Helloooooo and sorry….
I know I was supposed to update yesterday but I had just started writing the chapter when there was an "emergency" (everything turned out ok in the end thankfully). Well I'm glad everything ended well but it took all day and I couldn't finish the chapter. *sob*
That's basically it. Oh and PLEASE read the WARNING down there. I'm hating myself so much right now for it but…. There's nothing I can to really.
Oh well, I really hope you to enjoy this chapter 10 that is basically a "time jump" to connect the previous chapters with the next ones.
Good reading! XD
"Ryker!" Viggo called from his office-like tent.
The older man out of the two hurried to attend his young brother calls.
"Yes Viggo?" He answered as soon as his head broke through the fabrics hanging loosely from upwards, providing some privacy for what and those inside.
"What do you see?" The younger asked, glancing at an hourglass resting on his desk; the thin sand falling from the upper side to the other.
"It's sand falling inside glass…" Ryker replied, obviously not amused at the realization that another philosophic moment was coming.
"Exactly. But do you know what they have in common?"
"Why don't you just go straight to the point?" Ryker complained.
"It's a matter of time, brother." Viggo answered. "Sand can become glass. So they're basically the very same element. But…. While sand is easily shapeable and easily slips through your fingers…. glass can be easily broken."
Ryker watched as his brother pushed the hourglass with a simple but effective move of fingers. As soon as the upper part of the object touched the desk below, it cracked in several small pieces of shiny material.
Viggo glanced at his older and obviously mindless brother and sighed. "You see, if you can't fight the sand, fight the glass. All you need to do is heat the durable, shapeable characteristics of the first to bring its the fragile, breakable side out."
Ryker kept looking at the broken hourglass, sometimes glancing at Viggo.
It's coming…. Just a little longer…, Viggo though studying his brother's thinking face. The man seemed ready to have a cramp in the brain.
"Oh I see… the boy." Ryker finally got there.
"Exactly brother." Viggo answered, ignoring the irritating amount of time the other Grimborn had taken to get to the point. "Sometimes, you can even glue the broken pieces." He added, walking slowly to the chair behind the desk and sitting there, approaching his face to the fallen, broken object. He passed a finger on the smithereens of glass. "However, you can't in others."
Ryker allowed himself a huge grin. "Shall I prepare some ships and men?"
"No. You shall prepare the whole armada. Leave a few men here to guard the base but gather all the others. We'll make it this time."
"Yes Viggo." Ryker said, leaving his brother's tent to go prepare the men, ships and arsenal.
Viggo circled the finger around the broken hourglass, ignoring the small cuts the pieces of sharp glass left on the edge of his finger.
With a determined move he grabbed the small object and turned it upside down, the side with sand became the upper one.
Vigo's eyes scanned the thin sand falling to the broken part; the material was soon breaking through the broken side of the glass, heaping itself on the desk's surface.
"Soon, Hiccup Haddock. Soon." He mumbled.
~ a couple days after Stoick left~
The twins left their hut with a guilty grin on their faces.
This was one of those moments in which they wished they had more arms, as the only two they were born with carried tons of pranking materials. They had had lots of free time lately since Hiccup hadn't given them things to do so… yeah pranking.
It wasn't only because they were the twins and that's what they enjoyed doing. As Berk's pranksters the siblings had decided that some good pranks could cheer the others up. The tension and grief in the air was so heavy that it was truly admiring the fact that they weren't laying on the floor, fighting to get up thanks to the heavy, negative forces hanging in the air.
So there they were, running with ink, buckets, some weapons like spears and basically anything else that could create a prank wordy of Ruffnut and Tuffnut's attention.
As they ran their eyes caught the sight of Hiccup and Toothless slowly leaving their hut. Perfect! They actually needed him to sharpen the spears and they could convince him to help them with the pranks. Who knew? Maybe he would feel better after that!
"Hey H!" Ruffnut called.
Hiccup looked towards them and his eyes widened.
"Can you sharpen our spears?!" Tuffnut asked as they raced on the platform, constantly stumbling on the long cables f the weapons and fighting to hold the rest of the things in their arms.
Hiccup quickly took a look at Toothless' tailfin and hurried to mount the dragon.
"Wait no!" Ruffnut shouted as soon as she understood what he was doing. "You don't have to sharpen them if you don't want to! Let's prank Snotlout inste-" She didn't finish it.
At the same time that the twins arrived near the other boy, Hiccup and Toothless took off.
Tuffnut dropped everything he had in his arms and placed his hands around his mouth. "Maybe he didn't hear…. HEY H! HOW ABOUT WE PRANK SNOTLOUT- Ow!" Ruffnut elbowed him, the things she carried falling to the floor too.
"Hey! Shut up bro. If Snotlout hears that he'll ruin the prank!" She complained.
"I didn't yell that loud! You're the one who yells loud!"
"No. You're the one who yells loud."
"Am not!"
"Yes you are!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
"No!- Wait what?"
~Another couple of days after~
Snotlout sat in the Clubhouse. He leaned against Hookfang and pushed his helmet over his face. It was the middle of the afternoon, might as well get some sleep right? If you're Snotlout then yes.
He moved to a better position and started snoring. He was about to fall asleep when footsteps were heard and he didn't resist looking at the person when the familiar thump, clang, thump, clang, thum, clang rang in his head.
He watched as Hiccup quickly walked inside the building, grabbing somethings here, anther ones here. He grabbed so many food that Snotlout wondered if he was going to feed the entire Jorgenson family.
Unless… uh oh. Not again you won't.
You see, even with his injuries Hiccup was constantly flying with Toothless. Astrid had warned everyone to try and stop him if possible because the girl was almost having a nervous breakdown. Nanning Hiccup was…. What's the word…. Oh yeah. IMPOSSIBLE.
Another important information. You see, these flights started as short ones but by now Hiccup and Toothless would disappear whole days!
By the way the one legged boy filled the saddlebag it was painfully obvious that e was about to go for another 'short flight to clear thoughts'.
Well Snotlout was done with his cousin. Hiccup was constantly running away from everyone, ignoring them, hiding from them and they didn't even know what in the name of THOR happened for sure for him to act like that.
"Where do you think you're going!?" He asked the skinny boy.
Hiccup ignored his cousin and focused on hurrying up.
"Hey! I'm talking with you!" Snotlout yelled.
Hiccup simply closed the saddlebag and walked in Toothless' direction.
Snotlout grabed him by one arm, accidentally choosing the injured one.
"Ahh!" Hiccup cried.
"Oh! Sorry!" Snotlout replied. "But where do you think you're going?"
"Somewhere." Hiccup answered drily.
"Somewhere? Somewhere! You should be healing and being our leader! Not goofing off all day!"
Hiccup turned to face Snotlout who almost jumped backwards. "Goofing off?! You think I'm goofing off? Well, news flash, I'm not a lazy ass like you!"
Snotlout swallowed. Well… he wasn't expecting THAT to come out of Hiccup.
"I'm just trying to help you!"
"Well, you shouldn't. I don't need your help! And what I'm doing is none of your business!" Hiccup exploded, imidiatly regretting everything he said at the sight of Snotlout's expression. No! He couldn't feel pity. He had to do this. It was for the gang's good.
Hiccup mounted Toothless and took off to the clouds, where his dark, painful memories couln't hit him.
~one week and a half after Stoick's departure~
Fishlegs was so excited that he even had the hiccups.
Why was he so excited? Dragons.
The Ingerman had just discovered the Night Terrors preferential direction when it came to habitats and flying. Specifically, that species was attracted by the northwest so if they ever migrate that would be the most probable direction.
Fishlegs spotted Hiccup walking slowly with Toothless by his side. The boy was leaning on the Night Fury as if walking was a hard task.
"Oh my Thor Hiccup! Hiccup!" Fishlegs called. This was a big discovery and Hiccup was his geeking pal so the chubby boy couldn't even control himself.
Faster than thought possible, Fishlegs arrived near Hiccup who kept walking, trying his best to ignore his friend. Oh… he wanted to talk to him so much…
I can't even image if it was one of your friends in your place…. Neither can you, I trust…, Viggo's words started echoing inside Hiccup's skull.
"You're not going to believe this! So, thanks to Ruff and Tuff.. and I can't believe I'm saying this… Meatlug and I noticed that every time they scared one of the Night Terrors he would fly towards Northeast! Can you believe it! This is something to add to the Book of Dragons oh oh oh! It's so exciting!... Are you hearing me Hiccup?" Fishlegs blurted while following his friend who kept walking supporting his right side on Toothless.
Hiccup resisted the will to just look at Fishlegs and talk about the boy's new discovery.
"Are you feeling ok?" Fishlegs asked. " Have you been flying all day again? Hiccup, you know that's bad for your ribs! You-" He didn't finish because, lost in the conversation, Fishlegs didn't even notice that they had arrived at the Haddock's hut and that said boy had now closed the door on his face.
Fishlegs sighed.
~two weeks after Stoick's visit~
Astrid was having the worst weeks of her life. Main cause: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.
He'd been so isolated! Hiding from everyone, even from Astrid! Ignoring everyone, even Astrid! Doing what he wanted, especially what Astrid told him to do (usually NOT to do)!
Hiccup was now completely closed. Closed and far away from her; from Astrid.
And now? Now he had just come back from another long flight. This time he was going to listen to her!
The blonde knocked on the door of his hut. No one opened the door. She knocked again. No one. Maybe he wasn't here after all.
Suddenly she heard a loud noise coming from inside the place and her newly formed assumption was proved wrong.
Astrid opened the door. She couldn't have cared less about Hiccup's privacy at that moment. She was more worried about his stupidity!
After breaking inside the girl caught a glimpse of the back door closing shut. Oh, so this was how he wanted to play it? Very well then.
Astrid hurried outside and mounted Stormfly.
"Come on girl! Let's get'em!" She encouraged her Deadly Nadder, who took off after the black silhouette of the Night Fury and his rider.
They landed in the middle of the forest, the same place they'd seen the Night Fury land. Astrid looked around and studied the place. She was surrounded by high trees, something completely normal since they were in the middle of the forest. Besides the giant plants, some giant boulders the seize of a dragon were the only thing there.
"Hiccup?" She called, noticing Toothless' tailfin bad hidden behind one of the boulders.
"Hiccup what's going on?" She asked but he didn't answer her. Oh and he wanted to so badly. Out of everyone in the group Astrid was going to be the hardest one to deal with.
"Look, whatever's going on we can deal with it. Together. Like we always do." She tried again and Hiccup almost broke.
"You've been ignoring us. Everyone's even more worried. Come on! Why are you doing this?" Astrid stepped towards the boulders and stopped when Hiccup spoke.
"Go away Astrid." The girl noticed the crack in his voice and that disturbed her even more.
"I won't. We're a team Hiccup! You have to understand that sometimes you can't make it all on your own!" She answered.
No answer.
"Just talk to me! We're friends… you can always count on me." She added.
"Maybe I…. I don't…. maybe I don't want to be friends with you anymore." Hiccup blurted.
"What?" Astrid froze. "I- I don't believe that!"
"Just go Astrid. Leave. It's better if you guys go back to Berk." Hiccup continued.
What was he talking about?
"And what? You'll take care of the Edge all by yourself?"
"I've made my mind." Hiccup lied. He didn't make his mind and he didn't want to lose the only friends he ever had besides Toothless. He didn't want to lose Astrid. He didn't want to be alone again. But what he wanted or didn't want didn't matter. What matter was his friends' safety. Astrid's safety.
"And you think we'll just do what you want? We're all grown up. We think and act by ourselves." Astrid shouted back.
"I'm your leader."
"Oh so now you use that card!?" Astrid commented. He NEVER used the I'm the leader card.
"Astrid-" Hiccup started.
"Fine! We'll leave. I'LL LEAVE. But only, and mark my words, ONLY if you have the guts to get out of there and tell me with a straight face that you don't want to be friends with us anymore. With ME anymore." Astrid declared.
For a long moment no one spoke, no one moved. Even the forest quieted down. The wind shook the tree tops, making the leaves dance untiringly. Astrid listened to that comforting, relaxing melody and was already assuming that she'd won this discussion when a different sound caught her attention.
Hiccup walked from behind the boulder and stopped in front of Astrid, a good distance between the two. The blonde immediately walked towards the boy with a sudden, uncontrollable will to just take him in her arms and make everything ok. However she was inches away from him when he finally spoke.
"I- I don't want…. I-…. I don't want to be friends with you anymore." Hiccup said, his voice trembling and trying (but failing) to hide the sobs.
Astrid looked at him with pure terror. He said it. Almost crying, closing his fists so much that his knuckles had turned white but he said it. Hiccup said IT.
She stared at him, a mix of feelings growing inside her. She stared at him but he didn't look her in the eyes, his look focusing on the ground and the ground only.
"I- I- hum… I-I'll tell the… the others we're… leaving right away." Astrid informed, staring blankly at the ground too. What was it with the grass!?
Glancing at the boy in front of her one last time, Astrid turned around and started walking towards Stormfly in long shuffling steps, a part of her still hoping to hear him regretting his previous words.
It didn't happen.
Astrid mouted Stormfly, who screeched at her riders, obviously feeling the mess both her and Hiccup were. Toothless cooed sadly. He didn't want to see the others and specially Astrid go. Something he liked so much about that human girl was the fact that she always put some sense in his rider's head and above all, made him happy. Toothless didn't want that to end. He wanted Hiccup happy!
With a bit of hesitation, the blue Deadly Nadder took off.
WOW… I'm feeling bad now. Maybe I should listen to Because I'm Happy while writing instead of the songs I listen to. This is way too depressing…. And heart breaking!
I hope this chapter doesn't sound weird but I wanted to create the notion that time was passing and how things were between the gang.
Ok, so here's the WARNING I'm not proud of:
-I've been killing my brain and trying to find ways to avoid this but there's none really.
As you know, I post everyday (except for yesterday cough cough) but unfortunately my schedule is going to become IMPOSSIBLY busy! (and it doesn't take a genius to know why…). So, since I love writing and I love providing you stuff to read I'll do my best to write the fastest I can whenever I have the slightest break or free time. So, starting next week (this Friday I won't be able to post either by the way), I won't post every day and many times it'll take about a week to update.
SO PLEASE don't think I abandoned the stories and fanfiction and writing. I won't abandon YOU! And I'll do my best to post quickly!
I'll be VERY busy and writing will take longer and I'm really sorry. I didn't want this to happen but there's nothing I can do. Maybe by Christmas time I'll be able to post like I've been doing (everyday) for a week or two but until next summer this is how it's going to work.
I'll inform you all over the time about the schedule updates.
If you have any other question about the new schedule feel free to PM me and I'll answer you.
Next chapter tomorrow, see ya there! XD
