CH28: Why

I do not own HTTYD and the characters. I do own how my OC and OOC interact in my story.

Hiccup wakes up after what felt like a few days.

I felt sore and thirsty. But I was also warm and comfortable.

I pry my heavy eyes open and the first thing I see was Toothless' smiling and gleeful face. "Tooth buddy wha" but then I notice the ceiling. "Where are we now? Looks like someone's house."

He keeps looking at me like just seeing me awake was all that mattered.

"Are you feeling better Hiccup?" But that's what's important. We were not alone here in someone else's house.

"Who's there?" I ask the person, sounded like an older woman. They were to my left where I couldn't see them because of the bandages covering my left eye.

"Hiccup, my name is Lanie Hotchette. I'm a healer and I'm here to help you." That would sound good and right if I wasn't looking at a very big and black reason for me to doubt what she says. No reason for someone to help me with a dragon this close by. No, that would be reason to go to the nearest weapon rack and start slashing and stabbing.

I turn to see who it was that was saying they were a healer. First look and I see… Astrid?!

I quickly turn to see Toothless but he doesn't react. It's not Astrid. They say they are Lanie whatever so that must be who she is. She was my dad's age if I had to guess. She had the same tight braid hair style as Astrid did with a headband that was worn to keep sweat out of her green eyes when working, and the rest of her attire was a beige sheep wool tunic.

"Why are you helping me? You should be able to see I have a situation that'll be a problem right. So why?"

"Because I'm your ally."

Only one thing that could explain that answer. "Stupid dream."

"It's not a dream!" She yells out in frustration.

Then it comes back to me, what I was doing before I passed out with the two lookalikes I met. "Your Shazz's mom."

"That right. Surprised you know that."

"I met your daughter and her boyfriend. They told me about how you were a healer."

"Ahh so you already expected to wake up in the healer's house."

"No I didn't expect this at all. I'm in someone's house with my best friend next to me and we're not being attacked. Didn't see that happening at all. And you, I told you to stay back." I yell at Toothless for disobeying me.

He bows his head apologetically. Ok so I really didn't expect him not to follow me, but still what happened? "You're fine bud. But I could use some answers."

"I think we could all do with some answers. But as a healer I recommend food and rest before any of that."

When she mentioned food it made me realize the tight empty feeling in my stomach. "Sound's good to me."

She walks to the pot over the fire and pours some of whatever's she had cooking. She leans me next to Toothless before handing me some of the broth which I see is mixed in with small chicken bits. I drink it slowly which I find awkward with everyone in the room staring at me. I felt better once I finished in both my stomach and my nerves cause they stopped staring once I hand back the bowl. My limbs felt wobbly and weak like uncooked dough, but I was feeling stronger. Not much but I was improving. Most of my body was still in heavy pain but that was easy to ignore. Easy so long as I focused on Toothless and what was now happening. It was easy so long as I felt distracted.

"Ok so with that out of the way can we get some answers."

"Sure. How would you like to do this Hiccup? Back and forth or all at once? Just know that I do have my own questions for you."

"If we both have questions then think back and forth will work better. Besides us listing out all our questions at the same time might get confusing."

"Fair. So guest first." She nudged to me to begin talking.

"Fair." What should my first question be? I look over to see Toothless watching us as we sat opposite each other. "Who else knows about him?" I point to Toothless.

"Just myself. The village knows that you are here and who you are Hiccup but I am the only one that knows anything about your dragon. So my turn to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"What happened?"

"Ok, now that's not fair. I started off with an easy question to answer, but you hit me with a major one. One that I'm not sure you need to know."

"I feel it is important since it seems your tribe tortured you. So feel like telling me why?"

"There's no way you could know what happened to injure me." She points to my arms and then it hits me. "Oh yeah that's right. To each his own style, and Berks are skinners aren't they." She nods showing I was right.

"Alright fine I'll tell you since it seems' you know some of what happened to me. But wait, just how sure that I am from Berk, how do you know they're my tribe? I could just be a drifter that was caught by them."

"You remember what village you are at right now? Did the kids tell you?"

"Grissgom right." Quick note but I just remembered how they torture here. I heard they use sand and stone filled leather bags to break and crush every bone in the body starting with the feet. It's said they do it so well that there is no external injuries, so it only looks like an empty human looking meat sack when they are done.

"Mmm huh well our chief does remember you. You and your friends seemed to make quiet the impression." Right Stickstone the Bigfoot was one of the chiefs I saw that time at the tribe summit. However it's a real big surprise to hear anyone would remember me from then.

"My friends?" I look over to Toothless who shrugs at what she said.

"Human ones." She clarifies. Unsuccessfully. She seems to notice my confusion.

"From Berk, your age?" Even she seemed to be confused now. But I'm still not getting it.

"Astrid, Fishlegs, twins, Snotlout?"

"Oh them." Now I get it, she must have heard that team vs heir's thing eight years ago.

"R-right them. Well our chief remembers you from eight years ago. So that's how we figured that you were tortured and are now running from them. We guess most of that second part."

"Fine, if you know that much then I guess you may as well hear the rest of things."

"I know most of it. Just start with the dragon encounter portion."

"I'll just give you the short and quick version. About a month ago I shot down Toothless during a raid. I found him in the woods and released him, and don't ask why I don't know myself. Well after that I joined Berks dragon training and at the same time I got closer to Toothless. In our own way we became brothers. But then the obvious happened and things went south. Some people from my tribe found me and Toothless together and one of them went and told everyone else what I was doing. Or at least what she thought was happening. After they got their hands on me they wanted me to kill my friend to prove my loyalty, but I didn't and this is what they did to convince me to do otherwise. I got some help from my forge master and escaped but while I escaped he got killed. He was close to me and he got killed for helping me. Well once I escaped I unintentionally made my way here and that's all up till this point."

I finish my explanation and I saw that Lanie had a sad look mixed with melancholy and anger.

Well I can say that that is all the answers she's going to get from me. Don't know what else I could tell her.

"Guess it's my turn. That all right Ms. Hotchette?"

"Go ahead."

"What do you and the rest of your village intend to do with me? Or better yet what do you intend to do about him?" I point to Toothless.

"I'm sure you realize that if I had wanted to tell the village about him then I would have done so already."

"True but you must have a reason not to have told anyone."

"I do but it is not very clear. For the most part it is personal motive."

"I really don't care if it's not clear or not, it just something I have to know."

"Why so?"

"If I was just watching out for myself I wouldn't worry about reason. I'd have to take what I can where ever I can get it alone without much choice but that's not the case. I can't go doing things that could put Toothless in danger."

"Worried? Why? Even if you two are together you are the one in more danger if things go bad. Flying seems like it would be continent when running away for him."

She doesn't know but he can't fly, not on his own at least.

Even back on Berk when Astrid, Gobber, and Ruffnutt found out about Toothless, and to just about everyone else I've met after there is one thing I haven't told anyone how I met him, About how he now has a torn tailfin so now he can't fly. I made the saddle and prosthetic fin so we can fly but it doesn't help him without me. I'm sure Gobber realized this when he saw it which was why he brought me to Toothless rather than free him and let him fly to me, he knew he couldn't. It was at that point that I realized what a weak point that tailfin was for us. I can't risk telling anyone about it.

I don't intend to tell anyone about the fin. If they find out themselves that's fine but telling someone, well I don't intend to so long as I don't have to.

"Well Toothless, he doesn't really like to be too far away from me. I told him to stay back in the forest but from the looks of things he didn't. So what your story with all this Ms. Hotchette?"

"I'm sorry but Toothless?"

"Oh yeah I call him Toothless. I doubt he would have told you so you mustn't have known the whole time he was here." I point to Toothless who gave a smile to the healer showing off why I call him what I do. She was surprised to see him grin.

"Interesting choice of name." She chuckled a bit thinking about the name. "For my part, I was more worried about your condition than the dragon, I mean Toothless. I also figured since it seemed he was here to help you there was no harm in letting him be. My story here is normal, all I see is a hurt boy and his family who is worried about him. I don't see anything more than that"

"Not really the Viking thing to do you know."

"True but I am a healer before a Viking"

"Can't see that making much difference. Your still a member of this this tribe. What you're doing is essentially" What Gobber did.

I don't say it out loud but I can't help think this could end up a repeat of that same event.

"Essentially what Hiccup?"

"You know betraying your people. Being a traitor. Turning against your village."

"My concern at the time was making sure you did not die. Everything after that was something to worry about later."

"Again not very Viking of you. Also a really bad reason by any standards. Too many ways that could have gone wrong."

"How so?"

"If anyone found him while he was here, all hell would break out. Even if no one ever saw one it doesn't take much to figure that Toothless is a Night Fury. The second that's found out every Viking worth their boots will come to get a piece of him. If after they were done with Toothless they figured out you were holding him here for me then you and I would be hunted, captured, and killed. It's the Viking way after all."

"But not my way. I'm a healer. Causing the pain is not what I do."

Defiantly didn't stop Gothi back at Berk when I was being tortured.

Actually that may not be true. The ones who actively tortured me were Stoic and Spitlout. Gobber stood back and didn't participate and Gothi only worked on my injuries between sessions. What she did was extend my life expectancy so I didn't die while they mutilated me. I have mixed feelings about what she did, I'd be dead if she didn't do what she did but she did make it last longer and more painful than it should have been by being there to keep me conscious during the whole thing.

"You must be thinking about the healer that was present during your torture. If I remember the healer in Berk is Gothi correct."

"Yeah. Know her?"

"Gothi the Eldest, only by reputation. She is one of the oldest and most experienced healers in the entire Archipelago. She is said to be such a healer that she can even pull those passed deaths doors back to the land of the living."

"I don't know about that last part but I can say that she is good at what she does."

"I really hate child abuse like what happened to you. Children are supposed to be protected by their village and families, not be the source of their pain. That means more to me with being a healer, a mother, and soon grandmother. So back to your question as to why I let him stay, it is because no one is meant to be alone when in pain. One thing any healer will do to help their patients is let them be close to their family and friends. It's a comfort for them to know that they are close. So if that means that a dragon or any enemy is your friend then I have no right to just kick them out if they are not doing anything to harm you."

"Healers principles?"

"Considering I'm letting a dragon of all things stay I think it might be more a personal principle rather than one applied to all healers. That is made even more likely by the fact that any at all healer would allow this to happen to a child, it's against the very nature of healing."

Listening to Lanie talk I realize that nothing about her and her ways is anything like any Viking I've ever met. From the people on Berk to travelers I see coming and going, all of them followed the very rigid ways life to be strong, fight, and die with honor. Violent solutions is their way of life, but her, she seems to have a different way of doing things. As strange as it sounds she seems to be open minded. She says she's only a healer but does that really make that much of a difference?

"Ok Hiccup. We have covered your story, talked about my not telling others about Toothless, and discussed my own professional philosophy. What else do we need to go over?"

Plenty really. Future plans, my physical condition, how long I've been sleeping, what happened while I was out, what her chief knows of my situation, what this village intends to do with me now, what will happen when they learn how much Berk is after me, what to do with Toothless in the middle of a village full of dragon slaying Vikings, how much time do I have if any till the ice breaks and Berkian ships sail off to spread news of the traitor Hiccup or as Spitlout put it Hiccup the Ultimate Enemy.

You know if it wasn't so negative for all the wrong reasons I would be enjoying my new title. It at least an improvement of sorts from Hiccup the Useless.

Well if I do need to know anything I need to know what Toothless has been up to. Knowing him, causing trouble. Not so much lately but I know that he's bound to have been doing something.

"What's Toothless been up to since entering the village?"

She took a second to think and looking at Toothless who seemed to shy away at this topic makes me think I was right. "What did you do buddy?" I ask him. He mumbles and walks away to the corner like a punished kid.

"Hey don't just walk away! Hey what did he do?"

"He is probably still worried that he tried to kill me before."

"WHAT!" I look at him a see that he turned away looking like he didn't want to talk about it. "He tried to do what?"

"It was something we did yesterday. Shazz and Chapskin came by to look after you so Toothless could not remain here so we spend the day in the woods. It seemed that he had his own plans to go and find other dragons in our Kill Ring, but he freaked out and almost shot me when he found the place and saw that we already killed them all. He's been depressed ever since."

I look over to him and see that she was right. I sensed he was upset about what we were talking about. We did manage to rescue the other dragons back at Berk so he probably thought he could do the same with the ones here. He must hurt since there was nothing he could do. His confidence turned to depression.

"You gonna be alright buddy?" He slowly looks at me.

'Eh been better. But that's not what we should be worrying about, we need to worry about you now. I'd rather just move on and get to our next thing. No point dawdling on things that I can't do anything about. Not like you don't have your own thing to face now right? What do we do about her?'

"Just wanna forget and move on I bet. Fine."

'Close enough.'

"You can understand him?" Lanie asked surprised and impressed.

"If you mean like talking to each other, no. We understand each other, it's a feeling we get. When we're happy, hurt, excited, or upset. We can just feel it from the other."

"You are close."

"Yeah. It's also that closeness that got us where we are, the good and bad parts."

"I would say torture is real bad."

"Yeah. Well that's not the only thing, I did say good right? If all that I've experienced was pain then I wouldn't still be here. I'm sure if that was the case I would have been long gone long ago."

"What are you implying?"

"Just thinking how much better things would have been if I had left Berk sooner then I did. Anyways since you're a healer I should be asking but how am I doing?"

"My opinion of your body's condition, bad."