Fractal Fairy Tale Chapter Twelve: Growing
The hall stared in awe after their cheering diminished she was supposed to be dead, people can't just come back to life. Stoic instantly sprinted to his daughter lifting her in a tight embrace making sure she was actually standing before him, and Loki hadn't played some cruel joke on him.
"Dad...dad let go I can't breathe!" she said choking
"Sorry.." he said instantly letting her go
"I missed ya to dad" she said catching her breath
The next person to spawn was Aston just as glad to see his auburn in her fully glory again, she instantly smiled. Her smile instantly turned into a scowl when Aston lightly punched her in the arm
"Ow! Don't you know you're not supposed to hit a girl" he said
"That was for having me believe you were dead, and this is for coming back"
He instantly kissed her, which removed them both from this reality only to come back when the kiss broke
The crowd awed while Ruffnut and Tuffnut gagged, neither teen took any heed towards their friends though.
Hiccup looked different her hair which reached the middle of her back barely reached her shoulders, her eyes looked darker bloodshot, she seemed to have lost weight and hit a growth spurt. A few wounds adorned her as well, her right hand appeared to be ripped open while the left was bruised, and on her left eye brow had a wound down it, and a bruise was barely concealed by the collar of her armor.
She seemed to have aged, while a month before she looked like that of a teenager now she looked like a respectable women ready to lead Berk into battle.
She passed her father and fiancé paying no attention towards anyone, standing at the front she took a deep breath ready to speak.
"As you all know we have a problem on our hands, the Amster. They've attacked us multiple times, sent threats, burned down our forest, and from me they took my dragon. Are we gonna let them get away with that!" She stared into the audience waiting for their answer
"NO!" they answered
"Are we gonna let them push us around?" she chanted
"NO!"
"Are we gonna show them Berk is a force not to be reckon with?"
"YES!"
"Are we gonna march down to Amster get my dragon back and show them how fierce we are?"
"YES!"
"Will you be ready to leave in three days?"
"YES!"
"Very well you are all dismissed" she smiled
The crowd soon began to disperse she attempted to blend in and run off, but her father could see through her little plan. Picking her up by the collar of her armor, she hung there smiling worried about what would come Aston was also by Stoic side just as ready to parade the auburn with questions.
"H...hi, how c-can I help you?" she asked
"Where have you been?" Stoic asked voice heavy
The newt few moments were kept in silence, the air thick with tension
"We're waiting, Hiccup" Aston said arms crossed
"I'm sorry which one is my father and which one am I supposed to marry, 'cause I honestly can't tell anymore" she joked
"HICCUP!" her father yelled causing her heart to skip a beat
She sighed
"A month ago I just didn't one to deal with anything so I skipped Berk in favor of Dragon Island, my boat wrecked and I was stranded. Thanks to some help I managed to create a make shift raft and sail back here, I was supposed to be back sooner but I got a little lost"
"What about your clothing, hair, and wounds?" Aston asked
"I got really bored over on Dragon Island so I hatched up a plan to get Toothless back and my old clothing got a little torn and worn so after gathering enough materials I got sewing. While being chased by a hostile dragon my hair got stuck so instead of risking my life for it I simply cut it. And the scratches are a mix of me falling face first into the ground and making a raft" she explained
"Your prosthetic washed up on the beach a week ago it was covered in blood" Stoic said
"That wasn't blood it was paint" she said pointing to the emblem on her shoulder
"I managed to step in the container of paint, it dried in the prosthetic's joints and I couldn't walk in it, so I created a new one and the other must have found its way into the ocean"
"Where did you get all the materials?" Aston asked
"Disowned dragon nests, who knew they were collectors"
Stoic now let go of his daughter, the auburn dropped to the ground nearly losing her balance, she stared up at him green eyes flickering shining like rare jewels. For the past month she had been missing and presumed dead, now she just waltz in and orders the village around expecting no consequences. Everything she had ever done before breaking rules and nearly turning up dead had always been slipped under the rug, but this wasn't so small. She abandon her tribe when she was expected to run it and let everyone believe she was dead, for what reason?
Hiccup stared up at her father sensing something bad was about to come, her hands remained clenched at her sides trying not to let the fear and stress show through. She led a village off a mountain, and now the one survivor was about to kill her for her ghastly actions.
Stoic simply walked past her making no eye contact
"Just dont get into any trouble" he said leaving
He can't baby her, she's a grown women she's made her decision, she was going to lead Berk into a possible battle to get her dragon back. He always knew she was slipping through his fingers but now she was truly gone, no matter what he said to her she wouldn't listen. He tells her to stay put she go's, tell her to leave and she blabbers on trying to make amends.
'Who did she get this from?' he asked himself
As a child he always listened to his father, and his wife Valha was the same she would sometimes question but she was definitely a follower. When Hiccup was born he imagined her being a strong viking waging war against the dragons and leading Berk into victory just like he did so many times before.
But she managed to change the islands perspective more than once, her tactics never involved fighting or bashing heads. She always took the road of talking things out, even when someone has hurt her deeply she refuses to punch them unlike most her age. He wondered if she would be able to lead Berk, he wouldn't be here forever, he had to trust hi daughter no matter how much it pained him. He started up at the skin stars twinkling
"Valha, if only you were here you would be able to make sense of Hiccup's actions"
Meanwhile back at the hall Hiccup's friends crowded around her, everyone accept Snotlout was ecstatic to see the auburn.
"Neat battle scar, how'd you get that?" Tuffnut asked pointing towards her right hand
"Running from a two headed zippleback" she answered
"And the shield?" Fishlegs asked
"Old dragons nest, same with the sword"
"How are you alive?" Snotlout asked
She shrugged
"Guess the gods were on my side"
Snotlout was obviously not impressed by Hiccups return, he was so close he could taste the role as chief and she just had to walk by and ruin all his fun. And she was standing before him stupidly smiling and laughing with the rest of them, everyone was on her side and everyone was glad. Rage flowed through his veins, he could strangle her his feeble idiotic cousin who cherishes her dragon more than anything else was allowed to be chief. And now she had convinced the whole village to fallow her to another island just to rescue her dragon, not to mention these attacks were her fault.
Of course it was regular for suitors to arrive from neighboring islands to ask for the chief's daughters hand, but Bjorn held up a threat. She should have recognized said threat and accepted so Berk wouldn't have to get so run down, but no she refused for her own selfish desire not to leave Berk.
He felt his hand clench the over rising need to punch her echoed through his mind
"Alright, I have some items to unpack I'll see you all later" Hiccup said leaving
Later that day Aston was walking Crimson, the golden dragon didn't enjoy flying and could not do any more than hover five feet off the ground. The dragons crimson red eyes flickered still adjusting to Berk's vast land scape, Aston assumed he was either kept in a cage or locked in a house all day prior.
Crimson toddled around taking moments to gawk and call to the other dragons, the bigger dragons took no heed towards the small golden one. Crimson would stop and stare but whenever Aston got over a metre away from him he would gallop over and remain at his side until something else caught his attention. Crimson instantly began running away from Aston
"Crimson!" he called running after the dragon
Dodging random civilians, statues, and soon trees the small dragon soon disappeared from sight, standing in the middle of the healthy side of the forest Aston had no idea which to turn. Far off a mumble and purr which sounded that of a dragon, he fallowed the sound the closer he got to Berk's edge the louder the voice got.
A small cleaning hoisted on the edge of a cliff sat Hiccup holding Crimson as he purred, she stared well off into the ocean, the lite moon reflected in the icy water. Crimson was loving the attention Hiccup was showing towards him, cradled in her arms purring and attempting to chew on her short hair. Felling safe and comfortable around Hiccup not that the big scary night fury was nowhere to be found, the dragon no larger than a medium sized cat played with the buckles of her armor. His scales brisked against the black metal making a decent scratching sound
"Aye, ease up you'll scratch the paint" she said returning his clawed paw to him
"Looks like he likes ya" Aston said
The auburn instantly gazed back alarmed by the sudden voice, after realizing who it was she returned her gaze to the ocean. Aston was unsure if he was being given the cold shoulder or if she was just simply tired, or not used to human interactions anymore. He sat himself down next to the auburn watching the golden dragon purr in delight
"You alright?" he asked
"Yeah...just...just thinking"
"Toothless?"
"Yeah...we haven't been apart in over three years, I can't help but worry"
Her cold lifeless stare wouldn't remove itself from the ocean, almost as if she stared for long enough Toothless would appear in front of her.
"We'll get him back" he assured her
"I know...but still I just can't help it Toothless was my first and best friend" she smiled reminded of that first month will him, he was the only one that understood
"Oh and by the way, nice going showing up twenty seconds before you were deranked!" Aston said changing the subject
"Hey my raft was literally some wooden planks being held together by leather!"
He laughed
"It's a miracle you didn't get ship wrecked"
"It's a miracle Snotlout isn't gonna be chief"
The two laughed at the mere thought, there roar of laughed filled the quiet night air, Crimson stared at the two confused by their actions.
