A/N-Important news: I don't know how, but somehow I have managed to get a few chapter ahead this past week! Our weekly update schedule will continue as planned!

In the meantime, enjoy the next chapter? Ever wonder what Hiccup's reaction to HTTYD2 would be?

Chapter 7

Seeing the Sequel

After hanging around Hawken for so many years, sometimes the scariest things are not those easily within our grasp of reality. The most frightening experiences have been those where fiction, a tale made up to entertain, has been given a breath of life, slammed into us so unexpectedly that we're caught completely unprepared. My own was a tale that Hawken once thought fantasy, and it became much more than that. Whatever is to come from the next chapter, I hesitate to say I'm ready to find out….

~Hiccup, on his reflections about How to Train Your Dragon 2

Thursday afternoon, Berk received visitors. As I was busy helping Gunnar lift up a wooden beam so that it could be hammered into place on a sheep stable, I spotted the dragons coming in from the south, and recognized them immediately: a long, golden tinted Mood dragon, and a silver hued Nightmare.

I grinned and, after making sure the beam I was holding wouldn't suddenly collapse and take the rest of the structure with it, flew off to gather Hiccup.

"So, guess who just decided to show up?" I toned innocently as I flew into the forge, landing and turning human while ignoring Gobber's protests as a couple pages fluttered away from my entrance. Hiccup, who unsurprisingly was at his desk in the back room, leaned back and glanced at me sarcastically (yes, he possesses a sarcastic look).

"Well, I didn't hear any warning horns or screaming people, so I'm going to assume it's not another raid. Who?" "Does a Mood dragon and silver Nightmare ring a bell?"

Hiccup's eyes widened, followed by his smile as he jumped up from his seat and ran straight out the door. "Camicazi! Thuggory! Great to see you again!" he called out as the two riders came in for a landing with their dragons. "We didn't get any prior notices; what brings you to Berk on this fine day? Something good, I hope?"

Camicazi shook her head as she slid off of Stormfly's back. "Sorry to disappoint you Mr. Chipper, but I'm afraid not," she stated. "We actually came looking for both of you." At this she looked pointedly at Hiccup, then at me, and held up her arm, wrist facing up. Halfway up her forearm, there was a silvery mark not unlike the one that had shown up on Astrid. This one, however, had a pair of curved blades instead of Astrid's straight ones, giving it a more mysterious appearance.

I nodded, understanding immediately. "Yeah, so I'm guessing that happened during the eclipse, am I right?" I asked. When Cami and Thuggory both nodded, I continued. "Well, join the club! We were all marked. The teens, I mean. It's mostly a hypothesis at the moment, but we think they're symbols for our strengths or abilities. And I'm guessing here that yours stands for speed, agility, and weaponry. Considering the curve to those blades I'm seeing I'm just going to throw in a hint of mischief as well."

"And what about mine here?" Thuggory queried, walking up and uncovering his shoulder as he tried to ignore Cami's smirk. On it, there was a silhouette of an ornate axe. I pursed my lips. "Well, axes are a weapon that requires strength, like Snotlout's hammer mark, but I'd say it means you're a little sharper than he is; more tactful in battle and around others, too."

"Well, that's not really saying a whole lot, now is it?" Thuggory joked, grinning and earning a snicker from Cami. I shrugged in response. "Well, again, it's only a theory," I placated, "but nothing has struck down the idea. And, one thing we know for sure now: you're stuck with us, like it or not." "Gee, stuck with Snotlout, the Twins, and Cami; how will I survive?" Thuggory cried in mock fear.

"Okay, okay, so that wasn't all we came here for," Cami piped up again. "None of our dragons were affected, obviously, but all the wild ones around the islands and the dragons that just kind of hung around in the villages all disappeared." "And, two days ago a fair number of them attacked us," Stormfly added.

I glanced at Hiccup, who frowned, and his anxious gaze turned to Camicazi. "Well, the same thing happened here," he explained. "We think that there…there might be another Red Death at the original dragon's nest."

Cami's eyes widened. "Well, then we need to get rid of it!" she exclaimed. "Come on, there're more of us who know what we're doing, so we should have a good shot of taking this one down without"-

"No we don't, I'm afraid," I cut in, leaving Cami staring at me, confused and deflated. "The dragons that attacked? They were not under their own power at all," I explained. "The raids that used to happen, where they stole food and more or less randomly, or accidentally, destroyed things, they did out of fear and only a little control on the Death's part. Sometimes they could act out of their own accord, or be knocked out of influence. These ones couldn't."

Silence took over for a moment as our visitors mulled this over. "So….what are you implying?" Thuggory queried cautiously. "That there is something else at work here as well," I replied.

"You think it's Jezebel again?" Cami asked. I shook my head. "If so, not directly. She possessed dragons; made them act of their own accord, but in complete obedience to her and her soldiers, as if she were a beloved queen. This isn't her style. Not to mention if you recall last time she likes to play her own personal hand too."

"Plus when Odin threw her into that portal he wasn't sending her back to her base," Hiccup added. "And she had nothing going for her. It would take a while for Jezebel to get back home and prepare for another attack, if she got home at all."

Toothless happened to amble up at that moment, distracting everyone from the dark conversation, and nodded in greeting to our visitors. Cami nodded back, before looking at him curiously. "Say, Hiccup?" she asked. "You and Toothless are pretty close, and this issue doesn't seem to affect dragons with riders. You think you two would be able to go in and check out what's happening?"

Hiccup shook his head almost immediately in response. "Not without backup, at least, and we're all rather busy for a few days yet." "Plus, with the last Red Death, the effect got stronger the nearer to the nest you got, so if the same thing happens here we could all be in danger," Toothless muttered, earning shocked stares from both Cami and Thuggory.

"Okay, so when did he start talking?" Cami queried. "Eh, about a month or so ago," Hiccup replied. "About the same time I started understanding Dragonese, thanks both to our resident dragon boy here."

He gestured to me, and I shrugged in response. "But, in any case, Toothless is right though," I said. "If the effects gain magnitude the nearer to the nest we get, then I fear that whatever cancelling effect the bond with a rider may have could yet be overridden, and if that happens we only have me to help drag anyone back. And if nothing else it would be smart to have at least a few riders around in case even one dragon does go haywire."

Cami nodded, giving off a disappointed sigh. "Well, when will we be able to do that?" "Couple days," I answered, "after everything is built up again. But, if you want, we are going to take a couple people and go watch a movie tomorrow to have some fun and lighten the mood. And, you both are welcome to join us."

The frown the heiress wore turned upside down, before it deflated again slightly. "Hold on for just one second. Would Snotface be tagging along with us?" I snorted and shook my head. "Uh, no. I don't trust him or the twins to keep things quiet when we visit my world. The furthest any of them are allowed is my house, and even then under strict supervision." Cami grinned again. "Well, then, sure why not? We'll join you. Right Thuggory?"

"There's really no point in my saying no if I wanted to now, is there?" Thuggory asked rhetorically. "Nope! I'll drag you with us," Cami teased lightly, dancing away with Stormfly to do who-knows-what before the next day.

I sighed. "She's going to be the death of us one day too, huh?"

Later that afternoon, I delivered the spare clothing I had accumulated to those who were tagging along with me, telling them that they needed to be wearing the new outfits when I picked them up at the cove the next morning. I was going to be working again in the morning, so we would all be in a hurry to get to the theater immediately afterward.

True to my word, at about 10:40 the next morning, I rushed home from the nursery and popped straight through the portal. Everyone whom I had invited to go along with was waiting, as expected, above the cove.

"Alright, everyone set to leave?" I asked as I landed in front of them. They all jumped up and nodded before heading toward the portal: Astrid, Ember, Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory.

"And why, exactly, do you guys get to see this and we don't again?" Stormfly queried, standing above us as we filed into the ring of trees. I sighed and turned to her, expression serious. "Because this is not entertainment in a form I can bring home just yet," I explained, "as it has only been released today in theaters, and I know I've explained what that is to you. I'm also sure I've been over how people would react to another dragon showing up around town, hmm?"

Stormfly visibly deflated. "Fine, fine, leave us here," she grumbled. "I will," I quipped. "We're going to be late already anyway." I turned and slipped through the portal, beginning to morph on the other side. I wanted a little bit of an entrance (this was a dragon movie, after all), so I went with an oversized Night Fury, and the teens climbed on. "Hang on tight!" I warned cheerfully, and launched upward.

As expected, the sparse number of people outside the theater immediately balked as we landed, but shook it off as I morphed once the others climbed off. People from my town were slowly starting to get used to the idea, after all that time, of a dragon flying around, but the shocked stares continued for just a little longer when we walked past the movie display.

Hiccup noticed the looks he was getting, and glanced over at the animated rendition of him and Toothless. "Heh, rather accurate actually," he commented. "Though, my outfit isn't quite that full of knickknacks yet." "The key word here is yet," Astrid drawled, earning a snicker from Ember and Thuggory. I smirked, and headed toward the ticket counter.

"Six for the 3D How to Train Your Dragon Two," I said, putting my personal coupon I snagged from the internet on the counter and pulling out my debit card. The cashier nodded, before his attention was drawn away from me and toward the teens who stood behind me. "Are…are they, like, dressed for the movie or something?" he queried. I glanced back, and smirked, knowing exactly what he was referring to. "Something like that."

The clothes I had picked for everyone were all very similar to what they wore (or would have, if they were in this version of the new movie) on screen. The cashier only nodded then, muttering something about "nerds" under his breath, and handed me the tickets. Then, after I made sure to buy some popcorn, we headed toward the back of the theater.

"Thanks!" Hiccup called back to the cashier, and as we turned the corner, we all heard the guy mutter, "Good grief, he even sounds like Hiccup!"

That did it: we all broke out into giggles. "Gee, if only he knew," Cami laughed.

The theater was relatively empty, both fortunately and somewhat disappointingly (what HTTYD fan isn't disheartened by an empty theater at the sequel?), so we had no trouble snagging good seats right in the middle. A few minutes later, at least a handful of people had wandered in, and at least one of them was another recognizable friend of mine.

"Hey Hawken! Thanks for inviting us!" Garret said as he and someone whom I assumed was another friend of his sat down nearby. "Nice to see you here too!" I replied. He nodded, before glancing at the group who'd tagged along with me. "So, uh, who are your new friends here? I don't think we've met," he asked.

I grinned. "Well, everyone, first off this is Garret," I introduced to the Berkians. They all waved at him. "And Garret, this is Thuggory, Camicazi, Ember, and…well, I want you to try and guess who these two are." I gestured to the characters everyone seemed to have no problem recognizing.

Garret gave me an odd look. "Well, I've…I've never met them, how would I know them?" I chuckled, and gestured for the two to take off their 3D glasses for a moment. "Well, try this: think of the movie we're watching, and tell me who they look like."

Garret and his friend both gave me another odd (and slightly concerned) look, and then there were several seconds of silence before….

"Oh my God!" "Hey, okay, keep it down though," I hissed. Garret only stared at me. "You mean-you mean to tell me that we're sitting with the"-

"Ssshhh!" I hissed again, before nodding as my grin returned. "Consider it a bonus today; you've met the characters." Garret nodded slowly, slowly growing aware of Ember and the others trying to hold in their laughter at his and his friend's reaction. "So that's how you…uh…" "Yep," I replied. "Yeah, but try to keep it under wraps, the world is not quite ready to know the whole spiel yet. Your friend there too." I nodded to the girl who had tagged along with Garret, who was still looking at Hiccup and Astrid open-mouthed.

About ten minutes later, after the previews had run through, the film finally began, and almost immediately the race caught both Astrid and Cami's attentions raptly.

"We have got to start something like that on a regular basis," Astrid whispered. I snickered. "Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out too. Just…don't get too carried away."

Hiccup had also pulled out a pen and paper, and as the movie rolled onward I watched out of the corner of my eye as he wrote down notes and ideas, taking details of the inventions they'd put into the film. What I was really watching him for, however, was his reaction when the Stormcutter appeared on screen. And I wasn't disappointed.

Hiccup jerked in his seat when the figure loomed into view, and turned a shocked eye to me. "Hawken, that's-that's the dragon we saw!" he whispered loudly. I nodded somewhat grimly. "Yeah, keep watching. There's more."

Five minutes later, none of my friends were moving. Even Cami and Thuggory were silent, having been informed by Hiccup about our encounter weeks before with the Stormcutter. Now they all realized what I'd meant those weeks before as well.

"It could just be coincidence though," I muttered, but Hiccup wasn't convinced. "I don't know," he whispered. "Same dragon, same rider-at least from what we could see…"

Everyone reading this probably knows the outline of the sequel, so I won't describe it here, but what I will describe is our enjoyment of it, for the most part: the tense scenes with Eret, Drago, and the teens, all of us laughing at Ruffnut's portrayed fascination with the trapper as well as Gobber's attempted rendition of 'For the Dancing and the Dreaming,' and Cami had the gall to tease Hiccup about the tears he shed when we watched the reunion scenes of his family.

Then it happened. A good film producer knows how to pull on the heartstrings of their audience, and they know the weak spots of the viewers, and this time they hit the nail in our wrists right on the head.

Toothless, under the power of Drago's Bewilderbeast, fired at Hiccup….and Stoick saved his son. But not himself.

"Oh…oh God….no, no, no," I whispered. "Hiccup, I…I can't believe I brought you to see this." I was crying, even though I knew this was fiction, but I could only imagine what kind of thoughts the scene sent through the star of the show. Sure enough, Hiccup looked at me, and I could see immediately that I wasn't the only one losing tears. Glancing around quickly, in fact, every single one of us had teardrops rolling down our faces.

"Okay, look it…it isn't real," Hiccup whispered, trying to placate my feelings of shame for having brought him to see a rendition of the death of his father. But it didn't help; I could see that he was also trying to convince himself.

Astrid leaned up against him, hugging him, and I placed my hand on his shoulder. Thuggory and Cami did the same, being close enough to, and we just sat like that through the funeral scene, crying and riding out the emotional rollercoaster this movie had just put us all through.

"It…even sounds like something I would say," Hiccup commented softly as the movie picked up again. "I know this isn't the place really to pour my heart out, I'll admit, but…I do kind of…kind of want to be like my father. Am I really in the place to grow up into a position like he holds though?"

"You will be," I assured. "At the very least you'll be a great leader, Hiccup." He nodded, all of us trying to wipe the tears out of our eyes. "And," I added, "when we get back, I need your team sword. I'm engraving that heart and soul saying on it." Hiccup only nodded again, but he didn't say anything more.

In the end, the movie turned out pretty well, and even after that heart-wrenching moment we were still able to enjoy the rest somewhat. But that dark shadow of a feeling still hung on our heads. When it ended, we stayed put, watching some of the credits roll up the screen, before finally slowly standing as a group to leave. I glanced at the still half-full box of popcorn (we'd been too riveted to the screen to eat), before handing it to Thuggory, who after everything still managed to have an appetite.

"Hey, wanted to say thanks again for inviting us," Garret said as we started to head out. "And, uh, Hiccup? Astrid? It was an honor to actually meet you."

"Likewise," Astrid said, smiling and taking Garret's outstretched hand, shaking it firmly before elbowing Hiccup to get him to do the same. "And sorry about the sad part," Garret continued. "I'm…I'm sure everything is actually just fine, uh, wherever you're from."

"Yeah, it probably is," Hiccup agreed reluctantly. "It was nice meeting you."

We parted ways after that, Garret and his friend heading toward the mall as the teens and I headed out the theater into the plaza, sitting down for a breather moment on the benches. "I'm sure that this is just me being anxious, but I really hope that didn't just foretell our future somehow," Hiccup muttered quietly. "I mean, we actually did run into that Stormcutter a few weeks ago, and I know at least I saw someone riding it."

I shrugged. "Well, it seems events from movies and stories I read seem to often actually happen," I toned, "but then if everything I read actually happened we'd have multiple dimensions to deal with. Roll of the dice, and it may well be coincidence." Hiccup only snorted, before sarcastically replying, "Well, if I'm out and about flying one of these days and I suddenly get kidnapped out of the blue, then I guess we'll"-

"Well, look at what we have here," a new voice suddenly interjected, laced with derision. We all looked up to find a small group of rather unfriendly looking teens sauntering toward us. "Hey, seems like we found a wild flock of uber-geeks!" the one who'd spoken first continued. He was skinny, with short blond hair, and was dressed up in the classic wannabe-gangster outfit: baggy shorts, black baseball cap on the wrong way with a pair of sunglasses riding on top, some obscene T-shirt half-covered by a black and white patterned hoodie. His friends behind him were similarly decked out, and not a single one acting like they had a lick of common sense.

"So, did you nerds actually dress up to go see that movie?" his friend, black-haired with a black hoodie, joined in. "Oh, you two look just like the characters," he leered at Hiccup and Astrid. "How adorable!"

"No, actually, this is just how we look," Astrid snapped, eyes narrowing in warning. "And we're not in the mood to debate with jerks like you. Move along and preserve what little brain you have left."

"Oh, such and attitude from such a pretty thing as you," the blonde replied, looking her up and down. I literally felt Astrid's anger rise a notch, and Hiccup's attitude darken as well. "Now let me guess, you all went to go see the kiddie dragon movie, and you all cried when the boy's poor daddy died, right?"

"Hey, knock it off before I knock you out, got it?" Cami snapped, standing up warningly. The blond guy just smirked, not impressed by the short blond girl's threat, before glancing at Hiccup again. "Oh, come on," he taunted, "that is what happened in the movie right? Yeah, I saw all the spoilers online, how the famous, lovable, loyal, friendly dragon killed Hiccup's"-

I felt more than saw Hiccup reach for his pocket as the teen rambled on. "Hiccup don't-!" I started, but it was too late to react. Hiccup whipped out a sheath, and from it a Mysteel dagger, and stood up right in the wannabe's face before any of the rest of us could move.

"I don't know a whole lot about how the society around here works, but I know one universal truth," Hiccup growled. "Death is never something to mock. What if it were in real life? Would you laugh then? Do you think losing family is funny?!"

Hiccup's outburst was bold enough, none of the blond teen's friends dared move forward to help, and the confronted boy blinked in shock, taking a step backward and staring very anxiously at the gleaming blade in Hiccup's hand.

"At this point, I don't care who knows, so listen very, very carefully," he hissed. "I. Am. Hiccup. I am the boy from the movie, and that was my father whom they portrayed being killed. Granted they have creative license, and it's a movie, it's fiction, but it is still kind of hard on a guy to watch his father die in any fashion."

He spun the blade and held it in front of the teen's face, letting the sunlight catch the edge. "Your mouth could get you a new makeover, right here, right now. This knife can cut through anything, even granite. Your skin, your clothes wouldn't be anything in comparison. So you listen here and listen well: I will not stand to have anyone smack talk my friends, or my family, and I do not care what world they live in."

Hiccup stepped back slowly after that, sheathing the blade and hiding it out of sight. "I'm a nice person," he said, "so this time I'll be kind and let you go with a stern warning. I see you mouthing off again and you'll face a public humiliation like you've never imagined." He glanced around before smirking darkly. "And, there aren't a whole lot of people out here right now to back you up on what just happened, so it won't do a whole lot to call the police to try and get me in trouble." He leveled a glare at the wannabes again. "After all, I don't live in this world either; they won't find me anywhere. And I'm sure they'll believe your story as well about being threatened by a cartoon."

Hiccup glanced at me before walking off. "I think it's time to leave, don't you?" he called. I blinked, before looking at the others; we'd all been caught off guard by Hiccup's outburst. Dumbly, I just shook my head, before dropping forward and morphing out again. The blond and his friends took a step back as my wings flared out, and I gave them a snarl just to make sure they would think twice about taking any action (no one is stupid enough to cross a Night Fury in my town), before everyone that had tagged along with me climbed on and we took off, leaving the jerks behind. When I looked back, they were still standing there with disbelieving looks on their faces.

"You know Hiccup, that was kind of really stupid and out of line," I remarked as we landed back at my house. "Keep doing things like that and you are going to get me in a lot of trouble one of these days."

Hiccup sighed dejectedly as he slid off my back, before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I know. And I'm sorry," he apologized. "I overreacted, and…well, that was just a mess. But you know I was not feeling all happy good and fuzzy at the time."

"Neither are we, after that scene, but you don't see the rest of us threatening the local airheads with Mysteel daggers," Ember retorted. "And it wasn't your father who they took a shot at," Hiccup snapped back.

No one said anything for a moment, the tension mounting over that statement again. "Sorry," Hiccup finally mumbled, cupping his head in his hands and sitting down on the steps of the deck for a moment. "He's fine, and I shouldn't feel so upset." I nodded and sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, but we can at least understand a little how you feel. You need to go and find Stoick, and talk to him about this, alright? Nothing's going to get fixed otherwise."

Hiccup sighed again, but nodded in agreement. I smiled slightly as we stood up once more and everyone started off toward the portal. As we stepped through though, a new worry suddenly arose in me, and was confirmed almost right away on the other side.

The first thing we found when we walked through was Toothless, who immediately got up at seeing us. "Hey, you're back! Tell me, was it good? Did they portray me accurately?" he asked, bounding happily up to Hiccup. Hiccup, on the other hand, reeled back from the action, face clouding in an expression of fear and a sliver of resentment. Toothless, of course, immediately noticed the reaction his surrogate brother gave and came skidding to a halt, his own expression morphing to one of great concern. "What…what happened?" he asked quietly. "What did I do?"

I glared at Hiccup, who immediately realized what he'd done and began to relax, calming down and clearing his mind of the improper thoughts that had hit him. "Oh, Toothless, I'm so sorry," he said. "It's just….it's…it's hard to explain." He took a step forward, closing the distance between the two and laying a hand on Toothless' forehead.

"Hiccup, take Toothless and go find your father, now," Astrid ordered. "You need to work it out with them and assure yourself that everything is fine, okay?" Hiccup didn't answer at first, staring absently at the ground as he rubbed Toothless' head, before nodding and moving slowly to climb onto the dragon's saddle. Toothless in turn looked at me with an asking expression of anxiety, and I simply gestured my head in the direction of the village.

After they had taken off, I looked to the rest of the teens, and their dragons who had gathered at the odd occurrence. "We need to ensure that absolutely nothing like that ever does happen," I said pointedly. "Those two have a bond stronger than most siblings I know, and if anything even close to that scene actually happens….I truly fear the result."

The others nodded in agreement. We all knew how close Hiccup and Toothless were, and those two were the heart of the group. If they broke….

"Well, the first thing is we need to solve the issue at the dragon's nest," Cami spoke up, her mind immediately turning to the tactical skills she possessed when her mischievous side couldn't function, "and then we need to go and find out who this coincidentally familiar rider on the Stormcutter is."

I nodded slowly, and glanced again at the retreating black dot that was boy and Night Fury. "I only hope those two will be able to fix this issue between them before that occurs," I murmured.

A/N-So... yeah. They didn't take that scene too well, but can you blame them?

Anyway, stick around; next chapter we meet the Stormcutter and his rider again...

And let me know what you think!