Okay... THE STORY WILL HAVE HICCSTRID, OKAY? FLUFF WILL APPEAR LATER IN THE STORY! You can't just have Hiccup coming back to Berk after a dysfunctional arrival then just liking Astrid!

Okay, sorry, got a little mad. Been gone for a while - watching anime and reading manga :)

The relationship between Hiccup and Matthew is brotherly and best friend-ly, mixed together. Same with Percival. Someone PMd me and asked if there would be HiccupxMatthew or HiccupxPercival. NO. NO. NO. I SHIP HICCSTRID (99% of me. 1% ships HiccupxOC, but only if the story is good).

Dragonboy111: Okay, what on earth do you mean? The thing you said about Astrid is kinda true, though.

Guest: (who asked about Hiccstrid) Yes, I have! In Chapter 10, I said there would be Hiccstrid. If you read the first lines, then you'll see there's your question answered.

Httydlover28: Are you Httydmiraculousfan28? Thanks for the support! You've got a good new name too. I'm a fan of Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Anyways, my mail says that I got a review from you recently, but it doesn't show up and I can't read the full one. Can you put in the review again? If you didn't review, that's fine... but still...

AnimeandDragonfan54: Thanks! I am afraid that your questions cannot be answered in this chapter, though...

Yeah, chappie's kinda short, but... *shrugs* I promise that I'll make the chapters longer next time. 48 favourites and 66 followers? Thanks for all the continued support, dear readers! Let's make all the favourites and follows 100, huh? What do you say? Course, I'm not forcing you to do it, but this is new for me...

Sorry for the short chapter. I will make it up with a longer chapter next time.

Enjoy!

Chapter 12 - In the Cove

"Agh!"

"Hiccup, please calm down, or -"

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Seriously, Matthew, d'you think this is a situation where I just simply calm down? He tried to kill me, he tried to kill Toothless, and I think he was trying to kill you and Percival too! Now the plan is ruined, and Percival's captured, you hear me?" The young man cursed angrily, kicking nearby trees with his prosthetic. He raised his fist to the night sky and yelled, "WHY DO THE GODS HATE ME?"

Matthew's voice was calm, but he too looked angry, even though he tried his best not to look enraged. He was sitting by the fire, tapping against his dragonite crystal sword thoughtfully. They were resting in the Cove. "Hiccup, stop shouting and for goodness's sake, you better calm down. Shouting will only make us be easier to find." He stroked Swiftclaw, who had a scratch the size of a charcoal pencil close to his head, from the sharp edge of the bolas.

"We can't leave because Percival's gone, and our dragons are tired from the journey." Hiccup sighed. "Why did I go back? Why? This was a mistake, Matt, I'm so stupid! I would've chosen to have lifelong nightmares than go back to Berk, if I was given another chance. Now one of my best friends happen to be captured, for the gods' sake, so we can't leave without him! And if we go back to Berk's village, they'll easily find us."

"Hiccup - I mean, Erik, well, calm down, and sit by the fire."

Hiccup sighed, and picked up a few rocks and threw them into the lake in frustration. Toothless was exhausted, but he seemed to have managed to catch a pile of fish. Matthew and Hiccup took a salmon each and placed them on sticks, and held them towards the fire.

"I understand what it feels," Matthew said wistfully. "But don't worry, we're going to get him back. We set up some camp for the night - well, we better set up camp? We're all stupidly tired from the long flight. I mean, we've been sitting on our dragons for what it seems like forever. Besides, we're hungry. I promise we'll get him back. But not today. It's risky."

Hiccup finally managed to smile. Yes, Matthew had a way of calming people down. Probably because he was quiet and calm himself. He looked at the stick he was holding and said, "He tried to kill me, Matt. Tried to kill me!"

"Well, he didn't know who you are," replied Matthew.

"And did you see Astrid?"

"Who?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know... that blonde woman who shot me down and attacked you."

"Oh - her," Matthew said. He said it as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. "What about Astrid?"

"She shot me down. With my stupid bola cannon thing."

"Bola cannon thing?"

"Remember how I said I shot down Toothless? She used the same thing to shoot me down. They tried to kill me..." Hiccup's voice wavered away. He had hoped in his heart that Stoick would recognise him. Or Fishlegs. Or Astrid. Or maybe possible even Snotlout. No-one recognised him. Sweat prickled down Hiccup's forehead. Now Percy's gone, what'll happen next?

"Well, to be honest, you were riding a dragon, and so were we," said Matthew. "And dragon's happen to be Berk's sworn mortal enemy for... what did you say? Oh yes - 300 years. And the fact you had a flaming sword and we all had our weapons out. He perceived you to be a threat. Well, all of us." He placed his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll get Percival back. And if those Vikings try to stop us, they'll have to say hello to Swiftclaw and Toothless."

Hiccup didn't feel like replying. Yes, Stoick didn't happen to know that it was his son. He was riding on a dragon, which was an enemy of the Vikings. One reason Hiccup had run away was because he was scared of killing the Nightmare, scared that his father would find out about Toothless and kill him - Toothless, his best friend before Matthew and Percival came into his life.

He thought of Andiron and the rest of the Golden Blade guild. Well, wish they could see where the three greatest riders of the guild are now... he thought bitterly. He missed them, no doubt - but he left them for heaps of reasons. One - bringing too much riders would cause plenty of commotion. He only wanted to bring Percival and Matthew - just Percival and Matthew. Two - It wasn't their problem to deal with. Okay, it was Hiccup's problem, but he knew Matthew and Percival longer than anyone else who lived on Terra Dracones. Andiron was the fourth one, and he met Marcus not a while after that. Minna came one or two years later, and Hiccup had met her while she was preparing for her Initiation as an official dragon rider of Terra Dracones. And the Triplets - Hiccup met them just a year ago - when they were twelve, and Hiccup nineteen. He remembered Andiron pleading to let the Triplets in a year later, even though they were too young for Initiation, because of their great dragon riding skills.

Well, I really wish at least one of the guild is here, thought Hiccup.

Sighing, he said, "We're getting Percival back tomorrow night."

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Without a plan?"

"Don't be daft, course I've got a plan," replied Hiccup.

"They didn't see you without your mask off," said Matthew. "Nor me without my hood. So-"

"The prison is guarded! What you expect me to go up to the guards and say, 'Oh, hey, just here to release your prisoner. Is that fine with you? By the way, your Chief shot me and him and another guy down and fought with us. Now he thinks we're enemies. And just a little pointer - I'm Hiccup, by the way - you know, son of the Chief, the guy who supposedly died five years ago. Just want to, I don't know, mention that in passing. Can you let him go now?'"

"I mean, sneak in, you idiot, not just walk in. Diversions, you know. Distractions." Matthew, who had consumed all his fish, placed the stick to the side and tapped his chin thoughtfully. Then he looked at Hiccup. "You do know where the prison is?"

"Yeah," then he lowered his voice, "Dagur used to imprison me there during the Berserker peace treaty thingy." He shuddered. It had been a long time since he met Dagur. He'd said that when he grew up to be Chief, he would be Dagur "the Deranged". He was a big bully to Hiccup - when he tried to drown him, when he had used him as a knife target, when Hiccup had almost drowned because of the son of Oswald the Agreeable, Chief of the Berserker tribe.

"It's okay. 'Cause there won't be any crazy Vikings there to arrest you," said Matthew. "Besides, your dad will have a heart attack when he finds out that you're his son."

His son. Hiccup shuddered at the thought. What if Stoick didn't want Hiccup to be his son anymore? What if he had disowned him for being a coward - running away, because of being scared to kill a dragon? It wasn't just that - Hiccup had been abused, physically and verbally. But still... there was a little chance that Stoick would be happy to see his son, back from the dead. If Hiccup helped end the dragon war, maybe Stoick would be proud and invite Hiccup back into the family.

There was some silence as Hiccup gazed at the fire. It was bright orange and yellow, with its flickering fiery flames. He instantly thought of dragons, how their fire destroyed the houses on Berk. Houses in Terra Dracones were never destroyed by dragons; they were made of fireproof material; besides, the dragons didn't and never attempted to destroy the houses anyways.

He thought of Percival being taken away. What would they do to his best friend? They could really use his smiling face right now.

When they had finished dinner, Matthew grabbed a bucket of water and extinguished the fire, explaining that it could be dangerous to leave it burning while asleep, and that the Vikings could easily find them. He laid down, leaning on Swiftclaw, and Swiftclaw placed his wings around his rider to keep him warm and safe. Then Hiccup noticed Matthew was asleep.

He yawned. Yes, he was sleepy. Toothless gave out a dragon yawn. Hiccup looked around, and said, "Remember this, bud? Remember the Cove?"

Toothless purred tiredly, as if to say, Of course I do.

"We..." Hiccup lowered his voice. "We ran away from Berk here. Remember how I said we were leaving forever? Well, things don't always go according to plan. We're back here, aren't we?"

Sighing, Hiccup thought, We're back. Although it was a mistake to do it, me and Toothless came back. Thoughts about Percival, and Astrid and Stoick and other things whirled in his head, but he sighed and then thought, Guess I should go and rest. I am tired, after all.

He laid down the same way Matthew had did, and Toothless closed his wings around Hiccup, who fell into instant sleep.