~~~Kira's POV~~~
The fire tower fell, rolling down into the village. A group of Nadders flew off with a bunch of sheep in a net soon after. Hiccup winced as one of the sheep fell out of the net and the tower's top rolled into a building. The raid was over, but it hadn't exactly been a victory for the Vikings.
"Sorry, Dad." Hiccup said and then turned to face our father.
"But he hit a Night Fury!" I chimed in, and our dad grabbed him by the scruff of his vest. He carried him a little bit before putting him down.
"It wasn't like the last few times, Dad." He argued, "It went down right over Raven's Point let's get a search party out the-"
"STOP!" Our dad shouted, making Hiccup cringe. Stoick calmed down slightly, "Just stop. Every time you step outside, disaster happens. Can't you see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed." Hiccup looked around. Knowing what he was going to say, I groaned internally.
"Between you and me, the village could use a little less feeding, don't you think?" I few Vikings placed a hand on their bellies, and while I did agree a little bit, that probably wasn't the right the thing to say.
"This isn't a joke, Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" Stoick asked exasperatedly. Hiccup shifted on his feet before replying,
"It's who I am, Dad. I see a dragon and I just have to... Kill it." I personally didn't know what was so great about killing dragons. I mean they were beautiful creatures, especially the Paladin, who seemed to help both sides during a raid. And I especially didn't see importance in killing dragons after talking to Hakon, he made it seem like all dragons had the potential for good, but something was holding them back. Probably our Viking stubbornness.
As if my thoughts had summoned him, I saw Hakon in the crowd. He waved at me and I discreetly waved back. Why did I have to be the daughter of the chief, if I was just a normal girl I could have been with Hakon. I just hoped that my father wouldn't marry me off to some stranger. I was snapped out of my fantasy by my father's groaning.
"Hiccup, you are many things, but a dragon killer is not one of them." Many of the Viking's nodded in agreement, "Get them back to the house." From behind, Gobber nudged me and I walked in front of him. Hakon was walking right behind me. I felt him slip something into my hand.
I looked at it, it was a scale from the Paladin. A few days ago he had asked what I wanted the most. I, of course, didn't tell him that I wanted to be able to love him, so instead I asked for the scale of the Paladin dragon. He had said he would get one for me. I had asked how, and he had simply replied that he had his ways.
We walked passed the fire brigade kids, Snotlout jeering at Hiccup while trying to give me a flirtatious smile. I glared at him, if I had to marry someone like him... I would either run away with Hakon or throw myself to a dragon. A grunt sounded behind me and I turned, as did Gobber and Hiccup.
Snotlout had tackled Hakon to the ground, and pinned him down. He turned to me and winked,
"Don't worry I got this, babe. This freak won't be bothering you anymore." I glared at him as I heard a hissing sound. It was coming from Hakon, and he was doing a perfect imitation of an angry dragon.
Hakon pulled his legs up and kicked Snotlout in the midsection, sending him flying off. Hakon stood up and dusted himself. He glared at Snotlout, his cat-like eyes turning to slits. He made the strange hissing sound again.
"Don't mess with me, Snotface." Hakon caught up with us as I suppressed a chuckle. We continued walking as an indignant shout sounded behind us,
"It's lout, SnotLOUT!" Not much better in my opinion. The sky had started to turn blue as we approached our house.
"I really did hit one." Hiccup told Gobber.
"Sure, Hiccup." Gobber replied sarcastically. Hakon leaned over to me an whispered,
"Hit what?" I felt my cheeks heat up as I felt his breath on my ear.
"A N-n-night Fury." I stuttered. Control yourself, Kira! He was just whispering. I turned my attention back to Hiccup and Gobber, trying to make the burning sensation in my face calm down.
"He never listens." Hiccup ranted.
"It runs in the family." Gobber simply answered.
"And when he does, it's always with this disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat on his sandwich." Hiccup stood next to the door and puffed out his chest, "Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here is a talking fishbone." I giggled at Hiccup's little performance, he had done well mimicking Stoick. I saw Hakon clapping, his eyes shone with unspoken laughter.
"You're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand." I facepalmed, Gobber needed to learn the meaning of "motivational speech".
"Thank you," Hiccup said sarcastically, "thank you for summing that up."
"Look," Gobber told him, "the point is to stop trying to be something you're not." Hiccup looked at the blacksmith sadly.
"I just want to be one of you guys." He opened the door and walked in, and I quickly followed. As soon as the door was shut, Hiccup raced for the back door.
"We're going after the Night Fury, aren't we?" Hiccup nodded. I sighed, grabbing a few things before heading out the the door and onto the island...
~~~Hakon's POV~~~
I couldn't believe that Hiccup had shot down a Night Fury, hopefully he won't have the heart to kill the dragon. I walked alongside Gobber and said to him,
"Hey, Gobber. You really could use a crash course in tact." He waved his hand dismissively.
I personally couldn't wait to start dragon training. It was the chance for me to get revenge for Hiccup, helping Gobber to make the challenges as difficult as we could. I especially couldn't wait to knock Snotlout down a few pegs, the way he had called Kira "babe" had angered me to a point where I had nearly gone dragon.
A horn sounded, Stoick was calling a meeting. I was about to walk back to the blacksmith shop when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"We have to have a talk with Stoick about dragon training afterwards, so you're coming too." I sighed, knowing there was no arguing with Gobber. I followed him into the great hall and hid in the shadows. The Vikings started to gather around the center table.
Once everyone was in Stoick started. It was a normal meeting until he said something about trying to raid the dragon's nest, which they had never found and they hardly ever returned from. As soon as the words left Stoick's mouth, everyone started to protest.
"QUIET!" Stoick shouted, gathering everyone's attention, "Either we finish them or they'll finish us! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home." He stabbed his blade into the uncharted section of the map that represented the nest.
"One more search. Before the ice sets in." The chief looked around at the group.
"Those ships never come back." Someone complained.
"We're Vikings," Stoick argued, "it's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me." He threw his fist into the air but no one else did. They all muttered feeble excuses. Stoick sighed and said,
"Those who stay will look after Hiccup," a few more hands were raised and he added, "and Hakon." Every hand in the room rose, except for Gobber's. It felt awful knowing that people hated me this much.
"To the ships!" One shouted.
"I'm with you, Stoick!" Another exclaimed.
"That's more like it." Stoick commented dryly. The group left leaving only Stoick, Gobber, and I. I jumped down and Stoick glared at me. I shied away from the chief's stare, walking over to Gobber.
Gobber had switched prosthetics, now wearing a cup instead of an axe. He had poured himself some mead, or some other beverage. I wasn't exactly sure. He took a swig of the drink and looked at Stoick.
"I'll pack my undies." He said.
"No," the chief replied, "I need you to stay and train some new recruits."
"Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lot's of time to himself... What could possibly go wrong?" Gobber asked, sarcasm seeping through every word. Stoick sat down next to Gobber.
"What am I going to do with him?"
"Put him and Kira into training with the others."
"No, I'm serious."
"So am I." Stoick glared at the blacksmith/warrior/mentor.
"He'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of it's cage, and Kira wouldn't be able to defend herself."
"Oh you don't know that."
"I do know that, actually."
"No you don't."
"Yes, actually I do."
"No you don't!" I sighed, watching the two bicker. This could go on all night if it kept up at this rate. But a part of me was worried, I didn't want Kira to go into training, she would never see the good side to dragons if she did train.
"Listen," Stoick said, standing up, "you know what Hiccup's like. From the time he could crawl he's been... Different. He doesn't listen. Has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for trolls!" Gobber turned to face Stoick and pointed his cup at him.
"Trolls exist! They still your socks." He paused, "But only the left ones, what's up with that?"
"Perhaps their feet are both left ones." I supplied, making Gobber nod.
"When I was a boy..." Stoick started and Gobber and I groaned.
"Oh here we go." My mentor muttered taking a swig of his drink. His fake tooth dropped out of his mouth and went into the drink.
"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." He placed the tooth back into his mouth and pounded it back in using his cup.
"The rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could tame crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Evan as I boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become." He turned to Gobber, "Hiccup is not that boy."
"You can't stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him." Gobber replied, "Look, I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is that you won't always be around to protect them. They are going to get out there again, they are probably out there now!" Stoick's expression changed as he thought it over. Gobber looked at me and we left. We went back to the blacksmith's.
"So, Hiccup and Kira might start dragon training." I stated.
"Yep."
"I'll get the first aid kit." I told him. Gobber had a playful expression on his face.
"You have a lot of faith in Hiccup."
"Well," I said, "He's good when it comes stuff like the forges and brain things. Bit when it comes to fighting..." I trailed off as Gobber laughed humorously. I them went up to my room to talk to Frigg, I wanted to ask her if she could make it as safe as possible for those ships on their way to the nest. I knew that once they passed Helheim's gate, they would be beyond help.
I did, however, wonder what Hiccup and Kira were up to.