The Father that Could


Stoick Haddock, father of Hiccup Haddock III, stared down at his only son and permitted a single tear to roll down his cheek. The boy was in terrible condition if the gasps as he was gently handled were anything to go by. Blood was seeping out of a dozen puncture wounds where the Skrill's teeth had sunken in. A couple lacerations marked where claws raked his chest, but at least those weren't bleeding. On top of all that, he had a couple broken ribs and his skin was a blue shade of pale. He was alive and conscious, but not entirely "there".

The father groaned. Why must the boy be so reckless? Why can't he just behave and look out for himself for once?

Stoick the Vast, chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, glanced down at Toothless, who whined and growled as he scrabbled at the ground with only his front-right paw and right wing. The dragon must have been hit by that Skrill's lightning, which would explain why his left wing and other three legs weren't working. He should recover within a week if memories of Vikings exposed to a Skrill attack transfer to dragons.

Casting a glance back at Toothless, the chief said, "Don't hurt yourself. You can't help him in your state. I'll get Hiccup all set up in a cave I saw nearby and come back for you. You'll be fine for now, right?"

Toothless barked and impatiently flicked his head as if to say, "Yes, of course. Go now! Go!"

Stoick paused. The father didn't want to separate Hiccup from his dragon as he recognized the emotional agony that would cause. However, the chief knew they would be more secure in the cave and started walking that way. The father was a kind and gentle man who cared deeply for his own, but has always been too hesitant and concerned to be of much use. Well, that was what the chief always said as he fought to protect his tribe and quell disputes. The two almost never got along and they rarely agreed on anything. It was a constant battle Stoick always imagined in his mind between his fatherly and chiefly roles.

Sixteen years ago, when Stoick's wife was taken by the dragons, the father died on the inside. His confidence flew away with his beloved Val. He could never maintain his composure and was always plagued by doubt and fear. All he had left was a runty little boy who never took anything seriously.

However, the chief was unaffected. He had his village to look after. He took the helm while the father cowered underdeck. The chief was confident. The chief was focused. The chief was undaunted.

The chief was needed.

Fortunately, the father was not so naive that he didn't recognize his own shortcomings and allowed the chief to take command over this situation. Hiccup needed to warm up. That was most critical. There was no point in bandaging up an icicle.

The chief ignored Hiccup's barely-audible mumblings about going back for Toothless. The dragon would be fine until Stoick could fetch him after he found that cave and got a fire roaring.

Speaking of which…

"Skullcrusher."

The dragon following behind leaped forward and fixed the chief with a stare.

"We need fire. Not dragon fire, but Viking fire. Can you find some wood? Look for dead branches and bring them to me."

With a huff, the dragon spun about and dashed toward the treeline. The cracking of dry timber could be heard, which was encouraging because it wasn't the sound of green wood tearing or rotten wood crumbling.

In the darkness of night, the air was definitely freezing, as evidenced by the dusting of snow that clung to the rock, but Fall had hardly just begun. Winter hadn't hit, yet, and the air would warm up when the sun rises in the sky. With the wind and misting of rain, Stoick couldn't get to the cave too soon, but he knew better than to run. Taking the risk of dropping Hiccup and making his injuries even worse was not worth any possible gain. Besides, with the boy pressed against Stoick's torso, under the heavy fur coat, he was slowly warming up. It was just as well as warming up too fast could shock his body and kill him.

Stoick eyed the Night Fury at the mouth of the cave with wary distrust. Hiccup had said that he was friendly, but the way he stared so intently was unsettling. At least the beast backed away from the cave's entrance as Stoick approached, keeping several paces between them.

The mouth of the cave was about five paces wide and opened up into a cavern swallowed by darkness. Skullcrusher came bounding up with some medium-sized sticks in his mouth. He had seen fires before and did a good job figuring out what made good firewood. The chief rummaged through the dragon's saddlebag to find a torch he always carried with him. The wick was dry, but Skullcrusher knew the drill. He pooled some fuel in his mouth to soak the torch wad and a small puff set it alight.

With some appreciable light, the chief turned to Skullcrusher and said, "That's enough wood for now. Thank you. Could I ask one more favor?"

The dragon huffed and took a half step forward. It was a rhetorical question, really, but the chief always made a point to be courteous to his fellow warriors who would risk life and limb to fight at his side.

"I need to put Hiccup down to build a fire. Can you… help me keep him warm?"

Odin, please let this dragon understand what I'm saying.

Stoick breathed a sigh of relief as the dragon flopped down onto his side and held a wing up. He set Hiccup down on top of his coat. The cold instantly made Stoick's skin crawl, but that was inconsequential. Between the coat and the warm dragonhide, Hiccup would slowly lose that deathly pallor.

As he was about to turn away, the father paused at a voice he longed to hear. It was faint and weak, but the stillness of the cave allowed it to be heard. "Th-th-th-thankssss... D-d-d-dad-d... and Sk-k-kull."

The chief turned back to the task at hand, grabbing his ax and shield that were fastened to his dragon's saddle – the ax to chop the wood and the shield to carry the pieces. The Night Fury, still looming about, snarled at the sight of the ax, but suddenly glanced at Skullcrusher and the snarling softened.

The chief gave a glance to his dragon and said, "Thanks for putting in the good word for me."

With enough wood carved up to get a hot fire going, he gently picked up Hiccup and had his dragon light the fire. It jumped into dancing flames as he grabbed a yak wool blanket out of the saddle bag for some extra insulation and laid Hiccup down again.

"Looks like you were right, son. Carrying around a blanket can be very handy when you're out and about."

Stoick quickly set about finding rocks he could use to make a heat wall. The fire was built against the wall of the cave, but he wanted to establish a semicircle around it to reflect the heat better. He wanted to keep the fire small in girth, but built up tall and hot. As he worked, he heard the heir talking as he started to warm up. His voice was weak, but still audible.

"N-n-ooo… You were right-t-t, D-dad." Hiccup paused for breath and closed his eyes. Just as Stoick thought he drifted to sleep, he spoke up again. "Y-y-you were right-t-t about ev-v-v-rything."

A smile briefly flashed across the chief's face. "I get that, sometimes, but people are usually in even worse condition before making such an admission."

Hiccup coughed as he wheezed out a laugh. The father cringed at the sight, but the chief couldn't help but smile.

"D-d-ad, I mean... it-t. I thought-t I could reach out... t-t-t-o them."

"Yup."

"It-t was r-reckless."

"I know."

"How d-did you know-w to look f-for me?"

Stoick fixed his son with a flat stare. "Yes, Hiccup is your name, right? A bit of a troublemaker if memory serves. I believe we've met before."

Hiccup grinned and closed his eyes. Stoick found a flat slab of stone to set on top of the wall he built. With an established pattern of air flowing in through the gaps between the stones and out through the opening, the fire almost looked like a forge, blasting out waves of heat. Hiccup fell silent for a while, probably asleep. After a while, he stirred with a pained groan and tried to take off the hide draped over him, but grunted in pain, probably because of the broken ribs.

"Getting warm?"

That can't be right. He's probably taking it off so it doesn't block the heat from the fire.

"You're getting cold," Hiccup wheezed out.

Stoick leaned over to feel Hiccup. He was warming up, nestled between a roaring fire and Skullcrusher. His skin color had returned back to the land of the living, at least.

"You were right, Dad, about me killing dragons. Remember, two years ago, when you put me in dragon training before the nest hunt? I said-"

"I can't kill dragons." The father finished his son's sentence with a smile. "But I never imagined…"

"You remember your response?"

The father scratched his head. "Can't say I do."

"But you will kill dragons. You said it so matter-of-factly. I was trying to pour out my heart, to tell you what I realized I stood for. I guess the joke was on me."

"So, the Skrill..."

The Night Fury snarled and Stoick instinctively grabbed his shield and ax. They gave a measured glance at each other and settled back down.

Hiccup sighed. "I had her all strung along, thinking that I was completely defeated and resigned to my fate. Dragons don't normally suspect deception. They're intelligent, yeah, but still very straightforward, so-"

"Knife through the roof of its mouth. Brilliant! That's my boy!" The chief clasped his hands together excitedly and fixed Hiccup with a broad grin. "I'm so proud of you!"

"DA-"

That was all Hiccup got out before gasping in pain from the effort he put into his outburst.

After a coughing fit subsided, he caught his breath again and said, "Is that the only thing that impresses you? Killing things?"

"Hiccup, I only meant-"

"Until I-" Hiccup coughed and wheezed.

"Easy there, Son. Just rest."

Hiccup groaned. "No." He waited until another coughing fit passed. "Until I've killed something, I've always been a disappointment. Hiccup the weak. Hiccup the useless."

"Hiccup-"

"The tripping hazard! Another coughing fit. "There's only three times you've ever said you were proud of something I've done: when you thought I was going to kill Hookfang in dragon training, just before I killed the Red Death, and after I killed-"

Another coughing fit cut him off.

"The Skrill, yes," Stoick finished for his son. "Who would have thought my little Hiccup would accomplish so much at such a young age. That doesn't mean I'm not upset about how you just up and left without me even knowing. Still, the way you handled that Skrill in your condition was very impressive."

"Is that the only thing you respect?!" Hiccup spat out. He coughed and groaned, but gathered himself again. "Is there no way to impress you without bathing in blood?"

Hiccup's tirade came out as a soft whimper, but Stoick was sure he would be shouting by now if he had the strength to do so. Silence reigned for an indeterminable span of time as both father and son stared at the fire. The heat lapped out at them, warming their bodies, but not their hearts. The silence was eventually broken by a deep rumble in Skullcrusher's throat.

The father just barely made out his son mumbling, "Yeah, you're right, Skull. I… Thanks."

Before he could ask what private conversation the two were having, Hiccup said, "Sorry, Dad."

"Don't..."

Again, Stoick felt conflicted. The chief held his peace. The father didn't know what to say. He fetched a water skin from Skullcrusher's saddlebag and helped his son drink.

After slowly drinking a bit, Hiccup smiled sadly and said, "Thanks, Dad. For everything. We'd be dead if you and Skull hadn't saved us. I caused all this and almost got Toothless killed." He gave a half-hearted smile. "All along, really, I was just setting us up so you could make a heroic entrance and save me from becoming a chew toy. See how I'm always thinking about you?"

That snarky comment only showed just how broken Hiccup felt on the inside. The father didn't know what to say. He wanted to comfort his son and be the father he could never bring himself to be. He knew his son was pouring out his heart, releasing a lot of resentment that was held back a long time. Hiccup's physical condition had broken down his spirit. The barrier he had constructed in his mind had been broken down along with his body.

The chief wanted to go fetch the boy's dragon. Maybe he just needed a moment alone with his thoughts, anyway.

"I've seen others suffer worse, including death." Why the chief allowed the father to continue running his mouth was a mystery. "A little chill, some broken ribs, and some lacerations won't kill you. We Haddocks are tough as nails after all."

Stoick stood up to feed the fire. He noticed the other Night Fury had settled down off to the side. The dragon glared and curled his lips in a soft snarl when Stoick grabbed the ax to cut some more wood to size, but that was it.

Hiccup mumbled nonchalantly, "Actually the Skrill didn't give me anything more than these tooth marks." His tone suddenly turned dark and angry. "She didn't want to kill me. Not yet, at least, the devious, evil-" Another cough interrupted him. "She was holding me gently so I could survive long enough to use me to torment Toothless. She wanted to stash me somewhere to take care of Firebrand, then taunt Toothless. Drive him mad by slowly breaking my bones and killing me in front of him."

Stoick's eyes narrowed at a realization. "Then if the Skrill didn't break your ribs and give you that nasty gash..." The gash along his abdomen really was a terrible sight, but it had already scabbed over and wasn't bleeding for the moment, thank the gods.

The father suddenly cast a quick glance at the dark form off to the side. It raised its head indignantly and growled warningly.

Stoick flicked his gaze back to his son. "Did-"

"Yes."

His blood boiled and his temples throbbed. He wanted to kill that Night Fury so bad! The dragon's growling intensified.

"Dad – Don't. Please. Yeah, Firebrand almost killed me, but the next day, he ended up saving me. So, we're even. It's... a long story."

The father didn't move. He wanted to kill that thing so badly. Death was a fitting reward for those who try to kill his son. The chief realized that he should go help Toothless get in the cave before he clawed his eyes out from the madness of being separated from his rider.

"I'm gonna get Toothless. Be back shortly."

He took a step toward the mouth of the cave, but the growling intensified. It wasn't until now that Stoick realized he had the shield in one hand and his ax in the other as he glared at the Night Fury. No, his son said his name was Firebrand.

"I guess Toothless will have to take care of himself. I'm not leaving you here with that thing."

The dragon jumped to all fours and roared.

"Dad!" Hiccup groaned in pain. After a coughing fit, he regained his breath and went on. "We're on good terms, now. He said he will allow you here. Skullcrusher passed that on for me."

The father still stood there with white knuckles wrapped around the handle of his ax. He trusted his son would not lie to him. Hiccup could hear the wordless exchanges of dragons. With Skullcrusher acting as a relay, the boy probably already had a lengthy discussion with the Night Fury in the blink of an eye.

"Dad... Firebrand, can we agree on a truce? Can you two agree to not attack each other?"

The father tore his gaze away from the dragon for a moment to glance at his son. "I'll agree if-"

"Yes, Firebrand agreed to keep his distance and not attack you."

The father collapsed inwardly. He wanted to claim vengeance for the sake of his son. His son wanted him to not attack because he trusted the dragon. To kill is to assert his own pride. To not kill is to trust his son. The chief realized the logical conclusion and the father glared at him.

Stoick had to get out of there. He needed some time to himself. He was confident that Hiccup would be safe under the protection of Skullcrusher. Besides, if Firebrand wanted to hurt Hiccup, he had ample opportunity recently, so there was no point in being paranoid.

"I'll go get Toothless. He'll probably want to slobber all over you before I dress your wounds."

Hiccup quirked a smile. "Best healing balm in the Archipelago."

The chief slung the shield over his shoulder. Much to the protest of the father, he left the ax by the fire, as a sign he was sure the dragon would recognize, and stalked out.

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As Hiccup watched his father leave the cave, he tried to sleep. His body screamed for rest and release from the pain. The soft rumbling of Skullcrusher's breathing and the crackling of the fire were so lulling. However, Hiccup just knew he would never find rest; not when Toothless was out there, still. Too tired and hurt to do anything, his mind too turbulent to sleep, Hiccup resigned himself to brooding over these past few days.

He was in it deep and had only himself to blame. This all started when he was delivering letters to the neighboring tribes in the archipelago. Word had spread that Hooligans had dragon riders and everybody wanted some. Stoick finally gave Hiccup support and permission to begin training Vikings from other tribes to befriend dragons. An inter-tribal meeting the Vikings called "a Thing" was called to discuss a course of action. Almost all tribes in the Archipelago agreed to send students for Hiccup to train.

The thought of having willing pupils made Hiccup giddy with excitement. To confirm the time and location of training, as well as any other relevant details, Hiccup flew Toothless around to deliver the letters to the various tribes in the area. Since they were all still leery about dragons in general, Hiccup would simply land in a safe spot near the island's port, tie the letter to a hawk, and send the bird off to deliver the letter and return. The letters contained details about this training event that Hiccup called "Viking training". Well, everyone insisted on calling it "dragon training", but what did they know?

Nothing, he thought to himself. That's precisely what they know about dragons who used to have no free will. That is why they agreed to allow little, weak Hiccup to train them.

As they made their runs to the Northernmost islands, Toothless noticed something peculiar. All those sensor lobes crowning his head allowed him to hear the faintest thought projections from leagues away. Most other dragons couldn't project any farther than a shout could be heard and there were none in the area. These projections his dragon was picking up could be other Night Furies! Toothless may not be the last of his kind after all! There was no certainty, but there was a possibility.

Hiccup was absolutely ecstatic, but Toothless strongly opposed tracking the source of these projections. He knew for himself that Night Furies are very aggressive dragons. What if they attack him, or worse, his precious rider? What if it was his family? Would he even want to meet them? He was stolen away by the Red Death's dragons when he was less than a year old, but they must have surely assumed him dead. They probably wouldn't want to see him.

Hiccup also had his doubts. It really would be short-sighted to head off immediately. Viking training was coming up and Hiccup would be able to teach people to befriend dragons instead of cage and kill them. No possible reward could justify the risk of botching that in any way. However, by the time the training would finish, Fall would be transitioning into intense storms that would herald the coming of Winter. Travel would be one part difficult and three parts impossible.

In the end, Hiccup's drive to investigate and Toothless's inability to deny his rider broke down any barriers and hesitation. Somehow, the Night Fury's array of sensor lobes allowed him to discern the general direction of the source - Fishlegs had said it has something to do with triangulation or something like that - so they flew Northwest. Toothless projected queries to the horizon and actually heard replies from afar.

They flew until tired, rested, then continued the next day. It was hard flying, but they actually made it. Hiccup could hardly contain himself. They found other Night Furies! Not just any, but Toothless' family!

Well, what was left of it.

There were only two and both were males, so no possible mates for Toothless, but it was a start. It was something. Toothless absolutely refused to land until he was sure that the other Night Furies would not attack his rider, so they initially just flew circles, eying each other and exchanged stories.

Being a dragon whisperer, Hiccup was excited to take part in all that. Watching their jaws drop in shock when a human responded to their queries was also quite satisfying.

Hiccup learned that there wasn't much of Toothless' family left. His mother died when the Red Death sent a dragon raid, not to attack a village, but to attack the Night Fury nest. This raid ended up acquiring Toothless, but his mother died fighting for him. Apparently, it was not uncommon for a mother dragon to fight to the death for her children, but the father had a much less involved role.

Toothless was part of a clutch of eight. Ever since the Red Death was destroyed - In Hiccup's mind, saying 'it was destroyed instead of 'I killed her' helped him justify what he did that day - two of the females had flown off to gods-know-where to make their own mark. Aside from them, only Toothless and his one brother, which Hiccup had ended up naming Firebrand, still lived.

The other four died to Skrill. Hiccup had learned, to his great dismay, that dragons were not too different from Vikings. There has been a blood feud between Night Furies and Skrill for longer than anyone knows and for reasons nobody understands anymore. For that reason, both species were quite rare because they've always been too busy hunting each other down instead of simply enjoying life for the grand adventure it was.

The two Night Furies here were actually more receptive than Hiccup or Toothless dared to hope. Well, Toothless' father, which Hiccup named "Tolerant", warmed up to the duo after a while. He even allowed the rider to approach and touch him. They exchanged what Hiccup was starting to call telepathic pleasantries, where the duo shared about Toothless' enslavement to the Red Death, getting shot down, their first meeting, and all the other details up until the present. After all, that was how dragons got to know each other - not by exchanging names or titles, but by sharing their past deeds.

It was amazing how much ground they covered in just that one night.

Firebrand, though, would not accept Hiccup. Might makes right in a dragon's eyes and, thus, he saw Hiccup as an unwanted pest. Feeling the pressure to smooth things out for Toothless, Hiccup challenged the fiery-tempered dragon to a game that all dragons particularly enjoyed, which was essentially a duel that would end either at first blood or when a dragon was forced to yield.

Tolerant was amused. Firebrand was excited. Needless to say, Toothless strongly objected.

Hiccup really impressed himself. Firebrand was larger and stronger than Toothless, but the rider was quick and cunning. Dragons were strangers to deception, so Hiccup leveraged that to his advantage by projecting thoughts that threw off and confused Firebrand. Hiccup and Toothless had often play-fought each other, so he was very familiar with what the Night Fury could do. He forced Firebrand to retreat from jabs of his sword and flung sand from a small sack tied around his wrist to distract and blind the dragon.

It was a close call and he almost lost his fingers for it, but he managed to swing up onto Firebrand's back. From there, he dug his fingertips into a soft spot on the upper part of the neck that, as he observed with Toothless in the past, caused him to instinctively roll over, setting him up to scratch the "knock-out spot" at the base of his lower jawline. As with any dragon, Firebrand's mind was overloaded with a calm sort of bliss and his whole body slumped bonelessly to the ground.

That was when Hiccup really messed up. He pulled out his knife and idly skittered the tip along the scales, pondering what to do. He hadn't really thought this far ahead. Poking just in front of the shoulder would miss any major arteries and would not impair anything. The pain would dissipate very quickly. All he needed to do was push the tip in a little – just the tiniest little bit – to draw some blood. Then he would win this little game, Firebrand would be taught a lesson to respect the little rider, and things would go more smoothly between Toothless and his brother.

In retrospect, he really shouldn't have been surprised how that ended. He just stood there, trembling like an idiot, trying to heed Toothless' anxious howling. He froze until a great weight slammed into his side. Sprawled out on his back, the claws wrapped around his torso and dug in to lift him up and slam him back down to the ground, breaking two of his ribs in the process. As if that wasn't enough, a single swipe ripped down his sternum to tear some stripes in the flesh.

That was only the beginning of what Firebrand wanted to do. He simply snapped and ignored the rider's cries of "I yield!" and "Please don't kill me!" Victory through first blood wasn't enough for him. He felt humiliated and wanted to make a statement. He wanted more than just blood. He wanted to kill.

That was when Toothless leaped into Firebrand and the two fought.

That was when the Skrill attacked.

That was when Hiccup found himself in Tolerant's clutches, carried away from Toothless, who was zapped by the Skrill's lightning and unable to fly or even walk.

That was when Toothless almost died.

Hiccup cried and wailed as Tolerant flew him away, helplessly watching his best friend shrink into the distance. He was so sure he would never see Toothless again. The Skrill took off to give chase and Hiccup was so sure he was dead meat.

"Toothless!"

Hiccup meant to shout it, but it came out as a whimper as he snapped his attention back to the present. His dragon was using his one good leg and wing on his right side to move in tempo with the stride of Stoick, who was braced under the left wing. The two worked in tandem as if shuffling through a three-legged race to get over to Hiccup with the dragon's hindquarters simply dragging along the ground.

Toothless suddenly looked so small and frail. He wasn't as massive as a Monstrous Nightmare or even a Nadder, but from nose to tail and wingtip to wingtip, he could take up almost as much space as any other dragon. His torso, from the base of his neck to the start of his tail, was as long as Hiccup was tall, but he seemed so small when draped around Stoick's shoulders. Granted, Stoick was a bear of a man who could pin down an actual adult grizzly bear.

Still, this is the offspring of lightning and death! He shouldn't look small, limp, and helpless!

Hiccup cringed at the harm his foolishness caused his dragon. The poor thing almost died! The lightning bolt from the Skrill went straight for his artificial tail fin. It probably saved his life, though, as the lightning may have otherwise hit him elsewhere and stopped his heart or lungs from working instead of his legs and wings. They simply had no warning of the attack and Hiccup blamed only himself for that. It was he who insisted in getting everyone worked up about dueling Firebrand and caused a scene.

Toothless must have picked up on his rider's remorse and pity because he fixed the boy with a deathly glare and snarled at him. Stoick instinctively dropped the dragon as he ducked and took a quick step to the side, glancing between the dragon and his rider. Though Stoick still responded to a lifetime of dragon-fighting instinct, Hiccup knew Toothless would never harm him, but that just gave the dragon license to express himself in ways other dragons would never dare for fear of scaring their riders or communicating the wrong message.

Hiccup met his dragon's gaze for a moment and lowered his eyes. That little sign of submission communicated more to his best friend than any words or telepathic projections ever could.

Toothless was right. The rider couldn't hear any projected thoughts from his dragon without contact, but the eyes said it all.

Stop focusing on how much worse it could have been. Stop dwelling on remorse.

As he ducked under the wing again to scoop up Toothless, Stoick casually said, "Damn beast was a third of the way here when I found him." He set the dragon down next to Hiccup, in the spot Skullcrusher had just vacated. "Not bad, considering he was missing four of his six limbs."

Hiccup quirked a smile as his dragon pawed at the ground with his one good leg and wing, twisting around to curl around him. "Eight, if you wanna be technical. His tail is non-functional, but he can use his chin to worm his way along."

Stoick chuckled. "Like rider, like dragon."

Toothless set into licking his rider's multiple wounds with gusto. Hiccup rested a hand on the side of his dragon's neck. Through that contact, he could feel the overwhelming sense of concern pouring out, but Toothless had nothing to say at the moment.

He suddenly noticed that all of his clothing had been removed. In retrospect, it was quite necessary for Stoick to do that as a wet Viking is a dead Viking. Hiccup knew he would have frozen to death before the fire and Skullcrusher could have warmed him up, but he had always been a bit squeamish about such things. Toothless was licking all the lacerations from where the Skrill's teeth sunk into his torso and legs. Each stroke of the tongue drew out a pained gasp, but left behind a soothing numbness in its wake that would also protect against infection. However, one of the puncture marks from the Skrill's teeth drew the tongue a little too close for comfort to a certain area.

Hiccup scrunched his eyes shut. "Gods, this is kinda humiliating."

Toothless' projections sounded out in his mind which, through mechanics beyond his comprehension, could naturally form voiceless sentences he could almost imagine his dragon was speaking.

{Don't worry, my precious Firefly. Dragons don't lick for the same reason as you land-striders. I won't do with my tongue what some land-striders do with theirs.}

"Toothless," Hiccup deadpanned. "I'm pretty sure I don't even want to know-"

{Land-striders' projections are muddy and scattered, but quite loud when they mate. I assure you I will not treat you the way they treat each other."

"Tooth!" was all Hiccup got out before his torso seized around his broken ribs and he groaned from the exertion of his outburst. The dragon's humored warbling and crooning slid into a whine as he continued licking at the lacerations. Hiccup thanked the gods that Toothless was being very, very delicate with the gash on his chest. It helped keep his agonized cries of pain down to a loud whimper.

Both dragon and rider were startled at the sound of an ax biting into wood from somewhere past the mouth of the cave. Hiccup concluded his father must be blowing off some steam on a tree. Who could blame him for being a little off-kilter after finding his own son on the brink of death on some hair-brained adventure? In retrospect, Hiccup felt regret for what he had said to his father. He really vented a lot on the very man who flew all this way just to help. Well, help and lecture about responsibility to his tribe and accepting a boring life confined to a little island.

Hiccup groaned when the chopping sound stopped, only to be replaced with Stoick's excessively loud bellows.

"What is wrong with you, Firebrand?! What kind of coward attacks Hiccup?! He's just a boy! There is no honor in harming someone weaker than you, but I guess dignity is beneath you!"

Snarling retorted from outside. Firebrand was no longer in the cave. Hiccup could feel exactly where this was going as his father continued to shout out his anger.

"Oh, yes, I know what that snort and flick of the head means. Had a Night Fury under my roof for two years. The only reason I haven't cut off your head is because Hiccup begged me to spare you. If you were trying to impress someone by bullying one smaller than you, then you failed miserably! I piss on your pride, you stupid mutt!"

Snarling turned into a roar and Hiccup heard grunting and growling from both Stoick and Firebrand. He only hoped that they weren't actually trying to kill each other because he certainly wasn't in any condition to intervene, nor was Toothless. However, judging by Skullcrusher's lack of intervention as he stood at the mouth of the cave, watching, Hiccup felt some comfort that they would probably survive this encounter.

Hiccup sighed. "I should do something about this."

A large, scaly head rested lightly on his chest. Hiccup frowned at his dragon, who said nothing, but was definitely not in agreement with his rider going anywhere.

"Toothless, I caused this. I'm going to hurt myself trying to get up if you try to stop me."

Toothless whined. {You will hurt yourself if you get up, anyway. I don't want you to go. I cannot go with you. I can barely crawl with one paw and one wing!}

"C'mon. I need to do something about this."

The whining continued and the scaly head remained. Hiccup sighed in defeat and went completely slack. Toothless crooned and purred in victorious contentment... until Hiccup sent his dragon into a blissful stupor with a sneaky scratch to the base of his jawline. The rider yelped in pain as he quickly shifted to the side so the head wouldn't come down on his broken ribs. Rolling over to his knees was absolute agony. Every movement felt like fire and coals in his gut.

As he reached for the fur coat that his father left behind, he heard Toothless growl from right next to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't fight fair, you big bully. Now, hold still. Standing up will be the hardest part."

The Night Fury groaned and whined as Hiccup leaned on his head to slowly stand up. Limping onward wasn't too bad if he hunched over, but he still felt pain stab from every step. He felt tired and empty, but he could not leave this alone.

After only a few steps, Skullcrusher appeared at his side, offering his snout as support. Hiccup leaned heavily and a wing came around for his other arm to lean on.

As he limped onward, he said, "Toothless is so gonna kill you for not stopping me."

An indignant huff was Skullcrusher's only response.

From outside, the sounds of the ongoing fight drifted in, complete with grunting, snarling, shouting, and roaring - from both parties. A metallic clang, followed immediately by a loud, pained yelp that transitioned into a snarl signaled a shield that made contact with a snout. Hiccup figured that must have been Stoick's new Gronckle iron shield. The man loved the thing so much as it was larger, lighter, and stronger than the standard wooden shields.

As Hiccup cleared the mouth of the cave, he saw the pink light of dawn rippling across the underside of the parting storm clouds in a breathtaking, awe-inspiring, and mesmerizing sight. Birds chirped and flitted among the trees all around. Waves crashed against a pebbled beach not too far away and the red leaves spotted the green forest as they started to change color.

Stoick's ax was embedded deep in the trunk of a nearby tree and his shield was still wobbling from having been flung out of his grasp. Firebrand was trying to crush him against the ground. However, the dragon was on his back and Stoick had large arms wrapped around the dragon's neck with something spanning his hands to increase the pressure. The two separated and sprung up into a crouch.

As Hiccup cleared the last couple steps to his father, he stumbled forward. Fortunately, he was caught.

"Hiccup! What are you doing outside?!"

"Love… you… too," Hiccup squeezed out between painful pants of air.

Firebrand shifted around Stoick, who shifted himself around to stay between the Night Fury and Hiccup.

"Dad... please... can we just stop... fighting? Firebrand? Please?"

Stoick relaxed his stance as the growling quieted. Little trickles of blood were seeping out of some tears and scrapes in his arms. Firebrand had a light trickle of blood dribbling out of his nose and he was hacking through some deep breaths, recovering from the stranglehold. Hiccup groaned. Such senseless violence was exactly what he had been trying to avoid for the past few days. He wanted so desperately to show the dragons that this sort of behavior was simply asinine. Apparently, Vikings were just as hopeless.

In an unexpected move, Firebrand leaped to the side, grabbed the Gronckle iron shield in his maw, and flicked it toward Stoick, where it skittered to a stop at his feet and wobbled around before finally settling down. There was silence for a long moment, then the large Viking suddenly broke out into laughter.

As the laughing fit subsided, Stoick said, "Don't worry, son. Firebrand and I were just getting to know each other a little better. He's not too bad, after all."

Hiccup quirked a questioning eyebrow at the Night Fury, who just shook his head and huffed in a draconic equivalent of an indifferent shrug.

As Stoick carried his son back into the cave, he kicked at the shield. "I think I found a flaw."

Hiccup said, "Gobber said he tested the strength of the rivets by hanging the handle from a rafter and jumping up and down on the shield."

"Firebrand is a strong dragon. Nearly tore my arm off. Definitely bigger than Toothless. Impressive leg strength."

Hiccup quirked a smile, which slid into a frown in the awkward silence that followed. After a while, he said, "Dad, I'm sorry I-"

"You're right."

Hiccup choked on his tongue as he looked up at his father.

"You're right, son," Stoick continued. "I was afraid to show any praise for anything that didn't fit my own mold and that was in error. I always wanted you to be big, strong, and brave. I could never bring myself to accept anything else. Instead of what I hoped for, you turned out to be inventive, brilliant, manipulative, and dangerous."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

There was a brief silence, then Stoick said, "Yes. Oh! I almost forgot crazy."

"Gee," Hiccup dryly said. "I'm so... flattered."

"Was that sarcasm, or did you mean that?"

"Yes."

Hiccup could feel his father's chest heave in laughter.

After an uncomfortable silence that followed, Hiccup said, "You probably want to hear how I got into this situation-"

"Tomorrow. Or sometime when you're feeling better. You'll probably have to work through a fever real soon. I'm a patient old warhorse. I can wait."

Hiccup let out a sigh. He felt so empty.

"Dad..."

He paused until his father looked down at him. "Thanks... for everything. For coming out here. For saving Toothless and me. We would be toast without you."

"Nonsense!" Stoick declared with confidence. "Firebrand had it all under control."

"Do you really believe that, or is that just wishful thinking?"

Silence reigned for a few paces.

"Yes."

Hiccup laughed until he groaned from the pain. Up ahead, Toothless was switching between whining and snarling. He was far from pleased at this stunt Hiccup had pulled.

Stoick said, "It seems Toothless, umm..."

"Yep. It was a pleasure to know you, sir. I'll see you in Valhalla."


A/N: So, there's certain territory I don't even want to acknowledge in my writing. If you feel that Toothless ventured into such territory, I apologize, but I didn't feel the need to cut it out. Vikings are a bit less sensitive to what you and I find awkward – dragons even more-so. As a result, the scaly beasts can't help but be humored by the strange standards of those fleshy bipeds. I figured it was on par with Gobber's comments about his undies in the movie, but if you think that round was a birdie, I assure you that sort of humor won't be showing up for the rest of the story.

I think this is the part where most people would say something along the lines of, "Like/favorite/subscribe/tweet/comment for a witty golf pun," or something like that, but I'm not smart enough to capitalize on that.