Stoick & many other villagers gathered in the Great Hall for a meeting; a large map was spread out in front of the chief.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest & destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home." He announced before he stabbed the guessed location of the dragons' home with a dagger.

"One more search. Before the ice sets in."

"Those ships never come back." A Viking exclaimed; Stoick reasoned,

"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?" Silent mutters sounded.

"Today's not good for me." A Viking muttered.

"I've gotta do my ax returns." Another muttered as many gazes shifted down; Stoick suddenly thought of a way to change it,

"Alright. Those who stay will look after Hiccup." As soon as he said that, every hand shot up.

"To the ships!" A woman quickly proclaimed; Spitelout spoke out,

"I'm with you, Stoick!"

"That's more like it." The chief muttered satisfied; Gobber wiped his face & tapped his mug-hand on the table he sat at before standing up,

"Right, I'll pack my undies." Stoick walked over to his friend & sat down,

"No, I need you to stay & train some new recruits."

"Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to herself…what could possibly go wrong?" Gobber asked sarcastically, throwing his good hand up in the air; Stoick sighed in frustration,

"What am I going to do with her, Gobber?"

"Put her in training with the others." Gobber suggested, looking at his long-time friend.

"No, I'm serious." Stoick scoffed, looking at him; Gobber jumped in,

"So am I." Stoick didn't look happy,

"She'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage."

"Oh, you don't know that." Gobber defended.

"I do know that, actually." Stoick shot out.

"No, you don't." Stoick shot back,

"No, actually I do." Gobber was fed up with it,

"No you don't!" Stoick began to reason,

"Listen! You know what she's like. From the time she could crawl, she's been…different. She doesn't listen. She has the attention span of a sparrow." Gobber's stone tooth fell out of his mouth & into his mug; he looked in for it.

"I take her fishing & she goes hunting for… for trolls." Stoick finished in anger.

"Trolls exist! They steal your socks. But only the left ones. What's with that?" Gobber wondered as he turned back around.

"When I was a boy…" Stoick started.

"Oh here we go." Gobber muttered under his breath.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock & I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?" Gobber was trying to get his tooth while Stoick was explaining.

"You got a headache." Gobber groaned, finally getting his tooth; he then gently hammered his tooth back in with the bottom of the mug.

"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 what I was, what I had to become. Hiccup is not like that."

"You can't stop her, Stoick. You can only prepare her. Look, I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again. She's probably out there now." Gobber confessed; Stoick began to think.


Hiccup looked down at her notebook; she then closed her eyes before lifting her face. When she opened her eyes & saw no sign of the shot-down dragon, she sighed in disappointment; she then drew an "X" over the spot she had looked before scribbling over her map & closing the book in frustration.

"Uggh, the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon." She sighed in frustration & anger.

Why would Dad want a boy? Maybe he hates me even more because I remind him of Mom.

Her dark hair looked half red & half brown with tiny streaks bleached blonde by the sun was tied in its usual double plait; her eyes were a deep emerald green with flecks of silver that made her eyes shine in the sun. Her face was a rounded forehead & became somewhat triangular at her chin; her small nose sitting right in the center while a group of freckles dotted across the bridge & over a bit of her cheeks.

She was quite mature for her age & had lots of curves in all the right places but every morning, she bound her chest so it made her look more like a boy; she didn't want to give anyone another reason to pick on her. Astrid & Ruffnut knew that she bound her chest because they did the same thing but not as tightly as her; they weren't trying to hide their chests, they were just trying to make it more comfortable under their armor.

It was an unspoken rule among the girls that no matter what they said during the teasing sessions, they never mention the wrappings they wore under their clothes; it was embarrassing to talk about around the boys as they were so immature for their age. Unfortunately for Hiccup that even with the bindings, her chest was bigger than the other two girls so she was often teased; she looked at her clothes: typical Viking-style boots, a brown belt, blue pants under a forest-green skirt, & a hip-length green-blue shirt with long sleeves under her brown fur vest. She then whacked a low-hanging branch; it snapped back at her, hitting her in the face.

"Ouch!" She screeched, reaching up to cover her eye but slowly lowered it as she looked up to see a snapped tree trunk; her eyes followed it to a long trench of up-turned earth. She suspiciously followed it to a downed, black dragon; getting a closer look, she noticed that its body & tail are tangled in the set of bolos & it appears to be dead.

"Oh wow. I did it. I did it. This fixes everything. Yes!" She cheered; she began to get giddy.

Dad will be proud of me, everyone will appreciate me, & Tuffnut will…wait, why am I thinking this? I shouldn't like him; he made my life a living hell. Wait, why did he look at me like he did when Dad told me to get back to the house? Tuffnut should've been angry at me.

"I have brought down this mighty beast!" She confidently proclaimed while shaking away her thoughts as she placed a foot on the dragon's side, envisioning the reactions of the village; a loud groan & a shift from beneath her forced her back against the large boulder, her hand with the knife flat against the rock as she slightly cowered. The dragon breathed heavily, its eyes still closed; Hiccup cautiously advanced on it, her small dagger clutched in her hand & pointed towards it.

It's still alive; I gotta kill it to prove to everyone.

She shifted her eyes along its body, noticing the way the bolos had wound around it & stopped it from moving while keeping its legs restrained against its body; her eyes moved up its body until she stopped on its face. The eye facing her was wide open, revealing that it is forest green, a shade lighter than her own but with a slit pupil like a cat's eye; she saw the fear in its eye, the fear of death.

It's afraid? How can a beast like this be afraid?

She turned slowly away & moved her knife up, keeping a firm grip on it as her hand wavered slightly; against her will her eyes moved to meet the dragon's. She was taking short, deep breaths now, attempting to put its pleading gaze out of her mind.

"I'm going to kill you, Dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart & take it to my father. I'm a Viking. I am a Viking!" She exclaimed almost as if she was trying to convince herself of that fact; she lifted the dagger over her head, trying to ignore the moan of pain from the dragon as it continued to gaze steadily at her. She closed her eyes but opened one at the last second, meeting the gaze of the dragon; she closed her eyes &, once again, drew the dagger over her head.

The dragon gave a wail & closed its eye, letting its head drop back down to the earthy ground as it accepted its fate; Hiccup made one last attempt to thrust the dagger downwards but stopped, letting it drop along with her closed fists onto her head. She lowered her hands off her head & gazed at it before turning her attention back to the dragon & its bonds,

"I did this." The dragon's eye suddenly shot open when it heard the girl cutting the ropes; it watched her every move. As the last rope fell free, the dragon suddenly pounced; in a blur, the dragon is upon her, pinning her down by her neck.

This is it; I'm gonna die. I should've stayed at home.

She found its wolf-like stare boring into her; the dragon then drew a deep breath, as though it's about to torch her, but let out an ear-piercing scream into her face instead. It turned & took flight, flapping violently through a canopy of trees; it bashed against a nearby mountain side, recovered, & dropped out of view some distance away.

It just let me live? Just like that? But why?

Hiccup thought as she fell back against the rock; she then got to her feet with her dagger in hand before she watched in concern as the dragon thudded into several trees & rocks before gradually lowering out of sight. She managed to walk several paces before she dropped her dagger & fainted.


Hiccup woke up & began stumbling back through the forest; going blindly down the paths that she was certain would lead her to the village. Her steps were sluggish & slow while her head throbbed from hitting it on the rock & ground; she could vaguely make out the shapes of buildings in the distance & clutched a nearby tree, trying desperately to keep going.

She saw a small figure making its way towards her but her vision was becoming fuzzy & she was finding it more & more difficult to stand; just before she collapsed again, she felt a strong arm wind around her waist & another under her knees, lifting her up against a hard chest.

"What's wrong with you?" She heard a familiar voice ask & tried to make up an excuse but it only came out as a whimper; Tuffnut sighed, looking down at the nearly unconscious girl in his arms. He then noticed that he was almost at her house before he walked to her house; he stopped at her door & gently set her to her feet before turning to walk away.

"Why did you help me, Tuffnut?" He looked over his shoulder to see her looking at him; he had decided to be nice to her,

"Call it a change of heart." Hiccup smiled,

"Thank you!" Tuffnut smiled,

"No problem!" He then hurried home as Hiccup silently entered her house; she saw her father at the fire. The teen girl kept as quiet as possible, keeping an eye on her father; she slowly climbed the stairs.

I'm gonna be in trouble if he catches me; it was a miracle that Tuffnut was even out there, even more so that he helped me. I can still smell the spicy scent that was distinctly him & the way his arms had held me close as if I was a precious bundle: he sure knew how to handle a girl; wait, he always tortured me so his "change of heart" isn't gonna change anything.

"Hiccup." She stopped, cringing when she realized she had been caught,

"Dad. Uh…" she paused before speaking again,

"Uh… I have to talk to you, Dad." Stoick heaved himself out of his seat & faced his daughter,

"I need to speak with you too, dear." They each took a deep breath.

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons." Hiccup exclaimed while Stoick said,

"I think it's time you learn to fight dragons." This caused the both of them to be confused.

"What?" They both asked, facing each other as they tried to decipher what was said in the jumble of words; Hiccup couldn't help but think about what her father wanted to tell her.

"You go first." Stoick offered; Hiccup shook her head as she climbed down,

"No, you go first." Her father didn't argue,

"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning." He straightened up & placed his hands on his hips as he said this.

"Oh man, I should've gone first. 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 Vikings…" Hiccup asked, twirling her hands together nervously.

"You'll need this." He interrupted while dropping a normal ax into her hands.

"I don't want to fight dragons." Stoick chuckled at his daughter's statement,

"Come on. Yes, you do." He then turned away.

"Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons." Hiccup raised her voice to try & get her point across.

"But you will kill dragons." Hiccup tried not to collapse from the weight of the ax,

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."

"It's time, Hiccup." Stoick exclaimed in a very serious tone; his daughter tried again,

"Can you not hear me?" Stoick stressed,

"This is serious, dear! When you carry this ax, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of… this." Hiccup deadpanned, seeing the similarities between Stoick & Gobber,

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Deal?" Stoick questioned.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

"DEAL?!" Stoick asked more forcibly; Hiccup allowed the ax to drop & sighed in defeat,

"Deal." She looked down before looking back up at her father.

"Good. Train hard. I'll be back. Probably." He stated as he hoisted a large sack over his shoulder, put on his helmet, & headed for the door.

"And I'll be here. Maybe." Hiccup muttered before the door closed behind her father.