Disclaimer: I AM DISCLAIMING!

Chapter 12

Hiccup is Bipolar and Tuffnut is Not Mature (Nor Will He Ever Be, At Least Not 100%)

Even though Stoick had said he was taking Thorir to see his friends, he decided not to. The dragon rider was thoroughly exhausted and fighting just to stay upright on his dragon. By all rights Thorir shouldn't have been up so quickly. The young man had just lost a limb, not to mention been struck with Nadder spines. And he was on his feet- foot after only a week. Tougher Vikings stayed down for longer. On top of that he had gone through a rather stressful political meeting. So Stoick wasn't surprised in the least when the dragon rider finally slumped over on the Night Fury's neck.

"We should take him back to bed then, right dragon?" Stoick suggested to the Night Fury.

The dragon snorted at him, then crooned worriedly up at his rider.

"He'll be fine," Stoick assured the dragon, feeling very strange making conversation with one of his sworn enemies. "Just needs rest. He shouldn't been up so early."

The dragon seemed to give an equivalent to a sigh, but Stoick couldn't be sure. As he turned their course back to the healer's hut he kept the dragon in the corner of his eye. He still didn't trust these beasts. Yet, he couldn't completely disregard all that Thorir had said. And the dragon did seem to understand what was going on around it and maybe even showed some emotions.

Stoick glanced at the strange pair. A Viking and a dragon friends—was it really possible? This dragon seemed genuinely worried for his Viking, and the Viking fiercely protective of his dragon. It wasn't the first time Stoick had been presented with the idea, though…

Hiccup had tried to tell him; tell the whole village. But no one had listened to him, even with a docile Nightmare under his palm. Stoick wondered idly what would have happened if they had given Hiccup a chance. How differently would things have played out? But Stoick wasn't one to dwell on 'what if's and 'maybe's. Too much of that destroyed a person, he knew that from experience.

But there was one matter that had very much to do with the present. A lot of the things Thorir had said and a lot of things he had done reminded Stoick uncomfortably of Hiccup. When he had spoken of fidelity to his tribe, Stoick had to wonder. 'Thorir' hadn't shown anyone his face, and he was a rather small Viking. But then, so were many of his riders. Stoick saw a few differences; Thorir seemed to posses more confidence than Hiccup ever had, had an accent that seemed real to Stoick, and he rode a Night Fury instead of a Monstrous Nightmare. Honestly Stoick didn't know what to think. What would he do if Thorir was Hiccup?

The healer's hut came into view and Stoick shook himself out of his thoughts, resolving to ask Thorir later to see what he could learn. Swinging the door open, Stoick allowed the dragon to walk in first, still carefully balancing his rider on his back. Stoick stepped forward to pull the small Viking off the dragon's back, but the Night Fury snarled at him when he got close.

"How else are you going to get him on the bed?" Stoick questioned the dragon irritably. "Dump him on? I hardly think that's good for his injuries."

The dragon glared at him but stopped snarling. Stoick took this as a reluctant sign of approval and picked Thorir up off the Night Fury's back. He was incredibly light. So light in fact that Stoick could probably pick him up with one hand easy.

The dragon lunged forward and thoughtfully pulled the rumpled covers back so Stoick could set him on the bed. Stoick could only stare for a moment. The dragon was taking initiative. Stoick gathered his wits and set Thorir down on the bed, watching with disbelieving eyes as the dragon took the blanket delicately in his teeth and pulled it up over his rider's chest.

The black offspring of lightning and death itself then curled around short bed and rested its head on the edge, right next to Thorir's head. He whuffed absently at Stoick.

The Viking Chief wasn't sure if it was a 'thank you' or a dismissal, but he left all the same. Closing the door softly behind him he heard the dragon start rumbling and purring softly. Stoick wondered if the beast was talking or singing. Both options seemed so implausible, but there was clearly more to dragons than most thought.

Stoick sighed and started to the forge to talk to Gobber, one thing on his mind. He really wished he had just listened a year ago. Then he might not be missing his only son.


Hiccup didn't wake up until the next afternoon. In the background he could hear the sound of a whetstone running along a blade. Warm breath brushed the side of his head. Hiccup shifted a little and noticed absently that he was lying on his stomach. He shoved Toothless's head away.

"That tickles," he murmured sleepily to the dragon.

Toothless snorted, and the creaking of the floor told Hiccup the dragon was standing up.

"You awake?" someone else asked.

Hiccup groaned and turned his face into the pillow. His leg was throbbing angrily. "No."

"C'mon, you can't sleep all day, lazy bones," the someone else said, poking him lightly in the shoulder.

Groaning again, Hiccup peeled his eyes open and blinked away the film of sleep over his eyes. He was met with huge toxic-green eyes and a pair of concerned blue ones. "Astrid?"

"Yep," Astrid replied with a smile. "Glad you're finally awake."

Hiccup frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Astrid propped up an eyebrow and drew the whetstone across her ax blade again. "Sharpening my ax."

"I can see that," Hiccup said dryly, making no move to raise his head from the pillow. He was comfortable where he was, thank you very much. "Any particular reason why you're doing that here?"

"Toothless was getting lonely," Astrid answered, smiling and patting the dragon on his shoulder. "I thought I'd keep him company."

Toothless purred and nudged Hiccup's shoulder. Get up.

"I don't want to," Hiccup told him, burying his face in the pillow again.

Toothless growled lightly and pushed insistently against Hiccup's shoulder.

Hiccup shoved his dragon's head away and winced as the action pulled at the skin between his shoulder blades. "What happened to my back?" he asked Astrid.

"A Nadder got you," Astrid explained, looking faintly amused at Hiccup and Toothless's interactions. "The spines pierced through your armor, though just barely. We thought the poison would keep you out longer, but there must not have been much on those spines because it doesn't seem to be effecting you much."

"Well, it hurts," Hiccup mumbled. "I'd call that an effect."

"You aren't sick," Astrid countered. "You should be grateful, a lot of Vikings die from Nadder poison."

Hiccup yawned and his eyelids drooped. "Mmm, sure."

Toothless bumped Hiccup's head with his nose to wake him up again.

"Ugh, Toothless, do I have to?" Hiccup whined clutching the pillow.

Toothless snorted and turned to Astrid. Smiling briefly at the dragon, Astrid said, "Toothless is right, getting up would do you some good."

Hiccup glared. "Traitor."

Astrid laughed. "Whoever said I was on your side? Toothless and I have done a lot of bonding while you were snoring."

"Great," Hiccup moaned into the pillow. "Now I have two mothers. That's way more than I ever wanted."

Astrid laughed again and stood up, setting down her ax. "C'mon, Hiccup, up you get."

Toothless made him roll over by continually poking him in the ribs, and then Astrid pulled him into a sitting position. Hiccup groaned but decided to hold onto his dignity and get up himself. "Where are we going?" Hiccup grumbled as Toothless pushed him onto his back again.

"To get fresh air," Astrid replied, holding out his helmet. "And then the forge. Gobber offered to make 'Thorir' a fake leg, at least a temporary one."

Hiccup took the helmet and pulled it on. He frowned down at the spot where his left foot should be and remarked, "You picked the wrong foot not to save, Toothless. I'll need to redo the rigging pedal."

Toothless snorted, get over it.

"Well, you match now," Astrid commented.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at his dragon. "You really were making things even, weren't you?"

Toothless snorted again, but they both knew that he didn't really mean it.

"C'mon, you two," Astrid said, smiling. "Let's go."

Toothless followed Astrid out the door, Hiccup balancing easily on his back.

"So, Thorir," Astrid began in a teasing tone. "What's the plan for the dragons?"

"Not sure yet," Hiccup admitted. "The Chiefs are going to give their final answer at the next Thing. But hopefully, integration. At the very least, the war is over."

Astrid shook her head, still smiling. "You say that like it's no big deal."

"Hey, I lost my foot! Of course it's a big deal," Hiccup replied, patting his left knee for emphasis.

"So, when do I get one?" Astrid questioned with a grin.

"You want a dragon?" Hiccup asked, not quite sure he believed what he was hearing.

Astrid raised her eyebrows. "I've kept your secret for a year, warned you about the tribes, and have been helping your riders since the battle, and you don't think I'm on your side?"

"It's not that," Hiccup said hurriedly. "I just… never thought you'd want your own dragon."

"You thought I'd be a dragon-killing shield maiden forever?" Astrid asked.

"Uh… no," Hiccup said, inwardly wincing, because that's exactly what he'd thought. He wasn't sure why, it was silly now that he thought about it. It had simply never occurred to him.

Astrid sighed in exasperation. "You can't expect to take a girl on a flight—on a Night Fury—and expect her to forget she'd ever flown."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Hiccup backpedaled. "I'll get you a dragon."

Astrid grinned. "Good."

"A Nadder," Hiccup added after a moment's thought. "A female Nadder would be perfect for you."

"Why a Nadder?" Astrid asked, but Hiccup could tell from the look in her eye that she liked the idea.

"Competitive, fast, agile, and pretty," Hiccup listed without hesitation. "Just like you."

"You think I'm pretty?" Astrid said, her face innocent.

Hiccup felt his face heat up under his helmet. "Doesn't everyone? It's kinda a… an accepted thing. You're the best… at everything. Which, you know, includes…"

A harsh bark of dragon laughter from Toothless cut into his rambling, and Hiccup felt his blush deepen. At least I'm wearing my helmet, so she can't see, Hiccup thought to himself. But looking over at Astrid, he was pretty sure it didn't matter if she could see his face. She was still struggling not to laugh at him.

"Stop laughing," Hiccup mumbled to Toothless, kicking the dragon halfheartedly with his good foot.

Once she got a handle on her laughter, Astrid mercifully changed the subject. "How come everybody knew my name? When you were still unconscious, all your riders already knew who I was."

"I told them about you when I got you letter," Hiccup responded. "Gave them a general idea of who you were, what you looked like, and how you knew who I was. So, if you were extra violent that probably gave you away."

Hiccup got a hard punch in the shoulder for that last bit.

"Ow!" He almost slid off Toothless from the force of her blow, but managed to right himself. "See what I mean?"

Toothless warbled lightly in agreement as they stopped in front of the forge entrance.

Hiccup rubbed his shoulder, and shot Astrid a playful glare. "You have anger issues."

"You're too sensitive," Astrid said dismissively, fighting against a smile.

"Just one of the many things you love about me," Hiccup joked, sliding of Toothless's back and steadying himself.

Astrid looked him up and down suggestively and said, "One of them." Then she walked into the forge without another word, swinging her hips.

"Wha—" Hiccup started, but that was all he could manage. He looked to Toothless for help. The dragon shrugged unhelpfully.

Hiccup shook his head. "Whatever, let's just go inside."


Strange things were happening these days. Change had been in the air for years now, but they'd been held in suspense for a year now, ever since Hiccup left. Gobber had been on edge ever since, waiting for that change. And now, here it was. Probably the biggest change anyone could deliver on the Viking world had slammed down on them in the space of a week. Dragons were not their enemies anymore.

But there was something else. Gobber was sure that the changes weren't finished. Their hero and his Night Fury weren't done revolutionizing the Barbaric Archipelago, leaving Vikings in shock as they went. Gobber was also desperately hoping Hiccup would show up somewhere. The Blacksmith was disappointed that Hiccup wasn't already in the thick of it, he'd always thought that's exactly where Hiccup would be; in the middle of everything.

Then Astrid came into the forge, distracting Gobber from his work. "Good afternoon, Gobber!" she greeted a little too cheerfully.

Gobber raised his eyebrow. Astrid had always been serious and a little reserved, but even more so in the last year, except with Ruffnut. It was strange to see her so upbeat. "Good afternoon, lass."

"I've brought Thorir, Gobber," Astrid said, motioning behind her. "He's here so you can see about making him a leg."

Gobber looked behind her and saw the masked Viking enter, leaning on his dragon for support. Gobber couldn't see much through the mask but he was pretty skilled at reading body language. His reading told him that Thorir was tense.

Gobber was tense too. Enemy or not, a dragon was a dragon, and Gobber wasn't inclined to get cuddly with them just yet. But Gobber tried to set that aside, for the sake of work, and attempted to be slightly friendly. "Well, good to meet you, Thorir. I'm Gobber, Berk's blacksmith."

Thorir nodded wordlessly.

"Well, come on over and sit, so I can take a look at that leg," Gobber said, waving him over while Astrid smiled encouragingly at Thorir.

"What's left of it," Thorir muttered under his breath, so quietly Gobber almost missed it.

"Och, don't complain, you got a good three fourths of it left," Gobber answered, grinning when Thorir jumped in surprise, evidently not expecting anyone to hear that.

Astrid chuckled, which was weird in and of itself, but then the dragon laughed. Gobber could only stare as the unholy offspring of lightning made a huffing-growling sound that was unmistakably laughter. Gobber's thoughts were confirmed when Thorir swatted the dragon's ear (at least, Gobber thought it was an ear) and whined, "Don't laugh, Toothless."

"Toothless?!" Gobber exclaimed. Who would name a Night Fury 'Toothless'?

Thorir looked up and now he was close enough for Gobber to see his green eyes widen with surprise. "What?"

"You named the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death' 'Toothless'?!" Gobber, said, gobsmacked.

Thorir chuckled and patted the Night Fury—Toothless—on the head. "Oh, he's nothing but an overgrown kitten, Gobber. Besides..."

Here Thorir proceeded to open the dragon's mouth, even while the beast glared at him, and push the dragon's teeth into his gums. "See? He's toothless."

Gobber's eyes flickered between the calm young Viking and the irritated toothless Night Fury. "You're not worried that he'll bite your hand off?"

"He would never," Thorir laughed, and Toothless narrowed his eyes. Faster than Gobber could warn him, Thorir was knocked to the floor by the Night Fury and…

"Tho – "

… covered in dragon slobber.

"Toothl – ! Ew! No, Toothless! Agh!"

Astrid started snickering in the background, and Gobber could only watch in astonishment as one of the most feared dragons of all time covered Thorir's torso in a thick coating of saliva. The dragon made sure to slobber all over his helmet as well, making Thorir squeak when the goo got into the eye holes.

"No, Toothless!" Thorir squealed un-Vikingly, squirming underneath the dragon and pushing futilely against the dragon's chest. As he struggled the dragon got his nose into exposed neck; cue more disgusted sounds from Thorir.

The dragon's revenge lasted at least another two minutes in which Gobber continued to stare and Astrid collapsed against the wall giggling. At last Thorir got his breath and yelled, "Okay, I give in! You're not a kitten! You're ferocious!"

Mollified, Toothless sat back and allowed Thorir to catch his breath. The dragon rider sat up, dripping dragon spit. He glared at the dragon. "I hate you."

Toothless laughed at him.

In response, Thorir flicked some of the Night Fury's own slobber back into his face. The dragon jerked back in surprise, then glared at Thorir. He then proceeded to wash the saliva off his face with his paw—just like a cat.

Gobber finally broke out of his trance and decided it was time to move on. Stepping over, Gobber lifted Thorir off the floor and onto his feet by his arm. He was heavier than expected, but still extremely light for a Viking. Gobber helped him over to the bench and didn't let go until he was completely settled, straddling the bench with his missing foot easily accessible. When he pulled away his hand was covered in dragon slobber.

"Sorry," Thorir apologized, voice muffled by his mask, and began to wring slobber out of his shirt.

"Ack, it's nothing," Gobber said and grabbed a rag to wipe off the dragon goo. "Now, let's see what we can do about a peg for you."

Astrid left, presumably to go find Ruffnut, while Gobber measured the size of Thorir's stump and how tall the peg would need to be. The dragon settled along one of the walls and appeared to doze, but Gobber knew the beast was still watching them carefully; he knew because he was doing the same thing.

"You know, you're rather small for a Viking," Gobber commented as he worked.

Thorir tensed a little but said, "Yeah, I know."

"In fact, most of your group is little," Gobber mused, and asked in a joking manner, "Didja go around looking for the smallest Vikings you could find?"

Thorir snorted. "No. Just the misfits."

Gobber glance up at Thorir's emotionless black mask, knowing that this was the segway into the question he'd been wanting to ask for a long time, and continued cautiously. "Speaking of mistfits… you wouldn't have happened to run into a lad name Hiccup? Probably had a Monstrous Nightmare with him. Sarcastic, green eyes, smaller than you, sound familiar?"

"No," Thorir replied quickly, his tone terse. "It doesn't."

Gobber stood up, done with his measurements, and looked sternly down at the dragon rider. "People aren't generally my department, but we both know that's a boldface lie right there, Thorir."

Thorir's shoulders slumped, but he didn't rectify his answer.

Gobber didn't want to let the subject go, but he desperately needed to know. "Just… is he alive and well?"

Thorir hesitated and then said slowly, "I don't know about 'well' but… he's alive."

"Why wasn't he with your group of dragon riders?" Gobber probed, unwilling to let the topic go.

"Who says he wasn't?" Thorir asked sharply.

"I do," Gobber responded confidently. "You had two Monstrous Nightmares, and neither of them could've been Hiccup."

"How would you know?" Thorir asked curiously, and Gobber took it as a positive sign that he didn't negate his statement.

"Well, for starters, one of them was a girl," Gobber explained, his dry observation earning him a light chuckle. "And the other was a bit big for Hiccup. Even if he had grown that much since I last saw him, which I don't think he did, that other boy didn't carry himself the same way."

"You could tell he wasn't Hiccup by the way he walked?" Thorir said dubiously.

Unfazed by Thorir's doubt, Gobber nodded. "Of course. Your rider looked a bit arrogant. He walked like he was very self-confident and very self-centered. Hiccup had no self-confidence and not a selfish bone in his body, which you'd know if you'd met him. Plus he'd always be looking around, very aware of his surroundings. Your rider wasn't like that."

"Wow," Thorir said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Well then? Where was Hiccup?" Gobber prodded.

"Er…" Thorir glanced at his dragon, who whuffed in response to some unspoken question, then said hesitantly. "Well, he doesn't like to stay in one place. He mostly keeps to himself and his dragon."

"Do you see him often?" Gobber asked.

Thorir shrugged, and Gobber got the distinct impression he was uncomfortable. "Often enough. Why?"

"Well…" Gobber trailed off, wondering what exactly he wanted to ask. For Thorir to send Hiccup home? To just give him a message? To know where he was? "Well, next time you see him, would you tell him that people don't hate him so much as he thinks?"

"I will," Thorir promised slowly. "But I doubt he'll believe that."

Gobber pressed his mouth into a thin line. "Well, then tell him I don't hate him at all, and he's welcome here whenever."

Thorir didn't say anything for a moment, before finally answering. "I know he'll appreciate that."

Gobber grinned. "Good. Now, let's get to making that leg."

"Uh, actually, Gobber, I have a bit of a special request…"


Tuffnut wasn't usually one for talking, that was a Fishlegs thing and a Hiccup thing. But today, he found himself talking for hours. In fact, he spent most of the day talking. So much talking his throat got dry. What was he talking about? Well, just the last couple of weeks. He and Ruffnut found a secluded spot on the island, landed Staticzapboom, and swapped stories. Tuffnut went into great detail about Dragon Training Hiccup Style, and of course, how he ended up losing his awesome dreadlocks. And then Ruffnut brought him up to date about all the pranks she had pulled whilst he was gone. It turned out Astrid was actually a very good asset. The two girls never got caught because Astrid refused to go in without a foolproof execution and escape plan. And then Tuffnut told her all the things he'd learned that were actually cool about Hiccup (aside from his destructive powers during the dragon raids).

So, for the first time in his life, Tuffnut spent the day talking. Okay, it was just the morning and then a good portion of the afternoon. But that was still a lot of talking to Tuffnut. So he was a little bit glad that he was required not to talk/talk very little when they got back to the village.

"Hiccup and Astrid will probably be in the forge by now," Ruffnut told him as they walked into town. "Astrid said they were going to go see Gobber about a fake foot."

Tuffnut nodded under his helmet, and followed Ruffnut through Berk. They passed by the docks and saw that most of the other chiefs had already left, with only a few still packing up for their departure.

"Hey, guys!" Astrid called, appearing quite suddenly next to the twins.

Both Thorston's jumped. "Odin's beard, Astrid!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "Don't sneak up like that!"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I've been looking everywhere for you guys. Where were you?"

"Talkin'," Ruffnut responded casually. "Is he up?"

"Yeah, he and Gobber are working on a prosthetic for him so that he can go home," Astrid explained. "I was gonna tell you guys then go find everyone else."

"Let's go find the others then!" Ruffnut declared and the three set off.


"Laddie, did you ever consider become a blacksmith?" Gobber asked as he stared at Hiccup's sketch.

Hiccup shifted a little, hoping Gobber wouldn't catch on to who he was, despite their earlier conversation about… himself. "Uh, I think I'll leave that to Hiccup," Hiccup replied carefully in his accent.

Gobber chuckled in wonderment. "Well, he's certainly been rubbing off on you. These details are amazing."

Hiccup wouldn't help but smile under his helmet. If only he knew. Wait, what if he did know? Gobber had said he didn't hate him… would it really do any harm? But then, he had just said, quite explicitly, that he wasn't Hiccup; had outright lied to his Gobber's face. Maybe later…

"Well, let's build it then," Hiccup said instead.

The two of them spent the next few hours on 'Thorir's' prosthetic and a matching pedal for Toothless's rigging. Hiccup did his best not to be too familiar with the inner workings of a forge, and every time he slipped up he brushed it off as spending time helping Hiccup and Drott make saddles and weapons and such. The sun was low on her downward slide by the time they finished. It wasn't perfect since they had rushed a little bit through the process, but it would last Hiccup and Toothless a while until Hiccup designed a new one. Drott had brought Toothless's rigging earlier and helped them attach (and adjust) the new pedal.

About that time the rest of Hiccup's scraggly gang burst into the forge, Ruffnut in the lead.

"H—hi, Thorir! They said I can't have a dragon until you say so!" Ruffnut complained.

"Uhhh…." was the intelligible sound Hiccup could manage.

"I don't think you need another destructive partner, lassie," Gobber said, before Hiccup could gather his wits.

"But Astrid wants a dragon too!" Ruffnut said, waving a hand back as Astrid.

"That may not be such a good idea," Gobber said, directing his comment half toward Ruffnut and half toward Hiccup.

Hiccup understood his reluctance. A dragon and a Thorston? Mayhem. Although, he'd already done that.

"Hey! You gave these loonies dragons," Ruffnut argued, gesturing at the rest of the dragon riders, though Hiccup knew she was really talking about Tuffnut.

"Uh, well…" Hiccup glanced at Gobber.

The old smith shrugged and stood up. "Well, I'm off to dinner. I'll let you figure this one out."

Once Gobber was out the door, Hiccup leaped at the opportunity to take his helmet off. Working in the forge was bad enough heat-wise, but the helmet just exacerbated the problem. As he wiped the sweat off his forehead he saw the rest of the dragon riders follow suit.

"Actually I've been already been thinking about that, Ruffnut," Hiccup said, setting the helmet in front of his on the bench.

"So I can have one?!" Ruffnut asked, eyes lighting up.

Hiccup chuckled at her reaction. He hated to burst her bubble, but this was important. "Eventually."

Ruffnut's face fell, and Astrid asked, "What do you mean 'eventually'?"

"I mean I have something I want you guys to do first," Hiccup elaborated. "The chiefs are all going to give me their official response at the next Thing, but I'm not sure if I've totally convinced my, uh, Chief Stoick."

"So you want us to try and make people a little more favorable toward dragons," Astrid finished.

Hiccup nodded.

Ruffnut looked torn between accepting an important job and wanting to get a dragon now.

"Then, after the Thing, you guys can get dragons without being labeled traitors," Hiccup added.

"That's half the fun though!" Ruffnut exclaimed.

Hiccup looked helplessly at Tuffnut. Ruffnut's twin was nodding along with his sister's comment. But then Lodin elbowed him for Hiccup and he snapped out of it.

"Oh, uh…" Tuffnut stumbled, then punched Ruffnut in the shoulder. "I'm the traitor! We can't both be traitors!"

"Why not?" Ruffnut said petulantly.

"Because… well… because… " Tuffnut said, but he was unable to think of a response. So, he did what anyone would who knew the twins would expect. He punched her in the face.

"Hey!"

Cue full blown wrestling match. The rest of the dragon riders looked faintly alarmed while Hiccup and Astrid just rolled their eyes. So predictable. And to think, Hiccup thought Tuffnut might have matured past this point. That was obviously too much to hope for.

"Uh, should we separate them?" Aesa asked uncertainly as the twins grappled.

Hiccup sighed and caught Astrid's eye. Through unspoken agreement they both yelled, "GUYS!" in their best large-and-in-charge voices. Surprisingly, it worked.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked up from the floor and said, "What?"

Hiccup sighed again. "Just do this one thing for me, Ruff? Please?"

Ruffnut huffed and got off her brother. "Fine. Since you asked nicely. But I better get a really cool dragon."

Hiccup smiled in exasperated fondness. "Sure, Ruff, whatever you want."


With the consent of Chief Stoick, the dragon riders stayed one more night on Berk. They went to bed early, got up early, and left before the sun completely cleared the horizon. Well, most of them went to bed early. Tuffnut couldn't exactly pass up the opportunity to pull a prank with Ruffnut.


A/N: I'M SORRY! I'M REALLY REALLY REALLY SORRY! I didn't mean to leave you guys hanging for so long. Time just got away from me :/ I'll try not to do that to you guys again. Ugh, life. So... please don't kill me? Anyway... I'm at a bit of a crossroads with this story. one guest pointed out that it is possible that I could lose interest in this fic and not-pretty things would happen. Now, despite my initial response being "pft, I would never do that", they do have a point. It happened with a few fics from my previous fandoms. So you guys have 2 options...

Option1: I can wrap up this story in 1 or 2 chapter, reveal Hiccup and Tuffnut's identities, get the dragons more or less accepted by the Vikings and on their way to integration, and maybe throw in some Hicctrid for ya. Then you can get a satisfying ending and wash your hands of this AU. Or...

Option2: I can continue this story into the great unknowns of my evil plot bunnies (trust me, some of them are really Evil). You'll get more Tuff/Skrill/Hic/Tooth adventures, probably some angst, lotsa action for sure, Alvin the Treacherous, general grief for our favorite dragon riders, maybe Valka and Drago if I can fit 'em in, and someone may or may not be crowned king *shrugs* It could happen.

Option1.5(the one you didn't see coming:P): Or I can wrap up this story in 1 or 2 chapters and leave it open for a sequel that you have about a 50/50 chance of actually getting. It'll be a little more resolved than option2 and a little less than option1.

This is entirely up to you guys. I'm game for option2 if you are, but fine with option1/1.5 if you would rather. I have plenty of other plot bunnies running around. You can give me your thoughts in a review or go vote in the poll I'm gonna set up on my profile. It's all up to you. Thanks for sticking with me this far, guys!

angryhenry: Thanks :)

blue mountain fairy: Aw, thanks *blushes*

sierra: Did I explain everything? And yes, it was fun to humiliate Dagur a little :P And, to be honest, I'm still on the fence about when Stoick finds out. I'm still working on that.

hiccupisnotuseless: Hmm, I actually never thought of making Dagur and Norbert related. I honestly just never thought of it. I'll see if I can work it in somewhere, but it may not be relevant, we'll see. I'm glad you're enjoying Tuff :) Not much of him in this chapter unfortunately, but hopefully I can get that fixed soon. I have Gobber, here but I'll see about putting in a POV from Snotlout :)

61349: Yep, my thoughts exactly.

faisyah865: Heh *gulps* please don't hurt me! *whimpers* It's all school's fault...

NTYTekHTTYDFan: Thanks :D

Guest: Hmm, you make a good point. But adding characters like Skauldy will require more plot. We'll see what everyone else thinks. Thanks for your input :)

Flybykid: Haha, you're welcome. It was fun to put Dagur down. Honestly, I'm still working out exactly when Hiccup's identity will get revealed... And, yeah, that's probably it. Just goes to show how weird my mind is though :P

dragoncreators: :D Of course he is. He's Hiccup :D

God of Spirits-Spirit Black: I'm wondering the same thing too...

Itban Fuyu: Hmm, I may end up doing a little more of a beating later... But I'll need to build up to it ;) So Gobber asked about Hiccup, but I think Stoick might ask next chapter. Maybe. We'll see ;) I'm so glad my updates make you happy. Your review make me happy!

Bteam: :D

JercyFics14: Haha, well, sorry, but I already named it. Thanks for your input though :)

ramen-luver101: S'okay, I'm glad you're liking them :D

Guest: In the movie he's 15 (he's 20 in HTTYD2 and that's 5 years later, so math), and this story is about a year after the movie, so he's 16. :) Thanks for your review.

Rayne Arianna Maranochi: Thanks? I'm glad you're interested.

Spiros The Dragon Whisper: No, pressure is good! Pressure reminds me to get off my lazy backside and write XD Sorry, I just forget that people actually like my story and wait for it like I do with some stories. Again, apologies for the wait.

Reko-Luna: I've been thinking about her. Still trying to figure how exactly I want to fit her in. Obviously they can do a lot of a flying around without running into her though, since Hiccup had been exploring for the better part of 5 years and never even heard of her.

twilightserius: More will come :)