A.N: Hi guys! I'M BAACCKK! And straight off, I wanna let you guys know how unbelievably grateful I am to each one of you for your support. You guys keep me from forgetting the little things that matter in life. YOU GUYS KEEP ME ALIVE INSIDE! And for those who are curious, I'm doing much better. I quit my job less than a month ago and I've moved back home and I'm trying to get back to doing the things that made me happy, to begin with. One of those things being 'writing' and 'reading' fanfiction. So here we are.

I PRESENT TO YOU! THE NEXT CHAPTER! TA-DA

A BIG BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE OF YOU STILL FOLLOWING ALONG THIS JOURNEY WITH ME! I WILL TRY MY BEST TO KEEP UP WITH THE REGULAR UPDATES! I LOVE YOU GUYS!

(Shout Outs at the end of this chapter)

NOW ENJOY EVERYONE!

Chapter 23: Let's Do This! Danger is Our Middle Name

"Who is it, Jack?"

"… Pitch Black…"

Audibly loud gasps echoed through the diner "No…"

It can't be…

Not him…

God, save us all…

Jack went and took a sat at one of the booths. He leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees before cradling his chin in his hands, his fingers obscuring his lips. Damn it! This was definitely Pitch's doing… It had his shadowy name written all over it! And yet, he had failed to notice it before now.

"How do ya know it's 'im?" Merida asked resting her hands on her hips. She only ever heard about the infamous Pitchiner Black. She had never once met him or even seen him for that matter. But he was so scary and fierce that the people called him the Boogeyman.

"I just do, alright…" He said with a low growl; knitting his eyebrows together. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath then he stood up and walked towards the door out of the diner; his face held a stony expression. A hand on his shoulder stopped him, he half turned to see Hiccup standing right behind him with Rapunzel and Merida close by.

"Where are you going?"

"To pay a little visit to an old friend…" And of course, by 'friend' he actually meant 'psychotic douche'.

"You're kidding!" Flynn cried. "You'd have to be bat-shit crazy to go after the Boogeyman. C'mon Frost, even you're not that stupid. Unless… you actually miss being his apprentice."

"That's not it! Do you even think before you open your damn mouth?" Jack half-hissed half-growled before shrugging of the hand on his shoulder.

"Jack, just stop for a moment and think, would you?" Rapunzel pleaded. He couldn't possibly be thinking rationally. Going after Pitch was one thing—but going back into a town filled with zombies that want to have you for dinner was a whole other thing all by itself.

"I did."

"Yer thinking of going back ta Zombieville! Are ya nuts?!"

"Maybe I am."

"Well, at least let us come with you," She said. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter.

"Yeah, you're not going there alone," Hiccup sided with his golden haired friend.

"No," Jack told them with a flinty heart. "It's too dangerous… You don't know Pitch like I do… You don't know what he's capable of." You could get hurt… or worse…

"And I suppose you do?"

"Yeah, actually, I do."

"Then tough, Snowcone," Merida crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. "Cause' there's no way am letting ya have all the fun by yerself." She meeting the Boogeyman was on her "Things-To-Do-Before-I-Die," list too.

"This isn't a freaking game!"

"No one said it was,"

Jack gritted his teeth in annoyance and scowled, sending his three friends a glare. Normally that look would've scared the shit outta someone and they would've backed off. He had even practiced it in front of the mirror. He used it to get people off his back. But it didn't seem to be working on these three. Going soft there, Jack?

"Fine…" He said between clenched teeth. Idiots… But he wasn't going to let them risk their lives. He had a plan. A plan that would keep them safe from the mad man that Pitch Black was.

"So you're all really gonna do this, huh?" Astrid asked; sounding not all that surprised. Like she knew what the outcome would be. Everyone except Jack nodded. "Then you better be careful." She almost sounded genuinely concerned for them. They must be growing on her.

"Hey, if those guys wanna be suicidal junkies then who are we to stop them?" Flynn huffed. Even though his sentence was a sarcastic one; there was a barely detectable level of disquiet in it.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Hiccup asked. He wondered what their next plan of action was. There wasn't a chance in hell they were coming with them to see the Boogeyman.

"What else?" Astrid smirked. "We'll find another way outta here. We can't go back to Burgess without any sorta help." We made them a promise. They would have to find another way through the woods.

"Of course, we'll need a car first," Jim said "Assuming you guys are taking the Chevy."

Jack nodded curtly. "I'll show you how to hotwire the Mustang." Maybe they could get the Mustang to work again.

And with that, the two teenage groups went their separate ways once more; each with their own missions in mind.

Jack helped them with his little Juvie trick and saw them off; waving them off with a two fingered salute. Merida picked up the fallen arrow from the ground that she had dropped earlier when the Rombie had attacked her. Gosh, she had to stop using that word. She felt silly for just thinking it.

The four friends got back into their car, taking their respective places. Jack in the driver's seat, Rapunzel in the passenger seat, Hiccup and Merida in the back seat with Toothless in the middle. They wore their seat belts and the engine revved to life and they sped off back into the nightmarish zombie filled ghost town.

The plan was simple… Get back into town, find Pitch and beat the living daylights out of him, maybe find a cure for all this; if there even is one and return everyone back to the way they were, and do it all while not getting eaten by deranged man munching zombies.

Piece of cake, right?

After a few miles, Merida started to get bored. She ate some snacks that were still left in the car after their grocery shopping to pass the time; unfortunately, there were only a few food products left. Looks like Flynn, Astrid, Jim and Ariel had helped themselves to most of the eatables. She then began making weird funny clicking noises with her tongue and played with the power window switch on her side.

Everyone put up with it for a short while until Jack couldn't anymore and he exploded. "Oh, for the love of-… I swear I will throw you outta the car myself if you don't quit doing that!"

"Bu' am booored," Merida whined in the most annoying tone she could muster.

"I don't care!" Jack deadpanned. "Play with Toothless or something."

The pooch perked its ears up at the mention of its name and as if sensing some sort of danger, it snuggled even closer to Hiccup and as away from Merida as possible; eyeing her suspiciously.

Merida huffed then jutted her chin out and pouted childishly. If it was possible to die of boredom then she was sure she'd be dead by now. She sunk lower in the seat. This was going to be a looooong boring ride…

"Jack, how are you so sure it's Pitch?" Hiccup asked and hoped he would answer them this time. One, he was curious to know and second, Merida wasn't the only one who was bored out of her skull.

"…"

"Jack?" Rapunzel asked; turning her head so she could see his face. He had that stony mask on again. He seemed so complicated to her. Like some unravel-able (if that was even a word) mystery or an undecipherable puzzle. Just when you think you have him all figured out…

"… For revenge." He scowled.

"Revenge on… Burgess?" Rapunzel asked him. She didn't understand it. None of the people in Burgess ever bothered him too much. In fact, they would rather avoid him altogether. Mostly because of the fear they had of him. Pitch rarely got in trouble with the cops of the town when he was caught. Everyone knew they were too afraid to do anything and the civilians were too scared to press any charges against him. "Why? What did we ever do to him?"

"It's not a question of what you did to him," Jeez, could you be any more cryptic? Jack kept his blue eyes on the road but he could feel the gazes of three pairs of eyes on him. He sighed. "He wants to take his revenge out on me." The town of Burgess is nothing more than collateral damage or just an added bonus.

"What? Why?" Hiccup asked sounding extremely confused and concerned "What did you do?"

"I… " Jack paused; not knowing how to tell his friends yet another tragic story from his dark past. He took in a breath and then decided to start from the beginning. Jeez, he's been digging up his horrid past a lot lately. I guess it true about what they say about the past coming back to bite you in the butt. "Do you remember Gothel Pitchiner?" Stupid question. Of course they did.

Everyone did…

"Of course we do."

"What do you know about her?" He asked. From the corner of his eye, he could see each of them exchanging glances, no doubt wondering what that had to do with anything.

Well, just about everything...

"Uh, nothing much," Hiccup spoke for the others. "Just that she was Pitch's wife and one night when she was trying to evade the police for stealing something, she met with an accident and died."

"And also tha' she was a witch!" Merida jumped in; sounding a bit too excited for her own good. One couldn't blame her though. A witch sounded like the coolest thing ever to her. Imagine if a real live witch lived in the same town as you, wouldn't you be excited too? Too bad the witch was already dead by the time Merida moved to America. She had heard many mysterious stories about Gothel and all of them intrigued her more and more. But unfortunately not many people talked about her; they were afraid that they'd be cursed just by speaking her name. Some people were just far too superstitious.

"No, she wasn't," Witches don't really exist… well, then again, considering the circumstance… It could be true. But Hiccup could have sworn Merida looked a little deflated when he said that; like someone would be if you ruined the ending to a good story for them. But she perked up immediately after and told him about the different stories she'd heard about Gothel. He just shook his head in response. "Those are just rumors…"

"Not all of them," Jack told them; his eyes meeting Hiccup's through the rearview mirror for a moment before going back to the windshield. "You were right about one thing though. The night Gothel died, she was trying to steal a rare stone that was only exhibited in the Burgess Museum."

"You mean the Onyxian, right?" Rapunzel asked. She'd read about it in the newspaper about a year ago. Maybe a year and a few months; but she wasn't sure.

Rapunzel could remember the headlines clearly "Black Diamond Disappears with Mrs. Black's Demise" It was the news of the town for a whole month. Though, except for the fact that they said Gothel had attempted to steal it, there was no real proof that she had stolen it. They never found the stone on her or anywhere near the accident site. They just knew that it went missing.

"Yup, that's the one…" Jack said. "That particular stone was said to have some sort of magical powers…"

"That wasn't a part of any rumor I heard," Merida chimed in. "How do ya know that?"

Jack's heart thumped against his chest as those terrible memories flashed in front of his mind's eye. "Because I was there the night it went missing… I'm the one responsible for Gothel's death…"

DUN DUN DUUUUNNN! Whaaatt? Jack no! Tell us more! You cant end the chapter there!

Sorry for the short chapter folks. Had to set up what comes next. And get back in the groove of things, ya know?
Next chapter will be a doozy so stay tuned you guys. ^^

Now... SHOUT OUT TIME! (This will be for the last two chapters)

Dreamer: Yo! Its been so long. Darn. I just cant keep up, can I? I'm sorry. I know you're not mad at me. But I can't help but apologize.
Your descriptions never ever ceases to amaze me, Dreamer. Ugh. The magic I feel through your words. Gosh darn I missed them. And as for the theories... I'll be hinting at a lot next chapter. So I'll be waiting to hear from you after that. Hehe. *grins innocently* Oh and the little black birds... I hope they make sense now. XD If they dont. They'll make sense in the next chapter... or so they should. So no worries. Lol. And dang Dreamer... That little black bag has still got a strong hold over you huh? XD *HUGS THE WIND SO TIGHT THAT IT RUNS OUTTA AIR* (See what I did there? *wink wonk*) Hehehehe. "Oh, you sly Fox you" I say looking at the mirror. And thank you! (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
warrenha2: Why, of course. I don't plan to abandon it. EVER! Here, have some cookies while your here. (::)(::)(::)
BoneCrusherX: Awwwww. Thank you! *munches down on all them cookies* Wha... Crap. Sorry. Guess I got too excited. BUT! Here are some cookies in return. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::) Um... I'll kinda fix it... but how well... depends. BUT I YOU ASKED SO I SHALL TRY!
Elvita: IKR! I don't want it to ever die. I feel like I've gone through every fanart, fanfic, fanvid etc you name it BUT ITS NOT ENOUGH! THIS FANDOM SHOULD LIVE DAMMIT! WHERE IS ROTG 2?! That'll surely bring back the fire to the fandom. (::)(::)(::)
Bauerriny: No no. Like I keep saying. The day I abandon these stories is the day I die. Cause nothing will stop me from finishing them. Sure I might have to take a break. But I will ALWAYS be back. So have no fear, little grasshopper. And have some cookies. (::)(::)
BlackKoala: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. (::)(::)
ShadowLifeHI: AW DANG! You figured it out, you clever muffin you. Lol, Good job. Here are some extra cookies for you (::)(::)(::)(::)(::) And thank you for the wonderful comment. NOW PREPARE YOURSELF FOR SOME BACKSTORY! Cause its about to get messy.
Infrared-Ultraviolet: IKR! Some of them titles... I donno how I come up with them. XD Luck mostly. XD WAIT! Dogopoly is a thing!? How the- I WANT TO PLAY IT NOWW! LIKE RIGHT NOW! Get me Amazon. Gosh darn it. And I know right! I don't wanna ever get married and where I'm from... there's gonna come a day where I'll literally have to get into a gun fight against my parents, my aunts and uncles, my neighbors and that random person who always walks their duck by our house over this. UGh... can't wait. *slams head against wall* Also, thank you for correcting me. ^^ I really appreciate it. And IKR. Therapy really helps. I've seen it with my own eyes. I didn't mean to be preachy at all in the story. But I'm glad you brought it up. Hahahaha. And there you go. There's way more of the story to be told. I can't kill them off... YET! Hehehehe *screeches evilly* Astrid, no offense, but you do deserve to be smacked for that comment. She's all yours IU. Also dang that last few bits of your review was so much fun to read. I could literally see the dots getting connected in your mind. Oh so satisfying. Like it really makes you feel like you've accomplished what you set out to do. Hehehehe. Thank you so much. Please do continue to enjoy this story as much as I love reading your comments. Until next time... Here have some cookies (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
Samncooper94: You have asked... And it is answered. *whimsically dances away* (::)(::)
Ariel: And dude! No way! Holy shit. Has it really been that long ago since I started? Wow. You really put stuff into perspective for me. Like... I have to go sit down for this. Whoaaa... And thank you so so so much for the support. You have inspired me to finish writing this chapter today. So thank you. (Nice name btw) (::)(::)(::)

And with that... I bid you adieu.
I'll start working on the next chapter today so that its ready for next week. I'll probably start uploading every Sunday. *crosses fingers*
Until then.
Bye guys!
Leave a review! It fuels my tainted soul.

Yours truly
Yuki