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Of Car Tows and Emotional Lows

Astrid should have been warned whenever the car started making thumping noises. Cars didn't usually make thumping noises, as far as Astrid knew. Purring? Maybe. Thumping? No. She should have pulled over immediately and checked to see if anything was wrong.

But no, she told herself it was just the weather and drove on.

Astrid should have been warned again when car parts started littering the road behind her. Cars didn't usually do that, but Astrid told herself that the axle was just settling. Astrid definitely should have been warned when it started swerving back and forth across the road on its own accord.

It turned out that Astrid needed more than these warnings to see that her car was shot.

Done for. Eroding. Broken.

"No, no, no, no!" she cried, slamming her palm against the dashboard. "You're not supposed to quit!" The statement was erroneous, of course, but Astrid's brain just wasn't aware of it at the moment.

Astrid leaned forward on her steering wheel. I should probably prop up the hood, she thought. So people know I've broken down. But it was cold, and she didn't want to get out of her car. Not that it wasn't cold inside the car. The heating unit had quit with the engine.

Before Astrid could work up the energy to actually unlock her car, someone rapped on the window. She gave a coarse shout and slammed on the horn, hoping that would scare the vagabond off.

"ARE YE ALL RIGHT, LASSIE?"

Astrid cleaned some of the fog off her window and peered out. "Is that you, Gobber?"

"THE ONE AND THE SAME! Having car trouble?" Gobber asked, giving her a toothy grin. "It's a good thing I came in me tow truck. I'll give ye a ride to me shop."

"I would appreciate that." Astrid finally found the unlock button and opened her car door. She slid out, and handed Gobber the keys. "I'm not sure if you need these or not."

"I will," Gobber said cheerfully, jangling them. "Just hop in the cab and I'll be done in a few shakes of a lamb's tail."

"Do you need help?" Astrid glanced dubiously at his prosthetic.

Gobber waved the appendage at her. "'Iccup designed this to be interchangeable. Don't ye worry."

"Thanks." Gobber's tow truck was pulled over in front of her car. Astrid stepped up on the running board and had to use a little effort to get the cab door open. She climbed inside the cab, which was pretty nice for the beat up exterior of the vehicle. Astrid ran a hand along the soft leather, thinking over her own patch up job. Were the seats heated?

Loud banging came from behind the tow truck. Astrid leaned forward and pressed her nose up against the glass to get a better look at what Gobber was doing. Her car was now on the ramps of the truck, and Gobber was securing it with...bungee cords? Astrid did not want to know.

She quickly twisted back to her original position when she saw Gobber was coming. A few seconds later, the door opened and Gobber did a weird hop into the car, heaving his leg prosthetic up last. He slammed the door, cutting off the cold stream of air he had let in.

"ALL RIGHT, LASSIE!" Gobber gunned the engine and it roared to life like a mad T. Rex. "And away we go!" The truck roared back onto the highway as Gobber picked up speed.

During the ride, Astrid studied the dashboard. It contained two clocks, a radio, a CD slot, and a bunch of buttons for the temperature and stuff like that. Astrid reached out to touch one.

"I would do that if I were ye, lassie!" Gobber broke off from the monologue he had been giving her on the importance of checking your car oil. "It turns the AIR CONDITIONING on MAX."

Astrid snatched her hand back. "Ah. I see."

"As I was sayin', 'Iccup was just standing there, a screwdriver in his hand, and what do you know! The lights in the garage were fixed! That's when I got him his own soldering kit."

"Excuse me?" Astrid asked. "Could you repeat that?" She had only been paying half attention since she didn't really care about car oil, but the name Hiccup caught her notice. She hadn't known that Hiccup had known Gobber for that long.

"YEP! The lad fixed the electrical unit in the garage when he was just seven years old!"

"So Hiccup worked for you when he was seven?" Weren't there child labor laws or something like that?

"No. He used to come to the shop after school since Stoick wasn't around and tinker. That was after I'd already lost me hand and leg. Stoick and I used to be quite the team before that," Gobber confided in her, swerving the truck over into the left lane to pass a car that was moving at least twenty miles per hour under the speed limit.

"You used to work on the police force?" Astrid asked, shocked. She braced herself against the door as Gobber swerved the truck back into the left lane and took a turn to downtown where his shop was located.

"OF COURSE I DID! GOOD TIMES, THOSE WERE! Bustin' up crime lords and drug rings." Gobber sighed. "Those where the good old days. Now all we do is throw darts."

"Throw darts?" Astrid wasn't really curious, she was just trying to keep the conversation going so she didn't have to think of anything to chat about.

"Aye, lassie! He has good aim!"

"He's the Chief of Police; I'd be worried if he didn't," Astrid remarked. "You don't want a bad aim watching your back."

"THAT'S TRUE!" Gobber jerked the tow truck into the parking lot of his Fix It Up Shop and slammed on the breaks. "I'll have this on a hydraulic lift in a jiffy!"

"Thanks. How much do I owe you for the tow?" Astrid asked, a little bit worried since she didn't have much cash on her and she didn't know if her insurance paid for tows. She started to dig her wallet out of her pocket.

"NONE OF THAT NOW, LASSIE!" Gobber bellowed as if her action had offended him. "Free of charge! Any friend of 'Iccup's is a friend of mine."

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much."

"Speakin' of 'Iccup, would you mind goin' down to the basement and getting him for me? It'd probably be best if he looked at yer vehicle. I hate to say this, but the lad knows more than I do."

Astrid pursed her lips, still irked at the redhead. "Sure." She slid out of the truck and headed into the shop. She unlocked the steps into the basement and headed down.

"Hiccup?" she called into the dark. The lights were turned off, which was odd since he was always complaining about the lack of light whenever he worked. "Are you here?"

There was no answer. Astrid flipped on the light switch. Hiccup wasn't sitting as his table, but the screens were still on and running. "Gobber wants you, Hiccup – Hiccup?" Ever faithfully, the cot was crammed into its corner, only for the first time, Hiccup was actually sleeping on it, his messy red hair poking out from underneath a thin blanket. Astrid strode forward with purpose and started to lay a hand on his shoulder to wake him up.

Before she could touch him, he twitched in his sleep and muttered something inarticulate with a pained expression on his face. He started tossing and turning, his brow furrowed at something unpleasant going on through his head. Was he actually growling like a dragon? Astrid's hand connected with his shoulder and he jerked awake, hissing at her. His eyes were green, but they were now also deadly and ready to attack. Purple fire began building up behind his skin.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, her voice a pitch higher than normal when he continued to make threatening noises at her. What was going on with him? "Hiccup, it's me, Astrid." She was tempted to add "the one you were gossiping about to Camzi" but thought that wouldn't be a good idea.

At the word "Astrid", Hiccup's eyes cleared. "Astrid?"

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Astrid?"

Astrid tapped her foot in annoyance. "Yes, we've established that already. What's wrong? Why'd you go all crazy?"

"Astrid?"

"Hiccup, if you don't tell me what's wrong, I will lock you down here with the twins the next time they're on a coffee high," she threatened, sitting down on the floor and preparing to wait all evening if she had to as long as she got it out of him. Gobber could wait.

"I didn't mean to," Hiccup told her slowly, like he was unsure of the words.

"You haven't done anything." Besides for gossiping about me behind my back, but that discussion can wait, she sniped inwardly, her mind in a turmoil between helping Hiccup and staying mad at him.

Hiccup clutched his head with his hands and bent over like he was about to throw up. He groaned.

"Are you sick? Should I go get a bucket?" Astrid searched the room with her eyes for a bucket. Maybe the one Toothless had eaten from was still in the back alley.

"I'm not sick," Hiccup ground out through clenched teeth. "It's...it's...it's just..."

Astrid waited, knowing Hiccup would just clam up like a...clam if she demanded that he talked.

"Alvin wasn't really Alvin when he died," Hiccup confessed in a big rush. "He was too far gone."

"So you're saying Alvin is still out there?" Astrid's hand immediately went to her holster.

"No! Alvin died, but he wasn't really Alvin." Hiccup wasn't making much sense, and he was getting frustrated with himself. Suddenly, he clamped a hand to his mouth and went bug-eyed. Getting off the cot and pushing past Astrid, he rushed to a scrap bin and retched.

"You're not not sick. Do you want me to call your dad, or Snotlout, or maybe even-"

"I told you I'm not sick!" Hiccup protested, still leaning over the bin. "Would you let me explain?"

"I tried, but you weren't making much sense!" Astrid snapped back, getting more irritated by the second. Hiccup was kind of breathing hard and looked like he was going to chuck again. Astrid crouched down next to him and started slapping him on the back.

"Just breathe. Count to thirty."

"Not thirty," Hiccup mumbled. "Fifty sounds better." When the count was done, he looked considerably better.

"Now," Astrid said gently, "what are you trying to tell me about Alvin?"

"Have you ever read The Hobbit or Slathbog's Gold?" Hiccup asked.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Astrid howled, considering tearing her hair out. "You're feeling sick over a book?! Did a character die or something?"

Hiccup scowled. "No! I'm trying to create a parallel. Have you?"

"Have I what?"

"Read the books!"

"Oh." Astrid scrunched up her nose in thought. What books had she read lately? Whatever ones they were, she was pretty sure The Hobbit and Slathbog's Gold weren't on the list. "I don't think so."

"They're mostly about dragons. Do you know how they describe them?"

"I haven't read them," Astrid reminded him. "I bet it was weird reading them, though, knowing that you're a dragon."

"Eh. They describe them as evil. Creatures that want nothing more than to burn and hoard gold and kill."

"Oh." The darkness of the basement seemed to close in on them. Astrid suddenly became conscious that Hiccup was part dragon, and she saw where he was headed. "You can't – I mean, you don't want to...kill?" She squeaked the last word out.

"Well, that sure killed the conversation," Hiccup quipped wryly. "It's a mental game. There's a craving at the back of my mind all of the time to give in and become fully a dragon."

Being, one of New Berk City's best detectives, Astrid connected more dots to form a picture. "Alvin gave in to the inner beast, didn't he? He wasn't human by the time he died. And you've been fighting for months. That's why you always look so tired and have bags under your eyes."

"Those aren't bags. I'm trying out a new eye shadow for Ruffnut," Hiccup deadpanned.

"Yeah, right. And I'm Freya." The last of Astrid's anger was slipping away like water between her fingers.

Hiccup laughed weakly. "Thanks for everything, Astrid."

"ARE YE TWO COMIN' OR WHOT?" Gobber shouted from above.

"Better go." Hiccup stood up to leave.

Astrid stopped him before he could leave. "Hey, one more thing."

Hiccup turned around. "Yeah?"

She hesitated for a second. "When I was at the movie theater...I heard you talking with Camicazi..."

"Oh." Hiccup colored instantly. "How much did you hear?" he asked anxiously.

"Bits and pieces. The place was loud. Was it about me?" Astrid's eyes nearly popped out of her head when he nodded yes. "What?!"

"It's not what you think. I can't exactly tell you." Hiccup turned a deeper shade of red. "Trust me, Astrid."

Astrid eyed him for a second, debating whether or not she should pound him. "Fine." She started walking past him and towards the exit, but at the last second whirled around and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Hiccup howled. "What was that for?"

"That was for gossiping about me," Astrid said, satisfied that Hiccup had paid his dues for the moment.

Hiccup followed her up to the main floor of the garage, muttering under his breath the whole way. Gobber was waiting for them at the top.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME YE TWO SHOWED UP!" Gobber clapped Hiccup on the back, making the red head wince and clutch at his leg at the force.

"My car broke down," Astrid informed Hiccup woefully, pointing at the specimen, which was on a lift.

"Okie dokie." Hiccup limped over and grabbed a wrench. He messed around under the hood for a few minutes and then easing himself onto a mechanic's creeper, he slid under the car.

Astrid and Gobber waited with bated breath for the results. After Astrid had cracked each of her knuckles twice and her neck once, Hiccup slid out from under the car with a grim look on his face.

"You need a new fuel pump, oil pump, carburetor, gas tank, oil filter, spark plugs, alternator, engine, points, plugs, distributor, distributor cap, radiator hose, and breaks. Oh, and she could use a good wash."

"In English?"

"A new car."

"NO!"