Ch. 11 Tell me your sob story!
Hiccup's heart sank with such a weight that it immobilised him, but still he made the run, pushing his legs forward to catch Merida. She had no place to go and would stop running eventually, but Hiccup needed to make her stop himself. He was certain she had always known she was not supposed to be in Berk, but still she had given them a chance, but by asking her that question Hiccup made it clear to Merida that it had been no use and maybe it was true.
The name Viking belonged to those who roamed the sea to the north. A Viking only follows orders from the tribe's chief and is free from any kingdom. Vikings have a reputation to be fierce and that most of them were, but the course in live a Viking takes depends on the will of his or her chief. Hiccup's grandfather Callous the Demander, had been a fierce chief and in his day the Hooligan Tribe struck fear in the hearts of those who met them.
Hiccup had difficulty believing Gobber at times when he told him about Stoic's difficulties when he took over from his father, but now that Hiccup knew how cruel his grandfather had been, he understood the decisions his father had made in his life much better. Berk had changed with the rise of Stoic the Vast and it had not been easy for him. Still, Hiccup's father had never bothered to face that one crime his father committed in The Highlands, during his last days as chief and now Hiccup had to deal with the consequences.
"Merida!" He called after the redheaded princess. She could run much faster now that she no longer wore her long dress and put quite a distance between herself and Hiccup, but Toothless had followed them and scooped up the young Viking to help him. With just three large jumps they caught up with Merida. She had her face low to the ground, keeping her expression hard to read, but Hiccup spoke to her nonetheless.
"Merida.." He began, but then she suddenly came to an halt and Toothless, unable to do the same, had too double back. Merida still kept her eyes cast down and silently she took her place on the Dragon's back. Hiccup agreed that this was not the place to talk and gave Toothless permission to take off. Toothless shot into the sky and Hiccup felt the familiarity of Merida's arms around his waist and her face close against his back, but when Toothless was high enough and flew onwards horizontally, she let go off him entirely.
Merida was the first one to dismount and she walked a little into the meadow before sinking to the ground, her back to Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup shared a look of concern with Toothless before he took a seat beside her and waited for her to speak her mind.
"Ay didn't know ma mother was involved liked that in the history between our people." she said softly.
"The truth is that ay know almost nothing about it. Ay didn't think it mattered now, but lately ay had this feeling ay shouldn't be this happy and may feeling turned out tae be right." She looked fully at Hiccup and he could already see the question she was about to ask him in her eyes. She wanted to know the whole story.
"Tell me, how did that battle end?" She asked him.
Hiccup felt suddenly ice cold. He really didn't want to tell her what his grandfather had done. It was bad enough that Berk had a bad reputation anywhere, but to think that his own grandfather had it in him to treat others in such a way, was unbearable.
Hiccup could not tell it straight to Merida's face and stood up to walk off the anger he felt towards his deceased blood relative.
"I guess you know the name of the Viking chief who lead that invasion, Callous the Demander?" He began and he really had to do his best not to growl.
"He was my grandfather and took pride in the name given to him, just like my father did. Callous demanded your land because the threat from the Dragons had become too great for him to handle.
With a name as Demander, patience was obviously not in his character. He wanted to take The Highlands, but underestimated the time he needed and food shortage threatened to be his downfall. Refusing to admit it, he turned to your grandfather with a pretend proposal." Hiccup's voice left him for a second when emotion threatened to overwhelm him. He took a deep breath, but could not get rid of the boiling anger he still felt.
"He took your mother as a bride for my father. I think my father never knew about it. He and my mother were already engaged to be married, but still my grandfather kept your mother imprisoned for three years." Hiccup dared to turn around and look Merida in the eye. There he saw the shock he had expected.
"I guess that's why your mother doesn't understand your view of being free. She never was, not until she became queen."
"Ay swear ay didn't know." Merida said. Her voice trembled and her eyes were filled with hurt.
Hiccup walked back to her and halted right front of her while he showed her his compassion.
"I am sorry." He told her from his heart. "No one ever did something like that ever again, but still we never faced our sin and my mother told me that it would be better for you not to come anymore." Hiccup knew Merida would react to this and she did. She backed away with a weak gasp, but Hiccup was not done and repaired the distance that had come between them.
"But to me that is giving up. I want to make things right." Hiccup minimalised the space between them to let Merida know how much he meant his next words and kept his voice low.
"Merida, I brought you to Berk and I still want you there. Nothing has to change. It is my responsibility and I will gladly answer to it." Hiccup 's rage had ebbed away and he could feel his determination rise. Their future was not dead yet, not until he tried to answer for his grandfather's crime and he would. Since long he felt ready to be a chief.
'A chief protect his own.' Both his parents had said. Hiccup understood that, but Berk could not walk away from its crime, that was not protection!
Merida watched him and saw his strong will. It turned a smile on her face, but it was not as gleefully as it had been.
"Ay want tae stay, Hiccup, but ma mother won't be easy tae talk tu." She told him, her voice gloomy.
"She doesn't have to know yet, right?" Hiccup tried to bring Merida's spirit up, but she shook her head.
"Ay got a letter ay still need tae answer tu. Ma mother wants tae know about the people ay met and the live ay live now. How can ay write about ma live without mentioning yu?"
Hiccup remained silent, he wished she could write about him as well, but it would not be a smart thing to do.
"You could fill a letter with just Rapunzel and Jack and the nature here." He opted.
"Honey, why are you staring at me?" Eugene decided to ask when he had given up to try and ignore Rapunzel's glare. It made it impossible for him to eat his breakfast in peace.
"I'm trying to remember the moment when you almost died." Rapunzel answered seriously and she kept her penetrating stare.
"Right, that's sweet of you. Why anyway?" Eugene reacted sarcastically.
"I need to cry. Heather needs magic tears for her experiment, remember? Maybe if you closed your eyes." Rapunzel suggested brightly. She was quite oblivious to Eugene's offence to it all.
"Honey, if I close my eyes I will fall asleep again."
"Perfect, go sleep on the couch!" Rapunzel jumped up and dragged him to the couch where Eugene needed no time at all to black out. Rapunzel smiled excitedly and crouched beside him. However, excitement was not the feeling she was looking for. She needed to be sad, so she took a deep breath and focused her eyes on Eugene's sleeping face. Rapunzel laid her dark brown braid over her shoulder and absentmindedly began to stroke it. Eugene was sleeping so soundly. He never was a morning person, not since he left his thieving days behind him. It was as if his body clock had surrendered to the turn in his life. Rapunzel noticed the satisfied smile on his lips and she felt her heart melt. Why would she ever want to remember losing him? It was the first reason why she wanted her magic back, to forget the horrible choice he had made for her sake. She loved him so much.
Rapunzel let out a deep sigh while she reached out and began to stroke his hair instead and drank in every inch of his face.
"Aw, I love you, Eugene Fitzherbert." She whispered. "I just wished I could be who I used to be,"
"Good Morning!" Jack called into the apartment. Rapunzel always unlocked the door for her friends to come in for breakfast, only now that had not been such a good idea. She just had to ignore them for now and she focused her thoughts on her sleeping boyfriend again. Eugene had been right to cut off her golden hair. He had made a choice, she herself never could make. Not to sacrifice himself, because she had been ready to do that too. No, it had been the permanent end to the witch who had raised Rapunzel as her own. Her mother, who Rapunzel had truly loved all those years, but she had hurt Rapunzel like no one else. When she thought of Mother Gothel, a lump filled Rapunzel's throat and her eyes became misty..
"Hallo! Rapunzel?"
Hiccup's call woke her from her dark past and instead of feeling relieved, frustration built up in her chest.
"Hiccup, I'm trying to cry!" she yelled to the two men behind the little wall that separated the living room from the little hall and she showed herself. The lump in her throat remained, but the tears were gone.
"What were you doing?" Jack asked in great surprise.
"And why do you want to cry?" Hiccup added, equally surprised with a raised eyebrow.
"I need to bring magic tears to Heather, remember? All I need are some really sad stories to make me cry." Rapunzel reasoned and she turned hopefully to her two best friends who both met quite some grieve in their own lives.
"Don't look at me, Punz. As you know, I can't tell sad stories." Jack argued quickly and he backed away with his arms raised in front of him.
"But you have been alone for three hundred years and you still can't touch people directly without giving them frostbite." Rapunzel tried, but that had been too far.
"Rapunzel, stop!" Hiccup interfered angrily. He had seen the cheerful light escape Jack's eyes and Rapunzel had noticed it too. Shocked, she threw her hands over her mouth.
"I am so sorry, Jack!" she gasped when she lowered her hands again. "I should not have said that."
"We will get your magic back, Rapunzel, but this is not the way." Hiccup told her kindly and he laid a hand on her shoulder.
"You're right Hiccup." Rapunzel dropped her shoulders in shame. "I'm really sorry Jack. I shouldn't have said that."
"Don't worry, Punz. What you said might have hurt me more a few months back, though.
Hey maybe I can make you weep tears of joy, that's my specialty after all!" Jack suggested.
Rapunzel smiled and wished she could hug him to show him her sincere apology, but instead she skipped to the door. "Alright, let's go!" she told him and a huge grin appeared on Jack's face.
"NO, NO!" A sudden cry of distress caused them all to freeze right where they were.
"Was that Merida?" Rapunzel dared to whisper. She was close to the door, but did not dare to do anything else and Hiccup made the call for her to grab the door knop.
"Merida!"
Merida knew she had been too loud and she probably should let Macintosh in before he could insult any of her friends, but Merida was dressed for Berk and The Highlander was not allowed to know about her job there! Merida had tried to close the door on the Young Macintosh before he got a good look at her clothes, but the persistent man put his foot between the door and the doorpost. While Merida tried to slam it shut anyway, she heard Hiccup call her name and it stopped her for a second, but then, because it also caught Macintosh's attention, she gave a last yank at the door and shut it with a slam. A feeling of satisfaction lifted her spirits for a moment when she heard Macintosh retrieve his foot with a groan of pain.
"Merida? Is everything alright?" A kind, but concerned voice asked from the other side of her living room and while Merida threw off her clothes she saw Elsa look out of her window into hers.
"Nothing!" She said quickly and continued changing, not caring about Elsa's company. She had no time to explain it. Macintosh was still in the hallway and soon he would address Rapunzel or Hiccup!
"Hey, Merida what..?" Jack had flown around the corner. No doubt he had left Rapunzel's apartment and turned around the building to see what was going on, but Merida was not done changing yet and it caught him completely by surprise.
"I swear I didn't know!" He apologized with a start, more to Elsa than to Merida.
Merida didn't care and pulled her dress in one motion over her whole body.
"Never mind that, ye need tae help me, Jack." She turned and faced the ice couple as Jack had landed in Elsa's living room.
"Who is that man?" Jack wanted to know. His attitude had changed at the sight of Merida's urgent expression. He understood that this was serious and he was ready to help.
"Niall Macintosh, young lord of the clan Macintosh and in competition for ma hand in marriage." She told them with a scowl. As expected Merida saw shock on both Elsa and Jack's faces, but she couldn't explain anymore, for she could hear the young lord's voice coming from the hallway.
"We have to keep him away from Hiccup!"
"Right!" Jack agreed strongly and turned to Elsa.
"Wanna help?" He asked her with a grin.
"Of course!" Elsa replied as determined to help her new friend as Jack was and they both jumped over into Jack's room.
A few minutes earlier:
"Merida!" Hiccup yelled as he flung open the door and burst out into the hall, first followed by Jack, then Rapunzel who nervously wormed herself between them. Merida's face was halfway hidden behind her door as she tried to shut out a blue body-painted man in a kilt. Equally surprised the stranger turned around to their sudden arrival and Merida grasped her chance to shut the door hard. Apparently the man's foot had been between the door and the doorpost to prevent her from shutting it and his face twisted with pain as the foot was forced to leave its position.
"Um, I don't think she wants you inside." Jack remarked, who could barely contain his fit of laughter.
"May we ask who you are and why you are trying to get inside Merida's apartment?" Hiccup asked the man straight out and he did not try to hide his distrust. Merida had been truly upset to see this man and Hiccup had a strong feeling he knew what kind of connection this man had to her.
"Ayam Niall Macintosh, son and heir of the great Macintosh clan." The man replied and he puffed himself up to a point of ridicule. "I was given the name of champion and that's what I am!"
"You are from The Highlands, I assume. What brings a 'champion' here?" Hiccup asked, interfering the man's boasting with sarcasm.
"You have quite some cheek, don't you?" The strange Highlander snapped and he fully turned to Hiccup and grabbed the sword he had strapped to his back, again with unnecessary posing. Hiccup was used to Snotlout, but this guy was different. He meant business. Then something unexpected happened. Unknown to him, Jack had left them and returned suddenly from their apartment, sending Hiccup back into Rapunzel's apartment with a strong icy wind that left his hair caked with snow. Hiccup hit the low wall that closed off the kitchen. All air got knocked out of him and his vision became blurry for a second. Rapunzel shut the door behind her and walked up to him with concern.
"Are you alright?" She asked him when she knelt in front of him. "That was a bit harder than he meant to, I'm sure."
Hiccup groaned and wanted to stand up, but Rapunzel told him to keep still by putting a gentle hand on his arm. She smiled at him encouragingly, but then stood up to press her ear against the door,
"Hey, what's going on? Is someone fighting?" Eugene asked. He had come from the living room and looked rather disoriented. Apparently he had been asleep. He first looked surprised at Hiccup who could not give him the answer, for he himself wasn't sure what just had happened, then he walked up to Rapunzel who still had her ear pressed against the door. Hiccup pitched his ears. He wanted to hear what they said. It would make a lot of things clear to him as well.
"What is going on?" Eugene asked his girlfriend.
"Shh, there's a man here for Merida and ay think he is one of the suiters she told me about. I think Jack tried to save Hiccup from a confrontation with him."
"Isn't that Hiccup's call?" Eugene asked and he looked back to Hiccup, who tried to play dumb, even though he heard everything.
"No, this man doesn't seem like a very nice person and because he wants to marry Merida, he might want to start a fight!"
Hiccup had heard enough and silently came to his feet.
A few minutes before that, after Rapunzel shut the door:
"Who was I talking to and what was that wind. It's suddenly very cold." The stranger said in a demanding tone.
"I think that's really you, I mean, anyone would be cold, wearing that." Jack humoured.
Macintosh threw Jack a loathing look and turned to Merida, who had shown herself again, and made an exaggerating bow.
"My lady princess, I ask you for an audience in private."
"Personally, ay don't see the point of that." Merida replied coolly. Without his usual hoard of squealing girls, boasting his confidence, Macintosh seemed much easier to handle and Merida liked her odds. Macintosh straightened up and shot Jack a distrusting look, which the Guardian was happy to answer to with a speck of ice that made him lose his footing.
"What is he?" Macintosh blurred out, completely thrown off his confidence and Merida laughed heartily.
"This is Jack Frost and that is Elsa, both use ice magic, so ay wouldn't do anything rash." Merida told him. She didn't bother to hide the joy she was feeling with this turn of event.
Macintosh looked nervous and chose to bow again.
"Malady, Ayam not here tae speak fur myself, but in name of ma father and the other lords." He told her and his sincere tone wiped the smile of Merida's face.
"Princess," he continued, breathing somewhat nervous now. "may father has informed me of the queen's decision. It is a betrayal tae us, but you can set it right, by choosing me fur your husband."
"Wait, what?" Hiccup blurred out from behind the door of apartment 20 and it flew open again to reveal Hiccup with a look on his face that was close to panic, along with two startled faces of Eugene and Rapunzel. They had clearly been taken by surprise by Hiccup's outburst. It had alarmed Macintosh as well and he swung his sword at him.
"I can see by your metal leg and leather amour that you are a warrior like me, but you better not try to interfere with my business." Macintosh growled dangerously.
"Shut it, Macintosh!" The woman in question screamed and she placed herself fearlessly in front of Hiccup. It only now occurred to him how small Merida really was, but she stood her ground against the angry warrior no problem. Even back in that long dress, she could kick him out of the building and Macintosh clearly knew that.
"Merida?" Hiccup tried, but all he saw was her hair. The sword reached right over her head and Macintosh was pocking it to his nose. Hiccup wasn't really faced by it, Merida choose not to look at him and that made him very worried.
"You want to interfere?" Macintosh asked Hiccup. "You think you are worthy of the lady's hand as well, don't you? Well, forget it, you are not good enough, I am!"
Jack had enough of Macintosh's attitude and froze the floor under his feet. Elsa joined in with dumping snow on him and with a loud yell Macintosh fell to the ground and lost his sword to Merida who snatched it out of the air and pointed it back at the now terrified owner.
"Listen yu, ay will not let you speak to him like that! Don't yu dare speak about worth when ye don't know what it means!" She spat at Macintosh in fury.
"Calm down, Merida. It's fine." Hiccup told her and he gently touched her shoulder. Merida jerked around and Hiccup saw deep hurt in her eyes. It was not fine, not at all.
"Merida? Will you tell us what is happening?" He asked her softly and he tried to be as soothing as he could be, even though he was quite shaken, not by Macintosh, but by Merida's behaviour. It had made the feeling from yesterday return to him.
"You know what?" Jack said suddenly to Macintosh and grabbed his shoulder strap to drag him back up, "why don't you and I take a little trip outside?" Of course, Macintosh was reluctant to move so Jack chased him away with the occasional blast of ice. Elsa, Rapunzel and Eugene stayed, but no one spoke for a long time.
"Hey, what's going on, Merida? Can you tell us?" Rapunzel asked her when they were well free from the intruder and had settled down in her living room. Everyone looked at Merida and in the end the stubborn redhead caved.
"Fine." She snapped and she sank onto the couch, next to Hiccup.
"I guess most of you know bits and pieces now, but here's the full story. My last name is Dun Broch. My clan forms a small kingdom in The Highlands and to uphold the peace ma parents, mostly ma mother, once wished for me tae marry one of the three young lords from the clans around us. I refused and a lot happened." She looked at Hiccup at that moment and he understood and so did Rapunzel. This was indeed the fate Merida had wanted to change, resulting in an old curse that changed her mother into a bear.
"In the end may mother listened tu me." Merida continued. "She and ma dad allowed me tae find love in may own time, but the other clans understood that it still has tu be one of them."
No one spoke, everyone was just staring at their feet to progress what they just had heard. Hiccup knew for certain that Rapunzel could relate to Merida and was thinking of a way to support her. He himself wanted to say something, but didn't know what. If all the young lords were like Macintosh then he understood her frustration. Actually he did not want Merida to marry anybody, but he could not say that!
"Can't you tell the lords that you want to keep peace without marrying into one of the clans?" he decided to say.
"Yes, it sounds like a bit of a gamble for peace if you ask me." Eugene added, with a frown.
"I mean, you cannot marry more than one young lord. The others are bound to object right?"
"Ay don't think so, this is how it's been done fur generations and every clan knows that." Merida sighed defeated.
"It is a miracle no one objected in the years the lords got their sons tae win me over. Ay never been easy on them, Macintosh especially, he is too arrogant. Wee Dingwall is persisted, but doesn't even understand what he is trying tu du and ay can't even understand young McGuffin."
Suddenly Merida looked straight into Hiccup's eyes and his heart skipped a beat.
"I swear, next time, if Macintosh or one of the others dares tae talk tae yu like he did, ay will pin them tu a tree and leave them there." She declared.
Hiccup laughed uncomfortable, Merida really could be ruthless and he grew up with Astrid!
"No need for that!" he told her hastily. "You met Snotlout, I'm used to it."
"Well you shouldn't, because you don't deserve it!" Merida replied and for a second Hiccup thought she turned her anger at him for being alright with it all.
"It will be alright, Merida." Rapunzel said calmly and she bent forward to speak to her friend who sat opposite her. "Why don't you send your parents a letter and tell them what happened?"
Merida nodded. "That's an idea, ay was going tu anyway."
"Hey guys, how long do you think Jack can keep that guy busy?" Eugene asked out of the blue.
"I don't know." Rapunzel replied and she stood up to see if she could spot Jack and Macintosh from her balcony. Eugene and Elsa went with her, but Merida remained where she was and so did Hiccup.
"I'm sorry I cannot help you, Merida." He told her softly.
Merida looked at him again and there was hurt intermingled with fury in her eyes.
"Ay have some things ay want tae say tu yu in private." She told him and stood up from the couch. Without another word or look Merida walked out of the apartment and entered her own, leaving the door open for Hiccup to close behind him if he had chosen to follow her. He did, of course he did, but with a barely bearable feeling of dread in his gut. What more was there to say? Things just didn't allow Hiccup the time he needed to step up as chief and fix this. Merida had been supposed to be married by now and now the clans had really run out of patience.
Once the door was shut Merida turned to face him in front of her fire place. It was astounding how much her culture that fashioned her room reminded Hiccup of his own. Like in the apartment he lived in, Merida also had shield s and weaponry hanging on the wall. It did seem warmer though, with the furs draped over furniture and a thick tapestry on the wall. Vikings didn't do that, they were more 'the cold keeps you tough' kind of people. That had been hard on Hiccup when he was a kid, but now with Jack Frost as roommate it proved very useful. Merida looked at him with a fire burning in her eyes.
"Ay know ye have tae go tu Berk soon, so ay'll say it quick. Ayam going tae write a letter tu ma parents tae tell them that ayam coming home."
Hiccup took a startled step forward and he knew his eyes had shot open wide with shock at her news. His mouth opened to protest, but he didn't know how to stop her and closed it again. To his utter surprise Merida gave him a smile. It was small, but nonetheless true and calming.
"Ay will be back, Hiccup. Ay just need tae talk tu ma mother. Ay've learned from my mistake. Ay cannot be selfish this time. Ay've seen how this matter can turn the lords against one another and ay will not have the decision ma mother made for fur me be any reason fur war! Ay want tae be responsible about this." Her smile grew a bit and she stepped closer to Hiccup.
"Ay'll be fine." She assured him with, albeit forced, optimism.
"If ay can ay will mention ye tae her delicately."
Hiccup took another couple of steps until there was little than a nose length between them. Naturally he bent a little over her small form to speak to her and he let himself take in her beauty that was both strong and frail at the same time.
"Would your mother let you change her mind?" He asked, having had his fair share of stubborn parents. To be completely honest with himself, there were more things he wanted to know about what might await Merida back home, but this one was most urgent.
"Ayam not sure." Merida confessed and she averted her eyes in gloom for a second, but then she tried to see a positive sight again and smiled at him warmly.
"Ma dad would like you. He is not a clever man, but he is brave and kind, like yu."
Hiccup cracked a shy smile. This was not the first time Merida let slip that she wished for her parents to like him and just like the first time, Hiccup felt so close to her. however, he couldn't shake the rushed feeling he had and therefore decided to speak his mind. In case he wouldn't get another chance.
Jack flew back to the apartment complex after he shipped off Macintosh, along with the rest of his men who had been humbly waiting for him with his ship at the harbour of Bariden. Jack had enjoyed the embarrassment he had given the overly self-assured young lord by dragging him low over the ground on his shoulder strap. The men at the ship had been stunned and confused, but Jack didn't see a reason to explain his abilities to them and made their ship set sail in full speed. It had been great to play the almighty identity like that and he couldn't wait to tell Elsa about it. He was quite surprised to find her in his room, though. Eugene and Rapunzel were also in his room and they had their ears pressed against the wall.
"What are you doing?" He asked amused.
Elsa rushed over to pull him fully inside. She told him to keep his voice down with a mischievous smile on her face. A sight that made Jack very excited to join in. Elsa took his hand and together they joined Eugene and Rapunzel at the wall that connected Jack's bed room directly with Merida's living room.
"It will be strange, flying without you again." Hiccup told Merida. He didn't know how to put his thoughts into words. He had never spoken his heart like this before. it was quite weird, actually, it was the one thing that made him just like a typical Viking, for the first time in his life.
"Trust me, ay wish ay could go with ye, but ay have this letter ay have tae think about. It will take me some time tae finish." Merida tried to lift her own spirit with an out of place grin.
"Say hi tu the Wee Terrors and Toothless fur me and don't let Snotlout or Astrid get tae ye."
To Hiccup's surprise Merida had just brought him to the solution of his inner struggle. He knew how he could speak his mind now!
"Say Merida, I am sorry I ever said you and Astrid were similar. I mean, you still are both strong, confident and resolute, but… Hiccup stopped, he'd thought he knew where he was going with this, but now it sort of slipped his mind. Merida kept looking at him and her curious gaze seemed to make him forget even more. He averted his eyes and began to rub the back of his head, feeling really stupid and hopeless.
"You're you Merida and I'm really glad you are.." He tried again, but it was impossible to say this clearly now.
"Hiccup, can ay ask yu something?" Merida asked him gently, cutting into his speech that was going nowhere. Hiccup stopped rubbing his head and looked into her ever wondrous blue eyes again. They looked serious.
"Why aren't ye angry with Astrid fur what she did tae ye? Ay met her and ay will confess that ay liked her lesson and she was not unkind tae me, but ay just can't forget the fact that she hurt yu like that. Why is everyone pretending like nothing happened? Even yu?"
Hiccup sighed. He had been waiting for somebody to ask him this and he was glad it was Merida who dared it in the end. He felt relieve with the knowledge that he finally could speak of it out loud.
"I am still angry, at Astrid and Eret." He confessed. It surprised Merida visibly. It surprised their friends too who, unknown to them, were listening in on their conversation intently.
Hiccup could not stand still when he spoke his mind and began to pace around the room, swinging his hands around in an afford to process it all better.
"I had to keep the peace. We as Dragon Riders are the protectors of Berk and Astrid is an important part of it. As leader I could not express my feelings by sending her away. I could have sent Eret away, but that wouldn't have solved anything and so I tried to pretend nothing happened.
When I became chief after my father died I still kept searching for other Night Furies and continued to map the areas beyond the Arcepelico, I kept Berk save by keeping an sharp eye, but that was not what Astrid thought a chief should do and told me to be a chief like my dad was. I truly tried and stayed more in the village, but it wasn't me and I became restless again. I can't change who I am and it hurt me deeply that that was her problem. She didn't start to date Eret as soon as you think, but I had seen it coming and I regretted letting Eret in. I'm pretty sure he still knows that and so in the end I failed to keep the peace. I feel very lost to what I am supposed to do and it both saddens and angers me. Things will never be the same and I wish Astrid and I were never something, that she'd just stayed my unanswered crush from long ago." Hiccup ruffled his hair angrily. As always he was more frustrated with himself in the end than with anybody else.
"I am really hopeless. I'm the kind of guy who gets those feelings and can't handle them, that's why I gave you such a wrong first impression." Hiccup briefly turned back to Merida who looked at him in great surprise at the mention of herself in his story.
"With Astrid I now wished I'd never gone that far, but with you I don't want to step away, even though everything around me seems to want me to do that!" Hiccup stopped pacing and he realised he had been yelling those last lines. He turned to Merida again, but this time he took the time to really see her. She was staring at him in disbelieve and her lips had parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something.
"I like you, Merida." Hiccup clarified himself to her and he finally relaxed. "People have been telling me from the moment I met you and they are right. I like you, a lot and even Eret saw right through me. I impulsively made you Dragon Keeper, mainly because I wanted you close to me." He concluded in a mumbling manner, feeling very embarrassed with himself.
"Wow, what happened to Hiccup?" Eugene remarked at the other side of the wall.
"I know he is an honest guy, but now he is dead honest!"
"What do you mean by 'dead'?" Rapunzel gasped, but only half concerned, because she didn't want to miss anything else from the conversation next door.
"Trust me, as a man, it is never good to be that truly honest. "
"Eugene!" Rapunzel hissed threateningly.
"I think it's right." Elsa brought in, she was also very focused to listen and wanted to sooth the argument that was threating to arise. Subtly she eyed Jack and smiled to herself.
"Merida thinks so too." Rapunzel whispered pressing her ear closer to the wall.
"I don't hear anything, oh wait.. shhh."
-"Merida?" Hiccup tried softly, but he didn't dare to change the distance he had created between them again. Merida was staring at him and the longer he looked at her the more her sorrow became visible.
"I am sorry. I felt I needed to tell you, but I can see this isn't something you want to hear right now."
Merida was unable to speak, but shook her head frantically and tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"No Hiccup." She whimpered and to Hiccup's great surprise looked up at him with a loving smile.
"Ayam really happy tae hear that, from yu." She assured him with a stronger voice and she made a short run towards him to show the sparkle in her tearstained eyes.
"Ay want tae stay with yu too, but.." her smile fell and she averted her eyes.
"It's just difficult fur me, I mean…"
"You are expected to be married soon." Hiccup finished for her. Merida looked up to him again, seeking his comfort and understanding. Hiccup closed her gently in his arms and she buried her face in his leather armour.
"Ay don't want tae to stop these feeling ay have fur yu, but ay know ay will be forced tu, or else the clans will be enemies once again."
After Merida said that it became silent on the other side of the wall. Rapunzel felt deeply for her two friends. They deserved to be happily together! As she pulled away from her side of the wall she felt large sparkly tears drip down her cheeks. At first she thought nothing of the magic tears, they wouldn't change Merida's fate.
'She can never be with the one she loves and has to rule a kingdom with a broken heart!' Rapunzel kept thinking. 'She has to spend her live without Hiccup, even though they are so close now!'
Then Elsa pointed out that she was crying and it finally dawned on Rapunzel what she had to do, though with a heavy heart. She was so close to her wish, but now she would gladly give it up if that would help Merida be with Hiccup.
AN: Both sadness and laughter for this chapter. If you liked it, please review! :)
P.S I want people to know that Heather only agrees with Astrid because they are best friends, between Hiccup and Astrid, she chose Astrid to side with. That is not my opinion, but hers in the story. :)