Chapter 37

Maraud wasn't too sure about what to do. On one hand, the wisps brought him and Hiccup here, so there had to be some reason behind even contemplating snooping around the underground hollow. But, on the other hand…

Maraud looked behind him. Hiccup was right there, looking around, alert. Maraud couldn't shake the feeling of this not being new for her: being in a dangerous situation. And for some reason that absolutely aggravated him to no end. All he wanted was for her to be safe and not go after Mordue. Honestly, hindsight was 20/20 and now Maraud realized that her going with a giant group of armed men was so much safer than her being a crippled bear and being hunted down by a giant group of armed men.

Maraud sighed. Yeah… he really threw everything into a giant rubbish heap, didn't he?

"Should I… go in?" If there was one thing Maraud learned, it was that Hiccup was smart. He trusted her. And while he knew he didn't deserve it, he hoped he had Hiccup's trust, too.

Hiccup just stared at him with her deep, soulful green eyes, and blew out a jet of her warm breath into the air.

"You're out here alone, Hiccup," Maraud observed. "Or, you will be if I go in there. And my sisters… we don't even know where Mordue is."

Hiccup limped over to a rock and used it to help support her weight as she stood up on her one hind leg. She was massive and dangerous and she would never hurt Maraud the way Maraud had hurt her. The Scottish prince felt his breath leave his body as something familiar flowed through his veins. Determination. He would make it up to her. He would turn her back into a human and he would look after her and then they would live the rest of their lives together. Happy.

"The wisps led us here," Maraud mumbled. "There has to be something… something important in here."

Hiccup fell back down onto her three legs and made her way over to Maraud. She shoved his stomach lightly in the direction of the dark cave. Maraud looked into her eyes. He was no Toothless, but if he had to give a guess as to what she was trying to say, it would be,

If you think there's something important in there, then go look. I'll be here.

And Maraud felt a warmth grow in his chest. He smiled softly and placed a hand under one side of Hiccup's jaw. Her eyes widened and she made a startled noise. Maraud chuckled quietly and turned to go into the cave.

He dropped down and took in all the crumbled stone and slash marks. He felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the eerie voices of the wisps calling to him. The first time he had seen them, he had been with Angus. And a few moments ago, Hiccup had faced them with him. But suddenly, alone, Maraud knew he had made some kind of mistake. Anything which could show you your fate could also destroy it. When had it ever been said that the wisps were good? It had just been known than they were fae. And most fae were not the friendliest of creatures.

Their soft voices echoed around the cave while Maraud cautiously crept around, trying to find anything of value. His bow was out and ready, arrow notched, muscles tensed.

"Look," A wisp invited softly. Maraud swallowed and ignored it, looking around. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and Maraud suddenly felt a chill that wasn't just from the mist of the mountain. "Look!" This time the wisp ordered him more forcefully.

Almost as if he were controlled to do as it said, Maraud spun around and studied the wall in front of him. He saw the tomb, cracked and old, but the designs were still legible. A voice in the back of his mind nagged at Maraud. It was his mother.

Maraud just barely held in the urge to roll his eyes. He was on a mountain, with his fiancée who had been turned into a bear by a witch, and the wisps were surrounding him and telling him to leave, and Mordue was still a real threat, but his mum and her history lessons were the scariest thing that were haunting Maraud at that point.

"Legends are lessons," his mother had once said. "They ring with truths."

The story she had been talking about ran in quick succession through Maraud's head. His eyes widened. Mordue. He wasn't just a bear. He was cursed. He had made a deal with the witch, too. And he had turned into that. What if Hiccup turned into the same thing? And even if she didn't, what if she turned into a bear, permanently?

"Oh, no," Maraud breathed. "What have I done?"

"Go!" The wisps intoned, sounding urgent. "Death!"

Maraud's heart started pounding and he felt eyes staring into him from the darkness. He quickly turned and pulled his bow taut. There was something in there with him. And it wasn't anything friendly, he was willing to bet.

Two eyes started glowing from the darkness, and though they looked like they were miles away, Maraud felt like they were too close.

Hiccup bellowed up from where she was, and Maraud knew he was in real danger. And if he was in real danger, then so were all of his girls. He needed to get out of there, and get them to safety.

"Hiccup!" he called. He started running to the pile of rocks. He needed to climb up it and get out before whatever it was that was lurking in the shadows decided Maraud wasn't threatening enough to hide from.

Unfortunately for the worst fiancé the world had ever seen, the creature in the shadows happened to be Mordue. And even worse for the Scottish man, Mordue was done biding his time and hiding.

Maraud felt his hands start to get cut up and the wetness from the blood made it hard to climb, but he kept pushing. He didn't like putting his back to the unknown creature in the dark, but judging from Hiccup's frantic roaring, it was something bad.

From behind him, Maraud heard a loud roar, and his entire body froze. Oh no. He knew that screech as well as he knew his own sisters. Mordue. He was in a cave with Mordue. And he couldn't get out.

He felt something catch on his leg and Maraud got pulled back. He felt the scratches burning at his muscles, but Maraud didn't have time for that pain. Hiccup roared from her vantage point. Maraud notched his arrow and quickly fired it at Mordue, but it only seemed to annoy the beast. Maraud ran, trying to outmaneuver the hulking monstrosity, and found himself behind the broken tomb. Maraud fired arrow after arrow, each one hitting its mark, and each one failing to so much as hinder the beast.

Maraud was out of options. He felt his instincts rise up in him. Fight. Flight. Fight. Flight. It was just like when he had first seen Toothless. Except now he knew that Mordue was going to kill him. And it didn't seem like he could run away.

The prince's bright blue eyes flickered back and forth, trying to think of a way out, but Hiccup was one step ahead of him. She held a paw out for him, urging Maraud to jump. She would catch him. At least, that seemed to be the plan. And Mordue only gave him a split second to make the choice, since the demon bear was already rushing at him.

Maraud leapt up onto the tomb and used all his momentum and muscle to vault himself towards Hiccup, but the second he was in the air he knew he didn't just high enough. He was going to miss and fall and then he was going to get mauled to death by Mordue.

Fortunately, Hiccup had also recognized the problem and adjusted accordingly. She reached out further and lower. She somehow managed to use her large paw to grab onto Maraud's forearm and pull him out of the cave, the wisps still inside, screaming.

Maraud was shaking. His knees trembled and he found it hard to breath. His thigh stung from where Mordue had grabbed him, and although she had saved his life, Hiccup's large claws had slashed into his arm. Blood was started to cover his body and it stuck to Maraud like a second layer of skin. But he had no time to gripe about that. Hiccup. He had to save Hiccup. And if Hiccup was cured of her curse, Maraud was sure his sisters would be cured, too, seeing how the curse was originally meant for Hiccup.

"W-we n-n-need to go-o," Maraud hated how he stuttered, but Hiccup wasn't one to judge, and he felt like he had a valid reason to be this shaken up. The rocks inside of the cave started to shift, and the two royals could hear Mordue's enraged roars.

"N-now!"

Maraud tried to run alongside Hiccup, but almost quicker than he had the thought to do so, Hiccup was pulling him onto her back. She ran like there was no tomorrow, using gravity to help them go down faster. Maraud clung to her soft fur, feeling her hard muscles shift and contract beneath his body as she ran.

"Here's where we told them to hide," Maraud said before climbing off of Hiccup as quickly as his quivering body would allow. His excuse was that it was cold and he was losing blood.

"Hilda! Helen! Hilary! We need to go now! Mordue is here, no games!"

Almost immediately the three of them jumped down from the tree and landed on Maraud. He groaned, but smiled at all of them. His sisters. He would sooner die than see them getting harmed. Hiccup's large mouth grabbed the back of Maraud's shirt and she pulled him onto her back. Then she started to run again.

All the way back to the castle, Maraud kept his ears open for the sounds of Mordue following them. He held his sisters close, whispering reassurances into their ears as they clutched onto his clothes. A few times their claws dug into his skin a little, but Maraud didn't mind. He was hanging around bears, no matter how human their minds. He was bound to get hurt.

He was more worried about Hiccup, to be honest. He could hear her labored breath, and could feel the way her muscles seized every time her body dipped from her missing hind leg. Maraud knew it was unnatural for a bear to run without the fourth leg, but what choice did they have? Hiccup only had a few more hours before she permanently changed. And it wasn't like she had all the time in the world as a human to build a bear a leg-brace.

But he couldn't think about that right then. He had to get into the castle, find Toothless, explain the whole situation to him, and then get him to reunite with Hiccup. That was the only way to fulfill the antidote/prophecy. Maraud wasn't really sure what to call it. He was sure Hiccup had a word for it, but he would have to turn her back into a human to learn that word. But… if there was one thing Maraud knew about Toothless, it was that the stupid reptile could keep a grudge like no one else. And if he had a grudge against the bear he thought had killed Hiccup… the stupid flying dinosaur would never listen to him! By the gods, Maraud was doomed. And by extension, so were Hiccup and his sisters.

Maraud was snapped out of his thoughts as Hiccup stopped, then all but collapsed. In an instant Maraud was off her back and tugged the girls off her back, too.

"Hiccup, what's wrong?" he crouched by her massive head. "Come on," he whimpered. "Not now. Not now! You are not giving up now! We know how to cure you, we got away from the danger. You don't get to give up!" Maraud went from sorrowful to seething. "Now get up and we're going home!"

Hiccup opened one of her eyes and studied him. Maraud's red cheeks and trembling fists were indications to how angry he really was. Hiccup grinned. At least some things never changed. Hiccup moaned softly, then pointed her snout straight ahead. Maraud jerked his head in that direction, hands immediately on his weapons. Hiccup huffed in amusement. What an obtuse little prince. But he was her obtuse little prince. At least, he would be if she stopped being a bear.

"Oh." Maraud cleared his throat. He caught Hiccup's eyes. She was still amused. Maraud's fists were unclenched and were rubbing his neck and playing a little with the lose hair around his neck. His cheeks were still flushed, but Hiccup figured it was just because he was embarrassed. "We, um… we're here. Ah… sorry, Love."

Then he stood up and started creeping closer to the walls, trying not to be seen by anyone. Hiccup laid very still on the ground. That was the third or fourth time Maraud had called her that, and her heart still stopped, then started thudding abnormally loudly in her thud. It would have been painful, but it just made her cheeks heat up. She was sure if she had been a human, her cheeks would have been the same color as Maraud's fiery, curly locks.

Hiccup discreetly shook her head. No. Not now. She had too many things to be worried about right now; she wouldn't allow herself to think about the way she felt towards her fiancé. Not now.

"Hiccup," Maraud's deep voice came from her right and Hiccup internally shuddered at the way her name sounded in his rumbling, accented voice. "We have a problem."

Immediately Hiccup was on alert. What was it? More bears? Those creepy little blue things? Mordue?

"There's guards on their posts at the gate. And they're not asleep." Maraud looked towards the gate, worried. Hiccup rolled her eyes and scoffed. That's what he was worried about? She had an easy solution. She started walking to the right, calling behind her in her raspy, bear voice for the triplets to follow her. If they followed her, Maraud would be sure to follow.

"Where are you going?" Maraud jogged to keep pace with her lumbering form. Hiccup just snorted. He'd have to wait and see.

It didn't take long until the five of them reached the secret entrance Hiccup had discovered with one of the village boys a few weeks ago. They hadn't meant to come upon it, but at that moment, Hiccup wasn't feeling very repentant about finding it.

Hiccup used her weight to smash the heavy door in and told the triplets to get on her back so they wouldn't drown in the fairly deep, disgusting water. In a few moments she, the triplets, and Maraud were all creeping through the plaza, into the castle.

"Alright," Maraud sighed quietly as they walked into the castle. "I'll take you to my room, then I'll find Toothless, explain what's going on, bring him to you, and then everything will be fixed. We're almost out of the weeds, Dear."

Maraud didn't look at Hiccup before he started creeping up the solid stairs. They went down a number of deserted hallways and passages, and Hiccup couldn't help but think that she wasn't feeling all that great. But it wasn't like she could complain. She was sure Maraud was exhausted, too. She could see the bags under his eyes.

The lights seemed to flicker for a second. Hiccup shook her head. She would get to rest for a little while as Maraud went looking for Toothless. She would be fine.

Maraud silently crept along the halls in his home. He could tell Hiccup was following him by the heat radiating onto his back. Only a few more…

And then suddenly Hiccup wasn't there. Maraud spun on his heels. Where did she go? How could he lose an entire bear!? She was massive!

"Hiccup!" Maraud hissed. "Hiccup!"

He saw her lumbering shadow in the next door hall and ran there, pulling on her when he reached her. His thigh and arm burned at the action, but he could always look after his wounds later.

"Hiccup, my room's this way!"

And then the bear turned its massive head to look at Maraud, and Maraud let his grip on the bear slip. It wasn't Hiccup. It was… just a dumb beast. And Maraud had apparently angered it.

"Oh no," Maraud moaned. "Hiccup, not now! We can't have this right now!"

The bear just turned and loomed over Maraud. The prince set his sisters onto the ground and told them to hide. Then he turned and tried to high tail it back to his room. Unfortunately, he could not make it.

"Maraud!" His da called from just up ahead. Maraud froze. "Don't think I can't tell you're there, Lad,"

"Da!" Maraud called, quickly rushing towards his da, trying to push him back down the hall. "You need to leave!"

"Listen, Lad," Fergus sighed heavily. Maraud mentally pleaded with his da to hurry up. Hiccup was coming and it would only be a matter of time before she caught up with Maraud, and then Fergus would see the bear and the whole already doomed-to-fail plan would fail! "We know you've been taking it hard since Hiccup… met her fate, but this isn't healthy. You stay in your room all day, not eating, not talking to anyone…"

"Da!" Maraud cried, trying again to push his da backwards. He could hear Hiccup's approach. "You need to leave!"

"What's the matter, so—" Fergus cut himself off. Maraud slowly turned his head, praying to every single being he could think of that Hiccup wasn't behind him. She was. And she was just regaining her consciousness by the looks of it.

"Oh, no," Maraud moaned.

"Maraud, run!" Fergus roared, charging at Hiccup. Maraud got in his da's way, giving Hiccup a little bit of time to escape. Maraud needed to re-think his plan.

"No! Da! That's not just a bear, that's Hiccup!"

"Maraud, now is not the time for delusions!" his da snapped at Maraud.

"It's not a delusion! She was turned into a bear by a witch, and if I don't get her little dragon to learn the truth and accept her, she'll be stuck like that!"

"Maraud!" Fergus roared, but Maraud didn't back down.

"No!" He stood his ground, straightening his shoulders and clenching his fists. "I'll not let you harm my fiancée!"

Fergus didn't grace his son with a response and instead simply grabbed the cuff of his collar and threw him back into his room.

"Da!" Maraud yelled like a complaining child. "Da!"

"Stay there, Maraud! We'll avenge your would-have-been wife."

Fergus ran after Hiccup, and Maraud heard him calling to the men in the house, telling them there was a bear. And that they were going to kill it.

"Hilary!" Maraud yelled, slamming against his door. "Helen! Hilda!" Maraud slammed his hand flat against the wooden door. "Get me out of here!"

A few seconds later Maraud heard something clicking against the metal lock on the door.

"Tap three times when it's unlocked." Maraud said. Soon enough the three small taps came and Maraud pulled the door open. His three sisters stood in front of him, alive and whole. In a rare moment of sentimentality, Maraud leaned down and hugged his three sisters.

"Good girls." Maraud smiled, kissing each one on top of their furry heads. It wasn't too different than kissing the tops of their real heads. All that hair. "Alright," Maraud sighed, standing up and straightening. His leg was starting to throb, and the scratches on his arms were itching. "Now we just need to get out of here, explain everything to Toothless, go save Hiccup, and then undo the curse. Simple."

Well, it would have been simple enough. Maraud turned to start his search for the large reptile. But Toothless made it so much easier for him. The flying menace was at the end of the hallway, in the shadows.

"Toothless!" Maraud called out, starting to run to him, but Toothless had other ideas. The dragon growled so loudly that Maraud felt the stones beneath his feet vibrate. Toothless's eyes were fixated on the three small bears which clung to Maraud's calves, and his eyes were full of fury and disdain. Oh, no. Well, there was only one thing Maraud could really say.

"Well, shit."

Fergus rode his son's horse, leading the rest of the men in the castle out towards the forest. Chief Stoic had refused a horse, easily keeping pace with the horse. His rage and sorrow gave him the energy to do so, and Fergus felt the anguish that was so easily visible on the Viking chief's face. The best way to feel better was by getting justice for his daughter. Fergus looked up. The sky looked like it was going to rain, but nothing—especially something as trivial as the weather—was going to stop Fergus from avenging his poor almost-daughter-in-law, or Stoic from killing the bear which killed the only family he had left.

"Men!" Fergus called back to the men he was leading. Stoic stood tense by his side. "Come on, now! We're on a hunt! What do we do?!"

And with those simple words, the entire company of men started chanting their hunting song, the chief quickly catching onto the tune, even if he couldn't sing the words, since they were in ancient Gaelic. The rest of the men sang their part in the ritualistic song, which promised good luck in their hunt. Fergus started them marching forward again, Stoic right at his side. A light dusting of rain fell upon all the men. Still, Fergus felt Stoic's burning need for the blood of the bear which killed Hiccup. The three-legged bear. How ironic that the three-legged girl be eaten by a crippled bear.

"King Fergus?" Fergus stopped the horse he was mounted on, and both kings turned to face the man on the ground. A commoner.

"Aye. Is there anything you need, Sir?"

"Where might you be going, Highness, on such a dreadful night?" the commoner asked in his commoner slur.

"There's a bear," Fergus's voice was hard. "We're hunting tonight." Fergus saw Stoic's knuckles turn white from his grip on his war-weary battle axe.

"What?" the man seemed shocked. "Highness, please! You can't go about killing every animal out there just for sport! Call in Hiccup! She lives in the walls, she'll tell you! It shouldn't be done!"

"I would call in Princess Hiccup," King Fergus stressed her title. The commoner stumbled a little, and Fergus momentarily wondered how the commoner even knew Hiccup. "But she's dead," Stoic winced, and Fergus felt his own brows furrow in sorrow. "The bear we're hunting is the one that killed her. Now. Get out of our way!"

Fergus turned Angus to go around the commoner, but the man ran to Fergus's side.

"Highness, please! Wait just a moment! Hiccup, er… Princess Hiccup has become a real part of our village, even though we've only known her for so long. Two minutes, Highness, and you'll have the support of the entire village!"

Fergus hesitated for a moment, checking with the chief before nodding his consent, starting the mental countdown. Every second they waited, the farther the bear got. And it had already gotten quite the head start from Maraud being a right pain in Fergus's a—

"We're ready, Highness." The commoner said, leading a group of men, armed with pitchforks and fire.

"Men! Tonight we hunt!" Fergus called out, once again. "What do we do?" And the eerie hum of the men's voices drifted into the forest, barely louder than the now steady rain, warning the animals inside of the men's intentions.

Fergus coaxed Angus into the forest, his eyes blazing. That bear better be ready. There was no way it was going to survive after that night.

Well... thoughts? Honestly, I kind of forgot this part of the movie for the most part, so I'm kinda just relying on my questionable memory. Honestly, a guy selling 'sugar' out of a trench coat in a dirty ally at night is more reliable than my memory. So if this doesn't exactly line up with the movie… well, none of the rest of this fanfic does either.

ONLY 3 CHAPTERS LEFT! Was it just me, or did this story just seem to zoom by?

On my updates, or lack thereof: I get kinda lazy ( in case y'all haven't noticed) so… I'm just sorry. I'm kind of hoping for 300 reviews by the end of this whole thing, but fifty reviews for four chapters is kind of a lot to ask for, but here's to hoping because all of y'all are just so dang awesome! Also, special Shout Out to BusFullofLlamas and Brave20123 because I sort of maybe forgot about this story until I read their reviews, lol. So thanks.

Ok, so if I do a sequel (probably not, because sequels are always so much worse than the original—ex: all the 'Taken's, 'The Pirates of the Caribbean's, Pocahontas 2, The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, Spiderman 2, etc.) it'll just be… well, I'll explain later. But to the Guest who wanted a sequel about Maraud meeting Hiccup's friends, he already has. They don't have a lot of scenes together in this book, but look at chapters 4 through like, 17.

Again, y'all are awesome! I'm have favorites and followers galore, and I'm in like, four communities which is kind of amazing! I have about 250 reviews, and I'm hoping to get that number up by next update! Y'all don't even understand how much those reviews have pushed me to even write this much of this fanfic. I was honestly probably only going to write until Hiccup and Toothless fought against Mordue that one time in the competition and give up there before I realized that people like this story enough to like, comment and follow and favorite this, and stuff… so just, thanks for sticking with me :)