AN: I know I posted this earlier, but I had technical difficulties. Anyways, here is the highly anticipated chapter of Best for Everyone. I worked on it in my spare time, well, when I felt like writing it is what I should say. Don't be mad at me for making you all wait, but I waited to get some answers to hear whether or not you all wanted me to continue. All of you said you wanted me to continue. I decided that I would add like, two more chapters to this story. I worked very hard on it. Now, I'm not the best with grammar, so please forgive me if anything is spelled wrong(though I did spell check it) and if any words are messed up or missing. I wrote some of this with my ipod, because I left the house sometimes and with it on my ipod, I could still write, (writing with your ipod is probably going to lead to spelling mistakes)
In this chapter, some of the characters may be out of character, for example: Stoic. But that is to be expected. They are finding Hiccup dead in this chapter after all.
This chapter contains the finding of Hiccup and the reactions of Stoic, Gobber, the teens, and some of the village. I will be adding another chapter to show the funeral that give him...maybe. You'll find out what I mean after you read the chapter.
Sorry for the long AN, but hey, I just had to get that out. Never expected this story to be so popular. Oh! I almost forgot. I have a poll going on what story I should focus on. This story is number one on my list so far, but after this story, I need one to focus on. It would be a huge help if you all voted.
So anyways, here's the next chapter. R&R! :)
Darkness. That's all I could see. I felt as if I was spiraling down in a bottomless hole. I just kept falling and falling and yet I would meet no end. Will someone just catch me so I will fall no more?
Stoic yawned loudly as he walked into the kitchen of his house. He walked by the table and over to the kitchen pantry. He was hungry and he must eat before he began his chiefly duties for the day.
He rummaged through the pantry, trying to find something to eat. There was hardly anything there. Soon, his eyes landed on a moldy piece of bread. Stoic licked his lips hungrily before he grabbed the piece of bread and tore into it like a starving bear who had just awoke from hibernation. Stoic swallowed the bread in one huge gulp and sighed in disappointment when he saw that there was no more moldy bread left. He would have to send Hiccup down to the village market.
Stoic walked away from the pantry, hands fiddling with the strings and pendants holding his large, bear fur cloak on. Stoic was on his way out of the kitchen, when something caught his eye. Laying on the kitchen table, was Hiccup's vest. Stoic cursed at his son for not putting the vest up. Stoic turned and started to walk over to the kitchen table when something came to his mind. As long as he remembered, Hiccup hardly ever took that vest off. Of course, Hiccup always had the vest on when he actually paid attention to his son. He never wasted his time observing Hiccup. In the viking world, Hiccup wasn't, and never would be a true viking. Hiccup? A Viking? Stoic laughed at the thought. Saying that Hiccup was a viking was like saying vikings and dragons would live in peace together one day.
Stoic shook his head, and reached for the vest. He was about to pick it up, but something stopped him. Laying on that vest, was a tiny parchment of paper. Stoic frowned, wondering what it could be. Stoic went to pick up the e, his mind thinking that it probably contained one of Hiccup's crazy ideas that usually led to someone getting hurt. Stoic picked up the note and unfolded it. On the paper, Stoic could make out writing. This didn't look like one of Hiccup's ideas. He was sure that Hiccup wouldn't mind if he read it. Hiccup was probably in bed right now and probably wouldn't be up for a while. That gave him plenty of time to read it. Stoic looked down at the letter, and started to read.
Her muscles tensed. Her arm raised back, waiting...ready. Then, her arm shot forward, the battle axe flying out of her hand. It twirled and flew threw the air at a fast speed, before launching itself into the tree. Her mouth curved into a smirk. It always hit.
Astrid sighed, rubbing her shoulder. It was sore from throwing her axe at unfortunate trees all morning. She scowled. Viking warriors felt no pain. She would have to train harder.
She sighed as she moved forward to retrieve her axe from the tree when she heard voices. There were four of them. One quiet, one obnoxious and boastful, and two very annoying. She scowled, knowing who it was. The bushes to her left rustled and out stepped Snotlout, boasting about how he lifted twice his weight in his parents basement last night, Fishlegs, who was mumbling to himself, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut who were arguing about who knows what.
Astrid scowled, angry that they had interrupted her training. She grabbed the handle of her axe that was embedded deep in the trunk, and yanked it out of the tree. She sighed, bending over to pick up a rock, and started to sharpen her axe.
"What do you want?" she asked, very annoyed that they had interrupted her training. "We were just taking a stroll through the forest. Is there anything wrong with that?" Snotlout said, trying to look innocent and failing miserably. Ruffnut and Tuffnut snickered. "Yeah right. Snotlout over here woke us all up because he didn't want to walk alone to find you. He was afraid to come alone." Ruffnut said.
"I did no such thing! I woke all of you up to take a relaxing stroll and to admire nature! We just happened to stumble upon Astrid!" Snotlout protested. Astrid rolled her eyes and continued to sharpen her ax. "Well, maybe next time you decide to admire nature, take a different path." She growled, not happy with him. Snotlout frowned before huffing. "Fine! We will! Come on guys!" Snotlout shouted. Ruffnut and Tuffnut laughed, but followed Snotlout as he stomped through the bushed to their right. Fishlegs mumbled an apology before quickly following them.
"Finally." Astrid muttered. "Peace and quiet."
She was about to start training again, when four girlish screams interrupted her. "What now!" she growled. Astrid gripped her ax tightly as she walked through the bushes on her right. She followed the screams and saw her four friends standing ahead of her, screaming their heads off. Astrid growled as she stomped up to them. "What are you screaming about!" She shouted, but received no answer. Frustrated, she pushed through the four to see what had scared them. What she saw made her stop in her tracks.
Stoic looked at the note and started to read.
Dear Father,
I know you will probably never read this, but if you do, I want you to know that I have decided to take my own life for the sake of the village.
Stoic's eyes widened as he read this line. Hiccup wouldn't, would he?
I know you think I'm a disappointment and a worthless excuse of a son. Well, now that burden is lifted off your shoulders. I have lived my life in pain and hurt ever since mother died. I know you blame me for her death and I don't blame you. As a screw up, it seemed obvious that it was my fault, but it wasn't. I watched her die. She died fighting a monstrous nightmare. I ran to her side when the dragon had left, but it was too late. She was gone.
"It wasn't his fault?" Stoic asked his self, his eyes widening at the thought.
You don't know how many days I went through where everyone shunned me. My whole life I was made to feel that I was useless. I have tried to make you proud, but after so many years of trying, I gave up.
"He was trying to make me proud? He felt useless?" Stoic asked him self.
I gave up on feeling loved. Pain and hurt are my only emotions. If you read this, tell Gobber thank you. He was the only one, aside from mother, that made me feel like I was useful. He was like a father to me. He was always there when I needed someone to talk to. Please tell him that I will dearly miss him.
"What!" Stoic hissed. Had he really been that bad of a father? Was he so bad that Hiccup considered Gobber a father over him?
I am now going to join mom. After so many times of almost taking my life, I am finally going to do it.
His eyes were starting to water. Tears began to form.
Take Snotlout as your heir. I know you were already planning to have him take over as chief, but be careful. He has no brains.
"But I wasn't." Stoic said. Sure, it was true that Stoic thought that Hiccup was a useless excuse of a viking, but he thought that Hiccup could lead better than Snotlout. Heck! The kid was stupid!
I bid you farewell forever. Take care.
Goodbye forever,
Hiccup
"No." Stoic whispered. This couldn't be real. This was probably some joke. This had to be a prank that someone had pulled on him. Stoic turned and ran as fast as he could out of the kitchen, the letter clutched in his hand. He climbed up the stairs, trying to get to Hiccup's room as fast as he could. This couldn't be real. As soon as he opened the door to Hiccup's room, he would see Hiccup laying in bed asleep. But as Stoic opened the door, he wasn't. The bed was empty and from where he stood in the doorway, Stoic could see some dark stains on the covers.
"No." Stoic turned and went down the stairs, two at a time. This couldn't be happening. Sure, he wasn't proud of his son, but that didn't mean he didn't love him. His son was all he had left of Valhallarama. He couldn't be gone.
Astrid was shocked with what she saw. If she didn't have as much self control as she did, she would have screamed too. For in front of where they stood, was a lone tree with an extended branch. On that branch, was rope tied to it, a body dangling from it. Astrid couldn't make out who it was because they weren't close enough. "W..who...is...?" She stuttered, not being able to say the words with out stuttering from the shock of what she saw.
"I..I..'t..know.." Snotlout whispered and Astrid closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Let's go find out." She said, speaking clearly this time. The four teens gave her looks that said she was crazy. She sighed.
"We're vikings, guys. We aren't supposed to be afraid of the dead." She hissed, before starting to walk towards the body. The four teens all looked at each other before slowly starting to follow Astrid toward the dangling body.
Astrid gulped as she approached. Sure, she had seen dead people before, but that was people who were killed by dragons or other people. She had never seen someone who had killed there self. Plus, the dead bodies she saw were always on a pry, drifting out at sea, at the traditional viking funeral. She had to admit, she was afraid of what she might find.
Astrid edged closer to the body, her heart pounding faster. She was mentally scolding herself. How could she be calm when she fighting dragons, but be terrified of approaching a dead body.
Closer. A little bit further. Almost there.
From what Astrid could see, this couldn't have been a regular viking. The body was too skinny, too small. If it had been a real viking, the branch would have snapped in half under the weight.
She was almost there, until finally, she was right next to it. She was facing the person's back, and from there, she could see that the person was wearing a green tunic, a brown belt around the waist, brown leggings, and brown fur boots. She looked at the back of it's head, and saw a head of auburn hair. "No." She whispered. She had a hunch to who it was, but she wasn't sure. That person wouldn't have the guts to do this, would he?
"Astrid!" Snotlout called. "Who is it?"
Astrid took a deep breath, mustering up the courage to walk to the front of the body. She walked in front and slowly looked up to meet the face of the unknown person. She gasped as she saw his face. She took a couple steps backwards, not believing who was in front of her. "Who is it, Astrid?" Tuffnut called, the four a few feet away. It couldn't be him, but it was. It was..."Hiccup."
Stoic ran out of his house as fast as he could, the letter still clutched in his hand. He had to find Gobber. Stoic ran down the hill, the vikings who were up at the time, gave him confused glances.
Stoic ran as fast as his little legs could go, and soon, he was in front of the forge. Stoic rushed in and spotted Gobber over by the fire, hammering in his tooth, again. "Gobber!" he shouted, getting the old viking's attention. "What all ta' rush 'bout, Stoic?" Gobber asked and Stoic just shook his head, holding back the tears. It couldn't be real. It just couldn't. He refused to cry. A mighty viking does not cry. They crush mountains and level forest. They did not cry.
"Hiccup." Stoic whispered and handed Gobber the note. He watched as Gobber read the note and was surprised that a few tears rolled down his dirty cheeks. "Wha' have we done, Stoic?" Gobber asked and Stoic just hung his head. "This can't be real. It can't. It's just a joke. It's just a joke. It...It's...j..just a joke." His voice died down to a whisper, and the first time since Valhallarama died, Stoic the Vast, cried.
"What?" Fishlegs asked, none of them hearing Astrid's reply. "It's...It's Hiccup." She said more loudly this time and heard there shocked gasps. They all rushed forward to make sure they heard correctly. Sure enough, dangling in front of them, was the body of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the lll.
"Hiccup?" Ruffnut asked. None of them could believe it. The weak talking fishbone, had taken his own life. "What...what do we do?" Fishlegs asked and Astrid took a deep breath. "We have to take him back to the village. Stoic deserves the right to know." She said and the four nodded. "How do we get him down?" Ruffnut asked and Astrid sighed. "We untie the rope. Fishlegs, come over here." Astrid ordered, and Fishlegs was quick to obey, in fear of what she might do to him if he didn't.
"Your tall. Stand on that log over there and untie it." Astrid ordered and Fishlegs gulped, not wanting to do it at all, but did it anyways, fearing the wrath of the of the girl that was sure to come if he didn't. Fishlegs walked forward and rolled the log up to the body. He slowly stood on it, balancing him self, and with shaking hands, reached up and started to untie the rope around Hiccup's neck.
Astrid watched as he did this and knew that once the not was undone, Hiccup was going to fall. "Snotlout." She said, loud and clear. "Yes." He squeaked, fearing she would make him do something with the dead body of his cousin. He was still getting over the shock of him killing him self. What did she want him to do now?
"Stand over there and catch Hiccup when the knot comes undone." She ordered, watching as the knot became looser. Fishlegs was almost at the point of crying. He did not want to do this. He could almost smell death.
Snotlout stood, disgusted, under his cousin's dead body. He couldn't believe he was doing this. But after all of the things he had done to Hiccup, that was probably one of the reasons why Hiccup had killed his self, he felt like he needed to make up for it. And if catching his dead body, then he was going to catch his dead body.
The knot became looser, looser, and looser, until finally, it came undone and Hiccup's body fell from the rope, right into Snotlout's waiting arms. Snotlout grimaced as he caught his dead cousin, surprised lightly at how light he was. Did the teen ever eat anything when he was alive.
Tuffnut and Ruffnut were silent. Every teen was. They were still recovering from the shock of finding Hiccup, his body dangling form a rope, tied to a branch. Astrid was the first to move, ordering Snotlout to carry Hiccup's body all the way back to the village. He already had him in his arms, so what was the point of having someone else carry him. They trudged toward the village, stopping only once, as Fishlegs had thrown up, gagging at the dead body.
Gobber was in shock as he watched the chief fall to his knees and cry. "Why Gobber?" he sobbed. "Is this some sort of sick joke? Is it?" Stoic asked. "He was all I had left. I don't want to believe it. I just don't want to believe it." Stoic said as tears streamed down his cheeks in rivers. Gobber too, cried. Hiccup was like his son, and Hiccup had even said that he was like a father to him. That must have been hard for Stoic. For his only son to say that his best friend was more of a father to him than his real one. But he had been there for Hiccup when the villagers and Stoic were hard on him for being, unvikingish.
Stoic sighed, getting up and not bothering to wipe his eyes. "I need to call a meeting. I need to make sure he's gone. We have to find his body. I still can't believe it." Stoic whispered, walking away from Gobber and starting to make his way out of the forge. He stopped and turned. "Gobber? Can you gather them?" He asked and Gobber gave him a sad smile. "Sure." And with that, Stoic walked away.
Gobber watched Stoic leave, tears still rolling down his cheeks. Like Stoic, he couldn't believe it. Hiccup couldn't have killed himself. Could he?
Gobber sighed before following Stoic. He walked to the center of town, before bellowing out in a loud voice. "TOWN MEETING IN THE GREAT HALL! CHIEF STOIC HAS SOME IMPORTANT NEWS FOR EVERYONE! GET TO THE GREAT HALL, NOW!
Gobber nodded. That should do the job.
They were almost there with Hiccup's body.
Stoic stood at the head of the crowd gathered in the great hall, his head bowed. Every one was shocked at their leader's actions. They were used to seeing their chief stand tall and proud. Not slumped and bowed. "What had happened!" "What's wrong?" "What's going on?" villagers of Berk asked, waiting for their chief to speak.
Stoic sighed before looking up, his cheeks stained with tears.
"I failed her." he said and everyone was confused. "Who did you fail?" a villager asked. "Valhallarama. She told me to take care of him and watch over him if any thing wad to happen to her. I failed her." he said and the villagers were way confused now. "How did you fail her?"
Stoic just started to cry again and Gobber sighed and took over. "this morning stoic found a note from hiccup. The note said that Hiccup was going to kill him self because it would the best for everyone if he was dead. Hiccup wasn't in his room this morning and Stoic told me that there was dark red stains on the bed. We don't know if Hiccup has truly killed him self yet, seeing as we have found no body. We haven't searched and Stoic seems to be in denial. He thinks that this is just one big prank to tick him off. It could be that, but it might be real. He called thus meeting to tell you all this and he wants you to search all over Berk for any trace of hiccup. If you find him, dead or alive, bring him back here!" Gobber shouted and ally he Vikings in the hall looked quite shocked. They had not expected this but would do as their chief asked of them. They were about to leave to start the search, when the doors to the great hall opened and...
They trudged on in complete silence. The village was was just a few feet away. "Um...Astrid?" Snotlout asked in an unusally quiet voice. "What?" she asked and Snotlout hesitated. "Um, do we, you know, take the body to Stoic?" he asked and Astrid slapped her forehead. "Of course we do, you big idiot!" she shouted at him and he seemed to shrink back. This was not the Snotlout she knew.
She sighed as he talked again. "But, he's the chief. Where will he be. I mean, we can't just parade around with Hiccup's dead body." Snotlout said and Astrid realized he was right. She was about to answer him when Ruffnut spoke up. "If anyone asks, we can just tell them that he is sleeping." "Yeah." Tuffnut agreed and Astrid scowled at them. "People would get suspicious. Why would we," she said, gesturing to herself and the others, "be carrying a sleeping Hiccup? I mean, we never interacted nice with him before. People will be very suspicious if we tell them that." She said.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut nodded. "But no one would care anyways." Fishlegs said, speaking up for once. That stopped all of them in their tracks. That was true. No one would care, and that was basically the reason Hiccup was like this now. They each felt a pain in their chest. They had a gut wrenching feeling. Was it...guilt?
"We have to find Stoic. If any one asks, he's sleeping and we are just returning him to Stoic." she ordered and they all nodded.
When they got into town, they found it deserted. "Where is everyone?" Ruffnut asked. Astrid knew. "They're probably in the Great Hall." She said. She knew this because sometimes when she got back from training, she sometimes finds the village empty. They were always at the Great Hall when this happened. "Let's go." she said and they all followed her, making their way up to the Great Hall.
They soon got there and no one spoke as Ruffnut and Tuffnut walked up to the doors. They slowly opened them up...
Stoic looked up and saw the teens standing there, Fishlegs and Astrid in front of Snotlout. "What do you kids want?" He asked in a menacing voice. Astrid gulped. Everyone feared their chief, even if they were great vikings.
"Um, we were out in the forest and we found something." She answered, unsure of how to break the news to Stoic. "What did you find?" He asked. "Um, well, we found Hiccup, sir." she said and Stoic almost stopped breathing, his heart hammering in his chest.
"Well, sir, we found him, well, Snotlout, show him." she said and Snotlout glared at her as she and Fishlegs moved out of the way, revealing Hiccup in Snotlout's arms.
"HICCUP!" Stoic cried out, rushing forth and grabbed his son from Snotlout's hands. Stoic pressed his ear to his son's chest, waiting. He did not hear a heart beat. He checked his breathing, no breaths were took. "No." He choked out, falling to his knees. "No. This is a joke. A sick joke." He said and looked up at the teens with crazed, narrowed eyes. Astrid upon seeing his blood shot eyes, felt a pang of sympathy for the man.
"You." he hissed. "You all did this! This is all a joke you set up! It's your fault! You killed him!" Stoic shouted, a crazed look on his face. Seeing this, Gobber rushed forward towards the devastated father, grabbing his shoulders. "Stoic! They didn't do it! He killed himself!" Gobber shouted and Stoic shoved him aside with one hand, the other holding Hiccup's body to his chest. "No!" he sobbed.
Never had Stoic been like this. It was worse than it was with Valhallarama. Maybe it was because Val died fighting a dragon, and his son died by killing him self. The man was in denial. It showed.
"NO! Hiccup would never do that! NO! He wouldn't just kill himself! No!" Stoic sobbed. He got up and rushed out of the Great Hall. Everyone stood, frozen in shock of what they had just saw. Everyone of them felt guilt welling up inside of them. What had they done?
So there's that chapter! I hope you all liked it. If you have any ideas on what the next chapter should be like, review and tell me. I'm sorry if you all didn't like Stoic so much out of character, but he just found out that he lost the last living piece of Valhallarma. Plus, he may have not showed it, but he loved his son.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks!