"Throw it all away for you"
His shoulders slumped a bit more, as if she had put the weight of the world onto them with her shout. He remained still though, failing to turn and face her, though he figured she was lucky he had stopped to listen to her at all. She screwed her face up in anger, "Tuff!" Stomping her foot and dropping her own shield to the ground with a loud clatter, she fisted her hands at her sides, basically demanding an answer. He turned to look at her over his shoulder, his eyes tired and slightly confused. Blinking, she realized it looked like her twin hadn't slept right in days.
Standing straight she felt a whimper swell in her throat, something so oddly uncharacteristic of herself that it almost scared her. He had only made her cry once or twice in their life time together. The tears stung in the corners of her eyes, burning bad enough for her to close them and dig her fist into her good one. "Why won't you tell me? What's WRONG with you?" She strained to keep her voice calm and in check, the sting of the lump swelling in her throat making it unbelievably hard to do. He turned to face her again, his eyes softened a bit as he did.
"Ruff...I tell you everything..." He mumbled the words, dropping his gaze to the cobble stones beneath his boots when he did.
She nodded quickly, both having forgotten there was anything to the world around them except themselves. The funny thing was, nine times out of ten they had to remind themselves that there was a world outside of their own. They usually forgot it probably should've been the other way around. "I know! So what's WRONG?" She stomped her foot again, glaring at him once more.
He shook his head slowly, his chest heaving with the weight of the sigh that escaped it. His shoulders lifted in a calm shrug, the sword lazily gripped in his hand moving with each of his gestures. "I can't tell you this one. I just can't." What would she think of him if she knew the horrible things that wouldn't leave his mind these past few days? What would she DO to him? He just knew that she wouldn't be able to accept his thoughts or what he planned to do with those thoughts-eventually. It was just better not to tell her anything.
Her face, once again, screwed up with the intense hatred and anger he was use to seeing there. "WHY NOT? What the FUCK are you hiding, Tuffnut Thorston?" She screeched, lunging and wrapping her hands around his slender throat. Granted, it was bigger than hers, and it took both her hands to even THINK of throttling him, she still knew she could if she ever wanted to. That was the beautiful thing about them, they were forever equally matched; in everything.
He swatted her arms away easily, pushing her back with a light tap to her chest, lifting the sword and pointing its tip to her stomach as she growled and moved forward again. Drawing his upper lip back in a malicious sneer he dared her forward with his flickering gaze. "You'll KNOW when I'm hiding something, Ruffnut. I'm not HIDING anything. I'm just not TELLING you something." He stood there for a moment longer, letting his words sink in before sliding a step back and starting to drop the blade. She opened her mouth to speak when an angered roar drowned out any words she had thought of.
Both of them jerked their heads to the side, watching the Monstrous Nightmare rear back on its thick hind legs, flapping its wings with billowing gusts as it let out another ear shattering roar. Hiccup was knelt in front of the animal, covering his ears and wincing as he stared up at it, wondering what had gone wrong. For a moment, the twins glanced at each other and wondered the same thing, then the ground shook with the dragon falling to it again.
Whipping his head back around Tuffnut watched as the animal set itself on fire once more, spitting for Hiccup. The viking boy managed to dodge, the fire clunging to the stones he had once been kneeling on, spreading out like spilt mead. In seconds he had rolled into a stand and was bolting towards them with terror gripping his boyish features. Astrid ran for her little boyfriend, crying out as she lifted her axe above her head, charging the lizard from behind. The dragon spun around, swatting the girl with its spiked tail. It caught her broad across the sternum, clubbing her off her feet and across the arena into he wall.
Tuffnut lurched for Hiccup, watching the boy make the inevitable and fatal mistake of tripping and falling. The brunette came crashing to the ground, already able to feel the dragon's heated fangs on his body as he did. Instead of biting into him though, the creature reared its head back and let out another shriek of raged pain.
Whimpering and looking up, Hiccup saw Tuffnut standing in front of him with a sword gripped in both hands, his tall body hunched forward offensively. Something hissing at his side made the brunette look down at the rocks he was lying on, drops of the dragon's blood having pooled near his stomach, hissing and spitting as they steamed on the stones. He scrambled out of the way, getting to his feet and covering his head, looking up at the outraged dragon, that was now missing an eye.
Tuffnut's own eyes were sparked with an intense light, the slate gray seeming to flicker with golden yellow. "Come on, attack my Hicca again." The boy snarled, shifting from foot to foot anxiously, staring down the dragon as he did. Hiccup's brow furrowed, his cheeks tinting red as the twin's words echoed in his head and he tried to figure out if he had heard them wrong or not. Before taking the time to find out, the scrawny viking boy decided to run over to Ruffnut, who seemed to be gesturing him out of harms way with wild eyes.
As he did, the dragon let out a roar that almost buckled his knees beneath him. It swung for him, the thick claws attached to its wings hitting his narrow shoulder with a sickening precision. He was pushed to the side and back into the wall before he was truly hurt though, Tuffnut having thrown himself in front of the boy once again. "You stay the FUCK away from my Hicca!"
The twin slashed at the dragon's wing, failing to hit the beast this time. It whipped its head towards him, snapping with bone crushing jaws, Tuffnut rolling beneath its serpent-like neck, spinning around and slicing into the animal's thick hide. This time it let out a scream, rearing back as it spewed molten blood from the wound, only managing to back up a pace or two before its head fell to the ground, the leaking neck unable to support it any longer.
Tuffnut let out a blood curdling war cry, running forward to strike a horizontal blow across the wounded dragon's snout. It shrieked again, quickly lifting its head and throwing the lithe viking to the ground, taking his sword with it. Shaking its head the Nightmare roared, Tuffnut's sword falling to the ground across the arena. Scrambling to his feet he took off at a run, the animal snapping at his heels, determined to bite off his legs. Tucking and rolling, Tuffnut managed to grab a shield as he did, holding it over himself quick enough to keep from being roasted as he lay on his back with his legs drawn into his chest.
Panting heavily he threw the flaming sheild to the side, grabbing a dagger with long fingers, jumping to his feet and running for the dragon again. "Tuffnut, don't!" Hiccup ran for the dragon, stopping in surprise as Tuffnut managed to sink his dagger into the lizard's wounded snout, driving it in to the hilt when he did. The beast roared again, lifting its head with Tuffnut still attached, beginning to shake wildly.
Tuffnut remembered being able to rip the knife out of the beast's gums, and he remembered the acidic burn of its blood spilling over his leather clad hand and arm. He remembered his fingers desperately clawing for purchase on the smooth, coal hot scales of the dragon's wide maw, its jagged fangs striking him in the legs and hips every now and then as it continued to roar and shake.
He remembered going for the animal's last eye, making sure to push the dagger in as far as he could reach, and grinning insanely as the tortured beast finally wriggled him free. "Stay away from. MY. Hicca..." And, he remembered the rocks connecting with his back. But, that was all.