Inked In Your Skin
Chapter II: Hated
The ride back to the Edge was both awkward and irritating.
Heather kept worrying that Dagur would bleed out before the Berserker could get actual medical help; asking Hiccup every five minutes if the redhead was still breathing.
"Yes. He's still alive." Hiccup hissed between his teeth.
'Unfortunately.'
If Hiccup was being honest with himself, he could care less if Toothless got tired of carrying Dagur, and dropped him into the sea below, solving everyone's problems. Hiccup shivered. The feel of Dagur against him gave him goosebumps, and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It reminded him of the night they spent together hunting down Toothless-the Berserker was a little too touchy. He sighed for the tenth time since they had resumed their flight.
Problem was, Hiccup saw that Heather didn't see Dagur as much of a problem anymore. Hiccup hadn't talked to Heather about her feelings towards Dagur, but if they had just risked their lives for each other in the same day-their ties must've run deeper than Hiccup had originally thought.
Hiccup thought Heather being around Dagur 24/7 would have made her more hateful towards the insane man, but it had created a connection Hiccup didn't think Dagur was capable of.
He had miscalculated. Now, things were different.
Would Heather let Dagur go back to prison? Would she let him spend the rest of his life in a jail cell, after risking her own life to save him?
"Fuck," Hiccup muttered under his breath. He knew that was no way to live- and some part of him wondered if it came down to it, and Dagur had to be killed...Would she allow it?
"No. There's no way he would be killed. Even if, he tried to kill everyone in Berk more than once, right,Toothless?" The Night Fury spared him an annoyed glance, and Hiccup's head started to throb.
"Thor, give me the strength..."
Heather glanced over at Hiccup and her brother. The brunette was irritated, and from what she could tell, he was talking to himself.
'Great. Now Hiccup's deranged-maybe Dagur's contagious…" At the mention of his name, Heather glanced over at Dagur again, and tightened her grip on Windshear.
Last time they met up, Heather hadn't been completely honest with the gang on her feelings about Dagur. If anything, he didn't come up in the conversation at all.
She bit her lip. When Dagur destroyed her island, she hated him with every fiber of her soul, but now she couldn't bear the thought of any harm coming to him. Especially if she was the one causing it.
Now that Dagur was all the family she had left, she couldn't afford to lose him too. Even if Dagur was the reason that she no longer had a family, she couldn't abandon him.
What would Stoick and the others do with Dagur when his wound healed? Maybe they wouldn't even wait for it to heal-maybe they would just throw him in prison without a second thought. After all, didn't Dagur do the same thing to the Riders and Stoick?
Heather pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed in the crisp, night air.
This was going to be a long night.
~Inked In Your Skin~
Hiccup could see the Edge coming into view, the familiar cliffs, and lights coming into view. The twins weren't at their watch posts.
"Come on Toothless, we're almost there. Let's go a little faster!" The Night Fury gave a powerful flap of his wings, and they cut through the cold air, sending chills down Hiccup's spine. They flew over the familiar buildings looking for signs of civilization until Hiccup could see light coming from the clubhouse, dragons crowded around its entrance.
"Over there bud!" He flanked right with Toothless and landed amongst the other Rider's dragons. Barf and Belch immediately invaded his space, Meatlug gently nuzzling his hand as he tried to stop Dagur from falling on his face and causing even more potential damage to his psyche. Heather landed with Windshear and dismounted, noting how the dragons started to get curious as to who the mystery man was on Toothless.
Around that moment, Hookfang started to sniff the air to catch a wiff off the stanger. That was when the Monstrous Nightmare's eyes widened exponentially. He stated to raise himself up, and soon he became the catalyst for every dragon there. Stormfly's barbs were standing up one end, barf and Belch looked ready to destroy something, and even Meatlug had took a defensive stance. It was official. Everybody hated Dagur. Tell it to the press.
'Of course Snotlout's dragon has to be the one to start shit.' "Like father, like son." He muttered. That was when the doors to the clubhouse burst open, and the twins stepped out, bowing.
"Ladies and gentleman!" The twins announced in unison.
"We hate to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming, but we really have to be acting out our new play." Tuffnut said flippantly.
"We call it, 'Saving a deranged, sociopathic, unfeeling, maniac!'" Ruffnut added.
"Catchy." Tuffnut complemented.
"Why thank you, I learned from the best."
"Why thank you dear sis-"
"Me!"
"Wait a second-it's obvious that I'm the best-" Tuffnut started to argue.
Hiccup massaged the sides of his temple with his fingers. He didn't need this right now. They had someone dying, possibly making a mess all over Toothless' new saddle, and the new wood they had just inlaid for the clubhouse. "Oh Thor.'
"Guys!" Hiccup interrupted, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but everyone here knows that I'm the best!" He yelled.
Silence started to rear its shy face back into the air as Tuffnut and Ruffnut tried to cope with the compelling words just thrown at them. After all, who could deny the fact that Hiccup was by far the sassiest viking who ever lived?
Apparently, the Twins did. Immensely.
"I object!" Tuffnut declared.
"Me too!" Ruffnut baged her fist aginst her chest as she added herself in the contest for the title of 'Bitchiest Viking.' Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Enough!" Hiccup took a deep breath.
"Now help me get our incredibly desperate, lonely, home-wrecking, son of a bitch inside before he ruins the new saddle I made for Toothless. It took me forever, and I'm not going to let it get ruined because you two wanted to delude yourself into thinking you were on my level."
Everything went silent. Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked at each other like they had no idea what Hiccup had just said. Hiccup raked his hand through his auburn locks as he sighed in frustration.
"Now, help me get him inside!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut grumbled and moaned as they helped Hiccup pick up Dagur and bring him inside the clubhouse.
"He's so heavy…" Ruffnut huffed.
"At least he isn't Fishlegs." Tuffnut snorted as they set the Berserker down on a cot.
"Hey!" Fishlegs protested.
"When's Gothi going to get here?" He asked Astrid, who was leaning against the wall next to the cot.
"Shouldn't be more than a few more minutes," She said glancing at the dying man that Hiccup was attending to. Heather groaned and stormed outside in frustration.
"At least I can learn something, and remember it the next day!" Hiccup heard Fishleg argue.
"Oh please. Why learn, when you already know everything?" Tuffnut retorted.
Hiccup sighed at the comment, and tuned out their bickering as he rechecked the ginger's wound. He lifted up the blood soaked shirt, and inspected the stab. His skin was still a pasty white, a sheen of sweat had covered his skin. It was even worse. Hiccup rested his hand against Dagur's forehead, almost recoiling his hand at the unexpected coldness that met his hand. He was so preoccupied with Dagur's condition, he didn't notice the shadowy figure next to him.
"Damn!" Hiccup jumped in surprise, standing to attention as he was taken back by the sudden intrusion to his hearing.
"Loki! What's wrong with you?!" Hiccup said to Snotlout as he stared down the black-haired imbecile.
Snotlout crossed his arms and gave Hiccup an unimpressed look. "Don't tell me you don't notice." He said impatiently.
"Notice what, that he's half dead?" Hiccup said gesturing to the Berserker.
Snotlout rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"Does Hiccup need our help?" The twins said in unison as they, and Fishlegs sauntered over to check out the debate.
"Sure, whatever," he muttered.
Snotlout grinned. "Well this is a first, but considering your past experiences- actually, you have no experience with this sort of thing," he said philosophizing.
Hiccup's mouth twitched. 'Restrain yourself Hiccup. If you nail him now, you'll destroy any ounce of pride that he has left.'
"Look at Dagur." Hiccup stubbornly listened to Snotlout's command and looked at the sickly ginger.
"Okay… Now what?" He questioned angrily.
"Look at him again." Before Hiccup could retort, Snotlout once again interrupted the Brunette, " But this time, try not to look at him like he's me." Hiccup snickered at the last comment.
He closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. He looked at the red-head again, trying to ignore that he was close to death, and that he had tried to endanger the lives of everyone he cared about. He looked past the wound, and his eyes traveled downwards towards the man's abdomen.
Hiccup raked his hand through his hair in frustration. 'I don't get what I'm supposed to do…'
"Well, what do you notice?" Snotlout asked teasingly.
"I don't know!" Hiccup blurted, a pink blush settling on his cheeks, "He-uh, works out?" He said uncertain.
He was greeted with a round of applause from everyone-even Astrid and Fishlegs. "Oh Hiccup, you might actually get laid!" Snotlout said with a false twinkle of pride, "The teacher has now become the student."
Hiccup tried to ignore the rising sense of both paranoia and confusion that was building in his mind, sure that he had misheard Snotlout.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked irritated.
"Oh, you already know." Snotlout said turning around on his heel and walking away proudly. The rest of them followed Snotlout, shaking their heads.
"Team!" Hiccup yelled, trying to win an already lost battle.
"If you're calling me ugly Snotlout, last I checked, I'm better looking than you!" He huffed.
Ruffnut laughed. "That's not something to brag about," she said dryly.
"Forget all of you!" Hiccup said, a smile cracking on his face.
"Hiccup!" Heather burst in the room, a panicked look on her face. "Gothi's here, but so is your dad," she said breathless. Hiccup blinked quickly, trying to understand what Heather had just said, hoping he had misheard.
Hiccup's smile disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. 'Dad?'
"Shit! Who the fuck, told him about Dagur?" Hiccup hissed silently between his teeth. Everyone shrugged their shoulders, giving him a clueless look. The twins suddenly seemed interested in their shoes, and both Snotlout and Fishlegs seemed to think the shields on the walls were works of art.
"He's going to kill him before the blood loss is." He moaned defeated, and sat on a wooden chest, slumping against the wall.
"Aye, Hiccup, is that you?" Hiccup heard the floorboards creak, and he jumped to attention, trying to get himself together.
"Uh-hey dad!" Hiccup tried to throw himself in his father's line of sight, and the gang quickly got the brilliant idea to huddle around Dagur, hiding him from view.
"Hiccup?" The warmth from Stoick's voice faded, replaced by a puzzled and concerned look.
"Who are you hiding from me, and why is Heather here?" He interrogated angrily, glancing over at the girl's direction. Hiccup cringed at the word, 'hiding'.
He rubbed the back of his head, wiping his hands on his trousers, trying to clear his throat. "Well, uh…" Hiccup started to feel sweat run down his neck. "Is it hot in here?" He asked weakly.
"Hiccup!" Stoick said frustrated.
"Do you, uh...do you remember D-dagur?" Hiccup stammered, twisting a lock of hair with his finger.
"What?!" Stoick roared.
"I blame Snotlout!" Snotlout's mouth fell to the floor, and he looked on, taken aback in betrayal.
Everyone blamed him. Even if it wasn't him, it just was. Everyone blamed him. everyone always did.
"Yeah Snotlout!"
"This was a horrible idea to begin with."
"Any idea Snotlout has is horrible. It's Snotlout."
~Inked In Your Skin~