8. Who Are ya, boy?

Previous chapter....

"Get off her!" Syn's father shouted, before a horrifying shriek turned his attention to Toothless, who looked ready to rip Raoul to pieces.

NOW~~...

...........................................................................

While Syn's father grabbed Toothless by the tail and pry him away from the two fighting teens, Sven tried to separate the two in question, even stopping his rain of insults just to tell Raoul to get off, but to no avail. In the midst of it all, Hiccup had been completely forgotten; he just sat there on the floor like an idiot, completely silent, with no clue what to do as the chaos continued before him with no visible end in sight.

Hiccup clenched his fist and gripped the sheets on top of him in anger; he was really starting to hate this Raoul person. He reminded Hiccup of Snotlout, from the pompous attitude to the way he just yelled every sentence like he was the boss of everyone. It was exactly as Syn called: Raoul was a total jerk, and his atrocious behavior called back dark memories of how his pitiful excuse for family treated him as no such thing, torturing him every day of his life since they were five years old. He remembered how hurt he'd been one day in particular, when Snotlout told him of his name's true meaning: he said that 'Hiccup' meant 'accident,' a name given to the runt of any litter, and how it meant everyone, even his father, considered that he should never have been born. He remembered crying as he ran into the woods as Snotlout's cruel, arrogant laughter followed him all the way.

No way would Hiccup just let that guy hurt Syn; she was his first - and only - human friend that he had in a long time, and frankly, no one deserved the suffering that he had gone through, that people considered a favor to him so he would eventually cast aside his stupid interests and hobbies and finally start accomplishing things that were important. Either that or they just didn't really want to care. His mind was made up. With some difficulty due to still being in pain, Hiccup stood up, leaning against the wall with both his hands, quickly growing dizzy from his movement as he wobbled on his feet. Gathering every spare breath he could in his tiny lungs and looking as in-charge as possible, Hiccup screamed until his face turned beet-red with a voice that could have only been inherited from his father....

"OKAY! EVERYBODY, JUST SHUT UP!"

His voice echoed through the walls of the wooden hut as the shambolic scene before him practically froze in time. Raoul and Syn had stopped wrestling, Sven had his hands on Raoul's shoulders but stopped trying to pull them apart, Toothless stopped swatting Luis, and Syn's father stopped trying to get Toothless away while his hands were still gripping Toothless' tail. Even Alvis had silenced his crying, but was still whimpering - the only sound that could be heard in the whole room. Everyone was silent as death, and everyone was staring at him with pure shock on their face. Hiccup was not used to getting attention like this and in any other situation he would have cowered and shrunk back at the fact that all eyes and ears were on him now, but he was irritated as Hel, even more than Raoul when he first came in - too much so to even care.

"Thank you!" Hiccup shouted aggravatingly.

More staring, even flinching from the two boys and Toothless. Syn's father just continued to stare, more in surprise and interest than the slight amount of fear in everyone else.

"Okay, this is incredibly stupid!" Hiccup yelled, waving an arm in exasperation. "Have you people ever tried talking things out?!" No one said anything.

"Syn's father, whatever your name is, let go of my dragon!" Hiccup instructed. "Toothless, come here."

Toothless trudged over quickly until he was right by Hiccup's side with his head bowed and his tail literally between his legs, looking up with Hiccup with a slight amount of fear. He had never heard Hiccup speak with such command in his voice before and quite frankly, it wiped away any feeling of self-pride and somewhat forced Toothless to look at Hiccup like he was his 'master.'

"Sven, let go of them. Raoul, get off of Syn. Syn, get up."

The others did as they were told, and soon the three tens were standing in a single neat row like their chief had just spoken during the heat of battle.

"Good," Hiccup said, nodding his head with a stern expression on his face which quickly evolved into one of anger. "You people are worse than the rock-heads back where I'm from when it comes to resolving arguments. And with those guys, nothing's settled unless weapons are involved."

On Berk, his father had always said there were only three options when dealing with Vikings who were having trouble cooperating. One was to give them both hammers and let them fight to the death, the second was pretty much the same, but with maces - yeah, that was original. The third option was less permanent, but more devious: trick them into working together. It was just another of the many things Hiccup hated his people for: if he could say sorry as many times as he did, then surely it wasn't a foreign concept for anyone else. Apparently, though, the word was like bile to them and any use of option three would just cause a greater argument. No resolution was ever made until someone was beaten bloody - Hiccup was glad deep down that wasn't the case here.

He turned to Syn and pointed a finger at her. "Okay, Syn, I understand that you were mad, but you had no real right to yell at Raoul."

"HA!" Raoul gloated while Syn just looked guilty.

"And Raoul," Hiccup continued. "You had no right to attack someone who can't defend themselves. And a girl, no less! Does every problem have to be resolved with violence?! I know you're Vikings, but come on! This is ridiculous!"

Syn looked down with an even guiltier expression on his face. Raoul crossed his arms and looked away with an audible 'humph', acting like he didn't care, but the squinting eyes and the quivering lower lip was proof he was uncomfortable with being scolded like a child. Sven stood in the same spot, not saying anything, instead just pressing his fingers and closing in on himself making him seem as small as possible.

Syn's father studied Hiccup, clearly surprised that a scrawny fourteen-year-old was telling them off.

Something about his look made Hiccup wary as the boy turned to him, and his confidence all but plummeted. He had just shouted at this man's daughter and his people like he was the chief, and Hiccup instantly stated to go back in time in his mind and wonder if there might have been a better way to handle the situation. However, Syn's father was not angered at all; in fact, he was downright impressed.

Without a doubt, he had things planned for Hiccup...

Hiccup continued to stare in anxiety at the large man and cowering slightly at his emotionless gaze. His legs were wobbling even more and his breaths were becoming rapid. Suddenly, he found his hands had lost all their traction and he slipped to the floor, but stood back up like a shot with one arm back on the wall. Toothless noticed this and stood in front of Hiccup, ignoring his earlier submissive feelings towards his boy in favor of his familiar protectiveness. He stared at the man in front of them cautiously, eyes turned to slits signaling that he was ready to make a move at a moment's notice. Hopefully this time, the man would heed his wordless warnings.

"Uhh Chief?," Raoul said cautiously, his head turned to look at the large man. "Why do you have that look on your face?"

"Dad?" Syn asked, confused.

But Harold didn't say anything, he just continued to stare at Hiccup: his pupils moved up and down in an analytical manner. Toothless's muscles tensed and he scooted closer to Hiccup, his tail slightly wrapped around him and Alvis, who was now tired from all his crying and whimpering and had fallen into an uneasy sleep, laying in the blankets Hiccup had been resting in. Hiccup soon abandoned the walls for support and placed his unsteady hands on Toothless' head, breathing in both exhaustion from his exertion despite his worn and injured body and his growing dread.

Harold approached Hiccup slowly, probably because of Toothless, who was still watching him like a hawk, until he had finally stopped just a few inches away from the boy and his draconic guard. Harold leaned towards the boy until they were near face to face. "Who are ya, boy?" He asked. He spoke quietly but with enough force to ease the tension in the boy's shoulders or alter his freaked-out face in the least.

"Uh, uh, da... um" Hiccup stuttered. This man towered over him as his father did, and with that thought Hiccup instantly deemed any kind of false response to cover his identity futile. Toothless narrowed his eyes as he let loose a small growl, obviously unhappy that this man was scaring his boy so.

Syn walked up to Hiccup's side and subconsciously grabbed his arm to soothe his nerves, instantly turning the boy's attention to her. "This is Hiccup, Dad," she said. "He's from Berk."

"He can answer himself," Raoul said with a look which Hiccup saw as the spitting image of Snotlout. "Seriously Syn, why don't you shut your mouth?"

"Seriously Raoul, why don't I bust your face?" Syn said, mimicking Raoul's narrowed eyes while angrily raising her fist. Hiccup gave her a look that was a whole lecture in itself.

"What?" Syn asked incredulously.

"Syn, please," Harold begged.

"Um, who are you exactly?" Hiccup asked, not entirely sure. He knew that his was Syn's father, as pure fact considering she had called him that. Regarding his other suspicion, though, he could only guess, though the man's answer confirmed his thought.

"My name is Harold," he said."I am chief of the Silent Wolf Tribe."...

TO BE CONTINUED.....