The song is basically what this whole story was based on. You don't have to listen to it, but if you want to, by all means do!

A blinding white light was staring down at me. I tried to move my arms but they wouldn't move; I felt weak and useless without them. My eyes focused slowly and I realised I was inside a hospital. There was a faint, regular beep, beep, beep of a heart monitor somewhere in the background. I then heard crying and I was confused. Who'd be crying? Why would anyone want to be here, to see me of all people? Feeling started to come back to most of my body and I turned my head slightly to see the source of the crying.

It was Merida. She had her head in her hands and she was sobbing hard. I suddenly remembered what had happened to put her in this state and I whispered her name with the small amount of strength I'd acquired. She looked up immediately, eyes wide as they could go. They were blotchy and red with crying, but it didn't stop a huge smile from spreading across her face the moment she saw me.

"Hiccup?" she whispered. "You're awake!"

She jumped up from her seat, ran to me, literally ran, flung her arms around me and pulled me as close as she could get me. She suddenly tensed as she realised what she'd done and drew away awkwardly, looking at the ground. I looked at her with forgiving eyes and she smiled weakly. But something was wrong. I knew it. She wasn't speaking at all and when she looked away she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Merida," I whispered, "what's wrong?"

She still didn't look at me. I repeated the question. She suddenly broke down into tears and looked directly into my eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled, "About, about everything. You were always there for me. I took it all for granted. I didn't mean to say the things I said. It was just, I know you like Astrid now so," she turned away so I couldn't see her crying, "I didn't want us to part on bad feelings. You don't have to feel guilty when you're with her anymore."

"Merida," I interrupted, "Do you even know the full story about that night?"

"Yes," she replied. "Hans got run over, Astrid called you, you two sorted him out and you kissed Astrid."

"Perfect, apart from one very small detail," I looked directly into her turquoise eyes, "I didn't kiss Astrid."

"What? Yes you did, I saw you!"

"No Merida," I looked at her eyes, brimming with confusion and a fresh set of tears. "She grabbed me and kissed me. I can tell you now, I've never hated kissing so much in my life. It was terrible, disgusting, I can't even tell you. She didn't let me go and when I saw you my heart honestly stopped. I've been such an idiot for letting Astrid believe that, and if I could I'd turn back the clock a week and change it all. Honest to Thor."

"You didn't?" Merida looked at me with final understanding setting in her head, "You didn't kiss her?"

"How many times?" I almost laughed. "How can you think I'd pick her when there's you?"

"What?" Merida whispered. I blushed a deep crimson.

"What I meant to say was, uh, I mean, I really really like you, I mean, I told you this before when, you know, we, yeah, we went to the river and, um, what I mean is, I still really like you and -"

"You're serious?" Merida asked, the beginnings of a smile beginning to form on her face, and I nodded, smiling goofily at her. I tried to stand up to give her a proper hug, but when I tore off the bad covers I gasped. My left leg had gone.

"I didn't want to tell you," Merida whispered as she saw the pain on my face. "After the crash, the, the wounds were bad; they didn't think, they didn't think you'd ever wake up. They," she looked away, a tear running down her cheek, "they didn't think you'd make it. I've been here ever since, ever since it happened."

I said nothing; I was too busy figuring out whether I could stand or not. The hospital had attached a prosthetic to my leg for the moment and I found it incredibly hard to balance. I took a shaky step, then leaned on my good foot for support. I took another step, tripped and fell, but Merida was there to catch me. I smiled weakly in gratitude and she guided me back towards my hospital bed.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. I shrugged without feeling.

"I've been worse." I tried to smile at her, but she looked straight through me. Inside I was breaking.

"You haven't," she looked at me with that pitying gaze that made me almost feel bad for lying to her.

"I just don't want you being affected because of this," I gestured to the prosthetic and looked down at the floor. I couldn't help it, I just felt so damn depressed all of a sudden. Until this happened.

"I don't care about being affected," Merida said quietly, taking my hand nervously. "I don't care about anything, as long as you're okay." I looked at her and smiled properly this time. It was a broken smile, but a smile nonetheless.

She leaned in and I closed my eyes. Her hand was on my chin, tilting me closer. I could hear her quickened breath in my ear. One inch between us. I threw caution to the winds and closed the gap. Our lips met and the world restarted. It seemed that I had to live without Merida to realise how much I truly needed her, how much she meant to me. Now I'd lived through that, I was never going to let it happen again.

We drew away at the same time, breathing hard. I laughed from the sheer insaneness of it all and placed a hand on her cheek gently. Suddenly my father and Merida's parents entered and Merida jumped off of my bed awkwardly and we both blushed as red as an apple. The adults looked at each other, grinning knowingly.

"Oh, please, don't let us interrupt," Fergus winked at his daughter, squishing her cheeks. Merida batted him away, embarrassed.

"Shut up Dad!"

My father came up to me with a worried expression.

"Son, you know, about, about your leg -"

"It's fine Dad. Really." I smiled weakly. "I'll get used to it. I know I will."

My father's eyes were twinkling with tears.

"I always knew you'd be the strongest of us all."

"You sound like a guy out of a movie," I grinned.

"They give the best motivational speeches though, don't they?" my father reasoned and winked. "Anyway, I'd better tell the nurse you're awake. We'll leave you and Merida alone for a bit." He winked again and I blushed. Fergus took Elinor's hand and led her out, but before he went he looked at me sternly.

"If you do anything to my daughter, you'll have me to answer to. You hear?"

"I, I -" I stuttered before I realised he was joking. His face broke into smile and he grinned at me.

"I known you ever since you were a little lad Hiccup. We always knew this'd happen someday. You're a good one. You and that Jack. I won't worry as long as you're around."

"Thanks Mr Dunbroch," I smiled in gratitude but he shook his head.

"Call me Fergus. To hell with formalities."

With that, they left. I looked back at Merida; she was smiling right back at me. I tried to stand up again, to walk over to her, but I barely managed one step. I fell into her and she lifted me up back onto my feet.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Hiccup, what have you got to be sorry about?" Merida asked incredulously. "I'm the one who should be sorry." She looked away with a pained expression etched into her face. "You followed me. I'm the reason you nearly died."

She was on the verge of tears again but I couldn't let that happen. I held her cheek, warm and wet with tears gone by. I never broke my gaze and twisted a stray curl round my finger.

"I chose to follow you because -" I stopped from nerves, but I remembered I'd already told her. But it felt like the first time. "Because - I love you Merida."

"What?"

"You heard me. I - I can't compare you to anyone else. It's impossible -"

"Don't speak anymore," Merida put a finger to my lips.

"Why?" I mumbled but it was quite difficult to get the words out in the current situation.

"Because then we can do this," she replied, leaning in so we were mere centimetres away. "And then nothing else will matter." She removed her finger from my lips and suddenly we were kissing again before I was even conscious of the fact. Our mouths were moving in complete synchronisation and as she ran her long, delicate, porcelain-like fingers through my hair I felt like I'd never been happier. No, scratch that. I didn't feel like I'd never been happier. I had genuinely never been happier in my entire life.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "About Astrid. About everything."

"It wasn't your fault Hiccup," Merida said quietly, smiling as she played with a piece of my hair. "And that's not something you'd ususually hear me say." I chuckled under my breath and Merida's face lit up with realisation. I could tell she'd just remembered something because her eyes began to spark and her mouth opened slightly, eventually curling into a smile. "Come on," she grinned. "We're going to go outside. It's snowing."

"But what about this?" I gestured to my leg whilst hopping on my good foot. "I can't walk."

"Bingo," Merida smiled. She pulled out a collapsible wheelchair from the other side of the hospital bed.

"You sure you can push me?" I asked, sceptical. Merida gave me an are you kidding me? kind of look and she folded her arms.

"Come on Talking Fishbone, sit down," she grinned and motioned to the chair. I sat down with caution because of my leg (well, more from the lack of it) but immedietly relaxed when I felt Merida's hand on my shoulder. I was slightly startled when she began to push without warning and I moved with a jolt, but soon it became fun incredibly quickly. Merida was walking as fast as the hospital rules would permit her and soon we got to an outside door. True to Merida's word, it was snowing. But this was the best part.

She'd found the path that led to the bridge. Our bridge. Where I first told her I loved her.

Merida wheeled me over the bridge and placed me next to the bench, whilst she sat down beside me. I looked at her immedietly and I smiled. She returned it, reaching for my hand. I batted it away. When she looked confused, I grinned and placed a hand on her cheek, pulling her into the third kiss of the evening. She felt like she was melting into my touch but I knew better. This was Merida. She never fell apart in front of anyone, not for anything.

"I love you Merida," I whispered. I'd already told her, but it didn't matter. No matter how many times I said it, the words would still be as rich in meaning.

I don't need to tell you what happened next. It's all very obvious. We became an official couple and after sixth form, university and my apprenticeship, we'd still stuck together. How I have no clue. But we did. Then obviously the inevitable. We got married, after a ridiculously nervous proposal. Luckily for me, she accepted. We went on to have kids a couple of years later. You know the funny thing? When I was young, all through my teenage years and up until now, I've never changed the way I felt about her.

Because that's what love is. Caring for someone unconditionally, no matter what they go through. Yes, there were arguments, disagreements and moments where I thought it wasn't worth it, but as soon as I saw her again, I was reminded of just how amazing she was.

So if you're lucky enough to have someone like Merida or be in a relationship like mine, hold on. Hold on hard, because love's a damn rare thing.

A/N Over 2k words for this chapter... phew! Sorry if I bored the hell out of you! xD

Anyway - thank you so much for supporting me through yet another mericcup story! (There WILL be more Big 4 stuff... Promise!) It's been fab and I couldn't have done it without you. Hope it was the ending you were hoping for :)