Chapter 10

(Rapunzel's POV)

No.

It can't be.

Merida let out a strangled choke and fell to the ground in a heap. There was blood; lots of blood. Hiccup had dropped the sword and fell to his knees; his face a mixture of horror and deep sadness. Merida was trying to breathe but each breath came out a gasp. I ran to her as fast as I can.

"Oh god no," I sobbed. "Come back Merida!" I was sobbing and screaming yet I didn't care. I've lost so much. My parents are gone, my brother, and my joy. She and my grandma were all I had left. Everyone in school thinks I'm a freakish orphan.

Until she came. She understood me and never left my side. She helped me gain friends but none of them could equal to her. I can't bear to lose another person again.

I just can't.

But I knew. I knew there was nothing else I could do but hold her in my arms.

"Rapunzel," She wheezed and coughed, blood pouring out from the sides of her mouth. She took her hand from clutching her stomach and rested it at the sides of my face. "You're not alone, Punzie," There were tears in her blue eyes and she let them fall. My tears fell on her face as I brushed her hair away. "I'll be here." She weakly pointed to my heart.

I cried harder. I never cry. I knew that crying was my weakness and I vowed never to let those tears fall. That vow was many years ago, when my parents died. I never lost a tear since.

Until now.

She coughed and another fresh amount of blood poured out. She clutched my jacket as she spoke her last words.

"I need you to be strong, Rapunzel."

I just couldn't take it anymore. As the medics came to help her I gently laid her limp body down and shoved my way out the door. But before I could run, a firm hand gripped my arm.

"You can't leave her now, Rapunzel," Stoick said.

Anger boiled up inside of me as I clenched my fists at my side.

"We never should have stayed here," I said through my clenched teeth. Stoick noticed it and something like fear crossed his eyes.

"Rapunzel," he said his voice low. "I need you to calm down. Through your anger, your Source can set itself free. And believe me, when it's free, you have the power to shift this planet."

I let his words sink in and forced myself to calm down. But when I did, I broke into a fresh round of tears. Stoick placed a large hand on my shoulder.

"What is my Source?" I said through my tears.

Stoick smiled. "Well, you can heal."

That perked me up. "Can I heal Merida?" I said, my voice hopeful. "Now?"

Stoick's smile disappeared and he shook his head sadly. "I believe Merida is dead, and only you can bring her back to life."

I felt new hope dawn on me.

Then Stoick continued. "But you don't have enough power for your Source to bring a person back to life."

"I'll help," Jack said, overhearing our conversation. "I can probably tap my Source with hers."

I smiled and felt a nudge on my shoulder. I looked down to see Toothless nudging his head against my elbow to comfort me. Beside him, Hiccup spoke.

"Let's do this."

I smiled greatfully at them and together we walked back to Merida's lifeless body.

"But you haven't learned to use your Source yet," Ruffnut said to the three of us. Obviously she had overheard our conversation as well. "What if something goes wrong?"

"I have faith in them, Ruffnut," Stoick said as we walked. "After all, they are the Chosen Ones of the Big Four."

Then he turned to me. "Rapunzel, the way to handle your Source is different. To heal, just imagine the wounds closing and it will happen. To bring a person back to life, you must first retrieve her soul from the underworld," I gave him a surprised look but he continued. "To take a soul from Hades by force, the risk is high. But I believe in you."

"How am I going to take her soul from there?"

"Try to reach in your Source. Feel it. Familiarize yourself with it. Once you understand the Source, it will guide you to the soul you want to take."

I nodded and kneeled down beside Merida. Stoick cleared the arena of the medics. Jack kneeled down at me left side and Hiccup at my right. Toothless sat behind the three of us.

I looked down at Merida's cold lifeless body and choked back tears. I need to be strong.

I closed my eyes and focused.

A jolt hit me but I didn't open my eyes. Behind my eyelids there was darkness, but right after the strange jolt of power there was light. I dug deeper and a figure appeared. My eyes were still closed, but I could see her; long, golden hair like mine, green fathomless eyes full of love for me.

It was my Mom.

She was so beautiful. Her form was tall and slim and she wore a silky white dress. She walked towards me gracefully and touched my face gently.

"You've grown so much, my golden flower," her voice was just like I remembered. I blinked back tears and hugged her.

"Mom," I sobbed. "I've missed you so much." She smelled like the freshest morning. Like the air of first morning light.

She smoothed my hair. "I'm sorry I left," her voice was soft. "I could never forgive myself."

"No," I mumbled, pulling back to look at her. Her smile was sad and I stared into her green eyes. "It wasn't your fault the road was slippery."

She laughed softly, like the bells. "You're so much like your father. But right now, I'm your Source. I will always be here."

I smiled. "So are you going to help me find Merida?"

"Of course," she smiled. "I'll be right back." She walked away and I was tempted to scream at her to come back, but I stayed put; knowing that this time, yes, she's still coming back.

A moment later she reappeared, this time with Merida's soul behind her. Merida still looked the same, except her eyes were close and she was floated three feet off the ground.

"This is our realm," my mother spoke. "The Realm of Souls. I can take souls here, but for you to take it, you have to break this invisible wall." She motioned for me to come closer and I did. I reached for Merida but my fingers made contact with something solid. I realized it was the invisible wall.

"How am I supposed to break it?" I asked her.

"The only way to break it is to push," she replied. "You can't punch it nor kick it otherwise it will grow stronger."

I tried pushing as hard as I can but nothing. My Mom started helping me as well, but we couldn't break this wall that surrounded Merida.

Then I had an idea.

"Mom," I said, turning to her. "Can you let my friends in?"

"Now that I can do," with a wave of her hand Jack, Hiccup, and Toothless appeared.

"Whoa," Jack said. "It's like we landed on pony land or something."

Hiccup gave him a look. "Really man? That is not how you play it."

"Can I please get some help here?" I was getting annoyed.

"Oh, right, right." They both said and came over to help. Hiccup looked at Merida.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "This was my entire fault."

Jack put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry man. We'll get her."

I nodded. "Alright now you guys have to help me push this."

"Why don't we just find something hard to break it?" Jack asked.

"Well if you do that this thing will get stronger," I explained. "So we have to push it open."

"Well that's stupid," Hiccup mumbled but got in position to push it.

"One, two, three!" We pushed and pushed. It didn't budge.

I looked at Mom. "Can we use our Sources?"

She looked thoughtful. "I guess so," she replied. "I've never tried that before but let's give it a go."

I nodded and Jack pulled out his staff. He closed his eyes and blue frost poured out from his staff; into the wall. Hiccup took out his sword and it went up in flames.

Apparently I found out that his sword can shoot out fire. Toothless also started shooting blue beams of fire from his mouth and together the three of them fired at the wall.

"How can I help?" I probably sounded really pathetic now but I wanted to help too. My Mom turned to me.

"Think of a large hand that is pushing the wall," she said. "And push as hard as you can."

I did. I thought of a huge transparent hand that was pushed the wall.

It cracked.

Jack, Hiccup, and Toothless kept firing. I pushed so hard my head hurt.

Then suddenly it just shattered and Merida's soul disappeared.

"Where did she go?" I was panicking.

"Don't worry," my Mom said. "Just open your eyes now."

I opened my eyes to find Merida in my arms. Jack, Hiccup, and Toothless all scrambled to my side. Stoick leaned over us. Ruffnut and Tuffnut stood nearby, waiting.

Please work I silently pleaded in my mind. Please, Please.

Merida groaned and my heart leaped with unfathomable joy.

She frowned and opened her eyes.

"Rapunzel," she croaked. "Remember that guy that kidnapped us when we were seven and died of a heart attack three days later?"

I laughed and hugged her as tight as I could.

"What about him?" I asked; my face was wet with happy tears.

Merida smiled and sat up. "He said hi."

(Hiccup's POV)

Merida was alive.

But I still felt guilty.

It's not your fault, you know. Toothless sat at my side. The sword had a mind of its own.

I nodded and continued looking at Rapunzel holding Merida and talking to her. Jack, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Stoick had gathered around her. I looked up to see other kids that were around our age milling around the arena. They all had their training suits on and were looking at the scene.

"Why don't you kids go out and celebrate?" Stoick said.

"Where?" Jack asked.

"Why on earth of course," Stoick replied. "Now that you've opened the portal, you can come and go as you please. However, do not be gone for more than 24 hours or you Sources will disappear."

"Isn't that a good thing, then?" I asked and I felt Toothless' hurt. I turned to him. I'm sorry boy, that's not what I meant.

No it's alright, he smiled at me but his gold eyes told otherwise.

"No it's not," Stoick said. "Only the four of you can defeat the Evil side and the universe needs you right now." Stoick continued. "Not the Justice League, Avengers, nor the other heroes combined can defeat them."

"Wait," Merida held up a hand. "The Avengers are real?"

"Yes, they are," Stoick said. "Anything you've read and seen on television or books, are real, except they live in different dimensions. This isn't the only parallel world, you know."

"No, we do not know," Rapunzel frowned. "So only the four of us can completely defeat the enemy?"

"You, the Greek gods, and angels," Ruffnut said. "The others can harm them or damage them enough to slow them down, but they can't really kill them."

Merida rolled her eyes. "Never mind. I just came back to life and the last thing I need is a talk about those."

She stood up and we walked out.

The others walked in front of us, on the way to the village. Merida and I were at the back of them.

I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry. I, uh, shouldn't have lost focus of the sword."

She nodded but wouldn't meet my eyes. "I forgive you. I know it was an accident. I'm just so sick of this situation our parents ran away from to let us do it." She slowed down and so did I to match her pace.

"I can't imagine leaving Rapunzel like that," she said, her voice soft. "She had lost so much."

I nodded slowly, not knowing what to say.

"Do you like me?" I suddenly blurted out.

Ooh. That escalated quickly I could hear Toothless' laugh in my head even when he was far ahead.

Shut up, I replied and I heard his chuckle in my head.

Merida had completely stopped now. I felt my face redden. I've never felt like this around a girl before. I was never shy.

Except when I'm around her.

Then she laughed. "If you're talking about the crush kind of like, then no." I was hurt but I quickly hid it. So I laughed with her.

"Haha yeah that was stupid," I said, as we stopped laughing. "I don't like you like that either." I lied and I saw something like hurt flash across her features but she masked it surprisingly well.

We resumed walking and I felt like everything was ok.

"Are you sure, though?" I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "You know a lot of girls would kill to be with me. Want to be one of them?" I meant it as a joke but when I saw her expression I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.

Her blue eyes were fiery. "You think I'm like other girls?" she walked away from me. Then she said over her shoulder, "Well, you don't know me at all."

She stomped away and Toothless walked beside me.

Well that went well he said. Are you naturally that horrible at joking with girls?

I punched him lightly at the shoulders. What do you know about girls? I laughed. However I didn't laugh on the inside. Deep inside I was hurt that she would reject me. I sighed. She was one complicated girl.

But I was determined to win her.

Back at Stoick's house he gave us each a tracking bracelet with built in walki-talkies. It was really cool. After giving us strict instructions to come back in less than 24 hours, we headed back to our house to change. We walked to the white condo (Did I mention those horns and furs were disguises? And that the Dragons were supposed to perch inside? Yeah.) When we got in, Jack spoke.

"I'm kind of getting the hang of this," He said. "But I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the demons and such."

Rapunzel nodded as she headed to her room, "Same with me."

I nodded my agreement and headed in my room. Toothless followed.

Hey dude, he said, sitting down. Do you mind handing me that purple drink? It's inside your drawer.

I nodded and opened the drawer to take it. What I found was a small vial with some sort of purple liquid inside. I handed it to him and he gave me a look.

Hellooo? I have paws. P-A-W-S not hands. How do you expect me to drink that like that?

I rolled my eyes and helped him drink it.

When he had swallowed the last drop, he started changing.

His wings shrunk until they were gone.

His ears got smaller.

His tail got shorter and so did his body.

In place of a once huge dragon now stood a huge black dog.

I stood there with my mouth agape.

What? Never seen a Great Dane before? He chuckled, amused at my expression.

"You, Toothless, are full of surprises," I gave him a playful scratch behind his ears. He was huge for a dog, reaching to my waist when he sat down.

You should stop that and get dressed, Toothless said, wriggling out of my grasp reluctantly.

I chuckled and changed into fitting jeans and a white shirt. I found some shoes in the bag and put them on.

Hmm. Black Vans.

I took my leather jacket and motioned for Toothless.

"Come on, boy, Time to party."

I walked outside to find the other already dressed and waiting for me. Their eyes widened when they saw Toothless but I spoke for him.

"Disguise. Toothless can't walk around without being seen in his dragon form."

"Oh." They all said. They all wore jeans and shirts, but I especially liked Merida's.

"You guys ready?" Jack said.

"Ready," we said in unison and each looked at his eyes.

Jack's eyes glowed and the staff turned neon blue again.

Then everything went black.

Again.

Turns out, he had dropped us a mere inch from the pool. Any more close and I would have killed him.

No one noticed we had just appeared out of thin air. Everyone was too busy drinking and dancing. There were a lot of people here, and the music was loud.

"Where are we?" I yelled.

"I'm pretty sure this is Dani's house." Merida replied.

"Is he a guy?"

"Yep."

Sudden jealousy burned though me and I forced it down. I turned to Toothless and said, "You'd better wait outside." He happily obeyed and bounded off.

I turned around to find the three of them gone and three girls took their place.

"Wow, that was a big dog. Is it yours?" The girl with blonde hair asked. She wore more skin than clothes and smelled like alcohol.

"Uh yes, it was." I replied, trying to be polite.

She sidled closer. Her other friends were already jumping in the pool, screaming and laughing.

"I'm Cindy." Her voice sounded low and husky.

"I'm Hiccup," I replied as she started running her hands up my chest.

She laughed a low sound that sounded different compared to Merida's.

Stop it. She rejected you, remember?

I gave her my most charming smile and tilted my head down to hers.

So what? I do this all the time. And she's pretty.

But Merida is beautiful.

I quickly shoved that thought out of my mind as she tipped on her toes to meet me.

But something caught my eye.

Merida was dancing. She was breathtaking. Her red hair shined even in the dark. Her moves were graceful yet firm. Her eyes were close, as if lost in a trance. I was lost in her too.

Then a guy with big beefy arms started dancing with her from behind, putting his huge hands on her waist. Merida's eyes popped open and she politely put his hands away. But the guy was obviously drunk. He won't stop touching her.

Then I saw red.

I broke away from Cindy and before I could think, rammed the guy down to the ground and started pounding in his face. I heard gasps sounding around me and Merida's screams to stop. But I didn't.

She put her hand on my arm and yanked me off with surprisingly strong strength.

Oh yeah. Her Source.

Beefy Guy stood up, putting a hand to his bleeding nose.

"What's wrong with you, man?" His voice was slurred. "We're not finished."

And with that he stomped off leaving me with a red-faced Merida and bloody hands.

(Merida's POV)

How dare he? That smarty pants is allowed to make out with Cindy but I'm not touchable?

That's it.

I shoved at his chest and walked away.

"Why did you do that?" I was yelling. "You can't control my life."

"He was touching you," he said, his voice dangerous.

"So what," I turned to face him. "What if I like him? The most popular jock in school."

Hiccup's stare was dark. "I don't care if he's the president if he touches you one more time he's dead."

People were starting to stare now so I walked away and into the house.

"Wait," Hiccup held my elbow. Immediately a zap of electricity hit my body and I shivered at his touch.

"Do you really like him?" The words were soft as I turned around to hold his gaze. Hid eyes were the darkest green to get lost in. But I kept my wall up and looked defiantly at him.

"Well you seem to really like Cindy back there," I snapped and yanked my arm away from his grip.

"It wasn't like that-"

"Oh it wasn't, was it?" I felt tears threatening to come out but I held them back, not wanting to show him that I was weak. "With her touching you like that and you responding?"

I glared at him and walked in the house, needing a drink.

After a few shots, I was clearly drunk. Everything was blurry and fuzzy but I could still make out my surroundings. The music's drums beat along with my heart as I danced. I saw Rapunzel and Jack and went over to them.

"What are you two lovebirds talking about?" I slurred. "You should be called love humans, not love birds because you're humans not birds."

"Are you drunk, Merida?" Rapunzel sounded surprised.

Jack nodded as I bumped into a stranger and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"She's drunk and we've got to get back. I'll go tell Hiccup to take care of her," Jack said as he stood up from the table.

A few minutes later I heard Hiccup's voice.

"Come on, redhead," he said in my ear as he helped me walk out. "Time to get going."

Everything was still quite fuzzy as we walked down the sidewalk. I bumped in a mailbox and gave it a dark look.

"Some idiot jumped right in front of me and hit me in the guts with a pink stick," I muttered to Hiccup, who only laughed and said,

"You're really drunk, Mer."

I could barely make them out, but Rapunzel and Jack were walking right in front of us, talking with their voices low.

Suddenly Hiccup stopped me. I shook my head to clear my vision and some sort of teenager held Rapunzel's throat in hand, and Jack in another.

"Well, you're a mighty good-looking creature," I purred and I heard Stoick's voice in my bracelet;

Merida, do you copy? Do not engage with him. He is the demon that escaped.

What a part pooper.