Growing Pains

Chapter Eight: Bleed

It happened again.

Hiccup lay in bed, his eyes shut and his body heavy against the mattress. He could hear Astrid's breathing beside him and could tell that the sun wasn't even out yet. His heart was beating loudly in his ears and he could feel the sweat on his body.

Gods, over ten years and he still couldn't escape. If it wasn't watching Dagur's body crash into the rocks below or horrible scenarios involving the twins' sudden deaths or abandonment, it was this. The same nightmare he had hidden for years.

But was it really a nightmare if it involved dark pieces of his life? Or was it living through one of his worst memories over and over again? Either way, it seemed to be a pattern for his family. The sort of thing he'd find almost humorous if he had no compassion whatsoever.

Then again, how could any person with a heart not have nightmares after that?

As he rolled over and tried to eradicate the image from his mind (not an easy task when he'd been thinking about it off and on for weeks), he jumped at a loud noise emanating from the front door.

BWAM BWAM BWAM!

Hiccup slowly rolled himself out of bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning widely. There were some days when he wished his father were still chief so that he could go an entire week without having to get up early or rush through breakfast.

BWAM BWAM!

"I'm coming!" Hiccup called in a strangled sort of voice. He put a slipper on his remaining foot and descended the staircase. "Now what-"

He had opened the door to come face to face with Gobber. For a man in his sixties with only one hand, he could make quite a racket.

"What's up?" he asked, rubbing his eyes again to try to wake himself up some more.

"The forge has been ransacked!" Gobber bellowed with no consideration for the sleeping Haddocks upstairs. "Never seen it this bad before and that's including when dragons were raiding the village a few times a month."

"Another one?" Hiccup sighed. "Okay, give me a minute to change."

He turned and pounded up the stairs, his prosthetic making a loud clunking sound every other step. Finn and Adrianna, both looking half asleep, poked their heads out from behind their bedroom doors.

"What's going on?" asked Finn through a yawn.

"Forge was ransacked." Hiccup replied. "Go back to bed, I've got this."

"No, that's my job." Finn exclaimed as Adrianna shut her bedroom door, apparently satisfied with the explanation and in no mood to awake this early. "Give me a second."

"Finn, it's probably three in the morning. I don't even know why Gobber's awake." Hiccup said exasperatedly. "I will fill you in on what happened, I promise, but you need sleep."

Finn made a grumbling noise but, for once, complied without complaint. He must have been really tired, Hiccup reasoned.

Once his clothes were on, Hiccup descended the stairs and made his way to the forge, Gobber hobbling beside him.

"I was just up to go to the outhouse and when I walked through the shop, I nearly fell over and broke my neck!" Gobber exclaimed. "Place is completely trashed! And that's dangerous, what with all the weapons out and about! I could'a been killed!"

"Well it's not dragons and it's not weather." Hiccup commented, looking up at the clear sky. "Which means it's people. My people." he added through gritted teeth.

"No idea who's doing it?" Gobber asked. "Think it's kids?"

"I don't want to believe it but yeah, that's probably the most logical explanation." Hiccup sighed again as the forge came into view. "They've been laying low. I'm not sure whether or not I should be glad they were sensible enough not to strike right after the raid."