…" Jack's head whipped around, amazed, seeing the boy get up into a kneeling position. Hiccup tried to stand, but stumbled back to the ground.

"I'm…I'm not useless…not now…" he said as he fell again.

"Really?" Pitch laughed. "Do elaborate."

"Time." Hiccup muttered. He was in a kneeling position on the ground as he coughed out crimson liquid. But he raised his head, and his eyes were defiant.

"Jack…needed time…needed…to buy…time" He said. "Now…he has…time…"

Jack froze, shocked and horrified at his friend's words. The weight of what his friend had done made itself known to the winter spirit.

Pitch felt the same, face turning to a sneer. "You meddling brat! That's what this is all about?!"

He, again, grabbed Hiccup, raising him off the ground by his neck, staring him down with eyes filled with rage and hatred. If looks could kill.

"All so that winter sprite could regain his strength?!"

"You're wrong…again…" Hiccup coughed out. "Not just…a team…they're…my friends…"

The color was draining from his face, and his lips were turning blue from the lack of oxygen. His hands, earlier clutched at the boogeyman's arms, fell, limp, to his side, like they lacked the proper blood circulation.

But his eyes, deep and green, stared resolutely ahead, courage and determination making them shine.

"And…if its…for them…then…I'd die."

Jack heard a loud bang from behind him, and he turned around. In the distance he saw himself, flying faster than he ever flew before, face filled with a strange combination of determination and desperation. Behind his counterpart, not too far back, were two horses; one black and one white. Mounted on them were two females, princesses; a brunette in a violet dress, hand over a whip on the horse's saddle, and a girl with wild, red hair, a bow aimed high, ready to attack.

But then one, quiet, voice called out in a pained yell, but loud enough that Jack spun around yet again. Then his blood ran cold.

Pitch had plunged the nightmare knife through Hiccup's chest, a furious glare on his face. Hiccup's eyes were shut tight, his hands finding enough energy to clutch his staining chest.

Then Pitch pulled the knife out, twisting as he did, and the boy hissed in silent pain. Pitch let go, but before Hiccup could fall back to the ground, Jack's vision faded to red.

His eyes flew open, panicked. He did not register where he was, or how he got there, or anything of the sort. There was some kind of pressure on his hands and arms, preventing them from moving.

"Jack, calm down!" A frantic, female voice said. "Its okay, Jack. Everything's fine. You're safe."

Rapunzel's voice was calm and reassuring, so Jack stopped struggling. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry.

"Merida, hand me that glass over there." A hand tilted his head up from the mattress he was laying on, and something was pressed to his lips. Moisture returned to his mouth, and he found the energy to sit up.

His eyes scanned his surroundings, only then registering everything. He was in a room in North's workshop, laying down on the only bed. Rapunzel and Merida were on either side of him, staring at him worriedly.

Then the Scot put her arms around him, engulfing him in a hug.

"Don't ye ever scare us like that again, wintercap." Merida said. "Pitch really did it hard on ye."

Rapunzel joined in on the hug, smiling. "You were out for three days, Jack. We were afraid you wouldn't wake up soon enough."

"Why?" Jack asked, confused, when they separated. "Is there some kind of deadline that we have?"

"Not exactly, but Hiccup came up with a theory of sorts."

"Hiccup?" Jack asked, remembering his awful dream. "Where is he?"

"He's in his room, tinkering with something, I believe." Rapunzel said, putting the glass back in Jack's hand, silently telling him to drink some more. "He's been pacing a lot, trying to think of what to do when Pitch would attack next."

"Nothing new there." Jack snorted before taking a gulf of refreshing water. "What's this theory of his?"

"He thinks that last attack Pitch made was just to weaken ya." Merida said. "So he could make his real attack on all of uswhile ye were incapacitated."

Jack froze. "He did?"

"Yup." Rapunzel replied. "He was so sure of himself, but seeing that we aren't under attack and you're already awake, looks like his theory was wrong."

"It can't be…" Jack muttered, earning strange glances from the girls. He stood up in one, fluid motion, and dashed out the door.

"Jack!" Merida called out. "Where are ye goin'?"

He could hear their footsteps behind him, running to catch up.

"I had a dream! Hiccup was right!" Jack called back. "Pitch's real aim is to attack while I was out."

"What?" Rapunzel muttered, but Jack could hear her. "But you're awake."

"Exactly." Jack said, rounding the corner leading to Hiccup's room. "Something's wrong."

The girls caught up to him, and he threw the door to Hiccup's room open.

The room was dark, except for a single, lit candle on the table. Most of its wax had already melted off, meaning that it had been lit for some time, possibly an entire day. Aside from the candle and a single piece of paper on the table beside it, the room was empty.

"He's gone." Merida said, confused. All three of them entered the room, and Rapunzel switched on the light. Why Hiccup would light a candle when electricity existed, they had no idea.

Jack, still not convinced that everything was fine, walked over to the table and flipped the paper.

"No…" His eyes widened, horrified, at what was written on the back. "No, no, no, no…!"

"Jack!" Rapunzel said, turning to him. "What's wrong?" She and Merida looked over to read the paper Jack's shaking hands held, before they clasped their hands to their mouths in horror. He grabbed their arms as he dashed back out the door, dragging them with him.

"We have to find North, now." He said as they ran down the hall. "We have to get there in time!"

'I can't let you die, Hiccup.' Jack thought, repeating the mantra over in his head while his dread took over. 'I won't let you die. Please, Hiccup. Don't do this to us.'

He and the girls ran forward to battle, hoping that they could prevent what seemed inevitable. Back in the room, the paper fluttered to the ground. It was the dragon rider's last message for his friends, written in ink a few hours before.

I'm positive Pitch is going to attack before Jack wakes up. He knows we need him if we're ever to send the bogeyman to the next era. I'm going to buy us some time. Even just a little.

Prepare for the final battle. Make sure Jack regains his full strength. Same goes for Rapunzel and Merida. I'll hold Pitch off for as long as I can.

Don't expect me back. Please. I don't know how much fear he's already gathered. Chances of survival are slim.

Jack, Merida, Rapunzel, I'm sorry it has to end like this, but I regret nothing, except not telling you this personally. But I can't let you stop me. It's for everyone's own good. Thank you for everything.

So I guess this is goodbye. Stay safe, everyone. Live on.

-Hiccup

So, yeah. I have a thing for killing characters with dramatic effect. Makes life more interesting knowing that you get to die interesting. Morbid line of thought, I know. Whatever. Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too bad. Feel free to review or whatever. Thanks again. S2 out.