Chapter IV: Rapunzel's Birthday Part 2
"So, what are you going to join?" Seems to be the only question going around lately. It was later in the day and the top ten students all crowded into one room; the dining room.
"Merida, over here." shouted Rapunzel from across the room.
Merida made her way with her tray of food over to the table that Rapunzel, Hiccup, and Jack were all sitting and sat next to Rapunzel, who kept a seat open for her.
"Thanks 'fer savin' me a seat, Punzie."
"Of course." Rapunzel replied. "Hey, Merida. I don't want to pressure you or anything, but I was a little curious on which position you're planning on joining."
"Actually, I was going to ask ya' guys the same thing." Merida paused for a second. "To be honest, I've been training to join Survey Corps."
Rapunzel smiled and was about to talk but before she could say anything Merida continued.
"But after all that talk from the Commander about my lack in speed and all, I'm not really sure anymore. Maybe I'm better off in Military Police or somethin'." Merida said while looking toward the ground.
"Don't listen to him." Hiccup added in. "You wouldn't be in here right now if you didn't have what it takes."
"No. I wouldn't be in here if it weren't for you making me some custom maneuver gear." Merida replied in what seemed to be a harsh tone.
Hiccup looked down a little, not sure how to feel about her attitude. "Sorry. I shouldn't have done that." his voice grew soft.
"What are ye' talkin' about?" said Merida "I'm extremely grateful, Hiccup. I have no clue how to repay ya for all of that."
Hiccup looked up once more, his voice being confident again. "Well, you can stick to your original plan and join the Survey Corps."
"Alright, then. I will. I'll join Survey Corps." she said with confidence. "By the way, what are you three joining?"
"We all agreed on joining Survey Corps since the day we became Trainees." Rapunzel replied.
"It's settled then." said Jack, everyone now looking at him. "All four of us are going to be a team."
Everyone smiled and agreed. After a little more talking and once everyone finished eating they all got up to put their dishes away. Rapunzel was following a little behind and on the way she bumped into Edward.
"Ah, sorry abou-. Oh, Edwar- uh, Bunny. Fancy bumpin' into you here." Rapunzel giggled at her own sarcasm.
"Hey, Rapunzel." Edward reached out and grabbed Rapunzel's tray. "Don't worry about this, I'll take care of it."
"Oh, no, it's fine, really. I'm following the others anyway."
"It's your Birthday. You should be worrying about this type of stuff." Edward held the tray over his head where Rapunzel couldn't reach so she wouldn't bother trying to take it back from him.
"You remember?" Rapunzel questioned, forgetting all about the tray.
"Why wouldn't I? It's not like your Birthday ever changes. It's the same day each year."
"It's just- it's nothing, really." Rapunzel stopped what she was going to say because she didn't want to show how upset she actually was over everyone forgetting her Birthday.
"I'm sorry I couldn't really get you anything. I've been pretty busy."
"I've noticed. I hardly see you around anymore. Who knew Military Police would keep someone so busy. Nothing really happens around here anymore."
"You're going to be really busy soon, too. Are you three still joining Survey Corps?" Edward asked.
"We are. And Merida is joining us now, too. We'll probably see you even less now, won't we?" Rapunzel looked to the left a bit, avoiding eye contact.
"You never know. Maybe we'll see each other more. I guess we'll wait and see. But I promise no matter how busy I may be, I'll always check in on you all here and there. And I will always be here to wish you a Happy Birthday."
Rapunzel smiled, but she was still a bit upset. She liked making promises more than receiving them; you never know how well someone can keep a promise. And this is one she would always want him to keep. "I should catch up to the others. It was really nice talking to you again, Edward."
"You too."
Rapunzel finally ran up to the three, leaving Edward in charge of her tray.
Once Rapunzel caught up with the rest, she noticed they were talking to someone else. Not wanting to cut off their conversation, she quietly walked in and stood beside Jack.
"I'm joining Survey Corps, too!" the girl said to everyone. "It'll be weird, though." she laughed quickly before continuing. "My sister is going to be my leader. I'm going to have to take her seriously now." she paused for a second. "Oh, right. My name's Anna, by the way. And my sister is Elsa, our captain."
"I'm Jack." he replied, then pointing to Rapunzel and the rest, "This is Rapunzel, that's Hiccup, and she's Merida."
"I'm glad I could meet all of you. Anyways, I should go talk to my sister now." she waved before leaving. On her way to Elsa, she lightly bumped into a guy who just walked into the room. "Oh, sorry about that, uhm, uhh, your name?"
"Kristoff. Maybe watch where you're going next time. By the way, you're not planning on joining Stationary Guard, are you?" he said, his voice was a little gruff.
"I'm joining Survey Corps." Anna replied.
"That's a relief."
"Well okay, Mr. Grumpy Pants. I'll get out of your way now." Anna made sure to smile at the guy before she continued on her way to her sister.
Kristoff scratched the back of his head before making his way into the crowded room.
"Hey guys," Rapunzel said, her voice a little softer than usual. "I'm going to go walk around. It's our last night here, after all. I just want to get one last look at everything."
"Well alright. Stay safe, Punzie. We're heading back to the room here shortly. Meet back there when you're done." Jack replied.
"I will." Rapunzel waited a bit to see if anyone had anything to say to her before she finally left the room.
"Is there something on her mind?" Merida asked.
"She'll be fine. Give her some space. We all need it now and then." said Jack.
"Let's go to the room. I want to make sure I get a bottom bunk before they're all taken." Hiccup replied, heading to the door. Merida and Jack followed behind him, all heading to the room where everyone was sleeping tonight.
Rapunzel walked into a supply closet and looked around a bit. On a shelf she found some paint. There weren't many color options, but she took what she could. Beside the paint was a brush that she took as well. She wrapped everything in a cloth and left the room, heading down the hall in a different location.
Back in the bedroom Merida, Jack, and Hiccup were telling crazy stories to pass time.
"And then she ate it" Merida said, continuing her story. "Then, crazy things started happenin'. And ye' would neva' guess what happened next."
"Let me guess, she turned into a bear?" Hiccup replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the thought.
"She turned into a bear!" Merida shouted
"Sometimes being right isn't as relieving as it should be." said Hiccup
"Ah, it's a good story and ya' know it."
"Right, that's why it only took you a minute to come up with."
Merida nudged Hiccup on the shoulder gently before the two laughed it all off.
"C'mon, Jack. Usually you're more lively than me over these types of things." said Hiccup.
"I'm getting a little worried. Rapunzel isn't back yet.." Jack said, looking at the door like he has done for the past five minutes.
"She won't come any sooner if ye' keep waitin'." said Merida. "Why don't we go find her?"
Jack got up right away and ran out the door the second after Merida suggested going after Rapunzel.
"Did I say something?" Merida asked.
"I think this is bringing him back to what happened five years ago." Hiccup added "I don't know everything, but I know they were split up right when the titans broke through the Wall."
"Maybe we should let him find her first. I'm sure it'll calm him down a bit." Merida suggested.
"Maybe. We'll go after them in a few minutes, then. So, what happens next in your 'prize winning' story?" said Hiccup.
"Aha, well~"
While Merida and Hiccup were exchanging small stories, Jack was looking in every room he would pass to find Rapunzel.
He looked around in the dining room for a few minutes. There were still a good amount of people chatting and having a good time, but Rapunzel was nowhere to be seen.
Jack continued down a different hall and stopped outside the supply closet. He walked in and turned the light on.
"Not here, either? Where are you, Rapunzel?!" Jack said, getting impatient with himself.
As he reached to turn off the light, he heard a quiet squeak; a sound that he's heard before. He quickly turned around as if he was expecting to see Rapunzel.
"Pascal?" Jack said, looking at a shelf where a little green chameleon was sitting. "I almost didn't see you. Why are you in here? This is risky, you should always be with Rapunzel-" Jack stopped once he realized what he was saying.
Jack held his hand out, letting Pascal crawl onto his palm. "Where's Rapunzel?" he asked despite knowing he wouldn't get a clear answer. Pascal looked up at Jack, a little confused. Though, Jack could swear it looked like Pascal shrugged for a second.
"What am I thinking?" he sighed. "Well, if you're here then that means Rapunzel was here at some point. Maybe she's nearby. Hopefully." Jack turned off the light and walked out of the room with Pascal.
He started walking down a darker hall. The lights were off due to no one ever being down there at this time in the night. Right before he was about to head back and check all the rooms once more, he saw a light on in one of the rooms down the hall. Without hesitation he ran down to the room, barging through the door.
"Rapunzel?!" he shouted the second he opened the door.
He heard something fall from the corner of the room. He shut the door behind him and walked past a few shelves that were stocked with all the students maneuver gear and weapons. "Rapunzel?" He said, slowly moving closer to the end of the room. Finally, he met face to face with the other person.
"Jack? You scared me." said Rapunzel.
Rapunzel was sitting on the ground in the corner of the room with a little lamp on beside her. She had her maneuver gear placed on front of her and little bottles of paint everywhere, one of the bottles were tipped over and spilled across a little patch on the ground.
"You scared me, Rapunzel." said Jack as he stood beside her. "You should have been back at the room a long time ago."
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to the time." she said. "I kinda want this day to just end, anyway." she reached beside her and picked up the cloth she used to carry all the paint, now having to use it to clean up the paint that spilled on the ground.
"Sorry, did I do that? By shouting." Jack questioned.
"It's fine. It cleans up easy as long as you get to it right away." Rapunzel replied, trying not to look at Jack.
"Why would you want today to end? You want to be up against titans already?" Jack questioned.
Rapunzel didn't reply. Instead she finished cleaning up the paint and set the now stained cloth aside.
Jack realized she wasn't going to answer so he decided to approach with a different question this time "What are you painting?"
Rapunzel grabbed the paintbrush and dipped it in yellow paint, moving the brush to her maneuver gear.
"It looked a little boring to me." she said as she added finishing touches to a flower shaped sun she painted on the corner of her maneuver gear.
Jack finally calmed down completely and sat down beside Rapunzel.
"It's really good." he said.
"You think so?" Rapunzel replied, finally looking over to Jack.
"It kind of reminds me of when we were younger. You really did like to paint a lot."
Rapunzel finally smiled at Jack. "You remember? I guess now that we're training, it seems like we easily forget some things."
"I wouldn't forget something like this. I always enjoyed looking at your art or whatever you would come up with." Jack said, his voice getting a little softer while looked at Rapunzel. He smiled back once he noticed she was smiling.
After a small awkward silence Jack spoke again. "The sun is a good idea. It's bright and warm. Everyone will know whose gear this is when they see it now."
"Heh, you think so? I'm glad." she continued "Hey, Jack?"
"Yeah?" he questioned, a little puzzled about what she wanted.
"Maybe I can paint something on yours, too? I just.." she paused for a moment. "They could be like friendship marks. We've been friends for so long, so.. I mean. I was thinking a snowflake shaped moon would look nice on your maneuver gear, maybe?" she asked, looking away from being embarrassed, knowing he wouldn't want something so lame on anything he owned.
"I'd like that." he replied.
Rapunzel looked up at him with a big smile. Nothing else mattered to her in that moment. She moved her gear aside and cleaned off her paintbrush. Jack grabbed his maneuver gear from the shelf and placed it down in front of her.
Jack sat on a shelf and watched Rapunzel while she continued painting. Rapunzel moved her hand to her face to push her bangs behind her ear since they kept falling in her face. Once she did this, a bit of light blue paint got on her forehead. Jack, though, didn't care. He continued to smile while he watched Rapunzel work. Her focus on her painting made him feel some sort of happiness inside, but he never understood why.
After a good ten minutes of painting, her hands now full of color stains from the paint, Rapunzel finally said something. "It's late, but you can hardly tell it's dark out." she said quietly, but enough for Jack to hear. "It's kind of sad. The lights in the fields and outside the cabins are surprisingly bright." she paused for a moment. "Too bright. We can't even see the stars." she let out a sigh. "It would be nice to see the stars for my-" Rapunzel stopped talking once again, not wanting to bring up her Birthday; it's too late already. She continued, but started to mumble. "I mean, since it's our last day here. It would be a nice last experience."
Jack jumped off the shelf and landed on his feet. "Hey, I'll be right back, okay?"
Rapunzel looked at him for a bit, feeling upset knowing he was going to leave. "..Okay." she replied.
Jack ran out the room. Rapunzel stared at the door for a good minute before going back to her painting and adding the last touches to the moon she worked on.
"There, perfect." Rapunzel wiped her forehead with her arm then set the paintbrush down. She sat there for a few minutes waiting for Jack. "I guess he can see it tomorrow.." she said to herself then began picking up all the paint bottles and put everything away.
She put the gear back on the shelves and wrapped the bottles in the cloth. While walking over to the lamp to turn it off, the power suddenly went out. A little startled, she set the paint down and started heading toward the door. It was dark, so she had to feel around the room to avoid bumping into anything. When she got closer to the door she heard footsteps in the hall running her way. Rapunzel made sure she wasn't standing next to the door, assuming the person in the hall was going to open it.
Right after Jack opens the door and whispers. "Hey, Rapunzel, are you still in here?"
"I'm right here." she replied, walking up to him. "Jack, what happened? Why did they turn off all the lights?"
"There's no time for that. Follow me." Jack reached in the direction where Rapunzel's voice was coming from and grabbed her wrist gently.
Jack started running out and Rapunzel, without choice, followed behind him.
"Where are we going?" she questioned.
"We're almost there." Jack replied.
They finally reached the back doors of the building and Jack let go of Rapunzel's wrist. "Okay. We're here."
"Why are we at the doors?" she asked.
Jack opened the door and grabbed Rapunzel's hand this time. Walking her outside a good distance from the building.
Rapunzel looked around. It was completely dark outside. She looked over to Jack, confused, but she finally realized what was going on. Rapunzel took one last look at Jack when she noticed he was looking towards the sky. She decided to look up as well.
There were hundreds, thousands of stars shining all around them. It was endless and beautiful. Rapunzel couldn't help but smile. It was everything she wanted to see and more. The moon was the brightest thing out tonight; not a light in the field to ruin it.
"You did this?" she asked.
Jack let out a small chuckle. "I cut off the power. It wasn't easy, though. I had to make sure I wouldn't get caught. Sorry it took a while."
"No. Don't say sorry. Don't you dare." Rapunzel decided to sit down and continue to look up at the sky with a smile. "Thank you, Jack."
Jack sat down next to her. "Anytime, Rapunzel." While Rapunzel was fascinated with night sky, Jack caught himself starting at her for a while. A little flustered, he looked away and gazed at the stars with her.
Rapunzel looked down a bit. "I wish we could stay out here forever. You almost forget what kind of things are out there when everything is peaceful like it is right now."
There was a moment a silence while the two looked at the stars a little more. "Ah.. I'm not wearing my jacket. It's a little cold, but I don't want to go inside just yet."
Without hesitation, Jack took off his jacket and gently let it rest over Rapunzel's shoulders. "Don't worry about me getting cold. I'm fine with this weather."
Rapunzel was thankful it was dark outside. Her face felt warm so she knew she was blushing like an idiot and didn't want Jack to know. He would probably laugh if he did, she thought.
"Also," Jack paused while he reached over and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her in a comforting hug. "Happy Birthday, Rapunzel."
Rapunzel's eyes widened in shock for a small moment. Her blush was only getting brighter. She didn't know what to say or how to reply. She felt like she could tear up at any moment. The whole day she assumed he forgot, but in these last few moments, she's the one who forgot about her own Birthday. She was so into the stars and being with Jack that is wasn't a big deal anymore. Now that she remembers, and knows he remembered this whole time; she really never wanted this night to end.
Before Rapunzel could come up with a reply, Merida and Hiccup came out of nowhere and tackled the two, laughing while they did.
Rapunzel was startled for a second. "Merida? Hiccup? What are you two-"
"Happy Birthday, Punzie!" Merida shouted in joy
"Happy Birthday, 'Punzel. Sorry it's so late." said Hiccup.
Rapunzel and the rest sat up. "Even you, Merida?"
"After ye' left the dining room these two told me it was your Birthday." said Merida.
"The day was so busy we weren't sure when to bring it up. We figured you'd want Merida to know, too, so we waited until we had a moment alone with her to tell her." Hiccup replied.
"Sorry we couldn't make you a fancy cake or get you a lot of presents, but we really wanted to do something big for your Birthday. It wasn't until late that I figured out just what to get you." said Jack. "The stars and your friends."
Rapunzel smiled and tried as hard as she could to hold back the tears. "You guys.." she had to pause because she could tell her voice was about to crack. She was so happy to have her friends here with her. "Thank you all so much."
"Oh, and him, too." Jack looked at his pocket on his jacket that Rapunzel was now wearing.
Pascal crawled out of the pocket and onto Rapunzel's shoulder, letting out his quite little squeaky noise he always makes.
Rapunzel giggled and gently pat Pascal on the head with her finger. "Hey there little guy."
"Bunny would be here, too. But he decided to take the role of keeping anyone from getting the lights back on right away." Said Hiccup as he started to lay on his back to look at the stars.
"Really, thank you." Rapunzel said. Everyone was now laying on their backs and gazing up at the stars. "This is definitely the best day ever." Rapunzel whispered to herself, smiling.
The four continued to watch the stars and laugh together for as long as they could until the lights turned back on and everyone sat up.
"Well, I guess we should all go back in now." said Hiccup, stretching his arms and standing up.
"Hey." said Rapunzel. "Something has been bothering me lately."
"What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"It's my Birthday. Growing up, I always remembered my Birthday being warm. It was always that time in the year where the weather started getting warmer after Winter passed." she paused for a second. "So..Why is it still so cold? There's even frost and snow here and there."
"I've noticed it, too." Jack replied. "Winter has lasted longer each year. But this year, right now, it doesn't even feel like it's warming up." Jack stood up and exhaled a deep breath. "You can still see your breath from how cold it is."
"Yer right." said Merida. "I don't remember having to wear a jacket around this time, and still feeling cold underneath."
"I don't get it.." Rapunzel continued "The worst part is, people are getting really sick from it. Winter was always the hardest on everyone." her voice got quieter. "Why.."
Jack reached his hand out to Rapunzel and helped her up. "I'm sure it will pass soon. It can't be anything too big, right? We'll do whatever we can to help the sick."
Rapunzel looked down a little but nodded in response. "Yeah.."
Everyone got up and started walking toward the building, but Rapunzel was still unsure about what was going on, and wanted to know why Winter was still around. The rest were just as concerned. Hopefully they'll get an answer soon.
END.
*Chapter written by Mira, looked over by Lexi.*
New characters mentioned in this chapter originally from:
Anna - Frozen. Elsa - Frozen.
I hope you enjoyed. That's it for this whole part 1 & 2 nonsense. Sorry about that, but the chapter would have been too long if I didn't split it up. Whoa, a cliffhanger! The main plot is finally coming into the story. Thank you for reading and/or following! I hope I'm not losing anyone's interest. See you next time. If you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave a review. I love reading them. -Mira