A/N: I have returned! It's a miracle, I know, but I am back. So, I'll apologize for taking so long to update, but things have been super crazy here and that is by no means an understatement. I could bore you with the details, but that's not what you're here for. ~_^
*Additionally~ for anyone who caught the reference to my other story in the last chapter deserves a well earned kudos. Good work. Of course, you probably wouldn't forget the epic facepalming you did if you read that story. Heh heh.
To my latest reviewer, RUBY JEMS: I promise to do the best I can, and I am glad you like it so far. I have so many ideas and plot bunnies (for other fics too), its overwhelming
Last chapter: Astrid had finally been able to explain her side of things, much to her chagrin. The end of the conversation had sadly resulted in more questions than answers.
Chapter 5: Planning to Deceive Them?!
Hiccup had been up for most of the night, plagued by a reoccurring nightmare. It had become all too common for him to be up several hours before dawn, all because a nightmare had woken him up and leaving him sweaty and breathless. He hadn't slept peacefully since his encounter with his father back on Berk. Toothless had tried to help where he could, but there was very little he could do with something like this.
He wondered just how much of this was real. It was as if someone was taking a memory and shoving it right in front of him, daring him to deny the truth.
He knew what was going to happen, just like he knew that he couldn't do anything about what was going to happen.
During the days of the Dragon War, it wasn't that uncommon for an enemy ship to try and pass through undetected. Berk was by no means a peace loving island, even in the best of times and raids were all too common. So as his vision soon changed to a "rescue", Hiccup was glad that this was just a nightmare...probably. As a war torn Berserker ship came into view, ripe for the picking. There was little resistance, seeing as they had very little in the way of crew members left alive after the dragon attack. There was hardly even anything of value on the ship, except for Valka. Maybe the reason Hiccup couldn't see her face was because he just couldn't remember what she looked like, but it felt like things got blurry at that particular moment. He could see her getting on his father's ship, while the scent of blood still lingered in the air.
There was something rather disturbing about that particular scene, especially looking at his mother's ship which was "decorated" in the blood of those close to her.
The last thing he saw was Stoick's eyes as if they were looking directly at him, and for some reason that really unnerved him.
Toothless looked on as Hiccup had once again sat at his desk and started to plan some new weird scheme. He always got that odd look in his eyes when that happened, so that meant nothing good in the future; Toothless knew that much. Hearing a rattling noise at the door, he figured Astrid was here to drag Hiccup outside like she said she was going to.
"Hiccup!" she yelled, hoping he was just stalling and nothing was wrong. She could tell that he hadn't been sleeping all that well lately by the bags he had been sporting under his eyes. To be fair, she hadn't slept much either. She'd been too worried over what was wrong with Hiccup, but even now she couldn't sleep realizing what was to come. Seeing Toothless come bounding up towards her like a hyper little puppy, she barely managed to avoid getting tackled in all of the excitement. She shook her head in amusement, giving him a small smile. "Alright, Toothless. Where is he?" She had a feeling that she already knew, but she figured that Toothless wanted to show her anyways.
Seeing Hiccup bent over his desk AGAIN and writing what seemed to be a considerably long list of things to do, she didn't know whether to be exasperated at his undoubtedly crazy ideas or thrilled that he seemed to finally be taking some initiative. 'Maybe it was a little of both', she thought as she walked beside a completely oblivious Hiccup. She had to admire his dedication, but she wasn't going to let him just sit inside all day again and get away from her plans. Besides, poor Toothless looked like he was about to explode with energy. Flicking his ear, she smirked as he scrambled to his feet as he was suddenly aware of her presence.
"A-Astrid! What a-are you?" Hiccup started, more than a little alarmed at her sudden appearance. He could hear Toothless laughing behind her, but was more concerned with the fact that Astrid was standing in front of him with her arms crossed. At least she didn't have her axe out...yet. "Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'. Why are you still here, Hiccup? What did I tell you last night?" she said quietly, subtly tapping her axe on the handle. He swore that hadn't been there five seconds ago.
"I...I forgot?"
"Is that a question or an answer?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Well, I-"
"Ugh, nevermind. Let's just go before I'm forced to drag you out like yesterday." she told him, turning around and walking with Toothless out the door.
She wasn't going to repeat yesterday and give him the chance to slip through her fingers again. As she watched him take his time, she "accidentally" bumped her axe on the floor right before she put it on her back. No harm in reminding him that out of sight doesn't necessarily mean out of mind. Luckily he got the hint, because he started speeding up and practically ran out the door. As everyone gathered together for their breakfast and morning patrols, she could tell that Hiccup was getting more and more tense by the minute. She tried not to be frustrated by it, merely because he just wouldn't calm down, but she knew that forcing him was the only way. She'd tie him up and put him in the clubhouse with the others if she thought it would help, but so far it was only increasing his stress levels. She inwardly sighed, doing her best to reassure him almost the entire way there.
"You shouldn't worry so much, Hiccup. Remember that I told you I had talked to them yesterday?" she asked, only moments before they opened the door to the clubhouse. At his nod and obviously nervous look, she continued. "I think I even heard Snotlout yelling at the twins after I left, telling them something about mentioning your name." she laughed.
Hiccup stopped in front of the door, looking somewhere between amused and somewhat...quizzical.
"Okay, what exactly is it that you did?" he asked, halfway sure that he didn't want to know.
"I just...gave them a friendly chat." Astrid replied, looking way too nonchalant about it. Of course, Hiccup wasn't exactly fooled into thinking that was the case, but there was no harm in letting her think otherwise. It was safer for him in the long run.
"Is that so?" he asked, taking a steadying was stupid. It's not like they knew what his secret was, so there was no big deal. That being...said, he opened the door and walked in with Astrid right behind him. Being so early in the morning, it seemed that they were the first ones there. All the more time to sit and-
"Fishlegs!" he heard Astrid shout behind him. She probably scared the poor guy out of his skin, yelling at him like that; she didn't seem mad, though. "You're here pretty early, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess that I am, but I wanted to do some research. I think I found some interesting new things we should put in the Book of Dragons, so I thought that I should take some notes and maybe look at one of the journals."
Hiccup gave Astrid a small smile, watching her squash her urge to roll her eyes at the overflow of information. She knew that Hiccup was interested, which was obviously the only reason she had bothered asking.
"Hiccup, if you're not too busy this morning, I could use your help. I mean, you know this stuff just as well if not better than I do." Fishlegs asked, picking at a loose thread on his tunic. "But just if you...want to."
Astrid gave Hiccup a pointed look when he hesitated. It was one of those do-it-before-I-make-you-regret-it looks she seemed so fond of giving him these days, which kind of scared him honestly.
He looked at Toothless, remembering that they still hadn't gone flying this morning, let alone had breakfast which was conveniently at the table. He hoped it wasn't Astrid's cooking. The last time he bravely tried her cooking, he had food poisoning. Then, there was that gray soup...how does one turn soup gray? So, eating and flying, then helping Fishlegs; that sounded pretty logical, right?
"Yeah, that sounds good. I just need breakfast and to go on our morning flight, then we can get to it. Sound good?"
"Sure, and the breakfast is for you. It's leftovers from something I cooked early this morning. I'll get everything prepared for when you get back." Fishlegs said, wandering off to probably get the Dragon Eye and some journals.
Hiccup sat down to eat and did his best not to show his huge sense of relief at being spared from the disaster that was Astrid's cooking. He knew she tried, maybe a little too hard. It was just very obvious that she was raised to be a warrior and definitely not a cook of any sort. After eating along side Toothless, they went on their usual morning flight. He had to admit that he was pretty glad that Astrid had dragged him outside; he had really missed being in the sky with Toothless like this. The sky was clear and the sun was bright; it seemed like nothing could-
"Hiccup!"
Oh, why in the name of Thor could his mornings never be quiet? He rolled his eyes and watched as even Toothless groaned when Snotlout and the twins appeared behind him. He was sorely tempted to put on a burst of speed and lose them, but he knew that he couldn't avoid them only hoped that he'd have enough patience for the rest of the day after this. As they got closer to him, he got assaulted by three conversations at once.. Not that this was anything new, but he hadn't slept much lately so it was just too overwhelming.
"Hiccup!"
"-sorry!"
Hiccup did his best not to cover his ears as they practically yelled in his ears. He wasn't quite sure who it was, but he thought he hears an apology somewhere in there. It took everything he had not to bang his head on Toothless' saddle in frustration. He knew it wouldn't necessarily help, but it wouldn't hurt either.
"ONE at a time! I can barely concentrate, so just..." he practically yelled, before cutting himself off. There was no reason for him to get all excited over something so insignificant. "Just...one at a time, all right?"
"We're sorry, Hiccup!" Ruff said, apparently speaking for everyone. Hiccup looked at her, confused and yet slightly amused at the same time. He tried not to laugh at the ingenuity of their answer to his request. He had to admit, they did what he said. Although he did also have to admit that he had no idea what he was supposed to be forgiving them for. Figuring that it was nothing too extreme, he just slowly nodded in assent. Sure, he had no idea what he was forgiving, but they didn't betray him or anything so all's well that ends well.
"Anyway, I have some research to do with Fishlegs, so I'll be going now." Hiccup told them as he separated from the group and went towards where he knew Fishlegs was. After he was almost at the clubhouse, Snotlout looked for Astrid in paranoia before addressing the twins.
"You think he has any idea what we were apologizing for or is he just that forgiving?"
The twins looked at each other for a second and then back at Snotlout.
"He's that forgiving."
~Back at the Clubhouse~
"No, I don't think that's the case." Hiccup said, referring to the journal in his hand. "Here, Fishlegs; just look at this paragraph and read until the next page."
"I don't get it, though. Why would you say-"
"Maybe it's just a hunch, but I think that it's a clue. I'd have to look at that journal in my room to be sure, though." Hiccup mumbled, just loud enough that Fishlegs could hear him. "Did the Dragon Eye hold any other clues that we didn't catch?"
"No, I don't think so, but we can have another look. We'd need Hookfang, though." Fishlegs said, with a depressed air. "We can't do anything else with the Dragon Eye without him."
"True, but we can go through a few of these journals without it."
Astrid stood in the corner listening to what was quickly becoming nonsense, as she had next to no interest in things like research. She was glad that Hiccup was enjoying himself again, outside of his hut. Unfortunately, she couldn't rid herself of the feeling of trepidation lurking underneath the surface of things. It was like a shadow, constantly following and constantly waiting. They couldn't avoid talking about these problems forever and they both knew that. She saw him pause in his intense research and make eye contact with her, letting her know that he was thinking the same thing.
~Later that Night~
Astrid watched Hiccup get up after dinner with Toothless following in tow, going for their usual flight at sunset. She was pretty sure that Snotlout was on patrol this time, which meant that they had at least a few hours for this conversation. Taking off after him, she was only somewhat surprised that he landed at the same spot as yesterday. Apparently this was the let's-have-a-discussion spot. As she landed moments after he did and dismounted, she sat down next to where he was. He was plainly in for the long haul.
"Where should we start?" he asked without preamble. Ah, right to the point, then.
"You have a plan on what to do about your...brother and the Dragon Hunters. Don't lie to me, either. I can tell when you have a plan."
"Ahh...yes? It's complex and has a lot of maps involved, probably a few theatrical issues involved in there somewhere..." Hiccup mumbled.
"Hiccup Horrendous." Astrid threatened, standing up and leaning over him. "Tell me right now what you have planned! I'm liking this less and less every minute!"
Hiccup winced at the volume and wanted to do nothing more than curl up into a ball so he could become a smaller target.
"I'm going to team up with Dagur and convince him to let me...spy on the Dragon...Hunters?" he finished with it being more of a question than a plan. He actually had a really good plan that had been well thought out, but telling Astrid about it made it seem so...pathetic.
"YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT?!"
A/N: Yeah, so it's 4:30 in the morning...how does that always happen when I write? o_O Anyway, I guess that means I'll have to stop for now. I'll apologize for this completely pathetic chapter. It seems like such a filler more than anything, really. T_T But at least I've finally gotten to my "Oh wow, this is getting exciting!" point. Haha! I'll try to be more inspired this next chapter, but like I said...so much stuff. Toodles!~
