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
60; Frozen In Shock
Those next two days for Avery and Hayden leading up to the Friday he had to leave for Iraq again were the best of their lives. They spent Thursday morning finishing the movie they had started Wednesday night before having their talk and then proceeding to make love after Hayden revealed that he actually had protection with him that time, then for Thursday night they spent at his house, making love right before dinner when everyone got home-then trying to act like nothing happened but Gerald and Valora figured it out, which turned into Camille finding out and then Hayden having to assure the three of them that Avery wouldn't get pregnant this time because they took necessary precautions to ensure she wouldn't. Once that had been settled they had another family dinner together with Avery, Seth, then Seth's parents too. It was a good end to the night. When Friday morning came, it was spent having breakfast-which was cooked by Hayden himself.
He made eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast for everyone including Avery-who had slept over, but that was to be expected since it was his last day and had to leave around 1pm to get back to the Doragon base and continue his tour. Hayden was a great cook, he showed that on the camping trip: apparently the army taught you a lot more than how to fight enemies and defend the Archipelago. As the day continued, they all had taken the day off to get to the park to spend time with Hayden before he had to leave for Iraq again since they weren't sure if he'd get another leave before the tour ended. Even Avery's parents were there, Hayden still had two hours until he had to leave so they were making the best of it with soda, chips, and grinders for a good old fashioned picnic.
"Hayden!" came the voice of a little girl, Hayden blinked and turned his head to see Isabelle Ritka, Steven's little girl who he hadn't seen since Ritka's death.
"Isabelle, what are you doing here? Where's your Mom?" Hayden asked looking around as Avery sat up so Hayden could move to a kneeling position as she smiled widely at him.
"Isabelle! Sweetheart where did you go?!" Hayden heard Lexi calling next as he stood up and picked Isabelle up.
"Over here, Lexi! She's safe, don't worry." he replied as Lexi rushed over and sighed in relief with a hand over her heart.
"Baby girl you can't just run off like that, you scared me. Thank you, Hayden..." Lexi said.
"I saw Toothless so I knew you were here. Is Beary keeping you safe?" Isabelle asked.
"Of course he is. He's in my bag with Toothless because I'm about to go back in a few hours. You shouldn't run off from your mother, you could have hurt yourself." Hayden stated poking her nose-which made her giggle a bit.
"I'm sorry, Mama." Isabelle said softly.
"I'm just glad you're okay. I know you wanted to see Hayden but you never go anywhere without me. Sorry, Hayden, she just gets so excited to see you and Toothless." Lexi said lightly.
"It's alright, I don't mind. Say...I have something for you..." Hayden smiled as he put her down then rummaged through Toothless's saddle bag and pulled something out then hid it behind his back. " If I'm not mistaken, you just had a birthday right," Isabelle nodded her head to him as Hayden crouched down and pulled out a small stuffed Night Fury toy-handing it to her as her eyes lit right up. "Now you can have your own Night Fury and know that Toothless and me are keepin ya safe, but no more running off from your Mom, okay, promise?" Isabelle nodded her head to him as she hugged it tightly.
"I pwomise, Hayden! I'm gonna call it Toothy!" Isabelle giggled then hugged Hayden tightly around the neck, "You're the bestest, Uncle Hiccup." Hayden's eyes widened a bit, uncle Hiccup?
"Steven used to refer to you as his brother, you and the guys of Strike One so Isabelle asked if she could call you all as uncle and he said you were Uncle Hiccup." Lexi explained. Hayden nodded as Isabelle pulled from the hug then stood with her mother, "I think we should let Uncle Hayden spend time with his family before he goes back overseas sweetheart."
"Thank you for the present, Uncle Hiccup." Isabelle said smiling wide to him.
"You're welcome, Happy birthday kiddo." Hayden smiled back to her.
"Hehe, my Daddy used to call me that too! Bye Uncle Hiccup! Love you!" Isabelle waved as she walked off with her mother.
"Love ya too, Bell." Hayden stated then he stared up at the sky with a sigh, "Ritka, you asshole...Even beyond the grave you still got your surprises," Hayden shook his head with a smile as he sat back down and relaxed.
"So I gotta know, where did you get the toy from?" Camille asked curiously.
"The Night Fury one? I made it." Hayden stated gently, they arched a brow at him now, "What? I get really bored in the barrack so I took up a hobby of sewing. How do you think I sew on all my rank badges? Made that a few weeks ago, seeing Ritka's daughter, just seemed right to give it to her." he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders as Avery sat between his legs and leaned against his chest with her eyes closed-Hayden's eyes glanced towards Seth who nodded and pulled out his phone and held it out.
"I really wish you had more time..." Avery sighed out.
"Me too babe but let's just enjoy this last hour we got," Hayden kissed her cheek as she giggled a little while he adjusted his arm around her waist, "You know I love you right?"
"Course I do. I love you too, Hayden." Avery replied, he now leaned into closer to her ear smiling.
"You'd do anything for me?" Hayden inquired as she blushed a bit and nodded, "Even marry me?" Avery nodded her head.
"Well duh, but you gotta ask me first then I'll say yes." Avery replied to him now.
"Guess it's a good thing I asked then," he said as Avery felt something be slipped onto her her left hand ring finger, her eyes snapped open as she looked down and saw a two stone, silver band, engagement ring on her finger. She leaned forward and turned looking at him in shock as he just smiled staring into her eyes, "And you just said yes." Hayden chuckled. Avery was about to say something but she couldn't, Hayden was right. He'd asked if she'd do anything for him, even marry him and she'd said if he asked then she'd say yes. He just asked her to marry him, and she said yes without even realizing it right away.
"Y—You're...being serious right now?" Avery forced out, still in utter shock of how well he played it.
"I wouldn't of put the ring on your finger if I wasn't, Sky Eyes. So," he moved away from her and got on one knee, "Just because I know you've always seen it this way, will you spend the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me, Avery?" Hayden asked formally holding her hand while Seth moved to he could shoot them from the side with his camera out. Avery just cried as she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck-hugging him tightly and managing to tackle him down to the grass happily.
"YES!" Avery practically screamed out as Hayden put his arms around her back and kissed her deeply. As their friends and family clapped for them. Hayden used one arm to push himself back up still kissing her before breaking it and smiling.
"We'll start planning when the tour is over, hopefully that is soon. I love you babe." Hayden said.
"I love you too baby." Avery said wiping her eyes and still holding on to him.
"Send me a copy of that video cuz," Hayden looked to Seth now.
"Already on it!" Seth exclaimed.
"Wait he was in on it?" Avery blinked.
"So were your parents and Camille. I asked your Dad's permission last night when you were helping your mom in the kitchen, Camille helped me pick out the ring." Hayden chuckled.
"Sneaky babe, real sneaky..." Avery giggled a bit.
"Uh yeah, I'm pretty good at stealth." Hayden kissed her softly as she returned it. This was officially the best day of both of their lives, they were engaged! For the next hour, they all just sat around enjoying the moment, nothing could beat it. Hayden checked his watch after finishing his soda and sat that it was 1pm.
"Time to go?" Avery asked lightly as she got off of him and he stood up signaling for Toothless to come over to him.
"Yeah, got a six hour flight back so we better get started now. I'll call ya when I land, I promise." Avery nodded to him as they shared a hug and kiss before he said goodbye to everyone else with hugs, or handshakes-then got on Toothless's back and positioned his feet in the stirrups. "Ready bud?" the dragon warbled at him with a nod, "Let's hit the sky then, full speed!" Hayden ordered, his dragon roared out and took to the sky with a loud whistle heading South-East back to Iraq.
(Iraq; 4pm)
As soon as he reached Iraqi territory near the base he saw them in the middle of an attack so he jumped right in by grabbing his radio with a grin almost, "HEY ANDERSON! Looks like you could use a little help,"Hayden chuckled as he soared over all of them towards the enemy soldiers.
"HADDOCK, WELCOME BACK YOU ASS-WITH YOUR DAMN EPIC ENTRANCES, AND YES WE COULD USE SOME HELP!" Anderson replied over the radio.
"I'd get back then because I'm in way to good a mood to have it ruined by these fuckers!" Hayden replied as he tucked the radio onto his belt and whipped Toothless around flying over the enemies, "Light 'em up bud." Hayden said, Toothless began blasting them back and Hayden dropped a few grenades too which pushed them back and began treating to their own base. Hayden chuckled as he turned Toothless around and landed down on the ground with a smile as he got off Toothless as Anderson and Strike One rushed over to him to greet him.
"Good to have ya back, kid. Enjoyed leave?" Anderson hugged him with a smile.
"Oh I did indeed, come back to the office and I'll tell you all about it." Hayden said as they nodded and followed him towards his office. Once inside, Toothless laid down with a bucket of water and another full of fish as Hayden collapsed on his cot with such a grin on his face while Strike One and Anderson stood around him.
"So...what happened man, don't leave us in the dark!" Theo urged.
"Well when I arrived, the first thing I did was talk to my Dad...we actually talked it out right before you guys called needing help, he gave me his full support and I forgave him for everything," Hayden stated now sitting up with one leg off the cot, the other bent and still on it.
"Good for you, glad things worked out and sorry about the call...didn't know what else to do and you got all the answers in situations like that," Theo said quickly.
"Don't even worry about it, I'm glad I'm still the one you call for help even when I'm five hours away." Hayden smiled.
"So what else happened, you're way to happy to of just made up with your father." Jasmine asked smiling wide at him.
"Well if you must know," he chuckled a bit, "Avery and I got to enjoy having sex without being wasted, and no fear of her getting pregnant." their mouths dropped open and started cheering.
"Atta boy, Haddock!" Anderson laughed giving him a noogie before Hayden shoved him off.
"And the best part," Hayden said getting their attention again, "we're getting married."
"No way! You asked her to marry you, what the fuck? And you didn't tell us you were planning to?!" Ethan punched his arm now.
"It was a last minute decision, asked her about seven hours ago right before I left." Hayden smiled now.
"My little brother all grown up and getting married! So much to bear," Anderson faked crying as a proud brother would.
"Oh shut up you ass. Wanna see it, the proposal? I had my cousin record the whole thing," Hayden asked them, they all nodded as he pulled out his phone and found the video and pressed play turning it so they could watch how he basically tricked her into saying yes to him without her realizing he was actually asking her.
"Sneaky lil shit you are, Haddock, but that was gold man!" Anderson chuckled as Hayden put his phone away now.
"We said we'd start planning when the tour ends, and Anderson...you know you're my best man right?" Hayden stated as this time Anderson really did start crying and hug him.
"Well I'll be honored, Hayden." Anderson replied choked up a bit that Hayden wanted him to be his best man. Now it was officially the best day of his life, Anderson even broke out the alcohol to celebrate everything going on-of course they had to make it quick and only take one shot each since Evans, Boggs, and Greenhalgh came in after hearing Hayden was back from leave. Hayden slept in peace that night, absolutely nothing could kill his mood. He was engaged to Avery, Anderson was going to be his best man, his mother was alive, his family was back together-stronger than ever too, everything was simply perfect.
(Five Months Later)
It was September now, five long months had passed and still no word on when the tour would be ending for them. Enemy activity and attacks had been just about relentless but they all held firm and fought back harder each time and came out victorious with minimal injuries-but still a few deaths, thankfully none from Alpha Fire or Strike One. Of course it was sad that others in his Company died but Hayden knew he couldn't protect everyone, there was just too many soldiers to keep an eye on in large scale attacks. Hayden and Avery talked a bit about the wedding, Camille was chosen to be Avery's maid of honor already but they couldn't set a date since they didn't know when his tour was ending or where he'd be stationed. He knew he could get time off for his wedding obviously but he didn't want to deal with that while still on deployment. However they still discussed possible locations, colors, first dance songs: all little things that they didn't have to be side by side to decide on.
Things were good for him, he loved how his life was right now-even though he was stuck in Iraq, and fighting a hard battle: these guys didn't quit like the Afghan's had. For a brief second, Hayden actually almost said fuck it in order to scare the shit out of the enemies like he did in Afghanistan but he wouldn't do that again, he'd only done that in a complete rage when Avery was hurt and it would take another rage of that magnitude in order for him to take Toothless and invoke absolute fear into the enemies. He'd fight like the others, he didn't want to end another war that way again-he still had people on his ass about all that from Afghanistan when he ended that one and now with saving his Mom. He hated the spotlight, he was just doing his job, there was no reason to make such a fuss about it-well not in his eyes at least: others apparently thought differently. Currently, they were in another one of those really big fights that had been going on for hours with a lot of switch outs in order to keep it going, even with Toothless they weren't retreating at all.
"Well we need to do something, because we can't hold this much longer and if they reach the base we're screwed..." Evans reminded, Hayden sighed as he closed his eyes: he needed an idea and fast too. He really might not have a choice but to let Toothless go alpha mode and force them to retreat. Strike One was about two miles away helping with medevacs, and first aid treatment, also firing to offer cover to the medics. He was with Sanchez, Palmer, and Shaw along with Anderson, Boggs, Evans, and Greenhalgh on the front lines to push back the enemy just so they'd have a minute to breathe.
"Hayden!" he heard Anderson call to him, as he looked up there was an enemy right in front of him with a gun up. Hayden waited for it, this is how he was going to die. The shots fired but never hit him as he saw a body shielding his. The person blocking him killed the enemy then fell back into Hayden's arms and he gasped when he saw who it was. Anderson.
"Stupid, why'd you do that for!" Hayden yelled at him seeing that Anderson had been shot three times: the shoulder, the left side chest, then the stomach. "MEDIC! Anderson is hit!" Hayden called out quickly.
"Because...you're my brother and I didn't want you to die," Anderson coughed weakly.
"You could have died dumb-ass! You have a pregnant wife and two kids waiting for you, don't be taking bullets for me!" Hayden scolded as he put his hand on the wound to try and apply pressure.
"Hayden," Anderson said putting his hand on Hayden's softly, "I need you to do something for me in case I don't make it...Tell Maria I love her and I have since the day I laid eyes on her...and I...want you to take care of my kids. Make sure...they know how much I love them and will always be with them...do that for me, won't you?"
"You know I will but you're not...going to die, Anderson...stop talking like that. You'll be fine...help is comin." Hayden told him firmly trying to control his tears, this was just like when he lost Ritka and Lennox-both of them asking Hayden to do something for them before they'd died. Hayden...couldn't lose Anderson, he couldn't.
"Hey, don't worry about me kid...by the way, you were supposed to...get this after you got back from leave five...months ago," Anderson said as he pulled off a pin from his suit and shakily put it on Hayden's coat with a smile now. "You are a Lieutenant Colonel now, Haddock. Le-lead them...to victory," Anderson coughed up a little blood again with his hand to his chest. Hayden couldn't believe it, he was just...promoted to Lieutenant Colonel by Anderson himself. Why was...Anderson being this way, he wasn't going to die-Hayden wouldn't allow it!
"Grenade, everyone down!" was heard, but not by Hayden-he was to worried about Anderson. Harry forced himself up pulling his hand down hard then pushing Hayden away from him as he stepped back-Hayden recovered from his laying position to see Anderson standing straight up with a smile and a salute to him.
"So long, little brother," Hayden watched in absolute horror as Anderson was caught in the blast of the grenade, one that Anderson just saved him from being hit by. Tears streaking down from his eyes as the blast faded to smoke-no body present on the ground, Hayden shook as his head lowered, he saw what was on the ground before him: Anderson's dog tags, that Anderson he'd ripped off before stepping back and getting blown up...to save him. Hayden was frozen in shock, in fear, and visibly shaking still. He didn't see anything else around him, couldn't hear anything being shouted to him. Anderson just died to save him, he was shot three times and still got up to save Hayden from a blast he didn't even hear coming because he was so worried-but Anderson saved him anyway. Hayden didn't know what to do, he couldn't even move he was so shocked and upset. All he knew was that Anderson was dead and had died right in front of him, willingly.
