A/N:

This was way, waaaaaaaaay, shorter than I expected. Trust me I really want to update fast because I want this to finish before the new HTTYD 2 movie comes out. Hopefully I will. But you're probably not convinced.

And I think we're already halfway throughout the plot and one of you lovely reviewers was hoping for a happy ending. Since we're midway, it's only right you guys should know but I really hope you won't abandon this story.

I'm not sure if i'm that type of author. I might change my mind, but their fates are planted solidly in my plot and will be harvested. But please, continue reading.

"Wartihog put up his hand. "What happens if we can't read, sir?"

"No boasting, Wartihog!" boomed Gobber. "Get some idiot to read it for you."

-How To Train Your Dragon

~O~

The Witch's Cottage

~O~

"You'd be the first," he grinned. "But thank you."

"If ye'd like," Merida interlaced her fingers, "Maybe after all ye've taught me. Ah can give ye my own lessons, perhaps archery?"

Hiccup felt his heart stutter. Was she seriously going to teach him archery? Her clan, the whole Scottish clan was known to have great archers, one of the elite archers in the land if not the greatest. To learn their skills and bring back knowledge about it to Berk would mean a great deal to their tribe.

But what would Merida think? Hiccup shook his head, trying to drive unwanted musings away. It was part of his job, and what his feelings were shouldn't matter.

He nodded in assent.

"Good," she twisted the doorknob and let her last sentence catch up before she closed the door behind her. "We start within this week!"

Hiccup ducked and shrouded himself around the corner, panting heavily. He risked his exposure to peer behind the wall, checking to see if anyone had caught up with him.

It was because quite recently, Hiccup's second encounter with the Typhoomerang flooded through town with many people remarking his skills as legendary. He became famous quickly and was usually swarmed around the villages whenever he passed by. People would ask him where he had learned all the techniques to tame formidable beasts when he did not seem to possess the capacity to do so.

For the moment, he had yet to catch his breath from running a good hour to escape his "aficionados" asking if he could go down that dungeon one more time to show a brief demonstration to tame Torch.

He had wanted to see Torch for quite some time now. It had been four whole days and he had no idea what the Scotts planned to do to him, or worse, done to him. But ever since the accident, no one had been allowed to venture down the dungeons to keep the dragon in isolation. It was the best way for it to remain sedentary.

Torch wasn't the only dragon he was worried about.

Toothless had been missing for days. He'd gone on numerous walks this week searching for his dragon but to no avail. He couldn't have flown away. That was impossible. Merida told him he had probably wandered off somewhere in the forest. Besides, Gairn Loch was an awfully huge timberland and it was true Night Furies loved to go out hunting in isolation. Toothless doesn't normally gait around Berk without his rider, but there were a number of occasions where he disappears for a number of days. Night furies were designed to live a life of seclusion especially from other dragons. But Toothless depended on Hiccup. Where would Toothless have gone?

He decided to just focus on his mission. Toothless was out there. He'll come back. He always does.

Probing his surroundings cautiously, he walked to the walls near the gates.

He was going to meet Merida today. The wound on his stomach wasn't much of a burden anymore. Besides, he had already finished his hellish session with Dagur in the smithy and the sun had already drowned in the jagged outlines of the forest.

The walk was surprisingly long as he delved deeper into the forest. His thoughts were in a tangled knot, thinking either about how much time he had left before his tribe would ransack this country or how he'd survive. Did he have enough information yet? He'd certainly cracked the weak points around the fortress. A few days ago, Merida showed him the rupture somewhere beneath the high-rise walls.

Hiccup was surprised she had trusted him enough to share an information as confidential as this was. In fact, he felt flattered that she actually did. For a moment, he seemed torn about the fact he'd be betraying someone as nice as Merida. These past nights, he had unraveled that there was more to this feisty princess than a roguish facade. She was a snorting pig whenever she chortled, a tripping klutz who'd ambush a plate of delicacies and an affectionate friend who'd willingly stay up with him to tell stories about her kingdom. He loved hearing them.

Hiccup couldn't help but lodge in the musing that his actions; his strategies would bring demise to their relationship. A horrible consequence. What would she think?

Then he realized her feelings didn't matter. Not even his.

He had been thinking too hard to realize someone was standing in front of him within a five-meter radius.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup froze. It couldn't be. He wheeled around to find Astrid running up to him in a mad dash, her embrace making him stagger back in surprise. Her hands were clinging on his shirt, cheek pressed against his chest.

"You have no idea how happy I am to find you," She beamed up at him. Hiccup was at loss for words. What was she doing here?

"Astrid, why're you—"

"You were supposed to come back to Berk a few days ago, Hiccup. It's already been a month," she explained. "Your dad was worried sick. So I volunteered to find you and I did. We can go home now. Stormfly's waiting over there." Her words tugged like they were ropes hauling him back to the island. He didn't want to go home now. Not yet.

"Listen, Astrid. The plan's been...delayed."

"Delayed?" Creases formed on her forehead. "But you agreed to come back to Berk in a month."

"I know," he walked away from her. "But I think I'm on to something. If you guys can give me another three weeks, we'll invade this country easily. I've found a—" he paused. Can he really tell Astrid what Merida trusted him never to?

Astrid stepped closer. "You found something?"

No. "Yes." That was it. There was no turning back. "There's a rupture in their walls about a foot high near the pillars surrounding it. If you can bring the cannons and hit it in that spot, the supports will instantly fall and the invasion will be an easy shot."

"We have to go tell your dad about this. We'll need you to device the strategy."

"No, Astrid. You tell my dad about this. Plan the strategy. I'll stay here and be an inside affiliate."

"But Hiccup—"

"I know you can do this, Astrid. You're vice president of the Dragon Academy, remember? Fill in for me, will you?" He asked.

Astrid reluctantly nodded. She tore of one of the pendants tied to the waistline of her skirt. Besides the skulls encasing her abdomen, there was the crest of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. "You should have this." She extended her arm for him to take.

He looked at her puzzled. "What are you giving me this for?"

"We're recruiting fleets from nearly all of our allied Viking tribes, if not all. Some of them might not recognize you're Stoick's son. You better wear this during the invasion so you'll be safe,"

"Thanks but I honestly don't—"

She shoved it to his chest. "Put some thread on it and wear it around your neck or something. It's the Viking traditional crest. That way no one from our side will harm you."

Hiccup hesitantly took the crest and slid it inside his vest.

"I'll be back in three weeks." He finished. He didn't want to be asked any more questions. "Now, go."

"Maybe you should-"

"You have to go now," he repeated, a little more firmly. "Someone could see you here."

He felt horrible when he saw a slight shade of disappointment loom over her face. But it had to be done. Astrid turned back to where she appeared and vanished in the dark greenery. As he looked into the distance, a pair of wings jutted out from the tips of the trees, pumping mighty swoops towards the sea until their silhouettes thawed in the glow of the moon.

"Hiccup, hiccup." The young Viking woke up to an incessant ranting of his name accompanied by a rather violent shake. "Wake up."

"Huh, what, where am I? What happened?" He blurted the words absentmindedly.

"Ye fell asleep while waiting fer me. Ah had a bit of trouble escaping my mother but ah finally got ewt of the castle." Merida explained. "Ye look awfully pale. Did anything happen while Ah was gone?"

Hiccup paused. Did Astrid's unexpected visit really happen at all or was it just a fancy of his mind while he was asleep? He felt a bulge on his vest and slid his hand in to feel a circular pendant, the crest, to prove everything that happened that night had been real.

"No." He said instinctively.

"Well, then what are ye lying around for? We've got to practice!" She pulled him to his feet like he weighed as much as a feather and dragged him to the gorge.

It was much more difficult to practice archery in the night. There was less to see, precision was unlikely and there were not much moving targets to shoot down. But it did sharpen one's senses in the ambiance of a place so still and quiet. A successful target shooting at night is parallel to five sessions in the day.

"Yer holding yer arm tae high," Merida corrected, adjusting his elbow to level with her shoulders. Hiccup tried to avert his crimson cheeks away but he had to keep a steady focus on the target. Only the target kept disappearing under the dark shades of the water, fins cutting through the surface and reeling around the lake in circles. He was hoping they'd leap into the air towards white waters surging over smooth rocks.

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Hiccup asked, dropping his elbow.

"We caught fish yer way the last time. Now its my turn." She replied, "Now, steady on the target."

"It's the target that's not steady!" He protested.

"That's the point," she shushed. "Ye have tae learn how tae cope with the situation. Over there."

Hiccup caught sight of the fish's scales delicately glinting in the surface, light offered by the moon. It swam near the bank, water rippling at every swivel of its tail. He gulped and pulled the string, fingertips brushing the bow's feathers. He released the arrow, letting it slide over his thumb.

The fish swam away in a startled hurry as the arrow hissed past it by a mile.

"Ye released it tae early." Merida reproached. "And were ye even aiming at the fish? It looked like ye were targeting the water."

"Mild calibration issue." He commented. She placed her hands on her hips. "Face it, Merida. I'm never going to learn this."

"Come here." She beckoned. "Let me teach you something." She leaned close and cupped his ear. "Ah'll teach ye the secret to archery."

"There's a trick to it?" He asked in disbelief.

"Aye," Merida beamed at him. "Ye have tae know one thing; the best archers know the right time to release the arrow."

"There are time fundamentals to this sport?" he asked. "I'm not sure if I can work out the math in here."

"Here, Ah'll teach ye. Gae into position," Merida ordered. Hiccup lifted his arm to pull the string and on his left, an arrow sat where he gripped the bow. "Clasp it like this." Hiccup was sure his heart was about to totter out of his rib cage when he felt his hand being enclosed by Merida's. She lowered his elbow as she stood on her toes to level her vision with his. "Lean forward. Relax."

Her breath tickled his neck, sending rapid pulses thrumming wildly through his veins. How was he supposed to relax when she was in too intimate vicinity from him?

A fish quietly swam by, oblivious to the arrow patiently waiting to impale.

"Not yet." Merida whispered.

"Now?" Hiccup asked, growing edgy.

"Not yet."

The fish stopped momentarily near the pile of rocks gathered on the base of the stream. "Now!"

He released the arrow, holding his breath as the arrow plunged into the waters and pierced the fish. Merida left Hiccup and trudged in the water to grab the arrow.

"Early breakfast." She cheered happily, the fish in gilt scales violently flapping its fins.

"I've always liked it here," Hiccup said, hands tightly clasped around the wooden poles as he rowed in front of Merida. The water was liquid clear in the early daylight. Frilly waterweeds swayed in among dancing stones suspended in the riverbanks. The rising yellow in the eastern horizon cut a stark outline against the dark, night-ridden sky, its stars rapidly fading with the break of dawn.

Hiccup managed to makeshift a wee dinghy out of fallen barks and tarnished wood. They both needed a day to relax and this was exactly what they needed; an excellent, peaceful day of no work out or exhausting practices. Their working area became a temporary luxury.

"Aye, it's really quite something. Ah've never seen the sky like this. Ah don't usually wake up this early."

"Really?" He asked. "Toothless and I ride about this time of the day. He likes to race into the sunrise and watch the sky catch fire." Hiccup wanted to laugh, but he had been missing his best friend.

Toothless still hasn't returned. And he was growing desperate to find him.

"It's a'right, Hic. If there's one thing ah know about Toothless, he cares about ye and would never leave ye." She gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder.

"I hope you're right." He answered with a sigh.

"Just ye wait for the springtime in Scotland. It's absolutely beautiful and ah bet Toothless'll come back just for it…" Merida went on to talk about wonderful blooms in Scotland; how the fields teem arrays of flowers stretching out for miles in the green pastures, how acres of greenery and weathered trunks spurt the juiciest fruit. Hiccup looked away, finding it impossible to stare at someone completely oblivious to what horror will take place in the next few weeks.

"That's amazing, Merida." He swallowed, trying to hide the quiver in his voice. "But, I might not always be around to…see it."

"What?" Merida's smile vanished. "Where are you going? Ah thought ye've made it clear yer staying here."

"Not exactly but-"

His reply was drowned out by the rumble of dark, cumulonimbus clouds. Just as they both looked up at the sky, the pitter-patter of rain cackled down their faces and rapidly turned into a chaotic torrent. This was very odd since thunderstorms didn't occur that much at this time of the year.

Merida turned to Hiccup. "Quickly now. Turn the dinghy around." Hiccup began to row them towards the shoreline, his vision growing blurry in the heavy cascade. Merida got up to her feet to help him paddle their way out of the water, worried lightning might strike, but when she did, the unstable boat tipped a little over to the edge, capsizing her over the boat.

"Merida!" Hiccup called and left the paddles. He looked over the dinghy and saw Merida resurface and spit water out of her mouth. Hiccup held out his hand for Merida to grab and hoisted her onto the boat. Once she had settled safely inside, he quickly rowed to shore. Once they had landed, he took his vest and draped it over Merida's trembling shoulders.

"Wait!" Merida exclaimed looking down at her feet. "Ah'm wearing only one boot!" She looked back at the lake and caught a glimpse of a tiny floating boot in the distance. "It's important we have tae go back. Ah'm going ba—aCHOO."

Hiccup frowned as Merida wiped her runny nose with dignity. "Forget it."

"But-"

"You're going to get yourself killed, now go!" He told her. Merida nodded and they both sprinted off to the forest, trying to find shelter. Hiccup desperately looked around, eyes searching for a shade against the downpour.

"Wha' about there?" Merida pointed her finger at some far off distance. Hiccup turned his head.

There was a cottage sitting in the middle of the woods.