Hi guy supersandman here, back from the dead, sorry been a while, a lot of shit to deal with over the last few months, a bout of depression, writers block (and too stubborn to ask for help) and some other things too...
He's taken up a hobby of homebrewing...hic
Shut it wade! Sorry seems this annoying little prick still around, and have you been at my ale again wade?
Errr...hic! No
Lier!
Well what do you expect, you make booze and I drink it!
*Sigh* you see what I have to put up with?
Anyway here is chapter 10 of survivalist, enjoy.
Chapter 10-I didn't know
It had been several months since Hiccup not only, given the title of heir to the eldest of the Hofferson offspring Astrid but also saved her little brother from a deadly impact off a cliff and even getting a surprising kiss from her too.
And yet Hiccup was still trying to understand what it meant.
Did she like him?
Or was it a simple reaction to that days events and she wanted to thank him.
He did want to find out but every time he tried to get near her she would make some excuse up that she had to help her dad out or chieftain training, any excuse so she could get away.
In the end Hiccup just sighed and concluded that it was just a simple thank you kiss and left it at that.
Meanwhile Astrid was in thoughts of her own as she was in her usual spot in the forest, attacking trees.
She didn't understand herself why she kissed Hiccup, a hug, understandable as he had recovered very quickly all of a sudden.
But to kiss him full on the lips was definitely not an Astrid thing to do.
She spent all her free time thinking it over in her head, trying to find some logic in what she did.
Was it an act of Loki trying to trick her?
No she was in control of her own mind that was for certain.
Was it to do with her hormones?
She recently had her first cycle which would lead to her moods changing so suddenly, but that happened after the kiss.
Did she like Hiccup?
Not like in as a friend but like like?
She was uncertain of that although it did plague her mind.
But she decided to leave it at that until she was one hundred percent certain as she looked up to the sky seeing it go red, indicating the sun was setting.
She loved the sunset, it was a beautiful sight and often just headed toward the cliff to get a better view always wonder what it would be like to touch the clouds and find out what they felt like.
But sighed as she knew it was impossible.
Vikings can't fly.
The only way would be on a dragon.
She scoffed at that idea as she turned towards home.
"Who would be crazy enough to ride a dragon?"
Meanwhile, high up in the sky
A black blur zoomed higher and higher into the air, not slowing down one bit as a familiar roar echoed from it, followed by screams of excitement as the black blur finally slowed and and free-fall from the sky.
Hiccup, after a long day of helping out the village, got back home and without hesitation jumped onto his Night fury friend, Toothless as the two had fun doing all sorts of dangerous stunts and manoeuvres, like they do every night.
"What you say bud, up for a game of catch the Hiccup?" Hiccup said as he patted the side of the black dragons scaly head earn an approving roar before standing up onto Toothless' back as he suddenly jumped off, plummeting all the way down.
Toothless however didn't seem worried, far from it, he was excited as he followed suit and plummets downward too, tucking in his wings so he can catch up to his human companion.
Meanwhile with Hiccup, who was going faster and faster as gravity did its job of bringing him back down, had his eyes closed, screaming all the way.
Screaming with excitement that is.
Hiccup loved the rush of wind and the adrenaline he got from it.
When he did open his eyes, he was met with the sight of Toothless staring back at him with a big grin upon his scaly face and his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as it flapped due to the rushing wind.
"Hey there" Hiccup said calmly as he grinned "fancy meeting you in a place like this"
This caused Toothless to roll his eyes, having heard Hiccup witty humour a dozen times, something that brought a charm to the young boy whom managed to break the infernal monster's control on him.
As they neared close to the water, Toothless moved his wings slightly, causing him to quickly turn until he was underneath Hiccup, who landed with a thud upon the saddle on his back.
Hiccup learnt through trial and error about having something soft to land on every time Toothless caught him.
Safely in the saddle, Toothless flapped his wings as they ascended once more towards an awaiting Stormcutter, who was watching the whole thing along with an amused, yet slightly worried Valka as she watch her only son not only perform quite a few impressive and dangerous stunts, but also jumping off at a high altitude, plummeting towards the cold waters below only to land back on his dragon at the last second.
She sighs however, seeing Hiccup in the few months they were reunited pull stupid yet crazy stunts only to come out with not even a scratch.
Hiccup and Toothless finally got level with Cloudjumper as Valka only grins at her son excited look on his face from the rush.
"One of these days you're gonna give yer old mother a heart attack with those stunts" she tried to say sternly but couldn't help but chuckle as both Hiccup and Toothless gave her a pleading look of sorry, making their eyes bigger than usual.
'Like rider like dragon' she thought to herself as they headed back to the sanctuary to as a spot of lunch.
Safe to say Hiccup made lunch.
A little while later at the sanctuary
As they were eating, Valka couldn't help but notice the distant look on her son's face, this was not the first time however as he had done this several times before but she never questioned it until now.
She just thought it was something to do with her at first and gave him his space to let him talk to her about it.
But now as she observes his expression, she notices how his eyebrows arch like he's confused about something.
Then she began to think when it all started, when did he start acting like this.
Suddenly she remembered.
The incident involving the young Hofferson lad falling off the cliff.
'But why would that confuse Hiccup?' she thought to herself as she recalled everything Hiccup told her about it.
But it was near the end where he hesitated to say anything.
'Could that be what's got him like this?'
She decided to she wanted to find out, hoping to help her son any way she could.
She coughed loudly, catching the attention of Hiccup as he looked at her.
"Mom? What's up?"
Valka smiled as she sat closer to him before she spoke.
"Hiccup dear, you seem a little distracted as of late" she said to him as he looked away not wanting to be confronted.
"I-I don't know w-what you mean mom!" he said as his voice started to go higher, something Valka found out about when Hiccup was both being nervous and lying about it.
"Come on son, I've only known you for only a little while but I can tell when you're hiding something, motherly instincts and all" she informed him as he still wouldn't talk, so she took a deep breath and decided just to go straight from the honey to the hatchet, as Stoick used to put it.
"Could it be something to do with that incident with saving young Fern Hofferson" she watched as he reaction never changed so she carried on "or, am I thinking it's another certain Hofferson, one you gave the title of heir to" she watched as he saw him blink quite rapidly as she finished off her sentence.
"Astrid"
That one word changed Hiccup as tried to look away trying to hide the blush rising upon his cheeks.
But it was too late as Valka, having realised what had happened, put her hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a giggle.
"Oh great all-father, she kissed you didn't she?" she finished off saying as Hiccup sighed before slowly nodding as he replied.
"It was nothing really mom, just a quick kiss, she was more likely just overwhelmed with everything that had happened on that day, with me giving her the title of heir to saving her brother, It's enough to drive anyone insane..."
"...not to mention saving and restoring her axe" Valka said interrupting him mid sentence.
"yeah that too" he whispered.
"Did you ask her what it was about? The kiss I mean" Valka asked as Hiccup shook his head.
"I tried but every time I did, she would say she's busy and avoids me whenever possible, so I assumed she was embarrassed for kissing a useless runt like..." he did get to finish his sentence as Toothless, who was hearing the whole thing, smacked his rider over the head with his tail causing Valka to grin.
"Thank you Toothless" she said, Ignoring her son mutter 'useless reptile' under his breath as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Trust me Hiccup, if Toothless hadn't done it, I would have, because no matter what dear, you are not useless! You may be on the small side compared to the big burly dumb Vikings, but that doesn't make you useless!" she said sternly as she reached her hand over to his head, gently turning it so both their eyes met.
"It's means you work harder than any of them so you're not frowned upon, I've seen your inventions in the cove Hiccup, things that would benefit a place like Berk with it's harsh weather and dragon attacks. Compared to anyone in the village, your father included, they are more useless than you so don't sell yourself short son" she said said softly this time as she rubbed the side of his head from he was smacked, earning a smile from the boy.
Hiccup knows he's come a long way from what he was but the scars from long ago still hurt him and still bring him down from time to time so it was nice to know from a few people that he wasn't what everyone used to call him.
Despite all the low self esteem moment he was having he was still unsure about his other situation with Astrid.
But it seems like Valka read his mind as she began to speak again.
"And as for Astrid, believe me when I say it wasn't just an overwhelming moment for her dear, she wanted to kiss you, guessing by all that happened, it gave her the push to do it. The reason she's avoiding you most likely because she's confused herself on why, so give her time son to come to terms and then you'll have your answer" she finished off by kissing his forehead before giving him a hug.
Hiccup only smiled as he took in the hug and letting his mothers words sink in.
'maybe she's right, I just have to wait to see what happens'
In the meantime he was pondering on another thing on his mind.
Ever since Snoggletog he was determined to make the jian, but in order to do so he would need to make it out of bronze. After reading up on several books from Gobber workshop and others that Johan usually sold from his travels, making the metal will be no problem, there was only one thing which would hold him back.
Where to find the copper and tin necessary to make it.
He had spent a good portion of his flights on Toothless travelling from island to island, searching for any sign of the ores.
He realised long ago he could make it out of iron, the archipelago, particularly Berk, was pack full of the ore, he could have made the weapon within a few days to a week plus the detailing.
But it seemed so Viking to Hiccup.
Something he knew he was not, not in his mind at least.
He thought differently to others, making him unique.
Just like the jian in his eyes, so wanted to go by how it was made, using bronze, until he could come up with a new material to replace it with.
But that was his problem.
He had checked many of the surrounding islands that make up the archipelago and found nothing.
He checked on the surface, he checked in caves, and thanks to his mom's help using a few of the boulder class dragons, including a whispering death, much to Toothless' distaste, deep underground.
But still nothing.
With all this happening plus with Astrid, ways to improve in survival, keeping his dad from finding out about Toothless and learning about dragons in general, he was surely to have a headache from this.
"Ugh, I'm getting too old for this shit" he mumbled, forgetting he was in the presence of his mother, who by this smacked him on the back of his head.
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third! Language!" she scolded, pointing her index finger at him.
"Norse!" he retorted, rolling his eyes.
Valka merely shook her head as she lightly chuckled.
"You do remind me a lot of your father back we were young"
Hiccup looked at her in surprise, he was never told much about his father as a boy his age.
Gobber could talk about the adventures they had as young adults when they first met but the old blacksmith's family traveled a lot in his youth and only settled back on Berk at the age of seventeen, so never knew Stoick as a kid.
Non of the other villagers would talk to him about it either, more because they were trying to avoid him.
Maybe grandparents would have told him, if they were still alive.
His paternal grandmother died during a bad winter back when Stoick was a teen, his grandfather passed away, shortly after Stoicks twenty-fifth birthday, making him next in line for chief.
His maternal grandmother died in childbirth to Valka leaving only his grandfather to raise her.
His grandfather, old wrinkly as they called him, it was unknown what happened to him. According to Gobber, who talked to Stoick about it, he went on a fishing trip by himself one day and never returned, most speculated he was swallowed by the sea.
So no one really could tell him what his father was really like as a kid.
Until now.
"Mom can I ask you what dad was like as a kid" he said taking her by surprise.
"Has no one in Berk ever told you" she ask as Hiccup shook his head making her sigh "figures as much, they were like that with me when I was young all because I was different too"
"How so?" Hiccup asked as he sat back down to listen to his mother talk.
"I wasn't much of a fighter, or a cook or even anything that made me like a traditional woman in the village, didn't have a female role model growing up, just me and my pops, he tried to do his best, taught me how to fish, to hunt and set traps, some things at that time women weren't suppose to do"
"but they do now back on Berk" Hiccup interjected.
Valka merely smiled "thanks to your father once he became chief, but before then it was uncommon and weird for women on Berk to be practicing skill such as that, so you could imagine I was shunned just like you were, beaten up on a daily basis. Until your father stepped in and showed them how he got the nickname 'the vast' years later, no one messed with him, but deep down he was a big softy, found that out after he saved me, I decided to follow him into the forest. Now where most assumed he was training, building up his strength, I found out he went there to pick flowers"
Hiccup, who'd had taken a sip out of his mug at the time, spat it back out as he quickly look at Valka "what? You mean Stoick the vast? The man people say when he was a baby, popped a dragons head clean off its shoulders? The same man?" this made Valka raise one of her eyebrows in confusion.
"Is that what they same nowadays?" she chuckled as she carried on "but yes, the same man used to pick flowers, he said that from among the chaos of raids from both Viking and dragons alike, there was still beauty and peace in that part of the forest that he liked, it was there I learnt a few things about Berks future chief, quickly becoming friends and eventually falling in love, in fact it was in the forest itself where he proposed to me. Usually we had to wait until a contract was set up first, but you father loved to break the rules, was a regular thing for him"
"No, that can't be right, he's all about following rules and keeping order" Hiccup said, not believing his father was a troublemaker.
"Now that he's chief but back in his youth he used to cause all sort of mischief, both of us did once in a while, like the time his hammered in every single peg leg in Berk to the fishing boats as they set sail" Valka stopped as she started to laugh "you could say the villagers were hopping mad that day" this got Hiccup laughing.
After a while Hiccup managed to control his laughter as he wanted to ask another question.
"You said he was like me when he was younger, but how?"
Valka just looked at his as she stopped laughing before being serious "because like you Hiccup, Stoick was different too, just no one really saw the real him and he kept it to himself, just like you son, no one knows the real Hiccup, I've seen you ride Toothless son, you're a natural, I just wish others could see the same way as us"
"maybe one day they will"
Valka merely scoffed "yeah and silent Sven will break his vow of silence" she said sarcastically.
Hiccup however didn't believe that it was impossible, hard yes but never impossible, he'd just have to find the right moment.
He looked outside to see the sun starting to set, realising it was time to go home before anyone such as Gobber worries.
He got up, hugged his mother goodbye before jumping on Toothless and zooming back to Berk with two thoughts on his mind.
Would others see the real him one day or will he keep it bottled up just like his father did.
And could there be peace between Vikings and dragons one day?
As he said to himself earlier:
It'll be hard yes... but not impossible