Things had grown quiet since that time nearly five months ago now, since Astrid and Fishlegs had come home to Berk. The freeze had come and gone, without any lives lost thanks to the diligence and hard work of the vikings and dragons, although almost a month later Mildew passed away, though there was no love lost between the village and the old man.
Once he learned what had transpired with the two teenagers during their time on Outcast Island, it had taken everything Gobber had to calm Stoick down and get him to not go out in search for Alvin's head on a platter. Astrid took care of Toothless in Hiccup's stead and although she herself had been tempted to leave Berk and go back to Outcast Island to at least check up on him, she knew it would make his order for them to leave fruitless at best.
Her hair had grown back since it had been cut by Alvin's sword six months previous, and she sat up on the island's edge hear the pathway leading to the docks, running her fingers through it. Toothless sat next to her, head resting on his forepaws as he stared out at the water. The village had experienced one of their late spring storms last night, and the morning sun shone along the wet grass. Astrid finished tying her hair up, stroking her fingers along the thick braid and the smaller one at the top before she tilted her head in Toothless's direction with a raised eyebrow. "How does it look?"
The Night Fury arched an eyeridge at her, as though questioning why she was asking him, before he gave a harrumph in response, snorting as his tail flicked behind him. He would never understand human grooming. She frowned at his response before giving him a playful shove and a small grin, standing with a stretch. "Let's go for a run, boy. You need to get this mood kicked out of your big scaly butt."
Hearing Toothless croon in a way that clearly said 'why run when you can fly?', Astrid started off down the slope to the beach. Though to be honest she kind of understood his mood. He'd been grumpy ever since they'd gotten back to Berk five months ago, had tried - at numerous points in time - to get himself into the air without anyone on his back and failed before he finally gave up and instead chose to sit and watch the coastline. The spot where he sat and watched had become known as Dragon Point, and at any time of the day, in any weather, you were bound to see Toothless sitting up there, just a little way beyond the village, ear flaps perked forward. He hadn't been bound to Hiccup for nearly as long as Fenrir had been, but the obvious impact to his livelihood was still there, if the way he waited for his rider was any indication.
Astrid started jogging down the slope from the docks without waiting to see if the Night Fury would follow, although by the sound of the thumping behind her, he was starting to catch up. The sand up the coast was still wet from the tide, and Astrid's boots made a bit of a squelching sound as she ran. Toothless bounded along beside her, and a cool breeze swept up in his wake as she allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts. The cuts that Hiccup had made on her the night they went to Outcast Island had healed and faded, bar the one on her left cheek. It seemed to stay there, never fading, but she couldn't remember how hard the knife had cut through her skin when he'd made that one, mind too alert from the previous cuts to pay attention to the pain of one more. She bit her bottom lip, straining her legs to pump faster.
She'd had so many questions to ask him, she'd realized later, about the lies he'd fed her. Whether or not he thought he could change. And always, her mind traveled back to the one thing he'd said when he'd confessed part of his plan to her.
I didn't plan on falling in love with you.
To be honest, Astrid had never liked it when guys fell in love with her. It was always because of her looks rather than anything solidly concrete like her personality. Did they even know anything about her? Granted, Snotlout was the only one on the island who actually kept itrying/i to impress her (Ruffnut had told her Tuffnut found her too scary, and Fishlegs was her best friend). Visits from tribes the Hooligans had an alliance with lasted only long enough to make a first impression at best. Hiccup had been watching her for two or three weeks, learning things about her that the majority of them didn't know. How much he'd come to know, she'd never know now. Who knew when she'd see him again?
If she'd see him again.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, Astrid and Toothless continued up the coast another mile or so before they decided to call it quits. Leaning down on her knees to catch her breath, she watched the dragon sniff the air before his eyes widened, his ear flaps perking forward. Frowning to herself, she watched him head over to the rocks, nose close to the ground before she cupped her hand around her mouth. "Toothless, c'mon! Let's go home!" When the Night Fury only moved further, hopping up onto and along the rocks, she rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, deciding to follow him. Stepping carefully so that she wouldn't fall into the sea, Astrid tilted her head as she watched Toothless before her eyes trailed to the remains of a small sailing boat, smashed beyond repair, no doubt having washed up in last night's storm, and she gasped a little when she saw a hand sticking out from underneath a large snap of the boat.
Toothless nudged the hand and whined low in his throat, a croon leaving him as his ears to the back of his head, looking up as Astrid ran over, nearly slipping on the rocks before she knelt down and the Night Fury nudged his nose against the hand again. Reaching, she hesitated, realizing that the hand was holding onto something. When she managed to pry the fingers away from the rim, her eyes widened when she saw the Berk crest on the side. "Help me move the wood off," she said to the dragon, who nodded and shook his head before he shifted himself. The wood fell off to the side easily with a dragon and a human lifting it, and when Astrid looked to see who was underneath it, she clamped her hand over her mouth.
Hiccup laid there, unmoving even as Toothless nuzzled his hair, a noise leaving the Night Fury. The book clutched between his fingers was Berk's Book of Dragons that had been left back on Outcast Island all those months ago. He was armorless and looked impossibly young - Astrid would have guessed twelve if she hadn't known he was sixteen. Malnourished too, from the looks of things. She rolled him gently onto his back, reaching up to brush hair away from his face. An eyepatch covered his left eye, his clothing soaked to the bone, but he was breathing.
Barely, but he was breathing.
"We need to get him back to Berk," she said, finally breaking the silence that had fallen between human and dragon. Toothless huffed as though in agreement, wings expanding away from his body for a moment. With the Night Fury's help, she managed to get Hiccup up onto his back, gently taking the book from his hand and removing the satchel so that it wouldn't choke him if he suddenly moved.
The small party began making its way back to the village, keeping a steady pace even though they had an emergency on their hands.
Stoick wore a hole into the ground along the pathway leading to Gothi's cottage, situated on the highest peak near the village, the house closest to the Gods. When Astrid and Toothless had made their way into the village with someone on the Night Fury's back, alarm bells had started going off inside the chief's head once he saw it was his son, unconscious and carrying new scars. He had no right to be worried, but Odin be damned if he was just going to sit by and twiddle his thumbs.
Toothless was just as bad as the chief. He had to be pulled out physically before he scratched at the door for a good bit, then started to pace, obviously agitated. The first time he'd seen his rider in moons and they were shutting him out? After about twenty minutes of agonized pacing, he sat down near Astrid with a heavy -thump-, leaning down and putting his head on his paws.
Astrid stroked his neck, fingers gliding over black scales as she sat on one of the rocks, staring down at her lap where he held the Book of Dragons with her free hand. Her thumb brushed over the crest on the cover, head bowed to look at it as she wondered just what in Thor's name he could have been thinking, wondered what his motives were. Fishlegs and Ruffnut came and went, only stopping briefly to get an update. Sometimes Snotlout and Tuffnut came by, but as the minutes drained on into hours, they stopped coming at all.
After what seemed like forever, the door to Goti's cottage opened, the elder holding up her hand before they could start asking questions. Gobber, who had come by to sit near the chief, stood to translate as the old woman started writing into the sand on her porch. Leaning over her shoulder, the blacksmith stroked his chin, nodding. "She says he's going to be fine." A collective sigh resounded among the three and Gobber made a wince at the next part. "He's missing an eye, malnourished, but he'll pull through. You lot just need to give him time to recover." He paused before he looked up at Stoick. "He was asking for you before he passed out. He woke up again just a minute ago."
"I'll go tell the others he'll be okay," Astrid said over her shoulder as she bounded down the steps leading up to the house, taking them two at a time.
Toothless whined after her, looking between where she had disappeared to and the cottage with his ears flat against his skull, eyes wide and woeful. Goti sighed and pointed to the door with her staff before making a motion with her free hand for him to be quiet. Wriggling in glee, the Night Fury pushed his way past Stoick and into the cottage.
When the chief looked into the nursing room, he saw Hiccup laying there on the bed, hand weakly running fingers along the top of Toothless's head as murmurs were exchanged between rider and dragon. The black beast made a trilling noise in the back of his throat, licking at his cheek before Hiccup turned his head to see Stoick standing there. Stitches kept his left eye sewn shut, the wiring tied together at one end and as he sat up as well as he could.
"Stoick." The word wheezed out of him before he coughed into his free hand, the other removing itself from Toothless's head to wrap around his stomach.
The chief closed the distance between them, placing his hand gently on one of the boy's shoulders and forcing him to sit back down against the bed before he pulled a chair up to the side, sitting down next to him. "I'm here. Just don't strain yourself too hard, son." The word was out of his mouth before he could stop it and he mentally winced. He stroked hair away from Hiccup's forehead, hearing the way the young man's breath wheezed out of him. "What did Alvin do to you?"
"I was..." Hiccup's breath hitched, a leg curling up and onto its side before he managed to start speaking again, keeping his other hand on Toothless's body. "After I let Astrid and Fishlegs escape, I was the only one on Outcast Island who knew how to train dragons. Father...Alvin kept me thinking that I was still his son and heir, until a couple of months ago." He bit his bottom lip and shook his head. "He...he had me study the Book of Dragons until I knew everything that was in there, notes that Astrid and her friends had written, the original notes written by Bork...everything. I started taming dragons for him but...I was stupid. I entertained thoughts of treason. I challenged him for the title of chief and that was when..." He gave a shrug and gestured to his eye. "After that, I started learning what he really wanted me to do. I helped him tame a Whispering Death for himself. I wasn't any better than a slave."
"Hiccup..."
The boy looked up, feeling the hand on his shoulder trembling and watching the rage on Stoick's face with a cringe. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
The chief shook his head, squeezing his shoulder gently. "I'm not mad at you, Hiccup. I'm angry at Alvin."
"Oh..." He bit his bottom lip before he tilted his head to look away from him, pulling his hand away from Toothless's head to rub at his arm. "I started planning my escape after that. I managed to leave last night and I took one of our smaller boats...I wasn't counting on the storm." Hiccup gave a small sigh and leaned back down into the yak skin blanket, looking up at the ceiling of the room. "Once Alvin finds out I stole the Book of Dragons and left, he'll be livid. I really was disowned this time. And all because of my own treachery."
The silence that filled the room at that was heavy, before Stoick coughed into his hand before rubbing the back of his neck. "Well...you know, my offer of living under my roof still stands." At the look the brunette gave him, he shrugged and crossed his arms. "I mean if you want." He tapped his fingers together for a moment. "Just think about it."
There was a small hum as Hiccup felt his body start to give into sleep again. Toothless crooned softly and rested his head against the bed, nudging himself under his rider's arm. Stoick realized this as the boy's wheezing became hitches of breath and he glanced down at him with a small sigh, reaching to brush shaggy hair back from his face. Ignoring the voice nagging in the back of his head that this was his fault, he pulled his hand away and glanced at the dragon before walking out of the room.
Once he was sure Stoick had left, Hiccup's eye opened, looking around before he gave a small sigh to himself. Plotting for this had taken months, and he ran his fingers through his hair to mess it back into the way it had been before Stoick had moved some hair aside. Laying back down in the bed with his arm resting around Toothless's neck, he stared up at the ceiling, other arm draped over his stomach. "I'm sorry, Stoick...Astrid," he whispered, closing his eye as his face scrunched up, fingers idly stroking over Toothless's scales. "I can't afford to mess this up again."
Mission infiltrate Berk version two start.