hello readers! First Httyd fanfic to post, please tell me if you like it!

He should have seen this coming, with the way Hiccup is of course he would get into something like this. Though he didn't think that it would involve a Night Fury. Looking back it was pretty obvious since the lad became obsessed with those Night Furies practically overnight. That's where Hiccup's mind always seemed to be at the start of dragon training, Night Fury this, Night Fury that. Gobber should have pulled him aside and investigated his new-found curiosity with the dragon that no one has ever seen before because Hiccup was awful at lying and would feel guilty if he did lie to Gobber.

He's watched Hiccup grow up, basically a second father to him, so he should have noticed the change in the lad when he started training. He became confident and popular yet he would be gone like the wind once his required time in the ring was up, running either to the woods or the forge and into his own little world where no one can follow him. He was putting a lot of time into the forge, when Gobber would come in the forge in the mornings it would still be warm, making Gobber wonder how the lad isn't dead on his feet in the arena. But he keeps going, determined to prove himself to be more than a fish bone or a... well a hiccup that everyone thinks of him as. Gobber knows how special Hiccup is, all the inventions he's thought up over the years, he would never be satisfied with the way something was. He probably had more brains than most of the vikings on Berk, and got treated different because of it. He was always like his mother, but as stubborn as both of his parents combined.

He was definitely curious on how Hiccup had advanced in training so quickly, the tricks every session were something new; using the light on the Terrible Terror, standing his ground against the Zippleback, scratching the Nadder in a way that it just collapsed on the ground, using something on the Gronckle that it just enjoyed to smell and savor in. How he came up with the ideas were something Hiccup was going to have to tell him. But that would have to wait till Hiccup woke up.

Gobber was currently working in the forge making Hiccup a prosthetic, since he lost the lower portion of his left leg. He has been looking over all of Hiccup's blueprints and drawings of the Night Fury that now refuses to leave the lad's bedside. The designs were genius, and brave to even attempt since all vikings are told to steer clear of a Night Fury, but for Hiccup to befriend one and help it fly again, he could definitely be called crazy. But Gobber could definitely work with these and make a working system for both of them. As he worked in the hot forge he thought over all that's happened to Hiccup recently.

Gobber called to Hiccup telling him it was time, time for him to have the honor of killing the Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup didn't seem so sure he could do it, Gobber knew Hiccup wasn't the violent type of viking, just like his mother was before she was taken. But Hiccup still walked in with his new helmet on, Gobber stood beside Stoic to see how it would play out, because knowing Hiccup there is no clue to say what is to happen. With a dagger and shield in hand, Hiccup was alone in the arena with a large dragon that could easily burn him to a crisp. Gobber was holding his breath as the dragon started walking towards him, then he noticed that Hiccup had dropped his weapon and shield and was actually talking to the dragon. "What's he doing?" Stoic asked as he began to stand up, Gobber could tell this would definitely not end well. "Stop the fight," Stoic called out but Gobber heard Hiccup shout "No, you need to see this. They are not what we think they are, we don't have to kill them." He says as he almost touches the snout of the dragon, Gobber hears gasps from around the arena, but he keeps thinking how Hiccup sounds just like Valka at that moment, Gobber glances at Stoic to see him yell, "I said stop the fight!" and hit his hammer against the metal railing.

That was probably a really bad move because the Nightmare snapped at Hiccup and began to chase him around the arena, Gobber was amazed by how calm he had the dragon just moments ago, then Astrid and Stoic tried to help Hiccup out but he was trapped. There was chaos everywhere, then he heard it, the high pitch sound that was their only warning of the "Get down!" Someone called out and he turned to see a black blur racing towards the arena and blast a hole through the metal fence and diving into the cloud. Gobber leaned in to get a better look and saw something that was truly a sight. "A Night Fury," he said in awe, he saw that the Night Fury was fighting the Monstrous Nightmare. Gobber wondered why until he saw that the small black dragon was the only thing between the Nightmare and Hiccup. When the Nightmare gave up he got a good look that there was something on the dragon's back and Hiccup raced to him as if urging him to leave. Then the vikings put their attention on the Night Fury who seems to just want to protect Hiccup, and it decided to do so by attacking anyone who came close, which included Stoic.

"Dad, he won't hurt you," Stoic kept running at the dragon which responded by attacking "No," Hiccup cries out. the Night fury is on Stoic and is about to attack when Hiccup yells again, "NOOO!" Even from where Gobber was he heard it clearly and saw that the dragon responded and looked to Hiccup for a moment before men piled on the dragon. Stoic gave an order to put it with the others and practically dragged Hiccup out of the arena and away from the crowds, Gobber took it upon himself to follow them to give Hiccup support, he's never stood a chance against Stoic in an argument but with Stoic mad like this Hiccup can use some help. He was just outside the hall when Stoic tossed Hiccup in there and could hear Stoic's loud voice and Hiccup's pleading one. "take this out on me, be mad at me but please just don't hurt Toothless,"

"The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed!"

"He was just protecting me, he's not dangerous,"

"They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've killed thousands of them!" Hiccup yelled back just as loud, Gobber could tell from just listening that Hiccup was trying so hard to be more than an ignored piece of scrap, he was trying to stand up against his father, which was hard for Hiccup to do. He had continued explaining something but what he heard of it was, "I promise you, you can't win this one! Dad, no, For once in your life will you just listen to me!" He cried out desperately. They were just by the doors now so Gobber was able to hear what Stoic said next.

"You thrown your lot in with them, you're not a viking, you're not my son," Stoic stormed out "Ready the ships!" Gobber saw him pause as if he realized the weight of the words he just said to his son.

"Stoic? What was that about?" Gobber asked, aggravated that Stoic actually said that to Hiccup, he knew how much Stoic loved Hiccup so how could he say such things?

"We have a way to find the nest now, collect the demon and have him ready to be put on the lead ship." Stoic the chief was back, the father was hidden away.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Gobber said, "Let me just point out that if Hiccup didn't call off that dragon, you might not be here and if that dragon didn't show up you wouldn't have a son," with that Gobber left Stoic to fetch the Night Fury as he was ordered to.

Gobber still found it amazing that one of the most feared dragons known to vikings was tamed by a kid and acts like a pet almost when he wasn't being overprotective of Hiccup's sleeping body. The fact he was so friendly to those who didn't pose a threat was mind boggling, Hiccup was right as he usually is. Gobber still hasn't figured out why Hiccup called the dragon "Toothless" but Astrid said it was because he had retractable teeth and would give gummy smiles. She had been the only one that could get close enough to calm the Night Fury enough to allow the elder to tend to Hiccup as well as be fed. The dragon earned all the fish he got, almost three baskets a day, since he and Hiccup basically saved everyone when they defeated that dragon. To think that Hiccup was the one to do it still was a bit shocking to say the least. But as the son of a chief he is a natural born leader and the way he took charge of the other teens was impressive, considering how much he disliked them for the years of torment they caused.

When he got to the arena to collect the Night Fury he found they locked him up since there was a hole in the chain fence. He heard the commotion it was making, trying to get free. He heard it's roars, it trying to blast it's way out. He didn't blame the dragon, for something that's been free it's whole life he wouldn't like being in there. He wonders how Hiccup had actually caught such a ferocious creature, as well as why he wasn't dead right now. He heard scratching on the cage door, it came down to that and whimpering. He could barely stand to listen to the sounds of distress. He left to collect men and the equipment needed to transport the dragon down to the

When he came back it was silent, he feared the worst. Stoic would not be happy and Hiccup would probably be devastated, if the dragon was dead there would be a whole new slew of problems that they didn't need. Carefully they opened the door to find nothing, looking closer the dragon was hiding in the shadows of the cage. With some effort, which included getting the dragon wet, they tied him up and got him down to the ships. He was locked up even more after he was dropped onto the front ship. "Set sail! We head for Hellheim's gate," Stoic said and looked up at the cliff-side, Gobber looked up too to see Hiccup standing there, Gobber could see the defeated look on the lad's face even from such a distance, he knew Stoic could too. Then they set sail and made their way out of the docks and into the open sea. With Berk becoming smaller and smaller as they went.

As they sailed along, Gobber kept an eye on the dragon. Scrutinizing the dragon that since before that day no one has ever seen, or at least told to tell the tale (or was willing to). A Night Fury has always been told to be a dangerous, ferocious demon, the unholy offspring of lightning and death. Yet the Night Fury before him seemed defeated, depressed, and not dangerous at all. As well as figuring the dragon, Gobber was inspecting the gear the dragon acquired, "So this explains a lot," Gobber said as he looked it all over. The dragon did watch him when he got close to his makeshift tail-fin, it explains where all the missing leather went from the forge during the absence of Stoic and the searching party.

He could see a timeline forming in his head of what Hiccup has been up to when he disappeared; he did catch the dragon the night of the raid, freed it to find it could not fly so being as curious as he is he kept eye on it until he took a bold move to confront it, somehow befriended it and learned things like the scratching, light, grass; and the dragon had come to his rescue in the arena. Then Gobber followed the mechanism up the dragon's body, he got a real good look at the saddle. it contorted to his back well and the stirrup seemed to control the tail. Hiccup has been riding a dragon, giving a handicapped dragon its ability to fly again. He did recall when he told the teens that a downed dragon was a dead dragon, Hiccup probably couldn't stand the thought of seeing something like this dragon die with the knowledge that he could have done something. So he gave the dragon the thing he was without, but he would need help to fly, making them forced to team up.

They were friends, that's why it came to Hiccup's rescue, why Hiccup stood up to his father, why both of them look so destroyed, because they needed each other and fear they won't see the other again. Whatever Hiccup said to his father about the nest probably both the lad and dragon can predict the outcome of. Gobber looked at Stoic, his friend, ally, chief, who kept his focus forward and not at the dragon that almost killed him earlier. Stoic had been obsessed with finding the nest since they took Valka, he's has almost gone mad because of it, he loved her so much and Hiccup being so much like her never helped. Stoic is... well stoic, he keeps his emotions bottled up and only when things are really bad he lets them out in bursts of anger, either in battle or at people like what he did with his own son earlier. He could understand a bit of Stoic rage at Hiccup, befriending a dragon while from an island full of dragon killing vikings, that would hurt Stoic's pride a bit, and make him see even more of Valka in the boy since she had the same opinion about dragons and then was taken by one, he probably feared the same thing would happen with Hiccup. But disowning his own son because he was too much like the mother he never knew?

"What Gobber?" Stoic asked and Gobber was pulled out of his thoughts to realize he was still staring at his friend.

"Nothing, he did a good job on this leather work, at least my teachings didn't go to waste," Gobber said gesturing to the saddle and tail. Stoic looked at him and to the dragon, then stepped closer to Gobber so the others wouldn't exactly hear.

"For a dragon, he betrayed us." Stoic said quietly, Gobber knew that wasn't all of it.

"Are you sure that's what he did? How did he betray us?"

"It's pretty obvious how,"

"Yet you neglect the 'why' of the situation." Gobber retorted, he was getting irritated by his friend's stubbornness.

"What about it?"

"Haven't you asked yourself why Hiccup did all of this?"

"It's not important,"

"Yes it is," Gobber replied quickly, "It wasn't like with Drago, he would never hurt anyone, you should realize that this is your son we're talking about."

"He still did it anyway,"

"I think this is about you thinking that he betrayed you by doing this, but he was probably wasn't thinking about you while you were gone when he made the choice."

"I not talking about this anymore," Stoic said with a sense of finality that Gobber knew from experience not to challenge. They were almost upon the gates and to the nest, slowly they entered the fog. Gobber looked at the dragon and saw concern and worry in its large green eyes. If Hiccup was friends with this creature it must be smart, smart enough to understand the conversation.

They hit a shore and Toothless was trying to escape his confines and go in the opposite direction, Stoic looked up the rock face and whispered, "We're here," with a hungry look in his eyes. Gobber would want to side with the dragon at the moment, if a Night Fury doesn't like this place there would a reason for it. Once Stoic touched down on the rocky shore the humming in the air fell silent, and once all the ships hit shore they began to unload the catapults, and placed stakes facing the mountain on the beach. Throughout the whole time Gobber noted that Toothless kept fighting his restraints quietly but seemed to fear for those on the beach.

Their attack worked, all the dragons flew out with such speed it could have been mistaken for eagerness. As they begun to cheer Stoic called them into ranks and the beach shook from the tunnel ground splitting and a massive roar was heard. Everyone rushed away to be clear as the rock began to break and a massive head breaches out, quicker than one would think the massive dragon was climbing onto the beach. There was chaos among all the vikings but while it emerged Gobber turned to see the beast, "Beard of Thor, what is that?" he called out as it roared again and beside him he heard Stoic say, "Odin help us," before it was even entirely on the surface the catapults were being fired but the dragon just crushed them with its giant jaw. He saw that it was over 500 feet tall with large teeth and spines all along its spine and back of head, now he knew what Hiccup was talking about. Whatever it was it set fire to the ships and Stoic ordered the men to go to the other side of the island.

"I think I'll stay just in case you're thinking of doing something crazy," Gobber said jogging after Stoic, who turned on him.

"I can buy them a few minutes if I give that thing something to hunt," Stoic turned to run at the dragon when Gobber grabbed his wrist and clasped their hands as he said, "Then I can double that time," with a nod they both turned to the dragon and called out to get its attention. It worked for a moment before it raised it's head as to breathe fire, then all of a sudden there was a big explosion to the back of it's head, surprising all of them. From behind the giant dragon there were four dragons that flew in to the rescue, the dragons they kept in the arena, and the six teenagers riding those dragons cheering in excitement. Gobber could hear Hiccup giving orders to the other teens, and the teens looked excited to be doing it. Tuffnut kept calling out, "Look at us! We're on dragons! All of us!"

Some of the vikings stopped running to see the sight of the next generation of Berk on dragons. "Every bit of boar-headed stubborn viking you ever were," Gobber commented as he watched Hiccup lead them on a lap around, not too much surprised that Hiccup found a way to help, and he always had style when he did it. He saw Stoic simply nod to the comment as he just stared at his son leading an army of his own, only four dragons but still enough fire-power to be considered an army. Hiccup gave orders and directed the Nadder he and Astrid were on in the direction of the burning boat, the Night Fury, he almost forgot about him in all the chaos. Stoic watched the teens take on the massive dragon, it tried to hit the Zippleback the twins were riding, Fishlegs and Snotlout on either side if its head. Snotlout got tossed and Fishlegs crash landed, the dragon barely missed stepping on Fishlegs and stepped closer to the boats. In panic Stoic yelled, "Hiccup!" when the dragon stepped on the boat, crushing it in the process, and Stoic ran like Hell was chasing him, when Stoic reached the water he dived right in. Moments later he came up with Hiccup and went right back down, only to come up the next time in the claws of the Night Fury, which Hiccup mounted promptly after and soon was flying in the air.

You could hear the high pitch of the Night Fury's attack, someone called out, "Night Fury!" knowing what might happen Gobber also called out, "Get down!" when they felt the aftershock of the Night Fury's hit the colossal dragon causing it to fall over. It was not too happy when it got up since it opened up it's wings and flew after the Night Fury which was so small in comparison. It chased the fast little dragon through the rocks that were just off the shore, Hiccup and the Night Fury were weaving through all of them with great speed while the colossal dragon just rammed through crashing all the rocks into the sea. Hiccup turned to the clouds and the giant dragon followed them close behind, you could hear the blasts and see the flashes with each one. Everyone just looked up at the clouds and watched the battle from down on that rocky shore. Then the orange flames could be seen through the dark gray, almost black clouds and you could see them come down moments later. On the way down the larger dragon was almost on top of them, but fire was stuck in the back of it's throat and when it saw the ground it tried to open it's wings as to put on brakes. There were holes in the wings and the impact was head first, it never stood a chance as it was consumed by a fiery inferno that lit up and warmed up the whole island, even singeing the hairs of a few of the closer vikings.

As the fire burned out and ash filled the air, all were silent, except Stoic who was calling out his son's name running around the beach blindly. Then he approached a large black form that was probably the night fury. When the rest of the vikings stepped closer they saw Stoic on his knees in front of the dragon that was on the ground. Slowly the dragon was opened its wings to show he was holding Hiccup in his limbs. Stoic rushed to grab Hiccup and took off his helmet to check his breathing.

"He's alive! You brought him back alive!" Stoic called out and a wave of relief ran through the crowd, Astrid beside Gobber looked the most relieved and happy. Gobber walked up to Stoic to see what kind of damage the team took, considering the dragon's prosthetic tail was nonexistent and the wiring system was all mangled. When he stepped up to the group he saw Stoic place a hand on the creature's head which it complied to, "thank you, for saving my son," Stoic said. Gobber looked down at Hiccup and saw the charring on his pant leg and boot, then he realized there was only one boot.

"Well, you know, most of him." Gobber said looking at what wasn't there. Stoic looked to see what Gobber was talking about and saw what was missing.

"Oh Thor," Stoic sighed.

"At least he's alive, Stoic." Gobber said resting his real hand on Stoic's shoulder.

"You're right, you're right." Stoic agreed, and held Hiccup even closer to his body. "He's still here,"

Gobber remembered how they had to wait for new ships to arrive to take them home, and the whole time Toothless did not leave Hiccup's side once, even on the ships home he curled around Hiccup's unconscious body to keep him from any and all harm as they sailed. The dragon's flying equipment was destroyed so he could not fly at all and had to be patient as they traveled, thankfully it was faster with the other teens using their dragon's to pull the ships across the water so Hiccup could receive treatment sooner. Most were on edge, especially the ones on the ship with Toothless and Hiccup, everyone picked up on the dragon's worried state. Some were surprised to see such emotions from a dragon to be directed towards a viking. No one tried approach the wounded pair except Stoic and Gobber, Stoic checked on Hiccup's condition and Gobber would try to tend to the stump and slow the bleeding so Hiccup could make it to Berk alive.

"Gobber, how are you coming along?" Stoic said as he entered the forge, shaking Gobber out of his thoughts and bringing him back to his current project.

"It's getting there, how is he?" Gobber asked moving to grab a tool for the new tail system he was making. When he started working on it a few days ago he had to remeasure the dragon since he couldn't find all of Hiccup's papers, knowing the lad hid them in fear someone would find them and learn the truth.

"He's getting better, but still sleeping, that dragon has yet to leave his side," Stoic said sitting down on a barrel.

"Are you surprised? The trauma they went through, there's no splitting those two up ever, they'll need each other as well."

"Still, the fact that he befriended a dragon, a night fury no less,"

"He's always been doin' stunts that no one's tried before, he's more stubborn and smarter than most of us."

"You've seen the village lately right?"

"I've heard the ruckus, seen it through my windows."

"I would never have thought that we would all actually be riding dragons," Stoic said glancing outside to see Nadders on tops of houses and Terrors running about.

"Berk was never nor will it ever be boring, and that's was usually because of Hiccup."

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Gobber knew Stoic was referring to the new prosthetic that Gobber had put on Hiccup yesterday. Toothless was curious since he watched from the rafters as Gobber had attached it and was ready to pounce if Gobber made a wrong move.

"With that dragon around Hiccup will have the best protection ever, and the new leg will just make him even more popular, news will spread quick to the other islands about what Hiccup has done."

"A lot is going to change won't it?"

"Let's see; a dragon killing island going straight to a dragon riding island, yeah it will." Gobber said as he continued to work.

"Do you think she would be proud?" Stoic asked and Gobber stopped, he put his tools down and turned to look at his friend, his shoulders slump and a sad, longing look in his eyes.

"I think she would be saying, 'I told you we didn't need to kill them,'" Stoic only gave a twitch of a smile, then it was gone, "She would probably also say, 'You did a good job raising him, even if he's as stubborn as you' but yes, she would definitely be proud, of both you and Hiccup. She'd probably beat you upside the head for even letting him fight that thing, heck she would beat you for letting him do dragon training in the first place."

"Probably," Stoic was quiet for a moment, Gobber didn;t dare return to his work knowing that Stoic wasn't done. "He's so much like her, I'm beating myself for everything I did wrong by him, for endangering him, for almost losing him."

"He won't hold it against you, he probably doesn't even understand that he reminds you of Valka. He wouldn't know since he doesn't remember her at all."

"I guess you're right."

"Usually am, but you should be home in case he wakes up,"

"Alright, are you almost finished?"

"Yep, I gotta give a hand to him for the plans, they are definitely pure genius."

"Okay Gobber, I get it, I'll see you later." Stoic walked out and Gobber took a look at the new tail fin, red with the Berk crest in white. He wonders what Hiccup will think up next since dragons will be an everyday occurrence now, what will his next genius idea be?

...

A few hours later Hiccup had emerged from the house and people were calling out telling everyone that he's back. Gobber looked out the window to see people running to him and surrounding him, so following the crowd he left the forge with new equipment in hand and hobbled up to the crowd.

"Turns out all we needed was a bit of this," He heard Stoic said.

"But you just gestured to all of me," Hiccup commented.

"Well, most of you," Gobber interrupted walking past people to end up next to Stoic and in front of Hiccup. "That bit's my handiwork, with a little Hiccup flare thrown in! You think it'll do?"

Hiccup lifted it a bit and looked at it, "I might make a few tweaks," causing everyone to laugh.

Then Astrid comes up behind Hiccup and punches him in the arm, he stumbles for a second. "That's for scaring me," she says as he turned to look at her.

"Wha-what what, what is is it always going to be this way cause-" he stutters until she pulls him closer to kiss him, promptly shutting him up, when she lets go he has this pure bliss look on his face, "I could get use to this," he says as the both smile.

Gobber takes that moment to give Hiccup his new gear, "Welcome home," he says and Hiccup is smiling, glad to be accepted finally. Then there was a sound of a door opening and someone calling out, "Nightfury!" and "Get down." A funny sight it was to see the night fury jump on top of people as to get to Hiccup and the people he harmlessly jumped over had toppled over, then the dragon just sat there eagerly staring at Hiccup with big eyes.

Hiccup went to putting the new gear on his dragon and that was amusing to watch too, considering the dragon did not want to remain still so they were just chasing each other in a circle, until someone was smart enough to get a fish to keep Toothless's attention. Once he was finished Gobber took in the sight of the new Berk, dragons everywhere, people happy, there sure were to be challenges ahead, but there were going to be more good times than bad, that much Gobber could tell. Then he sees Hiccup fly off above him with Astrid and her Nadder, the group flying around the island, good times ahead indeed.