35. In the forge
The day after reading the letter Hiccup decided to give himself a day off with Storm, so he could get his head together and make a plan. He was full of nervous energy and didn't feel like he could concentrate on training the gang without doing something stupid. He felt like a weight had been lifted with Stoick's words. Stoick wanted him back and Hiccup wanted to be back, fully, with everyone knowing he was back. Training the gang without being completely focused would probably end with him giving himself away, and he didn't want that to happen.
He thought about it a lot and finally decided to start small, with people who already knew the truth. Storm had confirmed that Astrid knew the truth and that the viking wasn't thinking of telling anyone his secret. So first will be Astrid, then he will find a way to tell the gang. Considering that the gang was made up from a lot of different people he weighted his odds, the twins and Snotlout found probably need convincing to keep the secret until he was ready, after all the twins weren't the best at keeping secrets and Snotlout even more so.
He will be keeping track of how they will react, because the next part of his plan was simple: wait. He will wait until the battle with Drago was finished and then tell Stoick and the rest of the tribe the truth. If he doesn't survive the battle, then his secret will go to Valhalla with him and his father won't have to mourn losing his son again.
Planning took up his whole morning and afternoon, even with inputs from Storm, who actually told him to talk with Astrid as soon as possible.
"Stretching this out will only make you doubt this," she said.
And she was right. He had his plan, but he was very anxious about Astrid's reaction. Storm told him that she wasn't raging when they talked about him, but he wasn't sure she would be so forgiving to him. Storm wasn't the one to blame, she wasn't the one who left Astrid so soon after becoming her friend, he was. Hiccup knew that anger in this scenario was expected, he also knew that an angry Astrid was a force to be reckoned with. 'What is with me and attracting women with anger issues,' he thought.
That evening the pair went on patrol. They noticed that after the storm there were no vikings in the forest at night. That wouldn't be strange if previously there wouldn't have been groups that they had to dodge every night while going on patrol. It seemed like Stoick had stopped his search for them in the woods, because soon after the pair showed themselves a group of vikings had started searching the forest every night and those two facts weren't a coincidence.
If Stoick stopped his search because of Storm's outburst or because Astrid found the remains of their camp was unclear. And yes, the pair knew that Astrid had found their previous camp, when Storm and her were leaving the cove Astrid had cast a glance towards where their camp had been, like she expected Storm to go there, and the brief confusion on the viking's face when Storm had said she was also going to the village was unmistakable.
The next day training was back on. Considering the gang had flown a few flights with their dragons, and had spent a considerable amount on their backs while doing repairs, the pair decided that it was time to upgrade their saddles.
They handed out pieces of parchment and asked the group to write down what kind of problems the trainees were having with the existing saddles. Then they left the group with a task: train your dragon to do a simple trick. The pair encouraged the group to try to make their dragons understand verbal and non-verbal commands and discouraged them from flying without saddles, as Storm had collected them for upgrading (and so they wouldn't accidently find Toothless and Shadow, who were probably rolling around in some mud somewhere in the woods).
The pair made quite the sight walking towards the forge in their full gear with armfuls of saddles, but they paid no mind to the glances and glares they received. They reached the forge and were greeted with Gobber's off-tune singing. A viking who had a newly sharpened axe in his hands passed by them on his way out.
"He has been doing that for the past three days!" the viking complained looking straight at them. His voice was full of sorrow, and neither knew if his words were a warning or a plea for help.
Hiccup lead Storm inside the forge and deposited the saddles on a table he knew Gobber barely used, then the pair leaned on the table and waited. It didn't take long for Gobber to notice them.
"Ah, what can I do for you?" the smith asked with a wide smile.
"We need to commandeer a bit of space to work on these guys," Hiccup gestured to the pile of saddles that were behind him and Storm.
"Have at it," Gobber said while waving his hammer to the equipment at the forge. "I assume you know how to use all of that?"
"Yes we do, I had a great teacher," Storm said with a smile on her face while she pointed at Hiccup.
"And who taught you?" Gobber asked hiccup with a mischievous look in his eyes. Even though Gobber couldn't see their faces, Hiccup gave the smith a genuine smile and answered.
"The best blacksmith in the archipelago."
Gobber laughed at the statement, but not unkindly. He laughed like he just heard a ridiculous secret that he swore to keep. The smith let the pair get to work and the time sped by fast, even though it might not seem like it the upgrading of the saddles took a long time. Their time at the forge was filled with comfortable silence and an occasional question thrown into the mix.
"Gobber, can I borrow some leather?" Hiccup asked at one point.
"Go for it lad, take anythin' you need," the smith answered kind-heartedly. Another hour passed before the silence was broken again.
"Snotlout requested foot-long spikes to be added on his saddle, a few hooks for pouches and a support for his back, so…?" Storm looked at Hiccup who rolled his eyes.
"Hooks and back support? Yes. Spikes? No." He answered, even though he knew Storm wasn't going to put the spikes on, he then handed one of the pieces of parchment to her. "Can you understand what that says?"
"Snack compartment?" She guessed, Tuffnut's writing was truly illegible. She then had an idea and turned to the smith who was hammering some nails. "Hey Gobber, can you read this?"
"Hmmh," the smith thought for a moment, he nodded and took the parchment from Storm. "Catapult, snack compartment, leg-rests, a compartment to hold 'Chicken'." He confidently read.
Storm thanked him and took the parchment back to Hiccup who heard Gobber's translation, Hiccup nodded in thanks to both of them and got back to work. He made sure to exclude the catapult and snack compartment, but he added some hooks to Tuffnut's saddle so the man could hook on his own snack pouches rather than having a whole compartment dedicated to snacks.
It was already early evening and the pair were still hard at work. It hot inside the forge, but the pair kept their helmets on. Gobber was not part of his plan, at least not this soon, and he was Stoick's best friend, so Hiccup didn't have the heart to reveal himself then ask his pseudo-uncle to keep that big of a secret.
Finally they were done. The pair finished the upgrades almost at the exact same time and the moment they had no more work they slumped to the floor. Gobber stopped his hammering and looked at the pair with a fond look in his eyes, smiting was hard work no matter what you were doing. The fact that the pair hadn't taken a break was a little concerning to him, they hadn't even stopped to eat anything. When Gobber went to get some food for his lunch, he had brought back some for the pair, but they were so engrossed with their work that they didn't even notice it.
Gobber stopped his own work and joined the pair, not on the ground, he pulled up a chair and sat next to the table the pair were using as a back rest. He picked up the food he had put there and held it out to the pair.
"No, thank you," Hiccup said as he was the closest to Gobber and the smith had held out the food to him so he could take some himself and then pass it on to Storm.
"I'm not asking, lad. I'm insistin'."
After a stare down by Gobber, Hiccup finally took the food and gave some to Storm. But they didn't eat, after all, eating meant taking off their helmets. The smith saw this and sighed, he stood up and closed the hatch to the outside, the only place that passing vikings could use to see inside the forge and drop off their weapons.
The light from the ambers was enough to light up the inside of the building, so they had no problem seeing each other.
"You should eat," Gobber commented, then he held out his hand. "I want my payment, starting with that." He pointed to Storm's prosthetic.
The girl in question sighed, she couldn't even think of bending down without her back hurting. She let out a loud groan and wordlessly put her leg in Hiccup's lap, without needing to be asked he removed the prosthetic from her stump and put it in Gobber's waiting palm.
"Don't poke an eye out," She warned as Gobber started examining it.
The smith turned it over a couple of times before delving into finding out what the various mechanisms do. He found that turning a mechanism on the top of the leg changed it from a leg you could walk on to a slim, yet sturdy dagger which could be removed, and the base that connected to the stump had a hidden compartment that could hold small items, currently it housed a small pouched labeled 'Poison'.
"Who made this?" Gobber inquired, still turning it over in his hands.
"I did," Hiccup answered, weakly raising his hand.
"Ah," Gobber nodded, then looked him straight in the eyes. "A nice piece of work, Hiccup."
The silence that came after that was deafening. Hiccup stopped breathing and Storm tensed, hating the fact that she wasn't as fast without her prosthetic that was still in Gobber's hand.
"What?" Hiccup weakly asked, trying to feign ignorance.
"Don't start with that," The smith waved the attempt off. He then pointed at Storm, "And you – relax. I would've already told Stoick if I wanted to, but I figured you had a damn good reason to keep your identity a secret."
"H-how?" Hiccup stammered out.
"Lad, I saw you every day for almost ten years, did you think I wouldn't recognize your voice?"
"No one else did," Storm pointed out while gripping a shocked Hiccup's shoulder.
"No one else spent as much time with him, no one else listen to him, not even his own father." Gobber sadly said. He passed the prosthetic back to Storm, who had finally relaxed. "Now take off those helmets, both of you. Eat. And tell me how you met, because as far as I know neither Stoick nor Valka had a little girl that they left somewhere."
"Neither Stoick nor Valka are my parents," Storm commented as she took her helmet off, Hiccup followed suit. His hands were still shacking a little from the shock of Gobber knowing.
"Could've fooled me," Gobber said after he studied their faces for a moment, "You look like twins!" He exclaimed throwing up his hands in the air.
"We get that a lot," Hiccup gave him a small smile. "You're not mad?" he asked in an unsteady voice.
"Never, I understand why you did what you did," Gobber honestly answered. "Berk hadn't been treating you nicely and even after you saved all of our asses from the Red Death, we couldn't do anything nice for you. You had every right to leave, even if I missed you every single day. Berk was not the same without you."
"I don't regret it," Hiccup confidently answered. "I met Storm, I saw so many new dragons, I made new friends and allies. I finished growing up, without anyone keeping me back by expectations and bullying."
"So tell me about it," Gobber said with a wide smile.
"When I left, I went east," he started. Hiccup looked at Storm, a question in his gaze, she gave him a nod, permission to tell the smith everything he deemed worthy. "My leg was still hurting at that point, but I kept urging Toothless to fly. The only supplies I had with me was the bundle you and Astrid had left me in the cove, it wasn't much, but it lasted me a long time. I don't know how long I flew, but one day Toothless became too exhausted and he landed on a small island that no one lived on. I felt horrible, because in my anger I hadn't stopped to think about Toothless' health, so I spent a week on the ground doing everything I could to make him better. He was so tired and worn out he couldn't get himself food anymore and I spent hours fishing with a, rather pathetic, handmade rod. At one point I thought Toothless was going to die, just because I was so selfish, but then I met Shadow."
"My skrill," Storm clarified, she saw Gobber eyeing their helmets in interest, so she handed him her own. Hiccup had his own tightly gripped in his hands, and taking it from him would leave him fidgeting.
"He wasn't 'your skrill' at the time, yet he saw I was struggling and help us. He would leave piles of fresh wish with us at varying times of the day, but he didn't let me get near him. Later I found out he was afraid of all humans, except Storm, because at one point in his life she helped him escape death." Hiccup finally released his helmet form his hold and gave it to Gobber after the smith was done looking at Storm's. Hiccup took the forgotten food and started snacking on it while he continued. "Another week passed and I gained some trust from Shadow, when he came to my camp in the middle of the night, after a few minutes I figured out he wanted me to follow him, so I did. He led us to a neighboring island, where Storm lived at the time. Shadow led us to Storm," Hiccup swallowed, he never regretted that he met Storm, he regretted how they met. "Who was bleeding out in the middle of the woods, from the loss of her left leg."
Gobber tilted his head in question. Hiccup looked at Storm as she sighed. She propped her head up on her hand, it hurt to remember these things, but ignoring those memories didn't make thing better, and Gobber was important to Hiccup, so she didn't mind him knowing.
"Shadow wasn't the first dragon I freed, he was the first dragon I had taken care of before releasing, and the first time I got caught. After I released him he didn't leave completely. I used to go into the woods at night for some peace and quiet, he figured that out and came back, every single night without fail we would just sit together under the night sky, and we became friends. You see, the tribe I was living with dealt with dragon 'taming', they were actually just abusing the dragons until they didn't fight back anymore. I used to free as many dragons as I could while keeping a low profile, but I wasn't smart enough and got caught a second time. The tribes Chief put two and two together and figured out that I was the main problem, so he decided to get rid of me." She took a deep breath, those memories really did stab her in the heart. "He rounded up the warriors and I ran. I had previous injuries from punishments and I couldn't get away. The warriors restrained me and the Chief took an axe to my leg. He then left me there. 'See how well the monsters treat you when they smell fresh blood' he said." she finished, her voice was quivering and her eyes were full of unshed tears.
Hiccup put an arm around her and brought her into a side hug. His own eyes were full of tears, it hurt him to hear her talking about that part in her life as much as it hurt her to talk about it. Gobber was shaking his head in disbelief and anger, he couldn't understand how someone could be that evil.
"How could he do that to you?" the smith whispered. Storm heard his question and stared him in the eyes, her own were filled with hurt.
"I was born a thrall," she answered. "My mother was one, and when I was born I was one too. That tribe took pleasure in hurting other beings, mentally and physically. I was treated like dirt, and the fact that the Chief was my father didn't help."
Silence fell for a moment. Storm's story was on their minds. Storm was already trying to forget that memory again, Hiccup saw Storm's struggle and didn't know how to help except for holding her through her pain, and Gobber had a hard time wrapping his head around someone that awful, he used to gut dragons most of his life, yet he never knew that those kind of people existed.
"When I found Storm I didn't know what to do, yet something inside me told me that I had to get her away from that place as soon as possible. I wrapped her injury and got her back to the island that my camo was at, I had medical supplies there and at that moment I was her only chance. You will never know how thankful I was that when Gothi was treating my stump, after I had woken up, I started asking how amputations worked, because knowing what happened to me made it easier to accept the fact that I was one leg short. I took care of the wound as best as I could, then I just had to wait. Shadow would not leave her even for a second, and Toothless was the one bringing him food. After a couple of weeks Storm woke up, and I couldn't believe it. With my limited medical knowledge I managed to help her a bit. We got to know each other and after about one more week, we left in search of a village that could help Storm properly. We found one in not too long, so here we are! Alive and healthy!" Hiccup finished the story, at the end his voice got lighter, genuine happiness filling it.
"No one, and I mean no one, should go through what you've lived through," Gobber said, his tone was serious and held no room for argument, like either of them would try to argue.
"Yeah well, that was only in the first three months of me leaving," Hiccup commented. Gobber brought a palm to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was all a lot to wrap his head around, but he finally had Hiccup back and wanted to know what the boy and his sister had gone through.
"I have time," the smith finally said.
"You have mead?" Storm asked, a tired smirk on her lips.
"The best on the island," Gobber answered.
"Then, we have a lot to tell you," Hiccup promised.
The pair left the forge in the early hours of the morning. Talking with Gobber all night was fun, Hiccup felt free, happy and peaceful for the first time in a while. It seemed like all his worries melted away while he was with two very important people in his life. Gobber's reaction to everything lifted his spirits. Maybe, telling the truth will be easier than he thought.
