INT. GREAT HALL - DAY ON HICCA
Being shoved into the dank, dimmed hall. SLAM! The massive doors rattle and echo. Stoick pushes past her. He paces against a backdrop of shadowy tapestries and carved pillars - a legacy of heroes, all peering down in angered judgement.
STOICK I should have known. I should have seen the signs.
"What sings, danm it! You can't see your own nose and you want to see the signs?!" yelled Zamble.
HICCA Dad.
STOICK We had a deal!
Stoick pauses to say something, but stops short. He SNORTS and resumes pacing, repeating the cycle.
HICCA (FLUSTERED) I know we did... but that was before... ughh,this is so messed up.
STOICK So everything in the ring. A trick? A lie?
He stomps toward Hicca. Stops short and points, fighting back words.
HICCA I screwed up. I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please... just don't hurt Toothless.
STOICK The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?! Why do you care so much for that beast!?
HICCA Because I love him! Beat. He was just trying to protect me! He's not dangerous.
STOICK They've killed HUNDREDS OF US!
HICCA AND WE'VE KILLED THOUSANDS OF THEM! They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. (BEAT) There's something else on their island dad...it's a dragon like-
Stoick HUFFS.
STOICK -Their island?
He stomps back... pointing an accusing finger.
STOICK (CONT'D) So you've been to the nest.
HICCA Did I say nest?
"Me and my big mouth!"
Hicca goes silent - she said too much.
STOICK How did you find it?!
HICCA No... I didn't. Toothless did. Only a dragon can find the island.
Stoick GLARES. A moment passes, then an idea takes form on his face. His eyes flare. Hicca watches, realizing. Stoick stomps toward the doorway.
HICCA (CONT'D) Oh no. No, Dad. No.
Hicca chases after him, panicked.
HICCA (CONT'D) Dad. It's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. It's like nothing you've ever seen.
She grabs Stoick by the arm, tugging with all her might. She has no effect whatsoever.
HICCA (CONT'D) Dad. Please. I promise you that you can't win this one.
Nothing.
HICCA (CONT'D) No. Dad. No. For once in your life, WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!
He throws Hicca off of him, SWATTING her to the floor. Icy stillness. Hicca stares back, stunned.
STOICK You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. (BEAT) You're not my daughter.
Stoick pushes through the door, leaving Hicca alone, devastated. She starts crying.
By now, you could swear there was a evil, dark cloud above our host's heads. They turn their heads around to look at Stoic and they look like a mother dragon when somebody hurt her babies.
"Do you wanna go first?" asked Kat through her teeth.
"No, you go first" answered Zamble.
"Then together?"
"Sounds good."
And with that the two girls charged at him like wild cats (irony, huh?). They pulled his beard, punched him, kicked him, Kat spit in his eye too.
After a while of attacking him, Will came in leading the penguins, who got the two girls off of the Viking Chief and held them down on the couch.
STOICK (CONT'D) (CALLING OUT) Ready the ships!
EXT. GREAT HALL - CONTINUOUS
Stoick staggers on the steps, breaking inside.
EXT. DOCKS/OPEN SEA - DAY
Broken-down catapults and trebuchets are bundled up and lowered from the cliffs. Below on the docks, Vikings load the heavy artillery into the hulls of awaiting ships. Children and the elderly gather to on the walkways to wave apprehensive farewells to the departing warriors. Lastly, Toothless is loaded aboard Stoick's ship, chained down to a palette, muzzled, and restrained with a weighty neck ring. He looks exhausted, miserable.
Hicca's crying became stronger when she saw Toothless like that. Kat and Zamble, who were hold down by the penguins, glared at Stoick with a look that said you die in seven days.
Stoick crosses to the bow as the ship pushes off and joins the amassed armada of ships adrift in the harbor. Stoick's brow is furrowed, all warmth drained away. He turns west and glares at the horizon with cold determination.
STOICK Set sail! We head for Helheim's Gate.
He then notices HICCA watching from her familiar cliff-side perch beyond the village. Their eyes meet, full of hurt and regret. Hicca slowly shakes her head in warning. Stoick breaks the stare and turns to Toothless, fuming.
STOICK (CONT'D) Lead us home, Devil.
TOOTHLESS I will never do that.
STOICK You will, or I'll make sure you'll never see Hicca again. I'll kill you with my own hands.
Kat spit in his eye again.
"You" said Hicca, her voice trembeling with anger, "if you lay on finger on Toothless I'll make sure you regreat it."
Toothless glares at him, but ends up lowering his head in defeat.
ON HICCA
Watching. She's powerless to stop what is happening, but won't leave.
DISSOLVE TO: EXT. CLIFFS - LATER ON HICCA
Still standing there. The ships have cleared the horizon. CRANE UP to reveal Asteun standing behind her. He approaches cautiously and stands beside her in silence.
ASTEUN It's a mess.
Hicca doesn't respond.
ASTEUN (CONT'D) You must feel horrible. You've lost everything. Your father, your tribe, your... best friend.
HICCA Thank you for summing that up.
HICCA (CONT'D) Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods? It would have been better for everyone.
"Well, not for Toothless" commented Asteun.
ASTEUN Yeah. The rest of us would have done it. (BEAT) So why didn't you?
"That's true. Why didn't you?" asks Asteun.
Hicca just shakes her head - she really doesn't know. Asteun's eyes glimmer. He wants something.
ASTEUN (CONT'D) Why didn't you?
HICCA I don't know. I couldn't.
ASTEUN That's not an answer.
HICCA (BECOMING IRATE) Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?
ASTEUN Because I want to remember what you say right now.
HICCA (angry, loud) Oh for the love of - I was a coward! I was weak. I wouldn't kill a dragon.
ASTEUN You said 'couldn't' before.
HICCA (BLOWS UP) Whatever! I wouldn't! Three hundred years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon!
A BEAT.
ASTEUN First to ride one, though.
"Maybe not first" said Kat.
And defenetly first to fall in love with one.
Hicca blinks. She never looked at it that way before.
ASTEUN (CONT'D) So...
HICCA (REALIZING) ...I wouldn't kill him because he looked as frightened as I was. (BEAT) I looked at him and I saw myself.
Asteun turns to face the open sea.
ASTEUN I bet he's really frightened now. (PROVOKING) What are you going to do about it?
Beat.
HICCA Probably something stupid.
ASTEUN Good. But you've already done that.
"Great way to encourage me."
Another beat.
HICCA Then something crazy.
Asteun smiles.
ASTEUN That's more like it.
"Well, crazy it's her speciality" says Toothless and hugs her closer.
EXT. OPEN SEA/DRAGON ISLAND - DAY
The armada coasts toward a shroud of heavy fog, hung like drapes from a low-hanging, ominous sky. The ships enter, one by one. Visibility drops immediately. Flanking ships becomes ghosts. The armada disappears, drawn into the blinding mist. Complete whiteout. Nothing remains but the eerie creaking of wood on water.
ON STOICK at the bow of his ship. He taps his fingers on the gunwale, then looks back at Toothless impatiently. Weighed down with chains, Toothless seems unresponsive.
STOICK Sound your positions. Stay within earshot.
Shouts pour in from all directions.
VIKING #1 Here.
VIKING #2 One length to your stern.
VIKING #3 On your starboard flank.
VIKING #4 Three widths to port.
VIKING #5 Ahead, at your bow.
VIKING #6 Haven't got a clue.
There are a few ckukles heard in the room.
ON STOICK straining into the fog as the calls continue. Massive, jagged sea stacks begin to emerge, threatening to rip the ships to shreds. Gobber approaches him, speaking under his breath.
GOBBER Listen... Stoick... I was overhearing some of the men just now and, well, some of them are wondering what it is we're up to here - not me of course, I know you're always the man with the plan - but some, not me, are wondering if there is in fact a plan at all, what it might be?
"Wow, now I see from where Hicca learnt to lie from" says Asteun.
STOICK Find the nest and take it.
"Is that even a plan?!" questioned Kat.
GOBBER Ah. Of course. Send them running. The old Viking fall-back. Nice and simple.
STOICK Shhh.
Stoick notices that Toothless' ear plates are at the alert, quietly reacting to inaudible sounds. Stoick crosses to the stern of the ship and grabs the tiller, moving the helmsman out of the way.
STOICK (CONT'D) Step aside.
Stoick pulls the ship into a turn, covertly following Toothless' head movements. The ship barely misses a jagged outcrop that suddenly appears out of the soupy fog.
VIKING Bear to port.
The order is called out from ship to ship. CRUNCH! The bow barely makes it past another sea stack. Stoick continues to follow Toothless' cues, undeterred.
EXT. TRAINING GROUNDS - DAY
Hicca raises the bolt on the Monstrous Nightmare's pen.
FISHLEGS (O.S.) If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle.
"Yeah, that thik eats rocks" commented Zamble.
Hicca turns to see her fellow recruits, watching her with folded arms. Tuffnut steps forward with a scowl.
TUFFNUT You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. (BEAT) It's me.
HICCA Uh...
SNOTLOUT I love this plan.
"But you don't even know what the plan is!"
HICCA I didn't...
RUFFNUT You're crazy.(CHEERFUL) I like that.
ASTEUN So? What is the plan?
Hicca smiles, glowing in the support of her friends.
