The Dragon Master and The Lightning Rider *Hiccup Fanfic*

18. The Awakening

Skye had fallen asleep, much to her chagrin, yet had woken up feeling better and much more healed. She was sore in her side and her legs shook underneath her weight, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to move, letting the stinging pain fade to dull aches. Her eyes darted over the room, glancing off Hiccup's empty bed, then out the window where she could only see the huge spike of blue ice. 

Recovering from Drago's attack wasn't an easy feat, but Hiccup had quickly taken up the role of Chief, delegating villagers and dragons to fix the island up and get things running again. She knew he hadn't had the chance to breathe yet, properly mourn his father's death, this position just thrust upon a twenty-year-old who wanted nothing more than to explore and learn. 

And she knew it was tough on him, but she couldn't quell the sudden bout of anger swarming her when she thought of how angry Hiccup had been, hos he had screamed at her. Even though Skye had told him it was okay, it really wasn't. She was still hurt, and had only said that because it was one less thing he had to worry about.

The girl looked at her clothes and sighed. Her jacket was soaked in the dried blood and it was dirty. She shivered in disgust and ripped it off, and then saw that her undershirt and pant were bloodied as well.  It did bring up memories of her stripping after a hard day's work, retiring to her small room on Shruiken where she quickly bathed herself before throwing herself into bed, ignoring her wounds because she was just exhausted and always thought, I'll sleep on it.

Rummaging through her drawer, Skye pulled out a set of fresh, clean clothes and set it on the bed. Then, she quickly stripped, her fingers grazing the shredding part of her tunic where the sword had sliced her, leaving her in her bindings. Quickly shimmying on the pants, she fumbled with the buckle when footsteps echoed around the house and then the door swung open. 

Snapping her gaze up to see a frozen Hiccup with a plate of food and a cup in hand, his eyes dragging from her neck and then down, low, lower. Skye felt her face flush as Hiccup's mouth parted and then she was turning her back to him hurriedly, shoulders tensed. 

"Uh," Hiccup said eloquently, his eyes roaming the scarred flesh of her back, the raised, pink and red lines on her skin. The bumps of her spine were visible through the stretched skin, and he wondered how she would react if he brushed his lips across it. 

Skye bit her lip. The thought of him seeing her like this was...flattering, but it was also super embarrassing. She growled, "Hiccup! Get out!"

It finally spurred him into action. With a loud apology and curse, Hiccup backed away and averted his eyes as he slammed the door shut, leaving her alone again. Skye exhaled sharply and rubbed at her tired eyes. Odin's beard, that was terrible and her stupid face wasn't cooling down. 

She let herself cool down as she grabbed her tunic. The door swung open again and Skye felt something snap in her. "Come on, Hiccup, not-" she whirled to face an amused Astrid. Quickly shrugging on her shirt, Skye scowled at the blonde. "Don't any of you ever knock?"

Astrid let the door shut as she strolled in, picking at the dirty clothes with a scrunched-up nose. "Hiccup walked in on you?"

"How could you tell?" Skye said flatly.

"Might've been the way he ran past me," Astrid murmured, her blue eyes fixed on Skye, who was doing everything she could to not fidget. "Or maybe how he looked as red as Hookfang, or that he clenching his legs together pretty-"

"Astrid!"

The blonde only laughed at Skye's red ears. She set down a plate and cup on the desk. "Figured he couldn't get it to you. Eat up."

Skye slumped on the chair, ignoring the way her wound stretched before she dug into the bread and chicken, humming happily. Her throat had been dried up horribly. Her eyes flickered to Astrid who leaned against the desk, arms crossed. "You don't need to stay."