Hey guys! I know I haven't posted in a month or two, but I wanted to post this in January in order to have a final chapter before the third movie is released. So, yes, this means this will be the last chapter I post until after February 22 plus a few days after so I can actually see the movie and cry many tears.

For a moment, there was dead silence.

Wodensfang continued to glare heatedly at Snotlout, who was staring back at the small dragon with a slack jaw and wide eyes. On either side of the bully, Dogsbreath and Dagur were copying his actions and the Thorston twins were staring dumbly at the scene from the other side of the fire. Astrid and Thuggory were sharing a confused glance, although their eyes were just as wide as everyone else's. Camicazi, to no one's surprise, was nonchalant about the revelation, merely smirking after the initial shock had wore off and making sure Fishlegs didn't fall off his rock seat since the boy had promptly fainted.

Hiccup, on the other hand, was wide-eyed in amazement and curiosity. He had never heard of a dragon that could speak Norse. Understand it? That was pretty much a given for every common species. But speaking it? That was absolutely unheard of.

And not only had this dragon landed on his helmet and rode on his shoulders, but the dragon- Wodensfang, was it?- had claimed to have known the first Hiccup in the Haddock line. Not much of Berk's history before the time of Grimbeard had been preserved, and even if it had been, it wasn't like the vikings were avid readers and thinkers- outside of the Meathead Public Library of course. Therefore Hiccup had always been curious about his history, specifically that of the other two Hiccups that he had been named after. Surely there had to be a reason the name was prevalent? Surely it wasn't just because the Haddock line was prone to the occasional, well, hiccup?

Up until today, Hiccup had believed that.

But now, facing a dumbfounded Snotlout, with a little brown dragon perched upon his helmet, Hiccup felt like there was so much more to the stories he had been told as a boy. And the Wodensfang could hold the key to it all.

"Never heard a dragon talk before?" Wodensfang asked rhetorically, smugly, and once more in Norse. He huffed a hot breath of air out of his nostrils. "Not surprising. Much of my kind is much too dull to even think about learning the lumpentongue, although that doesn't mean insults just fly over our heads like a drunken Nanodragon."

There was another beat of silence, shorter this time, and broken by Hiccup.

"You speak Norse?"

Wodensfang gave a sigh that sounded exasperated, but also faintly fond. He hooked his claws on the lip of Hiccup's helmet and mimicked his welcoming pose from just an hour or so before.

"Yes, little flame," He said patiently, beginning in Norse but switching to Dragonese within the same breath. "While it may seem im-possible, such a feat should not register as im-probable, not to a Hiccup, in any case."

Hiccup just stared into Wodensfang's hypnotic gaze, lips parted in awe before Snotlout snapped the two out of their trance.

His shock may have lasted a bit long on his slow-to-realize brain, but when it wore off, the dirty smugness returned and the opportunity to ruin his cousin did not go unnoticed- although the Wodensfang's words did, entering one ear and out the other.

Snotlout's loud guffaw was enough to knock everyone out of their stupor, and knock Fishlegs back to the realm of consciousness.

"Oh, cousin, you really do just find every opportunity to screw up, don't you?" He said, and shook his head in amusement. "You happen to find the smallest dragon on the island-" Here, Wodensfang looked up and growled, but Snotlout ignored him. "-who also happens to be just as much a weirdo as yourself!" He snorted and started laughing once more. "A talking dragon? Ha! Who'd have thought it, eh?"

Normally, when Snotlout gave his cousin Hel over whatever gods-damned reason, Hiccup just took it and didn't dare talk back for fear of making things worse not only on himself but also Fishlegs. But today was a day of change. And Snotlout insulting Wodensfang was a way to strike at Hiccup hit the boy in an unfamiliar but haunting way, one that gave him a sudden surge of confidence.

Hiccup stood up from his rock, startling Wodensfang to give a cry of confusion as he shifted to compensate, and the boy glared up at his cousin with forest green eyes alight with a foreign emotion- determination.

Snotlout met his shorter cousin's gaze with ire, crossing his arms, and smirking as he wondered briefly what this small twig could possibly do.

Hiccup, once Wodensfang had settled, and without breaking his stare, reached into his fur vest and pulled out the gift Old Wrinkly had given him that morning: Grimbeard's Knife Of Flame. He unsheathed it with his right hand, and in the light of the crackling bonfire, the tempered metal of the blade seemed to glow ethereally.

Unnoticed by the group, Wodensfang had suddenly froze atop Hiccup's helmet, staring at the weapon in complete astonishment, his small mouth gaping as he nearly inaudibly whispered a pair of ancient words: "Konungr's hiti."

Snotlout's smirk widened as he leered at Hiccup. "What's the runt gonna do, huh? Come at me with some knife that Grandpa Wrinkly gave him this morning?"

Hiccup's lips twisted into an uncharacteristic simper and he tightened his grip on the Knife, pointing it up at Snotlout. The twin inscriptions on either side glimmered in the firelight and caught his cousin's eye.

"Grimbeard?" Snotlout breathed, his smug disposition vanishing in an instant and being replaced with rage. "Why the Hel do you have something of Grimbeard's?"

"Because I'm the heir of the Hooligans, Snotlout," Hiccup said, lifting his head with pride. "Not you, as much as you may want it, it's my birthright and nothing you can say or do will change that."

Snotlout turned an unpleasant shade of red and then an enraged purple as the Thorston twins cackled at his expense and Thuggory gave a cry of celebration at Hiccup's words. Embarrassed and enraged, Snotlout easily plucked the Knife from Hiccup's grasp and eyed it, twirling it expertly in his hand. He held it before his eyes, ignoring Hiccup's pathetic attempt to take it back, but only moments later felt an intense burning overtake his whole right arm, emanating from the knife and burning hotter by the second.

With a cry of agony that made Dogsbreath and Dagur start in surprise, Snotlout dropped the Knife into the sand and grasped his right hand. The skin was scorched as if he had thrust his hand into the bonfire, and it smoldered as faint smoke rose from the burns.

In a fit of surprise, Hiccup snatched the Knife off the ground and backed away from his cousin, closer to the confused figures of Fishlegs and Camicazi.

"Your birthright," Snotlout spat viciously and mockingly, his eyes narrowed in fury. "Hear me now, cousin, and hear me well: I don't care what Stoick says, or Wrinkly, or any Naming Dame in the archipelago- the Chiefdom of the Hairy Hooligans belongs to me and me alone. I will be the one to return to Berk and claim your place, while you remain here and suffer with your weirdo friends and talking dragon." His gaze flickered to the Knife clutched in Hiccup's grasp and he scowled, pointing at it scornfully. "Whatever trick you and Wrinkly cast upon that Knife won't change the fact that you're a runt, Useless, and Fated to live out your days on this island in exile."

Grunting his fury and grasping his hand, Snotlout stumbled off to where the group's rucksacks laid, followed by Dagur and Dogsbreath. The trio of bullies retreated from the bonfire, arranging their cots down the beach for the night and leaving a tense silence in their wake after Snotlout's rant.

"Well that was interesting," Wodensfang stated drly, his ancient voice breaking the silence soon after the bullies had left. He flapped lightly into the air and then settled upon Hiccup's shoulders, nudging the boy's neck affectionately. "You should rest, little flame. You have had a long day- and have many more ahead of you."

Hiccup mumbled a quiet assent in Dragonese, barely registering as Wodensfang once again slept and Thuggory helped Astrid extinguish the bonfire. The twins were surprisingly quiet, settling down not far from Snotlout, Dagur, and Dogsbreath.

Astrid didn't say anything to Hiccup to acknowledge him before she left as well, just staring at him with an unreadable expression as she petted her Terror into the realm of sleep. Thuggory gave Hiccup a pat on the shoulder, avoiding the Wodensfang, but it still nearly sent the scrawny ten year old sprawling into the sand.

Thuggory then sent the Hooligan heir a shaky and uncertain smile, knocking him lightly on his helmet, a sign of viking affection.

"You found yourself an interesting dragon, Hiccup," He said and started off to join Astrid. "Hopefully you'll get a bit of luck in the next few weeks and find a nice Nadder or maybe even a Nightmare or Stormcutter. You'll figure it out, trust me!"

And with that, Hiccup was left with a talking dragon sleeping around his shoulders, a probably-cursed Knife, and his two best friends.

Camicazi broke the dead silence that had fallen once more.

"Well," She said confidently. "I think Grimbeard has spoken- Snotlout is a jerk, and Hiccup is the rightful heir. Time for bed I believe, we have dragons to find tomorrow!"

And that was that.

Hmm.. So that happened. Not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, but every time I tried to make it better, it just turned out worse. There's a couple book references in here, both obvious and just in passing. Oh, and the whole "burning knife thing" is kinda important but by no means is a sign of magic- I kinda stole it from a plot point in another King Hiccup fanfic, but I'm using it for a totally different angle.
But for now, that's all folks! *grins cheekily*