"Look ou'! It's ah dragen! A little girl with a bow and quiver screamed at Hiccup. He started running towards her but the monstrous nightmare's claws pinned him to the ground. It was about to roast him alive. He closed his eyes, thinking about how much he wished he could have protected the girl from the dragon. But the impact never came... in fact, the dragon was now next to him, instead of on top of him.

He glanced at the viciously red beast.

On top of it stood a large man with fair skin and red hair. He wore a blue and green plaid kilt. In his hand he held a sword that stabbed into the rib cage of the dragon.

He jumped down from the dragon and motioned for the girl with matching hair to come to him. She did and they whisper to each other, once in a while glancing back at Hiccup. He sat on the ground staring at them. Finally the little girl walked over to him, "I'm Merida. Wha's yer name?" She smiled and held out her hand to help him up.

Hccup accepted and she struggled helping him to his feet. When he was standing he smiled back at her, "I'm Hiccup."

"Strange name... Will ya be ma friend? Mum never le's me 'ave any friends..." She frowned muttering to herself.

Nobody ever wanted to be his friend, so this felt new to him, almost... happy. No longer sad and alone, or the odd kid out, "Of course I will!"

"Do ya 'ave a family, Hiccup?" The man asked, walking over to him and getting on his knees. Hiccup noticed that part of his right leg was missing below the knee, replaced by a wooden peg.

"Yes my father is the chief of Berk," He answered. They both gasped, their eyes wide, looking at him as if he was a dragon. "What, is something wrong?"

Neither of them answered.

"Merida stay here with Hiccup. I need ta go get the guards and tell Elinor to write a letter to Stoick."

"Yes Da'." The man quickly left, leaving them alone in the forest.

Merida looked at him with a sadness in her eyes, "Hiccup, promise me no ma'er wha' happens ye'll always be ma friend." She wasn't telling him something, and it was something important, but he agreed anyways.

"I promise."

❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅

Hiccup woke up and saw Merida's head on his shoulder and her arms around his waist. As much as he wanted to think about how much Astrid would hurt him, he thought about his dream, instead.

That was when he and Merida were seven; they had just met. He had promised to be her friend no matter what happened. He stayed in their castle for two days, waiting for his dad to come get him. He had no idea why he was in Scottland in the first place, nor did he know to this day. All he remembered was meeting Merida and becoming her friend.

Or at least until Stoick got to the castle. He stormed into the castle and took Hiccup without saying a word to anyone. When they were leaving Hiccup saw Merida and tried to say goodbye, but his dad wouldn't let him.

Stoick explained to him on the boat back to Berk, that The Scott's thought that Berkians purposely trained the dragons to take their livestock. Which at the time was absurd because Hiccup wouldn't train Toothless until eight years later.

Hiccup didn't see Merida again until after he trained Toothless. He wanted to go visit the friend he had made so many years ago. When he finally spotted her in the forest shooting some arrows she nearly killed him. She actually was about to kill him on because she noticed Toothless and how he was trained. But then she lowered the bow and said something he would never forget, even if she only said it two years ago:

"Hiccup, I could ne'er kill ya. Ya promised ta be ma friend...So go back ta Berk befer someun else does!" She walked away, but not before shooting an arrow at his fake leg as a warning.

Merida's grip tightend around him, her eyes fluttering open as she yawned. She must have realized that she was almost in top of him because she struggled to get up. "I'm sorry--was I--ah...?" She stuttered.

Hiccup stood in front of her. Putting his hands on her shoulders to calm her down; she looked at him. "Merida it's fine. And no you weren't like that all night...it only started when you had a nightmare."

She sighed, "Thank the Gods..." She started to walk away but he couldn't let her. He grabbed her wrist to keep her from leaving. Let's just say it was a good thing she wasn't armed at the time. She struggled to pull away, "Hiccup, wha' ar' ya doin'? Let go!" She yelled. He really hoped that she wasn't loud enough for Jack to hear.

"Merida, I know you don't want to tell me, but I need to know what they're about." She stopped struggling, tears already threatening to spill from her brilliant blue eyes. "So please... tell me?" He begged.

She knew that he wasn't going to let go until he got an answer. "Fine. Where ar' Jack an' Elsa?"

"Elsa is still sleeping. Jack is upstairs. Do you want me to get them?"

She shook her head, "No. No I'm only goin' ta tell yoou." She sat back down on the couch and so did he. "Because it's abou' ya, Hiccup."

"What do you--"

Merida gets agitated by me now, "Jus' shut it and lis'en!" She cleared her throat and continued. "Hiccup, do ya remember when ya promised to be ma friend... no matter wha' happened?"

"Yes..." he said slowly. It was almost as if he read her mind.

Merida sighed, "Well--"

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" They heard Elsa's high pitched scream and rushed up the stairs. Merida and Hiccup brusted through Elsa's door.

Jack was sitting on the pale blue bed trying to awaken the screaming Elsa. "What should we do?" Hiccup asked him.

He didn't even seem to notice the two until Hiccup spoke. Jack's eyes had tears that threatened to spill over. Hiccup knew he loved her. How? He told him...not Jack, Máni. Máni told Hiccup a while ago that the ice spirits would be together, but that Hiccup wasn't allowed to interfere or tell them.

"Go get Sandy!" Jack commended, but the words came out barely more than a whisper.

hiccup took Merida's arm and they searched for Sandy. After only a minute they found him napping in the main room. "Sandy we need help!" Hiccup shouted, shaking him awake. A question mark appeared above his head.

"Elsa's 'aving a nightmare." Merida explained.

Sandy nodded and they raced back to Elsa's room. When they got there Elsa was still screaming in her sleep. Jack wasn't looking very well, still trying to wake Elsa up.

Sandy walked over and touched her forehead, symbols appearing over his head. Hiccup thought he was telling them that she'd be fine. As he left Jack thanked him.

He and Merida watched as Jack kneeled down next to Elsa's bed again, lightly shaking her shoulder. "Elsa? Elsa are you okay?" Panic and fear were clear in his voice.

Her eyes slowly opened and she started crying. "Jack it was terrible!" She sobbed hugging him. Jack rubbed her back trying hard to soothe her.

Merida elbowed Hiccup in the ribs. "Ow!" He yelled quietly so he don't bother Elsa and Jack, "What was that--"

She turned him around by shoving his shoulders and pushing him out of the room. Following behind him, she gently closed the door. "Let's make sure e'erthing is ready ta go. Then we'll come back ta 'em."

Hiccup shrugged, "Sure."

They double and triple checked to make sure everything they needed was in the bags. Tents, blankets, armour, arrows, swords, knives, and anything else they may have a need for--was all packed away in the four, very large and heavy, bags.

______________________________________________________

Hello Guardians!

It's a short chapter and took me a long time to update because we're remodeling a bathroom in my house... sorry. Hope it was somewhat okay. I know people (you know who you are) are really anxious to find out what Merida's dreams have been about... but I'm evil so I'm not telling you quite yet! If you haven't already, you should read the story "Don't Fall for the Enemy" by Why_would_YOU_care77... it is absolutely AMAZING (Jelsa, Kristanna, Eugunzel, etc)! Vote for Merricup vs Hiccstrid is on the comments until the end of this book. TALLY SO FAR: Merricup 22--Hiccstrid 10. Remember that I probably won't care about you opinion anyways...

Keep reading,
PrincessSelene04