A/N: Yeah, yeah, I'm doing the same thing I did when I reached the near end of Viking and The Frost to The Crippled Drake. Procrastination is a tendecy for everyone, add up that I'm in the middle of Writer's Block. But at least I'm posting, so people out there concerned knows I'm alive. Just let me get Hiccup in here before I go off and battle procrastination. At least those who just started reading The Crippled Drake, if any, still have a chance to vote at the poll.

Chapter 02

Deception of a Theft

Underwater, Jack struggled as much as he can. But it's plain to see that he wasn't having any luck. All the White-haired captain can register at the moment was that it was dark, it was cold, and he was scared. Then, out of the darkness, Jack makes out a face of a Dark man, smirking at him. Forgetting where he was, Jack gaped, bubbles coming out of his mouth.

Pitch chuckled before blowing a kiss, or more precisely, breathing out an air bubble, encompassing the young man within it. Jack gasps for breath, dazed momentarily. How deep was he?

Suddenly, a voice speaks.

"Today began with such promise. And now look," it echoed. Jack looked around, wondering where it was coming from when a man materialize a few ways at the side of him. "my Sea monster's dead and I still don't have the Book of Guardians. All because of you, Jack Frost." The man reforms into a Shadow, closing in on Jack, before reappearing in a larger form that Jack moves steps back, only able to see the man's upper half, one hand against a cheek.

Can you say strange beyond all reason?

Jack swallowed visibly, looking befuddled. "Uh-huh... And, you are...?" he asked lowly.

"Pitch Black," Pitch says sharply, shrinking down, striking a pose with a scythe on one hand. "the Spirit of Discord. No doubt you've seen my likeness on the temple walls?" he levitated slightly, literally looking down at the Captain.

Jack coughed, trying to get some casualness into this. "Uh-heh..." he smirked wearily, putting his hands on his hips. "You know, they don't do you justice."

"Uh-huh." Pitch narrowed his eyes, unamuse with the response. "Now, about my Sea Monster." he prodded, poking a giant finger to Jack's torso.

Jack laugh drily. Heh, dry, under water, how oxymoron. "Right, right. Listen, it kinda attacked us first so it was only self-defense on our part?" he pointed out. Pitch raised a brow, "But-um-okay, I don't suppose a heartfelt apology would do?"

Pitch suddenly laughs. "Heartfelt? From you? Jack Frost, you don't have a heart." he shrank down once more, although he was still taller than Jack. "That's what I like about you." he said huskily, moving in close.

Wait, Jack is taken aback by his words, moving back a bit. what now?

"So, I'm going to let you live." Pitch said, stroking Jack's face fondly. The Captain was too shell-shock to recoil. Which was probably best, it won't do if he accidentally offended the Spirit. He was letting him breath, after all. "But there's just one little thing you have to do. Get the Book of Guardians, and bring it to me." he finished, moving back.

Jack moved back himself. "Right. Hmm... Now, see, that's a problem for me." he turned away, although where he was planning to go is a mystery. "Because I had my own plans for it. Uh, ransom, get rich. You know, me stuff..." he faced the other way, and yelped, jumping back. "Wah!" Pitch was right in front of him, as if he's been there all along.

"You're not thinking big enough, Frost. Steal the Book for ransom," Pitch walked behind him, snatching the knife he used earlier on the killing-the-monster plan. "and you'll be rich enough to lounge on an island beach. Steal the Book for me"-the Spirit points the knife at himself-"and you can buy the beach, and the island, and the world."

Jack feigned a thoughtful expression, placing a hand over his chin. "Hmm. You let me live, you make me rich," he smirks, dropping his hand. "I retire to Paradise. So far, I don't see a downside." then he narrows his eyes at the Dark spirit. "IF you keep your word."

"Frost, when us Spirits keep our word," Pitch took the knife, and sliced an 'X' mark at his chest, right where his heart might be. "we're bound for all eternity." he bowed slightly.

Jack looks satisfied. "All right, you're on."

"I knew you'd see it my way." Pitch materializes beside Jack, causing said boy to jump back in surprise. "So, when you've stolen the Book," Pitch walks off, slicing an opening that revealed a scenary. Jack averted his eyes a bit, before getting a good look. "follow that star beyond the horizon. You'll find yourself in the Dark Depths." he smiled mischievously. "My Realm of Shadows."

Jack nodded. "Dark Depths. I'll see you there."

"It's a date then." Pitch closed in once more, winking. He holds out the night, Jack takes it, but it vanishes as soon as he touched it. Jack looked confused. "So, where were we? Oh, yes." Pitch chuckles, placing a hand on Jack's chest. "You were holding your breath." he smirks, pushing away from him.

The bubble disappears, and Jack is underwater once more. Er, at the actual water part. Jack starts to swim back up to the surface, not seeing that Pitch was still there, or the supposedly dead sea monster.

Pitch smiles evilly. "He's so cute." he rolled his eyes then. "And so gullible." he turned to his pet. "My Fearling, well done."

~o~

At the surface, Jack scans the area, looking for his Ship, when he is suddenly grabbed by his vest and hoisted back aboard by a interchangeable hook. In other words, Gobber. Jack landed on a pile of ropes, Toothless liked him in the face repeatedly. His men are relieved, some are mostly surprised that he survived.

"Hey, he's alive." Torch stated the obvious.

Tuffnut laughed, patting him at the back roughly. "Glad you made it." he walks back to his sister, who was in the middle of cheering, "Pay up. He lived." Ruffnut scowled, giving the pay.

"What happened down there, mate?" Aster helped Jack up.

Jack was still trying to catch his breath. "You wouldn't..." he panted. "Believe me if I told you..."

Aster smirked, crossing his arms. "Try me."

"All right, here goes." Jack stood straight, shrugging off his blue vest. The crew turned their attention to him fully. "So I met Pitch Black, Spirit of Darkness." he squeezed the water off his vest, not noticing he got the title wrong. But pretty close anyway. He pulled his vest back on. "He's got a major crush on me and he invited me back to his place."

Jack narrowed his eyes at his co-captain. Aster looked at him for a full second, smirking, before chuckling once. "Hah! That's a good one. Spirit of Darkness? Oh, I'm writing that down." he walked off.

"So, that's it then?" Daggur questioned, dangling on some ropes. "No Book. Now what do we do?"

Jack shrugged him off. "A little patience, Daggur. It's not like we don't know where it's going." he walked to the railings, finding Jamie's ship nearby.

From his ship, Jamie sees Jack and he looks relieve and satisfied. He sheathes his flamberge and directs his attention to his soldiers. "Men, all sails to Burgess!"

"Right away, Sir!"

~o~

By late afternoon, Jamie's Ship finally docked into Burgess shores, where the people cheered as the Prince's homecoming and the delivery of the Book of Guardians. The Soldiers brought the Book out of the room, carrying it by a platform and not directly. After a long walk through Burgess's streets, parading in convoy with Jamie following behind, through the Palace corridors, up a flight of stairs, the Book finds it's new home at Burgess's highest tower, as if it were simply a lighthouse.

A Banquet was being held to celebrate the occasion. The King of Burgess, Manny, look out through the view of the city, eyeing the tower delightfully.

"For as long as I can remember, I've dreamed of this moment." he turned to the people gathered in the Great Hall, Jamie standing up front beside a auburn red-headed and bearded man, Stoick, the Head Council man. "The sacred treasure that's protected us for a thousands years is now in Burgess."

There was a collective applause.

"A Toast!"

"To Manny!"

"Hear, hear!"

Manny raised his wine glass. "To the Book of Guardians!" he declared.

"And to you, King Manny," Stoick followed with another toast, hitting his own wine glass to Jamie's lightly. "and Prince Jamie,"

Suddenly, there was a disturbance, as Soldiers gathered to the main entrance urgently. "Make way!" There are some concerned mutterings and squeaks by the female party. Jamie furrowed his brow, confused.

The Soldiers is met with the party crashers, Jack and three of his men.

The Captain smirked, unfazed by the swords pointed at them threatingly. "You see?" he turned to Aster, Daggur and Gobber, who shared the same unfaze expressions. "this is what happens when you use the front entrance."

"Mm-hmm," Aster rolled his eyes.

Manny and Jamie walked side by side towards the commotion, one looking amused, the other not so much. "What is he doing here?" The King demanded.

"At least he's not out robbing someone," Jamie patted his father on the shoulder, before moving ahead.

Manny stopped in his tracks, looking indignant. "That's because everyone worth robbing is here." he remarked pointedly.

Toothless found something of interest, sneaking past the guards easily enough. Jack looked over their shoulders, smiling smugly.

"I'll bet you ten crowns you're about to put those swords down."

"I'll take that bet!" The guard he spoke to brought the blade closer.

Suddenly, Jamie's voice is heard over. "Guards..." they turned to their Prince. "Put away your swords," The guards stood down, the one Jack spoke to glared one more time at the White-haired Captain before getting in ranks. "I don't see you for ten years and now twice in one day?" Jamie feigned an exasperated stance and expression, plus a playful smile. "you're smothering me."

"Haha," Jack chuckled, and the two shook hands, almost as if they were arm-wrestling than exchanging formalities. "I knew you'd want to thank me for savng your life... Again." he quipped.

Jamie scoffed, shoving Jack lightly, before throwing his arm around him casually. "Hah. You probably just heard we had free food and wine." they walk off.

Jack pulled back, turning to his men. "You hear that, guys? Dinner and drinks," he clapped his hands together greedily. "are on the Prince."

Jamie smirked, rolling his eyes, before pulling Jack along. "Come on, there's someone I want you to meet." he led the way, Jack following closely behind.

"Get to work," Jack muttered lowly before walking to directly beside Jamie.

Jack's men made to move, but the Guards block their way once more, pulling out their swords. "Weapons," they demanded.

Aster and the others shared looks. The co-captain pulled out his boomerangs swiftly, the Guards stepped back. Aster laughed lightly at their expression, tossing his weapons to a nearby stone table. Daggur followed suit, grudgingly piercing his daggers to the said table. Gobber started unloading... literally. Bombs, axes, hammers, grappling hook... It goes on. Where he kept all those weapons is a mystery.

Jamie did most of the talking while Jack just followed him closely. "Here he is, I've told him all about you." he went on, as the White-haired Captain snatch a wine glass from a random guest. "Ahem, Jackson, I would like to introduce you to my fiance."

Jack finally looked to his front, and caught himself, his smug expression falling.

"Excuse me," A brunette boy bows his head slightly to the woman he was previously conversing with to step towards Jamie, who took his hand, pulling him to his side. He was cladded in a leather brown coat, with green long gloves covering his arms but exposed his shoulders, a short fur-cape hanging down his back. He had one small braid off the sideburns, beautiful emeralds for eyes, freckles covered his face, and he smiled politely at Jack.

Jamie finished the title. "The Head Council man's son, Sir Hamish Haddock the third, Ambassador from Berk." he ended.

The Captain can only stare in wonder.

"So this is the infamous Jack Frost," The brunette teased lightly, placing his hands over Jamie's arm. The Prince place his hand over that of his fiance's, both smiling politely at Jack, who flinched a bit when they locked eyes for a moment.

Jamie turned his fiance, and said fiance did the same. "Jack wanted to give me the oppurtunity to thank him for earlier," he held Hamish's hand out. "so how about it?"

"I'd be honored," Hiccup held his other hand out to Jack.

Jack blinked. "Uh-hah... what?"

Jamie chuckled lightly. "I'm granting you his first dance this evening," he explained. "consider it my thank you. Be careful, he can be a bit clumsy." Hamish pouted at Jamie, and Jack had to catch his breath. The Prince led them to the dance floor. "Go on,"

"But I-I don't..." Jack trailed off as Hamish led the way.

They stood at that center, Hamish guided him to where to place his hands. They most just swayed and turned around every now and then. It was slow dance. At one point, Jack accidentally stepped on the Ambassador's foot. Hamish would've wince if Jack wasn't barefoot.

"Er, sorry," Jack hung his head. "I'm not invited to parties often."

Hamish chuckled once, shaking his head. "It didn't hurt, so no harm done." he said. "So, I heard all about this morning, first you tried to rob Jamie, and then you save his life."

Jack rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Uhm, well..." he shrugged, lost for words.

"So which are you," Hamish proceeded casually. "a thief or a hero?"

Jack was officially speechless. "Uhm..." he stopped dancing. Hamish looked at him confusedly. "If you'll... erm... just excuse me for a moment?" Without waiting for a response, Jack pushed pass the other guests and left Hamish on the dance floor.

Meanwhile, Toothless was in the middle of gobbling down every fish and food he sees while Daggur gathered every food that he sees.

"Eight months on the sea," Daggur spoke to a random guest from which he took some fruits from. The guest didn't look amused, more like repulsed trying to save his plate of fruits... or what's left of it. "with nothing but eggs and fish...?" he groaned, his eyes almost bloodshot. "you don't know what that can do to a guy." Then, Jack came walking towards them. Daggur moves back to stand beside Aster, who looked like he was warming up.

"Oh, it's almost too easy," Daggur said lowly, smirking. "...there's only a handful of guards."

Jack shook his head. "Forget it," he muttered, Aster and Daggur looked surprised. "let's get back to the ship." he pushed passed them and went straight for the exit.

"Just like that?" Aster looked incredelous. "But the bloody Book is almost ours." When Jack didn't respond, Aster and Daggur turned, only to see a brunette walking towards the Prince, shrugging his shoulders confusedly at him before Jamie led him to a dance.

Aster frowned in understanding, "Ohh Crikey,"

"What, who is he?" Daggur raised a brow, crossing his arms. "an old lover?" he smirked, eyeing up that mystery brunette.

Aster kept a straight face. "I'm afraid it's not that simple," he started to follow Jack, making sure Toothless and Daggur follows. "let's go."

Gobber was still in the middle of withdrawing his final weapon as Jack passed him. Then, Aster and the others made their way towards the entrance-exit.

"Gobber," Aster moved past him, followed by the Daggur and Toothless, an Icelandic cod at his jaw. "pack it up,"

Gobber looked up in disbelief. "What? I-I... I just put the..." he grunted in frustration, gathering up all their weapons and following them out.

Walking through the dark of dusk, they didn't notice the dark man on the roof. He chuckled lightly. "Oh, this is just too easy." he vanished into the shadows.

~o~

Jamie led Hamish out the open balcony overlooking the ocean and the darkening sky as the sun has finally set and auroras danced in the skies.

"Look at it this way," Hamish began, pulling Jamie closer to the railings. "now that Jack Frost is gone, your father can finally relax and enjoy the evening,"

Jamie had to chuckle at that. Hamish wasn't trying to be mean, he was just stating the facts. "Well, you're right about that." he looked out to the tower where the Book of Guardians was at. "He's trying not to show it, but he's so proud to have the Book in Burgess."

Hamish leaned forward against the railings, not letting his eyes drop from Jamie.

"He's been planning this day his whole life," Jamie continued, leaning his back against the same railings.

Hamish looked to his front for the moment. "And soon," he looked back to the Prince. "it will be your responsibilty," he smiled. "not that I'm trying to kill your father fast, or anything." he joked.

"You..." Jamie smirked, placing a hand against Hamish's back. "It'll be our responsibility." he reminded.

Hamish averted his eyes once more, a tight smile at his face. Jamie looked up the entirety of Burgess, Hamish looked forward, marvelling at the ocean and the sky above. He sighed longingly.

"It's beautiful."

Jamie seemed to agree. "It is," he said. "my father spent years preparing it for the Book." but maybe he was thinking of something else. Jamie went on. "There are guards on every level, and if you look up to the..." Hamish pulled away from the railings, Jamie noticed this and turned to his fiance, who smiled knowingly, crossing his arms. The Prince looked chagrined, he cleared his throat. "Ah..." he scratched his chin. "you were thinking about the ocean, weren't you?"

Hamish chuckled, moving to stand beside Jamie. "More like the world, really. Beyond Burgess shores, and its aurora lights." he admitted. "I only wish I'd seen more of it."

Jamie listened quietly.

"I used to imagine travelling beyond the Twelve cities," Hamish chuckled lightly, rolling his eyes. "discovereing the world." he looked back to the world in front of him. "Oh, just look at it Jamie. There's so much wonder," he sighed, rubbing his arm to keep warm.

Jamie approached him, taking his hands. "Hamish..." he led the younger boy to sit on a couch, and Hamish tore his eyes away from his daydream. Jamie gestured the Ambassador to sit down, and he did. "Our marriage was arranged years ago." The Prince got to his knees. Hamish watched him carefully. "yet it was never expected of me, father let me indulge in this desire since Sophie could just provide an heir to carry on after me. But while politics was not the reason that we'll be getting married, I still feel that you-" Jamie frowned for a moment. "Look, I don't want you to feel like you have to do this because of my being the Prince."

Hamish nodded slowly, not entirely sure where he was getting at, fiddling unconciously with his braid.

"I'm asking you for myself now, Hamish," Jamie placed his hands over, covering Hamish's with them, "will you marry me?"

Hamish smiled shyly to the young man in front of him. "Jamie, I..."

Then, King Manny steps in, and they are interrupted. "There you are!"

Jamie and Hamish got on their feet to turn to the King.

"I think the delegates from Dun Broch are trying to give a toast," Manny looked frazzled. "Although I'm not sure. They're doing something with their knees," he placed a hand on the Ambassador's shoulder. "Hamish, I need an Ambassador."

Hamish smiled politely, but spared Jamie a questioning look. The Prince nodded, and gave an expression that said we'll continue later. Hamish smiled at him, and turned to the King. "Of course, Sire."

~o~

Meanwhile, the at tower, something dark lurks about. A Guard was on duty, doing a round. When suddenly, a fire went out. He flinched, turning to the lie of smoke left.

"Huh?" The Guard brought out his sword and went closer to it. He thought it might just be a draft and sheathed his sword, approaching the Book, looking dow on it in wonder.

The Dark prescence continued to lurk, Pitch moving across the room through the shadows, he rises up from just behind the man and puts out two more lights. The Guard turned back, alarmed, but the Spirit disappears again.

"Who's there?" The guard hollered, not sensing the prescence at all. He got hissword out, waiting for an attack.

Pitch hides behind a pillar and creates a shadow silhoutte, he takes possession of it and Jack's appearance materializes. He took out the knife he took from the Captain earlier and came out of hiding.

The Guard turned and saw the intruder. "Jack Frost!" he charged.

The imposter deflected the blade, grinning as he pushed down against it. The Guard was surprise by the strength when the imposter punched him right at the face, knocking him unconcious instantly, sending him flying back.

The disguise vanishes and Pitch walked passed the man, dropping the knife beside him nonchalantly. "I love playing pretend," he went towards the stand, and took the Book, raising it above him. "All the Pieces are coming together!" He snaps the Book shut, there's a rumble, and Pitch disappears into the shadows, taking the Book with him.

A/N: I so wanted to write until the part Hiccup boards on Jack's ship, but it's 2:20 am right now and I'm very sleepy. So I have no choice but to leave it here. Chapter's long enough, I guess. So it's still satisfying. 3649 words so pretty good...