A/N: Sorry for the wait. Har go.
10
She was calm. It was a familiar sort of calm—the sort that she felt in the locker room just before a quidditch match. The sort where she felt like her senses were sharpened and her mind was cleared, making her unable to be thrown off by anything.
She didn't know how long that rash, confident feeling would last, but she hoped it would get her through this night.
Behind her, Elsa didn't feel the same. Merida could feel the girl's nerves on her back like a constant, cool breeze. She decided not to address it. What could Merida say to console her? Elsa was right to be nervous as they stood there, facing the tall, looming front doors to the main hall, the heavy wood sealed shut against the frigid night. Perhaps she shouldn't have chosen the front doors to leave through. A smaller back door might have been easier to slip out unnoticed, but it had to be this hall where they met. This was where they had always met.
She looked down at the small gold coin she gripped tightly in her palm. On the front was etched the smiling, mischievous faces of two boys with freckles. Above them were the initials for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The back was usually smooth and blank, until a message was sent. Right now, three words sat in gold leaders where she had tapped her wand to make them appear: JACK GONE. HURRY.
It was the quickest way to get a message to a friend in another House at Hogwarts. She and her friends hadn't used the coins in a couple years, and it had taken her a couple minutes to dig hers out of the bottom of her trunk. She had sent the message immediately before flying back through the Gryffindor common rooms, grabbing Elsa, and running as fast as she could until she had come to the exact spot she was at now.
And they waited.
Rapunzel reached them first, unfortunately. Merida had needed Hiccup's help, but the coins were all connected, and there was no way to contact him in such a short amount of time without also sending the message to Rapunzel.
Rapunzel hurried down the stairs, her dress robes thrown on over her purple pajamas, saying, "What's wrong? Where's Jack? Is he ok?"
Merida looked at her friend's worried face, then over at Elsa before turning back to continue staring at the door. Elsa got the hint, and began explaining to Rapunzel the watered-down version of the story: Jack half Frost Giant, Pitch bad, Jack gone. Surely, Rapunzel was incredibly confused at the situation, and that she was being told it by Elsa Arendell of all people, but Merida didn't have time to consider Rapunzel right now. Merida was clinging tightly to her determination, and having to tell the story and get emotional about the situation might break her.
Rapunzel was trying to slow Elsa down and ask more questions, practically making Elsa start over, when Hiccup and Astrid came running down the steps. Merida spun on her heel and met them as soon as they reached the bottom of the steps.
The two Hufflepuffs were each awkwardly carrying a large silver cage with a fuzzy, white creature inside, with small black eyes and ears, and long bodies. They looked somewhat like oversized ferrets, mixed with otters. The creatures were a bit jostled from the run, and they chirped anxiously at Hiccup with little voices that sounded echoey and unreal.
"Jack's gone?" Hiccup said, breathless. "And I'm assuming you meant gone gone? Not just, like, ran to the bathroom gone?"
Merida snorted. "Gone, gone. Like left the castle into the night, gone."
"That's what we thought." Hiccup and Astrid shared a look. Merida might have wondered how much Astrid knew about the situation, but right now, Merida didn't care.
"All right," Hiccup said with a sharp nod before he bent down and carefully set the cage on the ground. Astrid placed hers down next to it.
"And these are…?" Merida said, looking down at the creatures that blinked up at her.
"These little cuties are Norwegian snow slinkers," Hiccup said proudly, "Known for their beautiful ice nests and penchant for frozen mackerel, which they have no problem sneaking into their neighbors' houses to steal." Merida looked at him, just waiting. He finished quickly, "More importantly, they're one of the best trackers in the Arctic circle, and can follow a scent even in the middle of a snow storm."
Merida let out a small breath. Thank goodness. She had had no idea how to find Jack in the Forbidden Forest, and she had prayed with all her might for the last ten minutes that Hiccup would have an idea. "Merlin's beard, Hiccup, I love you."
Hiccup grinned. "You're welcome." Astrid followed suit when he bent down and opened the hatch on the cage. The Snow Slinkers slid out of the holes before they were even completely opened, running between Merida's legs and pouncing each other, rolling around on the stone floor, their ethereal, unearthly chirping filling Merida's ears.
"How will they know to find him?" Merida asked, eyes on the animals.
"We stopped and grabbed this," Astrid said, pulling a small, folded piece of cloth out of her pocket. She handed it to Merida, who opened it and saw that it was a corner of something that had been cut jaggedly off.
"That's a piece of Jack's blanket from the infirmary," Hiccup said as Rapunzel and Elsa stepped closer to see. "It's the most recent thing that he's touched, as far as we know. Toothiana wouldn't be happy, but luckily she wasn't there when we stopped by."
"Go ahead, Mer," Astrid said softly. "Let them smell it."
Merida turned and crouched down, and the two creatures stopped squirming and looked at her, their small ears on alert. "Here you go, things," Merida said in a cooing voice, "Come smell this daft idiot and help us find him." They inched closer, one paw at a time, and Merida held her breath until they were close enough to sniff the piece of blanket. They were so close to her that she saw the faint flash of violet in their black eyes before they turned, noses bobbing up to sniff the air, then down to smell the ground. It was only a couple seconds before they were standing at the foot of the front door.
Of course, Jack had walked right out the front doors. It shouldn't have surprised her that he had done the same thing as her, choosing the stately main entrance to make an exit in a hurry, rather than a quiet back door. He had probably even stopped at the threshold and looked back the halls of Hogwarts in that stupid, pithy way he had adopted recently. Something she did at the beginning of every summer when she was leaving.
Without looking, Merida handed the cloth to whoever was closest to her, then sprinted forward to the door. She slid the heavy, finely engraved locks back, waving her wand at the higher ones that she couldn't reach. They fell away with a loud clang, still echoing when Merida put all her weight into pulling one of the doors open. The snow slinkers dove out as soon as they could, and Merida braced herself against the freezing cold air that washed over her, blowing her hair around and making her squeeze her eyes shut.
Elsa's small gasp behind her made her pop her eyes open again. Merida looked out at the courtyard, the gray stones completely swallowed up in a deep blanket of sparkling, white snow that reflected the warm light from the open door and the cool lights of the stars shining above them.
The stars?
The sky was completely clear. No sign of storm clouds, no harsh wind blowing. The night was still and beautiful. That frightened Merida more than a blizzard would have.
"What happened to the storm?" Rapunzel asked, breaking the silence.
No one answered her. A sudden blue glow in Merida's peripheral made her turn. Hiccup and Astrid had their wands out, the tips of them emitting a blue light that lit their faces as they looked out at the night. It was then Merida looked at them enough to realize they were both in their heavy winter coats, boots, and gloves.
"You don't have to come," she told them.
"Yes, we do," Hiccup said, the lumos of his wand reflecting in his eyes as he turned to look at her. One look at Astrid showed that she was equally as determined.
Merida nodded once, then turned to Rapunzel and Elsa. Elsa was watching, her eyes flicking between Merida and the outside. Rapunzel had her wand pointed at her robes, which thickened and grew fur around the edges, looking warm and cozy over her pajamas. When Rapunzel was finished, she pulled the hood up over her head, tucking her blonde hair into it.
Turning wide eyes on Merida she said, "I'm not sure what's going on, but if something's wrong with Jack, I'll help." She stepped forward and pulled on Merida's thin black robe, touching her wand to it. Immediately, the cold air was blocked from Merida's skin, and she felt her robe getting heavier, brown fur sprouting along her collar and cuffs. Rapunzel met her eyes again, her jaw set. "You can explain it when we get back."
Merida felt her eyes, swollen from crying earlier in the night, prick again at her beautiful friend's support. All of their support. Perhaps she should have tried to convince them all to stay, but in between her confident heartbeats there was space for a small ache of terror, of the fear of a girl who just wanted someone to hold her hand and tell her that Jack would come back. Merida stayed silent and only nodded again.
Elsa was gripping tight to the scrap of severed blanket, her eyes wildly searching Merida's. Merida knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth, "I can't. I can't go. If Pitch sees me—if any of them do—I won't come back. They won't let me."
"That's ok," Merida said, "You don't have to."
"But I…" Elsa looked out at the night, her weight shifting. Behind the fear there was a frustration that Merida recognized, one that wanted to run out there and not come back unless she was dragging Jack with her.
"We'll bring him back," Merida assured her.
Hiccup stepped over and put a hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Besides, there's something important we need you to do." Elsa looked up at him, her eyebrows drawing together. Hiccup said, "Someone needs to tell the headmistress where we're going. She'll be able to contact the aurors and tell them to keep an eye out for Jack. If we don't get to him first, maybe they can." He glanced at Merida, who shrugged. Merida wouldn't have wanted to tell McGonagall any sooner, knowing the woman would have stopped them, and perhaps even thought that it was Jack's choice, so there was no reason to endanger the aurors going after him. Now Merida and the others would be long gone by the time McGonagall knew, and thinking that the aurors would be looking after them made Merida feel better.
Elsa blinked, Hiccup's words sinking in. Then her face turned fierce and she stepped back into the school. "Be careful," she told Merida, "I don't think Jack's been gone long, so find him fast. You have to reach him before Pitch does, or no one will be able to get to him, not even the aurors."
Merida swallowed. "Ok."
Elsa sprinted into the school. Merida started down the stairs.
Only to sink straight into the snow up to her hips. She cried out, losing her balance and falling forward, her hands sinking up to her elbows when she tried to catch herself.
"Not so fast!" Rapunzel called behind her.
"I hate winter," Merida growled, trying to pull herself out but not getting much of anywhere, since each step sunk just as deep. A minute later she heard the light crunch of snow as someone neared her. Surprised, she looked up to see Rapunzel and Astrid standing on top of the snow, looking down at her.
"Need a hand?" Astrid asked with a grin. The two girls reached down to pull her up by the arms. Astrid held onto her as Rapunzel instructed her to lift her feet one at a time.
"Nix calceus," Rapunzel said, tapping her wand against the toes of Merida's shoes. "There, try that."
Merida gingerly shifted her weight from Astrid to her own feet. The snow crunched beneath her, but she didn't sink, not even her shoes. Thank Merlin.
"I can work with this," Merida said, walking forward, gaining confidence as she went.
Hiccup was a few steps ahead of them, whistling low. A second later, twenty yards away, two fuzzy heads popped out of the snow, their eyes glinting in the light from the castle. Merida passed Hiccup, Rapunzel and Astrid right behind her.
Holding her wand up, Merida said, "Lumos." Her wand lit, adding to her friends' lights, and helping her see the burrowing movement of the snow slinkers just below the snow in front of them. Ahead of them, she could see the dark trees. The shadows between them seemed to call out to her in a chilling voice, using Jack's name. "Let's go," she said.
Hiccup whistled again, and the snow slinkers took off.
Merida ran.
They had barely passed the first layer of trees before Merida's lungs were stinging from the freezing air. The deeper they went the worse it got. Even if she was the sort of person that liked the outdoors in the winter, this would have been hard. Everyone was silent as they ran, eyes and ears strained for any movement among the trees, indicating either Jack or danger. They hadn't come across any footprints, but Jack wasn't a normal wizard, and snow behaved strangely around him. Merida could only hope the snow slinkers were following the right scent.
"There's nothing out here," Rapunzel wheezed when they were so deep in the trees that their wands were the only light they had. They paused by a huge, thick black tree while the snow slinkers popped out of the snow and sniffed around the base.
"It's the Frost Giants," Hiccup replied with a cough. "Most of the creatures in here would know better than to stick around with them nearby."
"Frost Giants…Aurors...Our poor Jack's in a mess, isn't he?" Rapunzel said. She looked at Merida, who had stopped with her hands on her knees next to her, and said, "I don't like the feeling here."
"Yeah," was all Merida could say.
Astrid held her wand high as she scanned the trees around them. She stopped when a light breeze blew toward them, a low moaning accompanying it. She shivered. "Let's hurry and get Jack out of here. It's creepy as hell."
They kept going. Merida couldn't tell if everything inside her was burning, or freezing. She just knew it hurt. She had started sweating, but the air was getting colder as they went, penetrating the heavy coat that Rapunzel had made her. She hoped that was a good sign, that it meant they were getting closer, but the cold made it harder to breath and move. More than ever she wished she had learned that warming spell that Jack had created. She just added it to her list of regrets.
Merida didn't know how long it had been since they left the castle (half an hour or two hours? It was impossible to tell in the thick trees) when the snow slinkers' chirping stopped abruptly. Her group ran on in silence, the only sound their harsh breathing and the low moan of the wind between the trees. They stopped when they reached the little white creatures, their heads poking out of the snow, sniffing the air in every direction.
"What is it?" Astrid asked. "Did they lose the scent?"
"Can't be," Hiccup replied quietly, as though trying not to distract the animals. "Not unless Jack just flew straight up from here."
"Well, he's not exactly human," Astrid replied, matching Hiccup's whisper. "So maybe he did?"
"What, no, that'd be the first I heard of Frost Giants flying."
"I thought you said you didn't know anything about Frost Giants."
"Well, I don't, but I think someone would know if they could fly—"
"Shh!" Merida said sharply, throwing her hand back at them. She had been watching the snow slinkers carefully, and when they both whipped their heads to the right and froze, noses quivering, her heart had skipped. Her friends fell silent and she strained her eyes, trying to see beyond the light of her wand into the dark.
Was it Jack? Was he close? She didn't see another wand light or a flash of white hair in the dark. Her heart was pounding hard in her ears, and her breath was still uneven, so she couldn't hear very far. Was that the crunching of snow?
It was. Slow, even crunching, like something moving very carefully.
"Jack?" Merida called out. The trees and snow absorbed her voice, making it sound weak in the vast wood. There was no response.
"Could it be the aurors?" Rapunzel asked, barely above a whisper.
"I don't know," Hiccup responded, eyes fixed on the direction of the sound.
"What else could it be? You said everything was gone."
A piece of wood snapped. It was closer than the footsteps.
"I don't know," Hiccup said again, even more quietly.
If her heaving lungs would have permitted it, Merida would have been holding her breath. A painful chill was creeping swiftly up her spine. She flinched when she saw a shadow move twenty yards from her. In what little light shone on it, the shadow looked purple and shapeless. As soon as Merida saw it, a sharp wind tore from it, as though trying to knock her over.
"Run!" she snapped, breaking the tension and startling everyone into action.
The trees flashed in the panicked, swinging light of their wands. Behind them, the slow, even footsteps had become faster. Glancing over her shoulder, Merida spotted the Frost Giant between the trees. Its form was clearer now, standing out among the black trees, and it was tall, so much taller than she remembered them being. It was moving quicker, but still much slower than they were. They could outrun it.
"Ahead of you!" Hiccup shouted from the back of the group.
Merida whipped back around, skidding to a halt when she saw the looming figure of another Frost Giant ahead of them. This one lifted its hand, and the snow in front of it burst straight up in sharp spikes, exploding in a line toward them.
"Incendio!" Astrid shouted, flicking her wand forward.
A gust of hot air surged passed Merida and erupted in front of her, filling the empty space between them and the Frost Giant with a raging wall of scarlet flames. The red light lit up every tree within fifty feet, and Merida had to throw her arm up to protect her face.
"This way!" Hiccup shouted, grabbing Merida's arm and yanking her to their left. They went barreling down an incline, dodging in and out of trees. Behind them, the fire light was dying.
Rapunzel squeaked in alarm, making Merida jump and turn to her. She was looking to their right, where a tall shadow was moving between the trees parallel to them. Was it one of the two they had already seen? Or was this a new one? How many had come down from Siberia, following their chief gurg, Pitch?
"Petrificus totalus!" Rapunzel said, and a bolt of green light shot from her wand and hit the Frost Giant. It washed over the creature, but didn't slow it down.
"Your magic won't work on it!" Hiccup shouted back at them from the front of the group. "The best we can do is distract it or slow it down!"
Rapunzel gritted her teeth, flicking her wand again, "Micoalbumos!"
A blinding flash of light lit up around the Frost Giant. To Merida's surprise, it paused and turned its head away.
"Good job, Punz!" Merida hollered. "Keep going!"
Rapunzel turned behind them, shouting the same spell. The flash traveled behind them like a wave, passing over tree and Frost Giant, revealing at least three more behind them as far as Merida could see. "Aranea telio!" Rapunzel said next, planting her feet and waving her wand between the two trees they had just run through. A silver, stringy substance streamed from her wand, wrapping back and forth between the trees until a tight web hung between them.
Merida had paused, not wanting to leave Rapunzel behind. "Will that hold?"
"Let's not find out!" Rapunzel said, running past her.
Ahead of them, Hiccup and Astrid were sending spells in various directions. Some of the spells sent green sparks at trees, which sprouted green vines that twisted across to other trees, at a height that might clothes-line a Frost Giant. Another sent a translucent pack of wolves chasing after a Frost Giant to their right, ghostly howls rising up behind them. Merida raked her brain, trying to come up with something useful. So far, all she could remember was a shoelace binding jinx that she used on her brothers, but she didn't think that would be useful in this situation. Curse her for not paying more attention when Professor Tallen was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The group had to slow down to work their way over the snowy piles around a huge, ancient tree, but as soon as they got around it, an explosion split through the air, making them all scream and duck. Something hard and sharp pelted Merida's shoulders and arms as she covered her head. When the onslaught stopped she looked down to see shredded pieces of dark, frozen tree bark. She looked up at the tree next to her. The thick, ancient trunk had a huge hole blown through the side of it, splinters of wood poking in every direction like sharp teeth. Around the edges was a sparkling, icy frost, and even as she watched the ice spread over the wood. She wasn't sure how the giant had done that, but she was sure glad it hadn't hit any of them. Through the hole she could see a Frost Giant, too close for comfort.
"Bloody hell," Hiccup murmured, looking at the shrapnel.
"The tree," Astrid responded, tugging on Hiccup's arm. Merida followed her gaze, up into the bows and branches of the tree. They were swaying. Another loud crack drew her attention back to the trunk, where the remaining column of wood was evidently having trouble holding the weight of the rest of it.
"Get out of the way!" Rapunzel shouted.
Everyone but Merida ran to get out of the way of the teetering tree. She might not have the repertoire of spells that her friends had, but what spells she did know she could use proficiently. And lucky for her, she had grown up in the highlands, where they hunted trolls and wrestled bears. She had never done so, of course, since her mother wouldn't have allowed it, but it didn't mean she hadn't prepared herself for a lucky occasion, anyway.
She backed away a couple steps, ignoring her friends who were yelling for her. "Brachius fortis!" she said, feeling the familiar surge of magic around her, like invisible armor. The snow beneath her sunk at her suddenly heavier weight, but it didn't slow her down as she sprinted straight at the tree, a growl coming from deep in her throat. With the extra power in her legs, she sprung up at the last second and slammed her shoulder into the side of the trunk. It cracked beneath her weight, and the whole thing changed direction, swinging away from her friends and landing heavily on top of the Frost Giant, who was too slow to get out of the way. Merida fell with it, landing with a heavy thud in the snow. Having knocked the breath out of herself, she gasped and coughed before floundering in the deep snow to regain her footing on top of it.
The Frost Giant was flattened beneath the branches, but as she watched, the arm she could see moved to push the huge tree off of itself. Merida ran back to her friends, who looked at her with wide eyes before falling in step. Hiccup laughed as he ran alongside her, and Astrid said, "Well, I finally understand why your patronus is a bear!"
They ran another hundred yards before they saw a wall of ice ahead of them, stretching between the trees, each branch covered in several inches of thick ice. It looked the same as the thick ice Merida had seen coating the hall outside the Slytherin common rooms earlier that day. Hiccup lead them around the right side of it.
Through all of this, Merida hadn't forgotten why it was they were here. They'd been running like crazy, but were they getting closer to Jack or farther away? For all she knew, Jack might have been one of these Frost Giants hunting them down.
No. No, she couldn't think like that, not yet. There was no way they had been that late, not after all this. She had to put her faith in the aurors, they would get to him. She'd heard that some of the aurors were famous wizards who had fought in the war before she was born. They would get to him. They would save him. And maybe the fact that there was a pack of Frost Giants behind them meant that they were being a good distraction, giving the aurors time.
It wasn't two minutes before they came across another wall of ice between the trees. This time, it wrapped around to their right until they couldn't see its end. They had to go left, only to be met with another ice wall.
Merida swore as they ran alongside it. "I don't like this. I feel like they're just leading us further away from Jack."
"Why would they bother? Why don't they just kill us?" Hiccup said.
"Do you want them to try?" Astrid demanded.
"Of course not, that's not my point!"
Rapunzel was wheezing the hardest, the least used to northern climates and athletics, but she still managed to gasp when they rounded a bend in the narrow ice hall they were running down only to see another ice wall ahead of them, cornering them. They ground to a halt.
"Oh, goody," Astrid said, whirling around, wand raised, as a Frost Giant came into view behind them, taking long strides. "Looks like a trap. Maybe you'll get your wish, Hiccup."
Hiccup ground his teeth together, the light from his wand turning a saturated red. "Hilarious. Just keep up."
Merida had no time to ask what she should be ready for before Hiccup hurled a streak of fire through the air. It arched and grew as it flew, and instead of fanning out like a fireball should have, it condensed and solidified. It slammed through the wall ahead of them, shattering the ice and sending bits flying in every direction. Then the fireball sprouted two thick, fiery wings, banked to its right, and came flying straight back toward them. Their group ducked as the dragon barreled over them, opening its jaws and sending another flame directly at the Frost Giant following them. They didn't stop to watch, but ran for the opening.
The ice was growing back quickly, sparkling in the firelight. Astrid was ahead of them, and with a flick of the wrist and a shout of "Crepitius!" a spark of violet exploded at the base of the thin, new forming ice wall. The forest was dark and open ahead of them again, and a sense of relief as well as dread came with the freedom.
They had only gone ten feet when the now familiar sound of ice bursting from the snowy ground erupted behind them. Merida turned barely in time to see the icicles heading straight for them. The ice magic was moving so fast now that Merida knew the Frost Giants' patient, controlled attacks were over.
"Look out!" She shoved Rapunzel to the side. Rapunzel crashed into Hiccup and Merida was thrown backward as the ice blazed past her. She rolled a few times before she jumped to her feet again, wiping the biting snow from her face.
In front of her, the icicles were quickly melding together to form another wall of solid ice. The wall extended from the small ice maze they had just left all the way into the dark forest ahead of her. She swore again. This was getting very annoying. She ran up to the wall, placing her hands on the ice. "Oi, everyone there? Are you ok?"
"Merida!" Rapunzel called back. A shadow passed behind the ice and Rapunzel's voice was closer. "We're ok! You?"
"I'm all right!"
"Stand back! We'll get you through!" Astrid said, and Merida saw a light glowing red on the other side.
Then she heard Hiccup scream, "Incendio!"
Flames rose up into the trees on the other side of the wall, and the glow came through the ice to Merida. She could see the blur of her friends' shapes on the other side, as well as the approaching shadows of Frost Giants. Her friends were outnumbered.
"No!" she said, looking both ways along the wall. She hesitated, not sure if it would be faster for her to try to break her way through the ice, or to try and find a way around. She had to get to them. She couldn't lose all of her friends in one night.
Voices, new, deeper voices caught Merida's attention through the flashes and sounds of fighting from her friends and the Frost Giants. She held her breath as they approached, before a high-pitched whiz flew through the trees. Through the ice, Merida watched the tall shadow of a Frost Giant get struck by a flash of blue and white sparks, that crackled like electricity. The Frost Giant moaned and creaked as it fell slowly to the ground, landing with a thud.
"That's two for me, Harry!" A man's voice called jubilantly.
"Brag all you want, Ron! I'll catch you up!"
"You think so? Be careful, or you might end up flat on your back in Mungo's again." A laugh and then a pause. "We've found the students! Everyone all right, then?"
Merlin's beard, Merida thought wildly as more voices joined the first two, it's the Aurors.
The forest filled with different colors as spells flew back and forth. A tree even creaked and fell, landing heavily and vibrating through the ice. The Frost Giants were little effected by the magic, but the aurors certainly slowed them down, knocking them over and putting up barriers. Merida watched it all with wide eyes, but her heart was sinking. She didn't hear Jack's voice. The aurors hadn't found him.
The aurors were putting up a valiant effort, but the Frost Giants weren't so easily defeated. Slowly, the aurors were backing up, taking Merida's friends with them.
"Wait!" Rapunzel cried, nearing the ice wall again. "Our friend! She's on the other side!"
"I'm ok, Punz!" Merida responded. "No Frost Giants on my side! Keep running, I'll keep up with you on this side and meet you on the other end!"
Her friends ran, guided by the glowing wands of the aurors. A few aurors lagged behind, trying to slow the giants as much as they could before running themselves. Merida had intended to run as well, but she hadn't gone three steps when she heard a chirp.
It was the snow slinkers. Both of them. She had completely forgotten about the creatures in the panic to get away from the Frost Giants. Had the animals been nearby this whole time? They were five yards away from her, in the shadows of the forest, but she could see the flashes of movement as they moved around in the snow. They were looking further into the trees, chirping at each other and then looking back at her.
Jack.
She didn't think. She went after them and the snow slinkers took off.
The silence of the forest was oppressive now that she was alone. Her own breath and heartbeat seemed to be loud enough that they could be heard from miles away. The trees seemed like terrible, frozen tombstones in a graveyard that looked down on her as she passed. She kept an eye out for movements or shadows, but saw nothing.
It wasn't long before Merida found the snow slinkers. They had stopped at the foot of a tree that stood on the edge of a clearing. They crawled over each other and chirped, but didn't go anywhere when she approached them. She waited to see if they would move, and when they didn't she stepped past them into the clearing, her heart beating like crazy.
The clearing was perhaps a hundred feet wide, free of trees, and perfectly smooth with snow. With no trees around, the waning moon shone down, reflecting off the snow and lighting up the area. In the center of the clearing was a single, shadowy figure, too small to be a Frost Giant.
"Jack!" Merida called, barreling toward him. He didn't respond, and when she reached him, she saw his eyes were closed.
He was in the same clothes she had seen him in earlier that day in the infirmary: green tie, black robe, prefect pin, and all. But he looked far, far worse. He was as still as a marble statue, but paler than one. His blue and purple veins showed through his skin, but instead of making him look alive they made him look almost transparent. Tiny crystals of frost and ice coated his skin, hanging off of his eyelashes. They spread even as Merida watched. Around him, barely perceptible, was a light grayish purple shadowy haze, which only emphasized the moonlight shining down on him. His expression was completely blank. He looked beautiful.
"Jack," Merida said, the word coming out as a sob. Her tears burned her cold cheeks as she tried to shake him. He hardly moved, he was so frozen stiff. At his feet, she saw that the snow was creeping up, burying his shoes and reaching up to his ankles. "Jack, please! Open your eyes. It's me. Jack!"
He didn't respond. She shook him harder. She took his cold hand gently. She slapped him. He didn't so much as flinch at anything. Another sob escaped her, hurting her lungs that were ragged from all of the running in the freezing air she had done. She put a hand on his chest and felt that it was still. He wasn't breathing.
Was he dead? He couldn't be dead. Surely the Frost Giants wouldn't kill him now that he had come to join them? She didn't understand.
"Jack, please," she said softly, reaching up to put her hands on his face. His skin was cold enough that it might have hurt her, if her fingers weren't already completely numbed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about the horrible things I said to you earlier. I didn't mean them, I was upset you were leaving. I'm sorry that I couldn't have helped you more. I'm sorry you felt lonely without your family. I'm sorry I'm a terrible girlfriend. But please, please." She dropped her hands to grip his robes, leaning her forehead against his chest. Tears dripped off her chin, and her voice was hoarse. "Come back. Elsa said this wouldn't make you happy. You don't have to do this. I don't want you to do this. Please come back. I need you to come back. I need you. Please. Please. If you don't want me, then come back for Hiccup and Rapunzel. Come back for your uncle, North. They love you. Lots of people love you. Please, Jack. Come back to me." She went on pleading, but it just turned into more crying. Her tears started to freeze on her face, and she wiped them away absently with a sleeve, where they mixed with the flakes of snow that had frozen there from the times she had fallen.
After a few minutes, Merida angrily told her tears to go away. She sniffed, the snot in her nose frozen, but straightened. Now wasn't the time for this. She had to get Jack back to the school. She could drag him back somehow, and then they'd figure out what to do there. McGonagall would know what to do. Merida just had to get him out of these woods.
She inhaled sharply when she looked up at him, only to find his eyes open. The sharp blue in his eyes was gone. His irises were a dark, muddy purple. Even the whites of his eyes were a pale purple. His eyes didn't reflect the light, and they would have looked dead if they weren't completely fixed on her.
"Jack," she breathed. His eyes and blank expression frightened her, but at least he was alive.
His lips parted, blue from the cold, and he exhaled out so quietly she almost didn't hear the words he spoke. "…why you…"
Her blood turned almost as chilly as her skin. Why her? What did that mean? Was he upset that she was there? Should she have sent someone else? But she knew she couldn't have. She would have gone crazy if it wasn't her. She had needed to find him. Needed to see him. Needed to tell him.
"Jack, I—"
A voice behind her cut her off. "Well. I see a distraction has appeared."
Merida whipped around, clutching her wand and putting her back against Jack, a hand out to keep him safe.
Behind her, at the edge of the clearing, was a tall, thin Frost Giant. She was shocked that he had spoken; she hadn't thought that any of them would speak a language she would understand. He was tall, well over six feet, but smaller than the other giants. He was also darker than the others, more black than purple, and more shocking than anything, he had a face. A long, gray face with black hair and piercing eyes that bore into her. His hands were behind his back casually, but something about him made Merida so afraid she could barely speak. "Are…are you Pitch?"
The Frost Giant didn't answer, but a glint in his eye told Merida she was right. Pitch started toward them. "You must be one of those children that my Frost Giants were playing with. Too bad you got separated from the others. You might have lived."
Merida raised her wand as he approached, ignoring the small amount of shaking her hand was doing. "I'm taking Jack back with me."
"Oh? Did he say he wanted to go with you?"
Merida paused, then tried to sound confident. "It's not right for him to join you."
"That's not for you to decide, girl. This is his clan. It's where he rightfully belongs."
Pitch was getting too close for comfort. Merida started, "Petrificus—" but before she could finish, her wand snapped out of her hand, hurting her wrist, and flew off into the trees behind her.
Before she had time to panic about that, the snow beneath her wrapped up around her legs to her hips, and with a yelp she realized she was being carried forward. She stopped just short of Pitch, and up close she could see his severe features. Unlike Jack, Pitch had an expression—malice. He took a step toward her.
"No!" she shouted, throwing her hand out in an attempt to push him back. The snow around her immediately shot out and caught her arms, pinning them to her side.
Pitch didn't react to her attack or her fearful sounds as she struggled in her bindings. He got so close she could see there were no pupils in his black eyes. "Were you a friend of his? Pathetic and useless. You should have known better—why would he have ever decided to stay a pathetic human wizard when he has far greater potential for power in his blood?"
Despite her fear, Merida snorted. "Power? Jack's not joining you for the power. He wants to be with his family."
"Mmm, you may think so. But that is because you don't understand. You cannot understand. Look at him." Pitch turned back to Jack and Merida followed his gaze. Jack still stood exactly where he was. His eyes were open, watching them, but there was no expression on his face, not movement to come to Merida's aid. Pitch said to her, "He is a creature above your weak sentimentalities. Any feeling he had left he has willingly given up to embrace his blood."
Merida felt her eyes prick with tears as she silently pleaded with Jack to have some sort of emotion, some sort of regret that she was probably about to die. But perhaps her time for being the object of his attention and desires was over. He was looking at her as though she were a stranger. Before she gave up, she had to ask, "Why him? Why not just leave him in the wizard world with the rest of us humans? You've got your own power, you don't need him." She had almost said, "Like you left Elsa," but had stopped, not wanting to draw attention to the poor girl if Pitch had forgotten about her.
Pitch put a finger, stopping her. "Need him? Of course not. I am the gurg of the Frost Giants. But Jack…Jack will be different than the others. He will be capable of using his power in ways the others can't. And, as you can see, I am quite starved of good conversation. Jack's company will curb this tendency I have of talking to humans before I kill them." Pitch reached up a hand, slowly dragging his fingers across Merida's cheek. His fingers were so cold they burned her. She screamed. "And with that, girl, I'm finished—"
A single, tall icicle protruded from the ground between Merida and Pitch, forcing Pitch to pull his hand back and lean away quickly. Merida blinked at the ice, her cheek smarting. It was so close she could see the reflection of her fiery red hair reflected in its surface. A second later the snow holding her loosened its grip and she fell to the ground.
She scrambled to her feet as Pitch hissed, "How dare you!"
Merida's head snapped in Jack's direction. He had one hand lifted toward them, which he slowly lowered back to his side. His voice was soft, but stronger than it had been when he had spoken before. "She is not necessary for you to kill."
Not necessary? Well, those certainly weren't the gallant words of rescue she had been hoping for. But her heart still skipped with joy that Jack had saved her. He wasn't completely gone, not yet. She ran towards him.
Pitch had composed himself, and he seemed to grow taller as he straightened. "I see. You want to kill her yourself?"
"No. Leave her."
Merida reached Jack and grabbed his arm. "Jack. Let's go."
He didn't look at her, or even move when she tried to pull him. His eyes were still on Pitch, who was facing them fully. Jack said, "Why kill her? She can do no harm. Let her return with the others."
"Hm," Pitch said, and the ghost of a smile on his face made Merida cringe. "No. One thing you will learn, Jack, is to never, ever take my prey from me. I will forgive you this once. But the girl can't go. Especially now that you've asked for her to live. It seems we haven't finished eradicating your useless human blood yet."
Merida pulled on Jack's arm again, but glancing toward the trees she saw shifting in the shadows. Frost Giants. She bit her tongue, to stifle a swear or a scream, she wasn't sure which. Would they even be able to make it past them?
"If you won't kill her," Pitch said, raising a hand, "I will."
Three razor sharp icicles, as long as a man, materialized in the air. They grew larger as they flew forward, aimed at her. Merida yelped, holding tighter to Jack, but before they hit a wave of snow rose up in front of them. Caught in the snow, only the tips of the icicles were visible, all in positions that would have skewered Merida. The snow collapsed and rained down, but immediately the snow beneath Merida was pulling at her again. She tried to hold onto Jack, who finally turned his emotionless eyes on her, but she was yanked away.
"No! Let me go!" She pounded a fist against the snow, wishing she had her wand.
Jack jerked his chin, and wind tore through the clearing, tearing around her in a small whirlwind that lifted the snow. She covered her face against the painful pellets of ice, but then the wind rose into the air and spun away, leaving her free.
She was left halfway between Jack and Pitch, and although neither were looking at her, she knew she was still the object of their silent disagreement. Jack was as cool and calm as ever, but Pitch was growing angrier by the second. Gritting his teeth together, Pitch flung an arm toward her. Icicles exploded from the snow in a line toward her, and she ran to dodge. She didn't have to—a similar line of icicles from Jack intercepted the first, stopping both of them in a small collision.
"Enough, boy!" Pitch snapped hotly. "The girl is nothing! You dare choose her over your gurg?"
"Leave her," Jack replied. "She is harmless."
"She has turned you against me, and you think she is harmless? You must kill the human in you. She must die!"
Merida had to get out of the way. She ran for the edge of the clearing but stopped before the line of trees. She turned back to Jack and Pitch, who, for the moment, seemed to be focused on each other. Pitch was sending blast after blast of ice and snow and wind at her, and Jack was countering all of them. She could see the Frost Giants surrounding them in the trees now, but she still had no wand to help Jack.
Jack had stepped a few feet to the side, between Pitch and Merida. When he had a second, he looked back at her.
"Leave," he said.
She scoffed. "Has becoming a Frost Giant made you stupider? I'm not going without you, you scaffy idiot!"
Jack turned back around, just as the ground beneath him bulged. It exploded like a geyser, and a wave moved through the snow, throwing Jack and Merida in separate directions. Merida coughed and sputtered, trying to regain her footing in the snow and see if Jack was all right. He had hit a tree—hard, if the splintered wood around him was anything to go by—but he was standing back up as Pitch approached him.
Pitch was saying something to him, but Merida had flown to the farthest end of the clearing and couldn't quite hear it.
"Jack!" she called, preparing to get up and run to his aid. To do what, she didn't know, but she wouldn't let Pitch hurt him instead of her. But her hands caught in the snow and sunk down to her elbows. Her whole body jerked as the snow beneath her began to sink, swallowing her up.
With all her might she focused on pulling an arm out. After a lot of grunting and a suction sound, she freed it, but the other sunk deeper. Now her feet were covered, too. She flailed, trying to kick the snow off of her, but only managed to dig herself deeper.
"Jack!" she yelled. She could hear the sounds of ice shattering, of wind whirling. She wiggled until she could turn around. Pitch was throwing attack after attack at Jack, who was moving quickly, fending him off. Every once in a while, something would get through and hit Jack in the head or knock him aside. Jack wasn't going to last very long.
Then again, neither was Merida. The snow had both her arms again and was now up to her waist. "Jack!" she screamed without thinking about it. There was no way he could hear her over the sounds of fighting going on. She would have to free herself. But no matter how she thrashed and moved, she only sunk deeper. It was getting colder, too. She was numb already, but she was surprised that the snow touching her skin could still be so painfully cold. It made her muscles cramp up until she couldn't move them anymore. Snow sunck into the vulnerable cracks in her clothes, moving up her skirt and shirt until everything was ice. Her warm jacket that Rapunzel had made her did nothing to protect her.
"Jack…Jack…!" she tried to call, but her chest was having a hard time moving. She was able to call his name in an exhale, but then she couldn't inhale again. She wasn't sure which would happen first—would she freeze or would she suffocate? She whipped her head back and forth in panic as the snow crept up her neck and started to cover her head. "No!...No!...Jack…help…"
Could Jack hear her? Did he care? She squeezed her eyes shut, a few tears escaping and falling into the snow that was now covering her mouth. She tried to breathe through her nose, but she was getting hardly any air into her frozen lungs. Her head was getting dizzy.
Dang it, she was so stupid. She had come for a rescue mission and had gotten herself killed. And maybe even Jack. If she died, would Pitch spare him? Maybe. She should have told the aurors as soon as she saw the snow slinkers. She should have done a lot of things different. But here she was.
Was it a consolation that she had at least found Jack? She had seen him one last time before he'd become fully Frost Giant. He had looked at her again with his beautiful face and even tried to save her from Pitch, despite how she'd betrayed him to his best friend then dumped him and told him to get lost. Perhaps this was all she could have hoped for. Perhaps it was all she deserved.
"No!"
Her eyes flew open at the sound of Jack's voice. There was more emotion in it now. Where was he? Was he hurt? Was Pitch killing him?
She would have tried to look, but she was almost completely submerged in snow. One eye was buried, and the other could only look at the dark sky and moon above her. Her vision was blurry from the lack of oxygen, but she used the last of her will power to keep it open.
A figure passed by beside her, close enough that Merida could see it was a tall, purple shadow. The giant paused next to her, glancing down into her eye. Merida would have been afraid, but she was past that now. She hardly had any oxygen left to process that this Frost Giant had a shadowy face. A young girl's face. Then everything went dark, whether because the snow had covered her or because she had blacked out, Merida would never know.
A/N: One more to go. Thanks for the support. :)