"Astrid, I could use a hand!" I growled as more water splashed out of the giant wooden bathtub my dragon tried to free himself from. He went to jump out on the other side of the tub, but I grabbed his tail and leaned back. Hey, I wasn't exactly the strongest Viking out there. Whatever scrawny weight I could use, I did.
Toothless, my black night fury, looked at me with pleading eyes, his irises becoming bigger. He was giving me the look.
"Nu uh, no. You are not getting out of smell worse than a yak, and we have to make a good impression! Remember, the meeting with the Hooligans? Yeah,they still hate dragons,and we don't need to add smelly to their list." I said.
Toothless stopped thrashing and fixed me with a deadpan expression, narrowing his eyes. He couldn't speak… technically… but his eyes said plenty. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt… and in my moment of hesitation… he jumped out of the specially made tub and used my head for purchase and bounded out the barn door.
He obviously didn't think the way he smelled would make that much of a difference. I knew it didn't too… but I was nervous. More nervous than I'd felt about a mission like this in awhile. I just had a bad feeling, and that coupled with a driving urge to be on top of everything, made me want to do more. Like there was something I could do here to affect the outcome there… so I did everything and for the most part Toothless had put up with it… But I guess he drew the line at water and soap.
And that's how I found myself on the floor, straw poking me where I didn't want to be poked, looking up at the wooden beams that kept it standing... and…
"Great. Not only do I have to chase down a dragon, but I can't pretend I don't see the holes in the roof." I sighed and prepared myself to roll over, when a much more pleasant sight came into view. A blonde haired viking poked her head over mine, and was obviously holding back laughter.
"What did you need a hand with, exactly?" Astrid's smirk made me forget about my newest workload, and I smiled back. "Last time I checked, it was a foot you needed."
"Oh, ha haha, you're so funny." I rolled my eyes and grabbed her offered hand. She pulled me to my feet.. *ahem* ...foot. "You know, It's quite convenient of you, rushing to my aid AFTER my chore ran away."
She put a hand on her hip, "I was getting Stormfly a fish... because she let me bathe her no problem."
"Well-" I looked for a come back, but she defused the situation with a light laugh.
"Maybe Toothless saw it as unfair. I mean, you smell a little too..."
I gave her a look, then smelled myself. My eyes widened.
She was right...Gods, I had only been thinking of Toothless! But, I reasoned, I had to get Toothless quick before he found somewhere to hide.
"Ok ok, you have a point." I said to my girlfriend, "But I really do have to give him a bath. Would you please help?"
"Well, when you ask like that-"
Suddenly, I found myself in the wooden bathtub and a chortle from a certain Night Fury accompanying it.
"Toothless!" I bellowed, all light heartedness gone as I rubbed soap suds out of my eyes. The water was warm at least… but my leather clothes weighed ten times more as I struggled to my feet.
He chortled again and dashed out of the barn once more.
Astrid couldn't contain her laughter, but I was no longer amused.
"This isn't funny!" I said, though in Toothless's direction. I couldn't blame her for finding the situation funny… because it probably was.
"Oh, relax Hiccup."
"How can I relax!? Dad made it up to me to settle down the Hooligans. The Hooligans!" I shook out my drenched hair with one hand and grabbed my discarded sword with the other. "Astrid, If I don't call them off we could have whole islands of Dragons slaughtered meaninglessly. They're… Unbelievable and stupid and selfish and- we're completely different! How can I even… gah I mean-"
It was her turn to roll her eyes and pulled me off my high horse with a kiss.
Suddenly, the enraged dragon killing village wasn't such a big deal.
It sent electric sparks down my spine, and my troubles and worries melted away... but as soon as it happened, she broke it off and turned toward the barn.
"Let's go get your 'chore' then." She said sweetly over her shoulder.
I was dumbstruck for a minute… when I spied Toothless out of the window, grinning at me elfishly.
"Hey!"
Toothless wasn't easy to catch, but several fish later and a lot of begging, he got back in the tub. He must have thought it only fair that Astrid gets wet too because he did his best to splash half the water onto her, chortling his throaty laugh.
She laughed it off, though. I found it very hard to be worried for long when she was around, and especially when she was in one of her good moods. Like that day.
The day it all went so wrong...started out so right.
We finished up and everyone dried off, Astrid and I returning to our homes to change clothes. I slipped into my official Dragonrider's outfit. Black stained leather to match Toothless, riding leg, and utility pouch. All very Viking, I assure you.
I sat on my bed and slipped on my boot when something shiny gleamed at me from the corner of my room. I reached over and picked it up.
It was my helmet...The one Dad gave to me all those years ago. I smiled at the memory, though I was supposed to kill a dragon and didn't, starting up a whole different mess...It was still nice to remember the pride in his voice.
Then I remembered how it was made of Mom's old armor and suddenly it got a little creepy and I put it down. On my side table this time, not tucked away in some corner.
'Keep her close' Dad's words echoed.
Well. It's not like I ever knew her. She was taken by a dragon when I was just a baby. It suddenly occurred to me just how much things had changed. Before, we'd be trying to kill Dragons instead of bathing them, and Dad would probably joined the Hooligans. Instead, he was going out to try and reason with them, taking along his son to do it.
I looked at the helmet. What if their mothers had been killed by Dragons… How could he change years of resentment in just one day?
Toothless hummed at me questioningly, and I looked over at him. I must have looked worried. "It's fine, bud." I assured him, "Just… thinking."
Before his eyes could dig any deeper, Dad's booming voice echoed up the stairs.
"Hiccup! You ready yet?" He yelled, "Everyone's waiting."
"Coming," I said back, grabbing my fire sword and gesturing to Toothless to follow.
I hoped that flying in on fire breathing beasts would be enough to convince them. I would talk if I had to, anything to save innocent dragons. I don't know why I was so nervous.
We rushed downstairs and went outside to see the gathered party. Gobber, of course, Astrid, Fishlegs, and Dad.
Everyone was sitting on their saddled dragons and looked ready to take off.
I smiled at them, pulled on my riding mask, and jumped onto Toothless.
Stoick nodded and nudged Skull Crusher forward and they led everyone into the skies, high above the town.
I was the last in the air and waited a bit to give them a head start before leaning forward to whisper into Toothless's ear. "Okay, Bud, let's show them what real flying is."
He hummed and jumped into the sky, catching up in no time.
"Show Off!" Gobber laughed and waved a hook at him.
I know they couldn't see it, but I stuck my out tongue at them.
Just as we were about to clear Berk, smoke came billowing up in front of them. Everyone stopped in their tracks, hovering to look at it.
"That's too big to be a house fire." Astrid judged. Stormfly, her deadly best friend, cooed in agreement.
"Hey, Gobber, isn't that your…"
"My shop!" He yelled in horror, and quest forgotten, turned his dragon toward the inferno.
Dad looked ready to yell at him, but suddenly someone yelled up, "Stoick! Stoick! The Hoffersons and Jorgensons are brawling again! They caught half the village on fire!"
"For the love of Thor!" He bellowed, giving an equally irritated Astrid a look. "Let's go." He motioned for her to follow.
"Right behind you." I sighed. It looked like the Hooligans would have to wait, but Stoick shook his head.
"No, you and Fishlegs go on ahead. If we can clear this up in time, we'll be right behind you."
"But-"
"Love you Hiccup! Don't worry, you've got this." Astrid spared me a quick smile before turning determinedly toward her outraged family as battle cries were heard over the fire.
"Yeah… love you too… but-"
"Go on, son. Make me proud!"
I was still uncertain, but Fishlegs, the ever present logical voice, talked me down.
We ended up heading over the seas, high enough so that the spray wouldn't annoy us and low enough to not battle any powerful air currents.
We fell into a comfortable silence. Fishlegs, studying his map and I was watching for the other three.
"Don't worry, they'll catch up." Fishlegs yelled over the wind.
I looked over at him, uncertain at first, but then I nodded and shook off my bad feelings. I had to focus on the task at hand.
We traveled through the calm seas, sometimes talking, but mostly just flying. Toothless was happy, he hadn't been on a flight this long for a couple of weeks. I felt bad about being so busy in the forge, but what else could I do?
He would just have to deal with it until I could figure out the whole dragon and viking living together peacefully thing.
"Hey, what Islands did the Hooligans have their eyes on?" Fishlegs called again.
"One is Crooked Cat's Island and the other is Boot Island." I replied absentmindedly. "Real thoughtful titles, eh?" It was typical, though. Vikings were normally more worried about fighting or lifting heavy objects to really think about Island names. See, find the closest thing it looks like or what mood you're in,and there you go. And thou villages were really different from each other, this remained a staple. I am even guilty of it… take Toothless for example.
That thought gave me hope. Maybe there would be someone there who thought like me, and was advocating for the dragons. Maybe my job wasn't as hard as I thought!
"... Well at least there isn't any confusion with literal Viking names." He stated, nodding, then tucked the map into his pouch. "We're almost at Hooligan Village."
I looked ahead again, and sure enough an island was visible on the horizon. But there was something else as well…
"Hiccup!" Fishlegs said in concern, but there was no need to get my attention. The thick black smoke twirling above the island had all of it.
"Dragons." I said.
This was going to be some work after all.
"What is it with fires today?" I demanded as we reached the shore. There weren't any visible dragons, but people were rushing to and from houses with buckets of water, desperately trying to save their homes. They were soot faced and terrified, and I couldn't watch a second longer.
"Let's find something useful to do, Fishlegs!" I ordered, and he nodded. I didn't need to tell him the specifics, he was too smart for that. We both did what we normally do to put out dragon fires. Find the biggest bucket you could and use your resources.
Thankfully, Vikings were drawn to build by the ocean.
Toothless and I ended up finding a food trough and lugged from the doc to burning houses over and over. People screamed at the sight of us at first, but once they saw what we were doing, they calmed down to a deep mistrust, but didn't turn us away.
After a bit,Toothless was breathing heavily. Water troughs weren't as light as I was,and it was a workout for dragons like him.
I didn't dare land him, tho, as I didn't know what the villagers would do.
After we saved our seventh house, he had to stop. I took him a bit away from the desperate villagers and hid him in a small cove. There was a path up, and I was sure he would make it back to the village just fine when he was ready.
"You rest for a bit, Bud." I said, jumping off him. I couldn't stay with him, it would be bad form for a chief's son to sit back while a village was in turmoil. I took off my helmet and ran my fingers through my sweaty hair. The beating sun did nothing to help my situation.
Toothless made a tired hum and flopped down under a tree. He was a quick napper, I had no doubt in my mind that he would rush to the village within thirty minutes. AndI would help out on that side so I would be the first to see him.
"This doesn't make my job any easier." I sighed and looked at my dragon. "Any advice, bud? No… ok. You did good." I don't know what drove me to do this, but I suddenly felt the need to pet his nose.
I put a hand on him and put my forehead to his. He opened his eyes, half annoyed, but he hummed at me and licked my face. I smiled when I would usually have yelled and said quietly, "Love you too, Bud."
I pulled away, even though a part of me screamed at me to not. To stay there and restup with Toothless… but I shook that off.
I had to go help.
I waved at him and jogged through the trees and up the small hill, on the other side was the still smoldering village.
Little did I know, Toothless watched me until I was out of sight. And even then, he watched the place where I disappeared.
I ran the short distance and put my helmet back on.
There were still people running around, but the houses were pretty much put out.
I was on rescue mode, looking for burned or injured. I helped a couple get free of a fallen barn, and nearly choked on the ash in the process. It was like the old days, when Dragons would go on raids prompted by their queen. I was no pro at it, but none there were new to it either. To them, it was daily life. To be expected, actually.
I shook my head and looked for others to save. Who knew my mission would turn humanitarian?
It was then I wondered what Fishlegs had gotten into. I was sure he was okay, but just to make sure…
I made my way a bit farther into the rubble-filled streets, trying to see through the wind of smoke and ash.
It was then that a loud roar echoed throughout the town. Throughout the Island.
A dragon was enraged. And the battle cries of Vikings told me it was no tummy ache.
I ran down toward the sounds of battle, only briefly thinking of Toothless. He'd be fine, I told myself, he was a night fury.
My main concern was the fighting, and people and dragon's lives were at stake.
I ran over fallen decorations and doors, nearly tripping over half a roof before I got to the actual fighting. It was three sturdy men with pitchforks and shovels against a… perfect… a Monstrous Nightmare.
They were some of the hardest to train and it took a calm person to do it. That's why Snotlout and his dragon Hookfang got along so well. They were similar in that respect.
But the villagers were definitely not calm and, unfortunately for me, Nightmares also had quite the temper.
The dragon was backed up against a large stone face, alight with flames, roaring in fury at the people.
The three men took another step forward, seeming to be gathering the courage to charge once more… and that's when I stepped in.
"Whoa whoa now, easy fellas." I said in a calm way. And I was calm. Surprisingly, the Dragon didn't scare me at all, it was the people I was more concerned with.
They didn't take kindly to my appearance.
"Who're you!" The lead one demanded, though not taking his eyes off the nightmare.
"Doesn't matter, he's just a boy!" The second said, "Get away, It's dangerous here!"
"It doesn't have to be," I replied, and ignored their gestures for me to move. "Let me help-"
But the Nightmare was suddenly not happy with my presence either because I could hear him charge a few steps toward me.
The men flinched back, I'm sure involuntarily, but I turned away from them.
Talking would do no good I realized.
I pulled out my Zippelback inspired sword and let out a stream of gas before setting it aflame, making the dragon pause.
He was feet away from me, still upset, hurt, and furious.
"Easy," I said soothingly, putting the weapon away, taking off my helmet and raising my hands. "See? I'm not going to hurt you."
It moved its head from side to side, not sure of what to make of me I'm sure.
The three had gotten together their composer by then, and set themselves back up.
"Run, boy!"
"No, don't you see? They don't have to be dangerous." I took a step forward, my arm slowly outstretched toward it.
It growled warningly, but I advanced another step, not breaking eye contact.
I know I should have sensed something was wrong. I knew it. But...it didn't stop me.
I think the three must have been flabbergasted or scared, or both because they remained silent.
"I'm not going to hurt you." I promised, "I just want to show them…" I was really close to the now defused Nightmare, inches from its snout. I closed my eyes and waited.
The dragon breathed deeply a few times before it made a kind of cooing sound, similar to Toothless, and I felt the heat from its nose on my fingertips…
"Hiccup!" I looked up at the sound of my name, and Fishlegs looked back at me, then the Nightmare, then the men.
I cursed in my mind, but the nightmare was still quiet. Maybe he hadn't messed it up. Maybe it was still going to be okay…
When one of the three charged with a throaty roar.
Flames shot back to life and it roared once more.
The fire scorched my hand and I yelled out as white-hot pain made its way up my arm.
Whatever progress I had made was suddenly lost, and it attacked. But not the men charging it, no. It sank its long teeth into my hunched up shoulder and… and took flight.
I only remember bits and pieces.
Someone was screaming.
Very loud and constantly, as I felt dozens of daggers planted in my upper body. It wasn't biting down all the way, I realize now. Maybe it was only trying to help me because I know my body would have been in ribbons if it was serious about mauling me.
But it still hurt. And it burned.
I don't remember when I lost my leg all those years ago, and I think I'm thankful for that. Losing a body part must hurt. A lot.
But this was a different kind of pain. It was tearing. My body felt every movement the dragon made, when it turned its head, flapped a wing, and dodged arrows being shot at it.
It tore more and more of me, and soon I was in and out of consciousness.
My eyes had long since closed, my mind too focused on the burning parts of me.
I tried to listen for something… anything that was going on. But I couldn't hear Fishlegs calling to me, or the Villagers cursing the Dragon.
I heard nothing but the screaming.
I now know that it was me.
We were flying. That much I knew. Until we weren't.
Suddenly, I felt weightless. The tearing stopped and I felt the teeth pull out of me. I don't know which was worse, them going in or out.
I was dimly aware I was falling… but I was sure I crashed.
The force of a thousand yaks ramming into me hit at once resounded throughout my body. The places that didn't hurt before suddenly did, and the ones that did triple.
The screaming stopped.
It was hard to breathe, let alone make a sound. I felt… bent. Like I was morphed in a way I wasn't supposed to be. I tried to open my eyes, and I got a glimpse of sunlight before I closed them again. A wave of pain forced the cry from me, one I was sure I couldn't make.
I realized someone had been touching my arm, and it was hastily taken away. The pain dimmed. I took a couple of shaky breaths and realized I couldn't hear anything.
I opened my eyes again, only to find Fishlegs bent over me, his eyes searching for mine.
He looked scared.
I watched, for the first time in my life, not hearing a word he said.
He was talking, of that was I certain. I saw him moving things, pieces of cloth, and behind him a… tree?
When did I get back to the forest?
He was moving the cloth toward me, and he tried to touch me again…
My eyes snapped shut again and I screamed as he wrapped it around my arm. It was awful.
The motion felt so wrong and sent tidal waves along my entire being.
Then it was dimming. The pain was going away… or I was…
I stopped screaming. I don't know if I was fainting again or what, but suddenly Astrid came into my line of sight. Stormfly was barely on the ground before she was off her and running toward me.
We were on a beach. I hadn't noticed before.
I must have looked bad because she stopped in her tracks when she got closer.
I saw her eyes widen and tears brim in her eyes.
I didn't need to hear her to know she said my name, first as a question, then as a shout.
My eyes closed again as Fishlegs moved to a different part of me. Where didn't really matter.
I hurt everywhere.
The next time I opened my eyes, she was right next to me, cupping my cheek and saying… something…
My body was hurting less and less. The waves becoming more and more distant, and I felt like I was sinking deeper and deeper… into what I didn't know.
Blinking was slower and slower. Soon I saw more black than Fishlegs and Astrid.
"Ign don hurt." I slurred. Or tried to… I don't know. Astrid was suddenly attentive.
She stroked my hair, and I felt her pick my head up and put it on her lap.
How bad was I? I really wanted to look down at myself… But as my eyes drifted she pulled my attention again.
She was smiling… And telling me something wonderful. I think she was saying I was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.
Except… she was crying.
She didn't cry. She never cried.
I didn't want to see her cry. Ever. I wanted to pick my hand up and hold her… tell her it was okay.
I tried, and to my surprise, it moved. But I was shaking badly. I barely got it off the ground before she noticed and picked it up herself, making sure I could see her do so.
She looked so frightened of touching me... like I was fragile.
I wanted to tell her I didn't feel pain anymore. That I was able to keep my eyes open, wouldn't she be proud!
But really… I knew that wasn't good.
I was supposed to be hurting. Badly.
But I just felt numb. And heavy… And light?
The sun was getting brighter. Suddenly my Astrid's face was more streams of light than her. Golden and white rays.
I wanted to look up at the cause of it… but I couldn't. Not yet.
I had to tell her. I had to say…
"I love you." I know I said that loud and clear. I knew because I saw her say it back.
I got to look in her eyes a moment longer… before they drifted to look above me.
A large column of light seemed to pour on me, and a figure was circling.
It looked like a dragon.
A dragon was getting closer and closer.
More light streamed into view…
It was… so… bright… I had to close my eyes.
I felt one more breath… before I stopped thinking.