One Equal Temper of Heroic Hearts

Mystified

Rapunzel was beginning to seriously worry about her friends.

Merida was refusing to speak to Mahina and, by proxy, Jack, since the night spirit seemed to look to the winter spirit for safety and security. Eugene was sticking close to Rapunzel, and Hiccup was attempting to get conversation going. Only Rapunzel and Jack were doing much responding.

It was a cloudy morning to boot, which seemed to make the others more subdued than normal, and, out of spite it seemed, the forest had the gall to start getting foggy.

Rapunzel pulled out her sword to use it as both guide and beacon, only to realize its light had drastically dimmed.

"What?" She whispered to herself with a frown as Eugene noticed her slow down and moved to her side.

"Something wrong?" He asked, and then he noticed the sword. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Rapunzel said, turning to the others. "Guys? I think we have a problem."

It wasn't until she turned around that she noticed Chauncey drooping uncomfortably across Hiccup's shoulders and Jack and Mahina flagging at the back of the group.

"What's wrong?" Merida asked, frowning at the sword. "Were we going the wrong way somehow?"

Rapunzel blinked, expression exclusively one of concentration as she looked at the sword. Slowly turning revealed that the sword still glowed when pointed in the direction they'd been going, but very faintly.

"No," she said. "It's just... weaker." She looked up at Mahina and Jack. "I think all active magic is."

"That seems accurate," Mahina said, voice strained. She stepped closer, only to collapse to her knees with a cry of pain. Jack did the same a mere moment later; by the time anyone registered that they had done so, they were already curled up on the ground, visibly in agony.

It became clear why a moment later: a warm brown tone spread from the roots of Jack's hair and entirely washed out its usual white tone, and warmth leached into his skin tone as his free hand clutched at the grass.

Likewise, Mahina's impossibly dark hair faded to a very normal-looking dark brown, and she developed the sort of tan and freckling across her nose and cheekbones that one might acquire after a great deal of time in the sun.

Once the changes stopped, they both seemed able to breathe properly again, though it took a moment for either of them to recover.

Rapunzel quickly sheathed her sword and hurried to get down on one knee and help Mahina, while Hiccup was closest to Jack. The latter managed to get up, leaning on his staff, which had lost its coating of frost; Mahina had only gotten as far as sitting up, groaning and holding her head.

"Moon, I feel awful," she muttered. Chauncey agreed with her in the form of a low whine.

"Here," Rapunzel said quietly, offering Mahina a hand up. She accepted and stood on unsteady feet.

Rapunzel frowned and pressed her palm to Mahina's forehead. "You feel feverish."

Hiccup checked Jack quickly. "So's he."

Jack wiped his forehead on his sleeve. "If our magic outright vanished we'd die," he said. "'S gotta be from it being suppressed."

Rapunzel looked around- the forest was nearly obscured by the mist, but at least it didn't seem to be getting any stronger. "Okay, um- we need to head in the direction we were going. Let's hope this is only affecting this area, and when we get far enough away, it'll stop." She pulled her sword back out and slowly turned.

Nothing.

Rapunzel swallowed. "Can anyone see anything through the mist? Landmarks, the sun?"

After a moment of assessment, the consensus was no.