Chapter 1: The greatest dragon master

In the distance, the rocky shores of Berk could be seen. The weary hooligans breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of their home and felt all the exhaustion from their latest defeat bear down on them. Home. Yet, out of nowhere, a gust of wind swept over them, The ship creaked ominously, the water almost reaching the top of the side as it swayed. A feeling of unrest gripped the hearts of everyone onboard— Just a bit more, it just had to hold together a bit longer.

That was their last thought, before they all disappeared.

With the excessive weight gone, the lone ship rose up from the sea, as if taking a deep breath. And as the wind stilled, the rickety ship steadily continued forward. Moving towards the now empty Berk.

—-

Hiccup laid flat on his belly as he glanced over the ledge.

His heart, which had been beating non-stop ever since their first flight, refusing to calm, was now picking up the pace. The room below was almost as big as the Great Hall, and it was packed with people. Both Berkians, as well as Berserkers. He knew, because among the rucks and loud confused voices, Dagur's rang the loudest. His eyes fixated on the redhead.

Normally, this would just be a mid-level disaster for him, but now it was full on Rangnarok. And that was because—

"Mrooow?"

Toothless came forward and curiously glanced over the ledge as well.

—He had been swept up with him.

Hiccup threw himself at Toothless, and, in a nearly desperate manner, pulled him away from the edge. In the back of his head, Hiccup knew this was excessive and, most likely, unnecessary as they were hidden in the shadows, but he couldn't calm the immense unease in his heart. He put a palm against his chest and breathed. It was at this moment—

"Who the devil are you!"

His father's voice roared throughout the hall. Hiccup couldn't help but flinch at the thunder-like voice. Making sure Toothless stayed back, Hiccup hesitantly crawled over to the edge again, fearing it had been directed at him.

Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case.

He and father, as well as the chief of the hooligans, and the pegged legged one, stood at the front of the agitated crowd, facing the corner.

In that corner, on a raised platform, sat a cloaked person. They had their hood up and their face was hidden in the shadows. In the dim light from the torches fastened on the walls, they were nothing more than an ominous dark figure.

Dagur reached for his belt, once again finding it empty. The prey from the hunt was still slung over his shoulder, but both his crossbow, axe, knife, other knife, and his favorite third knife were missing. He balled his fist tight and grinded his teeth— He would personally strangle whoever had dared do this to him.

"Who the devil are you?!"

The hall fell silent at Stoick's question. The fools who hadn't noticed the threat followed the gazes of those around them and fervently searched for who it was directed at. All eyes ultimately focused on the corner.

The figure met their gazes and, with an arrogance that made him want to punch, looked them over and chuckled, then slowly answered as if mocking them, "Well~ Who am I?"

His father placed a hand on his shoulder. Before Dagur had even taken a step forward. The gesture didn't seem like much, but there was enough force in his grip to ensure Dagur stayed in place. He wanted to protest, but his father opened his mouth first.

He spoke as the chief of his tribe, "Let me ask one thing, are you the one who brought us here?"

There was a bit of silence, then the figure's voice smirked, "That, indeed I am."

And the hall erupted into chaos.

—-

They had been on the boat, then abruptly they were here. The same had happened to the few left on Berk.

Stoick couldn't blame his tribesmen for demanding to be returned once they had confirmed who was responsible. He did his best to calm the shouting Vikings and he could see Oswald do the same for his people which seemed even more agitated.

"Return us devil!"

One man in particular was especially aggressive and Oswald had to move to handle him. It was that moment Stoick saw Dagur start to march towards the platform. He was about to call out to prevent the inevitable disaster, when the figure leisurely raised a hand and snapped its finger.

Instantly, all the torches in the hall violently flared up and flashed blue.

Shocked screams filled the hall as everyone ducked to protect themselves and the children. Terror clear on their faces. The blue flames reflected in Stoick's widened eyes; Now they had done it. They had angered one of the gods.

Stoick swore under his breath. He berated himself for not having realized earlier. But there was nothing to be done now. His eyes locked on the figure, he prepared to face the gods' wrath that may follow.

However, once the screams subsided and were followed by flabbergast silence, they simply opened their mouth and spoke the same as earlier, "Now, now, who I am is not important. You will be returned once we're finished, but first we have some things to do."

Oswald straightened his back and cleared his throat, "Like?"

After a hesitant first step, Stoick walked over to stand beside him. He found it admirable that Oswald was so fast to speak even though he was clearly still perturbed. They exchanged a glance of support and faced the god together.

"Like, showing you the future," The god said in an extra smug voice.

A quiet murmur spread through the crowd at their words. And Stoick too could not help but let slip an astonished mumble as he tasted the words, "The future…"

"Yes, the future. I have come to tell you of a legenda hero. A hero who will kill a dragon as tall as a mountain, and defeat yet another."

The god became energetic as they recounted the tale with their hands clasped together, seeming almost enamored with their own words.

"He rides a mighty night fury and wields a sword of fire, through tremendous wit he even acquires the gift of flight and breath of fire. He is unlike any we seen before…"

Nothing they said seemed relevant to them, in fact, it seemed more like an unbelievable fairytale than the future. However, they then said something that made all of them react, "...Indeed, he is the handsome hero who will end the 300 year war and save both your tribes from annihilation."

The end of the 300 year war? Annihilation?

Everyone whispered to themselves, careful to not earn the ire of the god once more, but it was clear the god had finally grabbed their complete attention.

Then the god said something even more shocking, "And this hero is in this very room right now."

At this point, the crowd could no longer contain itself and exploded with a buzz as everyone excitedly looked around to see if they could tell who this amazing hero was. Some from the opposing tribes even got into fights and confidently bickered in loud whispers over which of their chief it had to be.

Meanwhile, Dagur, standing not far away, had only raised his chin at the words, as if certain he had to be the one to kill the dragon as tall as a mountain.

Stoick scoffed at his youthful arrogance and instead searched the room for a possible stranger. Not everyone from each tribe knew each other, it would be easy for a stranger to go unnoticed with others assuming he was from the other tribe, well, as long as he wasn't as inconspicuous as the god had been.

But then the god opened their mouth again, "His name is~"

They purposely trailed off and waited until all eyes on them were particularly begging to know. They then laughed at their eagerness, or perhaps at their own misschief, and paused, their voice becoming completely serious for the first time, "Hiccup."

Hiccup? Stoick's world did a 360 in astonishment. It was the name he expected the least to hear. No, it was unimaginable. Impossible. Utterly ridiculous. Stoick shook his head— Yes, it was ridiculous— And eyed the cloaked figure.

Now it was clear, the god before them was Loki.

—-

"Hiccup."

Its voice rang clear like a bell through the hall, and disbelief swept through the crowd at the same time.

Most of his fellow tribesmen seemed to think it had to be someone in the berserker tribe with the same name. Gobber knew better. While the berserkers had heard of this naming tradition through trade, it was not a tradition among their people. The few others who knew this, well, were both confused and doubting to say the least. The berserkers in general were also skeptic, runt to hero just did not seem plausible in their eyes…

This uncertain silence was broken by a chuckle. He recognized the voice even before his eyes followed the sound— Stoick.

Their chief burst out in a bellowing laughter, and it invited the crowd to follow. Hesitant chuckles turned heartfelt as they gain confidence from their surroundings, and soon the hall was filled with laughter, berkians and berserkers alike. What the goddess said was taken for a joke.

Gobber, as well as the small number who had stayed behind on berk, however, did not laugh. Flying, breathing fire, riding on a night fury, as well as taking on dragons as tall as mountains— Did not seem plausible.

It did not, to be frank.

He did not think Hiccup, or anyone in his tribe, for that, was capable of such unreachable greatness. But Hiccup's name being said was nothing to laugh about.

None of those who had left knew the kind of headway Hiccup had made, how much he progressed. As it looked, it was not a reach to think he might be the one who would get to fight the nightmare. In fact, he was rooting for the boy.

And Gobber did not seem to be the only one unimpressed with the crowd's reaction, if her voice was anything to judge from,

"Don't believe me? Then I shall show you."

The hall contorted and expanded, and ascending seats appeared in the newly created empty space. It all happened so fast no one even had the time to react to the absurdity with fear. Instead, they were now looking at the seats with puzzlement and curiosity as they wondered what her words meant.

The goddess held out her hand, "Take a seat."

At her order, the few people closest took a couple of steps forward but then stopped. "It's so soft!" In the end, the first one to sit down was a small child. Her smile and exclamation was enough to jarr every adult into action and as people seated, the rows of chairs gradually filled up from the bottom.

Moving forward at the back of the crowd, Gobber spotted Stoick and approached him. "Stoick…"

"Oh Gobber!" Stoick slammed a hand down on his shoulder. "Can you believe it, Hiccup? My Hiccup! Loki can do better than that. Such a blatant lie." He scoffed in amusement.

Gobber was a bit taken aback by his attitude. But then again, if it had been the same Hiccup from before, he too would probably have sounded the same.

"Um, stoick..."

"Hiccup, really, hahaha." Stoick shook his head as they climbed the stairs, clearly not listening.

Gobber took longer in the stairs and jogged a bit to keep up once they entered the top row, the only one with empty seats left. As they sat down in the seats in the center, he tried once again, "Actually, Stoick, a lot happened while you were away…"

This time it seemed he finally had his bullheaded chief's attention and Stoick lowered his voice as he asked in a grave voice, "What? A storm? Outcasts?"

"No, no, no. The dragon training, Hiccup, he—"

Stoick's voice rose in alarm, "He's still alive, isn't he? Wounded? Did he burn down the village? What happened?!"

He seemed to have finally noticed his son's absence as he scanned the seated Vikings below in worry.

Gobber gave a wry smile, "He's fine, he's fine, no, better than fine. Let's just say your worries are gone. Hiccup may just win dragon training."

Stoick's eyes widened in disbelief and he opened his mouth ask something when—

"Okay, now that everyone is seated, let's begin."

They looked to the goddess and the whole wall in front of them changed. Flames rose from the bottom as Hiccup's name appeared on the wall, at the same time sounds, whoes origin he could not discern, beat like drums.

Then, Hiccup was on the wall.

The moments passed like water. Then an unconscious Hiccup was between a sea of fire and a dragon. Before they could fully comprehend the situation, it changed again.

Rite of passage…

"If you so much as touch us, Hiccup is gonna kick -"

Hofferson? That voice, Astrid?

An adult Astrid was shown, moreover, she was threatening him with Hiccup?! The berkians in the crowd stirred. At the same time, Gobber could hear Stoick mutter another name in a grave voice, but all his attention was on the wall.

Unstoppable, legendary, animal…

The chief's mark! This time a few exclamations could be heard.

"He's only the son of Stoick the Vast, he's heir to the throne of berk."

The reality that Astrid was truly threatening him with their Hiccup began to sink in, but then she unexpectedly continued,

"And! The greatest dragon master this world has ever seen!"

The wall flashed red and a figure walked through fire, a dragon by his side.

No denying, no denying…

Awed gasps swept through the hall.

"He will blow your entire fleet to splinters." Astrid confidently spit out.

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Author's note:

How was it? Any good?

This was actually mainly written for self-satisfaction. I just can't help but imagine their reaction each time I watch a good httyd amv. I so want to throw it in their face. Hehe.

Anyway, this was just chapter 1, there will be more, how much I'm not sure, I will probably be taking my time with this one.

The video I started showing them in this chapter is "Play with fire" by asorti495, it's one of my favorite httyd amvs, you can find it on youtube.