So it was pretty clear people wanted option 1, which is probably a good thing. What I have planned for Jemiskneirs is not going to be pretty and will probably be the most horrific chapter I have ever written so I am kind of glad that I am pushing it back to the end of what I have started calling the weekend faze.
Quick question before I start: what exactly is a Oneshot?
Alright so on to this chapter:
An Axe to Grind: Part 2 of weekend faze.
REVEIWS.
StorSpeaker: Good spot, but you forgot to mention it was only half of it, I kind of just needed something to fill in the blank after Stoicks part.
faisyah865: *Gobber stares at you weirdly* Gobber: "who the Hel are you? And how did ya break the forth wall?". But yeah, quick question when do you think Gobber started setting Hiccup up?
The dragon1010: No, I wouldn't abandon this story I'm just an extremely slow writer. That and I a lot of other things on my plate at the moment.
Thesingingowl: Hi there man, haven't heard from since chapter 18. Had me worried for a while. Anyway Gobber just wanted to get out of the way so Hiccup is somewhat Forced to serve Astrid.
Guest: I'll be truthful with you my friend, half the reason I chose Speedifist is because I liked his name, the other half is because I could work with him because as far as I know there isn't much about him. Yeah this chapter is going to be fun mainly because I just love making things trickier for Hiccup. Like I said before Both will take place, if things go to plan in fact Jemiskneirs chapter will be chapter 25. But for now let's see how things play out.
Guest: When I had first saw your review my jaw simply dropped.
Ok so where to start? I'm really glad that you are enjoying the story so far. It really nice to hear that someone else is enjoying my story. The name Jemeskneir is actually an evolution of a name much like the character is an evolution of a character I had came up with years ago. I admit the Hiccup and Toothless friendship thing is slowly building up, but that's because Of reasons.
I have to admit you're the first one to ever point out that little mistake; I'll try to work on it… but no promises.
Guest: I will.
On to the show.
Astirds POV, around 8 AM.
I can't believe it, I slept in.
I had wanted to get up early so I could begin the day with a nice, long training session with my axe, but no, my stupid body decided to make me sleep an extra few hours before making me up in a clumsy tiredness that nearly ended with my breaking my already busted up Axe (Long story, let's just say last night training was… intense) and I also nearly fell face first into my wardrobe.
I slowly stumbled down the hallway, hauling my busted up axe with me. Normally I would of slung my axe over my shoulder but right now I was just too tired, besides it's not like it could do any damage to the floor right now when it was in this horrible shape.
Upon entering the dining room/kitchen I took a moment to allow myself to wake up a bit before daring to socialize with any of my family members (they can be a Hel of a handful even with all my wits about me; Dads mute, Moms sort of a workaholic, Gunnar A smart mouth, My 12 year old sister Inger is a drama queen and don't even get me started on the two demons known as the twin Hoffersons Calder and Eira. Lazy scanning my surroundings I was somewhat relived yet slight confused to only find Gunnar eating what appeared to be buttered toast sitting at the kitchen table. I knew that my father had left on a 'fishing trip' but shouldn't the rest of the family be at home right now? It's not that late in the morning, is it? The clock in my room could have somehow become slow….
"I'nam noss payig fors that." My brother said, well at least I think that was what he said. Personally I blame my overall tiredness for that.
"What?" I said half speaking, half yawning. My brother looked up at me with a slight smirk on his face.
"I SAID, I'm not going to pay for that," my brother said his voice much clearer than before. "Geez what happen to you last night? You look like you tried to sleep through a Thunderdrum attack."
For all I know I probably did. The Twins, Calder (Boy) and Eira (Girl) were having a sleep over last night and had invited over all their friends. They had spent most of the night laughing and talking and all around annoying the heck out of me. I went outside to go practice using my axe but what I did not realize was that during dragon training my axe was far more damaged then it had first appeared, that combined with a stupid prank curtsy of the sleepover twins and a late night practice equaled my busted up axe and a sleepless night…. What? I can't sleep without my axe (That and my… ah…. You know what? All that needs to be known is that I can't sleep without it and right now it has gone missing…).
So yeah last night wasn't exactly my best night I ever had….
"Pay for what exactly?" I asked my older brother who was still slowly munching away at his toast.
"The floor; your axe, the carpet, the training targets, the twin's door. I'm not paying for any of it anymore." Gunnar Said blankly. I could feel my body tense up upon hearing his words.
"What do you mean 'by I'm not paying anymore'?" I asked in a curious shock.
He stared at me for a moment before answering "I can't afford to cover for you anymore Astrid. I can't be the one to pay for all the damage you and your axe cause on a regular bases, I also can't afford to go down to the blacksmith and Pay Gobber to patch your axe up once you bust it after your constant tireless training. In short Astrid, if I am to ever get to Collage I got to stop paying for everything you break. Astrid, you need to start taking some responsibility…" Gunnar said sounding annoyed and apologetic at the same time.
I stared at my older brother in a silent shock. "I have plenty of responsibilities, heck I probably have more responsibilities than any of my friends, heck I probably have more responsibilities then my entire year level." I explained to my brother as I slowly walked into the kitchen. I reached for my favorite cereal Crunchy Bars© (You're not going to see any shameless advertising in this story, except where you have) which was (Annoying) placed on a shelf I could not quite reach. Whilst I was trying to grab the cereal from the top shelf I heard my brother mutter something about me being clueless and not having any idea how wrong I am.
I chose to ignore my brothers stupid muttering and focus on what was important at the moment; making myself a consumable breakfast. After about a minute of stretching whilst balancing on my toes I finally managed to pull my cereal of the ridiculously high shelf, damn… who put it up there in the first place? The only people tall enough to use that shelf were Gunnar and Dad, but neither of them really liked my cereal; dad did a bit but he was of on his trip….
I placed the cardboard box full of cereal on the kitchen counter. I then made my way toward the fridge so I could grab some milk for my cereal. Upon opening the fridge door I became curious as to where exactly the rest of my family was at the moment. "Gunnar do you know where's mum is? Inger? Or the devils and there little minions?" I asked my older brother.
"Moms gone down to the shop to get the groceries, see took Inger with her. and the twins have taken their party down to the park… something about the old Liberian (Old wrinkly) telling stories or something like that…" Gunnar said still slowly munching away at his toast. Even though I right now hated my younger brother and sister I could not help but admit they had good taste, the old Liberian could tell some great stories. In fact some of my fondest memories of when I was younger were of listening to his stories with… someone… strange, I'm normally better at remembering people then this… must have been someone easily forgotten about or something like that…
"Hey Astrid! You ok? You look a little zoned out there." My Brother asked in a concern voice. I looked up at him for a moment slightly confused. I shook my head slightly shacking away the strange feeling of… missing something…
"Of course I'm fine!" I nearly spat at my brother. Most people would have flinched or maybe even cowered in fear but my brother merely sighed sadly, rolling his eyes as he did so. My brother being a member of this family was no stranger to having people randomly yelling at him for no reason (That along with the fact that he works in a bar on Berk).
I quickly finished making my cereal warming it up slightly in the microwave before grabbing the bowl and sitting down on the opposite end of the table from my older brother. We both sat there in an awkward silence, eating are respected breakfast. After a few more minutes of awkward eating Gunnar expression suddenly lighten up. I could tell by the glint in his eyes that he was coming up with some sort of strange unknown plan…
"You know I heard the strangest thing last night whilst I was working at the Café." My brother said putting down his piece of toast on a plate. I had wanted to tell him I was not interested but my natural curiosity had gotten the better of me so I sat there in silence staring at him and waiting for my brother to finish his story. I could tell by the smile on his face that I was in his little trap.
"It was a slow day at Phlegma's so I decided to chat with one of your classmates who was having dinner with his old man, Francis, I believe… anyway I decided to ask him how Dragon training was going. He told me it was going ok… but he was holding something back," My brother said, I have to admit I was getting curious as to where this was going. "And when I question him about it he began to tell me quite an interesting story about what happened at the end of Friday's session." My brother continued.
I froze for a moment… was He talking about me… letting loss some steam on some of the other students? No it can't be that… I have done that before on numerous occasions and my brother had never cared about it before… why now?
"Apparently your friend Scot got a bunch of his mates together and decided to try and feed Hiccup to one of the dragons. And while the off was getting everything set up he let some that giant meathead of a kid named Dogbreath use the kid as a punching bag." My brother said his voice getting more serious with every word he said. I froze in silence. Scot… That Nimrod! I thought I told him NOT to do that… doesn't that Idiot have an idea how much trouble he could have gotten everyone into? Of course he doesn't, this is Snotlout where talking about! With a slight moan in disbelief I waited for my brother to continue his story. (I could tell by the look in his eyes that he had more to say.)
"Then some kid named… Steven I believe came to the kids rescue by beating Dogbreath to a bloody pulp…," My brother continued. I could not help but breathe a slight sigh of relief upon hearing that the scrawny kid hadn't been fed alive to a dragon….After all… lessons would be cancelled… Wait, why did Steven save Hiccup? Wasn't he a member of Scots gang? … Well at least he saved me and the rest of us from being band from Dragon classes…
My thoughts stopped as soon as I noticed my older brother studying my face. I could tell by the smile on his face that he was thinking up some sort of crazy theory about what I was thinking… and though I will never openly admit it he often had a better idea about what I was thinking then I do most of the time, but like I said I would never openly admit it. I quickly put up the best stoic expression I could possible muster, but as he stared at me with that small grin I could tell that he had already worked out to much.
I let lose a small sigh. "If your know longer covering for me, does that mean you are no longer going to give me lifts?" I asked my brother trying to change the subject. He paused for a moment deep in thought about my question.
"I don't see why it isn't a problem… but don't get any ideas; I'm not going to become your personal Driver." Gunnar said his tone somewhat serious. I gave him a nod, silently agreeing to his terms.
The two of us returned to silently eating are breakfast. Unsurprisingly I was the first to finish my meal, my bother has always been a slow eater and today was no acceptation. I on the other hand was something of a fast eater, a trait I had picked up from my mother, had finished my meal with some time to spare. I used my spare time to ponder about what I was planning to do today. The first thing I needed to do was find Snotlout and give him a piece of my mind, next I should probably get my axe repaired… I wonder does Gobber give discounts to Dragon training students?
Maybe I should ask my brother, he was after all the one who had to go down there and pay for repairs, that and he is the only person around I can ask.
"Hey Gunner," I said getting my brothers attention. "Is there any sort of… discount for students during Dragon training? Or something?" I asked my older brother. He looked up from his meal for a moment staring at me for a moment in silence. He seemed to be slightly annoyed that he was not able to finish his toast but mostly he actually seemed like he was expecting such a question.
"Well Gobber does take a slight amount of the total cost away from Student purchases, but it isn't enough to make any real difference. Well that was at least what it was like for me when I was in dragon training. But Who knows? Maybe Gobber has become kinder in his old age." My brother said. My mood dropped slightly, from what I understand Gobber has actually become more of a grouch since my brother was my age… he will likely charge me more then what my brother has to pay at full price…
Suddenly my brothers face seem to lighten up almost instantaneously. He stared at me with a smug smile like he had some sort of private joke he did not wish to tell me. "But maybe… IF you're lucky, The APRENTINCE might give you a freebie." Gunner said, his smirk only growing greater as he spoke.
I was confused for a moment, what did my brother mean by that? Was Gobber's apprentice someone I knew personally? No… that can't be it… I don't know anyone who works for Gobber…
"Alright, I'm done," My brother said out loud snapping me from my train of thought. "Come on Astrid, I'll drop you of at the Mall… I'm sure you want to hang out with your 'Friends' before you do anything important." My brother said leaving his seat, leaving only an empty plate. I paused for a moment staring at my brother in utter silence….
Sometimes I wish I could read my brother as well as he can read me, then maybe, just maybe I would have an idea what goes on in that strange little head of his.
A few hours later, outside the forge.
Snotlout was a no show today, which was actually kind of surprising. Normally after doing something stupid Snotlout would come running to the group and attempt to boast about it, or uses said stupid idea in an attempt to flirt with me. But for some unexplained reason Snotlout was nowhere to be found… Hmm, maybe he finally grew a brain and realized what I was going to do to him for nearly destroying everyone's chance at dragon training… For some reason I highly doubt it.
The twins where nowhere in sight, which was…. Unsettling. Whenever those two go missing something is bound to explode or randomly catch ablaze. I was subconsciously waiting for either of these things to happen. FIshlegs was easy to figure out; he was very likely hanging out at the library trying to find a book he hasn't read yet (Which will probably take him all day) So in short; none of my friends were available to hang out with… so I decided to simply skip to getting my axe repaired on my list of things to do.
It did not take me long to reach Gobbers work place (He calls it the Forge, I believe) from the Mall, all I really needed to do was follow the smoke and the stench of Gobber to find the beaten up old Garage building.
The street outside Gobbers workshop was surprisingly very busy. Cars, people and even a very old looking sheep were busily going by their daily lives. As I got closer to beaten up garage the sound of two people having a conversation over the sound of heavy machinery and metal smashing metal. I could tell that one of the voices belonged to Gobber; his rough Scottish accent was probably the most recognizable voice (After the Mayors) in the entire town. The other voice was a lot harder to figure out. The voice dentally belonged to some one young… but the owner was defiantly out of the preteen age and I could tell the voice belonged to a male, or should I say boy. But other than that I could not figure anything else out about the voice… other than the fact that it sounded... Familiar…
As I approached the old Garage the conversation became a lot clearer to me, though I could not make out any of the details I managed to get a basic idea on what the conversation was about. The younger voice, the one that belonged to the apprentice was saying something about a fire, a bucket, a crush, the word kill and The Norms. Okkk… this one is going to be interesting…
Gobber on the other hand (Who was now within my field of vision) was simply staring out of the open garage door. It was clear as day he was not paying any attention to the other person within the building (Who was concealed from my vision) in fact he seem to be more interested in my slow approach… Maybe it was a slow day for him and he was just glad to have a costumer. But the grin on his face…. There was something…. Slightly disturbing about the way he was smiling at the moment… like he had something crazy planned…And he was going to make me the centre of it…
As I continued to slowly walk towards the Forge Gobber turned his attention towards the unknown person within the building. Gobber began to speak to the unknown person once more his voice getting soft for a moment…but it was only for a moment.
"Well I'm going to… go…. Take a walk… around the block… ya know to stretch the old…. Leg. Ya need to MAN the fort while I'm gone HICCUP." Gobber said, his voice was louder and more forced then before but it was not his voice that shocked me, it was who the older man was talking to.
HICCUP was Gobber's apprentice? Was it even legal to be working in a Garage at that age? Or be around a molten hot forge? Heck even if it was legal (Which I highly doubt) what use could a boy like him serve anyway? He was a Klutz and a scatterbrain even I could see that, not to mention he looked like he could barely lift his own weight. Unless he was the one that cleaned the floors I could not think of any other way that kid could make himself useful…
…Unless of course, I am underestimating him again…
My brother did after all say the apprentice would give me a freebie if I was lucky… And Gobber did trust the boy to 'MAN' the FORT whilst he went for a walk….
Now that I think of it, would Hiccup really give me a freebie? (That is if he was able to..) I mean I did kind of place a target on his head the first day back at school, now I'm not saying Hiccup didn't deserve it. The kid dumped a green slushy on my head on the first day back at school embarrassing me in front of all my peers. But still after the… colorful events of the previous week did I really deserve a freebie from the boy? In truth, even though I did not personally get my revenge on the boy (Which was just going to be a public knuckle sandwich) I felt that the boy had suffered enough after he had spent the entire day avoiding half the school for the entire week… I was planning on stopping it on Monday but then Snot made an attempt on his life…
I knew Hiccup was no idiot, others may think he is but I knew for a fact that the boy was smart. Smart enough to figure out that Snotlout got his plan from somewhere… and that somewhere was me…
But the question was would he still serve me? Even though he knew I was the reason Snotlout nearly killed him? I know if I was in his shoes I would not want to serve me…
…But I needed to try….
I slowly approached the open garage door my steps now lacking the determination and boldness I once had. I paused at the open garage door peering inside the open building. Sure enough I easily spotted the beanpole brunette standing near a glowing forge. The boy seems to be lost in his own thoughts as he stared at the back door of the forge. I took a moment to quickly scan the boy hopping that his body language might possibly give me an indication on what the boy was thinking. The boy, Hiccup seemed to be somewhat confused as he stared at the Forge's back door; which was where I believe Gobber exited the building. The boys had an… interesting choice of clothes. He was wearing a stained green long sleeve shirt. The dark green shirt was covered with oil stains and burn marks. The boys pants where in on better shape, he was wearing what appeared to be a pair of baggy worn out brownish jeans, that much like the long sleeve shirt was covered in smudges. A heavy looking leather smiting apron (That looked about 3 sizes too big for the small boy) covered the front half of his body and large (Once at least a few sizes too big for the smaller child) in fact the only piece of safety equipment that actually fit the small boy was some sort of strange looking welding mask. The mask looked more like a combat helmet with a face plate then a welding mask. The mask itself was nothing fancy, it was plain and nothing on it really stood out… except for the fact that there were two blue glass eyes' that allowed the user to see what he/she was doing. That and the fact it had some sort of brown rectangular box like thing placed on the forehead of the mask.
It took me awhile to realize I was actually staring at the scrawny boy within the work shop but once I did I mentally slapped myself. You're here to get your axe repaired Astrid not stare at the workers. As I quickly came back to my senses something very strange seem to happen to the boy. At first I had thought it was the light being weird but the longer I looked the stranger it became…
…It looked like Hiccup was… Glowing… ever so slightly…
I shook my head franticly. AGH, what am I thinking? People don't glow! Especially people like Hiccup!
Come on Astrid! You got a job to do, don't let yourself get distracted.
I silently cleaned my throat before taking a few silent steps. Once I was at what I considered a good distance I finally decided to make my presence known. "Ummm… HEY! Can I get some service here? I got an Axe that needs sharpening." I said aloud trying to make my voice as emotionless as possible.
I silently observed as Hiccups body suddenly froze. He remained this way for about a minute before he slowly turned around to face me, a expression somewhere between shocked and nervous remained frozen upon his face as he stared at me with bright forest green eyes. I could see a slight glow in his eyes but I just shrugged it off as just a trick of the light.
"A-Astrid… HI A-Astrid…hello, there…. Ahh W-Welcome… What can I do.. to, Ahh, To help y-you…"The skinny boy stumbled in a slight awkward panic. I stared at him for a moment. Half of me wanted to know why Hiccup was talking like this, the other half was wondering if he had some sort of problem with his memory. Mentally shacking both thoughts aside I lifted up my favorite axe so it was clear for him to see. His face instantly morphed into a severe cringe. He continued to stare at my weapon his face slowly growing more painful as he stared at it, heck, if I didn't know any better I would say it pained him to see the weapon in such a state.
"I need you to sharpen this." I said trying to be as straight forward as possible. Hiccups eyes widened and his eyebrows nearly reached his hair line as he stared at me.
"It's going to need a lot then a little sharpening to fix this one…" I hear him mutter under his breath. I stared at him for a moment in a silent shock. My axe wasn't that bad of shape… Was it?
He slowly put his arms out in front of him. Hs oversized leather gloves where open and waiting patiently for me to place the banged up axe in his hands. I pulled my axe away from him for a moment. How did I know for sure if Hiccup could actually repair my axe? Could I even trust him to handle one of my prize possessions? What if he just made it worse? He is after all…. My train of thought suddenly vanished as I suddenly came eye to eye with the young boy.
I don't know what it was but something in his forest green eyes… they made me want to trust him….
Still slightly hesitating I handed him my axe. In truth I had half expected to boy to fall over once I placed my axe in his hands, he of course ended up shattering my ability to predict his abilities when he not only managed to stand up straight with the axes weight but he was also able to hold it with one hand. The boy stood there for a moment staring down at his left hand, which now held my prized possession. From the look on his face I could tell that his own strength had surprised him just as much, if not more than it did me.
Hiccup seem to snap out of his shock first as he began a somewhat quick stroll towards one of the cleaner tables around the building. "One Axe repair coming right up," Hiccup said as he placed my badly damaged axe on the somewhat clean work bench. As he began to inspect my axe I heard him release a long low sigh, "This one is going to take a while…" I hear him mutters under his breath in a tone almost too low for me to hear.
Upon hearing this I let loss a low moan… I really didn't want to be here longer then I have to be… but if Hiccup can repair my beloved axe… I am willing to wait as long as I need to. I watched in silent as he roughly grabbed the blade of my axe and began to fiddle with the broken piece of steel rather roughly. I quickly took a few steps towards him out of fear that he would only break my axe even further. "CAREFUL!" I partially yelled at him. He halted his rough treatment of my favorite weapon and turned to face me, his eye brows raised questionably.
"That's… That's my favorite weapon…. I've had it since I was little…" I said muttering the last part to myself. He stared at me, then at the axe then to me again before returning his attention back to my axe. He appeared to be more shocked then anything. He remained in this shock for a while before a small relaxed smile formed across Hiccups face as he once again began to work on my axe once more, except this time he was handling it as if it was a new born baby.
I watched in silence as he skillfully and carefully pulled apart my axe into three separate pieces. The double sided blunt and badly in shape blade, the nearly snapped upper handle and the broken bludgeon like end of the axe. He neatly placed all three pieces of my axe on the table. I watched in silence as he flipped down the weird looking welding mask, he then proceeded to flip the strange rectangular box down over the two glass eyes of the mask. I was confused for a moment until I noticed he seemed to be fiddling with what appeared to be little nobs on the top of the box. Taking a closer look at the box I managed to spot two large glass circles at the end of the rectangular box, they were larger than the ones on the mask and they did not share the same shade of blue.
Slowly but surely Hiccup once again began to inspect my axes blade. The boy continued to silently inspect my axe blade pausing for short moment to write little notes on a small notepad nearby.
"So ahh… Dragon training has been interesting… so far, hasn't it?" Hiccup said nervously not taking his eyes of the Axe blade.
2 hours of hard working and small talk later.
I don't really know how to describe the last two hours of my life. A waste of my time WOULD fit perfectly but for some strange reason I just couldn't give it that label.
I would never admit it out loud but I didn't really mind spending those two hours hanging around in the Forge with Hiccup, In fact it was oddly… relaxing. The boy wasn't try to flirt with me like Snotlout always did, He wasn't a total idiot like Tuff was nor was he a fool like ruff was and he didn't end up blabbering on and on about Dragon fact like Fishlegs did. In fact all he really did was try and talk to me.
He talked about Dragon training for a while telling me some interesting things that I did not notice during classes: like how Snotlout always runs to the right to escape danger or how Tuffnut and Ruffnut always seem to 'accidently' bump in to each other. I had questioned him about what had happened after I stormed out of class the second day. He was sceptical at first but he gave me an accurate description on what had transpired. I was quite surprised when he confirmed Speedifist had actually saved the boy's life, he was after all one of the last people I would expect to come to Hiccups aid. He talked about other things to like what it was like to work for Gobber, theories of what Bucket was like before his accident and why the History teacher Mulch was such a close friend of the broken man. He told me new ways to keep my axe clean and in good shape, he suggested some good books I should read and some Youtube videos I should check out. He even told me a funny story which involved Phil (Gobbers pet sheep) in a wedding dress, a very large salmon, a gorilla mask and a nude Gobber who was so drunk that he could not for the life of him figure out which way was up.
I listened with a strange amount of interest to the scrawny boy's one sided conversation, silently taking in everything the scattered brain (yes I came to that conclusion) child said. Whilst the boy talked I decided to have a little look around the Forge. It was a rather large spacious building which seem to be divided into two separate areas: The Blacksmith area which was where the forge, the grindstones, a smelter, two or three anvils, a tanner and the largest stockpile of weapon I have ever seen was located (There where probably more in the Local armory but I wasn't allowed in there yet). The forge had nearly every weapon imaginable: axes, swords, warhammers, knives, spears, morning stars, shields heck I even think I saw some nun-chucks. The other side of the Forge was the Garage area. The Garage was where all the more… modern tools were located Power tools, drills, saws, a few hammers, a welding torch heck there was even a chainsaw in the corner of the place. In the centre of the garage was a large car lift (which appeared to be in use at the moment) and several larger machines I could not recognize were littered all over the place.
There were several back doors as well all of which were labelled separately. Most of them where locked but if I had to guess one of them might have been the entrance to Gobbers house and one of the other doors seem to be labelled Scrap room, which was incidentally full of scrap metal.
Hiccup who was working like some sort of machine the last few hours, skilfully and tirelessly repairing the damage my twin siblings did to my axe. I could not help but feel impressed at how he seemed to work the forge like a master, heck I'm pretty sure Gobber couldn't even work like Hiccup was at the moment… (OK that might be pushing it)
As I silently watched the boy put the finishing touches on my Axe (Which was now once again in one piece) I suddenly became aware of a door (Well it was more of a door frame with a certain concealing what was inside) I had not yet noticed before. It was located in the far corner of the Forge nearly hidden by a large shelf for of junk nearby.. I slowly approached the nearly concealed door slightly curious as to what was behind the door. I peered over my shoulder to see that Hiccup was far to interested in his work to be paying me any attention. Without another word I slowly walked over to the door. Keeping my footsteps as silent as I possibly could I finally reached the door.
Grabbing hold of the certain I harshly pulled the piece of cloth aside. The sound of the metal circles scrapping along the metal pole (I have no idea what they are called) Seem to be enough to snap Hiccup out of his working trance.
"NO, you're ahh not actually supposed to…" but before Hiccup could finish his sentence I had pulled the certain aside to find myself staring at some sort of…. Office of some sort. The room was not necessarily small but it was in no way anything to brag about. The roam was about the same size as an average bed room (About 10 meters long and 4 meters wide) but the fact that the room was stuffed with furniture and other things made it feel much more crowded and smaller than it actually was. Three large shelves lined the back wall of the room, the shelves held a wide arrange of things from glass cups full of pens and paint to pieces of electronics and weird looking contraptions I have never seen before. Their where two separate desks located on either side of the room. One was Just a plain old desk covered in piece of machines, wood and metal with several pieces of paper lying amongst the random pieces of scrap. The other table was ever so slightly slopped and was much neater then the other one (Which isn't saying much), unlike the other desk this one only had tools for drawing and sketching along with a few different sized pieces of paper. A large pin board covered with drawings and plans that seemed either fat complex or fat two far-fetched to work. I also managed to spot what appeared to be a home-made chemistry set sitting in one of the corners of the room atop a small slab of stone.
"What is all of this?" I said aloud somewhat stunned by what I was seeing. The entire room was full of sketches and strange looking machines. I could not work out for the life of me if I was looking at the work of a genius, or the delusions of a madman.
"Those? Nothing…. Just some stuff I'm working on… well had been working on." Hiccup said. I turned my head ever so slightly to see that he was standing at the door frame rubbing the back of his head in an almost nervous manner as he watched me, that strange mask he was wearing now flipped upwards. Turning my attention back to Hiccups… work I began to inspect one of the more… interesting looking designs with great interest. I was somewhat surprised to see the level of skill and dedication placed into the strange looking contraption design. The design and picture appeared flawless but as for its purpose… I could not work out for the life me, after all everything was written in Runes….
"It's just… confidential, upper level development. I can't really talk about it, so…" Hiccup began to speak, the sound of metal being pushed around as he spoke was rather clear to hear but I was to busy wrapped up in the design to care.
"The Mutilator…" I said aloud reading the only English I could find on the design.
"Yes, yes. Basically it uses twin-weighted counter-levers to launch crisscrossing blades in four different directions." Hiccup said. As he spoke my understanding of the plan became clearer than before. From what he had told me the idea sounded… rather cool, but I would not trust something like it in the hands of the twins…
"How do you hold it?" I said hopping that I might be able to get one myself. If I had something like this 'Mutilator' in my possession during Dragon training… Victory would be mine for sure…
"You don't hold it you shoot it." Hiccup replied instantly crushing my dream like a Warhammer crushed skulls.
"Oh. Well," I said putting the design back where I found it scanning the room once again as I did so. "I'm more of an old-fashion, 'Take it down with an axe and then lop its head of' Kind of girl." I said picking up what looked like some sort of wrist mounted grapple hook.
"It's kind of the way of our anncestors, The Viking way, right?" I said as I placed the grapple hook down and left the small room alone before I touched something I shouldn't.
Leaving the room I noticed Hiccup seem to be trying to tighten my axe handle onto the blade even further than before. He had flipped the Mask back down but he no longer had that box over his eyes like he did before.
"Go Vikings." The boy muttered under his breath as he stopped tightening the axes head and pulled it out of some sort of sledge that was keeping my favorite weapon in place.
"There we go, one fully repaired axe." Hiccup beamed as he showed me his fine work, flipping his mask up as he did. I could not help but stare at my favorite, most cherished weapon. In all my years of possessing the fine Battle Axe I had never seen it in a better condition then it was at the moment. It looked even better than the day I had received it from….
A suddenly loud bang and the screams of a grown man suddenly tore me away from my train of thoughts. Both me and Hiccup turned around to peer outside the open Garage door of the Forge Just in time to see what looked like Baggybum (His real name was Brian, and he was the town Drunk and also Dogbreaths old man) rolling down the street in a wheel bowel followed closely behind by the Twins who were at the moment laughing there heads of. The two twins where soon followed by what appeared to be a small group of towns people with smoking beards and hair and what looked like soup taped to their feet.
Both and Hiccup and I where two stunned to react upon what we just saw, neither of us moved from are spot for we were still trying to process what we just saw.
Hiccup seemed to snap out of his confusion first because he was the first to move after witnessing… whatever that was. "You should… Probably go…" Hiccup said handing me my axe and what appeared to be a small box.
Shacking my head back into present thoughts I grabbed my axe from his hand. The beautiful looking weapon felt lighter then I remembered. I moved the thought aside, must just be the sharping that did that. I then turned my attention towards the small concealed box.
"What is that?" I asked my curiosity getting the better of me.
Hiccup gave me another one of those awkward smiles. "It a weapon maintenance kit, more specifically it's an Axe maintenance kit. It's a little idea me and Gobber came up with so people can actually keep their weapons in better shape… It isn't in the market yet so you won't be able to find or buy one…" Hiccup said holding the small box out for me to take.
Hesitantly I took the box out of the boys hand and peered inside. Within the box was all the items one would need to keep a weapon in well shape and fix any minor damages. Polish, a small stone used for sharping, a few screws along with a screw driver and a cloth where amongst the more notable items within the box.
"Thanks." I said closing the box lid.
"Sure…"He replied just as another loud bang went off. "Yeah, I think you should probably get going now…" Hiccup said as he went back to working in the Forge, not paying the second bang even the slightest bit of attention.
Without saying another word I slipped out of the Forge carrying my axe in my right hand and the Axe repair kit under my left arm. I soon began to run towards where the loud sound originated holding onto both of the items tightly.
I was about half way to my destination when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
I never did pay for my Axe repair or the maintenance kit. A part of me was telling me to run back to the Forge and fix my little mistake, But before I could do so yet another loud bang went off somewhere in the general area of the school. With a new destination set in mind I pushed aside all thoughts of returning and paying Hiccup for helping me out…
Wait. Did he just give me a freebie?
I feel this is defiantly not one of my better chapters… especially near the end.
AGHHHH, I don't know why but I always find writing Astrid to be the most difficult person out of everyone I have done so far. I just don't know how to write her properly! This will very likely be the last time I write a full chapter where she it's just her thoughts.
I had originally planned to have this chapter end with Hiccup going to the Cove but Astrid's part ran to long. I'm sorry to all you Hiccup Toothless buddy fans out there so I have decided to inform you the next two chapter will be heavy with Hiccup and Toothless friendship development.
Sometimes the greatest things are found where we least Expect it.
This is Thor-Born saying Good night.