"Jack, wait!" Rapunzel called after him. After he'd recovered from the shock of Merida's newfound disbelief, he'd shot up into the sky without looking back. Hiccup was talking to Merida in a low, hushed voice, while Rapunzel had tried to comfort Jack. It seems that didn't turn out for the best. Hiccup turned away from Merida at Rapunzel's shout and saw Jack disappearing into the clouds. He cursed silently before turning back to the DunBroch.

"You're serious? You have no idea who Jack is? Who we were just talking to?" he strained his syllables, as if saying them like that would make them untrue. His hand shook slightly with unease as he gestured his words. Merida shook her head sharply, raging curls shaking around like tangled streamers. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Turning to Rapunzel, he asked with tension, "Well now what? Jack's run off and Merida doesn't know he exists."

Rapunzel shrugged sadly and spoke with melancholy, "Let's just go home." Hiccup silently agreed and the three of them returned to the cobblestone brick castle. Merida followed them apprehensively as they trudged towards the fortress, unaware of her once-dear friend whom had disappeared into the sky. Along the way, she remained silent as Hiccup and Rapunzel discussed ideas of how to help Jack. Merida suddenly felt by the concerned looks on her friends' faces that she had done something seriously wrong. She tucked her arms close to her chest, as if trying to hold herself together.

Jack didn't care where the wind was taking him; he just wanted to get away. His chest felt empty and hollow, and it seemed he could not escape his thoughts. Merida didn't believe in him anymore. He'd caused her to hate him so much that she'd quite literally lost her faith in him. He felt very much alone. The wind tried to comfort him by wafting him gently, trying to swaddle him like a baby, but he refused its every effort. Eventually, it became frustrated with his rejection and dropped him off.

The first thing he was aware of was that it was cold. Good, at least it didn't want to harm him. He opened his shut eyelids and saw white in every direction; above, below, and around him. He must have been at one of the poles. With no way back and no reason to return, he lay back in the frozen snow of the tundra and let the raging storm bury him in hard white.

Hiccup and Rapunzel sat at the large dining table with Merida and her family as dark fell over Scotland, their bowls of pork stew untouched and cold. Jack had been gone for hours now and there had been no sign of him. They couldn't help but feel angry at Merida, it was her fault he'd run off in the first place. She couldn't learn to forgive Jack and so she had stopped believing in him. He didn't exist to her at all anymore.

Rapunzel's spoon twirled idly between her fingers against the table while her head rested in the palm of her other hand. Hiccup sat very straight with his arms by his sides as he stared at the bobbing chunks of meat and vegetables in the thick auburn broth. "I, uh, I think I'm gonna go check on Toothless, so I'll just see you guys later," he said nervously. Rapunzel's head shot up and she asked to go with him. He shrugged in response and she tagged along, Pascal perched on her shoulder.

When they made it outside, a cool breeze made Rapunzel shiver as goosebumps rose on her skin. Hiccup was wearing his fur vest over his long sleeved shirt, though, and so was not chilled by the crisp evening air.

"So, any ideas?" Hiccup said with a heavy sigh as he leaned against the stable wall. Toothless was low to the ground as he nudged Hic's leg consolingly. Hiccup slid to the ground and stokes the dragon's head on impulse. Rapunzel's eyes looked down towards her feet as she kneeled in the grass across from him.

"We could try and make Merida believe again," she suggested. Hiccup shrugged. Even if they could convince her, Jack was still gone. Hiccup looked at her expectantly. "I don't know!" she said with a tone of frustration as she lowered her face into her hands. A low whine could be heard from Toothless before Hiccup spoke up.

"Hey, it's okay. We're trying," he tried to comfort her. He prodded Toothless with his elbow and nodded towards his golden haired friend. The Night Fury crawled from his covered area and curled up around Rapunzel. Looking up in surprise, she saw him smiling at her and he relaxed a bit.

"Hey, boy," she said quietly. She scratched him on his neck and he cooed with delight. They remained there for a while, just thinking. They sat in the evening darkness and tried to formulate a plan to fix things; to make them right.

Jack woke up to the smell of dental floss and cookies. His eyes opened to a mere squint at the bright light hanging from the ceiling. With a groan he sat up, rubbing his face with his hands. He looked around and saw that he was in an infirmary-type of room. The bed sheets were thin and white, and the bed frame was made of titanium bars. There were two others like it around the circular room, and the small cozy windows by each one gave it a feel of the 1800s. The walls were painted a deep blue with three red striped horizontally riding the center of the curved wall.

Jack's head throbbed with pain, but he ignored it and moved the sheets off of him. He stood up from the cot and took hold of his staff which rested against the wall next to him. Frost curled around it at his touch. The silence was unnerving, and he tried to distract himself by looking out the window. White fields of snow and ice rippled over the landscape and the sky was such a light gray he almost didn't see it. So, still at one of the Poles, he thought. Then that must mean I'm- his thoughts were cut short as the door creaked open and the beating of wings sounded in the room.

"Jack, you're awake!" Tooth, the Guardian of Memories, marveled. Behind her, in came North, the Guardian of Wonder.

With a tone of confusion and a furrowed brow, Jack inquired, "How did I get here?"

North replied, "One of the Yetis found you while making snowcones and brought you inside."

"Wait, you don't just have a snowcone maker?" Jack laughed, and North chuckled with him. North's large, strong hand rested on the Guardian of Fun's shoulder and his tone changed to one of concern.

"Are you alright, Jack?"

"Oh, me? Yeah, I'm fine!" he lied with false pleasantry, letting North's hand slip from his shoulder. "Just had a bit of a wrestle with the wind, that's all." He smiled, hoping to cover his pain as he reminisced why he'd run away. Tooth's face scrunched with a skew. Odd, she was a bit like Rapunzel in some ways.

"Jack, are you sure?" she asked, her wings slicing the air as she flitted closer to him. She reached a hand out but he pushed it away gently.

"Yeah, everything's great," he fibbed again, although not as convincingly as before. They continued to stare at him. He sighed and pinched his nose with frustration. "Fine. Nothing's great. Everything's going wrong." Tooth's mouth opened as if she were going to speak, but he cut her off. "The wind hates me, Pitch attacked us, and Merida doesn't believe in me!"

Tooth gasped, pulling a hand over her mouth in surprise. North's eyebrows curved downward with burdening realization. "Jack," he mumbled, his dark blue eyes pleading.

"Just leave me alone," the winter spirit demanded. His pain was evident in his eyes, and he felt embarrassed by the show of weakness.

Tooth finally said quietly, "Come on, North, let's go." Without another word, they left the room. North's heavy footsteps stopped by the door as he looked back at the boy, but Jack had turned away and was staring out the window. North left, closing the door behind him.

Hiccup sat next to Merida, a charcoal pencil grasped in his right hand. "Okay, let's try this again," he sighed. His idea to help Merida wasn't going to well. Maybe Rapunzel's would work better when she got around to it.

His hand traced out a 'G' shape atop a long line. "What's this?" he asked encouragingly.

"You've gone mad, Hic, really!" Merida still scoffed at his efforts. It was like not believing in Jack erased all memory of him from her, and was actually very frightening for the others to see. "Are you feelin' alright?" her thick accent strained high, as though she were on the verge of shouting. Her hand reached towards his forehead to check for a fever. Hiccup grabbed it gently by the wrist, however, and shooed it away.

"It's a staff, see?" he pointed to the long line of black charcoal. "And-and here's the crook, like what shepherds use in fields, y'know?" His voice picked up hopefully. Maybe this one would trigger something. Merida's face was scrunched up a she tried to connect with the staff. She could have sworn he was losing his mind! What was so special about a stick, anyways?

"I've got nothing," she gave up, leaning against her arm propped on the table. Hiccup grunted with frustration and flipped his sketchbook closed irritably. He left the table, rubbing his face with his hands. Merida didn't turn around; she could hear the gentle 'clank' as he paced slowly behind her. "I'm sorry, Hiccup, but I don't understand what's wrong!"

He turned around sharply, almost yelling, which caused her to turn towards him in her chair. "Everything! Everything is wrong, Merida!" He choked a bit and continued more softly. "Jack is gone who knows where because you don't know he exists anymore, Pitch Black is still after us all, and Rapunzel and I were up all night with no sleep just so we could try and help you see him and we've already been at this for hours." His brows lowered towards his closing eyelids as he muttered quietly. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Merida watched him, a burning sensation rising in her cheeks and a lump building in her throat. When moist tears began to blur her vision, she lowered her head against the back of the chair. Gravity took hold of the tears and splattered them on her green dress, darkening its emerald color to almost black. "I'm sorry," she heaved.

Hiccup noticed her weeping and took his seat next to her again. "Me too," he mumbled while resting an arm on her shoulder. A wee pitter-patter like the movement of mice broke the near-silence of the room. He looked up to see Rapunzel peeking around the end of the stone stairs at him. He shrugged and shook his head. His idea hadn't worked at all. It just created more cracks in the foundation of their home.

Jack poured over yet another book in the North Pole's library. The collection of novels, biographies, documentaries, and all other types of literature was so extensive, Jack was sure Rapunzel would have loved to spend her tower days here instead. The walls were lined with thick, dark brown bookshelves. The literature was ordered by first genre, then topic, then alphabetically. Jack had chosen random books that looked promising from the section referring to the Guardians.

The first book had been written by some spirit he'd never heard of, but he ignored the name, making no note of it. Unfortunately, it had been of no use to him. All it did was tell the lore of Pitch ruling during the Dark Ages and Manny sending the Guardians. Nothing too important.

The second one was written by Sandy, and he had excellent calligraphy. The black strokes decorating the yellowed parchment explained in detail the lives, skills, and centers of every Guardian there had ever been. There were still a few blank pages at the end. Jack noticed his page was not yet completed. He made a note to ask Sandy later.

The third book, however, contained the information he believed to be looking for. He scoured the pages for any hint of how to restore belief in a person. Was it this one? No, that was about why children believe. What about that? Nope. It described what belief in one's power is to a child. Here? Close, but no cigar. It explained what happened to Guardians when they weren't believed in anymore. It was a disturbing section to read, but he forced himself to. He had to make things right.

There was nothing. He hadn't found a single word of use to him in the entire book, and if it wasn't in this one, why the hell would it be in the others? He cursed under his breath and shoved the books to the floor angrily. His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily, hunching over the desk.

"Now, that's no way to treat a work of art," bellowed a thick Russian accent. Jack didn't look at him. A warm, large hand rested on his back and he heard, "Jack, you must tell me what is going on. I would like to help you."

He shook his head, ruffling his hair, and replied hopelessly, "If these can't tell me how to fix what I screwed up, then how could you? You're just an old man." He would have regretted that last comment were he not so angry and hurt; North just laughed it off, though.

"I may be old, but I am good at seeing things. Big eyes, remember?" He walked around towards Jack's face. "And I can see that you are scared. I want to help." His bushy black eyebrows were set so strong in determination that the resonated with Jack more strongly than his oceanic eye color.

Jack sighed and closed his eyes. "Okay," he caved in, allowing for North's assistance. "What do I do?"