Gift or Curse?
Hiccup Haddock can't be sure whether his strange powers over winter are a gift...or just a terrible, terrible curse. Plot of Frozen (with a few changes) characters of HTTYD. Rated T for child abuse and a mentally unstable parent a.k.a, two of the changes.
Chapter 14: Mess
A/N: Okay, guys. Here's the deal. I really appreciate a lot of you guys, and it's nice to know some people are waiting for updates from me. But the thing is, you really take all the joy out of writing when you constantly nag me to update because it's not fast enough for you. Listen, I'm sorry that I get writer's block, and that I can't post at convenient times for you guys, but please try to keep in mind that this is MY story. I started it for fun, I continued it for fun, and I'm going to finish it. All in the name of fun. And all in good time. If people continue to nag me about updates, it takes all the joy and fun out of a fic that was previously enjoyable. It's hurtful and frustrating, and if it continues, I will delete this fic. If you want an update, don't hesitate to review. But if you nag or are rude in your way of asking, it will make me angry. Please try to be considerate and remember that this is my time, and I am taking that time to write. I am not writing it to please others, I am writing purely because I enjoy it. If I feel I must change to please you, I'm going to quit. Thank you for listening.
Stoick the Vast was unpleasantly surprised to see a large band of villagers had been awaiting his return when he got off the boat. He'd hoped to be able to get away quickly, slip unnoticed into the dungeons and lock Hiccup securely in one of them before anybody noticed, but that was clearly not going to happen.
He took a slow, deep breath as the people swarmed him anxiously.
"Are you alright, sir?"
"You alright, Chief?"
"How you holding up?"
"Did he freeze you, too?"
"The storm has picked up since you left."
"You should have seen it."
"It's only getting worse."
"Stoick…"
The chieftain stopped short at hearing his name, turning sharply to face the speaker. Gobber the Belch stared down in horror at the limp form in Stoick's arms. "Is he dead?"
Stoick offered his friend a glare. "I wish he was."
Gobber's mouth fell open slightly in horror. "You don't mean that."
Stoick tried to shoulder his way past the blacksmith, but Gobber put out a hand to stop him. "Let me take the boy from here," he suggested gently.
Stoick merely tightened his grip on his son and shook his head grimly. "I can handle him myself."
"Stoick…" Gobber gestured to the storm, the howling wind and snow that was making visibility poor. "The storm has only—
"He won't hurt me." Stoick lifted his chin resolutely. "I know he won't."
Hiccup had used his powers on his father once, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to do it again. In fact, he wouldn't even get the chance to do it again. The boy stirred weakly in Stoick's arms, reaching up to feel his head with a groan.
The storm seemed to quiet just slightly as the boy neared consciousness. Gobber's face was the picture of concern as he glanced down at the teen stirring in his father's arms. Stoick glared down at the boy with an expression of purest hatred. "I'm going to get him taken care of."
Gobber's lips tightened. "You won't harm him."
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."
At Gobber's hesitation, Stoick shoved roughly past his friend, and this time, he succeeded. He was nearly at the end of the dock when he heard Gobber's whispered answer. "Because he's your son and I know somewhere deep down, you care about him."
Stoick glanced back at his friend and opened his mouth to respond, before closing it again and shaking his head, making his way to the dungeon buildings. The Hooligans rarely ever kept captives nowadays, but the dungeons were still there from the times when Grimbeard the Ghastly was a chieftain.
Stoick's grip on his son was careful, but not gentle; he didn't want to be the reason the boy came to. As Gobber's words ran through his mind again, he sighed. He'd seen plenty of parents over the years come and go on Berk and they were always so careful with the children, so gentle and tender. They would hold each other and whisper 'I love you' and things. Stoick had never done anything of the sort with his son, purely because he had no desire to. He didn't wish to lie to his son by telling him he was loved.
He wasn't one of those people who felt tenderness towards their child; his son was brutal and dangerous, downright terrifying to most of the people on Berk. But not to him. Oh, not to him.
Stoick reached the dungeon and set Hiccup's limp body down on the floor. The boy groaned slightly, reaching up to feel his head. The wind outside howled even louder. Stoick peered out the snow-caked window for just a second, before turning his attention back to his son. No, Gobber would never understand the hatred he felt when he saw this boy.
"The important thing is to keep your daughter warm. As warm as possible." Stoick the Vast tilted his head in Mrs. Hofferson's direction as they neared the dungeons together. "She'll be alright, though. I'll get him to unfreeze her heart. I promise."
"Thank you." Mrs. Hofferson's voice was shaky.
"Where is the girl now?" Stoick questioned, all business as he gingerly unlocked the dungeon doors.
"In the house. I left her with my husband. She's got plenty of blankets and warm clothing. Can that…that…" her face twisted in obvious disgust.
"Call him what he is." Stoick urged gently. "A monster."
"Can it fix her from a distance?" the woman questioned, a bit of the anger leaking away when she realized the chieftain shared her feelings.
"I'm not sure." he responded. They reached the top of a flight of cold stone steps, where a bit of frost was already growing on the walls, inching nearer to them every minute they stood there.
Stoick glanced down the flight of stairs, a thunderous scowl beginning to twist his face. "I'm, ah, going to need a few minutes alone with him." Even here, he remembered his manners just before he began the trek downstairs. "You may wait outside, if you wish."
Mrs. Hofferson nodded obediently. She would listen to anything that would help save her daughter.
Hiccup wasn't exactly sure why Astrid was, oddly, being the nicest to him, but in some small way, it was comforting. Her blue eyes weren't cold when they fixed on him, and she hadn't glared at him once.
"Do you think we need to be alone like this for you to unfreeze it?" her voice was barely above a whisper in the thick silence of her bedroom. She knew her mother and father and Stoick the Vast were waiting outside. They had been unwilling to leave them alone, but even with a frozen heart, Astrid wasn't anything if not stubborn.
She shuddered slightly with cold, rocking back and forth as she waited for Hiccup's answer.
He wouldn't quite look her in the eye; he kept playing absently with his hands, pulling the thick sleeves of his ice armor farther down. When she had seen him in his ice fortress, he had been brimming with a sort of detached confidence, a self-made serenity. Here, the only thing he was brimming with was fear.
"I can't." He confessed in a whisper of his own. The sleeve of his armor came up just slightly, revealing a nasty mark where fingerprints could be seen, already beginning to bruise. Astrid could see a bit of purple edging it before Hiccup yanked the sleeve down again, shutting her out. "You know I can't."
Astrid took a deep breath. "My parents seem to think you can. And so does your dad."
She told herself she was being silly, but she could swear she saw Hiccup flinch when she mentioned his father. "They won't listen to me."
"That's not what Vikings are known for, is it?" Astrid leaned forward, her slightly shaking knee bumping his in an almost companionable way. "Listening?"
Hiccup glanced up at her in surprise when her leg met his. His face relaxed slightly, but the fear never left his eyes. "No. It's not." He sighed.
"I know it's a bit of a long shot, but…" Astrid looked down at her hands, shaking with cold, just like the rest of her body. "…Maybe I could get them to listen?"
"You…you want to help me?" he glanced up at her incredulously. "But…but I froze your heart, and…and…"
"Yes, you did and I know that right now, there's no chance that you'll be able to unfreeze it, and that the only original cure was an act of true love. But I'm starting to think it was just a bad idea for them to lock you up and threaten you, and call you a monster, and then expect you to do anything for them."
"I would if I could." Hiccup replied grimly. "I just want to get everything taken care of so I can go away again. Maybe then this place will finally start to leave me alone."
Astrid hugged her knees closer to her chest.
"Have you tried a kiss from Snotlout?"
The sudden change of topic made Astrid look up. She might have been weak, she may have been shaking with cold, but she managed to give a snort that any Viking would have been proud of. "Snotlout? Are you kidding me? After all the times you've seen me…I…Hiccup!"
It had been years since she'd done it, but she leaned over and punched him on the shoulder again, just like she used to.
Although it made him wince, it also brought a half-smile to his face. "It was just a suggestion."
"Well, you know me better than that." she managed.
"Not really," Hiccup countered, his smile slipping as he spoke.
Astrid remembered all the times she'd knocked on his door, the summers where she'd asked him to come take a swim with her, the winters where she'd asked him to come build a snowman.
As a bit of a silence settled over them, Hiccup ran his fingers through his hair, staring down at his hands. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess," he mumbled. "And I'm sorry I can't get you out."