Philip looked like he could cry. Or die. Which ever one worked out the fastest.
"Please, tell me what it is that you're doing." He whined out to Merida.
"I'm the final act. Check your list."
"You are definitely not in the list. I thought we already discussed this."
But even through the entire confusion, Philip still fumbled out the white sheet and scanned through it.
He nearly screamed when he saw her name scribbled dowýn at the end of the list. Merida DunBroch.
"Hiccup!" He barked. "How on earth did this happen?!"
Hiccup took careful steps towards the two of them. "Um... funny story..."
"You did this behind my back?" He casted a side glance at the audience, the uproar still wandering amongst them. He cautiously shifted all three of them behind the large curtain.
"I thought we discussed this. This arrow thing is too dangerous for the audience. The students might get hurt. This isn't allowed."
"That's why it's a talent. No-one will get hurt." Merida pressed on.
"I don't work with chances. I will not allow this."
"I will!" Merida frowned and clutched her bag stubbornly. "Just you watch and see!" Ignoring all the protests she began to march towards the other side of the curtain.
"My father will kill me." Philip slapped his forehead. "Come, Hiccup. We need to get out there, stop her and call it a night."
"Why are you trying to stop her? She's..."
"I am Merida DunBroch. Giving a new name to the game of archery!"
Philip gasped and glared at Hiccup. Both of them quickly ran to the other side of the curtain.
"Did she just say...archery?" Peter Pan slowly went lower into his seat.
"Pull the sheets!" Merida commanded.
"What sheets?..." Philip began but Hiccup was already pulling a lever.
Suddenly, the camouflaged sheets surrounding the hall came off, one by one to reveal target boards, hung carefully on the wall.
At that moment, Philip felt his knees give way. If not for the curtain behind him, he would have crashed to the ground.
The audience began to panic. People had already began hiding under chairs while others were already making their way outside.
"Behold..." Merida stood in position and took out one arrow from behind her. She brought the bow to her eye level and fixed the arrow across the string.
"We should have reconsidered this." Raunzel ducked and began gathering all her hair in one arm.
Merida breathed and aimed at the first target.
And she shot.
Noise rang up in her ears as the arrow flew but she refused to shake.
The pointed tip of the arrow hit directly at the middle circle.
A direct hit.
The crowd slowly looked up in awe as they saw the perfect hit. The tension slowly reduced as some began to 'ooh' and 'ahh'.
Merida smiled proudly to herself as she reached out for another arrow.
Before she could take her stance, a firm hand grabbed the weapons. "Oh no! That's more than enough!"
"What is your problem, Philip? I got it!"
"Oh no, you don't. I want you off this stage this instant!"
"No!" She barked and started to struggle her instruments with him. "Let go off it! Leave me alone. I'm a professional!"
"I don't bloody care. Leave it alone. I'm already mad as it is!"
"Fuck off!" She sneered through gritted teeth but the struggle ensued.
Hiccup began to move closer to stop the struggle while the crowd was really shifting with unease.
"Guys, you've gotta stop this..."
"Philip, LEAVE IT..." her hands gripped the bow tighter as she stretched the arrow across the bowstring. "Phil..."
Philip struggled harder, both of them eventually bending low to the ground in the process. "Let. It. Go..."
And she let it go.
But not by her own will. She lost control of the bow and the arrow flew.
Not towards the target.
A bloodcurdling cry leapt up and reverberated the walls of the auditorium.
Philip and Merida watched in horror as Hiccup crumbled to the ground, his hand around his right knee, with an arrow sticking out of it.
"Oh God." Merida breathed.
Philip scrambled across the floor up to the curled up Hiccup.
Tears were already streaming down his face and his cries of agony carved out every ounce of pain he felt.
"Hic-" Philip cradled his friend's head in his arms. "Call the ambulance! Call the Damn ambulance!!!"
"I'm on it!" John Smith offered as he rang up Maui.
The judges stood up and began to walk towards the scene. Most of the audience stayed frozen in shock. To think that just an hour ago, everything was going perfectly well.
"Hang in there, buddy. Hang in there." Philip's chest was heaving as he quickly swung his head around to glare at Merida. "I told you not to use that thing in stage. No, I WARNED you! But you just wouldn't listen, would you?!"
The weeping Merida didn't even find the air to argue. She couldn't even tell Philip that it was his fault for ensuing a useless struggle. Her palm just stayed over her mouth as she kept on heaving.
"Maui's here. We'll lift him." Naveen ran to their sides, accompanied by Tarzan, Adam and Phoebus.
Philip wiped his face with a blood-stained arm. "You'll be OK. Hiccup. Just...just hang in there."
Hiccup was even too weak to notice what was going on around him. Even when he was lifted off the ground, all he could feel was the satanic pain.
As soon as they'd carried him out, he turned to Merida. "You have to get punished. You just have to face justice-"
"You're as guilty as I am. Maybe even guiltier. I had everything under control. You're the one who..."
"Under control?! The entire archery gig was a flop from the very beginning..."
"And who's to know that? Huh?! Had you allowed me to finish peacefully, this would not have happened!"
"Something worst would gave happened if you had taken another shot..."
"Who. Is. To. Know?! If I had continued with it and someone had gotten hurt, I would happily take the blame!" Her voice lowered as she sniffed. "I never miss an aim. This was all you."
"You will be punished still. I promise to send a report to Mr. Mickey as soon as possible."
"That's not fair." Rapunzel ran up behind Merida. "You can't put the entire blame on her."
"Well, how do we explain what just happened? How?"
"You can just say what really happened." Aurora said from behind. She, Snow and Cinderella had come closer to the stage to see what was going on.
Philip turned in annoyance to bark back at what she said when he suddenly stopped.
That face.
The hair.
It was all too familiar.
Last time he'd seen that kind of face was over 10 years ago.
Could it be...
"Briar?"
Aurora's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"
The aura suddenly shifted from anger to pure confusion towards Philip.
When Philip noticed he'd been staring too long, he just shook his head. "I'll go to the clinic. I have to see how they're taking care of him." But he only took a few steps off the stage and paused, probably taking in the weight of it all.
Merida glared after him but soon broke down once more. Rapunzel tried to comfort her, though in vain.
"It seems like it really was my fault, Punz. I don't know how I'll admit it but it was my fault. Truly."
"Shh. Don't say that, Meri. Don't." Rapunzel continued to stroke Merida's red curls.
"Show's over!" Maleficent quietly hissed but it was venomous enough to get everyone's attention. "Get moving."
The crowd slowly began to dissipate, murmuring intensively amongst themselves.
The ones on the stage couldn't even figure out what to do.
"Er...I think I should go see how my aunts are handling Hiccup at the clinic. You coming?" Aurora quickly asked Cinderella and Snow. The three of them hurriedly moved away from the stage, leaving Merida, Philip, Anna and Rapunzel.
"...and as for you two?" Maleficent began slowly. "Be assured that this would not go unpunished."
Merida looked like she would crumble but Rapunzel kept up with supporting her. Philip stared wide-eyed at Maleficent. Since he was in front of the girls, they couldn't quite see his reaction.
Next thing they knew, he was marching off the stage and away from all of them.
-------------------------------------------------------
Jack led a red Elsa to the school fountain. He would have taken her to the general convenience but he had no idea if he would be allowed to clean her up in the girls' bathroom.
"Here, sit right over here and lean forward while I'll scoop up some water."
"I think I'll also have to help myself. Scoops of water won't be enough to get this off, believe me." She yanked the hoodie off of her body and brought it close to her nose. Her nose crinkled a bit. "I'll have to wash this straight away." She sighed and faced Jack.
"Thanks. You know, I'm more appreciative of the fact that you were able to lead me off the stage. At that point, I felt... frozen."
"Must have been the song." He joked quietly as he took one of her skin arms and brought it to the water surface. Scooping up some of the water, he let it flow down her arm, the tomato paste flowing with it.
"Aren't we contaminating Disney's fountain?" Elsa asked.
"I bet they have it cleaned everyday."
"Hmm."
They just sat in silence, Jack cleansing her arms while Elsa took care of her jeans, hair and face.
"Tell me something." Jack suddenly began. "You said you always felt cold. That's why you always stay warm indoors. Care to elaborate?"
"No." She sighed all too quickly but eased her tension when she realised he looked hurt. "It's a really annoying condition. I dunno why I'm always cold. It's advisable for me to warm myself up. It's not permanent, though. It's not."
"That's good." He gave a wan smile then went back to helping her lean into the fountain.
She bit her lip. Did she come out too mean? "What about you. Do you wanna elaborate?"
At this, he chuckled. "Mine isn't even seroous. Maybe I'm just like you. The cold gets me. But I grew up in the Southern Isles. So, I guess it affected me."
"The Southern Isles?" She frowned. "Hans also grew up there. He doesn't always keep warm-" then she remembered that sometimes, he did keep a jacket on indoors.
"Oh. Hans." Seeing he was done with wiping the tomatoes off her, he began to look for some sort of towel to use and dry her up. "Your boyfriend, am I right?"
Rather than answer, she gave him a tight-lipped smile. "I saw you sitting with him today in the crowd. He really didn't want me to sing. He must be pissed."
Something bloomed inside of him when he had the thoughts of her actually noticing him in the crowd, but the bloom died when he thought she was actually scanning for Hans and had coincidentally seen him.
He ended up using her rolled up hoodie to wipe her.
"You had fun, right? That's all that truly matters."
Elsa nodded. "I'm Elsa, by the way-"
"I know. Your name was announced." He gave a short smirk. "Mine wasn't announced however. I'm Jack Frost."
"I know, too. You've introduced yourself to me before. And you're in a band with those two girls I saw you with. Tecna and Mavis?"
"No. I'm not in a band. And there's more than three of us. We were supposed to perform today." He hesitated then scratched his neck. "I kinda blew it."
"Oh." Elsa nodded then quickly stared blankly into space before turning back to him. "Look at that. We're all done. Thank you." She took the hoodie and put it under her arm. "I best be getting to the laundry. To prevent the stench. Thanks, Jack. It really meant a lot to me."
"Yeah, anytime. Any... wait. I dunno... I'd sure like to meet up again. We could continue our talk..."
Her phone suddenly beeped. She stared at the screen for a while then looked back at him. "Sorry. Hans just saw his last semester's result online. It's not so good. I should go and comfort him-"
"This late at night? Would Patron Phil let you into the Guys' Wing?"
"He says I should meeet him at the Diner. But Tiana would soon close it so I guess I better hurry. See you next time?"
He smiled. "Maybe. If we get another chance."
"Right." She nodded slowly and turned.
As he watched her figure fade into the night, he shook his head. "Hans is one lucky bastard."
A/N: ............. sorry? Sorry over and over and over again. Who knew it would be so hard to keep up as a writer. There's school and work and more work and more school. Pardonez moi, s'il vous plaît, oui?
I'll try harder. Even I hate wasting time😫😫😫😫😫