Strongly Believe in Your Fateful Dreams

Chapter 7: Corona

"Jack! Are we close yet?" Rapunzel looked up & screams at the top of her lungs to the winter spirit who flew above the trees in order to navigate their little trip.

"Almost! There should be a brick bridge down there," he yells back. "Ahh!!" Rapunzel exclaims as she accidentally trips on the brick bridge Jack told her about. He immediately swooped down. "You okay?" he asks her, helping her stand.

"Yeah. I just didn't see the bridge is already here so I tripped & I--" she pauses & looks at the path before her. She jumps in excitement. "It's here!!" she exclaims & points at the castle, standing tall amongst the other buildings. "Yeah! And just in time! We can do a lot more things before they release the lanterns," said Jack jumping to her side. They both carry her hair & run to the kingdom.

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She has never seen anything like this before; shops full of merchandise & streets full of people. People began to step on her hair, though. Jack immediately helps carry a bunch of hair & looked around for peopls to ask help from. "Those kids look into it," Jack gestures at the four redheaded girls braiding each other's hair.

"Um, excuse me? Little girls?" she called out to them with all her hair in her arms. The four girls look up to see all the hair they were to braid. They all agreed to braid it.

Rapunzel sits down & lets down her hair on the plaza's ground. Jack sits by the fountain, watching the kids have fun with Rapunzel's hair. The kids picked up bunches of her hair & began to dance around as if they were just playing with her hair.

Eventually, the kids went off to get some flowers for her hair. "Looking good," said Jack, looking at Rapunzel's hair which was now braided & just needed a few more touches. "Thank you," said Rapunzel after a small laugh. Jack looks around to see the busy people & decorated houses. "Hey, Jack?" she calls out to him. "Yeah?" he looks back at her. "Do you mind if we go around the kingdom after we're done here?" she asks him shyly, looking away. "Sure. Why not?" he said, standing up. "Look, here they come," he said, pointing at the distance. Rapunzel turned to see the four kids with flowers in their arms, running as fast as they could to get to her. She waves back at them.

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A minute or two afterwards, Rapunzel drags Jack around the town. First of all, they decided to grab a cupcake for Rapunzel. There were some free ones handed out in a stall. Jack rejected the offer because he said it'd be weird to see a floating cupcake that's mysteriously hovered in the air. She laughs at this. They stood in line when Rapunzel saw a wall painting of the royal family. The king & queen were there. In the arms of the queen was a baby with long hair, golden as the sun.

There was a little girl offering a blue flower to "the princess" of the kingdom. She stared at it for quite a while until Jack woke her up from her daze. "Punzie!" he yells in her ear at the same time the salesman calls out to her. "Huh? What??" she says confusedly. "Do you still... want a cupcake?" the salesman offered. "Y-yes sir! I-I mean, can I have one? Please?" Rapunzel smiles nervously. The salesman smiles & gives her one.

Rapunzel ate the cupcake accompanied by various story telling from herself & Jack. As soon as she finished eating, they spotted the library. Rapunzel jumped in excitement & begged Jack to go in with her. He had no choice but to agree, anyway. There, they fully read about 2 of the books they took.

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Back at the grotto, Merida yawns in boredom. "Hey, Hic! Still not done?" she asked him. "Yup," he said, removing the tool belt that he wore that connected him to the dragon's saddle. I mean, Toothless' saddle. "Well, I better be going now. See ya!" Merida stands up, her bow & bag of arrows in her hands.

"Wait!" Hiccup calls her in an attempt to stop her. "What?" she turns to look at him. "I can give you a ride on Toothless. We both can get home faster that way," said Hiccup. He suddenly became embarrassed. "I-I mean... i-if you want to. I-if you d-d-don't, it's okay," he stutters. Merida laughs. "Of course I do! I left Angus back at the castle so I need a ride home," she said as she raced Hiccup to Toothless' saddle.

"Oh, okay. That's good," Hiccup manages to say. He readies himself to get on Toothless. "Whaddya mean 'that's good'?" she asks him. "Uh..." he began to stutter again. "I... uh... so.. you... So you won't get tired because of walking...?" he said unsure, jumping on the saddle. "Okay," she said. Hiccup sighs in relief while he fixes the complex web of metal & strings that connected the saddle to the tail.

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The sun is setting & night time is nearly there. Rapunzel spots few pieces of colored chalk on the plaza grounds.

"Look, Jack. Chalk," she tugs on Jack's jacket who was, in turn, looking around. He admired the decorations of the small town. He turns to where Rapunzel is pointing. "Oh yeah," he says, picking up a purple one. Rapunzel takes it as a little boy carrying commemorative flags, handkerchiefs & the like went up to them.

"Hello there, miss! You found the missing colored chalks. If you want, you can use them to design the plaza grounds for the festival," he said. Really!? Thanks!" she skips happily while dragging Jack away.

At the place where everyone else was drawing, Rapunzel took the center part. Some drew flowers, trees & even animals. But she had something different in mind. She used the purple chalk as base. She began coloring the ground with the chalk in a circluar direction. After, she uses the yellow chalk which she uses to color the center. She formed a beautiful recreation of the Corona kingdom's flag; purple with a yellow sun in the middle.

A little later on, Rapunzel sees a band playing music & began dancing in the plaza all on her own. Jack watches her quietly from a statue. Rapunzel began to invite people into dancing with her. They danced & danced & danced happily until the music finally stopped.

"TO THE BOATS!"

This was their signal. Jack jumped down from the statue to meet up with a panting Rapunzel. "Crazy dance fever you got there," said Jack. "A fever? I don't feel hot," Rapunzel said confusedly. "No, I meant... you really danced a lot there just now," he explains. "Oh. Okay," she said.

"Do we have a boat already?" asked Rapunzel. "Kinda," Jack said, shrugging.

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"You ready? It's gonna be a long way back to your castle," "Sure..." Merida said. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I haven't rode a dragon before," she said. "What? You scared?" he smirks at her. "Of flying & heights? No. Of flying with someone who hasn't done so before? Yes!" she said. "There's nothing to be scared of," said Hiccup.

Unbeknownst to his riders, the dragon feels annoyed at their conversation, spreading its wings. "See?" Hiccup said. "I don't like this...!" Merida immediately holds on to Hiccup & buries her face in his back. "Do it nice & slow, bud. Nice & slow," Hiccup says as the dragon readies itself to fly & on the count of three...

They were high in the sky, above the deep sea. Merida slowly lifted her head as she felt the wonderful breeze in her hair. What she saw was even more beautiful than she thought. She lets go of Hiccup & reaches up to touch the clouds. It was like feeling air but cold & moist. The clouds were as if they were orange ocean mist.

They went to soar above the clouds. It was like entering a world where there was no up or down, left or right. Just clouds that surround you & embrace you. It was as if there was no time, either. They both lost track of that moments earlier while they admired the seemingly painted scenery.

That is why they didn't know it was night time already. The sky was a shade of dark blue & the stars sparkled like gems in the night sky. And all of a sudden, an aurora appeared. They both admired it & Merida hugged him again, though unconciously this time. When she did, he felt all strange inside. Could he have been on love with this feisty princess? Does Merida feel the same?

What would happen to Jack & Rapunzel? Will they get to see the lanterns or will the villains catch them before they can?