For those of you who read the first one, you may notice something about this chapter. That's because in the original, this was two chapters. Here, I've converted them into one, hence the long length. Hope you guys like it.
All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.
Slowly, and with surprising difficultly, Hiccup opened his eyes, only to see another pair of wide, bright green eyes staring at him. If it wasn't for his condition and that feeling of heaviness still plaguing him, Hiccup could have literally jumped out of his skin, he was not used to waking up with someone staring at him; then again, no one had ever really bothered to look his way at all. Taking a few moments to let his senses reorient themselves, his somewhat blurred eyesight sharpened, seeing the eyes on a black, scaly body, and his ears could pick up on quiet moans of concern. The clues soon came together in an instant as Hiccup realized just what, or rather who, he was looking at.
"T-Toothless!" He cried out with pure relief as the Night Fury barked and cried out in a fit of joy at his riders' awakening. Toothless lifted up and lashed back his tail pinned on the Viking youth's stomach, and began hopping around Hiccup in excitement while wagging his tail, smiling his gummy smile and letting his tongue loll out like an innocent puppy. Hiccup was awake and alright, which meant they could play and fly together again; really, though, more than anything, Toothless was just glad that Hiccup was alright. He may have been thrilled at the thought of spreading his wings, but his protective instincts toward his rider would win out every time in the end.
Hiccup chuckled softly at the sight of his friend as he ran his fingers through his hair; the chuckling abruptly stopped as they felt the rough texture of cloth wrapped around his forehead. For some reason, he was wearing bandages, and after several moments of pondering why and what had happened to require them, his last few immediate memories before blacking out flashed back in an instant. Hiccup groaned as he silently cursed himself for being so stupid: of course he would need bandages, he and his dragon were shot out of the sky.
With the what and why figured out, all that was left to learn was where and how, Hiccup figured as he analyzed his surroundings. He was lying on the floor in a large bundle of straw, a fur blanket covering him and a pillow under his head. He was in a bare room with a door and window, a room not much bigger than his old one back at home. It seemed almost weak of him that the slightest aspect of his old home could make him so homesick. Hiccup had prided himself on those facts: no matter how badly he was treated, he never cried, no matter how tough things got, he never stopped facing forward. It was the only place where he didn't need the towering muscle inherent among his kind, the only way he could be strong, like a Viking was. Still, even Vikings would have to miss home after a long voyage on the rough seas – they may have been warriors and quick to deny any namby-pamby emotions, but they were still human.
Perhaps this was a mistake, Hiccup thought to himself. Perhaps… perhaps it wasn't too late to turn back and go home to Berk; he could tell his dad he was captured by pirates – a legitimate enough excuse given most of the circumstances of his disappearance. His dad may have been sharper than most Vikings, but even he wouldn't have thought anything of it. Just go back, hide Toothless back in the cove, and everything would go back to the way it used to be. The way it used to be…
Hiccup shook the thoughts all out of his head; who was he kidding? That way was the whole reason he left: the lies he told and the lies told and shown to him in turn. He knew what was real, what their true thoughts were, and he didn't like it. That place was no longer his home, he reasoned: a home was supposed to be safe and comforting, and he had to be on guard every second against everyone around him who could practically be considered enemies themselves. Besides, it's not like his father would buy into any lies he tried to sell – he'd left him a note for Thor's sake! Like it or not, there was no turning back.
All thoughts of Berk aside, Hiccup still had no idea where he was. His eyes trailed to the door right in front of him past the curious dragon. If it was open he could escape from what might possibly be his makeshift prison; then again, with the thought of prisons, the door was probably locked. Hiccup tried to get up to find out, but a massive pain erupted in his chest the second he propped himself up on his elbows. He cried out loudly and Toothless gently forced him to lay back down with his head. The dragon's cooes could be obviously translated as 'take it easy.'
"Great, looks like we're stuck here," he grumbled. Toothless looked at Hiccup with an apologetic look on his face.
"It's okay, bud," Hiccup said, patting the Night Fury's nose. "It's not your fault. We had no way of knowing that there was a village on this island. Just our specialty-brand rotten luck."
Hiccup studied Toothless as he rubbed his snout. He was ill-at-ease to find that atop the tough black scales, the dragon had several bruises and scratches covering his body, and his prosthetic tail was practically ruined.
Hiccup was upset at the sight of the wrecked prosthetic and wondered how long it would take to fix it before turning his attention back to their present situation. He imagined they were quite a ways away from their original campsite and started thinking of ways to get out of the room and back there undetected. It was then that Hiccup realized while taking a sudden inventory of all the items he left back there that there was something missing. Hiccup's face suddenly went pale as he realized what it was.
"Alvis! Where's Alvis?!" He almost yelled, whipping his head around back and forth and scanning every corner of the room trying to find the child, ignoring the pain that travelled down his neck. Toothless started making growling and barking noises, trying to explain what happened while Hiccup was unconscious, but in his panicked state with his parental instincts in overdrive, Hiccup could not so much as guess what he was saying. Hiccup's eyes threatened to spill tears and his heart rate skyrocketed as he began to fear the worst for the poor baby; what if the people who shot them down hurt him? What if they left him behind in that forest filled with wild wolves and boars and dragons? What if he was dead?! As if on cue, there was loud talking from outside the door.
"Alta!" Said an enraged, slightly concerned, male voice muffled by the large wooden door. "I'm comin' in there with you, and that's final!"
"No, dad," said a much younger female voice, confident but slightly wavering in tone. "You'll only scare the kid and make things worse."
"I don' care!" Said the male voice. "It's the dragon I'm worried 'bout. You and I were prob'ly only lucky to have gotten on that dragon's good side. It seems harmless enough, but one wrong move, and ya could be dragon bait!"
"Even more reason for me to go in alone," Said the female voice. "Dad, face it. You're kind of scary looking. I look a lot less like a threat, and I'm already on its good side. The dragon is probably more likely to let me near the boy than you."
"Alta, I don' want my only daughter to be mauled by that dragon!" Said the male voice.
"What do you even care?! We both know you don't exactly hold me in the highest regard!" Said the female voice, who must have been Alta. "Now shut your trap, and open the door! I ain't getting any younger!"
There was a moment of tense silence, then were a few grunts, a grumbled 'thank you' and an audibly muttered 'we'll talk about this, later.' A loud clicking sound was heard, confirming Hiccup's earlier suspicion that the door was indeed locked but now wasn't, and the door opened. A girl walked in, carrying a tray in one hand, and a bundle full of blankets in the crook of her other arm. With some effort due to the handful, she immediately closed the door behind her using her foot. She was rather pretty, Hiccup had observed, even prettier than Astrid in an admittedly dorky kind of way. Her attire was pretty simple – she honestly didn't look like the type who could jump out the bed at the ready to maim a dragon like anyone else would. The fact that she came in unarmed also helped in lowering Hiccup's guard slightly.
Taking a closer look as she approached with the tray in hand, she didn't look like much. She seemed strong, but rather scrawny, like Hiccup. But she lifted her head and that's when he saw it: Her eyes... Hiccup's heart almost stopped in apprehension, a cold sweat quickly breaking. Her eyes were a deep brown, almost black. No doubt that was her scariest feature; there was just something so… bizarre, almost unnerving about them. They made Hiccup's skin crawl; it was like a warning signal, like she would drop the tray with a malicious sneer and pounce at any second with a concealed dagger from her jacket sleeve, even though she truthfully seem no stronger than him, if her overall shape was anything to go by. A mix of awe and fear filled him all at once as he couldn't even begin to think of a word to describe those eyes.
"Hi!" She said cheerfully, going against any foreboding sense that she or her eyes seemed to give off. "How are you feeling?"
"Uhh..." Hiccup droned, at a total loss for words. Aside from anything else, she was still pretty, and it wasn't every day that a girl like her talked to him all friendly-like, or even at all, and didn't look at him like he was a nuisance. Toothless backed away from the two: reality-wise he was the elephant, or dragon-in-the-room and wanted to give the two as much space as possible. For the most part, he figured the girl was okay, especially since she was bringing his boy food.
Alta didn't wait for an answer. She came up to Hiccup and set down the tray with a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a mug of water on it. Then she handed Hiccup the bundle of blankets, holding a lump of something that was inside rather firmly at the sides. "I believe this little cutie belongs to you," she said with a smile. Hiccup took the bundle and pulled back some of the sheets. Inside was little Alvis, just waking up from a nap and starting up at Hiccup with a soft, happy coo.
"Alvis! You're safe!" Hiccup exclaimed as he hugged his new son for all he was worth with all the strength his tiny frame could muster.
"Your brother?" She asked.
"Son, actually," Hiccup said as he turned his attention back to the girl somewhat, looking at her from the corner of his eye. Alta was momentarily confused, obviously surprised that a fourteen-year-old boy had a son and for a second wondered how something like that happened. She soon deemed it unimportant and so decided to ignore it as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Alta," she said. "What's your name?" Hiccup was taken aback somewhat at the girl's straightforward attitude.
For a split second, Hiccup was torn between telling her his actual name and just making up a name on the spot. For one thing, he still had no idea if this tribe was friendly; after all, it was pretty obvious that the men here were the ones that shot him down, and they could have been planning some horrendous public execution for him and Toothless. A flash of the terrible dream he had the night before came into his mind, of him in the dark dungeon with a dead Toothless and Alvis, and it made his blood run cold. On the other hand, he hated his name to no end. It was a label, a reminder to the world that he was a burden to everyone, and the fact that he was even alive today was some sheer stroke of dumb luck. If Hiccup could, he'd forget that name entirely, and everything that came with it.
But he decided that now was not a good time to start lying, lest he face a greater punishment for it down the line. As things stood, he was injured and his dragon was grounded, so trust was, at the moment, his only option. So, with some effort since he was still in pain, he strained to prop himself on his elbow without opening the wounds on his chest and took her hand. "Hiccup."
"Hiccup?" Alta asked as she shook his hand. "That's a strange name."
Hiccup knew what she was thinking – it was what anyone in her situation would have asked; What parent names their child Hiccup?
"Don't remind me," Hiccup tiredly said, taking his hand back and returning to his previous position.
Alta shrugged. "Eh, it's not my place to judge. So, uh, how are you feeling?" She scanned him over as she spoke. Obviously he still looked pretty banged-up, but just to be sure.
"Bad," Hiccup said point-blank with a quick breath, even wincing a bit.
Alta winced a little herself in guilt. "Yeah. Sorry that the villagers shot you and your... dragon down," she apologized as she turned to Toothless, who had walked back over and was sniffing Hiccup and gently nuzzling him. "But we suffer some pretty nasty raids around here, and it's not every day you get the chance to take down a Night Fury."
"Tell me about it," Hiccup stated, remembering the shot he fired with his bola contraption that fateful night that came to be the start of his first real friendship in years.
"Your dragon really cares about you," Alta said when Toothless continued to nuzzle and even lick Hiccup before coming down to sniff Alvis. "And your baby. I was probably just lucky that he realized that he had no choice but to let me help out a little."
Hiccup tried to get up once again, but the pain crashed like ocean waves throughout his chest, causing him to scream in pain which caused Toothless to jolt back and Alvis to start crying a bit. Alta had to help him into a sitting position up against the wall; he tried to squirm away as soon as Alvis calmed, but she wouldn't let him out of her grasp for a moment until she finally got his back propped up against the wood wall; an incredibly weird girl, Hiccup thought as he bounced Alvis in his arms to calm the child down, which he eventually did.
"Yeah, you're not going to be able to move around for a while. Not in this state." She confessed as she shook her head. Hiccup wasn't exactly happy with that diagnosis but ultimately had to agree; like it or not, they were going to be staying for a while.
Hiccup looked down to the blankets draped over him and said, "You're... really friendly." He didn't want to call her 'motherly' and get on her bad side so soon, even if it was a little closer to what Hiccup wanted to say. The truth was Alta actually reminded Hiccup of what Gobber told him of her mother: she was very kind, as opposed to most Vikings, but still had a certain kind of feistiness to her. As he understood, Valka was rather rebellious herself and was never afraid to speak her mind, but her caring nature still stood prominent over anything else.
Alta chuckled. "Yeah, and I get the feeling I'm the only one who would be. No one else is very nice most of the time, especially to me. I mean, a Viking's normal idea of friendship is to dislocate your shoulder with a good punch." Alta even took her fist and jabbed the air for example; the chuckling soon stopped and she looked down to her own knees covered by her coat.
"I don't even know you, and you're probably the nicest person I've met," she mumbled.
"Same here," Hiccup said, turning to face her. "You're one of the few people who has ever been intentionally nice to me." Alta looked back up to stare into his own eyes: they were a bright and vibrant forest green. Alta was nearly lost in them – it was as if those eyes held the essence of life itself in its purest form. There was power and majesty, the earth, the sea, and the infinite sky all merged into one great, almost-primordial form. She silently gaped for a few moments before a cough from Hiccup brought her back to reality.
"I hope you don't mind me asking," Alta started. "But why were you riding a dragon, and how, for that matter? I've never met anyone who's managed to even get close enough to actually get on one's back." She all but incredulously shouted with her arms flailing out for emphasis.
"It's a long story," Hiccup said.
"I have the time," Alta said.
"Well, before that, I have one question," Hiccup stated.
"What?"
"Who are you people? Where am I exactly?" He shouted as he leaned towards her, ignoring the discomfort as he did.
"Oh!" Alta said, returning to her feet and jumping in the air slightly. "Right, no one's told you. Well, you can just call us the Bone Head Tribe. Welcome to the Island of Draak!"
"Draak?" Hiccup questioned, tilting his head slightly as Toothless did when he got confused. The dragon in question mimicked the expression more visibly. "I've never heard of an island called Draak. Or the 'Bone Head' Tribe."
"Does it matter?" Alta asked. "We fight, we sail around, we get attacked by dragons, we drink mead until the yaks come home. We're pretty much your average Viking tribe, 'cept for our name." She shook her head at this last part – it was always mortifying for her to hear her tribe's name spoken, especially when she and her father were visiting other tribes around the archipelago, for obvious reasons. "I mean, really, 'Bone Head Tribe'? I'd like to meet the guy who actually had the lapse in shame to saddle us with a ridiculous name like that. Sure, we're a little ignorant, but we're not boneheads, at least no more than any other tribe." Hiccup chuckled at her little joke.
"Okay. So, like I asked before, how were you riding a dragon?" Alta asked, getting down on her knees and pressing her face up to his at lightning speed, excited in no small part to hear the mysterious boy's story. "No, actually, scratch that. Why did he let you ride him?"
"You're a curious girl, aren't you?" Hiccup said. It was technically a question, but his tone made it sound like a statement.
"I have to be," Alta pointed out, shrugging again. "Everyone else is wondering why, but no one wants to get close enough to you and your dragon to ask."
Hiccup smiled as he reached out his free hand to pat his faithful companion on the snout, making him purr in contentment. "His name's Toothless."
Alta was perplexed at the name, thinking it a misnomer for a moment. "Toothless? I know I saw-" Toothless looked over at her and mimicked a smile. His teeth weren't there. "Teeth... on that... dragon..." Alta's voice faltered in surprise. "How-how did he...?"
"I don't know," Hiccup admitted. "I guess it's just something Night Fury's do." At that moment, his teeth reappeared, making Alta jump back in surprise. Hiccup and Toothless both chuckled at her priceless expression, and even Alvis giggled a bit.
Alta pouted for a bit at their laughing at her expense, but soon smiled. For a long moment, her eyes lit up and they didn't look as unnerving as before. "So are you gonna tell me about riding Toothless or what?" She asked as she crossed her arms in expectation.
"Gee, Alta. I don't even know where to start," Hiccup sighed.
"How about when you first got him."
"All right then, here goes." And with that, Hiccup began to talk; actually, it was more like rambling. Hiccup guessed that he was so glad to tell someone about Toothless and finally get the secret off his chest that he started to blab to no end. He started from the beginning, from how he shot down Toothless, to how he found him in the woods and bonded with him in the cove, to how he made his tail, to how he learned tricks and dragons that had never been known before, to how he used that in Dragon Training. Though he had taken a few bites of the food at first, the tray Alta brought and all its contents were soon forgotten as the story went on. Alvis had fallen asleep on Hiccup's lap, while Toothless, curled around his rider, listened to the story closely.
Despite only knowing Alta for a short amount of time, Hiccup found himself very comfortable around her, his feelings of caution slowly dissipating as he continued with his story and she listened intently with a look of pure wonder on her face. Her unusually compassionate nature made it very clear: she was different, different from every other Viking. Like him.
"Wow..." Alta was mesmerized by Hiccup's adventure by the time he had finished with how he managed to become the local celebrity, going from having nothing to having everything. "Amazing. And you managed to hide this from everyone in your village? Um, where are you from, again?"
"Berk," Hiccup admitted. "And it wasn't hard at first. Sure, a few people-" Namely Astrid, Hiccup thought momentarily. "-wondered how I got so good, where I was learning these things – I mean, the village runt going to placing first in Training overnight? I'm pretty sure I got some heads spinning there, but by some miracle, I was able to keep Toothless safe, despite a few close calls." Hiccup patted Toothless' forehead. Toothless closed his eyes and warbled happily – he was proud of his friend, no matter what anyone would say, and hearing of his cleverness in the ring only reinforced that feeling.
"...But I'm guessing things didn't last?" Alta asked quietly.
"Yep," Hiccup said, his voice barely a whisper.
"What happened? It must have been something very upsetting for you to have ended up here."
Hiccup sighed. "Things started going downhill when my father came back from one of his voyages."
"Your father?"
"Stoick the Vast," Hiccup said, mimicking a deep voice and puffing out his chest while flexing his arms to make him look as Stoick-sized as possible. "'Oh, Hear-His-Name-And-Tremble!" Alta laughed at that. "He's the chief," Hiccup explained. "When he found out how well I was doing in Dragon Training, he… uh… well, he was happy. He was… proud." Hiccup said half-heartedly, remembering the whole conversation word-for-word. For what was supposed to be pride, Stoick had made it sound quite like the most painful mockery he had ever heard in his life.
"But, unfortunately, thanks to what I learned from Toothless," Hiccup continued. "I was chosen for the final match. And, I… well, uh…" His voice trailed off. He was coming to the very thing he didn't want to talk about. He had deliberately hid it from Toothless, afraid of how he would react. Now he was about to blurt it out to some girl he just met. As much as it hurt, the only thing that could keep him in the clear was to once again conceal the truth.
"Well, what? I mean, if your dad was finally proud of you, what was the problem?" Alta asked.
"Ugh, well, I'd just... I mean I-I got tired of it. I guess his recognition wasn't all that important to me anymore. I mean I had a real friend who'd go with me anywhere, so I figured, why not just go?"
"So... you ran away? Huh, well, I guess I would've done the same thing if I was in your position." Alta guessed; she suspected that Hiccup was hiding one crucial fact out of his story but left it alone since she figured he might not want to talk about it. Toothless, on the other hand, was just as suspicious, although worried might have been a better word. Hiccup didn't have to keep secrets with him, especially if it regarded some dark aspect of his past; they were past any kind of original prejudice or suspicion and were now closer than even brothers, so Toothless would understand – the dragon just stared at Hiccup as if trying to convey this message.
"It doesn't matter. No one actually cared about me in the first place." Hiccup muttered darkly. Toothless narrowed his eyes – it seemed his guess was right on the mark.
"What?" Alta asked.
"Uh... Enough about me," Hiccup stuttered, catching himself as he was about to let loose some rather complicated and long-buried teenage angst that he was pretty sure he didn't want Alta to see. "What about you, Alta? While I'm the one spilling my guts to a person I don't even know, you haven't said very much about yourself."
Alta looked down. "Well..." Hiccup waited patiently. "Like you, Hiccup, I'm the child of the chief. My full name is Alta Walker Skulason the Second, as embarrassing as that is to say in public."
"Better than my full name," Hiccup said.
"Why? What's your full name?"
"I'll tell you later."
Alta sighed. "I've always been different from everyone else. I can argue in circles for hours on end, but I can't physically fight very well. From day one, everyone just liked to pick on me. They treat me like I'm stupid, they talk slowly like I can't understand them, and they say hurtful things all the time. Like, earlier today. I was trying to get close to Toothless here so I could feed Alvis, and these two guys I know just started yelling at me, saying I was dumb enough to let myself be dragon feed. Someone needs to put Ruoy in his place." Alta mumbled the last sentence. "And me and my dad don't exactly have the best relationship. I'm surprised I didn't run away a long time ago."
"Not to be rude," Hiccup apologized early. "But I ran away. Why do you think you didn't?"
Surprisingly, Alta took no offense, she just continued talking. "I don't know. Maybe because I just got used to it, or because I can give them an earful if they say something they should know they'll regret. You know, I can get though a lot of unpleasant things. Everyone just thinks I'm useless because I'm something of a dreamer – they always say I've got my head in the clouds or that I'm too 'airheaded' to be of any value. And, to add to the ridicule, I refuse to kill dragons."
"Refuse?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, yeah! I mean look at them!" Alta exclaimed, looking at Toothless, who jolted his head up. "They're so amazing, so mysterious, why should we hurt them?"
"Don't they raid your village?" Hiccup couldn't help but ask. Fishlegs though somewhere along the lines of Alta, wanting to study dragons more than kill them. When all was said and done though, all he picked up were more battle statistics, clear proof that he thought just the same as everyone else.
"Yes, but- Look, the point is, dragons are cool. Imagine how much we could learn by interacting with them."
"Eh, I know what you mean," Hiccup admitted. He couldn't really argue with Alta, not after learning so much from Toothless, who was now licking Alvis's cheek and suddenly coming up to nuzzle his.
"I just see the world differently than everyone else," Alta said. "Is that so wrong?"
"No, no, there's nothing wrong with that. I know exactly how you feel. You should see how they treat me back on-"
THUMP!
"Eh?" Hiccup stopped talking at the sound of a thumping noise coming from the door, like something fell over outside. Alta went silent and Toothless's ears perked up, the girl slowly getting up and making her way to the door, pressing her ear against the wood. Though the silence, Hiccup could hear hushed whispers, which to Alta sounded all too familiar.
"Why of all the rotten…" Alta growled quietly. She stealthily tiptoed behind the door and grabbed the metal handle; fast as a viper, she yanked the door open. Two boys fell in and dropped onto the ground one on top of the other. They both looked around the same age, maybe fourteen, the same as Hiccup and Alta themselves. One of them was pretty large, about as large as Fishlegs but not quite; he had a helmet that covered his head and metal shoulder pads over a simple thin leather sleeveless tunic. The other with red hair, a dragon fang necklace, a sword on his back, and looked incredibly irritated. Toothless quickly growled and curled around Hiccup protectively – he remembered the second boy from earlier, and his attire and foul attitude just screamed 'threat.'
"I can't believe even you two idiots would stoop so low!" Alta yelled.
"Your dad made us!" Yelled the big one with the shoulder pads.
"I don't care!" Alta shouted. "Don't you two have better things to do than spying on people?!"
"Hey, if it wasn't for us, you would have been killed by dragons long ago! You should be down on your knees kissing my boots in gratitude!" Shouted the irritated looking one.
"Get a life, Ruoy! Don't think you'll get that lucky, even if your boots are the only part of you even remotely kissable!" She shouted, her eyes flaming murderously, but his only reaction was to scoff and even spit a bit at her, which only made her even angrier. "What is wrong with you, you jerk?!" She screamed as she wiped the spit away.
That got his attention – his eyes widened incredulously. "What's wrong with me?" Ruoy repeated. "What's wrong with me?! What's wrong with you?!"
He walked towards Hiccup and Toothless in a threatening manner, even beginning to pull out his sword as he stalked forward. Alta jumped in front of them, but Ruoy pushed her aside, knocking her to the floor and eliciting an even angrier snarl from Toothless. The other guy grabbed her by the shoulders and held her against his chest, effectively pinning her.
"Stupid girl! You're already trusting this scrawny kid and this dragon!" He yelled as he pointed his sword at Hiccup and Toothless while turning to face Alta. "And you're wondering what's wrong with me?! They could be spies from another tribe, or-"
Toothless had had all he could stand of Ruoy at this point and let his defensive instincts took over. The dragon leaped in front him but not enough to leave Hiccup's side, baring his fangs and scraping his claws across the floor.
"One step closer to Hiccup and you're Night Fury chow!" Alta exclaimed. "And I'm the stupid one?! What tribe would send a scrawny kid like him to spy?! No offense Hiccup." She quickly apologized, to which Hiccup raised a hand to say 'no big deal.' "Even with a dragon?! I mean, what kind of idiot-"
"Be quiet!" Ruoy shouted.
"You've got a big mouth for a small girl," said the other guy.
"Shut up, Niart," Alta said. The other boy's name seemed very strange to Hiccup, sounding like Knee-Art. Of course, who was he to talk, considering his own name?
"Maybe you should take your own advice!" Niart retaliated, before his face contorted into a weird expression as he felt a sudden force knock all the air out of his chest, and his grip on Alta loosened enough for her to get away. He wrapped his arms around his now aching gut. Apparently Alta had elbowed him in the ribs, and pretty hard too.
"You little brat!" Ruoy turned away from Hiccup and Toothless in favor for Alta and viciously tackled her, pinning her to the floor.
"Get off of me, you ogre!" Alta wailed, struggling to break free of Ruoy's grip. "You're worse than the dragons!"
"For the first time ever, you may be right, nut-brain!" Ruoy taunted as he tightened his hold on her, even putting his knee on her chest to pin her down further. "Cause what that dragon might have done'll be nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you!"
All the yelling woke up Alvis, who was now crying loudly. Toothless jumped away completely and started barking and screeching while snapping his teeth at Ruoy while whipping his tail on his back. Niart started yelling from in front of Alta, insulting her even more and backing up whatever nasty insults Ruoy might have had, and all Hiccup could do was stare.
At that moment someone else walked in, loudly asking what all the screaming about. He was a large man, about as tall as his father. Hiccup guessed by the familiar tone of his voice that this man was who Alta was talking to earlier: that, combined with the air of authority he gave off, made it clear that this was the chief of the island.
"What is going on in here?!" He yelled in a booming voice.
"Dad, get him off me, before I ring his neck!" Alta shouted at Ruoy and even tried to lift her arms to follow through on her threat.
"Good luck with that!" Ruoy countered before lifting his head to face the chief. "Hairke, just let me give this mouthy migraine one good punch! We both know she's had it coming for a long time!"
"Get off her!" Alta's father shouted, before a horrifying shriek turned his attention to Toothless, who looked ready to rip Ruoy to pieces.
While Alta's father grabbed Toothless by the tail and pry him away from the two fighting teens, Niart tried to separate the two in question, even stopping his rain of insults just to tell Ruoy to get off, but to no avail. In the midst of it all, Hiccup had been completely forgotten; he just sat there on the floor like an idiot, completely silent, with no clue what to do as the chaos continued before him with no visible end in sight.
Hiccup clenched his fist and gripped the sheets on top of him in anger; he was really starting to hate this Ruoy person. He reminded Hiccup of Snotlout, from the pompous attitude to the way he just yelled every sentence like he was the boss of everyone. It was exactly as Alta called: Ruoy was a total jerk, and his atrocious behavior called back dark memories of how his pitiful excuse for family treated him as no such thing, torturing him every day of his life since they were five years old. He remembered how hurt he'd been one day in particular, when Snotlout told him of his name's true meaning: he said that 'Hiccup' meant 'accident,' a name given to the runt of any litter, and how it meant everyone, even his father, considered that he should never have been born. He remembered crying as he ran into the woods as Snotlout's cruel, arrogant laughter followed him all the way.
No way would Hiccup just let that guy hurt Alta; she was his first - and only - human friend that he had had in a long time, and frankly, no one deserved the suffering that he had gone through, that people considered a favor to him so he would eventually cast aside his stupid interests and hobbies and finally start accomplishing things that were important. Either that or they just didn't really want to care. His mind was made up. With some difficulty due to still being in pain, Hiccup stood up, leaning against the wall with both his hands, quickly growing dizzy from his movement as he wobbled on his feet. Gathering every spare breath he could in his tiny lungs and looking as in-charge as possible, Hiccup screamed until his face turned beet-red with a voice that could have only been inherited from his father: "OKAY! EVERYBODY, JUST SHUT UP!"
His voice echoed through the walls of the wooden hut as the shambolic scene before him practically froze in time. Ruoy and Alta had stopped wrestling, Niart had his hands on Ruoy's shoulders but stopped trying to pull them apart, Toothless stopped swatting Luis, and Alta's father stopped trying to get Toothless away while his hands were still gripping Toothless' tail. Even Alvis had silenced his crying, but was still whimpering – the only sound that could be heard in the whole room. Everyone was silent as death, and everyone was staring at him with pure shock on their face. Hiccup was not used to getting attention like this and in any other situation he would have cowered and shrunk back at the fact that all eyes and ears were on him now, but he was irritated as Hel, even more than Ruoy when he first came in – too much so to even care.
"Thank you!" Hiccup shouted aggravatingly.
More staring, even flinching from the two boys and Toothless. Alta's father just continued to stare, more in surprise and interest than the slight amount of fear in everyone else.
"Okay, this is incredibly stupid!" Hiccup yelled, waving an arm in exasperation. "Have you people ever tried talking things out?!" No one said anything.
"Alta's father, whatever your name is, let go of my dragon!" Hiccup instructed. "Toothless, come here."
Toothless trudged over quickly until he was right by Hiccup's side with his head bowed and his tail literally between his legs, looking up with Hiccup with a slight amount of fear. He had never heard Hiccup speak with such command in his voice before and quite frankly, it wiped away any feeling of self-pride and somewhat forced Toothless to look at Hiccup like he was his 'master.' "Niart, let go of them. Ruoy, get off of Alta. Alta, get up."
The others did as they were told, and soon the three tens were standing in a single neat row like their chief had just spoken during the heat of battle.
"Good," Hiccup said, nodding his head with a stern expression on his face which quickly evolved into one of anger. "You people are worse than the rock-heads back where I'm from when it comes to resolving arguments. And with those guys, nothing's settled unless weapons are involved."
On Berk, his father had always said there were only three options when dealing with Vikings who were having trouble cooperating. One was to give them both hammers and let them fight to the death, the second was pretty much the same, but with maces – yeah, that was original. The third option was less permanent, but more devious: trick them into working together. It was just another of the many things Hiccup hated his people for: if he could say sorry as many times as he did, then surely it wasn't a foreign concept for anyone else. Apparently, though, the word was like bile to them and any use of option three would just cause a greater argument. No resolution was ever made until someone was beaten bloody – Hiccup was glad deep down that wasn't the case here.
He turned to Alta and pointed a finger at her. "Okay, Alta, I understand that you were mad, but you had no real right to yell at Ruoy."
"HA!" Ruoy gloated while Alta just looked guilty.
"And Ruoy," Hiccup continued. "You had no right to attack someone who can't defend themselves. And a girl, no less! Does every problem have to be resolved with violence?! I know you're Vikings, but come on! This is ridiculous!"
Alta looked down with an even guiltier expression on his face. Ruoy crossed his arms and looked away with an audible 'humph', acting like he didn't care, but the squinting eyes and the quivering lower lip was proof he was uncomfortable with being scolded like a child. Niart stood in the same spot, not saying anything, instead just pressing his fingers and closing in on himself making him seem as small as possible.
Alta's father studied Hiccup, clearly surprised that a scrawny fourteen-year-old was telling them off.
Something about his look made Hiccup wary as the boy turned to him, and his confidence all but plummeted. He had just shouted at this man's daughter and his people like he was the chief, and Hiccup instantly stated to go back in time in his mind and wonder if there might have been a better way to handle the situation. However, Alta's father was not angered at all; in fact, he was downright impressed. Without a doubt, he had things planned for Hiccup.
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