Merry Christmas all!
As a bit of a present to all you eager readers, I'm putting the next chapter up one day early.
Enjoy!
Oh, and by the way...
In that last chapter we saw Hiccup "fighting" the Nightmare in the training ring with the entire population of Berk watching. But instead of actually fighting the dragon, the boy calms and befriends it, sending it back to its den, before returning to the crowd. "I will never kill a dragon as long as I live." Astrid and the rest of the gang, along with most of the village are in awe at Hiccup's actions, but Stoick seems unimpressed.
Chapter Eight: Aftermath
Stoick stood up abruptly, staring down at Hiccup in the ring.
The boy looked back up at his father, determined to get his point across, to make him see the light.
For a moment, the chief did nothing but glare at his son with clenched fists and stony eyes.
Then he let out a heavy breath, and spoke with a commanding voice "I want all the village seniors in the mead hall to discuss this...event." He almost spat out this last word, before turning and marching away towards the village, followed closely by the elders of the tribe.
Hiccup had not expected any sort of warm acceptance from his father at the revelation that the little misfit had befriended a dragon.
But this total refusal to acknowledge that what Hiccup had achieved was something truly profound was indicative that something far more sinister was at play.
As the entire village began to move as though awakening from a deeply captivating trance, everyone present began to disperse, murmuring and muttering to each other; the general mood was one of deepest confusion.
Hiccup now walked towards the gate, keeping his gaze level and fixed, trying not to let the bizarre mixture of elation and frustration within him loose.
Slowly but surely, the entire crowd dissolved, with villagers heading back to Berk in small groups, all caught up in discussion.
As the boy made his way out of the arena, he caught sight of Gobber.
The meathead was looking at Hiccup as though he had just grown a third head.
But, catching the look of uncertain apprehension on boy's face, the trainer gave him a cautious smile, unsure how to treat the situation.
"Well that was..." The scrawny boy turned to see Ruffnut and the other teens walking over towards him, all looking as though Hiccup had just doused them with a bucket of frigid water.
All except for Astrid.
The blond Viking girl trailed slowly behind the rest of the group, looking almost fearfully at Hiccup.
The chief's son gave her a small frown before turning back to the rest of the teens, just as Ruffnut struggled to finish her sentence. "...that was...really just...Hiccup, why in Thor's name–"
But Hiccup held up his hand to silence her.
"I can probably guess what you're all thinking right now..." he said slowly, placing a great deal of emphasis on these words, "but please believe me when I say that what I trying to do here is for the greater good of everyone, Vikings and dragons alike."
He spoke these words with complete confidence, now certain that he would no longer be simply disregarded and pushed to one side.
The twins just stared at him in awe.
"You're crazy..." said Ruffnut at length, before smiling and batting her eyelids at the boy.
"I like that."
Hiccup noticed Astrid's eyes narrow at this occurrence, but she said nothing.
Pushing his twin-sister to one side, Tuffnut grinned toothily at Hiccup.
"You are SO –" but what he was he never found out, for Tuffnut was now pushed out of the way by the bulk of Fishlegs, who looked at Hiccup with some kind of newfound respect.
"Do you know what you just did?" the chubby boy asked, utterly flabbergasted.
Hiccup smiled.
"It's not over yet," he stated simply.
"Even if the chief and the village elders decide to accept what I've been trying to say as true, it's going to be a long time before anyone around here will begin to trust a dragon at all."
But the part of this sentence that had the greatest effect on those around Hiccup was that he had referred to his father, Stoick, as just "the chief".
After a prolonged silence, during which the teens all stared awkwardly at the ground, and the Hiccup gazed off into space, Snotlout was the next to speak up.
"Hey umm...Hiccup?" he spoke cautiously, and the chief's son looked at brutish Viking.
He seemed to be really struggling to give voice to what he wanted to say, perhaps due to nervousness or some other factor.
"Just spit it out," Hiccup said, giving in to a fleeting moment of his old self, the characteristic goofy grin reappearing momentarily.
"Whatever it is, I've already made the conscious decision not to annoyed or offended by it in any way."
Snotlout began to laugh, but faltered when he saw the serious look on Hiccup's face.
"You...you're not joking?"
Hiccup shook his head.
But, just as it seemed like Snotlout was about to try and express a part of himself that might never before have seen the light of day, they heard a shout.
"Snotlout! Get over here!"
The brutish Viking turned to see his father standing at the end of the bridge across to Berk, beckoning to his son.
"So much for that..." Hiccup murmured, as Snotlout jogged off, casting an apologetic look over his shoulder at the brown-haired boy.
Suddenly, without the apex Viking's presence, the rest of the teens didn't feel comfortable around Hiccup any more.
"Yeah...I should probably get going too..." Fishlegs mumbled, before scooting off after his friend.
The twins fidgeted a little, half swayed between not wanting to offend the chief's son and their deep-rooted feelings of disdain of the boy's strange ways.
But, in short order, they too scurried off, leaving Hiccup alone outside the dragon training arena...well, not quite alone.
Snorting derisively, Hiccup then also turned to go...not in any particular direction, mind you.
But no sooner had he started out, than he heard someone calling his name...someone had somehow not quite forgotten about, yet until now ignored.
"Hiccup, wait," Astrid spoke suddenly, pushing herself up from the wall she had been leaning against and walking cautiously over to Hiccup.
"I know that Snotlout didn't get very far in saying what he wanted to say, and that coming from me it won't mean much either, but..." she paused for effect.
"For what little it's worth, I'm sorry...for everything."
A familiar feeling began to rise once again within Hiccup, and he clenched his teeth determined not to let it get the better of him this time.
"Why would you be?"
She was just laughing at him again, the boy thought savagely.
Just trying to make fun of him once again, to wind him up.
"When did you ever care what –" but Astrid cut him off, abruptly stepping forwards, holding up her hands.
"Exactly the same way I did with the Nightmare..." Hiccup mused, momentarily distracted.
But this was all the time the blond Viking needed.
"Please just listen to me...just...please, if only for a moment," Astrid said firmly.
Her voice, strangely, sounded entirely neutral, with not a hint of any kind of emotion in it at all.
"Just before the fight, I...I told your father about you and the drago– Toothless," she spoke very fast, determined not to let Hiccup interrupt her.
"I was jealous...I thought that I could get back at you for placing first in dragon training over me. I honestly expected him to call the fight off..."
Her voice faded a little as Hiccup now fought harder to stop the great wave of anger from crashing on the shores of reason in his mind and once again obliterating any self-control.
"But he didn't believe me."
This was to be expected, Hiccup thought, relishing the distraction that was Astrid's words.
What reason would Stoick possibly have had to believe the apparent lies of a jealous little girl simply trying to get revenge for what, in the grand scheme of things seemed such a small matter? "And, in all truthfulness, I...I'm worried of what he might do now."
This last sentence awoke within Hiccup a twinge of fear, which slowly began to grow in his mind.
"What will he do now? How can my father accept what I have said as true?"
These questions frightened Hiccup more than almost anything else he had ever encountered, even more than when he had first encountered Toothless in the woods..."Hiccup?"
Astrid's voice was calling to him, but the Viking boy paid it no attention.
He was far too busy worrying about–
Then something grabbed his hand.
Someone.
Hiccup looked up with glazed eyes, to see the blond Viking girl standing only a foot away, smiling tearfully, holding his hand in hers.
"Please believe me when I say that whatever happens now...I...it's my fault."
And that was it.
If anything was going to show to Hiccup that Astrid's remorse was sincere, it would be an admission of guilt.
"No."Hiccup thought, pushing aside the feeling of elation that now attempted to seize control of his actions.
"No, it can't be true...It just can't..."
But, try as he might, Hiccup could not help but feel that young girl before him had seized a weakness in the boy's newfound hardened nature.
Astrid was not only, for the first time in living memory, admitting to having made a mistake...but also regretting it.
Hiccup now tried to avert his gaze from the face of the beautiful girl before him, mumbling something about having things to do and places to see...but failed.
Biting his lip, Hiccup now thought of something else.
How could he show this woman that the side of him that cared for his tribe was still down there, buried beneath a mountain of hurt, mistrust and rage? How could he show her that he was still...Hiccup? The answer was brutally instilled into Hiccup's mind in one moment of sickening nervousness.
He could tell her how he felt, how he really felt...about her.
Hiccup opened his mouth, but then closed it again, his fear getting the better of him.
Astrid still just stood there, smiling sadly at him, as if telling him "it's OK, you can talk to me; tell me what you're thinking."
Noticing awkwardly that his hand was still clasped in hers, the scrawny village nuisance took solace in the fact that, for the first time ever, Astrid Hofferson was not talking to him as one would a lesser, but as a real equal.
And this had a meaning among Vikings which transcended all personal beliefs, including Hiccup's own, personal opinions.
"Astrid –" the boy began again, stronger this time and determined to finish his sentence, but the blond Viking suddenly cut in as though something important had just occurred to her.
"Actually, skip it. I'm not interested in hearing you talk anymore," she stated bluntly.
And for one moment, one very short blink of time, Hiccup took her seriously.
Seeing the dawning look of unfounded outrage on the brown-haired Vikings features, Astrid's own face broke into a slight smile, and she began to giggle...although this most un-Viking practice was almost instantly halted.
"No, no, so you silly –"
Astrid now fought to suppress her laughter at the horrified look on Hiccup's face; the boy himself was now tied up in mental knots, utterly confused by Astrid's behaviour.
Blowing an errant strand of hair out of her face, Astrid took advantage of Hiccup's stunned silence.
"I know what you meant to say, and it's really not necessary,"
the blond Viking continued, choosing her words carefully, so as not to once again upset the socially frail boy before her.
"I don't want your forgiveness, and I certainly don't deserve it."
Finally releasing Hiccup's hand, Astrid then cracked one last broad grin, and punched Hiccup fast and hard in the arm, knocking him out of his entranced state.
"Ow!"
he yelped, rubbing his shoulder irritably.
"That's for beating me in dragon training!" the blond Viking shot, her eyes narrowing in a mock-evil fashion.
Hiccup suddenly noticed that Astrid's face was unusually near to his.
The last time this situation arose, the boy had been mad beyond reason, releasing his pent-up emotions in one great storm, oblivious to all else.
He hadn't been afraid...then.
But this time was different.
This time, he had his wits about him; he fully was self-conscious.
In fact, Astrid's face was drawing dangerously close.
Of course, nervous little Hiccup was completely at a loss as to what to do.
But, as he began to feel the girl's soft, warm breath on his skin, Hiccup's mind was completely erased with a great wash of blankness.
Eyes locked together, the pair drew ever nearer...closer and closer...almost touching...
Until...
Oooh, cliffhanger!
Two weeks people,
Lumpyness.