"Are you alright? You've been sitting here for two days straight." Astrid came into the Haddock house, followed by the other members of the Academy that were either worried for their friend or were forced to come.
"I'm fine … just worried." Hiccup said, hugging his knees closer to his chest, staring at his almost lifeless friend.
Astrid sighed and sat opposite Hiccup, beside Hakon's side. "He'll survive. It'll take more than a little journey in harsh conditions to break him."
"That's not what I'm afraid of. I know he'll wake up. There's just something at the back of my mind that won't give me any rest." Hiccup reached his hand out to the warrior's neck. There was a long piece of string, and it was laced through the hollows of dozens of teeth. Different shapes, different sizes, but one thing was for sure, was that they were dragon. Hiccup took the necklace off and handed it to Astrid. "One tooth, is for every dragon he killed."
Astrid and the other teens starred at the necklace. There were about 20 teeth on that necklace, and the guy lying unconscious was about 14.
"He's … a prodigy." Hiccup said, as if reading their minds. "Stabbed his first dragon to death when he was 5. His father's idea of training, for the majority of them."
"Hiccup he only did it self-defence, I'm sure that he can be convinced."
"Astrid, you don't know what he's lived through. His mother … the only person that was there for him … was killed by a Night Fury." Hiccup looked at the said dragon lying on the rock bed.
There were a couple of gasps, or stares or the tugging on the corner of mouth.
"He's gonna hate me." Hiccup buried his face in his knees. He began to weep. Astrid walked up to him and embraced him.
-000-
Third day of Hakon's unconsciousness was where Astrid begun to come more regularly, if only for the benefit of Hiccup who had rarely left the side of the unconscious warrior.
"How did you guys meet?" She asked, after a bitter moment of silence.
"When that storm carried me off, I got washed up on the beech of Outcast Island. Little bit more time, and I would have died if he wasn't there, I would have died … we became friends instantly. And after he helped me get off that damn island, we still kept in touch. Trader Johan delivered our letters … Then you got kidnapped, and I sent a message to him to rescue you. I never heard from him again. And now I know why."
A slim hand touched his shoulder. "Hiccup, he's going to be alright." She embraced him.
In the midst of their embrace, there was a groaning sound. One by one limp fingers twitched. Breathing became quieter. His system was slowly reawakening, except his eyes, which remained dead still.
Hiccup looked up to look at his barely alive friend.
The Outcast sat up from his position on the bed, a hand clutching his head, as it spun dizzily.
Hiccup couldn't wait much longer. He ambushed the Outcast in a fierce hug.
"Wha-?" Was all Hakon managed to react to, before he shoved the Berk Heir off him. "Who are you?" He said, his hands already in fistfuls, ready to strike.
"Hakon, it's me … Hiccup." The Dragon Tamer understood that maybe leaping on an unsuspected blind Outcast was not the wisest thing to do.
"Hiccup? No… No! … You're just a voice in my head! … Get out! … I don't want to hear you!" The blind Outcast yelled, clutching fistfuls of his black hair, and shaking violently, as if trying to tear his head from his neck.
Hiccup grabbed his friend's shoulders and shook them violently enough to give the Outcast Heir a concussion. "It is me! Me as in Hiccup! The Berk Heir! The screw up that washed up on Outcast Island when he was 5! The person who asked you for so much, but couldn't return the gesture! Hiccup, your best friend!" Tears were leaking out of the emerald eyes, like rain. "The person that did this to you." He said, resigning the violent shake and weeping into the covers of his friend's bed.
Two hands cupped on Hiccup's face, rummaging the face and studying every dent and piece of skin. For several moments they all sat there in silence, as Hakon concentrated and his once brutal, and how gentle, hands searched the face of the Berk Heir.
"Hiccup." Hakon finally breathed, and threw his arms around the Dragon Trainer, almost strangling him, weeping too.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the past 5 minutes." Hiccup said sarcastically, tightening the overdue hug.
"Fishbone, just shut up … I'm just glad that you're not dead."
"You have so much confidence in me, unbelievable." Hiccup said, sarcastically.
"This is you we're are talking about." Hakon laughed.
"Ok, break it up. It's my turn." Astrid practically shoved Hiccup off the Outcast and embraced him, herself. "I'm glad you're safe."
"B-Blondie?" Hakon said, awkwardly, in surprise. Great, the love of his life was hugging him and he was a stuttering idiot, perfect. He awkwardly hugged back. "Glad you … made it back." Then he regain his composure. "I'm confused, you wouldn't be helped by your enemy, but you're hugging him right now."
Astrid's response was a punch to the shoulder. "One of these days, your tongue is going to suffocate you."
"That will be the day." Hiccup rolled his eyes.
-000-
"So, what's going to happen now?" Hakon asked, before slurping in a spoonful of boiling soup.
"My dad is going to adopt you, so you can stay on Berk, permanently. That is if you want?"
"Of course I do. What kind of stupid question is that?"
Hiccup chuckled for a few moments, then he was reminded by a bitter fact. "So, what happened?"
"… My father found your letters. The punishment was death … my sister was pushing on that one … but he changed the punishment, for some reason, and just took my eyes instead … I'm so sorry that I abandoned you, but … you know."
"Yeah. I'm sorry that I doubted you."
"What happened to you? Please don't tell me that you're still trying to become 'A Viking'."
"Actually, I gave up on that. Tell me, how mad are you going to be if I told you that I trained and now ride a dragon?" Hiccup looked like he was waiting for the drop of a bomb.
Hakon stayed silent for what seemed like forever. His sightless facial expression said that he was debating with himself. "As long as you keep every single dragon at least 5 meters radius away from me … I'll try to tolerate." He said, rather darkly.
"That's it no … fists … no sarcastic remark … no scorn." Hiccup had to say that he was surprised. His best friend was as Viking as someone could get.
"I always knew that you weren't the typical Viking, and that you saw the world through different eyes … maybe you saw something in dragons that I never did, nor did anyone else."
"What if I said that the dragon I ride is … a Night Fury?"
"… I can't say the same thing, about that. The Night Fury murdered my mother. You can't expect me to forgive that, instantly."
"It's alright, I don't expect you to."
"Well, that explains why you smell like a dragon, but I can't understand which one. Let me guess, Blondie rider a Deadly Nadder?"
"You can identify things like that by smell?"
"Second best of my remaining senses. Best one is hearing. That one is annoying. Imagine being able to hear a pin drop a mile away. Next comes smell, third is touch. Last one taste. And of course the eyes are completely dead."
"Out of curiosity, what do you see right now? If that makes sense" Hiccup asked, the question that was bugging him.
"Just a sheet of red. Thick blood red."
"I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault. It's a punishment of mine, for not being careful. Besides, maybe it was a wake-up call that it was time to get off that blasted island. I didn't care where I was going, or if I would in fact survive, I just wanted to desert that hunk of land."
"And now, we're together, as brother."
"In everything but blood." Hakon smiled.
