A/N: Nothing to say really, got me schedule pretty set for updates, alternating between this fiction and my other one, planning to get as many chapters out as I can while I have free time, they will probably settle into weekly/maybe two a week if I'm feeling good schedule by the beginning of February, I can't really predict the future, anyway hope you enjoy!
Astrid's head continued to scan the area below her, eyes straining against the now dimming light, when she couldn't find anything her worry only grew, she traced the scratch on Hiccup's helmet and redoubled her efforts in searching for him.
She noticed a solitary ship in the water beneath her and frowned, flying low enough that she could see the crest on the sails, her eyes widened, the crimson colored spiked Viking helmet glared at her as she pulled back into the sky, for once she was glad to hear the loud rough shouts o the men on deck, it meant she didn't have to get too close.
"Did you hear that?" One asked gruffly, his black oily beard oozed over his belly as he looked around
"Hear what?" The other demanded in annoyance, he was considerably skinnier than his comrade, the helmet that covered his face seemingly much too big.
"Nothing," The first in replied "Why are we out here now, isn't Alvin going to get onto the island soon?"
Astrid lifted an eyebrow as she continued hovering over the ship silently.
"Course, apparently there's a savage boy that lives with the dragons there, Alvin's going to gut him like a pig." The skinnier one cackled loudly
"But, why are we out here, I want to help gut the boy too." The fat one complained.
"Because if Stoick or any other Berkian finds out we are using this as a staging area we'll be done in," The skinny man slapped the fat one over the head harshly "Just keep your eyes peeled for ships and shut up."
'They don't know we ride dragons now,' She thought positively as she moved Stormfly northeast and lowered towards the dragons back, urging the dragon to fly faster, it wasn't long until the island came into view 'Hiccup you had better be safe.'
Hiccup's hammer came down a little more forcefully than he had intended, snapping the almost complete connecting rod in two, the boy jumped to his feet and threw the hammer, the tool flew across the clearing and clattered against the stone loudly.
Ghost and Toothless stirred, lifting their heads ever so slightly to peer a the boy, Toothless warbled sympathetically and Hiccup sighed, falling onto his back in frustration "Sorry bud."
Toothless just looked down at his friend, tilting his head slightly before turning to speak to Ghost, he jumped to his feet when he realized how close he had gotten without thinking to the female.
Ghost peered at him curiously "What?" She demanded
Toothless actually felt a little bad, she was on edge around him, that didn't spell happy endings for Berk, he sighed "I want to apologize." He bowed his head.
Ghost raised an eyebrow, it was a look Toothless had seen the blonde human use oh so many times, skeptical and taunting at the same time, he growled in his throat.
"I do not wish for this," Toothless continued "But, unfortunately, we are bound even if we don't want to be, so we might as well be…nicer, to each other."
"I see no reason to disagree with you," Ghost inclined her head, she was partly to blame, having charged into the bond in anger, she now had to deal with a consequences, she couldn't even pretend to be repulsed at the idea of being with Toothless for the rest of her life, not that she'd ever tell him that "What did you have in mi-" She cuts off, ears perking slightly
Toothless was about to ask what's wrong when he picks up on it, the sound of men moving in the tree's, a great distance from them, but still on the island, there was no way it was someone from Berk, there be dragons if there were.
Hiccup could feel the tense atmosphere surrounding his dragon as he got to his feet, the sun was beginning to fall towards the Horizon, slowly dying the ground orange as he got to his feet.
"Friends of yours?" Ghost asked, although, judging from Toothless expression, she already knew the answer.
Toothless just shook his head in response, Hiccup could have sworn he saw a small black dot in the sky, he moved towards it slightly, as it grew larger he realized it was a dragon, a Nadder, he tilted his head, the color blue coming into his sight and his eyes widened, it was Stormfly, which meant Astrid.
"She's gotten tired of waiting for me to rescue myself and has come to kill me," He announced sarcastically, she catches sight of them, Stormfly swoops and Astrid holds his helmet over her head, he can see the relieved grin on her face from the ground, Toothless lets out a warning growl and Hiccup frowns, he hears a shout, his helmet falls into the clearing and his head snaps up in time to a see a net descending around Astrid and Stormfly, the dragon's panicked attempt at evasion toppling Astrid from the saddle, Hiccup felt his stomach jump to his throat.
"She's a friend," Toothless snapped at Ghost urgently, the grey Nightfury slammed passed him with a powerful wing beat, even with her speed, she only managed to have the human clip her wing slightly, Astrid bounces of a grey dragon that looks an awful lot like Toothless as she falls below the tree line, air was the first thing that gets knocked out of her lungs, she could feel the sickening crunch of her ribs as she fell towards the ground, arm flying out uselessly trying to halt the fall, she hits the stone ground with a loud thud, barely holding onto consciousness as she claws her way to where Stormfly had been downed by the net, Astrid's shoulder screams at her, commanding her to cease the movement, she shoves it down, reaching Stormfly, now completely constricted by the massive net, Astrid fumbles for her dagger, when she can't find it a small grimace comes to her face, she leans against Stormfly's stomach, Hiccup had seen her, he'd come for her soon.
Hiccup gritted his teeth, someone had fired a net at Astrid, he scooped his helmet from the ground with his hand as he broke into a dead sprint, snapping tree branches that dared try and stop him, his footfalls sounded heavy in his ears, the chink of his prosthetic only bringing memories of Astrid to his mind as he snarled into his run.
Astrid heard someone snap through the trees and she blinked, eyes groggy from the screaming of her ribs and shoulder, she could barely make out who had entered the small clearing of trees Stormfly had carved out in her crash.
"Oh, there's a girl with a dragon!" One exclaimed, Astrid's eyes widened in horror as she realized exactly who had shot her down, The Outcasts, she pushed herself back against the dragon, attempting to fight her way to her feet, he side screamed and she fell back down in a heap.
"She seems injured," A man chuckled "She's quite an eyeful too."
Someone's greasy hand ran along her cheek, she couldn't even manage a glare, she just groaned pitifully, her belly wrenching in seething hatred, both at her own weakness and at the man who dared touch her.
"Oh, she's got a nice fiery look on her eye," Another voice, how many were there now, they all drawled so similar they melded together and she couldn't tell "These ones are always the most fun to break."
She shudders violently, slinking as far in on her safe as she can to get away from the people in front of her when someone else snaps through the trees, her eyes widened when Hiccup's mask enters her vision, her eyes suddenly clearing as the boy's eyes burned an entirely new dark of green, the unbridled fury that reflected from his eyes caused a chill to run down her spine, the scratch over the eye of his helmet looked like a battle scar against his shadowed face, the only part of his eye visible being his burning green, the man that had touched her was whimpering in pain, it took Astrid a moment to realize Hiccup had just kicked him across the clearing and the boy looked far from done with any of the men in front of him.
A loud clap rang over the incredibly silence of the clearing, a large black bearded man lumbered forward, his helmet seeming just a little too small for his head, his spiked shoulder guards and black studded arm guards, the sword on his hip was wickedly curved and poorly constructed, mimicking the rest of the Outcasts weapons, Hiccup didn't blink just glared angrily at the group.
"That was a mighty fine blow if I've ever seen one," The man nodded his head, a reverberating chuckle escaping his throat, he grabbed his soldier by the scruff of the neck and dragged him into the group, tossing him to his feet "Don't need to explain to me why your protecting such a beautiful shiela." He laughs, rubbing his hands together, eyes flicking over Astrid's injured form, a dark glint in his eye as he licked his lips slowly.
Disgusted wouldn't begin to describe Hiccup's reaction, fury, rage, blinding hatred tore at his mind, they had hurt Astrid, they had hurt his Astrid, his instincts roared against the flimsy cage of his mind, they won, cracking free of the small iron bars, his eyes narrowed as his gloved hands spread out, his knuckles slammed together, the clap sounded thunderous against the silence that surrounded them.
"Who are you?" Hiccup demanded, his tone flat, steely cold and distant.
Astrid wondered if that was even the same boy she had met, he certainly felt completely different, before it occurred to her, her Hiccup was not staring down the men in front of her, the Dragonboy of Berk was staring down the men in front of her, the terrifyingly powerful rumor that had floated around the island, turning away entire ships of heavily defended merchants.
"Most people round ere call me Alvin the Treacherous!" The man boasted, hitting his chest with his fist.
Astrid wanted to throw up, her ribs were still screaming, she assumed some of them were broken, she couldn't tell what was wrong with her shoulder, she just knew it all hurt and she wanted to scream in agony.
Hiccup's head tilted ever so slightly to the side, seeing Astrid barely containing the pain she was in, his eyes darkened, turning a single eye towards Alvin, the man's laughter died in his throat, the boy in front of him looked just about ready to eat him alive.
Hiccup's anger peaked, his blade in his hand as he shot forward, Alvin quickly back pedaled as his men moved in front of him, brandishing weapons of all kinds, Astrid watched in terror as Hiccup didn't slow, his body was low enough he could drag the tip of his sword on the ground, sparks flew from the tip as he shifted, blade slamming against an Outcast shield with a thundering crack, the shield managed to reflect the blow, Hiccup's knife flipped in the air as he let it go, his eyes darting to the three men in front of him, spears poised to impale him, his eyes shot between the three weapons and everything came to a lurching halt around him, as if the entire world had slowed down as he crouched low and sprung into the air, he caught the blade and turned in the air bringing the knife down quickly, the men looked up in surprise as he fell passed them, Hiccup wiped the blade along his forearm before snapping the blade back into its sheath, Astrid's eyes widened as blood spattered from the throats of the three outcasts, Hiccup's face was darkened as the crimson splotched against his side, the other Outcasts backed away from him in panic.
Astrid felt sick, she had seen the glow in his eyes the moment before those throats exploded, he had been smiling, his mouth likely turned into some furious snarl that was reflected in his eyes, the Outcasts charged him, swords and spears and axes swinging at him, they might as well have been swinging at air, Hiccup deftly danced around each strike, although she never saw him reach for his knife, his elbow slammed into the gut of an Outcast as he over extended, Hiccup pivoted around the man's body, catching the sword as it fell and driving it backwards, the sound of steel slicing flesh rang around the clearing.
Hiccup didn't even flinch as he moved out of the way of an axe, he folded slightly to the side, seemingly like he was tightening a screw before his palm shot forward, slamming into the shield he had weakened earlier, it cracked and splintered against him and he growled darkly, turning around a spear and drawing his weapon again as he slashed it across each opponent, six pools of blood continued to grow at his feet, he stepped over the corpses, locking eyes with Alvin as the man's men abandoned their weapons, Alvin grinned widely "You'd make a nice addition to the Outcasts, savagery befits you." Hiccup paused and for a terrifying moment, Astrid though he was going to agree and just leave her there, before his hand tightens on his blade.
His voice was still steely and cold, he spoke in a flat dark growl "No it's just us two left."
There was a stagnant pause as Hiccup draws his knife "I'll rip you apart!" Alvin cackled as he drew his sword and met the boys rush.
"Good," Alvin laughed a cut opening on his cheek "It's been too long since I received an actual challenge."
Hiccup dropped down under Alvin's slash, he leg shot up and slammed into the larger mans chin, Astrid's eyes widened, even though it wasn't her Hiccup, his simple deadly grace was breathtaking, it was like he was floating half an inch of the earth as he twisted around each blow, expertly coiling around to land another shallow strike, but she'd never felt to conflicted, she could leave him and he would could one of the biggest enemies of Berk or she could try to stop him, bring her Hiccup back, the Hiccup that was so gentle he wouldn't kill an insect.
When Alvin caught Hiccup's side with the edge of his blade and she saw Hiccup's blood splat against the ground, her mouth made her decision before he had ever could "Hiccup!" She practically shrieked, the boy faltered in his advance leaping backwards and sliding next to her, the worry in his eyes so clear her chest clenched.
Alvin seemed to think Hiccup was no longer a threat as he moved forward, Hiccup's glare stops him short, Alvin falters only a moment, before turning around and scurrying off, snapping through the trees as he moved towards his men.
Hiccup cups Astrid's cheek in his hand, his fingers brushing over her lightly, tentatively, like if he touched her properly she'd break, his eyes darted all over her form, taking in her injuries, spots of dried blood on her tunic, her shoulder was swelling and purple, the appendage looked ghastly.
"I'm sorry," He managed to choke out "I couldn't, when I saw you-like this-I just-everything just…snapped."
Astrid pulled the helmet off, she ran her thumb over his cheek, smiling gently "It's okay." She whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear, he leaned forward and buried his face in the crook of her good shoulder.
"I'm just so glad you're alive." His shoulders racked against her as he sobbed "If you had-I don't know what I'd do."
She does her best to run her hand over his head comfortingly, but the pain is taking its toll and she can sick black encroaching at the edge of her vision, he leans back, he was aware she was passing out, he gives her a weak smile, strangely enough it works to comfort her as she falls back.
Hiccup didn't waste time, he scrambled away from her, cutting Stormfly free of the net, the dragon bounced to its feet and nuzzled it's master worryingly, Hiccup forced the dragon to move away from Astrid as he racked his brain for a way to get her back to the cove, he needed water to clean her wounds, something to make a sling out of, he ran his hand gently over her shoulder, glad to find out it was only dislocated, not broken, meaning he could easily get it back into place, Vonor and medical books had taught him how, he also had a pretty solid understanding of herbs.
A loud thud echoed behind him, he turned to see Ghost landing in the clearing, he gathered Astrid in his arms as gingerly as he could, taking utmost care to avoid her injured side and arm, Ghost only glared at him for half a second before she lowered, allowing the pair to climb on her back.
At least it wasn't a large sweaty Viking riding her, just a worried human and his female mate, she landed as lightly as she could, Hiccup winced when the impact caused Astrid to groan, Toothless stomped his way over worriedly and Ghost quickly began explaining the situation, Toothless looks at his friends back in worry and says nothing.
Hiccup lays Astrid down and uses a small smooth rock to prop her head up, grabbing the bucket he used for melting metal he ran to the lake and cleaned it, leaving it about half full with water as he darted into the trees, he thanked the gods that the herbs on this island were the same as Berk, grabbing leaves that helped reduce pain and another one he could crush in a poultice that works fairly well at reducing swelling, he dropped the herbs in a pile beside the bucket and rushes over to Toothless saddle, drawing a section of leather out he cut it away and setting it down, he gestured for Toothless to move over to him, the dragon obliged, Hiccup pointed at the bucket and Toothless began breathing a steady stream of fire, heating the water, Hiccup pulled another strip of leather from the saddle and dropping it in the water, now effectively boiling, he repeated the process, hoping that the boiling water would effectively sanitize the bandages.
His hands hovered over Astrid's stomach a moment, taking off her shirt in these circumstances for the first time made him feel sick to the stomach, he removed the fabric slowly, thankful that his eyes only linger on her chest binding for half a second, retrieving the strips of bandages he tips the water out and places the herbs in the bowl, drawing his knife he holds the flat of the blade and uses the hilt as a grinder, slowly turning the leaves into a thick greasy stew, he scoops a bit into his hands and rubs it over Astrid's ribs as gently as he can, she winces and groans, but otherwise remains still, he wraps the ribs with the still slightly damp set of rags and knots them, they were tight enough they didn't slip and loose enough it wasn't hurting her, he moved back to the bowl, crushing the last of the herbs he had gathered before grabbing her arm slowly, he placed a hand against her shoulder to brace it before he forced it up, it fell into the socket with a sickening crunch and he winced when Astrid shot up, a loud, shrieking scream of pain ripping from her lungs. He caught her as she fell back, letting her land lightly, her ribs already felt better thanks to Hiccup as he tied the arm in a sling, she peered up at him, azure eyes half lidded as she breathed heavily, her good arm grabbed the front of his armor and pulled him down, slamming her lips against his, the last thing she remembered before she passed out again was his emerald eyes widening in surprise.
A/N: Someone asked what Hiccup would be like if he lost control over his instincts completely, here you go! Honestly, there were about a hundred different versions of this chapter in my head, this is the one I chose, I think overall it holds best for the action I plan to put in the story and since Hiccup was acting just a little wimpy in the last couple of chapters I wanted to reaffirm his badassery, this seemed like a rally solid way to do it, as usual I hope you enjoyed, drop a follow if you did feel free to check out my other HTTYD fiction and I will see you guys, in the next one, peace!