A/N: Hello! Sorry for the complete lack of update on ANYTHING as of late- I have mass writer's block BUT I have at least started the new chapters for all my current projects… So I guess that counts for something :s Until then I have recently rediscovered my sheer love for this movie and I just had to write something so HERE WE ARE. I've labelled it 'very very very slightly AU' because the ships are still in full working order and I have changed the roll of events in the first scene so that my story fits. In other words, the first scene is my version of how things happened.
I've tried to capture what I think are the three most important relationships in How To Train Your Dragon- Hiccup and Astrid, Hiccup and Stoick and Hiccup and Toothless. I was going to put it all together in one but this chapter is eight pages alone so I'll just do them separately. Please let me know how I did! Also, I know that logically Toothless wouldn't know any English whatsoever, so when it gets to his POV it's essentially an English translation of what I believe his thoughts would have been.
With that all said, please enjoy!
Astrid knew something was wrong the moment she saw Hiccup's battered face. There was something about the way he rolled out of Toothless' protective cocoon, something about the grim way with which his big green eyes surveyed the gathering crowd that seemed distinctly off. Shoving her way impatiently to the front, Astrid's blue eyes darted around, trying to find a cause for the foreboding she felt building in her stomach…
All at once, a gasp rippled through the crowd. Astrid's fat blonde plait swung around at the back of her head as she looked around wildly, praying in her heart that the others hadn't seen anything wrong with Hiccup, even though she knew, deep down, that they had.
Gobber appeared near Astrid. His scarred face lit up. "You got him!" he cried joyfully, metal leg clanging in the pebbles as he jumped. Then his little eyes looked again and he paused, face falling. "Well. Most of him."
Most of him? What does he mean, most of him? Astrid scanned Hiccup's body but she couldn't… couldn't see…
Astrid stumbled back, a lead ball dropping in her stomach. Her eyes widened and she stared at Toothless' wing in horror. All too quickly the reason Hiccup's descent had been so slick and smooth became abundantly clear.
Toothless' wing was coated with blood. Blood that flowed in alarmingly large amounts from Hiccup.
Somewhere to her left, Astrid could hear Fishlegs panicking and Ruffnut elbowing Tuffnut sharply in the ribs for saying something about Hiccup dying. She heard Snotlout very slowly, very quietly take his helmet from his head and press it against his head, eyes closed and head bower. Astrid stared at him blankly, mouth struggling to find the words that she needed. All around her, men and women followed suit, falling respectfully silent and taking their helmets from their heads. Astrid look around helplessly, completely lost for words. She had to stop this, she had to do something. Surely Hiccup couldn't be dead, not now, not after everything he had done…
"That's enough." The crowd parted to allow Stoick's massive bulk through. His beady eyes swallowed the scene before him without reaction; he strode forward towards his bleeding son with the indifferent purpose that won him the title of chief. "We need to get him back to Berk."
Astrid's heart soared with hope. Surely the elder would be able to help him? Once he was flown back to Burk, everything would be fine-
Stoick fell to his knees and scooped Hiccup up in his bulging arms. Kneeling next to Toothless' head, they locked eyes for a long moment. Something must have been communicated then because, apparently grudgingly satisfied that his friend was in capable hands, Toothless let his head fall back into the pebbles with a resigned dragon-moan. Stoick straightened and marched into the mist, back towards the ships.
Astrid's senses swarmed back in a rush, and as she jerkily stumbled across the pebbles after Stoick it was like lurching out of a dream. "Wait!" she called, and Stoick stopped and turned. As he moved, Hiccup's limp head lolled uselessly at his father's shoulder. Stoick's arm was covered in blood… And as Hiccup's leg dangled, Astrid finally figured out what was wrong.
He had lost a leg. Hiccup only had one leg.
Astrid's head swam and suddenly she felt awfully light… No. She wouldn't break down. She was a Viking. She couldn't fall, not now. Not when Hiccup needed her the most.
Stoick peered down at her concernedly, apparently ignorant of his son's fragile condition. "Yes?"
Astrid came back to earth with a jolt and looked into the chief's eyes desperately. If she looked very hard, she could just make out the faintest flickers of fear and conflict. On the outside, however, her remained as hard as rock, and just as impenetrable.
Astrid forced her mouth to work, avoiding eye contact with Hiccup's bleeding stump carefully. "Wouldn't it be quicker to fly him home?"
She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from falling into pathetic hysterics.
Stoick shook his head; Astrid's heart dropped dramatically. "It's too risky," he said heavily. "There are bandages on board the ship. He will be more comfortable on board than on a dragon."
It was the first time Astrid had heard the chief say 'dragon' without spitting it out like a rotten egg.
Stoick turned back to Toothless, who was lumbering towards them with a tentative, murmuring crowd at his heels. He stopped just behind Astrid, glaring at Stoick as he pushed his head closer to hers. Stoick looked at him blankly. "We need your navigation to get back to Berk," he said. Astrid was sure she could hear a pleading undertone in his stony voice. "This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me and I know I treated you- both of you- unfairly but please do this. For Hiccup."
Toothless pretended to hesitate, but Astrid knew his mind had been made up a long time ago. As he limped after Stoick (who was already trudging back into the mist) he turned and the stony expression carved into the black scales of his face slipped for a moment. His big green eyes gazed pleadingly over his shoulder, begging for answers, begging to know why his best friend was being taken away with only blood splashing down on the grey pebbles to mark where he was going. Astrid forced an encouraging smile and felt her heart be torn from her chest as the dragon reluctantly turned away, head low and steps heavy with the air of one who had been let down by a friend. Astrid watched the confused dragon until he had disappeared after Stoick in the mist, following his injured friend's bloody path with a lack of purpose that made Astrid want to throw a rock at him, if only to get a response from the poor, poor beast. As if through a dream, Astrid felt the crowd of Vikings brush past her and move back to the ship. She watched them disappear into the mist numbly, brain struggling to make sense of everything. Surely… No. It just wasn't possible. Hiccup couldn't have… Not after everything he had been through… Everything he had done… He had saved so many lives, shown a bravery Astrid wouldn't have expected to see from him, and what had he gotten in return? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What had he done to deserve it? Astrid had spent her entire life making fun of him, but she never hated him. He had never done anything necessarily wrong. He had put his life on the line trying to help a strange unknown dragon who couldn't fly simply out of the goodness of his heart. All he had ever tried to do was help people. He had been the most amazing friend to a complete stranger and he had lost a leg. He lost a leg. It was so unfair…
A hand on her shoulder jerked Astrid back to her senses. She turned and saw Ruffnut, face arranged in a rare expression of gentleness and pity. Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs stood behind her, dragons at their heels.
In a rush, Astrid realized what she wanted to do. "Ruffnut…" She didn't even know what to say. She glanced helplessly between the ship and Ruffnut's long face, mouth swinging uselessly open and voice refusing to function, but eventually the blonde Viking's hand slid away and she nodded.
"I'll fly your dragon home," she said with a small, understanding nod.
Astrid smiled fleetingly as she stumbled across the pebbles. "Thank you!" she called over her shoulder as she pelted down the beach and back towards the ship- towards Hiccup.
The last few Vikings were hauling their bruised, battered bodies aboard, muttering darkly about Hiccup's fate when Astrid shoved past them. She ignored their whispers and avoided all prying eyes as she scanned the deck for Hiccup's frail body, or Toothless' swinging tail, or Stoick's bushy red hair… There! He stood at the centre of the group, counting heads and apparently oblivious to the blood staining his hands and arms. Toothless crouched behind him, either growling at anyone who came to close to his best friend or scanning and sniffing Hiccup's dirty face confusedly, like he was begging him to wake up and give up on this horrible joke. Astrid burrowed through the crowd and made her way to the front. Toothless blinked, but otherwise didn't react to her sudden arrival.
"Who's going to take care of Hiccup?" Stoick asked of the crowd.
"I will," Astrid said instantly. Stoick looked around confusedly for a moment before his eyes found hers.
"Astrid?" His bushy brows furrowed. "What're you doing here?"
"I'll take care of Hiccup," she repeated as evenly as she could, trying not to let her eyes wander to Hiccup's shredded, bloody stump or Toothless' helplessly confused face.
Stoick seemed to come back to his senses; he nodded sharply, turned on one heel and marched below the deck. With a strangled roar Toohless lunged after him but Gobber grabbed his neck and held him back. The dragon's head whipped around and he growled at the blacksmith, who as per usual showed no fear; Astrid lurched forward and lay a hand on Toothless' scaly neck, a hand that seemed so small and helplessly lost when laid against his hard, black hide. His head turned back and he looked at Astrid with that same pleading expression.
"You need to stay up here to navigate us back home," Astrid explained as soothingly as she could. "I'll keep an eye on Hiccup, I'll let you know if…" Astrid couldn't bring herself to finish with 'something goes wrong'. "If anything happens."
Toothless held her gaze for a few moments longer before resignedly turning away with that same, let-down heaviness in his stride as he followed Gobber.
Astrid didn't look back as she hurtled below decks. In a small, candle-lit cabin Stoick watched grimly as a medicine woman of some sort wrapped Hiccup's stump (now raised on an improvised pile of crates) in white bandages. She poured strange-smelling liquids down his throat and scattered herbs and murmured prayers before straightening and looking Stoick in the eye. Astrid noticed that despite his stony demeanour the legendary chief's shoulders sagged with the same heavy despair that seemed to follow Toothless around wherever he went.
"I've done all that I can," she said shortly. "The sooner we get back to Berk, the better. There are no bandages left and I don't have the resources I need here. We need to make good speed."
And with that she left. Hiccup lay quite still on a thin mattress, waxy skin illuminated by the flickering glow of candles. Astrid stepped tentatively closer; as her foot came down on the creaky wooden board Stoick seemed to awaken from a dream. Sparing only the briefest of glances for Astrid he turned on one heel and marched back upstairs, Brushing past Astrid as if she were a ghost.
Astrid watched him go, jaw swinging agape. His only son could well be facing his last moments and he was just running away! It had been drilled intoher head since birth: a good Viking never runs away. And here she witnessed Stoick the Vast, the great chief, the man rumoured to have popped a dragon's head off with his baby shoulders, doing just that- running away. Hiding. Astrid knew Hiccup and Stoick's relationship had been less than stellar, but she would have at least expected…
But she couldn't afford to think about that. She was here to take care of Hiccup, not his family problems. She crouched down uncertainly a few feet away from the bed. She could see now that he hadn't lost his entire leg, thank Odin. Only from the knee down. How would he react when he woke up? How would he walk? How would he fly Toothless? Even if the entire village argued against it, Astrid knew that somehow he would find a way to do it. She smiled when she imagined him back on his feet, defying all odds once again. It would be just like him, to completely disregard the rules and do things his way.
Astrid caught herself. What was she saying? She barely knew him. She had only started paying attention when he became inexplicably good at dragon training. The only notable thing he had ever done that she knew of was catching and training a Night Fury- every other one of his endeavours had ended in disaster (although, as Astrid later reflected, this 'notable thing' had been no different).
Catching and training dragons… What would life be like, when they got home? The dragons had no queen to serve anymore, so they wouldn't have to raid the village's livestock and people. Would Stoick allow Toothless to stay with Hiccup? Would Hiccup's sacrifice count for anything or would Stoick just refuse to let any dragons on the island at all? Surely an exception would be made for Toothless- he couldn't go anywhere without Hiccup. And flying was such an incredible experience…
The ship rocked violently and Astrid fell forward, knocking Hiccup's bed askew. As she fretfully readjusted the bed, Hiccup's head rolled and he moaned, very quietly.
Astrid froze and started, hardly daring to breathe in case she somehow shattered Hiccup's delicate frame. As she watched, his head twitched again and his eyebrows furrowed.
"H-Hiccup?" Astrid stammered, crawling closer to his head. What was she supposed to do? How would she tell him what had happened? Would he even remember-?
Hiccup's freckled face flinched for a moment, screwing up and scrunching in the middle. Air hesitantly whistled through his gritted, crooked teeth and his eyes were squeezed shut-
And all of a sudden he screamed. He bellowed and shrieked and thrashed about on the bed, writhing like an eel and squawking like a bird.
Astrid panicked. No-one had warned her about this! What was she supposed to do? It was his leg, it had to be his leg- the pain must have been unbearable. She looked around the small room wildly but no-one had been sent to help and the medicine woman had left no potions for Hiccup. What could she do?
Hiccup jack-knifed wildly off the bed, flopping about like a fish out of water. His face was contorted in agony, his fingers clawed and tearing at the bed sheets. Come on, Astrid, think… She was a Viking, she should have been able to handle this… Why was she so terrified? She had faced dragons without even flinching and only now was she afraid… Oh gods, oh gods, what was she supposed to do?
Hold him down. That was what she should do. Hold him down before he hurt himself.
Stumbling numbly over to his head, Astrid was surprised to see how violently her hands were shaking. She took a moment to steady herself- deep breaths, Astrid, deep breaths- before clamping her hands down on Hiccup's skinny shoulders. It would take at least two people to hold him down properly and his legs- leg and a half- were flailing around the most but Astrid didn't want to risk touching his stump, in case she made matters worse.
Hiccup's screams intensified and over the din Astrid heard a roar from above. Oh Odin. She had forgotten about Toothless. By the sounds of things they were still keeping him above for navigation. Why were they doing that? The other teens' dragons would have been able to navigate the ship back to Berk just as well as Toothless could. Couldn't they see how much emotional pain he was in? Didn't they know what it was like? Couldn't they imagine, just for a single moment, what Toothless must have been going through at that moment? Hiccup was the only human to have ever offered Toothless any kindness, the only human who would have taken the time and risked everything to make him a new tail and help him fly again. Toothless was only trying to protect Hiccup and the others had attacked him for trying to help his friend, trussing him up like a pig. And now he had failed to save his best friend from harm, and ever as his screams wafted up to him through the boards he could no absolutely nothing. His navigation was for Hiccup's benefit, certainly, but Astrid knew he hated not knowing what was happening. Didn't they realize how intelligent Toothless was? In those last hours at the nest, how could their minds have possibly failed to comprehend the deep bond between the boy and his dragon? Didn't they understand anything about loyalty at all?
How could they be so cruel? How could she have even spent her entire life modelling herself on such heartless monsters? How was it even possible that in the seven generations that had been living in Berk, Hiccup had been the only one with a kind enough heart and an open enough mind to find a non-violent resolution to the people's torment by seeing a different side to the poor, terrified, enslaved dragons? Before she could stop herself a tear slid down Astrid's face and splashed down on Hiccup's contorted, sweaty face and for the first time since she was two Astrid cried. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, shoulders shaking with every agonized supressed jerk that rippled out from Hiccup's body. She couldn't even hear herself over the sound of Hiccup's screams.
It was so unfair. Astrid had spent her entire life idolizing the tough warriors she was surrounded by and looking down on Hiccup, the weak little wannabe bug who wasn't worth her spit, when really it should have always been the other way around. Sure, the Vikings were brave, but they were so brutal and uncaring and narrow-minded and war-oriented. Everyone had always called Hiccup a freak for being the complete opposite- for being human- but Astrid could see now that she had it all wrong. Hiccup was kind and open-minded and idealistic and so much braver than Astrid would have ever expected, and that was what Berk had always needed to stop the dragons, not brute force.
As Hiccup screamed and Astrid sobbed, she couldn't help but wonder why she felt this way. She had always been tough and efficient and emotionless and now here she was, crying over a boy she had barely known until a mere few days ago. It struck her just how little time had passed- only yesterday she had been screaming and holding on for dear life as Toothless took her for a spin. It had been only hours since Hiccup had let his previously unknown leadership talents shine and had rounded up all of the Viking teens to help save everyone from the Queen dragon, and it had been only minutes ago that Hiccup had lost his leg. It had all somehow melted together into one big tangle of events and emotions and the Astrid who had been so intent on killing every dragon seemed a whole world away now. Hiccup had changed her for the better, and if he died today she would never…
The thought made her cry harder. Hiccup's muscles (weak as they were) tensed and coiled beneath her hands and her tears mixed with the sweat on his face.
"Hiccup- Hiccup, please don't…" Astrid knew it was a lost cause- she might as well ask a tree to please pull up its roots and go plant itself somewhere else- but she found some sort of comfort in talking to him as though he could hear her.
"The pain will probably come and go in waves," a gruff voice said from behind her. Astrid jumped and looked over her shoulder. Stoick had returned and was crouching, half-swallowed in shadow, by the door. His elbows rested on his knees and his head was bowed. He held his helmet by the horn in his hand and Astrid could see his red head was shiny with sweat. "Once it's gone, he'll probably only have enough strength to sleep."
As if on cue, Hiccup's cries suddenly cut off and he fell limp, chest heaving as he gasped for air. Astrid slumped and fell back onto her bottom, but she was too busy staring at Stoick to notice. He was facing the possibility of his only son's death, facing the prospect of an empty home and a depressed dragon, and all he could do was run away from the problem or just talk about Hiccup like he was an object, not his son.
Moving stiffly, Astrid very carefully readjusted Hiccup's stump on the crates and resumed her post by his head. Brushing Hiccup's fringe away from his sweaty brow with trembling fingers, she wondered what could have possibly been going through the red-headed chief's mind…