The Dragon Boy - Chapter 18 - I'm Scared
Frostcup fanfic

Authors note: hey guys- next chapter! The last one before it starts getting epic! Hope you enjoy it- it is quite long but the reason behind that it really long and confusing. Please leave a review and I'll be back tommorow with the beginning of the end^^
The next day, Jack decided to go back to the academy. First, though, he went to Gobbers' for a check up, whilst Hiccup sorted out a few last minute things. After the usual "You're doing ok. Off you go." He headed back.
On the way, he heard a voice, shouting his name. "Jack!" It was one of the young boys from yesterday. The look on his face sent shivers down his spine.
"Woah, hey! What's the matter?" He asked, concerned.
"It's Freya, sh-she went to the lake this morning, I told her not to, bu-but..." Jack's blood turned to ice.
"Go and get Hiccup!" He yelled over his shoulder, as he ran off towards the cove. He could only hope he'd get there in time.
He dashed into the cove, there she was. Freya was stood, motionless, in the middle of the thawing lake.
"Freya!" He called out as he reached the lake's edge.
"Jack!" She shouted back, face white with terror. "Help me!" she cried, absolutely terrified. He put a foot on the ice, and tested his weight on it- it cracked slightly, but held. Steadying himself, he made his way towards her.
"It's okay, Freya. I'm here. Everything's going to be fine." He murmured, as he edged closer.
"I'm scared!" She wailed. The poor girl looked petrified, she clearly thought they were both going to die. He couldn't stand to see her so afraid, so he tried to reassure her. "Hey. It's alright, it's fine. Just look at me... straight at me." She did so. Jack forced himself to project an air of calm, when in reality, he was terrified. "That's it." He smiled, he was dangerously close to the thin ice now, perhaps if he thickened it- no, to that he'd have to...and if he did that, she'd get spooked, and go straight under. He'd have to think of something else.
They could almost touch now, if he could grab her, and swing her ashore... Sudden inspiration struck him.
"Hey Freya, remember last night, when we spun round together, on the ice?" The beginnings of a wobbly smile touched her lips. "Yeah, we're gonna do it again, alright? We just grab hold of each other, like this..." They locked arms, their hands crossed, Jack giving a reassuring smile, like they weren't in the middle of a half thawed lake. "That's it. Now, on the count of three, I'll spin you round, okay?... one... two-" The ice under her gave a sickening crunch, as the web of cracks beneath her broadened, it threatened to break. "Three."
With all the force he could muster, he spun on his heel, forcing her away from him. It worked. She skidded across to the thicker ice, safe at last. They shared a relieved smile. She was safe. For a second, he relaxed, everything was alright. The next second, the ice snapped. The last think Jack saw, was a large, black shadow, heading towards the lake, before the pitch black water took him.
Hiccup's heart shot up into his throat. He had arrived on Toothless, just in time to see Jack go under.
Hiccup leapt off his dragon, and dived through the hole in the ice. The freezing water almost knocked all the breath out of him, he could barely see anything. He struck out downwards, blindly, his hand brushed against something- Jack! He grabbed hold of him and, to his great relief, he grabbed back. Pulling upwards, Hiccup kicked out for the surface of the lake as hard as he could, his metal leg weighing him down.
He had a momentary panic when his head hit ice, rather than air, but, thankfully, Toothless smashed through to them. Reaching in with his head, the dragon pulled them out, dragging them across the ice, until they were safely back on hard ground. Both he and Jack were coughing as they reached the shore- Jack spitting out water as well- as Toothless nudged them, worriedly.
"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked, as Jack was saying the same, Hiccup chuckled a little, Jack managed a weak smile. "Fine, you?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, fine..." Jack responded, but he didn't sound it, his voice was shaky. "Never really liked water much, never been able to swim, you know?" He admitted, trying to disguise his fear with brave words. Hiccup nodded, he wasn't fooled. It shocked him that Jack was scared- he'd always been so easy going, so confident. "Couple of years ago, a similar thing happened. I fell through the ice and would've died if I hadn't been rescued." He explained.
They spotted Freya running over, relief and terror written all over her face.
"...and you still went to save her?" Hiccup commented, shocked and a little impressed. Jack's expression hardened.
"I won't letting anyone get killed, not if I can help it. I'd give my own life, happily, if it'd save someone else's."
Hiccup was shocked by the seriousness of his words. He didn't seem the kind of person to think that way, but not only that, he meant every last one of them. What had happened for him to decide that? Only something big could have made him want to give his life to save another's... Hiccup sank into deep thought as Toothless curled a wing round him, the heat from his scaly skin warmed him up, as the dragon batted a wing at Jack to try and dry him.
As he warmed up, Hiccup thought about something- why didn't the Sky Dragon save him? It could have easily refrozen the lake... Perhaps, it didn't know? Perhaps, it had flown off for a bit? Yeah, that had to be it. Hiccup decided, as Freya got closer them.
Jack starting to chuckle a little as his clothes battered about in the dragon-generated wind, starting to recover from the spooky experience. Hiccup looked at him, he couldn't help but be taken aback by Jack's noble, heartfelt statements- and his courage, he saved Freya, even after all he'd been through. He appeared every bit the average teen, but there was so much more to him than meets the eye, and Hiccup had the feeling he'd only just scraped the surface. Hiccup wished he could be as brave and as selfless as Jack was, but he was just... him.

Freya outright tackled her hero when she finaly reached them. "Woah!" He laughed.

"Easy. Come on, you're gonna get all wet." He fussed, jokingly. She clung to him anyway, trembling. He noticed, and gently bent his head until she was looking at him. "Hey... you're okay, right?" She nodded. "And I'm okay too." Another nod. "So what's there to worry about then, ey?" He hushed, gently. She relaxed at his words and leant into him.

"Your welcome." Hiccup joked. She giggled, but still didn't say thanks- she was awkward that way.

"Well I dunno about you but I feel like a good story." Jack announced. Freya resettled herself to watch him intently, eager excitement in her eyes. Hiccup, without realising it, did the same. "I wasn't talking about me." Jack smirked slyly, looking over at Hiccup. "I told my story. Now its your turn." He prompted.

"Wha- no. I don't do stories." He refused.

"Aw, come on, there's got to be something behind this." He noticed, nudging his metal leg. "And even if you were born with it, there's definately a story behind Mr Stormseeker." He opened his mouth to protest, but Jack, stubborn as ever, broke in. "Come on, this is the first place I've been that doesn't chase out dragons or kill them on sight. So how did that happen? You said yourself- you use to fight them in the arena, so, story." He demanded, folding his arms at him. Freya copied- wait, Freya! He thought. He still get out ofthis.

"Freya's already heard this one." He pointed out.

"Not from you." She retorted. Great, he thought, two kids ganging up on him- three if you count the dragon that's looking at him expectantly.

"Fine." He gave in.

"Well, yeah, once upon a time we used to fight dragons. Big war. Lots of fire, explosions, new limbs- and me not being the typical big, brawny Viking had to prove myself. So one night I somehow managed to shoot down a Night Fury, but when it came to killing him... I couldn't... Guess that shows what a big, manly Viking I am." He muttered. He didn't think anyone'd heard, but Jack obviously had like dragon ears or something.

"Hey, all you showed is that you weren't a dragon killing monster- and not just to yourself." He reassured him, looking at Toothless. "Most dragons just think humans are stupid, angry, little two walkers that don't think before they act."

"That actually isn't that far from the truth." Hiccup pointed out. Jack laughed.

"Yeah, I guess. But you proved him wrong." He said. "

"Well I'll skip over the embarrassing learning to fly part- I... accidently damaged his tail when I shot him down." He explained, awkwardly. Jack's eyes widened.

"Wow. Do have any idea how big a deal that is?!" Jack exclaimed. Oh great, Hiccup thought, let me guess it was a terrible, awful crime to stop a dragon flying. "You gave a grounded dragon his wings back! That's..." He didn't finish, but Hiccup got the gist. Flying and freedom was obviously a big part of the dragon world. Toothless nudged him, thankfully, to prove his point.

"Story." Freya stubbornly reminded him.

"Oh, right, well... Basically I got too good at training. Toothless taught me ways to subdue dragons without killing them- dragon nip, scratching under the chins-." Hiccup continued.

"That weird little hand gesture that makes them roll over. A-." He broke off, as he saw Hiccup's face."Oh... I'm guessing you don't know that one." Hiccup's jaw was open slightly.

"No. Tell me!" He requested, excitably.

"Nu uh." Jack refused. "Dragon secret." Freya shoved him, playfully.

"Stop interrupting." She moaned, teasingly. Hiccup sighed- guess he better carry on.

"Anyway, I ended up top of the class... and that person has honour of slaying his first dragon in front of the whole village."

"That's psychotic." He thought he heard Jack mutter, but he didn't comment on it. It had been. "

Well, after almost running away, Astrid finding out and getting her on our side." He skipped. "I ended up in the arena, but I didn't fight the dragon... I was convinced peace was possible, but... it was a pretty... unpopular opinion." He muttered. "Dad snapped, and shocked the dragon into a frenzy. Toothless rescued me, but got captured. They were going to use him to find the nest, and get everyone killed. Everyone hated me, my dad disowned me-."

"Your dad disowned you." Jack repeated in disbelief.

"I try not to think about it." He muttered. "But, we made up. He told me he was proud to call me his son. I managed to train the riders wih their own dragons, rescue Toothless, put Operation Hiccup into practise and, yeah, saved the village... Didnt manage to keep my leg, but I did manage to make peace between Berk and the dragons... So there you go. The end." He finished, awaiting Jack's judgement.

"Well that was different." He stated.

"Oh, come on, I bare my soul and you give me that?!" He spluttered, indignantly.

"Hey, you give a short story, you get a short response." He smirked. "Seriously, though, that was pretty impressive... It takes a lot to go on when you've lost everything." He praised. Hiccup lifted his head a little higher at it. "What do you think, kiddo?" He asked Freya. She looked less than thrilled with the story.

"Jack tells a better story than you do." She told him. Jack laughed shamelessly at that.

"Oh, gee, thanks." Hiccup said, unable to hold back a chuckle of his own- Jack's laugh was just too infectious.

"Great support Toothless." Jack laughed. Hiccup looked. He was hiding his head under his paws in shame. Hiccup pushed him in rebuke.

"Thanks bud." He grumbled.

"Honestly, though. All that!... I wouldn't have expected it." Jack said, truthfully.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, right?" Jack's smile went oddly awkward then as he "mm hmm"ed in response. Hiccup let it slide.

"I'm glad I did, though." He smiled. "Some of my best friends are dragons." He grinned. "Like you." He said. Jack froze.

"Me?" He repeated, as though terrified of Hiccup's next words.

"You're friends with dragons too." He told him, face knitted with confusion at the unexpected reaction.

"Oh... yeah." He muttered, smiling again. Hiccup looked at him, baffled. What had that been about?

The day went pretty normally from then on- aside from the endless parade of pranks that seemed to go on whenever Jack was around.
He pranked the twins into stealing their own helmets, and watched as they complained about how they couldn't find them, and decided they'd have to wear the ones they stole instead. Later on, Hiccup's leg found itself, mysteriously, tied to a stray Terrible Terror that had wandered in, they spent ages trying to get it back. Not long after that, the dragons started avoiding Snotlout- none of them would go anywhere near him. He claimed it was because he was too awesome and scary for them to cope with, but it was embarrassing trying to get on a dragon that kept running away from you. It turned out, an eel had found it's way up into his waistcoat- by accident, of course.
In time, the whole week passed as uneventfully as that day had- well, beyond the usual antics of the riders. Jack alternated between playing with the kids and helping out at the academy, and even then he often said he wished he had a twin-"What do you want one of them for?" Ruffnut asked. Everyone was enjoying themselves and having fun, but at the end of the week, Gobber sprung a surprise announcement on them all.
Jack was completely healed and fit for travel- he could move on.
The whole village was shocked by this news, they'd all grown to quite like the funny white haired boy. The kids especially would miss him and the games they played. The adults would miss those games too- they quite enjoyed watching their antics, plus, he made the kids happy, so they were happy. The riders would miss him- Fishlegs, his extensive knowledge of dragons- the twins, his awesome pranks- Astrid, they way he treated her as an equal, not just a girl- and Hiccup... Hiccup would miss him most of all.
Even Gobber and Stoick, who barely knew the boy would be sad to see him go. Although they didn't know him all that well, they saw how happy he made Hiccup, and they loved seeing that boy happy. Over the week they'd known each other, Hiccup and Jack had become quite the double act on Berk- in fact, the two were more like brothers than friends. Only Snotlout would be glad to see him gone.
The next day came. Hiccup woke up, as usual, but there was no sign of Jack. He went out to find him, and found the others, they were at the cliff that over looked the bay- staring at the horizon. Hiccup was about to ask what was up, when he saw a boat leaving the harbour. His heart sank.
"He's gone." He realised.
"Aww, now who's gonna do pranks with us?" Ruffnut complained.
"He didn't even say goodbye." Astrid noticed.
"Ha! Good riddance!" Snotlout said, arms crossed.
"I'm gonna miss him." Hiccup admitted.
"Me too." Fishlegs agreed. "Meatlug will be heartbroken..."
"Yeah..." Astrid said, sadly, watching the ship move further and further away.
"Yep, he had to be the most brilliant, handsomest, cleverest person we've ever seen. What will we do without him?" Jack said- wait, Jack?!
The riders all turned to face him, turning bright red- except Snotlout, who just looked disappointed.
"Jack? What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, bad news, I'm afraid. I really don't feel like leaving, so it looks like you're stuck with me." He announced.
"Wait..." Astrid stopped them in the midst of their celebrations. "Then what's...?" She trailed off, pointing to the quickly disappearing ship in the distance.
"A boat." Jack told her, she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but who's controlling it?"
"The boat." He repeated, like it was obvious.
"How can a boat be steering its-" She stopped as she realised what he was getting at.
"Well, I guess we've got our first job of the morning." Hiccup stated. "Let's go retrieve that boat." He instructed them. Jack tried to sneak off.
"Not so fast." Hiccup said, as Toothless picked him up and deposited him on his back. "This is a job for the academy. You're one of us now, and you're not getting out of it that easily." Hiccup grinned, and despite the job ahead of them Jack grinned back, happier than he'd been in a long time.