Rapunzel smiled widely to the customers as she put down the plate with pastries before them on the table.
"Here you go" she said and also put down the drinks. "I hope you'll enjoy it".
"Thank you dear" the old lady said warmly.
"Yes, thank you very much" the little girl across the table said while holding her head very high.
Rapunzel laughed a little and ruffled the girl's hair before going on to the next table where she picked up the dishes.
She had worked in the café for about a week now and absolutely loved it. Her co-workers were great. After they closed the café in the evening they usually stayed an extra hour just to spend time with each other which Rapunzel loved.
Though it was a little hard when they had asked her about her life. Rapunzel didn't really know what to tell them, but ended up saying that she had been adopted as a baby and when her adoptive mother died she found her birth parents and were welcomed by them. It was a story that was pretty like her own but not too much.
"Wait, hold on Punz" Caitlyn said as the blond walked past the counter.
She stopped and turned to her new friend with curious eyes.
"My birthday is coming up and I'm having a party this Saturday, you should come" Caitlyn said with excitement in her voice.
"That sounds like so much fun! I'll be there" Rapunzel exclaimed happily.
"Great! I'll text you the details" Caitlyn said before they both went back to work.
Rapunzel walked through the door behind the counter and arrived in a kitchen. She found Emily and a man in his thirties named Mark baking. A boy her own age, Will, was dishing and talking to him was Denise, a woman in her twenties who also worked as waitress.
"Here's some more Will" Rapunzel said as she put down the dishes and the boy groaned.
"Why is this place so popular?" he asked in despair as he started on the new dishes.
"Because people like torturing you" Denise joked before turning to Rapunzel. "Is it a two-man-job out there yet?" she asked and Rapunzel shook her head.
"No, only one person needed" she said.
"Good, then you take a break and I'll work" Denise said and walked straight out through the door.
"Jamie was so frightened this morning when he was going to school" Emily said casually as she rolled the dough.
"How come?" Mark asked.
"He was absolutely certain he saw a shadow that looked like a horse. He said it's the Bogeyman who sent it" she said and Rapunzel froze at the spot.
The Bogeyman… Pitch. Jamie had seen one of the fearlings. She had to tell the others at once.
"Punzie, are you okay? You look a little pale" she heard Will say.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just- I need some air" she said and hurried out the backdoor.
She quickly pulled up her phone from her pocked and was just about to call Merida when the door opened again and Denise stuck out her head.
"You're needed inside, if you feel okay of course" she said with a sympatric look at Rapunzel.
"Yeah, I'll be in in a second" the blonde answered and Denise nodded before disappearing in again.
Instead of calling her friend Rapunzel instead sent a text to Merida, where she asked her to tell Jack to talk to Jamie. If Jamie had seen something they really had to know, and since Jack knew him best Jack should be the one to talk to him.
As soon as she had sent the text she went back in, and quickly forgot about the all the seriousness.
"JACK!" Merida shouted to the boy flying around in the air, making it snow as he went. "COME DOWN HERE" she added when he only waved to her.
After she had screamed a little more he finally landed in front of her.
"Gees Princess, calm down" he said jokily and froze the water they stood by.
"Don't call me Princess" Merida muttered before showing Jack the text she got from Rapunzel. "You should go talk to Jamie" she said and Jack's expression went from happy to worried in less than a second when he read the text.
Without saying a word he took off towards Burgess. Merida looked after him for a little while, before sitting down by the small river. It was now covered with ice, and she wanted to change that. Sure, it was Rapunzel who had the power to make winter to spring but Merida should be able to make the ice go away.
She had figured out that the best and safest way to make her abilities show was to stay calm and have a clear picture of what wanted to happen in her head. So she closed her eyes, and the next time she opened them her hair was fire.
With a small smile on her lips she reached to touch it. She could feel the flames lick her fingers, but they didn't feel hot. It just tickled a little. Her hand gripped around a flame and she opened the hand in front of her.
In the hand she found a small flame from her hair which she carefully placed in the water. The fire didn't stop. Instead it kept burning and sent away what looked like waves of heat through the water. When all ice was gone she picked up the fire again and placed it on her head before making her hair normal again.
Slowly she put her hand in the water and yelped happily when she noticed that it was hot, like in summertime. You could bath there if you wanted to.
"I love my powers" she laughed and threw some water in her face.
"And I love mine!" she heard Hiccup shout from the air where he flew around on Toothless.
They flew close to the cliff and Hiccup reached out his hand and touched the moss there. At once the moss turned orange, yellow and brown.
Down on the ground Merida cheered and clapped her hands at her friend's accomplishment.
A loud bell rang and not soon after that kids started to come out the door. Jamie and his friends were some of the first to come out. As soon as they stepped outside they started to pick up snow and throw snowballs at each other, laughing happily.
Jack was relieved to see that his little friend wasn't very affected of what he had seen that morning, and felt a little guilty since he was going to bring it up again.
He waited with getting Jamie's attention until they were close to the kid's home. Then he silently made an icy patch under the boy's feet so that he slipped, but Jack caught him before he hit the ground.
"Easy there, kiddo" he joked and Jamie's eyes lit up with happiness when he noticed who it was.
"Jack!" he said and stood up.
The other kids turned to see the teenage spirit and they all smiled brightly.
"Are you here to play with us again?" Claude asked with excitement in his voice.
"Sorry no" Jack answered and the kids groaned. "I'm actually here because I need to talk to Jamie, so if you don't mind I'll steal him a little" he joked and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder.
He got various nods and okay's as answer before he grabbed a hold of Jamie's jacket and flew off with the boy. When they arrived by the lake he put Jamie down on one of the rocks and sat down beside him.
"So, want to tell me about the fearling you saw?" he asked and casually swayed one of his feet.
"How did you-"
"Your mom told Punz, Punz told Merida, Merida told me" Jack answered. "So, what exactly did you see?"
Jamie looked down before he answered.
"Just this horse-thing that Pitch has. It was right by my house but when we came out it disappeared. And I know it's just nightmares, nothing to be afraid of, but I'm scared. I'm scared he'll make stop believing in you and the others"
Jack didn't hesitate to put an arm around Jamie and pull him in for a hug.
"We both know that no one can make you stop believing. It's all up to you whether you believe or not" he said and Jamie nodded.
He had to stop Pitch. If not for the world, for this boy.
"Bye, see you tomorrow!" Rapunzel called to her coworkers as she started to walk home. It was dark now, and it was cold. Not that it mattered how cold it was, since the day she had thawed Jack's ice and frost she had practiced a lot and could now make herself feel like she was in the middle of spring.
The darkness though, made her uneasy. Sure, there were streetlights everywhere, but it didn't feel like it was enough. Especially since it was a very cloudy night so the moon and stars weren't visible. All she wanted right now was to be home in the tower.
"Hey" the sudden greeting made Rapunzel jump to the side and reach for the frying pan in her bag. She hadn't heard anyone coming.
"Woah! Calm down Punz, it's just me" Jack said, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture.
Rapunzel breathed out in relief before she got a frown on her face. She held up the frying pan and hit Jack on the arm.
"Ow, what was that for?" Jack winced.
"You scared me" Rapunzel answered and were just about to put the pan back in the bag when they suddenly heard a voice.
"Have you found anything?"
They immediately recognized the voice. Pitch Black.
Jack held up a finger on his mouth and started to walk towards the direction of the voice. Rapunzel followed tightly behind. They found the Bogeyman in an alley, accompanied by Mother Gothel.
As fast and quiet as they could, they sneaked up behind a trashcan to hear better.
"No, not yet. Have your ponies had any luck?" Gothel said as she fiddled with her nails.
"They're not ponies" Pitch hissed. "And no, nothing. The girl is well hidden"
"And you're absolutely sure that we're looking at the right place?" Gothel asked casually.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Oh you know, during the few hundred years I was alive I heard a lot of things. One of the things were that she's nowhere near this pathetic country" Gothel said, now sounding very irritated.
"Well, what you've heard is wrong" Pitch sneered. "Just keep looking"
And then it was quiet. Jack and Rapunzel looked to the place where they had earlier seen Gothel and Pitch, just to find that they both were gone.
"We need to get back to the tower" Jack said and Rapunzel nodded in agreement.
I'm so sorry it's been so long, again! This time I don't have any good excuse either, other than that tumblr basically ate my life.
And if you're wondering about the timeline for this story, they're right now in the beginning of December. The first chapter was middle of November, something like that.
Ruth Joyce: I swear you have killed me with your nice reviews! Thank you so much! I really try to make it funny but had no idea I succeeded. Now I really wish I could hug you, but I can't. Sadly.
mintythefox: THANK YOU! And I'm so happy you think it's an original story-line, it was what I was going for.
I hope you all liked the chapter! Please review and tell me if you did