Chapter III – Downed

I feel a strong reliance hit me like the waves of the sea hit the rocks standing on their way.

No one has ever landed a single hit on this monster, and we tend to shoot bolas, spears and arrows at the sky and forest areas as soon as we know this thing is here. Not even Stoick has hit it. All you can see is a blur, and the rest is destruction.

That's why I'm going to be the first to, not just hit, but kill that monster. I can already picture it as my eyes narrow and I enter back the stall to grab the bola launcher. I see myself, in front of Stoick, proudly telling him I killed the monster no one's ever seen. I know I can do it. Sure, it may sound crazy; why would I, the worst Viking Berk has ever had the misfortune to keep, success on what not even the chief accomplished? Honestly, I have no idea. I just feel like I can do it. It's not the first time I've gotten this same feeling, and the last times I actually succeeded.

And, by succeeding, I mean I didn't get killed by a house crumbling down on top of me as I helped some men pull away the rubble after the past raid.

As I run towards the door, I find myself forcing an innocent look on my face as I see Gobber unfastening a hammer- which he noisily tosses away, and attaching an axe to his arm stump. "Man the fort, Hiccup." he tells me. "They need me out there."

He hobbles towards the door, making sure the weapon won't fly off his hand as soon as he attempts to land a hit on a monster, but suddenly stops just as he's right between the door and the war outside. He faces me. I already know what he's going to say.

"Stay…put...there."

I look innocent, with this face of not knowing what he's talking about.

"Y'know what I mean."

With a battle cry, raising the axe high, he rushes towards the battle. Did he actually believe I was going to stay here? When I'm filled with determination and I've got the most perfect opportunity to take the feat no Viking has ever had the chance to lay his hands on? Sure.

Less than a minute after he leaves I'm running the bola launcher (which, after some meditation, I decided to call Mangler) all over the village. I'm unable to stop and force people to get out of the way before getting trampled by the big piece of wood I carry all over; I shake with it as it brushes across the rugged terrain.

After passing through the havoc, I near a cliff and all the sound seems to drain with each of my footsteps. The light of the fire and the explosions dims away, and I'm left with a strange silence. The only noise I hear now is me mounting and preparing Mangler to fire a perfect shot. I hold it steadily, and wait.

With the fight stopping and far away from me, I have enough silence to concentrate on the sky and dark forest in front of me. I hear the distant footsteps of the other monsters scrambling along the bushes, and manage to see some Glydes flying away in defeat. But no sight of Sans.

I hear no incoming attacks. Everything is quiet, perhaps too peaceful. "Come on…" I whisper. "Give me some to shoot at, give me some to shoot at…" The only thing I see now is a deserted catapult, and I'm hoping some monster comes by and destroys it, putting itself on my aim. Preferably Sans.

Suddenly, I see something out of normal. With so many raids, I recognize the monsters' footsteps, and the sounds they make as they walk around the forest. What I'm hearing now is nothing like that. I hear steady, rapid footsteps, that seem to get faster and faster each second, and closer - until they disappear completely.

I flinch back when a dragon skull suddenly appears right next to the catapult, and fires a devastating beam at the tower – my eyes wanted to close as the blinding light attacked them, but for a moment I saw a humanoid shadow burst through the fire and head back to the forest in an artless second.

This is it.

I shoot, and the force of the launch sends me flying. I land hard on my back, but not even the shooting pain prevents me from tasting my victory as I glare at the forest.

Something lurches to its side, and almost too fast for me to see it, falls down a steep hill with a pained cry that echoes around the place.

...silence…

I can't believe it. It's not possible, is it? I… I did it. I… I actually hit Sans. That had to be Sans. No other monster has that shape and that kind of attacks.

"I did it…" I spring to my feet and jump in the air with my hands up. I really did do it! "Yes I hit it!" I turn around, hoping to see a swarm of Vikings waiting for me to look at them so they can praise me. But there's no one. Oh well, I can just go back to the village and tell them my success. No harm done.

Something cracks behind me. Sounds like wood, and a heavy footstep.

Don't tell me that…

I sharply turn around, and the surprise I get is not pleasant at all. I feel all my victory fly away as the Knight Knight stands over a now mangled Mangler, and stares right into me with… "both" of its "faces". The two of them look really mad, and I know I don't want to deal with this thing.

"…except for you."

The Knight Knight lunges forward and my legs start running before I can tell. One second I was praising myself, the next I was running for my life and screaming my lungs out as the gargantuan creature gives me chase.

It shoots some sort of bullets at me, and I turn around as abruptly as I possibly could, almost slipping and falling, as the many attacks explode against the wall. Clinging to life, I take advantage of my scrawny body to completely disappear behind a pole; perhaps this monster is dumb enough to believe I vanished, and will go away.

I suddenly feel a burst of heat on my sides as the monster throws a powerful arrange of bullets at the pole, and I see it melting and burning down. As carefully as possible, I peek around the side. I only see scalding metal and burned wood, but no sign of the Knight Knight. That sure was something.

I hear a breathing next to me.

I barely have time to see the Knight Knight seconds way from hitting me with its staff before a vast figure pushes it away, and I cower away from the melting pole. Now I feel awful for making Stoick come to rescue me. While I wouldn't like getting killed by a monster, I don't like to make others get into trouble because of me. But, hey, it's Stoick we're talking about here.

He gets in a defensive position, and readjusts his helmet as he prepares to receive the Knight Knight's attack. It shoots bullets at him, but they barely get close to Stoick, and he only needs to dodge a couple. The monster seems to be getting tired, and the avian face contorts into a worried, almost fearful grimace.

"You're all out." Stoick mutters, and with his bare hands gives the Knight Knight three clean punches and a kick on its side, making it flee along with the others. I wish I could do that…

Oh… there's one more thing you need to know.

The fire finally beats the pole, and it crashes to its side, revealing certain scrawny Viking that messed up badly enough. I stay still like a statue, keeping a long breath in as I meet Stoick's furious gaze. The pole falls into a bridge, almost crushing a man who should've been a tad more careful. I watch the torch roll down the walkway, knocking stuff over and forcing men and women to jump to the side before getting burned alive.

I flinch at every noise the torch makes as it falls down, and know I'm in trouble. The entire village is looking at me. When I said I wanted a swarm of Vikings around me, I didn't mean an angry swarm of Vikings around me.

"Sorry…dad."

The most unbelievable thing is that Stoick, the chief, the most powerful, brave, attentive, reliant, strong, and so on and on Viking is actually my father. Hard to believe, right? I'm the polar opposite of what he is. Weak, fearful, inattentive, reluctant, and so on and on.

The torch meets the end of its path as it cuts through a net holding some Snowdrakes and a Glyde, and they all run and fly away with the others. As the sun rises, I manage to see how most of them actually managed to steal a few souls.

But that's not my fault… is it? Since the Village has no one else to blame, they're probably going to say I did all this.

I look around me, hoping somebody would say something before I open my mouth and directly screw everything up. Well, screw everything up even more. I feel Stoick's glare on my back, and I look at him with a puppy face. I guess there is only one thing that will get me out of this, and surely make everyone cheer.

"Okay, but I hit Sans."

His hand abruptly grabs the back of my coat and Stoick drags me back to the house. Are you kidding? Is everyone deaf? I just said I hit Sans, and nobody, joking or not, would say such thing if they hadn't actually done it! This is not an excuse. I did hit that damned thing! What's my reward? Everyone murmuring and giving me hateful, scowling and disappointed looks, and my father with smoke coming out of his ears.

"It's not like the last few times, dad, I mean I really actually hit it!" I struggle to follow his angry path and try my best not to fall. "You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot!" Nobody is listening. They think I made this all up. Well, let's see who else can come up with this feat! Oh, yes, nobody, because I already did it. "It went down, just off Raven Point- let's get a search party out there before it-"

"STOP."

I flinch back as his booming voice crashes against me and seals my mouth shut. Everyone stops talking immediately. "Just… stop. Every time you step outside, disaster follows! Can you not see that I have bigger problems? We have an entire collection of souls to protect! This isn't a joke, Hiccup."

He heaves a long sigh, and I feel like an ever worse person. I know I can cause a bit of trouble, but I don't want others to feel bad because of me. This souls thing is serious and I know it. Us Vikings have been storing the dead's souls for years – ever since we sailed to this island about 300 years ago, go figure.

"Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

I don't know what to say. A scramble of words fills up my mouth and I'm afraid to let them all out, knowing anything I say might turn everything upside down for the worst.

"I-I-I c-can't stop myself, I see a monster and I have to just…" I make a somewhat violent gesture, picturing myself snapping a monster's neck with my bare hands like anyone else would do. "kill it, you know? It's… who I am, dad."

Stoick puts a hand over his head as if he were trying to get all the bad thoughts out of his mind, but failing at doing so. "Oh you're… many things, Hiccup." He looks at me with a softer expression, but I can still see that deception on his eyes. "But a monster killer is not one of them. Get back to the house."

I roll my eyes. It's always me. I always have to pay for everything I didn't do. I have brought down and probably indirectly killed the most wanted monster, and not only do they not believe me, but I also have to swallow a monologue. Guess luck flew away from me, as the feeling of victory did.

"Make sure he gets there!"

A smack on the side of my head pulls me out of my thoughts, and I get a sudden feeling of hate towards Gobber when I find him as the culprit. That was uncalled for, I spit at him on my mind. "I have his mess to clean up."

Now I just want it all to end, I've had my moment of victory. It felt great, but now nothing else feels great. I'm embarrassed and angry at everything and everyone. All I can do is walk away in the path of shame, my head hanging. I wanted to brag about what I did. Guess that's impossible now. That Sans thing must've escaped already and is now preparing for the next raid while I'm here as Hiccup the Useless.

And to make things worse, a cackle warns me that I'm about to go through the worst stage – the hurtful mocks from the others.

"Quite the performance!"

"I've never seen someone mess up so badly, that helped!"

I try my best to ignore their words and grinning faces as I muster, "Thank you, thank you, I was trying, so..."

I hear and "ow!" and someone falling to the ground, and faintly smile as I realize that Gobber must've pushed Snotlout away. Guess I'm not the only one having a terrible day.

Walking up the hill to my house, I'm still trying to convince Gobber of my feat. To be honest, Gobber has more chances of believing me than my dad. "I really did hit it." I say for the millionth time.

"Sure, Hiccup."

"He never listens."

"Oh it runs the family."

"A-and when he does it's always with this… disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich."

I step on the porch, and try my best imitation of my father. "Excuse me, barmaid, I'm afraid yeh brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is a talking fishbone!"

"Now, you're thinking about this all wrong." Gobber says half-heartedly, and I barely even listen to him anymore. "It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand!"

…what?

I give him the biggest frown I've ever given anyone. Gobber has never been the greatest of helpers in these situations. He's good at fixing physical stuff, not mental stuff.

"Thank you for summing that up."

With that I only hope he's had enough, but as I open the door, he stops me again with a, "Look, the point is: stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

What am I not? A Viking? Way to go, Gobber.

"I just wanna be one of you, guys." My voice cracks, and I hurry inside before I get sentimental about this. I close the door behind me, and wish he goes away and doesn't return to interrupt me. I can hear him sigh outside, but I finally hear the relieving sound of his footsteps going away.

I see a pencil, a notebook and a dagger on my table - must've been the one Gobber gave me when was teaching me how to cut through tough things in case I was ever alone against a monster and had a dagger to defend myself with.

…maybe, that monster hasn't escaped. I don't go to Raven Point a lot of times, but I know that the hills there are steep as heck. If it went down one of them, it's probably still concussed. Plus, I heard the sound the bola made when it hit Sans. It's difficult to get away from that.

I make my choice instantly. I pick up the notebook, dagger and pencil and hurry through the back door. I'm going to finish my job, and prove everyone that I did do the impossible.

I've been the entire morning searching for Sans, with no success. I drew a map of Raven Point on the notebook, and it's now covered in black X's, which are the spots I looked for the monster. The trajectory must've made it fall around this part, but I don't see anything.

I find a spot in which I haven't looked on, and pray the Gods to gladden my life with the sight of a preferably dead monster and a bola covered in dust. In all honesty… I don't feel capable of killing a monster myself. It's a feeling I can't describe. It can't possibly be guilt, these things need to die, but…

I close my eyes, focus, inspire…

Nothing.

My shoulders drop and frustration keeps hitting me. I don't know where to look next. As I trace another X, I notice how the entire map is already covered with them. In a burst of anger, I scribble all over the page, close it abruptly leaving the pencil inside, and put the notebook on my coat.

"Oh, the Gods hate me…" I stroll down the hill, kicking everything I find out of the way. "Some people lose their knife, or their mug… no, not me, I managed to lose an entire monster!"

Wanting to take out my anger on something, I slap a tree branch out of my way, only for it to hit me back. I wrinkle my face after feeling a sharp sting on my eye, and jump back as I stare at the guilty branch. I look at the tree.

And what I see makes my blood run cold.

It's snapped in half, like something crashed into it. There's a medium-sized trough that follows the hill until it stops at a cliff. My heart starts beating fast.

I found what I was looking for.