Hey guys. I am sooooo sorry for the delayed update. Let me just explain what has happened in my life.
First, I started to rewatch some cartoons I watched as a kid, which took a couple weeks.
Then my friend introduced me to Sherlock. And every Sherlockian in the house now understands. Anyway, Sherlock didn't take that much time (cries in the inside), but then she had the best idea to show me Rose and The End of The World.
In other words, Doctor Who. And now every Whovian sympathizes me I'm guessing.
For those of you who don't know what Doctor Who is, I just have a few things to say: Watch it, love it, beware The Parting of Ways, Doomsday, The Forest of The Dead, The Journey's End, The End of Time, The Angels Take Manhattan, and The Time of The Doctor.
Just saying, because there might be a few DW or SH references in my chapters. Sorry* Anyway, onto the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own HTTYD or the script. I only own the plot.
Chapter 3
HALL - DAY A noisy din of PROTESTING VOICES leads to... STOICK, glowering in the firelight. Surrounded by his men.
STOICK Either we finish them or they'll finish us! 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.
"Vikings usually aren't known as smart. This is proof," the strange girl said. She had taken to a different room, but still projected her voice into the movie theater.
Stoick huffed indignantly at this comment. Of course vikings were smart!
He sinks his blade into a... LARGE NAUTICAL MAP, spread out on the table... the blade pierces the middle of an uncharted corner, swirling with painted sea monsters and dragons.
STOICK (CONT'D) (DECIDEDLY) One more search. Before the ice sets in.
VIKING Those ships never come back.
STOICK (MATTER-OF-FACT) We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?
Stoick throws up his fist. No one follows. The crowds shifts in restless silence. Head scratches. Eyes averted.
VIKING (FEEBLE) Today's not good for me.
VIKING (CONT'D) (EQUALLY FEEBLE) I've gotta do my axe returns.
STOICK Alright. Those who stay will look after Hiccup.
"Feeling the love dad!" Hiccup yelled sarcastically. The chief's face reddened, and he stammered a response.
"I-it was the o-only w-way to get t-them t-to go."
Hands jut into the air, volunteers galore. Enthusiastic murmurs of prep and packing fill the room.
"Once again, feeling the love!" Hiccup shouted, this time to the rest of the village.
"Can you blame them fishbone?" Snotlout jeered. He got a hurtful punch to the arm in reply
PHLEGMA THE FIERCE To the ships!
SPITELOUT I'm with you Stoick!
STOICK (DRY) That's more like it.
The Vikings rush for the door, leaving Gobber and Stoick alone. Gobber gulps back the contents of his tankard attachment and scrapes back the bench.
GOBBER I'll pack my undies.
"Not again with the underwear!" Hiccup complained, burying his head in his hands.
STOICK No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits.
GOBBER Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself...what could possibly go wrong?
"Village destruction," Tuffnut mused to his sister.
"Total annihilation," Ruffnut replied, smirking evilly.
Stoick sinks onto the bench beside Gobber, his brow burdened.
STOICK What am I going to do with him Gobber?
GOBBER Put him in training with the others.
Hiccup gaped at the screen. It was Gobber who suggested to put him in dragon training? Hiccup always thought it was just his father being, well, his father.
STOICK No, I'm serious.
GOBBER So am I.
Stoick turns to him, glaring.
STOICK He'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage.
"Ya know, some parents actually support their kids," Hiccup said innocently, glancing at his father. Stoick frowned, and adverted his gaze.
GOBBER Oh, you don't know that.
STOICK I do know that, actually.
GOBBER No, you don't.
STOICK No, actually I do.
GOBBER No you don't!
Hiccup felt a rush of happiness at the sight of his first friend sticking up for him. That makes for three people who care about him: Gobber, Toothless, and Astrid.
STOICK Listen! You know what he's like. From the time he could crawl he's been...different. He doesn't listen. (MORE)
STOICK (CONT'D) Has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for... for trolls.
"Wow," Hiccup whispered. "Didn't know you thought of me that way." Stoick felt his face heat up from shame, and he lowered his head.
GOBBER (DEFENSIVE) Trolls exist! They steal your socks. (DARKLY) But only the left ones. What's with that?
The vikings erupted in laughter. Everyone knew of Gobber's fixation on trolls.
"They do exist!" Gobber cried out. "They stole all my left socks!"
"Do you think that maybe they could've been lost?" Fishlegs got out through his laughter.
"Never. They're sneaky little things. One day..." Gobber grumbled.
STOICK When I was a boy...
GOBBER (GRUMBLING) Oh here we go.
STOICK 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?
"You got a concussion?" the mysterious woman asked slyly, making Stoick grumble unhappily about not knowing what a concussion was.
GOBBER You got a headache.
STOICK That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become. (BEAT) Hiccup is not that boy.
"Yep! Got that right!" Hiccup chirped cheerfully.
GOBBER You can't stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him. (BEAT) Look, I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is you won't always be around to protect him. He's going to get out there again. He's probably out there now.
"Bingo!" the girl said with a laugh in her tone.
ON STOICK, as Gobber's words hit their mark.
EXT. WOODS - DAY ON AN OPEN NOTEBOOK A drawn map of the island, covered in X's. Hiccup looks up from it and peeks over a gorge, expectantly. Sees nothing. He adds another 'X' to the page, then scratches his pencil over the whole map in frustration. He snaps the book closed and pockets it.
HICCUP Uggh, the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon.
The villagers laughed, while Stoick sat on the edge of his seat. Was he going to find the Night Fury?
Hiccup WHACKS a low-hanging branch. It SNAPS back at him, hitting him in the face. He looks up to see a snapped tree trunk. His eyes follow it to a long trench of up-turned earth. He follows it to a downed, black dragon, its body and tail tangled in a bola. It appears dead. Hiccup approaches, beaming.
The crowd was silent, before it erupted in chaos. The vikings hooted and hollered, yelling praise to the scrawny viking.
"That's my boy!" Stoick bellowed proudly to Spitelout.
Hiccup looked sadly at his best friend, all tied up on the screen. The movie wasn't advancing, so it was stuck on the image of Toothless caught in the bola, lying defeated on the ground.
He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Astrid smiling weakly at him. He gave a small smile in return, and found Toothless in the fray of dragons.
He mouthed "I'm sorry" to Toothless, who gave Hiccup a gummy smile. That smile made Hiccup's weak smile turn into one of pure happiness.
"Why isn't the movie progressing?" Stoick asked, ready to see what his son was going to do next.
"I paused it. I figured that you would need some time to recollect. I will do this for a multitude of scenes. Now, onto the movie," the woman said, un-pausing it.
HICCUP (CONT'D) (IN SHOCK) Oh wow. I did it. I did it. This fixes everything. (ELATED) Yes!
He strikes a victory pose, planting his foot on the fallen Night Fury.
HICCUP (CONT'D) I have brought down this mighty beast!
It suddenly shifts.
The villagers gasped. The beast wasn't dead? Then, they sat on the edge of their seats, wanting to see Hiccup kill the creature.
Hiccup smiled slightly. This was the first time Toothless showed him any sign of rebellion.
HICCUP (CONT'D) Whoa!
Hiccup springs back, terrified. He turns his blade on it. Rattled, Hiccup creeps along the length of the weak, wounded dragon, dagger poised to strike. As he reaches the head, Hiccup finds the Night Fury staring coldly at him. Hiccup tries to look away, but he's drawn back to its unnerving, unflinching stare. With the dragon safety tangled in the ropes, Hiccup jabs with his dagger, puffing himself up with false bravado.
HICCUP (CONT'D) I'm going to kill you, Dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking. (BEAT) I am a VIKING!
The vikings cheered, while Hiccup stood up rigidly.
"I am not a viking. I will never be a viking. Did I ever bring you the heart of a dragon, dad?" Hiccup asked, knowing very well what was coming.
As Stoick found the answer, a sick feeling settled in his chest.
Hiccup raises the dagger, determined to prove his Viking- ness. The dragon's labored breathing breaks Hiccup's clenched concentration. He opens an eye, uncertainty leaking through. The dragon holds the stare. Something profound is exchanged. Finally, the Night Fury closes its eye and lowers its head, resigned to its fate. Hiccup tries to go through with it, holding the dagger aloft... fighting himself... until finally lowering it with a frustrated sigh. He looks over the dragon's chaffed rope wounds.
HICCUP (CONT'D) (muttered, ashamed) I did this.
Everyone gasped. What was Hiccup talking about? Of course he did this! He was the best viking they'd every known!
He turns to leave. Pauses. And glances back at the dragon, chest heaving. Hiccup GRUMBLES. He checks over his shoulder to ensure that no one is watching... then hurries back to cut the ropes. The Night Fury's eye shoots open. With the dragon watching his every move, Hiccup hurriedly saws through the bola ropes.
"What are you doing?!" Stoick yelled at his son.
"I am freeing my best friend," Hiccup replied calmly.
The crowd went silent at that, as they watched the interactions continued.
As the last rope falls free, the Night Fury suddenly POUNCES! In a blur, the dragon is upon him, pinning Hiccup down, grazing his neck.
"Hiccup!" Stoick yelled, fearing for his son's life. A dragon will always go for the kill.
Looking like it's about to kill him. Hiccup is paralyzed. The dragon's breath ruffles his hair. Hiccup opens his eyes to find the Night Fury's wolf-like stare boring into him. The exchange is intense, profound. The dragon draws a deep breath, as though it's about to torch him, then lets out an ear-piercing scream instead. It turns and takes flight, flapping violently through the canopy of trees. It bashes against a nearby mountain side, recovers, and drops out of view some distance away. Winded, Hiccup struggles to his feet, staggers a few steps, collapses to his knees, and faints.
The movie paused, and the room was silent. Hiccup stood up nervously, and started to walk away.
"So, are we done?" he asked, before an invisible force picked him up and put his back in his chair.
"Nope!" the girl replied cheerfully.
"What in Thor's name did you do?" Stoick asked, his voice cold and venomous.
"What do you mean?" Hiccup replied innocently.
"You let that beast go. You killed many people by letting that devil escape!" Stoick yelled, his face red with anger.
"He is not a devil or beast!" Hiccup yelled back, plenty mad himself. "He is my best friend!"
"So you've befriended the creature," Stoick breathed unbelievingly.
"No, I earned Toothless's trust," Hiccup replied firmly, glaring at his father. "
Toothless?" his father asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, Toothless. He is my best friend, and one of the only ones who actually listens to me. Would you believe that the only people who listen to me are Gobber, Astrid, and Toothless? My father's best friend, the girl who used to hate me, and the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. How's that for a life?" Hiccup spat at Stoick.
The crowd gasped at this display of aggression. Hiccup was usually so quiet and passive, but now he was loud and livid.
"If you are so unsatisfied with your life, then we can fix that right away," Stoick said softly, glaring at his only child. "You are no longer a child of mine."
The crowd was left speechless at this rare display of abandonment.
"I never was," Hiccup replied, equally quiet.
No one spoke, as Astrid stood up beside Hiccup, and put her hands on his shoulders. He visibly relaxed, his shoulders sagging as tears started to fall on his cheeks. He slowly sat down, with Astrid by his side.
She put her arm around his shoulders, and they leaned their heads together. There was not a word to be heard as the mysterious woman walked down the stairs, and turned toward the crowd on the last step.
"If that drama is over, I will resume the movie," the lady announced, and fled back to her hiding place, un-pausing the movie.
As everyone watched the black screen gain color again, each one thought of the events that just happened.
*Not sorry at all
I know, I know. I finally updated after forever, and it's a small chapter. Don't worry about that. I have made a schedule for my stories.
Sunday - Misc.
Monday - The Goode and The Bad
Tuesday - Movie of My Life
Wednesday - Misc.
Thursday - Cover of Night
Friday - Misc.
Saturday - Misc.