Merida stared at the place where Rapunzel had stood just moments before. A little pile of dust was in her place. 

Mother Nature gaped at the pile of dust. "That's -- that's -- impossible! How did she --"

Stone eggs with frowning faces came to rest outside of the circle. Yetis stood beside them, and little fairies fluttered over the circle, all unable to get in. 

"Why can't they get in?" Hiccup asked, taking a black circle and a short, thick steel rod out of a bag. 

"It's neutral ground," said Merida. "Sacred. Much magic took place here, all kinds of stuff, too. Death, life, renewal, decay."

"I shouldn't be here," Mother Nature whispered. "Good luck. You're going to need it."

She started to disappear, but Jack froze part of her with his staff. "We made a deal with you, made you our patron. Now, when one of us is kidnapped and an army surrounds us, you're just going to leave?"

"It's more complicated than that," Mother Nature sighed. "I can't be here."

Jack narrowed his eyes. "I can't believe that after you promise us your so-called protection, then just abandon us. Tell me the truth, Earth Lady."

"Jack --" Mother Nature tried to say, but Jack raised his staff, but Merida put a hand on his arm. Steam rose from her hand.

"Save it for another day, Frost," Merida mumbled. She released her hand, and Jack lowered his staff.

Mother Nature left. 

"This is not good," Hiccup said, pacing. "One of us, just gone like that? What happened to protection? Safety?"

"Who has an idea where she might have gone?" Merida asked. "We didn't know her for that long, but it was long enough."

"Who died and made you in charge?" asked Jack.

"Do ye have anyone else in mind, Frost?"

"Well, as it happens, I do."

"Who?"

Hiccup shoved his way between the two. "We need  to keep our heads. Merida can be in charge, she's good with stress. Jack, if you could provide the manpower, that'd be great."

"And what are ye going to do?"

Hiccup smiled. "Backup."

* * * 

"I don't like this plan," Jack mumbled, hiding behind a boulder. "It's suicide."

A pebble hit him in the head. He looked over to Merida, who was a boulder over, and she put her finger  to her lips. He made a face, and she looked away.

Boys, she thought. Immortal, idiot boys.

Merida looked up at the midday sun. She was feeling tired, and her brain hurt. She rubbed her forehead, wishing that her headache would go away.

A brown leaf fell between the two boulders that Jack and Merida were hiding behind. Merida held up a  hand, three fingers up.

A golden leaf. Two fingers.

Jack got his staff ready, and Merida weighed her sword. The anxiety was killing  her. 

A red leaf. Go time. Merida and Jack scaled their respective rocks, careful not to be seen by any of the Yetis. They reached the top, and let Hiccup lower the clouds to create a nice, thick fog. Merida's wool dress hadn't fully dried from her dip in the ocean, and the fog was not helping. But she had to press forward. This was their only chance to get away from the army, quickly and quietly.

Hopefully.

Merida walked backwards to the edge of the stone. Don't look down, don't look down, do  not look down.

Starting into a run, she reached the edge of her boulder, and leaped across, and was caught under the shoulders by reptilian claws. Hiccup had prepared her for this, but actually doing  it, that was a different matter. 

Merida was so focused on the fact that Toothless held her under her arms, that she almost forgot the next part. Wriggling, she managed to get a grip on his saddle, and haul herself up, being careful not to cut the dragon with her ultra-sharp sword. 

"That took you longer than expected," Hiccup whispered.

"Aye. Get Jack." Toothless slowly lowered, and Jack climbed on. 

"Now if we can only --"

They froze. Searchlights bled through the fog, searching for them. Hiccup whispered something to Toothless, and he slowly rose through the fog. They rose above, it, soaking wet. 

"I can't believe that actually worked," Jack said.

Little fairies soared above the fog, and came racing after them.

"Should I shut up now?"

"Yeah."

"Yup. All right, bud, let's shake these pesky fairies off of our trail."

Toothless took quickly to his new assignment. Twirling, cork-screwing, going straight up, then straight down, upside down, side to side, Merida almost threw up at least twice, but at least she wasn't in the front, like Hiccup, and in the back, like Jack. She was screaming her throat raw, though.

"Merida, shut up!" Jack put a hand on her mouth, but Merida was still terrified. She was probably squeezing Hiccup to death with how tight she was holding. 

The fairies caught up to them, and dragged Jack off first. Merida held on even tighter.

"Can you loosen up back there?" Hiccup gasped. "I can't breathe!"

"Jack's gone!"

"What? Mack's home?"

"No, idiot! Jack is gone! Taken by daemons, and --"

The fairies came for her. Moving her sword to her left hand and holding onto Hiccup with her right, she slashed and cut, but did no damage whatsoever. 

Little teeth fairies pried her arm away from Hiccup, and dragged it back, Merida along with it. She screamed even harder, and the fairies dropped her in midair, no dragon. 

"HIIIIIIICCCCUUUUUPPPP!"

Free-falling was not a fun activity. All of Merida's thoughts consisted of: A: Screaming. B: That she would get Hiccup a faster dragon.

Something caught her under her arms again, and Merida had never been happier to see a large, dangerous dragon's head giving her the puppy-dog look. She smiled, and Toothless's head disappeared. 

She was like that for a few moments, until she saw the net.

"Net!" she yelled, and Toothless missed it by a mile. Three more nets came their way, and they were caught by two of them.

Toothless's wings were useless. At this time, Merida remembered her abandoned bear by that cliff. They crashed to the ground, Toothless folding over Hiccup and Merida. They both were breathing heavily. 

"You all right?" Hiccup whispered.

"Aye. You?"

"I'm sure that nothing's broken, though I'm definitely going to have some class-A bruises." 

Merida smiled. Battle wounds, that she could understand.

Toothless roared, and he shifted, pressing Hiccup on top of Merida, facedown.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"S' alright."

It was pitch black there. A dragon encasing two Spirits, and he was roaring with all of his might.

Hiccup shifted, and then straightened. "I have an idea about where Rapunzel was taken."

"Ye do?"

"Yeah. This kid told me about it when I was in Boston a couple of years ago. There's this book series, and one of the places is at the center of the Earth, and it's the darkest place here. No light can reach it."

"This is yer idea?"

"Well, it's all that I have."

He paused. "Well, anyways, after this kid told me about the book series, I went to the local library and borrowed them. Something like this happened to another character, Katherine, I think. She was kidnapped by Pitch Black and was put into an eternal nightmaric state."

Merida gasped. "That's what happened to Rapunzel, I'm sure of it!"

"We need to get out of here."

"Tell that to your dragon."

It was dark. And they waited. Waited long enough that Merida just fell asleep.

* * * 

This time, the dream did not have Merida in it. Instead, it had a girl with long, blonde hair, and a woman with curly hair. The girl that looked extraordinarily like Rapunzel was laying on a black stone with carvings on it, chained down. The curly-haired woman -- Gothel -- had parted Rapunzel's hair into two parts, and was braiding one of them. 

"Is it ready?" a man's voice rasped.

"Almost, my love. Her hair takes a while to take care of. But I promise that it will be ready in time."

"Good, good."

Gothel finished the one section, and moved to the next one. She finished within a few minutes.

"It is done."

"Give me a braid!"

Gothel reverently handled one of the two braids, and lowered it into the shadows. Rapunzel screamed, arching her back as much as the chains would allow. Gothel took the other braid.

"Flower, gleam and grow," Gothel sang. "Let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine."

She sang a second verse, and Rapunzel's hair started to glow brightly. When the song was over, it faded back to her blonde. But this time, her hair was slightly darker. 

Gothel dropped the braid, and rushed to the shadows. "How do you feel, my love?" she cooed.

"Stronger, but only just. How soon can we use the power again?"

"In a few hours, my love."

* * * 

Merida awoke to bright light. No Hiccup, no dragon, just a solid, white room and she was tied down with rope that dug into her skin.

A mirror covered one side, and Merida stared into it. Her dress was in shambles, but dry. Her hair was worse than ever, and she had a mark on her face that looked like scales from when she fell asleep. 

A wall opened, and North entered, arms folded so Merida could see his tattoos. 

"Where am I?" Merida asked.

North said nothing.

Merida met his gaze, and gave him her best glare. Still he said nothing. 

"You shouldn't have run," he said after a while. "You would have been safe with us."

"I heard differently."

North met her glare. "Bunny told me about fight. He said that you were good."

"I've been practicing."

North took a step closer, and Merida forced herself to remain calm. 

"I can't touch you," he said. "This was the most that we could do, legally."

"I'm glad that my status as neutral protects me, this time."

"Why did you break your Guardian oath?"

"Why did ye break yours? I heard you talking, and was willing to dismiss it, but Bunny's actions in the archery room solidified my opinion."

"That was not us."

"Talk to me when ye are ready to tell the truth. I'm good at discerning lies, and you, Mr. North, are lying through yer beard and belly."

North didn't leave, didn't say anything.

Ages passed until Merida was alone again.

It started with me being alone, she thought. And it might end like that too.

A/N: I AM SO SORRY THAT I AM LATE. But not really. Let's see, my reasons why I'm so late: Sherlock, Sherlock, Reading, School, Sherlock, blah, blah, blah, blah, you get the gist.

Vote, comment, and happy reading! (Oh, and what do you guys think of the picture at the top???)

~Allie