The docks were a flurry of movement as the crew got their ship ready to leave. Aladdin and Jasmine had been extremely generous in giving them supplies for their journey, not to mention various wedding gifts of expensive silks and choice pieces of jewellery.

The pirates felt almost guilty accepting them – but not enough to say no of course. Merida had already taken Shorty aside for some stern words about how rolling himself up in the expensive silk and cackling manically was innappropriate, or in her words "cut that out right now or I'm going to feed you to a camel."

"Thank you for everything." Rapunzel said, hugging Jasmine goodbye. "I can't thank you enough for all your help."

"Even if you're not aware of just how much." She thought to herself, her mind on the ring currently safe in Merida's pocket.

"You are very welcome – it's a small thing in comparison to Prince Hiccup saving my life." Jasmine smiled back. "Not to mention it has been a pleasure having you all here. It will be quite lonely once you're all gone!"

"If we could stay longer we would Princess." Hiccup grinned, coming up behind them. "But alas, duty calls and there are two entire kingdoms probably quite anxious by now as to our whereabouts."

Jack, Merida and Aladdin soon gathered with them, saying their final farewells.

"Now remember to make sure everyone is tied up securely." Aladdin said, a slight frown of worry on his face. "Once the merpeople realise no one is drowning, they may try and make you turn on each other. The second your crew hear their call, they are completely at their mercy and will be helpless to do anything but what the song directs them to do."

"Don't worry, I'm a master of knots – no one's escaped any I've tied yet." Jack grinned.

"Not that you've made a habit of tying people up though, right Jack?" Merida said warningly.

"You know me Mer – always the kidder." He winked.

After one last round of goodbyes, the four of them made their way onto the ship. Merida strode towards the wheel, only to be halted by a hand on her arm. Turning to look at the owner of the hand in surprise, she found Hiccup glancing meaningfully over at Jasmine and Aladdin who were still watching them from the dock.

"Err...perhaps I should take the helm Captain?" he said quietly. "Just until we're out of sight?"

With a sigh she nodded slightly, hanging back so he could go past her and maintain the pretence of being in charge. Her fingers twitched to take hold of the helm – she had been away from the ship too long and was desperately missing being back at sea.

The ship slowly pulled away from the dock, Merida hovering impatiently behind Hiccup whilst Jack and Rapunzel waved goodbye over the edge of the ship.

The two of them watched as the land slowly shrank from view, the city reduced to a white gem in a ribbon of golden sand.

Jack gave Rapunzel a sideways glance, admiring the way her green eyes sparkled and her hair gleamed golden in the sunlight. Her cheeks were flushed from the sea breeze and the excitement of being on the move once more.

"Are you gonna miss it?" he asked softly.

She turned to look at him questioningly.

"Agrabah." He explained.

She smiled gently before returning her gaze back towards the vanishing land. "Yes and no." She replied. "I'll miss the people and the city was certainly beautiful and exciting in its own way...but I couldn't have stayed there. Not when there is still so much to see!" she swung her arms wide with a laugh, and Jack felt his heart leap at the sound of it.

"Oi! You two!" a Scottish voice interrupted and they turned to find Merida back at the helm. She looked more comfortable than she had in days, and her hands were holding onto the helm as lovingly as a Mother would hold onto her child.

"The holiday is over now – I'm sure there is some work you could both be helping with." She grinned.

"What holiday exactly? I don't remember any holiday." Jack called back. "While Punz and Peg Leg got to hob nob with royalty I was working as a servant remember!"

"Well good thing you're used to it then! So go put your practise to work and make yourself useful." Merida replied.

"Come on Jack." Rapunzel grinned tugging him by the arm. "Let's go see if Big Nose needs any help."

Merida rolled her eyes as Jack immediately followed her, all protest falling at the wayside the moment the blonde had touched his arm. He may grumble and pout as if he was hard done by, but it was obvious to anyone that he was helpless to resist any request that fell from Rapunzel's lips.

"I would tease him about it – but I know how he feels." A soft voice came from behind her.

She turned slightly, the corner of her mouth raised in a smile as Hiccup came to stand beside her. He remained close but not touching, and she could have sworn she could feel electricity sparking in the space between them.

"Oh?" she replied casually. "You have a thing for blondes too then?" she said, a slight tease evident in her voice.

He smirked, turning so that his back was towards the crew and the ship and he was facing her. His hand reached out to softly brush a curl out of her face. "I used to - but for some reason I find myself preferring red heads now. Can't possibly think why."

Their eyes met and though their faces were full of smiles and teasing, there was a heat in their gaze that made Merida feel decidedly hot and bothered. The sooner she could drag Hiccup away for some 'alone time' the better.

"Captain! Shadow Realm is up ahead!"

A grim silence fell over the ship as everyone turned to look at the wall of darkness ahead of them, each one of them recalling the last time they had experienced its inky blackness.

With a determined grimace, Merida adjusted their course to starboard and aimed for where the shadows met the land. They had already been skirting quite close to the shore in preparation for finding the narrow strip of ocean that would be their way home, but even keeping a close eye out for it she very nearly missed it.

The way was littered with rocks, and it was only Merida's careful hand and the watchful eye of Jack up in the crows nest that prevented them from becoming shipwrecked.

The rocks grew larger and more difficult to manoeuvre around, and the wall of darkness was now towering above them. You could feel the tension in the air as it looked to all like they were on a collision course with either the rocks or entering the Realm of Shadows once more.

Suddenly Merida's sharp eyes spotted something. "There!" she cried, pointing at two tall columns of rock with a narrow sliver of ocean between them. The way was dark and treacherous, but there was a definite route between the rocks, sandwiched by tall cliffs on one side and a wall of shadows on the other.

"Ok men – to your positions. All weapons to be handed to Hiccup until we are safely the other side." She called out.

The men quickly lined up and deposited their various weapons with the First Mate before returning to the mast where Rapunzel set to work tying them up securely with rope. It had been explained to everyone the dangers they would face, and Merida was taking no chances in one of them getting free and turning their gun or sword on everyone else.

After making sure everyone was securely tied, Rapunzel scampered back to the starboard side of the ship where she could help keep watch and shout directions to Merida in order to help avoid the rocks. Hiccup did the same from the port side, whilst Jack kept watch from the crows nest.

The ship slipped silently into the darkness – not as dark as it had been in the Shadow Realm, but still pretty gloomy. A strange mist seemed to hover over the water, strands of white vapour curling up the side of the ship like sea foam and the silence was enough to hear a pin drop. An ever present tension smothered the air as they strained to listen for any sign of mermaids.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a growl from Toothless. The dragon shook his head slightly, lowering it to the ground and pawing at his head.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup asked in concern, kneeling down next to him.

His question was quickly answered however when a faint sound reached their ears, and the four pirates looked up in alarm. There it was – the beautiful mermaid song, faint and tinkling but most definitely there.

Four sets of eyes were immediately drawn to the crew and sure enough, the expressions on the men's faces had gone completely slack jawed. Varying looks of bliss were etched on their faces and each of them had begun to strain against their bindings.

There was a tense moment as they watched to see if the ropes would hold, but luckily Rapunzel had done her job well – the bindings didn't budge. "Oh thank the gods" Merida muttered, letting out a small sigh of relief. With the men securely bound that was one less thing to worry about – now she just had to navigate the narrow pathway and hope Ariel kept her father from summoning a storm in the meantime.

Hiccup meanwhile was too distracted to feel much relief. Toothless was still whining and pawing at his head, and it looked like he was becoming increasingly distressed.

"Hey bud, shhh, it's ok." Hiccup knelt down to try and comfort him. "It's just mermaid song, it won't last for long." Toothless had much more sensitive hearing than the rest of them so Hiccup assumed there might be another frequency to the mermaid voices which human ears could not detect. It was obviously aggravating Toothless though.

He reached out to place his hand comfortingly on his dragon's head, trying to soothe his friend through touch.

A low growl was his only warning - his natural reflexes kicked in and he snatched his hand away, mere seconds before teeth sprang from Toothless' gums and clamped down on the space where Hiccup's hand had been moments before.

As quickly as the aggression came however, it vanished and Toothless began to back away with a distressed whimper, shaking his head as if at war with himself.

"Toothless!" Hiccup cried in shock.

"Hiccup? What's wrong?" Jack called down from the crow's nest.

"Something's wrong with Toothless..." Hiccup shouted back, the worry clear on his face before he turned back to try and calm the dragon down. "Hey bud, it's just me, don't worry..."

"Hiccup...?" Merida's concerned voice drifted over the deck as she observed the dragon's behaviour. Something wasn't right. She could feel the hair on her neck standing up and a knot of dread was building in her stomach. Toothless was pawing at his head as if trying to block something out but the music shouldn't be affecting him...no, wait.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Toothless hadn't eaten any of the See Weed.

Time seemed to slow down and everything moved as if in slow motion. As Hiccup approached Toothless, arms outstretched and palms upright in a placating gesture a shiver seemed to run throughout the dragon's body. Toothless's head raised to finally look at him but anyone who knew the dragon could see something was horribly wrong. His eyes had turned to narrow slits, and the fierce intelligence usually in his eyes had been reduced to a muted dullness; no hint of recognition anywhere in his expression.

Hiccup was frozen to the spot as he watched the dragon open his mouth, having seen enough dragons in his time to recognise what the gesture meant, but unable to make himself move. His body couldn't quite register that Toothless would hurt him no matter how much his brain was screaming what was about to happen. Muffled shouting half registered to him, but he was too fixated on Toothless to hear what they were saying.

"Toothless...Toothless NO!" He screamed, his hands coming up uselessly to try and protect his face as the dragon released a flaming ball of fire from his jaws.

At the last second two things happened – Rapunzel's long hair came flying from the side, wrapping round Toothless' neck and tugging it sharply to the side so his shot went off target and someone collided heavily with Hiccup, shoving him out of the way. They tumbled to the floor, Hiccup's breath knocked out of him and a high pitched scream of agony piercing his ears. Rolling over he turned in a panic to find Merida lying next to him, her right arm and side badly burnt and her hair singed. Toothless' shot hadn't been a direct hit thanks to Rapunzel's intervention, but it had still glanced off her as she had pushed Hiccup out of the way and that had caused damage enough.

Frantically he pulled off his jacket and beat out the flames in her hair, before dropping it and running soothing hands over her face and forehead, trying to get her to focus on him.

Rapunzel was shouting, darting from side to side and throwing rope after rope of long golden hair upon the dragon - anything to keep his attention on her and away from her friends. The amount of adrenaline rushing through her was incredible and she wasn't sure how she kept moving but she did.

Her eyes narrowed as she focused on Toothless' movements; searching for a hint as to his next move. A shift in his hind quaters meant she would dodge to the left, a flick of his tail and she would swing up into the rigging and over him as he leapt towards her. The telltale puffing of his chest and she would dive for cover before the flames could catch her.

She didn't want to hurt him - not sweet, loveable Toothless. This wasn't him. But she couldn't let him hurt the others. She spared a glance over at Merida and Hiccup, lying prone on the deck, the brave Captain's painful gasps like knives in her own ears. She would have to try and heal her soon or Merida would go into shock.

A blast missed her by inches and she rolled to the side, tugging her hair to pull one of Toothless' feet off balance. That had been close - she had to focus.

Red. Everything was red. Flame was red. Pain was red. Sound was red. It was so loud. Wait, was that her screaming? Merida's nerves were shrieking in agony and she tried desperately to focus on breathing. Her arm - oh gods her arm. She couldn't bear to look at it: if it looked like it felt then it would be nothing more than a shrivelled piece of glowing charcoal surely. Would she ever shoot another arrow? It was such a silly thing to think about right now, but that was the one that cut deepest.

"Hey, look at me. Shhh, shhh I know, I know it hurts Merida, it's gonna be ok, I'm here..." Hiccup rambled continually, his face distraught as he tried to comfort her and distract her from the pain. He tried his best not to move her too much, knowing her side was in agony and he could see how red and blistered her skin was through the holes in her burnt clothing.

Now her initial screams had subsided, pained groans escaped Merida's lips, even as she bit her lip viciously to try and stop them, drawing blood. The fingers of her good hand scrabbled at Hiccup's clothing, clutching onto it desperately as if she was trying to anchor herself to him.

A sudden lurch of the ship caused her to scream in pain as her burnt arm pressed against the wooden deck, and Hiccup realised with growing panic that no one was actually guiding where they were sailing.

Jack had watched the events unfold with horror from his view point up in the crow nest. It had all happened so quickly he could barely take it in, but now the wheel of the ship was unmanned and the churning ocean was threatening to send the ship into either the Shadow Realm of the wall of rock beside them – either option was basically a death sentence.

Using the ropes and sails to help him, he leaped down from his position and landed in a crouch beside the wheel before grabbing it and wrestling it back under control. The wind was picking up and whipping the water into an intense frenzy, making it much harder to keep the ship on the required narrow course. He winced as the side of the ship grated loudly against the rock and he held his breath as he listened for any sound that the hull might have been broken through. Luckily it seemed to have held but he wasn't allowed to relax for long.

As his eyes anxiously scanned the ship in front of him, they stopped on Rapunzel and a shock of fear raced through him. She had been darting round Toothless, using her hair to keep him tangled and distracted but the violently swaying ship and caused her to stumble and the dragon was quickly advancing upon her.

"RAPUNZEL!" he yelled in a panic, torn between rushing to help her and preventing the ship from being dashed against the rocks. "Hiccup, help her!"

Upon hearing Jack's fear filled shout, Hiccup wrenched his eyes from Merida's face to seek out his friend. He took in the way Jack was struggling with the wheel, but noted how his eyes were fixed frantically elsewhere. As Hiccup followed his sight line, he realised in horror the danger Rapunzel was in.

"Hiccup...Hiccup go help her." Merida's voice was faint and laced with pain but it grasped his attention instantly. Even in her pain Merida's sharp eyes hadn't missed anything and she would never stand for one of her friends being in danger. He was torn as he didn't want to leave her when she was so badly injured, but he knew there was nothing he could really do to help her. He had never felt so helpless.

"I'll be fine." She said, as if reading his mind. She fixed him with a stern look, a glimmer of her forceful personality shining through her pain. "Go. Now. "

He nodded and pressed a firm kiss on her forehead before laying her gently on the floor and moving towards Toothless.

"Hey - HEY!" he waved his arms frantically, trying to get Toothless' attention. "Over here!"

It seemed to work as Toothless paused his stalking advancement and turned to face him. His eyes were still soulless slits and his mouth was curled up in a growling snarl.

Hiccup half registered Rapunzel untangling herself and slipping away towards Merida, but he turned his entire focus on Toothless. It was vital to help his friend get back in control if they – Toothless included – were going to get through this.

"Hey bud, it's me. It's just me, Hiccup." He began to speak softly, his hand tentatively reaching forward. "I'm right here bud. Come back to me."

Rapunzel reached Merida's side and with a quick apology pulled her friend into her arms. Merida groaned in pain but let Rapunzel help her up the steps to the helm, out of the way of the fighting. Merida's breaths were quick and shallow now, her eyelids fluttering in an attempt to stay concious.

"Hey Captain, don't go passing out on us ok?!" Jack said, looking down where Rapunzel had lain Merida near his feet.

"Is she gonna be ok?" his voice was lower and filled with worry as his eyes met Rapunzel's.

"Yes."

Jack blinked. Rapunzel's voice was filled with such certainty and steady determination that all Jack could do was nod and turn his focus back on steering the ship.

As song began to fall from Rapunzel's lips, he ignored the golden glow that began to light up the ship where her hair was still strewn about the place. Instead he focused on the intense battle of wills occuring in front of him between Hiccup and a mind controlled Toothless. Every part of Jack was screaming at him to go and help but he knew he couldn't abandon the helm - and if anyone was able to get through to Toothless it would be Hiccup.

Hiccup took a deep breath as he slowly approached the dragon - his oldest and truest friend. It hurt him to see Toothless like this, as much as it hurt to see Merida in so much pain. The fact that it had been Toothless who had caused it...but no, it wasn't his fault. And Merida would be ok. Merida was going to be fine. And so was Toothless.

It was like a continuous chant in his head, mantra that if he repeated it enough would make it come true. He wasn't letting something as stupid as a bit of mermaid song come between him and Toothless now - not when they had already been through so much.

"It wasn't your fault bud...they made you do it. You'd never hurt her. You'd never hurt me."

Even as his lips curled back in a snarl, there was a flicker of something in Toothless' eyes that gave Hicucp hope. Recognition maybe?

Suddenly the ship lurched once more as a wave crashed against the side and Jack was forced to veer sharply to avoid a rock. Dragon and pirate stumbled towards the edge, and though Toothless had claws to dig into the wood and maintain some form of grip, Hiccup was less lucky.

With a cry he toppled over the edge, his arm catching hold of the side at the last second before he was plunged into the churning waters. His brief sigh of relief was short lived however as a shadow fell over him and he looked up to find two black slits set in emerald green eyes looking down at him.

"Toothless...please." he gasped, a finger of fear running down his spine. "Please, you are my best friend. My best friend." his voice caught in his throat in a choked sob. He couldn't believe this was happening. If he died what would happen to Toothless? The mermaids would drown him for certain, but only after forcing him to turn on the others. Toothless didn't deserve that, he deserved to be free, to be loved and to have a family. Hiccup couldn't bear the thought that that was all about to be taken away from him - and that he would be the one forced to do it.

"I love you bud...come back to me." his final plea was barely a whisper, he didn't even know if Toothless had heard him. As the dragon drew a breath to unleath a firey death upon him he certainly thought he hadn't - until the fireball missed him completely.

A shriek of pain and surprise caused Hiccup to look over his shoulder in shock. A flick of a tail was all he saw of the mermaid who had been sneaking up on him, attempting to pull him into the water. He looked sharply back at Toothless, and words could not describe the happiness that he felt when the dragon grinned gummily back at him.

"That'a boy, that's it! Well done bud, you beat them!" his ecstatic cries echoed over the deck.

A sudden pale hand appeared next to the dragon's head. "Need a hand?" Jack's voice called out cheerily.

Hiccup gratefully grabbed it and with Jack's help pulled himself back over the edge. He crouched on the floor for a moment,trying to catch his breath.

"How...how did you know it was safe?" he asked.

"I decided safety wasn't as important as trying to reach you." Jack shrugged. "Either that or figured when Toothless didn't barbeque you that pirate was back off the menu." he grinned.

"Thanks." Hiccup rolled his eyes with a grin. "But now I think about it, if you're here...who's sailing the ship?"

Jack nodded back towards the helm. Hiccup's eyes followed and the sight before him made his heart leap. Merida was standing there, her singed hair blowing firecely in the wind, a newly healed arm gripping the wheel tightly. Her expression was as determined as ever and as their eyes met he knew he had never been more in love with her.

He unconciously began to move towards her when her expression changed to one of fear, fixed on something over his shoulder. Registering Toothless growling his heart plummeted and he turned, ready to dive out of the way of another fireball when instead his eyes met Jack's. They locked gaze's for a split second before the pale hands clasped around his friend's throat pulled him backwards, into the depths of the churning ocean as the mermaid continued to squeeze the life from his lungs.

I am sooooo sorry it's taken so long to update this. I have seen all your reviews and I've been listening when you've asked me to continue -I swear I never plan on abandoning this fic it's just that life gets in the way. Anyway, sorry it's been so long and hope you enjoyed the chapter...don't hate me for leaving it on a cliff hanger! (If I'd continued writing you would have had to wait even longer...)