Yearly Tribute

Toothless admits he doesn't know much about humans. No dragon does.

But he had thought he knew Hiccup.

Apparently not.

Toothless was furious. He had waited in the cove all night and all day and then another night, and Hiccup's continued absence, coupled with the sparkling black fin that moved perfectly in sync with his real fin, made it perfectly clear that Hiccup had left him.

It hurt, but dragons didn't really do 'hurt', so Toothless was instead absolutely furious. Beyond enraged. Had he been a dragon at the moment, he would have been spewing fire.

He had decided early on in his tantrum, however, that burning the cove to ashes was pointless and that he'd much rather find Hiccup and demand to know what the boy had left him for. Of course, this required following Hiccup, which thus required sneaking into Hiccup's town in broad daylight.

Which had required a lot of heartthrob, a haphazard disguise, and a ton of cursing. (Because as far as he was concerned, the bipedal method of transportation was just stupid. No wonder Hiccup had been stumbling all over himself all the time!)

And it had all led him to this.

He hadn't had to do much sneaking. Scratch that, he hadn't needed to do any sneaking. The wind twirled a few leaves through the empty path.

It was clear that no one was there. Toothless's anger calmed down a little as the first licks of worry nudged the back of his mind. Humans, he had learned, were always everywhere. Busy all times of the day and night. A deserted town like this was unnatural.

So where are they? that worried voice whispered. Where is Hiccup?

He slowly followed the open path, creeping along the walls. He could hear something up ahead, what sounded like a crowd. Maybe a mob.

But no, there were the humans, all gathered in a vast, flat, muddy clearing with their backs turned to him. They were completely silent. They were all watching something and Toothless raised his gaze to watch, too.

There was a moving picture of another place with other people. This was where the sound was coming from. He didn't understand exactly what it was – just a human creation? Was it real? – but it was definitely intriguing. The bright colors, the roars of approval, and the two humans, one with hair the color of a Nadder's scales (he hadn't known that was a natural color) that seemed to be talking about it.

"-importance of this moment cannot be overstated."

So it was real?

He crept a little closer, hugging the walls of the strange structures the humans lived in.

The image changed. There was a man with dark brown, almost black eyes and wiry hair and a complexion that looked a little too smooth and a little too perfect to be real. Pale and flawless next to Hiccup's freckled skin.

A crowd of smiling, colorful humans that cheerfully socialized with each other, obviously anticipating something. They were the complete opposite of the crowd that stood before him in all its somber silence. He supposed they were all waiting for the same thing, though.

Then the cheering began.

"There they are! There they are, this year's first Tributes!" the smiling blue-haired man stated.

The first thing he saw was pink. Then he noticed the two humans underneath the color, smiling and waving to the crowd, looking completely unaware of the second audience that was watching them.

He caught sight of white and gold, too, in stark contrast with the black carts before the two humans were shown again.

"-the stylists, they so clearly manage to capture the character of each district. See, there's-"

The image changed to a couple of gold-clad humans that, frankly, just looked silly with their large head pieces and bulky outfits.

Then his heart stopped.

There was Hiccup. The ridiculous tree outfit barely registered in his mind, because there stood his Hiccup, one of those real people in that real place. His hair shone gold like a flame. His eyes were narrowed in determination and, it took him a moment to recognize it, resentment. Pure defiance. And he could see the fires in them that made the green irises seem to almost glow.

Hiccup was furious.

Then a grating voice cut through the image burning in his mind. It was the Pasty Human.

"Welcome! Welcome. Tributes, we welcome you. We salute your courage, and your sacrifice."

The cheering reached its height, although not a sound came from a single person in that clearing.

"And we wish you, happy Hunger Game! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Hiccup was furious, and now Toothless was scared.