Red, Like Dragon Scales

Merricup Week Stories

By Vifetoile

Explanation: in mid-May, timebenderss and compeltely-twitterpated hosted the first ever "Jackunzel Week," followed by "Merricup Week," on tumblr. Check it out on jackunzel-mericcup-week dot tumblr dotty com . I was proud of what I wrote for this week, so I decided I would share it (about a month later) with my readers. This is what happens when one gets involved with the Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons crowd - creative madness!

Meta-Disclaimer: I don't own Brave. I don't own How To Train Your Dragon. I don't own Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons. I don't own the or Hogwarts; I'm not even sure how to spell this ship name (Merricup or Mericcup?) ... or anything. Just enjoy what I cobbled together from pre-existing material, and feel free to review!

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

(Heavily inspired by Disney's Beauty and the Beast.)

She had been working on that pendant in her spare time for months. He'd seen her bent over it, whittling with the utmost precision to bring the three overlapping bears even more to life. It was a redemption, in its small way – a pendant of wood to make up for the medallion she had traded away to the Witch.

So why was she giving it to him?

"Why are you giving this to me?" Hiccup asked.

Merida gave a short laugh, and now that he listened, he could hear the anxiety in it. "Oh, come on, I need a reason to give my best—my friend a gift?" She wouldn't meet his eyes.

"You've been working on that pendant since the day I met you. It's your family's crest—"

"Aye!" Her blue eyes brightened up, as if she'd hit on a sudden inspiration. "My family's crest. And as long as ye have it, it's like ye're part of my family, ye ken? So as long as ye keep it, the Vikings and the Clans cannae go to war."

'That makes sense.' A part of Hiccup's mind filed that away as a sensible answer, as the two teens had been working for a peace between their people, to seemingly no avail – but Hiccup guessed that something else was off.

"Thank you… but, Merida, you could make another pendant. One for me, and one for—"

She made an impatient tsk noise. She stepped forward, so that her cloud of red hair threatened to engulf him, and put her arms around his neck. This was in and of itself an effective way of halting Hiccup's rational thought processes, but she was only closing the leather cord behind his neck.

"There." She rested her hands on his shoulders, a minute more than necessary. Her palms lay against the bare skin of his back, making him come out in goosebumps all over. And he could feel the tension in her archer's fingers, ready for – What? He desperately wanted to know, but she stepped back, letting him go. She gave him a small smile. "Now ye'll always have a way to look back, and… remember me."

She was hiding something, but he didn't know what to say to get her to share it. Part of it was because, after all, they still hadn't known each other that long; part of it was because he was still electrified from that touch. He reached out and took a lock of her hair in hand, pulling it over her shoulder, and said the first thing that came to mind. "I could never forget you."

She blushed. "Go on, then. To the castle. Toothless will be waitin' for ye."

"And what about you?"

"I've got Angus to worry about, haven't I?" She tossed her head. "I'll be along."

Hiccup turned and hurried out of the forest clearing, and the circle of mushrooms. He turned back and Merida was still standing in the clearing, her hair shining in the sunlight. He gave her a wave – 'Hurry up and find your horse!' – and she waved back.

Hiccup found Toothless, they flew back to the castle. The sun was completely set and the stars were out before Angus arrived at the castle gates. The massive horse's saddle was on, but he bore no rider. And that was when Hiccup knew something was wrong.