That is who you are

Chapter 11

He was there. Hiccup was back on Berk. We could go back to a normal life—well, almost. He was really thin and could barely stand on his feet. The whole gang gathered around him. Hiccup was back with us, and back to his chief duties too, but all this pressure was hitting him too soon, in my opinion. He was standing by my side and I was holding him against me, one arm around him. Heather arrived shortly after the others and moved towards us to take Hiccup in her arms.

"Heather? But— what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here, that's all that matters," she said, moved and relieved to see him again.

The whole crowd of villagers was surrounding us, and it started to feel suffocating. I could tell it was getting to Hiccup. He could barely stand, and then fainted in my arms.

"Hiccup!" I yelled. "Wake up! Please Hiccup, wake up!"

In the distance, a voice rose above the others.

"Step aside! Out of the way!" Gobber shouted.

He and Valka arrived next to us and they helped me support Hiccup.

"Let him breathe for Thor' sake!" Valka screamed.

"He's unconscious!" I said, panicked.

"We'll bring him to your hut while Gobber gets Gothi, okay? It'll be fine."

I agreed with a nod and we brought Hiccup home. We laid him down on the bed and I sat down next to him, taking his hand in mine with all my strength. I couldn't lose him. Valka tried to reassure me the best she could, but she was also terrified.

Gobber finally came with Gothi and she got to work right away. She started listening to his heart and she assured us it was beating—that was a relief. Hiccup was in bad shape but we could heal him, I hoped it with all my heart. Gothi asked us to remove his clothes so that she could treat him correctly.

Gobber left the room and we started to remove his top, and we ended up taking away his pants and his shoes so we could see the extent of his injuries. There wasn't much on the chest except several superficial scratches. We examined his legs and were forced to notice that his stump was infected when we removed his prosthetic leg. Then, we lifted him by the shoulders to survey the damage on his back. And what I saw made my blood run cold. Hiccup had nasty whip scars spreading from top to bottom, all across his back.

And as for signing his work, Drago hadn't left any room for ambiguity. Hiccup had been scarred by Drago for life. This scar—I would see it every single day when I woke up. For the rest of my life it would be there to remind me it was because of me that Hiccup had been through all these atrocities. I slumped at the foot of the bed. Valka put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Astrid... It's not your fault..."

I suddenly raised my head.

"Of course it's my fault! If he hadn't listened to me, we'd have gone and..."

"You'd both get captured and we couldn't have saved you. But you're here, both of you are safe. That's all that matters."

I looked at Hiccup and grabbed his hand, and held it very hard, then I kissed him.

"Drago will pay for that."

Gothi and Valka remained silent for a moment, then they ended up finding sheets, water and ointments of all kinds to heal the chief. I helped them in their task; from now on, I was going to stick to him like glue. Valka and I laid him down on his stomach so that Gothi could apply a viscous mixture onto the lash scars on his back. Then she took care of his infected leg, using several medications, each one more unusual than the last. When she was done, she explained us that he would mainly need rest, but that it was a matter of time before he woke up due to his obvious lack of food. Valka left me alone with him to go prepare what he needed for when he woke up.