Chapter Summary: Hiccup saves a life.
Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon or anything related to the movie/ Netflix series.
Clarification: Hiccup is 15 here. (Or fourteen I'm not sure how old he is in the movies.) Excuse any typos.
The night was beautiful and clear. There was no signs of rain to come nor was it chillingly cold as most nights usually were. It was slightly windy but to the natives of the land that was always a constant in their lives and nothing worth complain for. Gustav, for once, was thankful for the slight chill. He had been chasing a couple of his uncle sheep back and forth, trying to get them back to their barn house for the night. They had originally been let out to graze on the grass but for some reason his uncle had forgotten to usher them back back and so it had been left to Gustav to go fetch them for him. He had been chasing them around for a good half hour, now slightly sweaty and out of breath.
He spots a couple of his uncle's sheep grazing peacefully on the grass near the hill side. Two down, three to go, he thinks to himself. He crouches down and yanks a hand full of green grass and then marches up the hill side, waving his fistful of grass towards the sheep and saying, "Er' you stupid sheep, some grass."
One of the two spots him and starts making his way over towards Gustave while the other keeps on eating grass, ignoring Gustave completely. As the first sheep gets closer Gustav, he takes the rope that he had been carrying around with him and loops the rope around the sheep's neck.
"There ya go." A shadow covers the moonlight for a couple of seconds. He makes sure the rope is secure around the sheep's neck with enough space to breath before making his way over towards the second sheep, the first sheep right behind him. "Come on!" He whines to the sheep that was still grazing on the grass.
The sheep suddenly goes still and then Gustav feels a powerful breeze. He lands on his behind and with wide eyes watchs as the second sheep is lifted off from the ground by a Deadly Nadder with its large claws.
He stays frozen for a couple of seconds, the sounds of the sheep bah's and his heavy breathing the only sounds around him. And then he scrambles up finally having understood what was happening.
"Dragons!" He screeches stumbling down the sloppy hill with the sheep in tow. He runs further towards the village all the while still screaming. "Dragons!" he hollers out managing to awaken one of the villagers.
The villager scrambles out of bed, rushing to put on his clothes, runs down stairs towards his fireplace, lights a small torch with fire, and runs outside where he rushes to light an even bigger torch to signal a dragon raid.
By now all the villagers had awoken and where standing at the ready with their eyes towards the sky. Torches had been lite for light and weapons gleamed in the night. Gustav's screams could faintly still be heard. All the children were being taken to their hiding places along with the village elders and expecting mothers.
Stoick the Vast, leader the Berkians, as always, was one of the first to have reported to the center of the village and at his side stood his brother, Spitelout, Phlegma the fierce and Gobber.
Gobber rubs his eyes with the side of his hooked hand in an attempt to awaken himself, yawning tiredly he says with his heavy accent, "Eh, it's ta late for this. I wa's just gettin about gettin all cozy in me bed." He adjust his helmet with his good hand and lowers it to scratches his cheek. "Eh, re' ya sure the little brat wasn't just playin' a prank un us? Ya know it' wouldn't have been da first time to happin'."
"Nay." Says Phlegma, "Da child look scared beyond doubt."
"Who was it?" asked Spitelout also looking slightly disheveled. He carried with him his axe and a large sword was strapped at his back.
"Gustav." She replies while stretching her neck to get a kink out.
"Ah! Why that lit'le devil could e'saliy be lyin! Wouldn't 'old it above that lit'le brat." Gobber grumbles looking around and about to head on back home.
Stoick who had been looking at the sky and tensing little by little looks back at them "Nay." he says gruffly, " They'll be here soon."
"How can ya tell?" asks one of the passing villagers that had over heard there rather loud conversation.
"I can smell 'em." He says and returns to looking up at the sky, "They're close."
"Smell 'em my arse" Gobber mutters. He rolls his eyes and waves a dismissive hand towards him, he turns on his peg and walks back towards his forge.
While while Stoicks claims of having been able to smell the dragons seemed unbelievable to Gobber he knew that Stoick was usually never wrong. So once inside his forge he lights up his fireplace and begins to light up some of the candles to give him light. Usually this would be Hiccups job but the little toothpick wasn't here.
Outside Stoick continued to search the skys while the rest of the villagers prepared the cannons and their weapons.
And then at last Stoick spots his first kill of the night, a Gronkle. As soon a he spotted the Gronkle more dragons made their presence known and soon vikings and dragons were fighting each other once again.
Back at the Haddock house Hiccup is just about ready to head out to the forge to help Gobber man the forge. Just as he pulls the wooden door open a dragon swoops directly towards the door, blasting fire. He slams the door closed just in time. The fire instead, shoots through the cracks of the door missing Hiccup and instead illuminating him leaning against the door.
He reopens the sizzling door and leaps off the front of his porch, running down the steps on the hill. He weaves through the erupting mayhem as both villagers and dragons flood the path towards the forge. More dragons fly into the village, setting the roof tops on fire and hualing of there food. He sees more viking both women and men out in the streets axes in hand. Hiccup darts through the alleys, staying under the eaves and weaving through the battle carefully and quickly.
Dragons are sweeping back and forth, they dodge battle axes thrown at them and retaliate by blasting back burning hot fire.
The fire lands on a barrel of fish oil someone had forgotten to put away, causing an explosion. It blast Hiccup towards the ground along with a burly warrior.
"Argggghhhhh!" The burly warrior exclaims towards Hiccup and then i an insane and cheery voice, "Evening!"
Hiccup gets onto his feet and continues to rush past the gigantic men and women.
He passes his neighbors, Hoark the Haggard who pauses to yell at Hiccup, "What are you doing out!?"
Burnthair the broad who screams for him to get inside, Phlegma the Fierce, who raises and eyebrow at him and shoots him a glare as if to tell him to take cover. He passes Ack the Silent who was picking his ear, oblivious to the battle around him.
And then he passes Stoick, who was by far the largest viking in Berk. He's yanked by his father as a dragon fires in the direction Hiccup was running in.
"Hiccup! What are you doing out? Get inside!" Above him an explosion occurs which lights up his scowling face and matted red beard. He sets Hiccup down and then turns to the sky, once again searching.
He sees a dragon close towards them up in the sky, he grabs a wooden cart and hurls it towards the dragon knocking the dragon out of the sky.
Another explosion occurs that forces Hiccup and the other viking to to duck. Stoick stands firm, only sign of an explosion is the flaming debris on his shoulder which he brushes off.
Stoick turns towards his men, "What have we got?" he asks.
"Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks." the viking paused as if remembering, " Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare."
"Any Night Furies?" Stoick questions.
"Chief there hasn't been one sighted in about 13 years, I don't think they'll show up any time soon."
"Ah, you can never be too sure about these demons." He turns and shouts to the vikings up on the pillars, "Hoist the torches!"
Massive flaming braziers are raised on poles, lighting up the last dark area of Berk and revealing a bigger swarm of dragons in the sky.
Below, Hiccup crosses the open plaza and ducks into the forge. He crosses behind the counter and finds his mentor reshaping blades with a hammer and a tongs.
Gobber sees Hiccup from the corner of his eye, "Ah! Nice of you ta join the party. I was startin' to think you'd been carried off."
Hiccup puts on his leather apron and starts to put away Gobber's scattered appendages while speaking.
"Who me? Nah, come on! I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all of this." He strikes a bodybuilder pose.
"They need toothpicks, don't they?" Gobber teases.
Hiccup gets to work, transferring bent and chipped weapons to the forge as Vikings crows the counter looking for replacements.
Hiccup hears a shout of fire and turns to see the four teens charging into the plaza tugging a large wooden cask on wheels, from it they fill buckets of water to douse the flames with. Hiccup leans onto the counter watching them with interest, but his gazing is cut short when he's hooked by Gobber back towards his job.
"Eh, stop daydreaming boy and get back ta work." Gobber gets back to what he was doing lifting a bola which a viking running by nabs and hurls it towards a flying dragon.
"Okay fine, but….." Hiccup runs towards the back of the forge and presents to Gobber his wheelbarrow-like contraption. "Look this can help them stop the fire, or at least make it easier for them to." He untangles the tubing, unhinges the lid and pours some water into the container. Then he pumps the handle of the machine and then goes to grab the hose to show to Gobber but stops in his tracks when the machine prematurely launches water, narrowly missing Gobber and hitting an unsuspecting Viking.
The viking yells out, "Argh!"
"See, now this right 'ere is wha' I was talking about." Gobber points towards the machine.
"Mild calibration issue." Hiccup replies.
"Hiccup." Gobber says, all trace of amusement erased from his face," If ya ever want ta get out there to help or fight the dragons, ya need to stop all…." He gestures at all of Hiccup. "...this." he finishes.
"But… you just pointed to all of me!" He says astonished.
"Yes!" Gobber confirms, "That's it! Stop being all of you."
"Ohhh…" Hiccup says threatening like.
"Ohhhh, yes." Gobber mimics.
"You sir, are playing a dangerous game, keeping all my bright ideas in the shadows, away from the people!" A beat later, "There will consequences!"
Gobber tosses him a sword. "Eh,I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now."
Hiccup takes it begrudgingly and carries it with ease onto the grinding wheel.
Outside Nadders land, gather like seagulls around a seemingly vacant house. The Nadders then clamber into the building, tearing the roof and walls apart. Sheep pour out and scatter. Somewhere else in the village Gronckles pick up fish from the storage houses and fly off. Stealthy, snake-like dragon heads peek over the rooftops and breath gas into the chimneys. Then the second head appears and ignites the gas. It flies past Stoick who was loading catapults.
"They found the sheep!" a viking yells to Stoick.
Stoick, now frustrated, shouts for them to concentrate fire over the lower banks.
Hiccup looks up when he hears a louder than average explosion. He sees a catapult explode. Behind him Gobber trades his hammer appendage for an axe.
"Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!." he heads towards the door, but pauses. He turn with a threatening glare. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." Gobber then charges into the fray, hollering. While Hiccup goes back to doing his work. He mutters under his breath and then stops to wonder how Toothless was doing. He hadn't seen him in a couple of days but that was normal. He stops hammering for a second, suddenly feeling a bit guilty.
Of course he knew of the dragon queen that was controlling the dragons. That was one of the first things he had asked Toothless about when he met him. He knew where the nest was and had been there himself with the help of a reluctant Toothless.
When Toothless had accepted to take him to the nest, he had been ecstatic. Finally, he'd be able to tell his father where the nest was, there would be no more need for bloodshed. They'd take the queen down together, both humans and dragons.
But when he got there, all that hope was squashed down. He should have known Toothless wouldn't have exaggerated. The queen was massive, tall as mountain and when he saw her eat a dragon with ease, he knew he couldn't tell his father of her, even after he'd tell him how impossible it'd be his father would still want to go and defeat it or die trying. Call him selfish but he wasn't ready to lose his father.
The roar of a Nightmare shakes him out of his thoughts. A Nightmare is in the almost empty plaza. The only one there is Gustav.
"Gustav!" Hiccup screams. "Get away!"
But either Gustav couldn't hear Hiccup or he was too scared. The Nightmare approached Gustav and Hiccup could see Gustav outline trembling in fear.
He swore and tugged his apron off, jumping over the counter and running towards Gustav. Around them fire was catching other homes and the smoke was starting to thicken around them.
The Nightmare swung his tail and Hiccup ducked out of his way and then started hollering to get the Nightmares attention. "EY! YOU BIG UGLY BEAST!" He frantically waved his hands in the air.
It worked. The Nightmare's attention was away from Gustav and onto Hiccup. Which in a way was better but not that much. He started to run in the opposite direction. He looked back once more seeing the Nightmare chasing him. "Gustav run!" He didn't look back to see if Gustav was okay or not. His main priority was to get the Nightmare under control. Behind he the Nightmare growled in frustration seeing as his large figure could fit into the alleys and paths like Hiccup could. So instead he set himself on fire and crushed the buildings in his way.
He took the Nightmare away from the Vikings, not wanting the Viking and dragon to get hurt and as soon a he was far away he stopped and was almost crushed under the Nightmare.
He put up his hands and started chirping in a friendly way. The Nightmare growled suspiciously, nothing that Hiccup could understand.
::Friend, Safe:: he repeated.
The Nightmare's fire extinguished and it curiously stretched out his neck towards Hiccup. Hiccup extended his hand to scratch the spot on the Nightmares neck, but stopped short when he heard a faint, 'Hiccup'.
It seemed as if the Nightmare had not heard so he rapidly went to find it's sweet spot, but before it could fully pass out it shot fire towards his direction which he managed to evade, and instead hit a brazier pole which collapses to reveal his father accompanied by other vikings and Gustav.
Hiccup freezes at the sight of his dad and the other viking can't seem to move either. Around them the dragons retreat, flying off with sheep in their clutches. The raid is over and the dragons have won.
And laying next to Hiccup is a slain Nightmare. They couldn't believe it.
Finally it's Gustav that breaks the trance."Hiccup! You killed it!" Gustav exclaims very excitedly.
Behind Stoick, Gobber mutters a quiet, "Well soil my britches." Behind all of them a crowd gathers behind them.
Hiccup looks back at the Nightmare and the ruined pole. "Sorry dad." He says sheepishly , with his head down.
The murmuring crowd eyes Stoick, awaiting his response.
The crowds were shocked to here Stoick's booming laughter. "That's my boy!" Everybody in the crowed gasped, obviously pleased with Hiccup.
"Who knew he'd be able to slay a dragon!" They whispered.
"A Nightmare no less!"
"All by himself and with his own hands!" They added.
The destruction that had occurred during the raid was momentarily forgotten. Everyone was happy for Stoick and Hiccup.
"Alright everybody!" Stoick tried to calm down the cheering crowd, "There's still repairs needed and people to help!" At the mention everybody started to calm down. "I need people to put out the fires and a report of how much food was lost. I also need to couple men to help take this beast out of the plaza." At the mention of the dragon everybody cheered.
Stoick chuckled and looked at Hiccup with a proud look in his face. "Good job son." He patted Hiccups back and then turned to Gobber, "Take Hiccup home Gobber make sure he gets something to eat."
"Ay" Gobber pats Hiccup back and starts walking in the direction of the Haddock house.
Hiccup couldn't register what was happening. It all happened to fast. 'What have I done,' he thinks as he sees the body of the Nightmare being carried out.
3k words in like 3 hours. Wow. I don't even know if anyone is still reading. I know I said that i'd post early if there was 15 comments but I felt bad that i'd had not posted chapters during the summer. So there. This time i'll post on Saturday next week, 10 comments and i'll post earlier than that. Bye.