Escape

based on the How To Train Your Dragon franchise (owned by DreamWorks)

Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks does.

Author's Note:

This is my first fanfic so please don't be too harsh. Any writing advice is accepted. I'll continue the story if people like it.

Chapter 1:

It was a peaceful morning on Berk; at least, it was until Hiccup woke up. From the moment he had finished his breakfast, everything was chaos: Fishlegs rushed in with the news that the Gronkles were eating the rocks off of peoples' houses, the Deadly Nadders had toothaches and were shooting spines at the villagers and that the Terrible Terrors were stealing fish again. Hiccup hadn't expected the change from dragons being deadly enemies to peaceful companions to be easy, but it had already been six months since he had defeated the Red Death and had brought an end to the war between dragons and Vikings when he had befriended the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, a Night Fury named Toothless, and Hiccup was expecting things to become at least a bit easier than before. But the dragons still caused havoc in the village, and since he was becoming a resident expert on the subject, Hiccup was always called in to sort things out. Not only that, but any other conflicts too; like when, on the same day that this story starts, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, wouldn't stop bickering at a Dragon Academy meeting.

"Hey, it's my turn to go!" yelled Tuffnut, arguing with his sister as they each sat upon their respective dragon heads of their dragon, Barf and Belch, a two-headed Hideous Zippleback.

"No, it's my turn!" Ruffnut yelled back.

"No, mine!"

"No, mine!"

"Guys! Same dragon!" Hiccup reminded them, again. He sighed. They were having another friendly competition for who could do the best tricks on their dragon, and the twins had forgotten that they both had to ride the Zippleback in order to fly it.

"Oh yeah. I knew that," said Tuffnut, trying to save face.

"Did not!" retorted Ruffnut.

"Did too! I totally did!" Here, Tuffnut finally mounted his head of the dragon while Ruffnut did the same on her end, still fighting.

"Ha! Some dragon trainer!" Snotlout said mockingly to Hiccup. He motioned to the twins, who were now punching each other in the face. "You can't even stop these two twits from knocking each other out!" This was true, as Tuffnut and Ruffnut had both knocked each other unconscious and were lying on the floor of the dragon arena, out cold.

"Leave him alone, Snotlout," said Astrid, with a threat in her voice that Snotlout had no trouble picking up on. However, this didn't stop him from calling Hiccup a nasty name under his breath when he thought Astrid was out of hearing range.

Ugh, thought Hiccup to himself. I can't wait to go for a sunset flight with Toothless this evening.

Somehow, he got through the rest of the day, finally rushing home to fetch Toothless' saddle so he could go for a nice flight to take his mind off his stresses. After fumbling with it for a few seconds while Toothless stood patiently, Hiccup mounted Toothless and they were off.

The exhilaration of flying never quite got old for Hiccup, and every time he did it, he still felt the amazing rush as the wind blew in his face, soaring above the world without a trouble to mind. Before long, he had circled the island of Berk and was heading out to sea, trying to forget all the newfound responsibilities he was forced to face every day. The sky grew darker as he sped away, gliding just above the ocean spray.

This went on for some time before Hiccup noticed that there shouldn't even be ocean spray this high up; and then he finally paid more attention to his surroundings: black clouds had rolled in, smothering the moon's pale white light and obstructing the view of the clear, twinkling stars of above. The ocean below Hiccup looked like a roiling, boiling stew; except that stew didn't have waves thirty feet high or wind currents as fast as a small hurricane.

Toothless growled as he felt his wings falter whenever the wind buffeted them, and looked behind him at Hiccup, wondering what they were to do next. Hiccup took one look at the heavens, which were flashing periodically with bright spikes of lightning, and decided that he'd have to go back.

"Okay, bud," he said, having to shout over the booming thunder that was pealing across the sky at the moment. "Let's go home."

Toothless nodded in agreement. He had never liked storms much anyway, even though he knew some dragons who did. He let Hiccup steer him around to return to Berk.

Except that Berk wasn't there.

All Hiccup could see was the dark, thundering clouds of the storm, stretching across the horizon. He saw no familiar land mass he called home, no tall mountain that stood proudly in the centre of the island, no healer's hut belonging to the village elder, Gothi; nothing.

Then the lightning struck. Hiccup had been so preoccupied by the fact that he'd flown farther than he'd thought that he didn't even see it coming. All he knew was that in the blink of an eye, Toothless' prosthetic tail was scorched to a crisp and they were falling

towards the hungry ocean below. As soon as he hit the water, Hiccup sank like a stone, the shock from falling from the air still paralyzing him. Toothless landed with a splash, sank for a few feet, then resurfaced, looking desperately for his rider. Not spotting him, Toothless dived back under the water, searching as much as he could until he needed to breathe again. But Hiccup was nowhere to be found.

When he hit the water, the first thing Hiccup experienced was cold; the water felt way too freezing for it being August. So, he concluded he must be father north if the water was so cold. How he was still thinking about his location while drowning, it is unclear. But he was, so he didn't notice the green-turquoise blur that flew (if it can be done underwater) at him at near the speed of Toothless when he was in his top form. Suddenly thinking of Toothless, Hiccup wondered where he was. He searched the waters in front of him for the familiar black dragon, but saw nothing but brown seaweed strands waving to and fro, and out of the corner of his eye-

WHAM!

-he saw a Scauldron approaching him, fast. In no time at all, the aquatic dragon had scooped Hiccup into its mouth and continued on its way like he wasn't there. Inside the Scauldron's mouth, Hiccup lay half in a pool of water, too shocked to move. He expected to be hastily swallowed or mashed to bits, or both, but the Scauldron just kept going. Hiccup supposed that it was escaping the storm and he had just happened to be in the way. Just when he sighed and wondered what had become of Toothless, the Scauldron opened its mouth and half a dozen small fish, along with quite a lot of water, rushed in, surrounding Hiccup and somehow forcing him out of the dragon's mouth and back into the ice water of the ocean. He choked and spluttered before finally surfacing, scanning the horizon for any island, or even a small rock, where he could wait out the storm, which was still raging overhead. When he turned to his right, the Gods must have smiled upon him, because through the wind and harsh downpour of rain, Hiccup managed to see the form of an island not far away.

Without hesitation, he set out for the island, trying to keep his nose above the waterline as he did so while the ocean repeatedly tried to drag him down again with strong waves. Finally, when Hiccup felt like he could swim no longer, he felt sharp rocks bruise his calves as he neared the shore. Exhausted, wet and lost, Hiccup wearily crawled the last few feet before collapsing onto the sweet surface of wet sand and falling into a deep sleep.

Toothless couldn't believe it. He had gone under the water repeatedly, searching for Hiccup; a strand of auburn hair, a piece of green vest, anything, but it was in vain. What if Hiccup had actually drowned? Would he still be at the bottom of the ocean, or would the underwater currents drag his body further away?

Just when he decided that he had no choice but to dive underwater for the last time to join his rider like the loyal friend he was, Toothless spotted a fishing boat rocking in the waves not far from him. Maybe Hiccup made it to that boat, Toothless thought hopefully as he began to swim to it.

Author's Note:

So, did you like it? Not like it? Please rate and review!