The forth chapter is up! Enjoy!
Now, Snotlout gave me some advice on this one. HEY! Hookfang! You give the disclaimer, RIGHT NOW!
Hookfang roars and snaps down on my head and gives a small but vicious shake.
Okay... I, Lyra, do not own How to Train Your Dragon. Now then, can I get a little help here? Snotlout? Hiccup? Toothless? Anybody...?
oOoOo
Astrid grinned fiercely at Hiccup, feeling very proud of her plan. Stoick, of course would be angry to hear about the abuse Hiccup had been going through and would no doubt act immediately to prevent it from happening again. The shield maiden duty thing was, admittedly, entirely for Hiccup's sake. If she could convince Hiccup that she would be shirking her duty by not going to his father with this situation, he would bend over backward to keep her from getting into trouble.
"Astrid!" Hiccup protested. "You can't just-! I mean-! This will only make the situation worse! The second you say 'Hiccup,' and 'bullied' he'll go off like an angry rumblehorn! Then it'll get to Spitelout who will pass it on to Snotlout who will hit me even harder next time, besides the fact that it'll give him more fodder to mock me with. I can hear him now! 'Oh Hiccup, I always thought you were useless, but I never thought you were a coward and a tattle! Two more inglorious titles to add to your epitaph once I'm finished with you.'" he said all this waving his arms around in wild gesticulations to emphasis his point.
Astrid couldn't hold back a teasing chuckle, but she turned to face him. "First of all, Snotlout isn't clever enough by far to come up with the epitaph thing," she told him with an almost straight face.
Hiccup gave her a crooked smile at the compliment, relaxing slightly as he realized she was willing to argue this point. "Okay, what's the second point?"
Astrid did her best to give him a serious look. "Your father will listen, Hiccup. I promise he will."
Hiccup glanced away again, sadness and uncertainty in his eyes. "How can you say that with such confidence after what happened last time?" he asked quietly. "You were there! You saw how angry he got when I finally had his attention. He disowned me! And if he would go so far over something like that, how far do you think he'll go in a case like this? Its not worth it Astrid!"
Astrid pursed her lips. "Hiccup," she said softly. "Your father has absolute faith in you now. It might have come at too great a cost, but he understands that. Now don't you think you could have some faith in him? I've seen the way he looks at you when you take Toothless's help over his, or well, anyone's help for that matter. He knows he's lost your trust, and the one thing that couldn't make him happier would be if you were to go to him for help. I think its time for you to start trusting your dad again, don't you think?"
Hiccup looked at her, his eyes wide with shock, and something else. It could have been hope, it could have been a wish to have that uncomplicated relationship with his father; to have the ability to call him daddy again, like he used to when he was younger. Astrid felt her heart melt a little. Hiccup wanted that so much that it seemed he would overlook his father's mistake to take the chance that he could have it. Any other viking would have been too hardened to even consider it. This is what made Hiccup special, it wasn't in him to hold a grudge, or even lose faith in some one. That's probably what kept him from jumping on his dragon's back and flying away to greener shores. It was a strange kind of strength, Astrid thought, but she could not help but recognize it as such and give it it's due respect.
Hiccup seemed to think it over and a guarded light of hope entered his eyes. He sighed. "Alright," he relented. "Let's give it a shot."
Astrid smiled and continued to drag him up the hill towards his house, by his arm.
"Astrid!" he protested again. "It's not like my dad's even gonna be there until late tonight."
"That's not the only reason we're going up there, you big dummy," Astrid shot back. "You keep bruise ointment up there don't you?"
"Yeah?" Hiccup said. "Why do we need that?"
Astrid held back an unladylike snort and turned, patting Hiccup on the back and watching him wince as his injuries made themselves known again.
"Point taken," he said, hastily backing out of her range, but she dodged forward and punched his shoulder just hard enough to get an indignant "Ow!"
"That's for arguing with me!" Astrid stated proudly, but then she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for another of her hard, rough, kisses. "And that's for everything else."
Hiccup looked at her with a slightly dazed expression and nodded. "I should agree with you more often."
Astrid smiled. "You're a quick learner, Hiccup!" she said and turned back towards his house again, all the while appreciating the attention she had gathered with her little show. That's right. I just did that. I kissed him in front of Thor and everybody, and nobody else ever will!
As Hiccup predicted, Stoick wasn't home, but that gave her time to see if Hiccup was injured in any place other than his leg and his back, where Snotlout had no doubt clubbed him more than once. They got inside and Astrid immediately pushed Hiccup down onto a bench. She found the bruise ointment on the hearth shelf next to a crude stone hammer and a dirty stew bowl.
"Sorry about the mess," Hiccup stammered. "Neither of us have been doing a lot of chores lately."
"It's understandable," Astrid said with a shrug as she walked around the table to sit on the bench behind him. "I guess between the dragon academy and chiefing, neither of you have a lot of time on your hands for things like this."
Astrid pushed up the back of Hiccup's shirt and was immediately angry at Snotlout again as the bruises were revealed. They had already turned a purple color and would only grow darker over time. The blows had fallen on his upper back, in the area between his shoulder blades and on his spine. What was Snotlout thinking?! her mind raged. Spinal injuries were always severe and slow to heal. If that... oaf had hit much harder, Hiccup could have been paralyzed, or even killed!
"Astrid? You're growling," Hiccup said nervously, shaking her out of her thoughts. "Am I gonna die?"
Astrid sighed and leaned forward to rest her forehead against Hiccup's back, as her anger faded some. "No, Hiccup," she said. "I just don't like seeing you hurt."
"Oh," he said quietly. He didn't say anything more, even when she started rubbing the medicine over his bruises.
He didn't even flinch when she pressed harder on the bruise over his spine, just to make sure there was no damage to the bones. She was relieved to find none. Of course, that's when she noticed that she could count his ribs.
"Hiccup, did you eat breakfast today?" she asked.
He startled and turned to look back at her. "Why do you ask?" he said evasively, and that was all the answer she needed.
Astrid glared at him. "No wonder you're so small!" she exclaimed. "You never eat anything!"
"I eat!" Hiccup defended himself heatedly. He stood up, pushing his shirt back down and glared back at her. "You sit with me in the great hall at dinner time!"
Astrid crossed her arms and eyed him speculatively. "Yeah, I have seen you eat, and you don't eat nearly enough! Did you eat lunch today?"
Hiccup ducked a little, his eyes wide and darting around everywhere as if looking for an escape. "Okay, but I upgraded Toothless's tail fin today."
"Don't change the subject!" Astrid nearly shouted.
"Aaaaahhhh, let me explain!" he said. "I just get so busy, doing stuff, that I forget to eat sometimes!"
"That's no excuse for not eating breakfast," Astrid told him flatly.
"Well, its hard to remember to, when you're completely out of the habit!" Hiccup blurted out in frustration, but then it just kept coming. "For years, dad and I never had anything to talk about. Not a thing! So mornings tended to be tense and awkward. So I started skipping it. Now you expect me to pick up something that died years ago and bring it back to life in a single day?"
Oh. Astrid's gaze dropped. It seemed she'd just opened a whole new can of worms. Hiccup's reasons for skipping breakfast were far more loaded than she'd guessed. She stood up and looked him squarely in the eyes. His held a guarded look, as well a smidge of remaining anger. He was also blushing a little. Those were words he'd clearly not meant to say, but he wasn't taking them back either.
"Bet you got a lot to talk about now," she said quietly.
Hiccup's expression instantly softened, and he seemed about to say something when the door crashed open with a loud bang. They both startled and turned to see Stoick march in and close the door behind him.
"Hi dad," Hiccup said, completely unphased, as if this kind of an entrance was common place.
"Hiccup, so help me," he began. "If I have to listen to the complaints of one more farmer about the Thorston twins tipping yaks, I'm gonna bash their brains in... after I make them all sit in a ring holding hands... and sing that old nursery song about getting along."
Hiccup smiled. "Well if you can't remember what the song's even called, I doubt that they will remember all the words," he said.
Stoick smiled and chuckled a little. "It would no doubt be a sight to see," he said than turned his attention towards Astrid. "Ah, the fierce Hofferson girl. What can I do for you today, lass?"
Astrid took a deep breath. She had always found Stoick the Vast to be intimidating, even when he was trying not to be. It was now or never.
"Well, Chief, sir," she began with an inward wince at how clumsy that sounded. "I caught Snotlout bullying Hi- your son today."
Stoick's well endowed eyebrow's came down like storm clouds, and he glanced quickly at his son. "Is this true?" he asked in a tone that was dangerously quiet.
Astrid turned to look at Hiccup who gulped nervously, but nodded. "Yes, sir," he admitted quietly. "It's true."
Stoick took a step forward until he was directly in front of his son, and then knelt, surprising everyone. He put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, and looked him in the eye.
"Were you hurt?" he asked.
Hiccup looked more than a little surprised, but he managed to stutter out an answer. "A little," he said. "But Astrid was there, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been."
Stoick nodded and gestured Astrid closer. She stepped forward hesitantly and narrowly kept herself from flinching when he lifted his other hand and set it on her shoulder. She was surprised, it felt heavy, but somehow comforting.
"Thank you for being there for my boy," Stoick told her quietly. "Now I have a tall order for you, lass. Can you continue to watch his back for me? I would go straight to my brother to give him an earful if this was a straightforward problem. But its not."
He paused and looked them both in the eye for a moment to communicate the seriousness of the situation.
"Now, what I say to you cannot leave this house," Stoick continued. "I need your word that it wont."
"My lips are sealed," Astrid said quickly. She had never seen Stoick act like this before, and to be honest, it was more frightening than when he was roaring his battle cry.
"I wont say anything, dad," Hiccup promised.
Then Stoick nodded and leaned back on his haunches, his hand leaving their shoulder's to brace against his legs.
"I have suspected for quite some time, that my brother has been abusing his son," Stoick said gravely.