[Among the Ashes]

_HICCUP_

He woke up to the horrible sensation of being crushed by something heavy and big. To his horror, when he tried to get up it turned out that there was indeed something on top of him.

"Meatlug, get off of me!" He wheezed once he remembered where he was and why.

His nails scratched the cold floor of the cave as he attempted to crawl from underneath the dragon. After a horrible instant in which he thought it would be the end of him, Meatlug woke up thanks to the struggle and moved her body.

Taking deep breaths of precious oxygen, he got to his feet with shaky legs and dusted off his clothes. He didn't know if Fishlegs was used to waking up to that situation pretty often or not, but if he did, then Hiccup had a newfound respect for his friend, for only Fishlegs would be able to wake up like that every morning and survive.

He was in the middle of yawning when a sudden question hit him as if twenty Gronckles had rolled over him.

For how long was I asleep? he thought.

He ran outside the cave with Meatlug right behind him, and he felt nauseous with worry as he was faced with the view of a now calm ocean and a pale gray sky as the sun was hidden behind a thin layer of clouds. Judging from the amount of light, Hiccup made a rough estimate and concluded that it was probably noon. That could only mean the worst: he had clearly overslept, missed his only chance to find a way to save the dragons, the battle had already taken place and now they were probably all dead.

Cursing under his breath, he got onto Meatlug's back and they both went flying as fast as possible towards the village. He prepared himself for the worst, but he knew that no matter how long he tried to prepare for it, he knew that if he were to see Toothless' lifeless body, he would break down beyond repair.

How could he have made such a terrible mistake? There were times when he even managed to wake up before his best friend did, out of habit to prepare for the daily morning flight. This had to be a nightmare…

But to his surprise, when arriving at the village, he didn't see the aftermath of a bloody and messy battle. Some dragons were roaming around and the only aftermath to see was the one caused by the fire.

They landed in front of some burned houses.

"How curious…" he commented as he dismounted. "One would've thought that they would have raised with the sun, eager to put an end to this."

The sound of his voice drew the attention of Barf and Belch, the Hideous Zippleback of the twins who was resting on top of a bunch of ashes that used to be a house. Instead of greeting them with some shenanigan learned from its Riders, it didn't waste time to spit gas at them.

Confused by the sudden attack, both boy and Grunckle booked it out and flew away to another part of the village, only to get the same reaction from different dragons. Some of them didn't answer with violence, but they did growl in a defensive manner while standing their ground. That behavior was something new in a lot of them, especially because Hiccup remembered training them with the rest of the team at the Dragon Academy and they never exhibited such anger towards him.

He spent a considerable amount of time trying to get to at least one dragon, but no matter where they both went, they all seemed to despise them. The only thing that seemed to change depending on how deep in the village they were, was how much the dragons were willing to engage in a fight as if they were trying to defend something. And, mysteriously, all the Gronckles had disappeared. Maybe they went to the forest?

Hiccup ran his right hand through his hair in confusion and winced in pain. He looked at it and saw the bloodstained improvised bandage he had made the night prior, right after offering his blood to the gods in a desperate prayer. He remembered seeing a really ugly cut while he was covering it up.

"How about a quick stop to Gothi's place?" He suggested, looking at it as they were nearby. And fortunately, or strangely enough, the structure didn't seem to be damaged.

After he removed the improvised bandage, he stood in the middle of the room in silence, staring at his hand.

It hadn't been a dream, he was sure of it. The burned houses were there, the mean dragons were there. Toothless wasn't beside him. Or was this a dream within a dream? He remembered taking his knife and slicing the palm of his hand and feeling the blood run down his extended arm– the stains were there, and the pain was there. But…

Where was the wound?

He ran the fingertips of his left hand over the diagonal line that was the scar on his palm and he quickly retreated them as the pain made act of presence again. The scar looked a couple of years old. Considering the depth of the cut and how poorly had been treated last night, it had healed extremely well.

Hiccup knew his body. There was just no way in the world that he would have healed overnight. Only a miracle could do that to him. Unless…

"They heard me out?!" The boy questioned; his voice an octave higher than usual due to the bewilderment.

Meatlug choked on the rocks she was chewing to pass the time when she saw the Viking jumping down to her without a previous warning. She flapped her little wings with all her might and thankfully managed to catch the boy midair.

"Sorry about that. Quick, to the cave where we last saw the village! You get to see Fishlegs again!" Hiccup said in a rush.

Not understanding a thing of what was happening, but noting his sudden enthusiasm and perfectly understanding 'Fishlegs', she hurried to the cave where she last saw her Rider.

Hiccup was eager to see what was waiting at the cave. Maybe the gods made everyone fall asleep so he could have extra time to figure out what to do with the dragons? Maybe they were wide awake, already fully knowing the truth? Would they waiting for him to welcome him back with open arms? Maybe he would come back to the pleasant news of Mildew being banished?

When the Gronckle was a few feet from the ground, Hiccup jumped off and to avoid getting hurt made a roll that would have made Gobber proud. He ran as fast as he could to the cave and entered calling for everyone. He was so excited that it took him a couple of seconds to notice that there was no one around.

"…Guys?" He called when he finally noticed.

He looked around and was able to see the remnants of the camp, and all the weapons on the ground. That was what set off alarms inside his head. No one in the tribe left their weapon behind. Especially when they were on edge after a dragon raid.

Meatlug made her way to Hiccup and stared at him with puzzlement filling her eyes. He had gone from sheer excitement to reeking of crescent fear.

"Meatlug? Search for Fishlegs, please…" he said in a quiet tone as he focused his gaze on the darkness of the depths of the cave.

She wasn't too eager to venture into the creepy, cold, labyrinthine, and mysterious caves. Especially because the boy next to her had a look on his eyes that made her legs tremble with worry, but her love for her Rider was stronger than her fear, so she gathered up her courage and she started sniffing out any possible trail of the blond teen.

Hiccup held some of the wood that formed part of a fire and the dragon lighted it up with a spit of lava, making a torch.

He ran outside and kept going until he reached the dock.

All the ships were there. Nothing was missing or out of order; no sign implied they had sailed away.

"Hello? Anyone?" he yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth, so that way his voice could be heard better.

The only one who answered was a Deadly Nadder that was nearby, rummaging through one of the boats in search of food.

With an exasperated sigh, he got on top of Meatlug again and asked to go to the forest this time.

"They gotta be there," he reassured himself. They had already been to the village. They had searched the caves and the dock. The only place left to search was the forest.

They weren't there.

They searched the valley, the mountain, and he covered on foot a considerable distance. The only ones who were found were the rest of the Gronckles, near the cliffs. But they all flew away when Hiccup scared them by screaming at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST ME?! WHY DO YOU HATE ME?" He questioned with his gaze locked in an indefinite point of the gray sky. The only answer he got was the sound of the wind and the waves at the foot of the cliffs. "This, this isn't what I wanted. This isn't what I meant."

He was the only human on Berk now, and the weight of that statement was sinking in with a sense of loneliness.

"There are times when we must acknowledge the fights that we shouldn't fight. Because what we risk losing in the process is more than we can gain."

"I… probably should have listened to you, Gobber. I, I am sorry," the boy apologized, almost hoping that it would be enough to bring them all back.

He couldn't comprehend why were the gods making him go through so much. From the very beginning, his story wasn't the brightest one. His mother had been carried away by dragons to never be seen again; he, the son of a Chief, was born a runt and cast aside not only because of that, but because he seemed to be a natural at making tumble down anything he laid hands on; apparently, he was destined to love what was supposed to be hated and to end up alone because of that.

It was frustrating, really. He had earned his place among the tribe. His relationship with his father was being repaired, bit by bit, and all of that was shattered to pieces overnight.

Hiccup just wanted to belong. He just wanted to go back to those days when he was an innocent little kid and he and Stoick would actually spend time together and play and talk and sit by the fireplace at night. Before their relationship started to crack. Stoick was a Chief, and as Hiccup grew and began to be able to take care of himself with Gobber helping out by keeping him as an apprentice, he began to focus on his duty as much as he could because the village needed him to lead. And Hiccup began to be pressured into getting strong and be skillful with weapons and fighting moves. Unfortunately, he wasn't doing well in those areas.

Stoick thought Hiccup didn't listen to him. Hiccup thought the same way about his father. They sometimes argued, and the thing was usually 'settled' with a final stern sentence from the Chief. So the boy began to roam around and kept to himself at the smithy, busy bringing to life the ideas in his head, and Stoick stuck to have his hands busy with his job. That was one of the reasons the boy didn't feel too attached to Berk at the beginning.

"Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever."

Hiccup held his head between his hands and crouched, weighed down by his own words.

"I wish I had managed to get away with him when I decided to! I curse the moment Astrid stopped me!"

Remorse boiled inside of him. He had been cornered to the point he thought running away was the only option, but deep down he wasn't too eager to fly away. That's why he had felt so happy when everyone accepted the dragons. He didn't truly mean what he said about cursing the moment Astrid accidentally stopped him from leaving.

But then last night happened, and the last look his father gave to him was one of incomprehension, disbelief. And the last conversation they had was nothing but a heated argument.

His whole tribe had vanished without knowing the truth of what had really happened. His friends. His mentor. Astrid. His father, the only person with who he shared blood. They were all gone and he was alone now.

His throat started to hurt as the need to cry and mourn the loss of everyone manifested itself, but he snapped out of it when he felt Meatlug's chubby body lie next to him.

Hiccup looked at her with a sad, faint smile as he reminisced how all of this dragon mess started. And then he wondered: Would he try to change anything if he had the chance to go back?

No.

When he tried to imagine an alternate ending where he was praised like a hero after he had brought a Night Fury heart as a gift to his father, where he eagerly went dragon hunting with his team, it didn't feel right. It looked good, but now that he knew what his true calling was, he saw it as a hollow fantasy, one where he lived a lie, ignorant of the wonders the world around him could offer.

The Gronckle beside him reminded him that while he had lost the people who he cared about, there was someone that still needed him, and that cared about him. Toothless, the dragon that had given him a purpose, was out there somewhere on the island. As much as Hiccup wanted to curl into a ball he couldn't give up yet. For his friend.

Feeling as if his body was made up of rusty metal, he got to his feet and headed back to the village with Meatlug following closely behind.

Hiccup sighed as the bleak, burned view of his home welcomed him back.

Could it really be? That Mildew was right, that this was it. That all his dreams, which had barely begun to see toward new horizons had come to an end before they had reached their full potential.

That the gleam of hope of a new era where Vikings and dragons could live at peace had vanished... and not only because of the previous 'broken trust' episode the night before, but because the Gods had twisted his prayer and had vanished away almost all of Berk's inhabitants, taking away the only existing proof of a peaceful life between both species.

"Taking away the only family I had left and my friends..." Hiccup said in a bitter tone.

Meatlug looked at him, sensing the negative change in his mood. She gave out a subtle growl and snuggled her snout against his arm as she stopped walking.

With his grim trance being interrupted, Hiccup stopped as well and turned his head to look into the uneasy yellow eyes of the brown dragon next to him.

"Don't worry girl, I'm fine," he whispered with what he hoped was a soothing smile. "I... it's just... I'm still a bit fazed by all of..." he gestured to all of the burnt down village and the unsettling lack of people, "this. But it's okay! I will figure out what to do next, we will be alright."

After some heartbeats had gone by with Meatlug studying his face to discern whether or not to believe him, the Gronckle seem to be satisfied and finally resumed her walk and so did Hiccup.

The boy kept smiling as if his mind had appeased to reassure his companion. But in reality, he knew this was not okay. He wasn't just fazed. He was worried sick, wondering what had been of his father, of Astrid, the team, and the rest of the village. And he was at an utter loss of what to do next, or even where to go next, for that matter. He clearly couldn't stay on the island, for he knew that sooner or later Alvin would scheme a plan to conquer Berk (as he usually did) and find out he could claim it without any effort. The fact that Hiccup was apparently the last one of the Hooligans didn't mean he would join the Outcasts –since they were a tribe that accepted, well, outcasts–. Because he knew that they would only use him to gain knowledge about dragons so they could turn them into slaves, to force them into battle to satisfy their thirst for power over the archipelago.

And he knew that other tribes were not very accepting of runts like him. The only tribe that would 'take him in' would be... the Berserkers, probably. Just because Dagur would be very pleased to have him around to practice his knife-throwing skills or as a punching bag or to do any other activity that involved risking Hiccup's life for entertainment purposes.

Even if by some miracle Alvin didn't notice anything at all, Berk had numerous contracts and transactions that needed to be done or signed annually or monthly, at least. So other tribes would surely notice the absence of Vikings and the amazing opportunity to expand their domains and take the initiative. And even though he would very much like to stay and defend what was left of his home, he alone wouldn't be enough to keep at bay an invasion, even with the help of the dragons.

He had to leave. But not just yet.

Even though the gods seemed to hate him, he couldn't give up. Maybe he wasn't good at handling weapons or fixing stuff with his fists, but he was a Viking! He had stubbornness issues. And he had his wit and a vision, and he would try to use them at the best of his abilities without giving up.

The only thing left to do for him was to keep fighting for what he believed to be right, as he always had tried to do. Even if the path seemed lonely now he still hoped it would eventually light up. Not only for Toothless or him but for the other dragons and the rest of the archipelago, that could use a break from the endless war against the reptiles.

Besides, he had to find a way to calm the dragons down before anything else could happen to them, and take them to a safe place. If Alvin or Dagur were to lay their hands on them either because Hiccup quit or because he wasn't capable of making them snap out of it... those poor dragons would...

He shook his head to shoo away those hopeless thoughts. Where there was a will, there was a way… or at least, that's what he liked to believe.

He had not achieved peace in Berk, but that did not mean he wasn't meant to succeed someday, somewhere, right?

The feeling of cold raindrops falling on his cheeks made him look at the gray sky. It seemed like another storm was making its way to the island again.

Hiccup sighed wearily. He only wanted some peace, for Thor's sake. Was that too much to ask for? He wasn't asking for everyone to drop their weapons or to stop spitting fire forever. He knew skirmishes and arguments and fights would always take place. They were Vikings, it was an occupational hazard. And the others were dragons, which in the end came with the same 'occupational hazard'. But that didn't mean they couldn't stop an unnecessary war now that there was… or had been proof of another way to do things.

He only wanted to fly high above the clouds with Toothless. Wild and free like the ocean below him, with the wind ruffling his hair and with the sun at his back or under a starry sky without worrying over Dragon hunters like Dagur or people like Alvin or Mildew. Without fretting that perhaps someday he would be unable to protect his best friend, that someday he would be permanently stuck on land, reminiscing of a time when there were dragons.

And he also wanted everyone to understand what they were trying to end. Oh, how wonderful it was to feel a dragon stir and tense with the raw force of its muscles. To feel and hear them breathe. To see them open their magnificent wings to their full length and roar and… oh, sweet Freya, to fly in the back of one of them. To travel as far as the eye can see, to go where no one goes. To feel invincible, and to extend your arms and touch the clouds, almost thinking that if you stretched out a bit more you would be able to reach the stars.

Not only that, but they also had discovered that the dragons were actually good companions and of great help to protect, hunt, keeping the place warm during the harsh winters, and do some heavy work stuff from time to time.

They could create a new world… or begin to create one, at least. One with Dragon Trainers who wouldn't think at all about chaining up those mighty beasts. Where dragons and Vikings didn't keep resent deep in their hearts and longed for a better world where none of them would be shot down or carried away and killed. Where the Vikings could sleep soundly without fearing a midnight raid or starving during the winter because the dragons took away their food, and where the dragons and their hatchlings wouldn't have to worry about their nests being attacked and losing their family.

It was a bitter truth that there were truly cruel dragons that killed just for the sport of it. Because they loved the smell and the taste of blood and the pain and fear of their victims… but it was the same with humans. What mattered was that someone tried to do something about it, just like him and the Riders. Just as Toothless and the dragons who had also befriended other Vikings.

"It sure would be easier if people like Mildew didn't constantly poison the place. Both figuratively and literally," Hiccup mumbled and Meatlug grunted as if in agreement. "Like yesterday with his words or as always with his presence, or deliberately like that time with the Blue Oleander ordeal." It took a few moments more before something finally clicked in his brain. When it did, he stopped dead in his tracks. "Like the Blue Oleander ordeal…" he repeated, "in which only the dragons were affected. And Mildew got them in Berk because they didn't seem suspicious at all."

He closed his eyes, trying to recall if he had seen the elder acquiring or planting anything new in his garden, or if there had been some extra plant that was not there before. But he wasn't able to notice anything in particular within his memories. Although he did remember something from some time ago. When he and his friends had discovered the existence and the main property of another plant that also affected dragons: the Dragon Root. That one was also a very nasty plant, for it made the dragons go…

"Of course." He finally said. He raised his arms, asking himself why he didn't think of that before. That's why Meatlug had been as docile as always no matter where in the village they were. That was why the rest of the Gronckles were hiding away at the cliffs and didn't attack him when they saw him. They were immune to the Dragon Root due to their rock diet.

But there was something still amiss. The last time they had to deal with that plant it had only made effect in one small section of land and it affected very few dragons, for it was buried. But this time it had reached every dragon in the village. Hiccup was completely sure Mildew had not come around the place more than it was necessary, not even in the nighttime, to plant so many of those things. He couldn't have gotten near to any house without the dragons catching the scent first, let alone sneaking the plant into Berk. Either way, how had Mildew done it did not matter anymore. What mattered now was how was Hiccup going to fix it.

"Gotta give it to him." Hiccup said as he shook his head. "The man is vile, but he is very creative." He got onto Meatlug's back and sighed. "Okay, we are going to search his hut for something that can help us. Let's just hope not everything was burned down or thrown at the sea."

They flew high over the village to avoid engaging with any dragons as much as possible. With a better view of the place, he saw the extent of the damage the fire had caused and the dragons that were still roaming among the ashes.

By now, the scarce raindrops became a drizzle, accompanied by wind and the sound of faint thunders in the distance.

The sight was sad. A place that by that hour would be buzzing with life, was now gray and quiet, devoid of any life other than dragons that weren't themselves, trapped under the influence of a mere plant.

He noticed from afar how the behavior of the dragons changed. At first, they were on edge, scurrying to hide between the burned ruins of the houses as soon as they saw another dragon, either growling or silently assessing if attacking or not was a good idea. Sometimes they kept to themselves, but other times they did attack each other briefly.

As they kept flying to their destination, passing over the heart of the village, he saw the hesitation turn into aggressiveness, further giving him confirmation about his Dragon Root theory. The nearer they got to the source of the problem, the more territorial the dragons became.

They landed in an area where there were next to no salvageable houses, several yards away from the mount of ashes and thin burned sticks that used to be the support structure of Mildew's hut. A lot of dragons were reunited there ruthlessly attacking each other, trying to defend what they considered their territory. The fire had apparently started in that area, which caused even more suspicion to arise in Hiccup's mind. Even though Mildew was a person easy to hate, the dragons always tried their best to avoid him once they learned what type of man he was. None of them would deliberately charge to his home and make this mess. Plus, all of them seemed to have a bone to pick with each other, not the place on itself.

The young Viking shook his head. None of that mattered anymore. Gods, he didn't even know why was he so eager to prove that this was Mildew's doing. Not when everyone who could see the truth was gone, anyway. Maybe it was about himself? Perhaps even his trusting heart needed proof, a sliver of hope to cling to, so he could have the certainty that whenever he tried to build peace again it wouldn't crumble down because of the dragons' free will. Just in case. Or maybe he needed to get some kind of closure as to why all of this happened.

Terrible Terrors, Deadly Nadders, Hideous Zipplebacks, and Monstrous Nightmares were there. Not even Hiccup, someone who could be easily ignored by larger beings, would be able to sneak his way past so many sharp eyes looking in every direction, let alone staying there to search for useful evidence… if there was any, that is.

Hiccup's heart ached as he saw the bloodbath in front of him. The dragons were using all of their special attacks on each other, gnawing and clawing with the intent to kill. Some of them were lying on the ground, eerily still. The boy forced his mind to think that they were just sleeping it off or something like that.

Knowing he couldn't do anything at the moment and not wanting to see more of that horrible display, he was about to tell Meatlug to fly back at the caves until he caught a glimpse of a black dragon in the middle of the turf war.

Hiccup got off of Meatlug's back and recklessly ran towards the mess of claws and teeth, calling for his friend in hopes of making him break out of the trance he was trapped in, but the Gronckle hurried to catch him by the vest with a bite before he could go off towards certain death.

Hiccup placed a hand above his eyes in an attempt to shield them as the wind changed the direction in which the rain was falling, making the raindrops fall against his face.

Toothless was fighting against a Deadly Nadder and Hiccup had the horrible feeling that it could be Stormfly, but he told himself that there were a lot of other Deadly Nadders there. Stormfly could be anywhere, right? They had a good friendship. It was painful to think about the possibility that those two went from playing tag to fighting to the death without a second thought.

A heavy 'thump' right behind them made Hiccup and Meatlug turn around, only to see Barf and Belch staring back at them. The sudden change of wind must have dragged the scent to the rest of the village and ended up attracting more dragons.

"Oh, brother, a déjà vu," he complained in a tired tone before diving out of the way when one of the heads of the Zippleback tried to bite them.

Unfortunately, Hiccup and Meatlug dived in different directions and ended up being separated not only by two heads that were after them but also by the wave of other dragons that were being attracted to the place because of that horrible plant.

Hiccup ran in every way he could and knew. He ran in circles, made sharp turns, and kept running straight. He jumped high, dodged, slid. He didn't know how, but somehow he had managed to survive various crossed attacks from every possible angle. Meatlug had flown away to Thor knew where, being chased by other dragons, and for all he knew he was now alone in this mess. But he didn't have time to worry about another thing that wasn't getting away from there alive. He sprinted towards the forest, with a Terrible Terror viciously attacking his hair as if it had a personal problem with it.

He cursed the way he had let his guard down. He should've paid more attention to his surroundings. Gods, if Astrid had been there she would've had his head. What was he thinking? Going to Mildew's hut. Running towards Toothless, who didn't even hear him because of the rain, the wind, the roars of other dragons, and the trance he was in.

"I am not a dragon, get off!" He complained to his little attacker.

The Terrible Terror placed both paws on Hiccup's eyes, making awful scratches on his cheeks and blocking his view and as a result, he ended up tripping and falling to the ground. He turned to lay on his back, and his breath got caught in his throat as a Monstrous Nightmare pinned him to the ground, with menacing yellow eyes piercing his soul, and an open jaw letting drops of saliva slip between his enormous teeth.

Having the great, dark figure of one of the scariest dragons known to the date by Vikings towering over him with raw rage and bloodlust on its eyes made Hiccup able to understand it again. To feel it again. The genuine fear of dragons.

The rage and fear of the village after the midnight raid made an astonishing new sense now. Initially, he was able to mentally comprehend how terrorized they must have felt… but right now he was experiencing it emotionally. His eyes were unable to close, not even to blink. His voice was trapped in a cage in the form of his own throat.

The Terrible Terror, which had never stopped gripping Hiccup's hair the whole time, sensed something was about to go wrong and decided to make a break for it and the Nightmare's eyes shifted to follow the movements of the smaller creature. The target wasn't the scrawny human boy that had no chance in a fight against such a big reptile, but the other dragon, which was known to be incredibly vicious at times and prone to gang up on other dragons when in a group. This was a turf war, of course, they would like to go against everything that seemed like a threat.

Hiccup managed to slip an arm through the claws that imprisoned him and grabbed the Terrible Terror by the tail and yanked it back right as the Monstrous Nightmare snapped its jaws on a powerful bite on the exact same place the green dragon would have been.

He had helped the original victim, and that immediately turned him into a new target.

When Hiccup tried to wriggle his way out of the claw that kept him pinned to the ground, the dragon roared from the depths of his throat. The boy let out a scream of his own, but not only because he was afraid, but because he was angry, sad, desperate. This had to be a dream, every turn of events was worse than the previous one.

"Snap out of it!" He yelled.

But he wasn't released. As if it was set on doing the exact opposite, the Nightmare slowly opened its mouth. Realizing what was going to happen, Hiccup let go of the Terror, who scurried away as soon as it had the opportunity. It went to bite the Nightmare's tail (either because for the sake of fighting or because he wanted to repay his life debt to Hiccup), but the red dragon didn't notice or didn't care.

No matter how hard he tried to lift the paw on top of him, it wouldn't budge.

"Stop...!" He pleaded.

"I said, stop the fight!" His father's voice boomed.

Hiccup found himself at the arena again for a brief moment before coming back to reality. On the verge of death, again. How curious that it was a Monstrous Nightmare that had him pinned down like that.

It was as if the gods were laughing at him again. First, they allowed his village to burn down to ashes. Then, they vanished his whole tribe and had allowed him to see his friend tangled in a fierce fight against all the dragons of Berk and now they were finishing the job they hadn't been able to complete back then at the Ring. Hiccup Haddock the III, killed by the very same animals he had loved.

Hiccup's arms were trembling from the amount of effort he was making trying to pry his way out, and at some point, he thought he felt how one of the big nails was actually being lifted only a bit, but he wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not.

The dragon opened his wings, big and strong, and took a deep breath that would come out like a river of flames. Hiccup was terrified, but at the same time, he felt some sort of peace. If he was going to die, he hoped that at least he would be able to see his mom and finally know that warm embrace of hers that he longed for his entire life.

The air had a weird feeling to it, but the Viking attributed it to be a product of his own mind. He could only focus on what he would encounter in the afterlife and about Toothless back there at the hill.… until he detected a metallic taste in his mouth. Then he knew what was happening, as he had experienced it before. And he embraced himself before the pain came.

An explosion of light and sound illuminated and shook the world around him with blinding white light, and he felt the weight of the Nightmare's paw release him. When he opened his eyes, he was a bit disoriented; his ears were ringing and he could still feel the powerful hit on the earth on every fiber of his body. He was surprised and relieved to know that he hadn't been struck by lighting again.

But if it didn't strike him… then where did it land?

He directed his gaze over the hill. Even though the rain had drenched every surface it could reach, there was still a slight smell of burned grass. He looked up, and he saw how the majority of the dragons were flying away, startled and scared away because of the sudden lighting that had almost hit them.

As he rubbed his nose because of the smell of ozone in the air, Hiccup spotted a dark figure he knew like the palm of his hand run into the forest. With trembling legs, he got up and he made his way to the tree line.

He fell to his knees and stayed there for a moment, catching his breath.

He was tired. His whole body hurt, and upon further inspection, he discovered his clothes were a bit torn and scorched in a few places. He had some burns here and there and scratches. Apparently, he had been running on adrenaline and that's why he didn't notice the pain at first. At least he was alive and didn't lose another limb.

"Toothless!" He called with a shaky voice. There was no response. "Meatlug?" Again, no response.

A pained groan escaped his lips, and Hiccup didn't know if it was because of what he was physically feeling or if it came straight out of his heavy heart. He figured it was a bit of both.

He hated it. It wasn't fair. None of this was. He hated that Mildew had caused this whole situation, he hated that there were heartless people ingraining resentment in everyone. He hated that he had been cornered into fearing dragons a few moments ago. But at the same time, perhaps it was necessary? Maybe some part of him was denying the harm they could cause. He had somehow managed to diminish that awareness with all the love he had towards them, with the fact that he had also fallen in love with the wind and the sky. If he could get anything positive out of this, it was that now that he had this experience, no one had the right to say he didn't understand why anyone would fear them.

Dragons were wild animals, in the end. They had instincts, minds, wishes, and hearts on their own. Of course that they were perfectly capable of acting on them, and no amount of training or human love would ever be capable of watering down all of that. There was no guarantee that they would never bite nor scratch.

But Hiccup was able to see and understand the other side of the coin. They were also insanely humane. He remembered the mercy Toothless had shown him when he was freed from the ropes that kept him trapped and his forgiveness when they bonded. He remembered Meatlug's kindness when he was cold in that cave and she made a fire to keep him warm, and how she had kept him company that night and during the day. He remembered every moment he had had with every dragon he had met and trained. They had bonded with him, and he had seen distrust leave their eyes as time passed by and get replaced with gratitude and love. The dragons were capable of saving lives, to understand the fear, worries, and happiness of the humans, even if it was just on a basic level. Even Hookfang, who sometimes seemed to have a questionable moral compass, could behave decently and be reliable when the time came to it.

He cursed and punched the tree that was next to him, adding 'bloody knuckles' to the unnecessarily large list of pains on his body.

But something distracted him from fully noticing the new pain.

He frowned and focused his whole attention on the sounds surrounding him, wishing the rain and thunder would stop for a minute.

I must be hearing things, he thought.

As Hiccup got to his feet, he heard it again and he froze.

"No way," he said, now looking at the tree.

He lightly hit the tree bark with his right hand, since the left one was starting to hurt after he first punched the tree. The sound that was produced…

The tree was hollow.

He searched for lines that gave away some sort of entrance, and after meticulously examining the tree, he found them. He clung his nails on the bark and pulled. The makeshift door came out and allowed him to take a peek of the inside.

"Well, well, well! Welcome back to the land of the living! Your owner has been telling us you were killed." Hiccup greeted the sheep that was staring at him with hateful eyes.

Fungus bleated again.