Author's Note: So yeah, How to Train Your Dragon was an AMAZING movie, and I might be seeing it a third time! :) Now, you know how you always feel empty after a movie ends, like you're left wanting more? Well, I like writing about what happens afterwards, and that's what I'm gonna do with this fic!
STORY: Berk has finally become a peaceful town now that the feud between vikings and dragons has been tamed. Of course, how "peaceful" can it be when you live with such rambunctious creatures?? Now Hiccup and Toothless will be facing each coming day with new trials and new surprises. Follow along and see where their new adventures will take them!
RATING: K → T (There'll be some blood and mild violence, but nothing too extravagant).
~:~See You Tomorrow~:~
~:~
Chapter 1: A New Challenge
"Hiccup! You got that latch ready yet?" Gobber called from the front window of his blacksmith shop.
"One moment!" The young apprentice finished polishing the metal contraption with a special wax to keep it from rusting too quickly, then brought it over to the patiently waiting customer. "Here ya go! Good as new."
"Aye, thank you Hiccup. Gobber." The burly viking nodded his appreciation at both of them and left to finish constructing the rest of his saddle.
"Well done, me boy! That's 67 repairs this week. We never used to get this much business before we started training dragons." Gobber started putting tools away since their lunch break was close at hand. Hiccup helped out by sweeping the floor. "Although, I must say, with you teaching me how to make all this fancy new equipment, I feel like our roles have reversed." He let out a hardy laugh.
Hiccup, being the humble boy he's always been, replied sheepishly, "Aw gee, Gobber. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a nut and a bolt." Hiccup paused and leaned on the broom's handle to relieve some weight off his prosthetic leg. "And, well, it's probably a little late to say this, but thanks. You know... for everything."
The large viking, even though he didn't look it, was equally modest when it came to receiving praise. "Oh lad... you don't have to thank me." He smiled, some tears coming to his eyes which he tried desperately to hide by pretending something got stuck in them. "You've been a great apprentice, Hiccup. I can hardly be given credit for all the things you've done for us. You should be proud!" He places a gruff hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know I am."
Hiccup smiled back, feeling that this might've been the first time he and Gobber had shared such a mutual bond between them.
It didn't stay that way for long though as the misty-eyed viking cleared his throat to regain his composure and shooed the boy off in the direction of the door.
"Now, off with ya! I'll finish cleanin' up here. You go put some meat on those bones of yours."
Hiccup opened the back door and, before he had a chance to reply, was surrounded by a group of girls, all about 5 to 6 years younger than him.
"Hi Hiccup!"
"Work hard today?"
"Wanna hang out with us?"
"Tell us about the time you defeated that huge dragon!"
This had been happening rather frequently. Ever since Hiccup had vanquished the Red Death, his notoriety had skyrocketed and he'd gained numerous fans, including his own personal "Hiccup Club". Frankly, having gotten used to melding into the shadows of his fellow vikings, Hiccup wasn't so sure he could handle this much attention all at once!
Nonetheless, he tried to be as polite as possible when turning their offers down. After all, he did have a girlfriend. Hiccup relished at the thought of simply being able to have that thought.
"Err, sorry ladies! It's kind of my lunch time and I need to, like, go and... you know, eat some... lunch." He tried to squirm his way in between the girls, but only ended up tangling himself further within their grasp as they started closing in on him.
Hiccup panicked while being pushed back against the wall. Although he needn't call upon their god of war for help against these girls, there were times when it seemed necessary.
'Oh Odin, help me.'
A guttural roar came from above and in a split second Toothless had landed gracefully next to the kids.
'That'll do.' The boy shrugged to himself.
"Hey there bud!" Toothless' throat rumbled happily. It had only been a few hours that he hadn't seen his friend, but even that was too long. Hiccup left the crowd of girls who were now in a stupor and mounted the Night Fury quickly.
"Well, uhh, see you girls later!" Without having to tell Toothless what to do, the dragon leapt off with Hiccup in tow. A mixture of excited squeals and sad groans emitted from behind them, which in turn made Toothless rather smug at the fact that Hiccup was now his for the time being.
"Phew! Thanks Toothless. I thought I'd have to tell Gobber I wouldn't be able to make it back." He patted the side of his dragon's neck and it responded with a croon. "Well, whaddya say? You hungry?" The only answer he got was a hasty acceleration towards the mess hall, nearly making him fall backwards. "Yeah, me too, buddy." Hiccup laughed.
When the two arrived, Toothless carefully let Hiccup off and became his support while the boy tried to steady himself.
It had been about a month since he's lost his leg, but it was still difficult getting used to the mechanical contraption that kept him a living, moving part of society. He'd been meaning to make a few adjustments, for it lacked the amount of flexibility he needed to be able to act quickly in case of an emergency (although the number of those had gone down significantly since his rise to fame).
Loosing a leg wasn't the only change in Berk lately. Business had been booming! It wasn't every day that you had to sharpen swords or repair cracks in hammers since dragons didn't usually come out as much during their 9 months of winter, but now that the beasts were a part of the family and almost every viking had their own to train, the equipment wouldn't hold up too well with the inexperienced. Needless to say, stuff broke. A lot.
Hiccup was about to step through the mess hall doors when he felt a familiar nudge at his side. He turned around to see the Night Fury wearing a pair of glistening eyes.
"No, no Toothless. You know that all dragons have to eat outside. You guys can be pretty messy you know! Not to mention the mysterious disappearing of people's food on their plates when our backs are turned." Hiccup eyed the dragon accusingly. Toothless' innocent act was pretty affective sometimes, but too many of these particular incidents had hardened Hiccup's resolve on this issue. The dragon's ears and tail drooped.
"Kjötvi has some fish for you guys in the back. I'll be out as soon as I'm done eating, okay?"
Toothless wanted so badly to follow Hiccup. But, like always, he knew he'd be back just like he said and decided to follow orders.
Around the other side of the mess hall was a door that led to the cook's kitchen, and outside of it stood a crowd of dragons waiting for their meals. Kjötvi burst through, carrying a large barrel of what smelled like raw fish in his strong arms. His equally strong voice boomed loud enough for each dragon to hear him.
"Alright! I've got some nice selections of flounder and karp today! Hope you all have a big appetite!" The creature's mouths were seeping drool like a bunch of babbling brooks. "Ha ha! I thought so. We'll do this in an orderly fashion, as usual. Now... Upsy daisy!" The viking inharmoniously threw the barrel into the air and watched as each dragon attempted to grab it.
So much for "orderly fashion".
Tuffnut and Ruffnut's Zippleback, having two heads and twice the advantage, was able to claim the first meal and fly off before any of the others tried stealing their prize. Next, Snotlout's Nightmare snatched the second barrel away from the Deadly Nadder's awaiting mouth. A dragon and its trainer become very much like each other as time goes by, because the angry blue dragon snapped at the Nightmare's hind quarters and caused it to yelp and drop the barrel of fish, giving the Nadder its chance to take back its food and run off.
"And that's what ya deserve ya greedy thing!" Kjötvi scolded him.
Once the Nightmare, Fishlegs' Gronckle, and a few other dragons had received their share, Toothless made his way around the corner, just as eager to get some food in his stomach.
Kjötvi saw the black beast and sported a large grin. "Toothless! I was wonderin' where you been. I got one barrel o' fish with your name on it." The cook, instead of throwing the barrel in the air, simply pushed it towards the dragon. For Kjötvi, smaller crowds meant less back aches.
Toothless gratefully sunk his jaws into the woven barrel and spilled its contents onto the grass. After smelling it to make sure no eels accidentally made their way into the fray, he grabbed the first fish, flicked it into the air, and let it slide down his throat.
Kjötvi laughed and picked up the battered and empty barrel. "Enjoy, ol' boy! Tell Hiccup I say hello." The viking lumbered back into the kitchen and closed the door.
As the Night Fury sat eating his fish, a few Terrible Terrors came scurrying up out of nowhere, intent on stealing some of his food. Growling at them never seemed to work, and Toothless was too busy trying to keep his fish in a tight pile to chase the little scavengers away. In the end, the black dragon sighed and threw a single fish out for the scaly buzzards and watched them scramble to get it. One of the Terrors burped a puff of fire, shook his head, and went back to eating. Rolling his neon green eyes, Toothless continued devouring his meal in peace.
Meanwhile, Hiccup was sitting at the usual table where all the young vikings dwelled. He was working on a hefty piece of meat, unsuccessful at tearing even the thinnest strip of skin off. All this amazing hero stuff and you'd think he'd magically grow some stronger bones or something. Across from him the Thorston twins were gabbing about random topics.
"Dude, dude! I totally heard my dragon say something to me today, I swear!" Tuffnut exclaimed.
"Yeah, right. If it did, then why didn't I hear it? Your dragon is attached to mine." His sister Ruffnut scoffed.
"No seriously! I saw his mouth moving, and like, words came out of it and stuff." The longhaired blonde explained the phenomenon as if it were the eighth wonder of the world.
Ruffnut challenged her brother. "Oh yeah? What did it say?"
"Well, uh... it said something like, 'Arrroooghhaaarooorraawwrr'."
He then received a clean smack to the head.
"You idiot! Your dragon is just trying to do an impression of you!" Ruffnut chuckled at her own joke.
"Uh, I think I'd know if my dragon spoke to me or not, stupid!" He bashed his helmet up against hers.
Ruffnut pushed back just as hard. "Don't be so full of yourself, DIMWIT!"
"FATTY!"
"SNUB NOSE!!"
Like always, the others ignored their constant bickering and were talking amongst themselves, but Snotlout was mildly interested in what Tuffnut had mentioned.
"Hey, wouldn't it be cool if dragons actually did talk? We could understand them so much better than we do now!"
"I don't know." Hiccup shrugged, finally ripping off some flesh from the turkey leg and chewing it slowly. "Dragons are pretty easy to understand once you've spent some time with them. Toothless, for example, when I first met him I had to kind of learn on the job what types of things he likes and doesn't like."
Snotlout huffed in reply. "Uh, yeah, but just in case you've forgotten, you've spent more time with dragons than us when you ran off right after dragon training to play with your little Night Fury!"
Fishlegs stepped in. "My Gronckle does this thing that involves ingesting food and then regurgitating it into my lap. Umm, is that important?"
"Oh, you're supposed to eat whatever he throws up. It's a sign of trust and friendship." Hiccup said like it was the most normal thing in the world while the others gagged.
"I think I just lost my appetite." Ruffnut pushed her plate away with the half eaten meat on it.
"HOW is eating a dragon's puke a sign of trust?" Snotlout cringed at the thought. "Please don't tell me that if I barf it back up my Nightmare will eat it again."
"Well, it's... it's complicated, okay? I didn't say understanding Toothless was an easy." The red head shrugged.
Astrid had finished her meal already, making Hiccup feel rather unmanly for a boyfriend. "You know, a lot of the people in town are having the same troubles every day. Maybe, since you know so much about how to train dragons, you could teach them?"
"......Huh?" Hiccup had a mouthful of turkey of which some was dangling from his lips as he stared at the girl, either from confusion at her suggestion, or from how beautiful her smile looked just now. He swallowed and coughed once. "You mean, like... train everyone on how to train?"
"Yeah." She answered nonchalantly. "That way we'd all spend less time arguing..." She glanced at the twins. "... and more time-"
"Being AWESOME." Snotlout cut in with a determined fist. Astrid shoved him away from her, for he was in desperate need of a bath.
Hiccup started to sweat in front of his peers. "Gee, guys, I don't know if I can, uhhh..." He scooted away nervously.
"Awww, c'mon man! You're, like, the dragon guru around here! Don't hold out on us!" Tuffnut put his hands on the table and inched closer, but Ruffnut interjected.
"Yeah, you're not the only one around here with a dragon anymore!"
Fishlegs was getting excited as well. "What if you wrote a book about it! It'd be like the new dragon book, except without the fear and terror!"
"Once again, I am LOVING this plan." Of course, Snotlout loved any plan that was in the majority.
"Well?"
Astrid's proposition had opened a box Hiccup hadn't even dreamed of touching yet. Becoming a trainer of dragon trainers?? There was no way he could muster up enough courage to publicly speak in front of his entire village! In fact, he almost wondered how this subject hadn't been brought up by someone like his father or the viking elder immediately after they had reached a healthy relationship with the dragons. But that was besides the point!
Through one of the high open windows of the mess hall, Hiccup saw a black blotch in the corner of his eye. Said blotch happened to be a flying Toothless who had finished his meal and was ready and rearing to go.
"Oh, would you look at the time! I gotta go back to the shop, you know, got a LOT of orders to fill. Soooo, I'll see you guys later then, k bye!" The boy gave Astrid a quick peck on the cheek, something he always did before parting ways with her, and ran out the doors, immediately hopping onto the Night Fury's back.
"Let's go, Toothless!"
Before anyone had the chance to stop them, the pair sprinted into town as if the Red Death had risen from hell itself.
Astrid watched as they disappeared through the cluster other buildings and sighed. She had thought the idea would prove to be greatly effective if carried out, but, knowing how shy Hiccup was, she didn't think he'd agree so easily. The egging on by their friends wasn't helping much either.
'Oh Hiccup. If only you could see how much you're still needed among our people.'
After a hard day at work, Hiccup returned home with Toothless. They were both pretty exhausted and felt a well deserved rest was in order. One of the bolts holding the bottom attachment to Hiccup's leg in place was coming loose and dealt the boy a bit of discomfort.
"Ngh." He tried twisted the piece back into its former position, but this only proved how much he needed a proper tool to do the job.
Toothless looked on with concern etched into his features. The Night Fury remembered how pained he was to find his human's left leg mauled after saving him from the Red Death's fiery aftermath. It was his fault after all that it ended up that way. When he saw Hiccup plummeting to where Toothless was unable to reach, the dragon thought of the only thing he could and latched onto the boy's scrawny leg with his sharp teeth before a single hair on his head was singed. He might've bitten harder than he should've because of the sheer panic of loosing his one and only friend. After Gobber inspected the leg back at Berk, he diagnosed that the puncture wounds would've healed properly, but it wasn't that nor the loss of blood that was the problem. Infection had already taken its course. A dragon's bite was able to cause rapid deterioration in its prey's flesh, which was no exception when it came to humans. If the wound had been treated sooner, then they might not have been left with the single option of cutting off the unsalvageable part of Hiccup's leg and fixing him up with a metal prosthetic one. Luckily, the artificial part of him stopped at the knee, in which everything above that had survived. Even so, Toothless felt guilty for days on end and pampered his friend as often as he could. What the dragon couldn't understand was how Hiccup had never once blamed for his loss. It was as if he knew how Toothless felt. Was there already that much of a connection between him and a human? Was he ever lucky that it was this boy that found him on the day he was shot down!
The sound of Hiccup's soothing voice brought Toothless back from his contemplations. "Don't worry, bud. I'll be fine. Nothing a little tweaking won't fix." He scratched behind his dragon's ear, receiving a pleased purr in return. The boy yawned and entered his house along with Toothless.
"Ah, Hiccup! I was wondering when you'd be home. It's kind of late, don't ya think?"
Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, was sitting at the dining table and rose when his son opend the door.
"Oh, hey dad. Yeah, Gobber and I had our hands full today. We closed up later than we wanted to."
"Ah, I see. I'm glad you've got a full load to work with then. How's the leg?" He always seemed to ask this nowadays.
"It just needs to be tightened a little. I might get started on another prosthetic leg soon, maybe something that I can actually run in."
"Good, good."
An awkward pause. It was a common occurrence between the two, but they were getting to understand each other as time went by.
"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something, son. But, if you're too tired we could just do this tomorrow, or..."
"Now is fine. I won't be going to bed right away. What's up?"
Toothless curled up near the fire, patiently waiting until they finished up their chat.
"You see, Hiccup, a lot of dragon owners in the village have been coming to me with problems relating to the creatures. There have been strange occurrences regarding their behavior lately, as well as this... thing they do with throwing up half of their meal...?"
"You have to eat it."
"What?"
"You have to eat what they throw up. It's a bonding thing."
Stoick gave his offspring an odd look and nearly shivered at the disgusting thought, but kept going so as not to break his concentration. "So, anyway, the village elders and I have been discussing these issues and figured that... well, since you've spent so much time with Toothless and other dragons that maybe you could help everyone out?"
Oh not this again.
"Erm, on second thought dad, I'm REALLY tired all of a sudden so I think I'll just go hit the sack, yup!"
"I'm serious, Hiccup." Darn it! Whenever he used that tone... "Your experience with them is far more extensive than any of ours. Yes, we vikings have been fighting dragons since the dawn of time, but training them? This is a whole new world for the rest of us, and we need your help." The red bearded man gained more confidence and approached his son upfront.
Hiccup sighed in exasperation and began pacing back and forth while talking. "Dad. I don't know if I'm ready for something like this. I've never had to talk to a large group of people before, let alone teach an entire village's population on how to train a dragon! I'm mess up, I'd get stage fright, I'd look like a total idiot in front of everyone. And I know that you know how nervous I get around too many people, so why would you even suggest I do this?"
Stoick placed both hands on Hiccup's shoulders and had the boy look at him straight in the eye.
"If you can take down a Night Fury, train it, and save our people from a dragon 10 times the normal size, I believe you can do anything you set your mind to. That's the way of a viking."
'I thought the way of a viking was "Kill. Eat. Sleep. Kill some more." '
But, despite his reluctance, Hiccup knew he wouldn't be able to win this argument, not when his father brought up "the way of the viking".
Taking a deep breath, the boy replied. "Okay. I'll do it." Shoulders slumping slightly.
"Good! You'll start teaching in a few days, 3 times a week in the Kill Arena." (The "Kill Arena" was currently being changed to a less intimidating name to calm the dragons). "You're doing the right thing, son. I know you'll do fine." Stoick nodded assuredly and grabbed something off the table behind them. "Here. I want you to have this. It's another memento from your mother."
'Oh god, please don't let it be made out of anything of, or pertaining to, her breasts.'
"It's her dagger from when she was your age. I noticed you've lost the one I gave you a while back."
"Oh." Hiccup said, relieved. He took the sheathed object in his hands and inspected the intricate engravings on the sides.
"Use it well."
"But, dad, I don't think I'll need this anymore since we're, you know, friends with the dragons and all."
"I never said you'd need it for dragon killing. There might be some tough situations you get into sometimes when neither I nor Toothless will be around. Just remember that you'll always have that blade as a fallback, okay? Promise me you'll always keep it with you."
Hiccup could tell this was a command, not a question. His father wanting him to carry some protection around was kind of understandable since he had almost lost him on more than one occasion, so what could Hiccup do other than say...
"Yes sir."
Maybe his father was right. It wasn't so bad to have something other than a dragon to protect yourself. After all, dragons weren't the only dangers they had had to worry themselves with in Berk, but those weren't often spoken of only because not many had traveled outside of Berk except by boat.
"Thanks dad." Hiccup smiled and slipped the knife into his belt.
"Aye. Now, off with ya. Don't want those dark circle under yer eyes getting' any bigger." Stoick joked.
"Ha! There's a chance that will most likely happen whether I want it to or not."
Toothless rose and passed Hiccup up the stairs. "Night, dad." He called down before he too retired into his room.
"G'night, son." Stoick smiled back and went to put out the fire.
In Hiccup's room, he had already screwed the loose bolt back into place, changed into his sleeping garments and settled himself into bed. He was going to stay up and make a blueprint for his new leg, but, after being fed so much information in one day, it was decided that sleep was more important.
"Man! I don't know about you Toothless, but I. Am. TIRED."
The dragon emitted a lazy vibrato, a sign that he agreed.
"Seems we've got a lot on our plate this next week, huh. You'll help me out, right?" As if comforting him, Toothless came over to Hiccup's bedside and laid his head down on the covers. The boy reached over and started stroking the Night Fury's brow. "I knew I could count on you."
After a few minutes of doting over his dragon, Toothless lifted his head and nuzzled his friend's face affectionately.
"Heh. You too, buddy." Hiccup returned the gesture and wrapped his arms around the creature's head. Toothless melted in his owner's warm embrace, thinking that he'd never get tired of this feeling.
With that, the two friends fell into a pleasant slumber with the weight of the world lifting off their shoulders.
Hiccup was falling.
But why?
Toothless was nowhere to be found. Only a stale darkness that seemed to stretch on until forever.
The boy had felt this kind of fear before. But from where? The air around him was getting hotter, and finally a light could be seen from below. Was it a way out? He could almost here his friends calling his name.
Far from it though.
A pit of fire awaited, and Hiccup could do nothing to stop himself from landing in it.
There was no way out of this. Toothless was stil missing. What had happened to him? Even now, when he was about to die a horrible death, Hiccup was worried for his faithful companion.
Then, not but a few inches away from him, his mother's dagger glistened. The fire fast approaching, Hiccup reached out and grasped the weapon in his sweaty palms.
After which his vision blurred, and consciousness had faded away.
Author's Note: WOOOAAAHHH WHAT'S GOIN' ON MAAANNN?! You'll have to be patient until I'm finished with the next chapter. ;) I pride myself with making the characters in my fics be IN character, so I hope I'm achieving that with this movie since I've only seen it twice so far. Bye for now!