Prompt: Alternate path of where Hiccup decided to tell her father about Toothless sooner.
Song: Midnight by Beth Crowley
Meet me at Midnight:
Returning from the cove after quite the eventful evening with Aric finding out about, well, everything, then finding the nest, Hiccup wasn't sure if she could go to sleep tonight. Especially with tomorrow in mind. When she got home, she didn't expect to be bombarded with more praise from her dad. Though she should have, it was praise Hiccup didn't want. If she just told him, maybe it would fix everything. No, she had to show him. It was the only way he'd understand. Tomorrow, she had to show everyone.
They sat for dinner together, just the two of them in the house, Hiccup sitting without her cloak for the first time in years before her father. But hearing one more comment of praise, Hiccup couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't wait till tomorrow; it had to be tonight. It had only been a passing comment, but she couldn't stand this lie any longer. Couldn't stand being someone she wasn't in her father's eyes. She had to tell him. They were cleaning up, when Hiccup spoke.
"Dad, we need to talk", she looked up at him. "And, I need you to hear me. No, not just hear. I need you to listen. Because…what I'm about to say… I…"
"Hon? What is it?" her father wondered. He almost looked worried.
(Start Song)
Hiccup stalled for a moment, unsure how or what to say. Until it came to her. "I know I'm different…", she started, her form depleting with the truth. She didn't say what role she was playing, nor the lie her father believed, but she would. "You may not want me anymore…", she admitted, revealing she wasn't the girl he'd been looking for. But after this maybe he'd see the person Aric saw. Maybe he'd finally see the daughter who'd loved and looked up to him, behind all the scales.
"So meet me at midnight….", she pleaded, imploring him to give her this chance and listen just this once. "…I've been waiting for so long", she cried, "to feel like I'm whole." There was more to dragons than he knew; there was more to her. She just needed him to see it, just like Aric had seen it. "…so give me a chance, and meet me at midnight."
000
After her father, Hiccup went to the cove for Toothless. Without him, this could never work. He stood before her in the moonlight, Hiccup doing her best to explain. He just sat there as she let her thoughts out, the turmoil going through her mind. It was a battle between her head and heart, her head telling her one thing, while her heart said another. In the end, she was going to follow her heart. It'd gotten her this far. "…I've decided I'm done trying to hide…" she declared to him. She couldn't sit back any longer. It was like Aric said. This war was becoming theirs.
"So meet me at midnight…" she told Toothless, the same as she told her father. "…I've been waiting for so long…" she even expressed, though he already knew it. All she needed from Toothless was openness and trust, the same as he'd bestowed onto her. Yes, her dad was human, and he'd killed many dragons, but that didn't mean he was all bad. It didn't mean he couldn't change. "…so give him a chance, and meet me at midnight."
000
Alone, the moon at it's highest point, Hiccup stood at a clearing. There were rows of trees on either side of her, fog coating the forest floor. Hiccup was nervous as she waited, but then, out of the fog and through the trees to her right, Hiccup saw Toothless, and her heart swelled. "But I know this is real, I trust what I feel…" she and Toothless untied, and their foreheads met. "We don't have to be alone."
That was when her father, from the other side, came from the trees. His face was stunned, but he walked forward, as did Hiccup, wanting him, more than anything, to understand. "I've been waiting for so long to feel like I'm whole!" she implored. "More than what you see…" she led him to Toothless, as she beckoned Toothless forward as well. They met in the middle, and Hiccup could only hope now. "…so give this a chance", she looked up to her father, "and meet me at midnight."
Did Hiccup's song succeed? Did it fail?
What happened next, we'll never know…
Next is I Will Not Say Goodbye, a solo for Toothless.
