Hahahahaaaaa... been a while... ahah... Well, anyways, enjoy! :D
Gobber spoke up. "Sorry about earlier, Lad. Certainly not the warmest welcome you've received, I'm sure," With a pat, he laid a hand on Hiccup's unsuspecting shoulder.
Well, Hiccup thought with slight amusement, It wasn't the worst, either.
"How about we show you around-give you something to eat as an apology of sorts. Heaven knows you could use it." He laughed, giving the boy's thin shoulder a squeeze, but not much of a choice. Hiccup was hesitant to leave Toothless, however. Catching on, Fishlegs and Astrid shared a glance.
"Um, Hiccup." Fishlegs stepped forward. "Oh-I'm Fishlegs by the way. But that's besides the point," He laughed lightly in embarrassment, stumbling over his words. "Would you mind if I stayed in here with your Night Fury friend for a little while he's asleep? I'd love to get a few sketches and recordings done of him-if you're okay with that, I mean. It's just that, well, you know, he's a Night Fury. It's so rare to actually see them these days" Another short, hopeful laugh.
"I can stay, too." Astrid added, "I think it'd be best to put some ointments on Toothless' injuries while he's asleep. They should help the scarring go away at least."
While Hiccup was unsure of the deeper scarring on his dragon ever being healed, he thought it best to give the benefit of the doubt and put a bit of trust into Fishlegs, and replenish his trust a little in Astrid.
He smiled at the two and thanked them before turning back to Gobber. "Well, I guess I am a bit hungry."
"That's the spirit, Lad," Gobber laughed. Patting Hiccup on the shoulder, Gobber lead him out of the dome. Hiccup hesitated for a moment as he stepped from the enclosure, glancing back to the boulders his best friend was resting behind. He and Toothless had been through quite a lot, some of which Hiccup didn't even know, but now just knowing that Toothless was alive felt more than enough. With a smile, knowing that he'd at last found his best friend, Hiccup followed Gobber. However, following himself was a trio of Dumb, Dumber and Dumber, the Dream Team Extraordinaire.
They watched the redhead closely, at times whispering to one another when he'd point and question Gobber about some of the dragons they'd passed. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the three behind him, which in response, the three paused and mirrored his look of confusion. Out of the corner of his eye, a certain dragon caught Hiccup's attention. It was a Monstrous Nightmare with piercing red scales and what seemed a temper to match it's fiery complexion.
"How'd he get here?" The young man asked Gobber.
"Ah, that one's-"
"My dragon," Snotlout interrupted proudly as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Really?" Hiccup asked, surprise evident on his face.
"Really." Snotlout crossed his arms and smirked, somehow managing to look up his nose at the newcomer.
"No it's not," Tuffnut rolled his eyes. "Everybody knows you're justing saying that." The dreadlocked blonde leaned his head towards Hiccup. "In case you can't tell, the Snotman is lying."
"The Snotman is-snot lying!" He growled. Lifting his chin to the sky, he continued. "Hookfang and I have a very deep relationship. See?" He turned and unhinged the door, but the loud and high pitched creaking spooked the Nightmare, making its pupils quickly narrow and the NIghtmare to rumble angrily.
"Snotlout…" Gobber warned the young man with a glare. Hiccup got the overall feeling that this wouldn't end well, and his intuition proved correct.
Into Hookfangs station Snotlout had waltzed; however, based upon Ruff, Tuff, and Gobber's reactions, Hiccup came to the conclusion that Snotlout getting his butt singed was probably a regular occurrence around this place. It still looked painful though.
Hiccup quietly entered the stall, ignoring Gobber and the Twins' well-intentioned warnings not to do so. He wasn't too worried though, seeing as Snotlout was the only one who had gotten on the dragons nerves. Nevertheless, his plan was to be in and out. Swiftly, he stretched out an arm to help Snotlout out of the water trough.
"Bad dragon! Bad!"
Hookfang snorted and rolled his eyes, landing them upon the stranger. Again the pupils squinted as the Nightmare stepped almost threateningly towards the young man, his nostrils sniffing loudly. The beast focused his vision on Hiccup, coming closer.
The young man returned the dragon's gaze, impressed by the Nightmare's size. Slowly, and nearly without realizing it, Hiccup extended a relaxed hand, bringing it to the point of the dragon's muzzle. Snotlout watched, offended at his dragons betrayal (though this wasn't the case, obviously,) and just outside the stall, Gobber and the Twins stared on, impressed; after all, it wasn't every day a stranger came in and Hookfang didn't burn his bum as hot as could be. Then again, they remembered, it wasn't everyday someone could train a Night Fury.
Hiccup scratched the scales on the dragon's forehead with a smile, earning a huff from the beast when he and Snotlout left the stall and continued on through the reserve.
"Well done," Gobber said, already beginning to take a liking to the young lad. He glanced behind him. "You could probably even teach these ones a thing or too," Hiccup laughed nervously and looked at the others, a dreading but polite smile on his face when he met the sight of Snotlout's glare.
"Wow," Tuffnut put a hand on the red heads shoulder, "Who knew the scruffy stranger was capable of such a feat."
"Tisk tisk," Ruffnut shook her head at Snotlout who huffed in return, listing several things he could do "way better" than "this suspicious stranger."
Through the dragon sanctuary towards a small building off to the side, hidden behind a small cluster of trees was an old, old, white cottage.
"This here," Gobber swung his hand in a large circle, proudly presenting a run down Staff building to the young man. "Is the "Edge,"
"It's… uh… beautiful." Hiccup hesitated.
Truthfully, it was anything but beautiful. The paint on the house had begun wearing off at least a decade ago, with dirt and dust running along the ridges and splinters poking out on every corner. It was more of a rotted looking shack rather than a cottage. However, considering the state of the crew, Hiccup hadn't really been expecting much otherwise.
It did, certainly, look old and worn, but upon a minute or so of further inspection, it looked-so in a way that one knew it was serving its purpose as a shelter and place of work.
Around the building skirted wood piles and foliage in a hug, encroaching on it with long, ribbon-like vines. Rocks, lumber, and stacks of metal were cluttered all around the grounds.
"Finally," Gobber rubbed his chin with a smile, "Someone finally recognizes the beauty of this place!"
Hiccup chuckled at the older man's pride in such a poor appearing place. To each his own, I guess.
"You mean the horror of it?" Tuffnut shook his head at the sight before him, mirroring the distaste his sister's expression gave.
"Seriously Gobber," Snotlout squeezed the bridge of his nose. "One of these days someone is going to trip over something and die, and the cops will be coming for you!"
"Eh, I doubt it," The older man laughed, continuing on his way to the shack. "Everything has a place, and as long as no one messes with that system, eveythin' will be al-right."
Peering past its corner and following the treeline, Hiccup's eyes landed on an even more ransacked shack, though only in a slightly smaller size; as soon as he recognized the equipment inside of it, though, he instantly agreed that this place was magnificent.
"No way," He pointed to the second building. "Is that-" He looked to Gobber.
"Ah, you mean the Forge?"
Hiccup was so excited he almost jumped. "You have a forge?" He asked again. "I can't believe it! That's amazing!" He smiled widely, waving his hands in elation. If they had a forge, he could fix his riding prosthetic and rebuild Toothless' tail and saddle!
Needless to say, Hiccup and Gobber got on like two peas in a pod as soon as the Forge came into conversation. After only a few minutes of welding jargon, Snotlout and the Twins quickly lost interest on the conversation. Instead, they occupied themselves by whispering theories of the stranger and who he might be.
"He's suspicious." Snotlout declared quietly, glaring daggers into Hiccup's back.
"Oh please, Snotlout," Tuffnut threw an arm around his friend's shoulder. "You're only thinking that because Hookfang was nicer to him than to you."
"That's not true!" Snotlout refused, his voice cracking. Quickly he cleared his throat and lowered his voice to sound more serious. "No I don't." He tried again. "You especially, Tuffnut, saw how… casual, he was when he was being interrogated. Everyone else always starts freaking out and holding a tantrum or something, but this guy sat there and tried to stare you down." Snotlout folded his arms across his barrel chest. "Well, for the most part anyways."
Ruff and Tuff were obviously rolling these thoughts around in there minds, weighing the odds and ends with their logic.
"He has a point, Brother Dearest." Ruffnut stroked her non-existent beard in contemplation.
"And when we were following Astrid and him to the Night Fury's cage, you told us he was asking you questions, too."
Tuffnut closed his eyes and nodded in remembrance. "All true, all true." He dipped his chin. "I believe the Snotman is onto something, Sister Dearest."
"And we never really found out "what he does", either…" Snotlout trailed off, his mind wandering over possibilities.
The Twins locked eyes.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tuff asked, mischief evident in his smile.
"Oh no," With a smack to his forehead, Snotlout sighed.
"Always am. I'll go get everything ready." And with a snicker, Ruffnut was off on her way to set a disastrous plan in motion. With a silent prayer for peace and a regretful roll of his eyes, Snotlout went to intrude upon Gobber and HIccups conversation.
"-Oh, don't worry about it, Lad. There are plenty of spare supplies, all of which you're more than welcome to use. I'm not able to get back here to the forge as often as I'd like, unfortunately-work has been awfully hectic lately, strangely enough-so it'd be great to get things burning back here again."
Gobber smiled, an excited gleam in his eye. He'd missed working in the Forge.
"Wow, thank you. So much." Hiccup was overrun with joy. As far as he could remember, he'd seemed to have been dealt badly in life, so he'd come to miss the simple sort of things in life. Terribly.
"So is your work here usually calm?" Hiccup asked in slight disbelief. How could a dragon reservoir of all places not be a frenzy of a place? "I'd never imagined a Dragon Sanctuary could be handled so… smoothly."
Snotlout snorted. "I wish. Everything's been ridiculously crazy lately. All 'cause those stupid smugglers keep using Berk as part of their trading grounds." A chilled breeze blew past the three of them. Hiccup swallowed.
"Wait, they're here? Is this town their actual base?" Hiccup'd had to put off locating the smugglers main station while he'd been searching for Toothless, but never did he even dream that he'd be so close to it the entire time. Guess that's what I get for sleeping under someone's porch…
"Well, it's not their main base, I'd say." Gobber scratched his chin.
"It's been getting more active though," Snotlout crossed his arms, frowning. This wasn't a topic that any of them seemed to enjoy. Snotlout's suspicion flared up that moment, and he gave Hiccup an intimidating look. "And why are you so interested in them?" He leaned forward, doing his best to look down his nose at the taller figure.
"Well… uh," Hiccup contemplated for a moment. If he told them, would they still help him? They were still caring for Toothless, for the time being at least, so he shouldn't risk them kicking him out in-case they thought what he was doing was too dangerous? But, on the other hand, they all seemed to have gall enough to help him… if they even decided to, that is. It's not everyday you get kidnapped by a group of honest seeming people, you know. A bit of a refreshing change of events, if you were to ask Hiccup. Well… comparatively at least.
"What? You're not one of their lackeys or something, are you?" Snotlout stepped forward. "'Cause if you are…!"
"I'm not, Snotlout. I wouldn't even joke about it. What they do is absolutely horrible." Hiccup furrowed his brow, his hands folded into fists. "What I do, what I've been doing as far back as I can recall, is helping rescue the captured dragons and to take apart the smuggling and fighting system, piece by piece when it comes to it."
"Well isn't that such a long time," Snotlout said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He huffed at the other young man, Hiccup stayed silent for a moment. He sighed, looked to Gobber, then back to Snotlout.
"Is there something you need to say, Lad?" Gobber stepped forward, concerned at the young man's lengthening silence. Hiccup tapped his legs with his fingers, building up the grit to just go ahead and say it. Narrowing his eyes, Snotlout watched the redhead closely. He shifted uncomfortably as he seemed to come to a hard conclusion in his head.
Snotlout guessed he'd made it since Hiccup then opened his mouth.
"Nearly everything from before around a year ago…" Pausing, HIccup scratched the back of his head. "I remember none of it."
I need to start reading more to help improve my writing. Also, please leave a review of this chapter and tell me specifically the things in it you though were well-written/plotted or what could have been done differently!
Sorry for such a long wait, haha... oops... :D