"Either we finish them, or they finish us." Stoick said loudly. He and the majority of the adults from around the village were gathered in the Great Hall. "It's the only way we'll be rid of them. If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home. One more search. Before the ice sets in."
"Those ships never come back." One of the Vikings said.
"We're Vikings." Stoick said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Its an occupational hazard. Now, who's with me?"
No one responded.
"Alright then." He said. "Those who stay will look after Hiccup and Siff."
Everyone's hands shot up into the air and Stoick was met with enthusiastic responses.
"That's more like it."
The rest of the people rushed to the doors, leaving Stoick and Gobber alone. "Alright then," Gobber said, finishing the rest of his drink. "I'll pack my undies."
"No," Stoick said. "I need you to stay and train the new recruits."
"Oh. Right. And while I'm busy, the terrible two can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to themselves… what could possibly go wrong?"
Stoick sat down next to Gobber and suddenly seemed tired. "What am I going to do with them, Gobber?"
"Put them in training with the others." Gobber said plainly.
"No, I'm serious."
"So am I."
Stoick gave Gobber a look. "They'd be dead before you let the first dragon out of its cage."
"Oh, you don't know that."
"I do actually."
"No you don't."
"No, I actually do."
"No you don't!" Gobber said defensively.
"Listen, you know what they're like. From the time Hiccup could crawl he's been… different. He never listens. And Siff, she's got the attention span of a sparrow and the curiosity of a squirrel with a death wish. I try to take them fishing and they go hunting for… for trolls!"
"Trolls exist." Gobber said. "They steal your socks. But only the left ones… what's with that?"
"When I was a boy…" Stoick said.
"Oh here we go again." Gobber muttered.
"My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"
"You got a headache."
"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew who I was, who I had to become…" He sighed. "Hiccup is not that boy and… I think Siff may be the problem."
"Siff? His best friend in the whole wide world?"
Stoick nodded. "She may be a bad influence on him. I think she's the one who comes up with all of these crazy ideas."
Gobber shook his head. "It's not her." He said. "She tries to keep him safe like she promised. But Hiccup drags her along on their… adventures. And if you try to split them up, Hiccup will never forgive you. You can't stop them from doing what they're doing. You can only prepare them. The truth is, you're not always going to be there to protect them. They're going to get out there again, for crying out loud, they're probably out there now."
Stoick sighed, knowing Gobber was right.
"Anything?" Siff called from up in a tree.
Hiccup looked up from a hand drawn map in his notebook. "Nope." He called frustratedly, drawing another X on the map. Hiccup slammed the book shut and threw it at the tree. "How did we manage to lose an entire dragon?!"
Siff jumped down from the tree and landed right next to Hiccup. "Hey, don't worry." She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find the Night Fury." Siff bent down to pick up the notebook but noticed something black and shiney on the ground. "Hiccup. Look at this." She picked it up and realized that it was a dragon scale.
Hiccup took the scale from her and then took a closer look at the ground. A small trail of scales led to a tree that had fallen down. Well, it looked like something had crashed into it.
"Oh Thor." Siff muttered. They followed the trail of destruction until they found it. The downed Night Fury.
"Ha! We did it!" Hiccup exclaimed joyously. "We did it!"
But their celebration was short lived as the Night Fury shifted in the entangled ropes and branches. "I'm gonna kill you, dragon." Hiccup said darkly. "I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father." Hiccup took out his knife and raised it above the Night Fury's head. With pleading in its eyes, it looked from Hiccup to Siff, then closed its eyes and waited for Hiccup to finish the job.
"Hiccup…" Siff said quietly. "I… don't…"
Hiccup looked from the dragon to his best friend. Then they knew what they had to do. Seconds later, they were cutting the dragon free.
Suddenly, the dragon jumped up and pinned Hiccup to the ground. For a moment, nothing happened. The dragon just stared at him. Then Siff put herself in between Hiccup and the dragon and looked it straight in the eye. Just as they thought that it was going to eat them, the dragon let out a piercing roar. Siff roared right back at it and then it flew off.
"What, in the name of Odin, was that?" Hiccup asked, stunned. "You… I mean… you just…"
"Roared at a Night Fury." Siff said, just as stunned as Hiccup.
"You my friend," Hiccup said, with a small laugh. "Are either very brave or very, very stupid."
Siff laughed a little too. "I've noticed that there's a very fine line between the two."
Hiccup nodded. "Let's go home."
"I couldn't agree with you more." Siff said. As they walked back home, Siff thought she saw a giant black blur run by them. It almost looked like another Night Fury. But she dismissed it and kept walking.
When they got home that night, Siff ran upstairs first to avoid being seen by Stoick but Hiccup wasn't so lucky.
"Hiccup," Stoick said."
"Dad, hi." Hiccup said, caught. " I, uh... I have to talk to you Dad."
"I need to speak with you too son."
At the same time, they both blurted something out. Both of them ending with: "Fight Dragons."
"You go first." Stoick said.
"No, no you go first."
"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You and Siff start in the morning."
"Oh man, I should've gone first." Hiccup said, scrambling to say something. "Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings, or small home repair-"
"You'll need this." Stoick interrupted, handing Hiccup his axe. Hiccup avoided taking it.
"I don't want to fight dragons, dad." Hiccup said.
Stoick laughed. "Oh come on. Yes you do."
"Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons."
"But you will kill dragons."
"No, I'm really extra sure that I won't."
"It's time, Hiccup."
"Can you not hear me?"
"This is serious, son." Stoick said, forcing the axe into Hiccup's hands. "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of…" Stoick gestured in Hiccup's direction. "... this."
"But you just gestured at all of me." Hiccup said.
"Deal?"
"This conversation is feeling very one sided."
"Deal?"
"Doesn't Siff get a say in any of this?"
"Hiccup." Stoick said in a threatening tone.
Hiccup sighed. "Deal."
"Good." Stoick said, grabbing his pack and walking towards the door. "I'll let you tell Siff the good news. Train hard, I'll be back. Probably."
"And I'll be here…" Hiccup said. "Maybe."
As soon as Stoick was out the door, Hiccup ran upstairs. "Siff, we have a problem."
Siff looked up from her book. "What is it?" She asked. "I heard you and Stoick yelling about something downstairs."
"Dragon Training." Hiccup said. "We start tomorrow morning."
Siff's eyes went wide. "You're kidding right"
Hiccup shook his head.
"Well if that isn't ironic timing, I don't know what is." Siff told him as Hiccup got into his bed on the other side of the room.
"I tried to tell him that we didn't want to do it," Hiccup told her. "But he wouldn't listen."
"So… now what?"
Hiccup thought about it. "I guess we have to go."
"But Hiccup, after what happened today, we just can't."
"I know. We'll just fake it."
Siff nodded. "I guess we should get some sleep."
"Yeah. Night."
Siff blew out the candle by her bed and they went to sleep.
