Gobber and Spitelout came over that evening to talk. Ordinarily Stoick would send Hiccup to play in his room, but the boy didn't seem completely convinced that he wasn't in trouble. Hiccup had been following him around all evening and had climbed onto Stoick's lap when the others got there so sending him to his room might not be a good idea. Hiccup, however, proved to be undisruptive, oddly content to sit on Stoick's lap as the men discussed everything from village defenses to crops. Neither Gobber nor Spitelout commented on Hiccup's odd behaviour until the boy fell asleep. That didn't take long; Hiccup was worn out from crying most of the day.
"I've never seen the lad so clingy. Or you indulge him so much." Gobber said, taking a drink. "What'd you do?"
Stoick stiffened. "I lost my temper."
Spitelout snorted and Gobber frowned. "Ya didn't hit him did you?"
"No!" Stoick checked himself as Hiccup stirred, rubbing circles on the boy's back. "You know I would never. I yelled at him and left him here all day by himself. I handled it poorly. The boy sat on his bed waiting for me to come home. He didn't even eat." Stoick added, guilt momentarily clear on his face.
"Let me guess, you've coddled 'im, but said nothing else about it." Gobber said. "Just admit that he scared you and say you're sorry."
Stoick stared at Gobber with narrowed eyes. He could handle this and make things right without his friend butting in with his harebrained ideas.
Spitelout laughed, "Right, Stoick saying he's sorry. Do you know how stubborn he is? I remember Mom telling me how his dad locked him in his room until he would apologize once and Stoick was not the one who gave in. Your dad did give you a whoopin, though, if I remember right."
"I remember that," Gobber said. "During dragon training. You missed a day. You never did tell me what you'd done."
Stoick glared at them both; it was none of their business what he had done. It hadn't been that bad. Stoick shifted Hiccup and stood to put the boy to bed.
"So, 'bout that dragon." Gobber called to Stoick when he went into the bedroom. Stoick stepped back into the doorway to quickly hiss.
"Keep it down. Do you want to wake him? I told you I'm not discussing that beast any further." Stoick put Hiccup into his bed, tucked him in, and stroked his hair making sure he was really out for the night. Hiccup didn't stir so Stoick walked back out, leaving the door open a crack, before taking his seat and addressing Gobber and Spitelout. "If you two morons want to risk hurting yourselves that's fine, but the beast is staying confined."
"It was pretty meek. I don't think it would be a huge risk. The exercise could help its wing get stronger faster. So we can get rid of it." Spitelout said. "I want it gone as much as you do."
Stoick covered his eyes with his hand. Of all the foolish, "So you want it loose in the village?"
"Not right away." Spitelout assured him. "Take some precautions. Get Gothi's opinion. I just think we should give it enough freedom to stretch its wing."
Stoick gave them both a level look causing Spitelout to shift uncomfortably: he knew how stupid he sounded. Gobber, on the other hand, was laughing to himself,
"Sounds crazy, doesn't it? It would work, though. I'm sure than it won't be any trouble."
"And if it is? Gobber, Hiccup's attached to this thing. If it causes trouble then we have to kill it. Possibly in front of the boy and he's having enough nightmares as it is. I don't want to risk further trauma to him. Or the safety of the village."
"Oh just think about it, Stoick." Gobber said getting up to leave. "Apologize to the boy." He added as an afterthought.
Stoick snorted; like he would do either. "Night," he said as Gobber left. "You really agree with that lunatic?" Stoick asked turning to face Spitelout again.
"Yes. No. I don't know. It makes sense. The quicker it heals the sooner its gone. Tie it up outside the village maybe. Corral it in? It can't fly for now." Spitelout paused to wait for a reaction but Stoick didn't give him one. "It won't hurt yer boy, Stoick. It didn't make a move to hurt us either. However, I'll go with what you decide. See you tomorrow."
Stoick frowned at the fire as his brother left thinking it over. He'd ask Gothi what she thought tomorrow; she'd put an end to the idea Stoick was sure. The idea of getting rid of the monster sooner was tempting though.
Hiccup was curled up next to Stoick the next morning. He must have crawled into Stoick's bed sometime in the night. It was still early; they didn't need to get up just yet so Stoick rubbed his thumb between Hiccup's shoulder blades and counted the freckles on the boy's cheeks. It was times like these that he missed Valka the most. He missed her plenty when he felt like he needed her. Yesterday with Hiccup and the dragon for instance. She would have handled that better, Stoick was sure of it. It was the quiet moments, though, that he missed her. She would have teased Stoick about passing his freckles on to their son with her eyes dancing and a grin tugging the corners of her mouth. These were the moments that he wanted her here. For the whispered conversations, the laughter, to see her kiss Hiccup goodnight as she tucked him in like every child deserved. Valka would love Hiccup; she'd tell Stoick that their son had a good heart for wanting to take care of the dragon.
"Dad?" Hiccup slurred without opening his eyes, "Ith it morning?"
"Not just yet." Stoick smiled as Hiccup sighed, eyelids fluttering. Valka used to watch Hiccup sleep with Stoick, each little breath, every scrunching of his nose. They used to talk about Hiccup's future. Debate over whether his eyes would stay blue or turn green, if he would have Valka's playfulness or Stoick's, well, stoic-ness. Either way she would love who Hiccup was, down to each little freckle.
Stoick waited about five minutes before he pulled Hiccup closer to kiss his hair. "Time to get up."
Hiccup whined, pushing against Stoick and curling in, covering his head with his arms.
"None of that," Stoick chuckled. "Time to get up. Come on, son." He got out of bed and pulled the blankets off Hiccup. "Come get some breakfast."
Stoick was half done his first mug of tea and the porridge was ready before Hiccup came out of the bedroom rubbing his eyes. Stoick put a bowl of porridge and a mug of milk in front of the boy, then smoothed his son's unruly hair where it was sticking up on the side.
"Why don't you go play with the other kids today? Gobber and I are both going to by busy."
"I thought I was grounded." Hiccup said while pushing his porridge around.
"Eat, Hiccup." Stoick said sitting with his own breakfast. "You are grounded. I'm dropping you off with your Aunt Thistleface. You'll do as she tells you."
Hiccup scrunched his nose as he chewed. "How long am I grounded?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full. I haven't decided yet. Drink your milk. Both hands, Hiccup."
"Are you doing chief thingth today?" Hiccup asked when he put his mug down.
"Yes." Dealing with the dragon and the village.
"You want Gobber helping? You thaid he wathn't good at being rethponthible. That he was a dithtraction."
Stoick snorted. Gobber could be helpful and responsible when he felt like it. If he was completely irresponsible Stoick would never leave Hiccup in his care. "I need his help today. You'll be fine with your Aunt and your cousin."
Hiccup hated being at his Aunt and Uncle's. Snotlout teased him, his uncle made comments about how un-Viking like he was, and his Aunt kept trying to feed him and talked about how Stoick was taking too much on with Hiccup and the village. She would mention 'nice families' that would gladly accept the 'honour' of caring for the heir. No matter how difficult he was. Hiccup knew better; grownups other than Gobber didn't like him; they stayed as far away as possible from him.
"He's grounded so keep him in sight. He's allowed to play with the other kids outside; in fact I'd prefer he spent the day outside. He's not allowed to go running off though." Stoick said stroking Hiccup's hair.
"I got it, Stoick. I've looked after him plenty of times." Aunt Thistleface said. "Is what Spitelout said true?"
Stoick snorted, "True enough. Be good and listen to your aunt." Stoick ordered Hiccup. He was going towards the arena which confirmed Hiccup's suspicion that he was doing something with the dragon.
"Come inside, Hiccup, the ground's still wet, you can play outside later." Aunt Thistleface said pushing him along into her house. "Go play with Snotlout, dear."
Snotlout was sitting on the floor with some blocks but he didn't seem to be doing much. It looked like Aunt Thistleface was doing the dishes. Helping with chores would be preferable to playing with Snotlout. At his house Snotlout was bossy and mean, worse than outside because Hiccup was stuck with him.
"Snotlout, Hiccup's here." Aunt Thistleface said heading to the basin of wash water.
"I can help with the disheth, Aunt Thistleface." Hiccup said following her.
"That's okay, Hiccup. You go play with your cousin. Your father said you had a bad day yesterday and he wants you to have some fun today."
Fun did not mean playing with his cousin. "Helping can be fun."
Aunt Thistleface smiled at Hiccup, a fake smile that politely said she wanted Hiccup to leave her alone. "It's okay, Hiccup. You go play with Snotlout." She pushed Hiccup away from the table and the dishes. Hiccup made his way gloomily to his cousin and sat down.
"Helping is fun? You are such a suck up." Snotlout hissed, tossing a block at Hiccup's chest.
"It can be." Hiccup defended. "More fun than thome other thingth," he muttered.
"Whatever. Build a tower." Snotlout said while shoving the blocks across the floor to Hiccup.
"Why?" Hiccup asked turning one of the blocks over in his hands. It had seen a lot of wear and tear, chipped and worn.
Snotlout rolled his eyes. "So my warriors have something to destroy, duh." He picked up a toy Viking and waved it in Hiccup's face.
"Okay, why do I have to build the tower?"
"Cause only babies play with blocks and you're the baby."
"I am not!" Hiccup dropped the block he was fiddling with, "You were playing with them when I got here." Hiccup pushed the blocks back to Snotlout.
"Only because I knew you were coming over." Snotlout pushed them back.
"You're lying; you were playing with them yourself. Like a baby." Hiccup said shoving the blocks at Snotlout again.
"No, you're the baby!" Snotlout shouted before picking up a block and throwing it in Hiccup's face.
"Ow!" Hiccup cried, clutching his face after the corner of the block dug into his nose. He wasn't going to cry. Vikings didn't cry over a bit of pain.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Snotlout was saying. Hiccup didn't really hear him; he could feel wetness on his fingers, a thick wetness, which also dripped into his right eye. Next thing he knew there were hands tugging at his wrists.
"Hiccup, let me see, dear." Aunt Thistleface ordered. It hurt and he didn't want to let go. His aunt was stronger though and pulled Hiccup's hands away from his face. "Snotlout, get some water and clean rags. It's okay Hiccup." Aunt Thistleface used a wet rag on the bridge of Hiccup's nose and pulled a splinter of wood out while Hiccup whimpered. She then pressed the rag to his nose near his right eye.
"It was an accident. I'm sorry." Snotlout kept saying.
"Go to your room, Snotlout." Aunt Thistleface said, inspecting the cut on Hiccup's nose, "You know better than to throw things at others." She got Hiccup to his feet and over to the table. "Your eye is fine, thank goodness. I'm going to wrap it up, okay dear? I need to get the bleeding to stop. I don't think you'll need stitches though. We don't need to tell your dad how this happened, okay?"
Hiccup sniffed and nodded as his aunt wrapped a bandage between his eyes and over his left cheek. He wiped some stray tears off his cheeks and bit his lip to stop its trembling.
"You're fine, just a scratch. We'll take the bandage off in a bit. Makes it look worse than it is." His aunt muttered to herself. The cut throbbed worse than a scratch. Hiccup knew no good would come from playing with Snotlout.
The whole village had gone mad. Stoick had expected Gothi at least to have some sense but no, apparently even that was expecting too much. She agreed with Gobber and Spitelout's recommendation. So a metal corral was being set up, using precious resources and time. At least Stoick had thought it would use resources. Gobber used spare chains from the arena. The posts curved inward so the beast couldn't climb out. It would be able to see the whole village from there, including Stoick's house.
"Comin' along nicely, wouldn't you say?" Spitelout whilst said standing next to Stoick. The posts were all up and after a break they would wind the chains round them.
"If this doesn't work out?" Stoick asked harshly.
"Look, Stoick, it should be flying again in a week or two. Everything will be fine for that long."
"If it were Snotlout would you be okay with this?" Stoick asked.
Spitelout was silent for a while. "It honestly isn't the same. They're very different boys. I don't think Snotlout would feel guilty over the beast being caught now. At least, he wouldn't let that guilt show."
"You aren't answering my question."
"I would have killed it when I had the chance and told Snotlout to get over it. However, Hiccup's too soft for that. Besides they're both too young really. Too young to get blood on them."
That was another issue: Hiccup was a Viking; a strong Viking if not very big. He was going to get blood on him so he would have to come to terms with that. The boy had been upset the first time he saw a chicken killed for supper. He had been two, playing in the yard, pretending to do whatever he saw Stoick doing until the chicken was killed. Stoick hadn't thought about it, hadn't realized he had never killed a chicken in front of Hiccup until that moment. When he struck the head off the bird blood spurted out and Hiccup burst into tears.
It had taken Stoick the rest of the evening to calm the child down. He had explained that they needed to eat, that it was the natural course of things. Chickens were eaten, not just by people, but also by dogs, cats, dragons. However, Stoick had made sure not to kill anything else in front of Hiccup until he was a few years older and able to understand what was going on.
Hiccup was five Stoick had first taken him 'hunting.' Nothing more than checking rabbit traps really. Hiccup by then understood the order of life. They had found one rabbit still alive in a trap. Stoick had thought it would be a good learning experience, an easy first kill. Hiccup was old enough. They would have the rabbit for supper. Only Hiccup couldn't do it. He had thrown the knife down and run off, ashamed that he hadn't been able to make the kill. Stoick took care of the rabbit, he didn't want the poor thing to suffer in its fear, and then got his son. He had assured his son that it was okay. Hiccup was only a very little boy and a good Viking. He didn't have to kill the rabbit. Hiccup was okay with hunting rabbits now when it was for food. He was a good hearted boy and Stoick was proud of him for it. Kindness was not a weakness, Valka had shown him that.
"Ready ta get those chains up?" Gobber asked, breaking Stoick from his thoughts.
"What?"
"The chains. What're ya thinkin' so hard about? Could practically see the smoke comin' out yer ears." Gobber said laughing.
"Rabbits," Stoick said before moving closer to the enclose, a bewildered Gobber staring at him.
They moved her. Bundled up in chains and loaded on a slab of wood. She was hauled out of her prison to a new one. A smaller one with an open sky. Not that she could use her wing she thought sourly.
The Alpha stood outside her new prison with his arms crossed while the two from before came in to take her chains off.
"Easy, beastie," Funny Limb said, "Nothin' ta worry 'bout." They got her chains off. She could have easily taken a snap at them but resisted. She was being good, though, and her hatchling's sire was watching. If he saw she was good she might get her hatchling back.
The two Vikings left her new prison and closed her in. The Alpha nodded to them and left. Just like that. The Nightmare could see the Viking nest to her right. This might be smaller, but she was closer to her little one. She could smell traces of him when she tried and her mood lifted with that thought.
A/N: This chapter was supposed to be about the kids but Snotlout ruined that. Honestly, that kid just turns to violence as a default. Though I suppose being a Viking that is what is expected of him. Have I said before that Snotlout and Hookfang are possibly my favourite characters in the show? They amuse me so very much. Especially the one where Snotlout was trying to get Hookfang to sneak and that big lumbering dragon was thudding across the beach. That makes me laugh just thinking about it.
So next chapter is the last of part 3 then only part 4 to go! I can't believe the end is in sight. I can't tell you when this story is coming back though, I'm going back home next week and staying for three weeks so I don't plan on doing much writing while I'm there as I'm visiting my dad's hometown and family for a week and then my hometown and grandmother. I haven't been home since 2009 and some of my dad's family (my Great Uncle and Uncle mainly) couldn't make it to the funeral last year so it will probably get emotional. Plus I haven't seen my grandmother since last year and she just beat cancer for the fourth time so there won't be much writing between visiting, helping out, and touring around to see old haunts. Thus I will be on hiatus for a few weeks. I will keep the schedule updated so you can check there to see when Of Fathers and Nightmares will be back. Imprint will come back in a couple of weeks before the hiatus starts but I will keep some chapters in reserve so I have something to post after the hiatus while I catch up on my writing. Don't worry, I am finishing this story; hopefully by late fall the whole thing will be posted.
KaliAnn: Yeah, the ending… It's not that bad, I don't think… You'll all tell me when you get there. Thank you, I do try to get the differences between child and adult views and it's nice to know I'm succeeding. Stoick did handle that all wrong but at least he knows that and will make it up to Hiccup in his own way.
Thearizona: Really? You don't think the immense guilt Stoick felt when he got home and realized his very hyperactive son had spent the entire day sitting alone on his bed waiting to be punished wasn't mean? Hiccup didn't even have breakfast let alone lunch and it's Stoick's fault. OFN (I take the letters that are capitalized in the title because that makes more sense in my strange little head. I don't care if others want to add the 'A' though) I haven't sat down and outlined part four yet (I take the overall outline and add more details) so I'm guessing maybe 6 more chapters and an epilogue? There could be more could be less I never really know till I write them. Sometimes what I think is one chapter becomes two and vice versa. There is an epilogue, I know that much. Imprint is back on the 22 but will go on hiatus starting the 29 or August 5 because of the trip I mentioned before. It depends on internet and how much time I have to edit while Back East.
ElvenPrincess: Thank you, always happy to get more comments, especially ones that I can use to improve. Do you think the difference could be because he is aged down? He's eight here and so not the same as he was in the movies because of it. I tried to keep the same core Hiccup, although your personality is still developing at eight. Is it something specific or just an overall feeling? If it's something I can work on or fix I'd like to do so.
Hendemar2000: Aww thank you!
D: Hiccup's relationship with Toothless is very different than his relationship with Mama Nightmare (I almost slipped and used her name there lol) so you don't need to worry about that. Just a note, Hiccup's eight in my fic and 15 in the first movie (we're told he's 20 in the second and that it takes place five years after the first) which also adds to the differences in the relationships. I know it's rough for Stoick and Hiccup both not having enough time to bond. I feel like that really contributes to their problems in the first movie as Stoick is in no way abusive towards his son and clearly loves him dearly even when he's angry with him. Hiccup for his part is comfortable with Stoick if a little awkward. They just don't know how to talk to each other, which aggravates Gobber hehe. You got fluffiness here, and I think there's at least one chapter of fluffiness coming in part 4…
As always special thanks to CB for the edit