Hiccup followed his mom around for several hours, watching her as she tended to many injured dragons, nurturing them back to health. Had she ever been this caring with him before she was taken away?
The hate and anger had faded the longer he studied her. Her purpose in life hadn't been motherhood. It was here in this nest. The gods decided the dragons needed her more than he did. Who was he to argue with the gods? Maybe when he woke up, he could go find her and reconnect. Maybe they could work together caring for the dragons.
"Would she even recognize me?" Hiccup asked himself. It's not like he was a baby anymore. He was a grown man. Maybe if she had disappeared when he was older, there might be a chance she would see him as her son. He wanted to reach out and touch her. He wanted so desperately to be embraced by his mother. A sensation he'd been robbed of.
"Hiccup," he heard a distant voice called out. He knew that voice. It was Astrid.
His time here was up. He'd completed his mission for Valhalla. His mom wasn't a lost soul. She was right where she need to be. He was sent here so that he could find her after he woke up.
"You won't remember," A gravelly voice spoke as if reading his thoughts.
Hiccup turned to find the owner of the voice. It belonged to an older buff man with a patchy gray bread and a pudgy red face. "Who are you?"
"I am Helgi," the man answered. "I help manage Valhalla for Odin."
"And why won't I remember?" Hiccup wondered.
"Because you are not yet dead," Helgi answered. "Fear not; you will find her soon on your own time."
"Then why make me do this?" Hiccup demanded, feeling the anger well up inside him once more. "If I'm just going to find her, what was the point of this stupid mission."
"Her soul is still lost," Helgi answered. "She has been torn between two worlds for so long. She feels incredible guilt for not coming home. But she has also found a sense of peace here among the dragons. You might not remember, but deep down, you will know that when you find her, you have to convince her to return to Berk with her dragons. You will need each other very soon."
"What's going to happen?" Hiccup asked.
Helgi shook his head. "That is not information I can divulge."
"Come on, Hiccup," Astrid's voice spoke again.
"Time's up," Helgi stated. "You must return home."
Hiccup felt the earth beneath him give way, causing him to fall into an abyss. Everything around him turned pitch black the further he fell as the earth closed above him. As he fell further and further, the darkness faded and transformed into a warm, bright light.
Astrid sat in what had become her chair due to how much time she had spent at the Haddock house during these past several days. When she wasn't tending Hiccup, she was helping Stoick around the house with everyday tasks. Despite Gothi's orders to take it easy, Stoick insisted on doing everything from sweeping the floor to chopping down wood for the hearth.
The blonde warrior knew what he was feeling. She was feeling it as well. A sense of uselessness. All they could do was sit around and wait for Hiccup to wake up. It was a horrible feeling to have. Astrid spent the first couple of days trying to convince Stoick to sit down and rest, but her words fell on deaf ears. So she decided to step in and help where she could. She would help sharpen the family weapons, cook dinner, or make sure Toothless was fed. Between the two of them, the Haddock house had never looked cleaner.
With nothing left to do, Stoick decided it was time to hold the council meeting he'd been putting off.
"You don't have to go," Astrid suggested as she watched Stoick put on his fur cloak. "A day of rest won't hurt."
"I'm the chief, lass," Stoick reminded her. "I have duties to perform. Besides, the council has been calling for this meeting for several days now. If I put it off any longer, the weapons will be drawn. We can't have that. I promise to be back soon." he opened the door only to be greeted by a gust of the sharp winter wind. "If anything changes, come get me."
Not giving her a chance to respond, Stoick stepped out of his home and trudged his way through the freshly fallen snow to the Great Hall. As he walked up the stairs, he found himself slightly glad that his son was asleep for the first snowfall. The start of winter had always been hard on his boy since he lost his leg. Those ghost pains were no joke.
After that first winter, Stoick made sure to stock up on fresh willow bark and valerian root to mix into a salve. When Hiccup would come home from the Edge, he made sure to fill his son's saddle bag with the salve. He didn't like seeing his son suffer. It had always broken his heart whenever he got hurt.
Stoick shook his head. He couldn't think about Hiccup at the moment. He had to focus on the council meeting. He still wasn't sure what the meeting was about. The members had been quite vague. Something to do with Berserker Island and not following orders. He pushed the doors to the Great Hall open and stepped inside.
Two guards forced the doors shut, fighting against the biting wind.
"Bar the doors shut, lads," Stoick ordered. "Then head over to the hearth and warm up a bit. Don't need you freezing to death."
The guards did as he ordered before scurrying over to the hearth. Stoick himself walked to the back of the Hall where the council held its meetings. It was the only spot in the Hall that was secluded enough for business to be discussed in private.
"Gentleman," Stoick greeted as the members stood to acknowledge his presence. "Let's get this meeting underway. The sooner we finish up, the sooner we can get back to our warm homes." As he took his seat at the head of the table everyone else sat back down. "Now, can someone tell me why we're having this meeting?"
"The Master Riders and Spitelout must be punished," Sven stated. "We can't do that without your say."
"Why do we need to punish them?" Stoick asked.
"They disobeyed a direct order of the council to bring Hiccup back here," another member pointed out.
"Hiccup is lying in bed in a coma," Stoick pointed out. "He is home, Jorn."
"You misunderstand," Jorn said. "When you took a turn, we named Hiccup Acting Chief. Spitelout was sent to get him and bring him back here. Instead, he joined them on a dangerous mission to save the King of Dragons. If he and the rest of Master Riders had followed orders, Hiccup wouldn't be where he is now."
Stoick nodded, starting to understand. "So you want to punish my son, his friends, and Spitelout because they stopped Johann and Krogan from capturing the most powerful dragon there is? Who, if they had succeeded, would have used it to enslave our dragons and destroy our home? Did I get that right?"
The council members shifted in their seats, clearly realizing they messed up.
"Well, when you put it like that-," another member started, only to be cut off.
"There is no other way to put it, Lief," Stoick boomed as he stood up. "Hiccup made the right decision. He took down a powerful enemy and, in the process, saved us and the dragons. Not to mention he was nearly killed doing so. I think what happened to him is punishment enough for everyone. Don't you?"
The council remained silent. None of them dared open their mouths to speak.
"If that's all," Stoick huffed. "I will call this meeting to a close. Go home."
Hiccup could hear the crackle of a fire and the snores of a Night Fury. He could smell roasted boar and weapon polish. He felt as pain radiating throughout his body and the lack of a prosthetic. He forced his eyes open and saw a beautiful blonde woman standing over him, smiling as tears fell freely from her eyes.
"Hiccup," The blonde beamed. "Thank the gods; you're awake. We were beginning to think you'd never wake up."
Hiccup stared at the beautiful woman for a moment before opening his mouth to speak, only no sound came out. His throat felt rough and dry like the sandpaper Gobber made to smooth out his wooden ducks.
"Hold on," the blonde said. "I'll get you something to drink."
She moved out of Hiccup's line of sight. He was tempted to move his head to look at her, but something told him not to. As quickly as she had left, though, she had come back. He listened as she set what sounded like a cup down on what he assumed was a table.
"Here, I'll help you sit up," the blonde offered. Very carefully, she took placed one hand behind his head and intertwined her other with his own hand. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three."
In one swift motion, Hiccup had gone from laying flat on his back to sitting upright, leaning against his headboard. He bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain and wrenched his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the feeling that he was spinning.
Once everything felt settled, he opened his eyes again and saw the woman staring at him with concern. "Are you okay?"
Hiccup gave her a slight nod. With his confirmation that he felt fine, she picked the cup back up and brought it to his lips. She kept hold of the cup as he drank water from it. After a few gulps, he felt ready to talk and pulled his lips away from the cup
"Astrid," Hiccup said, his voice slightly raspy. He looked around; he was in his home back on Berk. The last thing he remembered was Johann pinning him to the ground, beating on him. "How long-?"
Astrid cut him off. "Close to two weeks. Gave us all quite a scare for a bit. But you're here now."
"What happened?" Hiccup wondered. "How did I get here?"
"Johann tried killing you. Toothless saved you. Your injuries were treated on Berserker Island before we brought you home," Astrid explained. "You lost a lot of blood between the head and shoulder wounds."
Hiccup raised his right arm up to his head and felt the bandages still wrapped around it. That explains the headache, he thought.
"The biggest concern, though, was the stab wound to your shoulder," Astrid continued, seemingly unable to stop herself. "Because of the blood loss and how long you went without medical care, we were worried we'd have to amputate your arm. Thankfully it's beginning to look like we won't have to. Gothi does think there is some lingering damage, though, and you never regain full use of your arm. She's confident in her treatments to help with that, so who knows."
Hiccup looked down at his left hand and tried flexing the fingers. The movement sent pain shooting up his arm, but he took it as a good sign. He could still move his fingers. That meant there was hope.
"Where's Dad?" Hiccup asked, finally noticing the lack his dad's snoring. "Is he okay? Did he-?"
"He's alive," Astrid reassured. "He's up at the Great Hall, holding a meeting. He should be back soon."
Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that his dad had pulled through. He had been so scared he'd lose his only parent, leaving him alone. "That's good. I'm glad he's okay."
At that moment, the door flung open, and in walked Stoick himself. "Stupid council," he muttered as he forced the door closed. "If they want punishment so bad, I'll hang them all up by their toes."
"Everything okay, Stoick?" Astrid asked.
"Aye, lass," Stoick replied, taking off his cloak. "Council wanted my permission to punish you guys for doing the right thing. I had to tear them a new one."
"Well, I have something that might cheer you up," Astrid said, suppressing the urge to smile.
"Really?" Stoick asked as he turned to face his future daughter-in-law. "What's th-" He was cut off by the sight of his son sitting up, awake and looking at him. "Hiccup!? You're awake!"
"Hey, Dad," Hiccup replied, feeling awkward at the attention. "Yeah, I'm awake."
Stoick rushed over to his son's bedside, ready to pick him up and embrace him in a hug, but thought better of it at the last second. He didn't need to be causing his son more pain. Instead, he opted to pull up a chair and sit down next to him. "How are you feeling, son?"
"Pretty sore," Hiccup answered. "But I think I'll be fine."
"That's good," Stoick said before looking over at Astrid. "I told you to come get me."
"He only woke up a few minutes before you walked in," Astrid pointed out. "Had you been any longer, I'd have come to get you."
"Ah," was Stoick's reply to her defense and turn his attention back to Hiccup. "Well, what's important is that you're awake now."
"I'll let you two talk while I go get Gothi," Astrid offered.
