Frozen Heart

Leaving

Toothless peeked in through Hiccup's window. The young man had a wicker basket on his bed and was packing various items in it: clothes, food, oil for his leg (in case the gears got stuck again), along with various other necessary supplies. The dragon tilted his head and whined, asking a question that Hiccup clearly understood.

"I can't stay here, bud," he said solemnly, without looking up from his work. "It's too painful for me here. We have to leave. Now."

*****

"You can't keep pushing him, Stoick," Valka said. She was downstairs talking to her husband about Hiccup's outburst the other day. Valka sat in her usual chair while Stoick paced in front of her. "You need to give him time. It's only been three months."

"Three months since he should have taken over as chief!" Stoick countered. "That stubborn boy--"

"He's in pain, Stoick," Valka interrupted. "He just lost the love of his life in one of the most brutal ways possible. Surely you of all people understand that. Don't tell me you didn't go through the same thing when Cloudjumper took me."

"It wounded me, I won't lie about that," Stoick said. "But I didn't let it get to me. I had duties to worry about. I had an infant son to take care of, along with an entire village on my shoulders. If I can handle losing my wife with all those responsibilities weighing on me, then he should be able to handle losing Astrid without those responsibilites."

Valka sighed and stood up, walking over to her husband. She took one of his hands in both of hers, sandwiching it between them. "You need to be less forceful with him," she said calmly. "You said it yourself: he's a mirror image of me. You need to take things slow with him. Let him recover before you push more onto him."

Stoick sighed. "I suppose you're right."

Valka kissed his cheek. "Aren't I always?"

Stoick just smirked in response.

*****

Fishlegs paced the Dragon Academy. Even though training and races had stopped since Astrid's death, the young adults still used the place as a prime hangout and discussion area. Fishlegs paced back and forth while Meatlug slept in the corner; the Twins for once were not fighting, but lounging on the heads of their Zippleback; and Snotout sat on a barrel, sharpening the spikes on his mace with Hookfang curled up behind him, snoring.

"This is so pointless!" Snotlout complained. "Why are we even here?"

"Because Hiccup asked us to be," Fishlegs answered simply. "He said he needed to talk to us."

"Took him three months to come out of that shell of depression, did it?" Snotlout snapped, clearly pissed that he had been woken from his so-called "beauty sleep" just to listen to Hiccup whine and complain some more.

Since Astrid had died, Hiccup had rarely talked to anyone, save for a few complaints about his father and losing Astrid. Fishlegs was usually the one to comfort him in these situations. And it annoyed the living crap out of Snotlout.

Fishlegs glared at him. "Don't tell me you weren't upset too when Astrid died."

"Sure I was upset, but I didn't hide in my room sobbing all day and--!"

"Guys, knock it off," Hiccup said as he walked into the Academy, Toothless trailing behind him. Hiccup had a basket sack over his shoulder, and he looked paler than normal.

"Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked, walking over to Hiccup. "Are you alright?"

"No," Hiccup answered, looking anywhere but at Fishlegs. "I'm leaving."

"What?!" everyone at the Academy said in sync. The Twins shot to their feet and Snotlout jumped down from his barrel.

Fishlegs took a step back, shocked. "Why?"

"I can't stay here anymore," Hiccup said, trying to swallow the massive lump that had formed in his throat. He didn't want to do this; he couldn't just leave his friends behind--who knew when or even if he would ever come back to them--but he couldn't stay. It was killing him. Toothless nosed his head under his rider's arm as Hiccup continued: "I can't, this is killing me."

"What do you mean?" Fishlegs asked calmly, stepping forward.

"I see her everywhere," Hiccup said. "She's haunting me, and she's rooted here. Everything here reminds me of her. I can't...I can't do this anymore." Hiccup looked at Fishlegs, his eyes shining with tears.

Fishlegs put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder and embraced his friend, careful not to crush Hiccup since the larger boy was several times bigger and stronger than Hiccup was. Hiccup hugged Fishlegs back, burying his face in his friend's shoulder to hide his tears. Ruffnut and Tuffnut joined the hug, shortly followed by Snotlout.

They stayed that way for a few minutes before Hiccup pulled out of the hug. "Thanks guys," he said, wiping his eyes. Fishlegs gave him a soft smile and nodded, fighting tears of his own.

"Stay safe, Hiccup," Fishlegs said.

Hiccup smiled slightly. "When am I not safe?"

"You really want us to answer that?" Snotlout said, smirking.

Hiccup gave his cousin a half-hearted smirk back before getting on Toothless with his pack. "Thanks for everything guys. I'll miss you."

"We'll miss you too," Tuffnut said, his arm around his sister, who nodded with tears in her eyes. Even they loved Hiccup, no matter how much he annoyed them or bossed them around.

"Goodbye." Hiccup smiled one last time at them before taking off, leaving Berk behind him.