For the Glory

For the Glory - Chapter Six

He cleaned the blade.

He washed his wounds.

He walked out the door.

As if he was in a daze, he stumbled out of the house, and walked towards the forge, only to spot Toothless and Gobber running towards him. He quickly ducked behind a nearby hut, and they ran past, towards Hiccup's hut.

He continued towards the forge, an aching feeling throbbing in his arms, and in his heart.

I can't believe I just did that... Hiccup thought.

There was so much blood... On my arms, on the sink, on the floor...

Wait – the floor! I never cleaned it up!

He immediately turned on his feet, and sprinted back to the house. He couldn't let someone find out what he had just done.

He ran faster than he had ever run in his life. He had to get there first.

He reached the hut, scaled the nearby tree, and landed safely in the bathroom – accidentally braking a nearby glass (to hold the toothbrushes and toothpaste in – am I the only one who does that?)

He completely abandoned the glass, turning instead to the blood. Before quickly scrubbing, he glanced out the window, to see Gobber and Toothless nearby, running towards the hut. Hiccup quickly started scrubbing the floor with as much bleach as possible. The blood quickly got washed away.

Toothless and Gobber burst into the house just as Hiccup cleaned the last of the blood. Hiccup quickly stashed the cloth, bleach and scrubbing brush in a cabinet under the sink as Toothless and Gobber burst in. Immediately Gobber's attitude changed. He grabbed Hiccup by the collar and shook him.

"H – How dare you be late for work?" He choked out, instead of comforting Hiccup. Hiccup just stared at the ground, unblinking, and didn't respond.

"Hey." Gobber shook his shoulder roughly. "The only reason would be for you to be dead? Ha!" He laughed, a lonely tear leaving his eye. "That would... That would be..." More tears left his eyes. He really didn't want to treat Hiccup like this – but he had to. He had to.

He sniffed the air. "Why does it smell like bleach? Didn't you bleach the toilet a couple days ago?"

"Oh! Uh..." He didn't realise that Gobber would notice the bleach. Luckily, he didn't notice the lingering smell of blood. He noticed Toothless quietly growling at the cupboard where he stashed the knife. That's not good...

"I... umm... forgot to bleach the toilet, so I... umm... double-bleached it today?" He said, saying it as if it was a question. Honestly, he had no idea if 'double-bleaching' was a real thing or not. He would say anything to get Toothless distracted.

It didn't work.

It worked for Gobber though!

"How could you forget such an important thing? You really are incompetent, aren't you?" He sighed deeply. He turned around, and accidentally stepped on some broken glass pieces. He growled angrily. "Clean the rest of this up, then get to the forge, we have work to do."

"We?" Hiccup asked. "Isn't all the work just... you? Since I don't really do anything important?"

Gobber looked at him for a second, concerned. Then the concern got washed out by fake scorn.

"Haha, you're completely right, for once! You're completely useless, but it keeps you away from your father – which he needs right now, with Alvin-"