Chapter 11

Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!

Thought / Dreams / Event from the past

[Voice from the past]

"Dialogue"

Letter

Emphasis

The rest of the day went in a blur. Hiccup and the others immediately did as they planned after they had an hour of rest, Hiccup went to the forest with Astrid, Keila, and a few others, they picked some fruits and any consumable vegetation. He couldn't sneaked into the Cove when he was in the forest, so he had to wait until night so he could sneaked into the Cove without being seen, but before that, there's something that he had to do in the arena.

"Did you wait long?" Hiccup looked up from dumping the fishes for the dragons and saw Astrid entering the arena with a smile on her face, and then Fishlegs entered after Astrid, "I met Fishlegs on the way, so we came here together after making sure no one saw us." She explained.

"So, what do you want to show me?" Fishlegs asked excitedly.

"First, have you seen dragons eating?" Hiccup asked with a grin on his face as he gestured to the big pile of fishes and a pile of rocks.

"No." Fishlegs answered as he pulled out a note book, "I'm definitely going to write it down." He said determinedly.

Hiccup chuckled and walked over to the levers that would release the dragons inside the pens, "Alright, sit there and watch, you will be alright as long as you don't have any weapon with you." He told the bigger boy before pulling all of the levers down, just as usual.

"All of them at once?!" Fishlegs squeaked in panic. He had been trained in Dragon Training, so he wouldn't panic if it's only one dragon at a time, but all of them at once would be impossible for him to defend himself, and so no one could blame him if he was panicking. "I thought you will only let them out one at a time, like in training".

"Don't worry." Hiccup said simply, "I have done this for longer than a year, I know what I'm doing".

As soon as the pens unlocked, all the dragons got out of the pens. Stormfly, Meatlug, and Sharpshot ran out of their pens while Hookfang and Barf and Belch walked out leisurely. The dragons immediately stopped moving as soon as they saw Astrid and Fishlegs, they didn't growl or snarl or hiss but they get into a defensive stance, ready to defend themselves if needed.

"Calm down, guys." Hiccup said to the dragons as soon as he saw them tensed, "The girl is Astrid and the boy is Fishlegs, they won't hurt you, don't worry".

The dragons looked at him then to Astrid and Fishlegs, they sniffed the air to see if they were dangerous or not. Hiccup expected them to relax once they caught the scent of his friends, but he was surprised when they instead growl after sniffing the air.

"What's wrong?" He asked in worry as he slowly walked over to them, he hoped that he could calm them down before they attract attention of the Vikings. Stormfly squawked at him before she shot her spikes at the weapon rack, he frowned and walked over to the rack before looking behind it, only to discover Snotlout and the twins hiding behind it. He gaped at them, "What are you guys doing here?" He asked in shock.

Snotlout and the twins looked at each other before they all came out of their hiding spot, "Well, you see, Hiccup." Snotlout began as he fixed his clothes, "I heard your conversation with Fishlegs, so I told them and we decided to come here and see what you want to show Fishlegs as well".

"Yeah." Ruffnut and Tuffnut nodded in agreement, "You said you will show him the true nature of dragons, right? We want to know as well." Tuffnut said with a grin on his face.

"We want to be let in with the secret." Ruffnut added with a smirk.

Hiccup could only blink in a mix of confusion and shock as well as disbelief. "Hiccup." Snotlout called him again so he looked at his Cousin, "Answer me seriously. Do you think you can end this war?".

Hiccup blinked, "Why would you ask me this?" He asked in confusion.

"I told you, I heard your conversation with Fishlegs." Snotlout answered him seriously, a rare expression on the boy, "You said you have seen more than us, so, do you think you can end the war with what you have seen?".

Hiccup blinked again before his wear a serious expression as well. "There's a way to end the war." He explained to them, "If I can show all the Vikings that we don't have to kill the dragons, and show them that we can work together with the dragons, then I can stop them from killing dragons. We don't know why the dragons keep raiding us, but even so, if we can get these dragons to help us then it's a start. If we really want to end this war, we have to find out the reason behind it and solve it together with the help of the dragons".

"Let us help you then." Snotlout said seriously and the twins nodded to back up his statement, "Show us that your plan is possible and we will help you achieve this goal, I'm sure you know as well as I do that we all are tired of this war".

Hiccup looked at them straight in the eyes to see if they were serious and could only see sincerity there, he smiled and nodded at them. "I understand, thank you for wanting to help." He said gratefully to them. If the teens worked together with him, then his dream of the Vikings and dragons live together in peace could come true. "Alright, if you want to see the true nature of dragons, leave any weapon you have with you here and walk over to where Fishlegs and Astrid are waiting." He instructed them firmly.

They were a bit nervous, it's understandable considering they were in the same place with many dragons, but they did as were told and left their weapons on the ground in front of the weapon rack. Hiccup nodded at them and step aside to allow them to walk to where Astrid and Fishlegs were, the dragons were still tense, but not as much now that the teens didn't have weapons with them anymore.

"Okay." Hiccup started once Snotlout and the twins sat beside Fishlegs and Astrid, "Before we start, let the dragons eat first, I'm sure they are starving." He nodded at the dragons and they began to eat, Meatlug ate the stones while the rest ate the fishes.

"The Gronckle eat rocks?" Fishlegs asked curiously.

"Yeah, most dragons eat fish, but Gronckles can eat rocks as well." Hiccup explained, "If you feed a Gronckle with a certain rock, the Gronckle can turn that rock into a material, for example . . ." He pulled out his rods so they understood that he made his rods using unusual material, "Gronckle Iron, this type of iron is stronger and lighter than normal iron." He explained before handing one of them to Astrid and the other to Snotlout, "Hold it and you will feel the difference".

The teens took turns to observe the rods before giving them back to Hiccup, "You sure they are strong?" Astrid asked curiously, "I understand if your Wing Blades stronger than iron, but this Gronckle Iron?".

Hiccup nodded, "Want to see a demonstration?" He asked and they nodded excitedly in answer, "Alright then." He then walked to the weapon rack and pulled out one of the sword, "Stormfly, help me a bit here, girl." He called out to his Nadder friend, who squawked and came over immediately.

The dragons had finished eating and were watching him and the other teens, that's why Stormfly came over as soon as she was called. Besides, the Nadder was curious about what they were going to do.

"Her name is Stormfly?" Astrid asked again with interest. She always thought that Deadly Nadders were beautiful dragons, she hoped Hiccup would pair her with the Nadder later.

"Well, even if they have a name, they can't tell me, so I give them a new name since I hate calling them by their species, like 'Hey, dragon!' or their family name, like 'Hey, Nadder!'. I think it's insulting and I don't want to insult them." Hiccup explained as he held the sword in front of Stormfly, "Now watch." He told the teens before looking at Stormfly, "Stormfly, hit this sword with your tail as hard as you can." Stormfly tilted her head to the right as she squawked curiously, but she did as was asked, she turned around and slammed her tail down at the sword, causing the sword to fly from Hiccup's hand and hit the wall. Hiccup walked over to the fallen sword and picked it up before throwing it to Snotlout, who caught it easily, "It's bent, right?" He asked them with a smile.

"Yeah, of course it would bend." Snotlout answered him, "I mean, getting hit by a dragon's tail can bend it easily".

"Now, watch this." Hiccup told them again as he pulled out one of his rod, "Once again, Stormfly." He told his Nadder friend, who immediately hit his rod with her tail, the rod flew from Hiccup's hand just like the sword did. He picked the rod up and threw it to Tuffnut, who failed to catch it in time and it hit his head, earning a chuckle from the rest of the teens, "Is my rod bent from the force?" He asked them smugly.

Hiccup saw their eyes widened and their jaw dropped at the sight of his still straight rod, not even a scratch could be seen on it, "Wow." They breathed out the word in awe.

Astrid looked at Hiccup with an excited grin, "Hiccup, can you make an axe for me using Gronckle Iron?" She asked excitedly, "I want it!".

Hiccup chuckled and nodded, "A day or two after you bond with your dragon." He answered as he gestured at Stormfly.

"Yes!" Astrid cheered as she jumped up, she took the rod from Tuffnut's hand and ran to his side, "I was hoping you will pair me up with her, thank you." She said as she handed the rod back to Hiccup, who accepted it and slipped it into his belt again.

"Okay, here is what you have to do." Hiccup began before whispering to her, "Nadder like to be praised, so praise her, then slowly walk to her tail without leaving her sight, slowly but surely touch her tail".

"Just like that?" Astrid asked curiously, Hiccup nodded and stepped back to give her some space, so she inhaled deeply and looked at the Nadder. "Hello, Stormfly." She called with a smile, "I'm Astrid and people say that I'm beautiful, but I can see that you are even more beautiful than me." She said to compliment her soon-to-be dragon partner. Stormfly purred at the praise and she know that she was in the right track, just like what Hiccup said, so she slowly walked over to Stormfly's tail without breaking eye contact. "I won't hurt you, I promise." She said with a smile as she slowly reached out to the Nadder's tail, "What do you say about us as friends?" She asked and a second later, her palm touched the base of Stormfly's tail. Stormfly let out a happy squawk, she turned around and nuzzled Astrid's stomach with her head.

Astrid gasped in wonder at the sensation, she had never felt so connected with another being before, human or dragon, and she couldn't help but grinning from ear to ear as she softly patting Stormfly's beak with her hands. She looked at Hiccup with happiness in her eyes, "Hiccup, I did it!" She breathed out in awe, "I befriends Stormfly!".

Hiccup nodded with something like pride in his gaze as he looked at Stormfly and Astrid, "You did it." He said in agreement with a warm smile on his face, "Now, use this time to deeper your bond with her, I'm going to explain a few things to the others." Astrid nodded and sat down, Stormfly sat down as well before curling herself around Astrid so Astrid could lean on her side. Hiccup smiled happily at the sight before walking over to the others, "What do you think?" He asked them.

"Awesome." Ruffnut and Tuffnut said with a big grin on their face with their eyes nearly as wide as their grin, "I want a dragon as well." They said before glaring at each other.

"I'm getting a dragon first." Ruffnut said in annoyance.

"No, I'm first." Tuffnut retorted.

Hiccup sighed as they began their usual bickering and just focused on the gaping Snotlout and Fishlegs, "If you have any question, just ask it." He told them.

"How is that even possible?" Snotlout asked as he stared at Astrid and Stormfly with wide eyes filled with disbelief.

"Alright, what is the words Gobber told you at the first day of dragon training?" He asked them with a raised eyebrow and his arms crossed, "The one after Meatlug nearly blast Astrid".

" 'Dragons will always go for the kill.' " Fishlegs quoted right away.

"What do you see now?" Hiccup asked as he motioned to Astrid and Stormfly, then to the rest of the dragons who were watching them calmly in front of their own pen, "What are they doing?".

"Not going for the kill for sure, they just sit there and watch us." Snotlout answered him with a gulp, "So, everything that we know about dragons is . . ." He trailed off as he wasn't ready to admit it.

"Wrong." Hiccup finished his statement with certainty, "Vikings knows nothing of the dragons, even I don't know everything about them, our ancestors only could only making assumptions and not stating a fact." He told them with a soft sigh, "Even Bork the Bold only observing their way of attacking and a warning that they are extremely dangerous creatures who need to be killed on sight".

"I really want to rewrite everything in it." Fishlegs said with a shake of his head, he then looked at Hiccup with excitement clearly written on his face, "Tell me everything you know about dragons, I want to write it down to make a new Book of Dragons".

Hiccup chuckled and nodded, "I will tell you and the rest all I know about dragons, tomorrow." He promised the bigger boy before looking at the both of them, "So, do you want to befriend a dragon?".

"I want to!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut exclaimed at the same time.

"Shh!" Hiccup shushed them up sternly, "Be quiet or the villagers will hear us." He hissed at them before motioning for them to come forward, "You two will share a Zippleback, meaning Barf and Belch." He told them quietly while waving the said Zippleback over, "Barf is the gas head and Belch is the spark head, decide it yourself".

Hiccup should know better than hoping the twins would decide without bickering with each other, but at least Barf and Belch solved the matter by them choosing who they want to partner up with, Barf bonded with Ruffnut while Belch bonded with Tuffnut. Getting Fishlegs bonded with Meatlug was very easy, they like each other even though Fishlegs was still a bit nervous and shy. The only problem was when he told Snotlout that he need to respect his Nightmare friend, the boy was having a difficulty respecting someone, but he started to show his respect after Hookfang burned his butt for trying to touch him without his consent before they even bond.

"This is great, Hiccup." Astrid said as she saw how everyone had bonded with a dragon, "We have the teens on our side now, if this continued, we might be able to convince the Chief".

Hiccup snorted at the idea of his Dad easily convinced, "To convince my Dad concerning dragons is an impossible task if I only talk with him." He said bitterly, "He never listen to me, Astrid, and even if he, by some miracle, will listen to me, he would still be stubborn about the dragons being mindless beasts." He looked at Astrid straight in the eyes, "If worst come to worst, I will have to challenge him to a duel just to make him listen to me".

"That bad?" Astrid asked in sympathy.

"Yeah." Hiccup nodded sadly, "But it's not really his fault. Gobber told me that it's because I looks like my Mother. It hurt my Dad so much when he lost her that he tried to be distant with me, so he won't hurt as much if he lose me as well".

Astrid opened her mouth to say something to soothe him but was cut off when the dragons stood up abruptly, "What happens?" She asked in worry when she saw the dragons entered their own pens in a hurry.

"One of the Vikings who is on watching duty is coming!" Hiccup hissed at them, "Help me close the door and hide! I will tell them that I had just finished feeding the dragons!".

They rushed to close the doors and then hid behind the weapon rack, it's hard because Fishlegs had a big body, but they managed to hide themselves.

"Are you in there, Hiccup?" Hoark's voice reached him, he looked behind him to see the man standing at the entrance, "What are you doing here this late?".

"Oh, you know, I'm the one in charge of feeding the dragons, so I was just feeding the dragons because I forgot to feed them earlier." Hiccup answered him as casually as he could with a smile on his face as he locked each pen, but he was a nervous wreck in the inside, he hoped the man wouldn't notice Snotlout's and the twin's weapons in front of the weapon rack or the fact that there's a bend sword on the floor. It helped him that he was saying the truth, he had just feeding the dragons because he forgot earlier, he just didn't tell the man that he also helped his friends befriends the dragons. "I will go home once I return the basket to the dock".

"I see." Hoark nodded in understanding before smiling at Hiccup as well, "Have a good rest, Hiccup, you need it after a busy day. Oh, I didn't have the chance to say this earlier, but thank you, lad. If it's not for you, I would be dead by now".

"You're welcome." Hiccup answered simply.

"You will become a great Chief in the future, Hiccup." The man answered before waving, "Good night!".

"Good night!" Hiccup replied before the man disappeared from view, he sighed and called his friends out, "Come on, let's get out of here." He suggested as he picked up the baskets.

"Yeah, I agree." Fishlegs said in agreement, "I think I'm going to fall asleep any second now".

They voiced their agreement as they left the arena, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins left to their home immediately, but Astrid walked with Hiccup to his house. "Astrid, there's a change of plan." Hiccup said apologetically, "It's late, you need to rest".

"But you need to rest as well." Astrid argued with a frown.

"Yeah, but I won't sleep in my room tonight, I'm going to sleep at the Cove with Toothless." Hiccup told the girl, "My Dad isn't home so it's not a problem. Besides, Toothless always stayed near me – I could feel his presence even if he was hidden – every time we have a raid in the past, so I'm going to sleep in the Cove tonight to ease his worry. Also, I want to get the test flight done first thing in the morning, I don't want to wait too long and risk my Dad coming home before I can successfully helping him back to the sky".

Astrid sighed and nodded, "Okay, I understand." She said with a smile before kissing him on his cheek, "Good night, Hiccup".

"Good night, Milady." Hiccup answered with a smile as well.

Astrid jogged a few steps before remembering something so she turned back to looked at Hiccup, "Before I forget, Hiccup, you will be fine during the test flight as long as you trust your instinct." She told him confidently, "Actually, you don't even need that thing you called cheat sheet, you know." She smiled at him again before continuing her jog to her home.

Hiccup watched his girlfriend go in confusion, wondering what she meant by that, but he shook his head and entered his house. He went to the kitchen to grab a few fishes then out them into the basket before going out of the house and head out to the Cove, he hoped the few fishes would be enough and his dragon brother wouldn't be starving.

Just as he predicted, Toothless tackled him to the ground as soon as he stepped into the Cove. "It's okay, Toothless, it's okay. I'm fine." Hiccup held back a wince as he said soothingly while rubbing Toothless's head as the dragon did his version of a hug, Hiccup could feel his dragon brother shaking as he was hugged tightly but carefully so he wouldn't get a broken bone from the hug, "You were scared, weren't you?" He asked softly as he hugged his dragon back, "You were always there for me during a raid, protecting me from the shadows so I won't get hurt during the raid, but now that you're trapped here, you couldn't be there for me. You were scared for me, weren't you." He said softly as he guessed what caused his dragon to be this scared, a memory then came to his mind, "Did you hear my scream?" He asked as he tried to look at his dragon brother, but Toothless had his eyes closed, "Is that why you're so scared? You heard my scream and thought that something had happened to me?".

During the raid, after Hiccup won his fight with the Nightmare, he saw a Zippleback stealthily making their way to Hoark as the man was fighting a Gronckle. From the look of it, the Zippleback had reach their shot limit because they were about to bite Hoark instead of blasting him with their fire. He had said that he didn't want anyone to die that night, so as soon as he saw the two heads of the Zippleback were about to bite Hoark, and the man couldn't protect himself because he focused on fighting the Gronckle, he jumped into action and blocked the attack.

Unfortunately, he could only block one of the heads with his connected rod, he didn't get the chance to disconnect them as he jumped to Hoark's rescue, and the other head bite him at his side. He had screamed in pain when he was bitten, luckily, Astrid wasn't that far from him when she heard his scream and came to help him out. They managed to fight off the Zippleback before deciding that it would be best for them to be together instead of separating themselves, so he and Astrid stayed together for the rest of the raid and fought alongside each other.

Toothless finally released him before nodding to answer his question, then his dragon nudged him with his head to see where he was injured, he guessed that his dragon brother could smell his blood. Hiccup understood this so he removed his fur coat and shirt to show his bandaged abdomen, but it seemed that removing the clothes wasn't enough for Toothless because the dragon tried to rip the bandages.

"You want me to remove the bandages?" Hiccup asked curiously at his dragon's behavior, Toothless nodded in answer so he obediently removed the bandages, wondering why Toothless wanted him to do that. Toothless saw his bite wound and growled in a mix of anger and worry before licking at the wound, much to Hiccup's confusion. "Toothless?" He asked as he tried to get away from his dragon, it tickled him when his dragon licked his wound and a bit stung because of the wound get touched, "What are you doing?" His answer was only a warning growl and a claw on his left shoulder, an action that Hiccup understood as an order to not move, so he sat still and let his dragon licked his wound.

While he waited until Toothless finished licking his wound, Hiccup was wondering why his dragon did it. He was sure that it wasn't because Toothless like the taste of blood, the action was more like a mother animal grooming their young. Hiccup frowned, he remembered that there's another situation that involved licking aside from grooming, he then blinked when he finally remembered it. "Oh." He said in realization, "Are you treating my wound, Toothless?" He asked his dragon in curiosity. Toothless pulled back a bit to nod before returning to his work, on the wound at his back side this time. "Thank you then." Hiccup said with a smile of gratitude, "But you really don't have to, you know, the healer had treat it earlier".

Toothless snorted and stared at him with a look that could be read as 'Just shut up and let me work', so Hiccup shut his mouth and just sat there waiting for Toothless to finished licking his wound with a smile on his face. Once Toothless finished, he patted on the bandages and shot a look at Hiccup, the boy get the hint and re-bandaged his abdomen then get his shirt and fur coat back on.

"Oh, I brought you dinner." Hiccup said once he finished getting his clothes back on, he poured the fishes out of the basket into a small pile in front of his dragon, "I'm sorry that I could only come now, I was busy helping the village, and I'm sorry that I only brought you a few of fishes, you know how the situation after a raid is".

Toothless crooned reassuringly at him with a nuzzle on the cheek before eating the few fishes Hiccup brought for him, Hiccup just sat there and watched as usual, but unlike usual, Toothless regurgitated a half of a fish onto Hiccup's lap as soon as he finished eating.

"What is this for?" Hiccup asked cautiously as he picked up the regurgitated fish, "I already explained that humans don't eat regurgitated fish, didn't I?" Toothless looked pointedly at the spot where Hiccup was bitten earlier before looking at the regurgitated fish, it's easy enough for Hiccup to translate the gesture to what his dragon was trying to say, "Are you trying to say that this fish is my punishment for getting injured because I wasn't careful?" He asked dreadfully, and his dread grew when Toothless nodded with a stern look on his face, he groaned and raised the fish to his face, "You're really mean, Toothless." He complained before forcing himself to bit into the regurgitated fish and eat it while trying his best not to throw up, all the while Toothless watched him with satisfaction and amusement in his eyes.

He really hoped he wouldn't get sick the next day.

XXXXX

To be continued . . .

XXXXX

Froim : Review Please ^ ^