Hostage AU

Treachery

After a few hours, Valka and Hiccup stepped outside for a walk. They were immediately bowled over by a black Night Fury. Toothless began licking Hiccup all over, while Valka had to calm down a few dimwitted Vikings who thought Toothless wanted to kill Hiccup. As Hiccup got up, he heard a nasally, raw voice. It sounded like sandpaper, like nails on a chalkboard.

"That boy is an Outcast! A demon! How else does he keep the unholy offspring of Lightning and Death itself from mauling him!"

Hiccup stared in shock at the elderly old man who was screeching bloody murder and pointing a staff at him. Hiccup flinched backwards each time the man moved, expecting a blow from the staff.

Stoick came up to them. "What is going on here?!" He was furious. Mildew was insulting Hiccup and waving that infernal staff around in his face. Hiccup looked terrified, like he was waiting to be attacked. Of course he was expecting to be attacked! That was all Alvin had ever done to the poor traumatized boy!

Stoick protectively got between Mildew and Hiccup. "Hiccup has a rare gift of dragon whispering! Perhaps one day we could make peace because of it! And for Thor's sake, stop waving that Woden-cursed staff around!"

Thankfully, Mildew stopped making threatening gestures with his staff. However, he kept up his tirade of insults as Hiccup shrank back, Toothless encircling him with his tail.

"That boy's a menace! Dragons can't be tamed! They must be killed! Have you forgotten what the beasts have done?!" Stoick winced inwardly, but it didn't show on the outside. He had not forgotten watching villagers horrifically mauled, roasted alive, and carried off by dragons.

"Of course not! But if we make peace, no Viking will be killed by a dragon ever again! Leave my son alone! If I find you doing anything against him ever again, consider yourself banished!"

Stoick watched out of the corner of his eye as Valka and Astrid, Odin bless her, gently guiding the shocked Hiccup back into the house.

The villagers around Mildew looked ready to kill him. Even though they had never really met Hiccup, they had great sympathy for him and he was a national hero. On top of that, they were all sick of fighting... And Mildew.

Mildew was the Scrooge of the village. He was a nasty, whiny piece of yak dung. There was a reason why his house was on the other side of the island.

Mildew spluttered, then, as he realized that he had no favor with the crowd, he grumbled and walked off. Stoick sighed and walked towards the house. He had to check up on Hiccup.

---

Stoick found Hiccup sitting at the table across from Valka and next to Astrid. Astrid was making little braids in Hiccup's hair. Sadly, it seemed like Hiccup didn't know what a girl braiding his hair meant. In Viking culture, girls braiding a boy's hair marked him as her boyfriend.

It was a cute sight to see Valka looking so content and joyful to have her son back, Hiccup looking mildly embarrassed but happy, and Astrid grinning. To Stoick and Valka's delight, Astrid gave Hiccup a quick peck on the cheek and they both blushed deep red.

Hiccup noticed his father, and he looked slightly worried. "Dad, who was that? Why did he hate me so much?" Stoick sighed. "That's Mildew. If he wasn't such a good warrior in the past, we would have booted him off the island long before now. He's just a crotchety old man who nobody likes, but he's an elder now, and I can't banish him without good reason and a prior warning. He hates dragons, so, because of your ability, he hates you."

Hiccup nodded. He was used to people hating him for unreasonable reasons. (haha! Didn't see that until after I wrote it!) "Hey Dad, I was, um, wondering if I could train other people to ride dragons, I mean, they would be a great help against Alvin, and, um, it's probably a terrible idea, but, um..."