Symphony of Shadows

26. Waterfalls

Hiccup heard a loud "Rooowwrrr" before he was squashed under a Night Fury, which others might think would be the most terrifying thought, but to him it was a sign that Toothless had had enough of his moping. It had been days since his visit to see Astrid and he had been sullen ever since. Her injury had changed him and made him aware that human casualties were...just as important as dragon casualties; as hard as it was for him to come to terms with other humans, their lives mattered too. So, it wasn't fair for him to only give grace to Berk because of Astrid and keep on raiding the other tribes, it all had to come to a pause until he came up with a better alternative. It was hard work hunting with the flock three times a day and as unenthusiastic as he had become he had almost fallen off Toothless during a dive for some wild hogs.

But, he had to focus. It was difficult enough that his mind seemed to be somewhere else most of the time, but the flock needed him. Toothless needed him. So, Hiccup patted his best friend's head and promised to act normal as best as he could. The dragon relented and released the dragon rider, allowing him to put on a fresh pair of clothes, Gods knew he desperately needed them after days without bothering to change. Hiccup caught a whiff of a foul stench and thought it must be one of Toothless' diabolical farts but the dragon side eyed him as if to say "that one was all you."
"Thor, I really let myself go. Alright Toothless, you win. I'll go take a bath, sorry about the putrid smell."
"Mrowwwrrr." Toothless shook his head and walked out of the hut to leave Hiccup to his business. The dragon rider started to gather a change of clothes, a towel, and a bar of soap. He put on a sandal and had already switched back to his peg leg after getting back from Gothi's so wouldn't have to worry about getting it wet as he would simply take it off and leave it to the side.

He started to walk out of the tent when he managed to dodge an incoming Gronckle bear hug.
"Woah, woah! I'm glad to see you too! That was a close one there, girl. How about we keep the human-flattening for later, okay?" He scratched the chin of the brown Gronckle that seemed to wiggle out of excitement. Hiccup hadn't seen the Gronckle for a week and a half and suspected she had gone looking for mineral rocks as the island they currently inhabited didn't have much variety.
"Did you find some tasty rocks? I bet limestone gets pretty old quickly, huh?" He chuckled as he imagined the Gronckle turning down any kind of rock as the Gronckle philosophy seemed to be 'the more, the better'.
"Well, I've got to get going but don't wait up on me..." Before Hiccup had even finished his sentence the dragon had decided that she was much too tired and desperately needed a nap. Right in front of his hut. Wonderful. Hiccup shook his head and refocused back on his original task to take a bath, heading towards the waterfall. It wasn't a huge waterfall so it was nice to stand under and have the water pressure relax his tense muscles, which was especially nice after a long day of flying. Dropping his stuff off near the edge the small lagoon, he stripped his clothes and peg leg and walked into the water. It wasn't too cold as there was a natural hot spring at the top of the waterfall that warmed the water in the lagoon. As he sunk deeper into the water, he realized just how nice it was to just...be. Here, he had no worries, no stress, and no enemies plotting his capture and subsequent death. After everything he had been through, this was exactly what he needed.

Hiccup walked over to the edge where his stuff was, grabbed the bar of soap, and began to wash his clothes since they desperately needed to be cleaned. He took his time scrubbing and rinsing until he was satisfied and laid them out to dry before making his way over to the waterfall. The moment he felt that water hit his shoulders he let out a sigh and let his body relax, letting his head hang and eyes close to relish the feeling of simply being. He stood like this for a few moments until the water began to feel hotter and an invasive image wrestled its way into his mind. All of a sudden, he could picture Astrid right in front of him, water droplets making her bare skin sparkle under the sun. Hiccup could feel her soft lips kissing him and feel the push and pull of their lips as he deepened the kiss. His hands moved to grip her wide hips as he pulled her into him and being able to feel her skin felt like he was in Valhalla. Her hands found his hair and his lips found her neck and he heard Astrid let out a breathy moan...

STOP. Just stop. His eyes snapped open and his face began to heat with embarrassment, he shouldn't be thinking of this. She hadn't woken up and it was all his fault and even if she didn't blame him, she would never speak to him again after knowing he was the dragon rider and had lied to her. It didn't matter if they were friends or if he felt something more for her, she would never like him, want him. He looked down ashamedly at his arousal and in self punishment went over to the colder area of the lagoon. Stupid, selfish Hiccup, this was a new low even for him. He made sure to keep his mind blank as he finished his bath and got out as soon as possible. Drying himself off, he put the fresh set of clothes on and strapped on his peg leg. He shook out his hair and dried it again with the towel before wrapping his old, still-damp clothes inside the towel to dry. After making sure he got everything, Hiccup walked back over to his hut where the Gronckle had mercifully moved to a different nap spot and hung his clothes and towel up to dry. Breathing a deep sigh of frustration, Hiccup knew he had to do something to keep his mind from spiraling again, so he decided on the next best thing and fed into his delusion.

Every day, Hiccup had scouted the Baldur Strait in search of a Berkian ship on its way to Beserker Island in hopes that Gothi had granted his wish and that Astrid had awoken but so far he had only seen merchant and Beserker ships sailing the strait. He quickly put on his suit, switched to his prosthetic, and saddled up Toothless a happy Toothless (now that he didn't have to deal with a stinky rider) before they took off into the skies. He tried to lower his expectations to avoid being disappointed yet again but Hiccup just knew that Astrid was too stubborn to be taken down by a blasted tree and a Titan-wing Monstrous Nightmare. So, they flew towards the disclosed location that wasn't far at all from their island and started to scan the water below them using a handy telescope Hiccup had developed in the past months. From what he could see, there were a few Beserker fishing ships which were normal and one merchant ship headed away from Beserker Island. He searched the sea again, hoping to find a boat he had missed but to his misery came up empty-handed. Hiccup wanted to shout, he wanted to scream, it had been a week already and she hadn't woken up which meant the odds of her making it out without lasting damage were looking slim. He fell back on Toothless and just let the wind surround him as he tried not to spiral. Deep breaths, deep breaths, everything would be okay, he just had to keep faith that was all.

Sitting back up he gave Toothless the okay to go back home when out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar looking ship. His heart began to race as he nudged Toothless to the right for a better look and lo and behold there it was, a Berkian ship. Hiccup's hands began to tremble as he realized that if it was a messenger ship it meant that Astrid was either awake or dead and he summoned the courage to open his telescope to confirm if it was a messenger ship. His breathed out shakily as he confirmed that it was indeed a messenger ship and directed Toothless to dive, pick up the messenger, and take him to a nearby seastack. Toothless did exactly that and soon Hiccup was rifling through the satchel of a rather timid viking.
"Puh-puh-puh-please, I promise I wo-wo-won't hurt you. I won't tell anyone I saw you, I swear-swear! Just please do-do-don't kill me." The Berkian was probably younger than Hiccup but definitely didn't have that fighting spirit that most of the younger kids had which amused Hiccup. He couldn't help but see a little piece of his old self in the kid. Continuing his search for the letter, he turned to the boy and patted down his pockets where he felt the distinct feeling of a paper. He had it.
"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you just go back to Berk. Tell them you delivered the letter to Beserker Island without an issue and do not mention me or you'll wake up to your organs hanging around your room like Snoggletog decorations, got it?" The poor kid looked like he was about to start sobbing so Hiccup took that as a yes and dropped him back off on the boat.

They flew away as fast as they could into the cloud cover before he ripped the seal open and scoured the content of the letter as his heart leaped in his chest. He felt a tear slide down his cheek. Astrid was awake.