Hello all,

Thank you again for the lovely reviews, I truly appreciate them. Here is the next chapter

There was so many instances during this trip that Hiccup asked himself what he was doing? But he never once got a response, this was more crazy and stupid then fighting the Green Death! More than once he wanted to turn Toothless back and return her to where he found her, but by now her horse Angus would've been found and a search for her would have been called. He was careful to leave no trace of who took her after Toothless scared off the loyal horse. He also expected it to be harder to kidnap her, instead she came to him as though called.

She had certainly grown, and Hiccup found himself staring at her on the flight home. Her wild red hair was still just as wild. Her features had become more defined as she was now a young woman, her cheeks were still dusted with freckles. Hiccup remembered the last time he saw her, yes he had wanted her to find love and choose for herself who to marry. But he would be kidding himself if he tried to say he didn't want her to pick anyone else but him. 'Oh yeah she will definitely pick me now! Kidnapping is the new romantic way to get a girl.' Hiccup thought sarcastically and shook his head. If anything he expected marriage to Merida to be miserable now, she'd never forgive him for this.

As though sensing his rider's pain and uncertainty, Toothless made an uncertain growl as they flew. To reassure his friend, Hiccup reached down with his free hand and placed it on Toothless' neck. "It's okay bud."

It was enough to reassure his friend, but for Hiccup the words rang hallow, soon they would reach Berk. Stoic and Gobber both decided to tell the village what was going on so they could welcome the Princess more openly despite the circumstances. To sooth the shock the dragons were to be hidden away at first in case the princess was awake when they landed in Berk. While it had been rumoured King Fergus, Queen Elinor and their children were never shown or informed of the dragons for fear the royal highlanders would assume it a threat. When Stoic and Hiccup arrived for the competition for Merida's hand three years before they took the ships like everyone else. It was only later Lords Dingwall, Macintosh, and MacGuffin learned that the rumours were true about Berk's dragons during a visit. However they never confirmed the rumours to the King due to the circumstances. Namely a war was brewing and the last thing the lords wanted was to be fighting amongst themselves.

So as they arrived in Berk they were welcomed home by the village, and all understood the seriousness of the situation. Hiccup numbly slide off Toothless with the unconscious Princess Merida in his arms. Carrying her to their home, Gobber ushered the other villagers away. "Away wit' ye. Ye lot look like ye never seen a princess before. Git!"

Soon the princess was laid on the hard wooden bed that belonged to Hiccup in his room. Pulling the covers over her, he tried to make her as comfortable as possible. He came down stairs briefly to get a mug of water, and a plate of bread and apples. Setting them beside her bed, he finally came down stairs and sat before the fire. At the end of the flight, Hiccup felt like an old man and looked just like his father in that moment as he leaned forward and poked the fire with the fire poker. For Stoic's part he had followed his son home and now watched him, despite the situation he had to smile. Though Hiccup would always be a 'scrawny' Viking in Viking terms, Stoic kept seeing more of himself in his son everyday. The most prominent trait was Hiccup's stubborn streak, once Hiccup decided something nothing short of an army would stop him. Finally Stoic felt the need to check yet again with his son and cleared his throat. "Hiccup? Son?"

Hiccup stopped poking the fire and looked up to his father. "Are you sure son?"

"If it will stop the war, then yeah dad I'm sure. I can't let anyone get hurt because I refuse to do something that can prevent it." Stoic could only nod, over the last couple of years and after the Green Death, Stoic now listened to his son and had gotten used to asking for his opinion. He began to turn away to go to bed.

"Dad?" Hearing his son call him, Stoic turned back and could see his son struggling with something.

"Son if you don't want to do this, you can say so. I'll take her back tomorrow and apologise to her family."

"No dad, that's not what I was going to ask. I know the war is close, but before I marry her. I need time. I-we accepted the new terms that she would choose, that she would marry for love. I know it is..." Hiccup trailed off as he searched for a word.

"Unlikely?" Stoic offered causing his son to smirk.

"I was aiming more towards impossible, but I have to try and win her heart before her hand." Hiccup said during this he had gotten up and came to stand before his father.

"Hiccup I said that I would not force you into this, if time with her is what you need then time is what you will get. If in the end you decide not to go through with marrying her for whatever reason then no matter what I will support your choice."

"Thanks dad, just give me a month to try to do this right. After that whether I've won her heart or not we will marry." Hiccup said he still looked so lost, and Stoic put a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax son, you've tamed dragons. I know you can win this princess' heart."

"Right because the girl's are just lining up to get at all this." Hiccup replied sarcastically as he gestured to himself.

"You just gestured to all of yourself son, and you haven't noticed how all the girl's in the village have grown upset that you will wed a Scottish Princess not any of them; have you?" The dumbfounded look on Hiccup's face made Stoic laugh. "Odin help us, my son doesn't seem to remember he's the trainer of dragons and slayer of the Green Death. Nor does he realise how many girl's in this village would give their left foot to bear him sons."

"Dad I lost a left foot if you recall." Hiccup dead panned.

"The point is son, that even though it seems hopeless I know you will win her heart." Bidding his son goodnight Stoic went to his own room leaving Hiccup to think. Because his bed was in use and he wanted to be respectful, Hiccup ended up sleeping on the floor downstairs while Toothless went to his usual bed spot across from Hiccup's bed.

It was the screams and cries of battle, that and her Aunt's arms around her that she first noticed. Her Aunt was holding her so tight, Merida could barely breathe. Then the strong arms disappeared as Merida was put under a market stall table. "Stay here lass!"

"Nae Auntie donnae leave me!"Merida cried as tears slid down her face. She didn't want to be alone. She wanted her Auntie to take her away from this place, back to her father and mother. All around her she saw the battle rage men cut down like animals, women and children screaming and crying. Swords clanging as they collided and the whistle of arrows as they sailed towards their targets.

"Al' come back A promise, now stay!"Her Aunt moved from the table and drew a sword as young Merida covered her ears to drowned out the harsh noises and screams.

Then her Aunt was amidst the battle with sword in hand. A fiery angel with the same trademark red hair flowing wildly as she cut down a man twice her size. Auntie Freya was her name, and she was Merida's idle. Merida peeked out and watched her brave aunt battle them, no one saw her watching the conflict. Then a large burly man came up behind her aunt. "Auntie watch out!" Merida had screamed, but it was too late the great big brute hit her aunt hard. Aunt Freya slumped to the ground, and Merida was too young too small to do anything. Always the evil bastard scooped her Aunt up and threw her over his shoulder before carrying her off into the smoky mist. "AUNTIE!" She would scream and cry and try to move but it felt like she was sewn in place, and forced to watch her Aunt be taken away.

Merida awoke with a gasp and sat up, blinking a few times she was used to the nightmare of how she lost her beloved Aunt. Not realising where she was she laid back down to recover from the frightening dream only to feel pain. Her shoulder throbbed as though someone had struck her in the shoulder with a war hammer. That was when she noticed it, the bed was not hers, it was a hard flat wooden bed that made her minor shoulder injury worse. Looking around she gasped softly not only was the bed not hers, but neither was the room she was in. Almost immediately her memories came flooding back, she had followed the wisps into the woods, met Hiccup the son of Stoic the Vast of the Berk Viking clan, and... HE HAD DRUGGED HER!

Again she sat up and was terrified, her shoulder hurt the most but her entire body ached. She was not used to Viking beds of wood, but did her body ache for a wholly different reason? Did that Viking dishonour her by taking her to bed before her wedding night? 'Calm down Merida!' She thought to herself and looked around. Her clothes were still on, Hiccup was not in the bed with her which meant she was still a maiden. Breathing a sigh of relief she carefully got up. Unfortunately her weapons were not on her leaving her defenceless. Biting her lip she carefully moved trying to avoid making any noise. She had not moved far when something moved out of the corner of her eye, that was when she saw it a large black dragon asleep on a large block. She bit down on her bottom lip to retain the scream that formed in her throat.

Knowing the beast could wake at any moment she looked around and found a window above the bed. Carefully she moved towards it and tried to quietly open the shudders which squeaked a little. The black dragon made a soft purring noise as it stirred but continued to sleep. Climbing up into the window she froze as Hiccup's voice called up. "Hey Toothless you ready for your morning flight?"

As the dragon stirred some more Merida knew it was now or never and launched out the window. Immediately she almost slipped as her feet had not expected to meet ice and snow. Reaching back she gripped the window sill for support as her feet found footing. As she looked over the edge of the roof she saw the ground blanketed in snow and prepared to jump when an ear piercing roar from the dragon in the room made her jump and mistime her jump. Instead she fell into the snow wrong as the cold hit her still pained shoulder she winced. Sitting up she could hear Hiccup rushing upstairs. "What's wrong bud?"

There was no time to worry over her shoulder she had to get away from this place. Standing quickly she again nearly screamed as she saw where she was: Berk, The Viking clans home! 'No, No, NO This couldn't be happening!' She thought then turned and fled towards the woods away from people. Her mind wheeled as she ran, she saw dragons of every kind mixed amongst the people. How could she forget the rumour that they could command dragons, just as the reports had claimed Alvin the Treacherous controlled dragons! 'Oh no! They must be allies, why else would they kidnap me?! I have got to get away and warn my father!' She thought desperately as she ran. She ran until her lunges burned and her legs wanted to give out then stopped and leaned against a nearby tree to catch her breathe.

Merida had only been resting but a few minutes when she heard others approach. "Wow okay I can't believe you lost the princess."

The voice made Merida duck down in the brush. "Thank you Snotlout." Hiccup's voice groaned.

"So tell us again how she escaped? Cuz you like didn't tie her up or something."

"Guys just help me find her before she freezes to death out here." Hiccup replied already regretting asking for their help as they moved past the bush Merida was hidden in. Why weren't they flying? They were on their dragons, but on the ground. Then she winced the black dragon was sniffing her out, and had started to turn when it lost her scent. She had little time before they would find her, so she stood grabbed onto the lowest tree branch and yanked on it as hard as she could until it snapped. Now with a tree branch for a weapon she turned to face the three boys and their dragons. Correction as they fully turned one of them rode a two headed dragon, and the other rider was a girl, but an obvious twin. The other boy rode a red dragon with long horns and was the typical muscle bound Viking type. Hiccup was atop the black dragon as they soon spotted her holding the branch like a weapon ready to defend herself. She schooled her face as they drew closer to her remembering that 'a princess does not show fear.' Besides she was too angry at being kidnapped and brought here as she glared daggers at Hiccup.

Soon Hiccup slid off Toothless, and tried to come a bit closer to her. "Princess, it's alright no one is going to hurt you. Please drop the branch."

"Hurt me?! I'm gonna hurt ye fer bringin me here!" Merida growled as she took a swing at Hiccup, whom barely ducked and dodged each swing. The black dragon began to growl and was ready to attack but in between swings Hiccup called out. "No Toothless!"

A quick glance told Hiccup his other Viking friends found it all amusing as they held back giggles. "Guys a little help." He called.

"Step back and let me show you how a real Viking handles a girl." The muscular Viking hopped off his dragon, and strolled up. But as he went to grab for Merida she dodged and swung knocking Snotlout to the ground where he groaned.

"Apparently the Snotlout way is to get beaten up by the girl." The male twin laughed, then looked to Hiccup."Hey Hiccup why do you always pick the girls that are tougher then you?"

Hiccup groaned as Merida refocused her attacks on him, dodging each strike he soon found the opening he needed and caught hold of the branch. However when she tried to yank it from from him it pitched him forward and the pair landed together in the snow. For a moment Hiccup was on top of her and mere inches away from her face. Hiccup felt he could stare into her eyes for hours if allowed, he wasn't even aware that his hand had brushed her cheek and she seemed to go red at his touch. Without thinking he started to lean forward to kiss her, and that was when the spell shattered. Merida's eyes widened in fright and she gave a cry as she struck him, it was enough to wake him from his daydream and wonder what he had been about to do. However it was not enough to knock him off of her. "Toothless."

Immediately the black dragon came to his side and Hiccup pulled some rope from his bag. Thus a struggle ensued with Hiccup fighting her to tie her hands together. When he finally did win the wrestling match, she screamed out a series of unladylike curses that would make full grown Vikings blush. How had this scrawny Viking gotten so strong in just three years?! Despite Merida's kicking, struggling, and screaming Hiccup was managing to restrain her. Yanked to her feet by her bound hands, Merida nearly cried out as a sharp pain sliced threw her shoulder. She hid the pain well, but before she could resist further, Hiccup had pulled her onto the black dragon now known as Toothless. Being bound in a Viking's arms while on top a vicious dragon only made her struggle more until Hiccup had enough.

"Toothless up." With that the dragon shot into the air and was soon very high. The dizzying height had Merida grab onto Hiccup's shirt and leather vest as she pressed tightly to him afraid of the sheer drop. "Alright how about now? Still want me to let you go?!"

She didn't mind heights heck she climbed up to the fire falls, but this?! Shivering both from fear and the icy needles of the air, Merida was a brave girl; but it seemed this was too much. Vikings, Dragons, being kidnapped by both she squeezed her eyes shut to keep from crying. Seeing the princess frightened and curled up against him, Hiccup's earlier agitation evaporated. Both he and Toothless would've fought like wild-cats too if in the Princess' shoes. Brushing her wild red hair out of her face, he felt her flinch away from his touch. He needed to reassure her so he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Don't be afraid nothing bad will happen to you. I'm sorry for scaring you, but you shouldn't have run away like that. You could easily freeze to death in those clothes, not to mention some dragons are not used to outsiders."

Merida kept her eyes tightly closed, she wanted to argue with Hiccup about what people should and should not do. However she certainly did not want to argue on the back of a dragon so high up in the air. When he was certain he would get no response from her he sighed and steered Toothless towards home. Next priority get the princess to a warm dry place to get her warm and dry. Have her eat and get her some better clothes. Finally try to get her to understand, and Thor help him get her to fall in love with him. Thus far he was doing a horrible job.

Author's Note:

Alright I wanted to just point out that a lot of what I write I try to stick true to how the characters are, I try very hard not to stray. If I can't imagine Hiccup or Merida saying something or doing something I avoid it because I don't want to go too far off track. However it is years later and both have grown so there are subtle changes in their attitudes. Namely Hiccup comes across as more determined more stubborn, otherwise I could not see him kidnapping Merida for the story.

So for anyone thinking: 'Wait a minute that's not Hiccup!' I'm sorry. I also try to hold true to how I think Merida would act as well as their families. So I hope nobody is upset with the way I have portrayed the beloved characters. Also in later chapter you will come to understand why Merida dreamt of her Aunt and what happened there.

Also yes I went by book and called the dragon he defeated the Green death, I know some call him the red death but I went with Green even though it doesn't sound as impressive, red sounds better.

Anyway feel free to review and I hope you enjoyed the third instalment.