Hey there!Quick notes about this chapter. This was very hard to write because I had to figure out how to make Merida and Hiccup reunite without making it seem weird. Since it had to look like a great coincidence in order for it to be realistic. I also needed to figure out if Dragon's edge was north or south of Berk in order to figure out if Dunbroch was north or south…Okay I actually didn't figure it out. I just think it's south so I think Scotland should be south of dragon's edge. This story ofcourse takes place during race to the edge and shortly after Brave,like I already mentioned before. Merida is 16,close to 17. I made her close to 17 mostly so the age different between Hiccup and Merida would be a tiny bit smaller, since Hiccup is 18 or 19 in race to the let's get this started,shall we?

Chapter 2: Shovels and Pickaxes

Morning-dragon's edge

To call this a bad start of the morning was an understatement. Hiccup woke up from a giant bang outside of his hut.

He had gone to bed late that night because of working on his ''secret project'' which ofcourse no longer was a secret. It was his very own copy of the dragoneye which, hopefully, would be able to do much more than the original. So ofcourse after that night he was very tired so to be woken up just like that was the perfect thing to make him cranky.

He got up and the moment he walked out of the door he noticed the source of the noise. Hookfang had once again set Snotlout's hut on fire. Which wasn't such a big thing since Snotlout had his own water tank next to his hut, just in case, but it sure made Hiccup even crankier since he had been woken up by that.

He and Toothless walked to the clubhouse together. Fishlegs was there already, looking through the book of dragons. The twins were nowhere to be seen(that was actually something good) , Snotlout was probably making sure his hut didn't completely burn down and Astrid was probably on a morning flight with Stormfly.

Hiccup went to sit down at the table, next to Fishlegs, and grabbed an apple (as a replacement of breakfast,since the twins weren't there yet and Ruffnut always made breakfast).

Astrid came running into the clubhouse, Stormfly following. Fishlegs looked at her,frowning. ''Back already?You only left half an hour ago.''

Astrid quickly dismissed his question. ''We saw dragonhunter ships sailing past. They were going south.''

''Fishlegs, go get Snotlout. Astrid, you get the twins. We meet here.'' said Hiccup. They left quickly without protests. A few minutes later Fishlegs came in with a complaining Snotlout while Astrid came in, followed by the bickering Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Another few minutes later they were all up in the air, following the dragonhunter ships.

''Hiccup,this is getting very suspicious. These dragonhunter ships are going farther than they've ever been. We're aproaching Scottish territory.'' Said Astrid.

''Believe me,I know Astrid. It really is would they get so close to Scottish territory?''

The ships stopped at the northside of Scotland, near a small cave. Hiccup got out his spyglass and noticed the cave wasn't just a cave. It seemed like a tunnel that went far under Scotland.

''Hiccup?What are you seeing?'' said Astrid. ''It's not a cave. It's a tunnel and it seems like they're dropping off stuff there. They're carrying crates inside there.''

''I bet there's corpses in there which they wanna hide.'' Tuffnut said,all of a sudden. Everybody looked at him.

''what?You know I'm right.'' He said.

''Okay,here's the plan. We wait till they're all gone and then we go in there ourselves. We look what they put in there. If it's dangerous, we take it and get rid of it.'' Said Hiccup,ignoring Tuffnut's disturbing theory.

A few minutes later the hunterships sailed away,giving the dragonriders the opportunity to sneak into the tunnel.

The tunnel was filled with crates. On the floor were things like shovels,pickaxes and other things that were obviously meant for digging a tunnel.''Okay the crates.''

''Pickaxes,shovels and more pickaxes and shovels. Nothing interesting. What are they even doing here?'' said Astrid a couple minutes later.

''Wish I knew Astrid. I think we should go through the tunnel and find out where it leads.'' Said Hiccup.

They went through the tunnel. Half an hour later they were still walking. The tunnel was much longer than they had expected.

''My feet hurt!When is this tunnel going to end!'' said Snotlout. Astrid turned around and looked at him. ''If you don't stop whining your feet won't be the only thing that hurt.'' Snotlout immediatly stopped whining but kept saying stuff under his breath.

Minutes later they saw light at the end of the tunnel. The light came from a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel which was just big enough for a person to climb through, even Fishlegs. A rope ladder led to it. They climbed through the hole one by one.

''A forest?!We walked all that way to find a forest?!'' said Snotlout. Hiccup looked around. ''Not just a forest. This one is close to the nearest kingdom. The one closest to the north side of Scotland. I bet they weren't allowed to come near the kingdom so they found a way to sneak in without being seen.''

Suddenly an arrow flew their way, missing Fishlegs face by merely an inch and piercing itself into the nearest tree. Fishlegs let out a terrified shriek. Their dragons growled at the direction the arrow came from.

A young girl stepped out of the shadows. She was holding a bow,having another arrow on it ready to shoot. She had long, extremely curly, red hair and was wearing a dark greenish blue dress. A black (and on some parts white) horse was standing a bit further behind her. She had a scottish accent.

''Don't move. Or I will shoot an arrow right through you. Who are you and what are you doing here?'' She said.

Astrid was already holding her axe and all the others were standing in defensive positions. Hiccup however didn't do just stared at the girl.

''Merida?...''

Okay that was it.I decided to end it here instead of writing the rest because it sounds like a great will happen next? And a quick reminder: The reason Hiccup recognizes Merida and Merida doesn't recognize Hiccup is because Merida didn't change much, as you saw in the movie. She grew and got a different dress but she's mostly the same. The same red hair, the same face but a bit older. While Hiccup changed a lot. He grew much taller, his chest armor makes him look slightly more muscular (only is still a walking noodle :p) and his hair is more messy. Not to mention his face looks much older. I think everyone can agree Hiccup changed a lot. That's why Merida doesn't recognize him. The reason she suddenly attacks them is simple: They are unknown people with freaking dragons! And I believe there are not many dragons in that area so meeting people with dragons is a big shock. See you next time!