I'M SORRY I SAID I WAS GOING ON HAITUS FOR ALL ROTBTD RELATED STORIES. I JUST HAD A LOT OF FEELS. SPECIAL THANKS TO ROTBTDREADER FOR INSPIRING ME TO GET OFF MY BUTT AND PUT UP AN EPILOGUE-ISH THING. Okay, guys, honestly, I've moved past high school aus, and I'm terrible, sorry that I never paid enough attention to this story. I've left it all open-ended, with the possibility for a sequel, and I had always planned on a sequel, so we'll see, because I've been so inspired for other fandoms lately. This isn't my best work, but it's a fic that I've always held close to my heart, and I just want to thank the readers, reviewers, and people that never gave up on it and wanted me to update. I know, it's not the best way to end it, and there was hardly Jackunzel (sob!) and I didn't even add Mericcup (if there's a sequel, tho, there will be Mericcup galore) but just...thank you. To everyone who's read the story and has stuck by it. Especially considering I haven't uploaded in practically a year...originally, I was going to write out their prom, because my own prom is next week, but then I thought better of it because I didn't want to make it a bigger deal, and I knew that I'd never upload this if I tried to. Again, just, thanks to the lovely people that make me feel happy when they tell me how much they like this :)

Rapunzel looked up at the ceiling of the hotel room, her back firmly on the freshly-vacuumed gray carpet and her hands stiff at her sides. It's not like she expected to see anything there, on the ceiling- she just needed to focus on anything other than her thoughts.

And her thoughts were running a mile a minute.

Rapunzel heard the door open but made no move to get up. Instead, she closed her eyes and offered a smile when she felt someone hovering over her and sitting on the bed in the corner of the room.

"The police said they're doing what they can. About the car brakes thing- they've been trying to talk to Hiccup's dad, but he's either been at the hospital or at home locked in since the accident- it's really hard to contact him."

Rapunzel knows that it's Mavis by the sound of her voice, and she finally opens her eyes. Mavis is wearing her cheerleading outfit, pom-poms at the foot of the bed in a crashed heap. She's also wearing a sympathetic smile, which she offers Rapunzel. Rapunzel accepts it and looks back at the ceiling.

"I haven't seen Hiccup since the accident," Rapunzel said, quietly. "I haven't even seen Merida, and she's been out of the hospital for a while. The housekeeper doesn't answer when me or Jack knock."

"Hey," Mavis said, gently, scooting off the bed and kneeling next to Rapunzel, "You did all you could. You've been to the hospital so many times- it's not your fault he won't take visitors. And you've tried to visit Merida. It's not your fault, you know."

"God, but if I'd been there, with them-" Rapunzel trailed.

"No what-ifs. They're alive. This is someone else's fault, not yours," Mavis replied fiercely. "Okay?"

"Okay," Rapunzel whispered, feeling tears pricking at the back of her eyes. Tears came a lot often. Mavis reached for the discarded pom-poms.

"It's the weekend, but that doesn't mean we can't practice," Mavis said brightly. "What do you think? I invited Once-ler over. And Anna, too. They're worried about you."

Rapunzel looked at Mavis, who was offering her pom-poms. It had been weeks since she'd even tried cheering, and it was clear that her optimism was drying up. For Mavis's sake, who'd done so much for her, Rapunzel sat up and accepted the fluffy bundles of red and black.

Mavis gave a bright beaming grin that showed off her pointy canine teeth.

"I also thought- maybe- you'd like to invite Jack, since the two of you are dating now," Mavis slyly added.

Rapunzel flushed. "We're not really dating. We haven't even been on a real date or anything."

"But you guys kissed and proclaimed your love for each other!" Mavis exclaimed.

"There was no love-proclaiming," Rapunzel giggled as she stood up and linked arms with an excited Mavis. "I like him."

"You say that now, but I can see right through your pink cheeks-" Mavis sing-songed.

Rapunzel nudged Mavis with an elbow. "Come on," Rapunzel laughed, "I'll just text him." She went to retrieve her phone, smiling to herself, until she caught sight of a text message someone had left her.

It was only one line, but it left her feeling speechless. And hurt. And more than anything, confused. She must've stared at it for a long time, because then she felt Mavis at her side.

"Rapunzel? Are you okay?"

Rapunzel swallowed hard. "I have to go. It's- it's Merida, she texted me."

Mavis wordlessly took Rapunzel's phone, read the one line, and sighed. "Go," she said. "Here, I'll call a taxi for you. And you should call Jack, too. He should go with you."

Rapunzel nodded. "Thanks," she mumbled as Mavis squeezed her hands and left the room.

Goodbye.

That was the only thing Merida had said.

"I'm leaving."

Merida said it so matter-of-factly, so nonchalantly, that it was hard to believe that she was apologetic under her numb demeanor, and her friends didn't even register that Merida hadn't said it with her breezy accent. She picked at the woven blanket that covered her broken leg, unraveling loose threads and willing herself not to cry. She'd told herself that she wouldn't, after all. Goodbyes weren't her thing. She wasn't supposed to say goodbye.

It had only taken all of ten minutes for Rapunzel to reach Merida's house and find Jack waiting in front of the doorbell, finger poised over the pearly white button of the intercom. He'd taken one look at Rapunzel's worried face and had immediately buried his face in her hair, whispering things that Rapunzel didn't pay much attention to, because the door had opened and Maudie had lead them to Merida, sitting in a wheelchair, in the formal living room, and then she had to say she wasleavingof all things.

Jack and Rapunzel, hands too stiff at their sides and a few spaces apart so that Merida wouldn't suspect anything, no longer even thought to keep their budding relationship from Merida; the event of her leaving overshadowed a potential crisis.

"You're leaving?" Jack asked, his voice demanding and a lot harsher than he'd intended it to be. He winced.

Merida rolled her blue eyes towards the ceiling and took a shaky breath. "Are yeh daft, Frost? That's what ah just said. Ah'm leavin'."

Rapunzel gave a little gasp. "Merida, I don't understand, you can't just-"

"Mum thinks," Merida interrupted, "That Scotland is a better place fer us right now. Says I have too much negativity around me. Thinkin' Hiccup's tried to kill me, and well, seein' as he's not around, I can't defend him much." She blew a strand of curly red hair away from her forehead. "She's signed me up for some academy o'er there."

"But- we were supposed to graduate together," Rapunzel whimpered pitifully. "Merida, we were supposed to be- you can't leave!"

Merida took another shaky breath, and Jack could see right through her as she exhaled. She was tired. Her eyes were red from crying and her skin was paler than usual. Even though she said nothing of it, Jack knew Merida hated the wheelchair she was seated in. He could see how fidgety she was. How unsettled her usually moving legs were, trapped and rendered useless.

And that, Jack supposed, was the strongest he'd ever seen Merida. Sure, she'd been a soccer star and all, but athletics didn't make her strong. Not even her headstrong personality made her strong.

What made her strong was how she didn't complain, not once, about her state, but rather made the most of it. Jack saw her hands move the wheelchair's sides with ease, as she inched towards Rapunzel as quietly as her squeaking tires would allow.

"Ah'm sorry, Rapunzel," Merida whispered, and reached a hand out to touch Rapunzel's limply hanging wrist. Rapunzel choked back some more tears as she gave Merida the brightest smile she could muster.

"It's not your fault," Rapunzel said, her eyes growing watery again, "I'm just going to miss you so much."

Merida did, finally, shed a few tears at that. "Oi, lass," she managed to say, "Ah'm gonna miss ye, too."

Jack had been quiet, and then he placed his arm around Rapunzel's shoulders. And his other hand stretched to land on top of Merida's shoulder.

"You're going to call us, right?" he asked.

Merida nodded, shakily. "O' course ah will. Ye two are-" her cheeks were pink from embarrassment. "Yer my friends." She looked away. "More than...more than the soccer team ever was." She played with her hands laid in her lap.

Jack let go of Rapunzel and stepped back a little bit. Rapunzel reached over to take Jack's hand.

"We're not letting you forget us, got it?" Rapunzel instructed. "You have to call. Me or Jack. Even if Hiccup won't answer, call him too."

Merida rolled her eyes. And there was a smile playing on her mouth, maybe at how instructive Rapunzel is being. "Alright, lass. Ah'll do that." She then squinted at Jack and Rapunzel's intertwined hands. "Don't tell me the two o' yer aredatin' now."

"Maybe," Rapunzel responded, shyly, with a little giggle, Jack turning red.

"Gross!" Merida exclaimed, groaning, and the goodbye ended with laughter, even if it wasn't meant to be a goodbye.

.

.

True to her word, Merida called often, and she was more than happy to provide her own opinions on everything, including Rapunzel's prom dress and whether or not Jack should take out his tongue piercing. Hiccup, on the other hand, had never returned to school, and Jack and Rapunzel still had no idea as to what became of him. The house he'd been living in, Stoick's home, was sold. Hiccup's wrecked car was dismantled for parts and the investigation as to who cut the brakes was never continued, considering there were no fatalities.

Gothel had given up parental custody for Rapunzel, and oddly, Rapunzel didn't care. She was done. Mavis had basically made her part of the family, and Rapunzel was more than glad to help around the hotel to earn her keep.

Jack had gotten a new foster family, and they were very nice. They didn't mind that he was recovering slowly or that he wasn't the smartest person around. They supported him as well as they could, and they'd even given him money for a down payment for his own apartment once he turned eighteen.

Jack had also gotten a job at a supermarket, and had applied to a community college after high school. Rapunzel, in turn, had applied to a university a few cities over, and was accepted on a full scholarship.

Once graduation was over and done with, and summer started, they heard less from Merida, because the overseas connection was bad.

Maybe the four of them didn't end up together forever, nor did they live their lives happily ever after, but they lived.

And that was the most important thing.

Jack held Rapunzel's hand in his own tightly, and the two of them looked out on the sunset from their perch on the rooftop of the hotel.

It was chilly, but Jack didn't care. His jacket was around Rapunzel's shoulders, and the wind blew strands of hair into each other's faces, but they didn't even bat an eye.

"Well," he said, "I guess this is goodbye."

"Don't say goodbye," Rapunzel chided, and she turned to face her boyfriend with a bright smile. "This isn't goodbye. It's just- see you later."

Jack couldn't help himself, and he smiled back. "Okay. See you later."