My Hope
Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions.
Rating: M for Mature.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Dreamworks HTTYD or Dreamworks Dragons. I also don't own any of the songs I may use.
21; Reasons & Apologies.
[Authors Note; Thank you to harrypanther for doing the beta reading on this chapter, and any of the future stories and chapters!]
{Hunter's POV}
It must have been the bond between a parent and their child that I knew when something wasn't right. I woke up groggily to hearing my daughter's crying. I had a hard time opening my eyes though...I barely remembered what happened after being knocked off Toothless during the race. I could hear my parents and sister trying to soothe Hope, who I assumed wanted me and evidently from the beeping I assumed I had been unconscious in the hospital. That was just great! What the hell happened before?! I had to wake up-Hope needed me. I could hear her crying for me. But then something happened I didn't expect, I heard...Astrid offer to try and calm Hope down. Now I really needed to wake up: Hope would scream bloody murder with a stranger. 'Come on...Wake up!' I urged myself.
I listened to Astrid try to calm Hope down and, I heard Hope calm for only a moment then wail again. I really needed to wake up, like now! I hated this. I was utterly useless right now. I'd always been there when Hope needed me, anytime she cried and now I couldn't get to her. What stopped my rambling to myself was hearing music and it wasn't a song I recognized. Then I heard singing. Astrid was singing to Hope because Hope's cries lightened. At some point in the middle of the song, my eyes opened and I focused immediately on Astrid standing on the right side of my hospital bed holding Hope as I held her to calm her down. My eyes looked around, they were all there. All my old friends, Damien, my parents, and sister. I saw my leg in a cast and elevated. Great, so I'd broken my leg.
That didn't matter though: nothing else mattered more than seeing Hope completely calm down and fall back asleep in the arms of a stranger because of a song that sounded like something a mother would sing to her daughter. The room was silent and no one noticed I was actually awake yet. I only assumed they were all there because I blacked out or...crashed during the race and went unconscious so they were there to wait for me to wake up. Well if no one else was going to ask what the hell just happened, I was. "Hope never falls asleep for anyone when she's crying that hard. I'd like to know how you managed to pull it off?" I said calmly. I saw their heads snap to my direction now, looking in shock to see me awake.
"Hunter!" Heather cried now. "You're awake...!"
"Thank Thor you're alright son..." my father said immediately afterwards. My mother just hugged me. I used my arm to hug her carefully.
"I don't know what happened to land me here, but right now...I want the answer to my question. Astrid..." I saw her look at me nervously now. "How did you manage to calm her down? Hope doesn't sit well with strangers..." I stated and all eyes were back on Astrid now.
"I just...sang to her...that's all. My mother used to sing me that song and I...thought I'd give it a shot," Astrid replied to me now.
"You're holding Hope the same way I do to calm her down...How did you know to do that?" I asked curiously.
"I-I've...seen you hold Melody that way in Home Ec...I assumed you did that because it's how you always hold Hope...I just figured I'd try something...you would do to calm her down." Astrid answered looking down a bit. The room was silent now, waiting to see what I would say. Waking up to find out your daughter was in the arms of what she considered a stranger and asleep contently had to be a little disconcerting.
"I'm impressed." Astrid's eyes moved to look at me quickly now, seeing the smile on my face. "Seriously. You took something you've seen me do and used to to relax her, and get her back to sleep," I added calmly.
"Um...thank you? I think?..." Astrid replied, not sure what else to say. I adjusted myself in the bed a little but sat myself up and put my arms out as Astrid carefully moved the child into my embrace. My smile widened as I kissed her forehead. Hope began to wake up again and she saw me there.
"Dada?!" Hope said.
"Ssh, it's me princess. I'm up now. It's alright...Just lay back down. I've got you," I said. Hope smiled now as she snuggled against me on my chest.
"How do you feel son?" Violet asked now.
"Sore. What happened? I don't remember anything after falling off Toothless...where is he? Is he okay?" I asked.
"Son...a lot happened after you fell off Toothless..." Samuel told me nervously. I noticed the room getting quieter and no one making eye contact anymore. I really didn't like this now.
"Alright, stop giving me the silent treatment. What happened at the race?" I asked firmly.
"Hunter...A changewing rider from another league snuck in during the end of the race, that rider pushed you off Toothless and you fell but Toothless went after you in a dive. He wrapped you in his wings and his...left tail fin was torn off on an obstacle going down..." Damien started. My eyes widened in fear.
"What..." I asked quickly beginning to breathe heavily. Toothless lost his tail fin!?
"Son, please calm down! When you landed, you were unconscious. The ambulance brought you here, you were in surgery for almost two hours and unconscious since 3:00...It's...7ish now. Damien took Toothless home, his wound is closed but he's still missing the tail fin...and you...broke your leg. There's a series of plates, bolts, and screw holding your bones together so it can heal...But Toothless...He'll never fly again." Samuel looked down.
"He lost...his...tail fin. Toothless can never...fly again?" I tried to get the words out but couldn't even find my breath right now. Toothless...lost his tail rescuing me? He can never fly again without that fin...his tail fins control his whole flight. And to save me, he sacrificed his ability to fly. My shock turned to anger now. "Where is the rider who knocked me off him…?" I asked.
"The police are looking around for the racers of other leagues who use Changewings. Every racer has to register their dragon to fly it so they are combing through all the Changewing riders as we speak..." Damien explained now.
"I need to see Toothless...He needs me." I said.
"Hunter, you just woke up. You're not going anywhere for a few days yet...Toothless is okay. He's with Strykeout, Windshear, and Shocker..." Heather said softly.
"Toothless needs ME!" I stated again, firmer.
"In a few days son. You took a hard crash, your leg is broken. You won't even be considered for release for three days." Samuel said. I groaned out loud, slamming my head back on the bed with my eyes closed now. This was my fault, I knew revealing myself at the race would open the door for people who disliked me riding a Night Fury. I should have known it was going to be like this. Now Toothless could never fly again...and it was all my fault. Finally, I opened my eyes and looked towards Astrid, Shaun, Fredrick, Eric, and the twins Rylee and Travis.
"Since I'm stuck here against my will...What are all of you doing here?" I asked now.
"We...all saw the crash, we wanted to make sure you were okay..." Rylee said to me. I scoffed.
"We had an agreement...you leave me alone and I leave you alone...But whatever. You know I'm okay now...So you can go." I said turning my head away from them a bit.
"Hunter, wait please! Don't throw us out! We..we want to talk to about all that...We made a mistake. We don't...hate you." Astrid pleaded.
"I wouldn't care if you did or didn't. You made your choice. Just go okay...With all this going on, I don't need anymore stresses in my life..." I stated.
"Just give us 15 minutes, please...hear us out." Travis asked. I sighed, realising they weren't going to stop until I let them talk. It wouldn't be fair to just dismiss them. After all, they let me talk when they learned my secrets. So I sighed again, looking towards my sister and parents.
"Can you give us a half hour?" I asked. They nodded and left the room straight away, leaving Hope with me since they doubted she'd be up to wanting to move from her father anytime soon.
"I'll go too. We're outside if you need anything." Damien followed Heather and my parents out. I looked to the group now.
"You have 30 minutes and keep your voices down if you wouldn't mind." I remarked as a stroked my daughter's hair lightly.
"Hunter...first of all, I wasn't with them when they made that choice. I had gone to the bathroom and we agreed that we'd decide together when I got back. I was against throwing you from the group. I wasn't even mad at you...I had forgiven you the night you took me flying on Toothless..." Astrid stated first. I looked to her now.
"You didn't speak up either, Astrid. You were standing with them when they did it. That makes you just as guilty." I closed my eyes, "But regardless...I'm not here to pass blame," I added now looking to the rest of them.
"Right after we did it, made the choice we did...We regretted it, Hunter. But you...took off so fast we didn't get to take it back," Eric said.
"You think I didn't have good reason for just taking off when I lost the best friends I'd ever had? I'd said I'd leave you guys alone, so I left. Dragon training class is just a review for me anyway..." I felt Hope snuggle into me with a smile on her face. "If you regretted it, then why didn't you just come talk to me?" I asked.
"We couldn't find you. We only saw Heather...never you." Fredrick interjected.
"Oh I was there," I began, I saw their confused faces and rolled my eyes. "I changed my classes, I had my father remove me from all the ones we shared together. The only ones he couldn't change were Home Ec and Dragon Training. And I always eat lunch outside with the dragons," I explained. "I figured you'd want to see as little of me as possible so I made it so we wouldn't have to cross one another."
"Hunter...we're sorry. For everything...There was just...a lot going on and we were hurt you didn't tell us about having a daughter, or being a dragon racer. We've been best friends for years, then you just disappeared without a trace for two years. You and Heather both did, then you come back and say you two are siblings...were home-schooled for two years because Heather didn't want to face people, and you didn't want her to be alone. Why couldn't you just tell us the truth? You keep saying you have these reasons but you won't tell us why...and now you've...given up racing?" Shaun asked.
"You couldn't possibly understand what I was going through." I replied.
"How can we when you won't tell us?" Eric pointed out.
"I did tell you and you still don't get it. My reasons are my own...I get I lied to all of you, and I am sorry for that. It was never my intention to hurt you." I closed my eyes now.
"Then what was your intention. Hope we never find out about well...Hope and you being Shadow?" Rylee asked.
"I told you, you wouldn't understand." I said again.
"We would if you'd tell us! Heather told us about you crying the day we stopped being your friends. She scolded us, Damien scolded us. Both saying you have these reasons why you did it. So why did you! It's the same thing: you say we wouldn't understand your reasons but how can we even try if you won't tell us? If it wasn't your intention to hurt us, then what were you intending to do!?" Shaun yelled now.
I almost glared at him. "I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU!" I shouted back. I watched them all back up rapidly at my anger. Shockingly enough my daughter stayed asleep on my chest.
"Wh-what?" Astrid asked, wide-eyed.
"I was trying to protect all of you. And my family too. Alright? That's why I kept it a secret, to protect you. Because you're...you were my friends," I said again.
"Pro...tect us...? From what?" Rylee asked now.
I sighed heavily looking down now. "Back when I first became Shadow, after meeting Toothless...we drew a lot of unwanted attention. The press was always near the house, trying to see who Shadow was without his mask, to get near Toothless. Everywhere my family went...they weren't left alone. After one photographer snapped a photo of me as Shadow with Hope...it got worse. We had it taken down immediately, then...we moved. After all that calmed down, it was about the time my father took the job at the school. Heather and I both had to come back and I dreaded it. But that's because I was afraid of the press trailing Shadow again, harassing you all at the school, causing trouble, never leaving you alone. My family had already suffered all that and I didn't want my friends to go through the same..."
"But then...why did you hide Hope?" Travis asked.
"Because I know that some person somewhere has that picture. I know it's floating around and where the rumors started that Shadow has a daughter. I know you've heard it...I knew if I told you I had Hope, or someone at school found out...that was it. Everything I tried to do would be over. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it all, I just wanted to keep you safe from the lifestyle of knowing a famous person...And the only way I knew to keep you safe...was to keep you in the dark." I looked away from them.
"Hunter...We're...sorry. We didn't even...consider all that." Astrid frowned.
"It's my fault. You might have been safer if I did tell you...I knew I could trust you to keep quiet but in the school...Things just get out so easily, and...I was scared. I'm sorry I lied to you all, I don't blame you for hating me...But now you know why I had my reasons for doing what I did...To protect Hope, my family...and all of you. Knowing me...makes you a target." I closed my eyes again.
"Target...how? Like the press and stuff?" Travis asked.
"Yes. You saw what happened at the race. The reason I was giving up racing was to protect you as well. Damien figured out who I was just by watching how I flew on Strykeout in class...and if he figured it out, then so would everyone else. It opens up trouble and blackmail...and drama I didn't want all of you in. So I decided to stop racing, and reveal myself. It was to show you why you were in danger...That Changewing rider was a rival from another league, they all come out to watch races to see who would compete in that worldwide race in June. Revealing myself sparked up a lot of jealousy, and that Changewing racer targeted me to take me out of the races. I quit racing...to show you my reasons. And I told you to leave me alone for your protection..." I said.
"But if that racer targeted you, how does it protect us?" Fredrick asked.
"I told you to leave me alone so that way, after the truth came out, the press wouldn't go looking for my friends, ex friends or whatever we are. They'd leave you alone because they wouldn't know who you were. You'd all say you hated me, and refused to talk to them about it. And now, because the truth is out, and Toothless can't race anymore...it's over. The legend of Shadow and Toothless being racers will die out and Damien will take the spotlight. And everyone is safe again...I can't be targeted, my family and Hope can't...and neither can any of you. I purposely didn't tell you my reasons...so you would hate me. So you'd be safe." I felt Shaun put his hand on my shoulder.
"We're sorry for everything. We should have known you'd never hurt us if you didn't have to...and you only hurt us to protect us from that lifestyle," Shaun said.
"But Hunter...we're your friends. And we'd go through anything to help you out. We get why you didn't tell us now. But now that it's all over...things can go back to normal...We can be friends again, we don't hate you. We miss you, and Heather too. Please...forgive us for being douche bags. We miss our leader," Eric smiled.
I looked down again, eyes closed. Of course I wanted them back as friends but would they be safe now that I was done racing? Toothless couldn't race anymore with no tail fin. I loved racing, it was how I supported Hope but I couldn't now. I couldn't race anymore, I'd never race without Toothless. He was my friend, my partner. And some jealous racer targeted us and now Toothless would never fly again because of what I did. Because I revealed myself, everything I tried to avoid...had happened. And someone still got hurt because of me. "You really don't hate me for lying to you all…?" I asked.
"We never hated you, we just didn't like that you lied to us and couldn't tell us why. But now we understand why you did it. We're sorry we abandoned you, Hunter...Can you forgive us?" Rylee asked. I couldn't help but smile now. Even after everything that happened, they were asking my forgiveness.
"There's nothing to forgive, guys. You did what you felt you had to and so did I...we're even," I said and they smiled more broadly now.
"So...what now? Do we like...hug or something?" Eric asked.
What the hell, why not? "Alright bring it in just be careful of the small child," I said, and sure enough, we shared a big hug, all minding the sleeping child on my chest. "I really missed you guys. And I swear I'll never lie again...I won't keep you in the dark, I'll tell you when something is going on and we can figure it out together," I said relaxing now. It felt good to have them back. I had my friends back and I'd never lose them again. Finally, things felt right again. I had my friends, my family, my dragons, and of course my daughter. And I'd do whatever I had to in order to keep them all safe.
