Chapter Text
It was red, burning, aching pain wrapped around Merida like an asphyxiating sheet. She tried to move, but found herself stiff, seemingly paralyzed. She let out a long, loud noise, fighting against the pain and trying to move.
Her hand began to tremble, and her whole body broke down in quavering shakes. It was like trying to breathe with a handkerchief shoved down her throat, and she began to choke, and as the red started to clear away to black, she heard a voice.
“That's it, pull out of it; you can do it.” The voice was male, but young, full of solid reassurance.
She came alive as the black and red faded away from her vision, taking a huge gasp of air. Her whole body ached, but as her eyes came open, she could see wood above her and smell a burning fire. Her ears crackled, as though she'd come up from a deep lake or come to from knocking her head.
Letting out a sound, she realized her tongue was nearly stuck to the roof of her mouth, and words felt impossible. Her mouth felt as though everything had been baked in an oven, sticky and sore.
“There you go,” the voice sighed, sounding in relief. She looked over, still blinking a lot, to see that it was a boy with brown hair and brown eyes, and a rather oval face. As he opened his mouth to speak, she could see he had crooked teeth. “Welcome back to the land of the living!”
Cool water splashed into her open mouth, and she realized he was pouring it in with a tin cup. She spluttered, but swallowed quickly, feeling her mouth coming back to normal.
When she could breathe, and speak, she said, “Where am I? What's going on?” She must have sounded frightened, or angry, because he held up his hands placatingly.
“Whoa, calm down; it's okay.” He was refilling the cup, despite the fact the first cupful was still splattered on her face, as she licked the corners of her mouth for the moisture. He gave her a curious look, adding, “You don't remember anything, do you?”
It was like her mind was a blank, as she dimly recalled something about a family. Yes, mother, father, triplet brothers... It was all there, just infuriatingly blurry. One thing was for sure, though, she had no idea where she was right then and who she was with. Her throat scratched as she asked, in a slightly more irritable tone, “What is going on?”
“It's okay; you're in what I like to call the Refuge.” The boy held the cup out, saying, “Here, drink some. It'll help.”
Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Merida took the cup, dribbling water on herself as she awkwardly drank from it. The water was heavenly, like ice during a hot spell. “Are you going to explain to me what's going on or not?”
The boy gave a sort of half smile, as if it was mildly funny that she was so insistent. She realized they were on the ground, and he was sitting cross-legged over from her. “My name's Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. I run this Refuge, when I can. I'm not always here, but it's a safe place for people like you-”
“What do you mean, people like me?” Merida demanded, handing back the tin cup as she drew herself further up. Her whole body felt like it had been trampled by cows, and protested as she sat up.
The half smile disappeared from Hiccup's face, as he scratched the back of his neck. “Oh boy, this part never gets easier...” An awkward expression appeared on his face, as he said, “You're not going to like this, but you're going to find out eventually, so...”
“What is it?” Merida was already quite tired of him trying to buy time until the unfortunate news was delivered. A wild fear struck her; was she an orphan? Was this a place for unmarried young women?
“Well, there's no other way to put it: you were bit. You're a werewolf now,” Hiccup said, in a tone that suggested he'd rather not be the one giving her the news; however, he also sounded like he said this a lot.
Merida stared. Werewolves were mindless beasts come the full moon, bloody snouts and fearsome claws terrorizing the local people. Lately, there had been a small resurgence in werewolfism, but the local hunters had been putting them down quickly.
She'd only ever associated werewolves with the great severed heads that hunters presented for their prizes. The thought that she now had or would have a great furry head, and huge body capable of tearing people to shreds, made her head buzz. “What? No, no, I'm not a werewolf! I would know something like that!”
Hiccup sighed, saying gently, “You were in Werewolf Hollow; I don't know why, but you were. You were kind of torn apart by a wolf. It's sort of a miracle that the bite took effect as quickly as it did, and healed you up like this.”
Merida didn't even know what Werewolf Hollow was, which gave her a prickling fear in her stomach. “Where is this place? Where am I?”
Hiccup didn't look surprised by this question either, saying, “You're in Berk. Well, you're pretty near the border, but still in Berk. Why? Where did you come from?”
Merida was a whole country over. She felt blood pulsing in her ears, as she stood abruptly, nearly falling down. “You're going to take me home right now,” she said, already trying to walk out of there, “I don't belong here, I belong home with my family!”
Hiccup stood up too, but he stood in her way. He seemed apologetic, but he said, “You can't go home, wherever home is; you're a werewolf now, have you been listening? What do you think they'll do to you?”
This made Merida pause, her blood racing through her veins. It was true that werewolves weren't looked on kindly in her homeland; they weren't generally looked on kindly almost anywhere. And that was because they were a danger, senseless destruction waiting to be unleashed every full moon... but if she was one, what did that make her?
“Look, I know it's not easy accepting that you're a werewolf,” Hiccup said, “But you've really got to stay here. Here is the only safe place for you.”
Merida took another step forward, and wobbled. She let out a huff, insisting, “I will leave when I can stand straight, and not a moment after.” She couldn't accept that she was a werewolf. It wasn't something that happened to princesses, wasn't normal in any sense of the word.
Hiccup seemed to take this as a good sign, and sighed, saying, “You should lie back down, then.”
She did so, and banished thoughts of werewolves from her mind.