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

50; Catching Up

Given Hayden had left the night before, Strike One with Anderson met up with Alpha Fire at 7:30am after briefing to board the plane that would be taking them to Iraq with two layovers total en route. One was in Berserk, the other in Outcast-the Murderous soldiers had flown in the night before. Each layover was only an hour and they would be arriving in Iraq around 5pm but given the three hour time change it would actually be 8pm and Hayden was definitely already there since he'd left around 6:30pm the night before on Toothless. Hayden had said he would make it in five hours but they hadn't heard anything about him reaching the Doragon base yet. Five hours would have had him landing at 11:30pm but the face Iraq was three hours ahead, for him it would be 2:30am. They knew if he'd been called in early then it had to be bad over there and they needed Toothless-which they wouldn't get without Hayden because the two were just about impossible to separate.

This was something they discovered when Toothless went and found Hayden when he was a POW for half an hour: Toothless knew where to find Hayden and had brought him and Marx back safely that night. That had been scary for a lot of people, thinking Hayden was dead but the dragon didn't: he knew Hayden was alright and went back for him. It was very clear to see the bond the two of them had-which was why Hayden and Toothless were never separated because to two alone were a very dangerous team to enemies. As the thirty minutes passed, the Alpha Fire and the former Nightwave boarded the plane to prepare for take off to Berserk to grab Insanity, then last before Iraq would be Streamglider. Such began a long flight.

(Doragon Base)

When Hayden arrived back in Iraq, he didn't even wait for orders to start attacking the enemies. Hayden flew right into it with full blasts from Toothless plus the his own grenades and with him the enemies began to retreat on their own. Upon landing, he was greeted by the other leaders who thanked him for coming on such short notice. Hayden was instantly debriefed on the situation and shown where he'd be staying while deployed: exactly where Anderson said he'd be. In an office by himself in between the four Nightstrike Company barracks. He wasn't fond of this, he'd gotten used to staying with Alpha Fire and bunking with Theo. Changing that would bother him so he put in a request that he'd use the office for operations, meetings, and what not during the day but when it was time to sleep he was staying in the barrack with Alpha Fire. Lieutenant General Evans hadn't minded at all and said it was fine.

When the attack was over and arrangements finalized, Hayden finally settled down around 4:30am in the E barrack which is where Alpha Fire would be when they arrived there, he fell asleep after unpacking and taking a shower. When the next morning came, he was up around 9am which was rare for him to oversleep but then again, he'd never turned his alarm on. Hayden got dressed and made his way outside. He did a few sky patrols but mostly stayed in the barrack waiting for the plane to arrive with his squadron: it was kind of boring without them there to keep him distracted and laughing. He checked his watch when he woke up from a nap he'd taken around 5:30pm, now it was 7:45pm and he decided to go outside to get something to eat since he'd missed dinner. "Evenin, Major Haddock. Good to see you up again," came Colonel Greenhalgh's voice walking over to him.

"Evening, sir. Sorry I overslept. It was a long night of flyin'..." Hayden stated.

"No trouble, it was quiet anyway. How ya feeling?" he asked.

Hayden shrugged, "Twenty-one years old and on my fourth tour in five years, not sure how to feel about it."

"Well at least we only got the one war to deal with now," came Randy Bogg's voice with a chuckle.

"So we lost Huntington and Naylar huh? I noticed Anderson got moved to Inferno Battalion leader at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel," Hayden mentioned now.

"Yeah. Bout four months ago actually, Naylor took one right above the heart and to the neck saving a bunch of privates who were pinned down. Huntington went in an RPG explosion, couldn't recover his body," Boggs sighed heavily.

"Yeah...I know how that goes..." Hayden closed his eyes.

"You doing okay on all that, lad?" Lieutenant General Evans asked curiously.

"Better than I was," Hayden responded softly with a shrug.

"Yeah, you weren't looking so good after Len-," Hayden twitched and gave a slight glare as Boggs stopped, "Sorry. How's life been otherwise? Heard about the whole thing where your girl tried to find ya?"

"Long story," Hayden mumbled, "And that was only a quarter of what actually happened."

"Care to share? We're headed to the mess hall tent for a late dinner," Lt. Gen Evans offered.

"Sure, why not?" Hayden began to follow them to the location, once they had all gotten their food fifteen minutes later, they sat down at one of the table and started eating. "So how much did you hear?"

"Your girl showed up, you saved her, then the war just ended four months later. Care to fill in the missing pieces?" Greenhalgh questioned now.

"Go figure, Lieutenant General Andrews wouldn't tell you everything. When I got deployed back to Afghanistan, I was in a really bad way because my unit lost one more person," Hayden began.

"No one else was reported KIA from Strike One?" Boggs said.

"He wasn't KIA, he died on base...Tell me, who do you remember being on Strike One?" Hayden asked him.

"You, Theodore Holgerson, Steven Ritka, Eli Matthews, Daryl Lennox, and...Jason Tarelto. Did...Holgerson or Tarelto pass?" Greenhalgh said softly.

"Tarelto. Theo is alive, he'll be here with Alpha Fire later on...When it was announced we were going back to Afghanistan, Tarelto started to distance himself. I knew he wasn't okay but everyone handles the death of friends or soldiers differently so I let him be...but a week before deployment...he didn't return to the barrack after dinner. I went looking for him and found him in the forest with a gun to his head," Hayden closed his eyes.

"He committed suicide?..." Lt. General Evans asked a little surprised. Hayden nodded once.

"I yelled out to him to stop, not to do it but he pulled the trigger. I didn't know what to do, I'd watched him kill himself and I just hit my knees, yelling out as loud as I could. I didn't know I could get so depressed more than I'd already felt, to a point where I wanted to stop living too, just to never have to lose anyone else. That's why Tarelto killed himself, he couldn't deal with the pain of losing Ritka, Matthews, and Lennox: he said he couldn't go back to war and risk losing more so he ended the pain himself saying he couldn't deal with the pain anymore," Hayden stated now.

"But you didn't hurt yourself, right?" Boggs asked.

Hayden shook his head, "I waited until I got to Afghanistan to talk to Anderson, he put me on a three day suicide watch. My girl and I got into a fight because I hadn't talked to them the entire week after Tarelto's death. The mission we had following the fight, I got shot in the side saving one of my privates. When I woke up, I decided to break up with my girlfriend because I felt she deserved better than what I could give her given my lifestyle. We were broken up for two months, and during a big fight...she showed up on her dragon, nearly got hit by an RPG, I saved her, of course, then took Toothless so we could take out the RPG line. When the enemies retreated, I scolded my girl for what she did," Hayden mumbled.

"She showed up in Afghanistan on her dragon?" The three of them blinked surprised.

"Yep. Anderson arranged a plane out of Afghanistan for her but the next night we had an ambush and when I got knocked down...she rushed out of the barrack, grabbed my gun, shot the enemy in the head-while getting stabbed in the side. I lost it, I had Anderson call medic then I took Toothless...and killed thirty-five people in a complete rage that she'd been hurt because she was there, because of me. The ambush had only been fifty or so soldiers, and I killed thirty-five of them. I flew my girl home myself after she'd been hurt. Four months later, the war was over." Hayden shrugged eating his roll.

"Shit, so stay off your bad side then?" Boggs chuckled.

"So it is true! Your attack on them after your girl was hurt got them to surrender? Heard about it from one of the soldiers, Private Maxon who was based there. We're brothers so he tells me everything. You're the one who ended the war..." said another soldier sitting at the table behind Hayden.

"I-I am not..." Hayden stated.

"Are too. You're a hero, Major. Everyone here as heard about the shit you've done, I mean who the hell can stand against the soldier with a Night Fury?" another soldier smiled. Hayden sighed as he just closed his eyes.

"So after getting home, what happened, things settle down?" Lt. Gen. Evans asked now.

"Went on vacation, spent half of it wasted..." Hayden mumbled. The three officers blinked at him now as he sighed, "Fine. Got wasted with my girl, had sex drunk, blacked out, woke up and realized I wasn't a virgin anymore, then freaked out because there was a chance she ended up pregnant," he huffed.

"We've all had sex drunk before, Hayden...It happens." Greenhalgh chucked.

"Yeah, you lose your virginity that way? That was how your first time went, drunk and not remembering a thing?" Hayden remarked and they went quiet, "Didn't think so. She took a test and it came back negative then three weeks later, evidently she tested too early so she was in fact pregnant."

"So you're about to be a dad, well shit, maybe we break out the alcohol to celebrate. She's gotta be what eight months, almost due right?" Boggs asked but Hayden wasn't smiling: he wasn't even looking at them. "Hayden?"

"Yeah...she would be if the baby had survived..." Hayden said quietly now, "She had a miscarriage at ten weeks...was about five months ago."

"I'm sorry, lad. I know it's not easy. My wife had a miscarriage at seven weeks, I'll never forget how much pain she was in and I was stuck here for it all..." Greenhalgh sighed patting his back.

"I was at Fort Dreki, Anderson's wife called me...by the time I'd gotten there, the worst was over. She's doing better now, well, was until I said I was getting deployed here again," Hayden shrugged softly.

"Well now that you're here, this shit will be over quick. Just lose your shit again, scare the bastards off!" said someone down the table a bit.

Hayden stood up quietly now, "Clearly you have no idea how much pain or rage one person can feel to have to nearly lose his sanity and kill mercilessly when his girlfriend gets stabbed in the side saving his life...Maybe when you understand that, you can come talk to me about losing my shit just to end your war," he said and then just walked away: he didn't even notice the group of six making their way into the tent.

"What did we miss?" Theo asked.

"Welcome back and not much...Major seems a little irritated right now, not sure why though." Boggs shrugged.

"All I said was for him to lose his shit and scare the enemies off like he did in Afghanistan..." stated the soldier now.

"The one thing that would set him off. He's touchy on being referred to as a hero: also the situation where he lost his shit in Afghanistan..." Harry sighed, "I'll go talk to him: get to E barrack Strike One." With that, Harry walked out after Hayden. The other officers did the same after him. Hayden was found sitting in his office-thankfully it was big enough for Toothless to be inside too so Harry found him lying against Toothless with one knee up, the other leg stretched out. Harry knocked on the wooden frame as Hayden glanced up.

"Hey, Anderson, welcome to Utter Hell..." Hayden greeted him dryly.

"Sure, it won't be that bad, can I come in?" Harry asked softly, "Oh and the other officers too?"

"You don't gotta ask, all of you are ranked higher than me..." Hayden mumbled as Toothless crooned softly while his friend rubbed his head.

"When you get your own office, Haddock, we still respect the privacy," said Boggs now.

"Well, make yourselves comfortable then. How was the flight my friend?" Hayden asked calmly now.

"Long and irritating. How do you deal with all the noise and questions?" Harry chuckled.

"I ignore it and tell everyone leave me alone," Hayden responded.

"Hey, come on now...Don't be that way towards me, you said you'd have my back here." Harry stated as he reached over and rubbed Toothless's head making the dragon warble contently.

"Sorry, Anderson...Been a pretty boring twenty-four hours since I arrived at like 2:30am this morning, and then that whole thing where I'm being called a hero again...You know I hate it. I'm not a hero...I'm just a soldier like anyone else," Hayden sighed to him.

"I know, Haddock. You've had a hard couple of months, and you hate being called what you don't feel you are. You see that you killed mercilessly, and everyone else sees you taking on fifty soldiers by yourself when you were completely enraged. They see what you did, they don't know how you felt. And it's something they will never feel unless they are in that situation. Just try to take it easy, would ya? Save the rage for the enemies," Anderson smiled.

"I will. Just pray Avery doesn't show up again..." Hayden mumbled.

"Having some relationship problems again?" Harry chuckled.

"What would define my girlfriend essentially begging me to have sex with her?" Hayden asked now.

"Oh boy," Harry blinked.

"Yeah. We got into a fight about it last night before going to my Dad's. I'm glad she's...past what happened but to jump right into what got us there in the first place..." Hayden finally stood up.

"She feels that there's nothin' to be afraid of in doing it again since you've already done it once even if by accident, doesn't she?" Hayden nodded, "And you're holding back because you don't want her to get pregnant again?" Another nod, "Well ya know there, Hayden, they did invent these cool things called condoms and birth control to prevent that..." Boggs stated.

"Yeah, because I just walk around with condoms after losing our baby five months ago thinking that my girl is just gonna wanna fuck, right? Sex has been the last thing on my mind," Hayden remarked.

"Well most guys do, well, the carry around condoms thing," Greenhalgh blinked.

"Not me. Every since...Ritka's death, I told Avery no sex because I didn't want to die on one of my tours and have her be informed by Harry, or Theo, or any of them that I died leaving her pregnant or with our child without me around. I didn't want to do that to her, I couldn't do that to her. And one drunken night we had sex and she got pregnant then three months later we lost that baby. Here we are five months later and she wants to have sex again, when she knew I was getting deployed..." Hayden scoffed.

"Hayden...it's not about the sex. She wants to get pregnant again," Anderson told him as Hayden looked over at him arching a brow.

"She specifically told me she was due for her period and wouldn't get pregnant if we did it...Are you saying she lied?" Hayden asked.

"Hayden. You told me yourself that her cycle is regular right? And she has been all over you since the week leave? Touching, loving, cuddling?" Hayden nodded to him, "She's fertile. It's a hormone in their body, makes them like that because having sex while fertile will get them pregnant. She wanted you to have sex with her because she wants another baby, to fill the void of the one you both lost. She's not over it anymore than you are, and she wants to feel something other than emptiness, she wants to get pregnant again," Anderson finished now.

"So she told me she wouldn't get pregnant in the hope I'd sleep with her so she could get pregnant?" Hayden asked now.

"Don't be upset with her, she's still in pain. Not physical but emotional, and she doesn't want to feel that way anymore. If she was pushing for sex that much, then yes, she wanted you to sleep with her so she could get pregnant then find a way to tell you that she had her scheduling wrong. She's still grieving and knowing you were being deployed again, she wanted to have a piece of you with her while you're here." Anderson put his hand on Hayden's shoulder now.

"I'm not mad at her,-okay maybe a little because she was going to lie to me-but regardless...I want another baby too, just not right now, with all this going on. I want to be able to be home with her to take care of her while she's pregnant and after the baby is born," Hayden sighed now. "No matter...I told her it wasn't happening right now, she said she understood. I'll go introduce myself to the Company then probably go to bed. I'm exhausted and I'm forming a massive headache..." Hayden prepared to leave the office.

"We got a few things to go over before you go to sleep if you don't mind," Lt. Gen. Evans stated.

"I'll come back here after then, just get comfy I guess...Toothless, you stay here too," Hayden told his dragon as it nodded and sat back on it hind legs while Hayden left the office and walked in front of the four barracks that made up his Company. "Nightstrike! Fall in!" he commanded. The barrack doors pushed open and they all came out forming into their groups. "Right then. Welcome to the Doragon Base, home of the 17th Dragons Den Division. We commonly call it Utter Hell. Let's get a few things set right now, I am Major Hayden Haddock. Some of you might remember me from Fort Dreki or Fort Titanwing as your Drill Sergeant. The tent between E and F barrack is my office, that is where I will be most of the time. You need me any other time, find me in E barrack with Alpha Fire. As you know these four barracks D through belong to the Nightstrike Company," Hayden announced.

"Sir, yes sir!" the four squadrons replied to him.

"Now, I understand you all have your unit assignments and there are three Sergeants who command your separate squadrons. I run the Strike One unit out of the Alpha Fire squadron. I'm also leader of Alpha Fire, have been since Afghanistan back in 2016. I wasn't promoted to that, they just voted me there for whatever reason. You report to your Sergeants and if the problem exceeds that, you report to me. Is this understood, Nightstrike?" Hayden asked.

"Yes, Major Haddock," the group replied to him.

"Good then. Now I have a meeting with the higher ups: if I am needed, you know how to find me. Get unpacked, take a shower, and get some rest," Hayden said.

"Yes sir!" With that, Hayden walked back into his office where the others were waiting.

"And you said you can't handle one hundred soldiers, Major Haddock," Anderson snicked, Hiccup punched his arm but smiled.

"Shut up, Anderson...Alright, let's get this meeting out of the way. I'm exhausted..." Hayden stated as he sat down around the big square folding table with the others and from there they began talking about how to handle the next wave of attacks from strategies, placement, and more. It wasn't a long meeting of course, and afterwards it was over around 8:45pm where Hayden said goodnight to them-then he went to E barrack to get some sleep because he was beyond tired and starting tomorrow would be war all over again: he wanted to be ready. No one was dying on him this time. He would protect them, no matter what.