Time for another chapter!
Now, because of the new updating timetable I'm using, things are getting a little complicated, and someone mentioned that I should perhaps give a short summary at the start of each chapter covering what happened in the important parts of the previous chapter, and given that I'm now updated every second week, I think this is a brilliant idea!
Last time, we saw Astrid feeling quite curious and still a little jealous as to what was making Hiccup tick. So this little girl stole into Hiccup's room to have a search through his things, discovering along the way that the boy was emotionally damaged. However, Hiccup turns up right at the end, and Astrid's going to have to try and explain herself.
Enjoy!
Chapter Six: Confrontation
Hiccup just stood there, staring at the blond Viking girl standing in the middle of his room... his room!
Privacy may not have been something which Vikings paid an excessive amount of attention to, but this was going too far.
In spite of his natural surprise at such an intrusive meeting, Hiccup noticed in only a brief moment a great many things about the girl who now stood before him.
But the most obvious and also bizarre observation he made was that Astrid looked like she had just been…crying.
Crying?
Those were unmistakably the traces of tears lining her smooth face.
But...Astrid...crying?
No. No, Surely not.
"What are you doing here?" Hiccup demanded, summoning as much courage into these words as he possibly could.
The boy may have been terrified of open conversation with Astrid in any situation, but this was his house, his home, his very own room.
The one place where he was meant to feel safe and secure, free from the prying eyes of the villagers and protected from their scornful laughter.
Of course, the clearing in the forest where Toothless resided now felt more homely than any other place he knew of, but Hiccup didn't live there.
However, if Astrid was in his room...what had she been doing in here?
Quite suddenly, the girl took a step forward, her face hardened and determined.
"I wanna know what's going on," she said in a poor attempt at a sarcastically detached tone, perhaps intended to be in parody of the brown-haired boy's own manner.
"No-one just gets as good as you," she continued, "Especially you." Hiccup just looked at her, completely taken aback.
After all this time...why would she wait until now to challenge the origins of his newfound skills with dragons?
"Start talking," Astrid's voice snapped like a whip now, her anger bubbling to the surface.
"Are you training with someone? It had better not involve this –" she made a move to reach and grab Hiccup's riding harness, which he had forgotten to take off earlier, but the boy knocked her hand away and took a step back, his own face going stony.
"It's none of your business," he stated coolly.
This was truly frightening.
He, Hiccup, was standing up to Astrid, holding his ground against her attack.
Withdrawing her hand, Astrid tilted her head slightly to one side, a queer smile slowly making its way over her smooth features.
"I think it is," she returned quietly, still evidently quite annoyed. "You beat me in dragon training."
This was so...Astrid, thought Hiccup to himself, smiling inwardly.
The ego, the mind play, the perhaps unintentional attempt at seduction, all were meant to make the boy drop his guard and falter.
But it would not work; it could not work...
Not now.
"Well noticed," Hiccup remarked drily, angering Astrid further. Soon it would be she who would be making the slip-ups.
"Rephrase; Hiccup, you placed first in dragon training," the blond Viking snarled at him.
But Hiccup was not menaced.
"And I'll bet you'd like to how, eh?" he spoke distinctly, now taking a step forward.
His face was only a few feet from Astrid's.
Rarely had they been this close before, yet still so distant...
The girl just scoffed.
"I already do."
"Fair enough," Hiccup conceded, leaving Astrid completely taken aback.
She had obviously expected a somewhat fearful response from the boy, perhaps even a brief return of the old Hiccup...the real Hiccup.
"I thought you might have known," Hiccup continued, now smiling broadly.
"And you know something else? I don't care." He thought he could almost see the cogs turning in Astrid's mind as she sought desperately for something to throw back at him.
"How...what – Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow," she blurted out suddenly, not a trace of any anger left in her voice, evidently quite confused that Hiccup had not fallen into her trap.
"You know you're going to have to kill a dragon!"
This knocked the smile off of the young boy's face, and, for the first time in the conversation, he looked away.
"I know …" he mumbled bitterly.
"And how do you expect to do that, given that you now have one of those...monsters as your pet –"
"He's not my pet," Hiccup cut in harshly, looking back at Astrid, now starting to feel the anger rise within himself.
"He's my friend."
"Right, yeah...one of those disgusting pests? Your friend? Don't make me laugh. You've never had a real friend in your life!" If Astrid was now trying to wind him up, she was certainly doing a very good job of it.
Taking another step forward, Hiccup's face contorted with barely suppressed rage.
"And whose fault is that?" he snarled, his face now mere inches away from Astrid's.
Hiccup's anger was slowly reaching a critical point, beyond which he didn't know what would happen.
"All my life I've had to put up with insults, snide comments, scorn and outright mistrust!" His voice shook audibly, and it was now Astrid who was on the back foot, quite literally, as she stepped backwards, a look of genuine shock on her face.
Never before had she seen Hiccup become this angry.
No-one had.
"I've had to put up with so much suffering at your hands, just trying to fit in! All I ever wanted was to be properly accepted as part of the village, but now, I don't even want that!"
He was shouting now.
"I've finally got someone who actually accepts me for who I AM, not who I should be! I've found someone who sees me not as the butt of endless jokes and harsh comments, but as a friend and equal! And you know something else?" The boy paused for just a second to catch his breath.
Astrid was now obviously completely shocked, once again on the verge of tears.
"It's wonderful!" Having backed her into the corner of his room, Hiccup now just stood there, letting his rage get the better of him.
She had to feel it!
She had to know what it was like!
"All my life I've been told that dragons were vicious, evil, heartless and cruel beasts with no other purpose in life than killing Vikings! But now I see that you Vikings do a far better job at destroying lives!" Astrid bit her lip, a single tear forming in her eye.
So much for not showing any weaknesses, Hiccup thought viciously for a moment.
"Toothless has shown me more love and compassion than you lot ever did, and you're supposed to be my tribe!" In spite of his rage, Hiccup himself now began to cry.
"The arch enemy of Vikings has now become closer to me than anyone I've ever known, even my own father!" Hiccup had now reached his emotional limits, the peak of his fury, the eye of the storm.
For a few moments he just stood there, shaking with anger, entirely speechless.
Having now lost most of his sense of self awareness, Hiccup now fired up again.
"How could you know what...how could you even begin to understand what life has been like for me here?" Every single one of Hiccup's emotions had now been eclipsed by one, omnipotent feeling; hatred for not only every Viking, but every human he had ever known.
But, in spite of this he was still Hiccup.
Regaining his self control was not something Hiccup had had to do very often, and hence he did find it seriously difficult.
But thankfully not impossible.
Breathing deeply, Hiccup clenched his teeth, biting back his next words, determined not to let any more of his rage be released upon the quivering girl before him.
Yes, she needed to know what he thought, what he felt, what he had for so long kept pent up inside of him.
But this...
This was too much by any stretch.
Turning away, Hiccup saw Astrid timidly reach out to touch him, her face now plagued with guilt and sorrow, but still marred by that ever persistent hint of pride and jealousy.
But he pushed her away, both physically and emotionally.
"Let me tell you something else," Hiccup spoke, his voice now a low growl.
"Tomorrow I'm going show everyone what I've experienced with dragons...what I now understand about them. I'm going to make the village of Berk finally see what it has, for all this time, blinded itself to...the truth; that dragons are intelligent, loving and naturally gentle creatures who deserve to be treated with respect and as equals."
Hiccup now noticed that Astrid had been cautiously making her way towards the door, trying to escape without further strife.
A single thought now crossed the boy's mind, along with a wicked smile; he would indeed let her go, but not without one final message.
"And don't even consider trying to stop me," he snarled, now turning back towards Astrid, who froze in the doorway, a genuine look of fear in her blue eyes.
"What I am trying to do here is for the good of all Vikings," Hiccup continued, temporarily adopting his normal tone.
"And if you try and mess things up, then you're no better than the rest of them." Ending with a short, sharp whip of a voice, the boy thought he saw a small look of defiance in Astrid's eyes, momentary, yet almost definitely present.
"Now GET OUT!" He shouted suddenly, causing the blond Viking girl to instantly scarper, closing the door sharply behind her.
Now alone in his room, Hiccup began to think rationally once again, his mind shifting its focus back to what was most important.
He had to push his fury to one side and force it lie still in the back corner of his mind to make room from for what came next.
Tomorrow was the day he had to overcome his fear and show to the villagers what he had learned.
Hiccup had to prove to the Vikings of Berk that everything they know about dragons...was wrong.
As the tide of rage slowly ebbed, leaving the beach of reason and the sands of logic stretched bare along the coast of his mind, Hiccup slumped into his work chair, both physically and mentally exhausted.
Anger, the boy mused, was a terrifically draining emotion.
He felt almost non-existent now, completely worn out.
Hiccup had been giving serious thought to simply leaving the village.
Berk didn't seem hold any future of any kind for him anymore.
In fact, the boy had been returning home for what he had thought would be the last time, just to grab some clothes and supplies for his self-exile.
But the sudden, unexpected meeting with that nosy blonde had caused him to rethink what the best course of action to take was.
It had made him utilise a form of inner force and willpower which he didn't even know existed, and this, somehow, gave him hope.
Maybe...just maybe he could, for once, get something right; perhaps he could really make peace between Vikings and dragons.
But, try as he might, the young boy could not stop thinking about Astrid.
So, once again, please review and comment to your hearts' content; all feedback is appreciated!
Next chapter in two weeks.
Lumpyness.