Merida

"Here come the nightmares, ladies! Have fun, and I'll find Hiccup!"

"Are you out of your mind, Frost? Get back here!" I fire another arrow as a lone nightmare breaks through the trees, and it crumbles. "Punzel, get ready. Hit hard and fast. These things bust if yah hit 'em hard enough!"

Rapunzel yelps as another three nightmares dart onto the path, and the battle begins. She holds her own, for the most part, but as more and more nightmares pour onto the trail, even I can't keep up. "Frost, where are you?"

"Stand down," a gravelly voice calls from behind. Or is it to my left? My right? I spin, trying to find the source of the command. As I do, the nightmares back away from me and Rapunzel. Punzie herself scampers over to me like a scared puppy. "Nice to finally meet you, ladies. I've heard so much about you!"

I draw an arrow, but I still don't know where to aim. "Who are you?"

"My name is Pitch Black, Merida. You know me. I visit you every night." A chuckle rises from the trees around us, mocking the fact that I, the best tracker in all the lands, cannot find him. It sets my blood on fire. "And, Rapunzel, I visit you even during the daytime. You'll never be able to escape me, dear." Rapunzel swallows and ducks her head. "Now, for the real reason I'm here," Pitch steps out of the trees, and I loose the arrow without a second thought. But before it meets its target, he disappears, "I want the two of you on my side. You'll never win fighting like this. In fact, what are you even fighting for?"

Something in his voice brakes though the anger, and at first, I don't know what to call it. Then it hits me. Fear. What am I here for? Pitch's scheme may have nothing to do with me. He may only care about the Guardians, and they haven't exactly been total darlings to me thus far. I lower my bow. "I don't aim to join anyone. I just want to protect my people."

Pitch emerges again from the shadows as the sun breaks over the tops of the trees. "Fair enough. I understand." He seems to be thinking something over. "I just can't have you two interfering with my plans." Pitch extends a hand towards us, but I make no move. "You, Merida, should return to your family. They need you to protect them from other things."

I'm about to put away my arrow and turn back when Rapunzel takes a step towards Pitch and raises her pan. "Don't listen to him, Merida. He's dangerous, and he won't spare your family when he brings fear to every child alive. Don't you have a little brother or sister?" She glances at me, and I see something in her face that surprises me. She's being dead serious, and she isn't afraid. She turns back to Pitch. "I've read about you, Pitch, and I will not let you hurt the children of my kingdom."

Pitch seems flabbergasted. The last person, it seems, that he expected to talk back was little Punzie. "Fine, help the Guardians, Flower Child, but I will bring fear. And you will pay dearly for your defiance." His eyes shift to me. "Both of you will, along with your families." Pitch drops into the shadows of the trees as the sun drives them towards us.

My jaw drops. What have I done?

Hiccup

"Oh, gods no. Please you can't do this! You can't be real! Just go away!" I cringe as my back meets a stone wall, and I know that the beast has me pinned. I put my hands up in front of my face. "You're not real. You're not real."

"I am real, Hiccup. I am Ignis. I am your worst nightmare." The growling, scratching voice of the dragon/man grates against my eardrums.

"Oh, wow. Really?" Someone snickers behind Ignis. "That's the best you can do?" Ignis and I both look behind him to see Jack walking around and chanting in a low voice, "I am Ignis. I am your worst nightmare. I am Ignis. I am your worst nightmare."

Ignis's burning eyes turn back to me. His entire body is made of black sand like the other nightmares but in the shape of a man with wings. He looks just like he did in my dreams when he was trying to break Toothless's wings, strangle me, or even kill my mom. "This is not over, human. You will never escape my sight."

I swallow and pray that Jack plans to do more than just dance around and taunt this thing. "What do you want?" But before I get an answer, Ignis takes off through the open roof and disappears. I clutch my chest and sigh. Then I remember losing Toothless in the ruble when we fell through the roof of this castle/crumbling-rock-pile. "Toothless!"

Jack stands back as I run past him to the giant pile of debris. Once he sees that I'm digging for Toothless, he joins in and we clear the rocks away in no time. We manage to get Toothless's head uncovered before two giant green eyes stare up at me. "Oh, Toothless. You're alive."

Toothless gets one glimpse of Jack and bares his teeth. "Ok, ok I'm leaving," Jack backs away. As I unearth the rest of Toothless, Jack starts asking questions. "So, what was that thing?"

"Ignis, he's half man and half dragon."

"Where did it come from?"

"My nightmares."

Jack prods me with his staff, and I chunk a rock behind me, hoping it hits him. It doesn't. He chunks it back. "How did you dream up something that freaky?"

I moan and use all my weight to yank away a large boulder. When it finally rolls out of the pile, the rest of the pile cascades off of Toothless. "I've had a rough and violent childhood, ok?"

Jack snorts and pokes me again. "Alright then, Lizard Boy. Time to go." Jack floats a couple feet off of the floor and gestures to the sky. "We have to go make sure the girls are still alive."

I roll onto Toothless and pat his head as Jack soars out of earshot. "I promise, boy. As soon as we're done here, I'll let you eat him, and then we'll go home. How does that sound?"

I know that Toothless doesn't know many human facial expressions, but I swear, in that moment, he smirked.

Jack

We find the girls right where I left them. It seems that they've fought off all the nightmares, but something must be wrong because Merida is maliciously assaulting a tree with her sword. Rapunzel, on the other hand, is sitting off to the side drawing in the dirt with a stick. She looks up when we drop into the clearing, but Merida continues to slice the tree into wood chips.

"Uh… Mer?" When she turns around and her eyes focus on me, I know immediately that I should've given her the time to cool off because the first thing she does is come after me with the sword.

"Why did yah have to bring me into this madness? Now Pitch is going to go after my brothers!" She swings the sword with amazing skill and ferocity, but I manage to dodge the first few assaults. "Yah daft, no-good," she pauses and then screams. "I hate yah immortal soul, Jack Frost!"

I leap into the air, jaw dropping and gasping as the last swing cuts open the front of my hoodie. Hiccup draws closer to Merida very slowly. "Please, Merida, Pitch brought us into this, not Jack. Pitch made the new Mor'du, and he saved Mother Gothel. And… and," Hiccup takes a deep breath, and Merida stops staring at me like she wants to rip me to shreds, "and he brought my nightmare to life." Hiccup puts his hands up and walks closer to Merida. She turns to him, and she doesn't slice him to ribbons, yet. "I know you're upset, but the only thing to do now is to stop him before he can hurt anyone."

Hiccup is taming her. He is trying to calm her down like he does with Toothless. I smirk.

"We need to work together to get this done, ok?" Hiccup rests his hand on top of Merida's where hers grasps the sword, and he pushes the blade down and away from me.

Merida drops the sword. "Fine." She pushes her bangs out of her face and takes a deep breath. "What do we do now?"

Rapunzel gets up and walks over. "Well, what does Pitch want exactly?" They all look up at me.

I drop to the ground and prop on my staff. "Pitch wants people to fear him. Most people can't even see him though."

Toothless nudges Hiccup, and the boy bends down to the dragon's level. "Ignis, the flying-man-dragon-nightmare thing, he tried to take Toothless. Why would Pitch want my dragon?"

I watch the way Hiccup strokes Toothless's head, and I remember that Pitch likes to take away what people love most. "He wanted to take what you love. Last time, for Tooth it was her fairies, for Bunny it was smashing the Easter eggs, and he even killed Sandy. Pitch wants to shake us up and break us."

Rapunzel nods and rubs her frying pan. "That's why he threatened your brothers, Merida."

Merida sets her jaw, her eyes burning with that familiar fire. "If we know where he'll try to strike, we can be prepared. I can send a message to my dad to protect the boys. We won't take our eyes off of Toothless." She pauses and glances at me and Rapunzel. "So what about you two?"

I shrug. "There are some kids back home, but they know how to fight Pitch. Worry about Punzie. She has an actual family."

Rapunzel shakes her head. "I know why Pitch is using Mother Gothel. He knows that she wants me back and will do anything to get me."

Something in my chest squeezes. "You think they'll try to take you?" She nods and looks up at the rest of us through her eyelashes. I grip my staff. "Fine, we won't let that happen. Come on. We should get back to the Pole."

Merida screws up her face. "Can Toothless carry three people?"

Hiccup starts to answer, "He did carry me and my dad once…"

But I interrupt. "I'll take Punzie with me." Before anyone else can say another word, I wrap an arm around Rapunzel's waist and take off.

Merida snorts. "I knew it," she mutters matter-of-factly as she hops on Toothless.

Hiccup cocks an eyebrow. "Knew what?"

Merida just laughs and shakes her head. "Boys."