From Me To You: A Mericcup Story

Chapter 8

Hiccup walked through his village. No one greeted him, no one even glanced at him

He sometimes wondered why he hadn't run away before this. It wasn't like anyone would miss him. If anything, he would get to travel more, see the world.

Why did he even stay?

He had started looking forward to meeting Merida in the woods, and that scared him a little.

He arrived at the clearing, greeting her. They shot arrow after arrow, trying to outdo the other.

Hiccup finally hit the bullseye every time. They celebrated with fish and raspberries that Merida had found while searching for wood.

The sun was setting when they both realized that their deal was done. There was no longer a reason for them to be friends, if that's what they were.

"What now?" Merida asked.

Hiccup had no idea what to say that would make sense, but the words seemed to tumble out.

"At my village, everyone ignores me. They all think I'm crazy. I always thought about leaving, but I never did. I never knew why, but I think it was because I was waiting for something. Then I met you, and you became my very first friend. I want to keep coming here and seeing you."

Merida didn't seem shocked at all. She just smiled and said, "I'm glad that we both feel the same way. See you tomorrow?"

They parted ways, but now they knew it wouldn't be for the last time.

Hiccup arrived back at his village to find everyone at a meeting. He snuck in, no one noticing.

"We've got to attack again," Astrid was saying. "They've captured many of our people, and we need to get them back. I've been scouting their camp. Tomorrow they celebrate something about the fall. We can strike in the night and take our people back."

Everyone cheered in agreement. Hiccup quickly left and ran home. He went to his room, pretending to be asleep. Unfortunately, Stoick didn't care if he was asleep or not.

"Hiccup!"

He slowly walked downstairs. His dad was waiting, arms crossed.

"I assume you made it to the meeting," he began. Hiccup nodded slowly.

"Good. You know the plan Astrid has made. Tomorrow we attack, and you can't run off. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Hiccup returned to bed, feeling awful. What was he going to do?

The next day, he moved about his day in a daze, not really registering what was going on. He was given a sword and a shield and was pushed onto a boat.

Hiccup banished himself to the very back of the boat, watching the water. They were taking more boats than normal so they could bring their people back.

The night was on them when they slunk onto the land. The clumsy, loud vikings were quieter than they had ever been.

When they reached the camp, they began to free the other vikings first. They weren't going to strike unless found out.

They were almost done when a trumpet sounded. Scots poured out of tents, ready to fight.

Hiccup tried to stay as far away from the fighting as possible, directing the vikings with no weapons towards the ships.

Then a Scot came charging towards him, sword pointed at his heart. He tried to just disarm him and then knock him out, but the Scot wasn't having any of that.

A viking yelled and Hiccup became distracted. His arm slipped and his sword plunged into his enemy. The Scot collapsed, but wasn't dead, not yet. Hiccup stooped down and gently pulled the Scot behind a tent.

He tried to save the man, but it was too late. The Scot seemed to realize this, because he pulled Hiccup's ear down towards him.

"I don't know who you are, but I can tell you're not like the others. I have a wife, a daughter. There's a letter for them in my pocket with an address. Please, take it to them."

"I will," Hiccup said, taking the letter out. When he turned back to the man, he realized his eyes were glazed over.

He was in a daze as he pulled his sword out and cleaned it on the ground. The vikings were retreating, so he ran to catch up.

Hiccup felt numb the whole boat ride home. Everyone congratulated Astrid, neatly ignoring the chief's son.

He didn't join in the celebration, instead, laying in his room, not daring to fall asleep.