Freya was Here

Chapter 12

As the ships disappeared over the horizon everyone began to go about their business.

Hiccup never moved, even after they were well out of sight. I crept silently to his side. And there we stood. Two outcasts with nowhere to go. I don't know how long we were there before Astrid joined us.

"It's a mess." She sighed. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything. Your father, your tribe, your best friend..."

"Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup mumbled sarcastically. "Yeah. How exactly is this supposed to help anyone?" I asked, annoyed that she had picked now of all times to recap how our lives were going down the tubes.

"Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods?" Hiccup whispered. "It would have been better for everyone."

"Yep. The rest of us would have done it. So why didn't you?..." Astrid asked. When Hiccup didn't answer she dipped down to look him in the eye and soften her tone. "Why didn't you?"

"I don't know. I couldn't." Hiccup huffed. "That's not an answer." She insisted. "Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" He demanded.

"Because I want to remember what you say, right now." She answered sounding more serious then I'd ever heard her.

But Hiccup didn't seem to pick up on it.

"Oh, for the love of-- I was a coward! I was weak! I wouldn't kill a dragon!" He exploded, throwing his arms up in frustration.

"You said "wouldn't" that time." Astrid pointed out. "Whatever! I wouldn't!" Hiccup snapped. He let out a breath and looked back out at the water.

"Three hundred years, and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon!" He finished his voice breaking. "First to ride one, though. So...?" Astrid pushed one more time.

"...I wouldn't kill him because he looked as frightened as I was." Hiccup admitted. "I looked at him, and I saw myself."

"I bet he's really frightened now." Astrid told him. "What are you going to do about it?" Hiccup thought for a second. "Eh, probably something stupid." He shrugged. Ah, a Viking classic.

"Good. But you've already done that." She reminded him.

Then his eyes lit up. He started shaking his finger and was practically bouncing.

"Then something crazy!" He grinned and took off. "That's more like it!" Astrid smiled. We took off after him and stopped at the path to the arena.

"The three of us won't be nearly enough." Hiccup deduced. "Leave that to me." Astrid told us and took off into the village.

"Freya I'm gonna need your help." Hiccup said, grabbing my hand and practically dragging me to the arena.

<~>

Once we got there we got to work moving the weapons out and cleaning up the carnage from Hiccup's battle.

A while later you could never tell that blood had almost been spilled just a few hours earlier.

"If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle" a voice advised from behind us.

We spun around to find Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Snotlout entering the arena with Astrid bringing up the rear. "No one's getting eaten. We just need your help." I assured him.

"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. That's me." Tuffnut said, eagerly making strange hand movements in Hiccup's face.

"I love this plan!" Snotlout said, excitedly. "You don't even know what it is." I said rolling my eyes at him. "You're crazy! I like that..." Ruffnut told Hiccup as she pushed her brother and Snotlout away.

"So? What is the plan?" Astrid asked, which finally gave Hiccup a chance to speak.

He explained how our parents were sailing into a war they could not win. At least not on their own. He told us about the dragon that ruled the nest. The Red Death. How it literally ate any dragon that didn't bring back enough food.

"Taking down that dragon is the only way to end this war." He finished. "So who's with me?"

Astrid and I looked at each other, traded nods of decision and stepped forward.

I smiled as Fishlegs and Snotlout joined us and the twins practically shoved past each other to be first. With that Hiccup went down the line of cages, unlocking each one.

We all held our breath as he brought out the first dragon. He gently guided the Monstrous Nightmare he had been fighting that morning toward Snotlout.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Snotlout grab a piece of wood we must've missed in our clean up.

I bit my tongue and mentally pleaded that he wouldn't scare the poor dragon for the time second time today. Lucky Astrid saw him too and got him to put the stick down.

"Wait! What are you--?!" Snotlout paniced as Hiccup took him by the wrist a lead him towards the dragon. "Relax. It's okay... it's okay." Hiccup assured him and the Nightmare.

I let out a sigh of relief as Hiccup rested Snotlout's hand on the Nightmare's nose. The dragon leaned into his palm and Snotlout laughed lightly before realizing Hiccup was no longer by his side.

"Where are you going?!" He called anxiously as Hiccup dug through a crate on the far side of the arena. "You're going to need something to help you hold on." He told us, as he pulled out a coil of rope.

There was the creak of a door opening and we all glanced at the four other dragons slowly, cautiously, emerging from their cages.

Hiccup went through a similar process with Fishlegs and Astrid and only had a minimal incident with the twins.

(They started arguing about who would ride which Zippleback head. Luckily the heads made the choice for them. The head on the right choose Ruffnut and the one on the left picked Tuffnut.)

"Ready?" Hiccup asked me. "Me? Really?" I asked trying not to over react and spook the dragons. "You have first dibs remember?" He grinned and lead me over to the last dragon. The shortwing Scuttleclaw.

"Hi again." I whispered as I stretched out my palm. The dragon pushed right past my hand and nuzzled my face with its head. "We're going get along just fine, aren't we girl?" I smiled as I petted the side of her face.