Summary:
He stood inside his hut, his face to the door, with a recently sharpened knife in his left hand. Toothless wasn't there and that hurt as his dragon and best friend wouldn't be there to see his final moments.Story:
The riders were all eating in the clubhouse except for one, and the one that wasn't there was Hiccup. He was in his hut. The rider sat at a Maces and Talons board that he had laid out in his hut, trying to find a strategy that'll give him the upper hand against Viggo Grimborn. Toothless wasn't there with him, as he was with the other dragons in the stables which were eating there dinner.
Hiccup continued to stare down at the board, heavy bags under his eyes from not sleeping, his stomach growled from not eating. These were both caused due to the amount of stress he was under.
After what seemed like hours, The man grabbed the lid to the box and covered it. He walked over to a different desk in his hut and leant against it as he pulled out a knife from his belt. A stress of the war overtook him so did suicidal thoughts and eventually they won. Hiccup sliced the blade across his right forearm, which began to sting as blood dripped from the new wound. Seeing as the blade was sharp, he rose it up to his chest, hovering over his heart and then the door flung open followed by a voice, he recognised as Astrid's, filled the hut.
''Hiccup, the riders wanted to ask you what our ne-'' Astrid stopped mid sentence, jaw-struck by the sight in front of her as her eyes laid on the bloody weapon hovering over her boyfriend's heart. ''Hiccup! What are you doing?!'' She yelled in question.
Hiccup froze, dropping the knife in the process and became a stuttering mess ''I-I-I,'' he stopped and instead he broke down onto his knees and had begun to sob. Astrid immediately went to his side. She wrapped her arms around his abdomen and kissed him on the cheek. ''I-I'm sorry Astrid. I-I d-don't know w-what came over me. I-I should've'' but he stopped when Astrid pulled away, gently grasped his chin and rose his gaze into hers.
''It's okay, there's nothing to be sorry about,'' She rubbed his back in an even motion trying to calm her betrothed down. ''Let's clean you up,'' she said as she stood up gently helping Hiccup back o his foot and prosthetic. Astrid guided him to the same desk that he had leaned himself against and placed him on a chair next to it. She had left Hiccup whilst she went went to his chest and went through it searching for some medical supplies.
She eventually found them and came back to Hiccup. She cleaned his wound in ear-splitting silence both of them unable to find the words to say. After she finished bandaging his forearm she began to speak ''Listen Hiccup, I'm not mad about what you did but I just want to know why you did it. That's all I ask.''
Hiccup hesitated for a second before starting ''I haven't done this for a while now. The last time I did this was 3 years ago. But why I'm doing this now is because I can't handle the stress I'm under. Viggo always outsmarts us, we end up captured and being tortured, and my leg has been hurting for days now from the overload of weight it's on,'' he explained, his words spoken clearly due to the fact that he's finally calmed down.
''Hiccup it's okay,'' Astrid soothed. ''why didn't you tell anyone. One of us could've help-''
''NO YOU COULDN'T. OKAY YES YOU COULD'VE HELPED WITH FINDING A STRATEGY AND FINDING THE UPPERHAND AGAINST VIGGO. BUT YOU COULDN'T HELP WITH THE STRESS OF YOU GETING HURT WHEN A PLAN FAILS OR WHEN MY LEG HURTS! YOU JUST CAN'T!''
Astrid was left jaw-struck once again from his sudden outburst. She was at a loss for words. ''Listen Hiccup, I'm sorr-,''
''Don't say sorry Astrid. It was my fault. I should've asked for help when needed. I just want you having to deal with more than I already ask of you and the rest of the riders,'' Hiccup interrupted.
''You're right,''
''Wait, what?''
''Just listen,'' Astrid said shushing her boyfriend ''some parts were your fault. You should've asked for help. But others weren't. Like when you come up with a really good plan that some of us struggled to come up with and it fails,'' She stopped before starting again. ''But wanna know what you always do? You fix it. Even if it takes hours, days or even months to tweak. You always find out a way to fix your mistakes,'' Astrid explained.
''Why are you so good at pep-talks?'' Hiccup asked.
''So I'm right?'' Astrid said smugly.
''I wouldn't go that far milady. But you're right about you being able to help,''
''Is that your way of asking for help without properly asking for help,'' Astrid said.
''Maybe,'' Hiccup snorted.
''Is that so? Well in that case how can I help?'' The two went over top the Maces and Talons bored to come up with a new plan for their next move...
...Together.
