Venomous Veins

Chapter 8

Hiccup load his head down on his desk, rolled a pencil with his finger. All over his desk as the drawing of Toothless and the prototypes he's gone through. He heard massive footsteps entering the house.  Hiccup's eyes widened and he frantically tried to gather all his drawings and papers of Toothless, but stopped once he realized his dad was standing in the doorway.

"Dad!" he exclaimed, rapidly attempting to cover up his sketches from his father's line of vision. "You're back. Gobber's not here."

"I know," said Stoick, squeezing in through the door. "I came looking for you."

"You did?" Hiccup asked.

"You have been keeping secrets," Stoick stated, his expression dead serious.

"I, uh, I have?" asked Hiccup nervously.

"Nothing happens on this island without me knowing about it," Stoick continued. Hiccup replied with an "Oh?" Stoick stared at him before he said, "Now let's talk about that dragon."

Hiccup's hand slipped over the edge of the desk. "Oh, gods. Dad, I was going to tell you. I just didn't know how..." He trailed off when his father started laughing. Nervously, Hiccup joined in. "You're not upset?"

"What?" Stoick belted. "I was hoping for this."

"You were?" Hiccup asked.

"Just wait until you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time, or mount your first Gronkle head on a spear. What a feeling." With a playful shove from Stoick, Hiccup fell into a bucket behind him. "All those years of being the worst Viking Berk has ever seen. Odin, it was tough, but all this time you've been holding out on me. Oh, Thor almighty!" Pulling up a chair, Stoick sat down with a wide grin on his face. "With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about. Oh."

Stoick reached behind him to pull out a helmet with horns on the side much like his own. "I brought you something, to keep you safe. In the ring." He handed it to Hiccup who smiled. While it was because of a few lies, Hiccup couldn't help but feel happy to hear his father's approval for once.

"Thanks," Hiccup smiled.

"Your mother would've wanted you to have it," added Stoick as Hiccup ran his hand over the helmet. "It's half of her breast plate." Hiccup's hand quickly pulled away.

Stoick tapped the helmet atop his head. "Matching sets. Keeps her close. Wear it proudly. You deserve it."

Hiccup looked at the helmet in his hands, then to his dad. He set the helmet down, then yawned and stretched. "It's getting late. I should probably get back to the house." They spoke at the same time once again, and then Stoick made his way to the door.

"Good night," he said before leaving.

The same darkness came back to Venom again.

"No. No! Not again! What do you want from me?!" He shouted. This time, the darkness cleared itself and revealed images. Venom's eyes widened as they were all too familiar with him. These weren't just simple images, they were a part of his memories, a memory he wanted to forget...his first raid with Toothless and his mother. The first image showed him, Toothless, and his mother flying next to each other in the night sky. Venom started tearing up as it started to haunt him again.

The next image showed when the raid began. Dragons and Vikings fighting, buildings set on fire, dragons getting netted, and even more chaos. As the images moved, it showed every piece one by one. It started from him and his mother shooting at a few Vikings and his brother shooting at the flaming towers. The next image however, is the one Venom wanted to forget the most. It played like a moving picture, his eyes widened as he heard a loud scream. That scream belonged to his mother, who was shot by ten arrows to her side and chest.

The next one showed Venom holding her in his front legs, pressing his head against his mother's dying body covered in arrows and blood. He wanted to save her, but she told him that she wouldn't make it even if he tried. The last thing she did was place her paw against her son's cheek, crying as she smiled before saying her last words, "Take care of your brother for me," before letting out her last breath.

As her heart stopped beating, that was his breaking point. He let out the same roar, but longer as he let his tears run down his face. The next thing that came next was the things that made the other dragons fear him. In his blind rage, his eyes went from purple, to plain white, his teeth grew more longer and sharper than his original ones. As he was done crying, his face turned into something that would even scare Thor himself. Everyone, every dragon and Viking, stood in fear and shock at seeing Venom's new state. Venom roared again and attacked anything every Viking he saw. He slashed, tore a part, and even ate their limbs as he covered himself in blood. He didn't care who he killed, he wanted revenge for what they did to his mother. He used both his plasma ray to burn and his lightning to electrocute anything on site. The only Viking that gave him a challenge was Stoick.

The images showed their fierce battle. They punched, clawed, bit, scratched, bruised, and scarred each other until Venom stood on top of him with one foot. He charged his plasma ray one last time to finish his opponent off, lying helplessly on the ground pinned by his foot. He would have finished the job, if it weren't for a Viking child. As Venom turned to see the child, he saw that he and Stoick looked oddly similar. He realized he was fighting his father. He looked back and forth between the child and Stoick. Thought raced through his mind. He thought if he took this man's life, the child would end up with a parent, just like he was.
After finally coming back to reality, he was horrified at what he saw. He saw not just Vikings and buildings, but other dragons either injured or dead. He looked at his paws that were covered in blood, shaking as he thought the dragons that called him a demon were right all along. All Venom did was cry and let out his roar again.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Venom was heavily breathing and sweating. He looked at his paws to see the blood was gone and he was still in the cove during the night. He looked and saw Toothless, peacefully sleeping. Venom relaxed himself and breathed slower, now knowing that it was a dream. But that still changed the way he felt. Venom cried again and placed his paws on his face, letting everything out.

Told y'all it was about to get serious