As I've said before, the "guardians" aren't immortal or mythical spirits, just humans with correlating abilities and some shared characteristics. The indecision in how to adapt this is a great part of why I hesitated for so long writing this chapter, along with general laziness and the inability to be bothered. However, I couldn't stand leaving behind the good parts of the story. Hah. Yeah, I've even tricked myself into liking some of this. So here's some more filler introductory garbage… 9 chapters in… And I can use all of the puns I want.

Nothing stirred the "Power House" like Tooth bringing a new friend home with her. The title was corny, sure, but Jack didn't know what else to call the home outfitted with a family quilted together with little more in common than how uncommon they were. Tooth seemed to make a point to meet and greet just about anyone in the surrounding area with special abilities. When Jack left his room that late morning, North was probably on what was his third cup of coffee while listening to Tooth gush over a new buddy that had probably gone to the bathroom for a few minutes of quiet. Jack sat at the breakfast table just to listen to what had been brought home this time.

"She said she used to catch birds that looked like me!" This probably would break some people into tears, but Tooth was so gleeful that her short wings pushed her into a cycle of gentle bobbing over the kitchen floor. "And my birds look like me! What if one of my birds actually went to her some days?" She spent a half second catching her breath. North drank and waited for the last tired addition from her. "I can imagine they would, they hate to see someone lonely."

"What's her name, again?"

"Rapunzel."

Like the sound of a bell, something signaled Jack to think of where he had heard the name, which didn't take long. He spun around in the seat. "Did you say Rapunzel?"

"Yes," Toothiana began to explain, "I guess it's a type of plant-"

"Yeah, some lettuce or something, Hiccup told me." Jack stood and faced Tooth. "That's his cousin!"

North raised his eyebrows. "Malenky?" This was how he underhandedly referred to Hiccup instead of just calling him "skinny" to his face. He shrugged and left the room. "Suppose that makes sense. Not much mass to that family."

"He never even told me she had abilities. Did he not think I would want to know that?" Somehow his friend, while grasping for any bit of information about Rapunzel other than how "nice" she was, failed to remember that she had extra human capabilities.

The presence of Tooth in the room reoccurred to Jack when she tilted her head and asked, "You're sure that's her?"

"Have you met any other Rapunzels?" Their conversation gradually picked up speed as they countered one another.

"Since when Hiccup does have a cousin?"

"I don't know, how long has she been out of the forest?"

"He's never mentioned her."

"He never knew about her."

"What, nobody ever told him she existed?" A pause caused the rhythm of speech to break. Jack only shook his head.

The blue tint of her long eyelashes fluttered into a blur when she blinked. She seriously asked now, "Nobody ever told him? Why wouldn't Stoick…"

"He probably just didn't want to scare him into thinking their entire family was hexed to disappear into the woods. Once is a freak accident, twice is a little suspicious."

"And Rapunzel's parents never said anything? Why weren't they ever around?"

"Because their mothers were sisters."

"Oh, no."

"Well, half-sisters, I think." He turned his eyes upward. "It's kind of a tangled family tree. Kind of a depressing one, too."

This quiet only lasted a few seconds before Tooth returned to rapid-pace speech. "But it's also great! Now that it's sorted out. You're friends, we're friends. It's a double family friend fourway!"

"I don't think you have a good handle on the word 'fourway'."

"Hello," Rapunzel quietly sang when she noticed Jack in the kitchen. "I'm-"

"Rapunzel," Jack finished for her with a smile. "Jack."

Before anyone else had a chance to speak, Tooth did. "Are you really Hiccup's cousin, or is Jack trying to trick me?"

"I am. You know each other?"

Jack answered, "We've been friends since before he found his fancy lizard."

"I never would have guessed it. But you're both so sweet, it's not such a shock." Tooth told her. Turning towards the wall, Jack rolled his eyes. "Polite when nervous" was a far better term to describe Hiccup than "sweet". Around him, he flip-flopped between uptight and emotionally impulsive. Maybe it was fun at times, but this wasn't generally a stable mixture, let alone a sweet one.

"Well, I've only known for a couple weeks myself. All of you must be why he didn't freak out when I said my hair used to glow when I sang. Or that it was like, 30 feet long."Rapunzel's sheepish smile matched the hand trying to push the little hair she had left behind her ear.

She apparently had somehow lost her powers. Maybe, Jack figured, that was why Hiccup hadn't told him anything. "Was that your ability? Long shiny hair?"

"It could heal injuries." The answer was sternly revealed from between Tooth's teeth. It was always funny to think of Tooth's teeth.

"Or trip me." Rapunzel added.

"So, what happened to that?" Tooth elbowed his side, indicating he was being rude.

Rapunzel didn't seem to notice the hit or the rudeness, however, and answered calmly. "It lost power when it was cut. It used to be blonde, too."

"Weird, I used to have brown hair. And brown eyes. And a human complexion."

A short burst of laughter was followed by a return of her meek posture. "Sorry, I forgot to ask what your abilities are?"

Jack looked up at the ceiling fan, raised a hand towards it, and caused a small flurry of flakes to spin around with the blades. While Rapunzel gazed with shock at the ceiling, Tooth sighed at the trick she'd seen a hundred times.

"Oh, I've heard about ice abilities! That's a little more common, right?"

"For powered people. In the normal population, not so much."

Tooth elbowed him again, but playfully now, "Heeey. We are normal."

"I get it. Don't rustle your feathers over it."

This prompted Tooth to shake the literal feathers on her face and shoulders as much as possible, making Rapunzel laugh again. "I still love when you do that."

"It never gets old." He shared a smile with Tooth for just a glance before turning right back to Rapunzel. "You know, I probably have a hundred stories about Hiccup he wouldn't tell you himself, if you're interested."

Maybe he was just imagining it, but she seemed to loosen up the longer they spoke. Underneath the layer of nervous laughter, however, she genuinely was quite kind and polite, if not a bit playful. People with peculiar skills tended to have similarly peculiar personalities, from their experiences. While Tooth kept an enormous bird enclosure, Rapunzel just had the one small reptile. North hand-painted a vast collection of Russian nesting dolls, but she apparently just painted more colorful versions of plants, animals, and other things you could find from any window view. Hell, she was more laid back than her "ordinary" cousin. If the pleasant people were the ones that had been stuck in one place their whole lives, what exactly did the real world do to people?