Rapunzel found herself alone in the dark. She tried to cry out for Jack and Hiccup, but her voice would not work. It was almost as if she were underwater, drowning in fear. She realized a tendril of Nightmare sand had pulled her to an island of her own.

What is Pitch doing? What is his game?

Suddenly there was a harsh whinny of a Nightmare, and black sand swirled in her vision. The scene around her shifted. Rapunzel was back in her tower as a young girl, Gothel standing over her cruelly.

"Mother, please!" she pleaded. "Don't leave me!"

Gothel spun around and left the room, locking the door behind her with a fatal click. Rapunzel ran up to the door and beat on it with her fists, panic rising when the door disappeared.

"No, no!"

She ran to the window and looked out. The sky was covered with thick, sickly green clouds that rumbled with ominous thunder. There was no sun. Instead of a pretty meadow at the base of the tower, there were sharp, jagged rocks, and wild animals prowled around, looking up at her hungrily.

"The world is a dangerous place, Rapunzel," came Gothel's sinister voice.

It seemed to come from the very air, booming as loud as the thunder. There was a flash of lightening very near to the window, and Rapunzel fell back in terror. Rain began to pour from the sky in torrents; a stinging wind pushed it through the window. It hurt.

Crying, she stood and tried to push the shutters closed. They would not move. In desperation, she turned and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. This time, there were no paints, or books, or a small green chameleon to keep her company. It was a dull, grey room with nothing but a hard bed with some dusty blankets.

Rapunzel forgot that this was not real. She didn't realize that it was only a Nightmare. The fear was so great, that it had quickly become a new reality.

She crawled under the covers as she had done when she was a little girl, covering her ears and crying.

"Jack…I'm scared!" she whimpered.

Merida wasn't sure what was going on. One moment, she had been cradled in Hiccup's arms, having just witnessed Valerie's murder and hearing Elsa's screams of grief. Now she was back in DunBroch in the field with her mother standing over her.

"Mum!" she cried happily.

It had been centuries since she'd seen her last, and she didn't care if it made no sense. Maybe she had died and gone to Valhallah.

"You're hair is a mess!" Elinor screeched, grabbing Merida's hair roughly and tugging it with her fingers. "I told you to brush it and get rid of those dreadful curls."

"What?"

"You were out riding again, weren't you? When will you learn to be a respectable princess and not go galavanting off into the woods on adventures? That's for knights to do, like your brothers. Och! Stop gaping! Close your mouth." She rapped Merida sharply on the chin. "And stand up straight for once! Can't you do anything right?"

"But…Where's dad?"

"Where do you think the stupid oaf is? He's off on another dreadful war with the clans, that's where!"

"Where? I'm going to help!"

"Did you hit your head again?" she asked, again pulling at the hair trying to look at her head. "No, I told you you can't! Fighting is not a duty fit for a princess. A princess stays at home and gives her people hope while being the epitome of grace and charm. Which you are hopeless at! Now, get back inside!"

This was not Valhallah.

Glumly, Merida slouched and obeyed. What else could she do? Had some other horrible spell happened to her mother? Then a loud roar behind her confirmed her fears.

"Mum?" she asked, nervously turning around.

Instead of Elinor stood a huge black bear, taller than Mor'du, but it still looked like Elinor the bear. She roared at Merida.

"YOU DISOBEDIENT, DISGRACE OF A CHILD!" the bear screamed. The voice was deep and frightening, it resonated through the air and shook the trees. "DO AS YOU ARE TOLD AND GET BACK TO YOUR ROOM!"Merida turned and fled towards the castle. "YOU'RE GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT A MEAL!"

Merida ran faster, trying to feel for her bow or her sword. She had neither.

There were no doors into the castle, just a massive stone wall. Jumping, Merida caught hold of a vine of ivy growing on the side and began to climb. When she was about halfway up, Elinor slammed against the wall and shook the foundations. In terror, Merida looked up to the ramparts, hoping against hope someone would be there.

Then she screamed. Someone was there, but it wasn't anyone who would help her. It was the witch who had helped turn her mother into a bear in the first place. Maggie, Gothel's mother. She cackled and watched with delight as Merida struggled to climb.

"Useless, useless," she crooned.

She leaned over the wall and held out a hand. But Merida knew the hand was meant to harm, not to help. She stopped climbing and looked at it. She was only a dozen feet from the top now; she could make it on her own. But then Elinor hit the wall again, and Merida very nearly lost her footing.

She couldn't go up, and she couldn't go down. Merida was stuck.

"You have to be courageous," she told herself firmly. "You have to be strong." Her right hand felt a chill, and a touch of frost appeared on the wall beside her. "Jack!"

There was no answer, but she didn't need one. It gave her a surge of hope, and she kept climbing.

Jack was on high alert. He knew something bad was going to happen, he just didn't know what. But he was not prepared when he landed at his old lake in Burgess with Jill. The ice crackled under their feet, and he knew there wasn't much time.

"Hold on, I got you," he said, reaching out with his staff to rescue her.

It was too late. The ice broke, and Jill, not Jack, fell into the ice. He ran to the hole to see if he could pull her up, but suddenly he was farther away then he thought. By the time he reached the spot where he had last seen her, the ice had frozen back over. He could still see her through the surprisingly clear ice, banging on it in desperation. Jill placed her hands on the other side of the ice and screamed. Jack tried to use his powers to get her out, but they didn't work. He took his staff and hit the ice so hard the staff broke. Jill looked at him with disappointment and anger in her eyes as she sank into the black water.

"No…no! I have to save her!" he yelled, looking up for the Moon.

There was no moon. Numbly, he looked back at the ice, and screamed.

"Anna! Get out of there!"

Anna floated beneath the ice now, and she was panicking.

"No, don't panic! Don't panic!" he yelled, panicked.

Her hands were glowing with fire, but it was being extinguished the moment it left her hands. She was screaming, bubbles leaving her mouth at an astonishing rate.. Jack watched in horror as her skin slowly turned blue.

"Anna, no! Not again! I can't lose you again! Somebody help!" he screamed, jumping to his feet and looking around the park.

His mother came running out of the house. He knew it was his mother, though he couldn't see her face.

"Jack? What happened? Where's your sister?"

"It's not Jill, it's my daughter," Jack explained, turning back to the ice.

Anna's light had extinguished completely, and she was claimed by the dark water.

"You have to be courageous," Jack's mother said in a Scottish accent.

"What?" Jack turned.

It was no longer his mother, but Merida. Her face was blank, emotionless, but the voice was full of strength.

"You have to be strong."

Then the ice cracked under her and she sank. Jack reached out a hand to catch her. Their hands touched for a single instant, then the ice froze over and his hand was lying on top the ice. Then Merida changed into Hiccup, his old metal leg dragging him down quickly.

"This can't be happening," Jack said in disbelief. "No, it's impossible. This CAN'T HAPPEN!" He stood and looked around. "This is a Nightmare," he declared. "We were battling Pitch, and he attacked us. You hear that Pitch? I see through your schemes! This is a Nightmare and I'm going to beat it!"

"Jack…I'm scared!" Rapunzel whimpered.

Turning, he saw her sitting on the ice at his feet, eyes staring into nothing. Her hands moved along something invisible next to her head. He knelt beside her but somehow could not look into her eyes. Some force was keeping them apart.

"Rapunzel!" he yelled.

"Jack!" she sat up straight. "Where are you?"

"I'm here, can you see me?"

"No, it's just my room, it's raining…help me!"

Just then, the ice beneath her cracked, and she slipped into the water.

"It's going to be alright!" Jack called as he tried in vain to catch her. His hands went through nothing, as if he did not exist.

"You're fading!" she screamed, panicking again.

"No!" he yelled as the ice began to freeze. "It's a Nightmare!" He began to claw at the ice in desperation. "It's a Nightmare, it's only a Nightmare, it's a Nightmare, please tell me it's a nightmare!"

In her own alternate world, Rapunzel tried to grasp the last words she heard, but she couldn't hear them. Suddenly, she shivered and her arms felt cold.

"Jack! Don't go!"

She started to wonder if she had imagined it, or been dreaming. Her brain felt foggy, and she couldn't think straight.

"I need you, Jack," she whispered.

Merida and Rapunzel heard the same thing at the same time.

"It's a Nightmare, it's only a Nightmare," Jack screamed to the others.

Merida looked down at Elinor, fuming at the base of the castle, and understood.

"Yew are a Nightmare!" she yelled. "My mum did love me, and Ah love her!"

Determinedly, she placed her feet on the wall and jumped down towards the bear.

Rapunzel leapt out of bed. "It's not true, it's a Nightmare! Gothel is dead, the tower is destroyed. The world is dangerous, but it is also good and beautiful. There is a sun and my Anna can control it. I am not trapped in this tower, I have a life, and a family, and they love me!"

Jack felt the Nightmare bonds of the dream world loosen when he heard Hiccup's scream.

"He's alive," he breathed. "Hiccup is alive, Merida is alive, Rapunzel is alive, and Elsa and Anna are safe! My sister became a spirit and the Guardian of Love. I am Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun, and you are a Nightmare."

All of the alternate worlds crashed with a sound like breaking glass.