6/19/14
Be Brave With Me
After seeing HTTYD2 twice and reading a TON of drabbles on tumblr, I was inspired to add to the ever growing pile with this little story. It's set after the events of HTTYD2, and it does include spoilers for the end of the move. If you haven't already seen the move (fyi its fantastic) I don't recommend you read this until you have.
And since I'm sure many of the people who read this story will skip my authors note and warnings, I will spell it out plainly…
SPOILER ALERT: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE
So there. Read with caution.
XXX
Gothi saw the injuries of the people well before Hiccup and Toothless ever managed to take down Drogo and the alpha. None of them were very serious; a cut that needs stitches here, a bruise that needed to be looked at there. She knew that as soon as the people were able, she would be swarmed with people who had injuries.
And sure enough, almost right after she officially made Hiccup chief, she was whisked away to her home, where a line of people went out of her door.
Some of the women who had experience with giving stitches and setting bones helped her, but the group of women were severely outnumbered and under-supplied. Some people just wouldn't get treated until tomorrow, or until the traders came back with more gauze.
The uninjured people recognized this problem, but there wasn't much to do.
Hiccup helped, of course. He would be there to lean on for those who couldn't walk because of a broken leg, or sooth those who were in pain. But his greatest help to Gothi, she had to admit, was taking care of the children.
Many of the children that she got hadn't ever had stitches before. Sure, they had gotten cut, they were Vikings! But they had never need real medical care like this before.
There was one boy who just wouldn't sit still. He couldn't have been older than four or five, and when he came up to the stool in front of her he refused to sit down, his father tried to hold him still so that she could help him, but he wriggled and wormed out of his arms and away from her. He wasn't badly cut, he only needed one stitch, but she couldn't give it to him if he was crying and moving around like he was.
The father apologized and tried to reason with the child, but he wouldn't calm down. Finally, he just had to be taken away so that she could help someone else.
That's when Hiccup saw him. Crying in a corner, his father's shoulders wet with tears. He approached slowly, reaching into his pocket to offer him a small piece of cotton cloth he kept on him. The father gladly took it, wiping the wetness from the boys red face.
Hiccup kneeled in front of the boy and asked, "What's your name?"
He sniffed and said softly "Berg."
"Berg?"
He nodded.
"Well, Berg, It looks like your bleeding." Hiccup pointed to his arm, "Are you going to get that fixed?"
Berg shook his head furiously, "No!"
"No? Why?"
"Because that needle is pointy, It hurts me!"
Hiccup laughed, "Have you ever gotten stitches before?"
"Well, no…" Berg replied.
"Then how do you know they hurt?"
"They just do!" Berg had a frightened look in his eyes, "I know they do!"
"I've had lots of stitches, Berg, and I can tell you that they don't hurt that much."
"What?" He managed a small smile, and asked, "When have you ever had to get them?"
"I work at the blacksmith, don't you remember?!" Hiccup laughed and continued, "And when they take a foot off, they have to put you back together somehow!"
"With stitches?" Berg's face broke open with a smile.
"With stitches!" Hiccup agreed, "Lots and lots of stitches."
Berg smile fell, and he looked back at the new chief, "But I'm scared."
Hiccup looked him in the eyes, and said plainly, "It's okay to be scared, you know. Everyone is scared sometimes, even the bravest warriors."
"Really?"
"Yes! But what makes them brave isn't that they're not afraid of anything, what makes them brave is that they do what's good even though they are scared." He paused, "So, what do you say? Do you want to be brave with me and go get that stitch you need?"
The boy leapt off of his father's knee and ran over towards Gothi, dragging his dad along with him. As Berg climbed up onto the stool, Hiccup saw his father mouth a silent, "thank you."
I'm not too happy with the boy's name, but I couldn't think of anything and that was the best I could find online. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
