=Normal POV=
[Saturday, 9/10/2022-7:00 pm]
[Isle of Berk; Berkian Hall]
The celebration of life party was going fantastically. Everyone was having a good time enjoying the provided food, drinks, and entertainment. It was fun and sad at the same time, everyone was just going over memories they had with the deceased; Hiccup had many, but some of his last with these people were painful because he either saw the death happen, or it happened in his arms. Unfortunately; that made it all the harder to get over and celebrate their lives when they had lost their lives with Hiccup. Sometimes; he felt like an utter failure, but he'd think on it and remember that a lot of what happened was outside of his control and he can't be with everyone at all times. At least, that's what he was told during a couple of sessions with a professional when the pain began to build more. Hiccup knew he had PTSD, and he'd been very open with having a case of it to his family and friends. Hiccup dealt with flashbacks, reacting to loud sounds that resembled bombs or guns. And stuff like this with memorials brought back the day his friends died. And the only reason it wasn't tearing him apart was because he knew every soldier in the room was dealing with the same thing.
In some weird way, that made things more bearable for Hiccup; knowing he wasn't alone. Everyone was wandering around or sitting, but all were talking. Some had already left the event, but it was only going until 8 pm anyway. Hiccup had to stay as the Dragon Platoon leader; he'd had a few drinks, but was only buzzed. Currently, he was sitting at the table with Astrid, her parents, his parents, and Gobber. Spitelout and Freda had left, and Snotlout would be taking Minden and Adelaide home in his car.
"So…What are all those medals for, Hiccup?" Ruffnut decided to ask.
"Stuff I earned for various reasons," Hiccup replied calmly.
"Yeah, most of it is heroic action while seving," Eret chuckled.
"What that one? All four of you have it," Minden inquired, pointing to a specific one on his suit.
"That's the…Valorous Unit Award; it means we earned it as a unit for valorous duty," Dagur informed.
"Wasn't that when we got stranded in Afghanistan, just the four of us but took on an attack?" Thuggory looked at Hiccup.
"We didn't get stranded in Afghanistan," Dagur corrected.
"We elected to stay behind to save the rest," Hiccup informed. "It was the middle of a bad attack, and the extraction chopper couldn't leave when it had wounded soldiers aboard. We elected to stay behind and fight the platoon-sized group of enemies to give them a chance to escape. We were rescued the next morning,"
"We earned the medal for choosing to stay behind when it meant we could very well be killed in an attack that big on our own. All we had were our rifles, the SAW, and handguns," Eret added in.
"It was the heroic sacrifice we were willing to make to save the rest of the platoon, and it was on Hiccup's call that we did it," Dagur said.
"What's that red heart one?" Astrid wondered.
"It's called the Red Heart; awarded for either dying or being wounded against enemy forces while serving in war. If you pass on, the award is given to your families. If you live, it's awarded to you. Hiccup earned it the first time he got hurt in Syria, which was the first tour. Hiccup got shot in the back of the shoulder while going back against orders to save a fellow soldier who had been wounded badly and couldn't move on their own. We had been told to retreat, and the guy told us to leave him behind and go. Hiccup refused my orders and went back for his comrade anyway, ultimately saving his life," Viggo walked up with a smile.
"Hiccup carried this guy on his shoulders out of enemy territory and to the extraction point all while wounded himself," Thuggory said.
"He lost consciousness as soon as he reached the jeeps," Eret rolled his eyes.
"And nearly died from blood loss…" Dagur mumbled.
"All of Lieutenant Haddock's medals have been awarded for either serving, good work, or heroism," Drago chuckled.
"You all have these three too," Ruffnut pointed out to Eret's jacket with the pins on them.
"That first one is the Army Overseas Service Ribbon, self-explanatory; earned for serving overseas. And then these three reflect that we served in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Any country we serve in for; at the end of the tour, we get this to represent that we served there," Thuggory informed.
"Wow, impressive babe," Astrid chuckled. Hiccup just shrugged with a smile.
"Just doing my job," Hiccup replied softly.
"So, how do you like the house, Hiccup?" Krogan inquired.
"I love it, haven't started the move in yet. That'll be tomorrow," Hiccup said. "Just been spending the last couple of days packing up what I have at Dagur's and making the arrangements to get the rest of my room there,"
"Oh, we'll bring it, Haddock. Just let us know when to transport it," Drago chuckled.
"I told you many years ago that we'll handle all your moving needs," Viggo smiled.
"Well, in that case…Can ya bring it tomorrow around…I don't know, 10:30 in the morning?" Hiccup inquired.
"Certainly," Drago nodded.
"Want us to help you out?" Eret questioned.
"You gonna be awake at like 7:30 am, because that's when I'm starting," Hiccup stated.
"Dude, why so early?" Thuggory complained.
"Because I wanna get it done that much faster, and we all know I'm an early riser," Hiccup laughed a bit. "It's no big deal. I'm moving the stuff from Dagur's first and getting it situated before I do the rest of the moving container where everything else is,"
"Okay, we'll come over for ten to help with that," Eret smiled.
"Fair enough," Hiccup agreed.
"Hiccup, isn't this when you met Toothless?" Dagur asked, pointed to the screen where the slideshow was going. Hiccup glanced at it.
"Yeah. Well, just scenes. I have the full compilation of us spending time bonding on my computer," Hiccup nodded.
"Oh, can I see it?" Astrid hoped.
"I'll show everyone when we do the house-warming party," Hiccup stated.
"It was hilarious," Johann laughed some. "You two did not start off well,"
"Yeah, but he's my best bud now. Aren't ya, Toothless?" Hiccup said as the dog put his head into Hiccup's lap, enjoying being scratched on the top of the head.
"Well, thanks, dick," Dagur mumbled.
"Oh, come on. Let's night fight over me…I love you all equally," Hiccup informed.
"But I'm your favorite," Astrid smiled.
"I have no favorites," Hiccup claimed.
"Excuse me; I was first friend and girlfriend…" Astrid remarked.
"Milady, you will always have a special place with me," Hiccup stood up, bringing her against him. "Your place in my life cannot be replaced by anything or anyone," he cupped her cheek and kissed her deeply. Astrid blushed intensely, but didn't dare stop what was happening; she loved Hiccup with her everything, and loved that he wasn't shy in showing everyone that he loved her.
"Hey, boss…Can we do the thing that we do overseas during memorials?" asked one of the other males.
"Define thing? And which boss you referring to?" Drago arched a brow.
"Was talking to Lieutenant Haddock, Captain. And can we?" the man inquired.
"What thing, Lund?" Hiccup looked at him.
"We want to know if you'll do the song about us doing what we do for the people we love," a female wondered.
Hiccup arched a brow at her, then it hit him. "Oh! You mean Archian Soldier?" he asked.
"That's the one!" a few smiled.
"You guys know it; you don't need me," Hiccup reminded. "And you can't say we always do it, because I only just started it during the last tour. It's not even for memorial; just general purpose,"
"And we don't know it because it was unfinished. We only saw the first couple lines in your notebook," Eret said.
"Why the hell were you in my stuff?" Hiccup glared.
"You left it on your cot, open to be seen. It was fair game," Dagur chuckled.
"That is entirely beside the point!" Hiccup remarked. "And I just finished it when the tour ended. I haven't even done it with music yet. Been busy,"
"Oh, stop. So…Since it's finished now…Can you show us?" one of the girls hoped.
"You…Wrote a song for soldiers, Lieutenant Haddock?" Drago questioned curiously. Hiccup nodded.
"Yes, sir," Hiccup replied.
"And why is this the first I'm hearing of it?" Drago asked.
"Was saving it for the next drill weekend that I actually ended up attending since I was sick for September's, and I'll be on vacation for October's," Hiccup said.
"Well, let's hear it then," Krogan chuckled.
"I just said it wasn't entirely done; it's not recorded with the music…The only way to hear it is if I sing it live with the music playing," Hiccup informed.
"Then do it," Thuggory smiled.
"Must I?" Hiccup sighed.
"Yes, and if you question it one more time; I'll make it a direct order," Drago grinned.
"That's so unfair and a total abuse of power as captain…" Hiccup retorted. "Fine,"
"Whenever you're ready," Drago invited.
"Can ya gimme a minute to find it?" Hiccup muttered. After a moment or two; he located what he wanted and hooked it up to the computer with the slideshow and music going. Hiccup grumbled quietly as he got everything set. "This is called Archian Soldier, a song for the members of the Archian Military. It had a lot of inspiration from the tour, me happening to overhear different things and found a way to make it into a song that best describes us," he said after getting the microphone. The music started very simple before he took a breath. "I'm just trying to be a father, raise a daughter and a son. Be a lover to their mother, and everything to everyone. Up and at 'em bright and early, I'm all business in my suit. Yeah, I'm dressed up for success, from my head down to my boots,"
"I don't do it for the money; there's bills that I can't pay. I don't do it for the glory; I just do it anyway. Providing for our future is my responsibility. Yeah, I'm real good under pressure; being all that I can be. And I can't call in sick on Mondays when the weekend's been too strong. I just work straight through the holidays, and sometimes all night long. You can bet that I stand ready, when the wolf growls at the door," Hiccup sang as Toothless howled out, bring a smile to Hiccup's lips as he bent a bit to rub the top of his dog's head. "Hey, I'm solid. Hey, I'm steady. I'm true down to the core,"
"And I will always do my duty, no matter what the price. I've counted up the cost; I know the sacrifice. Oh, and I don't want to die for you, but if dying's asked of me…I'll bear that cross with honor, cause freedom don't come free! I'm an Archian Soldier, an Archian! Beside my brothers and my sisters; I will proudly take a stand. When liberty's in jeopardy; I will always do what's right. I'm out here on the front lines, sleep in peace tonight. Archian Soldier…I'm an Archian Soldier…" Hiccup continued. It was an amazing song, and more shocked to learn that Hiccup wrote it.
There was a break in words as the music just played through until Hiccup took another breath to start again. "Yeah! An Archian Soldier. An Archian! Beside my brothers and my sisters; I will proudly take a stand! When liberty's in jeopardy; I will always do what's right. I'm out here on the front lines, so sleep in peace tonight! Archian Soldier…I'm an Archian…An Archian…An Archian Soldier," Hiccup finished as the music played a bit longer, and eventually faded off.
All the guests in attendance for tonight's memorial began clapping and cheering. Hiccup set the microphone back in place before removing his phone and returning to his seat. "We all want copies," his friends demanded.
"Well, when I finally getting around to recording it; you can all have one," Hiccup stated.
"How long until then?" a girl inquired.
"Every time I get asked; I'm gonna push it back another week," Hiccup grumbled. "I'm technically on vacation starting Monday, so it ain't gonna be until after that is over,"
"You said you were on vacation for October drill," Eret said.
"Nah, I'm taking off like…Three weeks. From, technically the 12th to the 2nd," Hiccup informed.
"Why are you taking so much time off?" Dagur wondered.
"I suppose you could say that your words got to me last week when I was sick, about having so much saved vacation time and never taking it," Hiccup mentioned.
"Yeah, I meant that you wanted to go to work when you could barely stand and I was sure the captain would understand you missing drill weekend," Dagur remarked.
"But you were right about me having all the extra time, Dag. We get, what, thirty days a year for various reasons, all paid. I've been in the military for eight years, and the only time I ever take off were the breaks from war. We've been on three tours, where we get an approved two full weeks in the middle of the deployment, or two one-week vacations at separate points during the tour. I only take deployment vacations. I've got all the other days still rolled over from other years, so I decided to use some of them," Hiccup mentioned.
"But why three weeks all at once?" Thuggory asked.
"And why didn't you ever use the time you had, son? We could have seen you more," Stoick stated.
"Well, I never took the vacations because I…Didn't want to be here on Berk, running the risk of bumping into Astrid. I know we probably could have fixed things years ago, but I didn't know that back then because I was stubborn and stupid about thinking there was no way to possibly fix what happened between us. Either way…Now that things have been remedied, and we're stationed here on Berk; I need time to get my house together, and doing it at 6 or 7 pm after work doesn't sound like any type of something I want to take part in. So I decided to take two weeks to get that set up, as I need to completely furnish it," Hiccup informed.
"And what's the last week for?" Gobber arched a brow.
"To relax at home," Hiccup said as Astrid arched a brow at why Hiccup didn't just tell them it was because they were going on vacation to Dragon's Edge. Hiccup shot her a look that said; I'll explain later. Astrid understood and smiled. "I just wanna take a week to relax and enjoy my house," he added. "I'm doing all the work for it, some time to sit in and enjoy it would be nice,"
"His reasons don't matter," Drago chimed in. "He has the time to take off, so he's allowed to take it whenever he wants as long as we aren't deployed. He's an officer, so him missing drill weekend isn't against the rules as he's usually leading it. I can substitute as platoon leader for a couple days,"
"Appreciated, sir," Hiccup said. "Don't hurt 'em too much,"
"No promises," Drago grinned. There was an audible gulp heard from the twenty-one soldiers who were going to have to deal with Drago through the October drill weekend.
"Hiccup…Please don't leave us with him!" someone pleaded.
"He believes in physical training for like four hours!" another stated.
"Oh, stop it. You'll be fine," Hiccup rolled his eyes. "A little extra work never killed anyone before,"
"Says the guy who has some of the best physical fitness scores in the company…" a few mumbled.
"I didn't join the army to half-ass the work that comes with it," Hiccup said. "Now, enough already. You're soldiers, stop whining like pageant queens,"
"Yes, Lieutenant Haddock," the soldiers in his platoon replied together.
"Good," Hiccup said as he stretched and yawned.
"You look exhausted, babe," Astrid pointed out.
"A little," Hiccup shrugged to her.
"Well, I think you've done your part here, Lieutenant," Drago stated.
"Sir?" Hiccup arched a brow.
"Go on home," Drago told him.
"But…It's my platoon's memorial, I feel I should stay," Hiccup reminded.
"And I feel you shouldn't disobey orders before I ensure that you're actually exhausted before leaving here tonight. I wasn't suggesting or asking you to go home; I'm telling you to," Drago demanded. "You're gonna have a busy two weeks getting your house in order, and I'm sure you'd like to be well rested for it. So go rest,"
"Sir, yes sir," Hiccup saluted gently. "You, uh, spending the night, Milady?"
"I am helping you tomorrow, aren't I?" Astrid asked.
"You're waking up at 6:30 with me?" Hiccup blinked.
"Of course. I told you that I was helping you with this; you said I could," Astrid smiled.
"That I did, but I still didn't think you wanted to be up at the ass crack of dawn with me to do it," Hiccup chuckled. "Also won't fight you on it,"
"Good boy," Astrid joked. "I'm ready," she grabbed her light jacket and purse.
"Toothless," Hiccup called, and gave a whistle. Toothless darted to his left. "There you are," he smiled. "Alright, let's go," he offered his arm to Astrid as she linked her hand around it and held on. "Night," he told the others.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Hic," Dagur said.
"You know…Don't worry about helping me with the house. I kind'a promised Astrid that it could be an us project, and I don't want anyone seeing the house until it's done because I'm weird like that," Hiccup shrugged.
"You sure?" Eret asked.
"Positive. It your guys' day off; I'm not gonna take it by having you do stuff we do at work, moving shit around and cleaning," Hiccup chuckled. "You'll all get to see it, finished, at the house-warming party on the 23rd. It's a Friday, I'll figure out the time later on and let everyone know,"
"Well, alright. If you change your mind; we're a phone call away," Thuggory reminded.
"I know," Hiccup nodded as he said bye to everyone with a wave and left with Astrid and Toothless. Hiccup couldn't wait to get his house done, have that party, and then enjoy his vacation with Astrid. The two of them got outside and settled into Hiccup's car, buckling up.
"So…Out of curiosity here, why didn't you just tell them we're going camping?" Astrid inquired finally now that they were alone.
"Oh," Hiccup laughed. "Because I know how our friends work, and I don't want them copying the idea," he said.
"What do you mean?" Astrid wondered.
"If we told them about the trip now; they'd all suddenly show up to go camping as well and say oh, what a nice surprise that we're all here. There goes us having the time to ourselves as planned because you know they'll want to join up for meals and what not. I figured not to tell them until right before we leave, that way they don't have time just book sites last minute. I know it's kind'a cold and mean of me, but I was dead serious about wanting to spend time with you, babe," Hiccup explained.
"I don't think it's mean," Astrid smiled. "It is absolutely something they'd do. I appreciate that you're…Protecting our vacation so intently,"
"Well, then you're welcome, Milady," Hiccup leaned over and kissed her before starting the car and driving to Dagur and Mala's house. This would be the last night he spent there because tomorrow, no matter what; he'd have his bedroom set up and saying in his new house for the first time. And then the next two weeks were entirely dedicated to getting the house furnished up and fully done for the party on the 23rd. After that; he and Astrid were headed to Dragon's Edge for a much-needed vacation alone with their dogs. Neither of them could wait.
