For the ones wondering about the OC "sister", it's not as simple as that but I'm not coming back to her and Valka for a while. I'm not much for OCs myself honestly. so I get your attitude.
Chapter 4: Denial and Anger
Berk/Day after Raid
Stoick was waiting on word from the other tribes. In the meantime, he couldn't figure out what happened. The dragons didn't swarm the village as usual, but made precise hits on the arena then the village in some weird coordinated attack. Were they getting smarter or was someone directing them?
It gave him old flashbacks of a man only born in a nightmare named Drago Bludvist. He had seized command of dragons and killed many chieftains in an attack Stoick was lucky to survive, but this didn't feel like that. There were no deaths in the village. Perhaps the dragons knew about the attempt on the nest and afraid the Hooligans were getting closer. This was simply a warning. Stoick scoffed at this idea. He saw dragons as beasts incapable of feeling anything.
He would have to consult with others before deciding what to do next. Repairing the village was top priority now. Chasing the Night Fury was pointless it seemed and he had worn out his village from that hunt. At the moment, he felt he had to take a walk to the Hofferson house and speak with/or about Astrid. The girl, as tough as she was, had been frightening people of late. Even with her sour attitude lately, what he couldn't see coming is the mood the girl would carry with her that day.
Astrid had not slept. She stared at the axe Hiccup had made for her. 'What exactly was his angle here? Did he have one at all?' Gobber let it slip Hiccup made her other one, but didn't want anyone to know he did it. Why? She wondered these things as she tried to figure out what to do next. She was going to let him have it when he was brought back here. That's for sure.
Berk had again been raided, only this time, the dragons had some weird coordination. They created a diversion to scatter Berk's fighters and then stole the village rations and livestock, but also destroyed most of the forge? That didn't come from nowhere. Had an enemy of Berk learned how to train dragons? Was this some rogue dragon sympathizer? More importantly would they try again and was this something they could fight?
Astrid's hunger for fighting was normal. She was a Viking and dreamed of being a great dragon slayer ever since her uncle was killed, but there was something inside her that had not been normal. Her anger had not dissipated in months. She found herself blowing up at everyone. She could be ill-tempered, but this seemed worse than usual. She had moments of regret but never apologized. Nobody dared to demand one from her, either. Was it dragon training being shut down? Was it the dismal silence going around the village? Was it Hicc…?
What? NO. She pushed that away. She didn't miss him. He was nothing but a pain. Then again so were most of the others, so why did she focus on his mistakes all the time? Why is she fixating on this? Hiccup is not getting to her. That Night Fury can't have…
She shook her thoughts clear again. What was she talking about now? 'Night Fury? There was no Night Fury on Berk. It stayed above the island out of sight. Hiccup made up that story to impress everyone. He is not capable of…' Then she caught sight of her latent birthday gift again. 'Okay, so he is capable of something, but that's just one thing'. She could never admit to herself that his handiwork and attention to detail was second to none on Berk, which it desperately needed right now. With Hiccup gone, it became a little more obvious he wasn't the only clumsy one in training or on Berk. She'd be lying if she didn't think maybe he was blamed for things he shouldn't have been or how that made him feel. Still…
'He cheated in the ring. That was obvious. He couldn't lift a weapon. He was clumsy, frail, and a nuisance. Th…the dragons must have sensed something on him. That's why they didn't touch him. He can't fight, he has no stamina, he can't take a hit. The whole thing was a trick. No wonder he got banished. That'll teach him'. Then her thoughts came back to something else. 'Teach him what? I thought there was no Night Fury?'
Astrid's head was a whirlwind right now. She was in deep denial about something; a lot of things. She had no time for any of it. The last thing she needed was anyone pushing the wrong button, which was going to happen sooner than she realized that day.
"Astrid, dear," she heard her mother. "Breakfast is ready and we have a guest."
"Great", she mutters to herself. Barely any sleep and an overload of mixed emotions, she was a Zippleback with a cold. She could explode at any given moment. Company was not a good thing right now, but she went downstairs anyway. She had to eat.
"Good morning, Astrid." The unmistakable voice of Chief Stoick got her attention. She wasn't really sure what to say. Anybody else she would just grunt or bite their head off, but she still had enough sense to respect the head of Berk.
"Morning, Chief."
Stoick had to discuss some things with her. However, her appearance caught him off guard. The lass didn't look well. She hadn't slept, that was obvious but there was something more to it. Stoick wasn't a very perceptive person so he didn't know how to read this well and realize the landmines he would step on here.
"I going to need you to head clean-up and repair with the other children this afternoon…"
"Of course…", Astrid started before being interrupted.
"However," Stoick interjected, "I need you to keep your temper down out there, so the work can get done more quickly."
"My what?" Astrid was already about to go off. She didn't always catch how bad she had been to others lately, but anyone outside herself definitely knew.
"You're a valuable member of this tribe, Astrid. Probably the strongest and most able of your age, which is why you need to be a leader out there, not a tyrant. I've been getting a lot of complaints lately."
She was not appreciating this lecture as usual but her awful mood mixed with lack of sleep was likely to make it impossible. She was Astrid after all. She had not mastered patience. Her parents, Gobber, Stoick, it didn't matter. Nobody was getting through to her without the sight of clenched fists, red eyes, or an explosion.
"I don't know if you've noticed, Chief, but work is a little difficult when you have to keep track of a couple of rabid dogs, like Ruff and Tuff, not to mention somebody with the attention span of a lit candle, like Snotlout. I am not a babysitter, you know!"
Her voice became a little louder and the Chief was on edge as it is. He knew all too well about how the Thorstons and Jorgenson boy could be. It was bad enough reasoning with their parents, but the children were a different species altogether.
Stoick took a breath and said, "I understand the frustrations you have, Astrid, believe me, but those come with the territory, which makes it all the more important to have composure out there, alright?"
"Fine." She blurted out. Then her father passed her a look, given her tone, and she sighed and added, "Sir."
"Wonderful. Gunner, Hilda, have a good day." Stoick wanted to get out of there. Child rearing was not his strength and he had no interest in getting to the root of the problem here. Stoick knew, but wouldn't admit, exactly when this change started, but he couldn't bring himself to think about it or talk to anyone else. 'Does she miss Hiccup?', he wonders. 'Or was there more to this?'
Work in the village commenced mostly at the storehouses and the forge. They needed to get an exact count in order to figure what they could request from tradesmen and the fellow tribes nearby, not that they didn't have their own problems. Stoick had the final amounts tallied by noon and sent word for assistance. The forge was another problem altogether. Stoick had few metalworkers besides Gobber and his son wasn't there for another month. Dragon raids were unpredictable and he didn't need word getting out to any enemies how weapons were in short supply. He couldn't keep delaying this and had to get more of the young ones to help Gobber.
Astrid and the gang were fixing the storehouse roof. Everything was going pretty well for a while, but then the twins started fighting over "his/her" hammer, which lead to shouting, then to shoving, then to piles of wood and metal falling over. Snotlout was taking his time and snuck away claiming he forgot his favorite helmet, and Fishlegs was trying to draw up plans on how to best fix the roof. Most of the grunt work for the roof had been left to Astrid, and she was halfway done before she heard the twins knock over the supplies and that was all it took.
"FOR THE LOVE OF THOR! WHAT DID YOU TWO DO THIS TIME!" she screamed.
The twins started jabbering about the hammer and the piles, what belonged to whom. She understood absolutely none of it and was about to walk out before running into Snotlout. He looked up and seeing red eyes, began to stutter.
"WHERE WERE YOU?!" She couldn't stop herself anymore.
Snotlout was afraid to speak before saying, "Well, I forgot my helmet, see, and…uh…"
"OHHHH, YOUR HELMET! THAT'S WHAT WE WERE MISSING. A TIN HAT PROTECTING THAT GIANT HEAD WITH HALF A BRAIN! HEY, EVERYONE! CALL OFF THE SEARCH PARTY. SNOTLOUT FOUND HIS HELMET!"
Absolutely nobody would look in her direction. An audience would normally be present for a show like this, but not for her, not anymore. She was like a dragon at full speed. Stay out of her way. Despite this, Fishlegs came out with his drawing for the roof, bad timing.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHAT'S THIS?" Astrid demanded. Fishlegs, eyes wide, was too traumatized to speak. "WELL?" Still nothing. "OH, GIVE ME THAT!"
She snatched the schematic. Normally it would've been impressive, but she had just finished this part on the roof. "THAT SIDE IS ALREADY FIXED! GREAT! YOU JUST WASTED A WHOLE MORNING!"
Ruffnut was fed up with this. She enjoyed chaos, but not abuse. "Hey, Hofferson. We're doing our best here, you know!"
Tuffnut and Snotlout ducked behind the wood pile after hearing that. Fish didn't dare move a muscle. He was frozen stiff.
"That's exactly the problem! THIS is your best." Astrid gesturing at the mess. "There's no plan, there's no logic, no regard for precautions, anything! You're like a bunch of dogs chasing your tails, knocking into everything in sight and nothing gets done! YOU DON'T THINK!"
Ruffnut interjected, "That does it! Tell you what, your highness, why don't you go find some dogs and get them to do this, because I won't anymore."
Tuffnut followed saying, "Yeah but you can't use our dog, he ran away and probably ran further when he heard you. Plus he can't lift anything. I tried to get him to clean my room once and he bit me."
Chief Stoick could hear all this from the Great Hall and finally came outside.
"What is this? What now?" He bellowed.
"Put us somewhere else, Chief. Please? She's crazy!" said Ruff.
"We knocked over some stuff and she blew her stack. Look at poor Fishlegs." said Tuff.
Stoick saw the chubby kid frozen in place, like he'd looked into the gates of Helheim. And he didn't need much convincing that Astrid blew her stack again. Clearly their talk that morning did absolutely nothing.
Astrid would not stand for this. "Hey, if you two would quit butting heads like goats and pay attention to your surroundings for once…," then Ruffnut came in, "What are we to you? Dogs or goats?…" Then Snotlout came in pretending to be part of this, saying 'Helmet' over and over. The entire mess of words was lost on Stoick until he finally shouted…
"ENOUGH!" That quieted everybody, scared away the birds, and sheep, but also knocked down more wood piles. The entire village was at a stand still before Stoick finally spoke.
"Thorstons, get back to stacking. Snotlout, put your helmet on and finish the floorboards. Fishlegs," still nothing. "FISHLEGS!"
"Yes, Chief?" He finally awoke. "Go see Gobber and talk to him about those designs. Then go help with the medicine count at Gothi's."
"Yes, sir, thank you sir!" Then scurried away as fast as possible while whimpering
"Astrid, come along."
"I'm finishing the roof…" She tried to explain.
"NOW, please." He was in no mood to argue. "Maybe you need to go home."
"Wha…" She was surprised.
"I thought we had an understanding, lass. I need a leader, not a bully." said Stoick
"They're the ones who messed up. I'm tired of picking up after them!" Astrid was getting louder. I guess she found her second wind.
"I'm sure they did make the mess, but that can happen. You need to take a breath once in a while and give them a chance to correct it, alright?"
She rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Oh really"?. She spoke rather loudly obviously, because Stoick responded.
"What was that?" He demanded.
"You have any idea how many times Hiccup made a mess just by accident and you never let him get a word in?" Everyone within voice length cringed when they heard this.
"Now, Astrid…" Stoick was turning red as well.
"No, it's supposed to be 'lead by example' isn't it? Hiccup wasn't given this courtesy by his own chief, or father, whatever works for you in the moment I guess, but you expect me to do it with Snothead and the Terror Twins?" She didn't realize what she was doing. It was like she couldn't stop herself.
"I will not have you talking to me this way, Astrid!" He noticed heads were starting to turn towards them.
"Why? Only you can berate people in public without consequence?"
"THAT'S IT, ASTRID. GO HOME NOW!"
"I'M ALREADY GONE!" She'd had enough. Enough of him, enough of the muttonhead gang, enough of Berk. She burst through the door of her home, and ran past her mother on the way in. Astrid was afraid of what her mother would say to her, and respond to it, if she stopped. She then dove into her pillow and fell asleep.
The audience quickly dissipated Stoick couldn't believe that was Astrid. What was the matter with her lately? And what did Hiccup have to do with this? Why did she care? True, his temper tended to fly out of control whenever his son messed up. He never wanted to play favoritism or he would lose respect in the village. Plus Hiccup was the son of the chief. A lot was expected of him. Astrid wasn't altogether wrong, though. When it came to his son, Stoick had zero patience. Ever since he realized the boy was not going to be a burly Viking, Stoick carried that with him everywhere and apparently branded Hiccup with that as well. 'Whatever' he thinks. 'Hiccup will be back in a couple weeks and hopefully he's learned a lesson.'
The last couple of months were pretty much like this. Back and forth until everybody was sick of everyone else. They helped fix the place but little was improved because they couldn't work together. People who could knuckle down and get things done like Hiccup were clearly rare on Berk. Perhaps he was needed. Stoick had finally received enough supply to get a boat fixed and sent Spitelout for Hiccup. He was late, but he just assumed Hiccup had no concept of time at this point. And there was no word of raids by Outcasts either, so it may have worked out. Little did he realize Hiccup had left Outcast Island a couple months before and he and his travel companions were on their own mission.
Bog-Burglar Island
Hiccup and Toothless returned to surveil the area where Cami's tribe had been attacked. He found no proof of who was responsible, so he just salvaged what he could for Cami and headed back. Apparently much of it was part of a package to Berk after the last dragon raid. As he flew back, Heather told Camicazi her story along with what Hiccup had done for her and the Outcasts.
"You're serious?" Cami asked when they landed on her homeland. "His own father stuck him in a prison run by Alvin over an accusation on paper?"
Heather says, "That's what Hiccup tells me. The year is up in another couple weeks, and I can't imagine what happens when they come return for him. Although, Hiccup doubts they will."
"Mother never has many good things to say about the male Vikings. The older I get, the more I see her point." Camicazi said this with a furious tone. "And yet a little toothpick like Hiccup comes along and manages to give you a different side, eh?"
They both laughed at that.
"You have to be making that up, though." Cami asked. "A Skrill?! Those beasts are huge and shoot lightning! He stared that thing down? I dare any of those boneheaded bullies on Berk to do that."
"I wouldn't believe it either unless I saw, but it happened." Heather confirmed. "Don't get me wrong. His Night Fury saved our hides, but it was still impressive."
"What does he intend to do now?" Cami wondered.
Heather continues, "I'm not sure what his long-term ideas are, if he has any. He promised to help me find my family. We've been looking for a place to set a base camp, so we can rest in between exploring, but we haven't had much luck. It's not like he can go home with his dragon. It's hard for both of us right now, but it's good to have a companion."
Cami agrees, "Yeah, Hiccup's good that way. Not the type for a bodyguard and the nice-ness hasn't really worked for him back home, but he never lets it get to him."
Just then they saw Hiccup flying down. "I looked all over, Cami. I didn't see anyone else. I got these books, a few smaller axes, and some of the food before it fell in the water, but there's not much I could bring back on my own."
"It's alright, Hiccup. Thanks. This book actually helps. It tallies the supply. We don't have to start from scratch. I need to get back home and tell Mum what happened."
"You need a lift?" he offered. "Maybe…"
"No, no!", Cami stuttered. "Listen, you three stay here, so I can explain what happened first. Mother will be grateful to you but landing near the base on a dragon will put the place in a panic."
Hiccup knew she was right. He had a lot of work to do helping give dragons a better reputation. "Alright. You can get there from here?"
Cami smirked. "You forget who I am, Haddock? I'm a Bog Burglar. I know every single nook and cranny of this island and how to sneak around it."
Hiccup chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. That was always fun."
After Cami left, Heather spoke. "She's pretty fun. Nice to know you still had a friend, huh?" Hiccup looked upset when he heard this and she spoke again. "No, I meant…"
Hiccup interjected while he pet Toothless, "It's okay, Heather. I know what you mean. Considering everything, it's nice to know there's still a chance to make friends and help dragons."
They just waited to see if Big Bertha was willing to assist them. She clearly had enough to deal with right now, but perhaps Hiccup, Heather and Toothless could help. There was something in the forest watching them that would give them that chance. Toothless' ears perked up because he knew they were there, warning them to stay back. What were they and why were they sneaking around the Bog?
At some point, I intend to jump ahead but that's not until Hiccup finds a base of operations. There are a few characters I'd like to introduce after that jump, but I intend to tell their story in flashbacks, so you know.
Have a good day and don't be shy about sharing opinions.