Operation Phoenix

Chapter Thirty-One

'Can't Valka just help us escape again?'

'No. It'd throw us into a war—they'd think your district did it. But you being back only endangers us, our cover could be blown so you WILL keep your mouths shut about everything. You see us around, you act like you've never seen us before, got it?'

Rapunzel organized the bottles on her table, recalling Hiccup and Meg's conversation as she did so. Her head ached, a lot, and she had to brace herself against the table's edge a few times to keep herself from fainting. So she was working for King Black now? That was a new one, one that she never, ever thought she'd have to realize. Each moment she spent there, the worse her anxiety got. Was Merida really dead? Where was Jack? How about Hiccup? How was he feeling? And Elsa? Oh she must be worried sick. Zel's head throbbed and the bottles clattered together, nearly falling off the edge of her work station. She hugged herself in pain and sunk down into a crouch, trying to assess her surroundings as the beating got louder. Her eyes squeezed shut and she bit her tongue so hard she thought she might taste blood. The commotion of New World seemed to float away as her headache drowned out all evidence of her atmosphere.

Pump

'Merida, oh Merida, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault, if I hadn't wanted so many photos—if I would've just seen how bad of an idea this was then You...'

Pump pump pump.

Rapunzel's hands flew up to her head and she whimpered in pain. All she wanted to do was fall asleep and curl up in her blankets—to let the world fall away. She missed when her only worry was the next run, or what to wear, or if she'd be getting more herbs soon. She missed Peak District, she missed her friends and being a medic and Merida. The idea that she was dead hurt like a pin in the heart, it hugged at her rib cage and made her well with tears at the thought. There had to be something else, some other evidence. But the probability of her surviving that was unlikely—she was just glad she'd been unconscious for it. She longed to hug her, to tell her how much she appreciated her and how amazing of a friend she was. She missed practicing archery, she missed the Scottish accent.

And Jack, she missed Jack too. The last time she'd seen him he'd stormed out of the house, he'd looked so hurt and frustrated and... sad. She wanted to touch his face, to hear his laugh and feel his breath on her cheeks. She wanted to hear his heartbeat against his ear and let him touch her cheek in the way he always did so gently. Everything about him, she loved it all. Rapunzel loved the way she'd wake up in the morning and he'd be snoring on his side of the bed, or when he'd wake up in the middle of the night and pull her closer by her waist, or the way he'd whisper her name in her ear when he was bored of flirtatious. It all seemed to far away, so distant. It had already been a night since she'd been there and she'd already cried, alone and afraid the during the loneliest hours of darkness.

She just wanted to go.

As Zel finally came out of her painful state, she could hear a commotion, people yelling, someone screaming. It took her a moment to realize that it had not been in her head, but it was real, and it sounded horrible. The screams were of real terror, not something that could be faked or remembered. Stumbling, Rapunzel stood and hobbled her way over to the entrance of her tent, her vision taking a moment to clear before she saw the twins who had shot Merida (who she came to find out were the Stabbington brothers) handling a young girl roughly.

"Come on!" The larger brother groaned, pushing what looked to be the girl's mom away. The woman stumbled and fell in the mud, her eyes pouring tears as she crawled over and attempted to grab at her daughters legs. The screaming erupted again as others tried to grab onto the child, tugging and pulling her back from the brother's grasp.