Author's Note:

Hello everyone and here is chapter three. It holds more alterations and an additional scene, it also begins to deviate more from my original version and I think it'll do more of that as the story goes on. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Nadders and Suspicions

"You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?"

Hiccup gave a huge yelp and Snotlout hoped he hadn't been hit by the Nadder as he ran through the maze of movable walls, he guessed his cousin was fine as Gobber called from his position above the arena.

"FOCUS Hiccup! You're not even trying."

Snotlout quickly pressed himself against one of the walls as the Nadder jumped from wall to wall above him.

"Today…is all about attack. Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."

There was a squeal that could only have been made by Fishlegs, "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods."

Gobber carried on with his instructions regardless, "Look for its blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike."

There was a brief lull in noise and then two yelps which suggested the twins had just been spotted.

"Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much."

By now Snotlout was crouched by the end of one of the walls behind Astrid and he looked back to see Hiccup standing in plain view calling up to Gobber.

"So how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!"

"I know, I know, but hypothetically…"

"Hiccup!" Snotlout whispered earnestly at his cousin who then turned to him, "Get down."

He was glad when his cousin listened and crouched down behind him, he thought he could hear the Nadder around the corner and when Astrid quickly rolled forward to the next wall he soon followed suit. He turned just in time to see Hiccup get halted mid-roll by his shield and nearly get blasted by the dragon. They quickly rounded several other walls with the Nadder in pursuit, as Hiccup sprinted past them Snotlout and Astrid spun round to surprise attack the beast as it rounded the corner. Seeing his chance to prove that he was as good as Astrid, he stepped forward just as the creature appeared declaring boldly as he did, "I've got this!"

He mightily threw his mace at the approaching creature…for the Nadder to casually observe it as it harmlessly bounced of the wall beside it. He could feel Astrid's glare burning the back of his head and had a moment to experience his humiliation before the dragon breathed fire and they both had to start running again. He got separated from Astrid somewhere along the way and arrived at the edge of the ring to see Hiccup once again ignoring the teens running past him and speaking to Gobber.

"They probably take the daytime off. You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?"

"HICCUP!"

Everyone spun round at Astrid's yell to see her flying over the top of one of the walls as it collapsed, closely followed by the Nadder which had taken out all the other walls. She landed directly on top of Hiccup causing her axe to embed itself in his shield.

"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!"

"She could do better."

The twins unhelpfully sent in their comments from the sidelines as Hiccup and Astrid struggled to untangle. The Nadder was approaching fast and Snotlout began running to try and help. He needn't have bothered as Astrid planted her boot in Hiccup's chest and wrenched the now conjoined axe and shield from him and swung it at the dragon. The Nadder gave a cry of pain and surprise as the impromptu club smacked it in the face and it ran off in defeat.

"Well done Astrid." Gobber called as he hurried to the arena entrance to get the Nadder in its pen. The girl however ignored the praise and whirled upon Hiccup who was still curled on the ground.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parents war is about to become ours." She pointed her axe at him, "Figure out which side you're on."

"Why don't you lay off him Astrid?!" Snotlout snarled as he stood between her and his cousin and glared right back at her.

"Why do you keep defending him?! He's completely unfocused, can barely wield a weapon and keeps getting in the way!" Astrid demanded.

"Because he's way better than any of the rest of you!" Snotlout snapped and would have continued if Hiccup didn't place a hand on his shoulder.

"Snotlout, leave it."

The younger cousin turned round, "But Hiccup…"

Hiccup shook his head, "Its fine Snotlout, just leave it."

Snotlout gave a disgruntled growl but settled for giving Astrid another glare which she returned before she stormed off out of the arena, the twins left sniggering and Fishlegs scurried out after them. When they'd gone Snotlout turned back to his cousin, "Why did you stop me Hiccup?"

The older cousin sighed, "Because if I didn't you and Astrid would have ended up fighting, as in properly fighting."

Hiccup had begun leaving the arena as he spoke and Snotlout quickly caught up, "I could've taken her on easily."

Hiccup sighed again, "That's not the point. You're not supposed to be getting into fights with the others, dad has told you that several times."

"I know but I hate just letting them all mouth off like." Snotlout looked down, "Why do they always pick on us?"

Hiccup didn't answer but looked away almost guiltily and they stayed silent for a while. Eventually Hiccup spoke again, "Snotlout, there's something I've got to go and do, are you okay if I'm gone for a while?"

Snotlout looked up in confusion, "What are you doing?"

Hiccup fidgeted with his hands as he answered, "I can't tell you but I really need to do it, okay?"

"Okay."

Hiccup smiled, "Thanks Snotlout, I'll see you later."

Hiccup hurried off once again leaving Snotlout standing alone, "See you later."

Snotlout tried to find things to do but without Hiccup around there wasn't really anyone he could hang around with leaving him with fairly limited options. He attempted another assault on the Dragon Manual but, in absence of Hiccup to help him, was defeated by it and eventually went to practice throwing his mace accurately. As night approached Gobber came to speak to him.

"Snotlout, forget going to the Great Hall to eat. I want you and the rest of the recruits to meet me on the old catapult tower as soon as possible, understand?"

"Snotlout nodded, "Yes sir."

"Good, oh and tell Hiccup if you see him on yer way."

"Yes sir."

As the man shambled off, Snotlout made to head to the tower before realising that he should tell his cousin what was happening and headed towards the Great Hall instead in case he was there. He saw Hiccup just as the older cousin was entering it and called out to him, "Hey Hiccup!"

His cousin turned and waited as he ran towards him, "Yeah?"

Snotlout came to a halt at the base of the broad steps, "Gobber wants us to meet him at the old catapult tower now."

"Oh, okay."

Hiccup joined at the bottom of the steps and they both headed to the tower together in silence. Eventually Snotlout decided to speak, "So…what was the important thing you were doing today?"

Hiccup seemed to jerk as if he was deep in thought before answering, "Oh you know, nothing much. Just some…vikingy things."

"Vikingy things?"

"Yeah like…training and…hunting practice! Those sort of vikngy things." There was an awkward pause before Hiccup spoke again, "We should really pick up the pace. I mean, we don't want to keep Gobber waiting."

With that his cousin picked up pace and started moving ahead while Snotlout stared at his back, he didn't believe that Hiccup had been doing what he said he'd been doing but that left him with the mystery of why Hiccup was being so evasive about it.

"…and with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one took my leg."

It hadn't taken long for Gobber to start on his war stories and Snotlout had found himself enthralled despite having heard them before. He'd always liked it when Gobber had joined them for a meal or something in their house and spent the evening telling his tales to the two wide-eyed boys like an honorary uncle.

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it you could've killed the dragon from the inside by crushing its heart or something."

After Fishlegs' frankly disturbing thought, Snotlout chipped in without thinking the same way he did when he was younger.

"I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face!"

It was just after he said he realised how stupid it sounded but Gobber spoke before he could feel to embarrassed.

"It's the wings and tail ye really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away and a downed dragon is a dead dragon." The man stood up and stretched, "Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get onto the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honour of killing it?"

As Gobber shuffled off Tuffnut boldly declared, "It's gonna be me. It's my destiny." He rolled up his sleeve revealing a red dragon, "See."

Fishlegs gasped, "Your mom let you get a tattoo?"

"It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark."

"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before." Ruffnut cut in.

Tuffnut answered defiantly, "Yes it was. You've just never seen me from the left side before."

Snotlout tuned the others out and he noticed Hiccup stand and slip away from the group back towards the village. Remembering his cousin's evasiveness earlier he also stood and stole off after him not noticing Astrid watch him leave.

He tried to follow his cousin but lost him in the village and ended up wandering around for a bit trying to find out where he'd gone. Eventually he heard the familiar sounds of someone working the forge and he hurried over to the blacksmith and looked in to see his cousin working.

He'd been here a lot and actually had a fairly good understanding of how forging worked even though Hiccup was the apprentice. This was because Hiccup was the only person about his age Snotlout ever spent time with and since the older cousin enjoyed his work in the forge so much he tended to spend time here so Snotlout went with him. Of course spending so much time in the blacksmith meant he picked some of the work up and it wasn't long before he was helping either Gobber or Hiccup with various jobs. He'd even learnt how to use the forge himself and could actually forge items of his own but never to the level of Hiccup or Gobber, he'd actually been pretty proud when he'd once managed to create a decent knife to give to his uncle on the man's birthday and the chief still used it very regularly.

At the moment Hiccup was busy forging what looked like metal rods and Snotlout entered the forge, "Hiccup?"

His cousin jumped slightly before standing awkwardly, "Snotlout! I mean hi Snotlout what are you doing here?"

"I noticed you leave the catapult tower and I wondered where you were going." He looked curiously at the metal rods, "What are you making?"

Hiccup hastily hid the rods behind his back, "Oh…erm…nothing. Nothing at all."

Snotlout folded his arms and gave Hiccup a disbelieving look and the older boy sighed, "Look Snotlout, I can't tell you what I'm doing but it's important. I know you want to know what it is but I really can't say but I promise to tell you everything at some point. Please don't push it and just trust me for now."

Snotlout desperately wanted to know what Hiccup was up to but he could hear the pleading in his cousin's voice so he sighed and unfolded his arms, "Okay, I won't push. But you're going to tell me everything at some point and that point better be soon!"

Hiccup smiled gratefully, "Thanks Snotlout."

The younger boy spoke again, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Hiccup looked surprised at his offer and seemed unsure until his eyes lit up with an idea, "Could you make sure people stay away from the Cove?"

Snotlout raised an eyebrow, "You mean the same Cove we used to always go to when we were younger?"

"Yes, that one. It won't be good if anyone from the village goes there at the moment and I mean anyone."

Snotlout stared at him in confusion for a moment before finally answering, "Okay, I can do that."

The older cousin grinned once more, "Thanks Snotlout, I owe you one."

"Just remember you promised to tell me everything, I'm holding you to it."

Hiccup nodded, "I know you will."

Snotlout shook his head before making his way out of the forge, he turned back to Hiccup who'd already restarted his work, "You staying here all night?"

His cousin didn't look up from his work as he answered, "Probably, I'll see you at training tomorrow."

"Okay then. See you tomorrow."

Snotlout resumed his journey out of the forge and back to the house wondering what the heck he'd agreed to help Hiccup keep secret.

PS-So Snotlout knows Hiccup is up to something but he has no idea what. Please let me know what you thought and I'll try and update soon.