AN: Hello my fellow readers. Firstly, I'd like to inform all of you that, given my restricted time because of uni and some other personal issues (207 days since I found out about my depression being one) I have decided to change this story's updating schedule. At least, there will be an update once per month, with the chapters being between 6000 and 10000 words, isntead of one perk week with the chapter being between 2000 and 4000 words. That way I'll have more time to work on it-and on my will to work on it too-while you my dear readers won't be prejudiced by any inconveniences that may happen with me.
This review response will be especially different from the other chapters. I acknowledge last chapter came bugged, and fixed the issue while also letting an AN thanking everyone that kindly warned me of the bug either through a review or a PM. That said, the reviews I'll be answering here will be regarding the last chapter's content.
On Silver Wings: Regarding your commenting about the words I used to describe the Arena, I thank you very much for the observation you did. Also, I'm very happy that not only you liked my chapter but also that you found it deeply enjoyable. I hope you like this chapter as well.
NightsAnger: An awful pun, but an awful smart pun. I honestly didn't expect to see any puns when I published it, and also I found it quite amusing. I hope you like this chapter as you liked the last one.
Scorpion6955: You really think my grammar has improved? Well, that would be probably because of the tips many authors has given me these past months. I do am, however, very happy to hear this, since it is something I've been aiming for the moment I started writing this story. Regarding the thesaurus I still don't believe that, after you betaread this chapter, you waited days until I published it just to tell me that. It was mean! :P
T-Biggz: Thank you. I really wanted Hiccup's methods with dealing with those two to be as different as possible from one another, and especially from the movie. His way with dealing with the Snaptrapper came quite easily when I started to write the dragons as intelligent creatures, instead of the more animalistic look the movie gives the,. Your assumption is neither right nor wrong. I don't wish to share any information, spoilers apart obviously, because I don't wish to disappoint you. All I can say is that you shouldn't throw away both options.
WanderingReader10: Sounds like you just wandered into my story when I missed up-okay, that was a horrible pun. Anyway, thank you for being understanding, and for wishing me luck on uni. It's being a bit hard to adapt, but I think I'm already finding my place in there.
So, without further ado:
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When both of them were inches apart, one of the heads looked at him in the eyes. He felt pretty much the same way when Toothless first pinned him down after the Night Fury was freed from the boles. He had felt like the reptile could see directly into his soul, making him feel very vulnerable, and he was feeling the same at this moment.
They stood like this for only a few seconds, until the silence was broken by a distant call. Both Hiccup and the dragon turned to look at the direction of the noise, before looking back at each other.
Sensing they came to a rather hasty agreement, the dragon head nodded and lowered to the ground, while another motioned for him to climb up. Hiccup, already weakened by the poison, climbed with the help of a third head. After that the dragon hurried, although surprisingly silently, back to its cage. When they were at his door, the head carrying Hiccup stretched high enough so the boy could pass through the chains. Once up there, he turned to look at the dragon and gave him a nod.
The dragon nodded back, all heads doing so, and entered the cage. Using the outside lever, he locked the cage, and hurried to the cove as fast as he could. Even though he barely began running his breathing was already uneven and his vision was already blurring. Luckily, he managed to reach the cove without stumbling too much, or passing out, and quickly went down.
There, Toothless happily greeted him. His demeanor didn't last long when his snout caught the scent of poison coming from Hiccup. He quickly went to his side, and Hiccup put the unbitten arm around Toothless' neck as a support. While offering a weak smile he spoke with his dragon, "It w-worked. The S-Snaptrapper is safe a-and no o-one is hurt b-back t-there," he told Toothless, his stuttering getting worse since the poison was imbibing itself deeper into his body. The dragon grunted in disagreement, looking at Hiccup's wounded arm with disapproval wretched on his face.
"W-well, except for m-me. Your s-saliva has healing p-properties; I n-need you t-to use it o-on my w-wound. I t-think it'll c-cure the p-poison," he explained once he sat on the ground and leaned against a rock. Toothless looked worriedly at him, and while Hiccup thought it was because of the poison, the night dragon worried about something else.
007
I eyed the hatchling worried. He probably figured this out as a result of the previous times he woke up wet by my saliva. I wanted to be happy to help him, and that his plan succeeded-well mostly-but I was also worried of using my saliva. The only times I used were when he was unconscious, and he still felt pain. I didn't know if using while awake would be more painful than asleep.
007
"Toothless, p-please b-bud, I n-need you t-to d-do t-this," he said, almost begging, as he took off his bracket and rolled his sleeve up. The bite had unfortunately been just above his armpit, where he had no armor. Had it been slightly lower, the mouth would have bitten the bracket. He mused that his streaking luck ran out that moment. Fortunately Toothless eventually complied, but not without hesitating a moment to lick the wound.
When Hiccup's head swayed a little because of his dizziness, Toothless licked his wound. Hiccup bit his lips and closed his mouth as he felt a sudden burst of pain, but didn't complain out loud. Toothless felt his friend's distress, but took his silence as a cue to continue the licking until the dragon deemed safe to stop.
When Toothless was finally finished, Hiccup's knuckles and lips were white, and he was panting heavily. The dragon looked him in the eyes and Hiccup patted his head while smiling. "Thanks b-bud. You think you c-could wake me up a-after a while? I t-think they'll be searching f-for me very soon," he asked Toothless, his stuttering decreasing as a sign that the dragon's saliva was indeed working as an antidote.
The dragon happily took him in and wrapped one of his wings around Hiccup, acting like a blanket. "Can't h-have Heather track me down, c-can we bud?" he said, before drifting to sleep. Toothless remained vigilant while his friend rested to recover from his injury.
007
When Hiccup woke up, he was happy to see that the sun had moved little from the last time he had seen. That meant not much time has passed since he fell asleep. He also felt a lot better; his dizziness was gone and the world no longer was turning in circles. He patted Toothless' wing so the dragon would lift it and stretched out the little sleep left on his bones.
Once standing, he spoke to the dragon: "So, I'll hopefully be able to return later. Maybe if I come, we'll try to work out your tail. What do you think bud?" he asked, and Toothless bounced around the cove, acting like a happy puppy as an answer. Hiccup laughed carefree at his dragon's antic. He also laughed because he was no longer stuttering, meaning there was no poison inside his body anymore.
"I'll be back Toothless, probably," he said, waving to the dragon, before he left the cove. He decided to go to his house and change his tunic, since probably Heather was on his heels, and would interrogate him the moment she would see bloodstains and a rip in the tunic he was wearing.
He reached his house and entered through the back door quietly, thankful that no one saw him.
Quickly, he climbed the stairs and entered his room. As soon as he was inside, he took off his fur coat and tunic, and then proceeded to take a new tunic. He hid the older one under his bed and wrote a note on his desk to mend the gash later. He vested back his fur coat and took his journal, guarding it inside the coat. His objective was to go to the forge and improve his brackets…
…Which only now he noticed that he left on the cove. He gave an exasperated sigh, and made a mental note to retrieve it the next time he visits Toothless. He was about to leave his house when his stomach growled in hunger, reminding him that his body, albeit healed, had not had food since before Training. Quickly, he went to the kitchen to cook some fish to satisfy his hunger. After cooking it he sat and began to eat slowly, enjoying the silence of the house. While he was eating he heard a knock on the door, too gentle to be from Gobber, unfortunately breaking the silence.
"Come in," he said after sighing, and before continuing eating. He wouldn't tell whoever it was to go away, even though he surely enjoyed the brief quietude. The person which entered the house was none other than Heather, wearing a slightly angry expression. Hiccup considered lucky that he was drinking water, because he gulped the moment he saw her face.
"Would you like to tell me where in the Nine Realms have you been? Gobber was searching for you in that arena for half an hour and even considered opening the Snaptrapper cage to see if you were stuck inside there. I'd have encouraged him had I not seen you come from the forest to your house," she spoke with a demanding tone that rivaled Stoick's voice.
"Well…" he started while rubbing his neck. "The Snaptrapper trapped himself inside the cage, and I just locked it. I got out of the arena, but I guess you and Gobber were busy with the teens. Speaking of which, how are them?" he asked a bit shyly, while purposely dodging her question.
He thought of asking specifically about Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout since he hadn't seen them any moment inside the arena, but guessed that, by not being specific, he would cover fairly well his lack of knowledge about their whereabouts.
Her gaze softened a little before she sighed, her face suddenly looking very tired. She took a chair on the other side of the table and sat on it. "They're fine. Fishlegs surprisingly had no concerning scratches, but was hyperventilating. Astrid had a slight concussion, but she will be fine. Tuff, Ruff and Snotlout were all poisoned inside there. I gave them the medicine, and now they're resting in the hut." She explained, exhaustion dripping clear from her.
Hiccup felt sympathy for his friend that moment, and was also relieved that Toothless' saliva worked out, even though it had been painful. He didn't want Heather to have any more work to do besides what she already had.
"And you? Have you been bitten back at the Arena?" she asked in concern, before narrowing her eyes, "And would you like to tell me why Fishlegs is saying you singled that dragon all by yourself?" she half-asked, half-demanded using an uncharacteristic harsh tone while crossing her arms.
"Well, if I had been bitten, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Hiccup answered with his usual sarcasm. Heather merely facepalmed, feeling at a loss at how to put some sense inside the boy's head. "A-and Fishlegs is telling the truth. I-I had to tackle Astrid since she had been reckless enough to fight head-on the dragon alone."
Heather laughed at the irony of Reckless speaking of someone being reckless. Hiccup paused, and it didn't take long for him to understand why the girl was laughing. "Anyway, if I hadn't done that, she would have been another person for you to have in your hut," he finished explaining with a soft, understanding tone.
She just closed her eyes while leaning on her hand. She couldn't really be mad at Hiccup when he practically saved a fellow tribesman, and saved her of having more people to treat poison sickness. "Well, that explains why she has a concussion, and why Fishlegs was so nervous." Her eyes opened, as if she remembered something. "Also, Astrid wants to talk to you, perhaps to thank you for saving her, or something like that. She's in the hut with a block of ice."
Hiccup didn't really look forward to see the blonde, but nodded anyway. Heather stood up and walked to the door, ready to leave, but stopped. She turned to Hiccup and smile. "He also told me how you handled the situation while he followed you. Gobber and I are proud of you Hiccup, and I'm sure your father would also be," She spoke with a proud tone that Hiccup rarely has heard the brunette use.
With that she left the house to attend the unconscious teens.
007
007
Later that day Hiccup went to the healer's hut. He was afraid that not facing Astrid would result in being stalked by the girl, and the last thing he wanted was to face an enraged Valkyrie while sewing a harness and carrying a saddle.
When he entered the hut, he was met with the sigh of three young Vikings sleeping in the beds, along with a fourth one sitting on one of the farthest beds while holding a block of ice on her head. Hiccup slowly approached her with a likeness of the way he did with Toothless. Fortunately, she wasn't conscious enough to see him acting as if he was calming a wild dragon while being defenseless.
Once he was near her, she looked at him. It seemed that when he needed that rare confidence he found earlier in the arena, it was nowhere to be found. "H-Heather told me y-you wanted to talk," he said shyly. Not just that but it seemed to him that it was impossible to look directly at Astrid's eyes, so he decided to fix his gaze on the wall behind her.
"Yeah… you might want to sit though," she said in an uncharacteristic soft tone that surprised Hiccup. Coming to think he didn't even know if he ever heard Astrid talk any other way than the harsh tone she was known for among the tribe.
He did so, and waited for the blonde to talk. He did not notice, as he was evading Astrid's gaze, but she was pretty much doing the same, considering she was almost killed because of her pride, and no doubt caused large amount of pain earlier to Hiccup, if the way he ran out of the hut that day was of any indication.
"Look, I wanted to thank you for aiding me back there,"-Hiccup was fairly surprised, and a bit indignant at the word 'aid' since he pretty much saved her from being blacked out like the others, but he knew this is as far as Astrid Hofferson would go-"I acted recklessly by facing the dragon alone, and it could have been worse to me if you had not intervened," she admitted. Despite being the best between the teens, she acknowledged her mistakes, and this had been one of them.
"I also wanted to apologize"–she missed Hiccup's jaw drop and his mouth hang wide open- "For the things I told you that day in the arena. I was being too prideful to speak those things." Before she could speak anything else she was interrupted by Hiccup's voice.
"You don't need to apologize," he replied. "If anything I should be apologizing to you for almost killing you." Before she could protest he added "Even if unintentionally. Besides I don't remember what you said, so I bare no ill thoughts against you. If you want to hear something to ease your guilt, then just be careful with whatever you said back there. I have never known what makes me snap like that," he said.
Although he was trying to maintain a light tone to ease Astrid, she could faintly hear a sad and fearful note behind it, hidden his nonchalantly facade.
She wanted to complain, especially about Hiccup's forgiving nature. She made a mistake and she admitted it, and he should be harsh so the mistake wouldn't be repeated, not take the whole blame. "I'll let it pass if you do so. I have as much guilt in this as you. So there is no need to keep blaming yourself if you're willing to forgive me. Do we have a deal?" she said in a strong tone, so Hiccup wouldn't evade her demand. She extended a hand to seal the spoken deal.
Hiccup gave up as soon as he noticed Astrid had her mind already made up. It would be useless to try to discuss things, much like it is with his father. She was, next to his father, the most stubborn Viking he knew. With a sigh, he shook her hand, agreeing with the deal. An awkward silence fell between them as both still didn't meet each other's gaze. Fortunately, or not for Hiccup, it didn't last long, as a swift punch connected to his right arm.
"OWW, why would you do that?" he asked while rubbing his sore arm. This time, he looked at her in the eyes. Had he not been friends with Heather he would have wondered if violence was the only way a woman on Berk could communicate with anyone else.
"That's for giving me a concussion," Astrid answered, though not with her usual harsh tone. Hiccup took the cue that she was trying to look fierce after letting her guard down and only offered a smile, before standing and leaving the hut.
She had been afraid that after the hit he would have been mad at her but when she looked into his eyes and saw his smile, the fear was already gone. Still, she was known to be fierce, and this was not the first time Hiccup had seen her soft. She wanted to be sure he knew she wasn't going soft, although a part of her knew that he knew it anyway.
007
007
Hiccup spent the rest of the short day, and a part of the night sewing the harness. After hours of work he quickly retreated to his house to sleep, only to wake up early and visit Toothless. He met the dragon and resumed their trials on flying.
Their days quickly became a routine. Hiccup would spend the morning with Toothless, trying to improve the tail so the dragon could go back to soaring the air while also learning more about the dragons, including their weakness, such as their desire to pursue the sun's reflection on metal, a grass he dubbed dragon nip as it left Toothless in some sort of ecstatic trance, the scratching, among other things.
Then later he would go to the arena and quickly subdue the dragons with his tricks, much to Astrid's dislike. His 'improvement' in fighting dragons quickly earned the good side of the teens, even of his cousin's, and of the villagers as well, while Heather and, especially Astrid, became even more suspicious of his disappearing after each lesson.
Of course, not all days had been smooth. Sometimes he would come back to his house with bruises by crashing with Toothless, only to face Heather. He would always conjure an excuse, the most common one being that he tripped while running in the woods, and Heather would always scold him for being reckless in her motherly way, much like she always did.
However, he didn't notice the raven-haired girl growing sadder as Hiccup passed more and more time in the forest. Astrid would also have been, since to her it appeared that Hiccup was definitely evading her, had she not been so furious that she was no longer the best trainee in the arena, especially considering Hiccup knew how important it was to her. There were some days that the only time Hiccup would be seen by anyone was during training. Neither at morning, nor until late night would he be found.
Among these days, there had been a few close encounters in which Hiccup's secret was almost blown. One of them had been during the initial testing of the tail when Hiccup and Toothless were mapping the tail's positions while the dragon was tied to tree. The wind force ended snapping the rope and they both collided with a tree.
The hook that tied Hiccup's harness to the saddle had bended, rendering it unable to unhook the harness, and in this occasion, Hiccup had left his brackets and dagger inside the forge to be tweaked later. He had decided earlier to change the shelter into a pocket to store dragon nip, since he now barely had any need to use his dagger, since he could simply carry it in his belt like he always did. His only option had been to, reluctantly; take Toothless to the forge while using the cover of the night.
Hiccup had been too focused on fixing the hook as soon as possible, to notice Toothless looking around the forge, until he knocked a basket in which he had thought that it contained fish. The dragon wasn't to blame though, since even the boy could smell the scent of Icelandic Cod coming from that bucket.
Unluckily, someone outside also heard it. And to make Hiccup's situation worse, it had been none other than Astrid. "Hiccup? Are you in there?" she asked while approaching the forge. With the speed of his dragon, he jumped out through the window, closing it as fast as he opened it. He was lucky that Toothless was pitch-black, instead of a lighter color like a Nadder. Astrid would have certainly spotted the dragon had it not been for his natural camouflage.
"Oh, Hi Astrid, hi Astrid," he stammered nervously. Astrid eyed him, confused because of his odd behavior.
"You're acting weirder lately," she accused while crossing her arms, "And you're avoiding Heather and me. Why?" Her voice sounded slightly hurt, while she averted her gaze from him for only a second. When she turned to look at him again, he was gone and the forge window was moving slightly. She quickly opened it, but found nothing.
Had she been paying more attention, she would have noticed a shadow moving on the corner of her vision. She briefly wondered if she had just imagined seeing Hiccup in front of her, but then dismissed the idea as she went to her house to sleep.
Hiccup had been pushed by Toothless back into the forge. Luckily for him, it had been in the exact moment Astrid was distracted. He directed the dragon to the cove, and they reached it in just a couple of minutes. However, he couldn't stop thinking about what Astrid told him. 'Am I really avoiding them?' he thought.
He didn't mean to do this, but considering that he has been spending more time with Toothless, it made sense that they would think he was avoiding them.
It didn't help that his trust on Heather was slightly shattered, or that things got even more awkward between him and Astrid. The Valkyrie seemed to sometimes, though these were rare, care about him, and in the next second she would be, most of the times, completely enraged because of his proficiency on the Dragon Training. Not that he wanted the spot, but he really didn't want to see anyone getting hurt, either dragon or human.
She also seemed to know that he was up to something, since he had to evade her a couple of times when going to visit Toothless. Luckily, she only chased him if he met her while she was training in the woods.
He had been lucky that she had fast reflexes because on their first encounter, he had been seconds away from being accidentally beheaded, before being chased by the blonde. Luckily for him, years of evading his bullying cousin made him quite fast, if not, dare he say so, faster than the Valkyrie herself.
007
The day came where Hiccup would do with Toothless their first real test flight. After doing numerous tweaking to Toothless' tail and pedal, and testing them and mapping the positions, he decided they were finally ready to test the tail. Hiccup reached the cove, and was greeted by a happy Toothless as usual. Sometimes he wondered how from being enemies they became such close friends in such short time.
Even though Heather had been a great friend to him, he felt that Toothless' friendship was different. While Heather encouraged him, she also scolded him whenever he got himself in danger. Even with her he felt somewhat judged, but with Toothless he felt free, away from prying eyes and judging gazes. He didn't need to fit any standards, or follow any rules. There was only him and his best friend. And the Night Fury seemed more than happy to be with just him.
Even when Toothless disagreed with him, he knew the dragon wasn't judging him. Hiccup didn't really know how to put with words; he simply felt that his friendship with the dragon was different from his friendship with the healer-in-training.
"So bud. What do you say we finally try flying for real?" he proposed to the dragon. Toothless, although tired of waiting to soar back the skies, was a bit reluctant since it was risky, mainly because he wouldn't have full control of his flight anymore, and would not be alone up there as he had been his entire life.
After a couple of seconds thinking, he resolutely nodded and positioned himself so Hiccup would strap the saddle on him.
Hiccup wasted no time strapping the saddle after Toothless readied himself. It wasn't before a minute that he was finished and already hopped on Toothless. The dragon wasted no time getting into the air, heading for the far side of the island. "Ok bud, let's take this nice and slow," he instructed Toothless, and earned a grunt in agreement.
Hiccup briefly looked at the tail to see if there was nothing wrong. Toothless was just gliding on the air, well below the usual speed he has while flying, waiting for the boy's instructions. Said boy looked at his 'cheat sheet', a paper mapping the tail's different positions. He gave a tug to the paper to see if it was being held firmly, as he didn't want to lose it in the middle of the flight.
"All right. Position three… no, four," he spoke to himself, before flipping the pedal. A metallic click was heard and the artificial tail snapped at the desired position. Toothless peered back at his tail, and copied the position with his natural one. Soon they were in a steep dive, stopping just above the ocean as Hiccup clicked again the pedal, with Toothless closely following in the change with his natural tail.
After they stabilized just above the ocean they neared a natural archway made of rock. Birds flied above them as they went through it.
"Ok, it's go time, it's go time," he muttered to himself while flying through the arch. When they successfully went through it without any problems he cheered in relief. "Yeah, that worked!" Unfortunately Hiccup's relief distracted him, making him accidentally lead Toothless to a rocky spire. Hiccup noticed his mistake and tried to correct their flying path, but the pair crashed on it anyway.
"Sorry, bud," he apologized to the dragon. Unknowingly, he steered Toothless to meet another rocky spire. This crash was less rough than the last, but it was still a crash. "My bad," he apologized again, and earned a slap in the face from one of Toothless' earplates. "Okay, okay, I deserved it," he grunted to the bossy dragon.
Soon when he saw they had a clear path, he decided to change their course. "Position four, no three." and another metal click was heard. They soon began ascending quickly the skies. Toothless, excited, flapped even quicker his wings. "This is amazing," Hiccup shouted.
They dared to make an almost vertical climb. "Woohoo, the wind in my face," he shouted happily, and Toothless locked at him with a face that screamed 'hey, this is fucking cool isn't it?' He laughed at seeing his friend's look. For the first time, both boy and dragon felt truly free, with the limit being as far as the eye can see; and away from everything, every pressure, every judging gaze. There was no one to judge them, nothing to hide, no war to worry about; only he and Toothless.
Once they were almost touching the clouds, Hiccup looked back and saw the distancing figure of his home. He turned to look at Toothless after correcting their flight so they would be gliding above the clouds and patted his head "Hey bud, wanna try a dive bomb? No one will hear or see us here," he asked the dragon, while adrenaline was fueling their veins. Now that they knew how to fly with the prosthetic tail he finally felt confident enough to see Toothless make his signature dive bomb.
The dragon warbled happily as an answer for the request, and Hiccup didn't lose a single second in tweaking the artificial tail. Soon they were dive bombing straight to the sea at breakneck speed, the strong wind rushing through their faces, making Hiccup's eyes water as they were not used to such wind. Hiccup felt his stomach tie into knots as he no longer felt his weight. It was like he was paper, almost weightless. The ear piercing shriek notorious to his dragon and him alone filled the air.
Just as he closed his eyes, his ears picked a faint shout. Toothless' ear plates twisted at the same moment, also hearing the famed shout: "NIGHT FURY, GET DOWN." Hiccup barely had enough time to come out of his shock to steer Toothless out of his dive, and consequently, out from crashing into the ocean. The dragon, however, did not slow down.
He turned his head around and saw two ships, one of them heavily damaged from battle. For a panicking moment, he though it had been his father's search for the nest, but when he directed Toothless to turn around, although maintaining a good distance and speed so nothing but a black blur would be seem by the sailors, he noticed the ships had the Bog Burglar crest in its sail.
He directed Toothless to soar above the small pack of clouds that were in the air. Panicking was quite an understatement of how he felt at this moment. He didn't remember any scheduled Bog visit, especially since the ice would set in less than a month. It also made things more complicated that the ships were between him and Berk, and he wouldn't have time to go around, evading the risk of being noticed.
Since his father was absent and so was Spitelout, Gobber would likely drag him to deal with the visitors. Either that or Cami would go hunt him down, supposing that she-probably-was in the ship.
Toothless hovered in midair, waiting for Hiccup's instruction. "Toothless, you think we can pass these ships without being hit?" the dragon warbled annoyed in response, almost like his pride was hurt. "Ok bud, I got it. And do you think we can pass them without I being seen?" he asked more worriedly.
A Night Fury being spotted in mid day would already be cause for more alarm, as if the Bog's visit wasn't enough. If news passed that there was a rider on top of said dragon, not only it was quite possible that Hiccup would have to deal with two chaotic tribes, even if he has Gobber's help it would be hard.
Not only that but it also would make harder to practice flight with Toothless.
Seconds felt like hours as Hiccup struggled to make a decision. Before they were flying, his biggest worry had been that they would fall into the ocean or crash on a rock. That way, at least, death would be quite painless and quick. Now he had too much at stake. He weighted the pros and cons of either risking reaching Berk before the Bogs or after them.
In the end, he resolved that reaching his village before them would save him a lot of trouble, mainly from Heather and Cami, since it was likely both would hunt him down.
"Toothless, we need to go back, as quickly as possible," he hushed to the dragon. Toothless looked him in the eye and gave him a fierce nod, determination radiating from the dragon. Nodding back, Hiccup drew a deep breath… and twisted the pedal. As soon as he did this they were dive bombing again at breakneck speed, going toward Berk. There was a cloud formation near the island, close to the far mountain. It would allow them to reach the village undercover, so the Bogs wouldn't say that a Night Fury headed to Berk.
The familiar shouting was heard by the pair once more. As they neared the ships, axes and arrows began flying around. Hiccup, in a desperate moment, flicked the pedal almost instinctively, following with absolute precision Toothless' evasive movements. The pair flew as one in that moment, the hush and danger of the situation flashing constantly through their minds. Toothless was smart enough to figure why was important to reach Berk quickly.
The 'little one' as he affectionately called Hiccup had told in these days his entire life story, and the rest he picked by Hiccup's emotions.
It felt like hours before they finally went through the ships unscathed. Their speed made the ships swung on the water, providing Hiccup the cover he needed for no one to see that Toothless had a rider. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding once he was far enough from them.
He sworn he had seen Cami's angry face at missing hitting the elusive dragon. He admitted to himself that she had been the closest call they had there, but the Gods seemed to be favoring him now. This or it was all a trick played by Loki, so the trickster god could find amusement in Hiccup's desperation.
007
Soon they were gliding above the clouds, the ships all but a dot in the midst of the vast sea. They flew through the mountain, and used it as a cover to their descent in the forest. It didn't take more than 5 minutes to land in the Cove, and almost the same so Hiccup could even his breath and his heart would stop pondering against his chest, much like the hammer at the anvil while forging a sword in Gobber's blacksmith.
He patted the dragon's head and bid him goodbye before leaving the Cove. He wasted no time in running back to the village. While he was heading to the village Hiccup kept thinking how it seemed that he had bonded with Toothless even more when they went by the ships.
Sure he had befriended the dragon the moment Toothless didn't eat his hand, but back there, when they were flying past the ships, he felt like his mind and Toothless' were one, like each could read each other's thoughts and how synced their movements were. It was a feeling Hiccup wanted to linger for a good while, but he decided to save it for later.
If everything goes well, he would be able to visit Toothless at night and share what he felt back there.
007
007
He quickly reached the blacksmith, as it was the place where Gobber was most likely to be. As soon as he reached it, he was met with the sight of Gobber looking like he was ready to invade the dragon's nest all by himself. "Oh, Hiccup. I was ready to go looking for yeh in that forest," the man explained while disarming himself-literally since he took off his axe prosthesis and put his signature hook.
"A villager said he sighted ships coming this way, we must be prepared for battle," he added, as he pushed Hiccup to go out of the forge. The boy, however, refused to leave.
"It's the Bogs; I saw the crest on their sails," he said, before freezing on spot. Gobber stopped walking to look at him with surprise and suspicious. Both knew that from the distance the ship were it was almost impossible to see the crest in the sails. It had been one of the reasons Hiccup decided to invent something that would allow spotting ships from the distance months ago.
"And how yeh know that?" Gobber asked, leaning forward to be face-to-face with Hiccup. Hiccup's eyes averted from the man and quickly scanned the room while trying to build a believable story. Luckily, his sight landed on one of his project…
"I was testing my spy glass," he said. His mind continued trying to build scenario, in case Gobber asked for details. Said man looked confused at the moment.
"Spy glass? What the devils is that?" the blacksmith asked bewildered. While Gobber most of the times knew about Hiccup's projects, this had been one of the few he didn't know about, much like Astrid's blade-although Hiccup didn't know that Gobber had figured out this day the blade was forged from his method.
Fortunately, Hiccup's desire to explain his invention kicked in and soon he found himself explaining the purpose of the invention. Gobber, while always supportive usually makes a negative remark or two, but didn't utter even one about this invention, unlike with the Mangler.
Luckily to Hiccup, the man forgot to ask why he wasn't holding one when he barged into the forge. "All right, yeh can talk later bout this new contraptions of yehrs. Right now we need to go to the docks greet our unexpected guests," he pointed to the docks and Hiccup nodded.
Gobber, just to make sure, grabbed the spy glass and looked at the direction which the ships were coming from. True to Hiccup's explanation, he could see, albeit not crystal clear, the Bog crests on the sails. Sighing in amusement the blacksmith left the contraption inside the Forge and joined Hiccup to walk to the docs.
A few moments later they were heading to the docks. The few villagers that stayed in Berk were waiting just above the cliffs, some expecting the chief's expedition while others expecting an enemy. The teens stalked the pair, curious to get a closer look at who might be.
007
007
Minutes passed as boy and man stood at the docks, looking at the approaching ships. They were close enough to the people see the crest on the sails without the spy glass. Some people, as soon as they saw the crest, went back to their homes, disappointed that their familiar ones weren't coming home while others, out of curiosity, climbed down to the docks to know why the unexpected visit.
The teens were hidden among the small crowd, also watching the events unfold.
Gobber leaned to Hiccup so he could whisper. "Now, as yehr father is absent, you're the acting chief. That means you'll be representing us when dealing with the Bogs," he explained and earned a terrified look from Hiccup. While finding the situation funny, he pitied the boy, since it reminded him of Stoick in his early days of being chief.
He placed his beefy hand at Hiccup's shoulders before speaking up. "Now, don't yeh worry. I'll be right here to help yeh, though I'm pretty sure yeh can handle this." This seemed to help the boy, as his posture became less stiff.
Hiccup's terrified look morphed into one of surprise. "Y-you really think I can handle this situation?" he asked, both in surprise and disbelief. While he heard Fishlegs talking about how he acted like a leader back at the first day fight the Snaptrapper, his self-esteem didn't quite agree with it.
Not that being bullied around for almost a decade helped him have one at all.
Gobber nodded without hesitation. "Yes I do. I heard Fishlegs' tale about yehr adventure when I released the Snaptrapper. And yeh always had a clever thinking. If anyone here can handle this unexpected visit, it is you Hiccup," he spoke proudly, tapping his hook on Hiccup's chest. The boy smiled, the praise giving him an encouraging boost.
They stopped their talking when the ships neared. Hiccup soon noticed the figure of his longtime friend standing at the hull of the front ship. At first he smiled, since it had been years since they last met, but soon his smiled turned into a frown as he noticed the usually energetic girl seemed somber and quiet. The air around the Bogs seemed thick and transmitted an eerie feeling to anyone at the docks watching their arrival.
The plank fell on the ship the moment they docked, and Hiccup went to welcome his friend. Cami looked to him when he called her name, and went to embrace him. He, however, noticed the way she embraced him was much more like she needed comfort than happiness of seeing him after so long.
When they finally parted, Hiccup noticed someone was missing… someone too loud to be missed at the ships' docking. "Cami, where is your mother?" he asked worried.
His fear grew when Cami looked away. She was inhaling deeply, hugging herself, as if trying to not cry. After a few seconds of an uncomfortable silence she answered. When she answered, Cami spoke quietly, while not quite meeting his gaze. It appeared that the girl was on the verge of crying, and was doing her best to don't do it right there.
"She died before we sailed to here."