Work Text:
“Hope you don’t mind, but I had to get away from your village for a bit. Don’t get me wrong; they’re all really nice. I just don’t think I can cope with any more food right now.”
Hiccup leant back against one of the pine trees, shivering as he settled himself onto the snow.
“I know, I know,” he held up his hands in surrender, “I only just got here, you have to suffer people trying to feed you up all year round. You tell me every year. And, as I say every year, I’ll be glad to be going home soon.”
He looked out across the frozen lake. The icy wind caught the tops of the pine trees and they swayed, lazily as he watched, snow falling in great flurries from their branches.
“Okay, okay. Maybe I’ll miss a few things. Little comforts, you know? Like those... what are they? Apples? Whoa!”
The wind came again, tugging, insistent, and Hiccup leapt out of the way just in time to miss the snow from his own tree.
Laughter. He rolled his eyes in response.
“Oh, yeah. That’s just hilarious. You know these are the only clothes I’ve got, right?”He glared, furious, at the frozen lake, brushing himself off.
“Your sister’s been pretty quiet. Usually she’s got so much to say, particularly on her birthday. Then this year... You know she’s barely said a word to me? Or anyone else, for that matter. She just watches me, like she thinks I’m going to snap at her.” He scuffed his feet in the snow and kicked a rock out onto the ice. “It’s weird. I mean, it’s not like I’ve done anything, right?”
No answer.
“Of course,” Hiccup laughed, “I guess you’ve been pretty quiet yourself, this year. Maybe it’s you making your sister miserable.”
He stepped forward and yelped as the snow gave way beneath him and he found himself sat, once more, in the snow.
“No, I’m sorry. That was... I didn’t mean that. You could never make Emma unhappy, even for a minute. I know that.”
The wind caught at the snow clouds, hovering overhead, and pulled them apart. Moonlight shone through, falling across the icy lake and making the snow hills glow. Hiccup smiled. Just as quickly, the clouds moved on, taking the silver strands with them.
Hiccup let his hands drop to the ground, digging his fingers into the snow and hissing at the cold.
“It’s not just Emma though. It’s everyone; the whole village. It’s like they’ve all been frozen, and they’re waiting for spring to thaw them all off. It’s... I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe what it feels like, walking around them. No one smiles properly. They all look at me and...”
He picked up a fistful of snow and pushed it together, shaping it into a ball.
“Did you know you’re a local hero, now? It’s all anyone wants to talk to me about, how brave you were. Even my dad’s started in on it. He’s going around telling everyone ‘I always knew that boy had the heart of a Viking’”. He laughed at his own gruff impersonation, adding more snow to his ball. He held it, tight, between shaking fingers. It was perfect; round, compact, and glittering.
He stood, abruptly, and hurled it away, out onto the ice.
“And I can’t even stay angry with you. I want to. I want to be angry with you. You promised you’d show me how to climb trees properly, and... And I can’t remember what else you promised, but it was a lot! You promised you’d always be here for me and I...”
His shouts bounced off the trees and sink into the snow, dying away. He breathed in the cold, cold air and felt his lungs burn.
“I wasn’t here, was I? No one was. It was just you and Emma, and you did the only thing you could. You saved her, and you’re a hero, and I...”
He rubbed his eyes against the sleeve of his tunic and stared out across the lake.
“When people look at me, now, they don’t see me. Well, they do. They all say hello, and wave at me. And then their eyes just kind of slip, and they stare at this space beside me. That’s where you’re meant to be, Jack. Getting under everyone’s feet, dragging me around behind you. Not...”
He breathed out.
Snow was starting to fall again, drifting down around his face. He’d run out without stopping to grab a thick hide to wrap around his shoulders and the cold was seeping through into his skin.
“It’s cold. I guess I’ll come again tomorrow, before dad insists we head back to Berk. See you, Jack.”
He turned and shuffled, shivering and miserable, away into the trees.
Across the lake, Jack Frost gathered the remains of the snowball and pushed it back together.
“Jack, huh?”