Draugr

Eleven

Eleven.

She stared silently as the first sirens sounded, standing invisibly with her hands resting on Hiccup's hunched shoulders as he remained on his knees by the limp shape of Toothless. She watched, almost feeling hollow, as Detectives Mala and Throk arrived and took in the scene, took statements from the witnesses, supervised the CSIs as they tagged and bagged the knife, swabbed the blood from Toothless's mouth for DNA and took a brief statement from Hiccup. The man was pale and drained, emerald eyes dulled and shoulders slumped. His left hand had been badly cut and he needed stitches but he had asked for it to be bandaged first so the hand was wrapped tightly by the concerned EMTs. But at the end, he looked up into the cool eyes of the police officers.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked sarcastically. "Some lunatic tries to kidnap me-and then kill me. He murders my dog..."

"You can't murder a dog," Throk pointed out.

"In this case, you can," Astrid snarked, folding her arms.

"You could have paid him yourself to give you an alibi..." Mala added as Hiccup shared at her incredulously.

"Really? You think I would threaten my own life, injure myself so I may ruin my ability to sculpt which is literally the only thing I have left now and kill Toothless, the only person who has kept me going since Astrid was murdered? Are you that inflexible that you have to stuck to your ridiculous theory that I killed the woman I loved, the woman I was about to propose to rather than chase the real killer who has just threatened my life?" he shouted at them, slowly clambering to his feet. "I've given my statement. So have the witnesses. Now I want to go home. Can I take Toothless to give him a proper burial or are you going to keep him as 'evidence'?" There was such scorn in his expression that Mala had to look away.

"No," she said quietly. "You can take your dog. We'll drive you home..." Hiccup shook his head, leaning down to lift Toothless with a grunt. The EMTs had kindly wrapped the dog in a blanket and the tall potter hugged the limp shape to his body.

"I'll get a cab, thanks," he said stubbornly. "You expend your energies on actually looking for the person who did this." Astrid stared at them as they shared a look, then walked away, letting him walk past the fountain to the main road with his burden, hail and cab and sit woodenly on the back seat during the drive home. Seeing him struggle made her feel more ashamed that she was useless to him, her hand ghosting through his, hoping he knew she was with him...and feeling horrible guilt for Toothless's death. Though a small part of her reminded her that the dog would have defended his master to the death, with or without her prompting.

Once they had arrived back at the house, he shed his coat and headed out into the yard with Toothless and a shovel. And Astrid felt utterly wretched as she watched him dig like a man possessed, sweat dripping from his face as he excavated the grave of this best friend. He didn't look up or slow as a light shower blew through or when the door to the house opened and Stoick and Gobber walked out, equally concerned expressions on both their faces. His father gaped as he saw the young man working.

"HICCUP!" he yelled and for a moment, he looked up, his face colourless and emerald eyes dulled. Swiping his brow with his grimy bandage, he turned away and continued digging as Stoick raced forward, grabbing his wrist gently and stopping him.

"Let me go," Hiccup said through his teeth. "I have to do this." Gobber ambled up and shook his head.

"Let us help, laddie," he offered, eyeing the hole. Toothless was a big dog and he needed a bigger grave. Hiccup shook his head, his bruised face alarming his father and Gobber.

"Gods, will you let me do something myself?" he exploded, glaring at his visitors. "I mean, clearly, there is something wrong for me for them to take Astrid and now Toothless-and there's nothing I can do!"