Vǫrðr Inn Verǫld Svíða
Some men just want to watch the world burn
ACT I: embers
2: Reminders
The next morning, almost all of the adults were passed out in the Meade Hall, or else walking around in a post-drunken state full of headaches and vomiting. They did so with large smiles on their face, however, which was something Hiccup would never understand.
He and Toothless had left the party when the moon was at the highest point in the sky, having enough of the noise. The others had headed home shortly afterwards, he had seen, as they glided over to the Haddock house.
The adults would be taking the day off from chores due to their post-drinking haze and Hiccup intended to make the most of the day by sleeping, since none of their parents would be telling them to do chores either.
Toothless had other plans.
The teen supposed he was lucky his father was sleeping in the Meade Hall, otherwise Stoick would have hollered at him because of the racket the Night Fury was making on their roof.
"Five more minutes..." Hiccup said feebly.
There was another loud stomp and then silence. Hiccup fell asleep again, but it seemed like only seconds later a wave of cold washed over him.
He jerked awake, shivering, seeing his blankets and furs in Toothless' mouth. The nerve of that dragon, pulling them off his bed. It wasn't the first time this had happened, and he knew it wouldn't be the last, but he still glowered at his dragon.
"Give them back," he said groggily, still half-asleep, making a half-hearted attempt to grab them. Toothless made a whining noise that was muffled because of the blankets.
"Fine, fine, you win," Hiccup grumbled. He slid his prosthetic back on with ease out of habit and grumpily snatched his furs and blankets out of his dragon's mouth and put them back on his bed.
He walked down the stairs and out of the house, his brain feeling foggy, but as soon as they were flying through the sky, his mind cleared.
He let out a whoop as he unlatched himself from the safety latches of the saddle and jumped off. They freefell through the air. Toothless poked him slightly and it made him spin; he laughed loudly with pleasure.
How could sleeping in ever be better than flying, he wondered.
Toothless gave him a smug look, as if knowing exactly what he was thinking. "Oh shut up," Hiccup said, although he grinning.
#####
The dragon-rider pair, a few hours later, landed in front of the Dragon Training Academy. It was one of the days, three times a week, when none of the dragon riders had any lessons and with the adults out of commission, they could spend the day having races and doing whatever they wanted together.
Or they could have, if Hiccup had not seen the four heirs of the tribes – Gringuts, Lenlos, Norman and Koza – walking towards the Academy as he and Toothless had flown over.
Great, Hiccup thought dryly, walking into the Academy. Astrid, Fishlegs and the twins were already there with their dragons. Snotlout and Hookfang, were as usual, late. The chalk board that they used for lessons had been pushed into one of the spare dragon pens so it would be out of the way.
"Hey Hiccup," Ruffnut greeted quickly, which Hiccup thought was odd, but then she hurriedly rushed on, "You gotta get Norman off my case, he's driving me crazy! Like, I want to blow stuff up even more than usual!"
"What's wrong with that?" her brother questioned, grinning.
She glowered at him. "Maybe you'll mind if it's your head!" She punched him in the face and soon they were rolling on the ground, scratching and grabbing at any part of each other they could yet, tugging at each other's long hair.
"Ruff, Tuff, stop!" Hiccup said. He didn't dare get too close for fear of being hit.
Astrid sighed in exasperation and walked over and pulled the twins apart. "Shut up!" she yelled, holding them by their shirt collars.. After making a few, futile attempts to restart the fight, both Thorstons pouted and stopped trying to hit each other. "Good. And you're not going to fight again, are you?"
Neither stubbornly answered. She gave them a little, rough shake. "Are you?"
They both sighed and rolled their eyes. "No," they answered glumly.
Astrid seemed satisfied and let them loose. Barf and Belch's heads continued to keep them apart and eventually they were civil enough to stand beside each other.
Hookfang swooped into the ring a few moments later, Snotlout laughing loudly. "Isn't it great?" he crowed, hopping off his dragon. "No chores for an entire day!"
"It's pretty sweet," Tuffnut agreed. "Think of all the trouble we could get into..." Ruffnut nodded earnestly, her previous annoyance with her twin seemingly forgotten.
"I was going to interview the Zippleback riders, since we didn't get the chance at náttverðr," Fishlegs said. "Is anyone interested in coming along?"
"I was actually going to work on speed skills," Astrid said, scratching Stormfly under her chin. "I can't believe even Terrible Terrors are naturally faster." She shook her head, looking slightly disappointed. "Care to come along Hiccup?" She smiled at him.
Snotlout gave him one of those sly, knowing looks and Hiccup felt heat rise to his cheeks and shot him an annoyed look before turning to Astrid. "I would love to!" He said enthusiastically, perhaps a bit too enthusiastic, because Snotlout was grinning even more broadly than before. "I mean, sure." If Astrid had noticed anything odd, she didn't show it.
"You sure you're okay doing the research alone?" Hiccup asked, turning to Fishlegs.
"It's alright. Besides, I've been wanting some 'me' time anyway," the larger boy explained, sounding sincere, so Hiccup let it drop.
There wasn't any more time to discuss it however, as the four heirs had finally reached the Academy and walked through the gate.
The only dragon who had met all of them was Toothless, who was curled up near Hiccup, his broken tail lying near Hiccup's prosthetic and all of the others' dragons let out low, uneasy growls and rumbles. Their riders quickly quieted them down.
"Its okay girl," Fishlegs said, wrapping his arms around Meatlug to the best of his ability in a comforting hug.
Although still wary of the newcomers, Meatlug, Stormfly, Hookfang and Barf and Belch didn't growl anymore, trusting their riders.
"What brings you to the Academy?" Astrid asked Gringuts, Lenlos, Norman and Koza. The dark haired girl was surveying the ring with interest, but her gaze lingered a little longer than it should have on Hiccup.
"Well, Gringuts had told me about your Night Fury and I just had to see it in person," Koza said, smirking at him and batting her eyes at him. "What its name?"
If Koza was trying to get on his good side, she wasn't doing a good job of it, he thought. "His name is Toothless."
She giggled, although he had no idea what she thought was funny. "Toothless? It – he clearly has teeth."
"They're retractable," he said, feeling slightly defensive. It wasn't the greatest name, he knew, but it belonged to his best friend. "Show her bud, and anyway, it started out as a nickname and then just sort of... stuck."
Toothless slid his teeth in and out and Koza reached out to pet him. Toothless growled warningly and she recoiled, fear flashing across her face.
"Not the friendliest dragon, is he?" she said, giving Toothless a look of disdain.
"Has a good reason for it," Astrid muttered, frowning. The blonde had never liked Koza, Hiccup knew that, but she seemed irritated by the attempts of flirting Koza was giving him. It made his heart flutter.
"I'm sure you could explain that, couldn't you Hiccup?" she said, giving an overdose of warmth that made it sound insincere, which he was sure it really was. "Tell me the whole story sometime?"
"I'd like to know how you tamed it as well," Gringuts added, smiling nastily. "I'm sure we'd all like to know, wouldn't we boys?" Norman and Lenlos hastily agreed.
"How much of the story do you know already, there may not be that much to tell," Fishlegs chimed in. Hiccup smiled at him gratefully.
Telling the story would mean explaining how he had downed a Night Fury and he was sure Toothless already suspected his hand in the dragon's crippling, and he wasn't sure he was ready to have that conversation yet. Or ever, if he was being completely honest with himself.
"I know that you found a wounded dragon in the woods and befriended it and helped it fly again, because it had lost part of its tail," Norman said. He winked at Ruffnut, who mimed gagging, causing Tuffnut to grin.
"And you were chosen to kill the Monstrous Nightmare but were brave enough to try to stand up for what you believed in," Koza said, sidling up to Hiccup. He quickly moved away; her face shifted into a confused expression but soon it was gone.
"But your dad ruined it and found out about the nest, so he made your dragon take him and the others Vikings there. The huge ruler of the dragons almost killed them all, but you came and saved them," Norman continued.
"Heroically," Koza added.
"And in the battle you lost your leg, which is the only reason I believe the story," Gringuts finished. The tension, which had already been hanging in the air, was now so thick Hiccup could have cut it with a dagger.
Astrid narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that, Gringuts?" she said, feigning politeness but there was a dangerous edge to her words.
"Well, look at him – he's the same as before and I bet the dragon did all the work –"
Toothless growled and picked himself up. Hiccup placed a hand on the Night Fury's snout. "Easy bud."
"– I mean, honestly, if it weren't for that dragon he would still be Hiccup the Useless –"
Now even the twins looked mad and all five of the dragon riders were glaring at Gringuts, who seemed to have finally noticed how angry everyone looked. "What, you know it's true."
Hiccup, meanwhile, was thanking the gods he didn't get emotional easily, because Gringuts' last comment had hit a little too close to home and it felt like someone had just slapped him across the face.
Toothless nuzzled him while Astrid viciously verbally defended him, he found he had gone temporarily deaf to her words. It looked like Astrid, however, wanted to abandon her words and do nothing more than to grab her axe that had a place in Stormfly's saddle and start swinging it around.
If it weren't for that dragon he would still be Hiccup the Useless...
Hiccup swallowed hard, but seemed to have finally found what he wanted to say. "You know what Gringuts," he said quietly and despite all the noise everyone had turned to him, the ring instantly silent. "Maybe you're right. I had never done anything of worth before I met Toothless. Because then I was forced to act, because there was clearly more to them than anyone had realized. Without him, yeah, I would still be Hiccup the Useless, but from the moment I realized I couldn't kill him, I became a different person."
"You guys call him an it and you have no idea what it's like – he almost died saving me in the ring, he would have, if my father hadn't decided to speak with me first. So talk to me when you've had someone almost die on your account."
He knew if he kept talking he would end up crying. He needed to get out of here and he felt as though he had said enough, judging by everyone's shocked faces, he had.
With that, Hiccup stormed out of the Academy, Toothless growling at Gringuts the whole time until he had caught up with his rider. Wordlessly, Hiccup mounted the dragon and they shot into the sky.
Astrid watched him go, frowning. Then, she glowered at Gringuts. "I think you should leave our Academy. Now."
After making sure Gringuts had left, Astrid didn't even look at her friends or the remaining heirs as she climbed onto Stormfly's saddle. "Fishlegs, you're in charge."
The Deadly Nadder climbed into the sky easily and soon the ring was a dot on the ground. Astrid urged her dragon faster, towards the woods.
She had a friend to talk to.
#####
Hiccup hadn't even needed to tell Toothless where to go; the Night Fury had flown directly to the Cove and Hiccup instantly found peace in the surroundings.
But there was still a lump in his throat. It wasn't something he had thought of often, but he supposed, without Toothless, he was useless. Maybe even more so than before, since he couldn't even walk properly now, or run as fast.
Toothless bumped his arm, trying to provide comfort, but Hiccup found it wasn't working. It was just like he had feared. He was useless. Take away his dragon, and he was useless...
Gringuts was right.
If Gringuts wasn't, then why had the other heirs always been able to hit him as many times as they liked? Why had Gringuts always managed to shove him into the ground? Why hadn't he ever been able to fight back of his own accord, and win? Why had their parents turned a blind eye to his mistreatment, viewing him as a spare, because Snotlout was most likely going to become chief?
If Gringuts wasn't, then why did he know with certainty, that if he had never discovered the truth about dragons, he would have remained a screw-up in the eyes of the village till the day he died?
Why was all he was ever going to be seen as was useless?
It was then, when he was wishing, for what exactly, he didn't know, that Toothless perked up and looked towards one of the Cove's many entrances. Astrid was standing there, looking hesitant.
After a few moments of careful consideration, he waved his hand slightly which he knew she took as a sign she could come down. She was the only person who had come to the Cove beside him, and knew it was a private place for him and his dragon.
Stormfly trotted behind her, chirping happily at Toothless, who made a sullen, rumbling noise. Astrid sat beside Hiccup, not saying anything for a while.
"Gringuts is an idiot," she said simply.
"Yep."
"What you said back there – that was beautiful."
Hiccup didn't respond for a while, but when he did he figured she had been expecting the question. "Astrid, if I hadn't met Toothless, would I still be Hiccup the Useless?"
It took her a moment to answer. "No," she said finally and it took him by surprise. "No. You were never Hiccup the Useless to begin with. You were just different. I'm sorry I never saw that before, never wanted to look beyond what I saw. But that's what's great about you Hiccup. You ask questions and you push boundaries and even though it was annoying, it's what ended the war. You are better with Toothless beside you, but you always had the right stuff in you from the beginning."
Hiccup started to smile. "Thanks Astrid."
"Well, isn't this what friends do?"
"Yeah. I guess it is." He smiled at her and then stood up. "But if it's alright with you, I'm going to go flying. Wanna come?"
"Is Gringuts an idiot?"
Hiccup laughed and they got onto their dragons together.
#####
The rest of the day passed nicely. He and Astrid had multiple races and eventually went to the Meade Hall, which was just beginning to be cleared out of the adults, for lunch. The twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout sat with them and no one said a word about what had happened earlier. Unusual and unheard of tact had come into play and Hiccup was grateful.
He didn't see Gringuts for the rest of the day.
He wished that the Mangy Muttonheads weren't Berk's closest neighbours, weren't part of the Jǫru-fægir Askr tribe alliance. There were enemy tribes, like the Silent Slayers, where runts like himself were left on the mountains to die. All of the babies were, and only those that survived were raised. Despite their harsh practice, they were still a large tribe that scared most of the Barbaric Archipelago.
Hiccup knew even his father found them worrisome, and that was something.
The Silent Slayers were actually the reason the Jǫru-fægir Askr had been formed in the first place. There were multiple tribes in the Barbaric Archipelago, and the Hairy Hooligans hadn't been one of the most favoured two hundred years ago, due to the dragon-war clogging up trading options.
But they had fearsome warriors, and the alliance was created so that if one tribe was attacked, the others would help. All of the tribes had pretty much been immune to war between tribes outside of the Jǫru-fægir Askr since then.
Now, with the way Berk had changed overnight, Hiccup knew the peace-treaties between tribes would be altered as well. For better. Or for worse.
Not for the first time, Hiccup was thankful he wasn't the chief yet and by the time he was, most of these issues would have sorted out. Negotiating with Gringuts every year though? Hiccup made a face. Yeah, that sounded like a great time.
It couldn't bother him too much as he and Toothless did another lap of the island that night. His island and tribe were safe due to the alliance and even if he hated Gringuts, it was still an important alliance to maintain.
And anyway, tomorrow, life would be back to normal. He could put the awful morning's events behind him.
Chores would have to be done, which was a nuisance, but as long as Toothless was there, Hiccup didn't really care. Besides, working with Gobber in the forge was fun, most of the time.
It was with a bright outlook that he settled down to sleep that night.
#####
Now normally, Hiccup didn't get many nightmares. The ones who used to get for the first couple of months after the battle with the Red Death had finally left his system roughly three months ago.
But he got one that night.
He was standing in a forest, off to the side of a clearing where there was a bunch of young kids playing. Peeking through the thick clumps of leaves, he recognized himself, probably only four years old.
Hiccup's eyes were rimmed with red and a few children - most of whom were older - were playing keep-a-way with his helmet. "Give it back!" he demanded. The oldest - Gringuts at eight years old - boy's dark, slanted eyes with alight with mirth.
Gringuts walked towards the tree where he was hidden, and he peeled away but could see his younger self's helmet being hurled up in the air and landed on one of the high tree branches. "Go get it if you're Viking enough!" Gringuts said, laughing. The three other kids - the other heirs - joined in.
Hiccup looked terrified, with tears welling up in his eyes, but he stomped over to the tree and started to climb. He did it with ease, actually.
His older self, still hidden among the trees, had a vague memory of climbing trees when he was younger. He was pretty good at it too, much to his father's distress, but one day he had stopped climbing trees... That was the day he was reliving, right now, wasn't it?
The young boy had finally reached his helmet and was trembling with relief as he clutched one horn in one hand and started to climb down. And then his foot slipped, and he fell.
Hiccup screamed and when he hit the ground face-first he started bawling. The heirs looked horrified; even Gringuts was finding it hard to still treat this as a joke. "Come on, he's fine!" the older boy insisted. "He's just being a baby."
A crowd of adults broke into the woods, the Chiefs with Stoick in the lead, but also a young Astrid holding her father's, Ferocious Flynn's, hand. Sometimes they would go on walks together, Hiccup suddenly remembered.
"Astrid an' her father heard yellin' - wat in Thor's name is goin' on here?!" Stoick shouted, but inhaled quickly when he saw his son on the ground. Hiccup looked minuscule compared to his father, who was cradling his bleeding son in his arms.
"We have to get him to Gothi, quickly!"
The scenes shifted to one a few years later. It was pouring rain and Hiccup looked around eight, and instantly he knew what memory this was. Hiccup was pounding on the door of a house, the only house for a mile, begging to be let in. "Please!"
"Sorry, no useless people around!" one of the boys said - probably Gringuts.
He had walked miserably around for almost an hour before finding another house. He had caught a horrible case of hypothermia. He remembered that gods-awful winter, waking up with horrible fevers. It was a miracle he had even survived, considering the fact he was still so tiny.
More memories flashed by, each one like the others... Something had gone wrong, the heirs had done something and pushed too far without realizing it...
When Hiccup woke up the next morning, although he knew he had had a bad dream, he couldn't remember any of it.
######
Hiccup hammered away in the forge, beads of perspiration sliding down his neck. Finally, the metal was ready to be cooled. Spearheads had to be precise. If done wrong, any arrow fired wouldn't fly straight and it wouldn't do well in battle
Gobber looked over his work while he ducked the spearhead into water. "Good job lad," the old blacksmith said. Hiccup half-smiled. "Wat, no wisecrack fer me today? Wat's on yer mind Hic?"
"Gringuts said something that pushed my buttons yesterday, is all," Hiccup said. He brought the spearhead out and set it out to dry near the hearth.
"An' are yeh sure yeh don' wanna talk 'bout it?"
"Astrid already took care of that. I'm not upset - just angry. It was stupid of me to let him get under my skin."
Gobber cocked his head to the side. "Eh, I'm pretty sure Gringuts is tha stupid one," he replied. "After all, yer a hero now - people are worshippin' tha ground yeh walk on, yeh cheeky little bugger."
"I guess you're right."
"'Course I'm right."
Hiccup rolled his eyes but he was grinning now. "Okay, okay, you're right." Gobber gave a grunt of satisfaction.
"Damn straight. Now, let's get back ta tha spearheads shall we?"
#####
Ever since the confrontation with Gringuts the other day, Toothless never let Hiccup out of his sight. Gringuts wouldn't dare do anything as long as he was around. There was something off about that boy, the dragon could tell. Something wrong.
It was hard to worry about that when he and the other dragons were sprawled out in a grassy meadow with their riders lying peacefully beside them. Toothless had spread his wings out and Hiccup was using one as a bed. Although it wasn't extremely comfortable for him, he hated to disturb Hiccup, especially since his boy hadn't been having the best sleeps recently.
He lay his head back and let out a snort as the bristles of the sweet-smelling grass tickled his ear plates. Hiccup, with his eyes still closed, giggled. "Ticklish, eh bud?"
"Do me a favour and shut up," Snotlout mumbled, half-yawning.
Hiccup shared an amused grin with Toothless. "Cousins," he said simply, but then fell silent. Toothless watched him drift into sleep and smiled to himself. The relationship between cousins was an odd one alright.
#####
The next day, the dragon-rider pair were hanging out in the Cove after a trade negotiation meeting that the heirs had been forced to attend. As always, the meetings were dull and boring and Hiccup thought had seen Lenlos, the Angry Axeman heir, fall asleep at one point.
Frost was everywhere, the first sign of Berk's long winter rolling in, and there was a chill in the air, but leaning against Toothless, who radiated warmth, kept him from being cold. Some of the large pond in the Cove was frozen, with a thin coating of ice.
"Bud?" Hiccup said, smiling peacefully.
"Mmr?" Toothless asked, perking up slightly and looking at him curiously.
"You're my best friend, you know that right Toothless?" Toothless made a happy warbling sound and lifted Hiccup's arm over his head and neck. Hiccup laughed, swearing that the dragon was trying to tell him, You're my best friend too. "I know, bud." He scratched behind the Night Fury's ear plates; Toothless purred happily.
Hiccup didn't know how long they sat there, content in their comfortable silence, resting, or looking up at the clouds, just thinking. How lucky was he, to have such a good friend? One who had risked his life to save him, and changed everything and helped him stop a war. Who had helped him know what it was like to touch the skies.
But could never do so on his own again.
Hiccup frowned, his brow furrowing. "Toothless?" he began tentatively. The dragon looked up at him. Hiccup tried to gather his courage - this was Toothless, he could tell him anything, right? - when loud voices broke the silence.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Of course we are - that dragon isn't exactly hard to spot -"
Hiccup groaned - Gringuts and Norman, and by all the thrashing of the tree branches, Lenlos as well. He only had time to sit up properly before the three large boys were starting to descend the boulders at one of the Cove's entrances.
Toothless let out a low growl. "It's okay bud," Hiccup said, placing a hand on the Night Fury's head.
The trio of heirs were now striding towards him, Gringuts in front of him. Lenlos walked beside him, his hulking frame making him look like the other boy's bodyguard.
"Can I help you?" Hiccup said irritably. He went here whenever he didn't want to be disturbed - and now he was. Even Astrid rarely came here and knew better than to try to talk to him if he didn't want. Most of the time, anyway.
"I just wanted to see where it all happened. This is where you befriended the Night Fury, isn't it?" Gringuts said, smirking. His dark eyes glanced up to the shield with the peeling paint and rotting wood, which was still stuck between a few boulders at one of the Cove's various entrances, but then flitted back to Hiccup.
"Yeah, but that can't be the whole reason you came here. It isn't exactly a short trip," Hiccup retorted. Although not too far into the forest, it was at least half an hour's walk away from where the village was; ten minutes or less, if you were flying.
Gringuts wasn't smirking at him anymore, however, and had moved on to study Toothless' tail, which had been swept up and was lying near Hiccup's feet. The prosthetic tail was almost brushing the boy's metal leg.
"That's the tail you built?" Gringuts asked.
"No - the one I did got ruined in the battle. Gobber, the blacksmith, he made that one, but modeled off my plans," Hiccup explained. Feeling self-conscious, he bent down to check that his leg was strapped properly in place. It was a habit he had picked up on whenever he was nervous, since after the battle he often needed to make sure it was, otherwise he slip and fall. Luckily, Toothless was always there to catch him, just in time.
"The Night Fury needs you to fly, correct?" Norman said. It was one of the first times he had done so. He had a raspy voice that cracked often; a side affect of puberty.
Hiccup looked up from his prosthetic to see Gringuts only a few steps away from him. "Yes, why are you asking?"
"You're a couple of cripples!" Norman crowed, grinning wildly. "Not a threat at all, cripples are!"
A lump formed in Hiccup's throat. Cripple. Synonymous with broken.
The Nutty Northmen didn't have many of them. Being far enough away, they hadn't been affected by the dragons. They had had spats with a few tribes since the Jǫru-fægir Askr had been formed, but whenever Hiccup had been forced to attend a Thing on Norman's island, rarely any amputees were there. There was no reason for them to be, whereas in Berk, they were practically overflowing.
Gobber had attended one of the Things. A Northmen villager walking with his son had seen the old blacksmith and said, "Cripple. Stay away from that broken man son." Hiccup had been angry, as had Gobber, but the older Viking had taken it in stride.
Hiccup had started at the forge the following year. There, he had learned he was good at fixing things - even if that thing was himself. At fifteen, Hiccup had been one of the youngest ones to become an amputee.
Toothless growled and stood up slowly as to allow the boy to get up himself. "Shut up Norman."
If anything, Norman's glee only increased. "Ooh, the cripple's speakin', ain't he Lenlos?!" Lenlos laughed loudly. "The heir to the Hairy Hooligans, a useless cripple!"
"I'm warning you," Hiccup said, taking a step forward. His long fingers curled into a small fist.
"Whattaya gonna do cripple?" Norman continued, still laughing uproariously. Hiccup's fist shook, but a lifetime of taunting - mostly from Snotlout - helped him keep himself under control.
He turned to Toothless, who was now looking quite threatening, back arched and ear plates slanted backwards. His growl was slowly growing louder and louder; the other boys were too busy laughing to notice.
"They're not worth it bud," Hiccup whispered to his dragon, glancing back at Norman and Lenlos, who were currently imitating a person walking with a limp. Hiccup rolled his eyes, but still felt tears prickle at the back of them. "Let's get outta here."
He easily got into the saddle and they were up in the air almost before Norman realized it. Even from high up, Hiccup could see disappointment cross the other's boy face; Gringuts just looked slightly pleased with himself.
Hiccup scowled. "Mmr?" Toothless warbled, sounding concerned. Hiccup gave the dragon a pat on the side of his head.
"Nah, it's alright Toothless... Somehow they just know how to get under my skin... Nothing a nice, long flight won't fix." They shot off into the clouds and soon, Hiccup was whooping with joy.
Maybe he - they, were cripples on land... but in the sky, they were invincible.
#####
Although the long flight had helped, hours later, when Hiccup was walking up to the forge, Toothless trotting beside him, the word cripple still echoed around his head. He could hear Gobber walking around the forge, and the man stuck his head out of one of the windows. "Yer late! Ge' in here, I need yeh help wi' some'hing."
Hiccup quickly joined the blacksmith near one of the wooden counters. Small pieces of metal - wheel axles - were lying on the counter. "Yer tiny hands makes it easier for yeh ta fix it - some of 'em have gone crooked."
The teenager looked at the pieces and went to get a pair of tweezers, and then Gobber turned back to his task at hand: straightening out an old sword for Ferocious Flynn Hofferson. When he didn't hear Hiccup walk back to wheel parts however, he turned around. The boy was just standing there, his back to him, sniffling.
"Hic?" Gobber said apprehensively. "Hic'up?" The Viking still didn't turn around, so he walked up to him and got a good look at his face; the boy was crying. Hiccup reached up to wipe his eyes with his sleeve.
Hiccup slumped into a nearby chair, reaching down to his prosthetic. "It - it's really not coming back." His shoulders shook.
Gobber smiled at him sadly; as someone who had lost two limbs, he had been expecting this. Hiccup had bounced back almost immediately from the loss, and he had been waiting for when the boy mourned properly. "'Fraid not." He rested his huge hand on his apprentice's shoulder. "Just let it out Hic."
And so he did. The crying shifted into sobbing, mourning for the fact he would never, ever, be the same again. Mourning, because every time he got out of bed, or off Toothless, or walked or tried to run, there was a constant creak, a reminder.
Toothless, sensing his rider's distress, had managed to come into the forge, and had wrapped himself around Hiccup's chair, eyes attentive and concerned. Minutes ticked by, the silence between them not awkward nor comfortable, but a type of understanding that didn't need to be stated. Once Hiccup had finally gone back to sniffling, he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
"Feel bet'er?" Gobber asked gently. He lightly squeezed the boy's shoulder. Hiccup half-smiled up at him.
"Sort of," he admitted. He wanted to say thank you, but no words seemed to be able to express his gratitude, and there was a lump in his throat. "Thanks," he choked out finally.
Gobber gave him a small smile. "Anytime Hic." He cleared his throat. "So, are yeh ready ta go back ta work or do ya wanna take some more time or -"
"No, no I'm alright. Those wheel pieces aren't going to fix themselves." He got up, his legs slightly unsteady. Toothless got up, raising his head slightly. Hiccup gratefully wrapped an arm around his dragon's thick neck for support - both emotionally and physically. Hiccup limped over to the pieces and gave Gobber, who had already started back on the sword, a smile.
If this was what being broken meant, then he could live with it.
A/N: This is not, under any circumstances, going to become a Hiccup/OC fic, don't worry.
I've always thought that although Hiccup is resilient and bounced back quickly from his loss, it would take a few months for it to fully settle in – and then the dam would break and he would mourn properly. Not to mention Gobber/Hiccup friendship FTW.
Thank you for all your reviews/favourites/follows, I appreciate it very much.
Also, in regards to the fact that Terrible Terrors being faster flyers than Nadders, I'm going off the official HTTYD site's dragon stats. If you haven't checked that out yet, you should. It's really cool and they even have a profile for Valka and some new pictures! :D
Jǫru-fægir Askr = loosely translated from Old Norse, means Warriors of Ash.
See you guys in two weeks! Or maybe less, if this early update trend continues. :3