There and Back Again [Big Four/RotBTD]

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Mo-om! I'm gonna be late if I do meh trainin'! Pleeeeese can I go now?" Merida begged her mother, the kind Queen Eleanor.

"Very well. Yu may skip your trainin' this once to see yo friends. But only this once," her mother conceded with a sigh. Merida jumped up and grabbed her things, an apple in her mouth.

"Thanks Mum!" she called as she rushed out of the castle to the stables where her trusty steed Angus was patiently waiting. She saddled him up, slung her bow over her shoulder, and rode off into the forest.

~33~

"Oh, come on. It's just one favor!" Jackson exclaimed, frustrated at his friend's continual refusal to watch his little sister while he was gone. Then, an idea formed in his mind and he smirked.

"I wonder what Lauren would think if she learned that you still can't make a simple wooden dolly," he said, attempting to blackmail his friend. If you couldn't succeed at your trade, then no girl would want you. Especially not as pretty a one as John liked.

"Fine," John huffed in consent. "Go meet your little friends. But you will owe me!" Jackson didn't even take the time to thank his friend. He leaped off to get his stuff. His family was moving to the newfound colony in Burgess, Pennsylvania the next week. This would be the last time he saw his friends for possibly years. He was dreading having to break up the gang.

He couldn't wait to see them nonetheless. Jackson started running through the forest toward his destination, hoping that he could make it in time without a horse. His family had sold theirs to help get the money they needed for the voyage to America.

~33~

"Seriously Dad? I mean, come on! A dragon wouldn't know what to do with all this!" Hiccup joked, holding up his arm and flexing his (nonexistent) muscles. His dad simply sighed.

"Just be careful, son," he instructed. Hiccup ran to his room to grab the bags he'd packed the night before. It was always a struggle for him to reach his gang's meetings. The other three all lived on the mainland. Hours apart, sure. But he had to sail all by himself across the sea to see them. He always managed, though.

As Hiccup ran through the village toward the dock, he narrowly escaped a lesson on dragon killing. The only benefit of his small stature was that he could easily slip right by his pursuers, thus evading the undesired classes.

Soon he found his boat and loaded it up. At this rate, he would be able to reach the meeting place by morning the next day. He smiled to himself. His 'gang' consisted of his only true friends. He couldn't wait to see them again.

~33~

"Oh! I can't wait for everyone to get here tomorrow!" Rapunzel squealed to her friend, Pascal the chameleon. Living in a tower in the middle of nowhere and never leaving had its downsides. Like, loneliness. Her only relief was the monthly gatherings of her friends, the "Big Four," as they called themselves.

It was a miracle that they had even found her. Merida was the first. She had been running away, and snuck into the moss guarded cave connecting Rapunzel's clearing to the rest of the forest to evade a search party.

The two had hit it off surprisingly well. Merida would come around every time she'd run away and Mother Gothel wasn't home (every 2 or 3 months). Gothel had no idea that Rapunzel had friends, and they had decided that it would be better that way.

Rapunzel lived with it, though. Mer had brought Hiccup, the son of a neighboring chief in DunBroch on trading business, to see Rapunzel and he had joined their gang.

Jackson found her tower when looking for a horse that his family had lost while traveling through the area. He happened to come by when Hic was there, and they hit it off well, too.

Since then, the Big Four were inseparable. Best Friends Forever.

And much to Rapunzel's delight, they were coming the next day. They all had to travel long distances, and sometimes she felt bad, knowing how far they traveled. But they all agreed that it was worth it.

How she looked forward to the next day, not knowing that it was the day on which her heart would break.