Chapter 1: Guardians Unite
If someone were to ask who Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was a month ago, they probably would have received an answer along the lines of "the literal hiccup of all of Berk!" Among other things one can't say in polite company.
If someone were to ask who Hiccup was yesterday, they probably would have received an answer along the lines of "one of the most promising Vikings in Berk!" And, as a follow-up, "And it only took him proper dragon training to do it!"
But if you were to ask Hiccup, right here, right now, who he was, he would probably answer-
"Leaving."
"Leaving?" Astrid repeated. "Hiccup, you can't just leave. Your final exam is tomorrow!"
"Thank you for reminding me on that." Hiccup muttered.
Usually, the night sky of Berk was beautiful. Tonight's sky was clear, always a welcome sight, providing them with an uninterrupted view of the village. The only lights came from the moon and from lanterns below, letting the village light up like a beacon. If one really wanted to try, they could probably make out every building.
Hiccup usually did try to appreciate the sights below him. Regardless of whether or not he thought it was a good thing now, he might be one of the only people not being dragged off to their death that could see such a sight. Right now, there were too many other things going around him that divided his attention. For example, his longtime crush and only now kind-of friend had her arms wrapped around his waist. Admittedly, that was mostly for her protection.
He was also dealing with the feeling of his heart sinking into his stomach.
"Hiccup," Astrid sighed. "You can't just leave. What would your dad think? What would the whole village think?"
"They'd probably make up some grand, heroic story." said Hiccup. "Maybe Gobber will figure out I was taken by the Sock Goblins. Certainly more heroic than this."
He didn't want to leave Berk. Really, he didn't! But he couldn't kill a dragon more.
No matter what he did, he would actual be the literal hiccup in Berk.
"I can take care of myself." Hiccup said. And that was true. Vikings were trained to kill dragons, but everyone in Berk was trained to survive in harsh conditions for extended periods of time. He had packed some supplies and maps he had taken from his father, the small ones that he probably wouldn't even notice were missing. He also still had his helmet, but it didn't feel quite right wearing it right now.
Astrid fell silent again. He could feel her grip around his waist lessen, and he wondered if he did something to trigger that instead of her just getting used to flying.
They landed back in the clearing. As usual, there was no sign of human life,. This time the entire forest felt a bit more silent. The only light came from the stars and the moon above.
Hiccup was the first to get off of Toothless' saddle, being the only one of them that had any experience with it. He offered Astrid his hand for assistance, and was only somewhat surprised when she actually took it.
Once she was off, she punched him in the stomach.
"That's for lying to me!" Astrid hissed.
Hiccup doubled over. The wind had been knocked out of him. It took him for a minute to regain his vision. He could feel himself being pulled back up by his hair, and then something soft against his cheek.
"And that's for everything else." Astrid said. She sounded unnaturally soft.
That took more air out of him. Hiccup took a minute to regain himself. If he was happy that Astrid finally kissed him, he didn't feel it. He nearly collapsed onto Toothless, and could only watch dumbly as he watched Astrid walk off into the darkness. Back home. When she was nothing more but a dot in the distance, he finally regained his energy enough to wave goodbye. Of course, she didn't see it.
If someone were to ask Hiccup what he really was, they would receive an answer along the lines of "Not a dragon killer. Not a Viking."
Merida buried her head in Angus' neck as they rode, letting the tears flow freely. That…that monster! Merida hadn't meant to break the tapestry, but that witch certainly meant to burn her bow! She certainly meant to marry her off like that, without even getting to choose herself! All the things that she had done came rushing back, causing Merida to cry even more.
She didn't realize where they were running off to. She just knew that she couldn't go back there again. Ever.
It only occurred to her to at least look where they were riding off too when small twigs began snapping at her hair. She tried to regain control of Angus, at least to slow him down, which earned her being tossed forward.
In her emotionally-charged state, it took Merida a minute to regain her thoughts and get back up. Once she did, however, all traces of anger and sadness left her, being quickly replaced with wonder. She was in the middle of a menhir, formed by stones perfectly measured and placed and reaching high into the sky. It was certainly impressive, but that wasn't the part she was focused on. She was instead focused on a small, blue light floating just outside of the ring.
"A wisp…" Merida breathed. Her mo-She knew about the wisps. She had even seen one before, when she was much younger, even if her father didn't believe her. She approached it slowly, gently reaching out. It disappeared in her touch. Before Merida could even blink, another appeared, and another, and another, forming a small chain down the forest.
Wisps could change one's fate, and that's what Merida needed right now.
She called after Angus, but the horse remained in his stop at the opposite side of the menhir. Merida rolled her eyes. Leave it to a horse to be so spooked.
It felt like forever as she followed the wisps, though she chalked it up to the fact that she was moving through very thick, uneven forest paths in a dress that was nearly torn to shreds. Finally, she appeared at what was the end of the path, where two wisps waited on either side.
One side lead to a small, hidden cottage. The other went on through the forest.
Merida had never heard of wisps leading people to two different things before…She decided to go with the obvious one first, and followed the wisp to the cottage.
Faking an air of confidence she wasn't sure she had, she knocked. No answer. She tried opening the door. Locked. Merida sighed. "Now why would they lead me here…?"
Oh well. There was still the other path.
Jack played with the matryoska doll between his fingers, contemplating what North had said. A center. He sighed and stuffed the doll into his jacket pocket. He didn't have a center. He didn't have anything, He was just…Jack.
North had already run off to whatever business he had to do around here, leaving Jack alone. Well, except for Phil (who was giving him dirty looks every so often) and the elves (who certainly weren't paying attention). So long as he was here, it couldn't hurt to look around. He turned, coming face to face with...at first glance, Jack thought it was a flame. But flames generally weren't blue. Or floating. Or calling softly out to him and smiling. He took a step forward, and it vanished, only for another one to appear about a foot away.
Jack glanced over his shoulder. Phil was caught up on something, no longer paying attention to the Winter Spirit. Now was his chance.
He followed the small flames as they lead him farther and farther down the hall, finally stopping at a room with a large, wooden door. Jack quickly sneaked inside. It was a small room, with thousands of snow-globes filling the walls. "So this is where he keeps all of the snow-globes…" He thought aloud, glancing over each of them.
Different images swirled in each of them. Different houses in different towns. They shifted every so often, trying to settle on a location. His eyes fell on one specific one. Unlike the others, it didn't have snow swirling around it, and its location seemed set. Jack picked it up and held it a bit closer to inspect it. It looked like it wanted to lead to some kind of tower, but he couldn't quite make it out...
In a flash of blue light, Jack Frost was gone.
"Rapuzel!" Mother's voice sang out from below. "Let down your hair!"
Rapunzel tensed. This was it! This was finally the day where she would ask! "Coming, mother!" she called. Quickly, she hid Pascal on the wall and dashed over to the window. She attached her hair up on the hook and let the rest of it fall. Once Mother had gotten secure, she started pulling. It might be a pain to have to pull Mother in every day, but it was worth it!
"Ah Rapunzel," Mother said as she came inside. "I don't know how you manage to do that every day!"
"Oh," Rapunzel's response came out in pants. "It's nothing…"
"Then I don't know why it takes you so long! Oh, Mother's only teasing, dear!"
Rapunzel took a minute to catch her breath and her thoughts. Mother was in a good mood, at least. She could work with this! "So Mother-"
"Rapunzel, Mother isn't feeling too well. Could you sing for me, dear?"
Rapunzel sighed. She could work with this too! Quickly, she assembled the chair, brush and stool, and took her seat. "Flowergleamandglow, letyourpowershine, maketheclockreverse, bringbackwhatoncewasmine!"
Mother was scrambling to get hair in her hands, but Rapunzel didn't care. This was her moment! "So Mother, I tried asking earlier if you know what tomorrow is, and you didn't really respond, so I'm just going to tell you. It's my birthday!"
Mother considered this, finally clicking her tongue. "Nuh-uh. I remember, your birthday was last year!"
Rapunzel gave half a laugh. "Well, that's the thing about birthdays. They're kind of…every year…But what I really want this year…what I've really wanted my whole life…"
"Rapunzel, you really need to stop with the mumbling." Mother cut in. Before Rapunzel could respond, her cheek was being pinched. "I'm just teasing again! You really need to lighten up."
Rapunzel sighed. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Pascal encouraging her. Right. She needed to do this.
"I want to see the floating lights!"
Mother froze."Sorry?"
"I mean, I want you to take me to see the floating lights." Rapunzel tried again, slightly calmer. She was trying hard to hide her excitement.
Mother paused, finally turning back. "You mean the stars?"
"No!" With a handful of hair, she gestured to her star charts. "Stars are pretty constant! These only appear on my birthday! And…I think they're meant for me…I need to see just what they are."
Mother hesitated. It probably felt a long longer than it took for Mother to turn back around. "You want to go outside? Why Rapunzel…" With one fluid movement Rapunzel didn't even catch, the window shut. Mother crossed the room. "You know there's a reason why we don't go outside…"
"I know, but..." All the lights shut off, leaving Rapunzel in darkness.
She scrambled for a match and candlestick. It didn't light up much, but it helped.
Mother's voice came from the darkness: "RUFFIANS! THIEVES! CANNIBALS! THE PLAGUE!" Rapunzel scrambled around, looking for the source of the voice. "BUGS! MEN WITH POINTY TEETH!"
The lights flickered back on. "And stop there, you'll just upset me!"
Rapunzel sprinted into Mother's arms. Safe. No bugs, no men…
Mother pulled back, her face now gravely dangerous. "Rapunzel? Never ask me to leave this tower again."
Rapunzel sighed. She was right though. Outside was just…too dangerous. "Alright."
Mother's face lightened. "I love you."
"I love you more." Rapunzel recited dutifully.
"I love you most!" Mother patted her head.
Wrestling with one of the Royal Guard's horses for the Tiara of the Lost Princess on a branch hanging off a very high cliff was not how Flynn was expecting this to go down.
But hey, he was adaptable.
He caught the satchel by the straps as it began to slip. There we go. That was properly daring enough. "HA!" He held it up for the fleabag to see.
SNAP!
"Oh…"
They fell.
Flynn Rider. Renowned thief. Lady-killer extraordinaire. Definitely not afraid of heights. But when he was falling very rapidly from them…
He should've known better, but he looked down. And he screamed.
It wasn't the forest floor he collided with. In fact, it was some sort of saddle. He peeled his face off of leather, and tried to see what it was attached to.
A lizard. A very big lizard.
Said lizard proceeded to freak out once he realized that Flynn was on-board. It dove down, causing Flynn to be tossed forward upon impact. The more positive back of his mind reminded him that it was a much easier fall, but he quickly silenced it.
"No, no, no Toothless, it's okay…" A new voice spoke. Another figure disembarked from the saddle, trying desperately to calm the lizard down. Flynn glanced him over. He might have been older based on how low his voice was, but in terms of build he barely passed for twelve. Shaggy brown hair framed his face, freckles dotted the rest of it, and big, brown eyes flushed with worry. Once the lizard was properly calmed down, the brown eyes met his. "You okay there?"
Flynn reached for the satchel. Still there. Didn't feel like it was in two pieces. He was fine. "Yeah, fine."
"Good. …You gonna explain what you were doing on an unstable ledge, anyway?"
"Hey, kid, I happen to like the view!"
The guards were still probably around here. He needed a place to lie low for a bit. He glanced around. Not much...save for the floating blue light there.
Flynn froze as he saw it. It stared right back at him, flickering in a way he might have described as waving if he had a better eye and he wasn't crazy, and calling out in soft tones his ears just barely reached.
Even the kid and the lizard were staring. "A will-o-wisps….My dad told me about these. They're supposed to lead people to lost treasure."
"Hedidit!" Flynn tossed the satchel and pointed at the kid.
The kid tried to stutter out a response, but Flynn wasn't paying attention anymore. Another light had appeared behind the other, and another, and more and more until they formed a chain. Were they supposed to be leading him to the treasure?
Hey, Flynn wouldn't object. "Come on, kid. Let's go take a look." He snatched the satchel back and followed the wisp.
The kid and his lizard were following, complaining the whole way about how stupid this whole thing was, but Flynn politely didn't care. The wisps lead on, through the forest and eventually stopping at a vine-covered wall. Flynn brushed them aside, only mildly surprised when the vines were only blocking out a small cave. A whinny alerted him to the fact that the guards were still looking. Well, hey, if this treasure thing didn't work out, he could at least hide here.
He stepped inside, and was greeted with a girly shriek and a punch.
Flynn stumbled back and clutched his face. "Jah!" That one was going to hurt the Smoulder. He saw his attacker…another kid, and this time a girl kid. She at least looked her age, another teenager with long, curly red hair and wearing a dress that was nearly ripped to shreds.
The girl panted. "Don' sneak up oon me like tha'!" She scolded in a thick Scottish accent he had to strain to understand.
"We didn't mean to sneak up on you!" The kid protested, holding his hands up in a self-defense position. "We were just…passing through."
The girl rolled her eyes. "Weel, soo was I…" She glanced around, her eyes falling on the next Wisp. "There ye are…" Without so much as a glance in their direction, she began following it. Flynn scrambled back into action. He wasn't going to let this Scottish chick get his treasure, after all! He stumbled out of the cave, glancing around at the scene.
The cave opened up to a large forest clearing. Picturesque, he thought. Perfectly green trees and shrubbery, right at the base of the mountain and the river, and the perfect view of a small waterfall doing down the mountain. The most notable feature of it, however, was the very large tower that stood at the very center.
It had to be abandoned. It had to be. Really, he liked the view and all, but nobody would be crazy enough to live here! It would be a good place to hide out, however, and that was what Flynn was interested in.
He raced up towards the tower. No rope, no ladder…he would have to climb, then. He grabbed two arrows and placed them into the side of the tower. Surprisingly, they held, and more importantly, they could hold him as he climbed.
It took him ten minutes to climb. The two other kids were already at the top, waiting on the giant lizard.
"One of the benefits of having a flying dragon…" The kid said casually, while the girl laughed.
Flynn did his best to ignore them and scrambled inside. The kids quickly followed.
"So, who do you think lives here?" The kid asked, the fact that it was just small talk noticeable even to him.
"What? Come on, this place is abandoned."
"I dunno…" The girl spoke. "It looks rather…lived in, don'cha think?"
"Carrot Top…" Flynn rolled his eyes at her. "There's nobody here but you, me, him, the lizard and…"
CLANG!
There was a flash of blue light, and Flynn felt a smack on his head and then sweet oblivion.
Rapunzel yelped back and scrambled to hide.
Author's Note: If you never believe me on how long it takes me to finish a story, here's my evidence. I started this when the meme was just becoming a thing in my freshman year of high school. Now I'm looking at colleges. Anyway, welcome to Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons. I did say I first started writing this as the meme was becoming popular, and that's true. I love crossovers, and this one just seemed perfect. However, I could never find one that I really liked. Even now that 3 or so other fandoms have been added to it, it suffered from what I like to call "Kingdom Hearts syndrome". Kingdom Hearts syndrome occurs in any franchise that has enough plot contained in itself already, so to avoid making things more complicated, fanfic writers write AUs of the series instead (almost always high school/college based). It's not bad, but it can be frustrating sometimes. I like to see these characters at their best; making a new world to explore and interacting with each other. I wrote this as my idea of how these characters could get together and what would change if they did.
Since I'm bad at scheduling, Chapter 2 will be up on Monday and Chapter 3 will be up on Tuesday. Sorry for my apparent inability to hold a schedule.
(Norse Will-o-Wisps do lead to treasure, by the way)
