Ladies and Gents, I present to you the climax of the story. I hope you enjoy, and don't hate me.
Note: Words without AN: 4,451. Words with AN: 4,483
=Jack=
Elsa found us and she was in a half panicked state. Astrid brought her into a seat and held her, trying to calm the girl and it took several minutes to calm her. "What happened?" Astrid asked her softly. Elsa looked at her then to the rest of us that were in the private classroom. There was Flynn, Anna, and Kristoff. As well as Merida, Rapunzel and myself.
"I-I," She swallowed back her nerves. "I fought with Pitch again." She said, and this didn't faze any of us. She was always confronting the boy. "But, Hiccup, he-he managed to gain control." She said.
"What?" Rapunzel sat forwards, knocking her book out of her lap.
"He-he was struggling with keeping control but he told me what Pitch was planning." She paused, looking at Merida. "H-He told me that you have to kill him before he kills you. Merida, Pitch is going to kill you." Silence followed and I could see Merida trying to sort out what was just said. There was a breeze and Autumn appeared in front of us. This only slightly startled Flynn and Kristoff now, the boys having seen it several times now.
"Did he give a reason why?" Autumn asked her.
"No, but his exact words were: 'He's going to kill Merida if they don't kill me. Kill her then destroy Autumn to gain complete control.'" She quoted and a grim expression came to his face.
"I've put you in danger Merida." Autumn told her.
"We've all been in danger sense Pitch took Hiccup." Merida stated, which was true.
"More danger than the others." He gestured to me and Rapunzel. "But, I'm afraid that there's no longer an alternative route. The three of you facing against him is going to end with someones death."
"Okay, I know I'm new into the whole spirit power thing," Flynn spoke up. "But from what it sound's like, this Pitch figure is extremely powerful. He set the whole school into a depression not to long ago. The three of you can't face him without help."
"We have Autumn." Rapunzel said to him.
"He's only good for defense at the moment Blondie." Flynn pointed out. "And he can only stretch his power so far without Hiccup, who's being controlled by Pitch."
"We can ask the Guardian's for help." I offered.
"I'm sure the most help they'll offer while your under age is sending you to safe houses." Anna spoke up. "Jack you're the youngest one here." She reminded me. I scowled.
"Okay ask for their help after my seventeenth birthday." I put out.
"That leaves you at risk over the summer." Autumn commented. "I doubt he'll try anything so soon, with his plan exposed, but we can't have any of you being alone this summer. This puts your families in danger as well."
"You want us to wait until next school year to face him?" Merida asked.
"Well, if we're going to ask for the Guardian's help, without them shoving Jack out the door. Yes." Autumn nodded. "And if we do manage to defeat Pitch, Jack is the most likely person to bring Hiccup back to life."
"But... Winter is the season of the dead." Rapunzel said, her eyebrow's knitting together. "Wouldn't Spring be more practical?"
"Spring brings forth new life and change." Autumn said to her. "Though your healing skills are impressive and it is more than possible that you can bring Hiccup back, our seasons clash with each other." He gave a sheepish smile. "Winter is the season of the dead, and saying that he can connect with the dead. If the two of you worked together, you could probably bring everybody back to life. That's how your season's blend. But Hiccup and I had brought Jack back to life a few years ago, there's a bond stronger than our season's there."
"Hi, I'm Summer, nice to be included in the 'bringing my best friend back to life' conversation." Merida mumbled.
"You'll all be working together to bring him back," Autumn said to her sympathetically. "But when it comes too it Jack is the only one that can literally jump after Hiccup and bring him back from death."
"Fine, but how will we do this? Obviously we can't be alone for the rest of the school year." Merida looked at us. "I have Astrid and Anna in my house, Jack has Elsa and Flynn, Kristoff is a Hugglepuff."
"Hugglepuff?" Kristoff raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, you're extremely huggable." Merida said, waving it off. "Oh don't look at me like that. Elsa and Anna came up with it." She scowled. "My point is Rapunzel doesn't have anyone in the 'Save Hiccup' party."
"Wait, you me our little club here is called 'SH'?" Flynn asked laughing.
"If you can come up with a better name please be my guest." Merida glared at him. "But that doesn't solve Rapunzel's lack of bodyguards."
"Why doesn't Autumn stay with her?" Astrid asked.
"My spirit clashes with him." Rapunzel commented. "Spring, Autumn, their opposites."
"Right..." There was a long period of silence. "Fishlegs!" The two of them said together.
"What?" Merida looked at them as if they were crazy. "Are you talking about that guy in our grade that was sorted into a house last year?"
"He was home schooled up until last year." Astrid said.
"And he was sorted into Ravenclaw." I said. "He's in a lot of my classes."
"I'm sure he can join SH without an issue, he and Hiccup used to be friends when they were little." Astrid said. "When I say little I mean little, little. Like three."
And so we started traveling in packs of three, then the weekend arrived and Rapunzel seemed worried. She pulled me and Merida aside after breakfast. "I have to go the forbidden forest." She said.
"What's in there that won't kill you." Merida asked and she bit her lip.
"I..." She glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Toothless is there." She whispered. And after finishing our meal we headed out for the Forbidden forest.
"Why is Toothless here?" I asked her when we were safely, unsafe in the Forbidden Forest.
"Hiccup's been bringing him sense first year." She responded before entering a clearing. A snarl answered our entrance and the dragon glared at us from the other side of the clearing. "Toothless what's wrong?" Rapunzel asked worried she moved towards him but he tried to attack her.
"Careful." Merida pulled her back before she could get hurt.
"Somethings not right, he's never like this." Rapunzel said. I stepped forwards cautiously, imitating what Hiccup had taught me four years ago. My hand outstretched and moving slowly. Toothless growled at me first, then slowly limped forwards to press his head against my hand. I pet him.
"What's wrong?" I asked the dragon. He lifted his wing and we saw exactly what was wrong, three black spears were stuck in him, Two through the base of his wing and a third in a leg.
"These aren't... he didn't!" Rapunzel rushed forwards to examine the wounds. She turned to us. "You're going to have to hold him while I pull these out."
"Are you mad?" Merida asked.
"I can't heal him with these in." She responded grabbing hold of the one in his leg. Toothless growled at her and tried to bite her, vines started to wrap around the dragon, trapping him to the ground. Merida was holding her hands out as more wrapped around him. I bit my lip and summoned ice to keep his head and tail in place. "I'm sorry Toothless." Rapunzel said as she pulled the first one out. He roared in pain, this happened two more times and Rapunzel worked quickly to stop the bleeding then she gathered her hair and wrapped it around his wounds.
"What are you doing?" I asked her, she ignored me and started singing. We watched as her hair started to glow, Toothless started relaxing. When she pulled away the wounds were completely healed.
"Punzy you're amazing." Merida told her and she smiled sheepishly Toothless had returned to his normal self. We made plains with Gobber to send the dragon to Merida's parents, who would take care of the dragon and keep him from further harm.
The remainder of the school year flew by and as Autumn suspected Pitch didn't pull anything. I saw little of him actually, until the day we returned home. After the train departed I went to visit my sister, making sure that I knew where she was for when we got off of the train. On the way back the boy pulled me into a compartment that was blocked from anyone's sight, curtains drawn on both sides. "Miss me Jack?" He mused pinning me to the door. I tried to grab the door handle but he used a quick spell, tying my arms behind my back and forced me down onto a seat. I tried to ignore the fact that it was Hiccups body assaulting me, and just focus on Pitch but it was hard too.
His lips pressed against mine as he pinned me to the seat, slowly climbing onto my lap. "Just give in already, I know you want me." He purred lifting my chin so I could glare at him. He chuckled, keeping hold of my chin and kissing me again. "I wonder what Hiccup's thinking right now," he mused. "After I stole his voice he's been nice and quite for me." He purred leaning down so his lips were right next to my ear. "Would you like to know what I did to him after he exposed me?"
"Burn in hell." I hissed at him, his woundless hand grabbed my hair, moving my head and exposing my neck to him. He trailed ghost kisses down the side.
"First I chained him, trapping him in his own personal hell." He told me, pausing at my pulse. "Next I harmed his pet, that dragon. Oh he was pissed at me, you should've seen the fight he put up." He chuckled. "Then I sent my nightmares after him, you remember them right?" He mused. "They tormented him, worse than Elsa and the best part," he bit my pulse for a moment. "he couldn't escape like she did. He couldn't fall into a coma, no he has to suffer every word they say. Every image they throw at him."
"Bastard." He only smiled at the insult.
"He's given up Jack." He purred. "After months of torture he's finally given up. He thinks you've all abandoned him. Now, oh this is the best part. He's blaming all of you for putting him through such a hell." He told me, I summoned ice to break my bindings. "Blames you especially Jack, for putting me in him. You're the reason he's suffering now." I grabbed onto him and tore him off of me. He laughed as I pulled out my wand. "Going to hurt me? And break your promise?"
"You're not Hiccup." I snarled.
"But I can bring him out whenever I please." He mused. "If you attack me, I can easily send him out and then what? You've hurt him." I didn't move, wand still pointing at him. "His silent plea for help as you strike him. Then what will you do?"
"He's already asked for us to kill him. Now or later, it doesn't matter." I glared at him.
"And if you can't bring him back? Autumn's not here at the moment if you haven't noticed." My wand lowered, he was right. We're at a stalemate. An ice spear formed in my free hand and I threw it next to his head. Yellow eyes flashed to green and fear rippled through them. He was confused, wounded.
"Hiccup," his eyes turned from the spear to me and I could see all his emotions. His mouth moved but no sound came out. Pitch had stolen his voice. I knelt down in front of him and reached for him. He winced for a moment before relaxing into the touch. "We will get you out of this." I told him. "You just have to hold out a little bit longer." My voice cracked. He nodded, I lent down and kissed him, he kissed back, it was shy and nothing like Pitch's kisses. "We will save you." I promised him, wrapping my pinky around his. "Or die trying." I kissed him again and felt tears running down his face. He clutched onto my sweatshirt, then pushed me gently. Telling me to go. "Wait for me, I'll come for you." I told him. He nodded and I got up, I noticed a ring of black energy circling him.
Go. He mouthed to me and I turned to the door, opening it and stepping out into the hall, when I turned back the black circle was flowing into him. His body fell limp and I know that when he opened his eyes again he wouldn't be Hiccup any more. I closed the door and returned to my compartment. I sat and looked out the window, ignoring the questions from the others. I didn't want to talk to them. I didn't want to talk to anyone, I could only imagine the punishments Pitch would put Hiccup through.
We spent the summer at Merida's. Not just the three of us but everyone. Families included. It was like one huge party for the entire summer and I didn't understand what was going on for more than half of it. I had told Elsa what happened on the train and she sympathized with me. She was the only one I trusted to tell that too being the only other one to have seen Hiccup within the last half year. I spent a lot of time with Toothless and Rapunzel taught me how to fly him. It took a few tries before the dragon trusted me enough to fly with him alone. Merida and Rapunzel had both been taught by Hiccup. We tried not to talk about Hiccup around Toothless, he was still hurting from when Pitch attacked him and when he was brought up he would either growl or whine.
We planned a lot, and in the end decided that it would have to be the three of us to face off against Pitch. The others would be support, which would be helpful if we were facing an army. But it seemed unlikely for Pitch to gather an army in the period of one summer. Especially considering the fact that he was just a student, going into his seventh year. If he even returns to school next year. "He'll go." Autumn said when we brought it up. Merida scowled at him.
"And you know that how?" She asked. He was sitting on a windowsill, looking out at the forest.
"Because that's where I'll be." He responded simply. This was true, Pitch wanted complete control of Hiccup. He couldn't get that without the final piece of soul that Autumn was protecting. Well, that Autumn was bound with.
"Autumn," I asked, he didn't turn. "What happens if Pitch does get the piece of soul from you?" I wondered. "Will you die?"
"Spirit's can't die." He responded turning to look at me. "Normally we are put to rest until we're reborn into a body. Pitch and a few others are acceptations. They aren't born into a Witch or Wizard like we are." He paused, looking back out the window. "If Pitch were to win then I would fade for a while, living in a half state until Hiccup is finally and truly dead." He answered me. "I'm still connected to his lifeline. As long as he's living, I'll be around."
"Is that what makes bringing him back hard?" Rapunzel asked. Autumn shrugged.
"Depends on several things. If a person dies young, or before their time there's a short gap of time where a merge can take place, saving their lives by binding the spirit to them." He explained.
"But the seasonal spirits are different from other spirits." Elsa added. "The four are bound together. There are others that are bound, linked or whatever they call it. They can only be reborn together. So if they die. Well, if Jack had died, and stayed dead, Winter would return to sleep, and have to wait for the remainder of the Seasonal spirits to die. That could take several hundred years." She paused. "Especially considering overtime we've created things to extend our lives. Not too ago the Philosopher's Stone had been created, it creates the Elixir of Life. Though it had recently been destroyed after Lord Voldemort had tried to use it to bring himself back to life."
"That was... Pitch's previous host?" Anna asked. Elsa nodded.
"So, if Hiccup dies, and we don't save him. You'd just fade to sleep for an unknown amount of time?" Rapunzel asked Autumn. He nodded. "Will you remember him? Do you remember your previous lives?"
"Some," He responded. "Not all of them stay. I don't know if I'll remember being apart of Hiccup." He sighed, "I won't know until I wake up again."
"Being a spirit sounds hard." Merida said, then she looked at Anna. "Do you know your spirit?" She asked her. Anna paused for a moment, as if debating something.
"I don't know." She said honestly. "They don't always show themselves to you. Some people go their whole lives without knowing about spirits. Others know about them but never meet theirs. On rare occasions these people merge with their spirits without realizing it."
"Why do the both of you know so much about them?" I asked, Elsa smirked.
"Well, our kingdom lives in piece with our spirits." She responded. "They're a daily part of our lives. And I grew up merged with mine." She explained. The door opened and Autumn faded.
"There ya all are." The Queen said. "Yer letter's came not to long ago, it's time to go shopping for yer final year at Hogwarts."
Our final year at Hogwarts started slowly, I was anticipating an attack from Pitch at any moment. We all we. But the first month blew bye with nothing. The few classes I had with him were quiet. The boy always looking down at whatever he was working on. There were several days where Rapunzel who sat next to him in our classes together looked spooked by something. "What is it he's always doing?" I asked her quietly as we walked to our classroom.
"Drawing mostly." She responded, looking around cautiously as if expecting him to jump out and attack us at any moment. "Their some strange drawings, I can't make them all out from where I sit but I think a few of them are of his horses. The Nightmares." She explained, I nodded and we entered the classroom. There were the days at which I sat behind him in class, the one class we had alone together. I tried to peek at what he was doing but I would get distracted by his gray hand. I cursed at myself, knowing that the poison was the final chess piece that led to Pitch's victory. And finally when he moved enough for me to see a part of the drawing, I didn't care about it any more.
October passed again without scene, and Merida's patients were riding thin. "I swear he's following me." She whispered to me as we sat in the library. "Every time I go around a corner he's there." She said as the boy entered the library to return a book. "See?" She waved her hand towards him.
"Calm down," I told her, and that didn't help to calm her down. "He has to make the first move, and when he figures out that he's not getting us alone," I stopped whispering when he rounded the corner to the shelves our table was even with. He picked out a book, looking at the back cover and scanning what it was about before putting it back and taking another. He took this one with him to check out again. "I think he's planning something big." I admitted after he left the library again.
November rolled in and the tension in SH started to lessen. Holiday was coming up soon and everyone was excited for the few days off of classes. We sat in our classroom lounging around and finishing up some work. "It'll be on Thanksgiving." Anna sat upright startling Kristoff who was her pillow moments before.
"We don't even celebrate that holiday." Elsa commented. "It's American."
"Exactly why he'd plan it then." Anna said. "Common on it makes sense, lately he's been reading a ton about the American traditions and the states in general."
"Maybe he has a test coming up on it." Flynn commented.
"Anna it's a bit far fetched." Astrid agreed. She crossed her arms and spent the next few hours ignoring us. But her suspicion made me curious. For the next few days I paid attention to the books he had with him. She was right, they were mostly American related books. Magic across the New World. The States and their findings. Revolutionary. Those were just some of the few titles. Then, when the American holiday arrived the mood in the school felt wrong. As if it were expecting something.
"I think Anna was right." Rapunzel said as the three of us walked out of our final class of the day. Few people were out wandering the halls. Then, the first horse appeared. It seemed to step out of the shadow's which is quite likely, and it watched us.
"We need to get the others." Merida said calmly. She slipped her arms between ours, pretending to not see the horse and guiding us towards SH headquarters. Someday, we'll have a better name for our group. When that day comes, Hiccup wont be controlled by a evil Spirit and he will be apart of the group. More and more horses appeared as we walked to the classroom, some seeming to follow us while others just watched us. When we finally reached the room our friends were in similar situations.
"Has anyone talked to North about this?" Anna asked nervously. They joined the three of us. "Wasn't he and the Guardian's apart of the plan?" She continued.
"Yes." Rapunzel nodded. "We told him about it, but they might not have realized that..." She stopped talking and I looked to where she was staring. A boy, Hiccup, was standing in the main hall looking at the doors that lead into the Great Hall where dinner had started not to long ago. Next to him stood a Nightmare. He looked over at us.
"You're late." He told us and I felt myself tense. Seconds later screams echoed from the room in front of him. Pounding on the door but it stayed unwavering, not opening for those trapped inside. "Pity, you're missing all the fun."
"Guys," Astrid tapped on my arm and I turned, the nightmares were surrounding us. They started pushing us forwards, towards Pitch.
"I worked so hard to get this done," he mused. "Studying, planning and all for you to miss everything." He tisked at us. "Oh well," he snapped his fingers and the horses charged, separating us and driving me out of the school. I could hear spells being shot, as well as see spiritual magic being sent out, fighting off the horses. I sent spear after spear towards them myself, keeping them off of me and searching for Merida. When I finally found her she was facing off against Pitch.
"Coward!" She called at him after several horses charged her, I shot a spear through them, dissolving them before they reached her. She charged Pitch who didn't bother attacking her, instead he just dodged and blocked her attacks.
"Merida he's just trying to tire you out!" I called to her. She backed away from him and I sent several of my own attacks towards the dark Spirit. "Where's Rapunzel?" I asked her and she shook her head, unsure.
"How are we supposed to fight him like this?" She asked.
"He's got to be stretching his limits, do you see how many Nightmares are here?" I asked. "He can't be at full strength controlling this many."
"So we attack him together." She finished.
"With Rapunzel." I agreed. "And Autumn." There was a long pause. "I'll defend you look." I offered and she nodded, we dove back into the horses searching for Rapunzel. She was back to back with Elsa.
"We've got to finish this!" Merida called to her, the blond glanced at Elsa who just nodded. The three of us raced out of the horses, to where Pitch had been. "Where...?"
"There." Rapunzel pointed off towards the forbidden forest.
"The devil's just asking to be killed." She commented and we ran after him, he was hard to track in the forest but Rapunzel seemed to know exactly where he would be going. We exited into a clearing. Toothless's home and the Dragon was currently not home. It only took us a moment to realize the mistake we made in coming here. The storm of Nightmares surrounded the clearing and Pitch stood in the tree line watching us all.
"Well, we've been in worse." I commented, moving so we formed a triangle. Merida facing Pitch.
"Yeah, those nightmare visions were much worse." Rapunzel agreed.
"I can give you one shot." Autumn told us, solidifying in the middle of us. "As soon as those things charge, one shot. If you miss, we're screwed."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. It really helps the self esteem." Merida quoted Hiccup and I smiled. Right there in the middle of my death bed I smiled. There was a moments hesitation, then they charged.