"It's not like the last few times dad," Hiccup said as he was being dragged along by an angry Chief "I mean I did actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It fell down, just off Ravens Point. Lets get a search party out there and..."
"STOP!" Stoick screamed to the boy. "Just stop. Every time you step outside disaster falls." he carried on "Can you not see I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed."
"Well between you and me the village can do with a little less feeding don't ya think?" Hiccup said looking around slightly, as some who heard that comment gasped and patted their stomachs.
"This isn't a joke Hiccup," Stoick said loudly. "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"
"I can't stop myself," Hiccup said "I see a dragon and I just have to just... kill it. You know? It's who I am dad."
"Oh you are many things Hiccup," Stoick said rubbing his head "But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house. Make sure he gets there," he said to Gobber. "I have his mess to clean up."
As Hiccup and Gobber began the track back to the house on top of the hill, and after being laughed at by the other teenagers, the boy tried to convince his only friend in the whole village that he did actually hit a Night Fury.
"I really did hit one," he said.
"Sure you did," Gobber said not believing him but not wanting to upset him either.
"He never listens."
"Runs in the family," Gobber said even though he new different, in fact nearly all of the villagers had forgotten that Hiccup wasn't actually Stoick and Valka's in the first place. The only ones who knew it were Gobber, Gohi, and Stoick himself.
"And when he does it's always with this disappointed scowl, like someone stepped in the meat in his sandwich," Hiccup said then puffing out his chest and deepening his voice to mimic Stoick.
"Excuse me barmaid, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here... This is a talking fish bone."
"Now you're thinking about this all wrong," Gobber said "It's not so much what you look like. It's what's Inside that he can't stand."
"Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup said turning to the door.
"Look the point is. Stop being so hard to be something you're not," the blacksmith said kindly.
"I just want to be one of you guys," Hiccup said going in the front door, then to Gobber's unknowing right out the back to go hunt down the Night Fury.
~~*~~
But he couldn't find it...
"Oh the Gods hate me," he said after placing another cross on his map of Berk and squiggling all over it in frustration. "Some people loose the knife or their mug, no not me I manage to loose and entire dragon!" he said hitting a branch only to be hit right back.
Stunned into silence, Hiccup looked up and saw the tree had almost been split in half and pointing towards some upturned ground, as if something went skidding along it.
Slowly Hiccup followed the destruction until he came to a large black dragon, seemingly dead, still wrapped up in the bola he had fired at it.
Trying not to panic, Hiccup took out his knife and after hiding behind a bolder to calm himself down a bit, moved forward.
"Oh wow," he said to himself "I... I did it. This... this fixes everything! Yes!" he continued getting louder. "I have brought down this mighty beast!" Hiccup finished placing a foot on the Night Fury who quickly shook it off making the young Viking to stumble back.
Slowly moving forward again, Hiccup looked along the dragon's black body, before him seeing that it was still breathing, and when he got to the head a lime green eye, just like Hiccup's, opened fixing it's gaze on him.
After taking a few deep breaths, Hiccup spoke to the beast before him.
"I... I'm gonna kill you dragon," he said "I... I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father." he said repositioning the knife in his hand.
"I'm a Viking," he said "I'M A VIKING!" he screamed, slowly raising the knife above his head.
A noise from the dragon made Hiccup open his eyes and look at the beast again it's eye still on him.
Shaking his head, Hiccup closed his eyes and took aim again.
Seeing that there was nothing he could do, the dragon also closed his and laid his head down, prepared for what was coming.
Getting back to Hiccup, after a few more tries, he found that he couldn't kill this dragon.
Looking ashamed he lowered his arms and looked between the knife and the dragon.
"I did this," he said quietly, stepping away looking back and knowing what he had to do.
Suddenly the dragon heard ropes snapping, and the things holding him loosening.
Snapping open his eyes he tried to see what this 'Viking' was doing seeing it's him doing this.
Then just as the last one broke, the Night Fury jumped up and pinned the boy down.
Lime green eyes, connecting to lime green eyes.
Not understanding what he was smelling because the 'Viking' smelled just like him, Noche Oscura screamed in frustration and ran away, bumping into a few rocks before falling into a cove.
Feeling something was not right, he looked over himself and spotted that he had lost the back left tail fin.
'No...' he whispered 'How am I meant to find my brother now?' he asked to no one in particular.
You see... Noche was the little black cub that was born to the Alphas of the Night Furies on the Isle of Night fifteen years ago.
Only recently, did he get the story that he had a brother, and of what happened to him.
Set out to find him, the Old Wise One, Luna, had told the prince about Berk.
Noche had just struck a flinging thing (catapult) in anger of not finding anything, when that rock net hit him making him fall and hit the ground.
The next thing he knew he was looking up to that 'Viking'.
After pacing for a bit, and some failed attempts to getting back out of the cove. Noche curled up by the pond alone and scared on what will happen if that 'Viking' or anything else finds him since he wont be able to fly away.
'No. No!' he said sniffing slightly 'I will not be afraid. I am Noche Oscura one of the two sons of Nyx and Artemis,' he began pep-talking himself 'I am a Night Fury, the Dragon these Humans are scared about the most. I will not cower before them like a Tiny One (Terrible Terror). I will get out of here.' he said looking around at the steep looking cliff sides 'No matter the cost, or how long it takes, I will get out of here, and find my brother.'
Just then Noche yawned after his big night, stretching a bit, flexing his claws.
'But maybe I shall begin tomorrow.'
With that he curled up on the ground by the pond after igniting it to warm it up, and went to sleep.
Back to Hiccup, he had just been told by his dad that he would be joining in with the other teenagers on dragon training.
And once again, when he tried to speak up to say he didn't want to do it... his dad shut him out and didn't listen to him.
"Well that's a few more points on my lists," Hiccup said dropping the axe and heading up to his bedroom going under the bed and pulling out a box full of tally list's.
Such as...
One-Sided-Conversations, Arguments-I-Lost-At, I-Get-Picked-On-By-The-Others, I-Get-Called-Useless, Dad-Doesn't-Listen-To-Me.
And a few more, all of which were filled with tally marks covering the whole page, front and back, some marks almost overlapping others, there were so many.
And then there were some he had that were nearly completely blank, that only had a few marks on them, each with a 'G' reminding him who made him mark them.
Someone-Says-'Thank-You'-To-Me, I-Feel-Loved, I-Feel-Appreciated.
After placing the new marks where they needed to go, Hiccup got out a new piece of paper and wrote at the top Talks-With-Dad-Lasting-More-Than-Two-Minutes, and placing his pencil on the paper brought it down, starting off that tally.
"Not sure how many more of them I'll get on there." he said looking at his tally's again. "Oh and look," he said to no one in particular sarcastically "One-Sided-Conversations, Arguments-I-Lost-At AND Dad-Doesn't-Listen-To-Me have all reached 1000 points. I should go celebrate."
With that he packed everything up, stuffed the box back under the bed, and set off to the Great Hall for dinner.