Fly On Your Own

Chapter 6

              I stumbled my way down the stairs, using the vague light of the candle in the living room to guide me. Sighing, I watched as Hiccup frantically scanned over some notes, laid out on a map. I'd gone to bed quite a few hours ago, but he'd never taken a moment to settle down. Something told me he was taking what Eret had said earlier a little more seriously than he had led on.

"All right. All right, come on, give me a clue here. Give me a clue, Dad." I sighed.

"Hiccup?" He turned around for a second, acknowledging me before getting back to his work. "You need to take a break, love." I made my way closer and sat down beside him.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell me to stop and sleep." I shook my head and reached out, running my left fingers through his hair.

"I know there's no stopping you when you have your mind set on something. But you at least need to take a break. Working non-stop like this isn't good for you." He didn't respond, instead bending further over the books and maps, completely ignoring my warning. Boards creaked above us as I sighed. "Babe, I'm serious." He'd completely tuned me out at this point.

Careful not to move anything around, I leaned over and kissed his temple. I saw his eyes briefly flash in my direction, but nothing else changed. So I kissed just beneath where I had before, then his cheek, then a little lower, then just along his jaw.

He let out a sigh—I wasn't sure whether it was frustrated or not—and turned toward me. He dropped his writing utensil and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. My hands rested on the nape of his neck as I kissed him, glad I'd at last finally distracted him. Maybe I could get him to stand and get something to drink...

"What're you doing?" he smirked as he asked his question, leaning his forehead against mine.

"Distracting you." He chuckled before leaning back in again. I let out a content sigh, savoring the rare moment we had together. I loved my daughters, but sometimes it was nice to just get to be with Hiccup.

"Well, you're certainly doing a great job at that."

My heart jumped suddenly as something tapped behind us. Suspicious, I pushed away from Hiccup and placed a finger over his lips, waiting to hear it again. This time, instead, there was the sound of liquid pouring. My head whipped around to see a figure in the darkness, just watching us while he poured himself a drink. Who knows how long they'd been in here, or how they got in. Cautiously, I peeled myself from Hiccup, and the two of us stood, staring down an old man in dark clothes.

"Oh, thank you. I was beginning to think I'd have to physically rip the two of you apart. Young love... Disgusting," he gagged. He had a strong accent, his facial expressions completely unaffected by the fact he'd just broken into someone's house and was now acting like he was a friend. "This is, mmm, quite good." Hiccup yanked his sword from the sheath and ignited it. "That is impressive. But let me finish my drink."

I glanced over in Toothless' direction, making sure he was still safe. Unfortunately, that tipped the person off to his presence, and he whipped out a crossbow, firing a small dart right into Toothless' neck. It started to dawn on me just who he was as Hiccup called back to his dragon.

"Toothless!" Hiccup rushed over to check on him as I stood my ground, prepared to lunge at him should things get out of hand. "What did you do to him?"

"Eh. Nothing he won't sleep off." I straightened up slightly, resting one hand on Hiccup's free arm. The man made his way over to what had been Stoick's chair and sat down in it casually, causing my blood to boil. "May I? Chief Hiccup, hmm? Do I say Chief..." He pretended to hiccup. "Or do I call you Hiccup? What do you prefer?" Neither of us said a word. "You must be Chieftess Reign." Hiccup and I kept our mouths shut, waiting for him to move on. "You two have no idea who I am, do you?" He chuckled. "Well, your father knew of me." Hiccup's face faded into sadness for a moment, before he stiffened again. "Now, there was a chief. One of the greatest dragon hunters to have ever lived. What would he think of you?" He laughed to himself again, as though the death of a great man were so amusing. "He had it right, you know. Making it his mission to destroy the beasts, so that you could grow up in a better world."