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. Now on with the show.

I own nothing.

Of Bows and Dragons

Chapter 3

Hiccup approached Toothless and kneeled to his faithful dragon, "Toothless, they will lose their heads if they see you," he turned and looked at the waiting woman and then back to him, "I'll be back in a few days. If I get the feeling this could be a home and I can strike a deal with the Chief I'll come back and get you. If not, well you know the rest." He stood up and placed his helmet on his head. "Stay safe. Come get me if there is trouble."

As Hiccup approached Merida she looked confused. "Why aren't we taking your dragon?"

Hiccup leaned down to pick up her bow and quiver to hand to her. He smirked beneath his helmet, "He'd cause panic. An armored stranger with a mythical beast? No way."

Merida huffed and rolled her eyes. She accepted the bow and slung the quiver onto her back. She started walking in the direction of the stream. Leaving Hiccup to look at Toothless who only offered him a shrug of confusion. The young Viking shook his head and quickly caught up to the fiery young woman. "So," he started, "Where are we going?"

Merida smiled softly, "DunBroch. My home." After a few moments of silence she asked, "Where are you from?"

Hiccup didn't answer for a few minutes. 'DunBroch? Where have I heard that name before?' thought Hiccup. Then it hit him. He had left Viking Territory and entered into the lands of the Scots. 'I need to take her home and then leave. Quickly.' Meanwhile, Merida studied her temporary protector. His armor was made out of thick leather with metal reinforcing it based on the clanking. It consisted of a breast plate, shoulder pads (one with a red crest), strange leg armor, and full arm guards. Several daggers were strapped to his body. His belongings were in a medium sized pack that was tightly packed and firmly bound to his body. He carried himself tall and full of confidence, but his speech was timid. He was a contradiction. "I'm from a village in the North."

Merida raised an eyebrow. "That's it? Just North." It was too vague. It didn't help the little trust she had.

Hiccup turned his head to look at her. "It was twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south from Freezing to Death."

The young Scottish girl giggled, "Sounds charming, laddie. What made you want to leave such a wonderful place?"

Unconsciously Hiccup tensed his shoulders. "I-I-I, uh, needed to leave. Our village is dying and I was sent to scout ahead to a new home." Merida just nodded. It was incredibly suspicious though. The two walked in verbal science. The only non-woodland sound was Hiccup's leg as it clicked and squeaked.

The two didn't do much talking for a while. They just stole glances at each other. As they neared the tree line Merida stopped and held an arm out to catch Hiccup across his chest. Making silencing motions she drew her bow and knocked an arrow. Hiccup followed her lead and had a dagger in one hand and a hilt in the other. Merida swung around and saw what she had heard. A large bear.

Ever since Mor'du was killed, bears had been more common. The bear roared and charged the pair. Merida saw double and her arrow missed. Hiccup pushed her out of the way just in time to catch the swipe of the bear's claws across his left lower side, where there was no armor. The cuts burned and Hiccup yelled.

Hiccup active his fire sword and swung his right hand back towards the beast. He was pushed away by the bear before the blade could make meaningful contact but singed the fur greatly. The young Viking turned just in time to see two arrows sprout from the bears shoulder and chest. Merida had fired at both bears this time.

Suddenly there was a loud, high pitched whistling sound. A blue fire ball slammed into the bear, mortally wounding it. While the furry beast was trying keep standing, Toothless tackled the bear. Using a second blast of blue fire he ended the bear's misery. The dragon helped Hiccup up and acted as a crutch for his friend. He didn't want worsen his wounds and he needed to stay awake incase the blood loss was worse or more internal than it looked.

Hiccup and Toothless looked at the fallen beast. Suddenly, loud voices with the same accent as Merida were approaching the trio. It was a group of about eight men wearing what looked to Hiccup like green skirts. They looked relieved at the sight of the ginger girl but quickly became frightened when they saw the other two. Hiccup seemed to be right about their reaction unfortunately.

The set of warriors raised their weapons and got ready to charge. Toothless began to growl and his ridges trembled.

"STOP!" shouted Merida. The whole company looked at her, the warriors dropped their weapons, and Toothless sat back on his hind legs. "They gave me aid. You'll not be harming them. Either of them." She looked at the helmeted figure and his dragon. "Are either of you hurt?"

Toothless shook his large head. He was fine, the bear wasn't it was dead, He was fine. Hiccup however just held up his right hand, which had been pressed against his left side. Blood dripped off of his hand, "Tis but a scratch."

Merida looked at him with an unamused face. "You could have been killed. Let's get you to a healer," she turned to her fellow Scots, "Take care of them. I'm going to see my dad."

One of the warriors bowed and the other's followed suite, "Yes, Princess." They intoned.

Hiccup's mind was reeling. Prin-pri-princess?! No wnder they were so protective of her. That's the first princess I've ever met. I assumed they would be stuck up and not want to even touch a weapon. Guess that explains why she's so pretty. Where did that come from? Looks like I'm in it deep. Hiccup shook his head to clear it. He was losing his mind. He gripped his side tightly, attempting to dull the pain.

The warrior who Hiccup assumed was in charge came up to him, keeping his distance from the Night Fury, said, "You'll be coming with us then." Hiccup adjusted the bag on his back, nodded and followed the men. His leg made even louder clicks. He leaned heavier on toothless. The man in front of them spoke up, "So what is your name, then lad?"

"Um, Hiccup, uh, sir."

The company laughed. "Lad. Did your parents hate you?" asked a man to his left.

Hiccup just shrugged, "It's common where I'm from to have an odd name. They say it's supposed to scare off gnomes and trolls. Besides it's not the worst name I've heard." He was breathing heavy

The rest of their walk to the castle gates was in silence. The men kept their distance from the Viking and dragon. They didn't trust them and Hiccup didn't blame them. He just wished they would loosen their grips on their swords. The gates drew nearer and nearer and Hiccup closed his eyes silently pleading for the townspeople to be calmer than his escorts.

Of course it didn't quite happen that way. As soon as they passed through the gates people began to line the streets and parents sent their children inside. Many of them held weapons. Hiccup didn't blame them all but that's not what caught his attention though. The huge stone structure was incredible. Hiccup and Toothless shared wide eyed looks as neither of them had ever seen such a thing. The escorts led him to a stone building that wasn't near as large as the other.

The man in charge knocked on the door and an grizzled old man came to the door. He asked, "What is it this time, Angus? Another hunting accident?"

The lead man, Angus, smiled. "In a way, I guess, Connor. We found these two," he jerked his thumb towards Hiccup and Toothless, "in the forest. They killed the bear we were tracking. The boy went and got himself mauled."

Hiccup was led into the building by the healer, gipping his side tightly, and Toothless followed closely. Hiccup was directed towards a small chair and his dragon crammed himself behind the chair. Connor rolled his eyes. "As long as your….. thing keeps his distance he can stay. Now let's remove your shirt and armor."

Hiccup complied and painfully unbuckled the breast plate and belongings. He tried to peel the shirt off of his torso but the shooting pain in his side made him stop. He was starting to feel woozy. The healer drew a short knife and cut his shirt off of him, leaving him half naked.

The doctor turned and picked up a white cloth. He handed it to Hiccup to press onto the wound. "So," the healer named Connor started, "Why in the hell did a young man like you think could take on a full grown bear?"

Before Hiccup could answer the now bloody cloth was pulled away and a stinging liquid was poured over his long cuts. Hiccup shook his head and fought the pain, "It, ah, attacked us."

The healer began to inspect the wounds on his patient. "Most men would have run."

"I don't exactly," Hiccup gave a sharp intake of breath as he was prodded, "run very fast anymore," he said gesturing to his leg.

Connor shrugged, "I still think it was something else. Now then. To business." He prodded and poked some more. "Their deep and bleeding a lot, but they didn't reach your innards. So, that's lucky." He pulled out some needle and thread.

"Tis' but a scratch."

"A scratch? You're leaking like a rotten bucket." Connor began to sew the strips of flesh back together.

"I've had worse!" Hiccup protested.

"I can tell. Your bloody leg is off!" Connor chuckled as he continued stitching him up. In addition to the false leg he was covered in scars of various sizes. He was starting from the highest cut and working his way down. He was a little unnerved by the black dragon watching his every move with fascination. It wasn't bad though. He was almost calming and acted like a protective dog or cat. The old man didn't have any trouble treating the young man. He didn't flinch away from pain and he sat straight up. After he sealed the lowest and longest cut he used a wet cloth to wipe away the crimson liquid. He bound Hiccups lower torso with a long strip of white cloth. "Alright you're done. So you don't pop a stitch, don't try to put a shirt on for a few days."

Hiccup tested his movement. It was decent. "Then what am I supposed to where?" His answer was in the form of a green skirt thing he had seen every other male, including Connor, wearing. "A skirt? You want me to wear a skirt?"

Connor smacked the back of his head, "It's a kilt lad! It's a proud garment."

Hiccup shrugged and undid the rope holding his pant leg to his replacement foot. He expertly undid the harness and removed the foot to reveal the stump that ended at mid shin. Light burn scars made a ring around the end. After removing his pants and leg armor, Hiccup donned the 'kilt' with guidance from the healer. Hiccup removed the remainder of his armor and stowed it in a second bag. He then lashed both bags and his leg to Toothless' saddle.

He balanced himself and looked into the mirror on the wall. He was still skinny but he had built up some muscle over the years. He looked almost natural wearing an emerald green kilt with a length of cloth make making a loose sash across his body from left hip to right shoulder and a leather and fur boot. Several scars were visible on his torso. He began to stare at his stump. Toothless came over and sat next to him and held his tail so it was visible in the mirror. Hiccup leaned onto his best friend's shoulder, "Just a couple of cripples right buddy?"

Connor came over and patted his shoulder. "I have a feeling that whatever made you a 'cripple' is the same reason why you faced the bear. It's why you are a better man."

"Being stupid and crazy doesn't make me a better man." Toothless licked his face as if to say, It's ok.

"Your beast," Toothless growled at the healer, "Friend," the dragon nodded, "Is right. You are you. The best you there is. Now you best be off. I expect the King would like a word with you."

Hiccup nodded. Satisfied with his appearance he and Toothless started towards the door. As they neared it opened on its own accord.

A few moments before…

Merida made her way back through the streets of DunBroch towards the healer's house. Her Parents were angry when she first appeared because she was several hours late. The anger quickly turned to concern when they saw the bandage on her head. Then they demanded to know what happened. And she told them. She explained how she was found in the river and cared for by Hiccup, that she met his friend Toothless and that they saved her from a bear and Hiccup had been injured in that conflict. They wanted to meet these men as soon as possible.

That was the other thing on her mind. She had neglected to mention they weren't both men.

Whoops. Thankfully because of them waiting to meet the pair all visitations were being held.

Merida stood on the other side of the healer's door wearing at clean dress. She opened it to see her new friends. She evaluated Hiccup quickly. He was wearing DunBroch kilt. Around his abdomen was a white cotton bandage. His remaining visible chest and his arms were well defined but quite scarred. His false leg was removed leaving him with one boot.

"'ello Hiccup!" Merida waved happily. "It's nice to see you properly dressed now. My parents would like to meet you."

'Y-yy-you mean th-the King and Queen?"

"Yep."

AN: Review if you will. Let me know what you think, good or bad.