Chapter 11: Castle Waltz

Rapunzel stared in front of the kingdom for some time. Everything else seemed to be lost on her at the moment. Even Pascal couldn't grab her attention. Eugene was about to ask if something was wrong, but she shot him a look that looked like she was about to burst in an explosion of happiness and puppies and went chasing into the kingdom entrance.

It was rather easy to find her again, all things considered. Seventy-feet of golden hair helped with that. Eugene, Hiccup and Merida went chasing after her, trying to gather hair out of the way from being stepped on by ignorant bystanders. Poor Blondie was looking rather lost herself, and was quickly trying to gather her hair and get out of everybody's way.

"Yeah…this isn't going to work." Hiccup admitted.

"Weel, what'dya suggest then?" Merida asked.

Eugene scanned the village. It was going to be crowded, that much was obvious. Crowded and filled with tourists and townsfolk alike that wouldn't pay attention to stepping on someone's hair, especially when the person in question was all but out of sight.

His eyes settled on a set of siblings, braiding hair. Eugene called their attention with a whistle, and with his head gestured to the piles of hair in his arms. Their faces lit up.

About an hour later, Rapunzel now wore a body-sized braid that had been decorated with flowers. Not just one braid, Eugene realized after studying it carefully. Three braids that had been re-braided and compressed into one.

The Kid was giving him a look. Eugene could tell. He didn't want to take his eyes off Blondie, though.


A bed.

In the middle of a forest.

That was strange, to put it mildly.

Jack carefully lifted up the bed, both because he didn't want to set off any alarms and because the bed looked so old it might as well have turned to dust under his fingers. Sure enough, there was a evenly dug hole underneath it. Good enough to climb down in.

He brushed off Baby Tooth's protests. "Don't worry. There's still plenty of time."

The voice came out again. "Jack?"

He dove. It was dark, which made sense because they were underground, so it took a minute for his eyes to adjust. However, it was clear what was down there" cages. Cages hanging from anywhere they fit, all full of chirping, crying, Baby Tooths.

The chirps seemed to change when Jack got there. Jack jumped from cage to cage. "Keep it down!" He whispered harshly. "I'm gonna find a way to get you out of here, just-"

"Jack?"

Jack didn't really know why, but something compelled him to look down. Something just out of the corner of his eye. On the ground under him, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of golden capsules. Teeth. Jack jumped down into one of the piles, nearly scrambling through each capsule. It was a long shot, but maybe…

"Looking for something?"

Jack shot a blast of ice towards the shadow on the wall. The shadow moved, and Jack quickly dashed around the cave to its source.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Pitch said. Jack tracked him down to another one of the bridges across from him.

"Afraid?" Jack asked.

"Of course not. Why would I be afraid of you? But you're afraid."

The ground fell from under Jack. The world turned black.

"You're afraid that no one will believe in Jack Frost. You're afraid, that no matter what you do or who you do it with, you'll never be remembered. And worst of all, you're afraid you'll never know why. So why was it that Jack Frost was chosen as a Guardian?"

Jack scrambled to his feet.

"Well, fear not. Because the answers to those questions…" Pitch appeared in front of him. "Are all right here."

Jack glanced down at what he was holding. A tooth cartridge. Hesitantly, Jack reached out for them, only for Pitch to disappear again.

Pitch's disembodied laugh echoed through the cave. Jack readied himself for any attack. "Why did you end up like this, Jack? Unseen? Unheard? Unable to reach out to anyone for hundreds of years? You want the answers so badly…but you're afraid. You're afraid of what the Guardians might think. You're afraid of what your newfound friends might think. Well, let me ease you mind on this: they will never accept you."

The shadows were growing closer and closer. Jack's confidence was shrinking and shrinking. He knew this game. He knew that Pitch was only trying to get inside his head and make him doubt himself. But he was right. "Stop it!" He shouted.

"After all, you're not one of them." Pitch approached him now.

"You don't know what I am!"

"Course I do! You're Jack Frost. Winter Spirit who nobody believes in. Winter Spirit who makes a mess wherever he goes. Why, you're doing it right now."

The teeth cartridge was tossed Jack's way, and he fumbled with it for a second before he could catch it. He didn't even have a second to let himself be happy. "What did you do?"

"More to the point, Jack: what did you do?" Pitch vanished, his laughs filling the cave once again. "Happy Easter…"


It had been a lucky find in a nearby bookstore. Granted, Hiccup realized they probably didn't have enough cash between even the four of them for the whole set, but the good thing about book stores was that they usually offered couches, or at least floors, where you could sit and read the book you wanted to buy.

All four books in the Guardians of Childhood series.

They were some kind of special printing. Or, books in Berk and Scotland were printed differently than in Corona; Hiccup couldn't tell. They actually had hard back covers, nice gold plating on the pages, and deep illustrations that Hiccup couldn't tear his eyes off of. The alphabet was also unfamiliar, both to him and Merida, but the stories were easily understood through the pictures.

Nicholas St. North. Santa Claus. The Guardian of Wonder. A former bandit who became a Guardian by choosing to save children over himself.

E. Aster Bunnymund. The Easter Bunny. The Guardian of Hope. The last of the pookas, who was chosen as a Guardian when he helped carve the planet into a more stable orbit.

Toothinia. The Tooth Fairy. The Guardian of Memories. The Queen of Fairies who gained her powers and became a Guardian when she lost her last baby tooth.

And finally, Sandy Mansnoozie. The Sand Man. The Guardian of Dreams. The very first Guardian, who had been fighting Pitch since the very start. Hiccup tried to ignore the fact that that story was over now.

There wasn't a book on Pitch. No, that would be useful. But he always seemed to be there. And at the same time, there was also The Man in the Moon. Jack had said that the moon was the first thing that he had seen, and North had mentioned the 'Man in Moon' in passing more than a few times…

Hiccup was beginning to wonder if The Man in the Moon would just show up to them and properly introduce himself, because right now Hiccup was totally lost.


Maximus wasn't having a good day, and that was putting it lightly. And it was all the fault of one Flynn Rider and his runaway friends.

After he had managed to pull himself out of the river, he had learned rather quickly that the two visiting nobles had left the castle, thinking they could do better looking for them on their own. Out of either a sense of desperation or pride, the Corona Guard immediately sped up their searches. He had been out nearly all night now, and still no luck.

The sound of crunching leaves sounded behind him. He didn't bother to look.

He was sure that his sentiment was shared among the other members of the guard in that he really didn't care about the missing royals. Corona had no obligation to either Berk or Scotland that exceeded trade, and they had only come to Corona in that it was the closest country between them that the two might have escaped to.

Granted, they were right, but that was beside the point.

Right now, his grudge fell with Flynn Rider. That pest had been a thorn in their side for too long. Petty thefts they could deal with. Even ignoring the humiliation that happened afterward, Flynn had taken it a step too far with taking the Tiara for the Lost Princess.

The crunching noises grew closer. Finally, Maximus decided to take a look around. He didn't see anything, but that really didn't mean much. If he really was being pursued by something, they wouldn't be stupid enough to remain in plain sight.

Maybe Flynn Rider would, he decided with some smugness.

He closed his eyes, trying to listening for the sound again. It couldn't have been more than a few feet away...

The sound rushed forward. Maximus braced himself and lowered himself into an attacking stance. He saw the mass of red-orange and grey heading towards him...and suddenly stopping.

"Hm." The man sorted. "'s just a horse."

Maximus immediately snorted. He was not just a horse! He happened to be one of the Corona Guard's best steeds!

He stopped when he saw the other person that the man was with. Long brown hair, eyes as green as the forest around them...the part that caught Maximus' eye was the golden crown across her head.

Ah, that was it. They must have been the two nobles. Maximus straightened himself out into something more presentable.

"I told ya it was'nae a bear!" The man teased.

The woman bristled. "I'm no' familiar with the land."

"Even then, ye'd be hard pressed to find a white bear."

"Even then, what's a horse doin' out in the middle of the woods?"

Maximus took his as his cue. He reached into his saddle and grabbed one of the wanted posters. It was still a bit damp, but the picture at least was still visible. Once he held it up, there was an immediate shift in tone between the two humans.

"Ye've seen me daughter?" The woman asked.

Maximus suddenly realized it would be very dangerous if he said no.


There were plenty of things in Corona that grabbed Rapunzel's attention. The people, the buildings, the events...maybe it was just because the lanterns were apparently a big draw to the town, but Rapunzel thought that even if she lived there she wouldn't have time to absorb it all.

But the thing that grabbed her attention the most was the mosaic. Granted, it was nothing attention grabbing. It only showed two people, who Rapunzel assumed were the King and Queen based on the crowns on their heads. In the Queen's arms was a baby, and Rapunzel couldn't help but feel a bit confused. Of course, she didn't remember what she looked like as a baby, but it must have been something like that. Long (comparatively, granted) blonde hair that contrasted greatly with the parent's brown, bright green eyes. Even the blanket she was in was the same color as her dress! Her attention fell lower to a family, where a young girl was explaining to an even younger brother the flowers they were offering.

It must have been a coincidence. It's not like the artist would always be able to see the baby during the modeling process, so some artistic liberties must have been taken. Still, it was a bit too uncanny for Rapunzel's liking.

Her attention was drawn as a group of musicians passed her.

"Hey, Blondie! I got you a present!" Eugene lowered the small flag once he saw where Rapunzel was.

Right in the center of the square, Rapunzel was dancing with a group of troubadours, drawing in quite the crowd. It was obvious to all just how much she was enjoying herself, and occasionally she would rush to the crowd and pull in some more to dance with her. Now quite the group was forming.

The Kid was giving him a look again. This time he actually bothered to give him a look back. However, this was pretty fruitless, because Carrot Top the Bear Slayer decided to push him into the dance. He scowled at them as a partner picked him up.

Eugene wasn't too bad at dancing. Granted, he'd prefer to be doing something more manly with his time, but he when the occasion came, he could manage. And it looked like several of the villagers shared his viewpoint (though, granted, when you pull off random people off a street, you're going to get some mixed results). But it was obvious that Rapunzel was stealing the spotlight. She was dancing as naturally as she was breathing.

No. It wasn't so much that she was a natural, Eugene realized as he just barely passed getting her as a next partner. It was the look of sheer, unadulterated fun that was clear on her face, in every step she took, in every spin and every duck out of the circle to grab more partners. She was radiating happiness, and it was hard to hide a smile.

Just as he managed to grab her, the music ended.

Eugene would've kicked himself if she wasn't in front of him. No. He couldn't do that. She blackmailed him. She dragged him back to the place he was supposed to be hiding from. She's going to go back to her Tower and leave him forever.

He could not be falling in love. He couldn't even be falling in crush with her.

"TO THE BOATS!"


Author's Note: And my apologies for the late update. I could lie and say I was out playing Pokemon Go, but in reality I just had a poor mental health day on Friday and Saturday and couldn't edit properly. I haven't even played that much Pokemon Go. I walked about 7 kilometers and got injured.