Challenge

(Hiccup always feels like he should have known)

DISCLAIMER: Trying very hard to make this a trilogy, but no promises at this point.

He's five when they're taken into the Great Hall and shown the shields on the wall. They've always been there, but no one's ever explained what they are, before. No one's ever told them about how each man became chief.

No one's ever told them how few chiefs die of old age.

"He killed his own father?" Astrid asks, wide-eyed and in awe.

"Don't look so scandalised," their teacher says. None of them know what she means, but she continues as if they do. "When a son kills his father for his chiefdom, it's called 'retirement'. It's a rite of passage!"

"Oh, yeah?" Snotlout shoves Hiccup so hard he stumbles. "How's Hiccup supposed to become chief, then? There's no way someone like him he could kill Chief Stoick!"

"I wouldn't want to," he says grumpily. Snotlout's been kind of mean lately. "Besides, my dad took the head off a dragon when he was a baby! No one could kill Stoick the Vast."

Their teacher nods wisely. "Chief Stoick is one of the strongest chiefs we've ever had, as was his father before him. But a chief isn't always decided by birth, natural death, or retirement. Some chiefs are decided by Heir Challenge, as I'm sure our next one will be."

They stare at her blankly, until Fishlegs takes the bait. "Heir Challenge?"

"Like a chief, any mature heir can be challenged for his title. Unlike most challenges, however, an Heir Challenge cannot be called off by a chief's intervention until a clear winner is seen. At that point, if the challenger is the winner, the chief has the right to elect for his former heir to be exiled, or—more often due to the shame—killed." She looks directly at Hiccup, and he's suddenly very aware of how much faster the other kids are growing, while he's just losing weight. But then she moves on and he can breathe again. "There have been two of those in our history, the most recent against Hamish the Second."

"Oh, oh! How long until you're mature, Hiccup?" asks Tuffnut. "When can you be challenged?"

"Why do you care? You're not going to do it," Astrid says, and he scowls.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm going to do it first!" she says, and smirks at Hiccup. "I'll beat him in two hits, and then I'll be heir!"

Hiccup frowns, but Snotlout actually snorts.

"Girls can't be heir!"

"Can too!" Ruffnut snaps.

"No they can't!" argues Tuffnut.

It falls apart from there, and Hiccup feels his shoulders slump as even Fishlegs weighs in.

None of them think for a second he might actually grow up to be a good heir, after all.

He gets it. He does.

Hiccup has been a nuisance since the day he could walk. It's a well known and documented fact. His one saving grace, in sixteen years of life, has been what he's done with the dragons.

It was a big one, though. Enough to change everything. Change Berk, change his father, change him… in the last six months, he's done so much right, to balance out all the wrong, to the point that he actually feels good about waking up in the morning, now.

That's why he hasn't been too worried about the challenge, even now that they're old enough and Spitelout's pushing Snotlout to do it. Because Hiccup has finally done somethingright. His dad is actually proud of him now. Proud and happy enough that Hiccup has been completely confident in the knowledge that even when the challenge comes, and he inevitably loses, Stoick will have Hiccup exiled, rather than let him die honourably.

Hiccup has been completely sure of that… until now.

"If he became an outcast, so to speak."

Gobber said it, and it hit Hiccup like a tonne of ore. In all his planning, his mental preparation, Hiccup has never once thought about Alvin. He's never thought about how he'll defend himself when it's just him and Toothless against everyone that wants to train dragons.

No back up. No safe haven to return to. If he's exiled, he won't even be allowed to set foot on Berk.

He'll be captured within a month. Maybe three if the village keeps it quiet.

He wonders how long it will take for Alvin to break him. To make him train a dragon.

However long it takes, Berk can't afford to let it happen.

Stoick can't afford to let Hiccup out of Berk hands.

He's going to have to let Hiccup die.

When the white buzzing fades and Hiccup comes back to himself, he realises he and Toothless are on the dragons' hatching grounds. His cheeks feel dry and sticky, like he's dunked his face in the ocean, and there's blood on the cliffside in front of him that matches his bleeding hands.

Toothless croons and pushes his way under Hiccup's arm, nuzzling and prodding, and the memories slowly come back. He remembers running out of the forge and urging Toothless higher, faster, further, just get me out of here, bud, please, just get me away from here!

When they landed he grabbed the first thing he saw… a driftwood branch… he beat it apart, and then lashed out at anything else he could find. He thinks he's been crying.

He doesn't want to die.

Toothless sniffs at Hiccup's hands and licks at the blood before looking up at him. He looks worried, and Hiccup wonders how long he was 'out'. How long was Toothless sitting there, watching him fall apart, unable to do anything but wait?

"Oh… I'm sorry, bud," he murmurs, and bends forward to hug him as best he can from the awkward angle. "I'm sorry. I'm okay, now."

It's an odd feeling, to know he's going to die. Weirder still to know he'll die in front of everyone he's ever known, and that no one—no one—will even try to stop it.

The thought makes him pause, and then just stop, the concept rolling around his mind.

He straightens up, and Toothless shifts to meet his gaze again. They stare at each other for a few moments, Hiccup slowly realising he's not 'okay'. He's angry.

Hiccup is furious.

"I survived fifteen years of being the worst Viking Berk has ever seen," he tells Toothless. "Why should I just roll over and let them kill me now?"

He's not going to die. He refuses to die.

For all his failings and weirdness, for all his weak body and smart brains and compassionate nature and all of that, Hiccup is still a Viking, and his father's son. He has stubbornness issues.

"They are not getting rid of me that easily."

Gobber is watching him the way he does when Hiccup is pushing himself too hard, which is annoying. He's fine. His only problem right now is his leg, which he must have landed on the wrong way during his breakdown. It feels like someone tried to twist it off sideways – he can feel every leather strap digging through his leggings, and the stump throbs with every heart beat.

But he can't think about that right now. He's busy. He has plans to make. Designs. Strategies. He has to do it all now, while his brain is working so gloriously, fantastically fast.

"Hiccup?" Astrid's voice cuts through the silence, and Hiccup blinks, his mind going suddenly blank. He stares at the paper in front of him, scrabbling to remember what he was just thinking, but… it's gone. And Astrid is still talking. "Hey, Toothless. Is Hiccup here? Gobber?"

"Astrid!" Gobber disappears from Hiccup's peripheral vision, but that's not important. "Here to see our young Hiccup, are ye?"

"Uh, yeah. Is he in there?"

"He is, as a matter of fact!" His voice lowers out of Hiccup's range, and normally he'd be annoyed to know he's being talked about, but right now he's a little preoccupied with trying to figure out what he was thinking. He doesn't look up when Astrid steps into the room.

"How's it going, Astrid?" he asks automatically. If he gets the pleasantries done quickly, she might leave him to his plans.

"I'm more interested in you…" she says slowly, moving over to lean on his desk. "You look really pale."

"I'm just busy," he says. "I've got a lot to do right now."

She looks at the paper, then back at him, and somehow drags his gaze up to meet her. Considering the carefully blank face she's wearing, her voice is surprisingly gentle as she says, "Can I talk to you? It's about Snotlout."

His hand spasms slightly on his charcoal. "Can it wait?"

"I'm not sure it can," she says, and reaches over to put her hand on top of his paper, so he couldn't do anything with it even if he could remember what he was thinking. He looks at her fingers, then slowly sits back on his stool and turns to look at her properly. Her eyes flick over his face before she seems to harden, and continues. "Spitelout is getting really obnoxious, Hiccup. I'm starting to think Snotlout might actually do something this year."

He compulsively taps his charcoal against his right hand. "And?"

"What do you mean, 'and'? He's going to challenge you for your title. He wants to become heir!"

"I know that," he says blankly. "A year ago, the only question was whether you'd make the challenge before he did."

"This isn't a year ago." She stares at him in that way she does, sometimes. Like he's a puzzle she can't work out. "I would never do that to you. You know that, right?"

His mind leaps at the excellent segue. He drops his charcoal and grabs the paper he's labelled Plan B. "Maybe you should."

"What?"

"You can challenge me!" he says excitedly. "You'll be a great chief, Astrid!"

She stares at him. "Oh-kay, so Gobber's right. You are running a fever," she says, and grips his shoulders to pull him upright. "Let's get you to Gothi."

"What? No! I'm fine! Don't you get it? It's the perfect solution!" he says, and twists out of her arms before she can start trying to get him out the door. "Dad even likes you, and everyone knows you've been basically leading the Academy—"

"You lead the Academy," she corrects him, and he has to skate over it for now, because they'll no doubt get into the details later. Her eyes widen in response. "Hiccup, I am not challenging you! Only winning defenders are allowed to walk away without killing their opponents!"

"No, no, no, you're wrong," he says. "You're a girl!"

She manages to look indignant through her confusion. "Excuse me?"

"It's old rules; rules about women and battle!" he explains, and turns around to find the notebook he used back when he visited the Bog-Burglar tribe with his father. "When a woman fights a man, she's not doing it for his life, she does it for his honour! If she defeats him, he has to do what she says, no matter what. The point is, you don't have to kill me, you just have to humiliate me!"

"What?" She's staring at him like he's crazy, and in the back of his mind, he wonders if he might be, just a little. He's trying very hard to cope with everything, and he's not entirely succeeding.

But rather than give in to the panic, he forgets the book and just shows her his notes for Plan B. She doesn't even look, so he explains it. "The only problem is explaining it to the tribe, but I bet we can manage it. Once you win, I'll be disgraced, but I won't need to leave the island. I can be like Mildew, only less creepy. It's perfect! For everyone! We'll even get a strong, competent heir out –"

"We already have that!" she yells, and he stops, startled out of his rambling by the sharpness of her tone. She glares back. "Hiccup! I don't need to challenge you! You're going to be chief one day!"

For a moment, he sways, his manic energy draining under her look. He has to take shelter in sarcasm. "Because Snotlout's so likely to lose his will to fight." Since enthusiasm doesn't seem to be working, he turns to the depressing truth, and leans back against the workbench for support. "This isn't going away, Astrid. I need to find a solution."

"A solution? To a stupid problem that shouldn't even exist? No one wants Snotlout as heir!"

"Because he's an idiot," he agrees. "Which you're not."

She throws up her hand, as if he's said something ridiculous. "Thor's sideburns, Hiccup, why are you being so dense about this? You're the heir! The best Viking on Berk! Who cares about strength, or who can win a stupid Thawfest competition? This is our future!" She snatches the papers out of his hands, apparently just to throw them aside. "You know better than this, Hiccup. You know Snotlout isn't our best option, that's why you're making plans. You just need to open your eyes and realise that you are our best option."

He tries to stay patient. He does. He drums his fingers on the underside of his workbench and tries to think of the best way to phrase the facts, though it's getting increasingly hard. He tired. Tired and in pain, and so, so sick of… everything. He looks up at her again, but Astrid isn't looking at him anymore. She's staring at the paper spread across his workbench, and he realises she isn't seeing it the way he does.

"What is this? What – is this the arena? Is this Hookfang's cage from the arena?" she demands, and shoves him aside. He stumbles on his bad leg, but Toothless, poking his head around the door in concern, is the only one to hear his grunt of pain as she starts shoving through his notes for Plan A. "You – you're designing a prison cell. A prison cell at the arena, so you can –"

"It's not a prison cell," he says evenly. "It's not intended for a prisoner."

"Liar!" she yells, and scatters the pages across the floor. Hiccup watches them fall with quickly thinning tolerance. "What would you rather I called it? Slavery?"

"I'm working with my best options here," he says. Each word is measured, but he knows his voice is rising with every other word. "Snotlout is going to make the challenge. He has to. The village is waiting for it. And you and I both know I can't win against him! Even in training matches, the best I've ever been able to do is dodge, and there is only so long I can do that in real battle. I have to come up with a way out!"

"And this is your plan?" she demands. "Offering yourself up as a sacrifice?"

"Well, you weren't so keen on my other idea."

"Because it's a stupid idea! If you're so set on having this challenge, why don't you challenge him?" she shouts. "Challenger picks the weapons! Pick dragons! Toothless will destroy him!"

He can't believe what he's hearing, only minutes after she said it herself: "Challengers have to be defeated or kill their opponents! I'm not killing Snotlout!"

"Why not?"

"Astrid!"

"He'd kill you!"

"That doesn't mean I want to kill him!" he yells back, and Astrid slams her hands against the workbench, hard enough to make the whole thing shudder.

For a second, they're still. They refuse to look at each other, knowing that if they do, all they'll see is how far apart they are. For the first time in months, it feels like an ocean is opening up between them – an ocean of difference that Hiccup doesn't think he can cross.

Even before Toothless and the dragons, Hiccup has never felt comfortable with the idea of killing a human. But to Astrid, it's a fact of life. It's something she knows she will do. It's something…

"If you won't do this, Hiccup," she whispers, her voice harsh and breathless. "If you won't do this, I will. I will challenge him before he has a chance to challenge you. Because I can't –" She stops herself, takes a breath, and then finishes, "I can't let this happen."

"You'll order him not to challenge me?" he asks dully. He already knows that's not what she means, but he needs to hear her say it.

"I'm a Viking, Hiccup. Not a woman."

He nods slowly, accepting the words but nothing else. "Then I won't let you. I'm not going to let you make that choice."

He can't. He won't let that happen to Snotlout, and he won't let Astrid cross that line. He will not let it happen.

"He'll kill you," she whispers, and he looks at her directly.

"He's our friend."

At first, Astrid just stares at nothing, her fingers crunching into the paper under her fists. He watches her, sees her eyes begin to shine, but Toothless creeps into the doorway with hackles raised and teeth out, like she's a predator. And Hiccup can't blame him – she looks seconds from taking up her axe.

When she breaks, it's as bad as he expects.

Astrid yells at him. She rages. After a while, something snaps in Hiccup and he starts shouting back. He's not sure what they end up yelling about, because it leaves Snotlout and the challenge far behind. It's angry and personal and they're both taking cheap shots about how Hiccup's naive and Astrid's violent and why either of those things matter.

Eventually, with Astrid still yelling and Toothless snarling… Hiccup just can't take it anymore. He tells her to get out. To go. He can't – he won't argue with her any more, she needs to just leave him alone.

It still hurts when she does.

He near-on collapses at his workbench, head in his hands. Now all the blood is leaving his head he's vitally aware of how much his leg hurts. He shouldn't have stayed standing throughout the argument. He should have gone home when he had the chance.

Should have left Berk before he ever found that stupid nest.

"I didn't mean that," he mumbles, an instant before Toothless starts snarling again, telling him Astrid's probably back. He slams his fist against the workbench and gets back to his feet. "What? What, Astrid? What else did you want to say?"

But damn it all… it's not even Astrid.

After Snotlout changes Hiccup's entire view of the future, he's too tired to walk up the hill, so Toothless carries him home, and together they stare up at the second floor. On the one hand, Hiccup knows he can crawl up, and that it will be incredibly awkward for Toothless to climb with Hiccup on his back.

On the other hand, after everything that's happened tonight, Toothless is in full-on mother hen mode and has made it very clear how little he tolerates Hiccup being in pain.

They eye each other warily.

"Oh, there you are, son. I was looking for you."

Hiccup hops around on his good foot, hoping the movement doesn't look as awkward as it feels, and tries to look casual as his father ducks into the main room. "Dad, hi. Hi, Dad. Hi."

Needless to say, Stoick is suitably unimpressed. "Is your leg bothering you?"

"No," he says, and thinks it actually sounds convincing, right up until Toothless nudges his knee. He nearly buckles, and Stoick rolls his eyes before silently picking him up by the back of his vest and carrying him up the stairs like a cat with its newborn. Hiccup is deposited on his bed and handed a blanket, and can only scowl at his dragon's triumphant look. Even without the humiliation of being carried like a child, he feels like he's lost a game.

Then he notices his father is still there.

"Uh… thanks for that, Dad," he says, and Stoick nods, once, before rolling his shoulders and looking even more awkward than before. Hiccup fiddles with his blanket for want of anything better to do. "Um… so you were looking for me?"

"No. No, it can wait," he says, and turns away, only to pause after two steps and turn back. "Unless there was something you wanted. To – to talk about."

"No," he says. Because there isn't. "No, I'm good."

"Good. That's good," Stoick begins to turn, but then stops himself and extends a hand toward him. "Not that it's good you don't want to talk. If you did want to talk, son, about anything…"

Stoick trails off, and they avoid each others' gaze, feeling increasingly awkward. They're getting much better at this talking thing, but right now, the Challenge is the giant gronkle in the room that they don't want to mention. Or at least, Hiccup doesn't. He doesn't even know how he would even go about it. 'So, Dad, today I realised that if it came down to it, you would have no choice but to let me die in a challenge for my title. I don't blame you, but that kinda puts a damper on this father/son bonding thing we've been working on. Your thoughts?'

A dull throb of pain draws him out of his musings, and he realises Stoick is apparently searching for words too. He decides to put them both out of their misery, "Really, Dad, I'm… I'm just tired, tonight."

"Tired," Stoick repeats, sounding oddly far-off. "Right."

Hiccup peeks at him through his hair. "I'll see you in the morning?"

"Right. Good… good enough, then. You take care of that leg."

He nods silently, and lets his father escape downstairs, smiling when he hears his father blow out a relieved breath at the same time he does.

Even so, he feels like a coward, and resolves to man up and talk to him in the morning.

It goes… slightly better than expected.

When he's finally allowed out of the house, his ears still ringing, he and Toothless decide to skip their morning flight and just head for the smithy. He has plans for another tailfin. Normally he goes for lighter materials, so they're fast, but he right now he wants more security. Strength. He wants something fast and strong.

They're almost to the shop when he glances down at the square and notices a large cluster of people gathered around one of the feeding bowls. It's a little strange, but it's not until he recognises Spitelout's voice that he pauses to look at it properly. Everyone's been listening to Spitelout this past week, but no one's been obvious about it… so something must be different.

After a few moments, Fishlegs and the twins leave the crowd and notice him. They exchange glances before heading up, but he ignores them, still watching Spitelout and the villagers, even when they reach him and Fishlegs snatches his arm.

"Hiccup, you can't be here!" he says urgently. "Not today. Not right now."

It's tempting to throw him off, but instead Hiccup lets himself be pulled away from the hillside, out of sight of the crowd. "Something going on down there?"

"It – it's Snotlout!" he whispers. "Hiccup, he says he's going to challenge you!"

"Oh. Right." He frowns and looks down at Toothless, feeling mildly disappointed but not that surprised. He's kind of been hoping they could drag this out. Because they could have. For years, maybe. They could have given each other time to play their parts and make it look really good, but… but no. He scowls and shakes his head. That would be a little too forward-thinking for Snotlout, wouldn't it?

Idiot.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs says again, regaining his attention. "Hiccup, if Snotlout challenges you, he'll kill you! If he kills you, you'll be dead! If you're dead, we won't have a teacher! We won't have a Dragon Academy! And Snotlout will be heir! We'll have Snotlout as heir, and no Dragon Academy!"

"Seriously?" he asks. "That's what you're worried about? The Dragon Academy?"

"I don't want Snotlout as heir!" he cries, flailing his arms overhead. "Do you have any idea what he'll do to me? And I'll be the only smart one in the village! I'll be doomed!"

Hiccup just gazes back at him silently, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Behind Fishlegs, the twins are watching with growing evil grins, and Hiccup's not really sure how to feel about that.

It takes a minute, but eventually Fishlegs does realise the point he's sidestepping. "And, you know, I don't want you to die, Hiccup. Really." He cringes back when Hiccup doesn't respond. "I just thought that was implied, you know?"

"Yeah, I really got that in between you worrying about not having a teacher and getting beaten up for being the smart one," he deadpans, while Ruffnut silently snickers and meets her brother in a high-five. Hiccup sighs noisily and pulls his arm free to beckon Toothless away. "Come on, bud. Let's go get this over with."

Fishlegs squeaks like a Terror and grabs Hiccup again, this time with both arms so he can lift him off the ground. Hiccup barely chokes down his own squeak by turning it into an angry "Fishlegs!"

"No! I'm not going to let you!" he announces, hefting Hiccup overhead. When Toothless rises onto his back legs, more startled than upset, Fishlegs squeals and nearly runs into the twins with his back-pedalling. "No! Down, Toothless! I'm doing this for Hiccup's own good!"

Toothless blinks, completely nonplussed, but Hiccup clenches his teeth and fists. "Fishlegs, you put me down or I swear to Thor –!"

"Ooh! Ooh! Toothless, protect your rider!" Tuffnut says excitedly. "Eat Fishlegs!"

"Nah, I don't think he'd fit in Toothless' stomach," Ruffnut points out. "Just bite off his head."

"Guys, not the time!" Hiccup snaps. "Would you help?"

"And miss the fun of Fishlegs kidnapping you?" she asks with a grin.

Fishlegs actually manages to look offended. "It's not kidnapping!"

"Like, really not kidnapping?" asks Tuffnut. "Or is this like how you didn't kidnap Meatlug at Snoggletog?"

Sometimes Hiccup wonders why he wants to be friends with these people, and calls for his only useful companion. "Toothless!"

The dragon starts, and then surges forward to try and grab him, but Fishlegs runs back a few steps with a shriek and Toothless' gums close on thin air. He only hesitates a moment before jumping again, but Hiccup can't help but notice he's usually a lot faster than this. After a few more lunges, and seeing how large Toothless' pupils are, he realises he's the ball in the lamest game of keep-away ever, and groans.

"Fishlegs, this isn't helping!" He tries to squirm free, but under all the fat, Fishlegs is almost as strong as Snotlout, so all Hiccup manages to do is wriggle a little. "What are you going to do, huh? Lock me up in a storage house? How is that going to help at all?"

"It's not forever!" he cries, ducking under Toothless' wings and running a few steps away. "We'll just hide you until Snotlout forgets about the challenge!"

"Because he's so likely to do that! Put me down!"

Toothless laughs. He actually laughs when he misses Hiccup's leg by a hair. Useless reptile!

"You are not getting any salmon tonight!" he says furiously. Toothless ignores him.

"This," Tuffnut decides, as Fishlegs shrieks and has to turn on toe-point, one leg in the air, to avoid Toothless' next thrust, "is awesome."

Hiccup would argue the point, but he's preoccupied. "Fishlegs, I have a very heavy metal leg which can reach your head! If you don't put me down –"

"There you are, Hiccup!"

At Snotlout's shout, both Hiccup and Fishlegs freeze. Toothless doesn't, however, and so not only manages to catch Hiccup's legs, but also yanks him out of Fishlegs' grip and into the ground.

Five seconds ago, Hiccup would have welcomed it. But right now, what this means is that as Snotlout, Spitelout, and half the freaking village appear to make the official challenge, Hiccup is sprawled in the dirt, half-covered in slobber, and pinned at the hips by a very excited dragon.

In contrast, Snotlout is in new bracers and trousers, his hair styled under his shining helmet, and stands triumphantly with his fists on his hips and a cocky smirk on his lips.

Hiccup sighs and lets his head bangs against the rocks.

He should've known this would happen.

This went from being Hiccup, to Toothless, to Stoick, to Ruffnut, to Astrid, and then back to Hiccup. I think it might show how disjointed I was…