Prompt: Takes place during RTTEThe Darkest Night. After Hiccup explodes in the Great Hall, instead of a story, Aric cheers her up with a song.
Song: True Colors (Film Version) from Dreamworks' Trolls
The Darkest Night's True Colors:
Aric had never seen Hiccup explode the way she had in the Great Hall. They all knew Stoick's condition was hard on her, on top of the war and Johann's betrayal, but no one really understood how far Hiccup had fallen until that moment. Hiccup screamed at them all, angry beyond what any of them could have thought she was capable of. But then, she blamed herself, showing the hurt underneath the anger.
None of this would have happened, and I mean none of it, if I had never shot Toothless down in the first place! You know it! I know it! BERK knows it! EVERYONE KNOWS IT! …Even he knows it!
The way she looked at Toothless before screaming that was heartbreaking. Aric knew Hiccup always blamed herself for Toothless' disability. That guilt never quite went away. But now she was blaming herself for everything; for the war, for her father's possible death, for Berk being in danger, for everyone being in danger, and it was slowly but surely eating her away.
Aric walked through the village until the outskirts where he saw Hiccup sitting alone. She was hunched over on a cliff with her legs dangling over the side. Toothless sat a little ways behind her, and he looked to Aric with a desperate look for help; Hiccup had clearly pushed him away. Her wings and tail were curled tight around her, a comforting mechanism. Slowly stepping towards her, Aric suddenly stopped. If Toothless couldn't get through to her, how could he?
"You with the sad eyes…" Aric stayed where he was behind her, and Hiccup turned at his voice. She just stared at him, despaired, yet curious. "Oh, I realize…" Aric stepped forward, and sat beside her. She watched as he did, until it seemed as if she couldn't look at him anymore. All this time Hiccup had been breaking apart brick by brick, and only now, in this darkest night, could Aric see the severity of it. He wondered if Hiccup could too, or if she was too far lost to notice.
Tears, one by one splashed onto the hands curled in her lap. One by one they dripped, silent as her face scrunched in an effort to do anything but sob.
Tenderly, Aric took one hand, and Hiccup's tear streaked face turned back to him. "Show me a smile then. Don't beat yourself, dear…" he brushed the hair from her eyes, then wiped her tears a bit for her. His hand went to her shoulder in a firm but comforting grip, and as Aric saw her eyes now, he could see how they'd begun to clear. "…'cause I will always be there. And I see your true colors shining through…" Slowly, with Hiccup's allowance, he pulled her into a comforting embrace, her face turned to the moon passed the horizon.
He was quiet then, simply allowing Hiccup to talk when she was ready, when her timid voice suddenly reached his ears, and he joined with her in their song. " "…Your true colors, true colors, are beautiful…" " As they sat there, Aric taking the lead, he gently pet her hair. It was something Stoick had told him comforted her months ago, and it was working. Hiccup was relaxing more against him, her entire body losing it's tension as her wings and tail unraveled. They sung together in a duet, calm and peaceful; just the two of them. "Your true colors", he sung.
"True colors", Hiccup sung.
" "Are beautiful." "
"Like a rainbow", Aric looked down to the angel in his arms.
"...Like a rainbow", Hiccup looked back up at him, a tender smile on her face.
They simply sat there then, just staring out over the ocean as a small nightly breeze brushed against them, until Hiccup's voice cut the silence like a knife.
"I'm scared", she said.
"I know."
