In love with a dragon: Ch 2 - The white haired man

The day after Hiccup and his friends had helped the white dragon seemed to be just like any other day. Training, flying, teaching about dragons and do some other stuff. Hiccup was taking a break from all this and was strolling around the village without Toothless. His mind wandered to the white dragon and while he was thinking, he didn't notice that he walked closer to the forest. But he got startled out of his thoughts when three young kids come running out of the forest, screaming. He didn't have time to react so all three kids crashed into Hiccup so he fell and the kids clutched to him in panic. They started to talk at the same time and incoherently which was starting to give Hiccup a headache.

“Can you get off me?!” he said and tried to pry the kids off him.

“NO!” the kids yelled in unison and held him harder in fear. Hiccup sighed, at least they were silent now.

“Could you tell me why you were running out of the forest, screaming like your life depended on it?” he asked when the kids showed no signs of letting him go. The kids started to talk at the same time so he couldn't hear a word.

“One at the time!” Hiccup said frustrated.

“Ghost-” the first began.

“-in the-” the second continued.

“-forest!” the third finished. Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows.

“Ghost? There are no such things as ghosts.” he said as he looked at the kids that was on the verge of crying. It was then he heard soft crunching from snow being crushed under someone's foot. Hiccup looked up and couldn't help but to stare at the young man that was slowly walking, or rather stumbling, out of the forest and towards them. The stranger certainly looked like a ghost with his pale skin and white hair. The man paused and he and Hiccup got eye contact. They stared at each other and Hiccup noticed that the man had crystal blue eyes and he vaguely thought that he had seen those eyes somewhere before. But he didn't dwell on it because he got lost in the stranger's eyes. The stranger's eyes suddenly began to become dull, just like when someone was about to lose consciousness, and this snapped Hiccup out of his trance. He pried the kids off him and got hurriedly got up on his feet, almost falling over again, and ran over to the stranger that had fallen to the ground.

“Hey! Are you okay?!” Hiccup said as he carefully shook the stranger's shoulders. He got no response and the man's breaths was shallow. The man was unconscious and barely alive. Hiccup looked up at the kids who was looking terrified.

“Get the doctor!” Hiccup said but no one of the kids moved because of fear.

“Get the doctor before he becomes a ghost for real!” Hiccup snapped and the kids sprang into action and ran to get the doctor. Hiccup turned his attention back to the stranger. The stranger looked like no other human Hiccup had seen. With the pale skin and white hair the stranger had, he also had blue lips so it looked like he had drowned. Hiccup would have thought that the man was dead if it wasn't for the shallow breaths and the rise and fall of the stranger's chest. Hiccup noted that the stranger wore a torn and bloodstained shirt that Hiccup thought was supposed to be white, dark blue trousers, a blue cape and no shoes. Hiccup could clearly see the stranger's wounds through the clothes and he got deeply worried. He immediately began to stop the bleeding.

After what seemed like an eternity, the kids came back with the doctor and one other adult. The doctor pushed Hiccup away and started to check on the stranger.

“We need to get him somewhere warm. He is very cold.” the doctor said and the woman with him carefully picked up the stranger.

“He can rest at my house.” Hiccup heard himself say before he had even thought about it. The adults looked at him and the doctor nodded and they began to walk to Hiccup's house. As they hurried towards their destination, people stopped to stare on them when they walked past. Or rather, stare on the white haired stranger in the woman's arms. It was probably their first time to see someone with white hair that was so young. Luckily they were soon at Hiccup's house and Hiccup quickly made a make-shift bed in front of the fire. The woman carefully put the stranger down in the make-shift bed and let the doctor through.

“Alright, you two can go now. I won't need your help anymore and this can get ugly.” the doctor said and the woman left but Hiccup stayed. It was his house anyway.

“Boy, I can handle this myself. I need space.” the doctor said when Hiccup didn't leave but Hiccup shook his head.

“No. I'm staying. I will sit by the stairs so I won't be in the way.” Hiccup said and walked to the stairs to sit on the third step. The doctor sighed but nodded and began to remove the stranger's clothes so he could get more access to the wounds. Hiccup looked on when the doctor stripped the stranger and cleaned the wounds.

After some time the doctor was finished patching up the stranger and left instructions to Hiccup before he left.

“Keep him warm and if he wakes up, keep him in bed. Keep the wounds clean and put this on his wounds after you have cleaned them, it will help the healing process. And go and get med if he get worse or if he wakes up.” he said as he handed a small pot with some ointment to Hiccup. Hiccup looked at the pot before he looked at the doctor.

“Will he make it?” he asked, for some reason he was really worried about the stranger.

“Yes. He lost a lot of blood so it will take some time for him to wake up but he will survive. Of course, if he get a really high fever or a cold he will probably not make it due to that his body have enough with the wounds of his. Bye.” the doctor said and left before Hiccup even had the chance to say anything more. Hiccup sighed and looked at the stranger. He didn't know why he wanted to save the man but he knew he wanted him to survive. And he was going to make sure that the stranger survived. Hiccup sat down beside the stranger and started to wait. He hadn't noticed that he fell asleep until the door slammed open and a big man with red hair and beard walked in. He was Stoick the Vast, the chief of Berk. Hiccup basically flew from his place beside the make-shift bed down to the floor when he got startled. He sat up, confused over where he was but when he saw the white stranger in the make-shift bed he remembered.

“What a day!” Stoick exclaimed as he sat down by the table.

“Hi dad.” Hiccup said as he rose up and dusted himself off.

“Where is Toothless? Wasn't he with you and Thornado?” he asked and looked at Stoick.

“They are outside. Refused to even go close to the house!” Stoick said and looked at Hiccup. He noticed the make-shift bed in front of the fire and that someone was in it.

“Who's that?” he asked as he rose up from his seat and walked over to Hiccup.

“Ah, this is... Um... He is...” Hiccup said, unsure what to say. After all, he was just a stranger. A stranger that Hiccup wanted to live.

“He has white hair!” Stoick exclaimed when he saw the young man in the bed and turned to Hiccup.

“That boy is no human! No human has that white hair at this age!” he said and turned to the stranger, ready to throw him out despite the injuries.

“No! Dad!” Hiccup said and stood in between the stranger and Stoick. Stoick narrowed his eyes as he looked at Hiccup.

“That thing is going out. Now.” Stoick said firmly.

“Dad, listen to me! He is badly hurt and he will die if we throw him out!” Hiccup said and glared at Stoick. Stoick glared back.

“You don't know what that is. It could harm us!” Stoick said and stood firmly by his decision.

“He won't harm us.” Hiccup stated calmly. He wasn't sure why he was so certain about that, but he was. Stoick was surprised by how sure Hiccup was.

“We let Gothi decide. She knows about things like this.” Stoick said and surprised Hiccup. Hiccup nodded and Stoick went to fetch Gothi and Gobber.

“You are sure getting me into trouble.” Hiccup muttered to the unconscious young man.

After a while Stoick finally came back with Gothi and Gobber. It seemed like he had told her about her stranger.

“He is in the bed. What should we do with him?” Stoick said and Gothi walked to the make-shift bed and started to slowly examine the stranger.

“He has white hair. Ain't normal, right?” Gobber asked as they watched Gothi.

“He can't be human.” Stoick said.

“Can you cut it out dad?” Hiccup said, he was slightly irritated.

“Odin will be angry on us if we keep something like that here. We have already accepted the dragons but who knows when the gods say it's enough.” Stoick said and watched as Gothi finished examining the stranger and writing something is some ashes she had put on the floor.

“What does she write?” Stoick asked and looked at Gobber. Gobber took a moment to see what she wrote.

“'He stays'.” Gobber said and everyone looked at Gothi.

“What?! But he can't be human!” Stoick said and Gothi shook her head before she pointed at her writing. Hiccup smiled triumphantly.

“He stays dad! The elder have spoken!” he said and smiled as he had won a battle. Stoick sighed defeated.

“Alright then. He stays. But he will be your responsibility and yours alone. You will make sure that he don't cause any trouble when he wakes up.” Stoick said and left the house with Gothi. Gobber looked at Hiccup.

“Sooo... How ar ya plannin' to take care of 'im? With 'im that injured, ya can't take care of 'im AND hold the dragon training.” Gobber said as a matter-of-factually.

“Astrid can hold the training.” Hiccup said and shrugged.

“And Toothless?” Gobber asked and raised his eyebrow. Hiccup opened his mouth to answer but he furrowed his eyebrows and closed his mouth as he began to think.

“I guess... Dad could take him for a flight when I can't get someone to watch over the stranger.” he finally said with a sigh. Gobber shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright. Good luck then.” he said and walked out of the house. Hiccup rubbed his temples and looked at the stranger. He looked uncomfortable and sweat were rolling down his face. Hiccup got worried that the man had caught a fever so he put a hand on the stranger's forehead. Hiccup blinked confused.

“He's cold...” he mumbled and put another blanket over the stranger. As Hiccup sat down beside the stranger's bed, he started to try to figure exactly how he was supposed to make the dragons go in the house again.