As the snowball fight came to a natural end, North declared it a draw (he had to placate Merida and Jack who were each insisting that they were the winner) and suggested everyone head inside to clean up and dry off from the snow.
"Is nearly time for ceremony" he reminded them. "When moon should be at highest point, we shall swear you in as Seasons – then, will be official!"
Jack watched as everyone began to drift inside and turned around to find Merida still standing there.
"You not going in?" he enquired.
"Naw, I'll dry off from the snow in aboot two seconds flat once my hair flames up" she grinned. "You?"
"I'm practically made of the stuff" Jack joked back "so not much point!"
"So.." he continued with a cheeky grin "despite the fact that I thrashed you in the snowball fight –"
"Oi! Yer did not!"
"- you were throwing some pretty accurate snowballs there." he finished, acting as if he hadn't heard her.
"Well" answered Merida, deciding to let his jibe slide for now "I've had lots of practise at aiming with me archery. You ever tried?"
"Can't say I have."
"Well, we have some time, how about I teach yer?
"Sure why not!" Jack responded enthusiastically. "Should be fun!"
"Hmm we need a target…" Merida said thoughtfully looking around them.
"Got it covered!" Jack said cockily. He walked a few feet away and span his staff in a circle before banging it on the ground. Up sprung a target made from solid ice, glittering enticingly at the two of them.
"Brilliant, now we can take it in turns with me bow!" Merida took charge, secretly a bit impressed with Jack's display of powers. "Watch me first and then ye can have a go."
Jack stood off to one side and leant on his staff to watch her as she demonstrated the basics.
"Drawing the bow right can be the difference between shooting a good shot or skinning yer arm - when ye start it is important to be relaxed. Face the bow toward the ground with yer arrow notched, then draw the bow as ye bring it up to yer face." She did so, pulling her fingers to the corner of her mouth.
"Make sure ye dunnae hold it too long or ye will strain yer arm and whilst aiming, remember to account for drop over distance. Finally when ye release just let – GO".
She let the arrow fly upon saying go and hit the target dead in the center – causing it to crack and split in two!
"Woops…"
"No worries" Jack says bounding over. "That's the great thing about ice: you just melt it –" he waved his staff one way over the shattered target and it melted away "- and re-freeze it again!" he waved it the other way and the target rebuilt itself from ice.
"Ok, ok, pretty impressive Frost I'll give you that – but let's see how well you can shoot." Merida teased. She passed him the bow, making sure any flames were well and truly out before hand.
He gave her a cocky look and began to notch his arrow. "I can't imagine it'll be that hard, after all you just – just…" he strained to pull the bow back – "Manny, what is this thing made of?! Come on bow- just- shoot!"
He let it go and the arrow flew wildly off course into a distant snow drift. "Um – two out of three?" he ruffled the back of his head with an embarrassed grin whilst Merida fell on the floor laughing.
Rapunzel walked into one of North's cosy sitting rooms after she had finished drying off her clothes. She was still getting the hang of where everything was – the workshop was just so big!
She looked round the room and spotted Hiccup hunched over at a desk whilst Toothless was curled up snoozing by the fire. She walked softly over to him and looked over his shoulder.
Her eyes widened as she saw that he was sketching Toothless – and he was really good! "Oh! That's wonderful!" she exclaimed.
Hiccup gave a startled yelp and promptly fell off the side of his chair.
After a jumble of apologies and tangled limbs as Rapunzel tried to help him up, Hiccup eventually got settled back in his chair, his face flushing with embarrassment.
"I didn't mean to startle you" Rapunzel said apologetically, perching on the edge of a nearby armchair and facing him. "It's just I had no idea you enjoyed drawing!"
"Well, sketching isn't exactly a typical Viking trait" Hiccup joked self deprecatingly. "I've never really shown them to anyone before…"
"Why not?!"
He shifted uncomfortably. "Well it's kinda a long story…"
She shuffled the armchair closer and leant forward with her elbows on her knees and head in her hands, looking at him expectantly with an encouraging smile.
Hiccup sighed. Rapunzel really was one of those girls you just couldn't say no to!
"When I became a spirit I guess I just never had anyone to share them with – it was just me and Toothless really. But before then – when I was alive – it was different. I had people to share them with – but I didn't."
Something shifted in Rapunzel's face as she looked at him, realising that he was reliving his memories – he newly gained memories.
Possibly Hiccup picked up on her line of thought, because he continued "I didn't remember any of this until Tooth gave me my memory box. But I guess some habits die hard – even if you're already dead." He gave a wry chuckle.
"I was born a Viking – Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe to be specific. My father was Stoick the Vast, and he was our Chief. Now you have to understand, dad was – well everything a Viking should be. He was over 7 feet tall, biceps bigger than my head, and a voice that could boom louder than any Thunder Drum. He was a legend. And what he was most well known for was his hatred of and ability to kill dragons." Hiccup paused to look over at Toothless, lost in thought.
"I was so desperate to prove myself. To prove that I wasn't just some walking fishbone. After all, Vikings aren't supposed to look like this." he gestured to himself.
"I just – I just wanted him to be proud of me." Rapunzel detected a slight crack in his voice, and watched silently as he closed his eyes for a moment to gain control of himself.
"Since I was obviously lacking in the strength department I was always inventing things to try and help the village, but they never quite worked. Something always went wrong, and I became known as an accident waiting to happen – a walking catastrophe. I hid my drawings because I couldn't bear the look on dad's face when he saw them – like a mixture of disappointment and desperation.
Then, one day, I met Toothless. I had shot him down with one of my inventions and found him in the forest, but when it came to killing him – to proving that I was just as much a Viking as anyone else in the village – I couldn't. I looked into his eyes and saw he was just as scared as I was. He was me. So I cut him free."
He fell silent for a while, so Rapunzel softly prompted him. "What happened next?"
He roused from his reminiscing and turned to look her in the eye. "You mean after he'd roared at me and caused me to nearly wet myself?" he chuckled. "I'd caused Toothless to lose his left tail fin, so he couldn't fly – he was stuck in a cove so I visited him nearly every day to bring him food and study him. It took a while, but over time I earned his trust and I learnt that everything we knew about dragons was just wrong – they weren't mindless killing machines at all. They were intelligent, resourceful and could be as kind as they were fierce.
I was an apprentice at the village blacksmiths, so I used the tools and materials to make Toothless' tail, and with that we learned to fly together. I just can't put it into words how amazing that was…" Toothless purred at him from over by the fire, obviously listening but too comfortable to move.
"It couldn't last though. Dad ended up finding out about Toothless and he captured him – forcing him to lead the tribe to Dragon Island, in an attempt to wipe out all the dragons once and for all. He wouldn't listen to me – I'd already found out that the reason the dragons had been attacking us and stealing our food was because they lived in fear of this beast, this monster, of a dragon back on their island. If they didn't feed it, they became dinner.
By the time dad realised his mistake, it was too late and this thing was attacking everyone. He realised that I was right, and set Toothless free so we could try and stop it….he said he was sorry and was proud to call me his son…I'll never forget that." Hiccup looked down sadly.
Almost not daring to ask, Rapunzel whispered – "And the monster?"
"We defeated it – just. Toothless and I had help from my friends who I had shown how to train dragons too. We saved them - we saved them all didn't we bud?" He walked over and leant down to hug Toothless round the neck. Rapunzel breathed a sigh of relief thinking that the story had ended happily – forgetting one vital fact.
"But we didn't quite make it. We were up in the air when we burnt that thing from the inside out but in the resulting fireball Toothless' tail fin was burned up – and he can't fly without it." Hiccup finished softly.
Only the sounds of the fire crackling and Toothless' breathing filled the room as Rapunzel let everything sink in and Hiccup took a moment to reign in his emotions. He hadn't minded telling Rapunzel, but the first time speaking about his death was always going to be hard. The moment he had opened that box he had known there was no going back, and as hard as those memories might have been he wouldn't change anything.
Those memories made him who he was. They reminded him of what he was fighting for – families and futures. Though he had lost his, that didn't mean he was about to let others lose theirs.
"You shouldn't be ashamed of your drawings" Rapunzel said suddenly, breaking the silence.
"What?" he said a little confused.
"You shouldn't hide them." She continued with more confidence. "Just look at what amazing things you have done with them! Your imagination and creativity gave Toothless back the ability to fly! I don't know anyone else who could do that! You have an eye for detail and drawing has obviously honed your skills of observation – perfect for the tactics you need when fighting!" she said passionately, walking over to him and taking both his hands in hers.
"You have a gift" you said seriously staring into his eyes. "You should never be afraid to show it."
Hiccup blinked, a little taken aback by the intensity of Rapunzel's gaze, but then his eyes softened and he gave her a small smile, gently squeezing her hands. "Thanks Punz. I'll remember that."
She smiled back and gave a small nod of satisfaction before dropping his hands and heading back to the table. She dragged over a chair and then pulled a sketch book out of her satchel.
"I'm actually quite into drawing and painting myself – mind if I join you?" she said gesturing at the free seat next to her.
"Toothless can never have too much attention" Hiccup chuckled, and went over to pick up his pencil.
The cave was dark.
Dark, dingy, depressing.
Perfect.
Platforms of varying sizes and heights littered the cave, with jagged staircases and bridges to connect them. The cavern appeared to go on forever, cloaked in darkness to hide its secrets.
The shadows curled back as if torn apart by the very presence of the one who walked amongst them. The woman was tall, regal and clothed in an elegant dress that one might say was purple, but if they looked closer would see it shifted hues in chaotic swirls.
Her hair was inky black and floated around her as if it was submerged in water, and her skin a pearly grey. But of the few who had ever seen her, if they had survived to remember her, it was not the colour of her hair, or skin or dress that they would recall. No, it was the colour of her eyes. Piercing and green, they glowed with malice and hate. At all times appearing calm and controlled, but underneath you could sense the boiling, writhing, utter joy at pure unbridled chaos. They glowed with the colour of madness.
She slowly approached the centre of the platform she stood upon and laid her hand on her precious box. To an untrained eye it looked like a large boulder, though made of a stone never before seen by any living eye. Blacker than night, it absorbed any light that dared to land upon it – except for the piercing purple light that leaked from the cracks upon its surface. And escaping with that light were whispers. Whispers of malice and mischief, calamity and chaos.
"Shhhhh" she soothed, leaning towards it. "Soon darlings, soon."
"I trust you've made yourself comfortable Pandora?" a voice called out of the darkness. She smirked before turning to address the voice.
"Pitch, you know I detest raising my voice, come here so I don't have to shout down to you."
"Anything for you my lady" the voice now came from her left and she turned to meet her subordinate as he appeared to rise out of the shadowy floor.
"Do you have it?"
"Did you ever doubt me?" Pitch asked, passing her an object he held in his hands.
"Well the last time I left you to your own devices hardly turned out well for you did it?"
"That was not my fault." Pitch answered with a restrained bite to his voice. "I told you, Jack Frost's power was –"
"Unexpected, yes." She said coldly. "At least to you. If you had stopped to listen to me when I released you before rushing off on some hap hazard revenge plan you would never have got into that mess."
She clasped the object in her hand and when she opened up her palm it had vanished.
"I, however, knew what was coming, and I've been planning how to stop it."
"You could have helped me you know, when I was being thrown about by Sandman like a ragdoll…" Pitch sulked slightly.
"Now Now, Pitchy, you know I don't like to get my hands dirty" she crooned, leaning over and caressing his cheek with a single slim finger. He held back a shiver and tried to ignore his senses that were telling him to run away.
"I plan and you carry out those plans remember? Once I have finished preparing the item we can put things into action to put at end to those Guardians once and for all." She turned and glided away from him.
"And what about the Seasons?"
She paused. "Do you know where the Seasons get their main power from Pitch? From working together. A single season is incomplete – only all four working in harmony can create the balance needed to reach their full potential. We must collect the key fragments before them at all costs, or else they will use it to seal my box for good, rather than opening it like I intend to. We have to stop them before they can gather them."
"And how do we do that exactly?"
Pandora grinned evilly at him.
"We break them."
Author's note - And here come the baddies! What do you think?
I've also tried to create a balanced interaction between the four, because as much as I love them as romantic couples I think it is important to try and evenly build all of their relationships, not just Rapunzel and Jack and Hiccup and Merida. Is that coming across?
I look forward to each and every review - so thank you in advance if you take the time to leave me one :)