Now I will apologize for a different reason. This chapter is long (yay?) but a lot of it is talking, not as much action. Important things get revealed/explained in this chapter, and between Jack, Hiccup, and North's emotional states (Jack's especially) and "who knows what" and "who is telling who what", combined with Merida seeing confused visions of the future, the situation is very complicated and messy. I'm sorry if the writing feels chaotic, but try to take it in stride if you can... the world in the story is on the brink of chaos itself. I tried to make everything as clear as possible, but I'm not sure how successful I was. If you don't understand something, feel free to ask. Try to stay with me. Thanks :)
Read, relax, review!
~o0o~
28.
Flying south from Burgess was very uncomfortable for all three of Toothless's riders. Emma was still shaken from the whole event, and sat snugly between Hiccup and Jack, still quivering from fear and chill. Though her brother provided her little bodily heat, she still insisted upon leaning closer to him than Hiccup, despite Jack's best efforts to get her to cling to the brunette instead.
Jack himself was miserable with how terribly the encounter with Pitch had gone, and rather than being soothed by the familiarity of flying, he was unsettled by the pull of gravity keeping him anchored to Toothless's back; it was very different from the sensation of complete weightlessness he had grown accustomed to and had so much enjoyed. Here, the wind continuously pushed and pulled at him from different directions, rather than helping them along their way, and Hiccup and Toothless were constantly shifting positions and altitudes to accommodate. More than once, Jack had to resist the urge to stick his hand out to bend the winds to their favor himself, forgetting he no longer had a staff that could command the air and weather.
Hiccup was frustrated as well, and fearful for what the loss of Jack's staff meant for Warren. Loosing a relic was bad enough, but they couldn't afford to loose an entire Guardian along with it. Not one as powerful as Jack. They needed him if they were going to win against Pitch.
Finally Hiccup broke the tense windy silence. "Do you want to take Emma home before we leave Burgess?"
"No. I'm not letting her out of my sight until this is over," Jack maintained, as Hiccup expected he would.
The brunette sighed and leaned back in the saddle, placing Toothless's tail fin in the lock-glide position so he could twist around and face his fellow riders.
"That's not practical, Jack," he said pointedly. Emma frowned and became very interested in the pattern on her skirt.
Jack closed his eyes. "I don't care."
Hiccup rolled his eyes in exasperation. "But how are you going to fight Pitch if-"
Jack's eyes snapped open. "I can't fight Hiccup!" he interrupted the boy, equally as exasperated. "I gave him my staff, he broke it. I'm out."
Beneath the bitter anger and exasperation, Hiccup could see the misery and self-resentment hidden in the boy's features. Realizing this was not a conversation he wanted to have in front of Emma, Hiccup shut his mouth and turned back to face the front.
"Let's take her to North's."
"Hiccup-"
"Burgess Palace, Toothless. As quick as you can," the brunette urged, adjusting the dragon's tail fin accordingly. Toothless roared in agreement, turning slightly in the air.
"Hiccup, I told you I can't fight-" Jack began to protest again but Toothless cut him off with an annoyed growl.
Great, now the dragon is mad at me, Jack thought, glaring at the creature despite knowing Toothless couldn't see it.
"Yes, you can." Hiccup insisted. He didn't turn around to face the white haired teen, but his words were clear over the wind. "Even if you don't have powers, you can still fight with us, Jack." His tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.
Jack didn't respond.
"We'll figure it out, Jack, ok? We've got a lot of problems to sort out, but right now getting Emma to safety is a priority. We were going to see North anyway. He's her best option right now."
Toothless flew through a large cloud and suddenly the Burgess Palace was in view, growing larger and larger by the second. In no time, the four found themselves landed firmly on the ground.
Hiccup wasted no time in jumping off his dragon before turning to Emma and helping her down as well. Jack was the last, and the slowest, to dismount. Hiccup turned and waved down a guard to escort Emma inside the palace to where North would be. Jack stepped forward to follow, but Hiccup caught his arm and held him back.
"It's our job, our duty, to stop him, Jack. He's our responsibility," Hiccup said quietly. Jack couldn't tell if he was angry or not. "None of the rest of us have combative powers, and we do just fine."
Jack stared at his feet, guilty and beaten. He didn't know what else to say, so he decided with the truth. "I just...you got the wrong guy. And I know we've been through this before," he added quickly, when Hiccup started to protest again. "I know. But all these bad things keep happening and I can't help but feel… like they were because of me." Jack turned away from Hiccup, staring in the general direction of the palace where his sister had vanished, longing to put his hand on her shoulder, to reassure himself that she was still ok. "Instead being the Guardian who brings peace to the Four Kingdoms, I feel like I'm the one who causes its destruction."
"Warren's destruction?" Hiccup asked softly. "These problems we're facing… we're Guardians Jack. It's an occupational hazard," he said with a slight laugh. "The Protectors of Peace will always have someone to fight who doesn't agree with us. Sometimes things happen, things we never wanted to. But we can't let them stop us. No one said you had to be perfect, Jack," he finished. "Rapunzel, Merida or I would have done the exact same thing had we been in your position."
Jack chanced a look at Hiccup, starting to understand that his friend was right.
Hiccup spread his hands out. "Now like it or not, we still have a war going on. You're still a Guardian like the rest of us, and our job just became ten times harder. You're stronger than this Jack. Together we can do this- we can end him."
With that, the brunette turned on his heel to follow Emma and the guard into the castle. Toothless gently nudged the white-haired boy's leg in what seemed to be tough-love encouragement before following at the others' heels, leaving Jack alone, motionless where he stood.
…
When Jack entered the palace he was surprised to find it almost devoid of life. Sure, when he had visited with Rapunzel a few days prior it had been quiet, but even then there had been some servants and guards going about their evening business. Where were they now?
Emma was nowhere in sight, but neither was Toothless, so Jack had to assume they were together, and, knowing the Nightfury's protective nature, relaxed somewhat in his stance, confident for the time being that his sister was safe. He hesitantly let his bare feet carry him further down the hall to where Hiccup was waiting for him. The stillness of the vast and empty castle was eerie.
Hiccup motioned to him to follow once he was close enough. "North's this way," the brunette said, and the two started their trek to the older man's study. Neither spoke a word, and the silence was somewhat uncomfortable.
At last they made it to the two large oak doors that separated the cold silver hallways from the cozy den of a study. The Berk Guardian reached up his hand to knock on the door.
"Hiccup, wait," Jack spoke finally.
The brunette turned around, expectant, though his face was unreadable to Jack.
"Before we… I just need to know," Jack requested. "My staff," he asked, clenching and unclenching his fists beside him in the absence of the familiar object. "Was my staff really the Burgess relic?"
He didn't miss Hiccup's flash of guilt before the older teen schooled it back to its neutral expression. "I… suspected… it was," he answered slowly.
Jack nodded his head silently as he looked down at the silver floor.
"How did you…" Hiccup trailed off, narrowing his eyebrows.
"Pitch made some… suggestions."
Hiccup swallowed and pushed his hair away from his face, letting the information sink in. If Pitch shared his suspicions about the staff… "This is bad."
Jack laughed humorlessly. "That's the understatement of the century."
Hiccup straightened, remembering something. "But you said he broke it?" he said with a frown.
Jack looked up. "Yeah," he said softly.
Neither boy said anything, but they both knew they were thinking the same question- Why would he purposely destroy the relic if it was his key to absolute power?
"We need to talk to North," Hiccup said again, definitively.
"Yes we do," Jack agreed vigorously. Something about all of this, the whole situation, wasn't right. There was one big clue they had missed, and this gave Jack the tiniest sliver of hope.
Hiccup wasted no more time in barging through the doors to North's study, Jack close at his heels. The old man looked up from his worktable in surprise at the sudden appearance of visitors.
"Hiccup! Jack! I vas not expecting you!" he exclaimed as he stepped around the cluttered mess so he might meet them. "I thought you vere working in Corona-Is anything the matter?"
"Well that depends on how you look at it," Hiccup said with narrowed eyes, crossing his arms as he looked at the older man. "I think that you haven't- wait, what are you doing in here?" Hiccup's stance dropped as he noticed the tiny glittering object in North's hand- a fully functioning toy train engine carved solely from ice. He looked over the man's shoulder at the entire layout of icy tracks and train cars on the table behind him. "Trains? You're playing with trains while there's a war going on?" Hiccup asked him incredulously.
Jack, who had curiously wandered over to the table, leaned over and picked up one of the cars, the ice feeling smooth and cool in his hands. It didn't begin to melt at his touch, rather, tiny intricate ferns of frost seemed to spread from his fingertips until the entire train car had been coated in a layer of patterned ice. Jack hastily replaced the car on its track, looking at his fingers for a second both curiously and confusedly before wiping them on his pants as if telling evidence might remain there on them. He turned back around to where Hiccup and North were arguing over trains.
"Hiccup, please relax," North's booming voice overpowered the younger man's. "Vhat would you have me do? I am not a Guardian like yourself, nor am I any longer a ruler of the Four Kingdoms, for I am a tired old man. Furthermore, I have been recently forbidden from attending Council meetings, due to, ah, shall we say, certain disagreements between them and myself, and they want no further input from me. All I have left to do is vhat hobbies I have always enjoyed- designing toys to bring joy to children. And in troubled times, is bringing joy to the most vulnerable of us all- those most susceptible to the fear of Pitch's terror, truly such a crime?" Now it was the older man's turn to fold his arms across his chest and stare Hiccup down with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay… You're right, I'm sorry," Hiccup conceded with a sigh, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "I'm just a little tense."
"I don't blame you," North replied, still bearing down on him, though his expression softened somewhat. "Please vill you both sit?" he moved to the chairs by the fireplace. "And tell me why you have come."
But neither of the boys moved to join the older man. "We can't stay long, actually," Jack spoke up finally, glancing at Hiccup who nodded in agreement. "We just have some questions."
Hiccup stepped forward a bit. "Is it possible to remove Pitch's power? If all the relics were somehow joined-"
"Jack, vhere is your staff?" North suddenly asked, alert to his nephew's empty hands.
Jack glanced down at his pale fingertips again, pushing back the feelings of guilt and worthlessness that threatened to overcome him once more. "I… That's… another… reason why we're here, actually… Um, I… I mean,-"
"Pitch threatened Emma and Jack had to surrender it in exchange for her safety," Hiccup explained, clearly eager not to dwell on the situation and get back to his own chosen topic.
There was a pause of stunned silence from North in which only the crackling of the fire was heard.
"I didn't have a choice," Jack added softly, though he wasn't begging for his uncle's forgiveness or approval.
"Why didn't you tell us Jack's staff was the Burgess relic?" Hiccup spoke again, slumping his shoulders and raising his hands a bit. "We could have avoided-"
"No one's destiny can be avoided," North spoke, ignoring Jack, "as Merida vould agree-"
"Merida foresaw Jack's betrayal!" Hiccup was growing impatient now, as was Jack. The argument was pointless. "Indirect and certainly not by choice, granted, but an unnecessary betrayal nonetheless that might not have ever happened if we had known enough to take certain precautions-"
"Jack's staff is not relic."
Silence, as Hiccup stopped in his tracks to take in what North had said. The old man had said it so softly, that both he and Jack looked at each other, uncertain they had heard him correctly.
"What?" Jack asked, stepping forward as well.
North looked at him with an unreadable expression. "I vould have thought that obvious. A fallen tree branch, significant only to you? I told you to protect staff Jack, yes, but not because it vas relic."
"But Merida-" Hiccup protested.
"Pitch told me-" Jack frowned.
"Please, sit, both of you, and let me explain," North gestured again to the chairs, which the younger boys accepted this time with dumbfounded expressions.
North took a composing breath before leaning forward in his chair, hands folded and forearms resting against his knees. "Now then, if, as you say, Merida saw Jack's betrayal, then either she misinterpreted her vision, which is unlikely, or she simply did not interpret all of it. Perhaps Jack's actions are simply something in the appearance of betrayal, rather than the betrayal itself."
"I don't understand," the boy in question stated.
North smiled sympathetically. "It is my belief that the future is something not meant to be understood, and something otherwise best left alone."
"But that doesn't explain what Merida saw," Hiccup pointed out. "If Jack didn't give Pitch a powerful weapon, then…"
"North, you said if anything happened to my staff, then we'd loose the war," Jack spoke up, looking down at the floor where his bare feet dug into the carpet. "Why?"
Hiccup looked at the older man, eyebrows furrowed and curious as to what he might say.
North sighed. "You are our one hope Jack. It is vhy we picked a new Guardian. We needed someone strong enough to challenge Pitch's power. The other Guardians are strong, yes, but you are different,"
Hiccup lifted his head, remembering Rapunzel saying something similar to him not more than a week ago, when they officiated the Council's decision to elect a new Guardian.
North paused when Jack's face fell and looked guilty once more. "Do not show such long face, my boy. All is not yet lost. As my brother was unsuccessful in taking from you any of the four relics, we still have a chance."
Jack gathered his courage and nodded, giving North a grateful smile.
The older man sighed. "But why the Moon Magic tied your power to your staff the way it did, I do not have an answer for. So much power and magic dependent on something so…impermanent. Vhy would Pitch make this mistake, I wonder."
"I wasn't even sure myself," Hiccup confessed. "Rapunzel didn't agree with me."
North raised an eyebrow, leaning back against his chair and folding his hands across his chest. "Ah. I see now." He paused. "Fear is very much illusion of the head, you know. Your brain interpreting something in a way to produce a certain bodily response. Fight or flight, as they say. "
Hiccup nodded, furrowing his brow. "Fear is also an illusion in that, 'the mind plays tricks on you', or you interpret things to be what they aren't, like how children believe there are monsters hiding under their beds at night."
North nodded. "And there lies our answer."
Jack didn't understand, but it dawned on the brunette. "My power works both ways with him," he realized, eyes wide, "because of fear. I wasn't certain of Jack's staff- I feared it. When I joined consciousness with him, that fear became mutual. I set him up to believe something that wasn't true, because he understood my fear."
Hiccup looked over at Jack. "Jack I…I'm sorry," he said, and he meant it.
Jack shook his head, though he appreciated his friend's words. "It's over now, anyway. Emma's safe, and Pitch still doesn't have the Burgess relic. That's what's important here. I'm just stuck without a weapon."
"Which brings us back to the other question." North rose from his chair and stood to face the fire, resting his hands wearily on his hips. To Jack and Hiccup he appeared very tired.
"You might interpret Merida's vision as you betraying Warren, Jack, not by giving thee enemy Burgess's relic, but by giving up your power, and our best chance of stopping Pitch."
"But if we collected all four relics-" Jack began logically, standing up as well.
"-they could they be used against Pitch, couldn't they?" Hiccup finished.
"The two that you have, that of Corona and Berk- have they… done anything of consequence?" North questioned, still pensively staring into the flames.
"No," Hiccup conceded. "Other than when the hammer healed Compass…not really. Nothing strong enough to take away Pitch's power, anyway."
"The hammer healed Compass, you say?" North asked, momentarily gazing at the brunette from over his shoulder. "That is… very interesting." He mused, turning back to the fire. Minutes passed in silence in which all three remained motionless.
"North," Hiccup pleaded. "We're running out of time and options. What can we do if we don't have all the information?"
Finally, North muttered a low curse in Russian before turning to face the two young Guardians.
"It vould seem I have no other choice in the matter," he said definitively. "Tell me, are you ready to learn the greatest Burgessian secret of all time, one that has been know to only select individuals since the formation of the Four Kingdoms themselves? One that Pitch could not guess in his wildest nightmares, and that the Rulers themselves have no knowledge of?" North clapped his hands together. "Vhat do you know of Nightlight the Defender?" he asked them, raising a single dark eyebrow.
Again, if something didn't make sense in this chaotic explanatory chapter, please feel free to ask :)
Love to all who is still reading this
Iceprincess
GUEST REVIEWS:
Victoria Fisher: A THOUSAND APOLOGIES for missing you when I wrote my guest responses on the previous chapter! I truly hope you see this! Thank you SO incredibly much for your kind words, and for giving my story a chance even though it's not yet finished! I can 100 percent promise you that I WILL finish it if it's the last hing I ever do. I'm also impressed that you re read it! That's truly a remarkable feat, and I applaud and thank you! And yes haha, I frequently want to "punch Bunny in his stupid face"... thank you for making me laugh and smile! Hope the wait wasn't as horrible as I know it probably was, and I really hope you get to read the rest of it and love it as much as I am loving writing it! Much love- icepriness