Wanted: Hiccup Haddock III

Chapter 18

3rd Person POV:

Fog surrounded Berk that night, making it difficult to see outside the island. Villagers were peacefully sleeping in their beds, dragons snoring away. Candles were out, fires were dying, and the houses were black without light. Except for one house.

Chief Stoick sat in his big chair, wearing his nightgown and watching the fireplace crackle with life. He had been awake for an hour now, worried about Astrid and the others. When he, Fishlegs, the twins, and Gobber came back from their two hour hunt, they found Astrid's house empty, and Stormfly, Windshear, and Hookfang gone. It didn't take him long to figure out where they went. Stubborn lass, he thought. Wouldn't take no for an answer. Just like Hiccup. Stoick's eyes burned, and he quickly blinked.

He was angry that Astrid disobeyed orders, but not as angry as he would normally be. He was praying they would find Hiccup in one piece.

"CHIEF!" He heard someone scream for him. The Chief jumped from his chair, and ran to the door. When he got outside he saw Astrid, Snotlout, and Heather with their dragons. Heather was helping down a man with red hair pulled into a ponytail, and Hookfang had a large man sitting on his back who was barely conscious. Astrid had a panicked expression marring her face, and she was carrying something in her arms. A body. It was hard to tell in the dark, but he couldn't mistake that metal prosthetic leg. "Hiccup." Stoick said under his breath as he ran towards the group.

"What happened?" He demanded. "There was a fight, and the Hunters tried to subdue him. Throk says he found Hiccup with most of the bruises and cuts." Astrid explained, handing Hiccup to his father. Gently, Stoick brushed away the matted and tangled mess of hair from Hiccup's forehead, panicking at the sight of his ashen-faced son. "We've got to get him to Gothi." He stated. "The others too." Stoick set off at a stride to Gothi's hut. Heather followed with the red-haired man leaning against her shoulder. Hookfang walked behind Heather, the big man on his back groaning along the way.

. . .

"You disobeyed my orders, Astrid. You and the others could have died!" Stoick argued.

"Well we didn't! And we actually found Hiccup!" Astrid argued back. Once again, they were arguing over the mission. They were in the Chief's house, both on their feet and red-faced from the yelling. I can't believe we're still having this conversation, Astrid thought. Hiccup is okay, we're okay. Why can't we just leave it at that? "No, we can't just 'leave it at that', Astrid!" Shoot. Had she said that out loud? From the look on Stoick's face, she had. "You shouldn't have done that. I wish you would have-"

"Oh Stoick! If searching the Northern Markets was the last resort to finding Hiccup, wouldn't you go?!" The words came out before she could stop them. It made him go quiet. She knew the answer deep down, she just wanted to hear him say it.

His answer was at a whisper, because he didn't trust his voice not to break. "You know I would." She smiled, the tension between them vanishing. "I do. I just wanted to hear you say it." Stoick smiled and hugged her, which caught her off guard. "Thank you for saving him."

"You're welcome." She replied, and they broke apart. "Are you going to visit him?"

"Yes. Gobber is coming as well." Stoick answered. "I'll leave you to it." With that, Stoick left the house. She walked out too, leaving for her house. In the meantime, she had sleep to catch up on.

Stoick's POV:

"Hey son."

Hiccup responded with a low "hmnh." He was looking better than he had last night, the color back in his face. Gobber filed in after me, taking in the sight of Hiccup's form. "How're ya doin', lad? Feel any better?"