A/N: First of all, to Guest reviewer: I am aware that Litwick723 is writing a story with a similar premise. He asked for my permission before he began and I granted it. But thanks for looking out for me! :)

Well, here starts the beginning of the end. After this there will be only four chapters left. I'm getting pretty excited to write the climax of this story and I hope you enjoy what I have planned.

And without further ado, on with the show!

Chapter Eleven

Fallout

Astrid was true to her word. While Hiccup did see her around the village, she was nothing more than perfectly polite and courteous to him. When he and Heather joined the other teens for a lesson at the Academy that afternoon, she smiled at him and acted as though they had never been anything more than good friends. She answered his questions with ease and obeyed his every command without complaint. The others gaped at her in amazement. This was a very different Astrid than the one who had been sulking and constantly on the brink of tears throughout the previous couple of days. What could have possibly happened to make her change her attitude so completely?

But Heather saw what the others did not. Whenever Hiccup and his friends would look away, Astrid would let her façade crumble just a bit, allowing her true misery to show for only a moment. Every once in a while the two girls would meet each other's eyes, and Heather tried to convey silent support to her. Whether Astrid received her wordless messages, she wasn't sure, but she managed to maintain her false yet convincing cheer throughout the afternoon and evening. It was Astrid too who carried the conversation during dinner. Even Hiccup seemed surprised at the total turnaround, though it was hard to tell if it pleased him or not.

"So when will you and your parents be leaving?" Fishlegs asked Heather as the meal came to an end. "I understand you have all the supplies you need."

It was an innocent question asked out of pure curiosity, but Hiccup's face fell nonetheless. He had completely forgotten that Heather did not live on Berk. It had been so nice to have her beside him that it had slipped his mind.

"I don't know," Heather replied honestly. "I imagine in a day or two. We do need to return home." Then, looking sidelong at Hiccup, she quickly added, "Thank you all for your hospitality. We appreciate it so much."

"You're welcome," Hiccup said, though his voice suddenly lacked the warmth such a phrase usually required.

Astrid looked uncomfortable for a second or two, but she put on a brave face and said, "We're glad you could spend some time with us. And you're welcome to come back anytime you want. Maybe next time we can find you a dragon of your own."

Hiccup looked sharply at her, surprised. What had happened to the Astrid who was always so suspicious of Heather? This was almost an entirely different person. But he decided to think about that later. He returned his gaze to Heather and said, "Yes, of course. And with a dragon, the trip would be a lot shorter. You could visit more often."

Heather smiled sweetly at the transparent plea. "That would be wonderful. Thank you."

The group departed from the Great Hall shortly afterward. Hiccup and Heather headed toward the hut where the guests had been staying, their hands entwined as usual, but there was a stiffness in Hiccup's shoulders that suggested he wasn't at all pleased or content. Heather could sense it but didn't remark on it as they walked on, waiting for him to make the first move.

"Do you really have to go?" he asked quietly after a moment.

She looked over at him and nodded. "I'm afraid so," she said. "Berk is a wonderful place, and you are all such dear friends. But this isn't my home, Hiccup."

"It could be," he suggested hopefully. "I mean, if you wanted it to…" His face reddened.

Heather came to a stop and reached up to stroke his cheeks. "That's kind of you to offer," she said. "But that wouldn't be fair to my parents. They want to return home, and yes, I do too. I have friends there that I don't want to abandon." She kissed him. "I'll miss you, though. And hey, it's not good-bye. I'll come back to visit as often as I can. And like you said, if I get a dragon then I can return more often. So don't act like this is a final farewell, Hiccup. We'll see each other again soon. And besides," she added with a faint laugh, "I haven't left yet. I'm still here, probably for another day. So let's focus on enjoying that time and not worry about what comes after, okay?"

Hiccup nodded and replied, "Okay," but his expression said clearly that her answer disappointed him. It wasn't hard to figure out why. She'd been a welcome change to the usual routine of tense conversations and awkward encounters, someone who'd had no part in what had happened to him and had been there to comfort him. Dear Thor, what was he going to do when she left? Were things going to return to the way they were before?

The thought was so abhorrent to him that he suddenly wondered if he was going to be sick right then and there.

They said good night and went their separate ways. Toothless, who had been dozing at the base of the hill, looked up at the sound of his human's approach and purred happily. Hiccup tried to smile but couldn't quite pull it off. "Hey bud," he murmured. Then he looked up at his house standing at the top of the knoll and grimaced. "Mind if I ride you up there tonight?"

Toothless didn't mind in the slightest, though he did seem worried by the tone of Hiccup's voice. He let his friend climb onto his back and bounded up the hill, pausing in front of the house to let him slide off. "Thanks," Hiccup said quietly, reaching out to stroke his dragon. Toothless crooned.

He reached out to open the door but paused, his hand still extended, as voices reached his ears from inside. He recognized his father's quiet rumble: "I'm going to tell him."

"He's not going to take it well," said another voice, one he recognized as Gobber's.

"He has no reason to take it badly," Stoick said. "It's not like last time. I learned from that mistake. This time I'm going to be totally open with him. He still probably won't like the plan, but at least this time he'll know what's going on." There was a pause, and then he continued earnestly, "I refuse to hurt him again. I made a huge error in judgment when I carried out that plan, but I'm not going to repeat that blunder. This time he will know. I will tell him everything."

Hiccup exchanged an uneasy glance with Toothless, who merely cocked his head in confusion. "This can't be good," he muttered. Then he reached out to open the door.

Stoick and Gobber were both sitting before the fire, wearing identical worried expressions on their faces. They looked around at the sound of Hiccup's entrance, and for a moment the three of them stared at each other. Hiccup's heart pounded: even if he hadn't overheard part of their conversation, he'd have noticed the tension that had sprung up between them. He could sense that something had changed, that something was coming, something he probably wasn't going to like…

"Hiccup," Stoick said after a moment. "There you are, son. Come here. There's something we need to talk about."

Uh-oh.

"Okay…" Hiccup said warily, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. He walked up to the fire pit, Toothless hovering uncertainly nearby. There was a pause.

"I received a letter today," Stoick said at last, holding up a scroll of paper. "It's from Madguts, Chief of the Murderous Tribe."

Hiccup felt his blood run cold. The Murderous Tribe? What in Odin's name did they want? Berk had virtually no contact with the most bloodthirsty group of Vikings in the entire Archipelago. They tended to keep pretty much to themselves, for even the most dimwitted of men didn't dare venture into Murderous territory. They didn't come by the name accidentally.

"Here," Stoick said, handing out the scroll. "Read it for yourself."

Hiccup took the scroll with trepidation, unrolled it, and started to read. He blinked and squinted, for the letter was poorly written and difficult to decipher.

To Stoik the Vast, Cheef of the Hooligan Trib,

Greatings from the Merderus Trib. We have herd much about yor famus Dragon Conkerer, and we wuld very much like to meat him. We will be visiting Berk in a few weeks, and we wuld be very happie if yoo introdoocd us to him when we arive. If we like what we cee, then we will tak him back with us. If you resist us, we will declar war on Berk.

Yors sinseerly,

Madguts, Cheef of the Merderus Trib

Hiccup looked up from the letter to see both Stoick and Gobber watching him intently. "He sure doesn't like to beat around the bush, does he?" he remarked, trying to keep his voice light. "Though his spelling could sure use some work."

Neither of them laughed.

"This is serious, Hiccup," Stoick said, standing up. "When Madguts threatens war, he means it."

"Yeah, I know, Dad," Hiccup replied wearily. "The name 'Murderous' kind of gave that away."

Stoick scowled, apparently irritated at his son's flippancy. "This isn't a time for jokes, son," he said stiffly. "We need to decide what we're going to do."

Hiccup considered for a moment. Then he said, "Well, I can see only one option. I give him what he wants."

Stoick's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. "What?!"

"Hiccup, have you lost your mind?" Gobber demanded.

"No," Hiccup answered, raising his eyebrows. "I'm just saying that the only way to avoid a war is if I show Madguts how to train dragons. It worked with Mogadon, I don't see why this should be any different."

But Stoick shook his head. "Hiccup, Madguts is nothing like Mogadon," he said. "He won't be satisfied with merely being taught how to train dragons. He's too brutish for that. He's going to want you, son. He'll want the famed Dragon Conqueror to do all the work for him. Which means he'll take you away from here with him. You'll be the most valuable weapon in his arsenal, and he won't hesitate to use force if he has to in order to seize you."

Hiccup frowned. "No offense, Dad, but you said pretty much the same thing about Mogadon, and he turned out to be fine."

"Mogadon isn't known as 'the Murderous,' though," Gobber pointed out. "Stoick is right, Hiccup. Madguts will use whatever means necessary to steal you away from Berk. If it means war, then it's war."

Hiccup pondered this for a minute. If what they were saying was true, then his preferred method of peaceably talking things through wasn't going to be effective. And if that was the case, then…

He nodded and squared his shoulders. "Then I guess we'd better start preparing for battle."

Stoick and Gobber blinked and looked at each other in surprise. And then as one they turned back to Hiccup and said, "No."

Hiccup stared at them. "No?" he repeated. "What do you mean, no? What other choice is there?"

"You can lay low until Madguts has left Berk," Stoick suggested. "We'll come up with a suitable excuse to explain your absence while you hide somewhere, perhaps in the cove. Then once Madguts is gone we'll come get you. Hopefully it won't be too long, and then everything will return to normal."

Hiccup didn't say anything for several minutes. He looked from Stoick, to Gobber, and then to Toothless, who merely gazed silently back. Then he returned his eyes to his father and said, "Dad, no, I'm not going to hide while the rest of you face Madguts. He's coming to Berk because of me, so I'll face him alongside you. If we all work together then I think we stand a decent chance of defeating him."

"A chance?" Stoick said, shaking his head. "Hiccup, that's a chance I don't want to take. You could be seriously hurt—"

"And so could you!" Hiccup interrupted heatedly. "I understand the concept of war, Dad. Occupational hazard, remember? I know the risks, but I'm not going to hide just because some overgrown illiterate Viking wants his hands on the Dragon Conqueror. I've dealt with his type before, I can handle it."

"Hiccup," Stoick said, sounding like he was trying to maintain some semblance of patience. "I fear your victories with Alvin and Dagur have made you complacent. Yes, they were both tremendous adversaries, and you handled them quite well. But Madguts is not Alvin, nor is he Dagur. Alvin was willing to imprison you but didn't want to actually kill you. He wanted you alive. Dagur was more interested in having Toothless than you, but he still had numerous chances to kill you and never took advantage of them. Madguts is not like that. He will take you, and if you resist him in any way, he'll torture you. And if that doesn't work, he will kill you. If he can't have you, then no one will. This is the kind of person we're dealing with, Hiccup. You haven't faced anything like him before, and I just don't think you're ready for that. I don't want to risk it."

Hiccup's eyes flashed. "Not ready?" he repeated. "Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore! I may not be the biggest or strongest Viking on the island, but I can hold my own. Especially if Toothless is there with me."

"The risks are still too great for my liking," Stoick said in his best this-discussion-is-over voice. "I don't want you facing Madguts, Hiccup. As both your chief and your father, I want you to be safe. So please, when the time comes, go to the cove with Toothless. We'll pack up some supplies for you so that you won't go hungry. And when Madguts leaves, we'll come fetch you and bring you back."

Hiccup's fists were clenched at his sides. He looked from Stoick to Gobber, perhaps looking for some support from his mentor. But the blacksmith was clearly on Stoick's side. No one said anything for a long time.

Then Stoick sighed. "I know it's hard, Hiccup. But I have to do what I feel is right. At least this way I know you'll be safe." Apparently satisfied that the argument was over, he turned away.

Hiccup reacted blindly, without thought. He reached out and seized an empty bowl that was sitting on the table, wound his arm back, and hurled it with all the strength he could muster at his father. It wasn't a very strong throw: despite years of working in the forge, his arms were still rather underdeveloped. Besides, Stoick's hair was so thick that the bowl merely bounced off the bushy red mass, hitting the floor with a clatter. In truth, the chief barely felt the attack.

But when he turned to look back at Hiccup, his jaw hanging open in shock, he looked as if his son had just thrown an axe instead of just a wooden dish. As if he'd thrown with intent to kill.

There was silence. Hiccup breathed heavily, his chest rising and falling as his anger mounted and boiled over. Toothless, sensing his human's rage, growled faintly. Gobber opened and closed his mouth like a fish. And Stoick just gaped at his son, uncomprehending.

And then Hiccup shouted, "You never learn, do you?! You just never learn!"

Stoick and Gobber exchanged looks of bewilderment mixed with – was it possible? – fear. Neither of them spoke.

"Nothing's changed!" Hiccup went on, his voice shaking with fury. "You haven't learned from your mistakes! I'm still a hiccup! Poor little runty Hiccup who can't take care of himself and needs to be coddled and protected because he's too damn weak and scrawny to defend himself! I'm still Hiccup the Useless to you!"

Stoick's heart sank to his feet. "No!" he croaked. "You're not useless, Hiccup! I know what you're capable of! I did learn that! That's why I told you about Madguts' arrival instead of hiding it from you like I did with Mogadon! I know better than to pretend or hide the truth from you!"

Hiccup laughed mirthlessly. "Oh sure, you told me this time. Well that's just great. Instead of making me think I was useless by going behind my back, this time you've pretty much told me to my face. Gee thanks, Dad, that makes everything so much better!"

"I never said—"

"You didn't have to!" Hiccup barked. "You don't have to say the words! Words mean nothing! You can say you've learned and that you care and you have faith in my strength, but when you do crap like this it tells me that you're lying! You don't believe for a moment that I'm capable of handling the problem! You don't think I'm strong enough to face Madguts myself!"

"Whether you are or not is irrelevant!" Stoick said pleadingly. "I just want you to be safe! That's all I've ever wanted!"

Hiccup snorted. "You want me to be safe? Fine. I'll tell you how to keep me safe." He raised his right sleeve, revealing the white scar on his wrist, the light of the fire throwing it into sharp relief. Stoick visibly winced. "Stop trying to protect me! Every time you try to keep me safe I end up getting hurt! So just leave me alone!"

And with that he stormed past his father and the blacksmith, Toothless scurrying along behind him. Stoick and Gobber watched them go with identical expressions of dismay on their faces, and they both flinched when they heard Hiccup's bedroom door slam shut.

"Well…that went well," Gobber remarked sadly.

Stoick couldn't articulate a reply.

Upstairs, Hiccup paced from one end of his bedroom to the other, fuming. Toothless stood on his upraised bed, watching his human with wide, I-don't-know-how-I-can-help eyes.

"I can't believe it…I just can't believe it…" Hiccup muttered as he stomped past, his prosthetic making a soft clunk with each step. "They never learn, do they? After everything I went through before at their hands…when are they going to see? When will they understand…?"

Toothless merely crooned concernedly. Hiccup paused in his pacing and looked over at his dragon. He sighed. "Am I being unfair?" he asked. "Am I overreacting? Maybe Dad really is just trying to do what's best for me…"

He thought about it for a moment. Perhaps he was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. He was feeling upset because Heather had just told him she would be leaving in a few days and he simply wasn't ready to face another disagreement with his father. If that was the case, then he ought to go downstairs and offer his father an apology. But…

His expression hardened. "But he doesn't know what's best for me! He never has! He says he just wants to protect me, but he drove me to suicide the last time he tried to keep me safe! I just…"

You're not over it yet, said a voice in his head. You said you would forgive them, but it's clear that you haven't.

The realization brought him up short. He stared blankly at the far wall, his mouth hanging open in stunned silence. Toothless warbled but he didn't even glance toward the dragon.

It was true. Despite his best attempts, he had failed to get past those two months of torture he'd suffered through. He'd promised to forgive Berk for their mistake, but he hadn't. He still harbored the anger and resentment toward them that had manifested within him when Stoick had revealed his plan. He hadn't forgiven them. He wasn't sure he could forgive them. If anything, his anger had only gotten stronger over the past several weeks. If only they'd stop treating him like he was unstable and just act like normal people…

He thought about what was facing him over the coming days. Heather and her parents would leave, and the only person who'd been able to offer him comfort and companionship would depart. He would be left alone with a village that treated him like he was made of eggshells. And Madguts the Murderous was on his way, so of course everyone was going to insist on him going into hiding. For his own good.

No. He couldn't do it. He couldn't take it anymore.

There was only one thing left for him to do.

Nodding resolutely, Hiccup turned to face Toothless and said, completely without inflection, "Bud, we're leaving Berk. Tonight."

A/N: For those of you who don't know, Madguts the Murderous, like Mogadon the Meathead, is a character from the book series. The bad spelling is also something that gets referenced quite a bit in the books, so I thought I'd throw that in there for a little laugh.

I have a question to ask you all: are you interested in a "making of" chapter? Like a behind-the-scenes featurette on a DVD? It would be a piece in which I explain what went into writing this story: my inspirations, my reasons for taking the plot in the direction it went, why there was such a delay between the two halves, answers to some of the questions and concerns brought up by reviewers, that kind of thing. Anyone interested in such a thing? I'm not sure I'm going to do it, but I'll definitely consider it if enough people want to see it.

Also! I have a new story in the works. If you're enjoying this story I think you'll like it. It will be called A Life Behind the Veil and here's a basic plot synopsis: Separated from the other teens in a storm, Hiccup and Toothless crash land on an uncharted island. When he wakes up, Hiccup has no memory of who he is, where he comes from, or why there is a dragon beside him that seems to care about him. Even when he returns to Berk, he remembers nothing of his former life, but when painful memories start to resurface, he begins to question his identity, his family, his friends, and his very purpose. It will contain a lot of Hiccup-Toothless friendship/brotherhood fluff and plenty of angst, and I'm really excited to get started on it. I keep telling myself to wait until I'm done with Hiccup the Useless before beginning another story, but I might not be able to help myself. XD

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this story! Hopefully more will be here soon. And again, thank you all for your reviews! I know I keep saying that, but I really can't thank you enough. :)