Unintentional Hero
Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions
Rated: M for a variety of things that will happen
Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD
20; Utter Hell
-Hayden's POV-
I hadn't said a single word since I left the school after saying goodbye to my sister, my Dad, my girlfriend, and friends. I knew it would be hard on them, but I didn't think I'd watch my sister and girlfriend collapse to the ground and beg me through uncontrolled tears not to get on the plane. And what was worse: Baghdad. Iraq was in a worse war than with Afghanistan. The fights in Iraq were massive and just about constant so there was hardly any rest, round the clock patrols, and so much more and now I was going into the heart of it with a bunch of privates who graduated three months ago, plus my squadron of twenty-six including myself. The ride to Iraq was around seven hours and we only had one layover that last an hour to drop off the Murderous soldiers to the Peaceable Island. So right now there there were fifty soldiers from Fort Dreki, one hundred from Titanwing Company, and of course my: my squadron, 1st Alpha Fire. I expected that once we landed, it'd be a lot like in Afghanistan where we'd get broken up into squads. I knew I was safe, my squad stayed together now. The only time it would change was if someone died and...someone else would come into fill the spot.
It wasn't a great thought but we knew how possible it was. I'd had this squad since Afghanistan and I loved them all like brothers and sisters. Although, midway through Fort Titanwing a few others had their stations changed so now my squad was a mix of mostly males and some females. Most of them ranged for privates to corporals and I could name them all but it'd take way too long. I was glad my Strike One unit hadn't changed: Theo Holgerson, Eli Matthews, Daryl Lennox, Steven Ritka, and Jason Tarelto. I also knew that me being a Lieutenant now meant I could be put in charge of another squadron. With Alpha-Fire and another, I'd be commanding an entire platoon.
"This is your captain speaking, we'll be arriving in Baghdad, Iraq in ten minutes. Please remained seated until the aircraft has landed." I sighed: ten minutes until we landed. I heard whimpering as I glanced over to see Oivind's sister, Jasmine, shaking and trying to keep it together. I got out from my seat even though I wasn't supposed too and moved in front of her, crouching down. "What's wrong? Talk to me, Jasmine."
"I'm scared..." Jasmine said softly looking at me now.
"I know. War is a scary thing, but it will be alright, Flinvor. I promise. I made you that promise the day you started Basic and I won't break it now. You're on my squadron, and Alpha Fire is a squad of hardened soldiers who never stop fighting and give all we got until we've won. I'll say what I say before every patrol, and mission. On the wings of our fallen, we will soar to victory," I said as I reached into my coat and pulled out a set of dog tags, I handed them to her. "I've had these since it happened. They were your brother's and I've held on to them because they give me strength but I think you need them more. And Jasmine...your brother will be with you every step of the way." I told her calmly as I placed Oivind's dog tags around her neck. "Keep them under your jacket. You might not see him, but wearing those...Trust me, you'll know he's there with you." Jasmine wiped her eyes and nodded to me, "Buck up kiddo. It's all going to be fine." I stood up and moved back to my seat.
"Thank you, Lieutenant Haddock..." Jasmine said softly. I relaxed the best I could, about eight minutes to landing. I closed my eyes as Toothless crooned softly and I reached over to rub his head.
"It's alright bud. We did this once, we can do it again." I told my friend: he licked my cheek and rested his head on my lap.
-End Hayden's POV-
(Berk)
No one quite understood what happened about seven hours ago. Gerald took Camille home right away after she broke down in the high school parking lot. All anyone knew from when Avery, TJ, Rachel, Felix, and Seth returned into the school was that Hayden had been deployed again. Seth explained it since Avery was a distraught mess, and at some point her mother came to pick her up. It became clear with Seth's explanation that Hayden was deployed again, and this time it was to Iraq. Everyone knew how bad it was there, and Hayden, a mere eighteen year old Lieutenant had just been sent there and left the school on the transport place with his squadron. He came two hours from Visithug, just to say goodbye to them. Avery was over at Gerald's with Camille and Seth, Gerald tried to assure them that Hayden would be fine and call as soon as he could but even he himself wasn't so sure.
The war in Iraq was much worse than in Afghanistan. Every day it seemed, groups of five to fifteen men were injured or killed in action. Avery and Camille were terrified, they'd been sitting at Gerald's since maybe 4:15pm. Gerald informed them that Hayden would be three hours ahead of them this time and probably just about to land so the call wouldn't come right away. Avery looked at the clock: it was now 8pm which meant it was 11pm where Hayden was or would be very soon. She knew when she got with him the risk of being deployed again and she had said she'd be able to handle it but she never thought it would be just nine months after his first tour ended. "Why...Why did he have to join?..." Camille whimpered softly.
"Only Hayden knows the answer to that...He said it was something he had to do the day he left for Basic," Seth told his cousin now.
"And according to his army friends, he says he likes it because there is never any disappointment and always acceptance," Gerald added.
"He had that here...Everyone accepted him, and he was never anyone's disa—Except for you!" Camille stated quickly, looking at her father angrily.
"M-me!?" Gerald stammered.
"Every single fight you two had, he's mentioned that you're never proud of him! That nothing he ever does is good enough for you to be happy or proud of him!" Camille cried out now. "He joined the army to make you proud and I swear to Odin if he dies over there, if he ever dies on a deployment...I'm holding you responsible and I will never forgive you!" Camille rushed off the couch to her room and slammed the door. Gerald didn't know what to say or do: was it his fault Hayden joined the military? Because he felt like his father was never proud of him? Gerald was proud of him but that didn't stop him from worrying about his only son being deployed to war and the possibility of Hayden dying. Gerald looked at the cell phones on the table: Camille's, Avery's, and his own. The three main phones he called and just prayed for one of them to ring soon. What scared Gerald the most about this was that he lost his wife when she was deployed to Iraq, and that tour: she never came home.
(Iraq; 11:30pm)
Eight minutes were up, they were officially over the base according to the pilots flying the plane. This time thankfully the plane could actually land to let them off so they wouldn't have to jump it. Hayden was up first with Toothless beside him as the hatch began to open slowly and already he could hear gunfire and explosions. 'Here we go again,' Hayden thought then went full Lieutenant mode as his eyes narrowed. "All soldiers off the plane on the double. Hustle, Hustle, Hustle!" Hayden called out. Everyone stood and began rushing off-he of course was last with his dragon. The other dragons for his squadron had been flown the night before with a lead rider who actually flew from Visithug to Iraq on the back of his dragon. Hayden's wouldn't fly without him, ever. Toothless only responded to Hayden, anyone else who tried to ride him got thrown off-hence why the two were inseparable.
Right away stepping off Hayden could see they were dead center of a large attack as a man rushed over to him. "Alpha Fire, Titanwing, and Shocker?" the man asked.
"Yes, sir!" Hayden stepped forward now.
"You're...Lieutenant Haddock of Alpha Fire, correct?" Hayden nodded to him, "We need you in the air right now for air assault. Our dragons can't get close and don't have the speed we need. I'll take care of these guys," the man said.
"Consider it done," Hayden remarked as he jumped on Toothless's back, "Call back your front line: they get caught in Toothless's blast and they will get fried," Hayden added.
"All units fall back. StrikeAir-1 is here!" the man yelled over his radio.
"Copy that. All units backing off, Lieutenant General." came a voice. Hayden leaned forward and patted Toothless's neck as he launched into the air over the base line seeing the enemy soldiers there. His eyes narrowed instantly as he whipped Toothless around and pulled out about six grenades from his belt then yanked out the pins.
"Plasma grenade bud in five, four, three..." he tossed them them into the group of the enemies, by estimation he had to assume there was about two hundred and fifty, "...two...ONE! NOW TOOTHLESS, EVASIVE PLASMA BLASTS!" Hayden called out. The grenades all went off in different places causing massive explosions where the group began to split up but Toothless weaved in and out of the explosions to shoot his blasts and send the enemies backing up and retreating from base lines. For added measure, Hayden pulled his M16 and began firing from atop of Toothless to keep them moving. When they were out of range, Hayden flipped Toothless around and they landed in a circle of cheering soldiers.
"Thanks for that, Lieutenant. That attack started three hours ago..." the man said.
"It's what I do..." Hayden acknowledged, getting off Toothless and rubbing his head while getting a croon, "Where is my squadron?" Hayden asked.
"I've sent them to E barrack of Echo Strike platoon-which you are now Lieutenant of. Sergeant Eric Staton is in charge of the Ember Fire squadron in D barrack And the rest have you came with have been moved around to different places on base," the man said, "I'm Lieutenant General Richard Evans of the 17th Dragons Den Division. Welcome to the Doragon base, also known as utter Hell," Lt. General informed him. Hayden had figured with his rank of Lieutenant that he'd get put in charge of a platoon.
"Is that all I needed to know?" Hayden asked.
"For now. You'll meet the Brigade, Regiment, Battalion, and Company leaders later, they are in a meeting right now. I came out to greet you all. E barrack is just that way, 'bout a ten minute walk. I think we're safe for a while: it's gonna take those enemy soldiers a while to get back to their own base and think of a new plan of attack. We might actually get the upper hand now that you and your Night Fury are here. We've heard a lot about you from Colonel Jacobson and Major White from the Fury Fighters Division in Afghanistan. We'd asked them if they had anyone who could put a dent in these assholes, and they highly recommended you and your team," the Lt. General stated.
Hayden's eyes widened: he was deployed here specifically on request!? Oh what the actual fuck. He might as well just accept it-he did have a Night Fury after all-so he expected a lot of attention on him even though he hated it, but even he had to admit that it was pretty awesome to have the only Night Fury around and had been seen in close to thirty years, maybe longer. He wasn't sure the last time a Night Fury had been spotted, much less gotten this close to. Night Furies weren't known for being friendly in the slightest yet Toothless protected him, chose him. "Well if we're safe for a while, I'm going to meet up with my squadron, and I guess introduce myself to the Ember guys and girls..." Hayden stated as offered a salute to him: when he was given one in return, he walked towards E barrack.
Turned out as he arrived there, the two squadrons were already in one barrack to greet one another. Taking a deep breath, Hayden walked in after Toothless went to relax in the stable where a basket of fish was waiting for him. "Lieutenant!" Theo said quickly.
"That was an awesome move you did! These bastards don't stand a chance now that we got you!" came a the voice of a private.
"Alright chill out...It wasn't that big a deal," Hayden remarked as he made his way through the crowd.
"Saved ya the top bunk with me, Haddock," Theo chuckled motioning to it.
"Of course you did: we've been bunk buddies since Basic," Hayden chuckled a little as he stood before everyone. "Alright, listen up. I'm Lieutenant Hayden Haddock, leader of the Ember Strike platoon as ordered by Lieutenant General Evans. Letting ya know now that I'm also leader of Alpha Fire squadron, have been since Afghanistan. As for units, I run the Strike One. Those two facts don't change. Ever," Hayden announced over the now quiet barrack of E. "Also for warning, don't go trying to get near Toothless...he's got a bad temper." Hayden heard Toothless warble with a huff. "Oh, you just calm down you overgrown lizard with wings. You damn well know it's true." Now Toothless was quiet. "You know I love ya bud." Toothless warbled happily now.
"So...we all just here like two weeks ago...we don't have units yet..." said one of the men from the D barrack.
"Then what have you been doing for two weeks?" Hayden asked curiously.
"Mostly staying out of the way...the lot of us are from Peaceable and Meathead. Graduated six months ago, stayed stationed in our home bases." Hayden face-palmed with a sigh and shaking his head.
"How many of you are privates?" Hayden asked.
"All but three who were promoted right to private first class from outstanding achievement in Basic. Oh and one Sergeant: Eric Staton, but he was a graduate like a year ago," answered one of the girls.
"Alright. Sergeant Staton and the three private first class soldiers step out of line and behind me. I will not have disorganization in my platoon...I'll separate you myself. My squad runs on four, six man units. You will do the same. There are twenty-four of you, this shouldn't be that hard to break off into teams." Hayden mumbled. He turned to the Sergeant, "You got a master list of your squad?" He nodded and handed it to Hayden as he scanned over it. "Alpha Fire, get on your beds to keep the clutter down." His squadron did, and Hayden already noticed that two of his original guys weren't there. They'd been dropped off on the layover for a special something or other. So his squad was down to twenty-four again.
"Awaiting orders, Lieutenant Haddock." said one of the D barrack men who he was about to group into units.
"Listen up. I've going to name six people, when you're name is called stand with the others I called. I'll also give you your unit name. Don't forget it because on patrols, missions or anything when we're not on base and out there...That's what I'll be radioing in to locate you!" Hayden took a breath.
"Sir, yes sir." the group replied.
"Good. Sharp One, Privates: John Aremy, Scott Jordans, Mike Masiello, Amy Lakin, Maria Hollern. Unit leader: Private First Class Josh Varraso." Hayden stated. "Moving on. Sharp Two, Privates: Lauren Perez, Charlie Ellis, Clayton Wagner, Allen Hicks, Leon Micoy. Unit Leader: Private First Class Austin Cohen. Sharp Three, Privates: Sheri Fuller, Claire Miller, Janice Lawson, Ryan Delgado, Ricky Powell. Unit Leader: Private First Class June Morrison. Finally, led by Sergeant Staton will be Sharp Four with Privates: Sonya Alvares, Jerry Young, Eddy King, Cooper Bennet, and Melissa Clark." Hayden finished looking to see them all having moved into the groups he assigned.
"Thanks..." said Sergeant Staton.
"Don't mention it. But seriously, you can't handle forming your squad into simple six person units then this definitely ain't gonna be a good time for you. Now if everything is squared away, it's late and I'd like to call home because when I left eight hours ago...I left two people in tears..." he mumbled pulling out his phone. "You can all hang out here until 11:30, then back to your barracks." He pressed Avery's contact name and put the phone to his ear to wait for an answer. He knew it was only 9pm there, she would still be up.
"Hayden! Oh Gods, thank Thor...Are you okay? Did you land safely?" came her voice instantly-a voice filled with sadness.
"I'm alright babe. Yes, I'm okay and landed an hour ago...Where's Cami? Or is she at my Dad's still?" Hayden asked.
"I'm at your Dad's...Seth and I have been here since four..." Avery replied sniffling a bit. "Cami! Hayden called!" she called out. Hayden sighed: here came more tears, he was sure, as he heard the footsteps of Camille rushing to the phone and he heard that he'd been put on speaker phone.
"Thank Odin you're okay. How are you?" Camille asked right away.
"I'm fine. Landed an hour ago and had to jump right in with Toothless, just got to my barrack with the squad fifteen minutes ago," Hayden replied more calmly.
"How long...will you be there?" Hayden heard Seth ask next.
"You know that I don't know. I'm here until they send me home, most deployments are six months to a year, and can be extended up to eighteen months before a tour ends. I could be home in two weeks or I could be home in a year and a half, but it wouldn't matter because I could also be immediately deployed back to Afghanistan. There is no way to know until my commanding officer tells me," Hayden replied sighing.
"Hayden, can I ask you something?" That time, Hayden heard his father talking to him. Hayden prepared himself for another fight, "Did you join the military...because of me?" Gerald asked slowly.
"And what makes you think I joined because of you?" Hayden finally asked.
"Something your friends said while you were unconscious after being shot in the leg last month. That you liked the military because there was never disappointment and only acceptance. And since joining, you've always mentioned that I'm never proud of you, and nothing you do is ever good enough for me," Gerald said quietly.
Hayden was quiet a minute, how did he respond to this? Finally, he sighed with a deep breath as he noticed his platoon had grown quiet. "You are never proud of me. You never have since Mom died six years ago and yes to me it feels like nothing I do will ever please you, will never be enough. But I accepted a long time ago that you'll never be proud of me no matter what I do and that is fine with me. But no, I did not join the military because of you." He heard silence on the other end except for Avery's and Camille's crying, hearing the barrack door open he saw Lt. General Evans walk in with four others following inside.
"Then why did you, Hayden...This is...your second tour in the two years you've been in the military..." Avery whimpered some.
"Listen to me all of you. And listen good because I'm not going to say this again. I did not join the military because of anyone. No one pushed me to do it, no one forced me to make the choice to join. I did it because I wanted too. Because I wanted to do something great with my life. I got so sick and tired of everyone calling me Useless, that I'd never go anywhere in life. I was told it so much that I began to believe it myself...Until I passed the recruitment office two years and three months ago and saw the fliers on the window that said: Want to help people, stand up for what's right, defend those you love? Join the Barbaric Archipelago Army today and be a part of something great as you become all you can be. That alone was enough for me to make my choice," Hayden informed them softly, "I wanted to be more, I wanted to do more with my life than just...go to school and work in your office, Dad. I told you I didn't want to do what you did, I didn't want to become a lawyer and defend people who were innocent and some who are guilty. That's not me, I'm not you. I'm not anyone but me. I'm still defending people, I'm just not doing it your way with courtrooms, trials, appeals, and judges. I'm doing it my way where I defend everyone. So to answer your question, I'll give you this: I joined the military, not because of anyone...I joined for everyone, to protect you all who I love and care about." He paused now. "I fight for all of you, and I pray to Odin...that you never forget that," Hayden said firmly.
"We just want you home, Hayden..." Camille said now.
"I know you want me home, but there there are other people who need me to be here so this is where I will be," Hayden replied.
"What about us, we need you too," Avery said next.
"Exactly. You need to be protected, and as a soldier out here on the front lines...I'm doing just that. That's what all of us are doing over here, protecting who love most. It's late, it's midnight over here. I gotta go. I called so you'd know I landed and I'm here now. I will come home as soon as I'm able too. Until then...Sleep easy knowing that I'm here protecting you. I love you and I'll talk to you soon," Hayden said.
"We love you too, Hayden..." Camille and Avery cried together.
"Stay safe cuz," Seth added.
"Come home soon, son..." Gerald stated softly.
"I will as soon as I can. Take care," Hayden said as he then pulled the phone down and ended the call closing his eyes.
"Lieutenant Haddock," said Lt. General Evans calmly. Hayden tossed his phone on his bed then offered a firm salute. "Ease up lad, don't gotta be so formal. I was coming by to introduce you to the others."
"My apologies for you having to hear all that. My family and girlfriend are...a little more emotional than I anticipated about the abrupt departure," Hayden responded.
"At least it wasn't a screaming match with your colorful vocabulary choice included..." Lennox mentioned.
"Screw you, Lennox..." Hayden remarked.
"Ah, there it is," Ritka chuckled with a few of the others.
"Pleasure to have you with us, Haddock. We fought alongside your mother when we were in our earlier army days: hit us hard when we lost her," said one man.
"I'm Firewing Brigade leader; Colonel Randy Boggs," The male, Randy, now said holding out his hand to shake Hayden's.
"Colonel Brady Greenhalgh of the 10th Screecher Regiment." Hayden shook his next.
" Lieutenant Chris Naylar, leader of the Inferno Battalion." Then he shook Hayden's hand.
"Ashflame Company, Major Donald Huntington." The Major smiled softly.
"And I'm Lieutenant Hayden Haddock. Leader of the Echo Strike platoon, Alpha Fire squadron, and Strike One unit," Hayden stated calmly. "And you already know Toothless or StrikeAir-1," he chuckled out.
"We certainly do. Well, we should let you boys get your rest. It's been a long day, tomorrow we'll start the hard stuff," Lt. General Evans smiled as he led the men out.
"Alright, Ember Fire squad, back to your barrack and get some sleep," Hayden ordered.
"Yes, Lieutenant," they replied and left.
"That goes for you too, Alpha Fire," Hayden added after the Ember Fire squad left, leaving just him and his twenty-three men in there. They all got settled into their beds: Hayden flipped the light off and went to his own and he ended up being the first one to knock out and fall fast asleep. It didn't take long for the rest to do the same, as they wanted to be ready for tomorrow. First day at Doragon base in Baghdad, Iraq. Also known as utter Hell.
