Chapter Text
He saw the arrow before he felt it. He hadn’t noticed it heading right for him. He only noticed the first arrow when he glanced down and noticed the thing digging into his thigh, cutting through his leather suit like it was butter. That’s when he felt the wave of pain shoot through his leg. He hissed hunching closer to Toothless, but that only managed to aggravate his wound further. The arrow’s head felt like it was digging impossibly deeper.
This time he saw the arrow. He tried shifting toothless out of the way, but it was too late. The head stuck itself into his shoulder. This time he let out a scream as he felt it pierce through his skin. Toothless purred with concern. He had been as ignorant to the arrows as Hiccup was.
Hiccup grit his teeth. He had no idea where the fire was coming from but he did not want to find out. He pulled on Toothless’ reins, shifting his foot to help the other as they climbed higher into the sky, past the clouds. He heard another arrow whiz past narrowly avoiding Toothless’ wings. He tried not to flinch away knowing it would aggravate his newfound wounds.
He felt the warmth of his blood dripping down his arm and his leg, far too fast for it to be safe.
Unsheathing his sword he held it up to the figure before him. His gaze was blurred and he felt ever so dizzy. But he knew someone was on the other end. He might not see who, but that didn’t matter.
“Whoah,” The female voice yelped, then the sound of stumbling as they lost their balance.
“Who are you? State your purpose!” He shouted. If someone had found him in his base this could be a danger. He should run them through right now. But Hiccup has never been one to hurt without reason. Even if that meant he would have to gather camp and leave. It was better than taking a life. Besides, it might be someone in need.
“Calm down!” The female voice shouted frustration pouring from the voice. She seemed angry. Hiccup shifted making his blade all the more prominent in their vision. He tried blinking the black dots away. He must have lost a lot of blood. “I knew we should’ve taken his weapons.” the voice growled below their breath. Hiccup almost didn’t hear past the ringing in his ear.
Somewhere behind him, Toothless was trying to get Hiccup’s attention nudging at his leg. Hiccup ignored him, not thinking straight. All he knew was that he was vulnerable and another person was near. It was enough for Hiccup to keep his blade straight.
“Calm down, by Gods!” The voice shouted. “You just crash landed with arrows sticking out of you! You’ll open your wounds if you keep this up!” Hiccup faltered, his blade lowering. That’s right. He and Toothless. They had crashed. He had been struck.
“Let me see the arrows,” He said without thinking. He reached his blade before taking a step forward. A wave of nausea washed over him, he stumbled almost doubling over. Reaching for his head only to block by thick leather. Oh yeah. He still had his helmet on. And all his clothes from the feel of it. Only for thick bandages wrapping his shoulder and his thigh. Whoever had bandaged him was as least intrusive as possible. It was a small comfort really, but comfortable enough for him.
“You really shouldn’t be moving around.” The voice began again sounding agitated like they got settled with a job they never wanted.
“I need to see those arrows,” There was only one person he knew who still used arrows that could affect him this badly, and that put a bad taste in his mouth. If he got shot by those arrows then that meant he would be close. He looked up, his vision finally clearing to see who that voice belonged to.
“You literally just got up! I’m sure something like that can wait.” There was a scoff. Hiccup got a look at the woman in front of him. She was pretty, blond hair being held back by a leather strap and braided all the way down to the middle of her back. Her eyes as blue as the sky, her arms were well-toned clearly from wielding the ax that was strapped to her ax. From where Hiccup was standing she had many calluses on her hands. She almost looked like-
He needed to leave.
“I need to see those arrows,” He made a move for the door knowing Toothless was not far behind. Hiccup was surprised that Toothless was still near him. Still alive . He couldn’t risk one more moment. He needed to get Toothless out of there, even if he opened up his wounds. He couldn’t be found out.
“Hey wait!” The voice- Astrid called after him as he reached the door. He didn’t hesitate, swinging it open. He paused seeing the line of faces waiting for him.
He didn’t think, just reacted. He pulled his blade once again pointing it at the group, putting an arm in front of Toothless.
“Whoah,” A blond- Tuffnut laughed. “Someone’s jumpy.”
“He almost looks like Magnus after Gobber tried to feed him another ‘potion’” Ruffnut laughed, elbowing her brother.
“Whoah there brother,” Snoutlout shrugged taking a step forward. Hiccup was quick to point his blade towards the other. Fishlegs made a noise clearly uncomfortable with this situation. “Hey, hey, hey,” Snoutlout was quick to back up. Hiccup knew this was stupid, but they might try to take Toothless. They might do something to him. They might kill him. He needed to leave before something bad happened. Well no more bad things happened. It was really his luck to be struck with that bastard's arrows and crashland on the last island he ever wanted to be on.
“Hey, you need to calm down.” Astrid tried again, coming up from behind him. “I’ll show you those arrows if you’d just go back to bed.” He faltered, lowering his blade. Maybe if he saw those arrows it would be proof enough to give everyone a warning. That those people were coming. It could mean death for the whole of Bert. He turned to her, putting away his sword once again. He heard some snickers from behind him but he chose to ignore them.
“What’s your name anyways.” Astrid asked as he finally sat down back onto the bed. The room was used as a sort of inn. Visiting vikings would use them and every now and again, the sick and injured would too.
“That’s not important,” He said, finally feeling the way his muscles were screaming at him. “What’s important are those arrows.”
“What is it about those arrows that’s got you so freaked anyways. You crashland in the middle of town looking like the gatekeeper to hell himself and you’re worried about those stupid arrows?” Astrid scoffed. Maybe she was expecting someone cooler than Hiccup. Someone to add a little more excitement to her life with stories about far out lands they would never reach. Except, here Hiccup was, that had no stories to tell. At least not to her.
“It’s not the arrows themselves,” he began as reached out to Toothless who had run up to him and placed his head into his lap. At least Toothless felt safe enough here. “It’s who shot them I’m worried about. If I’m right then it could mean death to this whole village.” Astrid seemed to falter at that. Maybe he was exciting enough.
“I’ll get those arrows.”
_*_
“Shit,” Hiccup looked at the arrows in his hands. The green arrowhead, the crest carefully burned into the wood near the wings, all it did was confirm his fears for the worst. He shoved his head into his free hand. Gods, his head was killing him, the dragon root in his system still affecting him. He rubbed the tip of the arrow head, checking for poison. The tip looked clean, sans his dried blood that was already flaking off.
“What?” Astrid asked, her curiosity taking the better of her. “What does that mean?” Hiccup closed his eyes against the pulsating headache. Astrid hadn’t left his side since he woke up, sending Snotlout to retrieve the arrows instead. He could tell she was apprehensive, shifting from one foot to the other, always keeping herself on her toes. He knew she was sent to keep an eye on him, stop him if he were to do anything. In that moment he couldn’t help but be resentful. All he wanted to do was lay down and sleep off that stupid dragon root. He couldn’t blame them though. A strange boy on a nightfury suddenly appearing? A part of Hiccup wondered how they weren’t dead already.
“Dragon hunters,” he said simply. He drew in a breath before pushing himself off the bed. Toothless let out a purr of concern. Astrid tensed slightly, but she made no move towards Toothless. “If I leave now I can intercept them and lead them away.” Limping, he made his way towards the door once again.
“Hey!” Astrid shouted, her voice annoyed. This was getting old. “You’re not supposed to be going anywhere!” Toothless pushed past her, out the door. She let out a huff of anger. “Did you forget you were shot down?” She yelled after him. Hiccup kept walking, heading into Berk’s courtyard. He twisted around, grabbing onto Toothless’ saddle.
“And I thank you for your hospitality, but that isn’t important right now,” He tugged at the straps testing for any wear. He thanked the Gods that the landing hadn’t torn anything loose. He pushed one foot into the sturup, using his momentum to swing the other foot around. His foot slipped in easily. He looked over at Astrid. The girl looked hesitant to move any closer to Toothless. “I’ll find a way to repay you some day,” He grabbed Toothless’ reins. “Thank you-”
"Ships incoming!" A man had shouted interrupting Hiccup. The boy snapped his head up, looking out to the horizon. His hands moved on autopilot, pulling his spy glass out of his bag and bringing it to his eye. Behind him Astrid made a strange face at the contraption, but nobody noticed it.
Hiccup let out a curse as his eyes landed on the all too familiar crest sewn onto the sails. He must have been out longer than he thought. Much longer.
He was entirely off course, meant to head east of Berk, but of course it was just his luck that he managed to crash land in the last place he ever wanted to be with that psycho still hot on his tail. He had thought he lost the hunters back at the fog bank that separated the archipelago, but the man always managed to track him down no matter what he got at leaving no trace behind.
He supposed it had something to do with having half of the known viking islands under his thumb. There were only a few left that wanted nothing to do with dragon hunters. Not even fight them. Those islands were smart, but, unfortunately, Berk happened to be one of them. Berkens were so stubborn it was frustrating.
"Come on bud we can still get a few good hits before they land on the island," Hiccup said leaning down, his chest flush against Toothless’s head. A hand came up to scratch at his ears, another slipped the telescope back into its rightful satchel.
"Wait, uh-uh," Astrid insisted, her head shaking, hands coming to rest on her hips. Hiccup wished he had time to marvel at how some things never changed. "First of all, you're still injured, second of all, you can't just rush into battle like that." She looked pissed, and, if Hiccup didn't know any better, she almost looked concerned. But Astrid didn't know him. She had no reason to be concerned about him.
"There isn't much of a choice here," Hiccup insisted as he straightened out slightly, ready to nudge Toothless along. "They're after me, I already put your village in enough danger. I'll try to drive them away but prepare your battle stations anyways. They may decide to touch down instead," Hiccup didn't wait for Astrid to respond before he nudged Toothless, sending both of them into the air with a harsh slap of the dragon's wings.
It didn't take long for Hiccup and Toothless to catch up to the boats. He guided the dragon along the surface of the water, Toothless’s talons just barely scraping the surface, sending ripples in their wake.
Hiccup shifted his foot, sending Toothless up into the air, Toothless just avoiding the boat, sending it rocking. A few shouts of surprise escaped the men's lips as the tried to gather their barring, feet scrambling to their stations and hands grasping for crossbows.
"Hiccup," a man greets the boy, his arms spread open like he was offering him a hug. Hiccup tried not to smile at the still fresh scar that had found its place on the man's face. The skin was still pink and fresh.
"Viggo," Hiccup responded, his tone tasteless. "What do you want?" Viggo tsked as he placed his hands behind his back. Hiccup nudged Toothless a little higher, just outside a crossbow's range.
"You know what I want." His tone was serious, almost mad. Like a parent getting ready to scold their child. That left a bad taste in Hiccup's mouth.
"Not happening," Viggo let out a hum, the man was completely expecting that answer, yet he asked Hiccup anyway.
"Shame." The man says with a feigned pout before looking up at Hiccup, a smile placed on his lips. "I hear Berk is lovely this time of the year." Realization struck him and Hiccup's eyes widened. There were two fewer ships in Viggo’s armada than usual. The man knew Hiccup would come out to face him. To try and cause a diversion. To try and lure him away from Berk. And Hiccup had done just that. Leaving Berk completely defenseless.
The dragonroot must have affected him more than he thought.
"Hell," he cursed, pulling at Toothless’s reins ready to turn around. To defend Berk. But he left himself completely open. He didn't notice the net headed straight for him.
Hiccup let out a shout as the net tangled with Toothless’s wings, trapping the dragon as the net brought them down, plunging them into the ocean.