A/N: yes, you read the title correctly, and saw the photo shopped picture right- pretty good huh? I tried to get the characters to a similar size. Anyways- It IS a Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fic! I haven't really read any of the other's before, namely because I haven't seen Rise of the Guardians until recently. So until I saw it, I didn't know what Jack was like and I didn't want to spoil the movie. But, I have now, and might I say- it was another awesomely made Dreamworks movie! Wait a go Dreamworks! :) Too bad you've said you'll never do a cross over with Disney. All because of ugh. "Rivalry." Emphasis on rivalry. (If you hadn't noticed. :p) Marvel and Disney did it, it turned out alright- why can't you?! IT'D BE THE BEST THING EVER!

Um, anyways, now that I'm done ranting-

Disclamer: Well, I don't want to be like Jacob Two-Two so- reread the authors notes if ya ABSOLUTELY have to. :p

(Don't hate me, but ONE MORE THING, I'm placing Rise of the Guardians in a different time just so that it all makes more sense. Everyone will still be the same, it'll just be in a different time setting. You know, cause ROTG is set in our time, and obviously the others aren't.)

Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Chapter One: The Beginnings

Frost Comes a Nippin'

Darkness. That's the first thing I remember. It was dark, and it was cold- and I was scared. But then, then I saw the moon. It was so big, and it was so bright! It seemed to...chase the darkness away...and when it did, I wasn't scared anymore.

A young man with frosty white hair, icy blue eyes, a blue hooded sweater, brown pants, and no shoes, was drawn out of the icy cold water of a lake. He floated up gently and stared at the huge full moon. Then he slowly got lowered down on the ice. He wobbled slightly from being unbalanced, but caught himself.

Why I was there, and what I was meant to do, I didn't even know. And a part of me wondered if I ever will.

After staring up at the moon, the young man carefully stepped forwards. He slid a bit, but didn't fall. He started looking around while he walked, when suddenly he felt something strange touch his foot. He looked down to see a staff. He looked at it curiously and touched his other foot to it. Surprisingly, frost appeared as if by magic at the spot where it touched. He bent down and picked up the staff. More frost appeared in a flowery pattern in the grooves of the staff. Surprised even more, he let one hand go of the staff and it hit the ice. Amazingly, it created frost on the ice similar to the frost on his staff. He looked at a near by tree and touched the hooked end of the staff to the tree.

More frost. He tried it on another tree. Again, the same thing happened! His excitement began to overcome him, and he began to skate around lighting up the wooded lake with beautifully patterned frost. Suddenly in the midst of his fun, he was lifted up by wind! He tried to reach out to stop but he didn't. Then he was just...floating. In the air. High above the now frosty ground below. But that ended almost as soon as it began. He free fell until he hit a large branch. Despite being a little injured, he laughed. He hadn't had that much fun since...well...never mind. He stopped laughing as something caught his eye in the distance. A town. There were lights. He could hear the people, thanks to the wind.

He let the wind clumsily take him to it. He landed and he tried to balance out, but he fell. As quickly as he fell he was right back up. He turned his attention to the people. He laughed a bit as they walked by. He noticed someone coming towards him. "Hello!" he said happily. He saw a woman talking with someone near a house. "Good evening ma'am." She didn't seem to hear him. "Ma'am?" he said. He was about to go further, when a young child was walking up to him. "Oh, uh, hi, e-excuse me, could you tell me where I am?" he asked. But he didn't get an answer.

The answer he got was an unpleasant feeling in his stomach as the child...ran right through him. Like a he was a ghost. He stood up instantly in shock as he tried to restore his breathing pattern. But then another person walked through him. Then another...and another. He was invisible. "Hello!" he called out. No one answered. "Hello?" he said more quietly.

My name, is Jack Frost. How do I know that? The moon told me so. That was all he ever told me.

Jack stumbled backwards away from the village in dread of never being noticed or heard and into the forest.

That was a long...long time ago.

About a hundred years or so later, the North Pole was thriving with action. A big man with a white beard and heavy Scottish or Irish accent- or was it something else? Hm, let's settle on Russian. Um, anyways, the man put down a large cube of ice. He then chain sawed a chunk off and laughed. "Still waitin' for cookies!" he said happily. He went to his desk and grabbed a tiny hammer and nail. He just barely dodged a couple of tiny elves carrying a tray of cookies. He started humming to himself as he chipped away at the ice. Once he finished, he blew frost off of the tiny ice train and set it on its track. It moved with the magic. The man laughed excitedly. "Yes!" he said.

The two elves finally managed to hop up on the table with the cookies. One of them looked at the other and pointed a finger at him. Then he pointed at the plate. The other elf sighed and drooled out cookie crumbs from his mouth on to the plate. "Ah, finally!" said the large man. Luckily for them, he hadn't noticed. The man took a cookie and munched happily. He laughed as his train glided on its tracks and flew gracefully off them as it turned into a jet.

This man, was North. Or as he is known around the world...Santa Clause. The gift giver on Christmas Eve.

The train was flying by the door to the workshop room, when suddenly the door burst open smashing the train to bits on the floor. "Ah!" cried North. He looked at who came in. It was a one of his yeti workers. "Ah!" cried the yeti. North cried again, then the yeti cried again.

North sighed. "How many times have I told you to KNOCK?" he said. The yeti started speaking in his language and gestured out side the doors. North looked at him. "What? The glow?" he said questioningly. He grabbed his sword and headed out.

"Shoooee with your pointy hats. Why are you always under boot?" said North as he entered the meeting hall. He pushed passed his two yeti's and stared at the sight. In the room was a large globe of the world. Little lights pin pointed all of the believers of the world. But something was wrong. The lights were going out. "What is this..." wondered North. "Have you checked the axis? Is rotation balanced?" the yeti's nodded.

Suddenly a dark and eerie wind picked up. A dark shadow loomed over the globe. The elves scattered as North's eye's widened and the room became darkened. The dark shadows circled then split apart in a quick motion. Soon the shape of a man with a pointed head could be seen. A man that was all to familiar to North and the yeti's. Then it disappeared. "Can it be..." said North. "Dingle!" About five elves stood at attention as one pointed to himself. Then they looked at each other confused. "Make preparations. We are goin' to have company."

North turned a handle on the globe's platform, and turned it ninety degrees. An aurora borealis appeared all over the globe and extended into the skies.

In a not so far away tower, little bird like fairy's returned with little children's teeth. Their leader, Toothania, but you could call her Tooth, was getting all excited about a child's first tooth. "Look how well she flossed!" she finished. A little fairy got her attention. Tooth gasped, and looked out on the horizon. The Northern Lights. North. Within minutes, she and her fellow fairy's flew out towards the workshop.

"My fellow guardians, it is our job to watch over the children of the world, and keep them safe. To bring wonder, hope, and dreams. And so I've called you all here for one reason, and one reason only. The children are in danger." said North.

Near by, high in the sky, a small golden figure spread his golden sand across the world bringing sweet dreams to all of the children. Then he noticed the lights. He gathered up his sand into a plane, and headed off.

"The enemy we have kept at bay for centuries, has finally decided to strike back. We alone can stop him."

On the workshop grounds, a hole appeared in the snow. Then a large rabbit, the size of a grown man, hopped out. "Oh it's freezing!" he complained in an Australian accent. He hopped towards the workshop. "Oh I can't feel my feet!" he bitterly repeated. This was the Easter Bunny. Or Bunnymund. But you could call him Bunny for short.

"Sandy! Thank you for coming!" said North. Sandy floated down and gave him an annoyed look. "I know, I know. But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here, unless it was serious." said North. Tooth stopped talking to her little fairy's and listened in. "The boogey man was here." North said quietly. "At the pole."

Tooth gasped. "Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?" she said and exchanged worried glances with Sandy, or otherwise known as, the Sandman. "Yes." said North. "There was black sand, covering the globe-" Bunny interrupted.

"Wh-wh-what do you mean black sand?" he asked.

"And then, a shadow!"

"Hold on, hold on! I thought you said you saw Pitch." said Bunny. He was taking notes while North spoke.

"Well, uh, not exactly..." said North. He scratched the back of his head.

"Not exactly? Can you believe this guy?" Bunny asked Sandy. A question mark formed above the golden Sandman's head as he shrugged. "Yeah, you said it Sandy." chuckled Bunny.

"Look," North said seriously, "he's up to something very bad. I feel it." he glanced down. "In my belly!" he said quietly as he grasped his stomach. Bunny gave him a look. "Hang on, hang on, yo-you mean to say, you summoned me here three days before Easter, because of your belly?" he said. "If-if I did this to you three days before Christmas-"

"Bunny," North said silencing the rabbit, "Easter- is not Christmas ha-ha!" he finished and grabbed an egg from Bunny. The large human sized rabbit laughed unamused. "Here we go." he began.

In the background, Sandy watched them in disbelief. He shook his head and looked at his left hand which was holding a cup of tea- that an elf was drinking out of. He moved the tea cup away and frowned at the little creature as he fell from the table. Then something caught his eye.

He gazed at the window to see the giant full moon shining through. He looked at North and Bunny, who were still arguing by the way, and pointed to the moon. They didn't notice him. He huffed silently. He couldn't exactly speak. He tried whistling, but the only thing that happened was a music note appeared above his head. It wasn't often, but there were very rare occasion when Sandy wished he could speak. Ugh, how could they not notice the moon? He tried waving his arms again but as Tooth interrupted their little banter, only a flag began waving above Sandy's head.

"Tooth," said North, she turned to him, "can't you see we're trying to argue?"

"Sorry!" she said playfully. "Not all of us get to work one night a year- am I right Sandy?" she leaned to her left to look at him behind North. He smiled at the fact of finally being noticed. An arrow that was pointing to the moon appeared on his head and he pointed at it. For one split second, he thought she noticed. She gasped. "San de go, sector two!" she buzzed on ignoring him. Ugh.

"Pitch died out with the dark ages, and we made sure." began Bunny. Sandy huffed in silence again. "I know he was here. We are in a serious situation!" said North. As he was speaking, Sandy noticed an elf hanging out holding a mushroom. With his eyes narrowed, Sandy stalked over to the little pointy creature. He grabbed it with it's hat, and held it out to his left. He shook it vigorously until the others looked at him. He formed a crescent moon above his head and pointed to the window- still glaring.

North's eyes widened. He looked at the window. "Ah! Man in Moon! Sandy, why didn't you say something?" he said. Sandy shook his head and huffed as sand spewed out of his ears. North turned to the Man in the Moon. "It's been a long time old friend! What is big news?" he asked.

They all gathered around a large round table like structure with a design on it. The shadow of a man with a pointed nose and tall body appeared. The guardians looked at it in shock. "It is Pitch." said Bunny.

North gave him a look that said, "I told you so" and patted his belly. "Manny, what must we do?" he asked. A strong moon beam lit up the centre circle on the table. The circle opened up and was pushed down. A platform pushed up holding a large crystal. "Oh guys, you know what this means?" said Tooth.

"He's chosen a new guardian!" North said amazed. Bunny looked at him. "What?" he said. "Why?"

"It must be big deal. Manny thinks we need help." said North.

"Since when do we need help?" said Bunny. Clearly he wasn't keen on the idea. However, Tooth was. "I wonder who it's gonna be!" she said excitedly. Sandy smiled. A four leaf clover appeared above his head. "Maybe the Leprechaun?" Tooth said for him.

Bunny held his hands together and hoped with all his might that it wasn't the Ground Hog. North waited in excitement as the crystal began to glow. A figure of a hooded man in a sweater with a staff appeared. North looked pleased. "Jack Frost." he said. The little faerie's swooned. "Uh, I take back. The Ground Hog's fine." he said.

Tooth snapped out of making a dreamy expression. "Wh-a-uh- as long as he helps to uh, protect the children. Right?" she said smiling.

"JACK FROST?! He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water parts, and, and mess with my egg hunts! He's an irresponsible, selfish-"

"Guardian." finished North.

"Jack Frost is many things, but he is NOT a guardian!" said Bunny.

Meanwhile, in a small town, frost was appearing along the streets. People slid, and a child got his tongue stuck to a cup of water. Other mischief happenings occurred as the one and only Jack Frost laughed along the way. He floated up a large post. "That looks fine." he said to no one. "Hey, wind!" the small breeze soon became as strong as a hurricane. "Take me home!" Jack shouted. He flew from the post, and into the cloudy sky. He began to descend to the town. "Snow day!" he shouted.

He flew through town carefully avoiding having to fly through people- he hated that sick feeling. It ruined his moments. He flew to the pond where he came from, in which he called home, and flew past a young boy. His wind had knocked the book he was reading out of his hands. The boy ran after it and picked it up. Jack noticed him and sailed down beside him. Not that the boy noticed.

Jack saw the title of the book, Mysterious Times. "Huh that looks interesting. Good book?" he knew he wouldn't get an answer though. In a couple of seconds, the boys friends caught up to him. Jack laughed. "You're welcome!" he said happily.

"I hope we can find eggs with all this snow!" said one of the boys. The kids unlocked a fence and walked through. The first young boy had his nose in the book. "It says here that they've found Bigfoot hair samples and footprints! In Don Broch! That's like, super close!" he said.

"Here we go again." sighed the second boy.

"You saw those footprints too Claud, he's out there!" said the first boy.

"Those were just our neighbours trying to give us a scare when we were camping." said Claud.

"Ha! Scared? They should have known that the "Bigfoot" prank was a bad idea since Jamie was there." said the other boy. The first boy looked at him. "Hey. You don't know that it doesn't exist!" he said.

"But we don't know that it does!" said Claud.

"Hm, good point. But they do. Yeti's anyway..." said Jack. "I've never met a Bigfoot."

Once again, they didn't hear him and carried on. "That's what you said about aliens!" said the third boy, who's name was Caleb.

"And the Easter Bunny!" laughed Claud.

"Well, the Easter Bunny is real." Jamie said. He played around with his home made sled. Jack walked back and forth on the fence. "Oh he's real alright. Real annoying, real grumpy, and really full of himself." he said.

"Come on, you'll believe anything!" laughed Claud. A young blonde girl came out of a near by house. "Easter Bunny! Hop! Hop! Hop!" she said happily. Jack guessed that this was Jamie's sister. They resembled each other fairly well. "Ow!" suddenly the girl fell as their family dog accidentally knocked her over. She began to tear up. "Mom, Sophie fell again!" called Jamie. A young woman stepped out and took care of her daughter. "You okay Sophie?" she asked.

"Hey Jamie, put on your hat. You don't want Jack Frost snippin' at your nose." she said. She placed a toque on Jamie's head as he turned around and sighed. "Who's Jack Frost?" he asked.

"No one honey, it's just an expression." she said. Jack blinked. "Hey!" but he knew it was no use. No one believed in him here. He tried to ignore that sinking feeling and tried to make the best of things. The kids went back out of the fence Jamie with his sled. Jack jumped down and picked up some snow and made a snowball. "Who's Jack Frost?" he said. He blew on the snowball causing it to frost over. He threw it. The ball hit Jamie smack in the neck. Invisible blue sparkles floated around his face. He began to laugh. "Okay, who threw that?" he asked.

"Well, it wasn't Bigfoot kiddo." said Jack.

Jamie then made a snow ball. He threw it at one of the other kids who fell face first into a pile of snow. Then he threw another one at a young girl named Pippa, knocking her down as well. "Jamie Bennet, no fair!" she pouted. Jamie laughed. "You threw first!" he said.

The war was on.

The kids all scrambled about throwing and dodging. Well, they tried to dodge anyways. "Alright, free for all!" said Jack. He loved snowball fights. "Who needs ammo?"

Suddenly a snowball hit another girl Jack hadn't noticed before. She didn't look too friendly. She turned around and glared at the others. "Mont, I hit Cupcake!" Pippa said quietly. The boy with blond hair and glasses pointed at her worriedly. "She hit Cupcake." he said.

"You hit Cupcake..." Claud whimpered. Jamie tried to hide under his toboggan. He just had to be the lucky one to be one foot away from her. She growled and was about to destroy a large snowman head above Jamie. He hoped with all his life that he wouldn't be the one she dumped it on. He loved snow and all, but that was a bit much. He hated it when it went down his shirt. Suddenly a snowball came out of nowhere and hit her in the face.

The kids braced themselves. "Did you throw that?" Runt asked Claud. He held his hands behind his back. "Nope." he said.

"It wasn't me." said Pippa. Jamie dared to peer out from his sled. He lowered it and gave a look of curiousness, as Cupcake's expression suddenly changed from anger, to happiness. She also began laughing.

Soon all the kids were running from Cupcake playfully in order to avoid her giant snowball. The one that use to be the snowman's head. "Whoa, slippery." said Jack as he ran along side Jamie who was in the lead with his sled. Jack accidentally made some ice, in which Jamie slid upon. He fell on to his sled, and zoomed off a snow ramp. "Huh? Jamie stop!" Claud called.

Jamie just yelled in response. Jack created an ice path for Jamie as he zoomed through he town. He couldn't control his sled at that point, but hoped for the best as he closely dodged people, horses and- well, everything really. "Hang on kid, I got ya." said Jack. He guided the boy around some fruit stands. "No, no, nonononono!" Jamie managed to say as he dodged more things and people. He just barely slid under a person and her dog's leash. Jamie bumped into a man who was helping carrying some furniture out of an old unused house. "Sorry! Can't stop!" Jamie shouted frantically. He gasped as he was coming up close to a large Stallion horse with a large carriage behind it. Jamie closed his eyes in a split second of fright.

In that second however, he felt himself turning left just in time. Then he flew off another snow ramp and high into the air. Everything seemed to slow down for him. His friends looked up in awe and wonder. Then Jamie crash landed next to a statue. Jamie lay in the snow next to his sled. He blinked as the short pain drifted away. "Whoa, that looks serious." said Claud. They rushed over. "Are you alright?" asked Pippa.

Jamie slowly got up. "Whoooa..." he laughed. "Did you guys see that! It was amazing! I slid and did a jump, and then I slid under ah!" he gave a shout of surprise as a red couch came zooming in. It looked like it squished him. The kids winced. Jack blinked. "Oops..." he said. He saw Jamie blink for a moment then he shot up his hand. "Cool my tooth!" he said.

"That means catch!" said Claud.

"Oh no..." sighed Jack.

"Toothfairy catch!" said Jamie.

"No!"

"I gotta go put this under my pillow!" said Jamie. The kids began to leave the scene. "No, okay, hold on, hold on, what about the fun we just had? That wasn't the Toothfairy, that was me!" shouted Jack. It was no use. He jumped up and stood in Jamie's path. "What's a guy gotta do to get a little attention around here-" That didn't stop him though. He walked right through Jack like he was a ghost.

Jack sighed. That sick feeling always ruined his fun. No matter what time of year, or day. He walked away from the kids.

Later that evening, Jamie still had so much energy after his slide through town. He was telling his little sister all about it, along with arm motions. "And then, BAM! This sofa hit me! And, and see?" he pointed to the hole where his tooth was. "My tooth came out!" Sophie awed and giggled at his story. She didn't really understand much of it, but she liked stories. She liked the part where Jamie went flying.

"Alright, did you put the tooth under your pillow?" asked their mother who'd just come in. Jamie leaned over and blew out his candle. "Yeah." he said while his sister was still giggling.

"Now don't try and stay up all night to see her Jamie." said his mother. Jamie sighed. "But I can do it this time!" he said. He turned to Sophie. "You want to help me Soph? We can hide and see the Toothfairy!" Sophie started clapping. "Hide! Hide! Hide!" she said excitedly.

Their mother lifted up his sister. "No dear." she said. Jamie sighed again. "Alright..." he said. He glanced at his window. "Huh. Frost...Hey mom?" he said. She turned before shutting the door. "Who is Jack Frost exactly? You said it was an expression?" His mother laughed. He gave her a questioning look. "Yes, I did say that. Well Jamie, to find that out you might have to do a little digging. Maybe look in some of your books." she said, smiling. Jamie frowned. "Okay..." he sighed. He could just never get a straight answer from her with questions like that. He got out one of his odd fact books.

"Tomorrow, Jamie." said his mother. He sighed again. "Read, don't read, what do ya want from me?" he said. His mother laughed. "Oh Jamie. Good night dear." She kissed him on the head. "Good night mom." he said.

Outside of the house, hanging upside down and looking into the window, was Jack. He smiled at Jamie's frustration. "Kids." he thought. He got up and walked along the rooftop. "If there's something I'm doing wrong...could you just...tell me what it is?" he asked the moon. "Because I've tried- everything, and no one ever sees me." He got no response. "You put me here. The least you can do is tell me...tell me why." he finished.

He frowned and walked away. He walked across another roof. Suddenly, golden sand streams began to appear. Jack watched one swirl around him. He chuckled. "Right on time Sandman." he said.

Of Rights and Arrows

Some say destiny is tied to the land. As much apart of the people as they are of it. Other's say fate is woven together like a cloth. So that one's destiny intertwines with many other's. It's the one thing we search for. Our fight to change. Some never find it. But there are some... who are led.

Some people... like me. My name is Merida.

The story of how my father to the demon bear Mord'u became legend. I became a sister to three new brothers. The princes Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Wee devils more like. They could get away with murder. I could never get away with anything! I was the princess.

I was the example. I got duties, responsibilities, expectations! My whole life was planned out! Preparing for the day I became- well my mother. She's in charge of every single day of my life!

"Project!" said her mother, Queen Elinor. Merida did as she was told. "Annunciate, you must be understood from anywhere in the room!" Elinor said loudly. She was walking up the staircase to the second level of the room. "Or it's all for not!" she finished.

"This is all for not." muttered Merida.

"I heard that!" Merida sighed. "From the top!"

"A princess must be knowledgeable about her kingdom." explained Elinor. She turned around from the board only to find her daughter scribbling. She lifted the page. "She does nit doodle." she said strictly.

She also had a mandolin practice. That was excruciating. She just irritably strummed the notes. "That's a C dear." said Elinor. Merida scoffed silently.

While holding a hawk, Merida tried to feed it. The bird shot off her arm and flying at the king. Merida couldn't help but laugh. It was such a funny sight seeing her father being tackled by a bird! Her father was a big man at that. "A princess does not chortle!" interrupted Elinor. Merida sighed. Maybe the accidental snorting was a bit much, but she couldn't help it!

Yeah, yeah. A princess rises early, is compassionate, patient. Cautious, clean. Let's not forget that a princess strives for- well, perfection. But- every once in a while, there's a day when I don't have to be a princess!

Merida got up happily for once. She got dressed, and grabbed her bow and arrows. She made her way through the town's people on the stairs. Not at all princess like. This day was special. No lessons. No expectations. A day when anything can happen!

A day when I could change my fate.

She jumped off of the stairwell, surprising people, and got on her horse, Angus. "Yah!" she screamed happily. They road off as fast as Angus could go! Through the forest Merida got her arrows ready for fire! She had targets set up all over the place. She always hit them. Dead centre. She was that good. While on a horse!

She cried out as happy as ever.

While resting on a cliff, and carving a design into her bow, she saw an eagle. Then she saw- it. That peek. Only the bravest men climbed it. Then she got an idea. She started to climb.

She only stumbled a bit, and that was close to the top. Then she'd made it! The peek was by a beautiful water fall. Since she was thirsty, she cautiously walked over and cupped her hands under the spray. She took a drink. Accomplishment instantly took over. She cheered as loudly as she could! She had just climbed it!

But all good has to come to an end eventually. Getting off of her horse at the stable, she realised something. "I'm starvin'. You're hungry too I guess." she said to Angus. He flicked his tail in her face. That caused for a mouthful of hair. "Pfft! Oats it is then." she said, spitting out hair. She led him to the food.

Merida made her way into the kitchen area, taking some food along the way to the table. Making sure no one noticed, she spun around and took a plate of desserts. Mostly for her brothers. Her father was in the middle of telling his legend.

"Biggest bear you've ever seen!" he said with his arms up. "His hide levelled with the weapons of fallin' warriors! His face scared! With one dead eye. I threw me sword aaaand-"

"Whooosh!" Merida said loudly. She suddenly stood in between her brothers which startled them. "With one swipe his sword shattered! Then chomp! Dad's leg was clean off! Down the monster's throat it went..." Merida finished her father's story.

"Aw that's my favourite part!" he said dramatically.

"Mord'u has never been since." said Merida, she was stepping just behind her father. "And is roaming the wilds, waitin' for his chance of revenge."

"Rraaaaaahrrrr! Raaar! Raarr! Rarr! Raaaaa!" she screamed. She then walked over and sat at the table with her family. "Let'im return. I'll finish what I gutted in the first place." said Fergus. Merida placed her bow on the table. "Merida. A princess will not place her weapons on the table." said Elinor. Merida groaned. "Muuuuummm." she moaned. "It's just my bow."

"A princess should not have weapons in my eyes." finished Elinor.

"Leave her be. Princess or not. Learnin' to fight is essential." said Fergus.

"Mum, you'll never guess what I did today." said Merida.

"Hm?" said Elinor.

"I climbed the Cone's Tooth, and drank from the Fire Falls." Merida said. All three of her brothers looked up in amazement. "Fire Falls. They say only the ancient kings were brave enough to drink the fire." said Fergus, Merida made a face and they began to laugh.

"What did you do dear?" asked Elinor. Had she not heard? Her nose was deeply into those pages she was looking over. Maybe she hadn't. But then again... Merida sighed. "Nothin' mum." she sighed.

"Hungry aren't we?" said Elinor.

"Muuuuuum."

"You get dreadful collywobbles. Fergus. Would you look at your daughter's plate." said Elinor. Fergus looked. He didn't get what the problem was. "So what?" he said. Just then, a two dogs came charging at him.

"Don't let them li-ugh. Boys. Not- don't just play with your haggis." said Elinor. The middle boy stabbed his with a fork and held it in one of his brother's face. The boy looked as though he was ready to barf. "Now how do you know if you don't like it if you don't try it? That's just a wee sheep's stomach. It's delicious. " said Elinor.

Then the mail was brought to her. "Thank you Maudie." said Elinor as she took the envelopes. This was her chance. "Pst." whispered Merida. Her brothers looked at her. She pointed to the breads on the plate and slowly put them under the table. She eyed her mother carefully. "Ah ha. Their responses no doubt. Fergus." Fergus and Merida looked at her. "They've all accepted." she said.

Merida was confused. Accepted? What? She looked at her mother, then at Fergus, and back at her mother. "Who's accepted what mother?" she asked.

"Boys. You are excused." said Elinor. The boys all scampered away to who knows where. One of them tripped spilling buns everywhere in which the dogs took to notice. They left Fergus and went after the buns. "Wwhhhaaat did I do now?" asked Merida, turning back to her parents.

"Your father has somethin' to discuss with you." Elinor said looking at Fergus. He spit out his drink. "Fergus." said Elinor.

"Oh um." said Fergus. He cleared his throat. Probably more than needed. "Uhm. Merida." he said, a bit awkwardly. He paused as he opened his mouth. Elinor sighed. "The lords are presenting their sons as suitors for your betrothed!" she explained.

"What?!" gasped Merida.

"The clans have accepted!" finished Elinor.

"Daaaad!" Merida screamed.

"What? I- I- y-y- she- Elinor!" said Fergus.

"Honestly Merida. I don't know why you're reacting this way." said Elinor. Merida let out sounds of frustration. Then her head went down on the table. "This year each clan will present a suitor to compete in the games, for your hand." said Elinor.

Merida looked up and slammed a fist on the table. "I suppose a princess just does what she's told!" she yelled.

"A princess does not raise her voice." Elinor said strictly. "Merida. This is what you've been preparin' for your whole life."

"No! It's what you've been preparin' for my whole life!" Merida stood up angrily. "I won't go through with it! You can't make me!" she stomped out with her bow.

"Merida." said Elinor, angry now herself. She looked at Fergus. "Oh. Merida!" he called after her. He got up and was about to leave- but apparently his shoes were tied together. He tripped tumbling the table over. The dogs came back for the food. "Booooys!" he yelled. Elinor got up and went after Merida.

Merida was in her room angrily beating her sword against wood. She saw Elinor. "Mother! Suitors! Marriage!" she cried.

"Once. There was an ancient kingdom." began Elinor. Merida groaned. "Muuum!" she said. She fell flat on her bed. "Ancient kingdom." she sighed. She flopped to the floor.

"It's name long forgotten. Ruled by a wise and fair king who was much beloved. And when he grew old, he divided the kingdom among his four sons. That they should be the pillars of which the peace of the land rested. But, the oldest prince, wanted to rule the land for himself. He followed his own path and the kingdom fell. To war, and chaos, and ruin." said Elinor.

"That's a nice story." mocked Merida.

"It's not just a story Merida. Legends are lessons, they ring with truth!"

"Ugh. Mum." said Merida.

"I would advise you to make your peace with this. The clans are comin' to present their suitors." said Elinor.

"It's not fair!"

"Merida. It's marriage. It's not the end of the world." Elinor was ending the discussion and began to leave. Merida walked after her. She wanted to say more, but the words weren't coming out. So, she slammed her door shut.

Later that night, Elinor was sewing a tapestry of her, Fergus, and Merida, and muttering to herself. "You're mutterin'." said Fergus. Elinor looked up. "I don't mutter." she said.

"Aye ya do. Ya mutter lass. When somethin's troublin' you."

"I blame you. Stubbornness. Is entirely from your side of the family." said Elinor.

"Oh. I take it the talk didn't go too well then." said Fergus.

"Ugh. I don't know what to do." sighed Elinor.

"Speak to her dear." suggested Fergus.

"I do speak to her. She just doesn't listen." said Elinor.

"Come on now! Pretend I'm Merida. Speak to me. What would you say?" said Fergus. He pulled up a chair and sat down. Elinor stared at her husband for a moment. "Wh-I can't do this." she said.

"Sure ya can." said Fergus. Elinor gave him a look. "There! There! That's my queen! Right, now." he suddenly changed from Fergus to a weird version of Merida. "I don't want to get married! I want to stay single and let my hair fly through the wind as I ride through the gland! Firing arrows into the sunset!" he said in a weird high voice. He looked at Elinor expectantly.

She stared at him in disbelief, but got into character. She took a deep breath. "Merida. All this work, all the times spent preparin' you, schoolin' you, givin' you everythin' we never had. I ask you what do you expect us to do?"

"Call off the gatherin'! Would that kill them? You're the queen, you can just tell the lords, the princess is not ready for this! And in fact, she might not ever be ready for this! So that's that. Good day to you! Will expect your declarations of war in the mornin'." Meanwhile, Merida herself was thinking about what she would say to Elinor. She was cleaning up the stable.

"I understand this must all seem, unfair, even I had reservations when I faced betrothal." Fergus glanced at her realising what she just said. "Eh?" he said.

"But we can't just run away from who we are."

"I don't want my life to be over! I want freedom!"

"But are you willin' to pay the price your freedom will cost?"

"I'm not doin' any of this to hurt you."

"If you could just try to see what I do. I do act of love."

"But it's my life! It's- ugh. I'm just not ready."

"I think it's i- if you could just-"

"I think I could make you understand if you would just-"

"Listen!"

"Listen!" Merida was actually talking to Angus. He whinnied. "I swear Angus, this isn't goin' to happen." she said. She petted Angus. "Not if I have any say in it."

A/N: It's finished! These first two chapters will just be the introductions of the characters. I split it in two because my word processor said it was like, twenty-five pages. SO, that would have been REALLY long... Don't worry, chapter two will be much more interesting.

On a side note-

Luckily I had most of this down before I came up with this idea in case I needed it. Except for ROTG. Lol.

Hope you enjoyed it anyhow. Please R & R! :)