The Runaway and Outcast (A Httyd Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Nightmare

(Hiccup's pov)

A familiar smell filled my nose and it violently ripped me out of the sweet embrace of slumber. Sitting up, I took in my surroundings and found myself... in my old room back on Berk.

No.

No!

Rising out of my bed, I left the room and leaped down the stairs and opened the door to the hut I once lived in. The moment the door was opened, I was met with a shield bashing into my face, causing blood and spittle to fly out of my mouth and putting me down on the ground. Groaning in pain, I clutch my heavily bleeding nose and look up to see the man who failed as my father, Stoick the Vast.

"Did you believe you could flee from your duty? Hmm?"

He then grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked me up harshly, causing me to cry out in pain as I looked into Stoick's eyes, they burned with disappointment, disgust, and rejection.

"You will never be free of me, the Hairy Hooligans, or your obligations to this tribe," he growled out before hurling me into a puddle of mud, "you can run all you want, but sooner or later you'll be right back where you belong, at our feet."

A chorus of laughter and insults filled my ears as I raised myself from the mud, only to have a fist connect with my jaw, forcing me back down into the mud. Groaning in pain, I felt unforgiving hands grip my hair and yanked it up violently, causing me to cry out.

"Aww, what's the matter Uselss? Can't take a hit?"

Snotlout's taunting voice filled my ears as he drove a knee into my gut and delivered ann unforgiving left-hook across my face, forcing me to fall on my hands and knees.

"Ha! You're so pathetic!"

"Yeah, not only scrawny and weak, but you'll never be Viking!"

Both Ruffnut and Tuffnut laughed out before delivering brutal kicks into my side, knocking the wind out of my lungs and forcing me down on the ground. Holding back the dam of tears that threatened to burst from my eyes, I looked to Fishlegs and Astrid who merely stood there and watched as I was being beaten to within an inch of my life. I could see that Fishlegs was squirming like and wincing as I was being dealt with ferocious blows, but Astrid merely stood there with an emotionless face and did nothing. She claims to be a warrior, and a true warrior protects their own from not just outside forces, but from their own as well.

Astrid isn't a warrior, she's just a cold, sad girl who wants to prove herself worthy before the eyes of the Hairy Hooligans.

Finally, the beating stopped and I was wheezing weakly, my ears were ringing loudly, fire seemed to consume my entire being after the unforgiving punishment I had endured, and I could feel myself losing consciousness.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be granted such a mercy. The Hooligans took hold of me and held me up until Stoick stood before me with his usual stern face. The man I once called father wrapped a hand around my throat and lifted me up like I was nothing, causing to gag and choke.

"You're going to be chief of this tribe boy, whether you like it or not," he said in a cold tone, "I don't care what you want, or what you believe is unfair, life is cruel and if you wish to survive in Midgard, you must be strong! You are weak, pathetic, and undeserving of life; you should've been killed as a baby before of your sickly frame. But your mother saw greatness in you, she believed you would amount to great things. Have you done anything great for us?" He then looked to the Hooligans gathered and boomed out. "Has he done anything great for any of us?!" When they all boomed out "no" Stoick looked back into my eyes and tightened his grip around my neck. "I thought not. You're going to be forged into a Viking worthy of taking my throne, and if I need to beat it into you, I will!" He the dropped his shield and formed a fist before it made contact with my face.