Deja Vu

Merida and Hiccup were walking back to the hut with Toothless walking ahead of them. "He's amazing by the way." Merida said, "He reminds me of my horse Angus."

Hiccup smiled, "Yeah, he's great." Sensing they were talking about him Toothless moved next to Hiccup with a happy growl. "He also loves attention. He can be a little baby sometimes."

"Mommy!" They heard Fergus suddenly yell behind them. He was running towards them with a nadder right on his heels. "Help, help he's after me!" He jumped behind Merida and peeked from behind her legs.

Hiccup laughed as he stopped the nadder in her tracks. "Actually, Stormfly is a she and I'm sure she wasn't trying to hurt you. She's just very playful."

Fergus inched closer and looked away as he held out his hand for Stormfly. She took a sniff of his hand and rested her head on it. Hiccup stood speechless for a moment before brushing it off for now. "Let's get back to the hut, it's getting late."

The three of them went inside while Stormfly made herself comfortable outside. Fergus ran around the fire chasing Toothless in a fit of giggles. Hiccup smiled while Merida started up the stairs. "Fergus, it's time for bed."

Fergus stopped with a frown. "But I want to play with Toothless."

"He'll still be here in the morning, come on." He did as he was told and ran up the stairs. But he popped back downstairs and bowed his head to Hiccup. "Thank you for letting us stay here." he said quickly before running upstairs.

Hiccup laughed and sat down in front of the fire. He noticed Toothless start to go upstairs. "No, you are sleeping down here with me." Toothless whined but came back next to him and laid down. "Hiccup patted his head and said, "What do you find so interesting about those two?" Of course he didn't respond but Hiccup would love an answer. He couldn't keep his mind off Fergus and why the dragons seemed drawn to him.

But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a soft voice singing. Toothless was already ahead of him, creeping up the stairs. Hiccup quickly followed and peeked over the top of the staircase into his room. Fergus was tucked into the bed while Merida sat on the edge and sang to him the same lullaby her mother sang to her. Hiccup and Toothless watched in awe. Fergus slowly drifted to sleep and Merida kissed his forehead. Hiccup realized she was coming towards the stairs and ran back down to the fire.

He tried to seem natural sitting in front of the fire for warmth, leaning against Toothless. She sat down next to him and nudged his arm. :You're not as slick as you think you are." He laughed nervously and turned away.

They sat in silence for a minute till Hiccup breaks it. "You're really good with him."

"Thanks, but I bet you'll make a good dad one day."

Hiccup froze and turned away. Toothless whined and tried to snuggle up to him but he wasn't having it. Merida could have cut through the tension with her sword. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

Hiccup shook his head, "It's not your fault. Just...bad memories." He refused to look her in the eye.

She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We are about to become allies, maybe we should start by knowing a little about each other." She had the same soft smile she gave Fergus whenever he was sad and Hiccup found himself warming up to her.

He sighed, "My mom is the only family I have left." And that's all he said for a moment.

Merida leaned closer. "Well...you told me about your wife. And from your reaction...I assume you had a child…" Hiccup sucked in a breath and tensed up again. "And I won't ask more about that. But what happened to your father?"

"He risked his life for me." Merida scooted closer and looked at him with curious eyes. He let out a small chuckle. "It's a long story."

"I have all night."

So he proceeded to tell her the story of Drago Bloodfist and his plan to control all dragons and when he took control of Toothless to attack Hiccup. "And right as Toothless was about to fire, my father pushed me out of the way and took the blow. He saved me."

"That's what parents do, their child comes first." That seemed to hit Hiccup with a wave of depression again. But Merida acted quick. "I lost my father too." That got his attention. "Not in the same way you did but it was pretty sudden. He was full of energy to the very end."

Hiccup finally cracked a smile and let out a yawn. "It's been a pretty productive day if I say so myself. It's not often I get to talk so much with royalty." He stood and held out his hand to help Merida up. Even though she felt slightly offended she took it to be polite.

She started up the stairs but stopped half way to look at Hiccup. "Thank you...for everything. And for what it's worth, with this alliance you can consider us your family too."

Hiccup just nodded and she continued upstairs. He slowly rested against Toothless and just stared into the fire till finally falling asleep.

The next morning Hiccup and Valka showed Merida around the village. Hiccup explained all the perches and the dragon sanctuaries. Though she seemed more interested in the dragons playing with the children and flying with their riders. Valka was able to get her attention back, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and led the way to the armory. Gobber stood outside waiting for them. When he saw Merida he bowed his head. "Your Highness."

Merida laughed and put two fingers under his chin, gently lifting his head. "That's not necessary, and you can call me Merida." Gobber laughed nervously and opened the door. The room was full of dozens of axes, swords and maces. But Merida was more interested in the bows hanging on the walls.

"All of our weapons are made by Gobber and myself using Gronkle iron." Hiccup said but Merida wasn't paying attention, she was busy moving to the wall holding all the bows, one in particular. It was a shiny oak with carvings of dragons winding around it. Hiccup had stopped talking when he noticed and came up behind her, looking over her shoulder. "What are you staring at?"

She smiled and touched the bow. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks," Hiccup said, Merida whipped around.

"You made this?"

He nodded and took it off the wall, handing it to her. "You can have it, consider it a gift to celebrate our alliance." Merida smiled and took the bow, throwing it over her shoulder. "Think you can focus now?" she laughed and nodded.

They finished up in the armory and moved to the food vault. As they entered Merida stared in awe at the two monstrous nightmares keeping guard. Hiccup showed her how all of it was stored and the giant ice black in the center to keep it cool and preserved twenty four seven. "We're less than half our produce quota." Merida nodded., though she seemed a little bored.

When they left the three young lords ran up to Merida in a panic. "What's wrong?" Merida asked.

"We can't find Fergus." Ian said breathlessly.

Merida's eyes widened. "What?! What happened?"

"He was playing with a few dragons and I turned away for just a moment. When I looked back he was gone." Adair said nervously.

She stared at him for a moment before jumping at him. He stumbled back as the others held her back. "You lost my son?!" Hiccup helped them and pulled her back.

"Don't worry, dragons are great trackers. Toothless and I will find him in no time, I promise." Hiccup left no time to agree and hopped on Toothless and took off.

They flew over the forest and Hiccup kept an eye out below. Toothless took a whiff and nose dived into the trees. When they landed Hiccup jumped off and looked around. "Where do you think he is Bud...Bud?" He turned back to Toothless but he was already running in the other direction. "Toothless!" He yelled as he chased after him.

When he caught up Toothless was looking down into the clearing where they met. "Did you find him?" He kneeled down and saw Fergus running around in a fit of giggles. Hiccup shook his head with a smile. "Let's go get him." Toothless hopped down with Hiccup following. Hiccup was about to call his name when he realized what Fergus was playing with. Fergus held a dirt stained stuffed dragon over his head, pretending to be flying...his stuffed dragon. He stood quietly for a moment just observing Fergus for a moment. He picked up more on Fergus' coarse hair and his lightly freckled face. His skin was a little darker than his mothers and instead of blue eyes, his were a dark green. Just like Hiccup's.

Fergus continued to run around the clearing till he turned to see Hiccup and jumped back. "What are you doing here?"

Hiccup was still trying to process his thoughts. "Um...your mother...was worried. You really shouldn't run off in a new place."

Fergus bowed his head and frowned. "I know...but I like exploring."

"Sounds like someone I know." Hiccup said with a sad smile. Fergus started towards the edge of the clearing to climb back up. "Fergus," he turned back to see Hiccup on Toothless, patting the space behind him. "Wouldn't you rather fly?"

Fergus smiled from ear to ear and jumped on without a second thought. Once Fergus was on Toothless he took off above the clouds. As they got higher Fergus squealed in delight and looked over Berk. "Everyone looks like little ants." Fergus said.

"I thought the same thing the first time. Now hold on tight, we're about to go down." Fergus hugged Hiccup tighter. And Hiccup felt this strange warmth when Fergus seemed to put his trust in him.

A few minutes later they landed outside his hut where Merida came running out. The second Fergus hit the ground she scooped him up and held him tight. "Don't you ever run off again." She let out a small "thank you" to Hiccup before running inside with Fergus. Hiccup watched with a sad smile as she showered Fergus with kisses and he tried to push her away.

This couldn't be coincidence; Fergus looks like him, he has Hiccup's old toy and Merida said she found Fergus' mother dead. 'I have to talk to her.' He and Toothless went in right as Fergus ran back out with a terrible terror close behind.

"Stay close to the lords!" she called out from the doorway. "I swear I don't know where he stores all that energy." she said before going back inside.

Hiccup and Toothless followed behind her and closed the door. "Merida?" she turned back to him with a curious smile. "Can you sit down? I need to talk to you."

Merida sat down in front of the fire and Hiccup joined her. He fidgeted nervously before taking a deep breath. "Can you tell me more about when you found Fergus?"

Her nose scrunched up in confusion. "Why?"

"Just a little curious." he said nervously. "You didn't say much about the mom. What happened to her?"

She cocked a brow. "She. Died. I don't know anything else."

"Well, what was she wearing? Maybe you could have figured out where she was from or who her husband was."

"I wasn't really thinking about that, I found Fergus after I covered her with my cloak." Merida seemed slightly annoyed.

'Another thing to add to the list.' He thought.

"Though...I could tell she was a viking by her clothes." Hiccup moved a little closer but Merida leaned away.

"What color was her hair…"

Merida was a little scared to answer and looked around the room nervously. "She was blonde."

Hiccup sat back and looked away. "...what did Fergus look like when you found him?"

She straightened up. "I don't get it but if you have to know I found him a bit pale, he had a little dirt on his face and he was wrapped-"

"In a bear skin blanket." Merida stared in shack. Hiccup got up and opened a chest in the corner, taking out the one thing he kept of Fergus and Astrid. He handed a small painting to her of Astrid holding Fergus.

Merida's eyes widened, Astrid held Fergus wrapped in the same bear skin blanket, smiling. "That's Fergus...and that's-"

"My wife…" Hiccup said. Merida couldn't take her eyes off the picture, shaking her head in disbelief. "And that is my son...Eirik."