URGENT: If anyone knows where I can find a good editor for a personal project, I.E Not this Fanfiction. Please message me, post a review telling me where I can find one and have a good day.

The Prince of Dragons

Chapter 9: An Ax to Grind

BERK

Hiccup began a depressing walk back to Berk; he hated to leave the Night Fury on his own. Especially when the dragon was so restricted, I mean flying was one of a dragon's main defenses, the reason it stayed alive. If someone found him, anyone, Toothless...oh Hiccup did not want to think about the consequences. It would be a fate worse then being eaten alive by the Red Death. The Prince tried to shake his paranoia off, Toothless was a Night Fury he could handle himself. But that feeling of doubt still hung in the back of Hiccup's mind. Hiccup then nearly slapped himself, he had forgotten, he had to cook nine young dragons before tomorrow. Again the Prince sighed; life was becoming ever more complicated. He was beginning to miss the long months of nothingness during the dragon's hibernation back in the lair.

After carefully putting away his Prince Attire back into the fox hole. Hiccup made his way back to Old Wrinkly's. The boy found eight baskets outside his home. Hiccup sighed, he needed a plan. At that moment, a tall Viking happened to be carrying a torn bag filled with fish. A few managed to slip out without him noticing, each one of various sizes. That's when a fiendishly clever thought crossed Hiccup's mind. The Prince went back to the docks and loaded up a barrel of fish. Then he made his way back to Old Wrinkly's hut, he then looked at the dragons, still squirming in there barrels. When he was sure nobody was watching, Hiccup released the dragons, by simply forcing the barrels open. Dragons of this size where mere vermin to Vikings, sometimes they were even mistaking for birds so Hiccup thought no one would care to harm one. The Prince thought correctly as the dragons began to fly into the distance, snarling and cackling as they began to fly their way back to the Caliban Caves. Hiccup smiled for a moment, at least they were able to fly free of this place.

After that was done the Hiccup began to prepare the fish, but he prepared them in such a way that you could hardly tell the difference between the fish and a baby dragon. Lastly Hiccup prepared the 'Whispering Death', or in this case something much more repulsive, an eel. Eel's always horrified Hiccup; he had lived off of dragon wise-tales about eels. The elder dragons in Hiccup's pack said if you ate one you wouldn't be able to control your fire and you'd die horrifically as your insides melt. Apparently humans had a toleration for eels, but that still did not reassure Hiccup of anything. Hiccup felt dirty every time he touched the long slimy snake-like fish. But after much preparation, Hiccup had done it; he had prepared the initiation meal.

THE GREAT HALL

The next day, the Prince walked toward the Great Hall with two large basket's hanging from his back. Hiccup was a little nervous truth be told as he carefully walked into the Great Hall, with a few well cooked 'dragon' meals on his back. Hiccup would be so in deep trouble if they found out. He found the young Vikings loitering around the Great Hall, just trying to pass the time.

"Okay...whose hungry..."

The young Vikings shot up into action, they were looking forward to a meal that wasn't limpets. Very carefully Hiccup placed the food onto a few tables and watched as the young Hooligans made their way over to him, eager for their next meal. Hiccup put on a nervous smile as he sat down himself, he examined his meal. A blood eel, to Hiccup the thing looked more poisonous than a Whispering Death. To make matters worse, Snotlout and his gang of thugs decided to sit next to him. While the Prince figured out a long time ago that their bark was worse than there bite, he knew they weren't gonna make this easy for him.

"You eat first new guy, I hope it doesn't kill ya, unless you're a coward"

Hiccup chuckled.

"You're calling the guy who kicked you're arse a coward?"

"I saw the way you were eyeing that Whispering Death, you're afraid to eat it."

A nervous laugh escaped Hiccup.

"What? I am not"

Doubt escaped Hiccup's breath, Dogsbreath joined in.

"Then eat it."

Speedyfist and Wartihog where next to join in.

"Yeah eat it"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut joined in, they were collectively banging their fists against a nearby table.

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"

They chanted. The Prince glanced over at Fishlegs who had grown pale in the face, almost as if he didn't expect him to survive. Astrid honestly didn't seem to care; nobody noticed that she had already dived into her 'Deadly Nadder'. Hiccup took a deep breathe in and grabbed his knife. He chopped off the tail end and began to eat. For

a moment, everyone was silent. They expected him to honestly die on the spot. They all assumed that's what happened when you ate a Whispering Death. Then something unexpected happened. Hiccup took another bit, and another, in less than a minute he had completely devoured the 'Whispering Death'. Hiccup was shocked, he just ate an eel and he really, really enjoyed it. He then burped a hefty Viking burp, with a smile he said.

"That was good"

The other young Hooligans looked absolutely terrified and somewhat disgusted. Hiccup then stood up.

"Well I'm off to work."

Tuffnut looked up at Hiccup.

"Work?"

"I'm Gobber's blacksmithing apprentice, why do you think I'm here?"

Hiccup replied with a sneer and a grin.

Hiccup strolled out of the Great Hall and made his way to Gobber the Belch's blacksmith shop. It was about midday so Gobber was at lunch. This gave Hiccup ample time to look around and get a few for the place. There was a fire-pit in the far corner with a pump. In the front there was a large shop window, spread all across the room there were all kinds of metal works of wonder that made Hiccup's eyes light up. The Prince entered the shop and immediately smiled; Blacksmithing comforted the boy for some reason. It made him feel like he had control, that he could do anything. Build anything. The boy then found a room in the back far away from everything for him to start some designs for the Night Fury's tail. He got out a sketch book with some sketches he had drawn of the dragon and eventually stopped a drawing of himself in his Prince armor. Only without the mask and some of the finer details such as the retractable wings. He wanted to be feared again badly. It was then Gobber arrived, he entered the back room.

"Boyo!"

Hiccup jumped in a blind panic, he forgot all about Gobber the Belch.

"Gobber, hello, how are you?"

"Boy what were ya doing back here?"

Gobber asked suspiciously. Hiccup picked up his sketch book and flipped to a random page of some armor he once designed. The Prince shrugged his shoulders and said.

"Just doodling"

Gobber nodded, he then tossed Hiccup an apron.

"Put that on, unless ya wanta get burned."

The blacksmith then tossed Hiccup a pair of gloves.

"That's incase ya lose a finger."

Hiccup put the gloves on and didn't question the blacksmith. With his slack-jawed smile the Blacksmith said.

"Well, let's dive right in"

Gobber then started to work, Hiccup stood there rather confused by the whole thing.

"Um, what, shouldn't you teach more or give me an introduction or something?"

"Blacksmithing is like swimming, ya don't take your time, ya just dive right in!"

Gobber then pointed to a pump that would add warmth to the fire and then to the fire pit. Hiccup walked over and began to pump; the fire began to smolder. Gobber then came by with a small bucket of water; he dumped the water into the pit. The Blacksmith with his free hand pulled out a sword that he had burning from the pit. He then walked over to an anvil and put the sword down on it. Gobber then used his hammer hand prophetic to pound the sword into a flat blade surface.

"Well? Ya gonna turn this thing or not?"

Gobber asked annoyed as he continued to pound away. Hiccup rolled his eyes before walking over and turning the sword by its hilt from one side to another. The metal pounding rang in Hiccup's ears as Gobber then asked.

"So where ya from boy?"

Hiccup hesitated for a moment. He looked over at a nearby map Gobber happened to have on the wall that showed most of the barbaric world.

"Um…Finland, I kinda drifted here after a big fight with a local tribe."

"Oh…what tribe?"

Again Hiccup hesitated and simply named the first tribe that popped into his head.

"Lava-Louts."

Gobber nodded again there was silence, Hiccup was grateful that for a moment he didn't have to come up with some horrible excuse.

"Got any family?"

Hiccup wanted to scream, how many questions did this guy have? Couldn't they have just worked? But at least this was a question Hiccup didn't have to lie about entirely.

"Over a thousand brothers and sisters one mother."

Gobber chuckled light-heartedly as he stopped his pounding on the sword.

"That's a big family; she must have a hard time keeping track of all of them"

Hiccup didn't seem to think much of it, he put down the sword.

"Not really, in fact I'm the only adopted one of my kind, she doesn't even know I exist, but if she did she'd probably be like, 'Excuse me, I'm afraid you have brought me the wrong offspring, I ordered an extra-large killing machine with beefy limbs and skin-like armor on the side, this here is a talking fish-bone! I guess I'll just have to eat him alive!"

The Prince said referencing his 'mother' the Red Death. Hiccup had grown to spite her over the years. Gobber chuckled.

"Ya know, ya shouldn't say anything like that to your mother."

"If you're mother ate your brothers and sisters I guess you'd be just as cheerful as you are right now"

Gobber continued to laugh, until he saw the bitter resentment in Hiccup's eyes, the boy was serious.

"Oh, well that's a little uncomfortable…"

"Speaking of uncomfortable, I'd like a new conversation please."

Hiccup said annoyed, Gobber nodded.

"Alright, how's it going with the ladies?"

The Prince sighed.

"Yeah, way to get the mood back on track"

"Ah C'mon, you've never had a crush?"

Hiccup thought about for a moment.

"Well"

The Prince thought back to a time when he kinda had a crush on a human, Viking girl. She was a lovely little thing that greeted him in the most profound and glorious way imaginable.

ISLE OF THE BOG BURGULARS

2 YEARS AGO

The Prince of Dragons watched vigorously as they stole dozens of fish from a nearby fish hut. The dragons had effectively burned down the Bog Burglar village in the crossfire. The Prince smiled under his mask as he gazed upon the flames. Then out of nowhere a girl with two stretcher point swords and wild blonde hair leaped out of the flames and began to attack the Prince. Hiccup was caught off guard by the Bog Burglar. Hiccup got out his flaming sword and they began to parry blows. The flames danced around the two as they fought, eager to kill one another. The girl was able to actually cut through Hiccup's armorat one point and get a clean cut to his right arm. The Prince pushed her away and smiled under his mask.

"You've got moxxiI love it"

"Die you sniveling, dragon rider!"

"Oh...sass to, I really love it."

_The Hyperactive tiny girl only pressed on harder, seemingly unfazed by Hiccup's comment. Hiccup was actually able to parry the girl's swords out of her hands and toss them into some nearby flames. But then she started to punch him. She actually did get a few good swings on Hiccup. She then shouted. _

"Take THAT, you locust-baking, half-troll, dragon worshiper!"

Hiccup pinned her down against a wall, finally after taking a lot of abuse. He got a good look at her features. The first thing he noticed was that she was only four feet tall. Her bright green eyes and her blonde hair that she wore like a pine tree. Her clothes were filthy and very plain in a lot of regards and she talked constantly. _

"_Unhand me you, you snot-munching ankle bitter before I really get serious."

Hiccup laughed at the overconfident little girl.

"_Really? You're going to get serious, I'd like to see that."

_She then head-butted Hiccup and knocked him over in the blink of an eye. The girl stood over top of him, a small knife in hand, she brought it to Hiccup's neck. _

"Huh…I guess you succeeded so miss-

"Camicazi."

"Camicazi, you might want to duck"

Camicazi couldn't duck in time as the Night Fury came swooping in. The Night Fury fired a plasma blast, Camicazi dodged it before retreating, much to her dismay. Hiccup rushed over to the Night Fury and climbed onto its back. The dragon then took off, into the night to rejoin the larger pack. For a majority of the flight, Hiccup kept sighing dreamily with a goofy grin on his face.

"What is it human?"

"I think I might be in love"

BERK

PRESENT DAY

After taking a minute to think about it, Hiccup shock his head dismissively.

"Only once…and she was crazy"

Gobber chuckled again.

"All women are lad, come to think of it, they probably say the same thing about you and me…"

The Blacksmith stopped chuckling.

"But seriously, no one strikes your fancy now?"

Hiccup took a moment to think it over.

"Well…there is this one girl"

As luck would have it that very girl stood in the blacksmith's shop door. An ax in hand, the two blacksmiths turned.

"Hey."

It was Astrid Hofferson of all people. Hiccup nearly cursed under his breath as he hoped she didn't hear the conversation at hand. Astrid walked in very bored and nonchalantly she asked.

"Can I get this sharpened?"

Hiccup paused for a moment, he was thankful she was talking to Gobber. But Gobber only smiled a bit. The Blacksmith had put two and two together. Gobber the Belch smiled, he pushed Hiccup forward.

"Why yes. My manly apprentice here will service all of your needs."

Hiccup glared back at Gobber with an expression that read 'what are you doing'. Gobber then put his hand on a barrel and picked up some nails. He then tried to come up with a clever excuse but failed spectacularly.

"I have to…err…oh, go get-"

Gobber stammered on like this for nearly a minute, with Astrid and Hiccup starring at him both slightly confused and concerned for the blacksmith. In fact, he nearly tipped over the barrel as Hiccup and Astrid both gave him confused looks.

"Some... I'm just gonna go."

With that Gobber left the shop, with all the grace of a dying whale. Leaving Astrid and Hiccup alone, in the shop, together, alone (Get your mind out of the gutter). The Prince smiled as he motioned to the leaving Blacksmith.

"My boss"

Astrid then examined her ax, Hiccup let out his hands to go pick it up. But Astrid held it away from his hands. She then handed it to him properly. Hiccup smiled at her, she at least respected her weapon of choice.

"Okay…razor sharp Battle Ax. Coming right up"

"Careful, that's my mother's"

Astrid replied casually. Hiccup then carried the ax over to a sharpeners wheel. He began to sharpen the ax over the wheel.

"So how was your fi-er, I mean Nadder….Deadly Nadder"

Astrid looked at some of the swords hanging off the walls.

"A little over cooked, you must have burned it a bit"

The Hofferson girl said jokingly. Hiccup made a fake laugh and in a mocking tone he said.

"(Ha Ha) In other words, 'I'm doing it wrong'."

Took a sword off the rack and looked at her reflection. She smirked and then sneered.

"You're words, not mine."

Astrid said as she reached for a spear on a higher rack. Hiccup continued to sharpen the ax, Astrid then asked.

"Why are you working here exactly?"

"What as an apprentice, it's sort of an on the side. I'm mostly here because of a friend and to learn, become one with the steel."

Hiccup then cut the ax a little too much; he managed to chip off part of the ax blade. He gasped faintly, thankfully Astrid didn't notice. Astrid then went into the backroom, mostly out of curiosity.

"I wouldn't go in there"

Hiccup said as he tried to find a replacement ax-head. Thankfully, Astrid didn't oblige to what Hiccup had to say as she walked into the backroom. She looked at Hiccup's journal sitting on the table. The girl then picked it up and began to flip through the pages. Astrid couldn't read any of it, because it was entirely written in Dragonese. But there were a lot of interesting drawings.

"This yours?"

Hiccup glanced over to see just what Astrid was referring. His Dragonese book, the Prince swallowed hard, as he retrieved an Ax head and rushed back to his workstation. Hiccup then placed the Ax head on a wedge and tightened it.

"What's it written in?"

"Umm…err…Finnic. I'm from Finland."

Hiccup said hurriedly, as he screwed on the ax handle. Hopefully Astrid wouldn't be able to tell the difference between ax heads.

"Ohhh...Personally, I think everything should be written in Norse, would make things much easier. Call me old fashion, but I'm more of a get an ax and lop its head off kinda girl, it's kinda the Viking way"

The Prince rolled his eyes as he finished tightening the handle. Typical Viking, not thinking about anything other than there weapon.

"Go Vikings…"

Astrid then closed the book and walked out of the room.

"Gods, I can't wait to get started tomorrow, that's when we really get into it."

Hiccup was confused by all this, as he went back to sharpening the girl's ax in an attempt to regain his focus.

"Yeah…I'm so excited…for you?"

Astrid walked up to Hiccup as he continued to sharpen her ax, not with the best car, e in all actuality.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothingit's just Ium, can't wait to start killing dragonsya know"

The Prince said with a nervous grin on his face, Astrid smiled back and punched him in arm. Hiccup winced slightly.

"More like you're decided whether or not to have a side of yak jerky or lamb"

"What do ya mean?"

"We start real training in the morning we'll be fighting dragons."

Astrid said with clear excitement. Hiccup nearly broke the ax blade again. In fact he nearly went pale, more so when he handed Astrid her ax. She gave a few good swings and messed around with it for a minute.

"This feels different"

"Oh…I tightened it, re-balanced it; we're a full-service shop."

Astrid smiled again; she brushed back her blonde hair and said.

"Hmmm, thanks."

"Sure…"

The two then went their separate ways. Hiccup needed a moment to breathe, he would need more then whit's to get himself out of this mess tomorrow. With a sigh he went to the backroom and retrieved his journal before exiting the shop.

URGENT: If anyone knows where I can find a good editor for a personal project, I.E Not this Fanfiction. Please message me, post a review telling me where I can find one and have a good day.