Hey guys, I'm back with chapter 4, I have to say this is doing quite well with what I thought might happen, which is this crashes and burns. Anyways this chapter will develop Connor's hatred towards Snotlout. Also Astrid is being lied to by someone, who could it be? Hiccup maybe, let's find out.
Lies & Deception
Chapter 4:
Training Ring-Astrid's POV- After fight
Connor walked out of the ring like nothing happened, He not only managed to win a fight, but beat Snotlout with a move I've only dreamed of pulling off and he did it first go. He's definitely up to something, but what? I couldn't even move because of the horror of what the ring looked like, no one could move because of Snotlout's limp, yet breathing body, just lying on the floor. No one wanted to go help him in case they may end up like him.
"It's ok, I won't hurt you if you help him, in fact, help him quickly so I can beat him up again." Yelled Connor as he calmly walked out of earshot towards the village. As soon as those words left his mouth Spitelout, Gothi and Gobber rushed to the center of the ring to give Snotlout help, they carried his body to Gothi's hut. One thing Connor said still lingered in my head, 'I've still got Astrid to challenge yet.' What did he mean by that? He wants to fight me but I have no idea when, Connor at least got a day's notice when the fight was but he might challenge me at any time and I might not have time to prepare.
"Everyone, I'm calling a meeting in the Great Hall right now, head home, grab something to eat and get there." Boomed the chief as he got up from this chair and left the arena. As soon as he said that everyone rushed home, maybe it was fear that they may get hurt. As people filed out of the arena, the only ones who were still there were us teens, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Fishlegs and myself.
"What the hell just happened there?" Asked Tuffnut
"I believe Connor just beat Snotlout" Said Ruffnut. I took a step back because the twins should be going to fight, but they didn't. What is going on here?
"Impossible, that fishbone couldn't even lift a hammer, let alone beat someone in a fight, he must have cheated or something, it's the only way he won." I said.
"It wouldn't matter if he cheated, Snotlout cheated by having a concealed weapon. So if Connor somehow cheated it really wouldn't matter." Stated Fishlegs as he walked towards us.
"It would matter, Snotlout told us Connor was plotting to cheat and he did. He's keeping secrets and I want to know what they are." I said, almost yelling at him.
"Oh, you really think Connor and Hiccup lied to us by saying they killed the Red Death, they didn't Astrid, I saw with my own eyes that Connor sacrificed himself by pushing Hiccup out of the way of a fire ball and used Toothless to shoot a timed and accurate shot into its mouth." Said Fishlegs, going red with anger.
"Yes I do, we saw what they wanted us to see, we did a search near it because we saw an injured dragon down there and we saw the head of the Red Death, we had a look around and Snotlout saw a mark in its mouth, a Monstrous Nightmare shot it, and who was the only one to ride one at that time?"
"It doesn't matter, I know what I saw and if you're going to abandon your friend because they 'lied' then by all means, go for it but I won't because I have amends to fix with them for all the years I didn't help them when they were getting hurt by you guys, I wouldn't blame them if they did, all they wanted to do was help us and every time they tried something went wrong, I wouldn't blame Connor for killing Snotlout in the ring for all the physical abuse he gave Connor and Hiccup, I read a book that Connor gave me, it was his journal, it said some nasty stuff towards us but in the end it was true. I actually have the book with me because I was going to ask him some questions but I think you might need to read it, the page I want you to read is the third page, that's where your answers will be." Fishlegs said, pushing the book into my chest and walking off towards his home.
Great Hall- 3rd POV
"QUIET!" Yelled Stoic as he stood up from his chair to address the village.
"We are here to discuss about the situation in the ring." Said Stoic as the room was filled with hated comments.
"Exile him."
"HE CHEATED"
"HE ISN'T A VIKING, HE SHOWED US THAT IN THE RING" If Connor heard that he would be angry as all hell.
"ENOUGH!" Yelled the chief once again.
"What are you going to do Stoic?" Whispered Gobber.
"I don't know."
"I got an idea let me speak to them."
"Ok, but what's your plan?"
"You'll see." Said Gobber as he walked to the front of the crowd.
"How many of you believe that Connor cheated in the ring, not by what was said or what your friend saw, by what you saw?" Said Gobber as most of the villagers raised their hands to show that they think Connor cheated.
"Ok, how many of you saw Connor cheated?" Again the same people raised their hands.
"Ok, you." Pointed Gobber at a random person.
"Me?"
"Yes you, how did Connor cheat?"
"I saw him switch his weapons during the fight."
"That wasn't cheating…"
"HE CHANGED HIS WEAPONS, HOW IS THAT NOT CHEATING!" Yelled Astrid from the back of the room.
"It's not cheating because it's one weapon, the lad was making a weapon that can switch between a staff, a sword and a bow. All in one weapon, therefore negating the weapon switching law plus Snotlout cheated by pulling out a knife and that is clearly cheating." Finished Gobber as he looked proud.
"Bring us his weapon and we'll see if he cheated or not." Yelled everyone in the room.
"Well I don't think I should give you my weapon for all your harsh comments before." Said Connor as he jumped from the rafters in the roof, doing a barrel roll and standing up in one fluent motion.
"Connor? Where did you come from?" Asked Stoic as he looked a bit worried that Connor was here when he wasn't.
"I've been here since I got back from the ring, I always hang out in the rafters with the Terrors that are up there, they prefer someone who they believe they can trust that someone who has killed their kind before but then trusts them." Said Connor as he cracked his neck.
"GIVE US THE WEAPON CONNOR!" Yelled the village as they ran towards him.
'They think they scare me, let's see who can scare who.' Thought Connor as he ran towards them and jumped onto their heads, running across the room as quickly as he can. He was just about to get to the door but Astrid charged at him and grabbed down towards the ground. She sat on his stomach and tried to punch his face but only succeeded in punching the ground. Connor used this opportunity to throw her off him and stand up.
"Ok, let's get this started." Said Connor as he got into his now signature fighting stance. Everyone saw this and immediately stopped in their tracks, forming a circle around Connor and Astrid. Something inside Astrid made her instantly try to beat Connor up, but not even getting a scratch on him as he moved to quickly.
"Just stand still so I can hit you."
"Never" Connor said playfully as he dodged as many punches and kicks from Astrid as he wanted.
'Ok, let's try something new' Thought Connor as he ducked under a kick and punched Astrid in her stomach, winding her and making her stumble backwards. Connor cracked his neck once again and readied himself.
"That's it, you're dead."
"Snotlout said the same thing but look where he ended himself up to" Told Connor as he predicted Astrid would kick with her left leg, and he got it right, he pretended that it connected with his stomach, moving with the blow. He secretly grabbed her leg without anyone knowing.
"Gotcha now bitch" Said Astrid with pride in her voice. As soon as she said this Connor shot her a smile and fully grabbed her leg, throwing it upwards so she did a flip, she didn't prepare for this and what came next, Connor timed his kick with perfection, he brought up his right leg and effectively brought his foot to her face, making her go flying through the crowd and doing a flip at the same time.
"I do believe I win this fight." Said Connor as he left the hall before anyone noticed he was gone.
A few hours later-Connor POV
I sighed as I sat on the rocky cliffs of Berk, almost crying from pain. I lifted up my right leg sleeve and took off the prosthetic with was my entire lower leg, I remembered that painful day 2 years ago and the pain was still there.
-Flashback-
It was that terrible day I unfortunately found my lower right leg gone. I was going to the training ring because I needed to practice my axe skills in combination with the methods of fighting Toothless had taught me. I was carrying my axe over my shoulder because I thought it looked cool. As I got closer to the ring I heard screams, I dropped my axe and bolted to the ring as fast as I could, which was faster anyone could go thanks to Toothless. I got to the ring and saw the most horrid thing I saw my entire life, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were in the ring and a Deadly Nadder was following them, trying to shoot them with her spines, I ran to the gate and pulled the lever which controlled whether the gate was open or close, I opened it and yelled at them to come over to me, they did without hesitation but Tuffnut tripped over a crack in the ground which made him fall over, I ran towards him and helped him up to get him running, as I got him up I saw the Nadder shoot spines at us, I pushed Tuffnut towards the gate, out of the way of the spines but I unfortunately got hit in the process, a spine shot hit me just below my right kneecap, rendering it in pain and useless, I screamed in pain but still carried my way to the gate, I got to the controls and closed the gate and tried to run to Gothi or anyone for that matter but passed out due to the amount of blood I lost trying to get help, I couldn't remember what happened after that until I woke up to the sound of my dad's voice and several others in the living room. I listened onto what they were saying.
"Snotlout, tell me what happened."
"Yes uncle, me, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Astrid were going to the ring so we could practice our skills with our weapons when we heard someone scream from the ring, we rushed over there to see who it was, only to find Connor being stabbed in the knee with a spine from the Deadly Nadder, we opened the gate and got Connor out but he told us to forget him and save ourselves but we couldn't do that, we left him there to get help." Said Snotlout in a way that no one could tell he was lying.
'That three-toed, stubborn, retarded, son of a bastard, fuckwit.' I thought to myself as I scrunched up my hands into a ball, I was getting up from the bed when I placed my hand on my right kneecap, I silently howled in pain as I fell back on to my bed. I removed the sheets to find that I have no lower right leg. I had tears running down my eyes, I actually lost my leg and Snotlout says it was my fault! I will kill him when I can move as fast as I used to. I heard more of the conversation which sounded like Ruffnut finished what she was saying, I couldn't even fathom what my father says.
"What about you Astrid?"
'NOT ONLY ARE THEY LYING TO MY FATHER, THEY GOT ASTRID TO LIE AS WELL, SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE.'
"Same thing as they said, Connor was in the training ring and he got hurt, it's all his fault he got hurt."
If that didn't get my blood boiling then this certainly did.
"What about you Tuffnut?"
"Same thing."
'WHAT, I SAVED HIS LIFE, ALL THERE LIVES MINUS ASTRID AND THEY SAY THEY SAVED MINE, THEY'RE ALL DEAD NOW. I saved a life only to lose mine, I no longer had a Viking life, no wanting to be the best or the strongest, I made a promise to myself that day that I would strive to be the best fighter I could be and no longer cared what others thought of me. I couldn't care less if I was breaking tradition, I wasn't one of them anymore in my eyes, I was what I wanted myself to be. I heard the door close as everyone apart from Gobber and my dad left the house.
"So, he wanted to kill a dragon without anyone's permission or supervision, sounds a lot like what Connor would do." Said my dad as he climbed the stairs slowly with Gobber.
"I wouldn't blame the boy Stoic. He has been told many a time, even by you, that he wouldn't be a dragon killer, he just wanted to prove himself"
"He almost died because of the blood lose Gobber"
"So, he's had more near death experiences than me and every time he bounces right back like nothing ever happened but I can guess that when he woke up that this is something he won't bounce back quickly from."
"I can't argue with that, he has quite a death defying streak on him." I heard my dad say as he opened my door to see me asleep, I was only faking so I could eavesdrop on what they were saying. They left a few minutes later to attend their duties so I thought I might as well sleep off the pain.
-End of flashback-
"I still can't believe that I lost my leg, I know I shouldn't be mourning it but I'm not a Viking, I can mourn if I want to." I said as I placed my prosthetic back where it belongs. I placed my backpack onto the ground next to me and pulled out my old prosthetic, with was a long metal rod connected to a wooden cup for the stump.
"You've served me well old friend, but I no longer need you, this isn't a goodbye, this is a parting." I said as I wiped tears from my eyes.
"Connor?"
I heard a female say, I knew exactly who it was, I turned around to greet her.
"Hey Stormfly, what's up?" I asked as she sat next to me and placed her head in my lap.
"I should be asking you that, I sensed that you were unhappy so I followed you as soon as I got my rider back home."
"Oh, sorry about that, she kinda pushed me over and I challenged her to a fight."
"That's ok, even though we Nadders strive to be the best, we also know when we've been beaten." She said as she purred when I placed my hand on her head.
"Thank you for trying to cheer me up, it's just today is an emotional day for me."
"Why?" She asked. I tensed,she wanted to know why?
"It's ok, it's none of my business so you don't have to tell me."
"Actually." I took in a deep breath. "This actually involves you."
"How does this invol…. Oh, it's the day I shot you in the ring isn't it?" Damn, why does she have to get thing quickly.
"Yeah.' I sighed as I tried to hide the old prosthetic but not fast enough for her eagle eye.
"What's that in your hand?"
"This?" I showed her the prosthetic. "This is a prosthetic, it's when we humans, or even dragons lose an important limb, like Toothless' tailfin."
"Oh, why do you have one of them?" 'Damn, I need to figure how her mind works so I can avoid these situations.' I sighed again and pulled up my right leg sleeve again, she looked at me confusingly. I took off my other prosthetic and showed it to her, she jumped up as if I used magic. She looked at me for a second and realized why I have one.
"Oh Connor, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that much damage, they were annoying me and I got a bit mad when you were trying to save one of them, I was aiming for the blond haired boy." She said as she crooned my back and gave me an upset face. I grabbed her head and hugged her neck.
"I know it's not your fault, you were scared and you thought I was trying to get reinforcements to hurt you, I would have done the same thing if I were you. Well, maybe not you because of that pretty face of yours." I said, which earned me a lick on the face.
"Aww Connor, you know how to make a girl feel special."
"Hey, I only speak the truth." That earned me another lick on the face.
"I think I hear the others calling me, I've got to go Connor, please don't think of this as a bad thing, look at it this way, you and Toothless now need each other more than before." She said as she flew up into the sky towards the hanger. I placed my current prosthetic back where it belongs.
"I guess she's right, but I still miss my old, real leg though." I said as I placed my old prosthetic on the ground.
"Goodbye, old friend, I will visit often." I said as I placed a small stone behind it.
'Here lies Connor's first prosthetic
My friend who always helped me
Out when I needed him the most.'
I turned around and walked towards the hangers, I always hang out there when I'm depressed or feeling sad. It took me about half an hour to get there by walking. Just as I got to the door, Sharpshot flew behind me and landed on my shoulder.
"Hello Connor, haven't seen you in a while." Sharpshot said into my ear.
"I know, what's up?"
"Not much, I smelled you and thought I would see you."
"Ok, I've still got my leg working without any creaks and it hasn't broken yet but I was going to make a few modifications to it."
"Like what?"
"I was going to add a little knife holder so I have a backup weapon."
"Ok, that sounds like it would be helpful."
"Yeah it will. Oh I almost forgot, could you go and ask some of the faster dragons here if they could help me increase my speed?. I'm starting to feel a bit slow and I haven't practiced in a while."
"Yeah, sure." Agreed Sharpshot as he flew off my shoulder. I walked into the hanger only to be greeted by every dragon that lives in there. They all invited me to come to their nests and talk with them.
"No thanks, I'm here because I always come here when I'm depressed or upset." I said, they all asked why and I told them to talk to Stormfly and that it was due to an accident. They looked at me skeptically but still agreed to anyway. I climbed the rafters to get to my little spot I always sit in, a dark corner where no one can see me, just the way I like it. I felt like making the design to my prosthetic so I pulled out my journal and opened it, a note fell out and I read it, it's from Hiccup and Toothless.
Dear Connor,
Happy birthday, I won't be able to see you until dinner because me and Toothless will be exploring Dragon Island for a possible second Berkian village. I know you'll feel depressed about what happened two years ago but go visit Gobber, he knows exactly what to say in times like these. Please do try to enjoy today and see ya tonight.
From Hiccup and Toothless (Imagine a paw print here)
"Hmm, I never thought of asking Gobber, may as well give it a try." I said as I jumped from the rafters onto the floor and exited the hanger. I arrived at the forge a few minutes later and, already knowing Gobber was there, I walked up to the forge window and knocked on the table.
"Hold on a second, I've got a lot of things to do."
"Well, do you need an extra hook then." I said trying to make a joke. He turned to look at me and laughed at my joke, someone finally laughed at my joke for once, and it felt good,
"I'd gladly take it if you had one."
"He could always make that happen in here"
"Ok, what do you want Connor, I know you're not here to practice you comedy skills?"
"I came here to ask you something." He stopped what he was doing and looked at me, he seemed a bit scared.
"What do want to ask me?"
"How did you deal with losing a leg two years into not having one?"
"Ah, I see. I knew you would ask me this sooner or later, how long till it's been two years?"
"It's actually today, also happens to be my birthday as well."
"Wait, your birthday is today? May as well give you this now." He said as he took a box out from the cabinet and gave it to me.
"I bought it from trader Johann thinking it might work with a hook for a hand but failed, but you seem like you'll appreciate it." He said, I opened it to find a guitar, these were only made in a remote island very far south, about a whole years way on boat.
"Gobber, this is beautiful, I can't take it."
"Of course you can, you seem like the only person who could play one."
"I will when I get home, and with some practice I can have a skill which will be useless but can earn me some money. Thank you Gobber." I said as I walked home, as soon as I got to the door it just hit me, Gobber gave me this because he knew it would cheer me up.
Astrid's House-Astrid's POV- Few hours after waking up
I walked to my desk and picked up the journal Fishlegs gave me, what page did he say it would be on? I thought for a moment until I remembered it was page three. I jumped on my bed and opened it to the page, it said;
Dear Diary,
Today was interesting, Snotlout threw my other journal into a fire which I burned my hand just to get it back, but when I got it Astrid took it and chopped it in half. I asked her why and she said the same thing everyone says 'It's not Viking like' but today I finally spoke up for once I said 'so what? You all say I'm not a Viking, so why try? You know I'll never be one anyway'. I walked away after that not even batting an eyelid while she yelled profanities at me. As I got home I walked up to my room and cried like I've never cried before, I can't even look her in the eyes anymore because of what she did, I wrote about it on the first page so I don't even have to re-write it, I cried how I remember her telling dad that I tried to kill Stormfly in the ring by myself but she wasn't even there, I heard everything they had said and I was totally innocent, I LOST MY FREAKING LEG AND SAVED TUFFNUT ONLY TO BE BRANDED AS A FAILURE IN DRAGON KILLING, I NEVER WILL FORGIVE OR FORGET WHAT THEY DID TO ME. I don't know why but I have this rage that I can't control and I feel I might hurt someone I care about, that only being Hiccup and the dragon, especially Toothless, gods his face when he's sleeping, is so cute I want to cuddle it forever. Sorry, I've got to go now, Astrid's calling for my blood again, and I don't know how much blood I can give before I pass out.
He was innocent, totally innocent and I lied to his father so he could get into trouble, I feel like a horrible monster for what I've done to him. I looked back at the book to find a little note stuck to the paper. I opened up and read what it said.
All I do is try to help, try to feel loved, what's the point in doing that, trying to feel loved in a world where love isn't in the vocabulary towards you, only disgusts, anger, hatred and the worst of all, punishment, they think of me as a punishment to them, I'm starting to believe that. They think every word I say is a lie but I only tell the truth, just the other day I saw a dragon escape from the ring and everyone thought I was crazy, next day Gobber comes running to our house and tells us a dragon is missing from its cage, my dad looks at me and asks me 'Why didn't you tell me Connor?' I thought that was the point, I always tell the truth and when it is the truth people tell each other I didn't say a word. 'Must have slipped my mind' I always say so I don't get hurt. Why bother with life? Why bother with anything at all?
I felt even worse now, he always tried to help but no one ever helped him, he even thought he was a punishment to us; I have to see him and apologies for everything I've done. I ran towards Connor's house to see him but got no response. I ran to Gobber's to ask where he had gone.
"Gobber, have you seen where Connor is?"
"Why, want a rematch? I've seen him fight and it's a hell of a lot better than you."
"No, I need to apologies to him for everything."
"Oh, you read his journal didn't ya?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Fishlegs told me he gave it to you, he knew you were going to come here if you couldn't find him. Besides if I did know I wouldn't tell you."
"Why?"
"It's the day he lost his leg and his birthday."
"WHAT, YOU MEAN ON THIS, OF ALL DAYS, I'VE HURT CONNOR ON HIS BIRTHDAY?"
"Yep, he prefers solitude though, he's used to being alone for long periods of time." Boy that hurt me real bad.
"Thanks Gobber." I said as I went off to my house, I stopped as I thought of something. 'What if Hiccup and Connor were innocent, what if they didn't know that Snotlout killed it, we dumped it on them and they went along with it, seeing it as an opportunity to get away with being alone. No, they knew full well that Snotlout killed the Red Death and they went along with it so they did lie to us.'
Docks of Berk-Stoic's POV
I heard that trader Johann was coming back to Berk so I walked down to the docks with Gobber, hoping that there might be some good items for sale. I watched as Johann's ship ported into our docks.
"Ah, the lovely Berk, best place I travel to."
"Good evening Johann, what brings you to Berk this early?"
"I have some unique items that I believe that Berk could use with those two boys of your Stoic."
"Yes, they can cause destruction but they can make some brilliant inventions to help them out." I said as I looked at some shiny maces.
"I also got a note from a local tribe nearby, they want to set up a meeting with the Dragon Conqueror." Whispered Johann as he handed me the scroll.
"Which tribe?" I asked.
"Meathead."
"Oh Thor give me strength. Thank you Johann." I said as I grabbed Gobber and we left the ship.
"What do you want Stoic, I saw some good scrap down there."
"Read this."
"What is it?"
"It's a letter from the Meathead tribe, they want to set a meeting with Hiccup and Connor."
"Oh Thor, what are we going to do?"
"I don't know yet, just call a meeting but tell Connor and Hiccup they aren't allowed to come?"
"Why, you know full well that Connor can get into places without anyone knowing he's there?"
"Tell him it's a surprise for him and Hiccup."
"Oh, that might confuse Hiccup but probably not Connor."
"Why might it confuse Hiccup?"
"It's Connor's birthday remember? It's also that day two years ago."
"Oh, I'm a terrible father, I don't even remember one of my son's birthday."
"It's ok, let's get the meeting done and then you can celebrate his birthday."
Hey guys, Chapter 4 is up and I have an announcement to make, diedoktor is now my unofficial beta so he'll be helping me make the stories better (Not that they were crap to begin with, lol). I'll be having some violence later on in the story, and I mean violence, like detailed anatomy of dead bodies violence, yeah, I may be sick in the head, I don't know. Anyway, I'll be having more Toothcup moments, there might be some unnecessary scenes so I'll make a warning as to there they are and where they finish. There won't be full on scenes, just kissing parts, because Hiccup and Toothless belong to each other and they're perfect for each other. Anyway see ya and hope ya like it.