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

36; You Idiot

Two months had passed since the day Hayden broke up with Avery in hopes of giving her a better, happier future without him. It hurt him to do it but he wanted her to have a good life with someone who could actually provide for her, be there when she cried, and someone who didn't make her worry all the time. True to his word, he didn't talk to her at all and warned his friends for them to stop updating her on him. Currently they were in December, three weeks until Christmas. Hayden called him from a private number to say Happy Thanksgiving to Camille, his dad, Seth-then aunt and uncle. But he refused to talk to Avery. He wanted her to get over him, and he was trying to get over her too by keep himself distracted with missions. Enemy activity had increased a lot but at least no one was getting hurt anymore. His wound was healed-which he was thankful for to no longer be in such pain when he walked or rolled over on to his side.

The missions were all standard: helping a pinned down squadron, area checks, small fights, and more. Hayden kept everyone safe, and himself. But most nights they found Hayden staring off into space wondering how Avery was. His friends offered to find out for him but he denied it. Just like with her, if he got updates then it would be that harder for him to let go of her-even though he wasn't sure he could. He'd love her forever, nothing could change that and it was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do but he felt it was best so he couldn't go back on it. And all the times he talked with Camille or his father, he didn't hear anything about Avery so he honestly believed she moved on by now and that hurt him to know but he told himself he'd be fine knowing she was happy.

"Be on guard tonight Alpha Fire, heard a lot of reports of enemies getting closer to our base borders." Anderson warned.

"We got it, Anderson. What time we headin out?" Hayden asked.

"Two hours, gonna be a long night too. Sending Delta Fire with myself too that way we can switch off and let ya guys rest after a few hours." Anderson replied.

"Got it. We'll get ready." Hayden nodded to him. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as he pulled it out and saw a message on Skype from Camille: Hey bro, I really think you should give Avery a call. She's been too quiet lately and won't take our calls. Her parents say she barely leaves her room except to eat and use the bathroom. They also said she's been waking up in the middle of the night screaming out and crying...You need to call her and talk to her please, we're really worry about her...

Hayden closed his eyes as Anderson arched a brow, "Something up?" Hayden turned the phone so he show Anderson the message. "So I guess that answers your question if she's okay or not...What are you gonna do?"

"I don't fuckin know, what should I do knowing my ex isn't over me at all after two months..." Hayden mumbled.

"Listen kid, I can't tell ya what to do. It's your choice...but if your sister said all that, maybe its time ya call her. I know you don't want too but it sounds to me like she isn't doing so good with handling this break up like you are." Anderson told him.

"You think I'm handling this," Hayden asked, Anderson nodded. "Fuck no. I'm miserable without her but..." Anderson put his hand on Hayden's shoulder.

"If you're miserable then why don't you get through this mission, call her back, and talk about things. I told you, there are ways to make it work. I've been doing it for years...Hayden you know I have a wife and two kids at home, don't you?" Hayden shook his head, "Huh, thought I mentioned that in one of our conversations...Either way. I've been deployed about six times since I joined...and my wife and kids are fine. I made all their births, got two leaves per tour, and my family and I are happy, even with all this...You're only twenty years old, don't give yourself the mindset that you can't be happy because of the military. You can have both and you can be happy."Anderson told him.

"I just don't know, Anderson...I hate...hurting her with the constant worrying if I'm alright. It's not fair to her to worry every day if I'm alive or dead. I just feel like its better this way..." Hayden sighed.

"I can't tell ya what to do or how to feel, but you love her and that won't stop. If you think it's better, then you should be a lot happier than you are and you're not. The question is...do you think its fair that you won't let anyone tell her if you're alright here-maybe that's why she hasn't gotten over you. Because she doesn't know if you're okay, last time you talked you told her you'd been shot in the side-not exactly a comforting thought when you're being broken up with and your now ex is in a heavy war zone," Anderson smiled.

"I'll think about it..." Hayden said as he sighed then headed off to alert the two squads to be ready in two hours for their guard shift. It would be twelve hours, would be starting at 3pm. He was miserable without Avery in his life, but could he really be with her again? Right now he just wanted to get through the mission, then sit down to figure all this out.

(12pm-Midnight)

Hayden was on patrol with his squadron, Anderson and the Delta Fire were resting on their sleeping bags. Hayden was perched in a high window of a building where their guard was stationed. Their guard had started at 3pm, and they had three hours to go before the next platoon took over. So far it had been pretty quiet, nothing had been seen of reported and as always he kept tabs on the units spread out in other spots of the shift area. Hayden rubbed his eyes and looked ahead again, she saw slight movement and sat forward more getting out his binoculars to get a better look, sure enough and attack was on its way. "Toothless, sound the alarm!" Hayden called jumping down from his spot, his dragon lifted his head and gave off a loud roar then shot a blast in the sky to alert the base where it was coming from.

Anderson and the rest of Delta Fire was up instantly, "Haddock, what's going on?" Anderson asked.

"Big wave coming from the East, Anderson. Numbers ranging around two to two-fifty. ETA is fifteen minutes." Hayden replied.

"Well, let's get ready then!" Anderson called out, Hayden nodded as they all prepared to get back to base to warn the others. They wouldn't have a lot of time to coordinate an attack but they would have to try their best. They were running out of time, the enemy was moving fast-while running Hayden jumped on Toothless's back. "What are you doing!?"

"Covering the platoon. Get back to the base, Toothless and I got this...Get back and get ready..." Hayden told him.

"You be careful, I don't wanna have to be the one to bring back your body! Understand me?" Anderson called to him.

"You won't!" Hayden called as Toothless and him headed the opposite way to use Toothless's blasts as cover fire so the Dragonfire platoon could get back to base and have a little time to get a counter attack ready. Hayden hovered in between the two armies, he rubbed Toothless's neck and the dragon fired continuously to offer cover, when there was enough smoke Hayden whipped around shot back to the base landing in the clearing and jumping off with his gun ready. "Get ready, I only shot enough to slightly scatter and confuse then leave a thick layer of smoke to confuse them. ETA is about ten minutes!" Hayden informed Anderson as he rushed up beside him.

"Good man, Haddock. We got the line ready. RPG's first, grenades, then gunfire. If anyone makes it through that, then its hand to hand!" Major White called to him.

"Cool by me, let's take down another wave boys and girls!" Hayden called out to the Dragonfire platoon as they cheered and then it began. As always it became chaotic pretty quick with explosions and gunfire.

(Two Hours Into Battle)

Hayden was panting as he ducked down to avoid being shot, he lifted and fired back then reloaded his gun continued shootting, "Toothless, plasma blast!" Hayden called, the dragon shot his purple blast at a small group of enemies headed their way.

"Thanks for the cover, Haddock!" someone from Delta Fire called to him. Hayden gave a nod as he kept going, Toothless suddenly stopped and looked up as he then warbled to Hayden to make him look over, the dragon motioned upwards as Hayden looked and his eyes widened.

"St-Storm...fly?" Hayden asked. WHAT!? If Stormfly was here then so was-he looked up again and sure enough when the Nadder turned he saw Avery on her back. "No," He whispered, "NO, AVERY!" Hayden yelled out.

"RPG!" Hayden heard Dylan yelled out, Hayden watched it's path-right at Avery because she was left wide open. Fear overtook him as he jumped in Toothless's back and took to the sky without another word.

"PLASMA BLAST!" Hayden called out, Toothless shot the RPG causing a massive explosion, the force knocked Avery off and she went towards the ground. "Rescue dive bud!" The dragon whipped around in a loop as he got under Avery-who Hayden caught in his arms bridal style and flew to the base area, he put her down. "Are you alright?!" Hayden asked, she nodded slowly-obviously terrified that she'd nearly died if it weren't for him. "Good...now...HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND! I don't even..." He stopped hearing gunfire closer to them so he pushed her down and used his body to cover hers, "We are not done talking about this...GOD DAMN IT! ANDERSON!" Hayden yelled out angrily, Anderson rushed over hearing the urgency. "Get her out of here, now!"

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Anderson yelled.

"Can we ask questions later, get her the fuck out of here!" Hayden scolded as he took off his helmet and put it on her head, then his outer protective coat on her shoulder. Anderson nodded quickly as he helped Avery up and rushed her off. "I've had enough of this..." He glared getting back on Toothless.

"Hayden, don't you dare! You have no protective gear on!" Lt. Col. Grayson yelled to him.

"I don't give a fuck, I AM NOT IN THE MOOD!" Hayden yelled back as he leaned forward and shot off, once in the right position he patted his dragon's neck and the dragon gave a deadly snarl charging a blast. "Make it count bud, aim for the RPG line..." Hayden told him, Toothless shot ten blasts rapid fire in a straight line while whipping past the enemies. In the confusion, a gun went of and shot right past his bare arm, he hissed out cupping his hand over it: already feeling the stinging and warm blood coming free from the wound. "Damn it..." He ignored the pain as he grabbed two grenades from his belt and pulled their pins as he threw them towards the ground, two more explosions occurred as the enemies began to retreat. Hayden panted hard as he turned Toothless around and headed back to the somewhat cheering soldiers for the victory but Hayden wasn't celebrating. He was pissed.

Avery flew all the way to Afghanistan and nearly got herself killed too. Hayden jumped off Toothless before he even set down-and landed in a crouch. Theo rushed over, "You're hit. MEDIC!" Anderson rushed out of the barrack now, Avery beside him.

"Haddock, are you alright?" Anderson asked quickly. Hayden shoved them away as he glared at Avery almost.

"Back the hell off! It grazed me, I'll live..." Hayden said firmly as they backed up now, when Hayden was mad, you backed the hell up immediately. "You," He started angrily, then the fear overtook him as he cupped grabbed her face and she gasped seeing the tears there but they hadn't fallen yet. Without warning he just kissed her quickly and pulled back, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" He kissed her again, "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING COMING HERE ON STORMFLY! THIS ISN'T THE FUCKING TRAINING GROUNDS, AVERY! This is a fucking war zone! You could have been killed! Do you understand that! If Toothless hadn't spotted Stormfly, you'd both be dead right now and I'd be going on such a rampage from hell that it would take a bullet in the head to stop me! What the fuck are you doing here, Avery...For Odin's sake, what the fuck are you doing in Afghanistan!?" Hayden scolded her, at this: the area had almost gone completely silent. They'd never seen him this mad before, not even when he lost Ritka after having to leave him behind. He kissed her again deeply and pulled back, "Why!" Another kiss, "Why did you do this! You stupid, reckless, idiot, why!" He bellowed at her after another kiss.

"I'm...sorry I just...wanted to know if you were okay because no one would tell me anything about you...I-I thought you were dead...I-I had to see you..." Avery whimpered out, wincing at his anger. He wasn't so much angry as he was terrified, the fear was very evident in his eyes. He gripped her arms hard but not enough to hurt her.

"You damned idiot," He kissed her again, cupping her cheeks again."Do you grasp the concept that if anything happened to you because you were here when you fucking shouldn't be that I would seriously go on a murderous rampage!? God damn it, do you understand how terrified I was when I saw you up there and nearly his with an RPG, when you could have been blown to Valhalla? When you could of fallen to your death!?" Hayden yelled again. "I told everyone not to tell you! I wanted you to get over me, not come find me! You could have died tonight! And I would fucking lose it if I lost you!" Avery's eyes widened at what he said.

"Wh-what? But you said...you didn't want to be with me! You said it was for the best!" Avery cried.

"Do you see the shit you flew into tonight!? This is what I deal with every mother fucking day and night while I'm here. This is why I broke up with you, so you didn't have to deal with this, worrying about me out here! I wanted you to move on and be safe! And I wanted that for you because I fucking love you with every fiber in my being that I forced myself to let you go so you would be safe! Do you know how much it has killed me inside not being able to talk to you?! Do you know how many nights I've stared at your number, hesitating to call you and tell you that I didn't mean what I said and that I want to be with you! For Odin's sake I was going to call you when this was over so we could talk about it and try to work things out! I've been miserable without you and when I saw you nearly die tonight...Avery I would of fucking lost it. Do you understand me? Lost it completely. I'd kill every single enemy I saw out of rage and pain. I have lose enough fucking people to this god damn war! I don't want to lose you too! I can't! I'll snap, I'll break, and no one will be able to stop me unless they kill me!" Hayden told her.

"Then why did you leave me...If this is true...then why did you leave me two months ago..." Avery whimpered out, looking at him with tear filled eyes.

Hayden cupped her cheeks again now, staring into her blue eyes, "Because I love you and I wanted you to have a better life. I wanted you to be safe from all this, the lifestyle that I am a part of. You deserve better than what I can offer you...Look at what loving me has done for you, it almost got you killed because you actually came here to find me. You'd know if I died here, Camille would tell you. I wanted you to forget about me, and move on. I'm not enough for you, I can't give you everything you want and need. So I was willing to let you go so you could have the life and lover you deserve to have. I didn't care about my pain of losing you so you could be happy. I did it for you-you stupid, stupid, reckless, drop dead beautiful, idiot! I did it because I love you!"

"You still...love me?" Avery asked.

"I NEVER STOPPED, AVERY!" He yelled taking her by surprise, "I never stopped loving you...I just wanted you to have more than what I can give you, a life where you didn't have to worry about me. Where you can settle down with a husband who can be there for you, can hold you, kiss you, give you a handful of babies that look just like you because you're so god damn beautiful...A life where you don't have to worry if I'm coming home or not..." Hayden told her as the tears fell from her eyes now.

"Hayden...A life without you no matter how long or short, is not a life I want to live." Hayden's eyes widened. "I don't care if I have to worry every day for the rest of my life. I know...you'll always be okay because you're a fighter and as long as you have something to fight for...then you never stop fighting, and you never give up...That's how I know you'll always be okay and I'll wait until the ends of the earth for you to come home because I refuse to settle down and have babies with anyone but you. No one can make me feel the way you do...You mean to much to me...I can't take the nightmares showing me your body in a casket...I can't take it...and I had to know if you were okay so I came on Stormfly...I know it was stupid, and reckless, and you should hate me, I don't blame you if you do...but don't make me go back without you as my boyfriend again...I can't do it Hayden...I can't handle it if you're not mine...That's what I can't handle about you in the military, not having you..." Avery told him.

Hayden panted-he'd been so mad, furious, livid with her showing up and nearly dying that he was also scared, his blood pressure was way to high and his arm was in excruciating pain. "You're so god damn stupid...Don't you know that I fight for you? I fight so you can be happy..."

"And you're the only one who makes me happy, so fight for us..." Avery whimpered to him with her head down, Hayden lifted her chin so they their eyes would meet.

"Idiot," He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him as he leaned in closer to her lips, "I already am, and I'm always yours. Forever and always...Come here." Hayden pressed his lips to hers softly but in a passion filled, deep kiss. They broke it shortly after and he rested her head on his chest. "And don't you ever do something like this again...Don't you ever even consider it, Avery. I've lost enough people, I can't bear to lose you too...You don't know how scared I was, you damn idiot." Hayden whispered.

"I won't...I promise." Avery said as his arms wrapped around her.

"While I'm thrilled you two made up, Hayden...You know this is a military base in a foreign country. She can't stay here, and she can't fly back on her own. I'll arrange a plane...Your mission: keep her safe until she's out of here. Understand?" Anderson stated.

"Yes sir." Hayden replied laying his head on hers.

"And get your arm taken care of...don't need you bleeding out, Cap." Theo said with a thumbs up. Hayden nodded as he led Avery to the A barrack, the Alpha Fire squadron following quietly. Anderson came in about ten minutes later after Hayden dressed his own wound with a wrap and tied it off with two cots, a set of blankets, and two pillows. He set them up side by side against the back wall to the left of the bathroom door that way Hayden could sleep next to Avery for what would be the day and until he arranged a plane to take her home: one of the small carrier planes used for mail deliveries and what not.

"Plane can take her on Thursday back to Berk. So she's here until that afternoon. You're off duty until she's out of Afghan territory, Hayden." Anderson told him.

"I got it. I won't let her out of my sight." Hayden nodded firmly to him.

"Good, I assume you'll be take care of all her needs them: clothes, food?" Hayden nodded again, Anderson smiled softly. "Gave him quite a scare there little lady, never seen Hayden get like that before." Avery laid her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. "You alright Hayden?" Anderson asked.

"I'm fine...Just going to continue to settle with the fact my girlfriend is a fuckin moron who can't stay away, even if its for her own safety..." Hayden sighed.

"Can ya blame me? You refused to talk to me, or let anyone update me..." Avery whimpered a bit.

"I get you can't keep your hands off me, Sky Eyes, but putting yourself in danger like that was really stupid babe." Hayden sighed out heavily again.

"Stop being so hot and maybe I'll be able to keep my hands off you. And its you who can't keep his hands to himself, guess I'm lucky your arm is hurt because you can't pin me while injured..." Avery giggled a bit.

"Is that a challenge?" Hayden asked arching a brow, she grinned at him. Hayden put his hands under her legs and lifted her so her legs were around his waist while he pinned her hands over her head against the barrack wall and kissed her deeply, she melted into it. Anderson's eyes widened as he motioned for the others to slowly and quietly file out to give the couple some time when he saw the kisses deepen and keep going.

"Well we're just going to go clean up and...grab something to eat...Um...E-ETA on return time, Hayden?" Anderson asked slowly. Hayden broke the kiss while Avery was panting and blushing.

"Ten minutes," He heard Avery whimper a bit and he sighed, "Better make that thirty...Thanks Anderson." Hayden said to him slowly.

"You're welcome kid. Glad to see that smile again, now you look like you." Anderson winked as he shut the barrack door and left with the others. Hayden moved Avery to the cots that were pushed together for them-and he kissed her deeply again while it became a make out session with a lot of touching. Hayden did give her one quick orgasm, he couldn't help it. He loved her and he was thrilled to have her back in his life: he felt happy again and only she made him feel this way. When they were done thirty minutes later, Avery was wearing one of his white tank tops and curled up asleep in his arms when the rest of the squad returned. Hayden laid awake wearing no shirt.

"Get your minds out of the gutter...Didn't do nothing. Go to sleep." Hayden ordered, they nodded and got ready for bed. Finally around maybe 4:30am, Hayden knocked out and fell asleep too, beyond belief happy that he had his Sky Eyes back and she was asleep in his arms. For once in two months, he slept peacefully as everything felt right again.