Hiccup Horrendous Haddock sat in the dead silence of the night in a lush forest, fingering the sword in the makeshift sheath he had made. The sword was a rather good sword, well balance and light. But then again, it should have been, as it came from the Cornucopia. He didn't know how he had managed to snag it, as it had been right in the middle of the giant golden structure. Sheer dumb luck, he supposed. The dead tributes had already been shown and the anthem played for the night, and he felt a twinge of sadness to see that Heather, the female tribute for his district, had died in the blood bath.

So now, as stars twinkled and the moon shined, he watched thick, heavy black smoke rise from a roaring campfire. He was fairly certain it was the Careers. No tribute was stupid enough to make that big of a fire.

9 hours he had been in this god for saken arena.

9 hours of running, of hiding, of wishing and praying that he would make it out alive.

9 hours and he had already become everyone's target and the sponsor's favorite.

Hiccup wasn't strong. He wasn't brawny like most people were from his district. He was tall and lanky, and could hardly swing and ax. That much was obvious. The only weapon he had ever been able to handle was a bow. It wasn't normally a very deadly weapon, but it was light and something that wasn't so hard to use. So when Hiccup had picked up that sword in training, he was just as surprised as everyone else with how graceful he had handled it, and how easily swinging and slashing the metal had come to him.

Those who hadn't watched him had found out during the blood bath.

He was also smart. He knew how to survive in the wild, and was a natural mechanic. He could make anything from anything, as he had already demonstrated to the spectators an hour into the games. He also knew battle tactics and how the wild works, and that knowledge combined could give some one a deadly advantage.

But the one thing he could do, that no one even knew about, was perhaps the one thing that could help him win this game.

He could train dragons.

"Hiccup, I know you'll make it out of this." Astrid squeezed Hiccup's shoulders, trying to be confident, for him. His name had just been called, and Astrid, his best friend since birth, was the first one to reach him. And even with her confidence, Hiccup could still see the fear shining in her eyes. And he was sure that it was reflecting in his own.

"Astrid, I can't-"

"You can train dragon's Hic!" Astrid cut him off, and Hiccup was briefly reminded of the beasts the capital had released into the wild after declaring them failures.

Everyone knew that they were going to be in the next games. Why else would they make them?

"That's not going to make much of a difference Astrid." Hiccup said quietly. "I'm sure I'll be killed before I can even run into one."

Astrid wavered. Hiccup wasn't strong, and if he didn't do some serious training, he would be right. She then quickly shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts from her mind. She had to stay strong. For Hiccup.

There had been dragons in the wooded arena, just like Astrid said. Hiccup had caught a glimpse of a Deadly Nadder, squawking and flapping its lavender and gold wings as it bounded through the forest. He had been running away from the slaughtering and blood, heart beating fast and terror pounded through his veins. But seeing that dragon had given him hope.

Because Astrid had been right. If he could train a dragon, he would be able to make it through this.

Hiccup watched from the corner of his forest green eyes at the knot tying station as the male tributes from district 1 and 4 engaged in a sword fight.

While he could already tie knots, he had deiced to stay low after the whole sword incident.

The auburn haired teen could already tell that 1 had no hope of beating 4. His movements were much more fluid and 1 and made with such ease. The sword in his hand was just an extension of his arm, and as he pared and blocked, soon enough 1 was thrown onto the matted floor as the sword flew out of his hand.

Hiccup, worried he might be caught staring, turned back to his finished knot. And when he turned away, the tribute from 4 looked over at him, sapphire blue eyes sparkling with interest.

The Careers campfire had started to burn down. Hiccup was fairly sure they would come back, because he had learned from watching past games that when the Careers made the first fire, it was where they would make camp. Hiccup watched the receding smoke for a little while longer before moving on, the sound of crickets and the soft growls of dragons as they slept filling the quite night.

To him, it was a strangely comforting sound.

"A score of 11!" Caesar looked at Hiccup in shock and admiration as the 15 year old sank into the rather stiff chair. He grimaced slightly, and then placed his arm on the arm of the chair, resting his cheek in his palm. Mind as well be kinda comfortable, right? "Mind telling us what you did to get the highest score?"

"Yeah, I kinda do." Hiccup mumbled. He was in no mood to be friendly to the over energetic man, and he certainly didn't want to tell all of Panem that he could shoot an arrow and swing a sword, as he had spent the last few weeks working on these skills.

All he really wanted to do was to get out of the bright green suit.

Caesar let a laugh escape, as did the rest of the audience, as if they were passing it off as a joke. "Being secretive, are we? Don't want to share you secret to winning the games?"

Hiccup shot him a dry look. "Do I look like I'm going to win?"

"Confident, aren't we!" Caesar laughed again, while baring that stupid grin he always wore. Hiccup let a silent sigh escape. He supposed the man was acting like this because he wasn't used to people like Hiccup in his interviews.

"So tell me, coming from district 7, what's your favorite thing about the Capital?" Caesar had stopped laughing, and was looking Hiccup dead on. "It must be very different for you."

Hiccup decided to answer the question fully, just to get some fun out of it. "Nothing. There's too many people, I never get anytime to myself, your sense of fashion is rather stupid, I can't talk to Astrid and you all can't wait till I die a horrible bloody death."

Caesar blinked at him then let a nervous laugh escape. "So then, is Astrid your special girl?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Friend, and no," Hiccup continued when Caesar opened his mouth again. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"So then, you're the Capital's favorite." Caesar tried again. "Any reason why that would be?"

"I don't know."

Hiccup grabbed onto a branch as he hoisted himself farther up the tree, pushing leaves out of his was and making sure his backpack didn't get caught in the branches and the sword on his hip didn't fall to the ground. He couldn't sleep, couldn't think, and it was quite possible the most infuriating thing, so he chose to climb. If he couldn't fall asleep, he at least would want a sense of being back home.

His hand slipped as a pain filled roar filled the night air, startling Hiccup and a few birds that were nestled in the tree. He managed to catch himself before he fell, and he quickly pushed the leave aside so he could see. He just barley caught a glimpse of something big crashing through the trees.

Hiccup stared in mild hatred at the outfit his stylist had handed him to wear for the showing of the tributes. It 's not that it looked bad; in fact it looked pretty good. A tight fitting green shirt that, when it moved, looked a lot like leaves in a tree, brown pants, brown boots, and a strange, yet whimsical looking head dress.

He just didn't want to be shown off like some jewel to be bid on.

"Are ya' going to change or not?" Gobber, Hiccup's mentor was walking up to him. The female tribute fro his district, Heather, was wearing a similar outfit to his and was walking with Gobber. Hiccup knew her, and they had hung out on occasion. They weren't exactly friends though.

"Well, I have to don't I?" Hiccup growled. Gobber's eyes softened with a sad look. Hiccup may have not had the best life back home, but he had a friend who would be there for him through thick and thin, and a father who loved him to no end. Gobber knew that, as he was a best friend with his fathers and an uncle to the boy. It was hard for Hiccup to walk away from all of that with a 1 in 24 chance to come back.

"It's going to be okay." Gobber placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a small sense of comfort to the teen.

Hiccup had finally settled himself on a branch. He had flung his backpack in a hole not to far from his head, and he was sitting with his legs dangling with his sword now strapped to his back.

He wasn't worried about being attacked tonight. Everyone would be tired from the blood bath, and even if someone was looking to kill, no one could see him up in the tree, and even if they did he highly doubted anyone could get as high up in a tree as he can. Hiccup was fairly sure no one was as light as he was.

So when he heard the sound of brush and twigs being trampled and snapped, underneath him, he calmly looked down, not really surprised to find the Career pack under his tree.

He didn't know the male tribute for 2 by name, but he was tall and thin, with black hair, yellow eyes and paper white skin. He was a generally unpleasant looking guy, and Hiccup didn't really want to know his name. The female was short, with long blond hair, and a face too pretty for her own good.

The male tribute for 1 was Dagur, and Hiccup couldn't help but flinch as he laughed loudly. Dagur was the mayor's child, and he would often visit district 7, as his father was a good friend with Hiccups. The two did not have very pleasant memories. The female was clinging to Dagur, and she had short red hair with bounced with every step.

The female tribute for 4 was leading the group, and she was tall and muscular, with shoulder length blond hair. Hiccup knew she wasn't someone to mess with; and he really didn't plan to. He may be a good sword fighter, but he didn't think he was that good.

The male tribute wasn't there.

"Did you see how I took that dragon down?" Dagur boasted, laughing that stupid, and creepy, laugh of his as he threw his head back. "Just one shot, and bam! Down she goes!"

Dragon? Hiccup leaned forwarded ever so slightly. If Dagur wasn't lying, then…

Female for 1 giggled a rather high pitch and annoying. "It was so cool!"

The male tribute for 2 rolled his eyes.

"Can you please just shut up?" Female for 4 snapped as she turned turned around. "Stop boasting and focus! We've got to find that Hiccup kid and Jack."

At this Hiccup shrunk back.

So they were looking for him.

He blocked out any more conservation coming from the teens below him. He assumed Jack was from 4, and he wondered why he wasn't with them. He had seen him fight before, and he knew this 'Jack' could take every one of them down if he wanted, and he would be better protected until he wished to loose them and stay with his fellow tribute, and this year was the second Quarter Qell, and the rule was that you form a lasting alliance with one person and one person only, and if they were still alive at the end you're your both won.

Why they were looking for Hiccup wasn't that hard to figure out. They either wanted him dead or on their team. Either way he would end up dead, because there was no way he was joining.

He didn't want to make this any harder on himself by forming an alliance with more than one person.

Then Hiccup's mind shifted to the dragon. If its Dagur were talking about, the dragon would probably be dead…but, judging from the noise of the dragon crashing into the trees, it sounded more like he shot it out of the sky, and if that's so, the most he could have done was wound it. Even if the wound was serious, it wouldn't die till the wound became infected, or it lost too much blood.

"What if…?" Hiccup whispered, climbing up a few more branches till he was at the top of the tree.

It wasn't hard to spot the crash site, as trees were fallen and broken and deep grooves were in the ground from where the dragon skidded. It wasn't that far from where he was either, and it didn't take him long to decided he would go and fix what ever damage had been done.

He knew that by doing this he would just burden himself, but he also wanted to be able to save at least one thing from this arena.

A/N:

Alrighty, I went back and edited this, so some things are different. YAY!