Astrid ran, dodging trees, jumping rocks. He had a dragon. A dragon. As a pet. She sneered. So this was how he was getting so good in all his classes. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it sooner. All the tricks, all the lies. She exited the forest, and dashed to the Great Hall. She burst through the doors.
"STOICK!" she cried. The current meeting skid to a halt. Everyone stared at the wild-eyed teen.
"What is it, lass?" the red-haired chief replied, already worried. Not much could rile up Astrid.
"Hiccup-in the woods-dragon!" she panted.
"Hiccup's in danger?" He asked, standing up.
She looked at him gravely.
"He will be when you're finished with him. He has a-."
Hiccup saddled Toothless, trying to ignore the giant basket of fish currently leaking fish-juice onto his leg. He pats his side.
"You ready to leave and hopefully never have to come back?" He asked his friend. Toothless warbled. He spread his wings and shot into the air. Hiccup sighed as the wind ruffled his hair. They flew once over the village before realizing that it was a bad idea.
"There's one! Kill the beast!" Someone yelled. Hiccup groaned.
"Oh for the love of- Toothless, get us out of here!" He yelled as the catapults were loaded.
"There's something on it!" An unknown voice yelled.
"What is it?" Someone asked.
"It looks like a person!" Another one shrieked. Hiccup cursed and shifted his foot. The clip snapped into place, and the dragon and boy shot through the sky like an arrow.
"What's going on here?" Stoick asked as he ran into the village, the council and a young Hofferson at his side. The crowd parted as a villager stepped forwards.
"A dragon, sir. It was too high up to see what kind, but it was fast. We tried to attack, but it was long gone before we could. And…"
"And?" Stoick pressed on.
"It looked to have some kind of deformity. Something on it's back." He finished.
"Hiccup." Astrid breathed out. Stoick shot her a look.
"Hiccup? What is she talking about, Stoick?" Someone asked.
"Nothing of your concern. I need ten of our best fighters. Come with me, and young Astrid here. I would also like to see the new trainees come with us. Lead the way, Astrid."
Astrid silently led them through the forest, on the path she had spent weeks marking out.
They walked with their heads down, making sure they didn't trip, when Astrid walked into a low hanging branch. She recoiled, covering her eye, when the party behind her gasped. She looked up, and her mouth dropped.
"Whoa…" A large ditch was forcefully pushed into the ground, leaving broken trees and upturned earth everywhere. Astrid hopped down into it, and slid down the slight hill. The group followed her as she found the remnants of a ripped bola.
"This is where the beast was shot down." Stoick muttered.
"Uncle Stoick...do you remember when Hiccup was talking about shooting down a-..." Snotlout stopped talking at his uncle's face.
"It's not a Night Fury. How would Hiccup, the most useless Viking, be able to shoot down something that no one has ever killed?" Stoick said, destroying the rumors floating around in the group's head. Astrid said nothing, just continued on her way.
"This is it." Astrid said numbly as she showed them the Cove. Stoick sucked in a breath as he took everything in. The burn marks, the remnants of a fire, the littered pieces of fabric and metal. A shield and knife sat on a rock, and a clipping of long grass, an eel, and a pile of half eaten fish sat nearby.
"This is where it happened." Stoick said quietly, surveying the scene. He hopped down from the ledge, the group following his movements.
"He's… gone. Actually gone." Fishlegs said.
"I… I don't actually have a joke for this." Tuffnut said, staring around in awe and horror.
"So all this time, it was a dragon that was helping him for class?" Snotlout asked. Astrid didn't answer. She walked over to the place the dragon had burned the ground. There was a black scale lying on the ground. At a closer look, it wasn't all black, but was mixed with the darkest shade of blue, creating a moving, swirling effect when put in the sun. The blue turned neon under the setting suns shine.
"Beautiful." She whispered. The others didn't hear her.
"What do you think would've happened if Stoick had gotten to him before he left?" Fishlegs asked timidly.
"Arrested him and made him kill the dragon? That sounds like something Stoick would do." Ruffnut cackled.
"I know what I'd do in that position." Snotlout started, his voice talking an evil turn. "I would tackle Hiccup, and run a sword through the beast myself. I'd probably keep the head as a prize, to prove that I was the one to slay the mighty beast." He started.
"Hah! Knowing Hiccup, the dragon was only a Terrible Terror." Tuffnut laughed.
"You mean, the dragon that beat you senseless?" Fishlegs asked.
"Shut up Fishface. And you saw the size of the dragon. That had to be at least a Deadly Nadder."
"How'd Hiccup teach a Deadly Nadder not to eat him, then?"
"I don't know! I'm not friends with Hiccup or anything."
"You're his cousin."
"It's not like we hung out!" Snotlout said obviously. "Anyways, back to my story of how I'd handle the situation. I'd kill the dragon violently, yet awesomely. Then I would arrest Hiccup for treason, and use him as a dummy for the trainees." Snotlout laughed.
"Oh yeah! I would…"
No one noticed Astrid leaving, taking the scale with her.
"I wonder what kind of Dragon it was?" Fishlegs spoke up. She froze for a second before continuing home. She knew. But she wouldn't tell.
That night, Stoick cried for the first time since Valka died.
Hiccup soared over the ocean. He sighed happily. He could get used to this. The wind in his ears, his best friend at his side. Plenty of food. All in all, not bad.
"We should have done this a long time ago, bud. It would have been easier, and we wouldn't have been shot at. I'll miss Gobber, and my father. And… her. And my bed. And my shop. And the amazing metal. Ahhh, the metal. But first, we need to find shelter. An uninhabited island would be good." Toothless rumbled in response. They flew for what seemed like hours before Hiccup found what he was looking for. He veered Toothless left, flew towards the nearest island, and landed on the side farthest away from Berk. It wasn't a big island, about 40 acres. It looked uninhabited. Hiccup got off and looked over the cliff to a neighboring island.
"Hey bud, I think the Meathead Island is over to our right, and it's pretty close. We could go visit an old friend."
Toothless just looked at him.
"They don't kill dragons. But they don't ride them either. The heir to the throne is Thuggory, and he used to visit Berk when we were younger. He may react weirdly to you, but he's a really good friend to have if you're a traveler."
The dark-scaled dragon snorted.
He dismounted his dragon, and pulled a sword, newly made, from his bag. He pulled out an axe, some piles of cloth, rope and a bedroll.
"Get a fire going. I'm gonna make a hut." And he did just that. He collected some bamboo from the forest, and made a decent sized wall, around 10 feet long. He made another 10-foot wall, and two 20-foot walls, and stepped back to admire his work.
"Not bad. Help me up, so I can put the roof on." He stood on the Night Fury's head, placed rows of bamboo at a certain angle, and the hut was complete.
"One more thing. There was a lake that I saw when we got here. There's at least three hours of sunlight left. We should probably go check it out. Maybe get some fish and fresh water." He started to walk, but the dark dragon rumbled.
"No bud. We need to start moving. No flying. I need to get some muscle to survive the winter. Or I could become fat. But I'm too... lanky. So, muscle it is." Toothless grumbled, and hit him with an earflap, but walked anyways.
The woods were crawling with wild dragons, ranging from Skullions to Gronckles to Timberjacks. None of them bothered Hiccup though. They took one look at Toothless and backed off.
"I'm gonna bring you to my next party. Keep all the ladies away." He laughed at his own joke. Toothless whacked him in the head.
"Ow, fine, fine. I'll stop making bad jokes. And you know what? Now that I think about it, it's a shame that Gobber lost his hand. Would of come in handy!" This time, the ebony dragon hit him so hard he was knocked to the ground.
"OUCH! Geez, I didn't know Night Fury's had such a disliking to puns. Toothless, I thought you thought I was punny? Am I punny? Because I sure think I'm too punny for you-OW!" He clutched his hips, bending forwards as if to protect the spot between his legs.
"Toothless!" he squeaked. "No! Bad dragon, bad, bad, bad!" He fell to his knees. "Toothless, you hit like a bear. I can't bear the pain!" He laughed through his gasps of pain. Toothless gave him a look that read, 'Have you gone through enough pain, or do you need more for the message to sink in?' Hiccup stood up, still wincing.
"Fine. I'll stop. Oh, how I should have been a bread-making Viking." Toothless narrowed his eyes.
"But hey, my father was probably right. I wasn't bready for it!" Toothless growled at his horrible sense of humor.
"C'mon Toothy, at yeast let me tell you a better one!" Toothless completely ignored him now. Hiccup caught up the fast dragon, and turned to face him.
"Or maybe small home repair would have turned out better. But I guess at the end of the day, I would have been hammered from the drinking!" Hiccup burst into laughter as the Dragon rolled his eyes. He sighed and started to walk backwards so he could look Toothless in the eye.
"Considering we are supposed to find water, and we haven't found it ye-AHHH" He fell into a lake, cutting off his sentence. Toothless snorted as if to say 'Great, stupid human, you've contaminated the water." Hiccup spat out water as he came up, and face-palmed with a sigh.
"Hiccup, water you doing with your life?"
As Hiccup carried the heavy jugs of water back to camp, Toothless carried the light stick of fish. Hiccup groaned under the weight.
"Well, if I do this everyday, I'll pack on some muscle. I need to find wood planks to line the hut with. Inside and out, for the winter. Good insulation. And we will need metal to make lanterns, tools, and an anvil. Or I could get a big rock. But it may break. Anvil it is. We're going to need food. So a bow would be good. I'll need sheep for the string and clothes. I'll probably need to train more dragons for their abilities. Especially a Gronckle for the metal. But that will be easy. Maybe we can feed the Gronckle sandstone and it will give us glass. I could make some kind of spyglass/telescope thing so I can see incoming invaders. Maybe I will make a big version of it too. Ah, here we are. Home sweet Bamboo." He wobbled over to the hut and set the jugs down. He flexed his bicep and looked over at Toothless.
"Huh? Am I getting muscle already or what?" He gave him a sarcastic, toothless smile and relit the fire.
"Wow, I should never trust a dragon to be encouraging. Is there a sheep around? I need to skin one so I can make a bed." Toothless snorted in response, and gestured vaguely towards the forest. Hiccup saw a mother sheep and two babies grazing near the left side of the island. He picked up his metal scissors and calmly walked over towards her. He picked some grass, knelt near the family, and the mother cautiously approached him. She ate out of his hand as he snipped off her wool. He stood, and pat her head.
"Baaaa." She responded. The sheep's young baaed in response, and they trotted off into the woods. Hiccup piled the wool into his arms, tried not to sneeze as it went up his nose, and carried it over to his supplies.
"Toothless, no." He told the reptile as he inched toward Hiccup's fish. He wrinkled his nose and sulked away in response. Hiccup sat down and started to sew a mattress to put on his slab of wood.
Thuggory was going about his evening when he heard shouts from across the village.
"What's going on?" he asked The Hairy Scary Librarian from the Meathead tribe. The Librarian was a huge man, with size eighteen shoes.
"The watchman has spotted someone on the neighboring island of Dragons Edge."
"Is he a threat?" Thug asked.
"Not sure. Your father is considering sending you over for one of your initiation tests. If you survive, you pass."
"Thanks, Hairy." He walked through the crowd.
"Father, I accept the challenge. But first, what else do you see?" Thug asked.
"Tell him watchman." Mogadon the Meathead ordered.
"He just sheared a sheep, and has a fire. I see weapons, but the man seems to be scrawny. Not very Viking like."
"Thank you. Father, what are your orders?" Thug knelt.
"Thuggory, you will visit the neighboring island of Dragon's Edge. You will go in peace, but if things get Hairier than The Hairy Scary Librarian, you may attack. Get as much information as possible. See if he is a threat. He seems to be alone, but he may not be. Be careful son." Thug stood up, and went down to the docks.
The white peace flag was already raised. He sailed for what felt like forever. He had his favorite axe with him, and a basket of bread as an offering. No one attacked. He walked up the steep slopes, his axe strapped to his back. He reached the top, and saw the front of a small bamboo house. He walked around the house.
"Hello?" He called out. He heard growling that didn't sound human. He reached the back of the house. A scrawny male sat on the ground, sewing cloth together. He cleared his throat. The man jumped up, spinning around. Thug dropped the bread.
"Holy Thor! Thug? Is that you?" Hiccup Haddock said, eyes wide.
"Hiccup? What are you doing here?" Thug asked, hugging Hiccup tightly. Hiccup gasped.
"Breath. I need to breathe." He choked out. Thuggory put him down, dusting him off.
"Sorry. But what are you doing out here? You're days away from Berk." Thug told him.
"That's kinda the point." hiccup muttered to his very much taller, beefier friend. "I left. I'm done with Berk." He said. Something snarled behind Thug, and Hiccup's attention left him. He calmly waved behind Thug, who was searching for the culprit. "Toothless, calm down. This is Thug." He said, gesturing to the taller boy. Thug turned and yelped, fumbling for his axe. A large, dark dragon was creeping its way down the newly made home. His dark green eyes had slits for pupils as he studied Thuggory.
"Hiccup. What, is that?" Thug asked slowly, moving into a defensive position.
"Toothless. He's the reason I left Berk. A… A girl, she found where I was hiding him. She ran to tell everyone, but by then I was gone. Berk… well, you know they never treated me like home. So I left, and I'm much happier now." He said calmly, whilst petting the dragon's head.
"Why do you have a dragon?" Thug asked, eyes wide as Toothless saw the bread and licked his lips and wandered closer. Hiccup calmly took the bread from the hungry dragon, who sulked and slunk off.
"I… I shot him down, but when I found him, I couldn't kill him. I… I set him free, and he fled. I found him in a small, secretive cove near the back of the island. It was the perfect hiding spot. I came back every day after my dragon training classes to learn more. Then I thought about getting him to fly again. I made him a tail, then a saddle. We're the perfect team." He peered around Thug to look at the dragon sniffing his bottom. "Aren't we bud?" Thuggory yelped and jumped away.
"Toothless, give me a minute or two with Thug, okay? Go get a rabbit or two." The dragon huffed and stalked into the woods. Hiccup turned to Thug.
"Why are you here, Thug? I haven't seen you since Freya's Festival seven years ago."
"My dad's watchmen saw someone on Dragon's Edge, this island. He wanted me to check it out for part of my Initiation. If I came back alive, I would have passed."
Hiccup snorted. "Wow. Vikings suck. No offense."
"Um, I brought bread." He gestured to the basket Hiccup grinned.
"Perfect! Now I won't have to start a farm!" They laughed, knowing that Hiccup was the worst farmer.
"So, Astrid sold you in? That must suck." Thug leaned against the wall of his house. Hiccup blushed.
"How'd you know Astrid sold me in?" Hiccup asked.
"Two reasons. One, you're blushing. And two, you just told me."
"Loki's balls. I hate you." He grumbled as Thuggory laughed.
"Look, I'm not affiliated with her anymore. She ruined my safe, no one will know, run away plan."
"Okay okay. Snotlout still a jerk?"
"Yeah, but at least he isn't calling me Hiccup the Useless anymore. At least, not to my face. And the twins seem to hate me too. Fishlegs and I have drifted apart. He sided with them."
"Ah. Well, I have to get back before my Father kills me. What should I tell him I found?" He asked the auburn haired boy. He smiled.
"Just a traveler, someone who is going to settle down on this island. My name can be… Ryder."
"Very inconspicuous." Thug grinned. "Ryder the what? You need a title, and I can't say dragon trainer. My dad will freak."
"Ryder the…" Hiccup looked stumped.
"How about… Ryder the Dragon Conqueror."
"Why Dragon Conqueror?"
"It's not dragon rider, and you don't want to reveal that you train dragons, and Dragon Conqueror is confusing. It doesn't specify what you do with the dragons. Just that you conquer them. Maybe you kill them, maybe you destroy them, and maybe you train them. Not specific enough for anyone to figure it out."
"Good enough for me!" They shook hands, Toothless, (who had returned) licked Thugs face.
"Eugh, does this come out?" He asked Hiccup, who was laughing.
"No idea. See you Thuggory."
"Bye Ryder. Gotta get used to it." He explained at Hiccups confused face. He trudged down the cliff side.
"Well, now I have a secret identity. Let's get ready for the night. I have a feeling it's gonna be tough."