Hicca waited till Gobber had left from his spot outside the front door, obviously waiting for her to try and sneak back out. As soon as she heard the tell-tale click of his prosthetic leg against the stone steps she quickly made her way out the back of the house, escaping into the forest that was a mere stone's throw away from the back of the house. Meanwhile Stoick had called a meeting for the villagers in the food hall, the people gathered around the main table, a map spread across the top surface.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us!" Stoick yelled, pointing to places on the map, "It's the only way we'll be rid of them. If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home!" he announced, stabbing his knife into the map where they had estimated the location of the nest to be. "One more search before the ice sets in," he commanded, looking around at his people with steady eyes. "Those ships never come back," a random voice called out from the crowd and Stoick couldn't help but agree with him in his head.

"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?!" he asked, pushing his own fears to the side. No one in the hall raised their hand; each of them had families to look after especially now winter was coming. "Count me out." "Today's no good for me." "I have to do my axe returns." Came the same murmurs throughout the hall, each Viking looking away ashamed of their cowardice. "Alright. Those who stay will look after Hicca," Stoick declared, standing up to his full height. "To the ships! I'm with you!" came the yells as every Viking in the hall raised their hands to come, each more afraid of Hicca than of never coming back.

"That's more like it," he muttered satisfied, Gobber placed his now empty mug-hand down by his side and walked over to join Stoick, "Right, I'll pack my undies," he said, his eyes blurring slightly. "No. I need you to stay here and train some new recruits," Stoick said, sitting down on the bench as Gobber scoffed. "Perfect. And while I'm busy, Hicca can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to herself, what could possibly go wrong?" he offered sarcastically, throwing his good hand up in the air. "Uh, what am I going to do with her, Gobber?" Stoick sighed, slamming his fist down in frustration.

"Put her in training with the others," Gobber suggested, turning to look at his long-time friend, "No, I'm serious," Stoick scoffed, "So am I," Gobber stressed. "She'd be killed before you let the first dragon is out of its cage," he said sadly, "You don't know that" Gobber told him, turning back to his mead as he stuck up for Hicca, "I do, actually," Stoick responded, "No, you don't" "No, I do" "No, you don't," Gobber exclaimed, finally fed up with this, he turned and watched as Stoick stuck his hands on his hips and leaned forward, "Listen, you don't know what she's like. From the time she could crawl, she's been… different. She doesn't listen. She has the attention span of a sparrow. I take her fishing and she goes hunting for trolls!" Stoick finished, finally stopping his pacing to look back at Gobber who was immersed in finding a hard object in his mug.

"Trolls exist. They steal your socks. But only the left ones, what's with that?" Gobber wondered, turning back around as Stoick tried to explain his reluctance. "When I was a boy…" Stoick started, "Here we go," Gobber sighed, used to hearing this story every time Hicca did something wrong. "…my father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?" Stoick asked rhetorically, "You got a headache," Gobber pretended to guess but knew what was coming. "That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, and tame seas!" Stoick finally finished his rant and went back to Gobber's side, falling back down onto the bench.

"Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become. Hicca is not like that Gobber" Stoick said dejectedly, "You can't stop her Stoick. You can only prepare her. I know it seems hopeless, but you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again. She's probably out there right now," Gobber confessed, finally facing Stoick as the Chief's face set in a scowl of determination. "Thanks Gobber," he said, standing up and leaving the hall.

***************************LINE BREAK***************************

Hicca was moving steadily across the island, her notebook with a map of the entire forest and wilderness was marked with lots of tiny black crosses, places she had searched for the Night Fury she had shot down. A thought entered her head, what if it managed to get free from its bonds and was now stalking the person who shot it down, she dismissed that almost at once, it wouldn't do to dwell on scenarios like that when she was all alone. She took one last look at the area she was in then marked it off her map with a sigh of annoyance.

She finally drew a giant scribble across her map, fed up with not getting anywhere. "Oh the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No not me I manage to lose an entire dragon," she huffed aloud. She stopped to consider what Gobber had said, he was partly right sure her dad hated what was on the inside but he disliked what was on the outside almost as much. She glanced down her body, she was meant to be born a boy, maybe then her father would be proud of her. Her dark hair looked half red and half brown with tiny streaks bleached blond by the sun. Her eyes were wide and anime liked, her eyes were a rarity on berk where most people either had small beady eyes where you couldn't see the colour or if you could they were brown, blue or sometimes silvery grey like Tuffnut's. She inherited her eyes from her mother; they were a deep emerald green with flecks of silver that made her eyes shine in the sun.

Her face was oval shaped with a sharp button nose and a group of freckles dotted across the bridge of it and over a tiny bit of her cheeks. She was quite mature for her age and had lots of curves in all the right places but every morning she bound her chest so it made her look more like a boy, she didn't want to give anyone another reason to pick on her. Astrid and Ruffnut knew that she bound her chest, they did the same thing but not tightly like her, they weren't trying to hide their chests they were just trying to make it more comfortable under their armour.

It was an unspoken rule among the girls that no matter what they said during the teasing sessions they never mention the wrappings they wore under their clothes, it was embarrassing to talk about around the boys as they were so immature for their age. Unfortunately for Hicca even with the bindings her chest was bigger than the other two girls so she was often teased. Her clothes were a mixture of both the girls' and the boys' styles. She wore a long sleeved shirt that went to just below her hip and was black, held together by a black criss cross of ties. She wore a blue undershirt and a matching pair of tights that tucked into a pair of brown leather boots with fur inside. A bronze belt made of two linked pieces of steel was wrapped around her waist and she often wore a necklace made of gold and silver beads. Her long hair when loose went to her waist in small waves and ringlets but she plaited it every morning so that the others kids didn't tease her.

She was different in every way on Berk from her eyes, to her clothes to her hair, her hair that he had inherited from her mother as all the Vikings on Berk had straight hair that only looked different when it became matted and group together like her father's beard. Not many people knew how her hair really looked only her father, Gobber and the elder had ever seen her with it down but never told anyone as she was already enough of an outcast and a disappointment. She huffed in exasperation and smacked aside the tree branch that was hanging in front of her, it came swinging back with a vengeance and she had no time to shield her face.

"Ow!" she shrieked, reaching up to cover her eye then slowly lowered it as her eyes followed the branch to the trunk only to see it split in two, the half facing the bottom of the hill was nearly broken from the top and had bent into a u shape. Her eyes followed the path in which it had bent and her eyes lit up as she recognised deep gouges in the ground that had been made by something exceptionally heavy.

She slowly made her way down the steep hill, suspiciously inspecting the tracks in the dirt, she turned her head just in time to see a huge dark shape on the ground over the side of the hill, she gasped and ducked, her breathing coming out in short pants. She raised her head carefully, her eyes wide with fear and peeked over the edge, her mouth dropping open as she scrambled for her knife, holding it carefully in both hands as she moved in minuscule steps towards the shape.

She slowly looked around the rock and saw it was a black dragon; it had never been recorded so Hicca was certain that this was the legendary night fury. "Oh, wow. I did it!" she exclaimed amazed, "Ohhhh I did it. This fixes everything! Yes!" she cheered, moving forward a few steps and gesturing towards the black dragon. Everything would be good from now on, her father would be proud, the other teenagers would look up to her and Tuffnut would… she cut off her train of thinking, he wasn't important to her, he had tortured her for years.

"I have brought down this mighty beast!" she placed a foot on its neck envisioning herself in front of the village with the dragon at her feet. A loud groan from beneath her forced her back against the large boulder, her hand with the knife flat against the rock as she slightly cowered. The dragon shifted slightly in its bonds and breathed heavily, its eyes still closed, Hicca advanced on it cautiously, her small dagger that belonged to her mother was clutched in her hand and pointed towards the neck.

She shifted her eyes along its body noticing the way the bolas had wound around it stopped it from moving, keeping its legs restrained against its body. Her eyes moved up its body until she stopped on its face, the eye facing her was wide open, forest green, a shade lighter than her own but with a slitted pupil like a cats' eye. She saw the fear in its eye, the fear of death. She turned slowly away and moved her knife up, keeping a firm grip on it as her hand wavered slightly, against her will her eyes moved to meet that of the dragon; she was taking short breaths now, attempting to put its pleading gaze out of her mind.

"I'm going to kill you, dragon. Then I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I am a Viking. I am a Viking!" she exclaimed almost as if she was trying to convince herself of that fact. She lifted the dagger over her head, trying to ignore the moan of pain from the dragon as it continued to gaze steadily at her. She closed her eyes but opened one at the last second, meeting the gaze of the dragon; she shook her head and closed her eyes, once again drawing the dagger back over her head. The dragon gave a wail and closed its eye, letting its head drop back down to the earthy ground as it accepted its fate.

Hicca made one last attempt to thrust the dagger downwards but stopped, letting it drop along with her closed fists onto her head, groaning in annoyance. She lowered her hands off her head and gazed at it, turning her attention back to the dragon and its bonds, "I did this," she muttered ashamed of how she had acted. She turned to go but something stopped her, a tiny voice at the back of her head telling her that it she left the dragon here bond and helpless it would be just as dead if she had plunged a dagger into its heart.

She turned back and against her better judgement began to saw at the ropes, watching with satisfaction as they gave way beneath the knife and kept sawing. As the final rope came undone the dragon suddenly moved, it gave a loud roar and turned, pouncing on Hicca so she was shoved back against the boulder with a loud gasp, the Night Fury's paw was around her throat, holding her against the rock and she cringed internally it showed on the outside with loud gasps, preparing for the end she was sure was about to come. The dragons head came closer and closer until she was staring directly into its green eyes, once she was closer she noticed that they were not only green but had bolts of blue and yellow running through them giving off the impression of electricity.

Aodh stared down at the peculiar human female; she was not like the others on this island. They were big, loud, strong and brave. They were without mercy or compassion so why was this small, weak looking girl letting him go. Surely she knew that the second it had happened he would have killed her yet she didn't kill him, she let him go. Aodh was honourable; he would spare her life in return for setting him free. Aodh had often heard on his travels that the eyes were the windows to the human soul yet he had never seen those quite like hers, they were wide and fearful yet full of hope and wonder, there was something else there something that made her different from the others on this island with their brutish manners.

She cringed back as he reared up, his jaw opening, she did not yet know he would spare her life, however she must be punished for shooting him down in the first place. He opened his mouth as wide as it would go and leant down, roaring as loudly as he could in her face to scare her before turning and throwing himself into the air. He could tell almost instantly that something was wrong as he veered and struggled to glide before crashing several times and landing in a small cove with a lake and many hiding places.

Hicca fell back against the rock, the night fury had just let her live, she had snatched it from the sky and yet it still let her live. She watched in concern as it thudded into several trees and rock faces before gradually lowering into a small cove. She stood back up and managed to walk several paces before she collapsed, her knife dropping from her hand. It had been nearly a day since she ate and that coupled with the stress of the past few hours took its toll, leaving her passed out on the forest floor.

She woke several hours later when it was beginning to get dark and began stumbling back through the forest; going blindly down the paths that she was certain would lead her to the village. Her steps were sluggish and slow, her head throbbed from hitting it on the ground when she collapsed and the lack of food and water was affecting her body. She could vaguely make out the shapes of buildings in the distance and clutched a nearby tree, trying desperately to keep going. She saw a small figure making its way towards her but her eyes were becoming fuzzy and she was finding it more and more difficult to stand.

Just before she collapsed she felt a strong arm wind around her waist and another under her knees, lifting her up against a hard chest, "What's wrong with you?" she heard a familiar voice ask but she was to dizzy to pinpoint it, she recognised what she was sure to be blond hair and her brain went haywire trying to figure out the name of her rescuer.

Tuffnut sighed, looking down at the nearly unconscious girl in his arms. He had been out practising with his axes, preparing the first day of training tomorrow when he spotted her stumbling out of the forest, she had been missing since before breakfast so it was no doubt she was hungry and dehydrated. He noticed a small bruise forming on her forehead that hadn't been there this morning he knew because he was watching her again… no! No he wasn't his eyes simply wanted to look in that direction and she was in the way. He seemed to noticed for the first time just how light she was, he and his twin were about the same size and build yet they still weighed quite a bit, she was tiny with a petite frame and an even smaller weight.

He began to feel worried, it seemed like she was wasting away slowly. He pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear that had fallen out from her tight plaits, racking his brain to try and remember when he had last seen her without them in, then came to the startling conclusion that he had never seen her with her hair down, even Astrid and his sister let their hair down when they weren't fighting or working during dragon raids. He looked up and noticed that he was almost at her house, he took a final look at the girl in his arms and realised that with the way he was carrying her someone could misinterpret the situation.

He stopped a bit back from her door and gently set her down, waiting till she was standing before turning to leave, "Thank you Tuffnut," he heard a small voice say from behind him. He turned back around to see Hicca leaning against the door and rubbing her eyes like a little child. He nodded once and spun on his heel, moving quickly down the long stairs back to the village, he chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw Hicca pushing open the door, allowing it to close behind her with a dull thud. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and hurried home, knowing that his mother would begin to worry he had been carried off by dragons.

Hicca slowly entered the house, trying to be as quiet as she could so she wouldn't alert her father to her presence, she should have been home hours ago. It was a miracle that Tuffnut was even out there, even more so that he willingly helped her. She could still smell the spicy scent that was distinctly him; remember the way his arms had held her close as if she was a precious bundle. She shook her head annoyed, she did not like Tuffnut, he had spent most of his life torturing her and that was not about to change just because he helped her once.

She spotted her dad by the fire and grimaced, tiptoeing towards the stairs as quickly as she dared; she was halfway up when she heard a voice behind her. "Hicca," Stoick straightened up and Hicca stopped, cringing when she realised she had been caught, "Dad! I have to uh… talk to you, Dad" she responded civilly. "I need to speak with you too son," Stoick said, heaving himself out of his seat and facing Hicca. "I don't want to fight dragons," "It's time you learn to fight dragons," they both said at the same time. "What?" they both asked, facing each other as they tried to decipher what was said in the jumble of words.

"Uh, you first," Stoick offered. "No, you go first," Hicca offered, slowly climbing back down the ladder. "All right. You get your wish. Dragon Training… you start in the morning" Stoick said, drawing himself up and placing his hands on his hips. "Oh, man, I should have gone first," Hicca said balancing her elbow on her wrist and placing her chin on her fist. "Uh cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings or small-home-repair Vikings?" Hicca asked, twirling her hands together as a nervous habit.

"You'll need this," Stoick said, cutting her off and dropping a large single-sided axe in Hicca's arms that was nearly as tall as she was and probably weighed more. "I don't want to fight dragons," Hicca explained exasperated, Stoick chuckled, "Oh come one. Yes, you do," he grinned, turning and walking away, "Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons," Hicca raised her voice to try and get her point across, "But you will kill dragons," Stoick stated like it was obvious, "No, I'm really very extra-sure that I won't," Hicca was by now nearly collapsing under the weight of her axe.

"It's time Hicca," Stoick said seriously, "Can you not hear me?" Hicca asked incuriously, "This is serious Hicca. When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you" Stoick stressed, Hicca resisted the urge to comment that that must be why it was so heavy. "Which means you walk like us, you talk like us… you think like us. No more of this," Stoick finished, gesturing to Hicca, "You just gestured to all of me," she deadpanned, seeing the similarities between Stoick and Gobber. "Deal?" Stoick questioned, "This conversation is feeling very one-sided," Hicca said, shrugging her shoulders, "Deal?" Stoick said a bit more forcibly, "Deal," Hicca sighed, finally allowing the axe to drop.

"Good," Stoick stated, hoisting a large sack over his shoulder "Train hard, I'll be back. Probably," Stoick said awkwardly, placing his helmet on his head and opening the door and leaving with a bang, "And I'll be here. Maybe" Hicca offered weakly, staring dejectedly after her father.

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