Heart Of A Dragon

Author: Nightstar Fury from Nightstar Productions.

Rated:Mfor Mature.

Pairing:[Toothless/Hiccup].

Disclaimer:I do not own Dreamworks Dragons or How To Train Your Dragon.

~(A/N: I do not own any of the songs used either! Everything belongs to its original artist, I just borrowed it for added effect! Thank you!)~

1; Prologue.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of Stoick the Vast Haddock was many things to the people of the Hairy Hooligan tribe on the isle of Berk. He was the pride of Berk, the hero, the dragon trainer and to some of their enemies who weren't aware that there was peace among Vikings and Dragons on this island, he was the dragon conqueror. These titles were all earned when Hiccup risked everything, including his life to befriend a dragon and not just any dragon but a Night Fury whom he called Toothless. Not all was like this before Toothless, Hiccup was the embarrassment, the disappointment, the joke of the village. He was in fact hated by it for many years because they believed he could do nothing right and caused disaster whenever he stepped outside. It took Hiccup having save his the tribe who cast him out for what he'd done before they accepted him.

Hiccup saw something they hadn't and followed his heart instead of his brain which had been forced to believe dragons were nothing but mindless, careless, flying beasts who could breathe fire and all of which deserved to be slain. Hiccup was different he wasn't like the rest of his tribe and one night, he shot down a Night Fury. No one believed him at first, he'd been scolded and yelled at by his father that morning after he'd done it. Hiccup wanted to prove he'd taken down the most elusive, dangerous, lethal dragon known to Vikings. But when he found the Night Fury tied up in the bola he'd shot at the dragon. Something changed.

When he saw the Night Fury laying there, he thought it was dead because it wasn't moving. Hiccup's eyes widened in shock of what he'd done, he looked over everything from the head to the tail which was missing a left tail fin. Hiccup assumed it was torn off on landing through the trees when he'd been shot down from the sky, by him. At first Hiccup had felt proud and wanted to show everyone of what he'd done but then he realized it was still alive. Hiccup wanted to cut out his heart and take it to his father, feeling he'd finally be accepted and liked in the village. Hiccup went to bring his dagger down but saw the dragon's eyes widen with fear, then finally close in defeat.

That was all it took for Hiccup to understand how wrong it was. Hiccup already shot him down, and took his tail fin, now he was going to kill him just to be accepted by his father and tribe? It that moment Hiccup made a life changing choice, he let the Night Fury go. It pinned him down, Hiccup thought he was now going to be killed but in a strange turn of events as the two stared at one another and then the dragon turned around and let him go, taking off in to the trees. That was Hiccup's defining answer that contrary to his original belief that he just wanted to be like his father, and kill dragons because he had to. Hiccup chose that day not to kill a dragon, he wouldn't because it was as scared as he was, he couldn't because it was wrong.

However things weren't so simple. Though Hiccup knew he couldn't kill dragons, his father insisted he join dragon training. Hiccup tried to protest but his father demanded it and Hiccup agreed. But in training something his mentor Gobber, the village blacksmith had said that a dragon would always go for the kill and if that were true then the Night Fury would have killed him when he had the chance too. Hiccup's curiosity got the better of him and he went to find the dragon. That day his life changed. He did something no other Viking had ever done in the last 300 years. He trusted a dragon, a Night Fury and that dragon trusted him back. The two bonded instantly with just a simple touch and things were never the same for Hiccup again.

They were best friends, Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup gave Toothless back his flight by making an artificial tail fin so he could fly again but it came with the need for Hiccup to fly him by controlling the tail's position by riding him. The two were never closer but as Hiccup learned to fly Toothless, it also increased his dragon knowledge and used it in the ring during dragon training putting him on top of the popularity pole. Everyone loved what Hiccup could do so suddenly, going from being a screw up to this great dragon tamer. But for Hiccup, what he'd hoped for so long wasn't what he wanted in the end because everything he was getting was based on a lie.

When his father learned of what he could do, there was a challenge between the two top students. It was between Hiccup and Astrid, the girl he'd had a crush on for the longest time who also acted like Hiccup was invisible to decide who would get the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village. Something Hiccup dreaded but somehow he was selected by the village elder. Hiccup had planned to run away with Toothless but what he hadn't known was that Astrid followed him to the cove, the place where Toothless was staying since he couldn't fly without Hiccup. Astrid discovered the truth that Hiccup was only good in the ring because he befriended a dragon and ran off to tell everyone.

Not wanting Toothless to be hurt or killed, they together took Astrid to make her listen and understand why Hiccup was friends with Toothless, that dragons weren't what they thought they were. Astrid was hesitant but feeling it was her only choice down from the tree she was hanging off of, agreed. Toothless decided to scare her by doing a group of aerial moves until she apologized and begged to be off his back. It was then, Toothless flew slowly through the dusk sky. She practically fell in love with Hiccup that night being taken on the most romantic flight of her life, on the back of a dragon they believed to be most dangerous and would kill a man without a moments hesitation.

This was the night they also were brought to the dragons nest, which resided inside an inactive volcano. This is where the dragons were going after a raid, hauling in their kill. Hiccup and Astrid discovered the source, a massive dragon who would eat the lesser dragons if they didn't bring back enough food. Astrid described it to be like a giant beehive. The dragons were the workers and the big dragon was their queen, it controlled them. Now it made sense to them why dragons raided, because they had no choice. When they got back to the cove, Astrid insisted they tell Hiccup's dad but Hiccup refused.

Hiccup made Astrid understand that if his dad found out how they discovered the nest, Toothless would be killed. Astrid thought he was crazy, hiding the fact they found the nest all to save his pet dragon. But soon she saw a seriousness in Hiccup's green eyes, a fire, a determination that he didn't want Toothless to be hurt because Toothless was his first real friend. Astrid agreed not to say anything and ran off, the next day was supposed to be Hiccup's final exam where he killed the dragon however he had other plans, he wanted to show everyone the truth. It went well in his head, not so well in reality.

Everything backfired and it led to Toothless coming in to save Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare, then Toothless being captured. Hiccup's father who was also chief of the tribe was furious and even went as far to say Hiccup wasn't a Viking, or his son before leaving Hiccup on the floor and going with the others to the nest which was going to be found by Toothless since Hiccup made the mistake of saying the dragons raided them because they had no choice, that there was something big on their island, and only a dragon could find the island. Hiccup pleaded his father not to go because he wouldn't win this fight. His father left anyway.

Hiccup watched as they loaded Toothless on the ship and sailed off until out of sight. Astrid and him talked a few minutes, her wanting to know why he couldn't kill the dragon in the woods because the rest of them would of done it. Hiccup finally said because he wouldn't, that Toothless looked as scared as he had and that saw himself. Astrid mentioned that Toothless was probably really scared now, and asked what Hiccup planned to do about it. Hiccup said something crazy and rushed off to the ring. Astrid rounded up the other kids from their training class and met him in the ring, Hiccup showed them how to earn a dragons trust, and ride them. Then the 6 of them flew to the nest and arrived in time to stop the Red Death which they called the big dragon queen from killing his father and Gobber.

Hiccup ordered the other riders to distract the queen while he freed Toothless from his chains, the Red Death made the boat sink as they both went underwater. Hiccup tried to get Toothless free but ran out of air and started slipping in to unconsciousness when he was pulled from the water by Stoick, his father. Stoick dove back in and set Toothless free, which in return Toothless pulled Stoick from the water and shook off, giving Hiccup the signal to jump on so they could fight the queen. As Hiccup got on and attached himself to the saddle, he was stopped by his dad who apologized for everything he'd said and done. Hiccup said he was sorry too, Stoick said he didn't have to go up there but Hiccup insisted and they were gone after Stoick said he was proud to call Hiccup his son.

Hiccup and Toothless shot in to the sky going after the queen, they did defeat her by waiting for her to fill her mouth with the gas to ignite her flame, then Toothless shooting a blast in to her mouth which she swallowed and burned her from the inside, on top of that she crashed face first in to the island and blew up. Toothless's tail burned off and they crashed in to her tail making go unconscious and Hiccup fall off and into the explosion. Toothless dove after him and grabbed his foot, biting it off by accident and then pulling Hiccup in to his leg, then wrapping his wings around him to protect him from the flames.

When Hiccup woke up, he was missing a leg. It shocked him but at the same time he understood Toothless did it to save his life and was grateful to his friend for doing such. From that day on, Stoick had allowed dragons on Berk finally seeing the truth that they weren't dangerous. On that day also, Hiccup finally got the girl of his dreams. Astrid as his girlfriend, and he got the acceptance he'd always wanted and it wasn't based on a lie this time. People saw for who he was, what he could do, and they liked him as himself. His life had never been better and he felt like he finally found his place in the world.

Now it was 3 later and things were still great with Vikings and dragons, everyone had their own and knew how to fly. Some still preferred to walk but had smaller dragons as pets and that was fine. Everyone accepted dragons and that was all that mattered to Hiccup. There had been a few issues over the course of 3 years with people who didn't accept the lifestyle and wanted to wage war like Alvin the Treacherous, Chief of the Outcasts and Dagur the Deranged, chief of the Berserkers. Both fights ended with Hiccup proving dragons weren't bad. Alvin became their ally, and Dagur was locked up in an outcast prison for life.

(Present Day)

Hiccup couldn't sleep, he was laying awake in his bed wide awake and overjoyed. He was just staring at the ceiling waiting for the sun to the next day to come. Why was he so happy? Because when he got home that night after a flight with Toothless his father pulled him aside earlier and told him that two proud houses were to be in a union by matrimony. House Hofferson, Astrid's family and House Haddock, Hiccup's family. And the two who were set to be joined in marriage were Hiccup and Astrid because Stoick and Astrid's parents were in the process of starting up a marriage contract for them and that the first meeting to go over a rough draft was tomorrow morning. If all went well with negotiations, they'd be married in a month. If it took longer than two months. Another piece of news he was given was that he would also be taking over as Chief in a years time after completing his chief training under his father. Hiccup was finally 18 and of age to take the throne of Berk.

Hiccup and Astrid had been together in a relationship since the day 3 years ago when Hiccup woke up after losing his leg and Astrid kissed him in front of everyone in the village who was out celebrating that Hiccup was alive and awake after two weeks being unconscious from the injury. There relationship was near perfect, they trained together, flew together, everything together. Hiccup still couldn't believe this was his life was where it was now, and all because of his best friend who was laying on a flat slab of rock just two feet away from him, sleeping peacefully. Hiccup hadn't gotten any sleep so far and it was almost time for the sun to come up, which meant Toothless would be up soon for their usual morning flight and then his dad was going to the Hofferson's to speak to Astrid's parents. Her father, Cuyler and her mother, Helga.

Astrid didn't know about the marriage contract yet, as per Viking tradition that after negotiations were made Hiccup would still have to propose to her so today while she was training with the others, he was going to work on the ring for her in the forge. Gobber had already given him permission to do so and was happy for the him. Hiccup knew everything would be fine, their parents loved them together. Hiccup could hardly contain himself, he wanted to tell her so badly but couldn't. His father had next to forbidden him to. The sun began to creep over the horizon as the first lights of morning made their way in to the sky window over his head. A big smile came across his as he saw Toothless open his eyes and stretch his legs out then stand up with a yawn. Before he was able to come to Hiccup's bedside to wake him, he saw Hiccup toss off the blanket already dressed, he slipped on his boots and smiled.

"Morning bud. Did you sleep good?" Hiccup asked happily. Toothless crooned softly with a nod of his head while Hiccup got the riding gear off the shelf and began to assemble it on his friend. When everything was on Hiccup climbed on his back and positioned his feet in the stirrups handing on either side, Hiccup pressed down on the left stirrup and opened the tail as Toothless gave a coo of delight. "Alright Toothless, nice and quiet because dad is still sleeping. So is more than half the village..." Hiccup chuckled a bit as Toothless leapt out the window, spread his wings and they were gone in to the white clouds over them. Hiccup loved the feeling of flying on Toothless, the wind in his face, and the cold morning breeze was amazing to wake up too. Nothing could ruin his mood today, nothing.

(20 Minutes Later)

Hiccup and Toothless decided to land on a sea stack, one that let them see all of Berk perfectly. From where he was, he saw Astrid's house and her coming out stretching her arms as she walked to a stable where a blue and yellow Deadly Nadder laid comfortably. Hiccup smiled as he saw Astrid rub the Nadder's nose gently before it got up and let Astrid on her back and the two took off in to the sky. The Nadder was Astrid's bonded dragon, like Toothless was to Hiccup. Astrid named her Stormfly and they were great friends. "Oh Toothless...you'll never know how much I love that girl..." Hiccup sighed out happily.

Toothless shook his head a bit and watched the girl Hiccup claimed to love so much fly around doing spins, twirls, and flips in the morning sky which was fading from its tri-color to a light blue with minimal clouds. Toothless knew that Hiccup loved Astrid but didn't see why. Astrid was incredible violent, always punching his arm with some stupid reason, then kissing him for another. It bothered Toothless deeply that Hiccup enjoyed it almost. "Got that right, Hiccup. I don't know how can love her period. She still hits you and is always competing over who can do better tricks on their dragon." Toothless said with a low grumble.

"Oh don't be like that Toothless...It's just Astrid being Astrid. You know she likes to be the best she can be." Hiccup laughed lightly. He was glad that he and Toothless could talk and understand one another, it was their bond. The one they made when Hiccup trusted him, and Toothless trusted Hiccup. However, no one else could hear it. Hiccup and Toothless understood the same language, but to anyone else it was just Toothless making noises that everyone assumed Hiccup just understood the facial expressions, and emotions such as anger, sarcasm, and more. They all just figured it was because Hiccup and Toothless were best friends. No one knew they could actually talk. It was their secret though, no one knew they could do it because everyone would want to learn and unfortunately Toothless previously explained the first time Hiccup heard him that it was only a Night Fury ability.

Toothless rolled his eyes now, "Not an excuse for her to beat on you. You're not her punching bag and if it weren't for you, she wouldn't even be riding a dragon. Everyone here knows that I'm the best dragon in this village." Toothless grinned.

"And now you sound like an over confident, insensitive jerk. Yes I know you're the only Night Fury on Berk or anywhere right now since we never found your family...You better be nice to her...she's going to be part of the family soon, if all goes well with dad and her parents today." Hiccup smiled wider as he saw Astrid had spotted him, he waved her over and she turned Stormfly to fly towards them. "She'll be my wife in a month if it all goes well...And I can't wait Toothless. I don't think I could ever love anymore more than her..." Hiccup saw Astrid land on the sea stack now as he leaned over and kissed her lightly which she returned. "Morning Astrid. Enjoying an early flight too?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah. Me and Stormfly love it. The cold wind feels great." Astrid smiled at him now.

"I know. Toothless has me every morning at first to fly in it...What are your plans today?" Hiccup replied now as he scratched under Toothless's chin making him growl contently.

Astrid shrugged a bit, "I dunno. Parents practically pushed me out the door this morning and told me I wasn't allowed back until after lunch because they were cleaning? So I guess I'm working with the others in the ring. You joining us?" Astrid asked softly. Hiccup had to suppress his excitement, he knew the reason why she was forced out of the house but he couldn't say anything. He had to come up with a lie for not joining them.

"I wish. Gobber needs my help in the forge today...But maybe we can meet up later for dinner in the cove?" Hiccup suggested, she smiled nodding to him.

"Sure. Just us?" Astrid requested.

"Wouldn't have it any other way babe. I love you, Astrid." Hiccup said to her.

"You too..." Astrid replied as she kissed Hiccup's cheek and flew off on Stormfly leaving Hiccup sighing contently. Toothless grumbled as he nudged Hiccup a bit to snap him from his daze.

"Yeah yeah. Don't rush me bud." Hiccup mumbled as he got back on Toothless and clicked the tail open, "To the forge. Got a lot of work to do today." Hiccup told him. Toothless gave a small roar and jumped off the sea stack heading towards the forge in town now. When they landed Hiccup got off and headed inside, Toothless huffed now bored and laid down out of the way as Hiccup got his notebook and began sketching the perfect design for Astrid's ring.

It would be his best work, it had to be perfect. After an hour he settled on a design he was sure she'd love. It was simple but elegant and beautiful. Hiccup had sketched out a band which he'd marked to be silver and made of Gronckle Iron. It was something they discovered 2 years ago, a certain formula of rocks fed to Gronckle's would have them produce a fire that could be used to craft metal which was stronger, and lighter than any other metal around. Virtually indestructible so far, it was perfect to make Astrid ring with.

On the band would be pattern of swirls and dot like designs and inside an engraving of HHH III & AH, their initials. Set at the top would be a small stone, which he'd found a while back that Astrid had said was beautiful. Hiccup held on to it for such an occasion like now where he could propose with. Checking over this work again, he moved in to the forge area and got to work, getting everything together he'd need. Hiccup still wondered how things were going with negotiations. He knew his father was already there, he'd promised to go first thing before he did anything else.

Hiccup couldn't wait for this, to give Astrid this ring. It was nerve-wracking to think about, if things were going well but Hiccup knew his dad would handle everything and soon he and Astrid would be engaged to be married. "I can't wait Toothless..."

Toothless raised his head now and grumbled again. "I don't see what the big deal is. You humans have so much work involved to be with one another forever. Dragons mate for life and it only takes one night of mating." Toothless warbled back at him.

"Oh cut it out. We aren't like you, we do things according to tradition bud. We don't just screw and call it done." Hiccup rolled his eyes at his reptilian friend.

"Because you follow traditions so well, Hiccup." Toothless snickered at him as he got up to watch what Hiccup was doing.

"Shut up you useless reptile...I broke the rules once...and hey it all worked out better for everyone." Hiccup said trying to make it sound better than it actually had happened.

"You're so lying to yourself! You always go against your father and do it your own way." Toothless replied now.

"And my way has saved this place more than once, hasn't it?" Hiccup retorted.

"You replaced the annual regatta with dragon racing, you flew against the flying ban, you gave yourself up to Alvin just to be brought to dragon island to get me...need I continue?" Toothless asked arching a brow at him.

"Okay okay, you made your point. But hey it all worked out right? Look...the marriage thing with Astrid is a very old tradition and it means a lot to my dad so for once I'm not going to do anything before he tells me to do it. I don't want there to be any problems that make this not happen, especially none of them being my fault. There's a bunch of different things that have to happen before I can actually ask her to marry me, and the second step is my dad negotiating with Astrid's parents for her hand. Which while I think is stupid, love is love but it makes them happy then I'm happy to wait..." Hiccup sighed out.

"Whatever you say, Hiccup...But I swear if she doesn't stop hitting you I'm going to do what I did when she first met me and scare it out her...You're the heir of Berk, you deserve respect, from everyone including her." Toothless growled a bit.

"Alright, I get it. I'll talk to her about it...Right now I just want to work on this..." Hiccup said looking down at his sketch.

"What is it anyway?" Toothless asked him.

"A ring. Once my dad and Astrid's parents finalize the contract, I propose to her. If she accepts, my father pays the bride price agreed on. Then the planning starts, then the wedding, and I guess happily ever after?" Hiccup shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"Seems like a hassle but hey, its your tradition so have fun I guess." Toothless laid back down. "Why did you say if?" Toothless suddenly asked.

"Well its still her choice. If she doesn't want to marry me then the contract is torn up and...we don't get married. Astrid has the right to refuse marriage for any reason at all...I hope that she wouldn't but...if she were too...I don't know what I'd do with myself." Hiccup replied slowly, the thought terrified him but he couldn't think like that. Astrid and him were in love, they had been for 3 years. What reason would there be to not get married?

"As long as you're happy my friend." Toothless replied. 'I just hope it goes the way you want because I'm getting a really bad feeling about all this...' Toothless thought closing his eyes and resting his head on his front paws while Hiccup began to work on the band for the ring in his design. It was going to be fine, Astrid would say yes and they'd be married to one another. Hiccup smiled at the thought of them together forever, everything was going to perfect from here on out. He was sure of it.