A/N: After almost 4 long months I finally got my ass in gear and finished this chapter. Most of all I would like to thank you all for putting up with me and for all the support and reviews, they really help a lot.

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." ― Edith Sitwell

The wind howled outside, and the snow blurred the landscape. What started as an innocent snow had turned into a blizzard. The fire crackled as more wood was placed to fuel it. They had been lucky to find the cave for shelter before things turned bad. They had roughly two days behind them and it was nice to actually rest.

Currently Merida was huddled in front of the fire rubbing her hands together trying to keep warm. Hiccup sat on the other side leaning against Toothless, who was asleep behind him.

"I wonder if they've sent out a search party yet." Merida said suddenly.

"What?"

"Ye being the chief's son and all, yer disappearance isn't exactly goin' tae go unnoticed."

"I left a note just before we left. So unless he thinks I'm lying….or that you kidnapped me, he shouldn't have sent one out."

"I easily could if I wanted tae ye know. Kidnap ye that is." She said with a smile tugging at her lips.

"I don't doubt that." He noticed her shiver. "Are you cold?"

Sure the fire was warm, but it did little to help the actual temperature and the stray gusts of air that found their way into the cave.

"You can come over here." he gestured to the spot beside him. "Toothless is pretty warm and-"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You look pretty cold to me."

"I said I'm fine didn't I?" he could feel her hostility coming back and dropped the subject. He didn't want to backtrack on the progress that he'd made so far.

He turned to look out the opening of the cave. "It's really coming down out there."

"Aren't there blizzards on Berk?"

"Rarely, but even when there are you can at least see a building or two."

They sat there in silence for a while before Merida pulled the blanket tighter around her.

"I'm curious aboot something." She said, Hiccup looked at her. "If yer tribe kills dragons on site, no questions asked, why didn't they kill Toothless?"

He was taken back by her sudden question, but then lowered his eyes to the ground.

"The short version: he's a bribing piece to make sure I stay in line."

"And the long version?"

He met her eyes. Hiccup didn't think that she would actually care about what happened, but since she seemed interested he might as well start at the beginning.

"I'm sure you've noticed Toothless is missing a tailfin." When Merida nodded he continued "It's actually my fault he lost it. I shot him down during an attack. A couple days later, after searching everywhere I finally found him, still tied up in the boa." Hiccup paused. "I was supposed to kill him, it was the perfect opportunity. My chance to finally prove to my dad that I was a real Viking, that I was just as useful as everyone else." He paused again and shook his head. "But I couldn't do. I tried to, but I couldn't….wouldn't. So I cut him free. Then the roles were reversed. The moment he could he had me pinned down defenseless. I should have died there, he was a dragon, it's what they did. But he spared me, like I did him." He looked at Merida, who had slightly wide eyes. "Eventually we grew to accept each other, and now he's my best friend."

Toothless shifted in his sleep and Hiccup patted him gently.

"But that still doesn't answer mah question."

"I'm getting to that part," he yawned and stretched his arms. "but maybe tomorrow, it's getting late."

"Ye can't juist leave me hanging like that." She said, but he had already settled down for sleep.

~:~

Hiccup woke first, and when he did he noticed Merida shivering next to the now dead fire. He removed his blanket and walked over to where she was and placed it on her.

He made his way to the entrance, the sun's refection off the snow was almost blinding. The sky was clear, on Berk if it were far enough away it would have been perfect for flying. But being in unknown territory who knows who could've seen them. Besides it would be nice to walk and stretch their legs for a while.

He gently shook her awake and said it was time to get moving.

~:~

They walked nearly all day, stopping only for lunch and when the sun started to set. Merida had tried to get him to continue his story as they walked but he refused, and told her to wait until later.

The fire was already lit and was cooking some fish that she had caught. Toothless was probably off somewhere hunting his own food. Hiccup reached to grab one he deemed cooked enough; Merida snatched it before he could.

"Hey!"

"I've waited all day, now finish yer story."

He sighed. "Alright, fine. Can I at least have that back first?" Merida looked at the fish before hesitantly handing it back over.

"Where did I leave off yesterday?" he asked before taking a bite.

"Ye and Toothless learned tae accept each other and became best friends."

"Right." He paused trying to figure where he should pick the story up at. "My dad went on a raid, and while he was gone I was put in dragon training with the others. And of course as anyone would have expected, I wasn't that great at it; at first. I started to learn things about dragons from Toothless. Like there's a certain spot on each dragon that if you scratch it just right they go limp, that they hate eels, and there's a certain type of grass that's like dragon nip."

Toothless came back, clearly satisfied with whatever he had found for himself. He curled himself around Hiccup, much like the night before, placing his tail over his lap. Hiccup scratched the dragon's head, and he purred lightly at the action.

He looked over at Merida and noticed that she was watching them; he also noticed that she was trying not to shiver. The sun had managed to melt away most of the snow and since they were heading south it would get slightly warmer, but not much. Hiccup just wished that they still had the cave and weren't out in the open.

"Pretty cold out here tonight isn't?"

"No, it's nae that bad."

"It's warmer over here. Dragons are like personal heaters."

She glared at him. "I'm fine. Ye should continue telling the story."

"I'm not going to let you freeze."

"I said I was fine."

"But you don't look like it."

"I'm perfectly fine with staying on this side of the fire, even if it means I'm a little cold. Why are ye making this such a big deal?"

"You're the one that's making it a big deal, Merida. It's not like I'm going to do anything."

"But I don't know that." she regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She knew he wouldn't, she knew Hiccup wasn't that kind of person; she just had a really bad habit of saying the wrong thing.

There was a silence.

"Do you really not trust me?"

She looked away from him. "If I thought ye were going tae dae anything I wouldn't hae come with ye."

After quietly debating she sighed and got up. Toothless opened an eye as she got closer, he lifted up his tail so she could sit down leaving a good amount of space in between her and Hiccup.

Instantly she was warmer, the chills already falling off her.

"Alright I did what ye asked. Now continue."

So he did.

He went on to tell her about how he used the technics he'd learned in training, and about how Astrid got jealous of him because he was better than her. He told her how one day she followed him when he visited Toothless because she wanted to know how he was suddenly better than her. When she discovered the dragon she ran back to the village to tell the others. Hiccup couldn't stop her in time, so he did the next best thing, he hid Toothless the best he could.

His father returned the next day and was immediately caught up on the gossip. The woods were searched, but the dragon wasn't found. Stoick demanded Hiccup to tell him where the beast was, but he refused. Eventually Gobber managed to calm him down.

"That's when he told me about the marriage proposal." Hiccup avoided Merida's gaze and looked into the fire. "They wrote him off as a defective dragon, since he hadn't killed me. They realized I would do anything to protect him. So it was used in their advantage. Like I said, short version, he's a bribing piece."

"That's why you signed the treaty so easily."

He nodded in reply.

"That's horrible"

He shrugged. "It's not that bad. I mean this," he gestured to the both of them "could have turned out a lot worse."

She supposed he was right, things could have been a lot worse.

~:~

They were almost there, nearly a day away.

The skies were perfect for flying, for the first part of the day that is. The farther they went the more it seemed the clouds below them got darker and thicker.

Soon they found themselves in the grey mist and could hardly see but a few feet in front of them. Merida heard thunder in the distance.

"Maybe we should land?" She suggested.

Hiccup agreed and told Toothless land somewhere. Hopefully they could find shelter before things got too bad.

That was their mistake.

As they descended they found out that it had been a horrible idea.

Rain pelted down on them and they were soaked in seconds. Hiccup tried to get back above the clouds but the winds were too strong, he had no control, which meant Toothless didn't either.

Lightning struck in front of them causing Toothless to violently jerk to the side, almost throwing Merida off. She held on tighter as the winds continued to toss the around.

"We have to land!" She yelled over the wind.

"Working on it!" Light flashed behind them.

"Hiccup! The tail!"

When he looked back the fake fin had been completely destroyed, rendering it useless, yet Hiccup still tried to move it, desperate for anything to work.

Unfortunately it didn't.

~:~

When Merida woke she saw a light gray sky encircled by treetops.

She groaned as she sat up, her head felt like it had been hit with a club. She picked some twigs out of her hair as she looked around.

"Hiccup?" she called "Toothless?"

She was alone.

Merida stood up trying to get a better look around as she called them again.

She walked around for a bit before she heard a low animal like groaning. Rushing through the brush she found a large black mass.

"Toothless!" she hurried over to him to make sure he was alright. For the most part it seemed so.

The saddle was still intact, and by some miracle the majority of their things were still there as well, including her bow, but there was just one thing missing.

"Where's Hiccup?"

The dragon picked himself up and looked around, appearing to just realize that his rider wasn't with him. Merida spotted something dangling off the saddle. It was the part of Hiccup's harness that kept him hooked to Toothless.

They searched until sundown and found nothing. Merida hesitantly placed a reassuring hand on Toothless.

"Don't worry we'll find him."

~:~

He was lost in a foreign land without a map or any idea where he was.

At some point in the storm they had all been thrown off and separated. And now Hiccup was alone, lost and hungry. But most of all he just hoped that Merida and Toothless were okay.

For now he would have to put off searching until the morning.

~:~

Merida turned the parchment sideways and then upside down, everything looked the same. They were by a river, one of many that could have been on the map.

"Ugh, how are ye supposed tae read these things?" she turned to Toothless. "I don't suppose ye know how tae read this." But he paid her no attention as he was sniffing something on the ground.

"Toothless? What is it?"

~:~

Hiccup was no tracker, but he knew tracks when he saw them. Only these appeared to be human, and since it rained so hard recently they had to have been pretty fresh. They couldn't have been Merida's, it was too big.

He followed them on the path that was close to the edge of a steep hill for a while; hoping that he would find something or someone that could help him.

When he heard something rustling in the brush beside him Hiccup realized that he had nothing to defend himself with. The sound was getting closer and fast.

"Oof!"

Next thing Hiccup knew something had rammed into him and he was rolling down the hill with it. When he came to a stop there was an almost crushing weight on top of him.

He managed a sigh of relief. "Toothless!"

The dragon moved so Hiccup could sit up and once he did his face was covered in slobber. "Ugh." He grimaced in disgust "It's good to see you too bud."

He stood and glanced around. "Where's Merida?"

The question was soon answered when a stream of curses came stumbling down the hill.

"Ye shouldn't go running off like that beastie! At least warn me or someth- Hiccup."

They ran into each other's arms for a hug, they suddenly realized what they were doing and quickly separated.

Hiccup coughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck "I'm, uh, glad you're okay."

"Glad you're okay too."

She looked down at her hands and handed the map back to him.

"Thanks," he said. "but I doubt it'll do us much good now. I have absolutely no idea where we are."

Merida walked past him. "No, but I think I might."

"What?"

She touched on of the trees. "We're close."

~:~

Over an hour later they reached the edge of the woods, they could see the castle through the bushes.

When she didn't instantly run to the building he asked "What's wrong?"

She was quiet for a moment. "What if they don't want tae see me?"

"Of course they will, they're your parents." He said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Then why did they leave me behind sae easily?"

"Sometimes parents do things that they think is best for their family. Sometimes they're right, and sometimes they're not."

If only it was clear which of those two it was.

~:~

After they told Toothless to stay behind in the woods, they snuck past the guards and into the castle grounds. It wasn't exactly a good idea to bring a dragon along without explaining themselves first. They went to the stables first

"Angus!"

She rushed over to the creature and wrapped her arms around its neck. Merida looked back at Hiccup who was standing at the edge of the stall.

"Hiccup, this is Angus. Angus, Hiccup."

She motioned for him to come closer. "He's nae goin' tae bite." She turned back to the horse and continued to pet him.

Hiccup yelped behind her and shortly after there was a soft thud. She turned to find him on the ground.

"Oi, ye wee devils, didn't ye promise me ye would behave?"

At the sound of their big sister's voice they tackled her into a hug. "I said you'd see me soon didn't I?" she laughed.

~:~

Merida decided to wait until dinner to confront her parents.

Right now she could hear them in the dining hall, her father telling a story while her brothers listened.

Normally they were very good at keeping secrets, if you paid the right price. Apparently just having their big sister back was payment enough to keep their mouths shut.

She steadied herself before walking out, asking Hiccup to stay behind in the meantime. She wanted to face them alone first.

The queen saw her first. When she first looked up she blinked a few times, as though she expected her to disappear. Abruptly she stood, nearly knocking her chair over, causing Fergus to pause midsentence.

"Elinor, what is-" he asked as he turned around to see what she was looking at.

"Hi mom, da." She tried weakly.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly, not exactly sure what emotion she was feeling. "What have you done?" she asked a little louder.

"I juist wanted tae come back home."

"Merida, you should not have come. Do you have any idea the consequences this could entail?"

"Yes, but-"

"So you knew what would happen, yet you still came here?"

"Mum, please I-"

"No, you have to go back." the queen paused for a moment. "How did you even get here in the first place?"

"I brought her." Hiccup said coming into view. "We're just here for a visit."

"Your father knows about this then?" Elinor asked seeming to calm down a bit.

Merida and Hiccup looked at each other.

"Yes." Merida answered.

~:~

After a very interesting dinner they all agreed that they would discuss the subject more in the morning.

Merida took her old room, and Hiccup got one close by.

"You lied earlier." Hiccup said standing on the threshold of her room.

"If I hadn't then she would be sending us back right now, if she hadn't already."

He didn't respond, instead he asked "Can I come in?"

Merida simply nodded. He looked around as he entered.

"Well it sure is a lot bigger than the one you have back on Berk. You've got your own fireplace and everything. Now I see why you wanted to leave so bad." He laughed lightly.

Merida sat on her bed. "How long dae ye think we can stay?"

"Well that storm tore up Toothless' tail pretty bad, and that's just from a glance. It'll take me a few days to fix it, provided I have all the right materials I need. But after it's fixed I think it would be best to go back."

"Right, it probably would be." She said softly, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"I know that you would like to stay longer, and if it were up to me I would be more than happy to let you. But it's not."

She didn't appear to be listening anymore, as though she was deep in thought about something. When she didn't respond he took that as his cue to leave.

"Well goodnight."

"I'm sorry." It was almost a whisper. "I'm sorry for treating ye the way I have. I wasn't really thinking." She paused. "I was being selfish. I didn't take into consideration that you're in the same place I am. I took everything out on ye. What ye said before, about us juist being kids, you're right. We are just kids, living in an adult world where they try tae control our lives tae their benefit." She hugged her knees. "And it's nae fair."

"Merida-" Hiccup stared, not really sure what to say.

"Thank ye."

"For what?"

"For doing this, taking me tae see them. For nae treating me the way I treated ye." She looked at him "Why didn't ye? Ye had every right tae."

Hiccup just shrugged. "I guess I'm just not that type of person."

"I'm glad you're different." She said giving him a small smile.

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