"Again?!"

"Mum, look, I'm sorry, I promise I won't do it again-"

"That," Elinor cut in, looking positively violent, "is precisely what you said last week. And the week before. And, might I add, the week before."

Merida sighed and dropped her head into her hands. "I'm sorry, Mum, it's just school and homework and the job and everything…"

"Merida." Elinor's pursed lips grew even tighter. "In the car. Now."

"Oh, Mum-"

"I said NOW!"

Merida sighed and stood from the bench by the lake where she'd decided to skip school. She picked up her bow, which she'd brought with her because just feeling it helped her relax, and followed her mother to the car. It was a pretty quiet place, but what Elinor didn't know was that the neighborhood gang members, who were all quite friendly with Merida, often perambulated through and offered the Scot a cig, or, in some rare cases, a beer. Merida could imagine the way her mother's head would probably explode into fireworks if she found out.

Her mother kept her silence in the car. Merida clenched her teeth. She wasn't allowed to go out on the weekends, except to play with the boys, and she wasn't allowed to go out on the weekdays- she was way too busy with all of her schoolwork and the job at the archery store she'd recently picked up.

They pulled up in the driveway and exited. Her mother gestured to her to come to the family room, which she did. They sat on sofas across from each other, keeping the silence for a good minute. Her mother drew a deep breath and Merida prepared herself for the lecture to come.

"Merida." She often compared her mother's voice to glass. It was a clear sort of voice that could cut through all other noises with ease. And when it produced an angry tone it sounded a little jagged at the edges.

"Look, I honestly don't understand why you feel the need to- act like some sort of a rebel. You know we don't-"

"I don't act like a rebel," Merida interrupted quickly, frowning. "I just don't want to feel this- this choked all the time!"

"As I was saying," Elinor continued frigidly, "I don't believe that your father and I pressure you too much on your studies. We simply want you to go to a good school and become a good- a better person than both Fergus and I. All we want is for you to succeed and be happy! And to do that, you need to be disciplined, you need to be-"

"Responsible, polite, and a lady, yes, I know," Merida cut in. "But why can't you just for one second listen to me? Just listen to what I have to say! You won't have to do anything, just for once listen to me. I deserve an opinion, Mother."

"Yes, daughter." Neither Elinor nor Merida noticed that the volumes of their voices had steadily increased. "And at the moment, I am sure that you quite frankly are not capable of producing a sensible opinion!"

"Well, you know what? You can just-" Merida, who was seeing red, flipped her mother off.

Elinor blanched, then gasped.

"Child-"

"I'm not a child!" Merida shrieked. "I'm not! And you, Mum, you can't treat me like a child anymore! I can make my own decisions, okay?!"

"Merida Ilisa DunBroch, in my eyes you are still a child! A child who, without her parents, wouldn't be able to stay organized, would probably fail school, would definitely go absolutely nowhere in life by keeping up the solitary skill of goddamned archery-"

"SHUT UP ABOUT MY ARCHERY!"

"No! You are going to tame yourself and learn to be a woman, like me, my mother, and her mother and everyone before her! And you are going to give up archery!"

"I will never give up archery! And I am never going to be like you. I'd rather die than be like you!"

Elinor DunBroch went silent.

In her furor, Merida had let go of her bow, which she'd been clutching in a white-knuckled grip. It was a stunning thing, hand-carved from yew by Fergus, and it was a present to her for her tenth birthday, when she'd been far too small to use it. Now, seven years later, it was still in good condition.

Elinor swooped it up and tossed into the roaring fireplace without so much as a second glance.

The world came to a halt. Merida watched one of the few things that made her truly happy char and burn away in puffs of smoke.

Her hands, which had unconsciously clapped themselves over her mouth as she shrieked, fell away. She stared at her mother, shocked, and did the only thing she could do.

She ran.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, it's gonna be okay."

They were at Rapunzel's house- she'd called Hiccup and Jack in the moment Merida had shown up in tears, disheveled and miserable.

"I just wish I didn't have a mum," she whispered.

"You don't mean that," Jack said quietly.

"What would you know about mums and dads? You don't have parents!"

As soon as the words came out, Merida's eyes widened. She covered her mouth and stared at Jack, waiting for a reaction. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry," she managed in a muffled tone.

"It's fine." She could tell it wasn't, though. His eyes held a sort of icy anger that wasn't there before.

"Only, the next time you think you'd be better off without parents, think of how it might feel. How lonely everything is. And just know that it really, truly sucks." Jack stood, turned away, and headed for the door.

Merida nodded and called after him quietly. "I know. I'm sorry."

Before he left, Jack turned back briefly. "Apology accepted, Dollface. And, for the record, I think you're pretty damn lucky. You have parents, and money, and opportunities- not to mention, a pretty smashing array of friends, eh?"

Merida chuckled, the tension evaporating away. "Don't flatter yourself, Winter Prince," she muttered as the door clicked shut.

"I head that!"

A/N: So this was a bit more of a serious, temper-inflicted chapter- oh, and is it bad that I've begun to think of the fanfic as a sort of TV show, with seven episodes in each season? Yeah. It is pretty bad.

But anyways, Supernatural airs on the eighth and I am screaming because my body is ready and is not ready at the same timmmme

Replies to reviews:

moonshroom420: ehehe. Tell me when you want the prank chapter to be, and then it shall be.

samus5000: lol, yeah, it was sorta confusing now that i look back at it. Oh well.

AliceCullen3: THANK YOUUU

Lexy: Isn't the ship just precious? Thanks :)

Mr. Insom: sdijgbkadns THANK YOU SO MUCH or, if I may, merci, mon ami.

JuliaE.k5: Thank you, darling. It was an awfully fluffy chapter, wasn't it? I rather liked it :3