"Looks like the coast is clear," Hiccup told Eugene as they peered out the door, watching for any signs of the mysterious black creatures. "Though we should be careful and hurry; if they are formed out of fear, like you think, then there's a good chance they'll be drawn to anyone who's afraid. Meaning us as well."

Eugene shut the door and looked at him. "Who says I'm afraid? I'm not afraid. What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one instance you ran into me and practically dragged me into an abandoned part of the castle to avoid being caught."

"That was more a matter of urgency to tell someone what I just saw."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Either way, if they are looking for us, then they'll be honing in on our fears. I'm afraid for the girls, I'm afraid the curse will escalate and freeze us. You're worried for your safety."

"Okay, let's not focus on what we're afraid of right now. That seems like a very bad idea to me. Let's just focus on getting to the girls."

"I can help you with that, mates." A voice said from behind them, causing both men to jump.

A second later, Eugene relaxed. "Bunny, you really shouldn't sneak up on people who are trying to hide."

The Easter Bunny stood in the middle of the room, standing tall and powerful in the dim room. Arm guards stood out on the rabbit's forearms, and boomerangs were strapped to his back, and across his chest a sash held what looked like colored eggs.

"Oh, sorry for frightening you, princess." Bunny said sarcastically. "Don't have time to cater to your strung up nerves. We have to hurry."

"What are you?" Hiccup asked, stepping up to get a closer look at the newcomer. He reached to touch his fur but earned a slap to the hand.

"I'm the Easter Bunny. And we'll explain everything in a minute." He stomped his foot and a green, earthy hole opened up in the middle of the floor.

"We?" The viking asked, before he was pushed in. Eugene could hear his friend sliding down the tunnel.

"What about the others?" The former thief asked, hesitating on the edge of the hole. "They're in danger as well."

"The other guardians are taking care of them. Don't worry." Bunny said and hopped in. Eugene quickly followed suit. Shortly after the hole in the floor closed up, leaving a single flower, a snowdrop, where it was.

…..

The north wind carried Jack Frost over the mountain toward Arendelle as fast as it could travel. The queen's cloak billowed out behind him, forgotten in his rush to get back.

Arendelle was different, he noticed as he found the castle. The fjord had completely frozen over in solid ice and snow covered the kingdom creating a wonderland of white and grey. There was a group of people standing in the courtyard and Jack landed to see Hans handing out blankets to civilians and men piling firewood next to a wall.

Jack couldn't see his friends anywhere so he went inside the next time the front doors opened. There were a lot of people still in the ballroom; mostly the guests who had traveled from other countries to attend the coronation. Servants wandered between groups of people, handing out food and drink. Jack recognized Maudi among them, but the others weren't there.

"Huh, I thought they'd be around here somewhere." He said to himself. He slipped out of the ballroom and started to wander the halls, calling out the names of his friends as he went

"Shh. They'll hear you." A voice said.

Jack stopped and looked around. He didn't see anyone in the hallway, though there was a few open doors on either side of the corridor. Was someone hiding?

"Phil, you have snow globe, yes?" The voice said again. The voice was male and it held a strange accent. It was coming from nearby. Jack crept forward to find the source. A strange garbled voice answered the man.

"Good, good. Now we are ready."

Jack peered through a doorway and saw a large man with a long red coat and black trim standing with his back turned to the door. A big furry thing stood in front of the man, mostly hidden from Jack.

"I don't recognize you from the part." Jack said softly to himself. "What are you up to?"

"Hmm?" the man said and tilted his head. He turned around and looked in Jack's direction. The winter spirit froze as he met eyes with the strange man. "Ah, Jack Frost. Good timing. Now we go, come, come."

"You can see me?" Jack said and stepped into the room. "How? And what is that thing?" He saw the furry thing clearly now, it was large and widely built and long cream colored fur covered its entire body, longer fur around its mouth like a mustache and on its head in a ponytail. It was holding a sack in one hand and round ball swirling with green and brown in the other. It made garbled sound in response.

"There will be time for questions later." The big man beckoned again. "The others are waiting, we must go."

Jack backed up a little; this was too weird. Who was this guy, to see him, know him, and expect him to go wherever it was that the man wanted him to go? And what others, waiting for what, and what was that thing? "Um, sorry. As nice as it is that you can see me, I have to go." He turned and fled down the hallway.

"You won't find your friends that way." The stranger called behind him.

Jack stopped and turned. "What do you know about them?" Were they in trouble? Was this man holding them captive?

The stranger and furry thing were standing in the hall now. The furry thing handed the man the colored sphere and Jack watched as the man threw it to the ground. Light exploded from the shards and formed a glowing disk.

"They are waiting for you through this." The man held out a hand for Jack while the furry thing went through the portal and disappeared.

…..

"Hey, wake up." A voice called. Rapunzel stirred. Her head hurt.

"Come on. We have to git out o' here, before they get back." The voice came again. Rapunzel recognized it as Merida's, but what was she talking about? And where was she? There was a rattle of chains and Rapunzel became aware of the cold hard surface she was laying on. Opening her eyes, she saw stone walls lit with a bluish light coming from a small window. Merida stood before her, pulling at something. It took Rapunzel a moment to realize that her friends hands were encased in metal and chains attached her to the wall.

"Ow." She said sitting up. It was all coming back to her now; Gothel, her hair. She healed an old woman and it turned out to be the witch who used her all her life.

Merida stopped pulling on her chains. "Finally. You're awake. They left yeughr hands free. Come help me get out of these chains."

Together, the girls pulled at the chains, but they wouldn't budge from the wall. Rapunzel looked closer at the metal gloves, but didn't know how to pick them open. Eugene had once tried showing her how to pick a lock, but she wasn't very good at it, and there was nothing in the cell to pick with.

"Try the door. Is there any way yeugh could git the hinges off?"

Rapunzel pulled, and tried to loosen the hinges, but couldn't. After a while of trying, they both sat down on the cot. "Where do you think Eugene and Jack and Hiccup are right now? Do you think they've noticed we're gone?"

Merida scoffed. "Of course they've noticed by now. We've been in here for a while. Someone's bound to be lookin'. What do ya think they want wi' us?"

"Mo- Gothel wants the magic from my hair. It's always kept her young. I don't know how she's alive, or how she found me, but now that has me again…"

Merida put her arm around her friend in comfort, careful of the chains. "We won't let her use you again. I promise to get us out of here." She looked around the room but couldn't see anything that'll help.

They were both silent for a moment, then Merida spoke up, "Your hair can heal any injury, right? It healed Eugene's stab wound that one time, and Hiccup's cut on his arm."

Rapunzel nodded, not sure what Merida was getting at.

"I'm thinking, if I pulled hard enough on these, my hands could come out. But it'll hurt, and it'll rip my skin off, or even worse, but if you could heal it after…"

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Rapunzel asked. That sounded like a lot of pain. She didn't want her friend to go through something like that if there was some other way.

The red head took a deep breath. "If it'll git me out of here, yes." She answered.

Rapunzel frowned at the thought, but nodded.

Merida steeled herself and began to pull at the chains hard. She bit her lip at the pain.

"Stop. There's a better way!" Someone said from by the door.

Both girls looked over to see a woman in green and blue hovering above the ground with little blue and green birds flying around her, and a short, golden colored man positioned in front of the closed door, next to them a glowing sphere of light disappeared. Both of them had a worried expression on their faces at seeing what Merida was attempting.

"What?" Merida asked. "Who are yeugh?"

"How did you get in here?" Rapunzel added.

"We'll explain later," The flying woman said, coming closer. "But first we need to get you out of here." As she spoke a few of the little birds approached Merida's locked hands. The hovered around it for a second, squeaking and chirping, and then one of them stuck their long beak into the lock. A few seconds passed and the cuffs popped open and fell to the ground.

Merida rubbed her chaffed wrists and looked at the birds. "Thank yeugh, but who are you guys?" No one answered, but the birds started to squeak again and push Merida forward. "Hey, Wha' are you doing?"

"Come with me," The woman grabbed Rapunzel's hand as the golden man pulled out a globe and threw it on the ground, causing a sphere of light to appear, showing a green earthy image inside. "Like I said, we'll explain everything to you soon." She then led Rapunzel through the sphere.

The man silently gestured for Merida to follow and the birds gently prodded her forward. Annoyed at them she half-heartedly swatted them away, but followed her friend through the portal.