I know, I know... I'm awful! It's been almost a year since I last updated this story, and I'm sure all you readers must be mad. I assure you that it was never my intention to take so long to update. It's just that when I posted the last chapter back last March, it was close to finals, so I initially put the story on hold as I had to make college my first priority. Right after finals ended, I went straight back to writing and managed to complete half of the chapter within a couple weeks, but then it was time for summer classes to start, and I had to set aside time for writing to do homework for that. Plus, it was sometime last summer that my good friend SharKohen and I started messaging back and forth to outline the plot line for Magic Intertwined. Obviously, I had to use my writing time for The Winter Servant to instead help draft out Magic Intertwined. Right after summer classes ended, the new fall semester began, and I was immediately swamped with twice as much homework as ever. In other words... life got in the way. I'm so sorry for how long it took me to get this chapter out!

Flame me as much as you want for taking nine months to finish this chapter. I won't get mad. I deserve it.

Also, I should note that Silken Danser betaed this chapter already, so it's typo-free. I hope that at least earns me some brownie points from all of you fans, lol.

And now, it's shout out time for everyone out there who betaed during the long nine month hiatus between chapter five and chapter six:

- zoepeanut

- Cloud4012

- NotCanadian

- Neo

- AnthroDragon

- SMr. Freeze

- Fireflames2018

- jordster

- INKside Out

- Sammael29

- Guest (x2) (In the future, please leave a name so I can properly acknowledge you in any future AU notes)

- Imagelight

- I'm the lonely life

Thanks again for reviewing during my long absence! I apologize again all of you since you liked this story enough to spend an additional few minutes reviewing it.

Please note: I do not own the movies Frozen, Rise of the Guardians, Brave, Tangled, or How to Train Your Dragon. Frozen, Brave, and Tangled belong to Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Rise of the Guardians and How to Train Your Dragon both belong to Dreamworks Animation. This is a fanfic made for fun, not profit!

Please remember to review when you're done reading this chapter! Reviews help keep me motivated, so hopefully I won't disappear for so long when it comes to this story again, lol!

Happy Reading!

Chapter Six: The Search for Jack

Far away from Arendelle, in another wintry wonderland located at the very tip of the earth, the North Pole, there was a beautiful castle hidden away from the rest of the world at the edge of a massive ice canyon. It was an impressive building in both stature and the beauty of its Russian architecture, but perhaps even more striking was the way it had been built directly into the side of the canyon. While the castle itself was grand, it also doubled as a massive workshop for the castle's owner and his hundreds of elves and yeti employees that constructed toys for all the good little children of the world. Near the base of this magical workshop was a large stable for the owner's reindeer to stay and rest during the three hundred and sixty-four days that they were not flying the castle master's magic sleigh. It was only on Christmas Eve that they would take to the skies and deliver toys to all the little boys and girls around the world.

However, at this particular moment, the castle's owner was not worrying about Christmas. As it was currently the middle of summer, he had his loyal yetis working hard at building toys while the elves 'tested' them afterward, but so long as they all met their daily quota, there was no rush nor any reason to be worried. Christmas was still a long way off, so he had plenty of time to relax and work on his personal hobby of ice carving interesting little creations. He was currently doing so in his private study while munching on his all-time favorite snack and drink: Christmas cookies coupled with an ice-cold glass of milk.

Fiery loud gypsy violin music echoed loudly throughout the office as the master of the North Pole worked. A large block of solid ice was on top of his desk, ready to be carved out into an intricate little ice sculpture. As the rather large man pushed back the sleeves of his red plaid shirt before turning on a nearby chainsaw to shape the ice, it exposed the black worded tattoos that were imprinted on each of his arms:

Naughty on the right arm.

Nice on the left.

His mouth was nearly hidden behind the thick tufts of hair that made up his long, shining silvery beard, but it was lightly humming along to the jaunty melody. After a time, the chainsaw shut off and he pushed himself in his wheelie chair away from the desk to get to a small table off to the side. His twinkling baby blue eyes searched across its surface of scattered ice sculpting tools until he finally located a miniature hammer no longer than three inches.

As he pushed himself back to the large block of ice with the tiny hammer in hand, he glanced over his shoulder at three tiny beings that were huddled in the corner of the large office space.

"Still waiting for cookies!" he called out, his voice containing a heavy Russian accent.

The three little beings were three of his many elves. Dressed all in red suits with black belts around their waists and pointy hats with small jingle bells at the very tips, they each had funny shaped ears that stuck straight out and smiley faces with rosy red cheeks, and on each of their feet was a set of striped stockings. They were silly creatures, tending to cause more mischief around the toy factory rather than help out in it. That was especially true right now. The three little elves had been given the very simple task of bringing their boss a plate of his favorite Christmas cookies from the castle kitchen, but instead of bringing the snack directly to him, they had decided on a whim to munch on a few of the cookies first. Upon hearing their superior call out for his requested treat, they froze in the middle of chewing the their stolen sweets. They hurriedly swallowed what was in their mouths before scurrying as fast as they could to the desk with what remained of the cookies.

As their boss waited for them to deliver him his snack, he gently tapped the hammer rhythmically against certain areas in the huge block of ice, gradually chiseling away bit by bit. He let the cut off, discarded shards of ice fall away onto the red carpeted flooring as the ice on the table began to form into the shape of a beautifully crafted, tiny choo choo train. It was currently the year eighteen thirty-nine and trains had only been around for the past thirty or so years, but already the immortal spirit had a lot of fun thinking up new toys to make that were inspired by them. He let out a great guffaw of triumph when it was finally completed. This had to be one of his finest, most wondrous creations up to date! But that wasn't at all surprising. He was the Guardian of Wonder in children, after all.

And just who was this mysterious owner of a Russian castle and toy workshop?

What a silly question!

Santa Claus, of course!

Or as he was known to his most trusted friends, Nicholas St. North.

Or just North, for short.

With a grin, North collected the ice model train off his desk, blew away some of the excess snow and frost still clinging to its sides, and then carefully placed it at the top of another ice sculpture currently on his desk… an ice rollercoaster track, to be exact. The ice locomotive let out a tiny toot of approval as it merrily began to roll down the track on its tiny iced wheels, showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down at all.

North chuckled. "Yes!" he cried out gleefully.

As the train continued to roll down the ice track, the elves finally managed to climb up on top of the desk with what remained of the cookies. Their cheeks were all puffed out and round, as they had managed to shove a few more inside their tiny mouths while they brought North the plate, and they were now struggling to swallow the sweets down their throats.

One of them was unable to get the cookie to go down, and instead elected to unfurl its tongue and let the half-eaten morsel spill out back onto the plate.

North didn't seem to care however, and merely smiled when he saw them with his snacks. "Ah, finally!" he said, grabbing one cookie at random and taking a large bite. His smile was practically infectious as he enjoyed the treat, but then he focused back in on the ice train he had made when it rolled down the track in front of him.

His smile returned as he saw the ice toy reach the end of the track. Instead of falling off the desk and smashing into hundreds of tiny ice shards on the floor, the train shot up into the air and seemed to sprout forth a set of wings on either side, transforming itself into a lovely ice airplane. While planes technically hadn't been invented yet in the mortal realm and wouldn't be for about another sixty years, the creator of this beautiful transforming ice sculpture was a spirit, and he was already well aware that one day humans would invent this wonderful form of transportation. When they did, he wanted to be ready with all sorts of toys based on flight. Sure, this train that turned into a plane wouldn't be allowed to be seen by humans for another few decades, but it didn't hurt to be prepared. Besides, Christmas was still months away; he could afford to spare some time thinking up toys to make far into the future.

North's smile grew even larger as he saw the little plane fly towards his office door. What a wonderful prototype toy he had invented! With a little refining, by Christmastime he could create a similar toy that would turn into things that the humans had already invented. It would mean a lot of hard work on his end, as well as for his yetis and elves, but so long as every child had a smile on his or her face on Christmas Day, it would be worth it in the end.

Christmas was a time for wonder and magic and, as the immortal being called Santa Claus by the rest of the world, it was his job to protect those qualities in children. He was the Guardian of Wonder after all.

But his musings were interrupted when the door to his study was slammed open by his head yeti Phil, and his ice plane was shattered completely on impact. Both North and Phil gaped at the sight of the destroyed prototype toy. It had been such a wonderful little toy, but now it was gone. Ruined. And all because Phil had forgotten to knock like North had always instructed him to do.

The yeti nervously gulped, and tried to voice an apology for the accident in a frenzy of gibberish that made no sense to normal human ears, but to North, Phil's words actually sounded like the words they were meant to be. Under normal circumstances, the jolly old immortal spirit would have listened attentively to what his head yeti had to say, but upon seeing Phil's rude entrance into his office, Kris Kringle's smiling face instead transformed into an ugly, annoyed scowl.

"How many times have I told you to knock?!" snapped North in obvious exasperation.

Phil jumped, but then he remembered why he had been so frantic to speak to his boss in the first place, and shook aside North's words in order to explain in yeti mumbles and grumbles about what had just happened out in the main room of the workshop.

The instant North heard what his head yeti said, his annoyance vanished. "What? The globe?"

Phil quickly nodded. North had to know that this wasn't just a simple matter of absentminded elves accidentally ruining a stack of toys during a testing phase. In fact, it didn't have anything to do with his duties as Santa Claus. No this was a situation of utmost importance that involved his responsibilities as a Guardian.

When something went wrong with the globe, it meant that something was wrong with the belief of the children around the world.

North was also aware of this and, with one quick motion, he leaned over and grabbed the golden hilt of one of his dual bladed scimitar swords before hurrying out of his office. He had to get to the main room of his workshop immediately and find out what the trouble was.

After striding across the workshop floor and taking a ride upwards in one of the many elevators throughout the castle, North hurried to make his way past the rest of his elf and yeti employees on the main floor of the building, as that was where the Globe of Belief was located.

The Globe of Belief was a gigantic globe of the entire Earth, and twinkling merrily on all the continents was an array of beautiful golden lights. Each one of those lights represented a child. A child who believed in either himself, Santa Claus, or another one of his fellow Guardians of Memories, Hope, and Dreams. And good or bad, naughty or nice, North and the other Guardians protected them. It was their vow to the Man in the Moon that they would watch over and guard the children of the world from any prominent dangers throughout the rest of their immortal lives. If something should happen that would put the children in jeopardy, North and the others would do everything in their power to squash that threat immediately so the children would be safe.

They had never failed in the past to protect the children. If Phil was right and something was currently happening to the lights right now, North would have to summon forth his fellow Guardians to discuss what might be happening and how they could fix whatever danger could be threatening the children.

Granted, while they would do everything they could to uphold their promise to the Man in the Moon and save the children, it still wouldn't be the same as it used to be back in the Dark Ages – when they last had to interfere in the mortal realm.

Because they were missing one Guardian.

…The former Guardian of Courage.

It was sad to North, but he knew he couldn't think about him right now. No, he had to check out the Globe.

"Shoo with your pointy heads," he said rather nonchalantly as the sea of elves and their tiny bell-tipped caps scrambled to move aside for their boss as North's huge black boots marched purposefully past them. "Why are you all always under boot?"

Standing near the Globe's control panel were two curious yetis, and North squeezed his way past them so he could see the Globe up close with his own eyes. At first, he wasn't quite sure what the problem was. As far as he could see, the Globe appeared to be fine. The lights were still bright in every continent as far as he could tell. Once in a while, one or two lights might go out in one of the many countries around the world, but that wasn't a cause for concern. It was only natural that when a child grew up, they forgot about the wonder, hopes, dreams, and memories of childhood and stopped believing in the Guardians. One or two lights going out simply meant that a child had grown out of believing in the Guardians, but unless mass quantities of lights were snuffed all at once, there wasn't any reason to be worried.

In all honesty, North had no idea what was so important that Phil had to come and get him, and he quickly spun around to look at the head yeti in confusion.

"Everything appears to be well. What is the problem?" he asked.

The yetis pointed to a northern region of the Globe in response. Or rather, they pointed at the area of Northern Europe in particular.

Again, at first, North had no idea what he was supposed to be looking at, as all the countries in the northern regions of Europe appeared okay and all the lights were still twinkling about happily. But when his blue eyes initially skimmed over Norway, they immediately halted and instead zoomed back towards the small country to take a second look.

Even though it was summer and Norway was supposed to be covered in luscious greenery to represent the warm season, the whiteness of snow was gradually spreading across the land, originating from the small kingdom of Arendelle. As this happened, nearly all the lights that were in Arendelle and the surrounding forests and mountain ranges were flickering repeatedly, symbolizing that all the children in the area were losing belief and fast.

North's eyes went wide as he watched this happen. "What is this?" he questioned rhetorically, not understanding what could be going on.

What could cause this unnatural snowy phenomenon? Winter was many months away. And was this unnatural winter somehow connected to why all the lights in the country were struggling to stay lit up? As a Guardian, a mass breakout of wavering lights was cause for alarm, but as an immortal who had spent hundreds of years watching over the Globe, it was also cause for confusion. He had never seen anything like this before – an utterly unseasonal snow blanketing such a large space – and he was thoroughly baffled by it.

"Have you checked the axis? Is the rotation balanced?" he questioned one of the yetis over his shoulder. The lights and snow could somehow be attributed to an error with how the Globe was situated on its stand right now. If one of the elves had bumped into it… it was possible. Unlikely, but possible. For their many faults of being scatterbrained, the one thing that all the little elves did understand was to never mess around with the Globe. They knew how vital it was to the safety of children worldwide, and even though they were all reckless, they would never do anything to jeopardize something so important.

The yeti he addressed quickly began to say in his mumble and grumble language that, yes, he and the other yetis had checked the axis and rotation. Everything was in perfect order with the Globe. Whatever was happening right now, it wasn't because of a technical error that had occurred here at the North Pole.

North's uneasiness rose exponentially at that, but before he could say anything, something else happened to the Globe of Belief.

…Something that made the hairs raise on the back of his neck.

A wind whipped up in the room from seemingly out of nowhere, and as it began repeatedly circling the enormous ceramic replica of the Earth, a blanket of inky black sand began swirling around the country of Norway until eventually the entire northern realm was swallowed up in darkness. One by one, a multitude of lights went out all over the nation, but primarily in the kingdom of Arendelle. There, the lights seemed to go all out at once, leaving just a handful of lights left in the entire kingdom. Only a select number of children in Arendelle still believed in the Guardians now. But why? What had happened to make the children there lose belief all at once?

As the elves began scurrying to duck behind pillars or other pieces of heavy furniture to avoid being carried away by the strong gusts of wind, North watched in astonishment as the Globe began to spin on its axis, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. As it did so, more of the black sand began to spread from Norway to other regions of the Globe. No more lights went out anywhere else, thank heavens, but the evil, mysterious black sand continued to spread rapidly across the enormous ball of the Earth, eventually swallowing it up until there was no trace of the blue and green regions of the planet.

But then, as quickly as the Globe was covered up, all the black sand seemed to rush up to the ceiling all at once and burst into a puff of black smoke, gradually dissipating into the air until no trace of the smoke or sand remained. The wind died away as well, as though no mysterious event had occurred at all.

The elves still remained hidden in their hiding spots though, and North kept his guard up. Something sinister was happening here in his beloved North Pole. Of that, he was sure. The question was, what was going on and why?

He barely had time to think this before a huge shadow suddenly darted across the floor just behind him, greatly startling his yetis. North whipped around to try and see it, but the shadow zoomed away from him just before he could, whooshing upwards into the air until it was right beside the Globe. There it took the shape of a body.

…The body of an evil creature that North had not seen since the end of the Dark Ages.

The dark shadow laughed wickedly as it circled the Globe, eventually coming to a stop in front of the country of Norway. With a maniacal grin, it poked one of its bony black fingers precisely on the spot where the kingdom of Arendelle was located, and then it disappeared with a quick swirl of black sand.

The shadow was gone, but the memory of it lingered in the air for all those in the toy workshop that had just witnessed what had happened.

And in North's case, he was dumbstruck as realization of what this meant began to sink in.

"Can it be…?" he whispered.

There was a long pause as he absorbed everything that had happened, but then he quickly looked over his shoulder at the elves that were slowly emerging from their hiding spots.

"Dingle!"

He had only meant to call out for just one of them, but at least four of the tiny elves stepped forward while gesturing to themselves, as though they were all named 'Dingle.' The moment that they saw each other, their eager expressions quickly turned to puzzlement as they struggled to figure out which one of them it was that North wanted.

However, North ignored their usual confused antics and continued to speak.

"Make preparations!" he ordered. "We are going to have company!"

As the elves all nodded and ran off to fetch an assortment of snacks and drinks to offer the soon-to-be-arriving guests, North reached toward a large emergency lever on the control panel in front of the Globe. He twisted the handle a bit to get it into its proper position, and then pressed down into the panel as though it were no different than a button.

Instantly, a pulse of rainbow energy originated from the Globe itself, and then traveled upwards until it exited the building through the overhead skylight. It hovered there above the toy factory for a few seconds, and then began to travel rapidly in all directions at once across the sky.

To the rest of the world, the lights of the aurora borealis were beautiful natural creations that originated from the northern regions of the earth and made the night sky look like an array of rainbow lights sailing amongst the stars.

But for immortal spirits, the Northern Lights symbolized a distress call.

A distress call for all the Guardians to gather immediately.

It would undoubtedly take his fellow Guardians some time to notice his emergency signal and hurry to meet him here at the Pole for this unplanned meeting, but for North, every second that passed by without any of them arriving was precious time wasted, in his opinion.

The enemy that they had kept at bay for centuries had finally decided to strike back against them and humanity, and only the Guardians had the power to stop him.

Time passed by far too slowly for Nicholas St. North, but finally – about fifteen minutes after he had lit up the Northern Lights and sent out the distress signal – his three fellow Guardians finally arrived.

The first one to catch his attention was the only female immortal amongst the group. Her name was Toothiana, or simply Tooth for short, and she was commonly known by humans to be the Tooth Fairy, the Guardian of Memories. As a hybrid between looking like a normal human being and some type of colorful hummingbird, Tooth was a slender young woman with her entire body seemingly covered in feathers of blue, green, and bright gold. The only visible areas on her that showed that she had tan skin was her face and hands. Around her ankles and wrists were golden lines that looked like golden bracelets and anklets, and gold feather dangled from either of her ears reminiscent of that of earrings. The only parts of her that resembled a fairy in the slightest were her wings. They were both iridescent and see-through, just like any set of fairy wings, and they were fluttering about rapidly in the air so she could stay airborne. Her pink eyes were shining with happiness as she nodded politely to North in greeting, but even though she was curious as to what may have possessed her friend to summon herself and their two fellow teammates to this meeting, she was slightly preoccupied by her mini Baby Teeth fluttering about around her head. She was directing them to where they had to go to collect teeth from under the pillows of the children around the world who were fast asleep in their beds, dreaming about the following morning where they would discover that the Tooth Fairy had come during the night to exchange their teeth for a precious gold coin. Like Tooth, the Baby Teeth looked very much like her, as a crossover between a fairy and a small hummingbird, and all of them made tiny tweets of greeting when they finally saw North.

North smiled kindly at Tooth, but then he turned his attention toward Sandy, the Sandman and the Guardian of Dreams. His full name was Sanderson Mansnoozie, but they all simply called him Sandy since 'Sanderson' was such a mouthful. A short and squat little person, Sandy wore a yellow robe made up of the golden particles of his Dreamsand and matching golden slippers. His hair was also a matching yellow that glittered like his sand, and it was styled into five points that shot out in all directions on his round head. His honey brown eyes were warm and happy as he flew in from the overhead skylight in his golden Dreamsand plane – his elected mode of quick transportation – and waved happily at North when he saw him. He would have simply said a kind hello, but Sandy never spoke a word to anyone. Instead, he communicated through his facial expressions and by forming images over his head with Dreamsand. He was a peaceful and calm immortal, and in all the years that North had known him, he had only seen Sandy get angry during instances when the children of the world were in danger.

And finally, there was the last member of the squad, who was currently hopping his way out of a hole he had made in the ground that was connected to a tunnel that. The tunnel which this hole was attached to led all the way back to his own private underground oasis in the Australian Outback that he called the Warren. He was E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny, and the Guardian of Hope. He was a Pooka, a long believed to be fantasy rabbit species with grayish-blue fur and bright green eyes, and he stood up to being nearly six feet tall. On each of his front paws was a set of leather bracers with orange stones embedded in them, and around his back paws were brown leather wrappings. He also had a single strap holster around his furry waist that carried his boomerangs, his weapons of choice. As he himself was Australian, Bunny had a thick accent and tended to act as rough and tough as the Outback itself when the situation called for it. But he held great pride for his holiday, and it constantly annoyed him whenever North claimed that Christmas was more important than Easter. Granted, it was currently the summer season and Easter was finally over, but there were still so many things that Bunny would rather be doing right now than being called in for a meeting. He had new chocolate recipes he should be testing out, egg colors to be experimenting with, new flowers to be planting back in the Warren… If this meeting was being called for anything other than an absolute emergency, he was going to be furious.

As the three of them all settled in from their long journeys from every corner of the globe, one of the elves that North had sent to go and fetch refreshments returned carrying a tray in hand, which thankfully had all the cookies still on its plate and all the liquid still poured to the brim in the goblets.

"Cookies? Eggnog? Anyone?" North offered to his friends, gesturing to the tray the elf was still carrying.

The others all shook their heads as the elf passed the tray over to Phil to hold.

"This better be good, North," Bunny said rather irritably, a miniscule paintbrush in one of his paws and a half-finished prototype egg in the other. It didn't matter that Easter was over. Like North, Bunny's job required him to be preparing for his holiday all the time. While eggs and chocolates were perishables that expired after a certain date, he still needed to come up with new ideas that would outshine the previous Easter every year. So it didn't matter that this was technically an emergency Guardian meeting. He still had to be on top of preparations for next Easter.

Just as soon as he warmed up his oversized feet by that roaring fireplace in the corner, that is. Bunny knew that the Globe was situated at the North Pole, so all meetings had to take place here, but the one thing that he hated about their designated meeting spot was how cold he easily got whenever he was forced to visit the Pole. One day he would find the courage to give Manny a piece of his mind and demand that they move the meetings to his home in the Warren, or even to Tooth's Palace out in Southeast Asia. At least then he wouldn't be freezing his white fluffy cottontail off whenever there was Guardian business to attend to.

But North ignored him as he approached Sandy, who was busily hopping down from the seat of his Dreamsand plane and making it disappear behind him with a simple wave of his hand. "Ah, Sandy! Thank you for coming!" he greeted.

Meanwhile, Tooth was oblivious to what they were all doing, as she was still busy giving her fairies directions.

"Montreal, sector six: ten premolars, eight incisors, and twelve canines! Steer clear of wild geese in the area! They can get pretty nasty in Canada!"

But the others were quite used to their female comrade's chatter about teeth to her mini-Tooth Fairies whenever they were all together, and elected to ignore her instructions to her little cohorts as they spoke. And so far, the conversation seemed to be aimed at how this meeting was cutting into their work.

Even Sandy made a series of sand glyphs appear over his head to demonstrate to North just how busy he was right now trying to guarantee the pleasant dreams of kids everywhere tonight, and that unless this was truly important, he too had better things to do than to be called in to this unplanned Guardian meeting.

North was immediately on the defensive over his reasoning for calling this gathering. "I know, I know. But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here unless it was serious."

His answer caught Tooth's attention, and she quickly tuned in to the matter at hand as she shushed her fairies so that she could give North her full and undivided attention. Even Bunny glanced up at that. Although he kept his oversized rabbit feet hovering over the flames in the fireplace to warm them up, his floppy ears twitched a bit in North's direction to hear whatever it was that he had to say.

Seeing that the others were finally ready to fully listen to what he had to report, North blurted his news right out for them all to hear. "The Boogeyman was here! At the Pole!"

Tooth immediately gasped. "Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?!"

North nodded. "Yes! First, Norway was inexplicably covered by snow. And then, there was black sand covering the globe!"

"Wait, what… What do you mean by black sand covering the Globe and snow in Norway?" Bunny interrupted, hopping away from the fireplace to get in on this conversation. "It's summer. Norway should be covered in greenery. And even if it was Pitch, he doesn't deal with snow. So what are you talking about?"

North merely shrugged. "I don't know any more than any of you do on that, Bunny. All I know is that Norway was engulfed in snow, originating from the kingdom of Arendelle, and after that, a shadow swallowed the world."

Bunny was still unimpressed and collected the egg and paintbrush he had momentarily discarded. The Easter egg resumed getting a paintjob, as he doubtfully looked at North. "Hold on, hold on. I thought you said you saw Pitch."

North's expression turned sheepish. "Well, uh… not exactly," he admitted.

The gigantic rabbit's expression turned even more skeptical. "'Not exactly?'" he repeated with a slight eye roll as he turned to Sandy. "Can you believe this guy?"

Sandy's response was to simply shrug his shoulders and make a question mark appear over his head with his shimmering Dreamsand.

Bunny smirked, and completely immersed himself back into painting more colorful designs on his egg. "Yeah, you said it, Sandy," he chuckled.

"Look, he's up to something very bad," North claimed. "I feel it – in my belly!"

He clutched his oversized round belly to emphasize, but Bunny was still not convinced.

"Hang on, hang on," the Pooka said, his eyes narrowing a bit, "you mean to say you that summoned me here while I was in the middle of baking new Easter candy recipes because of your belly? Mate, if I did this to you while you were in the middle of thinking up new toys for Christmas—"

"Argentina! Priority alert!" Tooth unexpectedly interrupted, drawing all eyes to her. Again, the colorful Tooth Fairy was directing more of her fairies to other continents where teeth needed to be collected. "A batch of bicuspids in Buenos Aires!"

North blinked for a moment, but then shook his head a bit before turning his attention back to the Easter Bunny. "Please, Bunny. Easter candies are not Christmas toys," he insisted. To further express his skepticism over Easter being more important than Christmas, he actually elected to take the egg Bunny was painting and tossed it up and down dismissively in his meaty hand a few times.

Bunny deadpanned for about half a second over North's treatment of his precious egg, but then he started scornfully laughing. "Here we go…" he muttered.

Sandy simply chose to tune everyone out as he floated over to where one of the yetis was holding up a tray of eggnog, and accepted a golden goblet of the Christmassy drink for himself. It was pointless for the silent member of the Guardians to come between North and Bunny when they were quarreling about which of their holidays was more important or to distract Tooth when she was giving directions to her little fairies. They all believed that talking was necessary to get their points across, when really, it was those who stayed silent and paid attention to detail that got things done. It had never failed the tiny Sandman in the past, and he didn't see how it would fail him now.

He sighed as he watched them. After a moment though, he abruptly realized that one of North's elves had snuck up onto the table next to him and was trying to sneak a drink from his goblet. With a slight scowl, Sandy hastily jerked his cup away from the tiny creature, and the elf slipped and fell off the table with a resounding jingle of his itty-bitty belled hat. Sandy otherwise ignored it. For now, he would simply float around while sipping his eggnog and wait for everyone to calm down. Once they did, then they could get back to the matter at hand and find out had caused North to summon them.

Or at least, that was his plan, up until he noticed something very important happening as the others spoke.

From high up above, through the overhead skylight, Sandy spied the light of the full moon rising into view, its beautiful silver rays dancing brightly in the night sky before descending to light up the walls of the enormous room. The Moon was a very important figure to the Guardians, because technically, the Moon could almost be considered their boss. The Man-in-the-Moon had handpicked the four of them, out of everyone else in the entire world, to be the Guardians of Childhood. So naturally, they all had great respect for Manny.

If Manny was making an appearance, then North hadn't been completely crazy to summon them all from out of the blue like this. Something big was going on.

"North, I don't have time for this! I've still got ovens full of candies back in the Warren that I left unattended!"

"Bah! It's just candy. You almost always end up using the same old recipes. It's not like you're baking cookies. Now those require full and undivided attention to bake right."

Unable to speak up to get their attention, Sandy immediately dropped his empty golden goblet and started pointing frantically toward the moon. He had to get his three friend's concentration redirected to the Moon somehow. Manny wanted to talk to them and it was imperative that they listen to his counsel.

But the others were still so preoccupied with their own agendas that they all failed to notice both the Sandman's wild gestures and Manny's light.

"Look, Mate, I'm dealing with perishables! Those ovens could set the whole Warren on fire if I don't hurry back!" Bunny snapped, seizing the egg back from North as he spoke. "You've got all year to prepare toys. But I gotta use this time thinking up recipes and new egg designs. I only get so much time every Spring before things have to be ready."

"Pittsburg, boy eight, two molars," Tooth chirped to more of her fairies. "Saltwater taffy!"

Seeing no response from any of them, Sandy brought his fingers to his mouth to try and whistle to get their attention, and even created a yellow musical note above his head.

But it was no use. He was still utterly silent no matter what he tried.

"Why are rabbits always so nervous?"

"And why are you always such a blowhard?"

Sandy desperately tried floating around now while waving a golden sand flag frantically over his head to get either North or Bunny to take notice of him, but the two quarreling spirits were instead distracted by Tooth as she fluttered by, still jabbering about teeth in a rather fast frenzy to her little pixie workers.

"Ontario, sector nine: five canines, two molars, and fourteen incisors… Wait, is that all in one house?"

"Tooth!" said North abruptly, snapping the spritely hummingbird-like woman out of her one-track state of mind. "Can't you see we're trying to argue?"

Tooth had the decency to blush at her own behavior. "Sorry! Not all of us get to work one night a year… Am I right, Sandy?"

Sandy's only response was to shape some more of his Dreamsand into a golden arrow and point it toward the open skylight. There was a brief pause as Tooth gazed curiously at the arrow he made, but then she seemed to gasp in realization. At first, Sandy hoped that Tooth had finally noticed the moonlight shining through the roof, but then she whipped back around to keep prattling on to her fairy workers.

"San Diego, sector two! Five incisors, a bicuspid, and a really loose molar on stand-by!"

As she flew off to continue giving out instructions to her little fairies, Bunny resumed painting his egg as he spoke in a rather mocking tone to North.

"Come on, mate. Pitch went out with the Dark Ages. We made sure of it. And he didn't have any control over snow or the weather."

North was becoming rather exasperated by this point. "I know it was him! We have a serious situation!"

"Well, I've got a serious situation back home with some candies in the ovens!"

Tooth hovered toward them with a curious look on her face. "Hey, I hate to interrupt the, 'We-Work-So-Hard-Once-A-Year-Club,' but could we concentrate on the matter—"

Ring-a-ling!

Ring-a-ling!

Ring-a-ling!

The sound of a tiny bell being frantically jingled in a rather chaotic fashion instantly silenced the three chattering Guardians, and they all spun around.

Sandy had finally had enough with being ignored by the others. When he spied one of North's mischievous elves picking up the goblet he had dropped earlier to try and see if there was any eggnog left inside for him to sip, Sandy had simply floated over and seized him by his red pointy hat before proceeding to shake him vigorously. The small bell on his hat rung out loudly and got everyone to finally pipe down.

Upon seeing that he finally had North, Bunny, and Tooth's full and undivided attention at last, Sandy promptly dropped the elf – ignoring the way that it fell to the floor in a rather dizzy daze – and made a golden sand crescent moon symbol appear above his head before pointing at the moonbeams still shining through the open skylight.

The others all blinked and spun around to see what he was talking about, but upon finally noticing the silver orb hovering in the skye, North's puzzled expression immediately changed to a look of delight.

"Ah! Man in Moon!" he said happily. Then he turned to glance back over his shoulder at the squat little man that was watching all of them. "Sandy, why didn't you say something?"

For a few seconds, Sandy just stared a deadpanned look at the alleged Santa Claus, but then a scowl quickly formed its way on his face as golden Dreamsand shot out from his ears just like steam. Now he was annoyed. He knew he was a mute, but did they all think that he had only just noticed that Manny wanted to talk to them? One of these days, he was going to have to take the time to get a real bell so he could always ensure he could get their attention.

But the others were oblivious to Sandy's irritation, as they were now focusing on the moonlight streaming down from the skylight. The beam concentrated onto the emblem of the Guardians – a stylized 'G' set into a circle that was surrounded by a diamond – which just so happened to be inscribed on the floor between all of them.

"It's been a long time, old friend!" North went on. "What is big news?"

For a long, tense moment the Moon didn't reply to the big, jolly man, forcing the four Guardians to wait anxiously for their supreme leader's response as they gathered at each of the points of the diamond emblem. But then, the moonlight streaming through the window seemed to grow brighter, and a mysterious shadow of an ominous silhouette appeared in the middle of the beam.

A silhouette that the four of them knew all too well, even if they hadn't seen him for years.

"It is Pitch," Bunny gasped, looking just as stunned as Tooth and Sandy did upon seeing their old nemesis' shadowy form on the ground before them.

North looked oh so smug as he patted his belly and gave the Pooka a look, and then he glanced back up at the Moon.

"Manny, what must we do?" he asked.

Within seconds, the shadowy outline of the Boogeyman disappeared and the moonlight intensified upon the circle on the floor, illuminating the decorative symbol in the middle. Then the section of the floor with the ornate letter 'G' on it slid away to make room for a large pillar that rose up from inside the floor. It had a large, glowing blue gem resting on top of it, and as soon as the gem was up high enough in the room, the moonbeams still streaming through the room began to refract off it, casting rays of blue light all over the space.

The fact that this gem-laden pillar was rising out of the ground stunned all four of them for a moment. The few times that this had happened before was for one reason only.

"Uh, guys, you know what this means?" Tooth whispered.

North nodded, an awestruck look now on his face. "He's choosing a new Guardian!"

"What?! Why?!" Bunny gasped.

"Must be big deal. Manny thinks we need help."

Bunny eyes narrowed. "So he wants to choose a replacement for our old friend then, is that it?!" he snapped.

His words brought a pause over the rest of the group. Technically, Bunny was correct in this instance. Whoever Manny was choosing right now would end up being a replacement. The fifth member of their squad had died a long, long time ago, and there wasn't a day that went by where they didn't think about him.

Finally, Tooth cleared her throat and forced a happy, enthusiastic smile on her face. There was no use dwelling in the past right now. No, Manny wanted them all to move on and think about the future. If he didn't, he obviously wouldn't be choosing this new Guardian at all. That's how she felt, anyway.

"I wonder who it's gonna be!" she said excitedly, trying to make this moment lively and happy once again.

Sandy picked up on her cheer, and quickly made a small, gold four-leaf clover appear above his head with his sand.

"Maybe the Leprechaun?" she voiced for him.

Bunny meanwhile was simply praying that the new Guardian wasn't one immortal in particular.

"Please not the Groundhog… Please not the Groundhog…" he whispered pleadingly over and over.

North said nothing whatsoever, and just chose to watch the gem with eagerness shining in his bright blue eyes. It had been so long since they lost their old comrade in their previous encounter with Pitch. He was dearly missed, but it was time to move on. Whoever it was that Manny had chosen to be the new fifth Guardian amongst them, North hoped that it was a spirit who had something very special inside that he or she would always vow to protect in children. There were so many things that made the world wonderful when humans were young but that faded away from their minds as they grew up. Whatever amazing trait this new spirit had for their center, North trusted Manny to choose someone who had the power to always bring a smile to every child's face.

That was what being a Guardian was all about, after all.

It wasn't just about protecting children from evil beings such as Pitch. It was also about bringing them joy.

Let this new immortal bring something new to the table that would inspire wonder and happiness in the young, innocent boys and girls of the world.

Finally, a bright flash of light emanated from the great blue crystal, followed by a strong gust of wind throughout the chamber, and then at last, the see-through figure manifesting in the blue lights above the gem was fully formed.

A teenage boy with a rather sad expression on his face stood in the lights, his bare hands creating great wisps of snow and ice. As he stared at his hands, he seemed to just grow sadder, as though the very sight of the magical power was enough to make him downright miserable. And strangely enough, he was wearing the most peculiar set of clothing imaginable. He had no form of shoes on, and all his clothes seemed to be made directly out of either snow or ice. His hair was wild and messy, and even though it was currently blue thanks to the lights from the gem, all four Guardians could tell that it was really some sort of dark color. Even more odd, his skin didn't seem to be pale enough to prove that he was a spirit, proving that – although he was apparently quite depressed – he was still a strong, healthy teenager.

All four Guardians were confused to see this unknown boy appear before them in the light of the pedestal, but a few things were immediately clear:

One, this kid was not a spirit. He was still a living, breathing human being.

Two, he apparently had some type of wintery powers inside him, and for some reason, he didn't like them.

And three, whoever this boy was, he bore a very strong resemblance to an old friend of theirs.

A friend who had died a very, very long time ago.

All four of them stood there in silence for some time, not quite sure what to make of what they were looking at in the light of the blue Guardian Stone. However, before any of them could try to recover from their confusion, the image of the sad ice boy faded away as the light from the gem went out completely, and the pillar began to lower back down into the floor.

"Now what's happening?!" Bunny demanded, quickly turning his attention to North. "Who was that kid?! Do any of you know? He's not an immortal, is he? I've never seen him!"

"Neither have I," Tooth admitted, sounding beyond puzzled as she watched the last of the pillar be swallowed back up by the floor. "I've never met any spirit that can control ice and snow before. Have either of you met him, North, Sandy?"

Sandy quickly shook his head, as did North.

"I use ice a lot when building prototype toys here in the workshop, but that's as far as I know of immortals having anything to do with winter magic. I've never heard of a spirit who can make ice or snow appear out of thin air."

Tooth's bafflement only grew at hearing that. However, before she could say anything further, the slot that covered up the pillar in the floor slid back into place, and the moonlight streaming in through the skylight made a new series of shadows.

The full body shadow of a similar-looking boy to the one that had formed in the light of the Guardian Stone appeared on the floor over the ornate symbol of the letter 'G.' This boy seemed to wear some type of formfitting armor all over his frame, his hair was wild and in complete disarray, and in one of his hands he carried a long staff with a dagger-shaped point at the very end of it. His stance showed that he was carefree and somewhat cocky, but that just made him seem even more likable. Even without being able to see any of his shadowed facial features, it was clear that he was a good soul that enjoyed all things wonderful and good in the world.

The moment the Guardians saw this image, their worried and confused expressions immediately changed to matching looks of pure sadness. Unlike the mysterious boy that Manny had just chosen to be a new Guardian, they knew who this was. He was one of the two Guardians amongst their number who had unfortunately died. While one of them, the Guardian of Storytelling, had never been granted immortality by Manny and had died from natural causes at a ripe old age a long time ago, the other had died during battle.

This was a shadow of the member of their group who had been killed in action during their last encounter with Pitch years and years ago:

The Guardian of Courage.

For a long time, North, Bunny, and Tooth didn't speak, nor did Sandy make any more Dreamsand images appear over his head. None of them had been expecting this, to see their old friend's silhouette appear on the floor right after seeing Pitch's shadow and the puzzling new ice boy that had been selected as the newest Guardian. What exactly was Manny trying to tell them?

Finally, Bunny couldn't take the silence anymore, and his furry head snapped up to glare hatefully at the round silver orb hovering in the sky.

"Is this some kind of a joke?! What are you playing at, Mate?!"

The others were downright horrified at his temper.

"Bunny! Show Manny some respect!" Tooth pleaded.

Bunny only glared at the fairy-hummingbird hybrid in return. "Respect?! What respect?! He's not showing our old friend any respect right now! Oi! Manny! Are you saying that Pitch brought the ankle-biter back from the dead and he's using him against us?! Is that it?! And what about that ice boy?! He's human, right?! Why'd you choose him to be a Guardian?!"

North opened his mouth to start reprimanding the Australian rabbit for speaking so disrespectfully to their leader, but before he could say anything whatsoever, the shadowy image on the ground changed. Or rather, something was added to it, and that got everyone's attention.

Beside the shadow of their former comrade, another shadow took form, this one of the strange boy that Manny had shown them in the lights of the gem. Like their old friend, this boy had wild and messy hair, but that was where the similarities ended. His body language showed that he had his arms folded across his chest and his back was slightly hunched over, making him seem like he was very lonely, sad, and possibly frightened as well. Surrounding him were the shadowy outlines of small snowflakes as they fell along his head and shoulders, and every time he saw one of them appear out of thin air, the boy seemed to become even more terrified. He began to frantically shake his head sorrowfully as the snow formed around him, and it seemed as though his fear of what he was doing caused him to unintentionally make ice appear underneath his bare feet. For some reason, seeing the ice appeared to make him even more frightened, which apparently only succeeded in creating more wintry spectacles.

Strangely, shadowed swirls that seemed to represent the wind occasionally whipped around him, making the snow he created twirl around him in a mini tornado. Unlike the snow, the teen didn't seem to be all that afraid of the wind. If anything, the wind appeared to be capable of calming the boy down from the fear of his ice and snow.

The four immortal spirits that were watching all blinked. What exactly were they looking at here? Judging by the untidy state of this second boy's hair, he looked relatively similar to their old comrade, but he seemed to be the exact opposite of him personality wise. And what about that snow around him? They knew he apparently had magic powers related to ice and snow, but was it somehow connected to the mysterious snowstorm that was occurring around the kingdom of Arendelle in Norway?

However, before any of them could start voicing these questions, the two shadows of the two boys merged to create one whole new shadow of a different boy all together. The same wild hairstyle remained, but there was a new staff in hand… one that was shaped like a shepherd's crook rather than having a sharp point at the end. This new boy stood up straight and tall and seemed to have a relaxed demeanor much like their old friend, but like the other boy, he had tendrils of snow whipping around his body. Only, this new boy wasn't at all afraid of the snow. If anything, he seemed to be playing with the snowflakes, using his staff to conjure more around him as he spun around in place. He clearly loved his magic.

And then, the shadow of the new boy disappeared completely as the moonlight streaming into the room from the skylight dissipated. The Guardians all looked up to see if the Moon had anything else to tell them, but a cloud suddenly streaked across the sky outside, fully blocking their view of their supreme leader and cutting off any further communications.

For a long time after that, no one spoke or did anything in reply. Everyone's heads were still reeling over what they had just seen, even if they didn't fully understand it. Until finally, Sandy stepped forward and created a big sand question mark over his head to express his confusion.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that, Sandy," said Bunny, his voice sounding thoroughly baffled. "What exactly did we just see, North? Because I'm starting to think the Groundhog's fine!"

North merely shrugged as his bushy brows furrowed in contemplation. "I… I honestly have no idea, Bunny. If I were to guess… I'd say that our old friend is linked to this other young boy…"

"But… But how is that possible?!" Tooth exclaimed, her wings flapping frantically as she glided forward a bit to be even closer to the jolly old man. "He… He died so long ago! We all saw it with our own eyes! How is he related to some human boy who has ice and snow powers?!"

"Your guess is as good mine on that, Tooth."

"You said before that Norway is covered in snow right now, North? Do you think that the boy we just saw could be somehow involved? Could he be working with Pitch? Because if he is, then Manny's completely lost his marbles to choose him as the newest Guardian!"

"Anything is possible, I suppose… But as for working with Pitch… if he is working with him, he might not be doing it willingly. Remember how scared he seemed in that shadow? Pitch might be forcing the boy to help him, or something along those lines…"

"Well, that's just great!"

Tooth still looked somewhat conflicted, but she nodded anyway. "Well, as long as he helps to protect the children, right?" she timidly offered.

Her little baby teeth all twittered in confirmation, but Bunny was still skeptical.

"Come on! We know nothing about this guy! For all we know, he might not even care about children! What are the odds he just wants to freeze ponds and mess with my egg hunts?! All right? He could be an irresponsible, selfish—"

"Guardian."

This one simple word from North stopped Bunny right in his tracks, and everyone turned back to the white-bearded lover of milk and cookies.

"Whatever the reason, he has been chosen to be a Guardian. He must have something very special inside him if Manny chose him despite still being human. We must go and find him."

Tooth nodded to that, and Sandy was able to manage a smile, but Bunny huffed with obvious annoyance.

"Whatever. I still think Manny chose wrong. This ice boy is probably many things, but not a Guardian!"

"Angus, can't you go any faster? Hamish, Hubert, and Harris all vouched that you're the fastest horse ever! So why are you moving so slowly? Ride like the wind! We gotta find Jackie!"

The oversized black Shire horse snorted in reply as he continued trudging along at a rather slow walk through the thick mounds of snow that had to be at least two feet high covering the trail, all the while carrying his young rider safely through the wintry Arendelle forest.

And speaking of his rider, she really didn't appreciate the sass that her borrowed horse gave her, and she made sure to kick her heels somewhat hard into his sides to ensure that the mount was paying attention.

"Don't snort at me! My big brother is out here all alone! Jack might not care about me, but I still love him! He's scared and confused, and he needs me! Every minute we waste is one minute more that the evil Shadow Man can find him and hurt him! We gotta ride like the wind!"

Again, the gigantic Shire horse just snorted at her words, and continued moving at the same slow pace as before.

Emma huffed in obvious annoyance. She was sure Angus was tired. She was tired too, but that was no excuse for the horse to be so rude to her! She wasn't quite sure what the time had been when she took off from Arendelle the night before, but she assumed it had to be around midday now. She was cold, tired, hungry, and cranky from riding without rest all night long on such a stubborn creature, but even so, the little girl refused to direct the Scottish Shire horse to turn around and start walking back down the snowy path to Arendelle.

She was going to find her big brother, and nothing on earth was going to stop her from doing so.

With that thought in mind, Emma nodded firmly to herself, glanced around at the frozen wilderness surrounding her in every direction as she continued riding Angus, and called out as loudly as she could.

"Jack?! Jackie?! Are you out here?!" she shouted out desperately. "Jackie, it's me, Emma! Your little sister who didn't mean to make you turn summer into winter!"

There was no answer to be heard at all out in the frozen woods. All was silent except for a faint whisper of the wind in the trees.

Emma frowned, but still kept trying.

"I'm really sorry about what I said at the party, Big Brother! I didn't mean it! I… I know you don't love me even though we're family, Jack, but please come out! I'm sorry, okay?! It's all my fault what happened! Don't blame yourself!"

A sudden chittering sound from the pocket of her stolen winter cloak caught her attention. Emma blinked a bit with surprise before reaching down into the pocket to pull out her second animal companion.

"What is it, Piku? Are you lonely? Do you want to help me call out for Big Brother, too?"

Piku, or rather, Pascal the Chameleon wearily shook his small head as he scampered his way out of Emma's hand to instead rest on her left shoulder under the collar of her oversized cloak. The little reptile was usually a pretty shade of green, but right now the small creature was so cold that its skin color had instead morphed to icy blue. Pascal shivered as he snuggled himself deeper into the folds of the cloak and tried to move as close to Emma's neck as he possibly could. He desperately needed to stay warm! Reptiles weren't meant to be in such cold climates, and if he didn't manage to get warm soon, he was going to die for sure.

How did he wind up in this mess, anyway? All he had wanted was to go and warn Rapunzel what this little girl was planning to do. He never wanted to be dragged along for the ride.

While Emma had no idea that her new pet belonged to the Coronan princess and was named Pascal, she did recognize that the little chameleon was cold, and she adjusted her grip on Angus's reins to hold them with one hand in order to stroke Pascal's head with the other.

"Oh! Are you cold, Piku? I'm sorry. Here, why don't I let you sit inside Jackie's glove for now? You'll stay warmer that way."

With only a brief pause to glance up and ensure that the path up ahead was clear, Emma redirected her attention towards rummaging through the pocket of her green cloak until she pulled out the white silk glove she had taken from Jack at the party the night before. After prying open the hole in the fabric, she successfully shepherded the cold little chameleon into the glove, and then put him back up on her shoulder and tucked him a bit under her cloak as well for extra warmth.

"There! Is that better now?"

Pascal squeaked out an affirmative. While he still didn't like being called Piku and desperately wished he could be with Rapunzel right now instead of Emma, he did have to admit that he was definitely warmer now than he had been a few minutes ago.

Emma smiled. She was glad her new friend appreciated what she had done for him. She was about to tell Pascal this herself, but that was when an icy cold wind blew through the forest, and she instinctively shivered in the saddle.

"Brr! It's freezing out here!" she whimpered, rubbing her bare palms together repeatedly in a desperate attempt to warm them back up.

Angus whinnied in agreement, and even Pascal chirped accordingly as he nodded his small head at her words.

"Jackie must've been really upset when he ran away to make it this cold outside. Do you guys think that when we find him, he'll be willing to hear my apology? I didn't mean to hurt his feelings."

Angus just continued to force his way through the tall mounds of snow and didn't do anything in regards to a reply to Emma, but Pascal nodded to the little girl. While the tiny reptile didn't know all the details about what had happened at the coronation party that had led to Jackson Overland causing an eternal winter to spread throughout the land, he was still sure that the boy would be willing to listen to her apology. Truth be told, Pascal was counting on Jack to accept Emma's apology, if for no other reason than it would force the boy to drag his sister back to the city. Unless Emma found Jack, and Jack took Emma back to Arendelle, there was a good chance that Pascal might never see Rapunzel again, and he didn't want that at all.

He wanted to go back to Corona with Rapunzel and spend the rest of his life adventure-free! Was that such a crime?

"But then again," Emma went on, and Pascal tuned back in to reality to listen to her. "I wouldn't have pushed him that hard, and none of this would have happened at all if he had just told me he had secret ice and snow powers. Hey, Piku? Why do you think Jack never told me he had magic in him? Other than the fact that he froze everything like this, his powers are cool! I wish he would have told me about them. I would've loved to play in the snow every day had I known he could make it."

Pascal gave her a tiny shrug with his small shoulders, which were gradually turning back to green rather than blue thanks to being inside the silk glove. He couldn't give her an answer at all on that. He had no idea why her big brother had never told her about his magic. Maybe it was to protect himself from people who would want to use him for their own self interests. After all, that was the story that Rapunzel had believed for so long and why she had agreed to stay in that tower. It could be a similar sort of belief that caused Emma's older brother to keep his powers a secret from everyone he knew. And then again, he could be wrong and there could be a whole other reason as to why no one knew about Jack's ice and snow magic until now. Either way, Pascal had no way of knowing for sure, and therefore, he couldn't give Emma a direct answer.

"Do you think… Do you think Jack even loves me?"

Pascal's eyes immediately snapped back to the little girl, completely shocked by what she had asked. Emma noticed his gaze, and quickly explained.

"You need to understand, Piku, that Jack has barely ever acted like a real big brother to me. He's… He's shut me out of his life completely! He's only ever told me one bedtime story, and no matter how many times I ask him to tell it to me again, he won't do it. I ask him to play with me every once in a while, and he tells me no. I knock on his bedroom door and ask him if he would just talk to me, he tells me to go away. I kind of get why he did all that now, because of his ice powers and all, but still… Why didn't he tell me? Did he think I can't keep a secret? I can, you know! A few years ago, my friend Jamie stole an entire chocolate pie out of the kitchens and shared it with me and all our friends. We ate the whole thing in one of the secret passages in the castle so that our parents and the other servants wouldn't find us, since they were all searching for the pie thief. We all swore we would never tell another human being about us eating the pie, and none of us have! I'm telling you right now because you're technically not a person and can't tell anyone that I told you about it, so me telling you this secret doesn't count, but other than that, doesn't the fact that I've kept it a secret from people count for something?! I can keep secrets! So why didn't Jackie tell me about his powers, huh? He… He doesn't even love me, does he…?"

Pascal had no reply to her question. For one thing, the little reptile honestly had no idea how to answer that statement in a way that Emma would be able to understand him. And for another, the chameleon didn't want to get involved in this at all. Her wondering about whether or not Jack loved and cared for her was between the two of them. He was Rapunzel's friend and companion first and foremost, and he was not about to get in the middle of what sounded like a lifetime's worth of unresolved differences between her and her older brother.

Emma soon realized that her new pet wasn't planning to give her a straight forward answer to her question, and she sighed exasperatedly as Angus continued walking along underneath the branches of a snow-covered evergreen tree. "Oh well… He's always been a private person anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised… He's a stinker! And just because he doesn't love me doesn't mean I don't love him. I'm gonna find him, no matter what!"

She started to chuckle at her own words, but that was when one of the snowy branches overhead suddenly snapped from the weight of the snow piled up on top of it, and great chunks of the powdery white substance crashed down upon herself, Angus, and Pascal.

"Whoa!" she cried out, shocked by what had happened from right out of the blue.

Pascal made a squeak of fear himself as he curled further inside the white glove as a means of self-preservation.

But Angus's reaction was the worst one of all.

Frightened by the bursts of snow falling on top of him, the enormous Shire horse whinnied at the top of his lungs as he reared back high in the air. Emma shrieked in terror as she struggled to grasp hold of his neck so as to remain seated in his saddle.

"Angus! Angus, please! Calm down!" she squealed in desperation. "It's just snow! It's okay!"

But Angus refused to listen to reason. Within seconds, the skittish horse bucked its small rider off its back before galloping a few short paces away so it could get away from the tree, where snow was still falling off low hanging branches.

Emma screamed as she went flying through the air, and Pascal was squeaking frantically in genuine fear as the glove fell off her shoulder in the process and he became airborne, too. Thankfully, neither of them were hurt, as they landed in a large, rather soft snow pile right underneath another tree, but they both started shaking and shivering madly as they slowly sat back up again.

"Ow! Angus! Why'd you do that?! I could have gotten really hurt!" Emma whined, massaging a small bump that was forming on the back of her scalp as she turned to glare at the black Shire horse.

Angus was unfazed by her attitude. He merely shook his head from side to side to get rid of any snow that was still stuck in his mane before trotting back over to the little girl and gently nudging her shoulder with his white muzzle.

But Emma's glare remained on her face. "No, I will not forgive you! Just because Princess Merida is used to you throwing her off doesn't mean that everyone likes it! You need to learn to not be so skittish around new things! Especially since we're out looking for my big brother! He's magical, you know!"

Angus blinked at her with his dark eyes, not fully understanding what it was the child was telling him, but Emma paid this no mind. She was now searching about frantically in the snow for any sign of her brother's glove and Piku. However, the glove was pure white, and that made it extremely difficult for her to locate it.

"Piku! Piku, where are you?!" she cried anxiously, her fingers going numb as she shoved great tons of wet, cold snow around in her desperation to find her new pet. "Answer me, please! Tell me you're okay!"

A very faint chittering cut through the air from somewhere off to Emma's right, and within seconds, Emma was digging her way through more of the snow pile to find the little chameleon.

"Keep squeaking like that, Piku! I need you to chirp as loud as you can so I can find you!"

And so Pascal squeaked as loud as he possibly could so Emma could hear him, and Emma kept flinging as much snow as she possibly could out of the way so she could find the little green fellow in her brother's glove. It took a few minutes more, but finally, the young Overland girl finally succeeded in finding the small shivering body of Pascal curled up in a tiny ball inside the silk confines of Jack's white glove.

"There you are, Piku! I'm glad you're okay!" she exclaimed, reaching down and collecting the white accessory along with the freezing cold reptile out of the snow pile.

Pascal listlessly nodded to her in return. After getting almost buried alive in that snow drift, he was far too cold right now to do anything further in regards to answering Emma other than nodding or shaking his head.

Emma frowned when she saw his lifeless reaction. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Piku! You stay inside Jackie's glove for now in my pocket, 'kay? You just focus on getting warm!"

Pascal made a barely audible chirp of thanks as Emma gently set him and the glove back inside the pocket of her green cloak. If she was going to leave him alone for a while so he could try and get warm again, he wasn't going to complain. He was far too cold to do so anyway!

As soon as he was safely tucked away again, Emma tried to grab hold of a low hanging tree branch right near her head in an attempt to drag herself up to her feet again, but as soon as she put all her weight on it, the snow that was situated on top came loose and tumbled all over her, effectively burying her completely in snow.

"Oof!" she groaned as the weight of the snow knocked her down flat on her back from her sitting position, and she had the hardest time trying to sit back up. First and foremost though, she brushed the snow off her face.

"Why me?!"

Pascal started making frantic chittering noises from inside her pocket, as he was anxious to know what had just happened. Angus, on the other hand, snorted as he pawed the ground. If Emma didn't know better, she'd say that the black steed was amused by what had happened to her.

Not in the mood to argue with the horse and risk losing whatever energy she still had left after everything that had just happened and riding nonstop for so long, Emma just fixed the horse with a cold glare as she fought to free herself from the great pile up of snow covering her from head to toe.

"Mental note, never follow a suggestion given out by the princes of Dunbroch again," she muttered under her breath when she finally managed to stand up again. "All three of them are little menaces and were looking to get me killed out here by recommending I ride this evil horse. I probably would have been better off riding that insane white horse instead."

Angus had no idea what it was she had said, since her words were barely above a whisper and he therefore didn't hear her. However, Pascal heard her perfectly from where he was inside her pocket, and he couldn't help but snicker a bit at the naïve comment. If Emma had tried to ride Maximus out here in pursuit of her brother, she wouldn't have made it out of the capitol city at all. No way would the loyal Coronan horse have allowed her to embark on this ridiculously suicidal mission out into the middle of nowhere when it was freezing cold outside… And especially not when it was all just to find the boy who had caused this icy mess in the first place.

It took Emma a few minutes longer to regain feeling in her hands, arms, and legs from being in the snow for so long, but when she finally did recover her bearings, she approached Angus's side ready to try this again. However, a problem soon presented itself in the form of her height, and she found herself hopping up and down repeatedly to try and grab hold of the saddle in an attempt to drag herself up onto his back again.

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" she said with obvious frustration as she tried to reach for some part of his saddle to grasp onto. "Why must I be so short?!"

Angus stood still and patient as he waited for Emma to climb onto his back, but no matter how hard or high Emma jumped, her efforts were to no avail. She was simply too short to be able to climb up onto the Shire horse's back without some type of footstool underneath to give her a boost up.

And it wasn't like there were any footstools around her right now, considering she was in the middle of nowhere out in the forest.

She didn't like the current predicament, but it wasn't like there was anything she could do to change it either. When realization dawned on her that it was going to be impossible for her to get back onto Angus, in a fit of frustration Emma stomped one of her shoes down hard in the snow and blew hot air to get a tuft of her dark brown hair out of her eyes.

"Wonderful! Thanks for bucking me off, Angus! Now I have to walk!" she snapped at the horse. "The whole point of taking you with me was so I wouldn't have to walk while looking for my big brother! So yeah, thanks a lot, Horsey!"

Angus merely blinked at her. However, Pascal fought the urge to start laughing loudly from his spot inside Emma's pocket as the girl seized hold of the horse's reins, started dragging him behind her, and shuffled forward as best as she could on the trail through thickly packed snow. This had to be some form of karma. The way this girl had taken him against his will and had all but stolen the crown princess of Dunbroch's horse from right under her nose, it was only fair that she should pay the price for her actions. Of course, the little girl meant no harm with what she was doing. She was just trying to find her older brother, and Pascal couldn't fault her for that, but she still shouldn't have taken himself or this horse out of Arendelle in order to do so. It was only a matter of time now before she finally called it quits on this adventure and turned right around to head back to Arendelle.

But to Pascal's utter astonishment, Emma didn't call it quits.

Hours ticked past, but Emma never once showed any sign of stopping and turning around to go back to the kingdom, even though the little green reptile could tell that she was definitely not in any condition to keep wandering around lost in the forest. Darkness soon fell over the Arendelle woods, but even though Emma was freezing cold, bordering on falling over with exhaustion, and positively starving – to the point where Pascal could hear her tummy rumbling plain as day – the little girl refused to give up hope. She just kept trudging along as best as she could through the snow while leading Angus behind her by his reins, and periodically kept calling out desperately for Jack.

"Jack…?" she croaked out in a tired, weak voice as she struggled to climb up a steep hill while dragging Angus behind her at the same time. "Jack…? Come on, Jackie! Where are you…? Come back home to Arendelle with me! Queen Elsa… Queen Elsa and Princess Anna don't hate you for your powers! And I don't either! I still love you, Big Brother!"

But it didn't matter. Jack was nowhere in the nearby vicinity, so there was no one around to hear or answer her desperate pleas.

Emma sighed with frustration as she did her best to not slip and fall as she made it to the top of the snowy mound. "Snow… it had to be snow! Don't get me wrong, Angus, Piku, I like snow. I love winter! But why couldn't Jack have had summer magic instead? He could have covered everything with nice soft, warm sand instead and made a refreshing ocean to swim in!"

Angus nickered a bit at her words, and even Pascal managed to let out an affectionate chirp. Emma could be quite adorable and funny when she wanted to be, even if she didn't realize that she was doing so.

Emma smiled a bit at their encouragement, but before she could do anything further, she caught sight of something up ahead…. Something that demanded the ten-year-old's full and undivided attention.

A little further up ahead, from above the snowy treetops of some very tall fir trees, great tendrils of thick gray smoke were rising in wispy spirals from one particular area in the forest.

And where there was smoke, there had to be—

"Fire!" Emma cried out, forgetting all about how cold and tired she was a few moments ago. She started jumping up and down in her excitement and delight over finding some form of civilization only a little ways off. "Angus! Pascal! There's fire! We're saved! We can warm up there for a while! Maybe even get some food to eat!"

Her two animal companions were rather amused by her newfound strength and cheeriness just from seeing the smoke on the horizon, but before either of them could say or do anything at all, Emma's excited jumping caused her to lose her footing. She unintentionally let go of Angus's reins as she went tumbling all the way down the snowy hill as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Angus! Piku! Help!" she shouted as she kept rolling down the snow drift.

Angus trotted down the slope after the clumsy child as fast as he could without losing his balance himself, but Pascal was in no position to help her, considering he was stuck in her pocket. He was fumbling down the hill along with her, squeaking in terror at this unexpected predicament.

Truth be told, the only reason Emma stopped falling at all was because she reached the bottom of the hill. When she finally came to a full stop, she landed in the very middle of a watery stream that unfortunately for her had not frozen over like the rest of the forest, and she was now saturated from head to toe on a night when it was below freezing temperatures outside.

Within seconds, the little girl was a shaking, shivering mess.

"C-Cold!" she squeaked, scooting backwards as fast as she could to get to the snow bank so she could try and stand up on solid land. "Cold! C-Cold! C-Cold! Cold! C-Cold! S-So cold!"

Inside her cloak pocket, Pascal shared her sentiments. Like Emma, he too was now completely drenched from the watery soak in the stream. He was trembling violently as he did his best to maneuver himself out of Jack's saturated glove and her soggy wet pocket. Once out, the next task was to try and wiggle his way up the green material of her cloak until he could finally situate himself back on Emma's shoulder. Emma was just as wet as he was, but he would have frozen to death in her soaking wet pocket much quicker than he would freeze to death out of it.

Emma was just standing back up again when Angus finally made it all the way down the hill, and quickly he rubbed up against her. There wasn't much the horse could do for the little girl in regards to how cold and wet she now was, but nuzzling her was the least he could do to try and warm her back up.

For the first time since leaving Arendelle, Emma felt grateful to Hamish, Hubert, and Harris for insisting she take the oversized horse in her quest; and she patted Angus's side appreciatively to express how thankful she felt towards him right now for trying to help her maintain her body heat.

"T-T-Thank you, Angus," she whispered in between her chattering teeth. "Let's… L-Let's keep going, 'kay? W-Wherever that fire is c-coming from can't be too far away, n-now! We… We have t-to keep moving! And if w-we don't… I don't think P-Piku is gonna make it through the n-night! He's s-shaking worse than I am r-right now!"

The ebony black horse bopped his head up and down at that, almost as though he understood what it was Emma had just said. Without even having to be asked, he allowed Emma to lean up against him since she was so shaky on her legs, and then walked at a rather slow pace so she could keep up with him as he headed straight forward in the direction of the smoke. Soon they saw an orangey-yellow light a short ways up ahead.

Due to how cold the temperature was that night, all of Emma's clothing was frozen stiff within a few minutes of leaving the stream behind. She felt like a walking icicle as she depended on the great Shire horse to walk since she could barely move. Perhaps even worse though, Emma couldn't help but feel rather ashamed of herself for being so careless and getting her clothing in the state that they were in.

For starters, the green cloak she was wearing right now wasn't even hers. It was just something that had been lying around the castle stables that Jamie had given to her so she wouldn't freeze to death out here while looking for Jack. She had no idea who the cloak actually belonged to, but she would have to remember to look for the owner when she got back to Arendelle and apologize to him or her for ruining it.

And then there was the matter of her green servant's dress. Elsa was always lenient in the past over children wearing the required uniform around the castle if they were under the age of twelve. The only reason she had all the children wear it yesterday was because it was her coronation, and she understandably wanted everyone to look presentable for it. And now, during one of the rare instances that she wore the formal green dress, Emma had completely ruined it beyond repair, considering that not only was it now somewhat frozen thanks to falling in the small brook, but it also had a great deal of holes and snags in the fabric from tumbling down the hill, too.

She was definitely in for it when she got back to the castle.

Still though, there was no time to worry about any of that right now. She had to focus on moving forward. Whoever had that fire going surely wouldn't be cruel enough to turn away an all but frozen child wandering around the forest at night in the dead of winter with only a horse and a small chameleon for company, right?

It seemed to take forever in Emma's opinion, but at long last, Angus led her past one final thicket of trees. When they cleared them, a small log cabin that was practically buried under the amount of snow that had fallen on top of it appeared before the little servant girl, the black Shire horse, and the little green reptile. Smoke was steadily rising from its stone chimney situated near the very middle of the roof, and from its windows, rays of golden light were streaming out in an inviting manner. There was even a warmly lit lantern beside the snow-covered sign that was hanging over the lodge's doors. Not too far away from the little house, there was another snowy building. It was most likely a barn, but unlike the warm and cozy atmosphere that the cottage radiated, this building was devoid of any signs of life whatsoever. It was shrouded in darkness, and none of the lights from the hut reached it at all.

Emma had no idea who the log cabin and the nearby stable belonged to, but she didn't care.

What mattered was that there was a house in front of her with a fire going inside.

Fire.

Warmth.

People.

She didn't like the idea of stopping for the night when Jack was still out there somewhere with that evil man who had attacked Arendelle hunting for him, but it wasn't like she could keep searching for him in her present state.

She could explain her predicament to whoever owned this little house – that she just wanted to spend one night here warming up near their fire and would be on her way. She would even be willing to sleep in the stables beside Angus if they didn't want her to come inside, provided of course that they would at least be willing to spare her an extra lantern so she wouldn't freeze to death in the probably drafty building. Perhaps they would even be nice enough to provide her with a hot meal! She hadn't eaten anything since the coronation party, when Jack had swiped her that small chocolate truffle from the refreshment table. She was beyond starving now, and she could only assume that Angus and Pascal had to be too.

Emma smiled at her own train of thought. Yeah, whoever lived here had to be nice! They would surely be willing to put her up for one night, right?

She opened her mouth to explain her thought process to Angus and Pascal, but at precisely that moment, an icy wind blew through the air, and almost succeeded in knocking Emma back down into the snow again. She would have fallen over had it not been for the fact that she was still depending on Angus to stand. But Emma still squeaked and shivered in what little warmth her frozen cloak still provided her with before burying her face into Angus's side. Likewise, Pascal trembled all over as he planted himself as close to her neck as he could to try and get under the curtain of her straight hair. Angus was the only one unaffected by the nippy breeze. He waited patiently for the wind to die down, and for his young temporary owner, to regain her senses, so they could resume their small trek to the cottage a few yards ahead.

When the cold gale faded away, Emma poked her head out from the course black hair of the Shire horse to reveal a bright red, runny nose.

"W-We're almost there…" she stuttered, doing her best to sound cheerful and not desperate. "J-Just… Just a little b-bit further!"

Pascal made a weak chittering sound in acknowledgement while Angus neighed and kept trudging forward through the snow. In the opinion of the green reptile, they couldn't get there soon enough.

It took another two minutes of trekking through the snow to reach the small cottage, but they at last made it. Even though Emma was on the verge of frostbite and was so tired she couldn't think straight, she wanted to jump for joy. They had made it! They had made it to the cottage! They were going to live to see tomorrow!

Sparing only an extra few moments to loop Angus's reins around a small hitch post, Emma shuffled forward as best as she could in her frozen stiff dress and cloak to climb up the short flight of steps to the cabin's wooden porch. But before she dared to knock on the front door, she glanced upward at the snow-covered sign that was hanging over the archway.

She stretched out an arm and jumped up and down to try and knock the snow off the sign so she could see what it said, but to her great displeasure, she was simply too short to reach it. "W-Wish I could read w-what it says…" she muttered in a bitter tone.

She was about ready to shrug aside the sign and walk past the two mysterious wooden carvings of small trolls that stood guard on either side of the door to go ahead and knock anyway. However, before she could, Pascal surprised her by jumping off her shoulder to stick himself to one of the pillars that provided support for the roof. Emma blinked in surprise as she watched the little chameleon scurry his way up the pillar until he reached the underside of the porch's roof, and then scuttled along across that until he could hop down on top of the first hanging sign. Upon landing on the hanging wooden board, the snow immediately toppled off and uncovered the words carved into it that had been hidden from view.

"'W-Wandering Oaken's Trading P-Post,'" the little girl read out loud. "This p-place is a store?"

Before she could puzzle over the reasons why a store could be situated all the way out in the middle of nowhere when there was no one around to purchase any of its goods, Pascal hopped down off the large sign to land on the smaller one hanging below it.

"'And S-Sauna,'" she recited.

Normally, people would have been overjoyed to hear that there was a sauna inside when it was the dead of winter and freezing cold outside, but Emma had never heard of the word 'sauna' before, and honestly had no idea what that could be.

"Angus, P-Piku? Do either of y-you know what a 's-sauna' is?" she asked in between her chattering teeth.

The word 'sauna' was just as foreign to Angus as it was to Emma, and to express his disinterest in the word he simply flicked his long dark tail back and forth repeatedly to get rid of any clumps of snow that was clinging to it. Emma briefly scowled at him for being no help at all before turning her attention to Pascal, who was still using his webbed feet to hold on to the smaller hanging sign. Unlike Angus, Pascal knew very well what a sauna was, as Rapunzel's mother had treated her to a day of rest and relaxation at a small spa back in Corona for her birthday last year. Of course, the golden-haired princess had been kind enough to allow her best friend in the whole world to tag along with her for the ride. But unfortunately, Pascal was not as adept at translating what he wanted to say to people who were unused to his way of communication and its subtleties… it other words, everyone aside from Rapunzel and occasionally Eugene. It was therefore impossible for the small chameleon to explain to Emma what a sauna was.

All he could really do was simply nod and make a series of chirps and squeaks to try to tell her what he knew about saunas. But as predicted, Emma couldn't understand him.

"F-Forget it, Piku. It d-doesn't matter," she said at last. "But… But thank y-you for knocking down the s-snow so I could read the s-signs! That was v-very nice of you! Y-You… You can hop d-down now!"

She cupped her shaking hands together and held them out slightly so Pascal could jump down and land safely. Pascal chittered appreciatively before doing exactly that, and once he was back in Emma's grasp, she set him down gently on her shoulder before turning around to look back at Angus.

"We'll s-see if we can get any… any f-food and a place to s-stay for the night, Angus. H-Hang tight for n-now."

Angus whinnied in what Emma took to be an affirmative way. She stiffly raised her hand to wave goodbye to him before spinning her body forward so she could heave open the surprisingly heavy door to the trading post, and then shuffled inside, unintentionally making it slam shut behind her with a loud thud when she let go of the doorknob.

The moment that Emma entered the store, a bell rang from somewhere above her, signaling her entrance into the shop, and a welcoming wave of warmth washed over her small body. She couldn't help but sigh in delight as she scooted herself further into the building and away from the chill surrounding the shop's door. Meanwhile Pascal found himself stretching out on her shoulder so he too could bask in the heat. Compared to the arctic cold temperatures and the nippiness in the wind, this trading post store was nothing short of paradise to the little girl and her unwilling chameleon pet. Stumbling upon this place during their search for Jack had been a stroke of very good luck indeed!

"Warm…" Emma said to herself in a happy tone as she rubbed her freezing fingers together to get them to start warming up as well. "It's nice and warm in here, isn't it, Piku?"

Pascal nodded as he glanced around, trying to take in their new surroundings, and as soon as Emma regained feeling in her fingers again, she did the same.

Even though Oaken's Wandering Trading Post was a store that was located smack dab in the middle of nowhere, it was still a well-stocked little shop with a welcoming aura. There were a variety of shelves against the walls with an assortment of trinkets and mountaineering supplies that were available for purchase adorning them. On a smaller stand in the middle of the store, there was a great deal of summer ware that was apparently on sale because of the change in the weather outside. Even though Emma was not looking to buy a swimsuit – since it would hardly help her right now nor did she have any money – she couldn't help but admire a rather pretty pink child-sized swimsuit on display.

A roaring fire was blazing in the fireplace against one of the walls, and Emma instinctively moved closer to it to try and thaw out her ice-coated clothes and warm up further. Pascal chirped as he ran down the length of one of her arms to get closer to the hot flames too. Fire. Glorious fire. Wonderful fire. If it weren't for the fact that Emma still had to find the owner of this place and ask for permission to stay and warm up here in the store for a little while – and if they had any food that they'd be willing to spare – she would have gladly stayed here in front of the crackling embers for the rest of the night and wouldn't have complained once.

With a sigh, Emma forced herself to turn away from the pleasure that the heat of the flames provided her wet, chilly body with, and started to look around curiously for whoever ran the place. This was a nice little rest stop and perfect for weary travelers or mountaineers that ventured through the Arendelle forest, but someone had to own the place, right? Where was the shop's owner?

"Yoo-hoo!"

Emma squeaked. Where had that come from?!

She whirled around so fast that Pascal had to grab onto her hand with all four of his small webbed feet to keep from flying off her. But when Emma finally saw who it was that had spoken to her, her nerves instantly relaxed.

Sitting behind the counter against the left-hand wall was a burly middle-aged man with strawberry-blonde hair and a thick mustache and sideburns. His blue eyes twinkled happily as he smiled kindly at the little girl who had just entered his small store.

"Good evening, little girl. Welcome to Oaken's Wandering Trading Post and Sauna. I am Oaken, the owner. Would you or your parents be interested in anything from our big summer blow out today? Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention, yah?"

Emma blinked, and shared a look of surprise with Pascal before focusing back on the good-natured clerk.

"Um… no thank you, Mr. Oaken," she said politely. "I… I'm just looking for some food and a place to warm up for a while. I won't be any trouble, I promise! I'll sit here quietly in front of the fire and you won't even know I'm here."

Oaken smiled and held out an expectant hand. "Of course, you may stay in front of the fire as long as you want and I'd be happy to supply you with some food. Just as soon as your parents come inside and pay the price for such a meal."

Emma was taken aback. "I… I don't have a daddy," she told him. "And my mommy died a few years ago."

Now it was Oaken's turn to look surprised. "Then who are you traveling with out here in the forest at night? And with it being winter in the middle of summer, no less!"

"It's just me and Piku here. And Angus," she answered him, holding out her hand to show him Pascal before pointing towards the window so he would see Angus tied to the hitch post outside. "There's no one else with us."

Oaken turned and stared out the window in disbelief at the single black horse pawing the snowy ground just outside his shop, and when he finally glanced back at small Emma, he was wide-eyed.

"You're out here alone? Are you lost?"

"No…! Well… yes? No? I… I don't know. I don't exactly know where I am, but I'm just trying to find my big brother. He ran away from the castle just before the winter started, and that evil Shadow Man took off after him. I gotta find Jackie. Have you seen him? He hasn't passed through here, has he?"

"Evil… Evil Shadow Man?" Oaken repeated, sounding downright baffled by her description of the man who had attacked Arendelle right after Jack ran away. He blinked a few more times for good measure before finally shaking his head in disbelief and answering her question. "Only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you, Dear."

Emma's hopes were all but squashed upon hearing this, and she couldn't help but hang her head in disappointment. Pascal frowned when he saw her disheartened expression, and nudged his small head against her cheek a bit to try and cheer her up. While Emma appreciated the gesture, it didn't do much in terms of restoring her confidence. Oaken hadn't seen Jack? Perfect… Now how in the world was she supposed to find him?

Perhaps she ought to ask permission to just spend the night out in the barn? She'd probably go hungry a little longer since Oaken hadn't addressed the fact that she needed something to eat and didn't have parents to pay for it, he surely wouldn't mind if she slept quietly outside with Angus and 'Piku' to help keep her warm. She wouldn't be any trouble. She'd be gone by dawn. Hungry or not, she was going to find her big brother no matter what. But she couldn't do that when she was all but dead on her feet.

She opened her mouth to make this simple request, but before she could so much as utter a single syllable, there was a sudden noise from outside. Emma and Oaken quickly turned to glance out the window and see what was out there.

Just outside the window there were three young girls that were dismounting from their two horses. They all appeared to be in their late teens.

One of them had incredibly long blonde hair that was partially unbraided and wrapped around the form of an unconscious boy. At the moment, she was struggling to get the boy off the back of her horse without accidentally dropping him in the cold snow. In comparison, the other two had already successfully dismounted and were preoccupied with Angus, who was still tied up firmly to the hitch post right outside. The girl with messy curly red hair was the more excited of the two. In fact, she seemed downright delighted. The moment she saw the horse, she ran right up to him and threw her arms around his neck to hug him tight. Meanwhile, the other girl, a platinum-blonde in a blue winter cape, was glancing curiously at the black Shire horse, but then she looked right past him to examine the building in front of her from top to bottom. When she happened to glance at the window however, her eyes locked right onto Emma, and Emma caught a glimpse of the crystal blue orbs widening with surprise.

Emma immediately backed away and out of sight. Oh, no! Queen Elsa was here! She was here with Princess Rapunzel and Princess Merida! Emma hadn't looked long enough to see who the unconscious boy was, but she didn't dare to try looking out the window again just to make out his features. While the little girl had no idea what he or either of the foreign princesses were doing all the way out here, Emma knew that Elsa would have come into the forest for one reason, and one reason only: to take her back to the castle. The queen was going to drag her back to Arendelle before she could find her big brother. Why Elsa had elected to come herself and not simply send out a search party of royal guards to look for her, Emma didn't know, but she did know this:

She was not going back to Arendelle.

She was not going back to the castle.

Not until she found Jack.

If Elsa thought she was going to go home with her quietly, she had another thing coming!

"I stand corrected. You and that young group."

Emma whirled around to stare at Oaken. "Huh?" she asked.

Oaken was unaware of the relationship between Emma and Queen Elsa – not that he could tell that Queen Elsa was Queen Elsa from his viewpoint behind the counter. "You're not the only one crazy enough to be out here in this storm. You and that young group of people out— Hey! What are you doing?!"

Before Oaken had even finished speaking, Emma was scurrying as far away from the window and Elsa's gaze as she could. She had to hide. No way was she letting the new queen drag her back home before she found Jack. No way.

She spied a wooden door that led to a room just off to the side of the counter, and she darted toward it without a second thought. As she was about to throw it open and hide herself inside though, she spun back around to meet the proprietor's befuddled face.

"I'm not here! You never saw me!" she said in a rush.

And without giving the man a chance to ask what she was doing or why she was apparently trying to hide, Emma flung the door open and scrambled inside, letting the door slam shut behind her. But as soon as she was safely hidden away, she became aware of two things at once:

One, both she and Pascal began to pant and sweat almost immediately as they abruptly found themselves inside some type of boiling hot steam room.

And two, she was now face-to-face with a nude family of five who were only clothed with towels around their bare bodies. They were staring at her and the little reptile on her shoulder with matching looks of surprise for interrupting their family steam.

Emma awkwardly chuckled as she pressed her back flat against the door, not really wanting to get any closer to any of them. "Um… hi! Don't mind me or Piku! We'll be gone in a sec! Just… keep doing whatever it is you're doing!"

"Angus! Thank the heavens you're all right!" Merida cried, jumping down from her seat behind Elsa before the new queen had directed her horse Sitron to come to a full stop.

Merida ran forward and threw her arms around the black Shire horse's neck. "I was so mad when I saw that wee lassie take you! Tell me you bucked her off at least once for doing that!"

The gigantic black horse flicked his tail back and forth several times as he nuzzled his head against his true mistress's face, and Merida couldn't help but lightly laugh as she gently stroked his mane.

"Good to hear it! You're my horse, Angus! Never forget that!"

"Merida! Ignore the horse! You and Elsa get over here and help me!" Rapunzel cried. She was struggling with all her might to somehow get Hiccup off Maximus's back without accidentally dropping him, and the weight of the thin Viking boy was too much for the Coronan princess to deal with on her own.

Merida merely glanced back over her shoulder to throw a bitter scowl at the long-haired German princess. "Have I not made it clear by now that I want nothing to do with him?!" she spat. "He's a Viking! If you drop him and crack his skull open, I'll dance for joy! He's not my problem!"

Elsa had been watching the windows of the small trading post in front of them with curious eyes ever since Emma abruptly vanished from view. But upon hearing what the Scottish princess had just said to her cousin, she couldn't help but sigh. "Merida, we understand that you don't like him or his people, but have you forgotten that Prince Hiccup has been nothing but polite to you and your fellow clansmen from Dunbroch all this time? He said it himself that he has no quarrel with you, even if the rest of his tribe feels differently. The least you could do is help Rapunzel and myself in getting him down from Rapunzel's horse."

Merida was completely unfazed. "Get him off yourself if you're so worried! I'm not lifting one finger to help him! I want nothing to do with him!"

Elsa's eyes narrowed considerably at Merida's reply, but said nothing further before moving over to assist Rapunzel in getting Hiccup off Maximus's back. Together, they gently set him down in the cold snow. It had been a full day since Rapunzel had knocked him out, and he hadn't even shown the slightest sign of waking up once. How the Viking heir could still be out cold, Elsa didn't know. But what she did know was that Hiccup's time of staying unconscious was officially over. They had to wake him up somehow if they were to have any chance of progressing beyond this point after she went in to fetch Emma – who had apparently decided to hide somewhere in the store upon seeing them.

But the question was, how could they snap Hiccup out of it?

"We need to wake him up somehow," she declared, bringing Merida and Rapunzel's eyes toward her. "After I get Emma, we're going up the mountain to find Jack, and we can't do that with him in this state. We have to get him to open his eyes."

Merida scoffed. "Wake him up? We should be counting our blessings he's still out cold! If he wakes up, we should hit him on the head again to ensure he stays asleep!"

Rapunzel shot the Dunbroch princess a quick glare. "I never meant to knock him out, all right?! I thought he was a ruffian or thug! I'm not about to hurt the Berkian Prince again when he never did anything to any of us!"

"Fine, then! Don't help me when he comes to! I'll knock him out myself!"

Elsa's blue eyes turned as cold as the ice coating their surroundings. "Princess Merida, I thought I made it clear before that there will not be any assassinations or deliberate injuries of any sort to fellow royal and noble guests whilst here in my country!" she said sharply.

Merida's fiery glare met Elsa's icy one, but she nonetheless growled and looked away from the Arendelle queen after a few moments.

"Fine, fine! I promise I won't hurt him! At least not before he wakes up…"

"No, that also extends to after—"

"If he regains consciousness and tries to scream at the top of his lungs for the whole world to hear, or tries to run away from us out into the middle of nowhere, I reserve the right to do whatever's necessary to subdue him again so we can convince him to listen to us! I think that's more than fair!"

There was a brief pause as Elsa silently considered this, but then she nodded in agreement.

"Very well, but that's as far as violence goes. I will not tolerate you hurting him any further than that."

"Whatever…"

"What should we do with him for now, Elsa? I mean, it's not like we can take him with us inside the store while we get that little girl. Um… what did you say her name was again?"

"It's Emma, Rapunzel. And for now… for now let's have you hide him in that old barn over there. You better stay with him, too. I mean, well, you still technically have him tied up in your hair…"

"First of all, you'd be surprised as to just how long and strong my hair happens to be, so don't give me that look like you think I'm crazy. Secondly, what about Pascal? He's the whole reason I came on this expedition! I need to go in there and see if Emma still has him with her!"

"We will bring her outside as soon as we find her so you can check her for your pet, Rapunzel, I promise. But we need you to keep an eye on Hiccup for now. Don't try to wake him up yet. We should all be there for when that happens. Just get him inside the barn and wait for us to return."

Rapunzel frowned at her cousin's answer, but nodded anyway as it was still a good plan.

"All right. Meet me in there with Emma as soon as you find her," she said, doing her best to keep her dejected feelings out of her voice as she spoke.

Elsa and Merida silently nodded to that, and then the trio of girls separated. Elsa and Merida – who was still keeping her bow in one hand and her quiver of arrows slung over her body – shuffled through the thick snow towards the few porch steps of the trading post. Meanwhile, Rapunzel kept the large wickerwork basket strapped to her back and dragged the unconscious Viking boy with her hair in the direction of the old barn a little way away.

As soon as the Arendelle queen and the princess of Dunbroch entered the small shop –making the bell above the door tinkle a bit as it announced their presence – there was a distinct cough just off to the side of where they were standing near the entrance. At the sound, they both turned to gaze at Oaken.

"Yoo-hoo! Big summer blow out!" he said in a cheery tone. "May I interest either of you ladies in any sun balm or swimming suits?"

Elsa blinked at the sales pitch, but then she shook her head.

"No thank you, sir. We simply came in because of the horse tied up outside. It belongs to my friend here."

"Yeah, Angus is mine!" Merida heartily agreed, nodding firmly. "He was stolen from me by a wee lass called Emma! Is she here or not?!"

"A little girl named Emma?" Oaken repeated. There was a brief pause as he discretely nodded towards a door right next to the counter, and then he went on. "No, I do not believe I have. There's no child here. Not one that I know of, anyway."

Elsa and Merida got the message. Oaken might be telling them one thing right now, but he was also telling them exactly where Emma was, too.

"Oh, I see," Elsa said in a nonchalant tone as she and Merida walked as silently as possible towards the door. "We're sorry for bothering you."

"You're absolutely sure she's not here?" Merida questioned, doing her best to sound annoyed and skeptical of him as they came to a halt in front of the closed entryway to the unknown room.

Oaken was doing his best not to chuckle. "Positive. I think I would remember if I saw a little girl wandering alone in the woods at night, especially in this weather!"

There was a momentary silence as Elsa and Merida looked at each other, and then Merida lunged forward and threw the door open.

Both the royal girls were surprised when they saw the startled faces of the small family inside that had been pleasantly enjoying the steam that the sauna generated, but then they saw the small figure with a tiny green reptile on her shoulder that had been doing her best to hide behind one of the other kids in the room.

"Our apologies for interrupting all of you, but we have business with this little girl here," Elsa said at once.

Without waiting to hear protests from Emma or to listen to the murmurs of shock and mortification from the family that had been quietly enjoying their time in the sauna, the queen averted her eyes from the sauna family's towel-clad forms and stepped inside. She quickly seized hold of Emma's wrist and dragged her back out into the main area of the store before shutting the door behind her so as to not bother the innocent bystander family any further.

Emma's deep brown eyes were wide and shifting about nervously as she beheld the rather displeased expression of Elsa and the furious scowl adorning Merida's face. "Q-Queen Elsa! Princess Merida!" she said rather nervously, barely remembering her many years' worth of servant protocol to dip down into a quick, shaky curtsy. "What… What are you two doing here…?"

"Queen Elsa and Princess Merida of Dunbroch?! In my shop?!" Oaken repeated in disbelief. He quickly scrambled out from behind his counter – shocking all three girls with his large six foot three stature – and bowed down low to the platinum-blonde young woman and the curly-haired girl. "It is an honor, your majesty! And it's an honor to have you here too, your highness," he added after a moment, now addressing Merida. "I apologize for not recognizing either of you right away!"

Elsa smiled politely in return, but Merida just rolled her eyes.

"It is quite all right, sir. There is no need to apologize or bow to us."

"Bah! Just treat us like you would any other customers! And don't address me as 'princess' or 'your highness!' We're all equals here!"

Oaken looked horrorstruck at the very idea of treating the queen of his country or a foreign princess in the same manner that he treated any of his other customers. He considered himself to be a very pleasant and easygoing shop keeper – with the obvious exception being to anyone who disagreed with his prices or tried to shoplift – but that was simply not enough for royalty. However, before he could protest this and insist that he could never hope to be considered an equal to the queen or the princess, Elsa and Merida were already turning away from him to address Emma again.

"Why do you think we are here, Emma?" Elsa asked in a pointed tone. "You ran off from Arendelle without considering the consequences."

"And you stole my horse!" Merida added, her voice rather shrill from how hard she was seething. "You took Angus!"

Within seconds, Emma's worried expression turned into an angry glare. "I didn't steal your horse, Princess Merida! Your brothers gave me permission to ride him! It's not stealing if I had permission from someone in the Dunbroch royal family to take Angus. I apologize if me taking him wasn't all right with you, your highness, but he was one of the only two horses that were still awake when I left. It was either I take him, a relatively calm horse, or this absolutely insane white one that wouldn't stop kicking his pen doors. I didn't feel safe trying to saddle that one up. And what else was I supposed to do, Queen Elsa? The way you were acting back in the courtyard after Jack ran away, you didn't care one way or another about sending someone after him."

Elsa's lips pressed together in a tight line. "That's not what happened back there, Emma. You were asking me to send someone out into the forest after him the minute he left. I wanted to do the same thing right then, but there were other matters that had to be discussed with the other kings and queens and the Viking chief first. I'm a queen now, not merely a princess. I had to act as a diplomat to the other nations first and foremost."

Emma just gave her a queer look in return before exchanging a confused look with Pascal on her shoulder. As she was still a child, she didn't understand things like politics, and therefore nothing Elsa had just said made any sense to her.

"…I don't know what any of that means, but it sounds like a stupid excuse to me!"

"Emma—"

"I don't care if you're the queen now, Queen Elsa! Jackie's my big brother! He's family! I'm going to find him! And unless you brought the entire Arendelle army with you out here to drag me back to the castle, you can't stop me! I'm finding him, with or without your blessing!"

And with that, the small Overland child ignored the nervous squeak Pascal made as she shoved her way past Elsa and Merida and started stomping towards the door. It didn't matter how cold, tired, or hungry she still was. Emma refused to stay here. She would rather take her chances freezing or starving to death out there in the forest than risk being forcibly brought back to Arendelle by Elsa and Merida.

"I didn't come out here to stop you, Emma. I'm here to help you find him."

Emma paused in mid-step, not believing her own ears. Then she abruptly spun around.

"What did you say?"

"I care about you, Emma. You're one of the sweetest children I've ever met. And Jack? Jack might be quiet and keeps to himself, but he is still my friend. I'm just as worried about him as you are. If you want to continue searching for your brother, then I'm going with you. I can't just let you wander around these woods all alone at night when the entire country is frozen over."

For a little while, Emma was absolutely silent as she stared at Elsa in utter disbelief.

"You… You're going to help me?" she whispered at last.

Elsa smiled kindly as she nodded. "Yes. I promise I'm going to help you, and although Princess Merida came out here with me to initially retrieve her horse—"

"Which you took without my permission, I might add. My wee devils for brothers telling you it was all right to take Angus barely counts as permission from my family. Next time you decide to run away from the castle to go on a crazy adventure, lass, find some other horse to steal."

"Merida, that is enough. She apologized already for taking your horse, so please just let it go," Elsa said in a somewhat reprimanding tone.

It was actually a little strange to hear Elsa talk that way to Merida. Even though she was a new queen and Merida was still just a crown princess, Elsa was only a year older than Merida, and yet she was speaking to her as though she was either her much, much older sister or even her mother. Merida obviously thought so too, and her face broke out into another deep scowl as she thought of how similar it was to how her mother, Elinor, always chastised her.

Still though, this was not the time nor place to start a huge fight with a girl she barely knew over such a stupid reason, and after a brief moment of just angrily scowling at the new Arendelle queen, the Dunbroch princess simply scoffed one last time before folding her arms across her chest. She focused on glaring at one of the feminine swimming suits that were on sale instead of at Elsa or the little girl, who was still looking at them with a stunned expression on her small face.

Relieved that Merida wouldn't interrupt again, Elsa turned back to Emma. "Well, as I was saying, Emma, Princess Merida originally came along with me to find you because she wanted to find her horse; but she has also agreed to join us in looking for Jack too. As has my cousin, Rapunzel, who's still outside right now. She came with us because you apparently also took something that belongs to her when you left the castle, but—"

"Wait, hold on. I took something that belongs to Princess Rapunzel? I… I don't understand. The only thing I really took when I left Arendelle was Angus and this green cloak. Is this what she's looking for? I'm sorry I ruined it!"

Pascal abruptly chittered to get all eyes on him, and once he succeeded in garnering everyone's attention, he ran down the length of Emma's arm to be resting in her hand. Then, he started frantically squeaking as he pointed sharply with his tail to the door that led back outside.

Everyone blinked when they saw the small chameleon point with his tail, but before anyone could comment on it, Elsa cleared her throat to dismiss the strange event and addressed Emma again.

"No, Emma. It wasn't the cloak you're wearing that Rapunzel is looking for. It's the chameleon in your hand. He's her best friend and pet. His name is… is… I'm sorry, I don't quite remember, but he belongs to her. She's willing to help us look for your brother too, but only if you return him to her."

"Piku… Piku belongs to Princess Rapunzel?" Emma sadly repeated, her words no louder than a dejected mumble.

"Piku? What the bloody hell is a Piku?"

"Merida, please mind your language in front of Emma. She's only—"

"It's the name I gave him. I found him in the stables. I didn't know he belonged to anyone. I just… I just saw him and thought I could make him my pet…"

"Emma, you have to give him back. I'm not angry with you for taking the chameleon, because you were unaware that he belongs to Rapunzel. And after you explain yourself to her, I don't think she will be angry either. But you still need to return him, all right?"

Emma hung her head sadly and reluctantly nodded.

"Okay…"

"Very good. The faster you do that, the faster we can go out again to look for Jack."

Upon hearing those words, Emma's face broke out into a somewhat happy grin. Although she was still upset upon learning that she couldn't keep Pascal and had to give him back to his rightful owner, she was still pleased to learn that she could continue looking for her big brother that she adored. Within seconds she darted across the expanse of the store to hug Elsa tightly.

"Thank you, Queen Elsa! Thank you! Let's go, then! We gotta find Jackie before that evil Shadow Man does!"

She whirled around on her heel and was about to run back to the door to resume her journey looking for her big brother, but Elsa's hand shot out and clamped down firmly on her small shoulder, preventing her from going anywhere.

"One moment, Emma. You can't go out there again wearing that! Your cloak is saturated and your servant's dress is not only ripped beyond repair, it's too lightweight for this weather. You'll freeze to death within ten minutes of being outside."

Emma glanced down at her wet cloak and ruined green dress, and then a sheepish look came across her face. "I'm sorry I ruined my uniform, your majesty, but I have to keep wearing this. I don't have any money to buy other clothes," she insisted.

Elsa frowned at her response, but then she turned her attention back to Oaken, who immediately stood up straighter upon seeing his queen look at him. "I am sure that you must have a good deal of summer goods for sale considering it is supposed to be summer right now, but do you also have any child-sized winter boots and dresses that would fit her?"

As he politely nodded, Oaken kept a bright and cheery smile on his face, but it was impossible to miss the momentary flash of disappointment in his eyes from hearing that none of them would be taking any of his summer goods off his hands.

"That would be in our winter department," he said, gesturing to the wall right beside the entrance to the sauna.

Elsa, Merida, and Emma all turned. The wall that contained Oaken's 'winter department' was all but stripped bare except for one single child-sized dark brown winter dress, a matching brown cloak, brown gloves, and a set of kid-friendly black winter boots. Despite the poor selection, the dress was rather pretty, with a red stripe that went all the way around the mid-section and a matching one on the hem of the skirt. It also had white rosemaling embroidery sewn in.

The girls were all taken aback by the slim pickings, but Elsa recovered from her disbelief first and stepped forward to collect the outfit and the boots from their shelf on the wall.

"This will work fine, thank you," she told Oaken as she brought the clothes and shoes to the counter. "And do you have any food for sale? We have a long journey ahead of us and we need to stock up on provisions."

Oaken nodded. "Look down, your majesty. All the food for sale is directly in front of the counter."

The two royals and the little servant child glanced down. Sure enough, in front of the counter was a series of baskets on a low shelf, and each one of them was stocked with an assortment of food.

Within seconds, Elsa and Merida began to assess their options.

"Don't you got any oats?" the Scottish princess asked as Elsa selected a fair number of carrots and apples out of two of the baskets and added them to Emma's new winter dress and boots on the countertop. "My horse Angus loves oats!"

"Sorry, your highness. The cold weather blew in from the North Mountain just before the next shipment of food could arrive out here. I have no idea what became of my usual supplier out there in the storm, but he was the one who was bringing in more oats for the store."

Merida sighed, but before she could say anything, Emma suddenly darted forward and started to jump up and down repeatedly in an attempt to look Oaken right in the eye despite her small stature.

"Excuse me—"

Hop.

"—but did you say—"

Hop.

"—that all the snow—"

Hop.

"—is coming from—"

Hop.

"—the North Mountain?!"

Oaken was taken aback by the little girl's apparent interest in his small ramble, and he nodded at her with a queer expression on his face.

"Yes, I noticed it this morning. All the snow and winds are coming from somewhere on the North Mountain. I couldn't tell you from where exactly though. Just the mountain itself."

Upon hearing his response, Emma stopped leaping up and down and whirled around to eagerly look up at Elsa.

"Did you hear that, Queen Elsa? The snow's coming from the mountain! That must be where Jack is!"

Elsa smiled. "Yes, I agree with you, Emma. The North Mountain seems as good a place as any to look for your brother."

Emma beamed from ear-to-ear. She felt ever so proud to have been praised by the queen of the country.

"So we're going there to look for him, then?"

"Yes, of course we are. Just as soon as I write down a quick note with my signature so the castle can reimburse Sir Oaken here for all the purchases we're making. Sir Oaken? Do you have any spare parchment and a quill and some ink?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Elsa. I can pay for all this stuff right here, right now."

Elsa was highly taken aback by Merida's unexpected words, and she quickly turned to her.

"You brought money with you, Merida?" she asked.

"No, but I have something on me that can serve as money."

Before anyone could question her further, Merida reached around the back of her neck with both her hands until she could successfully unclasp something. Once unfastened, she tugged a beautiful silver pendant imprinted with the vine covered sword of her family crest out from where it had been hidden in the folds of her wintry dress and cloak. She held it up high so that Oaken would be able to appraise its value.

"This should cover the cost for everything five times over, if not more," she declared, carelessly dropping the priceless necklace into the stunned merchant's hands. "If a pure silver necklace isn't good enough for you, then nothing is."

For a long second, Oaken didn't speak. He just stared with wide, disbelieving eyes at the valuable piece of jewelry resting in his hands. When he finally found his words, an eager grin was plastered to his face as quick as a flash.

"Oh, yes! Yes, your highness! Most definitely! Would you be interested in anything else today, perhaps?! We are stocked well with a significant number of summer goods! I will even add in a quart of lutefisk so we'll have good feelings!"

Merida did her best to not wrinkle her nose and seem visibly repulsed by the lutefisk Oaken was offering. "No, that won't be necessary. We have everything we need. Just point the lass in the direction of a place where she can change her clothes and we'll be on our way. Just as soon we collect our… friends who are waiting for us in that rickety barn outside."

She growled the word 'friends' so harshly, it was impossible to miss the venom in her voice.

Emma was confused at first as to who else could be out there, other than Princess Rapunzel, but then she remembered the unconscious boy who had been draped across the back of the Coronan princess's horse.

She looked up curiously at Elsa and Merida. "Do you mean Princess Rapunzel and that other guy that came with you two?"

Elsa and Merida both stiffened.

"I beg your pardon, Emma?" Elsa said slowly, trying not to give away how tense she suddenly was due to Emma's innocent question.

"The boy that came with all of you, your majesty. I saw you all arrive from the window, that's why I had time to hide before you came in. There was another guy with you two and Princess Rapunzel, but he was asleep. Is that who Princess Merida was also talking about when she said 'friends?'"

Merida was definitely surprised by how perceptive Emma apparently was, but Elsa was mentally screaming at the top of her lungs for Emma to not be so keenly observant. The last thing the new queen needed was for Oaken to follow them out to the barn and see the unconscious Prince Hiccup tied up in her cousin's hair – strange as that was – because the entire situation technically constituted as kidnap of a fellow royal.

"Yes, yes. They're waiting for us out in the barn. Now go change into your new clothes, all right? The sooner you change, the sooner we leave."

"'Kay! Be back in a minute, your majesty!"

Snatching up the pretty brown dress, cloak, gloves, and black boots off the counter, she darted in the direction of a small changing stall located near the very back of the store so she could swap out her clothes. When she reemerged from the stall wearing her new outfit, Pascal was back on her shoulder and she was carrying her ruined green servant dress, saturated green cloak, and black shoes in one hand. Her other hand rummaged about in the pockets of the green cloak until she managed to pull out the white glove she had taken from Jack at the party, and then she looked back up at Elsa and Merida with an excited smile on her face.

"'I'm all ready now! Let's go get Princess Rapunzel and your other friend and finally go look for Jackie!"

Before either of the older girls could say anything in reply, Emma stuffed Jack's white glove into the pocket of her new cloak, discarded her old cloak, dress, and shoes into a large trash barrel beside the counter, and then scurried to the exit as fast as she possibly could. When she managed to wrench the door open and was about to step outside, she suddenly realized that neither Elsa nor Merida were following her, and she whirled back around to scowl at them both rather impatiently.

"What are you waiting for, Queen Elsa, Princess Merida?! We gotta go! Every minute we waste is one more minute that the Shadow Man could hurt my big brother!"

Merida looked nothing short of befuddled at the small girl's antics, but Elsa merely shook her head lightly with a smile. Emma wouldn't be Emma if she wasn't her usual peppy self. With one last polite nod and quiet thank you to Oaken as she and Merida collected the rest of the provisions still on the counter, the two teenagers quickly filed out the door that Emma was kind enough to hold for them. Soon, all three girls were back outside in the cold, wintry night air.

Angus neighed happily when he saw his true mistress leave the small trading post, and Merida was all too happy to shift as much of the supplies as possible into one arm so she could pet him with the other as she, Elsa, and Emma walked down the short flight of steps that led down from the porch.

"Angus! Did you miss me while I was in there? I wasn't even gone ten minutes!"

Angus nickered slightly as Merida laughed and stroked his neck, but Maximus – who happened to be tied to the hitch post beside the black Shire horse – whinnied impatiently. The white Coronan stallion didn't enjoy being tied up like this. He wanted to be protecting Rapunzel, but she had opted to leave him tied up here beside this prideful horse who didn't seem to understand the concept of silent animal speech. So, while he was stuck here, he literally had no one to talk to. Meanwhile, she dealt with keeping the human boy she had knocked out contained inside the barn a few meters away. Why, oh why couldn't she have just led him inside the barn with her and the human boy? Even if she was too busy fussing over the boy to talk to him, at least he could have passed the time observing her quirky antics. Rapunzel was not an ordinary princess, that was for sure.

But his attention was soon drawn by the small girl he had seen the night before in the castle stables. His friend, Pascal, was on her shoulder, and he started neighing furiously as he struggled to try and get himself free from the rope tying him to the wooden post so he could save the small chameleon.

The chameleon in question was downright delighted as he spied Maximus, and he immediately starting chirping and hopping up and down on his perch near Emma's ear in glee – not that she noticed.

The moment the insane horse started frantically acting up, Emma jumped back and hid herself behind Elsa in terror.

"C-Crazy horse!" she yelped, only daring to peek out sparingly at Maximus for a quick second before the feral look in the stallion's eyes made her squeak and hide herself behind Elsa again. "Crazy horse!"

"Crazy horse? What are you going on about, lass?" Merida asked, she and Elsa giving her matching looks of puzzlement.

"That horse is crazy! I recognize him from the castle stables! He wouldn't stop whinnying and neighing at me like I was a bad guy or something and kept trying to kick open the door to his stall! He's crazy!"

Under normal circumstances, Elsa would have just written off what Emma had said as being nothing more than a child's wild imagination. But considering she was standing right in front of said horse as he leapt furiously against his constraint in an obvious attempt to get to Emma – who was actually trembling at the very sight of the beast – she had to admit that perhaps what Emma had said could very well be true. Maximus did look like he was crazy!

Without another word, Elsa grabbed hold of one of Emma's hands and began pulling her away from the horses and in the direction of the barn. "Ignore him for now, Emma. He's not going to hurt you so long as I'm here," she assured the little girl. "Are you coming, Merida?"

Merida scowled, not happy how she was almost being ordered around by the Arendelle queen – who was only barely older than she was – but she nodded in acquiescence and trudged through the snow behind them after one last friendly pat of farewell to Angus's neck.

"Hope your cousin didn't wake him up yet," she growled under her breath as she caught up to Elsa and Emma. "The last thing we need is that scumbag being a pain…!"

Elsa shot her a quick glare, but before she could say anything at all, Emma's voice cut in.

"What do you mean, Princess Merida? Wasn't the boy who came with you just sleeping because he's tired?"

Elsa and Merida both froze in place. Back in the store, they had let Emma keep up that illusion as to why Hiccup was unconscious because it was better that the store owner remained oblivious. That way, he could truthfully deny knowing anything about the possible kidnap of the Viking heir should people come out here looking for either the three of them or for Hiccup himself. But how were they going to explain the real reason why he was unconscious to a little girl who couldn't possibly understand?

With a dry mouth, Elsa let go of Emma's hand so she could spin around and kneel down in the snow to be at the little girl's level.

"Emma, the truth is… we didn't exactly ask our other companion to come with us," she said delicately. "We were forced to bring him along."

Emma blinked, thoroughly confused. "You mean the royal council made you take a bodyguard with all of you? That wasn't necessary, Queen Elsa! Jackie would no more hurt you, Princess Merida, or Princess Rapunzel than he would hurt me! You should know that better than anyone!"

Elsa frowned. "I'm well aware of that, Emma, but you misunderstand me. That boy… we brought him with us because we had no choice but to take him with us out here to look for both you and Jack," she clarified. "It's… I'm not quite sure how to explain this…"

Merida rolled her eyes. "Oh, for the love of…! I'll say it if she won't!" she snapped. "Lass, that guy in the barn with Rapunzel is the heir to the Viking trash, Prince Hiccup! He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Rapunzel knocked him out before realizing who he was! She and your queen insisted we bring him along so we wouldn't have to leave him out to freeze in the snow or return him to the castle!"

Emma stared at Merida for the longest time, her eyes wide at what the crown princess of Dunbroch had just told her. When she finally looked back at Elsa, she struggled to form words.

"Mommy and Jackie… Mommy and Jackie never told me that… that royalty was allowed to kidnap other royalty…" she murmured, still clearly shocked by what she had learned.

Elsa involuntarily flinched at her words, and she had to fight the urge to start massaging her temples and sigh. "Technically it is not allowed, Emma. Under normal circumstances I would never have done such a thing to anyone, much less to a visiting royal of another country, but I must ask you to allow myself, Merida, and Rapunzel to handle this and not get involved. We will speak with him now and apologize for what happened, but allow us to deal with him when we enter the barn, all right?"

Emma was quiet for a few seconds as she weighed the predicament in her young mind, but then slowly nodded.

"I won't get in trouble too if the Vikings get mad at you, Princess Merida, and Princess Rapunzel, will I?" she asked fearfully.

"Don't worry, lassie. In this instance, you're blameless," Merida said with a slight chuckle. "They'll get mad at the three of us, not you."

"Then okay, I promise I won't say anything about it after we bring my big brother home."

Sweet relief coursed through Elsa's entire body at hearing her reply. "Thank you, Emma. You have no idea just how grateful I am to you for promising me this. Now, let's go inside and see what Rapunzel has to say, all right?"

"'Kay…"

"That's a good girl."

Emma smiled half-heartedly as Elsa patted her head. Then, the new queen stood up, took hold of her hand again, and motioned for Merida to follow them as she started dragging Emma behind her towards the barn that was only a short ways up ahead.

But when they pushed open the barn doors and entered the rickety structure, they were met with a strange sight that took all three of them aback.

Rapunzel hadn't been waiting around idly for Elsa and Merida to exit the trading post with Emma and Pascal in tow. During the course of the approximate ten to fifteen minutes that they had split up, Rapunzel had apparently unwound the rest of her unbelievingly long blonde hair out of its tight braid, and it was draped in various great piles all across the floor of the barn, small bits of hay strewn in here and there from the animal fodder spread across the ground. That was surprising, especially for little Emma since this was the first time she had seen just how long Rapunzel's hair really was when it wasn't tied back in its tight braid. However, that wasn't what made the little girl and the two older teens stop short when they entered the old, weathered stable.

It was the fact that Rapunzel had propped the lifeless Hiccup up against one of the rotting wooden beams in the barn and had tied him to it tightly with several large loops of her impressive long blonde locks. She had her frying pan in hand, ready to strike at even the slightest jostle of movement from the Berkian prince.

When she heard the door open, the Coronan princess's head snapped up, and then she startled all three of them with a bright smile upon seeing Elsa, Merida, and Emma.

"Ah, Elsa! Merida! It seems you convinced our little runaway to join us, and she brought Pascal with her!" she said with a genuinely cheerful voice. Before Elsa or Merida could say anything though, Rapunzel was already setting her frying pan down on the ground beside the tied up, unresponsive Hiccup, and had darted across the expanse of the barn so she could be kneeling right in front of a highly flabbergasted Emma.

Within seconds of seeing the spritely princess appear right in front of him, the little green chameleon on Emma's shoulder chirped ecstatically, and he hopped off the child's shoulder and into Rapunzel's outstretched hand.

"Pascal!" Rapunzel cried with delight, immediately nuzzling her nose against the small chameleon's nose. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you! You have no idea just how worried I was all this time!"

Pascal made an affectionate squeak as he ran up the length of her arm in order to give her neck a tight hug. He had missed Rapunzel just as much as she had missed him during the short time that they had been separated thanks to Emma's crazy antics.

Rapunzel giggled as she stroked his head for a moment before allowing her lifelong friend to settle himself on his usual perch on her shoulder. Then she finally turned her attention back to the little girl standing in front of her, who looked rather conflicted about whether or not she should be focusing on the energetic princess in front of her, or if she should be doing what Queen Elsa and Princess Merida were doing and simply continue staring at the tied up Viking prince.

"Hello, there. You're Emma, right? I remember you from the party. My, my! You certainly have a spark for adventure in you, don't you? There aren't many little girls your age who would have the courage to steal a horse belonging to the crown princess of Dunbroch, along with my pet, the crown princess of Corona, just to have companions with her while she ran away from the capitol city."

While Rapunzel's words were nothing short of kind and didn't hold a shred of anger or resentment in them at all, Emma immediately gave the kind girl her full and undivided attention, and she had the decency to blush and bow her head to the princess before dipping down into a quick, polite curtsy.

"H-Hello… I'm sorry I took P-Piku from you, Princess R-Rapunzel… I… I d-didn't know he was yours…" she quietly mumbled.

"Piku?" Rapunzel repeated, confusion clouding her expression momentarily. "Who is Piku?"

Wordlessly, Emma pointed to Pascal on her shoulder in reply.

"Oh! You mean Pascal!" said Rapunzel, now understanding what Emma was talking about. "I understand that you didn't know he was mine, Emma, so I'm not mad at you for that. But please don't try to take him away again in the future, all right? Pascal is my oldest and dearest friend in the world. He means everything to me."

"O-Okay…"

"Enough with the pleasantries. What in the world is going on here?" Merida demanded, dropping her bow and quiver near the discarded basket before jamming her hands on her hips.

Rapunzel turned to Merida, seemingly puzzled by her outburst. "Beg your pardon, Merida? I don't understand what you mean."

"I mean, why in the hell have you let down all that godforsaken long hair of yours out of your braid and tied that pigheaded Vikingfilth to the barn post with it?!"

"Merida, I must ask you to refrain from swearing from this point forward," Elsa said sternly as she packed the extra provisions she and Merida had purchased from Oaken inside the wickerwork basket that they had brought along with them. "While I was not fond of your language before when it was just the three of us, I was willing to let it slide, but now that Emma is with us, please do not use improper language at all. I think I speak for not only myself, but even Jack, and by extent his and Emma's late mother, when I say that that is not the type of language that you should be teaching a little girl."

Merida scoffed. "She'll learn worse words when she gets older, believe me! I knew over half the Scottish language worth of swear words when I was… Lass? How old are you again?"

"Ten…"

"When I was half her age! And at any rate, Elsa, my original question still stands! Why have you tied him to the post, Rapunzel? Were you waiting for her royal majesty to give me her permission to shoot an arrow between his eyes, and you thought to prop him up for a target?"

Emma's eyes widened in alarm upon hearing that the princess of Dunbroch apparently wished to murder the heir of the visiting Viking tribe, but her reaction was missed by the others as Elsa and Merida focused on Rapunzel.

She promptly shook her head and said, "What? Oh, no! No, not at all! I simply thought it would be better to tie him up against one of these pillars. That way, if he woke up before either of you brought Emma back here, he wouldn't be able to struggle too much. At any rate, he's still out cold, so there's no worries."

Elsa still wasn't exactly comfortable with what her cousin had decided to do to keep Hiccup restrained, but before she could say anything, Emma piped up.

"That's… That's a lot of hair…!" she said in wonder.

Rapunzel giggled. "What can I say? I'm growing it out."

"How long is it exactly?"

"Um… well, the last time I measured it, it was around seventy feet, I think…"

"S-Seventy feet?!"

"Mmm-hmm!"

"Jeez! When was the last time you cut it?!" Merida asked, just as shocked by the answer as Emma.

Rapunzel immediately went very still. "Uh… well, I… I don't actually…"

Elsa was puzzled. "Say again?"

"I don't cut my hair. Ever."

"But… why?"

"Just because, that's why. Anyway, my hair shouldn't be a priority right now. Since you have found Emma, what we should be talking about is what we're going to do with him!"

She pointed her frying pan sharply in Hiccup's direction.

"We can't keep dragging him around out here while he's out cold like this! I think we should wake him up, tell him what happened when we ran into him, and I'll apologize for knocking him out. We owe him that, at the very least!"

Emma stood awkwardly off to the side, not really wanting to get involved in this particular matter.

Meanwhile, Elsa bit her lower lip, knowing full well that Rapunzel was right. "I suppose you make a good point, Rapunzel. We better awaken him and explain what happened."

Merida sneered as she folded her arms across her chest. "Fine, go ahead. But I still stand by what I said earlier. You both should just let me shoot him and be done with it. He wouldn't be our problem anymore if I did that!"

Elsa shot her an icy glare. "We are not killing him, Merida. If you ask me again, I assure you there will be serious repercussions for Arendelle's alliance with Dunbroch."

"Whatever…"

"What… What do you intend to do to wake him up?" Emma asked hesitantly. "Won't he get mad at all of you when he sees you the second he wakes up?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. All of you hide. Pascal knows what to do, right, Pascal?"

There was an affirmative squeak from Pascal, and he even gave her a small thumbs up with his tiny green paw before skittering down the length of Rapunzel's arm to her hand. As Rapunzel moved to set her animal companion down onto the unconscious Hiccup's right shoulder, the others couldn't help but blink.

"Your chameleon is just like your horse, Rapunzel," Elsa noted. "It doesn't actually speak, but it's still communicating with you."

Rapunzel couldn't help but giggle. "What can I say? Animals from Corona are smart, I guess. Anyway, all of you move out of the lantern light. After Pascal wakes him up, he's going to need a minute to adjust to his surroundings before we spring ourselves on him."

"And just how exactly is a lizard supposed to wake up a knocked out Viking prince?" Merida asked in a skeptical tone as she collected her bow again and swiped an arrow out of her quiver. If Hiccup tried to act violently against them or attempted to free himself from the intriguing rope-hair Rapunzel had tied him up with, nothing Elsa could say would stop Merida from locking Hiccup in her sights a drawn arrow. She had already promised the new queen she wouldn't kill the Hairy Hooligan heir, but the monarch never forbade her from threatening him if he acted like the wild savage she knew he was.

"Chameleon. Pascal is a chameleon. And just wait and see. He'll have Hiccup awake in a jiffy. Now, everyone just step back and give Hiccup and Pascal some space!"

Even though Rapunzel was generally a sweet and rather bubbly princess, at this exact moment, the crown princess of Corona had such a sneaky look on her face as she stroked the curve of her shiny frying pan that the other three girls didn't hesitate to comply. Without a word, Merida slunk back until she was standing directly behind the beam that Hiccup was tied to, so she was out of sight. At the same time, Elsa seized hold of Emma's hand and shrunk backwards with the little girl into the shadows behind the barn door. Rapunzel, however, took a slightly different approach. She used some of her long blonde hair that had somehow wound itself above the stable's rafters to hoist herself upward, and then immersed herself in the darkness, out of reach of the candlelight from the single lantern hanging on the wall.

As soon as Rapunzel was apparently satisfied with everyone's hiding spots, she poked her head out a bit from the shadows to give the small reptile a definitive nod.

"All right, Pascal! Do your thing!"

Pascal nodded in a firm manner before turning away from Rapunzel to stare directly at the side of Hiccup's face. There was a beat, and then the little green reptile lightly swiped at the Viking boy's cheek with his webbed foot. After slapping the boy, he swiftly camouflaged himself as the same shade of brown as Hiccup's furry vest and scooched back to the very edge of his shoulder so he wouldn't be seen.

But Hiccup was still out cold. He was clearly unmoved by the miniscule amount of pain from the light slap.

Pascal blinked as he changed back to his normal shade of green, but then the chameleon scowled and spun around to slap Hiccup twice in the face with his tail. Hard.

Hiccup still stayed unconscious.

Now the chameleon was annoyed. What exactly was he doing wrong?! He elected to poke the teenager twice in the cheek with his tail, using as much force as he could muster.

It was no use. Hiccup showed no sign whatsoever of waking up.

The reptile narrowed its beady black eyes into thin slits. This was ridiculous! It seemed like he was going to have to wake this teenager up the same way he awakened Eugene , back when he broke into Rapunzel's tower.

If it was possible for the chameleon to sigh, Pascal would have done so as he slowly turned himself back around to face Hiccup's cheek again. With a rather deadpanned look on his green reptilian face, Pascal positioned himself only a few inches away from the boy's ear, opened his mouth up wide, and then shot his tongue straight into the cavern of Hiccup's ear canal.

In a flash, Hiccup's eyes shot open.

"Gah!" the Viking heir shouted in alarm, his entire body jerking a bit in the hair restraints and causing Pascal to fall unceremoniously off his shoulder. Pascal looked rather miffed at being knocked off, and he made a small indignant squeak before scurrying away from the still disoriented Hiccup to slither up another rotting beam. Once in the rafters, he quickly climbed up the fabric of Rapunzel's cloak and nestled himself on his usual perch on her shoulder.

The three other teens and the one small child hiding in the various shadows of the barn couldn't help but flinch slightly when they heard his startled cry. But other than Emma whimpering lightly – which prompted Elsa to soundlessly press a finger to her lips in a reminder to stay quiet – they did absolutely nothing yet. Let Hiccup have an additional few seconds to take in his surroundings before they revealed themselves.

Truth be told, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III had yet to even realize he was currently inside a rickety barn being restrained by abnormally long blonde hair against one of the rotting pillars. He was still trying to regain his bearings and figure out why the back of his head felt as though it had been lobbed with a rock twice the size of his fist.

"Argh…! Thor almighty, my head…!" the boy groaned, his voice clearly laced with pain.

Up above in the rafters, it took everything Rapunzel had to not whimper. How hard did she hit him last night with her frying pan? Even when she first met and knocked out Eugene three years ago, or rather Flynn Rider, he hadn't been in pain when Pascal revived him. The Coronan princess felt even guiltier now for her panicked reaction the previous evening.

But Rapunzel had no time to mull over this, because she suddenly became aware of the feeling of something tugging on her many yards worth of blonde hair, and she quickly glanced back down again. Apparently Hiccup had tried to raise one of his hands so as to gingerly massage the painful bump on his skull, but when he discovered that he couldn't do so, the Viking teen finally took note of his surroundings and his current situation. Now he was struggling as hard as he could to free himself from the hair restraints.

"Odin's eye! Help!" he shouted out desperately. "Toothless?! Toothless! Come on, bud! Where are you?! Help me!"

Emma had no idea what he was talking about, but Elsa, Merida, and Rapunzel all quickly exchanged looks of surprise at hearing this. They each recalled the conversation that they had shared with the Viking visitors back at the party before everything happened with Jack's ice powers. While none of them had personally met this Toothless person, they did know that this Viking, whoever he was, happened to be Hiccup's best friend. If Hiccup was calling out for him right now, that meant that he hadn't exactly been alone out there in the forest when they stumbled upon him by accident.

But if there had been someone else in the forest last night, why hadn't he made his presence known by trying to stop the three of them from taking Hiccup?

And that brought up another question.

Why had Hiccup and this other Toothless person been out there in the forest at all?

While they did owe Hiccup an explanation as to why they had technically kidnapped him the way they did, it was also silently and unanimously agreed between the queen and the two princesses that Hiccup owed them an explanation as to what he had been doing last night as well.

Better start these questions now rather than later.

"S-Struggling is pointless!"

Hiccup's head whipped around to try and locate the unknown feminine voice, but Emma, Elsa, and Merida all immediately glanced up at where Rapunzel was hiding in the shadows of the rafters.

Hiccup had yet to realize that it was the Coronan princess's voice that had addressed him, and he was still craning his neck in every direction to try and figure out where his apparently female abductor was hiding. But as he did so, he suddenly took notice of just what it was that was keeping him tied to the support beam, and his alarm over his situation dissipated slightly as confusion overcame him.

"What the…? Is this hair…?"

"I said, struggling is pointless!"

Hiccup jumped a bit again as Rapunzel's voice echoed throughout the barn. He swiveled his head around to search for where the long coils of hair ended, only to become further puzzled when he saw that it led all the way up to the barn rafters, where the shadowy figure of a girl around his age was hiding.

Hiccup blinked when he saw this. "Um… hello?" he said uncertainly.

There was a momentary pause, but then the figure hopped down from her hiding spot near the ceiling. She landed somewhat unsteadily on the ground, but she still maintained her center of balance.

"Sorry about this, Prince Hiccup – tying you up and all, I mean – but it was a necessary precaution. We honestly had no idea how you'd react when you awoke."

Hiccup just stared at the mysterious girl in the shadows for a few seconds, his head reeling, but then he tore his eyes away from her to look curiously around the barn.

"I'm… I'm not a prince, but who are you? Why am I here?"

Rapunzel bit her lower lip, and then hesitantly stepped forward so he could fully see her in the lamplight.

Hiccup blinked when he saw her.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then he found his voice.

"Princess Rapunzel?! You… You kidnapped me?! Why?! What did I do to you?! And where am I?!"

Rapunzel involuntarily flinched. It didn't matter how she went about it. This explanation wasn't going to be easy.

"Um… well Pri—I mean, just Hiccup… well… You never did anything to me, it's just… you stumbled across us when we were—"

"'Us?' What do you mean, 'us?' Is the entire Coronan royal family involved in this?" the Viking teen interrupted, his green eyes narrowing suspiciously. "My people have done absolutely nothing to your country, let alone Germany in general! Have we offended you in some way?!"

"What? No! No, of course not! This is nothing personal against you, Hiccup! It's… It's just that—"

"Speak for yourself! You might not have any quarrel with him, Rapunzel, but even though we never meant to kidnap him, I'm not complaining! If her royal majesty would let me, I would have ended this whole mess ages ago with my bow and arrows!"

Hiccup's head whipped around just in time to see Merida move into the lamplight, her bow drawn and ready to implant an arrow right between the captive teen's eyes.

Hiccup's anger vanished as he stared at the furious red-headed Scottish princess. He was becoming more and more bewildered with each passing second. "Princess Merida?"

The Dunbroch royal's eyes flashed with fury as she glared at the Viking heir. "Do not call me 'princess!' I'm not a princess right now! And you should be counting your blessings that you're even still alive! If it were up to me, you would've been dead yesterday when we first found you!"

There were many ways Hiccup could've chosen to respond to her words. Annoyance, fear, derision… but in fact, he did none of the above.

He was simply too confused.

"Uh… what?"

"That is enough, Merida. I've told you countless times by now that you shall not harm him. This entire situation is already more of a problem than it should be. If there is to be any chance at all of rectifying all this, I must respectfully request that you lower your bow and please be polite to our… our…"

"Future murder victim?!"

"Guest! I respectfully request you to lower your bow and be polite to our guest!"

If Hiccup had been puzzled by his current situation before, he was thoroughly baffled now. While he knew that the crown princess of Dunbroch thoroughly despised him just for being a Viking, he had no idea what motive the Coronan princess's could possibly have for tying him to a barn support beam with her apparently very long hair. Adding to that confusion, Hiccup was one hundred percent positive that he been nothing but polite and respectful to the new queen of Arendelle.

So, when Elsa stepped out from the shadows of the barn door with an apologetic expression on her face as she gazed at him, he was downright flabbergasted.

"Queen Elsa?!"

It took all the willpower Elsa possessed to not visibly flinch when she heard the astonishment in Hiccup's voice.

"Prince Hiccup, I really do apologize for this unfortunate circumstance and that you became involved in this. Sadly though, this… treatment was necessary to keep you from overreacting when you awoke."

For the longest time, Hiccup just stared at the new queen in utter disbelief, not wanting to believe that he heard what he just did. Then a surprisingly sharp edge glinted in his eyes.

"For the last time, I am not a prince, so stop calling me one! And I call being tied to a pillar in a freezing cold barn while someone has an arrow pointed at my head a very valid reason for any sane person to overreact! What in the name of Odin did I do to any of you to be treated like this, your majesty?!"

The platinum-blonde tensed at his tone. "Hiccup, I understand you are angry. I would be too if our situations were reversed. But considering that you stumbled upon the three of us when we were sneaking out of Arendelle, and Rapunzel was startled by your sudden appearance and proceeded to knock you out, we weren't sure how you would react when you awoke. We considered this to be a… safety precaution."

The auburn-haired boy scoffed. "Safety precaution? Seriously?" he said dryly. "This is straight up kidnap! Are we even still in Arendelle?!"

"Um… no," said Rapunzel hesitantly, and Hiccup switched his attention over to her. "We're about a day's ride on horseback away from the city."

"Don't tell him that!" Merida cut in. "We can't give him any clues as to where we are!"

"Merida, there is no reason for you to—"

"I'm so sorry you got mixed up in this, your highness! It's my fault you're out here…"

Everyone was silenced by the small apology as little Emma timidly stepped out from the shadowy doorway so Hiccup could finally see her. Her cheeks were a light shade of pink as she fiddled a bit with the hem of her new winter cloak and stared shyly at the hay strewn floor. When she finally gathered the courage to glance up and look the Viking boy right in the eye, she squeaked slightly when she saw the astonished look on his face and darted forward so as to hide herself behind Elsa. After a second, she spared a hesitant peek out from behind the young queen's body to look at Hiccup for a few more moments before hiding herself all over again.

Hiccup stared at the small girl in obvious bewilderment for several seconds. "You're the little girl that's related to that Jack guy… the one who caused winter to come in summer," he said, vocalizing his thought process as he figured out why he knew Emma's face. "Didn't you ride off on Merida's horse in pursuit of your brother? What're you doing here? How'd you get involved in my kidnapping?"

Emma's shyness instantly ebbed away as a rather miffed look spread across her face. "I'm not involved in any of this, Prince Hiccup! Queen Elsa promised me that I wouldn't be blamed at all for what they're doing right now!"

"One, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I am not a prince, so don't call me Prince Hiccup. And two—"

"I, at least, have gotta address you by some type of proper title, Prince Hiccup. Mommy always told me that, because I'm just a servant child and not high-born, I always have to address royalty and nobility with polite manners and proper respect. No exceptions!"

"But I'm not real royalty, so—"

"No exceptions!"

Hiccup blinked at her repeatedly after hearing her response, but then he just shrugged at her and rolled his eyes. He'd let Emma addressing him as a prince slide. Unlike Elsa, Rapunzel, and Merida calling him 'prince' when they should all realize by now that he didn't like being called that, Emma was only addressing him that way because of her rank in life as a commoner. It was annoying for the Viking heir to be called a prince when he really wasn't one, but he'd ignore the title if she was the one using it. But just her. If the Arendelle queen, the Coronan princess, or the Dunbroch princess kept addressing in such a way, he was definitely going to get irritated.

"Whatever. Moving on to the second point – again I ask you, how are you involved in your queen and the foreign princesses tying me up in this barn? Where exactly are we anyways?"

"The forest outside of Arendelle. I don't know exactly where though. I lost the trail earlier this afternoon and spent hours trying to find—"

"Wait, hold up! Queen Elsa, did this kid say something about this afternoon? What day is it?! How long ago was the coronation party?! For how long have I been knocked out?!"

Elsa sighed. "The party was last night. It's been nearly twenty-four hours."

"Twenty-four—?! Have I done something to personally offend any of you?! What did I do to you ladies that caused you all to tie me up like this in Princess Rapunzel's very, very long hair?!"

"What have you done?! You're a savage Viking that raids and pillages the villages in my country! You're a barbaric pig! If I was in charge, you would be—"

"Stop it already, Princess Merida! You're scaring me!" Emma begged. The others turned back to her, but Emma didn't meet any of their gazes. Forgetting all about the rules of propriety that she had been so carefully instructed in her entire life, Emma threw herself onto the hem of Elsa's blue cloak and buried her face into the folds of the fabric.

The princess of Dunbroch became very quiet as she stared at the small girl, but then she huffed and glared at a spot on the ground a short way off from Hiccup. The Scottish princess of Clan Dunbroch still despised the heir to the Hairy Hooligan Viking tribe with every fiber of her being, but she didn't hate him enough to continue antagonizing him if she was scaring the child. She was free-spirited and admittedly, selfish at times, but she wasn't that cruel.

But Hiccup was the victim in this scenario, and he wasn't going to be silenced for more than a few moments at a time. Granted, he wasn't going to yell like Merida had and risk frightening Emma any more than she already was, but he was definitely going to make his anger at this situation known to his captors.

"I have never been to your country, Princess Merida, and to the best of my knowledge, no one from Berk has been anywhere near Scotland in the past few generations because of the dragon attacks on our island. So, I would appreciate it if you didn't call me or my people barbaric pigs. And your reasons for not liking me have nothing to do with this situation. Queen Elsa? Why am I tied up like this?"

Elsa fought the urge to cringe. "This was not intentional, Hiccup. You… You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we had no choice but to bring you along with us. I am sincerely sorry for what is happening to you. Truly, I am."

"No choice? Explain."

"As you can probably guess by seeing Emma behind me right now, the three of us were leaving Arendelle in secret to find Emma and then Jack. We were riding out of the city on horseback to do so, and you just happened to be leaving the forest while we were entering it."

"I… I freaked out when we ran into you and knocked you out with my frying pan before I realized who you were. I'm really sorry about that! Honest!"

"On that note, what were you doing out there with that empty basket anyway?! Planning some sort of Viking raid on the city to add to all the problems the country is enduring?! The moment you woke up, you yelled for someone named Toothless. Who the bloody hell is that?! Your conspirator in whatever treachery you were planning?!"

At hearing Merida's questions, Hiccup's annoyed expression vanished, and in its place came a look of uncertainty. Hiccup didn't quite know how he was supposed to respond to her. He couldn't tell them the truth about Toothless. He and his father had yet to reveal to Elsa in private the knowledge of about how dragons were actually good and friendly creatures. They were supposed to have discussed this with her during a meeting to negotiate a trading alliance between their countries. If he revealed all this to the new queen, the two princesses, and by extent the trembling little girl cowering behind Elsa right now, that whole plan Stoick had thought up would go right down the drain. Plus, it was one thing to get Elsa to believe him and his father during a meeting, when he could show her Toothless directly afterwards and let her see for herself that dragons could be trained and befriended. However, with no way to back his claim right now, his kidnappers would think he was crazy, and Elsa might finally give Merida the go ahead to shoot an arrow between his eyes.

No, the best thing to do right now was to skirt around the truth as much as possible while trying not to lie too much.

"I… I wasn't doing anything like that. My people are not planning some sort of attack on the city, I swear! I was… well… I… You all wouldn't even believe me if I told you."

"Try us! Because right now, you definitely seem suspicious!"

"I hate to take Merida's side in this, Hiccup, but she makes a good point. You really can't expect us to trust you if that's all you intend to tell us."

Hiccup groaned at Rapunzel's words. "Look, even if I wanted to tell you what I was doing out there, I can't! It's related to the trade agreement my people want to create with Arendelle, and my dad has basically ordered the whole tribe to stay quiet about it until we can formally discuss it with the queen. And before you ask Elsa, no. No, I won't talk about it with you right now. My dad made it very clear that it's to be discussed in a formal meeting between myself, him, you, possibly your sister if you wish it, and Gobber. He's training me to be the next chief of our tribe, and he wants to be present to see how I do at handling the negotiations. I can't talk to you about this until we get back to Arendelle."

There was a lengthy pause as Elsa considered this. She couldn't say she was exactly pleased by how Hiccup was avoiding the question, but at the same time, she couldn't be angry with him for not answering either. Politics were a very delicate matter, especially during the training periods for future leaders. Her late father had tutored her himself to ensure she would be an excellent diplomat and politician one day when she took over as queen. She was annoyed that Hiccup wouldn't explain to them what he had been doing out in the middle of the snowy woods at night when they stumbled upon him. But if it was related to the trade agreements that the Viking visitors wished to make, and he wasn't allowed to talk about it because Chief Stoick intended to use the negotiations as a wat to see how his son would do in a real life diplomatic setting, she could understand and relate to that.

"Then tell us this instead. What you were doing out there in the forest, was it in any way a threat to my people and country? I believe I deserve an answer on that, at least."

"No!" Hiccup gasped, looking astounded by the very notion. "No, I swear! Like I said before, my father wants to create an alliance with Arendelle! We're not trying to start a war! Not with you! Not with Corona! And not with Dunbroch! Or with any other visiting country! We came here with peaceful intentions!"

"Honestly?"

"Oh, for the love of Thor! Yes! Yes, I am being honest!"

"Hmm…"

There was a brief pause as Elsa, Rapunzel, and Merida exchanged unreadable expressions amongst themselves as they considered everything they had gotten out of Hiccup. However, before they or Hiccup could say anything further, Emma suddenly yawned loudly, and all eyes returned to her.

"Are you getting tired, Emma?"

"Mm-hmm," the little girl murmured, struggling desperately to keep from swaying on her feet as she rubbed her eyes with the back of a small hand. "Sorry for interrupting, Queen Elsa. I'll—" she was cut off when she yawned again. Remembering her manners, she quickly covered her mouth with her palm before continuing. "Sorry, your majesty, your highnesses. I'll try… try not to yawn too much anymore…"

Emma's eyelids drooped a bit for a moment before flickering wide open again. She shook her head from side to side frantically for a few seconds to force herself back awake before stepping backwards a bit to lean up against one of the other barn pillars. She couldn't afford to fall asleep now.

She might have been awake for over twenty-four hours, but there was too much going on right now for her to risk giving in to her tiredness. Elsa and the other two princesses had promised to help her find Jack, but if it turned out they were going to keep pointlessly arguing with the Viking prince over stuff that really was of no concern for her, then she was just wasting her time staying here. She had to stay awake and find out how much longer this stupid argument was going to take. Pretty soon, she was just going to quietly slip back outside, figure out some way to climb back onto Angus without having anyone give her a boost up onto his back, and then continue her journey to the North Mountain.

Emma would never risk being intentionally rude to royalty, but every second that the queen, the two princesses, and the prince argued meant another second of her being away from Jack. Even though she was all but dead on her feet, she really didn't want to waste any more time in her quest to find him.

"Lass, if you're tired, go ahead and sleep. I can guarantee we'll have figured out what to do with this idiot soon, and we'll keep going in the morning."

Emma furiously shook her head at this as she fought hard to stay awake. "Nuh-uh! I gotta stay awake. I've gotta make sure we keep going up the mountain the second you're done here. We can't waste too much time."

Hiccup's ear perked up at this. "First off, don't talk about me as though I'm not even here. Secondly, what do you mean when you say you're going to keep going up the mountain? I'm not really the reason why you're all here right now, am I?"

Rapunzel nervously chuckled. "Well, I don't suppose there's any point in lying about that, so… yeah. Yeah, you might be tied up right now because we had yet to talk things over with you, Hiccup, but you're not the primary reason why we're all out here."

"Then what is your real reason? You all owe me an explanation about that, at least. Were you just out here looking for her?" He wordlessly jerked his head in Emma's direction to elaborate before continuing. "If that's the case, then are you planning to head back to the city now? And am I going back as your prisoner, or as your traveling companion?"

"You are not a prisoner, Hiccup," Elsa immediately insisted. "Once again, we apologize for how we have tied you up, but you are certainly not our prisoner. As for why we are all out here right now, you are half correct. Our initial goal was to locate young Emma – who, as you can, see we did manage to find. But we intend to find Jack as well."

"Jack… Hey, kid? He's your brother, right? The one that set off this weird winter?"

Emma sleepily nodded. "Yeah. And if you all are going to keep yapping instead of helping me find him, I'm… I'm leaving…"

Her statement would have gotten raised brows from the four teens had she not yawned loudly at the end of her sentence.

"We'll be done soon, Emma, I promise," Elsa assured her.

"'Kay…"

Elsa smiled at Emma for another moment longer, and then she turned her attention back to Hiccup. "In any event, Prin— I mean, just Hiccup, we never wanted this to happen. We were simply on our way out of the city when we ran into you, and Rapunzel overreacted. We are sincerely sorry for these circumstances. Our options at the time were limited. I was certainly not going to allow Princess Merida to kill you as she wanted, and leaving you unconscious in the snow would have surely resulted in you freezing to death. However, if we had returned you to the castle we would have run the risk of being stopped from looking for Emma and Jack. We thought that the best case scenario was to bring you with us."

Hiccup was silent for a time as he contemplated all this, but then a thought occurred to him, and a strange, unreadable glint suddenly appeared in his green eyes as he addressed all of them.

"I guess that just leaves one question then, doesn't it? What's going to happen now?"

Emma was still fighting the waves of sleep that were threatening to overpower her, so she didn't really pay much attention to what he had asked, but Elsa, Rapunzel, and Merida's expressions all became even more puzzled.

"Well… Well I suppose we could give you one of our horses so you can go back to Arendelle," Rapunzel suggested rather uncertainly. "You're not our prisoner, so you're free to go if you wish…"

"Excuse me?! If you think for one second that I'm going to stand by and let you offer up Angus to this savage Viking to ride anywhere, Rapunzel, then you've got—!"

"You both misunderstand me. I wasn't referring to myself this time when I asked what's going to happen now. I was rhetorically asking what's going to happen to all of you."

Silence.

No clever retorts at all from any of the three royal teens who had elected to technically kidnap the future chief of the Hairy Hooligan Viking tribe.

Just silence.

For the longest time, Elsa, Merida, and Rapunzel did not speak. They just stood there in front of the tied-up, but still surprisingly smug-looking Viking heir with wide eyes and matching perplexed expressions on their faces. Even Emma managed to snap awake upon hearing this and was now staring dumbfounded at Hiccup, not believing her own ears.

"What do you mean by that, Prince Hiccup?" the little girl asked, no trace at all of sleepiness in her voice now. "Queen Elsa and Princesses Merida and Rapunzel apologized already for what's happened to you – and again, I wasn't involved at all in you being here right now, so you can't blame me for this…"

The auburn-haired teen chuckled. "Don't worry, kid. I wasn't including you when I said 'all' just now. It's obvious that all you want is to find your brother, and you had no idea that anyone would follow you up here. I'm just theoretically talking about the three of them."

Emma blinked at his words, but after a few seconds' worth of deliberation, she broke eye contact with the Viking boy and moved to sit down on a soft bale of hay. If she wasn't going to get in trouble for whatever Hiccup was talking about, that was good news for her, but she was still hopeful that he wouldn't end up getting too mad at Elsa. Elsa wasn't just the new queen of her country, she was also the closest thing Emma had to an older sister while growing up. Her and Anna. So she didn't want Hiccup to start hating Elsa just because of this odd kidnapping.

The others though, were more concerned about the implications that Hiccup was hinting at right now than the idea of him not liking any of them.

"What exactly are you suggesting, Hiccup?" Elsa asked carefully. "If you are expressing concern about all of us going up the mountain by ourselves to look for Jack, we appreciate the sentiment, but I am certain we will be all right."

Hiccup's smirk still stayed in place on his face. "Sorry, Elsa, but that's not exactly what I was talking about. While I'm not the type of guy to let a group of young woman walk into danger all by themselves, I— Merida, I'm not trying to insult you right now, so please lower that bow! You all met my girlfriend Astrid last night, so you should know full well that I have nothing against women being capable fighters!"

The curly-haired Scott huffed for what had to be the umpteenth time by this point as she lowered her bow and arrows away from Hiccup's face. "Hmph! You better not! You're on thin ice, ye doaty bassa!"

"Merida, let's let him finish, all right? So please stop trying to kill him! We shouldn't escalate things any further than they already are!" Rapunzel said in a bit of a flustered frenzy.

Merida's face turned as red as her hair as rage boiled inside her. Didn't anyone here understand where she was coming from? Hiccup may not be a bad person in the grand scheme of things, but he was still a Viking. A disgusting Viking just like the other disgusting Vikings that had plagued the shores of Dunbroch for countless generations! And she knew all too well that the family and homeland of her suitor, Alan of Clan MacGuffin, got the brunt of each attack.

There had been so many innocent lives lost thanks to the filthy and sickening Viking brutes that chose to rape and pillage her country, and all because they lived just on the outskirts of the Barbaric Archipelago. There were very few things her parents agreed upon when it came to matters of war, but Merida knew for a fact that when it came to Vikings, her mother and father would both surprisingly be on the same page. Even if it might cost him his life, King Fergus could always be counted on to hunt down and destroy any Vikings that attempted to invade Dunbroch anywhere near their modest stone castle nestled deep in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. Similarly, although her mother was well known to prefer diplomacy over fighting, Queen Elinor's one exception to that mindset was whenever Vikings were involved. She wasn't fond of the bloodshed that came with fending off the Viking raids, but she also knew that it was impossible to try and discuss peace treaties with people who were raised with the mindset that everything in life was war and therefore had to be destroyed. People who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with.

The only reason why her mother had ordered all of them to not antagonize the Viking visitors at the coronation ceremony was because they were guests here Arendelle, so it wasn't the time or place to start a fight. However, now that Merida was alone here with Hiccup and only Elsa, Rapunzel, and Emma were around for company, it was becoming harder and harder for her to ignore the teachings that had been instilled in her by both parents her whole life and not kill the scrawny Viking that was all but being served to her on a shiny silver platter. Oh, what she wouldn't give to be left alone with the sarcastic and smug, green-eyed, auburn-haired boy for five minutes! That would be more than enough time for the strong-willed princess of Dunbroch to slit his throat and hide the body afterwards!

Before she could say anything regarding all this, however, Elsa was already pressing Hiccup for more details.

"Hiccup, please continue. If you're not referring to us going up the mountain all alone, then what are you saying?"

Hiccup's smirk grew in size. "You've already promised me that you're not planning to hurt me. I'm grateful for that, and I'm certainly not going to hurt any of you either once you girls eventually untie me – which you all will have to do at some point because Rapunzel can't go anywhere with the rest of you since her strangely long blonde hair is what you used to tie me up – but what's to stop me from telling my dad what you all did to me once I get back to the city?"

There was a very long, very tense pause as the three royal girls all froze up. This was something they had never once thought of.

Even little Emma's head snapped up at hearing this rhetorical question thrown out into the air. "But you mustn't do that, your highness! Chief Stoick will get mad at Queen Elsa! And Arendelle is a peaceful country! I don't want our country to go to war with your island!"

Hiccup and the other three older girls all blinked at her words. Emma was definitely wide awake now if she was able to blurt out abrupt statements like that, no doubt about it.

"I don't want Berk to go to war with your queen's country any more than you do, Emma – That's your name, right? I think that's what your queen called you."

Emma nodded. "Uh-huh, that's me."

"Okay, well, believe me on that," he quickly went on. "I'm just throwing a hypothetical out into the air, but I'm still rather serious about it. Queen Elsa? Can you think up any possible reason why I shouldn't tell my dad about all this when you all eventually have to let me go? Because it can't be denied that that's what any normal human being would do if they were in my place right now."

Elsa didn't initially reply. He had caught her off guard with his surprisingly honest assessment of what he should do the moment they released him from his bindings – and again, he was quite right when he said that they would eventually have to let him go, because unless Rapunzel chose to cut her hair, there was no way she could go anywhere. The new queen wasn't quite sure how she should answer him at first. But Elsa was very wise despite her young age, and it didn't take her long to realize something very obvious in what Hiccup had just said. It took everything in her power to compose her face from a look of panicked anxiety into a carefully constructed queenly expression of skepticism with only a single brow raised as she stared down at Hiccup. Also, to make sure she didn't sound as though she had a lump in her throat, she summoned forth all the knowledge she had been carefully instructed in to help keep her voice sounding calm, clear, and above all, still resonating with power.

After all, despite his circumstances, Hiccup thought he was holding all the cards right now since he saw that none of them had intended for him to get roped into this mess at all.

And because it had been her idea to go after the runaway Emma first before searching for Jack, it was up to her to remind the Viking heir just who was in charge here.

"You would not have brought this up at all if you hadn't already thought up whatever it is you consider to be the correct answer to that question,Hiccup. What is it that you are saying exactly? What do you want?"

Hiccup grinned a rather friendly grin back at her, but to the great Arendelle queen, the worried Coronan princess, the hotheaded Dunbroch princess, and the sleepily little Arendelle servant girl, it looked rather smug and cocky.

"What do you think I want? My dad brought both myself and a good number of our fellow tribesmen all the way from Berk to try and secure a trading alliance with your country. I believe you when you say that this situation was just a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time… but I know my dad, and all of you should trust me when I say that he's going to take this incident as an insult to not only me, but also to him and our people. And let's be honest here, wouldn't any of your parents feel the same way if one of you were sitting here in my place right now? Again, I could act the way that Merida expects and let a war happen over all this, but I'm an oddity amongst my tribe and I really don't want any wars to happen anytime in the near future. That being said, I'm not saying that I won't tell my dad about this situation either… Unless of course you promise one small favor to me, Queen Elsa."

Rapunzel, Merida, and Emma all slowly turned to look at the suddenly very fixed monotone expression on Elsa's face… meanwhile, she was doing everything in her power to not visibly show how worried she was.

This was bad.

Very bad.

Hiccup was resorting to blackmail.

Blackmail.

He wanted to blackmail her.

The new queen.

She knew she made the right decision in stopping Merida from shooting him and causing a calamity of diplomatic issues between their various countries, but perhaps she should have just elected to leave him abandoned all alone in the cold snow instead of bringing him along. He probably would have frozen to death, but with him being stranded out there, the odds of anyone knowing that they had been involved in any way were slim to none. She certainly wouldn't have been placed in a position where she would have to negotiate terms with Hiccup for him to not tell everyone what had led to him being roped into this mess.

"What is it you want?" she asked stiffly. "Gold? A portion of Arendelle's lands? Do you wish to secure your island's trading alliance with Arendelle before I've even had the chance to listen to the proposal Chief Stoick is supposed to present to me?"

"Answering in order of your questions: no, not at all, and an interesting idea, but that's a no as well. All I want from you, Elsa, is just your vow as queen that when the time comes for everyone to officially meet Toothless, no harm will come to him… at least not while my people are still here in Arendelle's borders."

There was a lengthy pause as the four girls looking down at him blinked accordingly at the strange request.

"Toothless?" Elsa repeated, not quite making sense of what Hiccup had asked of her. "You wish for protection for your friend? I… I don't understand. Why would anyone try to harm him? Provided of course that he obeys Arendelle's laws, no one from my country's military would hurt your Viking friend, and they wouldn't allow anyone from any of the visiting countries attack a guest either."

Hiccup snorted, he couldn't help himself, and his reaction made the generally sweet and kind Princess Rapunzel narrow her eyes suspiciously.

"What's so funny?! What Elsa asked is a perfectly legitimate question!"

"It is a legitimate question, Rapunzel, so I'm sorry for laughing, but it's funny to me because while Toothless did come to Arendelle with my people… he's not a guest. Or at least, you all wouldn't necessarily consider him a guest."

The girls just continued to stare at him.

"Don't worry about understanding me right now. I don't expect any of you to get what I'm saying. You'll all get it when you see him. But still, your word, Queen Elsa. Promise me that under no circumstances will he be harmed by either your military, or by any of the other visiting countries' militaries while my people are still in Arendelle's borders, and I swear that I won't let my current situation be the cause for war to break out between our nations."

Elsa was silent for a considerable amount of time. Hiccup's request was beyond unusual. Why in heaven's name would she order the Arendelle military to attack Hiccup's fellow Viking the moment she met him, whoever he was? And why did he also request that she pull her rank as queen of Arendelle over the visiting countries to ensure that none of the other coronation guests tried to hurt him either? She needed answers to these questions before she could agree this.

"Tell me why you are requesting this, Hiccup. I need a reason as to why I should do this before I agree to it."

"I… I can't tell you, your majesty."

Merida huffed. "Typical Vikings! They make outrageous demands and don't even give an explanation as to why they're doing it!"

"That's not it at all, Merida. Toothless… Toothless was brought to Arendelle out of the slim, naïve hope that he could be used to demonstrate to Elsa that it was in her best interest to form an alliance with Berk. And before any of you ask about the trading alliance my dad so desperately wants, again, I can't tell you. I'm not allowed to talk about it. It's all supposed to be kept under wraps until the negotiation meeting. It's my dad's orders, and since he's the chief, I have to obey them. I can't talk about it. End of story."

The two princesses and the new queen still weren't one hundred percent sold on being told the absolute bare minimum about Hiccup's strange request. However, Emma was now looking rather grouchy. She glared at all of them with her arms folded across her small chest and one of her little feet began tapping the ground repeatedly to wordlessly show just how annoyed she was becoming with the lengthy delay. With that, plus the irritable scowl on Hiccup's face, there wasn't really any time to second guess this generous deal that the Viking heir was proposing.

"I'll… I'll accept your condition, Hiccup, but tell me this at least first. This Toothless friend of yours, is he dangerous? Would he hurt anyone?"

"Only if someone dares to attack him first. He's good, your majesty. Inexplicably good. But you won't think that when you first see him. No one from any of the other visiting countries will think that he's good either But so long as you don't try to hurt him first, he won't hurt anyone. I swear to all the Norse gods that exist that he won't."

"Very well then, Hiccup. You have a deal. No one will harm this Toothless so long as your tribe is here in Arendelle. If something happens outside my kingdom's borders, that's beyond my control, but nothing will happen while you and your people are within Norway. I give you my word."

Hiccup grinned. "Okay, then. So long as you keep that promise, Queen Elsa, you won't have any trouble from me. Whenever we get back to Arendelle, I'll just say I ran into you all while you were leaving the castle, and decided to tag along for the fun of it."

Merida's eyes narrowed. "Hold it! What the bloody hell makes you think you're coming with us on this journey?!"

The Viking heir rolled his eyes in irritation. "Well, I can't in good conscious let three girls and a little kid go on a practically suicidal quest up the mountain to look for the guy that caused this weird winter while some evil shadow sorcerer is on the loose. Plus, I'm assuming that only Merida has any real survival and combat experience. You guys dragged me out here with you. I kind of have to go along with you, now."

"Prince Hiccup, that really isn't necessary!" Rapunzel chimed.

Elsa nodded. "We appreciate the offer, but you do not have to come along with us if you don't wish to. There's a trading post right outside. You can go in there and ask for directions back to the city."

Tiny Emma was still fighting off the ebbing waves of drowsiness, and she swayed a bit on her feet as she too nodded along with what the others were saying. "Go back, Prince… Prince Hiccup…" she mumbled, fighting off a yawn as she spoke. "We're fine without you…"

In truth, Hiccup should have felt annoyed by this, all of them telling him that they didn't want him to tag along. But all he did to outwardly show them how he felt was give them a rather dry look.

"How many of you are used to dealing with ice and snow all the time in your home countries?"

The girls blinked at him, not understanding.

"You can't answer that, can you? Truth is, you only deal with the cold weather periodically during the usual winter months, right? Not me. You're all forgetting that I'm from Berk. It might be an island, but it snows there nine months of the year, and then hails for the other three. I know how to navigate in cold weather. You four might have made it this far on your own, but if you're telling the truth when you say that we're outside some sort of mountain trading post right now, then that means you've all been following a trail to get here. What's the likelihood that Jack stuck to a path if he chose to run away from the kingdom? If you go any further to look for him, you'll have to leave the mountain trails. That's a death sentence if you don't know how to survive in the mountains during winter."

There was a long stretch of silence at that. None of them, not even the hot-tempered Merida, could exactly argue with his logic.

"Face it. You guys need my help. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to have another fighter around if that weird Shadow Man comes back. Just untie me and give me back my sword and I promise I'll have your backs."

"Your sword?" Rapunzel repeated, puzzled. "What sword?"

"I have a special retractable sword I made in the forge back on Berk. I can feel it's not in its holster on my hip right now. Please tell me you guys didn't lose it while dragging my unconscious body through the forest all day today."

Elsa frowned at his choice of words, but still shook her head. "No, it's not lost. We stored it away in Merida's quiver. Merida, return it to him, please."

The Scottish girl huffed, but did as Elsa asked and started rummaging around furiously in her quiver to retrieve the bizarre sword hilt they had taken from the Viking. "I do this under protest, Elsa! I still don't trust him, and if he does anything to prove that he's nothing more than a lying, savage Viking, I'll be shoving these arrows down his throat one by one!"

"Merida—"

"I'll do it! I swear I will! You hear that, Viking Scum?! Try anything funny and you're a dead man walking! Is that clear?!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Crystal, your highness. Now, if you would all be kind enough to untie me and give me back my sword?"

Merida huffed, but made no further comments as Elsa and Rapunzel stepped forward and worked on undoing the tight knots of hair that secured the Viking heir to the pillar. As soon as he was free again and slowly back up onto his feet while wiping away bits of hay stuck to his clothes, Elsa glanced around curiously in the small enclosure until she spied several bales of hay. It wasn't exactly ideal conditions, but when out in the middle of nowhere, one couldn't exactly be picky when it came to finding shelter for the night.

"We should all get some rest. We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow," she said.

Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup all nodded at the new queen's suggestion, but Emma immediately scowled.

"No way!" the little girl snapped. "Jack's out there all alone! We leave now! Right now!"

She started to furiously march her way toward the door, but Rapunzel's words made her pause.

"Emma, weren't you tired a few minutes ago? Don't you think you should try to get some sleep right now so we can all keep going nice and refreshed in the morning?" she said reasonably.

The little girl though just huffed at her words before continuing her way outside. "I'll sleep after I find my brother. That Shadow Man's out here. He could have already found Jackie by now. I don't have time to sleep."

Merida sighed in exasperation. Forget her wee devilish brothers. This girl had to be at least a thousand times more troublesome than they were. "Lass, speaking from personal experience here, running out into the forest when you're an emotional mess is a recipe for disaster. So sit down now and—"

"You all do what you want. Jack's not family to any of you, so you guys really don't care what happens to him. You just care about the winter going on. Well, not me! I'll find him on my own if you're too lazy to keep going."

And with that, little Emma Overland spun around on her heel, and walked purposefully right out the door without another word, her dark brown hair bouncing about from side to side with every step. There was a long pause as the queen, the two princesses, and the Viking heir exchanged looks of utter bewilderment, but then they followed her outside.

To their surprise, Emma was not shuffling her way through the snow toward any of the horses. Instead, she had just walked right past the animals in order to head up the mountain on foot.

"Emma, aren't you going to try and get on one of the horses first?" Rapunzel called out in obvious worry.

While Emma did not dare stop walking, she threw back a somewhat annoyed reply over her shoulder. "How can I? I'm not taking Queen Elsa's horse, your horse scares me, Princess Rapunzel, and if I take Princess Merida's horse, I'll be accused of stealing again. I have to walk from here."

"Kid, you're going to get yourself killed if you go into the woods right now," Hiccup shouted after her. "If not by the cold or that weird Shadow Man, then by being eaten by a bear or something."

"I don't care!"

As she struggled to shuffle her way through the high mounds of thickly packed snow, the queen, the two princesses, and the Viking heir all exchanged looks of unease and exasperation, and after a few more moments of silent deliberation, the four of them all sighed and nodded to one another in reluctant agreement. It was clear that nothing they said or did was going to persuade Emma to wait until morning. She was just a little girl. They couldn't just let her take off alone.

"Emma? Hold up."

"How many times do I have to repeat myself, Queen Elsa?! I'm not gonna—"

"I'll help you onto my horse. We're coming with you."

At that, the little dark-haired girl spun around.

"You are? Really?"

"What can we say, Lass? It's an adventure," the fiery spirited crown princess of Dunbroch exclaimed. "Who'd turn down such an exciting quest?"

Emma giggled at that, and then hurriedly shuffled her way back to the others so that she could get a boost up onto the queen's horse. Elsa initially stepped forward to help the little girl climb on, but Hiccup beat her to the punch.

"Here, on three, kid," the kind Viking boy said, kneeling down in the snow and making a cup with his hands near the ground for Emma to step up onto. "One… two… three!"

And just like that, Emma carefully climbed up into Hiccup's makeshift stepstool hands, and then swung her small body into the front-most part of Sitron's saddle. She giggled excitedly once she was on.

"Thank you for your help, Prince Hiccup!"

"For the last time, kid. Don't call me—"

"Let it go, Hiccup. She's showing you the respect she's been taught to give people of our station since the day she was born. You can't get mad at her for that."

Hiccup sighed, but otherwise shrugged away Elsa's words as he glanced over at the remaining two horses, and then cringed in displeasure. "Am I gonna have to share, too?"

"What's the matter? Do Vikings not know how to ride?" Merida snarled.

The future Berkian chief rolled his eyes. "We can ride. Just not horses. We ride… other creatures."

Merida huffed in obvious disbelief, but the others all blinked at him in confusion.

"Other creatures? What do you mean?"

"Story for another day, Elsa," he replied, brushing off his own comment with a wave of his hand. "Just tell me which horse I'm riding."

"Not mine, I'm saying that now!"

"You can ride with me, Hiccup. I don't mind."

"Thanks, Rapunzel."

Invisible to the three young royal teens and the small servant child, Pitch Black was looming over their forms from his perch on the snowy rooftop of Oaken's Trading Post. It annoyed the Nightmare King that none of them could see him at the moment, but none of them were particularly afraid at this time, and because of that, he was nothing more than a ghost to them once again. The boost of fear he had received from the entire country the night before was still flowing through his veins, but unless a person was currently experiencing fear, he still couldn't be seen by normal humans.

Or at least, not while he was still this weak.

This was why he still needed that ice boy, Jackson Overland. He was a continuous source of never ending fear, hence the reason why Pitch had followed him into these freezing cold woods after the teenager had fled from the kingdom. But for reasons currently beyond Pitch at this time, he couldn't locate Jack anymore, because for some bizarre reason, Jack no longer seemed to be afraid. That was a major problem for the Boogeyman. While everyone's fear was important, Jack's fear was at least three times greater than a normal person's fear when it came to even the smallest issues, and therefore his fear was what Pitch craved the most. He'd been struggling for the past twenty-four hours to try and find Jack, but now that he had been fortunate enough to stumble across this group of young humans, his luck had completely turned around.

He would have to follow them during their search for Jackson Overland, but that meant he had to at least give them a taste of his powers again to keep them fearful enough so he could track them.

He waved his hand, and less than a second later, a small number of black sand Nightmares materialized around him.

"Go," he ordered them. "Spread fear."

As the group below started off into the forest, the dark, evil stallions whinnied an affirmative, and then galloped straight down through the air until they were at ground level before cautiously trotting along after the human party at a distance. No point in them trying to terrify the group now. Let them bide their time until the group subconsciously dropped their guard. The best time to truly frighten a person was when they least suspected it, after all.

Pitch wickedly grinned as he watched his stallions go, and with one last smirk to himself, he leisurely turned, and began floating his way back in the direction of the kingdom. As much as he wanted to stay with his Nightmares and see them all the way to wherever Jack had decided to hide, there was still more work to be done. The odds were that the Guardians knew by now that something was amiss, so whenever they arrived, he needed to be ready. There was still plenty of fear that could be harvested from the townsfolk and visitors in Arendelle. As soon as he collected more than enough fear from the humans in the castle town, he would join his Nightmares in tracking the human search party. However, if the party found Jack first, he would then drop everything to join them. Either way, this was time that had to be put to use, not spent lollygagging and waiting around for that stupid teenager to be found.

But unbeknownst to the Nightmare King as he floated away, he was not the only being in the forest who had a reason to track the group of royals with the little servant child.

From the shadow of the trees, on the opposite side of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post, a certain dragon was crouched, having only just now arrived at the small forest store. The reptile was freezing cold. It was one thing for it to deal with cold weather back in the Barbaric Archipelago, because even though it snowed nine months out of the year and hailed the other three there, its weather was consistently the same. This bizarre snow in the middle of summer however was so unexpected, that it was impossible for the dragon to get warm again unless he stopped tracking the group for a short time and made a plasma bolt to warm himself up.

But that didn't matter. The Night Fury would gladly freeze to death first before any harm came to Hiccup.

With a deep growl, Toothless set off again through the trees. He would find his human friend again. Make no mistake about that.