Battle Scars (Mericcup Story)

Chapter 7: A Road Less Traveled

The walk from the small clearing seemed shorter than before. Hiccup lead the way, followed swiftly by Merida who’s hair looked like a small flame bobbing up and down through the forest. “So Hiccup,” She began catching up to the younger boy. “What’s your story?”

Hiccup looked at her quizzically,  slowly down to allow her to catch up more easily. “What do you mean?”

“I mean. What’s your past? Everybody has one, right.” She pressed, catching her breath while Hiccup thought for a moment.

“I guess everyone has one, but mine’s not something I dwell on a lot. You know, keep moving forward and all that?” Merida looked unsatisfied though. She sent Hiccup a look of dissatisfaction. “Well, my mom disappeared  during a battle against some dragons when I was really young so my dad had to raise me on his own...which was fine. Him and I weren't very close until a few years ago.”

“-I know what that’s like.” Merida sighed.

“Yeah I bet you do. Except I don’t recall having a witch to turn my dad into a bear.” Hiccup teased, pushing Merida slightly with his elbow as they walked together.

“I didn’t mean to turn her into a bear,” She defended. “it was an accident.”

“Sure, that’s what they all say.” Hiccup retorted sarcastically.

“Yeah? Well how common is it for folks to turn into animals around here? If you’ve had so much experience with it?”

“Not very. Although anything's possible. I mean for all we know fairies and trolls are real too." Hiccup said, running a hand through his brown hair. "When I was really little, my dad liked to tell me folklore about Thor, and all the old Gods."

"Did you believe them?" Merida asked. She was surprised when he nodded.

"Yeah, I used to love the one about Thor and the Midgard Serpent."

"The what?" Merida asked raising a brow out of curiosity.

“This a of a giant snake, one that lives underwater. It’s big enough to reach around the world and grasp it’s own tale.” Hiccup explained. Merida smiled as he spoke, using his hands to demonstrate in a rather awkward display.

“Sounds like a big dragon to me,” Merida said as he finished. She turned away then and continued down the path.

“Maybe,” Hiccup said, shrugging. “But there’s nothing like it in the Book of Dragons, and the only dragon I’ve seen that could even grow to that size was the Read Death. Assuming that it wasn’t at it’s full size. Fishlegs has mention that we can’t be sure because there was no prior knowledge about it, so-”

“Huh, Hiccup.” Merida said, waving a hand in front of his face. “You do know I have no idea what you’re talking about right?”

“Yeah, Sorry about that.” Hiccup said, running another hand through his dark hair. “What were we talking about?”

“The Midnight serpent, or something?”

“Midgard Serpent.” Hiccup corrected although unable to hold back a laugh at her mistake.

“Right.” Merida replied, a moue expression of slight annoyance decorating her freckled face.

Hiccup again took the lead, hiking the rest of the distance until the pair met with the cliffs along Berk’s coast. He turned back to Merida, her blue eyes appeared to glisten in the in the midmorning sun. He knew he was staring, if only for a moment. He was caught up by her for a moment, watching her as her look wandered around the new landscape.

“What do you think?” Hiccup asked, his own voice barely audible in his own ears. Although Merida heard him without any trouble.

“This is nothing like Scotland.” Merida sighed. She followed her arms across her chest. “It’s colder for one thing.” She said, sending a joking glance to him.

“Very funny.” Hiccup said over his shoulder, heading along the cliff.

“I thought we were going to Berk,” Merida asked, her arm pointing in the direction of the town.

“We will,” Hiccup said matter-oh-factly. “But I wanted to show you something else first.” He could almost feel Merida’s questioning gaze. She had raised a brow out of confusion. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we’re not getting lost this time.” He said before waving to her to follow him.