Anything Is Possible

Rated: M
Pairing: Hiccup & OC-Runa
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTTYD or Frozen characters. Everything belongs to its original creator. However, I do own all my characters.

Chapter 22.

=Normal POV=
[November 11; Night]
[Hunter Ship; Sea]

Four days into the journey for Hunter Isle now, things had been busy for the hunters. Everyone was at their best to work the ships, not wanting to waste any time in getting to their home. Hiccup still didn't know much about the place he was going, only that it was the home island for the Dragon Hunter tribe, and that these people had families of their own. As the days counted down, Hiccup became more nervous about being on the dragon hunter's home island, but he was keeping it to himself. Tonight was calm, and everyone was on the main deck around a fire that remained contained by one of Hiccup's inventions before leaving the Southern Market; it was a large metal bowl on four legs, but made of Gronckle Iron.

These fire holders allowed for a fire to burn right on deck in it with no fear anything else catching. Hiccup made one for each of the four boats, and another new modification was that all of the ships could sail right alongside one another. It was done because everyone wanted to be able to hang out at night together as they did on islands, or in a port. So Hiccup found a way to make it happen with some help from Cinder in getting the four vessels to line up perfectly and be connected to sail together. Now, everyone split up among the four ships could relax and move between boats when they hung out at night.

Currently, it was about 8:30 pm with everyone, except those steering the vessel, sitting around to talk and laugh. Hiccup was having a pretty decent time; he was used to all the hanging out now, so it didn't feel awkward or like he was out of place. Of course, Hiccup was also jumping back and forth between the conversations with the hunters and his thoughts about whatever came up. Right now, it was Toothless and Hiccup didn't realize he was just staring off into the sky. It was a clear night, hardly any clouds; the moon was bright overhead, and the sight of the stars just had Hiccup lost in it all.

"Hiccup? Midgard to Hiccup," One of the hunters got his attention as Hiccup looked back down. "Hiccup, if you keep spacing out, you're gonna end up lost in that sky." The guy chuckled, which made others laugh too.

"That's fine with me…" Hiccup shrugged with a smile. "I couldn't get lost in it if I tried because I love being up there," He added. "I always have, even before I learned how to ride a dragon. I hate being stuck on the ground when it's all right there, you know?"

"No, not really," Someone remarked.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Such is the life a non-dragon rider," He sighed, shaking his head. "Okay, different example. It's like being chained in one place out in the open with freedom right there, but you know you can't leave because of the chains holding you back."

"But…You're not chained. You could go flying whenever you want, so what chains are holding you?" Another wondered.

Hiccup smiled softly as he looked up again. "I don't have Toothless," Hiccup stated. "And it doesn't feel the same way it did with Toothless when I fly another dragon,"

"Because of the bond that you share with him?" Viggo asked.

Hiccup nodded as he brought his head back down. "The way Toothless and were able to fly was…Special. It wasn't like the other riders with their dragons."

"How was it any different?" Ryker questioned.

"The other riders only ride on their dragons, carried by them…" Hiccup began. "But not me and Toothless. He needed me to fly him."

"Explain? If you don't mind, of course?" Viggo hoped.

Hiccup took a breath as it grew quieter; this always seemed to happen when he was telling stories. "Toothless couldn't fly on his own," He informed. "His left tail fin was ripped off in a bad landing about five years ago."

"Really? We never noticed because he was still in the air with you riding him," Viggo remarked, a little surprised.

Hiccup laughed a little. "He was flying because I was flying him. The tail you probably assumed was there is just a prosthetic that I built and controlled." He admitted as a few gasped and stared at him. "I built it when I was fifteen, controlled the prosthetic fin with a pedal attached to the saddle with my foot. But yeah…Toothless couldn't fly without me, so unlike the riders with their dragons…Toothless's ability to fly was only possible with me…Hence why I say that I didn't just ride him. I flew him." Hiccup explained.

"Okay, I know I said your ability to build yourself a prosthetic leg and foot was cool…But making a dragon tail prosthetic is awesome! I've never heard of that before." Someone exclaimed.

"It took weeks of readjusting to finish the first model. It started with just a piece of leather cut to the size and shape of his tail fin, some connecting rods to it would open and close, go up and down, then a belt-like latch to attach it to the left side of his tail. By the time it was done, the rig itself was a lot more complex. And then don't get me started on all the failed test flights to perfect that rig…And then still learn what positions his tail had to be in to make the flight as normal as possible. I'd say it took about three weeks, maybe four, for everything," Hiccup shrugged a bit, but was smiling.

"That is fascinating, and impressive, Hiccup," Ryker complimented. "How'd the tribe take to all your experiments?"

Hiccup rubbed the back of his head, nervously chuckling. "They, uh, didn't know…I may have, sort of been harboring Toothless on Berk without anyone knowing…So…That whole build a tail and learn how to fly a dragon was entirely off the radar…"

"Then…How did everyone find out? And you brought peace to your tribe if you were keeping him a secret?" Someone inquired.

Hiccup sighed some. "That's…A really long story,"

"I think we have time," One mentioned, referring to the fact they were in the middle of the ocean, sailing.

"I believe it's Hiccup's decision if he wants to tell the tale," Viggo reminded. "No pressure, Hiccup. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine…I promised I'd tell you guys eventually," Hiccup replied. As if it were a call to form up, everyone scooted closer to be able to hear and waited anxiously. "You know, I'll never understand how the entire of lot of you say you won't change your ways about killing dragons, but you're about to sit here for however long it takes me to tell the story of how I literally changed the minds of my tribe…"

"It's intriguing, and possibly inspiring if we get to learn how you did it. I assume it wasn't you just restoring your Night Fury's flight and announcing to the village what you did, then show them?" Ryker chuckled.

"Not…Exactly how I remember it…" Hiccup muttered. "Okay, okay…" He caved and took a breath before starting. Hiccup told them everything from meeting Toothless in the forest after shooting him down, and being the cause of him losing his tail fin, up to the day of his final exam in dragon training. Everyone was locked in, waiting in anticipation to hear more as it seemed to become more intense. "So, the day of my exam…Dad gave some speech about me becoming a Viking and then left me to face off against the Monstrous Nightmare. Totally no pressure about things going wrong when the whole tribe is watching you." He paused to catch his breath.

"So, what happened next?"

"Well, I planned to train the Nightmare, and hope they saw things the way I did. It didn't happen, but why would anything go the way I wanted it to back then, or ever for that matter." Hiccup sighed some but pushed it out of his mind to continue telling the story. "I had everything under control, just like when you saw me with Cinder…Until something went wrong."

"Bad tooth?" Ryker asked.

"No…What went wrong was my father being my father. His son going on about not having to kill the dragons we've been at war with for three hundred years? Yeah, I expected that he would flip out. I actually think I'd have been more worried if he didn't. I had everyone's attention, though. But dad lost his temper, he slammed his hammer against the kill ring's cage and riled Hookfang up to attack the nearest target…Meaning me." Hiccup went on. "It was mostly downhill after that. I ran for it, trying to get away and avoid being burned. Astrid broke in the ring to help me. My dad showed up to get Astrid and me out, she did…Me, not so much. Hookfang pinned me down, and then Toothless somehow had gotten out of the cove, charged into the village, blasted the bars of the ring's cage, and dove in to save me."

"I'm sure the story proceeds to get worse?" Viggo mentioned as Hiccup nodded.

Toothless fought Hookfang off and stayed beside me. My dad saw red, charged in with an ax…Toothless didn't take to it lightly, pinned him down, and went to blast him until I told him to stop, and he did. The others who had been outside the ring jumped in to get Toothless down and let my dad up. Astrid was holding me back from getting in the way. Toothless was locked up while my dad dragged me into the great hall to yell at me," Hiccup mumbled.

"I'm sure, based on your tone, that it was more than yelling?" Ryker stated curiously.

"So, the conversation went from they've killed hundreds of us to we killed thousands of them, then to I didn't care what he did to me, but leave Toothless alone. You're worried about the dragon, not the people you almost killed. They defend themselves. They raid us because they have to. If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. There's something else on their island." Hiccup went through the conversation between him and his father, and the hunters could tell who said what based on Hiccup's impression of his father, which was very good. "So that last line I said changed his whole mood from angry to interested…In finding the dragon's nest."

"That fabled nest that no one could ever find?" Someone asked.

"That would be the one…I did find it, with Toothless. It's known as Dragon Island now, but it was the nest." Hiccup said. "I told him not to go. I begged him not to go there because he couldn't win against what was there. My mistake was telling him that only a dragon could find it…To navigate all the ash and fog safely, and avoid the dragons who would attack if humans sailed in. Originally, they never made it to the island that sat behind Helheim's Gate, which again, is now known as Dragon Island." He continued.

"But dad didn't listen, when did he ever? That's exactly what I yelled at him. For once in your life, would you please just listen to me. But he shoved me to the ground and said; You're not a Viking. You're not my son." Hiccup repeated.

"Why you said that specific line during the first campout now makes sense. You said it because he's said it to you before." Ryker said softly. Hiccup nodded at him.

"So…Basically disowned and abandoned…All I could do was watch them load the ships and sail off…With Toothless as their dragon guide to the nest. Astrid found me long after the others had left, that went interestingly. After a short talk of her asking why I didn't kill Toothless, I realized I had to do something. I couldn't let Toothless get killed over my father's obsession with finding that nest. And I couldn't let him get almost the whole tribe killed either. I taught the others, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Astrid how to earn a dragon's trust and the bare basics of riding them. We took off for the nest and got there right before my father and Gobber were about to get themselves killed by Red Death." Hiccup went on.

"Red what?" A few asked.

"Enormous, as in mountain-sized, Stoker Class dragon that ruled over that nest. I named it Red Death because the thing literally slept in the volcano. In the lava. It had death written all over it. I'll give you dragon stats later. But, arriving at the nest, I had the others keep Red Death busy while I freed Toothless. Red Death hit the ships, and we went under water. I wasn't strong enough to break Toothless out of the restraint and nearly drowned. My dad saved me, then went back for Toothless. When Toothless surfaced, he just motioned for me to get on and let's go beat Red Death together." Hiccup smiled a little.

"I jumped on his back and we got ready to take off when dad grabbed my arm…He told me he was sorry for everything. I told him I was too. He told me I didn't have to go up there, and I just shrugged and replied that we were Vikings, and it was an occupational hazard…." Hiccup looked into the the fire, his smile fading a little. "He said he was proud to call me his son, and then backed up. Toothless and I headed up. The other riders got clear, then Toothless and me took Red Death on ourselves. The others were too inexperienced to handle the battle, Toothless and me were the faster fliers too."

"How'd you beat Red Death?" One asked quickly.

"Toothless and I got it into the air to follow us. We took it above the clouds, to hide in the darkness. Using Toothless's speed and blasts, we shot at it several times until it fired at us and hit Toothless's prosthetic. When that started to burn up, I knew we were out of time. We forced it into a dive after us, and as soon as I know it wouldn't be able to pull out of the dive and it was gathering gas in it's mouth to fire again. Toothless whipped around and fired his own, making the gas collect in Red Death's throat. Toothless and I got out of the way as it tried to slow down, but our blasts earlier on it's wings caused holes to burn through and Red Death face-planted the island hard, and exploded." Hiccup explained.

"Unfortunately, while the battle was over; the danger was not. In trying to escape the explosion by flying straight up Red Death's burning body being engulfed by the explosion, Toothless's rig snapped. And without that, he can't fly. We hit Red Death's tail and started to fall into the explosion. The last thing I saw was Toothless diving for me." Hiccup trailed off.

"Wait, wait…Hang on. You told Viggo and I that the battle where you lost your leg was against a dragon where you smacked into the tail and fell towards an explosion…Was that this fight?" Ryker questioned with wide eyes.

"Yep. The fight where I lost my leg was against Red Death. The only dragon I have, or rather Toothless and I have killed. The next time I woke up, I was back in my father's house with Toothless there. Then I realized my leg was gone. We got outside and everything had changed. The riders were teaching others how to earn trust and ride dragons. I thought I was dead, but dad came up and asked what I thought of everything. That was my indicator that stopping Red Death, stopped all the raids for Berk, so from there on; we had peace with dragons. Gobber had made my first prosthetic, and Toothless's second tail rig, the one you remember with the red fin. That was it…After that was the stuff against Alvin, Dagur, you guys…" Hiccup shrugged, finishing the story. "Keeping the peace, I guess."

"Wow," A hunter said.

"That's awesome."

"And somewhere between defeating us and your nineteeth birthday, your tribe discovered your secret of having inhuman abilities causing them to turn on you?" Viggo asked in a light tone, not wanting to ruin a good night, but also wanting to clarify the timeline of events of Hiccup meeting Toothless to when Hiccup and Toothless left Berk together back at the end of last January.

Hiccup was quiet a few moments, but eventually he nodded to confirm Viggo's question. "Everything went wrong on January 13th and by January 19th, all I had left was Toothless, and we left in the middle of the night on January 20th." He replied. "So not even really my 19th birthday, it happened before January was even over. Imagine that, huh? A battle won, going home for a month and suddenly having nothing because the tribe is scared of something you didn't ask for…"

"Which raises the question then-," Ryker began. "How did you get your abilities?"

Hiccup shrugged a little. "I don't know…I just know that for as long as I can remember, I've had to keep my emotions controlled or bad things would happen."

"And…How far back can you recall that starting?" Viggo wondered.

Hiccup thought a moment. "Well, I started training myself at six, but had been trained before that since I was three…I can't remember what happened, but I know my dad got all panicked over it and we ended up at the Hooligan Elder and healer's hut. Everything changed after that." He revealed.

"Wait, hold on," A hunter paused with his hands up. "You've been training yourself since you were six years old to control your emotions so your powers or whatever don't spiral out of control, right?" Hiccup nodded to him. "Who was training you before that, from the age of three?"

"The elder obviously," Another rolled his eyes.

"Actually, no…It wasn't Gothi. Little old lady, never talks, writes in runes. Gobber translates for her." Hiccup informed.

"Well, you mentioned being with Gobber from the age of three of four, always in the forge to be watched by him. Did Gobber teach you?" Viggo asked.

Hiccup shook his head. "No. The person who taught me to control my emotions was the same person who wanted me to keep them hidden from the tribe because he was scared they'd do exactly what they did last January; turn on me. Only he was afraid of them turning on him, losing his position. My father made me learn how to control my emotions." He stated as they stared at Hiccup in surprise, but some were annoyed and aggravated at what Stoick taught Hiccup when he was only three. "So that I would never lose control, and no one would ever know that I was different from them. Well, in the having powers sense. Everyone knew the rest, not that it mattered; I'm hated either way." He shrugged with a smile.