After their flight Hiccup and Toothless spent more time planning on how to rescue the three remaining dragons. Hiccup was adamant that he should get out the Gronckle the very next night, but Toothless didn't agree.
'The Vikings are still distracted by the Nadder,' Hiccup argued, 'they haven't checked the rest of the doors since the Terror's escape.'
Toothless knew perfectly well that Hiccup was correct, but he also knew perfectly well that Hiccup was injured. 'You're left handed,' he growled right back, 'and you'll need to use your left hand to use your tools.'
Hiccup shrugged, frustrated by his friend's over-protectiveness. 'So it'll take longer than usual, doesn't mean I can't do it.'
Toothless shook his head. 'And if you wait another day you'll be much faster.'
'But if I wait another day they'll have checked the doors,' Hiccup reminded the dragon.
The Night Fury grumbled but couldn't deny the truth in the Vikings words. They continued to hash out the plan as night fell, detailing every little part of the Gronckle's escape, before finally moving onto the topic of the last two dragons.
'This is the last time this plan will work,' Hiccup concluded, 'after this they're sure to check the doors and make everything doubly secure. And if we get the Nightmare out before Astrid gets the honor of killing it' – for he had no doubt that Astrid would win – 'then they'll just get another dragon for her to kill.'
'So you want to get the Nightmare out the night before the kill?' Toothless asked, incredulously.
Hiccup shook his head. 'I don't know. After we get the Zippleback out there are sure to be guards. All four dragons escaping? They wouldn't risk losing the Nightmare as well.' He looked through the flickering firelight to see the Nadder and the Terror snoozing together on the rocks. He had gotten them both out safely but he knew they were damaged from their time in the ring. They had chosen to stay with him instead of flying off into the wild – to potentially be captured again or caught in their Queen's thrall.
He was aware of just how much trust they were placing in him – trusting him to keep them safe – but could he repay that trust? Could he rescue their fellow dragons or would he loose them to the Vikings' ferocity? He didn't know.
Toothless, aware of Hiccup's melancholy gaze, nudged the teen gently, jolting him free from his thoughts. 'We'll get them out,' the dragon said fondly, 'you'll think of something. You always do.'
Hiccup nodded blankly, leaning against Toothless as he drifted off for the night.
The next day Hiccup was thankful for his wound, which allowed him to hang back behind the other teens as they faced the Gronckle once more. Unfortunately the Gronckle got no such message and charged him, forcing Hiccup to reach up and knock out the round dragon, scratching her scaly chin and effectively ending their time in the arena.
Ever aware of his wound, Hiccup was forced to walk slowly along with the Viking teenagers as they clamored around him. This was the second time he had taken out a dragon and everyone wanted to know how he did it with no apparent force. He held off their questions for a short while before using the excuse that he had left his axe in the ring. The teens sent him puzzled looks but nobody followed as he returned in the direction they had come from.
As soon as he had rounded the corner to the arena Hiccup dove off the ledge. He knew that Toothless was waiting for him underneath and couldn't be bothered to wait much longer to free the Gronckle. He whistled slightly, watching as Toothless dove after him, the two falling side by side. Nearing the ground, Hiccup positioned himself in the saddle, the two pulling up at the last minute and gliding over the surface beneath them.
Together they quickly swooped around, flying easily through the sky as they circled the ring several times. 'This is getting to be too much Toothless,' Hiccup admitted. 'I don't know how much longer I can pretend that I'm one of them. They swarmed me today after I had to take down the Gronckle – and it was just too much.' As they landed in front of the ring Hiccup sighed, hopping off Toothless and leaning against his best friend. 'It's the most anyone has wanted to talk to me in years and every word coming out of my mouth is a lie.'
'You've been lying to them for years,' Toothless tried to comfort his friend as they opened the gate.
Hiccup shook his head. 'And no one actually bothered to listen to what I had to say then. I wasn't really lying, I just left and they never bothered to follow.' They walked to the Gronckle cage, Hiccup examining it closely. 'Now they all want to talk to me and I … I don't know how to deal with that.'
As Hiccup readied himself to pull the lever Toothless nudged him. 'It'll be over soon. Then everything can go back to how it used to be. Besides, is it so bad that everyone finally notices how wonderful you are?'
Hiccup blushed and shrugged, uncertain of how to respond. Instead he chose to pull the lever, releasing the Gronckle and effectively ending the conversation.
The dragon burst out of its cage, glancing around wildly before resting her eyes on Hiccup. She flew over to him, her expression the dragon equivalent of a grin, and Hiccup knew she was expecting to be scratched again. He scratched her lightly on her neck, explaining the plan as he did so. The Gronckle readily agreed, watching as Hiccup fiddled with the door for a good half hour. When he finally finished she returned to the inside of her cage, watching as he closed the door once more. Thanks to his intervention however, one good hit and the door broke down.
She growled her thanks and Hiccup gestured up toward the chain roof. 'Do you think you can squeeze through those chains?'
The Gronckle looked up, growling an assent before flying upward with a burst of speed, squeezing through the biggest gap in the chains. Hiccup grinned at the dragon's achievement, following Toothless out the door of the arena. Once shut he hopped on his black dragon, the two of them taking flight and leading the Gronckle on a merry chase away from Berk. Gronckles weren't the fastest of dragons but her happiness gave the freed Gronckle an extra burst of speed and Hiccup and Toothless remembered to restrain themselves as they led her to the Cove.
When Hiccup returned early the next morning the village was in uproar about the third escaped dragon. Vikings were berating themselves (and each other) for not double checking the doors after the Terror's escape. Hiccup was just thankful that dragon training was canceled so the villagers could reinforce the doors to the two remaining dragons' cages.
Unfortunately Gobber didn't get the memo, and decided that even if they couldn't train with the dragons they could still train. He gathered up the six teenagers, leading them to a meadow in the woods and handing each of them an axe.
"Today we'll be training for strength, not accuracy," he told them, "just throw as far as you can." As Snotlout prepared to throw his axe Gobber stopped him, gazing down sternly at the teen. "One at a time," he admonished Hiccup's cousin. "Astrid, you're first."
As the teens got ready – Astrid stretched; Ruffnut and Tuffnut pushed and shoved each other, sneering about which one of them was better; Snotlout boasted of his abilities loudly; and Fishlegs stood silently to the side – Hiccup looked down at the axe in his hand. He could throw it, of that he had no doubt, but it would be an awkward throw, flimsy at best. Axe throwing was just not something that he had practiced in the years he had gotten to know Toothless. Give him a knife any day, but an axe…
He looked up as Astrid threw hers, accurately and strongly, the axe sticking in a tree at the edge of the meadow. Snotlout cheered, praising Astrid as always, and Gobber turned to Hiccup.
"Alright Hiccup, you're up next," he told him.
Hiccup looked again at the axe in his hand. Give it his best and surprise them somewhat or chicken out and struggle to throw it?
"He'll probably just drop it," Snotlout sniggered as Hiccup paused for too long, the twins laughing and agreeing with him.
'That's it!' Hiccup thought, he was not going to take any more insults, he was tired of pretending, and he was tired of everybody laughing at him. He copied Astrid's pose as best he could, reaching back and hurling the axe. It wouldn't be accurate but he put as much power into it as he could, watching as the axe dropped three-fourths of the way through the meadow.
There was a stunned silence as the Vikings had their expectations completely smashed and Hiccup winced. 'That probably wasn't the smartest thing to do,' he thought, gripping his upper left arm in his right hand, grateful for the bandage under his shirt. Astrid was giving him suspicious looks again and Snotlout seemed to be speechless. Fishlegs was staring at him and the twins had momentarily stopped their fighting. Even Gobber seemed to be surprised.
"Must be all those muscles from working in the forge," Gobber concluded, turning to Snotlout. "You're next Jorgenson."
Hiccup held back a snort as the attention turned to Snotlout. 'Sure, all that time in the forge must be the answer. I couldn't possibly be good at something.' He shook his head. 'Snap out of it Hiccup,' he admonished himself. 'You're going to regret this.' And already he did. Not only had he taken out a dragon twice but he had displayed acrobatics none of them were expecting and now he had shown strength no one was expecting.
For the rest of their training together he held back, barely throwing the axe, clumsily handling the knife, and struggling with the shield. Everyone – especially Snotlout – was more than happy to pass off his first throw as a fluke and Hiccup was quick to use his injury as an excuse when Gobber got curious. By the time they finished only Astrid was still suspicious, cornering him as they left the meadow.
"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well, weirder. I want to know what's going on. No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you," she threatened. "Are you training with someone?"
'Alright Hiccup,' the dragon rider told himself, 'play it cool – act nervous and pretend like you don't have any clue what she's talking about.' "Training?" he said out loud, cowering slightly. "What do you mean? Didn't… didn't you see…" he gestured feebly toward the meadow. "I could barely even lift the shield!"
Astrid snarled. "Except everyone seems to be forgetting that you lifted it just fine the first day of training!"
Hiccup fumbled, not faking the nervousness this time. 'Oh man, I can't believe I forgot that! Way to go Hiccup,' he scolded himself. "Yeah… well, uh, well I … I wasn't injured then," he managed, barely coming up with an excuse in time.
Not quick enough though. Astrid punched him, sending him to the ground. "That's for the lies," she said before dropping her axe on him. "And that's for everything else."
Hiccup yelped as the axe hit him but his only thoughts were for his dragon. 'Man I'm really glad Toothless didn't see this,' he thought as he lay on the ground, watching as Astrid followed after her peers, 'he would have killed her.' When she had disappeared from sight he got up slowly, ignoring the path the other teens had followed and turning around, heading straight for the Cove.
As he traveled silently through the woods plans flew in and out of his brain: ways to fool Astrid, what to tell Toothless when he got to the Cove, plans to convincingly let Astrid win at dragon training, what to tell his Dad when Stoick returned. As Hiccup headed into the Cove all the plans left his mind as he stared happily at the three dragons he had rescued, the three of them lounging together near the lake. 'Whatever else happens, at least I made a difference,' he told himself, looking down into the Cove and reminiscing.
Hiccup hadn't yet named the three dragons – excluding Toothless it usually took him a while to get a name for a dragon – but there were quite a few dragons he had named over the years.
Scarlet, Dawn, and Fang were three mischievous young Terrors he had known for a while. Forge was another, older Terror, whom Hiccup often snuck into the forge with him at night, using the tiny dragon's flame to heat the fire hotter than he could – given the limited time he had for his secret projects.
Midnight was the first dragon he had freed from the Queen's thrall, a deep purple Nadder who still lived fairly close to Berk. Hiccup had freed her mate a year after that. Blizzard was a light blue and yellow Nadder who loved to fly through the storms for which he was named. Together they had three young dragons, Shadow – a darker purple than his mother – Snowball – so light blue she was almost white with purple tipped wings – and Spike – a common blue with yellow wing mix.
Hiccup also knew of a common Changewing nesting spot, an island not far from Berk. Though he hadn't named all the dragons there, there were two – Mist and Shortsnout – who enjoyed seeing him.
There were many dragons Hiccup had freed over the years, and even more he had met, but not all dragons liked to live in the same place year after year – especially with such obvious threats nearby. He hadn't seen Fireworm – a Monstrous Nightmare – in over two years. And then there was Stumpy, a Gronckle who had lost a leg to Vikings, who had lived with him for three years, adjusting to his lost limb, before finally flying off.
Hiccup had met so many dragons over the years that they all began to blur together. Some – like the Bullrougher who attacked him last week – wanted nothing to do with him. Others – like the Hideous Zippleback he had freed during a raid two months ago – merely spoke with him and then moved on. Still others – like Stumpy – stayed with him for a while before leaving. And finally there were the dragons who lived nearby – like Midnight – who visited Hiccup's Cove every once in a while.
The three dragons with him now were shaping up to be some of the last two kinds. And hopefully, in just a few short days, they would be joined by two more dragons. He smiled, thinking of the Zippleback and the Nightmare flying free, and headed down into the cove, greeting the three dragons and looking for his own.
The next few days passed quickly as Hiccup made sure to keep himself busy.
He spent his mornings stuck training against the Zippleback in the ring – Gobber was saving the Nightmare for the winner – and Hiccup made sure to stay out of the way. Thankfully, remembering the eel from last time, the Zippleback also stayed away from him. Only once did Hiccup have to dodge the two-headed dragon's attack, and only Astrid saw his usual clumsiness slip away. She alone remained suspicious of his abilities – despite his best efforts otherwise, Hiccup was second in dragon training. Yet again luck was on his side however, as Astrid focused on winning the competition instead of trying to figure out how he had suddenly gotten so good (at least from her point of view).
His nights were spent eating dinner with the teens, trying to evade their questions and the newfound attention of the town. He made sure to stay in town each night, heading straight to his room or the forge after dinner, quick to want to separate himself from the Vikings. The Terror had taken to spending nights in his room, the small dragon easily able to slip in and out of the village, and Hiccup was thankful for the company – he only wished that Toothless could be there too.
His afternoons were spent with the dragons. He treated any small wounds they had accumulated in the arena, carefully looking them over. He took them to the cliff where he had found a field of dragon nip, the five of them – four dragons and one human – spending their time rolling in the grass and diving in the ocean. He introduced the Terror to the families he had met on Terror Island, allowing him to spend time with the other small dragons. He led the Nadder to Midnight's Cave, introducing her to fellow Nadders. He showed the Gronckle the small quarry he had been shown by other Gronckles, allowing her to eat the best rocks she had had in quite some time.
Together the group of five got to know each other in just a few short days. The dragons were routinely surprised, but quickly accepted, how close Hiccup and Toothless were. They seemed to enjoy spending time with Hiccup as much as he enjoyed spending time with them. Hiccup taught the dragons which spots on the island to avoid, where other dragons lived, and the best fishing spots. Twice he had to avoid Astrid in the woods, furiously practicing her skills with the axe.
Eventually his short reprieve had to end however and dawn the next day a lone, battered ship returned, overflowing with the remaining Vikings. Hiccup watched from afar as Gobber greeted Stoick, the two battle-brothers quickly catching up with each other. There would be no dragon training that day but tomorrow… Tomorrow he had to go against Astrid for the chance to kill the Monstrous Nightmare – which meant tomorrow night he would be getting the dragons out of there. After that there was no going back. The Vikings would know immediately that someone had helped the dragons to escape, he could only hope that his reputation kept them from suspecting him.
He turned away from watching the Vikings disembark, heading into the woods. If something did go wrong, if he did get caught, well, he wanted to spend today with Toothless.
That night Hiccup went to the forge after dinner, absentmindedly sketching and improving on his designs as he worried about what was to come. He was more nervous than he had been in a long time, his mind far away as he thought of all that could go wrong, and didn't notice when Stoick appeared in the doorway.
When his father cleared his throat Hiccup jumped, hastily covering up his designs – he couldn't remember if there were any dragon related inventions he was working on. "Dad! You're back!" he exclaimed, acting as though he hadn't seen the ships in the harbor. No need to tell his father he had woken early to send the Terror back to Cove before dragon training. Though why his dad was visiting him he didn't know. "Gobber's not here," he continued.
"I know. I came looking for you," Stoick responded.
Hiccup was startled, mind racing with the possibilities. Did his dad know about the dragons? 'No, he'd be angrier if he did,' he told himself. 'Maybe he's just angry I let the Nadder escape?' He hesitated and his dad spoke again.
"Gobber tells me you've been doing well in dragon training." The large Viking smiled, beaming down at Hiccup, and he felt relief wash over him. It was just dragon training – his dad didn't know his secret.
He laughed nervously, shuffling his feet. "Yeah, well um, I did let that Nadder escape," he voiced awkwardly, cringing and waiting for his father to yell at him.
Stoick only laughed, waving a hand dismissively. "Everyone makes mistakes, yours just happen to be larger than others," he said easily. "Besides, I heard you took out the Gronckle and the Zippleback."
Hiccup blinked at his father in astonishment, ignoring the slight insult. 'Everyone makes mistakes? Where was that attitude before? Since when did Dad not get upset when I messed up,' Hiccup thought. 'When you took down a dragon,' he responded to his own question with disgust. His dad wasn't proud of him, not really, just proud of the killer he thought his son was becoming. He shrugged uneasily up at his father, not willing to encourage the man, and Stoick continued.
"And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time. And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear. What a feeling!" Stoick laughed again, smacking Hiccup on the shoulder and sending him into the wall. "You really had me going there, son. All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you! And all the while, you were holding out on me!"
Hiccup understood – taking out two different dragons was more than his father had ever expected of him. 'He was probably just hoping I wouldn't get eaten.' He shook his head. "It was just luck Dad, I … I don't know how I did it."
"But you did!" Stoick responded. "And even if it takes another year we'll make a dragon killer of you yet!" Stoick reached behind him, presenting a horned helmet. "I brought you something, to keep you safe in the ring."
Hiccup grabbed the helmet, awed. "Wow, thanks," he said sincerely. It was rare that he received something from his father, and even rarer that that something wasn't a weapon. Part of him was filled with joy, here was proof that his father cared about him and accepted him, but the rational part of his mind argued back. 'He wouldn't be so proud if he knew about the dragons.'
"Your mother would've wanted you to have it. It's half of her breast plate." Stoick smiled, tapping his own helmet. "Matching set. Keeps her close, y'know?" Hiccup eyed the mismatched helmets, grimacing. "Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."
Hiccup squirmed, forcing a yawn – no he really hadn't. "Thanks. I should … I should really get to bed," he returned, more guilty than before.
After an awkward good night Stoick left, leaving Hiccup alone with his thoughts. The teen collapsed on the stool, putting his head in his hands on the desk. "What am I doing?"
The next day Hiccup found himself in the ring with Astrid and the Zippleback, watched by what seemed to be the entire village. As Hiccup hunkered down behind a barrier he was joined by Astrid, the young Viking shoving her axe at his throat. "Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing," she warned him.
Hiccup shook his head as she darted off. "Go ahead," he murmured, ducking low and summersaulting to another barrier. He glanced up, ignoring the cheers for Astrid, and quickly spotted Stoick among the onlookers. His father was watching him keenly, pride written all over his face, and Hiccup forced a half-hearted smile, still incredibly guilty that he was deceiving his father. He adjusted his helmet, slinking along to another barrier and acting as if he was approaching the dragon.
A few feet away Astrid had managed to whack one of the two heads and Hiccup was forced to jump out of the way as the other head swung around. He heard the crowd react to his close shave with the dragon but ignored it, watching instead as Astrid took out the second head, knocking out the dragon once and for all.
Hiccup stood up, shifting nervously as Gothi, the village elder, stepped forward, tapping her staff. He knew it would be noticed if he tried to leave but he didn't particularly want to stick around either. He managed to contain his nerves, moving toward Astrid and Gobber, who had just entered the ring.
Above them, Stoick held out his hands to silence the jabbering crowd. "Okay quiet down. The elder has decided."
Behind Hiccup, Gobber pointed toward Astrid, eagerly awaiting the elder's response. Gothi nodded and the crowd erupted into cheers. "Congratulations Astrid," Gobber crowed, "you get to kill the dragon!"
Astrid grinned proudly and Hiccup slunk off into the crowd that swarmed her, instantly forgotten. His dad would be caught up in his role as chief, hosting a celebration for the new great Viking warrior, and Hiccup wanted nothing to do with it. He headed away from the arena, looking back at the last minute and feeling a familiar pang in his heart as he realized – not for the first time – that he would never be part of them.
AN: So, it's been awhile... Sorry about that. I'm back now but I can't guarantee anything for the next chapter. A huge shout out to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited this story - you were my inspiration to keep going, so give yourselves a hug from me.
I hope you like it.