Merida felt troubled. She paced the castle halls, eyes running over the portraits of her ancestors, and yet she wasn't really looking at them. She was troubled because she was unsure.

Merida was a Scottish princess. She was always sure of who she was, what she wanted, and how she'd do it. She was sure about everything she faced in her life so far, like when her mother tried to find suitors for her, or when the dress-maker came.

And then there was Hiccup.

This Viking boy, the boy she at first hated, was casting her mind into such turmoil that she hardly knew what to think. He was going on his fourth night with her family, yet already he had changed Merida in a way she didn't understand.

It started when he had called her beautiful at the breakfast table that one day. No, probably before that, but that was when she first felt something.

Merida was not a girl who fell in love with the first boy to call her beautiful. Quite a few had come and professed their love to her, even one of the stable boys. But Hiccup was different. His feelings to her were vague. One minute he was calling her beautiful, the other he was tormenting her.

Or was she tormenting him?

Before she knew it, she had appeared at his door.

She raised a hand to knock, lowered it, and then raised it again. However, before she had a chance to touch it, it flew open, and there was Hiccup. His hazel eyes, which looked greener to her everyday, stared at her.

"Uh, hello," She stuttered.

"Hi," Hiccup said, raising an eyebrow slightly, as if asking, 'why are you here?'

"So, how's things?" Merida mentally slapped herself. What was she thinking?

"Good."

An awkward silence stretched out between them. Merida frantically searched her mind for something else to say, something that made sense.

"I just wanted to ask what the plan is. For instance, you want to bring your dragon-fighting friends over here from Berk?"

He glanced down the hall, perhaps looking for prying eyes, and then opened the door, a wordless invitation for her to come in. She gulped, realizing she was in a boy's room, with said boy, alone.

"You're right, I am thinking of doing that," Hiccup confirmed, once they were safely in his room. He sat down on his bed and leaned back on his elbows casually. "But not for a little while. I think, for now, that we should scope out the dragosn a little more, find out if there's anything we missed." He got up and walked over to his desk and held out one of the blank journals, then flipped open to a page, where there was a drawing of the dragon.

Merida smiled. "You can draw, too? You're a man of many talents, I see."

Hiccup looked at her, right in the eyes. "You've changed. Towards me, I mean."

Merida felt herself growing red under his analyzing gaze. "Well, uh, I feel like I've eh, gotten to know you better now, right? Being in the air with you and Toothless, well," She smiled. "It can change a woman, you know."

Hiccup laughed. "I guess so. You're not the first girl it's changed." He abruptly changed the subject, his face going slightly red. "Any ideas for a name for this dragon?"

Merida was so caught up in wondering what other girl there was that she barely heard his question.

"Huh? Oh, The..." Her face suddenly lit up, making her look so pretty that Hiccup had to smile a little. "The Bagpipe Terror!"

Hiccup full out laughed this time. "It's perfect." He walked back to his desk, stumbling slightly, and set the journal down. "I'll add it when the drawing's done."

"Alright." Merida glanced around the room, her gaze resting on the window, which was darkened by the night. "I better get back to my room, now."

Hiccup nodded and rubbed absently at his bad leg.

"Who's Astrid?" Merida blurted out. She instantly clamped her hands over her mouth, realizing that the question could hurt Hiccup. But he just sighed and again sat down on his bed, slumping his shoulders.
"She was a girl back in Berk. Bad-ass, beautiful Viking type." He didn't look wistful, or dreamy, just expressionless. "Used to hate me because I was this awkward, skinny, clumsy kid who couldn't seem to do anything right. Anyways, Toothless and I became friends, I took Astrid up with us for a ride, then ended up saving Berk and all the Vikings and dragons." He shrugged. "We got together."

Merida was still at the door. "And?"

"And she took my dad's side, chose his opinion over mine, let me leave Berk without a second glance."

Hiccup's eyes suddenly grew angry. He stood up and started pacing the room, his fingers clenched into fists. "And now, she might come here. I don't know how this is going to work."

Merida watched him pacing. "She doesn't have to come."

"But she does!" Hiccup raised his voice slightly. "Don't you see? She's the best out of all of us. Period. She has to come."

Merida walked over to him and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. Hiccup sighed and leaned against the wall, resting his face in his hands. "It just isn't easy."

Merida stepped closer and set both hands on his shoulders, and then awkwardly slid them so that they were eneveloping him in a soft hug. "Don't worry, Hiccup," She said. "You need to ignore them. They were holding you back from doing amazing things. But now you can change your fate, even if you're going to get hurt along the way."

She suddenly realized their close proximity and stepped back. But Hiccup noticed the spark gleaming in her eyes, the smile on her lips. She wasn't stubborn, he realized. She was just a very determined young woman.

"Okay," he said, trying not to stutter at the powerful effect of her words. "Well, we'll go look for this thing tomorrow morning, bright and early. I'll see if I can find out who the dragon's leader is, stuff like that."

"Sure," Merida smiled. "I'll see you at the gates."

And with that she left the room, her blue dress trailing behind her.

Hiccup smiled, his mood much, much happier than it had been before Merida came to his room.

Hiccup guided Toothless upwards, feeling Merida wrap her arms around him tighter.

"Has he caught the scent?" Merida asked. Hiccup nodded and let Toothless choose the direction. Soon, they were once again over the forest, a little farther in than the day before. Toothless glided slowly over the treetops, and then swirled into a landing in a clearing. Merida and Hiccup jumped off him, Merida giving him a tiny pat on the way down. She had begun to like the enormous reptile.

Toothless focused on one direction, and Hiccup knew this was his way of telling which way to go.

"Thanks, bud," he told Toothless. Him and Merida ran ahead, leaving Toothless behind. Toothless was too big to navigate through the trees, and would be safer in the clearing.

"Think we're close?" Merida huffed after a few minutes. Hiccup was about to answer, when a knife-like pain cut through his head. He fell to his knees and clutched at his scalp, letting out a gasp.

'So, you're back.'

Hiccup looked around, glaring at the trees around him. "Where are you?" He shouted. "And what are you doing to my head?"

Merida drew her bow, stringing an arrow quickly and quietly.

'Telepathic communication is not easy on your puny human brain,' The voice hissed. 'Oh, I wish I could kill you.'

"Then why don't you?" Hiccup challenged. "What's holding you back?" He began to get angry at the stupid dragon.

'We have to wait, idiot. I have told you.'

"Yeah, but for what?" Hiccup asked angrily.

'For Him, our leader, the dragon who has taught us so well, who has come up with this wondrous plan. He is the greatest, the biggest, the smartest, the-'

"Shut up." Hiccup unsheathed his sword. "Why wait?"

'He is not yet healed, human. Long ago, he was injured badly. Your kind always manages to mess something up, even the most powerful dragon, the biggest dragon, the smartest-'

"I get it!" Hiccup sighed and sheathed his sword. "Why shouldn't I kill you right now?"

'Do you really think you could?' The dragon was laughing now, sending new waves of pain through Hiccup's head. 'Could you kill me? Or my sisters? My brothers? We are invisible, not conquerable.'

Hiccup felt a breeze behind him, and he realized it was the dragon moving behind him.

"Even if I did hurt you, you wouldn't be able to hurt me back," Hiccup smiled. "You're not allowed." He stabbed his sword where his instincts told him. There was a roar, and the dragon was revealed. Hiccup had stabbed his foot.

'You're right,' he said, 'I cannot hurt you. But we can hurt your... Lizard.'

Almost instantly, there was a roar of pain in the distance.

'Just be luck we didn't hurt the girl.'

And then the dragon disappeared, spitting the sword out and leaving a pool of golden blood on the ground.

Hiccup turned to Merida, his face paling.

"H-Hiccup?" Merida asked, her eyes big. "What'd the dragon say? What was taht sound" Tears began to spring to her eyes, because she knew that the soundwas Toothless. She knew that it was a cry of pain.

"Toothless."

Hi :) Sorry I took a little while to update. Had writer's block. Ew.

Review, fav, follow! Let me know what you think.

Is Toothless dead?