"Pitch!" Four angry voices echoed through the forest. As the figures came into view, they were very recognizable. They were The Big Four: Jack Frost, Merida DunBroch, Rapunzel Corona, and Hiccup Haddock.

Before they could reach Pitch, however, he jumped into the hole in the ground. Which was located under an old bedframe. Merida shifted her bow over to her back, while Hiccup sheathed his sword. Hiccup jumped in first, then Merida, followed by Rapunzel and, finally, Jack. What happened before they could hit the bottom, though, they were separated.

Having jumped first, Hiccup was also the first to hit the ground. With a gasp of pain followed by a deep breath to quell the feeling, the young viking gathered his feet under himself and stood, shaky with pain and disorientation from the fall, and drew his sword.

As Merida landed, she quickly reorientated herself, and pulled her bow off her shoulder, nocking an arrow on the string. Subconsciously, she counted the number remaining.

Five, she thought. I have five chances to get this right.

Hopefully, she would only need one.

After she landed, Rapunzel set about untangling herself from her hair and softly hummed her song, which lit up the room. Revealing a doorway… Which she then went through….

Jack was able to call the winter wind and spare himself the painful fate suffered by his companions.

Light, light ... we need to be able to see for this to work. Pitch is in his element right now, but we can pull him out of it so long as we can see. His staff began to glow, illuminating the room… and the leering face of Pitch Black.

They were trapped underground with his worst enemy.

They were trapped underground with Pitch Black.

Screw nightmares: this was a recipe for disaster.

Jack Frost turned to face Pitch, but the man was not there. "Pitch Black," he shouted. "Where are you?" Behind him, the others did the same, turning as one like a pinwheel. "Come out and face us, you shadow-sneaking ratbag! Hey, I'm talking to you. Why won't you come out and face us?"

"Who are you kidding, foolish little guardian? You know that I call the shots, but you are so desperate to stay in control." he laughed. "It looks like the power's getting to you."

Something inside the white-haired boy broke. Ice bullets flew everywhere. Merida took the hint and passed her quiver to Jack, who froze the arrows' shafts.

A quick glance between the four attackers and, as one, they charged.

Jack could feel the recoil as his staff directed bolt after bolt into the shadows. He could see them: those glowing eyes like beacons in the darkness.

A heavy hand fell to his shoulder, almost taking him with it on its path towards the hard floor. "What is it, Hiccup?" he growled through his teeth.

"I'm going around the side. Hopefully I can catch him off-guard long enough that you guys can make a clear shot."

He could see the nightmares, the disturbed slumber, the hours after hours spent peering into the shadows waiting for things to leap out and the hours to finally meet their bloodstained end.

Merida aimed for those same eyes: the amber pinpricks, and waited for them to topple to the ground. She had two arrows left and could see the off-white fletching bob in the darkness, so why wouldn't the blasted man fall?

Rapunzel waited for the 'okay' to bring their target in.

"Now, Rapunzel!" Jack yelled, his voice carrying over the confusion. Rapunzel's hair began to glow as she threw it, but, before the locks reached the shadow, the amber eyes disappeared, the final traces of a laugh dangling in the air, and something fell to the ground.

The golden wave missed, falling to the left of the object … the body. In its golden light they saw it … the tell-tale etching of Viking runes on the upper leg, then the intricately-wrought metal where a foot once was. It wasn't Pitch. They then glanced behind them, hoping that this was a cruel trick by The Nightmares. However, when they turned, they were met by emptiness. Before anyone could react, Rapunzel ran forward. Quickly followed by Jack and Merida. As they came into the shadows, they knelt down beside their fallen comrade… the one they had just put all of their power into.

"Hiccup?" Merida whispered, clasping his clammy hand between her own, unshed tears threatening to overflow their bounds. At first Jack couldn't understand why she was in such horrible state of mind, why her eyes overflowed with the tears streaming down her cheeks. As he looked closer at Hiccup, he realised why she was in distress. On the left side of his chest, tipped with off-white fletching, was an arrow protruding twelve centimetres from his chest, the remaining . Surrounding the wound was a layer of something hard and cold, that could only be made by one person in the room. Himself. If he felt terrible, and he certainly did, then he couldn't imagine how she felt. As he looked at Hiccup, the frost finished covering his chest, leaving him trapped in the .

"Can't you do something?" Merida asked Rapunzel, tears running down her face.

Rapunzel couldn't say anything. All she could manage was a single shake of her head. Merida broke into another round of tears. While Rapunzel turned to Jack, tears brimming in her eyes as well. Jack only grabbed her small shoulders pulling her into a hug.

The three remaining members of 'The Big Four,' ridden with sorrow and loss, made their way from Hiccup's body. Their hearts broken, destroyed by the one whose lair they were in.

He would pay for killing Hiccup, they would make sure of it.

Thanks for reading... don't forget to review

~ BionicVampireDragonGuardian1

Please review ... no, honestly, please review.

- 7ShadowsUnleashed