A/N: I have had this done for a few months now, and honestly just forgot to put it up here.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tangled, Rise of the Guardians, or Attack on Titan. Or actually any ROTBTD characters.
Chapter Two
When the titan came, Rapunzel had allowed herself a couple seconds of gut wrenching fear before she replaced it with her will to fight.
In an instant she was using her 3D maneuvering gear to fly through the air. It wasn't until she got to the wall that she realized what they were truly facing. The colossal titan.
Standing at the edge of the stone wall, she could never have imagined that in her lifetime she would stand face to face with titan, and she had never hoped for it to be this abnormal. Its entire body was red muscle, and as she stood even with its teeth she knew that when it came to this titan in particular, success was unattainable.
Panic swelled in her chest as she watched the titan pull one of its feet back. She crouched down for balance when the wall began to quake and dust and stone permeated the previously clear air. She was blinking and coughing as rough hands pulled her up.
"Rapunzel! We have to go." Jack was pulling her hand towards the bustle of people behind her. When she turned to look back towards the titan he was gone.
"He kicked a hole in wall, Jack!" Shouts were erupting across the wall as cadets and scouts alike split into their guards and regiments to prepare for evacuation and defense of Wall Rose. Rapunzel was fighting off the images that were surfacing in her head from five years ago. Images from the fall of Wall Maria.
"It won't be like last time, Rapunzel. We can help people!" His hand squeezed hers as they reached their commanding officer and were pushed different ways. Rapunzel was sent to fight with the elites, and Jack was directed towards the guards full of the new top initiates, including Merida and Hiccup.
They lost sight of each other almost immediately as they were sent to do what they had trained for years to do.
They were humans designed for killing and protecting.
In the first few minutes of blood shed, two kinds of people became easily distinguishable.
Some people fell apart in the heat of the battle. They ran from their duty where they were needed most because they had given in to how afraid they were. They had let fear surround them and fill them with such a sense of uneasiness, that they had thought the only way they could survive was by hiding.
Then there were the people that brandished the fear like it was a weapon. They turned it to anger, and they became dangerous. Their way of survival was fighting.
One thing Hiccup was certain of as they flew through the air with their 3D maneuvering gear, was that Jack was a fighter. He faced his problems head on, and he led their defense guard into battle with fiery words and tense muscles. Merida followed with gusto, as they split into two separate groups to face down two titans. An eight meter and an eleven meter.
Hiccup was also certain that he was not a fighter.
He followed a safe distance behind Jack, and he had watched in horror as the titan swung its clumsy hand at his friend and threw him to the side as if he was nothing.
Hiccup knew he was not a fighter when all he could do was scream in terror as he realized that the titan had taken one of Jack's arms.
Hiccup knew he was not a fighter when the titan reached for Hiccup and the air left his lungs. He was being pulled towards the titans gnarly teeth and all he could do was shake in the iron grip. He screamed and screamed, but he knew none of his friends could save him. Then the titan tossed him in the air like he weighed nothing and Hiccup was in his mouth. His hands clawed at the titan's tongue to try and catch on anything that might save him, when instead something was grabbing his forearm. A cold hand covered in blood and sweat flung Hiccup out of the mouth from between the teeth.
Hiccup knew as he landed on a stone rooftop yelling and a little scraped up, but otherwise unharmed, that he was not a fighter. He knew it as he watched Jack hold the jaw of the titan open with his one arm and his strength he was drawing from adrenaline.
"Hiccup!" Jack was shouting at him, but all Hiccup could do was stare wide eyed. Jack's eyes were full of fury and terrified tears and his arms were quaking. "You have to find Rapunzel." Hiccup scrambled to stand up, but he couldn't trust his own arms as he fell and slipped repeatedly. "Hiccup!" Jack was baring his teeth and his foot was slipping farther and farther down the titan's tongue. "You have to fight!"
Hiccup knew he was not a fighter when the titan's jaw snapped shut and Jack was gone.
Hiccup knew he was not a fighter because Hiccup knew he could not kill.
Rapunzel had killed two titans when she told her leader that she was going to her friends. His protests were paid no attention as she set off towards the wall. She was flying over rooftops as her equipment clanked against the top of her thighs and the leather straps strained across her chest.
When she reached a rooftop that ended against Wall Rose she landed gracefully, and looked at all the solemn faces surrounding her. Most had been celebrating a few hours prior, laughing and dancing with their friends. The same friends that were probably dead now.
"Punz?" The familiar deeply accented voice was comforting as she turned to her left to see Merida, Red.
"Mer?" The girl had one scrape across her forehead and a few rips in her jacket, but Rapunzel hardly noticed as she saw the look in her eyes and the track of tears on her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Punz." Rapunzel panicked as she glanced again at all the faces staring back at her, and the few people sitting against the wall. Hiccup was amongst them. Slumped over himself with his head in his hands. Rapunzel pushed past Merida and ran to him. She fell to her knees and her gear hit the stone beside her. She reached for Hiccup's hands, and carefully pulled them away from his head. When he looked up at her complete agony was deep in his green eyes.
"Where is Jack?" Her voice was strong and steady, but the loudness spoke volumes. Hiccup opened and closed his mouth as he tried to find the right words. "Hiccup!" Rapunzel shook his hands and her eyes were open so wide he was scared to look into them.
"He.." Hiccup shook his head as he took a deep breath, "He's gone!"
"What do you mean, he's gone?"
"He saved me! He was swallowed by a titan. He told me to fight, but I couldn't do it! I can't kill. I couldn't kill the titan, Rapunzel! And now Jack is gone, and it's all my fault!" Hiccup had pulled his hands away from Rapunzel and pounded his fists against the rock ground until his knuckles were bleeding and Merida was in between him and Rapunzel, begging him to stop.
Rapunzel had stood and pushed her hands against her chest as her breath began to catch in her throat. She knew what it was to lose someone you loved, she'd been stuck grieving her entire life, but this was different.
With her family she had been born into the love. It was innate.
It was different with Jack. She didn't love him since the beginning; she had to learn how to do it until it became her breath. Now, standing in the middle of a battle with death and blood all around her she couldn't breathe. For a couple minutes she hadn't allowed her lungs the relief of oxygen as she fell to her knees with her fists punching her chest repeatedly to stop the ache in her heart. She pressed her forehead against the ground as the first unwanted tear surfaced in her green eyes.
When she finally sucked in a haggard gulp of air it resounded on the rooftop as a sob, and the girls who had made it through training because of her comforting abilities watched painfully as she pushed her torso up off the ground and her nails dug into the pebbles and dust below her. Hiccup stood and lifted Rapunzel up only to crush her against his chest. Merida found a new fear as she watched the girl that had always been the strongest turn so vulnerable.
"I'm sorry Rapunzel." He shook his head above her shoulder before looking up towards the frustratingly blue sky. "But we need to fight. Jack always fought."
A/N: I have plans for one more chapter after this one! Trust me on this, and don't give up on the story because Jack is "gone".
