Chapter 23: Conflicted (Merida)

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"Toothless stop!" I pleaded with all my might. The dragon looked at me with with guilt flashing in his green cat eyes. "Toothless?" I questioned with concern in my voice. His expression revealed that his actions were not of his own will.

"Toothless, get her." Hiccup snapped. Toothless moaned sadly and then came running after me. His sharp teeth were just about to clamp down on me but Jack had blasted him with ice.

"Mer, you and Rapunzel focus on Hiccup. I'll get Toothless." Jack insisted. 

Rapunzel and I turned our attention to Hiccup, who was watching us with amusement. "Rapunzel you know what you have to do." I said to her. 

Hiccup chuckled. "You don't think that I know what you plan on doing to me? I know that Blondie over here is gonna try and heal me, but it's not gonna work."  

"That's what you think." Rapunzel said as she whipped her hair around his foot. She yanked her hair and he fell, dropping our weapons. 

I took this as my chance to grab my bow and my sword and then I threw Rapunzel her sword. She pointed it at Hiccup and glared at him. "Hiccup, you need to stop. I know that you can fight back." she tried. 

"He's too weak to fight back, Rapunzel." Hiccup said as he kicked her sword up into the air and grabbed it, pointing it back at her chest. I ran at Hiccup with my sword but he blocked me without even making eye contact. 

"Looks like someone really wants my attention." Hiccup mocked and turned to me. I stepped towards him and pointed my sword at him threateningly. "What're you trying to accomplish there, Merida?" Hiccup asked quizzically. 

"I'm trying to save my boyfriend." I shouted as I swung my sword at him.

He blocked me and smirked. "Aww. That's nice of you, but Hiccup doesn't want to be saved. He likes all of the power that he's been given." Hiccup stated as he shoved me to the ground.

"What power?" Rapunzel asked. 

"Strength, courage, control, the list could go on and on but I don't want to bore you." Hiccup replied and shrugged his shoulders. 

"Hiccup already had those things." I snapped. 

His smirk quickly turned into a frown and he started grabbing his head. He growled in pain and clutched his head as if he were having a massive headache. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" he yelled to himself. 

"What is he doing?" Rapunzel asked me. 

"I don't know... now's your chance to heal him." I quickly stated. 

Rapunzel tried to wrap her hair around Hiccup but he swung his sword around frantically and yelled in anger. She had no chance of getting to him without risking getting cut by Hiccup. He looked like he was going insane. 

Suddenly he stopped and his body relaxed as his screams turned to laughter once again. "Sorry about that." Hiccup uttered. 

"That was Hiccup fighting back, wasn't it?" I inferred. 

"You're a smart lass aren't you. Don't worry, it won't happen again." He somehow got a hold of Rapunzel's arm and threw her against a tree. She laid on the ground, barely able to move. 

"Rapunzel, no!" I shouted and readied my arrow at Hiccup. 

My body was shaking uncontrollably and my breath grew heavier with every second. Usually when I'm in a situation like this, I'm calm and collected but this was different. No matter how angry I was, I couldn't bring myself to release the arrow. How could I shoot the man I loved?  

"What's wrong, Merida? Can't shoot me? Come on, I dare you." he urged. I hesitantly put my bow down as my eyes started to water and my heart pounded in my chest. "Darn, I would've loved to see you kill your boyfriend. Oh well..." Hiccup said disappointingly. 

He lunged at me putting me on my back with him over me. He had Rapunzel's sword at my throat and he grinned at me. "It's a shame to have to slit your throat... but I can live with it." Hiccup said as he brought the sword closer to my neck. The cold blade was on the verge of tearing through my skin but it never did. 

He started yelling again as he flung himself off of me, grabbing his head. His eyes were shut and I could see his facial expression change from anger to concern. He opened his eyes again and they were once again the shamrock green they normally were. "Merida get out of here!" Hiccup shouted. 

I ran over to Rapunzel and helped her onto her feet. Hiccup's yelling and holding his head continued until he came to an abrupt stop. I watched in horror as the calming green in his eyes faded into a dark red once again. 

"Toothless!" 

Toothless stopped fighting Jack and heeded to his master's call. Hiccup pointed to Rapunzel and I with fire in his eyes and a deadly glare. Toothless shot us an apologetic expression but reluctantly stalked towards us. 

"Toothless, don't." Rapunzel begged. 

"Get them." Hiccup ordered. 

Toothless hesitated and then sprinted at us. Rapunzel and I were quick to run through a cluster of nearby trees before we could get caught by the dragon. We had our backs against a large tree, hiding from the impending doom we were in. 

Toothless's huffing was almost right behind me but I knew I couldn't just hide, I had to do something. I tried to walk out, but was pulled back by Rapunzel who was shaking her head. "Trust me." I whispered. 

She reluctantly let go and I walked up to Toothless calmly. He snarled at me and inched closer. I knew this was a risk but I had to take it. I held out my hand and walked up to him just like I did when I first met him. Toothless stopped snarling and stared at my hand. 

I eventually was close enough to touch him but I stopped and waited for him to reach out for me. I needed him to trust me. He looked at my hand intently with giant dark green eyes. Finally, I felt a leathery feeling against the palm of my hand and heard the sound of content purring.  

Rapunzel came out from behind the tree and sighed in relief. Then she walked up to him and scratched underneath his chin, so that he knew to trust her as well. 

"Toothless, I need you to listen to me," Toothless gave his full attention to me, "Do not do what Hiccup tells you, he's trying to hurt us." I demanded and Toothless nodded his head in agreement. 

Echoes of Hiccup and Jack shouting rang through the forest. "Jack!" Rapunzel cried out as she ran towards where we heard the yelling. Toothless and I followed after her. 

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