Another Big Four Story
Chapter 3:
The Spirit and The Archer
Summary: After the struggle with Toothless and the arrow, it's possible that there is another person in DunBroch who can see Jack. So he decides to follow her to her personal shooting range and see just what is going on.


It started with laughter, then came the roaring of the fire breathing beast, and soon came the screaming from the Spirit who hovered nearby. Toothless had been struck by an arrow and he panicked; the first reaction being a purple hazed ball of flame shooting out from his mouth and exploding against the ground not even ten feet away.

This was exactly what Jack was so worried about. Winter Spirits and fire were never supposed to come across each other and now because of this simple arrow, a chunk of hot rock was flung at him and burnt straight through his cloak down to his arm. Jack was already yelling in fear of the rampaging dragon, so he almost didn't notice it enough to care. For now, all he wanted was to get away from it. For a moment, he even forgot he had the ability to fly, and so instead of doing that, Jack slowly crippled to the ground against a stone and covered his face in hopes Hiccup could save him.

Fortunately, he did.

"Toothless stop!" Hiccup yelled, throwing his hands up to calm the black scaled dragon. "Stop it, please!" He went to grab at the saddle but with how much Toothless was moving around, it was hard to get a good grip. He was pushed back by his tail, lost his balance against the snow, and he fell. "Ah—…T-Toothless!"

When Hiccup finally raised his voice, Toothless lost his footing, hit the ground too, and looked over at him. His eyes narrowed sadly, and his lips quivered at the tamer but Hiccup only sighed in agitation. "It was just an arrow, why are you so scared?" He pushed himself up and moved to where it hit. It penetrated one of the dragon's legs, but it was nothing serious. Hiccup knew Toothless could stand much more than that. "I get that it surprised you, but next time, try not to shoot fire everywhere. Geez."

Toothless let out a sad beastly whine just before Hiccup managed to yank the arrow out. He then looked down at it to study the detail. Obviously it was made from someone in DunBroch. He remembered his Father's words from earlier and sighed. "Probably one of the citizens freaking out." He threw the arrow onto the ground and turned to his hurt friend. "Don't worry buddy, if they're smart they would have run back to town."

That's when he noticed the lack of sarcastic remarks in the air and he turned to see where Jack had run off to. He didn't notice the Winter Spirit's alarm at all, he'd been so worried about getting Toothless to stop throwing fire all over the place. "Jack?" He moved through the snow and crouched down to reach out and touch the white haired boy by the arm. "Jack, did you get hurt?" With a squeeze, he managed to bring Jack back to reality. He sprung up with a gasp, his eyes still wide with fear of another potential attack and Hiccup almost considered moving to block Toothless from his view.

"Wh—…What was it? Is he done? Toothless is okay?" He sounded as if he was out of breath, his chest heaving up and down deeply, and even with all that panic coating his tone, he was still worried about the dragon's condition. He was surprised...but he realized that could have just been the kind of person Jack was.

That was when Hiccup noticed the hole in his cloak. "You got hit." He reached out to move the fabric aside so he could see just where it burned the boy. "Jack, I'm so sorry. Toothless wasn't sure what was going on and he—"

"I'm fine." Jack shook his head, despite the horrible feeling he had in his right arm. He reached out with his left, scooped up some snow and proceeded to rub it against the burn. It felt a little better, but it also hurt from applying the pressure, so he winced. It was better than nothing at least.

"You're not going to die or anything right?" Hiccup asked, a thick tone of concern in his own voice. It was that realization—that it was possible the burn could kill Jack—that made him sound so worried. Jack, though, knew that something like this wouldn't do much. He was okay with being around a little warmth or heat, so a burn like this wasn't going to necessarily kill him. However if he happened to get caught in the entire blast…he wasn't really sure what would happen. He was a Spirit, so that meant he was already dead anyway, right? That's how things worked, right?

"I'll be okay." He was still a little shaken, but he managed to regain his senses and float back up to his feet. He reached up and tore a chunk of fabric from the cloak and held it in both of his hands. Hiccup watched curiously, and soon saw it become coated with ice, but not enough to freeze the fabric over completely. "…Tie it on?"

"Oh! Y-Yeah." Hiccup nodded, taking the freezing cold cloth into his own hands. After Jack moved the rest of the cloak aside, he held his arm out for the young Viking to tie it over the hole in his shirt to cover the burn wound. "How long will it take to heal…?" He then asked, stepping back from the other.

"Until this evening maybe." Jack replied. Just because he was immortal didn't mean he healed right away. It was fast, but it still took a little time. "I'll be alright. Really." He hesitantly held his hand up to place it on Hiccup's shoulder. Then, after giving the dragon a short glance, he turned to go fetch his staff. He'd dropped it during the commotion with the arrow. "Maybe that meeting is over. Should we go check?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Hiccup replied, going over to the dragon to place his hand on his head. "Come on bud. I promise no one will attack you again." The beast was reluctant, but pushed himself up to follow the two of them back over the hill and up to the palace. Jack stayed away as far as he could for the time being. His mind was replaying the events over and over again the entire walk. Albeit, it wasn't because of the burn, it was because he was trying to figure out who could have shot the arrow, from where, and for why?

By the time they approached the two big doors again, they were still closed and there were no signs of it about to open either. So Jack sat himself up on top of his staff as it stood balanced on the ground, and Hiccup kept his hand against Toothless's head in hopes it would help reassure him.

"What do they even talk about in there?" Jack muttered, a hand reflexively reaching to rub at his injury. Albeit, He managed to stop himself and let it rest on his knee instead. Rubbing it would only make things worse for him.

"It all depends on what Dad brings up." Hiccup replied, sitting himself down against Toothless's leg. "He has a bad habit of getting a little off topic too so who knows what may come out of this." They hadn't been to any other lands for negotiations for a long time either so it was possible the chief was a bit rusty. "He could be in there gloating about how his Son is a dragon tamer—" His voice was full of doubt. "Or he could be rubbing in their faces just how awesome our tribe is because of the dragons or—"

In mid sentence, the doors began to open, and a crowd began to file out from inside. Jack hopped back down onto the ground next to Hiccup just as he got back up onto his own foot and prosthetic as well. Then they waited until they saw Stoick emerge along with three others. Two of them were women, and the other was a man just as big and bulky as the chief of Berk. Jack assumed he was the King, and then he found the second woman to be familiar. That head of crazy hair seemed enough to remind him that he had seen her earlier that day when he first arrived. The woman beside her, taller than her, had long brown hair and her demeanor gave off that she wasn't someone that people could ignore. That must have been the Queen.

"Ah, here he is, yer' Highness! My boy, Hiccup!" Stoick stepped forward, bringing his arms down and around the tiny Viking. He shook him some, a proud smile on his jolly face. Jack leaned on his staff next to Hiccup and smirked at him. Apparently there was a bit of a change of subject during the meeting. "And this here is his dragon, Toothless!" Said dragon gave a tilt of the head in response to his name being called. This caused the red head girl to smile a little.

"I suppose he is quite the character." The Queen of DunBroch mentioned, smiling toward Hiccup and then Toothless. "But a talk of marriage during a negotiation for our trading plans is—"

"Marriage?!" Yelled both Hiccup and the red haired girl near the Queen. Everyone looked at either her or Hiccup with wide eyes. Even Jack couldn't help but look at the boy as well. He then looked at Stoick, then the Queen, and finally he looked at the girl who now obviously was the Princess. She looked angry.

"Mother we've been over this before, haven't we?" She spoke before Hiccup could even get a word out. "Dragon tamer 'er not! I'd never marry someone like…" Trailing off on her words, the Princess held her hands up to gesture towards the boy. "…like that!"

There were a couple gasps among the crowd and Hiccup found himself furrowing his eyebrows. "She just gestured to all of me." He held his hands out in front of him, confused as to why people had to do that to him so much. Jack only snickered at him.

"Of course I gestured to all of ya'," The Princess replied, stepping forward to keep pointing out things about him. "Yer' just a wee little man with scrawny arms that bears could use for toothpicks!"

Before the Tamer could express anything in return, he felt Jack's arm nudge his own. "She knows what she's talking about." The Winter Spirit laughed at the Princess's comments and Hiccup only sighed under his breath.

"Oh pipe down Snowcap!" The Princess yelped, throwing a hand up in Jack's direction. He and Hiccup both jumped in response, mouths agape. Then, before anything else, she rolled her eyes, shot her Mother a look, and turned to walk off in some other direction.

"Did she just…" Jack began, flabbergasted.

Hiccup nodded, struggling not to word a response to the white haired boy.

She had just yelled at Jack.

Just as the two of them went to follow the girl, Stoick's strong arms were holding the boy back. "Hiccup, come then let's go inside and have a little chat with th' King and Queen." He pushed him away from Jack and toward the building everyone had just been inside. The King and Queen entered before them and just as Hiccup was about to disappear, he looked to the Spirit of Winter, and silently pleaded for him to follow. This was Jack's chance to find someone else who possibly believed in him too.

Jack nodded and took off without hesitation, but by then, he'd already lost track of the girl so it took him awhile to get on her trail again. He noticed a large black horse running through the trees, and just above him, a full head of blazing red hair moved with the wind. He smiled to himself, having found exactly who he was looking for.

He followed from high above until she and the horse came to a stop somewhere near a clearance in the forest. Jack then lowered himself to the ground, somewhere she wouldn't see him at first, and he walked around a tree to watch just what she was doing out there. For the moment, she was pulling things off of the horse and tossing them over her shoulder. To his left, he saw some sort of target hung up on a tree. He stepped out a little more into the clearing and stared at the colorful piece of cloth.

Just then, something fast was thrown by his head and it penetrated the target with a loud thump. He jumped, having felt it graze his ear, and he spun around to see that it had come from the Princess. She was staring at him with a blank look, a bow held up strongly in her arms. Then she spoke. "What are 'ya doin' here?" Her voice was full of annoyance. "If ya' had stepped out any later, I coulda' shot through 'yer head."

"So you're the one with the arrows." Jack mumbled, ignoring what she just said to him. She furrowed her red eyebrows at him as he reached behind him to pull the projectile from the target. "You're the one who shot at Toothless aren't you?"

"Toothless?" The Princess asked, her expression honestly lost. But then her face changed, and he could see that she realized what he was talking about. "Oh! The beast yer' wee friend brought along with 'im? 'Course I shot it. I thought it was a bear." She looked at the horse and then back at the Spirit. "It was not my intention to unleash a firestorm, m'afraid, so—" She caught herself as Jack came closer and held the arrow out to her. She must have seen the wrap around his wounded arm. "…so m'sorry fer' causin' ya both trouble."

"It's fine." Jack said, taking his hand back now that he'd given the arrow to her. "I understand you've had problems with…bears, right?" He paused. "But was it really that hard to tell a dragon from a bear?"

"It was at first." She replied. "I didn't know it was a dragon until after I shot th'arrow." She reached out and pushed Jack out of her way so she could lift the bow again and shoot the target. "We had problems with black bears for a long time, n' seein' something big and dark like tha' so close to home scared me." She looked at Jack. "Yer' friend is an idiot fer' bringing it here y'know?"

"Toothless is his best friend." Jack replied.

She looked at him for a moment before reaching for another arrow in her pouch. "N' who are you then? Just anotha' friend?" She shot another one, tearing straight through the first one so they both would hit the bull's eye. "Y'don' look like one of them. Yer' demeanor isn't rough enough. You don' even look like ya belong with the dragon boy."

"No…I'm from Burgess." Jack told her, saying nothing but the honest truth. That was where his lake was, the one he first woke up in. It was where he got his name, and where he discovered his powers. It was quite a familiar place for him, but for her, it seemed most likely not. "Pennsylvania?" He suggested the state in hopes maybe she'd find that familiar instead, but her expression never changed. "… never mind."

She went over to the target and pulled the arrows from within it before turning to go back over to her horse. "Well I'll be gettin' off then. I want to speak with my Mother n' Father about all of this goin' on between me n' the dragon boy." She pulled herself up and grabbed the reins before looking back down at him. "…It was nice talkin' I suppose, whoever 'ya are…"

"Oh, it's Jack." He said. "Jack Fr—" But before he could get it out, she'd turned her horse around and was riding off out of his sight. His shoulders dropped, and he frowned. He didn't know finding a second person who could see him was going to be so disappointing. She probably thought everyone else could see him too.

Twirling his staff around beside him, he thought about the certain things he could probably do while Hiccup and the Princess were in this mess. Then the thought of attending this second meeting crossed his mind and he smiled a little to himself. If she thought that everyone else could see him, then surely he would be able to have a little fun out of this. The Winter Spirit chuckled at his own thoughts and took off into the sky, a little plan of devious action ready to be played out.


Writer Notes:
Okay I know. Merida's a jerk right now. She'll get better...

Doodle0505: eijgoierg thanks!

TenebrisSagittarius: She will soon. For now she's just grumpy :|

little miss BANANNA HEAD: djgiuggh i know but he's alright i pROMISE

Juwelz2: Thank you very much! I can't wait for you to see just HOW Rapunzel is gonna get in all of this ujhfiubgit

Crescenta: Don't worry, I'll be sure to continue this as far as possible!

Rosepink4140: Thank you! Hope you liked this update :)

SupaCrazee: Thanks! Can't wait for this story to unfold for you

Transformers' BABY: Thank youuu. I'll be updating at random times but I'll try not to keep you waiting long.