AN: Ah! Guys! I am so, so sorry for the short chapter. The next one will be longer. (Hopefully? Maybe? …Possibly? Hmm…) This whole week has been looong, so I really hope ya'll aren't mad at me! Okay, so, we've come to a turning point, my chickadees. Romance-wise: Would you like to see Hiccup and Rapunzel or Hiccup and Astrid? (That Hiccup; what a charmer!) This is the last chapter before the point where I have to decide that, so send in your thoughts!
Disclaimer: Don't own Tangled or HTTYD. Don't sue me.
"…And with one twist, 'e took my hand and swallowed i' whole!" Gobber exclaimed. He hefted his chicken, impaled on his stake-hand, high, and Rapunzel had to resist the urge to giggle. He did look quite comical.
The class was lounging about by the fire, roasting lamb or chickens. Rapunzel thought that it was almost disgusting, how much food one Viking teenager could consume. However, Hiccup was the odd one out by roasting a fish.
Rapunzel's job was to serve the teens. She passed out food and such from a basket. As she passed Tuffnut, he stuck out his foot and tripped Rapunzel. She glowered at him, but moved on.
"And I saw the look on 'is face," Gobber went on. The teens seemed to be enthralled by the story. All except Hiccup, that is. "I was delicious! He must have passed the word, too, because it wasn't a month before another one took my leg!" He gestured to the offending stump.
The class, aside from Astrid, gasped in wonder and awe.
"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon?" Fishlegs cut in. "Like if you still had control over it you could have killed it by crushing his heart or something." The others looked at him like he was crazy.
Snotlout growled. "I swear I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot! I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I see," he announced. "With my face!" he added, obviously trying to sound mighty and majestic. …It wasn't working.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, no," interjected Gobber, swallowing some chicken. "It's the wings and the tail you really want! If i' can't fly, i' can't ge' away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."
Rapunzel and Hiccup's heads both snapped up at the exact same time. Their eyes locked. Hiccup began slowly edging away from the circle.
Toothless…
Gobber stretched and yawned. "Well, I'm off to bed," he announced. "You should be, too. T'morrow we get to the big boys. Slowly, bu' surely making our way t' the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing i'?" He limped away, leaving the teens to their own devices.
Rapunzel foresaw bad things happening.
"It's gonna be me!" Ruffnut bragged, placing his hands behind his head. "It's my destiny, see?" He rolled up his shirt sleeve, but Rapunzel was distracted by a slight flurry of movement. Hiccup was gone.
She noticed that Astrid was aware of it too.
"Your mom let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs exclaimed.
"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark," Tuffnut huffed.
Astrid stood up, clearly intending to accost Hiccup. Rapunzel's mind raced. She watched as Astrid peered over the side of the walkway.
"Uh, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that's never been there," Ruffnut scoffed.
"Yes it was," bickered Tuffnut. "You've just never seen me from the left side before, that's all!"
Throwing careful measures to the wind, Rapunzel pretended to trip and spill a small bucket of fish over Astrid's boots.
The other teens guffawed as Astrid glared at Rapunzel.
"S-sorry," Rapunzel stammered. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? She mentally slapped herself.
"Watch where you're going, stupid," Astrid snapped as she bent to brush off the fish. Her hands came away sticky, and she glowered at Rapunzel, eyes blazing.
Rapunzel smiled lamely, yet, half ready to roll into a ball if she needed to protect herself.
Astrid simply clenched her fists and stalked off.
"I'd better go too," Rapunzel whispered, then race doff to find Hiccup.
oOoOo
"Hiccup?" Raounzel called softly. Oh, where would that boy be? She frowned as she pored over places in her mind. Mead hall? No… His house? No, she didn't think so… She snapped her fingers. The smithy! She ran quietly, praying she wouldn't be found by Rectina.
"Hiccup?" she hissed into the darkness once she reached the building. "Are you in here?"
"Rapunzel, is that you?" came the answering whisper.
Rapunzel sighed in relief and entered. "What are you doing?"
"Rapunzel, look at this." Hiccup held out his journal. She peered closer to the page. "…It's Toothless," she finally answered. "So?"
"He needs TWO tail fins," Hiccup told her. "He's only got one. That's the reason he can't fly away!" He sighed. "I maimed him, Rapunzel. I…I basically just killed Toothless." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat.
Rapunzel couldn't think of anything to say. It had been Hiccup's fault, technically. However, a speck of a small idea came into her mind.
"Hiccup?"
"What?" His voice sounded full of misery.
"I know how you can fix this."
"How? Oh, I know! I'll just grow him a new tail!" Hiccup snapped. "That's no problem at all! Oh, and while I'm at it, I'll just make pigs fly and my dad actually listen for once! Heck, let's just make dragons and Vikings friends!" He sighed. "…I'm sorry, Rapunzel. It's hopeless."
"No, listen!" Rapunzel insisted. "You're an inventor. Inventors help people. Hiccup, you can help Toothless."
"How?"
"Take your own advice!"
Hiccup stared blankly.
"Make him a new tail."
"What?" Hiccup asked in disbelief.
"Hear me out. Make him some kind of contraption that you can clip onto his tail, one that he can fold in and out. It'll be like an artificial fin."
"I could make it out of leather, and if I made sure not to make the shafts to thick," Hiccup murmured to himself, warming up to the idea.
"Exactly!" Rapunzel exclaimed. She smiled. "See? I'll even help if you want."
"Okay, just put on an apron and grab that wrench over there," hiccup ordered, going to frenzied-inventor-on-a-role mode.
Rapunzel stayed up all night, helping Hiccup plunge rods and counter weights, cut leather and cool metal. She was exhausted by the time she was done, but felt increasingly happy.
oOoOo
At roughly three fifty-five A.M., a horrible thought came to mind. She dropped her scissors. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no!" she murmured in a panicky tone.
"What's the matter?" Hiccup inquired.
"I never went home last night! Rectina's going to skin me alive!"
Hiccup gasped. "You better get back there. I'm almost done here."
"Okay. Promise you won't try it out without me?"
Hiccup nodded. "Promise. Now get out of here!"
Rapunzel tore off the apron and fled. Maybe, just maybe, she could get back in time to-THWACK.
Rapunzel ran head first into the sturdy body Rectina, Headmistress of slaves.
"An' just what do ya' think ye're doing, Missy?" she spat out before she hauled Rapunzel upright.
"Uh, I was, uh, cleaning out the, uh, smithy!" Rapunzel lied quickly. "Yeah, uh, Gobber asked me too." She prayed it was a good enough excuse.
"Well." Rectina noticeably quieted down, and fluffed up her hair slightly. "We can't have Gobber's smithy all dir'y, now can we?"
Rapunzel gaped for a few seconds. Rectina? Had a crush? …On Gobber?
"Get going," Rectina snapped when Rapunzel didn't respond. "Ye've still got chores, Missy." She pointed away from herself, and Rapunzel trotted away.
She was in for a long day, she could already tell.
Okay, so, we've come to a turning point, my chickadees. Romance-wise: Would you like to see Hiccup and Rapunzel or Hiccup and Astrid? (That Hiccup; what a charmer!) This is the last chapter before the point where I have to decide that, so send in your thoughts!
Thanks for reading! Please review!
(Yes, I know I already put that thing at the top. I wanna make sure people see it. Yeesh!)
