To Kill the King

09:00, 26 January 2034

Whatever Pitch is doing here, it can't possibly be good. Alarm bells ring in Jack's head like there's no tomorrow. "Why are you-?" he starts to demand.

"Because." Pitch gives Jack and Rapunzel a vicious smile.

"Wait, were you the one who was outside of the dome?" Jack accuses. "You were, weren't you? Why did you do that?"

Pitch laughs, a chilling sound that makes Jack unconsciously push Rapunzel behind him. "It's what I do, Frost," he says. "I was hoping to kill all of you. I suppose it can wait a moment."

"I thought you were against killing," Jack responds tentatively.

"On the contrary. It's my only hobby." Pitch smiles in a way that shows all his teeth and doesn't convey an ounce of mirth.

"You really need to branch out, Pitch," Jack says without thinking. "Um, I mean, K-"

"Wrong!" Pitch laughs again. "You're adorable."

Rapunzel seems to think faster than Jack does, and by the time he arrives at the conclusion that this is the Nightmare King and they should be far, far away from him, they're halfway to the bottom of the Cathedral.

Everyone below them clears out in seconds. Jack braces for an impact, but instead, they land lightly on the grass, and he feels a bit ridiculous.

"Honestly, I'd expected something a little more... Interesting." Pitch disdainfully surveys the Cathedral from his perch on the wall. "You two know who I've come for," Pitch says with another toothy smile, disappearing into the shadows.

"We have to get everyone out now," Jack whispers to Rapunzel.

She nods. "Of course, but how?"

"Jack!" A familiar blue and white blur hug-attacks him, squishing the air out of his lungs.

"Hey, Jamie!" Jack ruffles his friend's hair when Jamie finally releases him.

"Jack, who was that guy?"

"His name is... Um... For the most part, Pitch Black. Or the Nightmare King," he answers. "Hey, Jamie..."

The younger boy jumps up in the air. "Yeah?"

"Listen... While we were gone, we-" Jack is suddenly interrupted by the Cathedral ceiling making an angry splintering noise.

"What was that?" Jamie asks.

Rapunzel unconsciously lifts a few inches off the ground. "Maybe it's Pitch."

The steel makes another screeching noise that never heralds good, and then everything caves in.

"Bunny, North, have you seen Pitch anywhere?" Tooth asks. "Sandy doesn't know where he is, and I never saw him leave."

"I do not know where Pitch is," North says slowly. "But I have a guess..."

"That underwater dome," Bunny chimes in. "I'd bet my boomerangs on it. I knew we should've kept a closer eye on him..."

North sighs. "We had better get sleigh ready."

"O-okay, sounds good," Tooth agrees, wings beating the air anxiously. She zips away in the direction of the workshop's main hangar in a hurry.

"North, he has a huge lead on us, and he teleports. We won't be able to catch him in the sleigh," Bunny points out.

"There is no other option," North answers, standing up and taking his two sabers off the wall.

Bunny tugs at his oversized ears. "Well, I could run there. Be back in a jiffy."

"And we would follow in sleigh?" North considers this for a moment. "Is better to travel together, no?"

"I could bring Tooth, probably," Bunny adds. "If she didn't mind being carried."

Finally, North shakes his head. "I have invented a... how do you say? Snow ball of glass."

"A snowglobe?" Bunny ventures. "A paperweight?"

"Snowglobe, yes. We can use it to follow Pitch. If it does not malfunction..." North shrugs. "Is a risk we must take."

"Oh, mate, my way is definitely safer," Bunny says apprehensively, looking over the side of the sleigh with an expression of terror. This only makes North laugh in a way that seems slightly sadistic to Bunny.

"Is mostly safe," North reassures him unhelpfully. "Sandy, activate force shield."

"Why would we need that?" Bunny squeaks, though he'd never admit that to anyone.

Sandy nods emphatically. Nautilus-Nero-underwater, he says, using his golden sand to draw pictures for them.

"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne?" Tooth asks.

Sandy nods again, beaming.

"Twenty thousand leagues under the sea?" Bunny mutters to himself, "Now I know my way is safer..."

Hiccup squints at Jack and Rapunzel's faint outlines up by the cracks in the Cathedral, but then Toothless paws at his leg urgently. "What, bud? I'm trying to-"

Toothless grabs Hiccup's sleeve and starts to drag him away from the window.

"Hey, stop that!" Hiccup says sternly, swatting Toothless's nose.

Merida tries to yank the dragon off of his arm, but doesn't manage it. "Why is he doing that?"

"I dunno, maybe we should just follow him..." Hiccup relents and says, "Fine. Where are we going?"

The dragon instantly releases Hiccup and wags his tail like an oversized dog. Then he scampers deeper into level two of the complex, with the confused Hiccup and Merida in tow.

They didn't die.

Jack had to check twice to make sure they didn't actually die.

The top half of the Cathedral is completely caved in, and water leaks slowly through the cracks. But something's stuck in between the ocean and the Cathedral, and it looks like... a sleigh?
"I told you snowglobe was safe," a Russian-accented voice says loudly.

"I think that's North," Rapunzel whispers to Jack. "And he has the other Guardians with him."

Jamie tugs Jack's sleeve. "Who're they?"

"This is like a bad dream," Jack mutters. "They're the Guardians. Kind of like us, but not really."

"Oh. Why are they here?"

"Good question, kiddo. Stay here with Rapunzel. I'm going to find out," Jack announces, drawing immediate protest from Rapunzel and Jamie.

"Hey, wait a second!" Jamie says indignantly.

Rapunzel huffs, "Is it because I'm a girl?"

"No, I just thought-" Jack starts to defend himself.

"You thought wrong. We're so going with you. C'mon, Jamie." Rapunzel strides off towards the Guardians without waiting, and Jamie and Jack have to run to catch up.

"Ah, here is Jack!" North says warmly, jumping down from the souped-up sleigh. "Have you seen Pitch?"

"We saw him a few minutes ago. Why are you here?" Jack asks. "Not for the socializing."

North's smile turns grim. "To find Pitch before anything... ah, happens."

"Pitch told Jack and Rapunzel that they knew who he came for," Jamie offers helpfully. "Does that count as happening?"

"Who'd he come for?" asks Bunny.

Tooth suddenly swoops down and lands next to North on the grass. "For Lunar, of course. He'd wanted to come a lot sooner, but we stopped him. And I know Pitch would never kill Lunar if we told him not to... but the Nightmare King doesn't really care about all that."

"We'd better get to Lunar's office now, then," Jack says. "We know the way."

Author's Note: Hey there, readers! So as you probably know, next month is November! This means it's National Novel Writing Month, which I shall participate in once again. Updates may or may not happen at that time. But I'll make them happen, most likely. They'll be shorter, as I will have a 2k word quota each day of November.

Still not beta-edited, so shoot me any edits via PM :D please and thank you. I called the Winchesters, but they were busy. Something about too many roommates? Whatever. You never know with them.

Hey, I have a poll! You can decide what ship is in my new ROTG fic, Aetas Auriolus. If you don't vote, there will be no ships. So gogogo! You can find the poll on my profile. (You'll get kudos, my eternal love, and a promo on my tumblr if you leave your URL in my PM. Fo realsies.)

Chapter Soundtrack: Parachutes, Coldplay