"The Breaking Straw"
"Remember when we first met? And you told me this only gets harder...? Well, it did..."
He hadn't slept again. It felt like the abyss of sleep had evaded him for years now. Not quite to the eternity marker, but vigorously making its way there; leaving him far behind in its wake. He groaned and scrubbed a hand down his face, his blade's tip scratching at the stones beneath it as it rest in his lose grasp. His muscles ached, his body cried out for the release and relaxation he had denied it for so long. Unwilling as that denial may be, that didn't make it go away, nor did it make it any easier for his body to understand.
"Your guard's down!" Ruffnut's war cry brought him back to present day, his head turning tiredly to see what she was babbling about now. Her hammer swung down on his head, sending him stumbling backwards with a grunt and string of oaths. He had managed to bring his shield up enough to protect himself from the brunt of the blow, but its surprising strength had caught him as she wanted, bruising his arm beneath the wood of his shield.
"Fuck, Ruff!" His grip suddenly tightened on his sword, hefting it off the ground and angling it back for a counter attack as his twin smirked at him.
"You weren't paying attention. You can't look away during battle, you know th-" A menacing grin of his own broke open the lower half of his face as he aimed to use her own tactic against her. She danced from his lunging blow, spinning on her heel, arcing her hammer in another swiveling swing. He barked as the blunt stone head grazed his back, leaving him another bruise to contend with tomorrow. He pivoted as well, bringing his sword down on her once again, this time nicking her battle hand.
Blood pattered to the ground in a fine stream, each twin huffing as they stared each other down, running pink tongues over smooth teeth and gums in mindless habits of frustration and challenge. "You wanna tell me what's going on with you lately, Tuff? Why you're not sleepin' or concentratin'?" Ruffnut cocked her head to the side, regarding him in much the same way he had looked at Hiccup the night before. He rolled his neck, listening to it crick and pop loudly before he finished the full 360 and fixed his eyes on her slate colored hues.
"Not when I could ram you through the gut instead." He gave another half cocked leer, turning his profile to her before suicide lunging, aiming his blade for her slender stomach. She smacked his blade to the ground with a mighty heft of her hammer, metal and stone sparking and crashing like thunder and lightening, his body almost pitching forward with the weight of her strike.
"I'll break your little toy and then break you if you don't fess up and tell me what the FUCK is wrong with you!" How many times had they had this conversation recently? How many times had she tried to corner him into confessing his sins to her? How many times would he have to beat her into the ground for her to understand she needed to let it go?
"Don't be stupid, Ruff. I don't want to have to make an example of you in front of everyone." He ripped his sword back into the safety of his personal space, flexing his grip on the leather bound handle and jerking his chin in the direction of the world outside their own. His twin straightened up, dragging her hammer to rest before her booted feet again, an open palm resting readily on the fist sized, unpolished gem at its handle's base. They had dug the thing up together one day as children and he had given it to her, telling her it would be of no use to him as a boy. She had given it to their father who had, in turn, given it back to her attached to the handle of her birthday present war hammer; he had died the next year.
Ruffnut glanced at the training arena they were hiding in the shadows of, vainly attempting to avoid the heat of the sun illuminating the open ring. The other kids danced and skittered about in their own sparring matches, testing the strength of each other before being forced to change partners. There was never enough training a young viking could do; or an old viking, for that matter. Viking's needed constant battle against a constant barrage of different foes. Vikings must be ready to face anything. They must return home victorious or die trying, never something in between. It sickened her to think of what it would be like to come home a defeated coward.
She looked back at her brother, studying the heavy shadows bagging beneath his usually bright and mischievous eyes. He had no head for anything these days, much less causing a little trouble with her like they use to. These days he was either constantly lost in a world of his own or tearing into her with a vengeance she had never known. She understood he was taking some strange, unseen rage out on her, but she didn't know what at. She didn't know who or what he was trying to protect, but she'd be damned if she didn't find out sooner or later.
"Do you want me to call them over? I wouldn't be making a spectacle that way. Just giving a show." She slid her hand down on the grip of her hammer's handle, fisting her thin fingers around it and heaving it onto her shoulder, stepping towards him with another tilted smirk. He eyed her for a moment, as though he couldn't tell if she were kidding or not, then lifted his sword, holding it straight and aiming its tip at her throat.
"You've gotten so annoying lately, Ruff. Why can't we just beat the tar out of each other again; without words?" She got cocky and stepped to the side of his blade, letting its tip grace the thin of her neck. He took advantage of her trust, drawing the sword back faster than she could register, sliding back a step for a better angle on his sudden swing at her head. She screeched, ducking in time for the cool of the blade to make the top of her scalp tingle. Her hammer swung for his ankles. He jumped, but she caught the side of one of his feet, sending him into the ground and his sword skittering from his grasp.
Ruffnut rose, huffing softly through her nose before stomping towards her prostrate twin. She stood over him, lifting a foot to crush his skull beneath-as he so deserved. Suddenly she was staring into the wide slate of his eyes, his hand wrapping around her fur covered ankle, twisting and jerking her onto her back with a surprised cry. Her head slammed into the stones, hammer snapping clumsily on the ground at her side. She scrambled to sit up, but his fist connected with her jaw, snapping her head to the side. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, making her cough and sputter as she continued to try and scramble back from his attacks.
He snatched at one of her braids, a growl rumbling from his chest as he ripped her forward. Her eyes opened, flaring in rage as she fell towards him, sinking her fist into his nose before he could do much more than let go and howl in pain. She rose on a knee, but doubled over when he pushed his fist into her stomach, still gripping his bleeding nose with his opposite hand. Blood and saliva dribbled onto the pavement by her foot, her fingers twitching as they sought the dagger tucked into her boot.
"Alright, alrigh', that's enough." Gobber hobbled into the center of the arena, lifting his hands into the air and looking between all of them. Tuffnut threw Ruffnut to her back again, wrapping his fingers around her throat with a sneer as she clawed at his own with both hands, hissing and spitting like a feral cat. Gobber fixed his gaze on them, shaking his head and muttering something as he started towards them. "Thorstons, I said that's enough." Everyone glanced over, Ruffnut's fists now striking aimlessly at Tuffnut's chest as he drove a knee into her own, his fingers tightening still. "Thorston! I said knock it off!" Gobber's hooked hand collided with Tuffnut's temple, knocking him onto his side, freeing Ruffnut to jerk to her feet and rub at her throat.
Gobber studied Tuffnut for a moment, watching him push himself up on a steady hand, shaking the stars from in front of his eyes and touching his bleeding temple with a light and hesitant hand. Nodding in satisfaction that the boy wasn't going to try and pick another fight he turned and started towards the center of the arena again, waving his hands at his sides once more. "Alrigh', now everyone pick another partner. Remember, challenge yerself. Try somethin' new, a style of combat yah never tried before." Everyone started to mutter and murmur as they looked around to see who they could snatch up. They all had their first picks, but when it came to the second round, none of them really knew who to go to or who to choose. This was always the awkward part of the evening.
"G-Gobber...My head is about to split open. I'm going home..." Tuffnut's head whipped up as he listened to the weak voice mutter the words. His hand stopped its senseless brushing at his tunic, stormy hues flecking with gold as they landed on the slumping brunette. Hiccup had been hovering in the shadows of the arena too, though on the opposite side from the Thorstons. He had rings under his eyes to match Tuffnut's own but, the blonde knew they were only temporary, easy to fix with a needed day of rest. They were only after-mead rings anyways.
"Yah sure, Hiccup? Yer dad won't be too happy 'bout tha'..." Gobber rubbed at the back of his balding head with his hook, turning its point towards his scalp to scritch at it thoughtlessly. Astrid stepped up to his side, her axe lazing on her shoulder as she cocked a hip and tilted her head in obvious disdain towards her boyfriend.
"Hiccup, you can't leave. I've told you, it's your fault you're like that, so you should take the punishment for it. Maybe you won't do it again." Tuffnut ground his teeth again, attempting to drown out the sound of the girl's voice, attempting to drown out her screams as he sunk her own axe into her spine and twisted. Hiccup drooped even farther, a silent, begging whimper shuddering his form before he covered his eyes with a tired hand.
"Astrid, I know it's my fault and I'm sorry you had to take care of everything the other night, but I can't stay out here like this. I'm going to collapse, I'm not going to be of any use to anyone like this." Tuffnut shifted the leather bands on his shield, his fingers curling and uncurling over the handling grip as he took to chewing at his cheek. He was aware of Ruffnut's bitterly studious eyes attempting to probe into his mind, but ignored them in favor of boring holes into the back of Astrid's wide head.
"Maybe he's right, Astrid. Le' the boy go home, I'll talk to his dah." Gobber shook his head even as he patted the girl's back and grumbled the words, turning to abandon the little disagreement in favor of teaching his class. Astrid sucked her teeth in disappointment, Hiccup's eyes averting in shame and dismay at what he knew she thought was weakness. As if reading and speaking his thoughts for him, she shook her head and pointed her axe's blade towards him.
"If you walk out of here, Hiccup, and don't withstand a little bit of a hangover then you're no viking, you're a pussy." Snotlout sniggered in the background, covering his mouth with his hand and almost choking. Hiccup's cheeks flamed, his eyes latching onto his boots as his fingers slowly tightened up on his sword again. A small, slow smile lifted the corners of Astrid's thin lips, something glimmering in her eyes as she watched the brunette pick the sword up with an aching arm. Tuffnut's vision winked red.