Hey everyone, I would like to apologize for my long bout of silence, covids hit me pretty hard these past two years both in my personal life and my social life. got burned out so many times this past year that i ended up nearly sick more times than a person should usually get in one month, luckily I'm still healthy enough, but i got so beat down by what has happened i need time to isolate and think, get myself back into somewhat normalcy as my life just had a huge kick in the head due to the pandemic like I'm sure many of you are experiencing it still. I just hope you are all doing okay, and that you are all safe, especially those who are under the tornado/hurricane warning over in America. I'm not really all that good with words, so ill just leave it there for now and let you all enjoy the next chapter of Dragon Mage, for this chapter, i got inspiration from "Dragon Prince" written by Emerald Neko, specifically at the end of the chapter is inspired by their chapter. please do give their story a look at as it is a really good run-away hiccup fic. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, I do not own How to train your dragon, if i did, toothcup would be canon, also i have recently made a toothcup discord server, so if any of you are interested in joining, please let me know.

Dragon mage

Chapter 4

*Last-Time*

Standing up, he began making his way to his room and start making a plan to leave. He knew that he was going to take all of his sketches, both from his room and from the forge. He also planned to write a few letters ….. well maybe just 2 letters, one for Stoick and one for Gobber. Once in his room, he began to pack up all of his sketching stuff (Random drawings, notebooks, charcoal pencils, etc.), he would bring that stuff to the cove tomorrow. He planned against it to pack everything right then and there, mainly because Stoick may come into his room more frequently now. he won't pack away his clothes until the day before or the night of his planned departure, which will be the night before the final dragon training session.

Hiccup crawled into his bed, thinking about the long week ahead of him. He quickly fell asleep, with a smile on his face as he would be able to finally be free and make his own decisions on how to live his life.

*Now*

The past week has gone by rather slowly in Hiccup's opinion, but he had no complaints about it really. In reality, it actually helped him decide on many different things for his final day on berk.

At the moment Hiccup was sat in his bedroom, which was now completely barren of clothes, blankets, notebooks, books (even the ones he's hidden), his art supplies, and other such items. You see, every night for this past week, Hiccup has been slowly taking out everything of his that he had in his room and has stored it away in the cove, it was actually a very easy yet very hurtful thing to do. Easy cause he didn't have much to pack away, which was hurtful cause it was a realization that he had so few things as well as realizing that all of the things that he has, were things that he had gotten himself or things that Gobber or Gothi had gotten him. nothing from his supposed father.

It actually made the letter that he had written all that much easier to do, but still no less hurtful (the one he wrote to stoick).

shaking his head, Hiccup silently stood from his seat at his desk and began to make his way downstairs. he walked normally, as he knew Stoick had gone out to the great hall to drink and was currently out cold in his bed. he didn't have to worry about making much noise, so he just continued moving around downstairs, which seemed to feel colder than normal, even with the fireplace still alive. taking in one last look at the place he used to call home, he quickly placed the letter to Stoick on the table before exiting the front door and making his way to the forge to drop his next two letters. The next two letters were somewhat bulkier, as both had a little present for each person inside.

it was a cold and quiet night, a welcome change to the loud, boisterous days. It was during these times that Hiccup felt the most carefree, as it meant that he didn't have to see or hear the snide comments of the other Vikings that he lived with. this also helped him get away from the over-excited Viking crowds that seem to follow him everywhere he goes. thinking back on the days, he didn't realize that he arrived at the forge until he accidentally bumped his head on the forge's door.

"Owww," He mumbled, rubbing his head before lifting his head to stare at the door. the forge has always been a second, or well first, home to him. it was he got to prove himself, where he learned a craft that he greatly enjoyed (from making and repairing weapons, tools, and weirdly enough clothes as well (Gobber was a rather blacksmith)). After staring at the door and reminiscing for a bit, Hiccup went inside the forge, expecting to do a quick in and out as he didn't need to take anything from the forge itself. What he didn't expect was to see two baskets in the middle of the forge, slowly walking towards the baskets, he noticed a letter placed on top of both of them. placing down his letters first he picked up one of the basket letters and opened it up and began reading.

Hiccup,

what, ya expected me to not notice yer little excursions to and from the cove with some of yer things. I think ya might not be giving this ol' blacksmith much of tha credit he so deserves. But this ain't tha type o letter.

I knew tha this day be coming, the day tha you would be leavin the isle's. Berk don't deserve ya boyo, your intelligence and skills are wasted on here. not ta mention the whole "we Vikings are big and buff".

I knew, just from seeing tha' new friend of yurs that the day was sooner than i had hoped. but I wont stop ya'. you deserve happiness boyo, you deserve the chance to go see the world and find a place o' you're own, a place tha' accept ya and makes ya feel appreciated.

I know you will find a place like that soon, all I can hope for ya is that they treat ya better than us all here in berk.

Me and Gothi, yes Gothi, have created these two going-away presents for you. Inside my basket are various tools to help set up a new forge for yourself, as well as tools to help you make new clothing. I have made sure to add a few more books for your drawings, knowing how quickly you run through your pages. Gothi has asked that you hold off reading or looking inside of her basket of presents until you are far from the isles. she kept beating me with tha' damn stick of hers until i wrote that in tha letter.

Laddie, I just want to let you know that I love ya, you are tha kid i never got the chance to have. I remember when you were a wee little thing, barely able to lift up a hammer. I remember tha first day you made a small knife, i couldn't a' been more proud of you when you made it. looking at you now, you have done more work and more amazing creations than i have ever done laddie.

you mean tha' world ta me kiddo, don't forget where ya came from (and no i don't mean tha shithole, i meant where ya learned your craft). cause we all start our lives in one place, but greater people move on from those places and become something new.

I love ya, laddie, like ye were mine,

Gobber

Little droplets of water started to fall down onto the letter, tear droplets. Hiccup was holding onto the letter very tightly, but not so much that he would tear the letter. He started hiccuping, trying to hold back the tears. he gently put the letter down onto the basket and started wiping the tears from his eyes. He took a few minutes to calm himself, cause he knew that if he didn't he would be making plenty of mistakes tonight, and that was something neither he nor Toothless need/want to have done tonight.

After calming down, he began to gather up the last of his things (Toothless's tail schematics, drawings of future creations, some more materials, etc…). placing these pages/drawings into the basket that Gobber was giving him, he then picked up both baskets (carrying those baskets of fish to the cove, and the years of working in the forge made it very easy to pick up both baskets) and started to make his way to the cove. he walked at a rather fast pace, as he had more things to do before he could leave, and he knew now that he didn't have much time to do so.

Once he arrived at the cove, Hiccup was quickly tackled to the floor by an overzealous toothless, who began to lick Hiccuplike there was no tomorrow. All he could do was laugh at his best friend's continuous licks, before, somehow, pushing the dragon's head away.

"Haha, Toothless you know that's hard to get out~~," He says, smiling and then hugging his friend's neck.

"Missed you to bud, but don't worry after tonight, we can hang out for as long as both of us want to." He says happily, getting a purr and an excited growl from Toothless. After a couple more seconds of hugging, Hiccup set up Toothless's saddle and tail fin, before hooking up the four baskets to the saddle, which caused Toothless to whine.

"I know bud, don't worry once we get the other dragons out i am most definitely sure that some of them will help carry these baskets out and off of berk," he says, gently patting the dragons head and then climbing up onto the saddle after making sure the baskets were secure.

"Ready bud," the only reply he got was the dramatic rise of the dragon's wing before both of them shot up and out of the cove and into the night sky. While both of them knew that they had to move rather fast, neither of them wanted to leave the sky, both feeling safe and at home being hundreds of feet in the air. they soon landed softly on the outskirts of the arena, making sure that no other Viking was around. Once they landed Hiccup slowly got off of toothless's saddle and started making his way towards the arena, Toothless not far behind him, sticking to the shadows making sure to keep himself hidden in enemy territory.

"Wait here for a sec bud," Hiccup states, slowly stepping into the entrance of the arena. looking at the gate, he sighed in relief to see that there was only one Viking guarding the front of the arena, and they were currently unconscious on the ground, and wouldn't be waking up till the morning sun, not even a dragons roar could possibly wake them.

'Thank you alcohol' He said mentally, glad for a Viking's tendency to drink themselves under the barrel whenever a celebration is happening. slipping back to the baskets that were on toothless's saddles, he picked up some long rope and a spare bit of cloth. he then, more silently than he has ever been in his life, sneaked up on the unconscious Viking and started tying him up, and then gagging him with the rope, and then covering his eyes with the cloth before tying it down to his face. once that was done, Hiccup slowly opened the door leading into the arena, and then went up to the door holding all the dragon cages and the dragons.

"bud, can you come here please," Hiccup whispered, only speaking loud enough for the dragons to hear him. Toothless slowly came into the arena and stopped at Hiccup's side. He then points to a lever.

"I need you to press down on that lever, so i can get into the dragon cages." He states, still whispering to the dragon, who then replied with a growl causing him to shake his head.

"I know you don't like it, but it's one of the quickest ways to releasing the dragons, plus i need someone out here to keep this gate open, and you are the only one strong enough to do so." He pleads with the dragon, who grumbles and blows a puff of smoke at Hiccup's face before nodding.

"Thank you, I promise I'll be in and out as quick as i can." He states. toothless just nods, and heads towards the lever looking back at Hiccup for a few seconds before standing up on his hind legs and pushes down on the lever, making the front gate open up slowly, leaving it half-open. Hiccup nods towards toothless, promising to be right back before slipping underneath the gates and into the dragon cages. the first cage he walked up to was the Deadly Nadders cage, he slowly slipped through the bars, and immediately ducked from the spikes that the Nadder had flung at him. Hiccup immediately put his hands up and made himself as non-threatening as possible (which was a lot easier for a fishbone).

"he-hey there, no need fo-for that" Hiccup stutters out as he slowly walks closer and closer to the Nadder, making sure to stop every so often when the Nadder starts growling. after a few minutes, he was just a few feet in front of the dragon.

"that's it, I'm not here to hurt you," He says softly, gently lifting up his hand and turned his head away, letting the Nadder decide if he's trustworthy or not. After a couple of seconds, he felt the Nadder lean into his palm and nuzzles it. Hiccup turns his head back, smiling, and gently scratches around the Nadders scales.

"Thanks for trusting me, now do you think you can help me with the others?" He asks the dragon, who chirps happily. Smiling hiccup slipped through the bars again, and then unlocks the gate in front of the Nadders cage. The Nadder walks out of the cage and nuzzles Hiccups side, to which he chuckles, before patting the Nadders head.

"Okay, now let's get the others out," He states, and the two of them start to get the other dragons out of their cages, the first being the Zippleback, as that's the second hardest dragon to deal with as the two heads love to cause a ton of chaos. The Nadder immobilized both of the dragon's heads, making it easier for Hiccup to tame both of the heads.

"Thanks, girl," Hiccup says, turning to face the Nadder, before releasing both of the Zippleback's heads, and gently scratching their scales. the next dragon they dealt with was the Gronckle, who seemed to be the easiest one to tame so far, as she just crawled up to the front of the cage, and gave a few grunts. once she was let out, she immediately went to hiccups hands and nuzzled it, letting out a grunt like purr.

the next dragon was a bit more difficult, the terrible terror was incredibly fast, zooming back and forth in his cell as well as letting out loud chirps and yips. the Nadder had to shoot her needles at the dragon to trap it as she had done to the Zippleback heads. but once the terror calmed down, he climbed up to Hiccup's shoulder and acted like a parrot, squawking a few times before nuzzling hiccups head, causing him to chuckle softly and place his hand on the dragons head, taming it as well.

"well, that's the easy ones done, now all that's left-" suddenly an ear-piercing shriek came from the last cage, causing all the dragons to become agitated and snarl towards where the screech came from. Hiccup on the other hand toppled over and landed on the cold, hard cell ground before standing up and calming each of the free dragons down.

"Easy now, easy, nothing bad is going on and no one is getting hurt," Hiccup stated easily calming all of the dragons down, unknowingly sending out calming waves that helped calm the dragons down.

"Why don't the four of you wait out there, I want you all to get ready to leave as soon as i release the last one okay," he states, gently nudging each dragon outside of the dragon cell and towards the arena before heading into the final cell. once he got there, all he could do was gasp in horror at what he saw.

It was the monstrous Nightmare, one of the most ferocious dragons in all the Isles, it is said that it can take up to 20 Vikings to even kill just one of them. the dragon was a force to be feared, but right now Hiccup wasn't afraid of the dragon, oh no, he was deathly afraid For the Dragon. the monstrous Nightmare used to have bright, vibrant red scales and a beautifully scaled underbelly, their wings were strong and always in defensive mode, ready to take off in a single second. their eyes were filled with defiance and incredible will as if it was able to fight a thousand Vikings and still prevail with minimal wounds.

Instead of such a magnificent creature, before him was a broken dragon. its scales darkened with dirt, some even shedding of with blood dripping from the dragon's body. his wings were all but torn, as if someone had taken a knife or a sword and tore into each of its wings, taking away the dragon's ability to fly, he could see multiple holes on each wing, some big enough for him to slip through them. then there were the eyes, once vibrant and full of determination, will, and strength, which was now broken, defeated, and full of death.

"Dear Odin, what have they done to you," Hiccup states softly, rushing towards the dragon, gently grabbing the head and running his hand across it in a soothing motion. the dragon didn't even fight back against him, barely even making a sound, not even threatening him. this caused Hiccup's eyes to fill up with tears.

"how-how could anyone do su-such a thing to another being, another living thing" he states in a tone filled with nothing but sadness and regret, he regrets that he once wished to kill such a magnificent creature just to fit in with everyone else. he tilted his head up and let out a sound of pure anguish, asking the gods, begging them why they would let such a thing happen.

"I'm-im so-so sorry this happened to you…" he states sorrowfully towards the dragon as he rubs his head, causing the dragon to let out a shallow puff of smoke, so shallow that it was like it was exhaling the last bit of life in their lungs. Hiccup tilted his head up and started begging for guidance.

"Odin, Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, anyone please, please help me. please give me the strength to help this dragon, to help this being in so much pain. help me get him out of here, i beg of you." he begs towards all of the gods and goddesses in the Norse mythos, and even begging all the other gods and goddesses outside the of that, asking for someone to help guide him and heal the dragon. his head dipped forward, and he clenched his eyes shut.

"ple-please, please help us…" Hiccup pleads as teardrops fall from his eyes and onto the dragon's snout. nothing happened for the next couple of seconds, and just as hiccup was about to start begging again, the entire area was surrounded in golden light for barely a second before dying out, and the monstrous Nightmare let out a loud and proud roar that shook the ground, cause hiccups eyes to widen as all of the dragon's wounds seemed to have miraculously healed. the Nightmare flapped his now healed wings, roaring out a giant flame. after a few seconds, the Nightmare calmed back down and nuzzled Hiccup's tear-stained cheeks, to which hiccup returned the nuzzles with a big hug.

'h-how did this happen' he asked himself mentally, before shaking his head, realizing that after the multiple roars that someone would be coming to the arena.

"we-we gotta get outta here, now!" Hiccup states, standing up quickly and then tumbling down to his knees as the world starts spinning around him.

"wh-what the he-" he then starts hacking, coughing loudly. he tries to stand again but immediately falls back down, though this time the Nightmare catches him and carries him out of the gate. once they both were outside the gat and in the arena, toothless bounded forward and start snarling at the nightmare, thinking he had done something to his partner.

Hiccup tried to placate his best friend, but heavy footsteps started making their way to the arena, they didn't have much time left they had to leave now. he asked toothless to open the arena's gate for the other dragons, but then realized that he couldn't help toothless escape, his legs still felt numb, like they didn't even exist. the footsteps start coming closer and closer, as they all were now outside of the arena and out in the open. Hiccup had to act fast and asked the dragons to help carry him and toothless to a nearby island not too far away from berk. the Nadder and Zippleback helped to carry toothless and his stuff off of berk, while the Terror hitched a ride on the Gronckle. The Monstrous nightmare made sure to take extra special care of Hiccup as they flew away from the island.

They had all taken flight just as Stoick the vast and ten other Viking warriors arrived at the arena, too late to even witness the dragons escaping the island.

it took the dragons thirty minutes to fly towards the island, which was about a week-long journey away from berk by boat, they were safe there for the moment. once they all landed on the island the Monstrous nightmare gently laid hiccup down on the floor, where he immediately passed out from exhaustion. soon all the other dragons curled up around him, doing their best to keep their savior warm, and protecting him from other creatures that would seek to do him harm. Toothless laid right next to hiccup, pulling him up against his dragon belly, letting his friend relax against his warm belly.

they all soon fell asleep, not caring what happened tomorrow, cause they all knew one thing, they were all free from that wretched island.

to be continued….

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, i will be uploading the next chapter a lot sooner than i did with this one. I hope you all have a great day, and if you have any idea's on what i should add to the story, please let me know, and please do leave some positive criticism in the reviews, want to make sure that this story can thrive for a long time.

again, i do apologize for the lateness of this chapter, i just needed time to myself to get better sorted in my mind, cause i was more drained than i have ever been in my life. thank you though for being patient with me for this chapter, i will make sure the next one comes out a lot sooner.

Ja Ne.