Okay so I'm going to next time try and not rush myself into writing these chapters. Nothing good comes from rushing!

I would know *sniff*

Heh, anyway but with the way i am i always force/push myself to go faster.

Believe it or not these things take time. Plus a writers block tends to creep up on me, luckily when inspiration strikes I always write it down :) thank you me! lol

On with the fic! Enjoy my friends!


Someplace high up near the highlands, where the misty mountains stood proud. A lonely castle is found.

Her world was black and her head was in a spin. The last thing she can remember was a stranger coming to get her…Ambrose. He came for her. She remembers… then her husband, the clans, her kingdom then Merida…!

Elinor came around, her eyes shot wide and with a sharp gasp she sat up quickly. Something felt different though. This wasn't her room, and the bed she was laying on wasn't hers either.

She was in a slight panic and looked around the room she was placed in. She was alone and the room seemed impeccable, the bed sheets were made of the finest silk she'd ever felt, a fire place, cherry wood furniture of all kind adorned with a gemstone chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a room fit for a queen! Well it was no shack she had to admit.

Elinor got up from the bed, still dressed in her violet gown, but go up slowly as she suddenly became light headed. She held a palm to her forehead to ease her dizziness, she looked up and her eyes focused on a platter of fruits, assortment of cheeses and wine placed neatly on a nearby dresser. She had realized she hadn't eaten since breakfast, but didn't feel up to a snack at the moment.

Overall Elinor was confused by all this. Wasn't she kidnapped? She then walked around the large room and headed for the mahogany door turning the knob. It was locked.

Forcefully she tried opening it with both hands pushing and pulling at it, but it wouldn't budge. Letting out an exasperated sigh she turned her back on the door walking in front of the fireplace and held her head in worry. She didn't know what to think.

That was until the door that she tried to pry, opened up.

Startled by the suddenness Elinor's focus came to the very man that took her away from her very home.

"Ambrose…" her eyes narrowed as she straightened her posture tall, head held high and fearlessness dressed her face

"Ah, my queen" he bowed respectively "I am pleased to see you are awake" he spoke and came out of the shadows into the firelight room from the inglenook.

"Take me back to my home" she demanded, not taking her brown eyes off of his dark ones

"I'm afraid it's not that simple my dear" he walked near the platter of goods and fingered the fruit that was there not showing much sign of resentment toward Elinor

"What do you mean?" she asked "Why have you brought me here?"

"As my honored guest of course" he said

Elinor still didn't understand

"What is this really all about Ambrose?" she firmly asked, having enough of him beating around the bush,

"Why me? Why now? Do you realize the damage you have caused! All these years and you make up for it by continuing your sinful actions! You used to be a gifted alchemist. Before everything, you were an ally to the clans and you were a friend to Fergus. Now you've become this." Motioning her hands at him,

She confronted Ambrose as they were now only less than five feet away from each other, tension was present as she condemned him of his crimes long before and now.

Ambrose just stood looking at anything but at Elinor's divine face. His body tense, he looked unaffected, but he was thinking. Thinking of his time as a young lad before anything, with Elinor, before she became the queen of DunBroch…

He knew he couldn't keep her here unwillingly for too long. The whole point he brought her here was to get her alone. And he had no choice but to set her people to stone or surely they'd hunt him down and kill him.

"You think I don't know what I've done? I do. To know why I did this? It was because of you. It's always been you."

Elinor stared him down, puzzled but still upset and Ambrose continued,

"Call it what you may – cruel, selfish, or foolish of me to think you could ever find it in your heart to forgive me for the things I've done to hurt you in anyway. That wasn't my intention."

Elinor didn't say a word, but heard him out – it's not like she'll be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Do not be fooled, Elinor. I am not the madman you think I am. Of course, I have changed but nonetheless my feelings remain true…"

Elinor released her angry strain at him and decided he wasn't much of a threat at this moment. She gave him a stern expression however and listening attentively

Ambrose chuckled lightheartedly, trying to ease the tension

"Do you remember when I showed you that silly magic trick before the grand opening of the ceremony of the Highland games?"

Elinor thought back to that memory too. Her face softened and gave a small smile looking down, contemplating.

Years ago he went by the name of Crayton, a very lively and friendly fellow he was. His face was bright and confident and was always up to mischievous deeds with Fergus. If one would know, they used to be the best of friends, as close as brothers they would tell anyone who would ask what they'd do all their spare time. Practicing sword fighting and playing pranks on innocent servants.

Their clans were allies, Crayton was studying to become an alchemist while Fergus tried and progressed in sports and physical activities and such. Two opposites that became comrades, as they were the best and excelled from the rest of their clan members that they were chosen to compete for the hand of the princess along with three other clans.

"Yes I remember…" Elinor said softly and looked up to meet Ambrose's' face who's back was now facing her as he had moved near the fireplace staring at the fire, his eyes reflected on the flares.

Elinor inched a bit closer to him,

"Whatever happened to that lad I knew as Crayton?" she asked him

Ambrose cringed a bit at the name, "Nobody's called me that since…" and he trailed off, knowing that back then, back when the competition had been held all those years ago. That's when everything changed.

But before Elinor could utter another syllable, Ambrose made his way to the door.

"You should eat. I shall have dinner be brought up to you afterward." He said, and then made his way exiting the room and closed the door behind him and locked it shut.

And with that he left her alone with her thoughts. Elinor looked back at the blazing fireplace, saddened that she will not be leaving this place anytime soon. She made her way to the tray of food and took small bites, placing a small grape in her mouth. She wasn't hungry at the moment but she had to retain her strength if she planned on getting out of here.

She only prayed to the heavens that Merida was safe.


Meanwhile in the deep forest…

Night had fallen and was still raining and the damp scent of mud and precipitation was still fresh

The four first-born of each clan stayed dry inside of a cavern they found while hiding away from a monstrous troll.

The boys helped each other in making a small fire with some twigs, leaves and dry grass they found inside the cave and for a long while managed to chafe some rocks together creating a fire which wasn't easy to find since the inside of the cave was a bit moist.

They continued to add twigs and small sticks to keep the flame going,

The four gathered around and wrapped themselves with blankets they brought along, but nobody managed to say a word after the meeting with the witch. Excluding Macintosh, he was still unable to speak no thanks to the witch, even if he wanted to communicate his gestures stayed silent. So it wasn't much fun for anyone since he was the one who would mostly do all the talking.

MacGuffin too stayed just as quiet as the rest of the bunch. He was a bit reluctant to speak, even now that the witch made him drink some sort of bitter liquid remedy to rid him of his thick Scottish accent. He naturally wasn't much of a talker unless spoken to or decided to, depending on the situation.

Merida was just staring at the fire, lost in her thoughts. She was glad the witch was able to help her out, but she was worried about her mother's well-being Was she safe? Was she locked up in a cold dungeon scared and waiting for a miracle to happen? Oh how Merida had began to loath that Ambrose character.

Dingwall tried to examine his newly purchased bottles he got from the witch but couldn't get a good lighting since the fire was small and the time of day didn't help. Plus the labels on the bottles looked to be written in gibberish of some sort.

Merida was the first to break the long silence,

"What did'ja get from the witch?" she asked referring to Dingwall

"Hmm…I dinnao exactly" He said still trying to decipher the labels, bringing it up to his face as he looked all over to figure it out with his tongue sticking out,

She had to admit it was silly of him to buy something that he didn't even know what it did. Merida let loose a giggle

"You bought all those and ya have no idea?" Merida smiled kindly to the lad

Dingwall looked up and gave her a sincere smile, feeling his cheeks feel a bit warm and rubbed the back of his head

"Ha-ha well they all looked a mighty bit interesting. Aye suppose a' couldn't choose" giving her a toothy grin

Merida and MacGuffin gave light chuckles to their friend. Macintosh just looked back in forth and gestured a long yawn, smacked his lips and pointed to everyone that he was heading to his knapsack to sleep.

Dingwall gave a light yawn as well, "I'll get some sleep too. It's been a long day. Goodnight" he gave a faint wave and knocked out as soon as his head hit his blanket on the floor.

Leaving MacGuffin and Merida the only ones still awake,

It stayed like that for another half-hour in tired silence. It had been an awfully long and rather proactive day for all of them. Merida decided to get some sleep too, MacGuffin decided to stay up to stand guard for the first night, while the three rested.

She lay down on her blanket using her black fur cloak as a mantle, near Angus. She felt a bit homesick and so far her horse seemed to be her only comfort from that.

It took her a while to get comfortable and eventually drifted to a light sleep.

It was cold

Merida didn't remember it being this cold though, as she was surrounded by fog and couldn't see too well

Well regardless, wherever she was, she kept walking not knowing where she was going. That's when she saw someone up ahead.

She walked closer to see who it was,

"Mum?" her voice echoed

She saw a vague image of her mother, but her back was facing Merida.

"Mum!" she yelled and reached her arm out to her. "Mum! Over here!" but for some reason she couldn't run as fast and her mother seemed to be getting farther from her.

"No! Come back mother!" but she was already gone

Merida suddenly grew tired and fell to the floor. She was then at the throne room at her home and castle.

She stood in the center and looked around the room filled with statues of the clans, her brothers, friends and her father.

Suddenly they all began cracking. Merida gasped, as each stone statue crumbled down to small pieces of dust and gravel. The head of her father's statue rolled up in front of her feet.

In horror she covered her mouth and fell to her knees. The princess soul was filled with anger, and bitterness

"This…this can't be happening" she tried to cry but no tears came out, she clutching her fingers to a tight fist at the frustration and strain, breathing hard.

Then an image of Ambrose appeared in back of Merida, she whipped around to see him, smirking down at her

It looked like they were in the middle of the forest

When Merida saw him, she wanted nothing more than to stab the man responsible for ruining her family, her kingdom and her life as it was.

But she couldn't get up. Try as she might it felt like her legs wouldn't budge and she was trapped on the floor, vulnerable to the mad sorcerer.

Ambrose then gave a menacingly devious laugh that made her shudder,

He then knelt down to her level and grabbed her by the neck hard, lifting her up above the ground to his view.

She felt like she couldn't breath as she tried to struggle but her body wouldn't move.

"You're weak, worthless even. You don't deserve to even be a princess. You're nothing but a selfish little girl hiding behind that feeble bow and arrow of yours. I'll make sure your mother forgets everything about you."

He squeezed her neck harder as she struggled for air trying to scream but no sound came out and her body still couldn't move.

"Now die, princess of DunBroch", her eyes became wide as Ambrose raised a dagger up to her head and struck down…

"Aahhhhh!" Merida screamed, gasping for air as she shot up from her resting place near Angus, who snorted in response to his owner.

MacGuffin was startled by her scream as he was by the fire. Dingwall and Macintosh were sound asleep. He looked around at the person who screamed and saw Merida sitting up shivering, panting hard and had a cold sweat on her. He instantly rushed to her and knelt down beside her,

"Merida! Merida, are ya alright?" he asked in a soft voice filled with concern, his eyes were looked at her with worry. He noticed she was shivering as she held a palm on her chest, out of breath from fright.

MacGuffin then took off the cloak he was wearing and placed it gently around her, rubbing her back with his massive hand to ease her trembling,

"Y-yes…I'm, I'm okay. Just, just a bad dream" she managed to say, feeling drenched on her brow. She covered her face and took deep breathes to calm herself down

"A really bad…dream" she uttered looking down,

"It's alright now, lass, you're safe" he softly said, comforting Merida, he stopped rubbing her back but still held on to her close

Merida looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to come out. But she couldn't hold it in and started to weep quietly in her palms. The nightmare had felt too real and this whole quest was starting to get to her.

MacGuffin just looked at the princess in sympathy, "Come by the fire and warm up" as he held her up, supporting her. They both sat next to each other near the crackling fire.

Merida was still affected by the nightmare she had, but MacGuffin stayed close to her to make sure she was truly okay,

"What if I'll never see her again…my mum and our families?" she asked MacGuffin in a hoarse voice

"Come now" he gently spoke to her "There's no use in thinkin' such thinks. We will all get through this." He said reassuringly to her, "Remember," placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "ya not alone." Giving her a warm smirk

Merida gave a nod while wiping away her eyes, she knew he was right. She just couldn't shake off a bad feeling she had from that dream. Just thinking about it gave her chills,

Then there was then a moment of silence. Luckily the rain had stopped as they heard the subtle sounds of crickets chirping and Macintosh's snoring,

"Heh, 'sides, you're probably one of the bravest lasses I've ever known." He commented her truthfully, while he grabbed more twigs, adding it to feed the fire. Merida turned her attention to the stout lad, gripping the cloak tighter around her,

She gave a light giggle, "You really think that about me?" asking MacGuffin who felt his cheeks warm up

"Ay…" he nodded coyly, fiddling his fingers together, "Those last few months ago, when we battled Mor'du, how you stood up to your father to protect your mother. That took guts." he said looking at her

Merida thought back to that moment, remembering how she and her mother risked each other's lives to protect one another.

"But it was my fault she became a bear…" she said looking a bit down, "I was so close to losin' her. And now it's happened again." she stated staring at the fire

"Ah but see you will never loose her. Even now, she is still with you" MacGuffin then gestured his hand to his chest, "Anyone whom you have great love for...will always be there, in our hearts."

Merida did the same gesture and placed her palm on her chest too. Although it didn't help bring her mother back, but it did make her see the situation at a different lighting,

"At least that's what ma da' would always tell me." He said

Merida looked at him, brows crossed "What do you mean?" she asked curiously

MacGuffin was fixing the fire with a stick causing it to pop, "I lost me own mother. About three months ago" still keeping his attention toward tending the fire,

She softly gasped, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I- I didn't know-"

"It is alright." he said slightly intrupting her, "An incurable disease had made her ill for weeks and eventually took her life. But I know now she is in a better place. Me da' and I properly grieved and during that time that's what he told me" the stout lad looked back at the princess, Merida gave him an apologetic look. It must have been hard for him those few months, and now all their family was in this state…

"It is okay to be scared, but we must be strong to accept what has happened and continue fighting in their honor." he said firmly, giving her a confident smile

Merida's eyes gleamed from the fire's glow and nodded, she felt hope bloom inside her. She was quite impressed. This was the first time she'd seen the young MacGuffin open up like this, let alone comment her,

"I appriciate the advice, MacGuffin. Thank you. That did more help for me than ya know" Merida spoke softly as she then leaned in close to him and resting her head and both her arms around him in a warm hug.

MacGuffin stood stiff as it was so sudden and felt his heart beating crazy fast. They stayed like that for a good few seconds as she released her grip on him and stood up, heading back to her rest area near Angus.

She then stopped in her tracks and turned back around as he looked up noticing her,

"And… yer a sweet lad." She said sincerely, placing a light kiss on his forehead and then after playfully nudging him, "Goodnight" she said

MacGuffin thanked the heavens it was dark in the cave, or she would have noticed his burning red face, "Ah, goodnight...princess" he muttered but she had already laid down to rest. MacGuffin was left to tend the fire and kept sweet thoughts about the fair princess giving a shy smile.

Thanks to him, Merida was able to get a comfortable rest knowing she wasn't alone in all this 'kurfuffle' and laid down her head into a soft slumber.


Okay so thats all I have for now. I hope it wasn't too short :(

I'll try and get the other chapter written up as soon as I can! Thank you all for the reviews! You guys rock too! :D

And if you have any questions reguarding some elements from this story, please dont hesitate to PM message me, its easier if you want to get a question answered ;)

God Bless! xoxo