Jack had arrived in Berk.
The plane landed. The wheels hit the runway, but Jack didn't move. He was lost in a wonderland.
His thoughts were muffled in silence by the dreams he had had. It was all written down in his journal so he could remember it all, but he would've anyway because he remembered it crystal clear. It was something he could not forget as it was engraved in his soul.
Of course, he worried about Elsa, too, but he was satisfied knowing Sebastian was there because what was on his mind had him more concerned. So he was lost.
Jack got in his car and sped to Gothi's tiny house, which you could call a hut. It was widely known that she was deaf, and he didn't truthfully comprehend how to call for her, so he foolishly knocked on the door without a solution in mind.
"Come in." A peculiar voice yelled out, and it sounded frail.
Cautiously but curious, he twisted the door knob and opened the door with a creepy creak. "Hi, Madam Gothi, it's me-" How would she even hear him? He was laughable.
A light hit her face when Gothi stepped closer and appeared from the darkness. "Jackson Frost Overland. I've been waiting." There was a halo around her.
Ground had slipped from under his feet. She heard him and talked. But what terrified him the most was that she knew his middle name, which no one did. These two questions struck him so hard that he was queasy.
Despite the perplexity, he shut the door behind him and sat near Gothi's. "You must have questions,"
"I do," Jack said with dry lips, expressing like he hadn't taken a breath in years, still too baffled to talk.
"I have answers." She played with a broken metal piece of axe with her cane on the floor. "So ask away."
With closed eyes, Jack took a profound breath and mindfully asked, "I ask this most respectfully. Because, lord, if this is another dream, I might actually go crazy." He took another breath, "With all due respect, how can you talk, Madam Gothi?"
In a crispy voice, she laughed aloud and answered, "Well, just like how you speak, so do I. You can say I merely don't like to waste my voice. I save it for special guests-" She poked his leg with the rough end of her cane, which poked him. "-Like you, Mr. Frost." The spiky voice put him at unease.
Once again, on the verge of puke, he asked, due to the fright, "And you know my middle name?"
"I am a wise woman with a knowledge of-" She grinned as she stared into his eyes "-more than centuries." hinting at something he caught on but didn't at the same time.
This all seemed unreal to Jack; he was genuinely dreaming. "Madam Gothi-"
Gothi smacked him on the head with her cane and ordered, "Call me Gothi, or else walk out of my house!" That sounds like every Berkian to him; she definitely was one.
"I'm sorry, Gothi." He was powerless and implored, "If you say, you know of centuries. I've been having these dreams, and they appear to be memories. I see Elsa and I in these dreams in different places and scenarios, and I am just... flummoxed."
She closed her eyes and began to say what she had held onto for decades, waiting for Jack to come to her. "Centuries ago, there was a boy and girl named Jackson and Elsa chosen by Gods to be soulmates."
Jack gaped, and his lips parted as a thrill chill went down his spine. "I knew there was something."
Ignoring his comment, she continued her story but ensured he was listening. "They were two normal orphan deeply in love who grew up depending on each other. Sometimes, they didn't even have food to eat for days. But when they turned 17, those two kids got a job that could give them a tiny hut and enough food to displace their hunger. Despite all their difficulties, they were thankful because they had each other. And then they married when they turned 19, just with two of their closest friends. Only two years later, Jack died of a viral illness. Those were the times when they didn't even have a proper cure for the flu. Elsa was so alone and devastated that she died of heartbreak."
He inhaled sharply; his throat hurt from the lack of breath, and his eyes scorched with tears. "I don't-"
Standing up, Gothi walked to the window and opened it for fresh air; it was suffocating. "The people saw how much the couple loved each other. Even the blinds could see, so how couldn't the Gods? It was such an immense love that happens once in a lifetime, so the Gods mercifully gave them one more chance to be together." Gothi turned her neck and smiled painfully at Jack; it was pitiful. "And so you and Elsa were reborn."
"It must've been so tough for Elsa to live such a terrible life and all alone later...that wasn't fair." Jack was sobbing, his eyes out with his head hung low.
Shutting her eyes tight, Gothi nodded with pain and agreed with him. "Indeed it was, but her love for you gave her hope to live. Funny, isn't it? She prayed and prayed to die soon so she could meet you sooner, and when she was on her deathbed, everyone was shocked to see her pass with a smile on her face. Because she was meeting you in the afterlife and hoping to be reincarnated with you."
"And she was reborn, and I met her again now." He jerked his head up when the realization hit him. "But the dreams I saw in those were that she was a princess with a happy family, well, both of us."
Gothi nodded and took a deep whiff. "That was your second life."
So, they had more than one "Second?"
Nodding once again, Gothi began the story, "In the next life, you both were born healthy and rich with loving families. She was a princess, and you a knight. Of course, the Gods can't be cruel twice. What you couldn't have in your first life, you had in your second, but what remained the same was your love for each other. You had to struggle to be with each other this time, but you did in the end."
"There was another sad ending, wasn't there? I have felt it in my gut for too long." Jack gulped and dipped his head in his hands while his stomach panged from the anxiety.
Gothi sighed and touched the window's glass, trying to capture the flowing leaves with wrinkly, shaky hands. "It was because people are cruel. So you both got married and lived far away in an isolated city as commoners, but of course, some nobles tracked you both down with intentions of murder. The reason was that no one could accept an heir to the throne's marriage to an imperial knight. It shifted the balance as you weren't of royal blood, and this wasn't done before."
As heavy tears slipped down his hands and dripped on the wooden floor, he asked with a trembling voice, "Who died this time and how?" Jack was smart enough to know something terrible occurred again.
"As I said, they discovered where you lived, and Elsa was their target. But since you were a knight, you could fight them, so you did, but you were left with a stab in your stomach. The sword left you bleeding to death. As for Elsa...Elsa was alive, but in the end, she killed herself. That's how she was found a few days later on your grave. This time, she couldn't be reincarnated because it was a punishment for Elsa taking her own life. And since you were both a pair of souls, your soul refused to reincarnate without her."
At this point, Jack was shaking like a leaf. He could pass out at any moment, but he wanted to listen more. "So now's our third life? Why did we not have a happy childhood? Why were we even reborn? Wasn't twice enough to torture us? Why again?"
Holding her cane with strength to stand, she tried to answer his questions. "Not every life is happy, Jack. And you weren't supposed to reincarnate. As I said, it was a punishment for taking her own life, and your soul refused."
"Then why?" He muttered, his entire body shaking with grief and confusion.
Gothi stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "This time, it was someone else the universe had mercy on."
Finally, he lifted his head and looked at her in the eyes. "Who?"
"Someone special."
Pin-drop silence engulfed the entire house, and only the breeze could be heard from outside. "Who else could it be? In every dream, it was only her and I. I didn't...I never saw-"
"If this is too much-" Hands reached for him to calm him down.
"No, I want to know! Tell me more, Gothi, I beg you." A loud thud echoed when he dropped to the floor on his knees.
"If you say so," Gothi gripped the edge of the window as she walked back, and it pierced her heart to speak, "There was someone who loved you both. A best friend, someone special, your and Elsa's heartbeat, your partner in crime, who made you laugh and cry; another soul entangled to you both. That person's soul was snatched most cruelly when you both died."
Someone died because of them? Jack gasped and scratched the wooden floor as he made a fist. "Who was tha-"
Gothi proceeded with her story, dismissing the interruption. "So this person asked to be born again. Because of this person, the Gods had mercy on you and Elsa. Or maybe they were going to anyway because of your tragic end. After all, gods are merciful and loving. Wasn't it them who chose you both for each other centuries ago? How could they not want a happy ending for you both? But that person definitely played an important role, too. Because that person begged them to be born with you or not without you, touched by that love for you and your devastating end, the Gods agreed, so you are reincarnated."
"Who's that person?"
"Someone who loves you both endlessly, Jack."
"I want to know them and show gratitude. You know everything, Gothi please tell me."
"I can't tell you the secret of another soul, Jackson. But maybe one day, when you see that person...you'll know. When you hug them and feel their warmth…you'll know that it was that person who loved you endlessly."
"Was it Hiccup or Astrid?"
"They were in your first life. Your best friends. So maybe it could be them again." She was playing as she had a secret to keep.
"But I haven't felt anything special with them."
"I could be wrong then, and you aren't supposed to feel anything, or maybe it's not them." She turned her eyes away, clearly lying.
"You know who it is, Gothi, don't you?" It was easy for Jack to notice she was a lousy liar.
She smiled, and a secret was hidden behind it. "Yes, I don't."
It would be impossible to convince her, so he gave up and asked with so much hurt as he was stabbed once again, "Will we have a happy ending in this life?" His heart was bleeding.
Finally, she shut the window and walked up to him, touching his shoulder. "I'm not sure."
"So you don't know."
Gothi finally hugged him and whispered, "We can only hope, son."
"I want a happy ending this time."
She hugged him. "Don't we all?"
Well who do you think that soul is?