~Ouroboros~

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1st - 4. Fire and Steel

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Hiccup cursed under his breath as his legs left the ground. Someone grabbed him by the neck of his jacket and lifted him in the air! Worse still they did that when he was in a full sprint and the sudden stop caused the cuff of his jacket to dig painfully into his neck. They could have unintentionally strangled me with that maneuver! Seriously – did they not think before…

His mind ground to a halt as the road in front of him was bathed in fiery flames from a passing dragon, coating the cobblestones with a thin layer of ash. If he had kept running he could very well have gotten caught in it… On second thought, slight strangulation is completely acceptable. Makes you feel alive, it does. He was still facing away from whoever saved him and wondered who it was that saved him.

"What are you doing out again!? I thought I told you to get to Gobber's when I left!"

Ah – well, that answered that question. He could recognise that voice anywhere – the not too deep but with a hit of a guttural growl voice which was always shaded with exasperation and just a tinge of regret when aimed towards him. So much so that it was all too easy sometimes for Hiccup to see the perpetual scowl on that face to go along with the voice.

It was – of course – Stoick. Well, it was time to face the music.

"Hey dad – I just – " Hiccup had to stop there. What WAS he doing? Why was he just running around like a chicken with its head cut off – enthralled in the hectic chaos around him as Vikings took care of the dragons? I think I may have gotten just a bit too excited by the raid – I should have headed straight to Gobber's to get the Mangler! It's not like I can take on a dragon by myself without help…

"-Gobber's, and try not to destroy everything this time – Ok?" Hiccup felt himself be bodily thrown to the side as his father shifted his focus back to the battle.

Oops – he had missed his dad's reply and asking for a repeat would be a sure fire way of getting him started on a long speech. Quick – what was he talking about? – Besides the necessary bit about keeping out of trouble… Get to Gobber's? Considering by the direction he was thrust towards that was as good a guess as any; besides which – Stoick only really trusted Gobber to handle him. I am not THAT bad…

Well, I mean – most of the failures are not exactly my fault… – Thought Hiccup as he swerved around the rushing Vikings who were just finishing lighting up the huge torch bowls and raising them into the air to shine a light at the incoming dragons. – Once I get to Gobber's the hardest part will be getting out again – knowing him he would do anything to prevent me from joining in on the raid. He could understand Gobber – dragon raids were quite dangerous, possibly even more so for him with his untested weapons. But this time – it will work. All I need is a relatively calm area to set up the Mangler and then a nice, clean shot at a passing dragon… Oh, like the Nightfury when it shows up…

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Gobber looked critically at the recently heated and almost hopelessly bent sword in his hand that he had been trying for the past minute to straighten out. Some young Viking had likely thought it was a good idea to take a stab or a swipe at a Gronckle – completely ignoring centuries of wisdom which should have instinctively made him take out a hammer against it. Damn idiots don't even care about their weapons – at least ten swords had already come in bent or broken like this!

Sometimes he just couldn't stand them, and their excuses just grated against his nerves – 'oh but I was sure that if I put enough force behind it, it would pierce that armour!' or 'there really wasn't enough time to get a different weapon!' or his personal favourite 'It looked softer than the rest – I thought that might be a weak point!'

A loud crack reverberated through the smithery and Gobber bit back a curse. With his thoughts wondering about he had hit the sword at a wrong angle too hard and snapped it completely. What is wrong with me today? It has been several years since I made a stupid mistake like that… It was probably just the dragon raid, he decided while chucking the hilt of the broken sword to the side and picking up another one – this one slightly less bent that the last one, but still just as painful to look at.

Besides which – with Hiccup gone who knows where, I am getting swamped by Vikings requesting a weapon change. It was the unfortunate truth for him that Vikings had a strange tendency of going through weapons during dragon raids that some people can go through arrows – only without the option of scavenging for them after battle. It was also the reason why making new weapons and fixing old ones took up most of his time – he probably went through enough weapons in a month to equip the village three times over!

Sad really, considering everything that was an underestimation of the actual amounts.

Gobber's thoughts ground to a halt as he noticed Hiccup rush into the forge. Ah – finally.

"Nice of you to join the party – Thought you would have been carried off by now, eh?"

"Who – me? Naw, I'm WAY too muscular for their taste – they know better than to cross my path when I am armed with a pair of these."

Gobber smiled at Hiccup's failing attempts of flexing his muscles – unlike many of the other Vikings he liked the usual snappy comebacks from his apprentice – it was quite frankly relaxing (a good thing during a raid) to have a go at the friendly banter, and neither of them took it too seriously either so there was no worry about stepping on anyone's toes.

"Not sure about the muscles, haven't seen much of them on your frame – forgot them at home again didn't ya? Still, they need toothpicks – don't they? What with all the tough Vikings or woolly sheep getting stuck in their teeth – must be awful."

Hiccup did not answer and instead focused on opening the shutters of the shop and grabbing the weapons on the windowsill from the next wave of Vikings looking for a quick replacement. Gobber felt pride at that – no matter what the others would say about Hiccup's weaknesses, he knew there was more to his apprentice. Hiccup was a strong alloy of determination, will, and a shockingly bright mind – a perfect combination for a blacksmith. Even my son – Gobber was prepared for the brief stab of pain that thought brought up; he had accepted his son's death and knew that he would meet him again – likely sooner rather than later if one considered that he joined dragon battles every chance he got, and the chances of survival were quite low due to his missing arm and leg – even with his experience… Still – even my son would have looked at me for guidance at this point; but not Hiccup – no… He had already started to prepare them for repairs… I will definitely make sure that he takes over after me – if both of us live long enough for that.

That was when the night sky lit up bright red from the pillar of fire rising into the heavens from in between two of the nearby houses. Well, there goes the first pillar of this raid – hope we don't have more than two this time… Naturally Viking houses got some fireproofing done – you couldn't very well survive against fire breathing dragons otherwise – but some things like a concentrated gas explosion from a Zippleback or a full out spray of liquid fire from a Nightmare could still blow up or burn down a house. Even worse than those were the plasma bolts of a Nightfury – being like the combined efforts of a Zippleback and a Nightmare, just even more focused and unfortunately without any limitations on the number of shots it could make. But the ultimate prize would have to go to the pillars – they did not blow up or set things on fire – no, they incinerate anything caught within the circle… If you are lucky you can still survive even a Nightfury's blast close to point blank – but nothing survives being within the limits when the pillars go up. Wood, bones, steel – anything and everything caught within gets turned to ash. And he really did not want to imagine the temperatures needed for steel to turn to ash.

Gobber, just like every other being on the island at that moment, could not tear his eyes away from the sight – even though he had to narrow them until they were just barely open due to the sheer wall of light smashing against him due to their proximity to it. He could not see Hiccup, but he was sure that his apprentice was just as incapable of tearing his eyes away from it as he was.

The pillar only lasted for half a minute before suddenly thinning and breaking apart into ash, but that was enough to incinerate a greater part of one house and set off a fast spreading fire on the other one. With it over with Gobber could look around again and spotted Hiccup rushing towards the counter near the door and leaning out to breathe in the full scene of destruction outside.

"Fire!"

"Get the younglings to put it out! You focus on keeping the dragons away from here!"

Good plan. Gobber reflected. This way the younglings do the necessary work while at the same time keeping them from any seriously dangerous situations. More or less what he was doing here with Hiccup – although his job was much more difficult, what with Hiccup's nigh surreal ability at getting into trouble.

Gobber did not spare any more thought to the nearly incinerated portion of the village – it was over and done with, and if the younglings did their job correctly… He felt a wave of heat along his back and modified his train of thought – It's still only two destroyed houses – still far below the expected collateral damage for a raid this large.

Turning around to switch his hammer to a smaller size, Gobber noticed Hiccup just in time to prevent him from falling out over the counter – apparently his apprentice was much too focused on the other younglings – or perhaps on the 'love of his love' (he personally just considered it as 'youthful infatuation', if that) – Astrid.

"Oh come on – let me go! I need to make my mark."

"No worries – you've already made plenty of those! I think there is still a few charred areas near the Meade hall where you tried to use that sleeping powder you came up with on a monstrous Nightmare – granted it was barely standing up by the end, but that had more to do with it having spent five minutes sneezing liquid fire everywhere within a hundred foot circle around it! It actually managed to do more damage to the village than a fire pillar – and I have to admit – that takes Talent!"

"That was my first try! You have to agree that things do not usually work out on the first try!"

Gobber could not stop himself from rolling his eyes and raising one of his eyebrows at that. "… Or on the second, third, fourth, fifth… I forget – how many of these ideas have ya come up with so far?" He counted off on his fingers before spreading out his hands in a 'there you go' gesture.

Hiccup flinched and Gobber felt a peck of worry pass through him – had he taken this too far? Hiccup did not usually mind him ribbing at the previous attempts, but perhaps the mounting failures have started to get to him? "Come on – all I need is two minutes! Get out there, kill a dragon, and get back! Simple, easy, and as a result my life will get infinitely better – I may even get a date."

Apparently he had worried about nothing. If Hiccup could joke about getting dates then he was obviously fine. At least I think that was a joke – Hiccup couldn't have been serious, right? Gobber sometimes felt more like Hiccup's father than Stoick was, but surely he would not be expected to brief his apprentice on anything pertaining to THAT topic… Right? It didn't matter that he and Stoick were almost brothers – he would clear the village walls and be halfway to the opposite side of the island even without his wooden leg before he was roped into that.

Pointing off the weapons he was talking about Gobber continued the banter – after all the replacement weapons and shields were ready, so realistically all he needed to do during dragon raids was to exchange used weapons for new ones – any repairs he did during the raids were more to keep him from running off to join the fight than for any good it will do.

"And how will you do that eh? – You can't lift a battle-hammer – you can't swing an axe – heck, you can't even throw a bola without tying yourself in it along with any unfortunate Vikings within range!" lifting one of the bolas and shaking it at Hiccup before it was grabbed from his hand by Bert who was just looking for a new weapon. From the grunt of exertion followed by a heavy thud and an animalistic moan, Bert had provided an exemplary show of how to properly use a bola by tying up a flying dragon and lowering its flying capabilities to those of a brick.

"Ok, fine – but this will throw it for me."

Gobber felt his well-honed danger senses gained during countless dragon raids and further sharpened through Hiccup's antics scream at him the moment he noticed Hiccup approaching the strange contraption he had been working on in his spare time. Somehow, in the middle of the night with screams and explosions echoing in from the outside the strange chest-on-wheels like object looked much more foreboding than it did before. Why does that sound eerily like the 'this will swing an axe for me' contraption that almost took my head off?

Hiccup started to place his hand on the chest and Gobber's danger senses spiked as he noticed that the chest's elongated side was pointing straight towards him. Shit!

At the first sign of the chest opening up along it's middle Gobber pushed himself to the side as a heavy object passed through the air his head had inhabited less than a second ago. That was close… Judging from the meaty thunk followed by a heavy thud behind him one of the Vikings was not as lucky. Too close…

"See – this right here is what I am talking about!" He was no longer in a mood for playful banter.

"Ab- Its- It was- Just a mild calibration issue! I'm sure I can fix – "

Shaking the metal pincers that were currently on his interchangeable stump of a left arm in front of Hiccup's face Gobber cut his apprentice off mid-sentence. "Don't! Just don't. Look Hiccup – If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons ye have to stop all of…"

He paused. There really was no way to describe the changes necessary. "…This" He said while gesturing vaguely in Hiccup's general direction.

"You just pointed to all of me" came the flat toned reply. Perfect! That he could work with!

"Yes – that's it! – Stop being all of you!"

"Ooooh… You sir are playing a dangerous game here – keeping this much Raw Vikingness contained… There will be consequences!"

"I'll take my chances. Axe – sharpened - now."

As Hiccup staggered under the weight of the axe head Gobber threw at him, Gobber allowed himself to relax and pick up one of the swords from the fire to begin hammering at it. Both of them were things that did not need to be done, but it would keep him distracted from the battle going on outside and keep Hiccup busy. If things continued as they have up til how, it was possible that he would not have to get out to help against the dragons, after all so far the defense of the village seemed to be going quite well. Besides which – I still need to keep an eye on Hiccup to prevent him from slithering off.

His heart plummeted a moment later as he heard the telltale screech steadily rising in volume. He did not need to look outside to know that the other Vikings have also heard it and have frozen for a second to search out the elusive monster making it. The dragons were likely acting the same way – for there was something about that sound that sent a sliver of fear deep into the hearts of any who heard it, human and dragon alike.

"Nightfury!"

"Get down!"

And then came the explosion. Glancing outside through the counter of the forge Gobber could see the flaming remains of the catapult falling off the tower upon which it was situated. The shrill screech started again, this time gaining in volume much faster and cumulating with yet another blue explosion – this time at the base of the tower, completely destroying the foundation and causing the massive assembly of wood and stone to collapse. Gods help those who were on that tower; he could not help but think as the thunderous noise of falling rocks reverberated its way through his forge.

He knew from the frantic cries of the Vikings around and the renewed vigor with which the dragons flew off – likely towards the sheep – that the real dragon raid has only just begun. Nothing to it – even without an arm and a leg I am still one of the best fighters in the village – I NEED to get out there…

There was just one problem: Hiccup. In the midst of unlatching the pincers from his arm and screwing in an axe into the specially made metal stump of his left arm, Gobber turned towards his apprentice.

"Mind the fort Hiccup – They need me out there. Just keep replacing the used weapons with new ones for anyone that drops by; and by all the gods – please stay out of trouble!"

Pausing for a second in the doorway Gobber turned around to make sure that nothing will go up in flames without him there – or at least without excessive work or Hiccup's brilliant plans. That was when he saw the look Hiccup was giving him… Gods I really do not like the barely contained excitement in his eyes and happy grin on his face – I swear he is already planning something!

"Stay." Somehow that did not seem to convey the grave importance of his instruction. Adding "here" While pointing towards the middle of the forge did not seem to help.

Sighing he finished with a shake of his head and a single "You know what I mean" before yelling out a war cry and hobbling off on his peg leg. Now if Hiccup actually listens to me for once… Ri-i-ight…

He just KNEW that this would not end well.

Whether for him, Hiccup, the forge, or the entire village remained to be seen.

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Hiccup smiled, heedless of the continuing explosions and increasingly frenzied yelling outside. Finally! Even better than I could have expected!

He was just thinking about how to get out with the Mangler that he designed to shoot bolas at a range completely incomparable to that of any Viking's throw distance; but with Gobber gone there was no need to make a distraction! He could just leave, and with the general chaos outside there was almost no chance of anyone taking the time to stop him!

A cursory check of the forge later Hiccup was sure that nothing would inexplicably combust without him there – all the weapons were out of the furnace, no furs lying around for the embers to latch onto, and in the case of dragons setting the place on fire… Well, it wasn't like he could do anything to prevent that in any case – and if it does happen, at least I would have a good reason for not following Gobber's orders and sticking around the forge…

Grabbing the Mangler by its handles – unlike some of his earlier inventions which had the unfortunate flaw of being about as portable as a pair of anvils tied to a boulder, this time his design was very much like a wheelbarrow – Hiccup wheeled it around and ran out of the forge. He was actually somewhat surprised at the ease with which he could guide it. Mentally giving himself a pat on the back for a remarkably well made design, he picked up speed and maneuvered around the Vikings that stood – or more often than not ran – in his way.

"Watch it!"

"Out of the way!"

"Hiccup! What are you doing here!"

"Someone get him inside!"

"Hiccup – get back inside!"

Such was the exhilaration that Hiccup felt at being so close to his ultimate goal that he did not even notice himself yelling out "Sorry!" – "Excuse me!" – Or "Yea I will, soon!"

Somehow he managed to get through with the Mangler all the way to the cliff at the edge of the village facing the docks – several hundred feet above the waters below or almost fifty feet higher than Gobber's forge. Although he had to transverse almost a thousand feet through the village in the middle of a dragon attack, Hiccup did not actually notice the journey. More importantly and bordering on miraculous from the concentration of dragons in the village, no dragons noticed him. Heedless of his aching legs and groaning back from trudging an equivalent of a wheelbarrow full of rocks – a surprisingly good comparison based on both weight and handling – he let go of the Mangler and opened it up.

From his last few experiments Hiccup had discovered that going into close combat with dragons was a very good way of purchasing a ticket to an exclusive one way trip on a funeral pyre. Thus it was possibly a good thing that his attempt at getting something to swing an axe for him was prematurely destroyed before he even got to test it due to the unfortunate preliminary trial that Gobber had attempted. That design was based on the catapults, just slightly modified to have an axe attached to the swing arm. He still thought that it may have worked – if Gobber did not attempt to use it before Hiccup had attached the wooden arrester that would stop the axe after it had completed its swing – and incidentally prevent it from attempting to chop off the arm of the user... Well – arm, leg, head… whatever was in the wrong place at the time.

There was the small problem of positioning the dragon's neck directly above the device before using it, but Hiccup knew that such minor details would have been solved if only it was not completely and irreparably dismantled the very next day when he came in to work, and by dismantled he meant so thoroughly that the remaining pieces were only useful as kindling – apparently Gobber did not take nearly losing his hand very well. Hiccup really did not understand what the problem was – so what if 'that god damn suicide machine' to quote Gobber had cut cleanly through the hammer's handle attached to his amputated left arm… That only proved that it would have done an excellent job of cutting through a dragon's neck!

Besides which, as he had always told Gobber, it was just a minor calibration issue – Heck! In this case the device wasn't even finished yet! You could not expect things to work when they are half built! Naturally all of that fell on Gobber's deaf ears and the pile of kindling next to him, only serving to make Hiccup frustrated even further when Gobber had thrown him so much work to complete that it was almost a year before he had enough spare time to get around to even thinking about building his next design.

Of course it was still miles better than his very first attempt at a defense design – for a shield that could redirect dragon fire and still be usable after the first shot. Truly, the less said about that attempt the better; let it just be noted that all of his designs afterwards focused on 'taking care' of the dragon before it got around to trying to flame him and resulted in the entire Village begging Gobber and Stoick to prohibit Hiccup from working on shields again. Or anything else really, but the final agreement came to list only shields when it was written up and stored with all the other important documents in the safe box within the Meade hall.

Still, unlike all of his other plans, the Mangler was designed to truly be a long range weapon, compatible – or even, dare he say it, superior to the catapults all Vikings used. It was the pinnacle of almost a year's worth of work, and Hiccup could not stop himself from stepping away from it and just staring at its mechanical beauty when he finished setting it up.

The wheelbarrow like chest was nothing more than a base to stabilize the actual system which was inspired by both the bolas which were the only truly long range weapons besides catapults that were effective against dragons – after all thrown axes, hammers, swords, shields, or carts did not actually count as long range weapons per-se; and bows – which while almost indispensable on hunting expeditions, were nearly completely useless against dragons due to their scales and quick healing. Well, the standard bows anyways – those that a Viking could use, or roughly three times as strong as those used by traders or their guards.

The Mangler on the other hand was powered by two heavy bows that even a Viking would find difficult to draw to its full length and was truly a breathtaking sight to behold – at least to his eyes; extruding an aura of power and grace that was not something that could be said of his earlier designs it stood pristine in the midst of chaos. Will you look at that – he was waxing poetically just from the sight of it.

It was truly a masterpiece; the complex pulley system for drawing the bows alone took several months to design and several more to test out. His mind nearly broken from all of the failures compounded by his father's lack of belief (or pride, hope, trust…); he had poured his heart and mind into designing, constructing, and testing out this contraption. It was his last attempt – for no matter what brave face he showed the rest of the village, he was truly barely hanging on to his sanity; to his belief that he could find acknowledgement with the other Vikings… that his father would for once in his life see him – actually see him as his son, and not as a failure…

… And the result in front of him was unrivaled. In the midst of yet another dragon battle, surrounded by flames and the cacophony of screams and yells; Hiccup could almost feel confidence radiating from the polished wooden sides of his creation. Almost as if it knew of the sleepless nights he spent on it and wanted nothing more than to pay him back for it. He could almost hear its soothing voice (if it had any) telling him to calm down and aim it.

As yet another blue plasma bolt rend the air and sunk one of the boats in the docks far below him, his hands drew towards the trigger and dragged the rest of his body to position it behind the Mangler. As his eyes broke contact with his creation and started to search the skies for that one elusive dragon that was now his prey, he could almost feel the tightened bow string ready to be released. His breathing slowed down and his eyes stopped darting around in search of his phantom target. There was no longer any apprehension in him, nor were his hands anything but rock steady. He knew… He KNEW with the certainty of the sun rising that this time everything would work out.

Another screech with the customary screams of "Nightfury!" was followed by the expected explosion of yet another tower… And then he saw the dark shape of a dragon pass before him – clearly outlined in the glowing moon behind it.

With all of the inevitability of thunder after a lightning strike Hiccup felt himself calmly align the Mangler to a point just in front of the shadow before him and pull on the trigger.

It wasn't until he heard the sound of the bola piercing through the air and felt the recoil from the Mangler which launched him backwards to sprawl on the ground that Hiccup felt control return to his body as he almost instantly pushed himself into a half-sitting position and stared at the sky hoping beyond hope to see some sign of his success.

A mournful cry pierced the air and Hiccup felt a grin split his face as he saw the shadow falling towards the forest on the main island.

I did it…

I actually did it…

"I hit it… I actually hit it!"

Whirling around as he had seen countless Viking champions do to revel in the death of a monstrous Nightmare at the end of dragon training, and how he had seen himself do in countless fantasies; Hiccup spread out his arms to better take in the expected wall of cheers of all the Vikings that he could see standing before him as they stared slack jawed at the sheer impossibility of that which he had just accomplished.

"Did anyone see that!?"

The sharp cracking sounds behind him brought him out of his visions as he realised that he was quite alone on this cliff on the outskirts of the village – or at least the only human around. With a sigh he turned around to stare at the red jaws choke full of teeth the size of his arm that seemed to be grinning at him from above the broken remains of the Mangler. His mouth opening on its own accord he spoke the first words that came into his mind.

"Except for you"

The dragon's only response was an ear piercing roar.

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A/N

Didn't want to change the story too much this early on while simultaneously didn't want to do what I have seen several others do and simply re-tell the movie almost word for word. Hopefully I accomplished that much. If any of you are wondering when the story will break away from the movie's plotline... Well stick around and find out.

Thank you all who read my story.

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Saienai Signing off.