Authors Note: Hey guys! This is my first story on fanfiction, but I've been wanting to write it for a long time. The pasts of Merida, Jack, Hiccup, and Rapunzel will be revealed throughout the story, as what happens to them isn't identical to the movies. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy! Please review, and feel free to suggest plot threads that you may want to be explored.
************************************************************ Jack **************************************************************
Darkness. That's the first thing I remember. It was dark, and it was cold, and I was scared.
He was underwater, rising up toward the surface, and yet even though he was immersed in liquid he could feel what he thought was a tear make its way from the corner of his eye. And then he saw the Moon. It was so big, and so bright, it seemed to chase the darkness away. As he broke through the surface of the ice, he continued to look up at the Moon, wondering if it was going to explain anything or just leave him there, wondering why.
Your name is Jack Frost. You need to bring joy back into the lives of three very special people, and in doing so, you may just find out something about yourself.
The cryptic message didn't explain anything, of course, and as Jack felt himself being lowered back onto the surface of the ice, he was surprised to find it reforming beneath his feet. Chuckling, he went to take a step on the slippery ice, but his foot hit something. Looking down, he saw that it was a staff, straight most of its length until the end where it curved into a hook. Curious, he poked it with one foot, and a burst of frost originating from where he'd touched it appeared on the staff. As he picked it up to examine it, the staff vibrated and he could see patterns of frost appearing where the end had touched the ice behind him.
Amazed, the white-haired teen tapped a tree with it, and was ecstatic to find the same frosty patterns appear on the bark. Laughing, he began to run in circles around the pond, spreading the beautiful creations across its surface. All of a sudden, he felt himself lifted into the air by a cold wind. Crying out in surprise, he struggled to position himself upright and saw the pond from above, the frost spread out across the ice. The moment didn't last long, however, because the wind suddenly stopped, and he fell quickly and landed on a tree branch not too far off the ground. Sitting back up, he grinned. He didn't know much, but he knew his name was Jack Frost and that he had ice powers.
He jumped down, noticing that the wind slowed his fall, and spent a while practicing with the staff. He could do all sorts of things, from creating frost to shooting blasts of ice to flying. The bigger stuff, he noticed, could only be done a few times before he was too tired to do them anymore. He steadily progressed in his attempts to use the wind to fly, because for some reason it seemed to him like he already knew how, almost like muscle memory. Or maybe, it just meant he was made to do this. At this point he'd effectively tired himself out, and he knew that if he wasn't focusing on something else that he would just wonder about the strange situation he'd found himself in. He had just found himself rising up from under a frozen pond; he had ice powers. His name was Jack Frost, and he was supposed to make three people happy again to learn about himself. The list of things he knew was certainly short. He couldn't remember anything from before that moment in the pond, so maybe he had been created to help these people. Tomorrow he'd start looking for them, but for now, he was tired. He flew up to a large, sturdy looking branch on a nearby tree and put his back to the trunk. There was no snow around like he expected, but nonetheless, he fell asleep, frost spreading out from where he sat to cover the entire tree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rapunzel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rapunzel stooped down to pick up the trailing end of her massive head of hair. The golden locks were far from what she'd call manageable, but she knew that her struggles would be worth it when she finally got to see Eugene again. Her eyes moistened as she thought about what had happened to him, but she swiped her hand across her face and continued. She could grieve more later, but for now she had to get out of here before Gothel woke up. Ideally, she would never have to see Gothel again.
"I can do this, I just need to find an adventuring party and then then I'll be able to figure out what is going on," she said, trying to motivate herself. Pascal, a small chameleon she'd befriended during the 18 years of her imprisonment, squeaked in encouragement from his perch on her shoulder. She secured her awkward handhold on her hair and continued to walk through the forest, trying to remember the way for future reference. She sniffled as she thought about how she'd never had to worry about navigating when Eugene was around, but she shoved aside thoughts of him and tried to focus on the task at hand.
She'd only recently gotten out of the tower where she'd spent most of her life, and so she really had no idea where she was going. She just knew that she was looking for an adventuring party, and that the party needed to move out fast, before Gothel could show up. At the thought of meeting new people and getting to see a new place, Rapunzel's optimistic attitude was surfacing even as she grieved, and she hummed to herself as she walked, hoping to run into who she needed to find. She had a feeling that it'd happen pretty soon. Who or whatever had given her these powers had likely done it for a reason, and what better reason was there than being an adventurer and helping people?
First things first, she needed some new clothes, as her lilac gown was getting dirty from travel, and it wasn't exactly the most practical outfit for adventuring. Glad to have some sort of easily attainable goal for the moment, Rapunzel set her sights on finding a village nearby where she could obtain some gear and food.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Merida xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Merida walked into the small village leading Angus, her horse, along behind her. She wore her longbow across her shoulders and had a quiver of arrows at her back, along with a sword sheathed at her side. Her gowns long exchanged for practical cotton breeches and shifts dyed dark greens and browns, she was the perfect picture of a woods dweller. However, no matter what she did, she could never completely leave her heritage behind. Her unruly red hair tumbled down past her shoulders, earning her plenty of glances from the townsfolk, most of whom had dark hair and eyes.
Merida greeted the few people she knew as she passed, but none of them stopped to talk, and she didn't expect them to. She was the foreigner who came here sometimes to trade, not a good friend.
She made her way to the marketplace and got what she needed, trading some rare herbs she'd collected in her travels for some oats for Angus, rope, and a new water skin. She was about to leave when a thought occurred to her. She'd been wanting some company, and she was never going to find any unless she did something to meet people. She looked around, searching for someone she knew at least somewhat.
"I was just wondering," she started, directing her words to the man she'd just gotten the new rope from, "If you'd seen any other… folks like me around here? Like me as in loners who are comfortable in the woods?" She quickly stopped as she realized she didn't exactly know who she was looking for. Just some people who'd accept her and be all right with traveling and fighting monsters… A realization hit her as her thoughts sank in. "Any adventuring types?" she added.
The man chuckled. "Well, there aren't too many around these parts, but you might look out for Hiccup, he just came through a day or two ago."
"Excuse me?" she asked, confused.
"His name is Hiccup." Merida let out a very unladylike snort but motioned for the man to continue as she struggled to regain her composure.
"He's a real outdoorsy type like you, always wandering around, not too bad with weapons. He's got a real bond with nature, I hear. A good lad too, he helped out our blacksmith when the poor guy was swamped with orders for new weapons for the royal guards."
She raised an eyebrow. This Hiccup didn't seem too bad, even if his name was hilarious.
"Do you know where he might be? If he's anything like me it'll probably be hard to find him once he's back in the woods, so I'd like to at least have a place to start."
The man thought for a moment before answering. "He said something about heading to Burgess after he was done here, you might check there."
Merida nodded. That'd make sense, to go to the bigger town before heading back into the wilderness for a while, she'd done it before. "Thank you, I'll keep an eye out for him. What did you say your name was?"
The helpful vendor laughed. "Getting all sociable now are you, Miss Merida?"
Merida grinned and responded, "No, but everyone's got to have friends somewhere, right?"
"I suppose so. And the name's Flint."
As she walked away, Merida was really excited for the first time in a while. For the first time since she'd left, she'd have friends, people to talk to. She may not find Hiccup this time, but if she kept asking around, she'd be sure to find him eventually. And in the meantime, she could keep looking for other adventurers in need of company. She mounted Angus, and urging him into a fast trot, set off for Burgess.