So here we are starting off when the elder announced that Hiccup will have the honor off killing his first dragon in the ring and he has just left to get to Toothless.
'Bad, this is really bad' Hiccup thought thinking frantically, for all his life his life was relatively simple. Try to help as often as could but for some gods-only-know-why reason it would almost always backfire. A Vikings strength was his weakness, they were strong, team oriented, hardy people. None of which he was. And in a vice versa turn off events his strengths such as intelligence, creativity, and observation skills were all things most Vikings lacked with the exception of noble veterans like his father and Gobber, and even then they could not match him in that area. They knew how to destroy and kill, whereas he knew how to build and invent.
He was a prime example of an outcast in a Viking community he thought as he walked to the cove, but up until a few weeks ago he never did anything that could make him exiled, like harboring a live and extremely dangerous dragon less than three miles from the village. In fact the most dangerous of all dragons according to the manual, the elusive night fury.
The day he freed Toothless when he was at his mercy something changed within him that day, something he could never explain. The forests became more appealing to his eyes like never before and the village became more and more bleak as the days with toothless went by. Leading a double life. He has been really torn for the last few days, Toothless started off as a risky hobby he hoped to benefit from and his curiosity did nothing to help as he gained fame and prestige which quickly drowned his former notoriety.
He realized because of Toothless he could happily live in either world if he so wished, but now it was apparent. The time has come where he had to choose one over the other and live with the consequences.
The choice became more obvious with each passing hour, the Vikings would get along fine without him, Snotlout would no doubt become chief, with Astrid as his second in command and Fishlegs brains helping, they would survive without a doubt. But Toothless? He would not survive without Hiccup, and the thought of abandoning Toothless after all the bonding they shared rubbed Hiccup the wrong way.
He had made his choice, he was about at the point of no return, his gut was twisted uncomfortably but his resolve was firm. Hiccup walked into the cove with everything he thought he needed to survive, extra cloths, boots, eating wear, spare leather, his journals and some food as well as his dagger, some money he had made blacksmithing and a hatchet pushed through his belt. He had abandoned his fur vest in favor for his riding harness.
The cove he was in really had changed his life in ways he could have never thought possible, for better or worst he would soon see, it was just a shame he might never return to admire it again.
"Leaving, we're leaving. Let's pack up, you and I are taking a little vacation bud, forever." He said, knowing that wherever he was he knew the friendly reptile heard him. He set down the basket and opened it up, double checking all his gear was present and accounted for. Satisfied he turned his attention to his harness making sure all the straps were tight and wouldn't fail, when he heard the scraping of metal on stone. His heart froze.
He looked up to find Astrid, Berks former star pupil and protégé sitting on the boulder sharpening her axe, with the dying sun illuminating her making his former crush look like a valkery, and he knew she would not hesitate to draw his blood with the fearsome war axe. But he would rather it be his than Toothless.
"Oh u hi Astrid, hi Astrid, hi Astrid" he said quite lamely trying to quickly assess the situation while trying to find a way to escape with his hide intact.
"What are you doing here?" he tried
She admired her newly sharpened axe in the sunlight, satisfied with her work "I want to know what's going on." She said simply as she leapt off the boulder.
"Start talking, are you training with someone?" she asked as Hiccup started babbling hoping she might be satisfied with whatever came out of his mouth when she grabbed him by the harness "it had better not involve this" she said gesturing to the harness. When a strange sound caught her attention, not done with the lanky teen she tossed him to the ground to assess what so dared interrupt her long set aside chew-out.
She did not expect to see an unidentifiable black dragon walking towards her. While Hiccup was trying to appease her but admitting he was making outfits. She tackled him to the ground hoping he would stay put while she turned to engage the black beast as he closed in to fight.
Until Hiccup disarmed her and pushed to the ground confronting the dragon himself.
"Its ok Toothless, she's a friend" Hiccup said to the dragon trying to stop him from tearing the disarmed Astrid apart. Toothless was not a stupid reptile much to the common human belief and he knew that this blonde was in no way, shape or form a friend of any kind. But Hiccups underlying message was clear enough: do not decapitate yet. She had ten seconds to improve his mood.
Hiccup turned to Astrid while holding back Toothless. "You scared him." He tried to explain.
"I scared him?" she asked shocked by the thought that an adolescent teen girl could in any way be thought off a scary to a fast and fearsome dragon, then she asked a question that burned in her mind like white fire after repeating that last sentence again in her head.
"Who is him?" she asked, already knowing the answer
For a teen stuck between a warrior and a dragon he seemed quite calm and almost seeming more shy than afraid. "Uh… Astrid, Toothless, Toothless, meet Astrid" the boy gestured to the dragon, as he snarled showing his razor sharp dagger like teeth.
All these things were going through her head, Hiccup was better at dealing with dragons than her, he had a pet dragon, and the dragon had an ironic name that made no sense. This past month made no sense, she came here to set things straight and set her world back in order. But this was a bigger conspiracy than she could have ever imagined, this required someone with more power and influence than her, she set off to inform the chief.
Hiccup fully assessed the situation in point five seconds and in his usual witty way he summed it up for everyone present to hear
"Dut-da-da, we're dead" he deadpanned as Toothless snorted at the approval of the leaving female even if she had just shot whatever life Hiccup had here in Berk to hell, that meant Hiccup would be spending more time with him. The possessive night fury very much approved the current situation and decided to celebrate with a nice nap in the sun until the time came when the Vikings would flood the cove. This was the perhaps the best day he had had in decades, but his rider had other plans.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Just where do you think you're going?" he asked his best and only friend as he started to pack the contents of the basket into the saddlebags. They were normally meant for holding tools so he could make necessary adjustments during flight but now they were bulging to the seams with all that Hiccup had left to call his own in this world.
"Come on bud, we got to get moving, as in now." The night fury grunted as he realized there would be no nap for him as they very well would be fly all through the night. Hiccup mounted and the pair took off into the sky heading south into the great unknown, it was sink or swim time but neither wished to look back now.
But something within Hiccup made him look back at his village shrinking into the distance. He had invested almost all fourteen years of his life trying to fit in, a sadness entered his heart to visibly see what he was leaving behind, almost everything he knew. But his mentor, Gobber once told him something than rang in his head as clear as a bell "Stop trying so hard to be something you're not." Gobber was right. Hiccup was not a Viking nor would he ever, but at the time that was all he knew. But he knew what he was now, he was rare, he was fast, he was smart. And together with Toothless and himself they were at one with the wind and sky, always moving, always changing, forever nomads.
He was a dragon rider.
(Three weeks later just off the barbaric archipelagos, in the northern end of Norway.)
Hiccup was almost finished sharpening his dagger, in front of him was a dead deer. While he knew how to hunt and fish Toothless was the forager of the group due to Hiccups lack of hunting and fishing tools while Hiccup tended to the fire and skinned whatever Toothless brought back and he cooked his portion. After the first night on their own Hiccup asked whether or not he wanted his portion cooked. Toothless however declined; the black dragon could never quite understand why humans insisted on burning their food before eating it.
Something strange had happened between Hiccup and Toothless shortly after the left Berk, they could start understand each other better much and neither of them could fully understand why.
[So where do we go from here?] Toothless asked
"South is my plan, my maps claim the capitol is there and there should be a blacksmith. I have a few ideas for some upgrades and some general maintence. I don't want to risk equipment failure in the next big storm. From there wherever the wind takes us I suppose." Hiccup explained
[I suppose that makes sense, what do you want me to do while you are there?] Toothless asked
"I don't know who these people are or how well their culture reacts to dragons, you will have to hide outside the city limits until I have decided it is safe or not. I might spend the night there so where ever you hunker down I would make it comfortable."
[Hm, so tell me about human culture, as I feel it is more complex than ours.] Toothless asked
"We are so confusing even we don't know what to think ourselves. Life is simple but we seem to go out of our way to make it complex. We need clothes to survive but the higher up in society you are the more restricting your cloths are."
This had Toothless stumped so Hiccup continued on
"When a human becomes an adult they either inherit what their family has or they start with the bare essentials and work their way up. The more resources you have the more power you have. And the fastest way to gain more power is to unite two wealthy families to become one, which leads to arranged marriages that leave the two getting married generally unhappy."
Toothless brain was having a hard time trying to process these events and call them normal
"It is to my understanding that if you have any form of power those under you have to almost gruel at your feet as a sign you respect them."
Toothless held up his paw signaling Hiccup to stop. [sorry I asked; well you were right when you said humans are complex, us night furies travel together in droves, the young ones are the fastest and act as scouts while the more mature and seasoned members do the actual hunting, while we still have respect for those who are stronger, faster or wiser than ourselves it really is more acknowledgement and little else.]
Hiccup nodded his head in agreement. But then he realized something.
"Toothless, you said you lived in a drove of other night furies, so how did you get caught up in the raids?
A sadness seemed to crawl over the dragons face as if Hiccup brought up some unpleasant memories.
[My clan was flying one night, going further south hunting for seals and large fish, I was a scout on recon. I didn't see it happen for I was too far away but the dragons who raid your village attacked and defeated my drove, no one left unscathed save for me because of my absence. They told us if one of us were to join their raiding party they would let the rest leave; ashamed I wasn't around to help I volunteered. They let my drove fly free, in the following years I was their secret weapon to distract defenders while the raiders went for the food. The contract was in place till I was dead or crippled, and a lost tail fin is a death sentence.] Toothless explained solemnly.
"Oh, sorry buddy" Hiccup said as he went around the campfire and snuggled close to his best friend trying to express companionship as best he could.
After an awkward silence Hiccup went back to his newest project. After Toothless hunted several deer in the past week Hiccup had stretch the skins and cut off the fur with his dagger. He pulled out his needle and some sinew thread and started to sew a new piece of clothing for himself while he was in the city.
"So how can we stop the raiders?" Hiccup asked
[A Nadder, Gronkle, Zipperback, Nightmare, and Terror clan had united to serve a rare and old dragon. She is powerful, strong and wise and can influence the weak minded. With her in command she sends the raiders out to fetch her food and press gang any stray dragon who comes near. But that was generations ago, the ones who swore the alliance respected her but she has grown to the point where all who serve her fear her.]
This was not good, there were hundreds of dragons in raids and they all feared this one dragon? This is something he should not be getting into, for it was not his problem.
"I don't suppose there is any way to defeat it?" he asked as he continued sewing.
[If we could draw the raiders away, then we could try to lure her out, if in our plan we might be able to outsmart her then if we were stronger we could hit her weak points hard and then she might finally be killed. But we are not strong enough yet.]
"Why does it sound like you want to do this?" Hiccup asked
[She is a monster who is gaining more power every week. In a few decades she might be unbeatable, in about a century, this world will be hers.] Toothless explained
"Ok those reasons are good enough for me, what should we do in the meantime?" Hiccup asked.
[Make friends with powerful people, learn to fly faster and more swiftly, you need to learn how to fight and I need to learn how to fight with a rider.]
"No doubt none of that will be easy, we will see what fate sends our way; in the meantime how do you like the cloak?" Hiccup asked as he donned the deer hide cloak and raised the hood over his head.
[Looks like a pain to fight and run in, what is the point of it anyways?] Toothless asked while sniffing the crudely made clothing.
"I might need to hide my face in the city, think of it as camouflage like your scales but for city purposes, if anything goes wrong I can just discard it in a second." Hiccup explained.
Toothless considered it for a second then nodded his approval and Hiccup stomped out the fire as he finished the rest of his cooling meal. When he was finished he washed his only bowl and spoon in the stream then packed his gear into the saddle bags.
[Shall we?] Toothless asked as Hiccup mounted on the saddle.
"Let's fly" Hiccup said and Toothless took off into a near vertical flight as dozens of meters passed by in only a matter of a few seconds.
For hours they flew over the vast Norwegian wilderness, tall snow peaked mountains passed by and forests filled with caribou herds moved under them like a great big blanket of animals moving across the ground.
Eventually they settled down for the night. Toothless dug a pit for the campfire to live in while Hiccup gathered wood. Using his tinder box Hiccup managed to light up a fire and heated up the dried out meat from the day before.
After half an hour sitting by the fireside with friendly conversation Toothless decided to start sleeping. The great dragon breathing calmed into a smooth easy pace as his body rose and fell with Hiccup leaning against his exposed belly taking in the warmth as the young rider debated his next move, trying to find out how to stop an old and powerful dragon before it became unstoppable. It worried him greatly but something came rolling in from the nearby mountains where they camped, a song.
Born of cold and winter air
and mountain rain combining.
This icy force both foul and fair
has a frozen heart worth mining.
So cut through the heart, cold and clear.
Strike for love and strike for fear.
See the beauty, sharp and sheer split the ice apart
and break the frozen heart
Hup! Ho!
Watch your step!
Let it go!
Hup! Ho!
Watch your step!
Let it go!
Beautiful!
Powerful!
Dangerous!
Cold!
Ice has a magic
can't be controlled.
Stronger than one, stronger than ten,
stronger than a hundred men! Ha!
Born of cold and winter air
and mountain rain combining.
This icy force both foul and fair
has a frozen heart worth mining.
So cut through the heart, cold and clear.
Strike for love and strike for fear.
There's beauty and there's danger here
Split the ice apart
Beware the frozen heart...
The deep baritone put Hiccups mind at ease, and soon he had drifted off into a deep slumber with his best friend.
Morning came around faster that Hiccup would have cared for but he and Toothless packed up and started to head further south into unknown territory for the both of them. The dawn sun was rising in Norway from the east as the greying sky and the orange ball of fire crept up from the horizon signaling the start of a new day, and in the distance lay the beautiful city Arendelle.
A/N: well I am going back and adding and fixing as I see fit. I don't ask for reviews just because I am lonely it is because I want to make this a better story. Anyone who gives me a review that goes along the lines of "Nice story" "more chapters" "a little rushed" please know to those who do that you are next to useless for my case, if you want more details ask! If you want more dialog then ask! If there is problems I go back and fix them and hope the story is better! Please review.
