Hey guys, hope you liked Chapter 8, sorry I haven't uploaded lately, I've had writers block and it has been horrible, but I think I can do this.
Lies and Deception
Chapter 9: Mind and Body
Chief's House- Hiccup's POV
I waited outside of our room impatiently because Gothi was in there tending to Connor. I decided to sit down on a chair in the lounge room and wait. After a few minutes I heard footsteps coming from the stairs, I looked over to see Gothi walking down. She came and sat down in the chair in front of me.
"How is he?" I asked quickly.
"He'll be fine; it's just the poison taking its toll." She replied, after a few minutes of silence I opened my mouth to speak.
"Are you able to enter his mind to relay a message for me?" I asked, hoping that it was possible. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow and answered my question.
"Yes, it is possible but it depends on what he is feeling."
"Feeling?"
"Yes, if he is feeling certain emotions, like anger or hatred, I won't be able to talk to him. See, since his mind is so complex because of how smart he is compared to the rest of us it can make a barrier that would stop someone from entering his mind. All we need is for him to feel happy and I'll ask him. What is it you would like me to tell him?" She said, I sighed and took a huge breath and answered.
"I need you to tell him that when he wakes up he won't be in a location where he would wake up normally. Tell him…. We won't be on Berk. We'll be away from everyone who hates us and we'll be free, we'll be able to do whatever we want." I confessed, almost crying because we'll be gone from this hell-hole. I looked at Gothi who didn't seem surprised by what I had said.
"I see, well I do hope that you'll live your life in peace and tranquility. I'll be going, hopefully to tell Connor the good news." She said. I looked at her retreating form in shock.
'She didn't seem surprised by us leaving.' I thought as I walk out of the room to go and buy all the things we need for when we leave.
Connor's mind- 3rd POV
Gothi appeared in a fully black room full of mirrors with only one entrance. She looked around and noticed that the floor is farther away from the floor than she's used to. When she looked at the ground, she noticed that her arms don't have wrinkles; she looked at a random mirror and saw her prime self, when she was athletically fit and able to walk without a stick. She walked towards the door and opened it, when she opens it it's nothing. She walked in and the door closed by itself, she turns around to try and open it again but with no luck. She turned around again and saw the room had black walls and columns with gold accents but no ceiling. On the ground there were large broken mirrors scattered across the room that formed mirrors but with large cracks in them. She walked past groups of them and saw one mirror that didn't have any cracks in it. She walked up to the mirror and touched it and was transported to the training ring back on Berk. She looked around and saw Connor walking with a sword to the ring, she looks at his leg and noticed that there's no prosthetic, and she started walking to him but is interrupted by someone speaking.
"He can't hear you, no one can." Said the voice. Gothi turned around to see an older Connor walking to her with his prosthetic on. He continued towards her and sat on a chair that appeared before he sat down, he made another one behind Gothi and she sat down as well.
"I always hated this memory; it brings back horrible pain every time I think about it." Said Connor with sadness written across his face.
"What memory is this?" Asked Gothi. Connor turned his head towards Gothi.
"This is my memory of what happened when I lost my leg, this is the true version of what happened that day." He confesses, a little tear escaping his eye. They both watched what's happening and when Gothi sees Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout in the ring with Stormfly she gasped and covered her mouth.
"It was a lie, they were the ones who opened the ring, and they said it was you."
"Yes, and as you may have seen, where's Astrid? Well she wasn't there at all, she was at home and the teens came to her for backup so they didn't get in trouble." Confessed Connor. The memory ended and they were both back to being in front of the mirror but now it had cracks in it as well. Gothi looked at Connor and noticed two pendants around his neck. They walked through aisles upon aisles of memories.
"Why are there so many mirrors here? Are they all bad ones or are there some good ones?" Asked Gothi.
"The reason there are so many memories is because these ones are the bad ones, I always keep the good ones with me at all times. Them being the two pendants you noticed around my neck. Would you like to see the one that is most important to me?" Answered Connor. Gothi nodded and Connor opened the pendant to his left and they go to that memory. When they reappear they're at the cove where a younger Connor was sleeping against a boulder and Toothless sneaking up on Hiccup.
"This is when I finally saw Hiccup truly smile for the first time." Says Connor.
Toothless grabs Hiccup by his shirt collar and threw him into the water, Toothless starts laughing in his dragon way and when Hiccup reemerges, he sees Toothless laughing and splashes him. Toothless looks at Hiccup with a playful death stare and jumps into the water where they both splash and play together. Connor is leaning against a boulder and wakes up from him nap when he hears Hiccup laughing
"Oh what a shame, we don't have towels so you can't dry off." Sarcastically says Connor. He gets up and walks to a camp fire which he lights. Hiccup and Toothless walk over to it and Hiccup sits closer to the fire to warm up, while Toothless curled up beside Connor. The memory starts fading to white as Connor and Gothi are back where they were.
Connor closed the pendant and looked back at Gothi.
"Why do you show no emotion when you are around us?" Asked Gothi.
"Because that day when I lost my leg I said I wouldn't care what I needed to become in order to be a Viking. I said 'I will be the best Viking I can be' and that everyone doesn't deserve my 'happy' emotions when I do something good. No one deserves to be treated as badly as Hiccup or I and you want to know something? A Viking is supposed to have strong muscles, Hiccup and I have strong muscles, only in our brain. We're able to come up with ideas and plans on the go. I have several ways to boost our economy and grow more food every month but no one wants to care about what I say, they don't know what to do and when something goes wrong, me or Hiccup gets blamed for it every single time. I've made a truly advanced weapon that allows me to switch between three weapon and everyone said it wouldn't work, well look at Snotlout and Alvin and tell me it doesn't work." Connor said anger and bitterness in his voice. Connor calmed himself down so he could talk properly.
"Why are you here?" He asked.
"Hiccup sent me, he wants you to know that you're leaving Berk, you'll wake up somewhere you don't know and don't worry when you do, Hiccup and Toothless will be there." Repeated Gothi.
"Thank you Gothi." Said Connor as Gothi disappeared back into the conscious world, leaving Connor back to his memories.
Berk-After Outcast Raid-3rd POV
"QUIET!" Yelled Stoic so he could gain control of the situation, everyone who isn't injured is in the Great Hall as Stoic needed to tell everyone about Connor's prosthetic.
"Now, as you have all seen, Connor is missing his lower right leg…" Stoic didn't get much farther as everyone starts asking how and when he lost his leg. Stoic was about to lose his temper when Gobber came in.
"SHUT IT! If you would be quiet Stoic could explain how Connor came to losing his leg and answer your questions." Boomed Gobber. Stoic thanked Gobber and turned to face the village.
"You remember two years ago when Connor had opened the Nadder cage? Well, he was hit by a spike and it punctured so far that he couldn't use it, but somehow he managed to move outside of the arena." Said Stoic, everyone was shocked, especially the teens.
"How did he manage to keep it a secret?" Asked someone in the crowd. Stoic was about to answer but quickly shut his mouth, he doesn't know how he did it. Gobber saw this and stepped closer to everyone.
"I had originally made him one and he would have his pants covering the whole thing, but Connor came in one day and asked if he could borrow the forge to make a leg that looked closely to a real one. I asked why not keep mine, but he said that if he did, everyone would find out and they would pick on him. He said that basically he couldn't trust anyone with knowing he had a fake leg." Finished Gobber, everyone looked at the ground in shame. Connor didn't trust them enough to know he had a prosthetic because of how they treated them, even when they had defeated the Red Death. Connor hadn't told anyone.
"Sir, I believe it would be beneficial if we tell Hiccup and Connor the truth." Spoke Astrid, everyone looked from the ground to her then at Stoic, they all suddenly agreed with her. Stoic even thought that it could be a good idea. Gobber came to his side and placed his real hand on Stoic's shoulder.
"The lads need to know the truth, we had them trust us after 15 years of torture and then we took that away. Besides, Connor has definitely earned that right." Said Gobber, before he took his hand off Stoic's shoulder and walked out of the Great Hall.
'He has earned that right, but I want them to be safe. However, with what Connor did last night, he has proven he is capable of not only protecting himself, but others.' Thought Stoic. He told everyone that tomorrow they will tell them the truth, but tonight they celebrate for the Meatheads will be arriving. Everyone leaves the hall, all except for the teens.
"He lost his leg trying to save us and we blamed him for it." Murmured Tuffnut out loud. Astrid quickly looked at Tuffnut with a questioning look.
"What did you say?" She asked.
"I said that he lost his leg trying to save us." Repeated Tuffnut. Astrid slowly looked at Snotlout. Snotlout looked at the two of them and tried to back away from her. She marched towards him and slapped him on the face.
"YOU TOLD ME HE OPENED THE CAGE! WAS TELLING STOIC THAT CONNOR OPENED THE CAGE JUST SO YOU WOULDN'T GET IN TROUBLE." Screamed Astrid. She realized then that Snotlout could have been lying about killing the Red Death.
"DID YOU LIE TO US ABOUT KILLING THE RED DEATH?" Snotlout didn't answer.
"DID YOU LIE TO ME SO YOU COULD IMPRESS ME?" He still didn't answer. She picked him up by the collar and punched him in the face.
"Yes, ok. I lied about everything so you would want to be with me." He admitted. She dropped him and remembers what she did to Hiccup. She fell to her knees and cried. Ruffnut came over to her to help her but Astrid pushed her away. Astrid got up and started running to the chief's house.
'I hurt him so much because of a lie, I have to make things right.' She thought.
Chief's House-Hiccup's POV
"Ok, food? Check. Water? Check. Spare clothes? Check. Well that looks like just about everything" I said, ticking off the items I had written in my notepad. I walked over to the bags and pick them up. I noticed that there was a hissing noise coming from the window. I walked over to it and noticed that Sharpshot was at the window. I opened it and he flew in and landed on my shoulder.
"Hey Sharp, what are you doing here?" I ask.
"I heard you were leaving Berk, so I came here to tell you that I'm coming with you." He said in his squeaky, chipper voice.
"Oh, well in that case, can you take this bag to the other side of Berk?" I asked. He complied and took the bag for me. As I was about to grab my bag, Shadow came through the window as well. Shadow is Connor's Terrible Terror that he saved a while back, he's very sneaky and Connor is proud of that.
"So, I guess you're coming with us as well." I say, putting my bag around my shoulder to rest on my back. Shadow nodded a yes to confirm that he was coming.
"Don't forget about the others." Said Shadow. I looked at him with a questioning eye.
"Who else is coming? I only told Stormfly that we were going."
"Well, she told the other dragons that hang with you guys, Sharpshot and me. They all said they were coming." Explained Shadow, I heard a thud outside the backdoor and decide to investigate. As I opened the backdoor I saw Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf & Belch and Meatlug. I looked at them and saw there were bags on their saddles.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in Dragonese.
"We're coming with you; we even brought food with us just in case." Explained Stormfly.
"You can't, you have to stay here." I said.
"Why, our riders treat you and Connor like dirt, as far as I'm concerned, you two are our only riders." Spoke Hookfang.
'If we have more dragons, we can get more food and have better protection.' I thought, after a while it began to make sense.
'They have riders who hate us, and we're the ones who killed the Red Death. They are willing to leave their riders who live in a lie to be with the two who live in the truth.'
"Ok, you can come. Meet me at the other side of Berk, Sharpshot will be there. Also, take these with you, it'll help with us leaving." I say as I tied the other bags onto the dragons and they flew off. I turned around and walked inside our house, when I heard a knock on the door.
'Oh, you have got to be kidding me.' I thought as I stomped to the door.
'If this is any of the teens I'll lose my cool.'
"Who is it?" I angrily asked.
"It's me Hiccup, Astrid."
"What do you want Astrid? I'm busy trying to take care of Connor." I asked with venom dripping from my voice, spitting Astrid's name like a rotten piece of meat into a bin.
"I… I need to talk to you." She stuttered.
"Well I don't, the only time you spoke to me was when you hurt me in the forge than I went unconscious. We have nothing to talk to me about." I hiss, savoring the moment that I unleashed my anger.
"Hiccup, I…I have to tell you…" She got out before I opened the door and released my full anger.
"NO, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO TELL ME THAT WILL EVER MAKE ME WANT TO LISTEN TO YOU. JUST LEAVE ME AND CONNOR ALONE, WE NEVER WANT TO SEE OR HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN!" I screamed before I closed the door in her face. I heard a moan come from upstairs and started sprinting up them, when I get there I saw Connor getting up from the bed.
"Connor? You're not supposed to be awake yet. Gothi said you would be out for a few days, not hours." I told him.
"Well, since when did I listen to the healers orders." Joked Connor.
"When are we leaving? I was supposed to wake somewhere where I don't know." Asked Connor.
"We were leaving in a few minutes until you woke up."
"Ok, we still need to get Toothless right?" Asked Connor. I nodded a yes and started to walk downstairs to get Toothless.
"No, I'll get him. He can take me to where we're meeting so I won't slow us down." Said Connor as he got up from the bed, not realizing he didn't have his prosthetic. The second he stood up I ran over to him to help him, but he didn't fall over.
"Ok, new plan. You go get Toothless them pick me up when you get him." Said Connor. I got up and walked to the stairs.
(Time jump to when they leave)
Other side of Berk-3rd POV
Connor, Toothless and Hiccup landed at the spot where they saw the other dragons.
"I thought it was going to be us three?" Asked Connor.
"Well, Hookfang said she no longer has Snotlout as a rider. Basically, we're their riders now." Explained Hiccup. After a few minutes of eating and getting prepared Hiccup decided it was time to go.
"Ok everyone, are we ready to go?" He asked. Everyone agreed, but Hiccup was feeling nervous and worried for Connor. Connor saw his face and sighed.
"Hiccup, I'll be fine. I'll strap myself to Stormfly if it will make you feel better?" he asked.
"Ok, let's get going." Said Hiccup as he got on Toothless while Stormfly helped Connor get on. Once they all checked to see if everything was strapped tightly they flew off into the night. Not even leaving a note of their disappearance.
Well, there you go, chapter 9 is up. I will be having the gang land in a village because they need help but that's all I'll tell you. I really hope you guys will be happy with this and farewell.