6/29/10
A/N So many wonderful comments! I'm so happy you all are enjoying this, and I hope I can meet your expectations. I can only promise it's going to be a bumpy ride for poor Hiccup.
Hiccup had closed the book and was pressing it to his forehead, as if to pull the memories out of it forcibly. The tome seemed to him like a message from a ghost version of himself. Who was that Hiccup, he thought, who flew on a dragon? All I can manage is to get chased by them.
It was a strange feeling – and he wasn't sure that he liked it at all – that there was another version of him out there having adventures. As if at this very moment, his other self was off visiting new worlds, being a hero, getting the girl…yet here he was stuck, gimp and confused.
"It's not fair," he declared suddenly and flung the book across the room. Toothless whined and nuzzled him. "It's ok," he said quietly, automatically patting the dragon's head. "I'm just not myself yet. And apparently," he said looking down as his stomach grumbled loudly and painfully, "very hungry."
It felt like he hadn't eaten in a week. As a pair of bachelors, Stoick and Hiccup rarely prepared food in their home, preferring to dine at the Great Hall, but Hiccup didn't feel comfortable leaving the house just yet. He searched the sparse cooking area hoping to scrounge enough staples to make something edible. After locating some old vegetables, he decided on a weak stew.
Toothless stood by alertly observing as Hiccup carefully maneuvered around. He filled the large cooking pot with water and hung it over the hearth, stoking the fire beneath it. Then he chopped up a few meager carrots and onions, tossing them in the warming water. But when he reached for the small sack of potatoes, his prosthetic foot caught on the leg of the table, and sent him stumbling forward with a painful groan, taking the name of many gods in vain. The potatoes spilled out and began rolling along the floor in random directions.
Toothless' interest was immediately piqued by the errant tubers. His large eyes became fully dilated and he crouched down until his chest and nose brushed the floor, wiggling with excitement. At first he couldn't decide which target to go for, but he finally swiped out a massive paw and sent one flying across the room, keening in delight.
"What are you doing?" Hiccup cried in exasperation, trying to gather as many in his arms as he could while crawling on the floor with great difficulty. "Hey, that's not a toy! Bad dragon!"
Seeing the potato ricochet off the far wall delighted the dragon and he chased after it, giving it another slap and chirping excitedly. Finally, when he felt his prize had been weakened sufficiently, he snatched it up in his mouth with a chomp.
"Oh, no. You are not going to like that!" Hiccup warned him.
Toothless stood motionless for a moment, and then his entire face melted, replacing the previous look of excitement with horror. His lower jaw opened and his tongue sprang out, dropping a pile of wet, crushed potato at his feet.
"Oh come on!"
"Hiccup? Are you ok?"
Still on his knees with an armload of potatoes, Hiccup saw a pair of fur-lined boots enter his field of vision. His eyes followed the boots up to the shapeliest legs he'd ever seen, which ended in a studded leather skirt decorated in skulls. Craning his neck all the way up, he gulped as she looked down at him, concern in her clear blue eyes. "I knocked, but when you didn't answer I got worried and let myself in."
"H-hi."
She smiled warmly at him. "Hi. Here, let me help you." She reached down and grabbed an arm, pulling him up. "What happened here?" she asked looking at the mess on the floor. As they watched, Toothless spat one more piece out, and then smacked his lips together.
"He decided he's not a vegetarian." Hiccup carefully placed the potatoes on the table and grabbed a cloth to clean up the mess.
Astrid grinned and took the cloth from his hand. "I'll do that." She turned and crouched down to wipe up the floor. Hiccup forced himself to turn away from her protruding backside. Picking up a knife, he slowly and deliberately began cutting a potato.
Finished cleaning, she came to stand next to him. "So, are you getting your memories back?"
"Ah, nope. Still the same old Hiccup."
"You seem to be getting along with Toothless?"
Hiccup shrugged. "We talked."
She chuckled lightly. "That's good." Looking around she found another knife and joined him at the table. Hiccup had to concentrate very hard on keeping his fingers out from under his blade. "So," she said as her knife made a loud thunk.
"So?"
"I just…well this isn't exactly how I pictured our first conversation after you woke up." There was sadness in her voice.
"You…pictured us…talking?"
"Of course. I've been looking forward to it. There's so much I wanted to tell you." She smiled at him for just a second, and then said, "Everyone wants to talk to you."
"Why?"
"You're a hero. You saved pretty much the entire village from that dragon."
"I doubt that."
"It's true. You were amazing. Well, you and Toothless." The cutting done, she gathered up all the pieces to place in the boiling water, and then searched around for some dried herbs. "This place is a mess," she commented offhandedly with an irritated huff. Having seasoned the concoction, she stirred it and then adjusted the fire so the stew would simmer at a slow boil. "This is going to take a while to cook. Want to come for a walk with me? There's something I want to show you."
"Uh, I…I don't know."
"Please? I think it will be good for you to get out, get some fresh air, maybe see some familiar things."
Hiccup looked over at Toothless, who seemed to be nodding in encouragement. "Well, for a little while, I guess."
"Great!" She grabbed his hand and started heading for the door, but then stopped. "Um, there is one small thing that's changed. I don't want you to freak out."
"Astrid, I'm kind of all freaked-out for the day."
"All right, just remember everything is all right."
She opened the door and Hiccup had to blink a few times to get used to the daylight, but he was pretty sure he saw lots and lots of…
"Dragons?" he wheezed. "Everywhere?"
Toothless had crowded behind them to look out and grumbled at the new residents.
"Yeah. Come on. I'll explain on the way."
Before they could go very far, a large Viking lumbered up to them. "Hiccup!"
"Dad!"
"Where're you off to?"
"I was just going to show him around a bit, if that's ok?" Astrid told him.
"That's fine, good idea. Here," he said to Hiccup, motioning with the bundle he held in his hands. "Gobber sent these over for you to look at. Maybe you can try putting them on Toothless later?"
Hiccup examined the bundle with interest. "The tailfin and saddle?"
"Right! You remember, son?" Stoick's face had lit up with hope.
"No, no, I just saw the plans in my notebook." Hiccup hated to see the frown on his father's face. "But I'm sure it'll come back soon," he added faintly.
"Of course it will, not a doubt in my mind. Now don't be gone long, and try to stay out of trouble." Hiccup stared for a minute as he realized his father was saying those words with a smile instead of his normal scowl. It took Astrid tugging on his hand to respond.
"Yeah. Sure. See you later," he said with a wave and turned to follow the insistent young woman, Toothless padding along after them.
Villagers started waking up to him, slapping him on the shoulder, telling him how proud they were of him. Dragons of all shapes and sizes zipped by in the air, some with riders who called out to him cheerfully. Not a single person told him to get out of the way or go back inside. There were no snorts of derision, scowls, or insults.
"This is really…weird."
"It's all because of you." She beamed at him.
"Stop saying that!" he said with a flash of irritation, pulling his hand out of hers. It was too much. He felt crushed by the weight of so much adulation. All his life he had dreamt of just being an equal in his tribe, he didn't think he was capable of being their hero. She stopped and looked at him with a frown, and Hiccup realized that he'd hurt her. "I-I'm sorry," he said softly.
"It's ok," she whispered. "I know this must be hard for you."
"It's nothing. I'll be fine." They stood silently for a few more moments before he finally said, "So what did you want to show me?"
"This way, come on." She started walking but did not take his hand again.
