Chapter 4 - If You're Gonna Suppress It, At Least Be Prepared for the Fallout

After having decided to ask Gobber about Night Furies, Hiccup actually found himself looking forward to the day's dragon training. So he had led Helga to the spot she now claimed as hers in the arena stands, as despite nothing to do while waiting, she still insisted on hanging around during training. His singular focus on asking Gobber about the elusive dragons meant he paid little attention to the maze-like set up of the ring. There was currently a Deadly Nadder looming somewhere in this maze, but Hiccup could hardly find the need to care when all he wanted were answers. So with his shield in one hand and his axe in another, he shouted up to Gobber where he was standing near Hiccup's twin in the stands. "Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies," he asked, trying to be as casual as he could possibly be. "Is there another book or a sequel? Maybe a Night Fury pamphlet?"

It was at this moment that the Nadder had found him, blasting him with its fire and completely destroying the top of his axe, leaving a smoldering stick in his hand. "Focus, Hiccup!" Gobber shouted back down to him, "You're not even trying!"

Hiccup, seeing no other choice, ran away from the incoming dragon, trying to lose it in the maze. Gobber, meanwhile, continued on with his lecture, "Today is all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"

The Nadder had found a very frightened Fishlegs and is quick to send tail spikes his way making the young viking shout, "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!"

Gobber simply ignored him, picking at his teeth as he continued, "Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike!"

The twins, who had been running around, were unfortunate enough to find the dragon around their next corner. Frightened and unsure, they found themselves standing close together directly in front of it. They had somehow, by some miracle, found the blind spot and tried hard to stay in it. It was not meant to be as Ruffnut had apparently gotten a smell of her brother and decided it was horrible, "Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot," Tuffnut retorts as the pair of them start to fight.

"How about I give you one?"

So, of course, their argument made them visible again to the dragon, barely dodging as it tried to roast them. Gobber, who Hiccup could see looked particularly bored as he leaned his head on his palm which was leaning on the bars of the ring, spoke up, "Blind spot, yes," the older viking says wryly, "Deaf spot, not so much."

Passing under where the man was, Hiccup took the opportunity to keep up his questions, "So, uh, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Get in there!" Gobber shouts down to him.

Hiccup got a quick glance at his sister's face from where she was sitting behind Gobber and knew that was her 'I beg to differ' face as she gave him the hand motion that told him she was rolling her eyes under her lids. Yeah, they had lived to tell the tale, even if they were not quite telling it to anyone. Hiccup had caught Helga up on what had happened when he had gone looking for the dragon and lets just say, the last time she looked that intrigued, well, things did not end too great. Let us just leave it at that. Hiccup brought his attention back to Gobber as he walked back into the maze, "I know, I know, but hypothetically…"

He was interrupted by his name being called and he looked over to see Astrid and Snotlout hiding behind a wall, the former telling him to get down. She peaked her head around the corner and must have seen the dragon as she jerked back behind the wall.

Astrid, followed by Snotlout, used their shields and tumbled passed the opening onto the other side. Hiccup, in his attempt to replicate the move, was only pulled back down by the shield he had no strength to pull back up. So of course the dragon spotted him, causing him to jump and run away from it. He managed to escape and the dragon then found Astrid and Snotlout again.

Astrid was prepared to throw her axe, but did not get the chance as Snotlout pushed her out of the way with a "Watch out babe, I've got this."

He then threw his mace, and as luck would have it, missed spectacularly. It almost sounded as if the dragon was laughing at him too. Astrid was glaring at the boy and he tried to excuse himself, "The sun was in my eyes, Astrid," they then had to run from the dragon's fire as he continued putting his foot in his mouth. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have the time."

The dragon chased after Astrid after she had split directions with Snotlout. The dragon was knocking down walls as Hiccup tried to continue questioning Gobber, "They probably take the daytime off right? Like a cat."

He barely even registered the other teens run passed him as he kept talking, "Has anyone ever seen one napping?"

"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted at him, but his eyes were facing above and behind where he was standing.

Hiccup turned to watch as Astrid ran from the dragon atop the walls, the dragon itself knocking them down to chase her. She ended up on the wall directly above him and with no way else to go, she was falling right at him, shouting out his name. It hurt, a lot, when she landed, her axe digging into his shield, bending his arm in a way it really should not bend. He heard Tuffnut taunting in the background as Astrid put her hand on his face to try and get off him, "Ooh, love on the battlefield."

"She could do better," Ruffnut chimes in.

Hiccup and Astrid were paying almost no attention though as she continued to try and get her axe free, Hiccup trying to talk, "Let me…why don't you? Ahh!"

She ended up just standing and turned to see the dragon heading right for them, making her gasp. She quickly turned back to her axe, continuing her efforts to get it free. These efforts ended up being very painful for Hiccup as she tried first by placing her foot on the shield, then realising that was not working, pushing down on his face with her foot. This made the shield come loose from his arm and with a powerful swing, she whacked the Nadder in the head with the shield. The shield itself shattered around her as the dragon scampered off. Astrid was panting as Gobber called down to her, "Well done Astrid!"

She then turned angrily to face Hiccup who was curled up on the floor, "Is this some kind of joke to you?" she asks. "Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on."

Hiccup tried to collect himself as he stared over at Helga who appeared to be frowning in the general direction Astrid was now heading in. He then stood and made his way out of the ring. He got almost nothing out of Gobber, leaving going back to the Night Fury itself his only choice.

After having been ditched by her brother again, saying it was too dangerous for her since he did not know how the Night Fury would behave, she decided to wander around the village now that she had her cane back. Well, now that she had a new one. As it turns out, after the last time she broke one, on Snotlout's head of course, Hiccup had decided to make several spares in the very likely chance she would need a new one again. Although a good call on her brother's part, she could not help but feel a little insulted. Not really being able to find it in her to be mad at him for assuming the worst, she just dropped the matter, it meant she did not have to wait as long for a replacement after all.

So yes, now that she did not really need help, she decided a walk around the village was in order. She liked just listening to the sounds around her, well, there was not much else for her to do anyway, but it was peaceful. Occasionally she would come across one of the other villagers, though not as many as she usually would given most were on the hunt for the nest. They would greet her and she would greet back politely. None really tried to ever start a conversation with her, which did not bother her in the least. She was happy simply to wander and hopefully make her way back home. Did she get lost? All the time, especially when she got lost inside her own head, but she was content to simply walk around until she found a familiar location to reorient herself in the village. As long as she was still within the village, she had no real reason to be worried about anything bad happening.

She had been walking around for what had to have been a few hours by now and she decided it was probably about time to head back home. Which was about the same time she realised she had no idea where she was. She could hear the ocean rather well, which meant she had to be near the cliffs above the docks. Not that big of a deal really since her father had made sure there was fencing around all areas that could be a hazard for a blind person, most especially the hazard of falling off a cliff. However, where exactly she was along that cliff was an unknown. So, after taking a deep breath, she walked around, hoping to find the path that would lead her back into the centre of the village which she would then be able to use to figure out her direction home.

The ground below her cane, which had just been soft grass, gave way to gravel, making her cane almost get stuck. She lifted it and placed it back down on the path way, though a little above it, with the sound of the ocean behind her, she knew the village was to her left and so she followed the path in that direction.

She had barely moved a few feet before someone called out to her, "We really need to stop bumping into each other like this."

Of course it was Astrid, and seriously, they really did need to stop bumping into each other like this, "Are you stalking me?"

"Now why would I want to do that?" she replied incredulously.

"Well it's not like I can follow you around, so something is happening here."

"Helga," she starts monotonously, "trust me, I'm not following you. Honestly, I couldn't care less what you're doing. It's just that every time I do happen to see you these days, there's always something lacking."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Helga asks, not entirely sure where this was going.

"Your twin," and when it was clear that Helga was going to protest, she said more, "I know, I know, despite popular belief, you guys aren't attached together at all hours of the day. That being said, this is the second time I've seen you go hours without your brother. I know you guys aren't always together, I see you individually all the time, but usually I can catch both of you around. I don't know if you know this, but Hiccup never ventures very far from you even when you're doing your own thing. It's also never for very long. However, two days in a row I've seen you alone for several hours with your brother nowhere in sight for just as long. Something fishy is definitely going on here."

"Hiccup's giving me more freedom, how is that fishy?" Helga tries to play off, getting worried that Astrid was getting too close to something she really should not, "We're not little kids anymore and I'm used to my lack of eyesight now, I don't need a babysitter."

"You asking me to help you into the Hall yesterday tells me otherwise."

"Hey, that was because I didn't have my cane," Helga argues, feeling affronted that Astrid clearly did not think she could look after herself on most occasions, but before she knew it, the words she had bottled in came roaring out, "And why do you care so much Astrid? Why are you so interested? Not you or any of the other teens in this village give a rat's behind about Hiccup or I. If you're so observant, then maybe you would realise how Snotlout and those idiot twins affect my brother with their words and actions instead of immediately jumping to conclusions about whatever we're doing. You think I didn't hear what you said to him earlier, because I did.

"You think he doesn't understand what's going on around him? We know what the stakes are and don't think for a second you know what it's like for him either. There are so many expectations laid down on him because he's supposed to be the next Chief of this village, but around every corner is another viking that only sees what he lacks on the outside and not seeing what he makes up for it on the inside. His intelligence outdoes every other person in this village, but no one sees it because he's not a muscular, warrior viking. The one and only person that's fully and unconditionally on his side is me. So you don't get to judge him."

Her words tapering off, she found herself panting. There was silence for several moments before she realised what she had just said, most of it was not hers to lash out about, but she had anyway. All because Astrid started poking her nose where it did not belong. Though part of her was not so surprised she had even lashed out at all, for years she had seen, though mostly figuratively, the way the village looked down on her brother for not being the viking heir they think he should be. It pained her to know that he had to put up with it and despite it all, he still tried to get their approval. Honestly, Astrid herself had done nothing wrong, but that being said, she had done nothing at all. Hence why Helga found herself finally snapping and letting it all out.

Deciding there was no point in hanging around, she turned to continue her way home, "Helga, wait…"

"Just drop it Astrid, I'm going home," she interrupts without turning back to face Astrid.

The other girl does not bother trying to stop her and so Helga slowly, and almost staggeringly, makes her way home.

When Hiccup had returned home, it was to find his sister was already asleep. It was honestly still pretty early, so it was unusual to see her already in bed, they had not even had dinner with the others yet which was where he was now. He passed it off as being so bored, she ended up needing to sleep, but he wanted to tell her about what had happened in the Cove with the Night Fury.

He had actually managed to feed it the fish he had taken for it, and despite having to throw his dagger into the water for it to come closer, it had been worth it. He discovered that the dragon had retractable teeth, which was pretty cool, though when it shared the fish with him, urgh, that had to have been the most disgusting thing he had eaten in his entire fifteen years of living. Then when he had smiled at it, the dragon had actually tried imitating him, giving him the creepiest, gummiest smile ever. His first attempt at touching it had gone awry, making it glide away from him to the other side of the pond.

So he observed it until the sun started to go down, how it burnt the ground to warm it up while it laid down, then later, used its tail to hang from a branch like a bat. It was at that point Hiccup found himself sitting on a rock, drawing the Night Fury in the dirt, which had made the dragon curious. It had ended up ripping up a large branch and trying to copy him drawing too. The drawing had not really resembled much and the dragon had growled whenever his foot landed on a line it had drawn.

However, that was when it had happened, he had ended up directly under it and he had actually been able to touch it. He only had to hold out his palm and close his eyes, showing the dragon he trusted it not to bite him. That was all it took, a sign of trust. Though it appeared it had not believed that it had let that happen as it had then glided away again. Hiccup also realised he should probably start thinking of it as 'he' instead of 'it' because he was pretty sure the dragon was male.

He was pulled out of his inner thoughts as Gobber loudly talked about the loss of his limbs, "…he took my hand and swallowed it whole! I saw the look on his face…I was delicious! He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg."

"Isn't it weird to think your hand was inside a dragon?" Fishlegs speaks up, "Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from inside by crushing his heart."

Hiccup was paying very little attention as he held his fish to the fire, though Snotlout's next words did cause him to raise a brow in disbelief, "I swear, I'm so angry right now. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face."

"It's the wings and tail you really want," Gobber interjects, "If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Which made Hiccup realise that he may have condemned that Night Fury even without having used his dagger to kill it. If he did not find a way to get it back in the air, he will have killed it anyway. Gobber stood from his seat, "All right, I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys, slowly but surely making your way up to the Monstrous Nightmare, but who will win the honour of killing it?"

Hiccup was already running down the stairs at this point and did not really hear what the others started to say in response, nor could he really care less. He had a dragon to get in the air and no idea how he was going to do it.

What he had also failed to realise was that Astrid had noticed his abrupt absence, and although he was long gone by the time she moved from her seat, she had an indecipherable look on her face as she thought about what he could be up to and his twin sister's words from earlier in the day.

A/N: so, I really wasn't intending on Helga giving Astrid a tongue lashing until I started writing that scene, but it just happened and I decided I actually like that it did. With the exception of Gobber on occasion, Hiccup never really had anyone who saw his pain and actually cared enough about it to defend him. It makes sense that, as his twin sister, Helga would be that person.

On another note, I need to thank my most recent reviewer, Luna Nightrider, for the two reviews. I'm glad you enjoy my writing style and Helga, that makes me happy to hear. As for spelling mistakes, honestly, I can't seem to escape the one here or there. I can't blame it all on auto-correct, though it is a major pain in the behind. I re-read it several times before I post, but whenever I go back and read it later, I still find that one that eluded me. My inner editor is mean, so I triple check everything so as not to have it rage on me later down the track, but I still find that odd mistake here and there. If there is anything that really stands out, I'm all ears, because spelling mistakes really bug me. As for my chappy titles, I do try, I love funny and witty chapter titles, so I like to do that as often as I can with all my stories. I get a bit of a giggle out it whenever I see them haha. Can't promise they'll all be that way though.

Seza, out.