Lots of hate for Snotlout. But think about it, if you had a little girl, you'd want to defend her too. I'm not defending his behavior but I will say that a lot of people would do the same thing.
Chapter Ten: Rejected
SMACK!
Snotlout reeled backward, nearly falling to the ground with the force of the blow. He stared at his wife, open mouthed and gasping for breath.
"What... what was that for?" he choked, massaging his cheek.
"You don't already know?" Heather snapped, wiping her hand on her shirt as if that would take away the stinging sensation faster.
Snotlout had no response other than to continue to stare at her, his mouth bobbing up and down in surprise. Heather sighed deeply. Yet again, she was going to have to talk sense into the man. She loved him so much but he could be a complete idiot sometimes.
"What you said to Hiccup and Astrid, from what I've heard, was reprehensible!" she growled, narrowing her eyes at him and thanking the gods that Spitelout was taking care of Inga for the afternoon. "You really don't care what happens to their kids?"
"As long as the Berserkers don't come after Inga, no!" Snotlout shot back, his anger returning. "If we go to war with them, we'll all die! I was just saying what everyone else was thinking!"
"Look, I'm not saying I don't understand your point of view. I'm not even saying I disagree. But you don't say things like that to grieving parents! Gods, Snotlout, Hiccup just lost his father!" Heather shouted, appalled at her husband's callousness. "And need I remind you that Stoick died saving yours?"
"All right, all right!" Snotlout huffed, taking another step away from his livid wife. "What's done is done, though. And would you have voted any differently?"
"Of course not but the point is that you told an already grieving family to give away their kids without any remorse!" Heather sat down on the couch, balling her fists in her lap. "You have got to figure out how to be tactful. You have a daughter! If you ever speak to her the way you spoke to Hiccup and Astrid-"
Snotlout bristled at the thought. "I would never-"
"Then act like it." Heather narrowed her eyes at him. "Go apologize to them."
"What? But-"
"You owe them an apology, Snotlout, for being the most inconsiderate person in the entire world!" Heather looked like she was on the brink of tears.
"What... why are you being so.. so... passionate about this?" Snotlout asked in a slightly quieter voice.
Heather looked directly at her husband. "Because I'm imagining someone saying that about Inga. And it's disgusting. What you said was disgusting."
"Well it's too late now." Snotlout sat down, the weight of everything that had happened, everything he had said, crashed down on him. "We already voted not to declare war."
"You can apologize. You can be there for your friends during what will probably be the worst moment of their lives." Heather said, not making eye contact with him. "You can be a decent person, Snotlout."
Snotlout sighed deeply. Sometimes he hated it when his wife was right.
Eight Terrible Terrors had been rounded up in record time. Hiccup found a slip of parchment he had been using to sketch Toothless the previous day and ripped it up, writing on the back and tying each piece to the little dragons' legs. The way to tell a Terrible Terror where it was supposed to go was to feed it a little bit of dragon nip unique to its destination. Trader Johann had a thriving business thanks to that little trick. Hiccup quickly stopped at home and grabbed the small pouches of dragon nip. Once he had given the Terrible Terrors the tiny pieces of dragon nip unique to their destinations, he watched them fly away, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew that, thanks to the alliance with the dragons, the chiefs would arrive relatively soon.
"Wouldn't allowing the other chiefs on Berk be breaking the lock-down?" Astrid asked after the Terrors were out of sight.
"The chief initiating the lock-down can personally invite other chiefs and one adviser or spouse to enter the island without declaring war." Hiccup explained, thankful for that particular clause. "I sent Gobber to tell Dagur to meet us all at the Great Hall at eight. Which means we have time to spend with the kids. Until then."
They almost didn't want to see their children until all of this had been resolved. The idea of having to say goodbye to them, possibly for the rest of their lives, was maddening. Hiccup felt physically ill when he thought about it.
The young parents walked to Lotus' house slowly. Both almost dreaded seeing their children again. Having to look them in the eye and tell them that they might be taken away was too much to handle. But they had promised a picnic and if it was the last one they would ever have with their children, it was going to happen no matter what was going on in the background.
The moment Lotus looked at her daughter, she knew that the council meeting hadn't gone well. The tear stains on Astrid's face were alarming, as was Hiccup's tense form as he strode into the house. The twins were drawing quietly at the table, both so engrossed in their work that they didn't even notice their parents. Lotus quietly stepped forward and pushed the couple out of the front door and a few feet away from the house so that they could fill her in on what happened before collecting their offspring.
Within seconds, Lotus' hands were over her mouth, her blue eyes wide with horror. Only two people had supported her family. Two out of eighteen. She had always been rather fond of Olaf but now that she heard what he had said about her family, she suddenly felt like paying him a visit once this was all over.
"And if the chiefs don't vote to go to war, what then?" she asked after a few seconds of silence.
"We keep looking for loopholes." Hiccup replied. "Because I am never letting the Berserkers have them."
Lotus' stomach seemed to twist and turn. The twins were the only grandchildren she would ever have. She had come to adore them in the years since they had been born. No. They wouldn't be taken. Not if she had anything to do with it.
"Don't tell them more than they need to know." she said, staring pointedly at each of them as she did so. "Act like this is a normal day. They're really on edge as it is."
The parents nodded and stepped forward to open the door and collect their children. Both Finn and Adrianna hopped to their feet, their drawings instantly forgotten, and ran to their parents. They looked slightly panicked.
"What's gonna happen to us?" Finn asked immediately, clutching Astrid's shoulders as she crouched down to talk to him.
"Is that man going to take us away?" Adrianna asked, doing the same to her father.
Hiccup and Astrid exchanged a split second glance that certainly didn't go unnoticed by their children. They then turned back to two concerned faces and shook their heads.
"Absolutely not." Hiccup told them. "You're staying here."
"But he said we belong to him." Finn scowled. "I'll fight him, if you need me to!"
Astrid breathed a laugh and gently brushed his bangs out from in front of his face. "That won't be necessary."
"And we're going on that picnic." Hiccup said with a weak smile. "Come on, grab your things."
Ordinarily the Haddocks would be a chatty bunch. The villagers often heard the family nearly talking over each other in their haste to say what they wanted. But as they walked through the village square on the way to a good field, there was silence. No one wanted to engage them in conversation. And the family didn't feel comfortable talking in front of the tribe. Not after the council meeting.
They finally arrived in a poppy field where they spread out their blankets and took the food out of their various containers. Hiccup and Astrid absentmindedly tossed fish to their dragons as they sat with their children, staring at both of them almost longingly.
Adrianna settled on her stomach, her head in one of her hands and her other hand playing with a bright red poppy that she had plucked from the ground. She had always loved the smell of poppies. And the book of pressed ones Stoick had made now rested against her nightstand. But fresh poppies smelled and felt a lot better. She chewed on her lower lip as she watched Finn ravenously tear into the food her parents had brought. He was always hungry, it seemed. But she was too worried to eat. She found herself wondering if there were flowers like this on the Berserker's island. Or if she would be allowed to be outside at all. Suddenly she was gripped with a very big, very important question. A question she wanted answered by her father and him only.
She stood up, gripping the poppy in her hand, and walked up to her father, who was gently stroking Toothless' snout. He gave her a warm smile.
"What's on your mind?" he asked, hoping that he didn't look as depressed as he felt.
Adrianna could read her father's facial expressions with startling accuracy and his depression did not go unnoticed. But this was an important question.
"Can we go for a ride?" she asked him, her eyes flitting to Toothless. "Not in the sky if you don't want."
Hiccup looked over at Finn. He had ridden a dragon. Adrianna still hadn't. And her first ride was not going to be on a foreign dragon. He looked back at her and his smile widened. Even with all the stress, the idea of taking his little girl into the clouds sounded like a good distraction. A fun distraction.
"I think it's time we went for a flight." he said, tapping her on the nose.
Astrid glanced at him. She wasn't sure how she felt about her daughter flying on a dragon but Hiccup was simply too enthusiastic to convince her to voice these feelings. She turned back to Finn and tried to wipe some jam off of his chin as Hiccup and Adrianna mounted Toothless.
The moment Adrianna was airborne, she knew that this was something she wanted to do every day once she had her own dragon. She loved the sensation of the wind in her hair (she was far too impatient to let Astrid braid it each day) and the feeling of the cool air rushing through her sinuses, clearing them more than ever before, was invigorating. She took a deep breath and lifted her arms as they flew into the clouds. The tiny water droplets felt cold against her exposed fingers but she loved the sensation.
Hiccup tightened his hold around her waist. He looked up at her little hands, her fingers stretched apart and slicing the clouds. Hands he had held thousands of times, had bandaged when she had hurt them, had kissed when they had tea parties and he wanted to make her feel like a lady... tiny hands just like his mothers had been, like Astrid's were... his heart thumped uncomfortably at the thought of those hands never resting on his shoulder and clasping with his as they danced at her wedding, those hands never wiping away any more of his tears... he couldn't imagine a world without his Addie.
The flight ended far too soon. Toothless touched down a little way from where Astrid and Finn were eating, almost like he knew that Adrianna still wanted to talk to her father. Hiccup slid off the Night Fury's back and gently lifted his daughter and placed her on the ground in front of him. Her lower lip was trembling slightly, which was never a good sign. He got down on his knees in front of her so that she could look him in the eye.
She worked up the courage to ask what she wanted to ask after several seconds. "What does that man what to do to me?"
Hiccup felt his heart freeze for a second. Of course she was going to ask. How could she not? She had heard what Dagur said about her, had seen the color drain from his face. Yet she was far too young to understand and, in his opinion, far too young to know what had been implied. But he couldn't lie to her face. Not when she was so obviously frightened.
"It doesn't matter." he said, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "Because I'm not letting him take you."
Adrianna shook her head. "What did he mean by saying I'd be a good toy?"
Hiccup felt a surge of anger deep within his chest. A father should never have to answer a question like that. Certainly not when his child was several years too young to be told anything about that particular subject. He tightened his hold on her shoulders, his voice dying in his throat before he forced it out.
"You're better off not knowing." he choked, willing himself to keep his emotions out of his facial expression.
Adrianna could see rage and fear in her father's eyes and shuddered slightly. But she was determined to get an answer. "Please don't lie." she mumbled. "Tell me why everyone got so upset. Please?" she averted his gaze, staring down at her twitching hands. "What's gonna happen to me?"
If she hadn't gone through everything with Trista, if she hadn't known what true fear was, hadn't experienced hate of that magnitude, Hiccup would have refused to answer. And she probably would not have asked. But now she needed to know. Now she needed answers. She was afraid that she would be back with someone like Trista. And the reality was so much worse. So horrible that Hiccup couldn't possibly speak the words for fear that they might come to pass.
"Addie..." he sighed, choosing his words carefully. "There are some very bad men who... who hurt little girls for fun. Dagur wants to give you to them." Adrianna's eyes widened in horror. "But I will never let that happen. No one will ever hurt you like that."
Adrianna looked visibly shaken by this news but Hiccup was ready. He gently put his arms around her and held her trembling form. She wasn't crying; he suspected that she was too shocked to cry. Whatever she had been expecting, it most certainly hadn't been that. The girl couldn't imagine anyone, other than Trista, being cruel enough to let someone hurt her. She certainly couldn't imagine anyone having fun while hurting somebody.
But then she realized that, even though her daddy couldn't always stop her from getting hurt, he could stop her from staying hurt. And he would save her from this fate.
Astrid watched Toothless take off, tracing his movements with her eyes until he and his riders vanished into the clouds. She and Finn were completely silent for a while, both eating and both not the sort of people who talked when there was nothing to talk about in the first place. Finally, Finn broke the silence.
"Can they really make me be a Berserker chief?" he asked in an unnervingly casual tone.
Astrid stared at her son for nearly a minute. "No." she said simply. "Your daddy and I would rather you become the Hooligan chief."
Finn furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "I don't think it would be so bad. I mean I'd rather be a chief than let those big men hurt you, mommy."
Astrid was slightly taken aback at this comment. When had her son become so strong and selfless? She began to wonder if he was simply trying to be strong like his grandfather had been. Ever since Stoick had died, she sometimes caught him doing things Stoick used to do, like barking out orders to the dragons or strutting into the room like he was two hundred pounds heavier. But she certainly wasn't about to let him be shipped off to a foreign island whether Dagur truly meant to make him the heir or not. She would never let her son learn cruelty and the Berserker chief was the best teacher in the archipelago when it came to that.
"You wouldn't want to be their chief." Astrid muttered, her appetite suddenly gone. "They're terrible people, Finn. It wouldn't be worth it."
"But mommy-"
"Finn, do you know anything about your own heritage?" Astrid interrupted. "If your grandfather were here, he'd never stand for it. For centuries, chiefs fought hard to preserve this island, to keep their children safe. If they knew that one of their descendents was to become a chief of an island as vile as Berserker Island, they would be ashamed."
"But I don't want them to hurt you." Finn protested, putting down his sandwich and not caring that he spilled the meat and vegetables all over his lap.
"I would rather die than let them take you away, buddy." Astrid said, staring straight into his eyes.
Finn tensed. "You're not gonna die... are you?"
Astrid opened her mouth but no sound came out. She certainly couldn't promise that she or Hiccup wouldn't. She couldn't even promise to try to stay safe. There was absolutely nothing she could offer her son except empty words.
"I'm going to try very hard not to die, Finn." she promised, her voice shaking slightly.
Finn's eyes widened and he immediately scooted forward, his dismembered sandwich forgotten, and threw himself into his mother's arms.
"You're not allowed to die." he whispered into her ear. "I won't let you."
Astrid couldn't think of a single thing to say so she hugged her son tightly, hoping that that she would have many more years with him. There was so much she could teach him if the gods would just let her raise him. And with the way things had been turning out from the moment the twins were born, with all the near death experiences and people trying to take them away, she began to fear that this was too much to ask.
The summoning bells rang late that afternoon as the family was returning to the village after a long afternoon. Hiccup's hands tightened their hold on Adrianna and Finn's. The chiefs were arriving and it was his job to greet them. He briefly thought that it might be a good idea to allow the chiefs to see his children before going in to the Great Hall but decided against it. With tribe names like the Cantankerous Cutthroats and Ravaging Rangers, it would probably be better for the twins to be away from it all. They led them to the forge and deposited them with Gobber, who wasn't allowed in the meeting.
The moment they emerged from the forge, they saw a woman they did not know walking next to a young girl who couldn't be any older than sixteen. The woman looked like she'd never smiled in her life while the girl couldn't stop smiling. Everything about Berk seemed to fascinate her.
"You must be a new chief." Hiccup said, shaking the woman's hand. "Thank you for coming."
"I'm afraid I'm not the chief." the woman replied, looking slightly irritated.
"I am. But apparently I'm not old enough to think for myself." the girl said, looking slightly peeved. "My name is Milly."
"Ahh, Milly the Frilly. I've heard of you." Astrid smiled. "One year to go before you're allowed to make decisions without your adviser."
"Six months and two days to be exact." Milly sighed dramatically. "But I have to be there because technically I am chief." her adviser glared at her. "Not that I don't want to be here."
"No, it's okay. I don't think anyone does." Hiccup said with a small smile. "Our Great Hall is up that hill. Why don't you go ahead and settle down and we'll start as soon as everyone gets here."
Milly and her adviser nodded politely and walked up the hill just as a man Hiccup recognized as Tollum the Talkative from the Brainiac tribe walked up. They had only met once or twice but there was no forgetting someone like that.
"Good evening." Tollum smiled fondly at Hiccup. "I do wish that we could correspond under better circumstances however I am pleased to revisit Berk, however brief the visit may be."
"Yes well... we welcome you." Hiccup said, hoping that the other chief wouldn't go off on one of his tangents, as he was likely to do.
"I sincerely hope that we can put this unpleasant incident behind us." Tollum said by way of a goodbye and walked toward the Great Hall.
Hiccup watched as the Ruthless Runian chief, a man named Grey the Guileful, walked past him without greeting him. The man was walking with his wife, whose name Hiccup could never remember. Most of the chiefs were walking by without greeting the couple. They spotted Jade the Just, chief of the Cantankerous Cutthroats, Alvina (also called Allie) the Insincere, new chief of the Outcasts, and Oblivious Sandalwood, chief of the Blundering Breachers. There were a few more chiefs left to arrive but the Hooligan chief decided that he and Astrid would be better off inside the Great Hall beginning the meeting.
Dagur arrived seconds after Hiccup and Astrid entered the Great Hall. While they had, in fact, explained as much as they could on the small pieces of paper, they decided to explain in greater detail as the other chiefs were settling in. Once everyone had arrived and knew the situation, Dagur decided to speak up.
"This is a ridiculous waste of your time, as you well know, so let's just put it to a vote. All those dumb enough to engage in battle with my fleet, raise your right hand." he said, rolling his eyes and, truthfully, wanting to get this over with.
Hiccup and Astrid looked around hopefully but only one hand raised. The hand belonged to Kara the Kind, a wild looking woman with very curly red hair. She was the chief of the Meatheads and was rarely seen on a foreign island without her husband, Frederik the Friendly. Both looked at Hiccup and Astrid compassionately.
"And all those opposed." Dagur continued.
Seven hands flew upward.
"Okay..." Hiccup's mind raced, trying to stall them before they left or, worse, tried to forcefully take his children. "Isn't there something we can do?"
"Couldn't we change the law? Say... the child's parents decide his or her tribal affiliation?" Astrid pleaded, beginning to panic at the sight of a few of the chiefs looking like they were about to leave.
"You might want to look that up in the law book." Dagur snickered, tossing the book to her. "Read it out loud. Article 14."
Astrid glared at Dagur and opened the book to the aforementioned law. "The alteration of a law necessitates a convention and unanimous acquiesce by all tribal chiefs."
"Well there you go. I'm a tribal chief and I don't really want to, what's the word? Acquiesce." Dagur chortled. "Looks like you have your ruling."
"You don't understand!" Hiccup cried, slamming his fist on the table and causing everyone to jump. "Dagur will take our kids. Berk won't have an heir!"
"Look, we all feel sorry for you." Allie the Insincere said in a syrupy voice. "But there's nothing we can do."
"If we engage Dagur in battle, our tribes will be annihilated." Tollum sighed. "I'm afraid the only course of action is to surrender the Hooligan heirs post haste to avoid any future conflict."
"But that's not right!" Milly the Frilly cried, standing up. "They're Hiccup and Astrid's kids! You can't just tear them away from their family!"
"Sit down!" her adviser snapped irritably.
"No! I want to side with the Hooligans!"
"I said sit down!" the woman pulled her down by her wrist. "And keep quiet."
"I don't want to put my tribe in danger just for a couple of kids." Oblivious Sandalwood said in a quiet voice. "But I am sorry."
"We all sympathize with your plight." Jade the Just spoke up, standing and facing the other chiefs in the room. "We would love to do all we could for you and your wife. However, it simply isn't possible. To go to war over two children wouldn't be fair for the rest of the families who might lose someone in battle. Only one option exists to keep everyone safe and that is to hand your children over. We don't want this to be necessary but it is the best option."
"But if we hand them over, our daughter will be hurt by Dagur's men! What if it was your daughter, wouldn't you want to protect her?" Hiccup choked down waves of emotion threatening to burst through.
"I would never put any little girl in that situation." Dagur simpered, a look of triumph crossing over his features.
"In any case, it's illegal." Yuri the Yodeler, chief of the Woeful Wailers, spoke up.
"I'm sure your kids will be perfectly safe." added Lanky Louie, chief of the Lugubrious Lava Louts.
"I think you're all making a mistake." Kara finally said after waiting for a pause long enough to jump in. "No parent should ever have their child taken away. We Meatheads side with the Hooligans."
"We won't have any trouble destroying your army, Kara." Dagur snorted in derision. "Aren't the Meatheads a peaceful tribe?"
"We fight for what is right." Kara shot back. "And what you're trying to do is despicable."
"Despicable maybe but the kids really are special. I would love a strong boy like Finn as my heir. Producing one of my own would be so much work. I'm a busy man." Dagur said, not even looking up as he inspected his sword for smudges. "And the girl would certainly raise morale. I hear she's very friendly."
"It seems we have all come to our decisions." Grey the Guileful announced. "The lock-down will end in three days." he turned to Hiccup and Astrid, who were both beginning to physically tremble. "My condolences."
"I believe this meeting should be adjourned as none of us will be changing our votes." Jade said in a low voice, not making eye contact with anyone. "We offer our sincerest apologies and hope-"
"Stuff it." Hiccup snarled. "Just go."
There was almost complete silence as all except Hiccup, Astrid, Dagur, Kara, and Frederik shuffled out of the Great Hall and to their dragons to return home. Dagur swaggered past Hiccup.
"Yes, your little Addie will be just the thing to raise morale." he muttered so that only Hiccup could hear him. "I think she'll be very popular."
As Hiccup balled his fist, restraining himself from punching the Berserker chief, he felt like everything was crashing down around him. There was no way out. His eyes began to burn but he forced the tears back. There had to be something he could do. This couldn't be the end. He turned to Astrid, Kara, and Frederik.
"Get out that law book." he said, trying not to let his anguish seep through his speech.
Astrid opened the book and laid it flat on the table. Kara turned to Hiccup.
"If it takes all night, we will find something to use against Dagur." she sat down next to Astrid and began reading the laws as closely as she could.
Frederik strode forward and patted Hiccup on the back. "Don't despair. We'll find something."
Hiccup nodded, trying to force his body to stop trembling. He had even less hope than before. But he also knew that he wasn't going to give up.
All right, this is yet another chapter I'm not as pleased with but I'm not sure I could have improved it. The next chapter will be really emotional though so grab those tissues!
Special thanks to EmmerzK, whose phone autocorrected something she wrote to Oblivious Sandalwood so I naturally had to name a character after him. Special thanks to Fritz96 for the law wording. Special thanks to Revenge of the Red Pen for some of the tribe names. And finally, special thanks to httydfan1991 for some of the dialogue.
Don't forget to review! I love reviews!
~KateMarie999