Chapter 2

(Rapunzel's POV)

I opened my eyes groggily. Then I felt sudden ache in my head and I moaned. I slowly sat up and was shocked to see myself inside my room in Jack's house.

What happened? I remember driving here from school, but I don't remember going past the door and falling asleep on my bed. I slowly stood up and headed into Merida's room. There she was, asleep as well.

Strange.

(Jack's POV)

Practice came next and Stoick changed the practice location to my house. So I drove Hiccup and I there. By the time we had arrived, it was well over five in the afternoon. We got out my car and our valet parked it. Then we went inside the large stone mansion and I dashed straight to my room.

My mother allowed me to design my own room and I loved every single detail. The walls were painted a navy blue with one side of the wall painted pure white. The floor was dark, polished wood. My bathroom was on the white side of the wall; the inside decorated entirely with glass and numerous shower-heads that hit all side of your body, giving you a sort of mini body massage. A frosted glass sliding door separated the bathroom from my room. The windows overlooked the mountain. The majestic, high mountain looked awesome during winter. My bed was king-sized, the sheets and comforter decorated with white snowflakes and the blue contrasted it perfectly. Ok, let's just say I'm obsessed with anything that has to do with winter and snow.

I showered, put on a blue shirt, Levi jeans, and headed downstairs to dinner. I heard Merida's parents were coming over for dinner and I was right. As I entered the dining room, almost everyone was seated except for Hiccup.

Ugh he's late again.

I took my seat beside my mother and she leaned in to kiss my cheek. I smiled at her and patted her hand. As I looked around the table, I immediately recognized Merida's mom. She looked exactly like her, except where Merida's hair was curly in a wavy way, her mother's was the crazy curly kind. And of course, her mother looked older than her; a few wrinkles appeared when she smiled.

To be polite, I cleared my throat and extended my hand across the table.

"Welcome, Mrs…?"

"Oh just call me Mer," she shook my hand in a gently yet firm grip.

I smiled, "I'm Jack."

"I know," she said knowingly. "Your parents and I were quite close. Jack was always quite the playful one."

I was drinking a glass of water and I sputtered on my drink, "Dad?" I shook my head. "Playful?"

She laughed soflty, "Indeed. But he had a mature heart; a heart to protect those he loved."

My heart ached. Dad has been gone for about a year now, and it never fails to make me feel guilty when I remember. Yes, right before we moved here he passed away. Right after he and my mom had chosen this house and found a school for me. After he had died, my mom was filled with so much grief I decided to skip school for a few months and just be with her. The mansion felt so empty without him. And the ache in my heart intensified. I never got to spend time with him. When he was still here, he was almost never home.

Most of the time I would deny what happened and just tell myself over and over again that he's at work, and he won't be coming home for a while.

But I knew deep inside he's gone and it's my fault.

I excused myself from the table and retreated to my room. A few minutes later, Xerxes skipped inside my lair.

"Hey," he said, "Practice starts in an hour. We'll be doing it in your gym."

He then grinned which showed a gap between his teeth and walked away.

"Wait," I stopped him, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He raised a brow at me but sat down on my bed and faced me anyway.

"Sure," his childish voice replied, "What about?"

I felt weird talking to a boy about serious stuff, but I knew he was a god so I went at it, "Why did you change the time when the four of us first met?"

He sighed, "We changed the time so you could get the email on time. If you hadn't, Stoick's entire village would have been destroyed by werewolves."

My brows furrowed. "Then why did you change the restaurants?"

"That was Jake's idea," he grinned, "That was just for fun."

I gave him an exasperated look and he giggled, "It's fun being a little boy. You get the brain and a body of one."

He then walked out my door. "Don't be late," he winked before heading down.

I groaned. I don't really want to go. But then, if I wanted to survive an entire world of chaos in three months, then I guess I have to get going.

I spent the next forty minutes lying down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Thinking about what would happen after the war. What if we lost? What then?

After my genius thinking (I hadn't solved a single thing), I went to get changed. I wore shorts and a white undershirt. Then I slowly made my way to our gym.

The others were already there. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were in a wrestling match. Stoick was coaching Merida while she did push-ups, Corwin and Abbadon were sparring in their demon forms, and Hiccup sat on top of Toothless, his eyes closed.

Where's Rapunzel?

I walked towards Kaira and asked, "Where's Rapunzel?"

"Oh," she replied, "she went to bake or something. She'll be down in a minute."

True to her word, I heard loud steps thumping down the staircase and Rapunzel emerged, wearing short shorts and a shirt that says "I am a CUTEcumber" in bold words. Her long golden hair was tied back in a pony tail and she wore Nike shoes.

I agree with the shirt.

Our gym was huge. It had almost every exercising equipment imaginable. My parents also added weapons to it, so I'll know what to do with one they say.

Stoick stood in the middle of the room.

"Gather around!" he called and we all did, "Each of you will be training individually to learn to harness your Source." We all nodded and he turned to Rapunzel.

(Rapunzel's POV)

"Rapunzel," he said, "Step up here please."

I did and he walked away, arriving back later carrying a cup with water and a stool. He placed the stool at the far end of the room and placed the cup on the other end. Then he stepped back and clasped his hands together.

"Now Rapunzel," he said softly, "I want you to take the cup and place it on top of the stool using your Source."

Okay. That shouldn't be so hard.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the cup. I could feel every drop of water in it. I felt my Source inside me, struggling to be set free. I let it go then I heard a splash and a scream.

I quickly opened my eyes to see Corwin dripping wet. I looked at Stoick and his face was a mix of awe and confusion. I looked back at Corwin and saw that he was dripping wet from head to toe. How on earth could water from the cup have drenched him like that?

Xerxes stepped up and explained the confusion, "Rapunzel is able to copy the molecular compounds that she can sense and pull them out from another source. She concentrated too much on the water inside the cup; she accidentally pulled the water from air and focused it on Corwin."

Suddenly Hiccup started gulping and Merida nudged him, "What on earth are you doing?"

"Drinking wet air," he rolled his eyes, "Duh."

"Oi," Merida muttered, "There's stupidity everywhere."

Then Jack's maid emerged and handed me a tray of my baked cupcakes, "I added the frosting for you ma'am," she said.

"Call me Rapunzel," I smiled at her as I took the tray from her hands. Then I turned to Jack and offered one.

"I promised," I winked and he reluctantly took one. Then he looked at it and his eyes widened.

"A-are those m&m's with w-whipped cream on top a chocolate c-cupcake?" He stuttered as he stared at it in hunger and amazement.

"Yep," I replied.

Then he took a bite and made a sound at the back of his throat. He closed his eyes in bliss and proceeded to gobble the entire cupcake.

"Wait, m&m's on top chocolate?" Hiccup overheard, "Gimme!"

Jack panicked, snatched the tray from me and ran out the gym. Hiccup followed and managed to take one cupcake. Before Jack could take it back, Hiccup had already swallowed the delicious recipe.

"You betraying bastard!" Jack yelled and took his tray of treasure, stomping away. Then he stopped and turned to Hiccup, his eyes narrowed into slits, "You're dead to me."

But while he had his head turned around, Tuffnut and Corwin had snuck up and ate the last remaining two.

When Jack whipped his head around, Corwin and Tuffnut already had mouthfuls of cupcake, trying not to smile.

"Don't worry boys," I giggled. "I made extra. They're in the oven."

The moment they heard this, they scrambled for the stairs, each trying to climb first.

"It's mine!" Jack screamed and Tuffnut took him down by grabbing on to his legs before Jack could take another step.

I watched amused as I looked at four of the toughest looking boys acting like three-year-olds; all because of my cupcakes.

"Well," I heard Kaira behind me sigh, "That's the end of practice for today."

I turned around to face them and froze.

"Wait, where's Stoick?"