The Big Four: Return of the Dark Ages
6-The First Mission
Jack decided to stay close to Hiccup this time around, since he had caused some unhealthy tension earlier with Rapunzel. He watched the young Viking carefully as he roamed the streets in silence, flashing something that appeared to be a flashlight down dark corners and alleyways; looking for anything suspicious and demonic in activity.
Jack flew quietly behind, careful not to make any sound of the slightest tremour.
So far, as he appeared to be counting; Hiccup had surprised and killed twenty-six demons in this valley alone.
Jack, however; killed none.
"You know, you can chime in whenever you feel ready to Jack," Hiccup said between grunts as he tackled down a smaller, more human-like demon; electricity sparking off its fingertips with the motive of shocking the Viking. Hiccup, in response; shoved his knife up through the demon's abdomen, blood squirting out and splashing all over his clothes. The demon fell over with a scratchy gurgle escaping its throat as it melted into a black puddle on the ground.
Jack just gaped at the sight.
It was hard to imagine Hiccup as a blood-squirting, demon-attacking, vicious killer.
He just didn't have the looks for it.
Hiccup laughed slightly at Jack's reaction. "I know, I don't look the image, right? I was a Viking, I technically should've killed for a living; I just chose not to. Now, I have no choice. It's kinda fun though," he admits with a slightly maniacal grin. "Watching the dark light behind their eyes fade out, as if begging for mercy but knowing they can't be granted that."
Jack backed up a few steps.
He just chuckled. "Sorry, it does get to you after a few centuries of this kind of job. You can't do it without being slightly messed up in the head." He pointed to his head and made circle motions with his finger. "And I know a few screws are already a little loose. Have to be, considering I walked up to a living Night Fury knowing full well it could kill me."
Jack nodded, though he didn't relax.
It was going to be a while before he truly relaxed again.
He glanced up and widened his eyes in alarm. On instinct, he lifted his staff up and sent several ice shards in the tall demon's direction just as it was about to bring a heavy hand down on the distracted Hiccup's head.
The demon groaned, and Hiccup twirled around in surprise. The towering demon's cloaked hands were covering his chest, and as he stumbled backwards it revealed an ice shard that struck through right where a heart would be located.
Hiccup grinned, looking back up at Jack. "You did it! You did it, Jack!" Jack grinned back, he actually did it. Hiccup's face fell suddenly, and pointed behind him. "Jack! Look out!"
Jack swirled around and tried to swerve out of the way, but it was too late.
The demon behind had struck him.
He saw Hiccup lunge forward, dagger raised; and he heard him scream in rage.
Then he saw the sky, so red and appearing as if it were nighttime with the black smog.
He felt himself fall out of the air, ever so slowly as if time had ceased to function properly.
He barely felt it when his head hit the ground, and when his body crumpled in on itself.
The only thing he sensed after that was utter blackness.
When consciousness returned to Jack Frost, the first thing he felt was immense pain. He groaned loudly, putting a hand to his head and attempting to sit up; even though his eyes were still closed.
Someone pushed him back down gently, and he then heard a soft, gentle voice; singing an old rhyme.
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the Fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine…
What once was mine
Beneath his eyelids, Jack could see something glow. He opened his eyes slightly to peek, but the light was so immense he quickly shut them again, watching as the light bounced off the inside of his eyes as if he had just looked straight into the sun. Then he inhaled sharply, which triggered a coughing fit that in turn caused him to sit up to counteract the force.
Something shifted from beneath him, and he felt someone brush back some of his hair from his forehead.
He blinked a few times before allowing his eyes to fully open.
Green eyes met his, and when he recognised who he was sitting in a close approximation with; he felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.
He didn't know why, he just did.
She looked at him sincerely as he tried to reorganise his memories, her hand gently brushing more hair out of his face; placing its soft white locks behind his ear.
"Hiccup told me what happened," she whispered softly, and Jack caught himself staring at how her lips formed the simple words; the language flowing off her tongue and landing in a soft, cool breath on his flushed face. "You okay, Jack?" A small hand was placed on his shoulder.
He nodded slightly, wincing when something shocked him from that tiny movement in his neck. He made to caress that spot, but Rapunzel kept his arms down as she fixed his hoodie for him.
"You were struck by a Class C Electric Demon," she explained, her voice a soft melody compared to the loud ringing banging off the inside of his ears. "You're lucky Hiccup carried you here as fast as he did, and that solid water isn't as easy to conduct as liquid water." Her hand hit a sore spot in between his shoulder and neck, and he moaned softly. She gave an apologetic smile and pulled down the hoodie slightly to get a glimpse of the burned skin. She inhaled through her teeth as she examined his injury. "You're also lucky to have moved from your original position. A strike to the shoulder takes longer to kill than a strike to the head." His eyes widened at the thought of how close he was to dying, again.
He looked around to see where they were. They were in a small room in an abandoned house, and the other two Soul Protectors were nowhere to be found. The thought of being alone with Rapunzel made Jack blush again, but he still didn't know why.
"Hold on for a second, Jack," she whispered as she gathered up some of her long, golden hair. "This will help with the pain. The first time wasn't enough." Jack watched her as she wrapped some of her hair around his shoulder, wincing a little as she lifted his arm up to wrap underneath.
"Wh—what…" he attempted to speak before she put a finger to his lips.
"Shh… don't try to talk until after I'm done," she said, looking him in the eyes.
He nodded slowly, trying to move without causing pain to himself. He watched in awe as she started singing that rhyme again, and suddenly he felt the pain just melting away like his snow on the first warm spring day. Her hair began to glow, glow as bright as the summer sun; and an almost inaudible sigh escaped his lips by the beauty of it all.
She finished up the song, and her hair began to fade back to a natural shine. She opened her eyes again, meeting his amazed ones.
She giggled, and Jack swore he felt his heart skip a beat.
"I always get that reaction when I do that," she said, removing her hair from his shoulder. "It's not something you see every day."
"I'll say," Jack spoke, and he was relieved with the fact that he could do so comfortably and not cause himself any pain.
She giggled again as she reexamined his shoulder, and she smiled to herself at the result. She looked back up at Jack as she readjusted his hoodie. "All better now."
He grinned. "Thanks." He caught himself staring again, at the way her lips twerked up in a slight fashion as she smiled at him and how her eyes seemed to glow as her hair just was moments ago.
"No problem," she said, her words echoing in his head. They sat like that for a while, until the full awkwardness of the situation settled in. Rapunzel coughed slightly, and Jack deviated his eyes to the ground.
"Well," Jack said after another few awkward seconds, getting off her lap and standing up as if he was never injured. "I guess we better head out to the others then, yeah?"
She nodded, standing up as well and brushing her dress off. "Yeah, that would be the thing to do."
Jack walked to the door, but then realised he didn't know where to go and turned back to give Rapunzel a confused look.
She looked up appearing lost for a second before it clicked in her head. "Oh, yeah, right. I'll lead the way." She walked through the door Jack held open for her, and he flew close behind her; careful to keep an eye out for other demons.
They decided to call the rest of the mission off after Jack's incident.
At least until they had more information about the whole thing.
The four of them were in Rapunzel's tower once more, each one lying somewhere about the room trying to relax. Jack was sitting on his staff, having found a place to stick the brunt of it in to keep it steady.
"So…" he said, trying to start up a conversation. "I'm now one of you guys, which is apparently someone who hunts and kills demons for a living."
Hiccup nodded, wiping his dagger clean and placing it back in its sheath. "Yes, but that's not the entire objective of being a Soul Protector. There's much more to it."
"Like what?" he asked, leaning forward slightly.
He shrugged. "Things. Many things. Things that you should learn on your own. We can only tell you so much before we lose you in all the information."
"I'm still learnin'," Merida piped up, leaning back into a chair and propping her feet up on a stool. "And I've been at it the longest."
Rapunzel nodded in agreement. "So many demons, so many ranks, so many souls, and only the four of us."
"Wow…" Jack murmured, suddenly feeling extremely tired. Hiccup noticed this and got up.
"C'mon Jack, I'll get you a place to stay with me," he suggested, heading toward the window and calling out for Toothless.
"Wait, what?" Jack asked, hopping off his staff and landing on the floor gracefully.
"Hic's right," Merida added, getting up and stretching. "It's been a long, strange day; and we might make bett'r sense o' this situation if we sleep some."
Rapunzel yawned, proving Merida's point. "Ah, yeah, that might be a good plan… Good night everybody, see you in the morning." And just like that, she crawled into her bed and went to sleep, Pascal her little chameleon curling up beside her.
Merida walked over to the window as well, getting up and onto her dragon. She made a peace sign as Fergie rose higher into the sky. "Don't let the demons bite!" she shouted down to the boys before flying off.
Hiccup saluted in return, turning back to look at Jack. "Ready?"
Jack nodded. "I guess."
Hiccup jumped out the window again, landing on Toothless with perfect aim. "Then follow me!"
Jack called the Wind again, letting his friend guide him to Hiccup's place.
The flight seemed to take longer this time, or Jack was just extremely tired. When they finally landed, he almost toppled over on himself. Hiccup laughed at Jack as he helped him stand up straight.
He kept an arm around the near sleep-walking Jack, leading him over to one of the houses. "Here, you can have the one next to mine," he said, pointing to one of them.
Jack nodded, walking up to the front door as Hiccup walked up into the other. "See you in the morning, then?"
Hiccup smiled. "Yep, sleep tight." He opened the door and disappeared inside, and Jack did the same; gathering his surroundings with tired amazement.
He let his fingers graze against the walls, which left some frost trails on it; but he didn't care. He stopped by a window and stared out, at the moon shining bright up high in the sky. He sighed, his breath freezing on the glass.
Why do you keep me alive? he asked the moon in silent thought. The moon wasn't going to reply.
It never did.
What's so important about me that you let everyone else die except me?
He gazed at the moon for another longing moment, before sighing and giving up once again. He turned away from the window and walked over to what could be taken as a bed.
"It's no use," he whispered to himself, letting a few tears fall silently. "They've gone and left without me, and now I'm stuck here. Always me. It's always me…" He plopped down onto the bed and curled up on his side, holding his legs to his chest and letting his eyes flutter shut.
Sandy wasn't even around to give him good dreams anymore.
He was in for a long night.
Author's Note: Ayyyy here's the good stuff that kept you guys waiting years for. Though this chapter itself has been written for years as well... minus the re-writing I had to do to it before uploading because my lord, my writing from 2015 sucked XD. Anyway, why was I dormant for years? The answer: life happened. Senior year of high school, first love (no longer with this guy XD), freshman year of college (now halfway through college), work (summer and on-campus), travelling overseas, spending time with family, drowning in this thing called biomedical engineering... yeah. I will never again be able to update as frequently as I did junior year of high school, sorry guys :(. I will try my best, but I have to figure out where the heck I was going with this story because I have no recollection of the plot aside from what I had already written, and that was up to the beginning of chapter 9 XD. I will have some time to get going with this for a few more months as right now I am out on co-op and do not have to deal with homework and school, but I return to school for the spring semester and guess what... I am planning on taking Organic Chemistry and Animal A&P on top of my BME classes so... I will probably die lol. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Allons-y!