Title: Unknown
Fandom: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons
Pairing(s): Hiccup/Jack, Rapunzel/Flynn, hints of Meripunzel and Merstrid.
Summary: Merida and Hiccup have been hunting witches most of their lives. Sure, it's deadly, but it pays well and you get to travel the world. But it's always been straightforward. Now, what should have been an ordinary job on the island of Berk is going to change everything. For them, for the islands' viking inhabitants, and for the world, unless they can put a stop to it. No pressure, or anything.
Author's Notes (AKA Babble): So, uh, here it is. I'm sorry it's so short for a first chapter but it's literally been two years almost since I wrote something, and it used to be an integral part of me, but life's been really bad for a while now and I feel I've lost the ability to write. I won't go into detail, but this feels like an accomplishment at this stage. Now, oh geez, I know everyone is probably terribly out of character, I apologise, I'm so awful at this *heads towards rock to hide under-* Oh a few other things, before that, um, I can't write accents, so rather than butcher it, I left Merida's words as is. Please assign Scottish accent as necessary.
There will be more. Much more. This thing is actually growing into a monster in my head. And Jack will be with us soon! As will Rapunzel and Flynn and everyone else. Oh and this hasn't been beta-d and my computer currently only has wordpad so any mistakes... yeah.
Okay enough babble. *squeaks* Sorry! So sorry. Okay. Bye.

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Astrid heaved an exasperated sigh, surveying the arguing group before her with a grimace. Vikings were stubborn, and she wasn't any different, but there was a limit. Surely. Surely Snotlout wasn't this stupid, really.

"I'm saying we can handle it ourselves is all!" he snapped, "I mean, we fight dragons every other day, what difference are witches?"

"For the thousandth time!" Ruffnut cried, "You can't hack a spell with an axe! We can't fight witches without help. Astrid's with me, aren't you Astrid?"

She was, yes, it made sense. Maybe she wouldn't have been, a week ago, but they'd lost too many kids this month. They obviously needed to sort this out quickly. But on the other hand, Snotlout was technically in charge, not Astrid, and she wasn't sure he'd appreciate her siding against him. "Look, we're vikings. Of course we could handle this ourselves. The question is, could we do it as quickly as an expert? I mean, we've lost ten kids this month. We can't afford to delay on this. What do you think our parents are going to think when they come home from their campaign to find all the children are gone?"

Snotlout scowled. "We could do it."

"Before someone else gets taken? I'm not so sure. It'll be fine; we'll bring in some witch hunters, and deal with this swiftly. I'm sick of arguing about it Snot. We don't have time to waste here. Give me a ship, and I'll get the best hunters I can find."

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"Hey! Merida!" a scrawny youth whined as a taller red-haired girl held his notebook out of reach in one hand, an ale in the other.

"Come on Hiccup, we're here to relax, not work. And unless you were working on fixing that 'minor calibration error', you're going to put this away, and have a drink. All right?" the girl said cajolingly.

The other scowled. "I'm not sure I like your tone. It was you who insisted on taking it out without letting me test it first."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Details, details. If you'd built it right in the first place- and we're not supposed to be discussing this now! Here, drink!" With this she shoved the ale into the boy's hands and tucked the notebook into her satchel.

Hiccup dutifully took a swig of the drink. "Seriously though Mer, you nearly died today."

"I know," her expression sobered, "and don't think I wasn't scared. You know I was. We'll be more careful next time."

Hiccup frowned. "Does there have to be a next time?"

Merida ran a hand through her wild curls, hissing when her fingers caught in a knot. "We're doing a good thing Hiccup. And we need the money - and we're not merchants, and there's not many well-paid jobs you can do on the move. We've had this argument before. Let's just drop it and try and relax for one night. Stop moping!" Here she punched him lightly on the arm and turned to her own drink, crossing her legs on the table and leaning back in her chair.

"Don't blame me when that chair falls over then," Hiccup teased, nudging it with his boot and causing his companion to yelp.

Merida and Hiccup had known each other since they were kids. They were practically family; heck, most people thought they were, and they called each other siblings. Since Hiccup was seven and Merida eight, they'd looked out for each other and teased each other and fought each other. There was nobody they trusted or cared for more than one another, and now that he was almost sixteen, Hiccup was sure he wouldn't ever be able to leave his 'big sister'.

They sat now in a rowdy tavern nursing their cuts and bruises, trying not to think about how close they'd come to death, again. Since they were children, there was one other thing the two had done together; hunt. Witches were a plague of their world, among other wicked creatures that roamed the darkness and the edges of childrens' nightmares. Merida and Hiccup had rather stumbled upon their job as witch hunters a long time ago, and had spent their lives perfecting the work.

Hiccup invented the weapons. He had a mind for it, and his creations baffled others, whilst performing beautifully in the field. Usually he and Merida tested them before taking them into a real fight, but occasionally Merida got ahead of herself, too excited and, though she wouldn't admit it, impressed by her brother's work. Merida was more physical, spending her time mastering the sword and bow - which was not to say Hiccup didn't do any fighting. He just preferred smaller, lighter weapons, like a dagger, or to use his inventions which would do the heavy lifting for him. He wasn't a big, strong boy; though he had a ravenous appetite, he remained skinny as ever. "Talking fishbone", Merida had nicknamed him.

Sometimes Merida would offer useful insights into his designs too, pointing out where something would hinder her more than help, or even when something was just not feasible. They made an ideal team, and they were rather well known throughout the world, having travelled just about everywhere.

And this was why Astrid Hofferson had come to this tavern this night, having heard many tales of the witch hunter siblings which, upon seeing the two, she felt might be rather exaggerated. The girl, she could probably believe was capable; Astrid herself was the best fighter her age back on Berk. But the boy? Not a chance.

"Are you sure they're the hunter siblings?" she asked the barman.

"They don't look like much," he agreed, "but yes. They've drinks on the house all night, as payment - and the girl's making the most of it too," he added somewhat bitterly.

Shrugging, Astrid adjusted her cloak, feeling rather warm underneath it despite the chill in the air. Berk was much colder than this town, and she was almost too hot here, but the travelling cloak drew less attention. Taking her own drink, she cautiously approached the duo at their table, and waited to be acknowledged.

"Can we help you?" Merida said sharply, eyeing her up and down and looking unimpressed. Hiccup on the other hand looked a little awed.

"Just to confirm," Astrid got straight to the point, "you two are witch hunters, correct? The best?"

"That'd be us," Merida boasted, "you looking to hire? We just finished a job here. Might have to give us some time to breathe."

Hiccup pouted. "I'm sure we could manage. You, you are looking to hire us, right?"

Astrid sat down at their table. "I'm Astrid Hofferson and I'm here on behalf of my village. This is out of the norm for us. We don't require assistance. I wouldn't be here, except, well." She sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Look, we're used to fighting. We're good at it - we're vikings for Odin's sake. But our enemies are usually a lot more physical. Witches have bodies, but good luck getting past their spells to strike them. Not that we couldn't do it ourselves, you understand, but there's been too many losses to delay."

"How many losses?" Hiccup questioned.

"Ten children in the past month. We can't let any more be taken."

Their eyes widened. "Ten kids?" Merida repeated, "That seems a bit... excessive." Hiccup nodded. "Well I guess we could help out but... there's the matter of payment, of course."

"Naturally. What do you charge?"

A smirk graced the redheads' features for a fleeting moment before she hastily composed herself. "We-e-ell," she drawled, "that always depends on location, difficulty of the job, how much we got from our last job, compensation in case one of us dies - most likely Hiccup."

"Obviously," Astrid interjected. "Just give me an estimate."

"I'll need details of the job," Hiccup said, sneaking his notebook from Merida's satchel. "So we can work it out."

"For example," Merida said, "you said ten children had been taken in only a month. How many witches are there?"

"Only three that we know of - but maybe there are more, they all look the same to us, especially since they've been coming on nights when there is a storm. Makes it pretty hard to see them. I guess they're smarter than stories make them seem. They've been coming for about two months, but they only started taking children in the last few weeks. It's like they were... scouting us, before that."

Merida and Hiccup exchanged a look before the former spoke. "Okay, that's kind of unusual behaviour. Ten children already, and vikings couldn't stop them, so I'm going to say this is going to be a tricky one. That raises the price. Now let me think... where exactly is your village? Travel costs need to be accounted for."

"I'll cover your travel. My ship is fully stocked."

"Whoa, ship?" the siblings cried in unison.

Astrid gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Yeah, why? Is that a problem? Berk is an island."

"Oh."

"Not so great."

"We don't usually do islands... or, anywhere off the mainland, really," Merida explained. "Thing is uh." The two looked embarrassed.

"We... we can't swim," Hiccup admitted.

"And we don't like water. Bad experiences." They shuddered.

"Well I'm not askin' you to swim to Berk - you'll be perfectly safe, I assure you. Will you come? Because we'd rather not go looking for other hunters at this stage."

Merida sighed, snatched Hiccup's notebook and pencil from his lax grip, and scribbled a number on a blank page, pushing it across the table to Astrid. "I estimate this."

Astrid glared at her. "Are you crazy? No one would pay this much!"

"Look missy, you're asking us to go out of our way, on a life-threatening mission, to save people we have no connection to, and life costs money! Now do you want us or not?"

Astrid gaped at her. "We don't have this kind of money."

Hiccup frowned, tugging the notebook towards him. "Merida," he growled, "this is ridiculous." Turning to Astrid he offered a smile. "Relax, she's just trying to get as much money out of you as she can. We'll do it for half this price, on the condition that your village provides us with free food and lodging-."

"Hiccup!" Merida protested.

"-and if any additional expenses arise, we'll talk about it then."

Astrid dipped her chin to her chest, considering. "That sounds fair enough. So we have an agreement?"

Merida huffed, crossing her arms. "It seems we do."

"Great. Then I haven't any more time to delay. It took two weeks to find the two of you, who knows what damage has been done in that time. Meet at the docks at first light, you'll spot my ship easily enough." With this, she swept away from the table, leaving her half-empty tankard behind her. Merida swiped it and finished it off.

"First light?" she complained, "Ugh. Fine. There better be room on that ship for our supplies - and you better fix that contraption."

"I really think it's kind of a failed experiment," Hiccup muttered.

"Aw, did my words really get to ya? Don't give up on it on account of me Hiccup, I'm only teasing. And speaking of, you know you can't give a discount to every pretty face, right?" she joked, elbowing him a tad harder than he would've liked.

"Wha-? It-! It wasn't about that," he stammered, "It's the kids, Merida! How many kids do you think one island village has? Ten is a huge number. And you know that's why we do it."

"I know, I know." She laughed. "I'm only messing with you. But seriously, we didn't get much money from this last job. It'd have been nice to get a bonus outta this one."

"Merida," he said sternly, "food and drink, on the house for the whole night. I know exactly how much you can put away."

She scoffed, feigning offence. "Ladies do not overeat!" she mocked, before bursting into giggles.

"Come on. If we're getting up that early, we should get some sleep. Finish your meal and don't stay here too long."

"I'm still annoyed about the boat thing. You know I hate water."

"A little water won't hurt us," he replied, waving a hand and getting to his feet.

"A little...? Hiccup, it's the ocean!" she wailed, "That's not a little water, that's... that's a lot of water!" She scowled at Hiccup's obvious grin. "Stop laughing."

"I'm not!" Scooping up his notebook, he began heading for the door. "Don't be out late Mer. I mean it."

"I'll be at the inn soon. Get going, lightweight."

He rolled his eyes, and left her to her drink.