Chapter 2 Taken away
They had decided that it was best if Valka brought him the news he definitely did not want to hear. It had resulted in screaming, shouting, hysterical crying and a lot of tears. Astrid had heard every word Hiccup had screamed at his mother and she had run. She had fetched Stormfly and had taken of, unable to hear Hiccup's pain any longer. She was now sitting in an hidden cove, Stormfly nudging her back, clearly worried about her rider. She wiped the tears from here eyes and stood up, embracing the Nadder in a tight hug. The sun had begun to set, she needed to go back.
The next few days were horrible. Hiccup refused to leave the house, he even refused to come out of bed. Whenever Astrid, or anyone else went to visit him, to try and cheer him up a little, he'd either turn his back on them or scream at them until they left. Even Valka could not comfort him.
When he finally did come out, there was only one place he went to. The place on the cliff where he and Toothless used to throw rocks, or boulders, into the ocean below. A week past like this, Hiccup was either in bed or at the cliff, barely ate and clearly cried himself to sleep every night. He was getting thinner, and Astrid was worried about him. Hiccup had never been as big as the other vikings, and with him losing weight like that... She decided to do something about it. She knew that no dragon could ever replace Toothless, but she could at least try to get him to eat. He was 21 years old for Thor's sake, and he was acting like a baby! She would talk some sense into him tomorrow, she thought while looking at the lonely figure at the edge of the cliff. Right now she was exhausted from running the village all by herself. Yet another reason why she wanted Hiccup to act normal again. Well, more than he did now.
But the next morning Hiccup was nowhere to be found. She went to his house first, knocked and then waited a while. She wanted to give him some time to get out of bed, put on his prosthetic leg and his clothes. When nothing had happened after five or so minutes, she knocked again, louder this time, and when nothing happened after the third time she went in. the house was empty, the bed was empty, Hiccup was not there. She frowned, walking towards the cliff where he had been last night. No Hiccup. She then set out to find Valka. Maybe she had seen her son. She hadn't. Soon enough the entire village was looking for Hiccup, Fishlegs and Snotlout even went out on their dragons to see if Hiccup had gone to some of the other islands, or maybe the place where he befriended Toothless, but they came back with empty hands and no news. By noon Astrid was panicking. Hiccup was nowhere to be found. She was worried about what could have happened to him, but more about what he could have done to himself. His emotional state had been so fragile since he lost Toothless, what if he had done something to himself? Tried to kill himself maybe. Part of her said that he never would do that, but part of her wasn't so sure. When she was absolutely sure he wasn't anywhere on Berk, she send out search parties to search the other islands. But they found no trace of Hiccup. He was nowhere to be found.
It was near midnight when he decided to go home. He walked slowly, new tears rolling down his cheeks. He wiped them away angrily. He never thought a dragon would mean so much to him. He stopped when he heard a familiar whistling sound, the sound of an approaching Night Fury.
'Toothless?'
He called out into the night, but no response came. He sighed. It must have been his imagination. But the next moment something grabbed him and lifted him from the ground. He screamed in surprise when he saw the light of Berk disappear quickly.
'Oh gods, put me down this isn't funny.'
The dragon kept flying, not responding. Hiccup clawed at it's chest, suddenly feeling a leather strap. He followed it and then felt a handle. He frowned, but grabbed it, then pulled it. It didn't budge. He could probably use it to pull himself on the dragon, if it would let him. His right arm was pinned and started to hurt badly so he gave it a try. To his surprise the dragon helpt him, giving him a push as he climbed on it's back. By the time he sat he was completely exhausted. He hadn't slept well the past week and climbing a dragon with just one hand had been too much. He fell asleep, on the dragons back, as it continued to fly to where ever.