Chapter 5 Trapping the mind V:
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Eret noticed the strange behavior of Hiccup: his face was contorted in a million different expressions, ranging from peace to fear, passing by cruelty and lust. But all settled down to absolute terror, with tears leaking out of his closed eyelids. The trapper feared for his friend, wondering if he was sick. He reached out a hand towards his forehead. As soon as his palm met contact with Hiccup's forehead, the younger Viking's eye snapped open. Eret immediately noticed that something was wrong: Hiccup pupils were overly-dilated, the black orb almost covering entirely his green iris. Speaking of those, they were weaved with pale, glowing blue lines.
"Hiccup…" was the only word he managed to said before he felt incredible strength jolt him around. Eret was an experienced fighter, but no one could react to that.
Hiccup grabbed his wrist with his left hand while stepping right and grab the elbow with his right hand. Hiccup then pulled with a colossal strength the arm by bending backward, and in the same motion, drove his right foot into the ex-trapper ankle, swiping him off his feet. The move sent Eret flying over Hiccup's shoulder, but as he passed the auburn Viking shoulder, Hiccup twisted and slammed his elbow at the back of Eret's head. The man landed heavily on the ground, seeing stars. The loud thud alerted the others.
"What? Hiccup, what's wrong with you?" Yelled Fishleg.
"But that move was totally awesome, do it to me," Tuffnut said, a wide grin on his face, his hand extending out, waiting for Hiccup to grab it. But the auburn Viking just curled on himself, muttering
"Get away from me, please, Get away from me."
Snotlout approached Hiccup from behind. Towering his cousin, the young Viking put his hand on Hiccup's shoulders, trying to pin him to the ground by pushing him down to the side. But Hiccup rolled with the momentum, his left leg hooked behind Snotlout's knees while his right one swept his ankle in a scissoring motion. The jet-haired Viking hit the ground face first, and Hiccup climbed onto his back and hauled his hair, ready to slammed Snotlout face to the ground again. But Hiccup caught sight of the blood, smeared over Snotlout's face, and the fear that carved deep lines into it, and his hands started shivering like leaves, his whole body jerked away from Snotlout before clumping against a wall and started sobbing.
"Get away from me, get away from me." He sobbed.
Astrid, Fishleg and the twins all had worrying written on their faces. Hiccup's current state was strange, for the very least: it was obvious that he had something going on, but they cannot approach him because he what he had made him fight like a Valkyrie, quick, powerful, and with techniques that seemed out of this time.
"Get away from me, get away from me." Hiccup continued.
"What do we do?" Asked Fishleg
"I don't know." Said Astrid, "But let's first take care of Snotlout and Eret."
The two wounded Viking were quickly treated: Eret had a swell on his head where Hiccup's elbow connected and Snotlout had a nose bleed from the impact. The six sat down, not to close to Hiccup, but just far enough to keep an eye on him, and talk about a solution. After a good amount of back and forth, Astrid said
"Well, I'm out of ideas. "
At this moment, Fishleg said in a very small voice: "Maybe we can ask Grim?"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Astrid replied
"Hiccup has been hit by a Headless weapon, maybe Grim will know what it is. I am ready to take the risk."
"Alright, I'll go get him."
Grim walked behind Astrid, his hands bound in front of him. The rest of the group stood up and approached Hiccup. He was still mumbling "get away from me" but the words were stuttered, his breathing short and haste, almost panting. And then Hiccup started coughing. It started gently, but rapidly it became a violent cough that never seemed to stop. And blood started to come out as well.
"Hiccup! "Yelled Astrid before dashing toward her promised. But she only got a few steps in before Hiccup stood up and shouted
"Get away from me" before coughing more violently. Astrid stopped dead in her tracks and glanced towards the rest of the group.
"Untie me," said Grim
"Why?" replied Astrid, still not taking her eyes off Hiccup.
"If you want me to take a look at him, I'll need all my mobility. Trust me." He reassured.
Glancing between her lover and Grim, she pondered her options, before quickly coming to the conclusion that Hiccup was worth the risk. Hiccup was worth everything. The blond Viking girl reached for her axe and in a precise blow, chopped the ropes restraining Grim's wrist. The Viking rubbed them a bit to get the blood circulating, before taking a step towards Hiccup who was acted like a wounded, surrounded dragon.
"Get away from me!" He hissed, But Grim didn't answer, continuing approaching him with precaution. When Grim judged that he was close enough, he made the motion of taking one last step, his whole body jerked forward, but at the last moment, he bent back. It was bait, to make Hiccup lunge forward, but Hiccup didn't move. Grim tried the same move a couple more times, by varying time and speed, but each time, Hiccup didn't fall for it.
Deciding that baiting Hiccup to come to him wasn't a solution, Grim stood still, and turned his back. When he heard shuffling, indicating that Hiccup was sitting back down, Grim twisted on himself and ran towards Hiccup, closing the distance in three large steps. But Hiccup was faster, already in a defensive pose, bend low, before even Grim stepped towards him. At the last moment, Grim shifted all his momentum on his left leg, Hiccup followed the motion and made a grabbing gesture, trying to tackle his legs; but Grim jumped right, using the said leg as an impulse, and jumped over Hiccup's embrace. While in the air, he saw the faint blue lines around the dark, widened pupil, a grin of satisfaction was born on his face but quickly faded away when Hiccup kicked him hard in the chest with his metal foot.
The older Viking held his chest when he went back to the group, leaving Hiccup alone.
"So?" asked Astrid
"I know what he was hit with." Grim panted, still short of breath "it's the Headless secret weapon."
"What kind of secret weapon?" this time, it was Fishleg who asked.
"He was hit with an arrow that had a silver glow, right?" Grim asked
"Right, I was the one who removed it."
"Did a blue mist came out of it?"
"No, I didn't saw anything different from a normal arrow," Fishleg replied
"Actually" Astrid stepped in, "When he was gliding, I did saw that he was at one point surrounded by a light blue mist."
Grim sighed, looking down "Then that is the Headless secret weapon." Before looking back up at the riders. "You all know what the Flightmare is?"
Fishleg and Astrid recalled the glowing dragon that came around every ten cycles, during Arbindal fire. The very dragon that shamed Astrid's uncle Finn Hofferson and drove him away from the tribe. The dragon that, with the help of Hiccup, they managed to fight off and restore her family honor. What does it have to do with Hiccup? The two though but nodded
"Well, the blue mist was Flightmare's mist" Grim continued "and it induces fear in the victim."
"But isn't the mist supposed to paralyzed the victim as well?" Fishleg asked.
"Normally, yes" Grim answered, "But the Headless uses a combination of plants and substances extracted from different animals to overcome the paralyzing effect, and enhance the fear."
"That doesn't explain why Hiccup is attacking us," Astrid said
"Well, Hiccup likely afraid from you guys, theses induced fears are just amplified versions of fear he felt in the past."
Guilt instantly hit the two Vikings. Hiccup was fearing them because the poison made him think back when they were children and constantly used to pick on the younger Hiccup? It was a possibility. But then violent coughing broke them from their though. They all looked towards Hiccup, and he was coughing up more blood, and viscous substance that didn't look should be out of his body.
"We need to act fast," said Grim in a panicked voice, "the most powerful aspect of this weapon is that even if it hits only one person, but it harms the whole group. It the perfect weapon to take out a leader."
"How so" Eret, recovered from the blow, asked suspiciously.
"Long story short: if the chief was hit, the whole tribe would try and get him better. But he would not let anyone approach him, and, in some cases, would start to kill his own tribesman out of fear. And the tribe collapsed on itself from exhaustion, trying to heal him."
A gasp sounded; this was exactly what was happening: They were trying to cure Hiccup, but Hiccup was fighting them away and they couldn't use any lethal mean, because he was already wounded.
"And the blood? A side effect? "Eret continued
"Indirectly." Grim answered, "The fear overworks the mind, making it impossible to willingly control the body. But it also overworks the body, thus the enhanced speed, strength, and coordination. And past a certain point, the body starts to eat himself to get the fuel."
"What can I do?" Yelled Astrid in desperation. She was not losing Hiccup over some kind of stupid weapon. "I'll do anything, please, tell me there is a way to stop this."
"Yeah, by knocking him out," Grim stated.
That was enough, Astrid instructed the other to back off. Some, like Snotlout, happily obliged, while others stood a little closer. Toothless nudged the blond Viking girl, crooning sadly.
"Yeah, we'll heal him," Astrid said, reassuring the dragon while scratching his jaw. "Try to help, if you can." The dragon nodded, before vanishing in the wood, trying to come around Hiccup's back. I owe him this, after every time he was there for me, I owe him at least this. She thought to herself.
Astrid approached Hiccup slowly, one foot after another. Beforehand, she made sure that her axe was safely put on the ground, at the side of Fishleg. Her hands held in front of her, she whispered gently
"Hiccup, it's me, it's Astrid. I'm right in front of you." But Hiccup didn't respond, still curved on himself.
Astrid managed, in a painfully slow amount of time, in which Hiccup had cough some more blood and it took all her will to not run to him and held him in her arm, comforting him. Hiccup was in pain, but Grim's way was the only way. She managed to stand right in front of him, seeing that Hiccup was not reacting to her presence, she hesitated and stood still.
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Hiccup was internally screaming. What he saw before felt like multiple lifetimes, one with each new painting, but now as he sensed the presence in front of him, he felt eternity returning for one more time to torture him. Smelling gold, hearing blue, the presence was comforting, appeasing. But he each time he wanted to touch it, to feel it by other sense, to burying himself in it, it turned blood red, and the words 'you never could 'appeared in on it. It then faded black, the fatal words suspending within his mind, and from it, the presence reappeared, each time a little more comforting, a little more comforting, and each time, the transforming killed him a little bit more. So, he screamed, again and again, louder and louder, to make the presence stay away from him. But it never listened, his screams remained unheard.
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Astrid didn't notice the twitching face of Hiccup, as it was buried in his arm. Coming to her mind, she very slowly, extended her hand and reach towards Hiccup's shoulder. Despite the man in front was Hiccup, someone who would never harm another being, Viking or dragons, he was currently abnormal and dangerous, scary. She took a deep breath and tensed all her leg muscles, ready to jump away, and laid her left hand on his shoulder.
Everything happened in a blink for the others, but for her, she felt everything, from the slightest variation of strength in his body to his emotion-filled, fear-filled eyes. Her hand was on his right shoulder. With his opposite hand, he grabbed her hand in an iron tight grip, imprisoned it on his shoulder while his right arm slammed underneath her elbow, sending a sharp jolt of pain into her body. She riposted by driving her right foot in his leg, but the boot hit the prosthetic leg. He twisted on himself and his right leg curved behind her while standing up, his left-hand releasing but was quickly replaced with his right hand, bending back to grip her wrist, all in the same motion that lifted her off the ground. His right arm then came back down, while his left one grabbed her right arm. Astrid found herself pinned to Hiccup behind her, her left arm twisted and trapped between her back and his front, her right one against her neck by the wrist held by his iron tight grip, and he slid his good leg between hers, a motion that locked her legs to prevent kicking, but also drove his hips into her rear.
Into the embrace that she loved, in which she felt truly safe, could melt in, in which she could be a normal girl, loved by her promised, she found herself in an erotic position that wasn't the result of passion. And all felt different.
The usual gentle grip was iron tight, burning marks on her skins. His hidden strength, that he always used to protect or play with her, was now harming her. His heat, in which before she sought warmth and comfort, was now burning her soul. His breathing in her ear, changed from being lustful and filled with love, was now filled dreaded and fill with fear. She could taste the fear that Hiccup emanated, a foul, metallic taste that overpowered his usual woody, leathery scent.
The others reacted quickly when they saw her in this position, well, all of them took a step forward expect Grim, who sat back and looked with a curious gaze.
"No, she yelled, trying to stop them.
"get away from me, please, get away from me." Hiccup said before coughing hard, and Astrid felt the blood drip on her hair.
"Easy, Hiccup," said Eret, both hands raised "Its Astrid, you don't want to hurt her, don't you?"
"Get away from me, please, just get away from me." Hiccup continued; his eyes trailing off.
"Hey, hey" Continued the ex-trapper, "Look, I know what happened to you, I know you are scared, but we are your friend, you got Astrid right here in your arm, so there is nothing to fear, just take it easy, and hold her properly. Would you" trying to talk some senses into Hiccup
"Get away from me, please, I beg you, get away from me." Hiccup pleaded. But Eret took another step, and Hiccup moved. His left-hand release Astrid right arm and darted towards her belt. When she felt a weight being removed, a thought sparked. Her dagger, she didn't remove it. Her instincts kicked in and she lowered her right arm and held it upright in front of her, just in time to block Hiccup hands with the dagger at the wrist. The tip of the blade was finger length from her tunic, and closing inexorably, as Hiccup pushed. She tried to fight him, but in this position, Hiccup had more leverage for strength.
Eret stepped back at the sight, and Fishleg almost fainted. In the corner of her eyes, she saw Grim fumbling with something around his lap, but she ignored it.
"GET AWAY FROM ME" Hiccup yelled with a hoarse voice, and everyone stepped back. But Hiccup was still pushing the blade, and Astrid felt the tip grazing her skin.
"Hiccup" she pleaded "Hiccup, I know you there, please, Hiccup, this isn't you. This isn't you Hiccup. Wake up, please. Wake up. I beg you, wake you. Hiccup" her begging seemed to have no effect. "Please Hiccup, wake up, you are scaring me, Hiccup. This isn't you. I know this isn't you. You don't harm people; you don't kill your enemies. You are kind, gentle, caring. You never could, so wake up, please."
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The last words made Hiccup stiffen. "You never could." The presence actually said them again, and Hiccup started to see red dripping all across his field of view, and fear took over. He pushed the blade with all his strength. But at the last moment, a drop of clarity whipped the falling crimson and he saw two big, blue, pleading eyes. "Astrid" crossed his mind, and, out of desperations, he released his right hand and brought it up, using it as a rail to guide the blade away. The motion resulted in the blade scraping the back of his right hand and lodging itself hilt deep into his shoulder. Astrid took the opportunity to slide down, out of his embrace. She spun around and saw Hiccup stabbed himself. She screamed his name, watching blood pouring from his hand and his shoulder. The young Viking opened his eyes, where she saw some clarity, before saying. "My biggest fear is you…" but he couldn't complete his sentence, before a black tail whacked the back of his head and he fell down like a trunk, into Astrid's embrace.
•—0—•
The next morning, Hiccup woke up with a huge headache. He blinked a few times before assessing what was around him: Astrid. The blonde Viking eyes light up when she saw Hiccup woke up. She lunged forward and pulled him into a tight hug.
"You had me so worried back then." She whimpered.
"I'm sorry Milady, but what exactly happened? "He said
"You don't remember? "Hiccup shook his head. "Well, what do you remember."
"Well, I remember Fishleg pulling out the arrow, and then flying to the Lures to grab Grim. But when I landed back, I fainted as everything turned black, but I still saw things."
"What kinds of things? "She asked
"illusions, things that never happened, but it just felt so real" Hiccup was starting the pant, and clench Astrid tighter.
"Shhh, it's alright baby, you're cured. Do you want to tell me what you saw?"
At this moment, Fishleg barged in. "The twins saw something on the Lures. Incoming attack."
Hiccup reacted Immediately. He gently pulled off Astrid's embrace, put his leg back on, and went outside yelling "Toothless!", the black dragon appeared, and Hiccup saddle himself up. He gestured Toothless to grab Grim but the prisoner "Do I really want to come? After I've done, you still don't deed me trustworthy?"
Hiccup's face darkened, but Astrid step in. "It's okay, he can stay. You were hit by the Headless secret weapon, an arrow that used the Flighmare's mist. It's him who found the solution, or else you will be dead."
"He saved my life?" Hiccup asked.
"Let's call ourselves even then, you for sparing me when you captured me," Grim spoke, and Hiccup nodded.
"Let's go." He ordered before shooting upward with Toothless, quickly followed by Stormfly and Meatlug.
As the dragons disappeared, Grim grinned hard.
"Smooth as cow butter."
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The trio landed on the Lures, regrouped with Snotlout and the twins. Hiccup looked through a spyglass and saw three ships coming their way. The two on the side were more traditional looking, although heavily armed. But the one in the middle was of a different breed. Long, but with an overly large and flat deck, littered with catapults and devices he never has seen. He sighed deeply; this was going to be a long battle.
"Alright gang, here's the plan."
"No, Hiccup, you are in no shape of flying, yet alone leading a battle." Astrid step in
"Astrid, I'm fine. Besides, you'll need Toothless firepower to take that the big one."
"No, Hiccup, we'll do fine, it's not like we've never beaten them before."
"Don't underestimate them" Hiccup warned. "I should still come with you, at least at a wingman."
"Hiccup, I'm putting my foot down. You are in no shape of flying, not after everything you've been through." Astrid started firmly.
"Astrid…"
"How about we engaged first, taking out the escort ships before signaling you and we attack the last one together?"
The couple went back and forth, debating solutions but Hiccup was stubborn, and Astrid stubborner.
"Astrid, I assure you I am fine." Hiccup sighed, he remained calm but Astrid was started to lose her patience.
"Hiccup, as your lover, your promised, you wife to be, I beg you to stay safe, you are in no shape of flying!" Astrid pleaded.
"Milady, as your lover, your betrothed, your husband to be, it's my duty to keep you safe. How can I keep you safe if I'm saying back here?" Hiccup replied
"Then as Berk's army General and chieftess of the Hairy Hooligan tribe to be, I order you to stay back." Astrid snarled.
"Then as your CHIEF, I order you to obey me," Hiccup yelled. And for a split second, Astrid felt that she was facing Stoick the Vast Haddock.
"Fine" she grumbled, and discreetly nodded at Fishleg. Suddenly, a dragon in pain sounded and everyone shot up. "Why don't you check this up, chief Haddock, alone?" Astrid said
Hiccup sighed "We'll talk about this later" before he vanished into the woods, after ordering Toothless to stay and order the other dragons to not take off.
Hiccup scumbled into bushes of the Lures, using the cries to orient himself. When he looked down into a hollow truck, he saw a familiar Terrible terror.
"Iggy?" he exclaimed in surprise before everything hit him figuratively, and he hit himself in the head. "Yak head, how did I fall for this." He ran back to the spyglass, only to find Toothless looking guilty at him.
He jumped on the dragon's back, held down the pedal but the tailfin didn't open. He looked back and saw the connecting rod missing.
"Fishleg!" He yelled.
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The fight with the two escort ships was quick. Splitting in half, they charged directly above the ships, placing themselves into the dead angle of the catapults. And now, they regrouped and started to engage the last, menacing ship.
"The signal, Astrid," said Snotlout.
"There won't be a signal. Hiccup won't be coming, he's in no shape of flying." Astrid said.
"Wait, but" Snotlout wanted to continue but Astrid intense gaze made him bit on his words.
"Alright, let go, watch out for any type of weapons. They are the Headless" Astrid warned before flying in towards the last ship.
The four dragons flew in formations until they were in range, and rapidly broke off to avoid catapults and ballista. The riders riposted, destroying weapons and damaging the ship. As the flew over for another passage, Fishleg noticed some very long catapults arms that were almost as wide as the ships, with a slit almost a palm thick on one end. The strange part is that it was on alternate ending of said arms. Astrid, during her dive to take out four catapults in a long magnesium blast and disarmed two ballistae by scaring off the men with a volley of spines, herd 'Ignite' as she pulled up. She glanced back down behind and saw the rows of cylinders pointed upwards burst into flame. Black, round shape flew in the air before detonating themselves, sending a myriad a black little dot in every direction. She got some on her clothes, her face, and all she felt was like she was hit with a million pebbles. But her dragon was starting act weird, and the flying got uncontrollable and trying twitching hard"
"I can't control Hookfang "Yelled Snotlout.
"Me too, Meatlug is acting weird."
"It's the black dot, it making them act this way." Yelled Astrid "Retreat!"
The riders oriented their dragons back, and then Fishleg yelled "Astrid, look out!"
She saw a silver line flew in front and above her, but then a wall appeared out of nothing in a sliding metal sound. Her eyes widened as she didn't have the leverage to make the turn.
"I'm sorry girl." She whispered to the dragon and braced for the impact.
A loud whistle and a huge explosion later, the wall crumbled on itself in a purple gush of light. Behind it emerged the dark, bat-like shape of Toothless.
"If your signal was getting yourself killed, then it's pretty effective," said Hiccup, mad.
"Hiccup? How?" Astrid asked.
"Had a spare. But you will hear the end of this, I promise. Once you realize what you have truly done" Hiccup said darkly before turning around." Show them what you got, bud." The Night Fury lived up to the nickname of the Unholy offspring of Lightning and Death, raining chaos on the deck.
Astrid's eyes filled with guilt when she realized that by her plan to keep Hiccup safe, she was denying him his chance of battle. A personal offense to the Viking way.
The ship retreated, battered like a wounded soldier, while the five dragons, hovering, watch it limping away into the forming fog. But Hiccup felt being watched. He is always hiding, at the limit between…..
He is here Hiccup though. His eyes scoured the sea and saw a couple of sea stacks as well as the fog that forming as the cold wind blew.
He looked around and saw tiredness on his friends' faces.
"You guys get back to the Outpost. This is an order" and they all agreed.
After making sure that they were following his instructions, Hiccup asked Toothless.
"Do your thing, bud. Find it." The Night Fury let out a screeching sound, and his ears flapped around, analyzing the echo. The dragon then flew towards a specific sea stack. Behind it, a ship, smaller than usual, made for absolute stealth. Hiccup grinned "Not so stealthy after all."
He landed as quiet as he can, drew Inferno and the blade lit up. He kicked the door but was met with no one. After scouting the entire ship, he started to felt unease. A bad feeling ran down his spine. The last chamber: the captain's quarter. He opened the door and was met with a simple desk with a chair behind. On the desk, impaled with a knife, was a sheet of parchment.
Hiccup removed and flipped it around. On it, it read
Trapping the mind: Love
