For three hundred years, life on Berk had remained the same, with little change. Vikings were very stubborn and not fans of change because it meant something you weren't used to or fully understood, and if things had been working fine for three hundred years then what was the point of changing things?
So even if the change in question being peace with dragons, some were still uncomfortable with the idea.
Though some Vikings had to deal with change more than others, Like Gobber the Belch, the Blacksmith of Berk. After losing both his arm and his leg he had to adjust to his new prosthetics, and having one of the most demanding jobs on Berk, he had to adapt quickly.
For Hiccup, he was open to the concept of change, he was never afraid of it because change was a natural part of life, so you could either stubbornly plant your foot in the ground and be left behind or go along with the changes.
It was just like with his arm, or lack of arm now. No matter how much he cried and screamed about it, his arm wouldn't come back but he could at least try to adapt, just like his mentor did.
It didn't mean it was any easier.
The first few nights after awakening from his coma wasn't pleasant. When Hiccup slept, he tended to roll over or move around, but one night he had rolled onto his stub and the pain made him shoot out of bed, as if splinters were slowly pushed into the wound. So at night, Hiccup would try to lay only on his back or right side, having to become stiff in order to not repeat the incident.
Hiccup awoke to the feeling of his home shaking and the roof groaning as dust fell from above him. Hiccup rolled his eyes in fond annoyance, this was now a recurrence during the last 2 weeks, Hiccup sleeping at a natural time and Toothless thinking that 6 hours of sleep was enough. Hiccup got out of bed and reached over for his new prosthetic arm, it wasn't anything fancy, it was just a metal tube as a forearm and a blacksmith glove attached to the end, filled with sand to make up the weight so that he could keep balanced when walking.
The arm was kept in place by a connecting piece on his stump which was held by rope wrapped around his arm, like Gobbers. He didn't want an axe or hook in place for fear of accidently injuring himself and because the weight would throw him off. And the glove would give him the idea that his hand was still there, he just couldn't feel it. Like having a numb arm.
After another 2 weeks, the stub had finally healed over and the bandages could come off, though the sight still was ground breaking to Hiccup none the less.
But while the wound healed over, the pain still remained. At times, Hiccup could be minding his own business and a sudden burning pain would nearly send him to the floor or make him feel sick, as though his non-existent arm was being dipped into lava or the muscles were being torn apart by invisible, serrated teeth.
And despite his new popularity amoung his people, Hiccup kept these issues to himself, he was a Viking after all and Vikings didn't show pain or weakness, he had never seen any over amputee complain or cry about their own battle scars. He wasn't about to let the village see him as a weakling again.
Hiccup made his way outside and looked up to the excited dragon that stomped against the roof of his hut. "Seriously, one of these days I think dad is gonna put studs or spikes on the roof so you won't go jumping on it." Hiccup half-heartedly warned as Toothless climbed down to meet his rider.
Toothless leaned in to rub his head against Hiccup affectionately and purred in delight as Hiccup scratched his chin in response. "So what's today's flight path, bud? A thrill ride or a casual fly around?" Hiccup questioned.
Toothless barked twice in answer. "Casual fly around it is." Hiccup said and was secretly happy for it. Don't get him wrong, after the first time truly flying with Toothless and the slight mishap of disconnecting from the saddle whilst thousands of feet in the air and plummeting down to near death, Hiccup had come to enjoy the thrill of doing stunts and free falling but sometimes he just liked to sit back and let the wind blow by him as he flew up in the air.
After a couple laps around the island, Hiccup decided that he needed to get to the forge and get back to working with Gobber. After waking up from his coma, Gobber, along with his father Stoick, Gothi and surprisingly Astrid decided that Hiccup should spend some time off the forge in order to not over work himself but now Hiccup thought he had spent enough time off and was eager to get back to working with his hands… hand.
As Hiccup landed by the plaza, he made his way to the smithy. On his way, he couldn't help but notice the stares of nearby or passing Vikings.
Hiccup was open to change, like the looks his people gave him now. Before they would either glare at him or look on in annoyance but after the Red Death's defeat, those looks changed to joy or even admiration. That was fine, he certainly liked it, preferred the positivity compared to the negative looks but now he would rather have those stares of revulsion and distaste.
Because now they looked at him in pity for his arm.
Amputees weren't a rare thing on Berk, many lost their limbs during the Viking and Dragon War but Hiccup was the youngest amputee on Berk and the nature of his injury was deeper than most others. For he had saved all of Berk's people but at the cost of his left arm and many felt guilty about it and guilty about how they treated him before.
But that was something Hiccup actually secretly hated. He didn't want their pity because it only made the reality of his injury more profound, their pity made him focus more on the loss of his limb than he really wanted.
And the guilt wasn't as appreciated. Because it wasn't like the people of Berk suddenly woke up one day and realised how badly they were treating him and went to mend things with him. They didn't suddenly start treating him kindly because it was the right thing to do, because it was basic human curtsey. No, they started treating him good because it made them feel good, it helped ease the guilt they felt, they only realised it was bad when they started to feel bad about it.
Hiccup done his best to ignore the pitiful gazes and walked into the forge. "Hey, Gobber." He greeted his mentor.
The large Viking must not have either heard Hiccup approaching because he fumbled with the sword in hand. "Whoa, argh!" he shouted.
"Whoa, Gobber, are you okay?" Hiccup asked as he neared.
Gobber thankfully wasn't hurt but he did level a small glare at Hiccup. "Hiccup! Ya' can't just barge into ma shop and sneak up on me, lad. Nearly lost another limb." Gobber said.
"Yeah, saying I barged in and sneaked up in the same sentence doesn't really work out. So what have we got today?" Hiccup asked.
Gobber looked confused before a look of discomfort replaced the confusion. "Uh, Hiccup, I think you may still-."
"Gobber, seriously, if I haven't been flying, I've been cooped up in my home. I'm good to go." Hiccup tried to assure Gobber but couldn't keep the pleading edge out of his voice.
Gobber wanted to stay firm but couldn't say no to Hiccup when he got this way. Damn, the wee lad made him soft. "Fine, but feel free to take a breather whenever ya need one and don't push yurself' too hard. Thankfully not a lot of customers, especially with no dragon raids anymore." Gobber said.
Hiccup only nodded whilst Toothless decided to curl up on a warm spot just outside the forge to take a nap.
Hiccup was about to get to work until Gobber called out to him. "Actually, 'Iccup. Could you go refill the quench barrel?"
"Sure. What, we run out of it? Or did you use the water to help with a hangover?" Hiccup teased.
"I wish, wouldn't have been such a waste. Na, a Terror decided ma quench barrel was the perfect place fur' a shite." Gobber deadpanned. "That's one dragon you can deal with fur' me."
Hiccup grimaced at the Terror's choice in doing his business. "Sorry for that, Gobber." Hiccup couldn't help but apologise.
"Eh, not yur' fault. Now go move that scrawny arse and get me ma watur'." Gobber waved his hand.
Hiccup nodded and grabbed the quench barrel and begun to drag the wooden construction before heading to the Village water well. Toothless motioned to follow but Hiccup stopped him with a pleasurable scratch to his chin. "Don't worry, bud. It's just up the path, no point making you walk back and forth." Hiccup said and headed off.
Hiccup finally got to the village well, it was a rather new well, being dug one summer ago. It seemed like Ack and Phlegma were getting their own share of water at the moment as well.
"Hiccup." The two Vikings greeted simultaneously before each gave a double take at him and his haul. Hiccup nodded in return, not seeing their surprise and set the barrel beside the well as he patiently waited his turn.
"Uh, Hiccup?" Hiccup looked to Phlegma who had addressed him. "You need any help, lad?" The fierce woman asked kindly and gestured to the barrel.
"Hmm? Help with what?" Hiccup questioned.
Phlegma squirmed uncomfortably, which was an odd sight for Hiccup, seeing as Phlegma was usually a sure warrior. "Well, I figured it would be harder with your…" she gestured to Hiccup's left arm and Hiccup understood what she meant. Despite the woman only trying to be kind and wanting to help out, Hiccup felt a stab of annoyance as his abilities was seemingly called into question. Did they seriously think he couldn't do something so simple?
"No, thanks. I'll be fine." He assured. Phlegma shared an uncertain look with Ack but the male Viking only shrugged with a 'What can you do?' expression.
Hiccup ignored the look and waited patiently for his turn, Ack had just finished and now Phlegma took her turn. After the shield Maiden gathered her share, Hiccup neared the well but noticed how the two seemed to linger, they tried to play it off as just taking the chance to catch up and talk but Hiccup knew they were waiting to jump in to help him out.
The thought brought a frown to his face but he directed his attention to the task at hand, no point getting worked up before he even done anything.
Hiccup lowered the bucket into the water of the well as normal, squeezing and releasing the rope that was tied to said bucket as to slow the bucket's descent. The rope running against his hand wasn't actually unpleasant for Hiccup had rough hands, the pros of working in a blacksmith's shop, his hands were rough and callus, so Hiccup could focuse more on controlling the bucket's descent than the sensation.
After the bucket dipped into the water, Hiccup then paused to figure out how he was to retrieve the haul. He then looked at his feet and had an idea. He pulled enough rope so that it laid on the ground and stepped on the rope to keep it in place as he reached down the length and pulled more of the rope out, once that section of the rope lay strewn on the ground, Hiccup then stepped on that part of the rope before repeating the process. Hiccup looked out the corner of his eye and smiled at the relief Ack and Phlegma emitted as Hiccup showed the pair he could still gather water, even one armed.
However, after finishing pulling the full bucket out, in his eagerness, Hiccup accidently let the bucket slip from his hand and the water splashed out and into the dirt floor. "Oh, Gods." Hiccup clicked his tongue.
"Here, let me-." Hiccup saw Ack had approached him but stopped the man in his tracks.
"A- Ack, please. I can handle this. I- I just let it slip out my hand." Hiccup tried to hide the annoyance in his voice as his face flushed in humiliation.
Ack tried to say something but Hiccup's face must have said something and the man nodded, backing away and walking by Phlegma. The female Viking gave Hiccup a pitying look and Hiccup felt that humiliation turn to anger but blinked in surprise. Hiccup rarely got angry and he knew the pair were only trying to help but it seemed like he was high tensioned at the moment. Maybe because he stir crazy after being confined at home for so long.
Hiccup went on to gather the water, having to repeat the process a few times to gather enough water to fill the barrel and sealed the top with a lid. Hiccup then had another dilemma, the barrel could hold 55 gallons of water, so the barrel now roughly weighed 400 pounds.
"Oh, great." Hiccup cursed his pride, if only he hadn't sent Ack or Phlegma away, now he was stuck with a 400 pound barrel of water. He couldn't lift it, only a few people on Berk would be capable of such a feat, so he'd have to roll it, but Hiccup still wasn't comfortable trying to control a rolling barrel of 55 gallons of water down a slope.
Hiccup then noticed Silent Sven walking by and called over to the mute man. "Hey, Sven. S- sorry to bother you but could you lend a hand?" Hiccup waved to the object of his desire and Sven wordlessly nodded before setting the collection of water on its side and carefully rolling the barrel as he followed Hiccup to the smithy. Hiccup was rather thankful that it was Silent Sven helping and not someone who'd accidently say something that would put Hiccup in a worse mood.
Once the duo came to the smithy, Hiccup thanked Sven for his assistance and entered the forge. "Gobber, got your water here!" Hiccup called out.
"Thanks, lad." Gobber said back.
Hiccup went his station and peeled off his fur vest and put on his work apron and went to tie a knot with his apron straps but his left arm grabbed nothing at all. Hiccup withheld a curse as Gobber turned back to see Hiccup's plight. "Need some help?" He asked.
"No, it's fine." Hiccup declined and merely tucked the straps into his trousers to secure the protective cloth. He felt embarrassed by the idea that he needed help with something so simple but he knew Gobber was only trying to help.
He then focused on warming up the forge's fire and picking up whatever tools Gobber had left lying around on the floor as usual. Honestly, Hiccup was surprised Gobber even knew where all his prosthetic attachments were half the time because the older Viking had a habit of just tossing away the attachment he didn't need at the time instead of just keeping them all together.
Hiccup could feel the effort it took for him to use the forge bellow, normally it took both his hands to pull it down fully to get a good blow of air. Having to use one arm certainly took twice as much effort.
Hiccup then saw the pile of weapons that needed a tune up. The pile was small, the smallest Hiccup had ever seen really. "Hmm, Gobber's right. Not a lot of orders today. Well without having to use them every over week, I guess they don't need to be repaired as frequently. Hope that doesn't put Gobber out of a job." Hiccup fretted for his friend. "Then again, with how often Astrid needs her axe sharpened, she may end up our best customer." Though it was Hiccup who sharpened her axe and he never charged her a coin. Not that Astrid really knew it was he who worked on her axe.
Hiccup noted the sword at the top of the pile just needed a simple sharpening and picked up the wide bladed short sword, swords like that only needed one hand to hold comfortably and were more used for quick, effective strikes and stabs.
He hauled the sword over to the whetstone wheel and laid the metal onto the rough stone but stopped short as he went to put his left hand over the sword to steady it. "Okay, this may be a problem." Hiccup noted and tried to plan how he would do this.
Hiccup then had an idea and held the sword so that it was upside down and pressed his knee against the spine of the sword whilst the whetstone wheel pressed against the other side of the weapon, Hiccup then used his other foot to pump the wheel into spinning. Sparks flew as the stone grinded against the steel of the sword. "Yeah, not too bad." Hiccup smiled smugly as he worked on the blade, running the blunt edges against the whetstone until the edges were sharp.
Hiccup took a closer look at the sword's edge and noted how the grinding wasn't as refined as he usually made it, instead of a straight finish that worked as sort of an outline, the outlining looked more wavy.
Hiccup frowned and begun to grind the sword again but in his carelessness, the blade slipped from between his knee and his knee went straight into the fast moving whetstone.
"Ah!" Hiccup grunted in slight pain. He looked at the knee and saw that the material of where his trousers made contact with the stone was torn apart and the skin beneath was scuffed and had a small patch of blood. It didn't really hurt but it stung like hel'.
Hiccup frowned in annoyance but saw how Toothless perked up and cooed in concern at the smell of his blood. "Don't worry about me, bud. It's the life of a blacksmith after all, we get a few cuts and scuffs, nothing too bad." Hiccup calmed down his friend who only gave Hiccup a look before going back to sleep.
Hiccup gave the sword a quality check before deciding it passed the inspection and moved onto the next order.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Meanwhile, Astrid was with the other teens, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut and their respective dragons. After the battle of the Red Death, each of the dragons had decided to stay with their humans and after some convincing and arguing with their parents, the teens managed to keep their scaly friends.
Astrid had named her Deadly Nadder: Stormfly. Way better name than Toothless in her opinion.
Whilst Snotlout named the Monstrous Nightmare: Hookfang, though that was the fourth name he made because Hookfang hated the other names, then again would you want to be called "The Great Mount of the Snotman"? Or how about "Snotmare"? "Snotty" was the weakest attempt by far. It seemed like Hookfang wouldn't take any name that had the words "Snot" or "Lout" in it.
Barf and Belch was a somewhat fitting name for the Hideous Zippleback. Ruffnut rode Barf whilst Tuffnut rode Belch. If you couldn't tell by the names, Barf was the head that expelled the gas while Belch was the one who ignited it.
And finally Meatlug the Gronkle, Fishlegs' dragon. The name seemed to fit the chubby Viking's gentle nature and the dragon just adored the boy and he the dragon.
The lot of them were hanging out by one of the many sea stacks that were within Berk's waters.
"Look, I'm telling you, Hookfang is the best of the dragons and, well it kinda makes sense that he was paired with the best Viking after all." Snotlout bragged with his eyes closed.
"Really? I though Astrid had Stormfly?" Ruffnut said as she and her twin chuckled at the quip.
"Oh, what? Like you two idiots are any better." Snotlout scowled.
"Uh, two heads, twice as cool." Tuffnut interjected.
"Yeah, two heads, one brain." Snotlout snorted until Ruff had Barf spray the stocky Viking, making him yelp in fear and hurry to escape the gas less Tuffnut decide to have Belch ignite the gas. The sight made the Thorston children burst into laughter again.
"You say that, Snotlout, but I have a feeling Stormfly could fly circles around Hookfang." Astrid said with a hint of pride.
"Well, technically, the Deadly Nadder is better in defence, speed and fire heat while the Monstrous Nightmare wins in terms of strength, endurance and size. And some can argue that, despite the Nadder having a thicker hide, the Nightmare has better defences because of its ability to ignite the flammable gel around its body." The ever book wise Fishlegs informed, making Snotlout and the twins roll their eyes.
"Though out of all the dragons, I'd say the Night Fury is the best in intelligence, speed, accuracy and firepower." Fishlegs finished, though the titbit of information made Astrid think of the Night Fury and his rider.
"Hey, has anyone seen Hiccup at all?" Astrid asked her friends. Each of the teens shared a look and shook their heads in denial.
"Hey, how come he doesn't want to hang out with us?" Tuffnut asked.
Fishlegs nervously twiddled his fingers as he answered. "Well… we weren't exactly his friends before… maybe he still thinks that's the case." He suggested.
"There's not being his friends and then there's being mean to him. And I think we were the latter." Astrid admitted with a great sense of guilt. She may never have teased or bullied Hiccup but she certainly never tried to stop it or help Hiccup and that was just as bad.
"Yeah, well, he finally stopped being a klutz, so he just needs to get over it." Snotlout huffed, trying to hide his own guilt.
"Wait, he doesn't think we're his friends?" Ruffnut asked with genuine shock. Everyone bar her brother turned to stare at her perplexed.
"Are you serious?" Astrid narrowed her eyes at her fellow blonde.
Tuffnut spoke up. "Yeah, does he not think we're friends?" he echoed his sibling.
"Why would he think of us as friends?" Astrid asked annoyed. "We treated him terribly, you treated him terribly!"
"Oh yeah, when was this?" Tuffnut demanded.
"You called him names." Fishlegs reminded the male twin.
"Yeah, and I call you names too, Fishface." Tuffnut argued. "So what? We all call each other names, like Snotlout is an idiot."
"Oh, of all people!" No one paid any mind to the outraged Jorgenson.
"You hurt him as well." Astrid said with her hands on her hips.
"Yeah and we fight each other, we fight Snotlout, we fight you. Vikings just fight." Ruffnut reasoned.
"You played pranks on him!" Astrid tried to get the twins to see what they had done wrong.
"Yeah, and on you, Fishlegs, Snotlout, even the Chief at times." Tuffnut confessed.
Astrid and Fishlegs stared at the pair, stupefied. "You… you genuinely thought you were Hiccup's friend?" the Shield Maiden gaped.
Ruff and Tuff shared a look before innocently nodding.
"To be fair, from what they described and how they act, they could have just intended for it to be either playful banter or rough housing and just didn't think how Hiccup would have been affected by it." Fishlegs defended.
"Alright, whatever, I'm going to look for Hiccup, and maybe let him know that he doesn't have be afraid about hanging out with us." Astrid told the group before getting on Stormfly and flying back to Berk.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Back with Hiccup, it seemed that the task of repairing some weapons with only one arm was more difficult than Hiccup cared to admit. After the sword had been sharpened, Hiccup then worked on the war hammer that needed replacing. The head of the hammer had a huge chunk of it missing so it was a simple replace and refit.
Though the weight of the Warhammer made it hard to hold with only one hand and trying to twist the head off was not as simple as it sounded. Hiccup managed to lug the hammer to a vice and tighten the vice to hold the handle so he could work on removing the head. He had to use his arm and chest to try and twist the head off and after a few minutes of struggling, he managed to take off the head and then had to lug an equally heavy new hammer head over to the handle to refit.
Another task was having to reshape the blade of a battle axe, the head was warped and needed to be heated up in order to beat and bend it back to shape.
He managed to use the forge bellow just fine in order to heat up the coal fire place but it was trying to reshape the axe head that was difficult.
Hiccup pulled the red hot glowing axe from the heater and place it on the anvil but realised he didn't have the forging hammer, Hiccup had to put the axe back on the heater to maintain the temperature and grabbed the forge hammer before placing it down near the anvil, he then retrieved the axe and placed it on the anvil again.
Hiccup had to try and balance the axe on the anvil because he couldn't hold the weapon and the work hammer with the same hand. Once he was sure the weapon would hold still, he grabbed the hammer and drew it back before hammering at the blade.
Because he had nothing holding the axe steady, the first strike caused it to move around and nearly fall to the floor if Hiccup hadn't saved it in the nick of time, though he had to bend down to retrieve the hammer as he dropped it in his haste.
Hiccup then struck the heated steel but his aim was off and instead of hitting its intended mark, the hammer only made the metal bend more.
Hiccup withheld a growl of frustration as he saw he was only making things worse. 'Nothing new there.' He bitterly thought to himself before shaking away the notion and focused on fixing his mistake.
He then tried to hold the axe grip under his armpit and work his hammer with his remaining arm but the position made the motion awkward and he couldn't oversee the process as easily.
And the job of mending the axe took longer because he couldn't work as quickly as he normally did, meaning more trips to the coal pit to reheat the metal. Things would be so much easier if he had a set of tongs like Gobber, but for the moment there were none that fit Hiccup's frame nor arm size.
See, Gobber didn't have this kind of problem despite only having one arm himself but Gobber had different attachments for his prosthetic, one being a pair of tongs. The only problem was that Gobber didn't have a set that fit Hiccup's prosthetic arm and didn't have the time to make a set due to being over worked. He was needed to help rebuild Berk's collection of damaged ships and help in the wood works, the creation of nails and tools to meet demand for the repairs and couldn't focus on making Hiccup any prosthetics his size.
Finally, after what felt like hours, he had moulded the axe into a recognisable shape. Now all he had to do was dip it into the barrel of water to cool off the heated steel.
This is where things went wrong. As Hiccup took the axe, he accidently knocked over the forge hammer that was resting on the anvil and it dropped onto Hiccup's foot, right on his toes.
"Argh!" As he hopped around to relieve the pain of his toes, he had whacked the axe blade against the anvil and the collision caused the still hot metal to bend, even worse than what it came in as.
Hiccup saw the now sorry state of the axe and gave a guttural growl. "Fuck sake!" He shouted, Hiccup wasn't normally one to curse but today was certainly testing his limits. Thankfully Gobber wasn't around and Hiccup really didn't want to have to deal with Gobber hovering over him.
Then to make things worse, his arm flared up in white hot pain, making Hiccup gasp as black spots appeared in his vision. No, not now of all times! Hiccup went to detach his prosthetic in order to relieve the pressure from the stump until a voice stopped him.
"Hiccup? You in here?" Hiccup heard from outside.
"Oh, great." Hiccup muttered but put on a forced smile as Astrid popped into few. "H- hey, Astrid. What's up? Need you axe sharpened?" He automatically assumed. Why else would Astrid be here after all?
"No, it's still in good shape. But are you alright, thought I heard you shout." Astrid never imagined she's hear Hiccup of all people swear.
"Oh, you, uh, you heard that? No, nothing's wrong. Just having an off day." Hiccup tried to convince her, swallowing back a gasp of discomfort and make his voice sound normal but he could hear the tension in his voice. "So what are you here for? What, does your mom or dad's weapons need work?" He guessed, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the axe handle, the throbbing becoming more intense as the seconds went on.
Astrid pursed her lips as she shook her head. "Uh, no. Just came by to see how you are." She confessed. Astrid could tell something was wrong but Hiccup seemingly didn't want to address it. Well, Astrid was a stubborn Viking and would get an answer out of Hiccup in the end.
"O-oh… w- well I'm fine. So, uh, see ya, I guess." Hiccup said and tried to block out the burning sensation on his arm, maybe focusing on something else would help. So he went back to the axe to restore the weapon. Hiccup felt as though someone was watching him and turned to see that Astrid was still standing there though now she had a slight frown on her face.
"Uh… Are you okay, Astrid?" Hiccup questioned. Her appearance to the forge for anything other than weapon related was strange to Hiccup. He breathed in and bit the inside of his cheek, nothing was stopping the pain and the only way to help would be removing the fake limb, but he didn't want to do so in front of others, much less Astrid.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Astrid didn't see what Hiccup was so confused about, she had come to see how her friend was. Why was he so eager to send her away?
"Well, why are you here then? If not for a tune up then what is it?" Hiccup put the axe down, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be getting any work done while Astrid was here. Hiccup then realised how rude he must be sounding and tried to correct himself. "N- not that I hate having you h- here. Just wondering what you're here for."
Hel'. The last time Astrid visited him was when he was still keeping his friendship with Toothless a secret and even had to sneak the dragon into the village in order to release himself from the safety harness that bent, trapping Hiccup to Toothless' side. He remembered how she acted and spoke to him.
"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well, weirder." That's what she said to him, how she didn't care what people done and he hadn't done anything weird as of late so why was she here?
"Well, like I said. I thought I'd come by and see how you are." Astrid repeated. She then took note of the red mark on his exposed knee. "What happened?" she asked, slightly worried.
Hiccup followed her gaze and bit his lip, not wanting to explain the origins of the mark and simply said "Like I said, I'm fine." Hiccup repeated and went for the damaged axe. But as he moved the axe, the weapon knocked into a barrel that held swords, hammers, axes and spears alike, the collection of wood and metal spilled out from the barrel all over the floor.
"Oh, for-!" Hiccup groaned, great, now he had a throbbing headache to go along with the list. He bent down to clean up the mess as Astrid stepped forward to help.
"Here, let me-." But was stopped by a rather unexpected response.
"I'm fine! I can do it myself." Hiccup uncharacteristically snapped at her, though a second passed before it dawned on him what he said and how he said it before turning away, not wanting to look at Astrid, or see her look of pity.
He didn't want her pity. He didn't need her pity! He silently set the barrel back up before picking up each weapon individually and setting them back in the wooden confine. However, with one sword, the handle slipped from his grasp and his palm ran against the razor sharp edge.
"ARGH!" Hiccup howled in pain as his palm was slit open. Thankfully the cut was shallow but it still hurt like hell and caused blood to spill from the fresh wound.
"Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed in concern and moved over to the young Blacksmith.
"Urgh. Argh! Damn it!" Hiccup hissed as he examined the cut. His hand was then enveloped by Astrid's hands as she eyed the wound. "Hiccup, we should get you to Gothi." She urged.
Hiccup snatched his hand back as anger started to take over. "For Gods' sake. I said I'm fine! I don't need your help." He then turned away and went to find something to wrap his hand up so he could continue to work. Now the soreness was becoming worse, worse than he had ever felt. Hiccup blinked back the tears and gritted his teeth, he wouldn't show weakness. He wouldn't be weak!
"No, Hiccup. You're not fine. A cut like that could get infected! You need to see Gothi." Astrid was getting tired of Hiccup's stubbornness.
"I wouldn't have this cut if you weren't here distracting me." Hiccup accused as he kept on rummaging around for some bandages or cloth.
Astrid felt her own temper boil at the accusation and wasn't about to let it stand. "Oh, so it's my fault you got hurt because of your clumsiness?" she sarcastically spat. Astrid wished she could take it away just as fast as she said it as Hiccup levelled a hard glare at her.
"Yeah, that's just me. Hiccup the clumsy, useless runt. Now even more useless because he's down an arm." Hiccup snarled as Astrid blanched at his words.
"H-Hiccup… I didn't-."
"And really, what are you even here for? You never came to see how I was before so why now? Hmm? I mean, it's not like we're even friends, so why are you here?" Hiccup demanded as his voice grew harder, the pain adding to his anger
"I- Hiccup, I really mean it, I wanted to check up on you." Astrid tried to explain.
"Oh, yeah. Check up on the cripple. What? You think your pity is going to help me? Look just leave, alright?" Hiccup then went back to searching but his hand ran against some rough wood and it only agitated the cut on his hand, making him hiss in pain again.
"Hiccup." Astrid couldn't stop the pleading tone as he reached for him, wanting him to let her help him. Her outstretched hand was swatted away by Hiccup's prosthetic in his haste. That was a mistake as the sudden jolt sent a spasm of agony along his limb and made Hiccup stumble to his knees.
"Hiccup!" Astrid kneeled down beside Hiccup but was pushed away by Hiccup's good arm.
"I don't need your damn help!" he shouted out and stormed past Gobber, who had returned, and headed straight for Toothless. The Night Fury had a confused and concerned look on his face as Hiccup approached and mounted him. Toothless could feel the anxiety and anger pouring from his friend and knew that Hiccup needed some time to cool off so he beat his powerful wings to take off into the air and leave for the cove.
"Hiccup!" Astrid called out but it was too late as the impressive speed of the Night Fury made them a dot in the sky in mere seconds.
Gobber hobbled over to the young girl. "Astrid, wha' in Thor's soiled underpants happened?" Gobber questioned the distraught girl.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Hiccup and Toothless landed in the cove and Hiccup dismounted before he practically tore off his prosthetic and threw it away. Already the pain started to leave as the pressure was taken away. Hiccup breathed a shaky sigh of relief and let himself stay that way for who knows how long, but then he begun pacing around for a minute as he tried to calm down. Toothless could only watch helplessly.
"Who does she think she is anyway? Like I said, I didn't need her help, haven't for years and it's not like she ever offered before, she was more than happy to let me be the village nuisance or Snotlout's punching bag and what? Because I'm finally worth something, she acts as though I'm no longer invisible?" Hiccup ranted, adrenalin coursing through his veins and making him act this way, he even let out a bellow of frustration, one that echoed around the cove. Before long, the adrenalin burnt out and self-hatred came in.
"But that's the case now, I suppose. I'm even more useless than I was before." Hiccup said, down casted. Hearing this, Toothless growled in disagreement and lightly smacked Hiccup with his tail.
Hiccup pushed the tail away in retaliation. "Well I am! Bud, making your tail took a lot of time and effort and that was with both working arms." Hiccup said and waved the prosthetic.
"I tried to show I wasn't useless by making machines to help out during raids, but now I can't even work at the forge without screwing up, I can't make anything, I can't write or draw without my arm!" Hiccup glared at the piece of metal and leather that lay in the grass, as though the lifeless arm had offended him in a way. The self-hatred then turned to misery, tears built up in his eyes as he stared at what was left of his arm before he dropped to his knees and sobbed pathetically.
"And now, despite everything, that's what I'll always be and how everyone will always see me." He put his hand on the ground but the cut on his palm flared up. The pain made Hiccup growl and then he punched the ground in anger and done it again and again, each punch being stronger than the other until his knuckles became bloody.
Toothless rushed over to his rider but Hiccup paid to heed to him as he only stared at his reflection in the water he kneeled before.
Hiccup stared at his watery image and spat at the person in the water. "Nothing changed. Damnit, you haven't changed at all!" Hiccup shouted at his reflection as though it were alive. His breathe hitched and he cried out. "You're still as useless as you ever were!" He cried as tears dropped and mixed with the blood that stained the grass.
"You're wrong, Hiccup." a soft voice snapped Hiccup out of his misery.
Hiccup sharply turned to see Astrid entering the cove with a worried look on her face.
"Oh, great. What now? Going to make me talk about how I feel, maybe beat the answers out of-." Hiccup was cut off.
"Hiccup, you're going to sit down, shut up and listen to what I have to say." Astrid glared, she tried the nice way, now she was going to try the hard way.
Hiccup no longer had the same adrenaline so the glare was more affective this time. Hiccup turned to face Toothless, looking for a way out of this but the ever loyal Night Fury had moved away from the pair and curled up, very clearly pretending to be asleep. "Useless reptile." Hiccup groaned and resided himself to his fate. He then turned away from Astrid to stare at his watery reflection, some could call the act childish but Hiccup was too tired and sore to care at this point.
Astrid spoke regardless. "Hiccup, you don't have to hide when you're in pain. I mean, I can't imagine going through what you went through and still going through, but you don't have to go through it alone, you have your father, Toothless, Gobber and m-."
"Oh really?" Hiccup sarcastically asked. "Would I have you to help me if I lost my arm before killing the Red Death? Because I distinctly remember you not giving me the time of day before. Maybe I should have cut my arm off a long time ago for some human decency." Hiccup spat.
Astrid bristled at the accusation but kept calm, from the little interactions she had with Hiccup and the times she witnessed Snotlout harassing him, Hiccup often used sarcasm as a last line of defence. And truthfully, Astrid conceded to Hiccup's argument, she did ignore him before but now she had seen the true side of Hiccup and wanted to know more. She regretted shunning him and not seeing the great things he could do.
So Astrid played a card she believed would work.
"You're right, Hiccup." She sadly agreed as she hugged her arm to herself, not seeing Hiccup become still. "You're right, we treated you so horribly and nothing we do with make those moments go away, but we want to change that. I want to change that." She said whole heartedly.
Hiccup looked over his shoulder at Astrid, seeing her unsure expression, it was like seeing himself whenever he was before his dad when he was in trouble. The meek look, the way she held herself and the uncertainty. It was all too familiar.
"Yeah, well, you're wrong about me, Astrid. I'm still useless." Hiccup muttered as he looked away once again.
"You're not useless!" Astrid shouted and moved to kneel beside Hiccup, taking his right hand in her own, thankful that he didn't push her away this time. Hiccup stared at the union in surprise before looking Astrid in the eye.
"You're not useless, Hiccup. You never were, we were just blind to what you could really do. We had these impossible standards and expectations of you despite never helping in the first place. Whenever you did something wrong, instead of explaining it or helping you do better, all we did was yell at you or scorn you. We'd tell you to stop being you and act more like a Viking but at the same time, we'd never believe you could do it. How could we expect anything of you without actually believing or helping you?" Astrid said mournfully.
Hiccup silently listened, wanting to see where Astrid was going with this.
"But you showed your true strength, because after all the scorning, after all the hatred, after all that abuse, you didn't let that change who you are, you took it all in stride and never changed who you were. And like your father said, all we needed was a little more of you. It was you who let Toothless live and see him as more than a monster, it was you who believed there could be peace and it was you who achieved it. Now, because of you, children don't have to hug their parents, thinking it might be the last time they do so. Parents don't have to dread bringing in new life in fear of having it being taken away as quickly. Men, women and children no longer have to lay awake at night, afraid for what may come. Families no longer have to watch each other sail away in a suicide mission and worry if they'll come back in pieces or at all. And all of this is because of YOU, Hiccup." Astrid said with conviction.
"And most of all… you gave me a true purpose." Astrid whispered but Hiccup heard it all too clear.
Hiccup looked baffled by Astrid's confession. "Wha-… what do you mean, you always had a purpose. You wanted to become a Shield Maiden and be the best Viking ever."
"And it nearly destroyed who I was. I never noticed it before, but you weren't the only one who was expected to stop being yourself and be something else. For years I strived to become the best, I practically gave up what I could, my childhood, my friendships, and any joy I had because I thought being the best Viking would bring me joy. But I now know what would have happened. I would have just been another piece, a replacement for this vicious cycle of death and war. How many other people had the same idea only to either find no improvement or wind up dead? I blinded myself into thinking that I could end a war that I didn't even fully know about. If you hadn't been you, then I would have ended up dying in a never ending war." Astrid explained.
Astrid then gently caressed Hiccup's stump. Hiccup expected a flash of pain to shot through his arm at the touch but no such pain came, only an oddly pleasant feel.
"This doesn't define you, Hiccup." Astrid said.
Hiccup appreciated the sentiment but he couldn't deny it. "Astrid, you don't get it, I'm left handed, everything I done, drawing, writing, working, I used my left hand for that. And now I don't even have it."
"Then you'll adapt!" Astrid countered strongly as she looked him dead in the eye. "Because that's what you do, Hiccup. You adapt and this here…" She once again gently ran her fingers over the stump, making Hiccup shiver. "…Is only a bump in the road. You'll adapt to it, and if it means spending most my days helping you, I'm willing to do so. Because I want to help you, not because I think you're useless, but because I… care for you. Just like how you helped Toothless." She and Hiccup looked over to the mentioned beast who still pretended to slumber, despite his ears standing at attention, clearly listening in on the conversation.
Astrid turned her sapphire eyes back to Hiccup's forest green. "You didn't think Toothless was useless or pathetic, you helped him because it was the right thing to do, you spent sleepless nights working to get him up in the air again, and you risked your life for him. And I want to do the same for you." Astrid then pulled Hiccup in for a hug, leaving the boy awestruck at the affection.
"You don't have to act strong, Hiccup. You can let it out. Please, just let it out." Astrid pleaded as she rested her chin on his shoulder.
After a few moments of silence, Astrid felt the shoulder beneath her chin shake and a wetness on her own shoulder as Hiccup finally let the pain and sorrow out. Hiccup cried into her shoulder as she only held him close.
She said nothing, no judgemental thoughts, no roll of the eyes or looks of annoyance. All she did was hold the boy and let him cry.
"H-how…" Hiccup sniffled as he tried to speak. "How do you know I-I'll be able to get thro-through this, Astrid… even I-I don't think I can."
"Because I believe in you, Hiccup. Like I said, you're stronger than you realise. And I'll be with you every step of the way." Astrid promised.
Both boy and girl stayed there as Hiccup's cries turned to sniffles which turned to shaky breathes.
"Astrid?"
"Yes, Hiccup?"
"Thank you, and sorry for earlier." Hiccup apologised.
Astrid laughed the apology off. "Well, I think it was better you blew up at me than someone like your dad, Fishlegs or poor Bucket." She teased.
"Oh, yeah. Definitely better than my dad, that would have been awkward." Hiccup weakly chuckled.
Astrid then noticed how dark it was getting. "Come on, dragon boy. Better get home before your dad sends a search party." Astrid said and pulled the boy onto his feet. The pair shared one more smile before walking over to Toothless. Astrid had flown to the cove with Stormfly but got off the dragon when she was close and told the Nadder to head home, as to be alone with Hiccup.
Hiccup mounted Toothless with Astrid sitting behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. As the trio lifted into the orange sky, Hiccup couldn't help but think about what transpired today.
Change is a thing of life, it can be small or large, minor or life changing. But it didn't have to be scary. As long as you had people you could count on, then you would be able to adapt to those changes. And Hiccup was thankful to have people like his father, Toothless, Gobber and Astrid in his life to help him through these changes.
