Chapter 10: Visions of a Golden Lake
The following couple of days were less than pleasant for the four. With the first Quidditch match of the season in barely two weeks, Jack and Merida were spending every spare moment at the Quidditch Pitch for training.
Rapunzel wished she could say that she and Hiccup managed to keep up with their studies together, but Nana Gothel often held Rapunzel late when she checked in after classes. She was also constantly telling Rapunzel about how lonely she was during lunch, and Rapunzel felt so bad for her, so now Rapunzel went to the hospital wing for lunch with Gothel every afternoon instead of the Great Hall with her friends.
It was all very frustrating because they hadn't been able to spend much time together at all. With everything getting in the way like it was, Rapunzel really only got to see her friends during classes and at the breakfast and dinner meals. Sometimes one or more of them would miss the evening meal, whether it be because of Gothel asking for help organizing the hospital cupboards, or an extra practice at the training field.
On Saturday morning Rapunzel finally managed to catch up with Jack and Merida on her way to breakfast. She grinned as she caught up to them, but had to take a moment to catch her breath as they patiently waited for her with smiles lighting their eyes.
"I'm so glad... I caught up with you." Rapunzel huffed, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face.
"Yeah, we were worried Gothel had gotten hold of you again." Jack made a face at the thought, and Rapunzel sighed weakly.
"She's not that bad, you guys. She just... worries, is all." Rapunzel defended Gothel, trying not to show her exhaustion with her current situation of constantly running back and forth between her friends and Nana Gothel.
"Hey, speaking of catching up, have either of you seen Hiccup lately?" Merida asked, attracting the attention of both Jack and Rapunzel. "I didn't see him at dinner last night."
"I wish." Jack muttered, his expression falling into a mixture of sadness and guilt. Rapunzel knew he and Hiccup missed each other a lot. They were best friends, after all, and they hadn't pulled a single prank in weeks. Jack continued on a little stronger, though. "I had practice until curfew last night. We were lucky just to grab any food before bed."
"Nana Gothel asked me to sing for her because she was feeling homesick. I didn't leave the hospital wing until Dr. Sweet retired for the evening and escorted me to the moving staircases." Rapunzel told them.
"That's weird. If Hiccup wasn't with one of you, then where was he? Did he join the Frog Choir or something?" Merida raised one eyebrow in suspicion.
"Hiccup would've told us, don't you think?" Rapunzel pointed out, starting to get a little worried.
"Well, it's not like we've been together a lot recently. Maybe he did take up some extra-curricular thing and just forgot to tell us?" Jack shrugged.
"Why don't we find him and ask him ourselves?" Merida suggested, crossing her arms determinedly.
"You're right, maybe he's already at breakfast and saving seats for us." Rapunzel said hopefully and the others nodded as the continued on their way to the Great Hall.
Upsettingly, Hiccup was not saving them seats in the Great Hall. In fact, he wasn't anywhere in sight. Rapunzel looked at Merida and Jack with worry, but they only mirrored the expression. Jack spotted Jim, a Ravenclaw Hiccup had introduced them to the previous year, and went up to him.
Rapunzel couldn't hear what was said, but when Jack returned he looked even more upset and brought the news that Hiccup had left the Ravenclaw tower at dawn with no explanation of where he was going. Jim had been too sleep-ridden to chase after him or ask questions.
"Why don't we check the library? Maybe Hiccup just got distracted with a really interesting book." Rapunzel tried, but the worry had already sunk in, and the three walked to the library with long, hurried strides.
They got there to find that the place was almost empty. Augustus, the librarian, was behind the counter, but other than him there was no one else to be seen. The three hurried through the first floor to the stairs, rushing towards their secret meeting place at the back of the second floor.
Rapunzel was first to round the corner to their usual meeting place, and she grinned with relief when she saw the familiar head of auburn hair bent over a large book. "Oh, Hiccup! Thank goodness you're here, we -!" Rapunzel cut herself off with a gasp and her hands shot up to cover her mouth as Hiccup lifted his head.
The skinny, freckled Ravenclaw she knew so well was clad with a black eye.
"What happened?" Merida immediately asked, looking appalled.
"Nothing!" Hiccup answered quickly.
"Something obviously happened! Who did this?" Jack demanded, his fists tightening around the wood of his staff.
"Nothing happened! No one did anything, it was all me. I -I tripped and fell." Hiccup stuttered out as Rapunzel ignored Merida and Jack's interrogation to rush forward and look at Hiccup's injury properly.
"Oh, so the ground punched you in the eye?" Merida questioned dryly and Hiccup shot her a tiny glare that was more of a pout than anything else.
"Rapunzel, please stop. I'm fine. I promise." Hiccup said, taking her hands and gently moving them away from his face.
"Can't say the same for whoever did this." Jack growled. "When I find out who, I'm gonna -"
"Would you quit it?" Hiccup groaned slightly. "I already told you, I fell. And do you really want to spend our only free time together talking about something as stupid as a black eye?"
Jack opened his mouth to argue, but seemingly thought better of it when he saw the stubborn look on Hiccup's face. Although he was probably the most calm and level-headed of them all, Rapunzel had seen first hand how difficult Hiccup could be when he was in the right mood for it. If he didn't want to tell them what really happened to his eye, then they weren't going to hear about it. Not until he was ready, and not a moment sooner.
"Fine. But if we ever find out, Jack and I will go hang the arse from his toes in the courtyard." Merida gave in grudgingly and planted her fists on her hips as she fixed Hiccup with a firm glare.
Hiccup just sighed and ignored her threat.
"So what have you been doing? Other then 'falling', that is." Jack added the last bit sourly, a distinct pout settled on his face.
"Careful. Your face might freeze like that." Hiccup warned him with a smirk and crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "Anyways." Hiccup relented. "I've been spending most of my time down by the lake and in the parts of the forest that's cleared for students." He shrugged. "Nothing too spectacular. What about all of you? You guys look exhausted and it's only eight o'clock..."
All three of them groaned as they flopped into the chairs around the table.
"Quidditch is great, but we've been practicing non-stop to get ready for the games. Skipping meals and having to keep up with schoolwork has been the worst." Merida heaved a heavy sigh.
"At least you don't have Daren on your team. He acts like he's captain and tries to makes us run drills when Kenai isn't looking." Jack told her.
"I don't have to do drills or anything, but keeping up with Nana Gothel is so tiring it makes my head spin! It feels like I'm constantly running back and forth between school and my responsibilities from home, and I feel horrible for not having enough time to spend with everyone." Rapunzel said, her shoulders sagging with some relief as she voiced her worries.
"Don't feel bad, Punzie, we've all been busy." Merida comforted her.
Hiccup suddenly stood up and the other three looked up at him in confusion. He had already closed his book and was shoving everything into his bag.
"Hiccup, are you okay?" Rapunzel asked, and he gave them a small smile.
"This is the first time in a while that we've had an entire day to ourselves. Why spend it studying in a dusty old library?" Hiccup returned her question with another, and she looked at Jack and Merida to see if they knew what he was talking about, but they looked as confused as she felt. "Come on, there's something I wanna show you guys."
The four left the library behind as Hiccup lead them out of the castle and into the warmth of the sunny day. They ended up following a narrow, slightly overgrown, trail that Hiccup seemed quite familiar with. He lead them to the far side of the lake where the cliff-side dropped into the water of the.
Just next to the cliff was a large, flat expanse of stone that created a clearing right at the waters edge. The stone was smooth and covered in soft sand that tickled their feet once the four had taken off their shoes. It was warm, too, absorbing the warmth that the sun had to offer, and the view was absolutely stunning, Rapunzel couldn't help but look out at the water in amazement.
"This is amazing, Hiccup!" Rapunzel smiled brightly as she turned to him, she found him shrugging off his cloak and leaving it in a bundle on top of his bag. "I'll bet you come out here for some peace and quiet."
"Well, yes." Hiccup shrugged, and then a mischievous grin lit his eyes. "But I also come out here when I need to wake myself up a bit."
"How can a peaceful, quiet place like this help keep you awake? I'd fall right to sleep if I were even the slightest bit tired!" Merida exclaimed.
Hiccup just smirked knowingly and wandered over to a medium sized tree that was growing out of the cliff's side, it's branches reaching out over the water. He tugged at something until he was a few feet away from the edge, and then ran as fast as he could and jumped off the edge that the stone offered.
"Hiccup!" They all shouted in shock and concern, but stopped suddenly when they saw him swing up into the air because he had been holding onto a long rope that was tired to the tree.
Hiccup fell into the water with a great splash, and they all ran to the edge. Rapunzel and Jack looked for Hiccup's form in the water, unable to see it, but Merida drifted towards the tree and picked up the rope.
"It's a rope swing." Merida grinned, holding up the rope as she eyed it with amusement.
Hiccup suddenly burst from the water and grabbed hold of Jack's arm, yanking the other boy into the water. Jack yelled as he fell in with an even larger splash than Hiccup's, but when he surfaced he laughed hysterically and splashed at Hiccup.
Rapunzel looked at Merida, and the two girls grinned at each other just before throwing their cloaks aside and trying out the rope swing for themselves. Jack and Hiccup tried to shield themselves from the splashes with their arms, but it was no use. A splash war broke out between them as fits of giggles left them breathless.
They splashed and swam for hours, laughing until their cheeks hurt and spending the entire day out in the sun. When they finally decided that they were too tired to play anymore, and that they were starving, the sun was just beginning to lower in the sky, leaving a glorious and wonderful golden glow on the lakes surface.
Rapunzel got out of the water and walked across to where she had left her cloak, the warm stone feeling nice on her bare feet. Merida followed right behind her and the two scooped up their only dry clothing, wrapping it around themselves to keep warm as a slight breeze began to drift across the lake bed.
"This was great. I don't think I've ever had this much fun." Merida grinned widely.
"I know what you mean. Nana Gothel and my parents would never let me do anything this spontaneous. I mean, swimming in my school uniform!" Rapunzel nodded in agreement.
Merida chuckled, shaking her head, and looked over at the boys. Rapunzel followed her gaze and was surprised to see Hiccup with a full, bright smile on his face, his form silhouetted in the sparkling gold light that reflected off the lake. His eyes were the brightest green she'd ever seen, it was almost inhuman.
A quiet, but sharp, gasp from beside her made Rapunzel turn to look at Merida with curiosity, but her expression quickly turned to worry when she saw how pale the red-head had become and how wide and unfocused her eyes were.
"Merida?" Rapunzel asked, reaching out and touching her friend's elbow.
Merida groaned quietly, reaching up to rub her temple. "It's nothing, I -I'm fine." She said, quickly recollecting herself, but Rapunzel knew something was up.
"You look really pale, are you sure?" Rapunzel pressed gently.
"...Yeah" Merida mumbled slowly, then shook her head sharply. "Just thought I saw something."
Rapunzel didn't push anymore, deciding that Merida would tell her if something was wrong. The four trekked back towards the castle, still laughing and joking as they had been before, and Rapunzel was glad that even though they had spent so much time apart, they were still as close as always.
Upon returning to the castle, Merida and Jack were pulled aside by the Quidditch captains, who wanted to know why they weren't around when extra practices were called late that morning. Luckily, the Quidditch captains were somewhat understanding in that they hadn't been in the castle when the announcement for extra practices had been made, but Jack and Merida still had to spend their evenings practicing with their captains to make up for missing. The two didn't really mind that much, especially because their captains had specifically said 'after dinner'.
Rapunzel, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Nana Gothel was horrified when she caught them in the castle entryway. She said she had been worried sick all day when Rapunzel didn't come to check in that morning. Gothel also made a huge fuss over Rapunzel being soaking wet and rushed her off before she could even say goodbye to her friends.
But, looking back at them over her shoulder, Rapunzel knew, from the smiles that they gave her, that she had no reason to worry. They'd be waiting for her when she finally managed to calm down Nana Gothel.
AN: More fluff for y'all! I hope you enjoyed it!
NOTES: Darkness hides behind Golden smiles...
REVIEWERS!:
I'm the lonely life: I know right? But she's one of the best Disney villains ever, you have to admit that. Not yet, it won't be fully white until their third year... Possibly fourth if I decide I want to stretch it for that long...
ivylene.h: Several of you may or may not hate me in the future... Anyways, I'm glad you're enjoying! :)