Hold On
Author: Nightstar Fury from Nightstar Productions.
Rated: M for sex, language, attempted suicides.
Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid.
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD. Though I wish I did :p
Chapter 9.
While Hiccup and Toothless were flying the village was heard at work preparing everything, the hall was being decorated and the food being cooking. Stoick already made the announcement to approach Hiccup carefully because he had tried to kill himself again the night before but to say hi, smile, talk to him if they passed him. Others had purposely broken their weapons and made it seem like the forge was way behind so he'd have a reason to stay longer and when lunch time came they would hopefully get him in the hall so surprise him with a birthday party.
"You think this will work?" Snotlout asked walking with his friends.
"I dunno...But its worth trying, it's a step in the right direction if nothing else...He'll see that we haven't forgotten and are trying...And sometimes that's enough..."Astrid said softly as she headed towards her house.
"Where are you going, he'll be here any minute..." Tuffnut asked.
"There's...something I have to do first...I'll catch up..." Astrid jogged off, she had to get something from her house and she had to pray it was still there. Something Hiccup had given her a long time ago, that represented their friendship. If she still had it, she might have a chance to get in his good graces again. She had to try.
(With Hiccup&Toothless)
"I guess we should be getting back...Still feeling weak from last night bud..." Hiccup said softly, Toothless nodded understanding as they turned from where they were and headed back to Berk. "You know I can't shake the feeling that something is gonna happen there..." Hiccup mumbled, Toothless crooned at him. "I guess we'll find out won't we..." Hiccup smiled as they continued heading in the direction of Berk.
(Berk)
"There they are!" Stoick pointed to the sky seeing Hiccup and Toothless heading towards them. "Remember...let him go to the forge...We'll show him that we want him here...need him here." Stoick reminded them as they all began to clap.
In air, Hiccup watched closely. He was already getting a bad feeling this was much more than him being needed in the forge but whatever. "Wanna try the move bud?" Hiccup asked him, Toothless crooned smiling. Hiccup and him shot straight up past the clouds then leveled out flying back in to sight.
"What's he doing?..." Fishlegs asked. They saw Hiccup take his feet off the stirrups then jump off Toothless's back doing a back flip.
"YEEHAW!" Hiccup cheered as he headed down head first, Toothless dived following him. As they were free falling, Toothless used his paw to push Hiccup and spin him around in the air then both closed their eyes and enjoyed it. After a few minutes Toothless closed his wings more to get under Hiccup who spread his legs and landed on the saddle safely reopening the tail and they set down on the main road by the teens, Stoick, and Gobber. "Yes! We nailed it bud..." Hiccup threw his fist in the air triumphantly.
"Doing tricks are ya now lad?" Gobber asked.
"Every now and then..." Hiccup shrugged with a smile. "So where's this massive workload you are backed up on..." Hiccup asked.
"Right to work as always, it's all in the forge, 'Iccup..." Gobber told him calmly. Hiccup nodded as he motioned for Toothless to follow him and they began walking towards the forge. The teens broke off and followed slowly behind to watch him. Reaching the forge 10 minutes later Hiccup pushed open the doors and saw the piles of broken, cracked weapons, few shields and what now.
"Well guess I better get started then..." Hiccup sighed as he grabbed the apron sitting on the hook and put it over his head then tied the back strings. He started with the easiest things which were daggers, bolas, and shields, while working on a bola he saw someone come to the window and noticed Gobber wasn't there to handle it. Hiccup rolled his eyes and walked over, "Can I help you?" Hiccup asked the villager.
"Hello, Hiccup...was wondering if you weren't too busy if you could give this a sharpen for me?" Asked the woman.
"Sure, I'll have it out in a few minutes..." Hiccup nodded taking the sword from her and heading towards the grinding wheel. Hiccup pressed the pedal a few times to get it spinning fast before resting the sword on it and working one side up and down along the length of the blade.
"How have you been?" The woman asked with a smile.
At first Hiccup looked up to see if someone else had by to talk to her but she was talking to him it turned out, "Fine I guess..." Hiccup shrugged. "Yourself?" He replied.
"Oh wonderful, keeping busy with the kids. You know how 5 year olds can be..." The woman responded.
"Full of energy and no outlet for it...Give them a hobby, collecting things or have them help with chores. Keeps em busy and focused. That's what I did...in here at least..." Hiccup told her while he flipped the sword to do the other side.
"I'll have to give that a try, thank you for the idea." The woman smiled at him, Hiccup finished the sword and wiped it off with his apron before handing it back to her, she dropped two gold pieces in to his hand. "Thank you, Hiccup. Amazing work as always." The woman said as she bowed her head to him and headed off. It left Hiccup a little surprised to say the least, she actually talked to him and listened to his minor advice about her kids, then payed and thanked him for his work.
"Weird..." Hiccup said to Toothless who only shrugged a little and then he went back to work. He kept at this for a few hours without a break, it was hot in the forge working with the fire and tools. Toothless was just laying right outside the door relaxing. The day only got weirder in those hours too, people were constantly coming to him for little repairs they could of done themselves but wanted him too do it, they'd talk to him, be friendly and smiling. And what was more strange, Gobber wasn't in the forge at all. Just Hiccup working on everything himself.
As lunch time rolled up, Hiccup took off his apron and moved all finished work to the cart to take in to the village to hand everything back out to the customers. "Come on bud...lets drop this stuff off and we'll take a fly..." Hiccup smiled as he went to stand in front of the two handles on the cart and lifted it up with a small grunt, his arms were still hurting and sore from last night so he didn't have his usual strength but he pressed on hauling it through town to where most of the people were gathered. Hiccup was sweating as he slipped and dropped the cart falling face first. "Fuck..." He groaned.
What he didn't expect was Snotlout and Fishlegs to rush over and help him up, "Hiccup...are you okay?" Fishlegs asked him.
"Yeah...I'm fine. Slipped is all, I forget how heavy that cart can get when full..." Hiccup mumbled.
"I bet but you got it here all the way from the forge, that's pretty impressive cuz. Let us help ya out, come on Legs..." Snotlout said as he took a side and Fishlegs got the other one.
"Um...Thanks but really...I can handle it..." Hiccup protested slightly.
"Nonsense, let us help...you did enough work by fixing everything and bringing it. We can at least walk it a few more steps so you can get a break." Fishlegs smiled. Okay now it was officially weird, no one ever helped him before. Not saying he didn't appreciate it because his arms and legs hurt like hell from all the forge work he'd done the last 3 ½ hours fixing everything. Reaching the main area, the boys dropped the cart and everyone began to come over smiling.
"Wow that was fast..." Someone said.
"And so efficient." Another added.
"We're lucky to have such a skilled blacksmith among us."
"Guys really...come on. I'm not...the blacksmith here, Gobber is...I'm just helping out..." Hiccup said quickly.
"He'll be a great chief in a few years when Stoick retires." Hiccup heard Astrid's mother say.
"I know right, I can't wait. He'll be one of the best chief's Berk has ever had." Someone else said.
"And it just keeps getting weirder..." Hiccup mumbled under his breath.
"Alright alright don't crowd the man, you'll get your stuff as Hiccup hands it out..." Snotlout pushed a few people back.
"Snotlout...its okay..." Hiccup told him, Snotlout nodded with a bow. Yeah he was officially freaked out now and wanted to get out of here and fast, he needed air as in flying on Toothless air. Hiccup slowly began to hand things out to people and they'd all shake his hand, bow, and smile.
"Berk is indebted to you, Hiccup."
"What...No...No one is...indebted to me...I'm just doing my job..." Hiccup protested.
"You'll make a fine chief in 3 years." Said someone else. Everyone complimented him in some way or another, he was getting overwhelmed and didn't pay attention to where his hand was going and ran his palm and wrist over a dagger that had been left pointing upward. He hissed in pain pulling his hand back quickly and holding it tightly.
"Hiccup...Are you okay?" Ruffnut asked him, Hiccup pulled his hand away and looked at the cut. Already he was bleeding badly, he stared at it a few seconds before snapping out of it and tearing his tunic sleeve and wrapping his wrist and hand with it.
"Yeah...Yeah I'm fine...Just wasn't paying attention is all." Hiccup replied calmly, gods it stung too. Stoick rushed over having heard Hiccup got hurt and knelt beside him worried.
"Son...I heard you got cut...Are you alright, let me see..." Stoick asked quickly.
"Oh my Gods, it was a friggen accident and I wasn't paying attention. I'm fine! I'm not going to break and shatter whenever I get hurt! Just back off and let me breathe for 5 seconds...Toothless!" Hiccup called, his dragon pushed his way through and Hiccup climbed on his back. "Get me out of here...Now please..." Hiccup begged holding on to the saddle and opening the tail. Toothless roared and shot towards the sky before anyone could tell him to wait.
"You think we over did it?" Fishlegs asked now.
"Might have...we got too worried over an accident, and the constant compliments, and what not...it was on his face that he was getting overwhelmed with all the attention on him." Stoick sighed.
"Now what?" Gobber asked.
"We wait for him to get back...And when he does we have to back off a little and act normal..." Stoick replied, everyone nodded and began to disperse to return to what they were doing. Flying high above the clouds and out of sight now, Hiccup took a deep breath to relax.
"Ugh...I knew something was off...They purposely broke those weapons and damaged them to get me to come back to the village and be there a while...they're trying to show me they want me here, that they need me...Gods how did I not see it earlier...There was no way those weapons could of been so badly damaged unless there was a raid and I know for a fact there wasn't..." Hiccup sighed heavily, Toothless crooned at him sadly. "I'm not...mad, I'm glad they found a way to get me in the village by having me do something I like without pressuring me...Its just...I don't know...I'm over thinking this..." Hiccup mumbled.
They landed in a grassy field as Hiccup got off him and said down unwrapping his wound and looking at it, it was still bleeding slowly. Toothless warbled and licked it for him, Hiccup gave him a smile. "Thanks bud..." Hiccup told him as he laid back in the grass with his hands behind his head and staring up at the sky. "What am I gonna do, Toothless...I want to forgive them, I really do I just...every time I get close I get reminded of why I can't trust them, like I'm afraid they'll just hurt me again..." Hiccup closed his eyes as he felt Toothless lay beside him and croon.
Hiccup and Toothless laid there silently watching the clouds float by for close to 30 minutes before he started getting hungry, "We should probably get back to the cove to eat...I don't feel like staying here longer, I'll finish the work tomorrow or something..." Hiccup told Toothless softly sitting up now and looking down at the village square, he noticed people starting to back up slowly as if they were afraid. "Huh...what's going on down there?..." Hiccup asked as he stood up and began walking down, Toothless following him.
Hiccup spotted the docks where there were Berserker ships there, he wasn't aware of a meeting. The Berserker tribe and the Hooligan's had a treaty meeting every 2 years, why were they here now? "I don't like this...Toothless, stay hidden until I know what's going on...I promise I'll call if I get in to trouble..." Hiccup told him rubbing his head, Toothless nudged him to look farther out. Hiccup looked and saw more ships coming, all Berserker tribe ships, "Its an ambush...and they have no idea yet...Come on bud...we got work to do. To the forest, quietly..." Hiccup told him as he got on his back and they sped off.
(The Forest)
Once in the forest, Hiccup was able to see better what was going on from Raven point. Berserkers were docking around back the island and using the forest as cover waiting on a signal to attack was Hiccup's guess. "No one attacks Berk on my watch..." Hiccup glared as he rushed down the path, jumped in the cove and grabbed a sword, a handful of daggers he put in his belt, then two doubled sided axes hooked to his back, finally a shield over his back.
Hiccup got on Toothless's back again as they flew out of the cove and headed over the trees silently seeing where the ambush crew was and how they planned to attack. "I see now...Good thing I brought rope and nets...I've counted about 100 men in the forest so far, the rest haven't arrived. "Lets stop this before the signal goes off..." Hiccup grinned. They landed as Hiccup began setting up a line of nets that the Berserkers would run right in to. He knew it wouldn't hold them long but it'd be enough for him to get the upper hand.
"Alright bud...lets scare em..." Hiccup said as Toothless crouched so Hiccup could get on his back, then they flew over head blasting at the men to make them run. They went straight for the nets as Hiccup anticipated, the traps triggered and caught a good amount of the tribe. Hiccup landed and pulled his two axes from his back fighting off the rest, he didn't kill them just knock them out and leave the rest hanging.
"What the...Oh Dagur isn't going to be pleased about this..." One of the men said, Hiccup jumped on Toothless's back with a grin.
"Ambushing my home wasn't a smart move...I saw you from 5 miles away, if you don't want to get hurt I suggest you get going..." Hiccup warned as Toothless fired a blast at their feet making them back up. They rushed out of the forest as Toothless chased them out with Hiccup on his back. While this was going on, Stoick was talking to Dagur and had just found out that he was the chief who wanted to go over terms of the treaty.
"Dagur, I settled this with yer father last year...you came with no warning, the terms haven't changed." Stoick stated sighing.
"Oh come on, Stoick...I've been going around to every tribe to check the treaties, it won't take long." Dagur said.
"Fine...but lets hurry this up. It's my son's 16th birthday and we're throwing him a party..." Stoick began to lead Dagur towards the hall. Dagur went to raise his sword to Stoick's back when a an axe whipped through the air and landed in front of Dagur making him jump back, Stoick turned around to see Dagur with his sword out and then the axe embedded in the ground. Toothless landed with Hiccup as he got off and pulled the axe from the ground with an almost deadly glare in his eyes.
Hi–Hiccup...what's going on here...?" Stoick asked quickly now very confused.
"Dagur isn't here to talk about the treaty, he's here to ambush Berk and when you're back was turned he was going to cut you down..." Hiccup stated coldly.
"Yo–you saved me?" Stoick questioned.
"Of course I did...You're my father and no matter how much you or these people have hurt me...Its not going to stop me from standing up and protecting this tribe..." Hiccup glared.
"You can't stop this Hiccup...BERSERKERS, ATTACK!" Dagur yelled out. Nothing happened. "I said ATTACK!" Dagur ordered looking towards the forest to see his men rushing out in fear towards the docks. "What the hell happened!" Dagur yelled angrily.
One of his men who was carrying another unconscious one coughed a few times, "That kid ambushed our ambush sir...He ran us in to a line of net traps, then fought us with dual blades...we couldn't take him and his dragon..." At this there were a few gasps from the village who had formed a crowd, Astrid pushed her way to the front.
"You're telling me a 16 year old defeated 100 men on his own!? For Thor's sake he's a twig!" Dagur exclaimed.
"Hey, we aren't making it up! You don't believe us, fight him yourself..." Another man coughed as the men continued towards the boats. Dagur glared at Hiccup now who pulled his second axe and took a stance.
"Oh I'm going to enjoy this a lot more than I should..." Dagur said raising his sword to strike, Hiccup brought his axe up to block it and while his mid section was exposed Hiccup kicked Dagur back a few feet. Dagur recovered and got up fuming, he charged again as Hiccup dodged left making Dagur stumble when he missed.
"I don't want to fight you, Dagur...But I will if its necessary..." Hiccup warned.
"You got lucky, Hiccup! You can't fight, you never could!" Dagur yelled punching Hiccup in the stomach making him keel over in pain.
"HICCUP! Don't fight him, his armada won't fight...they are afraid. Dagur can't win..." Astrid said worried. Hiccup stood up again panting as he saw Dagur pull his daggers and start throwing them at him, Hiccup slammed his axes in to the ground and pulled his shield to block them, then he used it to throw at Dagur and knock him back. Hiccup pulled his sword as he and Dagur went at it again for a good 15 minutes before Hiccup got thrown down and forced on his knees panting, Dagur brought the sword up smirking.
"Still a useless little hiccup..." Dagur said bringing the sword down, Hiccup raised his arm and blocked the sword making Dagur blink in shock and surprise. Hiccup pushed Dagur back then pulled his sleeve back to reveal a hidden dagger strapped to his arm, "Wh–what the...hell! When did you learn to fight...?" Dagur sputtered out.
Hiccup got to his feet slowly and opened his eyes, "I didn't learn to fight...I just got sick and tired of being weak and useless..." Hiccup said calmly as he pulled the daggers behind him in his belt and threw them at Dagur making him drop his sword, when he was distracted with that, Hiccup rushed him by elbowing his stomach making his gasp out then spun around and punched him in the face. One final move that he used was Hiccup crouching down, sweeping behind Dagur's legs and making him fall flat on his back.
Dagur opened his eyes as Hiccup grabbed both axes from the ground and brought them down, Dagur closed his eyes waiting for death but it never came. He looked to see both axes in the ground crossed over his neck but the blades only inches from the left or right side of his neck. Hiccup stepped on his chest and pointed the sword to his jugular making Dagur gulp in fear with wide eyes. "Wh–why didn't you kill me?...I tried to ambush the island, and kill your father...Why...won't you finish me off?..." Dagur asked.
"Because I'm not like you, Dagur." Hiccup said in a cold voice. "Yes. I should kill you for attacking my home, and my tribe..." Hiccup paused hearing a few people gasp, "But I'm not like you, and killing you would make me like you, it would change who I am. I am many things...but I am not a killer. Now you are going to get on your ship and leave...You've been defeated, as have your men...and if I ever see you here again...I won't hesitate. Now get the fuck off my island and don't ever come back. This is your only warning, Dagur." Hiccup ordered.
"I–I understand...I won't...bother you again..." Dagur said to him nodding. Hiccup pulled back the sword, then removed the two axes returning them to his back. Dagur got up slowly and walked away with his head down and very much defeated, Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest angrily.
"No one attacks my home, my island, my people and gets away with it, Dagur. I will always stand and defend them. Because that is what a tribe does, what the chief does...because a chief protects his own. And you can bet your life that whether I'm chief or not...I will protect them all." Hiccup remarked as he watched Dagur return to the docks and he and his men sailed away out of sight. Toothless crooned beside him and licked his cheek, Hiccup slowly turned from the direction of the water and faced his father, and tribe who were standing there in shock.
"Hiccup...You just..." Astrid began.
"I know what I did and I know what I said, Astrid." Hiccup said in response as he dropped his arms.
"You're hurt lad..." Gobber pointed to Hiccup's body.
Hiccup looked down to see his side bleeding through his tunic, his arm was cut, as well some scrapes on his face. He was sure he had some bruising too but it didn't phase him at the moment. "I'm fine...I'll heal." Hiccup stated.
"How did...you know they were ambushing us?...How did you take on 100 Berserkers by yourself?..." Fishlegs asked still in shock.
"Is it imperative that you know right now?" Hiccup rolled his eyes, they nodded to him. "Fine...Hall then." Hiccup told them. The others nodded again and began heading towards the great hall while Hiccup got on Toothless as they flew to the hall on their own, he waited outside for them. He sighed heavily holding his right side where he was still bleeding, he went through a bag on Toothless's saddle and pulled out some wrappings and ointments. Hiccup lifted his shirt up and applied the ointment, then wrapped the wound. Next he took care of the one on his arm before leaning against the hall wall with his eyes closed.
This was going to be a long day and given what he'd said during the fight and afterwards, he knew they weren't going to let him go back to the cove until he explained his sudden wisdom and protection of them. "Guess we're gonna be in the village a while bud..." Hiccup smiled weakly. He saw Toothless start writing with his claw, "Are you okay?" Hiccup nodded to him. "Just...really tired..." Hiccup responded, just as everyone was reaching the hall everything went black around him and he fell unconscious on the ground.
