The Frozen Brave

Dealing with Emotions

The wind was roaring against Merida’s ears but she didn’t care. They were high up the sky, right under the snow clouds.
Despite the trouble, it was a beautiful sight. Everything was so small from up there. Houses and people could look like ants to her.
Toothless flew past faraway lands faster than she’d expected. Now, they were flying over the ocean.
She turned her attention to Hiccup and began contemplating as she stared at his back. Then her eyes lifted to his hair. He had taken off his helmet a while ago, giving Merida a full view on his soft brown hair. She unconsciously reached up a hand to touch it just as Hiccup shifted.
“You alright there, Merida?” he asked, glancing back over his shoulder. She hurriedly lowered her hand and put on a smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She replied.
“Not seasick or something?” he asked.
“Not at all.” She replied. “Why?”
He didn’t reply but just glanced at her. Merida could feel them being lowered down.
Toothless glided down and steadied himself over the sea.
Hiccup turned and smiled at her. She smiled back. He took this as a good sign to take her hand and lower it on the surface of the sea, letting them slide through as they flew across. She giggled at the wonderful feeling of water around her skin.
His eyes were on her all the time. When she’d let go of his hand, he felt somewhat different. He wasn’t sure what that meant but he replaced his sad look with a smile when she cupped some water, tossed it upwards and giggled as it splashed back into the sea.
Then she felt water hit her face. Hiccup laughed. She growled at him playfully and splashed some water back at him. She chortled. He scooped some water and aimed at her dress. She tossed some back and wet his hair.
Toothless just looked back at them. Hiccup threw water on his face. Merida laughed as the dragon shook it off.

But the fun was not to last.
A shadow fell over them and when they looked up, snow started to fall down from the sky.
Hiccup turned Toothless and they settled into the mouth of a cave. Hiccup got off and Merida took his hand to follow.
“The storm’s spreading quicker than I thought.” He said.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“I think we should rest a bit. If we race out there now to Berk, we could freeze to death.” He replied. “Although we should be a few lands away now…”
“Okay.” Merida looked around. She saw a few twigs and small bushes. Big rocks settled by the side.
Some long pointed rocks hung down from the ceiling. Water dripped down from them.
She walked in a little farther. The cave wasn’t so deep too.
“It seems safe in here so we could stay a while. There are sticks that we can use to make fire to keep us warm. We can sleep on the softer rocks too.” She said, hands on hips.
“You have a great imagination.” Hiccup smirked.
“I noticed.” She smiled sweetly at him and went to get the food on the bags.
He took the sticks and started to make a fire. Toothless puffed a ball of flame at the sticks, igniting them.
"Voila! And there was light." Hiccup announced.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jack was absolutely bored.

Not only can’t he play with snow in the cave while waiting for company, but he also had to endure the pain of listening to Rapunzel and Anna’s conversations.
About three days after Hiccup and Merida left, the remaining four tried to formulate a plan regarding the rescue so that all things will fall into a straight line. Sadly, no one had a better suggestion than Jack’s march-directly-to-North-Mountain-get-Elsa-and-leave plan, so nothing else was to be done but wait.

Occasionally, two of the left-behind group would sneak out into the forest to get food and water but when the snow storm got worse, they were stuck just hoping for Hiccup and Merida to come back with thousands of fire-breathing dragons. It was luck too that no Nightmare came to attack them.
It seemed to Jack that they were preparing for a full-on battle and so he was not settled, just sitting down and thinking about it. He wondered if Queen Elsa could handle it.

“It’s dinner time, Jack.” He turned to Rapunzel who sat down beside him and handed over a plate of food. He took it.
“Thanks.” He glanced over at Anna and Kristoff who are eating already before he took a bite. He stopped a moment, glancing over to see no plate on Rapunzel’s hands.
“I’m done eating.” She said before he could ask.
“Alright then.”
She looked at Anna and Kristoff by the corner and sighed.
“I wonder how Merida and Hiccup’s doing.” She muttered to herself.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After Merida and Hiccup ate dinner, they decided to call it a night.

Watching him from the corner of her eyes, she remembered her confession and his response. She wanted to ask him about it especially now that no one can disturb them, but she felt that he should make the first move.

“Hey, you already sleepy?” he asked.

Merida glanced over once. “No.”
Hiccup looked at Toothless. After making sure that the dragon was asleep, he walked over to Merida and sat beside her.

He faced the mouth of the cave and she followed shortly, realizing that he wanted to talk to her.
“How…how do you really feel about me? I mean like, just as a friend or more than a friend. Something like that..” he asked, turning shyly to look at her.
Merida was surprised at how straightforward his question was. He expected a bit of hesitation but he seemed to know what he was saying.
“I-I think I like you.” She was sure she did not just like him. Rather, she was falling in love with him!
But she wanted him to be the one to say it first. She wants to know if he returned the feelings.

“Oh. I like you too…” He sounded disappointed. He was hoping for a better reply. Is she waiting for me to go first? He thought. Wouldn't it be awkward if I confess and then find out that she doesn't feel the same way? “But…”
“But?” she asked softly, looking at him.
“I think I don’t just like you.” He turned to her. “I mean, the first time we met, I already admired you. You are fearless. You love helping people and you trust your friends. You’d do anything to protect them, even risk your life for them.”
She stared at him, not sure where this was heading.
He continued.
“You’re different from the other girls I’ve met, Merida. It's like I can go on seeing you here with me like now, and I don’t care if you don’t return the same feelings but…”
He stared straight back at her sure of what he was going to say this time. “I'm falling in love with you.”
Merida froze. “You-you what?”
He nodded sheepishly.
Merida felt tears in her eyes but she shrugged it off, smiling crazily. He’d just said it. And he said it first!

She was unmistakably happy!

But Hiccup took it wrongly. When he saw her crying, he frowned and raised his hands in panic.
“Did-did I say something wrong? I-I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to. I was just trying to -” He stuttered.
She laughed, cutting him off. “No silly, I’m not crying because I'm hurt. These are tears of joy. Ever heard of them?”
He blushed. “Oh, I thought you were crying…”
She laughed again then turned serious. “I love you too, my knight in shining armor.”
He held her cheek, grinning at her.
“You don’t know how happy I am that you feel the same way. I thought I was going to be friend-zoned.” He chuckled, staring freely into her beautiful eyes.
“Well, I confessed first. It was the most embarrassing thing I’ve done.” She told him.
He smiled and pulled her closer. She put his arms around him. He held her close, not wanting to break away.
He felt sure of everything now. Like everything will be alright.
“So, we’re together now? Or it’s alright. I can wait a little longer just in case you aren’t sure-“
“I’m sure of you, Hiccup.” She pulled away just for a moment to stare into his eyes when she said it then she snuggled back into his warm embrace. He opened to her willingly.

They were sure this time of how they felt and in his arms, Merida could never have been happier to let a man into her life, knowing that Hiccup was the first (and hopefully the last) she love and that he loves her as much as she loves him.