A/N: The second chapter omigod every one of you probably forgot about this, but I took so long because I wasn't happy with it so I completely revised and changed it. Anyway, it was originally going to be two parts, but now it's going to be three, and I hope you guys enjoy it. This A/N sucks because I really need to get going to school right now but I want to post it before I go.
"Shallows"
The day before began at home when I woke up to the rhythmic and familiar sound of a light smack and a hard clank against wood bounding towards me- I couldn't place in my half-awake-half-sleep it until I heard a overjoyed "Lazybones!", and I jerked my head up. Hiccup was disproving his role as a rider and was flying towards me for a change. The fishbone landed on my back with a barely audible thud, laughing and bouncing up and down, cheering: "It's a beautiful day, bud, and guess what the flowers smell like? Adventure. Get up, eat, be excited, and let's go! Come on buddy! Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon!". I followed him downstairs, groggy and grumpy, but I was just as excited as he was.
We had been looking forward to an escape for a few weeks now, an entire day of our own to get away and take to the sky and distant lands, optimistically hoping to cross some crazy adventure like some hidden treasure trove brimming with pretty jewels we could bring back and trade to graciously rob Johann of everything he had, or perhaps we would find a mysterious object with magical properties in the ruins of fallen underground kingdom under the ocean; a necklace that would blink anything into existence simply with the thought of the beholder. Bright light and curling smoke, and then, poof, it was there! A leg for you, a fin for me, and a consistent supply of fresh fish coming right up!
...Well, maybe.
However unlikely, anything was possible, we thought, and we loved sharing these pipe-dream predictions with each other. Hiccup was much better at it though. The stories he made up filled me with gleeful energy as I quietly identified with the characters in the books he would read me during late nights with their magical tales we could only imagine. Despite being a little embarrassed of how my stories were almost borderline blatant rip-offs the stuff we read together, Hiccup didn't seem to notice and loved mine as well, and we laughed and scoffed at the ridiculous ideas we bounced around, trying to top each other in the Absolutely Asinine department.
The sun had only just surfaced on the dark water. I told Hiccup we needed to stop laughing or else my wings would lock up, and after he calmed down, he sighed. "These stories are fun and all," he said, "but I'm just glad we are finally out here. And, let's be honest, the fact that we are doing this is in itself a miracle. You can't compare that stuff to this, in my opinion."
I was sure he was referring to finally getting out of the village as a miracle, but it reminded me of something I didn't really think much about anymore. About how bizarre it was that this human was my best friend and my number one, and I planned to live out the rest of my life with him under my wing (there was also the part where we started a revolution and changed life as we knew it and all that jazz). Way back when, I could have never imagined things to turn out this way. But, again, anything was possible, and now I could never imagine my life any other way.
|| You're right. We should be grateful. || I smirked. || Especially you. || After a few moments, I looked back at him. It seemed to sink in and he understood that I was talking about us, possibly because he was thinking the same thing.
He rolled his eyes and faked a single laugh, looking away, unimpressed with me, but he still couldn't help the smirk on his face. "Yeah, yeah, you conceited 'god-send'."
|| Hey. You're alright too. || I allowed.
He shook his head, smiling now. "Wow, thanks. I'm very glad."
I grinned proudly at him, silently deciding it had been too mellow for too long between us. I guess he could see the not-so-sincere intentions I was hiding behind my toothless smile. When he gazed back at me, still falsely unamused, he latched on only a second before I suddenly sealed my wings and we plummeted three-hundred feet. We barely nudged the water when I leveled out.
Hiccup sounded smug, "Huh. Sorry, bud, I know you like the back of this hand." He proceeded to pat my neck. "Don't sweat it, though, the gods have given me duller gifts than you."
The morning lifted off wonderfully. All of our stress and responsibilities were pushed momentarily aside for a refreshing afternoon densely filled with talking, buckling laughter, exhilaration, and relaxing. Most of that took place as Hiccup and I expertly surfed the bluer beyond, threading the clouds with designs and skimming the water's surface until we picked out new islands on the horizons. We touched down on almost all of them and had a look around. Hiccup had a hunger for discovery, I found, and I began to yearn for it as much as he after so many untouched lands had settled under my paws and his foot. Since he had infected me with this insatiable urge, we had found many places, and we knew we were only getting started. There was a whole world out there, sleeping, waiting for us; it would take a lifetime to finish the map we were building, if it were even possible before our days ran dry. But, we weren't discouraged by that.
So, after hours of back-to-back blood rushing excitement and life threatening (but, Gods, so addictive) sky dives, we were both spent and settled down on a comfortable beach we found during our last solo adventure. I initially rejected coming back to the particular spot, but gave way in the end. Hiccup was ecstatic and weirdly passionate about this beach, and I hated it. It was, as he claimed, "The most gorgeous he had ever seen," and begged to come back so he could try drawing it. I sighed. Even when I whole-heartedily disagreed with his affection towards the sad beach, I couldn't outright refuse. We marked the rest of the islands for later on a piece of paper and flew.
I frowned at the coast. A couple meters off the bank, it was ravaged with slimy boulders and pillar-like rocks protruding from the water, concealing the view across the horizon and making it difficult to swim around if we chose to. There was also an old and small ship wedged in the rocky shore off to the left. It had obviously crashed here many moons ago, crumbling with time and decay and fungus fusing the wood to the smooth stones underneath. The sagging structure and not-view were upsetting to look at. I grumbled and laid down at the edge of the beach, dipping my claws in the warm water. Ultimately, I didn't complain much that there were countless better beaches than this, because I didn't have any real reason to. The beautiful day was consistent wherever we were, and I couldn't ruin by being a baby. Hiccup insisted he wasn't in the mood to swim anyway, and I didn't see the point in swimming otherwise, so I couldn't whine about the useless rocky shore further than the fact that it was ugly. Nevertheless, the odd human thought these things gave it a beautiful character- a place with a story or something like that because of the ship (blah blah blah) and we wouldn't see it often. I pitied the poor, unexposed boy, promising to show him spots that were actually beautiful.
With the sun behind us, closing in on the peak of the mountain nestled in the forest, I watched him with a smirk as he sat in the shallow water and battled with the fish that jumped on the hook. The bank was apparently rich with many different fish of many sizes, colors, and tastes, and I got some good entertainment watching him struggle with the big ones. He fell many times, not finding traction with his prosthetic in the sand, and I had to help him when one almost dragged him into the ocean: a huge, juicy black sea bass, which I ate happily. Bass weren't my favorite, but I found it particularly tasty. And I had to grant him that- the one reason alone I didn't despise the spot. The fish were delicious and plentiful.
After I filled myself up, I crawled up the beach and slid into the sand, immediately getting tugged into a comfortable nap. Hiccup followed after me to begin sketching.
Flowing into the lull of the day, we had predicted a lot of things to happen, but all of them were of the good sort: amazing coincidences that would change our lives for the better. However, where we inevitably ended was nothing like that. In hindsight, the reality of what was to come would have seemed just as impossible as finding a mythical underwater city. The beautiful day came to an unfathomable sour halt I couldn't have prepared for. Washed out, suddenly plummeting into a heart shattering fight, we couldn't step over the remains of it all, unable to cross the broken glass between us of fear of something we didn't want to face. Two hours passed as I lived through a pleasant dream in stark contrast to what I would wake up to. If it were supposed to be a premonition, it was doing a terrible job.
When I woke up from my heavenly sunbathe, I flipped onto my stomach and looked over to the water, not finding Hiccup in his original spot from where he fished. When I scanned the beach, I found him perched on the tip of the ship. He was standing on the part that once, a long time ago, could have been described as the prow, as Hiccup told me: "the front". The back half of the ship was gone with the waves, sitting back submerged in the water at an angle, standing up like a boat never should. Hiccup had to hold on to what was left of the railing to keep from slipping. He used his other hand to block the sun as he peered through the jagged water garden, looking for something. It made me anxious to see him so high up and at a radical angle. He wasn't great with slopes. I jogged to the base of the ship.
He saw me approach. "Don't try climbing up! It would definitely collapse."
I didn't plan on it. I peered around to the other side, where it sunk in the water. Some scraps of material from the rotten sail were still attached to the thick beam that remained. I figured he used it to pull himself up. || What are you doing? || I called up.
"Eh, just wanted to check out the ship a little." he shrugged. "But, I can't find my shirt. I thinking maybe it got caught by the current, but I'm not sure I left it that close to the water. Have you seen it?"
|| No. Stop leaning like that, you're going to fall. || I was actually napping on his shirt up the beach. I hadn't noticed.
"Ugh." he groaned. "It's at times like these that I envy your scales. I think I can feel myself turning into a tomato." He wiped the sweat off his forehead and smiled. "And don't worry so much, I'm coming down." He was about to climb over, but he stopped, "Oh! Hey, I was thinking we could look through this wreckage. I already found this." He leaned out of sight and then threw a book over. It plopped in the sand solidly. Water had condensed within its pages and dried it into a rock. The green color of the binding was largely drained. "I can't make out what it says on the cover and all the pages are fused together, but it looks almost ancient." he said as he looked down at me, eager and enchanted. "Wanna bet we'd find a treasure chest if we looked inside?" He was grinning now.
A child at heart. Always. || I don't know what you expect, but alright, maybe, just get down before you hurt yourself. || I ushered him.
"Yar'!" he exclaimed. "Let's find the booty!"
I couldn't help but snort at that one. || You are so strange, boy. ||
"I know, sorry." He swung the remaining fabric of the sail over the side and started climbing down. It was attached at the very rightmost of the beam that crossed the one sticking out of ship. What were those beams called? Spars? Yards?
|| Don't apologize, just try not to act so much like your weirdo self around people. It's embarrassing. ||
"I try my best, but you know how it is." he tested the rotten sail with a pull after his feet were planted. It let out a dusty groan. I was apprehensive to let him use it as a rope, but there wasn't really another way.
|| Oh, do I. Is the wood too dilapidated on the other side? ||
"Yeah. I'd probably just sink through." he began to rappel. "And, just to make it clear- you are just as weird as I am. The only difference is that you can hide it."
I shrugged. || Maybe. ||
"You may not want to believe it, but under your cool-as-ice exterior is an excitable hatchling who peeked out when you decided to have some dragon-nip and try dancing during a very big annual Viking celebration."
|| Alright, alright! || I stopped him. I was still embarrassed by that. || Why do you always have to bring that up? ||
"Because I had my bed stolen from me that night and I had to take care of your hangover and vomit all the next day. But it wasn't that bad. You made that night worth all the trouble."
|| Yeah, that's what I heard. || I cringed at the thought of dragon-nip. Never again. || Do you need help? ||
"No, I think I got it," he said as he slid down another foot. I heard another deep and low creak falling from the beams high above us, but it was much louder this time. Faint snapping sounds began to poke through the groans.
It was a startling sound. We both knew it wasn't the kind we wanted to be hearing at the moment. Hiccup let out a, "Whoa!" and looked up, but, for some reason, his eyes didn't travel all the way up from where the noise was coming from. He froze, staring through the railing, too high for me to see what he was looking at. I didn't understand.
A huge wave wracked the other side of the boat, crashing around it much farther up the beach than usual. It was like the other half of the ship had just docked to be reunited with its long lost self. The beam creaked again, cracking and complaining. Hiccup was still.
|| Hiccup, stop sitting there and get down. You need to get down now, Hiccup, || I ushered him, anxious. He just sat there, rappelling against the ship. I was a little irritated he brought up the Viking party before, and I plotted to give his face a big, sloppy lick in revenge when he got down, but I had already forgotten. || Hiccup! || I snapped when he didn't respond.
"Oh, man." he suddenly whispered, promptly followed by a sudden clap of waves against wood and the snap of the beam above.
The sail was tired of waiting and collapsed. Hiccup, still holding on uselessly to the sail, began to plummet from more than ten feet. I reared up and used the hull of the ship to spring up and catch him in the air. To cue our sloppy roll in the sound was a furious roar on the other side of the ship from a dragon I didn't recognize. I lurched up as quickly as I could; however, the boy was a step ahead. He slid out from under me and screamed get down as he lunged for the cover of the boat. I instinctively stuck close to protect him from whatever it was, making the right decision for my own skin when I barely missed the unfathomably scalding water that slammed against the foundation and spilled over the side above us. It arced over us and landed in the sand a few feet away; we were fairly safe from it under the hull.
I instantaneously dived on Hiccup when I noticed the straying droplets that struck my scales curled into the air as steam, sizzling viciously against whatever surface it joined. It was only a sting to me, but I couldn't let any come near Hiccup, knowing it could be enough to melt the skin right from his flesh. He let out a panicked sound. I hoped it wasn't pain and squeezed him tighter in my wings.
I smelt it now, and I couldn't believe I didn't notice it before: the burnt salt, the slimy fishy stench of a thing long spent under water, fungus and more disgusting particles attracted to its obviously unkempt scummy scales. A scent that reminded me more of eel than anything, but kept a more distinct scent that all dragons shared. He must have wandered over when Hiccup was rappelling and they spotted each other. I mentally slapped myself for not paying attention and grabbing Hiccup when I sensed the unknown dragon. After it all, this was what was happening and it was too late for us to cut and run. I took solace in the reality that I was here, rather than what would have happened if Hiccup had climbed down the other side.
Hiccup yelled from under me, "Scauldron!". Under all the muck and salt the dragon wore, I could tell that it certainly was. Also, it wasn't much of a brain-teaser thanks to the boiling water that was still pouring over us like a geyser.
As soon as the influx ended, I pulled Hiccup up and pushed him towards the treeline. || Go! Hide! ||
"Wait, no! We don't need to-!"
|| Now! ||
I turned and watch as the water dragon crushed the decaying boat with an anticlimactic splintering snap, more so a soggy slap. The wood was wet and ready to go, surrendering gladly to the weight of the big dragon that jumped on top of it. He was big for a Scauldron, and he was frothing with rage. I hoped Hiccup was running, but, of course, he wasn't. Why would he be, when he has been faced with so many similar dragons of the same angry nature and was able to work his charm to calm them?
|| Get out of my way, Dark One. That human is mine. || He hissed, not looking at me, but at the one he demanded right behind me.
What Hiccup didn't recognize- couldn't- was that this Scauldron was a man-eater. To me, it was a very distinct scent, but Hiccup wasn't able to detect it. I failed to remember that later. The Scauldron stared at him with pure despise and disgust and hunger.
|| Slurp some eels, sea-serpent. You will not touch him. || I growled viciously and did my best to keep the human out of sight without tearing my eyes away from the other. He didn't shift an inch or even seemed to hear me through what he had already decided. I doubted a fight could be avoided. Hiccup would be upset if I fought, but I wouldn't let him get hurt.
|| That pathetic worm tried to impale me, and I will tear him to pieces. || He spat the way he said "worm", laced with venom. He still hadn't even glanced at me. He was totally uninterested and kept his eyes trained intensely on my human. I fidgeted in anger.
"No, no! I didn't mean to-" Hiccup came up to my side to plead. The Scauldron made a move that intended to bring hurt.
I struck him with a plasma-bolt in the side of his droopy head, and he went down.
I spun around to Hiccup and tossed him by his pants up the beach. || RUN! || I screamed at him. The dragon was already back up, the left side of his face disfigured from the blast.
Hiccup was a pacifist at heart. He would have done everything he could to settle things peacefully, but the dragon's head was seething with anger and vengeance and many inaccurate presumptions that couldn't be moved. I could smell it all on him. He wouldn't have hesitated to eat him, whatever diplomacy he offered. Hiccup hadn't encountered this side of the race much yet. Of course he understood that they were all individuals with their own beliefs, and some saw every human as scum, still, he would have done anything. Any approach of his with this dragon would only result in him walking right into his searing water.
The Scauldron was big and sluggish, and old, I realized, after his scales almost peeled off under my swipes. I was mauling him, the exchange very one-sided excluding a few scratches and burns. He tried many times to suck up more water, but I was always there to stomp on his lanky throat and interrupt him. We fought on the shore, water flying and tails lashing. Barely a minute in, and it was obvious that I was winning and the sea dragon had no chance. The old, male Scauldron was staggering and wide-eyed, seemingly surprised at his lack in ability. He must have been an excellent fighter in his olden days, but he was losing it with the passing of time. I wasn't enjoying how enjoying how unfair it was, but he had forced my paw.
He was about to cut loose into the water and escape; reeling back. I, with a drop of blood flowing into my eye, thought I saw a brief opportunity to figure where Hiccup was. I hadn't heard anything, and I couldn't been certain he wasn't hit. I hopped back, turning my back, one eye blind, looking into the trees and the mountain behind it. This was my first mistake.
I quickly looked back and tried to spy a healthy Hiccup in the woods. I couldn't find him. I told myself I would have to wait until the Scauldron was taken care of, and turned back. When I did, the dragon had seemed to glide through his element in the water and appeared right next to me. I couldn't react to the paw that came down full force into my side. I spun right into it and felt the four claws slide through my scales and into my flesh, and then I was flying through the air.
My back crashed into the bottom of one of the pillars in the water first, and then I hit the floor. The rock jerked from its foundation, and began toppling down on me. I tried to regain myself, but I lost my head and didn't have the sense to jump free of its absolute crushing demise. I jumped to my feet, just to find the floor once again.
My foreleg was immediately caught under its fall and I was pinned between the astounding weight and the jagged basin. I screeched in pain and surprise. It felt broken. It was such a blinding flash of agony that I couldn't tell. I tried with all my might to pull my leg out, but it didn't so much as budge.
My small mistake turned the battle in the other dragon's favor. I wasn't able to maneuver myself well enough to aim a blast at him as the dragon approached. I was helpless, struggling and pushing against the rock that wouldn't give, and I would have died if, as he was bracing to blast a downpour of Hel water into my eye sockets, a rock didn't bounce off his charred face.
The dragon's deep gurgling stopped. He snapped his head to the right, bristling, and roared. Looking beyond the rocks I could only see Hiccup's head, and then it was gone. The Scauldron lost sight of me in his roar of hatred and total blood lust. And then I was alone.
It was the fresh unadulterated terror that gave me the strength to finally push off the boulder and chase after the male. I was a second too long, I panicked. A second too late. You will not touch him.
I followed his tracks and broken tree trunks up the incline and found the Scauldron quite quickly. He was sitting crouched and still, his tail lashing and snapping branches behind him. My heart seemed to rise in my throat and shrivel and explode all at the same time, fueling the screech of rage and fear that stripped my vocal cords for days. He jumped and jerked his head back, immediately flying away before I could reach him.
Hiccup was gone, nor did the dragon have him. There was no flesh and blood I could see on his claws as the dragon flew into the sky. I stopped in the place from where he was staring before he lifted off. On the edge, I looked down into the big river that raged at the bottom of the abrupt twenty feet drop. The living, rapid water that cascaded down the mountain side, cold and white.
Many images swept me away in terror. I saw a Hiccup in my head that jumped off to escape the dragon, smacking against the water and going unconscious. A Hiccup pulled under the waves unable to come up for air. A Hiccup hitting a rock hidden right under the surface and splitting his head open like a melon. And then I saw the true Hiccup, farther down the stream struggling to stay afloat, the one who couldn't swim. I didn't think or feel anything as the water was suddenly sweeping me away as well.
I found him farther down the river and dragged him onto shore. I have never been that angry with my human, neither have I been so terrified for him. He had deliberately jumped into the water, to escape certain death, but he had plunged straight into another. If I had found him seconds later, deep under, he would have inhaled the rapids into his frail chest and become unconscious, and at that point, I couldn't have done anything to help him. I would have stood over him moaning and trying pathetically to shake him awake so he could cough it up, because I couldn't force him to do it without crushing his body or over-inflating his lungs with my own. If I had pulled Hiccup up after he drowned, the only thing I could have done was watch as the he turned purple, deprived of air, and the life escaped his eyes. I grew nauseous at the image and pushed it out from my mind, instead absorbing the real, healthy Hiccup on the floor below me.
|| Hey, look at me! || I panicked, || Look at me! Are you okay? ||
He coughed painfully in response.
I couldn't go on without him, I knew that. I couldn't keep going without him next to me; my entire being was shot at the thought, and then my chest would shrink into a coldness, becoming heavy inside me if I pondered on it too long. I couldn't fathom the concept of him suddenly gone, and I blamed myself for it almost tearing my life apart. I vowed to never let harm find him, and I failed. I hadn't protected him like I should. He almost died and it was my fault. I'd lose myself before I lost him.
I was trembling with anger and humiliation and shock and relief. More than anything, I was scared, and it fueled my petrified frenzy. He made it so hard for me to keep him safe, and I needed that. Why didn't he understand that? I just wanted him to be okay!
|| You idiot boy! What the Hel were you thinking?! || I roared.
He coughed before he spoke. Fury rattled my skull, and in my overstrung heart, an incomprehensibly alleviating reminder told me my world was still intact. That everything was okay, and he was alive. I was conflicted between wanting to bite his head off and hug him for three hours straight. Either would probably kill him, but I was so relieved to have him in front of me.
He's breathing. He's breathing. Gods, it was so close.
"He was gonna." Cough. Inhale. Cough. Inhale. "Kill you." Choke. "Couldn't walk away!"
My narrowly eluded death was sticking to my scales, a sour smell, but it wasn't apparent at the time. A rock was all that saved me, and I should have been amazed I was still standing, however, my mind was overwhelmed with how Hiccup had put himself in danger and I almost lost the only thing that mattered to me. Gratitude didn't even register as an option. He was my best friend, and I couldn't let him do that again.
|| That's exactly what I told you to do! I told you to RUN! Everything would have been fine if you would have just listened to me! ||
"What? He was about to kill you!" he struggled to catch his breath and yell back.
My words were virtually empty and meaningless, bereft of foundation; speaking in tongues and an out-pour of emotion and energy. I didn't feel them go out or what came back at me.
|| Don't ever try to step in between my fights. If you think you can hold your own, you must be pretty gods damned stupid. ||
Hiccup was startled from the raw resent that in my voice; and it was aimed at him. "Stupid!? So, what, Toothless, I didn't do anything over there?"
|| You almost got yourself killed. ||
"I saved your life! What is the matter with you?" He shouted as he stood up.
|| The only reason we were here in the first place, was because you insisted! ||
"That isn't fair, Toothless! I didn't come here so you could start pointless fights!"
|| I TOLD YOU NOT TO CLIMB ON THAT BOAT, AND YOU DID, AND HE SAW YOU. YOU NEVER LISTEN. ||
"Why did you fight him? That wasn't necessary!"
|| He was a man-eater, Hiccup! A. Man. Eater! ||
"Ah- A what?" he asked, genuinely stumped. I ignored it.
|| What did you think you could do? Talk to him or pet him like you do so well and all would end well for everyone?! Was that your master plan? ||
"No! You didn't-"
|| Shut up, || I cut him off and began to walk back to the beach. || I don't want to hear it. Get your stuff, we are leaving. ||
"I guess we are pretty disappointed in each other then, huh?!" He shouted. He absolutely hated it when people discounted him, ignoring what he had to say. I knew that. Maybe that was why I turned my back on him.
I was standing on the edge the whole time, but after that, it was nonexistent. I was bathing in a raging inferno. I couldn't stop the hollow words that left me.
I spun around dangerously. || Why should you be disappointed in me?! ||
"I didn't know you were such a jerk, Toothless!" he yelled at me. He may have had a near death experience, but what I was saying to him seemed to scare him more. He was shaken and cloudy-eyed. Shaken by the freezing water on his skin and the attack from his best friend. Cloudy-eyed with death and hurt.
I was staring right into his face in less than a second, roaring at him like I never had before, || YOU WANT TO HEAR MY DAILY DISAPPOINTMENT? I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE REALITY THAT I BONDED WITH SUCH A RECKLESS, ENCUMBERING IDIOT. THAT'S DISAPPOINTING.||
His eyes widened, and corner of his right eye glinted as the rays of the sunset found him through the leaves. He was taken aback by that. His physique immediately shifted; almost deflated. I slipped slightly out of my trance to realize I had gone too far, but I didn't understand it immediately. My pride refused me cognition or any sort of apology to him.
The pain was so deeply apparent in his face during the last second we held eye contact. He wasn't breathing. I had knocked the breath from him without touching him, but I hit him with a blow that made him ache. And after his head fell and his gaze became lost in itself, he barely whispered, "I'm sure it is, Toothless," and he walked around me back to the beach. I followed a few paces behind him. The tremors didn't totally leave until we started flying back to Berk, a tense silence suffocating us the whole way. My leg began pulsing with a excruciating ache, but I didn't give it mind.
I slowly became worried I was too harsh. If I had just understood any of the things I said, I would have been sitting him down and begging him not to hate me.
My foggy mind was now completely clear as Hiccup routinely stripped me of my saddle, and I was putting together what happened and what I did in my head. This time, Hiccup did it without looking at me. He kept his face hidden, facing the other direction and studying the floor. I couldn't get a glimpse until he came to my chest, and I noticed his eyes were very glazed over, threatening to give way. I already felt sick, then; when we made eye contact, I suddenly wanted to vomit. The things I had already said to him started to echo in my head, and I was hearing them for the first time. It was too much, I lost it. None of it was true, but in that brief moment, I could see he believed it all.
Only a moment later he pulled off my saddle and heaved it over his shoulder, walking home without uttering a word. He didn't look back.
The realization blasted me as I watched his small frame disappear behind a shed, and I couldn't immediately force myself to follow him. My legs became as heavy as stones and my heart stopped cold. I peered from the dark, motionless, empty square of the village, and I was aware of everything.
I had called him a burden.
|| Hiccup, wait! || I tried to stop him.
He wretched away, crying now. "Stop! Get away! And you know what?" he choked, "I'm glad to finally hear the truth from you! I used to think I couldn't have friends- that nobody would ever like me! And I guess I was right! It's just all the hero stuff that people see now, but I'm still the same Hiccup everyone hated. Hiccup the Useless, do you remember that? I told you all about it when we were first friends, or whatever you want to call it!"
|| That isn't true, Hiccup! We are friends. You are my best friend! ||
"Don't come home, Toothless." He cried freely, and walked to his house on the hill.
|| Hiccup, don't, please! || I moaned.
It was cold, dark, and still, and I watched him without words, sinking into the biggest regret I had ever felt.
A/N: Yup. Angst is fun. I really enjoyed writing this between Hiccup and Toothless because I'm a D-bag and it was a definite first. Stick around to see if/how they make it up to each other!
Hope you liked it! Leave a review! I hope you spam me with feedback when I'm bored in class.