In Another Lifetime

Chapter 14 - Archery and Recognition

Out on the archery range, Merida was the first to arrive. She started inspecting the bows in the pile ready for their session and began to wish that she'd brought her own; she hadn't seen Hiccup come up behind her.

"Disgusting, broken, what the heck even is this?" Merida was muttering as she rifled through the pile. "They call this a bow?"

"Apparently," Hiccup smiled dorkily at her. Merida looked up and smiled weakly. Something was on her mind, that much was obvious to him.

"Look," he said, checking around him to make sure there wasn't anyone else around before continuing, "I don't want the whole truth or dare situation to make things awkward between us, OK? I'd really like to stay good friends with you."

"Don't worry," Merida said, forcing her lips to curl into something that resembled a smile, "I wasn't worrying about that."

"What were you worrying about then?" Hiccup asked.

"It's a long story," Merida sighed, sitting down on the grass.

"I've got time," Hiccup smiled, sitting down beside her. Merida looked at him and decided that she could trust him.

"Okay, it's my mum," Merida said in one breath.

"What about her?" Hiccup queried. Merida was refusing point blank to make eye contact; but Hiccup wasn't going to force her into doing anything. He just wanted to help her with her sadness.

"Well," Merida began, "she's always expecting so much more than I can achieve, you know?"

Hiccup nodded; he empathized completely.

"My dad's like that; I know exactly how you feel."

"She - she said that if I don't pull my socks up and start doing well and stuff," Merida sniffed, "she'll ban me from archery."

"That's harsh," Hiccup said quietly.

"She just can't accept me for who I am!" Merida tried not to let a tear run from her eye by keeping her eyes open as wide as they could go, "She wants me to be a perfect little girl who does everything she'd told and doesn't stand up for herself! She doesn't want me!"

"Merida," Hiccup spoke up, appalled by what he had just heard, "you don't need to change. If she can't see you for who you really are, then she needs to change, not you. I've only known you for a day but your personality is - is fantastic."

Merida finally looked at him, her eyes bloodshot and shining with tears. It took all Hiccup's inner strength to resist the urge to pull her to him, to whisper in her ear that she was going to be fine, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. Instead he took in the beauty of her azure eyes as she spoke again.

"Really?" Her voice was cracking slightly.

"Y-Yeah."

She smiled at him again, a real smile that she didn't have to force out.

"Thanks Hic. I really needed that."

Soon Rapunzel and Jack joined them, and the session started. After the safety procedures that made Merida look like she was ready to throttle the instructor, they finally got onto the shooting.

Hiccup couldn't help but watch as Merida lifted her bow expertly, her arm straight and drawing the arrow with expertise that even the instructor was impressed at. She fired - bulls-eye.

Something went rushing through Hiccup's brain, faster than light, like someone was hitting him with a hammer of realisation that made him collapse and fall to the floor. The stretch of the bowstring, the curl of her fingers, the whoosh as the arrow flew past him; it all sent things cascading back into place. He'd been here before. He'd been here before. He knew Merida from somewhere, he just didn't know where. 

"Are you okay Hiccup?" Merida asked, seeing him on the floor. He nodded, his legs quaking like a jelly. Merida was not won over that easily though.

"Very impressive for a first go!" the instructor cried out, seeing Merida's shot. "How many times have you done archery lassie?"

Merida shrugged. "I've been shooting since I was three."

The instructor was shocked but also very impressed. "What about the rest of you then?" he said, turning to Jack and Rapunzel.

Jack had managed to just about load his arrow, but was having difficulty firing it. Eventually he managed it, but he hadn't got enough power behind the shot. It went into the grass, turfing up some mud as it went. He sighed. He'd always known he wasn't cut out for archery.

Rapunzel on the other hand had managed to hit the target and scored pretty well. She'd hit the red and was quite close to the centre. Hiccup on the other hand was still trying to take in the rush of realisation that he'd just encountered.

"C'mon," Merida helped him to his feet for the second time that day, and again he thanked her. He raised his bow, but Merida knew immedietly where he was going wrong. She giggled lightly, stood behind him and covered his hands with hers. She could feel his breathing rate increase at her touch, his heart beating faster as he felt him against her.

"Concentrate on where you want the arrow to go," she whispered in his ear, "I'll do the hard part."

Hiccup focused on the target, exhaled slowly, and let loose.

Bulls-eye again.

"No way!" he cried, staring at the arrow. He turned to Merida in amazement. "It was all you really."

Merida shook her head. "I just held the bow for you. You aimed it. You fired it. It was you, Hiccup."

A/N Okay this story might not be updated so much as it's getting difficult to write, but I will aim to update AT LEAST once every 3 days or I am a bad person. I'm trying to finish the very long chapters of my new book, which is set in a medieval AU. I'M SO EXCITED TO POST IT ARGGH...

That's all for now - hopefully an update tomorrow? And btw, thanks for nearly 800 reads! Can we get to 1k by the end of the week?