Hello dear readers. So this story has obviously taken over because it's relly easy to write. I was a little torn as to where to cut it, but I feel I ended it in a good place. Next chapter; Jack arrives at the castle and finds North ;)
Where loneliness took him
The Enchantress looked up from her next pile of books when she heard the door open. She was tired and felt like she was covered with dust and grime from this room and its books that nobody seemed interested in looking after. The people of this castle didn't seem to have treasured the knowledge they had gathered.
"I brought some food for you, Rapunzel," the man who entered said with a charming smile.
Just the sight of him had the Enchantress smile and relax.
"Thank you, Eugene," she said, her voice coming out breathy. Then she saw what her friend had brought and lit up. "Hazelnut soup!"
"I thought you needed a treat after everything," the man smiled and placed the tray on a table clear of books.
The Enchantress put her load down on the floor and walked over, sitting on one of the chairs Eugene had brought over. The man sat down opposite her, trying not to let his worry show. He waited until the lady of the castle was almost finished with the meal before deciding to speak.
"Do you really think Mother Gothel can come back?"
The lady sighed and licked her lips. "I hope not. But there's definitely leftovers of her magic somewhere."
"So give me orders, milady. If there is anything left of Mother Gothel, you know I'll do anything to help you get rid of it."
The Enchantress nodded seriously. Inhaling the last dregs of the wonderful meal, she stood and headed over to a map.
"It's around here," she circled an area on the map with her finger, a red line appearing in its wake.
Eugene studied the map and frowned. "That's a lot of land to cover. Only one city and a village with a lot of forest in between."
"I just hope I'm right. I don't want you to go searching any further east than here," the Enchantress said and pointed to the line that separated the forest from the mountains.
"I won't, Rapunzel. Don't worry about me," he reached out and pulled her hair behind her ear.
The Enchantress held her friend's hand to her cheek for a moment, before the soft skin turned rough and the nails grew into talons as long as her fingers. She walked over to the window with the falcon sitting on her wrist. As she pushed the window open she reached out her arm and chanted.
"Your eyes are uncovered and your wings are strong. The wind will carry you to your goal before long."
The falcon left her arm with a flutter of wings.
It was the middle of the day and Jack was sulking. He admitted as much as he stared at the pages of his favourite book without seeing any of the letters. He hated being alone, he hated that he was lazy and he hated the cawing rooster. The teen knew he had a lot to do, a lot of work that needed to be done and still he found himself comfortably curled up in a chair, Sandy fitted between Jack's legs and body, purring up a storm with his claws digging into the boy's knees in what was probably a show of love and contentment, despite the pain it caused Jack.
There was a knock on the door, and Jack seriously considered ignoring it. Unfortunately the knocking came again and the teen groaned quietly as he put the book down and stood. Sandy tried to protest by digging his claws into Jack's legs as if it would keep him from rising, but then jumped to the floor and shot his human a wounded look.
Jack unlocked the door and opened it.
Jack wasn't exactly sure who the man outside was. He had brown hair and grey clothes. His build was slim and he had an educated air to him. The green eyes however looked so much like Anna Arendelle's that Jack guessed this was her father.
"Can I help you?"
The man looked unhappy. "It has come to my attention," he spoke slowly, his eyes glancing over Jack's body and over his shoulder, "that you seek my younger daughters' company."
Oh, yet another of Flynn Rider's cruel pranks. Jack tried had to keep a friendly smile on his face.
"Has any of them been talking about me?" he asked curiously.
"No," the man answered honestly, a tad exasperated and he kept glancing around, as if expecting something to happen. "But she isn't home and she isn't at the store. Elsa was supposed to work at the inn today but she wasn't there either. I was told to… look here."
A distraction then. Jack was rather shocked to realize that Anna was actually doing anything with Flynn, even more so that Elsa was in on it. Or rather, that Elsa allowed Flynn anywhere near her.
Jack opened his door wide and stepped aside. "If it eases your suspicions, please come in and look for someone who has never been here, sir Arendelle."
The man stiffened, face flaming red. Then he stormed inside.
"Elsa! Anna! You're going home, this instant!"
Of course there was no answer since neither sister was there. Jack was just at a loss since it wasn't his fault and it wasn't Mr Arendelle's fault either.
"Where are they!?" Arendelle yelled at Jack who stood leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
"Ask Flynn Rider," the teen retorted sourly, even though he knew how futile it was.
Sure indeed, the other man paused, blinking in surprise before his eyes narrowed in distrust. "I did. He told me he suspected they would be here, since your father is away."
Jack bit down on a snide comment and his anger. "What if he lied? You can search the house if you like, you'll only find me and my animals."
Mr Arendelle straightened, inhaling in a clear show of pulling himself together. "I'd like to take you up on your offer to search the house. While I do, you can tell me what you have against the inn owner. He is a good man."
The man went about opening doors, walking up the stairs. Jack followed him. He didn't know what to say that wouldn't make the situation worse. Flynn clearly had this man wrapped around his fingers.
"You could ask Elsa or Anna when they get home," Jack suggested. "Ask them if they were with me or with Flynn today."
"I don't have to," the man sniffed after closing the door to North's room. "They will tell me where they've been. I taught them to always be honest with me and their mother."
"And what if they tell you they were with me when you yourself have looked for them here?"
Doubt flashed inside the man's eyes. He had checked the all three rooms on the upper floor now, so he should be able to conclude his girls weren't here.
"Is there any room I have not seen yet?"
"Father's workshop. It's in the cellar," Jack said and lead the way.
The workshop was locked with a key found on a tiny hook inside the grandfather clock in the main room. Jack went to retrieve it, walked around the house, opened the doors and showed Mr Arendelle the space that had gone untouched since North left the day before.
"I… apologize for intruding," Mr Arendelle said after walking out. "It seems Flynn's guess was off."
"Sure," Jack said and tried to smile.
Arendelle opened his mouth, closed it again and instead just nodded his head and left with long strides.
Jack was left seething in fury. How dare he! How dare that Flynn use him and lie about him!
And as if that wasn't enough, Jack got another unwelcome visitor walking up the trail just as Jack was locking down North's workshop.
"That was the owner of the bookstore," Pitch stated the obvious with a glance over his shoulder. "Did something happen."
"No, nothing happened," Jack answered curtly and walked up to a bucket to fill with water and tend to the animals, like he'd already done in the morning, but he needed to do something.
Pitch followed Jack's movements with his eyes, putting the boy even more on edge.
"Did you need anything?"
"I was just curious. I heard a rumour in the village that some of the daughters have been visiting you since yesterday."
"Oh, that's great! As you can see; I'm flooded with girls! I count to six of them here right now," Jack said mockingly. "Five hens and one goat," he continued with a patronising smile and Pitch's mild surprise melted into something cold. Apparently he wasn't up for jokes today either.
"You're going to keep butting heads with Flynn like this? You know who will win in the long run. That smouldering look of his is… strangely effective."
"I don't care about him, I don't care about you and I don't care about anyone else in the village!" Jack hissed angrily. "If they're so hung up on making me the bad guy I'll go away without them or you asking me to!"
"So you admit defeat?" Pitch cast his eyes over Jack's body, taking his measurements with cold, calculating eyes. "Pity, you put on a good show. Good day, Overland."
Jack stood rooted on the spot, fuming. He wanted to throw something at Pitch's retreating back. He wanted to scream, go into the village and punch Flynn in the face.
The white-haired boy turned and ran down the road his father had taken the day before. He didn't go very far, just over a hill so he couldn't see his house anymore. There he stopped running and just walked. He hated Berk. He hated Flynn and Pitch and Anna and her sister and everyone else who would be coming by his house looking for their daughters.
Pitch had called him defeated.
Jack hiccupped, or sobbed, because he was crying. Hot tears burned down his cheeks.
He wished he had a friend. Just one friend. He wished he wasn't alone. He wished Anna wasn't another one of Flynn's admires, he wished Ruffnut wasn't Ghost Girl, he wished there was another boy around his age that wasn't a beefy bully.
Jack trekked into the shadow of an old hanging birch by the road and sank down on the grass, leaning up against the tree. He wouldn't be found here, at least not until Pitch pointed out where he'd gone. If anyone actually asked Pitch that is, or if he even cared enough to tell anyone about it. He was Mildew's son after all, and Mildew had had few admires as far as Jack knew. He'd only met the nasty old man a few times before he'd kicked the bucket.
So Jack just sat there, watching the clouds pass by through the yellow leaves, feeling like he was fading away into nothing. It's not like anyone would miss him.
The clapping of hoofs woke him from his thoughts and Jack looked down the road.
Jack's heart jumped into his throat when he saw the horse, head hanging low, hoofs just barely lifting from the ground and body covered with sweat.
"Philippe!"
The horse stopped and looked up. He neighed weakly when he saw Jack running towards him. The teen ran up to the animal, and stopped dead at the sight of the wagon.
It was gone, torn off and hanging in what pieces were stuck to the harness.
"Where's dad?" Jack breathed. "Philippe, what happened?!"
Of course the animal couldn't answer. Looking at him Jack realized Philippe must have run all night, maybe even since he and North had left the day before.
"Okay, I'll let you rest tonight, but you need to take me to my father as soon as you've recovered!"
Jack felt like there were ants crawling under his skin. He'd washed and fed Philippe and was now waiting for the animal to wake up so he could saddle him and go look for his father. Thus he had been running around outside doing all sorts of chores. He'd fixed the broken paddle on the waterwheel, filled the barn with so much hay even Mary the goat looked a little wary. He'd fixed the automatic chicken feeder North had invented for the occasion both he and he and Jack would be going away for a while.
Jack realized belatedly he was preparing to leave for a long time. He probably wouldn't. He'd just find his dad, bring him back and they'd go on about their lives.
Turning around to search for something else that needed to be done, Jack almost had a heart attack. He hadn't expected to have guests now that the sun was going down.
"I saw you with your horse earlier," Ruffnut said. "It came back?"
Oh yeah, Ruffnut, even though she was drifting around as a ghost all the time, was probably not unaware of the town gossip. She didn't look like she was digging for more of that though. There was a certain tension about her face and shoulders. Her head was held a little higher than Jack was used to see.
"Yes," was all Jack said. He peered at the blonde with both wariness and curiosity. He'd only heard her speak once and that was when she told him her name a couple of days ago.
"Robbers?" Ruffnut asked, though she didn't look like she believed that.
"I have no idea. Phillipe doesn't have any wounds beside from where the harness has dug into his skin. I'm guessing something frightened him and he ran in panic. The wagon might have just gotten stuck and he pulled himself loose and ran home."
Ruffnut was quiet, not asking the question Jack himself was trying not to think about.
"He didn't come through the village. Which way did the toymaker take?"
Jack looked up, worried. "He said the main road had collapsed from the rains, so he took the old road."
The blonde woman's eyes slowly moved towards the forest in the north east where the dark mountains were just visible over the treetops. A haunted look took over her face and she swallowed.
It scared Jack. "Ruffnut?"
She flinched as if she'd forgotten Jack was even there. "That's… bad," she said. "People hasn't returned from the north east… since the dragons left."
That had Jack looking at the woman again. He'd heard her brother was one of the dragon trainers. But it made sense. "Were you one of the trainers too?"
She just nodded with small movements, though a small flicker of what Jackson interpreted as surprise crossed her features.
"So the dragon trainer that was left behind was you, and not Snotlout? That would explain a few things," Jack said, mostly to himself.
"No, he was a trainer. The only one who was found and brought back."
That… explained another few things. "So he lost his memory somehow. What happened to you?"
Ruffnut's lips pressed into a thin line and she refused to look at Jack. "Bathroom break," she said stiffly.
Jack nodded, piecing the rest together. It's not like the dragons and such a large portion of the villagers had just ceased to exist, they must have gone somewhere, but it seemed more logical that it was the dragons that had been leaving and the villagers and trainers trying to stop them.
"Do you believe it? That we used to have dragons?" Ruffnut suddenly asked quietly. She'd returned to the ghost Jack was used to see, small and vulnerable, barely even there.
Jack chose his words with care. "I've never seen one, but I don't believe a whole village of people can say the same thing without it being somewhat true."
The girl was quiet for a long time as the world slowly darkened as the sun set.
"If you're going to look for the toymaker, I'll come by and look after the animals until the vernal equinox. Then I'll take them."
That meant she expected Jack to be gone for a long time, all winter, which he couldn't say he wouldn't be. Still, if he or North actually didn't come back… "Deal," he said and watched Ruffnut leave.
It was noon the next day. Jack jerked awake when Sandy jumped on him. He realized he'd fallen asleep in the hay in the stable, waiting for Philippe to recover. Now the horse was up and happily eating his breakfast.
"Okay, Philippe. I'm going to saddle you up and you'll take me to North."
Philippe of course said nothing and silently accepted the saddle getting strapped to him.
But Ruffnut's words haunted Jack. She thought he wouldn't come back, and to be fair Jack didn't know how far North had managed to go.
Finishing with securing the saddle, Jack looked at the horse for a moment. Philippe turned to return the gaze, probably wondering why nothing happened after he was saddled.
"I'll pack us some food and water… and better clothes," Jack explained and turned around.
Mary the goat bleated at him as in a tone that sounded like a scolding, and Jack remembered he hadn't milked her this morning. Much faster than usual the teen ran around, gathered eggs and milked Mary and in general made sure they would live without him before he managed to finally pack some food for himself and Philippe, dressed in sturdier pants and a warm shirt, leather vest and pulled a blue, wool cloak around his shoulders.
Then he was finally leaving.
Sitting on Philippe's back, heading down the same road North had gone two days before, Jack had a foreboding sense that he really was leaving Berk and for good. Yet there was no relief in the thought, just the cold fear that if he couldn't find North that was it. He would be alone for real.
Jack shook the thought out of his head and kicked Philippe into a trot, determined to find his father no matter what.
