Hiccup never felt so alive. The wind flapped his hair around as Toothless picked up speed flying away from his only home. He had no regrets. and turning he and Jack flew for what seemed like hours. Jack had begun to play a game with Toothless while Hiccup viewed the scenery. Jack abruptly flew down and Toothless followed. They landed in a forest clearing. "Where are we?" Hiccup asked. Jack pulled another stupid grin. "Scotland! Everything exciting starts in Scotland! There's waterfalls, and haggis, and bagpipes, and-! There's one!"

"What? Bagpipes? " Then Hiccup looked to where Jack had pointed. A blue, tiny, floating, ghost-like item had appeared out of thin air. "What's that?"

Jack took a slow step toward it. "Its a Willow-the-Wisp, I think that's what its called." he took another two slow steps. "They're only in Scotland. Some say they lead you to your fate but im dead so I'll be fine." The wisp sang a note and flew off into the darted after it.

"Oh, ok -Wait- WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE DEAD!?" but Jack was already gone. Hiccup told Toothless to stay where he was and ran into the foliage.

Thorns and branches cut at his face as he ran through the forest, calling Jack's name. He reached another clearing. He could only hear his own breathing and his heart pounding in his ears. He glanced around, certain he was lost.

*THWACK* *THWACK*

The silence was broken. Ignoring his common sense, Hiccup ran as fast as he could to the noises. A thorny vine scratched at his eyelids. He sighed with relief when he reached another clearing. Jack was standing in the middle, jaw dropped. Two arrows had hit him in the chest and were protruding out of his upper back, covered in blue liquid. A figure stepped out of the shrubbery. Hiccup couldn't see very well because of the thorns, but it looked like a girl with a mess of red hair. Hiccup screamed. The girl screamed. Jack lifted his finger up and wiped some of the blue blood up from beneath the wound. His mouth moved, as if he was trying to make a sarcastic comeback but no sound came out. The world grew fuzzy and his knees gave out. He faded out to the sounds of a hyperventilating viking and a screaming girl.

"Oh my god he's dead."

"He's not dead."

"I killed him."

"He's not dead."

"How do you know?"

"Look he's waking up."

Jack came to in a dimly lit room with stone walls. He was laying on a large bed. "Oh hey." He muttered. His chest hurt and he was sweating. The girl who'd shot him was nervously pacing next to the fireplace, murmuring to herself. Hiccup sat at the end of the bed. "Jack, this is Merida." Merida barely waved. "Where's my staff?" Jack said, sitting up a little straighter. Merida sat on the dresser and wrung her hands. "We left it in the woods..."

"YOU WHAT?!"

Hiccup jumped. "Keep it down! Her parents are gonna hear you!" He yell-whispered. Jack lowered his voice. "Well let's go get it then!"

Seeing that he was okay, Merida calmed down. "We would but you've been unconscious for hours now. Its too dark outside!" She checked the door. "Toothless is going to freak out." Hiccup sighed. "Toothless?" Merida scanned both faces for an explanation. "His dragon." Jack smiled. Merida's face lit up, fell and she shook her head. "Besides, there's almost no escaping the castle at night. All entry's and exits are guarded except..." Her eyes widened and she ran out of the room.

"Well that happened." Jack crawled out of the bed.

Hiccup scratched the back of his neck.

"Should we go?" he thought back to how he had left Toothless alone in the forest.

"Not without me, yer not!" Merida was leaning on the doorway. Three short, red-haired boys peeked out behind her. "These three know how to get out wi'out getting caught. You want yer stick you follow them." The boys turned around and ran down the hall. Jack followed, no questions asked. "And you!" Merida looked at Hiccup. "You better not be lying about your 'dragon'" Then she smiled. It wasn't what people would typically call a 'pretty' smile, but to Hiccup, it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Once he snapped back into reality, Merida was already down the hall.

"Oh...Oh hEY WAIT GUYS DONT LEAVE!" He ran down the corridor and stopped to catch his breath. The tiny triplets appeared out of no where and pushed him down the stairs. Fortunately, there was an open trapdoor on the ground. Unfortunately, there was no cushion for Hiccup to land on. He crashed into the bunker with a thud. The triplets saluted Merida and closed the trapdoor above them.

"What now?"

"Who said that?"

"I can't hear you, its too dark in here."

"Wait, what?"

"Who?"

A gruff voice said, "Hey kids wanna buy some-"

"AAAHHHHHHH!"

"Haha just kidding its me guys!"

"Wait, who's me?"

"Something touched me!"

"Wasn't me."

"I'm over here."

"Fuck this!"

Hiccup struck a match, providing a little light.

"How long have you had that?"

"Wait," said Merida, "If you two are over there, then what, touched meeeeeEEEEEEEEE!" A swarm of fairly large rats were circling Merida. Jack and Hiccup started to move toward her but there was a squeaking roar from behind them. They turned around slowly. A rat the size of a double-decker bus was glaring down at them with red, beady eyes. Jack opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out, Hiccup noticed he tended to become speechless when something extreme happened. Finding a dragon, getting shot, about to be mauled by a mutant rat, stuff like that.