Welcome to my first How To Train Your Dragon one-shot (yeeee)! However, this idea isn't my own; it came from DaisyTheDoodleDog and was requested by W0lv35-0f-L16h7. I really wanted to start HTTYD one-shots but didn't have any ideas, and Daisy's got a lot of requests to finish, so I figured I would help out :). I'm posting it as a one-shot, but it'll be under Hiccstrid On the Edge on Daisy's profile, so please check her stories out too! Per usual, please review and enjoy!
Hiccup threw open the door to his hut, exhausted. The dragon hunter ship raids took more out of him then he let on. He'd hoped after years of teaching other tribes to live in harmony with dragons, fewer hunters would remain active. But here he was, chief, all grown up, but no closer to creating his dragon utopia. Just when he thought he and the riders were almost finished with the hunters, a new contender had arrived.
Now, there was a new player in the game. Grimmel, they called him. Hiccup had never heard of him, but he couldn't be harder to best then Viggo. Oddly, Hiccup missed him. In a weird way, Viggo had been his mentor, pressing Hiccup to be a better warrior, rider, chief. To smarter and quicker than his opponents. Viggo, who turned a game into war, went through life as though it was all one grand game of Maces and Talons. Viggo taught Hiccup to play the board, not the piece.
But now, all Hiccup wanted to do was curl up in his bed with Toothless at his side.
"Hey bud, what do you say we head to bed? We can deal with Grimmel in the morning." Toothless fixed Hiccup with his puppy dog eyes and happily bounded towards the stairs. Hiccup's palm had just grazed the railing when he saw dust trickle down from the ceiling. A second later, more dust fell. A low grumble rose up from the depths of Toothless's chest as his teeth unsheathed and nostrils flared.
Hiccup pulled out his Dragon Blade, igniting it with a sharp click. Flames erupted from it, illuminating the tired creases in his face and striking green of his eyes. He always felt safer when he could feel its heat and see its flickering glow. "Who's there?" he called out, placing a hand on Toothless. The only answer he received was the creaking of wood. Hiccup stepped closer to the door and exhaled nervously. Toothless dug his claws into the wood, tail sweeping across the floor, sensing for vibrations.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Toothless opened his mouth to reveal a blinding blue light, ready to fire a plasma blast.
"No, bud! Wait!" Hiccup cried when he recognized the slender figure standing in the door. Her shadow swayed slightly, an illusion given off by the flickering flame. Toothless raised his ear flaps, listening for the familiar chirps of a Nadder to come bounding from behind the figure, head spikes raised in her joy, hitting the door frame as she entered. There was nothing but stale silence that lasted for mere milliseconds. "Astrid?" Hiccup exclaimed. "What's-"
Hiccup watched Astrid's eyes roll back into her head as her body crumbled to the ground. His eyes -glazed over from exhaustion, delaying his reaction time took him a second to grasp what happened- widened by the sudden shock, fear rippling through his body. "Astrid!" Hiccup surged forward in full panic mode to gather her in his arms when he heard the click of a crossbow. An arrow shot out from the darkness and struck the wall with an ear-splitting crack.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a low, menacing voice. Another figure entered the room and pulled down his hood, revealing hair the color of dirty snow and pitless, soulless eyes drained of all color. His tall, willowy frame caused him to duck slightly as he crossed the threshold. He fixed Hiccup with his dead eyes and gave him a mocking bow.
"Ah, the boy-chief I've heard so much about." Toothless curled his upper lid, wrinkling his muzzle, revealing sharp, dagger-like teeth. Another menacing growl erupted, rising up his throat in a sound that boomed like thunder. The man made a disapproving noise, scoffing in return. He pulled out his crossbow, idly examined its markings and blood stains on the arrow he pulled out of the wall before pointing towards the floor, towards Astrid's head. "Be a little more welcoming to guests, my little Nightfury. We wouldn't want blood on the floor now, would we? Blood is terrible on the floor, you know. Gets everywhere. Hard to wash off, too." He spoke in the tone a parent would use when scolding a child, as if Toothless were beneath him, a stupid creature who could only comprehend the most rudimentary of things. His eyes were fixated the dragon.
"What do you want?" Hiccup spat out, but he couldn't hide the shakiness of his breath as his eyes never left Astrid's lifeless body.
"Such terrible manners," said the man mockingly, a sadistic smile tugging at his dry lips. "Didn't your father ever teach you or your pet to welcome guests? Then again, he wasn't around long enough to teach you those sort of things, I suppose," he said in a softly accented purr. Something sinister flashed across his face, an expression that made Hiccup's face flush with anger and caused a knot to twist in his stomach. Hiccup narrowed his eyes, his blood boiling, expression livid.
"You're Grimmel, aren't you?" The man began to make his way towards Stoic's chair, never moving his crossbow from Astrid's direction. He gave Hiccup a lazy smile and gestured to the chair.
"May I?" Without waiting for an answer, he sank into the chair, lounging. "Now where were we? Ah, yes, what do I want? Well, to answer you simply, Chief Hiccup, I want you to surrender your Night Fury and the rest of the dragons on Berk." Hiccup took a step closer to Grimmel, propelled by rage.
"Never." Grimmel figured his crossbow, unimpressed. Hiccup heard a zing as an arrow shot past his face and embedded itself into Toothless' side. Toothless's legs gave out beneath, slamming his heavy body to the floor the same way Astrid had.
"What did you do to him?" Hiccup nearly screamed in rage. Grimmel nonchalantly reloaded his bow and pointed it back at Astrid.
"The same thing I did to your sweet little fiance. Well… she isn't that sweet, put up quite the fight indeed. In the end, she was just as weak as the rest. Don't worry, they'll sleep it off. Wouldn't want to hurt such pretty things," he said, motioning to Astrid. Hiccup felt sick, that knot condensing into an awful pit until he felt as if his airways were swelling shut.
"However," Grimmel said, examining his crossbow again. "I can make their positions much more permanent. I can do the same thing to the entire Isle of Berk if I choose." He stood, walking back to Astrid's side, dull grey eyes still fixed on Hiccup.
"Consider this your one and only warning. Surrender the Night Fury and the dragons, or I will destroy everything you love, starting with her." He pointed to Astrid, sliding his thumb across the trigger in emphasis. He licked his lips as if craving the pain he would induce. Something monstrous flickered in his eyes.
Hiccup had never felt so terrified in his entire life. When this man talked about destroying islands, being the harbinger of destruction and death, something came alive behind his eyes. Something in him was called to the blood and chaos. Nonetheless, Hiccup straightened his back, squared his shoulders and faced Grimmel, the way his father would when he confronted the enemy.
"I will never sell out my family, including the dragons. You think you can come into my house, threaten my dragon, my people, my home? I've dealt with worse!" Hiccup was almost yelling by the end of his sentence, his voice proud and strong. For a moment, all he could hear was the popping of the embers from the fire. Then, Grimmel laughed. A laugh full of sinister mirth, one that said he couldn't take Hiccup seriously. One that said that there wasn't an ounce of humanity or compassion beneath that smug look. As quickly as he had started laughing, he stopped, drawing himself up to his full height. "Then your home will burn. And as you watch it fall to ash and ruin, you will know it was your fault." Grimmel let out a high pitched whistle, one that was returned by blood-curdling, disembodied roars. As if on cue, the roof burst into flames, its hot tongue licking the walls. The fire emulsified the house frame, charring it to blackened ash crumbling to the ground. Hiccup turned back to Grimmel, just in time to see the arrow leave the bow.
Just in time to see the arrow click from its position and enter Astrid's side, crimson red gushing out, rapidly darkening her shirt, saturating it with blood. Hiccup rushed to her side, trying to staunch the bleeding.
"Consider this your warning, Hiccup Haddock!" Hiccup looked up through the smoke and ash. Grimmel stood on top of a red and black dragon with horns protruding from its mouth. Part of the roof collapsed, cutting off Hiccup's view of Grimmel. The smoke clouded his sight, his breathing ragged as he struggled to break free from the inferno.
"Toothless!" Hiccup cried in desperation. "Please, bud, I need you!" A set of green eyes appeared in the gloom. Hiccup ripped the saddle strap off Toothless and tourniqueted it around Astrid's wound, praying to Thor and Odin it would hold until they could get her to Gothi. "Help me get her out!" Hiccup yelled above the cacophony of the collapsing roof and walls.
Toothless collected the front of Astrid's shirt in his mouth and Hiccup grabbed her legs. Working together, they managed to half pull, half drag Astrid out of the burning building. Hiccup fell down on the cool ground next to her, lungs trying to expel the smoke they inhaled. He heard familiar wing beats as the other riders landed next to him.
"Hiccup...what happened?" came Snotlout's voice, incredulous.
"Never mind how this happened, we need to get all three of them to Gothi, now!" came Fishleg's voice. Hiccup tried to move, to tell them about Grimmel, how he slithered into Hiccup's house and sat on his father's chair, hissing his threats. But Hiccup couldn't. He just stared up at the sky, paralyzed. From fear or exhaustion, Hiccup didn't know. He never would.
His eyes were drawn to the mountain of flames illuminating the serene hillside, watching his home, his father's home snap and crackle under the weight of unbearable suffering. The home he had grown up in reduced to nothing but an ash and rubble as a Zippleback doused the raging fire.
Looking up at the sky, with his betrothed and fearless dragon lying beside him, motionless, Hiccup had never felt more afraid, more lonely. However much he pretended, he still was a scared little boy playing chieftain. Playing the piece, protecting only those he cared about, letting the rest of the world go to Helheim.
For this round of Maces and Talons, Hiccup had lost.
And he would pay.
Dearly.
Special thanks to W0lv35-0f-L16h7. You asked for drama and tea, you got drama and tea :).
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