Hello, again and welcome to the third chapter! I got some wonderful reviews from the last chapter and I'm a bit excited, because those were the first ever! Ha! So thank you guys and I hope you continue to follow this tale. And now the moment we've been waiting for...
Stormfly, care to do the honors?
Stormfly cocks her head and chatters curiously.
Ahem, the disclaimer...
The blue dragon trills happily, then growls.
For those who don't speak dragonese, she said, Lyra does not own How to Train Your Dragon, or... close enough...
Astrid woke up all at once as she usually did when she fell asleep in a place that wasn't her bedroom. But she calmed down pretty quickly when she realized it was the chief's house. Hiccup was a soft, warm presence beside her, and she smiled at the peaceful expression on his face. It occurred to her that she had never seen him so relaxed, not even when he'd been asleep for two weeks in the aftermath of that dragon fight... if it could be called that.
It was a lot different from his usual expression. He walked around the village with a guarded look. His lips pressed into a thin line and his eyes darting around restlessly, like he was hoping to spot trouble before it spotted him. That look still lingered even among his friends, even when he smiled. It was as if he couldn't let his guard slip for even a moment, not even when sharing a laugh with the others. But things were different now. He had friends at all, for one, and the adults no longer threatened to spank him for wandering too close to their houses (she had seen that happen once). So why wasn't he letting his guard down? Old habits die hard? Or was there something still going on to make him feel... threatened?
Hmmm... Either way, Astrid resolved to keep a close eye on him. His leg would be the perfect excuse to walk him home from dragon training today. Now, to sneak back home without her mother catching her... She would most certainly need a plan.
A few weeks passed and Astrid managed to uphold her decision to keep and eye on her dragon tamer. She learned some things about him this way. One, he really had a nack for disappearing into crowds, and two he was really hard to follow without being caught. More than once, he had spotted her, and at first, he didn't seem to suspect anything and had invited her to walk with him, all the while blushing furiously. The second time. He smiled and held out his hand. The third time, he had smiled knowingly at her, but did nothing to try to lose her in the crowd, but he didn't invite her over either. In fact, he had straightened up out of his usual defensive slouch and held his head high and without fear, turning his back on her. Astrid knew this was not a rejection on his part. In fact, she took it as quite the opposite. It was as if he'd told her he knew she had his back, and because of that, no longer felt afraid.
That night, Astrid had gone to bed and lie awake for some time thinking about the level of trust she had earned from him. It was an honor that he trusted her enough to turn his back to her, leaving himself vulnerable to her. She had noticed before that he had this quirk. When he entered a room, he always stuck to the edges, always certain to keep all the rest of the people in his line of sight. It was a tactic she had been taught in the advanced weapons training courses she was taking. When entering a rough place, be it a building or even a neighborhood, never give your enemy the chance to sneak up behind you. Astrid struggled at times to practice this kind of self awareness. Hiccup however, was a master of this skill.
There was no possible way he could have been taught this in class. He was concidered too clumsy and weak to ever become a master of any weapon. So she was certain he had learned this out of necessity. Therefore, the fact that he had purposefully turned his back to her was a significant mark of trust. Now she just had to get him to walk like that all the time, proudly and fearlessly.
Things got complicated however, when her careful watch turned up something she had hoped she'd never see again.
She lost Hiccup briefly when he turned a corner, and she picked up her pace slightly to catch him up, in case he happened to turn another corner. But she stopped when she turned the corner herself and did not see him. Astrid frowned, a prick of worry jabbing at her, but she pushed it aside. It had been a full three months and more since anyone had even so much as crossed the line while teasing him. There was no way anyone would attack the savior of their village now.
But then she heard it. A shout of surprise and pain, followed by a quick loud scuffle. Astrid broke into a sprint, rounding a corner just in time to see Snotlout clubbing Hiccup with his own fake leg. She froze for a second, taking in the scene. Hiccup's arms were bound, and Snotlout was keeping him trapped by standing on the rope. The smaller of them was fighting gamely, pulling furiously, and kicking out when he could, but Snotlout was too much for him, especially since he was down a leg.
Another blow fell on Hiccup's unprotected back, and Astrid cursed herself for hesitating. Then, with a wordless cry of rage, the shield maiden fell upon Snotlout like a lightening bolt. The haft of her axe connected with his jaw and down he went, an almost comical look of surprise on his face. He looked up at her from his abrupt seat on the ground and blanched.
"Astrid?" Hiccup asked from behind her, sounding dazed and more than a little shocked, but she ignored him for the time being.
"Snotlout," she spat. "If I hear you've been picking on Hiccup again after this, I will find you and return, blow for blow what you have done to Hiccup. He is your cousin! Your family! Start acting like it! Now give me that," she snatched the prosthetic out of his numb hands, "and get out of my sight!"
Snotlout stood, and seemed to have a light of challenge in his eyes. But Astrid took a lightening step forward and shouted in his face, "RUN!"
Then he was afraid. Snotlout took her suggestion.
Astrid straightened her skirt with an angry huff, and did her level best to contain the feeling that her blood was boiling in her chest and in the pit of her stomach. Then turned to Hiccup and found it was a lot easier to feel gentle when she looked at him. She felt her expression gain a softness that never came out for anyone else.
She knelt before him, ready to untie him only to notice with a touch of pride that he'd already slipped the rope. He moved slowly, pushing himself into a sitting position with his left leg held tight against his skinny chest, and the stump part curled in against his thigh. His face was tight with pain, but other then that, devoid of emotion and Astrid quickly realized he was still in endurance mode, still waiting to have to hold on till it was all over and hope there was something left to salvage later.
"Hiccup," she said softly, reaching towards him, hoping to shake him out of whatever this was.
He flinched away from her hand however, and bowed his head, waiting.
"Hiccup!" Astrid said with rising distress. "Its over now, you're safe."
Finally he looked up and met her gaze, and she frowned at what she saw in his eyes. There was a wild look there, kind of like a cornered dragon, as well as the haunted look of a person without hope.
"Hiccup," Astrid whispered, feeling strangely like she was trying to calm a wild dragon. Perhaps, in a way, she was. "Hiccup. It's okay, you're safe now. He's gone."
Hiccup continued to eye her warily for a bit, then he closed his eyes and sighed heavily. When he opened his eyes again, Astrid could tell that her Hiccup was back, if a little subdued. She reached for him again and he did not shy away. Astrid pulled him into her arms for a hug, but he remained stiff and tense.
"Are you alright?" she asked. "What happened?"
He sighed again and averted his eyes from her. "How much did you see?"
Astrid frowned. He sounded ashamed and defeated. "Enough," she said. "Now tell me what he did."
"I-I'm pretty sure he was waiting for me," he said reluctantly, still not looking up at her. "He jumped me from behind and got my wrists in a slip knot. He grabbed my prosthetic next, and just tore it right off. I'm pretty sure he broke a strap, I head a snapping sound."
Astrid glanced at the fake leg and sure enough, the main leather strap had snapped. It hung uselessly from the wood, still fastened.
"And what about your leg?" Astrid asked. "That had to have hurt."
Hiccup seemed to shrink further into himself, but he did not say anything or try to stop her when she pushed his empty pant leg up to check. The leather had left him with a nasty scrape and a shallow cut before it snapped.
"Ouch," she said. "Come on, we need to get you cleaned up."
Astrid shifted her weight and pulled Hiccup's arm over her shoulder in preparation to stand.
"Uhhhh, Astrid?" Hiccup protested, a slight amount of alarm in his voice. "I'm short a leg here-."
"Hiccup, relax," Astrid said cutting him off. "Did you really think I was gonna make you crawl?"
She stood up so that she was supporting him on the left side, but he held on to her tightly with a tense look on his face as if he was preparing for her to drop him. When she continued to hold on to him he relaxed and finally realized her intention.
"Oh," he said. "W-well that works too."
"Where are we going anyway? Your house or mine?" Astrid asked.
"The forge?" Hiccup suggested with an almost pleading note in his voice. "Gobber keeps medical supplies, and it's close."
"The forge it is then," Astrid said taking a step forward and pulling Hiccup closer to support more of his weight.
They made their slow way forward for a bit in silence, and Astrid beginning to really see how much he suffered without his leg. As they walked, Hiccup was forced to lean heavily against her, but he could not seem to stop his shortened leg from moving. The limb almost seemed to have a mind of its own stretching and straining to make contact with the ground, as if he still expected something to be there. People stared as they emerged onto a busier road, and Astrid felt Hiccup tensing up in her arms, almost like he was trying to fold into himself so tightly that there was nothing left for others to stare at.
Astrid stared right back until they looked away. "Hiccup," she murmured. "If you keep trying to disappear, they're just going to keep looking. You need to act like this is normal."
"That's the problem," Hiccup hissed back. "It is normal."
Astrid sighed. "Hiccup, that's not what I meant and you know it."
They had made it to the forge by then and they ducked inside, Gobber was hammering a piece of glowing metal, but he looked up as they ducked inside and paused mid-swing with a frown. "Hiccup?" he asked. The man turned and quenched the metal glowing in a nearby bucket of water with a satisfying hiss.
Hiccup winced shifting his weight back into Astrid's arm. "On second thought, maybe we should go to your house," he said hastily.
Astrid stood firm rolling her eyes. "We need to tell somebody about this."
"I don't want to tell anyone about this!" he hissed quietly. He ducked his head and there was a dark blush in his cheeks.
"Hiccup!" Astrid scolded. "There's no need to be ashamed over this! He overpowered you! There was nothing you could have done."
Gobber had left the anvil at this point and he came over to them.
"What happened?" he asked simply.
Hiccup glared at the ground refusing to meet any eyes, but his grip on Astrid was tight.
Astrid sighed again. "Snotlout happened," she stated flatly, handing the damaged prosthetic to the smith.
Gobber took it, his blue eyes quickly taking in the broken leather strap. "I thought as much," he said quietly.
Hiccup looked up in surprise at him, but then quickly looked away again.
"Lad, it's as Astrid said," Gobber said with surprising gentleness. "You fought didn't you?"
"Apparently not hard enough," Hiccup said, finally looking up for a decent amount of time.
Gobber shook his head like it didn't matter. "But you fought," he said, gently pressing Hiccup on the chest with the back of his hook. "You didn't lie down and take it, without retaliating."
"I lost!" Hiccup said incredulously.
"Of course you did," Gobber said turning toward the leather working table. "Snotlout's three times bigger than you are, ten times stronger, and a hundred times more cruel. There's also the liiiiiittle fact that you're missing a leg. Or did you miss that too?"
Hiccup huffed irritably and Astrid smiled. Irritated was better than embarrassed and defeated.
"How on earth could anyone miss something as earth shattering as that?" Hiccup asked sarcastically.
"Well you seem to have," Gobber said, not turning around to face them from fiddling with the prosthetic. "You're still beating yourself up over it after all. Astrid, get him up on the table, will ya?"
Astrid dragged Hiccup forward to the table and neatly scooped his leg out from beneath him, ignoring his indignant yelp.
Gobber chuckled as Astrid set him on the table. "See?" he said. "Even the lasses can manhandle you."
Hiccup colored again. "Well that's Astrid!" he exclaimed defensively.
"And Ruffnut couldn't?" Gobber asked innocently.
Hiccup remained silent, crossing his arms with a slight pout. Astrid smiled. He was so cute, she could have kissed him. But Gobber was hovering over him, examining the laceration on what was left of his leg. The smith patched up his apprentice and wound a clean bandage around his leg before he buckled on the newly repaired prosthetic.
"That should do ya!" he said clapping Hiccup on the shoulder before letting him slide off the table. Hiccup landed with a slight wince and took a couple of steps before nodding. It was good to see him on his own two- er- standing on his own again.
"Thanks Gobber," he said. "Do I owe you anything?"
"Heh heh," Gobber chuckled at him good naturedly. "You know the rules, Hiccup. Apprentices and their beautiful lady friends, get discounts!"
Hiccup finally smiled, and Astrid felt relieved. Who knew Gobber was so good at lifting Hiccup out of such black moods?
"Though I got one more question for you lad," he said. "Where was that Night Fury of yours for all this?"
Hiccup looked down and away again. "Off playing with Stormfly?"
"I see," Gobber said softly. "Well, keep him with you more often. And no complaining! That dragon would much rather see that you are safe than spend time fooling around with the other dragons."
Hiccup smiled again. He knew it was the truth. Astrid herself had noticed that Toothless tended to be very protective of his boy. Even towards her sometimes, she thought with a smile, but that smile suddenly fell. But especially towards Snotlout. Hiccup waved over his shoulder as they left the forge.
"Hiccup," Astrid said. "Is this the first time this has happened?"
"Yeah," he said with clear reluctance. He stopped suddenly. "It isn't fair!" he exclaimed. "Everything is supposed to be different now! I've proven myself now! So why?!"
Astrid could understand his anger. She was mad about this herself, especially since it had ultimately harmed her Hiccup, but she understood how it had happened. It was true, ever since Hiccup had defeated the red death, a lot had changed, but there was one thing that had not. It had been common knowledge that Spitelout wanted Snotlout, his son, and Hiccup's cousin, to be next in line for the chiefdom of Berk. Now it was apparent, that wish had not changed.
Astrid started pulling Hiccup up the hill towards his father's house.
"Astrid?" he asked.
"We need to talk to your father about this," she said.
"Ar- th- wha- wait!" he stuttered. "My dad's not gonna want to hear about this!"
"Oh yes he will!" Astrid cut him off before he could say anymore. "He's your father, and besides." She turned to look at him. "I have found a standing threat to the heir of Berk, and it is my duty as a shield maiden of Berk to report it!"