Day One:

"Ow! Hey!" a yelp sounded from behind Merida as she tossed her apple core over her shoulder. The Scot winced and whipped her head around, her red curls flying into her face as she did so.

"Sorry!" she apologised quickly. "Didnae see you there!" The boy whose head had become the unwilling target for the apple core had startling white hair and icy blue eyes that glared at her irritably. Great…way to make new friends on your first day at school, DunBroch.

"Sorry about that!" Hiccup winced, peering around Merida's mane of fiery red. He noticed that the white-haired boy was with another guy – tall with dark brown hair and the beginnings of a goatee – and a girl just a tad taller than Merida at a guess with a brunette pixie-crop.

"If you were going for the bin, you have horrible aim, Miss Frizz," the white-haired boy pouted, indicating the bin about five feet away. Merida's apologetic stance vanished in an instance and Astrid grimaced – ooh, boy. He went there.

"I'll 'ave you know that I'm the best archer to come from the Highlands!" Merida protested. This time, it was the white-haired boy's turn to hold his hands up defensively.

"Okay, okay, okay! Jeez, I was joking!" he blurted out. "It's not that big of a deal." Hiccup hopped off his spot on the wall and walked over to break up the fight before it began – he fancied himself as a bit of a peacekeeper and hated it when needless bickering distracted him from whatever it was he was doing.

"Look, we really are sorry about that," he grimaced. "Didn't mean to…"

"Hey, I said it's no big deal – forget it," the white-haired boy sighed. "Just didn't expect to have something thrown at my head before the bell's even gone."

"I'll say it's a record even for us," Astrid chimed in, casting a glance at the boy's duffle bag. "Acting or dancing?" she guessed upon seeing no sign of a musical instrument or art set of any kind.

"Acting," the boy replied. "You lot?"

"Uh…Merida and I are dance majors," Hiccup replied, indicating himself and Merida. "I'm minor-ing in tech."

"And you?" the brunette girl asked Astrid who smiled with a hint of smugness.

"I'm going for a Joint Honours in music and dance," she replied proudly.

"Shut up!" the goatee boy spluttered. "Joint Major? Are you crazy?!"

"Nah – she's just competitive," Hiccup smirked without thinking. Astrid punched him lightly in the shoulder in response and the pair chuckled slightly. "So…um...what about you two?"

"Also, not sure if I caught your names," Merida cut in. The brunette girl stepped forward next to the white-haired boy, pulling her other friend forward with her.

"You've met Jack," she introduced, indicating the white-haired boy who nodded politely at the group. "This here's Eugene – he's also an acting major." Eugene smiled and placed a confident arm around the girl, squeezing her gently.

"And this here is Rapunzel, resident art major," he smiled proudly. The group shook hands, although Jack and Merida still seemed a bit cautious of each other, before settling down at the spot on the right-hand-side of the gate where Jack, Eugene and Rapunzel had been standing. They began talking, finishing the introductions and amicably talking about where they'd all originally come from and a few bits and pieces about their family lives…or, at least, what they were willing to share with people they'd only just met. Eugene wasn't overly keen on talking about his past and Merida didn't exactly jump at the chance to talk about her relationship with her mother so they decided to courteously let the subject drop for now. All the while, they, along with the two hundred odd other students filling the pavement, kept casting eager glances at their phones and watches in anticipation, waiting for the gates to finally open and allow them into the entrance hall to receive their timetables.


"Maths on a Monday morning?! Are you freaking kidding me?!" Hiccup cussed a little louder than he'd intended when he finally received his timetable. He'd gone over to a spot just under the main staircase where Rapunzel, Eugene and Merida were already waiting – Astrid should be the next to show up but given Jack's double-barrelled last name beginning with 'O', they'd have a while to wait for him.

"Guess they can't please everyone, huh?" Eugene sighed, looking at his own timetable. "They've stuck me in double English before lunch on Wednesday." Rapunzel peered over his shoulder and offered an optimistic smile.

"Double dance last thing on Friday, though – that's gotta count for something, right?" she pointed out, holding up her own timetable which showed the same thing – double dance on a Friday afternoon.

"Eh, at least they didn't plonk me in music first or last thing at any point during the week," Merida noted, scanning her timetable again. "Who's your dance teacher, by the way?" she asked.

"Uh…the one who specialises in the traditional styles is my main one – her name's listed as Mei-Mei," Rapunzel replied. Eugene double-checked his – yep, same teacher. "You?"

"The hip-hop, street-jazz and break-dance specialist – that Miguel bloke or something," Merida replied. "Whatever you do, pleasedonnae tell my mum," she pleaded. "She expects me to be in tha' ballet class," she shuddered. The group currently present all performed the motion of zipping their lips shut and throwing away the keys. Astrid ran over moments later.

"What I want to know is who thought it was a good idea to put a double free right before lunch?!" she huffed loudly. "Isn't that kind of pointless?"

"They're supposed to be revision and rehearsal slots," Hiccup pointed out, digging out a pair of reading glasses from his bag and checking the fine print. "You're not supposed to just bunk off during those." Astrid mumbled something along the lines of "You suck the joy out of everything!" as Hiccup wiped the glasses on his shirt before stuffing them back into his bag. "How's your arts' schedule?"

"Double music Tuesday morning…double dance last thing on the same day…it's not too shabby," Astrid replied. "You?" Hiccup motioned for her to let her have a look at her timetable – Astrid obliged and Hiccup gave it a once over.

"We've got the same dance schedule by the looks of things," he smiled with relief. Rapunzel giggled slightly – it appeared that Hiccup and Astrid were also each other's dance partners, just like her and Eugene. Handing Astrid's timetable back to her, Hiccup took another look at the still large line of students and couldn't hide a snicker when he spotted Jack's white hair bobbing up and down with impatience. Poor guy. By the looks of it, the 'H's had just finished…seven letters to go.

"Who's up for leaving Snow White over there to track down the homeroom?" Merida snickered slightly. Rapunzel slapped her shoulder lightly.

"Merida!" she reprimanded. "Don't be so mean!" Merida laughed slightly and protested that she was joking although Hiccup had a sneaking suspicion that if she could have gotten away with it, she would have left Jack in the line to collect his timetable and then find the homeroom alone. He kept his suspicions to himself though – Merida seemed like the kind of girl that could easily take him out with a punch or two and Hiccup didn't exactly fancy that because one: Astrid was already that kind of girl and he didn't need to worry about another one and two: …actually maybe it was just the one reason.

It took about another half-hour, although it felt a lot longer to a group of restless teens, but Jack finally received his timetable and practically ran over to join the group.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," he mumbled in apology. "How're your timetables looking?"

"Relatively decent – yours?" Eugene replied. Jack skimmed his, clearly having barely looked at it since receiving it.

"Uh…looks okay, I guess," he shrugged. "Looks like my dance teacher's the traditional-dance-forward-slash-tap specialist," he remarked, failing to cover up a dry pout. Rapunzel took no notice of it.

"Oh, great! Looks like you're in our dance class, then," she grinned, tugging Eugene's arm. Eugene also grinned at his friend. "Do we know whose homeroom we're all in?" Rapunzel added. A rustling automatically sounded as everyone checked their timetables again. There were frowns as people squinted to find their homeroom teacher but Jack's attention was caught by a flicker of moonlight blue-white. By the looks of things, no one else seemed to notice it but Jack knew that Manny was stepping in some-way-somehow. It was brief and it might be likely that only a Guardian could see it but whatever the Top Man had done, Jack had no idea why it was for these people. He decided to ask Emily-Jane about it when he got home.

"I've got Mrs B. Reine for my homeroom teacher," Hiccup noted.

"Snap on that," Astrid cut in.

"Whoa – match ya both letter for letter here," Merida blinked in surprise. Jack looked at his timetable – sure enough, the name 'B. Reine was written for his homeroom sessions.

"Does everyone here have Mrs Reine, first name: Belle?" he asked. Rapunzel and Eugene both nodded. "Huh. What're the odds?" he added blankly although secretly he had a pretty good idea.

"Looks like homeroom's on the second floor according the map in the school pack," Merida noted. Jack frowned as he dug his own map out of the pack.

"Don't you mean the third floor?" he asked. Merida glared at him in confusion.

"No, I mean the second floor," she snapped.

"We're on the first floor now, Ginger," Jack pointed out dryly. "Two floors up is the third floor!"

"We're on the ground floor now, Snow White!" Merida retorted. "Two floors up is the second floor!" Rapunzel decided to step in and explain that the American way of numbering floors differed to that in the UK, which included Merida's native Scotland. Jack remarked that Merida could have just told him that from the start without blowing her top but all that earned him was a sharp punch to the shoulder blades from the feisty redhead.


"Alright, everyone – that ends the intro session," the ballet teacher noted, getting up from her perfectly crossed-legged position on the floor. Hiccup, Astrid and the rest of their new dance classmates followed her. Miss Murphy certainly was a cheery young woman, eager to start her teaching career although she'd been the dancing profession itself for quite some time. As such, the students could already tell that she was not going to be a pushover, just like every other teacher had been that day. "Now, I'm not going to waste time teaching you the basics – I know for a fact that you're all into your advanced ballet grades at the very least otherwise you would not be in my class," she said with a simple, blunt but still upbeat tone.

"So, what will the curriculum entail?" Astrid asked as Miss Murphy sent them over to the bar to warm up. Hiccup lagged behind a little and tugged at his dance shoe laces. Miss Murphy didn't notice as she answered Astrid's question.

"I'll be teaching you some things that are the level you're at, as expected," she replied. "But I will also be throwing in some tougher moves to give you a challenge – this wouldn't be a state of the art school if we didn't test you lot, would it?" she winked, her short brown hair tucked neatly behind her ears by a white headband. She suddenly noticed Hiccup lagging behind. "You alright there, Mr. Haddock? And didn't your acceptance letter say 'dance leggings'? Not joggers?"

"Grew out of my old ones," Hiccup excused quickly, sticking his hands nervously in his dark green joggers. "Lot of growth spurts plus…" he hesitated. "My…dad's not overly supportive about the whole dance thing, Miss," he admitted. Miss Murphy frowned.

"What about your mother?" she asked. Hiccup instinctively flinched, as did Astrid, as his hand subconsciously drifted to a tiny scar on his chin. Miss Murphy knew instantly that she'd stepped into sensitive territory. "Did…something happen, Mr Haddock?" she asked tentatively.

"I'd…rather not talk about it, Miss," Hiccup replied. He really did not need to remember that and he certainly did not want to talk about it in front of the class. Miss Murphy nodded in understanding.

"Alright," she sighed. "But I expect to see you wearing the proper gear before this semester's finals, alright?" she warned. Hiccup gulped slightly, an action that went unnoticed by all but Astrid, but nodded nonetheless. Miss Murphy then began leading the class through the necessary warm ups for advance ballet training and the music began playing. As soon as it did and Hiccup had placed his hand on the rail, all of his worries seemed to vanish.

"Welcome to your new home, Hiccup," Astrid whispered happily in Hiccup's ear before Miss Murphy hushed her. Hiccup felt a smile stretching across his face as the warm-ups progressed. For a moment, he closed his eyes and simply took a moment to take in his surroundings. Before long, Hiccup felt as if there were fire at his feet but not in the way often said in mythology, where someone might be cursed to dance on coals or something or other. This fire was warm...empowering...Hiccup didn't know how else to explain how it felt when he danced apart from using that kind of analogy.

This was the world in which he belonged.


A hoot of cheers and claps went around the hip-hop/break-dance/street-jazz class just before the lunch break. Merida shook her loose curls out of her face and grinned wildly – after the class warm ups, the teacher – a guy who insisted on his class calling him by his first name, Miguel – had set up a challenge for each student to show off what they considered to be either their best or the most challenging move they could perform. Merida had just finished with her turn and she was pretty proud of her move – windmill followed by pushing herself into a one-handed handstand of sorts. It was a very difficult move to pull off so she was incredibly pleased that hours of secret practise away from her mum's sight had paid off.

"Nice!" Miguel complimented. "Sweet move, Merida – who taught you that one?"

"Well...I kinda taught mi'self a lot of what I know," Merida replied, tossing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "Give me a challenge and I wonnae stop until I get it right."

"This one has guts, guys!" Miguel announced enthusiastically. "Hope this is the same for you all." A loud hoot sounded through the class. "That's what I'm talking about! Now let's get the rest of this party rolling."

Merida had never felt more at home than in this dance studio. Surrounded by people with the same kind of mindset when it came to dance and with skills that matched and rivalled her own, this was a haven away from her mother that she was more than happy to escape to. Most people would be daunted by school and, indeed, Merida had never been a fan of it when she was younger. But this place was different. Merida knew that this was a school that she would gladly answer her alarm for in the morning.

As the class began going through the routine for the term, Merida felt the elation that only this kind of dancing had ever given her. The way her body moved when she danced...Merida could only describe it as feeling like a river. Ever changing but always moving.

This was the way she wanted to live her life.


"HA!" Jack cried gleefully as his foot stomped on the floor on the final note of the hornpipe that Mei-Mei had been playing. The dance was a miniature competition to get the students warmed up and while everyone had skills in traditional dances, Jack and Rapunzel had been the ones in the final face-off. Rapunzel panted a little as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"Didn't realise you were so good!" she exclaimed, slightly out of breath. Jack ran a hand through his hair and took a private moment to admire his own skills – he had no idea that after all these years he'd actually remember such steps like that. Not that anyone was to know...except maybe Emma, his mother and the other Guardians. North was never going to let him live this one down.

"You're not so bad yourself," Jack said back, just about stopping himself saying "You know what? Neither did I."

"You've got competition, Blondie," Eugene chuckled. Rapunzel shot him a pout.

"I AM NOT BLONDE!" she huffed in a playful sulking tone. Mei-Mei, the traditional dance teacher, stepped in before the couple could get into one of their, as she called them once she found out that there was an actual couple in her class, 'couple spats' (too many 'couple's in one sentence).

"Now, now – let's not tear each other up before we've hit midterms," she chuckled. "I know dance is competitive business but we're all cool in this classroom, right?"

Jack shot glances at Rapunzel and Eugene and nodded with matching smirks. Yeah, they were cool. In all honesty, Jack was amazed at how easy he'd found it to slot into the environment he'd been put into by the other Guardians. To his amazement...he was enjoying himself!

Wow, don't get ahead of yourself, Frost, he thought to himself as the class continued.

Before long the bell had gone for break and before any of the students even had time to realise it, the first day at Moonstone Arts Academy was over. Jack met the others by the gate and they began exchanging stories of their first day (which included Hiccup making a few grumbled comments about needing new dance leggings) before going their separate ways home. As he headed down the road where his home now existed, Jack smiled as he spotted a familiar face round the corner, accompanied by two other kids – a boy and a girl – who looked a lot like each other.

"Hey! Jamie!" he called. The boy stopped in his tracks for a moment before turning around and grinning gleefully upon seeing the Guardian of Fun.

"Jack!" Jamie greeted, waving wildly. He turned to his two companions as they handed him a book of some kind. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, kay?"

"Catch you later, Jay-Jay!" the girl, who was wearing braces and a brightly coloured, oversized sweater called as she and (Jack assumed he was) her brother began heading off in the opposite direction.

"See ya, Jamie!" the boy added before turning to his sister. Jack caught one last thing before they went out of earshot. "Must you insist on giving everyone nicknames like that?"

By this time, Jamie was already running over and once he'd reached Jack, threw his arms around his midriff. Jack stumbled slightly but hugged back, ruffling Jamie's hair slightly.

"What're you doing here?" Jamie asked excitedly. "It's a bit early for frost, isn't it?"

"Eh...other Guardian stuff," Jack shrugged, knowing he could talk relatively freely about this kind of thing with his first believer. "Which just so happens to include school."

"Since when does a Guardian need to go to school?" Jamie snickered despite himself.

"The others are calling it 'body guarding' – personally, I calling it 'babysitting'," Jack explained dryly. Jamie snorted with laughter. "Ah, quiet you," Jack reprimanded playfully. "It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be...for day one, that is."

"What? You're at Moonstone?" Jamie realised. Jack nodded with a 'yep' of confirmation. "Wow! I hear that place was super hard to get into." Jack noted that he really got lucky for this one – he'd found out in music early that day that he actually had a decent singing voice and he wasn't doing too badly in his other subjects either. "So who're you guarding anyway? And, more importantly, why?" This kid didn't miss a thing, did he?

"Well, as to why...Man in the Moon sensing some disturbances in the Shadows," Jack explained with a shudder. Jamie also shivered visibly. "Probably nothing we can't handle. As to who...there are a few kids at school the others want me to keep an eye on," he continued. "Manny thinks they'll be targeted – he didn't say why." Then again, he doesn't exactly explain much anyway, Jack added to himself, possibly more bitterly than he meant to.

"Will I know 'em?" Jamie asked. Jack thought back to the images he'd been shown a few months ago at the Tooth Palace and then thought back to his numerous classmates. His ice-blue eyes then flashed with realisation.

The images, while they'd been fuzzy, had shown a boy and two girls. The boy had possessed dark auburn hair; one of the girls had been a redhead; and the other had short brown hair as well as bright green eyes.

Oh, of all coincidences to ever happen...this was mildly ridiculous. That or the Fates were messing with him.

"They're relatively new to the area, I think," Jack replied. "A guy called Henrik Haddock? Calls himself Hiccup." Jamie scrunched his face in concentration to try and remember if he knew the guy.

"Pippa says he's one of her new neighbours, I think," he frowned. "Said he's always hanging out with a blonde girl?"

"That'll be Astrid," Jack explained. "Uh...one of them's a red-head...any of you know Merida at all?"

"She the one with the really, really curly hair?" Jamie checked. Jack nodded. "Yeah – I think we've seen her around a few times over the last few weeks. She's hard to miss. Lives near the forest, if I remember right."

"The last one's a girl called Rapunzel," Jack continued. It was hard to believe that he'd actually become fast friends with the very people he was supposed to keep an eye on within one day of being at Moonstone. He'd ask Em-Jay if he could have an audience with the Fates at some point to ask about this because if they were watching over this...well, it had kind of made his job a bit easier so if that was the case he wanted to say thanks. "And, no, she doesn't have long blonde hair."

"Not sure about her," Jamie replied. "Well, I hope everything goes okay," he smiled in encouragement. Jack smiled back in thanks when he spotted the book that Jamie was carrying – it was a largish red hardback book with a golden six-fingered hand plastered on the front.

"That looks interesting," he remarked. "Good book?" Jamie glanced at it.

"Oh, yeah! My neighbours, Dipper and Mabel, just got back from holiday," he answered, indicating where his two friends had just walked off. "Their great-uncle's big into supernatural stuff. They spent all summer at his."

"Are these the Pine twins you sometimes hang out with?" Jack guessed. Jamie nodded.

"Yeah – they've got two other journals beside this one," he explained. "You should drop by some time."

"I'll keep that in mind," Jack promised. "I'd better head home – see you around, kid."

"See ya, Jack!" Jamie waved as he headed home. As the kid disappeared into his house, Jack smiled and relaxed a little – somehow, being part of this community was a release in its own way from the isolation that sometimes came with being a Guardian. Even if he couldn't use his powers as long as Mother Nature allowed him to be seen by all mortals, Jack still felt happy and content. He knew he had a mission to do, but for now, all seemed to be well. He knew exactly who his charges were and he could easily keep an eye on them.

You know, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


Deep in the shadows of twisted trees, a small cottage stood silently. If you were an avid watcher of horror movies, you would know to stay well clear of a place like it. The building itself was rickety and the door swung with loud screeches that rivalled the sound of nails on a blackboard. The inside looked inviting enough, with a large stove and weaving loom set up, as well as a cat and dog snoozing by the fire.

In the flickering light of the stove, the silhouette of the cottage's...well, more of a shack than a cottage...occupant flittered in and out of view of the windows. The silhouette was that belonging to a woman, not too old but at the same time not young. She held a careful posture that was graceful yet calculating as she paced across the creaky floorboards of her abode. As she passed, the cat and dog curled up tighter than before and shuddered slightly.

"The Fates have been kind to me, it seems," the woman remarked. "All of my desired prey in one place..." she added, staring almost wistfully out of the window. The tree branches seemed to part for her to reveal the town of Burgess on the other side of the forest. A smirk crossed the woman's face. "Escape won't be so easy this time."

"What's...your plan of action?" the cat meowed. Yes, the cat talked. The dog was also capable of human speech, mainly because the woman had felt it beneficial for her own needs. A witch needed her familiars, after all, and she couldn't exactly speak animal.

"We'll wait it out a while longer," the woman replied calmly. "I need the perfect circumstances...they aren't quite ready yet."

"How come?" the dog barked nervously. The woman let out a hoarse but short laugh.

"You know how I don't like missing my meals," she chortled darkly. "But I've never had one that's gotten away from me twice."


And so the team joins together for the first time and we get our first glimpse at the villain of the story. I won't reveal too much about her as of now, but I will say that she is a figure from a story I used to read as a child. Feel free to make your guesses, I really enjoy hearing reader theories. See you guys on Sunday with the next update!