There's No Place Like Home

Merida couldn't believe her eyes. There was no doubt the land sitting on the water before them was DunBroch. The large, stone castle was clearly visible and the fields where they had their annual games and celebrations were planted by the forest where they should be. But the village and town that held the market, shops and homes were destroyed. Everything had been burned to the ground, and as they flew overhead, Merida could see her people huddling around each other to keep warm while others scrounged for food or mourned with lamenting cries over the remains.

The princess wanted to tear her eyes away from this horrifying sight, but the images burned themselves into her memory. Her peripheral forced her eyes toward her home, the place where she was born and grew into the woman she is now. Though now she could see dragons in its courtyards and towers, eating and fighting with one another. There were also a great amount of guards surrounding the castle walls, though none of them were familiar to her.

"This…can't be right. Are you sure this is the right place?" Astrid said, looking toward Hiccup and Merida.

Merida couldn't want anything more than to say 'no'. She didn't want to believe this was true, that this was her home.

"Yes." choked Hiccup, as he fought back tears, "We're here."

It didn't take long for someone to notice them, however. One of the guards spotted them approaching and called out to the others. Next thing the group knew, there was a great amount of arrows and what seemed like traps heading toward them. They had no choice but to veer away and head another direction. Luckily no one was trapped or hurt, so they all headed north, away from the deteriorating kingdom.

DunBroch's New King

A dark, looming figure grumbled darkly as he made his way to the outer wall of the castle. The many dragons that lounged around the halls moved quickly out of his way and scurried to empty rooms. He walked quickly yet harshly, his heavy boots made the walls echo his rapid pace. The doors banged the walls when he pushed them open, and all the men around him quickly shut their mouths and looked at him.

"What happened?" the man growled.

There was a bit of silence for a moment, but one guard in the back piped up.

"Master, there were some dragon riders heading this way, but we drove them off."

The large, dark man approached the guard. Everyone else got out of his way and even pushed some others to make a clear path.

"Drove them off?" he grumbled, "Why didn't you capture them?"

The guard opened his mouth, but no words came out. He simply stared into the man's eyes and quivered. Next thing he knew, a large fist hit him across his face and he was thrown off the wall where many of his bones cracked.

No one stirred or made any sort of noise in fear of following the unfortunate guard. Though they all straightened up and listened when he spoke again, but luckily for them it was only two, simple words:

"FIND THEM!"

The Heart Can Only Take So Much

The party landed in the forest to the north, all of them silent. No one, not even the rambunctious twins, said a word. While everyone dismounted, Merida remained on Toothless, her limbs frozen. And yet she trembled in shock of everything she saw.

Noticing her lack of movement, Hiccup touched her hand. She jolted and sprung her hand back away from him, her eyes wide.

He tried his best to show his compassion, giving a sad, remorseful look. Then suddenly, Merida unstrapped herself and ran off into the forest.

"Merida!" he called, "Where are you going?"

But she didn't listen. She ran and ran until her lungs hurt, but she still kept running. There was no way she could believe what happened. Her home was burning and was being occupied by people she didn't know. It wasn't until Hiccup caught up with her and practically tackled her to the ground that she finally stopped. Luckily for him, as soon as he stopped her, she didn't fight him.

Wheezing and coughing, Merida sputtered and cried. Not needing any explanation, Hiccup hugged her and held her close, allowing her to soak his leathery armor in tears. She sobbed and cried out, breathing rapidly. All Hiccup could do was cry with her. He didn't try to shush her or make her stop; he just let his own tears fall into her wild hair.

He didn't want to believe it as much as she did. The smell of ash and the leveled village was what he least expected. Now they knew this was much bigger than their original suspicion. Invaders had taken control of Merida's home, but with dragons on their side.

Soon night was upon them, and Hiccup allowed Merida to cry herself to sleep. But once she had finally closed her eyes and was at peace, he still didn't want to move. He didn't want reality to come back to him.

Though, it wasn't long before they sent someone to fetch the pair of them. Just as Hiccup was about to drift into sleep himself, Stoick came strolling through the trees. He stopped for a moment to observe what was happening, and then called out to his son.

"Hiccup…" he said quietly. The chief looked back at his father wearily. "Time to go back, son."

Wiping his eyes and cheeks, Hiccup nodded. Seeing how tired he was, Stoick went over and picked up Merida gently. Carrying the princess with care, the old viking lead the way back to where they set up camp.

In the Dead of the Night

Despite being very tired, Hiccup couldn't sleep at all. Even when he lied down on a soft patch of Earth and looked up at the fading stars, he felt no desire to sleep. Closing his eyes he tried to push away the images he just witnessed. But it was no use.

Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the camp. Sitting up, he saw Merida stirring in her sleep. He stared at her, wondering if he should wake her up. He could only imagine the horrors she was dreaming about, but he knew she needed her sleep.

Little to his knowledge she was dreaming about her family. She dreamed them together, then apart. They were happy, then sad. They were alive, then…

A howling scream woke everyone in the camp. Everyone grabbed their weapons, and not a moment too soon. A large group of men surrounded them and began attacking. All of them carried swords and spears, poking trying to attack the dragons most of all.

At first when Merida woke, she was surprised. But then, as the fighting went on, a deep sense of hate and rage crept within the princess. She was tired of all this. She was tired of fighting, of violence, of everything.

Grabbing a sword she swung at one of the attackers. He blocked her attack, but her rage only made her all the more faster, all the more stronger. She attacked again and slashed his arm. He stumbled back, but she didn't resist and stabbed the end of her sword into his leg. He howled in pain, alerting everyone around.

Then the most unexpected thing happened. Merida froze and dropped her bloody sword.

"Cesan*?" she said. She had recognized his voice.

"Princess?" the wounded man said. This time everyone froze in confusion. They all simply stared at the man and the redhead.

"Princess Merida?" another man spoke. All of the attackers began to creep forward toward the Celtic Princess, eyeing her. But there was no mistaking that hair.

Now everything was clear. Now she saw their faces. Now she recognized every one of them. Looking through the dim moonlight, Merida allowed her eyes to blur with tears.

"Fionnlagh**, Sionn***, Niallghas°…thank God yer alright…" She fell to the earth and sobbed more. If anyone thought she had no more tears to shed, they were wronged. All the men, including the one she injured caught her and laughed through their own tears.

"Th' princess has returned!" one cheered. Throwing his sword in the air, he gave a might whoop and screamed the news to all the world. But his celebration was cut short by one who was still tangled in the princess' embrace.

"Shhhh! They're still out there." the one named Fionnlagh hissed.

Merida pulled away. "Who's out there? What's happened?"

Fionnlagh picked up his own sword and started toward the forest. "We can tell ye when we're safe." This particular man was tall, rather well-built, and had a face that marked him as just passing his middle-age years. He had blonde hair and a blonde mustache that connected to his beard.

"Though ah have to ask, Yer Highness." he said as the other men gathered themselves and grouped behind Fionnlagh. Cesan hobbled on one leg while being supported. "Who are these people an' what are ye doing with them." He raised his sword to the closest viking near him, which happened to be Fishlegs.

"Calm yerself, Fionnlagh." Merida sighed, "ah have been travellin' with Hiccup, Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe in th' Northern Waters of Berk. They're...vikings..."

Every single man rose their weapons at the mention of 'vikings' and even took a few steps back. Hiccup couldn't tell if they were striking a stance to fight or backing away in fear. Immediately, Fionnlagh shoved Merida behind him, protecting her with his arm.

"Fiends!" he cried, "Ye may have deceived our princess, but we can see right through ye!"

Practically everyone rolled their eyes. Well, all except the dragons who all growled ferociously. Hiccup could hear Toothless gurgling to send off one of his plasma blasts, but he placed a hand on his friend's neck, trying to calm him.

"Look, we're just as confused as she is. We have no idea what's happening, and we would like to help." said Hiccup a little monotonously. "Here, I'll prove it." With the click of a button, Hiccup's flame sword retreated back into the handle and he threw it at the Scott's feet. Then he nodded to the rest of the group. At first, they looked at him in disbelief, but eventually they reluctantly threw their weapons to the ground.

Unfortunately, Fionnlagh didn't lower his weapon, and neither did any of the others.

"Help ma boab, Fionnlagh they're not here ta hurt us. Trust me." Merida said after pushing past his arm.

"Ye can never trust a viking, princess." he growled.

She put herself at the end of his blade. "Ah didn't say ta trust them, ah said ta trust me. Now lower yer blade."

"Princess, they-"

"That's an order!"

"Do ye even realize-"

"Ah said that's an order!"

Merida's harshness caused him to bite his tongue. Finally, he let his arm hang to his side with his blade out of any harm's way. The princess turned back to the vikings. Nodding at their scattered weapons on the floor, she allowed them to retrieve their belongings.

After they gathered their things, Hiccup nodded to Fionnlagh, expecting him to lead the way. But the Scott grabbed Merida's arm as she turned to follow as well.

"If ye knew what they've done, ye'd understand." he said sternly.

"If ye knew what they've done, ye'd treat them as ah do." Merida jerked her arm away.

Fionnlagh narrowed his eyes at her and looked even more sternly at the group of vikings and dragons behind her.

"Ah beg forgiveness from Her Highness." he said, "but ah will not lead vikings or dragons of any sort anywhere."

Merida sighed. "Well, ah'm not goin' ta leave them behind, so ye'll have ta go without us."

"Princess, ah also can't leave ye with these pirates!"

"Then they'll come too."

Fionnlagh's temper was obviously rising. His knuckles began to turn white as he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. But he knew what had to happen. Clenching his teeth, he let out a soft groan.

"Alright, they'll come too." he said. "name take back their weapons an' bind their hands."

"Fionnlagh!" Merida cried in protest. But he didn't listen to her any longer.

"If there's any extra rope, muzzle th' dragons as well." he said.

The men followed his instructions, taking every weapon they knew of from the vikings and then tying their hands with a coarse rope. At first, the Nordic group protested and began to fight back, but both Hiccup and Stoick shook their heads at them. Soon they were all strung together on one rope so there wasn't much freedom of movement.

The dragons were even trickier. As soon as the men approached them with ropes, they growled and flared out. Most of them were even ready to breathe fire, but all of the riders commanded that they stop. Then for extra precaution, they used whatever rope they had to tie the dragons together as they did the vikings.

A bit more satisfied, Fionnlagh finally led the way.

It was noon the next day before they reached any sign of settlement or civilization. Everyone was tired and their feet hurt tremendously, but once their destination came into view, both Merida and Hiccup knew exactly where they were.

Upon clearing the trees, they saw the MacGuffin village. It was exactly how Hiccup remembered it, except there was no snow covering the ground and there were many encampments surrounding the area, housing refugees that had escaped the terrors in DunBroch.

Merida recognized many of the people and ran to embrace them. Meanwhile the bound vikings were led through the town with the Princess till they came upon Lord MacGuffin's home. It took them a while to get there, for the news of the Princess' return spread like a wildfire and the crowd surrounding them only got bigger and bigger.

Though when the doors opened to the MacGuffin household, Merida's heart melted as she came face to face with one of the few people she wanted to see the most.

Queen Elinor came racing out with tears of joy and nearly fell to her knees as her own daughter wrapped her arms around her tightly. The crowd couldn't help but cheer as they saw the warm reunion. Even Hiccup smiled in relief despite his hands burning from the rope.

After a few minutes of gently rocking her daughter, Elinor let go and looked at her daughter.

"Merida, what are ye doing here? Ah was going ta send word for yer return. And what are ye wearing lassie?"

Wiping her face she gave her mother a half-smile. "Mum, th' ship was attacked by pirates. Ah was saved an' given hospitality by these people." she said, gesturing over to the vikings who had nearly drowned in the crowd. "They came with me ta help with th' dragons."

"Well, why are they tied up?" asked Elinor, ready to thank her daughter's rescuers. But Fionnlagh stepped in front of her.

"Because they are vikings, yer Majesty." he said.

At those words, the crowd gasped and stepped away from them.

"But not just any vikings." Merida said, raising her voice. "Four years ago, a boy washed up on th' shores of DunBroch. Mah family took him in an' he lived with us fer a time. Now he has returned with an offer ta help us, an' would ye deny any such help from a friend based upon his heritage? Hiccup gained mah trust four years ago, an' ah still hold it today."

Many people in the crowd murmured, trying to come to a conclusion on the vikings, but the only one to truly react was the Queen.

"Hiccup?" she said, stepping forward.

The Chief tried to raise his hand, indicating his presence, but he rope held him down. She approached him, studying his face. Respectfully, he gave a small bow.

"I'm sorry if this comes as a shock, Your Majesty." he said, "But yes, I am a viking and I'm sorry for hiding it from you and your people until now. I…I don't know what happened between your people and vikings, but I assure you we are not all the same."

Elinor eyed him carefully, tracing his features. Suddenly her curiosity turned to her usual regal coldness. She stood up straight and her eyes narrowed.

"What was th' name of th' royal blacksmith?" she said sternly.

"Wha-…Your Majesty-" said Hiccup.

"Answer th' question!"

"Bu- well it was…hang on…it was Alex right? No! No, no, no it was Aliean!"

"A couple miles from here is a lake. You an' which families went there and what did they do?"

"Uh, well it was your family and the MacGuffins. We went out to go ice fishing."

"An'-"

"But then the ice started to crack and Merida almost fell in. I went out for her and we all managed to save her in time." he interrupted.

At that statement, Elinor gave a soft smile and a bit of a sigh. Then she curtsied to him.

"Welcome, Chief Hiccup."

He bowed back, smiling.

"So uh, are they gonna take these ropes off or what?" said Snotlout, interrupting the moment. All of the vikings rolled their eyes, but Merida gave a soft giggle.

Elinor nodded to one of the men near her and he proceeded to cut their bands. They began to follow the Queen and Princess into the large house, but they were stopped when one of the men inquired about the dragons.

"Should we lock these up, Yer Majesty?"

She looked to Hiccup who gave her a pair of pleading eyes.

"I promise they will do no harm." he said.

Many of the men gritted their teeth, but the Princess nodded her head at her mother, confirming Hiccup's statement.

"Let them go." she said quietly. There was an obvious amount of distain in her voice and the grumbling of the men, but soon the dragons were released like their riders.

*Gaelic Name meaning 'Spear'
**Gaelic Name meaning 'white hero'
***Gaelic Name meaning 'fox'
°Gaelic name meaning 'Champion choice'