I've seen a question pop up more than once about why Stoick, Astrid, or Toothless didn't kill the Banshee right then and there. Well, the most prominent answer would be, the story isn't over yet. But in more detail, it's because Hiccup needed care. If you were Stoick and your son were dying, and the creature that was responsible was unconscious—an easy kill or in this case since they all thought it was dead, an easy finish; what would be more important to you? The life of your son, or knowing the threat was taken care of. I don't know about you, but I would have done everything in my person to help my son.
Other than that, I think we're good. I did post two chapters because I wanted to give you guys a treat for all the reviews and likes and comments! Thank you so much!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the antagonist
It was sunrise when Stoick and the others came back. There they found Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins already at the village, and in bad shape too. They rested at the Haddock house, Gobber and Gothi tending to their wounds as well as doing everything they could to help Hiccup. Gothi had to give Hiccup a sedative to make him sleep; too much movement wasn't helping his body. He lay in his bed upstairs; Stoick and Toothless were by his side.
Downstairs, the teens were resting; showing off their scars to each other. But all in all, they were just complaining on how much they hurt.
"…And every muscle hurts. I can't even lift my arm too far up without it aching." Fishlegs said, moving his arm up as far as it would go, " Ow," was the response when he went too far. Fishlegs was sitting on the floor up against the wall facing the stairs.
"Oh yeah, that's nothing." Tuff lifted his shirt and pointed to his back, "Look at this scar!" Three claw marks were edged into his skin; some blood obviously escaped but was cleaned up. Ruffnut smiled and slapped the bare skin with her hand, the sound of whipped flesh echoed loudly.
Tuffnut's scream was silent, but his mouth was open nonetheless.
"It hurts so good." He breathed out while flexing his hands into fists.
"Alright you two, I don't need to clean up any more cuts then we already have." Gobber said, approaching Tuffnut with a white cloth. "Take off your shirt, Tuff, I gotta wrap your wound." With mumbles from Tuffnut, he did and allowed Gobber to wrap the cloth around his chest and back.
"What about me?" Fishlegs whined.
"Your muscles will get better in a few days, don't worry." Gobber replied.
Snotlout laughed at him, "Big baby." He criticized. Though Snotlout's muscles hurt too, he had to wear a splint on his left arm for the bone fractured half way between his wrist and elbow. He didn't think anything of it, it hurt, a lot, but he could take it. Or so he thought.
Astrid stood at the bottom of the stairs leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't get very much scars, just a few scratches here and there. Her head turned to the left, up the stairs. A soft voice was heard whispering something; Astrid knew it was Stoick—probably soothing Hiccup. The thing that scared her the most was the two small needle marks on his neck and his pale skin. Snotlout's voice broke her from her thoughts,
"So what was that thing?" Snotlout asked. Gothi looked at him, and then drew something in the dirt. Gobber looked over her shoulders and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Are you sure, I thought that thing was just a fairy tale." Gobber asked. Gothi looked at him seriously.
"So what is it?" Astrid asked.
"It's a Banshee." Gobber replied. The teens looked confused.
"I never heard of a dragon called a Banshee?" Tuff said.
"That's because it's not a dragon." Gobber pointed out.
"Duh," Ruffnut said sarcastically to her brother, though she didn't know that either.
"The Banshee has been a big part of traveler's folklore. In the past, travelers who needed repairs on their ships stopped by on Berk. At Night they'd always tell stories of their travels. One prominent one being the Banshee," The teens came in closer, all ears listening. "They say that the Banshee is this mutant demon from Hel. Its features are bat-like, hunting at night because it's allergic to sunlight. They say its only food is blood; sucks it right out of your body while you're still alive. It moves faster than the wind and is almost never seen. But the most infamous of its abilities is its screech; ear piercing howl that scratches at your brain. It's said its howl can tear down buildings, and even crack metal."
"How?" Asked Fishlegs.
"Wait, so it's stronger than a Thunderdrum?" Astrid questioned.
"Much stronger than a Thunderdrum." Gobber answered.
"So how would you kill one?" she asked again.
"It doesn't matter, the Banshee's dead, we win, end of story." Snotlout said.
Upstairs told a different story; Hiccup lying on the bed, his head turned towards his dad. His neck was wrapped with thin white cloth, the blanket brought up to his mid section; to his left his father sat, to his right, Toothless. Toothless was curled up right beside his bed, his head resting on the divan right under Hiccup's right hand. Stoick, on the other side, sighed softly,
"Oh Hiccup," he said looking down sadly at his son, "I'm so sorry this happened to you." He lifted his hand to feel Hiccup's forehead. "I should of done something the first night." He brought his hand back down to his lap, getting some relief as some color was returning to Hiccup's face. But his words didn't match his thoughts.
It's hard to say, but Hiccup's always gotten himself into trouble, almost dying even before he met Toothless. Awkwardly, Stoick chuckled at the thought. He shook his head, his thoughts soon turning to what he was going to do if the Banshee wasn't dead. He thought, honestly tried to believe that the Banshee was dead, that Toothless killed it, but a wiser part of himself told him that would have been too easy.
Stoick was jerked out of his thoughts at the touch of another hand on his own. He glanced down to Hiccup, seeing his eyes open weakly, looking at him.
"Dad," he said in a frail voice, "The Banshee isn't dead." Stoick's eyes enlarged slightly at the fact that he somehow knew what he was thinking. But realization hit; he probably said something out loud by accident while he was thinking. Stoick looked down, wishing the statement wasn't true, but he knew better.
Hiccup continued, "We can't kill it." A look of surprise struck Stoick's face.
"Yes we can, and I will make sure—"Hiccup interrupted him.
"No, I mean we don't have to kill it." He finished.
Stoick looked really surprise now, and slightly angered.
"What?!" Stoick stood up from where he sat, getting Toothless' attention. "Son, you do realize what that thing did to you, what it did to the village? It stole and destroyed nearly all of our food, kidnapped you and two other children and—"he pointed his hands at Hiccup's neck. All Hiccup did was look at him like he was sorry, sorry like one would be when another lost a family member.
"When Toothless went up against that Whispering Death, he didn't kill it in the end." Hiccup breathed out in reply. "Why, because he didn't need to. Because he had another option and he took it." (I know that happened mainly because Hiccup had to persuade Toothless, but I think in Hiccup's point of view, he believes Toothless knew better)
Stoick's expression softened, the reality of Hiccup's words now making sense. His son was willing to spare the creature's life, despite what it's done, despite what it put Hiccup through. If Stoick didn't know any better, he'd say that was the probably one of the toughest things to do.
His father's silence made Hiccup uncomfortable, "Dad?" he asked in a quaver voice. Stoick looked down at him,
"Alright, alright." He sighed, "The others aren't going to be pleased though."
"They're Vikings, they can get over it." Stoick laughed at what Hiccup said.
That sounded like something Gobber would say. He thought with a smile.
Okay, I don't know which story to do first, Gumshoe or Nameless Foray. What do you guys want to read first? Gumshoe is about the teens taking the role of detectives and finding out who stole something (don't know what it is yet) from Gobber. If you're wondering about the title, gumshoe is a synonym for detective. Nameless Foray is about Dagur coming back to seek revenge on Hiccup for what he did on that island in the last story—it's that sequel I was talking about.
Well, pick and choose, post your decisions in the reviews and I'll tally them up and see which one to write first. Thank you!
