Chapter 7

(Hiccup's POV six years later)

((Journal Entry))This is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It located solidly on the meridian of misery. My village, in a word: sturdy. It's been here for seven generations but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting and a charming few of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have ….

"Dragons!" I breathed as I slammed the front door to my house.

((Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues.))

I ran from my house with my sister close behind. She went one way, and I went another. I got knocked over by the shock wave of a Viking landing a few feet away from me.

"Huuugh! Morning." He greeted then took off again.

I started to run again.

"What are you doing here? Get inside."

"Get back inside."

Everyone always told me to stay inside during these raids. But I wouldn't listen. Because I was determined to be just as great as my Mom. I was about to reach the forge where I worked when a dragon lit a stream of fire across the path to the forge. Then I felt some one grab the back of my vest.

"Hiccup! What is she doing out aga… What are you doing out? Get inside." My Dad exclaimed shoving me in the direction of the forge.

Once inside, I heard the voice I hear everyday I come to work.

"Oh, nice of you to join the party. I thought you had been carried off." He joked as he pounded a hot blade he had been working on.

"Who me? No come on I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." I said flexing my arms slightly though I know that there was not much there.

"Well they need toothpicks don't they?" he rebuttaled as he changed his left hand to a pair of pliers.

((The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice since I was little. Well littler.))

I took a bundle of weapons from the front wide window over to the heating pit. I pushed down on the pump that kept the flames going. Of course the pump was bigger than me, but I got it to go.

I could just barely hear my Dad order the other Vikings.

"We move to the lower defenses. We'll counter attack them with the catapults."

See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses.

"Fire!" I heard Horak well.

"All right lets go!" I heard my sister Astrid call as Snotlout, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut and Fishlegs followed close behind. Their job was to keep as many of the houses from burning down as possible. Oh their job is so much cooler. I tried to climb out the window to join them, but Gobber pulled me back in.

"Oh come on. Let me out please. I need to make my mark."

"Oh you've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places."

"Please. Two minutes, I'll kill a dragon, my life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date." I argued.

"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these." He said lifting a set of bolas only to have some else take them and throw them at a Gronckle in mid-flight.

"Ok, fine. But this will throw it for me." I said placing my hand on my newest weapon that I had just finished building the day before. As if on cue, it launched a set of bolas at one the people standing outside knocking them out.

"See? This right here is what I'm talking about."

"It's a mild calibration issue…"

"No, Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all this." He said gesturing to all of me.

"But you just pointed to all of me."

"Yes. That's it. Stop being all of you."

"Oh"

"Oh yeah."

"Oh you sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw vikingness contained. There will be consequences!" I yelled trying to sound tough. Little good that did me. I've never had much confidence in defending myself because no one except my Mom ever believed in me.

"I'll take my chances. Sword, sharpen, now!" He ordered. He dropped it into my arms and I struggled under its weight. I brought it to the sharpener and set it turning.

((One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a boyfriend. The Zippleback, exotic. Two heads, twice the status.))

"They found the sheep!" I heard my uncle Spitlout yell.

"Concentrate fire over the lower bank!" my Dad ordered.

((Then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.))

"Re-load! I'll take care of this." I heard my dad yell.

((But the ultimate prize is the dragon one has ever seen. We call it the…))

"Night Fury!" I heard someone yell.

"Get down!" someone replied as the catapult tower exploded.

((This thing never steals food, never shows itself and…(another catapult tower exploded) never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first.))

"Man the fort Hiccup. They need me out there." Gobber said as he switched his hand to an axe. "Stay. Put. There." He ordered as I stared at him.

"You know what I mean. Arrrgh!" He cried as he disappeared into the crowd. As soon as he was gone, I grabbed my weapon and ran out side.

"Hiccup! Where are you going?" I head some one yell.

"I know. Be right back." I called back.

I ran for one of the unused catapult towers, hoping I would get lucky.

"Come on. Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at." I pleaded under my breath. In answer to my plea, the tower exploded and I saw a dark figure swoop past the flames. I aimed and took a shot. The weapon kicked back and threw me off. I heard a screech and saw a light heading for Raven Point.

"Oh I hit it? Yes I hit it! Did any body see that?" I cheered. But then I heard a crush sound behind me.

"Except for you." I said with disappointment in my voice.

I took off running and screaming like Loki was at my heels. I just kept running. I didn't care where I ran as long it didn't lead back to the Monstrous Nightmare that had found me on the cliff. I ducked behind a post and the Monstrous Nightmare fired. Thank the gods that I was smaller than the other Vikings (first time I ever thought that). I tried to peek behind the side of the post to see if it was gone. Then I saw something or someone swoop past me. I looked and saw my Dad staring the Monstrous Nightmare down. It tried to fire, but obviously it had used up all its shots.

"You're all out." My Dad sneered. He punched it in the face and followed each with another and ended it with a kick to the face. The dragon took off. The post burned through and broke. I stood there facing my Dad. The fire pit that sat on top of the post fell of and rolled through the village. I cringed as I heard all the things that had been broken and people that had to jump out of the way.

"Sorry Dad." I said with regret in my voice.

The fire pit landed on a net that had been holding some Nadders and they and the other dragons took off with what they had caught for the night.

"Ok, but I hit a Night Fury." I said tying to defend my case. But my Dad wasn't convinced. He grabbed the back of my vest and started to drag me through the village and the crowd.

"It's not like the last few times Dad. I mean I really actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down just off Raven Point. Lets get a search party out there before it…" I was about to finish but he cut me off.

"Stop! Just stop. Every time you step outside disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed." He scolded.

"Well between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding. Don't you think?" I laughed slightly and uncomfortably.

"This isn't a joke Hiccup! Why can't you just follow the simplest orders?" He asked with disappointment in his voice.

"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I just have to kill it, you know? It's who I am Dad." I said realizing it was a weak defense.

"Oh you're many things Hiccup. But a dragon-killer is not one of them. Get back to the house. Make sure she gets there." He called to Gobber. "I have her mess to clean up." He said sounding irritated.

I heard Ruffnut laughing, and Tuffnut's little 'Quite the performance.' Comment.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped." Snotlout taunted.

"Thank you, thank you. I was trying." I said sarcastically.

"At least you didn't get burned alive like your poor mommy did." He sneered.

That made my blood boil. I turned around and punched him in the face. He fell back.

"Never talk about my Mom like that!" I cried. Gobber held me back before I could continue. He pushed me forward toward my house.

As we walked up the steps up to my house, we talked a little bit. Or at least I did. Gobber just pretended to listen to what I had to say.

"I really did hit a Night fury."

"Of course you did."

"He never listens."

"It runs in the family."

"And when he does it's always with this disappointed scowl like some one skimped on the meat in his sandwich. 'Excuse me, Barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone.' Like it's my fault I'm not the son he wanted."

"Now you're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what inside that he can't stand." He replied.

"Thank you for summing that up." I said sarcastically.

"Look the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just want to be one of you guys!" I cried softly I said as I opened the door and went inside. I grabbed my notebook and ran out the back door. If no one else would help me, then I would find the Night Fury on my own.