New Life Ahead [HTTYD]

Chapter 4: Mother's Love and Neglection

Warning: Slight cursing and out-of-character Hiccup.

"Why do you care about what they think of you?" The Night Fury asked.

Hiccup's eyes snapped open. His eyes were bloodshot once again, the boy's dragon body lying on his side. His wings had wrapped around him in his grief, as if to seal himself from the reality of his situation.

"What?" Hiccup managed to croak, staring at the Night Fury with confusion and sadness. The Fury frowned in pity, knowing that attempting to talk someone out of their former way of life would be hard for himself and tough on the human.

But his options were limited to either that, or completely mind-wiping the human, which he had already promised NOT to do. Only a few humans had ever managed to be spared that fate, and he had no intentions of letting this human become one of the many who were not.

"Why do you care so much about your village? From what I saw in your mind, almost no one in there really cares for you, besides that human named Gobber." The dragon knew he had to be very careful about his choice of words. He had to respect the human's past life as something precious and not like a stain that needed to be removed. At the same time, he needed to show the human that this change was not as bad as it seemed.

Hiccup sniffled and took a deep breath before answering, "Ever since my mother died from a dragon raid, I've been seen as a mistake to the Viking ways simply because of how weak I looked."

The Night Fury listened intently, nodding to tell the Viking to continue.

"My whole life I've been told of nothing but my failures, and every time I do fail makes me feel like a disgrace to my mother's memory. Even my Dad became different after her death. He was always caught up in his title as Chief of the village leadership, and we rarely spoke at all, even when we were alone together."Hiccup let loose a small sob as he lowered his head at the memory of his mother's funeral.

His dad holding him tightly as the village set the funeral pyre for his mother's death. The attack left no trace of her anywhere. All that was found that day was a bloodied breast plate from her armor, so the pyre had to be burnt without a body.

"I was determined to make my Dad proud of me, by either killing a dragon, or creating something that could help improve our ways of fighting dragons." Hiccup had calmed down somewhat, taking deep, but short breaths to compose himself.

The Night Fury was impressed. This human was a strong person in many ways. He was determined, resilient, and always willing to help his people despite the fact that most of them could have cared less about the boy or his efforts to help them.

"Up until today, none of my inventions were successful. They always ended up destroying part of the village and making my dad more upset and disappointed in me. It's like the gods hated me for some reason." Hiccup gave a low laugh as he used his arms to wipe away the lingering tears on his eyes.

The Night Fury had noticed the extinguished fire at this point and, with a blast of fire from his mouth, set it aflame once again. The human jumped slightly before realizing the action was not hostile, and with a nod from the Night Fury, continued speaking.