So! The original version of this chapter that went up had me announcing my desire to discontinue this fic; I've left an archive of the original draft on the AO3 version of this story. Which, by the way, I've crossposted my fics to AO3 now! :D Just search for "Watching Race To The Edge" there, it should turn up.
Buuuuut; after some ruminating, I realised... nah, this fic is way too precious for me to give it up when there's only 8 chapters. While I haven't changed my mind on wanting to throw myself into the Red Death's maw whenever I look at my old writing, I think I at least owe it to myself to take it as a challenge to see how I've improved. Plus, there are still reaction concepts I want to explore with this! Maybe my characterisations won't be exactly the same as they were when I was a young teen, which might lead to a bunch of inconsistencies in terms of continuity, and for that I apologise, but I'll still try my best to give these fellas what they deserve :)
I'll also be formatting this fic a little differently in future chapters- not this one, but the next and so on; say goodbye to the bold text representing what's happening onscreen, it'll all just purely be the reactions, separated by line breaks. Gives me more time to focus on what we're all actually here for :D
Anyways, apologies for the scare earlier, and without further ado, apparently not for the last time as I'd initially thought:
Original episode was written by Jack C. Thomas, and directed by Robert Briggs.
The Witch looked down at the crowd of Vikings from her usual spot on the top of the pillar, listening in on the chatters of her audience. Though most of the reception was generally positive, she sensed a hint of weariness spreading through the crowd.
Carefully, she leaned in to hear what they were saying.
"Well, that was… emotionally exhausting," Dagur stated bluntly. His family and the riders nodded, mumbling their agreement.
"Yeah, that might've been my fault," Heather rubbed her arms sheepishly. She turned to look at her brother, "Everyone was getting so mad at you for your past mistakes, so I asked the Witch to show something good about you. Proving that you've changed, and all that."
"Aww, Heather," The Berserker Chief returned his sister's gaze with a smile, "I appreciate it, sis. But I can stand up for myself. You know that, right?"
Always one for pushy physical contact, Dagur had placed his hand on Heather's shoulder. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly upwards, pushing it off gently.
"I know, I know," Heather smiled back, "We're Berserkers, we're tough, and I'm pretty sure you've proved all that with your actions up on the magic thing."
"But you're a really, really good guy now," Continued Heather, "And an amazing brother. I wanted everyone to see that."
"Yeah, he's so amazing that he almost ended up barfing on Toothless," Snotlout chimed in jokingly. Sleuther and Windshear shot him a look, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" The short Dragon Rider raised his arms up in surrender while he walked off, "Seriously, what's a guy gotta do to make a joke around here?"
"Jokes need to be funny, for one," Astrid sarcastically replied, though with little bite to her snark, seeing that Snotlout was genuinely trying to lighten the mood. Dagur had a point- Watching… all that wasn't the most fun experience.
"Well, at least the end was uplifting," Hiccup shrugged, "But, yeah. I… really didn't need to see how angry I was back then."
'And I didn't exactly need to see Toothless so hurt again,' the heir added mentally. As if sensing his thoughts, the Night Fury moved closer to his human's side, crooning comfortingly while Hiccup's hand ran over his warm scales.
"Hey, come on, brother," Dagur elbowed his side, "You changed, I changed, all of us grew and improved."
"Eugh, you guys sound like a kid's book," Tuffnut groaned aloud, interrupting the moment yet again. The mood was getting way too sombre and cheesy, but what could he do to liven things up?
As if an oddly placed candle was lighting up above his head, Tuffnut suddenly had a fun idea.
"¡Oye, extraña dama mágica, por favor ven aquí!" Tuffnut called out, hands cupping over his mouth like he'd been calling Chicken. His twin looked at him curiously, leaning in to whisper in his ear.
"Uh, Tuff, what are you doing?" Asked Ruffnut. All Tuffnut replied with was a large, toothy grin. A moment later, and a small trail of magical smoke slithered towards the two twins like a snake, before stopping and piling up until a human shape stepped forth.
"Yes?" The Witch questioned politely, tapping her staff like a cane as she appeared from the dissipating smoke.
"Could you, perchance, show us something funny this time?" Inquired Tuffnut, putting on a fake snobbish accent, "Preferably something less emotional, and more embarrassing, but still kinda dramatic. For them, not me."
"What, giving away all our good blackmail material?" Ruffnut gave her baby twin a faux look of disapproval, shaking her head, "Okay, but if you want to embarrass someone, embarrass Tuff."
"Oooh, oooh! Yes!" Tuffnut grinned, immediately contradicting his own words, "I like being embarrassed, pick me!"
"Wha- hey, no fair!" His sister replied, "No, I want to be embarrassed!"
"At this rate, I might as well embarrass both of you," The Witch deadpanned. Then, this time as she got an idea, an actual candle-sized flame lit itself above her head, magically extinguishing a second later. She tapped her staff again, clearing her throat to get the rest of the Riders' attention.
"You know what? You're right," The Witch said at last, "It's about time we watch something a little more fun and light-hearted, and I've got the perfect tale lined up next!"
She grinned, leaning forwards to tap Tuffnut's nose, "You get what you wished for. This is gonna be great!"
And with that, the Witch disappeared in yet another poof of smoke. Everyone stared at Tuffnut.
"…So, what did you just do?" Ruffnut spoke up first. Her twin shrugged in response, whilst the chatterings of the Vikings around them grew noisier as the screen began to stir.
"It's probably fine," he replied nonchalantly, "I mean, the weird magic lady hasn't been all that mean so far; She's been kinda nice, so it can't be that bad, right?"
"Have I ever steered us wrong before?" He asked rhetorically. Several unamused looks and raised eyebrows were sent in his direction, though he seemed not to register them or had either ignored them completely, "I just asked her to show us something fun! ¡Estará bien!"
But while the others turned back to look at the floating rectangle as it stirred, Hiccup was not so satisfied. He scanned around the room, quietly. While she had a habit of acting cryptically and disappearing into the fog, he could tell when someone was just playing up the mystique for show. The Witch was fairly easy to locate, as she lounged somewhat lazily by one of the hall's corners.
She opened her eyes as he approached, and the two regarded each other with- not exactly suspicion or animosity, but curiosity.
"Why are you doing all this?" asked Hiccup.
The Witch only grinned, "You're gonna have to elaborate on that."
"I-I-I mean," he brought a hand to his chin, thinking, as he paced around, "You can pause time for an entire hall of an island's worth of vikings and dragons," he continued, "who I assume aren't even ageing and are effectively immortal, for as long as we're here. I'm pretty- pretty sure the only reason you let us eat and sleep is so we maintain a sense of normalcy and routine. You're seemingly omniscient, since you can just show everyone past events, exactly as they happened," he looked back at her, a myriad of questions- not accusing, but knowledge-seeking and endlessly curious, swirling at the back of his head, "Why... why bother with all this? Just- just hosting a makeshift theatre, when you have all that ability?"
"For fun," was her simple reply.
He let his hands drop in disbelief, "Really?"
"Really," she nodded, winking at him, playfully, before letting her expression fall more sombre, "You're right, I can see and do lots of things, but I'm not totally all-powerful," she stood up from where she was lounging, regarding him with a sorry gaze, "I cannot tell you too many details, but something's going to happen in the future. Several things. Big things. None of which I can prevent without disturbing the order of the world. You'll all turn out alright at the end, for the most part, but it's going to hurt."
Hiccup frowned at the cryptic warning, but let her continue.
"I guess I just..." she shrugged, looking out towards the crowd, "Wanted to give you all more time. To hang out, have fun, fit in some extra new memories, maybe work through some hard emotions and solve a few issues, before it's too late, and you lose your chance. Before new traumas roll in and upheave it all and you'll have to spend time working through those."
"But if whatever's coming is so bad, why can't we just, you know, talk it out with them?" Hiccup reasoned, "We can prevent whatever's happening with peace. It worked for the dragons, Outcasts, Berserkers, Defenders of the Wing, the Wingmaidens, even Viggo, eventually."
The Witch remained quiet, looking at him, sadly. Instead of answering his question, she patted his shoulder, her words dripping out like a breeze in the wind, whispering in his ear, "Just... try to relax. Stop worrying about the future for now, learn from the past, and enjoy the present, young heir of Berk."
Then she disappeared yet again before he could blink, not even smoke trailing in her wake. Quietly, Hiccup returned to his previous seat.
The episode opens with a Dragon Hunters' boat landing on an island. The Hunters can be seen offloading boxes of cargo from the ship onto to beach, when one of them notices a small dragon screeching on the shore.
The dragon cries out in pain, spreading its wings.
"What in Thor's name is that?" Gobber wondered, leaning in curiously upon seeing the unfamiliar dragon species. Hiccup and Toothless both felt their stomachs drop and their eyes widen, recognising the Small Shadow, and, in turn, realising what day this was.
"It's one of the Shadow Wings," Hiccup whispered aloud to himself, cringing at the memories that everyone was about to see of his sleep-deprived self. Then again, this could be a good opportunity to really observe the behaviours of the two dragon species from a fresh pair of eyes, and not sleep-deprived slightly loony ones.
Well, at least Tuffnut was right. It probably wasn't going to be emotionally exhausting to watch, if only a little embarrassing.
The group of Hunters steadily approach the supposedly injured dragon with their equipment, commenting that they'd never seen its species before.
With bated breath, Hiccup watched with a hint of amusement as the onscreen Hunters fell for Baited Breath's trick. Personal experiences aside, he did love how clever these dragons could be. Especially considering they were Stoker Class dragons, who were more known to be hot and fiery, instead of cunning and smart like most Strike Class dragons were.
He looked at Fishlegs, who seemed equally excited to observe the Shadows' behaviour- The other Rider was practically bouncing in his seat. Learning about it from one person's anecdotes and new entries in the Book of Dragons was one thing, actually seeing it happen was another.
"Relax, little one. We just want to introduce you to our friend Viggo," One Hunter says, raising his sword,
"You're going to love him."
However, the Hunters' plans are cut short by a growl from the bushes, some sort of creature ambushing the two Dragon Hunters as they scream.
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said they were smart, huh?" Astrid noted, having also heard the tale. It happened once the Dragon Riders had all awoken from napping under a trapdoor and were finally released by their dragons- She remembered Hiccup had almost immediately set to drawing the Large and Small Shadows and writing about their behaviours in his sketchbook, before transferring it to the Book of Dragons later, all the while rambling about his experiences.
"Ye' know we ain't telepaths, right?" Gobber raised an eyebrow as the Riders spoke among themselves, "Mind tellin' us what they are, or are we goin' to wait twenty minutes?"
"R-right, sorry," Hiccup blushed sheepishly while his mentor's eyebrow went further upwards. He looked out at the various curious Vikings in the crowd, "T-That-That's Baited Breath, a Small Shadow Wing. She was pretending to be hurt while her little packmate there attacked the Dragon Hunters."
"I still can't believe you named her, 'Baited Breath'," teased Astrid jokingly, "She technically wasn't even trained."
"Well, I mean, it fits!" Defended Hiccup, nonserious, gesturing widely towards the screen with an exaggerated pose. The species used a baiting tactic, they made you wait with bated breath, what was wrong with the name? It was perfect!
"It does, and it's clever, and you're a dork for it," His betrothed said with a smile. After a moment's pause, "It's a compliment."
And with a drastic tonal shift, the scene cuts to Berk with the sun out bright and various Vikings hard at work.
"Hard to believe it's the middle of the night," Hiccup comments as his father and mentor both stand beside him.
"I love the Midnight Sun! Constant sunlight for two weeks," Stoick places a hand on his son's shoulder, "Our most productive time of year."
Many a Hairy Hooligan let out a collective groan at that- Sure, it was productive, promoted efficiency, and did end up being better for the tribe in the long run, but working in the Midnight Sun was tiring! Twofold the work's regular tiring-ness! Even the Berkian dragons, who'd only been living with them for a few years, had given their grunts of dissent.
"Does being a workaholic run in the family?!" Snotlout grumbled, remembering the many times in his childhood he had to help his own parents with chores whenever the Midnight Sun came around. Probably good in the long term, but still not fun.
"Ah, interesting theory!" Ruffnut replied, knocking on a confused Hiccup's head, "Mayhaps it does. Something-something genetics, perhaps!"
"Oooh, let's extract their brains from their heads and compare how similar they are!" Tuffnut suggested, oddly terrifyingly. Fairly certain that they were just joking but not wanting to take any chances with those two whatsoever, Hiccup scooted his seat away from the twins, "Pl-please do not extract anyone's brain, thank you!"
Stoick laughs and Hiccup returns the smile, until the two Haddocks turn to see two Vikings argue, and the Chief separates to take care of it.
"Aye, for the first week," Gobber remarks, "But we're in day eight, when things can start to get a wee bit crazy."
Soon enough, the argument between the two Vikings escalates, one drawing out a sword before Stoick intervenes.
The two aforementioned Vikings sat in the crowd, coughing in embarrassment at their past-selves' actions whilst the others gave them unimpressed stares.
"What? I was tired!" Exclaimed the one who had the sword. Others were more sympathetic; The Midnight Sun had gotten to them all at that point, and really, who didn't at least once in their life threaten someone with a terrifying, deadly weapon when suffering from a lack of sleep? It happens to everyone!
Gobber points out Gothi's rather unceremonious babblings and Sven dancing with his flock, warning Hiccup about the effects that a lack of sleep can have.
"Don't mock it 'till you've tried it!" The not-very-silent Sven said, quite unbothered, in response to the many odd looks he received. Those beautiful woolly sheep were the closest thing he had to children, aside from his actual children, Thor-damnit!
"That's why I sent Astrid and the others back to the Edge to do the simplest job possible; Wash their dragons," Hiccup replies, rather optimistically, "There's no way they could screw that up."
More than a few of the Riders' dragons raised their scaly brows, unconvinced.
Meanwhile, back on the Edge... Yeah, they're totally screwing it up.
The rest of the Dragon Riders squirmed in their seats as the screen cut to them. Astrid was blushing, Heather was very pointedly avoiding eye-contact with Dagur, Snotlout seemed to have disappeared under Hookfang's wing, Fishlegs was whistling, while Ruffnut and Tuffnut seemed oddly eager to witness things unfold.
"Oh, this is gonna be so good," Tuffnut grinned evilly, twiddling his fingers together.
The Twins sit atop the arena walls, watching as Heather tries and fails to throw a bucket of water at Windshear several times.
"Been trying to wash that dragon all day," Tuffnut comments, "Poor thing."
"So tired, she can't see straight!" Ruffnut adds.
"…Do I even want to know what you're writing in there, Ruff?" wondered Heather, as she spotted the on-screen version of her friend writing something in her notebook. She then answered her own question with, "Actually, no, I got it. You were writing this as blackmail material, weren't you?"
"Yep!" Ruffnut replied, perky as ever, "Well, actually, I never got the chance to use it as blackmail; I was more just writing it down 'cuz it's a hilarious memory," the Thorston gestured towards the screen, grinning, "I mean, come on! This is, like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Then comes Astrid, swinging in on a rope like Tarzan, and acting very hyped up; giving a speech about grooming the dragons and talking about how glorious the night is.
"What's going on with her?" Snotlout asks, "She's not this nice, ever."
"Uncontrollable euphoria," Explains Tuffnut, he and his twin bringing up their Uncle Gorstaag and claiming to be experts.
"Ahh, good ol' Uncle Gorstaag," One of the Thorstons sighed in reminiscence, "I miss that poor old guy. Well, before the insomnia."
"I don't," haughtily complained another cousin from the Thorston family, "He kept stealin' ma' lunch!" The random Thorston sat down, thinking, "Well, 'least he's in a better place, now."
"I'm… err, sorry for yer loss?" Another Viking consoled, quite confused on what the Thorston family's stance on Gorstaag was. The same cousin as before looked at them in surprise, "Oh, no, he's not dead," The Thorston clarified, bringing about many confused blinks and stares, "Yeah, he just moved away to live with a' branch o' the family from another island; It runs in that side, ye' see? They're better at takin' care of insomniacs that any of us are!"
"Yeah, and the mail he sends us is weird," Ruffnut said, nodding to confirm her cousin's statement, "Like, who on Midgard even needs ten gallons of yak blood? How'd he even get that, in the first place?"
"Speak for yourself, sister!" replied Tuffnut, "Blood attracts bugs like mosquitoes or something, right? We could totally douse someone in yak blood and get them bitten all over!"
"Oh, I like how you think!"
"I don't think mosquitoes can survive here on Berk, though?" Fishlegs pointed out, "It's too cold and far North for any population to live for long."
"Aww, that's no fun," Tuffnut whined, before quickly coming up with, "Wait, but we could attract butterflies! Those drink blood, don't they?"
Snotlout, who hadn't been paying attention to the conversation until just then, spit out the beverage that he had apparently been drinking. He looked at Tuffnut, "They… what?!"
"Yeah, some butterflies can drink blood," The Thorston carried on casually with his words, as if he was simply just stating the morning weather, "What, you didn't know?"
"What?!" Snotlout repeated, disbelieving... and possibly acquiring lepidopterophobia, but that's not important, probably.
"What?" replied Tuff, nonchalantly.
"Astrid, have you slept recently?" Fishlegs asks, to which she replies with, "Nope, not a wink!"
Hiccup giggled quietly at Astrid's embarrassed blush; The latter having been reduced to groaning with her face planted on the wooden table. Hey, at least she wasn't the only one about to be made fun of, this time!
"But I feel so amazing! It's like I have wings!" Astrid says as she begins to flap her arms, repeating how good it felt.
As the Astrid-on-the-screen finished that sentence, the young heir gave the real Astrid a little cheeky nudge and wriggled his eyebrows, somehow communicating without words that if she really wanted wings, he could just make her a Dragonfly suit of her own; To which the shield-maiden replied with a strong elbow-thump in the side.
"We're not all gonna get like this, are we?" Worries Fishlegs as the girl begins to kiss the dirt. In reply the twins list off the various effects of sleep-deprivation, pointing out Heather's lack of coordination, Snotlout's mood, and now Fishlegs' (and their uncle's) paranoia.
The Riders in question all flushed, red with embarrassment, as the hall filled with surprisingly sympathetic chuckles at the display. None could exactly laugh too haughtily when everyone had undergone similar symptoms during the Midnight Sun, but it was still funny in hindsight.
"Wait, a rash around the neck that extends to the butt?" one of the younger vikings stared at Tuffnut incredulously, "That's possible?"
"Totally," Tuffnut replied, in the middle of digging his ear, "Happened to our great-aunt once! Man, you should've seen it."
"It was the most awesome looking rash we'd ever seen!" Ruffnut grinned, nodding.
Snotlout declares his love for Hookfang and his mother, before bursting into tears.
The Jorgenson blushed, his dragon snorted, and his mother lifted a hand to her heart, touched.
"Like I said, mood swings. Now, there are other symptoms," Tuffnut starts.
"Uncle Gorstaag," continues Ruffnut, "He got totally paranoid."
Fishlegs then, predictably, becomes paranoid with suspicion, walking away with a glare. The Twins declare themselves immune thanks to their Thorston constitution, laughing.
"But you just said your Uncle Gorstaag had insomnia," Heather glanced at the twins in disbelief, knowing how this would end- after all, the twins did end up part of their sleeping-pile, "How would that make you guys immune?"
"Yeaaaah, we may have overestimated our immunity," Ruffnut conceded, then cackled, "But both of us still lasted longer than any of these suckers, that's for sure!"
Meanwhile, Hiccup confronts Stoick over dinner, bluntly asking to borrow the A-team.
"Wait, huh?" Gustav stared at the screen, blankly, as did Sven, Spitelout, Mulch, Gothi, and Gobber.
"Is that right?" Stoick asks, "And, uh, why would you need to borrow my A-team?
Hiccup makes an excuse about checking up on their training. The chief doesn't buy it one bit.
The Great Hall was quiet. Most of Berk's vikings grimaced at the conversation, simultaneously curious about how this would play out, but also steadily avoiding eye-contact with the actual Stoick and Hiccup, the latter of which shrunk in his seat at reminder of his tired, past-self's rashness.
Stoick points out to his son that he's a terrible liar, and cuts to the chase, "We both know you want to go after Viggo."
"Okay, let's say I did," Hiccup counters, "Could you blame me? He didn't just attack me and the Riders. He went after Berk, after innocent people, Dad. He needs to pay for that."
Yikes. Hiccup tensed where he sat, rubbing Toothless' scales anxiously as the dragon gave him a concerned coo. This wasn't like him; he was tired and weary under the Midnight Sun, but it wasn't as though it completely came out of nowhere, either. The war with the Hunters had taken its toll.
Stoick wants to know what Hiccup's plan is. Hiccup's plan is to, "Wipe him and his dragon-hunting psychopaths off the face of the Earth. Kaboom!"
'Kaboom'? one of the Riders mouthed to the other at their leader's uncharacteristic display. Astrid gave him a quick look of concern, practically feeling Hiccup's frustration through the screen.
"Kaboom, huh? Interestin'. Not many movin' parts, are there?" the chief points out, "Not much plannin' in your plan."
"What I'd tell ye'?" Gobber whispered conspiratorially to whoever was sitting next to him now, "It's like they switch personalities when they're tired."
Of course, he knew it ran a little bit deeper than that, but that's what it would look like to most. To the unobservant eye. But Gobber had at least enough experience around both Haddocks that they were more similar than many would assume, and another unspoken symptom of extreme tiredness was a surreal sort of honesty that came with being weary enough not to bother with being on guard about your inner thoughts.
"Who needs planning? We have dragons."
"I should get that sentence carved and framed on my wall. Maybe even tattooed," Ruffnut snickered, lightheartedly breaking the silence. It worked, because despite himself, Hiccup let out his own surprised chuckle, "Please don't do that, Ruff."
"So this basically boils down to revenge?" Stoick asks.
"See?" says Hiccup. "I knew you'd understand."
Stoick disapproves, and Hiccup is incredulous, pointing out that revenge is Stoick's thing and that they were once going to name him Stoick the Vindictive, before, well...
"Sorry, Dad," Hiccup winced at his behaviour on-screen. He really didn't like seeing himself so... aggressive and cut-throat. His father waved it off with a small chuckle, patting his son's back in understanding.
"Keep my weight out of this," Stoick huffs.
Stoick glared dangerously at the few vikings who dared even breathe any sound resembling laughter; mostly from those who'd been old enough to be around when that had happened. Considering how large Hairy Hooligans usually were, none of them had room to talk. Size and weight could be a useful asset in battle if you knew how to use it correctly, cheeky titles be damned, and not many had come close to how he made use of his. He'd gladly accept being known as Vast if it meant that his opponents were intimidated by his girth.
Hiccup continues to rant about how Viggo deserves it, then Stoick points out that it would start a pointless cycle of revenge.
"Trust me," Stoick says, "I know."
"And you showed me otherwise, son," Stoick whispered to his son, proudly and gratefully. Hiccup blushed at the praise, as his father rubbed a hand against his own dragon's scales, then nodded towards the other Riders and their dragons, "I wouldn't have met Thornado or Skullcrusher if you lot hadn't been there to end the cycle."
Hiccup reiterates his point about Viggo, bringing up how he's used the Dragon Eye to hurt so many people and dragons.
"Ah, so it's the Dragon Eye you want," Stoick observes.
"Yeah, I guess it is. But a little revenge would go a long way to-"
"I won't lie to you, son," Stoick starts, "a good measure of vengeance can go down a treat," then he gets a bit carried away, "I mean, there have been times that I-"
"Uh, dad?"
The silence was gradually breaking, as a few small giggles broke out across the hall. Gobber snorted as he watched his friend reminisce, to which Stoick only glared, daring him to speak up. Gobber raised an eyebrow, an 'I don't need to,' in their silent conversation. He'd been there, for most of those times.
He gets back on track, going on about how the violence only grows worse. He agrees with Hiccup's idea, but asks him to come back with a plan. Frustrated, Hiccup pushes open the door. Stoick tells Toothless to keep an eye on him as they leave.
"A-and- he- you know what, Toothless?" Hiccup rants, once they're in the sky, "Why am I even askin' for permission? It's my war against Viggo. My Dad just doesn't understand."
Toothless just looks on, deadpan...
"Ah, the old 'Hiccup flies off after arguing with his dad and rants about it to his dragon' classic," Astrid teased, as Hiccup rolled his eyes, fondly, before settling a hand on his dragon.
"Thanks, Bud," the young heir whispered. Toothless cooed in response, at his rider's touch.
..before hearing a shriek.
"Whoa! What is it, bud?" Hiccup calls as the Night Fury switches course, "Sounds like a dragon in trouble," he shakes his head quickly, "I must be tired. I almost missed that."
They soar downwards towards the small island, discarded weapons and a shipwrecked sail scattered around the beach. Dragon Hunters were here.
"So, that's where you went," Stoick remarked, tensing slightly as he watched his son poke his nose into yet another potentially dangerous situation, during the Midnight Sun, no less. He knew that Toothless would keep his boy safe, but it wasn't something he'd ever truly get used to.
"Curious. Isn't that the same island that was shown earlier?" Mala asked.
"Yep. It's where I met Baited Breath, and the other Shadow Wings," Hiccup nodded in confirmation, leaning closer, to see if there was anything new he could learn about the dragons that he might've missed that day.
He spots a dragon laying sideways on the beach, seemingly injured. Cautiously, the two approach.
"Hey there, little guy," Hiccup soothes as it screeches, "It's okay. Whatever happened, it's over now. We're here to help you."
It lets out a deeper, louder call as Hiccup crouches in front of it, trying to diagnose what's wrong, as the camera zooms out. Something's watching in the bushes.
"Was that a call to the other Shadow Wings?" Astrid inquired. Weirdly enough, it reminded her of how the Death Songs communicated with their own special musical roars.
"I think it was," Hiccup said, carefully observing the screen as he heard the scrabbling of Fishlegs' pen and paper, quickly taking notes of everything going on. Dragons communicating with each other through special roars for specific reasons wasn't unheard of, but it was a fairly understudied part of their research, as they tended to focus more on the specific abilities that each dragon species had and their environments.
Three more dragons land in front of them, charging forwards, before being knocked back by Toothless' blast. Hiccup realises that Baited Breath wasn't hurt at all, as she gets up to attack him.
"I wonder how they evolved to do that," Hiccup questioned, leaning over as he watched Fishlegs write.
"Maybe they're cannibalistic dragons, who pretend to be injured to lure in would-be predators to hunt as prey?" the blonde teen hypothesized, as a handful of people stared at him in shock at the graphic description, "What? Some dragons eat other dragons. It happens."
"If that's the case, maybe they're related to Death Songs?" Astrid suggested, already getting lost at their nerdy conversation.
"Oh, good point!" Hiccup grinned at the thought of discovering something new about the Shadow Wings.
"Whoa, Toothless!" Hiccup calls as the aforementioned Night Fury pounces forward, readying his blast. The Shadow Wings step back for a moment, appearing shocked, before Baited Breath leaps back to join the other Shadows. Hiccup quickly tries to defuse the situation, getting Toothless to stop.
"They might just be scared, or defending their friend," they watch as the Shadow Wings retreat into the forest. Toothless gives an annoyed roar as Hiccup scratches the back of his head, "Thanks for having my back. Clearly, my... reaction time isn't what it should be."
After taking quick stock of the island's forest, Hiccup decides to go after the dragons, much to Toothless' dissent.
"And there he goes," Heather smirked. Astrid giggled good-naturedly, especially upon seeing the completely unrepentant smile on her boyfriend's on-screen face, "You really can't resist checking out new dragons, even when you're tired, huh, Hiccup?"
"Come on, I had to!" replied Hiccup, still completely unrepentant in the present day, "I'd never seen dragons like that before! And- And, you know, they could've been hurt!"
"Yeah, I know," Astrid smiled at him, more sincerely, this time, "I love that about you," then she punched his side, "Though it wouldn't kill you to be more aware about your own safety. For Odin's sake, they just tried to ambush you!"
"W-well, they backed off, didn't they?" Hiccup conveniently left out the fact that they did that in order to lure him in further, "I- I just wanted to know more about their behaviour!"
Meanwhile, back on Dragon's Edge, Fishlegs has gone increasingly paranoid and irrational, whispering to a worried Meatlug about his skull being peeled open like an onion for info.
"Can we-"
"No," Hiccup stopped him, not even phased, before Tuffnut could finish his sentence, "For the love of Thor, do not peel someone's skull like an onion, please."
Tuffnut pouted, "Buzzkill."
Meanwhile, jumpscaring the two, Astrid swings down and around the arena on a rope, like Tarzan. She lands flawlessly, carrying a myriad of various maces as she points at the other, "All right, people. Time to put away those whiny attitudes!" the others look on at her with dread, "We're about to turn those frowns upside down!"
As Astrid begins juggling the maces, Snotlout proclaims her to be a goddess sent from Valhalla, then begins weeping on his knees.
Astrid and Snotlout groaned, then very pointedly refused to look at each other- or anyone, for that matter, as the crowd laughed heartily.
"Hey, at least you're still a master with weapons, even with insomnia," it was Hiccup's turn to tease her, now, "I don't know anyone else who could stick such a good landing and juggle heavy maces without issue, much less doing it on a lack of sleep."
By the time he finished speaking, his voice was laced with so much genuine admiration, that the praise wasn't just teasing.
"Thanks, babe," Astrid smiled at him, fond, even amidst her embarrassment at her past self's mania.
"You can't put a price on entertainment like this," Tuffnut says.
"I mean, you can," Ruffnut replies, "but who would want to?"
Snotlout's weeping has by then turned into scolding, acting like a parent, as Astrid continues juggling.
"See? Mood swings."
"Please kill me. Just end me now. Thor smite me," Snotlout mumbled, his voice muffled as he hid under Hookfang's wing while the other vikings laughed more. He glared at the dragon as Hookfang laughed, too.
Astrid starts falling over, the weapons thrown up in the air while Stormfly shrieks in concern. Before the maces can land, the Nadder shoots her tail-spikes, shoving two to the side, while only one lands on Snotlout's helmet.
"Thanks, girl," Astrid scratched Stormfly's neck, gratefully.
Potentially deadly crisis averted, both of them laugh madly, and Snotlout knocks his helmet with the mace again.
"Thank goodness," Snotlout remarks, "Let's all hope we never have to go through that agai-" then the two get splashed by Heather, who's also fallen to the floor.
"Sorry," she says, sheepish. Hookfang and Windshear exchange twin looks of pure incredulity, while Snotlout starts weeping again.
"Well, looks like they've all gone Gorstaag," Ruffnut declares, jotting down the memory in her book.
"Not all," Tuffnut points out. With a smirk, Ruffnut snaps her book shut, "Not all, indeed."
And so they begin challenging each other to see who gets insomnia, first.
"Man, neither of us lasted any weeks," Ruffnut moaned, before her expression shifted into one of mischief, "Wonder what would happen if someone actually did that."
"Don't," Fishlegs sighed, all too used to the twins' life-endangering, dangerous activities, as the healer of the group, "I'm pretty sure you'd just end up like your Uncle Gorstaag."
"Oh, yeah," was all Tuffnut said, "That would happen."
Back on the island, Hiccup and Toothless find more evidence of previous Dragon Hunters. The Rider looks through his glass to see the Shadows retreating further into the woods, as Hiccup signals to Toothless to follow. They track down the dragons' prints to a narrow cave.
"Yeah, I know, it's pretty tight," Hiccup agrees as the fury gurgles, "We better go around it."
But as they do so, Toothless snarls as the Shadow Wings re-emerge from the bushes, surrounding them.
Dagur whistled, impressed, "Smart strategy!"
"Okay, so this is what you were worried about," Hiccup realises. Still, ever the optimist when it came to dragons, "Look, bud. They haven't really done anything!"
Everyone turned their heads towards Hiccup, simultaneously raising their eyebrows with a frightening level of synchronisation.
"I know, I know, I spoke too soon, I shouldn't have jinxed it," the Rider sighed, "I really wasn't on the top of my game that day."
In unison, the three Shadows blast fireballs into the sky, exploding upon impact with Toothless' wing. Toothless fires a shot in response as the Shadow Wings scatter, and Hiccup sees as the fireballs' impact has burnt a gaping hole of lava in the tree behind, "Now they've done something!"
Three more appear, shooting another set of fireballs. The duo leap out of the way, while the lava splashes on the ground.
"How many of these guys are there!?" cries Hiccup, as more and more Shadows emerge from the shrubs. They run into the canyon and hide behind a rock wall, but the canopy's too thick to fly out. Toothless growls as the smaller dragons group into the area, but Hiccup has another idea. He lights up Inferno, waving it around.
"What were you trying to do with that fire?" Someone in the crowd asked.
"Mimicking a dragon's fire," The teen explained, "It's hypnotic to most dragons. When they see you have fire but aren't launching it, they can figure out you're not a threat."
"Clever," Gobber praised, once again impressed by his former apprentice's creativity. Then, less impressed, "Did it work?"
"Well, no," Hiccup conceded, sheepish, "Not here. But it's worked other times!"
It doesn't work. Toothless shields his rider from the incoming fireballs and fires a shot of his own, causing the other dragons to flee, but the canyon to collapse.
"Well, I guess that's a tough crowd," Hiccup sighed, "That usually works better."
"Sorry, I guess not everybody likes the Dragon Blade."
"Ya' think?"
Meanwhile, back on the Edge, Heather's trying to scrub a rock while her dragon stalks off behind her. She tries asking Fishlegs for a hand, but...
"Hand?" Fishlegs looks at her with suspicion, "What do you mean by that?"
"What do you think I mean?"
"What do you think you mean?" Fishlegs questions. Heather only blinks and just walks off, while he triumphs over his little victory. Then he gets frightened by a burst of laughter from Snotlout, which then turns into crying.
"Aww, come on, Snotlout, dry those tears!" Astrid comes over, "You're too handsome to be crying all the time!"
At this point, Astrid just simply slammed her face onto the table, mortified, while everyone's laughter grew even louder. She understood how it was a little funny, but she also now very much understood Snotlout's earlier dramatic plea for death.
"Can we just agree to never speak of this, ever again?" Astrid grimaced as she lifted her face slightly to ask Snotlout. The latter nodded, fervently, "Ne-ver! It is creepy seeing you act like that!"
And he did mean that! Despite his own previous fantasies and attempts at wooing her in the past, this was never how their friendship- or any interaction between them, was supposed to roll. It was completely uncanny.
"I am?" Snotlout whimpers. Stormfly and Hookfang stare at each other in shock.
"Of course!" Astrid pinches his cheeks, pushing the edges of his mouth upwards as she tries to get him to smile.
"I think I'm gonna throw up," Astrid groused, forlornly.
Anyway, Tuffnut's losing it, too. The dragons watch in dismay as Tuffnut begins rambling to the air about fruitbats and yak rats, while Ruffnut stacks two piles of boars onto Barf and Belch's necks.
"Now remember; whoever moves first, loses, and has to fly a lap around the island, backwards, blindfolded, we talked about this," Ruffnut mutters, completely missing the fact that they're the same dragon with the same body.
"Hah! I won, you lost it first!" Ruffnut said triumphantly, pointing at the screen, then at Tuffnut.
"Wait, what?" Snotlout commented, "But didn't you forget about that dragon just having one body?!"
"Nope! Come on, they're two heads, catch up," she snapped her fingers, "The loser head gets blindfolded, duh!"
"But they're the same bo-?" Snotlout shook his head, dismissing the conversation as he didn't feel like arguing further, "Ugh, whatever, nevermind!"
Tuffnut jumpscares Barf and Belch, causing them to drop the boars. Ruffnut complains about him ruining the game of Yak Stack, saying that Tuffnut's losing it, but he counters that it's Ruffnut who's lost it.
"Oh, really?" She challenges, "How so?"
"You're playing Stack the Yak, which you play with sheep," He mimes a chicken flapping its wings, then turns around to cross his arms, "not boars. So obvious! I'm embarrassed, Ruffnut."
"But why is it called Yak Stack if you don't play it with yaks?" Questioned Hiccup, in disbelief.
"It's named after the guy who invented the game, obviously!" Tuffnut answered, as if that explained everything, "Yak Jack Mac the Yak Stacker!"
"I've literally never heard about whoever that is before in my entire life."
And of course, this goads Ruffnut into ranting at him more.
Back on the island, Hiccup catches his breath by a wall, but it's not long before more Shadow Wings appear, with more fireballs in tow. He and Toothless wander the canyon more, but...
"A dead end, great," he picks up a few pieces of metal, "You know, I'm starting to think the Dragon Hunters were the ones being hunted."
"Maybe they don't eat other dragons," Dagur suggested, ominously, as Fishlegs shuddered, "Maybe they evolved specifically to eat Dragon Hunters."
They spot an opening in the canopy, but as they fly out, they're surrounded by more Shadow Wings. After dodging a few more blasts, the Small Shadows leave. But in their wake, arrives Large Shadow, flying past them.
"Woah," a viking in the crowd commented.
It does a U-Turn, flying back towards them with a sonic roar, summoning the smaller dragons and causing Hiccup to cover his ears.
"They were herding us towards the big guy the whole time!" Hiccup realises, as the dragons shoot like rapidfire.
"Those are fast," Fishlegs looked on in awe, jotting it down, "It's like they don't have a shot limit or a need to recharge their fire!"
Meanwhile, the Witch let out a single laugh, then placed a hand over her mouth.
"How did I not notice they look like an airplane?!" She whispered quietly to herself, snickering. Very fighter-jet of them.
Hiccup gets blasted off Toothless' back with a yell, but before the Night Fury can dive down, he's knocked unconscious, too.
The vikings winced.
"Toothless, come on, it's me!" Hiccup yells, quickly stirring him awake. With not a second to spare, Toothless catches him, as they both tumble down on the ground.
"That was lucky," Stoick sighed, letting out the breath he was holding.
Some of the Small Shadows approach, but Toothless shoots most of them and whacks his tail against the last.
"Nice shot, bud!" Hiccup praises, before more dragons arrive.
They retreat to a cave, its entrance covered by a curtain. Toothless lights a fire, and Hiccup realises the island had once been an observation post, meant to spy on Berk.
"It's a good thing those dragons chased them out, huh?" Dagur muttered, darkly, as Hiccup nodded. More signs of the war getting more serious. More real.
Rock dust falls from the ceiling as the dragons outside attack the cave. Quickly getting to work, Hiccup comes up with a plan- and a name for the new dragon species.
"Still a good name," Hiccup defended. The others only rolled their eyes, fondly.
"We have to get past ten of the smaller Shadow Wings. And they are quicker than we are, plus, they're smart. And they work as a team," He grabs his face with a tired laugh, "So, how do we beat them?"
"You're right," He says as Toothless coos. He gets up to take the map off the wall, "What we need is a plan."
Stoick smiled proudly at the boy on screen. There's the planning, problem-solving Hiccup he knew.
Back at the Edge, Astrid tries to get everyone to talk about their deepest, innermost feelings.
"Nope, terrible idea when we're like this," Astrid grumbled at her past self. Absolutely nothing productive would come out of their insomniac states if they went through with it.
Anyway, all the Riders on the Edge have lost their minds. Ruffnut refers to herself in third person and doesn't realise that she's Ruffnut, Snotlout keeps crying, Fishlegs is still paranoid, and Tuffnut sees Ruffnut as a giant chicken.
Before things can devolve further, the dragons stage an intervention. Windshear lifts a trapdoor with her tail, and the riders get pushed and dragged in.
"Thank you, dragons," Fishlegs sighed, giving Meatlug a gentle scratch, "We really needed that."
Meanwhile, Hiccup is out of ideas. Toothless sneezes on the paper he's writing on, and Hiccup is no longer out of ideas, declaring him a genius.
"That's an average interaction with Hiccup coming up with a plan," Astrid smirked, which Hiccup only replied with a sarcastic, "Ha, ha."
Hiccup crouches next to a pool of water, filling a canister while he watches his surroundings carefully. He throws the bottle, and a few Small Shadows lunge forwards, before being immediately caught by a net.
"Yes! Ha-ha!" Hiccup cheers, "Don't you know the trapper's trap can trap the trapper?
Oh, gods. I must be losing it, I'm quoting Dagur."
"So proud, you've come so far, little brother," Dagur sniffed dramatically, wiping a fake tear from his eye as he patted the young heir on his back. Hiccup simply rolled his eyes in reply at his friend's antics.
"Hey, I guess that makes all three of us, right?" Heather commented, pointing to herself and her brother, "Dagur the Deranged, Me the Unhinged, and now you're apparently losing it, too!"
"Well, according to some sources," Hiccup cast a fond glance at Toothless, who had the smuggest look a dragon could have, "…Some might say I never had 'it'. You guys just caught up with me."
The dragons call for reinforcements, and Hiccup runs further, leading them to dummy in a cave. Toothless shoots it closed.
"Six down, four to go," Hiccup declares, as they fly upwards. The Large Shadow doubles back, the Small Shadows left under its wings firing at them while Toothless dodges.
"We have to time this just right," the small dragons open their maws, fire lighting inside, when, "Now!" Toothless shoots a blast; knocking them out.
The Large Shadow knocks Toothless with its tail, sending them off-course. They almost crash, until Hiccup manages to get Toothless' tail open at the last second. The chase continues as two more Small Shadows fly forward, landing on Toothless' tail. Toothless spins, diving towards the pool of water, then blasting it with a roar and diving upwards quickly. The Large Shadow sinks into the water.
The hall cheered once again at their escape.
"I wasn't worried," Hiccup says, definitely worried, "I knew you had it the whole way."
Toothless roars, indignantly, "Okay. I was a little worried. Let's head home, bud."
They land back home to an arena empty of Riders.
"Where is everybody? And why aren't these dragons clean?" Hiccup asks, dismounting. He finds them in the basement under the trapdoor, "Of course, everybody gets to sleep but me. Typical."
"H-hey!" he says as Toothless pushes him in, then yawns, "Thanks, bud."
The dragons curl asleep, too, at the arena above the basement.
"Did you all just… sleep in a pile like that, the whole time?" Gustav asked, disbelieving. The Dragon Riders gave their sheepish 'yep's and nods in response, and Gustav's face, as well as many others', turned incredulous.
"Ye' can't be serious?" Stoick's lips twitched slightly, barely refraining from letting it turn into an all-out chuckle. Well, at least it was an efficient way for them to sleep. And he had to admit, the image of his son and the other Dragon Riders curled up in a ball, sleeping like dragon hatchlings did seem quite adorable.
"You know what? I say it was totally worth it," said Snotlout, stretching his arms as he stood up from his bench, "Best nap I've had in, like, forever."
"Oh, yeah?" Ruffnut grinned mischievously, "I distinctly remember someone waking up screaming because it was dark and he didn't know where we were, and waking everybody else up to convince him that we weren't kidnapped in some random dude's basement."
"What a thing to wake up to, though!" Tuffnut exclaimed, "It's a shame that it was just our basement, and not someone else's. That would've been fun!"
"Why do you want to wake up in someone else's basement!?" questioned Fishlegs. The Twins merely scoffed at his query, as if the answer was hiding in plain sight- Which it definitely wasn't.
"I just said it, 'would've been fun!' Duh," The Thorston replied, giving him a dismissive wave of the hand. Somehow, he'd gotten Chicken to look equally dismissive, her clucking in obvious disapproval, "We'd get all kidnapped and get to blow things up and look very fashionable escaping!"
Tiredly, Hiccup raised his hand to speak, "As someone who's been kidnapped a lot, that is not even remotely how it works."
"Well, because it's always you that gets kidnapped!"
"Yeah, why can't the bad guys kidnap us for a change?" Ruffnut pouted, looking highly offended at the lack of being placed in moral peril, "We even put out a cool-looking bounty poster for ourselves, and nobody took it!"
And just like that, Hiccup's face met his palm. Again.
"You know," The Witch grinned, appearing out of nowhere yet again, "That actually gives me a fun idea for what's next."
"What are you-" Hiccup started, before the realisation hit him like another hot blast of fire from Hookfang hitting Snotlout's butt, "Oh no."
Next up; Midnight Scrum. Hopefully this doesn't take more than 2 years like The Longest Day did, but I make no promises!