The wall lit up again, once more displaying a nighttime scene. This time there was clearly a raid going on in the village, though Not-Hiccup was running towards a cliff, shoving a strange contraption before him. Once he was in a place he thought was good enough, he put the contraption down with a grunt and began to pull, push, straighten, and tug on things until it was ready. Some kind of weapon. In the room, Hiccup yelped in alarm and seemed to shift a little away from Toothless. The dragon had a bad feeling about that.
Not-Hiccup stood on the handles he used earlier to shove the contraption and looked up at the night sky, his eyes squinted. It was quiet as if there was no horrid fight not too far from him. "Come on. Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at…" He whispered and Toothless noticed one of the Vikings' catapults before him. Why would he wait there and not anywhere else? The only dragon that nearly always targeted those things was –
The Night Fury's eyes widened. He was waiting to shoot him down! This was a moment from the past! And that's why, Toothless realized, he could hear his own familiar voice from the wall, unseen by the human. Grumbling a little unhappily, Toothless readied himself to see the moment he was shot down from the point of view of the hatchling. He didn't like it, but he didn't really have any other choice, either. Not really.
The shrieking sound of Not-Toothless came from the sky as he got faster and faster, gaining more speed. Not-Hiccup looked up and noticed the shadowy figure crossing the sky above him. The only reason Not-Toothless could be seen, though, was because his black body hid the stars in the sky. That was the only thing that gave him away. And his signature voice, of course.
"Wow…" Astrid muttered under her breath, clearly in awe. Even the chief looked like he'd forgotten his anger and instead found himself focusing on the way his son crouched a little to try and follow the dragon on the wall with his contraption, getting ready to fire as the shrieking sound got louder. A bright, blue blast hit the catapult and for a moment they could all see Not-Toothless flying away from the blast.
Sadly, so did Not-Hiccup.
The boy aimed and let a bola loose. The force of the launch sent him falling backwards to the ground but he looked up at the sound of Not-Toothless' screech at getting hit. His eyes followed the distancing, a falling figure that landed in the forest and he looked stunned and shocked at actually doing it. The chief looked just as surprised and slightly guilty for some reason. Astrid just looked on, her eyes determined. She still looked like she was trying to piece everything together, yet it didn't make much sense. Toothless couldn't blame her.
Hiccup, on his part, had this mixed expression on his face, like he couldn't decide what to feel about the scene on the magical wall. On the one hand, he looked like he was beyond ecstatic at hitting Toothless like that. It must have been one hell of a fit considering Toothless' managed to avoid every single Viking so far. But other than that, Hiccup looked hesitant and worried, like he could tell that in the future they would work together and he didn't feel right about hurting someone he cooperated with later on.
Slowly, Not-Hiccup began to smile before he rose back to his feet and held up his hands in victory. Toothless snorted and the boy in the room with him sent him a cautious, apologetic grimace. "Oh, I hit it. Yes, I hit it!" Not-Hiccup celebrated and swirled around towards the village, spreading his arms as if welcoming whoever was there. There was no other Viking around, though. A Monstrous Nightmare climbed onto the cliff behind his back, though. "Did anybody see that?" He flinched at the sound of the Nightmare crushing his device with his foot and turned around slowly to look at the large dragon. "Except for you." He added in the Nightmare's face, for some reason not even looking or sounding scared.
"I should have listened to him…" The chief mumbled to himself, shaking his head and letting his locks of flaming hair flip and dance around him, out of order. He looked like he was regretting something but Toothless had no idea what it was. By the grim look on his son's face – it had to do with the scene.
It flickered to show that the sky was brighter. Not-Hiccup was walking, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed, towards a house on top of a hill. Behind him walked a blond Viking Toothless thought was the blacksmith of the humans, if he remembered correctly. While Not-Hiccup looked crushed, the older Viking looked like he was tired of everything the world had to offer him. Of life, basically.
"I really did hit one," Not-Hiccup turned briefly to look at the Viking.
"Sure, Hiccup." He was dismissed quickly by the bulky, older Viking who reached out to urge Not-Hiccup on. The boy obeyed and turned back towards the house.
"He never listens." He kept on complaining, and in the room, Toothless noticed the way the chief shifted a bit uncertainly in his place like he knew they were talking about him. Hiccup looked a bit pale like he couldn't believe he had to sit and watch this, with his father and… another hatchling, or whatever she was, next to him.
"It runs in the family."
Not really waiting for the Viking's reaction, Not-Hiccup just went on. "A-and when he does, it's always with this disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." He reached the door of the house and instead of getting inside, he turned back to look at the other Viking, puffing up his chest and using this deep voice, adding an accent to it. He actually sounded like his father when he spoke. It wasn't half bad, Toothless had to give it to him. "Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring." He gestured around like he was trying to make a conversation with someone that wasn't even there. "I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here – this is a talking fishbone!"
Not-Hiccup let the façade slip away and his shoulders slumped again. Then again, near the end, his eyes already broke for a moment and showed how heartbroken he felt at the words. He covered it up quickly, but it was there, and Toothless noticed. In the room, Astrid shifted her gaze from the wall to the chief, her hands clenched to fists like she agreed with Hiccup on this and couldn't understand why his father was acting the way that he did. She looked actually upset. The man himself, on the other hand, was too busy still ignoring his son for being a traitor to actually acknowledge this too much. No, instead he stared at the magical wall with this tender look in his eyes that he was clearly trying to conceal.
Hiccup just sighed and leaned his chin on his knees, devastated.
"Now, you're thinking about this all wrong." The Viking on the wall said, looking like he was trying to help. "It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand." He grinned, clearly thinking he just did a very good job.
"That wasn't very inspirational, was it?" Astrid mentioned weakly from her place. Hiccup snorted a little.
Not-Hiccup gave him a confused, a bit weirded-out gaze, and then smiled sarcastically at him. "Thank you for summing that up." He said and turned to the door, opening it up and getting ready to enter.
The blacksmith spoke up again. "Look, the point is – stop trying so hard to be something you're not."
The hurt look on Not-Hiccup's face nearly made Toothless feel like curling around him to try and comfort him somehow. He looked like the world just beat him up for the sake of it, and not for the first time either. Toothless didn't know this Viking hatchling very well – why should he? – but he could tell his life was hard. Especially before whatever it is that happens in the future. Not-Hiccup sent the blacksmith a dejected look from over his shoulder. "I just wanna be one of you guys." He said quietly and then entered the house before crossing it to the back door and exiting through the other side.
The chief groaned at the sight of that and Hiccup chuckled mirthlessly from his place, his hand flying to the nape of his neck. He scratched the back of it and avoided the judgmental looks of both his father and Astrid. The adult Viking, luckily, seemed to remember he was supposed to ignore his son and turned back to the wall quickly while Astrid lingered with her gaze for a moment longer, her eyes softer than they were before. Not by much, but it was still enough to let Toothless know there was still hope with her.
They didn't have much time to ponder what they'd seen before the scene flickered again and revealed Not-Hiccup walking in the forest, holding a leather-bound notebook. In it, a map of the island was drawn and small 'X's filled every corner. In his frustration, Not-Hiccup began to just scramble all over the map before closing the notebook and tucking it and the charcoal pencil away. The boy in the room perked up at the scene, unlike he did before, and seemed to look at it intently.
"Oh, the Gods hate me," Not-Hiccup muttered loudly to himself, strolling forward aimlessly and looking irritated. Toothless felt alerted at the words that came out of his mouth. Could it be that he was going to watch their first confrontation? After all, they were all taken to this mysterious room right before Hiccup got to Toothless, so maybe… "Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire DRAGON?!" He finished his rant, sounding more upset than anything else, and in his frustration decided to hit a loose branch that was right before him. It was thrown away but then came right back to hit Not-Hiccup in the face.
Covering his eyes, the boy glared at the tree before the irritation cleared away and he became more curious than anything else. The tree the branch belonged to was broken after something large had hit it – Toothless, the Night Fury assumed – and Not-Hiccup watched as near the tree there was also a crater in the ground from the dragon's body being dragged from the force of the fall. Following the path of destruction, Not-Hiccup slid down and then peeked over the edge of the patch of dirt he was at. And, just like Toothless predicted, he saw himself lying there, helpless and pretending to be dead. Not-Hiccup gasped and lowered himself back to the ground, breathing heavily.
"Umm… we just reached the present." Hiccup muttered and the chief and girl hatchling seemed to shift in their places, more alerted this time. Hiccup chanced a glance over at Toothless who crooned softly, questioningly. He wondered whether Hiccup already had an idea as to what was going to happen, but the boy looked just as clueless when he offered him a lost, helpless shrug in return. It felt weird, to interact with a human like that, and he could tell Hiccup thought about it too. But there was also something about it… it felt right.
Leaning forward, Toothless and Hiccup watched as Not-Hiccup looked down at the downed dragon again. His amazed look turned more worried and scared the longer he stood there and he started scrambling for something in his fur vest before pulling out a small knife. Toothless warbled uncomfortably and noticed the way Hiccup itched towards him again, probably absentmindedly, his expression both worried and fascinated.
Not-Hiccup determinedly got down and hid behind a rock near Not-Toothless before regaining some of his courage and walking around it. He looked cautiously at Not-Toothless before his body seemed to relax at the sight of him. He seemed to be dead, just like Toothless had intended. The fear cleared away and now Not-Hiccup stared at the downed dragon with wide eyes and a small smile.
"Oh, wow. I did it." He took a few steps towards Not-Toothless and his smile spread wider over his chest. Toothless snorted at that and his wings shifted a little over his back. "I did it! This fixes everything!" He brushed his fingers through his hair. "Yes!" He put his foot on Not-Toothless' leg, puffing out his chest even though there was nobody around to watch him. Well, apart from the Vikings and Night Fury in the room, that is. "I have brought down this mighty beast!"
Knowing he wouldn't have liked such a thing, Toothless wasn't surprised when his future self grumbled loudly and shoved the boy off of him, sending him back to the large rock, terrified once more after realizing Not-Toothless was still alive after all. But of course Toothless wouldn't like such a display – he was somewhat ready to die, but to die with someone boasting about it like that? No way in hell! From his place not too far away, Hiccup seemed to mutter to himself about the fact that he somehow survived this after irritating a dragon. Toothless had to admit, this was rather surprising.
No longer trying to pretend, Not-Toothless breathed heavily, his entire body moving with his heavy breaths. Not-Hiccup approached him again, his knife held before him cautiously. His eyes raked over the body of the Night Fury before they stopped on Not-Toothless' cold, green gaze locked on him. It was so strange to see the anger and fear written on his own face, Toothless shuddered. But the weirder thing was to see the same fear reflected back to him through Not-Hiccup's eyes as they looked at each other unsurely.
The longer Not-Hiccup stared at Not-Toothless, the more scared and concerned he looked. Eventually, he seemed to regain his courage and fake bravado because he turned once again to aim his knife at Not-Toothless' stomach, glaring. "I'm gonna kill you, dragon. I'm gonna…" He glanced back at Not-Toothless' head for a brief moment and rolled his shoulders before changing his grip around the knife, holding it with both hands. "I'm gonna cut out your heart and give it to my father. I'm a Viking." He closed his eyes and when Not-Toothless crooned softly from his place on the ground, he snapped them back open and leaned a little down to stare heatedly into the Night Fury's eyes. "I'M A VIKING!"
Not-Hiccup closed his eyes and lifted the knife over his head, ready to strike. From his place, the chief encouraged him while Astrid kept quiet, yet her head was tilted to the side as if she was curious about the outcome of the next few seconds. Toothless looked over to see Hiccup staring at the wall, his entire body shaking and his hands pressed against the ground. He looked just as scared as he did on the magical wall and Toothless wondered what was going through his head.
Seemingly against his will, Not-Hiccup opened his eyes once more to look into Not-Toothless' eyes. The dragon looked at him, his eyes widening a bit as if trying to plead with him to spare his life. He even voiced his request, though the boy didn't seem to understand the words. He did seem to notice the fear and the emotions swirling around in Not-Toothless' eyes before he shut his eyes back down tightly, a scowl on his face. Fighting himself in his head – Toothless was pretty sure that was what was going on with the boy, at least – Not-Hiccup missed the way the dragon before him gave up and lowered his head, resigned to his fate.
With a frustrated growl, Not-Hiccup lowered his hands until the knife was pressed to his hair and he shook his head and looked down at the tied dragon, looking almost ashamed. Toothless crooned at the scene, taking it all in and feeling rather confused. Not-Hiccup looked at his knife and then lowered it to his side before he looked at the dragon again, his eyes wide with regret as he observed the ropes tying him in place. And yes, it was a shame, to Toothless' shock. From his place, the chief let out a displeased noise, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hiccup, unlike him, looked just as frustrated and regretful as his future self. He looked down at his hands as if there was blood on them.
"I did this," Not-Hiccup muttered and stepped back before he turned his back on the tied dragon. He didn't get too far, though, before he stopped and glanced back at Not-Toothless, his lips pressed tightly together. For a few moments he just stood there, considering, and then he pinched his eyes closed as if already regretting what he was about to do. And then, to Toothless' surprise and the chief's dismay and anger, he approached Not-Toothless again and began to cut the ropes holding him tied up, looking over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one was around to witness this.
The moment the last rope fell down, loose, Not-Toothless pounced on Not-Hiccup, eliciting a horrified gasp from Astrid and Hiccup and a low growl from the chief. Pinning him to the large rock with one paw, Not-Toothless towered over Not-Hiccup as the teen gasped in alarm at the dragon before finally locking eyes with him and flinching his head away, yet unable to look in any other direction. On the wall, Toothless could tell his future self looked very angry, yet there was something there… probably seeing the fear written clearly all over Not-Hiccup's face – he couldn't hurt him. Not when he felt like he was staring into these green eyes and seeing himself. He didn't know why Hiccup spared him, but he looked at the boy as he breathed in and out, terrified of the dragon glaring at him, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hurt him.
Opening his mouth, Not-Toothless reared back before he screeched as loudly as possible in Not-Hiccup's face, making the boy close his eyes and press himself as close to the ground as possible. The moment Not-Toothless was done, he turned away and tried to fly out of there. Toothless winced at the sight of him flying into a rock and disappearing out of sight while Not-Hiccup stared after him with horror still lingering in his eyes. The boy got up, though, and began to walk away before his legs gave up on him and he fell back down, unconscious. Oops.
"YOU LET IT GO?!" The chief screamed and Hiccup dragged his body even closer to Toothless, though the Night Fury wasn't sure whether or not the boy was aware of the direction he was taking. He was probably just trying to get away from his angry and upset father. "Of all the stupid, irresponsible things you could have done – letting our sworn enemy, the Night Fury, get away after finally HAVING it… ARE YOU MAD?!"
Hiccup gave Astrid a searching look as if waiting to see hatred plastered all over her face as well, but she didn't look like she felt the same as his father. No, her expression showed mostly curiosity and intrigue rather than boiling anger. For a second Hiccup even looked at Toothless, as if the dragon could help him somehow, but then he seemed to catch himself because he quickly looked back towards his father, his shoulders raised up to his ears in a way that let the Night Fury know that he was ashamed or afraid. He wanted to protect himself from the man – if not from his fists, then from his words.
Gulping audibly, Hiccup shrugged. "B-but I didn't do it yet, Dad. I… I didn't get to that part. I never even met Toothless – " His eyes widened when he caught himself. "I-I mean… the Night Fury. The dragon. I never met him." He looked panicked when his father's gaze intensified. Toothless wasn't one to shudder under any kind of glare because he was one of the strongest dragons out there, despite his small size. But he could understand why the hatchling would shy away from such an intense glare. "P-please, I don't know what to… oh, this is all a mess!"
"You're a traitor! You'll betray your tribe and the people you grew up around. They trust you and you choose to side with those… those DEVILS!" The adult Viking spat out and Toothless bared his teeth at him, hissing and growling loudly. The Viking seemed slightly taken aback by this but he didn't back down. "This beast deserves to die and when we get back I expect you to kill it on the spot or let someone else do it. You WILL NOT set it FREE! Deal?"
"No, but… but Dad, didn't you see the – "
"DEAL?!" The Viking pressed on.
Hiccup blinked at him in alarm before his shoulders sagged and he glanced over at Toothless. The dragon crooned at him uncertainly. He didn't know Hiccup yet. They still didn't live their future together. So this version of Hiccup – he shouldn't care about what happens to Toothless. There was nothing bonding them to each other, other than this vague feeling, like the beginning of a bond Toothless couldn't understand. On the other hand, though, Hiccup lived with the other Vikings for years now. He knew and probably respected them. He wouldn't choose a strange dragon over his own people and Toothless didn't really expect him to do so. It still made him take a cautious step back, slightly afraid.
Closing his eyes, Hiccup let out a frustrated groan before he let his head fall down. "No."
It was silent in the room for a few moments before the chief got up from his seat and glared down at Hiccup who still kept on staring at his lap, his shoulders nearly brushing against his ears. Astrid watched the two of them with wonder and fear, her mouth agape. Toothless' muscles strained, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. He didn't know Hiccup, but this boy just refused to obey his father… to keep him alive. And he didn't have to do it, even if Toothless was, in fact, in the room with them while discussing this.
"What?" The chief asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Frowning, Hiccup looked up at him, his gaze intense. "I said 'no'. I won't kill Toothless. I don't know what happens in the future, but it doesn't sound like a bad thing. If anything, everyone looked better off with their dragons." He didn't get up, but the gaze he levelled on his father made the Night Fury shudder. "So no, I won't kill him. He's clearly not dangerous – he's just frightened. That's all."
"Why, you – !"
Before the adult Viking could get any closer to Hiccup, Toothless jumped forward and wrapped his body protectively around the boy, making Hiccup blink in surprise at him, and the chief to freeze in his place for a moment before he huffed, sent a seething glare in Hiccup's way, and then sat back down, his body trembling with rage.
Getting comfortable, Toothless adjusted himself before resting on the ground, still wrapped around Hiccup without touching him in a protective circle. When he glanced over at the boy, he found gratitude in the green eyes. Toothless just snorted at him lightly before he gestured with his head towards the magical wall. Hiccup followed his silent instruction and went back to watching the future. Astrid, still silent, did the same, though her eyes drifted towards the pair of them every now and then as if she couldn't stop herself from trying to observe them as much as possible.