A/N: Hey hey! I'm back! After uh- how long? Never mind. Anyways, so, just to let you know- this book may get a bit, crazy. Or confusing for a better term? I don't know. You'll see why. Any who- I came up with this awesome idea for a chapter after watching a certain pixar movie. It just so happens to fit very nicely with this Merlin episode as well which makes this chapter even better! Why didn't I think of this before? Oh well. Sorry about the time. Last semester- chemistry sucked. This semester- math. Bleeeeh! But any who, it's getting better so I decided to write this. Enjoy! Hee hee! I'm so excited for this one! Hope you like it. Reviews would definitely be nice! Seriously. Also...IT'S SUMMER TIME! Yeah! I'll have a lot more time to do chapters! The time in between chapters will very considering I'm also working on a non-crossover fic for Brave. Have you seen that movie? It's good. (The Dr. and them will appear later on in the movie part just to let you know!)
The only hints about the next chapters will only be in the titles. Hee-hee. Hope you know your stuff! ;p
Disclaimer: Really?
(I think I made it clear in my last Fanfic thing.)
Chapter One: The Unholy Offsprings of Fire and Hell (Part 1)
Last Time:
Doctor Who:
"Well, since we're saying goodbye, um, but first... are you sure you want to do this Rose?" asked the Doctor. Tampering with time was a serious thing. Rose looked at him. Then at Merlin. "Yeah. I'm sure." she said. The Doctor silently sighed. He knew that Kilgarrah would have his head when and if he ever came back. But he also wanted Rose to be happy.
"Well now. I was glad to have met you. Rose Tyler. Just call if you need me. Hope to see you all again soon." said the Doctor.
"Likewise. Have a good trip to... well, wherever it is you're going." said Arthur. They shook hands. "Will do thanks. Right. You two, back to home you go." said the Doctor.
Just before he closed the doors, Jackie got in one last sentence. "Remember to invite me!" she called. The two of them blushed again.
Once inside, the Doctor was about to start up the TARDIS, when he noticed something. Or rather, someone. "Oi. We have a stowaway. What do you think you're doing?" he asked.
Merlin:
Merlin had never felt more happy. He, Rose and the others watched as the box made it's familiar sounds, and vanished. "This was so weird." Gwen said after a while breaking the silence. Arthur took her hand. "It might have been, but it was the most fun I've had since I was a child." he said. He then noticed Morgana looking around. "Has... anyone seen Mordred?" she asked. Now they all looked around. He was no where to be found.
He was incredibly quiet for a child of his age. "Maybe he just... snuck away. Away from the crowds. Maybe he just needed air." suggested Rose. They all agreed that's probably what happened. They started heading towards the castle.
"Goodbye Emrys." said a voice in Merlin's head. Merlin glanced back to where the box had just been.
A Few Days Later...
Merlin:
The kingdom of Camelot was a disaster! Why was this what he had to promise?! He was such an, dare he think it- idiot back then. Merlin knew he couldn't trust him. But he'd gone and done the promise anyways. "Idiot." he thought. He followed Arthur and the knights in the chaos. Everyone was in panic. Like it had been since the past three days after he... let Kilgarrah free.
It all started about a year ago. Merlin's mother had come to Camelot very ill. Not baring the thought of her dying, Merlin had gone to Kilgarrah for help. Some stuff happened, and the promise was made. That the Great Dragon would help- if he would eventually be set free. What a great deal that was. Merlin helped Gaius with a patient. "That tricky...trickster." he thought grimly. He didn't exactly have a big vocabulary at the moment. Who did when buildings were on fire, people were injured and screaming, and an angry fire breathing gigantic dragon on the loose! Not him anyway. Not to mention that Morgana had gone missing and Uther was sending knights out during the day and having them come back by night fall. Before Kilgarrah attacked.
On an island just south east off the coast of Camelot (unbeknownst to Camelot):
That island is called Berk.
A young boy, about fourteen, got inside his house just in time for a blast of fire. "Dragons!" he said. Then houses and crops began to burn. This happened often. Most people would leave. Not them. They're vikings. They have stubbornness issues. The boy ran outside into the mess of people, dragons, and sheep. He was looking for a certain building. His name, was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Great name right? But it's not the worst. Hiccup dodged a few blows that were meant for the dragons. His parents believed that a hideous name would frighten off gnomes and trolls. He stumbled a bit, as a dragon blew flames a little ways away from him. He then lost his balance and fell on his back from the shock wave.
Like their viking demeanor wouldn't frighten them away. "Aaaah! Mornin'!" said a viking as he jumped over Hiccup. He got up and continued what he was doing. He ignored the- 'what are you doing here?' and 'get inside!' and such. Hiccup wasn't exactly the strongest of the bunch. Or like other vikings in general. He was short, skinny and lanky. The exact opposite of the average viking. Anyone like him would stay inside and let the others do the work. Not him. Well, he was a viking after all.
Suddenly he was picked up by his collar. At first he panicked at the thought of a dragon. But then he realised- "Hiccup! What is he doing out agai- what are you doing out?! Get inside!" said the man. He was big, strong, and fierce. This, was Stoik the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off it's shoulders. Did Hiccup believe it? Yes he did.
"What have we got?" asked Stoik. He turned to a fellow viking. "Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, oh and lots of Monstrous Nightmares." said the viking. One of the dragons blew flames near them. "Any Night Furies?" asked Stoik.
"None so far." said the viking.
"Good." said Stoik.
Hiccup ran past catapults with flaming boulders. He finally made it to the blacksmith building. "Oh, oh nice of you to join the party! I thought you've been carried off!" said the owner. Hiccup made his way to the back of the building. "What, who me? Nah, come on I'm waaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this!" said Hiccup as he gestured to all of himself.
"Well, they need toothpicks don't they?" said the viking. Hiccup began helping him get organized with the weapons. The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands, was Gobber. Hiccup has been his apprentice ever since he was little. Well, littler.
Camelot:
Gwen came around the table and began helping Gaius and Rose with patients."I don't think people can suffer a third night of this." she said.
"We must trust in Arthur." said Gaius.
"I do. Even he has little chance." Gwen said. Rose looked at her. Gwen didn't know but, still. He had Merlin with him. He'd be able to do something- right? Of course. Rose had to believe. She tended to the injured man. "They'll be alright. We all will be. I know it. I can feel it." she tried to say confidently, but her voice cracked a bit.
Berk:
"We'll move to the lower defences. We'll counter attack with the catapults." said Stoik. They moved fast as a dragon blew down a near by house. See? Old village, lots of new houses. "Fire!" shouted someone.
Close by, Hiccup watched a group of teens join in the fight and put out fires. There was Fishlegs, Hiccup's cousin Snotlout, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and-
A house went up in flames. And Astrid. Oh their job was so much cooler. Hiccup got one leg up on the window sil. Although, he didn't get far. Gobber grabbed him by the collar. "Oh come on! Let me out, please? I need to make my mark!" said Hiccup. Gobber set him down. "Oh you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places!" he said.
"Please. Two minutes, I'll kill a dragon! My life will get infinitely better- I might even get a date!" said Hiccup. He was very annoyed now. Just once he'd like to be able to prove something. No one ever listened. "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!" said Gobber. With that, a viking grabbed it and threw it at a Grunkle and brought it down. "Okay fine but this- will throw it for me!" said Hiccup. He backed up to his homemade catapult-like weapon. He padded it, and it accidentally let loose a boulder. It flew out the window and hit a viking. "See? Now this right here, is what I'm talkin' about!" said Gobber. He walked up to Hiccup, who backed up. "Th-the-the mild calibration-" he started, but didn't finish.
"Hiccup! If you want to get out there, and fight dragons, you need to stop all... this." said Gobber. He did a little gesturing. "But you just pointed to all of me!" said Hiccup, even more frustrated.
"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!" said Gobber.
"Oooohh..."
"Oh yea." said Gobber.
"Y-you sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw viking-ness, contained! There will be consequences!" said Hiccup. Gobber didn't even flinch. "I'll take my chances." he said plainly. He handed Hiccup a blade. Hiccup caught it awkwardly. "Start sharpin'. Now." said Gobber.
Hiccup sighed and went to the sharpener. "One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here." he thought.
A NadderHead, was sure to get him at least noticed. Gronkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get him a girlfriend. A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status. Then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire. But the ultimate prize, is the dragon no one's ever seen. A hissing noise played through the air. It's called the-
"Night Fury!" shouted a viking.
"Get down!" shouted another.
A blast of blue, purple, white flames was shot down. Hiccup flinched, then looked out the window. This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and- another shot was blasted. Never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why Hiccup was gonna to be the first.
"Man the fort Hiccup, they need ME out there!" said Gobber. He attached a weapon where his hook for a hand was. He made it to the door, then turned around. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." he said, and left. So did Hiccup. Out the back of course. With the 'Mangler' as he called his catapult. Once again, he ignored the: 'what are you doing?!'
"Yeah, I know, be right back!" he called. He arrived in a more safer zone amongst the chaos. He got the Mangler ready. He waited.
"Come on. Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at." he said under his breath.
He heard the familiar hissing sounds of the Night Fury. He saw it's black body amongst the flames. He aimed. He fired. Hiccup accidentally fell backwards during the process, but he heard an unmistakable cry of pain from above. He stared into the sky. "Whoa I hit it." he said, he jumped up. "Yes I hit it! Did anybody see that?!" he spun around.
Suddenly, a dragon was behind him. A Monstrous Nightmare. "Except for you." he said plainly. He began running for his life. Finally, he'd managed to duck cover behind a large post. The dragon fired, but he didn't get burned. He looked towards his right to see if it was there not realising it was behind him. Out of nowhere, Stoik came and tackled the dragon. The dragon gave a pathetic spittle of flames. "You're all out." Stoik said. He punched the dragon a few times.
Hiccup stood slightly frozen behind the post as the burned bottom of it finally gave away. The post fell sideways, revealing Hiccup to Stoik.
The beam hit another building, which started a chain reaction. Hiccup flinched each time something was destroyed. "Sorry... dad..." he said.
The dragons then left the island. The two of them watched in an awkward silence. Hiccup's eyes moved around nervously. "Okay but I hit a Night Fury." he said quickly. Stoik lifted him up by the collar and started dragging him to the house. "Oh it's not like the last few times dad! I really actually hit it! You guys were busy, and I had a very clear shot. It went down just of Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there-"
"STOP! Just- stop. Every time you step outside disaster falls. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here, and I have an ENTIRE village to feed!" said Stoik. There was a pause. "Eh between you and me the village could do with a little less feeding don't you think?" said Hiccup.
"This isn't a joke Hiccup!" Stoik sighed, "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"
"I-I-I can't stop myself! I see a dragon, and I have to just- kill it. You know? It's who I am dad." said Hiccup.
Stoik placed his hand on his forehead. "Oh you are many things Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house." he said with tiredness to his voice. Hiccup looked at the ground. "Make sure he get's there." Stoik said to Gobber. Gobber smacked Hiccup in the back of the head. "I have his mess to clean up." sighed Stoik.
Hiccup and Gobber started walking. They past the group of teens from before who were laughing.
"What a performance. I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" said Snotlout.
"Thank you. Thank you. I was trying, so..." Hiccup said. He sighed as he heard Snotlout yell in pain as Gobber pushed him back. There were so many emotions in him now. Annoyance, anger, slight sadness, all of the above for the down side. None of the above for the good.
Well, except for the fact that he knew he had hit a Night Fury.
"I really did hit one." said Hiccup. The two were almost at the house. "He never listens. And when he does it's always disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich" he then began imitating his father's accent. "Excuse me barmaid. I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms! Extra guts and glory on the side! This here- this is a talkin' fish bone!" he shouted.
"Now you're thinkin' about this all wrong. It's not so much what ya look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand." said Gobber.
Hiccup gave him a look. "Thank you. For summing that up." he said. No amusement whatsoever in his voice. He turned to go inside. "Look the point is, stop tryin' so hard to be somethin' you're not." said Gobber.
"I just wanna be one of you guys." said Hiccup. Gobber sighed and watched him go inside. But he didn't see him go out the back.
Camelot:
"I'm sorry you have to go through this." said Merlin. He was trying to keep up with the fast pace. "Why? You're not to blame." said Arthur. Oh man. If only he knew. They slowed and waited for the dragon. They heard it above in the skies. "Flame up!" shouted Arthur. They saw the dragon silhouetted in the moon. If it weren't for the thought of dying- it would have looked amazing.
"Stay strong. Tonight is not your night to die I'll make sure of that!" shouted Arthur strongly. They waited. The Great Dragon began to swoop downwards. "Hold fire." said Arthur. They held, and waited. The dragon was getting closer. "Hold." said Arthur. Once again, they waited. "Hold."
The looks on the knight's, and Merlin's, faces were terrifying. "NOOOOOOOW!" Arthur finally shouted. They fired! Their flamed spears flew through the air at the dragon. Doing nothing to it. The dragon fired back. They ducked just in time as the flames hit the stone wall.
Gwen came back after a while. "We have no clean water left!" she said hastily.
"I know, but it's too dangerous to go out there." said Gaius. Gwen looked at Rose, then outside. She then headed off. "Oh no you don't!" Rose muttered quietly. She stopped what she was doing and followed. "Gwen! Rose! Where are you goin?!" she heard Gaius call. They ran through the crowds and panic. "What are you doing here? You should be helping Gaius. What do you think Merlin would say?" Gwen said once she saw Rose following.
"Oh, what and leave you alone in the midst of danger?" Rose smiled, "I'm not really one to follow orders..." Gwen didn't answer. That had meant she'd won. So naturally, she was staying. Suddenly, from somewhere a ways away, she heard Arthur. "Clear the square!" he shouted.
Okay, maybe Gaius was right after all. "Gwen! Rose!" he heard him call. She looked at him. The dragon was approaching. Uh oh, not good. "Guinevere!" Arthur shouted. Gwen finally heard him, and looked. The two of them began to run, and Arthur started to run to them.
The dragon was so close now, but so was Arthur. Kilgarrah attacked, and all three of them fell to the ground but uninjured thanks to Arthur. The Great Dragon fled to another scene. Arthur pulled Gwen to a safe corner, and Rose followed.
Berk:
The next day, in the hall, Stoik and the vikings were having a meeting. "Either we finish them, or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll get rid of them." boomed Stoik. "If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave! They'll find another home!" he stabbed his sword into the map. "One more search. Before the ice sets in."
There were several moans among the crowd. "Those ships never come back." said one.
"We're vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?!" said Stoik. Several vikings actually made up excuses in order to not go. Stoik had another idea. "Those who stay- will have to look after Hiccup." Everyone then raised their hands which meant they would go with him on the search.
"Yeah that's more like it." said Stoik.
Everyone started leaving. "I'll pack my undies." said Gobber as he began to leave. Stoik stopped him. "No. I need you to stay and train some new recruits." he said. Gobber sat back down. "Oh perfect, yea, and while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the store. Molten steal, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself- What could possibly go wrong?" he said. Stoik sighed. "Oh, what am I going to do with him Gobber?" he said.
"Put him in training with the others." said Gobber.
"I'm serious!" said Stoik.
"So am I." said Gobber.
"He'll be killed before you let the first dragon out of it's cage!"
Gobber brushed that aside. "Oh ya don't know that." he said.
"I do know that."
"No you don't know that."
"No actually, I do."
"No you don't!"
"Listen. You know what he's like." said Stoik, he got up. "From the time he could crawl, he's been... different. He doesn't listen, he has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for- for trolls!" he said.
Gobber turned and looked at him. "Trolls exist! They steal your socks! But only the left ones. What's with that?" he said. He went back to his drink. "When I was a boy-"
"Oh here we go." said Gobber.
"My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question about it. And you know what happened?"
"You got a headache." said Gobber.
"That rock split in two. It taught me what a viking could do Gobber. He-he could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy. I knew what I was, what I had to become." Stoik paused. "Hiccup is not that boy." he finished.
"You can't stop him Stoik. You can only prepare him. I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is, you won't always be around to protect him. He's goin' to get out there again. He's probably out there now." said Gobber.
Camelot:
Merlin ran out into the other scene at faced the dragon. He saw a spear and lit it with flaming magic, and flew it at the dragon. Once again, it did nothing. "Do not imagine that your petty magic can harm me!" shouted Kilgarrah, and he flew off. Merlin breathed heavily. "Why are you doing this? You're killing innocent people!" he heaved.
Back at the infirmary, Gwen was tending to Arthur's injuries. Rose was helping another patient. "You shouldn't have risked your life." said Gwen. Rose glanced at her. She couldn't help but notice the looked Arthur had on his face... Inside she smiled. She knew who they were and what was to come. "I wasn't going to let anything happen to you." said Arthur. Yep, there it was.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Gwen smiled a bit, but didn't say anything. After a moment, Arthur took her hand and held it against his heart. The two smiled a bit. Rose glanced at Gaius who glanced back. They also smiled. "I can't believe I just witnessed the beginnings of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere!" Rose thought. "Oh, hold on girl. You're getting fan-girlish. You're not that. But oh my gosh!" eh, she couldn't help it. It's Arthur and Gwen for crying out loud! Who wouldn't be excited?
Then she saw him. A bit out of breath, and serious. Rose ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Oh Merlin!" she cried. She and Gaius had been so worried. "Are you hurt?" asked Gaius.
"There's nothing I can do." said Merlin. Then he spoke in a whisper. "My magic is no good." What? How can that be? "It doesn't work!" whispered Merlin.
"Dragon's aren't monsters, they're creatures of wonder and magic. You must realise that they're immune to your powers." said Gaius. Merlin sighed. Rose held on to his hand in support. Merlin had a look on his face that almost said: 'way to tell me now Gaius.'
Berk:
Hiccup wandered through the forest around Raven Point. Looking at his map, then at his surroundings- he sighed. He drew an X on the map, but was frustrated and scribbled all over it. He sighed again, closed his sketchbook, and put it away in his vest. "Oh the gods hate me. Some people loose their knife, mug- No not me. I manage to loose an entire dragon!" he smacked a hanging tree branch-"Ow!" he yelled, it had come back at him.
Then he noticed why the branch was so low. The huge branch was almost off the tree. Something hit it. He followed a trail of destruction. There was a space in the forest that he hadn't seen before. Carefully, he made his way down to it. He peered over the ridge to see what was there.
The Night Fury! Hiccup ducked back down in fear. Nothing. Nothing happened. He cautiously looked back. It was just... lying there. Hiccup got out his knife. Breathing heavily, he slowly walked towards the giant rock just in between him and the dragon. He stepped out from behind it.
"Whoa oh, I-I did it. Whoooa I did! This-this fixes everything! Yes! I have brought down this mighty-" he placed a foot on the dragon's leg, "beast! Ah!" the dragon had moved. It scared the crap out of him and he tumbled back and landed against the rock. Holding his sword out, he stepped forward. Even more slowly than before.
As he got closer, he saw that it's eyes were open. Huge light greenish yellow eyes. "Whoa." he thought. Hiccup blinked and brought his mind back to it's heart. Where his knife was aimed at. But, for some reason, his eyes were once again drawn to the dragon's eyes. Staring at him, the dragon made a small helpless noise.
Hiccup took a deep breath and got ready. "I'm gonna kill you dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a viking. I am a viking!" he said. He closed his eyes and lifted his knife. But again, his eyes unwillingly opened and looked into the dragon's eyes. He closed them again and heard the dragon make a kind of, defeated noise.
After failing to make his arms move, Hiccup brought his hands down on his head. He sighed. He looked at his knife then at the dragon. He took a few steps back. "I did this." he said quietly.
He was about to leave, but looking at the dragon again, he couldn't. Suddenly, he found himself cutting the ropes. One, two, just one more. With the last one gone, the dragon tackled Hiccup against the rock. The dragon stared him down for a moment. After what looked as though he was going to attack, it roared ferociously. Then it just flew off.
Hiccup's breathing came back. His mind was blank. He watched the dragon for a bit, then started to head back. But- he fainted.
Camelot:
"The dead numbered forty-nine men. Twenty-seven women have fell, eighteen women and children are unaccounted for. Most of last nights fires are now out. Castle walls, in particular the west section has collapsed. I could go on." said Arthur. He was in the court, thankfully that was still intact. "Do we have any further idea on how the beast escaped?" asked Uther.
"I regret to say sire," said Sir Leon, "we don't." Merlin stared at the ground. Not sure of what to think. "There must be some way to rid ourselves of this amorist. Gaius." said Uther.
Gaius looked at the ground for a moment. He then looked up. "We need a dragon lord sire." he said.
"You know very well that's not an option." said Uther as Arthur looked up.
"Sire. What if, there was indeed one last dragon lord left." said Gaius. Uther looked at him. "That's not possible." he said.
"But if there was." said Gaius. Uther walked closer to him. "What are you saying?" he asked.
"It may just be a rumour." said Gaius. Merlin glanced at Rose who had a somewhat hopeful expression. "Go on." said Uther.
"I'm not exactly sure, but, I think his name...is Balinor." said Gaius. Uther stared at him. "Balinor." he said.
"Where does he live?" Arthur asked suddenly. Uther glanced at him. "He was last seen in Cedric's kingdom." said Gaius. "The bordered town of Ingid. (A.N. is that right? Let me know!) But that was many years ago."
Arthur stood up. "If this man still exists, then it is our duty to find him." he said. He looked at Uther. "Our treaty with Cedric no longer holds. We're at war. If they discovered you're beyond the border, they'll kill you." said Uther. Arthur was clearly not going to give up. "I will go alone."
"No."
"That way I won't be detected."
"No Arthur it is too dangerous."
"More dangerous than staying here?" said Arthur. Uther raised his head. He turned around to look at him. "I will not stand by and watch my men die when I have the chance to save them!" said Arthur.
"I've given you my orders." said Uther. There wasn't any chance of changing his mind. "You cannot make this a test of wills."said Arthur.
"I'm not talking to you as a father, I'm talking to you as a king!"
Arthur sighed. He stepped forward. "I'll ride in the evening." he said.
"My concern is for you." Uther said quietly.
"Mine is for Camelot. I'll send word when I've found him." said Arthur. Uther stared. Merlin and Rose glanced at each other. "Prepare the horses." Arthur said to Merlin as he left.
Berk:
Coming home late, he quietly shut the door behind him. Hiccup saw his dad poking at the fire. He didn't seem to notice him, so he quietly began to sneak up the stairs. "Hiccup." he froze.
"Dad, uh... uh I have to talk to you." he said slowly. Stoik turned to him. "I need to speak with you too son." he said, clapping his hands together. It sounded serious. Which was not really what he needed at the moment. There was a moment of silence before they said something at the same time. "What?" they said.
"Uh, you first." said Stoik.
"Oh, n-no you go first dad." said Hiccup.
"Okay." he sighed. "You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning." Stoik finished.
"Oh man I should have gone first! Uh, cause I was thinking- you know, we have a surplus, of dragon fighting vikings. But, do we have enough... bread making vikings? Or small home repair vikings- dah!" said Hiccup as Stoik placed a heavy weapon in his arms.
"You'll need this." he said.
"I don't wanna fight dragons." Hiccup finally said. Stoik just laughed. "Oh come on. Yes you do!" he said.
"Rephrase, dad, I CAN'T kill dragons!" said Hiccup.
"But you will kill dragons."
"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."
"It's time Hiccup."
"Can you not hear me?"
"This. Is serious son. When you carry this axe. You carry all of us with you. Which means, you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more... this." said Stoik. He made some hand gestures. "You just gestured to all of me." sighed Hiccup.
"Deal?"
"This conversation is feeling very one sided."
"Deal?!"
Hiccup sighed and looked at the ground. "Deal."
Stoik picked up a sack. "Good. Train hard." he started to leave the house. "I'll be back. Probably." he finished.
"And I'll be here...maybe..."
Camelot:
"Who were the dragon lords?" Merlin asked. He was getting ready to leave. He looked up and noticed that Gaius had been quiet since the meeting. "Gaius?" he asked. Gaius turned around. "There were once men who could talk to dragons. Tame them." he said.
"What happened to them?" asked Merlin.
"Uther believed that the art of the dragon lords was too close to magic. So he had them all rounded up... and slaughtered." said Gaius. Merlin stared. Too close to magic? It didn't really seem that way to Merlin. Although, he did believe that everything was linked somehow. Was it really that close to it? "One survived." he said as he shook his head. Then a thought came. "How did you know?" he asked. He looked at Gaius.
"I helped him escape." he said. What? Who was this guy? "Gaius..." Merlin said quietly. He resumed to packing. Gaius stepped closer. "Merlin, you've never heard the name, Balinor." he said. Merlin looked at him. Balinor? "No." he said.
"Your mother never mentioned him." said Gaius. His mother. What did she have to do with any of this? There certainly was a link somehow. There always is. Right? "My mother?" he asked. He was more drawn into this story now. "She took him in." said Gaius. Merlin couldn't believe his ears. "She stood up against Uther." he said.
"Yes." said Gaius.
"She was brave."
"Yes. When Uther discovered where Balinor was, he sent knights to Ealdor to hunt him down. He was forced to flee." said Gaius. Why has Merlin never heard this story before? What was so important to keep it secret all of these years? "Why didn't my mother tell me any of this?" asked Merlin.
"Merlin... I promised her I would never speak of these things." said Gaius.
"Of what?" asked Merlin.
"I've always treated you as my son." said Gaius. Merlin braced himself for what he was about to say next. "But- that is not what you are." Merlin already knew that of course so... "The man you are going to look for...is... your father." said Gaius.
Merlin didn't really know what to say. He didn't know what to feel. Nothing came out of his mouth except a slight gasp.
"My father?" he said finally. He could feel his eyes begin to burn. "Yes." said Gaius. Merlin's head was reeling with questions. "He was a dragon lord?" he said.
Gaius looked down. A feeling came boiling out of Merlin now. "Why didn't no one ever tell me?!" he said loudly.
"I wanted to. Your mother feared it would be too dangerous." said Gaius.
"I had a right to know." said Merlin.
"She wanted to protect you."
"No. I had a right to know." Merlin said more quietly this time.
Berk:
"Welcome to dragon training!" said Gobber as he lifted the gate to the arena.
"No turning back." said Astrid. The teens walked in. "I hope to get some serious burns!" said Tuffnut.
"I'm hoping for some mauling. Like on my shoulder, or lower back." said Ruffnut.
"Yeah it's only fun when you get a scar out of it." said Astrid.
"Yeah no kidding right?" the other teens stopped walking and looked at the skinny heir. "Pain. Love it." he said, unamused.
"Oh great. Who let him in?" said Tuffnut. Gobber interrupted their little chat. "Let's get started! The new recruit who does best, will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" he said.
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him? Or..." stated Snotlout, the twins started cracking up. "Can I train in the class with the cool vikings?" he said as the walked away.
"Don't worry," said Gobber, he placed his arm hard around Hiccup's shoulders. "You're small, you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick, or insane, and go after the more viking like teens instead. He, he. Behind these doors, are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. Deadly Nadder."
"Speed eight. Armour sixteen." Fishlegs said quietly.
"The hideous Zippleback."
"Stealth times two."
"The Monstrous Nightmare."
"Fire power fifteen!"
"The Terrible Terror."
"Attack eight! Venom twelve!"
"Can you stop that?! And, the Gronkle." finished Gobber. He placed a hand on the door's handle.
"Jaw strength eight." Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup. Snotlout stepped forward. "Whoa, whoa! Wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" he said, slightly sounding scared.
"I believe in learnin' on the job." said Gobber. With that, he opened the Gronkle's door! The Gronkle burst out, and started to chase the teens. "Today, is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick! What's the first thing you're goin' to need?" said Gobber.
"A doctor?" said Hiccup.
"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs said, frightened.
"A shield!" said Astrid, ready as ever.
"Shield! Go!" said Gobber. The teens all moved quickly and grabbed a shield that was around. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield!" said Gobber. He saw that Hiccup was struggling with trying to just lift it, so he went over and helped. "If you must make a choice between sword and shield, take the shield." he said, he pushed Hiccup more into the ring.
The twins argued over one particular shield. "Get your hands off of my shield!" said Tuffnut.
"There are like a million shields!"
"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut said quickly.
Ruffnut didn't take it all too well. She lifted the shield out of Tuffnut's hands, and smacked it on his head. "Oops. Now this one has blood on it." she said.
Out of nowhere, the Gronkle's fire shot at the shield, just barely missing them. "Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" called Gobber.
"What?" they said.
"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it! Throw off the dragon's aim. All dragon's have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?" said Gobber.
"Five?" said Snotlout.
"No six!" said Fishlegs.
"Correct! Six! That's one for each of you!" said Gobber. Fishlegs raised his shield with pride, but the pride was taken away when the Gronkle blasted it. "Ah!" he screamed.
"Fishlegs, out." said Gobber.
"Hiccup! Get in there!" he'd finally noticed him cowardly hiding behind a wall. Slowly trying to sneak in. The Gronkle fired and nearly hit him, causing him to go back behind the wall. The Gronkle ignored him and turned to Astrid and Snotlout. "So anyway, I'm moving into my parent's basement. You should come by sometime and work out. You look like you work out." babbled Snotlout to Astrid, who cartwheeled out the way of fire. "Snotlout, you're done!" called Gobber.
Astrid had unwillingly cartwheeled over next to Hiccup. "Well, I guess it's just you and me huh." he said.
"Nope just you." said Astrid. She dodged an on coming blast from the dragon. The blast hit Hiccup's shield, knocking him down. "One shot left!" said Gobber.
Hiccup's shield fell out of his grip and began rolling on it's side away from him. He tried to quickly catch up to it but was failing. "HICCUP!" he heard Gobber call.
Hiccup let his shield roll away, as he began to slightly panic. He was now backed up against the wall, awaiting the kill. The dragon was incredibly close to him. The Gronkle was about to fire, Hiccup closed his eyes. The blast never hit him. It hit just above him instead because Gobber had interrupted the dragon. "And that's six. Go back to bed ya over grown sausage!" shouted Gobber as he threw the flying dragon into it's cavern and locked it. "You'll get another chance. Don't you worry. Remember. A dragon will always, always go for the kill." said Gobber. Mostly to Hiccup.
"So why didn't you?" he asked himself. He was back in the forest at the spot where he met the Night Fury. He followed the destruction again, and noticed that there was a small opening in the rocks. It led to a beautiful pond surrounded by trees and stone. "Well this was stupid." Hiccup said to himself. He looked down. Then he noticed something. Scales. Dragon scales perhaps. He bent down and picked one up.
His thoughts were interrupted by the Night Fury flying by him.
It seemed to struggle climbing up the stone walls. It glided down towards the opposite end of the lake.
Astonished, Hiccup took advantage of this opportunity. He jumped down carefully to a lower rock sticking out to have a better view. The dragon tried a few times to fly or climb up on the stone walls ahead of him. Hiccup got out his sketch book and began drawing the dragon. He then realised something. "Why don't you just... fly away?" he wondered out loud. He looked at his tail. Or half of it anyways. Then he erased the half he drew in his picture. The dragon tried flying again, but failed as he crash landed by the lake.
He looked like he'd given up on flying. For now. A fish jumped slightly out of water just near his head. The Night Fury got into hunting position. He stuck his head under water. He didn't catch dinner that time.
Hiccup began to have a sad expression on his face as he lowered his arms. But, the grip on his writing utensil loosened by accident. It fell from his hand and tapped against the lower rocks and onto the grassy bottom. He froze. The Night Fury heard it, and saw him. They shared a stare for a moment.
Camelot:
He just couldn't believe it. "My father..." he thought. It was all so... he didn't even know the word for it. He tightened the saddle on the horse. Today was the day. They were going to try and find him. "Merlin?" he heard a voice. He looked up to see Rose. "Rose." he said quietly. After hearing about his father he hadn't been able to say much. "Merlin are you alright? What's wrong?" asked Rose. He sighed. She'd always been able to see through him. So it was pointless trying to make something up.
"Merlin..." she said once more. Merlin swallowed. "Just some... unexpected news." he almost whispered. Rose gave him a questioning look. "Balinor...he...um...is...my f-father. Apparently." he stuttered. He stuttered, but said it quickly. The words shocked Rose as much as it did him. "Your...father? Oh Merlin...I... I don't know what to say." she said softly. Merlin's face softened a bit. "It's okay. I... I don't either." he said. This made them both smile a bit. "Are you going to be alright?" asked Rose. Merlin sighed. "I don't know." he said. He turned back to the horse.
Rose glanced behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin saw Gaius coming. "You have everything you need?"he asked. Merlin nodded. Rose stepped back a bit. Merlin finally looked at Gaius. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." he said.
"I know that." Gaius said while nodding. Merlin nodded slightly back. "Come on Merlin." Arthur said coming down the steps.
"You're ready." said Merlin. He went around the other side of the horse to check the saddle. "No thanks to you." said Arthur.
Rose went to the same side as Merlin. She kissed him on the cheek. "Good luck." she said. He smiled and got on the horse. While doing so, he noticed that Arthur had a look of pain on him. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Just a scratch." he said. He began to trot away. "Merlin," said Gaius, "whatever happens, you must not let Arthur know who this man is. Uther would view the son of a dragon lord with the deepest suspicion." Merlin nodded. He then trotted off.
"This is it." said Arthur. The days journey had been long. All they saw was forest. They stood over a ridge that looked upon a village. "One more step and we're in Cedric's kingdom." said Arthur. "This Balinor had better be worth it." Merlin did his best not to say anything.
As they entered the village, through the rain by the way, they found the tavern. Once they stepped in though... all eyes were on them. Arthur decided to lighten the mood. "Greetings!" he said with a smile. Oi. One man lifted his knife from his meal.
Once they were seated, a waiter came. He stared at the two. "We're looking for a man named Balinor." said Arthur. "We're willing to pay." he placed a small bag on the table. "Handsomely."
The man leaned in, and so did they. "Never heard of him." he said. He took the coins. "You think one of these men is Balinor?" he said quietly.
"I hope not." sighed Arthur.
"So do I." said Merlin. Of course for most likely very different reasons.
Later that night after they've received a room, the two were getting ready for a nights rest. "What is wrong with you today?" said Arthur.
"What?" said Merlin.
"Pains me to admit it, but I do enjoy serving retorts, it's probably your only redeemable feature." said Arthur. Was that- almost a compliment? Almost? "Thanks." Merlin said plainly. "There are so many servants who can serve. So few capable of making a complete prat of themselves." said Arthur. He laid down on his bed. He noticed Merlin didn't say anything. "What is it?" he asked.
"Nothing." was the response.
"It's something. Tell me." said Arthur. Couldn't he just leave him alone? Guess not, this was a rare moment when he showed that he did care about his friends. Although, Merlin still didn't say anything. Arthur sighed. "Alright. I know I'm a prince." said Arthur. Merlin turned away from him. "So we can't be friends. But what if I wasn't a prince?" said Arthur.
"What-"
"Well then- we could probably get along." said Arthur.
"So?"
"So that means you can tell me."
"That's too easy. If you weren't a prince, I'd tell you to mind your own damn business."
"Merlin." said Arthur. There was a pause. "Are you missing Gaius?" he said, in a somewhat teasing voice.
"Something like that."
"Well, what is it then?"Arthur smiled and threw his pillow at him.
"I'll tell you." there was a moment of silence. "I' 'realright." he finally said. Of course that wasn't really it, but he couldn't say the truth.
"So do I." said Arthur. Then they went to sleep.
Berk:
"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the rink today?" asked Gobber. Hiccup headed into the Great Hall. He was late for the dinner. "I miss timed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." said Astrid.
"Yeah. We noticed." said Ruffnut.
"No, no, it looked great. That was so Astrid!" said Snotlout.
"She's right! You have to be tough on yourselves. Where did Hiccup go wrong?" said Gobber. Hiccup tried sitting down at the same table as them, but was rejected. He moved to another. "Uh he showed up?" said Ruffnut.
"He didn't get eaten." chimed her twin.
"He's never where he should be." Astrid also chimed in.
"Thank you. Astrid. You need to live and breath this stuff. The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." said Gobber, he placed the book on their table. Then paused as he heard thunder. "Your task tonight. Hurry up." said Gobber.
Tuffnut looked up from his food. "Wait. You mean read?" he asked.
"While we're still alive?" said Ruffnut.
"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" said Snotlout. Fishlegs was excited for some reason. "Oh, I've read it like, seven times! There's this water dragon, that sprays boiling water at your face! An-and there's this other one! That burries itself for like a week-"
"Yeah. Sounds great. There was a chance I was gonna read that-" interrupted Tuffnut.
"But now..." said Ruffnut.
"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." said Snotlout. He got up and began to leave. The twins followed. Same with Fishlegs as he kept babbling. That left Astrid. "So. I guess we'll share-" sighed Hiccup.
"Read it." she said and left as well.
"All mine then. That's great." Hiccup said sarcastically. The doors closed. He sighed for the umpteenth time in his life.
Later that night, began reading the Book of Dragons. "Dragon Classifications. Strike Class. Fear Class. Mystery Class." he began. He turned the page. "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves, and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concessive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight." he turned more pages. "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Scaldren. Sprays scalding water at it's victim, extremely dangerous- ah!" Hiccup jumped at the sound of thunder.
He went back to the book and turned the page. "Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight. Gronkle, Zippleback, the Scrill, Bonenapper, Whispering Death! Burns it's victims, burries it's victims, chokes it's victims, turns it's victims inside out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight-"
He kept turning the pages until he came across a somewhat blank page. "Night Fury. Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightening and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance hide and prey it does not find you." he finished.
Confused, yet interested, he pulled out his sketch book and placed it, picture open, on the blank page.
"H-hey you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there like another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet? Wha!" said Hiccup. They were in the arena. Battling, yet, another dragon. "Focus Hiccup!" called Gobber. Hiccup ran from the flames.
"You're not even trying!" said Gobber.
There were a bunch of walls, and boulders forming a kind of maze-like arena. The dragon saw him and he ran for his life. "Today, is all about attack! Nadder's, are quick. And light on they're feet. You're job is to be quicker, and lighter." said Gobber.
Fishlegs had just barely escaped the Nadder's attack. "Aaah! I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" he screamed.
Gobber, clearly ignoring him, shouted "Look for it's blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!" while he was saying this, the twins had stumbled almost into the Deadly Nadder's view. They were right in front of it. "Oh. Do you ever bath?" asked Ruffnut.
"You don't like it? Then just get your own blind spot!" said Tuffnut, he hit Ruffnut more out of the way. She didn't take it well. She hit her shield against his. "How about I give you one!" she said.
They started head butting, but it got the dragon's attention. "Blind spot yes. Deaf spot? Mm not so much. He, he, he, he..." said Gobber. He was clearly enjoying himself.
Hiccup stopped running for a second as he approached Gobber. "Hey uhm, so how would one, sneak up on a Night Fury?" he asked.
"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale!" said Gobber. "Now get in there!"
"I know, I know. But, hypothetically-"
"Hiccup!" he heard his name being whispered. He looked over and saw the gang behind a wall. "Get down." whispered Astrid.
The Nadder was close. But it didn't see them. Then Astrid took this as a chance and moved to another position. Hiccup tried to follow, but tripped. The dragon heard him. He nearly escaped the Nadder's teeth as he jumped up and ran for his life.
The dragon saw Astrid and Snotlout and got ready. "Watch out babe, I'll take care of this." Snotlout said arrogantly. "Hey!" said Astrid. Snotlout threw his weapon missing the Nadder completely. The Nadder seemed to- laugh. At least that's what it seemed like to Hiccup. Astrid glared at him. "The sun was in my eyes Astrid! What do you want me to do? Block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!" Snotlout said as they ran.
The dragon then began to knock down all of the walls angrily. "Has, has anyone ever seen one or, anything?" said Hiccup as the teens all pushed past him.
"Hiccup!" called Gobber.
The walls were falling. And one looked as though it was about to land on him! Hiccup was suddenly pushed out of the way. He didn't see who, but he saw the others standing there so it could have been anyone. Astrid had her axe ready and swung at the dragon. "Well done Astrid." said Gobber. Astrid then turned to Hiccup.
"Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parent's war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on!" she said.
Camelot:
Back in Camelot, they were in for another night. "Hold, hold!" said Sir Leon. He was in charge when Arthur was away. "Hold!" the dragon came at them. "Nooooww!" they fired.
So did the dragon. Although his blast was more intense. Amongst a safe room, Uther watched the dragon fly about.
Whilst they were asleep, a man crept into their room. Reaching down at Arthur's bag, he glanced at the two men. He looked at the bag. Suddenly, Arthur grabbed his arm. He pulled out his small sword. He threw the man down and Arthur aimed his sword. "What's going on?" Merlin asked alarmed and awake. "Do you know what the punishment is for theft?" said Arthur.
"Please. I've got children to feed!" said the man.
"Tell me where to find Balinor." Arthur said sternly.
The man gasped. "Balinor." he said.
"What do you know of him?"
"Nothing I-" Arthur moved his sword to the mans heart. "Do you value, your life?"said Arthur.
"It's been many years since I saw him..." cried the man.
"You know where he lives?"
"You must travel through the forest of Merindrin. To the foot of the Aura Mountain. There you will find the cave where Balinor dwells." said the man. (A.N.: are any of those names right? It's what I hear. :/ )
Arthur let go of the man. "But don't get your hopes up." he said.
"Why?" said Merlin.
"He will not welcome you. Balinor hates everyone and everything. A cave is the best place for him!" with that, the man got up and ran out of there.
Berk:
Later that night, he began walking through the opening in the stones to the Night Fury, shield first. He cautiously looked over his shield. He lifted the fish he had brought with him, and threw it over. He peeked out. Nothing. Okay, now was his chance. Although he didn't get far before his shield got stuck in between the rocks. Giving up on it coming loose, he went under the shield. He tried once more from that side, but nothing.
Hiccup looked at the fish. "Did it have to be so slimy?" he thought. He sighed and picked it up. He looked around. Still no Night Fury. It couldn't have flown off with that tail. Walking around, he suddenly got the feeling someone was watching him. Hiccup turned around.
He gasped and gripped the fish. The Night Fury. Glaring at him suspiciously, but, it was there. It slowly came forward in a hunting position. It growled deeply. Hiccup held out the fish. The Night Fury slowly, cautiously, crawled closer. It looked as though it was about to take a bite- but it growled and stepped back. Hiccup jumped a bit and reached for his sword. The Night Fury's growl was a warning this time. Hiccup brought out his sword, and dropped it.
The Night Fury growled again. It watched as Hiccup picked up the sword with his foot and kicked it away. After a moment, the Night Fury was almost... astonished? According to the look on it's face. Once again, Hiccup held out the fish. More confidently, the Night Fury came closer, staring at the fish, open mouthed.
"Huh. Toothless. I could have sworn you had- wha!" Hiccup was interrupted by the Night Fury's retractable teeth coming out. It grabbed the fish and swallowed happily. "Teeth..." Hiccup finished quietly.
The dragon then looked at him. Expecting more. "Ah, uh, uh, I- I - no-no! No-" the Night Fury backed him up against a familiar rock. "I- I don't have anymore." he finally said.
The dragon stared at him for a moment as Hiccup closed his eyes. Then it- it- it... spit up the fish into Hiccup's lap. Well, half the fish. "Eeeeggch." said Hiccup.
The dragon then sat back. Expectantly. It just stared. After a while, it glanced down at the fish. Then looked back at him. Expectantly. Hiccup caught on. He sighed, disgusted. He brought the fish closer to his mouth. Hesitated, then- bit. "Mmm!" he tried to sound convincingly. The dragon looked a little more pleased. It's ears perked up. "Mm hm." said Hiccup, not daring to swallow. He held the fish more towards the dragon. But, it made a swallowing noise. "Mmh!" sighed Hiccup. He rolled his eyes for a moment. After nearly barfing, he swallowed. The dragon licked it's lips. Then Hiccup smiled at it.
The Night Fury narrowed it's eyes, maybe in slight confusion as to what he was doing. After a moment, he tried to get his own mouth to mimic Hiccup's. A bit astonished, Hiccup slowly got up and reached out his hand. But the movement made the dragon cautious and it fled the scene. It went over behind some rocks. Hiccup saw it burn a circle in the ground before looking as though it were about to take a nap.
Without it actually noticing at first, Hiccup managed to sit down next to it. He watched it as it's eyes followed a bird fly through the air- and land on him. Hiccup waved slightly. He growled again. Then he moved so that his wings covered his face a bit.
Hiccup moved closer. Daring to touch it. But, the dragon sensed this and opened it's wings and growled once more. Hiccup smoothly instantly stood up stiff as a bone, and walked off.
A little later as the sun was going down, Hiccup began to draw a doodle of 'Toothless' as he had named the Night Fury. Toothless noticing him being far away, began to wonder what he was doing. He made his way over to Hiccup. Hiccup felt the dragon peer over his shoulder. Toothless' eyes followed Hiccup's stick as he finished drawing the dragon's face. Hiccup then heard Toothless' footsteps walking away from him. Then he heard a branch breaking. Curious, he turned around to see Toothless carrying a branch in his mouth. The end of it, dragging in the sand.
He then began to walk around with it. Once, he stopped, glanced at Hiccup, and made a dot. Then he was finished. Hiccup looked around at the squiggles. He got up and stepped on a line. Toothless growled. Hiccup looked at him and took his foot off. The growl became a kind of purr. Testing a theory, he stepped on the line again. Toothless growled again. He stepped off. The growl became a purr. Then he stepped over the line. Still a purr.
Hiccup smiled and then began looking at the drawing. He found his feet not trying to step on any of the lines. Backing up a bit, he felt Toothless behind him. He turned around to face him. He reached out his hand. Toothless growled cautiously a bit. It made Hiccup hesitate. But, hanging his head down, and closing his eyes, he reached out. Toothless hesitated himself then... let his nose touch his palm.
Hiccup looked up at Toothless in wonder and amazement.
Then Toothless opened his eyes and shook it's head a bit as if he smelled something bad and ran off again. Well. He did touch a dead raw fish.
The teens and Gobber were having a sort of 'camp out' dinner on one of the boats. "In one twist, he took my hand, and swallowed it whole! And I saw the look in his face. I was delicious! He must have past the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg!" finished Gobber. He'd obviously just told the story of how he'd lost his hand to a dragon. There were a few 'wow's and 'ooooh's. "Isn't weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside! By, crushing it's heart, or something!" said Fishlegs. A few of the teens gave him a weird look. "I swear I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand, and your beautiful foot! I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight! With my face." said Snotlout.
"Mm mm. No, it's the wings and tails you really want. If it can't fly. It can't get away. A downed dragon, is a dead dragon." said Gobber. That made Hiccup think. Gobber yawned. "Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys! Slowly, but surely, making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare!" he said. The teens got excited, well, except for Hiccup.
"But, who will win the honour, of killing?" asked Gobber.
"It's gonna be me! It's my destiny. See?" said Tuffnut. He lifted up his shirt. Fishlegs gasped. "Your mom let you get a tattoo?!" he said quietly. Hiccup took this chance to sneak away. "It's not a tattoo. It's a birth mark." he heard Tuffnut say.
"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before." said Ruffnut. Their voices were getting quieter for him to hear.
"Yes it was. You've just never seen the left side of me til now!" said Tuffnut. Almost, almost... gone. He couldn't hear them anymore. He knew they were still talking, but thankfully, not about him. They hadn't noticed his escape.
Camelot:
While walking through the woods, Merlin was about to take care of Arthur's wound, which had apparently gotten worse. Although, footsteps made them get down and hide. Knights of the kingdom walked by. They remained unnoticed. Merlin watched them until they were out of sight. "Arthur. Arthur... Arthur!" he whispered. Arthur had passed out because of his injury.
Just a little ways to go, and then Merlin had made it to the cave. He walked over the stones and the water of the shallow river. "Hello?" he called into the cave. He walked in. It was dark and slightly eery. He looked around hoping to find Balinor, when he was grabbed and held in a head lock. "What do you want here boy?" said a voice.
"My friend is sick and needs help!" said Merlin.
The man threw him down and Merlin turned to look at him. He couldn't really see him though, just his outline. Then Balinor stepped into the light. He had long unwashed hair, and a beard. "Show me boy." he said. Merlin stared at the man who might be his father.
"What are you waiting for boy fetch him!" said the man. That brought Merlin out of his state. He didn't say anything and went to get Arthur.
Once they had him lying down, the man began to tend to his wound. Merlin still didn't say anything as he watched. Then the man said something in another language. Or- was it a spell of some kind? Balinor turned and looked at him. "He needs rest." he said.
"Will he be alright?" Merlin finally said. The man looked at him. He nodded a bit. "By morning." he simply said. He walked past him. Merlin turned to look at him. "Thank you." he said.
After making dinner, the two men sat down to eat. In an awkward silence. Well, awkward for Merlin. "It's good." he said. Trying to start a conversation. Silence was not one of Merlin's favourite things. "How long have you lived here?" he asked.
"Few winters." the man answered. He wasn't much of a talker was he? "Must be hard." Merlin replied.
"Why are you here?" the man asked suddenly. Merlin hesitated before answering. "Just travelling." said Merlin. He went back to his dinner. Then he raised his head. "We're looking for someone." he said. "I was told, well, they said that he lived somewhere here around...a man. Named, Balinor." there was a pause between the two. "Never heard of him?" Merlin asked. "He was a Dragon Lord."
"He's passed on." said the man. Passed on? "You knew him?" Merlin asked.
"Who are you?" the man asked harshly.
"I'm...Merlin." he stammered.
The man stared at him, his expression unchanging from his question. He then turned and gestured to Arthur. "Him?" he asked expectantly.
"He's my master." said Merlin.
"His name." the man said loudly.
"His, name is...Lancelot. He's a knight. You know a nice one." Merlin lied. He was never good at lying. He prayed that the man didn't see through it. Then the man leaned in. "His name. Is Arthur Pendragon." he said. "He is Uther's son."
"Yes." said Merlin.
"This is Cenred's kingdom. He's asking for trouble. What do you want from me?" said the man.
"Are you Balinor." said Merlin.
The man went to his dinner, ignoring the question. Merlin couldn't take it anymore. "The Great Dragon is attacking Camelot." he said. The man looked at him. "His name is Kilgarrah." he said.
"We can't stop him. Only you, a Dragon Lord, can." said Merlin.
"He doesn't act blindly." said Balinor. "He kills for a reason. Vengeance. This is of Uther's making."
"He's killing innocent people. Women and children-"
"Uther pursued me! He hunted me like an animal!"
"I know."
"What do you know about anybody's life boy!" said Balinor. He stood up. "Uther asked me to use my power to bring the last dragon to Camelot. He said he wanted to make peace with it. But he did not! He lied to me! He betrayed me! You want me to protect this man."
"I want you to protect Camelot."
"He killed every one of my kind!" said Balinor. "I alone escaped!"
"Where did you go?" asked Merlin. He had to know for certain, if this was indeed Balinor. Balinor hesitated. "It was a place called Ealdor." he said.
"Yes." said Merlin.
Balinor nodded. "I had a life there. A woman. A good woman. Ealdor is beyond Uther's realm. But still he pursued me. Why would he not let me be? What was it that I had done? That he wanted to destroy the life I'd built! Abandon the woman I loved! He sent knights to kill me. I was forced to come here, to this! I understand how Kilgarrah feels. He's lost everyone of his kind. Everyone of kin. You want to know how that feels? Look around boy. Let Uther die. Let Camelot fall." finished Balinor.
"You never wanted Camelot to die." said Merlin. He felt like crying, but he couldn't. "Why should I care?" asked Balinor. Merlin swallowed. "What if one of them was your son?" he asked.
"I don't have one." said Balinor.
"If I told you-" Merlin was interrupted suddenly by Arthur. "Merlin." he said, he was still unconscious. He coughed a bit. "Merlin..." Merlin didn't say anything more.
The next morning, Merlin sat on a rock and eyed Balinor who was standing a ways away. His thoughts were interrupted.
"I feel great! What the hell did you give me?" said a cheerful voice. Merlin turned to see Arthur walk out of the cave. "It was all thanks, to Balinor." said Merlin. Arthur walked down and stood next to him. "So you've found him then? Thank heaven for that!" said Arthur. Merlin had to admit that having him this cheerful at a time like this was a bit annoying. "Doesn't mean he's willing to help." Merlin said. He knew that Balinor could hear them. Arthur looked at him. "What?" he said. Merlin, still looking at Balinor, shook his head. "You won't pursued him."
Arthur looked at Balinor. "Dow he know what's at stake?" he asked. Merlin nodded. There was a pause. "What kind of a man is he?" he asked.
"I don't know. I thought he'd be something more." Merlin said more quietly.
Berk:
He'd suddenly had a great idea for Toothless. He would make a sort of prosthetic tail. He instantly got to work once he got to the weaponry. Moulding, burning, shaping, thinking, and finally- creating. In no time, okay, in almost a full night, it was done. The prosthetic tail.
Hiccup folded the tail up and headed out to Toothless.
"Hey Tooooothlesss." he called. He spoke as his he had a birthday present or something. Which it might just be. Well, since when do they know when dragons are born unless they witnessed it? He also brought a barrel full of fish. A distraction. He walked up to Toothless who was indeed, curious. He set down the barrel and tipped it over. The slimy fish made a gross noise as they hit the ground. "Ugh. Okay, that's disgusting. Uh, we got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel." said Hiccup. Toothless growled and lowered it's head in disgust at the sound of 'eel'.
Hiccup noticed and picked it up. Toothless growled more in disgust and spread it's wings and made a face. "No! No, no, no, no, no! It's okay!" he said, tossing it aside farther away from them. "Yeah I don't really like eel much either." he finished, wiping his hand on his shirt.
Toothless then began to dig in. Hiccup began to step behind the dragon. "That's it. That's it, that's it. Just, uh, eh don't you mind me. I'll be back here...minding my own business. He bent down and lowered the tail towards Toothless' tail. Once the end touched the dragon's tale slightly, it moved farther away. Hiccup glanced up at Toothless who was still enjoying the fish.
It turned out to be more of a hassle than he thought. The dragon's tail kept moving! "Ah, uh, it's okay! It's- gh! Ah! Grah!" Hiccup said whilst trying to hold the tail steady. Suddenly, Toothless ducked his head into the barrel, causing him and his tail to move forward. Also knocking Hiccup slightly. "Duwah!" he said in surprise.
Giving up on that approach, he then sat on Toothless' tail. He began to attach the prosthetic tail. Unbeknownst to Hiccup, Toothless noticed something being attached. He straightened up. With Hiccup still not noticing, he spread his wings.
Hiccup sat more up right feeling accomplished. "Hm. There. Alright, it's not that bad, it works- it- whoa! Whoa! Whoooooaaaaaah!" he screamed for his life as the dragon, without warning, took off! With Hiccup obviously still on his tail. The prosthetic tail folded up and they began to fall, but Hiccup spread it out. They flew straight upwards! "Oh my- it's working! It's working!" shouted Hiccup with joy.
Toothless did a quick dive and skimmed the top of the ocean for a bit. They flew over the lake in the cavern. "Yes. Yes! I did it!" screamed Hiccup. Toothless looked back and finally noticed him on his tail. Deciding he didn't need a rider, he flung Hiccup off into the lake. Feeling the tail fold up, he roared in frustration realising that he might actually need... ugh, a rider. He then fell into the lake himself.
"Yyyeaaah!" cheered Hiccup.
"Today, is about teamwork! Now, a wet dragon head, can't light it's fire. The hideous Zippleback, is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head, lights. Your job is to know which is which." Gobber explained as the dragon had entered the arena, spreading dirt and smoke every which way blinding them. "Razor sharp serrated teeth, that injects venom, for predigestion. For it's ambush attack, shoots victims-" Fishlegs started whispering.
"Will you please stop that?!" whispered Hiccup from behind him. The group had split in teams of two. Hiccup with Fishlegs, Astrid and Ruffnut, and Tuffnut and Snotlout.
"If that dragon, shows either of his faces, I gonna- THERE!" shouted Snotlout. The two boys threw his water at the shadow. But then he heard higher pitched gasps. "Hey! It's us idiots!" shouted Ruffnut.
"Your buts are getting bigger. We thought you were a dragon! He-he-he-he-he..." said Tuffnut. Snotlout interjected. "Not that there's anything wrong with, a dragon-esc figure- Awh!" he screamed as Astrid ran up and punched him the face. The angle of the punch made Snotlout fling his water bucket at Tuffnut's head.
Suddenly the boys disappeared into the fog. Ruffnut stepped forward. "Wait." said Astrid. They could hear the screams of the two boys from all over. "Whaaoh!" screamed the girls as they were suddenly lifted off the ground by the Zippleback's tail. Tuffnut and Snotlout came running past them. Still screaming. "Oh, oh! I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" cried Tuffnut as he ran past Hiccup and Fishlegs.
"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..." Fishlegs whispered nervously. One of the heads appeared out of the smoke and swerved over to him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa- ha!" he threw his bucket of water at the beast. It did nothing, but the head drew up... gas. "Oh heh. Wrong head." said Fishlegs. The dragon spewed it's gas and Fishlegs ran screaming. "Fishlegs!" screamed Gobber.
Hiccup was the only one left with water. Great. Of course it would be him. Just then, the other head, the flame one, appeared. It was getting ready to spark. "Now Hiccup!" called Gobber. Hiccup threw the water, but the water lamely didn't get far. "Oh come on." sighed Hiccup. The fire head began threatening him. Hiccup dropped the bucket and stumbled backwards as it came forwards. "Hiccup!" called Gobber.
But, to Gobber's amazement, Hiccup slowly stood up and the dragon backed down! "Back, back! Back... now-now don't you make me tell you again! Yes that's right! Back, into your cage! Now think about what you've done." Hiccup said, mainly so everyone could hear. The dragon backed into it's cage. It could smell it. Hiccup knew it would work. Luckily his theory so far was correct. Not too many dragons liked eel.
He slowly, removed the eel off of his shoulder, but had it hidden from the others. He tossed it in the cage just before he closed the doors. Hiccup wiped his hands on his shirt as he turned to face the group. No one said anything. But, needless to say- their faces were priceless! "Okay! So, are we done? Cause I've got some things I need to...uh... yep! I'll see- see ya tomorrow!" Hiccup called as he ran out of there.
Hiccup had just had another great idea. A saddle! Once he made it, he went straight to Toothless. It took a while to get it on him though. Hiccup wasn't sure if he was just playing, or if he really wasn't sure about the saddle. But, after a while, he was on him.
They started out fine. The feeling was amazing! It seemed to work... until Hiccup fell off. Toothless went the other way. Back to the drawing board. The second time was also fine, you know at first. Then they crash landed with Hiccup flying forwards into a grassy field. The grass being nearly taller than him. He ran back to Toothless to make sure that he was okay. He seemed fine. For the fact that he was rolling around in it. As happy as ever. Hiccup took a bundle of the grass.
In the arena, the Gronkle had just head-butted one of the boys. Hiccup was actually ready this time. The Gronkle came for him. He held out the grass and scratched the Gronkle's nose making it go down. The people of the town, including the elder, the one who got to choose the winner, had come to watch. Hiccup's sudden turn of events had them all curious.
Afterwards, the gang had Hiccup surrounded like he was the main attraction. "Aww, I-I left my axe back at the ring. Uh, y-you guys go ahead- I'll catch up." he didn't let Astrid speak and stall him.
The eel, grass, and apparently scratching. Just as one would with a farm animal. Dragons too seemed to like it. Well, Toothless did anyways. Once Hiccup had hit a certain spot under it's neck, the dragon was practically down. Same with the Deadly Nadder in the arena. Thankfully too because Astrid was ready and it seemed as though she was getting fed up with losing the dragon to him.
While having a meal in the hall, being surrounded by fans made it hard to eat. So, Hiccup stood up and sat at another table. No luck of being alone. The people followed. Well, all except Astrid.
Later that evening, with Toothless, Hiccup had another idea. Light spots. He held some metal that reflected the sun's light on to the ground. It had caught the Night Fury's attention. The light seemed to be darting around. It made him curious.
"Alright, meet, the Terrible Terror!" said Gobber, he opened the cage. Out stepped... the smallest dragon you'd ever see. "Ha! It's like the size of my- aaah!" the Terror attacked Tuffnut in the face. The crowd gasped. Then the Terror bit his nose. "Oh! I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" he seemed to be in too much pain to notice Hiccup guiding the Terror with the light spot. The mirror hidden behind his shield. "Wow. He's better than you ever were!" he heard Tuffnut say.
In the woods, Hiccup froze in his spot as he heard the angered sounds of Astrid, her axe, and cut trees. He looked over and saw that she was right there. Her axe ready. Luckily, she saw him. Or maybe it wasn't lucky. He quickly ran out of there, and lost her.
He'd made a new tail, and tied themselves down with a long rope to a stump. It worked! They landed swiftly.
Hiccup made some newer arrangements with it, and tried it again. This time, the rope accidentally snapped making them fly backwards. "Whooa!" cried Hiccup. Suddenly, he found himself getting lifted awkwardly from the ground by his side. His leather rope had gotten tangled. Him and Toothless were stuck together. "Oh great." he sighed. This would take some time. Not to mention tools.
"Hiccup." said a viking as he walked past him standing in front of a doorway. "Phew. Not obvious that I'm hiding a Night Fury." he thought. In the weaponry, he and Toothless carefully, okay, tried to carefully walk through to what he needed. They accidentally crashed into a few things. Then he heard a knock on the door.
"Hiccup, are you in there?" he heard Astrid ask. "Oh man. Astrid. Why you?!" he thought. He didn't have much time for a plan, so he just hid Toothless behind the door like before. "Astrid! Uh, hi. Uh- hey! Hi Astrid...what uh-"
"I normally don't care what people do. But you're acting weird!" said Astrid. Hiccup suddenly jolted back a bit. Then laughed awkwardly. "Well. Weirder." she finished.
Hiccup seemed as though he was trying not to get pulled back. Then he did. Astrid darted forward, but lost them. Again!
Camelot:
Meanwhile, back at Camelot, the aftermath of that night was horrible. Gwen stared out from a bridge that went over a town walkway. She could see the pain in people's eyes, and that pain filled up in her. As well as something else...the missing Morgana. What had happened to her? She was here, and suddenly she wasn't. It was like she had left with the Doctor or something. But she couldn't have. Rose was still here, and speaking of whom, she was helping putting out fires and such. Gwen was caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear Gaius coming. She glanced at him, startled, and looked back at the scene.
"Missing Morgana?" he asked. He knew her too well. She smiled at that thought. "She's stronger than people think. I believe that where ever she is, she'll be alright." said Gaius. He always knew what to say to comfort people as well. "And Arthur?" she found herself saying. She didn't know where that though came. But, it'd be nice to know. "Care a lot for him, don't you?" responded Gaius. She supposed she did. Yes. She did. She smiled at Gaius. "Everyone does." she covered. It wasn't like she cared more or anything. Right? Right. She knew they were friends. Just friends.
"I think he cares the same way about you." said Gaius. Gwen looked at him, then glanced down sheepishly. "It's alright. I won't tell anyone." he said reassuringly. Gwen smiled. "You know it can never be." she said quietly.
"Oh... the world's a strange place Guinevere. Never underestimate the power of love." said Gaius. "I've seen it change many things."
Berk:
Stoik and the men had returned to Berk. With a hole in their sail. "I trust you've found the nest at least." said Gobber to Stoik. Stoik sighed. "Not even close." he said.
"Oh. Next time." said Gobber.
"I hope you had a little more success than me."
"Well, if by success you mean that your parenting troubles are over with then- yes." said Gobber. Stoik looked at him in amazement. "Congratulations Stoik! Everyone sooo relieved!" said a towns woman.
"Out with the old and in with the new right!" said man.
"No one'll miss that old nuisance!"
"The village is throwin' a party to celebrate!"
Stoik looked at Gobber. "He's gone?" he asked, worried.
"Um, yeah... most afternoons. But, who can blame him? I mean the life of a celebrity can be very rough. He can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by his new fans." said Gobber.
Stoik stopped walking. "Hiccup?" he asked. Gobber turned around. "Who would've thought it eh? He has this... way with the beasts!" he said. Stoik stared in amazement.
"Okay there bud. We're gonna take this nice and slow. Okay, okay oh, here we go. Position-three. No! Four!" said Hiccup. He steered his new saddle. They flew a little ways turning a bit. "Okay. Okay it's go time." Hiccup said quietly. They dove down and skimmed the ocean's surface. "Come on, come on buddy!" said Hiccup.
They swerved threw some tall stones sticking up from the ocean. "Yes! It worked!" said Hiccup. He tried to steer right, but hit the side of one of the stones. "Sorry!" said Hiccup. He got ready again. He pulled up. The dragon hit another stone. "That was my fault." said Hiccup. Toothless growled. "Yeah, yeah I'm on it. Uh, position four. Uh, three." Hiccup said. He flew them upwards amongst the clouds. "Yes! Yeah! Oh this is amazing!" he shouted. "The wind in my- CHEAT SHEET! Stoooop!" his cheat sheet fell from it's position, as did he while reaching for it. Him and Toothless began falling. "Oh gosh! Oh gods! Oh no! Okay, okay, y-you gotta kinda- angle yourself! Okay no, no, no, no! Now come back towards me. Come back and- owch!" Hiccup yelled as Toothless' tail hit him in the face knocking him more away from him.
Falling fast, Hiccup was soon just in reach of the saddle. If he could just... got it! He was on! But they were still falling as fast as ever. He'd also managed to grab his cheat sheet along the way too. They managed to glide just in time before they hit the tree tops. Man what a rush! As they began to slow, they found themselves swerving through more rocks. Soon they came clear and were slow enough to start breathing again. After catching his breath, Hiccup cheered. "Yeeeaaah!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. This got Toothless excited and he shot a blast of flame ahead of them. Hiccup's cheer soon became a moan. "Come on!" he said as they past threw the flames.
Back on land, Toothless seemed to be fine after the fireball incident. Hiccup however- was a bit burnt... and he had a new hair due. Not that he liked it. Toothless coughed up the head of a fish for him. "Um, no thanks. I'm good." said Hiccup. Toothless looked at him, then the fish as if he were confused as to why he wouldn't want it.
Just then, a few Terrible Terrors came. They seemed to only be after the fish though. Toothless was hostile. He guarded his fish. Although, one seemed to have found them without him noticing. The Terror had one in it's mouth, but Toothless grabbed it and swallowed. Then he... laughed? Well, it that's what it sounded like. The Terror was angry and got ready to shoot. Then Toothless shot a little of his fire into it's mouth. The dragon went down and walked sadly away.
"Not so fireproof on the inside are you?" Hiccup said quietly. "Here you go." he tossed the poor guy a small fish. He gobbled it up happily. Then he crawled over and nuzzled against Hiccup and it slept. Hiccup stared. "Everything we know about you guys... is wrong." he said.
A/N: Yay! First chapter! Well? What do ya think? R & R please! Yes, yes, the Doctor and them weren't in this chapter. Don't worry though! You'll see them! I couldn't exactly figure out a good way to include them so I went with this idea... :D Suggestions for who they crossover to are accepted by the way! Sorry for the wait!
