Chapter One:

It was the middle of October. Burgess was the perfect mix of warm and windy, and almost every house was decorated with skeletons or pumpkins.

Jack walked down the sidewalk, skipping every few steps. He swung a stick he'd found earlier, swiping it across the pavement. His hair tousled with the wind, and his backpack thumped rhythmically against his back.

The high school was closer to his house than the elementary school was, so Jack could always make it to the bus stop to pick up his siblings. That is, if he hurried and didn't get distracted.

He used to get distracted all the time. He and Hiccup got distracted with crazy engineering projects, or Merida challenged him to a race, or all three of them decided they had time to get milkshakes at Arendelles before the elementary school let out. Any of these times, Jack would find himself running not to miss the bus, and half the time, he'd find three unhappy siblings.

Nowadays he just left the school on time and got to the bus stop ten minutes early. Hiccup and Merida tried to do something, but Jack… never wanted to. At least, anymore. He was too busy to do much of anything.

The boy stopped skipping as he rounded the corner. As he watched the school bus pull up to the curb, he forced a smile onto his face.

A group of elementary schoolers staggered off the bus, all laughing and pushing each other as they talked. Jack watched them disappear down the street, then turned to see the final three climb down the steps.

Jamie leapt off of the bus and ran right for his brother, smiling widely. The spot where his front tooth would be was empty, the results from a stunt he pulled a few days ago. Behind him, Emma and Sophie dismounted more carefully. Emma's dark brown hair was pulled back with a dark red headband, and she clutched tightly to the ratty bag on her back. She shot an unimpressed look at her twin brother, but Jamie didn't notice.

Sophie strained against Emma's grip, trying to follow Jamie and run off. The seven year old's blonde hair had come loose from it's pigtails, and she hopped anxiously. Emma sighed and let her sister go, then stood next to Jack as the other two raced down the street towards home.

"How was school?" Jack asked, dropping his stick and looking down. Emma sighed again, readjusted her grip on her backpack and followed Jamie and Sophie.

"Anything interesting?" He tried again.

"Geography Bee," Emma said after a while. "We did the first round today,"

Jack had always been proud of his sister. Emma was the smartest kid he knew, but she also had the tendency to get wrapped up in the little things and get worked up. Right now, it seemed she was on the brink of one of her episodes. He pushed back his own thoughts, and smiled, grabbing Emma by the hand.

"Wanna race?"

The front door of the Overland house slammed open, and four people spilled inside, all laughing. Jamie and Emma pushed themselves out of the pigpile and headed for the kitchen, and Jack stood up to follow.

"QUIET DOWN!" A loud voice yelled from upstairs, followed by the loud thumps of heavy shoes hitting the steps. Jack waved sheepishly as his oldest sister glared at him from the landing.

"Sorry MJ," He grinned.

Emily-Jane, or MJ as she much preferred, was a tall and imposing figure. Her hair, a long black and mostly tangled mess, fell to her waist, usually with tiny flowers entangled in it. She had a habit of forgetting to brush it out every night, instead preferring to fall into her bed and sleep. Her eyes flashed angrily, but softened a bit as she glared at her brother. Compared to the rest of her brown eyed, brown haired family, MJ Overland gave off the impression of a long lost fae queen.

"I leave for work in half an hour," She finally said. "Mom's gonna be home, but she's gonna need sleep before she goes to work later,"

Jack nodded. It wasn't like he didn't know any of this. The Overlands did this every day.

"I need you and Goosie to make dinner, and I'll be back when it's done- Where's Goosie?"

Jack shrugged.

"Nightlight picked her up from school,"

MJ groaned in frustration, then disappeared up the stairs again. Jack got himself some juice from the kitchen, then made sure the others put their school stuff away before wandering out to the front porch.

Half an hour later, MJ ran out of the house and down the street (she hated all pollution types, plus the family only had one car) on her way to work. Jack waved lazily at her, but still devoted more attention to his glass.

He didn't know what was wrong with him. Usually, Jack wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go hang out with his friends, take his siblings to the park and climb all over the jungle gym, or even just devote a few good hours to video games.

Jack lay back onto the concrete stoop and closed his eyes. A few minutes later, a familiar car horn shook him out of his daydreams.

Katherine Overland climbed out of the passenger seat, waved excitedly at the driver, then walked towards her brother. Jack waved at the driver as well, watching Nightlight drive off.

"Have a good time with your boy-friend?" He snickered, watching Katherine's face go red. She whacked him on the back of the head with her ever constant notebook, then strode inside. Jack followed.

"Sorry Goosie," He apologized. "Not feeling great,"

Katherine shrugged. Jack felt instantly relieved. He hated making any of his sisters mad at him.

His sister had always loved books, and wanted to be a writer. Jack was the reason they'd started calling her Goosie, because he'd been unable to pronounce 'Katherine' and the young girl had a habit of lugging a giant 'Mother Goose' storybook everywhere she went. She'd grown out of that habit a long time ago, but Goosie stuck.

"What are we making for dinner tonight?" Katherine asked, nose in her notebook as she scribbled something down. Jack sat down on the counter, watching as she wrote.

"MJ said to do something with pasta,"

"I think we have a box of manicotti."

"Sure…" Jack mumbled, staring out the window wistfully. Katherine looked up expectantly, then noticed his mood.

"I'll make it." She said. "Go outside and do something,"

Jack looked up, face a mix of relief and surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Katherine smirked. "Go,"

Jack didn't even put shoes on before he ran out the back door. He hopped the back fence and ran right into the woods, following the path he'd carved through the trees years ago.

He wasn't as attached to the woods as Hiccup and Merida were. Those two could spend hours by themselves, just wandering among the trees. Jack was different. He liked people, but since every interaction left him drained and tired, he discovered he liked the woods a lot too.

Jack headed for a small clearing in the middle of the forest. There was a decent sized pond in the middle, and he liked to take the twins out when it iced over. Now, he made his way towards one of the tallest trees. Jack climbed it quickly, leaping from branch to branch with a practiced grace. He stopped near the top, and took another deep breath.

It was like flying.

He felt like he was at the top of the world. Jack felt his worries and sadness from earlier melt away, and he closed his eyes and enjoyed the wind blowing around him.

Up here it was just him and the sky, and it… didn't bother him. Usually, Jack hated to be alone. The twins had each other, Katherine was always out with Nightlight, MJ had her own friends, plus she was five years older than he was. That left Sophie or his mom. And Sophie was seven years old. Jack's mom… she wasn't home a lot.

And that left Jack all alone. Which was the reason he'd felt so down. He had his friends, but Hiccup and Merida also had each other. And Jack couldn't deny that his two best friends had gotten closer. And as much as he loved them, Jack felt alone. He felt empty. He felt…

Invisible.

Jack spent at least half an hour in the tree before climbing back down to the forest floor. He stretched and closed his eyes, turning to head back home when…

CRASH.

Jack hit the ground hard. He groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. The person he ran into did the same.

It was a girl. She had short choppy brown hair, and wore a loose jacket that swallowed her up. When they locked eyes, Jack noticed how green hers were. They were like bright emeralds against a washed out background.

"S-sorry," She mumbled, standing up quickly and brushing off her pants. "Didn't see you there."

Jack smiled, then stuck out a hand.

"Jack Overland," He said, introducing himself. "I didn't realize anyone else came through this part of the woods,"

"Oh," The girl said, then shook his hand quickly before stuffing hers back into her pockets. "I just moved here… went for a walk…"

"Liking Burgess so far?" Jack asked, somehow trying to keep the conversation going. The girl looked nervous, but nodded.

"Arian- I mean my Mom grew up here," She mumbled. Jack noticed that the word 'mom' sounded weird coming from her, like she hadn't said it a lot.

"Cool!" He replied. "My mom grew up here too! Her name's Olivia, maybe they used to know each other?"

"Uh… sure. Maybe," Mystery girl said, then took a few steps back. "Uh… look, I have to… go,"

"Oh," Jack said. "Goodbye then,"

The girl muttered a goodbye and left quickly. Jack watched her go, but couldn't help wondering if he'd see her again.

Authors Notes:

So this isn't related to my big Modern Au (which is planned but not posted), and its more of my original 'modern rotbtd'. In this version, Jack lived with his emotionally distant mother and took care of his three younger siblings (Emma, Jamie & Sophie). I've added two older sisters (Emily-Jane & Katherine), and taken away most of the other characters. Now it's basically a Jackunzel story, maybe with some background Merida & Hiccup.

This probably isn't my best written story, but its an idea I wanted to use and practice to see if I have the ability to finish a multi-chapter story? What I learned is that I need an outline to constantly check against and work with.

Anyways, I know this fandom is a bit of a ghost town, but its always made me happy, so review if you want, I'm not opposed to it.