Title: Once Upon a Time That Winter
Author: Tsubame Ongaku
Fandom: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons (AU)
Pairing: Merida and Jack Frost
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Characters belong to their respective creators.
Summary: She could never forget him. He could never forget her. She taught him that there are some things worth being serious about and he taught her that there are some things worth dying for.
Notes: My first encounter with the fandom was from the most unlikeliest source. My friend had started talking about it and I had just finished watching, "The Rise of the Guardians." After that, there was really no looking back. This is my first time dabbling on a Western Animation fandom. All of my previous works featured anime fandoms, so this is something new. However, I still enjoyed myself.
This is inspired a bit by the Jarida video in youtube. I think the song was called, "I can do better." If not, at least I remember hearing that in the lyrics.
Check out some spoilers of the next parts of the series at the bottom of the page: Once Upon a Time That Spring, Once Upon a Time That Summer and Once Upon a Time That Autumn.
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Disclaimer: The World you are about to Enter is Completely fictional. The characters belong to their respective creators. Any events or characters resembling real people is purely coincidental… or I am just psychic. :D
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Part 1: Once Upon a Time That Winter
By Tsubame Ongaku
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Their first meeting had been when they were children.
Merida had became curious of a group of travelers that had decided to settle in their land for a while.
Jack's family was one of them. Merida would sometimes go off by herself with the other children to meet these settlers. Her father didn't see anything wrong in her making friends, often to her mother's chagrin. Being childhood friends, you'd probably think that their first meeting could already spell romance in the air.
On the contrary, at the beginning you couldn't even get to spell the 'R'.
The first time Merida met Jack, he accidentally threw a snowball to her face. If that wasn't enough, he called her bright red hair a wig. So their first meeting was as expected. They came to hate each other's guts.
Jack thought Merida couldn't take a joke and it was her fault walking into an ongoing snowball fight. Merida thought Jack was a immature, disrespectful jerk. He couldn't easily forgive him for making fun of her hair.
But they continued to see each other over the years, not that they enjoyed it. But they decided on a silent truce, since they had no choice but to tolerate one another. However, it was the start of many years of competition.
On the outside there didn't seem to be anything special about Jack. But Jack was different. He was the prankster. the one that was always the center of attention and the one the other boys turned to as the leader. Merida was the girls' role model. She was the only one that could compete with any boy. Whether it was archery or something as benign as a burping competition. She refused to lose. Majority of these competitions were began with Jack. Always as a joke, but Merida never backed down from competition especially if it was one to prove her superiority to someone like Jack.
Merida arrived at the settlement on her fourteenth Winter Season still dressed in the clothes her mother had forced her to wear to meet the royal family of a neighboring kingdom. She didn't have time to dress before leaving the castle since she left after another argument with her mother about her behavior while entertaining their guests.
Her arrival had earned a lot of stares because it was actually the first time Merida ever visited them in clothes fit for a princess. Her ability to out shoot and out climb the boys sometimes made them forget that she was a princess. They all stared at her quietly and uncomfortably. It was only then that Merida realized what she had done. She reminded them of the divide. She reminded them that she was not like them. Something that took her years to take away, she brought back in just a second.
It was Jack that broke the uncomfortable silence.
He pushed through the crowd of staring people and began to laugh as he saw her. "What the heck are you wearing? You can't seriously be thinking of racing me in that. I can just imagine you just falling on your butt. This is definitely going to be an easy win."
The shame was forgotten almost instantly upon hearing that. Her Scottish temper getting the better of her again, except this time that was exactly what Jack was playing at. "Say that again after you beat me. I can beat you wearing anything I want. I am giving myself a handicap, that is all. That way, beating you will be so much sweeter."
In a matter of minutes, the two competitors were on their horses and getting ready to take off. The crowd at either side of them, cheering their favorite on. The boys cheering for Jack and telling him not to lose to a girl. The girls all cheering for Merida and telling her to definitely not lose to a boy.
One of the boys, went on top of the fence to start the race. "Ready. Set! Go!"
Then they were off. The terms were to circle the territory three times before returning to camp to finish. At first, Merida was definitely at a disadvantage especially when she was still being encased in a corset. Jack was ahead by a meter or two. It didn't suit her well.
"What's the matter, Princess?! Is that all you got?" He said as his horse jumped over the fence with ease.
Merida jumped over the same fence though not as easily as she would like.
Jack saw this and laughed. He continued to speed ahead and jumping over more obstacles, he turned around to taunt her some more. However, he almost fell off his horse from what she did next. She had removed the headgear she had on that hid most of her hair, but that wasn't what shocked him. It was the huge gap in front of her dress that she made to loosen the ties of her corset. It was too far for him to see but he could swear that he could see a small patch of skin through that hole.
He was too dumbfounded to say anything, so he turned away and concentrated on riding his horse to victory. Unfortunately for him, Merida was catching up and fast now that she was free of the stupid corset. It all happened so fast, that it took a moment for Jack to notice that Merida was now leading.
"What's the matter, Jack?! Is that all you got?" She threw his taunt back at him.
Jack smiled and took that as a challenge. "Did you hear that, old pal?" he asked his horse. "Lets show her what you can really do." As if to respond to his enthusiasm, his horse pushed faster in a sudden burst of energy.
They were now neck and neck. He turned to her and gave an arrogant smirk. This continued until their last lap around the territory and they were on their way back to the settlement for the finish line. Just when the race was on its last leg and they saw the finish line in the distance, Merida suddenly told her horse to stop and turned back.
"Hey! Merida! What are you doing? What about the race -"
He turned to see what Merida turned back for. Merida stopped at the side of the road and wiped back a bit of the snow to reveal a little boy half-frozen under the snow. Jack turned back to the finish line and saw the other kids waving and shouting to ask why they suddenly stopped.
"Hey, we have to go get someone to help. There should be a doctor back at the finish line. We can -"
"This boy is someone's son or brother! Do you expect me to just leave him for a stupid race?" she shouted at him the hand on her side was shaking. This little boy was only a little older than her own siblings. How could be possibly think that she could just leave him there even just to get help. "I'm taking him back to camp."
She struggled to carry him to her horse. Jack jumped off his horse and took the boy from her, his expression solemn. The most solemn she had ever seen him in the seven years she'd known him. "I never said anything about leaving him behind. Come on. There should be a doctor at the finish line."
"I can carry him."
"I know. I'm sure you can even carry two or three kids at the same time if you put your mind to it, but right now we don't have time. We have to get this kid help."
He was right and Merida knew that. So, just that time she willingly puts her competitiveness on the shelf.
There was no victor that day. Both of them waited outside the healer's tent waiting for any news of the little boy they rescued.
Were they too late? Was the boy never going to recover?
They waited side by side, something that never happened before. Jack had draped his cloak to cover her since she tore a hole through her clothes. "You take it. You need it more than I do. What were you thinking tearing your clothes like that? Are you stupid? You're going to freeze to death," he told her hiding his blush.
"Thanks," she said smiling. She welcomed the warmth the cloak provided. It didn't hit her that it was cold until he pointed it out. The worrying had probably distracted her enough to keep her from noticing the cold. "I didn't think you care."
Jack turned around looking quite surprised. "I didn't think I need to tell you that I do."
It was the first time Merida ever felt her heart beat so fast for someone. Hearing that made her happy. She grinned and gave him a playful shove. "I forgot to tell you this earlier. Thanks. Thanks for helping me. I'm glad you were there."
"No problem. You should really thank your hotheadedness. If it wasn't for that race, who knows how long it would have took us to find that boy." Who knows if they would have found him at all before it was too late. Very few people passed that road during winter and he was already half-buried in the snow. "Besides, he is about the same age as my little sister. I don't know what I would do if something like that ever happened to her."
"I know how you feel. I have three younger brothers too. The thought of just losing one -" She couldn't even bring herself to finish.
They were then interrupted by the doctor with good news. The boy was going to make it. The two of them wanted to see the boy for themselves, but the doctor insisted that they let the boy rest and see him in the morning. It turned out that boy had been playing in the snow by himself and had fell from the nearby tree and fell unconscious.
"He's pretty lucky you found him."
Later, someone from the castle came to the settlement to pick her up and bring her home. She promised to come back to check on the boy in the morning.
That night, Merida didn't sleep until late. She kept looking out the window to admire the snow perched on the windowsill. This was really an amazing day. She helps save a life and for the first time in their whole acquaintance, she could actually say that she and Jack were friends. She always saw him as a rival and an immature jerk. "He isn't so bad after all."
The next day, she did as she promised and sneaked out the castle to visit the boy. Jack and his sister already left when she arrived. His sister wanted him to take her skating. "He said you could catch up if you wanted. He said something about having a skating competition."
She found herself excited at the prospect of having a skating competition, except for the tiny problem that she didn't know how to skate. Her excitement quickly became fear when she arrived to the pond and found the siblings on the pond with a dangerous-looking crack on the ice.
Jack was trying his best to calm his frightened sister. "Hey, would I lie to you? It will be okay. I promise."
"Jack!" Merida was off her horse in a second and was about to go to help.
"Merida! Stay right there!" he cried out desperately. "The ice can't take any more weight."
Merida stopped and looked around in a panic. There had to be some way to help.
"Merida, I won't you to go back and get help," he told her but refusing to look at her. He didn't want her to see the guilt in his eyes. He didn't want her here. He knew her too well, if she puts it in her mind to help and given enough time, she would definitely do something stupid.
She glared at him. "I can't leave you!"
"Your horse is faster than mine!" he lied. "Besides, I have to stay here with my sister. Please. Merida, do this for me. "
She knew he was lying. They just had a race yesterday, his horse could compete with hers, but at the same time She couldn't deny that she would do the same thing if this were her sibling. Hesitantly, she agreed. "Don't do … anything stupid. When this is all over, there is something I need to tell you."
He grinned, his blue eyes twinkled with his usual humor. It was the smile he always showed to say that everything was going to be alright. "Tell me later. Just go."
So, she did. She never thought that it would be a decision that she would regret for the rest of her life.
She never made it back in time to save him. Half the village came to the rescue, but they were only on time to see Jack smile one last time before he fell into the ice.
"Jack!" The villagers all held her back to prevent her from joining him in the icy grave. "I never got to … tell you ..."
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600 years later …
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Jack Frost recovered his memories. All of his memories. Even of the red-headed Scottish princess of his childhood. He was perched on the windowsill of one Scottish home listening to a mother tell her children of the story of a brave princess that became a legend by proving that she would not easily lose to any man.
"It looks like you didn't change at all, princess," he muttered with a hint of fondness in his voice. "I'm glad."
The Easter Bunny suddenly appeared from the hole he made on the ground. "Jack, its time to go," the Easter Bunny reminded him. "Santa needs us back in HQ. We might have a potential threat has appeared. Something about the Lady in the Lake?"
"I know. I know. Geez, can't a hero get a break?" he joked.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
Jack was quiet at first and turned one last time to the family behind the window. Remembering everything was bittersweet. It was full of smiles and regrets. The biggest one being that one lie. That one lie that saved her life and his sister's. "Yeah, I found her. I found her ..."
"No more … regrets?" The Easter Bunny was still new to the concept of being 'chummy.'
"Are you kidding?" Jack Frost laughed and pushed away from the windowsill. He was all pumped up and ready to go. He felt like he could take on two Boogeymans with one hand tied behind his back. "I just found out that I saved not only my sister, but a legend that winter. What do you think?"
That seemed to satisfy the bunny. "Lets get out of here then. It's freezing."
The two Guardians disappeared into the hole the Easter Bunny came from. The only evidence of their presence was the patch of ice Jack Frost left on the window, which the children all excitedly noticed. "Look, mommy! Jack Frost was here!"
The mother looked up to the patch of ice on the window and nodded. "Why! You're right. I wonder why he decided to pay us a visit ..."
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Part 1: Once Upon a Time That Winter
Fandom: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons (AU)
Pairing: Merida and Jack
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Part 2: Once Upon a Time That Spring
Fandom: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons (AU)
Pairing: Rapunzel and Hiccup
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Part 3: Once Upon a Time That Summer
Fandom: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons (AU)
Pairing: Rapunzel and Jack
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Part 4: Once Upon a Time That Autumn
Fandom: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons (AU)
Pairing: Merida and Hiccup