"Is she..."

"She's alive, just heavily sedated."

"Why'd they do it? I mean, couldn't they have just as easily carried her out without the drugs? Sure, she'd struggle a bit, but at least..."

"Why does the Capitol do anything that they do? For power. They have to be in control. They don't want all of District 10 seeing this tribute put up a fight. They want things to go as smoothly as possible. Little miss hot-head over here would have attracted too much attention. Remember, it's not supposed to be about you. It's about the Games."

Merida lets out a weak groan and flexes her fingers. She can feel them twitch but its not much more than that.

"Looks like she's awake."

The voice is unfamiliar to Merida. A woman, no doubt, but there's a roughness in her tone.

"I don't think I should be here."

Hiccup?

Merida struggles to open her eyes. They flutter a few times before she makes any progress. A small slit in her eyelids lets light in, for what feels like the first time in years. It gives her a headache, but she ignores it.

"Relax, she's not allowed to kill you... Yet."

When Merida finally gets her eyes open, everything is fuzzy. She blinks away the haze and tries to focus on the two figures looming at the end of what feels like a bed. Hiccup is easy to distinguish; his lanky frame fidgets uneasily. But the woman is a mystery to her.

"Merida?" Hiccup's voice cracks as he ventures into a one sided conversation.

No shit. Who else would it be?

She tenses up the muscles in her arms and then her legs. They feel odd, and still a bit numb. Merida flips her tongue around behind her teeth. It feels strong enough to speak again.

"D-dad?" She chokes out. "M-y dad..."

"He's alright." Only it's not Hiccup who replies. It's the stranger. "They all are...your family I mean."

A wave of relief washes over her.

So they're safe...

That's all she can bring herself to care about. As long as her family is ok, she can breathe peacefully.

Her vision starts to clear. The woman becomes less of a blur and starts to take shape. She has thick, black hair that falls in waves past her shoulders. Her skin is a brownish color that seems to match her eyes.

"Who...?"

"I'm Esmeralda, your mentor." The question hasn't even tumbled out of Merida's mouth when the woman responds. "I assume you already know Hiccup here?" Merida blinks again and passes him a quick glance.

"No, not really," she admits, trying to sit upright. Her arms wobble, but she manages to fix herself into a comfortable position, leaning against the back board of her bed.

"Ah, I see." The woman merely nods and runs her fingers through her hair. "Well, you've got a few hours to kill before the train stops. I guess, use it wisely. I might suggest eating, but if you want to just sit around and uh," she flickers her eyes between Hiccup and Merida, "get comfortable, then by all means..." She shrugs turning to walk through a sliding door on her right and then she's gone.

Merida looks at Hiccup and narrows her eyes.

"Train? What was she talking about, a train?"

Hiccup shifts his weight awkwardly and clears his throat.

"The guards sedated you after the whole...well you know..." He clears his throat again. It seems unnecessary to Merida but she nods slowly. "We're on our way to the Capitol now, to do...uh tribute stuff I guess." Merida rolls her eyes.

Great. He has no clue what's going on either.

Hiccup folds his arms. It doesn't look like a comfortable position from where she sits.

"This all feels so unreal. Like a dream or something..."

"More like a nightmare," Merida mumbles and shifts her gaze to the floor beside her bed.

Only it's not a nightmare. This is all very real.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right."

There's an awkward silence in the space between them, so strong it's almost palpable. Merida sighs and chews on her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry that you got pulled into this." It's not something that she expects to hear, so it catches her off guard. Typically witty Merida is at a loss for words.

"I- what?"

Hiccup scratches his head and sits on the end of her bed, keeping his back to her.

"You have a family, and friends who love you."

Merida scoffs.

"I haven't got any friends," she mutters under her breath. She ignores the bit about her family. "And what about you?" She leans forward and brings her legs up, so that she can cross them and place her hands in her lap. It takes a good amount of effort. "I've seen you in the stables with your friends. And you've got your dad..."

"They're not my friends," he sighs. She knows he isn't looking for pity. He's just being truthful. "And my dad hasn't been around much since my mom died. He wasn't even at the reaping."

Merida becomes a bit uncomfortable. She doesn't feel like she knows him enough to be hearing so much about his personal life.

But I guess when you're forced to fight to the death with someone you might as well learn a bit about them first. It only seems fair.

"That's, erm, unfortunate." It's all that Merida can think to say. She racks her brain for something, anything to make things less awkward but nothing comes to mind. Thankfully, he speaks up.

"No, not really. I mean, better me in this position than someone with a bright future ahead of them. I'm a stable boy, and that's all I'd ever be. At least now..." He turns his head. He still isn't looking at her but at least she can see his face. "...now I can die for something."

"This doesn't feeling like something worth dying for," Merida says, looking at him with sad eyes.

Hiccup shrugs. "It's more than I'm living for."

They are silent again. It's less uncomfortable this time. Merida twiddles her thumbs, still trying to recover from the numbness.

"Why do you hang around them?" She asks as suddenly as the thought appears. "You know, those people you said weren't your friends."

Hiccup chuckles a bit and shakes his head.

"I don't. I have a horse at that barn where they like to hang out." He finally turns to face her. "His name is Toothless."

Merida gives him a quizzical look.

"Toothless?"

He nods.

"What sort of name is that for a horse?" She smiles a little; the first genuine smile she's given since almost a week before the reaping. Hiccup returns her smile by swiveling his body and crossing his legs on the bed so that he is mimicking Merida's posture.

"My kind of name," he says matter-of-factly. Merida wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "Your horses name can't be any better."

"Angus," she retorts with a smirk.

Hiccup rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

"You think that's a good name?"

"Better than Toothless!"

The hours slip by quickly as the two of them sit and talk, making jokes and laughing as though it were any normal day in District 10. They talk about their horses and their families. Merida learns about Hiccup's mother and how she died in a wave of illness only three years before. She tells him about her brothers and about their distinguishable personalities. They talk about mundane things like their favorite kind of riding weather. Hiccup goes as far to ask how she manages to control her wild hair.

Merida actually starts to like the kid. He reminds her of a mix between her brothers. Hamish's honesty, Harris's modesty, and Hubert's sense of humor. It actually breaks her heart a little to know that in a few day, they'll be at each other's throats, fighting for their lives.

Author's Notes:

YAY! Hiccup! I've been looking forward to writing him since the beginning. I really wanted to push the fact that she loves him like a brother for all of you expectant Merricupp shippers. ((Whoops sorry xD ))

I'm also personally excited to have Esmeralda as their mentor. I was looking all over for a good quality man but she seemed like a better fit. And yes, I made Toothless a horse. I needed an excuse to have them bond over something.

Im also very excited to dive into the other tributes in the coming chapters! ((Most of them are OCs though))