When Hiccup had arrived back home at Berk, the village was rather quiet.
"Where is everyone?" He asked Toothless. A shuffle was heard behind him and turning around, he found Merida waking up.
"Oh!" He said rather excitedly, "You're up! Great. Uh, need some help?"
Merida chuckled, "No lad, I'm fin-Whoa!" Suddenly Merida's foot caught on Toothless's stirrup and lost her balance while sliding off. Her arms were out ready for impact, but caught onto Hiccup's shoulders, while he gripped his around her waist. Pulling her up onto her feet, she pushed a clump of hair from her face and giggled. Thanking him, she fixed herself, although not bothering with her hair.
"Where are we?" She asked. She saw many wooden houses and buildings with shields and weapons decorating the walls. The roofs either had hay or metal that reminded her of dragon scales. Beyond the land were tall steep cliffs and forests she could see for miles.
"Well, this is Berk." Meridas eyes lit up. She remembered Hiccup telling her about his home. How most of the time, it was horrible winter weather, dragons that continuously flew the skies above. Merida giggled to herself remembering how Hiccup always told her how the homes always had to be rebuilt. She noticed that no dragons flew the skies and no one was around. The land was as quiet and peaceful as the Scotland forests.
"Well, where is everyone. The dragons?" She asked pointing to the blue skies.
"Everyone has a job to do, some build, hunt, gather. We all work together."
"Even the women?" Merida asked.
Hiccup laughed, "Yes, even the women. 'Thought you'd catch that."
"Hiccup!" A voice was heard. The three turned their heads to a group of teens running towards them. One had blonde hair with bangs that covered a side of her forehead with a headband underneath. A long braided ponytail behind her. She wore a skirt with spikes and carried a large axe in her hand.
'That must be Astrid.' Merida thought to herself.
Behind Astrid were two fraternal twins racing each other. They both had long blonde hair but the girl had two knotted pigtails. With identical helmets, they occasionally got them tangled while they ran.
'Ruffnut,' Merida pointed to the girl, 'and Tuffnut,' to the boy.
Beside them were two boys. One had a bulky figure and was missing a tooth. Underneath his helmet, his dark brown hair stuck out in different directions underneath. There was also the largest one in the group, he had a small helmet on and blonde hair underneath, he seemed to be struggling to catch up. Merida couldn't tell who was Snotlout and Fishlegs.
"Where have you been?" Astrid asked, "Your father has sent people into the forest and in the skies. There's a new dragon that we can't control and-" It was then everyone noticed the curly haired read head next to Hiccup.
"Uh, Hiccup?" Astrid asked.
"Oh, guys this is Merida. She-uh-needed some time from her family and wanted to check out Berk." He purposely left out how she was a princess of the enemies cause that would, uh, Hiccup couldn't think about what could possibly happen.
"Well, Merida, I'm Astrid. These are the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Snotlout, and Fishlegs." She pointed everyone out.
"Hey, you look familiar. LIke a certain princ-" Suddenly Fishlegs gasped.
"Fishlegs, no!" Hiccup shouted. He rushed to attempt to shut him up. But it was too late.
"She's a Scot!" He declared.
Suddenly in the blink of an eye, Astrid was on top of Merida, struggling to choke her to death. To protect herself, Merida punched Astrid in the nose. While the two fought, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout attempted to go get help until Toothless tackled them with his weight. Fishlegs stared at the mess he stared with uncertainty and confusion.
"Girls! Stop!" Hiccup cried at the two messing in blood and dirt. Merida pulled Astrid's hair while she punched her in the cheek. In desperation, Hiccup jumped in and in one swift move, pushed the two like young dragons in a match. Merida was surprised by his strength, and almost lost her balance.
"Hiccup! Are you crazy? She is our enemy!"
"Astrid, just listen to me!" Hiccup stood in front of Merida with his arm out, no matter how hard she tried to get her fist down Astrids throat. Merida rolled her eyes, recalling the same thing between her mother and her.
"Hiccup, she can't be trusted-"
"Oh, and like ye' can?! Ye boggin bastirt!" her accent getting thinker and harder to understand. Astrid attempted to throw herself back into the fight, but Hiccup had had enough.
"Both of you! Stop!" He shouted, his anger boiling as the girls stopped what they were doing. He sighed and tried to be as calm as he could, but handling two stubborn, teenage girls who were born to be enemies was a struggle.
"Astrid I need to talk to you." Hiccup guided Astrid away from the commotion to try to get through to her as much as he could.
"Okay, I know she is our enemy, and it was a dumb idea to bring her here, but I have an idea. She wants this fight between our lands as much as I do. I think that if we show her how we live and convince her people that we aren't "barbarians", then it will lead us to the right direction and in a few years, we a have a peace treaty!"
Astrid glared at Merida as she fixed her bow and quiver that had been thrown to the side during their little cat fight.
"Hiccup, what if she gets into our secrets, use our dragons against us?" Astrid reminded him.
"Believe me, she won't. I trust her."
Astrid sighed. She trusted him with her life. After the peace between dragons and vikings, it was just another step. "Fine. I swear Hiccup. If we get caught. It's on your head. And hers, literally." She said defeated.
"We'll have to keep reserved and out of the way for a while, until she's ready to go home, or my dad can accept her." Hiccup paused for a moment, remembering what he had just said. "On second thought, when she is ready to go home."
Astrid huffed, "I still think we should send her into the waters. Or feed her to the dragons. Or use her as target practice. Or-"
"Are you finished yet?" Hiccup said as he walked to his best friend.
"Not even close." She muttered to herself.
"Okay bud. You can get off now. They aren't gonna tell anyone. Right guys?"
"Are you kidding? We are taking this straight to Gobber!" Snotlout shouted.
Hiccup simply stepped to the side for Toothless to continue what he had started. "As you were."
"No! Okay fine! Deal." The three were up in a moment. Dusting themselves off, the group of teens gathered.
"Alright, so Merida needs a place to stay until it's safe enough for her. Any ideas?" Hiccup asked.
"Just let her stay with you?" Tuffnut offered.
The dragon trainer felt heat rise in his cheeks before resuming what they were talking about.
"No! What if my dad finds her! An enemy living in his own home?"
"Your dad is rarely home anyway. He's currently looking for you and has been gone for a few days already." Fishlegs announced.
Hiccup sighed and faced Merida's direction.
"It's all we got. You're the only one I trust anyway. I can't stay anywhere else." Merida declared, glancing at Astrid when she said 'trust'.
"Alright, Merida. You will have to change a bit to blend in. You'll have to be a new student studying dragons. We will have to find new clothes, and you'll have to work with the village. For now, you'll have to keep quiet. What can you do as far as labor?"
"Psh, nothing I'd imagine." Astrid cut in. Merida sent a glare in her direction.
"I'm a master archer, so I can hunt and cook. I've also trained horses-"
"We don't have horses, we have dragons." Astird remarked.
"Well, if your people didn't invade my people, my father would've been able to make an alliance and I would've known that. I've never been here before-"
"Cause you're not wanted here."
Merida snapped. She threw herself past the other teenagers and tackled Astrid to the ground.
"Get off me you crazy Scot!"
"Take it back ya manky, hackit boot!"
Everyone stared in confusion at what she had said as Hiccup and Snotlout attempted to wrench the girls apart.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
With a bit of a struggle, Hiccup was luckily able to find some clothes for Merida thanks to Astrid and Ruffnut. Merida changed out of her dress and slipped on a long sleeved brown top with a leather corset with a belt-like strap from the right of the waist up to the left breast. She wore worn down brown skirt with so many slits around it, a longer black skirt was worn underneath that reached just above her knees. Finally, she had tight fitting black stockings and large fur boots. Merida loved how easily she could move around in it. Much easier for her than her old dresses that she was forced to wear even on hot summer days. She put her up in a loose side braid to keep it away from her face. When meeting up with the rest of the group, they were rather surprised how well she fit in. Hiccup was able to catch himself early from looking at her for too long, never noticing how different she looked under her dresses. He quite liked the way she looked. He looked towards the sky and noticed how dark it was getting.
"Come on, let's head to the Great Hall. Everyone is probably back now." Hiccup and the others followed him while Merida smiled at the thought at how they both had a Great Hall. When they entered a large building however, Merida noticed how different it was. Instead of thrones at the front of the room, there was a large fire in the center of the room with a small stone wall around the perimeter. Tables surrounded the entire room with vikings crowded around them, food in their mouths or hands. Wooden beams that supported the roof was covered in dragons! Merida's mouth gaped open at all the types! She had never seen anything like it! Their vibrant colors to their dazzling wings was so amazing for her she jumped a bit and almost squealed.
"You alright there?" Snotlout asked.
"Well it's not everyday I get to see so many dragons!" Merida responded.
"Yea, over there is Hookfang, he's my monstrous nightmare." Merida saw a dragon with fiery red and orange scales and silver horns. His snout was long and teeth could be seen, even when his mouth was closed. Merida could only smile more at the size of him! He was huge!
"Oh, thats my dragon, Meatlug, she's a gronkule. Her favorite food is granite!" Fishlegs pointed out a smaller dragon but much chunkier. She had brown scales and was covered in purple dots, she buzzed over to her master and licked his cheek.
"What a good girl." Fishlegs scratched behind her ears as she leaned into his touch.
"Blah what a bunch of sissies, what about Barf and Belch! They clearly have twice as much status compared to the others!" Tuffnut commented.
'Why twice?' Merida thought. Until a large two headed dragon scurried over to the twins. Covered in yellow and green scales, the long necks seemed endless until they connected with two similar heads with sharp teeth and a large horn sticking through the center of their heads. Their eyes reminded Merida of a cats.
"Woah, this is amazing!" Merida couldn't keep a smile off her face as she passed the vikings and dragons giving her odd glances.
"Yea, thats Astrids dragon-" Ruffnut began but was silenced with a heavy punch to the arm by the viking herself.
"I'd like to keep my dragon protected from enemies, if you don't mind." Astrid growled. Merida could only roll her eyes.
The group followed Hiccup to a man who was not only missing a leg but an arm as well. In their place was a wooden peg and a stone hammer. It reminded Merida of Hiccup's missing leg.
'Wow, they really have gone through a lot with these dragons.' She imagined.
"Hiccup!" The burly man cried, "You're back!" The man engulfed Hiccup in a bone crushing hug.
"Arh, nice to see you too Gobber." He managed to say.
"Where have you been! Your father and a bunch of others have been looking for you." Releasing Hiccup, Goober noticed a strange red-haired girl behind him.
"Oh. Now I see where ye've been, laddie?" He winked at Hiccup. Glancing between Merida and Gobber, he felt his cheeks heat.
"What? No, no, no Gobber. This is Merida," he introduced her, "She is new in Berk and would love to learn about our dragon training program."
"Eh, is that so?" He stared down the girl. "And does this, Merida, believe she can train these ferocious dragons? That she will work through sweat and dirt to help keep the alliance between dragons and vikings strong for centuries to come?" He questioned.
Merida looked at all the eyes on her. The vikings had given her these suspicious looks, questioning her, testing her by her appearance. Did she have what it takes to train these creatures? She had grown up her whole life with horses, bow and arrows, and swordsmanship, but dragons? The thought of possibilities that could go wrong made her palms sweaty; and it wasn't helping with so many enemies staring at her. She began to feel as if they had found out who she was. She began to doubt her decision to run away. Her eyes fell on a certain viking. His gaze was different, reassuring. He seemed calm, relaxed, trustworthy. A small smile appeared on his face and Merida felt her heart calm down instantly.
Merida locked eyes with Gobber who was waiting for her answer. "When do I start?"
The large viking stuck his only hand out. "Welcome to Dragon Training!" A crowd of small cheers erupted from the vikings as they celebrated the new trainer.
"Well, we have a big day tomorrow, we should get some rest." Hiccup announced. As the teens took their leave, Gobber chatted with one other viking.
"Send word to Stoick Hiccup's alright, and a new recruit has joined. He'll be thrilled!" He said merrily as he took a large chug of his ale.
With everyone headed in their own direction, Hiccup, Merida and Toothless strolled back to the Haddock House.
"Thank you Hiccup, for bringing me here." Merida said.
"Your welcome," He smiled down at her, "So, would it be too soon to ask why you ran from home?" The three entered the viking heir's home to be greeted with a large stone fireplace in the middle of the room with an empty pot over it. The fire had burned down a while, but the house was still warm. On the left were large steps leading to the second floor of the house.
"Eh, I got into a fight with me mum. We didn't see eye to eye and I had to get away for a bit."
Hiccup laughed, "Yea, cause running away to a completely different land full of enemies is just a great getaway."
Merida shot a glare at him. "Sorry." He muttered as he climbed the stairs, her following suit. Merida found a bed with viking symbols around it, a desk with papers and pencils and a large rock slab. With Toothless eagerly climbing on and falling asleep, Merida assumed it was his bed.
"So you can sleep here for now. I'll be downstairs if you need anything." Merida sat down on his bed and noticed how the bed was entirely made of wood.
'Comfy.' She sarcastically thought. The bed was so different, their home was different, everything here was so different compared to Scotland. From how they interact with others to their living style. Merida felt like a fish out of water, she didn't know what to do here? It was just a rush of anger that made her run away, and now she would be facing wild dragons tomorrow. Oh boy, she was facing dragons with sharp claws, songs, fire. it was worse than Mor'du. Merida's right gripped her stomach as she felt butterflies flutter around with uncertainty.
"Alright, get some sleep. We start tomorrow at sunrise." Hiccup announced as he began to make his way down.
"Hiccup." He heard his name called. He glanced at Merida when he saw how uneasy she looked. Her head was down, hiding her face.
"Hey, you okay?" He hurried over and knelt in front of her. She played with her fingers and bit her lip. Hiccup recalled that whenever Merida acted like this, she was extremely nervous.
"Is it about tomorrow?" He simply asked.
She was quiet for a moment, "Will anything happen tomorrow?"
Hiccup sighed and lifted her chin enough to see her face in the dimly lit room, the only light from a small candle and the moonlight outside.
"Merida, I promise nothing will happen to you tomorrow. It's your first day so I understand why you might be a little nervous. Psh, you should've seen me on my first day of Dragon Training. I couldn't pick up a shield, wouldn't get in the ring and almost got blasted by Meatlug at point blank." A small burst of laughter escaped Merida's lips. "Trust me Merida, I will help through all of it. Okay?" Merida had smile back on her face as she nodded.
"Thank you, Hiccup. You're a good friend." It was then Hiccup and Merida realized how incredibly close the two were. Merida jumped as Hiccup stood up abruptly.
"Well, I-I hoped that helped and uh. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Uh, good night." Hiccup rushed as he walked downstairs. Merida could only giggle as she placed her head on the pillow and fell asleep. Meanwhile Toothless could only roll his eyes at what he saw.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I hate school! Stupid social life cutting into my anti-social life. I am trying so hard everyone! I am never going to give up this story, but there may be long delays like this in the future and I'm sorry, but I won't stop. I would love some feedback on how I wrote the characters personalities in this. It was really difficult for all the vikings and I know Merida and Hiccup are probably a little OOC. I would really like reviews, thoughts, etc. THANKS!