Holy shit.
Okay, so, a very sincere tip of my hat to those of you who have reviewed recently. Your frustration over a lack of update is completely justified, and I have no other excuse besides Life and College.
Looking at it now... Goddamn, I was still in high school the last time I updated this. Cheesus Christ, okay. Yeah, I'm with you guys, I hate me too. I was originally planning on ending the cave-scene with the last chapter but fuck it, let's reward ourselves with some more violence and creeper!Snotlout, we've earned it.
(You've earned it. I'm still an asshole. Sorry!)
-x-
Green eyes peered at him through the blackness, there and then gone again. Hiccup tried to find them, tried to open his eyes and catch another glimpse, but the floor twirled beneath him and water filled his ears. The blackness was building up between him and whatever was going on in the cave; try as he might, he couldn't seem to get through it.
Something was scooping him up, and he felt a harsh, delightful warmth fall against him. His body ached, numbed with the increasing black. He had no voice left to moan with, no strength to move. His nerves pinched with fever, causing a sort of rolling static across his muscles. But that warmth, that persistent wall of coarse heat, pressed against him. It kept part of him anchored to the other side of the black, the side with Snotlout and the cave. It kept him from falling into the black completely.
Then, he heard his name, and it startled him. Someone was talking, someone new. The voice didn't have the same rasp that Snotlout's did, the same huff through a broken nose. It was higher, strained, feminine.
He thought, for a moment, that it was his mother.
If she was standing deeper within the blackness, calling to him, then should he answer? Should he let go of the cave, the wall of warmth he felt, and go to her? He wondered if maybe that would mean dying, and he wasn't sure if that scared him or not. He wanted Toothless, and his father, and his friends. He wanted to hold on to what he had. But he was so cold, and he hurt so much. And he missed his mother, then more than ever, and the voice was persistent. Hiccup, it said. It sounded frightened.
But his mother had never been frightened, not the way he remembered her. She had always stood up for him, had always told his father to let him be. He's every bit the viking you are, Stoic, she would say when they both thought Hiccup was asleep in his room. Just you wait and see.
The fear in this voice, the one on the other side of the black, stirred Hiccup from his numb state. He flinched, watching the black drain away. The big green eyes came back, staring at him desperately. They were set in a black face, a familiar pattern of scales between them. Warm breath hit his face with a huff of relief.
"-'d be doing you a favor by killing you right here and now," the voice said. It was stronger now, the fear rattled by anger, by growing confidence. Hiccup stared at the green eyes for a long moment before his own eyes widened, recognition suddenly catching up with him.
"Tooth," he managed with an exhale. The green eyes widened, ears lifting up straight on either side of Toothless's head. Hiccup tried to look toward the voice, disoriented again now that he recognized his dragon. It felt so out of place for Toothless to be there that Hiccup could hardly imagine who else had showed up in the cave. Where was Snotlout?
Toothless was supporting Hiccups head with his forearm, awkwardly trying to keep him off the cold cave floor. From where he was lying, he could make out Snotlout up against the wall, with Astrid facing him. She had an axe ready in her grip, poised to strike.
Hiccup couldn't make sense of what was going on. Even with the pieces before him, he couldn't wrap his mind around the new situation he was suddenly in. The side of his neck was sticky with blood, drawn from the bite marks Snotlout had only just been leaving. How had he suddenly wound up with Toothless hunkered over him?
He watched, disoriented, as Snotlout pushed away from the cave wall defiantly. It was dark in the space, suddenly confined with three people and a dragon, but if Hiccup couldn't see Snotlout raise his hand up to his lips, then he certainly could hear the shrill whistle that pierced his eardrums. He flinched, and Toothless's wings spread around him, shielding him from view.
"I decide when this is over," Snotlout said, somewhere on the other side of Toothless's leathery wing. Hiccup rolled his head around to look at the Night Fury, searching for some idea of what was going on, but Toothless wasn't looking at him any more. His ears were sticking upright, listening. He looked nervous.
"Your Nightmare is out for the count, the twins made sure of that." Astrid had taken a few steps closer, it sounded. She was anxious, despite her claim, even Hiccup could pick up on that. He made some ill-fated attempt at sitting up, but it was so ineffective that even Toothless didn't seem to notice.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Snotlout's voice wasn't any closer, but the amount of confidence compared to Astrid's made Hiccup slump with hopelessness. Something was wrong.
His concerns were confirmed within the same breath, when an angry, bitter cry echoed it's way into the cave. He couldn't see anything, only roll his head and wince. He tried again to get Toothless's attention, but his voice had finally slipped away with the last time he had said the dragon's name. When he opened his mouth, there was nothing but a thin exhale. The blackness welled back up, coaxing him into silence, creeping across his peripheral vision like spider webs.
He wouldn't be awake much longer.
On the other side of Toothless's wing, Astrid refused to look away from Snotlout. Her composure was compromised. Not just with the threat of an advancing Nightmare-she had never been one to shy away from a dragon fight. But her mind kept tunneling back to Hiccup, somewhere behind her. She could hardly keep her focus on Snotlout; if she let herself look away toward the mouth of the cave, she might lose her focus entirely.
It seemed that this is what Snotlout was waiting for, an opportunity to strike at her vulnerability. They had butted heads as children, competed to be the best, and even when Astrid began to come out on top, Snotlout was not without his own talents. She had no illusions that he was a shoddy fighter; she would need all her wits if she was going to engage him one on one, and Hiccup was her weakness. Her mind raced, trying to figure out how to handle the situation before her. She needed more time.
Somewhere near the mouth of the cave, Fishleg's voice cried out, carrying into the cavern along with a Nightmare's roar. Dull light blazed off the walls, even as deep as where they were, while the beast released a gulp of fire at whoever was trying to fight it off. Astrid could sense Toothless behind her, shifting, unsure what to do. Stay and shield Hiccup, or fight off the oncoming threat?
The Nightmare roared again, closer this time, and Astrid made up her mind. Lowering her center of gravity, Astrid hefted her axe into a ready position and set her teeth.
"Toothless," she called over the clamour of the advancing Nightmare, "fight that thing off. Protect Hiccup with everything you have."
Snotlout's eyebrows lowered into a glare, unsatisfied with Astrid's decision. He moved forward, fists clenched, while Toothless eased Hiccup onto the rocky floor and turned. In the pulse of a second, Toothless turned and aimed a shot of fire at the entrance to the cavern. As the head of a Nightmare burst through, sound and fire amplified in the rounded space, Toothless blasted in directly in the face.
The Nightmare's roar drowned out the sounds of Snotlout and Astrid engaging one another. Astrid moved with her best swing, but it was one that Snotlout knew from years of training together. He dodged, the weight of the axe preventing Astrid from correcting quickly enough. She ducked his fist and brought her shoulder into his solar plexus-he grabbed at her arm and leg and tried to flip her over, but she rolled off his upper back and landed on her feet, the axe rotating around behind her and swinging in Snotlout's direction. He dodged, rolled, and came up between Astrid and Hiccup.
Toothless was leveling accurate, fast bursts of fire at the Nightmare, who was screeching in agony and frustration as it struggled to get into the cave. Never once did Toothless move more than three feet away from Hiccup, his wings spread wide to shelter him from heat and stray flames. He swept his tail around, catching Snotlout in the last instant and pushing him away. Astrid lunged at him, axe swinging viciously in the light of the fire, but Snotlout tumbled and brought a foot up into her hip. They continued at close range, making broad dangerous arcs with the axe until a gap grew between them, and Astrid saw the Nightmare was almost entirely inside the cave. With a cry of frustration, she twisted her body in a complete circle to build up momentum and flung her weapon at the Nightmare's head.
She didn't bother to see if it connected-the screech from behind her was all she needed. Snotlout looked surprised, almost panicked at the sight of the axe hitting his dragon, but Astrid didn't think twice about it. She dove, grabbing his forearm as he tried to punch her and swinging around to deliver a punch to his face. The sound of Toothless shooting one more shot shook the cavern, and Snotlout fell hard into the floor.
In the string of echoes that followed, things seemed to slow down. Astrid watched Snotlout with a crazed, bloodthirsty look in her eyes. Blond hair fell into her face, sticking to sweat and blood from a scrape on her forehead. Her chest heaved, breaths moving through clenched teeth. Behind her, the Monstrous Nightmare lay dead on the cave floor, a large gash between it's eyes. Tendrils of smoke and dying fire curled off of it's body, and as the flames died, the light began to leave the cavern. Astrid stepped forward, her eyes never faltering, never leaving Snotlout's face. Then she lifted her foot and brought it down against his forehead, and Snotlout fell still, unconscious.
-x-
The flight home was silent. They had laid Hiccup along Toothless's back, Astrid straddling him, standing in the saddle and holding onto the handles, using her arms and thighs to keep Hiccup in place. The wind had died to a gentle breeze, so all Toothless had to do was glide, riding a gust of westward wind back toward Berk.
Fishlegs' gronckle carried the weight of both his injured rider and an unconscious Snotlout. The twins took up the flank, watching Fishleg's back in case Snotlout woke up and tried anything.
No one spoke, because no one knew what to say. They didn't know what to say about Hiccup, or about about Snotlout. They didn't know what to say about the dead Nightmare that lay in a smouldering heap in the cave. They didn't know what to say about what would happen once they got home. Aside from a quiet "be gentle" when they were adjusting Hiccup on Toothless's back, no one said much of anything.
Astrid stared straight ahead, because she was afraid of looking down. Her mind kept going back to that afternoon when she and Hiccup had spoken one on one, when he was recovering in bed. He had said something, that came back to her so suddenly that she almost looked down at him.
"I've been acting like a victim my entire life." He said it like it was something silly, something that didn't need to be said aloud because everyone already knew. But he had worked so hard, had sacrificed so much, to shed the title of 'victim'. He had saved the entire village, had earned the title to hero. There was nothing about Hiccup that was victimized. And now...
Snotlout had put him right back there. Hiccup would spend the winter months recovering, bedridden and sick. People would say his name in the context of what Snotlout had put him through, not because he had saved everyone. They would talk about his being abducted, being treated so poorly. The son of the chief, they'd say, kidnapped and beaten to near death in a cave.
A shudder erupted down Astrid's spine and she finally looked down, eyes settling on Hiccup's bruised face. Near death. That's what he would be remembered for, all this drama and tragedy. Not that he had saved everyone, not for being a hero.
It dawned on her that Snotlout had been successful. He was jealous of Hiccup's success and wanted to take it away from him, and now part of Hiccup's reputation would always be as a victim. The thought should have made her angry, and it would have, if she was still watching the coastline drift by in the moonlight. But staring at Hiccup's face silenced the anger. It silenced everything.
Somehow, if she looked at him the right way, the bruises looked like shadows. Hiccup looked like his old self, for short moments. No shadows under his eyes, no blue lips, no gaunt cheeks. Just Hiccup. She waited a beat to see if he would smile and open his eyes, but he didn't. She sighed, gently, and closed her eyes for a second, the urge to cry creeping up behind her eyelids.
"Astrid."
She blinked, startled. When she looked down, there were those green eyes, dulled with exhaustion. "Hiccup," she breathed, and lowered just a bit, her body only two inches above his. He looked oddly serene, the wind playing with his hair. He stared right at her.
"Am I dead, Astrid," he asked, his voice so gentle and cracked that it broke her heart. A tear glinted away in the moonlight, blown off her lashes by the wind.
"No," she said, ducking her face and resting her cheek against his, her lips beside his ear so he could hear her. "No, Hiccup, you're going to be okay. I've got you."
He didn't say anything for a long moment, and she thought he had lost consciousness again. She kissed his cheek, gently the first time and then again with more desperation. When she lifted her head, he was looking at the stars.
"I'm so tired," he whispered, his eyes glazing. "Everything hurts."
She smiled, exhaling quickly as more tears welled up, sitting on her lashes. "I'd be worried if it didn't," she answered, resting her forehead gently against his. "Just hold on. We're almost home."
She watched Hiccup close his eyes, and she knew he shouldn't, that she should try to keep him awake, but it seemed astronomically unfair to ask that of him. After all he'd been through, she couldn't bring herself to ask for even a few more minutes.
Somewhere behind her to the left, Fishlegs cried out. Astrid snapped her head around, eyes widening, expecting anything. Snotlout had been dropped over Meatlug's rear, just behind Fishlegs. His wrists had been bound behind his back, and the gronckle was just wide enough that he wouldn't have been able to overthrow Fishlegs, at least not without alerting the entire island in his attempt. But what Astrid saw when she looked over her shoulder wasn't Fishlegs being attacked. Rather, Snotlout was lifting his head and staring straight at her.
He looked bizarre. His face was so familiar, had been part of her life for so many years, that she hadn't adapted to knowing him as an enemy just yet. But even with the broken nose and the blood on his face, he still looked like her old friend. What ruined in was the glow of possession, a look that tunneled toward what little of Hiccup he could see. He looked savage, and angry, and defeated. He looked as if he had made a decision.
Astrid watched, mouth hanging open, as Snotlout closed his eyes and rolled off of Meatlug's back. He made no attempt at grabbing hold, no attempt at overthrowing Fishleg's. He simply rolled, and let himself fall.
Fishlegs was trying to understand what had happened, to turn and see what Snotlout was doing, but the twins both saw it. They shouted, horrified and caught off guard, watching as Snotlout plummeted into the black churning ocean beneath. Astrid stared, watching the pale splash fade away behind them. The twins continued to shout, distressed and confused, joined by Fishlegs as he realized what had happened. In her shock, Astrid looked around at Hiccup, whose eyes had closed again.
In the moonlight, he looked beautiful. And she finally understood.
-x-
I'm going to try for one more chapter, to tie it all together. If you think I'm taking too long publishing said final chapter, my tumblr is DollyRiot. Give me shit for it and I'll deliver.
Thanks in advance for reviews, you guys are the ones who earned these finishing chapters. Keep kickin' ass.