"Are you serious?!" Hiccup shouted waving his arms around so the contents of his cup flew everywhere, "Please tell me you are not serious about that?!"
"What's wrong? I thought you would be happy." Stoick said confused.
"I am far from happy, faaar from happy. You want me to marry..." Hiccup couldn't even say it out loud.
"Ruffnut Thorston." Stoick filled in sounding pleased. "Hey family is one of the greatest on Berk aside from our own, Hiccup."
Hiccup rubbed his temples.
"Well apart from the fact that she's violent, smart as a hill giant, loves chaos and is completely insane!" Hiccup more or less screamed the last part.
"I'm sorry that you're unhappy with my choice Hiccup but it's the best for Berk and the family as a whole." Stoick said stubbornly.
"And you honestly expect me to go along with this?!" Hiccup shouted with rising fury.
Stoick gave his son a stern look and towered above him.
"As my son and the next chief of Berk I expect you to yes." Stoick stepped closer.
Hiccup threw the cup against the wall, shattering it.
"I don't want to marry Ruffnut, I want Astrid!" Hiccup nearly screamed at his fathers face.
"I know you do son, but her family is poor and she is not a worthy wife of a chiefs son." Stoick said trying to calm Hiccup down. Naturally this didn't work.
"Her family is poor?! And Ruffnut's family is any better? The whole clan thrives on destruction, battle and chaos!" Hiccup was getting desperate. "They are named Thor-ston for a reason!"
"Enough Hiccup, go to bed. I will not tolerate any disobedience this time, son. You will marry the Thorston girl for the good of Berk and that's final." Stoick slammed shut the door to his bedroom making the house shake.
Hiccup let out a cry of despair and raced outside.
The night was long with much anger and pacing. Toothless had found his friend in a clearing far from the village. Hiccup was very angry but Toothless was unsure why. Maybe it was because of the fight with the vast one. The black dragon approached carefully, keeping a safe distance before sitting up to observe his friend.
Hiccup paced back an forth to well after midnight cursing under his breath and flailing his arms, kicking at rocks and shrubs before finally collapsing from exhaustion in the moss.
Toothless approached carefully and wrapped himself around his friend so he wouldn't get cold and went to sleep.
Hiccup awoke in the early morning from his body aching. Drowsily he shoved Toothless' wing out of the way and got up, stirring the dragons sleep. It was chilly outside, the morning haze hanging thick in the air.
"I've been out all night?" Hiccup asked himself shivering in the cool morning air.
Then he remembered everything from the night before. He had hoped it was just a bad dream but it wasn't. It was real. Ruffnut was going to be his wife.
Hanging his head in defeat he waited for Toothless to wake up before flying away. Toothless needed to be fed so Hiccup flew to a shallow bay with plenty of fish. Pondering his dilemma and his options with no real idea he took Toothless back to the academy. By this time it was half way to noon.
Landing under the chain dome of the Dragon Academy he saw that the usual group had assembled but something was off about the scene. The look of worry on Fishlegs face and his nervous eyes darting back and forth should have tipped Hiccup off before the first punch hit the side of his face.
Thrown to his side in the dirt he felt a sharp kick on his leg before being pulled up by his vest. "You stay away from my sister!" Tuffnut looked furious as he shouted to Hiccups face.
Hiccup shook Tuffnut off before he received another blow from the back.
"Yeah, stay away from me! I don't want to be your wife!" Ruffnut didn't sound exactly pleased either.
Toothless looked shocked at the attack, unsure what to do but deciding to let them work it out. The other dragons looked slightly agitated from the assault as well stamping nervously on the ground, flapping their wings.
"Will you stop hitting me and shut up!" Hiccup was furious as his screaming told fairly well.
The group was more than a bit shocked at the rage displayed by their friend. It was as if Weth, the Goddess of Anger had possessed him. It was very visible that he was trying to hold back some very violent outbursts. Even Snotlout looked nervous. Fishlegs had hidden behind Meatlug.
Hiccup shot a glare at the twins. "Sit!" he said forcefully and the twins promptly obliged sitting down in the dirt.
Hiccup took a moment to compose himself.
"So I gather that you all have heard about my and Ruffnut's impending wedding. Well I have a few things to say about that." Hiccup tried to sound calm but his voice cracked here and there.
"Firstly." Hiccup said in a more civilized tone of voice, "Me marrying Ruffnut is not my idea. It is completely my fathers idea and apparently it has been in secret negotiation for a long time. My father made it very clear that I have no say in the matter." Hiccup almost spat out the words.
The look of awe from his friends were clear but he didn't pay it any attention.
"Second, I do not want Ruffnut." Hiccup tried to sound reassuring but was unsure if it worked.
"What's wrong with my sister?" Tuffnut sounded slightly offended but was silenced by a glare from Hiccup.
"I spoke about wanting the get married yesterday night. And my father seemed happy but something did not seem right so I asked him who the was talking about. And I did not like what I heard." Hiccup had closed his eyes to try and keep his temper in check.
"Hiccup..." Astrid sounded scared and worried.
"There will be no wedding if I have anything to say about it." Hiccup said to her.
"Which you don't." Snotlout said in his usual demeaning voice. "Your the chiefs son and you have to go along with your father this time."
"Oh please, you just want Hiccup to marry Ruffnut so you can get Astrid." Tuffnut said with a grin.
"Like that's gonna happen." Astrid said and shot Snotlout a glare.
"What's the matter? Can't handle this?" Snotlout said and showed his muscles with a cheesy grin.
"No because I would first hunt you down and mount your head on the wall of my fathers pig stable." Astrid said threateningly giving her battleaxe a firm squeeze.
"So how are we going to fix this?" Astrid directed the question towards Hiccup.
"I don't know yet. I've been up all night thinking about it. If I try to sabotage it then bad things will happen. What exactly I don't know. I've never seen my father like this before." Hiccup sat down in the dirt and looked tired. "I don't know what to do. If I can do anything."
"Rebellion!" the twins exclaimed simultaneously with an exited fist pump.
"What?! No!" Hiccup shouted, "Rebellion is treason and would lead to us all being exiled if we're lucky or killed."
"Well." Tuffnut said and got up, "Only one thing to do then." he said, walking up to Hiccup. "Nice knowing ya."
With a twirl of his club Tuffnut almost smashed Hiccups head in. Astrid blocked the blow with her battleaxe. Sparks flew everywhere as the metal ground against each other. Tuffnut was thrown back and tried to get up before being pinned down by his throat. Tuffnut looked up at a very angry Viking lady, eyes flaming red with fury.
"Stay away from my husband." Her tone was so cold, commanding and dread inspired that Tuffnut couldn't do anything other than nod, his body drenched in cold sweat. Astrid let Tuffnut get up but she didn't let him out of her sight.
"And if you ever!" Astrid push a lot of force behind the word, "Try that again, I will mount your head right next to Snotlouts."
Ruffnut pushed passed her brother to face Astrid with her weapon drawn. Things where about to get ugly before Hiccup intervened.
"Woah! Easy now. We're all friends here!" Hiccup stood in between the two furious females. Thought with what Tuffnut had just tried he wasn't sure it was such a good idea with one of them being his twin.
Astrid threw her axe on the ground and Ruffnut did the same. Hiccup was still wary but allowed himself to relax some.
"Good. No all I need to do is figure out what to do. And right now I don't have anything to work with." Hiccup said, keeping his eyes on the twins. Just in case. "I just need some time so I can fix this."
"Hiccup, you're going to need help." Astrid said placing a hand on his shoulder.
Hiccups eyes opened wide in shock and kissed quickly Astrid on the lips.
"Astrid, you're a genius!" Hiccup said excitedly, looking into her confused and slightly shocked eyes.
"And I know exactly who to ask." he said with a devious smile as he jumped on Toothless with Astrid. "Ruff! Tuff! you're coming along too."
The twins looked confused but it sounded like Hiccup promised some mayhem so they promptly followed suit leaving Snotlout and Fishlegs behind with a confused expression.
A poor unsuspecting Heather was walking along a trail in the woods outside the village when she was snatched from the ground by Toothless. She was taken without a sound save for a rush of air. One moment she was there and the next she wasn't.
High in the sky they flew and Heather looked around in a daze.
"Sorry about that Heather." Hiccup called down apologetically. "I'll explain in a minute."
The black dragon dove down and landed on an islet thick with trees for shelter far from any inhabited place on the island, and more importantly, away from prying eyes.
Heather was dizzy and disoriented when she stood up. Hiccup caught the girl as she tipped over backwards.
"Woh there. Easy now." Hiccup said with concern and laid her down. "I think we where a little too fast in the snatch."
"Why are there two Hiccups?" she asked, looking up at him.
She shook her head and snapped out of it.
"Hiccup? What happened?" Heather looked around and saw three more people in the gathering. Astrid and the twins. Stormfly, Barf and Belch were walking around by the trees a bit further away.
"Hiccup kidnapped you." Tuffnut said nonchalantly shrugging. "I still think it would have been better to have hit her on the head with a brick. Much easier."
"Yeah, sorry about that. But I couldn't afford anyone seeing me taking you with me." Hiccup said apologetically again. "I have a favour to ask. A big one."
Heather cocked an eyebrow and looked around.
"Well I'm obviously not leaving any time soon so I'm listening." she said hesitantly.
Hiccup and Astrid explained the situation to Heather in detail. Heather grew more and more concerned for each passing moment and more and more angry.
"And there you have it." Hiccup ended with arms laid open.
"I..." Heather tried to take it all in and compose herself. "I have never heard anything so reckless in my entire life! What in Odin's name is he thinking?!"
"I don't know. What I do know is that I- We need your help. Badly." Hiccup said and slumped down by a tree.
"My idea is to kill Stoick." Tuffnut said deviously.
"Nu-huh, that was my idea." Ruffnut said and gave her brother a hard shove.
"No, this is your idea." Ruffnut replied back and bashed his sister with his head.
"Guys, guys, chill. Smooth moves, smooth." Hiccup told the two twins.
"Why me?" Heather asked looking at the ground.
"Not one of us can do anything about this without being accused of treason or sabotage so we need an outsider." Astrid started, laying a hand on Heathers shoulder. "Someone with no allegiance to Berk."
"You know that plan is insane, right?" Heather scoffed looking over her shoulders to meet Astrid's eyes.
"You have a better plan then?" Hiccup asked, his voice having a slight hint of frustration, "Because that is the best one we have."
"No..." said Heather trailing off, looking up at the sky with a twinkle in her eye. "But I have an idea." she grinned evilly.
She began explaining her plot to the quartet of increasingly amazed comrades.
"If that plan works..." Hiccup started with shock.
"Then the wedding will be the most..." Astrid continued with a stunned expression.
"Awesome failure of the century!" the twins cheered and hugged, giving each other a powerful head butt.
That night, far from the plotting quintet, in the village of Berk, Stoick the Vast was stirring uneasily in his sleep. Nightmares has plagued him for more than a month. Images of his dead friends strewn about the town square. The sea whipped up into a raging unending storm. Lightning raining down form a sky painted in blood. The great statue of Thor collapsing in a hideous scream of tearing metal. A wedding scene with Hiccup and Ruffnut standing side by side with a rising sun at their backs was promising good fortune.
Stoick woke with a start, heart pounding like a dozen hammers upon an anvil and cold sweat dripping down his entire body. To Stoick there was no question.
If Hiccup and Ruffnut did not wed, then the days of Berk are at an end.