98So uh…whoops; I started writing again. You can thank Valerie Kreiss for her insisting on building up on my drabble and for her input in developing this story; Kat and Scorpion as well for their suggestions and reassurances.
Warnings: Language and odd plot ahead. Due to the latter, it's somewhat crack…ish (for now).
Disclaimer: I own nothing but a laptop and certain plot elements.
Prologue:
Tales of Magic, Tales of Woe
Of Love and Longing and Letting Go;
Of Lessons Learned, Mayhap so?
By Twist and Turn in Time's Endless Flow
What It Brings, We Cannot Know
There were many things wrong with this scenario:
1: Hiccup was in a dress. 2: He was trapped in a castle. 3: He could hear Toothless outside, rampaging like he was battling an overgrown eel. 4: He was in a dress (Hiccup, not Toothless). 5: Though he was quite certain they were extensions in the beginning…he was now starting to believe that the curly locks that slid down past his shoulders actually were his hair. Oh, and 6: HE WAS IN A DRESS. AND WEARING A TIARA.
Now that was fine and dandy…Hiccup could just take off the dress…except he really didn't feel like running through an unknown castle in nothing but his skivvies. He could just call Toothless and bust out of this strange pseudo-prison (really? The highest tower in the castle?). He absolutely could—
—if it weren't…for them.
"Well I just don't understand!" Flora huffed as she flipped through a rather large book. "How did I mix up the spells?"
"Uhm…can I just please—" Hiccup started weakly.
"Oh no, ya don't," chided Merryweather. "You are not going out there." The distinct cry of an enraged Night Fury sliced through the air to further the blue-clad fairy's point.
"But that's my dragon!" the teen blurted.
"Oh, Aurora..." Fauna sighed, patting the teen's hand with evident sympathy. He shot her a strange look but it was wholly ignored. "It'll be all right, dear. We've done all we can to aid Prince Phillip."
Hiccup hastily took back his hand, all the while shaking his head in growing exasperation and mounting confusion as he backed away from the woman. "Okay, first off—my name is Hiccup," the teen pointedly clarified, crossing his arms and plopping down on the bed. "You have me confused with someone else."
"Yeah, and my name isn't Phillip," came a voice from the doorway. Hiccup took a casual glance at the newcomer and raised a brow at the sight. "It's Jack," the other boy elaborated only to cast his gaze at Hiccup and raise his brow in return.
An odd sort of silence followed as the two boys unnecessarily prolonged eye-contact: Hiccup to counter this "Jack's" unnerving stare and Jack because it wasn't everyday he found a boy trapped in both a castle and a dress.
(Jack had to admit that though the latter was slightly more baffling, he wasn't complaining.)
Within the ensuing silence, it crossed Hiccup's mind that the stillness was unnaturally abrupt; oh…well it seemed like the fighting had stopped. Well, the battle outside, anyways; there was still the whole issue of I'm being held hostage and these ladies will not listen to reason. But still, the quiet was nice. The quiet let his mind at least try to make sense out of all of this. Yes, quiet was good…
The symbolic gears in the brunet's head turned just a metaphorical quarter-inch before the epiphany came: Wait a second…
"What have you done to Toothless?!" Why yes, Hiccup did storm over to this "Jack" while lifting his skirt so he wouldn't trip. So what? It certainly startled the other guy from the way he clutched a Sheppard's crook in defense.
Too bad after a second or so, he had the nerve to look amused. "Toothless? I didn't exactly meet any…unless you mean that dragon over there?" he indicated to an open window. After a fervent nod from Hiccup, this "Jack" person shrugged. "He'll be fine. The Sandman's Dreamdust'll wear off." He lowered the staff; ice blue eyes seemed to give the brunet a once-over before smirking. "So, are you like the princess of this castle or something?"
Hiccup fumed; just who does this guy think he is? However, before he could even open his mouth, Flora beat him to the punch: "Why yes she—"
"He," Hiccup venomously supplied.
"—is!" And the pink lady with the mosquito-wings had the nerve to clasp her hands in joy like seeing the two of them within clobbering-distance of each other was the most romantic thing she had ever seen.
Hiccup turned to Jack with a tired expression. "Please…please tell me you're not delusional too."
The boy with the frost-colored hair just laughed. "Nah, I'm perfectly sane. I'm pretty sure we're both in the same boat anyways."
The brunet let out a sigh of relief. "Good." It was always good to commiserate.
And then there was an arm that snaked around his waist, and Hiccup right then would rather face a Monstrous Nightmare gone berserk—head-on—than turn to that obnoxious face as Jack said, "But you know, for a boy, you look damn good in a dress."
It was such a blessing to have a dragon as a best friend…especially a dragon with impeccable timing and one that knew how to deal with frosty-haired perverts and troublesome fairies. Preferably with a plasma blast fired as a warning shot right through the window.
"Toothless!" Relief washed over the brunet as the familiar, scaly face of his best friend peeked through the stony opening. Toxic green eyes looked just as reassured as he was…if not a little bemused. Hiccup scoffed, picking up the heavy dress and racing to him as the fairies attempted to deal with the flames ravenously devouring the precious silks on the bedding. "Yeah it's me, bud," he assured, grateful that Toothless found him; Toothless was thankful too. It took a lot of rooftop-hopping to reach his little human.
Jack gulped, not quite as ecstatic to see the Night Fury currently glowering at him from over Hiccup's shoulder. "Haha…I guess the sand wore off, huh?"
"Thankfully," Hiccup murmured as he crawled onto the windowpane.
"Aurora! Please stop!" one of the fairies cried; Hiccup really didn't care to turn around to see which one.
He sighed; why didn't these people just listen? "For the last time, I'm not—"
"You must be Princess Aurora."
That at least got his attention; well, the way she said it more than anything like he didn't have a say in the matter. Like none of them did. The Viking hesitantly turned to Flora, unsure of what to make of the grave look and tone the woman employed. "If you want this curse to be lifted, you are."
"Curse…what…" Hiccup frowned, signing to Toothless to climb inside despite Jack's obvious objection. Finally, finally they were getting somewhere. "You mean all of this," he gestured to his entirety, "was from a curse?" And it sort of made sense after all—the lack of logic behind all of this was definitely attributable to curses and their like.
"And you're not the only ones affected by it as well." The green fairy stepped forward, joining the red; the air shifted rapidly about them, an almost tense emotion permeating the atmosphere.
Merryweather's eyes shifted about in suspicion. "There's some strange magic involved in this…" she murmured enigmatically. She turned to the others with a solemn confirmation. "I can feel it."
Flora nodded. "It is very strange…now that I think about it, I don't think my magic had anything to do with this at all…" She frowned and by now, Hiccup was growing more and more worried by the second. "Someone else is interfering."
The words echoed ominously in the room, and not for the first time since he awoke in the tower to the three women clustered around him, Hiccup felt dread creep into his skin, settling there like a winter's chill. Who could have done this? How had they taken any recollection of where he was and what he was doing before any of this? And more importantly…why was he stolen away in the first place?
Hiccup took a look at Toothless, grateful that he at least had his best friend by his side…his best friend that was currently glaring quite impassively at the ice-haired boy. That raised another question:
Why was Jack thrown in the mix?
"Who could it be?" one of them asked.
"I'm not sure…I sense no trace of Maleficent in this so this can't be her doing…" The three women murmured amongst themselves and as nice as it was to have the very same dragon he ended up battling to save the "princess" from the same tower, Jack was pretty sure that "Toothless" hadn't forgotten how he nearly shot him in the face with a blast of ice from his staff. Plus, as fun as this little adventure had been thus far, he really needed to get back home.
"Wait, wait…" Jack interrupted, "so we're cursed." At the trio of nodding heads for clarification, he breathed a sigh. Well at least they knew what they were dealing with. "Okay, so how do we break it?"
"And what were the terms?" Hiccup added, running a nervous hand through Toothless's scales; the dragon crooned soothingly.
"As a child, the princess was cursed by a witch," Flora began.
"Maleficent," the blue fairy illuminated.
The red fairy started again after a warning-look to the plump lady. "Right…Maleficent cursed the child to die upon her sixteenth year." Hiccup paled; oh great…and if that's wasn't enough, Flora elucidated: "That's today."
"I'm gonna die?" the brunet panicked. He only felt slightly embarrassed at the looks he received. "I might die?" Hiccup amended.
Flora shook her head. "No dear…Merryweather softened the curse and made it so instead of death, you shall merely fall into enchanted slumber, the only means of awakening you by—"
"True love's kiss," the aforementioned fairy piped. Flora crossed her arms but allowed for the blue fairy to continue. "When you were taken by Maleficent, you pricked your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, invoking the curse. Only a kiss from your true love will break it and set things right."
"Odd terms for a curse…" Jack muttered to the brunet.
"Shush," Hiccup muttered, still thinking the information over. But really, it was odd and not just the incredulous tale; the fairies were speaking as though the events already happened and now that Hiccup thought about it a bit more, they were staring at him and Jack as…though…they…
Once again, the gears in Hiccup's head began turning. It didn't take very long for the revelation to rudely initiate panic and flood the brunet's senses. "BUT I'M AWAKE!" he blurted, red-faced and hastily shuffling away from Jack; oh he knew where this was going. "I-I mean, I shouldn't have to—right?" He gazed imploringly at each fairy; his hopes were swallowed under waves of mortification as all three women shook their heads.
"Do not deviate from the storyline," Flora replied with a wry grin.
Merryweather nodded sagely. "You must play your part, line by line."
"A kiss, after all, is a paltry fine," Fauna added with a small laugh. "Don't you agree?"
"A-a…a kiss…" Hiccup started, still backing away from the possibly (very likely) deluded trio. "From…Princess Aurora's true love?"
Fauna smiled. "Yes, dear."
Of course; of course… He sent a wary look at Jack and jabbed a thumb in his direction. "And as luck would have it…he would be that guy, right?"
"Prince Phillip, yes," Flora nodded.
Hiccup grimaced and ignored the indignant look on the other boy's face at his reaction. "But we've only just met…" he croaked.
"But you've met before!" Merryweather insisted.
"Really?" Hiccup knew things were getting bad from the way both he and Jack expressed their skepticism in unison.
"Yes!" Flora declared. "Why, you've met once upon a dream!"
Hiccup deadpanned. "Nightmare," he corrected. "This…is a nightmare."
The Ice Spirit swallowed a snicker; some sense of humor this guy had. "Aw, c'mon. Any more of that and you'll hurt my feelings." Hiccup doubted that by the sly grin on Jack's face. He doubted that very much. Still he felt a little better as the older teen whispered hastily, "Just play along, I guess." Yes, he felt a little better that at least he wasn't the only one going through this …though that all pretty much fell away as Jack had him by the waist again, hand under Hiccup's chin to tilt his face towards that obnoxious smirk. Hiccup also felt slightly horrified (among other things) as Jack leaned in closer, the next words to come out of said obnoxious smirk as: "So, how do we do this? Do I just—"
"Wha—no!" Merrryweather cried out with an angry jab of her finger. "Don' ya have any tact at all? You're a prince!"
"Oh right…" Jack enunciated with an eye-roll. Wasn't a Prince supposed to come off as smooth, suave, or something like that to his damsel? 'You must play your part' she said...sheesh. They really picked the wrong guy for this gig. Oh well; at least he had a half-decent partner (though he'd gladly keep that latter comment to himself). He shrugged to an appalled Hiccup. "So…do you like, need to be wooed or something?" Really, he just wanted to get home.
"Please don't," the brunet replied dryly, extracting the offending arm from his waist.
Fauna thankfully shook her head with a faint smile. "Oh no, you can both just go ahead and kiss—"
Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief; for a second there, he thought he'd actually have to be romanced or something. "Oh thank the gods—"
"—right there over on the bed," the green fairy gestured with a happy flick of her wand.
"WHAT." Oh good; at least Jack joined in with that chorus.
Said frosty-haired boy shot them a doubtful look. "I think we have very differing perspectives on what it means to be…'princely'."
.
Hiccup would later lament as to how it all came to this: how he ended up being lowered onto the silky sheets of the bed, the finest fabrics cushioning his back doing absolutely nothing to ease the utter discomfiture of the entire situation. But for now, he laid there, hands resting on his chest, fingers interlocked, curls (yes, they actually were his hair…) splayed out against the satiny pillow beneath his head…
Looking anything but a dainty princess fast asleep.
Toothless nudged a lock of hair with his snout, sniffing it for inspection from the bedside. "Toothless, quit it," Hiccup murmured, still very confused and still very unwilling to participate. Still, like in most scenarios, it's not like he ever had a real choice in the matter. The brunet gulped, hands shaking, cheeks flushed red, and face contorted in a grimace. "Now, I-I just close my eyes? A-and…"
Hiccup nearly jumped at the first dip of the bed-space beside him. He really hoped it was Toothless playing with his hair again. "You're acting very nervous about this." Alas, his hopes were dashed; it seemed as though Jack had overcome his initial wariness of his dragon. And besides, who could blame Hiccup? He was just told to pretend to be comatose while some random guy takes advantage of the situation. "Not that I'm complaining or anything." What? It was fun seeing the caustic kid squirm.
Hiccup visibly scowled, eliciting another chuckle from the older boy. Jack wouldn't dare say it out loud; after all, the boy's dragon was right next to him, practically breathing down his neck—but Hiccup didn't make for a bad sight. Just the opposite. But even he wouldn't admit that to himself. Honestly, like Hiccup said: they've just met.
"I don't make it a habit to kiss people I've just met," The Viking scoffed, his eyes reluctantly falling shut.
"It could be worse." Hiccup could practically hear the grin in the other's voice. "We could be strangers." Hiccup could pretend all he wanted, but Jack knew that these little exchanges were making the brunet ease up just a little bit...probably because the he could at least verbally retaliate against their situation.
"Haha, very funny," he muttered. "Knowing each other's names and supposedly meeting 'once upon a dream' doesn't exactly make us friends." Though not even his friends ever bantered with him like this.
Jack snickered. "No, it apparently makes us lovers." Was that a smile on Hiccup's face? Well, he wasn't the Guardian of Fun for nothing.
"Gods," the brunet pleaded, "take me now…"
"Save that for your true love, princess."
Blood could not rush fast enough to his face. "I—" Really. Hiccup would rather not bother to even dignify that with a proper response. "Oh just get on with it…" Hiccup didn't consider himself at all to be a violent guy, but oh what he wouldn't give to signal for Toothless to attack. With a plasma blast. Preferably to Jack's face.
"As you wish, fair lady." Or you know…clobber him with his detachable prosthetic. But then it was quiet for a second, with only the faint shuffling of cloth settling into the air and suddenly a faint warmth of another's presence hovered over Hiccup's nervous form. The brunet took a shaky breath and held it—waiting for the inevitable to come. And then those damn words from that irritable voice started up again. "Relax, will ya? It's just a kiss; it doesn't have to mean anything."
And Hiccup would really like to disagree on that—he would because honestly, a kiss is something intimate, wasn't it? It's a simple action, a simple touch, but that cannot be said for the emotion behind it; the emotion that breathes passion and affection to the mere brush of two lips in a chaste embrace, that fortifies the tenderness and adoration in the feverish crash of frenzied mouths. Because of that, a kiss wasn't something simple at all, not in any real sense outside of its physical definition. A kiss is something of a secret—passed like a whisper, only between lovers, the true message only understood through the cherished tones of love. A kiss was powerful in its addictive poisons, the heady venom of devotion sweetened by the nectar of ardor. A kiss was—
A kiss was something magical. That's why only a kiss could have awakened the princess, right?
And Hiccup was quite ready to say that. He really was. His mouth was open, words ready to spring out of his throat for the cheeky boy to at least mull over. But really, he was only slightly annoyed at Jack for choosing that exact time to swoop down and capture his lips (to effectively shut him up before he had the chance to retort). He was also just slightly irritated at the collective gasps and swooning of what sounded like three perving old ladies.
And maybe, just maybe, Hiccup's lack of outrage in all this had a little something to do with how his heart did a miniature somersault as their mouths met in a kiss.
They kissed just like that, Jack's mouth against his parted lips, a strangled noise fleeing Hiccup's throat only to be intercepted by another faint chuckle from the other boy, his lips pressing and softly moving against Hiccup's own and it was almost something surreal—tender, more than any the brunet had experienced before. And suddenly Hiccup remembered to breathe and it was definitely nicer now that he wasn't suffocating against the initial shock, and pleasant as he hesitantly reciprocated the experimental feel of Jack's mouth against his. There was a faint fluttery sensation in his stomach that he would later deny ever existed in that small moment in time, but for now, his heartbeat refused to keep proper time though the knots in his stomach were slowly coming undone and for a little while, he allowed himself to revel in this nameless feeling.
Yes, that was a sort of nice feeling after all…though in reality, it might've not been worth it due to the terrifying sensation afterwards: of falling and fading all at once, the kiss a lingering phantom's touch, the color before his eyes and the sounds of a climactic crash dissipating next before the rest of everything followed—a blank page, a clean slate, heralded by an ominous and blinding white in wait for a tale to be etched on its skin.
.
His head hurt; that was the first thing he noticed.
The second thing Hiccup noticed was that he was in a bed. Not his bed, obviously. This was much softer. So perhaps the spell didn't work? Hiccup nearly groaned. Nearly. He didn't want to attract any attention just yet. 'Great…I smooched a total stranger for nothing…'
(He thoroughly ignored the slight tingling in his lips at the memory and the fact that he was sure his face was heating up again.)
After a moment or so of wallowing through indecision, the brunet finally opted for the only choice he actually possessed: move forward. And for that, he needed to open his eyes and hopefully figure something out to get him out of this place…
Lo and behold, after blearily blinking the sleep away, he found himself out of "that" place…
and into "this" one. Hiccup bit his lip and braved a peek once more around the room. It was cramped and under-furnished—perhaps a servant's quarters judging by the quaint and meager state of his surroundings, kept like a little prison and not at all in the same grandeur as the highest tower in a castle. Though one sight definitely caught his attention.
This time, Hiccup did groan. Loudly.
But Hiccup barely registered the noise of utter despair that clawed its way out of his mouth. In fact, he didn't even notice the mob of animals that stared at him in worry, even the little mouse that seemed to squeak in a comprehensible tongue after a moment or two of his unresponsiveness.
Because right there on a bureau…was yet another dress.
God damnit.
In retrospect, maybe bemoaning his fate wasn't such a good idea, at least not so verbally, judging by the irate screeching that followed. "Cinderella! Cinderella!"
Huh…so like the riddle there? Haha, it's fairly obvious, isn't it?
For those who have seen the first part of the chapter before, yes, this story is basically the continuation of my drabble Disney Magic from Better Late than Never; it has been slightly modified (mostly for errors).
I exaggerated Hiccup's views on kisses; he seemed pretty okay (at least by his teasing) with the possibility of Astrid being forced to kiss Snotlout, after all. And yeah, Jack seems a little eager doesn't he? And that conflicts with some parts of his character that I've written? Well...I'll explain why that is in the next chapter.
So uhm…I'm definitely rusty, but I hope you all enjoyed that?
-slips back into hibernation-
