#I change it the sun to the moon to fit jack frost

[incorrectrotgquotes]

"It's me

Hi

I'm the problem, it's me

At teatime

Everybody agrees

I'll stare directly at the moon, but never in the mirror

It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero"

Jack Frost

[guardian-of-fun-times]

❄️Rise of the Guardians: Closer to You [Jack Frost X Reader]❄️

The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground illuminating the snow below. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky as you gazed out the grand window for a short while.

You heard a slight tapping against the hard wood floor of his bare feet. You found Jack wandering down the hall and met up with him. "I'm starting to feel sleepy." You told the winter spirit. "My schedule has been off since I abruptly stop my medication. My doctor cancelled our phone appointment since he had an emergency leave, so I'm stuck without them for a while." You stifled a yawn, turned to Jack, smiled, and took his hand. "But I could sure use a cuddle buddy tonight."

The pale crescent moon began to shine like a silvery claw in the falling night sky. The occasional clanking of toys being made in the nearby workshop broke the silence.

"I'll be your cuddle buddy. You can even fall asleep while we cuddle. I'll be here with you, don't worry about it." He let go of your hand and put his arms around you. "Do you want me to sing you a lullaby? I can if you'd like?"

"Okay." You smile sheepishly. "We can stay in my room. I have a Borealis light. I hope you don't mind. Oh, I didn't know you can sing. That'd be nice actually."

Oh, of course I wouldn't mind staying in your room! It would be a pleasure. I'll make you feel comfortable as I can. And my singing isn't really good, but I hope you'll like it anyway." He smiles back at you. "And is the Borealis light those kinds of star lights that shine on the ceiling? Because I love those!"

"Yes, it is! You said excitedly. "It glows different colors too. Would you like to crawl into the covers with me? I'm weird about blankets. I need them even when it's hot. It's a comfort thing."

"I don't mind at all. I like to feel comfortable, so I understand. So I'll go with you." He holds you gently and leads you to your room. "What color do you want for the star light tonight, my dear?"

"Ummm." You hesitated. Blue! It's my favorite color. "Oh, I've got to change into my PJs. I don't have any that'll fit you. I'm sorry." You reached your door and opened it for him. "Well, here's my room."

As he follows you to your room and see the room for the first time, I can't help but smile and admire all the beauty and the coziness. "It's a wonderful room. North did an amazing job!" He playfully nips at your nose. "Don't worry about the PJs, I'll be fine."

He moves in closer and corners you. You're now trapped between him and the wall. "I've never had a guy in my room before so this is my first time." You stuttered, your face growing immensely hot.

He laughs. "You're very cute when you blush, you know? It's okay. I don't mind being the first. Actually, it's a huge honor for me." He looks deep into your eyes, a huge grin playing across his face. "You're not going to be needing these." He chuckled, tugging on your shirt.

Jack was drop dead gorgeous and that was the truth. He was a total sweetheart that much you could tell, soft spoken, helpful, smart, handsy, every quality that made his personality attractive. Though, you weren’t sure if that’s what this could turn into.

You escaped his grasp and quickly dive into the blankets, hiding inside. "Come find me!"

"Sounds fun! Wait for me!" He immediately removes his hoodie and belt, leaving his pants unzipped.

He starts trying to search with his hands. When he finds you, he smiles and gives you a small peck on the lips. "Found you!"

You giggled and placed your hands around his neck.

"You're adorable when you hide like this. You look so cute. You make me so happy. Truly and completely. You're just perfect. I love you."

 Before you can say anything, he’s kissing you softly, hoping to convey his feelings more through touch. You hum softly, relaxing against him as he rolls over, resting on top of you. You trail your hands from his hips to his chest, raking your nails gently down his skin. You suck in a sharp breath as he kisses down your neck, his hands sliding up the shirt, sending goosebumps along your skin. As he pushes up the shirt, exposing your skin, wanting to see you with fresh eyes. He pulls the shirt over your head, sitting up and taking the time to really look at you. As he stares at you, you almost feel self-conscious, making you want to cover yourself, but he’s lowering himself back down, placing kisses on your skin. You relax the further he goes, his hands reaching underneath you to unclasp your bra.

He slowly moves it out from underneath you, setting it somewhere to the side, his hands caressing each breast in hand. The sensation of pleasure rolls through you, and your back arches as you close your eyes. You didn’t know what to do with your hands, but the moment his tongue laps at one of your nipples, your fingers are tangling in his hair, a breathy moan escaping your lips. His other hand teases your other nipple gently, rolling it in between his fingers, loving the way you squirmed. His ocean eyes are on your face, taking in your features. Before long, he's switching to the other nipple, palming your other breast. He groans against your skin, trailing kisses down the valley of your breasts. The lower he gets, the faster your heart beats. He nudges your thighs apart, his fingers curling around the waistband of your underwear. His cease in movement causes you to open your eyes. He’s waiting for you to give the okay. With a small nod, he’s swiftly removing your underwear in a matter of seconds.

Nudging your legs further apart, you hold your breath as he kisses your inner thighs, squeezing lightly. His eyes almost roll into the back of his head as he tastes you for the first time. A squeak leaves your mouth as his tongue dips between your folds. Your fingers curl into the sheets, eyes closing as you rock into his face. “Oh…” You moan, sucking in a sharp breath. Jack takes both of your legs, lifting them over his shoulders, angling your lower body upward. His tongue laps against your clit, and he slides a finger into your depths, your answering whimper leading him to continue. He keeps his free hand against your hips, keeping you still as you started to squirm. “Oh fuck…” You rasp, your hands now moving towards his head, either in an effort to keep him there or push him away, you weren’t sure. His humming against your skin makes you shudder, and he slips another finger inside, gently pumping them forward. Your legs are shaking now, toes curling, and your fingers tighten in his hair.

He then starts this sucking motion with his mouth, and you can’t help the quiet wail that leaves your lips. Some part of you prays to God no one could hear you. Your sexual experience wasn’t anything to brag about. With Jack still holding your hip, the friction you wanted so badly was being withheld, and it was frustratingly pleasurable. Your head swims as you lock your legs behind his head. His fingers dig into your flesh in response. “Please…” You breathe out, not sure what you were asking for, but you were asking for something nonetheless. You could feel the pressure building in your body, and your soft moans and curses were uncontainable the closer he brought you to ecstasy. Most men at this point would change the rhythm to a faster pace, but Jack? He continued with this languid motion of flicking his tongue and pumping his fingers like time didn’t exist. Your thighs were practically vibrating over his shoulders, you’re breaths wispy and ragged.

He loved it.

“Jack…” You pant, your eyes screwing shut, white flashes dancing across your dark vision. You were this close. The more he licks and sucks on your flesh, the more of you he tastes, the closer you were to losing your mind. He then replaces his tongue with his thumb, rubbing your clit in small circles, his tongue plundering back into your slick, wet, folds, intent to get all he could. That was your undoing. He finally lets up on your hip, and you rock into his face as your orgasm takes over every part of your body. With your legs clenched around his neck, it kept him there, licking everything you had to offer and more. He didn’t care that you practically soaked his face and the sheets, he was on a high just knowing he got you there. He takes one final lick from the very crevice of your pussy to the top, before easing up, gently unclasping your shaking legs. He kisses each thigh in passing as he lowers your legs down. Your fingers had finally released his hair and if he were human, you’d probably have ripped a few chunks out. You still shudder as he kisses back up your now tired body, before taking your lips, and you moan softly, though you had no energy to do anything more. You can taste yourself, and it was mix between a salty and somewhat of a tart taste if you could describe it. It wasn’t a gross thing you’d think it would be.

He releases your lips to breathe, and your eyes are barely open at this point, but you’re able to see the satisfied look on his face before you close your eyes completely. His frigid body leaves the bed, leaving you even more cold for a moment and you hear water running before he’s back in a minute if not less, wiping between your legs gently. Not wanting to disturb you further, Jack sets the warm towelette on the back of his chair, pulling the covers from under you on top, nestling beside you as you curl into his side once he settles. He kisses your forehead as you drift off into sleep, his arm settling around you.

It was nearly midnight, and the night sky was picturesque. A black to navy gradient was the backdrop for a full moon; the night sky so clear you could almost see every crater. The moon, a glowing yellowy white, loomed large, surrounded by an ethereal glow.

"I'm ready for bed." You snuggled him close.

"Good night, love. Sleep tight. I'll be right here if you need me. I'll be your protector. I'll be your shoulder to cry on. No matter the problem, I'll be right here for you. You're my rock. My world. My everything. I'll always love you. So, sleep tight and dream of me."

"How can I not dream of you? You're already in my every thought." You laughed. "Goodnight Jack."

"Sweet dreams. I'll always dream of you, too. I'll always love you, forever."

[atherflame-theconcubus]

Interdimensional names/nicknames

We already talked about this with radiant, but it didn’t really catch up on it much with the others… So I’m gonna do that now

Eclipse: radiant

Lunar: Lune

Sun: Sol

Moon: Frost

Earth: Gia*

Ruin: Nova

Jack: hollow moon/hollow

Solar flare: proto

Blood moon(fused): Orchid*

Bloody (older twin): Canna*

Harvest (younger twin): hibiscus*

Good moon: crescent

KC: Stellar *

Glamrock chica: chickpea

Old eclipse: Araceli/Catalyst 

* Gia is earth’s actual name within swap shuffle. I just called her earth for simplicity sake

* The twins were programmed with this as their interdimensional name. Hence the extreme difference between the rest of the cast, when split, they decided to continue with the flower symbolism names

* the original nicknames for the twins were carnation (the older twin) & amaryllis (the younger twin). Their nicknames got changed due to the symbolism of the original flowers, chosen not fitting their personalities.

* originally on this kill codes, nickname was nebula, and this was posted with nebula as his nickname. I just remembered nebula is already a character in the sun and moon show so I had to change it.

[gryffindorkxdraws]

JACKUNZEL EXPLANATION in 0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) by Tomorrow X Together

as a MOA and a jackunzel shipper, i couldn’t help but notice that the song fits them and i can add it to my ship playlist *smashes it in LOL

and the way they keep playing with the words “freeze,” and “thaw,” as if the boy was stuck in a cold and lonely world (JACK?!) until he met a girl who melted it all with her light and warmth (RAPUNZEL??!?)

"The song’s lyrics, which expresses the emotions of a boy who is confident that his love for a special girl he met in this chaotic world is real. The title of the track is an equation representing the story of a boy with a hole (0) in his soul in a world full of zeros (0) and one (1) girl who approaches the boy."

this explanation of the song *HEAD IN HANDS and my mind immediately just went DEAR LORDE ITS JACKUNZEL STFU I’M TAKING IT

so i decided to break down the english lyrics while imagining/explaining the ship mostly in jack’s POV to go with the song

[Intro: Taehyun]

I know I love you [Verse 1: Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Huening Kai] In this world of zero I know you're my one and only In this endless darkness like Oh my god, so holy From the tip of my fingers Everything runs far away My life before you was a mess Couldn't win one round of this chess Oh we

“When Jack Frost was reborn he lost all memory of his previous life and immediately began his adventures of fun and mischief, discovering his powers. The Man in the Moon only ever told him his name, and he quickly discovers no one can see him when he enters a village and is walked through for the first time.”

he was left alone with nothing but questions as soon as he was reborn. and he had to deal with it, along with his loneliness and frustration, all by himself.

for a while at least, until he met the others. but judging from their former opinions and judgements on jack, i doubt that they formed a deep bond with each other before the movie’s current timeline.

just, 300 years?? he had to deal with everything ALONE for 300 YEARS. i’m pretty sure he hides all that negativity behind his mischief and pranks, because what else can he do besides demanding for answers from the man in the moon?

he was going in circles without progress, and he knew it

[Pre-Chorus: Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun] From this bottomless pit You're the only (one) shining gold Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you When I'm sinking alone Angel who one day appeared to me Take me away to your hometown I know it's real, I can feel it

but what if...

what if he meets a strange girl with an even stranger hair. and he expected nothing from it. just another curiosity to check out and that was all.

but then she proved him wrong.

with her wonderstruck eyes and excited giggles and suggestions of never ending plans for the two of them that would take them far and wide (after they got through the phase of suspicions and getting hit by a frying pan LOL). 

and he’s in shock. lost for words. because holy hell “You can see me? And you even wanna stick around with me??”

[Chorus: Huening Kai, Taehyun] I'm full of problems, love sick No way to go I was fine to die I'm a loser in this game The only (one) rule of this world Save me Take my hand Please use me like a drug (I know I love you)

and everything falls together as they embark on adventures together

with them pushing and pulling each other out of their comfort zones. their trust in each other growing as time goes by. showing the other a world that they never knew of, or maybe they did but they never got to experience it until now. and simply reminding the other to live (directly or not).

just live.

for themselves and no one else.

[Post-Chorus: Seori, Taehyun] Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world All or nothing, I want all of you I know I love you Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world All or nothing, I give all of you I know I love you

jack is well aware of their differences. that perhaps maybe she's too good for him. that she's definitely someone way out of his league.

and those thoughts brought something lurking in the back of his mind. telling him to prep himself always when the time comes. when rapunzel sees him for who he is and leaves him in disappointment

he’d even tell himself that he wouldn’t blame her if ever she did

[Verse 2: Soobin, Taehyun, Yeonjun]

I'm not going to make it I won't be able to get into heaven I don't belong there No place for me in heaven At the tips of my feet Everything turned pitch black My life before you was trash Could never even light a single match Oh we

but god, he’d do anything for her.

if she asked him to, he’d write her name on the stars for everyone to see. he’d take every bit he can think of to change the tides of her life. he’d freeze everyone who’d go against her. he’d turn the world upside down for her if he has to.

but also, he’d bear himself open to her. he’d let her in his secret world that hasn’t seen light for years. he’d trust her with his delicate heart, something he made sure was kept hidden from everyone all the time.

just one word from her and he’d do it.

[Pre-Chorus: Beomgyu, Soobin, Taehyun] In this world of ice You're the only (one) shining glow Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you When I'm sinking alone But angel who somehow appeared to me Take me away to your hometown I know it's real, I can feel it

and rapunzel doesn’t know it. not yet at least. about how much she meant to him. their shared laughter. their light hearted banters. their friendship. their connection. everything

while jack teases her a lot to either mess with her or get a reaction from her, he adores her dearly. treasures her wholeheartedly. and maybe even he wasn’t aware of it at first. after all, it grew slowly, surely, dancing along with them in the wind

once he caught up with his heart, he knew without a doubt that it’s real and no one else can tell him otherwise

[Chorus: Huening Kai, Taehyun] I'm full of problems, love sick No way to go I was fine to die I'm a loser in this game The only (one) rule of this world Save me Take my hand Please use me like a drug (I know I love you)

jack rises with the moon. with a side hidden from the world. wearing a mask to show only what he wants to be shown. bottling things up and leaving them in the dark corners, wishing they’d go away. but they don’t

and rapunzel rises with the sun. bright and full of honesty. unafraid to face the world with her heart on her sleeves. running in full speed. reaching out for her dreams and not even thinking of giving up as a choice.

or at least that’s how he sees it. this poor boy who didn’t have as much confidence from the start

[Bridge: Soobin, Yeonjun] The hole in my soul begins to mend Frigid air starts to thaw In this world of zero I found warmth that's you Take all of me Girl, I need you

this alone

i don’t need to explain it

it screams jackunzel all over

[Chorus: Huening Kai, Taehyun] I'm full of problems, love sick (Oh) No way to go I was fine to die (Oh) I'm a loser in this game (Game) The only (one) rule of this world Save me Take my hand Please use me like a drug (I know I love you)

but while jack was caught up in all that

rapunzel. i can see her telling him that if she’s the sun who lights up his life full of zeros, then he’s her moon who brightens her life even in the darkest hours

that if he keeps bringing himself down, then she’ll slap him out of it

because they both matter

in their own ways

to each other and to everyone else

and she’d defend him with all her might against those who think otherwise

[Post-Chorus: Seori, Huening Kai, Taehyun] Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world (I love you) All or nothing, I want all of you I know I love you (You) Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world (Till the end of the world) All or nothing, I give all of you I know I love you

I JUST LOVE JACKUNZEL AND TXT LET ME HAVE THIS *SHAKES

[fanofawesomethings]

Rise Part 2: Bitter Storms

Part 2. First part needs to be read in order for the rest of this to be understood. Got it? Read first part.

North from the rest of the world and miles from anything hospitable for the faint of heart, another powerful blizzard struck the island of Berk two nights ago. Damage was minimal, the houses were strong. Everything was paper white snow that was knee-deep, which made the days even colder than normal. And yet, the snow and cold were pushed to the side. The people of Berk were far too busy to mind the cold, that day or any other before it. Everything had to be ready in two days.

 Daily life was different in Berk for so many years. Dragons, big and small, mighty and lanky, made the small island their home. They crowded every inch. To its people, Berk and dragons went hand in hand, so much so that the people made a game to honor them. Dragon Racing, a competition for only the fiercest dragon riders. The object: capture as many sheep as possible and drop them in baskets to score. After an intense season, the championship match was fast approaching. The villagers were eagerly preparing for it.

 “Little higher!” Tuffnut shouted from down below.

 “This good?” Ruffnut, his twin sister, replied. She used their dragons, a Hideous Zippleback, a twin headed dragon, as a ladder. The left head was Barf and the right was Belch.

 “You moved it like an inch. Come on, we need to get this place ready for when we win the game. Everybody’s gonna wanna hang out in the champion’s house,” he boasted.

 It was obvious which house was theirs. No other house in the village boasted the green marker as much as theirs did. The twins were fitting a shield above the doorway; both were both painted with the green emblem of the Zippleback.

 “Yeah, I’ll bet we beat the lovey-dovey dream-team so bad Stoick’ll throw us a parade in our honor,” she laughed. The dragon, named Barf and Belch, chortled with glee at the thought too.

 “Now you’re talking! Hey little to the right.” Belch, the right head, moved its rider’s as commanded. “No my right!”

 “It’s the same right, idiot!”

 “Hey I’m the one whose gonna lead us to victory, no way I want my shield to be crooked.”

 “What’re you talkin’ about!? Me and Barf are practically carrying this team!” The dragon head agreed.

 “Says you. It’s me and Belch who pick up the slack around here.” The other dragon head agreed. The left head snapped at the right head.

 While they argued a lump of snow was seemingly gathered into a firm sphere. No one in the surrounded houses saw it get lifted off the ground and thrown, hitting the grounded twin at the back of the head.

 “Ow! Who threw that?” When no one was there to direct his anger at, Tuffnut turned to Ruffnut.

 “I thought you said you were the ‘mature twin’ or something. Why’d you throw a snowball at me!?” Tuffnut barked.

 “What? How the heck would I throw a snowball at you? I’m off the ground!” Ruffnut growled back.

 “I don’t know, maybe you used your witchy powers or something. Always knew you were cursed.”

 Another snowball was thrown, hitting Ruffnut that time on the cheek. “Hey! You wanna start somethin’ you better come up here and finish it!”

“Oh ho! It’s on now!”

Tuffnut scaled the dragon to reach his sister. The fight between the twins was like the countless other times they fought—slaps and punches with each breath. Their neighbors found it more annoying than amusing, especially when they turned loud. Deafening insults of every variety shattered the tranquility of the morning. They couldn’t hear themselves over their other’s gripes nor could they hear the laughter of the unseen person who threw the snowballs.

Meanwhile, across the village, a gust of cold wind tussled the back of Snotlout’s hair. Panicked, he dropped the stacks of lumber he carried to quickly fix his mane. The wood his father told him to gather for the game torches rolled away while his concerns were elsewhere. Strands of hair back in alignment, Snotlout admired his reflection on the side of his helmet, but when it wasn’t big enough to see himself he plucked a nearby shield off a house to serve as a mirror.

“Who’s one tough Viking? Who can beat up all the Outcasts with one look and wins all the ladies with another? You are that’s who. Or is…? Whatever, I look darn good,” said Snotlout, blowing a kiss to himself.

For the four days straight Snotlout had been practicing his acceptance, speech, styled his hair, and got his armor shiny bright in anticipation of the Championship match. Actually practicing was the last thing on his mind.

 Suddenly a single strand of white hair caught his eye. Snotlout’s jaw hit the ground. He checked his surroundings as though the tiny hair stood out like a twenty foot tall dragon; Snotlout took cover behind the house. With the tips of his fingernails he steadied his hand to remove it without ruining the integrity of the rest of his hair.

 Laughter, a mischievous chuckle, found Snotlout behind the house, but just as before it went unnoticed. A young man with skin paler than snow and hair like frozen waves plotted in the shadows. He held a long stick with a curved tip outwards, aimed at Snotlout. A burst of wind escaped, hitting Snotlout’s back and rising to the sky. In a split second, Snotlout was left with a head of messy hair in a confused stupor because it happened so fast.

 Snotlout screamed. “My mane! My sweet beautiful hair! It never even got a chance to see me accept the champion’s prize. ARGH!” He cracked his fists. “WHO!?”

 Eyes sharp as dagger he searched for the culprit. The young man was laughing without restraint, out in the open. Snotlout looked in his direction and then continue searching. The young man, Jack Frost, threw away secrecy knowing he was safe.

 The cold winds picked up again, that time without being called. Jack spread his arms out like wings and the breeze rocketed him into the sky as though he was lighter than a feather. Soaring higher and higher, above the tallest building in the village, Jack wasn’t afraid, rather his smiles widened the higher he got. He flew with a flurry of snowflakes around him. It wasn’t anything new for the young man but it was a sensation he loved every time. He broke away from the current and dove towards the base of the mountain. The ground was fast approaching, he didn’t have any winds to stop his descending speed, and yet Jack saw the spot where he intended to land in. POOF! Jack landed face first into a pile of snow which softened his landing, as intended. He landed in front of a small cave with ice blocks all over the inside, his home.

 “I knew moving here was a good idea, something exciting always happens here,” said Jack to himself. He waved his hands, a beam of blue light struck the ground and an ice block formed from his palm; he used it as a chair. “Oh Berk, I hope you never change.”

 So many years, too many to count, passed since Jack could remember. He could only remember seeing the moon, feeling cold, and then watching as everyone in the world ignoring him. No matter how loud he screamed, how hard he touched them, no ordinary person could see or hear Jack. In his isolation Jack traveled the world for many years. He eventually stumbled upon Berk, a small island where cold weather was commonplace. Living in the small cave wasn’t ideal at first but he managed. But Berk proved to be more entertainment for Jack than he realized; after witnessing the rise and fall of dragon slaying, he found himself feeling at home in the small island. The commonplace cold weather may have come from him.

A school of Terrible  Terrors sailed by his cave. One with a limp wing broke away from the rest and plopped in front of the young man. The tiny creature curled up besides his foot, waiting for Jack to pet him like he always does. Jack smiled, he always enjoyed the company. He lightly hovered his fingers over its spine, without touching it. The Terror purred with delight like Jack had been actually petting it. But the tips of his finger tips went through the dragon’s skin.

“Sorry, little guy, I wish I could give you a good back scratch,” sighed Jack. His inability to touch was a bitter truth that stung him every time.

 A rush of wind threw the tiny Terrible Terror through Jack like a sheet of paper. Jack was overjoyed, he raced outside. There was only one dragon on Berk, maybe even in the world, Jack knew could rattle the icicles in his cave with explosive speed alone A dragon-shaped shadow blocked the sun. Toothless, a Nightfury—the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself—zoomed through the clouds with its body in a blur and a roar that energized Jack each time he heard it.

 “WOOO! YEAH TOOTHLESS!” Jack cheered, catching his attention, but not his rider’s.

 “What’cha looking at, Bud, another sea arch to break like the last one?” He asked. The helmeted rider found the cave but not the young man cheering his dragon on. “Oh a cave? Never noticed that one before. Interesting.”

 Out of every story Berk had to tell, Jack was most interested in watching the story of Hiccup unfold. Son of the Stoick the Vast, chief of Berk, the first to ride a dragon, the one who brought peace between Vikings and dragons, and the one who defeated raider after raider. No one on Berk, not even Stoick the Vast, grabbed Jack’s attention more than Hiccup.

 Toothless ascended higher. Hiccup clutch the leather brace, clicking his metal leg to adjust the dragon’s tail.

 “Come on, Bud! Keep going!” Hiccup roared. Toothless was equally excited.

 Jack grabbed his staff and climbed up the mountain side until the wind scooped him up. He used it to follow them above the clouds. But Hiccup and Toothless weren’t stopping there. They climbed and climbed, and Jack flew to the next gust of wind to catch up. Toothless noticed Jack following them but it only made him want to go farther.

 Dragon and rider touched the coldest part of the sky, breaking through the overcast to see the glaring sun, but that wasn’t the end of it. Hiccup wanted to break their record. Toothless coughed under his breath without faltering.

 “What do you think: first one to open their wings cleans the stables?” Hiccup bartered.

 Toothless gave a tooth-less smile in agreement.

 Hiccup readied Toothless’ metal attachment. Jack’s favorite part of their daily flights was coming; he watched with eager. Hiccup pushed off Toothless’ saddle, flipping backward and then diving down with his back straight. Toothless joined his rider’s freefalling. Jack closed his body and let the wind drop him like a log.

 All three plummeted to the ground, rapid winds clouding their ears, but although Hiccup didn’t know it, he shared the sensation of freedom in freefalling with Jack. Toothless and Hiccup met in the air, laughing at the other. The dragon looked to the side, to Jack, and stuck his tongue out towards him; Jack liked to feel included. Being so high it took some time to see the ground again. Breaking through the clouds the game began. Jack couldn’t decide who would open their wings first. Hiccup was just as brave as Toothless was, or rather the two were the same measure of foolhardy. The mountain peak zoomed by. They were poised to land on top of the great hall’s roof. Cleaning the dragon stables was no easy task, for a dragon or a person, it was obvious neither of the two wanted to be the loser. Hiccup was the first to feel a twinge of fear. The ground was fast approaching. Jack couldn’t hold his excitement.

 “The grounds looking really up close and personal, Toothless. Makes a dragon rethink leaving the air,” Jack egged on.

 Toothless whimpered.

 It was going to be close. The ground. The distance between them and landing a very painful landing. Hiccup could almost see the details in the roof’s tiles. In the end it was Hiccup who unzipped his leather, faux wings first. He caught the wind just in time and then Toothless after. The two reunited with only a couple dozen feet left to go. Hiccup pulled Toothless out of the nosedive and together they touched down safely. Hiccup turned to mush as he fell over; Toothless dropped his belly on the ground. Jack landed with a poof on a pile a snow.

 “Looks like I beat the both of you, but Hiccup definitely opened his first so he loses,” remarked Jack.

 Toothless whipped his tail to the back of Hiccup’s head to jog his memory.

“Yeah, yeah, I know the terms, I lost so I gotta clean the stables tonight. Fantastic. I hoped for a night with milady, but who wants that when I get to clean dragon poop until past midnight,” groaned Hiccup sarcastically.

 “A bet is a bet,” said Astrid who had been waiting by the great hall entrance for them, “and it sounds like you lost so you gotta lose with grace.”

 Astrid was the second person to catch Jack’s attention, maybe even rivaling his interest in Hiccup. She was the strongest and bravest young Viking, not to mention she was a combat master. And she was also Hiccup’s girlfriend.

 “You don’t sound bummed at all to miss out on a night with me,” said Hiccup.

 “What can I say? I like men who uphold the honor of a contest. Besides, I’m actually going to be pretty busy. Stoick asked me to soothe the sheep for the games. A few of them had nervous breakdowns after the last season,” said Astrid, kissing Hiccup on the cheek on his helmet. He took of his leather mask expecting to get a second kiss, but she gave it to the top of Toothless’ head instead.

 “Yeah, I guess the sheep need calming so Dragon Racing doesn’t turn into sheep hide-and-seek like last time.” Hiccup comically collapsed on the snow, unknowingly landing next to Jack.

 After so many faces coming and going, it was some time since Jack had last seen a face up close like that. Hiccup’s eyes were green. Jack was surprised to discover something he didn’t know about his favorite story in Berk. Intrigue commanded Jack to notice more details like the tiny scar on Hiccup’s chin. Jack finally had a reason to count every freckle on his face. Something compelled Jack to keep staring. He couldn’t remember the last time he laid eyes on something he felt was beautiful but Jack seemed to recognize the sensation when he looked at Hiccup.

Astrid lay down next to Hiccup which put her on the other side of Jack. He noticed the alluring blue of her eyes immediately. Her hair was like strands of straw that had been strung into a gold shine. The freckles on her face were harder to spot, hidden under her flushed face, but Jack discovered them. She was beautiful to Jack too.

She reached for a kiss and Jack stumbled through Hiccup in a panic like it was meant for him. Instead she kissed her boyfriend on the lips that time. Hiccup and Astrid shared a loving moment that made Toothless look away. Jack picked himself up, no longer between them; it was a twist in his stomach, a pain he’d felt before over being left out, and yet it felt different that time.

Jack flipped his raggedy cloak hood over his head as he walked away. He climbed to the top of the great hall, without the wind’s help, and stared into the horizon. It was a lot of uninteresting water. Five minutes staring bored the easily-distracted Jack and he watched the sky instead, though the experience was the same. He was bored, that much was clear, but he didn’t feel like watching Berk then.

“Starting to feel it again. Maybe a change of place would help. But it was impossible to find Berk last time I left. Maybe I’ll visit North and swing by Bunny’s place…for…some…fun…” Jack trailed off at the thought. He realized he’d done the very same thing many times before.

Out of the corner of his ear he heard Hiccup and Astrid laughing. He didn’t want to look. Up there he could hear the twins still arguing over his prank. Another gust of wind hit Snotlout’s hair and he heard him cry out in agony over it. He heard him complain to his friend Fishlegs who sounded like he didn’t know the first thing about hair maintenance. Jack sat upright again. He sat in the highest building in the village, easily observable by everyone, and yet they didn’t see.

Jack puffed out his chest with an inhale. “HEEEEEEEY!” He screamed at the top of his lungs.

The dragons in the surrounding area had their eyes rise at his shout, but the humans he hoped to attract were deaf. It wasn’t often Jack lamented about his circumstances, he was an expert on pushing the emotion down, but that time his eyes twinkled with the water swelling. He crumbled to his knees.

“Why don’t they hear me? I’m here, I’ve always been here. Why don’t they see me?” Jack asked himself. “When does it stop hurting?”

Ice was an instrument Jack knew how to play without practice. The tiles beneath his feet were tainted by a sheet of growing ice he caused. That afternoon a Viking would be surprised to see the roof of the great hall completely frozen over.

  In the latest hours the dragons slept with smoke bellowing from their nostrils. Rather than light lanterns, the people had a few dragons perched on top of homes and their snores would give us embers in puffs, enough to light the ground with enough of them huddled together. Berk had surprisingly quiet nights then. No more screams from Vikings as dragons attacked, everything was calm at night. Thankfully the dragon stables were thick enough to keep the noise from disrupting the calm.

Inside were hundreds of sleeping dragons. They eat and rest and socialize in the giant pod and when it was time to spread their wings there was a massive door for them to fly out of. But grouping most of Berk’s dragon in one place provided hazards. The collected stink of their waste in a single place would get so bad if left unchecked, and thus someone needed to clean them every night. The task fell on Hiccup after losing. Shovel in hand and a small escape hatch to dispense the filth into a hole down below. As grueling work as it was, Hiccup has enjoyment.

“Missed a spot,” said Astrid.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I thought you said you had sheep to soothe?”

“Of course, and I take my job really seriously. Getting a good night’s rest is essential to being soothed. So I’m letting them sleep and supervising another Viking’s duty at the same time.”

“Love you, babe,” said Hiccup, glad to have some company. He had a second person to keep them company.

Jack snuggled up against the bumpy hide of a Gronckle. The dragon didn’t mind the cold young man as it slept soundly. Almost every dragon was a heavy sleeper. Jack rearranged a stack of rocks that were supposed to be the Gronckle’s midnight snack into a pattern he’d seen once along his travels. Twelve standings stones he’d seen in a far land in a deep forest near a castle. He remembered them not arousing his interest.

“Did you hear about our new trader, Ansgar? The last time he came around I got two really nice daggers at a good deal,” said Astrid, making conversation.

“You and knives is a relationship I’ll never understand. Let’s just hope this trader works out better than the last one,” said Hiccup.

Jack was in a bad mood, one that wasn’t improved by boring side conversation. Everyone else in Berk was asleep and traveling across the world to a place sunny seemed too much of a hassle for the easily deterred young man. As far as Jack knew he didn’t need to sleep. He knocked over his stacks which got the attention of the two. Astrid shrugged it off as the pesky wind, but Hiccup scanned the scattered pebbles with suspicion.

“You know something’s been bothering me for a while now. Sometimes I see Toothless react to something like someone’s talking to him, but there’s never anyone there,” said Hiccup. Jack stirred.

“Dragons have sharper senses that us, they can hear and see things we can’t,” answered Astrid.

He shook his head. “I think it’s more than that. Any time I see Toothless react he always stares off into space like someone is actually there. Usually when Toothless hears something he looks around, but those times it’s like he already knows where the sound is coming from.”

“You’re not trying to tell me Berk has a ghost only Toothless can see?” Astrid laughed.

“Not even close,” remarked Jack.

“Come on, what do you take me for? I’m not that paranoid,” said Hiccup.

“It’s just another dragon mystery we’ll probably never know. You can’t discover them all.”

“No don’t give up, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Jack said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Hiccup took a hearty puff of breath, fueling the flame in his chest into a blaze, in the last spurt of labor with the remaining pile of poop. Two more roundabouts and Hiccup threw the last scoop out. It proved to be too much for him. Hiccup panted while his body rejected every ounce of sweat he had to give. Astrid went in for a kiss but her boyfriend smelled of sweat and poop so she kept her distance.

“Ho oh, mighty Thor you have bested the enemies of poop and are victorious in battle!” Astrid puffed her voice to sound deep.

“I finished before the first rooster call, that’s way better than last time, so I get to have the last laugh,” gloated Hiccup.

“Let’s head back, I need sleep and you need a bath.”

“It’s going to be cold,” Jack grumped.

“It’s going to be cold though,” Hiccup pouted.

 Hiccup and Astrid went side by side, though with some space in between. Jack didn’t feel like following, preferring to stay in the now clean stables with the only creatures in the island that could keep him company. Hiccup touched the door out when a breeze nipped the back of his neck. It was meant to keep him there. A whisper he heard next. Astrid heard a tiny voice behind them where none should be. The two dragon riders reached for their weapons as they turned around, but they would never get to use them. A blue flare caught Jack’s eye and he too saw what they did. What looked like a tiny campfire without the wood beckoned them to come closer with what looked like stringy arms. The whisper came from it.

 “Hiccup?” Astrid stuttered, but Hiccup didn’t have a clue either.

 Jack shot to his feet and got a closer. He didn’t expect the tiny flame to turn to him and beckon him as well. To Hiccup and Astrid the flame turned to an empty space, and then back to them. It stirred, flying towards Hiccup and Astrid; Astrid drew her axe but the little flame went complete through her stomach and out her back, floating like a little firefly, and then hovering by the door, signaling them.

 “Uh…I think it wants us to follow it,” Hiccup spoke.

 “I’d say we shouldn’t but you got that look in your eye. Do you think it’s safe?” She asked.

 “Not sure, but if it wanted to attack us it would’ve done it already. Besides, if anything happens, Toothless’ll come in a second.”

 Meanwhile Jack was raring to following the little ember, but it wouldn’t move until they did.

 It was reluctantly that Astrid agreed to accompany Hiccup. She knew common sense wouldn’t stop Hiccup’s curiosity from going.

 Seemingly boundless, it left a trail of dazzling sparkles. The sentient blue flame didn’t speak above its inaudible whispers and its soul purpose was to make sure they followed it all around Berk’s village. There were no night watchmen to see it, or to call for help. Hiccup and Astrid followed it more than they watched the road it led them on.

 Jack followed closer up. He saw nothing much to it’s besides the other side of its flame, but he meant to follow it anyways. Finally another creature that seemed to notice he was there, and it asked him to follow, which he was more concerned about than the fact that it called Hiccup and Astrid too. But as for answering his questions, it only called him to follow.

 Soon, it led them away from the city, through the forest, and then to the base of the mountain. When they were far the nearest house, Hiccup and Astrid raised their guards. Jack saw them clutch their weapons. He woke up from his mindless following to find apprehension in the curious ember, and he grabbed his staff with both hands, aimed at it. The ember ran up to a slender bolder that stood upright in a clearing in the forest. To Jack it was the same as the ones he’d seen.

 “A rock?” Astrid identified.

 “Never seen it before,” said Hiccup. The lantern zipped around it. “But it looks like it’s important.”

 The flame climbed the rock and hovered at the very top. Coming closer to it, strange markings were shown to them—swirling patterns that seemed to be incomplete. All three drew closer, slowly. The flame wiggled its arms.

 “I think this is something important,” said Hiccup.

 “Come on, I came all this way, will you answer me now? You can hear me, can’t you?” Jack inquired. Still the flame beckoned them.

 Hiccup, Astrid, and Jack took their step in the clearing. The flame stirred, startling them, and it circled around the pillar. It vanished after it touched the ground.

 “Hey wait!” Jack shouted. He didn’t notice his voice was louder than usual.

 A sensation he hadn’t felt since the dragons, he felt eyes on his him. Hiccup and Astrid jumped when a voice came out nowhere and then a young man appeared right in front of their eyes. They were staring in his direction. Jack whipped his head behind, but he couldn’t see what they saw. He turned back and they had finished leaning in closer. Jack took a step to the side and their eyes followed him. Their eyes followed him.

 “C-Can you…see me?” Jack gasped.

 Astrid and Hiccup both nodded their head, too spooked for words.

 “Can you hear me?”

 Again they nodded.

 Jack’s knees gave up on him and he dropped down. His body reacted with what looked like stage fright; he crawled backwards until he met the standing stone. They watched him skitter away. They watched him panting furiously. They watched him stare back at them. They saw him. Jack repeated the fact in his head to make sure he acknowledged it.

 The two saw a nervous young man who looked about the same age at them, paralyzed as if fearful. It was obvious, they never seen him in the village before. He wore rags for clothes, holding a long stick, with pale skin and silver hair like fresh snow. A thought crossed their mind at the same time without the other knowing: Astrid and Hiccup individually thought the young man was immensely handsome. They didn’t see any weapons visible on him and to them he looked like he was scared out of his mind. Astrid let go of her axe and Hiccup crouched down to Jack’s eye level.

 “Hey there, its okay, we won’t hurt you,” said Hiccup, not sure what to say. He pulled Astrid down.

 “You really startled us there, we had no idea you were here too,” Astrid said tenderly. She was not one for small talk with new faces.

 “Is he that new trader you told me about?” Hiccup asked her on the side.

 “Ansgar is twice as old as him. See, you’d know if you take down from time to time,” she corrected.

 “Okay, got it. Are you new around here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you—”

A tear streaming down Jack’s cheek interrupted Hiccup, and then another.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Astrid inquired. She extended a hand to him, Jack took it. “Holy—! Your hands are so cold! Hiccup, he’s freezing over, we have to take him to the village!”

 She felt a hand cold like stone while Jack touched the warmth of her palm. Joy beyond the ability of words to describe washed Jack into a stupor. He couldn’t remember what it felt to touch another person. Were hands always this warm, he wondered. How much pressure should he give? Should he make his hand go limp? Regardless of the question, Jack’s body went limp on its own. Astrid didn’t realize she was the first human to touch Jack in countless years. Hiccup became the second.

 “Whoa you’re right! No wonder you’re so pale. Let’s take him to the workshop, Gobber’s furnace is hot enough to melt fire,” said Hiccup.

 “Can you stand?” Astrid inquired.

 Jack threw his arms around Astrid’s neck and pressed his cheek to hers like a kitten. His face was colder. Astrid was bewildered, turning to Hiccup but when he didn’t know what to do she patted his back to offer awkward support. The attention made her blush.

 “This is real. You can see me. I can feel,” Jack sobbed, feeling the tickle of Astrid’s long hair on his brow; she smelled like charcoal and violets.

 “What do you mean?” Hiccup asked.

 Jack jumped from Astrid to hug Hiccup. His cheeks were warmer and he smelled like sweat and dragon poop, a less pleasant aroma, but Jack didn’t care. Even with a girlfriend, Hiccup’s reactions to affection from an attractive source were poor. Jack felt his cheeks burn twice as hot.

“I’m sorry!” Jack apologized after realizing it but without letting go of Hiccup. “No one’s ever been able to see me like you. Please just a bit more.”

“No one could see you? And you’re cold. Are you actually a ghost?” Astrid asked believing it.

Jack finally let Hiccup go. The idea was absurd, but it was then that Jack found himself struggle for answers. “I don’t know.”

Gobber’s workshop was precariously in the middle of the village. It allowed for easy access to weapons and equipment during the time of random dragon attacks in the middle of the night. But on a calm night it sat with the furnace exhausted. Without anyone patrolling the village that night it was easy for Hiccup and Astrid to sneak a new person and start the fire to warm him up. Strangely, the furnace didn’t burn as bright. They wrapped Jack around a leather quilt they’d normally take pieces from for various leather needs, but that night it became a blanket. Hiccup lightly touched Jack’s cheek, recoiling because it was still cold. As they waited, Jack told them everything. As far back as he could remember when he was named by the Man on the Moon, North and Bunny, and where how many years had passed. When he was finished it was obvious they were skeptical.

Jack pointed the crooked end of his staff on the ground. An icicle formed and rose as he raised his hand. It was more than credible proof. Astrid and Hiccup were floored.

“Wow. That’s magic if I ever saw it. And I always thought magic was just one of Gobber’s stories,” said Hiccup, thoroughly impressed.

“It’s beautiful,” said Astrid which made Jack blush.

“Thanks. Being able to do this is the first thing I could remember. The Man on the Moon told me my name and then let me loose in the world; I had to find out things on my own. There are a few who can see me but people like you…don’t. The dragons can see me, but I can’t touch them.”

“So that’s what it was! Every time I saw Toothless react to something, was that you?” Hiccup asked.

“Yeah, sorry, I just can’t resist how great of a dragon Toothless is, and how great of a rider you are. I watch your rides all the time, it’s my favorite thing in the morning. I really like it when you use your wings too,” said Jack. Hiccup blushed, which Astrid caught and she giggled. “I watch you too, Astrid. I love when you ride on Stormfly’s tail.”

“Well at least we know he has taste,” Astrid gloated.

“So you’ve been here the whole time watching us. It kind of makes me feel a little guilty we didn’t see you,” said Hiccup.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. Besides, before today I was used to it, but now—! Look at me! I’m talking to my two favorite people on Berk! This is crazy!” Jack laughed. With his laughter the furnace flame were lowered.

Jack threw off his blanket and hopped around the tiny shop faster than a rabbit. The two riders were surprised by his agility and lack of restraint by gravity. His smile was bright with shimmering happiness. It was enough to lift Hiccup’s cheeks, but he found himself thinking elsewhere.

“Jack, it’s great we can see you now, but how can we see you now? If you couldn’t show yourself to us then what happened this time for things to be different? Was it that fire that did it?” He asked.

He finally stopped on top of the furnace. His bare feet barely felt the heat; Jack preferred himself to be up high instead on the ground.

“Don’t ask me, I’ve never seen a fire come a life, but I have seen a stone like that before. It was south…or was it east…wait, which one is the left direction? Whatever, it was in a land far from here and it had twelve big stone standing in a circle. I heard the locals saying they were magical but they were really boring.”

“Hmm, can’t sit still and gets easily bored, wonder who he reminds me of,” Astrid mocked. Hiccup ignored her.

“I’m not an expert on magic so I wouldn’t be able to say anything. But I say we shouldn’t look a gift dragon in the mouth. We can see you now, Jack, that’s all that matters,” smiled Hiccup.

“Thanks, Hiccup, it feels nice to be seen.”

“Hey, you said you could fly. We should totally have a race first thing tomorrow morning! I want to see what you got,” said Astrid.

“Now you’re talking my language! Me against you and Stormfly,” huffed Jack, confronting Astrid.

“Well this sounds like a recipe for disaster. Count me out,” said Hiccup.

“Party pooper. Where’s the Hiccup that took down a Red Death years ago? Maybe you’re hiding him under all that ‘muscle’,” Jack teased.

“Whoa, whoa, excuse me, what are you trying to say?” Hiccup asked.

“I see your extra padding on your arms and chest.”

Astrid chuckled, not picking a side.

The tools hanging from the ceiling rattled. A powerful rumble happened upon near them and a shadow walked around the tiny workshop. The three froze in place like statues, being caught off guard. It was Stoick, Berk’s chieftain and Hiccup’s father, that shook the ground with his very steps. The giant of a man had to duck under the doorway to get through.

“Hiccup? Astrid? What the blazes are you doing up at this hour?” He asked.

“It was by day to clean the stables and Astrid was with me,” said Hiccup, although he wondered why they were the people Stoick focused on first.

“Oh, good, Skullcrusher loves it when the stables are clean. Guess our night ride took longer than I thought, I was just about to head home. You’d better get some rest too, Hiccup, big day coming up, don’t want to fall asleep at the helm,” said Stoick.

“Wait, Dad, you’re okay with this?” Hiccup was nervous to ask, pointing to Jack who was silent.

Jack felt the authority the chief had over the entire island just by looks alone. He very rarely followed Stoick’s story. Even though before he knew he wouldn’t be seen, Jack was always afraid to be seen by the man who was rumored to have popped a dragon’s head off at birth. The fact that he rode a dragon only made him scarier to Jack.

“Okay with what, son? Oh! Never you mind that! You’re mother and I had midnight meetings when I was your age. Of course we chose better meeting places like behind the waterfall, oh and that time in the mountain, and that one time by the beach,” he listed without an end.

“Ew, Dad, not that. Don’t you see—?”

“Oh! Looks like Gobber finished buffing my sword and didn’t tell me. Probably asleep on the job like the last time, and the time before that, and…before that. Should probably talk to him about staying up late too.”

 Stoick went over the furnace. Jack didn’t notice he was crouched on top of a sword in a sheathe. He went to move aside when Stoick reached his hand straight through Jack’s feet to pick up the sword which too phased through the young man. Astrid, Hiccup, and especially Jack were in shock.

 “I’ll see you at home, Hiccup, just don’t get too crazy,” joked Stoick as he left.

 Astrid broke the shock by quickly grabbed Jack’s arm. She could still touch him and she very clearly saw him there—she saw the look of dismay in his eyes.

 “I don’t understand, my Dad couldn’t see you? What—?” Hiccup couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

Jack panted heavily into his hands. He stumbled off the furnace and raced after Stoick.

“HEY! STOICK I’M RIGHT HERE!” Jack screamed.

 The chief kept walking without anything grabbing his ear.

 “I’M JACK FROST! I KNOW YOUR DRAGON IS SKULLCRUSHER! I KNOW YOU’RE THE BRAVEST CHIEF EVER!”

 Stoick unsheathed his sword to admire it. He couldn’t see much in the moonless night, but he pressed his thumb to the edge and flinched. It was as sharp as he liked it. He drifted away.

 Jack started to cry, squeezing his fists. He ran after him, tripping and dropping his staff in the process. Jack reached for the man in desperation.

 “I’M HERE!” Jack cried pounding the earth. Stoick was out of sight. “Please…don’t…go…”

 The tears falling from his cheeks frozen and shattered like glass on the earth. He felt an unimaginable pain twisting his stomach, endless that got worst once his mind pictured every time he tried to reach to someone and then being ignored. There were so many.

 Hiccup and Astrid were unsure what to do. What could they say? Everything about Jack was something they’d never experienced before. When they couldn’t think of words of comfort they were hesitant to take another step closer.

 The winds shrieked.

Hiccup and Astrid took both sides of Jack. They may not have known what to say to him but they both shared the same thought to console him. They wrapped their arms around the young man and held him. It only made Jack cry harder. He threw himself on Hiccup, and then Astrid pressed her face on Jack’s back.

Astrid couldn’t believe the pain in her stomach hearing Jack’s cries. It was enough to make her cry, something rare in the Viking warrior who prided herself on being tough. Before she knew it a tear escaped her eyes, and then cut her cheek. It turned to ice in a second. What’s more, Astrid could see her breath like a thick fog.

Meanwhile, Hiccup felt his body drop in temperature like a freefall. His fingers stiffened.

“Uh…Jack…” Hiccup stammered finding it awkward to point it out.

“Sorry, Hiccup,” said Jack, prying himself from the other young man, without realizing the cold himself.

“It’s not that. Look!” Hiccup pointed to the sky.

Scattered blotches of white, at first slowly, trickled down from the unusually darkened sky. The ends of Astrid’s hair were blown across her face. The cold winds were returning, and they were gaining speed. Hiccup was pelted on his head. A tiny rock fell from the sky and melted—hail. The village rooftops beat like hundreds of drums being struck by the zooming rocks. The three took shelter in the workshop. In mere minutes, snow rained, the hail fell without mercy, and the village vanished under the veil of snowfall and hail. The sleeping dragons innocently nesting on top of the houses were spooked into taking flight, either off the island or into the stables. It no time at all, the village bell was rung.

“BLIZZARD!” It was Stoick’s voice that thundered above the storm—he was the one sounding the alarm.

Door after door of Viking household burst open with a powerful warrior on the other side. They grabbed tarps and nailed down anything that would fly away. An onslaught of snow and hail did little to deter them from accepting the chieftain’s call. When dragons used to attack they’d spring into action equally fast.

“No it’s my turn to nail the bog pot!” Tuffnut shouted.

“We go by who was born first!” Ruffnut countered.

“So it’s my turn!” They both said at the same time. Hiccup wasn’t surprised he could hear them through the winds.

“Jack…” Hiccup inquired.

“It’s not me…I mean…this has never happened before. I don’t…maybe it is…but I don’t know,” Jack fumbled his words while his mind trailed off.

Gobber hopped to throw Stoick a big hammer. The chief pounded wooden stakes into the ground, tying down the ropes that held a huge lantern they used for the dragons. Old clumps of charcoal flew everywhere. It came time for Gobber to tie his own end, but the snow scratched his eyes.

“I can’t see!” The fat blacksmith shouted.

“I came to save the day!” None of them heard Snotlout shout obnoxiously.

He appeared riding on his dragon, Hookfang, a Monstrous Nightmare dragon. Being the center of attention interested Snotlout more than being helpful, and as a result he forgot one fact about his dragon. As he clicked his heels on Hookfang’s neck, the dragon’s entire body became coated in a blazing inferno that was meant to act as a beacon. However, Snotlout’s bottom was burned and he leapt off his dragon because his pants caught fire.

“GAH! WHY DO I ALWAYS FORGET THAT!?” Snotlout cried.

Every from as far back as the great hall to the stables could see Hookfang’s fire. For a moment. The storm grew once more, the increase in snowfall extinguished the dragon, and he sought warmth himself.

A roof was ripped off one house. The water in the village’s well had made its transition to become solid ice in an instant. And even the fiercest of the Vikings, Stoick, felt his beefy arms succumb to the cold.

“It’s getting crazy out there; this storm is out of control. Jack, could you do something about it?” Astrid asked.

“I don’t know, this has never happened before. Ugh! It feels—different from other times. I feel angry and scared and…sad. And my powers were working, I can feel it happening, but I don’t feel like I have control,” Jack explained.

“What if this is a new power? I mean if you think about it it’s something you’ve never seen before so of course you’re not going to know about it. Kind of like when Stormfly used that waterspout thing,” said Hiccup.

“I guess that makes sense, but how do we stop it?” Astrid argued.

“Let me try something,” said Jack.

He jumped out from the workshop, into the open. The cold, the wind, the snow and the hail, he was used to all of it from being in parts of the world where those were abundant, it didn’t disturb him in the slightest. He held his staff tight in one hand. The air was invested with frost; a deep breath tickled his nostrils with it. Jack felt he sensation of his powers fester in his stomach. Any other time using his powers came easier than breathing to him, but the situation called for him to be more mature in his approach. Jack slammed the end of his cane down. His hands glowed deep azure blue. His hair stood on end.

“Whoa he’s really something,,,amazing,” said Hiccup without realizing he did so. He clapped his hand over his mouth when Astrid stared back at him. “Uh…I didn’t mean to say that! It just slipped out! Not that I was thinking it!”

“Hiccup…how did you say the same thing I was thinking?” Astrid asked, being more astounded by that.

By a face full of red and a blank stare, they knew what the other was thinking because they were thinking it themselves. Surprise followed. So many questions zipped in their minds without them being able to answer any of them.

Jack stood planted for a while. The storm gained more momentum and without anything else that came to mind he continued doing what he had been doing.

“Hiccup! Astrid! What’re you doing!? Get out of there!” Stoick hollered.

An iron nail flew out of his hand and rolled away. He raced after it, unknowingly going through Jack to reach it. The chief didn’t see the young man.

Jack lurched forward, the pain in his stomach returned tenfold.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut settled on pinning down their precious family pot together when they were thrown to the ground. A hailstone the size of an apple knocked their heads together. The wind then scratched their skin with flakes of ice.

“RAH! I’M HURT! I AM VERY MUCH HURT!” They both wailed.

The Vikings were being attacked by a never ending barrage of ice. They withstood as much as they could up until that point, but the growth in hail and the ice chipping away at their skin proved to be their breaking point. Not to mention the winds grew so strong the tiles on their homes bombarded them next.

BAM! The statue outside the great hall fell over. The head of a great Viking from longs past was the next to wreak havoc, plowing everything in its destructive path. Fishlegs stumbled along said path. He had delivering leather tarps to anyone who swiped them out of his hands. The rampaging head missed a step and shook the ground with its landing. Fishlegs heard it coming then and screeched as he moved out of the way. But then he heard tiny screams above the roars.

 Children were in the boulder’s path, their house having been ripped almost entirely off the ground. Fishlegs ran as fast as tiny legs could take him. He threw himself on top of the children as a shield, and he braced himself for the impact.

 Jack put his concentration on hold. Swinging the staff like a sword, he threw a gust of wind that flung the rolling head off its current course. The children and Fishlegs were safe.

“Hiccup! Astrid! I can’t stop it!” Jack cried.

Eyes trained in hyper focus, Hiccup spotted new tears across Jack’s face. The pattern was slowly beginning to unravel. The storm appearing when Jack was distraught, the storm getting worse when Stoick passed through him again. It came to him!

“It’s his feelings. Astrid, its Jack’s feelings! This all start because he was sad and it got worse. His powers are reacting to his feelings,” Hiccup explained.

“Whoa, just like what happened when Gobber took away Grump’s sleep toy and he was belching fireballs the side of boulders.”

“Exactly. If we can calm Jack down maybe the storm will let up. I mean, it’s worth a try.”

Astrid was willing to try, but there had been hesitation to reach Jack before and it was still there then. “But what are we supposed to say to make this better? Nobody but us sees him. He’s been lonely for a long time. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”

It was a heavy sigh Hiccup said, “I can.”

The storm had transformed into an unimaginable degree. The Vikings switched from nailing things down to having their arms full of their belongings to keep them from soaring away into oblivion.  Jack’s next step on his mad dash to the workshop didn’t touch the ground. Fast like a fish caught in an eagle’s talon he was swooped off the ground. He waved his hands, thrust his chest forward, whatever he’d used to do to get down from a pesky air current, but the ground drifted further and further away, slowly but indefinitely.

“Oh come on, what else?!” Jack griped to himself.

“He did say he could fly, right?” Hiccup asked.

“Something’s wrong,” Astrid concluded.

Astrid snatched a line of rope under the workshop counter and raced headfirst into the storm. Hiccup followed. The torrent frightened away the Viking that nailed the giant lantern down. One swish of her ax, Astrid severed the bottom of the rope and was flung into the air by the weight of the structure tipping to one side. She whistled. The wind swept her up as well so she had plenty of time while she was waiting. Stormfly, Astrid’s Deadly Nadder, answered her call, catching her with the saddle.

“YA!” Astrid cracked her dragon’s whips.

Undoubtedly even the most skilled dragon rider on Berk would think twice about flying in such a storm. Astrid and Stormfly were braver than most riders. The winds were powerful but so were the wings of Deadly Nadder. The pair sailed across the blinding storm like a paper crane with Astrid only able to see a silhouette in the air—there wasn’t anyone else being tossed around in the air besides Jack. Stormfly wouldn’t be able to touch Jack, but Astrid found a solution. She slide down the scaly skin and clung to her dragon’s talons.  

“Over there, girl!” Astrid commanded.

The dragon saw the floating young man and knew at once she was meant to lift her rider up so she could catch him. Astrid hung from her feet next, stretching out her hands, upside down. She grabbed Jack’s hands as Stormfly zoomed away from the epicenter of the storm.

“So what’s better: me riding on Stormfly’s tail or me hanging from Stormfly’s talons, upside down, while I say a damsel in distress?” She joked.

Before that day, Jack had never been seen let alone rescued from the air. He couldn’t help by be enamored by Astrid as she held him.

“Don’t joke, between the two of us I have all the damsel,” Jack found time to joke back.

“You know I could always drop you.” Astrid laughed. Her laugh was gorgeous, something that Jack was quick to notice. He finally smiled.

Watching Astrid fly would always send chills down Hiccup’s spine. He could seldom feel the chill from the actual storm then. A hailstone knocked his daydreaming out, but he felt a softer impact. The ice clods had become snowballs then. It was working.

“Stormfly, fly around and make sure no one else is flying,” said Astrid once the dragon let her and Jack down. Her dragon understood and flew on her way.

Once again the three took shelter in the workshop. It was fortunate Gobber was an excellent carpenter in addition to being a blacksmith or else the tiny building would be miles away from Berk by then. Hiccup nailed the last remaining shred of leather to cover the openings. Though the hail was light the winds were no less raspy with their wails.

“I couldn’t stop it, Hiccup, I tried. I don’t get it, I did everything I usually do. This whole thing doesn’t make sense,” Jack lamented.

“Hiccup thinks its more complicated than that, Jack,” said Astrid.

“The storm is reacting to your feelings. When you felt sad about being ignored the storm started and got worse. But now look! The hail’s soft now, it’s getting better,” Hiccup smiled. Jack didn’t return his smile.

“So it is my fault.” Jack dropped his face into his hands. It was the reaction Hiccup wanted to avoid.

Hiccup sat next to Jack. “Were you here when dragons still attacked the village?”

 “Yeah?” Jack was confused by the sudden question.

 “So you saw how people used to look at me as. They saw me as a screw-up and when they weren’t doing that, they didn’t see me at all. I know it can hurt a lot, doesn’t it?”

 “Like everyone is passing you by while you’re watching them. They move on—”

 “And you’re stuck standing there,” Hiccup finished Jack’s thought.

Jack’s fingers trembled from the swelling in his stomach. Astrid held his hands, they were colder than before.

“I don’t know what it feels like to be complete invisible to people but I know how loneliness can feel. So I thought killing a dragon would get me noticed, but really I just wanted people to accept me. And then I met Toothless and suddenly things changed. Toothless and I understood each other more than anyone else on Berk. He made me feel seen. If you told me then that I, a Viking, would be friends with a dragon I’d call you crazy, it seemed impossible, but it happened. Sort of like when you met us.”

Hiccup rested his hand on top of Astrid’s on top of Jack’s.

“We see you now, Jack. You don’t have to feel alone anymore,” Astrid added.

“You’re our friend now. Right?” Hiccup didn’t want to assume it right away.

Astrid felt her palm heat up. Jack was crying except a timid smile breaking the ice on his face. She and Hiccup hugged him. The young man did felt hold but it was pleasant like a cold drink. Jack joyfully received their hug, and the two knew it was also his way of accepting them as his friends. The tear on his face didn’t turn to ice.

 Outside the storm stopped almost right away, unnaturally of course. The Vikings came out of their place of hiding to prepare in case of another wave of frost, without knowing there wouldn’t be any.

 Meanwhile, the three basked in the warmth a tiny workshop brought.

 The night of the vanishing storm would go on the Viking history book as the strangest night to ever befall the island. It appeared and left in an instant. Then the skies became so clear it was unimaginable there was even a storm to begin with. Not a single star was obstructed. In the midst waiting for the second wind to strike the Viking were left bewildered when nothing happened. Hours went by and they finally came out from cover. When morning came the hail and snow melted quickly. However, the damage did not vanish as fast. The storm had crumbled almost every house to splinters. The winds blew Ruffnut and Tuffnut’s many adornments to the middle of the forest. The dragon stables were nearly knocked into the sea. And of course the statue outside the great hall was missing a head.

 Already tired and irritated, the Vikings got to work repairing everything at the first sign of daybreak. They worked with sour faces. Dragons needed to be caroled, sheep needed to be calmed, again, buildings needed to be repaired. It wouldn’t be done in two days time. The championship match had to be postponed for at least a week, maybe more. It was an unspoken fact that the Vikings took with a grain of salt. Still, everyone pitched in to do their own share.

 Jack watched from his cave, vexed with his lack of things to do. A Terrible Terror slept beside him. Hiccup and Astrid were down helping with the repairs and checking off what was and what wasn’t flown away by the storm. It was busy work for the both of them. Jack tracked Hiccup and Astrid, having a vantage point to see them both.

 Hiccup carried a notepad and marked whatever Gobber pointed to. After the seventh mark for the unchanged number of sheep, Hiccup waved his fingers to the mountain where he knew only Jack would see it.

 Astrid flew with Stormfly to deliver lumber from the forest. It was the dragon’s job to cut down trees. Such a task would be better suited for a Timberjack, but Stormfly’s skill at deforestation was no less excellent. The two flew around the rim of the mountain for another round of lumber when she gave a more energetic wave to Jack who waved back.

 Into the low hours of afternoon the Vikings took a break. Dinner was one meal those in Berk would never skip. Every hammer was dropped and a feast was served. Sour faces were sweetened by a hearty meal, and merriment rung inside the great hall. Jack could smell roasted chicken and the guffaw could be hear from the other side of the mountain. He wanted to watch the merriment, but he couldn’t join them.

 Astrid managed to pull Hiccup away from the party. It wasn’t easy, especially with a plate of food. They climbed to the top of the great hall and signaled for Jack. He leaped off the mile high cave. The two riders flinched, for a moment it looked like their friend was freefalling, but a friendly breeze caught him before he touched the ground.

 “We brought you some food, you know, in case you were hungry, in case you can actually eat it,” Hiccup presented the plate of a roasted chicken leg, corn and a cooked potato.

 Jack touched the chicken leg but it only reacted weakly to his touch as thought he pushed it with a feather.

 “Thanks, but as far as I know I don’t need to eat anyway. North and Bunny can eat, but what they have going on is way more confusing,” said Jack.

 They sat on the edge of the roof. On a day after a snowstorm the snow sparkled like diamonds beneath the sun which always seemed brighter. The air was crisp. They watched the ice break away from the bigger cluster only to be shattered when the waves brought them to shore.

 “I’m sorry I can’t do anything to help, guys,” said Jack, “even though I caused it.”

 “As far as my dad knows: it was a random snowstorm. No one was hurt and it’ll take a week at best to get everything back to normal,” said Hiccup, optimistic.

 “Oh I know it’ll take you guys no time to get all this rebuilt. I’m just glad no one was hurt.”

 “We will need cold drinks for the work tomorrow so stick around a bit,” Astrid joked.

 Jack clutched his staff and his fist tight. Tiny squares of ice fell between his fingers. Astrid was impressed if not surprised her joke turned out to be a good idea.

 “I found Berk by accident. One day I found a weird gust of wind so I decided to take it, see where it’d take me, and that’s when I saw Berk. It’s always cold here, there was a good cave, and there was always something interesting happening. And you know, it felt right staying here. I think Berk was always meant to be my home.”

 “It could be better if you decided to stay with me. I’m sure Dad won’t mind another tenant,” said Hiccup.

 “Thanks, Hiccup, but I’m fine where I’m sat, and I want to avoid being reminded I’m not really here. You probably don’t want another snowstorm.”

 Hiccup and Astrid nodded, reiterating the agreement they finalized. They had been talking a lot about it during the party, a serious discussion held around people whose inside voice was rowdy. The agreement was done between two who trusted each other more than anyone else. They took Jack’s hands, holding them with an extra soft touch.

 “We see you, Jack,” said Astrid. “Sure it wasn’t the most ideal meeting, but we’re glad we finally got to meet you.”

 “This is normally not my thing, but I’ll make an exception for you. That is if it doesn’t feel weird,” Hiccup awkwardly muttered, his cheeks flushed.

 They moved in closer. Jack was sandwiched by their shoulders pressing against his. Slowly, their faces leaned in closer to his. Confusion struck the young man. They tightened their hold on his hands. Jack was overwhelmed as though he was trapped. He saw a way to get free but he didn’t want to get free. Their breaths brushed his cheek, they were really warm. Jack turned to stone. Only when their lips were inches from touching his cheeks did he realize what was happening, not that it did him any good knowing for it only made his mind give out harder. It was too much. Jack couldn’t be more elated, without knowing he would never feel their kiss.

 The great hall rattled, Astrid and Hiccup were jostled. Flakes of clay tiles hit their faces. The merriment down below stopped flat. Something had landed on the great hall to deliver the silence—something big. A mud-colored tail cracked the roof with a powerful strike. A dragon no one had ever seen before eyed Astrid, Hiccup and Jack with immovable silver eyes. Its single roar, powerful as it was frightening, shook Berk with dread.

[theforecastersjournal]

21 Day Yuletide Advent Calendar Challenge

Because if JC and the boys can steal aspects of our culture and celebrations for millennia, I’m gonna jack their advent calendar concept! The concept of an advent calendar always interested me as a child because it allowed me to do a small thing each day that would hold my interest throughout the holiday season.

So in celebration of the end of my first year as a witch, I’ve come up with a series of queries for the month that you can ask your tarot, your oracles, whatever strikes your fancy. 

December 1st: In order to start off the advent season, you must ask yourself what do I need to work on during this season?

December 2nd: With Winter fast approaching and the fields empty, how should you cultivate substantial rest for yourself?

December 3rd: And with the fields empty and the granaries full, you also must ask yourself how should you celebrate the end of another year?

December 4th: With the brisk air and dropping temperatures, our breath becomes visible in the cold, what else during this season can we see that would be otherwise unknown?

December 5th: A fireplace warms the home immensely, but also requires upkeep. In the same sense what upkeep is required of your friends and family?

December 6th: As the last birds leave for greener pastures and warmer skies, what situations do you too need to leave behind?

December 7th: As you allow nature into your home in the forms of trees and wreaths this year, what other hidden ways has nature found their way inside your home?

December 8th:  During the winter, the moon comes to dominate the sky as the world is shrouded in darkness for most hours of the day, what does her gaze illuminate?

December 9th: As well, the Sun rests during the winter, working their magic in a subtle form, what in your life requires the same delicate touch as the sun in the winter?

December 10th: As dew turns to frost and rain turns to snow, what dramatic transformations will happen within you?

December 11th: And as the snow of transformation begins to accumulate, what results and changes can you expect from the given transformation?

December 12th: But an important reminder that as rain turns to snow, water turns to ice, and transformation bears with it hazards, what hazards will you encounter as a result of said transformation?

December 13th: A wreath on the door and decorations covering the house is how we project cheer during this season, how too can you more embrace this energy?

December 14th: While the oaks and the maples shed their leaves and bathe the world in reds, oranges, and yellows, the pines stay their eternal emerald. Not all things change, what should you expect to remain constant this holiday season.

December 15th: In choosing gifts for the holiday season, one must take into consideration both needs and wants. What do the people in your life need help with this season?

December 16th: Gifts adorn every home, and this season you must ask what gifts you should offer to both yourself and those around you?

December 17th: Yule is a time for family and rebirth, what old conflicts can you see resolved this holiday season?

December 18th: As the earth begins to grow dormant to rest, what things in your life need to be put to rest and resolved?

December 19th: And as the nights grow ever longer, and darkness shrouds all, what issues within yourself have been neglected and hidden away in the darkness?

December 20th: As the advent comes to a close, and the challenge almost completed, have you accomplished what you set out to do this early winter season?

December 21st: Finally, looking forward, what can you aim to accomplish during Yule itself?

Feel free to tag me in the your results at the end of the month. The questions themselves are meant to be used as three card spreads, but you can use however many you see fit! Happy Yule!

[victorian-cocaine]

Nameless nights

On a nameless night a fairy and a not so sober man had an affair, nine months and two weeks after that, winter's raging, snow is falling and the wind is blowing. And there comes this lady through the main road of that little village. She is pale as the snow she walks on and as beautiful as the snowflakes that cover her hair, her dress seems to be made from frost and her eyes from ice. Slowly she walks until she reaches the smith's place, folks are just watching her, not daring to say a thing. They all know she is not human, though. How could she be? She wasn't wearing any shoes, her dress was alright for a hot summer day, but for snow storm? And despite of it all she did not appear to be cold at all, the graceness in her was impossible for a mere human, how could such a gorgeous creature be human? No, that wouldn't make sense. Smiling kindly she greeted the smith, Mr. Overland, with a peck on the cheek. The man, blushed deeply and was a bit confused, but then she looked at him straight into his eyes and he knew, even before she uncovered the bunch of fabrics she was carrying to show him a little baby, that she was that woman from so many moons ago... The baby beneath the fabrics was asleep, as pale as his mother but Mr Overland knew that his son was very much alive. "Fourteen moons and fourteen suns had made their way through the sky since he was born, you shall search for a woman who takes care of him if you want the boy to survive." And then, the lady turned her back onto her former lover and started walking towards the forest. Nobody dared to look at her face while she entered into the forest, not one soul dared to look into her eyes, shall that been the case maybe someone would have seen her broken eyes, but that of course did not happen, because no one dared to look at her. Mrs. Bourne, a widow who had lost by the same disease her husband and her newborn child offered to feed the child after his mother's departure (and the very convenient meet up Mr. Overland had with the town wises which stated that his son was indeed a gift from the winter and could not be turned down without offending any winter god). Both Mrs. Bourne and Mr. Overland fell in love with each other almost as soon as they loved the kid. Had he been any different Mrs. Bourne would have never become Mrs. Overland. But Jack was such a wonderful creature! The first thing he did when he finally awoke was look at his surendings with those big blue eyes and stuff his little fist into his mouth while giggling. Mr. Overland's heart melted and he started playing along with the kid, until Jack was so hungry he had to call Mrs. Bourne North and Ceara married six months later. Hadn't Jack been so cheerful, hadn't his icy-blue eyes been so full of life and innocence, hadn't been his mind stuffed with intrincated but very much funny games, Jack may not had fitted in that little town. But he was so friendly and fun that kids could never resist to play with him. No one ever doubted that he wasn't completely human, his skin was far too fair, too handsome, his hair was too white, his eyes too blue. No, he couldn't be human. At least not at all. But there was something about him, in his big loving heart that was indeed human, in the way he talked and behaved there was nothing of the unearthly coldness of the winter lady that brought him. இڿڰۣۣ— Between the young lads of that little village, Jack was particularly fond of the shepard's son, Owen, they would spend hours and hours playing games (sometimes including the sheeps sometimes without) and it was on one of that afternoons, an awfully hot one, while sword (crook) fighting that the first inhuman manifestation happened to Jack. Until then, the only indication of his heritage, was the always cold temperature of his body and his looks, but that changed that very afternoon when Jack was twelve years old. "I've got you!" Jack shouted. "In your dreams!" Owen answered. Jack smashed his crook (he had made it himself to help Owen) with his friend's crook again and again, but the battle ended when Owen managed to mimic a stab right into Jack's heart, at the very same time that Jack mimicked cutting Owen's arm off. "I won" "No, I won!" "Nooh!" "Ye-ah!" "Prove it!" "Of course I'm proving it!" One second they were standing, trying to stead their breathings, the other they were rolling on the floor struggling to get the other to admit that one or the other had won. "I stabbed your heart!" "I cut your arm off before you could!" "Liar!" "Liar, your arse. I won!" "Keep dreaming Overland!" "You won't earn your life lying, you know, you are not good at it!" But neither of them surrendered and it wasn't until they were both lying on the grass, breathing hardly and watching the leafs of the tree they were under that Jack noticed how unbearable was starting to feel the warmness of the ambient. He didn't want to appear weak, but the uncomfortability metamorphimg into pain, it became hotter and hotter and the next thing he knew was that he was burning from inside out. He didn't know what came into him when he pressed his crook against his forehead, or if it was something he did as instinct to try and calm the pain, but it worked. Owen watched him in awe, half incredulous, half amazed. His friend's crook was covered in what looked like frost. "Jack, what in the gods's name is that?!" Jack heard him but couldn't answer, was it because neither he knew the answer, or was it because he couldn't release his crook nor open his mouth no matter how hard he tried. Seconds gave way to more seconds and when a minute of Jack frosting his crook and Owen watching him open-mouthed passed, Jack's hands let go, the crook eventually fell from his face and the pain died, but Jack still couldn't find the strength to speak or move. Jack could not say how much time passed until he rised his head and looked into his friend's eyes. "I haven't the slightest about that, so don't even ask." A head ache was making its way through Jack's head. "But!" "No buts." " But I...!" "Nothing." "You didn't even know what I was going to say." Owen exclaimed. "You were going to ask for explanations I don't have." "I wasn't... That's not.. but!" "No buts! My head already hurts." "Very well then, we'll wait until your head stops being a pain in the arse and starts helping." "Thank you." Said Jack with a wry smile. "Humph." The weird thing is that, nearly twenty minutes after that, when Jack's head was finally free of pain, and he was ready to talk, the frost in his crook hadn't melted. Not even a bit! "Weird." "I know." "Can you do it again?" "I don't know." "How did you do it?" "Not a clue." "Why did you do it?" "Still no idea." "How does it work, at least?" "I. Don't. Know." "Well then, what do you do know?" "That that was weird." Owen stared blankly at him. "Well, I also know that I was in pain before I did it, and I wasn't after doing it." "You said you had a headache." "It was not the same pain, before doing it I was burning alive. After doing it I merely hi a head ache. Also I wanted to think it a bit myself before talking about it." Jack had made his own conclusion, but he didn't want to say it, he was too tired and as Owen was no fool he might had reached the same conclusion so he wouldn't bother in explaining it himself. "Uh, erm I understand." "So, what do you think? "Me?" "Yes, you are dying to say what you think about it out loud." "Oh thank the gods you know me so well." "Yes, yes, I know, I'm the best." "Oh, shut up you!" Owen laughed "Well, we all know that you are not human at all, we have all heard about the winter lady that brought you here to your father, so it would make sense that you have inherented from her, from your mother I mean, some magic, and maybe your body was like 'I WANT TO USE MY MAGIC, JACK FREEZE THE SHIT OUT OF SOMETHING OR YOU ARE GOING TO SUFFER THE CONCECUENCIES!' and to manifestate it, it made your temperature rise so you would want to— need to drop it." More or less it was the same conclusion that Jack had reached. "Yes, I think you are right." "Do you want to try to frost or freeze something?" "Gods yes." Soon he discovered, while trying and getting it all wrong again and again, that if he pointed with his crook what he intended to freeze, it would indeed get freezed. Ergo he went everywhere with his crook. Actually, at the begging the most he could do was make some frost, (although the frost in his crook never ever melted no matter what the weather was like) and Owen started calling him Frost to mock him. With years of practicing, just to know how far he could use his magic (and to impress people, who also loved him because they hadn't had a strong winter since he was brought to the town) he learnt how to start and stop a snow storm, how to make the ice take shape, and how to make it unnoticeable when he threw ice into someone's back, or head or whatever he pointed to. Which would eventually probe to be quite useful, despite his father's opinion. He was fifteen years old on that nameless night while walking around the forest to meditate a bit, he had just had a fight with Mund again, that stupid rabbit-faced arsehole. Part of him wanted to cry from pure rage because how cou iold that fool defeat him? How could he be so weak behind all his magic? It just didn't seem fair, Jack was right and Mund was wrong. (Evelyn, Jack's half sister, had not stolen his stupid extra pair of boots. And that was that.) The whole thing of losing against him made him miserable with bitterness. And part of him had recovered his energy and was ready to punch him hard in his stupid bunny face. He needed to calm, he needed to walk off all that angry and dangerous energy. The wind was blowing, whizling almost, the moon was high in the sky, full in all its silverly glory. Jack looked deeply into it and sighted, just looking at it made him feel better. The travellers who passed through the town always told him when he asked them if they had ever reached the moon that no matter how many mountains one could climb it would never be high enough to reach the moon, and that had always fascinated him. It made him want to travel and climb himself a mountain and see if the moon was really that unreachable. It didn't seem so far now, it was so big and so full and it's glow made him feel good for some reason. Jack liked to think that if his mother was some winter fairy maybe that could be somehow related to the moon, and explain his fascination with it. While playing with his crook (it really couldn't be any other way) he saw the wisps, blue tiny little fires that disappeared with every single step he took towards them. The wind blowed again when he stepped into the circle of stones. "Jack, my boy, are you there?" The wind whizled and Jack was so shocked that didn't noticed that he was answering. The forest was dark even in the daylight, but the moon and the stars litted the sky and he was in a clair. "Yes?" It sounded like a question but the lady talking through the wind, because if he could be the son of a winter fairy then, why couldn't she talk to him through the wind? It made sense. Sort of. "Finally, finally! You never were in the forest late enough for me to guide you here when I could talk." "Mother?" "The one and only." Jack could almost hear Owen saying 'Now I know from where you got it.' "How are you doing this?" "Through the wind of course! It makes my voice a little strange but it lets me communicate at least." She didn't sound like the cold lady that had been described to him, Jack imagined that she had a nice voice when you talked to her face to face. Maybe she wasn't being cold with him because he was his son. "Why do you have to speak through the wind? Are you so far from me that this is your only way?" "I am very far indeed, but if I didn't have a... Uh, responsibility here, I would fly to where you are." "Why do I have to be here? You said that I was never late enough to bring me here." "My magic is chained, just like I am, I can't do very much, but as my son my blood runs through your veins and calls me, which allows me to search you making a little effort, the rocks circle it's and ancient and powerful place, it helps my own weakened magic, I just have to picture it all in my head and then send the wind with my voice." "Why are you chained?" "Because I was married when I had you." "Oh." "My husband made me give you to your father and then chained my magic to the land we live in." "That's... That's awful." Jack didn't know what to say, he didn't know if he believed it but one little part of him felt guilty, it wasn't nice that your mother was being punished for giving birth to you. "Oh don't worry, at night, when he is asleep I can do magic, so I don't live in pain." "Don't you have any sons or daughters to help you out of him?" "I'm afraid I don't. You are the only son I have given birth to." Jack wanted to ask why but thankfully she kept on talking without him needing to ask why. "It's a long story, my dear, but the main problem is that my magic senses the hatred I feel for my husband and unables me from getting pregnant from him." What do you answer to that? Jack had no idea so he stayed silent. Just there, watching the rocks he was surrounded by and waiting for the wind to bring his mother's voice back. "Jack, there's so much I don't know. Tell me, how is your life? Does your father treats you well? How do you got on with mortals? Have you learnt to fly?" "My life is good. Father has never been less than loving and caring for me. Mortals? You mean the people? I get on well with almost everyone." Jack didn't find it in himself to say 'how could they not? I'm awesome' he didn't want to make she think he was a self centered git, maybe he was a bit self centered but he wasn't a git and he just wanted his mother to think good of him. "Brilliant, brilliant. But what about flying? You haven't answered that one yet." "I-I didn't know I could fly." Jack had actually avoided to answer that one, he didn't want to tell her that obviously he couldn't fly, because he wasn't like her, he was half like her, that's all. And there was no way he could fly. Last time he checked he didn't have wings. "Of course you can fly, you are a the son of a fairy. Just spread your wings and call the wind so you can fly." "Mother I... I don't have wings." "Are you saying it or are you asking me?" "Saying It." He still sounded like he was making a question, but his mother chosed not to remark it this time. "Then just grab something and use it to guide you when you call the wind." "What? Call the wind?" "My, my, I've got so much to teach you." Jack and his mother kept talking for a while, it wasn't until he started yawning that he finally went back to his house. Three nights every week (the nights in which he didn't have to raise early to help his father) he would go to the rocks circle to talk to his mother. He would tell her about his life with his father, about helping him and she would tell him how strange she found the fact that he liked considering how hot and stuffy would be the atmosphere there. She would tell him about the fairy court and she would teach him magic, and she would avoid everything that had to do with her family. But Jack was okay with it, he liked talking with her, soon he asked her about his interest in the moon and although he was a bit disappointed he discovered that his fascination with the moon had nothing to do with his heritage. Anyhow life was good. He had a loving family, he had friends, and in the nights he had a mother. For fifteen years Ceara had been the only mother he had known, she never asked him to call her mother, but he did it all the same. And when his true mother's voice came with the wind, he couldn't bring himself to think about her like his mother. Yes she was indeed the one who gave him birth, but Ceara was the one who fed him and cuddled him lovingly between her arms. Yes he felt sorry for her, for all the problems she had because of him, for the life she carried and the people that did nothing to help her. But he didn't had the impulse of throwing his arms around her like he had with Ceara when she talked or thought about her dead child. Jack found that he didn't see his mother as a mother, that would always be Ceara's place. She had always had it, she deserved it, and no one would have it other than her. After the countless nights he had spent talking to her, of course he grew fond of her, but still he didn't feel towards her like he felt towards Ceara. He couldn't find it in him to feel for his mother more than what he would feel for a dear friend. He had come to terms with that feeling, concluding that he couldn't change it and that it really didn't matter that much. He was nineteen on that nameless night, the second forest-night of the week. He was worried-sick, the wind hadn't carried his mother's voice last night and he knew that things weren't going well in the Fairy Court of Winter, he knew that his mother wasn't very much liked there, and he knew that her voice had been a bit cracky the last time he heard her. When she had said, 'Good bye, my dear.' It had sounded like a farewell. And he didn't like it. Maybe Jack would have liked to know that she died with her head high, and that she looked straight into his damners eyes, perhaps he would have liked to know that she had been relieved to be his voice the last she heard. Maybe, he would have liked to know that his name was the last sound that came out of her lips. But mostly it would have warmed his heart to know that she died without regrets, because it had been worth giving her life for his. He was entering into the forest and he had a nasty feeling. He realised that it was fear. The wind didn't answered that night with his mother's voice, or the other, or never again. And he realised that then, when he no longer had her, that he had loved her. Maybe not as much as Ceara, maybe not in the same way, but nonetheless he had loved her, and he wouldn't hear her voice again, she wouldn't teach him nothing anymore and he would never know anything about her family. He couldn't count how many times he had refrained himself from asking, thinking that he had time. But now she was gone and he would never know. It was too late. He didn't even know why, but eventhough he had moved out of the town after a fight with North, his father, he kept going to the same point in which he had listened to his mother's voice, the same nights that they had established, just as if she had never disappeared. Maybe he hoped that one night she would answer him back again, maybe he wanted to show to the gods that he had not forgotten her, that perhaps he was the only one, but he had cared about her. And maybe that was the nearest thing he would ever have for her to a grave. Sometimes he talked, sometimes he didn't. Now he was twenty, it was the first forest-night of that week and something was different. He saw the wisps. Just as the first night so many moons ago. His heart hammered in his chest, maybe his mother was back, maybe she was alive. He ran. The wisps disappeared beneath his steps, he fell a time or two and branches brushed against him, but it didn't matter. Nothing did. He had to reach the rock's circle. He had to. The wind blew, and he tried to run faster, soon he would be listening to his mother voice again. When he finally stood into the rock's circle the wind blew again but it didn't carry his mother's voice. His wisp's path had ended up, and he soon noticed that at the other side of the rock's circle there were more wisps. It was the end of another path. They weren't meant for him to follow. Maybe they were there for his mother. For whomever they were there for, Jack decided that he would wait, so he laid against one rock and waited. It wasn't much time until he heard the rattle of horseshoes. He had never been pacient, but he felt that he had to be pacient now. He didn't know why, just that he had, and he didn't like not knowing why but he couldn't argue with whatever it was that rooted his feet to the grass under them. Just seconds (or minutes, he didn't really know) later a horse that came at full gallop stopped right before entering into the rock's circle. A girl jumped from it, she was wearing a cloak that covered her hair, but the full moon illuminated her face. She was the most beautiful human being he had ever seen. Her fair skin was pale, but not as much as his, he couldn't say what colour her eyes were, but he saw that her cheeks and nose were covered in frekles, that her face was childish and heart shaped. She was short, and quite slim. So beautiful. He wanted to say something, to greet her, make some funny remark, flirt, whatever, it didn't really matter, but say something. "Who are you?" She was the first to talk. "I'm Jack." That was the best he could do? Great, Jack, just great. "What are you doing here?" "The wisps guided me here." "They guided me here too." "I know, I could see the end of your path before you arrived." "Must be fate." Her cheeks were covered in red, Jack walked towards her. "Who are you?" "I don't know if I should tell you." "Why?" "Because I'm running away." "Are you a burglar?" "Of course not!" "A murderer?" "Are trying to insult me?" "Not a murderer then." "No!" "Then from what are you running away?" "My family." "Did they treat you bad?" "No!" "Then why are you running away?" "Because they wanted to marry me." "Isn't that what girls want?" "I don't want to get married! My pretendants were one worse than the other!" "If your family didn't treat you bad, then you should have just told them that you didn't like any of your pretendants instead of running away." "No, they wanted to get me married, I had to marry one of the three of them. So I ran." "Who are you?" "I am Merida of the Dumbroch clan." She was a princess. "I understand." "Aren't you going to lecture me about being unresponsible and selfish?" Jack thought of his mother, maybe she had been a noble fairy, maybe she had been forced into a marriage she did not desire, and damned to a life of disadventures. "No." "Thank you." "No problem, princess." "Don't call me that. I have never felt like a princess, I have never wanted to be one. Now I'm not one anymore. You can call me Merida." "Very well, Merida." Jack savoured he name in his lips, he liked it. "I think you will need help in this business of running away." "Gods yes, but you won't do it for free, will you?" "No, I won't." He chuckled. "I've got some jewelry and stuff on my horse pick one of whatever you want, I'm sure your wife will want some more money." "I'm not married, I know it's dark but I still find that confusing me with my married sister is a bit hurtful." "Oh, I am sorry... Your wife-to-be?" Was she trying to offer her jewelry in exchange of his help or was she trying to guess if he was single? "I'm totally single." He winked at her playfully, and she blushed again. So lovely. "I see." Jack expected her to avoid his eyes on order to hide her embarrassment, but she didn't. "Well, go pick whatever you want." "You are a bit too confident for your own good, imagine if I had bad intentions or something, I could just steal whatever you have here and leave you to your own. Thank the gods I am not. I don't want your money, when I had helped you I shall ask for my reward." "Well, how are you helping me?" "I'm thinking, I'm not strong enough to carry your horse with me but I don't know, I could try." "What? Why are you going to try to carry my horse? Wouldn't it be easier to let the horse carry us?" "I think I haven't shown you, have I? No I haven't, well here we go, step back a bit just in case." "Eh? Why? What?" Jack didn't answered her, he picked up his crook and rised it over his head, then he waved it to the front. Snow appeared from the wave. "Ice." The snow wave was suddenly an ice wave that fell onto the floor. "Take form." Jack made some moves with his crook always pointing to the ice, and was satisfied to say that when he had finished the ice had a strong resemblance to Merida's face. "Are you a wizard? Because I don't have the best of experiences with witches." "You could say I'm a wizard, but you would be quite wrong, I can't breed potions or make charms, or jinxes or anything alike. I'm the son of a winter fairy and so I have power over the winter. "It's midsummer." "I still have power over the winter." "Fine, I guess. But what does that have to do with carrying my horse?" Again Jack didn't answered, he flew. "Wow." "I know! Flying it's awesome." "Must be so incredible." "You will see it yourself, won't you?" "Oh gods, yes! I cannot believe it, I'm going to fly!" Jack chuckled and started planning. "You could leave your horse in my house. Well, my father's house, but it will be mine one day, I hope that day it's far but you know, after taking charge of you I'll see what to do with your horse." "Angus, his name is Angus." "Angus, fine. Now, where was I? Oh yeah I can help you go to somewhere remote, and you could stay there a year or two, so that people stop looking for princess Merida." "Sounds good to me." "Very well, let's get started then." When she mounted her horse Jack knew the reason why she didn't want to get married. He saw how her spirit worked, she wasn't done for that life, no, she wasn't meant to be queen, she didn't belong to a throne, nor to a man, she belonged to the wind that messed with her hair, and the thrill of the race. And it felt good to be the one who helped her. They left her horse in his father's humble house, but she insisted on taking with her the leather bag in which she carried her belongings, her bow and her arrows. Jack packed everything in a blanket and decided to use the wind to carry it. He would to carry her, and her not-so-light belongings would have to go with the wind, and tomorrow, the wind would have to carry her horse. Poor wind. She felt warm in his arms, there weren't much warm things he liked, but human warmth was one of those. There was a something about human warmth that was different from the warm weather, which made him feel dizzy and weak, whereas human warmth was something entirely enjoyable. He didn't actually know why he enjoyed it so much, the cold was never a problem for him, indeed it was pleasurable, but still it felt nice when a warm body was near him, it was difficult to explain why but he guessed that it was the meaning behind that contact, he remembered that when he was a kid that there was nothing that felt as safe and loving as Ceara's embrace. Merida moved a bit so that she could see something at her right, she was apparently enjoying herself too, instead of closing her eyes or crying like his sister and some other girls he had flew with, she just watched (tried to watch) the landscape from the air. She felt so nice in his arms, he didn't want to let her go. He almost wanted the journey to last forever. Jack lived in an isolated place since his fight with his father, they had fought because of the silliest of things, they both regretted what they had said but were too obstinated to admit it, maybe that was the reason behind Jack's leaving Merida's horse in his father's place, so that he could talk to him if he happened to see the horse. His cabine was in the middle of a forest, so that if he felt like it he could make a huge storm and no one would be damaged, but there was a village near enough for him to fetch food and stuff without flying too much. It had been a while since Merida's hood had fallen, settings free her curly hair. Jack wondered what colour would be. He decided black would suit her, also her hair smelled good, he really hoped she didn't noticed him sniffing her hair. Despite his hopes for a never ending journey, he could see his cabine next to the lake from there. They haven't finished landing when suddenly it was raining. A lighting crossed the sky the very same second Merida jumped from his arms to the floor. "C'mon, hurry up!" Jack shouted "Run!" She giggled, while she ran towards his cabine and clumsily opened the door Jack couldn't help but feel that she had rather enjoyed that short seconds running under the rain. Also, he mentally thanked Owen for being there last week and litting the chimney (even though it wasn't that cold, for gods's sake it was summer!) and leaving some firewood behind. Jack rushed to lit the fire so that Merida could dry her clothes and avoid a cold. "Thank you." "No problem." Jack smiled at her and she smiled back. Jack keeped his distance from the chimney. "Aren't you cold? Come here it's going to be nicer." Jack didn't felt like contradicting her so he approached the fire. "There you go, isn't it much better now?" "Actually no. But..." He left the phrase unfinished, he didn't need to finish it. "Why? Do I smell? Oh, don't answer of course I smell." Oh she was funny. "Well I was going to say that cold is my warm and your warm is too warm for me, but your explanation goes well too." He didn't even know why they were laughing but suddenly they were laughing. "So I don't smell that bad?" Jack remembered sniffing her hair, which had smelled nice. But maybe the rest of her didn't smell that nice. "Don't think so. Maybe a bit but who cares." "Hey, I've got a question." "Ask it then." "Why do you have so much fabric everywhere?" "Uh funny story." "Well, what are you waiting? Tell your tale" "Well, when I decided to move out of my father's place I was kind of angry and I might or might not been having a tantrum and there were two merchants that happened to see me and they were so scared that they just run off to somewhere in I-don't-know-where, and they left behind their chariots with all their merchancy there." "Are you being serious?" "Yeah, why wouldn't I be serious?" "What kind of tantrum scares a grown adult?" "The kind that includes chariot-blowing-wind-waves, ice-shooting and some weird blue glow." "How is that a tantrum?" "I said kind of tantrum and in my defense I had a fight with my father and was very angry and I didn't come to my mind that the route passed through the forest." "Well, I guess I understand. I wouldn't have liked to be your mother when you were a five year old." "Nah, I was a nice kid. Everyone says it." "With that kind of tantrums? I don't think so." "Nope, my tantrums consisted in me shouting and crying like with every five year old." "A five year old that could make a storm in a second." "Neither, I discovered I could freeze things when I was twelve. It's a pity, it would have been useful." "It would have been fantastic, if it had been me when mother told me to choose between my pretendants I would have just shooted ice and say I don't want to, leave me alone! And nobody would have dared to say a thing." "Or they would have threatened you with a torch until you did as they told you." "Good point. Is that shelve with spices?" "Yeah, apparently they were wealthy merchants because I'm never out of money, and the cabine looks nice with all this fabrics everywhere and I made a huge bed, and a table and some shelves with the wood of their chariots. You should see the food I cook with the spices I found there. They must be foreign." "Well, it's good you didn't left them in the forest it would have been such a shame to leave this fabrics to waste." "At the time the only thing on my mind was that they were soft. That's all I cared about." "Makes sense." "Yeah." Merida made a nest in front of the chimney with some fabrics from here and there, Jack promised to build her a bed, seeing as she would be staying for at least two (hopefully three) years more, and Jack buried himself into his bed, not before asking her if she really didn't wanted his bed, and receiving a negative once again. The next morning Jack woke up with the sun rise, Merida was sound asleep, he stretched a bit and remembered himself that he had to go and pick up Merida's horse whose name he would remember at some point in the morning when he stopped being half asleep. He encountered his father waiting for him, and if he wasn't mistaken he was arguing with the horse. Gods that man would never stop arguing with animals? Apparently he wouldn't. "I think you left something here, Jack." "I guess I did, I hope you don't mind." "I don't, but I'm curious about why." Jack decided he needed to lie, he couldn't possibly tell him that he was hiding the runaway princess. He couldn't screw it on the first day, that would be pathetic. "I uh found the horse in the forest near here, it was lost and well I... Eh I was planning on selling him, yes selling him but I couldn't take it with me, because I already had something in my hands, and couldn't concentrate on lifting it with the wind while lifting this uh thing myself." Jack needed to practice lies, also he needed to invent excuses. "I see." His father had a knowing face and Jack didn't actually know why, but he suddenly he was suppressing a guilty smile as if he had done something wrong. (Which he had, but his father couldn't possibly know, could he?) "You see...?" "Well, never took you for the kind of having girls over, but you were born from an affair so I can't really scold you about it, now can I? Don't be so ashamed nobody here cares at all, you are young and not married." Was there any possibility that the earth would suddenly open itself and engorge him? Jack blushed while concluding that that was not happening. Also, imagining what it would be if his father was right. Blush. Deep red blush. "Father! You always are so...!" "And you were always such a kid, you never did grow up, did you? You shouldn't be that bothered but yet you are, it's like talking with a five year old." "Humph." "Oh, sorry, with a christian five year old." "I'm not that bad! You just caught me off guard." "If you say so." "You are impossible." Jack rolled his eyes with a hint of happiness in his still sleepy eyes. "And you are a kid, but I still missed you son." "I missed you too." They hugged and talked for a bit. And just like that they were in peace, Jack liked his home and he wasn't moving back in but he promised to visit every once in a while, just like with Owen. Two hours later, he was finally parting with the horse (whose name he still wasn't really sure, something that ended in 'us', but not really much more). Merida was still sound asleep when he finally made it to his cabine, he hadn't felt this tired since he moved the two chariots at the same time with the wind. Gods he didn't remember it being that difficult. He practically fell into his bed and drifted to sleep, and didn't wake up until he heard a loud: "Thank you!" "Mhm? What? Who?" Jack muffed still half asleep. How many hours did he slept? He had just gotten to bed and then suddenly he was awake but he didn't want to be awake and why the helheim was that woman whose name he would remember later hugging the horse. ~Too early in the whatever hour it was to think straight~, Jack thought, trying to go back to sweet sleep but he couldn't help but listen to what the princess, he remembered she was a princess, (her name was something with 'M', he was sure) was saying. "Oh Angus here you are my dear! Mummy has missed you too, did Jack's father treat you well? Oh I'm sure he did, didn't he? You look like a happy horse so I'm guessing he did. Get off of my face you are not a dog, oi oi Angus!" She giggled and Jack couldn't decide if he wanted to shut her up or keep eavesdropping. "Well my dear horse, we are going to go and see the forest, would you like that? That's my horse!" Jack smiled to himself, what a case she was! இڿڰۣۣ— Day after day, season after season, smile after smile, and just like that a year went by. It was a cold winter evening and Jack was flying like there was no tomorrow to win the race. There was no way he would lose... Again. Damn it all, he could fly! How was it that she was still winning?! He really do missed the good old days in which Merida didn't know her way through his forest, winning was so much easier back then. He dodged a tree or two and finally he was able to see her again, there she was the little piece of... Oh no, no, no, no. He wouldn't cook today, he really, really didn't want to cook today. For the love of the gods! It was going to be a cold night, the kind of night that freezed normal people's fingers! Those were his favourites! Cooking would imply fire, fire would imply warmth, warmth would imply that he wouldn't be able to breathe the sweet coldness of the atmosphere. Jack had to think quick, he couldn't let her win, and it wasn't much before she reached the cabine. Think, Jack, think! "Jack what the helheim? You cheater!" She was covered in snow, he was under pressure and the only thing he could think about was throwing her a snowball. Merida jumped off of her horse in that way she had, flipped her hair out of her way, moulded a snowball, pointed at him and fired. "You are the cheater, I was just flying and some snow must have fallen from a tree, you are the one who is cheating, I was in the air, now I'm not. Your fault. You cook." "You are lying through your teeth Frostie, and you know it!" "I'm not lying." Jack lied. "Yes you are!" "I'm not!" "Eat snow!" "Wait what?" He ate snow, but she did too. It was fun. That nameless night Merida had mercy and cooked the dinner, even though it was his turn and he had admitted losing the race after she started grumbling about his lack of honour, so that Jack could go and fly under the cold and beautiful winter sky. It was well past midnight, it was literally freezing outside, but it wasn't snowing, the dark sky was shinning with every single star, it was one of those cold nights that were just too cold even for the snow. The moon shinned in her silver throne, the wind ran by his side and the world was in peace. Jack took a deep breathe. Something was off. When it wasn't raining in this lands, and you could see the sky in all its beauty Jack would normally call it perfect. But he just couldn't. The magic of the moon and the stars, the soft wind, the high tree in which he sat. It was not enough. It had always been enough, when he felt lost and angry, when everything went wrong, this– this was always right. But something was missing now. The cold didn't soothe his soul like it was supposed to, the stars were there, shinning bright and beautiful, the wind ran through him but it didn't brought back the same feeling as always, it didn't brought that silent echo– the, the feeling behind his mother's voice. Something was just not there and it was uneasying. Specially since he had been dreaming about his mother again. He needed that calm again. He couldn't take those dreams, they were awful, they were sad, they made him sad. And Jack was not a sad person. They had started on some point a bit before he fought with his father, they lasted just one week every time they came. But they were too much. He had never had a real picture of his mother before them, but he didn't like the one he had now, it was so unfair, so cruel. He didn't want to think about it, he needed that peacefulness this kind of nights brought him and something wasn't working and it was getting to his nerves. He was awfully bad-mooded when he returned to the cabine. "Hey Jack." She was awake. Why in the bloody helheim was she awake? She always was asleep before midnight. "Hey Reddie." He greeted her a couple of seconds late. "I left you some food." Now that he came to think about it, he was hungry, maybe what was missing was the food in his stomach. "Why thank you." "No problem, I did try to eat it all, but it's too much for me. Between you and me, I'm still not sure how did we manage not to be as fat as a jack." "Ha, ha. That 'pun' will always last, won't it?" "Well I intend to use it as much as I can." "You are so funny." Jack said wryly. "Oh thank you, if I say so myself I do am quite funny." "Hmph." "Huh, you are starting to sound like my mother." "Well, my hair is grey, isn't it? Just let me borrow one of your fanciest dresses and I'll be your mother." "Oh! I'm going to search that dress right now! I was feeling like cuddling with my mum just like when I was a little girl." "Mer I was just joking, I won't wear a dress." "But it would look so good on you! You would look better than– uhm like a goddess, I'm sure." "I know I look godly, but more like a god than like a goddess and I would prefer it that way." "Boo!" "Boo whatever you want, I'm not going to dress like the queen, thank you very much." "Then, how was it?" "What?" "You were anxious for a night so cold that there would be no clouds so that you could watch the stars." "I don't know. I was expecting something else." "What were you expecting? You have seen that before, at the beggining of the winter and you told me that you have seen it a lot of times before." "Yeah, and it's true, but this time there was something off. I don't know what, but something was not right tonight." "I see." "Yeah." "How does the sky looks like? I have heard you feel it different when is summer than when is winter." "I'm not really sure, I guess there's some difference but it has to do more with what you feel around you. The feeling you get watching the sky in summer is good, but to me there's nothing like a good cold winter night to watch the stars." "Do you think I would freeze to death if I went out now and saw by myself what you are talking about?" "Put on some more warm clothes and I'll go with you, if you feel like freezing to death tell me and I'll get us in." "Yay!" She was already wearing woolen warm clothes but she went for more. She looked funny. "Brrr, s-so co-cold my godsss!" "Big baby want to get in again?" "Of cou-course n-not! I'm just stating the te-tem-peture" "C'mere." Jack rised his crook and called the wind, Merida, who was already used to flying, clutched to his side when the wind lifted them on the air. Jack had enjoyed flying since he learnt how to do it, and true he had flew with someone else before. But that someone was almost always his sister. And Merida... Well, she made it more... Uh, enjoyable. The sky was a black lienze covered in little shinning dots, there, in the middle, sat the moon in all its silver magnificence, it was almost full but it looked so beautiful that it didn't matter. Jack wished, not for the first time, that he knew the constellations that painted the sky he was so keen on watching for hours. "It's..." "The most beautiful landscape we will never reach?" "I was going to say awesome or maybe just leave it in 'it's' you know to emphasise how taken I am for the sight, but yours sounds better, more poetic." "I've been working on that one for months, you know?" "Oh I knew it couldn't be something you just think of." "That's quite cruel, don't you think?" "Yup." "And you admit it? Oh you are evil." "Never said I wasn't." "True, true." They both bursted out laughing, which was a bad idea because the crook trembled and Jack almost fell since he was the one who was laughing harder, once they calmed down, Jack decided to go and land on a tree branch so that they could sit on something less unstable. "I think I understand why you like this nights so much." "Yeah?" "Uhum." They didn't talk that much from there on. Lost in the infinite sky, why would they need words to fill the moment, when the moment was already full? Jack couldn't tell in which moment of the night he had fallen asleep, or in which had Merida fallen asleep, but he could tell that he could get used to waking up with Merida cuddled in his arms. "Mer, Mer." He said softly. "Uh, Reddie. Wake up." "Hmm go back to sleep." "You are going to lose the sunrise if you don't wake up." "Five minutes more." "Not a single one, c'mon Mer, wake up." "Hmm." He punched her shoulder playfully, and a little bit after that he was watching the beginning of the sunrise with a grumbling Merida. "I'll never get tired of watching this." Jack said, his arm was around Merida's waist and she was half on his lap, it was cold and she instinctually cuddled closer to get warmer, too bad his body was naturally cold. "Neither I will." It had been a while since he had said it, the sunrise was ending, but it didn't matter. "Let's go back home, alright?" Home, she had said home. "Yes, let's go." Once their feet touched the floor Jack stretched and noticed that sleeping on a tree was not a good a idea. Merida soon reached the same conclusion. "My gods my back hurts!" They said simultaneously, it was weird but funny and they both laughed. They didn't even notice they were heading to the same bed, they just fell there and closed their eyes and fell asleep. It was late in the afternoon when they woke up tangled into each other. A blush making its way into their cheeks. But weird enough the next night Merida found her way into his bed the next night, and the next one and eventually the winter was over but she continued to appear there, Spring passed by and found Merida waking up in the same spot (wrapped up in Jack's arms) every morning. It was nice, she was warm and soft and he liked smelling her hair first thing in the morning (gods bless the perfumed oils she bought for her baths), it was very nice indeed, but it was also kind of driving him mad because she was a little bit too close, although he wouldn't tell her, what if she stopped coming? No, he couldn't have that, now could he? இڿڰۣۣ— She was riding her horse that afternoon, Jack loved watching her riding. Despite what Owen thought was the reason behind him loving to watch her ride, it wasn't that it rised his desire for her (well maybe a little of it was because of that, but just a tiny bit. He couldn't blame him, she looked hot, all blushed and with her eyes bright and...). It was because of what it meant for her, for what he read in the situation. He had thought it since the very first night. She doesn't belong to a throne, to a husband or to a house. She belongs to the thrill of the race while she rides her horse and to the wind that messes her hair. He remembered thinking. That wildness imprinted in her eyes, that thrist for adventure, that seemed to be plastered in her every move. She was so free. And while she rode her horse, everything showed in its maximum exponent. The way she throwed arrows as if she had been born over her horse and firing arrows. It was powerful, it was brilliant, it was impossible. And Jack had always had a thing for impossibilities, when young he had wanted to reach the moon and he hadn't given up yet. Maybe he would reach the moon someday, he just had to fly high enough. It was bound to happen sooner or later, Jack thought. Reflectioning about it, he almost couldn't believe he hadn't even noticed he was in love until that afternoon, sure he knew he desired her, but he hadn't noticed that his not acting upon it was fueled by his love more than for his noble heart. "Jack! I'm leaving you behind!" She chanted playfully, he sped up. "Keep dreaming Reddie!" "You are going to crash against a tree, I can already see it." She replied. Jack was not proud to say that she was right, but unfortunately when he turned to the left so that he could reach her, a tree was waiting there for him to crash his head against it. "Oh Gods! I told you!" She, damn her, bursted out laughing at him. "Aren't you going to ask if I'm feeling well, or at least worry about me? I would worry were I in your place." "Nay, you've got an ice-hard head. And ice is very hard if I am not mistaken so I've got nothing to worry about." "My, my, you are truly heartless." "I'm not heartless, you just like exagerating." "Liar!" He could not help the laugh that teared his throat, it was always like this with her, it always ended in laugh or in a warm silence Jack found he rather liked. இڿڰۣۣ— It was late on that nameless night, a midsummer night just like in the one he had met her. Her face was against his chest and she murmured something he could not understand. "What did you say?" "I said beautiful." "I would rather you say I'm handsome." "I was talking about how blessantly cold you are." "Finally! Someone who doesn't complains about how cold my skin is." "You kidding? It's damn hot and you are cold, I'm surprised your sister didn't slept with you to cope with summer, I half want the winter to come back." "You are finally coming to your senses, I was wondering when would you understand how better the winter is." "Whatever, come closer. You are so cold!" "Yeah, yeah." "Gods bless your mother for being a winter fairy, and my luck for finding you." "That's your weird way of expressing your love for me?" "That's my weird way of saying summer is too hot for me to endure it." Jack wanted to believe that she would not cuddle like this with any other man, he wanted to believe that this was special, just between the two of them. He wanted to believe that if she was this close to him every night, she must feel something for him, something beyond friendship. An unknown resolve took power over him. He needed to tell her. He needed her to know. She had to know. His grip on her waist tightened, he didn't notice it though, but probably she did, because she raised her head and looked at him with a question in her big blue-green eyes. The moon rays filtered through the window litting her features just enough for him to see her. "You know? I never asked you for my reward." His voice came practically out of nowhere and his words were even les s expected than the broken silence. "Hmm?" She appeared confuse, as if she hasn't expected him to talk at all, as if she hadn't been paying attention, as if her mind had been occupied by something else. "The first night, I told you I would ask for my reward after I had helped you. But I never asked for it." "Mmm, can't it wait until tomorrow? I'll give you some jewel then, I'm too comfortable now." She buried her face into his chest again. "I don't want a jewel." "You know I have more than jewelry there Jack." "I don't want any of that." "Well, you can tell me tomorrow what do you want." "But tomorrow is so faaar." "Well, then tell me now you spoilered child." "I want a kiss." "A what?" He knew he would see her cheeks flush if her faces wasn't pressed against his chest. "A kiss." His thump lifted her chin, he wanted her to look into his eyes. "I..." Jack was terrified that she would reject him, he had never been rejected in his life, but still he couldn't help but feel it. "I suppose... I owe you don't I?" Jack didn't say anything more, words were useless now. Her lips were an inch from his, just a little bit closer and he'd be kissing her. Her lips were warm and soft and inexperienced. She was clumsy, but he could teach her. He was about to end it, but she started caressing his hear and that was always his weakness. Something deep inside him purred, and suddenly he was fully snogging her. He couldn't breathe, damn it all. It ended, Jack was trying his best to stead his breathing, gods how long had it been since he last kissed someone? "Jack?" "Hmm, yeah?" "I think I love you." "I really am a good kisser, aren't I?" She punched his arm playfully, something that took her longer than it should, because she had to unwrap her arm from his neck and then find that spot in his shoulder that hurted more because she always punched it. "Auch!" "You deserved it." "Mer?" "What?" She grumbled. "I love you too."