Hiccup walked through the forest, wanting to get away from the village. He scowled, kicking at a clump of grass. Even if his father wasn't there, he still didn't feel like he belong at Berk at times. He didn't understand why he was so small compared to everyone else. He didn't see why they were so set in their ways, completely unable to listen to any sort of outside perspective. It was infuriating!

For a few minutes, Hiccup seriously considered just leaving the village, taking a boat and sailing away to see what awaited him across the sea. But…here is all that he had ever known. He knew that if he couldn't make it in his own hometown, there would be no chance of survival in another land.

There was something else, keeping him around. He was looking for the Night Fury. Something that Gobber had said didn't feel right. The blacksmith had said that dragons would kill, without hesitation or remorse, with a cold glint in his eye that spoke of a man who knew far too much about something he wished he never had to deal with. However, the Night Fury had not killed him, even with enough of a reason to do so. Hiccup was beginning to wonder if Gobber was right, if the assumption about all dragons being ruthless killers was indeed true or not. True, he had seen enough in his short life to agree with those statements. He had certainly heard enough from everyone he grew up with. But still…there was always the chance to find out something new.

Pondering his current situation, he was shaken from his reverie when he heard a roar nearby. He felt an instinctual quake in his legs, the adrenaline now coursing through his body triggering a primal reaction to save himself. Hiccup dove behind a rock, pressing himself tightly against it in hopes of remaining hidden.

But, after a few moments, he heard another sound, coming from a bit further away. Knowing that nothing was coming for him, Hiccup's natural curiosity was piqued, and he poked his head up. He clambered forwards until he found a break in the rocks, peeking down through a small gap.
What he saw surprised him more than anything. The Night Fury had found itself trapped in a cove, a natural pit surrounded on all sides by steep rock faces. Most of the basin was filled by a pond, and the little land that was not underwater was dotted with trees and fallen boulders. Hiccup's eyes widened as he saw the dragon trying time and time again to launch itself into the air and escape its prison, only to find itself plummeting back down to the ground.

Captivated, Hiccup watched how the wings tried to work, before deciding the best way to commit to memory would be to draw it. After Hiccup finished, he knew that he had missed something. The Night Fury should be able to fly away without any problem at all, yet it seemed incapable of doing so. Looking more closely, Hiccup saw that part of its tail was missing.

'Interesting,' Hiccup contemplated, 'The tail is necessary for flight…' Hiccup figured that he could try to help the beast. He had, after all, been the one to injure it to the point where it could not escape. And, from how it was now moving, it had been unable to catch any sort of food for itself.

Hiccup was equal parts terrified and fascinated. He wanted to run like Fenrir himself was chasing him, but he also wanted to get to know this odd creature that defied everything he had ever been taught about dragons. Forgetting how close he was to the edge, Hiccup accidentally moved against some loose stones, which plummeted into the spring below. Looking up at the sound, Hiccup locked eyes with the beast. He didn't see a bloodlust like he expected to see, he saw an intelligence there, but an underlying threat, like a rope about to snap.

Hiccup slowly stood up and retreated until he broke sight with the beast and then he turned and ran, ignoring the rain storm that had started. He ran, slowed down to work through a stitch in his side, and then ran all the way to the forge. He had completely forgotten that he had work to attend to there.

"Enjoying your leisurely afternoon?" Gobber asked, half annoyed, half playful as Hiccup stumbled into the stall.

"Sorry." Hiccup panted, "I got caught up in my thoughts and—"

"Say no more. Even I can't keep up with you sometimes." He chuckles, turning back to his work.

"Right…" Hiccup took his leather apron off its peg, running his hands over the worn material.

"Hiccup, I need to make some repairs to one of the family houses. You have the stall until I return."

"Alright…There really isn't much to do anyways…" Hiccup muttered, as Gobber moved off to do the repairs. A couple hours later, Hiccup finished up the long sword that he had been sharpening. There were no more current projects that needed to be done, so he decided to go and practice again, it had been a while. Grabbing the staff he trained with, he made his way to the Dragon Arena. Setting up a dummy, he warmed up a little before going through a couple of passes. He then looked up at the target, before whipping around aiming for the head.

Half an hour later, Hiccup was still hard at it. He opted to take his shirt off, as it was only restricting his movements. However, he was unaware that another was watching him…

Astrid watched Hiccup from her spot in the seats. She had never seen this before. She couldn't believe that this was Hiccup, a boy who was constantly tripping over his own shoes. But here…he was strong and more capable than any of them, maybe even her. Considering this new information, Astrid decided to go home for the night, and think over what she had seen…

"The task for today is that you all learn how to be quick on your feet." Gobber instructed, as the teens raced and weaved their way through the maze. It had been a couple days since they had started training. They had redone the Gronkle challenge until Gobber was sure that they could all survive longer than 10 minutes. Now, he was having them running through a maze, trying to avoid blasts of magnesium-enhanced fire.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, keep running." Gobber called out. The Deadly Nadder they were facing off against was hopping along the walls, having a superior tactical advantage to the kids on the ground.

"I find your teaching method to be quite hazardous!" Fishlegs panted, running from the creature, who flicked its tail, releasing a shower of spines from along it. His shield took several, knocking him out of the round. The twins and Snotlout quickly followed, leaving Astrid and Hiccup as the only two left.

He saw the dragon take off away from him, and he became fearful, knowing it was headed towards Astrid. Spurred into action by the sudden rush of adrenaline, he tore off, looking for a way through the maze and through sheer luck, that he swore he would never have again, he found Astrid looking up at the dragon. Both were just eyeing each other, like two, well, like two starving dragons about to fight over a yak.

The dragon flicked its tail, as Astrid moved out of the way, turning to run around a corner. It flicked its tail again, hoping to get the human in the back. But, Hiccup managed to put himself in between the two, taking the full brunt of the attack. One spine burst through the shield and sliced along Hiccup's bicep, giving him a long cut up his arm. Hiccup fell as Gobber jumped into the arena, knocking over a wall and the Nadder with it. He wrestled it back into its pen, before running to see if Hiccup was okay. Hiccup had stumbled to his feet at this point and was working his way to the Arena entrance.

He needed to, he needed to…

His world faded, falling to black, as the stone rushed to meet him.

Hiccup woke up sometime later, in his own house. The cut on his arm had been sewn shut and was covered in bandages. There was also a note from Gobber,

Hiccup,
Don't worry about training.
You have it off while your
arm heals. Try to go on walks
so you don't become stiff.

Gobber

Hiccup smiled. At least somebody cared. He tried to stand up, only to stumble slightly. He steadied himself with his left arm against the wall, letting his injured right arm hang loose against his side. Walking into the forest, he didn't know where he was going and found that his legs had brought him to the cove where he had seen the Night Fury. He saw the Night Fury and for one awful moment, he thought the beast was dead. Then he noticed the almost imperceptible rise and fall of the sides. Hiccup made a decision.

He went back to the village, grabbed a basket of fish and hauled it back to the starving creature, fighting the whole way against his wounded arm. Sitting down a few feet from the creature, he tipped over the basket of fish and sat down. The dragon looked at him warily, and he could see its internal struggle between a need to survive and a hatred of Vikings. But its need to survive trumped its hatred of humans. It edged forward, but was unable to get far. So, Hiccup grabbed one of the fish and held it up for the dragon. It edged closer, opening its mouth, revealing a mouth devoid of teeth.

"Huh, toothless. I could have sworn you had—" The Night Fury's teeth suddenly snapped up the fish, almost taking a couple of Hiccup's fingers with it. "Teeth." Hiccup finished weakly, flexing his hands to confirm that they were still there. And then a crazy idea came to him.

A/N: Well, that took much longer than I expected. I hope you are all still coming by to read. The next chapter we will finally leave Berk and really become an AU. Hopefully, this will give you guys a taste of what is to come. A very special thank you to Gillyflower Calfuray, for kicking my butt in gear and for making this chapter awesome. Go look at her stuff, she is awesome. Again, please review. I love to see what you guys think and I love to see the ideas that you guys might want me to try. I now have two jobs, so it may be a bit until the next chapter but, hopefully not. I love all you guys who are still following this and want to see what happens! YW20, Signing off.