"Is this some kind of a joke to you?! Our parents' war is about to become ours! Figure out which side you're on."
Hiccup's head rang with Arne's words.
"Figure out which side you're on."
She didn't know which side she was on! The side that always left her alone or the side that haunted her nightmares more often than not. Dragons or vikings. It should be clear to her which side she was on, but it wasn't. The fact that she was even thinking about this was treason!
Hiccup left her home during lunch, when most of the people would be inside the Meade hall. The less people saw her, the better. She ran to the academy, she needed a shield and a fish of some kind. Those things would give her the best chance to get out of the cove with her life intact.
Yes, she was going to go to the cove and try to get close to the Night Fury. Was it a stupid idea? Yes, it was. Was she still going to do it? Of course. She needed to find out if dragons were really as dangerous as vikings made them out to be, or if the vikings were just projecting themselves onto the overgrown reptiles.
She reached the academy and went over to the shield rack. As she was looking for one she could take without it being noticed, Hiccup could hear the caged dragons rattling inside their cages. She couldn't blame them, being in an enclosed space, not really being able to move and the darkness could drive anyone insane.
"Hiccup!"
The call of her name startled her, she snapped her head up to see who had called her. Luckily it was only Ruffnut, she could deal with Ruffnut. That did confuse Hiccup though. What was Ruffnut doing here?
"Hey," Hiccup said and looked back at the rack.
"If you're planning what I think you're planning, let me get Tuffnut down here," Ruffnut laughed, "I want to see him get shredded by the dragons first!"
"What are you talking about?" Hiccup asked with a tilt of her head.
"Aren't you planning to try fighting the dragons on your own?" the twin asked as she came to stand by Hiccup.
"…no," she answered after a moment, "I'm just seeing if any of the shields need repair."
"Ah," Ruffnut nodded then gave her a suspicious stare, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Hiccup asked, irritation bleeding into her tone. Ruffnut raised her hands in surrender.
"Hey, after training you were acting weird, you can't fault me for thinking the worst."
"Oh, it's not like I almost died," Hiccup said, sarcasm dripping from her tone, "And then got yelled at by someone for 'not being where I should be'."
"Yeah, Arne was an asshole," Ruffnut agreed, "My brother was an asshole too, sorry about him."
"Again, while I don't support his behavior, he did almost die, so I understand somewhat," Hiccup shrugged, "If I was in his position I would've probably done the same."
"Still, I meant what I said," Ruffnut turned to Hiccup and threw an arm over her shoulder, "You can do better."
"I doubt that," Hiccup stepped from the girl's hold and took a beat up shield that was on its way to falling apart, "I'm going to go take care of this thing, bye!"
Hiccup left Ruffnut in the academy and made her way home. She had some fish there, so there was no need to go anywhere else. She grabbed the first fish she saw and left through the back door.
Getting back to the cove was easier now that she knew where it was located. She found an entrance at a lower point of the cove, but entering the cove itself through there came with some problems. Mostly the problem of her shield getting stuck on the rocks that lined its entrance.
Hiccup didn't let that deter her and threw the fish inside the cove as she stayed behind the shield. She waited a few moments and nothing happened. The cove seemed empty once again, but she knew better. Cautiously, she ducked under the stuck shield and entered the cove.
Hiccup grabbed the fish from the ground and looked around, trying to spot the dragon. She finally did, jumping back when she noticed the dragon was behind her, perching atop a rock. Hiccup shakily held out the fish she had in her hand. The dragon curiously approached her, almost taking the fish out of her hands, but it jumped back and bared its teeth.
Hiccup jumped back at the abrupt change of behavior. She started at the dragon for a moment and noticed its eyes were directed at her waist. She looked down and saw that her knife was on full display, she slowly touched it only for the Night Fury to let out a threatening growl. Hiccup quickly moved her hand away, letting the beast calm down, before she quickly removed her knife from her belt.
Even with the knife on the ground the dragon didn't let up. In a move that weirded Hiccup out, the dragon gestured for her to kick the knife to the pond, she did so without question, not wanting to displease the dragon further. With the knife gone, the disposition of the dragon changed drastically. Gone was the threatening beast, in its place was a docile, friendly dragon, which was weird for Hiccup to think about.
Hiccup held out the fish again and this time the dragon opened its toothless mouth and waited for her to let go of the fish.
"Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had..." Hiccup jumped back when the dragon grabbed the fish out of her hands with its, suddenly, tooth-full mouth, the dragon chomped the fish in half and licked its jaws, "...teeth."
The Night Fury sniffed at Hiccup as she back away. She tripped on her own legs, crawling back from the curious dragon.
"Uh, uh, no, no, no. I-I don't have any more," she tried to tell the dragon as she backed herself against a rock.
She could hear her heartbeat in her ears when the dragon sat down in front of her. She kept looking at him as he regurgitated half of the fish onto her lap. Hiccup looked at her lap in shock, she quickly looked up at the Night Fury. It caught her eye and looked back at the half eaten fish in her lap a few times, it dawned on Hiccup. She sighed and brought the fish up to her mouth and took a bite of it, she stopped from herself from spitting out the offending bite. She hummed as if she enjoyed the taste, and held out the fish in hopes that the dragon will take it back, but when the Night Fury showed that it wanted Hiccup to swallow, she lost all hope.
Hiccup swallowed the slimy fish and almost puked when she felt it slide down her throat. She gave the dragon a weak smile, hoping that it was over. The Night Fury narrowed its eyes at her expression then slowly lifted its own mouth into a smile. Hiccup couldn't help her amazement at the human like expression on the dragon's face.
Hiccup slowly extended her hand, her amazement overtaking her fear. Before her hand could make contact with its snout, the dragon snarled and flew away from the girl. Hiccup followed the dragon where it scorched the ground and laid down.
She watched as the dragon covered its face with its tail. Curiosity overtook her and she tried to touch the strange appendage. Hiccup didn't manage to do so as the dragon noticed her attempt and growled at her before stacking off. The Night Fury used its tail to hang upside down on a branch, clearly set on ignoring the girl.
Hiccup sighed and looked up. There was some light still left so she could stay here for longer. She took out her notebook and decided to sketch the sleeping dragon. Hiccup got every little detail she noticed, but by the time she was done the Night Fury was still ignoring her.
Staring at the dragon got old and Hiccup moved to sit on a nearby rock. She picked up a stick and started drawing on the ground. All the staring she had done was stuck in her mind, without thinking the shape she was drawing started to become the Night Fury's head.
A breath of warm air on her neck made her pause for a moment, but she continued her sketch, not wanting to startle the dragon away. Hiccup followed the dragon with her eyes when it moved away. She watched with confusion as it pulled a tree branch from a nearby tree and dragged it back to where she was.
The Night Fury danced around her, letting the branch drag on the ground. The dragon kept looking back at her and it didn't even flinch as Hiccup let out a yelp when the branch hit her head. With a final dot, the dragon seemed to be done with its drawing and sat down, looking expectantly at the girl.
Hiccup got up from the rock and looked around the dragon's drawing with interest. She wanted to get a better look at it from the direction the Night Fury was looking at it, because it didn't look like much from where she was standing. Hiccup took a step and was stopped by a growl.
Hiccup lifted her leg and the growling stopped. She put her foot down again and the dragon growled when her foot touched a line in its drawing. When she stepped over the line, the dragon didn't react and gave her an interested look, Hiccup smiled and started to dance around the lines.
Eventually she got out of the lines, backing herself into the sitting dragon. Its breath fanned her neck. She slowly turned around and tried to touch the dragon again. The Night Fury let out a growl and Hiccup thought for a moment. The dragon got defensive at the mere sight of her knife, it didn't trust vikings, it didn't trust her.
Hiccup could understand that. If she wanted to earn its trust, Hiccup had to show that she trusted it. She glanced at its eyes one more time, before she closed her own and let her head hang. She left her hand in the air and didn't try to move it any closer to the dragon, letting it decide for itself if she was worthy.
She gasped as the cold scales made contact with her hand. Hiccup slowly opened her eyes and looked at her hand in disbelief. She was touching a dragon. She was touching a dragon! And it hadn't bitten her hand off!
Even as the Night Fury opened its eyes and left with a snort the wonder she felt stayed. Hiccup looked down at her hand, slowly closing it to a fist.
"Figure out which side you're on."
She knew which side she was on, and it wasn't the vikings'.