Chapter 3 | Second Chance

Hiccup awoke to the sound of an inhuman cry of pain echoing across land and sea. He lay on the ground, dizzy with confusion at the events that had just transpired… or… what? Slowly, he sat up. Just above Raven Point, he thought he saw a glint descending in the moonlight.

In his more immediate vicinity, his bola launcher sat, right-upper tension spar still hanging loosely from the rope connecting it to the launcher. "What." Hiccup wondered aloud. His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a Monstrous Nightmare stealthily climbing the ridge from opposite his launcher. Just like before, the beast moved toward him low and menacing, one foot crushing said launcher.

"Oh yay, that's fun." Hiccup muttered. Then he ran, screaming, down toward the village. The Nightmare was there, the bola launcher was gone, everything was happening again. The same way. What if he wanted to change something?

As he entered the village square, he thought about once again hiding behind the torch tower. It had saved him last time, but the cost to the village was pretty high. Instead, Hiccup turned at a sharp angle, running toward the ramp to the pastures lower in the village. As he suspected, his father was sprinting up said ramp toward him.

"Dad! Nightmare right behind-" Hiccup shouted.

"I noticed!" the chief replied gruffly, also shouting as he barrelled past Hiccup and up the ramp. At the top of the ramp, one of the Nightmare's wingtips appeared, followed quickly by its head and long neck. As it reared back to spew fiery death down the village's best path between the pastures and the square, Stoick leaped at the beast, grabbing its jaws and clamping them shut bare handed. At the sudden extra weight on its head, the Nightmare's neck slumped to the ground.

"Rope its mouth shut! Now!" the beast-wrestling man ordered.

"I-ah, I haven't got any rope!" Hiccup stammered.

Above the two, a black fur-clad figure stopped at the edge of the cliff. The Viking shouted, "This is a job for the Snotman!" He then jumped off the cliff, and landed on the tip of the Nightmare's muzzle not currently covered by Viking chieftain.

Sitting on the snout of the dragon, he suddenly looked confused, "Wait, what are we doing?"

"Rope!" the frustrated chief shouted.

A short-haired blonde head looked over the cliff. "Here!" Astrid shouted, her words followed by a bundle of rope. Snotlout, still confused by the three meter drop, rolled aside as Hiccup pushed him out of the way. The scrawnier of the boys then tied the dropped rope around the dragon's snout, several times for good measure.

"Thank you son." Stoick said, the strain in his arms lessening. Meanwhile, the body of the Nightmare continued thrashing back and forth in the square. "MEN!" Stoick shouted in that general direction, "Hold this beast down!"

Several Vikings in the square - that had been waiting at the forge for weapons - saw the chief holding down the Nightmare's head bare-handed and ran to help.

"Wait, dad, I don't think that it's out of fire!" Hiccup warned.

In the square, a Viking grabbed the flailing Nightmare's tail, then recoiled in pain as the dragon burst into flames. Stoick, spotting the fire moving up the dragon's neck before it reached the head, pushed off. With a flap of its great wingspan, the dragon took off into the night.

"That was awesome!" a slightly dazed male voice shouted from above the ramp, "flaming Nightmare in the middle of town!" The boy's words were followed by the clang of metal on metal.

"Not helping Tuff." came Astrid's voice. She'd whacked him over the helm with the flat of her axe.

A muttered, "that was fun, do it again." was drowned out by the chief's next words:

Stoick stomped the singed deck in irritation. "We almost had that beast." he said. Then he turned to Hiccup and the still-dazed Snotlout.

"Hiccup," Stoick said, "did you just actually help me muzzle that beast, without burning the town down?"

Hiccup noticed crowds of Vikings gathering at the top and bottom of the ramp, to watch the father-son interaction. "Well yeah, but I don't think that's the most-" Hiccup began.

Stoick clasped his son's shoulders, "This, son, is the day I've been waiting for. You're ready for dragon training."

"Wait, dad," Hiccup started again, "There was this-"

"Why does Useless get dragon training?" Snotlout shouted petulantly from beside them. Hiccup thought he saw the Viking chief stifle an eyeroll.

"Because he just took on a Nightmare, intentionally. You're already in dragon training!" Stoick said.

"Oh, yeah, I knew that." Snotlout acknowledged.

Stoick turned back to Hiccup, "I knew you'd do it eventually. You've got my blood, after all!" The chief gave Hiccup a friendly pat on the shoulder, which sent the smaller Viking stumbling.

"Uh, yeah, dad, I should tell you-" Hiccup tried.

"Why wait until tomorrow to start training our young?" Stoick shouted to the amassing Vikings in the morning light, "Noon today, dragon training begins!"

"Are you even listening to me?" Hiccup complained, though his words were lost in the cheers of the vikings all around the ramp.

"Gobber!" Stoick shouted up the ramp. The smith pushed his way through the crowd, mouth slightly agape. "Take Hiccup back home, I'll be there as soon as I deal with raid cleanup." the chief ordered.

Gobber nodded, taking Hiccup's shoulder. "Great," said Hiccup, "Huge popularity surge and dad still won't listen to me."

-EoT-

As they walked up the path toward his house, Hiccup turned to Gobber. "Gobber, I need your help understanding something."

"Is it your father?" The smith questioned, "I'ave been tryin' to understand your dad for as long as I've known 'im, and I still ha'en't a clue."

"Well," Hiccup started, glad someone was finally listening, "during the raid, I sort-of maybe left the forge, to go use my bola launcher."

Gobber sighed, "I figured tha' when I saw it missin', and found you n' your father in the middle o' tha village."

"Ok, this is where it gets weird. I mean, really weird." Hiccup warned.

"I'm listenin'." said Gobber.

Hiccup stopped at the door to his house. Taking a deep breath, he explained, "I shot down a Night Fury, got attacked by a Monstrous Nightmare, the Nightmare burned down the village-square torch tower and a portion of the village, I went out to find the Night Fury, I…" He paused to take a breath, "stabbed the Night Fury with my dagger, and it broke loose of the bola and killed me."

Gobber's unibrow was lopsided with skepticism. "And… Y'did all that and got tha village repaired in, what, two minutes?"

"Well," Hiccup said, "Then I woke up, on the hill with my bola launcher, and got attacked by the Nightmare again."

Gobber's face twisted, as if he was thinking. Hiccup was about to ask if he was choking when the smith's face lit up with an idea. "Oh! I know! It's a vision from the gods!"

"How does that even..." Hiccup asked quizzically.

"Aye!" Gobber confirmed, "I had a similar vision the night after I fought that Bone Napper!"

"No, Gobber, please not the Bone Napper story!" the younger Viking complained.

"Relax Hiccup," the smith said, "I ha'en't got time. Too much ta do. Fo' me an' you. Get inside! You gotta rest up so ya' can learn ta' fight dragons!" At this, Gobber gave Hiccup a light push, and Hiccup turned and entered the house.

"That's just great. I don't even… gods sending visions to the scrawny viking kid who couldn't even kill a dragon in his dreams." Hiccup complained to the empty living room. The room sat in darkness, silent, as a slight chill settled behind him from the door he'd just shut. "Yay me." he said, bending down to light the fire.

Unable to find the house flintstone, Hiccup used the old rubbing-sticks method of firelighting. Just when he finally got a tiny flame, after maybe ten minutes of rubbing, his father opened the front door. In a moment, the tiny spark was extinguished, the kindling blown across the floor.

"Hi, dad." Hiccup said halfheartedly.

"Son." Stoick acknowledged, "Dragon training starts in two hours, are you sure you don't want to be resting?"

"Well, see, I think I should mention that I don't even want-" Hiccup began, but was then cut off by a traitorous yawn from his exhausted body.

"You did well in that raid." Stoick affirmed, "You weren't prepared for everything - anything really - but when someone else got you the tools you handled yourself well."

"Dad, I don't wan-" Hiccup tried, one last time.

"Stop, I don't want to hear any more excuses. You need rest." the chief cut him off, "Bed. Now. Gather your strength."

Hiccup sighed, "Fine." Turning from the abysmally un-charred fire-pit, Hiccup climbed the oaken stairs to his room.

A/N:

I believe this is the shortest chapter I've written. Sorry guys! Still, I'll have the next one up in a week, and it's 2.5k words before editing.

So, first time around the loop. That happened. Hope you guys enjoyed!