Strongly Believe in Your Fateful Dreams

Chapter 4: Something Different

"You have a father?" Rapunzel asks her. "Well, yeah. Everyone does," she answers awkwardly. "One that's proud of you?" Hiccup asks her. "Well, sort of," she shows a pinch in her fingers, signifying the slight chance of her father being proud of her. "But life is still hard for me," she says, shaking her head. "Well, not as hard as mine, probably," says Hiccup. "Really now? In what way?" Merida asks him.

"It's pretty hard to be me. I live in a village where your value is determined by the weight you can hoist over your head. I'm so skinny & weak so I'm starting to think that I am just as useless as they think I am. My dad won't even let me outside when everyone is fighting dragons & oh gods, it's embarassing. Now, I won't stop nagging 'cause if I kill a dragon, I can finally prove them wrong," he tells them about himself. "Is that dragon what we're looking for?" Merida asks. "Yup. I already saw it before but why I set it free I do not know," he adds. "And your plan is?" Jack asks him. "To tame it," he says proudly. "Impossible!!" the trio exclaim. "But at least you can do what you want," said Rapunzel. "And what is that supposed to mean?" Hiccup asks.

"It's hard to be me, locked up in that tower; my whole life spent wishing I was somewhere else," she points to her tower, "Though it's true that my mother knows best, it was starting to feel like a prison & unending bound. But there are lights that come on my birthday & now, 15 years old, I ask to see them the day that I turn 18. Next I know, mother was yelling at me & I couldn't believe I will never be able to get down here," she said, feeling the grass under her feet. "But then, Jack came. He doesn't seem very bad so I decided to trust him. He's taking me to see the lights," she points to Jack & he nods in confirmation.

"At least your mother listens to ya," Merida says in a pout. "Yours doesn't?" Rapunzel asks her. "No! She controls my whole life fer cryin' out loud! I'm just her puppet; dangling from her strings. And suddenly, I'm a princess; with rules, expectations. No weapons! Who does she think I am?" she angrily screams at the top of her lungs. When Merida mentions that she was a princess, Hiccup showed a 'suddenly-realizing-something' sort of expression & mouthed the words "Oh gods," that only Jack managed to see.

"But... maybe she knows what's best for you. I mean, that's how mothers are. She just cares about you," Rapunzel tries to convince her that her mother isn't so bad. "Cares about me?" she explodes again, "She doesn't care if I don't think I'm ready for marriage & rebellion is my only option. She never listens!" she says in frustration.

"Guys, guys... your problems are so tiny," Jack gives a chuckle. "How is being useless a small problem?" "How is being locked up in a tower a small problem?" "How is being ignored by your own mother a small problem?" Hiccup, Rapunzel & Merida say respectively. "Then if those are so big problems, does that mean being invisible is a small one?" Jack says. "What do you mean?" Rapunzel asks him in confusion.

"It's very hard to be me," he sits down on a rock, "The invisible boy. Come & go with the seasons & ride on the wind. I don't mind being by myself; having fun, causing trouble. But 300 years is pushing it...!" his smile fades into a frown & stands up, beginning to walk around, "Was I anyone before I was me? It's a weird question, I know, but I just can't stop asking it," he stops walking next to the trio, "They all walk right through me & I can't help but feel like nothing that I do really matters in the end," he sits down among them. "And that's about it," he wraps everything up. They were quite silent for a long time.

"Well! I'm going back to my cottage in the woods," said Hiccup, stretching his arms. "You live there?" Jack asks him. "Yeah. You saw it?" "That was where I crashed down to before I got here," "Oh. Okay. You guys wanna come?" Hiccup invites everyone. They all raise their hands. "Okay, well... It's a bit cramped in there so... I'll clean up first before anyone goes in," And they all set out.

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