Safe Out of Sight Chapter 4, a how to train your dragon fanfic

"You'll be better of there where there's nothing to choose so there's nothing to lose…" ~ On the Steps of the Palace: Into the Woods

Chapter Four

Stoick was pleasantly surprised. Never in Berk's history had the hall buzzed with so much activity at the Thing that officially commenced the Winternights feast. The prevailing gaiety amongst the villagers was certainly a breath of fresh air for the chief, as winter was usually met with a shortage of food, ill health, and generally dismal moods from the Hooligans. Frankly, he was pleased.

As the chief took his place at the head of the hall, he nearly burst with pride. Tonight, his son was to take the seat next to him. Hiccup would aid in presiding over the meeting at his right hand, and, best of all, Stoick was confident the boy would do so with flying colors. Hiccup had shaken any and all doubts in his competence from the villagers' minds; he was finally fit to lead in their eyes. He had earned the respect, admiration even, of his people, and Stoick was finally certain that he would grow easily into his position. Surely Hiccup would come to realize this in time, just as Stoick had.

For the time being, the chief decided, he had to focus on the present. His thoughts returned to his immediate surroundings as he surveyed the hall, searching the crowd for his son, but failed to spot him amidst the hubbub. Hiccup appeared to be late, as per usual. However, instead of becoming agitated, the chief chuckled to himself and shook his head. The boy would surely learn. Eventually.

In the meantime, the assembly would have to begin without him. Stoick rose to his feet, preparing to call the Hooligans to attention, but paused when the great oak doors of the hall creaked open. A chilly gust of air splintered the warm atmosphere of the hall as the door was slammed shut. Stoick grinned, preparing to call his son to his side, but it was not Hiccup who entered.

"Gobber," Stoick addresses him, mildly perplexed. "I'd thought yeh were here already."

"Aye, I was cleanin' up the stall, puttin' Hiccup's repaired riding gear in the stables and such…" The man trailed, breaking eye-contact with the chief and biting his lip, suddenly unsure if he wanted to push the topic forward. He glanced around the hall as if looking for someone else to break the news for him.

"And?"

"And yer son is doin' a fine job with his craftsmanship. Excellent work," Gobber said quickly, taking his seat at Stoick's left. Swiftly, he lifted his tankard to his lips, continuing to avoid direct eye-contact. This, however, did not deter the chief.

"Good tae hear," he said, seating himself next to the blacksmith, whose face was still hidden in his tankard. "Yeh wouldn't happen tae know where Hiccup is, would yeh?"

Gobber nonchalantly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Nope."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"No idea?"

"Not a clue." The blacksmith absently inspected his empty mug, ensuring that there was no liquid clinging to the bottom. Stoick raised an eyebrow.

"Gobber…"

The man turned, finally conceding to look at Stoick and sighed, resigned. "Hiccup's riding gear was missing," Gobber said, almost confessing.

For a moment, Stoick did little to mask the hurt from his features. He had really begun to believe that Hiccup was becoming more accepting of his role; he had been spending more and more of his time in the village and the forge rather than Thor-knows-where with his dragon. He truly thought Hiccup was taking his advice to heart.

This was to be Hiccup's first official appearance at a Thing as his heir. As the future chief. And he was absent in favor of taking an ill-times joyride with his dragon. The hurt welling in Stoick's chest quickly boiled into frustration.

"Yeh're sure he's not here?" His voice was low, gruff.

"Aye," Gobber nodded. "I don' think he'll be joining us tonight."

Stoick hadn't truly needed the confirmation; despite how much he wanted to believe he had gotten through to the boy, he knew deep down that Hiccup wouldn't be in attendance that night.

The brief confidence Stoick had felt receded again to worry. A day would come when his son would be obliged to not only aid, but to lead the village. He only hoped that that time would not come until Hiccup was properly prepared.

Again Stoick rose to commence the assembly. Though the meeting carried forward the same as any other winter, Stoick could not push the empty seat at his right from his mind. It glared at him from his periphery; a blaring omen that would not remove itself from his sight.

Pressure. That was all Hiccup could perceive in the blackness that clouded his consciousness when he finally came to: an immense pressure in his temples, his lungs, and his mind. Hiccup groaned, forcing his eyes open to take in his surroundings. His heart leapt to his throat when he could feel his eyelids working to stay open and still saw nothing but shadow.

"Toothless?" Hiccup muttered, fear making its presence painfully known in his racing pulse and shallow breathing even in his groggy state. Where was his dragon? Where was he? Hiccup attempted to identify his possible location, but found he was unable to recall much of the events preceding his recent awakening. He had gone to find Toothless in the cove, had chosen to go fishing in the final hours of daylight before his mandatory attendance at the Thing…

The anxiety that had begun to bubble in his stomach moments before boiled over into a full-fledged panic.

They fell. He and Toothless, the invincible duo had flailed and miserably crashed to the earth, forcibly dragged away from their blissful station in the sky and to a rude awakening on the ground.

"Toothless?" Hiccup called again, more desperation coloring his voice. Finding his strength, he tried to shift his weight, but found the pressure encasing him obstinate; he was not going to move.

In trying to use his muscles, Hiccup became painfully aware that his body was bruised and battered. Though certainly worse for wear, he was surprised yet pleased to discover he was not broken; given the height from which they fell, he would have expected to more severely injured, if not dead. As the pressure against him began to rhythmically rise and fall, Hiccup realized why he was alive at all.

"Toothless!" Hiccup struggled again to free himself from his place cocooned inside the dragon's wings. Realizing his human had regained consciousness, the dragon folded back his wings to allow the boy to move. When feeling returned to his limbs, Hiccup jumped quickly to his feet to check on Toothless. He immediately wished he hadn't. With a sickening grinding crunch of metal-on-metal, his prosthetic collapsed under his weight. Hiccup yelped in pain as he collapsed to the ground, the base of prosthetic cutting into the healing wound of his leg. Toothless raised his head at the commotion, whimpering.

"I'm okay, bud," Hiccup reassured him; it was the dragon's well-being, not his own, that worried him at the moment. Before moving again, Hiccup sat to inspect his prosthetic foot. The damage resided in the spring mechanism that allowed the bottommost plate of the limb to rebound when he stepped. Without the spring, the metal foot dangled uselessly from the remainder of the limb. Hiccup grimaced. Until he could find a way to repair the damaged mechanism, he would not be walking without Toothless' aid. And certainly would not be flying.

At the thought of the dragon, Hiccup immediately went to ensure he was unharmed. Scooting closer to Toothless' head, Hiccup gleaned as much information as he could from observing the dragon where he lay; he could see no major external injuries, but the lack of movement other than the steady rise and fall of his chest worried the boy.

"How're you doing, Toothless?" he asked, placing a hand on the dragon's snout. Toothless gurgled at the gesture, but failed to show any further evidence that he was unharmed. Instead he rested his head on the ground and let his eyelids droop, but appeared utterly exhausted rather than pained. Placated for the time being, Hiccup left Toothless' side to inspect his tail, impatient to identify the cause of their fall.

Any and all hopes of doing so were dashed the moment Hiccup laid eyes upon the tailfin; at least, what remained of it. The fin itself was mangled nearly beyond recognition, the red main frame shredded to pieces by the rocks. Kneeling down to look more closely at the pulley system, he saw the base of the cord had been similarly dismantled upon crashing. Hiccup realized, frustration piling on top of his frenzied emotions, that he may never be able to identify the cause of their fall.

Now unable to attribute the malfunction to a specific mechanical error, Hiccup couldn't shake the feeling that the recent stress on their friendship had somehow contributed to the fall. Even though he knew better, substituting any reason for the untraceable truth behind their crash eased his mind somewhat.

Running his hands across the mangled remnants of the tailfin, he grimaced at the destruction; it was beyond anything he could hope to repair without the proper tools at his disposal. They were stranded.

Until Hiccup could access a forge, returning to Berk was impossible.

Thankfully, the body of Toothless' harness was intact, saved by the wings that protected the dragon, as well as Hiccup, from severe injury. For the second time, Toothless had saved his life. A wave of gratitude washed through Hiccup and he allowed himself to breath; if he was stranded, he was eternally grateful it was with Toothless. Together, they would be fine.

Hiccup's attention was drawn again to the dragon when Toothless, seemingly responding to the boy's musings, perked up his head.

Leaving the destroyed tailfin, Hiccup returned to sit beside Toothless. His eyes were calm, soothing Hiccup's unraveling mind. The unrelenting tension that had continually run through the dragon's muscles for the past several days had disappeared. Though clearly still in need of time to recover from the ordeal, Toothless was more relaxed now than Hiccup had seen him in days.

Despite the pressure of managing a speedy return journey to Berk that now plagued him, Hiccup didn't feel the same weight in his chest that he had been carrying in the village. His impending chiefly duties, responsibilities, and father's expectations that had nearly suffocated him seemed distant to him now, unable to reach him where he sat with Toothless where the waves beat against the basalt columns under the peaceful glow of the night sky. The problems that vexed him now seemed simple in comparison, exciting even; mechanics and survival were things Hiccup understood, things he knew he and Toothless could face down together. He was confident that he could find a way to return to Berk before anyone even thought much of his absence. Leadership, attention, and responsibility on the other hand, he was forced to face very much alone. And those were problems Hiccup could not yet grasp.

A gentle nudge to his shoulder brought Hiccup back to his immediate surroundings. Toothless had stirred and now lay on his stomach rather than his side, his head lifted and eyes fully open, piercing in the dark.

"Feeling better, bud?" Hiccup asked, reaching to scratch the dragon's neck. In reply, the dragon awarded Hiccup a slobbery lick to the face. "Oh gods, ew! Toothless!" Hiccup protested, frantically smearing his sleeves across his face and hair to rid them of dragon slobber as best he could. Toothless, thoroughly amused, whuffed at his human as he swiped at his face; he wondered if Hiccup was aware of exactly how ridiculous he looked. Realizing his efforts were fruitless, Hiccup resigned himself to at least a day's worth of smelling like regurgitated fish.

Genuinely laughing for the first time in what felt like ages, Hiccup gave his dragon a scratch behind the ear-plate. At least he could take Toothless' actions to mean he was in good health.

"Looks like it's pretty late," Hiccup observed. The sky was speckling with stars, but the moon was not present among them; a new cycle was beginning.

Hiccup turned his attention to the trees that lined the inland horizon some distance from where they sat on the open rocks. They would have to seek adequate shelter in the woods for the night.

Understanding, Toothless rose, nosing his human to his feet as he did so. "Thanks, bud," Hiccup said smiling, leaning on the dragon for support.

They were beaten, but not broken. They would get through this.

Together the pair slowly made their way into the woods, leaving the suffocating pressure of the outside world behind them.

When the first streaks of sunlight finally broke over the horizon in the village of Berk, Stoick's anger over his son's absence the previous night disintegrated into worry. Somewhere in his subconscious, he had expected Hiccup's absence at the Thing the night before. Even his failure to return when night fell hadn't set Stoick on edge; the boy had spent the night outside their home before. But to still not return long after the sun had risen the following day?

Stoick would already be leading a search party in fear for his son's life had he not been accompanied by the Night Fury. The fact that Hiccup left no clue to where he was headed did not make any potential rescue missions any more plausible. The easiness with which Hiccup could slip away from the village was astounding. The chief would have spent more time revering the ability if it did not prove to be so infuriating.

"I'm sure he's fine." The abruptness of Gobber's voice didn't startle Stoick, accustomed to the blacksmith's sudden appearances. He stood calmly next to the chief, surveying the horizon from where the stood on the docks. Stoick knew better than to expect to see his son flying back towards them over the water, but couldn't bring himself to move regardless.

"I know."

"What's botherin' yeh then?"

Stoick kept his face turned towards the water, away from the other man. "Did I push him too hard, Gobber?"

"I'm not sure."

Stoick grimaced. "I thought we were startin' tae finally understand each other. I finally knew how tae do what was best for him."

Gobber clapped a hand on the man's shoulder. "It just takes time. He's changed, Stoick. But so have you."

"I know," he agreed, finally turning to address Gobber. "But still…" He couldn't help but glance back out at the empty sky.

"He's going tae come back," Gobber stated, reading the anxiety that creased the chief's brow. "Hiccup isn't the sort tae just up and leave."

"Yeh're right," Stoick sighed, but the abruptness and mystery that surrounded the boy's departure still perturbed him.

"He must have his reasons. He always does."

"Aye," Stoick agreed, grunting. "That he does." His worries were needless; Hiccup would be back.

Though his nerves would fare better if it were sooner rather than later.

Blah, filler.

I got this done quicker than I expected, but lots shorter.

Never fear, shit's gonna go down. Eventually.