Safe Out of Sight Chapter 11, a how to train your dragon fanfic

"I was caught unawares…" ~ On the Steps of the Palace: Into the Woods

Chapter Eleven

Hiccup found he had much less time to act than he had anticipated once Toothless had faded from view. He turned to run back to the heart of the village, primed to resume Regan's evacuation efforts, but was stopped dead in his tracks.

He could already see the smoke. Approaching flames tinted the cool winter twilight a dusty orange. The square appeared to be mostly deserted for the time being; Hiccup suspected most the villagers chose to remain in their homes, blissfully unaware of the approaching danger.

Hiccup felt like he was drowning. There were lives at stake, lives he knew he could save, but he was sickeningly helpless to stop the fire that burned over the horizon and the army that trailed right behind it. Especially without Toothless; stripped of the Night Fury, he was only a crippled human once again.

His fists clenched at his sides. No, he was more than that. For the last blissful weeks he was sure he had breathed his own air, reveled in the freedom of his unrestricted thoughts and feelings, and participated in the world around him more openly than ever. Even without any embellishment, Hiccup knew he was worth something. He would prove it.

Tearing his eyes away from the billowing cloud of smoke that was steadily creeping closer to town, Hiccup made a mad dash for Regan's stall, hauling himself over the uncharacteristic disarray the girl had left in her desperate wake from that morning in order to get to his workbench. His sparring blade rested against the wall, glinting at him from where it was tucked behind the workbench. Hiccup grabbed it, tucked the blade into his belt, and made a break for the exit. Just as he was about to throw himself through the door, heavy footfalls met his ears.

Meatheads. They were already prowling the square, pouring over the knoll like a swarm of insects. He clambered backwards into the forge, thinking furiously of some way to gain higher ground undetected, somewhere he could go to analyze the scenario and develop a strategy for the – hopefully quickly – encroaching Hooligans as well as locate the Meathead chief and try to talk some sense into him.

His thoughts raced faster as their footfalls sounded closer and closer to the forge, but every escape strategy that crossed his mind led him straight into a dead end. He was trapped.

Meathead warriors stalked past the entrance, armed with maces and broadswords, wearing helmets that covered their faces and obscured their eyes. Hiccup had to consciously repress his lurching stomach when he saw the garb of the growing horde that swallowed the village. They were clad in dragon skins - skulls, talons, and all - with scarred, broken scales. For all the progress Berk had made towards peace, Hiccup had almost forgotten that everyone else was still so far away, rooted in the old ways. He desperately hoped Toothless would have a self-preservation instinct strong enough to drive him away, to protect himself rather than his human, but he was already fully aware the dragon would do no such thing.

Time was up; Hiccup threw himself under a bench in a shadowed corner of the forge moments before Meatheads burst in. From where he lay on his stomach, he could see their boots, getting a very good look when one kicked the bench Hiccup hid under only inches from his face. Tools and scraps were knocked to the ground next to his hiding spot.

"Search the place," he barked at the others. "Bring any weapons to the unit at the armory."

He could hear the raucous chaos as Meatheads tore the forge apart, but Hiccup trained his eyes on the ground, barely daring to breathe. He listened as the noise dissipated, and slowly raised his head from the ground. Just when he had dared to breathe again, hands shot under the bench and yanked him out into the open.

He clawed at the hands that held him by the scruff of his tunic, but his efforts didn't even phase the brute of a man whose vicious eyes peered at Hiccup through the sockets in his helmet.

"Eh, look who's here! It's Stoick's boy, the Dragon Rider," he called to the other Meatheads, dangling Hiccup a few more inches off the ground to better display his find. Hiccup felt himself gasping for air.

"He'll make for a bloody good bargaining chip with those Hooligans," another agreed. "Let's bring it to Mogadon. He'll be damn well pleased."

Refusing to cease his struggling, Hiccup resorted to biting the hand of the meathead that restrained him. He wasn't sure if he used enough force to tear off skin, but he definitely drew blood. Cursing, the Meathead withdrew his hand, still using the other to detain the boy.

"Feisty little bastard," he spat, raising his injured hand to draw a dagger from his belt. Hiccup's heart leapt into his throat, and he desperately tried to tear himself away from the man. His efforts were no more effective than before, and the Meathead made quick work of smacking the boy upside the head with the hilt of the dagger. His vision swam, and barely felt the impact as he hit the ground before everything went dark.

Though the air settling around the Berk was hazy with an approaching storm, Astrid could see the outline of the isle in the distance ahead of the teens as they returned from the Meathead Islands. "Land in the square, then head to the armory!" Astrid called to the others. After they were armed and supplied, they would immediately fly south towards the Hooligan ships pursuing Mogadon. Towards Hiccup.

The group circled above Berk before landing swiftly in the village square. The teens immediately dismounted and moved quickly to re-supply as Astrid had instructed, but Astrid herself paused. Squinting through the fog, she could make out an approaching shape. As it drew closer, she swore aloud, eliciting a few turned head from the other riders. Either another Night Fury with a rider was headed directly for Berk, or Hiccup and Toothless were swiftly approaching to land in the village square. Astrid proceeded to march forward to meet them, rolling up her sleeves as she attempted to put a boot through the stones beneath her feet with each step. If that freckle-headed runt thought he could pull a stunt like that and just waltz back into town on his dumb dragon, he sure as Hel had another thing coming.

Just as she was contemplating hauling a mace at the approaching target, the dragon came far enough into view to make out his rider. Or, riders, as it were. While it was indeed Toothless who approached, his companion was absent. A tangle-haired red-head and an aged man sat on this saddle in his place.

Astrid's anger instantly vaporized as her stomach bottomed out in mind-numbing fear. If Hiccup was separated from Toothless, something was very, very wrong.

With one hand on the dagger at her hip, Astrid approached the strangers where they landed with Toothless outside the square. The girl threw herself from the saddle, appearing a bit shaken but forcing herself to stand upright and aid her father down from Toothless' saddle. While they dismounted, Astrid paused to wonder how the strangers were even able to enable Toothless to fly when her eyes fell on the new prosthetic. When the girl's father was safely on the ground, she mustered every ounce of conviction she had left and stepped towards Astrid. The blonde tensed defensively.

"Where is Stoick the Vast?" The stranger almost hid the tremor from her voice.

"Why do you need to know?" Astrid countered. While Toothless appeared to trust the strangers, Astrid required concrete proof.

"I'm a friend of Hiccup's. A tribe of Vikings is attacking my village. He sent us to request reinforcements."

Astrid paled. Her worst fear was becoming a reality: Hiccup was caught in the crossfire of a Viking raid. While the chief and Hooligan warriors would soon be upon the Meatheads, every Hooligan knew just how much damage could be done before they arrived. Of course, Hiccup had stupidly sent his dragon away, leaving him just as defenseless as the village he tried to protect. Self-sacrificing little…

"My father is very weak. Is there somewhere he can rest?" she continued. Fishlegs, who had moved to Astrid's right, stepped forward to lead the older man into the village. Astrid wasted no time in whipping around to address the other teens.

"You heard Hiccup: reinforcements. That's us," she yelled as she mounted Stormfly. The other teens followed suit. She waited for Toothless to bound to the front of their formation, prepared to lead them to Hiccup. Just as she was about to give the order to take off, Astrid was distracted by the foreign girl.

"Who do I ride with?"

"You can come with me, babe," Snotlout called before Astrid could protest her joining them at all, casually patting the seat behind him. She repressed the urge to vomit as Snotlout continued to throw flattery at the girl (which, according to her half-lidded stare, fell on deaf ears). Astrid threw Snotlout a vicious glare that clearly directed him to "knock it off; we have bigger things to worry about". He refocused, but not before winking at the girl a final time.

At Astrid's signal, the group rose into the air, streamlining into formation behind Toothless. The sight of Toothless soaring ahead of her without his companion made her uneasy, like an essential part of him was missing without Hiccup. She was drawn back into the same aura that emanated from the boy when she found him on the cliff, staring after the Hooligan fleet as they sailed away with his best friend to seek out the dragon's nest: loneliness, fear, and gnawing guilt.

They did nothing if not keep pace with Toothless as he streaked steadily across the sky.

They needed to get to Hiccup. She needed to get to Hiccup. And quickly.

The first thing Hiccup registered when he came to was just how much everything hurt. The excruciating throbbing in his head made itself known when he tried to lift it to identify his surroundings, and Hiccup could feel the hair at the nape of his neck crunch under a coat of dried blood. The same went for his wrists, which were held behind him with ropes that still cut into already broken skin. Wincing, he lifted his eyes just enough to determine he was still in the forge, and apparently hadn't been out for very long, as his assailant and several other Meatheads were still there with him. His sword had been taken, and now hung at the leader's hip.

Taking care not to fidget, Hiccup continued to feign unconsciousness. He tried and tried again to focus on formulating some way to escape, but wasn't able to concentrate on any one topic for very long, head still reeling. Even through his delirium, Hiccup was seething. Never again would he be abused for his lacking stature: never again would he be discarded as useless.

A blur of yellow of blue to his right caught Hiccup's eye. The Meatheads, who still were gathered at the forge's entrance, shouting and cackling at each other over what appeared to be fresh lamb, failed to see the Nadder's tail when it flashed by the outside of the forge. Hiccup grinned.

"Well I'm certainly relieved you all seem to be digging in over there," he called across the forge. "Starting to look a bit scrawny."

The leader looked over his shoulder to squint at Hiccup, trying to confirm if had actually just heard the toothpick call him scrawny.

"We can't have that now, can we? Especially with the whole 'brawn over brains' bit you have going. Unless, oh, was there a 'brains' angle I've been missing?"

The man turned around fully now, still holding his leg of mutton, determining whether he should continue to feast on it or walk over to the runt and beat him over the head with it. The others momentarily paused in wolfing down the lamb to warily eye their leader.

A moment was all that Astrid needed. The girl and Nadder burst into the forge, shooting a wild spray of yellow flame directly at the Meatheads before they could even shriek. They made up for the momentary silence plenty not a second afterward. They exploded into a frenzy of chaotic bodies, tripping over collapsed warriors in their frantic attempts to escape the yellow flame that clung to everything that surrounded them. Astrid flung herself from Stormfly and, brandishing her axe at a Meathead that quickly cleared from her path, ran straight for Hiccup.

She made quick work of cutting through the ropes that bound his wrists and hoisted him to his feet, swiftly pulling him across the forge and throwing him over Stormfly's back before climbing up herself. The ordeal was over as quickly as it begun. Hiccup stared back over his shoulder at the chaos that still ensued at the forge's entrance below them as they climbed into the sky.

"That was quite the entrance," Hiccup smirked. For the first time since charging in on Stormfly, Astrid whirled to look at him. Her face was livid.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Her eyes held the same fury as the day he, rather than Astrid, was chosen as the victor in dragon training. Even more vicious, if that was possible. Hiccup legitimately feared she might push him off the dragon.

"Days, Hiccup. You just disappeared! What the Hel was I supposed to think other than that you'd decided to just abandon ship? And you didn't even tell me?"

As her worried fuming became more and more disjointed, Hiccup decidedly wrapped his arms more tightly around her waist. "I can't even begin to explain how happy I am to see you."

She finally paused to exhale amidst her barrage of furious shouting. He took her breath as responding in kind. "Don't think this is over," she warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They sped over the village to the west, where what felt like mere moments ago Meatheads had descended upon the village. As he and Astrid approached, however, another horde of Vikings ascended the crest of the hill. These warriors were not armed to plunder, but to defend. They did not wear the skins of dragons, but followed them into battle as a small cloud of them flew overhead.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called, seeing the Night Fury that flew at the head of the formation. At Hiccup's voice, Toothless cocked his head, breaking into a grin when he saw his human. If he were a better man, Hiccup thought, he would have had Toothless turn around and go somewhere safe. Instead, he leapt from Stormfly's saddle as they passed overhead and joined his friend as they flew into battle. They would take this on together. Neither would have it any other way.

His arrival was greeted by a hearty round of cheers from the other teens. Hiccup was taken aback at first when his chest began to swell, but warily allowed himself to welcome the sense of pride.

"Nice of you to show up!" Snotlout shouted from where he flanked Hiccup on his right.

"I could say the same to you," Hiccup deadpanned. He glanced over his shoulder to shoot Snotlout an equally snarky glance, but his intentions were lost when he laid eyes on Hookfang's second rider.

"Regan? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't think I'd be sitting on your frozen island letting everyone else defend my home did you? Honestly, Faileóc, I'd think you didn't know me at all." She reached down to pat her broadsword where it hung at her hip, drawing Hiccup's eye to the bow and quiver also slung across her shoulders. "I think you'll thank me later."

Grinning, Hiccup prepared to descend, leading those on dragon-back into a dive, spiraling around the center of town.

That was when Hiccup saw him.

Mogadon stood almost serenely in the heart of the village, his back turned to the oncoming Hooligans, as if he were conducting his orchestration of pillaging and destruction. His eyes were closed, and remained so even as the dragons tightened their circle around him. Only when Hiccup and Toothless broke away from the circling dragons and touched ground directly in front of him did the enormous man turn his gaze on his challengers.

"Stoick's boy," he sneered. "Last time I checked I had yeh nice and tied up, ready to hang in front of yer father's nose."

"You can stop this," Hiccup began, dismounting and moving to stand between the mountain of a man and Toothless. "You don't need to launch us into another war."

"Yeh talk like this concerns yeh, boy. If yeh jus' turn around now and traipse back to Berk yeh can pretend this never happened."

Hiccup steeled himself. Mogadon was right; he could have flown away with Regan and Toothless back to Berk and turned his back on this village. It would have been much easier, much more logical. But this is what he was good at. He could spread and maintain the peace that he had established on Berk and through the archipelago. He could get through to this person, just like he had gotten through to his father. To his village. To Toothless.

"There are lives here that are being destroyed as we speak," Hiccup continued. "Peace is possible. We've achieved it on Berk - even your island isn't attacked by dragons anymore. I can show you…"

He stopped short when Mogadon laughed and spat at Hiccup's feet when he tried to move forward.

"Who do you even think yeh are, stupid boy? You may be the son of Stoick the Vast, but hardly anyone would believe it. You are a smear on his name."

Deliberately, he drew his sword and stalked toward Hiccup. "Now, you're only in my way."

Before he could take a full stride, Toothless soared over the boy and thudded to the ground, planting himself firmly between Hiccup and the monster. He screamed at their attacker, fangs bared, and spread his wings wide, shielding the boy despite his protests.

"The beast will make for a marvelous trophy," he sneered, without breaking his stride. "This is the legendary Night Fury? I'd've expected something a bit bigger, honestly." Toothless coiled his tail around his human, digging his claws further into the ground as Mogadon drew closer. Hiccup struggled against his dragon's protective stance.

"Don't hurt him!" he pleaded, well-aware his plea fell on deaf ears. "Toothless, stop!" He pushed again at the dragon's tail. "He'll kill you!" Toothless' grip on the boy only tightened.

Mogadon raised his blade, eyes ablaze, only to watch it be knocked out of his hand. The offending battle axe spun through the air and buried itself in the ground mere feet from Mogadon.

"Lay a hand on my son and yeh'll have Hel to pay, Mogadon."

"Ah, Stoick. I was surprised when you declined our invitation."

"'S that right?"

"Surely yeh've wanted it as much as I. The southern lands. Conaille Muirtheimne. The riches…"

"With peace finally at hand, no honorable chief would so blindly lead his people back into war."

"Pity."

Mogadon moved to strike the first blow. As Stoick dove out of the sword's path, the Hooligans took their cue. Lines of warriors armed with their broadswords and shields cascading down the incline, together releasing a powerfully amassed battle cry, to where their chief did battle with the enemy. Dragons swooped down to barrage the Meathead warriors as they ran to the aid of their chief. Locking onto the spot where his father's axe was still embedded in the ground, Hiccup ran from the relaxed hold of his dragon. It took nearly everything he had to free the axe from the earth, and without a hope of throwing it powerfully or accurately, he held it high over his head.

"Dad!"

Deftly evading another blow from Mogadon, Stoick bolted towards his son. Hiccup tossed the axe to his left where Stoick caught it, falling back into a ready stance. His eyes were piercingly trained on Mogadon as he leapt to return every blow he'd evaded tenfold.

"Hiccup!"

He whirled just in time to catch the sword Regan threw to him as she swept by on Hookfang. Before he ascended, she dismounted, nocking an arrow as she darted past. "Knock 'em dead!"

Hiccup held his ground amidst the ranks of Hooligan warriors, driving away assailants with his sword while Toothless, at his back, fired at oncoming hordes and knocked Meatheads away with each massive paw. Regan remained on the ground with him while, above them, Astrid and the twins defended the chief from the backs of their dragons while Snotlout and Fishlegs spread their ambushes out from the heart of the village. Hooligans and Meatheads flailed left and right amidst blood, shrieks, and fire.

Hiccup, breathless, began to wonder how much longer he could fend off the seemingly never-ending stream of attacks, when the dragon at his side released an ear-piercing cry, and Hiccup whirled to identify what drew the dragon's attention. The chief and the warmonger, after ages of hand-to-hand dueling, struggled to gain the upper-hand from where they stood stagnant with locked blades. Stoick's back was perfectly presented, for a moment, as an open target. The Meathead who knelt with his crossbow on the roof of a slowly burning building just outside the circle of warriors would not let such a perfect opportunity slip away. He drew his weapon. The blood drained from Hiccup's face.

"Dad!" Hiccup was spurred into action. Dredging up a strength he hadn't known he possessed, he threw his attacker from him and into an oncoming offender and pumped his legs in the opposite direction toward the middle of the circle. Toothless was much faster than Hiccup, and made it to the arrow before Hiccup had taken two frantic strides.

The agonizing cry that followed the strike jolted Hiccup's stomach, bolting him to the spot as he watched his best friend crumple into the ground.

"Toothless…" Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. For Hiccup, the sun and moon had stopped turning.

Stoick, who had turned at the heart-wrenching sound from his son's Night Fury, allowed Mogadon only the slightest advantage and was knocked to the ground for the few moments necessary for Mogadon to see the crossbow, the dragon, and understand exactly what had happened.

There was a distilled fury in the man's eyes that sent tremors to the very pit of Hiccup's stomach. It would have bolted the best of Vikings to the spot were it directed at them. However, the warmonger's gaze was not pointed at Hiccup; it was pointed at Toothless where he lay motionless on the ground.

"Toothless!" He sprinted with every ounce of energy he had left towards the spot where his dragon lay, preparing to throw himself between Toothless and the Meathead chief if he were, Odin forbid, to arrive too late. From where he was, he could clearly see Toothless' face. He was pained, and he looked to Hiccup more helpless than he had ever seen anyone, dragon, human, or otherwise. He fought back to absurdly ill-timed urge to cry.

"I'll wear the abomination's skull as a crown!"

Hiccup's legs propelled him forward with all the terror and heartbreak of seeing his best friend – his dragon, his soul mate, who understood him better than anyone he had ever known and loved him more dearly than anything else in this world, just as Hiccup did in turn – lying wounded, unmoving, and dying in front of him with no power to stop what had been set in motion.

With seconds separating him from Toothless, Hiccup threw his sword over his shoulder. Mogadon mirrored the action simultaneously, pulling his sword up over his head to slice it down across the dragon's neck.

He released a blood curdling yell. Hiccup threw his entire being into putting one foot in front of the other.

When Mogadon's blade was split-seconds away from the dragon's neck, Hiccup slid to his knees and threw his own sword out in front of him. The shock sent jarring vibrations through his arms down to his bones. Shaking, he held them there, staring down the man whose face betrayed blatant disbelief through their crossed blades. With strength he thought could only be achieved by men thrice his size, he forced Mogadon's sword away from them.

"You. Wouldn't. Dare."

He didn't stick around to see what ultimately forced Mogadon to halt his efforts. He didn't even register the battle raging around him any longer. He only found the energy to lean back against the body of his dragon before the world around him vanished.

I really love battering and bruising my favorite characters oops. And knocking them out. Hiccup's gone through the ringer about six million times though so I'm sure he'll be fine. I mean, he's been struck by lightning for goodness' sake.

Jfc this was really hard to write. If you're familiar with my writing (all other two one-shots from post 2005 lol), I like to just write about characters doing nothing and thinking. So when literally everyone is running around fighting and screaming and everything's on fire I almost have a breakdown. But hopefully it translated as exciting, I would love some tips if you have any to share.

I wish I'd managed to churn this out before I saw the sequel. Damn.