One says that dozing off feels like falling from the sky, and also, that after dying, without the privilege of ascending Valhalla, one's losing even the awareness of itself - that's how Hiccup felt at that point. Plunging down from that branch, seemed like falling into a nightmare, that same one from every night, and as if she had died, thrown out of Valhalla after not deserving an honor, not even being able to recall her name itself, currently.
Her head burst with the quantity of the latest knowledge, being same outlandish as unthinkable, questions, which appeared again and again, and good-for-nothing inference, which would roast her brain, before answering anything. It did not help, that throughout her downfall, time by time, she was whacked by the leaves and needles of various trees, although in her state, these were not even perceived, as if her body was numb and senseless.
To her, eternity must have passed, before she could reach the ground, however, instead of encountering the hard soil, that should've smashed each bone in her body, she came across the water's surface, which swallowed her at once. The moment elapsed as, ultimately, Hiccup reclaimed her common sense, and acknowledging the dark, cold, liquid environment, she swam upward, and in the final, broke the water's shell, gasping for the air.
Afterward, she wasn't even allowed to analyze her position, because she was soon covered by the wave, after overcoming which, she coughed as the water slipped past to her lungs, complicating even breathing. Gazing at the source of circumstances, she soon glimpsed the black-scaled body, which came off as after a difficult landing, similar to hers, and when the question arrived, as to why he wouldn't fly, the amount of trees around clarified that.
In the ultimate, they caught sight of each other's gazes, and both hardened their expression - waving her arms, Hiccup maintained herself at the surface and the dragon lengthened his wings over it, upholding him by that. Not willing to waste any more time, Hiccup started swimming to the shore, her limbs being numb from the cold already, and watched, how the Night Fury vanished underneath the water, just so to jump out of it with the velocity, that allowed him to fly to her target, despite the weight of liquid on him.
Whereas Hiccup was reaching the rising of sand mixed with gravel, he cast the water off his scales, before he settled himself on the ground cozily, his eyes fixed on her throughout the entire duration of the rest of her path. Dick, she cussed, narrowing her eyes at him, while standing at the beachfront, she dusted her clothing off the sticky, wet sand, and took sight of the surrounding them, half-stone, half-floral cove, with the shady pond at its middle.
Exhausted and freezing, Hiccup wiped her face, before she paced forward, at once receiving the dragon's disapproval in the form of a snarl, which she withheld, pointing to him her destination, which was the space enclosed by trees, not the getaway. Thereby, the male fell silent, although his glare kept drilling into her back, as the woman gathered some sticks, at the scenery of which, the Night Fury contorted his expression, puzzled about what the Viking could've been up to.
At last, Hiccup was over, and once she sat on the dirt, not quite away from him, having a shiver run down her spine, she arranged the collected wood into a cone and rubbed it against each other, aiming at acquiring fire. Following that, the Fury monitored that and even chuckled at another of her unsuccessful attempts of lighting the bonfire up until Hiccup managed, and as the warmth was enlarged around, the beam debuted at her face.
"Bravo," he, at once, praised, although Hiccup reacted to it with the fade of her previous smile. "It took you a while."
"It took exactly as lon' as needed," she stated, drawing closer to the heat, absorbing it, and in the meantime, rubbing her hands together. "Quit the spite, ye're holdin' no reason to kill me, now."
"I might find one any moment," he replied, curling the corner of his mouth, and Hiccup rolled her eyes before he closed up his expression. "Since when?"
"Since the day I saw that monstrosity for the first time," she responded, her eyes locked on him, to which he reacted only by knitting his brows, irritated. "What about ya?"
The lack of an answer, as well as the cross of the awkwardness that betrayed his face, was the answer to the question, itself. "Why?" he asked, his gaze focused on the crackling fire.
"I ain't know," she remarked, hugging her legs to her chest, resisting her chin at her knees. "I ain't remember ever gettin' on some witch's bad side."
"Really? You seem like perfect for the job," he mocked, and as he laid his head on top of his paws, glimpsing her constant state at himself, whiffed. "What? I have not done anything either."
"How can I know? You seem like perfect for the job," she quoted him, the smirk plastering to her face, and the male didn't react much, only dropping his eyelids, vexed. "The only person that I know, and who would, at least, have an idea of such hexes, is the village's elder. However, she's more of the gods-fearin' individual, so she wouldn't dare for," she acknowledged and paused, once detecting the laughter, coming out from the Night Fury's side. "Somethin' is funny to ya?"
"Certainly, although it is not about you, not entirely," he clarified, gazing at her with the side of his eye, entertained. "It would always amuse me, that human belief in the potent, immortal personas, that do not even exist."
"I prefer the idea of someone havin' a guard over me, than thought we're all alone in this world," Hiccup noted, straightening her back and tilting her head at him. "What dragon does think, then? What is yer purpose?"
"We do not have such existential reflections."
As he said that, Hiccup could not help herself much, and snorted, loud enough that the beast narrowed his eyes, both puzzled and frustrated. "Somehow that ain't surprise me," she explained, and at once, the Night Fury gnashed his teeth, piercing his claws into the dirt.
"And what was that supposed to mean?"
"Well, dragons, as the animals, aren't very much thoughtful. The only objects, that are on yer mind, are either food or killin'," she declared, and once glimpsing the murderous gaze of the other at herself, the smirk on her face brightened. "Ain't say that ya disagree."
"I choose to be a thoughtless animal, rather than a creature, who despite owning such an intellect, does not even use it," he replied, and then, sized her posture up. "Moreover, the one of your bread."
"And what was that supposed to mean?"
"Vikings," he rasped and screwed up his expression as if the word was a curse. "I have met a couple of your kind, but no one would be stupid enough to fight dragons, except for you."
"Or maybe, only we're courageous enough, to fight for what's ours," Hiccup implied, furrowing her eyebrows at him, with disgust. "Ya horrid, freakin' thieves."
"First of all, confusing bravery with idiocy does not make you right," he pointed out, his eyes slit throughout the entire conversation. "Second of all, it is you, that stole first."
"We stole anythin'?! From who even?!"
"From nature, that is from who."
"Everythin' that we own, we worked days and nights for!" Hiccup argued, sitting on her knees as she lifted herself. "Food, animals, weapons - each takes plenty of time to produce, at times even months!"
"Surely," he ironized, the smirk betraying that, and all Hiccup wanted at that point, was to throw herself at him, although knowing the outcome, which was her death, she withheld herself. "It is interesting to know, the weapons, that do not even puncture us, take months to make."
"Ye're always so full of yerself?"
"Only when I am right."
"Let me guess, ya think that ye're always."
"As you had guessed," he admitted, and once glimpsing how her nose wrinkled, afterward, he hardened his expression. "Do you change?"
"Into the monster, like the one before me?" she inquired, boring her eyes into him, and sighed. "Alas, and so do ya."
"Alas," he repeated after her, extending his wings, until hearing the creak of bones. "Any idea what had provoked that?"
"Ya'd better ask, how's that even possible," she noticed, and at the sight of him, exhaling in defeat and plastering his head to the ground, added, "It can't be forever."
"I would not be so convinced about that."
"So, ye're inclinin' toward stayin' like this, permanently?" she deduced, shrugging as he gazed at her, lifting his eyebrow arch. "That's what ye're implyin'."
"That's what ye're implyin'," he pretended to her, and Hiccup could only widen her eyes, shocked at how his voice sounded high-pitched in her mind. "Could you, for fuck, learn how to speak?"
"What's yer fuckin' problem?!" she boomed, cocking her brows. "Throughout the entire time, ye're constantly pickin' on me."
"Because you are constantly pissing me off," he explained, not even glancing at her show of fury. "However, this time, it is more about that whole, Viking accent. As if I listened to a drunken squirrel," he added and quirked up the corner of his mouth as he ricocheted at her, "although, it suits you."
"And do you know how do you sound? Like an asshole, and snob."
"Very incisive, won't say no."
"Go fuck yerself. Ya ain't know what that even means, probably," she countered, and snapped, as the male rolled his eyes, indifferently. "Besides, ya dare to criticize my way of speakin', thereby bein' the dragon."
At once, the Night Fury raised his head and gazed at amused Hiccup, before asking, "What is wrong with our communication?" his muscles tensing themselves, already.
"So glad that ya'd asked, 'cause 's lack," she answered, grinning smugly. "After all, what kind of communication is by the one-word sentences?"
"The fastest one," he opposed, straightening his neck, to which the woman only reacted by snorting. "If we both were dragons, we would have finished that talk by now."
"If we were dragons, we'd not have talked at all!"
"At least, we would have been still alive," he commenced. "You, humans, focus on the details too much. Your life will flash before your eyes, before saying anything."
"By saying anything I hope ya mean where's the food, and the danger because these are the only themes yer race raise."
At the time, the dragon's face painted was with rage, and ultimately, he must have snapped, as he roared, "You are lucky to come to be one of the strongest creatures there exist!" bristling the nubs of his back.
"Oh, right! Thank ya, whoever is responsible, for makin' me a fuckin' monster!" Hiccup shouted in the air, cupping her hands around her mouth, while the male only groaned, vexed. "Anyhow, ye're partly human, for five years now, and look, what a gift of the gab ye've got!" she added, pointing at him with her arm, to which he'd only hissed.
"The worst five years of my entire, fucking life!"
"Fun fact, mine either!"
"Five years, of learning how to control this damned transformation," he barked, as the two glared at each other, both wishing the other would melt under their state. "Five years, of learning the language, how to walk, how to behave," he continued, his eyes slit to the breaking point. "I could not care less, how much you went through, so do not even mind comparing us."
"Oh, I will mind. I will, because I also went through the Helheim," she rasped, her eyes filled with emotions, but also tears at their corners. "I also had to learn, the change, the fuckin', through-mind communication, the walk with that shit on the ass!" she fumed, and the Night Fury only glanced at his tail, which he believed she must have meant, and snickered, to which she clenched her jaw. "Do not, then, belittle my pain! Do not belittle me."
"I will belittle you, because you are just some slight, insignificant girl!" he barked, and then, the seriousness overtook his face. "Insignificant enough, that in spite of the passage of such a time, nobody is even looking for her."
That sentence, the truth of it, ripped her apart, although she wouldn't let him see that, and responded, "I doubt, anyone's interested in yer existence either," forcing the smirk on her face.
"Maybe, but I do not care about that," he retorted and saw through her, "You do," to which he had an assurance, as her smirk slipped. "You are useless."
"And vice versa, ya fuckin' lizard."
"It's not even worth time for me to kill you," he stated, and stood up from the ground, as Hiccup followed him at once, standing on the numb legs, currently. "Your death will not change a thing; either way, I am going to be stuck like this, and your life is, anyhow, negligible for the dragons that you can not kill, and your own kind that you can not protect," he reasoned, staring to the side, while Hiccup made an effort for her emotions not to be betrayed by her face, ineffectively. "You are just useless."
"Fuck ya," she mumbled, gnashing her teeth, as to disguise her trembling lip.
Consequently, he gazed at her, even so shortly, but long enough, that it resulted in Hiccup stepping backward, before he ended, "Do not you ever dare to shoot me again," unfurled his wings, and with a single, mighty push of them, disappeared in the darkness of the night.
The seconds, afterward, drove past relentlessly, and through them, Hiccup stood frozen to the core, until she snapped, by the fuel of the feeling, she could've called only madness. "Asshole!" she yelled into the empty air, suddenly. "Bastard, manure, prick!" she continued, at once, flinging everything under her touch, like sticks and stones. "One fuckin' piece of shit!" she bellowed as she destroyed the bonfire, after which extinguishment, the cold took over her body. "I hate ya!" she hollered at the top of her lungs, and further, as she landed on her knees, the sob stifled her outrage, to a crisp.
The night began terribly, and terribly it was foreshadowed to end, when striding through the forest, as the dim and fog shrouded the soil, followed by the drops of the cold rain, Hiccup squeezed her forearms to her body, hugging herself from the frostiness. The woman didn't have any route, just paced somewhere forward, although not because she didn't know the direction, but rather because she didn't know which direction should she follow, where to go, where she would be welcomed.
The sky was formed with black clouds, there was not even a mere hope in the stars, and her body was at the edge of total exhaustion, trembling, any moment now about to collapse on the hard ground, and curl on it, desperately. The feeling of a lack of knowledge weighed on her head, and she hated that, because if she could've respected herself for, at least, one thing, that would've been wisdom, and if she didn't own that, then was a use she even was?
At the lowest point of her life, when the truth was thrown at her, intensively enough, she wasn't even able to imagine herself, having a joyous attitude, again, every aspect of her life coming across as meaningless, currently. There was not even a slight positive about it, the idea that everything would have turned out fine in the end, because that idea was just fiction, the dream for the woman, the little girl, that had merely lost all of her hope.
Always had she thought, that the achievement itself was the actuality that she had survived, that she lived through the worst, through the agony, suffering, and isolation, that that was something, but the truth was, that was just a blatant lie. That wasn't an achievement, that was just her justification for the futility, vanity, and absurdity of her existence, with which nobody was concerned, and with which, as the Night Fury guessed, she yearned anybody would be.
Suddenly, her flow of thought was withheld, when having only a blurred world ahead of her glistening eyes, her foot was blocked by the tree's root, and hence, not being able to balance herself, Hiccup fell to the ground. Consequently, covered by the mud and dirt, as her limbs pulsated with ache, she gave up, laid her head down, not bothering with the cold and pain, and allowed her tears to flow, while maintaining the hardened, apathetic expression.
At such a moment, one's touched by the thoughts, of how their life, at once, changed, from the, maybe so complicated, but good, good and even cheerful, life, into the tragedy, the total bottom, like the one in which they were, in which she was. At such a point, when it could not get any worse, favorable thoughts, optimism, and hope would appear, because, at that point, if it could not worsen, it could only improve, get better.
Eventually, the racket of the storm reached her ears, and thus, she strained her ears, as she listened to the world around her - the drops of rain, hitting the leaves, the striking of the lightning, even the shouts of the angered Vikings. At the last of them, Hiccup must have lifted herself, shocked as to why would she hear her people, in such a depth of the forest, and at once, realizing the reason, she stood up, her heart bursting out of her chest, and rushed after the sound.
Every part of her body burned, from her aching feet, through her popping knees and elbows, to the top of her neck, but that pain wouldn't even slow her down for a mere second, the adrenaline streaming through her. Ultimately, she managed to find her target, which was the group of Vikings, with her father in the lead, the search group, the group searching for her, and that idea filled her with the bliss, she didn't expect just minutes ago.
Immediately, she called after her father, who glimpsed her, returned the yell, before the two hurried toward each other, and met just in the middle of their way. "Hiccup, my dear," Stoic muttered, more to himself than to her, as they embraced one another. "Ye're alright?"
"I'm fine, Dad," she responded, immersing her face in the warmth of his beard, and repeated, tensing her hold on him, "I'm fine."
"What happened?" he asked, stroking her head with his large hand. "Where that devil took ya?"
"Somewhere over the raven's point, but other than that, it didn't hurt me," she answered, allowing herself to settle her breathing, listening to his uneven heartbeat. "It wanted just to scare me off, probably."
"I guess so," he stated, and a sigh broke out of his mouth, relieved. "Thank gods, that ye're alright."
Afterward, as he said, they both clung to each other, not caring about the occurrences around them, about the cold rain, the observing the Vikings, and their shouting, but about themselves, and only about them. Finally, at some point, Stoic's eyes widened at once, sensing the warm liquid at himself, and in spite of his daughter's objection, he inched away from her, and as he analyzed her figure, pointed out, concerned.
"Hiccup, ye're bleeding!"
At first, the woman would only blink at him, confused, before her eyes traveled to the same spot he was gazing at, and at the view of the dark, red stain at both sides of her shirt, at the sight itself, she felt sick. How could she forget, that was the last question, the last of her thoughts, as the world spun around her, and she felt herself collapsing to the ground, although the ground itself she had never reached.
As she found out later before she could hit the land, her father caught her in his arms, and with some help from their people, they managed to bring her home, in spite of the lasting raid, in spite of the forest animals, lurking for her blood, in spite of everything. She didn't have any memory of that time, although she could recall some of the sights from then - the crowns of trees from the bottom view, the buildings, even the forge, on the fire, the couple of stars, looming from between the dense, smoke clouds.