Chapter 2
People seem to enjoy this story I suppose so I guess I'll keep it going, Disclaimer: I do not own RotG or HTTYD...
Hiccup was hunched over his papers with a concentrated look. His eyes tired from reading and sketching with only candlelight to guide him. He jumped when the door to his workshop opened.
"Hiccup." Stoick addressed plainly as if he had meant to say more but stopped himself.
Hiccup glanced at his father, "Hey." His voice was weak and he cursed himself for being so obvious.
Stoick sighed, "Son, I know you must be feeling...guilty in some way but what happened at the-"
"Dad I'm fine, we don't have to talk about this..." Hiccup reverted back to the sketches under his arms defensively hoping that if he ignored his father he would eventually give up and leave.
Stoick frowned, "Yes we do Hiccup." His tone was stern and Hiccup couldn't manage to look his father in the eyes.
"Boy, accidents happen and this one...this one... I know it wasn't your fault, but I also know you may blame yourself for it but there was nothing you could do and you need to accept that."
Hiccup felt irritated. "Accept it? I should accept that Jack-" Hiccup swallowed his emotion rising within him. "I was right there and I just stood still, I should have went in after him-"
"No Hiccup, that's just it, you would have drowned along with him then the dragons would have got to Emily. There would be nothing good of it, this...you locking yourself up in here and looking over these pages is unhealthy you need to get out and see Emily, Sonna needs comfort and you refusing to see them isn't good for you." Stoick protested.
Hiccup's eyes narrowed as he stood up, "Isn't good for me? You used to shut me up in here all the time and you think now it's not good for me? My whole life you've looked at me as one big fool making a mess all over and for once I'm keeping to myself and now you're worried?! Emily and Sonna don't want to see me, it's better if I just stay in here and make sure I don't cause them anymore grief!"
"So you think that hiding in here like a coward will help? You want to stand here and justify to me what you think is best for everyone?" Stoick yelled.
Hiccup blinked as he snapped out of his anger.
Coward...
Hiccup swallowed again attempting to keep himself in check...regardless of how much he tried the tears came, his voice raspy and filled with grief. The reason he hadn't let the workshop was because he was afraid of seeing Jack, he wasn't sure if it was just his mind playing tricks on him...it was haunting to think Jack would be flying around ignorant to the pain shared among the village because of his death. There was also the guilt...the guilt that he had failed not only Jack but Emily as well...and Sonna. His father had always looked at him like was a failure, heck the entire village shared his opinion...all but Sonna, Emily and Jack. Whenever they had visited the village seemed to matter less; like he didn't mind being shunned by the others because he was around the only people who accepted him.
Before Hiccup could snap back at his father or shy away a loud roar echoed in the distance sending chills down his spine.
They both ran out of the shop to see dragons, again flying over the village and attacking. As Stoick barked orders to a few of the villagers to take cover, Hiccup took advantage of the distraction.
He grabbed his repaired mobile catapult and wheeled it away as fast as his trembling legs could carry him. He heard the distant yell of his father but ignored it and only moved more frantically to get his chance.
Once he was far enough from the chaos he unfolded the machine, he had calibrated it this time and was sure it would fire properly this time.
A cool breeze picked up and a purple explosion rang through Hiccup's ears. He flinched and aimed the gun immediately to the sound. "Come on; give me something to shoot at." He begged in a whisper.
Without hesitation he heard a roar and followed it with the sight, he squinted and looked away from the device as he pulled the trigger and shot the tripping wire.
Hiccup glanced up and managed a faint smile as he heard a loud roar in the distance. "Oh I hit it! Did anyone see that?" He turned as his smile faded. A meter away was a Nightmare dragon that almost seemed to smirk at his surprise and horror. "Except for you..."
Stoick growled as he heard his son yelling, turning behind him he ran to the sound as he saw a Nightmare corner Hiccup near a post. Seconds before the dragon tried to get Hiccup; Stoick jumped forward and punched the dragon.
Hiccup stumbled away as his father fearlessly fought the dragon with his bare hands, In a matter of minutes Stoick had sent the dragon in a retreat and as the blunt of the attack faded away the pillar that Hiccup had hid behind to avoid the fire blast from the Nightmare began to crack as it collapsed backwards, the giant metal caged fire rolled down the village street as shrieks echoed along with it.
"Okay but I hit a Nightfury." Hiccup noted with a small pointed finger.
Stoick groaned and grabbed his son by the collar as he pushed him to the house.
"I'm serious dad, it went down just past Raven point, we can get a search party out there and-"
"Stop, just stop! You're right, whenever you set foot outside disaster falls, can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire grieving village to feed and protect!"
Hiccup lowered his head as he felt the weight of fifty stares from each villager push him down.
"Get back to the house; I have your mess to clean up." Stoick lifted his head to spot Gobber standing close by, "Gobber...make sure he gets there." He walked past his son coldly and Hiccup sighed in defeat as Gobber gently nudged him forward.
"I've never seen someone mess up that bad. That actually helped!" Snotlout sneered.
"Thank you, I was definitely trying..." Hiccup mumbled sarcastically.
Gobber shoved Snotlout by the helmet as he huffed at the boy's remark.
"I really did hit one."
"Sure Hiccup..."
"He never listens..."
"Oh, it runs in the family."
"And when he does it's with this disappointed scowl like someone skimped all the meat off of his plate." Hiccup mumbled. He reverted into his best impression of Stoick's accent and huffed out his shoulders. "Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring, I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is a talking fishbone!"
Gobber rolled his eyes, "Now you're thinking about this all wrong, it's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand."
Hiccup paused, with his mouth hung a bit open he lowered his brow and mumbled, "Thank you for summing that up."
Gobber arched an eyebrow, "Just stop trying to be something you're not."
Hiccup turned as he held the door open, "I just want to be one of you guys..." He shut the door and glared at the floorboards until he heard Gobber sigh and walk away.
Without a better though Hiccup raced out the back door of his house with his sketch book in hand and raced down to Raven Point, he was going to prove it...he was going to show them all that he wasn't a failure...he could protect himself and others...
He scowled at his messy drawing of a map and looked around; he felt a chilly breeze before being tapped on the shoulder by something cold.
"What you up to?" Jack asked.
Hiccup jumped and stared at Jack a few seconds, "Uhm...nothing."
Jack arched an eyebrow mischievously, "Then what's that?" He slipped around Hiccup gracefully and plucked the book out of his hands.
"It's nothing really Jack, please just give it back, I need to do this!" Hiccup moaned as he attempted to take back the book but failed.
Jack flipped through the pages, "Looking for something?" Jack noted a few sketches of himself in the book. "Have you been thinking about me?" He asked turning the book to show Hiccup his own drawing of Jack.
Hiccup scowled as he finally took back his book. "I'm looking for a dragon...a Nightfury...he went down somewhere along here and I need to find him."
"This is a big forest...I would know, I spent last day flying around above it, stretches at least miles and miles in every direction." Jack commented.
"Thanks for the support." Hiccup muttered as he brushed past Jack still staring at his map as he tried to navigate. He closed his eyes and opened them with a short sigh he scribbled over his map and shut his book. "Oh the gods hate me..."
"Why's that?" Jack chuckled.
"Some people lose their knife or their mug...no not me; I manage to lose an entire dragon!"
Jack grinned, "Hey losing a dragon isn't that bad, you'd agree with me if you knew what I was up to this whole week."
Hiccup frowned, "Huh?"
Jack nodded, "I was exploring around and whenever I landed people wouldn't respond when I greeted them, at first I thought they were ignoring me but then..." Jack's enthused expression faded. "Then they walked right through me...as if I weren't even there...almost like I was a ghost or something."
Hiccup coughed, "What? That's ridiculous; I can see you just fine." He held his breath and tensed as Jack seemed to keep staring into the trees.
"Yeah...why is that?" Jack wondered out loud.
"Beats me, how about we look for this dragon?"
Jack shrugged, "I tried talking to the moon but he didn't answer me...I just don't get it."
Hiccup stopped trying to sidestep the issue for a moment. Genuinely he was concerned...he was beginning to think Jack was really here...he was really ignorant to his past life and troubled by his state of being.
"Maybe he just wants you to embrace the present..."
Jack glanced at Hiccup. He was the only person who saw him, the only one he would dare call his friend because quite frankly he didn't actually know anyone else... The Viking seemed to feel the same way because he was here right now, instead of running away to continue searching for this dragon he was talking the walk with Jack. It gave Jack a feeling of hope. He hugged Hiccup; it was brief and caught Hiccup off guard.
He shivered slightly at Jack's cold skin and Jack pulled away with an odd expression.
"You're really short." Jack commented.
Hiccup growled and smacked a branch out of his face, "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" The branch whipped back and hit him in the face near his eye and he clenched his teeth as he felt the sting.
Jack laughed and moved Hiccup's hand from his wound, "Are you okay?" His smile still on his face.
Hiccup blinked a few times still grumpy he felt Jack put his hand on his eye as if to cool it from the burn. Hiccup pulled away and gaped as he saw the tree had been destroyed.
Jack moved out of Hiccup's way as the Viking followed the trail of destruction all the way to the rocks which revealed a hidden pit-like area.
"Wow...big dragon." Jack commented at the large patches of earth shoved away and dug into by the blunt force of the dragon's impact to the ground.
Hiccup slid down into the valley too concentrated to hear Jack's ramblings; he sucked in his breath sharply as he saw the tangled mess of a dragon.
The rope had wrapped itself well around the dragon preventing any sort of movement; Hiccup knew this was his chance...
Jack glided down after Hiccup and gaped at the monster, he noticed to serious conflict within Hiccup's eyes. Fear...
Hiccup pulled out his dagger, "I am a Viking..." He mumbled.
Jack opened his mouth to say something, he stopped himself...at a loss for words he felt uneasy around the large dragon. Its green eyes with slit pupils glaring back at Hiccup... Jack wanted to step in front of the boy, as if to warn the dragon to keep away from Hiccup but it seemed pointless. The dragon wasn't getting free; the rope was too tightly wound.
Hiccup felt his lips tremble as he looked at the dragon's eyes. He raised his dagger over his head and froze there as his body tensed, ready to deliver the killing blow.
Jack clenched his jaw and backed away, he didn't want to see this. He glided above the slope and sat with his back to Hiccup. Deeply brooding about his friend's need to kill the dragon.
Hiccup exhaled and slumped his shoulders as he dropped the knife. "I did this..." He whispered to himself. He saw the dragon's fear...it was just as he had felt it for the dragons. A beast would not fear anything, it wouldn't regard anything of its own life...it would be challenged...it wouldn't silently beg like the dragon seemed to. He groaned and knelt to begin cutting loose the rope.
The dragon's eyes flashed open at the sound of his freedom and as soon as he was able he jumped up and growled as Hiccup stumbled back.
Jack panicked and flew right in-between the two aiming his staff aggressively.
The Nightfury dodged the ice attack and flung Jack out of the way as he pinned Hiccup and roared in his face before staring into Hiccup's eyes and then racing off into the woods with a few failed attempts to fly.
Hiccup slowly stood and began hyperventilating, as he turned he regarded Jack who brushed himself off and glided quickly towards him with a worried expression.
Hiccup sighed and his legs buckled, before he could collapse Jack caught him and set him down as he looked around defensively.
Was the dragon going to come back? Jack thought to himself.
Hiccup stared up as he let out a nervous laugh he saw Jack give him an angered look.
Jack pulled the boy to his feet, "Don't you know what just happened? You could have died!" Jack yelled.
Hiccup was surprised by this outburst, Jack's eyes were slightly glassy and he stared into the blue eyes as they began to interest him.
Blue...with what looked like to be almost a snowflake pattern around the pupil...
Hiccup snapped out of it and grabbed his fallen book, "I'd better get back to Berk..."
Jack nodded and flew up the slope as he landed on the top looking at Hiccup climbing up with a small bit of struggle.
Jack reached out his hand and Hiccup took it gratefully, "Thanks." Hiccup mumbled.
Jack managed a grin as Hiccup made it to the top and brushed himself clean as he made his way to Berk.
"So all you did last week was explore?"
Jack shrugged as he twirled his staff, "I did some of that, I made a few people get their tongues stuck to posts and maybe started a few snowball fights but hey, I am the spirit of winter."
"Yeah...I guess you are." Hiccup mumbled.
Jack arched his eyebrow, "What's that tone for?"
Hiccup glanced to Jack nervously, "Uhm, I just meant I still can't believe I met Jack Frost, like you were just a myth..."
Jack thought about this for a moment before grinning, "If I'm Jack Frost...and I'm real there must be other legends living around...like Santa Claus...the Easter Bunny?"
Hiccup face-palmed, "Okay now you've lost it."
Jack huffed, "Says the Viking who tried setting free a deadly dragon!"
"It didn't need to be killed!" Hiccup retorted.
Jack frowned, "But why would you let it go, it could have killed you!"
Hiccup paused as they came to the edge of Berk and just outside of the forest. "I looked into his eyes...and I saw myself."
Jack stared at Hiccup, such a strange boy...yet here he was being walked through...
"So where are you going?" Hiccup sighed as he noticed Jack gripping his staff tighter.
Jack shrugged, "There has to be others right? Maybe they can help me figure out what's going on... And you?"
Hiccup gestured towards the village, "I'm not really going anywhere."
"Promise to stay out of the way of deadly dragons while I'm gone?"
"I don't know...I can't always stop myself, I see a dragon and I just have to...kill it it's who I am Jack..." Hiccup stated sarcastically.
Jack chuckled, "I wouldn't doubt it." With a sly grin the boy flew up into the air cheering as he let the wind carry him Northeast away from Berk.
The young Viking knew it was odd but he felt the urge to visit the dragon, he dismissed the thought as Gobber walked over to him slapping a giant paw of a hand on his back as it sent him stumbling slightly.
"Hiccup, you're father wants to talk to ya inside the house."
Hiccup groaned and went to his house, opening the door quietly, he tensed as he expected a lecture with harsh words and booming volume.
Stoick turned to face his son, "I think it's time you fight dragons."
Hiccup's eyes widened, "Huh?"
"I'm putting you in training with the other kids, it's time you've learned how to defend yourself and how to attack." Stoick nodded.
"I don't want to fight dragons."
Stoick let out a rumbling laughter as he dropped a heavy axe into Hiccup's thin arms. "Of course you do."
"No dad, I really don't."
"It is a chance for you to get out and learn a few things, Gobber's agreed to take time off in the shop so don't worry about it."
"This conversation is feeling very one-sided."
Stoick narrowed his eyes at his son's sarcasm. "This isn't a joke Hiccup; you start training in the morning." He walked towards the door with a packed satchel, "I'll be back... probably."
Hiccup rolled his eyes, "And I'll be here...probably."
Okay short chapter in my opinion but from here on we address the issue of where the movie events take place, well from here on Jack and Hiccup play out their movie roles only alterations is Jack gets his memories back of Hiccup and Emily not what was shown in the movie... (duh) And Hiccup DOES start dating Astrid and all that jazz it will make for a more heartthrob you just wait... *chuckles devilishly* alright so review this so I know whether you like or don't like the direction of the story, the characters being out of character or anything, I don't wanna get lazy with it
