AN: So, here's chapter two. A little shorter, but I hope you guys still like it.
"We have to go find it!" Snotlout cried, running towards the woods where the dragon came falling down.
"What?" Hiccup cried, grabbing his cousin by the shoulder, and turning him around to face each other, "No! Not right now! You have a job to do, and my dad thinks I'm with Gobber. We weren't supposed to do this!"
"But we can't just leave it there," Snotlout argued.
Hiccup had to agree – the idea of the dragon being tied up and left to die didn't quite sit well with him, "Okay, we'll go find it. But not until the raid is over."
Snotlout grinned, "Okay, but I get to kill it then."
Hiccup stared at him for a moment, utterly speechless. Finally, he opened his mouth, "You're not serious, are you?"
Snotlout looked at his cousin in confusion, "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because," Hiccup explained, feeling very much like he was talking to a five-year-old, "the point of the Mangler is to wait until the situation is dealt with, and then set the dragon free, and that's what we're going to do!"
Snotlout rolled his eyes, "Sure, Hiccup, that's exactly what we're going to do." Hiccup wanted to question this, but the older boy left before Hiccup had a chance.
Hiccup stared after Snotlout, unsure of what to do. Does he go after him, and make sure Snotlout won't do anything drastic? Or does he trust that he won't and go back to work? Or should he trust that Snotlout definitely will do something, and beat him to the dragon?
He looked over at the Mangler, wondering if he made some terrible mistake by creating this. I just wanted to help without hurting anything, he thought to himself miserably. He sighed, and collapsed the canon back into it's place, closing the lids on top of it. He dejectedly wheeled the Mangler back to the forge, part of him wanting to destroy the machine, but another part of him still so proud of it. It was one of the first inventions he'd had that actually worked.
Hiccup smiled grimly, thinking about his first invention. In his mind, it worked perfectly. A simple belt, hooked up to some pulleys that were spun using some weights. It would help move dulled swords, knives, and other miscellaneous weapons over to the stone wheel to be sharpened, but in testing, it first didn't move at all. After several more attempts, it sure spun. One small dagger is still stuck in the opposite forge wall.
Hiccup pushed the Mangler into the back room of the forge, gaining Gobber's interest, "So, what happened?" Gobber asked lightly.
Hiccup turned to mentor, "I really don't want to talk about it."
Gobber picked up a final sword from the raid – Hiccup hadn't even noticed the dragons had all left by now, "Oh, it couldn't've been that bad," Gobber joked, "pretty hard to top that time you nearly beheaded your father."
Hiccup cringed at the words. Why did he ever think that airing out boots manually was a problem worth solving? "Pretty hard, but not impossible," Hiccup mumbled.
"I can't believe it!" Gobber exclaimed, "You've gone an one-upped yourself! Now I owe Hoark a free axe."
"Only an axe?" Hiccup questioned, "I would've thought I was worth more than that!"
Gobber laughed…
…and continued laughing. Hiccup cocked an eyebrow at his mentor, who uncomfortably stopped, "Oh, you're being serious," Gobber mumbled.
Hiccup glared at the older man, smacking him on his round stomach, "I'll have you know I do not appreciate that. Thank you for being so sympathetic to me in this trying time." Hiccup's expression shifted as he remembered the shriek of the Night Fury as it plummeted towards the forest.
"How bad was it?" Gobber asked, suddenly serious, picking up on Hiccup's change of mood.
Hiccup sighed before answering, "You know, it's probably fine. No one even knows."
"Waddya mean, you shot down a Night Fury?" Spitelout roared.
"I did, I really did!" Snotlout promised, "I swear, I'll prove it to you!"
Spitelout glared at his son, "I'm not one to take jokes, boy-o. You better prove it."
Snotlout nodded soberly, and ran off to the woods. For about an hour, he ran this way and that, desperately trying to remember where it would have landed. Finally, he came across a rough trench. Above it, a tree had been knocked down, with a few stray branches scattered around. Snotlout followed the trench up a small hill, and down below, behind a large boulder, he found it.
The dreaded Night Fury, all caught up in ropes, and it seemed to be hardly moving. He grinned, crept down the steep hill and reached for his –
"You've got to be kidding me," Snotlout muttered to himself, patting his pockets, and checking around him, "Did I really – ugh!" Out of frustration, he kicked the boulder, ignoring the pain in his foot. He punched the rock as well, as if it made any difference. He took a moment, regained his thoughts, breathing deeply, it was time for him to go back and get his bludgeon. He'd have to avoid his father, but at least he could eventually prove to Spitelout that he was, in fact, right about the Night Fury.
He shook his head, still quite angry with himself, and jogged in the general direction of the village, trying to keep track of anything that stuck out to him for a quicker way back.
He was just exiting the woods when he bumped into his younger cousin.
"Hey, where's the fire?" Hiccup asked, "Actually, that wasn't even a good joke. There probably is fire." He went on his toes, looking over Snotlout's head, "Is there one? Where?"
Snotlout looked over Hiccup's shoulder, checking to see if his father was anywhere near, "No, there isn't, I, uh, I forgot my bludgeon," Snotlout muttered absentmindedly, looking over his shoulder, and then running off without any warning.
Hiccup watched his cousin run away in confusion. He hoped that Snotlout didn't need the bludgeon for what Hiccup thought he needed it for, but whether it was true or not, Hiccup decided to investigate for himself. He ran in the direction Snotlout had came from, looking around for any path Snotlout may have made to lead him to where the dragon may or may not be. He could just be training, Hiccup told himself. Maybe he was lying, maybe there was a fire. It wasn't long before he came across the trench, This doesn't mean anything, Hiccup assured himself. He climbed up the slight hill and –
-I don't think he was training.
Hiccup stumbled down the hill, bumping into the boulder. He cautiously peeked his head around, inspecting the tied up Night Fury. Is it dead? Why would Snotlout need his bludgeon if it's dead? He slowly moved out from behind the boulder, easing his way over to the downed dragon.
"Such beautiful creatures," a familiar feminine voice drawled, "so gentle, graceful, and so sophisticated." The women sighed, "Oh, I wish they would stop with the fighting. Don't they see it only makes things worse?
"Hiccup, they don't deserve the pain we put them through."
Hiccup took breath. He looked around, though he knew the voice didn't come from anything physically near him. He wondered whose voice that was, and why did he only remember it now?
He looked over at the Night Fury, really looking at it now. He noticed the soft edges of the ears, and the great curves of the wings. Without thinking, he reached out to touch one of the forelegs. The moment his hand and the leg met, the whole dragon jerked awake. Startled, Hiccup jumped backwards, thumping into the boulder.
He felt his heart rate rising, it's not dead, was all he could think, it's not dead, it's not dead, it's not dead. The Night Fury opened it's eyes, and it seemed to be staring directly into Hiccup's soul. Hiccup was unnerved by this, but yet he couldn't stop himself from drawing nearer to the dragon. Hiccup cocked his head inquisitively at the Night Fury, taking in the sight of the beast, made helpless by the ropes. "I did this," Hiccup breathed, shaking his head with guilt, "I did this," he repeated, the words meaning more to him a second time.
The Night Fury continued to stare at him, and Hiccup looked back, trying to communicate how sorry he was. But then he remembered the knife in his pocket. Could he really do it? Hiccup could think of a million ways this could go wrong – starting with Snotlout finding him, or the dragon killing him – but looking into the Night Fury's eyes, he couldn't stop himself.
He cut the ropes.
As soon as the dragon is freed from it's bondage, it pounces on Hiccup, opening it's mouth wide, and Hiccup realizes this is his end. The dragon roars terrible roar – more a scream than anything – and Hiccup has to admit, he feels like screaming at himself too.
But then the dragon stops, and it flies away. Hiccup gets up unsteadily, happily thinking to himself, he was just thanking me, before his knees gave way, and everything went black.
AN: So there it was. Please leave a comment, it encourages me to keep writing, and you can also check out my instagram, googlegravityfanfics there, I post HTTYD memes whenever I update, or have something to announce. So, if you like memes from this fandom, then that's something you should check out.