Chapter Number: 4 / 9
Book Number: 1 (Lycanwing)
Planned at: 1 April 2022

Book Summary:
History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes with present. This rang true for inhabitants in Meridian of Misery. Stoick learned that keeping secrets would only hurt himself. Furious learned that future could never be set in stone. Wodensfang desperately grasping their long-forgotten past. Hiccup and Toothless came at the right time in the wrong place. It was not surprising that they played with their fate, as destiny claimed the very dragons they were meant to protect.

Pairing:
- Hiccup (Lycanwing Night Fury) x Toothless (Female Night Fury)

Warnings:
- AU and OOC characters with some movie/show canon aspects.
- Book HTTYD aspects and characters.
- Possible psychological horror.
- Female Toothless.

"What is this?" – Normal Speech
'What is this?' – Thought
"What is this?" – Telepathy / Reading / Flashback (Depends on context)
"What is this?" – Dragonese (Dragon speaking)
"What is this?" – Voiceover


Lycanwing – Diplomacy


One year had passed since the destruction of Lava-Lout Tribe. Since there was no threat of war and destruction anymore, everyone living at the Isle of Berk had relaxed themselves from their paranoia. Other than the dragon raids, it was a peaceful time for them.

The 13-year-old Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was reading and writing inside his room. There were stacks of papers on the table and floors. They were somewhat organised, being placed at the corner of the room, but it was messy on its own rights. Those were his thoughts and theories of things that he had learned over the course of two years.

The boy had been reading scrolls and books throughout the year. There was not much that he had to do around the village, since most of his works was at the forge. Hiccup had gone through half and quarter of the whole chest library that they had purchased two years ago. He almost finished reading them all. Every book and scroll there were plethora of knowledge, and Hiccup loved every single one of them.

Some books written by scholars were mostly theoretical, with some that seemed contradictory with other books and scrolls in the chest. Throughout the year, he made experiments to test those theories. He discovered that a lot of things written there were true for the most part.

One example was the theory that scholars believed to be true. They believed that there was such thing as "atom." Atom was considered the smallest element that made up everything that existed. These things were connected to one another, which was how it made up everything that existed in the universe. They called this theory: atomism.

The "universe" they referred to be the place outside "Earth", which was what they named the world. Apparently, those scholars believed that there were other worlds outside Earth, and these places were called "planets." It was interesting to know that there were places beyond their own world. He wondered what kind of world beyond the sky was like.

Those thoughts made him curious. He wondered how things came to be. How did mixing herbs became medicine for specific diseases? Why does it have to be those specific ingredients in specific order? The scholars believed that these were caused by mixture of specific kinds of "atom", which would transform from one component to another.

That made him wonder even more. Did it mean that metals were affected as well? Could they mix metal to get another kind of metal? If "atom" made up everything that existed, surely that meant there were many kinds of atoms out there. The boy wondered; what kind of "atom" did human had? What kind of atom did dragons had? What happened to atoms in an explosion?


While Hiccup was pondering all these things, the boy was busy writing his mental rants in his room. This was the state that Stoick found his son in when he came into his room. Book chests wide open, stacks of papers everywhere, filled with gibberish written in foreign languages. In addition to that, there were papers pinned on the walls, filled with various drawn imagery and text.

Around the corner of the room, there were several contraptions that he did not understand. The contraptions were small. They seemed to be pointless, but he was sure that Hiccup knew that they were for. The boy did not even notice Stoick coming into his room through the door. Hiccup was too transfixed to what he was doing.

While Stoick was proud of Hiccup's knowledge and intelligence, he began to question his sanity. There were times when he was caught peeking into Gothi's house while she was working on her medicine; the given reason that he wanted to know how Gothi made her medicine. When he did learn how to make medicine from Gothi, he would later then experiment with them.

There were times when Hiccup would mix liquids together. In one scenario, he mixed a tankard of milk together with mead at the Mead Hall. It caused quite a stir, since everyone was horrified of him wasting good mead like that.

Had Stoick knew what those books would resulted in two years, he would have not purchased them. Or at least, put a limit on them. It was far too late to stop Hiccup what he was doing. He was too transfixed on discovering and learning new things. Some Vikings had already been putting complaints about his strange behaviours. Thankfully, he had yet caused any problem at the village.

However, of all his flaws, Hiccup was a bright kid. There were times when children would bully him for his behaviour, but that never seem to ebb his wonder and curiosity. That simply made him more cautious with things that he made. It was a shame that Hiccup stayed small like that. Other children of his age had gotten their growth sprout, but Hiccup had yet gotten them. Stoick hoped the boy would have them soon.

Notably, when Hiccup was not doing anything, he would move to the forest and practice "martial arts." Stoick had caught him a few times doing it. It was something that the boy learned from his books. Apparently, it was training for self-defence, originated from the East. The father did not understand how moving body pointlessly and repeatedly was training self-defence, but as long it did not disrupt the village, it was best to leave him as is.

As of recently, Hiccup was getting more and more inventive and experimental with his endeavours. There were complaints from Gobber about hiccup wasting precious metal by mixing them with different metal. There was also times where he dumped a bag of sand into the furnace. It created a mess in the furnace that they had to clean up.

Thankfully, Hiccup had a bit of tact and bought metals himself for the experiment instead of using the village metals. He was not sure how Hiccup even had the money to purchase them. Then again, he did not really spend that much on his allowance. He wondered if Toothless started bringing wealth to him and kept them a secret.

The thought of Toothless reminded him of what he heard from traders. The Night Fury sightings were significantly less this year. That was good, it meant they most likely had lost interest in raiding villages. It was most likely that Toothless was pulling her partner from raiding villages, but it was simply pure speculation from him.

After half an hour of standing on the doorway, Stoick decided to call his son. "Hiccup?"

The boy looked up from his work. He turned to face his father. "Dad? What is it?"

"The Berserkers, Meatheads and Bog-Burglars would be visiting for their annual treaty signing." Stoick informed the boy. "Both chiefs and heirs are coming. They will arrive in a few days."

"Okay." Hiccup nodded. He tilted his head. "Why would their heirs be coming?"

Stoick grimaced. Hiccup had picked up the habit of tilting his head from Toothless. His son was more of a dragon than a Viking. "This is the 20th anniversary of our peace treaty with them. I uh… hoped that you might give the heirs gifts."

Hiccup blinked. His eyes widened a bit. "Is it time for pendant exchange?"

The pendant exchange was a Viking tradition. Those were intended for chief and chiefess heirs to make alliance pact before they take up the position themselves. It was simply matter of promise, and for most heirs, they typically meant friendship. It was meaningless without friendship and maintaining said friendship.

"Aye." Stoick nodded, staring at the boy with curious expression. "Remember to carry your pendant. They have your name on it."

The boy looked thoughtful. The man was suddenly reminded of his experiments and shenanigans. "You do have an idea on what to give them."

"I can think of a couple." Hiccup confirmed.

Stoick did not like that voice, but he wanted Hiccup to be creative. "Alright. Make sure it's safe for them."

"Okay, dad."


Later that afternoon, Hiccup went to the forge. Inside the forge, Gobber was busy making nails for the Vikings. The boy entered the forge through the back door. There were not that many activities around, meaning that there was no new order coming in for Gobber to serve.

Gobber was at the window, dealing with Vikings. "There's ya nails." He spoke to the Viking standing right outside the window. That Viking was carrying a small crate full of nails.

"Thanks, Gobber." The Viking nodded, before walking away.

The blacksmith leaned out and shouted to the side. "Anytime!" When that was done, he pulled himself back and turned around.

"Hey, Gobber." Hiccup greeted him.

"Ay, lad!" Gobber cheerfully greeted back. "No order today. You've done everything yesterday."

"I come to ask to borrow the forge for a few days."

Gobber raised his eyebrows. "What do ye need the forge for?"

"The Berserkers, Meatheads and Bog-Burglars are coming in a few days. They're here for peace treaty." Hiccup explained the situation. "They're coming with the heirs. My dad wants me to give them gifts."

"Huh. Chief did tell everyone about it. We already have things prepared for them." Gobber stroked his beard. "… alright, ye can use the forge. Don't burn it down, will ya?"

"Okay! Thanks, Gobber!" Hiccup smiled.

"Aye." Gobber waved his hand as he walked out from the forge through the back door.

The boy immediately went to work. He went into the room at the back. It was a small private room for him, where he could rest and sleep at the forge. It was also the place where he stockpile his things for his experiments. There was not much in that room, other than some small contraptions, papers and bed.

Hiccup moved to grab a large rolled up paper and a charcoal pencil. He pulled it out from the room and expanded them onto the large table. It revealed several large parchments. The boy thought for some time, before starting to draw onto it.

The boy had some plans on what to give them. Oswald the Agreeable had become a kind chief many years ago, it was best to have a decorative glass sculpture for him. His son, Dagur the Deranged, lived up to his name, and it was best to make something that could explode for him. He had read about dynamites from one of his books that originated from China. That one should be fitting for the heir of Berserker.

Bog-Burglar tribe was an interesting tribe. It was an all-women Viking tribe, in which most of them hated men. They were famous for their skill at thievery and burglary, and they had a habit of surviving odds and ends through sheer skills alone. It meant that he might need to make something interesting for them.

Hiccup thought about using his knowledge and discoveries on minerals. He had some ores that was left over from his experiments. He could create a tungsten battle axe for Big-Boobied Bertha – the chiefess of the tribe. It would be sharp and heavy. Camicazi, the heir of Bog-Burglar, was someone he was familiar with. He could make her a high carbon steel sword; a strong, lightweight sword for her sword fighting needs.

The Meatheads were strong, burly Vikings. There was a reason why they were called Meatheads. Majority of Meathead Vikings were physically strong, and they liked to solve disputes through arm-wrestling and sheep-rustling. Mogadon the Meathead was the chief of the tribe, and Thuggory was his son and heir. It was a good idea to make the same weapon for them. He could make warhammers made of tungsten and osmium.

After concluding his plan, the boy looked at his work in the large parchments.

It would be six gifts for chiefs and heirs of their tribe. Given the materials, it would take some time to make them. Hiccup only had few days to make them. He needed to be quick on the work.


"What are you going to give them?"

Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were gathering at one of the catapults. It was the place where they usually spend together, when not doing anything else. the five 13-year-old boys and girls were sitting at the base of unmanned catapults, as they discussed things related to the recent news they heard.

"My dad already dropped some gold to the box for us." Ruffnut nonchalantly spoke.

"You mean our dad." Tuffnut pointed out.

"Hehe- yeah." Ruffnut giggled. The twins moved and banged their heads together. "Ow…"

"We can give them gold, but we can give them something else." Fishlegs pointed out. "My dad gave me some coins for the box."

"My dad gave me some too." Astrid confirmed.

"Same for us both."

"Me too."

"It's my money." Snotlout whined. "I don't want to use them! My dad said it's my allowance for the year."

The others seemed uncomfortable. "It's coming from my pocket too." Astrid grumbled.

"Hah!" Tuffnut laughed. "We don't have to spend our money!"

Ruffnut leaned close to her brother. "Didn't mom told us we're not getting allowance this month?" She whispered.

That ruined Tuffnut's mood. "Oh." He grumbled.

Snotlout suddenly grinned. He leaned closer to them. "I got an idea."

The others paid attention to him. The burly boy began speaking. "Hiccup should have some coins with him. We can take them for the box!"

"Hiccup don't really carry money with him." Tuffnut pointed out. "He usually bring a list with him whenever he went to buy from Johann."

"Hiccup isn't giving his money to the box?" Snotlout asked, incredulous. "That's not fair! I don't want to give my money!"

"He's not giving money. He's giving things to them." The male twin corrected the burly boy. "I heard him borrowing the whole forge for few days. He's making something big for them."

The others brightened. Ruffnut rubbed her hands together. Snotlout slowly nodded with a smile on his face. Fishlegs was nervous about it but did not disagree with what was being implied. Astrid slowly spread a smile as she formulated an idea.

"We'll take them and use that instead of giving our money." Astrid proposed her idea. "We wait for him to finish, take it, and then give it to them."

"Ooh, stealing." Ruffnut smirked as she rubbed her hands together.

Tuffnut leaned to his sister. "I like the sound of that."

"Good idea!" Snotlout smirked as well. "You're the best, Astrid."

Astrid smirked alongside the others. Fishlegs was simply nervous at the idea but did not go against it. The young shieldmaiden began to wonder what Hiccup was making. She decided it did not matter, as long they had them when it was ready.

"You know, if you want, we can spy on Hiccup together."

Astrid groaned. "I'm not spying on him until it's done. Even if I do, I'm not going with you."


Toothless was resting at her nest, waiting for someone.

Ever since their confession together that day, every restraint she had with Charcoal seemed to have gone away. The same could be said for him. There was no more nervousness or hesitation between them. Whatever was in their mind, they would say them out. It felt refreshing to be herself and let everything go for once. She was sure that Charcoal felt the same.

On an unrelated note, Toothless discovered that Charcoal was a natural in mind arts. Specifically, creation of Programs. He had been studying mind arts from her, and over the course of a year, he had mastered half the things that she had taught him. It was helpful that Furious significantly reduced Charcoal's participation in dragon raids; putting him in charge of organising reports and plans instead. That was solely done with mind arts, meaning that it helped his learning process.

However, instead of Charcoal going off on a dragon raid, Furious would summon him for other things. It meant that she would find him disappear for a day or two without a trace, still. That was fine, however. They had twice as much time to spend together than before. It was an improvement.

Interesting enough, it had been seven days since the last time she saw him. Coincidentally, it was her shedding season. Furious had summoned him for a long mission alone and she was not sure what he had been doing. Thankfully, Charcoal had mentally contacted her hours ago. He would be coming back home today.

'I wonder if he'll like my new look.' Toothless thought as she stood from the ground.

Toothless had gotten a massive growth sprout. This was common for dragons of her age. She was roughly a quarter bigger than before. Her scales were also bigger, and she had gotten herself small fin-like appendages behind her legs – a sign of a strong dragon. Her features had also sharpened, showing more of her feminine side.

That did not mean she was weak, however. While they were no longer assigned to dragon raids, they had to fight against other dragons. Furious demanded a standard for her to follow and he had put her on the same routine as Charcoal. As a result, Toothless had gained a lot of scars on her body, some were deeper than others. Even after shedding her scales, the most of them remained on the new one. She was far stronger than last year, having her features more apparent and defined.

Her green acidic eyes were no longer shimmering. Instead, they became vibrant. The dragoness had been learning and studying magic from Charcoal's mind. Apparently, Charcoal had been gathering and reading everything he could get about magic for her while performing his missions. As a result, she became quite experienced in utilising her magic. The dragon sorceress was happy to learn more about magic. It was all thanks to Charcoal for helping her.

Toothless sensed someone outside. "Toothless!" She heard a familiar, feminine voice.

'Amber.' The dragoness thought, before running out from the place.

Outside the cave, Amber was standing outside. She was bigger than before, and her features were sharper. However, compared to Toothless, she was obviously smaller than the Night Fury in front of her.

"Hey, Amber!" Toothless greeted her, happy to see her finally arrived at her nest. "Glad you came here unscratched."

The white dragoness blinked as she looked at the black dragoness in front of her. "You look… different." She commented as she began circling around her best friend. "You sure is bigger and stronger now."

Toothless shrugged her wings. "I've been training." She nervously answered.

"… well, I got your Mail Chunk." Amber explained to her. "You said someone need my service? You're kind of vague about the client."

"It's… actually me." Toothless admitted. "And someone that's about to be my mate."

The Light Fury gasped. She brightened at the mention of 'mate'. "You found him?" She asked, excited. "You actually got a mate?!"

"We promised to become mates after seeing a mind healer. That's why I called you here." Toothless explained. Then, she narrowed her eyes. "You lied to me!"

Amber nervously chuckled. "W- Well, that got you a mate, didn't it?" She smiled at her best friend.

"You ruined my life!" Toothless cried out.

That confused the Light Fury. "What do you mean?"

"Toothless, I'm back at Dragon Island." Toothless heard Charcoal mentally spoke to her through their bond. "I'm coming to your nest now."

"Good timing. The mind healer is here."

"Great!" She heard Charcoal cheerfully responded. "I'll be there in a double."

Toothless focused back to Amber. "You'll see what I mean." She vaguely told her. "First things first; which part did you lied to me?"

"Well…" Amber sat on her hindlegs. She tapped her chin with her claws, thinking. "I kind of exaggerated his description. I didn't lie when I say that my tribe was considering sending a Light Fury for him."

"Ambeeeer, you know he's courting me!" Toothless whined.

"Relax! No one is sending anyone!" The white dragoness defended herself. "They just considered it. Nothing ever came out of it since the rumours faded away."

"What else did you lied to me about him?"

"I lied about the Night Fury having a lot of human knowledge." Amber confessed.

Toothless blinked. "That was a lie?"

"Yeah."

"But he does have a lot of human knowledge." The black dragoness explained, surprising her. "I thought you're truthful about that."

"… huh." Amber responded, surprised with herself. "That's just my wild guess."

"What else did you lied about him?"

"I lied about the part where Furious recruiting him. I don't know if he's part of Dragon Rebellion or not." Amber listed off. "Then, there's the sending Light Fury part. They never sent any. And… that's about it."

Amber noticed that Toothless was staring at her with unreadable expression. She wondered what her best friend was thinking about. The white dragoness was about to speak when they heard someone landing not far from them.

Charcoal had finally arrived at Toothless' nest. The said dragoness had to gawk at his appearance.

Charcoal was one half times bigger than Toothless. He looked significantly stronger than before. His musculature features were prominent, showcasing his strength and prowess. His scales were bigger, meaning he shed his scales recently. There was a lot more scale scars than before, meaning he had gotten into more dragon fights before his shedding season.

Upon landing, the male dragon stretched his body. He flexed his wings, revealing his much bigger wings and musculature on said appendages. The stretch revealed his fin-like appendages on his legs, spines and forehead. His nub-shaped appendages were longer and sharper as well. On his paws were sharp talons instead of claws. His growth sprout was more impressive than Toothless.

The male dragon looked at the two gawking female dragons. He spotted Toothless and let out a bright smile. "I'm back."

Toothless stared at the vibrant forest green eyes of the male dragon. His voice was even deeper. "Welcome back." She greeted as she came forward to him. The dragoness purred as she moved and snuggled under his wings. "How's your mission?"

Charcoal let out a sigh as he leaned closer to her. "I had to fight a lot of dragons." He confessed. "Apparently, there's a flock migrating here from Greater Archipelago. They refused to submit to Furious. I had to kick them out."

Upon hearing that name, Amber stared at them with horror. Toothless ignored her. "I'm just glad you're back here." Toothless purred at his show of affection. "I like your new look. It's more… dominant."

"You're far prettier than last time." Charcoal whispered as he licked her forehead. After some time, the male dragon moved away from her. He looked at Amber, curious as to who she was. "Who's this?"

Toothless hopped over to stand next to Amber. "Charcoal, this is Amber. We grew up together back at Caldera. She's my best friend." She introduced her. "She's also our mind healer. She's the best at what she does."

"Nice to meet you." Charcoal greeted her.

"N- Nice to meet you." Amber nervously greeted back.

Toothless knew that Amber was nervous and utterly shocked. It would be her revenge against her. "Charcoal, why don't you introduce yourself to her, with your full title?"

Charcoal was confused. He was not sure what she was playing, but he assumed it was a formal thing, of sort. "Okay." The male dragon responded, preparing himself.

Charcoal spread his wings. His appendages began to glow blue as he revealed his power of alpha dominance. "My name is Charcoal." He declared to the white dragoness in front of him. "General of the Red Rage Dragon Army, serving Third Dragon Rebellion under Greater Alpha Furious."

Amber was utterly terrified. The dragon in front of her was an alpha dragon. This dragon also had power of alpha dominance. It took most of her will not to run away from this dragon, since she knew he could take control of her if she ever try to run away. Glancing at Toothless, she realised that she was looking at her with triumphant look. She realised that Toothless was mentally bonded with him. She was fully under his control.

"Now." Toothless purred as she looked at him. "Why don't you get inside? I need to talk with her for a moment."

Charcoal pulled his wings back. "Sure. I'll wait for you inside." He replied. The male dragon walked into the nest, leaving Toothless and Amber alone outside.

Toothless took a deep breath, before turned to face the white dragoness in front of her. "You see what you did to me?"

Amber snapped to look at her. As a mind healer, she had a lot of Program in her mind to check if someone was under control or not. Toothless was not under any influence. She was doing this on her own free will. "W- What…"

The black dragoness was happy to see her speechless. "What do you think about my partner?"

"He's an alpha dragon…" Amber breathed out.

"Nope. It's just me bonded with him."

"You're his dragon…"

"Yep."

"He have alpha dominance…" The Light Fury limped her wings, staring at Toothless with horrified expression.

"Shocker, I know."

"And he didn't control you…" The white dragoness breathed out, amazed. "I'm not sure if something's wrong with that alpha, or my senses are just broken."

"That's kind of why I fell in love with him." Toothless confessed to her best friend. "He have everything in his power to make me submit, and yet, he just… keep asking me for consent."

"… are you sure that alpha is not telling you to say these things?"

"I'm sure." The black dragoness nodded. "You can check my mind if you want."

Toothless allowed Amber to enter her mind. The black dragoness waited as Amber analysed her mind and watched some of her memories. After a few minutes, the white dragoness pulled out from her mind.

"Your partner is…" Amber paused, trying to find the word for it. "Strange."

"I know."

"He's serving in Dragon Rebellion, but he didn't force you to do anything…"

Toothless smiled. "Surprising, isn't it?"

"You willingly joined the Dragon Rebellion." Amber whispered. She spoke accusingly. "He asked you several times before allowing you in."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You know why! You saw my Blocks!" Toothless snapped. She was angry at her best friend for questioning them, even after watching her memories. "Three years! Three, fucking, years! We've been courting together to get to know each other. We fell in love at the first sight. I watched him grow to what he is right now, and skies forbid if I'm backing out from this one!"

"You really are in love with him." Amber breathed out. After some time, she let out a chuckle. "Well, that makes things easier."

That confused Toothless. "What do you mean?"

"When it comes to mind healing, Love is the strongest emotion anyone could ever have." Amber explained to the black dragoness in front of her. "It's uncommon for dragons to love, but when they do, their mind can support each other to keep themselves healthy. Love can break the strongest influence. It's going to easy to heal your mind, since you already have someone that really loved you back."

"I'm glad you'll have an easier time on us."

"I noticed some of your Blocks suppressed and altered." Amber admitted as she stared at her with curious expression. "They have your signature all over them. I assume those were traumatic memories?"

Toothless nodded. It was something she had been doing to anything related to the war. "Yes. Charcoal have way more than me. Greater Alpha had been suppressing them for him."

"Why would they do that?'

"Because." The black dragoness dramatically paused. "Charcoal is his son."

Amber widened her eyes in horror. "… Charcoal is his son?" She squeaked.

"Yes."

"… your dad will definitely kill you."

Toothless collapsed. "I know." She moaned.

"He will kill your mate."

Toothless covered her eyes with her paws. "I know!" She moaned out. "You don't have to remind me."

"By the moon, stars and skies above! I saw your thought memory thinking about pulling him out of the war." Amber cried out, pitying her best friend. "Why did you have to join them?"

"I don't know!" Toothless cried back. "I just want my Precious Thing safe. Amber, this whole war, it made sense to me!"

"Save the propaganda for later." Amber dismissed her as she stood from the ground. She did not want to hear any more of it. "Let's focus on healing your mind. I have to treat you like a soldier, since you're basically one now."

Toothless slumped her wings. It meant that Amber would avoid talking about the war. She had sworn her vows, after all. "Okay." She let out a sigh as she led her inside. "Follow me."


Charcoal was sitting on his hindlegs when Toothless and Amber came into the cave. The two dragons moved and sat in front of him. They were positioned in triangle position. After getting themselves comfortable, they sat on their hindlegs.

"Alright." Amber started. "Toothless explained everything to me. I just need to make sure. Do you love Toothless?"

"I love Toothless with all my heart." Charcoal spoke without hesitation.

"Good." The white dragoness nodded. She could hear devotion in his voice. "I have a Program that could help, but in order for it to work, it need some conditions."

"What's the Program?"

"The Program is a love-based Mind Recovery solution. It will instantly revert all your suppressed Blocks to its healthy state, with as little side effect as possible." Amber explained to them. "It's the strongest and efficient way to cure your state of mind."

Charcoal felt uncomfortable. "Okay. What do we have to do?"

"I have to tailor and install them for both of you." Amber explained. "That means, you have to let me guest and access your mind."

The male dragon was uncomfortable. He looked at Toothless, who recognised the concern. "Amber can be trusted." The black dragoness assured her. "She have sworn her vows."

Charcoal stared at her for some time. "… I trust you." He finally spoke, before turning back to look at the surprised Amber. "When do we start?"

"W- We can do it now."

"Alright." Charcoal nodded as he opened his mind for her.

Amber entered Charcoal's mind. The white dragoness observed his mindscape. It was somewhat similar to Toothless' mindscape; each type of Blocks were separated and shielded, with access to his mind at the centre of the mindscape. Considering he was close to her, and how she was the one who taught him mind arts, that was to be expected. What was unusual about his mindscape was a black, unknown shielded entity on top of it.

The male dragon kept track of her while she went to work. He watched her being careful with her actions. The white dragoness prodded the unknown entity, before moving to check the Blocks. A lot of them had blackness, meaning that there was a lot of suppressed traumas in his mind. "How long have you been in Dragon Rebellion?"

"About 10 years now." Charcoal answered.

Amber did not respond. She moved to access his mind and implanted a Program into it. Charcoal watched her pushing a yellow sphere into his mind. His mind instantly absorbed it. The male dragon could feel them at the back of his head.

After that was done, Amber pulled out from his mind. She moved to look at Toothless. "Your turn."

Charcoal simply watched as Amber and Toothless stared at each other. While it seemed like they were doing nothing, he knew that Amber was accessing Toothless' mind. After a few minutes, Amber pulled out of her mind. "Okay, I've installed them. To start the process, you need to do something with an intense love emotion."

"What would it be?" Charcoal questioned.

Amber looked at him with deadpan expression. "Breed her."

"Oh." Charcoal looked down, somewhat embarrassed for not getting the insinuation.

"It will remove itself after the process is done." The white dragoness informed them. "It's best to get it done today. I'll check back on you two tomorrow."

"Okay. Thanks for the help!" Toothless chirped.

Amber nodded at her. The white dragoness stood from the ground, before walking out from the cave. That left Toothless and Charcoal alone inside.

Suddenly, Charcoal leaped forward. Toothless gasped as he suddenly moved and pinned her onto the ground. The two dragons looked at each other. Acidic eyes met the forest green ones. After some silence, the male dragon spoke. "Ready?"

Toothless casted magic. Her eyes briefly shimmered. Suddenly, a large rock appeared on the entrance, blocking them both inside. "I'm not letting you leave until I'm satisfied."

Charcoal spread his wings. His appendages began to shimmer with blue colour, as he let loose of his alpha dominance power. Toothless went limp as she felt his power washed over her body and mind. It demanded her complete submission, and she had given it to him.

"Good." Charcoal purred as he moved to held her down. "Because I'm not letting you leave until I'm satisfied."

Charcoal moved to claim the female dragon he had been courting for three years. It was the longest night that they ever had, and it was the best time of their life. Halfway during the process, Amber's Program went active. It did its process, but the two loving dragons did not notice. They were busy enjoying themselves.

It was time for them to make things official, after all.


The next morning, Toothless was the first one to awake. The dragoness let out a purr as she felt comfortable in her position. Charcoal was on top of her, quietly asleep. The two dragons had been going at it for many hours, before finally falling asleep together. She remembered the time when they finally became mates together. Both had gone completely feral during the whole session, and it was the best feeling they ever had.

The dragoness noticed that her mind was calmer. Much calmer than before. Looking into her mind, she noticed that everything was reverted to its healthy state. The Program was gone, leaving the healthy mind on its wake. Toothless felt comfortable that her mind was healthy once more. The Dragon Rebellion had left her somewhat traumatised, as she had to kill dragons for one reason or another.

Toothless moved a bit. That seemed to awaken the dragon on top of her. Charcoal opened his eyes and looked down to her. The two dragons stared at each other. They smiled as they realised what they had done last night. They had finally become mates together.

"Hey." Toothless whispered.

Charcoal leaned forward and licked her neck. Toothless mewled at the affection. The male dragon stood from the ground and moved away from her. The dragoness stood from the ground. She casted magic and willed the rock blocking the entrance to disappear.

The male dragon sniffed his mate. "You have my scent."

"As I should. You have my scent too." Toothless retorted, before giving him a smile. "How do you feel?"

Charcoal fell silent. He pondered the answer to her question. "… calm." He finally spoke. "I don't think I ever felt this calm before. There's no more tampered Blocks in my mind."

It was a strange feeling. Charcoal remembered the time when his mother was tortured and killed in front of him. However, every time he remembered it; the male dragon remembered the time he spent together with Toothless. He justified that they all happened in the past. It was terrible to remember that day, but at the same time, it was best to let go. It was time to move on from everything.

After all, he had Toothless on his side. That was all that mattered for him.

"It's like the weight on my wings I never knew just… vanished." Charcoal described what he felt. "I felt much better."

Toothless entered Charcoal's mind through their bond. Everything was much healthier than before. That was good news for them. However, she noticed a black opaque shield that was floating on top of his mind. She wondered why it was still there.

"I think we might need to get that checked with Amber." Toothless suggested.

Charcoal, who had been tracking what Toothless was doing, nodded. "Yeah. That's kind of strange."

The dragon couple moved to walk out from their nest. It was early in the morning outside. The morning breezed through their scales, as they observed the sky above. There was no clouds in the sky, which meant it was perfect time for flying.

"Toothless."

Toothless looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Now that we're mates…" Charcoal started. "Do you want to be my consort?"

The dragoness chuckled. "Of course! We'll be spending our lives together forever." She replied, smiling. "I'd love to be your consort."

Charcoal pressed his snout with hers. Then, he moved to enter her mind. The male dragon pushed his mind into hers, before allowing her to have control over his mind, thus making her his consort. That made them both equal and bound with each other.

After the process was done, Toothless let out a gasp. She suddenly felt power filling her mind and body. Her appendages began to glow blue as she gained the power of alpha dominance from him. She sensed every life that ever existed with her mind, from birds in the sky to fishes in the ocean.

Toothless and Charcoal gaped at the sight. After some time, Charcoal let loose of his own alpha dominance. The two powers brushed against each other, before brewing together like water. They could feel them together, and they were both powerful in body and mind.

"Look!" Charcoal chirped. "Matching colour!"

"I…" Toothless stuttered. It was shocking for her that she had obtained the power of alpha dominance. "Alpha dominance…"

Toothless learned the capabilities of alpha dominance from Charcoal. Those with that power meant that they had an unrelenting power of will. It was a dangerous kind of power. Furious entrusted that power to Charcoal, and now, Toothless had gained them through Charcoal.

"I guess it's an insurance." Charcoal shrugged his wings. His appendages stopped glowing as he pulled the power back into him. "Other dragons shouldn't be a problem for you."

"No." Toothless mumbled. Her appendages stopped glowing as she pulled the power back into her. "They won't."

Toothless had spent majority of her life learning and studying mind arts; specifically, in mental intrusion, fortitude and organisation. She had a lot of interesting skills and abilities already. Now that she had alpha dominance, that significantly increased her potential in mind arts. She would be able to do a lot more things with it.

Suddenly, they sensed someone flying towards them. Amber swooped down towards them and landed close to them. She sniffed the air, before smiling at them both. "You two are mates now. Congratulations."

"Thanks." Charcoal responded, smiling. His smile faded a bit. "But there's something else."

"Oh?"

Charcoal invited her to enter his mind. Amber moved in to check what went wrong. She took one look at the unknown, shielded entity, before pulling out from his mind. The white dragoness frowned. "So, it's still there…" She muttered.

"It's been there since the first time he entered his mindscape." Toothless explained to her. "I thought it's protecting the most traumatic memory, but since our mind was purified, there's no reason for that to be there anymore."

"Hrr…" Amber hummed, deep in thought. She sat on her hindlegs as she thought more about it. "It could be something else. I'm not sure what it is. It doesn't seem to be harmful…"

After a few seconds, the white dragoness shrugged her wings. "It's best to leave them alone, for now." She decided. "I take it, everything's healthy for you two?"

"Yeah." Toothless replied, smiling at her. "All thanks to you."

Suddenly, Charcoal perked up. The male dragon let out a groan. "Sorry. Duty calls. Furious is summoning me."

"Go on ahead." Toothless replied, glancing at him. "I'll take it from here."

Charcoal nodded. The male dragon ran to the side, before taking off into a flight. He went off heading to the Dragon Island.

After Charcoal left, Toothless sat on her hindlegs. "Hrr…" She purred. "Thanks for your work, Amber. Charcoal and I finally become mates together."

"Anything for a friend." Amber smiled, before frowning with concern. "But Toothless, what are you going to do? You can't participate in Dragon Rebellion. News would spread to Hidden World about you participating!"

Toothless let out a sigh. She fell silent for some time, before answering. "There's no way for me to go back now." She admitted. "Earlier, Charcoal made me his consort. Guess what I got from him."

Amber tilted her head. "What?"

Toothless smiled. Her appendages shimmered with blue colour as she revealed her alpha dominance power. The white dragoness gasped. "Alpha dominance!"

"Yup." Toothless confirmed as she pulled her power back.

"But Toothless, your dad…" Amber whispered in disbelief. "What are you going to tell him?"

The black dragoness groaned. "Please don't ask me that." She pleaded. "Tell him nothing. Don't tell my dad."

Amber opened her mouth to respond, before closing it. She opened her mouth to speak again, before she thought otherwise. After some more thought, she gave her best friend a knowing look. "Ooh… defying your Arch Alpha now, aren't you?"

Toothless narrowed her eyes. "He's not my alpha."

"I can already see it." Amber ignored her reply, continuing her own fantasy. "Toothless, challenging her own father for Arch Alpha position. You'd take over the whole Hidden World with the power of alpha dominance!"

"Uh…" The black dragoness looked nervous. "There's no reason for me to do that."

Amber pondered for some time. "… You never really told me why you don't like your dad." She finally spoke. She was concerned. "Did he… abused you in some way?"

Toothless looked away, unwilling to look at her best friend in the eyes. "It's personal."

"You don't want to talk about it?"

Toothless grimaced. "I've moved on from it."

"I know my Program works, but that doesn't stop me from worrying." Amber suggested as she leaned to the side, trying to make her look.

The black dragoness took a deep breath. After some time, the dragon sorceress looked at her best friend. "My dad always focused on his duty." She finally answered. "He's never there for me, or care for me – I had a Deadly Nadder serving him to take care of me instead of him."

Amber stayed silent. Toothless kept speaking. "He's never happy for anything about me. Every time I did something wrong, he would yell at me. I learned how to do everything on my own without anyone teaching me; flying, hunting, fighting – I did it all by myself. The only thing he did was teaching me mind arts when I was young."

"Was that why it took you a while to know how to fly?" Amber quietly asked. She remembered their time together when they were young. Toothless learned how to fly roughly months after Amber learned it.

"Basically." Toothless confessed to her. "There's also this… thing from my mother's side. My dad never told me about it. He even went as far as to seal it away from me. I learned them after I met the dragon that sealed it away. It was until last year that I learned how to use it."

"What was it?"

The dragon sorceress smiled at her. "Magic." She answered. "I'm a dragon sorceress."

Amber fell silent for some time. "… well." She started. "You're full of surprises today."

"Charcoal helped me learn how to use magic." Toothless added.

"Is he a sorcerer?"

"No. He doesn't have magic." Toothless shook her head, confusing her. "He likes reading human books. Apparently, some books he read have topic about magic. He let me see his Blocks while I teach him mind arts."

Amber nodded in understanding. "Okay. That makes sense." She tilted her head. "But there's more into that, isn't it?"

Toothless took a deep breath. "This is something that no one else should ever know. This is about my mother." She explained. "This is the main reason why I left my father."

Amber moved closer as she paid close attention to her. "When I was an egg." Toothless started. "My father was focused on his duty as Arch Alpha. He always got into fights with other dragons that wanted to claim that title. My mom was a sorceress, and she didn't like how my dad always busy with his duty."

"Why is that?"

"He always came back injured. My mom was his consort, so she had to take care of his wounds." Toothless explained to her. "My mom really loved my dad, but my dad was too focused on his work. My mom suggested giving up the title, since dragons clearly don't want him to be their Arch Alpha, but he's so stubborn on keeping that title."

"One day, during one of his battles, something happened." Toothless told the tale. Her voice began to waver. "My dad got into a fight with a Skrill. My mom was watching. When he was about to finish the Skrill with plasma blast, they used their lightning to run away in the clouds. The blast meant for the Skrill hit my mom."

Amber gasped. Toothless looked down, tears began to build in her eyes. "… my mom died that day." She confessed. "He killed her."

"Toothless, your dad couldn't possibly know that!"

"Had my dad listened to my mom." Toothless whispered as she clenched her claws. "She would've been alive by now."

"But how did you know this?" Amber softly asked.

The black dragoness looked at her best friend. "I sneaked into my dad's mindscape when he was asleep." She confessed. "He forgot to protect that memory of the fight. I guess it's the day where I left his nest. I just don't want to see him anymore."

"Is that why you hate him so much?" Amber questioned. "Is that why you don't want him to know about anything?"

"… Yes." Toothless firmly admitted, looking down to the ground. "All my life, I've always wondered why he neglected me. He's just never there for me. Even after she died, he just… kept on going to keep the title, like he didn't care about anything else."

Toothless straightened herself. She looked at her best friend with unrelenting gaze. "Don't tell my dad." She told her best friend. "If you do, he'll come and take me away. I'm not coming with him without a fight, and by the skies, I'd rather die than living with him again!"


The forge was active for days.

Hiccup had been working day and night for the gifts. The boy had been sleeping and working at the forge. There were various contraptions around the place, such as an open wooden box filled with water and metal, mortar and pestle, various cylinder tubes filled with fluids and powders, and many others. In addition to contraptions, there were different kinds of rocks at the corner. Those were ores of different minerals.

Four out of six gifts were ready. The two were still in the works. The gift for Dagur the Deranged was ready; two explosive things called Dynamite, which consisted of red closed thick paper cylinder filled with gunpowder, with fuse on the top. One for demonstration and another for safekeeping. The tungsten axe for Big-Boobied Bertha was ready, and the tungsten-osmium warhammer for Mogadon the Meathead was finished. The decorative glass sculpture for Oswald the Agreeable was done as well.

The high carbon steel sword was difficult to make. The tempering, molten salt bathing and other assortments of chores were getting to him. Hiccup cursed himself for making something so difficult for the gifts. However, it would be all worth it in the end for him. The sword was not done yet, but he expected it to be finished that day.

The tungsten-osmium warhammer for Thuggory was not finished either. There was some problem with casting process. There was not enough material to finish them, and Hiccup ended up making more of them again. Like the sword, he expected them to be finished that day. It should not take too long for him to finish.

Hiccup left an extra Dynamite another Berserker heir; in case she ever came along. Heather was someone that Hiccup had known back when he was very young. He had met Camicazi and Thuggory before, but the younger Berserker heir was never to be seen again after he went past 5-year-old.

Suddenly, the back door went open, revealing Gobber standing there. "Hiccup!"

The boy whirled around. "Gobber!"

"The folks are here!" The blacksmith called out. "Are ye ready?"

"O- Of course!" Hiccup quickly replied. That was a lie. He was not ready. "I'll have them noted and wrapped up! I just need to get the wrapping done."

"Get to it then." Gobber grunted, before heading out from the forge. He closed the door behind him.

Hiccup scrambled to get them done. The boy rushed to the table and grabbed several pieces of clean clothes. He moved to another table, where the gifts were, and began packaging them. When that was done, Hiccup grabbed some paper, wrote some notes and clipped them together with the gifts. The notes had names on who they were for, and descriptions on what they were.

When he finished wrapping them, Hiccup rushed to the furnace. The boy grabbed a lever handle and flipped them. Hot metal poured down into the cast below, emptying the furnace. It would take several hours for the metal to cool down. After that, he needed to give them a finish and assemble the warhammer.

The boy looked at the anvil next to the furnace. the sword blade was there. He had been tempering them for days. It simply needed to cool down as well. He would have to sharpen and give them a finish after that. He was satisfied at what he had done so far. The sword blade was lightweight, and it was extremely durable.

Given that the two was almost done, he expected them to be done today. He might made it in time, since the three tribes had arrived at Berk.

Suddenly, the back door flew open. "Gobber, I…" Hiccup stopped upon seeing Snotlout and others walking into the forge. "What are you doing here? You're not allowed to-"

The burly boy moved and punched the lanky boy. Hiccup gasped as he felt pain in the stomach. Tuffnut and Ruffnut moved in towards him, holding ropes and clothes. The pair of twins began tying him up, as Hiccup struggled on their grasp.

"'lout, hold him down, will ya?" Ruffnut called out. Snotlout moved to hold Hiccup down.

After some time, they finally subdued the boy. Hiccup had his feet and hands tied together. His mouth was gagged, preventing him from speaking. The boy had tears in his eyes. He could not believe that the others had barged in and treated him like that.

"Okay, he's done." Tuffnut called out.

Snotlout began looking around the forge. "Where's the stuff?"

The others started looking around as well. Astrid caught something on the table. It was the wrapped gifts Hiccup had made. "There."

Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut rushed to the table. The five kids went to check the gifts. "There's only four of them!"

"We'll share on the gift?" Tuffnut suggested, looking at Ruffnut.

"No problem with that."

"Let's go." Astrid called them as she grabbed one of the gifts. "They should be at the Great Hall."

The others moved to grab the rest of the gifts. Hiccup could only let out muffled cry as he watched them took his belongings. As the others went out from the place, Snotlout paused for a moment, before sending a kick down on his stomach.

"Mmf!" Hiccup grunted, tears pouring down from his eyes.

"Useless!" Snotlout jeered.

"Mmf, hmff…" the lanky boy cried out.

Snotlout proceed to kick the subdued boy once more. Astrid, Ruffnut and Fishlegs had gone out from the forge. Tuffnut looked back from the doorway. "Snotlout, come on!"

The burly boy looked at him, before looking back down to the boy underneath him. Snotlout let out a smirk, before heading out from the forge, following the others. They closed the door behind them, leaving the restrained, crying boy alone inside.


It was afternoon that day. Stoick was standing near the stairs that connected the harbour and the village. It was the loading dock. The man was waiting with Gobber and Spitelout on his side. There were other Vikings there as well, waiting for the three tribes to climb up the stairs.

The chief watched as several people walked up from the stairs. He waited for the guests to reach the top. Once everyone was there, the man smiled and spread his arms. "Welcome to Berk!"

There were crowds of people at the harbour entrance. Six Vikings were at the front; the chiefs and heirs. The others behind them were their ship crews. They looked tired from their weeks of trip to Berk.

A large woman stepped forward. This was the chiefess of Bog-Burglar tribe; Big-Boobied Bertha. The woman was as large as Stoick the Vast, and as the name implied, had a very large breast. It was said that she had killed someone with it. The chiefess wore a long tunic outfit, leather armour with chainmail underneath, Viking helmet and brown boots. She had a pair of large, braided hair, which rested on her shoulders.

"Greetings!" Bertha boomed her voice. The woman was broadly grinning. "It's good to see you again!"

"Good to see you too, Bertha." Stoick grumbled a bit, before looking at the rest of the chiefs. "Mogadon. Oswald."

"Stoick." Mogadon tipped his head. Mogadon the Meathead was a large Viking, wearing thick tunic with a leather cape behind him. He had a belt wrapped around his waist. The man had wooden prosthetics on his left leg, and black eyepatch on his right eye. He looked pleased to see them.

"Hello, Stoick." Oswald softly spoke to him. He was a burly man, wearing green tunics and leather outfit, brown boots and Viking helmet. He was a head shorter than Stoick, but that did not mean he was small. Rather, the man was wider than him. He had grey hair and beard, which showed his old age. His calm, soft expression made others smile.

Stoick nodded at the greetings. He looked at the heirs. "So, these are your kids?"

"Yes!" Bertha sharply nodded as she pushed her daughter forward. "My daughter wanted to come! She's here for pendant exchange!"

Camicazi was a small girl with wild, tangled blonde hair and blue eyes. The 13-year-old girl was wearing red rolled up tunic and leather clothes, black pants and brown boots. She also wore hoop earrings, necklace and bracelets. Her appearance looked like a ferocious, wilder version of Astrid. The girl looked bored as she looked around the place.

"Thuggory is here for pendant exchange too." Mogadon added as he placed his hand on his son's shoulder.

Thuggory was a large burly boy. The 13-year-old boy was wearing a sleeveless pale-yellow tunic, pants and brown boots. His outfit showcased his physique. In addition to that, he wore a Viking helmet. He had a short black hair and brown eyes, which seemed to radiate arrogance. The boy smirked as he observed his surroundings.

"Mine as well." Oswald spoke, gesturing to his son.

Dagur was a thin boy, wearing leather dress and bracelet wrappings around his arms and legs. The 13-year-old boy had a short sword on his back. He had green eyes and red short hair. Unlike others, the boy was scowling. He seemed more interested on weapons that the Berkian Vikings had on their back.

"Good." Stoick nodded. He gestured to the village path, allowing them in. "Let us gather at the Great Hall. We eat while signing our treaty."

The guest Vikings began walking to the Great Hall. Thuggory and Camicazi stayed close together. The two heirs looked around, as if looking for someone. After some time, Camicazi leaned close to Thuggory. "Can you ask where Hiccup is?"

The burly boy nodded. Like other Bog-Burglars, Camicazi did not like men, with some exceptions. As a result, she refused to interact with certain men. Thuggory looked at the Berkian chief and called out. "Chief Stoick, where is Hiccup?"

"Hiccup is preparing his gifts for you." Stoick answered, glancing at the heir. "He will be at the Great Hall later."


The Great Hall had been redecorated for the gathering. There were food stands around the place, serving Vikings there, from guests to their own. Stoick, Bertha, Oswald and Mogadon were busy talking amongst themselves. The four chiefs had signed the peace treaty earlier. It did not take too long for them, since the papers were the same anyway. It was simply routine for them.

"… at the Thing again." Mogadon muttered. The four chiefs were speaking with low voice to prevent others from overhearing them. "They're trying to reform the Lava-Lout tribe."

"What about their alliance?" Stoick questioned. "Wealth? Vikings?"

"They have nothing." Mogadon firmly spoke. "They are starting over somewhere at Greater Archipelago. We don't really know who their chiefs are, but they said it's the heir."

Stoick grimaced. That sounded like bad news. "It's a clean start for them, then."

"They shouldn't be a problem for us." Oswald commented, thinking. "I did hear that some of the elders survived. They weren't at the island when the whole volcano erupted."

"Aye. That's lucky for them."

"What about you, Stoick?" Oswald asked, making the others focus at the Berkian chief. "You haven't been at the Thing for a while now."

"Still troubled with it?" Bertha questioned, curious.

Stoick grimaced. "Aye. I still remember that day." He admitted, reminiscing his time back then. "Dragons coming in, following that madman. Three of ye were lucky not coming to the Thing years ago."

"Speaking of the Thing…" Mogadon muttered as he stroked his beard. "The Visithugs moved to another island recently. The Hysterics drove them off. Their chief came to the Thing asking for help."

"Hmm…" The Berkian chief frowned as he turned to look at Bertha. "You're still at war with them?"

"They surrendered." Bertha grumbled. She did not look pleased. "We have Hysterics to worry about now. We're not sure if they're sane enough for us to ask for peace treaty."

"… we will talk more about this later." Stoick decided as he looked at the three chiefs. "Let us move to the gift giving."

The chiefs moved to face the crowds. The Berkian chief cleared his throat, before speaking. "Vikings!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face the chief. Stoick began the announcement. "It's time for giving gifts. In celebration of our 20th annual peace treaty, we will exchange gifts."

The heirs moved to stand next to their parents. After everyone was set, Stoick looked at one of his Vikings. "Spitelout?"

Several Berkian Vikings walked forward, carrying three large wooden boxes. They placed them in front of the chiefs. The Vikings opened the boxes, revealing gold coins and other valuable goods inside. It was mostly full of gold coins.

"These are our gifts for you." Stoick explained to the three chiefs. "From everyone in our village, to your tribe, respectively."

"We have our gifts at the ship." Oswald spoke to them. "Let's not tire the Vikings. We'll exchange them at the harbour."

"Not a bad idea." Mogadon grumbled.

"That's how we do it in the Thing!" Bertha laughed, amused by the suggestion.

Stoick grumbled. He could have had the boxes delivered to their ships later. The man looked around and noticed that Hiccup was still nowhere to be found. He decided it was not important, for now. "Anyone wished to give their gifts personally?"

"We do!"

Astrid, Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Fishlegs came forward. Most of them were holding wrappings of different things. Astrid stood in front of Big-Boobied Bertha; Snotlout in front of Dagur, Tuffnut and Ruffnut in front of Mogadon; and Fishlegs in front of Oswald the Agreeable. Each of them offered the gifts to them, in which they gratefully accepted.

"Thank you." Oswald softly spoke as he accepted the gift from Fishlegs. "What is this?"

"I- It's a glass sculpture." Fishlegs timidly spoke as he watched the man unwrapped the gift. "I- I made it myself!"

Oswald gasped as he held the glass sculpture. It was the sculpture of him on his battle outfit, holding a shield and sword in battle stance. There was a large Skrill looming behind him in possessive pose, snarling to the front. The dragon looked to be protecting and fighting alongside him. The glass was clean and clear, with reflective, colourful sprinkle metal to give them colour.

For something that was roughly half square metres big, it was durable, detailed and intricate. It looked like the artist had put a lot of work on carving out the details, down to the dragon scales and Oswald's outfit.

"It's… beautiful." Oswald breathed out. He looked down at the flat, white stone base of the sculpture. There was a black engraving on it, written in Norse. "There is peace even in the storm. The Berserker Skrill."

It was then Oswald noticed that the others had stopped to look at him. The man smiled, before raising the sculpture above his head. "The Berserker Skrill!" He shouted.

The Vikings gasped at the beauty of the glass sculpture. The Berserkers puffed up with pride, as they stared at the beauty in front of them. Dagur looked awed as well, but he was a bit put off by the sculpture.

After some time, the other chiefs opened their gifts. Bertha opened the gift to reveal an axe. The axe was heavy, but it was balanced right enough that it was perfect for swinging. It was a simple axe with curved, dark brown wooden handle with steel nub covering the bottom. Interesting enough, the axe head did not look like metal to her. It looked like something stronger than that. There was the Bog-Burglar symbol engraved on either side of the axe head, right in the middle of it.

Bertha weighted the axe, before nodded approvingly. She looked at Astrid. "This is a good axe."

"Thanks!" Astrid chirped.

Mogadon unwrapped the gift, revealing a warhammer. The hammer head had its edges bevelled. Like Bertha's new gifted axe, the hammer head had the Meathead symbol engraved on either side. It had metallic blue colour; a type of metal that he did not recognise. The handle was made of wood, with steel nub covering the bottom.

The Meathead chief weighted the warhammer. The man frowned, wondering what kind of metal it was. "What sort of metal is this?"

"They're uh…" Tuffnut quickly thought of something. "They're iron steel!"

Mogadon stared at the twins for some time. It definitely not look like iron, but he assumed it was a trade secret. Then, he shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. Thanks, lad, lass."

The twins gave themselves a high-five, happy at the success. "Glad you enjoyed it." Ruffnut spoke to the Meathead chief as she crossed her arms, smirking.

Camicazi, who was standing next to Bertha, narrowed her eyes. 'That's not iron steel.' She thought as she stared at the warhammer. The girl looked at the axe that her mother was boasting. '… That's not iron steel, either.'

"Aww." Thuggory whined as he looked at the gifts. "We don't get any of those."

Dagur opened his gift. He stared at two Dynamites in front of him with confusion. "What is this?"

"It's uh…" Snotlout spoke as he pulled out a paper from his pocket. He had taken off the paper from the gift before giving it to him. "Dynamite. You lit the rope on fire and throw them to blow them up."

The Berserker heir frowned. He held one of the dynamites on his hand. It was a red cylinder object with thin rope on the top. Deciding to give them a try, he moved to lit up the fuse on the nearby candle. It instantly sparked with flame, as the fuse started to burn. "Ooh…" he whispered.

The others watched as Dagur threw the dynamite to an empty food stand. It rolled underneath the table as the fuse finally ran out. It stopped at the corner of the wall, under the table.

BOOM!

The dynamite exploded, destroying the food stand. Everyone covered their heads as splinters and shrapnel went flying everywhere. It made a large gaping hole on the wall, revealing the corridor behind it. Stone rubbles went all over the place. Thankfully, nobody was injured.

Everyone was shocked to see them, including the Berkian children. Oswald moved to snap at his son. "Dagur!" He snapped. "Don't use them inside the building!"

"Fine." Dagur pouted. He wrapped the last dynamite and pocketed it.

"Stoick." Bertha gaped, outraged. "I didn't know you have something like that!"

"First, unknown metal. Now, something that explode." Megadon muttered. He looked amused. "Personal gifts are usually symbolic. What are you playing, Stoick?"

"I know none of these gifts." Stoick rumbled, curious to see the gifts. He was internally nervous, however. He was not even aware of those gifts ever existed.

"This… dynamite is something we've never seen before." Oswald spoke as he placed away the glass sculpture on a nearby table. The man turned to look at Snotlout. "Where did you find it?"

"And also." Megadon softly added as he inspected the warhammer he was holding. "What kind of metal is this? This is not iron steel. Where did you get them?"

The children looked nervous. They had stolen those gifts for them, and they did not know what or where they actually came from. They could not say anything, fearing being exposed that they had stolen them from Hiccup. They would definitely be punished if they confessed that they had stolen from him.

"I uh…" Snotlout stuttered.

"I- It's from a far land!" Astrid quickly spoke, pushing Snotlout aside to get their attention. "From a land far, far, far away. We got them from the Northern Market!"

"Y- Yeah!" Snotlout quickly nodded, nervous.

"And which seller should we talk to?" Bertha questioned.

"Uh…" Astrid quickly thought of an excuse. "We don't know the name! We- ah, bought them when they're on sale! They said it's good. That's it."

"Hmm." Megadon stroked his beard. "… eh, whatever. Better not look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say."

"I, for one, want to know what my axe made of." Bertha boasted, holding her new axe up high. "This is very high quality! And that dynamite thing… I'd love to have one."

Camicazi narrowed her eyes. He looked at Snotlout with disgust. 'Stuttering boy.' She internally sneered. 'He probably didn't want to tell.'

"We will now give our gifts!" Bertha boomed, getting their attention. "A crate full of things at my ship. We shall go to your harbour to get them!"

"Wait." Dagur stopped them. He pulled out something from his pocket and offered it to Snotlout. "Here. My pendant."

Dagur's pendant was made of iron with Berserker insignia on it. There was his name engraved at the bottom. Snotlout was confused to see the pendant but accepted it anyway. "Uh, thanks."

Dagur and Snotlout stared at each other. The Berserker heir seemed to be waiting for him to do something. After some time, he asked. "Well? Your pendant?"

Snotlout panicked. "M- My pendant? What pendant?"

The Berserker heir frowned at him. "Whatever. Let's just move on." He dismissed the burly boy.

Vikings began walking out from the Great Hall. They would be going to the harbour to get the Berserker, Meatheads and Bog-Burglar gift crates. The guest Vikings moved to grab the gifted boxes and went out from the place. The chiefs also carried their gifts, heading to stow them at their own ships.

Camicazi and Thuggory looked at each other, before heading out from the Great Hall. They would be wandering around Berk instead of following the others, since they did not get any gifts from anyone.

While the two heirs were walking, Thuggory decided to speak. "I want one of those dynamites."

The Bog-Burglar rolled her eyes. "Boys."


Later that day, Camicazi and Thuggory were walking around the village. The Meathead heir was enjoying the view of Vikings working. He looked a bit disappointed, most likely because he did not get any personal gifts from anyone. The Bog-Burglar heir seemed thoughtful, as if she was thinking about something.

"Maan." Thuggory groaned. "I thought they give me something nice today."

"They didn't give us anything." Camicazi muttered, frowning. "Yet, Dagur got something."

"I don't like getting… getting… uh…" The Meathead heir muttered, thinking. After some pondering, he looked at Camicazi. "What's the word again when everyone gets something, but you don't?"

"Singled out."

"Yeah!" Thuggory smiled, looking pleased with himself. "Singled out. I don't like getting singled out like that."

"It's strange that they didn't really… expect anything out of it." Camicazi muttered. She noticed that the road was empty but did not pay too much attention to it. "Did you see that snotty boy? He didn't even know about the pendant."

"Dagur doesn't care." Thuggory commented. "At least, he don't look like cared."

"Traditionally, it's a great insult for someone not to give their own pendant after getting one." The petite girl continued speaking. "I wonder what they're thinking when that… one-sided pendant exchange happened."

As the two went past the forge, they heard some noise coming out of it. Camicazi stopped the burly boy. "Wait. Did you hear that?"

The boy and girl stayed quiet. After some time, Thuggory decided to speak. "I don't hear anything."

The petite girl went to the forge. She opened the window and looked inside. There, she saw Hiccup on the ground. He was gagged and bound with ropes and cloth. "Hiccup!"

"Mmf!" Hiccup cried out. His eyes were filled with tears.

Camicazi quickly went around to the back. Thuggory followed her. They entered the forge through the back door and quickly reached for the Berkian heir. "What the Hel happened to you?"

The Bog-Burglar heir let go of the gag. Hiccup breathed in, before speaking. "Cami! Thuggory!"

The burly boy moved to help Camicazi untie the lanky boy. "Hiccup, are you okay?"

After being untied, the Berkian heir slowly sat on the ground. "I- I'm okay." He muttered, looking down at the floor. "Thanks for the help."

"Why are you tied here like this?" The petite girl asked, curious. She felt pity for the boy.

"I-" Hiccup gulped. He wiped the tears from his eyes. "I was robbed. I made my gifts for everyone, and they took them!"

Camicazi narrowed her eyes. Thuggory was confused. "Who?"

"Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut." The Berkian heir listed as he slowly stood from the ground. He looked at the two with pleading look. "Please tell me the gift giving are still happening."

Camicazi and Thuggory looked at each other, before looking back at Hiccup. "Uh… look, Hic." The Bog-Burglar heir hesitantly explained. "They came to the Great Hall and gave the gifts themselves."

The lanky boy stared at them with horror. Thuggory added in. "Dagur made a hole at the Great Hall with one of those… umm…"

"Dynamite." Hiccup softly spoke as tears began to build once again.

"Yeah!" The burly boy nodded, looking pleased with himself. "They said they got them from a trader in Northern Market."

The lanky boy let out a shuddering breath. "I should've known." He whispered as he looked away from them. Hiccup looked at the rest of the unfinished gifts. "They always took my stuff and made it their own."

Camicazi and Thuggory watched as Hiccup moved to finish the rest of the gift. The lanky boy grabbed the unfinished sword, before moving towards the grinder to sharpen it. "I guess I'll finish the rest." He spoke, not looking at the two. "Just don't put your hands to machines here if you don't want to lose them."

While Hiccup was working, Camicazi and Thuggory explored the forge. The Meathead heir was fascinated to see the things around them. He looked down to a familiar looking warhammer head, which looked rough around the edges. "Hey, that looks familiar." He spoke. "Is that for me?"

Hiccup glanced for a bit. "Yeah. It's for you."

"Wow… It's like my dad." Thuggory whispered as he stared at the metallic blue hammer head. "What is it made of?"

"Tungsten and osmium." Hiccup absentmindedly spoke.

Thuggory was confused. "Never heard of it."

"I made them." Hiccup shrugged as he inspected the sword he was working on.

The Meathead heir balked at what he just said. "Y- You made them?"

"Kind of." Hiccup spoke as he finished making the sword. The boy grabbed the holster and holstered the sword. "You don't invent metal. You found them. I found metal from another metal. I just used what I already have and try to make something new with it."

Camicazi was looking at the blueprints on the table. She looked amazed as she looked at the drawings and measurements. "You… made all the gifts." She whispered.

"I did." Hiccup spoke with a sad tone. He approached her with the holstered sword on his hand. "I worked hard on them. Your sword is the hardest one to make, since there's a lot of process to do. Here you go."

Camicazi slowly accepted the gift. She noticed that it felt extremely light. The female unsheathed her sword, revealing the weapon. The blade was a regular broadsword blade, with straight metal guard and cloth wrapped handle. The middle of the metal guard had Bog-Burglar insignia on it. It was rightfully balanced. There was barely any weight than most sword she ever used before.

"It's…" Camicazi muttered as she inspected the sword. "… beautiful."

Hiccup smiled at her. "Thanks."

"It's so light…" The woman swung the sword around, testing them. "Really balanced, too. What did you use to make them?"

"It's… what the Easterners call high carbon steel." Hiccup admitted, surprising them. "I learned how they made them. They are durable. I improvised them a bit to add some weight. It's the hardest one I've made."

"Are those dynamites?"

Hiccup and Camicazi turned around. Thuggory was pointing at a crate full of red cylinders. "It's just the tubes." The lanky boy responded. "You need the gunpowder and fuse to make dynamite."

"Gunpowder?"

"That's what the Easterners called them." Hiccup shrugged as he moved to grab something under the table. It was a dynamite. "I studied a lot. They used them to make fireworks, but I learned that you could make them explode too."

The boy offered it to Thuggory. "Here. You can keep this."

The Meathead heir received the dynamite with awe. "Thank you."

Hiccup moved to finish the warhammer. While he was working, Camicazi was smirking as she looked at him. "So, you're an alchemist?"

Hiccup paused, before replying. "I guess." He shrugged. "I just like to experiment with things and came up with these. Nobody really cared about it, so I kept everything by myself."

Thuggory slowly nodded. Suddenly, he realised something. "Those coxcombs lied to us!" He exclaimed. "They stole from you and gave them as their own!"

"Basically." Hiccup absentmindedly spoke.

"I'm going to tell the others." Thuggory started as he made move to walk out from the place.

"Wait, wait, Thuggory!" Camicazi called out, stopping him. "Think for a second! What sort of evidence do we have for it?"

"Umm…" Thuggory thought for some time. "We can use those papers. They have the plans to make them."

"Yeah, but it's not irrefutable truth. They can bluff their way there." Camicazi explained to them. "You've seen the others just buy their excuse. And besides, we can't really accuse them of theft. We're guests here!"

"There should be something that we can do." Thuggory reasoned. He did not like the fact that he could not do anything about it. "It's Hiccup! He's the heir. Those Vikings stole from him. Are we going to just let them do that?"

"Unfortunately." The Bog-Burglar grumbled as she holstered the sword. "Look, I don't like it, but we don't have other option. How can we prove that they steal from him other than-" She gestured to the blueprint papers. "-this?"

"We can always have Hiccup tell them instead." Thuggory suggested.

"Dad would never believe me." Hiccup suddenly spoke, getting their attention. The boy was holding the finished warhammer. "I don't know why, but he never does. Even if he did, he didn't care. And if he did care, they'd ambush me. Anyway, here you go."

"Thanks." Thuggory nodded as he grabbed the warhammer. It looked like his father's new gifted warhammer. "It looks great! I like it!"

"Thanks."

Camicazi softened her expression. Hiccup was one of the Vikings that had earned her respect. The boy was smart, and she respected him for enduring the shenanigans that often happened at the Isle of Berk. When they were younger, Hiccup had healed her when she had broken her ankle and helped her walk to the village healer. It was during the time when Hooligans and Meatheads visited Bog-Burglar Island for treaty signing.

They later met Thuggory, who helped them reach the village healer. The three of them had been friends and somewhat close ever since. Hiccup and Thuggory were one of the male Vikings that she was comfortable to be around with. It was refreshing to see a male that did not treat her worse simply because she was a woman.

'Come to think of it.' Camicazi thought, pondering. 'I think that was the reason why Bog-Burglars, Meatheads and Hairy Hooligans are allied to begin with. We're kind of progressive sorts.'

The burly boy holstered the warhammer on his hips. "I got something for both of you." He pulled out a book and a small box from his back pocket. "This is what I got."

Hiccup accepted the book and Camicazi accepted the small box. The lanky boy read the title. "Building Muscle by Baron the Meathead."

"It's a copy of my ancestor's book." Thuggory explained to him. "They say that book made the Meatheads big."

Hiccup smiled at the gift. He liked books, and the content seemed useful. "Thank you."

"A full set of lockpicking kit?" The Bog-Burglar heir gasped as she opened the small box. "They're made of iron! Thanks, Thuggory!"

"You're welcome."

Hiccup and Camicazi pocketed the gifts. The Bog-Burglar heir smiled as she pulled out a book and a large gold coin. "Here you go. That's a pure gold coin, by the way."

Thuggory and Hiccup accepted the gift. The Meathead heir inspected the coin. It had the Meathead insignia on it. There was a hole at the corner, meaning it was meant to be a necklace. "Wow…"

"I made them when I was learning how to make tribe seals." Camicazi explained to him. "What do you think?"

"It's… fine." Thuggory shrugged. "Most of the shapes are there. That's fine for me."

"Burglary Burglar by Big Bog Burglar." Hiccup read the title. The boy blinked. "Is that your ancestor, Cami?"

"Yup." The petite girl nodded, smirking. "It's a copy of our book! Before the Bog-Burglar came to be, there was a woman named Big Bog Burglar. She's so good at burglary, she made Bog-Burglar tribe in the middle of burglary." She paused, before continuing. "But then they found the tribe. Everyone moved to Meridian of Misery, and here we are!"

"Okay." Hiccup shrugged as he pocketed the book. "I guess that makes sense."

"Now time for the best part." Camicazi vaguely alluded. She was smirking as she reached for something in her pocket. "Are you ready?"

Hiccup thought for a moment, before realising what it was all about. "I almost forgot!"

The lanky boy took off running into his room at the back. Seconds later, he came back out holding his pendants. There were three of them. Hiccup's pendant was made of gold with Hairy Hooligan tribe insignia on it. There was his name under it as well; 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.'

Camicazi and Thuggory pulled their own pendants. Camicazi's pendant was made of silver, with Bog-Burglar tribe insignia and her name at the bottom. Thuggory had his pendant made of polished wood, and like the others, had Meathead tribe insignia and his name at the bottom. Interesting enough, Camicazi and Thuggory only carried two each.

"Alright." Hiccup started as he offered them his pendant. "Here we go."

Camicazi, Thuggory and Hiccup began trading their pendants. They gave one each of their own, signalling three-way friendship and promise. After that was done, the three of them were smiling at each other. They had done their part on the Viking tradition. It felt nice that they had done something good together.

"Wait." The lanky boy started. He had noticed something during the trade. "You're only carrying two?"

"We…" Camicazi did not know how to explain this one. "… don't really trade with Dagur."

"Why not?"

"That deranged boy is unstable." The Bog-Burglar heir bluntly explained. "He's too much into violence. I don't like him."

"I don't like him too." Thuggory grumbled. "He killed my pet sheep."

Hiccup winced. He remembered that time when Dagur made him play throwing knife. He became the Viking to stand between the targets, in which Dagur had to avoid hitting him. It was painful for him.

"Unless he changed attitude, I'm not giving my pendant to him." Camicazi crossed her arms.

"You don't give out pendants to male heirs, anyway." Hiccup pointed out. "Except us."

"Well, you're different." Camicazi admitted. "But that's beside the point. That deranged boy wronged us. You're the only one with three pendants, so I assume he haven't done anything to you."

The Berkian heir looked embarrassed. "He used to throw knives at me." He mumbled as he pocketed the pendants.

"See?" Camicazi gestured, somewhat exasperated. Then, she softened her expression. "Hiccup, you need to stand up for yourself. It doesn't matter if you're… small and thin like this, but you can't let others throw you around like that."

"That's why I give you that book." Thuggory added. He was smiling at the boy. "You know how to use it more than me. Be strong; be big! Fight back!"

"That's why I gave you that book too." The girl nodded, smiling at Hiccup. "I've heard from other Vikings that those people steal from you. You can steal your stuff back if you know how. That's why I give you that book."

Hiccup could only stare at the two heirs with awe. He let out a soft smile, feeling touched at their encouragement. "Thanks Cami, Thuggory."

"That's what friends are for." Camicazi grinned. The girl grabbed both Hiccup and Thuggory by their arms. She began pulling them towards the back door exit. "Come on! Let's eat at the Great Hall. My mom brought mainland meat for everyone to try."


Hiccup was with Camicazi and Thuggory for the rest of the day. Later that night, he went to his house and rested on his bed. While trying to sleep, the boy pondered about what happened that day.

He had met Camicazi and Thuggory again. He was glad that they helped and supported him. They had spent their time talking with each other, commenting and speaking about various kinds of tribes that existed out there. Hiccup never really went out from the village for peace treaties, so he did not know much about Viking tribes outside Barbaric Archipelago.

That reminded him of how they found him. Hiccup was somewhat embarrassed that the two had found him at that state. However, what shocked him was the fact that Astrid and the others had quite literally stolen from him at his safe place.

Over the course of the months, Hiccup had been relaxing himself. They seemed to have stopped taking things away from him, and he assumed that his father had done something about it. As a result, it came as a shock to him when they quite literally robbed him in his safe space: the forge. It was inconceivable that they dared to move in and take his things!

That made him paranoid. 'What if they come after my other things? My scrolls, books and notes?' Hiccup thought, concerned.

The boy often wrote his notes in various foreign languages, with some exceptions. It was a habit that he picked up when he was still learning multiple different languages at once. Nobody at Berk could read them, let alone reading at all, since most of them are illiterate. He knew roughly 10 different languages, and he was fluent in all of them. None of his notes were in Norse.

'Better safe than sorry.' Hiccup thought as he sat up from the bed. If those books and scrolls were ever stolen, he needed to make sure that nobody could read them. The boy was thankfully blessed with perfect memory. He would not be forgetting anything anytime soon. It could benefit him for what he was about to do.

The books were too valuable to be rid of. They were plethora of knowledge, and it would be unfair for other scholars if he simply burned them down. Burning the language books could fix the issue, but it was a temporary solution to something that needed a permanent one. Hiccup needed to think about something else.

'I can make my own cipher language.' Hiccup thought, realising something. 'Something that only I know about!'

Cipher language was something that many high-profile scholars made for themselves. It was used to secure their notes for unpublished works. Various famous scholars on mainland, west and east all had their own cipher language. It might be something that he needed to do to secure every literature that he owned.

However, it would take time for him to make one. He needed a temporary solution.

Feeling determined, Hiccup walked to the table and grabbed ten books from the corner. Those were his language books. He did not need them anymore. The boy went out from the room and walked down the stairs. He needed to get rid of it.


Stoick had just returned into the house when he saw Hiccup throwing books into the lit, burning fireplace. He was horrified. "Hiccup!"

Hiccup turned around. He had just thrown the last one. "Dad?"

The chief quickly rushed to the fireplace. He was shocked to see burned books inside it. The flame on the woods worked fast on burning the books there. "Hiccup, what were you thinking?"

"I'm making sure that they couldn't read them if they stole it."

"Read what?" Stoick asked.

"My books."

"Who wanted to steal them?" Stoick questioned.

"Astrid and the others." Hiccup looked away.

The chief grimaced. "Hiccup, they're not going to steal from you."

"But they did!" Hiccup exclaimed as he stared at him with pleading expression. "I made six gifts for the chief and heir, and they stole four of them. I was working when they came to the forge. They robbed me for my things!"

Stoick looked stunned. "… do you have proof of this?"

Hiccup rubbed his shoulder. "I have the plans on paper, but you wouldn't believe me anyway." He muttered. "Camicazi and Thuggory found me. I gave them the gifts and we traded our pendants."

As a proof, Hiccup pulled two pendants from his pocket. They were Camicazi's Bog-Burglar pendant and Thuggory's Meathead pendant. The chief was stunned to see them. He felt incredibly guilty, but at the same time, could not do anything about it. He had seen the others presented the gift as their own. It would be seen as an insult if there was an accusation of theft flying around about the gift.

At the same time, Stoick was proud of his son. He had invented those things. However, seeing what he had just done, the man was concerned that Hiccup was hoarding all that knowledge for himself. Keeping things as secret was not something that they should do in the village, unless it involved safety of others.

"And you think burning book is a good response to that?" Stoick questioned.

Hiccup pocketed the pendants. He looked nervous. "I just don't want them to read it."

Stoick let out a concerned sigh. "Hiccup." He started. "People write those books for others to read them. They write those books because they want future generations to know about what they have learned and discovered."

Hiccup did not respond. The man continued speaking. "When you become the chief, you won't have time to do any of your hobbies." He explained to the boy. "Those books and notes are invaluable for those who wanted to learn, say, your apprentice. If you burn those books, you'd have to work more to teach them what you know."

Stoick sat down next to him. The man looked at his son with soft expression. "Hiccup." He softly asked the boy. "Why did you do it?"

"I just… don't want them to know." Hiccup admitted, not looking to his father. "Everything I learned is something that's… unique about me. I just wanted to help. Everything I made was done to improve tribe relation. I just… want to be one of you guys."

"I uh… I like what you did, even when you're not the one giving them." Stoick softly spoke. He looked saddened to see him. "But that doesn't explain why you burned the books."

Hiccup stared at his father. "Knowledge is something that I have a lot." He admitted. "This is who I am. This is what makes me… me. I'm not strong like other Vikings, or like Astrid, Snotlout. I don't want them to steal what I know, because they'd say they figured it out themselves. I don't want to be useless."

"Hiccup. You are not useless." Stoick firmly spoke. He was a bit angered that his son would say such thing. "A useless wouldn't be making all those amazing things. A useless wouldn't trick me in Maces and Talons."

The man grabbed his hands as he stared at him. "A useless wouldn't be able to befriend a dragon."

Hiccup and Stoick stared at each other. The chief continued speaking. "But you did." He softly spoke. The man let out a small smile. "And I'm proud of you."

Hiccup smiled a bit. That smile faded away soon after. "I just… don't want them to take my knowledge away from me."

"Knowledge should not be the thing that made who you are." Stoick firmly spoke. He was serious on his lecture. "It should be your action. Because action speak louder than words."

The boy looked away. Stoick let out a sigh. He let go of his hands. "Gobber told me something years ago." He spoke, softly smiling at him. "He called you Hiccup the Dreamer."

Hiccup looked up to his father. Stoick continued speaking. "That's because you're smart. You like to think. You are the only Viking that like to think and imagine things. What you need, is just for you, to believe in yourself."

The chief shifted his sitting position. "When I was a boy." He started. "My father told me to bang my head against a rock. And I did it." He chuckled. "I thought he was crazy, but I did it. You know what happened?"

"No?"

"The rock split into two." Stoick simply spoke. "It taught me what Vikings could do. We can tame seas or conquer lands! But the most important lesson of all, it taught me to believe in myself."

"As a chief, I believe that I am doing my best to lead my tribe to prosperity." The chief explained to his son. "As a father, I believe you'd do great things, just like I have. But you need to do things differently."

Stoick and Hiccup stared at each other. The chief seemed to fumble a bit. "I uh… I'm telling you this because you're different since birth." He admitted. "You're a curious boy. You hardly pay attention to things that don't interest you. I remember you hunting for trolls when I took you out for fishing."

Hiccup looked embarrassed. "Gobber told me that trolls are real." He explained to his father. "I read some books and they really are real. It's just that, they live in the mainland, and nowhere in Meridian of Misery."

Stoick laughed a bit. "Look how smart you are." He softly praised his son. "You should be proud of knowing that. Be proud of everything you do up to this point. You'd be smarter than ever as you get older."

"But." The chief started, raising his hand in flat gesture. "While you are smart and know a lot of things, you don't have the wisdom to help you make your choice. You need to think about what would happen when you apply your knowledge to things around you."

Hiccup was curious. Stoick began explaining what happened at the Great Hall that day. "You're about to give Dagur those… dynamites, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did you know that Dagur blew a hole at the Great Hall?" Stoick questioned.

Hiccup widened his eyes in horror. "Thuggory told me that." He whispered, remembering that moment at the forge. "Did anyone got hurt?"

"Fortunately, no." The chief answered, staring at his son with inquisitive expression. "But you've seen what he would do with it. What he had done with it. You knew what dynamite could do. Why did you make those things for him?"

"Well…" The boy pursed his lips. "I made them because I thought it's something he wanted to have. I just wanted to impress him and the Berserkers."

"Then let this be a lesson for you." Stoick firmly spoke to him. "Dagur liked the gift, but what would he do with it? What can it be used for? Who is Dagur and why would you want him to give him that sort of gift?"

Hiccup did not have answer to any of that question. Stoick continued speaking, not expecting any answer from him. "This is where wisdom is needed." He lectured. "You need to think before you act. Can you promise me to think before you act?"

"… Okay." Hiccup nodded. "I promise I'll think before I act."

"Good." Stoick nodded. "Now, wisdom is something that you get from experience. It's okay to make mistakes, but make sure you learn from them." He paused, before continued speaking. "It's good to learn from your mistake. But it's wise if you learn them from others' mistakes. Now, I have something for you. Wait here."

Stoick stood from the floor. He walked into his room, leaving Hiccup alone by the fireplace. Few minutes later, the chief came back to the living room. He was carrying a small box filled with books. The man placed the box on the ground in front of them.

"Now." Stoick started as he sat down in front of his son. "These were journals of our ancestors. From the chief and chiefess before me, almost all of them carries journal for future generations to learn."

Hiccup moved to grab one of the journals. The one he was holding was the journal of Grimbeard the Ghastly. He had heard the name of the chief before. "Wow…"

"Read them. Learn from them." Stoick lectured the boy. "But know this; not all chief of the tribe learned from their mistakes. Few did not learn from their mistakes. I want you to learn from them, but make sure to understand when a chief didn't learn from their mistakes."

Hiccup stared at the box of books in front of him. "Thanks, dad."

"Now, why don't you carry it up and go to sleep?" Stoick softly spoke to his son.

Hiccup placed the journal back into the box. He hoisted the box on his hips, before walking up the stairs into the room. Stoick simply watched him coming up the stairs. After he disappeared around the corner, the chief let out a relieved sigh.

The man looked at the fireplace. The books had been turned into charcoal. It was a shame that those books were burned. However, it did not matter for him. It had already happened. With those thoughts, the man stood from the floor. He headed towards his room, leaving the living room empty.

Stoick's room was unusually large. His bed was around the corner, but interesting enough, there was a large flat rock on the opposite side. The centre part was charred in circular pattern, and it looked to had been there unused for a very, very long time. The room did not really have any decoration, except for some weapons hanging off the walls.

There was a table and a chair on the middle end of the room. On the table, there was a small wooden box with a latch, and several books on top of it. Stoick approached the table. The books were journals from previous Berkian chiefs before. One of the books was the journal belonging to 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock I'.

The man sat on the chair. He rested for some time and stared up to the ceiling. He seemed to be thinking about something. Tears slowly build in his eyes as he moved to look at the small wooden box on the table. He simply stared at it.

"I wish you could've seen him, Val." Stoick softly spoke to the small wooden box at the corner. "He's more of a dragon than a Viking. You'd be proud of him."

That day, Stoick cried himself to sleep. He cried as he grieved for his lost wife, as his son had reminded him so much of her. He cried for the fate of his son, and he cried for his regrets of the past.


The next day, Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory spent their time together once again. It was afternoon outside. The three of them were at a forest clearing, playing the game of Maces and Talons. The three of them were having competition on the game, and they had been doing it since early in the morning.

Hiccup and Camicazi were both sitting at the opposite side of the table. Thuggory was sitting somewhat far on Hiccup's side, observing the two playing the game. There was a charcoal pencil and a parchment on the side, showing their scores of the competition. Notably, a basket of berries was also there.

Camicazi was thinking hard. After some time, she moved her piece. "Check."

"Hmm…" Hiccup thought for some time as he observed the game board. He moved his piece to save himself from the state. After that, the two heirs went back to ponder about the next move to make.

Thuggory looked at the paper to remind himself about the score. Hiccup had the most score, with Camicazi following close. Thuggory was the last one. The Meathead heir hummed, before grabbing a berry to eat.

Suddenly, Camicazi smirked. She moved her piece. "Checkmate."

Hiccup slumped a bit. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that." He mumbled.

"Hah. You played right to my hands." Camicazi boasted. He turned to look at Thuggory, who had written down the score. "How was it?"

"Hiccup won 19 times against you. You won 11 times against Hiccup." Thuggory read the statistics. Upon seeing his own scores, the burly boy groaned. "I won five times against you, Cami. I didn't win at all against Hiccup."

"It's our 90th game of the day." Hiccup spoke as he grabbed a berry to eat. "Do you want to try again?"

Thuggory threw his hands up. "I give up. I need rest."

"I'm up for another game, but like he said – we need to rest." Camicazi agreed with her friend. She looked at Hiccup with curious look. "I don't think I've ever played with you before. You're really good at the game."

"I've been playing this since I was younger." Hiccup explained.

"We've been playing this game since we were younger too." Camicazi pointed out. "We're tribe heirs. We were taught to play this game. You're just smarter than anyone gave you credit for."

Hiccup shrugged. "I guess."

"I played them since I younger too." Thuggory complained. "But I don't win much against you two."

"That's fine." Camicazi replied, smiling. "We can teach you some moves."

"I've taught someone how to play Maces and Talons before." Hiccup added, remembering his time teaching Toothless how to play that game. "I can help you with it, if you want."

"Thanks." Thuggory responded, smiling at the two heirs. "I need to practice more."

"Since we're resting here, let's talk about what you do. What have you been doing around the village?" Camicazi questioned, staring at Hiccup.

"I like to experiment with things." Hiccup confessed to them. "There's the hang glider project that I wanted to try by the mountain. That project is almost done; I just need to give it final test. There's also the steam project, based on aeolipile, where it use steam from water to push things around. The steam project is still really, really, really, early…"

Camicazi and Thuggory listened as Hiccup began rambling about things he had been doing for the past few months. The two heirs did not know what he was talking about, but they paid attention anyway. They did not understand what was being talked about, mostly because it did not make much sense to them. They listened for the sake of their friendship. It was then they realised that Hiccup was incredibly smart, albeit somewhat eccentric on his behaviour.

"… and see if it sticks." Hiccup finished talking about his projects. After a long pause, he looked at Camicazi. "What about you? What have you been doing?"

Camicazi suddenly pulled out a stained brown underwear from her pocket. They could smell the stink from where they sat. "This morning, I stole your dad's underwear while he was still wearing it!" She exclaimed, proud of herself.

Hiccup dropped his jaw. He was speechless at what she had done, and the evidence of said action. Seeing the boy was not going to talk, Camicazi threw the underwear away and looked at the Meathead heir. "What about you? What do you do?"

"I ate a rock this morning." Thuggory answered.

Camicazi looked at him with disgust. "What are you, a Gronckle?"

"It was a really good and soft rock." The Meathead heir supplied, grinning at her. "You'll like it if you try it."

"Well, you do you, Thuggy. I'm not eating rocks." Camicazi shrugged, not wanting to dwell further into it.

Hiccup frowned as he felt like he heard something. The boy looked towards the forest path entrance into the clearing. "… I swear I heard something."

Camicazi and Thuggory turned to look at what he was looking at. "What is it?"

Not long after, several Vikings came into view. They were Dagur, Astrid, Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Fishlegs. The six of them were surprised to see them in the forest. It looked as if they had been wandering around the forest and stumbled upon them.

"What are you three doing here?" Astrid questioned.

"We're having Maces and Talons competition." Camicazi answered. She was a bit wary of the six children. "We just finished the match."

"Ah yes." Dagur hummed. He looked unusually happy. "Maces and Talons. That reminds me back at home."

"You play a lot?"

"Of course!" Dagur retorted at Astrid, offended by the suggestion. "I played a lot! I even got some Vikings to join in as the pieces!"

"You mean your opponent." Camicazi tried to correct the boy.

"That too." The Berserker heir called out. "They're not allowed to kill each other when one gets eaten."

Thuggory blinked. "You use real people for Maces and Talons?"

"Yup!" Dagur puffed up his chest. He looked incredibly proud. "I made it myself!"

Camicazi looked at the Berserker tribe with disgust. Thuggory was frowning at them. Hiccup was uncomfortable. The three heirs did not like the fact that Dagur made a live version of it, with real Vikings as the pieces. They did see the irony of that particular invention, however.

After some time, Dagur crossed his arm. "So, who won?"

"Hiccup." Camicazi smirked.

Snotlout scoffed. "The useless won?"

Thuggory and Camicazi were surprised to hear the insult. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." The Meathead tribe emphasized his name. "Won the competition. He, uh…" He grabbed the parchment on the table. "19-11 against Camicazi, 30-0 against me."

Dagur frowned when he heard the score. Snotlout was confused to hear the numbers. "What are those things?"

"Those are the scores."

The Berkian burly boy snorted. "What kind of game is Maces and Talons anyway?" He sneered.

"Umm…" Fishlegs brightened as he went to answer that question. "It's a game meant to test chief and chiefess abilities and decision-making expertise in the heat of battle."

"It should be an easy game for me!" Snotlout boasted as he puffed his chest. "I'm a real Viking! Unlike the useless over there."

"There's more about being a chief than being a 'real Viking'." Camicazi retorted. She was annoyed by his behaviour. "Seeing you just outright went for insult shows how 'real' you are."

The insult flew over his head. Snotlout scoffed. "Of course, that's all there is. That's what our chief is all about!"

"You don't even know Maces and Talons."

"Of course, I know!" Snotlout angrily exclaimed. "You just don't want me to lose!"

"Why don't you show me then." Camicazi dryly replied as she gestured to the game.

"Okay!" Snotlout stormed towards the opposing bench. "Out of the way, useless!"

Hiccup and Thuggory moved away from that side. The two heirs moved to the opposite side, but not too close to Camicazi. Dagur and the others moved to stand behind Snotlout. The Bog-Burglar heir went to rearrange the pieces. When that was done, she gestured to the board. "You're white. You go first."

Snotlout looked down at the board game. He clearly did not know how to play, but he did not want to back down. He moved a Hunter three blocks forward. "There!"

The others simply stared at that move. "Wait." Camicazi started. "You can't do that. First Hunter move must be one or two blocks away."

"Uh…" Snotlout was nervous but decided to press further. "I moved three blocks, so I say three blocks!"

"What you're doing is against the rules."

"I don't care what the rule said!"

Hiccup held back a groan. He did not like where it was going. Snotlout was stubborn when it comes to his pride. Camicazi had scratched it. The Bog-Burglar heir had temper problems, but she knew how to control that. It did not matter, however, as it meant the two would most likely be screaming for hours. The lanky boy did not like the argued topic, as he found them quailing.

And, as expected, it went exactly as what Hiccup had predicted. For the next few hours, Camicazi and Snotlout kept on playing the game. The Jorgenson junior did not back down on his premise, and instead of following the rules, he blatantly ignored them. Hiccup observed them play and noticed that the Berkian burly boy had at least made 50 illegal moves. Camicazi was obviously getting sick of it. And this was the first game!

After some time, Snotlout took the black Viking Chief piece. "Hah!" He exclaimed. "I won!"

Camicazi was exasperated. She was about to lose her patience. "You don't know how to play! You should've been disqualified on that illegal move!"

"It's just a game." Snotlout dismissed her as he cheered for himself. "Why should I bother with the rules anyway? No one is following it."

"Yeah, you go 'lout!" Ruffnut mockingly cheered for him.

"Good job." Dagur praised him. He sounded sarcastic. "I wish the game is that easy. You know, with you not following anything at all."

"Thank you!" Snotlout thanked the Berserker heir. "That's why I'm the real Viking."

Camicazi opened her mouth to retort. Hiccup suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her a bit. "Cami, can we talk?"

The Bog-Burglar heir was seething with anger. She calmed herself, before looking at the lanky boy. "Okay."

Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory stood from the bench. They walked not far from the place, leaving Snotlout cheering with the others. After getting some distance, the Bog-Burglar heir scowled. "How did you put up with that boy?!"

"Cami, that's just how Snotlout is." The Hooligan heir started, trying to calm the girl down. "I- It's like trying to play Maces and Talons with a pigeon; it knocks over the pieces, dumps on the board and flies back to its flock to claim victory. It's pointless to argue and play with him."

Camicazi was fuming, but at least she understand. That calmed her down, somewhat. The girl looked back to stare at the cheering, Berkian boy. "… alright." She whispered.

The three heirs walked back to the table. After they returned, Snotlout was smirking at them. "How's that for a real Viking?"

Camicazi did not respond. She simply glared at him.

"So." Dagur started, getting their attention. He was looking at the score parchment on the table. "You're good at the game, Hiccup?"

"I- I guess."

"Let's play then." Dagur spoke as he moved to sit on the bench. "Move."

Snotlout moved out from the bench. Hiccup sat on the opposite side. The boy moved to rearrange the pieces. While Hiccup was rearranging them, Dagur noticed that Thuggory and Camicazi were looking at him with pitied look. "What are you looking at?"

"Just wondering how you're going to play with him." Camicazi commented as she sat on the bench somewhat far from Hiccup. Thuggory sat next to her. "Are you going to throw tantrum like that snotty boy there?"

"Oi!"

Dagur laughed at her remark. "Oh, I'll be following the rules." He let out a sardonic smile. "This is competitive Maces and Talons, after all."

Hiccup finished rearranging the pieces. The boy looked at the Berserker heir. "You're white piece. You go first."

Hiccup and Dagur began playing. The others simply watched them both played the game. As they both progress through the game, Hiccup was entertained by Dagur's play style. It seemed to favour unpredictability, as it did not follow some common move pattern that he know of. It was very entertaining and challenging for Hiccup, as it meant Dagur was competent on the game.

"Checkmate." Hiccup spoke as he placed his piece.

"You're good." Dagur smirked as he slowly nodded.

"You're unpredictable." Hiccup complemented. "But it looks like your style."

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Dagur suddenly laughed aloud, making everyone jump with surprise. After that, the laughter abruptly stopped, as the Berserker heir focused back on the game. That reminded everyone why Dagur was called Dagur the Deranged.

Hiccup did not say anything. He rearranged the pieces and gestured to the board. "You're black. I'm going first."

Hiccup and Dagur began playing once more. The others moved to sit on the bench, not far from the two Maces and Talons players. There was no more interaction between them, as they quietly played the game. The second match took roughly ten minutes, with Hiccup winning the match. After that was done, Hiccup simply rearranged the pieces.

"You're white." Hiccup droned, staring at the board. "You go first."

The rest of the games went smoothly. As they progressed throughout the game, it was noticeable that Astrid, Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were losing interest in watching them. Thuggory, Camicazi and Fishlegs paid attention to it, as they wanted to study and learn their moves. Hiccup and Dagur were focused on the game, silent on their interaction.


Hours passed. The two players kept on playing until it was midnight. There were torches around the place, brought by Astrid and others. Camicazi was keeping the score, while Thuggory watched the game happening. Interesting enough, Snotlout and others had moved on to play around the field, as they had completely lost interest watching the game.

Hiccup remained stoic on his expression. Dagur, however, looked increasingly angry. That was expected. This was their 20th game, and Hiccup kept on winning. Internally, Hiccup was disappointed. Dagur was a decent challenge like Camicazi on the first few games. However, after losing several games against him, his judgement was clouded with anger. That made him predictable and easy to deal with.

After some silence, Hiccup moved his piece as he spoke. "Checkmate."

Dagur finally snapped. "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" He roared, surprising everyone. "You won 19 times! Nobody wins 19 times against me! You cheated!"

"How can I be cheating?" Hiccup asked, surprised by the accusation. "You watched all my moves. I even kept track of my time."

Dagur gritted his teeth. He moved to rearrange the pieces. "Hobgobbing… yak-dung… fifi… vamr…" He muttered angry insults as he rearranged the pieces. After he finished rearranging them, he simply glared at the opponent. "You first!"

Hiccup and Dagur played once more. It would be their 21st game. This time, however, it did not take too long to end. Five minutes after starting, the game ends with Hiccup winning. "Checkmate."

"Graah!" Dagur screamed as he slammed his hands on the table. The pieces rattled under the impact. He grabbed the table and threw them aside. Everything went flying as the table was flipped upside down. "AAAH!"

"What the-"

"What are you-"

Dagur stood from the bench and screamed at Hiccup. "AAAA!" He roared, angry. He turned around and kicked the chair, which toppled under the violence. He pulled out his sword and began smashing it with his sword. "Son of a troll, cheating, fishbone… AAAA!"

Everyone simply watched as Dagur rampantly destroyed the chair. Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory had evacuated away from the place, standing somewhat far from him. Astrid and the others looked hesitant as they watched him rage. They could simply watch as the Berserker heir vented his anger onto the chair under him.

After some time, Dagur finally stopped smashing the chair. He was angry and exhausted. The violent boy moved and glared at the lanky boy. "Stupid game!" He shouted at him. "This is all your fault!"

"What did I ever do to you?"

"You're not playing my game!" Dagur shouted.

"What game?"

The Berserker heir suddenly grinned. "Dragon hunting game!"

Hiccup took a step back. It was the game that he named when he wanted to play throwing knife with him. He would have to keep on running away from him while he went hunting for him. He did not want to go through that experience.

"What is that game?" Thuggory asked.

"Hiccup be the dragon, while I'm the hunter!" Dagur boasted. He relished at their reared expression. "Why not all three of you be the dragon!"

"Ooh, hunting." Tuffnut rubbed his hands. "Can we join?"

The Berserker looked back. He smirked upon seeing six children behind him. "Sure! You'll be the hunter!"

"You dare to hunt us in someone else's tribe land?" Camicazi challenged, angry at the insinuation.

Thuggory took a step forward. He was angry. "I will not stand for this!"

Dagur frowned a bit. Then, he let out a smirk. "Let me change your mind then." He pulled out a dynamite from his pocket. The boy bent to light the fuse with a lit torch on the ground. The fuse sizzled with fire. He quickly threw the dynamite towards three of them, too enraged to think about anything else.

Hiccup realised that it was the thing he was supposed to give to Dagur. He realised the significance of what his father had told him. Deciding on what to do, the lanky boy pushed Thuggory aside and moved forward. He went on a stance and round kicked the dynamite away from them. It flew back to where it came from, but before it reached Dagur, it exploded, sending seven of them off their feet.

BOOM!

Everyone covered themselves at the deafening explosion. After it died down, Camicazi cheered for the Hooligan heir. "Yeah! You show them!"

Hiccup moved to grab both Camicazi and Thuggory by their hands. "Come on! Let's go!"

Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory ran into the forest. Dagur, Astrid, Snotlout and the others slowly recovered from the explosion. Nobody was injured, but they were somewhat disoriented from the explosion. It took the Berserker heir to realise what had happened. "AFTER THEM!"


Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory were running for their lives into the forest. They were following Hiccup, who knew his way around the forest. If they looked back, they could see some lights there. Those were definitely Dagur and the others. "Hiccup, where are we going?"

The lanky boy looked ahead. "I know that cave. We'll lose them there."

The three of them moved to enter the cave. Just as they did, they slowed themselves down, making sure that they did not lose each other around the place. They held their hands together since it was incredibly dark inside. The lanky boy picked the branching path left and right, with Camicazi and Thuggory following him behind. There were time when they climbed up during their jog. They heard familiar shout and yell coming from behind, meaning that they were still being pursued.

After some time, Hiccup slowed down. The sound from before were fading away, meaning that they were far enough from the others. The lanky boy looked back, feeling relieved to have gotten away from them. "Phew. We're safe."

"Hiccup, I can't see anything." Thuggory complained.

"I can barely make things out." Camicazi retorted.

"I can see just fine." Hiccup spoke, confused.

"Well, not everyone here have good eyesight as you." The Bog-Burglar heir responded as she looked around. "… do you know the way out?"

"There is only one way in and out, which is where we came from." Hiccup answered, staring at her. "But there is another way. This one is more exciting! Come on, I'll show you!"


"Whoa…" Camicazi and Thuggory breathed out.

The three of them came out of the cave. However, instead of coming out on the ground, they arrived at the very top of the mountain. The place was cold, and the wind was blowing hard. However, the sight was very beautiful. It had a complete view of the Isle of Berk. They could see the village from there, as well as the harbour. The night sky also held its beauty, as the moon and stars shined them from above.

Camicazi walked to the edge of the place. Everything around them was extremely steep. They were on top of a cliff. "No way we're going down there. Unless you can fly."

"That's exactly what this is for."

Camicazi and Thuggory looked to the side. Hiccup was standing next to a contraption. It was a set of wooden tubes connected with each other. It had a large leather cloth being held on the top, which was the shape of a triangle. Behind the triangular leather cloth, there was something that seemed to resemble a tail. There were several strings connected to it that held them in place.

"Ta-da." Hiccup presented it to them. "The hang glider!"

The two heirs approached the contraption. "Umm…" Camicazi started, inspecting the hang glider. "You can fly with this?"

"Not really flying. More like… gliding." Hiccup corrected her as he moved the hang glider to the edge of the mountain clearing. "I made this after seeing how dragons fly. This uses the same concept."

"Is it safe?"

"Nope!" Hiccup happily stated, making them nervous. "I'm still working on the landing part, but it can fly just fine. We can get down from here with this."

"Alright." Camicazi shrugged, eyeing the contraption with interest. "So, how do we do this?"


Several minutes later, Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory were strapped onto the hang glider. The three of them were held by a large leather strap. The wind was blowing hard, and the contraption was held by a rope. "Ready?"

"Let's go!" Camicazi exclaimed.

Hiccup untied the rope. Slowly, the hang glider began to move. Few seconds later, it instantly shot off into the sky. the harsh wind immediately pushed them flying into the sky.

"WOO!" The three passengers shouted with joy. It was a great feeling for them to fly. For Camicazi and Thuggory, it felt exhilarating and liberating. It was their first time to fly. Hiccup, however, was much more used to flying. The boy was controlling the hang glider, making sure that they did not crash to the ground.

They flew somewhat high and circled around Berk. They could see the harbour from there. "Look! That's my ship!" Camicazi exclaimed as she pointed at one of the ships at the docks.

Thuggory grinned. He pointed at a different ship. "That's my ship!"

Hiccup noticed that the giant torches were lit and hoisted, which was unusual. There was no dragon raid. He did not pay too much attention to it as he looked at the two other passengers. "What do you think?"

"Hiccup, this is amazing!" Camicazi shouted. "YAAAAA!"

Thuggory decided to shout as well. "YAAAAAAA!"

"AAAAAA!"

"AAAAAA!"

"AAAAAAAAA!" Thuggory and Camicazi shouted together, before falling into fits of laughter together. "Hahahah!"

"I'm happy you enjoyed this." Hiccup absentmindedly spoke as he searched for a place to land. He lowered the hang glider as he searched for it.

"This is amazing!" Camicazi shouted as he looked at the pilot next to her. "This is the best thing ever!"

"We're flying! We're flying!" Thuggory shouted into the air.

Suddenly, something flew past them. It came from the ground. "Whoa!"

Another thing flew past them. This time, it hit the tail. Hiccup and the others simply stared in horror as the tail was snapped away from the contraption. "Uh-oh."

The hang glider began flying down. Hiccup was quick to control the flight. "Hang on!"

The contraption went through Berk. While the absence of tail prevented it from controlling the pitch, Hiccup could still turn with it. The pilot steered through the houses, dodging around the obstacles on the way. However, as great as the attempt, it was expected to crash. Hiccup saw a pair of pillars on the way. It came from the giant torches, and they did not have enough space to squeeze through. "Hang on!"

CREAK!

The pillars abruptly stopped the hang glider. "OOF!" the three passengers grunted as physics pushed them forward. They were still in place, thankfully. The wings had stuck itself together between the two pillars.

After it stopped, everyone was silent. After some time, Camicazi decided to speak. "That was AWESOME!"

"Yeah!" Thuggory shouted. He had a large grin on his face.

The Bog-Burglar heir turned to look at Hiccup. "Can we do that again? Please, please, please?"

"HICCUP!"

The three heirs looked down to the ground. They were still hanging on the hang glider. Thankfully, they were not that far from the ground. There were Vikings down there, including their parents. Stoick looked angry, while Bertha and Mogadon could only watch with amazement. Oswald was also there, watching them with awe and wonder.

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted. "Get down from there!"

"That's our cue." Hiccup let out a sigh. He looked at Thuggory. "Just press that to release yourself."

"This one?" Thuggory spoke as he pressed the button.

CLICK!

The strap immediately let go of him. Thuggory fell from the hanging glider. Thankfully, the height was not that high. He gracefully landed on the ground. Hiccup and Camicazi soon followed, as they landed next to the Meathead heir.

After recovery, Hiccup greeted his father. "Hi dad."

"Mom!" Camicazi rushed towards Bertha.

"Cami, we thought it was a dragon!" The Bog-Burglar chief exclaimed. She noticed that Thuggory was talking to his father. Stoick was rushing to his own son. The large female leaned down to his daughter. "What is that thing?"

"Hiccup called it hang glider!" Camicazi excitedly whispered. The girl was still in a rush. "We flew around the place! It was amazing!"

"IT'S DANGEROUS!"

The others turned to look at Stoick and Hiccup. The boy was looking away from his father, embarrassed. The chief looked angry at his son. "What if you're injured? What if they get injured?"

"Chief Stoick!" Camicazi quickly rushed to Hiccup's side. She looked up to the chief. "It's not his fault."

Thuggory moved to their side. "Y- Yeah!" He exclaimed. "Dagur did it."

That confused everyone. "What?"

"We were running away from Dagur, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut." Camicazi listed off, defending Hiccup. "Dagur used the dynamite against us. We had to run because they were hunting us with weapons."

"We ran into a cave to lost them there." Thuggory added, continuing where Camicazi left off. "We came out on top of the mountain. Hiccup have the… umm…" he leaned to Hiccup and whispered. "What was the name again?"

"Hang glider."

"Hang glider! Yeah!" Thuggory exclaimed, looking pleased with himself. "He have them there."

The Berkian chief looked at Hiccup. "Why do you have your contraption on top of the mountain?" He questioned.

"It's my experiment." Hiccup admitted as he rubbed his arm. He looked at his father. "I just… want to know what it felt like to fly."

Stoick softened his expression. "Hiccup." He softly spoke. "Vikings don't fly. Now get back home. I have your mess to clean up."

Hiccup began walking towards Haddock house. He looked dejected. The boy looked back to see his two friends, before focusing on the path in front of him.


The next day, it was time for the Bog-Burglars and Meatheads to leave. It was early in the morning. The Bog-Burglars and Meatheads were still at the harbour, while the Berserkers had sailed away from the island. Oswald insisted that they were to depart as fast as possible, most likely out of embarrassment. Dagur did tried to kill the other heirs with his antics.

While Vikings were busy dealing with the ships, Stoick, Bertha and Mogadon were talking with each other. Camicazi and Thuggory were also there. "Sorry for yesterday. I know he like to experiment, but I didn't know my son have anything like that."

"You have a genius of a son!" Bertha boomed her voice. "To think, you can make yourself fly with that thing."

"My son spoke highly of him." Mogadon rumbled. He was smiling at the Berkian chief. "Don't be so hard on your son. He'd be a great chief one day."

"Or an inventor! Hahah!" Bertha laughed as she elbowed the Meathead chief next to her.

Stoick looked hesitated. The other chiefs noticed this but did not comment on it. It did ruin the mood, however, as they did not know what he was thinking about. After some time, the Berkian chief responded. "Aye."

It was then Camicazi noticed that Hiccup was nowhere around. "Where's Hiccup?"

The Berkian chief grimaced. "He's… still asleep in his room." He answered the question. "I'll say your goodbyes to him."

The heirs and their parents looked at each other, before looking back at the chief. "Alright, Stoick." Mogadon shrugged, not really concerned about it. "Treaties are all signed and well. Hopefully, we can find the trader that sold those red things that explodes."

"They called it Dynamite." Bertha grumbled. She seemed to be thinking about it. "I wanted to know more about it!"

"If the others know or remember who or where they bought them, I will let you know of this." Stoick spoke to the two chiefs. He did not look pleased at their statement.

"Of course." Bertha smiled brightly at the Berkian chief in front of them. "I'd like to know the inventor! Maybe introduce them to your son, Stoick."

"Yes." Stoick softly spoke as he stroked his beard. "Of course, I will…"


Inside his room, Hiccup was experimenting. This time, however, he was experimenting with various chemicals on the table. There were several glass beakers, flasks and tubes on the table, filled with colourful liquids. There was an open lantern that was used to heat fluid inside a flask. At the centre, there was the book that Thuggory had given him; 'Building Muscle by Baron the Meathead'.

After the boy woke up, he was distressed at the fact that his father had yelled at him in public. It was embarrassing for him that he had yelled at him in front of the allied chiefs and heirs. Hiccup had tried his best to survive, and yet, he was yelled at for doing so.

In order to distract himself, he went off to read the books that Camicazi and Thuggory had given him. The book about thievery was interesting. He would definitely practice that skill from the book. However, it was the ones that Thuggory had given him that truly interested him. Other than work out routines, it contained information on how to handle an anomaly in their tribe. It had information on how to handle lanky boys like him.

The information was slipped in between the pages, written on a parchment. It was a recipe to make thin boys like him big and strong. It looked like something that was written for him, especially considering that there was a note at the bottom, specifically telling him to do it. It noted that nobody managed to work out what the recipe really meant, but they had used them a long time ago. Thuggory hoped it might be useful for him.

The recipe made no sense to ordinary people, but Hiccup understood them. It was written in scientific languages in Norse, which he understood, after reading so many books about them. It was an alchemy recipe for Elixir of Power. After realising what it was, he immediately went to work on it. He would make them in a large batch for himself.

'Never again.' Hiccup thought as he worked on the alchemy in front of him. 'I'm not going to be thrown around ever again.'

The thought of Astrid and others angered him. They dared to steal his things and claimed them as their own. He did not want it to happen again. He wanted to fight back. The potion might be the thing that he needed to have. It would be something he would use against those that wronged him.

The lanky boy read the next recipe. 'Biological component of someone you truly care about. The closer, the better.' He read. The boy pondered. 'It could be anything, even hairs. But what do I truly care about?'

After some pondering, he realised what it could be. The boy walked to the wardrobe and began rummaging for his used clothes. 'There must be one here… aha!'

Hiccup held up a small, black scale. It was Toothless' scale that had somehow lodged itself on his clothes. Finding random scales from Toothless was something that happened sometimes whenever he was hugging her. He would forget about it, only to find them later when he was doing his laundry.

He did not have anyone to care about other than Toothless. She was the only one he had. Deciding that was it, he moved back to the table and dropped the black dragon scale into the heated flask.

Hiccup watched as the scales dissolved into the fluid. It suddenly stirred itself, before turning the fluid into pitch black colour. It seemed to be absorbing the light around it. The boy looked down to the recipe, making sure that he did not do anything wrong. '… they say it should be blue. But… why does it glow like that?'

The boy scratched his head. It was the final step of the recipe. He sniffed the heated flask. 'It smells stable. Maybe I am doing it right…'

Hiccup shrugged. 'Oh well.' He thought as he grabbed the flask. The boy moved to drink the warm fluid, before placing it on the table. It tasted a bit sour, but he downed them all anyway.

The boy waited for some time. He sat on the bed, waiting for anything to happen. He checked his own body and found nothing out of ordinary. After a few minutes, he moved to continue reading Camicazi's book. The boy lay down on the bed as he waited for something to happen.

Roughly three hours later, still nothing happened. Hiccup had almost forgotten about it. The boy stood from the bed. 'Maybe it's something progressive. Like a supplement.' He thought. 'That's fine. Nothing is instant. I'll just have to drink it every day.'

With that thought, Hiccup placed the book aside and went out from the house. He wanted to get something to eat for himself before continuing his studies.


"Toothless, I'm here."

Toothless turned around. She was standing inside her cave, pacing around the place. Charcoal had entered her nest. "Oh, finally! I thought you'd never come!"

"It's not like you wouldn't know where I went off to." Charcoal mumbled as he approached her. "Anyway, what's up?"

The dragoness moved forward and pushed herself against him. "Hrr…" She purred. "Amber left yesterday. I'm feeling lonely."

"I'm glad I came here then."

"Couldn't a dragoness ask for her mate to be home?" Toothless purred as she pushed her head onto his lower neck.

Charcoal sat on his hindlegs. "I'll be here with you as long as I can." He whispered down to her ears. "How are you doing, love?"

"I'm doing fine." Toothless whispered back as she rested on him. The dragoness was heavily leaning against the male dragon. "Hrr…" She purred. "… you're stronger than I remember."

"I wouldn't be in Dragon Rebellion if I'm not strong." Charcoal replied as he rested his head against hers.

It was then Toothless noticed something. Charcoal was slightly bigger than before. His scales did not squish as much when she pressed them, meaning that he was more compacted than usual. "Did you just get another growth sprout?"

Charcoal was confused. "What do you mean?"

Toothless rolled her eyes. It did not matter anyway. "Whatever. Anyway, I have something in mind." She moved away and stood in front of him. "Do you want to play some human games?"

The male dragon looked interested. His tail swayed from side to side. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking…" Toothless tilted her head. "Maces and Talons. That's one game I know a lot."

"Okay." Charcoal nodded. "Sounds good. Where's the board and pieces?"

"I know a place that have them." The dragon sorceress spoke as she moved towards the cave entrance. "You're coming?"

"Lead the way."


It was night-time outside. Charcoal and Toothless were flying towards the Isle of Berk. They could see the village there. The dragoness led them somewhat far into the forest. They both slowed down as they reached a clearing. "Here we are!"

Charcoal looked at the place. There was a flipped table, broken chair bench and a scorch mark in the middle. The male dragon blinked as he felt déjà vu around the area. He felt like he had been there before. It was something he could not recall, no matter how hard he tried. "So, this is the place?"

"Yes." Toothless nodded as she looked around. "It's just… uh…" Her eyes widened upon seeing the broken table. "… what happened here?"

The two dragons approached the bench. Toothless moved down to sniff the area. "Oh no!" She cried out as she began sniffing for scents around the place. "Skies above, please let him be alive."

Charcoal was confused. "What's wrong?"

"I smelled my Precious Thing here." The dragon sorceress explained. She was still looking for the scent. "This is where we played our games together. There's 8 other humans here, but… what happened?"

"Hmm…" The male dragon walked towards the scorched grass. He looked down to see a small, red torn paper. Charcoal frowned as he tried to remember what it was. He felt like he had seen it somewhere before. "… I think I've seen this one before?"

"What did you know?"

Charcoal jumped as Toothless suddenly appeared right next to him. Her eyes narrowed as she sniffed the paper. "What is this? Wood? It smells like sulphur."

"It might have come from a… dynamite." Charcoal recalled.

Toothless was confused. "Dynamite?"

"It's something that humans made to make things explode." The male dragon explained to her.

"Humans can make something like that?" The dragoness questioned, curious.

"The evidence is here." Charcoal spoke as he looked around. He knew what happened there, but for some reason, he did not know how he knew. It felt like something he was supposed to know, yet he did not.

"Well…" Toothless sat on her hindlegs. "Can you guess what happened here?"

"If I were to guess…" Charcoal frowned as he slowly walked around the place. "Your Precious Thing was playing with eight… humans of his age. But then, one of them must've snapped and attacked the chair, and then flipped the table."

Toothless stayed silent. The male dragon continued speaking. "Your Precious Thing's opponent was the one that threw the dynamite." He spoke as he pointed at the rough direction where they might stand. "To your Precious Thing and two other humans. However, it was thrown back and exploded in the middle."

"… okay." Toothless finally spoke. She was staring at him with strange expression. "How did you know they're the same age?"

Charcoal frowned as he tilted his head, pondering. He did not have any answer to that question. '… Yeah.' He thought, pondering. 'How did I know…?'

The dragoness shook her head. She stood from the ground. "I'm going to track down my Precious Thing. You're coming?"

"… okay." The male dragon replied, still in thought. He reminded himself that he was still dreaming, but he felt like something obvious was missing.

The two dragons took off into the air. Charcoal was following Toothless tracking her Precious Thing. The male dragon simply followed her, as he was a bit focused on his thought. 'What is wrong with me?' he thought. 'Why can't I remember?'

Suddenly, Toothless spoke, getting his attention. "His scent ends at the village."

"Alright. He's safe, then." Charcoal absentmindedly spoke.

"Let's just… fly away." The dragoness replied. She looked somewhat embarrassed, most likely for worrying too much. "I don't want to think about it."

Charcoal and Toothless turned around, heading back towards their nest. The island was getting distant. The male dragon pondered for some time, before speaking up. "Let's fly higher."

"Sure."

The two dragons flew up higher into the sky. They went above the clouds and kept on flying up. After reaching the intended altitude, they levelled and went back cruising towards their nest. They were extremely high up in the sky, where they could clearly see the bright stars and moon above. Toothless noticed that Charcoal seemed thoughtful.

"What's in your mind?" Toothless questioned, curious.

"I'm testing a Program to measure my altitude." Charcoal responded. "it's an altitude meter."

"Oh?" Toothless tilted her head. She flew somewhat closer to him. "How does it work?"

"It works by checking the air pressure around my scales." The male dragon spoke as he focused on their flight. "My mind apparently kept track of it. Using a Program to calculate that to height, I can know how high we are."

"Like our avionic Programs?"

That referred to Programs that track time and location. Charcoal nodded. "Yup."

"That's great!" The dragoness smiled. She was happy that Charcoal could at least apply human knowledge into mind arts. "How high are we?"

"We are roughly… 5km above the sea." Charcoal answered.

That confused Toothless. "What does that mean?"

"That means, we are flying higher than most dragons could fly." The male dragon explained to her. "With the same mechanic, I can also calculate how fast we're flying. We are flying at roughly 300km per hour, which is also faster than most dragons at this altitude."

"Your numbers made no sense to me." Toothless decided, before thinking of the benefits. "I could see how it can be useful. Dragons have height ceiling, and they simply couldn't fly higher than that. If you can get the numbers, you can use it to your advantage."

"Well." Charcoal thought for a moment. "For your information, the highest I've flown is roughly 20km high. At that point, my wings doesn't let me go higher, and I had to breathe my own gas. I even had to resort on my lightning to get even higher."

"Lightning… huh." Toothless pondered.

"Yeah." Charcoal nodded. "Wanna see?"

"Sure."

Charcoal briefly arced with blue lightning. The dragon simply kept his wings spread open. His base tail fin suddenly started producing small cloud trails. Toothless stared at it, not knowing what to make of it. "So… you're just making a trail behind you."

"I'm using my charge to get more air to flow around my scales." The male dragon explained to her. "Air goes in from the front, compress them with my charge and combust them on my rear. It generates thrust."

"I think you spent way too much time on learning about humans." Toothless commented.

"You wouldn't know much about magic if I didn't." Charcoal pointed out.

"Good point…"

"Now…" Charcoal moved to fly right on top of her. "There's something I wanted to try."

The dragoness looked up. "Oh?"

Charcoal looked down at her eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Toothless spoke without hesitation.

"Good." Charcoal moved to grab her with his paws. He pulled her closer onto him, until their wings were overlapping each other. The male dragon locked her together through her legs from the back. After that was done, he pushed his mind into hers.

Toothless internally gasped at his presence inside her mind. She allowed him to connect with her mind. Charcoal synchronised their flights together, as they both pressed their limbs together. After it was done, the male dragon pushed more of his charge into his scales. They slowly moved faster as vapor appeared around them. Charcoal directed them to climb in altitude.

At some point, they lost the ability to hear anything. Toothless realised that they had passed their nest due to how fast they were going. "Charcoal, that's our nest down there!"

"I know."

"Where are we going?"

Both Charcoal and Toothless suddenly pulled up, heading straight into the sky. "Higher."

It was just like what Charcoal had told her. They went up higher. Toothless widened her eyes as she felt lighter. The two dragons kept on moving to the sky. The feeling of freedom from flight was gone from her after she reached fledgling age. She had gotten used to her flight. However, that feeling were brought back due to how high they were flying.

Toothless briefly looked around. She could see the curve on the surface. She had never gotten this high before, and they were not even flapping their wings!

"Charcoal!" Toothless mentally shouted to him. "This is amazing!"

After some time, they slowed down on their climb. The two were stalling. Charcoal pulled his mind back and turned her around. Toothless yelped as she turned to face him. For some reason, her wings could not generate lift, which made her panic and grasp on his scales. She could not breathe normally, which led her to breathe her own oxygen gas. It was then she realised that she was far above her height limit.

"Charcoal!" Toothless screamed. This was her first time that she was afraid of height. She noticed that they were simply hovering there. "I can't believe I'm saying this. We're too high!"

Charcoal moved to pull her into a hug. "Why do you think we're this high, Toothless?" He whispered into her ears.

Toothless hitched her breath. She slowly moved her head to look into his eyes. The two dragons stared at each other. The forest green eyes met the green acidic one. She recognised that look. It was desire. "How high are we?"

"We are hovering at 20km altitude." Charcoal purred as he wrapped his head around her neck. "We have height ceiling of 10km, but with my charges, I can go even higher."

"Can you teach me this?" Toothless requested.

"Depends." The male dragon whispered. He was caressing her wings. "What do you want to do this high up?"

The dragoness pondered for some time. She noticed that the air around his base tail fin and wings seemed to flow. She recognised the lights curving around the end of said limbs. "Well, I'm at your mercy at this height."

"Hrrmm…" Charcoal purred as he began biting her nubs with his gums.

"Charcoal!" Toothless gasped. "Are we actually doing this now?"

"Isn't this what most fast dragons like to do?" Charcoal asked, confused. "Making love in the sky?"

"N- Not at this height." Toothless nervously spoke.

"They say the higher we go, the stronger our hatchling gets." Charcoal purred. He advanced to her by wrapping his paws all the way to her back. "Don't you want that?"

Toothless let out a sigh. Her fear and panic dissipating. "… I'd love to have hatchlings together." She admitted. "It's just that, I never fly this high."

"Then get used to it. We'll be doing this a lot." Charcoal whispered. "When we have our own hatchling, I'll teach him to become the fastest and highest flier in the entire world."

Toothless let out a mirthful chuckle. "Our hatchling would fly higher than us."

"Maybe they'd reach the world beyond the skies." Charcoal ominously whispered. He was staring up into the black, starry sky. "Feeling the true freedom that we unknowingly depraved from, even with our flight. Away from worries, fears, anxiety, apprehension…"

"Away from this war…" Toothless mumbled as she realised what Charcoal was ranting about. The male dragon was speaking of his own desire. He wanted their hatchling capable of doing what they could not.

"Away from this world." Charcoal finished, still staring up in the sky. "Away from everything."

The two dragons fell silent. Toothless wondered what Charcoal was thinking. The male dragon looked deep in thought. The dragoness wondered if it what Charcoal truly desired; to be away from everything. She pondered if she could suggest him to move to Hidden World together with her, away from the war entirely.

'He'll say no.' Toothless glumly thought. 'I wish the war could just be over.'

After some time, Charcoal decided to speak. "That's what I want from our hatchlings."

Toothless was confused. "What?"

Charcoal rolled his eyes. "Nothing." He decided. "I just… wished upon the skies for something."

"The skies probably heard you since we're so high up." Toothless humorously joked.

"Good." Charcoal whispered as he wrapped himself tighter around her. Toothless gasped at the gesture. "Then let the skies witness our love together."

Toothless squirmed under his held. The two dragons closed their eyes and began the ritual together as life mates. It would not be long for Toothless to forget all her worries, as she felt the love and pleasure of their own doing.


Several days later, the Bog-Burglars and Meatheads decided to dock at a known empty island. It was time for them to rest. They had decided to stay together on their ships, since they there sailing at a rather dangerous sea. The part of the ocean had pirates, and it was troublesome for sailors to swim through them.

The Vikings jumped off from the ships to the shore. Camicazi jumped down and jogged towards the dry land. The girl walked towards the familiar burly boy. Upon reaching him, Camicazi began talking with Thuggory.

While they were talking, Bertha and Mogadon were standing somewhat far from them. Their Vikings were busy doing their tasks, while the two chiefs coordinated their work. While watching them, Bertha decided to speak. "I always wondered if Stoick was hiding something."

Mogadon glanced at the chiefess. "… aye." He grunted. He glanced down at the gifted hammer on his hips. "Strange metal, exploding things…"

The large female stretched her body. "Ah…" She groaned as she popped her joints. "We'll know eventually. He liked not telling others about what he plan to do."

"That reminds me…" Mogadon muttered as he looked at the two heirs. "They didn't get any gifts."

"Maybe." Bertha shrugged. "I saw her carrying that sword. She probably stole them from the village."

"I haven't seen Thuggory's pendant anywhere. I want to know…" The Meathead chief muttered as he walked towards the two children. Bertha paused, before moving to follow him.

Camicazi and Thuggory stopped talking upon seeing their parents. The two quickly looked at them. "Dad."

"Thuggory. Camicazi." Mogadon grumbled, staring down at them both. "Did any of you get any gifts?"

The two children looked at each other, before looking back at their parents. "Yes." They both responded.

"From whom?"

"Hiccup." Camicazi answered.

Bertha and Mogadon were not surprised. "Did you trade your pendant with him?"

Camicazi and Thuggory pulled out Hiccup's pendants from their pocket. The two chiefs nodded approvingly. "Good!" Bertha boomed her voice. "At least they have the gifts."

Thuggory realised something. It was his chance to speak. "Dad." He spoke, staring at his father. "Your warhammer – Hiccup made it."

The chief and chiefess blinked. "Hiccup?"

"Yeah." Thuggory nodded as he pulled out his gifted warhammer. It looked identical to Mogadon's new hammer. "He made mine too."

Mogadon pulled out his gifted warhammer. The two moved the warhammers close to each other. The metal looked identical. "So, he did…"

"If Hiccup made them, why did those worms give them to us instead of him?" Bertha questioned. Casually insulting someone seemed habitual of her.

"That's because they stole them from Hiccup." Camicazi informed, surprising the two chiefs.

"Stolen?"

"Yeah." Camicazi nodded as she recalled her experience. "We found about it when we found Hiccup gagged at the forge. He made six gifts for us: chief and heir. Four were ready, but two was in the works when they took them. The others stole the finished ones and gave them to us."

"And one of them even claimed that they made it himself." Mogadon whispered as he stroked his beard. "It made sense why they couldn't answer. They stole them."

Bertha frowned. "Five against one. How cheap!" She declared to them. "Real Bog-Burglar would steal everything with just one woman!"

"They're not Bog-Burglars."

"I know!" Bertha retorted to her daughter. The large female pondered for some time. "But I wonder… does Stoick knew about this?"

"Hiccup said that his father never believed him." Thuggory answered.

Mogadon snorted. "He's too prideful to even defend his own son." He commented.

"Hiccup must be very smart if he made all our gifts." Bertha pointed out. She seemed deep in thought. "That… boy will go far. It's a shame that he's male. If he were a female, I would invite him to join my tribe."

"I can imagine how he was treated." Mogadon commented as he looked up to the sky, thinking about Hiccup. "To steal from the heir of the village. To gag him at the forge. It was the worst dare and offense."

"They said Stoick never believed him." The bog-Burglar chiefess rumbled under her breath. "It means that this had happened before, and nothing was done to it. Either they did well covering their tracks, or Stoick did not know how to raise his own son."

"Dad." Thuggory spoke, getting their attention. "I want to help Hiccup."

Bertha and Mogadon looked at each other, before looking back to him. "Thuggory." The Meathead chief started. "There is nothing we can do, because Hiccup is not our responsibility."

"Unless Hiccup was disowned, he is Stoick's responsibility. We cannot do anything." Bertha added. That saddened the two heirs.

"You can always talk to him through mail." Mogadon suggested. "Give him something to help himself. Maybe talking with someone he care about is something he need."

"We'll pay Trader Johann for your mails." Bertha declared, getting their attention.

"T- Thanks, mom!" Camicazi exclaimed.

"Now." Mogadon started, getting their attention. "Why don't you tell us what you did at the village?"

Camicazi and Thuggory smiled. The two looked at their parents and began telling their tales. They might not be able to do anything about Hiccup's condition, but they could at least provide comfort of someone to talk to.


Author Notes

Is pendant exchange a real Viking tradition?
No. At least, I don't think so. I made it up to drive the plot.

What is the religion of dragons?
Moon, Stars and Sky. Three separate religions, but most associated them with each other. Dragons outside Meridian of Misery have their own set of beliefs.

Sky is the popular religion in Meridian of Misery. They have Scripture of Skies as their form of 'bible'. More of this will be covered in future books.

Hiccup knew about modern minerals?
You'd be surprised how old some inventions are. Some technology in modern era is just reinventing what was already discovered in the past. In this scenario, Hiccup had read a lot of books taken from many different places. He had experimented with them as well. It would not be surprising if he 'discovered' some of them.

For example, Hero of Alexandria made the aeolipile – the first steam powered device. That was during the first century CE. That information was most likely archived in ancient libraries around the world. That's how Hiccup got a hold of it.

The name of the mineral is kept as is, mostly because I don't want to reinvent the wheel. Fictional mineral would be added when needed, but if it's based on real life minerals, it's probably best to just give them the same name.

Are the chiefs and heirs canon?
As canon as possible. For Oswald the Agreeable, I took them from the concept art in wiki. The heirs are also similar. However, for Camicazi, I had to adjust some of her appearance, since she was canonically equivalent to Astrid Hofferson in franchise.

To some people, Thuggory was like an equivalent to Snotlout. However, I felt like his character is more like Eret. Somewhat arrogant, but soft and loyal underneath. At least, that's how I see them.

The characters are obviously somewhat OOC for adaptation. I'm still working on this one. Considering this story have book and franchise mixed in, expect some outright heretic adaptation when you see Alvin and the Outcasts in the next few books.

I also tried to adapt the ridiculousness of the books, like how Big-Boobied Bertha was said to have killed someone with her massive breasts. Or how the Bog-Burglar tribe was founded in the middle of a burglary. Some of them are canon, some of them are not. I look forward to writing more about ridiculous sounding stories about them.

Any trivia?
Originally, Charcoal and Toothless was meant to raid Berserker tribe and wound Dagur. I decided against it because I don't want it to be a gimmick.

Maces and Talons are modelled after chess in this story. I did this to simplify the game and use them to drive the plot in a scene. Originally, I want Hiccup to always win the game, but then I realised it's unfair and unrealistic for someone to win chess all the time. Unless they cheated somehow.

Some dialogs are simplified, while others are complex. This is intentional. It's intended to show intellect of the character.

Did Charcoal just used the concept of turbine jet engine?
Yes. He knew how to harness lightning. It shouldn't be a surprise that he figured out how to make them do that.

Or did Furious know how to do that and teach Charcoal how to do it? Take a guess.

What can magic do?
A lot. It doesn't have that much role or expansion in the first book. Later book would have a whole lot more stuff into it.

This is OP!Dragon!Hiccup?
Kind of. Is it overpowered when his enemies are overpowered as well? The standard of "power" is high in this story. It will get higher from here. You will see more power and abilities showcased in later books and chapters. It's going to be flashy and pretentious.


FFN Specific Author Note
Answering Your Reviews

Obiben27 – He still think it's a dream. However, at this point, Furious' influence is too deep inside his mind. He can access his knowledge as a dragon, but his thought can't really connect the fact that he was the same person/dragon. I'm not sure if it's immediately obvious for readers, considering this is how I think an actual sleeper agent would be like.

galahsrock – The scene was intended to show Charcoal secretly going back into his room, turn back to human and went to sleep. Hiccup/Charcoal was not even aware of his own transformation, courtesy of Furious. After realising your confusion, I realised that I might have messed up the timeline a bit.


End Note

Thank you for reading my story. Thank you for leaving reviews and comments.

Next chapter will be posted around 13-14 July 2022, depending on the time zone.