Hiccup watched on in horror as his beloved dragon, inched closer. His mind no longer his own as he growled at his rider.
"Hey Toothless! Come on, what's the matter with you? No no! Snap out of it," the young Viking pleads desperately, trying to break the Alpha's hold on the Night Fury.
Toothless opened his mouth wide, a light blue glow starting to form in his throat.
"Toothless no. . ." Hiccup sighed, closing his eyes, bracing himself for the end.
"HICCUP!" He hears his father roar.
His eyes shoot open just in time to see Stoick crashing through debris and ice.
"Dad No!" Hiccup screamed, reaching out his hands in hopes of stopping the Chief.
Unfortunately, just like his son, Stoick the Vast didn't listen. Reaching his son at the last second, he pushed Hiccup out of the way just as Toothless released a Plasma Blast.
"DAD!" Hiccup cried, bolting up right in his bed.
Beads of sweat rolled down his face. His brown hair stuck to his forehead here and there. Hiccup tried to slow his breathing, which was heavier than normal. After finally getting his breathing back to some sort of normalcy, Hiccup cupped his face with his shaking hands. Resting his elbows on his legs for support.
"That's the fifth time this week," the young Chief sighs to himself, shaking his head slowly.
Hiccup felt something nudge his shoulder. He looked through his fingers to see Toothless looking at him with a concerned look on his face. He reached up and ran his hand over the bridge of his dragon's nose.
"I'm fine bud. It was just a dream. Actually, more like a nightmare," Hiccup explained, toothless leaning into his riders touch. "At least this time I didn't wake Mo. . ."
"Hiccup?" Valka calls from the bottom of the stairs that lead to his room.
"Mom," Hiccup finishes with a sigh.
Toothless jumped from the bed, wagging his tail happily at the door. Hiccup rolled his eyes and laughed. Since his mom came to live with him, Toothless was happier than ever.
"Glad to see who your favourite is," Hiccup smirked, reaching for his prosthetic leg.
Toothless grumbled softly looking at the door. Hiccup attached his metal leg and followed his Night Fury down the stairs.
"Hiccup, are you okay? I thought I heard you scream," Valka asked, worry plastered on her face.
The young Chief grabbed a fish out of the barrel next to the fire place and throw it to Toothless. He than grabbed one of the roasted ones and taking a seat at the table.
"Just another bad dream," he informs her, poking his fish with a fork.
Valka took a seat across from her son. "Was it about your father again?"
Hiccup let out a breath, placing his fork on the table. "Yes. Every time I close my eyes I see Toothless blast him." The Night Fury hangs his head and let out a whimper. "Oh don't worry Bud. I don't blame you. I just can't believe he's gone. I know it's been over a month but still," he states running a hand over his dragon's head.
Valka goes over to her son and places a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard, Hiccup. But your father wouldn't want you to mourn him. He's with the Gods now eating at Odin's table. He would want you to move on," she states softly. "Plus the people of Berk look up to you now that you're their Chief."
"I know, I know. 'Hiccup, my Yak won't make milk! Chief, my axe was stolen. Hiccup, could you teach me how to fly a Deadly Nadder?'" he mocked, flinging his hands around, "I don't know how dad did it."
Valka laughed at her son's impression of the villagers, "You sound just like Stoick when he first became chief. He was ready to throw the next person who said 'Hey Chief' in Jail. Funny thing was it happened to be Gobber and he was just trying to be funny."
Hiccup scratched under Toothless's chin causing him to purr, "That's actually not a bad idea. The next one to say 'Hey Chief' to me gets to spend the day in Jail," he laughs.
Suddenly the door open to the Chief's house, "Hey Chief!" A voice calls.
Mother and Son turn to see Astrid standing in the doorway. Calla looked from her to Hiccup and back before bursting into laughter.
"Good Morning Astrid," Valka smirks, throwing a look to her son.
"Good Morning to you too, Valka. May I ask what's so funny?" The young Viking asked, only causing Valka to laugh harder.
"Oh just our young Chief's newest order," she giggles, turning to her son. "Want to tell this young lady what that orders were?"
Hiccup rushes over to his girl and tried to turn her away, "No, I don't think that will be needed. She really doesn't . . ."
Astrid grabbed Hiccup's arm and bent it backwards, "Ow! Why would you do that!" He yelps, falling to his knees.
In the last few years, Hiccup and Astrid had become more than just friends, but she was still as aggressive as ever. Which was one of the many things he loved about her, however he's never going to tell her.
"Cause I want you to tell me what your mother meant by your newest order," she asked sternly, keeping a firm grasp on Hiccups arm.
"I-It's nothing! It was j-just a joke!" He tries to explain, through the pain shooting up his arm.
"He said that the next person to say 'Hey Chief' would spend the rest of the day in Jail," Valka explains with a laugh, "And unfortunately, my dear, that seems to be you."
Astrid hides a laugh as she dropped the young Chiefs arm. Hiccup rubs his arm while Toothless let out a gurgled laugh. He throw his best friend a look that could be read as 'Thanks for nothing you useless reptile.'
Astrid looked from Hiccup to his mother. At first he though she was going to hit him, so he was surprised when she suddenly burst out laughing.
"Well if it's the Chief's order, I guess there isn't much I can do," she giggles. Astrid reaches her hands out and puts them together. "Better arrest me now your chiefness. But beware, I won't go with out a fight," she continued with a wink.
Valka bursts out into a fit of laughter, having to use the table to keep herself up right. Astrid just continued to smile with her arms extended to Hiccup, who just shook his head.
"Ha ha, very funny guys. But I wouldn't laugh at the Chief if I were you," he says, making his voice deeper and thrusting his shoulders back. "Or you'll have to deal with all this Viking power!" Hiccup barks gesturing at all of him.
Astrid and Valka look at each other before falling to the ground laughing. Even Toothless had started laughing causing the young chief to roll his eyes.
"Oh . . . Oh now you've done it. M'lady I'm sorry to say this but you are going to have to come with me," he thunders as he goes over and grabs Astrid's arm. Hiccup pulled her to her feet then turn to his mother. "Let this serve as a warning to you."
Valka tries to keep a straight face, "yes my chief. I shall never laugh at a strong Viking again."
"I should hope not," Hiccup says as strongly as he can before heading outside, pulling a giggling Astrid with him.
Toothless happily followed his rider and his girl. Once they were far enough away from the house that Valka couldn't see them, Hiccup slid his hand down her arm so he could inner twine his with her's.
"Oh great and powerful Chief, please spare me. I promise never to make fun of your greatness again . . . well at least for the rest of the day," Astrid laughs, playfully trying to pull her hand from his.
Hiccup spins her so she was standing right in front of him. A few villages turn to look at them when they hear Astrid yelp. However, once they saw it was their chief and his beloved they just smiled and went on their way.
"I'm sorry M'lady, but I can't just let this go. What kinda chief would I be if I just let people go?" he asked leaning towards her. His voice is low and deep, causing Astrid's heart to jump slightly in her chest.
She reaches up and tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. Astrid looked up at him through her eyelashes, "a kind and merciful one."
"You mean like this?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her close so he can place his lips to her's.
Astrid slinks her arms around his neck, melting into him. Toothless gurgles and looked away, as he always did when his and Stormfly's riders would start doing kissing. After a few minutes the young couple broke apart, Hiccup placing his forehead to Astrid's.
"Well I've sure learned my lesson," she jokes, looking deep into his eyes.
Hiccup smiled and stood up straight, "I hope so!"
Astrid laughed and slipped her hand back into his as they continued their morning walk of the village. As the couple made their way around the village, people would wave and cheered. But with ever 'Hello Chief' or 'Good Morning Chief', Hiccup's smile would slowly fade.
Astrid knew right away that there was something wrong with the man she had grown to love. "Hiccup, what's the matter?" she asked, squeezing his hand.
The young Chief continued to stare off into the distance, not hearing her question. Astrid stopped in her tracks, and cause they were holding hands, Hiccup almost got pulled off his feet.
He regained his balance before turning to face the blonde Viking, "what was that for?"
Astrid dropped his hand so she can place her's on her hips. "I asked if something was wrong and you completely ignored me. Which pretty much answered my question," she explains worry mixed with her annoyance.
Hiccup sighed and bowed his head, "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I've just got a lot on my mind."
She reached up and placed a hand on his cheeks. "You still having those dreams?" she asked, rubbing her thumb over his cheek.
"Almost every night this week," he tells her as he leaned into her touch, "and every time I hear someone calls out 'Chief', I think they're calling out to him. And if I just turn around he'll be standing behind me, his ever present scowl on his face."
"Oh Hiccup, I know it's been a tough couple of weeks for you. Sure you lost your father cause he was killed by your best friend . . ." she starts to explain, Toothless letting out a small whimper at the memory.
Hiccup takes a step back, "you know after all these years, you still aren't the greatest at giving pep talks."
"But you gained a mother and became the Chief of Berk," she finishes, cupping his face with both hands this time. "I know you miss your dad a lot but you need to stop dwelling in the past and focus on the future, our future."
Hiccup looked into her deep blue eyes and could help falling deeper in love with her. "I guess your right," he says with a small smile.
Astrid smiled as she leaned up, placing a kiss on his cheek. She then slipped her hand once more into his. "Aren't I always?" she chimes as they continue to walk through the village.
Before Hiccup could say anything, he saw Fishleg running towards them. Meatlug was following close behind her rider.
"Hiccup! Astrid!" he calls over and over.
"Whoa there Fishlegs, what's wrong?" Hiccup asked once his friend was in ear shot.
"T-there . . . wreck . . . Oh gods, I shouldn't have eaten those extra dozen fish this morning . . ." the bigger Viking gasps, bending over slightly as he tried to catch his breath.
Astrid suppresses a laugh, while Hiccup simply rolls his eyes.
"Breath, Fishlegs! What do you mean by wreck?" he asked the out of breath dragon rider.
Fishlegs takes a few deep breaths. "A shipwreck. Meatlug and I were just finishing up our morning patrol of the beaches when we spotted it," he explained, running a hand over his beloved dragon.
"Must have been caused by that big storm that passed by last night," Astrid suggests.
Hiccup thinks for a moment. "We need to go see if there are any survivors. Fishlegs, go round up the twins and Snotlout. Astrid, you go grab Stormfly. We will meet back here in 10," he orders before heading over to Toothless.
Astrid and Fishlegs nod before running off in separate directions. Hiccup runs a hand over Toothless' head, "looks like we get to go flying this morning, Bud."