Merida couldn't remember when she'd fallen asleep, but she woke at the wooden table to sunlight glaring at her through the window and a heavy blanket draped over her shoulders. Hiccup's notebook was gone along with its owner. With a yawn, she sat up and stretched her arms up and outward, causing the wool swaddling her back to slip off her shoulders. She rubbed sleep from her eyes and looked around. No one was here. That was odd.
She stood from the chair she'd slept in and walked up the stone stairs calling, "Hello? Anybody here?" Suddenly she head a scuffling sound, as if someone had tripped. Then, a frantic, unintelligible whisper. Her brow furrowed in suspicion as she turned the corner in the stone corridor. A few doors were cracked open, but one was quite a bit wider. She took a chance and peeked in through the gap.
"Rapunzel, he's not coming back for a while." It was Hiccup.
"It's not like we can just sit here and pretend everything's okay, though!" Rapunzel countered him.
Merida opened the door a little more, now able to see inside. Rapunzel was standing at a wide window leaning far out, searching the sky for something. Hiccup was leaning against a desk a few feet from her. He didn't look like he'd slept the previous night. A few fluffy red locks fell over Merida's eyes and nose.
Hiccup sighed before he responded to his friend. "I know that. I'm just not sure who's really the victim here anymore."
Rapunzel gasped quietly. "Hiccup, this sucks, I know, but we can't just give up! Did you give up when Toothless tried to eat you?"
Hiccup chuckled a bit. "No, I didn't."
"Or did Astrid give up on you when Toothless was kidnapped?"
He ran his hand through his hair and towards the back of his neck. "No."
"Then we shouldn't give up on Merida. I'm sure she'll understand that Jack is real." She folded one arm over her torso, holding onto the other at the elbow. "Eventually." Her face was the sort of smile that was hopeful, but doubtful at the same time.
Merida brushed the loose hair from her face. Why was some fairy tale so important to them? They really were pushing hard at trying to make her think it was true. She opened the door and leaned on the frame. "Is this some kind of joke?" she asked with concern.
Their heads both shot towards her in surprise. "Merida, when did you get up?" Rapunzel asked nervously, her eyes darting to Hiccup apprehensively. He shared a similar expression.
"Answer the question," she replied sharply, folding her arms in defiance.
Hiccup gulped down his tension and granted her wish. "Merida, I sincerely wish I was only joking about all this." Her angry expression softened, her eyebrows raised a bit, her scowl less defined.
Rapunzel added to his comment with stress littering her voice. "I promise we'd never pull a joke like this on you. This is about reality, and the fact that you're missing a piece of it." Hiccup looked at her with sad surprise. Maybe, just maybe, she might make some progress with Merida. She continued. "I'm not quite sure you understand just how important this is to us. You, me, Hiccup, and Jack have been friends for a long time, but you don't remember any of that because you're angry at him. If you would try to believe us, believe in him, then I'm sure you would understand why we're doing all this."
Merida felt salty tears burn her eyes. Why would they do something like this to her? How badly had she messed up that this would happen? She slid to the floor and buried her head in her hands.
Rapunzel said softly as she crossed the floor, "I'm sorry, Mer." She sat down next to her redheaded friend and pulled her close in a comforting hug. Merida embraced her in return, allowing her tears to stain the soft violet dress.
"Then why did you offer to help?!" Jack yelled at North. According to the old Russian, there was no way he knew of to make people believe in a Spirit if they chose to stop believing. He had no idea of how to help Jack.
"I offered because I want to help you find answer to problem, I did not say I knew how to fix it," he said with a distressed tone. Jack shook his head angrily and trudged away, snatching up his staff along the way. North watched sadly as he left the room.
Thanks for the help, Old Man, Jack thought sullenly. His heartbeat pounded in his ears with frustrated adrenaline. As if not having his memories before, only to discover he died was worse enough, now no one could help him go back to his friends. He flew off to the rafters of the workshop's main hall and perched lightly. If Merida was this upset with him, how angry were Rapunzel and Hiccup? Yes, they got him outside and they played around, but did they really forgive him? What if they were mad at him, too, for screwing up Easter? Just like how he always did…
"You make a mess wherever you go," Pitch's jab at him from last year echoed in his mind. He pulled his knees close to him, trying to block out the pain of the world.
"I never wanted any of this to happen," he mumbled to himself.
North groaned to himself after Jack darted away. He wished he knew how to help him, a spell or charm somehow, but he did not know of anything. Jack was obviously very upset by his friend, the little Scottish girl, not believing in him anymore. Though, what else was to be expected? Children all grow up and stop believing in spirits and Santa and little fairies that come in the night. She wasn't behaving any differently than anyone would expect of a teenager.
Baby Tooth popped up in front of North, startling him. He chuckled and held her in his huge hand. "What are you doing here?" he asked kindly. She chattered somewhat frantically and his eyebrows lowered. He stood from the large desk promptly, nearly knocking it over, and stomped into the workshop's main hall. A circle of yetis were gathered around something on the bottom floor. When North reached the railing of the deck he was on, he saw it. Jack was face down on the oak floor. He wasn't moving.
"Move, out of the way!" he boomed as he pushed yetis aside. He reached the circle and parted the sea of brown and gray splotches. He knelt down and rolled Jack over tenderly. His face looked like he was in pain, twisted and tight with his jaw clenched. The old man's head lowered to the boy's chest. Good, North sighed in relief. He was still breathing. Tenderly, Jack's body was lifted from the floor and into the arms of St. Nicholas.
North laid him down in a large armchair in the foyer and talked in a hushed, alarmed voice with the yetis. "I don't know what happened. He ran away and then Baby Tooth tells me something is wrong." The yetis garbled in response all at once in undecipherable jibberish.
Meanwhile, Jack's eyes creeped open and shut tightly again at the bright light. He pulled himself into a sitting position with a groan. His head pulsated with pain like a burning fire. The yetis were silenced when they noticed him, causing North to turn around. "You are awake!"
Jack spoke, his voice raspy. "Yeah, what happened?" He held his aching head in his open palms, gritting his teeth.
"I think you must have passed out," Tooth said as she flittered up to him. No one noticed when she'd noticed when returned from some conference with her fairies, but there she was, her dragonfly wings beating rapidly.
"The yetis found you on the floor of the workshop. Do you feel okay?" North elaborated with unease leaking into his fluid voice.
Jack didn't respond, his head was hunched over his knees as he tried to make the pain go away. Tooth touched his shoulder with worry, and he looked up. Dark circles under his eyes seemed prominent; maybe they hadn't noticed them before. He put on a smile for their benefit. "Yeah, I'm okay, North. I think I'm gonna go visit someone. He might know what to do."
North and Tooth exchanged a quick glance of contemplation and when they looked back, Jack was already jumping out the nearest window.
Pitch Black could honestly say that the last thing he anticipated was to see frost collect on the dark bronze of his globe. He turned around, cackling. "Well, Jack, I didn't expect to see you here," he lied.
Jack looked awful. The circles under his eyes were heavier than before, and his shaggy hair was wind-whipped and coated with oils. His grip on his staff was weak, and the blue glow that twined around it all the time was barely a faint pulse. He sighed greatly before he responded.
"I… I need your help." Pitch's eyes widened, but only slightly. He hadn't expected Jack to actually do this, he'd only hoped. He held his hands behind his back and golden eyes met blue ones.
"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help," he muses.
Jack felt prompted to explain. "Remember at the South Pole, when you- you offered me a way to…" his voice trailed off hopelessly. The boogeyman watched with interest as the winter spirit's gaze swooped to the floor.
"To make people believe?" he finished softly. Jack's eyes closing shamefully were the only response. He put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I've waited a long time for this, Jack." The Guardian's head shot up, he looked confused. Pitch only grinned at him contentedly.
Jack backed away worriedly, but Pitch's hand on his shoulder somehow convinced him to stop. "Can you help me or not?" he asked with a scowl.
Pitch sounded humored. "Of course I can!" The boy seemed surprised. "In fact, I can do it right…" Neighs sounded distantly. The soft rush of sand joined them, and they came closer. "…now." Jack backed away, fright contorting his features. Pitch laughed quietly. "Don't worry, Jack. Killing you wouldn't help us fix this, now would it?"
"Then what's your catch?" he sneered back at the boogeyman.
"No catch, I promise. All you have to do is let us work out the kinks." Though his hands trembled, Jack nodded. He agreed. Suddenly, the nightmares swarmed Jack, slamming him to the ground on his back.
"Hey!" he shouted angrily. The sand kept him pinned to the floor, his staff just a mere two inches from his outstretched fingers. His forehead where he'd been cut earlier began to burn. Darkness pulsated at the edges of his vision. "No!" he screamed, his voice cracking with panic. The nightmares began to spread all around his body, leaving burn marks as the sand rubbed his skin raw. The incision in his forehead burned hotter. The agony grew and grew, multiplying and coursing all around him and in his head.
It stopped. He opened his shut eyes to see Pitch kneeling over him. He whimpered, the memory of the pain still ringing in his mind. Everything grew very, very shadowy. The only thing he could see anymore was the little rings of gold shining before him. It was cold, and dark, and he was scared. There was no moon to chase the darkness away this time.