The Once and Future King

Part I: The Dragon's Call

Chapter 1

HANG A SEC!

If you have read the Prologue before 2nd May 2015, you might have not read the completely changed version of it, so please go back and read it again to avoid confusion. The A/N right at the bottom explains everything.

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rested on the shoulders of a young boy. His name…Jack.

"Who?"

"Too-tan-ya." Jack repeated more slowly.

The blonde girl, who he assumed was some kind of maidservant by her dressage and vase of flowers she carried, appeared to be very annoyed when she answered, "There isn't such a person here."

"Really? C'oz it says here that the address is the castle grounds." He pointed at the letter in his hand.

"Hold this." The ceramic vast was shoved in his arms, while the piece of parchment was snatched from his fingers.

He stumbled back slightly at the weight of the decoration – gosh, the girl had to be strong – while looking nervously over her shoulder. "Erm, the letter's kind of confidential."

She harrumphed sourly, before squinting at the sheet again. Not long after that, she thrust it back at him. "It's pronounced as 'Tooth-tia-na', lump head. No wonder I didn't know who you're talking about." Jack was half-way through spluttering out a defense for himself when she gave him a sidelong glance. "Is your hair…white?"

"This?" He had a huge urge to run his fingers through his white tufts, which he often did when he was frustrated or embarrassed, but he couldn't until the maid took the vase back. "It's just platinum blonde."

He had gotten a lot of questions about the hair when he was growing up. Some people in his hometown of Burgess had been extremely frightened by the sight of it. They were superstitious folk, claiming the white hair was a sign that he was a changeling, and the real Jack Overland had been stolen away by the fays seventeen years ago. Eventually the town doctor shut them all up by saying that it was just a medical ailment that he suffered from. So conspiratorial gossips turned to pitiful murmurs that explained his white hair as a sign of curse of sickliness that some witch must have placed on him as a babe.

He had just given them withering looks, quite like the one the golden-headed maid was giving him now.

"I know what platinum blonde looks like," she retorted pointedly, flicking a scornful finger at his hair, "and that is definitely not platinum blonde."

Nevertheless, she dropped the topic. Gesturing to the corridor behind her, she told him, "Go straight down the hall, turn right, pass the kitchen and ask the staff there. They'll point it out to you."

"Thank you." He simpered unconsciously, nodding a little in manner that he hoped was humble-looking. He held out his free hand. "Name's Jack, by the way. Jack Overland."

She narrowed her eyes at him, then at his hand. Simply readjusting the vase in her hands, she answered stiffly, "Astrid. And no, I'm not free for dinner. I'll never be free for dinner, unless it's to feast on your dead corpse."

Even long after she had stalked away, he was still completely baffled by what she could possibly mean. Then he shrugged, setting out to follow her instructions. If there was anything he had learnt about his few hours in the castle of Berk, it was the people were pretty stuck up, especially to poor country bumpkins like himself. Snobs.

He signed when he glanced down the letter. He was glad he managed to fold up the low end of the letter in time, if not Astrid might have caught the line near the bottom of the page that said "…help him learn more about his 'fantastic' abilities…"

When the door creaked open, Tooth hopped straight up to her feet and bolted to the entrance, bouncing up in enthusiasm. There was a young boy at her door – didn't look older than twenty, and definitely looking lost. He was carrying some kind of carry-on bag – probably travelling from somewhere. She assessed him quickly, her eyes stopping at his white-hair. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, she shushed him. "Don't rush me."

He clamped his mouth shut, flabbergasted.

Humming to herself while rubbing her chin, she circled him, examining him critically, making her victim more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. Finally, she stopped right in front of him, her bright purple eyes having to stretch up to meet his blue ones since he was much taller than herself.

Finally she spoke, snapping her fingers as she did, "Melanin-deficiency. Increased during your growing years, I expect?"

He blinked. "Wha-"

"In that case," she cut in, flitting from the door her store cupboard. There stood a dozen different brightly-colored bottles, both labelled and unlabelled. She pursed her lips, waving a hand over one of them, then picking out one. "Aha!"

Flying back to the dumbstruck young man, she pressed the vial in his hand. "Take this twice a day before meals. Half a tea spoon should do. If it works out – no promises-" she pointed at a carved wooden sign hanging off the walls that titled 'Terms & Conditions' "-you should get your natural hair coloration back in about 6 months. Thanks for visiting the Court Physician!" She gleefully gestured at the door and hopped away, fully expecting him to leave.

"Whoa, what!" The boy exclaimed, eyeing the glass vial, then the strange lady dressed in bright green. Being the speedy little person she was, she was now climbing up a ladder, almost half-way up the ladder leaning against the shelf of scrolls.

"Don't worry. I won't charge you this round. I'm not the type who'd extort money from – yah!" The old creaky ladder had shifted, jolting her off its steps and sending her plummeting downwards. A shriek left her lips, but then it died halfway when she found herself no longer falling.

When she opened her eyes, she discovered that she had, for some equivocal reason, managed to defy gravity. She was floating in air.

She cocked her head up to whom she was certain was the reason she was in this state. The white-haired boy had a hand a stretch out towards her, though he was a considerable distance away from where she was. Under her gaze, he swallowed, then dropped his hand.

At once, she found her tumbling to the ground, landing with an ungraceful 'oommphf!'.

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask. Feet tapping on the cobbled floor told her that he was coming over to help her.

She could feel some new bruises growing on her elbows and kneecaps, but she ignored them in favor grabbing the boy's wrist, saying in low tones, "Close the door."

He stared at her with large eyes, stunned.

She clambered to her feet, adding with greater ferocity, "Now."

He finally moved, taking his hand from her grasp and shutting the door. Tooth ran over to the windows, closing the shutters and barricading them. She then pulled the boy to the centre of the room, getting straight to the point. "Who are you?" In a softer, more urgent voice, she added, "And don't you know that magic is illegal?"

"Yeah, but,-" he licked his lips, hesitating, "-I thought I could trust a fellow sorcerer."

"Don't call me that!" He did a double take at her ferocity. Rolling her eyes, Tooth said at normal volume, "I used to …dabble in magic, but that was eons ago. I've retired." Those words sounded funny coming from a woman in her mid-thirties, especially when she still acted like a child most of the time.

The boy made a frown, sighing. "That's a real pity, because-" he held a folded piece of parchment to her "-you're the only one who can help me, as far as I know."

She tweezed it from his fingers, skimming through it rapidly. Her frown became a beam. She looked up at him with new interest. "You're Abigail Overland's son?"

He gave nod in confirmation, which set her off on a squeal of happiness.

"Oh, this is just wonderful!" She wrapped him in a sudden tight hug, making him stumble back, then just as suddenly she released him. "So,-" she folded the letter back up, while the boy – Jack, the letter said that he was called Jack - "-how is she?"

The boy's face fell. He folded up his arms, fingers uneasily fiddling with the cords of his backpack. "She just passed. Sickness in the village, you see."

A pang of maternal sympathy struck her, and Tooth gave what she hoped was comforting pat on the back. "I'm really sorry about that. She was a good woman."

"Yeah." Jack smiled a little, then he nodded at the parchment. "Before she…yeah, she told me to come find you. Said you could help you teach me about…you know what."

She stood up straight again, humming to herself as ruminated over this. She hadn't exactly practiced magic for ages – not that she wanted to, but then again, not because she didn't want to either. She decided to step-sided that problem for now, asking instead, "How did you do it?"

He raised a brow. "Do what?"

"Make things happen with, y'know," she began snapping her fingers as the words churned out. "Enchantments, amulets, spells. Who taught you? Where did your study?" Her face suddenly fell really grave. "You didn't sell your soul to anyone, did you?"

"No. No. No. Who? Study what? No!" The boy completely befuddled.

"To do what you just did, as simple as it looks, require lots and lots of practice and the use of incredibly specific spells," Tooth explained, her expression become even more incredulous every second. "And you're telling me you don't use anything and everything just-" she made a vague gesture, with a whooshing sound effect.

He nodded, unable to stop the smug grin on his lips. "Um, yeah?"

She takes a step back, looking him over with new eyes. "Inconceivable."

"I know," he said rather cockily, shrugging, "I know."

"No, I was talking about your teeth."

Jack frowned again. "Teeth?"

"Yes." Without warning, she had dragged his head down, yanked opened his jaws and begun scrutinizing his teeth with amazement. "This is incredible! How do you keep them as white as snow? What do you use to clean it?"

"Wa-ah-tha-we-wha-wha?" was the garbled words that came out.

"Fluorine? I'm really putting my money on fluorine," the woman went on, still pulling on the poor boy's gums. "Some idiots swear their lives on pig fat, but I tell you-"

There was a knock on the door at that moment. She called out, "Come in!"

A chubby young man entered, carrying a bundle of scrolls under his arm. "Good morning, M'am Toothiana."

"Why, hello, Fishlegs," she finally released her prisoner, who was more than happy to have his mouth back, rubbing his lower jaw in bemusement. Tooth ignore his disgruntled expression, running over to excited to the armored young gentlemen. "Oh, dear, I forgot. Good morning, Sir Fishlegs -you grow up so fast. Jack,-" she nudged the white-haired boy in the ribs sharply to which he gave a yelp, "-greet his lordship."

"Top to the morning to you, milord. I'm Jack." The boy stuck a hand out to the other lad, who was only a year or two older than him, but the three times as noble by blood.

Tooth cringed inwardly. From the last words of Abigail Overland, she had inferred that Jack needed some kind of purpose in his life – a direction, if you will. He would stay with her of course. There was no way she'd let the boy fend for himself all alone – he was too hapless a fellow for that. She had considered finding a job for him somewhere in the Royal Court, since that would be much more convenient for both of them, but considering how carefree the boy with a nobleman… perhaps it wouldn't be appropriate.

Fortunately, Sir Fishlegs was not one too fussed about ceremony. "Please just call me Fishlegs, or Fish," the larger boy said as he took the hand, shaking it firmly. "Becoming a knight was not really by my own choice."

"Really?" Jack's brow shot up, an instant grin across his lips. He really did have sparkling white teeth.

"I'm more concerned on training my intellectual prowess," Fishlegs said with a little pride, patting the scrolls under his arm, before placing them neatly on a nearby table. "I must really thank you for loaning these materials, M'am Tooth. The psychotherapy theory was especially interesting, though I'm not sure it actually works."

"No problem at all, Sir Fishlegs," Tooth answered blithely, grabbing the scrolls and arranging them back on her lower shelf. The face that the white-haired pulled made clear he had no idea what they were talking about.

"So, are you a relation of Toothiana? Her nephew? Cousin?" The chubby had stuck up a conversation with the other teen.

"What? No, no," Jack laughed, then cleared his throat. "I'm here to …erm-"

Tooth froze even as she slid another scroll in its hole. Don't let him say something stupid like 'learn magic', she thought. From the little that she had seen of him, she felt he wasn't the type to think before he acted.

"-be her apprentice. Yeah! I'm Toothiana's apprentice."

With her back facing the two boys, Tooth allowed herself to wince at the idea. From which hat did he pull that out of?

Actually come think of it, it wasn't that bad. He'll have a legitimate reason to stay with her in the Castle, she'll have a student to teach, they'll live happily ever after.

Why, it's perfect!

"Yes, Jack's training to become a physician."

"Yeah, I'm-" the white-haired boy broke off, stunned at her words, his eyes going as round as saucers.

"In a matter of fact," she continued calmly to the reluctant knight, as if it wasn't all made up on the spot, "I was hoping Jack could go with you to the library to pick some books on basic anatomy and physiology. He's new to the town, so he might get lost."

"That's a marvelous idea!" Fishlegs clearly shared her enthusiasm. Though a knight, Toothiana knew that he invested much time and effort the Berkian library, and sharing that collection obviously appealed to him. "I can totally show you around the town at the same time. It'll be great!"

"Great," Jack echoed with far less excitement, dropping his bag on the floor. The portly boy had already grabbed his arm, and was dragging him to the door.

"Have a good day, M'am Tooth!" Fishlegs called. For a supposedly bookish fellow, he was a muscular lad, and the other boy was practically floating off the floor.

"Help," her unwilling apprentice mouthed to her before he was whisked out of the door.

Toothiana merely chuckled, shouting in return, "Stay out of trouble!"

Jack didn't seem to really like the prospect of being a physician's apprentice, but Tooth was confident he would warm up to the idea. The healing sciences were a great for him to learn how to help people, and what better direction in life than that?

S/N (Story Notes. Stuff related to the story):

The next bunch of chapters of the Dragon's Call will introduce most of the recurring characters and some stuff about Berk, and how Jack end's up being Hiccup's manservant.

I'm going to admit - Berk itself is going to be very much HTTYD based, because the magic stuff is where ROTG comes in (and other movies) as the story moves along.

A/N (Author's Notes. Administrative details and others. Skim this if you're just interested in the story):

Mailbox:

DevilShila: Thank you! My updates will still be sporadic, but I really have lots of ideas for stuff to write. I love Merlin too!

gleekyglamour413: Merlin fans! For your request, I'll try to think of a way to do it, because just like you, it annoyed me that Arthur found out so late. Magic? Definitely. Dragons? Yes, though I may bring in other magical creatures from the show.

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