Chapter 6

Hi everybody! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it, constructive criticisms are always appreciated.

When Astrid woke up the next morning, she noticed her parents were grumpy, and she wondered why. They seemed to look at her in a strange way and when she asked them what was wrong, they just said: "You'll see". As if it wasn't weird enough, they received a visit from the chief and she was told she was the one he came for. It didn't surprise her parents, but it definitely surprised her to know the chief wanted to speak to her in particular. But it was nothing in comparison to what she felt when he told her what she would have to do: teach the feral boy how to speak; she gaped and remained totally speechless at first.

"You want…me to do that?"

"You're one of the very few people toward whom he didn't act too badly. That's why we choose you."

If she had been told one day such kind of mission would be given to her, she would have honestly laughed in disbelief. And for a moment, she wanted protest; seriously, she was a warrior, not some nanny! She was made to battle with her axe, push her body to its limits, and not teach someone how to spell out their letters properly! In fact, she felt the urge to take her axe and plant it into something right now, or punch someone (and if that someone could be Snotlout, it would be for the best).

But as soon as she was about to oppose herself to it, she remembered the only times when she was with him. The image of the dragon-boy came back in her mind, and when she envisioned herself facing him again soon, her anger lessened. It wasn't the most adventurous or challenging thing they could have given her to do, and she could see her parents were definitely not thrilled about it. However, it meant she would have the occasion to spend more time with this strange creature about which she thought a little too much, and she would have a good excuse to do that. The mission secretly excited her now, she wanted to observe him and solve the secrets behind that wild child. Not wanting to show enthusiasm, she just accepted without argument, keeping a serious face, she could see the chief was pleased with her not protesting as her parents did.

"I have no idea how to do that," she admitted to Stoick.

"Neither do I, lass. But we got to try and you're the only one he didn't try to hurt or bit. He even tried to attack Buckhead once when the man came to give him food."

She had heard of that, the boy hadn't succeeded because the guards had been there to help but apparently he put up a good fight. Oh yes, Astrid definitely wanted to know more about him. She had dreamed again and this time the dragon-boy had been in her dreams, she couldn't remember what it was all about exactly but she did remember he was in. She couldn't help it, she couldn't help but ask herself a lot of questions, since she encountered him something in her had been shaken.

She took her axe just in case, and went to see Fishlegs. In normal time, when she had a problem, she would be more likely to see Ruff, but in this case Fishlegs was probably the best option. She found the boy in the forge; he was Gobber's apprentice since he was little.

"Hey Fishlegs!"

"Hi Astrid. I heard that the chief gave you a mission."

"Yeah, teaching the savage to speak, and that's why I came to see you, maybe you could give me some ideas?"

"Me? What kind?"

"I don't know, but I never taught anyone to speak, I don't know how to do that."

"Neither do I…I don't know…Maybe you could start to tell him your name?"

"Why?"

"That way he would know who you are and understand that people and things have names."

She nodded, it wasn't a bad idea at all.

"Thank you, I'll try with that!"

"Hey, hum…Maybe you could ask the chief to let me come with you, it would interest me to try to teach him to speak."

"Next time I will, for now I'll visit him alone, to see how it goes. Bye!"

Astrid left him and went to the prison. On her way, she decided to take something first, in order to ease things up. Being informed of what the girl had to do, the guards let her pass immediately. The prisoner was looking outside when she reached his cell, but quickly turned his head to see her. He looked genuinely surprised at her sight, but tensed when she entered the cell. His eyes went on the fish she was holding.

"Hi…Here, take this."

He smiled but didn't approach her, even if the fish made him salivate already. The man feeding him had given him only those strange meals he didn't like and he had eaten some but always it was making him feel sick, so he wouldn't eat much and he was hungry. She had a salmon, one of his favourite fishes. Yet this could be a trap. The girl seemed to sense his hesitation and put the fish on the ground and backed away a little. With no warning, Hiccup rushed toward it, put his claws around it and backed away with his meal.

Astrid had jumped in surprise, now she watched him crawl toward the back of the cell and she was half fascinated and disgusted when she saw him crouch on the ground and start to eat the raw fish. She saw a bowl with some food on the floor but it was hardly consumed, so why was the boy hungry like this?

'He is not used to that food, just like he never learned to talk, he probably never ate anything cooked like this before,' she figured out.

She went to him as he was tearing the fish apart with his teeth and nails, and he stopped to look at her suspiciously, recoiling away slightly. Astrid then saw something that made her eyes widen a little: the boy had bruises on his neck, as if someone had chocked him. Who did that? One of the guards? She would have to know who, but it explained why the boy was so wary, in fact knowing of feral he was it was already good that he wasn't more afraid.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, don't worry," she said as softly as she could.

She knew he couldn't understand her, but animals tended to be reassured by a soothing voice, and here it seemed to work indeed, his stance relaxed slightly and his look softened. She sat down on the floor slowly and pointed to herself:

"Astrid."

He titled his head to the side, and gave her a questioning look. She did it again.

"Astrid."

Having no answer from him, she took a second to think:

"As…trid," she said more slowly.

He wiped his mouth and put the fish on the floor as he understood what she wanted to do. They thought he couldn't talk so they wanted someone to teach him, that way he would tell them what they wished to hear. What should he do? He had to continue his act, yet if he really gave them no hope then they could decide to get rid of him. Plus he wanted to please her, she looked genuinely nice and he was glad to know her name.

"Tr…Tr…"

"Trid…Astrid," she clarified again.

Hiccup acted as if it took him some tries, but eventually he pronounced the word 'Astri', making the sound 'tri' sound like a raspy growl. The girl looked satisfied even if it wasn't the entire word.

"You probably don't even have a name. We will have to find you one. Or maybe you'll wis to choose one yourself, why not? It would be at least one advantage to be named at a late age, you would have the choice of your name."

It was true 'Hiccup' wasn't necessarily the best name. He hoped they wouldn't try to rename him. Yet what would be the problem? He had no intention to stay for long. He took his fish again for another bit, and as he was tearing a piece of it with his teeth, he suddenly realized he had been ungrateful. He made the big bit he had in his mouth fall right before her and she recoiled slightly before this.

"What are you doing?"

Didn't she like fish? He remembered Millie whenever he would give her some of his hunt, she would give him a kiss on the forehead and put it among her stock. He pushed the food closer to her. She pointed herself.

"For me?"

He just gave her a smile and made a chewing sound to make her understand. She pushed it away and just shook her head to say 'no'. He just tilted his head, and she shook her head again. He took his bit back and eat it, if the girl didn't want it, he wouldn't waste it. She had a quite disgusted face and he genuinely wondered why. But it didn't matter much, the salmon was good and he was happy she came. Feeling that he could trust her, he put the salmon down and approached her, making her obviously a little puzzled by this sudden behaviour. He looked more closely at her and approached his face form hers to nuzzle her like dragons did when they started to get acquainted. He wasn't aware this wasn't the human way to befriend someone.

Seeing him lean closer, Astrid just seized his shoulders strongly and pushed him away, obviously nog really happy with the gesture, wondering if the boy had tried to kiss her or not. She had never let a boy kiss her and she had no wish to try right now.

"What are you doing?"

At his lost expression, she understood he probably didn't mean anything wrong in it, he was a feral one and he was probably only doing what animals did…

She was surprised again when she saw him suddenly throwing himself to the side and roll himself on the ground in a playful way. What in all Helheim…He looked up at her with a happy face and leaped around her joyfully, reminding her of a dog or even a happy goat. She seriously wondered if she should take her axe when he stopped and looked at her again with a smile, tilting his head again, as if he was expecting something. She was really getting puzzled, usually when someone was making her uneasy, she would either leave or punch them, but here she was aware none of those solutions would help much.

"Asssstrii…"

He pointed at her while speaking. She was almost surprised when he tried to say her name but also satisfied, he understood.

"Astrid…You almost get it, try again."

She was a little creeped by his behaviour but also pretty enthralled too, it was always that way she felt toward the unknown. He wasn't a mean creature she realized, all his attacks on the guards and even Bucket were made out of fright, he wasn't attacking her because he thought she was no enemy. Yet he had been raised by dragons, shouldn't he be a ferocious bloodthirsty creature? She remembered him with the Night Fury, the way the creature reacted at the boy's howl…Dragons could feel, and the human they raised became ferocious in fight but also playful and innocent.

He was still blocking on the 'd' sound, but it didn't matter much for now. Hesitantly, she advanced her hand slowly toward him and when he straightened his stance she stopped, just leaving her hand raised in the air. He was crouching on the ground, facing her while she was sitting more gracefully. He tilted his head again and leaned forward sniffed her hand slightly and eventually rubbed his forehead slightly against her skin. She felt something blooming in her belly, and when he backed away a little she was somehow disappointed. Astrid had never tamed a wild animal, now she was taming a wild boy. He was looking in her eyes with emotion and she wondered what he could be thinking.

Hiccup was remembering the first eye contact they ever had, while they were fighting. He had felt something strange back then, looking at another human in the eyes, another human who wasn't Millie. He wanted to escape this place, but he also wanted to see her again. She could be a human friend too.

The guards eventually came to check on Astrid.

"Are you alright, girl?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…I'll come back later."

The boy looked pretty disappointed when she left, Astrid gave him a smile to reassure him, she would come back later indeed. For now, she needed to be alone to sort out some things, clear her head a little. Dragon training would take place this afternoon and she had no doubt her friends would ask many questions about it. She'd rather be prepared for that.

O o O

Hiccup was lying lifelessly on the ground when the guard passed before his cell.

The man was mostly intrigued by the kid's position, he didn't seem to be sleeping, he was spread on the ground, as if he had suddenly vanished, his hand extended as if he had tried to get up and crawl. He feared the boy to be dead, though he didn't know what could have killed him, the feral boy could have hurt himself or be sick. The man entered the cell and kneeled to the unmoving kid, hoping he was just ill.

When the man put his hand on his forehead, the boy's hand jerked suddenly and seized his sword, and the guard leaped away in time to avoid the blade getting planted in his stomach.

The dragon-boy went on his feet immediately and flew out of his cell. Thinking he couldn't understand them, the guards had talked freely before him, and he had heard them say that there would be less of them today, but they thought it wouldn't be much of a problem as except for Hiccup, there was only one or two prisoners who weren't really dangerous. The guard in the cell realised with horror that he allowed the dragon prince to escape. He went back on his feet and yelled out:

"Prisoner escaping!"

Another guard saw Hiccup trying to get away and attempted to stop him but the boy spotted a torch burning on the wall, took it and threw it into one's man's face. The warrior yelled out of pain, and fall on his hand and knees, holding his face. Two other guards began to pursue him but they were behind, Hiccup couldn't care less, as long as the exit was close to him.

However, when he was about to pass the exit, another guard suddenly appeared, it was a young woman, she wasn't very tall but quite muscular. Hiccup countered the blow of her axe and deflected it only to spit in her eyes. The girl backed her head slightly giving Hiccup enough time to hit her at the throat hard with the handle of the sword. The girl fell on her knees, holding her throat as she was unable to breathe. He took the occasion to run away before the other guards could reach him, he didn't have much time, he knew it.

Hiccup ran to the arena, behind him, the guards were exiting the prison and yelling around that he escaped. He ran faster than he ever did and jumped in the ring as quickly as he could. He landed hard, but didn't pay attention to the pain in his legs, he got on his feet immediately and heard gasps. That's when he realised people were in there: Astrid, four teens and a man. In his haste, he hadn't seen them! The group was stunned when they saw that boy jumping suddenly in the middle of nowhere. Gobber had been telling them about Nadders and how to fight them efficiently, he was about to release the beast when Hiccup jumped in.

"It's the prince!" Yelled Fishlegs

Thankfully, they were quite far away from him and Hiccup immediately went to his brother's cage, recognizing which one thanks to the smell. He opened it and found Toothless muzzled and chained. When the dragon saw him he struggled against his bond and Hiccup barely got the time to cut off his muzzle with his sword before being pulled away from his dragon by Gobber's strong hand. He struggled and yelled like crazy and fell on the ground painfully as he escaped the man's hold. It wasn't really his struggle which helped him, but the smithy didn't bother much about him anymore when he got sight of Toothless shooting the rest of his bonds with his plasm. Gobber yelled:

"Take care of him, I'll handle the dragon! Get him ALIVE"

Hiccup barely got the time to get on his feet, realising he had let go of his sword when he had been grabbed by Gobber. Snotlout attacked him frontly but the prince dodged the attack, threw himself at the boy's side, tackling him and bit his face strongly. Snotlout yelled out of pain and tried to get the boy off of him with no avail as blood was starting to run down his face.

"HELP!"

Astrid kicked the prince off Snotlout, threw herself at him and pinned him down.

"Stop it! I can't let you…"

He trusted his knee in her kidney and her hold lessened. He pushed her away and soon it was the twins who tried to attack him but when they threw each others at him, Hiccup rolled on the side, barely avoided Fishlegs and Astrid's next attack and managed to grab back the sword he stole from the guard and turned round to face the group. He hissed, showing his teeth in a threatening manner. All the five were struck at how inhuman he looked at the moment, Snotlout's blood smearing his lips.

Hiccup attacked immediately and Snotlout's shoulder would have been sliced if Ruffnutt hadn't countered the attack with her own axe. He swung his sword at her and Ruffnutt barely got the time to dodge when someone suddenly tackled Hiccup to the ground. It was Astrid again:

"Stop it, you only make it worse!"

For some seconds, they looked at each other, and Hiccup saw in her eyes that she actually wanted to protect him; she didn't want him to get killed but he was a dragon and he would never renounce to his freedom. He threw his elbow into her ribs to get free but was stopped by Fishlegs who tried to immobilize him too. Hiccup bit his hand hard, earning a loud yell from the boy and struggled like crazy against Astrid who was doing her best to hold him down. Hiccup tried to bit her face and she backed away, allowing him to try to get on his feet.

Meanwhile Gobber did have a hard time with Toothless who had managed to tear off most of his bonds in spite of the man's effort to restrain him again; in fact the Viking almost got killed by one of Toothless's plasma blast. The dragon tore his last bond and was now free. He seized Gobber by the arm and threw him powerfully against the wall. He was about to help Hiccup when he heard other voices: more Vikings were coming! He threw a plasma blast at the teens to disperse them, avoiding his brother.

Hiccup saw the Vikings entering; it was only two of the guards from the prison and two other warriors. He knew what he had to do. The teens weren't really focusing on him anymore but their eyes were transfixed on the Night Fury, Hiccup took the opportunity to roar:

"Free yourself!"

"No way!"

"Do it, you'll free me later! There is something I must do here. GO!"

Toothless threw a plasma blast at the arena's chains and though he wanted to stay with his brother, he trusted Hiccup with whatever he had in mind. He flew away and swore that he would come back with every back up possible to free his brother and the other dragons here.

Meanwhile, Hiccup yelled like a crazy animal and attacked the teens again, going at Snotlout. His face bleeding from the previous attack, he tried to throw his axe at Hiccup but the prince countered with a hard blow and Snotlout's axe flew out of his hand. The two didn't fight anymore as the adults started to try to catch him with nets and bolas, trying to protect the teens from this furious creature. He knew that would happen, all he had done was to distract them in order to free Toothless. He had nothing to do in reality, he just said that to make Toothless go, if he had just got on his brother's back, they would have thrown nets and bolas at them and catch them back.

He dodged what was thrown at him and backed toward the nearest cage, there was a Gronkle in, maybe he could...

"Stop! Let me handle this!"

It was the chief! Hiccup snarled at him. He saw numerous Vikings had entered the arena along with the chief. They gathered around him, encircling the boy with no way out. He knew he was trapped now but it didn't matter, Toothless was alive and gone.

Stoic looked at the boy who was holding a sword and who had blood on his lips. He briefly saw Snotlout bleeding and understood what happened. His face twitched in disgust for this creature which had nothing human except for his body, with his tunic partially torn up and that blood on his face he looked even beastlier. When Hiccup hissed at him like a lynx, the chief threw himself at him. Hiccup dodged and tried to plant his sword in the man's side but Stoick seized the teens arm swiftly and sent his fist right on the boy's face so hard it knocked him out. The boy went limp as darkness overtook him.

The chief hauled the prince on his shoulders and went back to the prison. Astrid followed him out of the arena, stunned at how human the boy looked again now that he was knocked out while some minute ago, he seemed more like a wild beast. When she thought about it, was certainly hard: he was too much of a dragon to live among humans, and she bet he was too human to really fit among dragons. It was like some kind of curse.

She decided she would take what was needed to tend to his wounds, even if she wasn't asked to, she felt this task was hers. She went back at the arena where the twins were happily telling everyone how the prince had bitten Snotlout.

Hiccup is now the only prisoner, what will Toothless do? I hope you liked it, I'll try to update soon!