Chapter 10: Forgive Me

Hiccup's eyes widened as the gun was pointed at him. This is it, he thought, accepting his fate. He no longer had the strength to fight the inevitable, to keep up the pretence that everything was going to be ok. Accepting it didn't make it any easier though. He couldn't believe that in a few short moments, he'd be dead. He wanted to sob at the unfairness of it all; there was still so much he needed to do. Hiccup trembled as he gulped back the tears that were threatening to spill. I can't give them the satisfaction. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes as a click came from the gun.

He prepared himself for the sharp pain, but it didn't come. He opened his eyes a crack, only to see something jump in front of him, snarling.

"Toothless!" he exclaimed gleefully, despite the situation. Sure, he was bleeding out and had a gun pointed at him, but with Toothless by him he felt he could face it. He felt strong.

Toothless looked over his shoulder briefly to give the boy a wolfy smile, before fixing his gaze on the humans who had dared to threaten his boy. He snarled viciously, lips curled back in disgust and sharp teeth bared. Saliva dripped from his gaping jaw as he lowered his head, but not his gaze, ready to pounce on the man cowering in front of him.

The man glanced around desperately for his weapon, discarded unwillingly when the wolf had appeared. The roles were now reversed; it was Alvin who was the hunted, no longer the hunter. He tried to get up, to run away, but a growl from the wolf soon stopped him. It pawed the ground slowly, turning up the earth beneath its paws in anticipation of the kill ahead.

But just as Toothless was about to pounce, a cry from his human soon stopped him. Hiccup had tried, unsuccessfully, to get back to his feet, hating the fact that he was practically cowering weakly on the ground. What would dad say? He thought angrily at himself. However, as soon as his left leg moved slightly, the pain returned suddenly, just as bad as before, if not worse. It came in tsunami waves; it would recede, lulling him into a false sense of security, before crashing over him forcefully. He tried to bite back the tears once more, but it was no use. Toothless whimpered at him with concern, his head tilted questioningly. Hiccup attempted to smile reassuringly at the wolf, but it came out more like a grimace. He fought back the darkness that threatened to cover him. Now's really not the time, he thought as he swayed dizzily with blurry eyes. He couldn't faint now. He couldn't- wouldn't- leave Toothless to face the hunters alone. He may not be able to stand, but at least he was there for him, like Toothless always had been for himself. And that's all that mattered.

The click of a gun shocked Hiccup out of his thoughts as he looked up from the wolf to see Alvin pointing his gun at the two of them, grinning in satisfaction. The balance is restored, he thought smugly, me in power and them cowering in front of me. Savage had fainted long ago, completely useless, so it was up to him to end this. And to be honest, that rather suited him. He laughed at the pained expression on the boy's face, glad he was the cause of it.

"It's over. Give up." Alvin smiled.

Hiccup's expression turned cold at the command. It was something he'd heard many times, and always from bullies like Snotlout or Tuffnut. And this man was no different. Older perhaps, but still just as horrible. Hiccup had had enough; he wouldn't let himself get pushed around anymore, even if it meant he'd die. It was time he stood up for himself.

"No." He stated simply, and Alvin's smile faded slightly.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"I said no. I'm fed up of people like you bossing people like me around. Kill me if you want. It won't change anything. You'll still be a jerk, and I'll still be right. What you're doing is wrong, and its only a matter of time before you get caught. I'll gladly die if it means the end of people like you." He finished, shocked that he'd made it through without passing out from the pain.

Alvin stared dumbly at Hiccup for a few seconds, before bursting out laughing, gaining volume gradually. Hiccup narrowed his eyes. Well that wasn't the response I was going for, he thought dryly.

"Lovely speech boy, I'll be sure to remember that when I'm burying your body. No one will hear the gunshot, not with the culling-" He stopped suddenly, only just realising that the shooting had stopped. He shrugged his shoulders, deeming it unimportant. Until, that is, he heard the click of guns. He turned around, to see a very angry Mayor glaring at him, with about twenty men pointing their guns at him.

"Get away from my son." Stoick spat with cold anger, almost seeming to double in size as he tensed up, ready to kill the man who had dared harm his boy.

Alvin staggered a step back. But accepting that there was no escape, he decided to go down fighting. With a yell, he launched himself at the large man, fists flailing as he rained punches on the man. Stoick however, didn't even seem to feel it, as he gave his own perfectly timed punch to the man's abdomen, hearing the satisfying crack of his ribs.

Alvin sank to the ground, head bowed. Stoick glared at him one last time, before turning to the unconscious form of his son, his eyes softening instantly. He didn't care anymore about the words they'd exchanged earlier. They'd just been angry, that's all, and Stoick had gone way too far. He didn't even care about the wolf which was stood protectively over his boy. He began to walk over to his son, but froze at a shout from Gobber. He spun around, to see that Alvin had once again risen with the gun aimed at him. This man just doesn't know when to give up, he thought, rolling his eyes. There was no way the hunter could harm him, not when his men all had their guns aimed at him. Before he could say anything though, a black blur leapt past him and landed on the hunter, quickly silencing his screams before returning to Hiccup. It was all over so quickly that Stoick barely had time to do anything. But the hunter deserved what he'd got, Stoick though coldly, although I would have liked to see him suffer a little more after how he's made Hiccup suffer. Little did he know that Toothless felt exactly the same.

Stoick glanced warily at the wolf that lay next to his son, before shaking away the niggling doubt at the back of his mind as he ran over to Hiccup, chucking his gun to one side and cradling the boy's limp form close to him. He lowered his head to Hiccup's chest, almost scared of what he might find. His body tensed at the silence, but then all that tension flooded away as he heard the weak, irregular beat of the boy's heart.

"He's alive…" Stoick whispered quietly, eyes shining with tears of joy. Thank the Gods, he thought, turning towards the crowd that had gathered behind him.

"Call an ambulance!" he shouted at them, and they quickly woke from their stupor, digging through their pockets and punching in the digits for the emergency services. In their panic, they didn't realise that only one of them actually needed to make the call.

Stoick looked up from Hiccup as he heard approaching footsteps. It was Gobber.

"He was right," Gobber started. "The evidence is all here. These bags of dirt were the ones killing the deer, not the wolves." Gobber glared at the dead form of Alvin on the floor with blood pooling around him, and then at the other hunter who was trying to plead his innocence as Spitelout drew back his fist to knock the man out. Gobber smiled as the man's expression went blank before collapsing to the ground unconscious. Spitelout returned the smile.

Meanwhile, Stoick was hugging his boy tightly. He'd never let him go again.

"I'm so, so sorry son." He moaned as he looked at the child in his arms, reminded of when Hiccup was just a baby. He wasn't that much smaller back then, he thought with a small smile. If he hadn't known better, he almost could have forgotten everything that had happened. All that matters is that Hiccup's still alive, he thought as tears trickled through his clenched eyelids and down his face, dampening his thick beard. His eyes shot open in shock however when he felt a rough tongue on his cheek. Sitting in front of him, wagging his tail weakly, was the wolf. A sight which once would have made his blood boil now only filled him with relief. He smiled softly at the creature in front of him. No longer blinded by hate, he couldn't help but notice how… beautiful wolves actually were. His heart broke a little as he thought about all the wolves that had died because of him. That stops now, he thought.

"I'm-I'm sorry. For… For everything. You were there for him when I wasn't, and I can never forgive myself for that. I was too wrapped up in my own self pity to see how much he needed me. But I promise you, I won't let that happen again. And if it seems that I am, then you better let me know. I don't ever want to go back to that."

Toothless looked at the weeping man quizzically. This man had been the cause of much of Hiccup's pain. Toothless felt like he should hate him, but he just couldn't. He could tell the man hadn't set out to harm his boy, and from the sounds of it, never would do so again. Toothless lowered his head and wagged his tail, trying to tell the man that it was ok, but this seemed to make the man cry even more, much to Toothless' dismay.

"I'm- I'm so, so s-sorry…" Stoick spluttered, and it was no longer obvious who he was talking to. Toothless raised his head as he heard the wail of an ambulance's siren getting ever closer.

A/N: Well guys, Alvin is finally dead and Stoick has seen the error of his ways. Only one chapter to go now :( I'll try to get it written as soon as possible but I can't make any promises. What did you think? Not my best chapter so far, but I tried my best XD This chapter is slightly shorter than normal as I wanted to leave Hiccup's recovery for the last chapter. As always, thank you so much for all the reviews, favourites and follows (over 50! :0). I never thought this story would get such a good response, especially as it's my first. It's so encouraging reading all of the reviews and seeing how many of you have added this story to your favourites and have followed it. It's only thanks to you guys that I've got this far with it, so thank you so much 3