Hiccup is the strongest on the island and owes it all to his dragon friends, so what will happen when he has to participate in Dragon Training. And will being bonded to a dragon change him for better or for worse?

This will most likely be a Hiccstrid and/or soulmate fanfic and plan on suspence then fluff, but not in this book. Toothless never lost his tail fin but no promises about the future. Most chapters will be from Hiccup's POV with a few from Astrid POV.

Each chapter with have about 4,000 words and I have 13 chapters in this book. I plan for another few, but will be posting each book as I finish it, not chapter by chapter.

'quotes'

"Speech"

Thoughts

Dragonese

I don't own anything here, not the characters nor places, it all belongs to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks, please don't copy this in any way, I've put a lot of thought into this.

Hiccup POV:

I wake to roaring and the crunch of heavy wooden logs hitting the ground.

Another dragon raid.

We have one every week or so and it seems like tonight would be one of them.

I groan, rolling out of bed to put on a top and grab a slab of meat before thinking about the pile of weapons that I'm sure will be waiting for me. No one seems to think about taking care of their weapons until they were cracked and too broken to repair and its no help that I have no interest in hurting dragons.

Now that doesn't mean I'm going to stop working at the Forge, they need me, and Toothless needs me.

Toothless had rescued me when I was young, saving me from running over a cliff and I'd been going back ever since.

We become close friends very quickly as I was too small to do any harm, much smaller than any viking. Toothless had told me later on that he reminded me of another Fury, which led to the nickname that most dragons call me by, Little Fury.

And yes, I did say that he told me.

I can speak Dragonese.

Though that process was helped along by the fact that Toothless had bonded himself to me by firing a special type of blast into my heart. It didn't burn me, just filled me with the warmth of a dragon and friend.

I'd made friends with the dragons in the Arena as well as some of the raid dragons with the help of my bond, which apparently leaves a scent that only dragons can smell. Though with the raid dragons, it's more like they don't kill me, or my dad or my mate, and I don't warn the other viking about them. Sometimes they stay in the cove with Toothless to have a rest from Her, but we made a rule of one night after each raid that some of them can stay the night and so far, they've listened.

I open the door, seeing Flamebuzz just outside, ready to fire at anything that moves, until he sees that I'm the one moving.

Hey Flamebuzz, you staying tonight? I growl at my first friend from Her nest.

Yes, He fires quickly at another viking who ducks out of the way before muttering, Pesky humans.

Cool, I'll make sure to bring some chicken for you guys. I offer up the chickens, knowing that we'll still have plenty of enough food to feed the village as long as we don't have any feasts any time soon.

Thanks, See you 'round.

He flies off to herd the sheep again and I head to the forge, taking the boardwalks at a careful jog, not wanting to attract the attention of dragons that might be in a frenzy or not quite my friends yet.

One Viking almost lands on me, cheerfully wishing me a good morning before leaping off, swinging his axe wildly. Another Viking stands bored, waiting for a dragon to attack his home, picking earwax out of his ear, disgusting, I think, moving on at a steady jog.

I see villagers trying to make impossible throws with weapons that they will take days to find and even more days to return for a service, while others jump on top of the dragons to hack away ineffectually at their thick hide.

Only the council members and a few top warriors such as the Jorgonsons, Hoffersons, Sergonbergs and Borgonsons are actually catching or killing many dragons and I see my dad up on one of the towers, defending it from dragons. The Towers are where most of the dragons converge, apart from food stocks, and some of the other better warriors are usually tasked with defending one of them due to the risk and necessity factor.

I arrive at the forge just as Gobber opens the hatch door, attracting the horde of vikings that were hoovering nearby for the hatch to open. I quickly grab my apron and heat up the kiln, catching Gobber's attention.

"Nice of you to join the party, I thought you'd been carried off!"

He jokes yet again about how I could be out there fighting, he knows I'm strong. He just doesn't know that I inherited that strength from a Night Fury dragon, so it's hard to hide the full extent of my strength. It's especially hard to hide any sort of strength in a forge without slowing down the work load, so while I don't brag about it, I don't really try to hide it either.

"Who, me? Skinny, useless, clumsy Hiccup?" The whole village thinks I'm weak and I let them, their thoughts don't effect me.

Their ideas aren't the ones that built the towers and torches, and thought of the fire brigade for teens, and the locks for the stables and pens. Their ideas don't make that much of a difference to this village as much as mine so their ideals don't bother me either.

"Well if Useless could leave and give back Hiccup, he could work on those swords and axes."

That tells me that he's going to be here until further notice. When he's here, he takes care of the hammers, shields, and other weapons that don't require as much expertise since I have a good eye for detail. He hasn't outright told me that I'm better than him, but there was just a stage where I was fixing everything he did to the precision weapons so he just let me take over that half of the work.

I quickly work through the rising pile of weapons that are all apparently the most important weapon in the world.

I just pile them in the kiln and grab the closest weapon when I'm done with one.

A high pitched screech outside interrupts our work and the common cry of "Night Fury, get down!" rings out everywhere.

The South Tower explodes in a blaze of purple and blue fire, the only thing vikings know about the Night Fury. Plasma that can go through most everything they know of, but I have found a few different ways to counter it, including gronkle iron variations and dragon scales.

I've allowed Toothless to join in the fighting, but only to save lives, and to shoot at Towers with the least number of vikings, as to reduce the possibility of a death.

Gobber moves to the wall that I made for his different prosthetics, exchanging his blacksmith hammer for a solid axe head. He looks at me, ready to try convince me to join him in the fray, but I interrupt before he can say anything.

"They need you out there and me in here, go, I'll man the Fort." I know that's not what he wants to hear, but it'll have to do, we always need someone in the forge during a raid, and it usually ends up being just me.

He gives me one passing glance before leaving me to the growing pile the broken and bent weapons.

I see a few of the ones Gobber made in the mix and they are close to breaking point I notice, as I examine the edges, spines and hilts. I take out the mould and start to heat it, knowing that we're going to need it after today, just like after every raid.

Only the aforementioned council members and warriors and most of their kids, excluding Snotlout, look after their weapons well. They often come to me two days after a raid when my work load is down to the usual calls in the village to get them checked out, and all I need to do is make sure that the balance is right.

To do that, I need to watch them fight and train, which is where I learnt the particulars about fighting styles, profiles and techniques.

Dragons can only teach you so much about how to use weapons and though Toothless does better than any other dragon I've meet, he still lacks a lot due to the fact that he can't use one.

The Hoffersons excel with axes, the Borgonsons with swords, Stoick with hammers and the rest of the council families have other specialities. But much to our dismay, most everyone else just knows the basics of brute strength.

A loud cry of fire breaks my concentration, as who knows how close that fire might be from reaching the forge, which is full of coals.

The hatch is clear enough for me to lean out to see that it's far enough away for me not to worry. The Fire brigade consists of Snoulout, the Twins, Fishlegs, a few other teens and Astrid, the leader. She's the only one that knows I founded the brigade and knows that if the others knew, they wouldn't be so dedicated, so has left that unsaid. She's probably the only other viking in this village that has any idea of what I can do, seeing as she knows that I can swing a hammer in the forge and know how to fix her axe better than anyone.

Astrid is amazing at everything she does, especially leading and she strives to be part of the council if she can't be a Sheild Maiden.

A viking shoves his weapon in front of me, bringing me back to the present as I throw it into the pile and throw him what he asks for. I persist with the pile until it grows no more, interrupted often to throw someone a new weapon as they bring their broken or bent one in. Eventually the cries and roars dieing down to allow the sound of bleating and wing strokes to be heard as they carry away yet another load to their Queen, the Red Death.

I don't stay late, as the dragons are waiting for me, just filling some of the moulds before heading off to see if I need to treat any injuries.

As I made my way along the familiar path, I kept my eyes open for anything I could bring back to Gothi.

I was often left with Gothi during raids before I was apprenticed to Gobber, so I learnt a lot about healing and herbs. I tend to tell her about occasional discoveries, such as the healing properties of dragon saliva and the protective coating melted dragon scales could provide.

She'd looked suspicious about the healing properties from dragon products and how I'd found that out so after giving an acceptable lie, I'd resolved to be careful what I told her. But as an avide reader and collector of information, I would write it down, in case I'm ever able to tell her freely.

All the while I'm thinking, I'm scanning my surroundings, making sure that no one is following me and when I reach the cove, I go straight in.

I stop on the ledge just above the cove to get an overview on what happening and thankfully there are no serious injuries.

Flamebuzz is the only Monsterous Nightmare, thankfully, and there are two Deadly Nadders, Killjoy and Bloodrein who half-heartedly argue about who is prettier. Spark and Stone, the Hideous Zippleback play tug of war with a tree while the Gronckle, Luggerstone, rests in the mud pools on the far side of the lake.

Most of the dragons that stay overnight don't want to fight, and this is the perfect opportunity for them to not have to think about the Red Death.

I proceed down the path, being met by a bouncing Toothless, obviously ready for a flight.

I just want to check on the others first, then we can have a nice long flight around the island, okay?

He pouts, They're fine, settled. Now can we go Little Fury?

I smile at Toothless's nickname for me, he gave me it when I'd perfected his screeching roar and the village had cried out, 'Night Fury, get down!'

One minute, I move around to the dragons asking them if they need anything else, I like to make sure they get the best out of this time here. Most of them are out of flame so I ask Toothless to light a fire for them to keep a bit warmer, stocking it with dark woods once it's going strong for the extra warmth.

As soon as I jump on Toothless' back, he shoots up and we're through the clouds in seconds, the stars twinkling above the Northern Lights. The clouds are like one big blue pillow tonight, blending with the night to create the illusion of empty space swirling in our wake.

I use this flight to check on the villagers as well, so we go back through the clouds, just low enough to see but not enough to be seen as I make sure everyone's getting back home.

As I fly back to the cove, I feel something through my soulmate bond and turning my head, I see the shadow of her entering her house. She's late, but that's not surprising. She always tries to help out after raids and is often one of the last to get home apart from the council, which annoys me when I have to wait around for her to be safe.

As the door shuts behind her, Toothless flicks his ear flaps, The door is locked.

I've asked him the question so many times that now he just answers it automatically when he hears the click of the lock I made. We turn back to the cove but Toothless flicks his ears back at the house after a wingbeat. I pull Toothless to a stop and though I can't see anything wrong, his ears stay raised, listening.

We dip down to the ground and land, letting me off so I can slink closer, peering through her bedroom window first.

When I don't see her there, I prowl to the backdoor, pressing my ear against it, listening into whatever caught Toothless' attention. I hear Birgen shouting at my mate.

I growl but stay where I am, it won't help if I burst in, especially since no one knows what this bond is, except for the dragons. They found out the hard way one raid when they targeted the fire brigade only a year ago.

*FLASHBACK* (AN:Possessive Hiccup warning)

I hear the call of fire and peer out the hatch to see where it is. The fire brigade rush up the hill to fight it but a pair of Nadders intercept them.

I feel my legs steady themselves as if to jump out the hatch and my arms brace themselves on the bench as if it's the only thing stopping me from taking the leap.

The brigade stops, drawing the weapons on their backs at the threat. The Nadders ready their spines and the teens only just dodge out of the way in time, the spines imbedding themselves in their shields and the ground.

A growl escapes my throat before I can stop it and I blink in surprise at the sound I made, looking around to see if anyone heard me. Fishlegs' shriek brings me to the teens in trouble, my lip curling up again as I hold myself back for a second to glance around briefly for anyone looking at me.

Even if someone had been looking, I still would've jumped the bench, darting to the shadows between two of the houses near the teens.

Once I'm concealed, my quiet growl erupts into a roar that causes all dragons in my vicinty to ground themselves and look at me in respect of the power my voice holds at the moment. The few friends I've made are almost bowing to me as my growl ripples through the courtyard, No one touches my mate! The teen girl at the front is to be protected or left alone!

My voice comes out in the full thunder of dragons, echoing around to stop even the vikings in their path.

The dragons all feel the power behind my words and understand that she is my mate. No one touches someone else's mate without daring to incur their wrath or their own death.

The Nadders quickly take to the sky, picking other targets to the surprise of the teens, allowing me to start relaxing. They look over to where I hide and I try to calm myself as her cool blue eyes sooth the green fire in mine.

Thankfully, I don't see any fear in her eyes, only curiosity, and I'm able to breath normally again. I close my eyes and take a step further back into the shadows, trying to bring my mind back from where ever it went to incur that rage. That surprised us all so much and none more than me.

I stubble back, my eyes cooling down and my heart racing as I fear what this could mean for me, What if I'm turning into a dragon?

I run to the forest and am met almost at the forest line by Toothless, who'd heard my roar and had split the sound barrier to get to me. We take off into the sky, away from whatever just happened as I am able to take deep relaxing breaths.

I take one last look back to see her unimpeded journey to the house on fire as I fly off, leaving the weapons on the heat and Gobber rushing to take over for my disappearance.

We stay silent until we get to the next island over and when I land, my legs almost give out.

What was that? I whisper shakily.

That was you finding your mate, Toothless answers quietly, in awe, I wasn't even sure if you would get that.

I collapse down against a rock, only to stand up again when I can't sit still.

Wasn't sure if what would happen, what even is a mate? I shout, waving my arms at Toothless.

A mate is the dragon, or viking, that you will be most happy with and is your soul mate in all things, your other half. I haven't heard of humans having mates, so I assume it's the dragon part of you that has identified your mate.

He looks thoughtful for a second before adding a query to his explanation, I'm interested to see if she will return the feeling or not.

My newly found dragon comes out now, that same growl forcing itself out of my throat, Why wouldn't she, she's mine!

Toothless is almost crouching down with his wings tucked in tight at the command in my voice he's so surprised by my tone but he recovers quicker than me. He lays down, making himself smaller, which seems to calm me a little.

I don't mean that she doesn't love you, just that she might not feel same level of ownership as you. He tries to subdue my dragon, As your mate, she will grow to love you.

My intial surprise calmed the dragon in me, but even still, his comment makes me happy, knowing that she would love me, even if I don't fully know why she would.

Alright, I think that's enough for tonight, if I hear anything else, my brain might explode. Just one thing, does this mean that I'm turning into a dragon, I ask tentatively.

I almost don't want to know the answer, but I'm filled with relief when Toothless answers explicitely, No.

I flop down against him with my arm over my eyes.

G'night.

He huffs before curling around me, lighting the fire in him to keep us warm.

Sleep well, Little Fury.

*END FLASHBACK*

My mate is in trouble again, but I can't do anything about it without seeming like a dragon, which would get me rejected even more, possibly even by my mate. This is like a curse, forcing me to look after someone who by all accounts can look after herself, except against the one person I couldn't hurt.

When he'd first started shouting at her, I'd forced myself to listen in case it got worse, not knowing what I'd do if it did, but then, a year later, he'd started hitting her.

I couldn't have held myself back.

I'd roared loud and strong and in that moment, I was able to draw myself away from the door, running at top speed into the forest to where Toothless had come running.

I'd learnt later that my roar had drawn Birgen to the door, saving my mate from any further punishment, so I'd continued to do it whenever it got too far, which to me, meant touching her in any way.

I roar again now, leaping up onto a nearby roof as Birgen opens the door, axe in hand. My mate has taken this chance to escape to her room, her footsteps leaping up the stairs. When no dragon shows itself, Birgen stomps to his room in the back, top corner of the house and feel my grip on the beam below me loosen as the threat goes away. The beam beneath me creaks as I release my death grip on it, climbing down to sneak onto the roof of their house.

I listen to her change into a nightgown then open my eyes as I hear the bed creak. She curls up in bed and a few sniffs can be heard until she cries herself to sleep and I wish I could just hold her, help her get to sleep calmly for once.

I hate these nights, they don't happen too often, but when they do, I realise just how helpless I am to help the only viking that could ever love me. And that makes me angry at her for making me go through this, until I realise that she can't do anything against her father. I can never keep my thoughts or feeling straight around her.

I climb off the roof, making my way back to Toothless.

Come on bud, lets go home. I murmur.

We land quietly in the cove, not wanting to disturb the now sleeping dragons, Flamebuzz smoldering around the other dragons for warmth.

I take off Toothless's saddle, leaving it in a little cave that's mostly protected from the rain by a cover I engineered to look like rock.

Toothless croones and nudges up to me, Are you going to stay here tonight?

No, I think Dragon Training starts in two days, and as everyone's asleep now, it's the perfect time to get back. As the heir to Berk, I make sure to know about everything that might happen in the near future in case it involves me, and exiting the forest in the early hours of the morning is a sure give away that I'm doing something, espically since Astrid trains along my route to the cove.

He knows I don't stay after raids because it's easier to get home after a raid but he still asks, just in case.

I'll see you tomorrow morning with a bag of chicken.

I give him a hug before taking the track back home, still wary of any stragglers, viking or dragon as I take a detour past my mate's house.

So, how was that, please review and tell me if I need to describe more or less, etc.

Thanks for reading.