After a few hours, Valka and Hiccup stepped outside for a walk. They were immediately bowled over by a black Night Fury. Toothless began licking Hiccup all over, while Valka had to calm down a few dimwitted Vikings who thought Toothless wanted to kill Hiccup. As Hiccup got up, he heard a nasally, raw voice. It sounded like sandpaper, like nails on a chalkboard.
"That boy is an Outcast! A demon! How else does he keep the unholy offspring of Lightning and Death itself from mauling him!"
Hiccup stared in shock at the elderly old man who was screeching bloody murder and pointing a staff at him. Hiccup flinched backwards each time the man moved, expecting a blow from the staff.
Stoick came up to them. "What is going on here?!" He was furious. Mildew was insulting Hiccup and waving that infernal staff around in his face. Hiccup looked terrified, like he was waiting to be attacked. Of course he was expecting to be attacked! That was all Alvin had ever done to the poor traumatized boy!
Stoick protectively got between Mildew and Hiccup. "Hiccup has a rare gift of dragon whispering! Perhaps one day we could make peace because of it! And for Thor's sake, stop waving that Woden-cursed staff around!"
Thankfully, Mildew stopped making threatening gestures with his staff. However, he kept up his tirade of insults as Hiccup shrank back, Toothless encircling him with his tail.
"That boy's a menace! Dragons can't be tamed! They must be killed! Have you forgotten what the beasts have done?!" Stoick winced inwardly, but it didn't show on the outside. He had not forgotten watching villagers horrifically mauled, roasted alive, and carried off by dragons.
"Of course not! But if we make peace, no Viking will be killed by a dragon ever again! Leave my son alone! If I find you doing anything against him ever again, consider yourself banished!"
Stoick watched out of the corner of his eye as Valka and Astrid, Odin bless her, gently guiding the shocked Hiccup back into the house.
The villagers around Mildew looked ready to kill him. Even though they had never really met Hiccup, they had great sympathy for him and he was a national hero. On top of that, they were all sick of fighting... And Mildew.
Mildew was the Scrooge of the village. He was a nasty, whiny piece of yak dung. There was a reason why his house was on the other side of the island.
Mildew spluttered, then, as he realized that he had no favor with the crowd, he grumbled and walked off. Stoick sighed and walked towards the house. He had to check up on Hiccup.
---
Stoick found Hiccup sitting at the table across from Valka and next to Astrid. Astrid was making little braids in Hiccup's hair. Sadly, it seemed like Hiccup didn't know what a girl braiding his hair meant. In Viking culture, girls braiding a boy's hair marked him as her boyfriend.
It was a cute sight to see Valka looking so content and joyful to have her son back, Hiccup looking mildly embarrassed but happy, and Astrid grinning. To Stoick and Valka's delight, Astrid gave Hiccup a quick peck on the cheek and they both blushed deep red.
Hiccup noticed his father, and he looked slightly worried. "Dad, who was that? Why did he hate me so much?" Stoick sighed. "That's Mildew. If he wasn't such a good warrior in the past, we would have booted him off the island long before now. He's just a crotchety old man who nobody likes, but he's an elder now, and I can't banish him without good reason and a prior warning. He hates dragons, so, because of your ability, he hates you."
Hiccup nodded. He was used to people hating him for unreasonable reasons. (haha! Didn't see that until after I wrote it!) "Hey Dad, I was, um, wondering if I could train other people to ride dragons, I mean, they would be a great help against Alvin, and, um, it's probably a terrible idea, but, um..."
Stoick put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Son, it sounds like a great idea." Hiccup practically glowed. His Dad thought he had a good idea! The thought that maybe Alvin was wrong finally solidified in his mind. Hiccup had always known that on the surface, but he had been told that Alvin was invincible since he was a baby. To know he was wrong... It was a relief. It showed Hiccup that maybe, just maybe, he could win.
---
Hiccup woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. He sat up with a gasp. "W-what? Who?" It was his Mom. She sat down next to Hiccup and put an arm around his shoulders. "Hiccup, you were having a nightmare."
Uh oh. Had he cried out during the bad dream? Valka seemed to know what he was thinking. "You were yelling 'No, stop!' over and over again. Do you want to tell me what it was about?"
Hiccup shook his head. "No. I can't remember it now." In truth, he did remember. It was a dream of Alvin beating him for running away, but he didn't want his Mom to know.
Valka gave a small nod and kissed his forehead. "Okay. I'll see you in the morning." She walked over to the doorway, where Stoick had been blearily watching and they walked downstairs, shutting the door behind them.
Hiccup lay down. He just rested quietly for a few minutes, but then he heard a soft thud. Before Hiccup could react, he was grabbed from behind and a hand covered his mouth.
"If you need a job done right, do it yourself," was whispered into Hiccup's ear. Hiccup froze. It was Alvin. He began struggling wildly as Alvin clipped his wrists into manacles. A gag was shoved into Hiccup's mouth, and Alvin climbed out of the window with his prize over his shoulder.
---
Astrid was throwing axes at trees with even more than her usual ferocity, imagining them as Alvin's head. She HATED Alvin for what he had done. If she had Alvin right there, why, she'd...
A CRACK interrupted Astrid's train of thought. The bushes rustled as if someone was running through them. Astrid was instantly suspicious. If it was a dragon, boar, or wolf it would have charged her immediately. It was too big to be small game. Astrid followed.
She came into a small clearing, and ducked behind a tree. Astrid peeked around the tree. It was Alvin, along with two Outcasts, and... Hiccup.
Hiccup was laying on the ground, manacled hands raised, trying to protect himself as Alvin raised a whip and brought it down. It sliced a gash across Hiccup's chest, missing his hands entirely. As Hiccup's hands came down to try to stop the flow of bright red blood, Astrid saw red. The next thing she knew, Astrid was standing in the clearing, an Outcast dead at her feet, another one fleeing for his life, and Alvin was staggering backwards with a nasty gash in his shoulder.
Alvin sent Astrid a glare as he realized he had failed. "I will get him!" Was the only thing Alvin said before he disappeared into the trees.
Astrid knelt and helped Hiccup stand. His hands were pressed to his chest, attempting to stem the flow of blood. They began to walk back to the village, Hiccup leaning on Astrid.
Hiccup spoke up. "Astrid, what's the truth? Is Alvin right? Or is my Dad?" Astrid thought for a moment. "Well, I guess truth is what you believe in. And faith, I think faith is there for a reason. Hiccup, just remember, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you." (Yes, I shamelessly got inspiration from Stand by You by Rachel Platten)
Hiccup paused and hugged Astrid, being careful not to get blood on her. "Thank you Astrid. I-I love you." Astrid smiled and they started walking again. "I love you too, dragon boy."
SORRY IF IT'S OOC!
---
Stoick was startled awake by loud knocking. He looked out the window. It was about 3:30 in the morning. The knocks came again. Stoick grumbled something unintelligible about inconsiderate villagers. He opened the door and Stoick's mouth flopped open.
Standing outside was Hiccup, covered in blood, and Astrid, who had an axe that had guts smeared on it that were clearly human.
Hiccup limped forward a step. "Um, Dad? You okay?" Stoick seemed to collect himself. "Hiccup, what in Thor's name happened?" Hiccup sighed. "I'll tell you later. For now, can you help me patch this up, and for Odin's sake, can someone get these manacles off?"
---
Two hours later, Hiccup sat in Gobber's shop as the blacksmith worked on getting the manacles off his wrists. He was extremely uncomfortable. Hiccup didn't have a shirt on because the healers said it may chafe against the wound. So Hiccup had to sit there, his chest swathed in bandages, as Vikings walked by and gawked at the heir.
Hiccup seemed to shrink into himself more and more as the town square became more crowded. Gobber kept glaring at everyone who so much as looked at Hiccup funny, but that didn't help.
So Hiccup was feeling miserable when Astrid and a group of teens walked up. "Hey Hiccup, how are you doing?" Hiccup flushed red and looked down. "Great. Just great. I have to sit here for another half hour!" Gobber growled "If you keep moving your arms like that, it'll take even longer!"
Astrid smiled sympathetically at Hiccup as he leaned back again. Snotlout couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Astrid, he's nice and all, but how could you walk away from this?" Before Astrid could respond, Ruffnut snickered, "easily!" She and her brother collapsed to the ground, giggling like maniacs.
Fishlegs butted in. "What's having a dragon like? What's a Night Fury's stats? What-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, Fishlegs! First off, a dragon is NOT a pet! It's a partner, a friend! Secondly, it's... it's..." Inspiration struck Hiccup like a bolt of lightning.
"Meet me at the arena in an hour. You'll learn everything then. I suggest you come if you like learning, being productive," The Twins and Snotlout gave derisive snorts, "or if you like destruction."
THAT got their attention. All the teens tried to find out what Hiccup meant, but he just waved them off.
Hiccup just hoped this worked. If not, he could be thrown off the island.
A/N: I AM SO SORRY!!! My inspiration is the kind that comes at eleven at night, and as I said earlier, my parents keep taking my phone at night. I update from my phone. I feel terrible. Just to warn everyone, the whole updating only ONCE in FIVE DAYS (sorry) thing may become the norm. On the other hand, it may not. This chapter was incredibly hard to write! Again, apologies!!! Feel free to chuck weapons at me. Just no rotten fruit, please! Kudos to anyone who's stuck with me!