Ch.9
The trio landed on Berk in the early morning long before the sun would crest the horizon. Fishlegs, very tired and anxious to separate himself from Astrid, said his goodbyes and departed for his house. A minute or so later Stormfly arrived in front of the Haddock residence with a by now, totally awake Hiccup. "You're not coming in?" He asked, Astrid looked at him coldly, it was not him she was mad at, she was angry at herself. She didn't mean to come across as unfeeling, but there was too much going on inside for her to try and conjure an expression for Hiccup. "I guess not." Hiccup said his brain too frazzled to make sense of everything to make sense of the situation. Hiccup turned and opened the door but stopped, he looked back and found that Stormfly had gone, but Astrid just stood there. Frazzled Hiccup gestured inside and followed her lead.
Inside the fire that usually brightly burned away in the hearth was little embers unable even to finish the remains of a log. A short amount of heat emanated outward and Hiccup took a moment to take in the warmth. He gazed into the dying embers thinking. "Hiccup!" Valka re-entered the room and was immediately shocked to see Hiccup warming himself over the hearth like normal. Upon hearing Valka Hiccup turned, "Mom!" Valka reached out and hugged him, holding him tightly, as if he'd slip thru her fingers at any moment. "Hiccup, you're alright, I'm glad Astrid found you," It was then she realized there was no sign of Toothless, "You've put Toothless in the stable already?" For a brief second Hiccup allowed himself to pretend Toothless was in the dragon stables, safe, secure, and unharmed. "Hiccup?" The second ended, and Valka asked again, she was confused why he wouldn't answer such a simple question
"Toothless, is—" He gulped trying to force the words out. "still lost." It was all he could do to keep himself from collapsing, the few tears that ventured down his cheeks created little mud paths from the dust and grime. Hiccup did not look up to meet his mother's gaze or utter another word, "I'm, I'm sorry Hiccup." this was all she could think of to say. Hiccup remained motionless staring into the dying embers in the hearth. Valka quickly added a small log and didn't stop until the fire had reclaimed its former glory. For the first time since finding Hiccup back home, she looked around. Astrid was facing the fire, but no longer awake. Minutes went by, and the silence remained unbroken save the pop and crackle of the logs as flames devoured them from the inside. Finally, Valka said something, "I'm going to help Astrid find a suitable place to sleep." With that Hiccup was left to stare into the fire, accompanied by only his thoughts. Several minutes later she returned having found a place for Astrid to sleep until mid-morning. Valka finally spoke up, "Hiccup, think, Astrid knows you, she wouldn't abandon Toothless if there was a way rescue you both at the same time." Hiccup sighed, "no, she wouldn't." He then yawned and headed up to his bed, something he'd not seen in four days. He didn't even bother to change his clothing and was fast asleep within seconds.
"TOOTHLESS!" "TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup was running thru the trees, a black shadow always in the corner of his eye, but when he'd look for it—it'd vanish. "Think Hiccup, where would Toothless be?" The trees suddenly and seamlessly morphed into a ring of fire that trapped him as if in a cage. At the other end of the ring was a battle-scarred and nasty Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup did not stumble and struck the dragon with a shield as the dragon miraculously traveled the vast distance between them in milliseconds. Hiccup's breath was heavy when he realized he'd killed the dragon. However, when Hiccup looked again too where the dragon should've been, another had taken its place. The neck sat at an unnatural angle; blood was everywhere. Hiccup looked to find his own hands and arms were dripping with blood—dragon blood. He madly flailed his arms trying to shake off the fresh blood. A single drop of blood detached itself and landed on the dead dragon in front of him. The dragon opened its eyes and Hiccup saw himself in the colorless orbs that stared back at him, stared right into his soul, his very being. Mere seconds later fire floated out and away from the mouth of the dragon and attached itself to the blood on his arms. Hiccup screamed, nothing. He screamed again. As if in response to his screams the forest melted into a sea of water, Hiccup soon found himself drowning. He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again.
To Hiccup's great relief, he was no longer drowning. He was sitting upright in his bed, his already grimy and dirty clothes now soaking wet from the bucket of water Valka had doused him with to wake him. "Hiccup, you were screaming, change into some dry clothes and meet me downstairs by the hearth. We need to deal with this right away." Hiccup was too fear stricken from what he'd just experienced to say anything, he simply nodded. Once he heard Valka's footsteps on the stairs he changed into fresh clothes, the first clean pair in four days. It hadn't occurred to him that his screaming at awoken Astrid, it had. She sat bolt upright where she slept contemplating what to do. "Since I'm awake I might as well head back to my bed." Astrid left quietly deciding she'd check back in on Hiccup after they'd both rested.
Hiccup was unsure how to process what'd just happened. He just stood on the stairs losing himself in thought. A sneeze reminded him that he should be by the fire to warm up. Valka was waiting for him. She motioned for him to sit down with her at the fire to talk. "Hiccup, what happened to you? I heard you screaming. You wouldn't wake up..." Hiccup began to tell Valka from the beginning what'd happened and soon found he couldn't stop; it was like a waterfall, the more he talked, the more he remembered. When he'd finished explaining everything, including the nightmare, the fire had burned thru most of the logs and was a shadow of its former self. Both Vikings returned to their beds shortly afterward, Hiccup having to place a new dry fur on his, he had no intention of sleeping on a wet bed again. Hiccup slept thru the morning and into the afternoon, undisturbed by any thoughts or Vikings. He awoke briefly in the evening when he'd unknowingly hit a sore spot that sent pain shooting thru him. He sat up, adjusted his position grabbed the dry fur he'd knocked off and resumed sleeping. It was not widely known Hiccup was back either, neither Astrid or Fishlegs had talked about it and nobody had seen them land. Valka thought it was for the best, at least for the first day so he could get some uninterrupted rest.
1 This chapter wasn't nearly as emotional before I edited it. I like Moffat. There, I said it. (if that doesn't make sense, don't worry)
2Also if you want to listen to music while reading this, I listened to "Yanni, In the morning light" and "Cosmos, Giordano Bruno (2004)" in that order while writing this.