God, I love long weekends! I was close to writing non-stop this weekend. From now on I'm going to be updating on Wednesdays and Sundays. Anyway, what was the thud? Read the chapter and find out.

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or the picture.

Chapter #3

Rapunzel was suddenly wide awake by the sound. She glanced at her clock. It read 10:00 pm. She groaned a little and got out of her bed to investigate the sound. She went out into the hallway and looked in both directions. Nothing.

"The thud was nearby." Rapunzel thought. She walked to Jack's room door and knocked.

"Jack?" No response. She knocked again, more loudly this time.

"Jack?" Still no response. She opened the door. Jack lay on the ground in a heap, unconscious, the apple she gave him in his left hand. There was one bite in it. Rapunzel gasped and immediately crouched down and placed her hand on his cheek, hoping to get some response but nothing came. Beginning to panic a little, she checked for a pulse and any signs of breathing. There was none. Tears welled up in her eyes and she screamed.

"NORTH! HICCUP! SOMEBODY! ANYBOBY, HELP!"

She ran into the hallway, looking frantically around her for any sign of life, tears rolling down her cheek like a waterfall. It took a few seconds but down the hallway a door opened and slammed shut and Hiccup came walking down the hall, half-dressed, trying to put a shirt on.

"Rapunzel? What's going on?" he said while yawning. Rapunzel tried to say something but the tears were blocking her voice. Instead she pointed into Jack's room while downstairs, in the workshop, they could hear North yelling, "what is going on!?" Hiccup ignored the yell and looked into Jack's room.

"Oh my goodness!" He crouched down next to Jack, his face filled with worry and shock. He looked at Rapunzel. "Rapunzel, what happened?" He hadn't noticed the apple. Through the tears, Rapunzel managed to croak an answer.

"I-I don't know. I-I heard t-this thud and I-I came to check on Jack t-to see if he was alright and if he h-heard the thud too but I found him like this." The tears began to roll down her cheek even more as she placed hands over her eyes.

"What is going on here?" asked North as he approached Rapunzel. He sounded angry. Rapunzel looked at him. He was fully dressed, unlike Hiccup, but he was just as tired as Hiccup. North looked into Jack's room. He went in and crouched beside Hiccup.

"What happened to him?" North checked for a pulse but just like Rapunzel he felt nothing. He then noticed the apple in Jack's hand and took it to get a closer look.

"What's this doing here?" He looked at Hiccup, who shrugged, then he looked at Rapunzel. "What is this doing here?" He asked again.

Rapunzel opened her mouth to say something but her tears were blocking her voice again. North gave her a stern look and Rapunzel managed to say in a whisper,

"I-I gave it to Jack. Merida came by t-this evening and gave it to m-me but I-I didn't want it. I-I didn't kno-" was all Rapunzel managed to say as tears started rolling down her cheeks again. She put her hands to her face and started to sob quietly. She heard movement and then arms wrapping around her and a hand placed on her head. She removed her hands and cried into Hiccup's chest.

"Shhh. It's alright, Rapunzel," said Hiccup in calm and soothing voice, "It's not your fault. You didn't know this would happen. It's not your fault. Just calm down."

After a few deep and shuddering breaths, Rapunzel calmed down and the crying subsided, although occasional tears still escaped her eyes. Hiccup took a step back and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Better?" Rapunzel nodded. Hiccup smiled and looked at North. "What do we do, north?" North looked at Hiccup and stood up.

"Hiccup, Rapunzel, you two take Jack to the globe. I'm going to contact the guardians." North walked out of the room and looked at Rapunzel, placing his hand on her shoulder and handing her the apple. "Make sure nothing else happens to Jack." Rapunzel nodded and entered the room with Hiccup while North headed down the hallway. Hiccup kneeled down next to Jack and picked him up, carrying him down to hallway towards the globe, bridal style. Rapunzel followed closely behind him.

Soon they reached the globe. North had pulled out a couch and motioned to Hiccup. Hiccup went to the couch and laid Jack down on it, looking very worried. Rapunzel looked at Jack and then turned around to look at the globe, and gasped slightly. It was spewing out red light and red light meant it was very urgent. Rapunzel turned her gaze back to Jack. Within 5 minutes, the guardians showed up. First Bunny, then Tooth and lastly Sandy.

"This better be a good reason," Bunny complained in his Australian accent, "But I swear if this is another 'I feel it in my belly' reasons, I going to-" Bunny stopped talking when he saw Jack.

"What happened to him?" Tooth squeaked, her voice filled with fear. North held up his hand to silence everyone.

"We don't know what happened to Jack. Rapunzel found him unconscious in his room. But I believe," He held out a hand to Rapunzel and she gave him the apple," that this had something to do with this" He held the apple up high so everyone could see.

"But it doesn't make sense." Hiccup interrupted as he was walking towards North. "How is it possible that Jack would choke after one bite of an apple when he has eaten foods that are twice as likely to choke him?" He gave each guardian a look before continuing, "Something is going on here. I don't know what but all I know is this wasn't an accident."

Silence. Suddenly, Sandy waved his arms in the air, catching everyone's attention. Three images appeared above Sandy's head, one at a time. The first image was a serpent entwined rod. The next image was a continent, Asia. And the last image was a bust of a woman. Rapunzel had no idea what Sandy meant but North was shaking his head.

"No, Sandy, I'm not going to ask for her help." Rapunzel could have sworn she heard shame in North's voice.

"North, she is the most powerful of her sisters and we don't know what happened to Jack" Bunny pointed to Jack as he spoke, "If anyone knows what happened to Jack, its going to be her." North sighed and muttered something under his breath but said,

"Very well, we'll go to her. Everyone to the sleigh." North started walking but he was stopped by Tooth.

"Oh no, North you know how much she hates the sleigh. It's best if we use a snow globe or Bunny's tunnels" When she finished she went to Jack and picked him up.

"Hang on, where's Merida?" Hiccup suddenly said. Everyone looked around them but the guardian of Summer was nowhere to be seen. Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I should have known." He placed his thumb and index fingers into his mouth and whistled. Only seconds later, Toothless appeared in front of him. He climbed onto the dragon and looked at the guardians.

"I'm going to look for her. I'll meet you guys later."

"How are you going to find us?" asked North.

"You guys are not that hard to find." Hiccup said. He leaned forward and whispered something into Toothless' ear. Toothless grunted an argeement as he turned to face to the opening in roof by the globe. "Let's go, buddy!" Toothless spread his wings and flew out the opening and disappeared in the distance.

In the meantime, North had placed the apple in a small red bag, which was tied to his belt and a snow globe, started to shake it a little and whispered something to it. He threw it on to the ground and a magic portal appeared. He turned to look at Rapunzel and the other guardians.

"Let's go" and he ran through the portal, followed by Tooth, still carrying Jack, and Sandy. Bunny stood beside the portal and looked at Rapunzel.

"Ladies, first" Rapunzel looked at him for a second and ran into the portal. She spun widely and there were bright lights flashing around her. She closed her eyes and within seconds she hit the ground, face first.

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