Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? Yes, yes it has. Summer is almost here! And yes, I'm still stuck in school. I don't know how it works with you guys wherever you may live, but for Californians, my summer starts later than other schools. Things will get better over the summer, I promise. Anyhoo...
NOTE: IF YOU ARE JUST NOW SEEING CHAPTER TEN, GO BACK AND READ CHAPTER NINE. THAT CHAPTER WAS REWRITTEN AND THIS CHAPTER IS WRITTEN TO TAKE PLACE AFTER THE EVENTS IN THE REWRITE. IF YOU ARE SEEING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME, THERE'S A CHANCE YOU DIDN'T READ THE REWRITE OF CHAPTER NINE SO GO READ THAT. OTHERWISE, YOU WON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. THANKS.
ANOTHER NOTE (LOL): I DIDN'T GET ANY REVIEWS FOR THE REWRITTEN CHAPTER NINE SINCE APPARENTLY REUPLOADED CHAPTERS DON'T TRIGGER EMAIL NOTIFS AND SUCH. SO UH... THIS SECTION IS EMPTY THIS TIME.
Thanks for supporting this fanfiction and me though. Have a nice day lol.
"Bye. Toothless!" Hailey waves her hand at the giant friendly reptile. Wait. That sounds like an excellent nursery rhyme, actually. Giant friendly reptiles hanging from a tree, giant friendly reptiles smiling back at me...
Anyway, we're both caught off guard when another dragon calls towards us instead of… well, Toothless. In fact, it's-
"Sitrin?" Hailey's confused voice interrupts my thoughts, although I immediately agree with her. "What are you doing here?"
When I look behind me I see the adolescent Changewing with his chest puffed out in pride, very pleased with himself and his feat of following us here. His regal stature is spoiled by his hindquarters wrigglings in excitement. Don't tell him I said that, though, he looks so proud that it's amusing.
"Sitrin, you shouldn't be here," my sister shakes her head at the dragon but has trouble suppressing a smile, "Snotlout should learn some lessons, though. That's how you stay lovable with a ginormous ego, isn't it, Sitrin?"
Sitrin butts his head against Hailey in affection. Toothless begins to approach, possibly looking for some attention as well. Apparently, some of that from me isn't good enough because he beelines towards my sister. Sitrin apparently doesn't like this as he wraps a wing around her. Toothless snorts in disappointment.
"Thanks, bud," I deadpan.
He doesn't seem to care and instead gives me a cool look - you are irrelevant, puny human.
"Really feeling the love here," I continue.
"We have to go home now," Hailey adds, "Toothless, take care of Sitrin for me, okay? And Sitrin, stay with Toothless."
Toothless puffs out his chest at the prospect of being responsible for someone and leads Sitrin to his favorite sleeping place.
Once the two dragons were happily curled up, Hailey asks, "Shall we go now?"
"Sure."
My sister and I make our way home, a bit closer than we had been for a long time.
You know that really weird situation where you're so extremely tired but also too bored out of your mind to sleep? That's exactly what I'm dealing with right now. I'm not sure how that's even possible.
So I resorted to… pencil rolling.
Things got a lot more interesting when Dad burst in, though. It was the kind of interesting that you could really do without.
My eyes fly to the various drawing on my desk. Toothless! I can't let him see my sketches! "Dad, you're back!" I lunge towards them and haphazardly shove them underneath my books. "Uh, Gobber's not here, and Hailey's in her room," I yelp hastily.
"I know." He pushes himself in with a bit of difficulty, and once in, he takes up half the room. "I came looking for you."
Shit. Since when does my dad give me the time of day? Unless… "You did?" I gulp nervously, trying to hide my drawings more completely without looking suspicious.
"You've been keeping secrets."
"I uh I ah have? I have?" I stammer.
"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Hailey wouldn't have, and I didn't say anything, did someone…?
I tap my fingers on my desk anxiously, "I don't know what you-"
"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it., Dad growls.
"Oh?" I'm trying my best not to wet myself. But don't tell anyone I said that.
"So," The giant man lumbers towards me, his armor clinking as he moves, "let's talk. About that dragon."
I'm not terrified, are you terrified? This is great! I'm having the time of my life right now! Maybe I should just fess up right now before playing dumb gets me dismantled. "Oh, gods. Dad, I'm so sorry, I, I, I was going tell you but I didn't know how to-"
To my utter disbelief, he tilts back his head and starts chuckling which soon breaks out into his famous belly laugh. "Hahahaha…" I attempt to show some mirth as well, having no clue what is going on. "You-you're... you're not upset?"
"What?" He shouts at an alarming volume, at which I admittedly jump, "I was hoping for this!"
"Uh… you were?" He wanted me to train up a Night Fury?
"Believe me, it only gets better," he enthuses, "just wait till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time! And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear! What a feelin'!" He aims to tap me on the chest but ends up punching me, sending poor old fishbone here flying into my bookcase. "You really had me going there, son," he continues obliviously, "all those years of the worst viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough, I almost gave up on you, and all the while you were holding out on me - oh, Thor almighty! With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about!" He pulls himself onto one of my stools and grins at me expectantly.
Oh. So that's what he was talking about. Of course. And thanks, Dad, for calling me the worst viking he had ever seen. It's true, but ouch. Quick question: how is that stool still intact?
What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to pretend that I looked forward to killing those dragons? Or… do I tell him the truth?
I can't. I can't do that and I won't. It would get Toothless killed and me most likely exiled. Besides, my dad's actually acting like a dad for once.
He hasn't been this way since the night that Mom...
"I love you, son. Now go home."
Back in the present, Dad scoots towards me eagerly. "Well?"
I've finally gotten him to notice me as someone besides a toothpick who's future career would have been "Village Resident Failure." I'm not the accident child or the son who should never have been born. I'm not the rascal or the troublemaker. I'm not Hailey's moronic brother. I'm Hiccup. For once, I'm Hiccup. The Dragon Master.
"Oh!" Dad interrupts my thoughts, "I, uh, brought you something." Brought me something? When did he ever bring me anything besides a lecture? "To keep you safe. In the ring." He hands me a viking helmet.
"Wow," I murmur, running my hands over the metal and grasping the horns.
"Your mother would've wanted you to have it," Dad continues, "it's half of her breastplate."
My hand immediately freezes, and I laugh quietly, not sure of what I just heard. "Huh?"
"Matching set," he explains, tapping his own helmet twice, "keeps her… keeps her close, you know." He clears his throat, "Wear it proudly. You've held up your side of the deal."
Meanwhile, my mouth is gaping. Her breastplate? That's… sweet on his part, I guess… the kind of sweet that makes you gag endlessly for a solid ten minutes. I awkwardly force a yawn, stretching my arms out. "I should really get to bed." We both start talking at once.
"Yes, good, okay, good talk-"
"Yeah, I'll see you… uh, great. Thanks for stopping by and-"
"Yeah, um, I'm glad you like the…"
"And thanks for the… breast hat."
"...hat." he clears his throat again and gestures towards the door, "Well, I should…" He almost shoots out the door like he just has to leave, and honestly, I'm not offended. Rather, I feel the same.
That felt like the first bit of a real conversation that we've had in years and it was utterly draining. Honestly, what are social interactions?
I collapse onto my bed and take a deep breath. As of now, things look really good. I have a best friend, my Dad cares about me again and Hailey…
Hailey doesn't seem to hate me anymore.
Speaking of which, she explodes into my room a couple moments later.
"Holy shit, Hiccup! I overheard from my room! That was so close!" my sister whisper-shouts.
I hiss back, "Watch your profanity!"
She completely ignores my last sentence and asks, "So… what's the breast hat?"
I pass her the helmet and she stares at it in awe, "That's incredibly disgusting."
"Right?" I plop onto my bed, "I want to go to sleep, Hailey. I have dragon training tomorrow.
She makes a face towards me and saunters out the door. "Close the door!" I call after her, and obviously, she doesn't reply.
Yippee! Looks like I get more exercise.
Deep breaths, deep breaths, Hiccup. I roll my shoulders apprehensively and the village's gazes seem to tingle across my back. They're watching me.
The Gronckle hovers slowly in my general direction and I sit behind a wooden fence-like prop. Astrid joins me but fails to notice my presence until she glances sideways. She spots me and gives me a disdainful look before yanking down my shield. "Stay out of my way," she snarls, "I'm winning this thing." She runs off, not even looking back.
"Please, by all means," I call after her. I have no intention of winning this thing. I'll do enough so that I keep the village proud, but not enough to win. I do not want to kill a dragon. I push back my helmet and watch the spectators cheering for me, Astrid, and mainly the death of the dragon. I try for a dazzling smile, fail miserably, then roll my eyes instead. Who am I kidding? Dragon training prodigy? Maybe. Hot viking? That's a bit of a stretch. A lot of a stretch.
The Gronckle hovers precariously, following Astrid around with the occasional lurch. She ducks behind the fence things, expertly sprinting and rolling at the appropriate times. "This time. This time, for sure," she huffs determinedly. She screams "Hyah!" as her battle cry and launches herself over the fence and towards the dragon.
Meanwhile, the Gronckle had been flying towards me almost like it knew that I couldn't kill it. I had no choice but to subdue it with a little scratch in that spot that all dragons seem to have. The crowd bursts into cheers.
Astrid's eyes widen in shock, then her entire face contorts in fury. "No! No! You son of a half-troll, rat-eating, munge-bucket!" She yells, violently swinging her ax around her.
"Wait, wait!" Dad attempts to silence the crowd.
Can I escape now? I beeline towards the gate, "So… later!"
Gobber catches me on his hook and lifts me effortlessly with one amputated arm, "Uh oh, not so fast."
"Um, I'm kind of late for-"
Astrid lunges towards me and holds her ax against my neck, "What? Late for what, exactly?"
"Okay, quiet down!" Dad orders, "The elder has decided."
Gobber approaches us and holds his hand, er, hook over Astrid's head. Gothi, the village elder, shakes her head. Gobber lifts his intact hand and points at me. Gothi nods, smiling and pointing at me as well.
Oh no.
"Oh, you've done it!" Gobber hooks me into some kind of embrace with his… um… hook. He shouts enthusiastically, "You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!"
The Gang (minus Astrid for obvious reasons) gathers around me and Fishlegs even hoists me onto his shoulder.
"That's m'boy!" Stoick booms from the stands.
"Yeah. Yes. I can't wait. I am so-"
-screwed." I pace the cove nervously, "I'm so screwed. What in the Helheim am I supposed to do?" Even if I manage to get Sitrin to leave, I can't help Toothless get out of here unless I leave, and if I did that without warning, Hailey would kill me eventually.
Also, for some reason, I'm starting to get deja vu…
My brain shuts off when I hear the unmistakable sound of a blade on a whetstone.
Shit.
Hey! Yeah, so I'll be here more frequently and stuff. So there's going to be a sequel to this for HTTYD 2, hope you guys are happy about that! If anyone has any title suggestions for it please let me know I'm awful with titles! Don't forget to follow my Instagram and such! ALSO, DID YOU GUYS SEE THE TRAILER FOR HTTYD 3 IT LOOKS AMAZING AND TOOTHLESS' ATTEMPTS TO IMPRESS THE LIGHT FURY IS SO PURE. (The one at the end of the trailer is my personal favorite.)
- SoManyFandoms OwO
Hiccup: Wait. Toothless isn't the only Night Fury?
Hailey: Have you been paying attention?
Hiccup: No... not really.
Somi: Apparently you also grow a beard someday. Congrats.
Hiccup: What?! I wasn't warned of this!
Hailey: Hah. This is priceless.