Forgive me. I am honestly ashamed of how short this chapter is despite how long you've waited. It seems like I've hit a bit of a detour in the story I can't ignore because the story won't move forward without it. Don't worry though, I will be back on track after the next chapter... unless the characters do something else I'm not prepared for. This entire chapter is all wirtten without much input from me. Don't you just love it when you hit a block and the story takes over?

Either way. Hope you enjoy ;) Don't forget to share your thoughts with me!

When snow and doubt stands in your way

Jack was curled up in a tight ball on the old armchair with his hands around Tuffnut, sipping tea and trying not to think of it.

Hiccup lay on the mat before the fireplace, the light from the fire reflecting in the dragon's half lidded eyes. Ida sat on her cart together with Astrid and Eret, Fishlegs stood on the table beside Jack and Gobber stood by the door, ticking steadily. Even Bunny had joined them, standing on the mat by Hiccup's neck and looking mighty put-upon.

"How did this happen to you?" Jack asked again.

Bunny grumbled something Jack didn't catch. When nobody else reacted, the vase turned on Jack as if the teen had offended him. "We were at the wrong place at the wrong time and happened upon the Enchantress!"

Eyes wide with surprise, not only because the vase yelled at him, Jack shook his head. "The Enchant… you mean the guardian of the realms?"

"That's what we thought too. Turns out that isn't the case," Gobber said easily with a shrug. One day Jack was going to find out if anything could sway the old clock. No matter what happened Gobber was always a little aloof and light-hearted.

"There are multiple Enchantresses apparently. That woman was the Enchantress of this land," Astrid continued the story, her tone tired. "We were unable to reach out to the one across the chasm. Apparently there are strict boundaries between the lands and the witch of one land does not interfere with the business of her neighbour."

Jack nodded slowly. "I… don't understand," he admitted. "I was taught that the Enchantress guards the world from The Great Darkness, keeps the night lit with stars and moonlight and… something about the seasons."

"Yeah, that sounds like the story I was told," Bunny muttered bitterly.

"Me too," Hiccup spoke up. "I suppose it was wistful thinking that slowly turned into lore."

Jack stared timidly at the dragon who hadn't taken his eyes off the fire. The beast seemed to be thinking, or choosing his words. The teen had to remind himself that Hiccup had said Jack was helping, even though he didn't understand how that was since he felt like he knew less and less the more he learnt about the curse.

"I had been called out," the dragon suddenly spoke. "There was this person… an outcast who I tried to keep as far away as possible from me and everyone else. He sent a challenge and I had to respond."

"Without telling anyone," Astrid added around a sigh of acceptance that didn't hide her bitterness.

"It might not have made a difference, you know," Gobber said. "Not with Alpha there."

Jack glanced between the dragon and the former humans. Hiccup still wasn't looking at him, but Jack guessed he still knew Jack was staring, because he started speaking. Reluctantly.

"The Alpha dragon. That's who Alvin wanted. Alpha protects everyone and everyone submits to Alpha. With that kind of power under his thumb Alvin thought he could control the dragons."

Jack nodded, eyes wide as he realized he already knew that. Fishlegs had told him. But at the time Jack had been in too much of a daze to really absorb it because Fishlegs had been talking a lot. Still, it felt like Hiccup's words were layered. Jackson had never liked mystery novels; lacked the patience, but suddenly it felt like he was in one. Hiccup was saying something important, revealing the truth only partially, leaving the teen to try to unravel the rest with the few hints he had.

But Hiccup's explanation was incomprehensive for now, so Jack skipped over it.

"So rather than this… outcast, you met the Enchantress?"

"No, Alvin was there," Hiccup said. "He had made a deal with the Enchantress and…"

"And Alpha, realizing the situation, called the rest of the dragons, landing us all in the Enchantress's trap and here we are!" Gobber finished the story, his voice trying to set a jolly tone despite his the words he used.

The teen on the armchair curled further into himself. "So the outcast got what he wanted?"

In his hands Tuffnut sputtered. "Are you shitting me? Alvin's got hit by-"

"Tuff!"

The shout came from multiple objects and Hiccup too. The dragon was halfway off the floor, frozen on the spot staring at Jack.

"He's here," the teen whispered, a comment he'd dismissed last week coming back with a vengeance. "He's in the attic. That's why you don't want me there."

Closing his eyes, face distorted with frustration, Hiccup lay back down. "Sometimes you're too smart, Jack." He sighed heavily. "Alvin was turned into a bear-trap. He will kill you if he gets the chance."

By now all blood had drained from Jackson's face. The one who was responsible for this was here. The one who had done this to Hiccup and everyone was right here!

"The Enchantress cast a spell that encased everyone and everything within the castle walls," Hiccup continued. "Because I'm the one who caught it, I became the cursed one."

Jack just barely managed to close his mouth around a truly venomous comment about how unfair that was, that it should have befallen someone else.

It tasted like pepper and vinegar when he swallowed. He took a deep drink from Tuffnut, hoping to sooth the pain.

"And how do you break it?" he asked.

For a long moment, the only sound came from the fire and Gobber.

"If you know that," Bunny said with a sigh "it won't happen."

"Getting worked up will not help anyone. Let's try to think this through rationally."

Eugene and the Enchantress stood in the library of the castle, facing the map, focusing on the northern part. Eugene, the loyal friend first and royal servant second, didn't want to go back out yet. Of course he was worried about what Mother Gothel might have planned, but he rather Rapunzel didn't kill herself trying to snuff said plans. She looked wrecked.

The Enchantress took in as much air as she could, folding her hands around her stiff neck, and breathed out in an attempt to calm her thoughts. Eugene was right; she had gotten worked up and for the past month that had given them nothing.

"Okay. What questions are we supposed to ask to find the right answers? What do we know about Mother Gothel?"

"Mother Gothel was a cruel bitch who thrived on sick jokes," Eugene supplied immediately, earning a sour pout from the Enchantress.

"Duly noted," she said soberly, her hands still on her neck, pressing slightly in hopes it would somehow ease the ache in her head as she kept staring at the map as if it was magically going to show her any answers.

"The traces of Mother Gothel's magic is scattered everywhere at odd intervals," Eugene said again, as he'd already reported this once. "However, the traces are all of two varieties; petrification, or transforming into an animal. For all her cruelty, she was still a master at nature enchantments."

At first, Rapunzel just nodded as she already knew this. It was the reason the library was filled to the brim with… "Books on nature enchantments," she said out loud, insight hitting her hard. All this time she'd been reading Mother Gothel's spellbooks!

"I've been looking at this from the wrong angle!" the young Enchantress groaned and tore at her hair, looking back at all the books she'd discarded, the information in them suddenly feeling like it laughed at her as much as Mother Gothel did in her dreams.

"Like I said," Eugene said after clearing his throat. "Mother Gothel was a cruel bitch who thrived on sick jokes."

"If you weren't my best friend I'd transform you into a spider and watch you try to run away from yourself."

It wasn't often that Rapunzel brought up Eugene's aversion of spiders, but laughing at her now, the servant brought it upon himself. The Enchantress was rewarded with a violent shudder of her friend, probably knowing Rapunzel would never actually do that to him, but deciding not to test his luck.

"So I'm looking for…?" he asked instead

"An active natural enchantment that has not yet been cemented," Rapunzel spoke with certainty. "Something unnaturally cruel."

"Along the lines of a curse?" Eugene asked.

The Enchantress let that thought roll around for a few seconds. "Yes," she said, voice soft, pulling at the hair at her neck as another possibility crossed her mind. "Yes, you might be right. Mother Gothel might actually just have placed a curse-like enchantment, on a person, and given them a way to break it that's not doable by the way the enchantment is formulated."

"Sounds like the Mother Gothel I had the misfortune to serve," Eugene spoke drily.

"So why am I hearing her laughter in my dreams now?"

The two looked at each other. The old Enchantress had been dead for a good six years now, so it was quite natural that they had jumped to conclusions and assumed the worst right off the bat. But if this was truly just a sick joke of the old woman…?

"I'll find the cursed one," Eugene promised. "No matter what, I'll find them. If the curse truly is a natural enchantment that haven't yet been finalized, regardless of its purpose, we better snuff it before it can."

Rapunzel looked her friend in the eye. He'd been a servant of Mother Gothel once. Or, more precisely; her slave. Whatever will he'd had for himself had been crushed, until the day the Enchantress had decided her stolen daughter could use a plaything. A distraction that hadn't gone quite as she'd thought.

"Rest for another night, Eugene," Rapunzel said softly. "But next time you go out, you will find the cursed one."

It was midnight and Hiccup carefully put the magic mirror down on the table beside the glass dome covering the wilting rose. Time was running out fast. Hiccup feared that the last petal would fall by the end of winter, and before then he had to make Jack keep a promise and believe he would. Thus far he'd had no luck. Jack hadn't kept a single promise, no matter how light-hearted, and it didn't even matter because Hiccup had no faith in the boy.

Sighing deeply, Hiccup looked over at the only stone dragon in this room. When Hiccup faced the Enchantress, Toothless had stood by him, shaking and fidgeting and torn between fight and flight.

"How come trusting the world's most feared creature is easier than trusting a teenage human?" Hiccup asked his friend.

There was no answer, of course. The live dragon let his eyes fall on the mirror again. He'd asked to see Jack's father, who seemed to be preparing for a long leave. That could only mean he was on his way to get Jack.

Drumming his claws against the table in thought, Hiccup picked the mirror up again, staring at his reflection for a moment.

"Show me anyone who is preparing to search for Jack."

The mirror flashed and, to the dragon's dismay, showed the image of a handsome man with brown hair sleeping restlessly.

"Great."

Of course Jack had friends at home who were worried about him. After all; Jack was a lovely person. He was sweet and playful and kind. Hiccup enjoyed it when happiness played across the boy's face like sunspots.

He was also curious and smart, and that's exactly what made Hiccup wary of him. But the boy still cried for him. For all of them. Rather than hate Hiccup when he realized the people who had come before him were all dead and buried, he had…

The dragon stopped the thought right there. Jack hadn't loved him in that moment. It was just his kindness that couldn't accept the fact that people were dying.

To distract himself, Hiccup lifted the mirror again.

"Where does the toymaker live."

Morning. The snow refused was still deep and almost buried the village. Flynn stood in the window of his own room, watching the sky brighten. He'd made up his mind, he'd even packed a satchel with everything he could think of could be of need. North had said Jackson was held at a castle, so Flynn had packed a couple of lock-picks and other tools that would help him scale walls. But the village was isolated due to the snow.

It was unusual for this time of year, but apparently not unheard of. Flynn heard enough stories from the locals of blizzards hitting the lands in late autumn or even in the middle of spring. It didn't make it any less frustrating. The longer he had to wait the less likely he would find Jackson alive. The boy was a farmer, not a hunter. He couldn't even kill his own chickens for dinner.

Restless, the innkeeper dressed and went down to the stables. His father's horse was named Maximus, but Flynn had never been on good terms with the steed. Even now he felt like the white horse was giving him dirty looks. Instead he went to the fire bay Merida. Not property of the inn per say, but her owner's stable had been infested with mildew and he hadn't been able to rebuild it before the snow arrived. Merida had an attitude, but Flynn liked her a lot better than Maximus.

"Don't worry, girl. We'll go out soon," the man cooed and blew in Merida's nostrils, accepting her answering snort.

Flynn combed his fingers through the bay's light mane, more towards the colour of candle-light compared to her fiery red coat.

"You wouldn't be upset if I pamper you for a couple hours, right?" he said. Because he needed something to do. His parents usually manned the inn in the morning so he had nothing else to do right now. And Flynn had to admit he was getting anxious. If the snow hadn't subsided by next week he would just have to risk it all and brave the weather. Jack needed him.