Reviews
DJ Rodriguez:
Chapter 10: Yep, Snoggletog! Gift of the Night Fury is my favorite short of all
Thank you for the compliments.
Yeah, another fic had pointed out that Astrid possibly had feelings for Hiccup in the first movie but didn't think she should have acknowledge them. PS, Gobber being a matchmaker was fun to write XD.
Everything else I enjoyed writing.
Also, if the young ones had been born on Berk, the eggs explode, and remember, that did NOT end well.
As for Snotlout, you may have to wait.
Glad you noticed the Maces and Talons game Easter egg.
And to be honest, Viggo is my favorite villain in the franchise. Plus his VA, Alfred Molina is a win.
Chapter 11: Yes. Mildew is not likeable at all, he rarely is even if he becomes a good guy at the end of Defenders of Berk, he's so unpleasant that I would not hesitate to feed him to Varan.
Toothless wasn't that neutral, he and Gojira understood that Torch was a baby and tried to tell Hiccup to leave him alone.
Also, Torch did not blow up the armory. This event reflects what Mildew did in Cannon. When Berk was living with dragons, Milder wanted them all gone for good that he framed them for crimes they never committed and Hiccup couldn't prove what he did.
Here, in this timeline, he does not want Hiccup to be the next chief that he frames him for destroying Berk's weapons.
Your suggestion was good, but I decline.
As for Mala, she may appear later on. Good idea though.
NICK HURR: I'm sorry you see it like that.
The Nothing1: Well, here you go.
Now, on with the story.
Chapter 12: We are SO leaving!
Daylight shines on Berk, but Hiccup sits inside his room on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor. There had been so many other disasters in the past. Braziers, docks, ships, sheep. By accident, yes. And Hiccup didn't often lie, instead he had often ended up rambling excuses. . . but it did not shift the blame. Stoick should have listened a part of him still thought, but what evidence was there that it was anyone but Hiccup? And it was understandable that it was more difficult for Hiccup to take ownership of such a devastating disaster. A new record, even for him.
His window is shut, barring the sun, but not the shouting. It seeps in through the walls, shakes the floor under boot and prosthetic. Hiccup keeps staring at the wood as the outcry penetrates his house, only distorted words making it through. Most often is his name.
Inside a blanket-lined chest in the corner, Torch and Sharpshot burrow deeper in the furs and scratches at their eardrums.
The lock to his bedroom door turns, but Hiccup does not lift his head as Stoick steps inside. The Chief looks at his son, stoic. "Men have gathered outside."
Hiccup studies the floor. "Yeah. I can hear them."
Stoick takes a breath. "A confession would go a long way to appease them."
Hiccup shakes his head, eyes still on the floor. "I didn't do it."
The Chief turns to set a plate of buttered bread, berries and cooked eggs on Hiccup's desk. "So that's your choice?"
Hiccup finally looks at him. "I didn't do it." he said, half pleading, half firmly as he can.
Stoick shakes his head. "Have it your way, son." Was all he said. When the door closes, the lock clicks back into place and Hiccup finally moves, gazing upon the closed door for a moment before crossing to his desk. He carries the plate to the trunk, lifting the lid. Torch pops his head out, squeaking.
Hiccup holds a finger to his lips and whispers, "Shh. Sorry, this is all we got."
Hiccup nestles the plate inside and Torch squirms happily, his snout diving upon the eggs, bread and berries.
Hiccup sits back against the chest while Torch's fangs clack and he trades the ceiling for the floor.
Outside, Stoick stands outside his front door, trying to placate the gathered crowd. "Hiccup denies having started the fire."
Mildew lifts his rattling staff, shouting scathingly. "Sure, listen to your boy, Stoick! That's what got us into this mess!" His jeer rouses the mob, who clamor with pumped fists in agreement.
"All ma weapons—"
"What are we goin' ta do?!"
"Dragons!"
"Part of me lassie's dowry was in them swords!"
"He can't do this, Stoick!"
"Hiccup—!"
"—Hiccup—!"
"—Hiccup—!"
Stoick manages to speak over them. "It is being handled!" he says. "Gobber will work overtime at the forge, Trader Johan is due in a few weeks, we'll get it all sorted out." he adds. "We haven't seen a dragon since before Snoggletog. There is nothing to be afraid of!"
One Viking shouts angrily. "Except your son back outside!"
Alone in his room save the snacking Torch, Hiccup slowly covers his ears. He can hear it all. The anger, the contempt in all those words. And it all felt like knives to his heart.
At first he felt like crying. Why can't they see that he was telling the truth? Why did Fishlegs turn away from him? Why can't his father see that he was telling the truth?
Then he felt like screaming out at the top of his lungs. Felt like he wanted to shout at their faces. At Stoick's face. For once he wanted to yell at someone in genuine anger himself. They all do that to him most of his life, why can't he do it back to them? His shoulders shook as his hands wrung themselves again and again.
He lifted his head and stood to his feet. He walked to his desk.
And swiped his hand across it, sending all his drawings, sketches and charcoal pencils scattering.
Torch and Sharpshot squeak in surprise but Hiccup doesn't acknowledge them. He walked to his closet and started throwing his clothing across the room and threw his extra boots at the walls. He paused as his emerald eyes landed on one final thing.
The helmet Stoick gave to him. He remembers Stoick's words from the forge.
"You really had me going there, son! All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen!"
Then before that.
"Every time you step outside, disaster follows!"
"It's not what you look like, it's inside that he can't stand. . . You're small, weak. . . You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe. . ."
Gobber. Trying to help, but he just ends up hurting more than he thinks.
"He showed up."
"He didn't get eaten."
"Useless. Useless. Useless. Hiccup the Useless."
"Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on."
He reaches for the helmet and holds it in his hands. He stares at it with a blank expression before his face contorts in anger and frustration as he raises the helmet above his head and slams it down on the floor with a CLANG!
"I can't stop myself."
He sees that the helmet grew a dent. He raises it up again and slams it down.
CLANG!
"I just want to be one of you guys."
CLANG!
"What have you done?"
CLANG!
"I didn't do it!"
CLANG!
"This cannot go unpunished, Stoick! He's ruined us!"
CLANG!
"I let myself believe that we might be safe from disaster! Of course, I overlooked you!"
CLANG!
"At least in all your other disasters, you knew well enough to be honest."
Finally, the volcano erupts. He opens his mouth and roars. In frustration. In anger. In sadness. All the years of bullying, neglect, contempt and isolation finally came out in one loud scream.
He pants heavily when the scream ends before he hears Sharpshot and Torch squeak and croon at him in concern. Hiccup looks around before sighing. He stands, thinking that he has to clean his mess up fast before pausing in his train of thought. He shakes his head and pulls out a large basket and places it on the bed.
Outside the house, at the edge of the woods, Gojira stands. He watches the house and hears the noise coming from the house, especially the scream. He snarls and growls in worry. A noise is heard behind him and he looks the mother Typhoomerang who is carrying two other Typhoomerang hatchlings on her back.
Gojira had gone looking for Torch's mother earlier in the night and found her roasting a boar that dared chase after her children alive with her fire. Gojira had managed to talk the angry mother down after bringing a boat load of fish to feed her and her young. He explained that Hiccup did not know that Torch was a hatchling and simply just a small dragon in distress.
This calmed the mother Typhoomerang down some, but now she was getting impatient and wanted her son back with her and his siblings.
Gojira growled that they could not just walk up to the house without alarming the village. He paused as he turned back to the house and hears movement from the wall. He narrows his eyes before the window to Hiccup's room is busted open by. . . a dented up helmet.
Sharpshot then flies out of the window and sees Gojira. The Terror chitters as he flies to the Saurian and explains how Alpha Hiccup has been framed for destroying storage of Viking Weapons. He had brought a baby dragon to his nest and adopted him like he adopted Sharpshot and the others.
Gojira tries to grumble an inquiry of what else is happening. What is Hiccup planning? But then Torch's mother roars her displeasure of her son being adopted by a Viking teen without her say in it. Torch's siblings cry out and Gojira silences them with a low snarl. He looks back to the house when he hears footsteps. What he sees gives him an answer. "We are SO leaving!" He declared. "We're leaving! Let's pack up, Goji! You, me, Toothless, Sharpshot and Torch are taking a little vacation. Forever."
Hiccup placed a basket down. "Take this to the Cove." he said firmly. "I need some medical supplies from Gothi. Hopefully, she should be at lunch with everyone else." He paused when he saw the adult Typhoomerang next to Gojira. He stared up to her and she stared down. Torch then poked his head from Hiccup's back and chirped. His eyes lit up in joy upon seeing his mother and flew to her.
Hiccup glanced up and down between the two before shrugging. "Okay, so that's a thing." he muttered before walking away and back to the village.
He snuck through the town and all the way to Gothi's hut. He looked around on the balcony to make sure she wasn't returning at the moment before he walked inside and began to gather a handful of bandages and herbs in case of emergencies into a blanket.
But then he heard footsteps and looked up to see Gothi standing in front of him at the door. He stared up fearfully before she just knelt down and gathered the supplies closely and wrapped the blanket around them tightly and held it up to him with a smile. Hiccup stared before smiling at her and nodding his head silently.
That afternoon in the blacksmiths shop, Gobber puts the finishing touches on a fresh axe, his hook swapped for a hammer. He lifts it up proudly. "One down, 345 to go!" he declared.
Beside him, the chieftain sighs. "Can't you do that any faster?" Stoick asked impatiently. "Until you restock our weapons, we're near completely defenseless."
Gobber strides deeper into the forge. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you locked my apprentice away." he said snidely.
Stoick follows him. "I don't know what else ta do, Gobber." he admits. "You know I had no choice! He's been grounded before, and clearly, that does not suffice."
Gobber sets down at the grinding wheel and begins sharpening the axe. "Well. . . it's definitely effective, in that I'm now short two hands." he retorted. "Did ya really have to do the window, too? I saw ya on that ladder! You can't really think he'd sneak out?"
Stoick pinches his nose, shoulders falling. "No, I know it wouldn't happen. . ." he says. "But Freguson insisted he'd just 'escape to wreak more havoc', and I could only sate them with the window. It's just for show."
Gobber rolls his eyes. "Right. I'm sure it feels that way to Hiccup." he said cynically.
Stoick glowers in response, "He destroyed the armory and everything inside ."
Gobber sighs. He wants to believe otherwise, but it's pointless to change Stoick's mind when the 'evidence' is pointing to Hiccup. "I know. You're right." the blacksmith said. "You made the right call. It's certainly better than letting the Council vote like Mildew wanted. Better that you handle it."
Stoick shakes his head. "If only I knew how to handle it."
"Hiccup?" Astrid knocked on the door to the boy's room. "Hiccup, it's me, Astrid." she said.
Silence was her answer. "Look, Hiccup, I believe you. I really do." she said. She paused and waited for an answer. She looked down the stairs to see if anyone, especially the chief were in the house. She looked back ahead to the door and reached to the lock and unlocked the door.
She barely opened the door. "Hiccup?" she whispered before her blue eyes widened.
The room was empty save for the bare bed and the bent-up helmet on the floor. She looked around and saw that the window was busted open. She stared in shock before she ran back down the stairs, out the house and to the Great Hall.
She pushed the doors open. "Stoick!" she shouts to the chief sitting at the Council table.
The large man turns to her, confused and alarmed. "What is it, Astrid?"
"It's Hiccup!" she said urgently, and Stoick froze. "He's gone, sir!" Stoick's eyes widen.
Hiccup has escaped. Hiccup has run. Hiccup is gone.
"Show me!" Stoick thunders. "Now!"
And they are sweeping from the hall. Gobber hurries after them, moving at a speed impressive for a man with a wooden leg, but not faster than Stoick himself. Spitelout, too, strides to catch up to the Chief, but he is already stepping out, taking to the great stone steps. The movement tries to rip the bear cloak from his shoulders. Stoick ignores this and runs all the way towards his house.
He races to the house and sees the room, sees the dented helmet. The helmet that he had given to Hiccup when he was proud of him.
Stoick whirls to stand, an odd mixture of rage and fear drowning his mind like too much mead. Gobber and Spitelout are slowing their gaits behind him. Their expressions are unreadable, but Gobber's eyes find the print in the snow and linger there.
"Call a search party." Stoick demands. "Pull men from their beds, if you must. Find him."
Gobber's face grows stony, but Spitelout nods.
"Stoick–" Gobber begins.
Stoick cuts him off. "Now, Gobber." he ordered. "Find him."
Wisely, Gobber says nothing more, following Stoick and Spitelout as they exit the house.
An hour later, hundred spots of light cleave through the darkness, torches raised in the forests of Berk.
Vikings hold their fire aloft and comb the trees, searching the wood in the dark. Snotlout walks with the twins, and Fishlegs with his parents. Astrid, too, walks with hers. Stoick leads the charge, hand cupped to his lips, his mouth forming Hiccup's name. "Hiccup!"
Hiccup is gone.
Hiccup stared silently in the direction of the village. Briefly, he thought about how the village would react to his disappearance.
On one hand, he was the son of the chief. Stoick would most likely order search parties for him, Gobber would be leading them for many hours or maybe even days before giving up. Would he be declared dead? Mostly likely if he left no trace of himself at Berk or anywhere in the Archipelago. After that, Stoick would have to name someone else as heir. Probably Snotlout since he was family and that the village seemed to value warriors over all else. Personally, Hiccup hoped that it wouldn't be Snotlout, his cousin had an ego big as a mountain and usually used his weapons or fists to solve problems. If he is chosen as heir, then maybe Stoick's training and expectations would finally humble the Jorgenson boy.
On the other though, people had saw him as the village screw up because of many of his inventions failing. And this latest, blowing up the armory. There would probably be some Vikings throwing a party after he was declared dead. Mainly Snotlout and Mildew. The former was certainly not a friend of Hiccup and the latter just hated everyone.
The Thorston twins would most likely have no reaction other than the knowledge that they had one less victim to prank.
Fishlegs would probably the only one to really grieve over his "death" out of their past friendship.
Astrid, well he couldn't be certain based on how little they had interacted their whole lives and even then, it couldn't be enough for any major reaction. But Hiccup had hoped she would feel something.
Gobber would probably miss him the most out of everyone, including his father. Gothi would be a close second.
Toothless and Gojira grumbled to him with Sharpshot squeaking in concern on his back, pulling him from his thoughts. "It's okay, guys." he assured. "Let's go."
Hiccup blinked back tears as his father's shouts for him faded into the distance as they flew farther and farther away from Berk and to a destination that Gojira seemed to know.
Stormfly and the other dragons called to him but didn't move from flying away from Helheim's Gate. Hiccup shook his head. "It's okay, you guys can stay. Protect the Nest and make sure no one starts trouble between the Vikings and Dragons."
Stormfly nodded her head and seemed to order the others to follow her. Hiccup sighed. "It's just going to be you guys and me for a while." He said to his dragon and Saurian companions. He looked back to Berk that looked smaller than it ever did in his life.
Goodbye, Berk.
Goodbye, Dad.
For despite everything that's happened until now, I wish you happiness. Be safe.