AN: Howdeedoodeethere, mi friundlees. I'm putting a little bit of cutesie in this chapter, and I've included a few details from one of the most ADORABLE deleted scenes in HTTYD; 'An Axe to Grind'. I thought that this scene was hilarious, because I've done something really similar and I know exactly what was going through Hiccup's head. (obviously, there were no axes involved xD) So I just HAD to include it. It was too cute.
I just wanted to respond to Kitty Art, one of my guest reviewers;
Yeah, hun, so, so subtle. He is amazingly subtle. He is the sultan of subtle. Also, I'm cutting down on the flashbacks now, and it's staying fully in Astrid's POV. I rewrote chapter two to fit. And you'll be happy now; I've written up to chapter eight now, so you'll have your new chapters~
Chapter Three
A Big Mental Axe
The feast was hectic. Halfway through, Stoick burst into the hall and announced Valka's return as well as Hiccup's, and that was the end of the sanity. TwoVikings who had been lost, both returning? And both of them the family of the chief? When Vikings celebrate, they don't do it by half measures. Idris stayed on her bench all night, feet tucked in, avoiding the wildly dancing Berkians. Fishlegs plucked up the courage to talk to Snorri, and was asking questions about dragons.
"So, your dragon's a Seashocker, right? How does it fly? It's got sea wings, not sky wings."
"Thunder and Lightning are special. They have double-jointed wings, so while they're not the fastest fliers, they can flap their wings to an extent. The fact that they can fly andswim makes up for their lack of speed."
Astrid was slightly ashamed to admit she had a few drinks herself. At one point she was pretty sure she danced with Tuffnut, which was gross, and late in the evening she ended up hiding in a corner, trying to ward off a pounding headache. She looked up as someone joined her. Hiccup.
"Drink some water, then try and throw it all up," he suggested. He offered an arm for her to balance on as she staggered outside, and found a tankard of water for her to drink. It took a while, but soon Astrid managed to throw up the mead, while Hiccup looked the other way.
"Thanks," she said, her headache abating slightly. She focused more on Hiccup. In the three years he had been gone, he had become kind of… handsome.His hair still the crazy mess it had been, but less of an I-just-got-attacked-by-a-dragon look than an I-just-woke-up-and-I-still-look-awesome look. It had darkened slightly as well. His freckles were fading, and his jawline had straightened out a little.
Astrid beat back her thinking with a big mental axe. This was Hiccup,for Odin's sake! It had been generally accepted for the last two years that she would marry Snotlout, whom she found absolutely repulsive. Besides, Snotlout had developed a crazy crush on Ruffnut instead, and had been competing with Fishlegs for the twin's hand.
"Are you alright?"
Hiccup's voice jolted her from her thoughts.
"Ugh, I'm alright, I suppose…" she got out. Hiccup took one look at her and shook his head.
"See, this is why I don't drink mead. You should probably lie down. You will have the worstheadache in the morning."
Astrid nodded. Home it was. She took a few steps before her legs twisted underneath her. Then she felt someone scoop her up. Wow. Hiccup was carryingher. Three years as a crazy, feral vigilante dragon man had done wonders for his strength. He walked through the village, thoughtfully avoiding being spotted by the few Vikings not in the Mead Hall, and soon found her house. He let Astrid find her feet, and opened the door for her, mock bowing.
"Here you go, milady," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards and his lively green eyes sparkling in amusement. Astrid smiled weakly back and staggered into the house, barely managing to fall into her bed.
o~0~O~0~o
Astrid opened her eyes, and instantly realised she had the worst headache she'd had in her life. Gods above, it was like someone was wringing out her skull. She staggered to her feet, scrabbled around for her boots, which someone must have removed for her (or had she taken them off herself? She honestly couldn't remember) and took about two minutes before she realised that she was trying to put a helmet on her foot rather than a boot. Swearing angrily, she managed to find her boots and put them on. Deciding it would be in her best interests notto carry around an axe when she was barely conscious, Astrid left it beside her bed and exited the house, wincing at the bright sunlight. She walked through the village, finally finding the Mead Hall. She pushed open the doors and peered inside. Sure enough, the dragon riders were all asleep inside, except for Hiccup and Valka. Even the dragons were in the Hall, draping their titanic wings over their riders. The Grapple Grounder, Stormcleaver, cooed at Astrid as she passed, and Astrid jumped as she heard a voice say;
"Hey, Astrid."
She spun to see Idris' face turned in her direction. The rider's pale eyes were open, and gleaming in the light streaming through the open doors. Stormcleaver let out a draconic purr and Idris scratched under her chin. Astrid carefully sat down beside them, careful not to touch the dragon's scales.
"Morning," she said, faking passiveness. Idris laughed.
"You drank a bit much, didn't you,"
Astrid nodded miserably. How Gobber did it, she would never know. The smith had guzzled down twice the amount Astrid had, and he had been completely fine.
"Where's Hiccup?" Astrid asked.
"Your chief insisted that he sleep in his own house. I'm pretty sure Stoick spent the whole night staring at Hiccup and Valka. But I think Hiccup might be in the forge now. He never sleeps well. From what I've heard, he spends most of the night trying notto sleep."
Astrid stood up unsteadily, and Idris caught her arm.
"Astrid," she said. "Tread carefully around Hiccup. I know what he left in that letter, and it still holds true. Even Sonja couldn't stop that. Watch your step; I will personally step on your face if you mess him around anymore. His life is tangled enough as it is."
What? Astrid was notin love with Hiccup. What would make Idris think that? Astrid had nothing to worry about. But then she looked into Idris' pale eyes and in that moment knew it was completely true. Idris would not hesitate to beat Astrid to Valhalla to help her friends. Whether she was blind or not, Astrid took the threat seriously, but nodded and thanked Idris before leaving the hall. Sure enough, there was the sound of grinding from the forge. The Night Fury dozing outside was a bit of a telltale sign whom was in there. She walked in, knocking on the wooden doorframe. Hiccup turned and smiled.
"Let me guess; you have a headache," he smirked, looking up from the axe he was sharpening. Astrid rolled her eyes, the movement sending lances of pain through her head..
"Yes, genius. I drank mead, I got a headache."
"What a surprise. I did not expect that at all."
"Quiet, you," she said, slugging him on the shoulder, straight on the face of the tattooed dragon. Hiccup winced and rubbed his arm.
"It's always violence with you, isn't it." he muttered.
"It's not violence, it's communication," she said brightly, stepping in to see the axe Hiccup was working on. It had two blades connected to the handle, and there were extra metal supports on the centre of the blades. A round metal ball tipped off the haft. Hiccup lifted it away from the grindstone, apparently satisfied, and walked to a shelf, pulling down a box of leather. He rifled through until he found a few long straps and wound them around the axe handle in two places, just below the head and near the end. Some dyed fabric strips were wrapped around the axe head, and for good measure, he padded the lower grip with a thin layer of fur, before picking it up in two hands, weighing the weapon. He made a few swipes in mid air with it before frowning.
"It's too front-heavy…" he muttered, dissatisfied.
"Try something on the end of the handle," Astrid suggested. Hiccup looked at her sharply, then his eyes lit up. He strode outside and opened the Night Fury's saddlebags, digging through. The dragon lifted its head sleepily, then its eyes focused on Astrid and it growled.
"Whoa, Toothless. Calm down. Astrid's a friend," Hiccup soothed.
"Toothless?" Astrid asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah… don't worry about that. Ah, here it is!"
He had pulled out a stone of some description. Smiling, he walked back into the forge and placed it on a table, then pulled an awl off of a wall. Lining up the point with the centre of the stone, he hit the end sharply with a hammer, and the awl was driven into the stone. Eventually the stone had a large hole in it, and Hiccup slid it onto the end of the axe handle. He lifted it again and grinned.
"Perfect," he said, then turned to face Astrid.
"Here," he said. She squinted at the axe, and checked twice that she wasn't about to grab the blade rather than the handle. "I figure the other one's a bit too worn. I didn't design it to last this long,"
"What?" Astrid said, lifting her head from her new axe. "You made my old axe?"
I thought it was my mother's,she thought.
He winced. "Technically your mother got it from a trader way back when, but… erm… you brought it to me to sharpen one time and it broke. I replaced the axe head with one of the ones I made..."
Astrid gave him the fiercest glare she could. You broke my axe,she thought furiously.
"Anyway, careful of the edge on that axe. It's really thin, but really sharp. It'll get chipped easily, but it could cut a hair draped across the blade." Hiccup carried on, clearly hoping to avoid a punch on the arm.
Astrid looked closer at the stone on the end. It was shaped like the skull clips she used to hold her shoulder guards on. She narrowed her eyes. To carve the skull would have taken a long time, which meant he had made it before even thinking of the axe. Which therefore meant he had used it as a memento.
It really was true,Astrid thought. This is going to be awkward.
Hiccup was dampening the forge. He turned to Astrid.
"There's one other thing I've been meaning to do," he told her. "I need to go to the arena. Want to come with?"
She followed him, and walked through the village to the clifftop arena. At one point Hiccup's metal leg got stuck between two rocks and he pitched forwards. Astrid grabbed the back of his jerkin and part of his scarf, pulling him back upright. The scarf pulled loose, and Hiccup made a grab for it. Astrid held it out before snatching it back.
"Great Odin's ghost," she swore. "Hiccup, what in Thor's name is that?"
There was a long, livid scar across the left side of his neck. He snatched the scarf from Astrid's hand and made to tie it back on.
"It's nothing," he stammered. Astrid glared at him and he slumped.
"Drago," he admitted. "I disobeyed Mom, I tried to talk him down and I nearly got killed."
"Hiccup, was that treated properly? Wounds like that can kill if they get the wound sickness!" All aversion to Hiccup aside, she would notwant to see Stoick's reaction if his son died from wound sickness so soon after returning.
"It's fine! Mom took care of it." His expression was defensive now. There was a short silence while Astrid thought. Then she spoke up.
"You know, my aunt Phlegma once said something. She said that scars always meant something to their owners. What does that one mean to you?"
"It's a lesson." Hiccup admitted. "It reminds me that not everyone can be reasoned with."
"What, and go in axes swinging?" Astrid responded. "No, Hiccup, that's not what it should mean to you."
Astrid had no idea why this was so important to get across.
"It should tell you that people canbe reasoned with. But you need to know when there's no point. Like when you used to talk with Gobber, you could get him to pretend he was a cod if you wanted. But this Drago sounds like the kind of man whose policy is Axe First, Ask Later. Or maybe it's just Axe. I don't know. But always, alwaysremember; don't let yourself be pushed around. If you don't do it, then I will find this Drago and axe him for you. What he's done is inexcusable."
And then she stopped. The look on Hiccup's face was one of sadness and wonder.
"It's inexcusable. This… Alphaof yours, he sounds like he was one of your only friends. Make Drago pay for taking him. You have precious little friends anyway,"
He looked at her and whispered;
"Can I count you among them?"
Astrid was touched. Despite everything; all the threats, the cold shoulders, the insults and the rudeness, Hiccup was still willing to trust her. To trust everyone. It hit her then; Hiccup could have left every Viking in the Archipelago to die. He could have flown to the edge of the world on his dragon, and let Berk burn. But he had returned, to help the people who had given him nothing but fourteen years of solid dislike, taunting and ignoring.
"Yes," Astrid whispered back, grabbing his hands. "Yes, you can count me as a friend."