It's 4:02 in the morning, and this is finally done. I got distracted for a few days making the Among The Stars playlist – the link to which is on my profile page if you're interested.

This is the longest chapter yet, just shy 5k words. I feel like there's something else I wanted say – but I can't think of anything because I'm exhausted. Though there's no cliffhanger this time, I think you guys needed a breather. And this is still an emotional chapter.

Several Disney princesses make cameos in this story – I hope I didn't overdo it. You'll have to let me know!

Among The Stars

Chapter 14

"Jack…" Hiccup sighed, rubbing his face. "What happened to not letting Aster down?"

Jack started to apologize, but found his throat refused to form the words. Or any words, for that matter. It was once more clenched so tight it was a wonder he could still breathe.

"Aw, come on, Hic," Merida said. "They over reacted."

"I know," Hiccup sighed. "But I'm pretty sure it's some kind of social faux paus for a girl – a princess – to be caught kissing minutes after she was proposed to be another guy."

Jack groaned. That stupid word again. It still grated his every nerve. He grabbed one of the couch throw pillows and covered his face.

Rapunzel's parents had opened the dining room door just in time to watch their daughter crush her lips against his. And though the kiss had lasted only a few brief seconds before King Thomas had said her name, it hadn't felt as innocent as their last kiss, and it had probably looked even worse. They hadn't been pleased – and that was putting it lightly.

Merida laughed. "Still. The look on Fel's face was priceless!"

Behind the pillow, Jack felt the corners of his mouth twitch in a grin. Because, disaster though the scene had been, she was right. Fel's wide eyes had darted between them – the way Jack's hands still gripped her waist like a life line, and her fingers still clenched around the collar of his vest. The color had drained from the Imperial's face as his jaw tightened.

Jack would be lying if he said it hadn't been satisfying.

"He made such a big deal 'bout yoo bein' his rival at the Academy, and now ya get the girl, too."

"I didn't 'get the girl' though," Jack reminded, lifting the pillow away from his mouth so his words wouldn't be muffled.

"Ye got her heart," Merida said. "That's the part that matters."

Jack let the pillow fall back into place.

He and Rapunzel had jerked apart when they heard her father say her name. Jack had felt his heart sink when he saw the shocked horror on the king's face.

No one had said anything for several minutes, and he had felt her fingers tighten around his collars. His hands had slowly lowered from her waist, but the purple satin was hopelessly wrinkled and creased from his grip.

Queen Adela was the first to find her voice. "Rapunzel, I- I think you should go to your room."

Rapunzel's eyes hand closed, her fingers finally letting go of his vest. But not before he saw her pained expression. It just drove the knife deeper into his chest.

"We should too," Hiccup had said, and the three had left the hallway before anyone had a chance to object.

Which was why they were now in the common room of the suite, Jack's vest tossed into a corner while he lay on one of the couches. He would had enjoyed being free of the constricting leather. But with the pain in his chest, he barely noticed the difference.

"An' I'm still hungry," Merida muttered. "He could have waited until desert, at least." She was eating chocolate again, probably since they didn't really have anything else.

"Sorry," Jack said.

"Not your fault." From her tone he guessed she had shrugged. "Though we should probably get off world before the king decides kissin' his daughter's a punishable offense."

"Or before Fel decides the whole thing was a personal insult," Hiccup said. "The New Empire isn't even a week old, and I don't feel like getting on the crown prince's bad side already."

Jack agreed… but found the thought of returning to Warren didn't leave him as relieved as he would have expected. Instead his stomach twisted. His eyes opened, though with the pillow still over his face all he could see was black.

He wanted to go back, but he couldn't. Not yet.

"Of course, this is us we're talkin' 'boot," Merida said. "Seems kinda inevitable."

Jack snorted behind the pillow. "Too true."

"You guys think I'm kidding," Hiccup shook his head.

Lifting the pillow, he sat up just enough to look over the back of the couch, out the window. The sun was just setting below the horizon, leaving the sky clear and black. He thought for a moment – probably not long enough – before tolling off the couch and to his feet.

"We can't leave yet."

"Oh no," Hiccup said, shaking his head. "Wha- No. No! What do you think you're doing?"

"I have to talk to her," Jack said. Going into his bedroom, he tugged off the formal shirt he'd worn to the failed dinner.

"What happened to not failing Aster again?" Hiccup asked.

"I already did," Jack reminded. He tugged on his hoodie as he returned to the common room.

"If they catch you, Thomas having you executed probably won't be a joke anymore!" Hiccup said. "Especially if you're in her room!"

"And at the moment, I'm having a hard time caring," Jack shrugged. "The way my heart hurts, it feels like I'll die without her anyway. I have to at least talk to her."

Hiccup looked at Merida. "Help me out here?"

Merida gave her husband an apologetic look.

She was on Jack's side.

Jack sat back down on the couch to pull on the boots he had kicked off earlier. But as he reached for the boots, there was a knock on the door of the common room.

All three of them froze.

"Dat da dah, we're dead," Hiccup muttered in an almost sing-song voice, shaking his head.

They exchanged wary glances before Hiccup called "come in."

Jack stood up, braced for whatever would come next – trying to keep his breathing steady.

The door was opened by a liveried guard, who bowed as he held it open for King Thomas.

Jack swallowed.

Thomas entered the room wordlessly, his eyes focused on Jack without giving Hiccup or Merida a glance.

Hiccup's words echoed in Jack's ears. And despite what he'd said, he realized he really wasn't ready to die. Not by a long shot.

"Frost, I'd like to speak with you," he said quietly.

Hiccup and Merida looked to Jack, waiting for his signal. They were behind him whatever he chose, and that meant the universe to him.

"It's okay," he said.

They nodded in response and went into their own room, but not without concerned glances back over their shoulders just before the door closed behind Hiccup.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Thomas sighed. It was a heavy sound, as though the weight of a world rested on his shoulder. And in a way it did, Jack realized. When he looked at the man, he saw the fine lines of exhaustion around his eyes, and he looked at Jack with a mix of exhausted frustration.

"Do you realize what you've done?" Thomas asked. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Jack looked away from the accusation in the king's hazel eyes.

"You saved my daughter, and you brought her home, and for that I'm grateful – more so than I can say. We had almost given up hope of seeing her again.

"But this – this –" He shook his head. "I'm not sure what's worse: what you've done to my daughter, or the danger you've put this planet in."

Jack balked at the first, trying to figure out what he had "done" to Rapunzel. He had initiated their first kiss back in the ice palace, but she had initiated their second. He was fairly sure that was beyond debate.

Then the second accusation hit.

"What?"

"The New Empire is barely a week old," Thomas sighed. "I saw you and your friends when Fel told you the situation. It's the same regimen with a new name and ruler. Fel is here to gage our loyalty, not because they truly care about making amends. And my planet cannot afford for them to renew the blockade – or worse yet, launch a full on attack."

"So his proposal was about making her a hostage again," Jack said. It wasn't a guess. Much as he disliked politics, he understood them. All too well.

Thomas frowned.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he looked at the king's averted gaze. "You would allow that?"

"I have a world to think of, Frost," he said. "As a father, no. But as a king, I have five billion people who depend on me. I don't expect someone so young to understand that – to understand that kind of responsibility."

Jack tried to bite back his retort. But he had spent five years running from responsibility. Less than two days back on Warren didn't change that. But his tongue jerked from of his teeth, and the words came out.

"Rapunzel's younger than I am," he said. "She understands. It's why she blames herself for what happened – she cared more about what was happening to her people than her own execution."

"Rapunzel was raised for the throne – she has to understand."

"And yet you took that away from her," Jack said, before he could think to bite it back. "You let the council pressure you to make Augustus your heir – all before come spoiled brat was upset he couldn't use her to become the next king."

Thomas glared at him.

In the pocket of his hoodie Jack's fists clenched, the ligaments stretching until they hurt. But he couldn't regret it. He probably should. But he didn't.

"Rapunzel's position aside," the king said. "I now find myself scrambling to try and smooth over this disaster before Fel decides this is enough of an affront to make us his enemies. And groveling to a man like Fel is not something I enjoy.

"And my daughter." Thomas shook his head.

Jack wanted to ask "what about her?" – but decided that wasn't in the best interest of his health.

But the silence stretched on, and it loosened his tongue until the words came out without him thinking.

"She kissed me."

Wrong thing to say, judging from the way Thomas's face darkened.

He might have imagined it, but he thought he heard what might have been Merida hitting her forehead against the door – he had no doubt they were listening in.

Yeah, it was a stupid thing to say, now that he gave it a half second's thought. Why was he so baf with words?

Thomas's jaw tightened, and Jack fought the urge to take a cautious step back. But he was still standing in front of the couch, so that was impossible.

Several more tense moments passed before Thomas spoke, his voice low and dangerous. "Was that the first time you've kissed her."

Jack's eyes shifted to the side, betraying him even if he hadn't known he had to tell the truth. "No."

"In—" The king's voice broke. "In the—"

"No," Jack said, before the sentence was finished. He knew Thomas was about to ask if it had been in the shower unit. "No. But I would to point out that hiding her there worked – something everyone forgets when giving me a hard time for it. Do you know how many people manage to hide anything – let alone a living, breaking person – from a full Imperial search? Without being specially equipped?"

Still not the right thing to say, apparently.

This was why Hiccup was their spokesman. He really shouldn't be trusted with important conversations. There was a reason why Tsar Lunar had made him Governor of a territory where almost no one lived – so he wouldn't have to deal with bureaucracy. (It was Jack's theory, at least. The Man in the Moon wasn't in the habit of disclosing any aspects of his decision making to anyone – and especially not to Jack.)

Thomas continued to glower at him.

He was dealing with a protective father already struggling with galactic politions.

"We kissed one other time," Jack said, hoping it would convince the man that he hadn't taken advantage of his daughter. "In the ice palace on Warren – just before we found out Gothel was dead. And we've hugged a couple times."

Many times, actually, now he thought about it. But they had all been platonic. Even when he had been shirtless – because he'd been swimming. Still, best not to mention that. He remembered Merida's reaction too well.

"Do you think that makes it right?"

"I love her!"

#

The silence was maddening.

There was too much space in his head, too many thoughts. And there was nothing in the guest room to distract him.

On the nightstand the chrono told him it was already the second hour. But he didn't bother turning out the lamp, let alone trying to sleep. He was mentally and physically exhausted, but there was no way he would be able to sleep with all his churning thoughts. And while the knife in his chest had stopped twisting, the pain remained in the form of a dull, steady ache.

Where were Sandy and his dream sand when he needed them?

Jack closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headboard.

There was a soft knock on his door, but he didn't bother to open his eyes as he called for whoever it was to come in.

The door opened with almost no sound, and he slowly opened his eyes and turned his head toward the door. He watched Rapunzel close it behind her with a soft click (making sure all her hair was in the room), before she turned to face him, hugging herself.

The fear in her green eyes drove the knife a little deeper into his chest and twisted it viciously. But that wasn't why he hated that fear.

He still didn't know what to say (and was starting to think he never would), but he held out an arm, beckoning her closer.

Even across the ten feet or so between them he saw the tears well up in her eyes just before she ran to him, throwing herself on the bed and against his chest.

The last time he had seen her cry, in the shower unit, he had assured her everything would be all right, that he would keep her safe. But saying so now would have felt like a lie, because he didn't know. He couldn't see how everything would be all right. Not after the look her father had given him when he had admitted he was in love with her. Not when the phantom pain in his chest felt as though it would rip him apart.

He couldn't make promises.

So he wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulders and held her against his bare chest.

He clamped his own eyes shut, fighting back his own tears. But he felt one slip past all his defense, burning its way down his cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Jack," she whispered.

"Hey, hey." He pulled back a little, lifting her chin so their eyes met. "What are you sorry for?"

"Putting you through all this." She averted her gaze. "My father, Fel… I'm not worth this."

"Rapunzel, look at me," he said. His breath caught in his throat when their eyes met again. With his thumb he brushed away the tear rolling down her cheek.

Couldn't he do anything right? He wondered. Somehow, the blame for this belonged on his shoulders, he knew. After everything she had been through in the Tower, she didn't deserve this.

"You have no idea," he whispered, when she finally complied and met his gaze. "You have no idea what you've done for me. I've been running for nearly five years. In all that time, you were the only thing that got me to go home. You're the reason I accepted my responsibility as a Governor. You made it possible for Hiccup and Merida to have a home world to raise their child on.

"It doesn't make it hurt any less, believe me. But I'm so grateful to you." He sighed. "I just wish you weren't hurting. I could handle this pain if you could be happy. I would do anything to ease your pain."

Rapunzel shook her head. "The council is already pressuring me to accept Fel's proposal."

"Pressuring," he muttered. "Seems like they're good at that." His arms tightened around her shoulders.

"It's not fair!" she cried. "I love you. Why can't they accept that?"

"I don't know."

Heavy silence fell over them, and Jack took what solace he could from the feeling of holding her. When she exhaled he could feel her warm breath on his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to forget the galaxy and just enjoy the few moments he had with her.

He felt her touch the skin under his heart.

"There's not even a mark," she murmured.

"I have you to thank for that." He kissed the top of her head.

For this moment, they would be normal, and forget that there was an entire government (if not a galactic empire) trying to tear them apart.

Her fingers moved to trace a line on his forearm. "You have so many scars."

He looked at his forearm and saw she was tracing a scar that ran from his elbow almost to his wrist.

"Not that many, actually," he said. "Hiccup has more. His left foot is a prosthetic."

She looked up. "Really?"

He nodded.

Rapunzel returned her attention to his arm. "How did you get this?"

"It was really stupid, actually," he admitted. "I was sparring with Nightlight when I was sixteen. Somehow we both stepped wrong, and the crystal dagger on his staff caught my arm." He touched the end of the scar closest to his wrist, and followed it up to the elbow, the same way the dagger had traveled through his skin. "It was pretty deep, and Tooth chewed us both out."

He glanced on the other scars on both his arms. "Turns out I have a weakness when it comes to protecting my arms. Which is probably the stupidest weakness I've ever heard of."

Rapunzel giggled, and the sound was like a balm on his heart.

Jack grinned and adjusted his position carefully, needing to sit up straighter, but not wanting her to leave his lap.

But she was already sitting back, looking at his chest and arms in the low light of the lamp on the bedside table. The corner of his lips tugged in a smirk when he saw she wasn't blushing (and she usually did when he was shirtless), but was instead examining him.

"What about this one?" she touched a feint scar on his upper right arm.

"We were on a planet called Atlantica."

"I've heard of it," she nodded.

"It's only about twenty one parsecs from here," he said. "Ninety percent of the planet's surface is covered in water, and it's home to some of the scariest creatures I've ever seen. One of the mermaids – I think her name was Ariel – decided she wanted to stay on land when she fell in love with a human. The problem was, she ran away without telling her father – who happened to be king of the sea. Relations between the merfolk and humans is tense to say the least, so when he found out she was on land, he assumed the humans had kidnapped her, and he declared all out war.

"We were unlucky enough to land on Atlantica to refuel. Long store short, I never want to fight another sea monster as long as I live. We all smelled like dead fish for days, and I had to throw away my favorite jacket because I couldn't get the smell out.

"But that—" he glanced at the scare "—was from a porcelain doll. Ariel was a total klutz, and extremely excitable. She tripped over a table leg in one of the shops. I managed to catch her, but somehow cut my arm when the doll on the table broke.

"It shouldn't have scarred, but it got infected in the battle. Plus, I snagged my leg on one of the monsters' fangs, so I have a scar on the my left calf too."

"Can I see?"

Jack rolled up the left leg of his pajama pants up to his knee, and twisted his leg to show her the scar on his calf.

She ran her eyes and fingers over it. "Was it deep?"

He nodded. "I passed out from blood loss."

Her head tilted to the side, and he followed her gaze to the inside of his ankle, where a thin scar ran over the protruding bone.

"That one is from the academy," he said. "I was working on my ship after a disaster of a training exercise. I really don't work well in a team. I was in the cockpit running the engine diagnostic. There was a stray wire I knew I should have taken care of earlier. And if I'd had my boots on it wouldn't have reached the skin. North has a rule that I have to wear shoes when I'm working on any ship. But at that time I was still mad at everyone on Warren, and I left them off on purpose."

"I'm guessing you learned that lesson?" she asked with a small giggle.

"Painfully." He chuckled.

"What about this one?" She touched a line on the back of his left hand as he unrolled his pant leg.

Jack looked down at the line that ran parallel to his knuckles, frowning at it as he had many times. "I don't remember. I've had it since I woke up on Warren. I remember bits and pieces of Burgess, but not that." He grimaced. "Probably something stupid, like most of them."

Before he could dwell on his lost memories, Rapunzel took his hand and kissed the scar.

He smiled at her, grateful for being saved before he could go too far into questions that had no answers. Even Toothiana hadn't been able to help him recover the memories. He had accepted they were gone. But the questions remained to plague him.

She touched one on his left arm, a few inches above his wrist on the outside.

"That is from an extremely vicious rose bush," he said. "I don't remember where we were, but these three old women asked us to rescue the foundling girl they had adopted – she was like seven, I think. I remember her name was Briar Rose because the woman who kidnapped her had a hedge of rose bushes we had to get through. The women wouldn't tell us why she was kidnapped, though. "

He twisted his arm to show her the one over his left elbow. "This one is from a spar at the Academy."

"This one?" she traced a scar over his left tricep, which wouldn't have been visible if he hadn't twisted his arm.

"I forgot about that one." He twisted his arm and craned neck simultaneously to try and get a good look at it. "I do have a lot of scars. And most of them because of girls. That one is because of a girl named Snow White. Very sweet, but with a bad habit of falling off things. And taking gifts from strangers. Keeping her alive felt down right impossible some times.

"She was heir to the throne of a small kingdom on Apfel. But after her father died, her stepmother tried to kill her to take power. We were hired to keep her safe until the queen was deposed. That was about the time I started wondering how we went from being a ship for hire to being bounty hunters. She ended up marrying a prince from a neighboring kingdom who helped over throw her stepmother.

"But not before she fell off a rock ledge. Near the cabin we were hiding in. I caught her but was knocked off balance and got this from a jutting rock. Like I said, most of these are really stupid. I wish I had more that actually had to do with fighting."

She giggled, then reached up to trace a scar that ran upward from the arch of his right eyebrow. "I've wanted to ask about this one since we met."

"We were on Agraba," he said. "A business man was having trouble with space pirates attacking his freighters, and bandits attacking his caravans from the docking bay to his factories. He asked us to bring him a shipment from Morae. When we got there, he asked us to guard the convoy to his factory. We were attacked by bandits on the way. It's really stupid because this is from one of Merida's throwing knives. She was aiming for a bandit behind me, but I didn't duck fast enough."

Rapunzel giggled again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm the one with the pathetic scars."

"What about this one?"

Jack's breath hitched as her fingers brushed the scar on his lower stomach, an inch or so above the waistband of his pants.

"That-" he had to clear his throat. "We were on China to refuel. There was a victory party in the capital city because they thought they had just won a war. But there was a girl named Mulan who claimed the Huns were in the city. No one would listen to her, but we did so we got dragged into the fight. I ended up wresting with a Hun who pulled a vibroblade on me. I jerked back and we both tumbled off the roof. I managed to catch a jutting beam – he didn't. Luckily Merida got me down before I passed out.

"That's all of them."

"It seems as though you have a scar for every girl you've helped," Rapunzel said, her voice quiet.

"Not all, but most." He frowned. "I never realized that until now."

She touched the smooth skin under his heart, where Black's blaster bolt had hit him.

"But not me," she whispered.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." He tilted his head, trying to see her expression when she looked away from him.

"Rapunzel." He touched her cheek, coaxing her to look at him.

Her eyes were bright in the dim light, and her shoulders began to shake again. She worried her lip between her teeth.

"What's wrong?"

"I- I just don't want you to forget me," she whispered. "I'm glad I save you – I'm glad I could! I just—"

Jack leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. "No matter what happens, I could never forget you."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because you have scared me," he said. "You scarred my heart. I can forget the marks on my skin. But I can't forget the one on my heart."

The last word almost vanished as their lips met (he wasn't sure who initiated this time), her arms wrapped around his neck.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her as close as possible – and wishing they could be closer still. If she way her fingers threaded into his hair, and she pressed her mouth harder against his was any indication, she felt the same way.

At some point, he could no longer tell if the heartbeat pounding in his ears was his or hers. Or where his lips ended and hers began.

When they finally parted, breathless, it was of their own choice – not because they were interrupted again. Though he wouldn't mind kissing her again. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to stop – but also knew he had to. He needed a minute to breathe in order to maintain his own control.

"Whatever happens, I love you," he said, stroking her cheek. "I would rather die tomorrow then live a life where I never met you."

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, still holding onto him with all her strength. "Don't make me leave yet," she whispered.

"If they find you here—"

"Please."

Jack sighed and hugged her tighter, kissing her forehead. He lifted her carefully, adjusting his position so he could lay down, her head resting on his chest.

He reached over at turned off the lamp on the nightstand.

They were quiet for a moment, before she spoke.

"Jack?"

His eyes flickered open, though he hadn't realized they had closed. "Yeah?"

"If—" in the moonlight he saw her bite her lip. "If things were different – if we could… would you…" She let out a sigh and turned her face into his chest.

She said something, but it was muffled against his skin.

"Would I what?"

She lifted her head slowly. "Would you marry me? I mean, would you-"

He lifted his head to kiss her again.

"In a heartbeat," he whispered, when he pulled back.

"Thank you," she said, returning her head to his chest.

After a few minutes he heard her breathing turn shallow.

He ran a hand over her hair, and she smiled in her sleeping, shifting closer to him.

Why couldn't he have this? He wondered. Why couldn't he fall asleep beside her every night, and wake up next to her every morning? Why were they left with whispers in the dark at three in the morning?