Part One
Nice to see you all again, readers! This is another Rise of the Brave Tanged Dragons fanfiction, as you can probably tell, and I hope that you like this one, with a bit of Christmassy fun!
Based after Potions, as requested, so there will be Mericcup and Jackunzel. If you enjoy this so far, check out my other stories! My intention is to make a mini series for these special, special four! Love you, Jack, Hic, Punzie and Meri!
I do not own Rise of the Guardians or How to Train Your Dragon. Wah, DreamWorks does. Always. Sue them and give these two movies to me! Kidding, jeez!
I do not own Brave or Tangled. Disney owns them too… T_T not fair… Enough sulking already! We've got an appointment with the Big Four!
[Hiccup POV]
The last thing that Hiccup would have expected would have been heading back home with the news that he had a girlfriend. And no, not some cheap chick who's aim is to date every boy there is in the school (minus the really nerdy nerds, ew! They think that they're too good for them.), no, not indeed. Rather Merida. Merida DunBroch. The Scottish Princess who would murder you, no kidding, if you even referred to her as one. Merida's hugest target in life was not just hitting the bullseye during her archery, but earning her rightful freedom. Freedom from royalty, and all of that garbage as she said.
It was Christmas in a week, and students at Hogwarts were just beginning to pack for their homecoming back where ever they came from. Hiccup, Merida, Rapunzel and Jack were all scheduled to leave for their homes that Christmas, therefore they would have to survive on postcards over the holidays, as their hometowns were too far away from one another to have to visit constantly. It would have been so much easier if only they were qualified for apparition, but unfortunately they weren't. There was Merida, in the United Kingdom, Hiccup on the other side of the UK, Jack in America and Rapunzel residing in her hometown, Corona, which was also her last name, strangely. Hiccup was too terrified to ask which country it was, he wanted to know nothing about her mother, who seemed a rather scary woman to him, Mother Gothel. Hiccup shivered at the thought of her as he continued to stuff some of his clothes and books in his suitcases, happy memories of Toothless filling his head as he warded off the thought of Gothel.
"Hic, are you planning on coming to breakfast?" Lysander Scamander called from the bottom of the staircase which led to the boy's dormitories.
"One sec," Hiccup responded, grabbing his wand from the bench and pulling his dark green hoodie – the one with the pale green dragon silhouette print – over his head. Jack had given him, Merida and Rapunzel their own hoodie just recently, so that they would all match, and had ordered that they wear it whenever they were to meet or were together. Jack himself owned his dark blue on, little pale snowflakes adorning the shoulders, Merida now had her red one, little dark red bear shapes running across her wrists and waist, while Rapunzel had soft lilac, with the sun printed on it in darker purple.
Hiccup brushed his fringe from his eyes as he ran for the stairs and took them two at a time as he glanced at his watch. He was two minutes late, and Jack would be able to make a huge fuss out of that. He bounded past a few of the waiting Ravenclaws, including Lysander, who said, "Don't you want to walk with us?" Hiccup paused to turn and shrug.
"Sorry, but I have to go fast. The others will skin me if I'm late," he explained shortly before he was on his way again, catching the words, "Why does he always hang with them?" before he was out the door.
And so…
"You're late." Jack's words were short and Hiccup bent over to catch his breath. He'd run from the top of Ravenclaw Tower to the Great Hall, and that was not a fun experience.
"Sorry," he coughed, and then a hand pounded him on the back. Hard. "Hey…" He whizzed around to see that it was only Merida, her locks of red hair everywhere, as usual, pale blue eyes amused, Rapunzel standing next to her, giggling behind her hand.
"Hey, Hic-cup," Merida said, pronouncing the syllables separately and earning a raised brow from Hiccup.
"I presume that that's not a good 'hey'," he predicted flatly.
"Jack wants to speak with us," Rapunzel countered. "Who knows whether that's good or bad."
"Well, that's not very nice," Jack huffed, though his voice was good-natured, pulling Rapunzel into a hug, who blushed despite the fact that Jack had been doing that for months now. When Hiccup and Merida had become a couple, so had Jack and Rapunzel. Hiccup was no professor, who was let in with the 'professor gossip', but everybody, as in everybody, knew what they were saying behind the students' backs.
"Hmm, the big four has become more than just the big four. They've each bonded in a far stronger way. Interesting really, I thought that we had another James Potter and Lily Evans on our hands with Frost and DunBroch. Wrong indeed, eh? Interesting…"
Hiccup snapped back to the present when Merida, who had had her arm slung over Rapunzel's shoulders, hit Jack on the head when he pushed her off.
"Lae've mah friend alone!" She said jokingly, and Hiccup began to ponder things again. After what had happened earlier that year, the whole polyjuice potion scenario, things had begun to seem as though their friendship was about to break up. Merida, Jack and Hiccup had been constantly fighting, but not gently, the way best friends should. Rather roughly, as a matter of fact. Merida and Jack had been whiskers length from murdering each other, if it hadn't been for Hiccup and Rapunzel's protection spells. Merida, it seemed, had been aiming to make Jack explode, while Jack had been attempting to make Merida bleed to death. They both seemed pretty brutal, Hiccup thought as he cringed.
Suddenly Hiccup felt a weight on his back and stumbled slightly as he regained his balance. Merida had begun to have grown a habit of simply jumping on his back to get a ride around the place. Hiccup didn't not like it, it made her feel closer, and it wasn't like she was heavy, but he would have liked a little warning before she did it.
"Ah said hey Hiccup," Merida said in his ear, resting her chin on his shoulder while watching through hooded blue eye as Rapunzel tried to escape from Jack's vice-like grip. He didn't seem to have any intention of letting go, or ever again, from the cheeky grin on his face.
"And I said… uh." Hiccup's face dropped, before fixing a completely fake grin on. "Ahem, morning…"
"Morning!" Jack called mockingly.
"Can you stop doing this?" Rapunzel was complaining, trying to hide her head in her hood.
"That's bae'tter," Merida concluded as she got comfortable, as though she would stay in that position forever. Hiccup rolled his eyes with a slight grin.
"May I ask why you enjoy sitting like this?" He asked.
"'Cause this is a lee'ttle memory," she responded.
"Memor–" Hiccup understood immediately, and felt his cheeks begin to heat up. "Oh. Thank you for the reminder." Back in the lake… a bit back, when Merida had gotten them all tossed into the lake, Hiccup had had to 'rescue' her, and she had been in the exact same position as she was now.
"Yer weh'lcome."
"Enough already!" Rapunzel snapped, finally wrenching herself from Jack's grip. He pulled a playful face behind her. "You said you had something to tell us, so tell us!" Jack immediately lost his cheerfulness.
"Ah. Well, something's happened–"
"This had better not be another one of your little 'ideas'," Hiccup broke in. "Your last one failed badly enough. Why polyjuice potion?"
"Hey, that was my idea," Rapunzel said, sounding stung when Jack opened his mouth to reply.
"It's not something ter beh proud of, Punz," Merida hinted. Rapunzel gave Merida a sardonic look as though she was offended.
"Guys, we're getting off point again," Jack said with a sigh.
"Says yeh," Merida hissed, sounding much like a cat. Hiccup winced. Just because they were together now, it didn't mean that Jack and Merida didn't still fight. "The master of distrae'ctors."
"Not now!" Rapunzel burst out, tugging the collar of her hoodie, stress written across her face. "Please, I've got a headache already. Just… can we please, please, have–"
"–A day with no arguments," Hiccup finished for her.
"Yes! Thank you, Hiccup. I mean, sure, it's in your nature to argue but cool it! We're about to leave and we won't see each other for ages. Right?"
Jack looked away, his expression dull as he looked out into the cloudy sky. The other three looked at him.
"Something wrong?" Hiccup inquired. Jack rubbed the nape of his neck.
"Yeah… well, about that… I just got a letter from Mum…"
Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel exchanged uneasy glances.
"She says… well, my sister, Emma, she… something's happened, so I won't be going home these holidays." Jack finished off with a down smile, and sighed.
"Ah." Merida slipped from Hiccup's back and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Well… yeh won't beh staying behind by yerself, that's fer sure."
"Definitely," Rapunzel added, nodding firmly.
"Well, I think you mean we'll try," Hiccup muttered logically.
"The word try does not exae'st in a DunBroch word vocabulary dictionary. There is only do and did." Merida spoke confidently, as usual. Jack rolled his eyes at her.
"Well, that saying has failed about a million times," he said with a smirk, and Merida practically bristled.
"Not on mah watch it won't," she declared, reclaiming her old perch with Hiccup before Pitch and Gothel rocked along to destroy the companionable company.
[Rapunzel POV]
"Who brought the partiers?" Jack muttered beneath his breath, and Rapunzel shot her boyfriend a sideways glance as Pitch and Gothel approached.
"So, it's the freckles club and the I-dunno-how-shoes-work club," Gothel sneered as they neared, and Rapunzel felt her cheeks redden ever so slightly as she tried not to look down at her bare feet self-consciously. She felt Jack tensing up behind her, she could feel Merida radiating her great offence and she could see one of Hiccup's hands moving from supporting Merida to straying towards his wand.
"Who're yeh calling freckles!?" Merida barked, though Rapunzel knew that she thought that they weren't worth their time, from the way that she didn't even attempt to move from Hiccup. Hiccup was shaking his head slightly.
"Who're you calling 'I-dunno-how-shoes-work'?" Jack snapped. "Or perhaps you're talking about yourself?"
This seems just about right, Rapunzel thought with a sigh, moving her hand back to hold Jack's, who took it immediately, expression taut. Jack and Merida becoming the defense team, though they seem to attack more than their purpose is meant to…
"Actually," Gothel responded, flicking her ebony curls away from her face, "I was calling you freckles, Ginger and Bookworm, and you 'I-dunno-how-shoes-work', Frost and…" Gothel raised an eyebrow and Rapunzel knew that she was remembering her old sticky situation. "…Person who hasn't heard of scissors." Pitch was sniggering slightly behind Gothel. "Or maybe you can all be part of the freckles club, because all of you seem rather freckly."
"Shut it, Goat," Merida warned. "Or maybeh ah should call yer haggis, cause yeh stink like one too." She was on her feet now, standing with her arms folded next to Jack while Hiccup and Rapunzel sighed and knew that nothing could be done now. Jack called Merida 'Ginger' sometimes, but it was completely out of boundaries for anybody else now.
"Heh, good one," Jack said with a lazy grin, high fiving Merida, who stuck her hands into her pockets with a smirk.
"Gothel," Pitch cautioned as the Slytherin plunged her hand into her robes pockets for her wand. Jack only then seemed to realize that Pitch was there, and lost his laziness.
"Black," he said coldly, and Pitch smiled coolly.
"Hello, Frost," he said, his English accent irresistibly charming. He took note of Rapunzel, Hiccup and Merida and added, "Haddock, DunBroch, Corona," as though they were all old friends.
"Drop the nice act alrae'dy and try ter curse us all," Merida snapped.
"Don't provoke a fight," Rapunzel heard Hiccup whisper into her ear, and she silently agreed with him.
"Oh, but I'm not looking for a fight. I believe that I have told you that before." Pitch's voice was smooth and calm, but Rapunzel did not believe it for one second. Pitch Black was a snake, no other word to describe him.
"Never," Gothel added, her grey eyes filled with obvious hatred, and Rapunzel cringed away slightly.
"Then go away," Jack spoke with a pained voice, as though he was still stuck in the memory of whatever had happened to his sister. It couldn't have been good. He suddenly looked as though he might burst into tears, which Jack Frost never did, as in never ever. It was a disturbing thought.
"We'll see you all at the end of year quidditch game," Pitch finished, ignoring Jack's words. He looked at Merida. "Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, wasn't it? I would wish you good luck, except I don't care a thing for your team." With that, he and Gothel walked away.
Merida began to immediately babble in Scottish Gaelic, and nobody understood a word of what she said as she stormed around like an angry tornado on fire, kicking at the stone walls and earning many glares from passing students.
"Uh, slow down, Meri," Rapunzel mumbled.
"Filtha'y bag of crap!" Merida burst out, and all of them jumped. "Ah wish that ah could give his face a nice big punch, and break that nose of his…" She began to whizz around the place again. "Ah'll show him. Ah'll beat that Ravenclaw single-handedly, mark mah words! No offence," she added to Hiccup, who shrugged as though he didn't mind.
"No, I'm not into quidditch, so I don't care…" Rapunzel could tell that Hiccup did care, though. She sighed. It was so hard when they were all in different houses. Why couldn't they have been sorted together? It would have been so much easier but where would they have all belonged…? Surely not Ravenclaw… not with Merida and Jack… nor Slytherin, with herself and Hiccup, or in Gryffindor, or even in Hufflepuff. They were all so different.
But still, Rapunzel was beyond curious about the letter which Jack had received.
"Jack…" Rapunzel spoke softly, ever so softly. "What happened to your sister?" He didn't speak, his face grim as he watched Merida apologizing over and over, which wasn't something that you saw every day. Merida never apologized. Ever. Except for when it came to Hiccup.
"Can we… please not talk about this?" Was Jack's response, and Rapunzel hadn't been expecting anything different. The truth would be eased out of him, though. Slow and steady wins the race, after all. Rapunzel sighed, moving her large, pale green eyes back onto Merida, who was practically bouncing up and down in agitation.
"Just accae'pt mah apology alrae'dy," she was saying, while Hiccup kept on replying, "Stop apologizing! You can be so daft, sometimes!"
"Feel privileged, Hic," Rapunzel muttered. "If anybody else called her daft, they would have an arrow through their heart in a matter of seconds… ah…!" She jumped slightly as she felt a hand touch her arm. Looking around, she saw that it was only Jack. He had an expression of guilt, and she vaguely wondered why.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "But you'll find out… soon enough." Rapunzel gazed at him in puzzlement, but finally dropped the topic in time to see Merida slapping Hiccup.
[Merida POV]
"Heh was just beh'ing so stubborn!" Merida snapped, grabbing an apple and biting into it angrily. "Ah get crankeh when that happens, don't yeh?"
Rapunzel sighed, and Merida bristled.
"You always get cranky, Merida," she announced, loud enough for Jack and Hiccup to hear on the Ravenclaw table.
While Merida and Hiccup had begun to argue over the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw match, Merida had slapped Hiccup, only gently though, but Hiccup was easily offended, and had split off to sit with Jack on his table.
"Heh takes things too personally," Merida decided out loud, and looked at Rapunzel for confirmation. Hiccup snorted from opposite them, and Jack muttered something under his breath.
"Well, you started it," Rapunzel shrugged matter-of-factly. "Who can blame him?"
"'Yeh started it'?" Merida laughed in disbelief. "'Yeh started it'? That is so childish, Punzie!"
"You're even more childish, Merida."
"Tell me about it," Jack called over. Ever since the slapping incident, Jack had loosened up and was nearly his old self again, though there was still a shadow haunting him. Merida could tell.
"Stay out of this," Rapunzel told him sharply, but Merida was already on her feet, shaking her head.
"Ah can't belae've yeh guys. Especially yeh, lassie," she added to Rapunzel, who looked back on high offence.
"I didn't–" she began, but Merida had already tossed her apple aside and was out the doors of the Great Hall in a hurry. She didn't look back as she ran past many of the entering students.
She blinked back furious tears, hating that she was crying.
Why am ah crying? She thought angrily. Stupid mood swings. Finally she slowed down as she reached the portal to the Gryffindor common room.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked, and Merida bent over to catch her breath, waiting a few seconds before straightening. The Fat Lady scoffed. "Fine, just make me–"
"Wrackspurts," Merida puffed, cutting the Fat Lady off.
"About time." The door swung open, and Merida hopped through, wiping her eyes and skipped the steps. Her dormitory was empty, thank goodness, and Merida went to her chest at the end of her bed and threw it open, eyes searching for only one thing.
"There yeh are, wee beastie," she muttered, grabbing her sword, bow and quiver, which was full of recently sharpened arrows, courtesy to Snotlout. She wasn't completely sure whether her weapons were actually allowed, but she didn't care. As long as none of the professors saw her with them. She pulled her red hoodie from over head, not wanting anything to do with those three, and pulled on her old duffel coat, lined with bear fur, and her hiking boots. It was known among all Gryffindors now that whenever Merida was in that getup, it meant that she was leaving. And when she was leaving, she was upset. Which was obvious.
Merida didn't care where she went. She just had to get out and shoot some arrows. And she needed Angus.
Ah'm gonna have ter do with some other stallion, she decided as she swung out of the girls' dormitories and as she lifted her foot to kick open the Fat Lady's door, it opened by itself. Merida hurriedly lowered her foot, almost guiltily.
Astrid and Snotlout, along with Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs all came in. Merida wrinkled her nose at the thought of their names. Who would name their child some things like that? Seriously, though. It was sick.
"Oh. Hey, Merida," Astrid drawled. She looked Merida up and down, from her comfort-jacket to her bow and arrows. "Headed out?"
"Yeh betcha," Merida muttered, shoving past them all and stomping down the stairs, the group looking after her with slight sneers.
"Did your boyfriend upset ya?" Snotlout called over, attempting to sound sympathetic.
"Not eh'ven close."
"Where're you going?"
"Ter blunten yer handiwork." Merida spoke not another word as she broke into a jog across Hogwarts school.
And so…
"Just–" Merida threw the sword at the tree in the Forbidden Forest. There was so much force behind the toss that it buried itself, almost to it's hilt, in the bark. "–Can't listen, can they? Ah'm sick of it!" She stormed over to fetch her sword, throwing dirty glances everywhere as she went. With a growl, she got a good grip on her sword and attempted to tug it away. It didn't move. "Uh…" With a mighty wrench, Merida slipped and landed on her back, hitting her head as she fell. She sat up, cradling her head and rocking back and forth. "Bloodae'y hell…" Grimacing, she got back to her feet ignored her sword. She would tackle it later on. There was still the whole day. The whole night, even, if she wanted to. She took her bow from her back and notched one of the arrows, allowing the sensation of the smooth wood against her skin to seep deep within her mind, relaxing her from within.
Merida let out a deep breath, clearing her mind, before letting the arrow fly. It fixed itself into one of the many trees, and she grimly shot arrow after arrow, loosing herself in the art of archery.
Who knew how long passed? Seconds, minutes, hours, of this same routine, when Merida finally took note of the shade that the sky had deepened to.
She felt – well, what did she feel? It felt like disappointment, as though somebody had let her down, but why did she feel as though somebody had let her down? It could have quite possibly been the fact that she had been hoping desperately for Hiccup or Rapunzel, or even Jack, to come searching for her.
CRUNCH.
Merida jumped at the noise. Not only had she lost track of the time, but she had completely forgotten that she was in the Forbidden Forest. The Forbidden Forest. Who knew what was creeping through those dark trees at that very moment?
A creature whinnied not too far away, and Merida, in the center of the opening, surrounded by trees, which were littered with her arrows, moved her hand distinctly to her quiver for another arrow. There were none left, and her heart leapt in her mouth as she heard footsteps and crunching leaves around her. She tried desperately to speak, to yell, to even scream, in hope of warding off whatever was out there, but her voice was lost.
And then they came out from everywhere. Huge black stallions, which looked like the midnight sky. They were beautiful, their coats appearing like satin, deep blue-black, and they gave off the illusion that thousands of stars were embedded in their fur. And their eyes. They were a mystical gold, cold and empty. Yes, the stallions were beautiful. Beautiful, but sinister.
And there were so many of them. Merida felt a sheen of sweat on her forehead, and she swallowed, knowing that she was trapped. She was utterly defenseless.
She wished so badly that she hadn't left her wand behind, strewn carelessly across her bed, but there was no point wishing on a star. These animals would surely kill her. They were merciless, and that was the reason for why the forest was forbidden.
One of the stallions gave a signal of some sort, and they all approached Merida.
She closed her eyes, and waited for her end to come.
Cliff hanger! Ooh, what will happen to Merida? Because I promise you, she shall not come out of it unharmed.
*unleashes evil laugh*
That was not me! Sorry, that is my new colleague, Frosty Owl. Yes, Frosty Owl will be accompanying me for a while. Yes, I said a while. He's a part of me, you know! He'll always be here. I discovered him a little while back, but I never considered inviting him to become my partner in writing. Frosty's the one who made me write about the stallions (or nightmares). He's a little dark and mischievous, y'know. *chuckles nervously* I hope that you enjoy some of his works (Actually, I hope he goes away…) No, I did not just say that, Frosty! You're imagining things!
Just, review already, okay? Favourite, follow, click everything on that bar and I shall be in your dept.
~Black Cat Widow & Frosty Owl~