Hiccup sat at the desk in his room, a smudge of charcoal darkening his cheek as he worked by the light of his dying candle. The pages in front of him were covered in designs for his latest invention: a bola launcher. In the middle of the page he was currently working on was his design. Several papers ago, it had been a preliminary sketch, just his ideas taking shape. Now, it was drawn to scale. With measurements written in the margins and details on how exactly the gears would work with the launching mechanism, Hiccup couldn't help but feel the familiar sensation of pride swell in his chest. There wasn't much he was confident about, but his inventions were at the top of that short list. Of course, he wouldn't let himself really feel accomplished until it was built and working, but this was a start.
The candle flickered as it began to use up the last of its wick. The familiar burn of working too long in low light and being too focused to remember to blink regularly settled in his eyes. He rubbed them with his fist as he yawned, realizing it was time to turn in for the night.
Hiccup thought about what had happened that morning. His father hadn't left any breakfast for him, which happened often enough. If Stoick woke up well before his son would, he wouldn't bother making extra food knowing that it would be cold and unappetizing when his son came to eat it. So, like Hiccup always did on these mornings, he headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. He took his plate and sat at one of the empty tables at the edge of the room like he normally did. No one would join him, no one ever did. But Hiccup didn't really mind. He was too busy satisfying his hunger to worry about his lack of social interaction.
What was different about this morning than the others was the conversation. Usually, the Great Hall was quiet this early in the morning, everyone generally still to sleepy to worry about talking. On this morning however, sitting a few tables away from Hiccup was his Uncle Spitelout. He was talking loudly with the other Vikings surrounding him.
"I don't understand why Stoick keeps that little nuisance around. He's useless! He can't fight, he's scared of dragons, and he's caught the village on fire more times than anyone cares to count. All he had to do yesterday was help take care of some harmless sheep and he couldn't even handle a job as simple as that! I hope Stoick doesn't expect the little runt to become chief one day, because then all of Berk will be doomed."
Hiccup's shoulders slumped with sadness. His father had asked him to help Bucket and Mulch with their animals yesterday and he'd agreed, eager to show his father that he could help. However, when he'd been milking the yak, a handful of the sheep had gotten out of their field. It wasn't a huge mistake, and he'd chased them all down quick enough, but people had still found out how he'd messed up such a simple task. Hiccup fought the tears rising in his eyes. Useless, that's all anyone ever seemed to think he was, just a useless little runt always getting in the way and causing problems.
Hiccup abandoned his food before finishing it, too upset to even consider eating anymore. He'd fled the Great Hall silently, none of the Vikings realizing that he had been there and heard their hurtful conversation. When he arrived at home, his father was still out, so he let himself cry like he only ever did when he was alone. Useless. Runt. Nuisance. Their hurtful words swirled around in his head. He ran up to his room and sat at his desk, taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down. The last thing he needed was to be in the middle of a breakdown and have his father come home. It'd make him look weaker than they already thought he was.
He took his mind off his inner turmoil by focusing on the invention designs he had hanging on his wall and- That was it! He'd invent something, something better than all of his other inventions, and show the entire village that he wasn't useless! But what? What could possibly be good enough to prove that to them? All anyone really cared about was killing dragons. And with that thought, Hiccup began to formulate his plan. Being the kind-hearted boy he was, he never desired to fight and kill the fire breathing beasts. He never wanted to be anywhere near them actually, since disaster seemed to follow him. He wasn't scared of them exactly, just choosing to try and minimize disaster. No matter how much he didn't want to hurt the dragons, he realized that dragons would be the key to changing his image. Now, there was no way he would kill one, even if he could invent something to do it. Catching one, however, was a whole other story. If he could catch one, he could present it to his father in front of the whole village. Brimming with excitement, he began to work.
Hiccup yawned again, bringing himself out of his negative thoughts. Tomorrow, he would build his bola launcher. During the next raid, he would catch a dragon. And then, his days as Hiccup the Useless would be in the past. For the first night in ages, Hiccup fell asleep with a content smile on his face.
}!{
Hiccup woke up early the next morning to his dad milling around downstairs. He crossed over to his desk where he folded up his final design and tucked it safely into his vest. Then he came down from his room to find Stoick sitting at the table eating his breakfast.
"Ah, son, you're up early."
Hiccup shrugged. "I've got some work down at the forge I need to get to."
Stoick's face got a little bright at hearing that. His son doing hard, manly work down at the forge was always good news to him. Plus, if Hiccup was down at the forge, he would be less likely to get himself into trouble. "At least have some breakfast before you go. I made plenty."
Hiccup shrugged and sat down across from his father. They ate in silence, Stoick thinking about his impending day of chiefing and Hiccup thinking about working on his invention. And, Hiccup didn't want to admit it, but he was starving. He hadn't finished his breakfast the day before and he'd been too caught up in his invention to worry about eating lunch or dinner. He cleared his plate without a problem before heading out the door. Stoick was too lost in his thoughts to notice his son leave.
On the way to the forge, Hiccup ran into Astrid, like literally ran into her. He bumped into her and she had him flat on the ground before he could even realize what had happened.
"Ow," he groaned from his position on the ground.
Astrid glared at him, her foot planted firmly in the center of his chest. "Watch where you're going Hiccup."
"Sorry," he offered, not even trying to get her foot off him. He knew it was no use; she was way stronger than he was.
"And be careful. With you rushing around like that, a disaster is bound to happen. And I know I speak for the rest of the village when I say no one wants to deal with another one of your disasters today." She glared at him for a moment longer before removing her foot from his chest and marching away.
Hiccup pulled himself up off the ground and brushed the dirt off his pants and vest before hurrying over to the forge. Once inside, he made sure Gobber wasn't in and took the design from his vest. He unfolded in and laid it on his workbench before getting to work. He gathered the materials and got the coals burning. From then on, it was nailing the wooden parts into place and hammering the metal bits until they began to take the shape he needed them to. Gears and springs were always difficult, but Hiccup was always up for a challenge when it came to his inventions. He worked clear through lunch again and he would have worked though dinner if it hadn't been for Gobber.
The one-armed, one-legged Viking sauntered in with some bread and smoked fish for the boy. Hiccup set his tools down, wiped some of the sweat and soot from his face, and walked over to meet him.
"You've been in here all day boy; I thought it was about time for you to eat somethin'."
Hiccup accepted the food graciously and began stuffing his face.
"So," Gobber said, "are you working on anythin' special?"
Hiccup nodded. "New invention, but it's not done yet. You'll have to wait for me to unveil it."
"An unveiling, huh? Sounds like this is a pretty good one. Well, I won't keep you then. Just make sure you don't stay up working all night like you did last night."
Hiccup swallowed his mouthful of bread. "How did you…?"
Gobber gestured to the dark circles beneath Hiccup's eyes and the boy sighed.
"All right, I'll make sure to get some sleep tonight. I'm almost done anyway."
Gobber nodded. "That's a good lad." Then he left.
Hiccup finished off the rest of his food before continuing on his work. He was in a much better mood than he previously had been. It seemed like Gobber was the only one who truly cared about him. Sure, he knew that his father loved him, but it was difficult to see on most days. Gobber, on the other hand, was always there for him. He taught Hiccup everything he knew about smithing. And though Gobber still poked fun about the boy's weaker build, he never questioned that Hiccup had a brilliant mind.
A little past sunset, the coals had cooled and Hiccup was putting the finishing touches on his invention. The calibration would need to be set tomorrow, but Hiccup was satisfied enough that he'd finished the actual build. Now all he had to do was wait for a dragon raid. Hiccup laughed a little to himself on his way back home. For the first time ever, a Viking was actually looking forward to a dragon raid. He almost couldn't believe it.
}!{
Hiccup didn't have to wait long for the dragons to come. Two nights had passed by without chaos, but on the third night he woke to sound of Vikings yelling and the smell of wood burning. It was time to change his life. He jumped out of bed, pulled his boots on, and ran down the stairs. His father was already gone, so Hiccup didn't bother sneaking around his home. Instead, he burst right out the front door and headed straight for the forge where his invention was waiting.
The way from his house to the forge was full of Vikings running about. Some had axes, some had large hammers, and some had swords. Hiccup had to make a few careful dodges to avoid getting hurt by their massive weapons. He made it to the forge in one piece though. Instead of going in the front where Vikings were lining up to get their weapons fixed by Gobber, Hiccup snuck around to the back. Unbeknownst to Gobber, Hiccup had worked one of the boards in the back so he could slip in and out of his little work area without Gobber knowing. He'd only used it a couple of times in the past to sneak in, grab a few of his designs, and sneak back out. This time, it would be tricky. He'd be coming in the back, but there was no way that his invention would fit through there. The only option was for him to bring it out the front. He'd have to wait for a distraction, something that would draw the attention of not only Gobber, but all of the Vikings waiting at the front of the stall.
Hiccup snuck in the back like he'd planned. Gobber hadn't heard the board slide back into place nor had he heard Hiccup trip over one of the stools back there. So far, he was undetected. He crept over to his invention. He'd built it to be mobile, like a wheel barrow, with one wheel in front and two handles in the back. It was heavy, but with the excitement coursing through Hiccup's body, he had no doubt he'd be able to move it.
He wheeled it over to the curtain before peeking into the main part of the forge. Gobber was hammering a twisted sword back into shape while the line of people waiting continued to get longer. Hiccup sighed, worried that he'd be waiting for quite some time. Suddenly, there was an explosion coming from somewhere down the street. The most likely cause was an errant Zippleback set on causing as much mayhem as possible. All of the Vikings in line turned to see the source of the commotion. Gobber set down his tools to run over and take a look as well. This was it, this was Hiccup's chance. He bolted from his hiding place and over to the entrance to the forge. He moved quickly and silently, him clumsy feet actually not betraying him for once.
Once he was out, he stuck to the shadows, not wanting to be seen. Still, he hurried in getting to his destination. A little past the east side of the village was a decent sized grassy area. It came to an enormous drop-off down to the ocean. Hiccup had noticed in the past that many of the dragons would fly over to that area to turn around so they could circle back and cause more damage. He had figured it was his best shot at catching one. Plus, that area would be empty of Vikings during the raid. While Hiccup wasn't ashamed of his invention, he had never fired it before, and the last thing he wanted was everyone watching if he missed.
Hiccup set the bola launcher near the drop-off and got it ready. Once he was standing on the back, finger resting by the trigger, his eyes were trained on the sky. He watched for any movement. Gronkle, Monstrous Nightmare, Deadly Nadder, Hideous Zippleback; Hiccup wasn't going to be picky. He just needed a dragon, and any dragon would do. A flash of movement caught his eye for a second before it was gone again. He peered deeper into the darkness until he saw it again. It was more of a shadow than an actual definitive shape, but there was only one dragon the Vikings knew of that were camouflaged that well at night. It was a Night Fury.
Hiccup couldn't believe his luck. A Night Fury! The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, the most feared dragon to the Vikings on Berk. It never stole food, never showed itself, and never missed. And if Hiccup managed to catch it, he would never be called useless again. He looked through his scope, following the movements of the shadow in the sky, and pulled on the trigger. The force of the bola being launched threw Hiccup from the back of his invention, but he was on his feet before he could blink. He held his breath, waiting.
Seconds later, Hiccup could hear the collision in the air of his bola wrapping itself around the beast. What he hadn't been prepared for, however, was the shriek of pain and fear he heard come from the dragon. He watched as it plummeted towards the ground before landing hard among the trees by Raven's Point. It hadn't had the use of its wings to help slow its dissent, and therefore crashed with alarming speed. Hiccup could still hear the dragon's shriek echoing in his mind. That pain, that fear, that undoubted helplessness that dragon must have felt when it could do nothing but fall, these were all emotions Hiccup was familiar with, emotions that made him despise getting out of bed on some mornings. And now, Hiccup had gone and inflicted them on another creature. The guilt was making his stomach turn. He doubled over and emptied the contents of his stomach into the grass.
When he straightened, his eyes were drawn to his bola launcher. The sight of it made him want to yell. He'd created it to make himself feel better, but he didn't think he'd ever felt worse. With his heart full of anger, he rushed over to it and gave it a hard shove. It was enough to send the contraption over the edge of the drop-off and into the water below. Hiccup felt a bit better now that it was gone, but not much. The dragon's shriek still played in his mind. He sat abruptly and buried his head in his hands. The raid was still going on, and he knew it wasn't really safe to just be sitting out in the open, but he could bring himself to move just yet. He pulled angrily at the grass for a moment, but stopped when a sound caught his attention.
Breathing, not the kind of breathing that would come from a Viking, but the low rumbling breaths that came from a dragon. Slowly, Hiccup lifted his head. Standing about one hundred paces away was a Monstrous Nightmare. It studied Hiccup with its fierce yellow eyes. Smoke swirled up from it's nostrils as a growl rumbled from its throat. Hiccup felt fear grip is heart with icy claws. The dragon lowered its head and took a small step in his direction. Hiccup stood quickly, turning at the same time, and sprinted towards the village.
He could hear the Monstrous Nightmare coming after him, but he didn't dare turn around to see how close it was. He just kept running. When he reached the village, he went around one of the houses, making his way towards the street. He was hoping if he led the beast into the village that one of the Vikings would stop it from eating him. However, just when he came to the front of the house, he tripped, landing on his wrist. It twisted painfully beneath him, but he didn't dwell on it much, not with an angry dragon after him.
It just so happen that the house he'd fallen by had a front porch. Hiccup used that to his advantage, rolling under it and hiding himself from view. Peering out from his hiding place, he saw the dragon creep by. It had its nose in the air, searching for his scent. Hiccup held his breath, thinking there was no outcome to the situation where he wouldn't end up dragon food. Then, he was rescued. His father came around the corner and tackled the beast. It tried to breathe fire, but it had already reached its shot limit. When Stoick pulled out his axe, Hiccup closed his eyes. Logically, he knew that if the dragon didn't end up eating him, it would most likely be killed by another Viking. Still, the guilt of having caused yet another creature's pain rested heavily on his shoulders. He heard his father's axe cut into the dragon's flesh and he smelled the blood as it was spilt on the ground. Hiccup rolled to the side and retched, but there was nothing left in his stomach to come up.
He stayed under the porch until his father was gone and the dragon's corpse had been hauled away. The telltale sounds of the raid had vanished as the horizon began to brighten. Hiccup crawled out of his hiding place and made his way back to his house. If the sun was close to rising, his father would start looking for him. The chief did this after every raid to make sure that his son hadn't been eaten or carried off by dragons. Once Hiccup arrived at his house, he went upstairs and rolled into bed. He wouldn't fall asleep, but he could pretend, and it would keep is father from asking questions on his whereabouts during the raid.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Stoick to make his way home looking for his son. When he found Hiccup upstairs in his bed, seemingly asleep, he quietly left to go work on cleaning up the village. Hiccup waited until he heard the front door fall closed before he got up. He winced at the pain coming from his throbbing wrist but pushed the sensation to the back of his mind. He had more important things to worry about. Grabbing his journal and some charcoal, he readied himself for the task at hand. Then he escaped out the back of his house and into the woods. He had a Night Fury to find.
