Hiccup was safely on Toothless. He glanced at Merida, who was hopping nimbly onto Angus.

"How did you do that?" She asked him.

"Do what?"

"Lead your dragon over here and get on him."

Hiccup stared at her, still not getting it. "I grabbed the rope, and started walki-"

"No!" She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You've tripped countless times since you arrived just a few hours ago, yet you could handle that enormous reptile with the ease of, well..." She thought for a moment. "Of me with Angus."

Hiccup shrugged. "Astrid said the same thing, too."

After a second he seemed to realize what he said, and clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Who's Astrid?" Merida asked, her eyes, for the first time since Hiccup had met her, sparkling. "A lass back home, perhaps?"

"She's..." Hiccup sighed. "She's nobody." He faced forward. "Toothless, up." At Hiccup's signals, the dragon spread his huge wings, clipping Merida on the shoulder in the process, and used them to catch the wind. They rose slowly and gently, gaining altitude little by little.

"What direction?" Merida shouted up. "He needs to catch the scent!"

"We'll meet you where the house burned down!" Hiccup shouted back.

It wasn't hard to find, either. There were tall columns of black smoke rising from the smouldering ashes, on the far side of the kingdom. He was careful to stay right above Merida, so that she stayed in there sights for the whole time. She was 200 feet below and he could still see her mane of curls, like a beacon on a cliffside. She and Angus wound carefully through the kingdom streets, being very wary of the villagers this time, rather than trampling them. When they finally reached the site of the fire, Hiccup instantly tensed up.

"What do you smell, Toothless?" Hiccup asked him. They flew down to where Merida and Angus were just skidding to a stop.

"Anything?" Merida asked as she jumped off Angus. The horse dipped his head at Hiccup respectively, but glared at Toothless.

Even her horse hates Toothless, Hiccup thought. Aloud, he said, "Yeah. He tensed up." He turned to

Toothless. "Go, boy. Tell me if you smell anything."

The dragon sunk low to the ground, his blue-green eyes narrowing slightly. Tucking his wings tight against his back, he stepped closer to the smouldering heap of ash.

"Does he smell anything?" Merida asked quietly. Hiccup nodded. "How do you know?"

"Don't you see?" Hiccup asked. "His nostrils, they're flaring. And see the muscles in his back legs? When they tense up like that it means he's ready for an attack from a..." He went pale.

"A what?" Merida asked in frustration. "Just spit it out!"

"A predator." Hiccup whispered.

"But what could possibly be bigger, and stronger, than Toothless?" Merida asked. "I thought you said that he was the most powerful dragon of all. There can't be a predator preying on him."

Hiccup shrugged and drew in a shaky breath. "I'm probably just overthinking his body language. It's probably nothing."

Merida nodded along with him, but she knew he wasn't convinced. Whatever had burned down the houses was big. "Let's asked the farmer how big it was." She suggested. "Maybe that'll help."

"Weren't you listening?" Hiccup asked in frustration. Merida shook her head sheepishly. She often lost concentration when imagining the adventures her and Angus could ave someday. "The farmer didn't even see it. He just saw a cloud of fire erupt from nowhere. I think this... this thing is invisible."

Merida stared at him. "That's impossible. There were reports of a large scaley thing in the forest. If it was invisible, nobody could have-"

"It's only invisible when it wants!" Hiccup exploded. "How are you not getting this? There is a big, dangerous dragon on the loose, and it just so happens that it can turn invisible. We are so screwed."

He stepped over to Toothless and stumbled on a rock. Merida snorted.

"We need to look for it." Hiccup decided, wisely ignoring her snort. Even though he could not dodge things that would cause him physical harm, it seemed he was able to dodge potential arguments perfectly. "But you can't ride Angus, the dragon will sense you coming through ground vibrations. You'll have to fly with me."

"No way." Merida snapped. "I will not get on that gigantic lizard. Angus'll do fine."

She mounted the horse and turned him around. "I'll meet you back at the castle," she said stubbornly, "and you'd better hurry. We need to report our findings."

"Hurry?" Hiccup scoffed at her receding back. "I can easily beat you." He winced as he heard her let out a frustrated shout, and then jumped onto Toothless and let him go as fast as he wanted. They cut through the air at break neck speed, the wind so cold and strong that it brought tear's to Hiccup's eyes. As expected, he did beat Merida, and waited smugly for her aat the entrance to the castle.

Why am I being smug? He asked himself. I was never like this before. This girl is bringing out the worst in me.

After 5 minutes she finally appeared. Angus snorted and galloped towards the stables as soon as Merida was off of his back.

Hiccup stretched and blinked at her as if he had been asleep for a long time. "I'm growing old." He complained dramatically. "Please, check if there are grey hairs growing on my chin!"

"I didn't take that long!" She snapped. "Besides, scrawny viking, you'd be lucky to get any hairs on your chin, let alone grey ones!"

And with that she left him, and he had to hurry to keep up.

"Uh..." He searched for something to say. "Did I offend you?"

He mentally slapped himself. That was the last thing that would comfort her.

"No." She sighed. "I'm just angry, that's all. And I don't even know why." Her face softened and she looked at him for a second, his hazel eyes and happy grin.

And then Hiccup ruined the moment.

"PMS?" Merida's jaw dropped open and she turned to face him. His face was growing slightly red, but he remained serious. "I'm not even joking, Merida. If-"

"You idiot!" She yelled. "You never, ever, EVER say that to a girl! Clearly, you have no experience with them, you small-brained lizard rider!"

"And clearly," He roared, "you have no experience with boys! Don't you know that it's weird to be manlier than a boy?"

"Don't you know that's sexist?"

"Don't you know that calling me a lizard rider doesn't hurt my feelings?"

Merida glared at him for a moment, and then stalked away. "Meet me out front tomorrow morning." She called over her shoulder coldly. "I'll go with you and Toothless. But I swear, if I get hurt, I will kill you and use your skin as a saddle."

She walked briskly away, bristling.

"Did I actually just win that?" Hiccup asked himself.

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