Carried Off, a DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl (rough draft)
Astrid was able to nurse her daughter while walking around doing her duties, but Finn pitched a fit when she tried the same thing with him. Her nerves were too frayed by that time to attempt feeding him in quiet privacy, so she found Ratnest, another nursing mother, and asked her to feed the boy instead.
Everyone's constant inquiries about Hiccup were driving Astrid crazy. "I am still your chief," she said harshly at one older man's insinuation about her legitimacy as Berk's ruler disappearing into the night along with her husband. "The law was changed months ago, I have every right to continue ruling."
"That 'law' has never been approved at a Thing, you can't-"
"The Thing hasn't had jurisdiction over us in years," she snapped. It suddenly occurred to her that, now that Hiccup was gone, the Hooligans had no more reason to be excluded from the rest of the Viking community. She hoped that the man she was arguing with wouldn't think of this, even as she wondered wildly what this could mean for future politics. Was it worth seriously risking her position of authority to attempt to re-establish ties with the other tribes? "And even under the old law, I would still be regent - Hiccup has a living heir. But the old law doesn't matter, because I am still chief, and you know there is no one who would be able to take my place."
The man scowled and walked away, pretending he was too lofty to continue an argument he didn't know how to win.
The approaching sound of a baby's familiar screams made Astrid close her eyes and grit her teeth and clench her hands for a long minute until she exhaled deeply and turned to face Ratnest.
"He won't take my milk, Astrid. He spit out the first mouthful and then refused to try again."
Astrid took the baby and held him up until she was glaring into his red, screaming face. "Your father is not here anymore," she growled at her son. "No one is going to coddle you anymore when you throw your tantrums. If you won't eat, then you'll starve, do you understand me?" Briefly, she tried to nurse him herself, but he was too upset by then to tolerate the touch of any hands other than the ones that were now lost to him.
Astrid went far away in her mind, trying to tune out his maddening cries, and found her mother. "If you don't take him, I will kill him," she said in a wooden voice, holding him out.
Her mother, who was already tending to Valka, held out her arm for the boy. Val, excited by her brother's screams, added her own shrieks to his.
"Mom, don't ever, ever leave me alone with them. I will kill them. Don't ever leave me alone with them."
"Go on, Astrid. I've got them."
Astrid walked away, but her children's cries still seemed to ring in her ears even after she'd left them far behind.
o.o.o.o.o
Hiccup spent some time exploring, shadowed by the two dragons he assumed were his prison guards.
The nest seemed to be an immense fortress made of ice, within which thousands of dragons flew and played. For the first time in Hiccup's life, he saw (strangely adorable) dragon hatchlings, whose mothers prevented them from getting too close to him. He wondered why he had never until now thought about baby dragons, at least other than in the context of being fed to them.
Hiccup's guards warned away the most inquisitive dragons, which he appreciated. Even though none of them had shown any inclination to eat him so far, he still didn't feel comfortable being in close proximity to his people's ancestral enemies.
At one point, the king called out to his flock, then submerged. Dragons immediately took to the air in excitement, crowing and screeching as they flew out of the Sanctuary.
"What's hap-?!" Hiccup yelped as he was seized and carried along with the horde. His bruised shoulder throbbed in protest. "Okay, we have got to do something about this aerial transportation thing, this is not going to cut it!"
The flock flew out to sea, then began to circle and hover over a certain point. Hiccup couldn't see how that particular patch of ocean was different from any other part, until the dragon king suddenly came bursting out of the water, flinging up a SHOWER of fish.
The Night Fury dove. Hiccup yelled, terrified and excited by the rush of wind and the swift drop. It might actually be kind of fun, if he could figure out how to do this without being dangled like prey...
His prison guards settled on an ice floe, their mouths and talons filled with fish. The Stormcutter immediately dug into his; the Night Fury took no notice when Hiccup grabbed a couple of fish for himself. If he could figure out a way to pack them in ice and keep hold of them during the return journey, maybe he could cook them back at the nest...
The Fury snatched one of the fish out of his hands. "HEY!"
Instead of swallowing it, the black dragon looked like he'd somehow shot a tiny bolt of fire inside his mouth. Smoke leaked out from between his clenched teeth. He dropped the cooked fish at Hiccup's feet, snapped the second fish out of the young man's hands, cooked it as well, then dropped it beside the first and gave Hiccup an almost smug look.
"...Yeah, okay, or you can do that." Hiccup grinned. "Thanks, monster. Guess you figured out how to feed me properly all on your own."
The Night Fury frowned in confusion. Then, to Hiccup's amazement, the dragon uncomfortably peeled back its lips, revealing toothless gums in an expression that looked remarkably like a human smile. Hiccup stared for a minute, open-mouthed.
Then the teeth slipped back out, the dragon shook its head - his head - and returned to its - his - meal.
"...A Night Fury just smiled at me." Hiccup buried his hands in his hair, his heart pounding with excitement and some other emotion he could not name. "A Night Fury just smiled at me...!"
That was the moment when he started to think of dragons as people.
For the return journey, Hiccup managed to convince the Fury, whom he'd started calling 'Toothless,' to let him ride on his back. Hiccup clung, terrified but still more happy than he'd ever been in his life. The feeling of rushing through the sky was incredible, as was the very surprising feeling of being surrounded by many creatures who were bonded together, and with whom he felt like he...belonged. Not once since he had come to the dragons' nest had he felt any sense of judgment or dislike or antagonism - his worst enemies treated him better than his own people.
Dragons soared by, squawking at Toothless and his passenger in a friendly way. Toothless wove around the slower dragons, chortling in delight. At one point, it seemed he couldn't contain himself anymore and climbed higher and higher into the sky, leaving the rest of the flock behind, with Hiccup clinging to his back for dear life and thinking that he would love, love to die at this moment, because then he could die with a smile on his face and a heart full of joy.
Toothless made an outraged sound, and Hiccup laughed to see the Stormcutter ahead of them, diving over and around clouds with ease. The Night Fury pinned his head plates back and stretched out his neck and gave a powerful beat of his wings and arrowed forward. Hiccup, breathless from the speed and the excitement, heard a deadly familiar whistling sound and was exhilarated to realize that it came from the rush of wind past the Night Fury's impossibly fast body. 'And I'm a part of this now. That sound means him and me.'
They were gaining on the Stormcutter, but Hiccup couldn't maintain his hold. His fingers lost their grip, there was a horrible jerk, a moment where he was completely disoriented and had no idea what was happening, then he shouted when he realized he was falling. 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to-!' The thought didn't seem as terrifying as it should have. 'I'm going to die happy.'
Something struck his body, and when Hiccup caught his breath again, he found himself dangling from the Night Fury's claws. Toothless peered down at him and warbled in concern.
Hiccup burst into laughter and couldn't seem to stop. Toothless swooped close to the Stormcutter and dropped Hiccup onto the back of the four-winged dragon, who craned his head almost a full 180 degrees to echo the Night Fury's worry. Hiccup just clung, and laughed and laughed and laughed. When they reached the icy nest, he slid off of the Stormcutter's back and lay, utterly still with exhaustion, until Toothless took him back to their cave like a parent putting a sleepy child to bed.
o.o.o.o.o
'I'm too old for this.'
Gobber had lost both parents, a brother, and a tiny half-sister. He had lost limbs. He had lost relatives and friends, including his best friend's fey young wife. He had weathered it all with acceptance and good humor, for he was a Viking. It was simply the way of things. You loved, you lost, you grieved, you kept living. You did your best. You pressed on. You looked for the light that always burned even in the midst of darkness.
Then he had lost Stoick. Stoick had been his dearest companion, his brother of the heart, his one constant. He had known that Stoick the Vast would always be there...until the day he wasn't.
That had been a heavy blow, more of a struggle to survive, but Gobber had done it. He still had things to live for, like his work, and Hiccup, who was practically as much his son as he had been Stoick's. Hiccup, that infuriating, bright, unfathomable boy...that irrepressible young dreamer, whose soul had been battered by a loveless, crushing marriage, yet had nevertheless continued to glow despite all odds... He had blossomed as a father, had given his whole life to his children figuratively, and then given it for them literally.
Gobber made a soft sound of misery. He was too old for this. He couldn't do it anymore, the losing and the grieving. It was too much. They had taken everything from him; what more was there to take?
He had nothing left. He would lie here and grieve until the next raid, and then he would take up his weapon one more time in defense of his home. He would take no shield. He would fight until the Valkyries came for him, until they took him to the only place where he would see his loved ones again.
The door creaked open. The footsteps of the intruder were covered by the sound of crying babies, and Gobber covered his ears against the din.
Something small and soft and squirming was placed on his chest. He tried to ignore it, but had to put out a hand to catch the child before she fell off the bed. Slowly, he dragged himself into a sitting position and watched the baby who was now pulling happily at his beard. The quiet seemed louder than the infants' wailing had been.
"Gah," little Valka commented, trying to pull one of the leather cords out of her honorary grandfather's hair. "Gah!"
She looked like her father. Gobber didn't know why anyone bothered to question the twins' paternity, since they looked like the offspring of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Astrid Hofferson.
Valka was a living, breathing part of her father's legacy, proving that even though he was gone, he had not left a complete void. It was almost as if he had known he would be departing Midgard before his mentor, as if he had purposefully left behind a reminder of why his tired, brokenhearted second father still needed to keep living. "Dammit, Hiccup," Gobber whispered.
Valka gurgled at him and Gobber embraced her, crying softly.
Astrid, sitting across the room quietly nursing Finn, saw a small spark of life return to the man's eyes. She smiled in relief.
To be continued...