Hiccup was pretty sure he never wanted to see water again.
Jack explained to him that he lived on an Isle, surrounded by water; in return, Hiccup punched him in the arm before wretching off the side of the boat.
"That's not very Viking-like," Jack snickered.
"It's not very lady-like either," Astrid quipped, jerking with her arms as she pushed the oar through another wave of water.
Hiccup wiped his mouth on his sleeve, grumbling, before taking a seat behind Astrid and thrusting his freckled hands around the oar end. Jack took the seat behind Hiccup, pushing off the bench with his feet to whisper in the Viking's ear, "So, you ready?"
Hiccup wasn't sure what Jack was asking; the question was flexible enough to mean anything. Was he ready to go on this expedition, in which Jack would move on to the next Defender? Was he ready to drop everything and go with Jack? What was he supposed to be ready for?
Jack awaited an answer; he didn't know what answer, but he wanted to hear Hiccup's voice. He wanted to hear the boy say something. He'd been a little distant since their kiss and Jack really didn't know what to think. Since when did Autumn seem so far from Winter?
Jack sighed, leaning back, pumping the oar; the wind rifled through his hair and he looked to the sparse clouds over the turquiose sky; the nearer and nearer they got to The Bear King, the clearer the sky became and the warmer it felt on Jack's skin. Soon, a sheen of sweat glistened on his face; he began to wonder if Manny had thought this through as he gave the oar another pump with slick fingers; his head felt feverish and he wondered if the waters farther from Berk carried less sea monsters or not. The curve of a grey-green hump and long neck against the bright blue sky seemed to beg to differ and Jack blew air out his nose in a huff, ultimaely annoyed at the blunt answer from the universe.
Gobber steered the ship; Stoick and Spitelout rowed the backmost oars, strengthening the ship's advance. The rest of the Vikings - most of them Dragon Trainers, like Hiccup - rowed vigrously, their helmets tilting lopsidedly. From ahead came the pleasant relief of cool shadows, thanks to the dragons soaring along with the ship. Toothless mainly hovered over Hiccup but would drift to Jack occasionally; Jack still felt uncomfortable under darkness after seeing the shade of the boy.
Jack was shook from his thoughts when Stoick shouted in his ear. "Oi! Jack, how are yeh holding up?" He placed a massive hand on Jack's shoulder, which looked puny and breakable in comparision. Jack nodded meekly, forcing his aching arms into another row, his bones creaking; they weren't used to this much manual labor. The most they knew was fun - throwing snowballs, evoking everyone's inner kid - and that wasn't work. It was now but it had never been before.
Hiccup glanced back, catching Jack's eye. Hiccup was surprised at how florid Jack's cheeks had become the warmer the temperature had risen and that some of Jack's hair was stuck to Jack's forehead, dripping like icicles. Hiccup gave him a pointed look, making sure his concern was evident; Jack shurgged, throwing his tired arms into another row. Hiccup glared over his shoulder at Jack and said loudly, "Jack, you don't look so good."
Jack shot Hiccup a dangerous look, but Stoick was already up and inspecting Jack's face closely; "They don't have much labor up in Jotunheim, have they?" Stoick asked.
Jack shook his head, his teeth gritting. "Just fun, sir."
"And the heat - you're not used to it, eh?" Stoick scratched his head and jerked his chin to the dragons above. "You'll have to take flight, then - it's cooler up there than down here. The fresh air'll do you good." He patted Jack on the shoulder before telling Hiccup to call Toothless down.
Hiccup shouted Toothless' name; Toothless drifted lower, his feet landing on the deck near Gobber for Jack to hop on. The dragon and Jack eyed one another and Gobber cursed under his breath when the dragon let out a spark of flame. Hiccup turned and shouted at Jack to behave; Jack rolled his eyes and straddled the dragon's back. He barely had time to get his other leg situated against the dragon's scaly hide when Toothless jumped from the ship into the sky.
Jack's nails skittered over scales, trying to grab leverage against the wind's force; he knew if he fell, the wind would intitially catch him. The aftermath of flying, however, was not something Jack wanted to explain, so instead, he whispered to the wind, goading it keep him against the dragon.
Hiccup smirked, watching Toothless flying haphazardly, trying to buck Jack off; he was impressed by how well Jack was holding on. Astrid glanced up, rolling her eyes, sporting a smile on her lips as Jack shouted, "Land ahoy!" as The Scottish Highlands, lush with greenery, blurred agaisnt the flush of blue.
...
"They're already advancing to the next Defender," Gothel spoke, her tone icy, her arms crossed as she glared at the back of Pitch's head.
"I'm aware," Pitch replied, his back to Gothel; he stared at his reflection in the glittering black ice of the sculpture, at the shadows frozen within. Pitch trailed a crooked nail against the numbing cold, his gold-silver irises fixated on one of the shades - the shadow that had once been a young girl, one he had cherished in a past life, one his heart was far too dark and cold and tortured to remember, alas, to remember while he was awake, at least.
"Are we just going to sit here and wait for them to destroy us," Gothel snapped, "because I am sick and tired of being beaten by all this nonsense - "
Pitch shook his head. "No. Today, we act. We just need to await the signal."
...
Tim was pretty sure it had never snowed in Neverland.
He blamed that explanation mainly on the way the redskins completely forgot about The Groundhog and Bunny, whom Tim and Eric were about to bust in and save; instead, snow had began to fall - a dusting at first, then a full-blown blizzard.
The other Guardians had arrived; the dusting had brought up hope that Jack was back until the snow had begun coming down in blankets. Tinkerbell had to be beneath North's fur hat to keep her wings from shattering; the Forest Guardians rode freezing Baby Teeth; Tooth zipped forward through the winter wastleland that had been so full of life just before.
The redskins were screaming, shouting - all but Tiger Lily; she was calm and collected albeit a little confused by the cold white that rested on her bare shoulders. Bunny pulled his boomerang from its sheath, knowing that for once Jack wasn't playing; Jack would've come out by now. No, this wasn't Jack Frost; it was something else. Someone else.
There was a dusty croak of a chuckle and the snow swirled and swelled; vision was obscured only by blinding white and the rush of biting cold. Tim held a hand before his eyes; he felt a torrent of wind chill the back of his neck and Tim's eyes snapped open, whirling around to kick the offender. The kick hit a chunk of snow; again, he kicked behind at the feeling of forced breath being blown across his neck. He couldn't feel the cold - he was only numb; he barely even noticed the icicles poking from his skin or the clear ice over the back of his neck.
In minutes, the storm was over and a Guardian was gone - all except his icy replica jutting from a mound of snow over the once spring-green grass.
...
"All according to plan," Pitch smirked, inspecting the shivering Guardian of Time. Pitch tugged the ice-crusted blazer of the man's suit, withdrawing a silver hourglass. At The Boogeyman's touch, the sand turned black; the sand began to twist and writhe, like a living thing. A twisted grin remained on Pitch's face as he gave the hourglass a shake; the space behind Pitch opened into a spinning vortez of jagged black sand.
Gothel supressed an eye roll; the boy in the cage was more focused on the nearly frozen man that had arrived. Old Man Winter jerked his head at Tim, asking, "What would you like me to do with him while you're gone?"
"Oh, be courteous," Pitch smirked, sticking a foot into the portal, "show him our welcome commity, would you?"
Gothel sighed. "When should we expect your return?"
"I'll only be a minute; I just need to settle affairs with a witch and resurrect a demon-bear," Pitch then hopped into the churning vortex of Time, popping his head through the wooden head of the bear the witch had been wittling. He grinned at the childhood fear suddenly overtaking her eyes as he said, "Hello again, Boo; haven't seen any blue-and-purple monsters lately, have you?"
Headcanon: Boo (from Monsters Inc.) is actually the witch/wittler from Brave who goes back in time in search of Sully. ((there's a huge conspiracy theory online over it if you want to look into it; in the film, there is also a carving of Sully in the wood among the wittler's inventory))
I want to thank you all for all the reviews (96!), follows (51!) and favourites (35!); that's so fantastic!
It also snowed A TON in South Dakota and it's only October; Jack is getting all on Hiccup, I'm sure of it.
THE RACE FOR THE DEFENDERS IS ON.