The whole celebration went on for hours. Many people got drunk or had too much fun to even think about the dragons, but as next day came and they were sober, every memory of the dragons came back. Hiccup was walking with his friends through town, getting bored by the uneventful minutes that passed by every so often. Astrid walked a little in the front, trying to figure out a way to bury the sadness. Then she got an idea.
"Guys! I have an idea. Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions! You know, to bury the sadness," She said happily, but the others groaned in response. Hiccup brought his hand up to his chin in a thinking modus. He looked at the ground, thinking of an idea to come up with that could be better than Astrid's, but he got nothing. Looking up, he saw Astrid giving them a death glare.
"That might be a good idea," He said, ignoring the others groans again.
"What is up with you guys today?" Astrid hissed at them.
"All your inventions are horrib-," Snotlout explained, but stopped as she gave her a harder death glare. "When I think of it, they're brilliant," He fake-cheered.
"Thought so," Astrid smirked. "Be right back guys!" She yelled, running away towards her house.
"See you guys later, gotta help Gobber," Hiccup excused himself from them. He wasn't really the person to be with them as long as it was only them and not Astrid too. To be honest, he felt a little less comfortable around them than with Astrid.
He walked through town to see Vikings struggling to hold their ground from the hard partying yesterday evening and night. He noticed silent Sven walking, or at least trying to, with his sheep through town. Sven walked sloppily, leaning on some sort of staff to steady himself. His eye lids were barely open. Right before he turned around a corner, passing by some other sleepy Vikings, his eyes closed and he leaned forward, falling in a drain. The drain struggled to hold its ground and eventually ending up with falling over.
"Ouch," Hiccup flinched at the sight, turning around but only to bump into someone, sending him to the ground. He rubbed his head a little before looking up to see his father.
"Oh, Hiccup! I was looking for ya," Stoick laughed, helping Hiccup stand up. "I need to talk to you."
"Well… what do you want to talk to me about?" Hiccup asked awkwardly.
"Let's talk in our house," Without even warning Hiccup, he dragged him a little in the arm towards their house. He let go a little after and opened the door for Hiccup as they arrived at the house. Hiccup walked in nervously, but feeling a little relaxed due to the mood of his father. Unfortunately, all that changed as his father turned around to face him, after closing the door, with a rather too serious face. "Sit," His father told him.
"Uhh, okay…" Hiccup said nervously, walking over to his chair by the table as his father sat down in his chair across from his. He rubbed his wrists a little beneath the table as he stared into his father's eyes. "So…" Hiccup spoke, breaking the whole awkward silence.
"Right…" Stoick coughed to adjust his voice. "I'm putting you in for chief training."
"What?!" Hiccup yelled, standing up in shock.
"You heard me," Stoick sighed, fearing the reaction. "You'll be leaving in three days."
"You can't just send me away like that! Why are you doing this to me dad? We were getting along pretty good after so many years and now you're just sending me away from you again? Out from your life? Is that what you want?!" Hiccup shouted, for once standing up for himself. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. "If that's what you want then why did you rescue me from the outcasts huh?" His face was red with anger and Stoick tried to stop himself from bursting out on his son once again but couldn't.
"Don't you dare raise your voice on me!" He yelled, standing up from his chair as he stared at his now terrified son. Hiccup walked towards the door in hope to escape from his father's sight. "I'm trying to protect you son!" Hiccup stood still, showing he was listening. Stoick sat down, rubbing his temple to calm himself down. "Do you remember Camicazi?"
Hiccup turned around to face his father. His face getting its normal color back. A tear had escaped his eye, making his left cheek glisten from the fire's light. He nodded to his father's question.
"You will be staying on her island, at Bog-Burglars. She will be there with you to train both you and herself. Bertha and I thought it may be good if you two went training together. They will both teach you combat training and teach you different ways of doing chiefly duties. You will be helping them with their dragon problems in exchange," Stoick explained for him.
"At least I'll know someone then," Hiccup muttered, loud enough for Stoick to hear. Stoick smiled, happy that there was a little progress in convincing his son into this. Not that he had any choice anyways.
"I was thinking on letting you bring…your dragon…but now…," Stoick sighed, looking down. Hiccup sat down in his chair again.
"Dad? Where did Toothless go?" Hiccup asked, looking up to his father in hope.
"I don't know son."
"I mean, it's been almost three days. I just thought Toothless would be back by now," He looked down at his hands, avoiding eye contact with his father. He didn't want his father to see how weak he was, so he managed to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.
"Well, I'm sure the dragons are taking care of him," Stoick stood up, patting his son's back a little as he walked pass him to fire up the fire that was dying out.
"Yeah? I wish I can be that sure," Stoick sighed, turning back around to face his son. He kneeled down beside his chair, placing his hand on his shoulder."Listen... I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what do we do, when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate them! And I imagine that is exactly what Toothless would want you to do. Right?"
"You're right," Hiccup smiled at him as his father pulled him in for a loving father and son hug. Stoick pulled away with a smile, looking at Hiccup's neck and wrist. They were still a little red and some parts purple from the chains he had yesterday.
"How are your wrists?" He asked worriedly, shifting from being a serious chief to a caring father.
"They're getting better. Still hurts a little but I'll manage," Hiccup rubbed his wrists a little but looked up to meet his father's eyes with a reassuring smile. Stoick stood up and walked over to his chair and pulled out a tray where there was a few bandages, a pair of scissors, healing herbs and some moisture. He took a bowl of moisture out and a roll of bandages along with the scissors and walked back over to Hiccup.
"How long will I be staying for chief training?" Hiccup asked, looking down at his wrists as Stoick applies the healing moisture to his sore wrists.
"For three years," Stoick sighed, looking up to his son's eyes before he looked back down to his wrists. Hiccup's eyes widened at the thought, but knew he wouldn't be able to change his father's mind anyway. He just nodded and watched his father wrap a tiny layer of bandages around his wrists.
"There you go," Stoick stood up, placing the leftovers of the equipment back in the tray and placed it behind his chair. He turned to the wall behind his chair and pulled down his hatchet. "If you need me I'll be in the Great Hall. A few Vikings had some accident's there if you didn't notice," Stoick made a disgusted face at the thought of what had happened, but shrugged it off and walked out the door with Hiccup following shortly after.
Hiccup walked down the hill to his house, deciding to go to the forge and sketch for himself. That way he would get some time to think. His head was low as he silently muttered to himself. "Three years huh," He chuckled a little at the thought of meeting his child hood friend across the sea. He and Camicazi were best buds every time their parents needed to discuss some chiefly matters. While Stoick was busy with Big-Boobied Bertha, he got to have fun with the chief's daughter. But with everything that had happened the past few years, they hadn't gotten the chance to meet up again and therefore became a little more distant.
He was deep in his memories of both Camicazi and him that he didn't notice where he was going. As he snapped out of his thoughts, he saw Astrid back with a mug and three goblets on an old shield. Just by looking at them, he thought back to his conversation with his father. How am I going to tell them? He asked himself, sighing as he looked down at the snow below his feet. The last thing he would do was ruin their happiness on Snoggletog, but thinking twice and asking himself; would they actually miss me? Looking back up at them, he sighed before turning around to head to the forge.
"Hiccup!" He heard someone call for him. He turned around to see Astrid approaching with the mug on the shield. "I've been looking all over for you! Here!" She handed him a goblet of the drink with a smile.
"Thank you, milady," Astrid giggled, watching him raise the goblet to his lips. He opened his eyes to look at Astrid, but noticed someone behind her. It was Snotlout and the twins. The twins were sort of cheering him on to drink while Snotlout just violently shook his head looking almost sick. He took a look at Astrid again, seeing the excitement in her eyes. That was when he knew he had no choice but to down it. And so he did.
Just as the taste of the drink made contact with his tongue, he almost choked it back up. It was awful. He looked over at Astrid with a sick look, almost saying do-I-have-to-drink-this-up. But he knew he had no other choice but to do so. As said, he didn't want to ruin someone's happiness on Snoggletog and the least person he wanted to leave disappointed and crushed, was Astrid. The one of the many Vikings that could break his bones by one punch. Finally he had finished drinking up whatever it was, feeling it make its way up his throat again, but he swallowed it back down. He put the goblet back on the shield shakenly. "What was that?" He asked, trying to sound interested though his belly protested against the drink by only mentioning it.
"I call it yaknog! It's the newest Snoggletog tradition here on Berk," She squealed, smiling from ear to ear. Hiccup tried to smile, but couldn't as the drink tried to escape his stomach once again. Now he could only guess that Snotlout had been another victim of her drink. "So, are you ready for tonight?" She asked, trying to start a conversation.
"Yeah, can't wait," Hiccup said, almost sounding convincing. He really was excited about the dance and finally having the opportunity to dance with her, but there were so many thoughts in his head at the moment that his mood didn't allow anything near happiness. Unfortunately, Astrid noticed.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked, her happiness fading into worriedness. Hiccup was about to answer to her question when the rest of their friends came over. They greeted them and stared back and forth in attempt to blend into their conversation. Hiccup sighed, looking down for a few seconds before he looked back up.
"Could you guys…meet me at the academy tomorrow after lunch?" He asked hopefully. They turned to look at him questioningly.
"Why? Something wrong?" Fishlegs asked worriedly. Hiccup gave him a small smile and a chuckle.
"I'll tell you tomorrow," With that, he walked off. The other's just shrugged and went back to what they were previously doing.
Hiccup entered the forge to find it empty. A smile stretched across his lips from the quietness. He loved spending some time in his own part of the forge whenever Gobber wasn't around to pound any metal that usually gave him a headache since he was thinking or concentrating mostly out of that section.
He went through the back door with his notebook and pen in hand, sitting down on the edge of the cliff as he looked out over the horizon, expecting any sign of dragons. The Berkians hadn't seen a single dragon in three days and were losing the hope, but Hiccup never would. He believes that the dragons had a reason to leave like they did and come back with an obvious reason to all the dragon disaster.
"Toothless… Where are you bud?" Hiccup whispered, looking up at the moon, it was still pretty early in the morning and the moon had decided to stay up a little longer just like every other Snoggletog. Whenever he looked at the moon, he felt…safe. As if someone was always watching over him but he couldn't put the finger on what or whom it may be. Eventually, he learned to leave the thought behind and enjoy the company he got.
"Oh no! Get back here!" A Viking yelled, running down a hill. Hiccup looked down beneath his feet to see a Viking dropping his staff and run after a…sheep on a sliding plank? Hiccup rubbed his eyes, unsure if he was actually seeing it or just hallucinating again. It was real. The sheep shrieked in surprise as it slid down a few stairs covered in snow and ice, landing on the ground shortly after being thrown in the air. Hiccup let out a small chuckle, somehow enjoying watching the sheep. It seemed fun.
Hiccup's eyes widened, a smile stretched from ear to ear. He had a job to do.