It's been over a month since my last update..

….

(insert countless apologies)

Chapter Five: Revelations

"Give me one good reason why I should not pierce your heart right now!"

Hiccup's arms held the crossbow firmly in place. But if one squinted, just how much his stance shook would become noticeable. He knew he shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be pointing an arrow at his friend. But his rage just felt so out of control he felt as if he didn't' have a choice. He wanted to let that arrow fly and strike his friend. It would relieve him of that anger.

Go on, mused a voice. Shoot.

Epiphany struck the young boy and his eyes dilated. What he was doing was not of his own free will. His mind was instructing for his hand to release, but the inner instinct from within fought against it. With a massive burst of willpower, Hiccup forcefully threw his weapon to the ground. The crashing sound melted away part of his wrath and he slumped slightly toward the floor.

His front dug themselves into his lower lip. The pain was something that reminded Hiccup that he could still think and feel. His eyelids were scrunched, forming nothing more than a pair of slitted horizontal lines. Everyone stared at Berk's young with worried gazes.

"Hiccup, what's going on?" asked Merida.

The boy fell forward, his arms and knees keeping him above the ground. His fingers slowly and shakily clenched into fists.

"Get out of my brain," he forcefully croaked out. Just saying the words seemed to have burned his vocal cords. There was a moment where Hiccup felt his mind leave him completely, as if it was entirely blank. To him, everything blacked out after that.

What the other Defenders and Anna saw, to their disbelief, was Hiccup's pupils rolling up into his forehead. Seconds later, the young heir crashed onto the floor, his body becoming limp. Toothless whimpered as he tried to stand up, but the dragon's legs gave way and he sunk back onto the ground.

Seeing his unmoving friend, Jack became terrified to ask. His voice came out, barely a whisper. "Hiccup?"

There was no answer from the fallen figure.

Rapunzel was beside Hiccup in an instant. She carefully flipped him over into a position before crouching down, placing her ear against Hiccup's chest. To her relief, she could hear the firm beating from the heart. Yet, for an instant, it seemed that Rapunzel's movements froze. She stood up, her stare boring into Jack's eyes. It was so full of anger that the young Guardian involuntarily stumbled backwards.

"This is all your fault, Jack," said Rapunzel. Her voice shocked Merida and Jack. It didn't sound like the cheerful, bubbly girl they all knew at all. The tone was cold, harsh and merciless. Despite not knowing her for more than an hour, Anna felt that something was very wrong with Corona's princess.

"Rapunzel, are you okay?" Anna asked, clearing voicing her concern.

Before the Rapunzel had a chance to respond, her body dropped to the ground, right beside Hiccup and she seemed to have gone through the exact same experience. Jack watched, wide eyed in shock. Two of his teammates were suddenly unconscious. His fear shifted to Merida.

"What are ye still doing here?" the Scottish princess fiercely demanded. As it happened with Rapunzel, the cruel tone in her voice startled Jack.

Anna was just as lost as the young Guardian. "What's going on around here? You guys all seem to be acting strangely."

"I'll tell you what's going on," scoffed Merida. "Jack here had nearly killed Toothless, and he knows all too well how much the dragon means to Hiccup. And this all happened because he can't control his powers properly."

Jack stood a step forward and held up a hand in defense. "Hold on, Merida. You don't understand. Let me explain-"

"What I do understand is that Jack is unfit to be our leader. He failed us."

The words didn't sound like they were coming out from Merida's own lips, but the weight that they carried made a cloud of self doubt within Jack grow. His grip on his staff slackened, the weapon threatening to drop. Still completely baffled, Anna stepped up in front of Merida.

"I have no idea what's going on here, but if Jack is your friend then you have no right to say such words to him!"

Merida didn't answer. She tumbled forward, eyelids fluttering closed. Anna only had a split second reaction time as she lurched ahead and caught the princess. "I'm just getting more and more lost here."

Jack simply shook his head remorsefully.

Then Anna felt an entirely new sensation. The only other time she felt this way was when a certain prince revealed his betrayal. It was an emotion of raw hate and anger. She placed Merida gently on the tiled floor.

"But she has a point, Jack. Your struck Toothless with a blast of ice. His heart is frozen."

A frisson of fear and panic slammed Jack's senses. "Is T-Toothless... going to die?"

Arendelle's princess nodded mournfully. "There is no cure."

Jack stood stock still, and he was hit with sudden realization. He turned away for a moment, and when he whipped his head back, Anna joined the rest of the Defenders sprawled across the floor. Jack shuffled backwards. He did this. Everything was his fault. He had to get out of here. The boy turned on his heels, and shot upwards. There was the sound of shattering glass, but the noise was unable to awaken his dormant friends.

It wasn't long after Jack made his disappearance that a figure appeared in the shadows. Pitch looked down at the Defenders and Arendelle's young princess. He chuckled to himself. "It seems that I've found a vessel for my new body." Pitch let out a wicked grin. "That was almost too easy."

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Everything seemed like a large, tangible, thick cloud. The moment he realized that he was unable to think of any sudden thoughts, Hiccup realized that he was coming back into the conscious world. Within mere moments, all the events that had unfolded that morning rained on him like a ton of bricks. His eyes shot open as his body jolted upright.

"Toothless!"

A hand shot to his head as Hiccup realized that his temples were throbbing. After a moment's daze, his vision cleared. In front of him, all of his friends were across the ground, unconscious. Most of his friends, Hiccup hurriedly corrected himself. Jack was nowhere to be seen. The only other moving creature was Toothless, who nudged his rider's head in relief.

Rapunzel was the next to rise. She groaned slightly as she propped herself onto her shoulders. "What happened?"

Hiccup pursed his lips. "I'll wait for everyone else to wake up before I say anything. I think I've got part of it figured out."

After around five more minutes, Merida and Anna were back up on their feet. Each and every one of them tried to make out what happened before they passed out, but they were all met with a gap in their memories.

"I bet you it was Pitch," Hiccup said, almost with a disgusted tone.

"How can you be sure?" asked Rapunzel.

"I first felt it when I realized that I was about to kill Jack. All I remember was a wave of rage, but it felt unnatural for me. I was met by darkness seconds afterwards. I'm guessing I was knocked out."

"So were the rest of us," said Anna. "He must have taken over us as well."

"Ugh!" exclaimed Merida. "Then that means that Pitch has been crawling around my brain? That's just gross. And disturbing."

"I know, I don't like the thought either," Hiccup muttered. "But now Jack's gone and Toothless is down."

"There is a way to cure a frozen heart, Hiccup," Anna continued. "An act of true love will be able to thaw it."

"Really?" The eyes of the young dragon rider brightened up with hope. He turned to his steed, whose scales were now turning a gentle tone of gray.

"Would it work?" said Merida.

"It should," Hiccup replied, his voice renewed with determination. "The moment we crossed into this world, we would be bound with the same laws. I'm guessing Jack has held his anger and self doubt within him for a long time, but it was only released in this world. I think Pitch's taunting made it worse and he had to let it go."

"Well then we have to get Jack back!" said Rapunzel.

Hiccup paused for a moment. "You guys go ahead. I'm not leaving Toothless behind."

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Jack turned his head back in the direction of the Kingdom of Arendelle. The castle was far behind him now, the houses seemingly so distant. His body floated within the currents of wind, keeping him suspended in the air. Above the trees, he figured that he was easily distinguishable. He didn't want anyone to find him right now. He wanted to be alone.

I'm always alone, the winter spirit thought dejectedly as he allowed the breeze to carry him downwards. He felt the touch of the forest soil on the soles of his feet and began to relax. But only for a moment. His mind then started wandering amongst his memories. He had failed so much in the past.

He failed to make himself visible for three hundred years. He failed to protect Sandy during their battle against the Nightmares. He failed the Guardians during Easter. He failed to destroy Pitch once and for all. And now, he had failed to protect his friends on this mission. To make it worse, he harmed them with his own two hands.

With a roar of wrath, Jack forcefully jammed the tip of his staff into the ground. An angry gale erupted from where he stood, rustling the branches of the trees within a fifty meter range. His outburst surprised a flock of birds. Squawking, the winged creatures hurriedly left the safety of the leaves and into the air.

As he watched them take to the skies, Jack realized that he was panting. The only other time he felt equivalent fury was when Pitch seemed to have killed the Sandman in front of his very eyes. Taking a deep breath in, Jack decided to calm himself down.

What was he to do now? He didn't want to be around his teammates anymore, fearing that he would only bring them closer to danger rather than protect them from it. A moment in his memory appeared in his thoughts. It was after Pitch had broke his staff and threw him into an icy crevice in the icy antarctic realm. Jack's own words echoed within himself.

I make a mess of everything.

"I really do," the winter spirit muttered under his breath.

A twig snapped. The sound alerted Jack immediately, and he swung himself around towards the direction of the noise.

A figure stood across from him. It was a man and he seemed fairly young with a dark grey cloak running down from his shoulders. He had auburn colored hair, his head unkept and his sideburns rather messy. If he cleaned himself up, Jack thought that he might be the type girls tend to call "handsome". But something about the man made Jack want to take a step back. He possessed green eyes, just like Hiccup.

That was the last thing Jack needed in his thoughts. He wanted to escape from the guilt of striking Hiccup's closest friends. Yet, here, all the way at the outskirts of the village and into the mountains, the very individual who stood in front of him was reminding Jack of his second in command.

Caution got the best of him, and Jack raised his staff against the unknown person. Maybe staying on guard would get his mind off the anguish he had caused his teammate. He forced his voice to remain solid as he spoke. "Who are you?"

A warm smile formed on the man's lips. "My name is Hans."

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The Disney wiki called Hans handsome. End of discussion.

And I'm going on a five day trip. My plane leaves on Feb 17, so I won't be able to reply to any of your messages until the night of friday the 21st. Though that's in my timezone. Things might be a little different depending on where you're reading this fanfic.

UPDATE: JULY 19TH 2014

HOLY WOW, it's been THIS long since I updated? Sorry, sorry. I'm working on Chapter 6 (or 7, however you see it) right now, and I hope it will be out soon!