Call Me Hiccup

Don't call me useless. I don't shine in the traditional way, excel in the humdrum terror of day-to-day living. But when death has us backed into a corner, I can find the way out, I can dream up the solution, and I can set things right. I work at the things I truly need, and I excel at them. Don't call me useless. I help wherever I can.

Don't call me weak. There are many types of strength. Though my arms may not wield the great monstrosities of swords and shields that the others do, I have yet to give up my hopes. I do not waver from what I believe is right, and I always find a way. I may be light and slender and small. But size doesn't measure strength of character. Don't call me weak. My will has never been broken.

Don't call me coward. If I let fear rule me, I would have broken a long, long time ago. Life is treacherous day in and day out. My cousin wants to kill me. There are wolves and wild dragons. Shipwrecks and storms. Adventures and betrayals and deaths. I am afraid, always afraid, and yet I still go on. Don't call me coward. I have never been one.

Don't call me slave. I may not be proud, but I have my pride. I will not have another's will forced upon me. If I bend, it is of my own free will. We are a wild, proud, free people, and yet we let others walk in chains. A Mark is just a Mark; it is not the purple tattoo that turns people into slaves and chains them up so thoroughly that they can never escape. Don't call me slave. I will not stand for slavery, and I will make sure it falls.

Don't call me Outcast. My place is not in Exile. This is a dark time, a trying time, a testing time, but it is not permanent. There are still those who accept me and want me. Their voices are weaker than the ones who hate, but they are still there, and as long as they are there I am not alone. Don't call me Outcast. It is something forced on me. It is not who I am.

Don't call me traitor. My goals are not to maim or destroy. I have never set out to betray my people or to bind them to something they cannot control. I love them. I fight for them. I listen. I long for the day they will be free of darkness and fear. Don't call me traitor. I will never abandon my own.

Don't call me innocent. I have seen families torn, blood spilt, treachery rampant. I have seen guilt and grief and terror. The world is burning, once-friends are now mortal enemies, and there is no longer any home to go back to. I have made mistakes, terrible mistakes, and I have killed to stay alive. Don't call me innocent. That innocence was burned and the embers doused in tears.

Don't call me King. It is a title, an honor, but a great burden. Every time it is said, I remember how much carnage and death and destruction it took for me to get here. Dragons. Enemies. Allies. Family. I wanted it, yes, but only to stop the alternative. It is a great and terrible thing to be a Leader. Don't call me King. It is a part of me, but not who I am.

Call me Hiccup. For that is who I am, and always will be.