FicWad

Alright guys, I know I left a HUGE cliff hanger so I hope this chapter will make for a satisfying conclusion. I’m sorry if this Chapter is really abrupt or seemingly out of place compared to the first two but I had this idea since the beginning and if there are too many complaints about it I am planning on making room for a sequel if all goes according to plan and if I get some reviews to do so. Need I remind you that before I published this chapter I went through the first two and somewhat redid them. Chapter one isn’t too essential but I highly recommend you read the second chapter over if you haven’t read its updated version, that way this chapter will make more sense.
…
Jack’s legs felt like they would fall off at any second. He’d been running through the forest as fast as his legs could take him for about fifteen minutes, but he didn’t care. He had to get there before anybody else did.
He finally came into the clearing that held Merida’s mansion. He ran through the drive to the front door which was wide open. Oh God, he thought, did they get here before him? He ran through the house yelling “Merida! Merida!” he ran to the upstairs living room, the through the hall way to Merida’s spiral stair case. He ran up it two steps at a time, panting heavily, hoping it wasn’t too late.
He reached her room and looked around frantically. A huge wave of relief washed over him as his eyes fell on her. She was on her knees looking up to the night sky on her balcony with the door wide open. Jack walked over to her quietly. Just before he stepped onto the balcony he stopped in his tracks, hearing her begin to speak.
“Dear stars, or, uh, who’evers listenin’, I- I don’t know wut’ I thought, but… I-I really liked him,” Jacks heart lit up “But he obviously didn’t feel tha’ same,” she sighed “Just please, please let meh’ forget him,”
Jacks heart sank a little then he let in a deep breath “Now why would you ever want to forget me?” Merida gasped and whipped her head around to see Jack stepped out onto the balcony “Jack? H- how’d yeh’ get in here?” she asked as she stood up. He went up to her and grew serious “The door was wide open, but that’s not the point, Merida listen, you’re in danger,”
“Whut? Danger?”
“Yes. I overheard Eric and some of his friends. Merida I know this sounds crazy but they are going to kidnap you, I ran the entire way here to tell you” Merida struggled to take this all in and she looked down to the balcony. She suddenly gasped and looked up to Jack “The door wuz’ wide open?”
“Yeah why?”
“Jack, I locked tha’ door,” Jacks heart began to race “But that would mean…” Jack and Merida turned around to see Eret, Phillip and Naveen waiting in her room. “Just our luck,” Phillip said “The frostbite decided to show up,” Merida noticed that in Naveen’s hands there was several zip ties and a role of duct tape, and in Phillips hands a bat. Her and Jack were trapped. Jack stood in front of Merida, shielding her “You’d better back the fuck off” Jack threatened. Eret laughed “I don’t think so,” he then made a faint hand gesture, signaling the other two to attack.
Before they could make it to the door of the balcony, Jack lunged forward and slammed the door in their faces. He ripped off his blue hoodie and knotted it around the handles, sealing the three brutes inside and leaving Jack in a white T shirt.
He turned his head around to check on Merida who was climbing over the railing of the balcony. His heart raced even faster at the fear of her falling “What are you doing!” the words left his mouth in a panic. Merida looked back to him with an irritated expression, but something in her features let Jack know that she was just as scared “What? And stay here?!” even in the midst of the crisis Merida was still able to drawl out the sarcasm in her tone. She continued to climb down the balcony to the roof below.
Jack turned back to the door and saw Phillip readying the bat to take a swing at the glass. They’d be on the balcony in seconds and Jack was not waiting for that. He quickly followed suit of Merida who had already dropped to the roof below and was running across it.
It was a very large roof to go along with it’s even bigger home, so Jack had enough space to sprint after Merida who was peering over the edge of the roof against the furthest side of the balcony. Jack caught up to her and they were both panting at the sudden boost of adrenaline and the fact they were running for quiet possibly their lives. “What’s the plan?” Jack asked in-between short breaths.
“Plan!?” Merida screamed, obvious to her panic “the balcony’s all I got!” the loud sound of shattering glass erupted from behind them and they watched in horror as Eret, Phillip, and Naveen rush out to the balcony. Phillip turned his head in their direction and pointed, shouting “There they are!”
“Jack, wut’ are we goin’ ta’ do?” He looked to her eyes that were glistened over, her voice hurried and panicked. It showed a sense of vulnerability in her. A vulnerability that he didn’t like. Before he could answer her the sound of heavy footfalls from the other side of the roof erupted. Merida looked around and eyed an antenna wire that stuck out from the roof she didn’t hesitate to grab it and hold it up in defense like how she was holding her sword when she was attacking the tree. The three brutes had them cornered on the edge of the roof in no time, with nothing but the antenna Merida held to protect them.
“So…” Eret began “What’s it gunna be? You come with us or,” he eyed the edge that Jack and Merida stood inches apart from “You can take the quicker route off the roof,” Merida seemed to hesitate she lowered her make-shift sword and took a step closer to Eret, but Jack noticed that she still gripped it tightly. Phillip suddenly spoke up “So you decided to be a good girl?” a smug grin upon his face. Merida took in a deep breath “Don’t plan on it,”
As quickly as she had said the words, Merida swung the antenna in her hands and swiped it at Phillips feet. He cried out in shock as he lost his balance from the antenna impact, and went tumbling down the angle of the roof. Unable to catch himself, Phillip tumbled right off the low angled side of the roof, and fell to the ground below, moaning at the bottom.
They all stood in shock of what just happened, and Jack used this to his advantage. “Merida! Run!” he leapt forward and tackled Naveen to the ground. The two rolled for a bit, but Jack would not give up “Run!” He screamed again, and you didn’t have to tell her twice. She made a sprint to get to the other side of the roof and as far from Eret as she could. He soon made chace but his huge lumbering statue was no match to even attempt to out run the much smaller and swifter Merida.
Naveen reeled back, along with his fist and brought it down hard on Jacks jaw. Even if it hurt like hell, Jack swallowed the pain and sent a punch of his own to Naveen’s gut. Naveen clutched his stomach and tipped off of Jack. Jack made it quickly to his feet and was followed by the slow moving Naveen. Jack lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Naveen’s abdomen in attempt to bring him back down.
Naveen stumbled, and cried out as he fell back. Jack let a quick victory smirk onto his lips but it was short lived, because when Naveen fell further down the edge of the roof, Jack realized that he had pushed him right over the edge, and was being pulled along with him.
…
Merida tried her absolute hardest to not trip or stumble, the slightest mess up would give Eret just the advantage he needed. They had done at least ten laps around the entire roof. She looked over to Jack when she heard Naveen let out a fierce cry, and gasped at seeing both him and Jack fall over the side of the roof. She turned back to see Eret still trying to grab her. Merida stood her ground and held up the antenna that was still in her grip.
Eret seemed to gain speed the closer she got to her and right before his hand could get a hold of her wrist, she made a swift side step and from behind made a stabbing motion towards Eret. The antenna hadn’t pierced Eret’s skin like she had hoped, but instead snagged on his cloths. He fell forwards onto the roof with the antenna. At Eret hitting the roof, face first, the sharp end of the antenna stabbed into the shingles and held its place, pinning him down and giving Merida enough time to run towards the edge of the roof.
“Jack!” she screamed, praying that somehow he was alright “Jack!”
“Over here!” when she heard the response it felt like a tsunami of relief would burst from inside her. She ran towards the source and got down on hands and knees to peer over the edge of the roof. Jack had been dangling on the edge, his fingers barely gripping it. Merida saw, to her horror, which beneath him was the three story drop tat Naveen had fell. She could see the faint outline of Naveen, laying in a motionless on the ground.
She had to look away, because between that, Jack dangling for his life, and a possible abductor struggling to get to her, her emotional state felt like it was walking atop a thin line. Instead she looked into Jack’s eyes, those familiar icy blue eyes that seemed so familiar and yet so comforting due to the situation. “Jack! Grab ma’ hand!” She reached her hand out to him, only to hear Eret roar behind her. She turned quickly and saw he was gripping the antenna. At any second he would be free and would be coming for her.
She reached out her arm again “Jack! Com’ on!”
“No! Merida there isn’t much time” She flinched at the sternness of his voice. His gazed veered of the left to a second balcony only a story down from the roof. Jack could never make it, it was too far off, so why would he even suggest it? “You see that balcony? I need you to grab my hand Mer, and come down. I’ll swing you over to it and you can call the cops,”
“Jack are ya’ crazy!” she screamed. Eret roared again and she looked back to see he was almost free. “It’s our only chance!” Jack yelled at her “You have to trust me Mer,” there it was. That nickname again. There was something about the way he said it, the way it rolled off his tongue. It just made her heart race even faster, but told her it was going to be alright at the same time.
Absent mindedly she nodded and let him grab her hand. She made her way cautiously into a dangling position next to Jack and held his hand. Merida looked to him for more comfort, for him to tell her that it was going to be o.k all over again, but instead he just nodded and she let her fingers slip from the roof.
She fell briefly, but was caught by the hand that Jack held. Jack cried out at the stress in trying to support the weight of both himself and Merida. He felt like an elastic band that was being stretched too far, and would snap at any moment, but he willed himself to not let go, and that was a promise.
He looked down at Merida who stared back with big round eyes “I’m going to swig you to the balcony, Alright!?” She nodded in response and let Jack swing her back and forth. It wasn’t long before they had enough momentum built up and since the balcony was maybe only two meters away from where they were hanging over it, the toss worked out better than hoped. Merida let her fingers slide from his grasp and held her breath as she fell through the air. She knew that at the rate she was falling she’d miss the balcony so in mid-air she reached as far as she could possibly manage.
Jack held his breath as Merida fell and swore that time froze for a few moments before Merida stretched her arm out and let her fingers tightly grasp the railing. Jack made a noise that sounded like the mix of a laugh and a cheer. She had made it and the relief to that fact gave him the strength to keep holding on. He was distracted by Merida climbing over the railing to the safety of the balcony. She looked up at him with a huge grin plastered on his face.
The smile passed and her face change to one of horror. Jack frowned and furrowed his brow, what was she looking at? His question was immediately answered when he looked up to see none other than Eret, standing directly above him. Eret kneeled and wrapped his fingers around Jacks wrists “So long Frost,” and in a swift movement, Eret pushed Jacks hands away from the roof and let go of him, letting Jack fall the three story’s to the ground.
…
“Jack!” Merida screamed. She had witnessed the entire thing, Eret peering over the edge, grabbing onto Jack, and pushing him off the roof. Jack fell within seconds, but it felt like so much longer. The worst part was watching him hit the ground. He didn’t move afterwards, and was still and motionless, much like the body of Naveen that lay beside him. Tears threatened to boil over and burn her face but she wouldn’t let them. Eret started this and she would finish it.
Merida ripped open the door and ran through the house to her bed room. It took her no time at all and once she was there she looked around frantically for her bow “Come on…” she stressed to herself. Where was it? “Ah! Ya’ beaut!” She cried out as she pulled her bow from her closet, along with two arrows “Well, if it isn’t just my luck,’ Merida whipped her head around to see Eret standing in the door frame of the balcony “You should have ran when you had the chance princess…” He began to walk towards her “and now that I got rid of your boyfriend, this’ll be that much easier,” Within seconds Merida nocked and arrow and drawn back, aiming straight for Eret’s head.
He stopped in his tracks but smiled “You won’t shoot me,” Merida’s scowl deepened “I know for a fact that you don’t have the nerve-” his sentence was cut short by Merida losing an arrow and it piercing the skin of Eret’s shoulder. He looked at it for a moment with wide eyes and a loose jaw before he started to scream. It reminded Merida of a wailing of a child. He took a step towards her and she responded by loosening another arrow, this time aimed at his calf.
On impact he fell to his knees “You bitch…” he cursed under his breath and looked up to her. She stepped forward and spat the words “You don’t know who I am” at this his expression faltered only slightly and Merida swung her bow right at his head. Eret made a loud oomph then fell to the floor unconscious.
Merida nodded in approval to herself, taking pride in how easy it was to take Eret down, but it was short lived. All she needed to get to now was Jack. Her heart pounded against her chest as she stumbled frantically down the stairs and through the house to get to the door that would lead her outside to Jack.
She ran out the front door, the cold air hitting her like a brick wall. Was it this cold before? She thought, but then again, it could always be the fact that her blood ran cold when her eyes fell on Jacks limp, motionless figure. “Jack!” she didn’t even notice that she called his name over and over again as she ran to him. She noticed that Naveen was gone. Must have scurried off like the rat he is, Merida thought.
When she was near she fell to her knees besides Jacks head and lifted it up onto her lap “No, no Jack! No!” the words barley left her mouth since they were quiet and frantic. She let a hand run through his hair while the other supported his head. He was so cold. So terrifyingly cold.
Merida reached her fingers to his neck to feel a pulse. Her heart seemed to skip a beat when she felt the slow but steady pulse beating through his veins. “Don’t worry,” she said “I’ll get help” she knew of course that Jack couldn’t hear her but she felt that somehow he appreciated it. She placed his head gently on the ground and ran into the house to call for help.
…
“Be careful!”
“Miss, you need to understand-”
“A’ don’t need ta’ understand ana’thin’!”
Jack heard Merida’s voice wailing as he rode along… something. Where was he? What was happening? His vision was blurred but he could see bright lights flashing everywhere, and… and people, running around. It felt like he was laying on a bed that was being pushed. There were people all around him, but through the haze he could see a mass of red hair that was being held back. It was obviously Merida, who wouldn’t stop. All he heard was how she insisted she had to stay with him.
Jack smiled, or at least, he thought he did. He wasn’t sure if he could move at all, everything just made him feel so dizzy. The bed jolted to a direction which Jack couldn’t decipher and he felt himself slipping away. The last thing he remembered was Merida reaching out, and calling his name, and then being pulled away. He wanted to tell them to stop. He wanted to reach out to her just as much but darkness claimed his consciousness.
…
Jack furrowed his brow. His eyes were closed, and one lid at a time he opened them to see where he was. Everything was blurry. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and like a puzzle, piece by piece, the room became more visible. His ears came into check and he heard a slow and steady beeping that seemed to correspond with his heart beat. He noticed a large window on his right that had its curtains drawn, keeping the room relatively dark. There were various items like teddy bears, flowers, and balloons that said ‘get well soon’ and some chairs with leftover coffee cups sitting near them.
Jack went to sit up but a jolt of pain lurched through his body and he was forced to lay still again. He tightened his fists and was a bit surprised when he noticed that a hand already rested in his palm. Despite the soreness, Jack stained his head to see whose hand he was holding. A girl with bushy red hair lay face down on his bed, holding on tightly to his hand, and breathing slowly, signifying she was asleep.
Part of him couldn’t believe that Merida had been so worried about him, and the other part of him loved it all the same. He laid back down and squeezed her hand. He didn’t want to wake her up just yet but at the hand squeeze she stirred a little in her sleep and turned her face around and rested it on Jacks stomach. He briefly looked over her face and saw her eyes were swollen and her hair matted to her face, but somehow, she didn’t look all that bad. She let out a small moan in her sleep, and for a second time Jack smiled, and this time he was sure he didn’t imagine it.
…
Jack woke to the sound of muffled speaking. His head stirred and he was not willing to attempt to get up just yet. Instead, he tried to listen in on the other’s speaking.
“When is he supposed to wake up?” He could tell that was his mother, worry woven thick into her voice. “We don’t really know… he’s in a comatose state right now, it could be days, weeks, months…”
“But he has to wake up! He just has too!” Jack new instantly that this voice belonged to his sister. She spoke through sniffles that made it obvious she had been crying. “Emma, keep you voice down,” his mother scolded than went back to the doctor “isn’t there anything you can do?”
“I’m sorry but all that can be done is being done,” his mother was solemnly quiet afterwards “If you’d excuse me…” the doctor said. Jack heard foot prints and the opening and closing of a door. The doctor was gone and as far as he could tell, his mother and sister were the only ones in the room. He waited a moment to build up the strength to speak, and said warily “What was that about…?” Sharp gasps left both the females mouths and he heard the patter of Emma’s feet running to his side.
Jack slowly turned his head to look at her and upon eye contact Emma shrieked “Jack!” she hopped up the bed side and wrapped her arms around Jacks neck “Easy, easy…” Jack pleaded. The hug from his sister left him sore and as if on a rescue mission, his mom pulled her away from suffocating Jack. Jack looked up to his mom and smiled. She had tears welling up in her eyes. It was obvious that she was speechless.
She reached down and pulled her son into a hug that lasted minutes. When she finished Jack swallowed drily “So…” he began “What did I miss?”
Suddenly, the sound of a cup dropping and bouncing off the floor erupted into the room. The small family whipped their heads around to see Merida standing in the door frame, a small plastic cup besides her on the floor, it contents leaking out on the polished tile. Jack and Merida made eye contact. She stood there with her mouth agape like she wasn’t believing what she was seeing. Jack in turn, made a small grin and much like his sister had earlier, Merida ran towards Jack to wrap him into a hug. But unlike his sister, Merida literally jumped on top him.
At first Jack was taken aback. His eyebrows were arched and deep breaths left his mouth in surprise, but the deep breaths turned into light chuckles as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him, if that was even possible. Jack was at such bliss holding her, burying his face into her hair, and feeling her breathing into his shoulder that he forgot about his mom and sister entirely. Until of course his mom cleared her throat “We’ll, uh, we’ll go get the doctor” She began to walk away with Emma in toll.
As they left the room he heard Emma whine “But I want to stay with Jack…” Jack laughed lightly then turned back to Merida who, to his somewhat discomfort, began to pull away. She still sat on top of him but moved back to his legs so that he could sit up and they’d still be face to face. Jack looked her over and smiled “Wow Mer,” Merida’s heart fluttered. There was that nickname again. Jack continued “You look terrible” Merida furrowed her brow and punched him lightly in the shoulder, but was unable to hide her grin “Shove of Frost,” he chuckled lightly but then grew serious “how long have I been out?”
“Four days” Merida answered “you were said ta’ be in a ‘comatose state’ ar’ wutever that is…” she grew solemn and looked down at her hands “They didn’t think you were ever goin’ ta’ wake up,” Jack reached out and grabbed the hand she fiddled with “I’m here now,” He squeezed her hand in attempts to comfort her then asked “What happened? Last thing I remember is-” his words caught in his throat. The last thing he remembered was waking up to her laying at his bed side. Should he tell her? No, she’d probably get upset he hadn’t told her earlier, so he decided it would be best to hold onto the information “Last thing I remember is falling,”
Merida scowled and made a low growl “Naveen tried ta’ flee tha’ scene but they caught up to ‘im, Phillip is on tha’ run, an’ Eret” she faltered when his name left her lips “let’s just hope tha’ police nay let him see tha’ light a’ day again” Something in Jack wanted to scold her but he didn’t know the point of it, all he knew was that he was here with her night now, and right now was all that mattered.
…
The next few days flew by. Jack recovery didn’t take too long, since the worst that happened were two broken ribs, which in any case would have to heal on their own. Merida was in the hospital for a few days for precautionary reasons but when both her and Jack were dispatched the rest of their ‘break’ was filled with police questioning. They weren’t told much about it, all they knew was that neither Naveen nor Eret knew who they were working for and the information concerning the main person under suspicion was confiscated.
As soon as they had gotten back to school it seemed like swarms of student piled around them, mostly Jack though. Merida was so used to being ignored that the sudden flock of attention made her extremely uncomfortable. Jack seemed to be handling it well enough.
Soon enough the days of attention for Merida slimed, and those days turned into weeks, and it went on until nobody could care less. The only bad side to all the extra attention towards both her and Jack is that she never really got to see him that often anymore. She sighed as she reached her locker and fumbled with the lock. As she opened it to put her books inside a piece of paper tumbled to the ground. She moaned and reached down to get whatever it was.
She noticed that it was folded and pressed neatly, and had no clue what it actually was so she condensed unfolding the slip. In the center of the loose leaf was messy writing scrawled out to spell’
Meet me at the tree.
It was so simple yet so confusing. There was only one tree that held any relevance to her and if it was ‘said tree’, then she had a fairly good idea as to whom wrote the note.
…
“Well hello princess,” Jack leaned against the tree that Merida would take a swing at whenever she was upset. He wore his signature smirk and had his hands buried deep into his blue hoodie. It was also the place where her and Jack had their first conversation, even if it was more of a dispute. “Frost, I should’a known…” She drawled, somewhat bored but not failing to through some snark into the sentence. “Wut do ya’ think yer doin’ out here?” she questioned as she crossed her arms. He thrusted out of his lean into a standing position and stepped over to Merida. “Oh, you know, see the sights, enjoying the scenery…” Merida just scoffed “Ya? ‘Cause if I’m not mistakin’, you got lost last time ya tried ta’ ‘take in tha’ scenery’,” she waved her hands in emphasis.
She chortled at her wit and he only fallowed suit by laughing lightly along with her. He spoke suddenly “You know this poor tree that you mercilessly beat every time you have a tantrum?” He looked up into it branches. Merida furrowed his brow, wondering wat he was getting at, and not even denying the fact that she would occasionally attack the tree “Wut of it?”
“Well, it just so happens to be one of the tallest in this entire forest…” He trailed of and grabbed one of the lower branches and began to hoist himself up onto it. He looked back down to her from the branch “There’s actually not a bad view from the very top,”
Merida interrupted “What are you getting’ at Frost?” He started to climb higher and looked back down to her “Care for a climb princess? Or are you worried about getting your hands dirty?” She scrunched her nose and said challengingly “In yer dreams,” She went over to the tree and hopped up to get the lowest branch, pulling herself up much like Jack had. She climbed until she was a bit beneath Jack. Why’d ya bring me up here?” She asked annoyed. He just smirked “You’ll have to make it to the top to find out why, now won’t you,” Merida grumbled and muttered something unintelligible under her breath before her and Jack started to climbing the pine again, taking their time.
Finally they reached a crook near the top of the tree with branches that fanned out from it, making it look like a seat, and giving Jack and Merida enough room to both sit. After about a moment of silence Merida asked numbly “Now wut?” Jack only smiled then stretched out his leg to push a thick branch aside, revealing a view of the large expanse of forest, that glowed orange from the setting sun.
Jack held the branch in place with his leg so that Merida could see the full extent of the view before them. He looked over to her and saw her mouth slightly agape in wonder, the orange sun lighting up her face. He smiled to himself, then turned back to the view. “Hey Mer?” Jack asked after a moment. She turned to face him “Ya?” she questioned softly, even if her body was turned towards him her eyes were still glued on the setting sun “Why aren’t you in Scotland?”
She looked at him with big round eyes and struggled to hide a flushed face “well- you know-” the words sputtered out of her mouth. Jack didn’t really take Merida for the awkward type but persisted with a smug grin plastered on his face “because, I think I remember something about you staying because of me?” her expression instantly changed and she furrowed her brow “If you think-”
She didn’t have time to finish defending herself because Jack leaned in swiftly and pressed his lips against hers. Merida squeaked at the suddenness of it, but then her heart began to melt along with Jacks and she closed her eyes and kissed him back. All past emotions between the two flooded into the kiss and Jack couldn’t help but smile.
He pulled back for a moment and looked her in the eye “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” Merida started to laugh but with one hand he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her into the kiss again, barely noticing the sun slowly setting past the horizon.
...
I hope your all satisfied with this story and I am open minded about making a sequel if you all have some unanswered questions. Also a shout out to my grood friend Remmi, I hope you know which perfectly ‘straight’ tree I’m taking about.