A/N: I thank all of my reviewers! You're the best! This chapter will be interesting. . . hope you guys like it! I'm going to try to follow the spirit of the movie more, Idk I read it and I was aiming for the feeling you got when you watched the movie, but I didn't. Idk I'm just paranoid. And now I'm ranting, so I'll just shut up. And here would be, chapter 3! (Wow I'm starting to like this rhyming thing :p )

Disclaimer: In my freak'n dreams!

Chapter 3

The Many Reasons Why People Shouldn't Open Coffins

I sat there, mouth gaping. I was stunned. Had a coffin just saved my life? Ironic, right?

I really didn't know how to react to this: so what do I do? I burst out into to laughter, that's what.

"Hiccup did you hear me? I just said this is a coffin!" Snotlout said, looking at me like I had gone crazy. Honestly- I think I had.

Finally able to breathe, I answered back, "Yeah, I heard you, Snot." And with that came more laughter. Everyone looked at each other, absolutely lost with my behavior.

"Hiccup did you swallow too much sea-water? You're hysterical!" Astrid said, walking over and patting me on the back.

I tried to calm myself down enough so I could talk, "Yeah, ha, I'm totally, haha, totally fine!" Another fit of laughter, "It's just the fact I just rode to shore on a coffin is all!" And with that, I burst into more laughter.

"The boy's gone mad!" Gobber exclaimed. Yes, yes I had.

"Toothless, you mind?" Astrid asked now looking at Toothless. He nodded, and thwacked me upside the head with his tail. Very hard, might I add.

"Oww!" I complained, then sighed. Well at least I wasn't laughing anymore. I rubbed the back of my head, "Thanks bud, I think I needed that." He grunted, as if to say 'anytime' before lying his head back down. I sighed again, "Sorry." All I got were some weird stares, and Dogsbreath trying not to burst into laughter himself. Well, this day was coming to a great start. . .

Snotlout broke the awkward silence, "Ummm, yeah, now that Mr. Giggles is done over here," I glowered at him a bit, "what do we do with it? You know, with the coffin?"

"Or here's a better question, who does the coffin belong to?" Ruffnut said. We all looked to each other, as if one of us knew the answer. We all let our eyes drift to the coffin, now everyone circling around the curious sea weed covered, rotted piece of wood.

Hesitantly at first, I gingerly glided my fingers over the top of it, feeling bumps of what was probably writing. "Hey, I think there's some writing on the top of it," I said. I lifted away any seaweed, and did my best to clean it up so that the writing was barely manageable to read. On the top were big letters:

BEWARE!

DO NOT OPEN THIS COFFIN!

"I honestly wasn't planning to," Fishlegs piped up. He was quickly hushed by everyone trying to read.

Under that was some scraggly-looking letters carved with a sloppy hand, stained with something red that once was probably blood. I shuddered a bit at the thought. The words read:

"Cursed be who disturbs the remains of Grimbeard the Ghastly, most feared and greatest Viking who ever struck terror into the Inner Isles. . ."

Fishlegs squeaked after reading this, everyone one else dumb-struck. Grimbeard the Ghastly was a vast and terrifying legend: and my great-great grandfather.

"This is Grimbeard the Ghastly's coffin. . ." Astrid breathed out. None of us could believe what was before our eyes.

'The Lost Treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly' was a tale known by every Viking in my tribe. It told of Grimbeard's vast treasure he gained through his great bravery, and his tendency to show no-mercy. He was absolutely feared by all, even us today; despite the fact he's been dead for almost one-hundred years.

Grimbeard was tough, merciless, and most of all greedy. He refused to let anyone near his precious treasure, so he hid it away. And with it the most famous tale of all- the Dragon Stone. The Dragon Stone was mostly believed a myth, because it most likely was. The Dragon Stone enabled you to speak with dragons. Sure dragons understand you, but with this magical stone, you could understand them. Do I believe it? When I was a child, yes. But now, I honestly doubt such a thing.

Tuffnut was the one that broke the silence this time, "We should open it!"

"What! Are you crazy? Did you even read what was at the top?" I questioned. Who in their right mind would open a coffin that clearly said 'Do Not Open' on the top?

"Well what if the treasure is in there and that's just a fake warning or something!" He said, I stared at him like he had gone mad. "Well what if it is in there? Come on you gotta be curious on what's really in that coffin!"

I officially decided that he had gone mad. "Ok, well here's an idea: Maybe there's a dead body in the coffin! Now correct if I'm wrong, cause that's just a guess!" I retorted sarcastically.

"Alright, Alright! Hush, the both of ya'. W'r gonna take this back, an' let the chief look at it, everyone got that?" Gobber interrupted, annoyed with our little spat. We all nodded back to him. "Good, Snot, Tuff, Ruff, carry the coffin back."

"What? I'm not touching that thing!" Ruffnut argued.

"You're going to and you're gonna deal with it, got that, las?" Ruffnut rolled her eyes and nodded. With that, they all picked up the coffin and rested it on their shoulders. "NOW!" Gobber bellowed, "Looks like we ended up on the other side of the island. Lucky us! Only an hour and a half's walk! Maybe even two hours!" Gobber said as if that was a good thing. Everybody groaned.

Gobber started at a brisk pace. We all stumbled, mumbling curses after him. Sure, we could've just flown back on our dragons. But Gobber insisted that 'we get off our lazy bums for once an' exercise!' so we just walked.

"Hiccup!" I turned around to see Astrid trying to catch up with me. "Will you be able to walk on your ankle?"

"I should be fine, it's doesn't hurt it just looks bad," I answered.

"Oh, good." A bit of an awkward silence followed. Sure Astrid and I were perfectly fine in front of other people, but when it was just the two of us things were usually quiet, I didn't want to say anything that made me look more stupid than I already was.

I sighed, deciding to take my chance. "Umm, so, how did I do?"

"Uh, with what?" she asked. She knew what I was talking about. . .

"You know, the sword-fighting? Remember? When Tuffnut almost killed me. . ." I said.

"Ohhhh, that!" she said, as if she didn't know what I was talking about in the first place. "Yeah, ummm, you were good at the dodging!"

I eyed her a bit, "Yes, but what about when I tried to swing?" Her face fell ever so slightly, but still kept a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Uh, hahuh," she said, laughing nervously, "You, you—," she tried to think of the right words. Not coming up with a nice way to put it, she sighed. "You looked like and infant with a broken arm trying to swing a sword that weighed two times heavier then himself," she said. Geez, she could of said it a little nicer.

A frown grew a bit on my face, "Really? That bad?" She nodded.

"Well, maybe you just need a better sword! A heavier one maybe?" she lied. I decided to go with it.

"Yeah, it did feel a little light in my hands. Yeah, that's it!"

"And you need to practice, a lot," she added. I nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! Just some practice and a new sword and boom! I'll be a sword-fighting champion!" Astrid smiled meekly, and gave me a thumbs up. I'm pretty sure I saw Toothless role his eyes. . .

"I honestly don't think practicing will be enough."

I turned around to see Dogsbreath, with that same smirk still playing on his face. Great, what was he up to now?

Toothless immediately rushed to my side and growled at Dogsbreath, Astrid looked back and forth confused. "Um, Astrid, right?" He said, smiling normally to not look suspicious. I scowled at him.

"Yes," she said.

"Mind giving me and Hiccup here a moment?" he said, looking innocent. Astrid looked at Dogsbreath, then me. She saw the distress in my eyes and nodded, giving me a reassuring smile.

"Sure," she said, and walked away. If I knew Astrid, she'd be listening somewhere close.

He nodded to her, and when she was gone that evil glare entered his eyes once again. He walked up to me, arms crossed. "You got lucky, useless. If it wasn't for that cursed coffin that sunk the boat," he said, almost to himself. He laughed a bit, "I promise you, if there weren't so many people around right now you'd be pinned to the ground." His eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed.

Toothless growled a warning to him; I patted the dragon on the head trying to calm him down. I decided it was time to ask the question that had been playing in my mind ever since Dogsbreath came here, "Dogsbreath, why do you hate me so much?"

His face furrowed, and almost looked taken aback by the question. "Why do I hate you? It's not obvious?" he paused, now laughing at the so-stupid question. "You're not fit to be leader, Hiccup!" He whispered, but his words still stung. I flinched. "You know it! And yet, somehow, you're loved by everyone! Just because you befriended that stupid beast!" Toothless growled in defense, "You should'a killed it when you had the chance!" He practically spat. I felt my arms tense, the anger inside me started to boil.

"Shut-up, Dogsbreath! You went too far bringing Toothless into this!" I said, advancing towards him. I really wanted to hit him, maybe Dad wouldn't mind if he came home missing a few limbs.

"No, you listen to me!" He said, closing the distance between us and grabbing the collar to my shirt. He narrowed his eyes, almost hissing now. "You-," he paused a bit, "do not deserve to be leader! And all of the sudden you're a big-shot cause you lost a limb and killed one dragon," He glowered. Ok, did he even know how big the dragon was? "We all could've done it, but nope. You did, and you get all this credit!" He spit in my eye. "Well I'm gonna make sure you know where your place is." He threw me down, and stalked off. I tried to catch my breath, and wiped his spit from my eye. Toothless nudged me a bit to make sure I was ok. I smiled meekly and patted his head.

"Hiccup! Are you ok?" It was Astrid. She was right beside me with a worried look. I knew she was listening.

"I'm, I'm fine, Astrid."

"Hiccup, I almost think he's jealous of you," she said. I nodded a bit, not meeting her gaze. She frowned. "Hiccup was he the one that took the case off Tuff's sword?"

Still not meeting her gaze, I sighed, then slowly nodded. Her lips pressed together, and she glanced over at the burly boy walking ways ahead. "Yeah, well you tell me when he messes with you. You know I can beat him up. I'm surprised Toothless over here didn't maul him," she said, gesturing to Toothless.

"Astrid, don't. I made Toothless stop, what would I tell my Dad if Dogsbreath came home all beat up? Most of all, how would Dogsbreath's dad take it?" I said, trying to prove my point.

She looked down, and thought about. She sighed, defeated. "Good point. But still, it's not right for him to mess with you like that. I'm intervening next time, whether you like it or not," she said, a taunting smile creeping on her mouth.

"Thanks, Astrid," I said, finally looking at her.

"Mhm," and with that, she walked off. The rest of the walk was quiet, mainly me trying to gather my thoughts.

O~~~~~~O

"So where did you find this coffin, exactly?" My Father asked, eyeing the coffin.

"Er, well," I started, "I, sorta, floated back to shore on it after it sank the boat. Weird," I chuckled nervously, "right?"

He gave me some sort-a look, "Um, yes, rather strange." His gaze fell back to the coffin.

"Are we going to open it?" Tuffnut asked, excited. "Umm, sir," he added. Nice save.

"I honestly don't know. . ." my Father replied. For once he wasn't entirely sure what to do. "Well, how about we hold a meeting. We'll let the tribe decide." He said, and walked off happy with his choice. The rest of the Training group stayed huddled around the peculiar coffin.

"You don't think they would actually open it, do you?" Fishlegs asked, getting the question a lot of us (with the exception of Tuff) were thinking.

"N, No," I stuttered at first, "Of course not! They surely, surely, aren't that stupid, right?" I almost asked, looking for someone to back me up. No one did.

O~~~~~~O

"Right! So everyone agrees that we open the coffin?" My dad pronounced loudly. Everyone answered back with shouts of 'yes's' and 'of course!' Were they kidding me?

"Hey, wait a sec!" I interrupted the cheering. "You've got to be kidding, right? I mean, the coffin clearly states 'Do Not Open'. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to open a coffin that says 'Do Not Open', right?" I asked, trying to find reason. I was answered with shouts of 'no, open it!' and 'Oh, don't be such a worry-wort!'. Right, I forgot about the stubbornness issues.

"I honestly agree with Hiccup," an Elder piped up. No other than my Mother's father, also known as my grandfather. I smiled warmly at him. "Don't get me wrong, I would like to see what's really in the strange object, but," he paused, "this is Grimbeard the Ghastly's coffin, what do you think may happen if we open it?"

My Father thought about this, stroking his beard. A smile spread across his face. "Aww, we're Vikings! It's an occupational hazard! I say we open the coffin and get on with our lives!" This was followed by cheers from the other Vikings.

My grandfather walked over to me, "Sorry, Hiccup my boy, I tried."

I sighed, "It's ok."

"NOW!" My Father bellowed, he had been hanging around Gobber too much. "Let's open it!" Spitelout, Snotlout's father, and Gobber hesitantly walked over to the coffin, and each looked at each other.

"Umm, you go ahead and open it," Spitelout said, backing away a bit.

"No, No! Be me guest!" Gobber said, pushing Spitelout closer.

"No, that's ok, you do it."

"No, you" Gobber said back.

"No, you"

"No, you"

"No, YOU"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"Oh, both of you, shut-up! I'll do it," my Dad said, stepping in. Finally, knowing Spitelout and Gobber that could've gone on for days!

My Father, walked over to the rotted coffin, and slowly grasped the top. He pulled up, waiting for the wood to give way. A big CRACK! signaled the coffin had opened. Everyone gasped, and leaned forward trying to see inside.

First, a bunch of water and seaweed poured out. Everyone took a sigh of relief, but a little too soon. Following the flood of water, one hand reached up and grabbed the side of the coffin; followed by a hook.

Oh, well this wasn't good.

A/N: Duh, duh duh! A bit of a cliff hanger. I have to apologize, I will not be able to update for a week. I will be on vacation, but I promise that I will write a chapter or two (maybe three, no one knows. . .) while I'm gone, so you guys get a nice long read when I update again. Again, I apologize. Remember: Read and Review! Your guys reviews will decide the fate of the sequel. . .which I'm sadly already planning. Thanks to the people that already reviewed and such!