A/N: I'm back! As I am no longer in a foreign country, I'll try to make updates more regular.

Hiccup spent most of the rest of the day wandering the village, mostly looking at the new additions and inventions for ideas. When he returned to his own time and universe, he wanted to bring as much as he could with him, at least with regards to knowledge and ideas. Hopefully he could gain some respect as this universe's Hiccup had and he would be able to share it.

After dinner in the Mead Hall, Hiccup, Gobber, and all the Vikings who had been in the Chief's dragon training class- the last class before it switched from fighting to actual training- gathered in the Chief's home.

They sat around a table, with the older Hiccup at the head and Astrid to his right, while the young Hiccup was on his left. The rest of the Vikings also sat around the table, and Toothless stretched out by the fire nearby- this would probably involve his other-universe self, and so it was a good idea to hang around and listen in case they needed any dragon input.

It was an odd feeling for Hiccup, being seated at the table in such a high position. He had sat in in a couple of meetings that his father had held, as he needed to learn how to be chief someday, but he was usually ignored. Here, the meeting was about him, and his opinion would be very important.

Chief Hiccup called for everyone's attention, and the twins stopped arguing with Snotlout and Fishlegs stopped discussing something with Gobber while Hiccup pulled out his sketchbook- he had brought it with him from his time and it now had drawings of different mechanisms he had seen and improvements to inventions he had already thought of. Now, he would use it to take notes and plan his future- that is, the past.

"Thank you," began the chief. "You know why you're here, but I called you specifically because I know you'll have opinions, and your other selves are the people Hiccup here-"

"Thirdandahalf," Ruffnut interrupted.

The chief gave her a look. "Anyway, you're going to be the people he interacts with the most in the beginning, and so your thoughts will be useful. Let's start at the beginning- Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Hiccup- don't, Tuff- as far as you know, Hiccup will wake up in his house, from where he left in the first place, right?"

Hiccup and the twins nodded, while Fishlegs added "If he doesn't, he'll end up in the cave, and he should hopefully be able to sneak back to the village without drawing attention."

"I'm pretty good at not drawing attention, unless I destroy half the village," Hiccup noted. Then he frowned. "I hope I wake up in time, though- I don't know what time I actually got here, but I wasn't out of that cave until past noon."

"Well, you were asleep when you were brought here. Plus you already had a stressful day, maybe you would have slept a little late normally and the travel made it worse," Fishlegs speculated. "Or maybe there is some other time factor involved…"

"Just get some extra sleep the night before you return," Astrid suggested. "Next?"

"Right," nodded Chief Hiccup, "So the morning you get back, you'll be facing the Nadder in the ring- Stormfly. There will be walls and barriers set up, and the goal will be to attack- which you won't do, of course."

Hiccup shook his head violently in agreement. Even if he were capable of attacking a Nadder without being seriously injured, he no longer had any desire to do so, having seen a whole new side to dragons and having begun the training of a Nadder already.

"Maybe then you should try training her," Fishlegs suggested.

"No, you should let all of the dragons out of the cage at once. That'll get their attention," Tuffnut disagreed.

"Neither of those is a good idea with the possibility of him being exhausted that day," said the chief flatly. "Besides, he doesn't have the backup of a protective Night Fury yet if things go wrong."

"I agree," put in Hiccup. "How about I spend the first day back in training just observing and staying alive?"

A few- namely Snotlout and the twins- thought the idea sounded boring, but the chief, Astrid, Fishlegs, and Gobber agreed it was the way to go for the time being.

"But after that, I want to change things." Hiccup had done some thinking during the afternoon before the meeting. "If I can… I want to get dragons introduced to the village peacefully, without going blindly after this giant queen. Some more back up and organization would be helpful, because from what I heard, all of you winning was a long shot. Unless I'm fated to win or however it works, the chances of surviving this time around aren't great."

The chief nodded. "Good, now we have a goal. I suggest for the basic plan first befriending your Toothless and getting him back in the air, then talking to… well, everyone in this room to back you up," he gestured towards the others seated around the table.

"But make sure to be winning in dragon training, and gain their respect," advised Astrid. Then she frowned. "My other self may be a little difficult, though."

Hiccup looked down at his sketchbook. With the chief's help, he had jotted down a basic timeline of the older Hiccup's experiences from the Nadder training to the defeat of the Red Death. "I think the problem is I don't have much time, if Dad returns when he does here and the fight against the Nightmare- I mean Hookfang- is scheduled normally," he thought aloud. "The day after you got Toothless to trust you- the day before you stayed up making the first tail fin- everyone was on their own for exercise, right?" Chief Hiccup confirmed it and the younger Viking continued. "Gobber, where were you during that time?"

The smith chuckled. "It was years ago, laddie, I can't be sure. Somewhere besides the smithy, I believe, if that's what ye mean- I don't usually hang around when Stoick has left on a voyage with me behind to train recruits, and no weapons to fix."

Hiccup nodded. "Okay, good. I was thinking that if I could take a look at Toothless' tail and saddle here, now, and take his measurements there, later, then I could start early, during the day, and in the morning hopefully have the whole thing done. I'll probably need to fix a few things, but at least I won't have to waste time figuring out that I need a pedal to control the tail." He tapped further down his timeline. "We can get up in the air earlier, and because I already know they will be open to the idea, I'll slowly introduce the idea of befriending dragons to your other selves, as long as the popularity thing happens like you say it will…" Hiccup was still a little doubtful of that part, but knew in his head logically that if he succeeded in dragon training and rose to the top then it would happen, "And then I'll introduce Toothless and train the others in the ring, hopefully all before dad and the other villagers get back. That should get me some insurance during the fight with Hookfang and afterwards, if the chief still gets mad… maybe he can be reasoned with if there are enough of us?" Hiccup was a little unsure about that part as well.

"Sounds like a good plan," said Gobber. "Simple. Leaves room to improvise."

"You might need to do a bit of improvising," Chief Hiccup agreed.

"The chicken would approve," said Tuffnut decisively.

Hiccup blinked, confused, while Astrid shared her opinion. "I'm not sure my younger self won't give you a hard time. I wasn't convinced until Hiccup and Toothless kidnapped me, and this plan won't involve the truth whacking me in the head like that. I might be too stubborn and angry to listen."

"Um…" Hiccup wasn't exactly successful when it came to anything dealing with Astrid- at least in his world so far- and so had no idea what to do.

The others were quiet, thinking.

After a moment, Snotlout had a suggestion. "You could push her off a cliff, and Hookfang and I could-"

"No," Astrid stopped him. "Not happening. It wouldn't make a difference for you anyway, you're staying here."

"Are you saying that I only think about myself?" asked Snotlout, seemingly offended. "I can't look out for my younger self in a different universe? I just think that maybe it could work-"

"No," Chief Hiccup joined his wife in shooting down the idea. "Even if Astrid was somehow pushed off a cliff, if you were obviously waiting to catch her, she would realize you were part of the plan… and do you really want to be stuck on a dragon with an angry Astrid?"

Snotlout gulped as the warrior woman casually twirled her axe while glaring at him. "Fine, I'll come up with something else…"

A small smile grew on Hiccup's face when he realized that Snotlout seemed to have forgotten that they were not actually talking about him, but his alternate self. He looked forward to being respected by the other Vikings like this Hiccup was.

Astrid furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before she had an idea of her own. "Hiccup… Younger Hiccup, that is, would you be willing to tell everyone, or at least me, that you had been to the future?"

"Uh… Maybe. I would be more likely to tell you than the others, I guess. Whether you believed me or not, you would be the least likely to accidentally or purposefully spread it around the village," Hiccup replied hesitantly. "Why?"

"If you can't get her to listen to you, then maybe I can. I'll write a letter and send it back with you. I think she'll pay attention to something supposedly written by her future self, and if she decides it's genuine… she might listen. I know what to say to make sure she believes it, and what to say to convince her to look at things differently."

Hiccup thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, I think that might work." The chief also nodded in agreement.

"Hey, can I write a letter to self?" Fishlegs asked.

"And me!" added the twins in unison. "To prank ourselves…" Ruffnut continued, trailing off as she and her brother got identical evil grins, "Would be the greatest thing we ever do," Tuffnut finished.

"Why don't we all do it?" Gobber suggested.

Everyone turned to the chief, who turned to Hiccup.

"Uh, sure," agreed Hiccup.

"Alright. When you write, make sure to include something, some fact or secret, that only you would know, so your past selves can be sure that it really is you writing," ordered the chief. "Don't include anything that would make it more difficult for Hiccup, and stick to the truth… don't over exaggerate anything."

The twins groaned but everyone agreed.

"Now, in the actual fight against the Red Death… I'm not sure what to tell you. It depends on what lengths the village is willing to go to. Best of luck, trust your dragon, and pray to the gods," summed up the chief.

"Oh… okay…" Hiccup said.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "You'll be fine. It was such a long shot, you're probably fated to defeat her and end the war. Just be confident… but not too confident."

Hiccup glanced at Snotlout. "Right."

"Okay then!" Chief Hiccup said. "Unless anyone has any other ideas, I think we're done here."

The Vikings around the table stood up and left, some with friendly bickering, while the Night Fury yawned and stretched like a cat before getting to his feet. He rubbed against Chief Hiccup, who scratched his scales, then the black dragon followed the others out the door.

Hiccup watched them go, then pulled out the furs he had used the night before and set them up in front of the fire, where Toothless had been only minutes before.

As the other lights and torches went out, leaving the flickering fire as the only source of light and heat, Hiccup thought back on the events of the day and how his future was going to change. One thing was for certain: he would try his hardest to end the centuries-old war and make peace with the dragons. His eyes had been opened, and there was no way he could go back to how things were. Now he knew that dragons were intelligent creatures with their own personalities and opinions, caring for each other and even humans and Vikings they were close to. It was an entire side of them that his people had never seen because of their tendency to attack first and ask questions later, among other things.

Things would change for Hiccup too, he knew. Apparently he was a natural when it came to understanding dragons, and so would be looked to as a leader once the village accepted them. And he had also seen how Toothless acted with Chief Hiccup, and vice versa. Though Hiccup hadn't spent much time interacting with the dragon himself, he could see that their friendship and trust ran deep- deeper than the relationship between a person and a beloved pet, even deeper than most friendships he had seen, equal to and maybe surpassing those he had seen between two people who had been through battles together and were willing to trust the other with their life at a moment's notice.

Hiccup doubted he would be able to tell that much if it wasn't his own future self he was looking at. But the fact remained that it could and probably would happen unless Hiccup somehow made a mistake that his other self hadn't. It sort of scared him, knowing that soon he would have a friend like that, and a friend that he would do anything for in return, but at the same time it gave him hope.

Seeing the other Hiccup doing all he was doing was pretty incredible. He had been so understanding and patient, willing to guide, teach, and explain things to the younger Hiccup. Of course, Hiccup couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't help and guide their younger selves if given the opportunity, but it was still nice. However, the twins were right- having two Hiccups was incredibly confusing. With their nickname for him- Thirdandahalf, Andahalf, Half, whichever- some of the confusion was cleared up, but it was still disorienting in Hiccup's own head to think of himself and the other. Maybe if he gave the older Hiccup a nickname of his own, just to use in his thoughts? If he called the chief by name aloud, it would be pretty obvious who he was speaking to, as he wouldn't call his own name.

Hiccup thought about his older self. It felt like he knew him better than anyone else, yet he was a complete stranger. The strange parts had slowly began to fade as Hiccup got to know the other, as the chief taught him, guided him, and shared his knowledge. He was like a leader, showing Hiccup the way he needed to go.

A word came to mind as Hiccup cast around his thoughts- vinr. It meant leader, patron, and friend, all of which were things that Chief Hiccup was or could be to Hiccup. That was what Hiccup would call him.

His mental conundrum solved for now, Hiccup fell asleep.

"Today," announced Chief Hiccup- or Vinr as Hiccup was calling him in his mind to keep things straight- "You're going to fly on a dragon."

"What, already? I guess we do only have a week," Hiccup conceded.

"You're not going to fly a dragon yourself, you'll ride with someone else," Vinr assured him. "It's different, but it'll get you used to the idea of flight." The local Night Fury came up and rested his chin on top of his rider's head. "I don't think this will make much of a difference in your relationship with your Toothless, your first solo flight will still be with him, and flying with him is unique, because it's a team effort. What we're doing today should just speed up the process, give you a better understanding of flying and some new ideas, and buy you more time," he summed up.

"Okay, I think I get it," said Hiccup. He looked around the ring at the assembled dragons and riders- so far only the dragons that had once been fought in the ring and their opponents-turned-riders, along with the Nadder and Nightmare he had sort of trained the day before.

"First, you're just going to watch. We're going to do a simple training exercise- fly around the ring five times, spiraling upward, then diving down towards the ring. The dragon will do a barrel roll, and when we come out, the dragon will blast this target-" Vinr gestured to an upright stone slab that must have been lifted into the ring by one or more of the dragons- "And the rider will hit or throw their weapon at this other target." He nodded towards a solid-looking upright log. "Once a dragon and rider team does it three times in a row successfully, they're done."

After looking around for a moment, Hiccup stepped over to a spot in the ring where he was less likely to be accidentally fried, skewered, chopped, or crushed. Toothless growled something to the wild dragons- the Nadder and the Nightmare- and they came to stand near Hiccup.

"Why are these two here?" Hiccup wondered.

"The other two I saw looking around for prospective riders. I think these two want to see a bit more before they make a decision…?" Vinr trailed off, glancing at his dragon, who nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. Plus, I think they like you."

"Um, they know I won't be here much longer, right?" Hiccup checked.

"Toothless warned them not to get too attached," the chief guessed, and the Night Fury again nodded.

Hiccup was full of questions now he saw exactly how well some dragons understood Norse, but he held them as he could see the others were impatient to start. The dragons that had riders took off and landed again around the ring. Hiccup realized it would be a better place to watch from, so he hurried up and the wild dragons followed.

Toothless and Vinr remained in the air. Once everyone was settled, they started circling upwards. Hiccup watched, seeing how the Night Fury tucked his legs, how he flapped his wings and glided, how he used his secondary wings with his main wings, and possibly most importantly, how he used his tail and how the artificial fin was used with it.

He watched as Toothless tucked his wings and went into a dive, and as the fin was adjusted. The dragon fell for a few seconds, and Hiccup couldn't help jumping a little when he heard the whistle that meant a Night Fury was in a dive, about to release a deadly blast of fire. The pair suddenly rolled over, then a small shot of blue flame hit the rock and a slice appeared in the wooden pillar as they swooped past, then began to circle upwards again.

Hiccup watched as they repeated the exercise twice more, then landed.

"Easy," proclaimed Snotlout. "Me and Hookfang will go next."

"Hookfang and I," Fishlegs corrected.

"No, Hookfang is my dragon."

Fishlegs sighed and the Nightmare took off with his rider.

As they circled upwards, Hiccup kept watching, noticing the differences between the Fury and the Nightmare. Snotlout and his dragon made larger circles around the ring, probably because Hookfang was larger than Toothless and less agile in the air. They dove downwards, not as quickly as the previous pair, did a roll, then pulled up to blast fire at the rock and swing past the wood post so Snotlout could swipe at it with his axe. They circled upwards and did it again, only Snotlout tried to throw his axe at the target and missed.

"Start over," Vinr called. Snotlout grumbled but did it three more times successfully.

Fishlegs went next with Meatlug. It was pretty different from the first two, Hiccup noticed, because Gronckles weren't especially fast or agile. They slowly circled upwards, then sort of plummeted downwards, rolled over, then almost completely stopped in order to blast the stone and whack the pillar.

Hiccup glanced at the wild dragons as the pair slowly circled upwards again. The Nadder seemed to be losing interest, turning her head to preen and clean her scales.

"Can I try something?" asked Hiccup, remembering the lessons he had learned the day before. He hadn't had the chance to try the scratching trick yet.

The Nadder eyed him, then chirped what sounded like an affirmative. Hiccup wasn't totally sure, so he just scratched behind her head spines for a moment. When she didn't protest, he moved his hand, scratching under the back of her jaw. The Nadder let out a surprised trill and collapsed, purring.

The Nightmare eyed the two of them, an unsure expression on his face, before snorting and turning back to Fishlegs and Meatlug, who were finishing their third round.

The twins and their Zippleback went next, messing up on their third round and having to do it over again.

Finally, Astrid and Stormfly took their turn, flying, diving, spinning, and shooting with grace and precision. Astrid threw her axe at the post while her dragon flamed at the rock, then they swung around so Astrid could grab the weapon. They repeated it twice more without any problems.

"Alright, good job, everyone," the chief called. "Astrid, do you mind if Hiccup rides with you?"

"That's fine," she replied. Hiccup's eyes widened for a moment. She was the most logical choice- no one in their right mind would have someone do their first dragon ride with Snotlout or the twins, and the dragon he would be riding later was absolutely nothing like a Gronckle, and he was trying to avoid spending too much time with this Toothless. But still, he was going to ride a dragon with Astrid Hofferson- well, Haddock. She was married. To his future self. Right.

Hiccup thought he heard a sort of snicker, he glanced around and saw that Toothless was very determinedly not looking at him. Great.

He made his way over to Stormfly, who sniffed at him before giving an approving chirp. She knelt down so Hiccup could climb up behind Astrid more easily.

"Hold on with your legs, and you can hold on to the saddle if you need to," she advised. Hiccup just nodded, not trusting himself to speak yet for a few different reasons. He already felt higher just being on Stormfly's back.

The Nadder raised her wings and ran a couple of steps forward before crouching and flapping downwards. Hiccup grabbed at the saddle as the suddenly rose into the air. After a few seconds he got used to the motion and slowly let go, looking around. They were circling around the ring as Toothless and the chief joined them, followed by the two wild dragons.

Everything looked different from the air, he could see further, but instead of standing on some high peak or hill, there was only the dragon between him and the ground. It was strange but felt freeing, and he suspected it would be even more so once he was the one directing the dragon.

"Ready to go higher?" Astrid asked.

"Sure," replied Hiccup. He noticed that she hadn't asked if he was alright, just if he wanted to go higher- probably because he was the younger version of the chief, who was obviously at home in the air. He and Toothless were casually looping and rolling as they flew around them.

Hiccup grabbed the saddle for only a moment to steady himself as they rose. Then they turned and flew inland over the forest, Hiccup's eyes roaming over the trees, the mountains, and the sea.

"This is incredible," Hiccup said.

"It's pretty amazing," Astrid agreed. Hiccup kept looking at the view for another minute before she spoke again. "If you are having trouble with my younger self… It would probably be better if you asked instead of kidnapping me like this Hiccup and Toothless did, but as a hint… a Night Fury ride at sunset with the northern lights convinced me pretty well that dragons could be a good thing."

Hiccup gaped for a moment before closing his mouth, having no idea how to respond to that. "Thanks… for the tip?" He tried uncertainly.

He went red when he thought he saw Astrid smiling as she turned to face forward and Stormfly chortled. He didn't think she was trying to trick or prank him, he was sure she was telling the truth, but he was also pretty sure they were laughing at him and his obvious crush on the younger Astrid. Or maybe it wasn't that obvious and they just knew because this Astrid was married to his older counterpart. At least he hoped so. Hiccup got the feeling that that wasn't the case, but at least he wasn't as obvious as Snotlout!

Hiccup remembered that the point of flying was to get him used to it to save time later, so he stopped admiring the view and started paying attention to the dragon- how it felt to rise, fall, and turn, and how she used her wings and tail. He'd have to do more once he was the one telling the dragon where to go.

They flew for a few more minutes, even doing a loop once, and Hiccup was sure to hold on with both his hands and legs, though Vinr and Astrid only held on with their legs. He was pretty sure they were showing off a little.

They landed again a little later. "Now," Vinr said once Hiccup had slid down from Stormfly and given her a pat on the nose, "You're going to see what it is like to fly on a dragon that hasn't been trained to carry a rider before."

Hiccup blinked. "What?"

Vinr turned to Toothless, who warbled and growled to the two wild dragons. The Nadder stepped back and flapped her wings uncertainly, but the Nightmare seemed to think for a moment before stepping forward and growling softly.

"He has agreed to carry the two of us… Right, bud?" Toothless nodded and his rider continued. "We'll ride him for a few minutes, you'll get used to riding an untrained dragon, and he'll get used to the idea of carrying a rider. Two birds, one stone."

Hiccup was a little unsure about the idea, but knew it was better to learn something from it now than waste time later when he needed to get Toothless flying again as quickly as possible.

"Alright. Do we use a saddle?"

"Usually his actual rider will get that for him. We're just going to use rope- actually, I'll hold on to his horns, you'll use the rope. It's all Snotlout had when we went to battle the Red Death, so you should be fine."

Toothless rumbled something to the Nightmare, who stood still while the rope was tied onto his neck and as Vinr and Hiccup slowly got on. Hiccup saw how the more experienced dragon rider held the horns lightly, enough that he would be able to hold on and tell the dragon where he wanted to go but not so much that the dragon's head was held in place and he panicked.

"Go on up if you're ready," the chief said encouragingly while gently nudging the Nightmare's neck with his good foot. The yellow and green dragon reared up and flapped his wings, slowly rising into the air. Hiccup grabbed at the rope as the Nightmare's head and neck wobbled back and forth. They climbed unsteadily for a minute before leveling out.

"We're going to try turning," Vinr warned. Hiccup peered around him to watch as he gently pushed at the horns to turn the dragon's head to the right, in more of a suggestion than an order. The Nightmare turned first his head, then the rest of his body followed.

"It's not much different than riding a trained dragon as long as they're willing to listen and work with you," said Vinr. "The dragon already knows how to fly, it just has to learn to get used to more weight on its neck and to following directions. Most of that part depends on the dragon itself- some are pretty eager-to-please, and others are stubborn and don't see why they should listen to the human they're graciously giving a ride to."

Hiccup nodded and his teacher continued. "This one is curious, I think, so he's pretty willing to do what we ask for now. Once he's found a rider for himself, they can work on more advanced training."

It made sense to Hiccup- a completely new rider on a dragon entirely unused to carrying people sounded like a recipe for disaster, especially with the Viking tendency to charge first and think later.

The chief gently guided the dragon back to the ground. "For the dragons that are open to suggestion, it usually isn't a big deal when they're ridden the first time as the rider uses common sense. Some of the stubborn ones you can usually get to listen to you by standing up to them, being firm and persistent. Not to subjugate them or scare them into obedience- just give them a reason to respect you," Vinr continued as they descended and touched down.

"Why would they listen to puny humans like us when they can fly and breathe fire?" Hiccup added sarcastically.

"Exactly," said the chief with a grin. He gave Hiccup a hand sliding down from the Nightmare. "Some types of dragons typically act one way or another, as I'm sure you can guess. Here, why don't you get him a fish from that barrel there?"

Hiccup fetched the fish and tossed it to the dragon, who snapped it out of the air cheerfully before flying off, the purple Nadder close behind, chattering at him.

"So, for the rest of the day," Vinr said once the two wild dragons had gone, "you can keep studying, note down anything you might forget, and practice your skills charming the local dragon population. Even with putting my mother and uncle in charge, there are a few things I should probably take care of myself… If you need the dragon manual, track down Fishlegs, I think he has it."

Hiccup decided the best thing to do at the moment was to record what he had learned- most of it was indeed common sense or could be reasoned through with logic and basic dragon psychology, but there were a couple of things he wanted to be sure to remember. Vinr flew off on Toothless, and Hiccup took a seat on one of the benches around the ring as he pulled out his note and sketchbook.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Favorites, follows, reviews etc are appreciated and make my day :)

Also, I have another story idea that I plan on starting tomorrow as I am now home again- I saw Httyd before I read the books, and I've only read the first four. I kinda liked the idea behind the books, but not so much the Toothless in the books. I'm going to try writing the book with some elements of the movie added in, namely one thing in particular - what if Hiccup did not pick up a small, self-centered, whiny, toothless, green baby Common or Garden dragon, but a small, loyal, curious, adorable, toothless baby Night Fury? Beginning would be pretty similar to canon, with a few added characters and ideas, but will diverge from canon more so as the story goes on. Let me know if there are any characters from the movie you would like to see in particular!