Call of the Dragons
Chapter 26
Written by NightShade248
Cowritten by thecoreofjustice
The first thing Hiccup felt when he woke up was pain. An intense pain in his shoulder. A throbbing headache threatened to implode his brain. His body felt heavy, and Hiccup wanted nothing more than to just go back to sleep and ignore the pain for a little longer.
'Uh... What hit me?' Hiccup thought, confused. 'Where am I any-'
"-Ya dare try ta keep me from my son?!" Yelled an outraged voice Hiccup could not identify, coming from somewhere further away.
"After what you did to him, yes I am!" Yelled another, slightly closer voice.
"Wha' were ya expectin'?!" Yelled the first voice. "When there is an army of dragons flyin' in tha sky ova Berk, ya should expect some resistance! Give me a break!"
"Oh, you mean like how you did with Hiccup when you punched him in the face when he was fifteen?! You're the reason he ran away!" Hollered a third voice. Dagur's voice, Hiccup was positive.
"I- It- I never meant-" The first voice stuttered a bit. "D-Don' try ta make me look like tha bad guy, Dagur! Fer all I know, this-this stalker drove Hiccup to it!"
'Sort of,' Hiccup thought. He was positive that the three voices were Dagur, Stoick, and Asger now.
"Maybe if you hadn't treated your child like less than a slave, the idea of helping him wouldn't have crossed my mind!" Asger shouted.
"A-ha!" Stoick said in an accusatory tone. "So ya admit it! Ya stole my son! I could have ya executed!"
"Go ahead and try it! I dare you!" Asger said. "But I guarantee that you won't get very far before I kill you myself!"
"I don' have ta take this. Ya ain't nothin' but a slave!" Stoick shouted.
"Stoick the Vast! That is more than enough!" Said a female voice. Valka.
'Mom,' Hiccup thought.
"Valka, ya have no say in this!" Stoick stated, less harshly, but in a disgusted tone. "Ya should be ashamed a' yerself!"
"For what?!" Valka asked, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Fer bein' in a relationship with a slave!" Stoick stated. "That is just pitiful in all tha' wrong ways!"
'Relationship?' Hiccup thought.
"Any relationship I have with Asger is non of your concern, Stoick," Valka stated.
"I'd think it does concern me, seein' as ya and I are married!" Stoick shouted.
"Not anymore!"
"You're overreacting!"
"She's overreacting?" Asger said. Hiccup felt the light touch of fingers on his arm. It must have been Asger.
"Don' ya dare touch my son, you disgusting slave!"
"Anything else you wanna say behind my back, Stoick?" Asger whipped around.
"How 'bout I say it ta yer face!" Stoick said.
"Don't start something you might regret, Stoick," Valka said.
"Yeah," Dagur agreed. "That's my job."
"Please!" Stoick shouted. "I could handle this slave!"
"You want a bet?" Asger asked, daringly.
"Yer askin' fer it, slave!" Stoick screeched.
The next thing Hiccup heard was a lot of fighting, like Stoick and Asger were getting into a heated slap fight. Hiccup didn't want to open his eyes, because he was afraid of what he'd see. It felt like his teen years all over again, a disaster being caused all because of him.
Just as Hiccup was about to attempt to yell and stop the fight, despite his pain-filled shoulder, Hiccup got the wind knocked out of him. There was a loud shoving sound and suddenly something heavy fell on top of him.
"OOF!" Hiccup cried out.
"Watch it!" Dagur yelled.
"Dagur..." Hiccup said weakly.
"Hey! Brother! Hiccup's awake!" Dagur yelled, causing the scuffle to end. Hiccup opened his eyes to see his father on the floor, with Asger standing by the bed, looking rather triumphant. Valka stood next to him, standing in his arms.
"Hiccup," Valka said in relief, rushing toward her son's side.
"I know it's my fault. But can we please stop with the fighting? Please?!" Hiccup begged quietly.
Everyone just looked at him, kind of confused. "Hiccup, none of this is your fault," Valka said soothingly.
"Yes it is!" Hiccup cried out. "It's happening all over again! You guys are fighting because of me! I'm a walking disaster zone!"
Hiccup tried to get up, but cried out in pain and fell back onto the bed.
"Hiccup, please settle down," Asger said, reaching for Hiccup. "You have done nothing to-"
"I told ya ta keep yer ahnds offa ma son!" Stoick yelled, getting up off the floor. "An' ye're absolutely right! It's not Hiccup's fault! It's YOURS! Yer tha one tha took Hiccup away from the island! Yer tha one who kept Valka 'way from her son fer so long. An' YER tha reason ma son is layin' in bed wit' as wound in his-"
"Stoick! For ONCE in your LIFE, JUST. BE. QUIET!" Valka screeched, louder than Hiccup had ever heard. He never heard his mother raise her voice like that. Ever.
Stoick stopped immediately. The look on his face was... Indescribable, to say the least.
XxXxXxXxXx
"I can't believe he's back," Fishlegs said, pacing back and forth. "I just can't believe it."
"You've already said that five times." Snotlout pointed out. "...Though I can't believe it either..."
Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, and Astrid all sat outside the Training Area, all lost in their own thoughts. It was only a few hours after Hiccup's surprise return to Berk, along with hundreds of ex-Vikings on the backs of dragons.
The dragons and their riders didn't dare set foot on the ground. Only Hiccup and the people they could only assume were closest to him did. The rest of them flew about in the air. Some did tricks, some did what seemed to be exercises, and others just flew aimlessly.
The five of them stayed outside, though most people went back to their own homes.
Fishlegs was bewildered to say the least. He'd never seen so many different kinds of dragons on one place, some he could identify, most he couldn't. And seeing the riders in sync with their dragons was astonishing. Fishlegs almost wanted to dragon someone down and ask them a million questions.
But, despite all of that, his focus was more shifting to Hiccup, and all he could feel was guilt. He'd pushed Hiccup away when they were kids. He didn't think it was a good idea to be on friendly terms with the village screw up.
Well, actually, Fishleg's parents thought that, but still, Fishlegs felt that he should have said or done something.
Snotlout was also amazed by what was in front of him. Impressed, as a matter of fact, though he would never admit it. Hiccup the Useless, the runt of the village, had found his mother, who was long believed to be dead, but had an entire clan of dragon riders at his command.
Again, he would never admit it. But he should give the runt a little more credit.
Astrid only felt dread. She'd thought that Hiccup was gone years ago. She'd felt horrible, to the point where she felt it was her fault for a while. (Well, it was her fault, but she was only a part of it. What she meant was that, because she caused Hiccup to snap and break a chair, she felt she drove him to his breaking point.)
Anyway, Astrid had always wanted to find Hiccup and, at the very least, apologize. But after so long of searching, it felt hopeless. Now, it felt like a gift from the gods. Like Berk was being given a second chance to right their wrongs.
'Me especially,' Astrid thought. 'I swear I will make it up to him. I'll-'
"Uh, Astrid?" Snotlout said in a small voice.
"What?" Astrid asked, rather irritated at him for interrupting her thoughts.
"Sorry, Astrid," Snotlout said. He had long since stopped hitting on her. Astrid was positive that Snotlout (And Fishlegs) had some kind of crush on Ruffnut now.
"-But you might wanna stop thinking now and get out of the way!"
She looked over and realized that everyone was standing a lot further away than before. They all pointed up, and noticed a dragon and it's rider heading for them.
Forcing Astrid to dodge out of the way, the rider and his dragon (A beautiful dragon with wing designs like a butterfly) landed in front of them. Based on the rider's movements, he as not happy.
"Where is he?" The rider, who was actually most likely a woman, said.
"Where's who?" Astrid demanded, drawing her axe.
"Do you mean Hiccup?" Snotlout asked.
The girl took off her helmet. Long, soft, black hair tied in a braid and hung over her shoulder. Bright green eyes.
Astrid looked over at a few other dragon riders.
"Don't look at me," said one.
"She's not one of ours," said a second.
"Ain't neva seen her before in ma life," said a third.
"Who are you?" Fishlegs asked.
"Heather," said the girl. "I'm looking for my friend. He's here with that guy you mentioned. Hiccup."