Chapter Three: Corona

Jack stepped back with a massive grin on his face. He drove his staff into the ground, causing ice to creep across the tough grass and freeze Jack's surroundings. "What do you think?" He asked, his voice quickly moving in the chilled morning breeze. Hiccup, who sat on the frozen ground beside Toothless, wearily glanced towards Jack before looking to left; fighting sleep. He nodded in approval. The bright sun rose into the sky off in the east and it turned the night sky a series of blues, oranges and pinks. The large sun's beams leaked through the thick storm clouds in the distance and revealed Hiccup and Jack's night's work.

In front of the pair, was one of the many boat-like Viking houses. However, unlike the others, this house was buried in several feet of snow. The snow piled around the single wooden door, preventing anyone or anything from getting in or out. As the sky became brighter, the freshly fallen snow began to gleam and glint in the sunlight, giving off the appearance of sparkling. More snow clung to the roof and the wooden dragon-like spikes on the house were barely seen. Lighter piles of snow surrounded the area, spotting the closest houses; as if a snowstorm had passed directly overhead.

The warmth from the rising sun arose a sleepy Hiccup and he lightly snickered. "I can't wait to see the tribes' faces!"

Jack turned around and grinned at him, his teeth glinting in the sunlight. "Yeah, me too; especially Snotlout's face." He snickered at the thought. Hiccup made a sound in the back of his throat.

"Ah, we should probably go, though. Most people aren't up 'till after dawn, I usually sleep in; but my dad rises when the sun does. It wouldn't look too good if he or anyone else found us, er, me outside of Snotlout's snow buried house…" Hiccup abruptly spoke and glanced around, suddenly apprehensive.

"Eh, we should go then." Jack replied, gripping his staff. Hiccup patted Toothless's nose and hopped on his back lightly.

"Come on, I'll show you the cove." Hiccup spoke.

"Okay." Jack grinned. Hiccup slid his legs into the stirrups, hooked himself to the saddle, and grabbed onto the handle.

"Alright, bud, let's go!" Hiccup ordered and toothless leapt into the air, flapped his bat-like wings and quickly climbed in altitude. Jack flew after them, catching up easily.

Once high enough in the sky, Toothless's wings leveled out and he soared in and out of the clouds. Hiccup breathed in deeply, the fresh dawn air filling his lungs. The cool breeze blew his messy, auburn brown hair out of his face and rolled off of Toothless's wings. Jack flew steadily beside them, the wind blowing back his brown cape and snow white hair.

Within minutes, Toothless dove out of the clouds and glided down through the sky to the forest below; Jack followed behind them. The cove came into view and Toothless dove straight in, lightly landing on his feet. Hiccup unhooked himself from the saddle and leapt off of Toothless's back as Jack landed beside them. Jack took in the beauty of the cove. It's tall walls formed a bowl around them, built entirely of grey rock and ferns. The sea-green large lake sat in the middle of the cove and consumed the majority of its space. Similar to the forest that surrounded it, the cove's ground was formed of wet brown mud. Ferns didn't grow as much as it did in the forest, but they did spot lightly across the cove. The trees that grew from the mud were similar to pine trees but they were much shorter and in fewer numbers and their branches were long and droopy; many of them supporting small birds' nests.

"So, this is the cove, huh?" Jack spoke, filled with awe once again.

"Yeah." Hiccup grinned and patted Toothless's nose one last time. Then the large creature lumbered off towards a tree, plasma blasted the ground and laid on top of the flames. Watching the dragon, a question formed in Jack's head.

"Say, how big was the Red Death?" He asked after a minute.

Hiccup glanced wearily at Jack, then made a thoughtful face as he tried to recall the memory. "I'd say his head was about the size of this cove. He had six small eyes, massive overlapping teeth, a short horn on the front of his snout and a large shield on the back of his head. His body was about four times the size of his head and his long tail ended with a massive club. Also he had large bat-like wings." Hiccup described the beast. Jack's blue eyes widened.

"Holy cow! Dude, I'm surprised you're still alive!" Jack leapt up onto a boulder.

"Yeah, me too." Hiccup snickered at Jack's reaction. "Though, I almost didn't." He added. "Hey, you said yesterday that you were attacked three times by dragons; who else attacked you, other than Toothless?"

"Uh, Stormfly did. When I first got here, I panicked because I didn't know that there were dragons here and I accidently froze Stormfly's tail. Let's just say that was an extremely close encounter. The second time, I managed to piss off Astrid and she had Stormfly do all of these 'tricks' mid-flight. I learned my lesson." Jack responded, wincing at the terror that had flooded him during that flight.

"Wait, Astrid was actually stupid enough to let you ride Stormfly?" He laughed. "As for the mid-air tricks, she learned that from Toothless the day we took her for a ride before my exam." He added. Jack snickered.

Jack. A voice called. Jack's smile fell and he glanced up at the sky, peering at the moon.

Jack's eyes squinted. "Is everything alright?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah; the Moon's talking to me." Jack responded.

"Oh."

Jack, it's time to go. The moon spoke.

"Already?" Jack quirked an eyebrow.

Yes; don't worry, you'll see the boy soon enough. But now it's time to start searching for the others. He replied.

Jack nodded silently and turned to face Hiccup, who stared at him expectantly.

"What's going on?" He asked, shifting his weight onto his good leg.

"It looks like I have to go." Jack responded lightly.

"Go? Already? But you haven't even seen Snotlout's reaction yet!" Hiccup replied unhappily.

Jack smirked sadly and his ice blue eyes became soft. "It's alright, you can tell me all about it later. I'll most likely return in a week or two." He replied.

"Alright." Hiccup sighed, reassured. "I guess you know where to find me, then." He grinned.

Jack lightly slung his left arm over the boy's shoulders and shook him in a friendly way before releasing him. "I'll see you around, Haddock." He laughed.

"'See you around, Frost." Hiccup mumbled loudly.

With that, the guardian grasped his staff tightly in his hand and took off into the early morning sky. Hiccup watched the winter spirit go with a sense of curiosity until he could see the boy no longer. Suddenly feeling alone once more, Hiccup sadly turned and quickly walked over to a resting Toothless.

"Hey, bud, are you ready to go back to town?" He carefully analyzed the sun's position in the blue sky and realized that everyone in town would be up by now. Toothless snorted in response and leisurely climbed to his feet, digging his nails into the soggy earth. Once Toothless was on all four of his feet, he unfolded his wings and Hiccup scrambled onto his back, hooked himself up to the saddle and the pair took off into the sky. After a minute of climbing in altitude, Toothless's wings straightened and he soared above the pointed tree tops. The sun's bright rays shone down on the pair and warmed Hiccup's freckled face. The light breeze blew back his hair and tossed around his fur vest.

Eventually, Toothless landed beside Hiccup's home at the top of the hill. Peering across the village, Hiccup smiled as he glanced down the village hillside and saw the majority of the tribe surrounding Snotlout's snow buried house. With a deep feeling of pride, he put on a concerned expression and had Toothless fly down behind the people; where he dismounted the black dragon and approached the back of the crowd.

"What happened?" He innocently asked a woman near the back.

The woman was much taller than Hiccup and she could see more than he could. She turned to face him, her thick blonde braids flying over her shoulders. "The Elder's say a small snow storm must have struck Snotlout's house overnight while we were all sleeping. There's no way out, the entrance was completely snowed in." She replied.

"Oh." Hiccup raised his eyebrows as if he were surprised. She turned back towards the crowd and Hiccup walked back to Toothless, now having a better view of the movement below. Hiccup inwardly smiled at the sight before him. Three large tribesmen were shoveling the snow that encased Snotlout's door to the side, struggling to remove the ice the compacted it. Their breath fogged in the chilly morning air and the crowd waited behind them, nervously fidgeting; hoping that Snotlout was alright.

Eventually, the tired men had shoveled away all the snow and ice and forced the heavily frozen door open. Snotlout happily stood before them and let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank gods!" He scrambled out, feeling numb from the cold that had leaked into his house. Hiccup quietly snickered and a smug look formed on his face. He lightly leaned against Toothless's side and crossed his arms. However, Hiccup watched a blonde-haired girl run up to Snotlout and he instantly knew it was Astrid. The smugness fell from his face, but he held his comfortable position against Toothless, who stared blankly down at the scene below. Sorrow suddenly filled his eyes as Astrid hugged Snotlout tightly; glad that he was alright. The crowd quickly departed, in a rush to catch up with their daily jobs. As the crowd dissipated, Astrid caught sight of Hiccup leisurely leaning against Toothless's side at the top of the hill ahead of her.

She put two and two together and she realized that Snotlout's imprisonment had been caused by Jack and Hiccup and her blue eyes narrowed in anger. Hiccup stiffened and stood before returning her glare, his jaw set. In this, she could she hatred and pain. He pulled himself onto Toothless's saddled and they took off into the sky.

Jack steadily flew into the forest and landed lightly on the soggy earth. In some ways, he would miss Berk. It, in deed, was a strange land with even stranger people, but he would return; in time. Jack breathed in the cold air one last time, feeling the breeze on his skin. Slowly, he unhooked one of the snow globes from his belt and shook it in his hand until snowflakes began to fall inside of it. "Corona; 1782." He spoke. A castle formed on the inside of the small object and he tossed it to the ground; where it bounced off of a thick, brown log and formed a golden, spiraling vortex that was as tall as Jack was. Jack silently stepped into the swirling vortex, his staff in his hand.

Roughly, Jack was forced out of the vortex and tumbled to the ground once more. "Ugh. Again?!" Muttering, he forced himself to his feet and found himself in another forest. Unlike Berk, Corona's forest was more inviting. The grass that covered nearly every square inch was soft, long and beautifully green; in fact, the grass was so soft, it tickled Jack's bare feet. Every few feet of grass was a small flower with rounded petals, each different pastel colors. The large trees that grew from the ground were smooth barked willow trees. Their bark was a nice tan-grey color and their long branches drooped towards the ground. Jack breathed in slowly and the smell of spring filled his frozen lungs.

Glancing down, Jack noticed that his clothes had changed again. The fur had vanished from his cape and vest. Other than that, his clothes were practically the same. Though Jack noted that they were made out of finer material than his colonial clothes had been originally made of. Jack still wore his ice belt with the frozen snow globes on it, and of course, his feet were bare. Jack's staff was very much the same; however, the wood felt fresher. Ice instantly encrusted the new clothing, making the collar of his shirt wrinkle around his neck and shoulders.

Gripping his staff, Jack glanced up through the trees' leaves and looked for the moon. "Uh, Manny, which way do I go?" He asked, not sure which way Corona was.

Turn around and keep going straight. Manny replied.

"Ok; Thanks." Jack turned around; picked the snow globe on the ground up, hooked it to his belt and began walking; listening to the birds chirping in the Willow trees. Within minutes, Jack reached the end of the forest and gasped. Corona was indeed a large kingdom. The bright sun shown above in the periwinkle blue sky and made Jack wish his clothes were made of a lighter fabric. The kingdom was made of beautiful brownish colored bricks and an assortment of flags were strung from every building; most of the them mainly purple in color with a yellow sun or flower like the shadow the moon had shown Jack.

"Whoa." Jack's eyes widened as he took in the magnificent kingdom of Corona. He slowly walked along the brick bridge that led to the kingdom gates, easily walking across the even pathway. He walked through the massive gates and slowly squeezed his way through a large crowd that filled a supermarket. Food stands lined up against the brick walls and people off all ages danced to music that was being played in a large courtyard several yards away.

"This place isn't that bad." He grinned at the fun people were having. At a large fountain in a corner opposite of Jack, he saw four little girls braiding each other's hair. However, it wasn't the girls that caught his attention; it was a large wall mural that was to the right of them. Jack's eyebrows rose and he squeezed through the crowd, his arms constantly disappearing through people, but Jack didn't notice. Jack finally reached the mural and stared up at it with curiosity.

However, there was a tug on Jack's shirt and he looked down to find one of the girls from the fountain. She was barely as tall as his knee and struggled to reach Jack's shirt. Her childish face was filled with wonder and her beautiful brown eyes glanced up at him. Her pretty red hair was pulled back into wild braids and her nose was small and round. She wore a yellow shirt that was tucked underneath a tan-pink skirt and a black belt. She also wore long white socks and brown shoes.

"Excuse me," She spoke in an adorable child-like voice. "are you Jack Frost?" She asked shyly.

"Yes, I am." Jack grinned, surprised that anyone here believed in him. He bent down in front of her, holding his staff in his left hand. A look of awe crossed her small face.

"I knew it!" She giggled. "Guys, its Jack Frost!" She turned and called to her friends. The girls at the fountain looked up and searched the crowd for their friends, shock crossing their faces as they took in the sight of the white haired boy beside her.

"He's here, he's here! His actually here!" The girls leapt from the fountain and ran over to the pair. Jack's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"A-all of you can see me?" He asked. The group of red haired girls nodded wildly, their braids bouncing all over.

"Almost every child in Corona believes in you!" The first girl beamed.

"Even a few adults too!" A taller girl giggled.

"Wow." Jack was speechless. His ice blue eyes wondered among the crowd.

"Is it true that your skin is as cold as snow?!" A third girl spoke, peeking around the side of the girl in front of her.

Jack laughed. "Yes." He held out his hand. The little girl reached out and touched it. Shivering, she pulled back and grinned. "I have a question for you guys. Do you like Snow Days?"

"Yes!" The girls jumped up and down, their braids whipping about.

"Though we haven't had one in a long time, they stopped coming several years ago." A girl the same age as Jamie spoke, smirking; she appeared to be the oldest of the fountain girls.

Jack's eyebrows pulled together. "Really?" He asked, his winter white hair falling into his face. Most of the girls nodded, one of them smirked. "We'll just have to fix that." Jack grinned as clouds began to form in the sky above. The staff in his hand froze a little more and the ice turned blue. Soon enough, the air became cold and small snowflakes twirled down from the sky.

"Look, it's snowing!" The first little girl pointed out.

"Jack Frost, at your service." He beamed, delighted by the looks of joy and cheer that lit up the children's' faces.

"You actually made it snow!" The oldest laughed. The town's people began to fill the courtyard as the tiny snowflakes piled up in the cobblestone bricks and every other uncovered spot. Children poured into the street, diving into the snow with their hands bare. Men danced around and women laughed, joining their children in the snow.

"Thank you Jack!" The little girl wrapped her arms around his cold neck.

"You're welcome; I'll make sure you get your Snow Days from now on." He hugged her back, sending a shiver down her small spine.

"Thanks! Oh and by the way, my name's Jenny." She pulled away, a snowflake falling on her nose. Jenny giggled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jenny." Jack replied. "Now, why don't you go play in the snow I made for you." He nodded towards the piling snow on their left.

"Will you still be here?" She asked, her large doe eyes looking at him.

"Of course; trust me, I'm going to be here a while." Jack assured her.

"Okay!" She grinned before running off into the snow.

Jack laughed and stood up to face the mural that had caught his attention before.

The wall mural was made of opaque gems. The colorful gems formed three human beings; a man, a woman and an infant girl. Both the man and the woman had brown hair and their eyes were green. The woman hair stopped half way down her back and a golden crown sat upon her head. She wore pearl earrings and a pearl necklace with three diamond pendants, the middle being the largest. Her dress was purple with white shoulder cuffs, long purple sleeves and a thin lace outline around the opening of her dress. Golden flower like objects decorated the front side of the dress. Her face was similar to oval and her ears there small. Her eyes were large, her nose was thin and her lips were narrow. The man also wore a crown. He had short greying brown hair, thick eyebrows, a thin beard and a thick mustache. His nose was wide and his eyes were small. His outfit was more of a blue than purple. His long shirt was buttoned up with golden buttons and his collar was white. Over his shirt, he wore a long white and brown vest, which was entailed in the same golden designs as his wife. He also wore what appeared to be some kind of gold medal of honor, with a golden flower like the one Jack saw everywhere. His pants were the same colored blue and his boots were brown.

In the woman's arms was the infant girl, whose hair, unlike her parents, was a beautiful golden blonde and surprisingly, to her waist. She had large green eyes, a round nose and wide lips, which lightly smiled. She wore a dress the same color as her mothers and a beautifully jeweled crown. "Is this the girl I am looking for?" Jack asked, his eyebrows raising.

Yes. The moon replied. He nodded to himself.

"Why is her hair so… long and different?" He asked, touching the gem infant.

That is for you to find out.

"Terrific." Jack responded.

"Is everything alright, Jack?" Jenny tugged on his pant leg.

"Yeah. Just, who are these people?" He asked, looking at her.

Jenny glanced at the mural before speaking. "That's the King and Queen of Corona… and the lost princess."

"Lost princess? What happened to her?" Jack bent down beside her.

"I am not completely sure, she was lost long before I was born." Jenny replied, smirking. "Oh! Hey Lainey, can you tell Jack what happened to the princess?" She called.

The Eight year old girl turned around and walked over to them. "Sure." She sat down beside Jack. "You might want to sit down, it's a long story." She spoke. Jenny and Jack sat down beside her and prepared to listen.

"The lost princess's story actually begins before she was even born." She began. "When the Queen was with child, she became severely ill and nearly died. In a hurry, the kingdom searched for medicine to heal her, but nothing worked. Finally, the kingdom searched for their last option to save the queen, a magic golden flower that could heal her. Legends state that hundreds of years ago, a single drop of sun landed on the earth and formed a flower that was sought out by all and found by few. Once the flower was found, it was taken to the palace where the Queen was healed and she had a healthy, and surprisingly blonde baby girl.

"However, days after her birth, the King and Queen awoke one night to the sounds of the child crying and they watched in horror as a hooded figure disappeared with their child, leaving behind only a lock of brown hair. For years, the kingdom searched for the unnamed princess, but never found her. No one knows why the person took off with her. Sometimes, when I was younger I heard several adults talk about the golden flower, stating that the princess's kidnapper had probably found the flower and hid it until it was taken from them and they sought revenge on the kingdom. Even to this day, the King and Queen release floating lanterns into the night sky every year on her birthday; hoping that one day, their daughter would return home." Lainey finished.

"Wow." Jack responded.

"I can only imagine what it would be like to have a daughter missing for eighteen years." She added.

"Isn't that soon? Her birthday, I mean." Jenny asked, sitting up.

"Uh, yeah, it is. Come to think of it, I think it's in a week." She replied.

Jack thought to himself. "Huh."

"Is there something wrong, Jack?" Lainey asked, tilting her head at him.

"No." He shook his head lightly.

"Okay…" She smirked. "Hey Jenny, do you wanna build a snowman?"

"Sure! I'll be there in a minute." Jenny replied.

"Don't take too long!" Lainey took off.

"Okay." Jenny turned toward Jack. "Do you wanna help?"

"Sorry, I can't. I have to go." Jack responded.

"Do you have to?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied, bending down in front of her. " I have a mission to fulfill; but I'll be back." He grinned.

"Okay." Jenny hugged him. Jack hugged her back, causing her to shiver. "See you later Jack!" She let go of him and ran after Lainey.

Jack turned around and glanced at the mural once more. "I'll find you princess." He spoke quietly.

"So, let me get this straight; you sent me on a mission to find a princess who's been missing for eighteen years and you didn't mention she had no name, weird blonde hair and that this is all about a flower?!" Jack spoke to the moon as he walked on the even cobblestones of the massive bridge.

That was for me to know and you to find out. The moon replied, peeking around the snow clouds that filled the sky.

"Agh." Jack stamped his foot, halting where he was. "That's all you ever say." He grumbled.

Sorry Jack. The moon snickered.

"I can't take this much longer, Manny." Jack continued walking among the snow, grumbling to himself.

You still will find her, Jack. I know that.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; you know everything." Jack rolled his eyes and ran his hand lightly across his spikey white hair, ridding it of any snowflakes.

No, I don't. if I did, I would know what Pitch was up to.

Jack froze and looked up at the mostly covered moon. "You don't know what Pitch is up to?!"

I don't know everything, Jack. Manny replied.

"Well, that helps." He grumbled sarcastically as he stepped off of the bridge.

The moon remained silent as Jack slowly walked into the snow covered forest outside of the kingdom. The spring-like trees were covered in snow and their branches hung heavily due to the new weight. The trunks were frozen with ice and the once green grass was buried in a foot of snow.

I'll let you know if I hear anything about Pitch. Manny finally spoke. And then Jack was left in the forest, as his snow clouds covered the moon's face. Jack nodded to himself and continued to walk through the snow.

Slowly, he walked through the forest, dragging his staff through the deepening snow. The snowflakes continued to fall in little flurries and they began to soak his clothes. Bored, he whipped away the snowflakes and froze a few trees.

"Manny, what am I supposed to do?" He sighed, searching the trees for the missing princess, even though he knew she wouldn't be out here. "I don't know her name, so I can't call for her. And I don't know what she looks like because she not an infant; people change in eighteen years. It's not like I am going to just walk right into her." He spoke. The moon didn't answer.

As he walked farther into the forest, Jack formed a snowball in his hands and tossed it up and down several times before sending it flying through the trees towards a wall of snow and rock. However, as the snowball crashed into the wall, the snow that covered it came crashing down, revealing a curtain of vines.

"Huh. That's weird." Jack spoke, running up to it. He pushed a lock of the vines to the side with his staff and gasped. Before him was a beautiful place, hidden within large walls that would have made it impossible to find such a place. The walls were made of brownish rock and a single, thin waterfall poured down to the ground on the right side. Massive willow trees grew in the large area, but what caught Jack's attention was the tall tower in the center. The tower was taller than most of the trees around it, and its thin walls were made of pale grey bricks. Climbing ferns grew up the side of the tower that faced Jack and the top of the building had one small window. The roof was blue and ended in a sharp point similar to the buildings in Corona. Intrigued, Jack pushed through the fern curtain and flew up to the tower's window and peered in. Inside was a round room with a small bed, several wooden trunks, and a wardrobe. On the wooden walls were several paintings, each in bright colors ranging from yellow to pink.

"Whoa." Jack was impressed with the paintings. However, what confused him was the fact that he didn't see anyone inside. Was there another room somewhere in this tiny tower? Was anyone even in here? Quietly Jack slid through the window and glanced around the room. "Hello?" He called, unsure. There was a creak and Jack froze. He glanced at something in the corner of the room and squinted at it, pretty sure it had moved. But all was still in the room, until a metal clang echoed off the walls and Jack dropped to the ground, unconscious.