Lightning and Death Itself Chapter 22
"That was really hard."
Hiccup and Astrid were flying back from Berk to their nest, after helping Stoick convince the town that the dragon wars were really over. Astrid had also had to convince her parents that she was really their daughter, and that the only reason she had run away from home was to keep the villagers from killing her now that she'd been turned into a dragon. It had been a painful and emotional reunion.
"At least they finally believe it's me," she went on. "Maybe I'll be able to visit them some day soon, once the shock has worn off for them."
Hiccup didn't respond. She glanced at him. His jaw was clenched shut, and his eyes were slits. He was clearly in pain.
"Hiccup, is your leg getting worse?"
"It's really starting to hurt," he grunted. "Astrid, I... I think I need to land and rest for a few minutes." The Hiccup of old might have had that reaction to a paper cut, but for New-night-fury, that meant the pain had to be agonizing.
"We're out over the open ocean," she answered. "I can't think of any islands between here and the nest. And we're more than halfway, so turning back won't help. Just keep going."
He nodded and gritted his teeth. After a few more minutes, he said, "Astrid... please fly higher and see if there's any land in sight. Anything at all." She nodded and gained some altitude.
"There's a very small island off to the right, about a mile away," she called.
"I have to land, now!" he cried. "All my muscles are cramping up." He curled off awkwardly to the right, with Astrid right behind him, and glided stiffly until he reached the tiny islet. It wasn't much more than a rocky peak that stuck straight out of the ocean. It had no beach and no soil, just a couple of hardy pine trees and some moss on the rocks.
Hiccup tried to favor his injured leg when he landed, but he managed to hit it on the ground anyway. Immediately he fell over on his right side with a roar of pain, and lay there.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
"I just need to rest," he said. "Oh, man, that hurts! I almost wish you could kiss it better."
She started to swat him with her tail, then stopped herself when she realized she might hit him in his bad leg. "That would have been for being fresh!" she snapped. Then she looked thoughtful. "You know, I could make it better."
"No, you can't! Don't even try!" he burst out. "You need that Power to make another Night Fury! Don't you dare waste it on something stupid like this!"
"Could this be the Night Fury who used up his own Power to heal a friend's tail?" she demanded.
"No, this is the Night Fury who used up his own Power to save another Night Fury's life and get him back in the sky," he answered. "You can't compare a bad leg to that!"
"A 'bad leg'?" she said. "Hiccup, this is more than just a bad leg! If you don't get something done about it soon, you might..." She couldn't finish.
"Maybe it would help if I soaked it in the ocean," he thought out loud.
"Or maybe you could attract sharks with an open wound like that," she countered. "You stay right here."
"Fine, Miss Bossy," he sighed, and slumped his head to the ground.
"I'm not saying it to be bossy!" she burst out. "I'm saying it because I'm really worried about you and I..."
"And what, Astrid?"
"I don't want to say it," she murmured, looking away. "Are you feeling any better, now that you're on the ground?"
"My leg feels worse, but the rest of me is a little better. I just need to rest. Fighting this pain is..."
"It's taking a lot out of you. I can see that by looking at you. What are you going to do?"
Hiccup lifted his head to look at her. "I think I have two choices. Either I can let Gobber take it off, or I can ask Toothless how dragons handle stuff like this. I don't think I'm going to like either option."
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked again.
"No... just stay close. You make things better when you're close." He closed his eyes and lowered his head again. She covered him with a wing. Within a few minutes, his breath was soft and steady. Whether he was actually asleep, or just resting, she didn't know. She didn't want to ask him, in case he was asleep.
She let him rest for hours; his body and mind obviously needed it. She sat beside him, trying not to look at his hideously injured leg. With nothing else to do, she had time to sit and think.
It had been less than two months since their lives had been completely upended. She'd gone from a Viking warrior maiden, training to fight and kill dragons, to a Night Fury, trying to fight Vikings without killing them, and now she wasn't even fighting them any more. Hiccup had gone from the most incompetent and unloved Viking in his village to the most competent and beloved dragon in his nest. The two of them together had gone from half-hearted adversaries, to... what?
He'd been very up-front with his feelings lately – he really liked her. No, that wasn't true. She shook her head and forced herself to be honest. He loved her. He always had. He wouldn't come out and say it, but after their few moments of sharing TrueSight, he couldn't deny it if he tried. If they were still human, he surely would be badgering his father to set up the engagement with her parents.
How would she have felt about that? Maybe it didn't matter, but if she could answer that question, it might help answer the real question – how did she feel about him now?
If she'd been betrothed to Hiccup the Useless a year ago, she would have been horrified. She'd have begged and pleaded for her parents to change their minds. If that gambit had failed, her only alternative would have been to bully and terrorize Hiccup into letting her call the shots in the relationship, and then arrange things so they had as little contact with each other as possible, married or not.
That was before their first TrueSight showed her how familiar he was with bullying and terror. She felt ashamed that she even might have considered treating him that badly. He might have been incompetent, accident-prone, and generally weird, but he never deserved that kind of treatment. Still, the thought of being Hiccup's wife at that time would have been pretty close to the end of the world for her.
What about their last moments as human beings? She had spent weeks bitterly resenting his sudden success in Dragon Training, and the careless ease with which he'd surpassed her. She'd finally learned his secret – that he was training with a wild dragon – and was on the way to turn him in to the town leaders, when he and the dragon had literally swept her off her feet. They'd taken her for the most amazing ride she'd ever had (up until then), and she was beginning to warm up to him. What if she'd become engaged to him at that moment – how would she have felt about that?
Well, she'd rather have had him than Snotlout or any of her other choices. He was obviously braver than anyone knew, and the artificial tail that kept Toothless flying showed that he was capable of doing things right now and then. She might have wanted a longer-than-usual engagement, just to let him grow up from a boy into something like a man. On the whole, though, it would not have been the end of her world. She might even have welcomed it.
How about now? Now, Hiccup was better known as New-night-fury. His incompetence had vanished with his humanity; as soon as he became a dragon, it seemed like he did everything right on the first try, even though the things he was learning were physically impossible to him before. His timidity and low self-esteem had taken longer to fade away. But he'd eventually convinced himself, long after he'd convinced everyone else, that he was not a failure. He was the equal of his friend and tutor, Toothless, in most ways, and possibly better in some ways. All the dragons loved and respected him. If the Hiccup of a year ago could have met the Hiccup of today, and seen past their appearances into each other's minds, they wouldn't recognize each other.
How did she feel about him now?
She certainly respected him. He was kind, gentle, sensible, fair, clever... all the traits that had made him a failure as a Viking. But now he was also strong, brave, and decisive. He'd be the ultimate Viking now, except he was the ultimate dragon now.
The fact that he was an ultimate "anything" didn't mean much to her, like it might have meant a year ago. It wasn't that he had finally found his confidence. It was that he was now comfortable in his own skin, black and scaly though it was. He wasn't putting impossible pressure on himself any more. He had nothing to prove; he was content with who he was and what he was (and he was awesome). That was the core of what drew her to him.
Was that attraction enough to sustain a life together?
Well, did she have any choice? Toothless had a distant history as a human, but there was just an air of different-ness about him. He'd been a dragon too long; with her own humanity still fresh in her mind, she couldn't think of him as a possible partner. She could choose to stay alone, but she knew she didn't want that. She could search the world and try to find another Night Fury who attracted her, if there was one. Or she could use her own Power to make a Night Fury out of a man whom she found appealing.
But there was no point in that last option, when sleeping next to her was a very appealing man who'd already been turned into a Night Fury.
Still, she wasn't sure. Night Furies could live for centuries. She didn't want to be stuck with the wrong partner for that length of time.
She just watched Hiccup as he rested. Toothless had been right after all – Night Furies were very good-looking dragons. She chuckled quietly at how her taste in males had changed. Two months ago, New-night-fury would have been something for her to kill, not to consider marrying.
Once Hiccup awoke, he'd be strong enough to fly back to the nest. When they got there, he could rest some more, and then make a decision about his leg. She had no idea what was best; if he asked her advice, she didn't know...
Had he breathed recently?
She held her breath and leaned toward him. She couldn't hear anything. His chest wasn't moving. A wave of panic rose up in her –
...And then he exhaled. He growled quietly; one of his forelegs twitched. He was dreaming. His breath had probably stopped for a second, maybe a bit more. It had seemed a lot longer than that to her.
She considered how she'd felt in that endless awful second, when she thought he might be gone forever, and all her doubts flew away like frightened Terrible Terrors. She was sure now.
She woke him up as the sun was setting. "We told the other dragons we'd be home before the day was over. How do you feel?"
"My leg still feels like it's been branded," he groaned as he stretched. "The rest of me feels much better. I think I can make it home now." He flapped experimentally, nodded at her, and they sprang into the air together.
As they glided homeward, she sideslipped until their wingtips overlapped by about a foot. "Hiccup?"
"Hmmm?" he asked, looking at her curiously.
"I love you, Hiccup."
He sideslipped and increased the contact to about three feet. "I love you too, Astrid."
She slipped in and made it four feet. "I know," she smiled.
They flew the rest of the way home that way.