A/N

I love how this chapter turned out! I hope you guys enjoy it! And thanks to my twin sister Ilovelabrats for helping me and becoming my cowriter! She helped me write a lot of the dialogue for this. Go check her stories out!

A whole week passed, and Raegan hadn't seen hide nor hair of Hiccup. After she finished her training in the morning, the girl sat on the tree stump that was on the path's end and anticipated her friend's return as he had promised. For six afternoons she did this, and by the seventh her heart began to doubt his sincerity at the promise.

Did he even promise? Raegan reflected, hugging her knees. I mean, he said 'See you later'. That can be interpreted many different ways. He could have meant a few days… maybe a few weeks… a month?

Orrrr never. It could have just been a friendly goodbye that didn't really hold any meaning or promises. Just an empty phrase.

Her heart fell at this thought, and the feeling of loneliness washed over her once more. Raegan realized 'See you later' didn't really sound too promising. If he had said 'See you tomorrow' or 'I'll be back', now that was a sure promise, but he just said 'See you later' - definitely not a direct promise guarantee of another meeting.

So with a heavy sigh, Raegan slid off the stump and began trudging back to the house, only to freeze when her ears picked up the sound of wheels against the rocky path. Upon turning around, she saw a strange wooden contraption wheeling straight towards her, and she tilted her head in confusion.

Whaaaa?

When the wheeled object was a few feet away, it stopped and the person pushing it set the handles down and revealed himself.

Her features brightened up. "Hiccup!"

The young lad approached her, breathing heavily from his efforts to push that hunk of wood and metal out there. "Hey Raegan."

All of Raegan's loneliness was forgotten and replaced with wonder as she stepped around the machine, observing it. "What is this thing?"

Hiccup grinned. "This is that bola launcher I was telling you about." Raegan looked at him with a creased brow. "I know, a little weird and unexpected but I'm having a problem with it and Gobber thinks it's just a crazy idea and won't help me, so I thought - since your dad is a craftsman - you might be able to help me fix it."

Raegan blinked at the absurdity of this all. "Oh. Well, I mean I can try, but I mainly just watch him." His smile faltered, so she hastily added. "You can look at my dad's tools though! He owns every tool known to vikings, and even more, so I'm sure you'll find something to help."

This perked him up. "Great!"

Hiccup pushed the weapon to the workshop, and with Raegan's help they wheeled it up the three steps and into the building.

Raegan pushed straggling hairs behind her ear and walked towards the shelves, pulling down a box to rummage through it. "Um, so what's the problem exactly?" She asked.

Hiccup unlatched the cover and the mechanics inside were revealed, impressing Raegan at its complexity. "Well, I had this idea in my head to make a crossbow type thing to throw the bola, but the trigger refuses to work. I pull it and pull it and pull it, and nothing happens."

Raegan paused her movements. "Oh is that all?" She brushed his concerns away with a hand and set the box back on the shelf. "That's an easy fix. The string is probably stuck in the latch and not in the cocked position." Hiccup looked at her incredulously. "I know a lot about weapons." She explained. "I fired my first crossbow when I was six, and my dad made sure I knew how to care for each weapon I learned to use." She walked up to the mechanism and began fiddling with it. "You just readjust this, put this there and viola!" Raegan spread her hands. "Your machine should work perfectly now."

Hiccup looked at her with disbelief. "Seriously? You're saying that I've spent the last six days taking this thing apart and putting it back together like a million times and the problem is a string issue?! It was that easy?!"

Raegan blinked uncomfortably. "Well, I mean, easy for me because I do know my way around a crossbow -" Her eyes popped wide open. "Not saying that you don't know what you're talking about! No! Just, you know, since you're building a machine to throw bolas for you, I assume you don't know much about crossbows…"

Hiccup gave a big sigh. "Yeah, you're right. I really don't know much about them. My dad and Gobber won't let me within ten feet of a crossbow."

"Why?"

Hiccup made big gestures with his hands as he spoke. "They say I'm accident prone which, okay, yeah I may have blown up the shop one or two or… ten times, but other than that I'm totally normal." Hiccup threw his hands up at the end, then in an attempt to look cool leaned against the machine.

To which activated the trigger and since it was pointed at Raegan, shot the bola straight at her.

"Woah!" She exclaimed as the impact tossed her backwards, the rope wrapping her arms to get body and legs together, and after a twirl she landed on the worktable across the room. "Oof!" She cried out upon impact, shattering the table into pieces.

Hiccup ran up to her and kneeled. "Gods, Raegan are you okay?!"

Raegan flopped her head over to look at him. "Peachy."

Hiccup hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do. "I-I'm so sorry - uh," He patted down his torso until he found a dagger. "Hold still." He instructed, so she lay completely still as he cut the ropes loose.

Once Raegan was free, she sat up and gave him an inquisitive look while pushing off the ropes.

He nervously shrugged. "I guess we know it works now, hehe."

Raegan raised her brows. "Next time we work on a machine of yours, remind me to stand behind it." She looked around her, and noticed that when she crashed against the table, the large map of Arics had been torn down from the wall too and was crumpled and ripped into several pieces.

She scrambled to her feet and cried out. "Oh no! My dad's going to kill me!" Her hands fisted into her hair.

"Raegan?" A female voice called out behind her.

Raegan whipped around and saw her mother standing at the door. "Mom! What are you doing home so early?" She asked, voice riddled in fear.

Ingrid stepped into the room, looking at all the damage. "It was a slow day so I got sent home. What's going on in here?"

Hiccup stood and held out a hand. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Calder. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Raegan's hands found her hair again. "Mom, what am I going to do? When dad sees the map, he's going to flip!"

Ingrid's heart twinged at seeing her daughter so afraid, and put her hands on her Raegan's shoulders. "Rae, first and foremost, are you okay?"

"No, no I'm not alright because dad already thinks I'm too young and naive, now he'll think I'm irresponsible, and I'll never be allowed to leave this place and avenge their deaths!"

Hiccup looked at Raegan with wide eyes, and Ingrid shook her slightly. "Raegan!" The young viking looked up at her mother with wide eyes. "I won't let that happen, okay? Soon you're going to be out there killing dragons and being the warrior I know you'll be. You aren't too young, naive, or irresponsible, alright?" She put a hand to Rae's cheek. "I can fix the map, we'll rebuild the table, and this'll be our little secret, okay?"

Raegan looked down for a moment. "... I'm not in trouble?" She murmured.

Ingrid stepped away and looked at the two teens. "Breaking things is an occupational hazard for vikings, and it was an accident, right?"

Hiccup, who was in a trance for a moment, snapped out of it and nodded vigorously in answer to the question. "It was actually all my fault. The machine still has a mild calibration issue, and probably should be kept outdoors."

Ingrid glanced at the bola launcher. "Yes, that sounds like a wise decision."

Raegan took in a deep breath and let it out through her mouth. "You can really fix the map?"

"Yes, I can." Ingrid kicked a piece of splintered wood. "The table is beyond repair, though, so I'll be using some of my earnings to buy another."

Raegan grimaced. "I'm sorry, mom."

Ingrid gave her a small smile full of warmth. "Don't worry about it, mon trésor. I'm just happy you're not hurt."

Suddenly, a stinging sensation was felt on Raegan's arm, and she looked to see a long bleeding cut on her bicep. "Well, I may have gotten a scratch."

Healer mode kicked in, and Ingrid grabbed her forearm to inspect the cut. "Hm. Did you cut it on metal?"

Raegan bit her lip briefly. "I'm not sure, but I'll put some honey on it to prevent infection if I did and maybe some yarrow so it doesn't sting."

Ingrid nodded with a smile at her young protégés knowledge. "Aye, that'll be good." She glanced at the boy. "Hiccup, I'm going to start cleaning up around here - will you help her?"

"Sure thing."

Inside the house, as Raegan was sitting on the kitchen table cleaning up and then applying remedies to her cut, Hiccup, who was standing next to her, was too lost in his mind to realize he was looking straight at her with a thoughtful expression on his face until she finally asked him, "What?"

He blinked in confusion as he was taken out of his stupor. "Huh?"

"You're staring at me."

"Oh… sorry." He saw she was finished dressing her cut, and picked up the roll of bandage, then tossed it in his hands awkwardly. "So I'm just gonna…" Raegan tentatively held out her arm, and he carefully began wrapping her arm.

At one point, his fingers brushed her skin, and both involuntarily shivered, then looked at each other with wide eyes before breaking eye contact and blushing, confused as to why and what had happened.

When he recovered, Hiccup decided to apologize again for getting her into this scrape, for he felt terrible she got hurt because of his antics, and feared she would want to stop being his friend. He didn't want that. He would never admit it - in fear of looking like a loser - but she was the only friend he had, and he felt stupid that he had possibly jepordized that.

Why did he always screw up?

"I'm really sorry about the mess. Maybe I am a tad bit accident prone." He admitted.

Raegan, who had also recovered, gave a small smile - she had noted his multiple apologies already, and felt maybe he was nervous she'd get angry with him. This made her feel even more friendship towards him, for she had those same feelings since she met him. They were so similar, it seemed. "Don't worry about it - I'm not. Mom says it's no big deal."

Hiccup paused his movements and looked at her anxiously. "Is-is she going to say something to my dad?"

"Well, considering she's not even going to tell my dad, I doubt she's going to blab it to his friend. That'd guarantee his finding out."

"But what if he sees her buying a new table?" He countered.

"Don't worry, Hiccup." She repeated as gently as she could. "My mom apparently isn't one to rat one out, so I doubt she'll tell your dad."

Hiccup relaxed slightly and finished wrapping her arm. "Good. I've broken more things in our home than I can count and if my dad found out I broke something in another vikings home, I'm done for."

Raegan repeated her mother's words. "Breaking things is an occupational hazard for vikings. And if he did get mad, well what's the worst that could happen?" Can't be any worse than my dad. She mentally added.

Hiccup leaned against the table. "You've clearly never seen my dad when he's angry." He made gestures with his hand as he spoke. "His face gets as red as his hair, and you think his normal voice is loud? Well his angry one is louder and rattles the walls." He crossed his arms and looked at his boots. "As a kid I'd sometimes have nightmares about him when he would get angry, even when I didn't do anything wrong." He suddenly became nervous again, and rubbed the back of his neck, which was now red. "And...I don't know why I'm telling you all this."

It was now Raegan who was looking thoughtfully at Hiccup. She too had nightmares about her father. Sometimes it was him getting angry and yelling and screaming and beating her, other times they were random but created the same feelings she felt when he was angry - fear, confusion, unworthiness, panic, pain, etc.

Raegan looked down at her boots now too, and spoke about her own experiences, for if he trusted her with his, why couldn't she with him? "That sounds tough… Usually when my dad's angry about something, he just ignores me and my mom, but you can feel the aura of frustration around him, and when he does say something, it's usually in a condescending tone. It's worse when I screw up with my lessons because he acts like I've failed at life. Everything has to be just right for him, and if something doesn't go his way...well, me and my mother pay for it."

Hiccup listened to her every word intently, but when she finished, he could only say. "Sounds tough." No one has ever opened up to him like this before, and he wondered if this is what friends do.

Raegan continued telling her story. "It's why I've never dared step one foot outside of this place. He's never hurt me physically, but somehow his disapproval is -"

"Worse." Hiccup finished, fully understanding what she was saying, and their eyes met. "Yeah, it's hard when someone who's supposed to love you always seems disappointed in you."

"Exactly." Raegan agreed, and for a moment they took each other in.

They'd only known each other for a little over a week, but yet they already had a deep understanding of one another. In each other they'd found a kindred spirit, a listening ear that also fully understood their troubles.

Raegan and Hiccup still had a lot to learn about friendship, but one thing they knew is that they had each found someone who fully, completely understood them.

A/N

So I hope I didn't look like a fool. Google is my only source of information, so idk if that thing with the crossbow is completely accurate, same with the healing remedies. I hope it's ok though!