Return to Berk

Merida reached Berk within an hour and a half. She flew across the ocean as she made her way to Hiccup's home. She dropped down to just a few meters above the waves as she got nearer to the cliff face that Hiccup's mansion was perched on. She slowed the Zippleback down as the rock face suddenly split apart to reveal a hangar. A platform extended out and she hovered above it before she set the Zippleback down on it.

The circular platform rotated as it retracted back into the cliff side. She waited until they were fully inside the base before unbuckling herself and standing up. The hangar door opened as she walked towards it. She walked out of the Zippleback with Toothless and Orthrus in tow.

Eve, Fury's systems AI, and head security drone for the base greeted her with a salute.

"Hello Eve," Merida said with a friendly smile. Eve eyes changed to resemble a smiling expression, until they widened as she noticed Orthrus. "Eve, this is Orthrus. She's going to be living here now. You are to take care of her just like you do Toothless," Merida commanded. Eve nodded in understanding.

With a smile Merida walked passed Eve, giving her head a light pat in appreciation as she made her way through the base. Toothless and Orthrus followed her as she made her way up the base until she came to the main platform that took them up to the mansion.

Once inside she made her way up the stairs to Hiccup's room. The couple weren't living together. She still had her own home in Corona City. And they mainly worked at different offices even after the merger. But they both didn't mind. As Archer she still had a responsibility to protect Corona City. So the team divided their times together and separately as best they could.

But she loved coming to Hiccup's home. She entered Hiccup's room and began stripping out of her Archer outfit. Toothless, still in his giant form, climbed onto the bed before settling down on the blankets. Orthrus was about to join him when he growled at her. She whined and drooped her ears at his hostility.

"Toothless, you be nice to the poor lass or you don't get to sleep in here anymore," Merida warned the wolf dog. Toothless immediately ceased his growling. He remained silent, but not pleased, as Orthrus climbed onto the bed as well. With a satisfied smile Merida went into the bathroom to get in a shower.

At Berk's airport, the plane coming from Poland was just arriving. The plane touched down before pulling to a stop and making its way to let the passengers off. The ground workers began making their way to unload luggage.

While they did, the plane's stowaway peeked outside. She smiled, glad to have timed her arrival just right. The sun had already set. She leapt gracefully out of the planes wheel well before landing on her feet without a scratch. She smiled as she stretched her arms above her head. It felt good to be back in Berk.

"Hey, who are you?" suddenly came a gruff voice behind her. She sighed a little, forgetting she was supposed to remains unseen. A ground worker began coming up to her to demand to know who she was and why she was in a restricted area when she whirled around. The man froze as she gazed into his eyes with an intense glare. His mind became clouded as he went stiff.

"You didn't see me," she said smoothly. "Understand? I was never here." The man nodded. "Good. Now turn around and get back to work," she commanded. The man nodded before he obeyed. The woman smiled. The guys were going to flip when they saw how good she'd become at compulsion.

The man turned around before his mind cleared. He shook his head in confusion before he turned around. He saw no one there. He furrowed his brows. He could've sworn… With a shrug he got back to work.

Merida emerged from her shower feeling very refreshed. She towel dried her hair before making her way to sit on the bed. She looked to Orthrus and Toothless to find the wolf dog had changed back to normal. He was napping at the moment, as was the hell hound.

Merida smiled as she went to Hiccups drawers. She had one for herself, so she slipped on some underwear before grabbing one of Hiccup's tees. She slipped it on before slipping on a pair of sweat pants.

Comfortable and content, she gave a happy sigh as she made her way over to the bed to take a nap.

In Berk, everything was going normal. People walked about their business, headed to clubs or whatever party plans they had for the night.

"HEY STOP!" a woman yelled as a man just snatched her purse and darted off. "Somebody help, he's got my purse," she shouted. A Good Samaritan heard her shout and took off after the fleeing thief. The thief growled in annoyance as he put on more speed.

But his pursuer was stubborn. He kept on the man's tail before the thief suddenly ducked into an alley. The other man stopped as he contemplated the risk of going into the pitch black alley after him. Until suddenly he heard the sounds of a struggle. He heard the thief cry out as he heard what sounded like blows.

And then suddenly the thief came flying out of the alley. He landed on his back and groaned before he blacked out.

The other man looked into the alley with wide eyes as the woman came to stand beside him. Then suddenly, the woman's pure emerged from the darkness. And it was just floating in midair. There looked to be some kind of purple mist around it as it drifted lazily through the air before stopping right in front of them.

The woman remained motionless before she slowly reach out and grabbed her purse.

"Thank you?" the man said unsure. Not knowing who or what he was thanking.

"You're welcome," came a voice form the darkness. The two of them remained motionless as they exchanged a bewildered glance. Then the woman blushed and smiled shyly at the brave man. He smiled back as he pulled out his phone to call the authorities.

On the edge of the cliff face the young woman stood. She looked at the rock wall that was the secret entrance to the base. She forgot where exactly the hidden door was. So she opted for another approach.

"Eve, open this door. Command authority M-003," she said aloud. She only had to wait a moment before the whir of rotors and gears were heard and the rocks split apart to reveal a secret entryway. She smiled. Glad to see Hiccup hadn't erased her clearance.

As she came inside the base she was greeted by Eve. Eve saluted her. The woman smiled, glad to see the familiar robot once again.

"Hey Eve, long time," she said warmly. Eve nodded. "Where are Hiccup and Jack?" she asked.

"Not present," Eve informed her.

"Do you know when they'll be back?"

"Unknown."

The woman sighed. But she guessed she could wait for them. After all, with the Cove gone they'd likely come here. She wondered what exactly happened to the Cove. It had been collapsed, indicating the Migration Protocol had been followed.

"Alright. I'm heading upstairs Eve. And don't tell the guys I'm back. I want it to be a surprise," she commanded. Eve nodded. With that the woman walked passed her to head up to her old room.

Eve cocked her head as she interpreted her orders. When she meant 'the guys' did she mean just Hiccup and Jack or the entire team? She contemplated telling Archer, but waved it off since the old teammate didn't register as an enemy.

The woman walked through the hall of the mansion silently. She made her way to her old room. She gripped the handle before she gently opened it. She smiled, glad to see it hadn't been changed. Inspecting it more closely, she saw that Hiccup must have kept it clean as there was no dust. Shutting the door behind her she flopped down on her bed with a sigh.

Toothless was sleeping peacefully before his ears perked up at the sound of someone in the halls. He stood up before climbing down off the bed and opening the door. He sniffed the air and his tail started to wag as he caught the scent of an old friend.

He followed the scent to her room and made his way inside. The woman heard him enter and turned her head to look at him. Her blue eyes met his green and she smiled.

"Hey Toothless. Hey boy," she said happily. Toothless barked happily before he came to jump up on her bed. The woman laughed as she scratched and stroked the wolf dog. She was glad to see him.

She'd missed him. Just as much as she missed her friends. She hoped they'd get back soon.

Merida woke up a few hours later feeling hungry. She sat up and looked to see Orthrus still asleep. She decided to leave her be as she got up. She grabbed her bow and a quiver of arrows, decided to do a bit of target practice after. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen.

She placed her bow down on the counter as she opened up the fridge to decide what she wanted to eat. She settled on a frozen pizza. She began unwrapping it and looked for a pan to set it on.

And as she did. She didn't hear the silent houseguest enter the kitchen. The woman raised an eyebrow in surprise, wondering who this strange red head was. She moved silently. Picking up an apple off the counter top bowl before she sat down at the table and eyed her.

She seemed pretty comfortable here. And…was that one of Hiccup's tee shirts? She watched and remained silent as the red head popped a pizza into the oven. Then she began looking through various drawers for what she assumed was the pizza cutter.

"Third drawer on the left," the woman said automatically.

"Thanks," Merida replied without thinking. She opened said drawer and pulled out the pizza cutter with a smile. But then she paused and stiffened. That wasn't Rapunzel. She whirled around to see a strange woman sitting at the table.

The woman was dressed entirely in black save for her red shoes. She wore a short leather jacket with black fingerless gloves. Under her jacket was a black turtleneck dress that extend down past her waist and over black and red striped legging. She had pale skin, black hair that ran down to her shoulder with bangs, and blue eyes. She also had on black lipstick with dark eye shadow.

Merida opened her mouth to demand an explanation when the woman beat her to it.

"Who are you?" she asked curiously. "Are you a thief?" she asked cocking her head to the side.

"Who am I? Who the hell are you lassie? And how did you get in here?" Merida demanded.

"Through the doorway, same as you," the woman said as she jerked a thumb to the kitchen entrance. Merida narrowed her eyes at her attitude. She eyed the bow on the counter in front of her.

"Alright lass. You have five seconds to tell me who you are. Or this will get bad," Merida warned as she inched closer to the counter.

The woman sat there, looking unafraid. "I don't take threats well," she said narrowing her eyes. But with a sigh she set the apple down and stood up. She looked at the ground and took a breath before looking up to smile.

"Anyway, the name is Ma—HOLY RABIES!" the woman yelped as she threw her arms up as Merida snatched up her bow and drew an arrow.

"I suggest you start talking lass."

They meet. Feel free to review and tell me what you think.