Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 18: Merida

"The inscribed angle," Merida began, squinting suspiciously at the diagram, "is angle... B."

"Incorrect," Professor Eritas snapped. "Hans?"

"Angle C, sir," Hans answered airily. 

Math.

Merida resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her temper was running very short lately. Jack, Elsa, Astrid, and Hiccup still hadn't returned. Rapunzel was acting weird, and Flynn had been dragged away on a school field trip this morning, leaving her alone.

"Correct," Professor Eritas replied. "Merida... are you paying attention?"

Merida scowled. "No."

Professor Eritas' nostrils flared. "Do try to at least look like it."

"Duly noted," Merida answered, making an exaggerated show of sitting up straighter and opening her notebook.

As the professor droned on, Merida's attention wandered to Rapunzel, who was staring out the window, rubbing her arm nervously. What was going on with her?

Merida resolved to find out. 

After class, she chased down her friend, seizing her arm and marching her down the hall. "You are going to tell me what's wrong, Punzie."

"Or what?" she answered irritably. Rapunzel was never irritable around her friends.

"Or..." Merida's eyes lit up. "I'll tell Flynn."

"You're impossible," Rapunzel muttered, but a smile ghosted across her lips. Merida found this even weirder. Rapunzel was always smiling. It didn't take this much to draw amusement from her.

"I'm just worried about our friends — Jack, Elsa, Astrid, and Hiccup," Rapunzel continued half-heartedly. 

"I'm worried about them too, but this is more than that," Merida replied, undeterred. She would get to the bottom of this. "You were acting weird ever since I found you in the Cistern. And that was before the deadline for our friends."

"Do you trust me?" Rapunzel asked suddenly.

"With my life," Merida answered resolutely, wondering why Rapunzel would even need to ask.

There was a strange sort of fear burning in Rapunzel's eyes. "Then trust me when I say that you can't know what is going on. I'm fine, and I need to sort some things out... alone. I need you to let me to that."

Merida reached out and took her friend's hands in hers, squeezing tightly. "Of course. Just know that I'm always here to help."

Rapunzel smiled. This time, genuinely. "I know, Mer."

Merida swallowed. She didn't like seeing Rapunzel this way, and if Rapunzel was going to act like this, then she was going to have to find out what was going on a different way. Normally, she would have done her best to respect her boundaries, but this was different.

Rapunzel was in danger — Merida just knew it.

~ ~ ~

Edging along, Merida trailed Rapunzel, sticking to the shadows. There was something clenched in Rapunzel's hand. A note by the looks of it. She was skittering along, glancing left and right.

Unfortunately, Rapunzel wasn't the one for stealth.

Merida easily followed her. She had her knives at her belt and had brought her bow and arrow, though she wasn't sure what to expect. 

There was a wrongness about the whole situation — sneaking after her own friend. 

Rapunzel reached an empty classroom and pushed the door open, slipping inside and clicking the door shut behind her. 

Glancing left and right, Merida proceeded to pry open the vent against the wall and shimmy inside, sealing it shut behind her. She knew the vent systems well, after years of sneaking around through them. It was getting rather snug though. She was no longer a little girl. 

After getting into a comfortable position at the junction of a vent, Merida listened to the muffled voices penetrating from the classroom.

"Okay, I'm here. What do you want?" Rapunzel demanded. 

"The Father has a mission for you," replied another voice, feminine, but unfamiliar.

"Well, what is it?" Rapunzel asked impatiently.

"Here," the other voice answered. There was the shuffle of paper, and Merida guessed something was being handed to Rapunzel. 

Merida huffed a breath. The Father? A mission? Was this Elite business? Or something else?

She listened as a set of footsteps turned to leave the classroom. Rapunzel's most likely. 

The other person walked towards the wall that Merida was in. There was a clang, and the tell-tale sounds of a vent being opened.

"Shit," Merida muttered. The mysterious other person was using the vents as transportation.

And Merida was directly in their path.