Chapter Text
Hiccup’s POV
“Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies.” Hiccup said to Gobber. “Is there another book, or a sequel? Maybe a Night Fury pamphlet?” A blast seemingly came out of nowhere and melted the metal off Hiccup’s axe. Then Hiccup looked in front of himself to see A Deadly Nadder standing in front of him. ‘How did I miss that?’ he wondered. Then Gobber yelled at him to shake Hiccup back to reality.
“Focus, Hiccup! You’re not even trying!” Gobber went on to lecture his students whilst Hiccup ran from the Nadder. “Today is all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!”
Fishlegs screamed from somewhere else in the maze. “I’m really beginning to question your teaching methods!” he yelled at Gobber. ‘So am I.’ Hiccup thought.
Gobber, completely ignoring him, continued, “Look for it’s blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!” The twins were bickering somewhere in the maze, and Gobber commented on their ridiculousness. Hiccup ran into what he thought was a safe hiding spot before trying to talk to Gobber again.
“How would one sneak up on a Night Fury?” He asked.
Gobber, tired of all the questions, quickly replied with, “No one’s ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now, get in there!”
Hiccup was, frankly, unhappy with that answer, but before he could ask more questions, Astrid and Snotlout motioned for him to get down. Hiccup didn’t know why they were down but followed suit anyway. Astrid rolled ahead first, followed by Snotlout, then by Hiccup. But Hiccup (being, well, Hiccup) failed his roll, attracted the attention of the Nadder, and ran. Once he was sure he was safe, he kept talking to Gobber, who was not listening to Hiccup in the slightest.
“Hiccup!” Gobber pointed to Astrid who was on top of the maze, trying to escape from the dragon. While jumping off the collapsing maze, she accidentally landed on Hiccup, her axe embedded in his shield.
“Ooh, love on the battlefield.” Tuff jested.
“She could do better.” Ruff smirked.
Astrid untangled herself from Hiccup and got up. The Nadder was quickly coming toward them, so she tried removing her axe from Hiccup’s shield (nearly taking his arm off in the process). In the end, she managed to get his shield off his arm and hit the dragon’s jaw with it, shattering the shield.
“Well done, Astrid.” Gobber commended her.
Astrid dawned an irritated expression on her face. “Is this some kind of a joke to you?! Our parents’ war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you’re on.” With that she exited the training ring.
Ruff came over and helped Hiccup up. “Uh, sorry about her. My best friend can get sort of…” she paused as she searched for the right word to say. “…competitive.”
“Thanks, but it was my fault. I got distracted.” Hiccup said. In an instant, kind and caring Ruffnut turned into snarky and sarcastic Ruffnut.
“Say it.” She smirked.
Hiccup sighed. “You were right. I probably shouldn’t have kept asking and should have took the hint.”
Ruff, seemingly content, replied with a simple, “Yep.”
With that, the two headed back into the woods, hoping to learn more about their downed friend.
Ruffnut’s POV
“Okay, here’s the plan: you get close to the dragon with the fish, and if things go south, I get us out of there.” Ruff held up her spear.
Hiccup groaned. “Why do I have to do it?”
“Three things: you can barely lift a spear, much less use it; I’m allergic to fish, and because I said so!”
“But…”
Ruff gave him a withering stare.
“Yes ma’am.” Hiccup looked down.
The two entered the cove, and Ruff hid her spear behind a rock while Hiccup got his shield stuck between two. Ruff just giggled as he tried to pull it free. When he saw that he couldn’t, he went further into the cove, looking for the dragon. Ruff sat atop a rock, watching him and ready to pull him out if necessary. Then the Fury took the bait. He came out of his hiding spot and stood in front of Hiccup, interested by the fish. He went close, mouth open wide, but growled and stepped back. Hiccup opened his coat and pointed at his dagger. The dragon growled in affirmation. Hiccup slowly unsheathed the dagger and dropped it on the floor. Then using his foot, he threw it into the lake. The Fury took this as a sign of trust, so he went forward and opened his mouth to eat the fish. ‘The dragon has no teeth?’ Ruff thought.
Hiccup investigated the dragon’s mouth. “Huh, Toothless. Could have sworn you had—"
Suddenly ‘Toothless’ teeth came out of his gums and swallowed the fish in one bite.
“—teeth.” Hiccup finished. Toothless sniffed Hiccup for any signs of food, backing him into a rock. Ruff gripped her spear as a precaution. Hiccup whispered something to Toothless that she could not make out. Toothless regurgitated half of the fish he ate into Hiccup’s lap. Ruff cackled and dropped her spear, finding this hilarious. “A little help here?” Hiccup muttered to her.
“I’m enjoying this too much.” Ruff giggled. Toothless gestured for Hiccup to eat the fish. That made Ruff lose it. “He-He wants you to eat it.” She cackled, falling off her rock. When she got up, Hiccup had already taken a bite of the fish. Toothless gestured for him to swallow it. That made Ruff laugh even harder. Hiccup reluctantly complied and swallowed the fish. He gave Toothless an uneasy smile. Toothless tried mimicking the smile, and Hiccup held out his hand to try to touch Toothless’ snout. But Toothless did not trust them much, so he growled and flew to another side of the cove. Hiccup ran after him.
“Where are you going?” Ruff asked. But Hiccup was out of earshot or chose not to listen because he kept running toward the dragon. So, Ruff ran after him, but when she got there, Hiccup was already walking away from the dragon.
“Maybe that was a bad idea.”
“Yep.” Ruff confirmed. “Time to go?”
“No.” Hiccup shook his head. “This is the closest we’ve got to Toothless. We’re not leaving.”
The two passed the time by watching Hiccup draw Toothless. Ruffnut was in awe of how he expertly drew the dragon from memory. “And you didn’t look at Toothless?”
Hiccup shook his head.
Ruff looked up behind Hiccup. “You’d better keep drawing, Hiccup.” Hiccup, aware of who was behind him, kept drawing. Toothless watched Hiccup’s movements and wanted to try for himself. Toothless walked over to a nearby tree and tore a branch off. He started scribbling on the ground, attempting to draw a picture of Hiccup.
“What’s he doing?” Hiccup asked.
“I think he is trying to draw you.” Ruff answered. Toothless nodded as he finished his ‘work of art’. “Doing so expertly.” She giggled.
Hiccup gave her a look and accidentally stepped on a line on Toothless’ drawing. The dragon growled at him and he removed his foot immediately. Then he put his foot back, removing it only when Toothless growled at him. This went on for some time.
“What are you doing?” Ruff muttered to him.
“I think he wants us to escape the drawing.” Hiccup muttered back. The two started to leave the drawing, unconsciously both going toward Toothless. When they got there, they both looked at the dragon, who was lying there in wait, as if he expected them to come toward him. Hiccup held out his hand to the dragon and gestured to Ruff to do the same. The dragon initially growled at them, but when Hiccup convinced Ruff to let down her guard, the dragon gave in and nuzzled their hands. And just like that, it was over. Toothless left, leaving only two confused teens in his wake.
“And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole.” Gobber explained the story of his missing limbs, "I saw the look on his face: I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one took my leg."
Fishlegs was a little too interested. "Isn't it weird to think your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from inside by crushing his heart. Or something."
"That is a disgusting, gruesome thought." Heather observed.
"I swear, I'm so angry right now." Snotlout grunted. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face." Ruffnut bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. She looked over to Astrid to see she was having the same problem.
Gobber shook his head. "No, it's the wings and the tail you really want. If it can't fly, it cant get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon." At the time, the advice flew over their heads, well, most of their heads. "All right, I'm off to bed." Gobber yawned. "You should be too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys, slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing it?"
At that moment, Ruffnut tuned out, thinking about what Gobber had said. 'A downed dragon is a dead dragon.' Did that mean...
Her brother talking about his totally-not-a-tattoo birthmark. "Ok, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before." Ruffnut shook her head.
"Yes, it was." He contradicted. "You've just never seen me from the left side before."
"Yes, I have. and birthmarks are not red." Ruffnut noticed that Hiccup was gone. She excused herself, most of her friends following suit. She resisted the urge to follow Hiccup, and went to bed, hoping he didn't screw anything up tomorrow.