Hello everyone! Welcome to the Price of Victory! Now, I know you are shouting at me, "You already have HTTYD: Forging a Different Path to work on! Why start another one?!"
Well, my dear readers, I need a change of pace when I encounter a roadblock in writing the other story.
Now, with that said. I have spent the last half of 2018 working on this story's plot, and, I have almost completed the first arc plot-wise. (That's about ten chapters if everything goes as it should.)
I will be somewhat passive in updates of this story and I don't want anyone to bug me for updates.
This will follow the canon timeline of the entire franchise, except for the necessary plot changes that this story creates.
This story will be a bit more... dramatic. (Hopefully...)
Let's see if you can guess the plot after this chapter.
If, not. Well... I guess you'll have to wait and find out! XD
Also, thank you, Marcus S. Lazarus, and my new co-author for helping beta-reading this story and helping with its plot! (Co-author will be introduced next chapter, hopefully.)
Hope you enjoy it!
End of A/N
Astrid was starting to panic. As Hiccup was being pushed to the Great Hall by his father and Toothless being forcibly locked up in one of the cages, all the tribe members were becoming agitated.
The very thought of befriending a dragon was outlandish! But the Heir of the Chief doing it? It was unfathomable!
Why would he do such a thing? He was the one who got out during every raid in an attempt to slay a dragon. The very one who had won the honor to kill his first dragon! The tribe couldn't even begin to fathom his actions.
Astrid, however, had learned how it was possible. The night before, Hiccup had shown her the truth; how he had befriended the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself! A truth he had just attempted to show the entire tribe, right before their very eyes!
However, Stoick was quick to stop it and nearly got Hiccup killed in the process! Astrid was glad she intervened -to a degree- and save him from a horrible death. But truthfully, the credit belonged to Toothless; who had somehow heard Hiccup's distressed yell all the way from the cove. How he escaped the cove walls would remain a mystery, but when he came to Hiccup's rescue, it showed her the entire bond they shared. A bond where both would go a far as to die to protect the other. Something she wished she had.
At first, the thought frightened her. She was raised to hate and kill dragons! However, when Hiccup showed her on what she would consider a romantic ride -something she would never admit to anyone- her beliefs changed. Here was a dragon who was playful and had emotions like any other person! A dragon who rushed to protect Hiccup like he was one of his own.
Something the tribe and she herself had failed to do. But she was going to rectify that.
~Linebreak~
Stoick tosses Hiccup into the Great Hall, stewing over Hiccup's treasonous act. "I should have known. I should have seen the signs." He mutters under his breath and begins to pace the floor.
Hiccup tries to start explaining, "Dad."
Stoick isn't having it. "We had a deal!" He then pauses, wanting to say something more, but stops short. Snorting at whatever he was going to say, Stoick resumes pacing, repeating the cycle.
"I know we did… but that was before… ugh, it's all so messed up." Hiccup couldn't explain his actions, being too flustered.
"So everything I've heard about you in the ring is what? A trick? A lie?" Stoick stomps towards Hiccup, stopping in front of him and points in an accusing gesture, fighting back his words.
"I screwed up. I should have told you before now, but I didn't know how. So, take this out on me, be mad at me, but please… just don't hurt Toothless." Hiccup is desperate. He didn't want Toothless to face any consequences for his actions.
At hearing his son's plea, Stoick gets angry. "The dragon? That's what you're worried about, not the people you almost killed?!"
"He was protecting me! He thought you were going to hurt me! He's not dangerous!"
His words angered his father even more. "They've killed HUNDREDS OF US!"
Hiccup instantly throws back at him. "And we've killed THOUSANDS OF THEM! They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring back enough food, they become the food." After a beat, Hiccup continues, "This monster on the island is like no other dragon you've ever seen!" Stoick huffs, not listening to his son until he heard the word 'Island.'
"Their island?" Stoick again gets up close to Hiccup, pointing an accusing finger at him. "So you've been to the nest." He states as a fact.
Hiccup goes silent, cursing himself for his slip up. He did not want his father to consider going anywhere near the nest. No tribe could ever face the monstrosity that lived inside of the island.
His father then picks him up by his fur vest. "How did you find it?!"
Hiccup stays surprisingly calm, despite being held up in the air by his father. "I didn't find it. And I won't tell you how to find it. Because the answer has been in front of every chief of Berk for the last three hundred years!" Stoick is beyond infuriated at his words. "If you can't see it then you're blind to what's in front of you. I tried to show you the answer, the way to peace. But here you are, throwing it back in my face!"
Stoick throws Hiccup to the ground in anger. "You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking," He starts walking towards the doors. "And you are not my son!" Right as he gets ready to open the doors of the Great Hall, Hiccup speaks up, now getting back up from the ground. "You're right Stoick." These words make the Chief freeze mid-step. The anger in Hiccup's voice is very evident. "Because my father died when my mother; whose name I don't even know, did! Now, all I see is the empty shell of what was once a great Chief… a great father. The only thing left is a grieving Chief occupying my father's body." Every word strikes Stoick like a hammer hitting a stake through his heart. He takes a moment to recompose himself, before stepping outside; slamming the Great Hall doors shut.
The Chief again pauses in front of the now closed doors, not wanting to believe what had just transpired. After a minute he shakes his head, clearing his thoughts and gets a determined look on his face. He needs to figure out what his... No, what Hiccup was talking about.
In his mind, there was no way the answer has been in front of every Chief in Berk's history. He needed to find Fishlegs, someone who could figure out what Hiccup meant. Maybe a fresh perspective would help him end this war.
~Linebreak~
The other four teens came together after Hiccup's little show in the arena, with Snotlout gloating he knew Hiccup was a traitor all along.
The twins were talking animatedly about the explosions the black dragon created and admiring the damage it had created.
Fishlegs, on the other hand, was silent. He was trying to figure out why Hiccup had attempted to tame the Nightmare, and, at the same time; trying to figure out why the pitch-black dragon came and protected Hiccup from the Nightmare.
Fishlegs starts thinking out loud, "I wonder if Hiccup was trying to show us what we needed to find the nest?"
The twins and Snotlout look at him like he's crazy before the twins start fighting again over which was cooler, the explosions or the damage the opaque dragon caused. Snotlout is the first to speak up. "Why do you say that Fishlegs? What Useless did is traitorous. I mean, look at all the people that black dragon almost killed!"
"I know, but think about it. If we used a dragon, it's possible it could lead us to the nest."
At that moment Stoick appears seemingly out of nowhere. "What do you mean Fishlegs?" Stoick asks calmly.
"Oh," Fishlegs said, somewhat startled by the Chief's sudden appearance. "Well Chief, um, I was just thinking," he shifted around nervously, twiddling his fingers, "Nobody knows the dragon's nest better than a dragon, right? Uh, so if you could, I don't know, 'befriend' a dragon or something like that, maybe you could... find the nest?"
Stoick stood there for a minute, now understanding what Hiccup meant about the answer being in front of every Chief. The dragons were the answer as much as they were the problem. "I can't believe I never thought of that myself." He mutters to himself.
Then he looks to Fishlegs. "Which dragon do you recommend we take to lead us to the nest?"
Fishlegs thinks for a moment. "Well, there are three options; The Gronckle, the Nadder or the Terror. The easiest would be a Terrible Terror, due to its size. It would take nothing to restrain it."
"Thank you Fishlegs," Stoick commends Fishlegs, patting him warmly on the shoulder. "You've probably just helped end this war."
Fishlegs smiles, immensely happy to have received such praise from the chief.
The Chief walks away from the group of teens and quickly makes his way to the center of the village. "Ready the ships!" he bellows, calling all the villagers to arms.