Chapter 14
Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!
Thought / Dreams / Event from the past
[Voice from the past]
"Dialogue"
Letter
Emphasis
Dangerous Tone
"Hiccup, I heard that the painting is done and is now displayed at the Great Hall." Astrid said excitedly as she entered the forge with a grin on her face, "Let's check it out!".
Hiccup smiled and put down the saddle that he was working on, "Alright, though I'm sure that Bucket has done a great job with our painting." He said calmly as he walked to Astrid before they walked side by side to the Great Hall.
It had been about a month after Astrid officially became the new Heir of Berk, and a few days ago, Stoick had told Bucket to make a painting of him, Hiccup, and Astrid together. Normally, only the Chief and his Son would be in the painting, but since Astrid was the Heir now, her picture was added into the portrait of leaders for their generation.
"It's a great honor to be the Heir, Hiccup, I can't thank you enough for choosing me to fill in your position." Astrid said honestly as she touched her new hooded fur coat, Stoick gave it to her before the painting was made, a present to congratulate her of her new position in Berk.
"I chose you because you are the best among the teens, you have the quality needed to be a good Chief, so there's no need for you to thank me." Hiccup answered casually as he opened the door of the Great Hall for her before entering the building himself, "If you want to thank me, just do it by caring for your people in the future".
"You sure have changed a lot, Hiccup." Astrid commented as they made their way to the painting, "Or maybe you were always like this, I just never paid attention to you." She finished sadly, she then frown when Hiccup didn't respond, normally the boy would say that he had forgiven her and told her not to think about it anymore. "Hiccup?" She questioned as she looked up at Hiccup, only to see the boy staring wide eyed at something ahead of him, "What is it?" She asked to no one as she followed his gaze, her attention caught by the new painting immediately. Something was wrong with the painting though, the Hiccup in the painting wasn't Hiccup at all, but a buff boy with Hiccup's face instead.
"What the . . . ?" Hiccup frowned at the portrait, he caught a sight of his Dad and walked to him, "Dad, what's with that painting?" He demanded immediately.
"The painting?" Stoick asked lightly in good spirit, "Bucket has done a great job, hasn't he?".
"That boy in there isn't me, Dad." Hiccup said to the point.
"Well, it's you, Hiccup, just bigger and stronger looking." Stoick answered casually with a laugh before going off to do his chiefing duty.
Hiccup huffed and looked around to leave, only to see something stuck out from behind one of the painting. "What is this?" He asked as he pulled the said item, that turned out to be a piece of paper with some kind of map.
"Oh no, you don't." Gobber's voice rang behind him before the paper was snatched from his hand.
"What is it, Gobber?" Astrid asked curiously as she stared at the paper in Gobber's hand.
"This is supposed to be already destroyed." Gobber said as he looked at the map, "Many have tried, and failed, and died to find this treasure".
"Oh, I know about it!" Fishlegs, who was eating nearby, said excitedly, he left his food and approach them, "It's the treasure of Himus the First*, isn't it? They said only the brilliant of mind can solve them".
(*AN : I don't know the spelling, so I'm sorry if I got it wrong)
"You're right." Gobber said as he waved the paper, "Stoick and I have tried to solve this, and we are lucky to make it back alive." He explained, gaining the other teen's attention, "This is too dangerous. For you good kids, forget you've ever seen this." He said sternly before walking away with the paper.
The teens followed him out but stopped when Gobber glared at them and settled with watching the man walked to his house, "You wanna go treasure hunting?" Hiccup asked the others without looking at them.
"Of course!" Snotlout said confidently while the twins nodded eagerly.
"But how, Gobber has the map." Fishlegs said nervously.
Hiccup smirked at him, "Sharpshot." He called out his tiny dragon, who flew to him and landed on his shoulder right away since his flock mates were never far from him, "Follow Gobber and took the map as soon as he isn't looking." He said to the green Terror.
"How can I know that it's the right paper?" Sharpshot asked as he prepared to take off.
"I have touched it, even if it's for a second only, but I'm sure my scent is there." Hiccup explained with a smile as he scratched Sharpshot's head for a bit before the dragon took off to do as he was told.
"Why do you need something like a map?" Toothless asked curiously, "You already have a map, and you can always make a new one".
"Hiccup." Astrid called for Hiccup before the boy had a chance to answer his Brother's question, "It's because of the portrait, isn't it?" She asked in concern, "You know you don't have to do this, just talk to Stoick and he will understand. You know how he tried to be a better father for you, he will listen to you now".
"I know, Astrid." Hiccup answered with a calm smile, "I don't have to do this, but I want to, anyway." He looked back at the painting's direction, "I'm not doing this because I want to prove myself to him, but rather to my own self".
"What are they talking about?" Cyclone asked as he landed near Flarestorm, he had just coming back from helping a villager cutting some trees for firewood and rebuilt a ship, which was destroyed not long ago from the twin's prank.
"I don't know, I didn't pay attention." Thundress answered him before looking at the rest, "Does anyone know what they are talking about?".
"They are talking about the portrait, the humans painted the Red Big Chief's picture with Hiccup and the Valkyrie Girl." Rainleaf answered with a slight hiss in her tone, "I have seen it, they draw Hiccup as a buff looking boy, I will say that it's not even Hiccup".
The dragons had given some people from the village a nickname. Stoick was the Red Big Chief, Astrid was the Valkyrie Girl, Gobber was the Funny Iron Hand, Snotlout was the Noisy One, Fishlegs was a Talking Book, the Thorston Twins was the Crazy Ones, and last but not the least, Hiccup was the Human Alpha.
"What did you say?" Toothless growled in anger, followed by the rest of the flock, startling the teens, Hiccup excluded since he had heard their conversation.
"Calm down, guys." Hiccup said soothingly to them, they reluctantly quieted down.
"What's wrong with them?" Fishlegs asked nervously, his heart rate was still fast from the shock.
"You know how they made my picture as a buff boy." Hiccup explained to them, "By doing that, it's like they denied my existence. My flock mates are angry at them for my sake".
Sharpshot returned with the map and gave it to Hiccup, "Is it the right one?" He asked as Hiccup looked at it.
"Yes, it's the right one. Thank you, Sharpshot" Hiccup answered him, "Let's see, clue number one : 'When the land meets the sea in the crook of the master's knee, that's where your search will begin' ".
"What the hell is that?" Snotlout asked in confusion.
"'The master's knee' . . ." Hiccup said in thought before looking back at the Great Hall, "Himus's painting, there has to be a clue in there." He said and lead them inside again, they looked at the painting carefully before Hiccup pointed out, "Look at the knee, it's bending towards the sea that has the rock that shaped like the one in the map, that's where we start." He said decisively and walked out in a fast pace, "Come on, guys, get your dragons." He said to the rest of the teens.
They flew on their dragons, with the rest of Hiccup's flock following in due to their curiosity, towards the sea where they found the rock with the same shape like the one in the paintings. They landed on the beach and Hiccup looked at the map again, "Okay, 'From here you will see the seeds that have been sown, look at where water turns to bone.' ".
"Water turns to bone?" Snotlout asked incredulously, "He must not been tried to make sense".
"Not exactly, human boy." Flarestorm argued, even though all the others could hear was a simple soft growl, "It called riddle, riddles don't have to make sense because it's their purpose, to confuse people".
"Why do I get a feeling like Flarestorm was answering Snotlout's comment?" Astrid asked with an amused chuckle.
"Because she did." Hiccup answered with a grin, "She said that riddles don't have to make sense because it's their purpose, to confuse people." He told them before looking at the sea, " 'Water turns to bone', like in . . . liquid to solid?" Hiccup's eyes snapped towards the mountain of ice, "The glacier, it's the answer!" He announced excitedly and took off with Toothless immediately, the others didn't have a choice but to follow him.
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Meanwhile, with Stoick, he was currently glaring at the pacing Gobber, "You had the map and you didn't destroy it?" He demanded in annoyance, "What were you thinking, Gobber?".
"Hey, it's not my fault." Gobber protested, "I thought that if I hid it, then maybe we can try to solve it again later".
"Gobber!" Stoick exclaimed in shock and disbelief.
"We turned back too early, Stoick." Gobber argued, "We only lose a couple of toes".
Stoick sighed and stood up, "Forget it, let's just go and find them before they got themselves killed." He said as he headed for the door, "As much as I'm sure that Hiccup's huge number flock will be able to protect them, but I'm still worried. Why would he do something like this again?".
Gobber stole a glance at the newest painting in their collection, the answer was clear, Stoick was just too slow about his own Son sometimes until he couldn't see the answer that was right in front of his eyes.
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Hiccup looked around the ice cave in awe, he had never seen anything like this before. "Are you sure you are alright on your own in there?" Rainleaf's worried voice rang from outside, the dragons were waiting for them outside, except for Toothless since he need Hiccup to fly, not that Toothless would leave Hiccup's side even if he could fly on his own.
"Don't worry, Rainleaf." Hiccup answered her absentmindedly, "I'm not on my own, I have Toothless and my friends here".
"Make sure to be careful, you are too accident-prone after all, Hiccup." Bonecrusher called out next, slightly teasing Hiccup, but his worry was clear.
"Shut up, Bonecrusher." Hiccup muttered in a slight annoyance, knowing that Bonecrusher was really worried about him.
"Hey, there's something in there." Astrid called out to the others as she pointed to the shadow of something under the icy floor, "How should we take it out?".
"Hm, this clue said that Freya will show the way." Hiccup said as he read the clue, though not all of them since he was sure the others, namely Snotlout and the Thorston twins, will get a headache from the riddle that was this long.
"I get it." Snotlout said cheerfully and began hitting the ice with his helmet, breaking it using force.
"I don't think it's the right-" Hiccup's words trailed off as he saw something that causing his eyes to widen, "Watch out!" He cried out and pulled Snotlout away from his spot, just in time to avoid the trap, late by a mere second and Snotlout's head would get smashed.
Chaos immediately exploded outside, "What was that?!" Rainleaf cried out in worry, her voice was the clearest, because the rest soon came one after another until Hiccup couldn't really make it out.
"We are alright!" Hiccup yelled out to them before thinking about the clue, "We can't break the ice, using strength isn't the answer here." He told them seriously, "Think, 'Freya will show the way', what is Freya is associate with again?".
The answer came to Hiccup at the same time as it did to Fishlegs, "Fire!" They said aloud together.
"You want us to fire?!" Flarestorm asked from the outside, followed by the others who had begun panicking after they heard the crash.
Hiccup sweat dropped, "No!" He yelled in exasperation, sometimes his flock get panicked too easily, but it was only when his safety was concerned so he couldn't complain, he know that sometimes he got a case of bad luck. "Freya is the Goddess of fire, that would mean . . ." He looked at Toothless and smiled, "Melt the ice with your fire, Brother".
"Brother?" The teens asked together.
Toothless ignored them and just breathed his fire to melt the ice.
"Brother by heart." Hiccup explained, "We care about each other like our own brother, so we call each other as our 'Brother'." He then looked at the ice when he heard Toothless's fire melt the ice, he carefully took the item inside.
"Is that the treasure?" Ruffnut asked as Hiccup inspected it.
"I don't think so, we are only at the beginning of this quest, there's no way the treasure will be here." Hiccup said as he stood up, "Maybe it's only a part of the key or something, it's only the first piece though".
Before they could discuss it more, they felt the ice mountain shook and looked around in shock. "Woah!" Hiccup gasped when he saw the cracking on the ice, "It's breaking apart! Toothless!" He climbed on Toothless and began flying, the other dragons heard the urgency in Hiccup's voice and flew in to get their Riders, for those who had a Rider (or Riders for Barf and Belch's case), and left in a hurry.
They looked back once they were in the safe distance and breathed in relief, "That was close." Astrid said more to herself, "We need to be more careful about the rest of this quest, guys, who knows what might happen".
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"Night Fury prints." Gobber said as he knelt on the sand, he picked some of them and sniffed it, "About an hour ago".
"I never understand how you do that." Stoick grumbled from beside his dragon, "What does an hour ago smell like, Gobber?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not as strong as a half hour ago." Gobber answered with a shrug.
Their conversation was cut short when they felt a vibration from a distance, they looked at the source and saw part of the glacier broke apart and fell into the sea.
"They must have been gone there." Stoick guessed.
"The glacier." Gobber stated the obvious, "I knew it!".
"You knew it?" Stoick asked incredulously, "Then how come we spent a week digging in this sand?!".
"That was your idea." Gobber answered cheekily.
"Hiccup could figure it out in just one afternoon, and we took a month." Stoick said with wonder in his voice.
"Yeah, looks like a little Hiccup get the best of us." Gobber said sarcastically, "And we think we are the big, strong Viking." He said as he make pose of flexing his right arm without really flexing them.
"What are you getting at, Gobber?" Stoick asked with a frown.
"The portrait, Stoick." Gobber said with a sigh.
"Ah, of course." Stoick looked at the glacier, "He's trying to prove himself".
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" 'At the edge of the world, amidst the raging sea. In the serpent's mouth, lies another key'." Hiccup read the next clue for them.
"Serpents." Tuffnut said more to himself, "I hate serpents, they are reptiles, right?" He asked his Sister.
"You do realize that you're sitting on one?" Ruffnut asked in answer, causing Tuffnut to mock cringe at Belch.
"Why do humans like riddle so much?" Cyclone asked as shook his head, "They are really confusing, makes my head hurts".
Hiccup chuckled and reach a hand to scratch his head, "Riddles are made that way because the human who make them don't want for the meaning to be easily understood." He explained as best as he could, "If you make a riddle to be easily understood, then the treasure you want to hide will be taken in no time".
"I still hate them." Cyclone answered as he rubbed his snout to Hiccup's cheek to show his affection.
"Does this serpent the riddle is talking about is one of the tidal class dragons?" Thundress asked curiously, "If so, then we need Scauldia's help, she can ask her friends if they have something stuck in their mouth".
"I don't think so, Thundress." Hiccup shook his head, "The serpent in this riddle can't be a living being, or we would never be able to get the key. I think it means a non-living being that has the shape of a serpent".
"Hey, that cloud looks like a snake." Snotlout said, trying to gain their attention, as he pointed at the clouds.
"Yeah, and in five minutes it will look like a bunny." Astrid waved him off.
"But he got the idea." Hiccup argued her, "Look around guys, look for anything that look like a snake, except the clouds".
"Over there!" Fishlegs exclaimed as he pointed at the rock formation far ahead of them.
Hiccup looked at the rocks and compared it with the one on the map, "You found it, Fishlegs." He said excitedly and looked at Toothless, "Come on, Brother".
Toothless unfolded his wings and crouched down in preparation to take off, but Fishlegs caught Hiccup's hand, "Wait! Are you crazy?" The bigger boy asked when Hiccup looked at him, "You can't take a Night Fury with the wingspan of 48 and expect to hover against a wind like that, you'll be killed".
"But almost all of our dragon's wingspan is big." Hiccup said thoughtfully.
"Not me." Meatlug piped in, "Look at my wings, they are small but strong. We, the Gronckles, are the best when it come to hover in place against unexpected wind".
Hiccup blinked, "Then can I ask you a favor, Meatlug?" He asked with a grin on his face.
"Wait, you want us to go there?" Fishlegs asked in surprise, he looked down at Meatlug, "What did you say to him until he got that kind of idea, Meatlug?".
"She just pointed out that her wingspan is small enough for this task." Hiccup explained to him, "How about it, Fishlegs? Do you mind carrying me to over there?".
"I hate to mention this, Hiccup, but there's no more space in here." Fishlegs answered as he gestured to him and his dragon.
"Yeah, but you can carry me with a rope." Hiccup said as he pulled a roll of rope from his bag, his one year experience away from Berk had taught him a lesson to always be prepared for any kind of situation. "Tied one end around Meatlug and I will grab the other end, that way we can go together".
Fishlegs looked determined, "Let's go then." He said as he climbed off of Meatlug so they could tie the rope.
When they were ready, they took off towards the rock formation. "Hiccup!" All his flock mates, minus Toothless, cried out with fear filled voice, "What are you doing? That's extremely dangerous!" Rainleaf cried out with panic in her eyes, always the first to get worried because she was a mother hen towards her flock mates.
"Oh, come on." Hiccup groaned before looking pleadingly at his flock mates, "Give me some credit, will you? I'm not that useless of a boy, I can do this and get back perfectly safe".
"But you are so tiny!" Bonecrusher cried out in worry, "The wind can easily throw you like a helpless Terror!".
"Hey!" Sharpshot cried out indignantly, "Even a Terror can handle himself just fine against a mere wind!".
"Shut up!" Toothless roared to them before they could fight among themselves, "Just trust Hiccup." He glared at them, "Besides, the boy won't grow if he never answer to a challenge, we can't protect him forever".
They fell into silence before Skyring looked at Hiccup seriously, "Fine, you can go, but we will immediately go to rescue you if something wrong happens." He said sternly.
Hiccup nodded and smiled gratefully at them, "Of course." He answered before looking up at Fishlegs and Meatlug, "Let's go!" He told them with a determined expression.
Fishlegs might look determined before, but he was now looking all nervous and scared while trying to stay on Meatlug. "Oh Thor, oh Thor." He said with shaky voice.
"Keep her steady." Hiccup told him, trying to get the boy's mind off of whatever negative thought he had in mind.
"I'm trying!" Fishlegs squeaked.
They flew to the rock formation, Fishlegs and Meatlug above the rock serpent's head while Hiccup in front of the mouth. He tried to reach the key with his hand, but couldn't so he tried using his prosthetic. "Come on, come on." He whispered to himself as he tried to get the key, he narrowed his eyes in concentration and finally caught the key. He smirked and kicked his leg, causing the key to fly out of the mouth and then he caught it with his hand, "Yeah! Got it!" He exclaimed in triumph.
They flew back towards the rest of the gang, he put the key into his bag and climbed on Toothless. "Let's head for the next location." Hiccup said excitedly and immediately took off with Toothless, the rest following him.
"Hey, Hiccup." Ruffnut called him out on the way, "What are you going to do with your share of the treasure?".
"I'm not doing this for the treasure." Hiccup answered her with a shrug, "When I heard Fishlegs said that only the brilliant of mind can solve this, I got interested to try it, that's all".
"So, not because of the painting?" Astrid asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not at all." Hiccup answered with a smile, "If Dad won't change it within a week, I will just remake it myself and hid the painting with the real me somewhere my descendant could find".
"Please don't hide the painting in a place where you have to solve a riddle in order to find it." Cyclone commented out of the blue, Hiccup only grinned at him and shrugged, "I really hate riddles." He grumbled in the end, earning a laugh from all the dragons and Hiccup.
They arrived at the next location and Hiccup looked at the map, " 'The world is right when stars alight, when not in sync, the danger you'll find'." He read the next clue before climbing off of Toothless.
"Stars?" Snotlout said from his dragon, "I don't want to wait here until night time".
"It's not a real stars, Snotlout." Astrid answered him as she climbed off of Stormfly, "Just like water turns to bone, there has to be another meaning behind this riddle." She then looked at Hiccup, "What do you think about this riddle, Hiccup?".
"Why do you ask him?" Snotlout asked as he finally climbed off of Hookfang, "Maybe I know the answer." Astrid and Hiccup only stared at him and waited for him to say anything, "I said maybe, turn out I don't." He said in the end.
"Guys! Look at this!" Fishlegs, who already in front of the rock wall, called out as he traced his hands on the rocks, "There's a picture engraved to each stones".
"Look carefully for anything that look like a star then." Hiccup said as he walked to where Fishlegs stood.
"Got one!" Snotlout announced as he immediately pull the rock with the star on it.
Immediately, the wall trembled and some rocks fell from above them. "Put it back! Put it back! Put it back!" Fishlegs cried out in panic as Snotlout tried to push the rock back into place but failed.
"Hookfang!" Snotlout called out for his dragon, whose attention was caught by a falling leaf at the moment, "HOOKFANG!" Hookfang finally snapped to reality and pushed Snotlout aside before pushing the stone back into place with his snout.
They looked up and saw that everything had calmed down once again, "Okay." Hiccup breathed in relief before looking at the map again, "This said in sync. Find another star, we need to pull both of them at the same time." He told them while looking at the stones.
Astrid looked at the stones and pointed to the stone with another star on it, "Over there." She announced before smiling at Hiccup, who nodded with a smile.
"We need to pull them at the same time, right?" Ruffnut asked rhetorically as she stepped forward with Tuffnut.
They looked at Barf and Belch, Ruffnut pointed to one of the star while Tuffnut the other, then they made a motion of pulling it at the same time. Barf and Belch pulled both stones at the same time before stepping backwards, "There you go." The twins said before banging their heads together in celebration.
"Good job, Ruff, Tuff, and Barf and Belch." Hiccup said as the rocks pulled apart, revealing a secret passage behind it, he wanted to enter but then remembered his flock mates. "Alright. All of you, stay here." He told them firmly, "We don't have enough space for all of you in there, only Toothless with go with me".
They weren't happy, but they trust Toothless's ability to get them out safely, so they nodded in understanding and get themselves comfortable on the ground in front of the entrance. Hiccup nodded and entered with Toothless, with the teens and their dragon followed behind him.
"Wow, this is amazing." Ruffnut said as they looked around.
Once all of them entered though, the door closed on it's own. Toothless's eyes widened and he tried to see if he could open the door from inside, he found that the rock wouldn't even budge from his strength. "We got a problem, Brother." He said unhappily to Hiccup.
"Oh, man." Tuffnut voiced their concern when they all saw the closed door.
Hiccup and Astrid exchanged look, they silently lead the way through the passage and grabbed a torch each when they saw them, their dragons light them up for them. They walked in silence until they arrived in a room where there's three short pillars with an item on each of them, "Uh, so hot." Snotlout grimaced as he looked around, "Do anybody else hot? Cause I'm really hot".
Tuffnut opened his mouth to answer, but whatever he wanted to say was cut off before he could even say them when Astrid called out in worry, "Guys, is it just me or the floor is moving?".
Hiccup lowered his torch onto the ground and saw many small forms running away from the fire, his eyes widened and moved the torch to another spot, only to receive the same result. "Ah, Toothless." He called out nervously, "Can you give us some light?".
Toothless answered by shooting his plasma blast onto the wall far ahead of them, lightening the room for a bit in the process. "That's why it's so hot in here." Fishlegs said as he looked at the floor, "It's Fireworm dragons!".
Tuffnut made a move to pick one of them, but Hiccup stopped him, "Their skin burn hotter than the sun." He said seriously.
"Oh really?" Tuffnut asked mockingly and raised one of them to his palm, "How hot can the sunlight be?" Just then, the Fireworm on his palm light itself on fire, causing Tuffnut to cry out in pain and dropped it.
The rest of the Fireworms began lighten themselves, and the gang was panicked at the sheer number of them on the floor, their panic was intensified when the Fireworms began moving to them. Toothless pulled Hiccup back and burn the nearest Fireworms, the rest of the dragons followed his lead and breathed their fire to the uncountable Fireworms who tried to get to the teens.
Finally, there's a space opened and Hiccup took the opportunity to walk over to the three items. "Grab them and let's go!" Snotlout told Hiccup in panic.
"No, we need to solve the clue first or we will only get ourselves in more trouble than now." Hiccup said calmly while opening the map, " 'Something pure and something strong, look first to yourself and you won't go wrong' ".
"Strong . . ." Fishlegs pointed to one of them, "That must be the iron one near the fire".
"But iron is not pure." Astrid argued, "Take the gold." She pointed to the gold one.
Hiccup ignored them and thought to himself, ignoring all the chaos around him.
"It's getting really hard to breath!" Astrid couldn't keep the panic out of her voice anymore.
"That's what you get when you nearly roasted alive!" Fishlegs squeaked and looked at Hiccup, "You have to make decision quick, Hiccup, we don't have much time!".
Toothless pulled Hiccup again and burn the Fireworms who were heading for them, Hiccup pat Toothless in gratitude before looking at the one in the center, " 'Look to yourself' . . ." Hiccup slowly walked to the one caught his eyes.
"Careful, it could be a trap." Astrid warned him.
Hiccup took a deep breath and picked up the key, as soon as he did, the Fireworms retreating and the ground gave away. "Woah!" He gasped as he fell.
"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled in horror.
Toothless, who managed to jumped to Astrid's place, saw that Hiccup had fell and jumped into the hole himself.
"We gotta get out of here!" Tuffnut cried out when rocks started falling on them, the cave was breaking apart.
"Through there!" Snotlout yelled as he pointed to an opening that lead to the outside.
"No!" Astrid yelled, "We are not leaving him!".
"If we don't go now, we all will be trapped." Fishlegs reasoned to her, "Then there's no one to help Hiccup".
Astrid gulped, her eyes widened in realization before narrowing in determination, she ran to her dragon and climbed on, "Let's get out of here!" She yelled as she took over the leader position – since Hiccup had fallen into the hole – and they flew out.
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Hiccup groaned as he stood up, thankfully not a bone broken from the fall, but his body was sore as hell. "We need to find some way out of here." He said as he looked around the dark place, "But first, give us some light, Bro".
Toothless looked around for something to light up before finding the perfect one, he shot at the rock far from them.
The room lightened up and Hiccup caught a sight of a strange shaped hole on the floor, "I wonder . . ." He mumbled to himself as he traced the hole before reached into his bag, he pulled the two keys he got before and combined them with the one he got just now, they matched perfectly. Hiccup put the now whole key into the hole and rotated it, a second later, a pillar rose from the ground where the key was and an entrance opened at the far end of the room. "Let's go." He said to Toothless and walked to the entrance.
"Don't, it could be dangerous like before." Toothless said in worry, his tone was pleading as he didn't want anything to happen to Hiccup.
"Well, we have come this far." Hiccup said apologetically, sometimes his curiosity got himself into troublesome situation, but he couldn't help it.
Hiccup walked towards the entrance and Toothless followed reluctantly.
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"Keep digging!" Astrid grunted as she picked a stone and threw it away, and kept repeating the process. Fishlegs was beside him and did as she did, the stones he threw behind him was immediately eaten by Meatlug. "We need to find them!".
"Find who?" Stoick's voice made them all froze, they turned around slowly and saw Thornado and Grump landed before Stoick and Gobber climbed down from their dragon's backs, but when Stoick saw that all of the teens was there without Hiccup, and all of Hiccup's dragons desperately trying to dig the rocks, a sick feeling settled in his gut. "Son." He said with dread filled voice.
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"Is there an end to this tunnel?" Hiccup asked to no one in particular, then, as if to answer him, he saw the exit, "Come on." He said and hastened his pace, the exit led them into a big room with many treasure, "Finally, we arrive at the end of our adventure, Brother." He said as he walked to the center of the room where a pillar stood with a scroll on it.
"Finally, indeed." Toothless breathed in relief, "Promise me you will never go treasure hunting ever again".
"I can't promise anything, I love solving riddles." Hiccup answered cheekily as he picked the scroll before taking a good look on it, " 'This treasure is passed from Father to Son. I leave it to you, the next worthy one, for only a hiccup could get this far. From one to another, be proud of who you are'." His eyes widened and he immediately unrolled the scroll, "Look!" He said excitedly as he showed it to Toothless, "Himus the Second was a hiccup, just like me." He said with a wide grin.
"It's true." Toothless purred, "His painting was made as a buff boy too, isn't it? I guess he did as what you are planning to do if your Dad won't change your painting".
Hiccup chuckled, "I guess." He said in agreement as he looked around the room, "He knew that only one of us, a hiccup, can find this place".
"Do you want to take the treasure?" Toothless asked as he looked at the pile of gold nearby.
"Nah, leave them be." Hiccup said nonchalantly, "The only treasure worthy of taking is this scroll, I couldn't care less about the gold stuffs".
The pillar moved down, and two other pillars rose a meter from the center, one of them held a feather while the other held a hammer. There's an instruction on the floor, but Hiccup didn't bother to read it when he could feel the room trembled. "You've got to be kidding me." He said in bored tone when rocks began falling again.
The Feather or the Hammer, which one would lead to the surface? Hiccup thought with a smirk as he glanced at the two items.
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"Argh!" Stoick yelled as he threw one particular big rock, "Keep digging! It's my Son in there!".
The dragons reacted to it first than them, at once they turned to a spot far behind Stoick before the humans even felt the vibration. They turned to where the dragons were looking and watch with wide eyes as the ground breaking apart, "Hiccup." Stoick whispered in growing fear and worry. They all ran towards the place, and once the smoke disappeared, they saw Hiccup holding up a feather.
"We are out." Toothless purred happily as he looked around.
Hiccup looked at the feather and smiled, "A hiccup will always choose a feather over a hammer which he has no way of lifting." He said before noticing the others with his Dad among them.
"Son." Stoick said in relief and ran to get to Hiccup.
"Hey, Dad." Hiccup greeted casually before running to Stoick as well, with Toothless right on his heel, Stoick hugged his Son tightly once they met in the middle, "Uh, Dad, can't breathe." Hiccup said with difficulty.
Stoick let Hiccup back to his feet and smiled apologetically, "Hiccup!" The teens had just arrived and welcomed him with many reaction, like saying that it's a relief that he was okay (Astrid), asking him what had happened (Fishlegs), even asking where the treasure was (Snotlout).
Hiccup showed them the drawing on the scroll, "This . . ." He looked at his Dad, "Is Himus's real Son".
"That's not a treasure." Snotlout complained.
"For you, maybe." Hiccup answered calmly as he looked at the scroll, "This is passed down from a hiccup to another hiccup, it's a treasure for me".
"Hiccup, I'm sorry for the painting, but you don't have to do this just to prove yourself." Stoick said as he placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "The one I'm proud of is the real you, not the painting".
"I know, Dad." Hiccup answered with a smile, "I was just curious and want to try solving the riddle".
Stoick chuckled, "Always the curious one, aren't you?" He asked happily, "That side of you never change, even from when you were a mere babe".
Hiccup blushed and opened his mouth to retort, but he didn't have the chance as his whole flock mates buried him with their slobber as they licked him to death. "Euh, guys!" He protested as he tried to push them away, but pushing one dragon was hard enough, let alone his whole flock mates which consisted of 8 dragons in total, at the moment.
"Don't scare us to death like that ever again!" Rainleaf said in relief.
"We thought we lose you, both of you." Thundress said as she rubbed Toothless's head with hers.
"Alright, I'm sorry." Hiccup apologized as he patted them one by one, making sure he left no one untouched, "I will try not to do anything reckless again, but no promise".
The next day, the portrait in the Great Hall changed into a new one, the Hiccup on this one was the real Hiccup and not a buff boy, and when Hiccup showed his flock mates the new paintings, they snorted and nodded in approval.
"Our Little Hiccup is always the best." They said at once, much to Hiccup's embarrassment, he was thankful that the people didn't understand Dragonese.
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To be continued . . .
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Froim : Please review ^ ^