I am tired, sleepy, and my mind is blurry and messy from all those obscure, strange concepts I have to memorize for my linguistics test. However, I was reading through your reviews, and thought about how many of you are following this, and that got me all fired up to write. I hope you're going to like this one. I did my best with it, and I want to thank you all for being such nice, lovely, supportive people and my inspiration to get to writing when I need it. Thank you.
I try my best to update weekly, but daily life is getting really busy and tiring, so please understand if I take longer than usual to write a chapter. I'd rather take longer than uploading some badly written crap.
Also, I read FloraIrmaTylee asking what's the name for the ship Pitch-Rapunzel. I believe that's called Black Gold, either that or something really similar.
And a warning: there are some bad cuss words you shouldn't say at home in this one. It's just very few words so I hope you won't get offended by that or anything...
Well, this WAS rated T for a reason. So! Enjoy.
The mist was getting thicker every second. They couldn't even see the sky, and the shapes of the rocks of the dragon nest was barely distinguishable. But as they approached, Hiccup could clearly see the shapes of the men and women of his tribe, slowly approaching an enormous, black entry towards the insides of a mountain. The only mountain in the island, actually. The sounds of flopping wings, mild roars and the yelling of their riders alerted the tribe, and everyone turned to watch, with eyes and mouths wide open in disbelief, the Viking teenagers riding the very same beasts they were out there to slay. Stoick was the most bewildered of them all. He had been the lead, the first of getting to the entrance of the cave, ready to slay the first dragon that came in sight. Then, he had heard his voice. The voice of his son.
But that was impossible. His son was dead, dead, killed by one of the ruthless beasts and probably used as a dinner feast. The very thought enraged him to a point where his thoughts were barely clear and his mind was clouded with the mean to kill. To take an eye for an eye. No matter how much of a disappointment his son was, it didn't matter whether he was a true Viking or not, his son was a part of him, a part of his family. The only thing his dearly beloved wife had left on earth for Stoick to treasure and care. And he did, he loved his son, even when he couldn't match his expectations of him. He only realized that when Hiccup didn't come back home for months. When the search through all of Berk's mountains and forests didn't bring him back. When they held his funeral.
"Dad!" but the voice wasn't an illusion, it couldn't be. He could hear it loud and clear.
"Stoick!" Gobber's voice was what definitely made him turn around, and he saw Hiccup. He felt tears in his eyes, because he was alive, by Odin's grace, alive. But then, he realized that his son was riding no less than a Night Fury. A dragon. A beast.
The dragons landed and the riders got off of them, still filled with the excitement from the flight. And as Astrid, the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout rushed over to the Viking tribe to explain in between ragged breathing how wonderful dragons were, Hiccup was the one who walked up to his father. He had a knot stuck on his throat and his legs weren't as stable as they should be, but he was determined. He couldn't be running away now.
Merida got off from Toothless and watched. Jack and her stood beside each other, contemplating how the Viking boy walked up to his, oh so different from him, father. "I'm guessing Hic got his complexion from his mother?" Jack whispered, making Merida snort a little. "Nae th' time fur jokin', Jack" she replied.
Hiccup awkwardly stood in front of his father, who didn't know how to feel and was staring at him with the same awkwardness. He gulped and gathered his courage, taking a deep breath in. But as he opened his mouth to say something, hundreds of fearful screeches were heard as a horde of dragons flew out of the cave. They were so fast their bodies were seen as blurry stains of different colors. Everyone bent down, some screamed in fear and surprise. But it wasn't an attack. The dragons simply flew away from the nest, as fast as they could. Hiccup watched them disappear in the grey mist, and he knew that something was up.
"Where are they going?" someone asked.
"Something is wrong" Hiccup said, turning his head to watch the dim inside of the cave. There was this eerie feeling he couldn't brush off his head, that proved something was positively wrong. "The dragons were... they were running" he realized. "They were running away... from something."
The roar that echoed out from the insides of the dark opening was not something that human ears were prepared for. The rock ceilings of the cavern trembled, rocks and dust falling off of them. The ground moved along with it, the island seemed to be trembling to its very core. The entire Viking tribe could only watch as the colossal head emerged from the darkness. People started screaming and trying to get as far from the cavern as they could; Hiccup yelled and instinctively rushed to get Toothless. The dragons that the Viking teenagers were riding screeched and cowered, including the Night Fury. Stoick was frozen in place at the sight of the humongous beast. Gobber grabbed his pelt vest and dragged him along with him, getting away from the dragon, if that thing could be called so. It was so colossal it matched mountains in height, and Odin knows how much it weighed. Its scales were of a pale blue, its wings were bigger than the boats the Vikings had arrived in; its jaw was square-shaped, and as it opened to let out a roar, everyone could have a nice glimpse at the hundreds of sharp teeth it stored. Merida screamed when the thing took a step outside, making the ground tremble.
"How aur we supposed tae fight against 'at!?"
"Good question" Jack grunted, getting ready to attack as Hiccup was struggling to get Toothless to calm down just enough for him to be able to ride him.
At that moment, black sand gathered up right before Jack was standing, and Pitch appeared from it, a proud grin on his face. "Well?" he said. "Don't you just love my little creature?" he extended both of his arms in admiration of the size of said creature and in pride. "Isn't it cute?"
"Pitch!" Jack roared, glaring at him, wishing him dead.
"Did you do that!?" Hiccup bawled at him, and Pitch shrugged.
"He was already there, sleeping in the lava, inside the depths of that mountain. I simply gave him this... hunger of his" he smirked.
"What do you mean?" Hiccup was asking, but his mind was already tying the loose ends together. Pitch only confirmed his suspicion.
"Why did you think dragons stole so much from your tribe, Viking?" he laughed. "It's obvious they didn't need that much food for themselves. But right now, he's hungry" the Boogeyman noted, and his yellow eyes glimmered with an evil spark. "Very hungry."
"You bastard" Jack spat, pointing his staff at him. "Where's Rapunzel!?"
"Ah, don't worry, Jack. I'm keeping her really safe. I even got her some company" his wicked smile gave Jack the necessary information.
"Your nightmares aren't company!" he replied, aggresively throwing a beam of ice at him, which he simply avoided with ease. "You're going to tell me where you have her, now!"
"Oh, so you want to see her... Very well. Why don't you follow me? If you please..." Pitch laughed as he disappeared among the mist and his own black sand.
"Fuck!" Jack cursed. He wanted to go after him immediately, but he was worried about everyone else, too.
"Don't worry about us, Jack!" Hiccup replied, as if answering his thoughts. "I will take care of this!"
Jack bit his lower lip. If the situation wasn't as bad as it was, he would've laughed at that. But instead, he nodded once and rushed to find Pitch... and Rapunzel.
Merida turned to face Hiccup, her face contorted in disbelief. "Ye will take care ay thes!? Mind explainin' me HOW IN HELL!?"
"I..." Hiccup bit his lip. "I might have a plan."
"Ooo, sae ye might have a plan! Now 'at's what Ah call helpful!" all of her inner frustration was coming out in sarcasm. The beastly, colossal dragon might be big and powerful, but his steps were slow... for now.
Hiccup was about to reply something when he noticed Stoick heading towards Toothless with his sword in hand. "DAD, NO!" he screamed, jumping off of Toothless and grabbing his father's arm, struggling to forbid him from attacking his dragon.
"Why are you protecting that beast!?" the chief's voice thundered. "Most importantly, why were you riding it!?" he grabbed his son by his collar, his eyes filled with anger. "Those beasts have been the curse of our tribe for so long! They have murdered people and stolen animals! They've killed thousands of us!"
"And we killed thousands of them!" Hiccup snapped back, struggling to free himself from his father's grip. "You see that thing!? That's why they had to steal our animals! They had to feed it or be eaten themselves! They were fighting to survive, dad!"
"We were fighting to survive, too!" Stoick roared. "I thought they had killed you! I thought you were dead! But you were with them... those beasts, you befriended them! You're a traitor, a renegade from all of us!" he threw Hiccup away from him in anger. The boy fell on his back and Toothless rushed to make sure if he was okay. "You're not a Viking. You're not my son."
Hiccup felt his heart shattering. Each of those words was like a piercing sharp knife stabbing his body through. He didn't know what to say.
Luckily, Merida did.
When Stoick raised his sword and aimed an attack at Toothless, Merida swung her own sword and blocked him. "YE!" her blue eyes flashed with an enraged fire. The Viking chief was way taller and stronger than she was, but she couldn't care less; her anger would make her stronger than any other being in this world. "YE HEARTLESS BASTARD! HOW DARE YE SAY THAT!?" she landed a blow to engage in a sword fight with the chief. Metal blasted against metal as she spoke. "He's a traitur 'cause he found a friend!? 'At dragon is loyal tae him, an' he's protected us through everythin'!" the colossal beast roared at that moment, and the earth trembled when he took another step. But Merida didn't lose her balance; her determination was stronger than that.
"HE CARES ABOUT HICCUP MORE THAN YE DAE!" she thundered, landing a blow over the chief's sword that made the Viking retreat. Merida's eyes had that fire, that lit fire that wouldn't die down, and they were glaring at him. "If ye want tae touch 'at dragon, ye will have tae go through me!"
"You're... his daughter, aren't you?" Stoick panted, his voice with a hint of admiration. Merida was caught by surprise. "Fergus' daughter..."
"Ye know mah father?" she asked, bewildered.
"Our people have been fighting for generations. Even when the war has died down, we have always held a grudge against each other... Of course I know him" he chuckled. He looked tired. "His blood boils in you."
Merida was flustered. She wasn't expecting Stoick to know her own father. And this reminded her of how much she'd missed them. Her father, her siblings... and yes, her mother, too. She saw the pain in Stoick's face when he said he thought Hiccup was dead, and that made her wonder if her parents thought her dead, too...
"Toothless, go!" the dragon started flying, with Hiccup over it, before Merida or Stoick could say a single word.
"HICCUP!" Merida yelled, running after him.
He stopped Toothless in mid-air, turned his head to her and yelled back. "FIND THE CHILD, MERI! FIND THE LAST BELIEVER!"
"BUT WHAT ABOUT YE!?" she asked, her heart pounding in her chest, filled with anxiety and worry. What was he even thinking?
"DON'T WORRY, I HAVE A PLAN!" he replied, and rushed Toothless over to where the other dragons and their Viking riders were.
"A plan!?" Merida groaned. "Oh fur fuck's sake...!" she ran towards the running Vikings and starting looking for a child while Hiccup instructed the other Vikings to ride on their dragons and do something to distract and confuse the big beast...
Meanwhile, Jack was flying among the mist. It slowly passed from gray to a darker shade, surrounding everything around him to the point he had to slow down and put his hands in front of him, in case he would run into something. The mist became darker and darker, until it couldn't anymore. Suddenly, everything around him was pitch black. Speaking of which... he could feel it. The eerie feeling possesing his mind and the evil. He could sense it. He was close. "Pitch!" he called, his face twisted in anger. "PITCH BLACK!"
Said man appeared, suddenly materializing from the darkness, in Jack's right side. Jack jumped when he did, and he held his staff pointing towards him, in a defensive position. "Jack" Pitch said in a calming tone. "Why should we fight like this?"
"Because of YOU!" Jack spat, his body taking an offensive pose. Everything inside of him wanted to attack the Boogeyman, beat him up until he said sorry... or until he died. He deserved no better. But Jack knew that he was in his territory now. It was dangerous. And he had to stay put.
"Oh, Jack" Pitch sighed. "I don't seek to harm you. Really. I simply wanted you four to stay out of my way."
"We did!" the winter spirit replied, anger building up harder inside his chest. "We fucking ran away! But you just couldn't leave us alone!"
"It's not that easy, Jack" Pitch's face saddened as he sighed again and slowly walked around. "Man in Moon summoned you four, exclusively to stop and defeat me. And what Man in Moon says... usually becomes true, at one point or another. I had to make sure that you weren't going to interfere. I had to keep you under my control... yet keep you oblivious at the same time" he stopped walking when he was right in front of Jack. "But if you don't wish to fight now... I don't, either."
"Then, show it. Give us Rapunzel back!" the boy snapped, lowering his staff.
"Ah. I can't, Jack. There is something I want from her" his yellow eyes looked right into Jack's blue ones. "She has an incredible power... and that's the only thing I want."
"Her hair" Jack whispered when the realization hit him. Pitch nodded.
"Exactly. See, Jack? We're not that different" the black man smiled. Jack gave him a deadly glare.
"Yes, we are" he replied. "I'm not like you."
"Oh, you aren't. Really?" Pitch frowned. "You think I don't know how it feels? To be alone. Isolated. Invisible. Without anyone to see you. No one to understand you. I know it all, Jack. I've felt it myself!"
Jack took a step back in shock. He'd never really thought of it before, but... Pitch had been alone for many centuries. Without anyone able to see him. He'd heard he ruled the world once... but people stopped believing in him. That loss must have been a harsh blow. So, of course he knew how Jack felt. They weren't that different after all.
"I don't want to fight you" Pitch said. "We should make a deal."
Jack hesitated for a second, but asked. "What do you want?"
"Give me Rapunzel's power. Her power is the only thing I wish to obtain from her. If you let me have that..." suddenly, he was holding two golden, cylindrical boxes. The tops had two images, one of a brown haired boy and the other of a brunette girl, painted over them. Jack stared at them with his eyes wide open. "... I'll give you this in exchange. Your teeth, Jack. Your memories. Yours... and Rapunzel's."
Jack's hand unconsciously reached out for the golden boxes, slowly, but he stopped it. No, he couldn't do that. Rapunzel's power was not a thing Pitch could have in his hands. But... the memories. Everything he and Rapunzel had been... their lives, their identities, themselves, before being chosen. Everything was in those pretty, little boxes. He wanted so badly to know who he was. To know why he was still alive. To know the reason for all those years in utter loneliness, yearning for somebody. Something. Anything. And he knew Rapunzel felt the same way. She had felt the same loneliness, the same longing. Her hair wasn't a very high price to pay for such a treasurable, incredible thing... or was it...?
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN.