Hello! As some of you may know, I updated this then deleted the chapter an hour afterwards because, well, it was pretty bad. So I went back to the drawing board, and though not much has changed, I added in little bits here and there. So if you've already read this when I updated it before, then no, I wouldn't bother reading it again (unless you want to look at the new bits) And if you haven't read this... well, I hope you like it! I really really do! So nervous about posting...*gulps* (And if you don't please don't just say you don't. I'd really like it if you told me WHY you don't. I appreciated the review I got recently, that said it was a tiny bit rushed, because it really helped! Thanks and sorry for my endless moaning)

Merida's POV

Camicazi begins to drag me along, but I grind my feet into the ground. "Cami," I hiss, "Cami, stop. We need to think.

"He's in there, Merida! Our Hiccup! What is there to think about!? He could be injured!" She shakes her head and pulls even harder. "Hurry!"

"We need to find my Dad," I say. "That's the top priority, right? We can come back for Hiccup later."

She stops at that. "LATER?" She laughs, incredulous. "What's got into you?"

"If what you say is true, and there is a dragon on the island... Well, we need to get to the others first. You know this."

"I don't!" She says in disbelief, "we've found him, Merida! Get that into your head!"

"I have. And I want to look in there just as much as you do. But my Dad is in danger, Cami. I need to find him. Lets just see the lay of the beach. Maybe we'll be able to see the plane crash from here."

"Or maybe they'll be mountains," She says spitefully, "And you'll freeze!"

"We can always hope." I say, "now, come on!"

"I don't take orders," she grunts. "I'm going to just sit here in the sand, thank you very much. And then I'm going to go into that ship the second you and your ridiculous hair is out of sight."

My mouth drops open slightly. "MY ridiculous hair?!"

She nods firmly, then gives a little mocking wave. "See you soon!"

I smile through gritted teeth. "See you too!"

She makes herself comfy on the sand as I walk away. There is a moment that I think she is going to follow me, but instead she just gets up to inspect a close by shell. When she sees me looking, she shouts, "Scared of the wild, are you?!"

I bite my lip and walk a little faster.

The beach curves around the islands waist like a belt. The sea grows ever closer, lapping on the sand. The rhythm of the waves sounds less soothing the further I go. After an hour, it sounds like the thud of a drum.

I walk fast at first, but my legs soon tire. The slower pace makes me think of other times. Better times. Without Hiccup. Maybe that's why I don't want to go inside the ship. Maybe I don't want things to change more than they already have.

Maybe I'm lying to myself.

I imagine I'm walking by the sea side back in Scotland. I imagine that, to my left, is great billowing masses of amber coloured trees, swooning and swaying in the paling light. I imagine huge hills, filled with heather and feathered with stumps of grass, not tropical rainforest. I imagine the golden white sand underneath my toes is briny silver shingle, and that the sea is ice cold.

But it's all just images.

The sounds stop me from believing I'm back home too. A monkey screeches, the crickets sing. The opera of waves and wind moan together. Soon, my arms begin to get cold, like someone's stroking them with a wet cloth. The essence of a monsoon echoes.

It's after about five hours of walking that I give up. Who knows how the island looks from air? I could be walking for another two days without getting anywhere. And Cami is in more danger than my Father. The thought flares up in my mind, catching fire. Did she REALLY go back in the ship? What if she's been bitten by a snake? Or the dragon got her? Or-I sink to the ground. I was an idiot to leave her.

The sea matches my mood. I scramble forwards on my knees and trail my hand in the dusky water. It's silky and cool to the touch, but not comforting. A gust billows through the trees. A shiver whispers through me.

The waves suddenly get harder and more vicious. White froth begins to appear on the shore. I rush backwards, into the undergrowth. A crack of thunder above me, and clouds grow and clump together. My eyes widen as they soon turn dark blue with rain.

So sudden. The weather's been changing dramatically all day.

What's happening?

Then the wind starts again. It tugs on my shirt, and I gasp as it pushes me to the side. The sea starts moaning and leaping out of its bounds. Water starts trickling from the sky.

A storm. Another storm.

I need to get back to Cami.

Running was much easier when the sand was dry. Now, with the rain pounding like bullets, it's almost impossible to move, let alone sprint back to her. She MUSN'T go inside the tree coverage. What if something falls and hits her? What if I return to a dead body? My heart jumps a little in my chest.

Behind me, there's a cry of someone unknown beast, and a sickening thud. I crane my neck round just in time to see a bolt of lightning shoot from the clouds, a quivering ribbon of silver and pure power. I run faster. The sand gulps as my feet pick up pace.

And then a dot appears on the horizon. I let out a relieved breath when I see that the dot has a sopping wet mane of blonde attached to it's head.

"Cami! Cami!" I scream, flailing my arms, trying to attract her attention.

She spots me and waves. "What?" She shouts over the wind.

"The SHIP!" I yell, "Get into THE SHIP!"

"The WHAT?"

"The SHIP!"

"The SH*T?"

"No! The SHIP!" I sprint towards her. Within moments, I'm looking down at her expectant, yet permanently irritated face. "Don't you think we should go inside?"

"Nah. That's a stupid idea. The sand's safe."

Just as she finishes, another huge bolt of crackling energy shoots from the heavens with violent force, hitting the sand next to us and sending up bursts of sparks.

The ground around it bubbles almost. Doesn't water conduct electricity?

"Ok, maybe the ship is a better idea."

"Great!" I shout over the wind, "So, how do we get on?"

She looks at me under a cupped hand. "What?"

I lean in closer and yell in her ear, "HOW DO WE GET ON?"

"Oh, uh..." She scratches her head, "Umm."

"You did go on, didn't you?"

"Well..."
I nearly scream in exasperation. "You were here for a WHOLE DAY and you didn't even go on the ship?"

She bites her lip, "There's no way on!"

My hands ball into angry fists. Think.

"No way?"

"Parlay?" She gives me an eyebrow.

"NO WAY!" I yell, "IS THERE NO WAY?"

As soon as I finish, a huge bolt of lightning soars from the sky and crashes into the forest. A bang goes off, and instantly the trees burst into flames. I draw back. The forest is on fire. The forest is on fire.

"The forest is on fire," I gulp. "The forest is on fire."

Whatever cool breeze there was has gone. Roasting hot swathes of uncomfortable heat are carried by the wind up our sleeves, down our necks and backs. My face feels like it's burning. Within moments, the situation has gone from bad to awful. Now, not even the pathetic coverage of trees is available. Like it really was in the first place.

"DON'T WORRY!" Camicazi yells, "I'M AN ESCAPE ARTIST! I'LL GET US OUT OF THIS MESS! HOW ABOUT THE SEA?"

My mouth drops open. "HAVE YOU SEEN THE SEA?" I scream. She casts a woeful eye over the ocean. If you could even call it that. More like a frothing mass of crazy waves. She looks at me again.

"SOMETHING ELSE!"

I look back at the fallen vessel, for anything that might help. Mostly, it's just steel sides and unforgiving slopes. A few windows dot the ship's base, but if they could withstand the force of the wreck, our flailing hands and angry fists won't do anything that hasn't already been done. We'd need some other force to break through.

Following my gaze, Cami's eyes widen. "Fire," She says, under her breath. "FIRE! Merida! FIRE!"

"But how do we GET THE FIRE?"

She scans the horizon. Then she scans me. And then she scans the horizon again.

"You don't have a knife?"

"No."

"A bun?"

"Why would a bun help?"

"I said GUN!"

"Why the hell would I have a gun?"

"NO! I'm NOT having fun!"

There's a horrid cracking sound behind us, and we both turn just in time to see a flaming tree fall to the ground. It makes a gurgle as the fire dies on the sand, and then it's only a lump of smoking black charcoal.

"Something POINTY..."

"Something SHARP..."

"BEAR PAWS!" Camicazi yelps.

"BEAR PAWS?"
"BEAR CLAWS! WE COULD USE THE BEAR CLAWS!"

"Only one problem!" I shout, "They're in the forest! The flaming FOREST!"

She flexes her fingers. "Nothing I can't handle!"

"You WOULDN'T."

She smiles. Put's a hand on my shoulder. Leans in closer, so we're eye to eye. My stomach twists, wondering what she's going to say.

"Don't follow."

She doesn't say it loudly, but I can hear it clear and strong. The wind seems to still for a minute. The world stops spinning. It's just me, and her, trying to figure it out. Contemplating. Predicting. The eye inside the storm.

And then, she let's go of my shoulder and darts into the flames.

I can't stop her. I can't save her. It's her own choice. It's our only hope.

She's going to go and get the bear claws so we can break through into the ship.

Following wouldn't be brave, it would be stupid. And pointless. But that doesn't make me feel any less guilty.

It doesn't lessen the pain when I see her disappear into a collage of gold and orange.

It doesn't help when I hear her scream.

I remember what she said. Don't follow.

A scream. A crunch echoes through the air, deafening. I grip my stomach, double over onto the sand. The worry becomes a physical thing. Pain.

Camicazi.

A lightning bolt sizzles through the atmosphere and explodes into a million fragments of sparks, like glass breaking. It's not a metre away from me.

The air smells like singed hair. The clouds rumble and clap up above.

The bear's carcus would be ashes by now.

She will be ashes.

I will be ashes.

And then, like a ray of hope shining through the darkness, a tiny figure starts fighting through the darting embers and fire. In her hands, she holds one long burnt claw.

Camicazi hurtles over a fallen tree, ducks and dives under and over the flickering flames. They change their direction erratically, but she moves quicker. My heart lifts when she rushes out of the undergrowth. Out of the fire.

"Cami," I breath, " Cami!"

She continues running, even when she's on the sand, even when she's safe. She continues running till she barges into me and buries into my chest, heaving huge, great tearful sobs. I lean down and rest my chin on her head.

"Are you ok?"

"Fine," She grunts, "Just something in my...eye..."

"What happened?"

Her shoulder's shake uncontrollably, and I hear her moan in-between the tears. "Cami..." I whisper.

"Let's just get inside," She says.

I nod in agreement. I don't say anything when she draws back, revealing a massive burn on the right side of her head. Black. Her hair isn't there. The girl's eyes are red and puffy. It's as if someone has stuck duck tape onto her face and ripped it off, taking the skin with it, and leaving half the tape behind. It's hard not to gasp; the pain would be terrible. Worse than anything I could imagine. At least now I know why she screamed.

She starts to run towards the window, positioning the claw in the right position to break the glass. My heart shivers when I wonder if this will even actually work. If this is all for nothing.

But her strong little legs propel her forwards, and the claw shoots through the glass, impaling it. She grunts and twists it round, so the area around it shatters too. When almost everything is splintering, she grabs the claw again and pulls it behind her head, bringing it down like an axe onto the window. The sound of the break is louder than the moan of the wind.

Without looking back at me, she dives inside.

Hiccup. The name invades my head. I push it away. Everything has to change someday. Maybe, this time, the Viking will bring good change. I can hope, at least.

I breath deeply, and shuffle into the ship.

A.N

Yep. Because that makes sense. Origanally they climbed an anchor, but THAT delightful scenario was deleted on terms of it making even less sense than this. I don't know. My brain has crashed and burned. 3 tests that I haven't revised for. 3 IMPORTANT TESTS. Gulp.

As always, thanks for reading this baloney. Review, fav, follow. Can we make it 40 follows!? That would be AMAZING! (As in blow of my head and dance around the kitchen amazing whilst reading amazing!)

Thanks again,

DinoRhino x

Explained: Merida went off to look for her dad and came back to Cami because a) there was a a storm and b) she was uncertain about her father's whereabouts anyhow. When she got back the storm was worse and she decides she had to get inside the ship because well...she just did. They had to break a window but they needed something sharp and hot so Camicazi went and got the bear claw. They broke in and that's where we leave it! I will update this rly soon because I really want to write the scene when they *SPOILER* FINALLY meet Hiccup.