ACT I: embers

4: Guilt

For the first few years of his life, Hiccup had been sure that there was no one more annoying than his cousin, who had poked and pinched him all through their toddler years. And then he had met Gringuts.

True to his word, he had been doing his best to stay out of trouble and that meant doing his best to avoid the Mangy Muttonhead heir. Although normally even-tempered and slow to anger, something about Gringuts managed to get under Hiccup's skin and that in itself was frustrating enough.

Stoick had said no more midday flights, so to help make up for it, Hiccup elongated his morning ones for the next three days, partially for enjoyment and partially for Toothless, but mostly for the hope that Gringuts would be gone by the time they finally landed for breakfast.

Both times Gringuts was gone, arriving just in the last half hour of breakfast. In fact, Hiccup very nearly missed the meal altogether the second day. While he rushed inside to catch some of the still mildly warm porridge, Toothless feasted with the other dragons from the fish troughs and multiple barrels stationed outside of the Hall.

For the rest of the morning, the dragon-rider pair were preoccupied with flying lessons. Due to the progress of the students, Hiccup was now allowing them to go higher. Not nearly high enough that if they fell they would die, obviously, but high enough that if they did fall, a bone or two might be broken.

He and Toothless circled underneath the group of children, ready to catch any of them should they fall. A few of the young Vikings teetered dangerously, but their young dragons were already experts at readjusting themselves for their riders.

The class finished up quickly after their stomachs started to rumble, so most of the kids headed off to lunch early.

Hiccup wished he could get up to the skies. Only two more days and their ban would be over, thank Thor. He suspected that he loved flying just as much as Toothless, if only beaten by a short amount. He let out a sigh and felt himself deflate. No use crying over spilled beer, he supposed.

The young Viking wasn't exactly sure what he should do. Flying, obviously, was completely out of the question. The privacy of the Cove now felt violated and he was sure he would only feel ready to go back once all the tribes were gone. And he didn't have any projects going at the Forge he wanted to work on. It seemed the only other option was lunch - Hiccup's stomach growled - which actually didn't sound that bad right now.

He scratched Toothless under the chin and pet the dragon's soft snout. "C'mon bud," he said, trying to inject some cheerfulness into his voice, "let's go eat." Toothless warbled in agreement and they set off together down the path.

Despite the fact it had rained the night before, the sun was shining and even the wind wasn't that cold: the last good day before winter. The dampness of the soil and grass was pleasant and even more pleasant was the scent wafting out of the Hall's doors, which had been flung open. It was a mixture of warm vegetables, stewed meat and honey - ooh, that soup was always so good.

Traders had set up their stalls closer to the Hall and Hiccup was tempted into looking at quite a few, even with the soup waiting for him. Whenever Toothless felt his boy had been at one too long, he would nudge his rider from behind and they would keep walking.

Hey, a dragon has too each too, Toothless' pointed looks seemed to be saying.

"Okay, okay, Toothless," the Night Fury nudged him forwards again when his boy didn't move, "hey, see – going, I'm going." Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes, but fell into stride with his friend.

A few children were sitting on the steps that led up to the Meade Hall, talking excitedly. Perhaps about something interesting one had bought from a trader. The steps were slick and wet from the rain, so it wasn't surprising to Toothless when Hiccup slipped, too caught up in what he had seen and had been thinking instead of concentrating on walking.

He lunged forwards and felt Hiccup's hands and torso on his head. Slowly, the boy used his hands to push himself off. Toothless used the close proximity between them to lick Hiccup's face in revenge. His rider recoiled instantly, half of his face covered in slobber. "Ew - Toothless!" He used his sleeve to start wiping it off.

Toothless laughed at him - a deep, resonating rumble - completely unapologetic. Pay closer attention to where you're going, next time. In retaliation, Hiccup flicked some spit off his fingers and it hit Toothless right above his left eye. Disgruntled, Toothless shook his head and tried to scrub it off with a paw. By the time he was done, Hiccup had already reached the entrance way to the Hall.

Hiccup waited patiently for his dragon to catch up and they walked into the Hall together. The Hall was even more crowded than usual. The Big Brutes villagers took up two and a half tables by themselves, with some Angry Axemen crammed onto the benches as well. Hiccup quickly located his friends on the other side and slid into his seat in between Astrid and Fishlegs.

"– the first storm of winter is definitely on its way," Fishlegs was saying. Astrid nodded in agreement tore some meat off her chicken leg and then threw the rest of it to Stormfly, who was sitting nearby. The leg disappeared down the Deadly Nadder's gullet. The dragon then hacked the bone up again; a group of Gothi's Terrible Terrors swarmed it, quickly getting into a game of tug-of-war for it.

"And when it does, I'm gonna make Mother Nature regret it," Snotlout said. "With my face!" he added.

"Yeah, that's a thing called frostbite," Ruffnut replied. Her brother cackled while Snotlout pouted.

"Whatever," he said decidedly. "But since this is the last good day before winter really hits, we should do something special. Maybe a date, Astrid?" He smiled and quirked an eyebrow at her.

Astrid mimed vomiting into her breakfast, which made Fishlegs laugh when he had gone to swallow. Hiccup had to thump him hard on the back until he coughed it out. "Thanks," Fishlegs squeaked. He took a gulp of water. "But I think Snotlout's right - not about the date," he said hastily when Astrid had sent an accusing look his way, "but we should do something special. Maybe a picnic?"

"Or a huge obstacle course and race around the island?" Astrid suggested excitedly. Typical that she would want the competition, even if there wasn't much that a Night Fury could be beaten at.

"Why not both?" Hiccup said. "We have almost the whole day after all." The others figured it was good a plan as any but were content not to say anything and watch Ruffnut and Tuffnut argue and hit each other over the last chicken drumstick for the rest of the meal.

Astrid led the organization party. She and the twins were going to get the food (someone had to keep the Thorstons out of trouble), while Snotlout and Fishlegs were going to get things like blankets and extra cutlery. While they were fufilling their jobs, Hiccup and Toothless would do a quick lap around the island, looking for the perfect spot to have the picnic at before doubling back to meet at the Meade Hall in half an hour.

When Hiccup arrived back outside the Hall's doors after finding a nice clearing nearby a large meadow of the sweet-smelling grass the dragons liked (Dragon nip, Fishlegs had coined it) he found the others waiting for him with their dragons. He jostled in his saddle as Toothless landed.

"Ready?" he asked, smiling.

Astrid made sure everything was secure in her large, woven basket of food and blankets before pulling herself onto Stormfly's saddle. "Ready," she answered. The five riders flew off as one as the other heirs exited the Hall after a long lunch.

Koza's eyes lingered on the black dragon, spiraling upwards in the sky. "Who'd ever thought he'd become a hero?" she mused.

"Still a scrawny crippled runt," Gringuts said, clenching his fists. There was a fading bruise over his eye, where Snotlout had punched him the other day. Koza looked at him with a bored expression, sweeping her dark hair out of her eyes.

"Looks like someone's jealous that all the attention's off him," she said flatly. "Hiccup's been the talk of the whole Barbaric Archipelago for the past five months and I don't think that's going to stop any time soon."

"I'd give them something else to talk about if that stupid dragon wasn't with him all the time," he said sourly, upset that Koza had hit so close to home. Lenlos made a soft noise of agreement, cracking his knuckles, while Norman laughed with glee.

That fishbone? A hero? So he defeated a big dragon, so what? He only did it with another dragon's help... Besides, Gringuts knew he had more noteworthy accomplishments under his belt. But no, because of stupid Hiccup, nobody remembered about all the gory victories he had on the battlefield. Hero his ass.

"It's ridiculous - that thing never leaves his side. Suppose it can't really, 'cause Hiccup controls its tail," Norman said, carrying on ignorantly, cackling again.

None of the heirs said anything as Gringuts zoned out away from the conversation, deep in thought. Norman was a complete idiot, most of the time - really, what did that Thorston girl possibly have to offer that was worth the punches she gave? - but what had been said left him thinking hard.

That thing never leaves his side. Suppose it can't really...

Had Hiccup ever said what had left the Night Fury crippled? He smiled to himself. Oh, this was going to work out perfectly.

#####

After their mid-afternoon picnic and long races, the five teenagers were content to lie on the blankets Fishlegs and Snotlout had brought; the dragons had flown off, keen to explore the Dragon Nip fields, but still within earshot if their riders needed them. Toothless had to stay behind; the largest fields were located over a cliff that dropped straight to the ocean, wide and far too long to walk along.

Hiccup had given Toothless the unspoken offer for him to ride the Night Fury there and let Stormfly fly him back over, but Toothless had refused. What if something happened, and he couldn't get back to Hiccup fast enough? Humans were terribly fragile, the smallest things getting that nasty red all over them... As much as the dragons cared for Hiccup, they still ultimately cared for their own riders more. His boy's safety wouldn't be second nature. He didn't want to risk it; he had already almost lost his boy once and he didn't want to go through that ever again.

Besides, there was plenty of grass over here, even if it would have been nice to be around the other dragons, he was content to stay.

That didn't quell the waves of guilt that washed over the Viking boy. He looked at Toothless - curled up and dozing peacefully - for a long time before looking back up the sky, letting out a sigh.

"What're you sighing for, it's a beautiful day!" Snotlout exclaimed. "Last good day before winter and I won't have you ruining it for me."

Hiccup rolled his eyes while Astrid glowered at the Jorgenson. "Are you really that blind?" she snapped. Snotlout turned towards her, surprised by how quickly that had angered her. Little things rarely did.

But then he followed Hiccup's gaze, which had gone back to the Night Fury's tail. "Oh," he said, feeling slightly stupid. The tail; right.

Astrid turned towards the lanky teen. "Hiccup," she began gently, "Look, you shouldn't feel guilty about it -"

"Shouldn't?" he whispered. Even the twins had stopped their petty squabbling ("That cloud does not look like a brain -" "How do you know if you don't have one -") to watch and wait. "Shouldn't? I did that to him Astrid... He can't come and go like the other dragons can... He's crippled for life. At least I can survive on my own, but... there's a reason a downed dragon is normally a dead dragon."

Hiccup put his head in his hands and took a deep breathe. Then he stood up, walked up to Toothless and looked down at his dragon, wanting to reach down and pet his dragon - moved his hand to do so - but stopped at the last second. He tucked his hand closer to his body instead. Blinking rapidly, he walked away and into the woods without another word.

Astrid frowned, a lump welling up in her throat. Couldn't he see that Toothless didn't want to leave in the first place? But had the Night Fury even put the pieces together - they were smart, but how smart were they really? Had Toothless made the connection, or was he still ignorant of it?

She sighed and walked over to Toothless, trailing her hand along his head. "Mmr?" the dragon crooned, blinking sleepily.

"I think Hiccup needs you right now," she told him quietly.

Toothless glanced at the forest in the direction Hiccup had gone, green eyes now alert and awake. Shaking his head - as if at his rider's foolishness - Toothless got up and padded over to the woods.

Really, did Hiccup honestly think he wasn't going to follow him?

#####

Hiccup crashed through the brambles of the forest, carefully making his way over large, gnarled tree roots and fallen logs. Moss and clusters of mushrooms were everywhere. The sunlight that was filtering through the leaves gave everything a slight, yellow glow.

He was so angry he didn't care how much noise he was making, even though he knew there were predators – real, live predators like wolves – that lived in this part of the island.

His eyes stung and his stump throbbed, but he just needed to get away. He needed to get away from the others, the others who just didn't understand any part of the situation he was in. He needed to get away from Toothless, his wonderful best friend – and it was his fault, it was all his fault...

He could hear the Night Fury running after him. "Go away Toothless," he said, his voice breaking.

The Viking tripped over a tree root and fell to his knees. Before he even had time to pick himself up, Toothless was right in front of him, sniffing and looking at him with worried eyes.

"Go away," he said again, but he knew that if Toothless did leave, it would take him ten times longer to pull himself together right now. Toothless gently bumped his head with his own. Hiccup got onto his knees and wrapped his arms around Toothless' thick neck. His shoulders shook; Toothless rumbled reassuringly.

What was wrong with his boy? Why was he so sad? He leaned into the side of Hiccup's head, trying to convey comfort. Gods, he wished he could speak with Hiccup like humans could.

Hiccup, after a while, eventually pulled away, sniffling. His eyes were red, but he managed a smile. "Thanks bud, I just... I have something I need to tell you..."

"That you're a useless runt?"

Hiccup jumped, startled, and fell over onto his bum. Toothless let out a low, growl, glowering at Gringuts who was leisurely walking over to them, coming out of the dense foliage.

Hiccup hurriedly stood up and wiped his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he said angrily. Gods, how much had Gringuts seen? Even Snotlout would have been preferable - his cousin didn't hate his guts.

"Just dropping in for a chat," Gringuts said casually. "Looks like that beastie of yours in loyal to a fault. Doesn't he know?"

Hiccup's stomach dropped; oh gods no. "Shut up," he hissed. This was bad, this was so very, very bad. He needed to do it at the right time, in private, with Toothless, from his mouth - not like this.

Gringuts held up his hands defensively. "Alright," he said, relenting, still with an airy tone. "I still can't believe you got the most powerful, best dragon of them all. Talk about complete opposites. I'm surprised he hasn't left you yet - oh wait, he can't."

Hiccup clenched his fist. Toothless stepped forward, baring his teeth. "What do you want Gringuts?" To Hiccup's surprise, his voice was fairly steady; angry, but steady.

"Nothing in particular, cripple." Hiccup only rolled his eyes; yes, crippled he was - useless he was not. "Until your dragon gives you some more breathing room, then I have some information you'll find very interesting."

Despite himself, Hiccup felt that tug at his curiosity and put a hand on Toothless' neck. "Give us some space bud," he said quietly. Very reluctantly, Toothless took a few steps away from the boy.

Only a few seconds passed before Gringuts walked right up to Hiccup and grabbed him by the shirt collar. Hiccup felt his prosthetic scrape the ground as Gringuts lifted him into the air; Toothless started to move forwards, looking for a way to not hurt his rider but still interfere. There wasn't time to do anything as Gringuts threw Hiccup back to the ground as hard as he could.

The boy's elbow banged against a rock, and his head narrowly missed one. His ribs ached as Gringuts aimed a kick at them, groaning in pain; and then there was a black blur and a scream.

Hiccup sat up to see Gringuts pinned by his dragon - and Toothless' teeth digging into Gringuts' arm! "Toothless, STOP!" The teeth instantly retracted (gods, the sight of the blood on them made him woozy) but the Night Fury remained on top of the other heir. "Toothless, get off, you're hurting him!"

As much as he hated Gringuts, he didn't want Toothless to maim him.

Toothless looked back at Hiccup, confused, by slowly got off of the Mangy Muttonhead heir. Gringuts gasped for breath and let out a moan of pain, but stood up quickly. "You'll pay for that!" he snarled.

But as Gringuts ran away from the upset rider and dragon, clutching his injured arm, he smiled to himself. Pay for that they would.

When Hiccup got back to the village on dragonback (after telling the other teens he had to leave) his father was waiting for him in the village Square. Chief Knuck was there too, as was Gothi, who was bandaging Gringuts' arm.

"Care ta explain son?" Stoick said testily, arching an eyebrow.

"Gringuts provoked Toothless," Hiccup said hastily. "Gringuts went after me, and well - you know how protective he is!"

Stoick did, and was grateful for it almost every single day, but this could have been much worse than it was very easily. "Tha' may be son -"

"Tha' dragon of yers has ta be able ta control itself!" Cheif Knuck said, gesturing wildly with his hands. "It went after my son Stoick, I want it caged! Chained an' shipped off the island!" Breathing heavily, Knuck turned towards Stoick, trying to suppress his anger. Vikings were tough, physical people and if the dragon couldn't handle a little violence, than it shouldn't be allowed to roam freely through the village. He was surprised something like this hadn't happened sooner.

"What?" Hiccup cried, putting a hand on Toothless' neck. "No, you are not caging Toothless, nobody is taking him anywhere, not again!" Toothless rumbled reassuringly, trying to comfort him, but it did nothing to stop his stomach from churning with dread. Gods, the disaster that was the Kill Ring was still too soon. The vision of Toothless being wrestled and chained still haunted him, sometimes, on bad nights. He suspected it always would, no matter how many years passed.

Stoick raised his hands, trying to placate his son, who was looking slightly hysterical. "Son, calm down." He placed his hands on Hiccup's shoulder. "Ya need ta get yerself under control, alrigh'?"

Swallowing hard, Hiccup nodded and mumbled, "Alright," but shot a glare at Gringuts all the same.

"Now, ya need ta understand Knuck, tha village owes a lot ta this dragon an' we are not doin' anything drastic. However," Stoick continued, wincing, "under tha circumstances, it might be wise ta keep Toothless in tha Dragon Academy pens until tha Mangy Muttonheads are off tha island."

Hiccup opened his mouth to protest - that was still almost four days! - but Stoick raised a hand and gave him a meaningful look, so he clamped his mouth shut again.

"An' of course, Gringuts is partially ta blame as well. I'm trustin' tha' ya'll assign a proper punishment fer tha boy, Chief Knuck."

Knuck exhaled loudly as if in disagreement, but after a few moments said, "Aye, I will Stoick." He gave his son a sharp rap on the head; Gringuts reached up to rub in, because that hurt. "Gringuts, come wit' me son." The Chief and heir walked off together, towards no where in particular.

Sighing heavily, Stoick turned to Hiccup. "Ya can take him ta tha Academy now." Stoick bent low and whispered only for Hiccup to hear, "I'm sorry son, but we need to keep tha peace. I know Toothless was only doin' it 'cause of ya, great loyal devil he is. I'm sorry."

Hiccup sighed as well. "I know." And he did, he understood, but it did nothing to diminish his anger. What had he ever done to Gringuts anyway? Why was he so determined to ruin his life? His fingers curled into fists.

Hiccup waved his other hand forwards, looking down at Toothless sadly, still angry. "C'mon Toothless," he said bitterly, and practically stomped off.

#####

Walking to the Kill Ring seemed to take forever. Normally, they would have flown, but that would have greatly sped up the process and Hiccup wanted Toothless to stay out of a cage as long as possible.

Thank Thor the cages for the dragons were actually nicer now. They had been cleaned and expanded. There was even talk of building a huge stable to house all the dragons in a more comfortable living space, but plans for it had only begun and it would take a year at least to build.

Luckily, the Academy didn't have any classes going on this late in the day and was completely empty. Slowly, with his foot and prosthetic feeling heavier than ever, Hiccup walked over to one of the largest and vacant cage. As he put a hand on the lever to open the door, he looked back at Toothless. "I'm so sorry bud," he said, trying to convey all the regret he felt into his voice.

Toothless' features melted into one of reassurance and the Night Fury walked over to bump his arm. His dragon's large green eyes seemed to telling him, Hey, it's okay and it's not your fault - it's Gringuts' fault. No one messes with my rider.

Despite himself, Hiccup let out a soft chuckle as Toothless continued to nudge his arm and tried to lick his face. "Alright, alright, I get it, you're fine with it, and at least it is only for four days." (Still four days too long. Stupid Gringuts.)

He put his hand on the crown of Toothless' head."I'll come visit you every day bud," Hiccup promised. "And stay until my dad comes to carry me outta this place."

Toothless rumbled in agreement, but his happiness faded as he prepped himself to walk into the cage. It wasn't as bad as the one he had been shoved in before, after he saved his boy here, but he still wasn't looking forward to it. Dragons weren't meant to be separated from the sky. These next four days were going to be the longest days ever.

Toothless took one last look at the bright blue sky and then walked into the cage, letting out a soft, unhappy moan.

"I know buddy," Hiccup said sadly, sounding as awful as Toothless felt. Some of that emotion must have come off on his face despite trying to hold it in, because that angry spark came back into Hiccup's eyes.

The cage door clanked shut with the Night Fury behind the bars, half the cage cloaked in shadows. Hiccup stuck his skinny arm through the bars and held his palm out; Toothless pressed his snout into the familiar, warm hand.

"I'll try and see if I can get you out of here earlier," Hiccup said. "Chief Knuck is an idiot." Sighing, Hiccup sat down with his back leaning against the bars, Toothless resting his head against the same area.

The sky shifted from blue to pastel pink shot with gold and then navy. Hiccup's stomach growled, but he didn't get up. Instead, he stayed with his dragon. He would come visit Toothless every chance he got, but still, to not have his dragon with him all day was going to be awful.

If there was one thing that was worse than no flying, it was no Toothless. And although he couldn't say it, Toothless thought the same about him. No flying was better than no Hiccup. What if his boy fell? Who would catch him?

Toothless tried to get his snout under Hiccup's arm with difficulty, so his rider stretched his arm back and turned his whole body to the side to do it more comfortably. Purring softly, Toothless opened an eye to look at his boy as he was pet. Slowly, Toothless opened his other eye as well.

Hiccup's stomach grumbled again. "Mmr?" Toothless crooned, eyeing the stomach with concern. That meant humans were hungry, shouldn't his boy go get food?

Hiccup waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it Toothless." The Night Fury snorted; as if, it was his job to worry about his human. He swore he was going to get gray scales early because of that boy. "Besides, I've already missed dinner, so there's no point going anywhere."

"No point eh?"

Hiccup jumped and his head whipped to see his dad striding towards them. "Dad, you scared me!"

Stoick ignored him. "I though' I'd find ya here. Been here all this time?" Hiccup nodded. "I'm afraid ya gotta leave an' get ta bed son, it's late."

"Can't I stay here for the night? I mean, Toothless'll keep me warm and stuff." Hiccup had spent a couple of nights in the Cove when his dad had gone looking to the Nest, and he had been fine. He was fine the other night too. "Just one night." Toothless looked up at Stoick hopefully, his big green eyes begging like a dog's.

Those stupid eyes just made this harder. "I wish ya could Hic'up, but winter's on her way an' it's goin' ta be very cold tonight; ya know how our weather is," Stoick said reasonably. (Snows nine months of the year and hails the other three may have been an exaggeration, but the weather on Berk really was quite awful.)

Hiccup was a Viking and stubborn though, so Stoick could already tell as his son glanced back at his dragon he wasn't going to budge unless Stoick carried him out. He sighed. "Fine," Stoick relented, "one night. Ya have ta come get dinner an' extra blankets. I don't wan' ya catchin' hyperthermia again."

Hiccup grinned widely anyway. "Alright, thanks dad!" He sprang up from his seat, looking at Toothless excitedly. "I'll be right back bud!" He scampered away from the arena as fast as his skinny legs could carry him, half-running, half-stumbling.

The sight made Stoick chuckle. "He really is ridiculous ain't he?"

Toothless made a noise of agreement and gave him a look that clearly said, You don't know the half of it.

#####

"Well, well, well," a voice said gleefully.

Hiccup opened his eyes sleepily, the sunlight blinding him slightly. Once he had blinked the blurriness away, he looked past the bars he saw Gringuts staring down at him. He couldn't help the groan that came from his mouth; this was just great.

Toothless' green eyes were looking up at Gringuts, filled with anger, and as always, intelligence. A low, warning growl resonated from the Night Fury. "Go away," Hiccup told the other heir and began to stand up. With visible reluctance, Toothless let him; his dragon obviously wasn't keen to have him near someone who had almost seriously hurt him so soon again.

"Looks like your father caged you too hmm? Can't blame him, honestly." Gringuts smiled at him nastily, but the smile faded when Hiccup only rolled his eyes and barely frowned.

"Never heard anything like that before," Hiccup said sarcastically, giving Gringuts a bored, and tired look. And tired he was, tired of this stupid game Gringuts set up and always won.

He stretched his arms, grunting slightly, and then used the newly-installed lever inside the cage to start to lift the cage's gates. His thin frame easily wormed its way under the gate and then onto the other side, outside of the cage. Toothless moaned sadly and quietly and it took a moment to remind himself he couldn't let his dragon out, no matter how much he wanted to.

Hot, spike of burning anger rippled through him and he glowered at Gringuts. "What are you doing here, anyway? Come to see the wonderful thing you've done? Came to see my dragon caged?" Hiccup clenched his fists. "Honestly, I have no idea what the hel I did to you, but if you have a problem with me, that's between you and me, got it? Not Toothless. He's been through enough because of me."

Hiccup took a step towards Gringuts. "But you wanted this, didn't you? You knew it would get him going."

It seemed like years of anger at Gringuts was breaking over him in constant waves and this - this was the last straw. But he was still surprised when he curled his fist, brought it back and then crashed it into Gringuts' face so hard that the other heir stumbled (only because he was caught off guard, of course.)

Hiccup's wrist stung, but as his anger started to dissipate, he looked up at Gringuts in shock. Man, sometimes he didn't think things through but gods was that stupid! He found he couldn't make himself say "I'm sorry," though, and the words got lost on the way up to his mouth.

Once Gringuts' similar look of shock melted away, it was replaced with anger. "You'll pay for that runt," he shouted and moved forwards. Toothless roared ferociously though, and it was enough to stop Gringuts in his tracks. He knew the blasted Night Fury could get out easily if he wanted to (the metal rings above hadn't been completely repaired) and his arm still hurt; he wasn't going to make a rash decision. No, he needed to handle this situation carefully.

Then, a strange calm expression came across his face. Slowly, casually, he strode forwards, stopping so he was only inches away from Hiccup. "Does your precious dragon know your the reason he can't fly?" he hissed.

Hiccup's defiant expression faded. At it, Gringuts grinned. "Thought not," he said quietly. "You better be careful around me runt, or I may just let that secret slip. Or I could stage another 'accident'. My father won't stand for a dragon that's aggressive against his son, now will he?"

Without another word, Gringuts walked out of the Academy, leaving Hiccup struggling to compose himself, and Toothless warbling worriedly.

Heart heavy with added guilt, Hiccup turned to Toothless anxiously. "Don't worry bud, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." And by the way Toothless' large, trusting and loving eyes looked at him, Hiccup knew the naive dragon believed the promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

(Gods, the Mangy Muttonheads couldn't leave soon enough.)

A/N: Sorry this is late, exams are getting in the way. Two more chapters and we're done Act I, crazy eh? And HTTYD2 in only 9 days!

Got to go to an advanced screening of HTTYD2, it, was, FANTASTIC. If you guys want more details, check out chapter 12: A "How To Train Your Dragon 2" review of my story Dragon Drabbles.

Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows. :) Also, if there's some spelling errors, I didn't really have time to look this over and I wanted to get it out to you guys as soon as possible.

See you, hopefully, in two weeks!