Edited.

Chaos.

All citizens of Berk were suddenly thrown into raising sheer, pure chaos. Unknown chaos, incomparable to Dragon Raids or rare inside fighting. Murmurs grew, weapons in hand, an eagerness to fight, curiosity, gossip, gasping, shock, praying.

And Artichoke knew, by personal experience, that this was just too much to take in so quickly. And he could take a pretty good guess on which way his people's opinion about it would lean onto.

He had tripped. Miscalculated. A tiny error and his whole, short life had been moments from burning into ashes… The memory of his grandfather playing in his mind as a warning, while igniting flames were being summoned by that red-scaled demon.

Pathetic, it was pathetic that he had used this short time to continue que questioning Hiccup had brought onto his life overnight. Were dragons truly nothing but monsters who deserved a killing? When the answer was just a short: it doesn't matter. And he should have carried that mindset into the arena today. That dragon was the monster known for hunting children (children much like himself) in their worst nightmares, a killing beast with no room for left for mercy, driven by pure wrath… Even if such wrath could be justified by the facts, they'd left it imprisoned to starve, but even so it doesn't matter. Artichoke could spend the rest of his life, giving other dragons the benefit of the doubt, but that one… What a dumb mistake, he thought, to let these new ideals cause my fall… Both literal and figurative, although, somehow, he was left alive after all this.

No, not 'somehow'. It had been Hiccup. Hiccup, of all people, who got in the fucking killing ring to save him. Nobody else did, nobody else even could, actually, not without the Chief's verbal command, which he didn't gave until Hiccup did her… Her charming thing. Others might have thought Hiccup took an unfair advantage of her Haddock heritage to save a loved one, but Artichoke knew better than that.

At this point, he was almost sure she'd get in for nearly anyone. Just like on the day before, that girl probably wasn't thinking at all. The willpower that flows in his wife's veins enough to get her running in the battlefield was fueled by nothing but pure, reckless heroism. The most dumbass girl I've met, that's what she had been back there. And part of him loathed himself for recognizing he wouldn't do the same for just about anyone. And for recognizing he was growing rather fond of his stupid characteristic.

Artichoke had gotten stuck on the floor by his own, mindless mistake, much like when a careless step had made his limbs stuck with hers, when his axe hadn't let go of her shield and he remember thinking that the danger he felt at the sight of an approaching blue Deadly Nadder was just a child's play compared to the Monstruous Nightmare.

As soon as he had seen Hiccup break her way in, he shouted for her, just like the confused, gasping watching crowd around them. All those sounds apparently falling into deaf ears, cause Hiccup kept her way still to the red dragon. Dropped any defense and offense possibility, she let herself almost bare to that fire-breathing killing animal. And he knew she's smart enough to know that was a choice to go down a hill with no going back. Then she started her insane tricks, started to apply her dragon training technics on this near-murderous nightmare. Everybody had been so shocked nobody dared to stop her, at first.

And worst part is… It was working. As insane as it was, it seemed to be working. Even though the possibility of the worst made the warrior-in-training hate his own mistake of falling even more. Artichoke was helpless on the ground, just watching her, just like everyone else above.

Though Hiccup looked nothing like a damsel in distress then, her face had no fear when the beast started to hesitate. It became a completely different dragon, really, a curious one, no flames nor hissing while Hiccup's own features only shown determination, concentration, as if this was just another book, another delicate work on her forge. And that's when he believed her, truly. When the dragon calmed itself, as if she truly was a magician. Last night Hiccup told him dragons, most times, could be just misunderstood creatures ready to show kindness at anyone willing to reach out a hand. He could see it now.

However, their Chief called in the end of his match. Artichoke swore, in that very moment, that this scrawny-looking awkward-acting girl shout back an order boiling over twice as much as authority as her father. She was fearless against their worst captured dragon as much as she was fearless against Berkians' prejudices and violent beliefs and he could see his faces from below. Wide eyes, silenced, tensed, expectation. She could do it, convince them their three centuries old tradition was wrong… If she were allowed to finish her demonstration.

Metal on metal, yelling and a jolt of energy made the boy free himself from his mistake and, sooner than what it felt, Toothless was there. Like a protective hellhound, avoiding anyone's proximity, as if Thor himself decided to boon this dragon's fighting abilities until she hesitated. Just like Artichoke had hesitated. And just like with him, it could cost her dragonesque life as a pile of Vikings covered her, suffocating the black-scaled blur to unconsciousness.

Artichoke had run towards Hiccup, holding her in when she was finally separated from her best friend. Although Hiccup herself was in a different kind of unconsciousness. She wasn't herself as she screamed, struggled, and scratched and did her best to get closer to Toothless. He held her crying face in his palms, a vain attempt to calm her down, but Hiccup wasn't there to listen at all, she couldn't stop begging and breathing sharply, yelling a chanting of the unheard "don't hurt her".

Soon, too much soon, Stoick passed by, not bothering to look at the couple when his large hand swept the crumbling girl from Artichoke's grip. And he stood, didn't pull her back in, couldn't find enough courage to get into his Chief's already chosen path and tell him to let her go.

Father and daughter, although earning shock-filled eyes from any villagers they came through, were soon disappeared, too far to watch, as the Berkians showed much more interest in the contained Night Fury in the rink.

Artichoke's mother ran to hug him tight, not caring or not bringing up the fact he wasn't good enough of a warrior to get himself alive in that rink case Hiccup haven't come to his rescue. Well, all given events, that could be the last thing to even be at anyone's mind.

He saw Toothless being dragged to an empty cage of that arena. She had recognized him in the crowd before. Had looked right into his soul just like Hiccup described their first encounter. Except Toothless was begging for help. Help he couldn't offer. Another friend he couldn't save, he noticed.

Slowly, the people reunited in the public plaza, facing the Great Hall, a whirlwind of questions aimed for their Chief. The blond teen overheard Stoick was seen bringing his daughter here, but she was nowhere to be seen. And although it was smarter and, actually would be of his interest to hear what their graying red-head Chief was shouting about, words didn't make their way up his ears.

Hiccup. Where's Hiccup? Too many whisperings of treachery and exile or hanging had him in a frantic search for her whereabouts, her body, her life. Running to their hut, he saw Vikings in, turning over the furniture, papers spread on the floor and in their hands. Hiccup's sketches and notes.

An accusatory finger supplemented the middle-aged men and women inside his home, as they called him out "it's all true, isn't it? Haddock's useless girl's a witch conspiring with those hell sent dragons".

"And I bet golden boy here knew all about it", a spit, flew to Artichoke's boots.

"Where is she?", they were angry, delusional and Hiccup was still missing.

"Don't play dumb, boy, you'll and her will pay for this", a bone-white short dagger was pulled off, but the horn, letting them all know to gather on the plaza for whatever important reason (well, you can pretty much guess what reason) interrupted that confrontation. "This isn't over", but no threat was applied before he looked in himself. No Hiccup. His feet flew to the back door and met nothing. She wouldn't be at their cove with Toothless here. Nothing. Dread of an unanalyzed trial filled him in, and he was at the plaza soon enough, searching around.

But then he heard, and Artichoke's heart fell to his stomach and both twisted and knocked threating to kill him when he realized the Chief was calling in another campaign, he was calling in every men and women able to fight, any healthy person who could wield a weapon to go to the dragon's nest. He didn't need to ask further to know they'd find out. Artichoke was in that nest. That- that thing, that queen bee would crush them all effortlessly. They could gather other tribes and other islands and it wouldn't matter.

Yet, the blond still didn't call out, still didn't cross the Chief's decision, still had his throat dry and empty for words. So he continued to look for Hiccup.