RotBTD Epic AU Chapter 1

     Queen Rapunzel was well loved and her decisions never questioned by the inhabitants of the forest. Well, almost all of them. Young Hiccup, hand-picked, pod-born heir to the forest was that exception. There were a number of things which casted doubt upon the prince, one of which being that he was male. Yes, male. In all of the Scrolls kept beneath the woods, not once had the ruler of the forest been pronounced anything but Queen. This greatly bothered the natives of the forest, yet they could have learned to overlook this fact had Hiccup not been quite so…well, Hiccup. The boy was constantly stumbling from one mishap to the next, somehow managing to upset every part of the kingdom. He was meant to stay about Moonhaven, but he was often found wandering about, followed by a trail of sporadic growth. That was another issue. The boy had close to no control over his life-giving abilities. Flowers, grasses, vines, sometimes entire bushes sprung around Hiccup in sync with his emotional state. They put him through Leafmen training in hopes that he would not only learn how to defend himself, but also self-discipline. Hiccup had essentially, for lack of a better term, flunked out. Upon this news, Rapunzel had merely giggled after a light hearted ‘I told you so’. Hiccup was born to create, to give life, not to take it. Violence was simply against his nature. Yet the boy never gave up, begging his escapee partner, a young Leafman trainee herself, to continue to practice with him. Another oddity was how Hiccup experimented with nature, twisting vines and breaking dead branches to form the most unusual shapes. Some dared to say his tinkering almost resembled that of a Stomper.  The criticisms over the young boy were long and endless, but Rapunzel stood by her choice and tried to shield her charge from the harsher offenses.
     Hiccup, however, knew all too well the thoughts his people held of him. His pseudo-father, or his main caretaker outside of Rapunzel, reminded him daily of his faults. Stoick the Vast, head of the Leafmen guard, was a stark believer in tough love and was always pushing the young prince to his limits. It was his job to keep Hiccup within Moonhaven, where he could study in safety, yet even with the help of his second in command, Fergus Dunbroch, the chief Leafman was swamped with work and often lost track of the scrawny boy. Almost every day, Hiccup found some way to sneak off, oftentimes with the help of his close friend Merida, to explore the kingdom. For that reason, the guard was never too panicked. Merida was a feisty young sprout, fiercer and stronger than many a boggan. She could easily protect the prince against a small ambush and she had enough sense about her to keep Hiccup well within the reigns of their territory. Merida would traverse the border by herself, or tag along with a patrol party, but she wasn’t about to let her friend near boggan territory– she was brave, not stupid. So it was only when Hiccup ventured out alone that stirred alarm, like today.
     Hiccup was only a few yards from the border, almost dancing in his excitement. The plants around him rose and twirled in response, leaves unfurling and buds blooming, waving as if in some strange wind. The scrawny child tripped over a small rock, saved from a face-plant thanks to a low leaf. He scrambled up, thanking the vegetation before hurrying onwards. The boy was clad in Leafman armor, which he had tweaked and hemmed to fit his abnormally petite form, so that one could, and would should they be a boggan, mistake him for a low-ranking soldier. His short, auburn hair was hidden beneath the slightly oversized helmet, his bangs sometimes obstructing his vision. Freckles covered every inch of the skinny boy, his arms and legs no thicker than the thinnest twigs. His eyes shone with the colors of the forest – deep, dark, rich, and lime greens swirled around flecks of red and gold. A wide grin revealed a set of large, crooked teeth as the prince approached his destination. The reason for his solo excursion was that he had overheard Stoick’s report to the Queen and her personal guard, a strange Leafman who went by the name Flynn Rider. Apparently, the boggans were encroaching past the border, attacking a random sector to distract the guard whilst spreading their rot in another region. Hiccup found this the perfect opportunity to prove his worth. Only Rapunzel and himself could fight the rot and regain their territory. They couldn’t risk Rapunzel approaching the borders – if anything happened to her they would be stuck with Hiccup; but, the boy reasoned, if something were to him, Rapunzel could easily find another pod. Well, though perhaps not easily, he knew it was possible for her to find another. Not that Hiccup planned on getting caught, this was by no means a suicide mission. This was more of a get-in-make-stuff-grow-and-run-before-anyone-finds-me mission. It was risky, but from what the prince had heard, the boggans weren’t necessarily guarding these areas because they knew the Leafmen were overprotective of their royals. Anyone, including his best friend Merida, would try to stop him, but Hiccup knew he had to do this. It was his duty. If he wasn’t defending the forest, than what was his purpose? So the little prince trudged along, tripping his way to the edge of the forest.
     It wasn’t too long before Hiccup stumbled upon the rot, snaking through the greenery, slowly chocking out the trees and larger growth. The young prince paused, hands unconsciously curling at his chest. There was a strange ache working its way through his limbs and a pulsating sting, as if each advance of the rot was some internal blow. This was a new experience for Hiccup; he had never gotten this far before without getting caught. He knew Rapunzel was more in tune with the forest as a whole, more sensitive to each disturbance. Hiccup’s sensitivity was limited by distance and magnitude, and would stay that way until he ascended to the throne. The prince shivered as he approached the grey substance. There was something fascinating about the rot, in a horrific way. It was something completely foreign to the boy, something he could never hope to fully comprehend. However, being that he was Hiccup, he would try anyway. The strange decay acted like vegetation, spreading and growing across the forest floor. Yet it was colorless, lifeless, and spelled death to all creatures save boggans. Boggans. They were another thing Hiccup didn’t understand. What was a boggan? How did they come to be? How could a living creature – for he assumed they must be living creatures – survive in, thrive in, and perpetuate death? It made absolutely no sense. The prince was entirely lost to his own musings, not even noticing the growth spreading from him, reclaiming the woods and purifying the rot.
     It wasn’t until pain shot through his chest that the boy regained his bearings. The sound of voices, harsh and rumbling and far too close for comfort, alerted Hiccup that he might want to flee, or hide. He picked the latter option, backing away slightly as leaves and flowers moved to cover him. Hoping the encasement wouldn’t seem suspicious to whoever was approaching, Hiccup crouched and unsheathed his small dagger. If the Queen could fight off a whole squadron of boggans armed with only an acorn top, then he should at least be able to defend himself with an actual weapon…right? As the voices drew nearer, his nervousness grew, causing the surrounding plants to bend ever closer, caressing the child in an attempt to comfort him. Hiccup only cursed silently, begging the plants to stop their movement else he be spotted. It really was just his luck that a random patrol would chance upon his brief intrusion. Whoever ruled over fate and fortune must have it out for the boy.
     The voices however, began to fade, seemingly having decided to turn around. A sigh of relief escaped the young prince and the foliage retracted with his anxiety, to the point where he had a view of his surroundings. Yet it was the crack of twigs and sharp sting that caused Hiccup to duck under and behind the raised root of a tree. One of the boggans had decided to come his way after all. The boy continued to hide, peeking out in hopes of the assessing the danger, hand resting at the base of the root. His heartbeat pounded through his skull and adrenaline coursed through his veins, anticipating a fight-or-flight response. His grip on the dagger tightened, afraid it would slip from his sweaty palms. A figure moved within his range of sight, causing the boy’s breath to hitch in fear. Hiccup did his best to stay perfectly still. However, the plants didn’t seem to get the memo.

     Jack allowed himself a smug grin as he slunk off from his patrol group, or as the rot prince so kindly dubbed them, babysitters. For some reason, Pitch found it necessary for Jack to have a constant escort, despite how capable the boy was and battle proven. He was in luck today, though, as his father had left him with a particularly daft bunch. He could still hear Snoutlout guffawing away as he wove through the edge of their territory, dancing between rot and growth. Everywhere he touched, a new patch of grey burst forth, but the pale teen deliberately ignored that fact. He was going to have fun, not depress himself. The first game he had already won, successfully escaping his dimwitted guard. The next game would start soon, just after he put a comfortable distance between him and the babysitters. Next was a race. He would dash across the ground and up trees, seeing how much life he could touch before his rot caught up.
     The prince of rot had just found a suitable spot to begin his game when he noticed something…strange. It was like a tingling up his arm, not pleasant, but not entirely unpleasant. He scanned the area, his icy blue eyes widening at sight of something almost beyond the boggan’s comprehension. An emerald vine snaked its way up and around a tree root a few centimeters to his right, rich purple flowers budding and blossoming across its length. His heart began to ache at the mesmerizing sight. Blue eyes narrowed into slits as he stilled his hand, which had been subconsciously reaching for the beautiful display. Growth could mean only one thing – a Leafman was near. Jack growled, his gaze never leaving the root as he crouched and sprung, jumping into the air and onto a low-hanging branch. He stared down, catching the culprit. A Leafman, three or more years his junior, lay hidden behind the root. The boy was nearly indistinguishable beneath the common soldier garb, except that his head was moving frantically about, no doubt searching for Jack. His movements granted Jack a glimpse of his eyes, the boggan’s breath catching at the sight. They were absolutely stunning. Wide, bright, and alight with fear, those green orbs stood out wonderfully against the freckled face.  Jack decided he needed a closer look. Oh, and he needed to interrogate the young soldier of course, yep, he was definitely just doing his job…
     He dropped down behind the boy, causing him to jerk and spin. The boy retreated, slamming his back into the tree root behind him. Twig-thin arms rose shakily, as if blown about in some light breeze. A small dagger was clasped in the left hand, the right one rising to push back the large green helmet which had slid down the boy’s face. Those wide, gorgeous eyes beheld him with dismay as short gasps escaped the panic-stricken teen. Jack almost chortled at the poor attempt at defense; the boggan prince could take down this amateur with both hands tied behind his back. As it were a low chuckle escaped him, only resulting in the boy’s further distress. The vines leaning towards the small soldier were held at bay by Jack’s rot. He took a step forward and the boy flinched.
     “W-w-who ar-are you? Wh-What are y-you d-d-doing h-here?” the boy demanded, attempting to discretely worm his way sideways across the root.
     Jack mirrored his movements, showing the boy his endeavor was pointless. He smiled at the question, seeing that the boy didn’t recognize the Prince of Rot. Good.
     “I should be the one asking that. You were the one trespassing, little leaf, so give me a decent reason not to dispose of you,” Jack stated with authority, though he didn’t really have any intentions on killing the boy, he had no real thirst for bloodshed.
     The smaller male paused, eyes somehow managing to grow wider, “A-a-a-a l-leaf so-soldier, obviously. And, I, uh, I came to…to scout out the-the area.”
     A pale brow rose, “Really now, I thought you Leafpeople were more competent than to send a lone rookie to scout out boggan territory? Never matter, makes my job easier. Now, how did you do that thing you were doing?”
     The young soldier, blushing in embarrassment at the rookie comment, tilted his head to the side, one eyebrow raised, and questioned with what Jack could have sworn was more than a healthy dose of sass, “The ‘thing’ I was doing?”
     “Yeah,” the boggan waved his hand in the general direction of the vine now encircling the root, “Do all Leafpeople make things grow?”
     The boy flinched, perhaps catching the note of bitterness which laced Jack’s words, “Uh, um, not everyone can. No.”
     “Is that so…” the elder teen trailed off, eyes assessing the unfortunate Leaf before him.
     It was a shame, really. If this boy could create life where other Leaves could not, Pitch would probably want to see him. That was never a good thing for a Leaf. Jack sighed, annoyed at this turn of events, before a thought came to him.
     “How common is that little trick of yours?” Jack asked, thinking that if it was a more common power, he could get by with just stealing some information then scaring the boy off; though Jack didn’t want the Leaf to leave so soon.
     Now the boy’s whole body was shaking, his small weapon almost falling from his grasp as Jack took one step closer. Suddenly the boy stilled, green eyes narrowing and brows furrowing in concentration. Jack opened his mouth, about to ask what the little Leaf thought he was doing. Before he could, the boy dropped to the ground, rolling underneath the exposed root as leaves and ferns moved to cover his escape route. Jack stared dumbly for a moment before cursing and vaulting over the damned plant. The brat was running further into boggan territory. A trail of vibrant growth flew in his wake, the plants attempting to hide the idiot, but only serving to make him stand out like a sore thumb. Jack scowled, sending out his rot to attack the offending growth, only to hear a sharp yelp before the greenery regrew and lashed out at him. Each time a vine grabbed at the pissed boggan, his rot would immediately kill it.  Jack grew bitter at the sight, watching the alluring vegetation grow and wilt, with anger growing towards himself and the Leaf. Really, what was the kid thinking?

     Hiccup, if he was honest with himself, wasn’t thinking. At this point in time, there was one command directing his system. Run. The young prince cursed his own inability to lie – he knew he was bad, but apparently he couldn’t even tell proper lie if his life depended on it! Yes, he was technically a Leafsoldier, he had gone through some training after all and he was scouting the area, even though it was just a part of his purpose there. Not everyone could create life, but when the strange boggan asked how common his gift was, that’s when Hiccup knew he was screwed. He did the only thing he could think of – get as far away, as fast as possible. Some small part of him realized that the growth was following him, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it at this point. Another part realized that he probably wanted to run away from boggan territory. There were two problems with that: one, his pursuer was directly behind him, between Hiccup and the safety of the forest, and two, the pain. Apparently, all boggans had the power of rot within them, and this particular scout was heaping plentiful amounts of it onto his poor greenery. Needless to note, the sensation of feeling his newly created life dying with each step he took was rather unpleasant. He couldn’t spare the focus to protect it against the rot, for he was too busy trying to find a way out of this situation.
     Hiccup attempted to angle himself, so that he would arc back into the woods. He was finally facing the forest when a much taller and much stronger form barreled into his own, the force of the impact landing the two at the edge of his domain. The young prince’s scream was muffled by dirt as his arms were wrenched behind him, dagger ripped from his grasp. Something rough and furry was wrapped around his wrists, tying his hands together so that he couldn’t move his arms. Hot tears threatened to pour from the boy’s eyes as he was hauled upwards and pushed against the base of a tree. He shook his head, refusing to show that sign of weakness and attempting to regain his bearings. His blurry vision was filled with blue, the kind that hangs from trees in winter. He shook his head once more in an attempt to focus, but was rewarded with clumps of auburn invading his sight. At some point during his attempted escape, his helmet was lost. Hiccup gulped nervously, wondering if it even mattered at this point, but still hoping the boggan would remain ignorant to his true identity.
     Speaking of the boggan, said male was currently trapping Hiccup against the tree, one pale, muscled arm pinning his shoulder to the bark. Hiccup squirmed slightly in what he knew was a vain attempt for freedom. One glance at his captor told him that. Though Hiccup had never met a boggan before, he had heard plenty of stories about the ugly, grey, deformed creatures who cackled at the sight of blood and left decay in their wake. The teen standing before the young prince completely discredited that description. The boggan was tall, thin, but well-built, arms and legs displaying strong muscles. His pale skin was akin to that of snow, the only color about him that of his piercing eyes. A shock of pure white hair lay messily atop his head, peeking out from beneath his pelt cloak. A half-shirt, pants, and fur cloak, all of varying shades of grey and brown, covered the pale skin. A spear was strapped against his back next to a quiver of arrows, one of which was currently held threateningly in his unoccupied hand. Hiccup’s eyes widened at the sight of the rot-covered tip, and his feeble attempts became frantic.
     The boggan shook his head as if caught in a daze before growling, “Stop squirming. Stay quiet and they might not find us.”
     Hiccup froze at the odd statement, mind reeling to figure out who ‘they’ were. The bogan used this opportunity to pierce the arrow through Hiccup’s shirt, careful to avoid piercing his skin, then grabbed another and repeated the process just to the side of each shoulder pad. The rot the arrows attempted to release was immediately neutralized by the prince’s gift. The teen’s hands were now free; he used one to grab his spear, while the other was placed firmly against Hiccup’s mouth, his thumb hooked under his chin to prevent the boy from biting him. At this, Hiccup began shaking his head, doing anything in his power to free his vocals. His mind had deduced that ‘they’ must be some Leafmen patrol, for that would be the only group a lone boggan would hide from.
      The squeaks and groans produced from Hiccup’s attempt to alert the Leafmen patrol earned a low growl from the boggan, “Unless you want to be dragged to the foot of King Pitch’s throne, I suggest you cease and desist.”
     Jack watched as those beautiful orbs somehow managed to grow even wider as the Leaf halted his vocals. Really, how stupid was this child? Could he not hear Snotlout and the twins approaching? Did he want to attract more boggan attention?
     Icy blue eyes flickered back to where the sounds echoed, harsh bellows and piercing taunts. Yep, definitely Snoutlout and the twins. He felt a momentary touch on his hand followed by a chocked out noise from the boy. Jack turned his attention back to his captive. Vines grew all around them, covering the two from sight. They snaked around the little leaf boy, ruffling his hair and caressing his cheek. Those green orbs were clenched shut, brows contorted in pain. The greenery hesitated about his shoulders, unable to approach the arrows pinning the Leafman to the bark. Instead they wove around his waist, thorns growing away from the boy’s skin, like extra armor. They hovered around Jack, thorns large and ominous, but incapable of approach. They grew especially close to the hand which covered the rookie’s mouth. A small, grey, shriveled piece of vegetation lay on his hand, the cause for his momentary distraction. Jack turned back to the ever-loudening voices of his incompetent guard, but was met with a wall of thorny vines. Actually, if they stopped writhing around, this could be to their advantage.
     “Damn it! When I get my hands on that bugger, I’ll–I’LL–” Snoutlout grumbled, cut off by his companions.
     Ruffnut snickered, “You’ll what?”
     “Yeah, what?” her brother repeated, followed by the resounding smack, “Ow! Hey!”
     Laughter followed by crashes, yelps and grunts.
      “Would you two quite it already?” Snoutlout bellowed, :We gotta find that brat so I can ring his pale, skinny neck!”
     Ruffnut and Tuffnut were right out guffawing as one twin chuckled out, “Y-y-yeah r-right, haha, he-he would break you li-like a twig!”
     “Oh, yeah, you-you should, haha, def-definitely try it. That’ll be a riot,” the other finished, ending with another bout of laughter.
     “Hey!” the indignant teen yelled, “I could and would totally kick his ass if he wasn’t the King’s favorite.”
     “Suuuuuuure!” that was Tuffnut, followed by more sounds of a scuffle.
     The noises were beginning to decrease in volume, signifying that the trio was moving past them. Jack waited with baited breath until he could no longer hear their voices to release a relieved sigh. Icy blue eyes turned back to the still boy mostly wrapped in thorny vines. The little light that penetrated the small hideout fell upon auburn locks and stormy green orbs. Jack could not discern what emotions were currently held within those eyes as they met his stare. The grey prince removed his hand and the boy inhaled a sharply.
     Eyes that held the entire forest in their depths suddenly narrowed. It was all the warning Jack got. All but one of the vines retreated from the boy’s body to lash out his captor. The last pulled the Leafman into the air and chucked him into the distance.
     Jack cursed, tearing at the vegetation with his bare hands, ignoring the crimson which dripped from his person and the shriveled bits of dead foliage that withered at his feet. It was too late. His tiny Leafman was gone.