Chapter 4: Missing.
One month later.
Hiccup couldn't tell you how much his life has changed since that day—really, he couldn't. He would probably have to think up of ways to elaborate the tale and plump it up with stimulating feats of accomplishment, but he still wouldn't do that either. Making things simpler would suffice, and you know what they always say anyway, less is more. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third had gone from wanting to kill dragons to befriending the beasts his village had hated so, and it was all in part to the dreaded Night Fury, the one who had stalked and hunted the Isle of Berk along with the Terrible Terrors and malicious Nadders, the "elusive one" they had called him: Toothless. Hiccup knew that the name wasn't a very formidable one, but at the time it suited the dragon, and really, that was all that had come to mind. The teen had been too scared out of his wits trying to preserve his life while his rabid curiosity got the best of him—he wouldn't have had it any other way.
"Hiccup, get your butt over here!"
The teen in question scrambled around his room and scuttled towards his dresser, quickly throwing on a shoddy pair of leggings, boots and his trusted tunic. Fingers mussing through his auburn hair, his way of a makeshift brush, Hiccup then fluttered to his window and promptly stuck his head out. He smiled down at the irritated expression on Astrid's face, her cheeks flushed and the fringe of her bangs ghosting across her forehead. She had a hand to her hip and haughty pose to her figure—she was clearly getting impatient.
"I'll be right there Astrid!" Hiccup called down to her, flashing another toothy grin when she merely rolled her eyes and scoffed. Hiccup withdrew from the window and wobbled out his bedroom, clambering down the stairs as fast as his prosthetic limb would let him. His leg had been much of a hindrance the first couple of weeks since the whole Green Death fiasco, but as time passed, he had steadily learned to maneuver himself just fine around the village. The prosthetic tired him out on occasions and he was usually left breathless and sore by the end of the day, but it wasn't something he couldn't stand. Besides, Hiccup mused, Gobber had it worse what with all that weight to support. At times like these, Hiccup was relieved his form resembled that of a talking fishbone.
Hiccup finally threw open the door to his house and jaggedly trotted outside. Despite her aggravation towards him, Astrid let a spunky smile scrawl across her lips and walked to meet him. As soon as the girl was beside him, Astrid punched Hiccup's arm.
"Ow!" Hiccup cried indignantly, rubbing the bruised flesh along his arm. He glowered at her and stuck out his tongue. "What was that for?"
"That's for being late, stupid," Astrid stated, her brow furrowed. Her expression softened and she clasped his shoulder with the palm of her hand. "And you shouldn't be running down the stairs, you ditz. Remember what happened last time?"
Hiccup rolled his eyes at the girl and shrugged her hand away. He began to trek down the cobble-lined streets towards the Village square, where all the dragons usually congregated to get a bite to eat. "That was an accident. I was able to fix the hole in the stairs and I only got away with a bruise, no big deal."
"Pfft, yeah, if Toothless hadn't been there," Astrid snorted, shooting Hiccup a curt glare. She laughed at him and shook her head, the golden braid of her hair shaking along with her laugh. Astrid closed her lips when Hiccup stilled at the mention of the dragon's name. She bit her lip at her mistake and averted her gaze, concern furrowing her expression. "Sorry Hiccup."
"It's fine," Hiccup answered with a forced smile. He whirled around and stuck his tongue out at her, chuckling when she raised a slender brow. Astrid laughed at him and patted his back.
"Sure," she said sardonically. Hiccup watched Astrid scan her blue eyes about her, coasting her head from side to side. She finally looked at him and raised one fine brow. "Where is he anyway?"
Hiccup licked his lips and took a moment to process her question, before shrugging his shoulders and brushing a few strands of hair from his face. He turned to her. "I dunno."
Astrid stared at him apprehensively, a questioning look to her face. "You don't know? I know you two haven't been exactly chummy these last couple of months, but now he's disappearing on you?"
"Well, I mean sometimes it's hard getting a hold of him, but he shows up at night sometimes, or in the morning!" Hiccup explained, not at all inquisitive about the circumstance. The first two months since the Green Death, when everything had been wonderful and excellent between Hiccup and Toothless, the dragon had taken permanent residence in the teen's room where he hung from the rafter's by his tail. Since Toothless started acting generally irritated towards Hiccup, the teen tried to cover up the gradual rift in their friendship and played it off towards the other villagers.
He even started to cover up the fact that Toothless no longer slept in his bedroom any longer—the boy had no idea where the Night Fury was sleeping now. Hiccup would often fend off any suspicions thrown at him concerning both he and the dragon, and whenever someone inquired about the dwindling amount of time they spent together, Hiccup lied through his teeth. The teen disregarded the fact that Toothless had been coming and going more frequently than before, but who was he to put the dragon on a leash and curfew—he certainly didn't own him in that way. Toothless was more of a best friend than anything else, considering if the dragon even saw him as a friend anymore. After all, he didn't want to pester the dragon, not when he was obviously so irate towards the boy. However, the saddest thing about this whole dilemma: Hiccup had no idea why the dragon was so hostile towards him.
Hiccup felt jilted.
Astrid shot Hiccup a wary look but quickly let the subject drop. "He does know we have a highly important flight today, right? Shouldn't he be here by now?"
"You worry too much Astrid, he's prolly' down in the Square already," Hiccup chirped, almost tripping over his prosthetic. He chuckled and flashed a small smile at Astrid, before continuing along his way. Astrid merely shook her head and meandered after him.
~xxx~
"Argh! Where is he?"
Astrid clambered after a hysterical Hiccup who was busy raving and waving his hands about the air, entangling his fingers into the strands of his hair and gouging his nails into his scalp. The frazzled teen was wide-eyed and frantic and was very much losing his mind.
"He isn't here Astrid! Why isn't he here?" Hiccup blurted, grabbing the girl by her shoulders. She grimaced at his tight hold but managed to let a tentative smile spread across her pursed lips. She really didn't know what to say to him, really she didn't. She wanted to be able to calm him and whisper soothing words to him, like a good woman should, but she wasn't very much of a flowery lady in the first place—let's just say she wasn't born to knead bread in the kitchens.
"I'm sure he'll come any minute now," Astrid strained, placing her own hand on his shoulder. Hiccup bit his lip and looked at her with trembling jade eyes, his gaze never wavering. Toothless more or less was always there whenever they had to retreat on a mission, although grudgingly. Now whenever Hiccup rode him, the two didn't mesh well.
'Actually, he's the one who doesn't mesh well with me anymore,' Hiccup thought morosely. About two months ago, Hiccup decided to accept the fact that Toothless was no longer seeing him as a friend anymore, even though it pained Hiccup to even think of such a thing. Hiccup however, still saw Toothless as his best friend; he'd forever remain his best friend.
"You know how important this voyage is Astrid, I can't miss it," Hiccup panicked, his voice cracking. "This is our first diplomatic summit with a neighboring tribe—dad's gonna' be so pissed if I miss this. I can't. I just can't."
"You mean a practice diplomatic summit- look, Hiccup," Astrid spoke up, the tone of her voice comforting, yet strangely assertive. "There are other meetings. So what if the famed Dragon Tamer isn't there, you can always go with Toothless the next time, right, when it really counts?"
Hiccup stared incredulously at her, completely flabbergasted. "Did you forget who my father is?"
Astrid instantly paled and bit at her lip, placing her hand to her forehead. "Odin, save us."
"No duh!" Hiccup barked at her, tugging at the strands of his hair. Astrid furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to protest, but immediately decided against it by the expression schooled on Hiccup's face. He looked fairly perturbed and almost feral-looking—was he really that scared of disgracing his father again, or was there something else he was more afraid of?
"He'll understand Hiccup, I mean, you did save us all from a perilous doom," Astrid breathed, pressing her forehead to Hiccup's. She embraced him in a brief hug. "Why don't you just ride another dragon for now? Toothless can wait here until we return, the brute."
Hiccup let out a miserable whine and trudged over to a nearby boulder, plopping himself down upon its coarse exterior. He drew his knees together and placed his head in his hands, strands of auburn hair lacing with his fingers. They had at last made it to the Village Square and were surrounded by a multitude of mid-flight dragons, leathery wings sweeping across the sky. An occasional blast of fire would rocket through the air before extinguishing in a cloud of ash and black smoke, but all of this went unnoticed by Hiccup who was too busy sulking to notice the frolic and fun between dragon and dragon rider. He wished it were he in the sky riding on Toothless, laughing and having fun the way they used to.
"I can't just ride another dragon," he muttered miserably, craning his neck to look up at Astrid. She frowned down at him, sweeping the fringe from her eye. "For one, not only am I supposed to go as the Dragon Tamer, but as the rider of a freaking Night Fury! We're supposed to be building relations with these people, we have to live up to the hype. I can't go empty handed Astrid, especially when they know how… wimpy I am." Hiccup winced at the word.
Astrid let out a weary sigh and bent down, meeting Hiccup at eye level. She mussed his hair and smiled a sloppy grin. "Hiccup, you know you're anything but wimpy, a little scrawny, but not wimpy. Don't beat yourself up, and stop being paranoid. Just sit this one out for now, okay? The next official summit is next month, and by then, you'll be roaring to go!"
Hiccup looked away from her, his eyebrows knit, and pressed his hands into the swell of his lap. He looked up at her again, frowned, and then nodded solemnly. Astrid leaned down and gave him one last hug and a tentative punch to the shoulder, before retreating at the sound of Stoik yelling out a command by the docks. The traveling party, consisting of the Twins, Fishlegs, Snotlout Astrid, and a handful of villagers, hopped onto their own respective dragons and ships, saddling up and preparing for the lengthy excursion to the neighboring island situated about 60 miles east from Burk. Hiccup immediately sprang up and jogged towards his father, who was busy bellowing commands and orders to the crew and voyaging parties.
"Somebody left tha sack o'dried fish by tha dock!" Stoik bellowed over the chatter and dragon roars echoing about the boarding dock. His mighty arms issued this way and that, gesturing orders to almost anyone within the vicinity, as his thick beard shuttered with each yell of his command. He was an impressive leader, Stoik the Vast, and rather daunting.
"Um, dad?" Hiccup hollered, his voice rising in volume.
"No, no, ya' fools, tha' barrel isn't suppose'ta go ova' there—oh, ya Hiccup?—someone untie tha' knot!"
"Dad?" Hiccup called again when Stoik turned away from him, issuing another set of commands to Gobber. Stoik turned his head at Hiccup's call and regarded his son with a quizzical eye.
"Aren't ya' suppose'ta be ready ta go wit' tha' devil?" Stoik asked precariously while stroking the vast mane of his beard. Hiccup sagged his shoulders and prepared for the worst.
"Uh, ya' see, that's the problem," Hiccup relayed, twiddling his fingers at the hem of his tunic. "He's kinda' not here at the moment."
"Wot are ya' sayin' m'boy?" Stoik asked guardedly, the tone of his voice on edge. He stared down at his son with a glower to his beady eyes, meaty arms placed at his sides.
"Look, he's not here," Hiccup began quickly, gesturing with his arms. "I don't where he is and I don't have enough time to go look for him and I just can't leave him here alone on the- ."
"This is very disconcertin' Hiccup," Stoik interrupted, swiping the palm of his hand along the length of his coarse face. He sighed. "Even if this is a practice summit, you gotta' go. I can't jus' leave ya' here alone, son, not for three weeks."
"But dad, I can't!" Hiccup pleaded, threading his fingers through his hair. "I can't leave Toothless here by himself either, not for that long! He'll prolly' get mad that we left him, and considering he can't fly…"
"No, Hiccup, you 'ave ta go," Stoik affirmed, pushing Hiccup aside. "We can't afford ta slip relations wit' these people. Night Fury or not, you're comin' wit' us. You migh' as well ride anotha' dragon fo' now."
"No, no, no, no, no!" Hiccup shouted, trotting after his father at a brisk pace. "Dad, I can't leave him here. I know he'll get angry, and if he does, who knows what he might do? He could set fire to a house, or do something equally as worse- !"
"Fine, fine!" Stoik hollered, turning round to glower at his son. His expression softened marginally. "Fine then, you can stay 'ere, but you are going ta tha next summit; tha' one's crucial. I'll just tell 'em you 'ad important dragon duties or somethin'. Mind yerself an' the village, ya' hear?" And with that, Stoik the Vast retreated to a nearby ship and returned to issuing instructions.
"You got it dad!" Hiccup bellowed after him. "I won't get myself into trouble, promise!" Relieved that the conversation with his father hadn't turned sour, Hiccup took no time in waiting for the ships and dragons to set sail, and promptly ran off. He lightly jogged back to his own home and ran inside, hoping that Toothless had come back by now and was waiting within, but as he checked both floors of his home, Hiccup found it as empty as he had left it. The boy hastily ran back outside with a frown marring his features. He huffed a puff of air and swiped the sweat leaking down the sides of his face, piquing his head to survey the sky.
"Geez, where is he?" Hiccup asked himself, pressing his forearm to his forehead to block out the sunlight. His eyes traveled to the woodland lying beyond the village and his heart began to palpitate. He had an inkling that Toothless might be plundering that impenetrable throng of foliage and shrubbery, and if and when Hiccup found him, Toothless was going to receive quite an earful. Sighing, the young Viking rerouted and headed towards the forest.