The Winter Servant

by Elphaba818

Jackson Overland was born a servant in the Arendelle castle, and he does a good job. The only problem? His uncontrollabe ice and snow powers. On the night of Queen Elsa's coronation, he accidentally sets off an eternal winter throughout the kingdom and runs away. But his little sister, the new queen, and some new royal friends are on a mission to bring him back home. RotBTFD story.

4. The Coronation Party

Finally, it's done...

I know that this chapter took me two weeks to write as opposed to just one, but I did warn you all before that I can't always promise weekly updates anymore. College and family life are distracting. I wish I could stay in front of my computer forever without having anyone interrupt me... But anyway, now we finally get to see Elsa crowned as the new queen of Arendelle in this chapter. It was a lot of fun writing the coronation scene itself and introducing the members of the Big Five to each other, but everything else in this chapter took me ages to write. This chapter is necessary for plot development and fleshing out some of the supporting characters in this story, but that doesn't stop it from dragging. At least in the next chapter, I will finally be able to start writing all my clever ideas for this AU story. I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapter! ;D

I'm kind of in a rush at the moment as I'm tired and want to go to bed as soon as I finish posting this, so I'm going to make this next part very brief. Again, this chapter is unbetaed at this time. Silken Danser will check in over very soon, and an updated version of it will be posted very soon. Please be patient until then.

And as usual, please let me thank the people who were nice enough to review the last chapter:

- Guest (In the future, please leave a name so I can properly acknowledge you in any future AU notes)

- Cloud4012

- Fangirl309

- XYZArtemis

Thank you for leaving me such nice reviews! Reading your comments always makes my day! So thank you! Thank you! I hope you will all review again for this chapter!

Please note: I do not own the movies Frozen, Rise of the Guardians, Brave, Tangled, or How to Train Your Dragon. Frozen, Brave, and Tangled belong to Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Rise of the Guardians and How To Train Your Dragon both belong to Dreamworks Animation. This is a fanfic made for fun, not profit!

I highly encourage all you readers to be kind enough to leave a wonderful review when you are done reading. Reviews inspire me to keep writing, so if you want to read another chapter, please leave me a little message telling me how much you love my story and wish to see it continue! :D

EDIT:

As of 2/27/17, this chapter has been edited by my beta reader Silken Danser. Other than a few tweaks here and there with grammar mistakes, pretty much everything is still the same.

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Chapter Four: The Coronation Party

Pitch Black smirked to himself as he stood in the shadows of the royal chapel's bell, chuckling a bit while he watched the noble visitors enter the holy building. He was beyond pleased. Today was the day he had spent the last ten years waiting for. Ten years he had been watching from the shadows as he haunted young Jackson Overland's worst nightmares, driving the poor boy to become all but terrified as he saw visions of himself harming and killing those that he kept dear to his heart with his dreaded ice magic. It had been all too easy to turn the once happy little boy who could smile, laugh, and make a game out of everything he came across into a psychological mess who spent his every waking moment living in absolute terror of what he could end up doing by pure accident thanks to his powers.

And now, it was time to reap the rewards of all his hard work.

There was no doubt whatsoever in Pitch's mind that today would finally be the day that Jack would snap.

For the first time in years, the boy was going to be exposed to hundreds more people than he had dealt with while working as a butler and shepherd here in the castle. The new queen was not only forcing Jack to carry a pillow with the royal orb and scepter without wearing his gloves, but also planned to make him act as a waiter at the coronation ball following the ceremony. That was a recipe for disaster if he ever heard one. If this teen boy could get through today without causing a scene, Pitch would be astounded. Magic of the caliber that Jackson Overland possessed was not meant to be restricted the way the boy's stupid parents and the previous idiotic monarchs had taught him to do. It was meant to be used freely and for the user to not be afraid of it.

Still, Pitch wasn't condemning those foolish adults for teaching Jack to be afraid of his magic.

Thanks to their ill-advised guidance, he, Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, was just about ready to strike back against the blasted Guardians and the rest of humanity.

His army of over a thousand beautiful black sand Nightmares were stronger than ever and were beyond eager to start obeying his orders in striking fear in the dreams of any adult or child they should come across. But more importantly, they were all hungry to join their master in the long-awaited battle between them and the do-gooder Guardians. Pitch could have easily started the war between himself and his arch rivals anytime in the past three years as he had more than enough Nightmares thanks to collecting so much fear from the ice-wielding boy, but Pitch was waiting for the perfect moment to finally strike.

And he believed that that day was today.

Pitch truly thought that something could happen today that would cause Jack to accidentally reveal his magic to the world and spark a mass panic among all the citizens in Arendelle, along with all the nobles visiting from other countries, but even in the very remote chance that that did not happen and the boy managed to hold it together, Pitch was through with waiting.

If Jack invoked fear in the people here in Arendelle with his control over ice and snow, it would be great news for him because the boy would only be adding extra fuel to the fire with all the fear he would siphon off from all the terrified humans, but that extra fear wouldn't exactly be necessary for him to finally put his plan of destroying the Guardians into action.

Pitch's thoughts were interrupted when he caught sight of the boy heading down the few short steps that led to the castle's main entrance, hurrying after the new queen, who was somewhat late for her own coronation.

Pitch's smirk only grew as he vanished completely into the shadows.

Even without trying in the slightest to instill fear in Jack, Pitch knew that the time for the boy to be able to keep safely suppressing his powers was at last at an end.

His plan to enact fear on the human race and to get revenge against the Guardians would commence at midnight, with or without the extra fear he wanted Jack to instill in people.

All the world would know fear once again, the likes of which hadn't been seen since he reigned as the world-wide ruler of all terror back in the Dark Ages!

Ah, yes. It would all begin very soon…

---

Jack kept his expression carefully blank and devoid of emotion as he followed Elsa out of the castle and through the courtyard toward the royal chapel. It was finally time. In a few minutes, he would know just how well he was at suppressing all feelings in order to block out his powers. If he managed to get through the entire walk through the chapel while holding onto the pillow with the orb and scepter without any ice or snow appearing, his secret was still safe, but should anyone else in the church catch sight of so much as a single snowflake, all his hard work in hiding his powers from everyone for the past ten years would go right down the drain.

He couldn't afford to screw this up.

Elsa happened to glance over her shoulder to see how Jack was faring, and upon catching sight of the rigidness in his expression, her face broke out into a caring smile. "Are you nervous?" she inquired.

Jack nearly tripped over his feet. He hadn't been expecting her to talk to him. At least not right now when she should be nervous about taking her vows as the next queen of the country.

"H-Huh?" he gasped.

"Are you nervous?" Elsa repeated. "You seem tense… Tenser than me, even! And it's my coronation day! Are you afraid you'll trip and drop the orb and scepter? You'll do fine, Jack!"

Jack forced himself to look rather sheepish as he shrugged. "I guess so… But you're right, Prin— I mean, just Elsa. I'll be okay though, don't worry."

"Good to hear it! I'll meet you inside, okay? I have to stand by Anna and the bishop in front of the altar."

"All right. Good luck, your highness. Today you make your parents proud."

Elsa's face all but glowed. "Thank you very much for saying that, Jack. I know… I know you must still feel hurt about your father leaving you all, but I believe that your mother is proud of you today, too. You are not just a servant to me and Anna, Jack. You're our dear friend, even though you're always so stoic all the time. And come tomorrow, all our lives are going to take a turn for the better! You and Emma will always have a home here in this castle."

Jack felt his stomach churn at those last few sentences. As much as he wanted to stay and live here in this castle and simply be Elsa's friend, even if he couldn't tell her how he really felt toward her, it was impossible. He was quitting tomorrow. End of story. He had already asked Kai the last time he went into the village to discretely ask around town to see if there was anybody way out in the forest that had a job and two rooms available for a teen boy of working age and a child who could start work in a few years. To Jack's immense relief, the fellow servant had found such a person. There were ice harvesters that lived out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains that were coming to the village next week to make a delivery, and they were apparently always looking for new employees. Convincing them to hire him when he had no choice but to bring Emma along with him would be the tough part, but he was sure that if he waved enough of the gold he had been saving up for the past few years in front of their noses, they would easily be persuaded to take him on even with Emma tagging along for the ride.

And best of all, they all worked with ice. If his powers should flare up while he did his job, no one would notice a thing because they were already surrounded by ice and snow.

He had a good plan.

He just had to deal with concealing his true feelings for one more day.

He could turn in his resignation notice and the crocus pin of servitude to Elsa first thing tomorrow morning and then take Emma along with their sparse belongings and the few things that remained of their mother's personal items to the village inn in town and simply hide out there until next week.

He would be okay.

He just had to make it through one more day.

"Thank you for your kind words," he said finally.

Elsa smiled happily. "You are very welcome, Jack. Don't drop the orb and scepter!" she jested with a laugh. And without further ado, she curtsied politely to the eldest Overland, and then entered the chapel right through the main entrance.

Jack took a deep breath for courage, and then made his way around the side of the building to enter the church through the side door that was the servants' entrance. Just as he was about to head on inside though, the wind suddenly whistled through the still air.

Jack…

Jack's hand hovered over the doorknob as a genuine smile spread across his face. The only friend that he had in the world had come to give him a much-needed confidence boost.

"Hey, Wind. Checking in on me?" he muttered under his breath. It didn't matter that everyone of importance was already inside. On the offshoot chance that someone happened to wander outside, he didn't want them to see him talking to the air and calling him insane in the head. But then again, maybe he was. No other normal person on earth had been born with unexplainable powers over ice and snow and found solace from his solitude from the wind, the one thing on earth that he couldn't hurt with his cursed magic. "Do you want to know if I'm good to go for today? I'm hoping that I am, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not…"

Jack… Run…

Jack blinked. That had been extremely random.

"Huh?"

Jack… You're in danger… You have to leave… Before you get hurt…

Jack had to absorb what the wind had told him for a full five seconds before he finally shook his head in disbelief.

"I think you've got that wrong, Wind. I'm not in danger from anyone. I'm a danger to everyone. I'm already planning to leave tomorrow, so don't worry. I've got it under control."

You don't understand… You must leave now!

Jack sighed. He wished he understood why the wind was always trying to persuade him to run as far away from Arendelle as he could. He enjoyed talking to the nonliving breeze, but he often got annoyed with how it continuously told him that he was in danger.

"I can't leave yet! I have to stay at least one more day! I… I want to see Elsa become the new queen! I owe it to her and Anna to stay until tomorrow! I'll be fine!"

Without waiting for the wind to respond, Jack seized hold of the doorknob and hurriedly entered the side entrance of the chapel. He couldn't think about leaving now. He was already anxious enough. He had to get through the ceremony without getting further riled up and potentially causing an accident.

Due to his and Elsa's delay in arriving at the chapel on time, many people were standing up and mingling about around the pews as they waited for the soon-to-be crowned queen and the royal orb and scepter bearer to arrive. However, Jack wasn't interested at all in the guests. His eyes were focused on where his little sister was standing. While waiting for her big brother and the crown princess to show up so the ceremony could officially begin, Emma and the rest of the servant children had wandered away from their designated seats in the back of the church and were instead chatting and laughing with three small redheaded boys that had seats near the altar, where they and the rest of their family could have a perfect view of the coronation as it happened.

Jack gulped. He really didn't want to have to push his way through people and risk them getting hurt by simply touching them, but he had no choice in the matter. He had to call Emma, Jamie and his sister Sophie, the twins Caleb and Claude, Pippa, Monty, and Cupcake back over here where they could watch the ceremony out of sight of the rest of the visiting royals and nobles. And Emma had to come and stand near him at the very back of the church so that when their cue came to bring forth the crown, and the orb scepter down the aisle to where the bishop, Elsa, and Anna would all be waiting for them, they wouldn't accidentally miss it.

Seeing no choice in the matter, Jack curled his gloved hands into tight fists to further ensure that nothing would happen and then began hurrying as quickly, but also as safely as he could through the crowd to make sure that he didn't accidentally touch anyone. It was rather hard considering that everywhere Jack turned there was suddenly another person standing right in his face that he was inches away from accidentally touching with his dangerous hands, but to the teenager's immense relief, nothing happened. He felt himself ease up a bit as he approached his sister and the other kids.

"Hey, what are you guys doing all the way up here?" he asked. "Emma? You're supposed to be standing next to me in the back of the church, and the rest of you should already be in your seats with your parents."

Upon hearing her big brother's voice speak up from somewhere behind her, Emma's face broke out into a great big smile as she whirled around to face him.

"Big Brother! Hi!" she happily chirped. "We know we were supposed to go right to our seats, but we saw kids our age here and we wanted to meet them!"

She gestured proudly to the three boys with the curly red hair that had joined the cluster of servant children. Jack recognized the boys' finely made tartan clothing that indicated the trio were of high ranking Scottish nobility, but he had no idea which of the Scottish clans they came from or what their names were. Still, he respectfully bowed to the three brothers. Though they were younger than him, they were still of a higher rank in life than he, Emma, and the other servant children were.

"A pleasure to meet you," he murmured quietly.

"Hi!"

"Hey!"

"Hello!"

The three boys all grinned cheekily and waved their small hands high over their heads as they waved to him.

"I'm Hamish! I'm the oldest out of the three of us!"

"Hubert! I'm the middle one!"

"And I'm Harris, the youngest!"

"And together—"

"—the three of us—"

"—are the three princes of Dunbroch!"

"We're triplets!" they finished together in perfect unison.

Jack blinked at the introduction, but managed to just nod politely at the three wild boys. Although he tended to avoid Emma and her friends as much as he could whenever he had his servant duties to attend to around the castle, he had seen the twins Caleb and Claude do the same thing to other people from time to time.

"Nice to meet you, your highnesses, but I'm afraid I have to escort my sister and the other children back to their seats," he said as politely as possible.

Hamish, Hubert, and Harris looked rather sad at that prospect while Emma and the rest of her friends looked annoyed.

"Huh? But why, Jackie?" she pouted. "We're having fun chatting with them!"

"Because, Emma, the ceremony is going to start any minute now since Princess Elsa just arrived," he explained. "Your friends all have to go sit with their parents, and you and I have to stand in the back of the church until our cue comes on."

Instantly, Emma's mopey expression brightened considerably.

"Oh! Okay! We'll all talk to you later, Prince Hamish, Prince Hubert, and Prince Harris! Bye!"

"Bye!"

"See-ya!"

"Good bye!"

Emma and her friends waved goodbye to their new friends one last time, and then obediently followed Jack out of the crowd of people towards the back wall where all the servants who had been allowed inside the chapel for the ceremony were standing.

"Good luck up there, Emma!" Jamie said cheerfully and with a rather toothy smile. "We're all rooting for you!"

"Yeah! Do your best!" claimed Pippa.

"Best! Best! Best!" giggled little Sophie.

"You're so lucky, Emma!" said Monty.

"We're all so envious—"

"—of your job today!" laughed Caleb and Claude.

"Make this a coronation to remember!" exclaimed Cupcake.

Emma smiled at all of them in return. "Thanks, everybody! I know I can carry that crown to Princess— Oops! I mean, Queen Elsa and the bishop, no problem! Just watch and see! It'll be a piece of cake!"

While Jamie and the others all laughed and tackled Emma in encouraging and friendly hugs, Jack stood sadly off on the sidelines, not daring to get involved in the hug or to even break it up. He tried to force himself to ignore the ache in his heart as he watched his little sister be hugged and encouraged to do well by Jamie and the rest of her friends, but it was hard. It was stupid of him to feel this way considering that he had to suppress all emotion whatsoever in order to keep his cursed ice and snow powers safely hidden from everyone, but he couldn't help but feel somewhat jealous of Emma right now. He had not dared to so much as touch anyone since he was twelve-years-old, much less hug or be hugged by anyone. He missed what it felt like to be hugged and cheered up by someone he cared about.

He was starved for comfort, but he didn't dare try to alleviate his yearning.

Being near other people at close range was far too dangerous.

Jack was interrupted from his thoughts though when the choir director standing on the second level of the church suddenly began tapping his baton on the edge of his music stand, and the choir overhead slowly started to sing in a soft, holy hymn all in Latin. Immediately, everyone who had been standing and talking to one another in loud voices all over the chapel quickly quieted down as they took their seats. Emma hurriedly broke away from her friends and moved to stand beside her big brother as the rest of them scrambled to stand beside their parents, but Jack barely paid this any attention, as his eyes were focused solely on the bishop in the front of the church as he began to speak to everyone.

The coronation had officially begun.

If someone asked Jack to tell them about the coronation for the new Queen Elsa from beginning to end, it would have been impossible for Jack to respond to them, because all throughout the beginning of the ceremony, as the bishop spoke to the audience and read out a few holy verses from the bible, Jack wasn't even listening. He had zoned out of reality during the first fifteen minutes of the historic event as his only focus was on keeping his ice powers under control, which was proving very difficult since he was feeling so many different emotions at the moment.

Worry about what might happen the second he took off his gloves.

Fear of what he could do if his powers spiraled out of control.

Excitement over the fact that he was lucky enough to be at a coronation at all, considering his station in life.

Happiness for Elsa that today was the day all her dreams would come true.

It was so hard to keep himself in his usual numb and blank state, and he had to bite down extremely hard on his tongue to stop himself from repeating his usual mantra of 'conceal, don't feel' out loud for all to hear.

It wasn't until the doors to the side room near the back of the church opened that Jack tuned back in to what was going on, as he and just about every other head in the chapel quickly turned to look around. There stood Elsa, looking ever so regal and elegant in her teal blue gown and majestic purple mantle trailing after her on the floor as she appeared at the end of the aisle, smiling happily at all the foreign dignitaries that had come to witness her be crowned as queen. She was followed closely behind by Anna, who seemed to be a great, radiant ball of energy compared to her queenly elder sister, and she smiled wholeheartedly as she followed Elsa at a respectable pace down the aisle.

Everyone who saw the two sisters couldn't help but smile in delight. Elsa and Anna were not only visions of loveliness today, as dressed up as they were in their coronation gowns, but they both appeared to be kind and friendly young girls just judging by their matching, glowing smiles. Although no one there knew either of them yet due to how the Arendelle castle had been locked up tight for the past decade, if Elsa and Anna were as warm and caring as they appeared to be right now, then this country was definitely in good hands.

Elsa would make a wonderful queen, and with her charming young sister Anna as her trusted right hand, there would be nothing to fear for the future of the kingdom of Arendelle.

When Elsa and Anna finally reached the bishop in front of the altar, there was a momentary delay in the ceremony when Anna unexpectedly turned and hugged her elder sister with all her might as tears glistened in her eyes. Elsa was obviously surprised, judging by the expression on her face, but then a smile spread across her lips as she hugged Anna back just as tight. Many in attendance couldn't help but chuckle a bit when they saw the two sisters hug. There was no doubt whatsoever in any of the visitors' minds that the new queen and the young princess loved each other with all their hearts. They were, after all, the only immediate family that they had left – not including the Coronan royals of course who they hadn't seen face to face since they were both very small children.

Speaking of the Coronan royal family, Rapunzel was watching with stars in her eyes as her two cousins reluctantly parted from their hug and then focused in on the bishop as he began reciting the vows that Elsa would have to swear to abide by during her reign as the new queen. She never imagined that her cousins Elsa and Anna would end up being so beautiful.

"The one in the blue is Elsa, right, Mother, Father?" she quietly whispered. "And the one in the green is… Anna, I think you said her name was?"

"Yes, the one in the green is Anna," said Queen Arianna rather absentmindedly, as her thunderstruck eyes were focused on her two nieces. Or rather, they were zeroed in on Elsa in particular, and she had great difficulty hiding her shock. "But the other one? I can't believe that's Elsa!"

Even King Frederic looked astounded as he watched Elsa recite the sacred oaths back to the bishop. "I agree… She looks so different!"

Rapunzel's brow furrowed in confusion. "Different?" she questioned.

"Queenie's supposed to be a brunette," Eugene whispered, he too looking rather puzzled as he watched on. "But… she's not. She's got platinum blonde hair… Did she dye it? And does the princess dye that one strand of her hair white, too? She's supposed to be all red-head…"

Rapunzel's confusion only grew. Were her parents and fiancé telling the truth when they said didn't fully recognize her two cousins? And what about Eugene? Her mother and father saying that they didn't recognize Elsa and Anna was one thing, as they had met both of them back when the Arendelle castle gates were open all the time. But Eugene? How did he know all of this? The golden-haired princess with the longest braid imaginable desperately wanted some answers to these questions, but she knew that now was not the time to ask. The coronation was still going on. She would have to ask about it later.

But the Coronans weren't the only ones who were speculating about the noticeable difference between Elsa and Anna. So were the royals and nobles from Dunbroch.

"Those lasses look mighty different from one another, I say!"

"They got the same blue eyes, but that's where the similarities end…"

"The second-born girl looks more like she's the one with the Arendelle royal blood, not the first-born…"

"Aye, the princess looks like a perfect mixture of her father and mother, but the queen? She doesn't look a thing like her so-called father…"

"Fergus! My lords! Please! Quiet down!"

"Our apologies, your majesty…"

"Aye. Sorry, Elinor…"

Merida wished her mother hadn't told her father and Lords Malcom, Duncan, and Ewan to shut up, and a quick look out of the corner of her eye told her that her little brothers and the lords' sons wished that she hadn't either.

Because quite frankly, her father and the leaders of the three other noble clans in her kingdom were correct.

The new queen and the princess of Arendelle couldn't look more different from one another.

She tugged at the wimple covering her hair as she watched the new queen and the princess separate from their hug and then move into position before the bishop so that the platinum-blonde could recite her vows as the ruler of the realm. Was this some kind of joke? There was no way that this Elsa girl could really be the late King Agnar's daughter. The daughter of the late Queen Idun? Yes. Definitely yes. Her face was all but a mirror image of the previous queen. But the king? Elsa didn't look a thing like him…

Was this girl really the eldest daughter of the king? While it was true that Merida and her little brothers Hamish, Hubert, and Harris didn't look a thing like their mother, they still resembled their father who was the true leader of Dunbroch, even if their mother was the one who kept the kingdom from falling into political upheaval. Since the four royal children took after their father so much, no one doubted their claims to the throne of Dunbroch.

But this Elsa?

Was it possible that she didn't even have a claim to the throne of Arendelle?

The moment Merida thought this, she immediately knew she could never so much as whisper this thought out loud. She might not know Elsa or Anna at all, but she certainly did not want to be the one to throw the theory into the air that it was possible that the new Queen Elsa was not really the daughter of King Agnar, but the daughter of Queen Idun and some other unknown man.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the church, there was much less of a commotion being made about what Elsa and Anna looked like from the Viking visitors, because despite the many different Vikings that had come all the way to Arendelle to help secure the alliance that they wished to create with the new Norwegian queen, only three had elected to come inside the chapel and witness the coronation ceremony take place. This was because, for one, Vikings didn't believe in the same gods that the rest of Northern Europe did, so being in a place like a church naturally made them uncomfortable. The second reason was the fact that very few of them were willing to spend more time than needed under the same roof as the royals and nobles from Scotland. So only Hiccup, Stoick, and Astrid had taken seats in one of the church rows. Gobber would have come, but thanks to his peg leg and wooden interchangeable hand, he attracted a lot of stares from the rest of the guests, so everyone agreed that it would be best if he waited with the rest of group near the castle until the ceremony was over and the party afterwards began.

"They seem close, the queen and the princess," Hiccup noted, watching how Princess Anna discretely waved one of her hands and smiled encouragingly to her elder sister as the bishop continued speaking in Latin, and Elsa was tuning out the holy man for a moment so as to try and hide a snicker as she smiled back at her little sister.

"Yes, they're certainly very nice looking girls," Stoick agreed.

"But they don't look all that much alike," Astrid muttered under her breath. "Didn't Fishlegs say on the way here that the last king had red hair and the queen was a brunette? Where did the older one get her blonde hair?"

Hiccup shrugged. He honestly had no idea. It was a curious thing that the new queen's hair color was very different from both her parents and her little sister, but that was all that it was. A curiosity. It was none of his business why Elsa was apparently a platinum blonde. It didn't affect his or his people's reasoning for coming to this coronation to secure a trade alliance with Arendelle in the slightest.

Jack, however, was completely unaware of the various speculations about Elsa's hair, as his eyes and ears were focused only on the bishop, as he finally finished having Elsa swear her vows before him.

It was time.

With a small gulp, he motioned for Emma to follow him as he moved to where the beautiful, emerald green pillows with gold designs at the edges had been sitting on a side table near the end of the aisle. On top of each of them were the three coronation objects that had to be given to Elsa so she could officially be named queen.

The tiara that Elsa was to be crowned with was made of pure gold, and looked more like an ornamental hair comb rather than an actual crown. It had several jagged structures that stuck straight up in the air and surrounded the one big and bright gem that had been embedded into it: a lone diamond cut sapphire that sparkled in the light from the stained-glass windows that lined the walls of the cathedral.

The crown was beautiful, no doubt about that, but Jack paid the crown little mind as that was what Emma was supposed to be carrying down the aisle. His attention was focused more on the royal orb and scepter on the pillow next to the golden tiara.

Like Elsa's crown, the royal orb and scepter were both made out of pure gold lined with diamond shaped sapphires around the middle. There were intricate designs of vines around the base of both regal objects, but the most prominent feature upon them was the golden crocus flower that had been carefully fused to the top of them. It wasn't all that surprising, considering that the crocus flower was the emblem of the Arendelle royal family, but just that added touch of the flowers upon both objects made the orb and scepter look even more majestic and stunning.

Emma didn't notice Jack's apprehension as he stared down at the coronation items, and she smiled happily up at him as she collected the plush green pillow with the tiara. "I'm so excited, Jackie! This is our big moment!" she whispered excitedly.

Jack just vaguely nodded in her direction, not even really hearing what it was she said. He was far too nervous to listen to her excited jabbering.

He couldn't do this.

Not without his gloves.

He had to keep them on.

If anyone bugged him later about breaking the standard servant coronation protocol after the ceremony, he would just play dumb.

He just couldn't do this without his gloves.

Jack attempted to reach for the edges of the pillow and carry it along with the orb and scepter down the aisle as though nothing was wrong, but a small tap on his shoulder from the fellow castle employee Gerda quickly stopped him.

"Jackson? The gloves," she quietly reminded him.

If it weren't for the two facts that, one, feeling any type of emotion made his powers shoot out uncontrollably and, two, this was the middle of the Arendelle royal cathedral where Elsa's coronation as queen was currently taking place, Jack would have screamed, "God dammit!" Now he couldn't even play dumb about his gloves! He had no choice. He had to carry the pillow barehanded and simply hope that nothing happened with his powers.

Pausing for a moment to take a deep breath for some desperately needed self-confidence, Jack glanced down at his white gloved hands. For ten years, the only time he dared to remove his gloves from his hands was when he bathed or simply needed to grab a different pair from the drawer in his bedroom if the pair he had been wearing needed to be washed or somehow wound up with a hole. And during the instances he had his gloves off his hands, he was always quick to replace them as fast as possible, making sure to touch absolutely nothing with his bare hands except the fabric of the gloves themselves. Other than those times, he always made sure to keep his gloves on.

He mentally prayed to whatever gods or spirits might be watching over him right now that he could get through the next thirty seconds without causing the pillow and the royal orb and scepter to be encased in huge blocks of freezing cold ice. And then, very slowly, Jack gently pulled off the pair of white gloves, and crammed them into the pocket of his green servant jacket.

There was another somewhat lengthy pause as Jack willed himself to believe that everything would be okay, and then he ignored his shaky fingers as he gently picked up the emerald green satin pillow before turning and nodding to Emma to go ahead and start walking down the aisle between the rows of visiting royals and nobles.

Emma beamed happily at everyone in the church as she all but skipped down the aisle right beside her big brother, and many of the guests couldn't help but smile and laugh a bit at her sweet and playful nature as they watched her carry the queen's tiara, but Jack was the exact opposite of his little sister. His expression was as solemn as a statue as he slowly walked down the aisle right next to Emma, carefully balancing the orb and scepter on the pillow in his hands. No one thought much of his behavior in the slightest, as they all automatically assumed that he was rather nervous about doing his one duty well during the coronation.

But in actuality, they couldn't be further from the truth.

Jack had a good firm grip on the pillow and wasn't worried in the slightest about accidentally dropping it or of the gold coronation items slipping and sliding off the green material.

What Jack was worried about was the fact that he could feel his fingers turning ice cold thanks to his anxiety.

Jack never knew what true pressure felt like until right then, forcing himself to keep a relaxed and monotone expression whilst taking slow and deliberate steps as he kept the pillow raised at a respectable height andwalked through the church beside his ignorant little sister to where Elsa, Anna, and the bishop were standing. Because inside, Jack was on the verge of a full-scale panic attack. He would have gladly traded away his soul at that moment just for all this to be over.

He wanted to drop the pillow and run right out of the church, hoping like hell that no ice appeared from either his hands or his boot-clad feet as he did.

He wanted to run right up the aisle, shove the pillow with the orb and scepter into the bishop's awaiting hands, and hastily yank his gloves back on his hands.

He wanted to just hand the pillow over to Emma to juggle along with her pillow with the tiara and just vanish safely back into the throng of servants standing in the back of the church, staying as invisible as possible in the crowd.

He wanted…

He wanted…

He wanted to be normal.

He wanted to stop worrying about his magic and take the time to relish in the significance of this moment.

The princess he had been friends with his entire life and started to secretly love for the past few years was finally becoming the queen. He wished he could just be a normal boy for one moment so he could at least be able to smile at Elsa. Oh, what he wouldn't do just to rid himself of his cursed magic…

The thoughts swirled about around inside his head, and they made Jack feel so miserable and anxious, he suddenly noticed that the very edges of the pillow near his fingers were suddenly gaining a small, barely noticeable covering of cold frost. No one else seemed to notice however, considering that the frost patterns were hardly there, but for a boy who had trained himself for the last ten years to become panicked whenever he saw himself create so much as a single snowflake by pure accident, the icy designs stood out like a sore thumb on the satin green pillow.

His hands began shaking as he gripped the pillow tightly. Don't feel… Don't feel! Just a few more short feet across the expanse of the aisle and he would be done. Only a few more feet left to cross!

Step. Step. Step.

Breathe…

Step. Step. Step.

Breathe…

Step. Step. Step.

Breathe…!

It was a walk to remember for the terrified Jackson Overland, but finally, he and Emma were at last in front of Elsa, Anna, and the bishop. Jack didn't hesitate to hurriedly place the pillow with the orb and scepter on top of the altar before sidestepping out of the way to make room for Emma to set the pillow with Elsa's crown down next to it while he scrambled to get his gloves back on his hands. There was still a bit of frost coating the rim of the pillow, but it was so miniscule, one would have to be looking for it to even notice it was there.

It wasn't until he had his gloves safely back on his hands that Jack let out a deep sigh of relief.

He had done it.

He had carried the orb and scepter on the pillow barehanded without anyone suspecting a thing about his powers.

He was safe.

Thank the heavens!

Jack exhaled in relief as Emma set down the pillow with the tiara on the altar, and then the two siblings bowed and curtsied to Elsa and Anna before moving out of the way and off toward the wall on the right, where there were other castle servants watching from the sidelines. Emma was still a bouncing ball of energy as she stood beside her big brother while watching the bishop pick up the gold tiara and place it gently on Elsa's head, and even Jack couldn't help but smile a bit as he watched Elsa be officially crowned. He was still a bit nervous to be around so many people that he could possibly hurt with his powers, but even so, he was glad he was here. He was so happy and relieved that he hadn't ruined this moment for Elsa, the moment she had been waiting for since the day she was born.

Elsa smiled proudly as she rose from the semi-bowed position she had bent down into so the bishop could place the crown on her head. Then the holy man reached over to collect the pillow with the royal orb and scepter, only to instantly recoil back as soon as he touched it.

Elsa, Anna, and just about every other person in the church other than Jack was immediately puzzled by his reaction.

"Your excellency?" Elsa whispered, clearly confused by his actions.

The bishop rubbed his hands together for a moment before collecting the pillow and then turning to her.

"My apologies, your majesty. The pillow was simply colder than I expected," he replied in a low voice.

Elsa discretely nodded in response before casually removing her gloves so she could hold the rod and orb barehanded. It was tradition, after all. All new monarchs in Arendelle must hold the golden scepter and orb with their bare hands as they were officially named the new king or queen regnant.

As Jack watched her take off her cyan blue gloves without batting an eye, he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit jealous. Sure, the rules for the coronation weren't Elsa's rules and she had no control over traditions that had been put in place for who knows how many centuries during coronations, but even so… she had no worries whatsoever when it came to taking off her gloves so she could touch things.

To Elsa, gloves were nothing more than a fashion accessory for today.

But for Jack, gloves were a means of concealment that kept everyone else in the world safe from him.

Jack knew that him feeling this way was rather ridiculous and it wasn't her fault that he had been born with this horrible magic, but still… she could touch the same objects he had a few moments ago without feeling any fear or anxiety. It just wasn't fair…

All of a sudden, Jack felt frost developing inside the confines of his gloves, and even his feet were becoming progressively colder inside his leather boots, and he quickly forced away all thoughts of his momentary envy for Elsa out of his mind. Despite his newfound, slight jealously toward the new queen, he was still in love with her. He wouldn't ruin her coronation. He wouldn't!

Jack had barely managed to become an empty doll once again before Elsa was gathering up the golden orb and scepter in each of her hands, and was turning in place to face everyone watching her. It was obvious that she was nervous, as the smile on her face was very rigid and her hands were shaking a bit as she clutched the royal orb and scepter, but she had been trained for this moment her entire life, and she maintained a regal and dignified appearance as everyone in attendance who had been sitting in the pews quickly stood up in respect.

"Sem hon heldr inum helgum eignum ok krýnd í þessum helga stað ek té fram fyrir yðr... Queen Elsa of Arendelle!"announced the bishop.

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" Jack shouted out along with the rest of the crowd as thunderous applause echoed throughout the church.

Elsa's nervous smile on her face instantly relaxed as a genuine smile appeared instead. Her eyes met Anna's for a moment as she instead began smiling at her, but then turned back around to set the orb and scepter back on the pillow that the bishop was still holding before casually slipping her gloves back on. Then, she turned back around, and smiled kindly at the still happily cheering crowd.

At last, it was all over.

The Crown Princess Elsa was now and officially Queen Elsa.

Elsa was finally the queen.

Despite Jack's terror of possibly hurting others with his ice and snow should he get too emotional, for once he permitted himself to forget all about his cursed powers and simply allowed himself to feel overjoyed for his secret crush. He was beyond happy for her. He was proud to finally be able to declare to the world that Elsa was the queen of his country. She would lead Arendelle with grace and wisdom. She would be the greatest queen in the history of their kingdom, no doubt about it.

As he continued to cheer and applaud for the brand new monarch, Elsa's eyes swept across the room as she smiled kindly to everyone, but then her eyes happen to lock onto his, and for a short moment, time seemed to stop for Jack. His heart began thumping madly in his chest as he fought the urge to blush. He couldn't let himself feel embarrassed by her sudden attention to him. He just nodded cordially back to her with a polite smile on his face, unwilling to risk doing anything further. He was standing too far away to be able to get a good look at her facial expressions, but for a fraction of a second, Jack could have sworn that he saw flickers of disappointment appear in Elsa's eyes at his simple courteous nod to her for choosing to smile at him of all people. Before he could confirm it though, her whole-hearted smile returned to her face, and she looked away from him to keep smiling at the rest of the crowd still clapping for her.

Guilt tore through Jack's heart like a knife. He must have really hurt Elsa's feelings this time. He knew he would have been hurt if he was in her place. He was only thinking about everyone's safety when he just nodded politely to her, but in Elsa's eyes, his dismissal of her kind smile must have been highly offensive. Out of all the people the eldest daughter of King Agnar could have looked at, she had looked at him in that moment, wanting to see whole-hearted smiles of congratulations, but he had not fulfilled that one desire.

Jack clenched his hands into tight fists to suppress his powers as a wave of sadness washed over him.

He could live with the fact that his stupid powers made him miserable.

But they indirectly made the people who he cared for miserable, too.

---

Hours ticked past for Jack as Elsa and Anna made an appearance down in the village directly after the ceremony to greet the small folk population as well as appear before the number of visitors from Corona, Dunbroch, and Berk who didn't attend the crowning due to possibly overpopulating the chapel. Everyone who saw the new queen and the princess applauded happily as the sisters worked together to plant a new sapling for hope in the center of the city square just like how their mother would plant one at the beginning of the Spring festival before the gates were mysteriously closed.

"A new tree for a new beginning of this kingdom," Elsa declared after she and Anna had finished packing soil together around the tiny sprout. "May this be a symbol of new hope for this country. From this day forward, Arendelle shall no longer be closed off to the rest of the world. We shall welcome people from other countries with open arms and a wish for both peace and prosperity."

Thunderous applause from both the peasants and nobles followed her short speech.

There was a new queen sitting upon the throne.

One that wished to end the isolation of the castle and instead allow people to come back inside the castle gates.

It was everything that both the common people and the royals from other kingdoms had wanted for many years now.

Everyone was so happy.

Everyone that is, except Jack.

Jack was miserable as he, along with some other servants like Kai and Gerda, skipped the symbolic planting of the new tree in town as they instead finished up a few last-minute preparations for the grand ball that was going to be held in the Great Hall directly afterwards. Even though most of the servants were disappointed to be missing this special event in town, most of them shook aside their feelings and instead chatted amongst themselves about how wonderful and fun things were going to be here in the Arendelle castle thanks to Elsa and Anna's decision to overrule the late King Agnar and Queen Idun's decision to seemingly lock the castle gates forever. But Jack did not join in on the merry conversations as he helped set up trays of delicious foods and exquisite wines on the large buffet tables situated against one of the walls of the decadent ballroom. He just tried to stay invisible in the shadows as he did his duties.

He didn't want to think about the open gates.

The open gates meant that he had to leave this place.

This castle was the only home he had ever known, but he didn't have a choice.

It wasn't safe for him to be around mass quantities of people.

He was forbidden to be allowed to experience fun, because having fun meant feeling emotions.

Tonight would be the one-time exception to being around people, though.

He was still technically a servant here in the castle until he handed in his resignation notice tomorrow, and because he couldn't get out of unfortunately acting as a waiter for the party tonight, he would have to be in here.

He could hang in there and keep his powers under control for a couple more hours.

He knew he could.

And so, while some of the servants like Emma and Jamie and the other servant kids watched excitedly as the festivities outside commenced, and other servants like Kai and Gerda talked and laughed happily about how wonderful things were going to be in the castle as they finished up the preparations in the Great Hall, Jack kept his head down and his mouth shut as he did his duties. He would stay as silent as possible tonight. He would stay on the sidelines of the Great Hall as he carried his glasses of wine on a tray. If he was lucky, he would stay invisible to the rest of the world and none of the guests would ask him to refill their drinks. He just had to stay positive.

It was early evening when the festivities outside ended and the preparations inside the castle were complete, and that was when the nobility started entering the castle.

To avoid detection and conversation with anyone, Jack pushed a somewhat off center bust of a long-deceased king of the country into its proper place on a stand, and watched happily as the empty wall beside it swung open. He slipped inside and hastily shut the wall behind him, determined not to go back out again until he was one hundred percent positive that the vast majority of the guests were out of the hallway and inside the Great Hall. Back when he was really little and before his magic accident involving Elsa, Anna, and Emma, discovering all the secret passages in the castle had been a great way to spend his time. He would spend hours pressing his small hands against random stones in the walls and fiddling with trinkets that lined the end tables in the various corridors, all in hopes of finding a loose stone to push or a trinket on a pressure plate or lever that would open a secret hallway in the wall, or maybe make a trapdoor with a ladder appear from the ceiling. In the many years that he had lived in the castle, he had discovered some hidden locations that he doubted even King Agnar and Queen Idun had known about, judging by how dusty and cobwebby they were. But after his accident, the secret passageways became a means of sanctuary for Jack. If there was ever a time while he performed his servant duties that he knew he was about to lose control of his magic and was nowhere close to his bedroom to hide away in for a while, he would instead find one of the many secret areas in the castle and would let his magic loose in there. Or sometimes, he would hear either Elsa, Anna, or Emma coming down a hallway looking for him during one of his vulnerable moments, so instead of allowing one of them to confront him, he would duck into a hole in the wall and remain as quiet as possible until he was certain they were gone.

And now, the secret passages were a way for Jack to hide until everyone was inside the Great Hall so he wouldn't be seen. He couldn't afford to attract anyone's attention. He needed to remain as invisible as possible during the party tonight. The less people saw him as he did his job as a waiter, the safer everyone would be.

As he waited quietly inside the darkened passageway lined by rough and uneven stone walls, Jack thought back to what the wind had whispered to him earlier this morning.

"I'm in danger…? Who the hell am I in danger from…?" he muttered.

Jack was used to the wind telling him by now that he ought to leave Arendelle castle and that there was something evil coming after him, but he had always assumed that his talks with the wind were just figments of his imagination he had made up in order to give him some form of a companion during his years of isolation from both the princesses and his little sister. But before today, the wind had never sounded so desperate for him to listen to it. Like it honestly was trying to tell him that something dangerous really was just around the corner and was trying to kill him…

Jack honestly didn't know what to make of this. The wind obviously wanted him to leave the castle immediately and just bolt. To where, Jack didn't know, but the wind was telling him to just drop everything and run. But why? Why now? Why on the day of Elsa's coronation? Why before the day that he was planning to quit his work here in the Arendelle castle anyway and take Emma with him to go work as an ice harvester? It was all so strange…

There were only two things that Jack was absolutely certain of when it came to the imaginary voice in the breeze.

One, despite the fact that the voices he heard in the air currents could very well be proof that he was quite possibly not right in the head, Jack knew without a shadow of a doubt that the wind was his friend. Just like how he could never hurt it, it would never try to hurt him, and it wasn't trying to be weird when it told him to leave Arendelle and run away. It was trying to help him.

And two, when the wind told him to run, it wasn't telling him to bring Emma with him when he left Arendelle.

It wanted him to run and leave her behind.

And Jack didn't know if he could do that.

He knew Emma had to stay safe and be protected from him, but she was still his little sister! If he did what the wind asked and left her behind here in the castle when he ran away… that would make him no different from his god damn father. True, Tobias had technically been banished from the kingdom by Agnar and Idun after it was discovered that he was beating him, but even so… Tobias got fed up with dealing with his powers and had initially planned to leave the family anyways…

Jack didn't want to be anything like his father.

He didn't want to be anything remotely similar to the asshole who beat his helpless son just because he couldn't control his cursed ice and snow magic.

In fact, after being afraid of hurting others with his powers, being a monster like Tobias Overland was what Jack was terrified of the most in this world.

So long as he lived and breathed, he would not hurt other people.

Not with his horrible magic, and certainly not with his fists.

After a short time, the noise in the hallway died down, and Jack took that as a sign that most of the castle guests had finally finished assembling inside the Great Hall. The dark-haired teen took a deep breath for courage, and then pushed open the hatch in the wall to go back out into the hallway before heading inside the beautifully decorated ballroom.

As he suspected, most of the guests were inside already as he quietly slipped in, and they were already mingling amongst themselves as they either danced or listened to the orchestra that had been hired for the night play a fast-paced melody, so nobody saw him enter. Elsa and Anna weren't in attendance yet, so the party had yet to officially start, but that didn't stop people from enjoying themselves even so. As he stuck to the walls of the room while making his way toward the refreshment table to grab a tray with some glasses of wine to carry as he was supposed to, he spotted Emma chatting and laughing with Jamie and the rest of her friends. They were also chatting with those three red-headed triplet princes from the Scottish country of Dunbroch, and all of them were standing near the visitors to Dunbroch, were waiting to see the arrival of the new queen and the princess. While the king and queen of Dunbroch were chatting happily with the leaders of the three clans, the princess looked rather irritated as she tried to put up with the sons of the clan leaders, not that any of the three boys even realized that they were annoying her. But the princes seemed to be having the time of their life as they chatted and laughed with Emma and the rest of her fellow servant children friends. Despite the difference in their social standing in life, and the fact that the princes were from a whole other country, they all seemed to be having a lot of fun together.

Jack fought the urge to smile when he saw his sister having fun. He was glad she was happy. He really was, but it was painful for him to see her enjoying herself with both her old friends and new friends, when he knew that come tomorrow, she probably would never see any of them again. As soon as the party was officially over and Emma was fast asleep, Jack intended to start packing up as much of their stuff as soon as possible so that they could flee the castle at the earliest opportunity. If he was lucky, he would be done before dawn and they could leave by tomorrow afternoon. So long as he only packed essentials and a few precious mementos of their mother that neither of them could live without, it was entirely possible that he could be done by dawn.

There was no law that prevented him from quitting his work in the palace, after all, so it wasn't like Elsa and Anna could force him to stay here.

He just had to get through this party, and he would be home free.

No one would know anything about his horrible magic.

No one would know what a monster he truly was when he didn't wear his precious gloves.

Jack stood off on the sidelines with his tray and watched both Emma and the rest of the castle guests all enjoy themselves for a short time, but then Kai stepped forward until he was standing right in front of the small platform where the two thrones had been set up – the bigger one for Elsa, and the smaller one naturally being for Anna – and he raised his hands for everyone to be quiet. Instantaneously, the band stopped playing and people stopped talking as silence fell over the room like a curtain. When Kai was satisfied at the lack of noise, he cleared his throat for good measure, and then proudly gestured to a set of curtains off to the right of the hall.

"Presenting her royal majesty, Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" he proclaimed.

Jack quickly set his tray down on the edge of the buffet table as he joined the rest of the crowd in respectfully bowing to Elsa as she emerged from behind the red curtains and gracefully stepped up onto the dais so she could be standing in front of her throne.

Despite having been coronated only this morning and only being eighteen-years-old, Elsa looked so sophisticated standing there on the dais before the crowd of visiting royals and nobles.

She looked so poised and regal in her appearance.

She looked like a true queen.

"And also presenting her royal highness," Kai continued, now gesturing to a different set of curtains off to the left, "Princess Anna of Arendelle!"

Unlike her older and much more ladylike sister, the fifteen-year-old Princess Anna was obviously very nervous about looking presentable to the crowd, which rather failed as she scrambled out from behind the curtain. She started blushing to the roots of her red hair when she saw the way everyone stared at her for her dramatic exit from behind the red curtain, but she did her best to ignore the stares as she tried to climb up the steps of the dais to stand beside Elsa. Of course, being the quirky and unorthodox princess that she was, she tripped over her own feet at the top of the steps and nearly toppled over. Many people looked on with worry, but Elsa caught hold of Anna's hand and quickly helped her to maintain her center of balance before she fell all the way. No one watching could hear exactly what was said between the two sisters, but it was clear that Anna was obviously apologizing to Elsa for ruining their entrance to the party. Elsa, however, was not the slightest bit mad though, and she said something quietly that made them both laugh before they turned their attention back to their audience. With matching smiles, the Arendelle queen and princess smiled kindly to their guests and nodded politely before dipping down into respectable curtsies to the crowd, and everyone watching applauded accordingly. It was clear that despite how different the queen and the princess were, they loved each other with all their hearts. They were truly the perfect set of sisters.

Jack waited for the applause to die down before he dared to stop clapping and pick up the tray of wine glasses that he had set aside. Even though their plan to open the castle gates truly screwed him over and the only way he could keep people safe was for him to leave, he truly was happy for the two of them. Anna was still his friend even if he avoided speaking to her as often as he could, and Elsa? She was the love of his life, even if he had to keep his feelings to himself. He doubted she even had the slightest idea of how he felt since he was so good at hiding his emotions, and Jack intended to keep it that way. No one could ever know what went on inside his head. His secrets were his, and his alone.

"Hey, Jackie! Aren't you going to start offering people all those drinks you got?"

If it weren't for the fact that the slightest jostling of movement could make all the drinks on his tray topple over to spill and send glass shattering everywhere, Jack would've jumped. He had been so focused on watching Elsa and Anna, he hadn't even noticed that Emma had seemingly excused herself from Jamie and the rest of her friends along with the Scottish princes Hamish, Hubert, and Harris to come and talk to him.

"Oh, Emma! I… I didn't see you there…" he said carefully, immediately putting back up his emotional barriers. He couldn't let his sweet and innocent sister get close to him. Physically or emotionally.

However, Emma took no notice of how rigid her older brother became the second she spoke to him, and instead began bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked up at him with stars in her eyes.

"You look like the perfect waiter right now, Big Brother! Dressed up fancy and carrying the tray with drinks in one hand! You're a good role model!"

A role model? Him? Jack considered himself to be the furthest thing from being a good role model to his little sister. He did not – in any way, shape, or form – want Emma to grow up following his example, closing herself off to the world by keeping her emotions bottled up tight and being afraid of hurting anyone near her just from touching them. She was a thousand times over a better person than he would ever be.

"Me? No way. You're the perfect one, Emma," he said matter-of-factly.

It wasn't exactly said with a smile, but he didn't shrug her away, either, so Emma took his words as a sign that Jack was actually willing to engage in a full out conversation with her. She couldn't even remember the last time she had a complete conversation with her big brother. Normally, whenever she tried to talk to Jack in the past, he would give her one-worded answers before either telling her to stop knocking on his bedroom door and just go away, or simply walking away from her whenever she tried to corner him in one of the castle's many winding corridors. The fact that he wasn't doing either of these things right now was astonishing, and Emma knew she had to seize this rare opportunity in chatting with him. She wanted more than anything to know what it felt like to have a big brother who loved her. That was something she was starting to doubt that she would ever have with Jack.

"Thanks, Jackie!" she giggled. "So, what about those glasses? Aren't you going to go around and ask people if they want any?"

Jack momentarily glanced over at the tray in his hands with all the pristine glasses of red wine balanced carefully upon it before he shrugged. "I figured I would just wait here and let people come to me," he stated. "I don't want to seem like I'm bothering people by constantly breathing down their necks."

"Oh, okay! That makes sense," said Emma, nodding sagely with that same happy smile on her face.

"Glad to see you agree," Jack replied, a small smile of his own stretching across his lips.

There was a brief lapse in conversation as the two estranged siblings stared at one another, both of them realizing that they were forming a small bond for the first time in years. To Emma, this moment felt like she actually had a big brother as family, but to Jack, this moment meant that he was capable of keeping his emotions in check and talking to Emma. He hated having to always push her away and make her believe that he didn't care about her, but it was necessary. But right now? Right now, he could talk to his little sister and try to show her that he really did care about her at the end of the day.

"So," he mused as he turned to look out at all the guests mingling with one another in the crowd and all the couples dancing out on the dancefloor. "This is what a royal ball looks like, huh?"

Emma nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh! There's soooooooo many people! And they all look so pretty!"

Jack quirked a brow at that. "Really? The guys look pretty?" he teased.

Emma playfully stuck out her tongue at him. "Handsome, okay? They look handsome! The girls are the pretty ones! They're all dressed up in dresses and suits!"

"Well, what did you expect at a grand party?"

"I don't know… but definitely not for it to be so hot! It's stuffy in here!"

"It's from having so many people in this one room. Don't worry about it. In fact, I'm surprised you haven't noticed something much more important yet."

"Something more important? What do you mean, Big Brother?"

"Well, what is that amazing smell?"

Emma blinked, but then began sniffing the air. Within seconds, her eyes lit up brightly.

"Chocolate!" she exclaimed. "Wow! I love chocolate! Can I have some from the buffet table, Jack? Pleeeeeeease?"

"Well, technically that chocolate is reserved for the guests, and since we're just the staff, we're not supposed to touch it."

"Oh…"

"But… I don't think anyone will mind if we just took two tiny pieces, provided of course you know how to keep a secret, right?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I can keep a secret, Jackie! I promise! I promise!"

Jack winked mischievously at little Emma, and then he motioned for her to stay and wait right here before he made his way back over to the refreshment stand. Under the pretense of adding a few more glasses of wine to his tray, Jack's eyes darted in every direction imaginable to make sure that no one was watching, and then he slipped two small chocolate truffles into his pocket before making his way back over to Emma.

"Here," he told her with a smile, dropping one of the small chocolate candies into her hand but keeping the other for himself.

Emma beamed happily. "Thank you, Jackie!" she chirped, popping the sweet into her mouth.

Jack smiled as he ate his own bit of chocolate. "Anytime, Emma. Anytime," he told her simply.

Emma just couldn't stop smiling as she munched on her treat. Finally! After a lifetime of wondering if her big brother would ever be nice and actually talk to her, Jack was acting in a way that a big brother should act towards his little sister! She was so happy she wanted to shout out for the world to hear that her big brother, Jackson Overland, was having a conversation with her! She could die happy right now!

As soon as she had swallowed the last of her small morsel of chocolate, Emma looked back up at her big brother with a hopeful look on her small, cute face. This was the moment she had been waiting to have with Jack for over ten years. She couldn't let this moment pass by without trying to talk to him some more. She opened her mouth to say something – anything – but that was when another voice cut through the air, attracting both of their attention.

"Stealing chocolates from the refreshment table? I expected this behavior from Emma, but certainly not from you, Jackson!"

Jack and Emma both turned around. Standing behind them was none other than Gerda. She was trying to look rather cross at the two siblings, but it was clear by the expression on her face that she was more amused than angry.

"Oh! Hi, Miss Gerda!" Emma chirped, not looking the slightest bit ashamed of stealing the chocolates.

"Gerda! My apologies!" Jack gasped. Unlike his carefree little sister, he did look rather remorseful for his naughty actions.

Gerda raised a brow at the Overland brother and sister, and then she forced her voice to take on a stern tone even though her lips were still turned up to show she still found the entire situation to be quite comical. "I'm glad to see that the two of you are getting along, Jack, Emma, but there are guests here that are looking for drinks. Please go and offer them some wine, Jackson. And Emma? You and the other children are on cleanup duty. There's already a small spill on the other end of the table. There's a small dustpan and broom over there behind the curtains. Go take care of it, please."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay, Miss Gerda!"

The two siblings parted in order to do their duties, Jack as a waiter, and Emma as part of the clean-up crew. Jack kept his emotions in check as he weaved his way through the crowd offering drinks to people. He was nervous no doubt to be around so many people, but he kept his head down and spoke as little as possible to keep the partygoers from paying too much attention to him as they either accepted glasses of wine or waved him away. He was hopeful at this point that things were going to be okay. His last night acting as a servant in the castle would go by with no problems! No one would know anything about his powers by the time the party was over.

But Jack was quickly interrupted from his musing by the sound of an argument back over by the refreshment table.

"Sir! I'm just trying to clean up the mess! Could you move your foot please?"

"Lass, I'm in the middle of a conversation here. Go and clean elsewhere."

"But I was ordered to clean up this mess right now!"

Jack shook his head in amusement as he slipped his way back through the crowd. Trust Emma to get the nobles annoyed with her just because she was doing her job a little too well.

He quickly found Emma glaring angrily up at the Scottish lords from Dunbroch as she clutched her small dustpan and broom tightly. Jack didn't exactly know which lord was which, but he plastered an apologetic look on his face as he approached them and bowed respectfully.

"My lords, I apologize if my sister was bothering you. Emma? Why don't you leave this mess alone for the time being. It's okay to not clean an area if there are guests mingling right near it."

"Are you sure, Jackie?"

"Yeah, go on. You can clean this little spill later."

"'Kay."

Emma toddled off to go and stand back in the same corner that the two of them had been speaking in earlier, and after Jack bowed to the three Scottish noblemen one last time, he prepared to go and follow her, but then he caught wind of what the Scotsmen were saying, and it took everything that he had to not literally freeze up everything with his powers.

"Such a strange little girl."

"Aye, aye… But not nearly as strange as the new queen! Look at her hair! She looks nothing like her father!"

"Kinda makes you wonder if she's even related to King Agnar, eh?"

"Aye. You don't suppose that the late Queen Idun was with someone else, do yeh?"

Jack chose at that moment to move as far away from the chatting lords as he possibly could, doing his best to not get anxious and worried. In all of Jack's worries about what might happen tonight, this was something that he had never considered: people questioning whether or not Elsa was the legitimate daughter of King Agnar and Queen Idun because of his accident with her back when he was a kid. If he hadn't accidently struck her on the head with his ice magic and caused all her hair to become platinum-blonde, Elsa would still be a brunette. Sure, even before his accident with her and Anna back when they were kids, Elsa had always favored Idun rather than Agnar, but at least she would look exactly like Idun in every possible way, so people like the Scottish lords wouldn't be wondering if Idun had had an affair with some unknown man that had white-blonde hair.

Only Jack knew the truth, and he wanted to scream it out for everyone in the room to hear so that they would stop gossiping about the girl he was in love with, who had no idea what people were saying. Queen Idun had loved King Agnar with all her heart! She would never have cheated on him! Elsa was a blonde because of him! Jackson Overland! It was neither hers and nor her mother's doing that led to her being a platinum blonde! It was his fault! His!

Still though, he sealed his emotions off tight, not allowing himself to feel anything about learning what people thought of Elsa. It didn't matter anyway. Tomorrow, he would be gone. Nothing that happened here in the castle would be his problem anymore. He just had to learn to deal with what people would think of Elsa out in the world as he did the work of an ice harvester.

When he finally caught up to Emma, he forced a smile on his face so she wouldn't worry.

"Well, you seem to be working diligently," he commented.

Emma nodded. "Uh-huh! Especially now when we're around castle guests! Everything has to be perfect! But I doubt those Scottish lords care one way or another if everything looks nice…"

"Are you okay?" Jack asked her.

Emma's smile only growing bigger and brighter with each passing second. "Are you kidding, Jack? I've never been better! This is so nice, what with having people in the castle and actually talking to you! I wish things would always be this way."

Within mere seconds, Jack's smile became rather gloomy in nature. "Me too… but they can't," he said sadly, immediately looking away from Emma to gaze miserably down at his feet.

Emma blinked. "But why not? Princess Els— Oh! I mean, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are opening the gates up to everyone from now on! So all you have to do is be nice to me and everyone else and—"

"I can't do that, Emma!" Jack unintentionally snapped, taking a few steps away from the little girl for good measure when she attempted to grab hold of the arm not holding up the tray of glasses.

Emma instinctively recoiled back from the force of his half-yell, and a hurt look spread across her face in place of her previous smile. Guilt tore through Jack's heart when he saw her expression, but he didn't dare apologize to her or explain himself. The only way Emma would stay safe from him was if she remained ignorant of what he could do.

He had hurt Elsa and Anna with his magic in the past.

He would not hurt Emma, too.

She was his little sister, and as the big brother, it was his job to protect her from everything.

Even from himself.

If that meant he had to push her away whenever she tried to talk to him, he would do it.

If that meant he had to constantly hurt her feelings by cruelly snapping at her whenever she tried to initiate physical contact, so be it.

Her safety was all that mattered in this world.

He would die a thousand times over if that meant he could keep her safe.

But of course, Emma didn't know what her older brother's thought process was behind his actions. The moment that Jack snapped at her, the little girl just assumed that her brother was just falling back into his old thought process of letting no one thaw his frozen heart.

What did she expect was going to happen when she tried talking with him right now? That tonight at the coronation party he would suddenly start hugging her and joking with her and being the big brother that any little girl could ever dream of having?

She was so stupid.

Her lower lip trembled as she turned away from Jack, and looked back out into the throng of castle guests until she spotted all her friends cleaning up a small spill near one of the many pillars on the opposite side of the room, and funnily enough they were still joined by the Dunbroch princes Hamish, Hubert, and Harris.

"I think I'm gonna go and hang out with Jamie and the rest of my friends," she murmured sadly. "I'll see you later, Jack…"

And before Jack could say anything in return, Emma shuffled miserably away from him and vanished into the crowd.

Jack's already fragile heart broke in two when he saw his sister wander off. He hated doing that to her. Getting her hopes up that he was coming out of his shell and then trampling on that simple dream by shutting her out again.

It didn't matter that everything he had ever done was to keep her and everyone else in this castle safe from him.

He was still the worst big brother in the world.

---

"Elsa, I really am sorry for nearly ruining our entrance! Honestly, I didn't mean to trip like that!"

"Anna, it's fine! It was just an accident! And besides, I'd rather everyone see us for who we are instead of pretending to hide behind a mask!"

"Aww! You're so sweet, Elsa!"

Elsa smiled as Anna tackled her in a crushing hug. While it was true that their entrance had been ruined by her little sister's quirky and dramatic entrance into the Great Hall, the new queen didn't care a bit. Anna wouldn't be Anna if she didn't do something rather theatrical in everything that she did. Even in princess duties. But that didn't matter. Anna was still her dear little sister, and Elsa loved her dearly.

Elsa was about to start hugging her back, but then she noticed Kai was gesturing for a small group of people to approach the dais. Two of them she and Anna hadn't seen in years while the other two were a mystery to her, and Elsa's face lit up brightly as she released Anna from the hug and discretely nodded for her to turn around.

"Better save your hugs, Anna. Look who's coming to greet us," she whispered.

Anna blinked, but then turned her head to see who was approaching the podium. Then she started squealing with joy.

"Elsa! It's Uncle Frederic and Aunt Arianna! They came to the party!"

"And you know who that girl with the long braid that's accompanying them has to be, right?"

"No… after all these years?! Is it really her?!"

"Well, Mother and Father had been going to that ceremony to officially introduce our lost cousin to high society several years ago when they unfortunately passed on. It has to be her!"

"Yes… I can't believe that we're finally going to meet our lost cousin! But who's that man accompanying them that's linked arms with her?"

"I'm not sure… it's been three years since our cousin was found. Perhaps she has a suitor now?"

"Ah, of course! You always were the smart one between the two of us, Elsa!"

Elsa barely managed to hide a small giggle behind her hand before the Coronan royal family, along with their cousin's apparent suitor, reached the dais alongside Kai, and Kai bowed respectfully to Elsa and Anna before nodding politely to the visiting royals behind him.

"Your majesty? Your highness? The Coronan king and queen, and the Coronan princess and her fiancé, Eugene Fitzherbert," he introduced.

Elsa and Anna both blinked at that last bit in the introduction. They remembered from the life changing letter their father received a few years ago that their cousin was supposedly in love with the man who had rescued her from her kidnapper, but they hadn't been expecting her to be engaged when they met her. However, they both maintained their dignified expressions as they smiled kindly at their relatives from Germany, and they curtsied politely.

"King Frederic, Queen Arianna," said Elsa pleasantly.

"We're so happy you came to the coronation!" Anna exclaimed.

King Frederic and Queen Arianna both smiled kindly, and they, along with their daughter and her fiancé, bowed and curtsied kindly in return to the new queen and the second-born princess.

"We might as well do away with formality. We are family, after all!" Frederic exclaimed.

Arianna nodded brightly, her whole face glowing as she gazed happily at her late brother's two daughters. "I have waited over ten years to see you girls again! I think a greeting between all of us should be more intimate than mere bows and curtsies!" she agreed.

Elsa and Anna both beamed as they stepped down off the platform and quickly embraced their paternal aunt and uncle by marriage with loving hugs.

"Uncle Frederic! Aunt Arianna! It's been far too long!" Elsa exclaimed as she hugged Arianna tightly.

"We've missed you both so much!" Anna gushed, squeezing Frederic with all her might.

The Coronan king and queen both laughed as they hugged Elsa and Anna back with just as much love in their hearts, and the only reason the four separated was so that Elsa and Anna could instead hug the opposite monarch that they had been hugging before. When at last they were all done greeting each other, the Arendelle queen and princess broke away from the hugs to instead focus their attention on the eighteen-year-old girl with a long blonde braid cascading down her shoulders and the dark-haired man with the shock of brown hair on his chin that were standing beside them.

"You must be Rapunzel! Our formerly lost cousin!" Anna enthused. "Elsa and I have always wanted to meet you!"

The former Lost Princess of Corona blushed at her younger spritely cousins' words, but then nodded with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Ever since I learned I had cousins, I've always wanted to meet both of you too, Queen Elsa, Princess Anna!" she said brightly. "I wished my parents and I could have come to see both of you sooner!"

"To you, Anna and I are not 'queen' or 'princess,'" Elsa said with a smile. "We're family! Don't be afraid to speak to us informally! Anna and I only addressed your parents by their proper titles when all of you approached us because this is technically a formal setting, but now that the pleasantries are out of the way, we have no problem calling them both 'uncle' and 'aunt.'"

Rapunzel laughed. "I'll keep that in mind in the future! You both seem very nice!"

Anna giggled as well. "You as well, Rapunzel! You as well!"

Rapunzel smiled happily, but then a thought came to her mind, and her expression quickly turned very sad.

"I… I would also like to take a moment to apologize to both of you."

"Apologize?" Anna repeated, she and Elsa exchanging looks of confusion. "What do you need to apologize to us for? You've done nothing wrong!"

"It's… It's because of me that your parents… Uncle Agnar and Aunt Idun… they passed away because they were going to Corona to meet me a few years ago… I've always felt guilty for that. I wanted to properly apologize to both of you! I'm so sorry about what happened!"

"Rapunzel! Anna and I have never once blamed you for that!" Elsa said hurriedly, her words sounding genuinely kind. "It wasn't your fault! It was just a freak storm that caused the shipwreck! We don't hate you for that!"

"Yeah! Elsa and I would never once think ill of someone for a reason like that!" Anna agreed. "It was… It was just our parents' time, I guess… We miss them obviously, but we don't hate you because they were on their way to officially meet you!"

"Oh, I see… I guess I was kind of worried for nothing then!"

Elsa smiled at her slightly embarrassed cousin, and then turned her attention to Eugene who had been surprisingly silent this entire time. "It's also a pleasure to meet you, Lord Eugene. It was quite a surprise for Anna and me to learn that our cousin is engaged upon first meeting her!"

Anna nodded in agreement, but her brows furrowed with confusion as she studied him. "This might sound totally crazy considering that Elsa and I haven't left the castle to even go down into the village since we were kids, but have we met before, Lord Eugene?" she asked. "You… You look so familiar! I get the feeling that I've seen you somewhere in the past!"

Eugene jumped a bit, but then he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "I-I-I don't see how we could have met before, Princess Anna! For one thing, I'm not exactly a lord, so you don't have to call me that. I was born a commoner."

"A commoner?" Elsa repeated, genuinely surprised. "I never would have guessed! I mean no disrespect to you, Eugene, but commoners generally don't marry royalty…"

Rapunzel smiled. "My fiancé is a special case. He was the one who rescued me from the woman who kidnapped me when I was baby. And Anna? I'm sure the reason you recognize him is because before he rescued me he used to be known as the notorious thief, Flynn Rider."

Anna was amazed. "You were a thief?!" she repeated, sounding incredulous at the very idea. "How… How does a thief end up saving a kidnapped princess?!"

"That's… kind of a long story…" Eugene trailed off.

"We promise we'll tell you girls all about it later over the course of our visit here in Arendelle, but before we go off so you can greet the rest of the guests, Frederic and I do have one question we wish to ask of both of you, Elsa, Anna."

"Oh? And what would that be, Aunt Arianna?"

"Ask away, Auntie! Ask away!"

"Well, Arianna and I were simply wondering why you both chose to start dyeing your hair."

Elsa and Anna were visibly taken aback.

"Beg your pardon, Uncle?" Elsa said.

"Your hair! You used to be such a beautiful brunette just like your mother, Elsa, and now your hair is blonde! And Anna? You have that one streak in your hair that is as white as Elsa's! When did you both choose to start dyeing it?"

Elsa and Anna both blinked, thoroughly confused, but then Elsa turned to Anna with a rather satisfied look on her face.

"There! You see, Anna? I'm not crazy! Even Uncle Frederic and Aunt Arianna say that I used to have brown hair and that you never had that one white streak!"

"Oh please, Elsa! This is some clever way for you to admit that you were right! Right? You probably sent them a letter asking them to play along with this little fantasy of yours just so you can prove me wrong! Uncle Frederic, Aunt Arianna? How exactly did Elsa here beg you to pretend that she used to be a brunette and that all my hair was strawberry-blonde, hmm? Did she promise to arrange for us to take a trip to Corona after the ball so that we can visit you at your castle for the first time in years? Well, I can guarantee that that wasn't necessary! Elsa and I would be happy to go and visit all of you very soon! Perhaps later this summer? We haven't been to one of the Festival of Light celebrations since we were little and Mother and Father locked the gates!"

The Coronans were all confused. "We… We don't know what either of you are talking about, Elsa, Anna," Arianna said slowly.

"Oh, you and Uncle Frederic don't have to keep pretending, Auntie! It's all out in the open now! Elsa asked you to pretend that she used to be a brunette back when she was little, didn't she? Well, you can let it go now! We all know she's always been beautiful with her platinum-blonde hair, and I look positively unique with my one lock of white hair! Who cares what color our hair is?! We're still sisters and very best friends!"

Even though Elsa was still intrigued that her Coronan aunt and uncle were verifying the fact that apparently she hadn't been crazy all these years for believing that, once upon a time, she had her mother Queen Idun's gorgeous chocolate brown hair, she did have to admit that Anna did have a point.

"Anna's right, Uncle Frederic, Aunt Arianna. I suppose it doesn't really matter what the deal is with our hair. We're still us in the end!"

"But if you want to talk about hair, you should tell Elsa and me all about yours, Rapunzel! We know your blonde hair comes from that magic golden flower Auntie ate back when she was pregnant with you, but the length of your hair is amazing! So long, and yet it looks so healthy!"

Elsa nodded. "I agree! Your hair is so beautiful, Rapunzel, but why do you choose to keep it so long?

To Elsa and Anna's surprise, their aunt and uncle smiled fondly, Eugene began to smirk, and Rapunzel blushed lightly as she swept the great heavy braid of blonde hair intertwined with pink and purple ribbons behind her ear.

"That's… a rather interesting story. One which we all wouldn't mind sharing with both of you, Elsa, Anna, considering that we're family! But we'll tell you later! My family is planning to stay here in Arendelle for a nice long visit well after all the others guests that came have returned home!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Ah, okay! No biggie!"

"All right. Anna and I look forward to spending more time with you, Rapunzel. With all of you, in fact! The two of us have missed you dearly, Uncle Frederic, Aunt Arianna. And Eugene? We're curious about you, too. Anna and I want to know more about the supposed thief that rescued our missing cousin."

"Of course, your majesty."

"Pardon me for interrupting all of you, your majesties, your highnesses, but Queen Elsa? The visitors from the Archipelago request a moment of your time."

Everyone turned. Gerda was standing a bit off to the side, and directly behind her were many of the Vikings that had come all the way from the Barbaric Archipelago to attend the coronation party. At the front and center of the throng of the Northern guests was the chief himself, a large and bulging muscular man with a thick beard of vividly bright red hair, and standing right beside him was his only son and heir, a lean and tall boy with a thick mop of rich auburn hair and bright green eyes.

Stoick the Vast smiled broadly as he beheld the new queen and the princess of the foreign Norwegian country, and then he bowed politely. "Queen Elsa, Princess Anna. Good to meet you at last. I am Chief Stoick from the Isle of Berk. And your majesties King Frederic and Queen Arianna. Good to meet both of you and your daughter and her intended as well. Rapunzel and Eugene, wasn't it?"

The royals from both Arendelle and Corona blinked twice at the introduction. Chief Stoick the Vast from Berk certainly didn't beat around the bush when it came to making himself known, although that trait wasn't exactly shared with his son. The teen looked very nervous as he stood in front of the monarchs, princesses, and the soon-to-be prince consort of two different kingdoms as he unwillingly held his ground beside his father and the people from his island. It was clear that he wished to be anywhere else at this party rather than right here, right now.

Elsa was the first to recover from the momentary surprise though, and she nodded politely to the Viking leader. "It is good to meet you as well, Chief Stoick. It is a pleasure to have you and your people here in Arendelle. It's been a long time since anyone from the Archipelago has visited our shores."

"Well, we've been rather preoccupied with dealing with the dragons that attacked our islands. Until now, we had very little time to think about establishing relationships with places outside of the islands that were around Berk."

"What caused you to start thinking about the outside world of the Archipelago, if you don't mind my asking, Chief Stoick?" Princess Rapunzel suddenly asked.

All heads turned to look over at the Coronan princess, but then Stoick chuckled deeply.

"Well, the war between us and the dragons ended! And it's thanks to my son here!"

Stoick clamped one of his large, meaty hands on his son's shoulder, and the auburn-haired boy's legs nearly buckled under him from the force of his father's enthusiastic pat to his shoulder.

"This is my boy, Hiccup! Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III!" the Viking chief proudly announced.

Hiccup's nerves caused a thin bead of sweat to appear near his brow, but he didn't dare try to brush it away. Instead, he forced himself down into a deep and respectable bow.

"Y-You're majesties! Your highnesses! It's… It's an honor!" he gasped out.

Within seconds of the Viking heir's introduction, Elsa, King Frederic, and Queen Arianna were all blinking twice as they processed his name in their heads, and Anna, Rapunzel, and Eugene were all fighting the urge to laugh.

"I'm sorry, but did I hear your father correctly? Did he say that your name is actually Hiccup?" Anna asked, her shoulders quivering with suppressed laughter.

Hiccup's ego visibly deflated as he nodded in exasperation, his nervousness fading away in light of how the Arendelle and Coronan princesses as well as the Coronan princess's fiancé found his name to be quite amusing. "Great name, I know. But it's not the worst…" he mumbled.

Eugene smirked and coughed rather loudly at that, only his cough sounded distinctly like, "Seriously?"

His cheekiness earned him his ear being pulled by his less than pleased blonde fiancé.

"Ow! Hey, Blondie! Watch it!"

"Mind your manners, Eugene! I know you still like to act like Flynn Rider sometimes, but that's no excuse to be rude!"

"Argh! Okay, okay! Prince Hiccup? I apologize! Now, let go Blondie! That hurts!"

Everyone stared at how the Corona princess seemed to know exactly what to do to make her future husband listen to her, but the burly blonde Viking man and the teens that were standing directly behind Hiccup and Stoick seemed to find everything that happened quite humorous.

"Ha! Hear that, cousin?! They're calling you a prince! That's rich!"

"You're royalty, Hiccup! From now on, we'll start bowing to you everywhere we go!"

"Your highness! It is an honor to serve you!"

"Well, remember, guys! He and his father are of the leading bloodline on Berk! He'll be chief someday! He technically is our prince!"

"Aye! Right you are, Fishlegs! Hiccup here will be a fine leader someday! A great chief! He is the Pride of Berk!"

Hiccup felt very awkward as the huge blonde-haired man shuffled forward from behind the rest of the Viking teenagers, and when he finally emerged to pat Hiccup on the head, the Arendelle and Coronan royals were all taken aback when they saw that the huge Viking had a peg leg as well as an arm that acted as a cup holder which he was using to hold onto his drink at the moment. It took everything that the two royal families had to not openly stare at the prosthetic limbs.

Still though, none of the Vikings seemed to mind that everyone's attention had shifted to the wooden peg leg and wooden arm. If anything, they were rather nonchalant about it.

"Ah! Curious about the leg and the arm, are yeh? Everyone is when they first see it."

"Er… yes," Elsa cautiously admitted. "I sincerely apologize if we have offended you, Lord…?"

"Gobber. Gobber the Belch. But no need to call me a lord, your majesty. I may be Stoick's second-in-command, but we don't have the monarchy system back on Berk like your country does. We treat everyone except the chief himself as an equal."

"Yeah, Gobber's right. Please, don't call me a prince," Hiccup added, going so far as to awkwardly begin scratching the back of his neck to express his embarrassment. "I'm just my dad's son. Until I'm the chief one day, I'm no different than any of my friends… even if that does mean that I'm ranked in the same category as you, Snotlout."

"Hey!"

"Yes, well, this is my son, Hiccup, you've all met Gobber, and these others are my nephew Snotlout Jorgenson, the Thorston twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs Ingerman, and Astrid Hofferson. We all wished to extend our thanks to you, Queen Elsa, for being willing to grant an audience tomorrow so that we may discuss a possible alliance between your country and our island."

Elsa smiled politely in return. "Of course, Chief Stoick. I hope we can come to some sort of agreement. It's been a long time since there have been any good alliances between those of you who live in the Archipelago and any country near here."

"Aye! I'm sure you'll be very interested in what we wish to propose to you, your majesty!"

Elsa started to nod, but that was when Anna suddenly gasped as though she had just thought of something, and within seconds, the second-born sister was marching forward to stand right in Stoick and Hiccup's confused faces, her generally smiling face looking very cross and angry as she pointed a finger directly at the Viking heir.

"Hold it! Does this alliance you're proposing involve some type of marriage agreement with you?! Because if it does, I can assure you that Elsa and I are not interested! Elsa was just made queen! She's not planning to marry anytime soon, and she's not going to arrange a wedding for me either! I'm only fifteen-years-old and she's promised me that I'll be given the opportunity to find true love instead of being married off for diplomatic reasons!"

There was a long pause after that as everyone stared at the strawberry-blonde-haired girl, but when everyone finally came to grips with what it was that Anna had just said, reactions greatly contrasted.

Elsa, King Frederic, and Queen Arianna looked downright mortified at Anna's bluntness.

Rapunzel and Fishlegs looked dumbstruck.

Eugene, Gobber, Snotlout, and the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut all started laughing so hard, tears leaked out from the corners of their eyes.

Stoick looked mainly amused.

Astrid was fuming.

And Hiccup?

Hiccup turned so red in the face, it was impossible to tell where his red tunic ended and his face began.

"M-Marriage agreement?! With… With me?!" the heir gasped, sounding completely baffled by Anna's assumption. "I… I… I…"

"If you think Hiccup is going to marry either you or your sister, Princess Anna, you've got another thing coming!" snapped Astrid suddenly, shoving her way to the front of the group and thrusting the embarrassed boy behind her as she glared at the younger girl. "I don't care if you are royalty or not! I'll challenge you to a duel to the death before that happens, your highness!"

Elsa, Frederic, Arianna, and Rapunzel were looking on nervously at this confrontation, while Eugene still looked like he was trying to suppress his laughter, but Anna was not the slightest bit intimidated by the older lady warrior. She simply put on her most furious, authoritative princess face as she glared at the shield maiden.

"And just who are you to issue such a threat against me, the princess of Arendelle?" she demanded.

Astrid glared daggers at the girl in return. "I'm Astrid Hofferson of the loyal Hofferson clan on Berk! Hiccup's girlfriend!" she growled furiously.

This revelation made Anna go very quiet. She had certainly misjudged this situation, and she couldn't even blame Astrid for being mad either. Anna could only imagine that she would be mad too if some girl that she had never met before started talking about marrying her boyfriend – if she had one, that is.

"Oh, gosh! I… Oh!"

"Anna and I give you our most sincere and heartfelt apologies, Lady Astrid, Chief Stoick, Prince Hiccup!" Elsa quickly cut in. Then she looked pointedly at her headstrong younger sister, raising a brow as she did so. "Right, Anna?"

"Y-Yes! Yes, of course! I am so sorry!"

Astrid huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest, but otherwise nodded in acceptance of the apology. Stoick however just let out a hearty guffaw.

"Well, I'll admit I hadn't been expecting either of you ladies to come to that conclusion, Princess Anna, but I assure you both that a marriage pact was not what we wished to offer either of you. Isn't that right, Hiccup?"

Hiccup didn't reply right away. He was so embarrassed by what Princess Anna had said, that his face was still flaming red and he was struggling to find the willpower to form words.

"Y-Yeah… You don't have to worry about that, y-your highness… Astrid and I are very happy together, thank you…! And again, please don't call me Prince Hiccup. Just Hiccup is fine!"

"Bah! Typical Vikings! No form of manners whatsoever!"

The suddenness of this new voice took everyone aback, and they all quickly turned. The royals and nobles from the Scottish kingdom of Dunbroch had approached all of them near the dais while they had been talking, and the majority of the new arrivals were glaring daggers at the guests that hailed from the Barbaric Archipelago.

The moment that the visitors from Berk realized that there were Scotsmen standing before them, all of the Vikings, minus Hiccup, started glaring at the royal family of Dunbroch and the leaders and sons of the three supporting Scottish clans.

To say that every member of the two visiting parties, except apparently Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, hated each other would be a huge understatement.

Elsa was smart, though. She was well aware of the fact that Vikings and Scotsmen didn't get along very well. She had known the moment that she accepted Chief Stoick's request to come to her coronation so that he and his people could discuss a possible trading alliance, when the royals and nobles from the country of Dunbroch had already been invited, that things could get ugly between the representatives of the two countries very fast. That was why she pointedly stepped forward so that she stood in between both sides as she discretely motioned for Anna to join her in greeting the Scottish monarchs.

"King Fergus, Queen Elinor," she said kindly as she dipped down into a respectable curtsy. "I am very glad both of you and your family could come, as well as some of the nobles from the Highlands in your kingdom!"

"It's an honor to have you here in Arendelle, your majesties," Anna added, doing her best to smile, but it was clear from the way that the pupils of her eyes were darting back and forth between the visitors of Dunbroch and the Berkian guests that she was very nervous as to what might happen next.

"Aye, aye. Good to be here as well," said King Fergus to Elsa and Anna, but his attention was fixed firmly on the Vikings, Stoick in particular, as a deep scowl spread across his features.

"Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, it's wonderful to see you both again after so long. Fergus and I haven't visited Arendelle since your parents decided to close the gates," said Queen Elinor politely. Unlike her husband, the queen of Dunbroch was not the slightest bit put off by the Viking party less than three feet away from her and her family. If anything, the regal Scottish queen was seemingly acting as though the Vikings were beneath her notice by letting her eyes sweep right past all of them as she instead greeted the new queen and second-born princess of Arendelle before turning to smile kindly at the Coronan royals. "Ah, King Frederic! Queen Arianna! How lovely to see you again! And Princess Rapunzel! You look as beautiful as ever! We heard about your recent engagement not too long ago. Is this your intended?"

"Uh, yes! Yes, it is, Queen Elinor," Rapunzel apprehensively replied – she, Eugene, and her parents also sensing the tension in the air now that the Vikings and the Scotts were face-to-face. "This is Eugene Fitzherbert."

"We met before. Briefly," Eugene supplied, doing his best to break the ice between the enemy countries. "I was at Rapunzel's introduction to high society a few years ago back in Corona. I was the one who returned the Lost Princess to her rightful throne."

"Oh, of course! I am sincerely sorry for forgetting! That was highly inconsiderate of me!"

"It's fine, your majesty."

"For a former thief, you're politer than I imagined you to be. I heard that the notorious Flynn Rider was supposed to be a cocky womanizer that could charm all the ladies."

Heads turned towards the lord's sons. Ryan Macintosh was haughtily smirking as he appraised the future prince of Corona. Rather than being disgusted by Eugene's former life, the heir to the Macintosh clan appeared to be rather impressed with the notion of how Eugene had lived before he found and fell in love with the Lost Princess of Corona, and his eyes were silently petitioning the dark-haired man to verify whether or not the stories he had heard about the infamous thief were true or not.

At the mention of his thievery alias, Eugene smirked. "Well, I won't deny that I knew how to use a good old-fashioned smolder to get all the girls way back when…"

Ryan Macintosh grinned eagerly. "And that really worked?"

"Well, on all but one that is. 'Course, if it had, I wouldn't exactly be standing here today."

"Eugene!" Rapunzel said in a pointed warning tone. "I wouldn't recommend teaching the Scottish lord's sons any of your bad habits! One arrogant prince is already one too many!"

"Oh, you have no idea how right you are, Princess Rapunzel. Despite what you think, your future husband is not the most arrogant noble here. You want to see true arrogance? Be alone with Ryan here for five minutes! You'll need a sharp sword to keep him at bay!"

All heads turned to look over at the royal crown princess of Dunbroch, but Princess Merida did not make eye contact with any set of curious eyes. She just fiddled with the wimple still covering her scalp as she glared venomously at her suitor from the Macintosh clan, who was sending her flirtatious looks out of the corner of his eye.

"Why, Princess Merida! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you don't like me!"

"Ryan, I tolerate you and your arrogance because you and your father are friends of my mother and father. If you think for one second that I am going to pick you for a husband one day, you are very much mistaken!"

"Merida! Mind your manners!"

"Mum! I am not the one who is disgracing our home and family by asking how to charm those of the opposite gender! Ryan is!"

"I am only trying to learn tips on how to further woo you, your highness! After all, the Macintosh clan is where you belong!"

"I have the right to choose my husband, Ryan! The last Highland Games earned me that privilege!"

"Aye, aye… But I think we can all agree that I am the best choice between myself, Alan, and Wee."

"Ah hiv tae agree wi the princess on this ae, Ryan. Ye re bein gye rude."

"Aye, what Alan said…! Uh, what did he say exactly?"

The Dunbroch king and the three clan lords looked mainly amused by the entire exchange between the princess and the three heirs, while the queen just sighed exasperatedly, but the other royals just blinked in bewilderment at what they just witnessed. Not only were the three prospective heirs to the three high bloodline clans in the Highlands quite unusual, but it also seemed as though the Dunbroch princess was not like other typical female royalty. Princess Merida seemed to have no problem whatsoever with becoming short-tempered and telling people exactly what she thought.

Queen Elinor then noticed everyone's stares, and she quickly plastered her kind smile back on her face. "Oh, do please forgive us, Queen Elsa, Princess Anna. Fergus and I have neglected to introduce our family and friends. Allow us to present the three noble clan lords from the Highlands and their sons. Lord Malcom Macintosh and his son, Ryan."

"Your majesty, this is an honor!"

"Very glad to be here, your majesty!"

"Lord Duncan MacGuffin and his eldest son, Alan."

"Happy to make your acquaintance, Queen Elsa."

"It's… It's nice tae meet ye, yer majesty…"

"And Lord Ewan Dingwall and his only son, Wee."

"Your majesty, many thanks for inviting us!"

"Aye, thank you for the invites."

Elsa and Anna both smiled as they dipped down in polite curtsies.

"It is good to meet all of you as well."

"Thank you for coming to my sister's coronation!"

"And finally," Queen Elinor went on, directing all eyes back to her. "I'd like to introduce you to our children. This is our daughter, Merida. The crown princess of Dunbroch."

Merida might be a tomboy and didn't usually care too much for old traditions, but she did know her manners in addressing other members of royalty. "Your majesty, your highness," she said with a quick curtsy.

"Thank you for coming, your highness."

"It's nice to meet you, Princess Merida!"

"And these are— Oh! Fergus, where are the boys?!"

"Ah, they must have snuck away while we were talking! Wee devils they are, Elinor! Wee devils!"

"You have sons?"

"Oh, yes, Queen Elsa. Triplet princes. Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. They're around somewhere, I'm sure…"

"Most likely sneaking sweets off the refreshment stand," Merida added with a slight eye roll.

"They're still small children," Elinor explained. "I had wished to present them to you along with everyone else. I apologize on their behalf, your majesty. They're old enough to know better than to brush aside royal protocol."

Elsa merely smiled as she waved her hand. "It's quite all right, Queen Elinor. Children are children. They're only young once. I imagine that they probably met some of the servant children that are helping here at the party and are playing. The children here in the castle haven't had new playmates in a long time. They're most likely making friends with one another."

"Well, hopefully our sons won't teach any of them their bad habits. They have a tendency for causing mischief wherever they go."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry too much about them, your majesty. They're only boys. It's not like they're the ones who invade our lands on a daily basis and burn down villages of innocent people…"

Ewan Dingwall said all this rather nonchalantly, but no one missed how he was glaring at the visiting party of Vikings out of the corner of his eye as he did so. The royals from Arendelle and Corona grew uncomfortably quiet at that, but Lord Dingwall's words sparked old angers forth, and again, everyone in the Scottish and Viking representative parties except Hiccup started glaring at each other.

The said Viking heir nervously stepped forward and pointedly cleared his throat. He wanted to ease the tension between his people and the Dunbroch court before anything bad happened.

"Hey, now… Let's not get too wound up, okay?" he desperately pleaded. "It's… It's a party! Let's try to get along!"

"Get along? How 'bout you get along with my bow and arrows, Viking Prince?!" Merida spat, stomping her way from her place between her parents to get right up in Hiccup's face. "If we weren't at a coronation for my country's ally, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot an arrow between your eyes!"

Hiccup was visibly taken aback. "I'm… I'm not a prince…" he said yet again, not really sure what else to say in this situation.

Thankfully, he was spared the duty of finding words to fill the awkwardness when Astrid and the rest of his friends from Berk suddenly gathered around him with cold glares on their faces.

"You got a problem with our future chief, your highness?!" Astrid spat.

Merida scowled back at all of them, and to the everlasting credit of each of her three suitors, they did too as they stood readily beside her. While Merida had absolutely no intention of ever falling in love with any of them one day, she did secretly admit to herself that it was nice of them to stand beside her right now as she gave these barbaric savages a piece of her mind.

"Yes, as a matter of fact! I have a problem with anyone who's part of a culture that constantly plunders and raids innocent people in my country just to loot the villages because they're took thickheaded to know how to barter and trade for goods!"

This time, even Hiccup was peeved by that assumption, but unlike his hot-tempered girlfriend and his circle of friends, he still managed to hold his tongue.

"Excuse me?! We make trades all the time!" Snotlout shot back.

"Yeah! Trader Johann comes by our island all the time!"

"We barter and trade for stuff off his boat!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut smirked triumphantly after saying this, looking quite full of themselves for proving the Scottish princess wrong, but to the surprise of Merida, Ryan, and Wee, Alan MacGuffin – shy and quiet Alan MacGuffin – was anything but impressed.

"Ye trade wi anely ae gadgie? Maun be the anely gadgie in the wardle fa is nae feart I' bein' slaughtered bi savage pigs."

Like everyone else, Hiccup and the group had no idea what it was Alan said, but they understood plainly those last few words.

"Say that again, you ugly brute!" Astrid snapped, even raising a fist as she took a furious step forward.

"I don't know what exactly it was Alan said, but I'm with him!" Ryan snapped. "Vikings are nothing but scum! Right, Wee?"

Despite Wee's tendency to tune out of reality nine times out of ten, he was quite in tune with reality at this exact moment as he nodded, a scowl of his own on his generally aloof face.

"Aye, we see enough of Vikings on a daily basis back home when we have to drive you away from our shores! Don't know why you had to follow us all the way here to another country just to antagonize us…"

"Hey now, that's really not fair," Fishlegs hesitantly spoke up. "Our tribe hasn't really ventured away from Berk in several generations. We've been too busy dealing with the dragon attacks to attack other colonies."

Hiccup nodded appreciatively to his friend. "Fishlegs is right. We've never once been to Dunbroch. We have no quarrel with you."

Merida scoffed. "Speak for yourself, Viking Prince."

"I'm not—"

"You're not a prince! Aye, aye! I know! I'll call you whatever I please! And we Scotts would've done a thousand times better if we were in your shoes!"

"P-Pardon?"

"You Vikings claim to slay dragons, but in over three hundred years, you've never managed to kill the dragons in the so-called dragon nest?! We in Dunbroch would've slayed them all ages ago should we be the ones that lived on that island of yours! My father and I would've killed at least a hundred of them ourselves!"

Despite his wife's horror at how their daughter was starting a full-blown argument with the Viking visitors, Fergus beamed with pride at his little warrior princess.

"Aye! It doesn't matter how many strong fighters you have on Berk! My daughter is the very best! She could take down a dragon no problem! And I could easily kill them all with my bare hands! We faced the demon bear Mor'du! We can take on any savage beast!"

Hiccup and the others all initially looked rather uncomfortable at the very idea of killing dragons – they had long since befriended and trained dragons to ride now – but at the mention of Mor'du, their expressions quickly turned to puzzlement.

"The demon bear Mor'du? What are you talking about, your majesty?" Hiccup asked.

It escaped the notice of every Scotsmen other than Queen Elinor that Hiccup was the only one there who was still addressing all of them with respect, and King Fergus's eyes twinkled at the mention of the great battle against the monstrous creature that, until last year, had been the terror of the Highlands.

"Mor'du was the biggest bear you would have ever seen! His hide littered with the weapons of fallen warriors! His face scarred with one dead eye! I lost my leg fighting that demon!"

He gestured proudly to his wooden peg leg for everyone to look at. While the rest of the members of the royalty looked on awkwardly, all the Scottish visitors apart from Queen Elinor beamed with pride at the legendary tale of how their great king valiantly fought the monstrous creature long ago when Merida, Ryan, Alan, and Wee were all very small children.

The Vikings on the other hand were anything but impressed.

"You lost your leg fighting a bear alongside your daughter? And she comes out of the fight without so much as a scar? Not much of a fighter then!"

"Excuse me?!" Merida snipped, her temper flaring.

"My son went charging into battle like a true Viking! And he has the mark to prove it!"

Hiccup's face flared bright red with mortification. "Dad, please—"

"Go on, son! Show them all your leg!"

Hiccup looked like he wished as though he wanted a hole to magically appear and swallow him whole to save him from being stared at by everyone, but he simply sighed and did as Stoick asked by lifting the hem of his left pants leg just past his ankle. Everyone there stared when they saw the metallic prosthetic with a highly-complicated gear system built into it.

"Oh, my!" Anna exclaimed, clearly taken aback by the sight of it.

Elsa and their relatives from Corona all fought the urge to keep staring and seeming rude for gawking at the Berkian heir's prosthesis. All except Eugene, that is. He had no qualms whatsoever with bending down a bit to get a better look at the spring system that allowed for the foot pedal to double as a stirrup for flying with his favorite Night Fury. Not that Eugene or anyone else there other than the Vikings knew that.

"That's a highly complex prosthetic limb you got there, Viking Boy. Who on earth made it for you?" the former thief asked in astonishment.

Hiccup's face only grew redder and redder with each passing second. "Well… Gobber here technically made it for me since I was kind of out of it for a couple weeks after… well, I lost it… But he made it from my notes…"

"Notes?" King Frederic pressed, sounding intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"Hiccup is my apprentice in our village. We're blacksmiths!" Gobber proclaimed. "Hiccup here is nothing short of a genius when it comes to the forge! He invents great things!"

"What types of things?" Queen Arianna questioned.

Hiccup's cheeks were a permanent shade of pink. He really was too modest for his own good. "My leg for one, and I invented a special sword that I personally use. As for the other stuff… that I'll tell you tomorrow. It's… It's kind of involved with the trade agreement we wish to make with you, Queen Elsa."

"Ah, of course," Elsa said with a smile. "I look forward to hearing all about it tomorrow then."

"But how exactly did you lose your leg in the first place?" Merida demanded. "You probably had it eaten by a dragon!"

Hiccup's face turned – if possible – even redder in embarrassment, but Stoick didn't even take notice of his only son's discomfort as he proudly gestured to his boy.

"You're half right, your highness. But Hiccup didn't take down any dragon! He ended the war between our people and dragons! He took down a dragon the size of a mountain!"

King Fergus rolled his eyes. "Sure, he did. Sure, he did… Look at him! He's a walking fishbone!"

Hiccup snapped out of his embarrassment long enough to look miffed at that. "Thank you for summing that up…" he grumbled.

Merida stuck up her nose at his wit. "It's completely ridiculous! There's no dragon alive that's as big as a mountain!"

"Well not anymore there isn't! But it's true! Hiccup took down the Red Death all on his own!" Astrid insisted.

"I wasn't completely on my own, Astrid. The rest of you did help me out in the beginning… and Toothless was with me after that!"

Ryan Macintosh snorted. "Toothless? What the hell kind of a Viking name is Toothless? He sounds like a total wimp!"

This time, Hiccup's face fixed into a cold glare. "First of all, hell is not a place. It's a person! Hel is her name! Secondly, Toothless happens to be my very best friend in the whole world. Don't insult him!"

"Oh, please! I bet I could take this guy no sweat! Where is he?! I'll pummel with one hand tied behind my back!"

All the Viking teens did their best to hide their snickers of amusement. The idea of Ryan Macintosh engaged in a one-on-one fight with the Night Fury was something that they would all pay all their gold coin savings to see.

But not Hiccup. No, Toothless was his very best friend. Even though Ryan was a conceited jerk, Hiccup would not be the one to give the Macintosh heir the idea that he was welcome to fight his dragon companion.

"No. No way. You're not fighting my buddy."

"Why not? A wimp is a wimp! I'll show you all just what it means when we Scotsmen fight against Vikings!"

Hiccup opened his mouth to protest some more, but he was cut off by Elsa.

"Absolutely not. There will be no fighting whatsoever. Not in my kingdom, at least."

Everyone turned to look at her. She had been named the new queen of Arendelle only a few hours ago, but she had already mastered the same 'authoritative queenly' look that Queen Elinor had used before to force everyone into submissive silence.

"King Fergus, Chief Stoick," Elsa went on, drawing both leader's eyes to her as she spoke pointedly. "Both of you are the leaders of your people. King Fergus? Arendelle has always been a good and loyal ally to you in the past, so I expect you would show my country the same respect by not allowing any of your people to instigate a fight over the course of your visit. Chief Stoick? You and your people wish to create a trade alliance with Arendelle do you not? I am willing to listen to your proposal for such an event tomorrow after all the festivities are over, but only under the condition that you put aside your differences with those from Dunbroch and do not quarrel with them. Both of your countries are not on good terms with one another. I understand that. But I would expect both of you to at least put aside your differences for a short time over the course of this visit. Remember, you and your people are all guests in my country, King Fergus, Chief Stoick. If you respect both myself and my sister – if you respect our late parents – you would respect this order."

There was a long pause at that, but then Fergus and Stoick nodded in acquiesce.

"Aye, you're right, Queen Elsa."

"Apologies, your majesty."

"We are sincerely sorry for acting improperly, Queen Elsa," Elinor quickly spoke up. "That was undoubtedly rude of us, and you are right. This is not the time nor the place to bring up old quarrels. On behalf of the royal family, I promise that there shall be no further troubles from us during the duration of our visit."

Elsa smiled. "Thank you, Queen Elinor. I appreciate the oath." Then Elsa turned to gaze at Stoick. "Do you promise on behalf of your people as well, Stoick the Vast?"

Stoick nodded with a carefully solemn expression. "Yes, you have my promise," he swore.

"Good. Thank you for your cooperation."

"I propose a toast to our temporary truce," Elinor suggested. "You there! Young man? We'd like some wine please."

Everyone turned as they noticed a waiter very slowly approach them while carrying a tray with several glasses of wine, but Elsa and Anna's eyes widened when they saw just who it was Queen Elinor had waved over.

"Oh, Jack! Good to see you!" Elsa greeted kindly when Jack came to a halt before all of them.

"Are you enjoying the party, Jack? I know you're technically the staff, but it's still quite something, huh?" Anna said cheerfully.

Jack kept his face in a carefully neutral expression as he nodded. "Yes, it's all very different, Princess Anna," he replied. Then he turned so he could respectfully bow to all the royals and nobles that were watching him. "Your majesties, your highnesses, my lords and ladies…" he said dutifully.

"Hey, I remember you!" said Lord MacGuffin suddenly. "You're the brother of the little lass that was so determined to clean up the mess that Dingwall made earlier!"

"Hey! I didn't spill that wine! That was Macintosh!"

"I only had one glass of wine all evening! And I didn't spill a drop!"

"Yes, yes, that was me earlier. Again, I apologize if Emma was bothering any of you."

"It's quite alright… Jack, was it?"

"Jackson Overland, my lord. But yes, Jack for short."

"Ah, yes! Anyway, pass the drinks around, lad! Let's all wet our lips!"

Jack didn't dare change his monotone facial expression as he held out his silver tray, allowing everyone to reach forward and take a glass of the delicious red wine. Since there were so many people that wanted the drinks, Jack actually had to excuse himself for a moment to go and fetch more before everyone had a glass in hand

"So your name is Jack, then?" Rapunzel asked him sweetly when he returned, making Jack very tense when he realized that he was uninvitedly being asked to stay and chat with all of them for at least a few more minutes. "You seem much younger than most of the other staff I've seen around here. Have you worked here in the castle long?"

Jack forced his lips to turn upward in a pleasant smile as he nodded. "I was born here in the castle. I've worked here all my life."

"Diligent employee then, eh?" Gobber said with a hearty chuckle. "We don't have servants back on Berk, but you gotta respect the worker class none the less! I take it you must be an expert about everything that goes on here in the castle!"

Jack felt his hands grow frosty cold inside his gloves as his nerves spiked, and he quickly shook his head. "N-No, sir. I'm no expert about anything. I just… I just try to do my jobs well as quickly and quietly as possible. Now, if you would all please excuse me, I—"

"Jobs? You have more than one job here in the castle?" Queen Arianna asked. "You're not just one of the many butlers that have been employed?"

"Jack works two jobs, Aunt Arianna," Elsa clarified happily. "He does do work around the castle as a butler, but he also helps out in the stables. He doubles as a shepherd."

"You work out in the stables? You'll see my horse then!" Merida exclaimed.

"Uh… well, I—"

"He's the big black Shire horse. I personally am the one to care for him, so you don't have to worry about feeding and brushing him while we're here. I'll come down to attend to him myself."

"Uh—"

"My family brought a horse, too!" Rapunzel chimed in. "His name is Maximus! He's the white one with the blonde mane! Maybe you'll see him on your next shift!"

"Just be sure to watch it on the apples," Eugene added with a smirk. "That horse will gobble any apple you have, even if you're not planning to give it to him. He'll wolf them all down before you can blink."

"Um, okay, but—"

"Argh! Now I wish I'd brought Stormfly! She would have been well taken care of in the stables here if everything goes well tomorrow!"

"Yeah! I should have brought Hookfang!"

"Barf would've loved it here!"

"No! Belch would've loved it more!"

"My little princess Meatlug surely misses me!"

Jack wasn't the only person there to blink at all the Viking teens. "Are… Are those the names of your horses back on Berk, my lords and ladies?" he questioned.

Hiccup chuckled. "Don't worry about addressing any of us by proper titles. Everyone's basically the same rank on Berk other than my dad. As for your question itself… not exactly. We Vikings choose to ride something far more interesting…"

"Oh…"

"Can't be any more amazing than my Angus!" Merida cut in, her blue eyes flashing challengingly at the Viking heir. "He's the most loyal horse there is!"

"I have to disagree with you on that, Princess Merida," Rapunzel said suddenly. "If you were to ever meet Maximus, you would undoubtedly agree with me! He works with the Captain of the Guard back in Corona! He is the smartest and bravest horse there ever was!"

The Viking kids all scoffed.

"Oh, please! No animal out there is smarter than our pets!" Snotlout proclaimed. "I dare both of you princesses to show your horses to us! Our dr— Er… steeds are at least a thousand times better than your stupid horses!"

"Snotlout! Shut up!" Hiccup hissed. His cousin had nearly spoiled their secret before they could reveal it privately to Queen Elsa tomorrow at the meeting. The Viking inventor needed him to shut his mouth before he could accidentally reveal anything else.

"Now, now! Like I said before, we mustn't quarrel amongst ourselves," Elsa said gently. "I am sure you all have faithful animal friends. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

Anna grinned at her elder sister's words. "Yeah, stop fighting! It's a party! Let's all try and get along!"

Jack felt that this was the perfect time to disappear. He didn't want to spend too much time around people. Primarily Elsa and the rest of the royalty. He had enough on his plate right now between keeping calm while in this highly-crowded setting, thinking about his impending resignation tomorrow, and trying to ignore the guilt eating away at him from how he had been forced to push Emma away again earlier. He didn't want to put the beautiful girl that he had feelings for and the rest of the royals and nobles from the other nearby prominent kingdoms in danger from his stupid powers. He could feel his hands growing colder inside his gloves. The sooner he disappeared back into the background again, the better.

He turned away to vanish back into the crowd, but Elsa noticed his actions. "Oh, you don't have to go, Jack. You're more than welcome to stay," she insisted. "I have barely spoken to you since this morning, and this is the first time all day that Anna's seen you."

Anna beamed from ear to ear. "Yeah! You can spare a few minutes before going back to your staff duties, right? Why must you leave so soon?"

Jack tensed back up again. What could he say that would allow him to leave while not offending his two old friends? How could he excuse himself from this terrible situation without seeming rude?

To put matters simply, the problem took care of itself when a great smashing sound of breaking china resounded throughout the entire Great Hall, followed swiftly by several childish gasps of horror and disbelief.

Jack and just about everyone else inside the magnificent ballroom whipped around to see what happened. Near the end of the refreshment table were the three princes of Dunbroch and all the servant children, including Jack's little sister Emma. And in front of them was the smashed remains of what was once a beautiful three-layer chocolate cake and the shattered pieces of the decadent rosemaling china plate that it had been on while on top of the buffet table.

Jack's eyes widened in alarm when he saw the mess. "Emma…!" he said in disbelief to himself under his breath. It took him several seconds to absorb what had just happened, but then he forced himself to become emotionless once again and keep his face carefully blank before he whirled back around to hastily bow to Elsa, Anna, and the rest of the visiting royals and nobles.

"That would be the reason why, your majesty, your highness! Please, excuse me!"

And before anyone could say anything at all, the dark-haired servant boy kept his grip tight around his now empty silver tray and his other gloved hand clenched up into a fist as he spun back around and hurried as best as he could through the crowd of startled partygoers without daring to accidentally bump into any of them as he made his way to where all the children were staring at the mess they had unintentionally made with the chocolate cake.

Elsa and Anna both blinked when they saw him leave, but then they regained their composure. Whether they liked it or not, Jack avoiding them this time was not without reason. He had to take care of the huge mess, and as the hosts of the ball, they were obligated to go and find out what had happened.

With wordless nods to one another, the two sisters quickly curtsied politely to their guests.

"Please excuse us, everyone," said Elsa. "My sister and I must go and attend to this accident."

"Feel free to keep chatting amongst yourselves! Just please don't fight anymore!" Anna said with an awkward chuckle.

"Could Eugene and I come along?" Rapunzel requested. "I feel as though I've barely spent any time with either of you! I've wanted to meet both of you for the past few years now!"

"Wait, why do I have to come along?" Eugene asked, sounding rather annoyed.

Rapunzel raised a brow at her fiancé as a sneaky smirk spread across her lips. "Well, I was expecting to dance with you after all this, but if you would rather I go and fetch my favorite frying pan after the party—"

"We'll dance after we chat some more with your cousins! I promise!"

"I might as well come, too," said Merida, grumbling a bit as she assessed the situation with the tipped over cake. "See those wee red-haired boys? Those three devils are my brothers. They're most likely the ones who convinced those other kids that they should play near the table and toppled the cake over. Someone has to yell at them."

"You may accompany them, Merida, but only if you allow Ryan, Alan, and Wee to escort you," Elinor compromised.

Merida's face instantly looked horrorstruck, but Ryan's face broke out into an eager smile, Alan's became bright red due to his natural shyness, and Wee just blinked several times as he struggled to process this new information.

"Mum! Why?!"

"Because you have yet to dance with any of your suitors. After you lead your brothers back here, I expect you to spend some time this evening getting to know Ryan, Alan, and Wee better."

"But… But..."

"We would be happy to escort your daughter, your majesty! Right, guys?"

"A-Aye, i' course…"

"Uh, aye?"

"That settles it, then."

"Hey, how about we all go check it out, too?" Tuffnut suddenly suggested to the other Viking teens. "This is the first form of destruction I've seen since we got here!"

"Destruction! Awesome!" his sister grinned.

"Hey, guys! We're guests in this country! Don't go making a scene here in the castle!" Hiccup warned the troublesome twins.

"Oh, calm down, Hiccup! We're just going to watch! It's not like we're going to knock the whole table over!" Snotlout said exasperatedly.

"I wouldn't mind getting a snack anyway," Fishlegs shrugged.

"It'll be fun, Hiccup! I haven't seen any kids since Gustav begged us to take him along on this trip just for the ride back at the island docks," Astrid added.

Hiccup still looked wary about getting involved in a servant problem in a foreign castle, but after hearing his friends pleading to come along and watch the hullabaloo, he reluctantly nodded.

"All right…"

"Awesome!"

Elsa smiled. It was nice to see that the younger generation of high born society was getting along, even if the old generation didn't seem to be doing so. Excluding her aunt and uncle of course.

"We'll all be back shortly, your majesties," she said politely to the two kings and queens, the Viking chief and his second-in-command, and the noble lords from Dunbroch. "We'll chat more then."

"Of course, go right ahead," Arianna said kindly.

Elsa nodded appreciatively to her aunt, and then led all the others toward the mishap at the refreshment table.

---

"Oh, no…"

"Whoops!"

"That… didn't exactly go the way we planned…"

Smack!

Smack!

Smack!

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

"You just punched royalty! We're telling our Mum and Dad!"

"You three deserve it! Your harebrained plan knocked the cake over! Now the rest of us are going to get in trouble!"

"Yeah!"

"You idiots!"

"We're all going to —"

"—be grounded for months!"

"Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are going to be so mad!"

"We'll never eat cake or chocolate again in our lives thanks to this!"

"Never eat cake! Never eat cake! Never eat cake!"

The young princes Hamish, Hubert, and Harris, for most likely the first time in their lives, cowered under the glares of their newfound Arendelle servant friends as they stood covered from head to toe in chocolate cake mixture and colorful buttercream frosting from the mess that the three of them had accidentally made when they unintentionally knocked over the enormous three-layer dessert. Whether they liked it or not, the triplets were forced to admit to themselves that in this instance, they had gone too far with their usual schemes to get sweets. Emma, Jamie and his kid sister Sophie, Caleb and Claude, Pippa, Monty, and Cupcake were right to be mad at them. After all, none of them had had the great idea to stand up on each other's shoulders so that they could try to get everyone else slices of the cake, but then proceeded to lose their balance and cause the luxurious cake to splatter all over all of them.

"Don't get so mad at us! We were just trying to help you guys!" Hamish growled.

"Yeah! You were all eying the cake! We were trying to get you guys some slices!" Harris insisted.

"But we're not supposed to eat any of that food!" Monty said furiously. "We're servant kids! If we touch any of that stuff, we get in trouble!"

"But thanks to you three, we're dead meat now because of what you did to the cake!" snapped Pippa.

Hubert stuck out his tongue at the castle kids. "So what? They'll forgive you guys! It's not like the new queen and the princess can individually fire any of you! They'll forget about the spill by the end of the night! That's how things are for us back at our castle in the Highlands…"

The middle princes' ignorant attitude for how things were for those who had to work for a living in life earned him a second smack upside the head. Courtesy of Emma.

"Ow! Stop that!"

"Shut your trap! You and your brothers are all spoiled rich boys! You have no idea what it's like to be part of a poor family!" she all but yelled at him.

Jamie nodded with furrowed brows and crossed arms. "Emma's right! You guys are gonna walk away from this with just a slap on the wrist even though it was all your fault! Meanwhile, all of us are going to be punished horribly by our parents just because we were hanging out with you three right now!"

Hamish, Hubert, and Harris all had matching scowls across their faces.

"Hey—"

"That's not fair—"

"Don't be like that—"

"Emma!"

All the kids spun around. Despite the fact that he was hurrying as fast as he could through the jam-packed crowd while doing his best not to bump into any of the guests, Jackson Overland still looked like the image of poise and etiquette as he carried his round but empty silver tray at a perfect ninety-degree angle as he approached the group of friends. His face was still as blank and monotone as ever, but it was impossible to miss the disapproval in his eyes as he gazed directly at his only younger sister.

Emma cringed under her big brother's stare when he finally reached them. "Hey, Jackie…" she said nervously.

"Emma?" Jack questioned, his many years' worth of keeping his emotions bottled up inside successfully hiding just how horrified and angry he was right then over the mess with the cake. "Do you mind explaining to me what happened?"

"Yes, Emma? Please, don't think we're mad, but could you please explain to Anna and me what happened here? What did you and the other children do that caused the cake to fall over?"

"And don't be afraid to admit that it was me wee brother's fault if it was! Knowing those devils, it wouldn't surprise me!"

As Emma and all the other kids blinked and peered around Jack to see who the two new voices were that spoke, Jack did his best to not panic as he turned around to see for himself. To his great misfortune, Elsa, Anna, and all the other younger generation of royalty from the other three prominent nations had followed him here.

Jack wanted to scream. If there were gods or spirits out there that watched over everything in the universe, why were they cursing him like this?! Why couldn't they magically tell Elsa and Anna to just leave him alone?! He didn't need to be around other people. He needed to stay apart from them. In particular the two of them and Emma. He didn't want to hurt his little sister, but he also didn't want to hurt his new queen and childhood friend, the royal princess. If he had been born without his stupid powers and Elsa wasn't royalty, he probably wouldn't hesitate at trying to court her. And Anna? They weren't close friends anymore since he had to keep everyone in the world at arm's length away, but she was still his childhood friend. He didn't want to hurt any of them, and he didn't want to hurt any of the other princes, princesses, and highborn lords and ladies from Corona, Dunbroch, and Berk either.

No one was going to be hurt because of him.

Still though, he didn't dare to voice any of those thoughts out loud. He simply maintained the same usual stoic expression as he politely bowed before all of them, as did Emma and the rest of the kids; the only exceptions being the little Dunbroch princes. The triplet brothers just glared irritably up at their big sister, who glared back at them with just as much annoyance in her face.

"Don't tell them that!"

"Now they're going to dump all the blame on us!"

"You love to make us look bad, don't you, Miss-Merry-Must-Marry?!"

Everyone else blinked when they heard the nickname, but Merida's glare only grew twice as furious.

"How many times must I tell you, Harris?! Do not call me 'Miss-Merry-Must-Marry!' It's insulting!"

"No, no! Please, little prince! Tell me about this nickname! Are you hoping that your sister will marry me, perhaps?" Ryan teased.

Merida shot her Macintosh suitor a glare, but her little brothers all smirked triumphantly.

"I sure am, Lord Ryan! I'm on your side! But Hamish and Hubert disagree with me!"

"Merida should choose Lord Wee! He did technically win her hand back at the last Highland Games! She should stop breaking tradition and honor the fact that Lord Wee earned the right to be her husband!"

"No way! Big Sis is awesome for being one of a kind! When she chooses, she should choose Lord Alan! He's fought off the Vikings before! He'll always protect her, especially right now! That big stupid dark-haired Viking guy is giving her the icky googly eyes!"

Cue the blinks.

Everyone's attention was directed to Snotlout, whose face drained of all color when he saw the way that the Dunbroch princess's rage immediately snapped toward him.

"Hey now! I—"

"You've been sizing me up all night?!" she murderously growled.

"No way! I've just been standing around! I haven't been looking at you!"

"L-Let's not start a fight here, okay?" Hiccup said quickly, sidestepping his way in between his idiotic cousin and the Scottish princess. "We're getting off topic, anyway! Didn't we all come over to see what the mess was with the cake?"

"There's no need to worry about it. I'll clean it all up," Jack quickly cut in. "And I'll pay for the broken plates, too."

"Oh, Jack! That's not necessary!" Elsa said with surprise. "It was just an accident!"

"Yeah, don't worry about that, Jack!" Anna agreed, actually laughing a bit at the thought of having Jack pay for the broken plate and the huge cake mess. "Elsa and I don't mind! It's just a little spill!"

Rapunzel smiled. "You're both so kind, Elsa, Anna," she said. "I'm happy to be your cousin."

"Aw! Thanks, Rapunzel!"

"You're the kind one!"

"But Emma was still involved in the spill," Jack argued, bringing all eyes back to him. "I'm obligated as her big brother to pay for the accident."

"But I didn't make this mess, and neither did any of my servant friends!" Emma suddenly snapped. Then she thrusted her index finger in the direction of Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. "They did!"

All heads turned to look at the three Dunbroch princes, but Hamish, Hubert, and Harris didn't meet their gazes. They were too busy scowling at Emma.

"Tattletale!"

"We didn't mean to knock it over!"

"We were just trying to get cake for you and the others!"

The triplet's whining was cut off when their older sister gave them each a small smack upside the head.

"Ouch!"

"Stop that!"

"Miss-Merry-Must-Marry, that hurt!"

Their antics earned them an amused smirk from Eugene. "You three are going to make excellent playboy princes one day. I can tell!" he quipped.

Merida spun around, ready to deck Eugene in the nose for saying such a thing to her little brothers, but she was beaten to the punch by Rapunzel yanking him by the ear once again.

"Ow! Hey! Blondie!"

"That's enough out of you, Eugene! I won't have you corrupting innocent young boys and turning them into mini Flynn Riders! Are we clear?"

"Ow! Yes, Blondie! Yes! We're clear! We're clear!"

A satisfied smirk spread across the Coronan princess's lips as she released her fiancé's ear. "Good. I hope I won't have to tug on your ear again this evening."

Her actions caused both Astrid and Ruffnut to look at her with admiration. "Good for you, your highness. Don't let that fiancé of yours act like an ass whenever he wants to. Call him out on it when he does!" said Astrid.

"Yeah! There aren't many men out there who are dumber than my stupid twin brother, but your guy seems to have an ego that tops his! You're awesome to keep him in line like that!"

"Hey! I'm not stupid, Ruff!"

"Yes or no – did you once beat your head against a rock for a solid hour because you thought that you could split it in two just like Hiccup's dad did when he was our age?"

"I was just trying to prove my strength!"

"And I rest my case."

Jack wanted more than anything to just quietly turn around and fade away from everyone's minds while he cleaned up the huge mess that the kids had made, but just like everything else in his life, luck wasn't on his side. He soon realized that the somewhat chubbier Viking teen that had yet to speak up was looking right at him.

"So… Jack, was it? This is your little sister?" he asked.

Seriously, did the universe love it when he became overcome by his anxiety over his powers whenever he was forced to mingle with other people?

Of course, Jack didn't say this out loud though. He just forced his head to nod as he clenched his free hand into an even tighter fist and kept his grip firm around the edge of his tray.

"Yes. This is Emma, and these other kids are her friends. That's Jamie and his little sister Sophie, the twins Caleb and Claude, the boy with the glasses is Monty, the red-haired girl is Pippa, and the other one goes by Cupcake."

"Hi!"

"Hi! Hi! Hi!"

"It's very nice—"

"—to meet all of you!"

"I-It's an honor, your highnesses!"

"How do you do?"

"Cupcake's just a nickname, but don't go calling me by real name! I hate being called Gertie!"

Their introductions earned honest laughs from everyone except Jack. They were all good kids, no doubt about it.

"You all seem to be much nicer than my wee devils for brothers. Are any of you interested in being my replacement siblings? You'll get to be royalty!" Merida joked.

The triplets shot her matching scowls as they stuck out their tongues, but their usual sibling quarrel with their big sister was put on hold when Emma's hand shot straight up in the air.

"Me! Me! I'll be your little sister!" she said enthusiastically.

People couldn't help but smile at that. That was adorable.

Merida herself was smiling as she bent down a little bit to look Emma right in the eye. "Ah! You wish to be a princess then? Because I assure you, being a princess is not nearly as wonderful as it sounds. You spend all day in princess lessons, and then you have duties, responsibilities, and expectations! Are you ready for that?"

Emma thought long and hard for a few moments, but then she happened to make eye contact with her still utterly silent older brother, and to everyone's surprise, Emma's face turned into a bitter scowl momentarily before she turned back to Merida again and earnestly nodded.

"If it meant that I could have a nicer older sibling who would play with me sometimes, let me into their bedroom just to talk, and actually be hugged and felt like I was appreciated for the first time in my life, sure. I don't care how hard being a princess is! I just want a big brother or sister who actually loves me!"

Nobody had been expecting that response.

One by one, every head there slowly turned to look at Jack, but Jack didn't dare to meet anyone's gaze. He just stared, frozen stiff with nervousness and anxiety, at the cake spill on the floor as he clutched the tray and his empty fist even tighter to prevent any of his magic from pouring out of him.

That wasn't fair.

Emma had no right to say that in front of everyone.

She had no idea what he went through on a daily basis just so she could stay alive.

Everything that he did was for her.

If only she could know how dearly loved she really was.

For the longest time after that, the ice user refused to speak. He wasn't exactly sure what to say to everyone after hearing his little sister say that. It was impossible for him to even form words, as every fiber of his being was struggling not to let his emotions go free or allow tears to form in his eyes, which would undoubtedly result in ice forming all around him. But finally, he let out a deep sigh of what sounded like exasperation to everyone else, even though in actuality, it was a sigh of complete heartbreak.

"I have to get this mess cleaned up. Please excuse me," he said quietly and with a small bow to everyone else.

Pausing only for a moment to set the empty tray down on the edge of the table, Jack kept his face carefully blank and neutral as he avoided all the dumbstruck stares and tried to make his way to one of the curtained off areas on the side of the ballroom to fetch a dustpan and broom.

But he was quickly stopped when a small pale hand started approaching him from out of nowhere, and Jack nearly yelped as he jumped back a few paces to avoid having the hand touch him. He didn't need anyone catching frostbite thanks to patting his shoulder.

"Steady there! I'm not trying to hurt you or anything!" claimed a surprised Wee Dingwall upon seeing Jack shy away from his hand. Even though he was a bit slow when it came to understanding things that happened around him, the heir to Clan Dingwall in the Highlands understood plainly enough what was happening right now, and just like everyone else, he was shocked that this young servant boy was just ignoring his little sister's words about how he was apparently a terrible older brother. How could he not care at all about what Emma had just said?

Jack fought the urge to gulp. God damn this noble for stopping him! Couldn't this idiot see that he needed to get the hell away from this emotional trap?

"Can I help you?" he asked guardedly.

Wee Dingwall dazedly blinked, but then he shook his head a bit to keep his thoughts in order before nodding in little Emma's direction. "I… I don't have any siblings back home, but I know that if I did, I would try talking to mine right now if I'd heard one of them say something like what your little sister just did," he explained.

Jack became very tense as the other nobles and royals nodded in agreement to what he had said, while Emma was pleadingly staring up at him with a sad face. It was so obvious that the little girl only said what she did to try and get a reaction out of him so he would talk to her. It was her childish way of thinking that Jack would be willing to have a conversation with her that wouldn't end in the same way their other one did a little while ago.

But Jack couldn't do this. He couldn't let his guard down. It was far too dangerous.

With as much respect as he could muster given his state of mind, he forced himself to speak again. "That… That really isn't any of your business, Lord Wee. It's not your concern."

All of them just kept gawking at him, not believing their own ears at what they were hearing, but Jack did his best to ignore them. In this instance, he was right. It wasn't any of their business what his relationship was with his little sister. Wee shouldn't have tried to bring it up.

He was about to turn away again, but then Elsa and Anna stepped forward, and they were both giving him pointed looks.

"I agree with him, Jack! How can you be so callous towards Emma?!" Anna demanded.

"Jack, she's the only family you have left, and that door swings both ways for Emma, too. Couldn't you try being nice to her for once?" Elsa pleaded.

Frost was coating the interior of his gloves. He needed to remove himself from this terrible situation.

"I need to take care of this mess, your majesty, your highness. I need to work extra hard tonight to get a good bonus with my wages for the last time tomorrow morning. I do not have time to worry about her right now."

He was about to bow and walk away, but that's when a small voice piped up again.

"The last time? What are you talking about, Big Brother?"

Jack froze up for a second – figuratively speaking, that is – and then he forced himself to look down at the small speaker. Emma was looking up at him with complete puzzlement on her face. Of course she looked confused. He hadn't told her about his plans to quit his work in the castle and go work with the ice harvesters up in the mountains. He hadn't told anyone. Even Elsa and Anna lost their annoyed looks, and they too were looking at him curiously, silently asking him to elaborate on what he just said.

He gulped, knowing full well that this wasn't going to end well, and then he willed himself to speak.

"I'm talking about the fact that tonight is our last night working here in the castle, Emma. I'm quitting tomorrow morning."

Emma gaped at him with her jaw slightly agape.

Elsa and Anna did a double take at that, not believing their own ears.

Everyone else just stayed very quiet as they did their best to not full-out stare at the brother and sister servants. This wasn't any of their business, and they were in no position to get involved.

"Jack… please tell me you're joking!" Elsa pleaded.

"No, I'm not, your majesty. I tried to tell you this morning when we saw each other, but I didn't get the chance. You'll have to find someone else to be your new head butler here in the castle."

"But Jack…! We've known you all our lives! You've always had a position here in the castle!" Anna cried out. "Why are you suddenly quitting?"

"I… I understand why you and Elsa wish to open up the castle gates, Princess Anna, but I can't stay here in the castle if you do," he stated. "I've already found another job working with ice harvesters up on the North Mountain. I'll turn in my resignation papers to you both first thing in the morning. With any luck, I'll have mine and Emma's things all packed up in the next few days and we'll be out of your hair soon enough."

"But… But Jackie! You didn't even ask me if I wanted to leave! What about Jamie and the rest of my friends here in the castle? And Queen Elsa and Princess Anna?! Don't you care about any of them?"

"Emma, what do you know about caring for other people?"

"Seems like she knows more than you do, if you ask me," mumbled Merida from out of the blue, looking more than disgusted at what she was witnessing just in the ten minutes that she had been acquainted with Jackson Overland.

Jack's eyes quickly flicked away from his saddened little sister's face to look pointedly at the hot-headed Scottish princess. "With all due respect, your highness, this is between myself and my sister. I would appreciate it if you didn't try to interfere."

"With all respects intended in return, Sir Jack, if you're arguing with her right in front of us, it technically makes it our business," Rapunzel said calmly.

"Princess Merida and Princess Rapunzel are right. You really shouldn't treat her that way," Hiccup agreed in a dry tone.

Emma smirked triumphantly after hearing that. Their words made her feel so happy. It looked as though Elsa, Anna, and all her friends were no longer the only ones to notice that there was definitely something wrong with how the only family member she had left in this world treated her. The crown princesses and the heir to the Viking island tribe were on her side when it came to the disagreements between herself and Jack, and judging by how all the other royals and nobles were nodding along to what the three of them had said, they agreed.

She deserved to have an older brother who loved and cared about her.

It wasn't a big thing to want in the grand scheme of things in this world.

"See, Jack? They all agree with me! And to answer your question, I sure know more about caring for other people than you do! All you do is shut people out!"

Jack lost control over his facial muscles after hearing that, and a small, barely noticeable frown appeared on his face for a few brief seconds. But as quickly as his frown came, it disappeared again behind Jack's usual monotone mask as he regained his control.

"My decision is final, Emma. With any luck, we'll be leaving the castle by the end of the week. Now, please excuse me."

He slowly tried to walk away from everyone once again, ignoring their stunned expressions of utter disbelief, but that was when Elsa stepped forward. The new queen didn't quite know what had brought on Jack's sudden, out of the blue decision to leave the castle, but she wasn't going to let him go without doing anything to try and convince him to stay! He might not be as close to her anymore, compared to how well they had gotten along back when they were children, but he was still one of her dearest friends! She had to convince him to stay! She would never be able to forgive herself if she failed to stop him from doing this…

"But… But Jack! Isn't there anything I can say that will make you—?"

"N-No, there isn't, Queen Elsa," Jack quickly interrupted. He couldn't handle talking to Elsa. Not Elsa. It was bad enough that Emma was distraught over his decision to quit, and that everyone else seemed to be on her side when it came to how he was forced to treat her just so she would stay safe. But Elsa's words? He was already fighting a losing battle in keeping his emotions in check. He couldn't afford to lose his cool completely just from hearing her.

"I… I really must go now and get a broom to clean up this mess. I hope you, Princess Anna, and all the other royals and nobles enjoy the rest of your evening."

This time, he didn't dare make eye contact with anyone as he walked away from the group. It didn't matter what any of them thought about him. No one there had any idea about how dangerous he was, or why this was for the best. Yes, Emma was heartbroken. And yes, Elsa and Anna were devastated. But this was the only way. No one could ever know about his powers, and the only way he could keep his ice and snow magic a secret was if he removed himself from the castle. There were already too many people around him poking their noses into his business. He couldn't handle the pressure of dealing with royals and nobles like this every day for the rest of his life.

He would die alone and without anyone ever liking him, but that was okay.

So long as no one got hurt again because of his powers, it would be worth it.

Never again would his powers cause someone to be injured.

He would reject family, friendship, and fun forever if that was the price of keeping people safe.

He was almost clear of the group, when Emma's distraught voice broke through the whirlpool of thoughts rushing through his mind.

"Big Brother, no! No, please! Wait!"

Jack had intended to just disregard her this time, as he couldn't afford to stay around her, Elsa, or anyone else in this group for even a second longer, but then something happened. Something he definitely hadn't been expecting.

Ignoring the startled looks from her friends, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, and all the other younger generation of foreign royals and nobles, Emma darted forward while dodging several pairs of hands that attempted to restrain her, seized hold of Jack's left hand, and attempted to tug him backwards so that he would stop trying to walk away.

Upon feeling her small hand insert itself inside his gloved one, Jack felt every fiber of his being go haywire. No! No, no, no! Emma was touching him! Touching him! No! He had to get her to let go of him! Now! Before she got hurt!

"Emma! Let go!" he snapped. For once, he didn't care how he sounded as he addressed his sister. If being short and snappish got her to back away from him, so be it! She was in grave danger right now! He had to get her to let him go!

His shout drew some stares from a few nearby party guests, and they watched in obvious puzzlement at the minor fight between the brother and sister servants.

He tried jerking his hand away from her, but Emma's grip was strong, and she yanked back just as hard. Everyone just stared as they watched the two siblings struggle with one another, Jack trying to get away, with Emma trying to make him stay. Until finally, the two separated, albeit unintentionally.

Because Emma had accidentally tugged Jack's white glove off his hand.

The panic that Jack felt before just from Emma touching him was nothing compared to the ice-cold dread that was suddenly filling Jack's veins from his glove being off.

His glove was off his hand.

Off. His. Hand.

This wasn't like this morning when he was carrying the royal orb and scepter while walking down the aisle in the chapel. Both of his gloves were still technically in his pocket and therefore within easy access for to slip back on his hands as soon as he had put the pillow with the two coronation objects down on the altar. But right now? Now, one of them was in Emma's grasp, and because she was unaware of how crucial his gloves, and by extension even his boots, were in keeping his powers sealed away, she was clutching it tightly in her little fist and didn't appear to be showing any sign of giving it back to him.

"Emma! Give me my glove!" he cried out in nothing short of terror.

The volume in his tone made a number of the other guests look over curiously to see what was going on, but Jack paid them no mind. His attention was focused solely on Emma as he clenched up his exposed hand into a tight fist to prevent any ice or snow from forming and then tucking his arm close to his side before having his other, safely gloved hand reach out to try and snatch his empty white silk glove out of Emma's grasp. But Emma was quicker than he expected and pulled it away from him, keeping it clasped in between her palms as she formed her hands into a pleading locked position close to her little heart.

"Jackie, please! Please!" she desperately begged. "Don't quit! I don't want to leave!"

Jack gulped. Why? Why was Emma doing this to him? Why was she choosing to do this now, in the middle of the party?! There were too many people around!

"Emma, we'll talk about this later. Just give me my glove—"

But Emma's face scrunched up into a furious glare. "No! I won't give it back to you! Not until you say we won't leave!"

"Emma—"

"I won't leave the castle, Jack! You can't make me!"

Emma's stubbornness was unintentionally causing Jack to become more anxious by the second. He could literally sense that the fingers of his exposed hand were forming frosty patterns inside his tight fist thanks to this situation. It killed him to do this to her, but there was only one thing he could say right now that would get his sister to back off.

Even if it did break her heart.

"Then stay behind…"

Jaws dropped from everyone else in the group when they heard that. This boy really didn't have any form of compassion in him whatsoever. How could he say something like that?

Elsa and Anna couldn't believe their own ears as they stared at Jack for the longest time before exchanging bewildered looks of shock, but Jack didn't look at either of them.

His focus was solely on Emma.

Emma's eyes had lost their previous anger, and they were instead open wide in incredulity as she stared at him at a complete loss for words. But then her entire expression changed into that of pure sadness as her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears.

Jack wanted more than anything to just apologize to her, to tell Emma that he didn't mean it, but he didn't dare. Not only was telling her that if she didn't want to, she didn't have to leave the castle with him when he quit tomorrow the only way to get her to leave him alone right now, but it was actually better for her in the long run anyway. What was he thinking when he initially believed that he should take her with him to live constantly on the move and all but isolated from other children her age while he was employed with the mountaineer ice harvesters? That was no life for a child. He should know, considering he spent half his childhood and all his teen years in forced isolation. Granted, it was to keep others safe from him, but it was still no life for a kid.

Emma would have a good life here in the castle. She had friends her own age that she treasured, and Elsa and Anna would take good care of her. They had all but adopted her as their unofficial little sister. And she would be safe from him and his god forsaken ice magic.

She'd be better off without him.

With one final sigh, Jack folded his arms together across his chest, turned his back on Emma, Elsa, and everyone else in the younger generation of royalty and nobility, and started sadly shuffling away. Only this time, he didn't head towards the curtained off areas on the sides of the Great Hall that he had been continuously trying to get to before to find a broom to clean up the cake spill. Instead, he started approaching the gigantic doors that led out into the main hall of the castle. Let someone else clean up the huge mess. He needed to get a new left hand glove from his bedroom if he was to get through the rest of tonight.

"Why do you hate me so much, Jack?!"

Emma's raging shriek brought a hush over everyone in the Great Hall. The music the band had been playing stopped abruptly in mid-song as conversations everywhere in the party froze in mid-sentence. Even the other country leaders from Corona, Dunbroch, and Berk stopped to see what the commotion was before slowly making their way toward them. Although none of them knew Jack or Emma all that well, their children and some of their people had front row seats to the entire spectacle. All attention was fixed solely on the red-faced, teary eyed Emma and the quietly retreating Jack. There wasn't a single pair of eyes anywhere in the ballroom that was looking elsewhere at that moment.

Jack knew this, and he forced himself to walk a bit faster. The quicker he got out those doors and was safely in the hall, the better. He couldn't afford to stay the center of attention.

"Stop it, Emma…" he mumbled over his shoulder, but not daring to make eye contact with his sister as he did so. One look at her, and his stoic resolve would break.

He had to keep a tight lid on his emotions and not feel anything.

Elsa, Anna, and her friends all tried to pull Emma backwards to try and get her to calm down, but Emma would not be dissuaded. She was too angry and hurt this time to be discouraged from screaming at Jack. She wanted answers as to why he had treated her like this all her life, and nobody was going to stop her from getting them. Not the queen or the princess, not her circle of friends, and not even Jack himself.

This time, she refused to let him walk away without explaining himself first.

"No, not until you give me a reason to keep believing in you like I believe in the Moonbeam Boy!" the little girl screeched as two hot and angry tears began to flow down her face. "Why?! Why do you shut me out?!"

Jack pressed his lips together into a thin white line.

"Why do you shut Queen Elsa and Princess Anna out?!"

He struggled to keep himself from panting heavily with his anxiety.

"Why do you hate everyone in this world?!"

He forced himself to ignore her. He was here. The door was less than a foot away from him. He had made it. He had kept his emotions under control and no one was any wiser about his powers. True, he must seem like the world's biggest asshole now, but better that they think that than realizing what a monster he truly was on the inside. Now, he just had to turn the golden doorknob and he'd be—

"Why are you abandoning me the same way that Daddy did to us?!"

And just like that, Jack's resolve snapped.

That question his little sister screamed at him in a moment of blinding rage knocked away all the defenses that Jack had carefully constructed around his heart since that fateful accident ten years ago in this very ballroom. Instead of keeping a calm and level head and just ignoring what Emma had screeched at him during the course of her tantrum, Jack felt surges of pure fury fill his veins.

She had no right to say such a thing to him! Emma's memories of their father might be a bit foggy considering she had only been four when he disappeared from their lives, but she had such a rosy picture of Tobias compared to him. To her, Tobias Overland had been the perfect father that showered her with hugs and kisses and gave her piggyback rides whenever she asked. But for him? For him, Tobias Overland had been a constant source of fear while growing up. He had been an abusive son of a bitch who beat the shit out of him just because he was different. Tobias was the reason why he had spent two weeks with his arm in a sling back when he was twelve because he had sprained it! At the time, Jack had been very upset when he learned that his father had been banished from the kingdom by the late king and queen because of him, but now that he was older, he was glad that the asshole was gone and couldn't hurt him anymore.

How dare Emma say that he was anything remotely similar to that fucker!

How—dare—she!

"Emma, shut up!"

Jack's furious shout echoed throughout the entire expanse of the Great Hall as he whirled back around to glare at the small girl, the anger, sadness, and pain of living like an emotionless doll for the past ten years of his life flooding all his senses as he let go of his control for one brief second.

It was such a short amount of time to forget himself – just one single moment – but it was still enough to make an already bad situation become much, much worse.

As the older of the two Overland siblings spun around to yell at the younger one, the arm attached to the ungloved hand swung out from its previously secure location being folded across his chest, and as his hand swooped through the air, enormous magical blue sparkles erupted from the palm of his hand and spread rapidly across the floor to form an entire blockade of deadly sharp icy spikes.

Gasps and screams of alarm erupted from the crowd as people instinctively leapt backwards to avoid the sharp spears of ice that had mysteriously appeared. The crowd was in complete shock as absolute silence filled the Great Hall.

Ice. The mysterious servant boy had created ice with a mere wave of his hand. How did he do it? Why did he do it? Just because he got angry with the little girl? Was he intentionally trying to hurt her? He did yell at her… Was he going to try to hurt all of them next?!

Rapunzel nearly screamed as Eugene protectively raised one of his arms and shoved her slightly behind him the second the ice sprang forth from Jack's fingers. Fifteen years' worth of being told lies by Mother Gothel naturally made her wary of anything strange or out of the ordinary, the only exception to that rule being the true reason as to why she chose to keep her hair so long and could never cut it. So seeing something like ice forming from the flick of Jack's wrist was definitely enough to send her into near cardiac arrest. Vaguely, the golden-haired princess was somehow aware that Eugene was still keeping his arm raised defensively in front of her should something else happen with the ice, and that from out of the blue, her parents had rushed to her side. Frederic joined Eugene in shielding her by planting his body in between her and the ice, while Arianna held either of her shoulders and forced her to take several steps back and away from the jagged spikes.

They were all terrified, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she had to admit that she was a bit, too. What on earth was happening? Why did Jack make all that ice? Why did he try to kill all of them?

The second that the ice appeared, Merida found herself being jerked as far back as she could without falling over thanks to Ryan Macintosh pulling her out of the way of being nearly impaled by one particularly large icy barb. Under normal circumstances, the Scottish princess would have been furious with Ryan for acting so presumptuous in thinking that she couldn't have gotten out of the way of the unexpected threat herself in time before she got hurt, but in this instance, she felt rather grateful toward him. And she was also grateful towards Alan and Wee for rushing to drag her three little brothers out of the way as well. If nothing else, she had to give her suitors credit for putting her safety as well as the safety of Hamish, Hubert, and Harris first and foremost in the face of danger. But that was only a passing thought compared to what had just happened. Merida thought she had seen the last of magic after she had made the stupid deal with that witch out in the woods of her castle after she got angry with her mother over the whole marriage fiasco last summer, but evidently, she had been very wrong. Magic was everywhere in this world. Even inside the most unsuspecting, seemingly normal people…

Her parents and the other clan lords suddenly appeared by her side, and she became aware of the fact that the lords had moved to stand beside their sons while her parents did the same with her and her little brothers. Elinor ushered the troublesome triplets to move as far back as they could, before yanking her by the wrist and dragging her back as well, while Fergus quickly moved to shield his family behind him. The only way that this strange servant boy was going to hurt his family was if he got through him first. He nearly lost his wife and daughter last year during their second encounter with Mor'du. He was not losing them or his sons now.

Having a prosthetic metal leg was good for controlling the special pedal system he designed to help Toothless fly, but in terms of leaping back and away from rapidly spreading shards of pointy ice, it was a serious flaw. Hiccup had tumbled backwards when he saw the ice and mistimed the shift of weight on his bad leg, causing him to fall to his rump on the floor of the ballroom. Astrid helped him to stand back up, but just like the rest of their friends, she didn't make eye contact with him as she did so. Her eyes were fixed solely on the icy barrier that split their side of the Great Hall, and on the one who had initially created the ice and was still standing by the doors that led out into the castle halls. Hiccup's eyes were wide as he stared at the ice-covered floor. What in the name of Odin…? What exactly did this servant kid do?! Ice?! He had seen enough of ice while living on Berk. It snowed nine months of the year and hailed the other three after all. But he had never realized that magic existed outside of dragons that could cause someone to have the power of generating ice right out of their fingertips!

The only reason he looked away from Jack and all the ice was because he sensed his dad and mentor move to stand beside him, and he shifted his attention for a brief moment to look up at both of them. Gobber seemed to be downright baffled by what he had just seen with Jack and the ice, and he was just staring at the dark-haired boy with his mouth slightly agape. But Stoick, as soon as he got over his initial shock, was now glaring at Jack with nothing short of fury and pure unadulterated loathing in his eyes.

"Witchcraft…!" he growled under his breath.

Elsa and Anna were completely unaware of everyone else's reactions. When the ice appeared out of Jack's hand, they had been just as stunned as everyone else was, but their first priority was to protect the children. The Scottish princes had been pulled away from the deadly sharp frozen water by two of the Scottish clan heirs, but the other servant children were still in grave danger. The queen and the princess of Arendelle had lunged forward to grab all the little ones by either the scruffs of their necks or by their upper arms and then tugged them all as far back as they could so that they wouldn't get hurt. The children were all staring at the ice with wide eyes, and little toddler Sophie Bennett shrieked fearfully as she buried her face into her big brother's side so she wouldn't have to keep looking at the scary ice. Jamie didn't even seem to be aware of what she was doing, he was so shocked. He was just staring dumbstruck at all the ice.

Wordlessly, the royal sisters exchanged looks of incredulity. So this was the reason why Jack was so closed off all the time? This was why he had abruptly ended his friendship with them for what had – at the time – seemed to be no good reason back when the three of them were children? He could make ice? How did he do it? And why hadn't he just told them? If he had only told them that he had bizarre and unexplainable powers… in all honesty, Elsa and Anna weren't a hundred percent positive what they would have done, but just from looking at one another they could easily tell that neither of them would have hated him. Magical powers or no magical powers, Jackson Overland was still their friend! They wouldn't have shunned him for what he could do…

And as for Emma?

She was just frozen in utter shock.

The little girl had screamed at the top of her lungs in absolute terror when she saw the ice appear, and was nearly stabbed right through the stomach at one point by one of the spikes had it not been for Elsa seizing hold of the back of her green servant dress to yank her back and away from the deadly ice spines. Emma wasn't even grateful towards the new queen for saving her from being almost impaled, she was so astonished.

Jack had made ice appear from out of nowhere.

Ice.

From out of nowhere!

This was why her big brother acted so cold and heartless to her all the time? This was why he never played with her or even spent time with her? This was why he was always locked up in his bedroom whenever he wasn't performing his servant duties around the castle or out in the stables?

It was all because he didn't want anyone to know about his powers…

Which meant… he didn't hate her!

She was the one who had been in the wrong.

And because she just didn't drop the issue when he asked her nicely, she had forced him to reveal his magic to not only her, but to everyone else at the party, too. All in all, everyone here in the Great Hall made up a good chunk of the most prominent royalty and nobility in all of Northern Europe.

This was very, very bad…

Jack had his back pressed flat up against the grand doors of the Great Hall, his ungloved hand safely curled up into a tight fist that he held up against his chest as he gazed, sadly and fearfully, at all the guests that were simply staring at him. They all had matching expressions of shock and terror, but none of them could be feeling terror that was even a quarter of a fraction of the amount of fear that was flowing throughout every inch of Jack's being right then. Ten years of keeping his powers locked away and a secret from everyone except his asshole of a father, his late mother, and the previous king and queen, and in one night and one stupid argument with his little sister, all that hard work had just gone down the drain.

Emma knows…

Elsa knows…

Everyone knows…

If the other kings, queens, and maybe even that foreign Viking chief wanted to, they could propose to have him lawfully executed considering that he was nobody important and he had technically just put them, their families, and the lives of every other person inside this ballroom in grave danger. That ought to be the primary concern for Jack right then, but really, the idea of being hanged or beheaded for accidentally revealing his curse to everyone was a secondary concern to the teenage boy compared to the way that Elsa and Emma were staring at him right now.

Both his little sister and the girl he had been in love with for years now were staring at him with a perfect mixture of shock and horror on their faces. Emma just seemed to be flabbergasted at the very sight of him, her own flesh and blood, while Elsa was studying him as though she had never seen him before.

"Jackie…"

"Jack… what—"

But Jack didn't wait to hear whatever it was Elsa and Emma wanted to say to him.

The jagged, icy barricade he made in his one moment of anger had been made quite by accident, but it still separated him from them.

It would separate him from all those that he loved and cared about forever.

How ironic that the revelation of his powers to the whole world happened in the same room that he had last used them in, back when he considered them to be a blessing rather than the curse they were.

With one last sad sigh, he gazed apologetically at Emma and Elsa, reached behind him for the doorknob with his still gloved hand while keeping the other one in a tight fist, and then threw the grand door open before bolting at top speed out of the Great Hall.

For a little while, nobody dared to move or speak even after Jack had fled the room. People's heads were still reeling after what they had just witnessed, and no one really knew what to do in response.

But that all changed when both Chief Stoick the Vast and King Fergus got matching furious glares on their faces.

"After him! He'll kill everyone!"

"He's a threat! We must eliminate him!"

While none of the younger generation of royalty and nobility cheered in agreement with what their king and chief had said, the other Vikings and Scotts that had been invited to the castle for the party, primarily Gobber, Lord Malcom, Lord Duncan, and Lord Ewan, all shouted out incomprehensible war cries as they followed their countries' leaders in maneuvering their way around the icy spikes to start chasing Jack down the hall.

The moment Emma saw all the Vikings and Scotsmen racing to catch up to Jack, she immediately snapped out of her state of shock.

"Wait! Stop! Don't hurt my big brother!" she cried.

Within seconds, the little girl was dodging the several pairs of hands that shot out in an attempt to restrain her, and was dashing as fast as her little legs could carry her after both Jack, and all the angry adults that were chasing him.

"Emma! No!" Elsa shouted.

"Emma, come back!" Anna screamed.

The queen and the princess took off after their small ward, and neither of them noticed, but they were soon followed by the rest of the royalty and nobility, and the rest of Emma's small circle of servant friends.

Jackson Overland's accidental revelation of his magic had not only scared everyone, it had created one of the most bizarre wild goose chases that there ever was.

And the only way that it would come to a stop was if the said boy stopped fleeing.

---

Nobody in the Great Hall realized it, but high above everyone's heads, the evil spirit Pitch Black had been watching everything occur from the overhead skylight. The Nightmare King was laughing manically to himself as he watched Jack run away and be chased by all the royals, nobles, his kid sister, and the other servant children. Just as Pitch had figured, Jack had been unable to repress his magic any longer. He had finally snapped, and thanks to that one teenage boy, the Boogeyman could literally feel fresh waves of fear filling his soul.

This extra splurge of terror was great!

Just give that boy a few more minutes to strike fear into the hearts of more people during the course of his fleeing those in the ballroom, and the time would finally come for Pitch to summon forth his Nightmare army.

He was finally ready to attack and terrify the human population in order to draw out the Guardians.

With one last dark chuckle, Pitch wickedly grinned.

"Looks like it's finally time to have some fun…"