AND...
...I...
...DID IT! WHOOP WHOOP, TWO CHAPTERS TODAY! :D I'm really feeling achieved right now. I just cried over my keyboard because I learned "The Married Life" from Disney Pixar's "Up" and when it got to the sad part I couldn't even read the sheet music anymore becAUSE MY TEARS WERE BLURRING MY VISION SO I PLAYED THE REST FROM MEMORY WHILE SOBBING AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.
Okay! Enough of that! You guys don't want to hear all about my piano life! (But if you do, I also know Forbidden Friendship, Romantic Flight, Flying with Mother, and a few other HttYD tracks. XD). Shout-outs:
ShadowSpirit020: Totally crazy. Hiccup + Ryker = NOT GOOD. :D
Dimentional Phaser: I'm going to use that later, either in this story or in another one. :D
Galaxy-Mitsuko-Pegasus: Yep, they're all in big trouble now. :/ XD
Artwing7: Hahaha, yeah. I just imagine Hiccup being like, "Viggo stabbed me. I didn't die. You thought I died. This is awkward." XD
Charr2003: THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I AM. It's like, whenever Hiccup and Astrid so much as TALK to each other, I always think, "Aww, you're cute, NOW KISS!" :D :D :D
midnightsky0612: Thor's mighty hammer! :D :D :D
Midnight510: Yep, Dragonese would DEFINITELY come in handy right about now. :D And yeah, twins trying to separate a Zippleback, not one of their better ideas. XD
LunarCatNinja: Yes! Go Toothless! :D
The Brucest Writer: Yep, not going too well for anyone yet. :D Poor Toothless. He's like a lost little adorable puppy dog that could still roast you alive when Hiccup's gone. :( Poor baby. XD Haha, yeah, I'm glad I'm updating quickly! :D I honestly don't know how some writers go for months without updating and I can hardly go A DAY without updating. I LOVE WRITING SO MUCH. :D
SnivyDragon: *Sherlock voice* Normal? Dull. XD Hey, if everything always went the way they always went, what would be the fun of that, honestly? (But seriously, the entire HttYD franchise could just be the characters goofing about and I'd be pretty okay with that, LOL! :D). Ooh, the Total War episodes were so fun to write! :D Especially the part when Hiccup was stabbed (I'm so evil, gosh. :D).
Everything hurt.
Everything was dark.
He couldn't breathe properly.
Hiccup lifted his head off the ground; he was lying face down, covered in what felt like dust and dirt. He pushed himself into a sitting position, groaning slightly to himself.
And then, a sharp pain shot through his leg, and he clenched his teeth. That wasn't good. He looked back over his shoulder.
His leg (the only one he had) was captured beneath a small rock. It took little to no time for Hiccup to sit up and push it off, but his leg was still sore - not broken or sprained, thank Thor, but bruised.
He looked around. "T-Toothless?" he called, his voice wavering, but he didn't receive any response. He coughed into the crook of his elbow; dust was still rising from the floor and into the air, which made breathing hard.
Hiccup looked around. He didn't know where he was. He felt around on the ground, trying to find something he could use to light a fire...in the dark, he assembled a small pile of sticks and found two stones (which he hoped were flint, as the riders scavenged most their flint from the rockslide terrain). Hoping against hope this would work, he clicked the stones together repeatedly.
Finally, after the third try, a spark flew from the stones and buried itself in the pile of sticks; within minutes, a fire blossomed to life.
Hiccup gazed upwards, towards the ceiling, and his jaw dropped. The ceiling was made up entirely out of rocks that had somehow lodged themselves against each other, so that they created an unstable roof. Hiccup swallowed hard. If chance hadn't allowed for the rocks to assemble like they did…
He shivered. He would have been dead, buried beneath the rubble of a rockslide, and no one would even know where he was.
He looked around again, assessing his surroundings, and when he did, he gasped and took an involuntary scoot backwards.
Ryker was lying nearby, half buried under rubble, seemingly unconscious.
Hiccup swallowed hard, silently contemplating to himself: what to do? And then… "I can't leave him like that," he finally whispered as if to reassure himself, and he crawled towards his unconscious arch enemy, wincing as his bruises scraped against the ground.
Pushing the stones and rocks off Ryker was harder than he thought it would be, but when he managed it, he deemed Ryker nearly unscathed. Nearly, because his arm, which had been caught beneath the largest rock, was clearly broken, and his shoulder dislocated.
Hiccup swallowed again and, carefully, pulled Ryker's dagger from his belt and scooted backwards again.
Just when he was out of Ryker's reach, Ryker's eyes flew open, and he looked around wildly. As soon as his eyes fell on Hiccup, his hand (the hand of his good arm) moved to his belt, where his dagger had been moments before. When his fingers closed around air, he looked up again.
Hiccup, with a sigh, raised the dagger into clear sight.
Ryker's eyes narrowed. "Why, you little-"
Hiccup thrust the dagger out in front of him so that it came inches away from Ryker's chest. "I just spared your life," Hiccup said in a voice that left no room for arguing. "You'd do well to remember that the next time you threaten me."
Ryker opened his mouth, just to shut it again, clearly finding no good insult in response to that comment. Hiccup, satisfied, rose to a stand and headed towards the opposite side of the cave, where he sat down, fingering Ryker's dagger.
Ryker shifted, and as soon as he moved his arm, he hissed through his teeth. Hiccup looked at him over his shoulder and, as soon as he did, turned back to face the wall again.
He's your enemy, he told himself reasonably. Don't pity him.
But he's an enemy who needs help, the annoying, selfless, definitely more Hiccup-like part of himself argued back. Without you, his injury will only get worse.
He doesn't need me, the logical part of himself snapped. He'd see me dead.
But you wouldn't see him dead.
He groaned and looked back at Ryker.
"Your shoulder's dislocated," he blurted before he could rethink his decision. "I can help you."
"I don't want your help," Ryker snapped.
"Okay, that's fine, then," said Hiccup, throwing his hands over his head. "I don't want to help you, either. Just thought you might not want to have to get your arm amputated when it starts mending unnaturally."
He crossed his arms over his chest angrily. He knew Ryker wouldn't want to accept his help; the selfish part of him was glad Ryker hadn't accepted his help.
But helping him was the right thing to do.
Hiccup sighed heavily, growled at himself, and stood once again, grabbing Ryker's dagger from the ground as he did. He stomped back over to Ryker and stopped before him, dagger raised.
"You," he said, "are going to let me help you."
Ryker growled at him. "Oh, yeah?" he snarked.
"The one with the dagger," said Hiccup, "makes the rules. I'm going to help you, and you're going to like it."
Ryker glared at him.
Hiccup glared back.
This wasn't working.
…
The dragons soared through the sky, following Toothless, who was running, from the ground. Astrid led the other riders, and Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins filed in behind her, in that order.
"Wow," said Ruffnut, "I've never seen Toothless run that fast!"
"It's a bad thing!" said Fishlegs urgently. "It means Hiccup's in trouble! Oh, this isn't good...what if Dagur attacked? Ryker? Who knows...this is horrible, this is horrible…"
"I'd hate to break it to you, Mr. Voice of Doom," said Snotlout angrily, "but the more you panic, the angrier I get! And you don't want to see me angry."
"Oh, sure," said Tuffnut sarcastically, "because you have a great personality otherwise. I'm sure."
"UGH!"
While they fought, Astrid looked down below. Toothless was leading them towards the cave part of Dragon's Edge: the most unstable part of the island, full of ravines and crannies. Rockslides were a daily occurrence.
"Why is he leading us to Thor's Hammer?" Ruffnut asked.
"Thor's what?" said Fishlegs.
"That's what we decided to call this place," said Ruffnut, crossing her arms. "Is there a problem?"
"If you'll shut up," said Astrid, "we'll call it Thor's Hammer." She looked down, spotting Toothless, still running, towards the area. "Something definitely isn't right."
They rounded a rocky cliffside and gasped. Astrid yanked on Stormfly's horns, and the other riders pulled their dragons to a stop around her.
"Oh my Thor," Astrid whispered.
Even the twins looked shocked. "Whoa," they said in unison.
The entire clearing was blackened like charcoal; the faces of the rocks were covered in soot. A giant, towering heap of rocks from a rockslide was piled over a large crevice; half of the caves that surrounded the clearing had collapsed in on themselves. Smoke and dust were still rising, though the burned ground looked fairly old.
"What happened here?" Astrid whispered, and she prompted Stormfly to touch down on the ground below, followed by the other riders on their dragons. They dismounted as soon as they touched down, looking around.
Toothless had caught up with them again, and the dragon bounded to and fro, back and forth, sniffing the air and roaring desperately. Astrid looked to the left, and then, to the right.
"This place is totaled," said Ruffnut. "I admire whoever did this. Do you think they'll give us classes?"
"Astrid!" called Fishlegs, and his voice came from further away. "You might want to come take a look at this!"
Astrid and the twins turned and hurried over while Snotlout stayed behind, followed by their dragons. Fishlegs stood, holding a piece of burnt wood.
"It's hard to see," said Fishlegs, "but it looks like a piece of the dragon hunter crest."
He handed the piece of wood to Astrid, who took it and studied it. "I think you're right," she said, handing the wood to Snotlout to pass on once he had finished looking at it. "But why would the hunters do this?"
"Guys!" Snotlout's voice shouted from the opposite direction. "I don't think the hunters did this themselves!"
The riders and dragons raced over to see what Snotlout had found; large pieces of cracked shells laid scattered across the ground, some burnt to a crisp while others sparkled in the sunlight. Fishlegs stooped down and picked the nearest one up, brushing soot and dust off it.
"These are dragon egg shells," he reported.
"You mean eggs made this explosion?" said Tuffnut. "Where can we get some eggs?"
"No, guys," said Fishlegs. "When dragon eggs hatch-"
"They explode," said Snotlout, mimicking an explosion with his hands.
Suddenly, from behind, came small, high-pitched growls, and when Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout turned, they saw small, baby dragons race into the clearing - Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Nadders, and Monstrous Nightmares alike. Nothing exotic. They scratched at the ground and greeted the other dragons with growls and coos; the other dragons (all except Toothless) replied likewise.
Snotlout dropped his arms to his sides in disappointment. "So Ryker came over and dumped crates full of explosive dragon eggs here. Why?"
"And how does Hiccup's disappearance fit into it?" said Astrid, frowning. She looked over at Toothless; the dragon was still racing back and forth, still searching frantically for Hiccup.
Then, she looked down at the necklace Hiccup had given her, still strung around her neck. "Everyone," said Astrid determinedly, turning back to the riders, "spread out. Find Hiccup."
"How do we even know he's around here?" Ruffnut questioned.
"Because this is where Toothless led us," said Astrid. "Hiccup's around here somewhere. He has to be."
…
Hiccup sat as far away from Ryker as possible, having finished his reluctant task of resetting Ryker's shoulder and creating a makeshift splint using a torn piece from the hem of his shirt and two thick sticks. The dagger sat beside him, and Ryker sat on the other side of the cave, the burning fire crackling in the center, between them.
Ryker looked to Hiccup; Hiccup had his knees drawn to his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs. "Why help me?" Ryker finally asked. "I hate you, you know I do. Why not leave me be?"
"The feeling's mutual," said Hiccup. "I don't know why I did it, either. I guess it just felt...right."
Ryker raised an eyebrow.
Hiccup elaborated. "I have this thing called a conscience," he said, "and sometimes, this conscience knocks me upside the head and yells at me when I see someone who needs help and ignore them."
Ryker rolled his eyes. "We all have consciences," he said.
"Oh, okay," said Hiccup, "and I guess yours is just slacking, or something?"
Ryker glared.
Hiccup sighed. "I don't know why I helped you," he said honestly. "I guess because...well...it was the right thing to do. I don't agree with anything you've done, Ryker," he said quickly. "You're awful. You've hurt dragons for no reason, hunted them, killed them, hunted me and my friends, tried to kill me multiple times...you'd still see me dead even now."
He sighed again.
"And yet," he said, "I believe people can change."
Ryker narrowed his eyes in confusion. "How can you believe that?"
"I witnessed it," Hiccup said. "When I was fifteen."
Ryker raised an eyebrow.
"Let's just say," Hiccup said, "the Berkians weren't always at peace with the dragons."
