please wake up ; h.h.
𓂃 ⋆ 𓈒 masterlist
summary. instead of stoick dying after toothless is under the bewilderbeasts control, you, hiccup's younger sister, are almost hit, resulting in tears and desperation.
pairing. hiccup haddock x sister!reader
genre. angst, hurt/comfort, platonic.
word count. 2.8k
warnings. for plot reasons, valka was taken by cloudjumper when hiccup was 4 and you were a baby, near death experiences, violence, lots of angst.
✐ i couldn’t find the original post for the gif (i found it on pinterest, reposted), but the username is in the top left corner of the gif ^^
The amount of fear that ran through Hiccup when Drago yelled out his bone chilling scream, waving his staff around in the air… it was immeasurable. The aggression that the throaty sound held in it sent a chill down Hiccup’s spine. He knew at that moment, that he was in serious trouble.
The ground shook with each step that the bewilderbeast took towards them, and rather than the calm awe and serenity that Hiccup felt when he met his mothers bewilderbeast, looking into the eyes of this one made him feel a fear that he couldn’t get rid of.
“No dragon can resist the alpha’s command.” Drago said lowly, his voice scratching its way out of his throat. “So, he who controls the alpha, controls them all.”
A hint of rage settled in Hiccups veins as Drago spoke, pointing his staff towards Toothless.
The rage nearly dissipated, a low sound emitting throughout snow and ice covered land. The sound came from the bewilderbeast, it’s pupils narrowed at Toothless. Toothless began shaking his head, making a noise of discomfort. “Toothless?” Hiccup said worriedly.
Toothless continued to whimper, shaking his head around. “T-toothless, you okay, bud? What’s going on?” But all of the words leaving Hiccups mouth did nothing.
Drago’s voice sounded again. “Witness true strength. The strength of will over others.” Drago was holding up his staff again, the pointed end pointing to Toothless, who suddenly rose, ever so still. “In the face of it… you are nothing.”
When Hiccup realized he was now looking at the end of the staff, it being pointed directly at his chest, he knew that trouble was arising. Toothless slowly turned towards him, pupils as narrow as the bewilderbeast’s were. “Uh,” Hiccup slowly backed away from his dragon, “What did he just tell you?”
Toothless got low to the ground, snarling as he slowly crept over towards his rider, who kept backing away. “Toothless, come on. What’s the matter with you?” He felt the desperation begin to tear at his heart, knowing that there was almost nothing he could do. And sudden moves or sounds could result in the controlled Toothless to pounce on him, resulting in his demise. Even if Hiccup could get a hit in, how much would that break his heart? Would he be able to hurt his best friend?
“No, no, no, no. Come on. What are you doing? Knock it off.” Hiccup knew he was being backed up into ice, and soon he would have no where to go. “Stop!” He yelled out, “snap out of it!” But the attempt was useless, as Toothless kept his slow, creeping pace.
The world around his became almost meaningless. It was just him, Toothless, and mountains of ice trapping him in. “Toothless, no! Toothless.”
Toothless hissed, preparing to launch a heated breath of fire at him, and he felt his heart drop. “Don’t!”
He almost didn’t hear the broken cry of his name being shouted, his eyes remaining on Toothless’ sharp ones. “Stop!”
“Hiccup!” The voice shouted again, and with wide eyes, he looked, and his heart sunk further. You were running right towards him, determination and fear in your eyes. The painful realization of what you were doing came all too quick, and his fear that was once reserved for himself was now almost entirely for you. “Y/n! No!”
But it was too late, you were right next to him, and then crashing into him. Hiccup slid across the snow covered ground, gasping in fear of what he’d see when he looked at you.
He looked just in time to see the blast of fire miss you—just in time to see it hit the ice behind you, breaking a peace of it off as it came crashing down onto you.
“No!”
He startled himself with the cry that left his lips. The world around him faded out again. It was only you, him, and his shallow breaths. “No…” He said again, the disbelief strong in his tone. This couldn’t be happening.
He ran over to you, feeling like he was going to collapse. He was by your side in seconds—he was by your side and there you were, covered in shards of teal-blue ice. Your eyes were shut; your breathing was barely there. He feared every one of your breaths would be your last.
He groaned as he pushed the ice off of you, piece by piece. As each shard slid off, an already growing bruise was left in its wake wherever your skin was visible.
The despair was crushing him; engulfing him; making a home into his heart that was sinking even further as it buried itself into the ever so cold snow beneath him. He grabbed and pulled at your left arm, pulling you off of your side and onto your back. “Y/n!”
Hiccup hardly paid attention to his mother dropping by his side, and his father close behind her. Your breaths were still so shallow.
“Y/n… Oh, my Gods.” His breath caught in his throat, and he faintly felt his mothers hand rest on his shoulder. For the better of his own sanity, he pressed to fingers to your neck, sighing in relief at the slow and weak feeling of your heartbeat beneath his fingers. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“Wake up… please wake up.” He ignored every sound around him, including the sound of his friends arriving to the scene. He couldn’t help but to wrap his arms around you, being ever so careful and gentle with your injured form. He felt like he had already lost you, the thought making tears roll down his face. He couldn’t believe that you had gotten hurt instead of him: the target.
You—the younger sister who came into his life when he was just 4 years old. The sister who listened to him when everyone turned a blind eye and pretended like he didn’t exist. You were always there, and as he held you close, he couldn’t get rid of the fear that soon you would be here no longer.
All of his attention was on you, until he heard a low coo from his very own dragon: the dragon who did this.
As Toothless’ snout brushed up against your hand, he couldn’t help the anger that enveloped him. Deep down he knew it wasn’t Toothless’ fault, but something else told him he needed something to be angry at. After seeing the way Toothless’ had unknowingly injured you, his emotions got the best of him. “No! Get away from her!” Hiccup harshly shoved Toothless away, feeling guilt at the way his dragon whined in response, but Hiccup was spiralling.
He stood to his feet, looking down at Toothless. “Go on! Get out of here!”
Toothless took a small step forward, his eyes holding sadness at being shouted at, but Hiccup shouted again. “Get away!”
Hiccup was a mix of emotions as Toothless coward away and ran off.
“It’s not his fault.” Valka said softly, her sadness making her voice wobble only slightly. “You know that.”
And Hiccup did know that. He fell to his knees again, fresh tears rolling down his face as he looked at you. Your eyes were still closed.
The bewilderbeast roared out, but Hiccup almost didn’t hear it as his mother spoke. “Good dragons under the control of bad people… do bad things.”
“Come on!” Hiccup heard someone shout, along with the sound of Toothless whimpering. He looked up, and Drago was riding a once again controlled Toothless, leading him away. “Gather the men and meet me at Berk!”
Hiccup felt an urgency rush through him, and he jumped up onto his feet. “Toothless!” He cried out to him, but Valka held him back. He felt useless as the alpha roared out, and Drago’s men prepared to leave the island.
He couldn’t help but to continue to cry. He just lost his best friend, and he looked down at you, worried that he would lose another. He dropped down beside you again, feeling like the entire world was against him. He felt lost and scared. He couldn’t lose you. He doesn’t know what he’d do without you.
“Hiccup…” Stoick said from behind him. Hiccup could already picture the look on his face based of the sadness in his voice.
“No, Dad.” Why were they acting like you were already dead? You just had to wake up.
As the tears kept falling down his cheeks, his friends backed away and watched from a good distance, as he needed his space. His parents stayed close behind him.
“We have to— we have to do something. Why isn’t anyone doing anything? My sister is dying and you’re all just standing around waiting for—“ Waiting for her to die.
“Hiccup,” Gobber said softly, a pained sigh leaving the man’s lips, “there’s not much we can do, right now. Not here. Back home, maybe things would be better. But we don’t have our dragons to get there, Hiccup.”
Hiccup remained looking at you, still. “So, why are you all acting like you don’t care?” Maybe that was harsh, but he was still spiralling.
“Hiccup, of course we care.” When Astrid spoke, Hiccup looked at her and found a world of sadness in her eyes. Maybe she was worried for you; maybe she felt guilt and pity for him; maybe it was both. The the look in her eyes made him feel less alone.
Hiccup was silent for a few moments, and then, “There’s nothing we can do?” He chose to ignore the way his voice cracked with emotion.
His father sighed, and removed his helmet, holding it to his chest. “Nothing we can do but pray that she wakes up.”
Hiccup inhaled deeply. “I need a second alone with her.”
He didn’t receive a response, he only heard the sound of footsteps slowly backing away.
With a shaking hand, he took your hand into his, watching a teardrop fall down and land on your fingertip. The desperation in him had been making a slow incline, and he wasn’t sure how much of this he could take.
“You have to wake up.” He whispered, falling back down to wrap an arm around you. “Come on. Wake up.”
But as your breathing remained slow, he felt the tears roll down a little faster, and he couldn’t help the sob that slipped past his lips. “Wake up. Come on, what are you doing? Get up…”
A hitch in your breath.
As the sound reaches his ears, and he feels the pattern of your breath change for only a moment, his head snaps up. Your face is neutral, a scrape and bruise on your right cheekbone.
“Y/n?…”
He’s filled with a sense of hope, and just as it feels like it was a trick of his mind, your breath catches again, and your brows move the smallest amount.
“Oh, my Gods.” Hiccup breathes out. “Y/n? Hey… wake up, come on.”
Your eyes began to flutter open and it’s like Hiccup and finally breathe again. He leans forward so that you see him, and your eyes meet his. “Hiccup?”
Hiccup laughs, light and airy, and nods. “Yeah, I’m here. You’re okay.
Your face scrunches up a little as you become aware of the pain running across your skin. Hiccup notices and a slight frown lands on his face.
Your hand squeezes his, “I’m glad you’re okay, Hiccup.”
Hiccup can’t help the shock that runs through him. “You’re glad I’m okay? I’m glad you’re okay…” he then sighs, thinking about how he nearly lost you. The ache in his heart was still there, like a poison latching onto him, killing him slowly. He couldn’t believe how close to death you had gotten. “I thought I was gonna lose you.”
And then he was hugging you again, being as gentle as possible. He felt you wrap an arm around his back, but he could tell that by the way your arm was shaking, it was taking more of a toll on you than you’d like to admit. Hiccup pulled back. “Don’t strain yourself.”
Your eyes were still only about half open and he wouldn’t be surprised if you passed out soon. “Don’t worry, you’re gonna be fine. I promise.”
But his words could only be heard so clearly as the world began to fade once again. It had taken so much of your energy to stay conscious as long as you did.
“No, no, no. Keep your eyes open, okay? Stay awake, stay awake— Dad!”
The last thing you saw was your brother and parents hovering over you, and then you were welcomed into a deep sleep once again.
⿻
The rest of the day went by so fast, yet so slow. Hiccup felt pride for him and Toothless—who he had since forgiven and apologized to—for being able to fight against Drago and the alpha. After this, it was clear that Toothless had earned his place as the alpha. However, as all of this had been happening, you were the only thing on Hiccup’s mind. He was fighting for everyone, and most importantly to avenge you. This was Drago’s fault—all of this. Hiccup had to do something about it, and he did.
It was likely clear how much he was worrying for you, because not long after the bewilderbeast had dove into the water, taking Drago with him, his mother was at his side. He knew from the look on her face alone that she was saying he should go to you. He didn’t waste a second.
He ran up to his house, passing by people cheering and shouting out of glee, and he pushed open his front door and ran straight to your room. There you were, under the care of Gothi, tucked into your bed and bandaged wherever needed. It was honestly a wonder that they were even able to get you to Berk while you were unconscious, but they managed. Hiccup was just glad to see you now, alive and breathing.
Gothi nodded at him, making her way out of the room. Hiccup remained still for a moment, looking down at you. It pained him to see you like this.
Eventually he sat on the edge of the bed, and looked down at his hands. He felt so guilty about you getting hurt. It felt like it was his fault, somehow. You had jumped to save him, and this is where it brought the both of you. Surely, he was partially at fault for this outcome.
“You’re not blamin’ yourself, are you?”
At the sound of your voice, Hiccup whipped his head around, eyes wide and burning with tears that haven’t even quite built up yet. “You’re awake.”
You nodded lightly, looking down at your bandaged and bruised body. You didn’t regret a thing you did.
“Why… did you do that?” Hiccup started slowly. He didn’t expect this to be what he decided to talk about, but he got to thinking and his mouth was moving before he even realized it. “I mean… save me—“ He took a deep breath, brows furrowing at the topic at hand.
“What else did you want me to do?” You said. You sounded determined, strangely enough.
“I—“
“I couldn’t just… stand there.”
“I wanted you to.”
You sighed this time. “And what? Watch you die? You could’ve.”
Hiccup saw tears begin to form in your own eyes, and he somewhat felt bad for bringing this up right now. “You could’ve, too.”
“I know.” You stated. There was a brief pause as you both collected your thoughts. You didn’t want to argue about this. Neither of you wanted to make anger out of grieving for someone who hadn’t even died. “I care about you, Hiccup. You looked just as scared as I felt. Even if you don’t want to admit it. I don’t know what I would’ve done with myself if you got hurt, or worse. I love you, but I’m not sorry for what I did. I’d rather be hurt than you be hurt instead.”
Hiccup gazed down at you and realized in that moment that you were just like any other Haddock—stubborn as hell. Hiccup and his father were some of the most stubborn people on Berk, if not the most stubborn, and he wouldn’t be surprised that if he got to know his mother a little more, she would turn out to be the same.
Having such a quality can be unbearable at times, but it made for some pretty promising trust with the people you love.
“Well,” Hiccup broke into a smile, chuckling lightly. “I would do the same for you.”
You laughed softly. “I’d hope so.”
Hiccup was shocked when you started pushing yourself up on the bed all of a sudden. “Hey, woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?”
“Relax. I know my limits.” You snickered, and then winced. All of a sudden your arms were around Hiccup and Hiccup wasn’t sure if it was the stupidest or sweetest thing you’ve ever done. Probably both.
Hiccup hugged you back, his eyes closing as it felt like the day was finally calming down. “Don’t ever do anything like that again.”
An amused scoff, and then, “no promises.”
Definitely a Haddock.
@ sakufilms
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Chapter Three: A Lightfury’s Guide to Stealing A Dragon Rider
Pairing: Hiccup 'Horrendous’ Haddock III x fem!oc
Word count: 3.6k
Chapter Summary: It’s not easy trying to persuade a rouge dragon rider, Hiccup finds that out the hard way. In a chase across the open water, there aren’t many places to hide, only deceiving one another or getting a little help from some other riders. It isn’t easy to lose a seasonal dragon rider, Valkyrie finds that out the hard way.
Overall Summary: A mysterious new dragon rider has been starting to make their presence known by tearing through dragon hunter ships and leaving nothing in their wake. What dragon they ride is unknown. What they look like is unknown. Why they are hunting the dragon hunters is unknown. The only thing that is known is that they will stop at nothing to destroy every dragon hunter ship at any cost.
“Valkyrie?” Hiccup was startled, nearly dropping the helmet he had caught midair as he stared at the girl from the markets he had met a day prior. As his eyes rocked down to the dragon that Valkyrie was sitting on. “What are you doing out here? Better yet, what are you doing on a… Dayfury?”
“Lightfury,” Valkyrie corrected, the white dragon below her gargling at the name Hiccup had called her. Stardust’s head turned to glower up at Hiccup, doing so until a green eye caught hers. “Now if you would be so kind, I need that helmet back.”
“You need to answer my question first,” Hiccup demanded, pulling the helmet closer to his body. He could see Valkyrie look back nervously, eyes flickering over the ships before her head turned back forward, a more set expression on her face. Hiccup tried again, “Why are you out here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” She rebutted, hands growing restless as she felt her hair smack against her skin. She felt exposed. “You don’t understand Hiccup, I need that mask.”
“Why?” He made his voice gentler as he asked this time around, trying to offer a sense of calm to pull an answer out of Valkyrie. “What is so important about this mask that you can’t go without it?”
“Because Ryker knows who I am, alright?” Valkyrie felt the words slipping from her mouth in a burst of desperate anger. The terror that dawned on Valkyrie’s mind came crashing in waves at the information she just shared with Hiccup. Taking a steadying breath, Valkyrie tried not to let the unsettling silence get to her. She had to think of something, and something quick. “A few years ago I had a run-in with Ryker. Stardust wasn’t with me at the time and I hadn’t yet found the sword you saw me use, so I was basically defenceless. Ryker thinks I’m dead, and with all honestly, I probably should be.”
Now the silence that hung in the air was for a different reason. Hiccup’s face was calculating, the new information being absorbed and stored away somewhere in his brain for later analysing. “But why are you fighting the dragon hunters? Wouldn’t you want to get as far away from Ryker as possible?”
“There is no running from that man Hiccup,” Valkyrie warned, her voice eerie as her eyes shot back down to her helmet. She needed this to sound believable so she could get her helmet back and then promptly disappear. “Ryker has eyes and ears everywhere. So I took on a new face, a face he can’t see.”
“You’re the reason we’ve had destroyed armadas turning up at our island,” Hiccup nearly whispered, the answer dawning on him for something that had been eating at his mind since he and the other dragon riders came upon their first destroyed ship. As he turned to face Valkyrie, the Lightfury below her made a snap of her jaw, drawing Hiccup’s eye once more. “Come with us Valkyrie. Me and the other dragon riders can help you. We want Ryker gone just as much as you do.”
“Oh, we want very different things Hiccup,” Valkyrie’s voice was dark as she spoke, eyes staring hollowly into Hiccup. Valkyrie lifted her left hand and ran it along Stardust’s neck, leading down to her leg, sending a silent message to the dragon. “Now, I’m gonna need that helmet back.”
In a quick arch of her wings, Stardust went hurtling towards Hiccup and the dragon he was flying. Valkyrie had never seen a dragon like it before, the species being of a similar build to Stardust. Valkyrie didn’t plan on finding out what type of dragon that was though as Stardust curved over the top of Hiccup and his dragon, one of her arms outstretched as she snatched the white helmet from his hands. When the scaly thing was back to its rightful owner Stardust flipped back around and shot forward, leaving Hiccup and his dragon behind.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Hiccup yelled, making Valkyrie fasten the helmet on her head quicker. Valkyrie could feel as the muscles in Stardust’s back tense, her wings winding out further as she readied a plasma blast in her jaw. “We got to catch them bud.”
As Hiccup spoke, Stardust released her shot of pink flames. Valkyrie tucked herself in close to Stardust’s back without a second thought. As the warm flames washed over them, Valkyrie felt the sensation of warping run across her skin, the cloaking that covered Stardust extending to her.
“What the?” Valkyrie heard Hiccup ask, a confused mew following his words. Valkyrie chanced a glance back, to see Hiccup and his dragon flying straight forward, the dark dragon looking wildly around. “Find them Toothless.”
Without warning rings of purple shot out straight at Stardust and Valkyrie. Valkyrie tried to warn Stardust as silently as she could, twirling her finger in a circle along her back but Valkyrie wasn’t quick enough as those purple rings wrapped around them. They didn’t hurt but Valkyrie could feel the energy surging over her.
“Good job bud,” Hiccup said at the same time Valkyrie realised her outline was somehow visible. An elated hum left Toothless as he now had a target to chase after. Valkyrie faced forward quickly, keeping herself low down to Stardust.
“Lose the cloaking Star, they can see us so there’s no point trying to stay hidden,” Valkyrie whispered lowly, pressing her right hand down on the side of Stardust’s neck. “Hiccup’s dragon is going to naturally blend in with the night sky while we are going to stand out. Our best bet is to tire them out by both leading them in every direction and vanishing without a trace. Worst case scenario I have to use one of the Zippleback canisters on them.”
Stardust let out a disapproving grumble as she shook her head, effectively shaking the cloaking off of them while also telling Valkyrie her plan wasn’t as thought out as she hoped it to be. “I’m giving you the reigns here Star. Do whatever you need to lose them.”
The words didn’t need to be said twice as Stardust instantly tucked her wings to her body, falling from the sky as they dived towards the ocean. A startled whump came from behind them as Stardust showed no sign of stopping. At the sound of beating wings behind them, Valkyrie knew that they were being followed just like she had hoped. Before they could hit the water, Stardust’s wings shot out, slowing them down for half a second before they were thrown upwards, shooting back towards the sky like an arrow as they attempted to leave Hiccup and Toothless behind them.
Another shot of plasma was launched forward, Stardust diving through it as Valkyrie clung onto her back. As they flew into invisibility, Valkyrie could hear the same echo of the purple rings being shot upwards. This time Stardust was prepared to avoid them as she took a sharp left, flicking out of the firing range of Toothless’s location blast. Stardust began to steer upwards now that the rings had passed her. Their peace didn’t last long though as multiple rings were shot in circles, dancing across the sky as Toothless continued to shoot them at every angle manageable.
“Why can’t that dragon just let us get away?” Valkyrie questioned to no one, in particular, a grunt following her words as her hands grew an outline. A similar response was drawn out of Stardust as she became visible once again with a grumble, her teeth snapping together a few times like she was mimicking talking. “You know what? Let’s just drop a Zippleback canister on them now. Stardust fall.”
A gargle of joy fell from Stardust’s throat as she stopped moving her wings, the two appendages going limp as the dragon started to fall backwards. As the two of them whipped through the wind, Valkyrie struggled to pull one of the canisters from the saddlebag. She probably should have thought everything through a little longer.
It didn’t take long to pull one of the canisters out of the bag, just in time as well as she heard the questions rising from both Hiccup and his dragon. Unlocking the canister, Valkyrie throws it over to Hiccup, the boy naturally catching it. It was only then that he realised what the green gas coming from the small box.
A little too late as well as Stardust’s mouth lit, a small blaze of fire shooting out as they continued to fall. As the explosion emitted above them, Stardust flipped over in the air and shot forward, repeating the process that would turn her invisible. “Sindri isn’t getting that back any time soon.”
Valkyrie was hoping that Hiccup would get the hint this time around. Would leave her alone. But when her hands became outlined in front of her and rings of purple spiralled away, it became clear that she wouldn’t be getting away from the dragon rider that easily.
Hiccup’s hair stood up and was only slightly singed. Valkyrie was good at running away, disappearing–literally–without a trance. But he knew dragons. He had been herding them to and from the Edge for months at this point. With a bit of luck, he’d be able to steer her toward the Edge and hopefully–if Odin’s looking out for him–the other riders will take notice and help him.
Valkyrie was already outlined again in front of him. She didn’t shake the cloak that took over her this time around, making it slightly harder to follow them since the outlining still faded after a while but Toothless made sure to keep them visible.
After the Zippleback attack–in which Hiccup still had the canister held in his hand–he and Toothless were a bit more careful with how they approached the duo in white, not knowing what they might throw at him next. “Come on bud, they’re already taking themselves towards the Edge, let’s just make sure they don’t get off track.”
Toothless’s wings spread as he glided off to the left, silently encouraging Valkyrie and Stardust to fly right, their presence acting as a deter. And it worked as the Lightfury that Valkyrie was riding zipped away, trying to force Toothless (Hiccup) away from her. Every time they got too close the dragon’s nose scrunched up, her head swirling backwards to narrow her eyes at the rider sitting on Toothless’s back before shooting in the opposite direction of where Hiccup and Toothless were.
A few times Valkyrie went off track anyway. Taking sharp turns and dives as they tried to throw Hiccup off their trail, making Toothless have to work extra hard to catch them and turn them away from where they were headed.
When the Edge came into view, Hiccup’s shoulders sagged, relief flooding through him as it meant all of this would be over soon. Toothless let out a mighty roar as they flew closer to the island, the huts and stable becoming clear. He was able to gain the attention of a few dragons as they neared.
Valkyrie’s head shot back at the roar, brows pinching together at how unnecessary it was. But when there was a screech in return, Valkyrie realised what the dragon had been doing. The flaming body of a Monstrous Nightmare soared up from one of the huts on the island, gaining Valkyrie’s attention while a Deadly Nadder sailed through the air, spikes at the ready. The crackling of a Hideous Zippleback scratched through the air while the buzz of Gronckle wings followed.
Valkyrie had flown herself straight into an ambush.
“I’m going to kill that Nightfury rider,” Valkyrie seethed, getting a confused rumble from Stardust below her. “Well, he called you a Dayfury when he first saw you, meaning he thought you were the same species as his dragon. So the first thing that would have come to his mind would have been the opposite of yours.”
“But now we got bigger fish to fry than what Hiccup wants to call you.” If Valkyrie didn’t know that Stardust couldn’t hiss, she would have thought the noise that erupted from her was exactly that. It came at the exact moment Valkyrie had said Hiccup’s name. Stardust wasn’t a big dragon or people animal, especially when certain people on certain dragons chased after her.
Valkyrie’s eyes scanned over the island, trying to think of a way to lose the dragon riders. She was on their home turf so no matter what she did they would have the upper hand. They knew the landscape of the island better, the dragons that inhabited it and how their dragons react and can work together.
“We got to lose them Star,” Valkyrie said as the Deadly Nadder and its rider flew underneath them, popping up on their right as the Monstrous Nightmare tried to close in on their left. Toothless was still behind them while the Gronckle lugged after them from underneath. The Hideous Zippleback maneuvered itself around the sky, not sticking to a single path which Valkyrie was guessing they did on purpose. “Hit the Gronckle. It’ll be easier to get path them.”
Stardust didn’t waste a second before shooting a blast of pink flames down at the Gronckle before plummeting towards them. The blast that Stardust had shot wasn’t deadly but enough to wound or stun any dragon. Shouts of concern could be heard all around Valkyrie, the boy who was sitting on the Gronckle letting out a high-pitched yell as they both went down. Valkyrie tried not to worry about the pair, knowing that if she allowed herself to get concerned with the dragon she wouldn’t be able to pull herself away.
Stardust made sure not to fly too close to the ground, a few meters in between the long grass and her stomach as she wove in between the trees, blocking out certain dragons from following her as their movements weren’t as smooth as the Lightfury. Toothless was able to follow them because of course Hiccup and his Nightfury couldn’t let Valkyrie have anything today. The Deadly Nadder was also pretty close to catching them, a bit behind Toothless as they fought to keep up.
Valkyrie’s hands began to fiddle through Stardust’s saddlebag, another one of Sindri’s Zippleback canisters coming out. As Valkyrie unclasped the box, she didn’t throw it like she did last time. Instead, she held it out to the side, letting a trail of gas run behind her.
“Watch out for the Zippleback gas!” Valkyrie heard Hiccup yell, Toothless letting out a squawk as he tried to fly above the gas and avoid it. The Deadly Nadder tried to get out of the way of it as well but couldn’t get far enough as an actual Hideous Zippleback flew out and into range.
“Zippleback gas?” A female voice questioned from one of her heads of the Hideous Zippleback. “Hiccup, why didn’t you tell us Fury’s could spew Zippleback gas?”
“They can’t,” Hiccup tried to warn, much to the dismay of those sitting on the Hideous Zippleback.
“Who cares?” A male voice now spoke from the Hideous Zippleback. “Belch, let’s light this place.”
“No,” Another feminine voice yelled, but a little too late as the sparks began to light from one of the Hideous Zippleback’s mouths. As the cloud of gas began to light, Valkyrie let go of the canister, Stardust taking a sharp turn and flying through the trees and away from the explosion lighting.
Stardust began to shoot up to the sky again, throat warming as plasma began to build in it. They were going to disappear again. But before anything could be shot forward, a yell rang out through the air as the flaming body of a Monstrous Nightmare came hurtling towards Valkyrie. “Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi.”
Valkyrie’s head shot towards the Viking yelling. The short man’s eyes were already on her, a devilish grin on his face as his dragon bound after them. Valkyrie shook her head as she turned back to face forward, tapping Stardust on the neck. The fire that she had previously been warming was shot forward, Stardust diving through it.
As the sensation washed over Valkyrie, they were barely cloaked for a second before Valkyrie felt something slam into her and dig into her back. Valkyrie was ripped from Stardust’s back, the Lightfury whirling around to see what happened when her eyes landed on Toothless, his front claws dug into the scales of Valkyrie’s armour. A class of distress left Stardust as she watched Valkyrie dangle.
Trying to shoot forward to grab Valkyrie back, Toothless deterred her as he turned, keeping his body between Stardust and Valkyrie. That however left Hiccup exposed to Stardust. Slicing her claws into the back of Hiccup’s leather suit, Stardust tried to pull Hiccup from Toothless’s saddle. Hiccup’s foot however got caught. Valkyrie looked up to see why his feet hadn’t fallen from the buckles onto to see a metal foot in its place.
Hiccup’s other foot came undone, jostling him from Toothless’s back and pushing him forward and off until he hung twisted and connected to the saddle, hanging backwards as his head slotted next to Valkyrie’s. The boy let out a nervous laugh as he stared at Valkyrie from upside down, trying not to show too much struggle as Toothless began to fall from the sky as well as having Valkyrie’s deadpan stare on him. “Uh, how’s the view?”
“Really?” Valkyrie asked as she tried to cross her arms, struggling lightly at the tight grip Toothless had on her. As Toothless’s body whirled around, throwing Hiccup and Valkyrie around with him, Valkyrie began to grow worried as Stardust couldn’t get close enough to pull her from Toothless’s grip. “Are you going to do anything about our current situation?”
“I’m working on it,” Hiccup said, slightly more unsure of himself as he pushed himself up, gripping the side of the saddle as he cranked his body up. Slotting himself on Toothless’s back properly, Hiccup could see that they would get too close to the ground for comfort and that Valkyrie was in the crushing zone. Shoving himself nearly off of Toothless’s saddle, Hiccup yelled, “Take my hand Valkyrie.”
“You’re crazy,” Valkyrie said as her head shot down to see how fast they were falling before one of Toothless’s claws left her shoulder, giving her space to swing up and stretch a hand towards Hiccup. As their hands met, a shock ran through Valkyrie’s bones as she was pulled up and pushed behind Hiccup.
“I know. Now, hold on,” Hiccup warned as Toothless’s wings spread, trying to slow down as they crashed down. Valkyrie’s arms instinctively tightened as she dug herself closer to Hiccup’s back. The clanking of Hiccup changing his foot’s position rang before Toothless glided forward, tail nearly smashing into the ground as Hiccup tried to redirect them up.
A sigh escaped Hiccup’s lips as they became suspended in the air again. When Valkyrie didn’t make the instant decision to throw herself from Hiccup’s back, even with Stardust hovering nearby, he leaned forward so he could talk to Toothless. “Take us to the stables, bud.”
Toothless’s gargled response came quickly before he was carefully making his way towards the Edge’s stable. Toothless made sure to keep an eye on Stardust as they flew, the Lightfury hovering as she waited for Valkyrie to signal something to her. Hiccup had half a thought that Stardust might try and pull Valkyrie or Hiccup from Toothless’s back but after the fall they had just suffered he was hoping she wouldn’t try anything. That the Stardust probably didn’t want to hurt Valkyrie.
As Toothless touched down on the stables landing strip, Valkyrie was jumping from Hiccup’s back. She hesitated for a few seconds, eyes darting between the edge of the platform and where Hiccup stood and Stardust flew. But as the other dragon riders landed around her, Stardust fell from the sky and curled herself around Valkyrie’s front, nose scrunched as a snarl started to rise from her throat.
Hiccup was the one who stepped forward, a hand raised as he tried to calm both Valkyrie and Stardust. “We need to talk, Valkyrie. Just hear us out and we’ll let you go.”
“What makes you so certain you can keep me here?” Valkyrie asked, settling a calming hand on Stardust which the dragon ignored, her teeth still bared at the other dragons and riders. Valkyrie’s eyes kept rocketing between those in front of her, trying to stay as aware as possible of who was surrounding her.
“We were able to get you here,” Hiccup brought all of Valkyrie’s attention back to him as he spoke. He still had a hand raised, taking slow steps towards Valkyrie and Stardust every few seconds, making Stardust’s hackles raise. “What makes you think we won’t be able to keep you here?”
“I’ve seen this island on maps before. I know where we are and where the nearest islands are,” Her voice was even as she spoke. Valkyrie took a step forward until she was at Stardust’s side, one of her hands falling into place on Stardust’s saddle. “We could disappear and get there quicker than any of you.”
“Maybe,” Hiccup tried to agree, his head tilting to the side slightly, earning himself a sharper glare from Stardust than he did Valkyrie. Valkyrie’s own eyes hardened, daring Hiccup to say something more. “Look, we have a common enemy. Let us convince you to work with us.”
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Always an Angel, Never the God Full
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III x Runaway!Reader
Words: 13,104
Your plans to run away with Hiccup fall through. Three years later, you finally make it off Berk and away from the Edge. Here are the years that follow.
Tags: SUGGESTIVE ENDING, Runaway Reader, Angst, bitter reader, unrequited love, requited love, healing, conflicting emotions, compiles parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
<Previous
You waited for hours, back aching against the flat rock, basket of your few chosen belongings hidden behind a small outcropping of rock as you waited for him, increasingly more worried as the sun began to set.
Scared, even. You’d seen the axe, laid plainly on the ground. You feared the worst, especially after your frantic search bore no fruit. That he’d been found, and that something terrible had happened to him.
But Hiccup was fine, with Astrid, this whole time.
Even Toothless seemed to like her well enough. He didn’t like you, glaring and snapping at you when you got too close, despite all of your efforts to get on his good side. He barely let you on, and he certainly wouldn’t without Hiccup. You had the sneaking suspicion he’d buck if you tried it on your lonesome.
While you understood, it hurt that even as close friends he’d not told you about Toothless at all, at first. You doubt he would’ve if he’d not seen you do so poorly at dragon training. He probably felt terrible, watching you fail over and over again when he could be doing something to help.
You hugged your knees tightly, hidden behind rock and moss, fighting not to make a sound as you peered around a corner, barely listening in as they conversed.
Even if he never inherited the chiefdom, It was still a heavy expectation that he’d marry. You two were an inevitable couple, if not because of love, out of a bond of solidarity. It’s not like either of you had any suitors. You were friends first, of course, but privately you hadn’t had a problem with that. You got along well, and you could see a future with him where you were both alright.
And you really, really liked him.
You knew he wanted someone else, someone who was confident, capable, who had good standing, who his father could be proud of. Someone who was more gorgeous than plain, someone like Astrid.
You weren’t the best viking, you couldn’t work in the forge, you hadn’t a lot of lucrative talents at all and a measure of clumsiness and troublemaking that could rival Hiccup’s own.
But you were friends, and that had to count for something.
He came to you with his plan to run away. You were running away together, you thought.
But somehow, she was here, and he left with her. He liked her. You knew that. And, you realized with mounting horror as she leaned in closer to him, she liked him too.
You knew you’d never had a chance, but knowing it is different from experiencing it. You had not a chance in the world.
You could never fault him for that.
You couldn’t stop the tears from pooling in your eyes, or the tiny bits of your heart from splitting apart and scattering across the grass.
Conversely, he didn’t tell you when he flew off to battle with the rest of your peers. The whole thing with the Red Death? You missed it completely. You only found out later after Hiccup had been towed back to Berk on death's door.
Constantly spilling his heart out to you but saving the rest of it for the other teens, the ones who used to jeer at him from the sidelines, who all of the sudden began to treat him well, but still jeered at you while he wasn’t looking.
A hangers-on to their group, not very useful or funny, just there, always. Not spoken with or talked to or considered at all by anyone who wasn’t Hiccup. Just there.
Your companionship had, for lack of a better word, remained the same, except now there was an undercurrent of something under the surface of a black ocean, broiling and writhing like an angry serpent.
Sometimes it felt like a sick corruption of the friendship you and Hiccup used to have, made up of long held hardship and what you had thought were good times. Sometimes it was better than it was before, and you could joke and laugh and play games the same way you had as children.
And sometimes it felt like you were speaking to a stranger, one you weren’t sure you’d ever known at all; sometimes his mannerisms, his ticks and even the way he stood were alien to you.
You weren’t even sure you recognized who he was anymore. You never asked why, afraid of the answer you might find.
“So, I’m hoping that if I place a spring there, when I pull the lever it wont catch so violently. The gear system around the side is to help turn the barrel while you’re aiming. Got it? What do you think?”
You nodded, eyeing the vast array of blueprints and open journals spread sideways in between the two of you. Brown leather met leather as Hiccup rubbed his shoulder, no doubt a result of a hard fall he’d taken earlier on Toothless.
“Yeah, I got it,” You say casually, “What about the wheels? If you’re going to be pulling it over grass, you might need to cover the space between the wheels and gears, because the plants might catch and pull up into the gear system.”
It feels fake. Slimy to say, like a lie, except you know it’s not. It feels like a product of something more larger and uglier.
Hiccup picks up a yellowed paper, scrutinizing his own design, “Yeah… Actually, you’re right. I don’t know If- maybe if I shift the base… Yeah, I think that would work. Thank you.”
“No problem,” You puff, blowing a strand of hair out of your face.
“Also, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Hiccup shifted in his seat, clenching and unclenching his fingers, a nervous tick he’d had since the two of you were little, “Your dragon. Have you picked a name for it yet?”
“Ah, no,” You sigh, looking down at your knees, “Honestly, I haven’t been able to find something he likes.”
The picky bastard./Picky beast.
Hiccup had helped you find a dragon before the lot of you had moved, a smallish nadder who still didn’t feel much like your own, but served you just as well as any other would and you did teh best to serve it fine as well. He turned out to have just as much propensity for social upset around the other dragons and seemed to get along with Stormfly, Toothless and no one else.
Speaking of, the black dragon, Toothless, had warmed up to you, and in the end you became no better or worse than anyone else on Berk to him, which you were okay with for the most part.
The others had gotten used to you, though remained relatively detached. Conversations wouldn’t stop nor would people give you the look once you entered a room. You didn’t try to strike up conversation anymore, learning that it was better to be silent than awkward.
It still did nothing to soothe the hurt, or all of the years you’d spent hurting, or any of the time now you spent on your lonesome.
“If you don’t mind, I can-...” Hiccup leans back, the both of you turning heads as your door creaked open, heavy boots moving across the threshold of your home, wood floors creaking.
You gave Astrid a nod of acknowledgement as she approached your table and she tilted her head, glancing in your direction.
“Hiccup,” Astrid called, “Are we still flying tonight?”
“Astrid,” Hiccup greeted as he stood up, a soft smile stretching half the length of his face as he gathered his assets, leaving a few papers scattered across the top that he knew he could come pick up later as he usually did, “Yeah, let me get my things first.”
You tuned them out as they began speaking in earnest, leaning back to stare at the ceiling, fingers tapping against your elbows almost antsily as they slowly took their leave.
“Hey,” Hiccup looks back at you as your heart beats rapidly in your chest, “I’ll see you later, right?”
“Right,” You say nearly at a mumble, refusing to look him in the eye, your stomach rolling guiltily as the door shuts behind him, “I’ll see you later.”
Your foot nudged the pack you’d prepared out from under the table in the small, shoddy hut you’d managed on the Edge, slinging it over your shoulder as you watched Hiccup and Astrid take off on their dragons through a crack in your window shutters.
He may have found his happiness with the others but you had not, and you fully intended to leave, the same way he’d planned it all those years ago.
You knew what you were doing was wrong. Not saying goodbye, just up and leaving in the middle of the night without telling anyone, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to say it.
What would you be leaving behind, anyways? You didn’t have much.
You waited until they were just a small speck in the distance before running out on your own, a pack slung up over your shoulders. The dragon, who you’d parked just behind your hut and who’d spent the past few hours almost patiently waiting for you as you’d spent your sudden and unexpected last few hours with Hiccup, stood to its feet and chirruped as you hoisted yourself up onto its saddle.
Fishlegs was busy in his hut. The twins and Snotlout, maybe they’d notice you leaving but you didn’t have much faith in them asking why or feeling much at all besides a vague expectation that you’d be back later. Everyone went out for a leisure flight every once in a while, it was just about time you’d finally taken yours, after all.
Hiccup and Astrid wouldn’t be back till late doing who knows what. You bit your lip, lightly tapping your Nadder’s side with your heel, signaling for him to take off in the opposite direction, shoving down a deep spike of jealousy at the thought. He was your friend first, and soon he would be nothing to you and it wouldn’t matter at all anymore.
You weren’t sure where exactly you were going. But you knew wherever it was, it would be good as long as it was as far, far away from here as possible.
You grind your teeth, eyes tearing up as a heavy booted foot pushes you down further into the wooden ship floor. The ship rocks angrily as does your dragon, struggling against the barbed netting.
“Who are you? A new vigilante?” The leading trapper, Erik son of Erik or something, asked, bending down above you. He had, coincidentally, been the one to shoot you down.
“Where is your… hideout?” He leaned down into your ear at your silence, speaking in a raspy whisper. You got the vague impression he was trying to be intimidating, though the end results were more in favor of making you blush.
You were thankful for the hard wood covering your face and, therefore, your embarrassment. Of your belongings, you were only able to manage a mask and had taken to running around ensconced in furs with nothing but a dagger to your name.
You’d recon you looked much like a wild animal, straddling your nadder bare of a saddle. You had not done too well on your own. It was hard. You had always been a team player if by team player you meant a leech on society. At least, you had been told so.
So of course you had, unwittingly, stumbled onto dragon trapping territory. Extreme sport dragon trapping territory. It didn’t help that you and your nadder hadn’t been on the same page, you two being unable to sync in the way you’d seen the other riders with their dragons, which left a bitter taste in your mouth.
He’d go left when you were trying for right, and when you finally decided to just go with it, he would change his mind and throw you for a complete loop. It was safe to say that even if you got out of this mess you never wanted to step foot on his back again.
You breathed a silent sigh of relief just as the trapper let out an annoyed one, stepping off of you in favor of yelling at his men for damaging their goods. Meaning, your nadder. Was he really yours, though? He did try and make a break for it without you.
While debating whether or not you should try at the ropes shackling your arms together, you grunt frustratedly, noticing a new tear in your garb.
After running away and getting captured, you had not expected to be kidnapped again by some insane-looking madman in a mask. Though you did look like two of a kind, so it was fitting.
Your nadder had its wings torn irreparably, so, unfortunately, you had to retire him early.
You found small comfort in that it hadn’t abandoned you on the ship that one final time, though the irony that it had led you here was not lost on you.
He visited sometimes. He took to life in the sanctuary very well.
You didn’t, a borderline prisoner before you’d been able to win over the trust of the resident feral gorgon. Sort of. She was a woman who let you see her face, more on accident than anything else. You hadn’t let her see you or hear yours. However you weren’t inclined to speak of her nicely, least of all in your head, after the number of weeks you spent trapped in a cave at her behest.
Finally, you’d been let out. Let out enough to walk more than just the short stretch of stone and greenish ice that made up your prison. The endless turquoise was beginning to make you sick.
Recently, you found a real friend in the sanctuary, and this dragon, it was truly yours. Affectionately named, fed and groomed, you two were almost inseparable. It was the kind of friendship with a dragon you’d completely missed out on on Berk.
It was hard to maintain given your captive status, but that was alright.
There probably wasn’t any social profit involved in being a vigilante, which is why you assumed the crazy dragon lady had taken to speaking at you in her spare time. About the dragons, what they ate, what she had to do. Pointedly she gave away nothing of their true secrets, not that you wanted them, nor anything of her vigilant-ing. Not verbally, though the influx of injuries both on her and the dragons spoke volumes.
She did give away her name.
You groan, rubbing your eyes under your mask as you cradle the thing to your face with the other.
“You’re quite attached to your mask,” Valka said amusedly, shifting the logs roasting in the fire with a stick, pushing them back and forth as you sat in silence. You hardly ever spoke a word, nowadays.
Her dragon, the stormcutter, stared at you with large eyes through the licking flames.
Neither of you mentioned that the only real reason you’d been able to keep your mask so long was that she’d been kind enough to let you. An allowance you’d been given on a whim. One you clung to with all the nervous energy of Fishlegs to his dragon cards.
“... I’d rather not be,” You grumble, voice raspy from disuse, “It’s stuffy.”
“Oh,” Valka looked at you, amused and maybe a little surprised to hear you speak at last, before going back to tend to her fires, “I was starting to think you couldn’t speak.”
“Funny.” You said, lifting a sharpened stick off the ground, spearing it through a slimy, gutted fish from the basket beside you. Your nose wrinkled as you heard the sharp point break skin. No amount of faux stoicism could make it seem pleasant to you.
“I have a few questions,” You grimace under your mask as she asserts herself. She can ask them all she wants, but there’s no guarantee you’ll answer.
You might, probably, as keeping secrets hasn’t always been your strong suit. She’s certainly been trying to open you up for a while. You’ve not given her any leeway before though, no reason to give her any now.
“How did you tame your dragon?” She asked, pushing a particularly thick dragon searching for morsels. Valka guides its head gently away with her spare hand before any of the other dragons crowding around them get any ideas.
You wait for a moment, still wondering whether you should follow along. Eventually, you decide to answer.
“Wasn’t me. Someone else back home did it,” You huff, “I just followed along.”
“...But not very well,” Valka hums. It’s obvious she doesn’t believe you. Unfortunately for her, that is not your problem.
She pulls a small trout off her own stick, tossing it to a crowd of young dragons, who you knew had acquired a taste for the cooked, through no fault of your own.
You should feel offended, but you know she’s right. You lean away from a wandering dragon snout as it searches you for morsels. The stormcutter, after a look from Valka, shoos it away with a large wing.
“Where are you from?”
You feel the embers from the fire as they rise, the furs of your coat becoming nearly unbearable, your skin heated up rapidly. You wrinkle your brow with annoyance as you feel a drop of sweat slide down the side of your face.
“Where are you from?” You retort pointedly.
She studies you cautiously, as if she could glean your intentions from your body language. And she very well could. Or the heat was getting to you, the wells you’d spent in solitude had finally done some real damage to your psyche, and you were hallucinating.
“Berk,” She says. You sit back, surprised, “And you?”
“...None of your business.” You wonder how long it had been since she had left. You pray she would not know you.
Valka raised her eyebrow.
“I’m serious.” You ground your heel into the dirt. It was a touchy subject, still.
“Berk, too. …Stop looking at me like that.”
Valka leaned back against the ice wall where you rested, looking out over the empty ocean as dragons flooded to and fro the sanctuary. You squinted far into the distance, as if you thought you might be able to see through it if you tried hard enough.
Your hair tugged wildly by the winds out from behind your mask as you sat, one leg extended and the other bent as you leaned back against one arm.
You probably looked as you felt, weary and unkempt after a long flight over the seas with your dragon, who clambered among the icy spike-lined wall with clawed hands. You felt refreshed yet somehow at odds with yourself still.
You cared little for your bedraggled demeanor the same way you hadn’t cared for much at all in a while. It might have made a cool picture had you not slipped and fallen onto your face on the ice just a few minutes prior. Whether you had broken your nose or not on your mask had yet to be uncovered. All that mattered was that Valka hadn’t seen.
Dragons crowed. Through the cracks in the walls of the sanctuary, the wind would whistle through if it hit the right angle. Louder than anything else were the sounds of the waves crashing against rock.
But between you and Valka, it was silent. A contemplative silence, the kind of silence you shared with others after a long thought or a hard day’s work. That’s how you knew she was going to break it.
“Why did you leave?”
You are annoyed at the prospect but are no less expectant. After the moment passes, you are not surprised. However, it feels as if you are the one who should be asking.
“Why did I leave?” You ask, “Does it matter?”
A loose chunk of ice falls off the side of the sanctuary as a large titan scrambles violently down the side, chasing after a bright yellow baby. You spot a shape through the fog, distant and blurry enough to resemble a bird though there are no birds here. You pointedly do not think of your small hut, even less of green eyes, and tiny, fading freckles.
Valka tilted her head in your direction, reaching a hand out to scratch Cloudjumper under his chin as he lowered himself towards her, “It mattered to you.”
You open your mouth, but you are only able to choke on your breath. No one has ever said something like that to you, not in a long while. You don’t understand why it’s hitting you so hard. Maybe it’s the isolation.
You blame the burning of your eyes on the biting wind.
“Why did you leave?” You ask in return, once you’ve taken time for yourself, though you have an idea. You can’t keep your voice from sounding a little bit scratchy.
You unhook your dagger from your belt, trying not to seem so attentive. Instead, you take to carving random shapes into the ice. A gronkle. A nadder.
“I was taken.” She sighs, quieter now. Lost off in memory as you both often are.
The nadder’s spikes are much too long. The gronkle looks more like a sandwich than a dragon.
“Taken?” You prompt and you begin on the outline of a fury. The result is shallow and scratchy.
It’s one of your own designs, not the same as the one Berk uses. Astrid liked the other one better, not yours, so that was the one Hiccup went with.
“I didn’t leave,” She insisted, almost as if she was trying to convince herself of the fact, “I had a son, and a husband.”
You’ve seen her by the fires, while trying to sneak out of this hellish ice maze. She talks to herself then. On particularly paranoid days, she’s slept by you, in the same caverns, so you’ve heard it. She talks in her sleep and says things she would never say awake, or had you been around. It’s all so very unsettling.
“Really?” You remarked with false astonishment. The facade is flimsy, but you figured you’d give her the benefit of the doubt. The grace to assume that you’d no idea what she was on about.
With prompting, you might have seen it earlier. In her slim form, the one she kept hidden under thick furs and thicker armor. You squint. They have the same eye color. The same hair. They both have higher cheekbones, though her son more resembles his father in that aspect. That is all.
Valka shoots you a reprimanding look. Cloudjumper, now creeping down the wall behind you, taps you on the back of your head with its tail at her behest.
Valka was of the air. Though he had the same flighty tendencies, he was very grounded, like his father, though he might either be proud or loath to admit it. He loved flying, yes, but he loved inventing and processing and routine just as much, if not more.
He did when you were close. Of course he did, he spent his whole life on it. You couldn’t really say you knew him anymore.
You didn’t pin Valka as the type to enjoy the same in any sort of manner. But that suited you just as well. You found that as time went by and as you were granted more freedoms, you appreciated it. It made it easier for you to forget. To ignore.
In the end they, you and she, she and you, were one and the same.
“But what does it matter, if you never went back?” You grumble, pushing your dragon’s head away as it nudges you towards the cliff, crooning for more flying time.
You guessed that was why she clung so viciously to the safety of her sanctuary. Why she hated other people so much, why she’d had no faith in the humanity of other people, why she’d held you here so strictly. If things could have been different, then what did she give it all up for?
Though you’d never had something else. Not even the option. You’d never been given it. Valka hadn’t been given it either, but there was a sure difference between something being there and not.
The atmosphere is silent again, tainted with some darker undertones. If you’d had to put a name to it, you might have called it grief.
“I want to leave.”
Valka doesn’t look surprised at your request. And indeed, it’s been no secret that you wanted to leave. Maybe she was glad for it, or maybe she was sad at the news.
After all, you settled into each other's presence long ago. You had a good sort of companionship.
And from that companionship, you learned a lot without even trying, just by watching. Eventually she took notice and she took an active part in teaching you the truths she learned during all her years in self-imposed isolation.
You two weren’t incredibly close but you could tell Valka was grateful for the company, grateful to have someone maybe even a little bit like her, even if most of it was spent in silence.
You still left the Drago fighting for her. It wasn’t your fight, it was hers, and you made that clear.
Neither of you brought up Berk. Ever.
You were content to just come and go as you pleased, for a while. Nonetheless, despite your freedom, you felt restricted to the small world of the Sanctuary and the empty skies around it. There was no place for you on the ground or by the seas, where hunters and trappers swarmed by the thousands and Drago’s armies grew by the day.
You spent so much time learning from her and yet it felt like no time at all. Which was why you were shocked when you’d truly learned how much had come and gone in full.
You were out slinking in the shadows, seeking shelter from a storm on the same small rocky outcropping of island that had a shipful of trappers stranded, in a rage and a panic as they attempted to recover their assets. The winds had been too rough to fly, so you had no choice but to wait and listen.
You didn’t believe it at first. It had been…
Months.
You wondered if he’d been married, yet.
Years.
The idea hurt, not as much as you’d thought it would, still not as little as you’d hoped.
Under clear skies, you found an inn, untouched by everything except grass and trees.
You asked, “What day is it?”
The large man, a burly viking scrubbing down a wooden cup with a torn old rag, had looked down at you skeptically from behind a beaten pine and stone counter.
Two years. It had been nearly two years since you left Berk. Just as Valka’s attachments kept her at the Sanctuary, you needed to go. To run.
Since you had heard it, spoken it, the urge to run, to fly hadn’t abated at all, going from a wispy thought at the back of your mind to a full blown need. Your dragon too had become antsy, maybe feeding off of your nervous energy. Eager to take off, to fly new skies.
“Are you sure?” Valka asked searchingly. You two were stationed over a heavily planted cliff over a large main pool which consisted of the main cavern within the Sanctuary, once again in front of a fire, eating your own meals as the dragons below ate and exchanged fish.
You were already packed, your mask secured as it had been for all two years you had been in this place stuck between confinement and dwelling. You almost regretted it, not telling her your name, but you couldn’t bear yourself to her knowing who she was, not truly. Not until you’d washed yourself of that particular weight.
“Yes,” One day you would, if you ever saw her again. Once you were released from the heartache and pain of your own making, “I am. Thank you.”
You started out into the pale foggy sky, mounted your beast as smooth as you’d ever done, which is to say, not smooth at all. You’d only ever managed it right when Valka was watching, anyhow. It was odd how that worked, maybe the peer pressure was finally starting to kick in.
As you took off and the sanctuary became smaller and smaller both to your eyes and your mind, as the tight bundle of chains in your chest dropped and the world opened up to you once more, you felt light, and free.
Once again, there was no one to watch you and no one to hurt for besides your and your dragon. Endless opportunity. Thousands of ways to keep going.
You wondered what your face looked like.
You couldn’t wait to see it again.
Hiccup traced the faint outline of a Night Fury in the ice with his fingertips.
He tried to suppress the bubbling hope and dread at the thought his mother had been lying to him and his father about being alone all those years.
He had left to get some air and to give his parents time together to linger while the snowstorm outside abated, taking shelter under a misty overhang of ice just off one of the tunnels leading back into the main dwelling. One that had fortunately not fallen victim to the heavy layers of snow drowning the uncovered surfaces below.
Toothless had followed him out, of course, and sniffled curiously at the ground, giving the other few doodles littered across the ice an inspection of his own. Hiccup sat back, covering his mouth with his hand as he mulled over the implications.
He then stood, staring back into the tunnel leading back into the sanctuary. Much of the awe he had felt earlier at the discovery of his mother had washed away and a wave of uncertainty and hurt replaced it.
He knew he had been given grace. A lot more than he deserved.
Since everything had changed, terrible mistakes became minor inconveniences. People no longer whispered about Hiccup the weird, Hiccup the Useless, the Hiccup who just didn’t get it. Rather, every jest on his behalf was now just another one of his strange little quirks.
He did his part. He was happy to have a part now. A real one.
(He’d had a part. Blacksmith, inventor, friend.)
(Mistake.)
He thought they’d do the same for you. But you weren’t doing well. Even though he was busy with his new role, he noticed. He noticed when you fell behind, when you still couldn’t seem to find your place.
(His father, looking at him with shining eyes.)
He begged for you to not fumble this chance that you both had to be different. To be a part of something real, something tangible.
(He was so proud.)
Except.
(It made him sick.)
He knew what it was like. To be the odd one out, to not be able to do things quite the way you were supposed to. After all, if he hadn’t had Toothless then he would still be the same old Hiccup.
(He felt like the same old Hiccup.)
So yeah, it made sense that you weren’t always the first on call. It made sense, when you lagged behind. Why you weren’t part of the group the same way everyone else was.
(Was he?)
Like a wall had been shattered and the curtains pulled, he’d been witness to some of the moments between the other Dragon Riders he’d not been included in when he was ‘other.’ Moments that he just couldn’t quite indulge in, that used to be aimed at him, that caused something ugly and sad to curl tight in his stomach.
That left the sour taste of stomach acid on his tongue that he couldn’t wash away, no matter what he drank or how many times he tried.
So he vouched for you when the whispers started. Hounded them until they stopped, despite the creeping feeling that they were right. Clung tightly onto the few moments you were able to spend together. The way things used to be.
(Pushed down the tiny voice telling him he still didn’t belong.)
Days. It took days for them to notice you were gone. Truly gone. And they couldn’t be sure at all when it had happened, what or why.
They assumed you were dead. Once the next devastating winter set in, there was no way you could have made it on your own.
They locked your hut. An empty grave. The key, he’d taken and melted down into other things.
But. there was always a but.
Hiccup was a good handyman. For the most part. He’d caused a lot of handy-requiring, meaning he’d had a lot of practice.
He broke your lock.
Hiccup stared down at the piles of maps, noted, traced and copied sprawled across your desk, pulled out from underneath a loose floorboard by your bed. He clenched the various compasses and sea charts hidden in drawers and carelessly thrown under dishware.
It turned out you had a lot of free time on your hands.
There was something missing. Something missed when the other riders would joke and prod, wielding inside jokes he’d never been privy to just as easily as they wielded swords and hammers. And now he had no one to share with when they did.
There was something missing late at night working on a new tailfin, or a rig, or early in the morning when he was too tired to piece metal jigs together.
It just wasn’t the same, going to Fishlegs or Snotlout with these things, and heaven knows that Astrid wouldn’t entertain the idea at all. It was the dragons that appealed to her most. She was an early riser and an early sleeper and for many reasons she appealed to him, but she just couldn’t be what Hiccup needed. Not then.
You faded away as if you were a ghost, a door to a room no one used.
They didn’t get how it felt to spend all those years being the odd one out. He needed someone who got it. He needed someone who got him. A friend.
And like a note in the margins of a bad story, eventually no one mentioned you at all.
He flew as far and as fast as he could. Mapping the world, exploring farther and farther, as if he might somehow be able to trace your footsteps, following a lost trail that one day a long time ago you might have paved.
He’d flown as if, once he’d flown far enough, he might have been able to understand where you’d gone.
(Why you left him.)
They figured a way to identify dragons through scale patterns. It was a skill Fishlegs had perfected first, taking vague, long held knowledge and putting it into practice, doing the math.
Hiccup ran his hand down the side of this dragon, eyeing the torn wings, the spiked crown. The jaw.
Recording its age, its gender, his place of origin.
“You know this dragon?” Valka asked cautiously. Distrustfully. She was leaning against her staff, face guarded. He didn’t need to look to know that last bit, he heard it just fine.
Hiccup furrowed his brow. Two fish, a scratch under the chin. Dragon nip, a saddle, carefully woven and tenderly worn.
“I trained it.”
Hiccup leaned forward against Toothless, urging him ever onwards against the rough, buffeting winds and vicious onslaught of snow. Higher and higher until they cut above the clouds, breaching the threshold of the storm, evading it altogether.
Your absence had long since become an idea. Your person, a concept that eluded him time and time again, as inescapable yet unreachable as his own grieving heart.
But now, with the news from his father, his mother… he’d set out immediately, with not a word to spare despite Gobber warning him of the oncoming storm.
You were only two days departed. Two days out, a mirage turned real and he pursued it with all the desperation of a child. Finally, nearly, you were almost tangible. Reachable, physical, real.
There was no telling how far you’d gone or how far you’d go if you’d been given the chance to flee. He needed to catch up, catch you, see you.
Happy to be on your own again, you’d taken a few days rest just outside of Valka’s territory. You didn’t expect to be caught off guard like that. You didn’t expect to be found, even by accident. It was just your luck.
“Damn it!” Peering from around the bend, you spotted a man. And he was a man now, a long shot away from the kids you two were.
He was masked, hidden just out of view inside the crack between a rocky craig, where you’d set up camp. However the unmistakable form of Toothless followed suit as the two fought the wind and storm, searching for shelter.
You brushed your hand over your own mask, your dragon breathing over your shoulder as it too surveyed the newcomers. They had crash landed quite suddenly and you’d rushed to compensate, hiding before they could notice. Hopefully they hadn’t noticed. He nor Toothless wouldn’t ever notice, not if you played your cards right.
You wondered if he remembered you at all. If he knew or if he’d ever had the mind to think about you. What brought him here. Maybe he’d just been chasing a whim. You pushed back a large animal skull with your foot, the mangled remnants of your attempt to fashion a new helmet with no face.
Toothless shook his head, looking at Hiccup sourly as they trudged on towards an outcropping near the center of the small island they’d found themselves on.
Hiccup rubbed his arms grievously, staring out towards the sea, not sure the place wouldn’t be overtaken should a particularly large wave come to shore. There was no way he’d be able to catch up to you now, not in this rough weather. He prayed that the storm would give but the chances of that were low and he had little hope.
He stumbled slightly as he was buffeted forwards, finally making it to the entrance of a nigh hidden, narrow space carved into a crack in the large rock. Toothless snuffled at his back, urging him forward, though he had to take pause at the entrance as he spotted movement in the back.
A dragon? Or…
You hadn’t played your cards right.
You cursed as you ran further into the cave and towards the opening you knew lay at the back, your dragon already there, packed and ready. You had to run back after the realization you’d forgotten your dagger, which you probably should have just left behind.
“Hey, wait!”
You grit your teeth as Hiccup made chase, running past your dead fire and crumbling fish bones. You would have been caught had the passage not been too narrow for him and Toothless to run side-by-side. It was just luck that he hadn’t yet thought to jump back onto his saddle.
You increased your speed as the passage started to open up and swung onto your own dragon, kicking off and just missing Hiccup as he skidded to a stop. Toothless lept in front of him right after.
You could just imagine the two of them vaulting into the sky, a common scene turned frightening image as you and your own dragon bolted.
You’d had plenty of experience flying through this kind of weather. You hadn’t always, and the vikings on Berk hadn’t much at all, choosing to hole up with their dragons when the snow got too rough.
It gave you the advantage, one you needed if Hiccup decided to follow. There was no way to tell with the snow this thick, and with Toothless, he’d be nearly impossible to outmaneuver. You stayed under the clouds, hoping to keep your cover, as traveling into the open sky now would most definitely give you away.
What you could make out below between flurries of hail and flakes was nothing but open ocean and large mountains of ice, which passed you by in less than an instant as you sped as far away as possible, using the winds to uplift instead of hindering you.
You scanned the area around you, looking for a sound place to escape and hide. Something caught your eye but just barely and you swooped downwards.
With what happened next, you might have been caught off guard had it not been for the yelling you could make out just barely above the wind. Instead you were just incredibly scared as a large mass spiraled into you, sending the four of you tumbling and screaming down into the cavern below.
Through the vertigo you were able to kick Hiccup, untangling your limbs with force as your dragon took unsteadily to the air again.
“Wait- Come back!” He shouted, leaning forwards, arm extended towards you. Toothless roared.
“No!” You yelled stubbornly back as you twisted to glare at him through your mask.
Regrettably, it seems that the Night Fury remained undefeated in terms of speed and inescapability as he soon caught up to you again, Toothless grabbing onto your dragon’s tail and with a hard yank, forcing your landing onto a nearby ledge, large and long enough to facilitate your rough spill and roll against hard gravel.
Your mask cracked as it was thrown against the ground, loudly echoing as it clattered against hard stone.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to- It was really rough out there, and I-” Hiccup stumbled to his feet, shaking his mechanical foot out of Toothless’ saddle, heart pounding as you looked up at him behind scraggly hair, crouched a good few strides forwards
He’d found the experience novel when he’d seen it on his Dad, an outsider looking in. But to experience it firsthand… He knew what his father meant, when he said ‘You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.’
Even seeing you as messed up and wild as you were squeezed his breath out of his chest. Maybe even made you more… Whatever this was. Whatever you were to him.
You definitely looked different, a little older, features more defined, but he’d die before he’d cease to recognize that face.
He had to shut his mouth, lips pursed as if to hold back all the memories flooding back into his mind, faster than the winds blowing up on the surface. You two, as kids in the meadows, complaining about life and dads, sneaking around the Great Hall, causing messes and being scolded.
He realized what it was that he’d felt and missed so deeply. It was something he’d known, hidden so deep inside, realized much too late.
You held back tears as the life you’d tried so hard to forget had finally caught up to you. Within an instant, this new life you had built for yourself had completely fallen apart.
You saw the man- because you begged for it not to be him, and you’d exhausted all your avenues, and the only option you had left was denial, took a shaky step forward, pulling his helmet back over his head with both hands, revealing a face lathered in sweat despite the cool conditions.
Trolls.
“Why…” Your voice, scratchy and ragged, was easily heard despite your whispering as there was nothing else to be heard, “Are you here?”
“Why… Am I…?” Hiccup asked incredulously, staring at you wide-eyed.
“Yes!” You shout, shoving the hair out of your face as you stood abruptly, “What in the world are you doing here?” Your dragon, laying behind you, began to stand, cautiously crouching against the ground.
“I came looking for you!” He looked like you’d kicked his puppy. You bared your teeth at him.
“You came looking for me? You chased me through a storm like a maniac! Can’t you take a hint?! Gods,” You grip your shoulder, “You probably broke my shoulder, curse it!”
“I’m sorry- I’m sorry I hurt you, that I-” Hiccup stepped forward. Toothless growled, behind him, “But you left! What was I supposed to do with that?”
“What you were supposed to do with that? You tackled me to the ground!” It had been so long.
“You didn’t even say goodbye!”
“You’re mad about goodbyes? Was the goodbye I gave you not good enough?!” He had scruff now, a light dusting of peach fuzz spotting along his chin. His hair was redder, his eyes greener. Or maybe that was the lighting.
“You went missing for two years! So I chased after you. Who wouldn’t? In what world would ‘I’ll see you later’ ever be enough? Ever?” It’s not like he ever gave you a goodbye. Not before he’d left you in the dust.
“I was hurt! And what are you- how do you even remember that, anyways?” You scoff loudly. But in the end he was still the same boy. He would have taken anyone else at their whim as a friend or otherwise. Yet he didn’t even recognize your companionship or your silly little crush. Wasn’t that disheartening?
Hiccup stomped forwards, causing you to step back. Your dragon snarled and followed as Toothless began to circle, trapping you and Hiccup in the middle of a very dangerous tango.
“How could I-? You’d- Just- Have you ever considered that maybe I was hurting, too? I spent so long just trying to fix- everything! I spent so long doing, and then you just leave and I can’t do anything about it! Do you know how painful that was? Why didn’t- why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you talk to me? Why?” He had worked hard. So, so hard.
He probably would have chosen Ruffnut’s hand over yours. He thought she was terrible.
“Why?” You asked him, throwing your arms out, squishing the little ball of guilt worming around in your stomach, “Why didn’t you talk to me? Do you know how much it hurt, to be constantly left behind like- like your old scraps, and maybe I got tired of hearing about it! Hearing about all of it! Your standing, your dad, your stupid girlfriend! Could you not just be happy with what you had?”
“What-”
He did get Astrid, though. He pursued her even though, for the longest time, she remained just ever so out of his league. The same way he was and wasn’t out of yours. Yeah, you were jealous. So, so jealous.
Of her, of his cousin and all his other friends for pushing you around and squeezing you out of his life. You were mad at him for letting them, after all they’d done to the both of you.
“I got made fun of! All the damn time! And your head was so full of air- you were too busy jerking your own ego to notice!” Your eyes stung as you shouted at him.
“Up my own ego!” Hiccup stopped, “No one wanted me as I was. I spent so long trying to make everything work for everyone else! What I had-I wanted you to have it too! So why? Why did you leave?”
“You say that, but-” You grimace and, “Shouldn’t it be obvious? Maybe I didn't want that! Did- did you ever stop to consider that maybe I wanted you? You didn’t have to make anything up for me! You-! It was all about you!”
“I- Honestly, you have to- All my life, I-”
“I have to what?! We had the same life, Hiccup!”
“I know!” Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Then, quicker than you could react, he grabbed you by your upper arm and pulled you closer just enough- It wasn’t pleasant at all, all force and teeth against lip. But the next one.
He pulled back, readjusted and you slipped together seamlessly. Closed-mouthed, but he clearly knew what he was doing, kissing you that way. You held onto his elbows, unmoving yet still, frozen by shock. He’d gotten his practice in with Astrid.
The thought sent a wave of fury down your spine. You punched him.
He reared back from the blow, accepting yet more startled than physically hurt as, just like him, you’d never had much muscle. Still, you’d left what was quickly becoming a nice red welt on his face.
Your dragons stared at the both of you in shock, yours more in confusion than Toothless. There weren’t many Vikings in the sanctuary, so the meaning behind the gesture, the punch and the kiss, was probably lost.
“I thought…” He mumbled, eyes wide again, speaking as though whatever just happened, hadn’t, “I thought everything was fine. Fine enough. Between us.” You looked at him, the place where your heart used to be all twisted up and torn.
He was a liar. He was a liar, and you wouldn’t let him one over you. Not again. You didn’t want him to, more than anything else.
In spite of that, emotionally and physically, you were exhausted. You could only manage sadness. You weren’t sure you had the energy to push him away.
“You thought wrong.” You didn’t want to speak to him at all.
“Please, don’t-” he fell apart, voice hushed and cracking as he spoke. He took the final step towards you, burying his head against your shoulder. You stood stiff, staring out over into the scenery beyond his back and yet unseeing.
It was weird, having said everything you’d needed to say, that you’d bottled up for so many years. It defined you for so long that having it all out in the open kind of made you feel like you’d lost something essential.
“I see it. I see it now. I really do,” He whispered that last part tearfully, fingers gripping weakly onto the fabric of your sleeves. You felt as though a stiff breeze might blow him away, “Please, don’t leave me. Not again.”
He couldn’t say that.
“I can’t let you go again,” He really couldn’t say that.
“Just... Just tell me what you want.” He couldn’t say that, either. Toothless shot you a scathing glare, your dragon all but forgotten as he tugged Hiccup back. Your dragon unfurled its wings behind you, standing tall and proud as he pulled away towards the entrance to the cavern.
You met Hiccup’s gaze.
“Just do me this.” You choked out, watching as his expression switched from despaired to flat and back again, “Go away,”
“Please.” You said.
And he did. He turned tail and ran.
It was over.
As he flew away on Toothless, becoming nothing but a pinprick in your periphery before finally disappearing up the cavern entrance, you fell back down onto your knees.
You weren’t sure what to do anymore. The most important decision of your life was made with his ghost nipping at your heels. Truly, he haunted you. Whether he was with you or not, he always haunted you.
But the dragons here, untouched by the outside world, were kind. And curious. Once the threat was gone and the commotion was over, many came over to examine the newcomers, sniffing and prodding at you and your things.
They were welcoming enough. So you set up shop.
Hiccup laid flat against his bed, staring at the ceiling of his childhood home. He felt torn in every single direction all at once.
He’d left when his people needed him. When his father had needed him. Drago had attacked while he’d been gone, and all that was left of the sanctuary now was rubble. Then he’d gone after Berk. Hiccup had only just gotten there in time.
His father was fine, his mother… alive. After twenty years. Everyone was accounted for, but what if they hadn’t been? If he’d been there, maybe there would have been less damage, less people hurt.
But he wouldn’t have found you if he’d stayed. Finally, after all this time. He'd realized how long it truly had been since you left, lost to him even before you’d actually run off on your… the, nadder.
The floorboards creaked as someone made their way up the stairs to the loft, the front door swinging shut behind him. Hiccup didn’t move, just glancing to the side to see who it was that came to get him this time.
“Astrid,” He sighed. The two of them were distant and had been for a long while, despite the fact that they were supposed to be in a relationship. He’d been off a lot for that whole long while, which she hadn’t much minded as she’d found herself more interested in other things. And… he’d found his heart had a new owner.
“It’s been a month, Hiccup,” She rolled her head back, exhausted, as if reciting a tired script that she’d been reading off for ages, one that no one wanted to listen to anymore, “Everyone is fine. You don’t have to hole up so often. I don’t know why you did it, but no one is mad you left, you know. You couldn’t have known.”
“Yeah…” Hiccup sighed, “Yeah, I know.”
“You need to get out,” She looked around his room, which was very much a mess of parts and papers, and ran her hand down a large map, laid flat over the only remotely clear space he had, his desk, “if you don’t next thing you know, a month’ll be four.”
“Why are you so obsessed with this place? … Does it have anything to do with the time you spent missing?” Astrid questioned. Hiccup propped himself up, turning over alarmed as he heard the sound of skin on paper. It had been freshly inked.
“No,” He’d guessed at where the two of you had ended up. He was sure that he’d be able to find it again, given the chance. He would. After he worked up the courage.
After all, you’d… You didn’t want to be found.
“Hey, wait, that’s-” He scrambled onto his one leg, kicking aside his prosthetic and jamming his toe in the process.
“Ah, ow, ow, don’t touch that, please,” Astrid rolled her eyes and tossed the cylinder to his bed and he picked it up, examining it thoroughly as she sauntered off.
You weren’t sure why, but he kept coming back
“Hi,” He said awkwardly, shifting from foot to peg nervously. This was the first time he’d caught you. The first time he’d spotted you was the last but you’d made off that time before he could see you.
“Why are you here?” You stared at him, blank faced. Why didn’t you leave, curse it.
Your dragon waved its tail playful from the side, waiting for Hiccup to go. The other ones wouldn’t come out while he was here. It felt good in a vindictive sort of way, because dragons had always been this thing, except this time you were the one with the secret dragon knowledge. And the upper hand. Sort of. They didn’t hide from you.
“I like… “ He flushed, “I like hearing you talk?”
“Sure,” You suggested, turning and starting off again, basket under arm and over rock as you began unsteadily making your way back up to home cave. You liked it there because you didn’t have to leave much for anything.
“Wait, wait, wait wait,” Hiccup stuttered. As you had your arms over a particularly steep ledge, your legs waved nonsensically and scrambled against the side as you searched for a foot grip, “Just, uh, let me-”
“Come back tomorrow,” You grunted after you managed to finally get one leg up the side. You’d probably figure out what to say by then.
You felt better here, like maybe you weren’t meant for people. Not for dragons either, not really. The dragons here didn’t need defending or anything, it’s not like there was anyone down here to defend against besides other dragons. The most you’d had to go out for was food, and even that was made or stolen easily enough.
Being here gave you enough time to make you think that maybe you were meant just for yourself.
You sat by the spray by the falls, enjoying the mist as it sprayed onto your face and the echoing sounds of the water hitting gray stone.
“Toothless, come on- Just please, I know you don’t want- but-” Your eyes shot open, the distant voice of Hiccup bounced around the empty cavern, your moment ruined.
You looked around for the pair, trying to figure out which direction you should be running before. Suddenly, it felt like you’d been drenched by a whole lot more than a mist as Toothless landed messily behind you.
“What are you doing here?” You were careful to keep your balance as you shuffled further inland, looking a lot like a drenched cat as you came face-to-face with an also sopping wet Hiccup
You would never be rid of him.
“You said to come back tomorrow?” He asked, twisting his fingers and very purposefully refusing to look you in the eye.
Of course, you hadn’t figured out what to say.
You blew a raspberry as you adjusted the stolen, waterlogged basket which you had, again, under your arm. You needed more than two pairs of clothes.
“...Come back later,” You grumbled, “Later than tomorrow.”
You’d been free for a week. You’d been hoping for maybe two, to be frank.
“Please, I just-” Hiccup huffed, traveling by foot while you rode your dragon. Toothless followed behind, grumbling and gurgling at Hiccup judgmentally. Clearly whatever good will you’d built up with him before you ran left had been more than lost.
“I’m not interested in whatever you’re selling,” You stare straight ahead, over the encroaching cliff, ducking round and under ledges as your dragon trotted onwards.
“I want to get to know you, again.”
Eventually, the cave dragons had warmed up to Hiccup and he was able to work his magic on them. Now they watched through stalagmites and stalactites with impassive eyes as he made chase.
“Uh huh,” You scoffed as you reached the edge of the ledge. You turned around and stuck out your tongue as your dragon took a violent leap into the open air. As the wind whistled around you, you pinwheeled your arms in an effort to try and keep balance.
“Come on, Toothless, bud,” Hiccup complained from way behind. You saw Toothless very decidedly sit down, refusing to move even as Hiccup tried to push him towards the cliff with his whole upper body, “Let’s go.”
“So,” Hiccup started, “You haven’t gone any deeper.”
The both of you stared out into the vast, glowing sea of towers and gigantic glowing mushrooms extending out of their jagged rock faces. In the distance you could spot gigantic crystals, protruding from the ground the same way the sanctuary did.
Seas of dragons crowed and chirped, bright patterns shifting and growing under hard muscle. It was very dizzying, if you were going to be honest.
“No,” You replied, “No, I haven’t. Not this far, but now I… I might.”
You hadn’t traveled too far into the cavern, deciding not to push your luck with the locals. You always figured there was some sort of nest farther in. Turns out there was, and a whole lot more locals than you expected, and a lot more to this small world besides the cold, empty cavern. At least you didn’t have to worry about flooding anymore. Or sea salt in your hair.
You swore to yourself that you were going to move further in, caught off guard and most definitely embarrassed at the fact that so much open space had been hiding right under your nose.
Free for three days.
“There has to be more. There’s no way- It doesn’t make sense how all these different kinds of dragons can live in the same environment. There’s- there’s so much here that-Gods, I have to map it,” Hiccup rambled, smiling gawkily.
He’d been here for a week.
You felt a pressure to supervise him as he ran rampant in your new home, unsure of when he’d become such a cartographer. Your dragons had gone missing a while ago, leaving you two to be babysat by the hands of the general public.
You watched as he painstakingly mapped each pillar, occasionally chiming in with your own advice, looking the same way he did the day he discovered honey when you were kids. It was almost pleasant.
The two of you had fallen off the edge of a pillar after being knocked down during a spat between two touchy Crimson Goregutters, which no Hiccup magic or dragon secret could stop. After an event with a vine, dangling over certain death and panic, you two had managed to swing your way onto a large glowing mushroom.
The downside to that was that now, you were stuck, owed to the fact that apparently, what made some of these mushrooms glow was very viscous and… sticky.
Hiccup’s arms were glued to the space on both sides of your head, and your hands were gripping his arms which were visibly shivering, because you two had been stuck like this for a while. You’d been tugged, prodded at and licked by various different dragons. Nothing helped and you were starting to think that maybe this was how you were going to die.
Well, you knew you weren't going to go to Valhalla. It was kind of really hard to die in battle if you spent most of your time avoiding people. But this just sucked.
“What's up with your pathological need to map everything?” You asked belligerently. To be honest, it didn’t really bother you. Hiccup’s rambling had never bothered you, because you were prone to rambling in the same exact way. Currently though you were hard pressed to find anyone else to hear it.
“I thought your thing was the forge? You spent half of my childhood there.”
“Well, yeah, I…” He rested his forehead against yours, eyes shut as his neck finally gave out, you weren’t too pleased as you felt his sweat drip onto your face, squirming rebelliously.
“Wasn’t sure if you’d want to hear it. I-I could talk about that instead?” No talking at all would be great.
“Yeah,” You gave in, closing your eyes and going limp against the slimy fungi, “That would be better.”
Lips pursed, then grimaced as he’d opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out, though. He just stared above your head, unmoving. You tried to see what he was looking at, but only got an eyeful of his scruff.
Next thing you know, you’re being smothered by a plushy pink tongue, then just licked and nosed a little bit. The spit of this dragon doing something odd to dissolve the slime trapping the two of you, fizzing as it touched shiny goo. When you finally had the facilities to move, you flipped your head back and your eyes widened slightly.
It looked like the two of you had just found Toothless a girlfriend.
Three months, two days and five visits- no, seven. Nine? Eleven? Seventeen?
“I don’t actually have a problem… with the mapping. Talking about it.”
You two were nestled between a rock and another rock, though this time whether it was a result of purpose or chance remained uncertain. You couldn’t remember. You were after something… There was barely any space between the two of you. You had been talking.
There was barely any green to Hiccup’s eyes, most of his iris consumed by large pupils as he mouthed around works that looked suspiciously like, “Can I…?”
Instead, he leaned forwards and your foreheads touched, the same way they did when you were trapped before. His eyes were clenched shut as he uttered, “I love you.”
You had a hard time believing that.
You turned your head to the side.
“I wonder how Astrid feels about her boyfriend flying off and doing who knows what.”
Some of the wild dragons lay in front of you, licking at the dying fire by your feet. A terror lay in the middle of it. You’d lined it with stones which were now giving off a pleasant warmth.
“I doubt she’d mind. We’re not really… together anymore. I don’t think so. I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t want to be.”
“Right,” You raised an eyebrow at him skeptically.
“Not since a little while after you left, actually.”
You found that hard to believe too, as you shook the burnt slice of fish off your knife onto your burnt slice of bread. You weren’t much better than Valka at cooking, but you were getting better. It was something about that sanctuary, or maybe something about that woman that just made you worse at cooking.
Hiccup wrinkled his nose over on the other side of your log as he shook his head at you.
It was a petty, but bitter sort of revenge.
Your first kiss had been lost to a fair bloke- his words, not yours- in the middle-of-nowhere inn. It had been a long time since you’d been out, but you were sure you’d easily be able to find somewhere similar to lose some other things. Hiccup had your heart but you’d never give him the opportunity to take any of your firsts.
Two months.
You were angry at him for playing with your heart again.
“There was a crisis-Berk…” His voice cracked.
You looked disinterestedly out over uncanny black waters. “Yeah, It’s fine.”
Seven days, seven visits. He might have been camping aboveground.
The two of you were between two large red fungi, settled on a mossy rock overlooking a new, larger, unmapped maze of rock pillars and black water rushing below. Dragons, glowing and colorful, mingled together off in the distance. Toothless was probably one, gone off to frolic with his new lady love.
“You never wanted me. As a friend, as a- …battle buddy, or as anything else. You would never have chosen me for anything. And I just… I didn’t want to be just what you settled for,” You mumbled into your knees, “You spent so long searching for better, and then you found it, and it just really hurt to realize that I wasn’t a part of that.”
You spilt your heart out as you faced the cliffside. Hiccup was facing you. You didn’t care what he heard. None of this was real anyways.
“I’m sorry,” Hiccup repeated, clenching his eyes shut as he buried his nose into your shoulder, barely there though he had to crane his head forwards, due to the uncomfortable angle.
What he had with Astrid these past few years, that was real. That was history. This thing between the two of you was just a mess of pain and turmoil and a little bit of childhood fantasy. An old infatuation rearing its head as you got everything nasty out of your system.
“It hurt to think that-That… the one person- Like everyone else did, you didn’t think I was good enough either.”
“I’m sorry.” You felt his arms come around your sides awkwardly before he squeezed.
“Me too. I…”
He’d remember that he didn’t want-need- you again soon enough.
“I haven’t told anyone. About you, or this place.”
“You haven’t?” You’d actually expected otherwise. It was nice to know you weren’t at risk of getting dropped in on.
Two months, thirty two visits.
You might be coming around to him.
“You’ve already-?” He asked, a little startled. You still felt a little silly about it but after you’d done it, you figured it wasn’t that big of a deal. It wasn’t like you’d planned to marry or anything anyways, so his reaction was kind of funny.
“Yeah, I was pretty mad. So I went out, and… you know. It was a while ago, though.”
He looked a little disheartened at the idea, but he just scoffed, waving his hand off in your direction.
“What? You and Astrid kissed, yeah, but you haven’t done- anything? Not even before you ‘totally broke up,’” You didn’t have to specify what they hadn’t done, the innuendo was already pretty obvious.
“Nah.” Hiccup said, hair wiped out of his face, matched squares of parchment. Map pieces were strewn out in front of him as he made himself busy trying to create a complete chart of the underground, matching up the landscape he saw with the islands above it.
Unfortunately, the caverns seemed to stretch on forever and the islands only covered so much.
Three months, one day, thirty two hours.
You straddled him, crinkling some of the many, many blueprints scattered across the moss surface. You wiggled one out from under him, looking down as he looked up. It felt good, being the one in charge for once.
You leaned down, pressing your noses together. Just before, you’d been going over his things. His blueprints. Swapping ideas. Sharing minds. Like you used to, every single day. Like you’d been doing, almost every single day.
“Do you love me?” You asked.
Every day you’d been together. Your knees touched, shoulders pressed close together.
You had to know. And if he did… He had to mean it.
You played games, shared stories. You’d grappled and curled, not the way vikings could, but the way two hiccups did, a long, long time ago.
If he didn’t, well… You had all the time in the world to leave, to start again. But you didn’t think you could. You could go weeks without seeing him, and then sometimes it would be every other day.
This was it.
“I do love you,” He choked out, wheezing as you adjusted, your weight pressing against his chest. He glanced back at you, crumbling a little bit.
He spent a lot of time here, now. A lot more than before. With the time spent traveling in between, as he said it, it was a wonder he got anything done there at all. Most of his time was spent above mapping the islands or down here with you.
You read what his body language told you; he was insecure.
“... Do you love me?”
“I do.” Hesitantly, you nodded, “I do.” Was that even a question?
You trusted him. You didn’t trust him. You had no way to know if he stabbed you in the back again. Went back to Astrid. You didn’t really have a way to know if that’s what he did, every time he left.
You loved him, didn’t you?
He didn’t know that? Maybe not always and not all at once, since you left. You hadn’t done a very good job of making him know it. You hadn’t a lot of reason to.
Did you love him now?
You marveled at how easy it was to be around him, with him. It wasn’t the same as it was before, but it was still good. It could almost be better. You, against everything, wanted it. You wanted it so bad.
“I’d leave it all behind, for you,” Hiccup said.
You would make him know it.
“You would?” You asked, “Would you?”
You laid your heart bare to him, stitched and spiked. And you, as he said it, implied it, maybe you held his.
“Do you want me to?” He asked. He tugged lightly on one of the draws to your tunic, faking interest in it as he worried the inside of his cheek. You didn’t want his home, or his family.
“I don’t want anything,” You scoffed dismissively. You wanted his honesty. You wanted to know that he was yours. Yours truly. That was it.
Prove it. You urged him on, Prove it to me.
He smiled that goofy, awkward smile, half teeth and all closed at the edges. You could tell he was trying hard not to falter. You hadn’t seen that smile in such a long time.
Know me, You asked.
“So… Do you? Do you love me?” He asked again, offering his hand up to your face. His fingers were scabbed, and dirty and you leaned into his palm, pushing it down as he tangled his fingers clumsily into the roots of your hair. You pressed your lips together, again, again and over again until neither of you could breathe.
Have me, You pleaded.
“I do,” You gasped into his mouth, “I really, really do.” You offered no resistance. Not this time.
Love me.
There was no coming back.
(Deep in your mind, you wondered if maybe, possibly, he already did.)
Twelve months. Twelve months since he’d found you.
Hiccup stood at the edge of Berk, armor packed away in favor of a lighter tunic. He often wondered what it would have been like, if he’d really run away with you like he’d intended.
If things would have ended up the same.
Would he have seen you in time? In time for what he had now? For this?
No. no, probably not.
…
His father would notice. His mother might.
His father was fine. And now he had his mother. They were old, but they were tough. They could have a new kid. Or maybe they’d convince Snotlout or Astrid to take the mantle.
They’d-everyone-would be fine without him.Who was he kidding? He’d spent so long working so hard and they didn’t need him at all. And if he was honest, He didn’t need them.
He didn’t really care. Not anymore. He let go.
Life would go on just fine without him, just as it did before him and just as it would long after his name was lost to time. His distance only proved it. He spent so long away he’d been practically excommunicated again.
After a little bit of irritation, his travels became just another one of his quirks.
‘Oh, look, there’s Hiccup. Oh, well, he’s off again.’ He was barely missed. And rightly so. It was by his own doing, really. That was fine by him. In fact, It worked in his favor.
It was borderline hysterical how, the moment they found more furies, and his new paramour, Toothless went from devil’s advocate to his most eager accomplice.
The Sand Wraiths were especially cool… It cost him a lot less fish to get there now. To you.
Sometimes he had to wonder why he’d been so attached to Berk. Working for things that ultimately, he didn’t care about. Everything that kept him here, he also had with you. When he was here, all he wanted was to go back out.
A pebble-sized ball of guilt coil in his stomach. It used to be worse. But, he’d talked to you about it. The engagement.
The engagement with Astrid. The one that was basically moot at this point, anyways. She might even slap him if he brought it up, to expect anything after he’d left her for so long. Truly, officially. all he’d had to do was end it. He left a letter nearby her family home; they would find it if they bothered to search for him.
A scummy trick, yes. Was he a coward for doing it? Maybe. But he was a smart coward. He wasn’t lying when he’d told you that no one knew.
Hiccup exhaled, bouncing up and down on his heel and peg, as if to psych himself up. To dispel all of his nervous, excited energy.
It was a clear day, no risk of a storm. He strapped his saddle pack to Toothless. It was only slightly larger than usual, so as not to arouse suspicion, of course, but it held all of his essentials. Leatherworking tools, metalworking tools, more tools, his armor, spare armor, spare foot, spare charcoal. The small plush his mother had made for him as a child. His viking helmet, for memory’s sake.
Slung over his shoulder was a smaller pack with just his compass and his coin.
As the two of you grew closer and closer, it only made his decision more and more certain.
He wasn’t meant to be Chief. He wasn’t cut out for this life at all. He didn’t want this life. He wanted you.
As far as anyone else was concerned, you’d long since disappeared and now he had the feeling it was time for him to do the same.
He took a deep breath, one that pushed his lungs to his ribs. Then like his bag, he flung himself over Toothless’ saddle before he took off from Berk for the last time, closing his eyes. He’d left his helmet off this time so he felt the beating wind rip through his hair.
The two of you were there, half hidden from view under a large red plume. It was wasm, and your perspiring skin was trapped under hollow armor, same as his.
You gasped, hot air mingling every time his breath hit your face. The two of you huffed and panted as he pushed you unto the dirt and you pushed back, feeling the moss tickle your face and the backs of your hand.
Not your back, though. Just hands.
Gripped, interlaced fingers pressed firmly down by your head, sweaty palms melded to his. He’d been the one in charge, today.
He was hunched over you, his trousers unbuckled and unlaced as he pressed downwards, forwards, gently and not.
A line of sweat ran down your cheek. Your eyelids fluttered. His breath caught.
Men shouted their battle cries into the dark, never ending sky as Berk was set in flames. A skull, still fresh with blood and exposed brain, broke with a sickening, wet crunch as Stoick ground his head into it, bringing mercy to the poor, damaged creature.
“There is no fury here,” He bellowed as he towered menacingly against the hulking wall of flames by his door. Three Deathgrippers and their tails lay cut, prone and slain around him.
“We’ll see about that,” Grimmel crooned, standing tall with his hands linked behind his back, looking down on him with two more dragons hissing and spitting by his sides.
Sharp talons dug into the wood of the rafters, Cloudjumper’s head turning steering around as he hung by her feet. Valka, masked and fully covered, crouched down from where she was, nestled at the bend of his tail. She pulled her arms back, getting her hook, sharp and serrated, ready for a wicked swing.
Yes, he would see. She’d make sure of it.
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