Forever

Ch. 3: Dreaming of Settling Down

Merida stared at the forest, and Fergus nudged her. "Oh, uh, hi."

The King shook his head a bit, and took a large trunk under his arm. "I'm going to put our things in our house for the stay, you'll all keep Merida company yeah?" He hobbled off, followed by servants.

They sat there for a moment, not sure what to do, until Astrid stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Astrid, and this is Hiccup." Hiccup perked up a bit and smiled warmly at the newcomer.

"Yeah, I heard him get announced ya stupid lass," Merida sneered.

Taken a bit back, Astrid quieted down. "Would you like to see the village?" Hiccup asked. Merida shrugged, and began trudging up the docks towards the village.

Astrid took a deep breath. "She's just a ray of Odin's love isn't she?"

Hiccup wrapped his arm around her waist and together they walked into the village, where they found Merida tapping her foot while waiting for them. "Took ya long enough," she said, turning around and beginning to walk through town.

Astrid groaned, and they followed her to where she stopped at the academy. "What's this place?" Merida asked.

Hiccup took a deep breath, worried she'd shoot down his biggest pride. "This is our dragon academy," He said with as much pride and enthusiasm as he could muster. "We train anyone who wants to learn to ride a dragon."

Merida raised an eyebrow. "Really."

Hiccup nodded, feeling a bit more confident. He looked over to Astrid, who looked a bit more relaxed as well. "Do you want to come in and see?"

The red head shrugged, and walked through the gate and into the arena. The gang was there, sitting around and cleaning up a bit.

Noticing their entrance, everyone came to greet. "Who's this?" Asked Fishlegs when they reached them.

"This is Princess Merida of DunBroch," Hiccup introduced. "She's here with her dad on business.

Snotlout walked up, putting an arm around her. "Hey babe, anyone ever tell you you look great in that dress?"

"Ugh," said Merida, shrugging out of his grip. "I'm not interested."

"You'll come around," he said, puckering his lips a bit.

"Anyways," Hiccup continued, "Merida, this is Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, Eret, and you've just been acquainted with Snotlout."

Merida nodded, looking everyone over. "So is this all you do, sit around and train dragons all day? Seems kinda stupid."

"You think that this is stupid?" Asked Eret. "You obviously don't know what we really do, do you? This is an art!"

Merida scoffed. "Art? No. I'm an archer, THAT'S an art. This is a stupid game. I'm going to go and find my dad."

With that she stomped out, pissed and wishing her mother hadn't made her come along.

Hiccup looked at the gang, confused on what had just happened.

"I like her!" Snotlout exclaimed. "She's firery!"

Ruff rolled her eyes. "That bitch is crazy."

Hiccup sighed and looked to Astrid for reprieve. Catching the message, she began walking towards the gate. "Hiccup and I are going for a walk. See you guys later." With that Astrid took Hiccup's hand, and together they walked off.

Eret watched them walked off, and turned back to his sword he was sharpening with a stone.

Snotlout was in the background, talking about Merida, and Eret couldn't deny that she was in his own head as well.

She was firery, and attractive, and very bold. Usually he liked a traditional sort of girl, one that would submit to his every word and watch him adoringly, but now he was seriously reconsidering. Maybe a girl with an opinion wasn't such a bad thing, maybe he should go after her.

"Eret!" Shouted Ruff, clearly irritated.

Jumping, Eret looked up. "What?"

"We're leaving," said Snotlout as he turned for the exit.

Eret followed slightly behind the others, deep in thought. "Whatcha thinking about dreamy?" Asked Ruff as she draped her arms over his shoulder.

Shrugging her off, Eret shrugged. "Well, nothing I suppose. Just lost in thought."

Ruff stayed quiet for a moment, obviously thinking about the meaning of his words. She then gasped. "You're in love!"

The gang stopped in their tracks, despite he fact they were in the middle of the village.

Eret's face turned a dark shade of red, and he began to stutter. "N-no I'm not."

Tuff began laughing. "Dude you totally are."

"Is it me?!" Exclaimed Ruff, throwing herself into Eret's arms.

The annoyed young man dropped her. "No," he said.

"Then who is it?" Pushed Snotlout.

"Astrid?" Asked Fishlegs.

"No!" Exclaimed Eret. "It's Merida okay?" The silence following was deafening. "Well I guess it's not love, but she's different, assertive, I think I could really like her as time goes on."

Snotlout looked at the muscular Viking, wondering what the consequences would be if he were to challenge him for Merida. But from the looks of the obvious height difference as well as the sheer amount of willpower Eret possessed, Snotlout sighed. "You can have her."

Eret smirked a bit. "I wasn't going to ask you for permission."

Snotlout shrugged, catching the eye of Ruff. "I'll just go back to my old goal," he said, smiling at her lovingly.

Ruff gagged. "Ugh. No thank you."

"All of you guys and your lovey dovey stuff. The only love I need is macey," said Tuff from the sidelines.

The gang groaned, while Eret became curious and genuinely confused. "Who's macey?"

"A stupid mace that he loves to throw around," replied Ruff. "He claims he'll never need anything else to make him happy."

Eret chuckled. "Oh just you wait Tuff, love is going to hit you in the head one of these days, and you'll never even see it coming."

"Nah," argued Tuff. "I'm fine blowing things up with my sister, I don't even have time for 'love.'"

Snotlout looked at Tuff questioningly. "You do realize Ruff is going to get married and move on someday right?"

They all looked over to the only female, who was picking at her teeth in the reflection of a shield. "Well, hopefully," Fishlegs added.

Tuff rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine. I'm basically the God of destruction, I can handle being without my sister."

Everyone shrugged, beginning to walk again. Eret once again was a bit behind though, contemplating the thought of Princess Merida.