~~HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 🥳 I hope this coming year is good to you all!~~

"I swear I'll kill ye if ye don't leave my mum alone," Merida sneered.

"Merida, what's goin' on?" her father questioned.

"Is he controlling her?" Hiccup asked.

"Aye," Merida replied.

Elinor smirked and stood up. Merida thrusted the sword closer to her neck.

"Ye're not getting away," Merida declared.

Valka stood flabbergasted, unsure of what to do.

"I know this might seem off but she is being controlled by a sorcerer who wants to steal something from this castle," Hiccup explained.

Elinor chuckled and shook her head.

"What, sorcerer?" Merida growled.

"You two are so clueless," she cackled.

"I've been told you don't believe in fate, that you'll do anything to prove you are of your own free will. You'd even hurt your own mother. So what would you do if I told you you were the reason he dies?" She smirked and pointed at Hiccup, "He'll protect you, but you'll leave him all alone and yet he'll only think of you."

"What?" Merida breathed.

Elinor stepped back, her evil grin never faltering. Before Merida could process the situation Elinor fainted. Fergus was able to catch her in his arms before she fell.

"Merida, you can't believe anything he says," Hiccup tried to reason with her.

"Ah know but I... I..." Merida continued to stare at the ground with an unblinking gaze.

"I need to clear my head," Merida quickly told them as she ran off.

"Merida, wait!" Hiccup called after her.

"What happened? Where am I?" Elinor whispered as she slowly looked around.

"Go after her Hiccup, we'll take care of Elinor," his mom told him.

Hiccup quickly nodded and ran off in Merida's direction.

~~Meanwhile~~

"How long have you been training?" Ryan inquired as he cautiously looked around the corner.

"What do you mean?" Astrid replied with her axe ready.

He nodded and walked around the corner to show the coast was clear.

"You're an amazing fighter, you must have started pretty young," Ryan told her.

"Well, yeah. When you live on an island that gets attacked by dragons every single day, you get taught how to... fight back at a young age," Astrid told him.

Toothless and Stormfly nudged her. She placed her axe down, smiled and rubbed their heads.

"But that's all in the past. Now, our children can learn how to live with dragons. We'll teach them how to defend themselves once they're older," Astrid told him.

"You'll make a good mom," Ryan complimented her. "That is, if you want to be a mom."

"What makes you think I don't want to be one?" Astrid asked.

"You seemed a bit hesitant back when Merida asked," Ryan replied.

"Of course I want children I just..." Astrid picked up her axe again.

Young MacIntosh waited patiently for what she would or wouldn't say.

"I'm scared. What if.. what if they don't like me?" She asked.

"Your children?" Ryan asked.

"I can go a bit overboard with the new trainees at the Dragon Riding Academy, and they don't like me because of it. I can take it from them, because I know that they'll be better off, but I don't know if I could take it from my own children," Astrid told him.

"Parenting is a difficult thing, I've only had a bit of experience with my younger siblings, but even I can tell it's a handful," Ryan replied. "But I think that when the time comes, parents that truly love their children just sort of, know what to do."

Astrid smiled at the thought and punched Young MacIntosh's arm.

"Enough with the sentiments, let's keep looking," Astrid told him.

He bit his lips and rubbed his arm in pain, but returned the smile nervously. Toothless stared at them before perking his ears.

"Did you hear that?" Astrid asked.

Without waiting for Ryan's reply Toothless ran off down the hallway.

"Toothless! Where are you going?!" Astrid called.

~~At the Castle's Entrance~~

Hiccup stood in front of the castle doors doing his Nightfury call for Toothless. As soon as he saw Toothless running toward him he hopped on the saddle.

"Hey, Bud. We have to find Merida. I'm sure we can catch her if we just hurry up," Hiccup filled Toothless in, "Let's go."

Toothless flew out of the castle and over the now-closed festival. Hiccup noticed the group of representatives talking amongst each other. One noticed Hiccup and pointed him out to the rest of the men in the group. They all looked at him as they continued to talk. Hiccup could hear Toothless growling.

"Just ignore them Bud, we've got a princess to find," Hiccup told him.

Toothless continued to fly ahead. Both he and Hiccup looked around for any sign of the fire-headed princess. Hiccup hadn't realized when the sun began to set or when the wind began to pick up— he was too preoccupied looking for Merida to notice.

"It shouldn't be this hard to find red hair in a sea of green," Hiccup mumbled. "I think we're going to have to get closer, Bud."

Toothless nodded and flew closer to the trees. He was flying so fast Hiccup had barely noticed a faint blue light coming from within the forest.

"Hey! Woah, Bud! Go back, go back! I think I saw a fire!" Hiccup quickly told his friend who did so just as fast.

Toothless flew down into the forest, landing in a small clear patch. Hiccup jumped off his dragon and looked around. He swore he heard small children laughing.

"Hamish, Hubert, Harris, and Lillias if you're playing another prank I don't have time for it," Hiccup said aloud. "You shouldn't even be out here!"

He noticed a blue light to his right. A small blue fire floated above the ground. The laughing seemed to have come from it.

"Will-o'-the-Wisp," Hiccup whispered.

He had no idea where he had heard that name before, but it felt right to say it in the blue flame's presence. Toothless jumped toward the wisp, trying to capture it, but it disappeared and appeared a few feet ahead. The wisp
seemed to laugh at Toothless's failed attempt to capture it.

"Wait, Toothless. They're supposed to help," Hiccup told his friend.

He began to follow the wisps's every twist and turn. He only hoped he was right about the wisps being helpful.

~~With Merida~~

As soon as Merida had climbed on Angus, she was off into the woods. She needed time to think without anyone around. What else was she to do? Her kingdom was about to be destroyed once again by what seems to be her own doing.

"Why can't ah get this right Angus?" Merida asked, eyes stinging, voice cracking.

She couldn't help but think of how she could have done everything differently.

She should have focused on finding out Gaston's plan.

She should have stayed out of the meeting.

She should have ended the meeting before confronting the sorcerer.

She should have never agreed to inviting the Vikings of Berk.

Finally, in a deja vu moment, Angus stopped causing Merida to fly off. She groaned and looked around.

"Angus, are ye trying to kill me?" Merida accused her friend.

She was somewhere deep in the woods. She walked back toward her horse when she noticed a blue light.

"A wisp!" She exclaimed.

She stood still for a moment, debating in her mind whether she should follow them or not.

"I guess things couldn't get any worse," she sighed.

She grabbed Angus's reins and led the horse in the direction of the wisps. It wasn't long until she found herself in a familiar clearing.

"The witch's cottage," Merida said monotonously.

The witch had her back turned to Merida, she seemed to be carving something.

"Don't tell me ye're still mad," The Witch laughed without looking at her.

"Why are ye back?" Merida asked.

"What, no how do you do?" she asked and continued to carve.

"How do you do?" Merida repeated a bit confused.

"Oh, I'm fine Lassie, these old bones aren't giving up yet," she replied.

"What are ye doing here?" Merida asked.

"Just making something for a rainy day," she replied. "I should be asking you— why are you here?"

"There's been a bit of a problem. There's an intruder in the castle who wants to dethrone me, or marry me, I really don't know," Merida replied. "But he's a sorcerer  and he's been using his magic to control people."

"Oh, is that why ye're so distraught?" The Witch asked in an almost mocking tone.

Merida's mind flashed to Hiccup.

"No. My fate might lead to something terrible and I don't know if I can really change it this time," Merida confessed.

"You always seem to come to me for the same reason," the Witch hummed.

"I didn't come to ask ye for help, I came to clear my head," Merida sighed.

"Are you sure?" The Witch asked finally turning to look at Merida who now had her back to the witch. " A quick spell could get rid of your intruder, or... it could protect a loved one."

Merida furrowed her eyebrows, "Whatever it is, I don't need magic to solve it. I know magic comes with a price— a price that isn't a part of buying it."

"You've matured," the Witch commented.

Merida smiled lightly, somehow she couldn't really believe it had been 5 years since their last encounter.

"Well, there's no need for me to be here then. Goodbye, Princess," the Witch said and stood up from her wooden stool.

"Where are ye—?" Merida turned to ask but the Witch had already disappeared.

In her place there was a little bag with a note on the side.

Merida cautiously walked over and picked it up.

She read, "For a rainy day. You'll know when to open it."

Merida felt the object through the bag. It definitely did not feel like it was made of wood, especially since the bag weighed a bit.

Nonetheless, she wrapped the bag around a loop in her dress.

"Come on Angus we should head back—" Merida stopped when she noticed another set of blue flames.

"Again?" Merida wondered.

"Well, let's go Angus," Merida said as she pulled him toward the wisps.

Eventually, Merida could begin to see a ring of large stones she recognized.

"Merida!" She heard a familiar voice calling.

She let go of Angus's reins and ran to the clearing in the middle of the stones.

Hiccup was on the other side, the Will O' the Wisps in between the two of them. Hiccup ran toward Merida, making the wisps disappear. Merida did the same. Hiccup hugged Merida.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked.

"Aye, I can take care of myself," Merida replied still in his embrace.

Hiccup let go and stepped back a bit, his hands now on her shoulders.

"I know, I just thought it would be a little harder without a weapon," Hiccup joked with her.

"How'd you find me?" Merida asked.

She had seen the wisps, so she knew the answer to that question. A part of her wanted him to say the wisps, so they could be fated to find each other. But another part wanted him to say he found her by himself, so that the wisps would only have been from Merida to prove that Gaston's prediction was wrong.

"Those magical blue flames led me here. I remembered something about them being helpful, so I figured, why not?" Hiccup explained.

"Hiccup, I'm sorry ye worried about—," Merida took his hands off her shoulders but held on to them when she felt how cold they felt. "You're freezing!"

"So are you," Hiccup replied and touched her red cheek.

"I shouldn't have been out so long. Especially with that sorcerer running around," Merida lamented. "We have to go back now."

"Wait, we have to warm up first. Toothless can make a fire for us. It'll only take a few minutes," Hiccup coaxed her.

"Alright, but once we're warm we need to hurry," Merida agreed.

Toothless already knew what to do. He grabbed some sticks with his mouth and put them down near the pair and shot fire at it. Hiccup led Merida closer while she rubbed her hands together.

She wasn't thrilled about being away from her kingdom longer, but she knew she had to be in her best possible shape to win a fight against the sorcerer. She whistled for Angus to come closer who did so albeit hesitantly. Toothless sat in between Merida and Hiccup. Merida smiled and rubbed his head feeling a little more at ease.