Hey everybody! So this is my first ever fanfiction, so obviously it's my first ever HTTYD one. Um, don't have much to say, 'cept that I hope I didn't butcher the characters too much. I tried as hard as I could to keep them in character! I hope you like it, and reveiw to tell me how I did! Enjoy!
The Pride of Your Power
Chapter 1: Shadow of the Day
Toothless roared in my ear so loud, it was ringing for many minutes long after I took off running. My heart hammered against my chest, as I fought to get enough breath to keep up my wild dash. It was happening again; night after night it kept happening. This night was no exception. Even though it seems that I'd long ago put the idea out of head, it kept insistently returning, only serving to bring back to the forefront of my mind the haunting accusation: some part of me was either afraid of or expecting Toothless to attack me.
Why, I have not the slightest idea. He's been with me now for at least six months, and we've long since gotten past the "eat Hiccup" stage. Now it's just "eat Hiccup if he doesn't provide a fishy alternative". No, not really, but my sleeping mind seems to think so. Even though I know it's just a dream, what with it becoming some sort of nightly routine with my internal dream database, I still felt fear pumping through my veins, adrenaline heightening my senses. My nose hurt from breathing too hard through it, and I could smell the blood on Toothless's maw. Gross, right? Judging by the fact that I'm always the only one in this dream (I know, just my luck) I figured the blood was probably mine. Looking down, I saw a tear in my shirt and blood stains the edges. I looked away quickly, though as of then I felt no pain. Not that I was complaining.
Pretty soon I knew I'd almost reached the worst part of the dream: the cliff. Yeah, you're probably thinking: "Oh, now Hiccup has to jump off the edge of a cliff, only to wake up right before the bottom". Well, I wish it was only that easy. As I neared the familiar landmarks- the trees thinned out, and the sun shone down hot on my shoulders- I could see the cliff looming at the edge of my vision. In no time, I was less than 100 steps away. That is one of the only nice things about this dream: I can run, and run fast, for a long time. I steeled myself for what would happen next. Now the surrounding land was devoid of trees or plants or anything living, and my feet were kicking up dust. When I was less than 5 steps from the edge, I immediately back-pedaled, skidding to a stop less than an arms breadth from the edge. I knew what came next, what always came next.
Toothless, seeing that I stopped for a reason other than to serve myself up as an appetizer, dug his claws into the ground, trying gain purchase on the hard packed, dusty earth. His tail came down, in a desperate attempt to stop himself from shooting over the edge, into the void. I stood by helpless, knowing I could do nothing to stop my dragon's fate. As his front paws passed over the edge, he twisted around, clawing at the edge with his paws. He hung that way for a moment, looking back up at me, all the hatred, anger, and fire of the previous moment had left his eyes, and now he stared up at me with an all too familiar expression, that, no matter how hard I tried to reason with myself, could not help crumbling in the face of. He looked at me, his eyes almost asking, pleading for an answer to the question: why? Why did I do this to him? Why did I betray to his death yet again?
I am never able to say to those eyes: "it wasn't me, it was you. You were the one chasing me; you were the one trying to kill me!" because it was never true. Deep down, I seemed to feel that it was my fault he was chasing me, my fault he was trying to kill, my fault he was about to plummet to his death. I know it makes no sense, but I know it's my fault. That it's always my fault. I am, or was, Hiccup the Useless. People may see me different now, but I still see that side of me, whenever I look deep inside. Having a dragon may have changed me on the outside, but on the inside I'm still the same Hiccup. The same Hiccup who can't save his best friend.
As Toothless claws sliced through the ground, I saw fear in his eyes that mirrored the fear I felt in my own. Finally, after much too long a time, Toothless could hold on no longer. He locked eyes with me one last time, before he let go, plummeting over the edge into the void beyond. In his last gaze I saw everything he wanted to tell me, but couldn't. He was chasing me to save me.
It may be just a dream, and even though I remember nothing before the chase, I know I didn't trust Toothless, so he had to chase me away. As realization crashed down, I crumpled to my knees. My hands grasped desperately at the dust on the ground, as if by holding onto it tight enough I could hold onto Toothless- bring him back. Without warning, a shadow fell over me; claws closed in on my face, and I saw no more.
I woke with a start and found myself lying on the floor of my room, my bed sheets twisted around me. Contrary to popular belief, I don't usually wake up on the floor, nor in a cold sweat which I found myself to be in also. I groaned, lifting my head slightly as I looked around my room. My eyes passed over the bed on my left, scanned the blank wall opposite me, and then suddenly came to a dead stop on something big and black. Warm air ruffled my hair, and I stared into two intense black eyes. My dragon, seeing I was awake, sat back on his haunches and tilted his head to the side as if to ask "what are you doing down there—again?"
"It was just a dream, bud." I told him.
Untangling myself from my sheets I sat up and looked out the window. It was already late morning, and most of the village was already up. I could see my father, the chieftain of it all, exchanging morning greetings with my apprenticer, the one-handed, one-legged blacksmith Gobber. I figured my dad was already mad at me for sleeping this late; I lay one arm across Toothless' muzzle and hauled myself up. My prosthetic leg made a strange clumping, clangy noise when I put it down- something I don't think I'll ever get used to. Hobbling slightly, as I still wasn't used to my replacement leg, I made my way over to the door, glancing at my reflection in the window as I passed by.
I sighed at what I saw. Still the same old Hiccup. I still didn't see how people saw me any different than they used to see me. I was still just as scrawny and small; still just as non-descript. The only thing that changed was that now I have a dragon at my side- and only one leg and a half. I pushed open the door, stepping into the sharp, cold Berk air. It hadn't snowed yet, but it's always cold here, as its winter most of the year, and the rest feels like it. And with cold, comes ice, something that I always forget is extremely troublesome with a metal leg. My prosthetic leg hit the patch of ice outside my door, a patch that I hate with conviction, and next thing I knew I was sliding into the splits, swinging my arms frantically as I tried to avoid the inevitable. I landed on my back, Toothless looking down at me with a puzzled expression.
"You're supposed to catch me when that happens, remember?"
He just continued looking down at me with an innocent expression on his face. Grumbling to myself, I got to my feet and hopped off the ice on my good leg. Brushing myself off, I looked up and found myself looking into the face of Gobber. He and my dad were looking at me with puzzled expressions on their faces.
"Heh heh. Hey guys, how's it going? Nice morning we got here!"
"Uh, yeh." My dad didn't seem to be paying any attention to what I'd just said. He and Gobber looked rather worried, actually.
"Is something wrong, dad?"
" Huh? Oh, I just wanted ter tell yeh that you and Toothless did a real good job at the raid last night. Very proud of yeh." Gobber nodded in agreement. I knew what was coming, and I wasn't looking forward to it.
"Dad, we just had a raid. Why do we have to go on another one? Didn't we get enough, like, booty or whatever from that one?"
"It's not booteh, Hiccup. That's what pirates say. We Vikin's call it"- Gobber started, but my dad stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Now son, I know yeh don't like these raids, but yeh gotta un'erstand they're necessary. If we didn't attack them first, they'd attack us. Do yeh want that?"
"We didn't raid before the dragons. Why weren't we attacked then?" I fidgeted uncomfortably. I knew I couldn't win this argument.
"Well, every'un was too busy defendin' against the dragons to attack any'un else. Now that we're all safe from them," he glanced at Toothless, "people'll start attacking others. We're Vikin's, Hiccup." He said, forestalling my next question. "We gotta fight, it's in our blood."
I looked at the ground, nudging the frozen earth with the tip of my prosthetic leg. What he said was probably true. The tribes on the surrounding islands would probably attack us, if we didn't attack them first, but something about it seemed just wrong. It's probably just the annoying un-Viking part of me grappling for control of my oh-so-Viking mind.
"Come on Hiccup." My dad looked down at me, almost pleadingly. I had to admit it was nice for my dad to finally need me, I only wished it was just me he needed, not me and Toothless. Really, he just needed Toothless, but Toothless needed me to fly, so he came to me. It also helped that I could talk, while Toothless couldn't. I knew what I had to do. I was tired of the all the times I hadn't made my dad proud. I didn't want to go back to those times. I was different now. I was no longer Hiccup the Useless, I was Hiccup the Useful. Hiccup the dragon rider, the one who saved Berk from the Red Death. Swelling my chest out, I stood as tall as I could and looked my dad in the eyes.
"I'll do it for you, Dad."
His and Gobber's eyes lit up at these words, and my dad clapped me on the shoulder, gently, but I still went hurtling forward. Thankfully Gobber caught me before I fell again.
"Hiccup, I'm so proud of yeh." My dad smiled at me in a way he never used to. I tried to smile convincingly back. I must have done a pretty good job, because he and Gobber turned and hurried back towards the village, my dad shouting out to other Vikings, giving instructions to them about the raid fast approaching.
When they'd gone, my smile melted off, and I scowled at Toothless, who tilted his head at me. I wondered if he knew what he was doing when he flew through the villages, roaring and shooting fire, scaring the people until they surrendered. He did it because I asked him to, that's all I knew. I don't think he enjoyed it, but he never showed apprehension.
"Oh Toothless, what am I supposed to do? I can't say no to him, but he wants to go on raids like every week, or even more often sometimes. Where does he even find all these islands to raid anyways? I didn't know there were that many islands around Berk. At least none with people." I sighed. "Come on, bud. We should get to the shop."
Together we walked down the hill from my house leading to the village, me leaning on Toothless so my prosthetic leg wouldn't slip. As I walked through the village, people bombarded me from all sides with "encouraging" comments. A lot has changed in the past few months.
"Hey Hiccup! Nice job last night. I got this great gauntlet cause of you!"
"Hiccup! Can't wait to recreate the "scene" again tonight! It's gonna be great!"
"Hiccup, if ya need anythin', just ask old Uncle Spitelout!"
"Yeah, sure." I called back, trying to sound convincing. I've never been a very good liar, but most people on Berk don't possess enough brain cells to know. Usually because they knock them out against each other.
"Hey, Hiccup, wait up!"
"Yeah, Hiccup, hold up a sec!"
I turned and saw two blonde Vikings running towards me, shoving each other as they did so. Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Great, just what I needed. I stopped and let them catch up to me. Ruffnut shoved her brother and he flew into me and we both went tumbling to the ground, Toothless jumping excitedly and sniffing us.
"Oops, sorry Hiccup, that was all my sister's fault."
"My fault? How is it my fault. You're just clumsy!"
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
I sighed as they flew at each other, kicking and punching and generally wreaking havoc. All I could think about just then was how glad I was I didn't have a twin. I probably wouldn't have survived much past infancy. As I got up and brushed myself off for the second time today, Ruffnut and Tuffnut seemed to have somewhat solved their dispute, though they both looked a little worse for the wear. Toothless and I started off towards Gobber's shop again, and they both followed behind, excitedly talking about the raid tonight. I should have known that was what they were here for. Ever since I defeated the Red Death, they've been treating a whole ton better than they used to, but they don't usually seek me out other than to talk about the raids.
"So like, this time I'm gonna head straight for the mead hall. Get the best plunder and all. Maybe bash a few skulls while I'm at it."
"The only skull you're going to bash is your own, looser." Ruffnut hit her brother on the head with a shield she was carrying.
"You're just jealous cause I always get the best plunder and you're stuck with the leftovers."
"You wish!"
"See Ruff, you just need to be more assertive, like me. Go out there first, battle into the fray, don't hold back!"
"You don't know the first thing about being in the 'fray'."
"Do to!"
"Do not!"
"Do to!"
"Do not!"
"I so do!"
"You so do not!"
This could get a little repetitive. "Listen, guys. Not that I don't enjoy your stimulating company and all, I really have to get to the shop, so unless you have something to tell me, I'll just be"-
"Hiccup's the reason we win all the fights, though." Ruffnut spoke up, cutting me off.
"Yeah, Hiccup and Toothless are the best! The like, rock!"
Toothless stuck his head in the air, puffing out his chest and strutting around us like, well,
something. He even blasted a fireball for good impression.
"Aaah! Toothless! What are you doing!" I waved for him to stop and looked over at the now-burning house in front of us. "Toothless, look what you've done now! Aaargh!"
Toothless looked sheepish as he nudged my arm.
"Uh, I just remembered. I, uh, have like broom making class in like, five minutes. Can't be late for that!" Tuffnut called to me, already heading in the other direction.
"Yeah, me too. 'Cept it's not broom making, cause that's stupid." Ruffnut said.
"Broom making is not stupid!"
"Is to!"
"Is not!"
"Is to!"
"Is not!"
I blew out my cheeks, watching as the house burned. "Okay guys, nice seeing you! Maybe I'll see you around." Turning back to Toothless, I spoke again, "Now what am I going to do?"
Well as it turned out, I was going to get yelled at by the owner of the house, then made to carry buckets of water back and forth from the well until the fire was out. Toothless tried to help, but ended up spilling most of the water on me.
"Gah, Toothless! Stop getting me wet!" As I stepped with my prosthetic leg, I didn't see the patch of ice, newly formed by all the water Toothless had spilled, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground for the third time that day, my own bucket of water having emptied itself on my chest. "Great. Just great." I sighed.
"Look who it is, laying on the ground as usual." Looking up, I saw a pair of blue eyes grinning at me mischievously.
"Hello Astrid."
"That wasn't a very cheerful hello." She said, reaching down and pulling me up with such force I nearly fell down again. Her blonde hair was braided down her back, as usual, and she wore her usual armor. I think she's taller than me, but I'm not sure. She's definitely stronger than me (because I'm the strongest Viking out there, right) and is one of the toughest female Vikings on Berk, maybe even one of the toughest of all Vikings.
"Yeah well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not in a very cheerful mood right now." I answered, looking down at my now soaked clothes. Everything was completely drenched, and I could feel my hair starting to freeze.
"Come on, I'll help you finish putting out the house." Oh, so I guess she knew.
Twenty minutes later, we were all walking towards Gobber's shop, me shivering violently in my wet, frozen clothes, and Toothless worriedly trying to melt them with his breath. After a couple tries, I made him stop, for fear he would set me on fire.
"People may see you differently, but I still see the same old Hiccup." Astrid laughed, watching me stumble along, trying to avoid ice patches.
"That's what I keep trying to tell people. Just because I killed a dragon doesn't mean I'm suddenly a great warrior or anything."
"But it's not like you just killed that dragon and went back to being useless."
"Thanks, wouldn't want that to happen."
"You help with the raids! You are the reason we always are successful! Everyone loves you for that."
"They love Toothless, not me. They only like me because Toothless can't fly without me."
Seeing my glum expression, Astrid asked:
"Is something wrong Hiccup?"
"I'll tell you inside." I answered, wanting to focus on walking right now. It was getting icier and my bad leg was beginning to hurt, twinging every time I put pressure on it. I could feel Astrid's worried gaze, but was determined not look at her.
By the time we got to Gobber's shop, my limp was noticeable, though I tried to hide it. Astrid opened the door for me, and then followed me inside, Toothless slinking in behind her. I went over to the fireplace and stoked the fire, hoping it would melt my clothes, and then dry them. I didn't have any clothes to change into here, and I wasn't about to walk all the way back to my house just to get some. My prosthetic leg was icy also, and was extremely cold against the where it connected with the remainder of my leg. Sitting down on a stool, I reached down and unstrapped the straps connecting the prosthetic to my leg, sighing when it came off. Toothless weaved his nose over to me and gently nose my bad leg, knowing I only took off the prosthetic when it hurt.
"It's okay, buddy. It's just cold." I said, rubbing his nose. Astrid brought another stool and sat down next to me.
"So Hiccup, what's wrong? Is it something to do with the raids?"
"Yeah." I answered shortly. Astrid was the only one who I'd told about my dislike for the raids to. Or at least she was the only one who seemed to listen. I'd given up telling my dad, Gobber didn't seem to listen, and everyone else just ignored me, and went on talking about me.
"Hiccup, if you don't like going, just tell your dad. He'll understand, won't he?"
"No." I grumbled, rubbing the stump of my leg. "He's not really a listening kind of guy. Or a talking kind. He's actually more of a yelling kind. Besides, if I go, less people will die." I finished, voicing the real reason that kept me going. I laughed, thinking about how the opposite would have been true only a few months ago. "Yeah, a lot has changed.
"But, anyway, it's not really the raids I mind; it's just the amount of them."
"I heard there was another one tonight." Astrid looked at me, probably trying to read my expressions. I'm a terrible liar, but recently it seems I've been lying more and more. Especially to my dad.
"Yeah, well."
"Hiccup, that's the second one this week!"
"Yes Astrid, trust me, I know."
"I don't understand, why they can't just get someone else to fly in with their dragon. You know, give you and Toothless a break."
"Because I'm the best fliar." I wasn't really bragging, it was the truth. "Besides, Toothless is a Night Fury, the most feared of all dragons. I suppose my dad doesn't want to take any chances with not being scary enough."
Astrid still looked annoyed, which actually made my heart skip a beat; she was annoyed for me! Just the thought lifted my spirits. I almost smiled, and Toothless, sensing my change in demeanor, sat back on his haunches and smiled his 'toothless' smile (he actually retracts his teeth when he smiles). Astrid now looked at us both, a confused expression on her face.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing." I answered, smiling now too.
"Okaaay, you're a little weird sometimes."
We sat like that for a while, me and Toothless smiling at her, while Astrid looked annoyed again, this time at us. After I was feeling sufficiently defrosted, I strapped my prosthetic leg back on, wincing as it came in contact with the soft skin, and stood up, heading over to my work table.
"I should probably get to work." I told Astrid, already looking at Gobber's "notes" on the table. They were really just crude pictures, for Gobber's not really all that great at writing.
"Yeah, okay. Well, I'll see you tonight then."
"See you." I watched her head out the door, then set to work fixing the strap of a dragons saddle brought in this morning. My leg was hurting more than normal, and I was forced to lean on the tables as I made my way around the shop. A half an hour later, Gobber came bursting in the door, looking a riled up.
"Hey Hiccup, nice ter see yeh workin' already." Not waiting for me to reply, he continued.
"Listen, yer dad wants ter see yeh up at the mead hall; think he wants ter talk abou' the raid tonight! Once yeh finish that saddle, yeh can head on up there, a'right?"
"Yeah, sure." I said, wincing at the thought of the long walk back to the mead hall. My clothes weren't entirely dry yet, and my leg was still sore from the walk here. Another half hour later found me leaning somewhat on Toothless as we walked back towards the mead hall to discuss battle strategies with my father. Yes, a lot has changed.
So there you go! My first chapter ever! Hope it wasn't too short. I don't know whether the others will be this long, guess it depends on how much time I want to take to write them. Reveiw and let me know how I did!
Cuio vae, Na lû ir a-goveninc,
Alex
