A/N: One important thing to note for this chapter. Throughout all the crazy adventures the Big Four have been on, Rapunzel has learned how to better defend herself and use weaponry. Merida mainly teaches her since they have become best friends and visit one another all the time. She taught her how to wield a sword, handle knives, and is trying to teach her the bow but it doesn't stick with Rapunzel.
Also, I wanted her to have her long blonde hair again, so on one of the group's early adventures it grew back through mystical means.
(Though not quite as long as before, since she hasn't had another 18 years to grow it out)
Out on a vast green field, just beside the forests that spread far and wide across the land, Merida and Rapunzel spent time together during target practice.
"Oh, come now, just once more would ye?" The Scottish princess insisted.
"But I'm not good with the bow like you are." The blonde princess complained.
"Not yet no, but with practice-" she looked at her target board, every arrow hit the bullseye. Then she looked over at Rapunzel's board, all her arrows hit just about everything else but the target. "-a lot of practice. You can be just as good as me," she thought again, "half as good" and smiled cheekily.
"I think I should just stick to my new daggers," she pulled out a couple from her sleeve. "Daggers? But-" before Merida could finish, Rapunzel flung three at the target, two hitting the inner ring and one nailing the bullseye. She then leaned into Merida and with a teeth-full smile she said, "Sseeee?"
The redhead crossed her arms and proudly acknowledged her skill, "Not bad, Punzie."
"Totally beats a frying pan, am I right?" She joked while effortlessly balancing the tip of a blade on her index finger.
Merida laughed and playfully jabbed her arm, "You're right about that one."
Rapunzel rubbed the spot, for it actually hurt a bit. Then eagerly, "Hey, can I try hitting an apple off your head?"
"Wot!? No! Ye mad!?"
"Oh c'mon, it'll be really cool if I pull it off."
"Nae! It won't be so cool for me if yuh miss."
"But I'm sure I can-"
Merida put her arm around Rapunzel's shoulders and started walking her toward her tower, "How about we have ourselves a wee little feast first, then maybe I'll think about it…maybe."
She was a tiny bit bummed, yet remained cheerful, "Erm, okay! But you already ate so much back at the castle this morning."
"True," she said shamelessly. "But I'm still a bit hungry. I traveled a long way ta come visit yuh after all."
"And I'm so glad you did. It's always fun spending time together. Can't wait to show you what I've done with the place."
"Still can't believe ye go back to it. If I was locked up in a tower fer most me life, I'd never run back. I'd have the rotten thing crumbled to bits."
Rapunzel pondered for a brief moment as they kept walking down the path with luscious greenery all around them on the sunny afternoon.
"Well, some memories about it were sad, some even heartbreaking," she remembered being chained down by the evil woman whom she had thought, for years, was her mother. She also remembered Eugene dying in her arms in that very tower.
Rapunzel shook off those terrible memories and cheered up again, "But I did grow up there, it's not too far from Corona, and it's a nice place for me and Eugene to sneak off to when we want to spend some alone time together. A place that only we know about."
Merida nudged her, "Ooo, look at youu,"
She giggled, "Stop it,"
"Well Punzie, ah admire yer bravery. Can't wait ta see your tower, all renovated and sparkly and such."
The two best friends then darted their attention up to the sky at the sudden sound of flapping wings. They both squinted with their hands above their eyes, for the sun is directly hitting their faces.
"Is that?"
"Hiccup?"
Toothless let out a tired groan as they became fully visible and landed right in front of the two princesses, "Guys!"
"My gosh," Rapunzel covered her mouth in shock at the sight of the unconscious man behind Hiccup.
"Who's that?" Merida asked.
"I'll explain everything later. Right now, my friend's badly wounded so I came to the best healer I know." Hiccup hopped off and Merida helped him with the samurai.
"Lay him down on the grass over there," Rapunzel pointed them to the spot. Toothless laid on his side, exhausted. Hiccup and Merida placed the warrior gently on the soft grass.
"We flew a whole day straight to get here," Hiccup began as Rapunzel untangled her long silky hair and knelt down beside the man as Hiccup kept talking, "We were going to go to the castle, but luckily Toothless spotted you."
She placed her hands on the man's forehead and chest. Her hair began to glow gold as she closed her eyes.
Looking at all the severe wounds and damaged armor on the fallen warrior, even noticing how beat Hiccup and Toothless were, Merida asked vengefully, "Who did this?"
"That's kind of tough to answer actually, which is why I'll explain everything later—"
"—Susano!" the man answered faintly and started coughing uncontrollably.
"Please, just relax, you need to regain your strength." Rapunzel turned to her friends, "Let's get him inside."
A while later, Hachiman was recovering on Rapunzel's comfy bed, breathing slowly. His armor was removed. He was cleaned, bandaged, and tucked under the covers. The three young adults stood around him, having warm tea. Rapunzel sat on her patient's bedside and offered him a cup, "Drink this, it'll help." She moved the cup up to his mouth.
He took a sip, "Thank you..."
She wondered, "How come there was no blood on your wounds?"
"I don't bleed."
"Wot? Ye were stabbed straight through." Merida interjected. "How do yuh not-"
"He's a god."
The princesses looked at Hiccup with perplexed eyes.
"He's right," Hachiman stated.
The girls faced back to the recuperating deity.
"Being a god I shall be back on my feet quicker than any mortal, even faster now having been healed with your gifted abilities."
"Happy to help," Rapunzel nodded with a kind smile.
"So...god," Merida proceeded to bluntly ask. "Ye got a name?"
"I am Hachiman…"
"The god of war?" She guessed.
"More accurately the Patron of Warriors and Protector of Japan"
"What's Japan?" Rapunzel asked.
"It's a far away land to the southeast," Hiccup answered her. "Toothless and I came across it once. We discovered new dragon breeds down there."
"Yes, but I left my homeland to try and stop Susano…" He shut his eyes, "I failed..."
"We haven't failed yet. There are still three volcanoes left, right?" Hiccup reassured him.
Merida took a big gulp of her tea and planted her mug on the table beside her. "Okay, hold up just a minute there, lads. Wot volcanoes? Who's this Susano? Now is the time ta explain everything!"
Just outside the tower, Toothless chomped down on a pile of fish that Merida had caught for him. The two kingdom horses that brought the princesses out here stared at the dragon from a safe distance. Toothless looked over at them and puffed. The horses cowered behind a tree. Toothless smirked and went back to enjoying his fish.
Back inside the tower, Hachiman finished informing the girls everything that had happened. He explained who Susano and Kitsune were and the dire situation concerning the eight ancient volcanoes, each holding a severed essence of Kagutsuchi. The warrior also warned them of everything that will happen if the God of Fire is summoned.
Merida uttered his name in worried awe, "Kagutsuchi..." She then clenched a fist, "We cannot allow that beast ta rise!"
"But why does Susano want to do such a thing?" Rapunzel asked in a trembling voice.
The god went into more exposition, "With the Fire God, Susano will be able to take revenge on the Sun and Moon."
She still did not understand the motive. "Why would he want to take out our sun and moon?"
"Because they're gods too," Hiccup assessed.
"Yes, Amaterasu and her older brother...as you may guess, if the siblings are slain, it will not just affect your world, the entire universe will fall out of balance."
"Wow, no pressure or anything," Rapunzel nervously started playing with her hair.
Merida confidently stated to Hachiman, "No worries, lad. We'll help yuh prevent the end of times!"
"But if worse comes to worst," Hiccup brushed his chin to think, "I know a friend of ours that'll be handy in a fight against a fire god."
The three friends all smiled.
Rapunzel jumped with joy, "We're getting the group back together!"
"Wait, but Jack is off who-knows where. No one's seen him since the last time we all saved the bloody world."
Rapunzel's pretty green eyes lit up as an idea immediately came to her, "I know how we can find him! I'm good friends with his girlfriend's sister."
Both Hiccup and Merida snapped baffled looks at Rapunzel and exclaimed at the exact same time, "Jack has a girlfriend!?"