Summary: After the death of Rapunzel Corona, 3 of the remaining childhood friends in the group, the"Big Four Brigade" drift apart. 5 years later, Jackson Overland, a past member of the group is met face to face with the ghost of a 17 year old Rapunzel one winter with a simple request: for her dream to come true in order to pass on. Unable to remember the said dream, Jack now has to gather the long lost members of the Big Four Brigade and hopefully, get that dream to become a reality.
It seemed as if once Jack finally got some shut eye, sleep was taken away again. Guess even with no school, sleep was hard to come by. He flickered open his eyes to the living room of his small house. From the lighting of the room it had to be pretty early outside. Perhaps not even sunrise yet.
Jack groaned slightly as he lifted himself up from the mass of pillows Rapunzel had constructed the night before. Wait. Rapunzel! Jack looked around to see the girl standing right above him, pillow raised as if to strike him. The girl dropped it in an instant.
"Finally, your awake! We're about to miss it Jack. So haul your self up! Hurry Hurry!" she said excitedly, practicly yanking off his arm.
Jack ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. It was way to early for this. "Seriously, What's worth waking up so early in the morning Punz…?" he muttered half awake half asleep. However, his words seemed to weave in and out of the girls ears.
Making their way across the room, Rapunzel swiftly opened the glass sliding door leading them out to Jack's small backyard. His house being on a small hill, half of his yard sloped downward, giving off a nice view of their small town. Before the small drop, the yard contained a few small trees, an old swing set and fire pit set up with a few long forgotten chairs. Being winter, snow covered much of it. Icicles hung from branches and frost lightly decorated the swings. A fresh blanket of snow wrapped everything as well from the night before, giving the place a wintry wonderland look.
Slowing down, Rapunzel finally guided Jack to the old fire pit and laid against some of the old chairs. Her eyes flickered from him to the sky then back with an anticipating smile. The girl could hardly sit still. Deciding not to miss out on what ever his blonde friend had in store, Jack flickered his eyes upward. Stars still littered the top half of the sky, glowing dully as minutes creeped to morning. They layed across a no longer ink background but rather a purple one. The morning was silent, not that he minded much. Being in a small town meant seeing more stars at night unlike those big cities. It was a small thing he often forgot now a days.
A small tug on his shirt caught Jack attention, turning his head to Rapunzel. "It starting.." she said in an awed whisper, pointing to the hrizon. An orange sun slowly climbed its way up from the roofs of a few houses in the distance. Rays of golden light seemed to scatter and bounce, bathing everything in a soft new light. Clouds seemed to change as well from their dark blue to a cotton candy pink. It was beautiful really. Light seemed to illuminate the surronding snow and highlight nearby icicles as well.
Huh, maybe he should wake up early more often. Maybe. Jack grinned at Rapunzel. "Okay, maybe being dragged out of bed wasn't pleasant. But I really can't say it wasn't worth it. I mean I can really see how Mr. Jack Frost puts pride in his work in this light.." he said with a pleasant laugh.
She turned to him a bit and nodded. "Yeah..it was totally worth it. I've always wanted to paint a sunrise before..you know. I usually sleep past it." Rapunzel answered softly, eyes lingering on the rising sun. Jack stared at it as well.
"You know, we could see it more often if you'd like. Just give me time to rest a bit though. Being me is such a hard task Punz. Somebody's got to take the job!" Jack remarked flicking a bit of snow her way.
Rapunzel laughed and returned the favor with a tad more snow. "Sure, Jack Sure. We wouldn't want that now would we?"
Merida launched a flurry of arrows into a near by target, each hitting target as intended. Satisfied with her aim Merida withdrew her arms from her bow and raked her fingers through her long mane of red hair. Despite the cold air, Merida could feel small beeds of sweat forming at her forehead. She realised a small sigh and turned the the sky.
"Mornin' already huh?" she wondered out loud into the empty forest. Another sleepless night full of nothing but nightmares. Merida scrunched her face up at the thought, and instinctivly drew another arrow to shoot the target. With a fusturated shout she realised it, shooting it straight to the center. Aye must be stronger. Braver.
Merida closed her eyes and relaxed for a second, then walked forward to retrieve her arrows. It's been 5 long years, and yet she still felt the spiraling feeling of that dreaded day. Cursing sliently, the girl plucked one arrow after another back into her leather quiver. All she could do now is sharpen her skills, even though she knew she didn't need it. It's the only way she knew to cope with the nightmares afterall.
Finally, collecting her arrows Merida trudged up the forest path to a wide main road. Parked on the side was her prized motorcycle (Angus she liked to call it) awaiting.
A 10 year old Jack raced into the Snugly Duckling one sunny morning, nearly head butting one of the bar stools as he ran.
"Ha! Beat you Hiccup!" he shouted triamphatly, turning around to meet the face of the boy who just came in.
"Seriously, Jack? It was just by a hair I swear." he huffed tiredly with a tiny eye roll.
"Suuure Hic, Say what you want but I am the one who's going to get the first taste of Tiana's pie today." Hiccup opened his mouth as if to retort, when the boys suddenly heard a loud cough come from just beside them on the bar stool.
Spinning around, the person slowly pulled down their large menu, revieling, Merida grining from ear to ear. "Sorry boys but maybe next time you'll start taking notes from tha pro." she declared.
The two stood in shock at the red head, seeing as they all left at the same exact time.
"But how-"
"A magician never reveils 'er secrets~"
Rapunzel sighed in fustration as she died once again on Jack's iphone app. Jack just laughed at the girl's 5th attempt at the game. It was decided that morning, that the two would eat breakfast at the town- famous Snugly Duckling after their sunrise wake up call. On the way, Jack decided to entertain himself, and introduce his friend to the wonders of the newest technology. And the fustration of the game flappy bird.
"Ugh. How did you even manage to get to 16 Jack?!" she groaned as she once again died before reaching another pipe. Jack shrugged. "A good Magican never tells his secrets." he said absent mindedly, taking another turn on the street.
The streets where realively empty that morning, and Jack was partially glad for this. This way he could see the signs more clearly. To be honest, it had been a while since he actually visited his once favorite resturaunt. "I can't wait to see Tiana and everyone there. I hope they haven't changed in a while!" Rapunzel commeted happily, keeping her eyes glued to screen.
"Oh they haven't don't you worry. Old man Doug still works there, and even Tiana. But won't it be weird if they can't really see you.?"
"Just one of the thing about being a ghost I guess. Darn I lost again!"
"Pfft Here Goldie just pass it over, I'll teach-"
The hairs on the back of Jack's neck stood up at the sound of familiar voices. Jack stoped in his tracks petrified for a moment as the voices came even closer. Bounding ahead was a young girl around Jack and Rapunzel's age or maybe a tad older. She was pretty, with short spiky hair with a few multicolored stands here and there. With her was North, a tall man who actually looked a bit like santa with a dash of badassery. (At least it wasn't Aster, he really couldn't stand the kangroo sometimes). Together they passed by him without a wink. Figures. Just invisible Jack. Unknowingly, he withdrew a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Jack..? You alright?" Rapunzel whispered concernly, lowering his iphone down.
"Yeah don't worry about it. Besides the resturaunts just ahead. Race you there?"
The Snugly Duckling was a cozy dinner. At first glance you wouldn't really realize how old it was with it's glossy wood lavaishings and stuff. Honestly, it seemed to remind Jack of New Orleans, not that he'd been there. It just had that simular timeless feel.
The two entered the place grateful for it's warm tempreature. They where then greated by a certain young waitress. Tiana grinned at Jack, placing her order pencil behind her ear. "Hm, looks like someone finally came out of hiding. Welcome back Overland." she greeted warmly. "Please come in, I got a good chair for you right over here."
Jack waved his hand dismisively. "Ha First time I heard that one. and No thanks I'll just take the booth Tiana."
She gave a short nod, "suit yourself, just call if you need something!" Rapunzel smiled as she left to take another table. "Busy as ever," she laughed as she took the seat across from Jack.
"I'll say..she's still pretty young too. 27." Jack said impressively, taking his seat. Tiana worked at the Snugly Duckling for about 10 years now, starting at strangly, 17. But, everyone loved the waitress, and she wasn't that bad of a cook either. He's probably known her for a good 7 years now. Well sort of, as he had been coming less with the passage of time. Speaking of passage of time, it still brought him to the question the lingered in his head last night. Sure it was sort of off topic, but it was still important. He sucked in a breath.
Jack looked up uneasily at Rapunzel. "Sorry to kind of ruin the breakfast or anything but…how come you haven't passed on yet?" he asked slowly. "I'm no expert on the dead but..shouldn't you be..well gone?"
At first Rapunzel froze at the question as if thinking how to respond, then slowly relaxed. "Have you ever had a dream before Jack?"
"Sure, every night."
"No. Seriously like a real dream! Like traveling somewhere or doing something? Well that's..that's why I'm sorta here."
"So let me get this straight..your here..to complete a dream?"
"Mhmm."
"And in order to pass on you have to do this right?"
"Correct!" Rapunzel said enthusasticly. "then, I can reincarnate so I can finally be with you guys again."
Jack laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay you make it sound simple enough to figure out." he said casually. "What's your dream? I know you had a bunch Punz."
Suddenly the blonde went silent. "Uh..haha that's the funny thing…I can't ..really… remember?"
A/N: ahh sorry for another quick and crappy chapter! I'm just really trying to set everything up in order to start Merida's arc~ And as you can see she got a small intro in our chapter! Hope you guys don't mind the shortness. Anyways on we start to figure out Punz's dream and hopefully bump into the others along the way? Or even some more flashbacks!Cause Little!Big Four's so adorable to write. Hope you enjoyed!