Chapter 6:
[Dragon's Den]
_STOICK_
Cut to nighttime.
Next to a single candle that acted as his only source of light in the whole place, Hiccup was sitting alone in the smithy, leaning his upper body on a desk on which were drawings of Toothless and plans containing improvements or ideas for his prosthesis... and ideas to improve the safety of the saddle to prevent them both from going through the same accident as before.
He was still going over the events of that day. The behavior of those Terrible Terrors had struck something within him. The rest of the group didn't attack him (they barely paid attention to him), and the one who did approach him was not as vicious as the one who had attacked Tuffnut in the Ring, but rather resembled a docile cat. It trusted Hiccup enough to snuggle up next to him and close its eyes, thanks to the kind gesture he expressed by giving it something to eat.
Something that he hadn't thought deeply about until now finally made its way into his thoughts as he absentmindedly played with a pencil. If Toothless had eventually agreed to be his friend, other dragons could probably befriend other Vikings as well. There was no need for both sides to keep shedding blood. Just as he had commented on the island while he stroked that little dragon, everything they knew about them was wrong.
The sound of footsteps brought him out of his reverie. He lazily turned his head, probably not expecting to see anyone of importance walk through the doorframe, but he jumped to his feet the moment he saw his father's face.
"Dad! You're back!" He exclaimed somewhat startled, quickly gathering the drawings and blueprints on the desk behind his back to prevent his father from seeing them. "Uh... Gobber's not here, so..." he began to explain, looking for something to say to divert any attention that the man might have had towards the papers he was trying to hide.
"I know," Stoick said, then forced his body with some difficulty through the narrow doorway frame, causing the structure to creak and shake a bit. As soon as he managed to get in, he straightened his hat and his back and clarified: "I came looking for you."
"Gods, this can't be," Stoick grunted, massaging his temples with his fingertips.
The number of times Hiccup's secret would have been revealed if only someone had bothered to push him a bit or simply ask him what he was doing was getting ridiculously high.
"You… you did?" Hiccup closed the notebook that had his first drawing of Toothless.
"You've been keeping secrets."
It was obvious that by this point the boy's nerves began to reach their limit, perilously approaching fear. Fear of what would happen if his father had actually found out about Toothless, fear of what they would do to both him and the dragon for breaking years of Viking tradition.
What gave him away? Had anyone on the island seen them fly that afternoon? Or had someone been spying on him? Maybe he hadn't been as discreet as he had thought?
With a gesture that indicated his stomach was threatening to expel his lunch, Hiccup leaned down to rest an elbow on the desk, attempting to steady his nerves and his now trembling knees.
"I... I have?" he stammered trying his hardest to sound casual, like someone completely innocent who has nothing to hide.
"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?" Stoick inquired, narrowing his eyes.
"I... I... I don't know what you're..." Hiccup slowly drummed his fingers on the desk.
He looked away to keep the look on his eyes from betraying him completely. His mind was surely racing in search for excuses or escape routes from that terrible conversation, but Stoick spoke again with an even more stern tone of voice causing the boy to make eye contact again with a jolt.
"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it."
Hiccup didn't want to keep quiet and seem suspicious, but at the same time he didn't want to say anything to avoid giving himself away by accident, so the final product of his inner struggle made his throat produce a tiny "Oh?"
"So... let's talk," Stoick took a few steps forward, "…about that dragon."
The serious tone of his voice, his height (which made the horns of his hat brush against the ceiling) and the shadows that darkened parts of his face due to the low lighting gave him an imposing aura. Few would find the courage to lie to him without getting nervous.
Hiccup lost the strength in his legs and he put all his weight on the desk, but his arm slipped on his notebook, which slid and fell to the floor forcing him to keep his legs stable again so as not to end up on the floor himself. His father had found out about Toothless. It was the end... the only thing left to do was try to explain his actions, to beg for the man not to hurt his friend, to try to persuade him about the dragons.
"Oh gods," he inhaled deeply. What should he do first? Apologize? Explain everything? Do both at the same time? "Dad, I'm so sorry. I... I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how to..."
He briefly looked down at the scrolls he had tried to hide moments before, as if on them were to be written the words he should say, but...
Stoick chuckled. And then that evolved into laughter. It was not a cynical or bitter laugh... it was more of a happy laugh. The redhead placed his hands on his hips and leaned back a bit in an easy-going manner.
"Come on, he was about to tell you! You blew it!" Gobber exclaimed.
His friend let out an exasperated sigh.
Poor Hiccup, confused and nervous, began to force a soft awkward laugh himself with no idea of what else to do. Why was his father laughing? Did he do or say something funny? Maybe it was an ironic laugh? It could not be that Stoick the Vast, entangled in an eternal and fierce war against dragons, was not yelling at him with rage for having befriended one of them.
Not that he was thrilled to keep that conversation flowing (rather, it was the last thing he wanted), but by that point he was more confused than scared and had to ask.
"You're… you're not upset?" He said, and Stoick's answer confused him even more.
"What?!" The Viking stopped laughing, but the smile didn't leave his face. "I was hoping for this!"
"Uh… you were?"
"And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time! And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear! What a feeling!" Stoick exclaimed full of joy. Overwhelmed with excitement, he hit his son on the shoulder with such force that he boy hit a shelf and fell into a basket. "You really had me going there, son! All those years of the worstViking Berk has ever seen. Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you. And all the while you were holding out on me! Oh, Thor Almighty!"
"Oh no," Stoick murmured upon hearing his own words, finally realizing how it must have sounded for Hiccup.
"Oh no," Fishlegs and Astrid agreed.
Those who weren't that dense with people's emotions fell into awkward silence. That had been a little... that must have hurt.
"Why 'oh no'? It's— it was technically true, wasn't it?" Snotlout said.
"It's true!" Mildew, who had been silent until then, spoke up.
"Oh, forget it," the boy murmured while rolling his eyes, irritated that he accidentally motivated the old man to say something.
As he got out of the basket he had fallen into, Hiccup's frown dropped with sadness when he heard his own father say that he was "the worst Viking Berk had ever seen" and that he almost gave up on him even though he had always tried his best. But he said nothing and the other man did not realize the negative impact of his words.
"With you doing so well in the Ring," the leader continued, calmer now as he sat down in a chair with a sigh, "...we finally have something to talk about."
Stoick leaned forward, eager to hear everything from the lips of his own son. He wanted to see his eyes light up with the fire of a new passion for the fight, for the honor of finding his place among the tribe and finally be on the track to be the dragon killer he said he wanted to be.
The day had finally come for Hiccup to step forward as a Viking, a thing to take great pride upon... but the boy kept quiet. He didn't smile, he didn't show any kind of emotion close to excitement and just looked away. For a moment it looked like he was going to say something, but the words died in his throat coming out as a sigh.
"Gods, this is so awkward that it's painful to watch." Ruffnut put a hand to her forehead. By this point, she didn't know whether to laugh or to look away from it in an attempt to avoid the wave of awkwardness emanating from the scene.
Hiccup calmed down now that he knew which dragon his father was talking about.
But his nerves were replaced by uncertainty, and also by a bit of disappointment. Not because his father hadn't discovered his secret, but because for several years he had imagined a thousand times the moment when he would excel in his training and make Stoick proud of him.
This was supposed to be the time of his life when he would finally walk through the village with his head held high, wielding a weapon and ready to use it for the purpose of defending his home from the monsters that mercilessly attacked it; the moment when he would talk non-stop with his father about all his experiences and thoughts. Their strained relationship would be repaired and they would be able to coexist as a father and his son should... but none of that had happened.
He ended up going to the Ring against his will; he didn't feel happy when he finally managed to be inside the place where his father and his grandparents had become Vikings. He had realized that dragons were not monsters, and therefore he no longer found any pride in the idea of killing them and keeping parts of the corpses as trophies. What he was learning about the world of those animals wasn't coming from Gobber, but from Toothless, and he couldn't talk about it with anyone. He now felt more alienated from his father and the rest of the tribe than ever.
Now that he thought better of it, a part of him was no longer sure if it was so good that the man hadn't found out about Toothless, for the duty of finding a moment to confess fell on his shoulders again. He knew that he could not hide his friend forever on the island. He wasn't the only one who liked to go out to explore the forests from time to time. Some used to go out to collect things they needed from those places, like wood for the fire or herbs. It was a matter of time before someone discovered the occupant of that cove, and it was preferable that there was no fear and mistrust between dragons and humans by then.
"Here, I, uh, I brought you something," Stoick continued. His smile faded as he realized he wouldn't get the warm family talk he was expecting. He grabbed the extra hat he had brought with him and straightened one of the horns, which was slightly crooked, "to keep you safe in the Ring."
"Wow. Thanks."
Hiccup received the hat with a smile. This gift felt different from the axe that had been given to him the night before going to the Ring. The hat was being delivered with the warmth and calm of a happy father, comfortable with his son.
"Your mother would have wanted you to have it. It's half of her breastplate."
Hiccup instantly withdrew one of his hands from the hat with a sudden feeling of awkwardness, trying to hide it with a nervous chuckle.
There was slight laughter in reaction to Hiccup's gesture at such a revelation.
"Matching set," Stoick said with a sad look on his eyes, tapping the hat he wore on his head with his finger. "It keeps her close, you know. Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."
Still feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Hiccup put the hat down on the desk. Now remorse was working its way into his chest and into his mind as well. He was definitely not keeping his end of the deal. Rather, he had destroyed it when he befriended with the supposed enemy.
"You're right, this is painful to watch," Tuffnut whispered, agreeing with his sister.
This talk had to end as soon as possible, or the discomfort would linger. He stretched out his arms feigning a big yawn, making an excuse to get out of there.
"I should really get to bed."
Apparently his father got the message, or maybe he was thinking of doing the same, because he immediately stood up and agreed, avoiding eye contact. Trying not to succumb to the awkwardness of the moment, the two of them started saying their goodbyes… at the same time, adding more to the already awkward atmosphere.
"Yes, good. Ok, good talk. We should do this again."
"Yeah, I'll see you back at the house."
"I hope you like the hat." Stoick backed away, hitting his head with a roof beam in the process.
"Thanks for stopping by and for the... uh, breast hat."
"Well, uh… yep. Good night."
They looked at each other for a moment, until Stoick turned and made the doorway frame creak again as he stepped through. Once they were both out of each other's sight, they sighed.
Hiccup leaned back on the desk, slightly shaking his head. At least his father was happy.
Stoick smiled. That didn't go as planned, but it was enough. After clumsily causing a little mess by accidentally knocking off some weapons that were lying against a wall, he took his leave to avoid another awkward moment.
A Gronckle was flying in the Ring as it narrowed its eyes, scanning the surroundings in search of its opponents.
The deafening cheers from the crowd watching the final practice could be heard all over the place. On that cloudy day it would be decided between Hiccup and Astrid (the most outstanding in training), who was the best student. Who had what it took to face the Monstrous Nightmare.
Astrid hid behind a wooden barricade, focused solely on her goal. Therefore, she didn't care about the fact that there was someone next to her, but when she turned and realized that someone was Hiccup, she grabbed the shield he was holding and harshly lowered it to the ground so that both could be face to face.
"Stay out of my way. I'm winning this thing."
"Please, by all means," Hiccup agreed.
Contrary to what Astrid thought, he couldn't be happier at the possibility of her being chosen instead of him.
With the Gronckle far from him and with Astrid gone too, he stood up and turned to see his father, who clenched a fist in encouragement. Lazily stretching his lips into a listless smile, he straightened his hat.
His carelessness caused the dragon to notice him from the other end of the Ring and begin to head towards him. Meanwhile, Astrid was still tailing the animal in search of an opening to attack, hiding behind the wooden barricades.
"This time, this time for sure!" She reassured herself.
She gripped her axe tightly, took a deep breath and with a battle cry began to leap over the barricades to get to her target faster.
All of her training had led to this. The day and the night before she had been thinking about the best strategy to win this practice before Hiccup could do anything.
She kept screaming the entire way, until her voice died in her throat as she stared in surprise at what was in front of her: a Gronckle lying on the ground with Hiccup at it side, who didn't even bother to pretend he had done anything since his weapons were on the floor.
That was it. Hiccup had completed the test before her... again.
When he saw her, he tried to explain by means of signs that it was not his fault, that the dragon had simply acted that way out of nowhere— though that behavior had probably been learned when, throughout all the previous practices, it noticed that the boy didn't have bad intentions. But Astrid wasn't paying attention to him anymore.
For a moment, her face showed how bewildered and disappointed she was before it morphed into a gesture of raw anger.
Who could blame her? She had always tried her best to be the most skilled and strongest warrior of her generation. There were times when her hands blistered from so many hours of practice. She had gotten better at the cost of aching muscles and days of feeling burned out, just... for a boy who didn't seem to be trying at all, who didn't even seem to want to be there, get better than her in such a short time and get everything she had worked so hard for. It was unfair. Everything had gone to waste without her being able to demonstrate all her progress.
"No! No, son of a half-troll!" Astrid yelled, swinging her axe in the air in frustration. "Rat-eating, munge-bucket!"
"I'm sorry!" Astrid under the stern gaze of her parents, knowing she had indirectly insulted Stoick by accident.
"Wait! Wait." Stoick raised a hand, asking for everyone's silence.
"So, later." Hiccup walked quickly to the exit with his head down.
Perhaps if he managed to get out of there his absence would force Gothi to choose Astrid as the winner, freeing him from being the one chosen for the initiation.
"Oh! Not so fast." Gobber lifted the boy by the vest with his hook and put him back to his previous place.
This was an important occasion, and there was no way he was going to let one of his star apprentices just walk away.
"I'm kinda late for..." Hiccup began to say searching for a valid excuse to leave as he spoke, but he was interrupted when Astrid placed her axe in front of his neck.
"What?!" She took a few steps forward, causing Hiccup to step back to avoid a cut on his neck. "Late for what, exactly?"
She was so mad at him that her eyelids were twitching and it gave her blue eyes an almost psychotic look. He had surpassed her by the sheer luck of just standing there when the dragon fell asleep, and he had worsened the situation by accidentally reminding her that she was also frustrated by not knowing where he was heading to on that day they had crossed paths in the forest.
"Quiet down!" Stoick spoke again. "The elder has decided."
As the small, hunched figure of Gothi moved forward, Hiccup and Astrid fell silent and settled side by side, one rubbing his neck after being relieved from the pressure of an axe; the other regaining her composure. Gobber stepped behind them and under an expectant silence in which everyone seemed to hold their breath, he held his hook over Astrid's head.
Gothi shook her head, getting exclamations and murmurs of surprise from the audience. While Hiccup had made enormous progress in recent trainings, Astrid was still a great adversary that couldn't be easily dismissed. Until that day, bets had still been made on who would be chosen.
The girl turned her gaze to Hiccup, knowing fully well what was going to happen, but part of her seemed that she still had the small hope that he would not be chosen.
Gobber held his good hand over Hiccup's head, and Gothi nodded with a smile. He was the winner. The murmurs that still hadn't died after Astrid's non-election were replaced by cheers and whistles of extasy. Not that they didn't want to see Astrid fight and officially become part of the tribe, but no one could help to wish that Hiccup would stop being… Hiccup to finally become a skilled warrior. He was finally becoming a worthy heir to being the Chief of the tribe.
Astrid shot her opponent an angry look. Nothing disgusted her more at that moment than knowing that she had not succeeded, but if Gothi said that he was the one who should face the dragon, she would respect that decision, no matter how much it hurt. Astrid Hofferson was also capable of accepting defeat.
Hiccup looked at her with some fear, almost expecting her to cut off his head right then and there. Even after Gobber hugged him with one arm, congratulating him on having managed to have the privilege of killing the dragon, he continued to watch her just in case.
A moment later the other students arrived, just as happy for his success and Fishlegs hoisted Hiccup onto his shoulder and the group headed to the exit.
It seemed that all the bad vibes that could be in the place were being absorbed by Astrid, as not even Snotlout did or said anything to annoy Hiccup. He seemed to be genuinely happy. Perhaps because of the fact that he now didn't have to be ashamed of having a cousin who was the weakest among them all.
"That's my boy!" Stoick proudly exclaimed, watching his son being carried away by his teammates outside the Ring.
"Yeah. Yes. I can't wait," the boy said, barely managing to tinge his voice with a little bit of fake excitement. "I am so..."
There was an abrupt change of scene that now showed him in the cove, carrying a basket on his shoulder.
"Leaving! We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever."
He dropped the basket with a sigh. It was really a shame that things had to end up like this.
The silence of the place was interrupted as Astrid decided to continue sharpening her axe, causing Hiccup to finally notice her and take a few steps back in surprise.
"How is it possible that he didn't notice her?!" Snotlout asked. "She was sitting right there in plain sight!"
"We all know Hiccup is not very good at scanning his surroundings" Gobber said.
"What the…?! What are you doing here?" The boy stammered, his gaze scanning the place quickly.
How long had Astrid been sitting there? She seemed calm, with no sign that she had been in a fight recently. Toothless was nowhere to be seen. That was a good sign, right? For it meant that in all the time it took him to arrive, neither of them had noticed the other's presence.
Now he only had to worry about how he would manage to get her out of there before anything could go wrong.
"I wanna know what's going on," she replied, stepping off the rock she was sitting on and walking towards him. "No one gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking!" She insisted again when Hiccup did nothing more than step away and uneasily stare at the axe in her hand.
Astrid had decided to retrace the steps she had taken that day that they both saw each other in the forest. Judging from the load he was carrying in his arms on that occasion, maybe Hiccup was building something. Some invention that Gobber would not allow in the smithy, or that everyone in the village would disapprove for fear of him causing another disaster. Or maybe he was training with someone, as she suspected.
She looked for strange structures, she looked for strange people, but in the end, what she found was a beautiful cove that she never paid particular attention to in all her years of living in Berk until now. The place screamed 'Hiccup comes here to isolate himself'. It was then that she made the decision to stay and wait, as it was a matter of time before the reason of her curiosity made his appearance.
"Uh... I... I... well..." he stammered, unsuccessfully searching for suitable words that would calm her down.
It was obvious that he was in the process of making up a lie, and that began to irritate Astrid again. She had already accepted her defeat, but something told her that Hiccup had a secret related to his success, and she would make sure she knew what it was.
"Are you training with someone?" She asked.
"Training?"
The confused tone he had used implied that he wasn't training on his own or with anyone else. So what was he doing, that he had gotten so good in such a short time? He had better share and his method should be good, because she didn't plan on letting anyone get over her without taking things seriously.
"It better not involve this." She grabbed him by his clothes.
Taking a good look, Astrid noticed that Hiccup was wearing a type of harness that she hadn't seen on him before. What would it be for? Or was there no big secret and he just liked to try on… clothes?*
"I know this looks really bad, but you see, this..."
Astrid interrupted him, grabbing his shoulder and throwing him to the ground, noticing he still had no intention of telling the truth.
A loud noise attracted the girl's attention, causing her to turn to the new target of her curiosity and ignore Hiccup. Knowing what a bad sign that was, he kept walking beside her.
"You're right. You're right. You're right. I'm through with the lies. I've been making... outfits!" Hiccup said in an attempt to get the attention fall back on him. "So you got me. It's time everyone knew. Drag me back, go ahead. Here we go..."
Placing a hand on her shoulder, he stepped forward until he was in front of her to prevent her from going any further. Realizing that he wouldn't let her pass, Astrid took the boy's hand and twisted it until his joints made a popping sound and Hiccup fell to the ground with a pained groan.
"Why would you do that?!" He complained as he tried to get up.
As if that had been an invitation for her to keep hitting him, Astrid delivered a kick that knocked Hiccup down again before he could fully get up again.
"That's for the lies," she explained, then dropping the axe handle onto Hiccup's stomach, knocking the air out of him. "And that's for everything else."
A roar caused Astrid to look up, her body tensing in alert.
"Oh man," Hiccup said from the ground.
"Oh man," Fishlegs said as well.
Goodbye to the possibility of leaving without being noticed. Goodbye to the possibility of even being able to keep the secret until the end.
Astrid narrowed her eyes to focus her view on the farthest part of the cove, finally noticing the black figure that was resting in that place. Her eyes widened in perfect circles in surprise as she realized what kind of dragon was before her.
The only reason why neither Toothless nor Astrid had noticed the other's presence even while in the same area was because the girl was quite silent upon arrival and because Toothless was asleep. But now that the sound of voices had awakened him from his nap, the dragon's green eyes immediately laid on the figure of an unfamiliar person wielding a weapon.
Years of training and preparation made Astrid's body move instantly, while she prioritized actions and took her surroundings into account. The first thing on the list was to avoid the possible defensive shot that some dragons produced when they were surprised.
"Get down!" She exclaimed, dropping down and pulling Hiccup (who had just managed to get up) with her.
Interpreting Astrid's protective gesture as one of attack towards his best friend, Toothless roared in outrage and ran towards the pair, showing his teeth with the intent of defending the boy at all costs.
"Run, run!" Astrid got up and raised her axe to try to kill the dragon with one blow. Otherwise, who knows how long she could last on her own against a Night Fury? She had to try her best to give Hiccup time to run and hopefully get help as fast as possible.
"Astrid!" The girl's parents jumped on their seats.
Although they were proud of the way she handled the situation and tried to protect the weakest, they were also scared at the prospect that that day they could have lost her daughter.
"No!" Hiccup shouted as Astrid swinged the axe and Toothless leaped towards her.
The two of them would have started a combat of fatal consequences had it not been for Hiccup reacting quickly, pushing Astrid out of the way as he snatched the axe from her. As soon as he threw the weapon out of the girl's reach, he turned to face the dragon, focused on calming him down.
Flabbergasted, Astrid stared at the scene in front of her. The black-scaled beast rose up in his hindquarters, roaring and flapping his wings, but he never attacked Hiccup.
"No! It's ok! It's ok," the boy spoke again, alternating his gaze between the two of them to ensure no one would do something stupid. "She's a friend."
Toothless finally calmed down and Astrid slowly rose to her feet. What was happening? She could not believe it. Hiccup had managed to handle a dragon without any violence… and not just any dragon. It was a Night Fury, the most feared dragon to date by all of Berk. Not only that, but he had taken the axe from her. The only weapon they had to prevent the animal from ripping them to pieces right then and there. Had he just defended the enemy?
"You just scared him," Hiccup explained to her, pushing Toothless by the snout to prevent him from going near her since he still seemed quite interested at the idea of biting her.
"I scared him?!" She repeated, unable to believe what she was hearing. Startled at the growl the fierce creature produced, she made another question. "Who is 'him'?"
"Uh... Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid." The last part was said in a tone that seemed to tell the dragon 'don't eat her, behave yourself.' Toothless snarled in disdain and Astrid ran off. "We're dead," he said, mimicking a fanfare.
The dragon took it as an opportunity to go back to sleep. He couldn't care less if that girl left. In his defense, she had gotten aggressive first, throwing Hiccup at the ground and swinging her axe around and hitting the boy with the handle. Weren't the Vikings in Berk supposed to be allies? What was her deal?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you're going?"
Meanwhile, Astrid ran as fast as she could with the intention of getting as far away as possible from Hiccup and... had she heard right? The dragon's name was Toothless?
She could not believe it. For how long had this friendship been established? Why? How...? No. The 'how and when' were no longer a question, since the answer could be found going back a few weeks, when Hiccup told everyone that he had managed to catch a Night Fury and no one had believed him.
How different would things have been if they had listened to him? They probably would have hailed him as a hero for taking down the hunter's most coveted dragon and getting rid of a nuisance to Berk. Or maybe someone else would've had to kill the animal because, obviously, Hiccup wouldn't have been able to do it. Why did he release the beast? She did not know.
But now, at least what she did know was the secret. The reason behind his sudden success in training. Hiccup fought the enemy by knowing him directly, learning from him... and betraying his own tribe in the process. He hadn't used the dragon to help his own. He could have let Astrid kill him or kill him himself long ago after learning all the useful stuff, but he chose to take care of him, name him and defend him. And apparently the dragon liked him too because it hadn't eaten him.
To what extent did the dragon appreciate the human boy who had trapped him? What assured Hiccup that he would not be betrayed and killed? This had to stop. She had to tell someone... for Hiccup's own good, before something bad happened. He could be the embodiment of disaster, someone who was ticking her off a lot lately, but she didn't wish him death. The two had trained together side by side, had seen each other fail, learned and improved (or at least, tried to, in Hiccup's case) alongside the others. Whether she liked the idea or not, Hiccup was her teammate, and she didn't plan to let his story end prematurely by the claws of a dragon.
Also, on a more personal side, Astrid couldn't keep such secret. It went against all her principles. She owned nothing to the dragons, and the opportunity to put an end to one of the biggest threats the Berkians had encountered was right there, ready to get seized.
She was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn't hear the sound of wings flapping closer and closer to her. She noticed too late, when a claw closed around her arm as she leaped a log and lifted her several feet into the air.
"Oh, great Odin's ghost! Oh, this is it! " she yelled, not bothering to hide the terror in her voice when she saw the tops of the trees beneath her feet.
Those things were supposed to be above her head, not the other way around.
"Wow, to see Astrid that scared is such a weird thing to experience..." Snotlout muttered.
Was it really going to end like this? She never thought Hiccup was that kind of person.
She didn't stop screaming until the dragon dropped her onto a branch of one of the tallest trees, back at the edge of the cove. She just held on tightly as the tree bended under Toothless' weight as he landed on the very top.
"Hiccup! Get me down from here! " She demanded.
Her face began to regain its usual frown, but the tone of her voice showed how worried she was about losing her grip and falling to her death.
"You have to give me a chance to explain."
"I am not listening to anything you have to say!" She sentenced, beginning to move towards the tree trunk. If Hiccup wouldn't help her down, she'd do it on her own.
"Then I won't speak. Just let me show you. Please, Astrid."
After a moment of silent consideration, Astrid fully climbed onto the branch she was holding onto, accepting the proposal either out of curiosity or because it would be easier to fly to the ground than to go jumping from one branch to another.
Toothless growled as Astrid climbed onto the saddle, but he made no further protest. On her side, the girl refused the help Hiccup offered her to climb and she sat behind him with caution, as if she expected the dragon to turn around to bite her.
"Now get me down."
"Toothless, down. Gently," Hiccup instructed, and the dragon spread his wings instantly. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."
But the Night Fury's facial expression said otherwise. He was not amused that Astrid was on top of him. Why did he have to be nice and she didn't? The girl had tried to tattle on them to the rest of the Vikings and if she had succeeded both him and Hiccup would've gotten in serious trouble. Plus she had treated the boy harshly back at the cove. This situation implied that he should just let it go as if it had not been offensive.
Oh, no, he wasn't going to sit around and let that happen.
Instead of carefully flying back to the ground, Toothless flapped his wings with all his might and rose vertically, drawing a cry from both riders. Astrid would have fallen if she hadn't had a grip of steel thanks to the adrenaline that was running through her entire body.
The twins couldn't help but snicker a bit, but the rest of the room gasped. If the girl had not reacted in time, she would have fallen from a rather unfavorable height.
"It's okay, it's okay!" Astrid exclaimed. "I had it coming," she admitted looking at her parents, whose faces were starting lose color.
"Toothless! What is wrong with you?! Bad dragon," Hiccup scolded him as the passenger in the back screamed at the top of her lungs, clinging to him for dear life. "He's not usually like this… " he added with a nervous laugh.
Toothless' face showed that he was enjoying the trip while Astrid's showed that she was hating it.
Far was the dragon to end his protest. Just when the flight stopped being vertical and Astrid had a break, Toothless made a freefall into the sea back first and only turned around at the very last second to prevent the other two from taking the brunt of the hit against the water.
"Toothless, what are you doing?" Hiccup asked again as the dragon splashed repeatedly against the water, getting them soaked. "We need her to like us! ...And now the spinning, " he complained as Toothless ignored him and rose again spinning in the air, turning them upside down countless times. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."
"Ok, I am sorry! I'm sorry," Astrid finally apologized, hugging Hiccup with both her legs and her arms, wishing that all that nightmare would end. She wouldn't get her nose on Hiccup's business. She would keep the secret and get away from both of them. Just… "Get me off of this thing." she pleaded.
Toothless' gaze changed to one of satisfaction as soon as he heard her. An apology was all he needed, and she seemed to have learned her lesson. With nothing else against the situation, he spread his wings stopping the spins instantly.
Astrid let out one last short cry at the sudden way they broke the fall, and although they weren't doing non-stop twists and spins now, she didn't stop clinging onto Hiccup until she was certain there would be no more sudden movements.
"Wow," murmured those who had not yet dared to fly on a dragon.
It was the first time they had seen a sunset from the point of view of a rider and his dragon, and the view was breathtaking.
The stability of the flight and the soft sensation of the wind brushing against her face was what invited her to half open her eyes, which she had kept firmly closed throughout the ride. As soon as she saw her surroundings, she opened them fully in wonder, and she released Hiccup from the death grip she had him trapped in.
"Yeah, wow," Astrid murmured with a smile.
She would never forget that first flight. The sunset, the clouds, the Northern Lights. To the date, her memories were fresh in her mind, and when she was feeling very stressed, she would remember that moment to relax. She thought that nothing could improve it... until she heard the music, so beautiful, calm and mesmerizing.
She would have preferred for that moment to stay between her and Hiccup. It was something so personal it was a bit awkward knowing there were other people watching. She wanted to close her eyes and imagine she was alone or right there again while she listened to the magnificent addition, but the projection was already there, so she kept her eyes open and tried her best to ignore everyone.
Clouds were always something out of reach.
When she was little, with the curiousness every other new soul in the world had, Astrid used to wonder what it would be like to be inside a cloud. But she soon learned that you could only do such a thing by having wings like one of the ruthless dragons that attacked the village. And as her personality grew to be the one of a person focused on real-life problems, she stopped paying much attention to them. Still, that never stopped her from looking up every now and then and letting her mind wander a bit before turning back to reality.
She was sure that land and seas would be the only thing Vikings would be able to navigate.
But of course, almost everything she believed in had been completely shattered in mere minutes thanks to Hiccup and Toothless. Peace between humans and dragons, something that no one had thought about due to how ridiculous it sounded, became possible. And with it, reaching the clouds. She had the honor of being a witness of it.
She was surrounded by fluffy clouds tinged of pale orange thanks to the rays of the setting sun. They were of every size, and so thick that she couldn't see the sea below her feet.
Her back and arms were somewhat sore from all the strain she had put on them while struggling to maintain a firm posture and grip during the speed of the various free falls and constant twists, but she still straightened up and shily extended an arm, tucking a hand in the smooth consistency of a cloud above her.
Her lips stretched into a smile as she felt the dampness permeate her fingers.
Letting go of what little was left of the fear she had of Toothless making a sharp turn making her fall to her death, she reached out with both arms to bask in the new sense of security and peace that had settled inside her. She enjoyed every second in which she had contact with what she previously considered untouchable; the drops of water that ran down her arms made her feel ticklish.
Time passed in the form of a peaceful trance. The silence was only broken by the soothing sound of Toothless' wings flapping and the whistling of the wind in their ears. Night came and it was accompanied by beautiful Northern Lights. They contemplated the green, blue and purple tones waving above their heads until the extensive cloud they were flying over came to an end, revealing another wonder below them.
Astrid watched Berk from above for the first time in her life, and the sight didn't disappoint her. Thanks to the moonlight, she could see from the highest mountain to the cliffs, and from the dark forests to the small dots of orange light that were the torches illuminating the roads and houses on the small island that was her home.
She hugged Hiccup and rested her chin on his right shoulder, taking him by surprise.
The Viking's smile faded as he finally processed the situation he was in: he had been flying for a couple of hours with the girl he liked and admired, and now she was hugging him. Astrid Hofferson was hugging him. They were sitting so close to each other... was she impressed? The takeoff had been pretty rough, but apparently she was now enjoying the flight. He really hoped she was enjoying it.
When he slightly turned his head to see her, he noticed the satisfied smile she had on her face, and that made him smile too.
Toothless caught Astrid staring at the village in amazement, and with a gesture that resembled a smile he descended far enough to fly nearby the stone statues in the ocean, so that they could take a closer look.
After flying up the cliffs, Astrid was the first to break the silence.
"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's amazing," she confessed, and the comment made Hiccup smile again. "He's amazing," she added, patting Toothless on the neck.
She now understood why Hiccup had defended the dragon in the cove. And now she was able to see the world that had fascinated him; this had changed everything.
"So what now?" She asked and the boy just sighed, which caused her to speak in an urgent tone. "Hiccup! Your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're gonna have to kill…" Realizing what she was about to say, she lowered her voice and whispered in his ear, "kill a dragon."
"Sure, whisper something near an animal that has a sense of hearing a hundred times sharper than yours. It sure won't be able to listen anything." Spitelout shook his head.
"Thanks for reminding me," Hiccup said in a tired tone.
Toothless ears perked up, his pupils contracted into slits and plummeted down a few feet by suddenly closing his wings, making his riders yelp in surprise.
They had inadvertently reached the wall of fog that seemed to divide the human world from the dragon world, and now they were rapidly breaking through that mysterious veil. When the Night Fury did not react to Hiccup's voice, who was repeatedly asking him what was happening, Astrid feared that Toothless had heard her comment and came to the conclusion that he had to kill them first before they could betray his trust. Fortunately, she was about to find out that this was not the case at all.
Something large stirred in the fog behind them, and thanks to the poor visibility, they only realized it was a Monstrous Nightmare when it was right next to them, almost hitting Toothless with its wings as it passed.
"Get down!" Hiccup whispered, and they both leaned as far as they could against the dragon's back, hoping his wings would keep them hidden.
From the left side, a Deadly Nadder approached them. And later on, when the fog dispersed a bit, they were able to see that not only were two dragons flying nearby, but that they were surrounded by hundreds of them.
The sounds were so loud that the teens could now hear what had drawn Toothless' attention: roars, growls, shrieks and strange purrs mixed in an unusual orchestra that gave goose bumps to the human listeners.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked.
"I don't know," Hiccup replied to then address his friend. "Toothless, you gotta get us out of here, bud."
The dragon shook its head and ignored the request.
Hideous Zipplebacks, Gronckles, Deadly Nadders and Monstrous Nightmares. They were all different species, but that night they had something in common:
"It looks like they're hauling in their kill," Hiccup noted.
And it was true. Wherever they looked, there was a dragon with an animal in its claws, whether it was something as large as a yak or something as small as a fish.
"Uh... what does that make us?" the girl inquired, not so sure if the answer would be a pleasant one.
Curious from the new soft, hushed sounds they were able to hear, the heads of a Zippleback turned and the two pairs of yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of humans. Fortunately, nothing happened as all the dragons began to swoop down, swiftly navigating between large columns of rock that were impossible to see until they were a couple of feet away.
After a moment, something else became visible. A small island that was home to a volcano, which rose high and imposing among the stone columns that surrounded it. The cracks that ran through the dark stone allowed a reddish orange light to filter through, indicating the presence of lava inside. Maybe it was because all the dragons were heading there, or maybe it was thanks to its location, but that place emitted an aura of danger that urged you to turn around and never return.
"The nest..." Stoick narrowed his eyes.
After everything that had happened at that place, he had hoped to never see it in person again. He was already paying it enough visits in his nightmares, and now it haunted him through a divine projection of his past.
Without slowing down, Toothless filed with other dragons into a tunnel. The two Vikings could not help but scream a bit, since they did not know if they were about to die entering a place that still had lava inside or if they would get lost in the dark, without being able to return home ever again.
However, they emerged from the tunnel unscathed and were greeted by a heat wave as they entered the volcano's throat, where tall columns of rock stood serving as resting places for the other dragons after they had dropped into the lava all the animals they were carrying.
"What my dad wouldn't give to find this," Hiccup said, observing the chamber they were in.
Toothless continued to fly until he reached a corner obscured by the shadows of nearby rocks, and the three of them simply watched in silence the scene unfolding in front of them.
"Hah, it's satisfying to know all our food has been dumped down a hole," the Viking commented, unaware of the horror they were about to see.
"They're not eating any of it," Astrid said.
A disoriented Gronckle clumsily flew over the lava. He regurgitated a teeny tiny fish, and scratched an ear considering his action finished... but a roar echoed in the place, and the dragon opened its eyes with fear reflected in them. He tried to leave, but his small wings weren't fast enough and he wasn't able to avoid the great jaws of a much, much, much larger being from closing around him, swallowing him whole in one bite.
"What is that?" Was the only thing the girl could say.
Fishlegs got startled and felt his throat get dry thanks to the fear. Thinking that Meatlug could have been in the place of that poor Gronckle twisted his insides. He had never been so grateful that other Vikings had captured her and locked her in the Ring for a while, unknowingly saving her from that place.
The survivors of the battle against the Red Death had on grim expressions on their faces. They, who had been armed and fully expecting to die fighting dragons, could not handle the fear and shock that hit them when they saw the Queen emerge. They could not imagine the terror the two teenagers must have felt when they came face to face with that… thing, totally unprotected.
Gobber put his good hand on Stoick's shoulder and gave him a squeeze. He knew that the man still blamed himself for everything that happened that day. He had ignored Hiccup's reasonable warnings, mindlessly running into battle and thereby had brought dire consequences on the village. There had been too many deaths, and the boy had been on the verge of adding his name to that list trying to fix the mistakes of his father.
A few seats further back in the room, Astrid ran the back of her hand across her brow, wiping away the beads of sweat that were accumulating there.
She was not a girl who was scared by a lot of things, but that moment in her life was something that somehow marked her forever. Even when she had been spinning in the air and holding onto Hiccup she had never felt fear paralyze her lungs that way until that night they entered the nest. Not even when dragons attacked her in the midnight raids, or when she launched into combat against a Night Fury. She had never felt so vulnerable before a dragon, because even if she had had her axe with her, the blade wouldn't be enough against something that big.
Although she was no longer in that place, if she thought about it a lot she was able to feel the suffocating heat of the volcano again. Her eyes would hurt again because of it, and her body would begin to sweat without her being able to control it, just as it was happening now.
All the dragons in the place huddled against the walls or in the corners they were in, each fearing to be the next to be caught.
Hiccup had raised his eyebrows, realizing that the red light on the floor wasn't exactly lava. Rather, it was simply a floor constantly burning in flames thanks to the fire of that enormous beast, whose size could only be sheltered by an extremely wide cave ... or, in this case, a volcano.
Maybe it was for the best that Berk remained oblivious to the location of the nest and the horror that it housed.
The great dragon poked its head out of the smoke again, searching for its next victim. Despite all the animals that it had received as a free meal, the creature's temper had gotten out of control thanks to the miserable fish that had been given to it and now it planned to take it out on other innocent dragons, revealing its cruel and fickle nature.
"Allright, bud, we got to get out of here… now!" Hiccup urged as soon as he noticed the beast's snout beginning to dangerously tilt towards them as it sniffed the air.
The dragon leaped and took a bite right where the Night Fury and his riders had taken refuge. Thanks to the gods, Toothless had taken flight half a second earlier, and the jaws caught only air. The other dragons decided to follow suit and wasted no time in flying as fast as possible towards the crater of the volcano, since that was the most accessible exit.
But the creature did not give up and it jumped even higher, determined to eat Toothless. Fortunately, the black dragon was already too high to be reached. And sadly, a Zippleback was the one who took his place, and it was dragged into the depths of the place when it was caught by the tip of the tail.
Now it was the twins' turn to get startled. They couldn't imagine a version of their story where they had a Zippleback called Barf and Belch that wasn't… well, Barf and Belch. They exchanged glances, sharing Fishlegs' appreciation of unknowingly getting those dragons away from such a dangerous lifestyle.
They had traveled the first half of the journey in silence, grateful to have come out of there alive and welcoming the relief that the cool breeze provided after feeling such heat. Once both of them finished processing what they had just seen, they began to discuss the existence of that being and the behavior of the other dragons.
"No, no, it totally makes sense," Astrid said in response to something Hiccup had said, or maybe completing her own train of thoughts. "It's like a giant beehive: they're the workers and that's their queen. It controls them. Let's find your dad." She got off Toothless once they landed in the safety of the cove.
"No! No." Hiccup rushed to her and stopped her. "No, not yet. They'll kill Toothless. Astrid, we have to think this through carefully.
"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragon's nest, the thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here, and you want to keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon? Are you serious?"
Even if she now had a better understanding of the dragon world, that didn't mean that her tribe was no longer top priority. She was eager to bring the news to the Chief: Berk's problems finally had a tangible solution.
Having taken a few steps away from her, Hiccup didn't respond immediately. But when he turned around he revealed a determined expression that she didn't even know he could make.
"Yes," he answered firmly, leaving no room for arguments.
The girl's expression softened, understanding that regardless of her answer he was going to find a way to do something with Toothless' safety as his first priority.
"Okay. Then what do we do?"
"Incredible, it's usually not that easy to convince you," her mother murmured.
Flustered, Astrid just looked down at her knees knowing that a certain scene was coming.
"Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out."
"Okay." They were both silent for a moment, until Hiccup was brought out of his thoughts when Astrid hit him on the arm. "This is for kidnapping me."
Rubbing his arm, the boy looked in Toothless' direction and the both of them exchanged glances, Hiccup turned around again, not expecting what was about to happen.
Astrid seemed to hesitate for a second, brushing her bangs away from her eyes nervously. She glanced at Hiccup and pulled him by the collar of his shirt, bringing their faces closer to plant a quick, rough kiss on his cheek.
Several people let out exclamations of surprise— except for Snotlout, whose exclamation was one of denial, as they thought there had only been one kiss between those two in the aftermath of the battle against the Red Dead.
Astrid felt some eyes land on her.
"What are you looking at?" She asked glancing around her at the people in the room, who quickly looked away from her.
Gods, she felt like her privacy was being invaded. From the time they took off until they landed back in the cove, it had been a special moment between her and Hiccup… and Toothless. And she didn't want anyone else to see it. But it wasn't as if they hadn't been looking at all of Hiccup's private moments. She really hoped watching all of that would be helpful regarding the dragons issue.
"That's for everything else," she added before running off.
Hiccup stood still, letting a goofy grin begin to form on his lips. Astrid had given him a kiss. On the cheek, sure, but it had been a kiss. He felt like in a dream... until Toothless went up next to him with a croon and a curious look, sensing that something important had happened.
"What are you looking at?" Asked the Viking, a bit sad that the moment had been interrupted.
"I wasn't expecting that," said Tuffnut.
"The two of them had a romantic flight and you weren't expecting it?" Fishlegs asked.
"Wow, to think that for all those weeks we were worried you'd smother him with a pillow at night," Ruffnut laughed. "Why the sudden change of mind?"
"It wasn't sudden..." was all Astrid said, not wanting to go into details with them.
However, she didn't blame them for thinking that everything had come out of nowhere. Both the kiss and the ease with which she had given in to Hiccup's request to keep the nest a secret. She had been careful not to let it show.
If they had gone straight to the point, without having the 'romantic flight', as Ruffnut had called it, she wouldn't have cared and would've gone straight to Stoick in the blink of an eye to explain what Hiccup was doing. Not in an attempt to get at him for the trainings, but because she would never have seen the world through his eyes; there would be nothing to make her question her beliefs.
And besides... her admiration for him would never have finished to settle within her.
He was more than he appeared to be. He had trained a dragon, and that was enough proof. He was brave in ways no one had ever shown, and he wouldn't budge no matter how much he was teased. She was always able to notice his ingenuity and wit and the way he tried to use them to build his way in a world where you had to use brute force or die in the attempt. He had a heart bigger than anyone in the village.
The problem was that even though he was smart, he could be very clumsy, and consequently he kept creating disasters by accident. And his sarcasm used to get him in trouble. But at the same time, that was what made him special. Hiccup.
As strange as it seemed, she had been watching him under a different light for a while. Of course, that did not stop her from wanting to get him on a chokehold during training and after the final exam. But during the events that afternoon, everything she liked about him had come to the surface and she was able to appreciate every detail, without the watchful eyes of the rest of the Berkians.
It had been somewhat hard to deal with the fact that she seemed to like someone who was not very conventional, and she still got confused at times, but she had no problem with there being a certain something between the two of them, although they were still just friends.*
* No matter how many years pass or how many times I see that scene, I never understand why Astrid is upset about the clothes that Hiccup is wearing at the time. In the end I decided to put what ended up coming to my mind. But if anyone has their own interpretation of that scene or if they know the exact explanation, please let me know in the comments. Because I'm confused, haha.
* I put the "although they were still just friends" because, despite the kiss at the end of the first movie, these two don't kiss each other until the second series, when they are 17-19 years old. So I'm taking that into account.
