AN: This is my first story which I have already published on a different site called . Hopefully it's decent but if I can change it please review and help me! If you are going to criticise, please do it in a polite manner?

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Except for the plot...

Standing there, Merida knew she was going to die. She straightened her back, chin held up proud, bow clutched in her wounded right hand as she waited for the opposing arrow — her arrow — to fly into her unprotected body, fighting through muscle and tendon into the beating pump of her heart. The princess wondered how it would feel to have her life force literally stopped in action, forced to freeze and never to move again. Would her friends mourn her? She hoped so; it would be nice to be loved and cried for.

Arrow into bow, elbow drawing back. Watching as the ultimate destruction of her very being prepared to take her life, the red head thought about being erased from the world, disappearing forever. Would they carry on without her? She wasn't sure. Merida didn't want to be forgotten but she didn't want her mates to become social recluses, hiding from the world as they mourned their dead friend. Suddenly, Merida didn't want to die.

Flying through the air.

Time slowed down. She watched the arrow as it glided towards her, deadly beauty heading to stop another of a more fragile form: her life.

Five metres. She breathed.

Four metres. Stop panicking.

Three metres. I don' wanta die.

Two metres. A body crashed into her, knocking her into the mud. Merida shrieked as she shuddered on impact before screaming when she saw who had saved her life. Stumbling forwards, she crouched over him.

Dark amber eyes smiled up at her, a bright light in the uneasy stillness. "Hey princess," he started, before coughing a cough that made her throat hurt, blood and mucus spilling over himself.

"Sh," she commanded gently, blinking the tears away. "Sh."

His lips turned up at the corners as his hand raised to meet the arrow that had punctured his lung. She knew they were overfilling with liquid, she knew it was near impossible to save him, she knew he could die and it would be all her fault.

Merida grabbed his hand before it could touch his destruction, holding it in her own two. Placing her face onto it, she let the first tear go. "Don't cry, Mer. It'll be ok."

"No, it won't. Yeh've bin shot wi' an arrow when ye cood have jist lit me die! Why, Jack, why?"

Jack's lips formed a grimace before turning into that painful smile that you know is hiding something. "It's what friends do, right?"

Merida let go. Her tears splashed to the ground and onto his body as he stroked her hair slowly, biting his lip in pain. Jack dropped his hand, wincing as it hit the ground as Merida lifted her own to cup his head gently. He leaned into the action, quietly gasping for breath as his eyes started to close. "Jack, no, don' go ta sleep!" cried Merida, shaking him.

Blinking his eyes open, Jack squinted at her and sighed, "But I'm so tired."

Merida just shook her head, tears flowing faster and sobs erupting from her mouth. "Don't be."

His face scrunched up as he threw his head back in pain, mouth open in a silent plea of mercy, body stiffening up right to the toes as sudden spasms of pain broke through his skinny figure. "Please, just let me go!"

"No!" Merida shouted, shaking him, forgetting his injury. "Yer stayin' right here, with me, with Rapunzel, with Hiccup, alive."

"I can't," he screamed, tears squeezing out from his closed eyelids. "I can't."

The last whisper shook Merida as tears slid down her friend's face, the surprising display of weakness powerful and meaningful. "I know you can't, Jack. But that doesn't mean you can't try."

Pained amber met determined blue as sudden shouts resounded through the deathly quiet of the battlefield. "Merida? Jack?"

A smile lit up the red headed warrior's face, her gaze turning towards the heavens, a lone dragon gliding down towards them. "It's ok Jack, they're here! Rapunzel will save you!"

Jack just lay still, forcing himself to breathe even though he felt like he was drowning, the world dark at the edges even though it was bright daylight. Merida turned excitedly to him, her face blurring and warping in and out of focus, a smile full of hope and light. He couldn't let her see the pain, the darkness, the cruelty, the mercilessness of it's hold on him. It hadn't gone away, not yet. But he wanted it to. He wanted it so badly.

The world was almost glowing with the whiteness and purity it held, surrounding Jack in a warm embrace. A pair of tall, golden gates stood at the end of the world he stood in; in an instance, he knew that if he crossed that gate there would be no more pain, no more fear, no more—

They had landed. Shady figures waved in and out of his fading vision, hugging. They didn't seem to notice him before he gave a deep, rattling breath in which they turned to him, horrified, one racing down and crouching next to him. Bright green filled his eyesight, shock and fear resonating from their clear depths.

"Jack!" a girl cried in happiness, running forward from the gates to hug him round his midsection, her arms tightly wrapped round him. A short haired woman joined them, placing her hand on his shoulder possessively, hazel eyes full of love.

"We have waited so long for you to return," the woman, his mother, told him sadly, a smile lighting up her care worn face.

"Jack?"

"Ra—" he started but his mouth felt too tired to carry on, dropping closed, leaving his eyes to convey the message. The brightness of her eyes left his vision as he heard faint murmurs of distress, more tears dropping onto his body. As if I've been cried on enough already, he thought slowly, feeling his mind shutting down on him from lack of oxygen.

"I know," he answered. "But...I can't. They want me to stay. I don't know what to do."

His eyes begun to close.

They walked towards the gate, every step feeling lighter as he neared it, nearer the releasing of—

"No, Jack, just hold on for five more minutes," cried Rapunzel. "Hiccup, help me get him on Toothless."

Jack wanted to scream. Couldn't they see that he was tired of the pain, that he just wanted to close his eyes and let his worries drift free? That he just wanted to die?

Twenty more steps. Nineteen more steps. Eighteen. Seventeen. Six—

He batted his hand weakly as their fingers met his frail body, not wanting them to touch him so close to death.

They were right outside the gate. Jack paused, the girl pulling on his hand. He looked back. Would his friends mourn him? He hoped so; it would be nice to be loved and cried for. Would they carry on without him? He wasn't sure. He didn't want to be forgotten but he didn't want his mates to become social recluses, hiding from the world as they mourned their dead friend. Suddenly, Jack didn't want to die.

She noticed his uncertainty, looking up to him.

"Please come with us, Jack."

He made his decision. He just hoped it wasn't the wrong one.

"I—I'm sorry," he breathed, his eyelids fully closed. "So, so...sorry."

"Yes," he answered, a smile brightening up his face, amber eyes filled with new life, as he walked into the light.

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