Adrenaline rushed through his veins in time with the thumping of his heart and the jeers of the watching Outcasts surrounding the arena. Hiccup was ten, still small and skinny and nowhere near as strong as he wanted to be right at this moment. Blood flowed down across his left eye from his forehead, blinding him in one eye from the deep gash the Monstrous Nightmare had created. He was lucky that the Nightmare's claw hadn't blinded him completely.

The Nightmare was fast, but Hiccup was faster. He ducked under it's next swipe for his head, bringing his sword up and slicing it into the dragon's upper body. The Nightmare screeched, bright green blood dripping down and splattering on the ground and Hiccup's hands before he pulled it out, running underneath the Nightmare's body before it could collapse onto its side. Behind its back, he drew his sword again and with all his might swung it again, this time severing part of its right wing from its body.

The dragon collapsed to the ground, unable to move due to the damage it had taken. The Outcasts surrouding the arena cheered and catcalled as Hiccup watched the Nightmare attempt to stand before he took his sword and sliced it into the leg on the same side. It wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. He looked down at it passively, green eyes watching it try to flare up its fire before he smirked, remembering the cut he'd made to its neck earlier.

This was his moment of truth.

Around him came calls for him to finish it off and he rolled his shoulders in almost a mimic of his father as he stepped closer to the Monstrous Nightmare, boots clicking along the floor of the arena. A grin split his lips as he lifted the sword above his head, watching the Nightmare growl and thrash around before he brought it down, slicing into the dragon's chest, following a mental line from his teachings. The dragon screeched, green blood sliding down its side as Hiccup began carving. He didn't remember how long it took for the Nightmare to stop squirming under his foot, to simply lay there, unmoving.

The heart was still warm when he pulled it out of the dragon's body, still covered in green goo from deep within the recesses of its chest. Cutting it free of veins, he held it high and triumphantly over his head, shoulders heaving as he heard the roar of approval from the other Outcasts, looking up to where his father was seated, unknowingly seeking the look he wanted to see. When the only thing that greeted him was the vicious smile on Alvin's face, he forced down the surge of disappointment and matched it with one of his own.

He was a viking.

There was a feast that evening. A great one, if the bodies laid out across the tables in the great hall were any indication. A boat had entered Outcast waters that afternoon, its sailors unable to fend off the onslaught. How fitting, considering it was their prince's tenth birthday. Hiccup, cleaned up by his grandmother before the meal, sat at his father's side, watching the hall be filled with merry making and drunken fools.

Slipping the last of the liver into his mouth and licking his fingers, Hiccup paused, looking out the corner of his eye at Savage as he suckled on his index finger before letting it slip from his lips with a soft popping noise. The older man was holding out an oddly shaped package, causing Hiccup to look at it curiously before glancing back up at Savage. Hearing his father chuckle, he looked at him, brow furrowing a little in confusion. "Father?"

"Take it, boy." Knocking back his mug of ale, Alvin raised an eyebrow as he swallowed it down before clapping his son in the middle of his back. "It's your birthday, innit?"

Hiccup frowned, turning his head towards the package in Savage's hands. Wiping his grimy hands down the front of his tunic, he stood to take it from his mentor. The weight nearly made him topple forward when he took it into his own hands, but he managed to heft it up, placing it down on his seat as the two adults next to him chuckled. Alvin had never given him a birthday present before, the idea of such a thing wasn't heard of among Outcasts.

Unwrapping the packaging, his eyes widened when he saw what it was. A dual-bladed battle axe, intricate runes and designs imbedded in the metal, sharp edges looking like they could cut through stone, iron twisting around the handle towards the wood.

It was, quite frankly, the most beautiful thing Hiccup had ever seen in his life.

"Thought you might like that." The voice snapped him out of his awe and he turned his head to look to his father, already downing another mug of ale. "Bartered it from Trader Johann a couple of days ago when he told me the news."

"News?"

"Turns out Stoick's chosen a heir." Hiccup froze, watching his father wave a leg from his meal in the air before he bit a chunk out of it, tearing at the flesh with his teeth and speaking around the food in his mouth. "Some kid named Snotlout. 'pparently the boy's 'is nephew."

Hiccup's blood ran cold, staring down at his new axe as Alvin continued rambling. Stoick had chosen a heir. The heir to the Hairy Hooligans. The title that should've rightfully gone to him. The title that would have been his had he not been tossed to the seas. He gripped his axe around the handle, barely able to wrap his small hands around it before he hefted it over his shoulder, nearly toppling backwards before he straightened himself.

"Where d'you think yer goin'?"

"Training," he spat out, not realizing the way he said it as he turned away from the table and stormed out of the great hall, Alvin watching after him with a raised eyebrow and a wicked smile.

"Sir, should we go after him?"

"Let the boy be, Savage. After all, wouldn't you want revenge on the father that abandoned you?"

Happy tenth birthday, Hiccup.