Merida's last chance: She tries out becoming a Guardian. Can she succeed?

Since this story is from Merida's perspective, the Guardian's real names will not be used here but their legendary names (i.e. Santa instead of North)

Tales of Guardianship
Merida was pacing back and forth in the outskirts of Corona yanking her curly hair in frustration. Her footsteps leaving a small, yet visible, crater on the dirt road. To say Merida was upset was an understatement. She was in complete desperation now.

How? She thought to herself. My friends make it look SO easy. It just… clicks with all of them. And I'm getting left behind. Why can't I find something I'm good at?

Sensing his human's distress, Angus moved over to Merida for her to easily reach her bow and arrows. The archer decided to practice her aim a bit while she waited. And of course, archery calmed Merida down from her mental anguish as she entered a trance like state of pure bliss while the arrow escaped her fingertips.

Sadly, when she finished practicing, the concern came rushing back in. Maybe she should have stayed as Elsa's lady in waiting.

But what about the fact that Elsa's councilmen may have started looking for ways to ruin you? Her inner voice asked her.

Well, maybe Merida should have remained in the Dragon Academy, since she was actually making some form of progress there.

Oh you burned that bridge and the soiled the earth.

Merida groaned in frustration, startling her horse a bit.

"Well, well, well, I'm here, Merida."

Merida turned around to see that Jack Frost walking in place for no reason, whatsoever.

"Why are you doing that?" she asked.

"It's amusing."

Merida shrugged at the winter spirit. "So how on Earth are you going to help me? I don't exactly have winter powers like you do?"

"Oh what you're going to do will require no ice powers," Frost explained.

"Okay but one more thing. It's fall in the southern hemisphere and it's spring up here. So what do you do for the remaining 6 months?"

"I'd tell you but then I have to…" Jack said. "Eh I'll tell you. I just laze around."

Merida blankly stared at Jack. How on earth was he going to help her with her situation?

"Don't worry though," Jack reasoned. "I have one thing I do 24/7. How do you want to get there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Option one involves me carrying you there in the air. Option two…"

"Option two!" Merida answered with an interruption.

"Don't you want to hear it?"

"Jack, the last time you took my hand to go flying, you flew me into a tree!"

"I said I was sorry. But c'mon option one is better this time."

Merida tapped her foot in impatience.

"Okay if you say so," he chuckled. Then he yelled, "She's over here, boys!"

Merida was about to ask who he was talking to until someone quickly picked her up.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Put me down!"

In a mad panic the Scott looked to see that she was being grabbed by the most oddly looking apes she had ever seen. But it's not like there are that many apes in DunBroch. Apes also do not put young women into sacks and sling them over their shoulders. As Merida was screaming inside the bag, one of the apes pulled out a snow globe and blabbered to it. Doing so created a wormhole that lead to a factory sitting on top of a snowy mountain. The one of giant primates looked at Jack as it pointed into the wormhole.

"Eh, I'll take the scenic route with the wind," Jack denied. "I also don't want to hear Bunny's rambling in my ear just right now."

Meanwhile, Merida was bouncing around due to the sack's swinging motion and was unable to see anything but red, not because of rage as she was quite afraid what could possibly happen to her; but because she was still in the red sack, so there was really nothing else to look at.

Well this is a funny way to die, she thought. I can see my tombstone. "Merida of DunBroch: Killed by weird looking apes.

Suddenly, the swinging stopped. Merida figured that the giant monkey must have stopped walking like a behemoth. At least the princess would not vomit before she croaked. Merida then felt a sudden pain, instantly saw light, and landed on her left side. She figured the idiot dropped the sack to let her out. Big mistake. If she was going down, she was going down fighting even if she didn't have her weapons.

Letting out a war cry, the princess got into a fighting stance only to soften when she realized that she was looking down at a bunch of tiny creatures with pointy ears.

"Uhhhhh," she wondered, flabbergasted. "Elves?"

The tiny creatures nodded 'yes.'

Looking around, she realized that she was in a toy factory of sorts with snow the can be seen falling from a window.

"It… can't be…" she said. "That would mean… Jack isn't crazy or a liar….That would also mean that there really is a…."

"HO HO HO!" a booming voice shouted.

Merida turned around to find herself staring at three strange-looking people. The biggest man had a white beard, with tattoos over his arms and he wore red. The girl looked like a cross between a human and a humming bird. She even hovered like one. The last person was very short and…. made of sand?

"Merida," the big guy greeted. "Welcome to the North Pole. Now what do you know about Pitch Black?"

Merida took everything in: The scenery, the people, and his question.

And she fainted right away.

Wake… Tooth… don't…. mouth.

Merida was slowly coming back into consciousness. What a weird dream she had. To think that Santa, and what she could guess, a fairy and a sand creature that must have been created by a sand version of Elsa, existed.

Sandy… insane? ... No sand drill!

Wait, what was that? As Merida regained awareness she realized that she must still be dreaming. This wacky place with these crazy characters was still around.

Finding the sand creature hovering above her noticeably hiding some kind drill made of sand behind his back did not help matters.

She and the sandy guy let out a shriek. Or at least, the sandy guy would have if he was not a mute.

"Merida?" the big guy asked. "Are you alright?"

"Uhhhh yeah," she stammered. Merida did not know whether this was really a dream so she decided to just play along until she found herself awake by the fireplace. "I'm fine… Santa Claus?"

"Oh so you know who I am. That's very good. Cause you are on nice list this year. Meet the Tooth Fairy…"

The Tooth Fairy flew up to Merida and forcibly opened her mouth. "That's a cavity. This will not do young lady. And from the looks of your gums, I'd say that your wisdom teeth are going to grow in very crooked. Maybe if I can…"

"Tooth," Santa interrupted. "Merida, this is the Sandman."

The Sandman 'talked' by having objects flash right above his head: a hand, a clock, and a drill. Again with that drill.

"Ummm hello?" Merida greeted. "Why am I here again?"

"To tell us what you know about Pitch Black's possible second return," said someone with an Australian accent.

Merida noticed that the accent came from a giant rabbit carrying a boomerang. Merida had now truly seen everything.

"Let me guess…" she started. "The Easter Bunny."

"Right."

"That's good," she finished before fainting again.

Who….that…Frost!

Sandy…. Drill…. Stop that!

…Moon…warn… dirty pictures?

Merida woke up again finding herself laying on a bed with the Sandman still hovering above her and still hiding a drill made of sand. And was it bigger than the last one? Merida quickly crawled away from him and stood up.

"Can someone please tell me what on Earth is going on?" she demanded.

"I don't know," the Tooth Fairy admitted. "What IS going on, Jack?"

The winter spirit stepped out of a corner of the workshop giggling in amusement. "Alright. Alright. This girl doesn't have any info on the boogeyman's second return. There is no second return."

What? The Boogeyman's real as well? Merida thought. At least I know who to blame for my nightmares about bears. I got an arrow for that'll I fire right up his….

"She is just a friend who's looking for something to do with her life," Jack explained. "And I was thinking… why not let her become a Guardian?"

The other four Guardians stared at Jack.

"What? It's a great idea!" Jack reasoned. "She's good with a bow and arrow so she can defend herself. I mean, you guys complained about Cupid harassing you to join because he can use a bow. And she likes children."

"Well actually, I'm kinda…" Merida started to tell the truth but Jack shushed her.

The Easter Bunny chuckled, "Didn't think this one through. Did ya, mate?"

"Jack, we can't just go around and pick and choose who can be a Guardian. It's for Man on Moon to decide," Santa countered.

There's a Man on the Moon? What's next, the Succubus from the Sun? The princess thought.

Jack was looking for another reason, any reason, to let Merida become a Guardian. "Well what if she becomes an auxiliary Guardian?"

"Oh Jack, she can't become an auxiliary Guardian…. can she?" The Tooth Fairy wondered. The Sandman shrugged his shoulders since he did not know either.

Santa, being well…. Santa, did not have the heart to deny the young woman something because of a technicality.

"Guardians? We'll make Merida here an auxiliary Guardian. All she has to do is pass one time trial. Tooth, get your hands out of her mouth!"

Yep, Tooth was invading Merida's personal space due to that cavity and her need to fix it. "Awww."

The Easter Bunny was not amused with Santa's decision. "Are you kidding me? We can't let one of Jack's little groupies…"

"G-G-Groupie?" Merida stammered.

The Bunny ignored her. "… become a Guardian . I mean, she's still mortal."

"Oh Bunny," Jack scoffed. "Are you worried that she might take your place?"

"Oh that ain't happening ever. C'mon on, guys. Let's get this over with."

As the four senior Guardians left to set up Merida's test, the Scotswoman pulled Jack back.

"OW. What was that for?"

'What made them think that I was your groupie, Frost?"

"Well I may have told them that Rapunzel, you, Elsa, and Anna are… madly in love with me," he explained. He cheekily smiled as Merida just stared at him in annoyance.

"Why would you say something like THAT?"

"It was funny."

Just as Merida was about to drop the subject and prepare, Jack brought up a new question.

"Neither you nor our six friends believed me when I said that there was a Santa Claus and that I fought alongside with him to stop the Boogeyman, did you?"

"Nope," Merida admitted.

Jack was beside himself with that revelation. "Why not?"

"It was funny," she mocked. "Well that and you crave attention."

"Do you think I crave attention that much to lie about knowing Santa Claus?" the spirit demanded to know.

"You went around telling them that four girls are in love with you. So yes I do," Merida smirked.

Jack found his calling by… wandering around the Earth for almost three centuries because the person or creature who revived him could not be bothered to tell him why he existed in the first place because… reasons or something. But Jack always did love children in the platonic, not sick, way. So he made snow days in the hopes of even just one child believing in him. Eventually, he figured out that protecting someone from his past life was the reason he would eventually become a Guardian.

Merida prepared for this test as Jack gave her words of encouragement. Since becoming an auxiliary Guardian was her last hope, Merida spared no chances. She stretched every single one of her limbs to avoid pulling something. Even her eyeballs got much of preparation when she kept opening them up real wide.

"Calm down," Jack comforted. "You're going to do great."

"Calm down?" Merida panicked. "How can I calm down? I need to find SOMETHING that I'm able to do and do it for the rest of my life. No pressure or anything."

"Aren't you going to be a queen for the rest of your life?"

"I… well… you don't get it!" Merida snapped. "You all found your calling. Some of them are larger than life. Some of them are not much, but they still enjoy what they do. How did I not find mine yet? It's not fair."

"Merida, it took me 300 years to find my calling," Jack reasoned. "Some people are just late bloomers.

"Or in my case, blooming long past the Grim Reaper's touch," he joked. "He's real as well, by the way."

Merida was at least grateful that her friend was trying to cheer her up. But it looked like she was almost too far gone in nervousness.

Just then Tooth Fairy came up to Merida longing to repair that blasted cavity that's giving her the metaphorical middle finger. But alas, people love personal space for some reason.

"You're gonna need these," the Tooth Fairy said as she presented Merida with her weapons.

Merida's smiled brightly, "I figured they would be back… wherever. Thank you."

"We're ready. Follow me."

They followed the fairy to an open room. Merida could not believe her eyes. This was less of a training room and more of a… children's playground. Scattered around, were bushes, pillows, defective toys, and another one of those crazy ubermonkeys.

"Merida," Santa called. "Your test will be the following."

He put eggs and coins into a basket and gave it to Merida.

This is going be… interesting. The princess thought.

"You will put the eggs into the bushes and take the teeth from under the pillows and replace them with coins."

"That doesn't sound so bad," she gloated breathing a sigh of relief.

"That's not the fun part," the Easter Bunny smirked. "The fun part is avoiding Phil over there."

Phil pointed at his eyes and then pointed at Merida. Apparently he means business.

"Yeah, I've never been able to get past him either," Jack admitted.

Merida did a double take at Jack, "What do you mean…"

But Santa interrupted her, "Merida, you have ten minutes to complete your task. We'll time you using this hourglass. When it runs out, the time is over."

Then why call it an hourglass? Merida mused in her thoughts. Shouldn't it be called a 'tenminuteglass'?

"Ready?" Santa called out.

Merida got into a runner start because why not? She might be slowly becoming insane. This was complete madness after all. And she was listening to the supposed myths of her childhood.

"Set…"

This is it. It all comes down to this!

"Go!"

Merida took off sprinting while somehow making sure to not break the eggs in her basket. She passed the first bush where she hid an egg in it.

I don't know how this is going to make me a protector of children, but okay.

Of course, Phil was not taking this sitting down. He charged at Merida like the giant gorilla that he is. Merida had to roll out of the way. While doing so, she grabbed a tooth from under a pillow and then threw the coin under pillow as if she was skipping a rock.

"Go, Meri. Go Meri. Go!" Jack cheered at the graceful moves Merida had.

Merida placed another egg into a bush. She wondered if Phil was going to be a jerk and break the eggs or steal the coins, but he was not. At least Merida did not have to worry about that.

But worrying about the thousand pound monkey chasing you is something she still had to do. Phil scaled the walls and tried to body slam Merida who was lucky enough to get of the way quickly.

"PHIL?" Santa yelled. "I said DON'T cause her bodily harm!"

Phil blabbered something that sounded like 'sorry' and continued the chase. Merida saw three pillows lined up in a row and Phil not far behind her. So thinking quickly, the fired an arrow that amazingly went underneath the pillows and the arrow had three baby teeth stuck to it. The tomboyish archer sprinted to each pillow placing a coin every time.

Even the Easter Bunny was impressed by that move. "She's quite a natural with a bow. I hate to admit it, but maybe she could be useful."

"At least Cupid would stop bothering us at the very least," the Tooth Fairy spoke up.

"It's always a nice moment whenever Bunny admits he's wrong," Jack smirked.

"Hardy har har," the Bunny sarcastically said.

Five minutes were remaining on the glass and Merida was only half way done.

Too close. Too close. Too freaking close! Merida panicked in her head. And Phil was charging straight towards her. As Phil dived, Merida quickly jumped up, landed on Phil's head, and use said head to spring herself forward to the next bush

"Ha ha!" Merida laughed. "This is actually quite fun."

Merida's worries were melting away with this activity especially whenever she was using her bow. But why was that? Sure she always enjoyed firing her wooden weapon, but what was this newly uncovered feeling trying to burrow out?

Merida had no time to ponder her question because after putting another coin under a pillow, Phil came charging forward like a bull seeing red. He managed to grab the princess.

"Take your stinking paws off of me you damned dirty ape," Merida yelled.

After saying that totally unique and not borrowed line, Merida took an arrow and used it to lightly pick at Phil's arm. Phil let out a feminine sounding yelp despite not being that painful and dropped Merida.

"Merida!" Jack yelled. "You only have thirty seconds left!"

Merida looked around at her surroundings. Only one more egg and one more coin remained in her basket with Phil restarting his pursuit. Thankfully, the bush was right next to her and she put the egg in it. She then proceeded to sprint to the final pillow, but Phil was quickly catching up to her and time was running out.

With all of her might, Merida took a powerful jump towards the pillow. Only for Phil to grab her leg, they landed with a thump with Merida only a foot away from the pillow. She grabbed the tooth from the pillow. After struggling to get the coin, she finally got it.

This is it. I'm SO close.

Coin in hand, Merida stretched her arm towards the pillow, victory was in reach. She finally found her calling.

Only for a hole to suddenly appear beneath her and she dropped right in. When she landed on her bottom, her confusion was beyond fathomable and she found herself in front of very downcast looking Guardians. Even the snarky Easter Bunny was silent due to melancholy.

"We're very sorry, Merida," Santa slowly said.

No. No. No. Please no. Merida silently begged.

"But you ran out of time."

Merida fell deaf to the rest of Santa's words. She was too busy reliving a moment in her life.

She was four years old at the time. Her parents had just given her a new dress for her to wear and most likely get dirty since toddlers are dirt magnets. Little Merida giggled at her parents making funny faces. Too young to understand, Merida was full of bliss. Even when her stuffy nanny was turning around corner.

"Merida," the nanny asked. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Ummmmm" Merida wondered while scratching her head. "I don't know."

Fergus could not believe his ears. "Are you daft? Who asks a little girl who can't even read yet that question?"

"Besides," Elinor added. "She could be anything she wants to be."

Merida's face brightened up. "Really, mommy?"

"Of course little one."

Merida squealed in joy at her mother's faith in her.

"Merida? Merida?" someone asked.

Merida snapped out of her dream to find the Guardians staring at her with concern. Santa walked up to her and kneeled on her level.

"Don't worry, little one," he reassured. "Even you will find your calling."

Merida did not really believe him, but she nodded in agreement. All she wanted to do right now was cry.

Thankfully, Santa Claus was there to allow his shirt to be used as a tissue.

Don't do you just want to give Merida some hugs? The next story is the conclusion of Merida's arc where she WILL find her calling.

Answering reviews:

andreita1000lee:- As I said before, there's no fanshipping. Please, people don't ask for Jelsa again. There are plenty of Jelsa stories to read.

TheDerpyMustache- I saw HtTYD2 as well :D