Astrid felt as if her world had been tilted on its axis. It had been, by far, the strangest day she'd ever experienced.
As she stepped into the arena once more, she wondered just how much stranger it was going to get. Would the answers Hiccup shared help her wrap her mind around everything, or would they only leave her with more questions?
The sun was beginning to set, leaving the ring bathed in a warm glow. She rolled her shoulders, scanning the periphery one last time for unwanted onlookers. Satisfied that she was alone, she unlatched the door, heaving it open.
The Night Fury was lying down, facing the door. His front legs were crossed, head resting on his paws. Seeing her, he lifted his head and chirped out a short sound that she assumed was meant to be a greeting.
She stepped aside without a word, allowing the dragon space to stride past her into the open ring. He shook his dark wings out, sneezing as his actions stirred some of the dirt up into the air.
Astrid's lip twitched in amusement.
The light was fading, and the Night Fury's attention was fixed on the sky as it went dark. Once more, that strange purple fire ignited. It engulfed the dragon, burning away until the slim figure of Hiccup Haddock remained.
She'd seen the transformation twice now, and it still felt like some sort of bizarre fever dream.
Hiccup turned his attention from the skies back to her, green eyes looking tired and resigned. "Hey, Astrid."
"Hi," she returned, hating the hesitancy in her own voice.
They stood there in silence, tension thick in the air. Astrid raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak. She wasn't the one who needed to explain herself.
"I've never had to talk about this before," admitted Hiccup after a moment, right hand raising to rub the back of his neck. "I, uh, don't really know where to start. It's…kind of a long story."
Astrid sighed, taking a seat on the ground. She looked at him pointedly until he did the same.
Once again, he'd balled his hands inside the sleeves of his battered tunic, this time tightly crossing his arms over his chest. She wondered if he was cold, or if it was a defensive gesture. She wasn't trying to come off as threatening, but she had also spent a week chasing him around the ring. It could be hard for him to set aside those memories.
"How about the beginning?"
"Right," he agreed, still sounding uncertain. "I guess to start…do you remember anything about the night I left?"
"You mean the night you disappeared ?" She corrected sharply, recalling the aftermath of his departure. "Your dad had us all scouring the island for you for days, it was total chaos!"
Hiccup cringed, ducking his head in shame. "I didn't have much choice," he reminded her, sounding grim. "I don't know if you remember, but there was a pretty bad raid that night."
Raids had become so common over the years, she had a hard time pinpointing the exact night he meant. They'd all begun to blur together in her mind.
When she said as such, he sighed. "No, this one was special," he insisted. "Half the guard towers fell in the first hour, a Monstrous Nightmare completely took out the winter storehouse–"
Oh.
"I remember now," she interrupted, latching onto the memory. She'd been on fire duty that night, running herself ragged darting around the village for hours on end. No matter how much water she hauled, it felt like a helpless scenario. For every fire put out, two more seemed to pop up in seconds.
"I really wanted to prove myself," said Hiccup, biting his lip. "We were so in over our heads that Gobber didn't even notice me sneaking out of the forge. I had this new invention that I had built to throw bolas and I really wanted to test it out, so I pushed it all the way up to the lookout point. The Night Fury was active that night, and I got this crazy idea that if I captured that dragon, all my problems would be solved."
"You didn't…"
"I tried," admitted Hiccup, anger leaking into his tone. "I almost got it, too! Pretty sure I clipped one of its legs that night, but all that did was make it mad."
Astrid could easily picture the scene. A scrawny, overager boy perched on the cliffside with an untested, probably dangerous contraption. A moment of uncharacteristic boldness, paired with his own notoriously bad aim…and an infuriated dragon, seeking vengeance on its aggressor.
"Turns out the 'lighting' part of the legend is true," he said, closing his eyes as he remembered. "It came at me, with this weird, blue lightning running all over its scales! I tried to run, but you know me, I took two steps and tripped over my own feet. I never had a chance."
"What happened?"
"It sunk its claws into my chest," he admitted, looking shaken by the memory. "Dug them in right around my heart – I thought for sure that the dragon was gonna rip it out of my chest, maybe eat it or something. Instead, it sent its lightning through me. Gods, it felt like every inch of me was on fire…"
Gods .
Astrid brought a hand to her own heart, miming the motion of claws sinking in around it. She couldn't begin to imagine how painful it must have been.
"You're lucky to be alive."
"Am I?" Hiccup asked, leveling her with a glum look. "Turns out that weird lightning left me with more than a burn. I woke up the next day as a dragon – a Night Fury of all things! I was terrified ..."
Astrid tried to put herself in his shoes. If she woke up one morning trapped in the body of a dragon…she shuddered to consider it.
"I thought the change was permanent at first," he admitted. "Once I realized it wasn't just a bad dream, I panicked. I knew if anyone from Berk saw me like that, I was dead, so I had to get away. But Astrid, I didn't even know how to work my own body. I suddenly had wings and tail and four legs, for Thor's sake! It's a miracle no one saw me staggering through the woods, trying to run."
The villagers had likely been too busy cleaning up the wreckage to venture into the woods that day. They probably hadn't even realized Hiccup was missing yet. With how often he tended to slip away and avoid the crowds, it might have been days before they noticed. Her stomach turned at the thought.
"It took me all day," he recalled, looking down at his lap, "but I finally made it to the far side of the island. Then, the sun went down."
"You changed back," realized Astrid.
"Yeah," agreed Hiccup, "Mostly."
"Mostly?"
He dropped his arms into his lap, pushing up his sleeves. One arm was as expected – pale, freckled and thinner than she suspected was healthy. The other was another story entirely. She'd never seen a human with dragon scales before, but she'd spent enough time around the Night Fury to recognize the black shine where skin ought to be. Sharp black claws took the place of fingernails, making his hand look all the more alien.
"How far…" she paused, shaking her head. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"Over my shoulder and to my heart," he said, guessing her question. "They start at the impact points, where its claws got me."
Astrid shuffled closer to him, curiosity getting the better of her as she reached out a hand. "Can I?"
Hiccup lifted his left hand, holding it out to her without a word.
Just as she'd noticed in the ring, the Night Fury scales were softer than the average dragon. Where Deadly Nadders were plated with tough, armor-like scales, she found that these felt more like calloused skin. Tough, but not impenetrable.
"Does it feel different?" She asked, brushing her hand across his.
"Yes," he admitted, watching her fingers trace the scales. "I can feel your hand there, but not its texture. Does that make sense? It's like…holding hands through a thin pair of gloves. I can feel the weight and the pressure of it, but not the details."
Astrid hummed, intrigued by the thought. She supposed it made sense for a tough exterior to be less sensitive to such things. It was probably necessary in order for the dragon to be fireproof. After examining his scaled hand for another minute, she released it. "Why didn't you come back, once you knew you could be…well, you?"
Hiccup moved his hands behind him, leaning his weight back on them. "I'm only me at night," he reminded her with a sad smile, "I've never been sure if that's enough for Berk."
As much as she wanted to dismiss his concerns, she couldn't. She had no clue how the tribe would react to someone who spent just as much time living as a dragon as he did as a human. Even if that boy was the chief's son.
"So," she started, trying to shift the focus, "have you really just been hiding on the other side of the island all this time?"
"Pretty much. I've taken a few trips to the nearest islands but I don't like to take the risk often," he replied, not meeting her eyes. "Night Furies don't exactly blend in during the day, and I can't risk going anywhere too far – I have to hit the shore before sundown or I'll be swimming the rest of the way."
"So why stay here?"
Hiccup let his arms slide down until he was lying on his back, staring up at the stars. His voice was quiet when he answered, "It's my home, Astrid. If I leave, then that dragon really did take everything from me."
She couldn't fault him for that. In fact, she sort of respected his stubborn determination to cling to the remnants of his old life. It was brave – a trait she'd never associated with Hiccup Haddock in the past.
"What about the dragon that did this?" She asked, "Did you at least try to find it? Maybe it could undo what it did."
"I never saw it again," said Hiccup, voice flat. "I had the same thought at first, but it never returned to Berk. Besides, I don't even know if it could reverse this! And why would it help me now? Seems pretty clear that it was punishing me for taking that shot."
He had a point. Even if he were able to communicate his desire to end the curse, the Night Fury had no reason to help him. It had inflicted the punishment on him for a reason and would probably be pleased by Hiccup's suffering.
Astrid moved closer, rolling onto her back beside him. Her arm grazed his, skin against scale, as she settled into place.
"All of this is crazy," she said, looking up at the constellations.
Hiccup's shoulders shook as he laughed beside her. The sound was humorless and slightly manic to her ears, "oh, believe me, I know."
She couldn't believe this had been his life for five years. Half a decade spent dealing with this deadly, impossible secret. She'd never been especially close to the boy growing up, but she wouldn't wish such a life on any of her tribe. It must have been so lonely.
A life curse for attempting to take down a dragon. It could have happened to anyone on the island, had their aim been true enough to hit the Night Fury. She couldn't help but wonder if one day she might have been the one to catch the beast's ire and be cursed as Hiccup was now. It could easily have been her life, isolated in fear of her own home.
It was a sobering thought.
If it were her…if she were in Hiccup's shoes, she'd be desperate to have someone on her side. Someone to trust.
Maybe…just maybe, she could be that person for Hiccup now.
She turned her head, looking at his profile. As she reflected on what he'd said so far, a question came to mind. "Wait. Isn't the other side of the island supposed to be…"
"Completely desolate?" He finished, eyes still trained on the stars. "Yeah. Not much grows there – it's mostly just a lot of rocks and beaches, though there is a small stream that cuts through part of it, but you have to access it through a cave."
It didn't sound like a welcoming place to visit, much less to live. No wonder he'd never been spotted. Berkians had no reason to waste time in such a place.
As if reading her thoughts, he continued. "It's not much, but it's safe. I've got a cave set up to sleep in during the day, and I spend my nights on the beaches. I've actually gotten pretty good at catching fish, can you believe it? My dad would never believe I actually mastered that."
"You sleep during the day?"
"Wouldn't you?" Hiccup asked, voice growing bitter. He turned his head to face her. "When I'm awake…I just want to be me. If I time it right, I can almost forget about the curse some days."
If he'd found a way to survive the mess fate had dealt him, she couldn't fault him for that. She sighed, "I'm sorry, Hiccup. No one deserves what you've been through."
He blinked rapidly, and for a moment she thought his eyes looked a little watery, but the raw emotion was gone as quickly as it had appeared. "...thanks."
Astrid's back was beginning to bother her, unused to lying on the stone for long. She frowned, realizing Hiccup must have endured the same discomfort all week in the ring. She pulled herself to her feet, smoothing out her rumpled clothes.
"I won't tell anyone, I promise," she assured, voice firm. "Now, let's get you out of here."
Hiccup sat up slowly, eyebrows raised as he regarded her. "If I leave, they're going to want to know how the Night Fury escaped."
"Yeah, so?"
"So, you'll get the blame."
Astrid cursed, realizing he was right. She'd taken on responsibility for the dragon and would be the first suspect if anything was amiss.
"It doesn't matter," she decided, throwing her hands up in frustration. It did matter, but she'd figure it out later. "Hiccup, I can't just lock you up in a cage."
"You did this morning."
"That's not fair," she countered, "I didn't know what I saw! I didn't understand all…this!"
"You just gestured to all of me," Hiccup pointed out blandly, running a hand through his hair. Before she could say anything else, he continued. "Look, obviously I do want out of here. As soon as possible, really – but not at your expense. This is my curse, and I don't think I could stand it if it ruined someone else's life too. What we need is a plan that won't have people pointing fingers."
Astrid hummed her agreement, holding out a hand to help him stand. He took it, allowing her to pull him to his feet.
Gods, he was taller than her now.
"Just give me a day or two and I'll figure something out," he said. "I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of here on my own, but you knowing changes everything."
"Two days," she agreed, "and if you don't have a plan by then, you let me free you. Shake on it."
He immediately extended his left arm, the habitual action reminding Astrid that it was his dominant hand. She'd forgotten that detail over the years. What else had she forgotten about the missing heir?
She clasped the scaly palm tightly, sealing the deal.