I'd just like to say beforehand how this 2shot was inspired by .com and her amazing MerricupAU gif, I'll leave a link on my profile. The gif was too beautiful not to include, because I'm currently planning out a ROTBTFD fanfic (soon to be named: Rise Of the Saviours) I was considering using it there but I don't think it would fit in with the story so I just had to do this.

Love was a funny thing that was for sure. Merida never really understood it before, love. She had a vague image of what it looked like when she was younger from her Ma and Da but yet again that wasn't the most pleasant of sights either. Love made you selfless but yet so selfish because sometimes the hardest decisions are actually the easiest one, just in ugly packaging. Love made you do reckless stupid things and make reckless stupid decisions regardless of the consequences because as long as your significant other was safe then it was all worth it. Even if you were the one who'd end up suffering. Love was a dangerous thing.

Merida did wonder that if it was Elsa, or Jack, or even Rapunzel lying on that bed, if she'd be here? She wasn't sure if the truth made her selfish or just sensible. All she knew was that he was there and she was here, with her heart hammering against her ribcage, and with beads of perspiration forming on her head and with a determination as fiery as her hair. She sucked in a deep breath, 'Pitch.' She called out hoarsely to prevent from wavering. Her eyes roamed around her dark, dark surroundings.

'Dunbroch.' A familiar voice responded, sending shivers down her spine. Merida saw him lurking out from beneath the shadows, a leer formed on his face. 'I assume you're here because of that Dragon Rider.' Merida despised how smooth and confident his voice was.

She straightened up her back, 'Aye. You assume right.' She bit, 'What have ye done to him?' She demanded, her voice dripping with venom and authority.

He smiled at her, his footsteps growing closer and closer towards her but never quite there, he was circling her. 'Oh enough to determine his fate.' His last word came out as a bite, she jumped backwards expectantly, immediately mentally scolding herself after. Hiccups fate wasn't determined, not yet. You can always change your fate, she knew that from experience. The time she spent crying at Hiccups bed, clinging onto him, begging him to wake up. She should've known sooner it was Pitch, how could she not? 'A trade perhaps?' That ripped Merida out of her thoughts, she looked up at him. She didn't have to think twice about her next words.

'My life. In exchange for his.' She tried not to sound desperate, terrified, lost, and helpless but where it lacked in her voice she was oh so sure it made up for in her face.

A laugh echoed around her, empty and hollow like the room they were currently in. 'Oh I don't want you dead Princess. You'll have to do better than that.' Merida's fists balled up, 'The boy will be fine, grow to be chief of his clan, live a long healthy life and die of old age.' Merida's eyes snapped up to Pitch, a smile just starting to form on her face. There was hope! There had to be! She prayed to the Gods that this was it, Pitch's smirk grew even more. 'You however, he won't remember.'

'Wha-!' Panic formed in Merida's chest, this couldn't be happening. It couldn't, it wasn't possible . But she knew it was, deep down.

'I will erase every single memory he has of you out of his head. The other he will still remember but mistake for a dream. By the next time you two meet you'll both be leaders of a great war.' Pitch took steps closer to Merida, each step making her wince more and more. When he was right in front of her he stopped. 'And he will despise you.' No, not Hiccup. Not her Hiccup. He couldn't hate her, he told her before. Of course he didn't mean to at the time, it was an accident. The words 'Because I love you!' was a total accident. He meant it though, how could Pitch take that love and turn it into something so dark and horrid and unnatural?

'So? Do we have a deal?'

Merida wanted to take away all those bad days, all the times they would squabble and argue. Most of the time it was over something totally and utterly stupid. She wondered if she took all those bad days and turned them into something good, if he would still remember? If the laughter and happiness and joy would be too imbedded into his head to forget. To erase those bad days would to be erasing a part of her though, a part of both of them. It would be erasing their first encounters, it would even be erasing his confession. To erase that would be erasing all the laughter and happiness and joy.

The first time she was allowed to ride toothless and he had to strap her in front because 'You're a Princess and as frustrating as you are and as tempting as it is I'm not going to start another feud between our families because you fell of and died.'

Merida just groaned, 'Fine!' She huffed, 'Ah think that tight enough now Hiccup, ah cannae breathe!'

'Oh stop being so dramatic.' He grumbled as he sat behind her on toothless and wrapped one arm around her tightly. It was funny how a simple confession could open your eyes to a world of things, and your senses because right then she was so aware of how close he was to her. Even when they were soaring through the sky that was on her mind. How they were so close that if she just turned around behind her ever so slightly that their lips would be- They were. Merida could feel Hiccup tense, especially since he had one arm around her. He was soft and he tasted of the sea.

'What was that for?' He asked, slightly in a daze after she pulled away. She just giggled softly.

'A thank ye!'

The idea of Hiccup completely forgetting Merida and everything they've been through totally broke her heart into a million pieces. She didn't want Hiccup to forget her but she also didn't want him to forget who he was, he wasn't just a dragon tamer. He was a warrior. He was strong. He was kind. He was caring. Hiccup wasn't just what his tribe needed, he was what everyone needed. He was the boy she found by the river. He was the boy that she travelled with Jack, Elsa and Rapunzel. Together they saved their world but now she was going to have to pay the ultimate price. If her pain and suffering meant that Hiccup lived then it was worth it. Love was a dangerous thing. Taking one deep breath she looked up at Pitch. A fire in her eyes, so bright and so daring that she could see the flicker in Pitch's eyes.

'Do it.'