The next morning Hiccup got up early to work on a new invention. He poured the molten sandstone onto the anvil and pounded it into a curved disk, putting it in the pail of water to cool. He then did the same with some others smaller in size. He was so busy pounding that he didn't hear Gobber behind him.
"Oy Hiccup!" Gobber tapped him on the shoulder and Hiccup surprisingly swung the giant hammer and hit Gobber in the face.
"Aaah!" Hiccup yelped.
WHAM!
"FRIGGA'S PANTIES!" Gobber yelled as he held is nose.
"Gobber! Oh man! I didn't even hear you come in!" Hiccup said as he helped Gobber up.
"Oh my nose. Lad what in Thor's name are you doin in here anyway!?" Gobber glared.
Hiccup quickly covered up his invention, trying not to look suspicious.
"Um…nothing just making a new dagger…you know, for dragon training...BUT! It's not done yet. Heh-heh" Hiccup chuckled. Gobber wasn't buying.
"Oh I see, tryin to pull the wool over ol' Gobber, right? Well let me tell ya something. Nothing can remain hidden from Gobber the Belch, I'll find out what it is you're hidin, don't you worry. I'll see you in the ring." Gobber ranted as he walked away.
Hiccup sighed and turned back to his work. He removed the cloth, revealing a metal tube? Hiccup picked up the tube and put it to his eye, looking out the window.
"Wow! You can see clear across the ocean with this. This could really be handy. I wonder what to call it?" he asked himself.
"Scoper? Looking-glass? Scouter? Hmm…how bout Spyglass? Yeah that definitely sounds stealthy, kinda like a Night Fury I know." Hiccup said.
Hiccup quickly gathered all his papers and his invention and put it in the back of the stall. As he headed out the door he took one quick glance and continued on his way to the Arena.
"Today is about teamwork. Work together and you might survive."
Gobber pulls a lever and the door blasts open, green gas coming out of it filling the entire ring, separating the others.
Astrid was with Ruffnut, Snotlout with Tuffnut, and Fishlegs with Hiccup. All of them were carrying buckets of water, waiting to throw them.
"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which." Gobber instructed.
The smoke encircles them, becoming thicker with every step. The teens use their senses looking for any sign of a fire breathing dragon.
Fishlegs was so nervous he began to mutter to himself "Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in it's..."
"Will you please stop that!?" Hiccup whispered sharply, cutting Fishlegs off.
With Snotlout and Tuff, they put their backs together, circling the gas looking for any sign of movement.
"If that dragon shows either of his faces, I'm gonna-
Suddenly he saw two dark spiky figures through the gas.
"There!" he yelled.
Snotlout and Tuffnut threw their water at the dark figures into the fog. They didn't expect to girlish yelps instead of a dragon's roar.
"Hey!"
"It's us, idiots." Ruffnut shouted.
Astrid and Ruffnut were completely soaked in water.
Snotlout and Tuff were very surprised.
"Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were a dragon." Tuff remarked. Snotlout quickly followed up.
"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure."
Astrid punches Snotlout in the face, while Ruffnut throws the bucket of water at Tuffnut, knocking him down.
Suddenly Tuffnut is dragged into the fog of gas by an unknown force, Ruffnut wants to run after him, but is stopped by Astrid.
"Wait." She warned.
They all stood still frozen with fear and caution, then out of nowhere a tail sweeps out of the fog, taking them down making their buckets spill. They look up hearing a yell get closer and closer.
"Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" Tuffnut bolted past them and back into the fog.
Fishlegs and Hiccup are the last ones all alone with a dragon on the loose. Only one thought came to mind.
"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now." Fishlegs cowered..
"Look out!"
A Zippleback head emerges out of the smoke. Fishlegs hurls his water at it, completely dousing the head. It leers and opens its mouth, gurgling gas into the air.
"Oh. Wrong head." He chuckled.
"AAAHHH!"
The Zippleback's gas head hisses at Fishlegs, spewing gas at the panicked teen as he ran away.
"Fishlegs!"
Hiccup turned back as he heard a clicking sound. He then came face to face with both heads one of which sent sparks flashin the smoke.
"Now, Hiccup!" Gobber cheered.
Both heads sweep out of the smoke. Hiccup hurls his water with all his might. The water reaches its max height and drops short of the dragon's sparking mouth. The dragon grins.
"Oh, come on!"
The Zippleback hisses at him flaring its wings, this forces Hiccup to the ground. The dragon pins him with its claws ready to dig into their prey.
"Hiccup!" Gobber yelled running through the fog.
The Zippleback hesitates. It sniffs Hiccup, then teens enter the ring, watching transfixed. Gobber peeks through his fingers to see the Zippleback backing away from Hiccup. Hiccup is standing to his feet and holding out his hands out, as if controlling it.
"BACK! BACK! BACK! Now, don't you make me tell you again!"
The Zippleback retreats through its door and into its pen,hissing in fear.
"Yes, that's right. Back into your cage! Now think about what you've done."
Hiccup opens his vest, revealing the familiar striped smoked eel from earlier. He tosses it inside the door, right in front of the dragon. The Zippleback backs up against the wall and then some. He quickly closed the pen door tightly.
Hiccup turns to the teens and Gobber. They stare, slack-jawed.
"Okay! So are we done? Because I've got some things I need to..."
Hiccup jogs out of the ring, past the speechless group, who still were in awe of Hiccup's sudden accomplishment.
"Yep...see you tomorrow."
Hiccup rushes to the Forge gathering as much leather as he could. He then begins to cut and stitch the leather; he draws more schematics for the tail and shapes the metal for the stirrups. He relights the candle, after all his work he was ready. His harness is complete along with the handles and straps.
The next day Hiccup appears before Toothless, holding the new runs off as Hiccup chases him down.
"Hey!" Hiccup called
After what seemed to be an hour, but was really a few minutes, Toothless finally settled down and let Hiccup assemble the saddle.
They take flight for the second time, flying around the cove; Hiccup is controlling the tail with a rope. Hiccup begins to pull a little too hard and Toothless suddenly swerves right from under Hiccup, falling in the lake.
"Whoah!"
SPLASH!
Hiccup later that day works on something so that he will stay attached to Toothless while flying and also attaching the rope to his leg to control the prosthetic.
He returned to Toothless the next morning before dragon training with his new belt. They did another test flight out of the cove. This time, Hiccup held his hands firmly on the saddle while trying to operate the tail with the string tied around his foot, which proved to be just as disastrous as the previous time.
They crashed into a field of tall grass, thankfully the grass was soft and it cushioned their fall. Hiccup rushed through the fields so he could stand up properly and began looking for Toothless. He heard him moan behind him and turned around...quite surprised by what he saw.
Toothless lay on his back but then turned to his side, sniffing the grass while swimming in it. He seemed so hypnotized by the scent. Hiccup picked up some of the grass and sniffed it. It smelled sweet but it must have had a more powerful effect on dragons than it did humans.
Hiccup took a few strands of the grass before he headed off to dragon training. The Gronckle was their opponent today, which brought back bad memories of their first class to Hiccup. Snotlout charged at the Gronckle, who just knocked him back with a head butt. It turned and set its sights on Hiccup and began flying over towards him.
Hiccup quickly pulled out the grass and stuck his arm out, closing his eyes for fear of what might happen if Toothless was the only one who liked the grass. The Gronckle came to a halt and fell to the ground right in front of him, its pupils big and round, hypnotized by the scent of the grass. Hiccup opened his eyes and saw this before rubbing the grass against the Gronckle's nose, causing it to fall to the ground and pass out in pure ecstasy.
A crowd had begun gathering around the arena while the village elder, Gothi, examined Hiccup. As he left the arena, the teens that had once made fun of him now begged for his attention.
"How did you do that?" asked Ruffnut, pushing her brother aside.
"Yeah, I have never seen a Gronckle do that," Snotlout added.
"Oh, I left my axe back in the ring. You all go ahead. I'll catch up." He backtracked across the bridge and almost ran into Astrid. Astrid eyed Hiccup with suspicion as he disappeared.
Later at the cove, Hiccup begins to give Toothless a much needed scratching, he makes his way under his jaw, causing Toothless to relax and fall over.
The next day at dragon training, Astrid threw her ax at the Nadder, but it bounced off the Nadder's front horn. Astrid jumped to the side to avoid the charging Nadder who turned its attention to Hiccup.
Hiccup back up nervously, dropping his mace. This confused the Nadder. Why didn't he attack like the other humans? Astrid saw the Nadder was distracted and grabbed her ax and rushed forward with a battle cry.
This alerted the Nadder, who turned its head to face Astrid, exposing its neck to Hiccup. He quickly reached out and began scratching the Nadder's neck, whose eyes began closing in pleasure. He moved his hands toward its chin and scratched, causing it to fall to the ground.
Astrid came to a halt just as the Nadder fell, looking at Hiccup confused while he just shrugged, chuckling nervously.
Later that evening, Hiccup entered the Great Hall and passed by the teens' table, taking his usually place at an empty table. All of a sudden everyone in the Hall flooded in from everywhere, inquiring questions or offering praise to Hiccup. Astrid saw all the attention Hiccup was getting and angrily slammed her drink on the table, nearly spilling it in the process.
The next morning, Hiccup managed to sneak out of the village without alerting any of his new fans. After feeding Toothless, he was idly playing around with a small hammer.
All of a sudden, Toothless raced across the cove, chasing something. Hiccup sat up to see what he was running after and saw it was a little light on the ground. He looked at the hammer he held in his hand and saw that it was reflecting the sunlight to the ground.
Hiccup smiled. He leaned against a rock and held the hammer in both hands, strategically aiming the light all across the canyon as Toothless raced to catch it with his paws.
"Meet the Terrible Terror." Gobber introduced a little green dragon with bits of orange and red. It was about the size of a cat. The Terror looked at the teens that crowded around it while licking its eye.
Tuffnut pointed and laughed at the little creature's size. "Ha! It's like the size of my- Ahh!" With incredible speed, the Terror jumped onto Tuffnut's face, knocking him to the ground and began biting his nose, turning it red.
Before anyone could even react to the Terror, it saw a beam of light on its face move to the ground and began chasing it. Hiccup used the metal on his shield to reflect the sunlight to the Terror's door as it scrambled back into the cage to chase the light. Once the Terror was inside, Hiccup held the door shut with his foot while meekly smiling at the others.
"Wow, he's better than you ever were," Tuffnut said, holding his nose. Astrid glared at Tuffnut before staring at Hiccup, wondering how he had gotten the best of the dragon with little to no effort.
Later that afternoon, Astrid ventured into the forest, practicing throwing her ax into tree trunks. She reached and grabbed her ax out of the trunk, did a somersault and was prepared to throw it again when something stopped her.
Hiccup stood not too far from her target a stared, he was carrying some kind of load that Astrid didn't recognize. He quickly ran through the brush and around a rock. Astrid followed and looked around the rock and saw nothing. She slams her fist on the rock angrily.
Hiccup continued on his way to Toothless in the cove, where he was greeted by with the dragon's usual toothless smile. Hiccup set down basket of fish and turned it over for Toothless, who began to greedily dig in. Hiccup took this time to strap the saddle on him with my new foot holsters while connecting a string from them to the tail.
They made their way up to a windy cliff where a tree stump stood. Hiccup tied a string from the tree stump to saddle strap around Toothless' belly and got on. The strong winds there were perfect to test out the final version of the saddle.
Toothless opened his wings and glided against the wind. Hiccup then moved my left foot in the holster and the tail opened. Just as the wind stopped, Toothless gracefully landed on the ground while Hiccup made note of the position of the tail.
Toothless looked up to Hiccup happily. He patted his head and scratched it.
"Great job bud."
All of a sudden, a powerful gust of wind blew them into the trees as the string snapped. Toothless landed on the ground and Hiccup fell out of the saddle. As Toothless got up suddenly Hiccup was pulled up as well. He looked up and tried to unclip the belt from the saddle, but saw that the hook had bended closed.
"Oh perfect." Hiccup groaned.
'How am I going to get out of this? I could pry it off, but all my tools are back in the forge...there's only one thing to do...' Hiccup thought.
They waited until nightfall to ride into back to the village, that way, Toothless couldn't be seen. Hiccup saw the torch light of a night patrolman and quickly, but casually took a spot by the corner of a house while Toothless stayed in the shadows.
"Hiccup…" he said, acknowledging. Hiccup casually waved and once the patrolman was out of sight, Toothless walked out. They had to act fast! Toothless immediately got distracted and was ready to follow the patrol man so Hiccup pulled on the cord to get Toothless to follow his lead.
They finally made it to the forge. Toothless stuck his head into a bucket and knocked it across the forge. "Shh!" Hiccup quickly responded to him. He found a tool and began to unbend the metal hook.
"Hiccup? Are you in there?"
'Astrid!' Hiccup quickly puts on an apron and jumps out the windows, holding them closed with his hands so Astrid couldn't see Toothless.
Astrid. Hey! Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid." Hiccup said frantically.
"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well, weirder." She replied raising a brow at Hiccup.
Meanwhile in the forge, Toothless spots a nearby sheep and makes a move toward it.
As a result, Hiccup is suddenly pulled tight against the window shutters. He strikes a pose to compensate, and then he gets pulled through the shutters. They snap back in Astrid's reopens them and finds nothing but an empty the distance, Toothless and Hiccup slip off unseen.
Early in the morning at the docks, a lone battered ship is pulled into a slip, overloaded with equally battered-looking Vikings.
They disembark to a crowd of onlookers, looking like a team of proud heroes who just had their butts hobbles through the mumbling crowd to find Stoick, who is last to disembark and glowering with battered pride.
"Where are the other ships?" a Viking asks
"You don't want to know." Spitelout returns
Stoick lumbers past Gobber, leaving him staring at the trashed ship.
"Well, I trust you found the nest at least?" Gobber asked
"Not even close." Stoick said disappointed
"Ah. Excellent."
Gobber follows Stoick up the ramp and snags his satchelwith his hook arm, sharing the burden.
"I hope you had a little more success than me." Stoick said
"Well, if by success, you mean that your parenting troubles are over with, then... yes." Gobber replied
Stoick stops. SuddenlyA group of merry villagers rush past.
"Congratulations Stoick! Everyone is so relieved!"
"Out with the old and in with the new, right?!"
"No one will miss that old nuisance!"
"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"
Stoick is stunned, overwhelmed by the insensitivity. He turns to Gobber.
"He's... gone?"
"Yeah...most afternoons." Gobber replies "But who can blame him? I mean the life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by his new fans."
Stoick is doubly confused.
"Hiccup?"
"Who would've thought, eh? He has this...way with the beasts"
Stoick is shocked by the revelation, his Hiccup…a Viking?
Toothless and Hiccup, are soaring through a perfect blue clouds rise like mountains. The ground seems miles below them.
"Okay there bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow."
Hiccup checks a paper cheat sheet, clipped onto his harness. Inscribed upon it are several tail positions and their pedal position equivalents.
"Here we go. Here we go...position three, no four."
He presses the pedal, causing the tail to flare. They roll off into an arcing bank, gloriously lit by the late tucks tight against his neck, thrilled that his new harness and vest are holding. The foot controls make the tail appendage quick and responsive. He watches Toothless' every fluctuation, trying to match it with the sizes up a target, a towering arch of stone, rising from the sea.
"Alright, it's go time. It's go time." They flew toward it, lining up to pass through the arch.
"Come on. Come on buddy. Come on buddy!"
They zip through the arch, a perfect maneuver.
"Yeah! Yes, it worked!"
The triumph is short-lived. They smack into one of several sea stacks as Hiccup tries to keep up with the turns.
"Sorry."
They hurtle into another rock pillar. Toothless grumbles.
"My fault."
Toothless swats him with his 'ear' plate.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Position four, no three."
They pierce the clouds. For the first time, Hiccup can seethe whole of the island below them. It shrinks with every passing second. He swallows hard and tightens his grip on the handles.
"Yeah! Go baby! Yes! Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my..."
He spots the leather guide tearing free in the turbulence.
"CHEAT SHEET! STOP!"
Hiccup grabs frantically for the airborne sheet of paper.
"No!"
He grabs it before it's carried out of reach. Toothless,however, obeys the command and suddenly stops beating they slow to a stop, Hiccup goes weightless. The rings ofhis vest float off of the harness hooks. Hiccup suddenly finds himself detached, free-falling.
"Oh gods! Oh no!" Without Hiccup, the tail loses control. Hiccup and Toothless spiral downward. Toothless struggles to get back under Hiccup.
"Alright, okay. You just gotta kinda angle yourself. No, no...Come back down towards me. Come back down-"
Hiccup extends his arms and legs, giving him as much surface area as he can. He angles back towards Toothless as the tumbling dragon smacks Hiccup with his a few more misses, Hiccup finally grabs hold of the harness and manages to lock in, just in time to pull Toothless out of his dive... barely shy of the tree tops.
They careen past the wooded cliff and directly into a treacherous slalom course of jutting sea pulls the cheat sheet from his teeth and attempts to check positions.
It flaps violently in the turbulence, making it no time to think, Hiccup throws it away and steers Toothless' tail on instinct... with perfect intuition.
Together, they manage a tight, hair-raising series of split-second turns, making it to the open water, takes a breath and glances back at the death-defying obstacle course, now safely behind them. He beams, sits back and throws his arms up in victory.
"YEEAHHH!"
Toothless concurs with a happy bark and a 's glee turn to dread as they fly directly into it.
"Ah, come on."
On a rocky beach far from the village, Hiccup and Toothless lounge on a sprawling, deserted beach,snacking of freshly caught fish. As Hiccup cooks his over afire, Toothless suddenly regurgitates a fish head. Hiccup smirks with forced politeness.
" Uh..no thanks. I'm good." Hiccup declined, gesturing to his own fish.
Several Terrible Terrors land like seagulls, hissing and nipping at each other as they approach Toothless' pile offish.
One grabs the regurgitated fish head and drags it one attempts to steal it from him. They face off and blast fire balls at each other to settle the fight. Hiccup watches, amused.
That is until...Toothless spots one of his fish leaving the pile. A stealthy Terrible Terror is exposed as the thief. They tug on the fish, and it snaps back into Toothless' mouth. He swallows it back tauntingly.
No mad, the little dragon paws at the ground and blast Toothless.
He opens his mouth, the gas hiss comes, and Toothless fires a tiny flame straight into its mouth, causing the gas to backfire into the little dragon. It coughs up smoke and staggers away, looking laughs.
"Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?"
Hiccup throws the hapless Terror his freshly cooked fish.
"Here you go."
The appreciative little dragon gulps down the meal and approaches Hiccup cautiously. He curls up next to him. Hiccup is amazed.
"Everything we know about you guys is wrong."
Toothless and Hiccup are flying back to Berk, when suddenly Toothless growls at the shore. Hiccup is confused and lands him on a sea stack near the beach. Toothless begins to claw at the ground, roaring and pointing his head down below. Hiccup follows his lead and looks at the beach. He sees a two small boats land on the beach, and some figures walking around.
"Who are those guys bud?" Hiccup then pulls something from the back of his pants. It is the spyglass he made a while ago.
"I knew this would come in handy one day. Alright let's see who you are."
Hiccup looks through the glass towards the beach. It's a bit blurry at first, but then his vision comes into focus, he spots the boats and looks at the sails. One of the sails is blank, but the other has a symbol of a Viking helm with long horns. Hiccup gasps in realization.
"Outcasts? What are Outcasts doing here on Berk?" Hiccup continues looking for more observations.
He looks at the figures on the beach, there are four of them. Two burly men, probably guards and one man who is shorter, with a giant mustache.
"Savage" Hiccup said venomously. Savage was the right-hand-man to none other than Alvin the Treacherous. This must be his doing. Hiccup then looks down to the fourth figure. It's a young girl? Yes, a young girl about his age, black hair, green eyes, kinda cute too.
"Wait what!?" Hiccup quickly shook his head getting control of himself and continued looking. The two burly men dragged the blank sail boat on shore, they over turned it and smashed holes in it. Savage was now shoving the girl towards the boat, talking to her.
"I have to know what their saying" he then turned to Toothless "Come on bud time for a little stealth mode."
Hiccup climbed atop Toothless and activated the tailfin, with that they launched into the air in into the forest near the beach. Hiccup left Toothless some distance away and quickly ran as fast as he could to the beach. When he got there he hid behind a tree and listened.
Let me go! You can't do this to me!" the girl yelled.
"Pipe down you runt or else your parents get it!" Savage ordered.
"What do you want from me, my parents are poor we have nothing to give you!"
"Oh but that's where you're wrong Heather. You can give us something, something Alvin wants."
"And what would that be?"
"By the end of the week, I want a full report on Berk's defenses; Alvin wants to know when they are at their weakest so we can STRIKE!" Savage had a sword in hand and impaled the sand at his feet to emphasize his point.
"That's horrible! You can't do that!" Heather insisted
"Oh yes we can and we will, with your help that is, unless you don't want your parents to live" Savage said with a sneer
(Gasp) "Please, leave my parents out of this! They didn't do anything!" Heather began to cry.
"Then shut up and do as your told." with that Savage gave her a quick slap in the face. The girl fell in the sand.
Hiccup heard the blow and wanted to do something, but that would blow his cover and Toothless', if he got in trouble, so he stayed quiet, but angry.
Heather got up from the sand, picking up a rock and launching it at Savage's face giving him a nosebleed. Savage raised his sword ready to strike.
"Ah ah ah. You need me, if you kill me imagine what Alvin would do to you if he didn't get the information he needs" Heather said with a dark smirk.
Savage gritted his teeth and put away his sword, he turned to the other two Outcasts, signaled them to get the boat ready.
"You have six days!" with that Savage got in the boat and sailed away.
Heather looked away from the sea and towards her wrecked ship, it was getting late, she might as well get some rest.
Hiccup had heard the whole plot for some time; he didn't know what to do. Then thoughts popped into his head.
'If she is here to get information on Berk, then she will sell us out to the Outcast, that can't happen, not on my watch.' Hiccup thought. He turned back to Heather and went to find Toothless, time was running out.
Heather was lying under the boat, using the sails as covers from the cold. The sun had just about set and she was ready to sleep when she heard a noise, more like a roar. She got out from the boat and walked out looking around, as she stepped into the open there was a blood chilling screech noise coming from the sky, it got louder and louder, when suddenly a ball of purple fire shot out and destroyed her ship wreck, turning it to ash. Heather yelped in fear and started to make a run for the forest, but she didn't get far, because suddenly something grabbed her, lifting her into the sky.
She looked down and saw the ground getting further and further away. She felt a hold on her arms, so she turned her head and saw black claws, and bright green eyes looking at her, with slits. It was a dragon!
"Oh gods! Help! Help! Someone, Help me!" She screamed, but her cries went unheard, or so she thought.
She had been airborne for some time until she was dropped out of sky and onto a sea stack, she got up as quickly as she could, trying to find a way to escape.
But how does one escape a sea stack? She would die of starvation if she stayed, and she would die from drowning, but the one question Heather asked herself was…
"Why? Why me? Oh Great all father give me a sign!" she pleaded to the sky.
There was a growl, Heather turned around so quickly that she nearly fell. She looked and saw the big dark creature, it had bright green eyes, large wings, and a slender frame, this was not just any dragon, this was a-
"Night Fury" Heather whispered. The said dragon stepped forward; Heather tripped and was backing away.
"It's okay, he won't hurt you." a voice said. Heather looked around frightened by the voice; she summoned the courage to speak back.
"Wh-Who said that?" she asked
The Night Fury had relaxed and put down its large wings, revealing something on its back. She looked and saw a boy! A boy on the back of a dragon! How was that even possible? He was about her height from what she could see, and he was rather scrawny. The boy got down from the dragon and slowly stepped forward reaching out his hand.
"H-Hi, my name is Hiccup."
"Hiccup?" Heather said confused.
"Yeah, I know not the best of names, but it could be worse" Hiccup chuckled. Heather smiled, but that quickly went away when she saw the dragon, behind him. Hiccup saw this and turned from Toothless, back to her.
"Don't worry he won't hurt you, see" Hiccup summoned Toothless over, and held Heather's hand. Heather connected the dots and retracted her hand.
"It's okay Toothless wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Toothless?" she asked. She was pretty sure she saw teeth.
"You'll find out soon, just trust me." Hiccup smiled. Heather was comforted by his smile and cautiously gave in. Hiccup held her hand gently and placed it on Toothless' nose. Heather's eyes widened. The scary beast before her didn't seem so scary; its slitted eyes were now round black orbs. It hot breathing, sent comfort throughout her body. The dragon looked up at her and gave a smile, a toothless smile.
"Oh so that's why you call him Toothless." Heather said in realization.
"Yeah, it caught me off guard too; by the way I didn't get your name."
"Uh, Heather, my name is Heather."
"So Heather, what were you doing on the beach?"
"Oh! Um…My family and I were attacked by pirates; sadly my parents didn't make it."
At this Hiccup frowned, although it wasn't the whole truth, she still was hiding something, something he already knew.
"I'm sorry to hear that, well I'll be off." with that Hiccup began to climb Toothless, Heather did a double-take, and became frantic.
"Wait! You can't leave me here!" She exclaimed grabbing his arm
"And Why not?" Hiccup asked
"That's not the right thing to do!" she replied
"But lying about what really happened to your parents is?"
"What are you talking about?" Heather asked nervously
"I heard your whole plan, with Savage, and Alvin. You were going to come into my village hoping we'd give you a place to stay and while we pity you, you were going to try and figure out Berk's weaknesses and rat us out to Alvin, Is that right?" Hiccup ranted
"I didn't have a choice; he was going to kill my parents if I didn't help them."
"We always have choices Heather! You could have told us and we would've helped you." Hiccup explained.
"Can you?" she whispered.
"What?" Hiccup asked wanting her to repeat.
"Can you help me?" she repeated.
Hiccup began to ponder, what he could actually do? He looked down at Toothless who gave a concerning croon. His head got an idea.
"Yes."
"What? Really?!"
"Yes, I can help you but we need to plan first. Let me lay down the rules. On Berk we train to kill dragons, the reason I'm riding one is because I found out that dragons are not what they seem to be. They are creatures that have feelings like us. Don't say anything about Toothless. Once we enter the village I'll introduce you to my dad, the chief and tell him that fake story you told me. Since you are a visitor, I'll be the one to show you around the island, which will give me time away from dragon training, and give us time to make plans. Is that clear?" he asked
"Yes, crystal clear." Heather replied, hope bright in her eyes.
Hiccup was a bit wary of but gave her his trust, with a nod.
"Alright…hop on."
Heather widened her eyes, he wasn't serious was he? First he scares the living daylights out of her and now -
"You, want me to get on that dragon?"
"Yes."
"No. Absolutely not!" she turned around crossing her arms.
"How else are you gonna get down and save your parents?" Hiccup smirked.
Heather weighed her options and made the obvious choice.
"Fine…Just don't drop me." Heather slowly climbed up behind Hiccup, holding his shoulders, signaling she was ready.
"Alright, bud let's get out of here."
Hiccup activated the tail fin and Toothless slowly rose into the air. Heather looked down as they got further and further from the ground. She quickly wrapped her arms around Hiccup's torso, to which Hiccup blushed profusely.
'OK Hiccup, try not to focus on the round things pressing on your back' Hiccup thought.
Heather on the other hand was now getting used to their flight and got an overhead view of the island, it was-
"Beautiful." She whispered. Little did she know was that Hiccup heard her.
"It's even better during the day." he called back.
They soon landed in the cove, Toothless landed without a sound, the riders got off. Hiccup was tending to the tail fin making sure it was okay, Heather looked on at their relationship. Toothless was crooning with pleasure as Hiccup scratched behind his frill. The exchange was cute in her perspective, man and dragon together, it seemed impossible, but here they were, like man and dog. Toothless gave Hiccup a lick and bounded off to a rock. Hiccup turned to Heather with a smile.
"You two have a strong bond, nothing like I've ever seen. It's incredible!" Heather exclaimed.
They began to make their way out of the cove and into the forests, walking through the dark brush.
"Yeah, well it's kinda my fault he can't fly, since I shot him down." Hiccup still felt bad about what he did, Gobber's words haunting him.
"Wait, you shot down a Night Fury?" Heather asked surprised, at this Hiccup only chuckled.
"Yeah, you're not the first one to not believe me; it makes it easier to keep him hidden." He smiled.
"Sorry about that, I just never thought it was possible, Night Furies are very elusive and rare."
"Wait you've seen more of them?" Now it was his turn to be surprised.
"Well not exactly, just from stories I've heard. Dragons attacking ships in the dead of night, making banshee like screams."
"Wow, that does sound like a Night Fury if I ever heard one" Hiccup chuckled, Heather laughed as well and their eyes met. Hiccup coughed and turned away, while Heather began to play with her hair. Suddenly Hiccup perked up as he caught sight of something.
"Oh look we're here, come on." Hiccup called to her as he began to jog. Heather followed and they made their way to the forge.
Hiccup turned around to see if Heather was still following him. Heather kept up and wondered why Hiccup stopped.
"Uh…I have to get something from the back, feel free to look around" with that Hiccup disappeared into the stall.
Heather not knowing what else to do, she decided to do just that, she looked at all the vast weapons scattered in the forge. Maces, swords, axes, daggers, and bolas dangling from the ceiling, it was a mess. She decided to spruce up the place, and began putting the vast weapons in some of the empty crates.
When she finished she saw a fancy looking sword unlike the others, near the hearth. She picked up the sword studying the intricate designs on the handle, it was still heavy like the other swords, but she was used to the weight. She began waving it around as if she was fighting someone, slashing and stabbing her enemy, she turned around when she heard a sound behind her.
"Ha!" she yelled she looked up and saw a giant man with a bearskin cape and a horned helmet. She immediately dropped the sword, backing away.
"Who are you?" the man boomed. He began to walk forward his eyes narrowed. Heather was frozen with fear.
"I…I…I" Heather stuttered. Suddenly the back door opens and Hiccup walks right in the middle of them. He turned from Heather, and then to the elephant in the room.
"Dad! You're back!" Hiccup exclaimed. Heather was shocked; this man was Hiccup's Dad? It was unbelievable.
"Hiccup, who is this girl?!" Stoick boomed
"Dad calm down, please?"
"Don't tell me to calm down! Who is she? And what is she doing in my village?" Stoick yelled.
"This is Heather, she and her family were attacked by…pirates, she made it ashore but her parents are…gone. I found her and brought her here. She has nowhere else to go." Hiccup explained.
Stoick turned to Heather and saw the fear he put in her, he must've reminded her of the pirates he thought. Stoick gave a deep sigh and relaxed his tense shoulders.
"I'm sorry Miss Heather, for my behavior, to make up for it you can stay at our home, if you
need anything just let know."
"Thank you. I've been through a lot, and I meant no harm." Heather squeaked.
"Uh dad since Heather will be staying with us; I might have to help her get around Berk, which means I might have to miss dragon training, is that ok with you?" Hiccup asked anxiously.
"Well I don't mind but, from the way she handled your mother's sword, she might as well be put in dragon training. Heh-heh." Stoick joked.
Hiccup and Heather exchanged looks before looking back at Stoick, who was still laughing, the awkwardly joined in.
"Ah well I understand son, with how well you're doing in the ring, you and the others probably could use some time off. I'll talk to Gobber about it tomorrow. When you're finished here I'll see you at home." With that Stoick left the forge and trekked up the hill, leaving Heather and Hiccup alone.
They stood in silence, before Heather gave Hiccup a surprised look.
"That was your father!" Heather shouted. Hiccup jumped a bit but stood his ground.
"Yeah, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, at your service" Hiccup said dryly.
"It's just…he's so…and you're so…" Heather drifted
"Weak and useless"
"I was going to say small, but-" Heather not sure what she walked into
"Sorry it's just, people never let me live it down." Hiccup said sadly
"Sorry"
"It's ok; it's not your fault."
They stood there for a moment; Heather looked at the sword on the ground and picked it up.
"What about your mom?" she said gesturing the sword.
"I don't really know about her. All I know is that she was carried off by a dragon in raid when I was a baby, dad doesn't like to talk about it much, and he's been distant with it."
Heather took another look at the sword and handed it to Hiccup.
"I guess I should give this back."
"Dad said you're good with a sword?" Hiccup smirked, taking the sword. Heather began to blush.
"Well I don't want to brag, I am pretty good, but I'm better with axes." She said playing with her hair.
"Well Astrid, might have you beat there" Hiccup chuckled.
"Who's Astrid?" Heather asked.
"Uh…she's this girl in the village, best fighter, strongest, bravest, out of us" Hiccup explained
"Do you like her?" Heather asked
"Well, what's not to like? She's smart, pretty, strong-willed…"
"Oh" Heather said a bit disappointed.
"But lately she's been so… I don't know. She's just seems the type to put responsibility before anything else." Hiccup replied.
Heather seemed to take this, processing everything that has happened.
"It's getting late, lets head up to my house, you can sleep in my bed." Hiccup said stretching
"Oh! Uh…I don't want to intrude or anything" Heather stuttered
"Naaa. It'll be fine I'll sleep downstairs, it's no problem." Hiccup added
"Well if you insist"
Hiccup and Heather left the forge, and walked up the hill to the Haddock household. They walked in and Stoick was sitting in his chair sleeping with his ax in hand. They quietly walked upstairs. Hiccup gathered his papers and put them neatly away. He brought extra covers for Heather as she lay in the bed. As he headed to the door he turned back to Heather.
"Goodnight" Hiccup called.
"Goodnight" Heather replied. With that Hiccup closed the door and headed downstairs. Heather lied in the bed thinking about her current situation.
"I hope you come up with something Hiccup." she whispered.
She then began to drift into a peaceful slumber, dreaming of flying with dragons in the sky.
Author's Note: Sorry for the wait I've been working on it all week, trying to find time. Thank you for reading this story. I'll try to spice it up a bit.
