Hiccup lifted his arms high as Toothless sliced through the wind in the sky. This surely must be the best part of befriending the dragon. He took in the deep scent of the clouds as the cool air burned his lungs. It made him feel so incredibly alive.

"You and the lizard look like you're having fun!"

Until Jack would show up. Hiccup scowled at him and retaliated, "He's a DRAGON, okay?!"

"Yeah, yeah, you've said that like, a million times."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and looked back to Toothless. "You're not a lizard, buddy. You're my best friend." Toothless grunted in response and dive bombed towards the river. "WHOA, WHOA SLOW DOWN," Hiccup yelled in surprise. Finally, Toothless pulled up and they glided inches above the surface of the gleaming river. Suddenly, something cold hit Hiccup in the face and he nearly fell off into the river. "JACK!" he yelled angrily. Jack was lying on his staff like it was a lounge chair as he flew alongside them, bouncing another snowball in his left hand.

"What?" he asked innocently, twirling the snowball on his finger. Hiccup only grunted and swerved right. "Nice try!" He got pelted with another snowball. Toothless turned his head towards Jack and spit a burst of fire at him.

Jack shouted nervously and lunged into the river, barely avoiding being baked alive. He flew back up and yelled at Hiccup, "That wasn't funny!" Meanwhile Hiccup was tearing up with amusement. Jack glowered at him until he heard his name being called. He stopped and looked around to see a blotch of rusty red amongst the trees waving him down. "Hiccup, Merida's calling for us." Hiccup nodded and he pivoted Toothless, trailing behind Jack to the riverside.

"Yes, my lady?" Jack said, bowing mockingly. Merida rolled her eyes and Hiccup approached them.

"Have either of you seen Punzie?" she asked, getting to the point. Jack and Hiccup looked at each other, confused and shook their heads.

"No, why?" asked the Viking boy.

"I can't find her. I've been calling and chasing you both for at least five minutes now," she said irritably.

Jack would have blushed, but the paleness of his skin never changed. Hiccup bit his lip then probed, "Where did you last see her?" Merida asked them to follow her and she led them to the edge of a clearing.

"I didn't want to go in there, something felt off, but Rapunzel must have and I didn't know until I looked behind me and she wasn't there and I'm worried sick and I don't know what to do so I-" Jack put his finger to her lips.

"It's okay, we understand. You said she went in here?" he gestured to a gap between two trunks of an aspen tree with his staff. Merida nodded and he looked through it for a moment before stepping over the split of the trunks with his bare feet and entering the circle. He looked around, his staff at the ready. "Rapunzel?" he called out. No response. A shadow twitched in the corner of his peripheral vision. He instinctively blasted wind and ice crystals towards it. The shadow was gone. "Where are you?" he bellowed. A dark chortle responded. He gasped, turning in circles, trying to locate the source of the sick sound. Hiccup ran into the clearing with his shield and a battle axe, abruptly, and stood at Jack's back.

"You're not alone, Jack," Hiccup assured. Then he shouted to the unknown antagonist, "Show yourself, you coward!" There it was again, that awful laugh.

"If you insist."

Suddenly, Jack realized. "GET DOWN!" he yelled and tackled Hiccup as a dagger of inky sand grains buzzed over their heads. They turned to its sender and raised their weapons. "Pitch, where is Rapunzel?!" he demanded, his eyes blazing their icy blue color.

"Why she's back home, of course. Where else would she be?" Pitch grinned at them, his pointed teeth gleaming, his golden eyes sparkling. He faded into the shadows of the foliage around them. Hiccup stared on, more confused than ever.

Jack gasped in shock then shot off the ground and back to the castle. Merida entered the clearing and asked Hiccup, "What just happened? I couldn't hear with Toothless trying to follow you in here!" Hiccup relayed the situation to her as they watched Jack disappear over the canopy. "Well we have to follow him!" She barked and they took off towards the river. There, Toothless waited for Hiccup with Angus. The two boarded the animals' saddles and raced through the forest back home.

Jack peered in through Rapunzel's bedroom window and saw her, sprawled on the floor. He tried to open the window, but it was locked, so he bashed it in with his staff. He flew to her side. She seemed to be asleep at the moment. However, her face was pulled into a pained expression. The winter spirit shook her shoulders. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel!" He said to her, trying to wake her. He didn't notice Merida and Hiccup watching him from Rapunzel's bedroom door, their faces spoiled with worry and fear. He slid his arms under her and picked her up slowly. "Please just be asleep, please just be asleep," he muttered to himself. He laid her on her soft quilt and backed away, but refused to look away in fear.

He pulled up the green chair from her vanity and sat in it, watching over her, when he heard the sputter of another chair skidding over the tile flooring. He glanced over for just a quick moment, not wanting to look away from Rapunzel, and saw Merida dragging a chair from a nearby cook's room while Hiccup carried one similar to Merida's with him. They sat their chairs on either side of his and put their hands over his. Hiccup looked at him with worry and asked, "Is this why you were nervous this morning?" Jack looked back to Rapunzel and sighed.

"Yeah, it was… but I was too late. I- I shouldn't have just shrugged it off, I should have known something would happened, this is entirely my fault!" he rushed through the words, eager to get them off his chest. Merida and Hiccup did not reply, they only watched with their friend so that they could protect her from harm. Night had already fallen hours later and Hiccup was asleep. Merida yawned for the third time so far but Jack felt wide awake. He remembered what Pitch had done to those children with the nightmares. Now his friend was experiencing it. He hugged his knees and walked over to the window just as Merida finally nodded off. He gazed up at the full moon in the cloudless sky. "Please, don't… don't let this happen. You… I think you owe me that at the very least." And yet, as always, Man in Moon simply stared back at him, silent as the stars around him. Jack heard Rapunzel groan and tuned around. She'd rolled onto her side and her brow was furrowed. Pitch's laugh echoed throughout the room and its vaulted ceiling. Jack's mouth fell agape and he tried to find the Nightmare King.

"Oh look, they're all fast asleep. I wonder if the others can handle nightmares so well like your friend Punzie, here."

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!" Jack shrieked, furious at Pitch's attempt to meddle with his friends' minds. Pitch tapped his shoulder and he reeled around to face him.

"Now, Jack, why don't you just relax? I'm only having a little bit of fun."

"Then you have a sick sense of the word fun," he shot back. He couldn't see his friends from where he was standing, but Jack didn't notice that. Pitch grinned at him.

"You don't know the half of it, Jack." He raised his arms and suddenly a fearling race at him, striking his gut and flinging him against the wall. He could feel the detached pain one has when they're first bruised. He grunted, but held his staff firmly and began freezing fearlings circling him, blocking his vision.

Pitch cackled and turned to Merida and Hiccup, amazingly still asleep. The dark sand swirled above their slack faces, contorting them. Merida squirmed in her chair and Hiccup balled his hands into fists. Pitch smiled cruelly and marveled at the nightmare floating over Hiccups head. A dragon lay strapped to a ship, but the ship was sinking in the ocean. The boy tried swimming down to the beast, but no matter how deep he swam, he could not reach the Night Fury. He watched it struggle and gasp for breath, only inhaling gallons of seawater into its large lungs. Pitch sighed, breathing in the smell of fear. It was like adrenaline for him. He thrived upon it. Merida screamed from her nightmare as Rapunzel's began to reform.

"Stop!" Jack screamed as every fearling around him crashed to the floor as shattered ice statuettes. Pitch looked at him in surprise, but his grin did not dwindle. Jack felt uneasy and weak after using so much power so quickly, but he stood straight, seizing his staff steadfastly, and stared Pitch down. "Get out of here." His voice shook, but his tone was like switchblades through the air. Pitch's smile faded. Without a word, he collapsed into the shadow of the chair in the moonlight and was gone. Jack fell to the floor, scared, weak, and angry, until he herd Hiccup complaining and remembered he had to wake up his friends. He rushed over to Merida and blew snowflakes into her face, as well as Hiccup's. They jolted upright almost silently and saw the look on his face.

He turned to Rapunzel. Could he, now? Why not, he figured. He blew one last breath of snowflakes into Rapunzel's face and crouched in front of her, hope lighting up his face. Nothing happened. His face fell and darkened with disappointment. He turned away, glaring at Man in Moon in distress. Suddenly, though, he heard a high pitched woman's voice behind him.

"What happened?"