Unbreakable

The middle of a war is not the best time for one boy to discover that he is not unbreakable. Sequel to 'Starlight, Star Bright'.

Chapter 38: Surprises

A/N: This feeelssss like a dumb chapter title. Is it? Well, it's 3,000 words. That ought to count for something? (I feel all you six-kers judging me silently like ohhh you amateur, but shush, okay? D:) Anywayyyy, this is the new chapter, and it's too long to really do anything with, but at the same time, there's no good point for me to split it in half. I hope you like anyway! Please review? :3

Also, this chapter should be called "Some Hiccstrid" xD xD xD I didn't even mean to put Hiccstrid in here, but for some reason, it feels like they're in here now? Hiccstrid is probably gonna be in this now. Just a warning.

The night was a sleepless one. I couldn't sleep, couldn't even close my eyes. Toothless stayed awake with me all night, moaning and crooning softly in my ears, trying to comfort me. He knew what I was feeling, sensed my guilt, and he was trying to comfort me? He should have been trying to soothe Eret, the real victim in all of this.

Every time the man closed his eyes, I shook his shoulder and shouted things in my sleepless delirium until he finally opened them again. I couldn't let him sleep. I was scared I would lose him to more senseless mutterings. Astrid stayed by my side too, but she continually dozed off, waking only when I yelled for Eret, pleading with him not to go away from me. She slept with her cheek on her hand, eyelids fluttering, pretty lips parting into a small yawn every time I unintentionally roused her.

"Hiccup." She finally put a hand on my shoulder, her fingers clenching tight. I winced when they found the thick bandage she had placed there. "Let him sleep, Hiccup, he's exhausted. Just let him sleep."

I drew in a deep breath, struggling to form words, to explain my fear to her. I meant to sound better than this, but my strength deserted me. "I'm scared," I whispered, scooting a little closer to her, allowing her to tangle her fingers in my hair again. I was beginning to feel shaky and too cold, my head spinning from some sort of indefinable illness. "I'm scared, Astrid, I don't want…I don't want this."

She offered me a small, sad smile. Her features looked tired and worn again. I was waking her every time I woke Eret, and I realized how exhausted she must be. "Nobody wanted this, Hiccup."

Her words made me remember mine, made me look for a deeper meaning. When I'd said it, I'd initially meant that I didn't want Eret to fall asleep again, but she must have heard a deeper truth to my words. I didn't want this, never did. I didn't ask to be involved in this bloody war. It was my fault she was even sitting there beside me, trying to comfort me when she was so clearly exhausted herself. I swallowed, falling suddenly limp against her body, and I felt her wrap a thin arm around me, my waist, pulling me closer to her, as if she thought she could protect me from all that was wrong with the world. That wasn't right. I should be protecting her.

But despite the fact that I should have been the one protecting her, despite the fact that this was Astrid and Astrid was just not the type to hug and comfort people, it felt right. I didn't fight her. I was too tired for fights, and too tired for sleep. I just wanted sunlight in the eternal night of this dark, scary world.

"I'm sorry," she whispered finally, and I pulled away from her one-armed embrace curiously to look at her. I had dragged her into everything, and she was apologizing to me? What had she done?

"I'm sorry, you…" she drew in a deep breath, her voice sounding shaky when she spoke again. "I'm sorry that this has happened."

"It's not your fault," I told her, pressing my head against hers, because I longed to be close to her, to feel the gentle touch of a person who did not have the wish to hurt me. I should have drawn comfort from Toothless, and I did, but I was suddenly terribly lonely for human friends.

"It'll be okay." She sounded more distant now, like she was beginning to fall asleep, or maybe I was falling asleep on her… "It'll be okay, Hiccup…You'll be okay….we'll be okay, you and me."

I nodded against her, but I was so tired that I could not lift my face to hers, not even to speak. I wanted to shake myself, force myself back into wakefulness because I did not deserve to leave the pain behind. Eret was not getting the privilege of leaving the pain behind. He had to deal with it even in sleep, if his crazy mumbling was anything to go by.

I could feel myself slipping away, slipping into sleep…it must have been very late…very late, for the sky was so very dark, and Astrid was very warm and comforting, and I loved her fingers in my hair, because right then, all I needed was reassurance that things were going to be okay. And I shouldn't have needed it, because I should have been reassuring her, protecting her, but I could not bring myself to open my eyes and do it. It was very warm there in the tree trunk hideout, and I felt almost comforted, because somehow, I believed Astrid's words now, I believed that we were going to be okay. I slipped into sleep.

Toothless was trying to wake me. He was being rather annoying about it, licking at my face and nuzzling at my neck persistently, probably trying to persuade me to go flying or something like that. I was so tired I didn't even think of how impossible that would be. I just shoved against him with my hands, muttering sleepily, "C'mon, Toothless, let me sleep…it's too dark…we'll play later…"

"Hiccup?" The voice was slurred from sleep, still sounding a little tired, but I recognized it. My eyes snapped open, my heart almost hurting with the physical hope of it, and I looked up and around. The sky was still dark, and there was a warm, loose arm wrapped around me. I gently pushed it away, scrambling over to Eret on my knees, because there he was with his brown eyes wide, looking completely alert. Speaking directly to me, not random things that made no sense, or in a different language, but my name, in Norse. My hope was so huge it was almost impossible to contain it.

"Yes?" My own voice was so quiet, compared to the feeling in my chest. "What is it, Eret?"

"People…" he murmured sleepily, already beginning to slump against me. "People…outside…"

My hope started falling as quickly as it had risen. No, he must still be talking nonsense, especially considering how unwell he seemed…leaning slightly to the side, already beginning to sway, clutching at me to stay upright… I placed my small hand over his large one, trying to smile for him.

"There are people." He opened his brown eyes as wide as they could go, pushing against me and my touch. "There are people outside."

I started to begin reassuring him, but I stopped suddenly when I heard the noises: thumping footsteps, loud yells, names I couldn't quite hear being hollered…Eret was speaking the truth. My heart jumped into my throat, and my first thought was of Outcasts. They must have found us, but how? My brain spun crazily around that one question, demanding the truth.

Toothless was nodding along to Eret's words, looking supremely pleased.

I sped over to Astrid, shaking her shoulder, halfway to waking her before I realized something, my panicked brain catching up with my common sense. Wait a second. If those were Outcasts pounding around the forest and calling like that while they were supposed to be searching for me, Alvin would most certainly have killed them by now. The Outcasts often tried to practice stealth to get me back, but this…was not stealth. Why would they give away their position unless they absolutely had to?

I paused, listening closer to the noises now, focusing more on the voices, the dream I had had of Dad and Gobber speeding readily to the forefront of my mind. I dashed over to the tree trunk hideout's door, looking out at the dark forest, the wind whispering through the trees like a hundred sad ghosts. I thought I knew who was out there, and I thought I knew, just maybe, who they were calling. I slipped out onto the grass and Astrid was instantly before me, hands on her hips, barring my way. Toothless flew out beside us.

"Hiccup, you need to get on Toothless and get Eret and get away from here as fast as you can!"

"Astrid," I placed a hand on her waist to still her, to catch her attention. In the darkness, I could see a pink flush crawling up her cheeks from the touch. "Don't those voices sound familiar to you?"

"Hiccup, I don't have time—

"Astrid, just close your eyes and listen. Don't they sound familiar?"

She glared at me for a second, long and hard. But to my surprise, she closed her eyes, tilting her head back a little. I did the same, listening as hard as I could, wondering what sound she would hear first. The wind blowing the leaves of the trees around us, or the crickets chirping in the wet grass we stood on?

She opened her eyes, shock spelled out clearly in her blue gaze. "But that's—!"

I nodded. "Exactly, c'mon. We can't let them blunder around and get captured by Outcasts, can we? That's my job."

She placed her hands on my hips, removing my fingers from her waist. "That's not funny."

"Alright, alright, as you wish. C'mon." We walked side-by-side in the dark forest path, hesitant to call out for them and risk revealing our position to potential predators.

"This isn't right," Astrid said slowly. "That accent sounded Berkian, but what Hooligan would be stupid enough to—

It was then that Tuffnut came flying out of the brush, blond hair swinging around him as he hopped on one foot, clutching the other in apparent pain. "Ow! Ow! Ooh, ow! They're not in the briar patch!"

"Tuffnut!" I cried in bewilderment. I had sort of expected to see him ever since my dream that was only just now making sense, but I guess I hadn't expected to find him like this. "What are you…what are you doing here?" I was fairly certain that my dream had answered that question as well, but I asked it anyway, in the faint hope that he might give me a different answer.

He released his foot in surprise, backing up a couple steps before realizing it was me and looking at me as if I was stupid. "Looking for you, of course."

"Why?" I sounded startled, and I was; why would he come looking for me when he and Ruffnut had made it safely out of danger with Stoick and Gobber?

But instead of answering my question, he tossed his head back and howled up at the heavens above, "IDIOT! HEY, IDIOT! I FOUND THEM!"

Astrid started punching him. "Do you even know how to be quiet?" she hissed between blows. Even when being punched, he was screaming 'ow' with every hit. "You just let the whole forest know where we are!"

"Wait – the whole forest?" Tuffnut's blue eyes widened, and he sat up suddenly, pushing Astrid's flying fists away. "You mean, like the trees and stuff, too?"

I groaned. "No, Tuffnut, it's just a—

"Cool! HEY, IDIOT, THE WHOLE FOREST KNOWS WHERE WE ARE! DID YOU HEAR THAT? THE WHOLE FOREST KNOWS WHERE WE—

Astrid mercifully ended the sentence by clamping her hand tightly over his mouth, saying venomously, "If you try to scream like that again, I'm throwing you into the ocean myself, for the Darkbreathers and Outcasts."

Tuffnut gave a muffled sound of understanding, and she slowly released him.

Ruffnut came running over, too, covered in dirt and with a few twigs tangled in her hair. She came to a stop in front of us, panting, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. When she finally managed, she cracked a small grin. "The whole forest?"

"No," I tried to forestall it again, but before I could do anything, they had come at each other, spit on their hands, and high-fived.

"So, you haven't answered the question." Astrid crossed her arms and cocked her hip, her skirt flaring around her long legs. "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you," they answered in unison.

"Why are you looking for me?" I demanded, coming to stand in front of them. "Why did you leave Dad and Gobber?"

Tuffnut wrinkled his nose. "Because we wanted to be with you. So we decided to just come on our own."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead tiredly as I spoke. "So you came out here on a whim? How did you find us, for Thor's sake?"

"Well, we decided to try and follow you as best we could," Ruffnut explained. "But we didn't know exactly where the island was. So we had to retrace our steps and we did a lot of backpedaling – the chief nearly caught us once, we had to hide."

"You should have let him take you!" Astrid looked furious, her face turning red. "Rather than thump around outside the hideout, drawing all sorts of unwanted attention, scaring us half to death—!"

"Save it," Tuffnut held up a hand to shut her up, and she looked so outraged at this that I felt I had to intervene.

"Alright, guys, let's not start…getting angry about things until we've settled everything, alright? I guess you're here now, and there's nothing we can do about it, so you might as well come on into the hideout for now."

"For now?" Tuffnut looked appalled. "What do you mean, for now?"

"I mean it," I said calmly. "Dad's looking for you, I'll have to send you guys back. I have to let him know you guys are here, at least."

This started up a chorus of protests, like they were petulant children.

"But—but…but Hiccup!" Tuffnut whined, like it was the end of the world.

"But nothing. We're going to have to send you back. Meanwhile, c'mon inside. We've got water and blankets." For the first time since we escaped from Alvin, I started thinking about food, and my stomach grumbled. I hadn't eaten for a few days. No wonder I felt so low on energy…

Remembering the hideout, I turned to Astrid suddenly. "Eret," I gasped.

She furrowed her brow. "What's wrong with him, Hiccup? He seemed just the same all through last night—

"No, we left him all on his own at the hideout! If somebody attacked, he could be in real trouble, with his leg wounded the way it is! C'mon, we'd better get back!"

I tore through the forest as fast as I could, pushing aside branches and brush with my elbow, stumbling through mud and grass the whole way back. We had gone deep into the forest in our search for Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and only now did I realize how far it had taken us. Why had we not thought of this before? I wondered frantically to myself, emerging at last out of the darkest part of the forest to see the huge tree standing before me. The sight of it had never been so relieving. I could feel my shoulders relaxing, but I knew enough to know to feel guilty. The last time I had left Eret, deserted him in this hideout, the Outcasts had gotten to him. If something similar had happened this time, and he hadn't even been lucid enough to scream…it'd be all my fault.

The rising sun illuminated the branches of the tree as I stepped carefully toward it, pressing a hand to the trunk, searching for the entrance.

"Cool!" Tuffnut's eyes lit up. "You guys live in a tree?"

"Um…" I found the crack and pulled it open, the darkness engulfing us. We should start a fire, I thought to myself, crawling into the hideout and pulling the door closed again after the others had entered.

Eret was asleep again, passed out, but the sight of him lying there was so welcome. Nothing bad had happened to him. I half-ran, half-slipped over to him, tripping over my own prosthetic, looking down at him, leaning down to check, to see the breath leaving and going inside his body.

He was alright. I slumped over in relief, dragging in a few deep breaths as the twins looked around the hideout.