Hiiiiii! XD
Another chapter yay!
I really hope this one to be better than the last, probably because it's a little less hot than yesterday. One of you gave me the advice to just fill something with water and put my feet inside but even the water is hot gods!
Also, I don't have an actual bad eye. I have two ha! I wear two flaps, one in each eye. That's why I'm so blind to the risks of pissing you guys off with my cliffhangers and wickedness to the characters! (Just kidding tho)
Enjoy your reading! XD
"Humm…. What's happening?" Tuffnut asked, tilting his head to the right and then to the left like a curious dragon.
"We screwed up! That's what!" Snotlout despaired. He should've listened to Astrid and now he was stuck in this situation with the twins! The TWINS!
"Yeah… he looks horrible…" Ruffnut commented.
"Hiccup?" Snotlout called, trying to use a soft voice to calm his cousin. That wasn't going very well, since Snotlout wasn't exactly the caring type.
Hiccup brought his knees to his chest and tried to hide his face behind them; images of the past weeks flowing in his mind. The worst part wasn't when the Hunters inflicted physical pain to him; the worst part was the guilt that haunted him from the psychological part.
"Sorry, come on! We were just trying to help. It was all fake! Everything's ok!" Snotlout tried but to no use. On other days he would probably be an idiot and play with the fact that the future chief was crying (something he honestly never saw) but in this moment he just wanted the other boy to be ok. His cousin could be a hiccup but Snotlout had to admit, he was mentally strong. Whatever happened with the Hunters was beyond Snotlout's imagination.
"Think think think…. Snotlout think!" He thought out loud. What could possibly cheer Hiccup up?
The twins looked at each other and nodded. They launched themselves at Hiccup to involve him in a Thorston mini sandwich. However that didn't work either.
Snotlout looked at the twins and remembered Toothless carrying his convulsing rider in his paws to the Clubhouse. Toothless… Dragons! Hiccup loved dragons!
Toothless wasn't there – they might or might not have locked him in stables during the "kidnapping" while the poor dragon was asleep due to weakness and tiredness… but that also might NOT have happened!
In their defense, how was it possible to recreate a capture with the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself constantly guarding and keeping an eye on Hiccup?
Well, they didn't have Toothless but they had Hookfang and Barf and Belch there, and they were dragons.
"Guys call your dragons." Snotlout told the twins who had already given up from the hug by now.
They looked at Snotlout with their typical interrogation faces.
"Tell them to come near Hiccup. That might calm him down!" The Jorgenson explained.
For once the twins got it quickly. "Barf! Belch!" They called in sync.
"Hookfang!" Snotlout called too.
Both dragons (or are they three?) joined their riders without protesting for once, probably because they felt the tension in the air.
The Zippleback and the Monstruos Nightmare started bumping their noses in Hiccup, growling amiably.
Hiccup looked up at the dragons caressing him and for once his breathing soothed. But then he remember both the Zippleback and the Monstruos Nightmare he'd come across in the Dragon Hunter's base. He still had their blood in his hands.
The three riders risked a small smile when they noticed Hiccup calming a little.
"It's working!" Ruffnut celebrated.
Well, you know what they say, you shouldn't celebrate beforehand…
Hiccup's expression turned into an even more horrified one and Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Snotlout's smile vanished.
Hiccup looked at the dragons. They had to get away from him! He didn't want them to end up like the others of their species! "No! No! No no- Ge- get away!" He started, returning to the previous anxious state.
The dragons moved away because it didn't take a genius to understand that they were only making it all worse.
Snotlout grabbed his cousin as the boy started falling to the side, too busy trying to calm down and control the adrenaline traveling in his body to notice the ground approaching.
Suddenly heavy footsteps were heard behind them and the trio looked in said direction to find Stormfly and Meatlug finishing their landing. Astrid dismounted with her dragon still coming to a stop.
She ran towards the group and broke through them, her hands flying to Hiccup and pushing him towards her.
"What were you thinking?" She snapped, looking furiously to the idiots responsible for that. "I SAID NO!" Well, maybe furious isn't enough to describe Astrid at that moment.
"We were only trying to he-" Snotlout started only to be interrupted by the angriest Viking in the whole archipelago- Yep. This fits her better...
"Are you dumb?! Since when is this HELPING!? Right now Hiccup needs HIS FRIENDS, NOT HIS ENEMIES!" She exploded, her face becoming an angry tone of red.
Hiccup hid his face on Astrid's chest and girl didn't even feel embarrassed by that. She noticed his hands tied behind his back and her head stormed in the direction of the three guilty Vikings. If she were a dragon then they would all be on fire by now.
"Really?!" She asked in disbelief and pure rage. She had to control herself, otherwise Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut would be removing Stormfly's spines from their butts by now.
The girl's hand flew to her back, grabbing her axe and drawing it.
Snotlout who was the closest one to the weapon, covered his head with his hands, fearing the girl to cut his head off in her tantrum.
Astrid cut the rope tying Hiccup's and put the blade back in its place again.
Hiccup looked at his hands with a shocked expression. He saw them tied to a sword and a man pushing them downwards. The resistance under the weapon didn't last much and a sorrowful, painful shriek decreased until disappearing for good.
He waved his hands not knowing what exactly to do to them.
Astrid grabbed him by his shoulders. "It's just a memory Hiccup…" She said softly. "I'm right here with you…" He opened his watery green eyes and looked at her. A subconscious part of his mind started reassuring itself just by seeing her caring face.
Soon he was breathing heavily but calmer, leaning against Astrid and letting his mind wander through nothing precisely. That was better than thinking and remembering.
The blonde was caressing his auburn hair, something that seemed to always calm him down –kind of like the shoulder/hand thing they did to support each other- when she noticed his left arm, the one with the deep cut, bleeding again. Her eyes widened.
Snotlout and the twins watched with admiration Hiccup calming down with Astrid's touch. They also had her axe in sight just for the case…
"Fishlegs! Quickly, bring me the blanket!" The Hofferson demanded.
Fishlegs was impressively fast on his feet; grabbing the fabric from the Deadly Nadder he ran to deliver it to his friend.
Astrid supported Hiccup completely against her and ripped a piece of the soft cloth, proceeding to wrap said part around the newly opened slash.
Satisfied with that achievement, the blonde ripped another slightly bigger piece and tied it around Hiccup's neck, forming a ring big enough to support the harmed limb. The rest of the blanket went to its original purpose: keep the boy warm.
" Fishlegs and I will take Hiccup to his hut and I expect you three in Clubhouse for a little chit-chat…" Astrid said, a pinch of remorse in her already mad voice.
Snotlout swallowed thickly, much for the twins' confusion. "Does it involve a certain axe?" The Jorgenson asked, already knowing the answer.
"It always involves my axe." Astrid answered, getting up and pushing Hiccup too.
She dragged him near Stormfly and to her surprise Hiccup stopped her. "I- I can't go on St-Stormfly…" He mumbled.
Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" She said, secretly taking another step forward.
Hiccup noticed that. "No! I- I can't. I won't!" He insisted.
Astrid didn't want him to end up having another attack so she suggested another thing. "Well, you can go on Meatlug. Right Fishlegs?"
"Of course!" The boy answered and Meatlug growled in a happy, encouraging way.
"Can't either…" Hiccup mumbled.
"Hookfang?" She asked.
Hiccup shook his head slowly.
Astrid couldn't believe she was suggesting it but there was no other option really. "Barf and Belch?"
"No." Hiccup answered. "Toothless only."
"Well, he's not here right now so I'll take you on Stormfly." She declared.
Hiccup tried to reliese himself from Astrid's supporting embrace but found himself too weak. "Please n-no… I don't want anything to happen to her…." He said.
"It's just a short flight Hiccup. Nothing will happen." Astrid replied and with no further warning mounted Stormfly who had laid to help her rider drag Hiccup too.
The boy started trying to jump from the Nadder but Astrid never allowed that. They flew through the set of tunnels that led to the great cavern they had left.
Soon, both dragons had landed in front of Hiccup's hut, being said boy the first to jump off the flying lizard. He almost ended with his face on the floor but Astrid was faster and grabbed him.
They headed to Hiccup's room and laid him on his bed. Fishlegs handed Astrid the sedative.
"I'll go make sure they're in the Clubhouse when you get there okay?" The chubby boy informed.
"Yes. Thanks Fishlegs. At least someone actually helps." She answered.
"I'm as angry as you are with them…. Well, maybe not as angry but… you know they were only trying to help right?" The boy said.
Astrid sighed. "Yeah. I know that. But they need to be more careful with their attempts to help."
Fishlegs agreed and headed outside, to the still raging winds.
Astrid turned her full attention to Hiccup, who looked to the other side, obviously embarrassed.
"Hey, you know none of what happened is your fault right?" She asked him.
Hiccup only looked at her, not bothering answering.
"Talking about what happened there will make you feel better?" She asked. "Like the reason why you only wanted to ride Toothless?"
"I don't want to talk about it Astrid. I don't want you to know what the Hunters do out there." He said.
"Well, if you change your mind, I'm all ears okay?"
Hiccup didn't answer her.
Astrid looked outside the window and saw a small cloud of smoke rising from the stables. She knew very well why. Soon, Toothless would be here with Hiccup, because no one could keep the two separated from each other.
Reassured with that, Astrid gave Hiccup the sedative; so he could have some truly rested sleep. The boy drank it without complaining.
Astrid was about to head for the stairs when Hiccup caught her attention.
"Do- do you mind staying until I fall asleep?" Hiccup had decided to 'stop being' with the other riders- a hard decision- but every time he closed his eyes, he was back at that squalid, dark cell, and Astrid had this thing… she could always calm him.
Astrid looked at him, tenderness in her eyes. "Sure."
She sat on the bed next to Hiccup's head and started caressing his hair again. Thanks to the sedative, it wouldn't take much more time before he fell asleep, but until that she would make sure he didn't feel alone.
Hum…. Off to a little chit-chat with the angriest Viking in the archipelago? Well, R.I.P. Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut…
Hope you liked this chapter- it's a little bigger than usual- and the next one will be published tomorrow.
Also, I'll probably post a sneak peak of a chapter yet to come. Nothing that tells you much but it's something at the same time. Just because you're so amazing!
Well, see ya tomorrow! XD
