Author's Note: Thanks for the favorites, reviews, etc! Also, thanks for your ideas! Feel free to make suggestions. Sometimes I even take those into account. Enjoy!
"Yes! There it is up ahead!" Merida ran through the trees, her dragon-mother behind her.
When they finally reached the circle, Elinor asked her daughter Now what?
"Well, uhm… The wisps just sort of appeared out of thin air and led me to her cottage…" She motioned vaguely in a general direction on the other side of the circle.
Will-o-the-wisps? Really? Well, do you honestly think they'll turn up again?
Elinor wasn't really in the mood for Merida's shit. She padded off in the direction Merida had said the "wisps" had been.
"Ugh! Muuuuum! Where do you think you're going?!"
At the other side of the circle lay more forest. Elinor could see a path. This must have been the way… Suddenly, a dragon black as night let out a terrible cry and blocked her path.
"Mum!" Merida cried.
This dragon was unmistakable. It had to be the one from the legends, the very same. Its teeth bared, it let out a foul-smelling roar. Elinor backed away in fear. With its wings extended, this Night Fury was surely a horrifying sight.
"You! Leave my mother alone!"
Elinor looked backed to see that Merida had shot an arrow at the beast. Although it dodged with speed, it then abandoned its preoccupation with Elinor and headed towards its new attacker.
Merida!
She had to protect her daughter! She flew to her aid, trying to pull the other dragon to the ground. Instead, the feral Night Fury, much stronger than she was, pinned Elinor down and roared an ear-splitting shriek. Elinor tried to push him off but he was too strong! She could see inside that wretched mouth, the flame about to burst forth….
"Toothless, STOP!" A human voice cried out.
The Night Fury closed his gigantic mouth and loosened its hold on her. Resigned, the Night Fury stepped off the queen's body. Then, she heard two pairs of footsteps approaching. It must have been Merida and her savior. Only a man of great power could command a Night Fury and live! But the voice had sounded a little lacking in the power department and the footfalls didn't sound very heavy…
Elinor could hear the voice scolding the dragon. "Bad, Toothless! Let them be!" Merida then ran and tripped into her arms.
"Mum! Are you hurt?"
Elinor used her short dragon arms to draw her daughter in for a hug. I'm fine, dear. She attempted to regain her dignity and got on her feet. As she rose to see the scene that unfolded before her between the dragon and her savior, Merida voiced Elinor's exact thoughts.
"What in the world?"
Her savior was a scrawny boy, no older than fourteen! He told off this dragon as if it were his pet! And the two almost had an understanding!
"Toothless what did I tell you about attacking other dragons?"
Somehow Elinor understood the growls the dragon made! She tried to kill me!
"You attacked first, Toothless! They were minding their own business!"
That corkscrew-haired brat attacked me!
Brat?! Elinor ran at the pathetic excuse for a dragon but the boy raised his hands as if to stop both dragons from coming at each other. The Queen of Dunbroch was not about to listen to some boy! But as she drew closer, the look in his eyes made her slow. They were so gentle, so calm, as if he didn't fear these beasts at all. Even after she'd attacked his partner in crime, he still wasn't afraid of her. She stared into his eyes in wonder. He took the hand that he had extended towards her and reached for her face. She slowly approached him. For some reason, she wanted to trust this boy.
"Get away from her!" Merida readied her bow with an arrow for this boy.
"Whoa!" He held up his hands as if to surrender. "Hang on a sec. I think I need to explain for a-"
"Nobody touches my mother!"
Merida, leave him be. I don't think he means any harm.
"Just-just let me explain!"
"Who do you think you are?! Do you know who she is? She is Queen Elinor of Dunbroch!" She inched closer and closer to the boy, lowering her arrow, but appearing more terrifying with every step. As she did so, the large Night Fury growled and glared at her suspiciously. "If you lay a finger on her, she could have you strung up by your ankles in the dungeon! Or on the rack! So don't you dare. Touch. My. Mother."
Don't exaggerate, Merida, I wouldn't-
"If she won't, then I will! I, Merida, Princess of Dunbroch, demand you tell me who you are and what business you have romping about the woods with that Night Fury?"
The boy didn't seem as frightened as he ought to be. Instead, he stared at her with a sort of wonder, as if he'd never seen anyone so interesting.
"I- uh-" He spluttered.
"Quit lookin' at me like that and say what you have to say!" She commanded, giving him some breathing room.
"My apologies, princess. I, uh, had no intention of harming your uhm…" He glanced sideways at Elinor, "mother."
"Show some respect to the Queen of Dunbroch! Long story short, a witch turned my mum into a dragon."
"Huh. Turned into a dragon," the boy mused and said to the dragon, "Well, that explains this other Night Fury, doesn't it, bud?"
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Princess, my name is Hiccup and this is Toothless. We're from the Isle of Berk."
"Stop playing games with me!"
Embarrassed, the boy shuffled his feet. "Actually, princess, those are our names. Pretty horrible, aren't they?"
The Queen made a mental note of this occasion: once back to herself, she had to remind Merida that a princess never pokes fun at other peoples' names. No matter how ridiculous they actually were.
"Isle of Berk?" Merida asked.
"In the Barbaric Archipelago…? It's, uh, twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death?"
Merida shook her head. "Never heard of it."
Hiccup said to the Night Fury, "We must be pretty far from home, huh, bud?"
She continued, "You're not telling me you flew all that way? What are you doing here?"
"See, we're not exactly sure. Call me crazy, but back on Berk, Toothless and I saw these strange blue lights."
"Will-o-the-wisps! And they led you all the way here?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"What are you doing with that Night Fury?"
"Wait… you've never heard of the Archipelago…"
"Answer my question!"
A princess is patient, Merida. Elinor tried to remind her daughter. Then she remembered that her daughter didn't speak dragon.
"I've got it under control, Mum."
"Princess, how do you know about the Night Fury?" Hiccup asked.
"How do I know about him? That beast is a legend! Everyone knows about the Night Fury. Some people call it a legend because he hasn't been back in years but I know the truth! I saw it! I was there when it ripped off and devoured my father's leg!" Merida glowered at the boy's pet. Elinor saw its eyes dilate in fear.
"What? Toothless? He would never-"
"Don't waste your breath." Merida readied another arrow at the dragon. He stood on his hind legs and said You want a piece of me?
Merida! Stop this! The queen ordered.
"Princess, stop!" Hiccup stepped in to protect his pet. Merida refocused her target.
Merida! I forbid it! He saved our lives!
Slowly, keeping her eyes on the Night Fury, the princess lowered her arrow. "Why didn't you let that thing kill us?"
"Kill you? Toothless really is sweet-"
Elinor heard the dragon whisper to the boy Sweet? Is that really the best you can do? Sweet…
"Toothless?" Merida chuckled, "He looked like he had plenty of teeth to me. Enough teeth to rip my Dad's leg clean off!"
"Calm down, there, Princess." He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Not when he smiles at you. And if you'd like to see that, you have to gain his trust first."
Merida crossed her arms, turned away, and stuck her nose in the air. "There is no way I am going to gain the trust of the beast that tried to kill my father."
Hiccup rushed around the other side of Merida. "Just give him a chance. He and I got off on the wrong foot, too, didn't we, bud?"
That's the understatement of the year, Elinor heard this "toothless" dragon say.
Hiccup continued, "Listen, princess, where I come from, my people have been at war with dragons for centuries but when he and I were presented with the opportunity to kill each other, we didn't. Instead, he and I learned from our mistakes and decided to… become friends."
Merida eyed him skeptically. Even though Elinor could see the boy getting through to her, she knew her daughter would never give in so easily. "So you're trying to tell me that you and… Toothless here followed a trail of will-o-the-wisps all the way from your barbarian island?"
With an exasperated sigh, Hiccup said "Yes!"
"Some say that the will-o-the-wisps lead you to your fate. They led me to the witch who cursed Mum…"
"…and they led me to you," Hiccup said.
"The Night Fury's supposed to be the only one of its kind…"
"…but then we bump into you guys." His expression changed, his eyes widening into pure excitement. "Maybe this means you should learn to trust Toothless!"
"Oh no! Not that dragon." Her teeth were bared just as fiercely as Toothless'.
"Why else do you think we were brought together? Do you think it's just coincidence that your mother gets turned into a dragon, lights lead me and the only other Night Fury across islands so we could meet? I'm guessing the Queen of Dunbroch wouldn't like to be a dragon forever. Would you, Your Highness?"
Of course not! Elinor said, with a shake of her head.
"If you two are hoping the witch can change you back, then Toothless and I are coming with you."
Without so much as a second thought, Merida quipped, "Absolutely not. Come on, Mum. We can find the witch's cottage on our own."
But Elinor didn't want to go alone. If the wisps could lead Merida to acquire that spell and they led this boy all the way here, clearly, something wanted them to be together. And this boy. The way this boy had looked into her dragon eyes with no fear. The way he had managed to become friends with that dragon! After centuries of war, he'd said! In the boy's wide green eyes, she saw bravery. He extended his hand and she leaned her head forward and his hand touched her cold scaly skin. He smiled.
"Mum, are you coming? I think I've found the way. Mum?" Merida finally turned around to see what her mother and Hiccup had been up to. "ACGH! Mum! What do you think you're doing?!"
"It looks like your mother doesn't mind having us around."
"Mum! I can't believe you!"
Dear, I think you should to give this boy and his dragon another chance.
The princess groaned. "Fine. I suppose we'll let you come with us to the witch's cottage. But after my Mum's cured, I forbid you and your cursed dragon to come anywhere near Dunbroch ever again."
"I think I speak for my father, the chief of our tribe back on Berk, when I say that anyone who has a thirst for dragon blood would be more than welcome in our village." Hiccup said grimly, "Personally, I think if you want Toothless to trust you, you might have to leave that here." He pointed to Merida's bow.
"No!" Merida held the bow high out of Hiccup's reach. "Mum, we're leaving him behind. Go back to your barbarian island. Come on, Mum."
Hiccup gasped and pointed to the sky. "Monstrous Nightmare, get down!" In his strange bean-pole way, he somehow managed to body-slam Merida and slide her bow out of reach. As if on cue, Toothless obliterated Merida's bow to smithereens.
"MAH BOOOOOOOOOOOW!" She rushed to cradle the remains in her arms. Elinor saw the same look that she'd had in her eyes earlier that day when she'd thrown her bow into the fire. Maybe she'd been a little too harsh on the girl. But this boy meant no harm, and neither had she. He and his dragon were probably the only way to change back.
As Merida sat on the earthy floor, tears began to well up in her eyes. The Night Fury must have seen this as act of compassion. She must have, through her vulnerability, gained his trust. And the unholy offspring of lightning and death inched up towards the princess and licked the side of her face with its slobbery pink tongue.
"Ewww!"