Chapter 10

"Not a soul around," She said to herself as she walked through soulless streets, they seemed a lot more menacing than usual and for the opposite reason, instead of brimming with new faces and people she has yet to meet, she's met with nothing but silence… and it's terrifying.

Heather was trying to run errands for her father, mostly maintenance to get their new house ready but the stores were closed and now she knows why, storms coming back. Her father owned a relatively successful company so he traveled quite a bit to keep expanding, but she was tired of following him around so she decided to settle on Berk. She wanted to find an apartment but her father thought it best to buy a house so when he's done traveling he would have a new home to return to, even if it's going to be used as a summer home in the end.

She looked up to see the clouds grow dark, thunder could be heard in the distance before snow started to fall. As she walked home she started to hear something behind her, soft taps that soon became footsteps that only become louder and louder the more she walked. She steeled herself, a young highschool girl barely entering the ninth grade is an easy target on days like this, so she prepared herself for the worst. The more she walked the louder the footsteps got, the closer they got the more her back straightened. Then the footsteps were right behind her, and she panicked.

She turned around faster than she thought possible and punched the hooded assailant right between the eyes, the assailant didn't make a noise nor did he stumble before falling, he just fell… like a log, almost lifeless. She took quick breaths, letting out a long exhale before taking deep breaths letting herself relax, but it was short lived. She heard vicious growling coming from behind her, she turned around to see a giant pitch black wolf staring at her. She backed away slowly, if it was hungry it could eat the guy on the ground, she stopped when the wolf stopped and she thought she was in the clear when it stopped growling and moved closer to the guys face. She was expecting to see blood and gore but she didn't expect the wolf would lick his face until he spoke, almost reluctantly.

"I'm fine," He sighed pushing the wolf's face away earning him a growl.

"Quiet down, your to loud," He told the wolf before grabbing onto one of it's legs and back slowly getting up, making his hood fall off his head.

"Hiccup?" Heather asked as he dusted himself off.

"Hm?"

"Is that you?"

"In the flesh," He presented himself.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine considering you just punched me," He rubbed his latest injury.

"Not that- I mean i'm sorry for that but… you seem different,"

"Different?"

"You seem, calmer than usual,"

"Bye Heather," He gave her a gentle smile before beginning to walk away.

"Wait, where are you go-" she took a step reaching out to him but stopped when the wolf got in the way, he continued to walk away slowly. Was he always walking that slow? How slow was she walking for him to catch up so quickly?

"I'm lost," She called out to him, She knew exactly where she was and how to get where she was going, she smiled when he stopped.

"You live in the old Alfsons place, right?" before he could tell her where to go she spoke up.

"It'll be easier if you take me there yourself, and I can put a roof over your head, don't want to get caught in the storm,"

He turned to see her and considered his options, either take her home, which is closer than his or go home and risk both of them freezing to death.

"I've never been inside the Alfsons old place,"

"Sorry for the mess, moved in not so long ago so things are still being repaired, What kind of people were the Alfsons to let the place fall apart?" She asked, clearing things from the front door.

"They were the old folks of the neighborhood,"

"Oh god they didn't die inside the house did they?" She was about to sit down but thought otherwise when there's a possibility someone might have died on the couch, they kept some of the furniture from the previous owners.

"No, no they didn't die inside the house,"

"Good, I don't wanna worry about ghost and-"

"They died on the porch,"

"Oh," was all she could muster.

"If you're creeped out imagine how the others felt,"

"Others? What others?"

"Last Halloween they died on the bench outside, people thought they were realistic decorations, let their kids sit on their lap, took pictures and everything, the faces they made when they found out they weren't fake...priceless," He explained.

"Make yourself at home, your 'dog' is housebroken right?" pretending she didn't hear what he said.

"My wolf is housebroken, no need to worry about that right toothless?" He scratched the wolf's head before sitting on the couch next to her.

They decided to watch her collection of movies after she dug them out from a box somewhere, waiting for the storm to pass. After the first movie they found themselves lying on the couch Heather resting on his chest with half lidded eyes before the lights started to flicker. She explained that they weren't finished fixing the lighting and some of the plumbing so she decided to stay up late learning how to fix it before doing anything.

"So you're sleep deprived? That explains why you randomly punched me," He looked down at the top of her head.

"That and I thought you were some criminal who was going to mug or force himself on me," She looked up to meet his gaze.

"Do I have the face of a criminal?"

"I don't know, let me take a closer look," She slowly crawled towards his face before placing her lips on his.

"You sure you want to be doing this, you're sleep deprived, chances are you might regret this later," He managed to say before she came in for another kiss.

"Sleep deprived or not I know exactly what i'm doing," She went in for another kiss this time probing his lips with her tongue.

She wasn't listening to him, he wanted to stop her but pushing her off seemed rude, so he did the next best thing, he reciprocated. He turned them around so that she was lying on the couch putting himself above her slowing down the kissing and waiting until her eyes closed. Eventually she fell asleep, he got up to find her a blanket before looking at toothless lying next to the couch staring at him accusingly.

"The weather isn't going to let up anytime soon," He looked out the window, snow blowing past and seeing thunder in the clouds,"So much for going home, she said something about wiring or something right?" He looked around the living room.

"Let's get to work bud,"

Heather opened slowly opened her eyes to find the living room light blinding her, she covered her face with the blanket but the light slipped through. She decided she would get up when the lights flickered, she figured the light has been on for a while and the longer it's on the more it flickers, but the flicker never came. She lifted herself onto her elbows and looked around, there was someone with her right? Hiccup. Where's Hiccup?

She didn't hear anything, she sat up properly and looked out the window, it was dark, she didn't know if it was because it was late or because of the storm, she walked to the window and the clouds were dark and menacing. She looked at the clock in the kitchen, 4 pm, she looked around the house Hiccup nowhere to be found, she spotted a note on her fridge held up by one of her many fridge magnets. The note explain that he left when the storm cleared, he left dinner in the fridge, and that her lighting problem was no longer a problem. She opened the fridge to find a delicious looking meal. She had to thank him properly later.

Hiccup managed to get home before the storm started again, he walked in a few step before collapsing on his back undoing his jacket. He laid there looking at the ceiling.

"Finally!" He yelled, Toothless by his feet stepping on him, Hiccup turned to look at him.

"What? You know staying out for an extended period of time makes me anxious,"

Toothless continued to stare.

"Come on, last time I was here was Saturday and it wasn't for that long, no time to recharge,"

This time Toothless inched forward and pressed his paw into Hiccup's abdomen.

"And here I thought you were worried about me… fine, I could use a sandwich too," Toothless bounced with joy heading to the kitchen, but noticed his human wasn't budging, He let out an annoyed exhale and headed back.

"Haha, you got it bud," Hiccup relaxed as Toothless bit the end of his jeans and pulled him to the kitchen.

Once inside the kitchen Hiccup reluctantly got up, even if he didn't want to cook he had to, he hadn't eaten all day, he made dinner for Heather but she only had enough for one person. He walked back and forth through the kitchen, Toothless by his side the whole time looking at him.

"You're gonna hurt yourself bud," He told Toothless who only seemed to shrug, until he walked face first into one of the metal stools, Hiccup chuckled giving his wolf an 'I told you' look.

"Eat up, gave you extra just in case I forgot to feed you yesterday,"

It was a typical Sunday for him, hell it was a typical day, just him and his wolf like always, even when his parents were home they would eat together in the huge room they made into an office leaving Hiccup and his companion alone in the living room. He was lucky when they weren't busy and ate downstairs with him on the kitchen table that rarely ever gets used. Even then he never really talked, his parents would talk business as Hiccup listened in and enjoyed just being in their presence until they got up kissed his head and told him goodnight. He'd always tell them he would take care of the dishes, they worked constantly to give him a better future, the least he could do is take care of the small things, he didn't like feeling useless.

So he studied and learned all sorts of things, last week he finished learning how to program all sorts of things, even went as as far as to learn everything an electrician knows, now he's teaching himself to be a plumber. Multi-talented kid, he just wants to keep things easy, he didn't like calling plumbers and the sort because he didn't want his parents finding out he might have broken something, makes things less complicated. There was a time in middle school when he got interested in war tactics and learned about that, even read some psychology books.

After he finished making himself something to eat he sat on the couch, food on his lap as he surfed through channels finally stopping on some history channel, history was fun. He thought back to the past couple days. Were they his friends? The only thing they seemed interested in was physical contact. Would they forget about him if he stayed low for a while? Would they move on to different guys? What was he to them? At least Francis was his friend, sort of. They did things friends do, talked during school, hung out at his house after school, that was it, other than sometimes at school they didn't really talk. There was Cami, but they can't really hang out since she lives in a different town, but now she lives here for the time being... no, she's rarely here, might as well let her go sightseeing and spend time with her mother. Maybe he should join a club, make some friends, but that'd be pointless, come graduation day they're going their separate ways most likely never seeing each other again.

Now that he thought about it, there was nothing keeping him here besides Toothless and the invisible chains on his 4 limbs coming from the high school. He needed to graduate to be freed from his chains then he'd be free to do whatever he wants. At least until his time came to take over the company, then it'd be his turn to be so busy that he'll leave his kids home alone 95% of the time to fend for themselves. That's to big of a leap, Was he even going to have kids? What about a wife? Was he ever going to get married? There was Cami, she's always saying how interested she was in him, sometimes going as far as saying their going to marry one day. Both of their families were from viking ancestry maybe they would marry and merge the companies.

Hiccup fell asleep with a lot on his mind, his food untouched.

He woke up to toothless licking him, it was dark, he check the clock, 6 am, he fell asleep way too early. The Television was still on, he might as well watch some T.V, found the news, weather was suppose to be better, so much for staying home. He could really use a day, he got up but found himself drained of all his energy, probably has something to do with not eating the day before. Not to mention he hasn't showered, he needed one of those too. No point moping about, today was a new day, he showered and fed himself before feeding Toothless and getting ready to head to school.

Today was no different from all the other days, he got picked on by Scott because he wanted revenge for something. Astrid ignored him completely and he spoke with Francis for a bit before they went their separate ways for lunch. Cami being the new girl was out making friends so he just sat in his tree waiting for lunch to end, he wasn't hungry. He walked past Heather a few times, their eyes met once but she went back to chatting with her friends, not even a wave.

The next day wasn't that different, bullied, ignored, tree, this time Cami went looking for him, he watched her as she asked around for him from his spot in the tree. She eventually gave up and went to eat with her friends. Classes were boring, they didn't provide any challenges. P.E sucked, Astrid ignored him, so much for P.E partners, she exercised with her friends from class. At least she was still ignoring Scott, sadly Scott blamed him for that and picked on him any chance he got.

Same thing Wednesday only this time Cami caught him on the way to his tree, told him about her new friends while Hiccup had a hard time keeping his smile on his face. He had become trapped in a loop that he had no choice but to continue. Had he done something in his previous life that made a path to this one? Or had he done something extremely disturbing and now he's serving his eternal sentence in his own personal hell?

Thursday his parents finally came home to find the place devoured by a heavy atmosphere. Their son setting on the couch face blank as he watched T.V, they weren't around a lot but they knew their son, the smile he gave them was anything but sincere, a fraud, forced. The last thing they wanted was for their son to take anti depressants again.

"Dad," He gave them a gentle smile.

"Son?"

"Welcome back,"

Sorry for taking so long, I didn't mean for this to take so long, At first it was because of my health, had to take meds and everything, after that... well, I cannot and I repeat, CANNOT stand the heat, I'm super productive during winter but when summer comes around everything just becomes a hassle, I don't plan on abandoning this story but it's probably gonna get a little rocky, this isn't my favorite chapter, not even close, but the way it was going it wasn't going anywhere so I had to take drastic measures, I don't mean to offend anyone with this chapter but you'll understand soon why it was done, or just ask, but remember even if I answer it may not be 100% certain that it's gonna happen.

Would you guys mind if I skip a few years? They go from 9th grade to 11th grade kind of thing.

Also, what do you think about Heather and Francis (fishlegs)? Or maybe Rachel (ruffnut) and Francis (Fishlegs)? which one would you guys prefer?

Speak to me please, also I can't reply to guests and I apologize, make an account, I'd love to chat.