Merida laughed as her, Hiccup, and Jack held Rapunzel in a snug embrace. She was awake from Pitch's curse and they were safe now, thanks to Jack, albeit their nightmares were still fresh in their memories. Finally, the four released each other and wormed a full explanation of what happened when they were asleep out of Jack, despite his hesitation. They were all tired still, especially Jack from his encounter with Pitch, but wanted to remain cautious, so they decided to take shifts that night.
"I'll take first watch," Jack said, stifling a yawn yet again.
Hiccup raised an eyebrow at him. "You're joking, right?"
"What? I can handle it," he said, this time, though, not able to smother his yawn, drawing out his vowels. Rapunzel and Merida giggled; he wasn't the spirit of fun and amusement for nothing.
"You've obviously already taken your turn, Jack. I'll go. Besides, I've got me bow with me, nothing will be going wrong this this baby around," Merida guaranteed him.
He sighed and nodded, "Oh, fine… Then who's gonna go?" Hiccup raised his hand. "Great. Two shifts down, two to go." He glanced at Rapunzel. "You want to get up early or go back to bed?"
Rapunzel just shrugged and said while gazing down at the sun emblem of her family, "I think you should just go to bed. I'll wake you up when it's your shift, okay?" She smiled up at him, but not before winking at the other two without Jack's notice. His shoulders sagged, his head started to bow, and his hand slipped down his staff a little before he snapped his head back up and nodded to her. "So… are we all sleeping in here tonight?" she asked.
"There's more beds in the servant's quarters if we don't want to all pile into yer bed," Merida supplied. They all nodded in agreement and made their way down to the castle's main floor. Jack floated down the stair well, too exhausted to walk, and he followed closely behind Hiccup and the girls.
The four filed into the room which was mostly empty right now as most of the servants were on leave. The first empty bed Jack saw he fell face first into, completely exhausted from the stress of the day and all the power he'd spent in the battle against the nightmares.
Merida whispered to Rapunzel while watching him, "How long you think 'ell be out fer?"
Rapunzel shrugged, "A while at least."
Without moving his head, Jack called out, "I'm still awake, you know!" The girls laughed to themselves before they bid each other and Hiccup goodnight.
"Goodnight, Jack," Hiccup whispered, receiving no response but the slow rise and fall of Frost's back.
Merida grinned at the others. "Oh he's out, alright." Hiccup rolled his eyes with a smirk and then rolled onto his side. While Rapunzel lay on her back humming herself to sleep. Other than Hiccup snoring, Merida's watch was uneventful, boring even. The moon dwelling high in the sky she saw her time was over. She tiptoed past Jack to Hiccup and shook his arm some before receiving the response, "Mmm five more minutes, dad…" and rolling onto his stomach. Merida rolled her eyes and flicked him on the back of his head.
"Ow, what was that for?" he whispered urgently.
"You wouldn't wake up. It's your turn for watch, Hiccup." He nodded and stretched out on his temporary bed. "I'll give you one or two minutes to wake up a little and then we'll switch out." He gave her a thumbs-up and they soon transitioned. Hiccup sat on a stool drawing Toothless and his friends together until he got bored. He looked outside and it was still only around an hour into his time.
He threw his head back. "Ugh, longest watch of my LIFE," he said to no one in particular. Jack rolled over onto his back, his jaw slack in sleep and his eyes rolled back. Hiccup grinned to himself. What better way to entertain himself than to capture this moment forever? He began to draw the straight lines and the wavy curves and finally added the shading to a very embarrassing drawing of Jack Frost. Hiccup pondered his work for a moment before he added a couple flies buzzing around Jack's mouth, just for effect. Whether they'd actually been there or not wasn't important. He gazed up at the sky again and saw the moon approaching the horizon. He walked over to the golden haired eighteen year old and tapped her face with his quill. "Punzie," he whispered. She opened her eyes just a fraction at him before sitting up.
"So, it's my turn now?" He nodded. "She looked over to Jack, whose breath was clearly visible now and asked Hiccup, "Do you think I should wake him up for watch later? I could take it for him."
Hiccup thought for a moment and suggested, "How about you wake me up when the sun just starts to rise? I can watch from there on. Besides, Toothless is an early dragon." Rapunzel thanked him and got up, making her way towards the same stool as Hiccup went to his own bed, the metal pieces of his false leg clanking together.
She occupied the entire time till sunrise with brushing and braiding her very, very long hair. She didn't notice the time until the brilliant blood orange color of the sun like Merida's hair flared in through the windows, staining the cream floor gold. She headed towards Hiccup' bed when she tripped over Jack's foot that poked out from the bed and landed on her chest. She coughed, having the wind knocked out of her. Jack sat up immediately and defensively, icy fern patterns tracing all around him until he gained focus. Rapunzel coughed again and he rushed to her. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I just tripped, Jack, I'm fine. Nothing's gone wrong, alright? Everything's okay," she comforted him. He let out a sigh of release and helped her up.
"So it's my turn for watch now?" he asked her.
She looked at him, her eyes wide. "Um… no, no. I was just… pacing, since it's my watch and I'm bored." He looked at her with suspicion, but it was soon replaced with scrunched up features as he stained to keep open his eyes. Rapunzel guided him back to where he was sleeping and encouraged him to lie down, convincing him after five minutes of persuasion. Almost as soon as he closed his eyes again, she could tell he was asleep once more. She woke Hiccup easily and reminded him of his promise before going to sleep herself.
It seemed that by the end of Hiccup's second watch, everything had gone smoothly and Pitch had not returned to attack them. Merida rose after the sun had been risen for about an hour and Rapunzel soon after. Jack, on the other hand, looked just as deeply asleep as when Rapunzel had put him down earlier that morning. His left hand clung to his staff while the right one was hanging over his eyes and probably had been so since the sun had come up. The three of them talked about their shifts to see if anyone missed anything, but everything had gone just fine. Well, except Jack making the room around thirty degrees colder when Punzie had tripped over his foot. They decided to let Jack sleep in a little while they went out to the dining room, which was on the floor above them, since they had stayed in the servant's room.
They picked out some of Jack's favorite things like cream-filled pastries and cold hard boiled eggs. It was quite an odd combination, but could you expect anything less from Jack? Afterwards they decided to go check on him. Heading back down the stairs, they spotted him sitting in the doorway of their temporary quarters. "Good morning, Jack!" they greeted him in unison, which was really kind of creepy. They handed him his bag for breakfast and he took it quietly.
He nodded to Hiccup, "So where's Toothy? I thought you'd be out with him by now.
"I figured it'd be nice to get you something to eat first, Jack." Hiccup turned and walked outside towards the covered stables. Jack rolled his eyes.
"He's sure got a temper sometimes, doesn't he?" Jack asked as before he popped an entire hard boiled egg into his mouth. "Gosh, these things are so good." He finally swallowed and looked at Rapunzel. "But why didn't you get me up for my shift this morning?"
Her mouth turned into that half smile of being caught in a lie and she explained, "Well, you did a lot for us yesterday so we thought you deserved some extra sleep." He smiled at the girls and thanked them. Then the three left for the stables. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad, they all prayed.