Night Fury's Venom

Part 5: Readjusting

If this was what it felt like to be dead, I really must complain. I couldn't feel any difference whatsoever. I would have liked it if I had a floaty, free feeling. Or if I could say 'Hi' to Odin and Thor, give Loki a good slap for what he did to me. Nope. Nothing. Only the wind brushing against my body. Wait, could you feel the wind in Asgard? Maybe I should open my eyes to check.

Opening my right eye, I got a good, close view of Gobber's face again. Was this going to become some sort of regular thing for him? The next thing I noticed was that his left arm was stretched out to my side. That is, his ax bladed hand. It was strange, though, nothing hurt. With a grunt, Gobber pulled his ax back, and I saw that instead of cutting my head off, he had lodged it into the cart. Cautiously looking down to the side, I half expected to see my ha- er... paw a mangled mess, which somehow didn't feel painful.

He hadn't decided to turn me into a strange parody of himself with random limbs missing. His ax had sliced right through the chain holding my paw down. Lifting it and letting the chain dangle, I faced Gobber and raised my eyebrow (or tried to).

"Jus' because yer a dragon doesn't mean ye ain't still Hiccup. Write somethin' else," he ordered.

Rolling my eyes, I thought of something to write. I couldn't do anything too complicated or long, but it had to be something distinctive to Gobber. Oh, I know!

TROLLS GOT LEFT SOCKS

"Everyone who knows me knows about those damn trolls. Do something only Hiccup would know," the big man commanded.

I groaned and let my head hit the platform. Then, the sunlight glinting off of Gobber's ax made something click. I lifted my head and gave Gobber a sly look and smirking, letting him know what he'd gotten himself into.

LOLA

"Waitamoment! Nonono, how did you know?! I never told you that!" He spluttered, before muttering something unintelligible.

Another Viking peered over my shoulder to look at the writing. "What does that mean, Gobber? 'Lola?'" Gobber ignored the question, glaring at me.

I couldn't help but snort at the man. Glancing over my shoulder at the Viking, I pointed my head at Gobber, then his ax, then at Gobber again. I made the movements as obvious as possible to get the message across.

"Gobber, ax, Gobber... Gobber's ax." This one was clearly not by any means the brightest of those left behind, as he continued like this for a while.

It clearly got on Gobber's nerves, as after a few moments, he shouted, "alright, alright! I name my favorite weapons! I call this ax Lola." He cradled 'Lola' in his arms.

The Vikings around me burst out laughing, causing Gobber to go bright red in the face, pointing 'Lola' at me. "An' you! Just because ya know that doesn't mean I trust yer. Ye might have Hiccup's memories, but that doesn't mean yer 'im!" He turned around and stormed off to the exit, nearly bumping into Gothi on his way out.

The others took this as their cue to leave, never turning away from me.

"Uh, are you just going to-" The portcullis slammed down behind them. "...leave me here?" I finished weakly. Silence answered me. Grumbling, I tugged at some of the chains, hoping to find some sort of weakness in the metal.

"You are one strange dragon..." I jumped at the sudden voice.

"What? Who was that?"

"Your conscience," it responded dryly.

Looking around, I saw nothing to indicate where the phantom voice was coming from. "Got any advice then?" I tried to avoid sounding desperate, but the muzzle didn't help me sound calm.