ANI am having the story under go major major edits after having seen the second movie. The premise is the same but Hiccups motivation changed. SO here we go. This is still going to be Mericcup. This is three years after Brave and she was 15 during her movie. Hiccup was 14 and its been 4 years since the first movie and only a few months since the second. For Hiccups Armor think of HTTYD2. Astrid and Hiccup failed at dating and are only friends and were so at the start of the second movie. TV Show is disregarded. Now on with the show.

I own nothing.

Of Bows and Dragons

Chapter 2:

It was lunch time when Hiccup put down his charcoal pencil and stood up to stretch. His prosthetic leg creaked and clicked. It needed to be repaired. He didn't have the tools for the up keep on it here. Hiccup looked over at Toothless and the red haired lady. The young man studied her for the third or fourth time that morning. The dress she wore was vibrant and spoke of richness. 'She is too far out of my league,' thought Hiccup. 'It's not surprising the more I think about it. Chief or not…'

His head snapped up when he heard movement off to the left. Toothless had stood up. The black dragon licked his lips and nodded towards the stream 'food' was his thought.

Hiccup understood immediately, especially when he felt his own stomach rumble. "If you're getting fish, get some extra in case she wakes up."

Toothless rolled his eyes, as if to say duh, grabbed an empty bag and sprinted towards the water. Hiccup smile and shook his head. Sitting down, he replaced his glove and went to go pick up his journal when he heard a moan. The fiery headed girl was beginning to wake up! "Hey, are you ok?" he asked as he approached her, careful to keep his distance though, "Uh, Lady?" He dared to inch a little closer.

The young woman opened her eyes suddenly and sat up. And then instantly regretted it. "Ow, my head," she said with an odd accent. She reached up to feel her head. It was bandaged. 'What happened? Where am I?' she thought nor noticing the armored young man to her side.

"Uh….Lady? A-are you ok?" Hiccup kneeled down to her level.

"My name isn't Lady!" she said in an angry tone. She turn to face him, but faltered for a second. 'Handsome' she thought. She started again in a kinder, yet still miffed, voice, "My name is Merida," she touched her head again, "What happened?"

Hiccup walked over and picked up a water skin and handed it to her, "We found you in a stream about a half mile that way," he nodded in the direction that his dragon had gone, "You were knocked out, I think you might have hit your head on a rock. What do you remember?"

Merida had tensed at the word 'we' and hoisted herself onto the rock she had been leaning on, "I was just exploring the forest. Then I tripped." Merida looked around the clearing. "So who is we?"

Hiccup rubbed the back of his head, "We I-I didn't say we. No we here. Just me."

"No you said we. Where is the other?"

"Look there is not another person here with us," Started Hiccup but was interrupted by a sack hitting the forest floor. Causing both humans to turn.

With Toothless just before…

Toothless happily carried the fish in his front legs while walking on his hind legs. He trekked through the woods until he came to the clearing they were camped in. Hearing voices the young black dragon clung to the shadows. His human was stuttering. It was funny to see his friend back pedal and say that there was no one else there.

Toothless huffed in annoyance at the 'not another person here comment'. He was people. So he made his presence known.

Merida was frozen at the sight of the large black beast. Hiccup was frozen because Merida saw Toothless.

"Merida. Don't panic." He came up to the young woman's side.

"Merida leaned her head toward him, "Don't panic?" she whispered frantically, "It's a damn, bloody dragon and you say don't panic!" She looked down at her bow and began eyeing it, hoping she could reach it and fire before the beast attacked.

"Listen, he won't attack you. Just stay calm." The Viking looked back at the dragon.

The two humans began moving forward at the same time. Due to Merida's concussion and Hiccup's awkward gait they collided and tumbled into a mass of limbs. Toothless let out a series of sounds that sounded like laughter.

The two's faces only a few inches apart. They stayed like that a few moments until they both started to go red. Merida, having landed on top, stood up and looked at the dragon having a fit of laughter. "He really is harmless isn't he?"

Hiccup sat on the rock previously occupied by the ginger girl, "N-no. He's dangerous. But, he's my friend."

"You could have said tha' to start with," Merida turned to face him, "I didn't even know they were real."

Toothless came over and sat by his human, "As far as I can tell my village is one a couple of handful of ones that have had problems with them," he started to scratch his dragon's head, "The two of us ended that."

Merida smiled at the two. They looked like good friends. She made a mental note to ask him about the story later. In the meantime, "So, what are your names then? I could just call you boy and dragon."

Hiccup went red with embarrassment again. "I-I-I'm Hiccup, and this is Toothless." He said gesturing to Toothless.

Merida started trying to stifle laughter, "Tha's a funny name, lad." Apparently it was possible for him to blush deeper. After a couple more moments the Scot stopped laughing.

Hiccup huffed and picked up the sack of fish. He took out two decent sized fish and laid them to the side. Then he tossed the sack to Toothless, "Eat up buddy." Merida watched as the boy grabbed a couple of sharp sticks from his pile of equipment. Then he speared one on each of the two fish and handed a stick to her. She watched as Hiccup walked over towards the fire and held it over. Noticing, with curiosity, the pops and clicks from the prosthetic leg she hadn't notice before. She stuck her own fish over the fire.

"So, Hiccup," Merida began, "What happened to your leg?" she tried to sound as causal and calm as possible. She wasn't exactly calm. The princess was wary of the dragon, who wouldn't be, but she was more wary of the unknown man in front of her. She needed to know more.

Hiccup smiled and looked at his leg. A tiny piece of metal was sticking out. "The spring in the foot broke. Now it makes noise," said Hiccup with a smile.

"No. I meant your first leg."

"Ah. Now that is a story." Hiccup poked the fire with a stick. "Long story short I did something…. stupid… And….. Crazy."

Merida rolled her eyes, "How did it get hurt?"

Hiccup smiled. "That is… a story for a later time."

Having finished his own fish, Toothless and curled up next to his friend. An hour or so later both humans finished their meals as well. Merida looked to the sun it was a couple of hours past noon. "I need to get home. My parents will kill me!" She stood up fast and suddenly got light headed. Still feeling the effects of her head injury.

Hiccup caught her shoulders to steady her, "You're in no condition to be going anywhere alone." He let her go and he quickly tied his bag shut and slung it over his shoulder. "Come on. Point us to your home."

AN: That is the end of CH2. Review if you'd like, please give me some honest feedback if you do.