Chapter 7 : Gas Control Safety
-EoT-
Hiccup returned to the village as the sun dipped below the horizon. Most people were out in fields or pastures, closing up gates and corralling livestock for the night, so Hiccup went unnoticed to the storehouse he'd borrowed food and a basket from earlier that day. He shoved the basket under the tiny hole in the wall, followed it in, and returned the basket to its original resting spot. It was more oblong than it had been before (thanks to a dragon's head) but he doubted anyone would notice. Perhaps they'd assume one of the twins had hidden in it, while escaping the consequences of their prankstering. Opening the basket, he pulled out the smoked eel. It was still quite dead and preserved, but thanks to its rough treatment today, it was starting to smell somewhat rank.
If a Night Fury was afraid of eels, would other dragons be that way too?
Hiccup felt around himself for a place to hide the eel. He had no pockets that were big enough. Eventually, he slung the disgusting thing around his shoulders (making sure it rested on the tunic, not his neck) and covered it over with his fur vest.
Who knows, might save his life in dragon training.
Quietly, he slipped back out of the storehouse and collected his helmet from where he'd left it earlier in the day. It had remained undisturbed in the grass, as he expected. Slipping back into the main streets of the village, Hiccup headed home for a long night of sleep.
-EoT-
Or more specifically, lack thereof. As he lay in bed, moonlight shining in through a window, the idea he'd had earlier that day ate at him. "Just a couple hours in the forge," his conscience complained, "then you can get some sleep!"
"Fine!" he eventually shouted to his empty room, standing and dressing in yesterday's clothes. He, of course, forgot the slimy eel he'd worn all the way home (which was sitting atop his clothes chest, so he'd remember to wear it to dragon training in the morning) and its slime - soaked into his shirt - spread a freezing chill across his shoulders.
Shivering, he made his way downstairs, past the frozen hearth, and out of the empty house towards the forge.
Both Gobber and Hiccup had worked late nights on strange projects before, and nobody questioned him as he worked for the next three hours, the glow of the forge coals the only light in the workshop. Slowly, his idea came to fruition: a prosthetic tailfin, made of leather and metal, attached to a hinge joint to open and close like its real counterpart once did. When it was complete, Hiccup unfurled and furled it a couple times, to be sure the leather folded properly.
If he could get Toothless to cooperate, and find some way to allow the dragon to control it, this was totally going to get his… new… friend… back in the air.
He stopped to consider what he'd just thought. He'd actually called the dragon a friend, in his head. And it didn't seem very wrong, or-
His thoughts were interrupted by a growling from just above his belt. Looking down, he realized he was hungry. Very hungry. Thinking back, the last time he'd eaten had been… almost exactly twenty-four hours before.
"Well done Hiccup, you can feed friendly dragons better than you can feed yourself." his stomach grumbled.
Groaning, Hiccup packed away the tailfin, hiding it in a corner of the shop, then leaving for the Great Hall. Maybe there'd be something there to tide him over until breakfast in the morning.
-EoT-
Hiccup awoke to a faceful of potato. He'd gone to the Great Hall, pulled out some leftovers from the evening meal, begun to eat… then he wasn't sure. He guessed he was just tired, and had probably dozed off. Straightening, he wiped off his face, then finished his meal. Thankfully the morning was still young and the hall was still empty. He dumped his dishes in the cleaning area, then headed outside.
He was greeted with the dim light of very early morning shining through threatening clouds - classic Berkian weather. Stumbling a little in drowsiness, he moved down the Great Hall's steps toward his father's house. Once inside, he went to his room and collected his axe, helm, and smoked eel. Figuring there was no reason to ruin more shirts than necessary, he remained in yesterday's clothes and slung the eel over his shoulders under his vest again.
Then he remembered Gobber had said today was another weaponless training day. Weaponless with buckets of water: What could possibly go wrong? Groaning he dropped his axe haphazardly on the floor (chipping a floorboard) then went downstairs to search for a bucket. Finding one by the dark and cold hearth - empty - he strolled outside and down towards the town square, destination: the well.
As he entered the (round) village square, he noticed that he wasn't the only teen preparing for dragon training. Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Snotlout were there. Snotlout had one bucket filled, but was trying to keep it away from the other two. Meanwhile, Ruff and Tuff had three buckets between them, each with one bucket clipped to their belt, and the remaining bucket between them, being fought over.
"I'm five minutes older, so I should have the bucket!" Tuffnut shouted, pulling on it and splashing water everywhere.
"Nuh-uh, I'm five minutes cooler!" Ruffnut countered.
"That doesn't even make sense!" Snotlout complained.
"Why don't you take Snotnose's bucket?" Tuffnut asked, "He doesn't need it, he could totally like punch the dragon to death."
"Oh, thanks for that, but I'm keeping my bucket!" Snotlout shouted.
The brother and sister went back to bickering between themselves, and Snotlout slipped away. Meanwhile, Hiccup approached the well as inconspicuously as he could, hoping not to draw the twins' ire. Reaching the side of the well opposite the bickering pair, he attached his bucket to the rope pulley there, and dropped it down into the well. Focusing on lowering the bucket, he didn't notice as the bickering quieted away. Once he was pretty sure he'd gotten it low enough to collect water, he pulled it back up. When it was in sight, he heard a voice behind him.
"Should we?" asked Ruffnut.
"We totally should." replied Tuff.
Hiccup turned around, fearing the worst. It was, in fact, worse than he'd imagined. The twins pushed him backwards, sending him flailing into the well. Meanwhile, they took his bucket and started running off toward the training arena.
Sputtering, Hiccup returned to the surface of the well's water level, treading water. He'd bumped the sides a couple times on the way down - thankfully nowhere vital - but he was pretty sure he wasn't climbing out in this state.
He felt around himself, looking for something to use to escape. His notebook was getting soaked again, his charcoal pencil probably wouldn't be good for writing for a couple hours. His eel was a little less rank, a little more slimy, no more alive and of no use whatsoever. Feeling his head, he realized he'd lost his helmet. Thinking back, he thought it'd probably been knocked to the ground outside the well by the pulley as he went over the edge.
Hopefully some strong Viking would notice the helmet and figure out there was someone down here. As if on cue, a voice called down from the top of the well, disrupting the light, "Hello? Hiccup?"
"Fishlegs!" Hiccup shouted, "The twins pushed me into the well!"
He heard something wooden drop to the ground outside the well - probably Fishlegs' bucket(s?) - then the Viking returned, and began to lower the rope. Once it was within reach, Hiccup grabbed it and gave it a sharp tug. Fishlegs reversed direction, hauling Hiccup up and out.
"Thanks 'legs." Hiccup breathed, relieved to be out of the well.
"Yeah, yeah, sure thing." Fishlegs replied. The overweight Viking turned around, picking up his one bucket.
"Darn, here I was hoping you had another." Hiccup sighed.
"Relax Hiccup, we'll just go tell Gobber and he'll cuff the twins on the head and hand you their buckets." Fishlegs comforted, as he lifted his now filled bucket from the well.
"Ok…" Hiccup said, as he began to follow Fishlegs off to dragon training, boots squelching dejectedly.
"So, Hiccup." Fishlegs began, once they were a little ways away from the village square, "I was reading the Book again last night, because I wanted to try to guess what dragon we're facing, and I noticed something odd."
"Oh?" Hiccup asked, not really paying attention. His boots continued squelching.
"I happened to be flipping through the book, over in Strike class, and I noticed a stain on a pretty particular page."
"Stain?" Hiccup questioned, more confused as to where this could be going than really following what Fishlegs was saying.
"Yeah, a bit of dampness that left an impression in the book. It was just sorta interesting, y'know? Like a little mystery. Who'd let the Book of Dragons get damaged like that?" Fishlegs continued, obviously hedging around something.
"...What page?" Hiccup asked, starting to realize that this could be dangerous territory.
"It's less about the page, and more the shape of the damp space. It sorta looked like a journal that a certain Viking carries around, a certain Viking about whom some rumors exist regarding-" Fishlegs went on, then was interrupted by Hiccup.
"What. Page.?" Hiccup questioned, tone darkening.
"The Night Fury." Fishlegs said.
They walked on in silence. The sun broke away from the horizon and they were probably late, but neither of them were looking forward to dragon training anyway.
"Wait," Hiccup said, "What rumors?"
"Well, It's been around the village a little bit…" Fishlegs replied, trying to avoid the topic.
"Fishlegs, please, come on." Hiccup complained, sick of his rescuer's constant hedging.
"Ok, my dad told me that Snotlout told him that Spitelout told him that Stoick told him that Gobber said you'd had this weird vision involving a Night Fury and dying and like fighting and stuff. Something about you two totally being destined to fight one another." Fishlegs said quickly.
Hiccup sighed. "Should've figured he couldn't keep quiet about the whole thing."
"Wait, so…" Fishlegs started to ask.
"Yeah, faced off against a Night Fury in my dreams. Shot it down-" Hiccup stopped to cough, "temporarily in real life."
"Did you sketch it?" Fishlegs asked excitedly, "Was that what you were doing with your journal on the night Gobber told us all to read the Book?"
Hiccup thought for a moment, "If I say no, you're going to know I'm lying. So… yes. I sorta did."
"Can I see?"
Hiccup had really been hoping it wouldn't get to that. His journal was soaked, all the pages were transparent-ish. If he showed Fish the sketch, he'd see the tailfin one page to the right, and the map one to the left. Everything he's been doing would be out in the open.
But wait… the journal was wet! "Sorry Fish, I don't want to damage my journal when it's wet. When it dries off… maybe."
"Oh." Fishlegs sighed, as the two finally reached the outer gate to the Kill Ring. They passed through, and discovered that their view through the inner gate was blocked by a cloud of green gas. "Zippleback gas!" Fishlegs shouted, "Should've guessed! It can't make sparks when its sparking head is wet!"
Hiccup blinked. Entering the arena right now, with only Fishlegs and one bucket between them seemed like a very bad idea. Suddenly, Tuffnut came running out of the fog, ducking under the inner gate as quickly as he could. "I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" Tuff shouted, escaping through the outer gate.
"Uhh, Fishlegs, this looks bad. Maybe we should wait for the others to-?"
Hiccup's question was cut off as a hammer prosthetic was laid across his shoulder blades. Next to him, Fishlegs tensed under a massive calloused hand.
"'Bout time you two showed up! Everyon' else is gettin' knocked over before 'ey can blink. Now ge' in there!" Gobber said to the two, shoving them under the inner gate before shutting it behind them.
Thankfully, Fishlegs didn't spill the water bucket in the tumble. How he did that, Hiccup probably won't ever understand.
"Chances of survival dropping into the single digits." Fishlegs whispered, as the two edged out into the arena. Suddenly, a round dragon head attached to a very long, sinuous neck emerged from the fog, eyes slitted. It got up very close to Fishlegs, staring him down. Hiccup backed up slowly. Fish panicked, and dumped his bucket of water over the head.
The head coughed up a small patch of green fog, which dispersed to join the miasma surrounding the two Vikings. "Oh. Wrong head." Fishlegs whimpered.
A second head emerged from the fog, slithering toward the overweight Viking. Fishlegs screamed and ran in the general direction of the entrance gate, the sound of flesh slamming into stone echoed throughout the arena.
Hiccup fell back onto his rear, scrambling backwards on hands and feet. The gas was dispersing - oh the advantages of a non-airtight arena - but there was still more than enough gas around to incinerate any humans left. He glanced back, noticing the sinuous necks of the dragons, and remembered that insurance he'd brought along.
It was either going to scare the dragon away, or it would aggravate the dragon into lighting the miasma. Either way, it was better than waiting.
Hiccup shrugged his vest lower down his shoulders, revealing the black-and-yellow striped eel to the dragon. Instantly, both head's slitted eyes widened and the heads recoiled simultaneously, as if struck. Hiccup stood, raising both arms to appear larger. He doubted he was having as much of a scaring effect as the eel around his shoulders, but it still felt good to him.
"Back! Back! Now don't make me tell you again!" Hiccup shouted at the terrified dragon, which retreated toward its open cage door, now visible on the opposite side of the arena. He continued to drive it (Just because one dragon gets a gender doesn't mean they all do!) back into its cage. "Yes, that's right. Back into your cage!"
The dragon was now cowering against the back wall of its cell, both heads pinned to the ceiling to get as far from Hiccup (and his eel) as possible.
"Now think about what you've done." Hiccup said, tossing the eel just inside the cage, under the guise of shutting the cage doors.
Wiping off his hands, he turned around to face the other Vikings of the dragon training class, who were all staring slack-jawed.
"Okay…" Hiccup began, "So are we done? Because I've got some things I need to… uh… yep, see you tomorrow!"
He jogged out of the arena, past all his stunned classmates. Behind him, he heard the patter of feet trying to catch up. He made it to the end of the bridge before a hand landed on his shoulder and spun him around. It was Snotlout's.
"How'd you do that Hiccup?! That was… unnatural!" Snotlout questioned.
"I…" the scrawny Viking fumbled, trying to come up with an excuse.
"That was awesome!" Ruffnut shouted, coming up behind Snotlout.
"I hate to ever agree with my sister, but that was like totally cool." Tuffnut said, joining Ruffnut.
"Oh, yeah, that's great. Hey, uh, I left my axe in the Ring. Catch you all later!" Hiccup exclaimed, running back the way he'd come.
In the distance, he caught Ruff's confused tone saying, "Why would his axe be in the arena today?"
Sprinting up the bridge, he passed Astrid (who was stalking down the bridge looking exceedingly annoyed) and Gobber (who was staring off blankly, walking back toward the village).
At the arena's edge, he looked around for any Vikings that could witness his next action. He didn't see any, so he quietly slipped back into the arena. Using the crank as gently (and therefore silently) as possible, he unbolted the Zippleback's door. Carefully, he slipped over to the door and opened it. The dragon was still cowering against the back wall, looking like the saddest creature ever to visit the archipelago.
"I'm so sorry. It was the only way for me to… uh… convince you not to kill me." Hiccup whispered to the dragon. Slowly, he lifted the eel lying on the floor and wrapped it around his shoulders, once again hidden under his vest.
"So, so sorry about that." He whispered again, backing out and closing the door, letting the crossbar drop back into place. As Hiccup exited the outer gate, he saw an overweight figure walking inconspicuously down the bridge, and caught innocent whistling on the air.
Fishlegs. He hadn't been on the bridge, he'd probably hidden in the spectator stands when Hiccup returned. Dang. How much could he have seen from outside the cage?
Shaking his head, Hiccup realized he really needed to keep a better eye out. He was doing things for a dragon. There wasn't an enemy more foreign to the Vikings than that - treason charges would be brutal and immediate.
He just had to hope Fishlegs hadn't seen anything.
Hiccup slipped down into the town, heading first for the forge. It'd be easier to come up with some excuse for the tailfin than it would for a basketful of fish, and with the town square so busy at this time of day, he had to be pretty careful.
Entering the forge, he found Gobber hammering away at a new sword. The smith looked up at his entry. "Hiccup! Tha' was quite a trick in the ring today! Wha' di' you do?"
"Oh it was nothing much." Hiccup said, moving to retrieve the tailfin, "Just a bit of intimidation, y'know, scary Viking stuff."
"Uh huh." grunted the old forgemaster, "It have anythin' to do with what y' got there?"
"What this?" Hiccup said, looking down at the wrapped-up tailfin, "Nah, this is just a… ah-"
Darn, he'd thought coming up with an excuse for it would be easier.
"A secret project! Tha-at I will tell yo-ou about… when it's done." Hiccup stammered.
The smith eyed him, then shrugged. "Eh. Don't burn the village down, or get y'self killed. I'm sure y' heard it all before."
Hiccup slipped out of the forge, tailfin in hand. That had gone better than he'd expected. Next up, he had to slip into the storehouse. He wasn't sure about dragons (entirely) but food always seemed to make a great bribe for Vikings. Maybe his not-murderous Night Fury would be more willing to cooperate with a scaly (as in fish! Not another dragon) encouragement? Before long, he was back in the alleyway. He dropped his helmet and the tailfin in the grass, then slipped inside. Snatching the (most) oblong basket off the shelf, he once again filled it with excess fish off the top of the various containers. At the eel container, he slung the slimy eel that he'd been carrying everywhere off his shoulders, and dropped it behind the container. If anyone ever found it (which he doubted) they'd figure some idiot had accidentally let this one eel slip out of the pile. Basket in hand (or more specifically on-back) Hiccup slipped back out of the storehouse and into the grass-filled alley, retrieving the items he'd left there. Unnoticed (as far as he could tell) he slipped up to his house, and dropped off his helmet. Slipping out the back door (his father's room) he jogged off into the forest.
Referring to the map in his journal, Hiccup took a slightly different route to avoid wearing an obvious path to his scaly… friend. He had clipped the book shut and stuffed it down his shirt, when suddenly he heard a battle cry and caught a glint of metal smacking into a tree nearby. He ducked, then slowly rose as he saw a blonde-blue blur jump to retrieve it. Nothing to panic over, just Astrid training. She tore the axe from the tree, then turned and searched for a new sapling to murder, noticing Hiccup for the first time. Her stare struck him as something between confusion, murderousness, and incredulity. As nonchalantly as he was able, he picked a random direction and began to stroll off into the forest.
He'd have to take a longer route than he'd originally thought. No big deal.
A good half hour later, Hiccup finally arrived in the cove, hopping down noisily. If he was going to startle the Night Fury awake, better to do it as far from him as possible. The dragon, however, was already awake. He bounded over, gliding from rock to rock along the cliff's edge, then taking a seat twenty paces away, sitting up in a relaxed position. The expression the dragon gave Hiccup was one that the young boy could only label as curiosity.
"Hello again! So… uhh…" Hiccup began. He unslung the basket, and let it spill out on the ground, "Same seafood as yesterday-"
The dragon began to growl.
"No eel! Nooo… eel." Hiccup said hurriedly. The growl stopped and was replaced with a new sound. A… Purr?
Carefully, avoiding sticking its head into the bucket, the dragon began to snap up fish from the pile. Hiccup slowly sidestepped back and to the side of the dragon, prosthetic tail-fin under his arm. "Okay, That's it, That's it. Easy. Don't you mind me…" Hiccup muttered, as he came around to the dragon's tail, "I'll just be back here minding my own business…"
Kneeling down, he laid out the new tailfin next to the dragon's tail, opening the buckles and trying to slide it on. The dragon, reaching for another fish, inadvertently moved his tail further away from the new fin. Hiccup picked up the fin and set it down again, repeating the process. The dragon's tail moved again.
Annoyed, Hiccup stood and stepped over the tail, kneeling down again with the tail between his legs. The appendage flicked between his knees, but the dragon was more interested in the fish Hiccup had brought than its limbs. Quickly, Hiccup fastened on the strap and opened the new tail, comparing it to the flesh-and-blood original opposite.
"Ah. Okay. Not too bad, I mean, it works." Hiccup muttered, watching the original flick around a bit. Suddenly, he felt the tail tense between his legs.
"Wait, I ca-" Hiccup began, but before he could explain anything to the dragon, he suddenly found himself laid out on the tailfins, knees gripping the tail for dear life as the ground receded quickly and wind whipped by him.
"WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hiccup shouted, the shore of the cove growing farther with every wingbeat of the creature dragging him along. Under him, the world began to spin as the dragon banked left toward the ground. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, noticing the opposite cliff wall approaching quickly. Looking back at the tail, he saw that the flesh-and-blood tailfin was tensed and fully extended, while the prosthetic was flapping uselessly. Without thinking, he grabbed the prosthetic and pulled it open.
There was a whooshing noise as Hiccup's face passed within a handsbreadth of the ground, but with both tailfins extended the dragon was able to correct its flight path, and shot into a vertical climb. "Oh my- It's working!" Hiccup shouted to the wind. With another tug, he pulled on the prosthetic tailfin and caused the world to shift again, this time banking to the right. This maneuver brought them circling back around over the cove's lake.
"Yes! Yes! I did it!" Hiccup shouted again. Under him, the dragon - what did he name him, Toothless? - shifted. Looking back, he saw the dragon looking at him as if noticing he had a rider for the first time. Suddenly, the world shifted again as the dragon performed a sharp left turn, and Hiccup lost his grip and was sent flying.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Hiccup screamed, as the cliff of the cove loomed larger before him. There was a crunching sound, and Hiccup found himself wrapped around a tree branch, suspended a good five times his height over unforgiving looking rocks. Ahead of him, just out of reach, the cliff loomed about one time his height higher. Glancing over his shoulder, Hiccup watched as (without him pulling the prosthetic open) Toothless tumbled into the cove's lake uncontrolledly, roaring as he fell.
"Hiccup?! Oh Thor!" A voice shouted over the lip of the canyon.
"Fuh- Fishlegs?" Hiccup wheezed back in question. Over the lip of the cove, the teen's rounded face appeared.
"Hiccup! Is that the Night Fury?" Fishlegs asked excitedly.
Hiccup wheezed hard over the tree branch his torso was wrapped around, "Oh, that's the first question you ask. Not 'Hiccup, why and how are you hanging in a tree over a lethal drop?'"
Another head of blonde hair joined the first, looking over the edge of the canyon at him. "Alright Hiccup, why are you hanging in a tree over a lethal drop?" Astrid asked icily, "and does it happen to have anything to do with the dragon in that lake, or the stunt you pulled in class today? What is with you and the dragons?"
Hiccup coughed, and his grip slipped, letting him slip a few finger widths down his torso. "Can we focus on this... when I'm not... in imminent danger of my life?" He wheezed.
"Astrid," Fishlegs began, "I think he has a poi-"
Astrid drew her axe, snarling, "Not until I get some answers!"
"Fine!" Hiccup breathed, slipping another finger width, "I had a vision wherein I... freed a Night Fury and it killed me... then I met the Night Fury in the woods the next day. Then I fed it fish, made it a new tailfin, and discovered I. Suck. At. Flying!"
The two other teens stared at Hiccup for a little while, until he slipped a bit more, now resting on his upper arms to stay over the branch.
"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" Astrid asked, incredulous, "Our parent's war is about to become ours, the gods are giving you tips about how to act and you're - what - taming one of these beasts?!"
"Astrid, think about it! We don't have to kill them! We just have to-" Hiccup continued.
"We don't have to do anything!" She snarled, anger flaring, "You're siding with them!"
Hiccup's arms gave out, and he was left hanging by his hands from the branch. Astrid blinked, anger suddenly replaced with worry. Fishlegs squealed, "Hiccup!"
Astrid looked from Hiccup to the Night Fury, now out of the lake on the opposite shore and glaring at the three teens. She turned back to Hiccup and the tree branch, and cocked her arm back to throw her axe.
Fishlegs' squealed again, "Astrid! What are you doing?!"
Astrid threw the axe at where Hiccup's branch met the trunk of the tree, then leapt after it, out over the abyss. "Saving the chief's son so we can kill him later!" she shouted back. The axe she threw lodged into the trunk of Hiccup's tree, just to the side of the branch, and she grabbed the handle for support, standing on the side of the tree and using the axe to remain attached. She leaned out toward Hiccup, reaching out a hand. The scrawnier Viking took one hand off the branch, reaching out to her, then lost his grip.
Astrid shouted his name. Fishlegs squealed it. Toothless roared.
Hiccup tumbled in the air as he fell. He saw the branch, the sky, the opposite cove wall, Toothless trying to glide across the lake in a straight line, the unforgiving rocks below rising up so fast to meet him...
And…
-EoT-
A/N:
This took way too long. I just decided, eventually, that I'd just put this chapter out there and see if I can't get back to working on the story. I can't guarantee getting back to any kind of schedule, but I do want to finish this. I guess Undertale just got me back in the mood for timeline shenanigans.
Also, the direction I took the story in the three chapters I have written after this one seems to be a dead end. I think describing every loop might be what drained my energy for writing in this AU. SO! I'm scrapping all that in favor of following my intuition for where the story should go. Outlines? What are those!
Please criticize harshly, so I get some ideas on where not to go.
(Also, taking criticism from whoever the wonderful person who mentioned I had too much cannon in my AU: You're totally right! I'm working to have a lot less of that pesky cannon now that I'm back, because that too seems to have drained my energy.)
