The Cause {A Mericcup Novel}

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: this chapter contains mentions of death, and it portrays light acts of physical aggression: simply- angst.

What has ten for every thirteen? And curves for every corner? It's a sight to be seen, as the Sacred meet Her Escortor. Knock with faith or knock with foe! The Wisps will surely know.

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Holding his hands out in front of him, Hiccup defensively began to step back. Hiccup was breathlessly baffled at the idea that they had been teleported to the center of a druid circle of ten-foot tall stones. Yet the woman before him seemed completely unfazed by the magical change of location. The way she had caressed the fallen stone and the words that she had muttered under her breath, portrayed the Princess to have a sense of familiarity about the place. She appreciated the thirteen stones as sacred ground. Now Merida treated him like she had earlier in the library that day: she was protecting her people then; now she was protecting her land.

Merida began to lift up her bow, repeating, "I'll ask ya again, who are you really?"

"Woah, easy there. No need for drastic measures," Hiccup yielded, walking backward.

Merida raised her bow to her face, aiming the arrow at the young man.

"I want an explanation!" Merida demanded. Hiccup's back hit one of the stones, cornering him.

"This isn't my fault," he gasped. Sweat began to dampen his chest, and the hairs on his neck stood up.

'This can't be happening! I didn't do this.' He thought.

Merida drew back her string, positioning the arrow to point his way. She continued to hold the stern stare, not an ounce of compassion could be found in her eyes.

After a deep breath, she yelled, "Who are you?!"

Hiccup covered his face with his arms, backing up against the rock as much as he could.

He panted heavily, shouting back, "I am Hiccup Horendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast. Cheif of the Harry Hooligan Tribe of the Island of Berk," he paused, waiting for her response. After none came, he continued, "A suitor of the Cause, attempting to fulfill his deceased father's wishes by mending the bond between Viking and Highlander." Slowly, Merida began to lower her bow.

Hiccup didn't stop. He became confident that the more truth he told the more she'd trust him. So he lowered his arms and straightened his back.

Puffing out his chest, he said, "I am the late husband of Astrid the Unstoppable. The late father of Stoick II." Merida's bow dropped. "Rider of the Night Fury. I am the Dragon Master." After he finished, he stomped up to her, caring not about her weapon. Raw anger boiled within him as the emotions of his past spilled from the words she had forced out of him.

Roughly, Hiccup grabbed her arms, forcing her to jolt in shock. He glared at her with a red face. His grip was strong. As he leaned toward her face, he studied Merida's shining eyes full of stars as they teared up at his reaction. Because they had previously gained a respectable trust for the other, then miserably lost it, pain and betrayal were found in them both.

Hiccup bowed his head close to the side of her face, and whispered in her ear, "And now I am alone." His breath hitched as he said that last word.

It all came back to him so quickly- his past, his family, his loss. After he had become Chief of Berk, due to his father's passing, he had married the love of his life- Astrid Hofferson. She was the strongest shieldmaiden for whom he could ever have hoped. With her braided, blonde hair and sincere smile, she would clear his mind from all it's stormy thoughts. And within a year of marriage, she became pregnant.

Hiccup's grip tightened around Merida's arms, his nails digging into her flesh. He burried his face into the crook of her neck, wetting it with tears as he began to mourn. Merida didn't move, didn't breathe. This broken man before her was just a lost boy. Alike him, she also was just a lost girl by heart.

Hiccup gasped, crying into her shoulder, "But they're gone now. The baby was...too sick, and the labor was...too hard. I lost them both. And it's all my fault." His hands dropped to his sides. The memories shattered his spirit.

"Merida, I'm so sorry," he mumbled.

The Princess wrapped her arms around the weary Chief, as she replied, "Me too. But we'll be okay, Hiccup. Ya have me now." At her words, he lifted his head off of her shoulder in disbelief.

"Honestly?" he questioned.

"Honestly," she answered, "We can be friends as well as allies." Hiccup smiled.

"You are full of surprises, Miss Dunbroch," he commented, drying his face.

"Yer one to talk," she countered, returning her bow and arrow to their original positions, "But I do 'ave one teeny, tiny question..." Hiccup nodded for her to continue.

"Yer a 'dragon master'?"