Chapter three: Snow
It had been a few weeks since Merida and Jack had their dispute and things had been working out great! Everyone now was getting along, well Jack and Merida still argued a little bit but they'd laugh and smile afterwards, they were in the middle of taking a break for the moment as far as training exercises went, Sandy hadn't used the nightmare sand sense Rapunzel's idea and just kept it as far away from Jack as he could not sure if he trusted the frost spirit with that kind of trouble. Hiccup and Jack were relaxing by themselves, Rapunzel had needed Merida's help with something and the two boys just sat there enjoying the comfortable silence between them, after a few minutes Hiccup decided to ask a question that had been brewing in his mind for a while.
"So what did Merida say to you that day that upset you so much?" Hiccup asked him Jack was surprised at the sudden question to say the least but shrugged it off
"her and i yelled at each other and she told me i was the most useless person on the team" Jack said that's when Hiccup started laughing which caused Jack to quirk an eyebrow confused by the sudden behavior as Hiccup just shook his head
"Something about that funny?" Jack asked he was slightly offended and Hiccup saw this and just smiled
"Yeah but it's not you, well it kind of is if anything and lets face it i'm the most useless person here i mean i'd be gone without toothless meanwhile you and Rapunzel have powers, Merida is normal but she at least knows how to fight i'm completely useless" Hiccup said the fact that this was coming out of his mouth kind of made Jack feel bad
"You're not useless! you're the smartest out of the whole group! i mean who else could figure out how to train a dragon? Merida and I would be barbecued before we got the chance and i'm not even sure what Blondie would do" Jack said to him Hiccup nodded yet didn't seem to confident in his own abilities yet Jack frowned
"Hiccup, you're not useless no one is useless with the situation we're in if it is as bad as North says and it probably is we need all the help we can get." Jack said Hiccup shook his head a little bit not really believing a word of any of this Jack sighed and shook his head
"Alright Jack sense you're so persistent with this let me ask you this, my dad is the leader of our village if i'm so important then how come no one i know has come looking for me yet?" Hiccup asked as if on que there was a crash and they heard Rapunzel scream both boys scrambled to their feet Jack grabbing his staff and Hiccup grabbing a metal pole he was going to use to make Toothless's new tail but if he needed too he would use it to defend himself and the others,they hurried into the room where the girls were only to see Merida fighting off two familiar faces and another that had Rapunzel by the hair
"Astrid! let her go!" Hiccup said quickly "Ruffnut, tuffnut leave her alone" all fighting ceased
and all eyes fell to Hiccup as Jack lowered his staff Astrid shoved Rapunzel away from herself and the twins dropped their weapons away from Merida Rapunzel went and hid behind her redheaded friend
"YOu know these lunatics?!" merida yelled at him as Jack laughed and looked at Hiccup
"I'm sorry what was that about no one coming to look for you yet?" jack asked him Hiccup ignored him and looked at the three
"How did you guys get here?" Hiccup asked them he was extremely happy that they were there but he was also extremely curious Tooth had to fly him there, Jack flew there, Merida was brought through a tunnel and Rapunzel was taken through a snowglobe portal so what the heck happened?
"We knocked one of Snotlout's teeth out and had one of those little fairy things take us" Tuffnut said grinning
"It was awesome" Ruffnut said Astrid walked over then
"hold on a second what the hell is the matter with you?! You're kidnapped by this green bird woman and this little golden potato guy and you're here completely fine with two other girls?!"
"She can't see me can she?" Jack asked waving a hand in front of Astrid's face Hiccup shook his head a little bit in response the twins clearly could as they just looked at him confused
"No Astrid has never been a believer" Hiccup said putting his hands in his pockets before turning back to the clearly very angry Astrid
"Look it Astrid, there is a completely logical explanation for this, we are the chosen ones"
"Chosen ones?" Astrid asked before Bunny hopped in quickly followed by an axe being thrown at him and Snotlout Hiccup had to grab him and Bunny stood
"What the bloody hell?!" Bunny shouted at him Hiccup sighed
"Sorry Bunny, they're my friends from home" Hiccup said "Astrid there are four chosen ones picked to defeat some greater evil every few centuries or something like that Merida, Rapunzel, Jack and-"
"Jack?" Astrid asked Jack had made a snowball in his hand and whipped it in Astrid's face she spluttered and spat the snow out before glaring suddenly able to see the spirit now Hiccup looked at Jack now
"Run" Hiccup said Jack smiled Astrid charged him with the axe and Jack just jumped up onto the banister a few feet above them and laughed
"And i thought Merida had issues"
"Watch it frost i still got my bow" Merida told him though she smiled as she did North and Tooth came in with Sandy and Fishlegs then, Fishlegs being the only one who was completely calm in this situation
"Excuse me Astrid" Tooth said the girl glared at her
"You"
"Yes me, can i have my fairy or do i have to take her by force?" Tooth asked Astrid glared but went into her bag and pulled out a small cage that had the baby tooth in it
"Why should i?" Astrid asked but Jack swiped it with his staff and opened the door, Baby Tooth hurried back over to Toothiana the tooth fairy smiled and cuddled her little helper close to her
"Astrid calm down, they're nice" Fishlegs said "They took Hiccup cause they're training him to be one of the chosen ones against an ultimate evil that's going to put all of us in danger" Astrid raised an eyebrow
"Where's your proof?" She asked
"We have none yet" North said "The enemy has not attacked yet and we are almost out of time, we appreciate you coming to save Hiccup but he is fine however if we need help we'll be sure to call you if we need help though" North said grabbing a snowglobe from his pocket and tossing it into the air the portal opening but Hiccup scooped it up again and closed it
"hey calm down for a minute, let them stay i haven't seen them in what a month now?" Hiccup asked the guardians looked at each other and Rapunzel practically begged with her eyes for them to say no after Astrid pulling her hair but her silent pleas were ignored as the guardians agreed
"Ya gotta leave yer weapons here" Bunny said quickly not liking that Snotlout had tried to kill him the kids agreed and dropped their weapons where they stood Hiccup smiled at them happy to see them Rapunzel was a bit more cautious after Astrid had attacked her hair.
"Come on Punzie, lets go take care of yer hair" Merida said feeling her friends uneasiness around the new visitors and leaving the room Astrid watched them glaring daggers at them before looking at Hiccup
"Your friends seem really nice" she said sarcastically
"Well you did attack Rapunzel" Hiccup said flat out as he walked away to show everyone around the workshop, Jack hurried after Merida and Rapunzel when he walked in Merida was braiding Rapunzel's hair
"What are you doing?" Jack asked
"Braiding Punzie's hair so it's shorter and she won't worry so much round that witch" Merida said Jack nodded sitting down
"Not to fond of her either, she doesn't exactly seem to be the nicest person, how the heck does Hiccup live with people like that?"
"They are Vikings" Merida said "Vikings invaded my lands before i was born my father always tells stories about them they're not good ones either" she told him Rapunzel sighed
"well...you can't judge a book by its cover i mean, my mother has told me for years that people are awful hateful creatures and if they find even a shred of sunshine they destroy it" Rapunzel said brushing a little hair out of her eyes she felt a little stupid for being afraid of Hiccup's friends but you couldn't blame her, the first impression she had gotten was them being attacked and Astrid going after the thing that she had always wanted to keep safe the most
Jack sighed and shook his head
"Hey if Hiccup thinks they're alright they must be we can trust him" Jack said smiling at them the other two nodded agreeing though Merida still didn't seem pleased though she just didn't like Astrid, she got a bad vibe from her she didn't know.
When Merida finally finished they walked out of the room and eventually found Hiccup with his friends all bothering the yetis in the workshop
"Seriously? what kind of toys are these?" Snotlout asked examining a teddy bear "No weapons, no spikes?" he said shaking it to the point where North took it from him
"Don't touch that"
"WHy? does it explode?"
"No it is something for smaller children to sleep with, keep monsters away not be afraid!" North said enthusiastically Snotlout rolled his eyes and walked by him
"Lame" he said causing North to glare a little at him. Hiccup shook his head and looked at North
"As far as viking kids go, try toy dragons they'll be a lot more interested" Hiccup said to him North thought for a minute then nodded at the feed back making a mental note to remember that. Astrid looked around the workshop and didn't appear impressed mean while the others were hurrying around looking at everything and wanting to touch everything despite North and the Yetis telling them not too. Astrid looked up when the other three came back in and looked away with her arms folded frowning a little bit
"What's the matter? Not havin any fun?" Merida asked her Astrid rolled her eyes at the red head
"As a matter of fact no i'm not, i'm actually a little upset here i've been looking for my boyfriend for-"
"Boyfriend?" Jack asked suddenly raising an eyebrow before looking at Hiccup who blushed a deep shade of red "Way to go buddy, and here you thought that no one cared about you" Jack said nudging Hiccup a little bit as Astrid glared at Jack
"But i'd stay away from the pushy and more aggresive chicks, they tend to go after your ego and make you forget that you're the guy" Jack said Astrid picked up a toy fire truck and whipped it at him but Jack quickly caught it and handed it to a yeti
"Whoa easy there no need to break the toys" Jack told her smiling a little bit as she glared at him Jack laughed "and i thought i was cold"
"Jack that's enough she clearly doesn't think it's funny" Rapunzel said playing with the ends of her braid a little bit Astrid raised an eyebrow
"What's with you?"
"You attacked her and she's barely had any human contact." Jack said "ever"
"What do you mean?"
"For the past eighteen years until North went to get her, Rapunzel had never left her tower" Hiccup explained "For certain reasons of her mother being over protective and pounding it into her skull that people were vicious horrible people who destroyed anything good in their lives" Hiccup explained leaving out the details which Rapunzel was grateful for Astrid looked away now shuffling her feet as she kind of remembered how the Attack would leave that kind of impression.
"...sorry" Astrid muttered before there was the sound of shattering glass a moment later a yeti came over carrying Ruffnut and Tuffnut while he was covered in paint Hiccup sighed a little bit
"Sorry Phil" Hiccup said as Phil dropped the two in front of hiccup and walked off muttering something in yeti speak that Hiccup was almost positive he didn't want to know what it meant by the way North chuckled and patted the Yeti on the shoulder as he walked past them.
"Alright i have idea on how to get them to leave workshop alone" North said before turning to the Vikings "How would you like to test toys?" North asked smiling a little at them the vikings all stopped and glanced at each other before looking quizzically at the Guardian
Merida laughed as she slid down the hill on a green sled in the snow before she slowed to a stop and looked up at the snowy hill where the others were, well minus Rapunzel who was too scared and hand't yet been convinced to exit the workshop yet.
"This one's good!" she shouted getting up before starting to drag it up the hill as Snotlout came down in a green snow tube which quickly popped sending him flying and summer-saulting down the hill and straight into a snowbank he popped out of the snowbank and looked around as the others laughed
"Uh this one's broken" he shouted Jack shook his head a little bit before he looked back at the workshop window where Rapunzel sat with her sketchbook scribbling while she was inside he noticed her glance up now and again, watching the fun they were having but then quickly trying to look back down before she was caught.
"Jack it's your turn" Hiccup said Jack looked back at him
"Go ahead, i'm going to check on Rapunzel real fast" jack said before he walked inside and walked over to her Rapunzel looked up at him and smiled
"How is it?"
"It'd be better if you'd be out there with us" Jack told her hopping ontop of his staff and sitting in the crouched position that he usually did Rapunzel smiled but shook her head and looked out at her
"It's alright, I'm used to watching from a window" Rapunzel told him Jack frowned a little at her he could tell that she wanted too, like she really wanted too but she was too but she was just scared.
"Come on Blondie, you gotta come out at least do it once" Jack said
"Well I don't have winter clothes like you and Hiccup and his friends"
"North has extra, that's what Merida is wearing" Jack told her
"Merida also has shoes"
"I don't have shoes" Jack said showing her his foot Rapunzel rolled her eyes and Jack laughed a little knowing her response before he hurried off leaving her be for a little bit he found North who was still helping clean up from the vikings
"Hey you got any-"
"In the closet boots, coats, gloves whatever she'd need" North said Jack raised an eyebrow
"How did you know?"
"Rapunzel asks for the same thing every year on her birthday that she has been to afraid to ask her mother, and that's to leave the tower" North explained to Jack. Jack frowned a little bit that was really sad he hurried to the closet inside was a purple coat, pink gloves and various other things the blonde would need Jack smiled grabbing them and tossing them at her
"Get dressed, you're going outside" Jack told her Rapunzel hesitated but Jack picked her up by the arm and pushed her into the bathroom
"I'll be back in five minutes" Jack said before he went back outside "You guys you gotta help me get Rapunzel to come out and have fun"
"Not a problem, she'll want to come out the minute she see's these" Snotlout said kissing his muscles Jack rolled his eyes and nailed Snotlout in the face with a snowball
"Cool down buddy, there are girls around you know" Jack said causing Snotlout to glare at him a little bit as the others laughed Rapunzel opened the door and just looked out she looked like an eskimo with her fuzzy hood up and her pink snow pants and well just the way she had wrapped herself up in all the clothes she looked either like an eskimo, or a giant pink and purple marshmallow Jack hurried over to her and grabbed her hand
"Come on! we'd never let anything happen to you" Jack said Rapunzel hesitated but she reluctantly stepped out of the workshop and was brought over to where the stack of sleds and snow tubes were
"Sense it's your first time you should probably go down with someone" Jack said Rapunzel hesitated
"Not snotlout" Jack added quickly as the viking looked like he was going to volenteer "We save the broken ones for him" Jack told her causing Rapunzel to laugh a little and to ease away some of the tension Jack looked at Hiccup
"Hic, you ride with her" Jack said Hiccup was surprised
"Why me? you're the guardian of fun"
"Well your friends did attack her" Merida said trying to guilt him Hiccup frowned a little at her
"I liked it better when you were on my side" Hiccup said walking over to a sled and grabbing it Rapunzel hesitated and then shook her head a little bit
"No, no it's alright I can just um" Rapunzel started but the twins were one step ahead of Jack and shoved her down onto the sled unfortunately this also caused it to move Rapunzel screamed the entire way down the hill and especially when she went into the snowbank the others quickly hurried down after her to make sure that the blonde was ok but when they reached her Rapunzel was just laying in the snow on her back laughing which was a great relief to the others as Astrid helped her up, Astrid had gotten out of her bad mood sense they had started the sled testing it had turned out to be fun so far. Unfortunately as the fun started it quickly seemed to end as the sun started to go down and they ran out of sleds.
"Looks like it's time to get going" Astrid said the others whined their disapproval Rapunzel took her hood off and frowned a little bit
"Thanks for a great day you guys" Rapunzel said as they headed inside North already had a portal opened and smiled the vikings said their good byes before collecting their weapons and heading through Astrid pulled Hiccup in for a hug and a quick peck on the cheek before she headed through
"We'll tell your dad that you're alright and not to worry about you alright?" She told him Hiccup nodded a bit as they disappeared once they were gone Rapunzel was sent home and the other three headed off to bed.
The guardians gathered together to discuss the days events
"They're growin, things are going not like we planned but they seem ta be doin alright" Bunnymund said Tooth nodded agreeing with him eyes fell on North who sighed a little
"I do not think that they will come back though if we allow them to go home"
"North, their families are worrying about them, minus Rapunzel's" Tooth argued North shook his head a little and started to pace a little bit back and forth
"One more week" he offered to them "then if you still think so we let them leave but if they don't come back, we are in world of trouble" North said the two other speaking guardians nodded before they each left to go to their homes North stayed up looking over an old scroll he remembered getting from Ombrick he sighed before he stared up at the sky where the full moon beamed down on him
"Manny I don't know how you come up with these things, they are just children" He said sighing to himself and shaking his head a little as he stared at the scroll every square inch was filled with pictures with writing underneath each one, showing previous chosen ones and going up to the current four that North was working on adding to the scroll
"the last four didn't work so what makes you so sure these four will?" North asked looking up at the sky. the moon just shown brighter and North smiled chuckling a little bit
"YOu are right my friend, when Darkness falls, Heroes rise" he said turning back to his Scroll and doing the work he had started.