Rebuilding Our Hearts (HTTYD 3)

From The Ground Up

"Just a moment!" Hiccup called out while Astrid quickly got off of him, standing up near his bed as he sat up. The door opened and Valka peeked in to find her son a little flustered but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary with his tired eyes and ridiculous bedhead.
"Ah, so you've finally woken him up" The older woman said, grinning at Astrid.
She turned to Hiccup: "We'll need some help with more building placements and designs. Be down soon" She closed the wooden door behind her, leaving the two alone again.
Hiccup let out a heavy sigh.
"I suppose staying at home isn't much of an option, huh?"
Astrid chuckled lightheartedly in response, leaning in for a peck on the lips.
"Chiefly daytime duties first," she said, "as for the rest, we'll figure it out later." Astrid grinned mischieviously and left Hiccup's room to himself as he stared back at the now closing door in surprise.
The young chief got dressed properly, but looking at the mirror he noticed a red mark on his neck.
"Ah crap."

---

Snotlout let out a short but loud and jarring laugh once he saw his cousin, Hiccup finally arrive after being absent for so long.
"Hey there chief, had a good time ditching duty?"
Hiccup looked back at the shorter man in confusion. "What?" The twins had arrived to join in on the conversation.
Snotlout scoffed: "Seriously? We've been waiting here all morning and only now do you decide to show up!"
Hiccup mentally slapped himself, realizing that he completely forgot to meet the gang at dawn as he promised. Grief has been messing with his memory as well as emotions.
"Ah gods... i'm sorry guys, i completely forgot" he responded weakly.
"You should be! The village won't build itself! Now if I were chief,"
Snotlout continued, Hiccup completely ignoring what he was saying as he zoned out, staring into the dark cloudy sky as light rain dripped onto his skin.

"Hey, Hickey"
Hiccup jumped up slightly, the nickname reminding him to keep his neck more hidden due to the marks Astrid left on him that morning.
Tuffnut was pointing at him, his sister behind his shoulder trying to find what her brother was pointing at.
"Nice hick-"
"Please don't finish that sentence"
Hiccup looked at the twin rather grimly. Snotlout was ranting about something entirely different at this point, but of course nobody was listening to him.

Hiccup coughed loudly, catching Snotlout's and the twins' attention.
"Now that we're all gathered let's actually do some work instead of lazing around."
He began directing orders to the small team of three that he had, doing his best to keep his mind on the job. Any little sound made him distracted or lose track of what he was doing but neither his cousin or the twins seemed to notice.
What scared Hiccup the most is how he felt like he was alone. Nobody else showed signs of disorientation and depression as he did. Yes, everyone in Berk was visually shocked for a couple weeks after they parted with their beloved dragons but they carried on with their lives. It almost seemed as if they didn't care.
Hiccup shook his head.
Of course they cared. Berkians were always strong and never showed signs of weakness. It was just the chief who was more sensitive, and in reality, he realized, Toothless was his first best friend. Not that the rest of the villagers' relationships with their dragons were invalid compared to Hiccup's and his night fury's, of course. He thought to himself, zoning out for the thirteenth time that day.

The new island they settled in was so high it was impossible to get on boat. There wasn't even a way to get traders in. Sooner or later New Berk would run out of resources, Hiccup realized with a shiver. He remembered the Berserker tribe. Did they still have their dragons? Or did they leave as soon as they felt the alpha's call?
He had a sudden urge to visit his longtime friends. He missed Heather and her brother dearly, it's been years since he's seen them last. He would at least update them on the current status of the dragons. If only he could get on a boat safely.
A sudden idea flew into his mind, an idea that just might work and make the island less isolated from the outside world.
"I need to do something. Deal with the rest on your own!" Hiccup told his crew, running off to the smithy before the idea left his mind. Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout all exchangned annoyed and confused looks.

Hiccup rushed into the smithy, earning a surprised look from Gobber, his longtime mentor. "Aye! What's gotten into ye? Didja find something or wha?"
"Not the time now, Gobber, I need to do this right now without any distractions" Hiccup responded searching every cabinet until he found some paper he could sketch on. For the first time since the dragons left he was fully concentrated on something and determined.
The old blacksmith looked over the young chief's shoulder in curiosity as the other began sketching some sort of contraption. After about half an hour of vigorous sketching, Hiccup got the draft done.
"It's a port that lifts up ships from the sea," he began explaining to the older man behind him, as he began working on the technological parts of the invention. "And we can actually visit other islands, including the Berserker's islands"
"Woah slow down there. Ye want to go to the Berserkers? Don't ye have enough problems of yer own here in Berk?" Gobber asked, intruiged by the young man's plan but also concerned for him.
"Well, yes..." Hiccup replied, lifting a finger into the air, "but if their dragons haven't left we could prevent a potential war (again) and you know how I feel about dragons getting hurt."
"The idea is grand and all, but don't ye think we should deal with all the problems inside the village for now?" The blacksmith asked, trying to be reasonable.
"No, Gobber you don't understand," the auburn haired man turned to the larger two limbed man, the expression on his face as determined as ever "this invention can solve  Berk's problems"