Hiccup jostled awake.
'How long has it been since the raid ended?'
Pushing his way out of Toothless' hold, Hiccup began to stand and look around.
"Not bad. It's still early in the morning."
Exiting the cove, Hiccup made his way through the forest and began to gather any and all fallen and lost items from the night before.
Holding the items tightly, he made his way back to the cove.
"Toothless? Hey bud? We gotta go. Toothless."
The dragon only grumbled in response.
"I know, I know, but we gotta get out of here before the village sends a search party. Please, Toothless."
More grumbling ensued from the dragon and soon loud stomping could be heard approaching him.
Crooning, Toothless nuzzled Hiccups face.
"Thank you bu-eww! Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out!"
Hiccup drew back in disbelief, glaring as Toothless began to laugh.
"Is this payback for waking you up? You're such a sore loser."
The laughing stopped.
Toothless glared at Hiccup.
"It was just a joke bud!"
More laughter ensued.
The hours went by quickly as Hiccup formulated a plan of which direction to travel.
He still had to release the dragons from the arena and ugh, take a bath.
The sun was beginning to blaze when Hiccup and Toothless approached the edge of the forest, gazing at the arena.
Only one guard stood in place, walking back and forth by the entrance lazily.
Whispering, Hiccup glanced at Toothless.
"Okay bud, were gonna go on the count of three…one, two, three!"
Hopping on Toothless' back and ducking to blend in, Hiccup and Toothless began their descent.
Swiftly, before the guard could even react, Toothless whacked him with his tail while his back was turned.
Jumping off of Toothless, Hiccup quickly opened the gates.
Glancing at the sky, Hiccup noted that they probably only had about an hour before the security switched and the unconscious guard would be discovered.
Running towards the entrance of the arena Hiccup whistled, calling Toothless inside.
One by one Hiccup opened the cages where each dragon was held, slowly approaching each one and closing his eyes.
With his head turned away, he reached his right hand out, completely opening himself to the dragons.
They were uneasy, that much could be told by the shuffling and the clicking sounds made by each dragon.
He knew it wasn't gonna be easy to trust a human who was part of the tribe that killed and enslaved your kind, but he didn't expect all but the Nadder to accept him.
Instead it sniffed his hand and lunged towards him..
Toothless though, was quick to react, screeching and pinning the Nadder down.
Angrily, Toothless gathered a Plasma blast in his throat, ready to go for the kill.
Hiccup reached out to Toothless screaming.
"No! I'm sure she didn't mean it! Toothless!"
Stopping, Toothless turned his head, crooning at Hiccup.
"That's it bud. She didn't mean it. I'm fine."
Huffing, Toothless released his hold on the Nadder, standing off to the side.
"Let's try this again…please?"
Anxiously the Nadder stood up, glancing at Toothless only to be met with a glare.
Flinching, it slowly began approaching Hiccup's outstretched hand with caution.
'What had it smelled?'
It slowly sniffed Hiccup's hand again, pausing before sniffing again.
Now it could tell that there were two separate scents coming from him.
'One of the Human who had captured and harmed it and one of innocence, free of the blood of its kind.'
It was a unique scent, that Hiccup was not even aware he exuded, but was unfortunately overshadowed by the smell of a Murderous Human.
Chirping, the Nadder leaned in, pressing her head into Hiccup's hand.
Sighing he nodded and turned towards the entrance of the arena.
The bustling of the villagers awakening could be heard.
Soon, the guard would be approaching to switch shifts.
Whispering quietly, Hiccup began to run towards the gate, motioning for the dragons to follow.
"Let's go!"
Glancing outside the entrance, Hiccup took note of a few villagers about to pass by.
"Go!" He whispered and one by one the dragons took off towards the forest.
Crouching, Hiccup reached into his pocket and took out a tuft of blonde hair.
Placing it on the ground next to the unconscious guard he whispered his condolences.
"Sorry Ruffnut. Sorry Tuffnut."
Checking his surroundings and making sure the coast was clear he began to run.
'Hopefully, with the blonde hair left as evidence, the guards and villagers would think of this as another prank left by the Loki devoted duo and none would be the wiser.'
Hiccup ran up the hill and kept running as hard and as fast as his legs could carry him.
'They burned. His lungs felt like they were on fire.'
Entering the forest, he ran through the trees calling out to Toothless.
Once the dragon was in view, Hiccup began to run even harder, arms spread wide open.
"Toothless!"
All dragons were now in sight.
Hiccup ran towards them and they began to bound towards him.
Once they reached one another, they began crooning and gifting him with nuzzles of affection.
Looking down at the village, Hiccup began to contemplate.
'This was it. It was now or never.'
Climbing on Toothless' back Hiccup stared as the village began to burst with life.
In the distance his Father could be made out running, searching around frantically.
The guard had already been discovered and commotion had begun to take its place around the arena.
Quickly they ascended towards the sky, stopping just before the clouds were in reach.
He gave one final look at the place he had called home for most of his life.
He thought of the unknowns and he thought of his father.
It was quiet.
There was nothing but the sound of heavy breathing as tears began to fall.
Turning towards the evening sun, the dragons began flapping their wings.
In the distance, the faint call of a father searching for his son could be heard.