The Big Four: The Rise of the Darkness (Ch. 41)

Jamie stared at where Rapunzel once was. Not believing how fast she disappeared. He spun around when he heard the growling of the demon bear, Mor'du. "Merida…"

Merida turned to Jamie and said to him, "Go somewhere safe, Jamie. Mor'du is ruthless—"

"No!" Jamie interrupted. "I'm helping you."

Merida sighed. "If ya want ta help, go to Jack…I'm sure he'll want you with him instead." She brought out another arrow, aiming at Mor'du, who was still trying to figure out why his restraints were suddenly gone. He shook his head hardly and huffed loudly, snarling at the two. He started to circle around them. "I can cover—"

"I told you, I'm helping you," Jamie told her. He held up his shield. "Alright? I'm not saying it again."

"Fine, whatever." Merida stood in front of Jamie. "Just stay behind me. The last thing I need is ya gettin' hurt." She took a deep breath and fired an arrow at Mor'du.

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Jack heard Rapunzel's yell from where he stood, him spinning around after he blasted another Night Mare with his frost. His eyes widened to see Mother Gothel take her away into the shadows through the sudden and isolated fog in front of them. "Rapunzel!" He slammed the end of his staff on the ground. Ice and frost exploded from the ground, freezing the Night Mares in place. He went to go follow them but a hoard of Night Mare got in his way. They stomped their hooves on the ground, braying as they went on their hind legs and slam back to the ground. "I don't have time for this…" He fired more frost from his staff, freezing a couple but from the black sand remains, they rose again like zombies. He groaned. "Can't you just stay dead?"

His eyes darted back to where Rapunzel once was. Near where she disappeared was Jamie and Merida. They were cornered by Mor'du. He felt a sudden panic go through him. His attention went back to the Night Mares. "Get out of my way!" He flew up to the sky and rocketed back down, slamming the end of staff onto the ground. Ice spread under him like wild fire and went under the Night Mares. Ice spikes exploded from the thin layer of ice, going straight through the Night Mares and making them turn back into black sand. For a moment, Jack stared in wonderment and somewhat fear of what he just produced. He had never done something like this before…and the damage it did scared him a bit. Of course, he has produced a large mass of ice before with his staff similar to this but the last time he did that…

He shook the terrible memory away, not wanting to think of it. The memories of the fear and terror of that day would only make the Night Mares, and their controller Pitch, stronger. He went to fly towards Merida and Jamie but only more Night Mares started to appear. They surrounded him. He looked over them to see Merida get knocked to the ground. "Merida!"

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Merida yelled in pain when Mor'du's paw swiped across her with immense power. It knocked her to the ground, pain pulsing through her body.

"Merida!" Jamie hurried to her side. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah…I'm—" Her eyes darted behind Jamie and they shrank in fear. "Look out!"

Jamie turned around to see Mor'du get on his hind legs and roar. Jamie stumbled to the ground and started to back away. But he didn't get far. Mor'du came back on all fours hard and pinned the two under him. Mor'du opened his mouth and a loud roar erupted, sending goose bumps up Jamie's arms. Merida made a small yell of fear and squeezed her eyes shut.

Suddenly, Mor'du got knocked off of them by a black blur. It was Toothless, Hiccup still mounted on his back. Toothless screeched at Mor'du, clawing at him when he got too close. His tail wrapped protectively around Jamie and Merida.

Hiccup slid off of Toothless and hurried the best he could, still not use to his new prosthetic leg, to Jamie and Merida. "Are you guys alright?"

Merida answered, "Only got the wind knocked out of me…"

Jamie nodded. "I'm fine."

"Good." Hiccup helped them up. He looked over to Toothless. "Toothless, plasma blast!"

Toothless opened his mouth, a purple-ish blue light growing at the back of his throat before a large ball of blue shot out of his mouth. It was a direct hit on Mor'du. Mor'du stumbled backwards at the shot and again when Toothless fired again. Mor'du roared at Toothless furiously, as if he was mad that the Night Fury got in the way of his kill. Toothless retorted back just as furiously. He lunged at the demon bear and tackled him to the ground. They rolled around, batting at each other. Mor'du managed to pin Toothless to the ground, but it didn't last long. Toothless scratched his hind claws on Mor'du's belly, making him bleed. He chomped down hard on Mor'du's neck and clamped onto him with a solid grip. Mor'du growled in pain and thrashed around, trying to shake the dragon off of him. It only made Toothless hold on tighter. Having enough, Mor'du pierced his front paw's claws into Toothless. Toothless screeched and let go, a blast of blue fire coming out of his mouth. Toothless tumbled to the ground and scrambled back to his feet. He slammed his tail on the ground, roaring at the demon bear. He flew up, hovering to fire three shots at the bear before he landed quickly, not able to maintain flight. Mor'du struggled to get up. Toothless took his chance and lunged at the bear again. They rolled around again. Toothless slammed Mor'du into an electricity pole, the pole came crashing down.

Jamie saw the puddle of melted frost underneath them, making his eyes widen. "Toothless! Get out of there!"

Toothless looked over their way and rushed over to them, right in time before the pole landed on the ground.

The three looked away when electricity zapped the bear. Mor'du's howls of pain echoed through the frozen night until they suddenly stopped. They reluctantly looked towards the charred corpse of the bear. They gasped that a blue light came from the bear and over him formed a blue ghost of what looked like a warrior. He looked towards them and dipped his head before turning into a small tear-dropped shaped being and disappeared.

"What…was that?" Hiccup wondered aloud.

Merida shrugged her shoulders, confused just as much. "I…don't know…"

Jamie's attention went away from the bear when he felt a cold breeze. He turned to see Jack come towards them.

"Is everyone alright?" Jack asked.

They all nodded. Merida said to Jack, "Mor'du is gone."

"I saw…I was able to get the Night Mares to stop attacking for a bit…I froze them in place. They're still alive but they won't be able to regenerate," Jack looked to where he saw Rapunzel last. "I saw that lady take Rapunzel into the woods. If we're lucky, we can catch up to them and get her back."

Hiccup got on top of Toothless. "I'll scout above. If anything, I should be able to spot them from up there. If we see her, we'll fire a shot where we are and track them if they run."

Jack nodded. "Got it…Merida, Jamie. Follow me!"

Hiccup and Toothless took up to the sky while the others went into the woods. Jack was hovering off the ground, zipping around to see if he can spot them. He sighed. "I don't see them anywhere…"

"They have to be around somewhere, Jack," Jamie assured him. In the corner of his eye, he saw something move. He spun around and saw a some golden hair disappear into the darkness. "Over here!"

Jack and Merida went to follow Jamie then suddenly, darkness formed under Jack and went around him, swallowing him.

"Jack!" Jamie yelled when a dark bubble formed around the Guardian of Fun, the black sand crackling as it spun like a globe. He tried to get in but the sand was relentless, not letting him get through. Merida wanted to try and maybe fire some arrows but she didn't, worrying that it would harm Jack inside. Jamie called out to him, "We'll get you out! Don't worry!"

Jack yelled back, "No, go get Rapunzel! She needs you more than I do!"

"But Jack—" Merida tried to reason with him but he interrupted her,

"Guys, go! I'm not saying it again! I'll be fine, promise!"

Jamie sighed, shaking his head, knowing that trying to reason with him would be useless. "We'll be right back, Jack. I promise you that." The three took off to where Gothel was last seen.

Jack saw something move in the shadows, making him grip tighter onto his staff with both hands, squinting into the everlasting darkness. He yelped and ducked when suddenly, a streak of black flame zoomed over his head, almost catching his hair on fire. He held his staff in front of him, looking in every direction, trying to figure out where the attack came from. His eyes focused when the flame went off again in the darkness. Even though the flame was black in color, it was still giving off light, just barely. His eyes widened when he a humanoid figure made of black sand standing in front of him, red orbs for eyes glowing against the black. It was in an attack stance, the circle in front of it, like it were a shield. In the other hand was the black flame. It was shaped like a sword.

In his head, he heard a ghostly, raspy voice pierce like they were nails on chalk board, "You left me to die…"

But behind the lapping voices of the voice, Jack recognized the unique Nord-Scottish accent. It made his heart freeze.

"…Birna…?"