4) The funny thing about plans…

The next morning Hiccup woke up at dawn with eyes of determination. His time was limited since he figured Dagur wasn't patient enough for him to have months in order to pull of this scheme that was forced upon him. He probably only had a couple of days before the Berserkers would come and look for him and Toothless and they won't care if they attacked Berk while they were at it. So he had used the rest of the day yesterday to plan out how he was going to steal the most protected sword on Berk and more importantly how to do it without getting caught. Hiccup was lucky that Vikings weren't much about brains like him, but he won't want to underestimate their brawn so it was better if he made a plan that avoided being confronted directly. The only thing that worried Hiccup about the situation was that he might have to confront his dad and might even had to hurt him and the rest of the village just to save his friends and probably also his own village from attack by the Berserkers.

Toothless opened up his eyes and stared at his friend, who was sitting on the ground drawing something in the dirt. Toothless snuck up and looked over Hiccups shoulder to see what he was drawing and was pleased to see it was a drawing of him. He turned to look at Hiccup's face to see the same pleased expression on his face, but was quickly sadden when he saw his friend looking guilty and distraught. Toothless had a few ideas that it had something to do with the village and what had happened yesterday. Though Toothless had been slightly upset that Hiccup didn't bring any fish back, but concern instantly took over once he heard what had happen from the Nightmare Hiccup had brought along with him. Toothless purred in comfort and pushed his snout into Hiccup's shoulder and Hiccup turned his head and his sad expression changed instantly into a happy face.

"Hey Bud," Hiccup smiled and petted Toothless head gently. "Shall we try and fish some breakfast in the lake?"

Toothless made a sound of excitement and he began to jump around, impatiently that his rider was taking so long to grab everything he needed to fish in the lake. Hiccup laughed, grabbed the couple of wood sticks he needed for the fish and followed his dragon. Hiccup was glad that Toothless managed to cheer him up from all these distraught feelings that he was having on stealing one of Berk's many treasures that have been passed down for over seven generations. Whatever the consequences were going to be for what he had planned to do, he was determined to do everything he could to keep the dragons and the people he still loved and cared about. Even if it meant that he had to betray the ones he cared about.

Stoick couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the arena. It was unbelievable that a thin young man managed to calm down a Monstrous Nightmare without harming it, but also managed to climb onto its back and ride it like some common horse. Having an ability to tame such rough and uncontrollable beasts, it's unheard off and even a disgrace for cuddling with those creatures. That mysterious man couldn't even be considered a Viking, if he was willingly allowing himself to associate with those beasts.

"Chief, we could use your help with gathering those yaks," Hoark said. Stoick turned his attention on one of the men in the village. He really didn't have the time to think about that traitor when he had a village to run, especially when the villagers were in desperate need for his help.

"Alright, I'll be right with you," Stoick answered and followed after Hoark to get those yaks under control.

"Look, the plan is simple. You two distract the villagers while I try and make a sketch of the sword," Hiccup said seriously. The first step of the plan required him getting a closer look at the sword and possibly see how guarded the sword was. Even though the sword wasn't often used in combat or against dragons, his dad wasn't stupid enough to leave the sword in plain sight so anyone could take it. Hiccup didn't even know where his dad might have hidden it, but he figured that over the time he grew up with his father the most likely places he would keep the sword was either in the Great Hall or his dad's bedchambers. It was the only two places Hiccup hadn't paid most attention to when he observed the things around him and his dad had most control over and kept guarded. So Hiccup had planned to use Toothless and the Nightmare as a distraction and direct the Vikings attention away from him looking for the sword. It was a simple plan, but unfortunately Toothless wasn't agreeable on the fact that he was going to be alone when he was roaming the village, especially after what had happened yesterday. Besides Hiccup could no longer blend in with the environment like he used to do five years ago, when he was dressed the way he was and having a prosthetic leg didn't help either.

"Bud, I don't see any other way if you wouldn't let me go into the village, " Hiccup argued when he saw Toothless glaring at him. Toothless was signalizing that he didn't believe him, but Hiccup wasn't about to give up on this opportunity. "Please, Toothless."

Toothless was still not ready to give up on the fight, but was starting to lose his ground when Hiccup pleaded once again Toothless couldn't refuse him. So Toothless nodded his head for a second, but Hiccup managed to see it and knew that he had his friend's approval.

"Thank you Bud," Hiccup said gently, while he stroked Toothless head. "I promise that nothing is going to happen to me and if it does then I will call for you. Does that sound okay for you?"

Toothless purred in agreement and slightly began cuddling into Hiccup's hands. He loved doing that whenever he had the chance. It was some kind of reassurance for both Hiccup and him. They both understood and cared for each other in a different way than the way normal people did. Most importantly they would always place each other's need before their own like Toothless had been doing, thinking about what might have been best for Hiccup, but if Hiccup thought that he could do something then Toothless didn't doubt that he could.

"Time to get going, Bud," Hiccup said confidently as he climbed onto Toothless's back and flew towards the village.

Hiccup was dropped off not far from the village, but far enough so the Vikings spotted neither Toothless nor the Nightmare. He gave Toothless one last reassuring look before Toothless flew off with his self-controlled prosthetic. He knew that Toothless didn't like to fly anymore alone, not after he had met Hiccup and started to ride on him, but it was for the best that the village didn't see him again. So Hiccup began sneaking behind houses and shops, first making his way towards the Great Hall.

They all were gathered in the Great Hall to discuss the events that had happened yesterday with a stranger entering the arena and got out by riding on the back of a dragon. Suddenly a loud roar was heard from the outside and all the Vikings hurried out to see if they were being raided once again despite having a peaceful period between them and the dragons for the last five years. Stoick and Gobber weren't far behind the rest of the Vikings and were shocked to see the Nightmare that had escape yesterday attacking their houses by setting it on fire. Some women and children were screaming in fear of being caught fire while the rest of the Vikings charged towards the Nightmare with every admissible weapon they could find. Though Stoick found the attack form being reckless because it was only one dragon, not an army. However Stoick quickly changed his mind when he heard the screaming sound pierce through the air and hit one of the catapults.

"NIGHT FURY!" Gobber yelled out while slight getting down on the ground. "GET DOWN!"

The Vikings followed the order without any hesitation, since they obviously never encountered a Night Fury up close. However the Night Fury just stayed on the sidelines, never once coming close enough for them to get a good view of the dragon or get a good shot hurting the beast. Obviously the Nightmare was the main attack source and that was enough to keep the men on their toes because this dragon was tough and unwilling to give up without a fight. Stoick felt the adrenaline pumping when he helped the others fighting the Nightmare. It's been a long time since the last dragon raid and other than what had happened in arena, nothing had really kept Stoick's motivation other than run the village. His wife was lost and his only son and heir had run away and most likely gotten himself killed by some dragon. The worst part was that he couldn't even avenge his son, but maybe by killing some dragons he could justify the disappointment he was as Hiccup's father.

Stoick started to think there was something strange about this attack. The dragons wasn't after the sheep or their food stock, all they did was attack the houses without hurting any of the Vikings. Dragons didn't care about anything, so why would they attack in such manner without reaching their goal. If it was so, then what was really their goal?

Sneaking in to the Great Hall hadn't been very difficult, but searching for the sword proved to be a lot harder than what Hiccup had anticipated. The Great Hall was too big for him to search on his own, but he figured that his dad wasn't going to place it somewhere in clear sight. He had searched every chair, table and floorboard and come up with nothing. Hiccup could only assume that the sword wasn't here, so that meant that it might be at his dad's house. Hiccup had really hoped that the sword was in the Great Hall because no one would be suspicious if someone was in there, but his dad's house was another story. Despite having an open door policy, there was a difference in visiting the Chief's house and actually entering the house. As long as he could remember no one other than Gobber had ever been inside the house and even he didn't follow Hiccup inside whenever he had messed-up one of the dragon raids. So how in Thor's name was he going to appear unsuspicious around his dad's house?

Hiccup had no idea, but he had to try at least. Hiccup looked around and saw a big left boot on the floor. He picked up the boot to see if it would fit to hide his prosthetic and surprisingly it did, but whoever owned the boot had terribly smelly feet. It was strong enough to knock someone out and Hiccup suspected it might be Snotlout or Tuffnut who owned the boot, since they were champions in that department as long as he could remember. The thought over wearing neither one of their boots were revolting, but he didn't have time to be picky since Toothless and the Nightmare couldn't keep off the Vikings forever. So Hiccup swallowed his pride and put on the boot and left the Great Hall and ran towards his dad's house.

Astrid was running to well to get some water to let out the fire the dragons were setting on the houses. Normally she would help out with offense, but she thought that she was more useful by trying to save the houses. Another reason was that she thought the attack was too weird considering whom they were fighting with. It almost seemed like it was staged to keep them distracted and the real action was going on somewhere else. She didn't like it that they might be played into some game that could cause their lives, but who could control these dragons and make them do such command? Was it the mysterious stranger from the arena?

Astrid was so distracted by her thoughts that she almost didn't notice a guy walking up the hill towards the Chief's house. Astrid grew suspicious of this; there was no reason for someone to go up to the Chief's house since he was fighting the dragons. So why would anyone go up there? She didn't know, but she was going to find out. She looked around to see if anyone was around before she began following him.

Hiccup entered his dad's house and was surprised to see how everything was undisturbed exactly as he had left it. His dad must have been too busy taking care of the village and not spending much time at home. Hiccup went up the stairs and he could hear a small squeak on one of the steps, but he continued up to the second floor. When he began approaching his dad's bedroom he was starting to get a little nervous, he had never been in his father's room and now all of sudden he was going to break his father's privacy. Hiccup took a deep sigh and opened his dad's bedroom.

His dad's bedroom was similar to his room, but he remembered his room for being messy with sketches of people and multiple inventions. His dad was actually able to keep things fairly clean with weapons lying around the room. Swords, axes and even a couple of bolas were surround his bed and leaning against the wall, but Hiccup saw immediately the weapon he was looking for. The Sword of Berk stood beside his father's bed and it was particularly dazzling. The sword was made as typical Viking sword with a double-edge blade and a one-handed hilt with pommel. What made it most special in appearance were the golden rune inscriptions on the blade, which was unusual for a Viking sword and very challenging for a blacksmith to even make a copy off. Hiccup had always loved a challenge, so trying to make a copy would be considered a perfect challenge. So he pulled up his sketchbook and began drawing the sword with close detail. He was glad that he was a fast drawer as he was doing finishing touches of the drawing, since he could hear from his father's bedroom window that Toothless and the Nightmare was starting to run flow on fire power and the Vikings were going to use it to their advantage if they could.

"Looks good, it works," Hiccup mumbled to himself before closing his sketchbook. "I hope nothing have happened to Toothless and the Nightmare."

Hiccup made sure that he had placed the sword the same way he had found it before leaving the room and almost ran down the stairs. Knowing how clumsy he could be, he was surprised that he didn't trip on the stairs like used to do. He forgot sometimes that he had grown up to be man, instead thought about him as being the awkward and useless boy he used to be when he lived here on Berk. Hiccup was so lost in those thoughts that he didn't see right away what was in front of him when he opened the door. It wasn't until he heard and almost felt a sharp blade swung at him. He barely dodged it and took a step back to see who was attacking him. His forest green eyes widen when he saw Astrid at the door with an axe in her hand and a furious expression on her face. Hiccup knew immediately that he was in deep trouble and the well-thought plan was definitely going astray now.

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New chapter, so I hope you will like it. It might seemed a little fast-paced, but the plan is that this story isn't going to be twenty chapters or something like that. Since I will be start studying at the university soon I wouldn't have the same time and energy to write stories, but I will complete my story as well as my other stories when I get on it. However I will put my time on completing two stories and this one is one of them. So please be patient and I will try write whenever I can.

While I'm on it, I should tell you that I don't own HTTYD or any of the characters. The only thing I own is the storyline. I actually forgot to mention it before, but I guess most of you know that. I had to at least remind people the fact since many here forget to mention it and it says here on the rules for the site that we have to disclaim ownership on what we are writing about (other than the story, sometimes though).

Anyway I want to thank you for the reviews, followings and favorites. I hope that you will continue doing so and of course I like getting PM from you guys, since it's a lot more personal. So if you want to do that then feel free to do so.

xXrebelgirl07Xx