Author's Note: Hey there here is the latest chapter. I think this could have been done better but I think the purpose is made clear. Also this chapter was envisioned much longer than originally, but I didn't want it to be too long so I split it up into two chapters. Although i do see that it fits as it covers something different. I did my best with the reactions and after effects of kills so i'm hopping I got it right. Ugly-Duckling123 helped me with this chapter and couldn't have done better without her. Enjoy.

Chapter 3: The Day After Part 1

Both eyes slowly opened as Hiccup started to come out of his slumber. Groaning he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes as his other senses slowly started to wake up as well. Once fully coherent the first things he noticed is the absence of warmth from his body. Curious, he looked around the room, only for an unexpected discovery to be made, "T-Toothless!?"

The dragon was nowhere in sight, his stone slab completely bare upon examination, which lead to another confusing revelation. The teen is in his bed! When he surly remembered that he was sleeping right next to Toothless last night. "Dad!?"

His voice rang out through the house but after a few seconds there wasn't a response. More confusion swelled up as the teen had thought his father wouldn't want to leave him in the house by himself. Especially not after with what had happened last night. Deciding to have a look Hiccup got out of bed and went downstairs. Both eyes looked around empty home, only to find the smoldering brazier, which had long since died out

Luckily there's still enough smoldering embers to illuminate the house for him, which helped. Looking around once more, his father is nowhere to be found at all, neither is his Night Fury. "Dad…Toothless!?"

Same as before no response is given…well not one that he wanted. "You did this."

The boy's body stiffen and eyes widen as he knew that voice didn't belong to his father…or anyone else he knew. Even if it was brief, he knew who that voice belonged to, and he couldn't believe it. currently in front of the table, he slowly started to turn to face the front door. Slowly but surely a figure appeared in his sight, and when realization hit him Hiccup could only pale and stare in disbelief.

"N-No…No…you're dead!" he gasped out in fright

The same Outcast soldier that tried to kill his dragon stood before the teen; body covered in bloody splotches as the stab wounds are visible. Both harden, hateful eyes locked onto the boy as he took a threatening step forward. "It is your fault…I'm dead because of you…It's your fault!"

Hiccup said nothing as he could do nothing but move backwards in panic. His body trembled violently and breathing staggered as he needed to get away from this man and fast. But his body wasn't responding the way he wanted it to as it seemed his fight or flight response were non-existent. Eventually, he ran out of room as his back bumped against the wall just as the Outcast stood inches away from him.

Leaning forward those eyes…those now dead eyes bore into him. They were filled with hurt, sadness and…blame. "I'll never forgive you for what you did."

…

"AHHH!" Hiccup cried out as his sat up in a haste, his senses coming back to life quickly as if he had been struck by lightning again. Apparently, this didn't go unnoticed as his movement woke Toothless up. The dragon violently reacted and stood up on his legs, both green eyes turning into slits as a growl left his mouth. Apparently, he thought there was another attack and readied himself to respond, but after looking around and finding nothing he looked and found his rider.

Hiccup sat where he was on the stone slab, panting heavily and sweating as it seemed like he saw a ghost. Looking around he found himself back in his room on Toothless's bed, right where he was last night. Slowly he started to calm down as he realized it was just a nightmare. His left hand laid flat against his chest as his heart felt like it would burst out of his chest.

Seeing that there wasn't any danger Toothless's eyes returned to normal as he sat down, now realizing what had happened. Nightmares weren't an uncommon thing for his rider to be plagued with as he started to have them ever since after the battle with Red Death. The dragon would wake up like he had hearing the human's screams. At times Stoick would hear and come and check on his son, and other times it was just the Night Fury himself that would wake. Apparently, this is one of the times where the chief didn't hear as there were no footsteps coming up, as the Scream must have not been loud enough.

Calming down a bit Hiccup looked up and found his dragon staring at him in concern. Slowly his mind put two and two together and could help but sigh as he reached out to pet him. "I'm sorry bud, I didn't mean to wake you."

Toothless leaned into the pets but warbled in confusion, trying to ask, 'Are you ok?'.

Looking around the teen couldn't help but blow another sigh of relief, "At least dad didn't come up. The last thing I need is for him to ask what happened." Toothless then gave him a small nuzzle of comfort, which brought a smile to the teen. "Don't worry bud it was just a nightmare, nothing more."

With that he got back to his feet and walked over to the window above his bed. Both eyes rose in surprise as he found the bright clear sky. Seeing the sun's position, he realized that it was the afternoon, more importantly almost time for lunch.

"I slept for that long?" he asked himself and of course realized his dad must have allowed it as he would need rest. He was somewhat grateful yet not fully as if he was woken up earlier, he might have not had the nightmare.

"It's your fault"

"AH!" Hiccup jumped and looked around the room in a small panic. Only Toothless was there, but he could have sworn another voice said something. He looked at his door, but found it closed. Surely his dad would have been the next one on his list, but he wasn't there. This had to be in his head, yeah that's what it is, his mind still isn't fully awake from that nightmare. "Ok Hiccup, calm down it's just your mind playing tricks on you."

He closed his eyes to take a few deep calming breaths…big mistake.

As he did the Outcast's face could be seen, exactly the same way he saw it in his nightmare. Those eyes boring into him…filled with hatred and looking right back at Hiccup…accusing him of the crime he committed. There were no words, the look upon his face was enough to get the message through. Hiccup opened his eyes with a loud gasp, once again feeling his heart pounding.

"T-This isn't good…what's happening?" he asked himself as he tried to calm down. By then Toothless went over by his side, warbling at him to try and ask what is wrong. Before he said anything, Hiccup thought back to last night with his conversation with his father, one of the statements that was said sticking out the most. "It'll always come back to haunt you…."

He started to pale once more as confusion overtook him as more questions came to him. Did this mean that he was going to see the man's face over and over again? No, that can't be right…yet why did it happen twice already? Oh, why did this have to happen? Yet, he had to think once more, was this the mental consequence his father was talking about? Revisiting the memory over and over again only to see the man he killed? It had to be, there was no other logical explanation to it. Yet the worst thing is that he's experiencing and learning about it the hard way.

Part of him wanted to ask his dad about this but then the more he thought about it made him refrain. Remembering all that he told himself last night. How he couldn't show anyone that killing the Outcast had gotten to him, even his father. Even if he was told to go to him if he needed anything at all. He was tempted but then remembered how his dad told him that he believed him to be strong enough to get through this. If that much confidence is being placed on him, then it only affirmed his stance on not showing it getting to him. Meaning, he couldn't go to his father for help, he had to show that confidence wasn't false. Hiccup then thought it would be best that he would try and not think about last night, keep it furthest away from his mind.

One questioned then came to him, how would he keep his mind busy?

…..

Stoick sat down at the table looking through various assessments of Berk's condition from the battle last night. Many of the homes damaged would need to be repaired, so they took priority. Another one showed the injury reports as some of the Vikings weren't fit enough to return back to duty. So, the chief would need to rearrange some of the guard shifts, and jobs, to keep things productive.

A frustrated sigh left his mouth as he rubbed his face with his hands. The life of chief is never easy, yet the life of a single father proved to be harder. Thinking about Hiccup he started to worry about his son's mental state. It was hard to read how he was feeling and waiting for him to wake proved to be difficult. After being invaded by the Outcasts and Berserkers Stoick would be needed outside the house, but he decided that his son took priority for the time being. So, he put Spitelout in charge until the afternoon, by then his son should be awake. He felt he should be here for him in case he had more questions, and if his son needed him.

"Hiccup?" Stoick called as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Looking up he found his son awake.

"Hey dad," the teen responded normally as he reached the bottom of the steps, Toothless not far behind.

"How are you feeling?" the bigger man stood up and walked up to his son.

"I'm ok," Hiccup lied, doing his best not to show it. "Sleeping helped a lot."

Stoick seemed to nod, buying the excuse for the time being but automatically knowing something was up yet didn't press it. "That's good. I thought it be best you rested."

"Thanks for that. Oh, and dad?" he caught his father's attention again. "T-Thanks…for the talk last night."

"Of course," he responded with a smile, glad it helped in some way. "Do you have anything else you want to ask? Something you didn't get a chance to ask last night?"

Hiccup sighed, ready to tell his dad a partial truth, but not all of it. Hopefully it would be enough as he didn't want to be pressed on the subject or show that he couldn't handle the stress of it. "Actually, dad I just don't want to think about it right now and push it away for the time being. Just to get my head cleared up."

Stoick was surprised at that response, as he didn't expect it. Either way his son might not be granted this request, as it would be out of his power. "That will be hard son, especially since it's the talk of the town."

That caused the boy to groan, rubbing a hand over his face, "Seriously?"

"I'm afraid so," Stoick went back to the table and sat down. "Not much can be done about it as news spreads fast. And the fact nearly everyone was there last night."

Before he could say anything else Hiccup's stomach growled, which didn't go unnoticed. Seeing as a way to get out of the conversation, the took the opportunity. "Well…I'm going to the Great Hall, then work at the Forge."

Stoick looked up in surprise and somewhat alarmed, "Hiccup I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? I have to leave eventually, and I have to eat," the teen braced himself for another argument that usually follows.

"I don't mean that, I mean working at the forge…that's not a really good idea."

"Why not?" Hiccup argued, a bit surprised but still firm on his stance. "I do it all the time."

"Yet son, the forge will have weapons hanging around, and after what happened…well you can guess," Stoick had to explain, which slowly made both of his son's eyes slowly raise up as he too started to realize this. The blades that he would be working with, which can remind him of his knife, and how it was used last night.

Still, Hiccup couldn't let it know that it could bother him, "I can handle it dad…besides I best keep my mind busy and that's the best place to do so."

Stoick breathed deeply, knowing this was a terrible idea. Yet, his son did have a point, mainly since he had no idea how much the whole…incident is affecting him. Hiccup would just want to keep his mind cleared from what happened. Keeping his mind off of last night could be a big help to him. Still why did it need to be the forge? Why couldn't he go flying like he usually does? Still he would rather avoid arguing with the teen as his stubbornness would come into play. The chief is going to regret this, but he would allow it…mainly since he had a feeling Hiccup would do it regardless of what he said.

"Alright, but take things slow," he warned. "if it gets too much for you, then that's the end of it, understand?"

"Yes dad, I understand," Hiccup nodded, happy with those terms.

"Alright, be careful son," Stoick had said before looking down at his papers but looked back up for a brief moment. "And if today you need me for anything at all, just come find me."

"Thanks dad," with that Hiccup then headed for the door but stopped as he looked at one of the nearby chairs. Placed on top is his dagger, the blade cleaned as there is no sign of blood on it. Still, despite that the kid could still see it covered in the sticky substance. A shudder went through him as a brief flash of what it was used for came to mind… of what he did. Unconsciously he took a step away from it, not wanting to be near the weapon. His palms sweated and heart rate increased as nothing, but the blood-soaked image of the weapon wouldn't leave.

The realization that his father cleaned it up and put it there for him came to mind. Most likely wanting him to take it with him. He couldn't, he didn't even want to look at the blade and decided to leave it. He could tell his father is watching this, making Hiccup wondering if this was a test or something to gauge how he's feeling. Either way he turned away from the weapon and walked past it out the door, being followed behind by his dragon.

Stoick watched as his son leaving the weapon behind, sighing heavily. This fully confirming there is more wrong with his son than he's letting on.

Author's Note: Hope you like. Once again it may seem short but it was originally something bigger. I hope i'm getting things right as i'm doing the best with the information i have. If anyone has questions feel free to ask. Leave a review and tell me how i'm doing, it helps a lot. Till next time.