Update for old readers:
Unformatted text still reads are Norse or narration.
Underlined text now represents Irish.
Italicized text will be used for emphasis.
Two days after Hiccup shot down the night fury, Aran was very rudely awoken by Gothi dumping a freezing glass of water on his face. He spluttered and got ready in a daze before being shoved out the door and nearly falling down the many stairs that led from Gothi's hut to the town of Berk. Aran looked back at the old woman in utter confusion, and she roughly pointed her staff in a specific direction. The Irish teen blearily looked where she was pointing and saw the dragon training arena. He groaned.
"Do I have to?"
Aran's answer was a smack on the head and another shove towards the stairs, so he begrudgingly made his way across town. It was always cold on Berk, but luckily it was one of the slightly warmer seasons. The Sky was cloudy, but at least it wasn't snowing or hailing. He supposed he should be happy about this, but all he could be was disgruntled at being woken up by cold water so he could go train to kill dragons, which he would never want to do anyway. Aran paid so little attention to his surroundings that he slipped as he hopped down three steps of stone stairs, roughly smacking his head against the building in front of him. It took several minutes for him to pick himself back up off the ground.
The rest of the walk to the arena was difficult, as his head throbbed, ears rang, and vision swam in front of him. He figured he was probably fine. It was just a little bump, right? He'd had worse. When he arrived at the dragon training arena, he saw that he was the last to arrive. This was judging by the vague shapes he saw in front of them. He guessed who was who according to relative height. Aran's vision continued to swim, and the ringing in his ears persisted.
"Behind these doors- Ah, Aran! Nice of you to join us!" Gobber, or at least who Aran assumed to be Gobber, said.
"I think I have a concussion?" Aran stumbled a bit.
"Uhh, Norse, Aran." Snotlout said, rolling his eyes, though Aran couldn't focus enough to see it.
"I think I have a concussion." Aran repeated slowly, in the proper language this time.
"Oh, umm, do you think you should sit ou-" Hiccup was quickly interrupted.
"Eh, you'll be fine." Gobber waved him off.
Aran stood at the end, next to the person he knew could only be Hiccup. He vaguely realized he was the only one without a weapon, and as Gobber spoke, he couldn't focus on the words coming out of the man's mouth. His eyes were unfocused, and he received several glances of concern. These glances were mostly from Hiccup, but Fishlegs looked over as well, and even Astrid leaned forward to look in his direction.
Gobber opened one of the pens containing dragons, and a gronkle burst out, making a beeline for some discarded rocks on the edge of the enclosure. Hiccup grabbed his wrist and pulled him along with more determination than muscle, and Aran tried his best not to fall over. He only lasted so long, and landed on his ass after escaping immediate danger. Everyone was picking up shields, but he just sat uselessly on the ground.
The ringing in his throbbing head only intensified when the other teens began hitting their shields with their weapons. Aran squeezed his eyes shut, jamming his fingers in his ears. Though he continued to sit on the ground, he tried his best to push himself towards the wall with his booted feet. When his back collided with something solid, he put his head between his knees and didn't move until the commotion was over. Looking up, he saw his vision still swam.
"Are you alright?" A feminine voice sounded from beside him, and Aran jerked his head to the left to see Astrid squat down beside him. He regretted the quick movement, and took perhaps longer than he should have to respond.
"Urgh, I think so…" Aran put a hand on his head. "I just need to eat and lay down honestly. Gothi dumped water on my face to wake me up because I overslept, so I couldn't eat breakfast, and I smacked my head against a building on my way here."
"That doesn't sound so great. Can you stand?" Astrid did so herself, leaving her squatting position.
"I think I- no, no, no I definitely can't." Aran's head throbbed intensely.
"Here, let me help. It's past lunch, so the Great Hall's probably pretty empty and we can grab some food."
Astrid hoisted him up, ignoring his wince of pain. He put his arm around her shoulders, struck both by how she'd grown to be an inch taller than him thus far, and was really quite muscular. He'd never particularly payed attention to that before. The blonde girl put one arm around his waist, the other one on the arm he'd draped over her shoulders. They hobbled towards Meade Hall, Astrid thankfully not making much conversation with him. The two of them sat and ate together, and Astrid left him there after confirming that he would be fine without her help.
Aran decided to lay down on the now empty bench, and he closed his eyes. He couldn't properly fall asleep for some time, but he managed to get a nap in before dinner, and didn't do anything for the rest of the day. The warriors had sailed off that morning, so thankfully there was no work for him to do for Gothi or Gobber. Aran was roused from his slumber by an increase of noise, and he slowly sat up. The rest of the teens seemed to have sat down at the table next to his. Astrid was at the end of the bench closer to him, and she made eye contact with him after saying something about a somersault dive and a reverse tumble. It seemed Gobber was having a little discussion with his class about what had happened in the ring that day. The blonde girl handed him an extra plate she'd gotten for him, and Aran thanked her with a smile as he listened in on the conversation, his ears not ringing quite so much anymore.
"Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asked the group, and Aran was vaguely aware that the scrawny teen had approached the table, sopping wet.
"Uhh, he showed up?" Ruffnut quipped.
"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut added. Aran noted that Snotlout was making an effort to take up more space than he needed in an attempt to prevent Hiccup from sitting with the group.
"He talks too much." Astrid said, then glanced at Snotlout, recalling his annoying flirting. "In fact, everyone seemed to be talking instead of actually focusing on the dragon trying to kill us. Every time one of your shields got blasted, it's because you were too busy talking."
"Thank you, Astrid." Gobber said as Hiccup took the seat in front of Aran. "You need to live, and breathe this stuff." The portly man held up a leather-bound book before putting it on the table with more people at it.
"Oh, that's the dragon manual." Aran commented, remembering having to read it time and time again as it was one of the only books available for Fishlegs to teach Aran how to read.
"Right! Everything we know about every dragon we know of is in this book." Gobber looked up at the sound of rumbling thunder. "No attacks tonight. Study up." He walked off.
"Wait." Tuffnut suddenly straightened up, abandoning the knife he'd been balancing on the table. "You mean read?"
"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut sounded incredulous.
"Why read words when you can just kill," Snotlout slammed his fist on the table, causing a chicken bone to fly up in the air before clattering back down onto the table. "The stuff the words tell you stuff about?"
"Oh, I've read it like, twelve times!" Fishlegs exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he finally had the chance to talk about something he was interested in. "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face!"
"Scauldron." Aran said, automatically. His lessons with Fishlegs had involved flash cards about dragons on them.
"Yeah!" Fishlegs turned to grin at him momentarily. "And there's this other one the buries itself for a week-"
"Yeah, there was a chance I was gonna read that…" Tuffnut interrupted before Aran could say Fishlegs was talking about the sand wraith.
"But now…" Ruffnut added.
"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout said, standing up and starting to walk off, the twins in close pursuit. Fishlegs followed after the three of them, intent on sharing his knowledge.
"... So, uhh…" Hiccup cleared his throat awkwardly, approaching the nearly empty table.
"I've read it already." Astrid said, standing up. "You alright, Aran?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He smiled at her. "Thanks for earlier. I'll have to repay you somehow."
"How about when I get a concussion, you help me in return."Astrid smiled at him.
"Will do." Aran waved as she walked off. "I like how she said when she gets a concussion. Like, she knows she's gonna get one at some point." He said to Hiccup, laughter in his voice.
"Umm, yeah…" Hiccup took the Book of Dragons, sitting next to Aran. "Since when are you and Astrid so friendly?" There was jealousy in his voice.
"Since my best friend didn't check on me after I got a concussion." Aran stuck his tongue out at Hiccup, whose cheeks flushed pink.
"Sorry…" He mumbled, guilty. There had been other things on his mind at the time.
"'S okay." Aran said, lightly patting him on the back. Oh. He was still wet. "You gonna read it?" The dragon manual sat unopened in front of the two of them.
"Well, I want to, but…" Hiccup paused, pulling at his wet tunic. "I think I'm gonna go dry off first. Change my clothes." Aran laughed.
"I'll be here." He said. "I'm not about to go all the way up to Gothi's hut in this storm."
Hiccup left, and Aran stretched out on the bench again. He had time for a quick nap, and by the time his scrawny friend returned, the lights had dimmed even further. It was empty in the Great Hall besides the two of them. Aran, having already read the Book of Dragons many times over, rested his head on his arms as Hiccup read aloud. The younger teen seemed to have forgotten Aran was there as he read. As he progressed, he only skimmed, focussing on the various ways dragons killed their victims, and how one should deal with these dragons. Kill on sight. Hiccup flipped through the pages rapidly, and Aran was astounded his didn't tear a page. He seemed to be looking for one in particular.
"Night fury…" He breathed out, stopping at a nearly blank page. "Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance; hide and pray it does not find you." Hiccup pulled his sketchbook from his vest, placing it on the Book of Dragons. It was open to a sketch of a dragon Aran had never seen before, so he could only assume it to be one thing.
"Is that the night fury you shot down?" He asked, and Hiccup quickly shoved the sketchbook back into his vest, as if he'd only just realized Aran were still there.
"Wha- no! No, it's not-" The chief's son laughed nervously. "I mean, it's- it's what I think it would look like?"
"Did you know you're a horrible liar?" Aran raised a thick brow at him, and Hiccup sighed.
"Sorry, I just… It's complicated. You'd call me crazy." Hiccup said, closing the dragon manual.
"Try me." Aran challenged. Hiccup looked at him for a long moment, biting his thin lip as he debated with himself.
"I'm sorry, I- I don't think I can just…" The poor boy looked terribly guilty, so Aran gave him a soft smile.
"Hey, it's okay. If you're not ready to tell me, I won't push you." Aran said. Hiccup smiled gratefully. "Anyways, I'm gonna turn this bench into my bed, so unless you wanna be my pillow, you might wanna move."
That certainly got him up. Hiccup quickly went to the other side of the table as Aran shrugged his coat off. He laid it on the table before standing for a moment to remove his longer tunic. Now that he'd taken it off, it occurred to him how deep the scoop of its neck was. While his tunic definitely did nothing to hide the edge of it (or his shoulders, if Hiccup's confused stare said anything about the impracticality of that particular design aspect), his undershirt did even less. Hiccup's green eyes jumped from Aran's freckled shoulders to his scarred chest as he turned his tunic into a makeshift pillow.
"I never realized how big that was." Hiccup said quietly. He'd only ever seen the bit of the scar that peeked out from Aran's shirt.
"Yeah, it is kinda big, isn't it?" Aran responded as he unwound his metal spiral accessory from the lock of hair in front of his left ear. A coin with a triskelion dangled at the end of it. It was a gift from Hiccup on Aran's seventeenth birthday after he'd lamented losing his old one. Aran had a strong suspicion the boy made it himself, and he was very impressed by its craftsmanship.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked. His eyes widened as he realized that might be a sensitive question.
"I did something… really, really stupid on my fifteenth birthday." Aran said, looking down at the twisted pink flesh. "It's honestly a miracle I'm alive. Gothi told me it got infected when I was in the ocean. I would've died if it hadn't been so well taken care of before."
"That sounds awful, I'm sorry." Hiccup's brows furrowed. Aran closed his eyes, shaking his head.
"It really was. I can't even remember my first month here. Apparently I was feverish and vomiting all over the place though. I had hypothermia and frostbite at first too. Honestly, Gothi must be a saint." Aran said, staring at a notch in the table.
"Saint?" Hiccup questioned. He'd gone pale at Aran's descriptions of his ailments, and Aran remembered not everyone was the town's healer. Gothi had an iron stomach.
"It's like, someone holy." Aran said vaguely, not knowing how to define it for him.
"Ah." Hiccup nodded. That description had been enough for him, at least.
"Do you want to see it?" Aran asked. "The rest of the scar." He'd never shown anyone but Gothi since arriving on Berk, and that had been because she was the one who treated it.
Hiccup hesitated for a moment before nodding, and Aran stood up, removing his undershirt. Somehow, the first thing Hiccup's eyes were drawn to were Aran's defined abdominal muscles, and Hiccup told himself that was because he was envious. That didn't seem like the correct feeling, but that's what he was calling it. He tore his eyes away from Aran's stomach to look at his chest, as he was supposed to be doing. It was large, spreading all the way over his pectorals. The skin was twisted, and shone even in the dim light of the Great Hall at night. Hiccup couldn't stare at it for long, as it made his stomach somewhat queasy, so he glanced to the side, focusing instead on Aran's toned arms. His pale skin was littered in freckles; it was almost impressive how many there were.
"I might even tell you what I did, someday." Aran said, breaking the quiet. He pulled his undershirt back on. "It's hard though. I've got my own fair share of secrets, but I think that's part of the biggest one." His voice sounded loud in the empty room they were in, though it was barely above a whisper. "We've all got secrets though, yeah?"
"Yeah…" Hiccup breathed out, thinking of the night fury in the cove.
"Well, I'm going to sleep. Good night, Hiccup. You should try and get some rest." Aran put his wadded up tunic on the end of the bench to serve as a pillow and pulled his jacket over his torso in the form of an awkwardly shaped blanket.
"G'night, Aran." Hiccup said. "Sweet dreams." He added after a short moment of quiet, before walking to his house.
Hiccup knew he wouldn't be getting to sleep anytime soon. There was a lot on his mind now, with the mention of secrets. He knew he had his own secrets, sure. The night fury was in the cove because he couldn't kill it, like any other viking would have. It was still alive, because he'd failed to kill a dragon. The thought of killing any dragon disturbed him, just as the thought of killing a dog or cat disturbed him. So yes, he definitely had a rather large secret.
But Aran had always seemed to be a very open person. Hiccup had never known him to keep large secrets. Any time he asked a question, he usually received an answer, unless he was planning some sort of surprise. What did he mean by saying he had his own fair share of secrets? Had Hiccup somehow been blind enough to not notice anything odd about his closest friend? Was he not as close to Aran as he'd previously thought he was? Questions swam in his head as he arrived home, trudging through the empty house to his bedroom.
Hiccup didn't get much sleep that night.
Word Count: 2,966
This was a fun chapter. I gave Aran a concussion mostly just because I wanted him to be absolutely useless, and it wound up giving me an opportunity to have him interact with Astrid. I've realized he doesn't talk to the rest of the group enough and I want to fix that. There's also an awkward moment where I briefly describe Aran's hair accessory that I forgot to mention before this chapter. One of the biggest changes I've made in this rewrite thus far (I think) is the fact that Aran hasn't seen Toothless yet. I'm very glad I made that choice.
Oh, I also drew a new cover. It's more realistic I guess? I dunno, I'm probably going to leave it the way it is, that's as good as you're gonna get.
Anyways, I saw the new trailer earlier today. I'm sure all of you are excited for Hidden World (though I have to say, I'm more excited to hear the new Jonsi song when it finally comes out). There's still no reason for the light fury to be white, and I still very much dislike it. I also kind of dislike the weird teleportation thing she has going on, but I'm assuming this will be plot relevant so I'll let it slide. I really love that they started with the "There were dragons when I was a boy" line from the books, and all the scenes with Toothless trying to court the light fury were super cute and funny (though I still desperately wish she could've been black). Unlike the original fanfic, this rewrite will continue on to the 3rd movie when it comes out, because I doubt I will have finished by the time it finally comes out.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'd love it if you could leave me a review!
I love you, and hope to see you again!
