Chapter Five
Merida didn't know how long she had slept at the brothel since the rooster didn't screech this time, but the loud clatter and clang of cleaning indicated that everybody else was awake. She groaned loudly as she rolled out of bed. Her feet still covered by bandages, she struggled to stand up, and her elbow was glued stiff by the dried up blood from yesterday's incident. Running her hands through her hair, she blinked tiredly.
"Rise and shine."
Jack was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed. There was a blank expression on his face, but his eyes glinted in amusement. Merida whined and childishly stuck her tongue out at Jack before she resumed to her unsuccessful plan of standing on overly bandaged feet. Jack just rolled his eyes, strolled over and grabbed Merida by the arm, helping her up straight. During that process, Merida grumbled about being a 'damsel' and elbowed Jack backwards.
"Hey, I'm just helping!" Jack exclaimed.
Merida glared at him, "Thank you but I don't want to be a helpless princess anymore."
Jack raised his eyebrow, "Princess? Sorry, but you are nothing like a princess."
Merida was about to retort, but it resulted with her mouth hanging open like a fish. Sensing her speechlessness, Jack took this chance to gently push her forward towards the door. This made Merida more annoyed, so she repelled his attempt to push her around and she marched awkwardly out into the bar with Jack tailing behind her, an amused grin evident on his face.
The bar was empty during the daytime. Most of the veils were packed up in a bundle under the bar, and the beds were all made and arranged in a nicely neat order. Merida spotted Sandy, who danced and cleaned with a huge mop in his hands. Outside, she could hear Bunnymund yelling at a block of wood as well as the crack of the wood as he split it in half with an axe. Better keep away from him, Merida noted as she didn't want an axe through her head this morning.
It was around then when Baby Tooth approached Merida like an overly excited puppy. It giggled and buzzed around Merida before it decided to rest on her shoulder. Jack scratched the top of Baby Tooth's head affectionately and laughed when it shivered and basically melted into a puddle. This caught Sandy's attention, and the blond man beamed at them in greeting.
"Sandy!" Jack bounced up to him, "Did you get a letter from North yet?!"
Sandy shook his head sadly. He pulled out paper and charcoal from the pocket of his apron and drew a picture of a fat man with various dolls and toys, he then wrote the number sixty plus. Jack nodded in understanding and heaved a heavy sigh. Unexpectedly, Merida placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic smile which made Jack blink in confusion. For some reason that made Sandy and Baby Tooth giggled crazily at each other. Both Merida and Jack frowned at the display, but shrugged it off, assuming it was merely the two having an unusual inside joke.
"So, what's happening today?" Merida asked hopefully, but the argument they had the other night remained fresh in her mind, and she desperately wanted to be in Jack's good books again. Though she felt uncertain to the reasons why she wanted to be in his good books in the first place.
"We're going to the tower where the healer lives," Jack replied calmly as he grabbed a his deer skin over coat and paused, "You sure you want to go outside in that?"
He eyed Merida up and down. Merida was still in her white nightgown, the blanket draped over her and her feet shoe-less. Sandy jumped up, his hand up as an idea popped in his head. The little, stout man dashed into the private room and came back with a medium pair of clogs. Scrunching up its nose in distaste, Baby Tooth watched in displeasure as Merida took the clogs with no hesitation. Sandy glared playfully at the little creature and shook his finger at it. Baby Tooth pouted and shifted itself away.
"You certainly look like a princess now," Jack drawled sarcastically, "Don't know how your husband copes with your utter beauty."
Merida punched him on the shoulder, "At least I have a husband."
Jack dramatically feigned shock and horror, "And where is he now?"
When Merida didn't reply, and her face just visibly dropped, Jack backed off. There was a part of her that wanted to tell Jack that she was a princess, but the image of his disbelieving laughter and mockery pulled at her reins and she remained quiet. There was also a part of her that didn't want to build anymore barriers between their newfound relationship (the friendship sort of relationship) and that also made her bite her tongue. Jack on the other hand was chirpy and oblivious to her inner turmoil, and was ready to go on an adventure in the morning. This made Merida seriously wonder how Jack managed to sustain the brothel when he was so restless and childlike in character.
The sun was barely up yet, only peeking curiously over the mountain peaks and hill tops. Judging by the lack of yelling and abused wooden blocks, Bunnymund had finished raging. So, Merida confidently strode outside, only to have the 'Overland's Brothel' paper sign collapse on top of her. She growled and removed the sign from her head. Bunnymund was on top of the roof; he stared down at her with gleeful small eyes, and at that point, Merida liked to think he was the bane of her existence.
"Hey Frost boy, be mindful of fires eh?" Bunnymund snickered.
Before Merida could even yell something horrific back to Bunnymund, Jack pulled her along towards the village.
"He's just being a dick because Tooth took all his chickens this morning," Jack half laughed and half tried to be serious.
It was borderline freezing this morning, puffs of air puffed from every breath they took. The village was still in slumber, probably unwilling to awaken due to the freezing cold temperature, so it was deserted and quiet. Jack's hand was oddly cold around Merida's wrist and she pulled the blankets around her tighter. Which technically served no purpose when a giant gust of wind blew past them.
Jack stood by Merida, his hand slipped carelessly from her wrist to her hand. Merida mentioned nothing as Jack wrapped his hand around her's, relishing in the warmth of their skin contact. They strolled slowly and quietly, allowing the wind to howl beside them.
"So, your husband..." Jack began awkwardly, "What's he like?"
Merida bit her lip, "I don't know really."
"How can you not know your husband?" Jack questioned, his tone laced with curiosity and confusion.
The cold solidified their hand together, so when Merida was about to let go of Jack's hand, she only proceeded to drag his arm with her. Which led them to an awkward hug. Sighing to herself, they parted and she replied, "We don't really talk."
"What? You've got to be kidding me, this is your husband we're talking about right?"
Agitation bubbled inside Merida's gut, "Can we stop talking about Mathias?!"
There was a brief silence, only the wind laughed at them. Jack tightened his grip on Merida's hand, "So his name is Mathias?"
Merida gave him no response. At the moment, she preferred to keep her marriage as secretive as possible as she didn't want people to hear her and spread rumours about her or worse, report her to the King. Jack kept his lips sealed after that, but he never let go of Merida's hand, even when his cold ones had already melded with Merida's warm ones.
They made it to Gothel's tower after a while battling against nature - the wind, tree roots and lack of light in the forest surrounding the tower-like building - and eventually they stood tiredly in front of the house. Well, Merida was tired, the bandages around her feet was a quarter torn off even with the clogs on, and she bent over panting. Jack was simply smiling happily to himself as he knocked on the door.
There was no answer.
Jack tried again.
"Hello?!" he called out. Yet there was still no answer.
Merida grunted unhappily, gripped onto the wall, her legs ached and wobbled. As Jack tried for the third time, Merida rested her head against the wall and tried to stay upright. Even breathing Merida, remember what mother taught you. Breath in. Breath out, Merida shut her eyes and directed her mind away from the ache in her feet and legs to her mother's soothing voice.
"Merida?"
"What?" Merida snapped, losing her peace.
Jack's eyes glittered with concern, "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Merida frowned as she wobbled off the wall.
A murmur came from inside the house. It was soft and effeminate. Jack knocked on the door again, and demanded to be let in. However, the voice trembled and refused them access. Slowly, Merida grew more and more tired of this charade and forced herself to the entrance. She balled her hand into a fist, pushed Jack aside and violently banged it. This resulted in a loud squeak from the other side.
"LET ME IN," Merida shouted.
Jack stood in the background watching, Merida turned to him with a glare, "Come on, help me!"
"Nah, I'm fine with just watching. This is way too entertaining," he laughed, "Please, do continue."
With one loud wham of her fist, Merida stormed up to Jack, ignored her aching limbs and hissed, "My legs are in pain. If you find this entertaining then go-"
"Touch him violent woman and this pan goes through your head."
Merida paused and turned to put the face to the voice. It was a young girl, around the same age as Merida, but with flowing straight blonde hair that trailed across the ground and into the house. In a pink gown and gripping a frying pan acting as a weapon, the girl glared threateningly while Merida suppressed the urge to snort. Jack shrugged, his arms in the air in defense.
"Merida, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Merida," he gestured vaguely. He smiled at Rapunzel, "Gothel still thinks you're not old enough to go outside? Seriously?"
Rapunzel relaxed her stance, "I am outside, but mother says I should stay indoors. You know, the big terrible world could be out to get me."
"Lovely, and I say you should come hang out with us," Jack said, giving her the look of shame, which quite frankly, Rapunzel ignored.
Sighing, Rapunzel opened the door to it's full extent, "Mother's out somewhere, but I think she'll be back soon. Come in and make it quick."
Merida practically waddled to get inside while Jack came in after her, chatting to Rapunzel along the way. The place was not as brightly lit as before. The windows were all covered by shutters or curtains, the painting of the lanterns also covered by red curtains. Spotting a chair nearby, Merida hastily motioned towards it and sat down with a thud. She exhaled happily as the tingling sensation of pain resided. Jack and Rapunzel were still conversing over something, but it appeared more and more like bantering with a mixture of flirting.
In an attempt to ignore them, Merida found a little box filled with excessive amounts of beads, handkerchiefs and other unused products. Curiously, she rummaged through it, and out of nowhere, a little green chameleon faded into existence and randomly stuck its extendable tongue into Merida's ear. Merida screeched, "WHAT THE-"
"Pascal!"
Rapunzel rushed over and harshly pulled the chameleon away from Merida. As Merida was cursing out loud as well as kicking around like a possessed animal, she bumped the table and the box went flying to the ground. It clattered across the floor before a purple handkerchief unrolled itself from the box. Jack knelt down to pick it up. It had an engraving of an abstracted sun.
"Don't touch that!" Rapunzel cried out.
Jack blinked, "And why's that?"
"It's the only thing mother allowed me to keep from the outside…"
"Oh," Jack quietened as he walked over and handed it back to Rapunzel, "Still think you should come hang out with us," he smirked and winked.
Rapunzel rolled her eyes, but a grin was evident on her face. She glanced at Merida's injuries, unwrapped them and rolled some of her hair around them. Merida watched intensely as Rapunzel started singing, and gold streamed from her scalp to the tips of her hair. After the song ended, Merida no longer felt the ache from before and stared down in absolute awe at the non-scarred glory that was now her feet.
"How? What? This is magic!" Merida exclaimed. Like an eager child, Merida pulled off half of her blanket from her shoulders and revealed the dull red stained bloody elbow that had dried overnight, "Can you do this one?"
Rapunzel stared for a second in horror, but eventually a bright smile stretched across her face, "Sure."
They talked a lot. Like, a lot. It would be considered felony to describe it any lesser than that. Rapunzel had healed all of Merida's wounds while they bounced questions off of each other. Merida found Rapunzel extremely quirky and spontaneous, which was a delight, and even though they had almost nothing in common, Merida was able to go on exceedingly long rants about archery and her family. Rapunzel shared her experiences (or lack thereof) with Gothel and Pascal to Merida which made Merida snort whilst she accidentally pulled on Rapunzel's hair. All in all, they were getting on like two peas in a pod.
Jack was listening intently, but eventually lost interest when Rapunzel started talking about her mother. Something he had heard a thousand times before. So, he decided it was about time he left.
"Pascal loves cleaning. I don't even know why, but he really does!"
"You should meet my mother, she's so uptight about cleanliness that it's insane!"
Jack raised his eyebrow, "You guys are seriously talking about cleaning? Seriously?"
Merida stuck her tongue out at him, "If you're interested, join in."
"No thanks, cleaning, not my forte," Jack laughed, backing away closer and closer to the door, "And if you keep doing that face, you're going to end up looking like Pascal."
Before Merida had the chance to let the comment click in her mind, Jack escaped in the nick of time as Merida grabbed the closest object, a book, and pegged it at him. Pascal stared in absolute terror as the book collided with the wall and fell in a scatter across the floor. Quickly, he camouflaged and scurried over to the book, picked it up with his tongue and scurried back in a merely one minute ordeal. He set the book back down on the table and sent Merida a judgmental glare.
"Sorry, he loves that book," Rapunzel bit her lip, "Something about him missing his family and all that."
The book was thick, the title was 'The Book of Dragons'. Merida cautiously picked it up and began flipping through the book. Each page had a detailed description of different species of dragon and on how to kill them. Which made Merida wonder if Pascal knew about that part of the description. It had gotten to a point where Merida took great enjoyment in analysing and conjuring up imaginary worlds where she had her bow and arrow, and she would be soaring back on the Scottish Highlands on Angus's back hunting down and finding these dragons.
When Merida reached the end of the book there was a missing picture. It seemed almost as if somebody had desperately tried to erase the existence of this one dragon. Narrowing her eyes, Merida read out loud, "N-Night Fury…?" she murmured.
Rapunzel nodded eagerly in response, "Pascal and I have been wondering what this Night Fury is. We think it might be Pascal's missing brother!"
Pascal nodded in an urgent manner, his eyes large and watery as if he was saying 'I can see it now, the Night Fury and I, reunited, as brothers!' which made Merida laugh out loud. With a bemused expression, Pascal licked his scaly lips and whipped his tongue across Merida's face. Rapunzel winced and dragged her companion further away from Merida, whose eyes were flaming with rage.
Rapunzel awkwardly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Okay, maybe Pascal isn't really a dragon, but he can dream right? Don't you have a dream?"
Merida frowned. She had a dream. A dream where she wasn't married to Mathias, where she was back at home in DunBroch eating apples and annoying her family with her 'unprincessly'ways. Her thoughts ran criss-crossed across her mind and her guts fell into a pit in her as she wondered how her beloved Angus was doing without her daily secret visits. Plus, she wondered if Annette was alright and why the girl still hadn't left the castle. As she fell deeper and deeper in her trance, Rapunzel waved her hand in front of Merida's face.
"Well?" she queried with glistening, expectant green eyes.
"Oh! Ah, um, of course I have a dream!" Merida burst out, feeling uncomfortable under Rapunzel's eager gaze, "My dream is… My dream is…"
Rapunzel scooted closer, "Yes?"
Merida coughed, "I want to go exploring!" she laughed awkwardly.
That made Rapunzel light up like a firefly, "I want to do that too! You know these lights?!"
Merida watched as Rapunzel vigorously rushed to the giant painting, the chair fell backwards as she did so. Enthusiastically, she pulled open the curtains revealing the painting. She ran her hand across the star-like lanterns gently.
"I've always dreamed of following these lights," she whispered before she turned her attention back to Merida, "They're there every year on my birthday, and I want to know why…"
She sat on the ledge of the painting and smiled, "When mother gave me 'The Book of Dragons' I was sure it would somehow help lead me to where the lights are."
"A book about dragons will help you find your way to a land of lights?" Merida sat there with her arms crossed, "Right…."
"No, not when you phrase it like that!" Rapunzel piped up, "There was this note that was in the book when I got it!"
Merida could only watch as Rapunzel energetically rummaged through a pile of sheets and squeal in delight when she found the right one. She jogged up to Merida and handed her the sheet of paper which was burnt around the edges and smelt of ashes. The writing was slightly smudged, but still readable. Half of the page was ripped off.
It's been 6 weeks, and I still haven't found Toothless. Berk is officially desolated. Father thinks we should take refuge somewhere, said there was a friend of his who lives further south. Ironically, I think his name is North (or Nicholas St. North) and he's a toy maker who lives alone in the forest. I asked father why but he won't tell me. Apparently had something to do with the death of his wife.
As ridiculous as this sounds, during these 6 weeks, we've been travelling down Scotland's plains, and during spring there are these floating stars that we see in the distance. Father said they are from the eastern borders. I wanted to go 'cause I know how much Toothless likes bright lights. So a part of me thought, maybe, Toothless would be there. But of course, who was I kidding, we continued on our trip to -
By then the writing stopped abruptly.
"See, I told you!" Rapunzel beamed, "This is totally it!"
Merida set the paper down, "But who wrote it?" she queried, looking up at Rapunzel who was scratched her head in thought.
Hopelessly, Rapunzel shrugged, "Someone from the north?"
Sighing in exasperation, Merida face palmed. She reread the paper and a hint of deja vu prodded her, "North…"
"Did you get a letter from North yet?!"
Merida gasped, "Jack!"
Blinking in confusion, Rapunzel raised her eyebrow, "What about him?"
Excitedly, Merida stood up, her hands clutched on Rapunzel's shoulder, "Jack knows North! He was talking about him this mornin'!"
Euphoria clouded Rapunzel's eyes, "Oh my god, it's like a dream come true!"
With haste, Rapunzel grabbed the book, allowed Pascal to perch on her shoulder and took Merida's hand, "Quick we have to go find Jack!"
In the midst of their excitement, a knock was heard.
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair."
They froze. Rapunzel quickly motioned Merida to hide, "Mother, stop joking with me, I'm not a child anymore! Plus we don't even live in a tower!"
Merida ran around trying to find a hiding spot only to be shoved violently into Rapunzel's room. She could hear Rapunzel open the door and greet Gothel. Silently, Merida took this chance to open the window, only to find it sealed shut by thirty nails all around the border. Cursing, she tip toed across the floorboards and decided her better option was to hide herself behind a cabinet which had a mirror hung on top of its door. The sheet of paper still clenched in her hand, Merida waited as perspiration dripped from her back and forehead.
Hey there :D. Since I have schoolies on Sunday - Friday, I thought I should update earlier. Anyways, this had more of a Rapunzel + Merida interaction, and sorta gives the story more of a plot... I think lol. I will most likely change parts of the summary haha, didn't think the big four would end up playing such a large part of the story (plot lines are vague in my mind, and details do tend to change often). Ther eis of course, still some romance.. It's just slow, really slow :P
Replies:
changeofheart505: Thank you for reviewing :).
Rae: Nah, you're not bothering me at all. I've written one scene that's somewhat sexual, I'l find a way to slip it into this story ;D. But I doubt things are going to get steamy yet haha. Thank you for believing in my writing and taking your time to review :)
*Due to the reply above... There is a possibility that I'll change the rating to M again. But it's not soon.*
Thanks for reading ~