Work Text:
Hiccup’s always been fascinated by Night Furies. They’re everything he isn’t: feared, fast, powerful.
Most Vikings strive to be like their inspiration.
Hiccup wants nothing more than to see his.
+++
He starts wandering off at five years old. Not far - he’s too small, people still look after him, even if it’s rarely his dad. But he runs into the woods when he manages to escape his babysitter of the day. He looks under logs and behind trees.
(He’s five. He looks where he would hide, where he thinks magical things would hide. And Night Furies are still magical in his eyes.)
He finds nothing, but he doesn’t give up.
+++
He’s seven when he finally understands that being different is bad. At first he was confused when the other kids stopped talking to him (and then started making fun of him). He didn’t understand - what had he done differently? What had he done wrong?
It took him a few weeks to realize that all he had done was be himself.
That was enough.
(That’s the only way him being himself has ever been enough, and a part of him savored it.)
+++
He’s twelve when he finds a Night Fury.
He hasn’t truly believed he would find one in years (has tried to convince himself that he doesn’t want to for longer), but he still searched. He needed something to cling to when his peers turned on him, when Stoick wouldn’t look at him.
(And if there was always a chance that he would die? Well. It’s an occupational hazard, isn’t it?)
So he’s just wandering when he comes across a cove. He’s surprised he’d never seen it before - he’s probably seen more of the island than anyone by now, so finding new spots is rare, especially ones so close to the village.
He enters without caution, curious about this place he’s never seen.
So when a mass of black flies past him it’s understandable that he shrieks and falls on his ass.
He starts scrambling back, trying to get back on his feet, when he realizes what he saw and freezes.
A Night Fury.
+++
He’s going to die. All he has on him is a notebook and a charcoal stick, and standing in front of him is a fucking Night Fury.
Yup. He’s definitely dead.
The dragon creeps closer, a wolf hunting a sheep. (Why is Hiccup always the sheep?)
It circles him slowly, tail swishing across the ground. Hiccup tries to back away, but it snarls at him, teeth gleaming.
It’s half a meter away from him when it pauses and sniffs. It eyes him for a moment, sniffs again, and sits back on its haunches.
Hiccup can only stare, head craned up to see its face. He whimpers. The dragon croons. He smiles hesitantly, and the dragon imitates him.
...Without teeth?
“But earlier you had… are they retractable? That’s amazing! You’re toothless!”
Toothless… that’s as good a name as any.
The dragon - Toothless - starts chirping as if sensing his excitement.
Hiccup doesn’t think about how unusual this is. He doesn’t consider that dragons are supposed to be vicious.
He made a friend, and that’s all that matters.
[3 years later]
Hiccup’s been through too many raids to count, but breaking dragons from the Red Death’s hold will never get easier.
He usually starts by running his hand up their snout and scratching behind their ears, making soothing noises and promises of freedom. (This often makes him think of Balrog the Banished, who was supposedly a dragon whisperer and got cast out of Berk like he was nothing despite his high standing.) (That was generations ago, but he’s too similar to Hiccup for comfort.) If softness doesn’t work, Toothless tries with roars of ‘free-fly-go getout gogogo’ (Hiccup has learned two things: first, that the stubborn, more viking-like dragons that Toothless frees are more likely to survive, and second, that Hiccup was not built to go far in this world).
The most they’ve been able to get free in one raid is eight, but usually it’s closer to three or four.
They do their best to break up fights, to save the lives of dragons and vikings alike, but Hiccup has to be discreet. He’s already an outcast, and if everyone knew he was trying to help the dragons he would be banished, Cheif’s son or not. (BalrogtheBanishedBalrogtheBanished HiccuptheUselessHiccupthe- .)
He hears a roar of ‘no-hurts-no stopstop please’ and runs toward the sound; his dad is fighting a Nightmare, and it’s about to be captured. Hiccup nods at Toothless, who shrieks a cry to get away, to be free, to be safe.
The Nightmare shudders, his pupils dilating, and flees.
Hiccup sighs in relief and runs off to find another dragon,
+++
He goes to see Toothless early the next morning. They meet at the cove as always - it’s become a second home to Hiccup. He’s spent days there before, unnoticed by the rest of the village. There’s a small cave he’s made a sort of nest in, and there are a few odds and ends shoved in it, as well as a saddle he hasn’t used in two years.
(His first instinct, once he and Toothless became friends, was to make a saddle so that flying with him would be easier. It didn’t work out, though: they were all uncomfortable for Toothless, and they hindered maneuverability.
The whole idea was scrapped after a few months of revisions, and Hiccup learned to fly without one.)
Anyway, he goes to the cove to check on Toothless and let Toothless check on him in return.
Neither of them are injured, thankfully, and there were no deaths on either side, so Hiccup’s feeling pretty good.
Then they go flying and he feels even better.
The feeling lasts until he gets home. He tries to sneak up the stairs to his room, but Stoick must hear him because he calls his name.
“Hiccup. We need to talk.”
Our conversations don’t count as talking. You know that.
This one isn’t any different.
Dragon training tomorrow morning. Hiccup tries to argue, but everything he says is either ignored or steamrolled over by his dad’s unreachable expectations.
He leaves to tell Toothless as soon as Stoick’s out the door.
+++
Toothless is understandably worried when he arrives. Hiccup rarely goes to the cove at night, and when he does, it isn’t to relay good news.
"They're making me learn to fight dragons," he tells Toothless.
(Dragons speak in feelings and actions, not words, which doesn’t translate very well, so he doesn't use their language often. Toothless understands Norse, anyway.)
‘protect-you safehere’ Toothless croons, curling around Hiccup. A wing comes up to shield him from the world. ‘loveyou you-me-us safeprotect noworry.’
Hiccup curls into a ball, tucked against his friend, and he sleeps.
+++
Dragon training hasn’t even started and it’s already shit. He didn’t bring the axe Stoick forced on him; he didn’t bring any weapon at all. He isn’t going to hurt dragons, and no one thinks he could even if he tried. There’s no point in pretending he’s useful if no one will see him that way.
At least he won’t fall on his face like he might’ve three years ago.
Small mercies.
+++
The Gronckle is pissed, and Hiccup’s honestly just trying to avoid her. He doesn’t want to fight, or talk, or cower, he just wants to not die a gruesome death and maybe sit down with some paper and a charcoal stick.
Then she shoots a blast right at him (which he barely avoids) and he knows that she’s trapped and scared and mad as shit, but he isn’t doing anything. He just wants to leave, but she’s coming straight for him, and he’s an easy target, and she has two blasts left.
So he does the smart thing and runs, putting the mess of shields between him and the dragon. Let everyone think he’s a coward - he won’t hurt the dragon, and he doesn’t want to lose an arm.
Astrid whacks the Gronckle with the flat of her axe and the day’s training ends.
Hiccup heads straight for the cove.
+++
Hiccup lets his mind wander as he and Toothless fly.
He’s tried to make a habit of freeing the dragons he can from the arena. New ones haven’t been captured in months, but he hasn’t had a chance to stage a breakout, either. He isn’t counting on one any time soon.
He doesn’t want to win the “honor” of killing the Nightmare at the end of training; he’d probably reveal Toothless, and it would hurt everyone in the long run because he will not kill a dragon.
But he also doesn’t want Astrid to kill it.
So he needs a plan.
He’s got two options: 1) get all of the dragons out of the ring (un-fucking-likely), or 2) win dragon training and somehow convince the Nightmare to leave or the vikings that dragons aren’t evil.
Option one relies too much on chance, so he has to focus on option two, meaning he has to beat Astrid in Dragon Training.
+++
Dinner in the Great Hall that night is a bit of a blur. He arrives to everyone praising Astrid, and sits down alone as they switch to laughing at him.
He doesn’t bother with the book of dragons - he must’ve read it a hundred times when he was young and still searching for a Night Fury. (There wasn’t much else to do when he was confined to his room, hacking up a lung and shivering with a fever every winter.)
He leaves with everyone else and goes to sleep in a silent house.
+++
Day two: Nadder. Goodie. Hiccup just loves getting stabbed with long, fast-moving spines. (She must be young, because she's treating it like a game, like how he and Toothless play hide-and-seek, and it makes him sad because he knows everyone else would kill her without a thought.)
At least there’s a maze of walls up, so Hiccup can just avoid everyone.
He hears the twins’ arguing devolve into screams and rolls his eyes, moving farther away from the noise, footsteps silent.
He comes across Astrid and Snotlout and promptly turns around to head in the opposite direction.
He’s pretty sure the exercise is almost over, that he’s almost free, when everything - as it tends to do around him - goes to shit.
The walls start falling over, toppling like dominoes, and Astrid yells at him to move.
Then she leaps at him, so he obeys and rolls out of the way. He’s about to scramble away from the fight when he realizes he’s supposed to be winning.
Norns, this sucks.
He drops his shield and runs at the Nadder, grabbing one of the spines on the back of her head and swinging himself onto her back in a move similar to one he uses on Toothless when they play-wrestle and the dragon's standing on his hind legs. He gets out a muttered “sorry,” and pushes his body weight into slamming her head to the ground. (It’s not the best way to take down a Nadder and probably won’t hurt too bad, but it looks impressive enough.) There’s silence around the ring, and he leaves before anyone can yell at him.
+++
Hiccup sits in the sand of the cove and sketches the Nadder absentmindedly.
Toothless peers over his shoulder and croons ‘whowhowho?’
Hiccup’s shoulders hunch and he drags harsh fingers through his hair. "I had to fight her today," he says, then adds, “I hurt her.”
He huffs, frustrated that he can't fix this. And maybe Toothless can't help him figure out how to, but he cares that Hiccup's upset, and that’s enough.
Hiccup’s confused when he runs off until he sees the branch in his mouth. Toothless starts drawing and he laughs delightedly, standing up to watch.
The lines don't look much like him, but they tell him 'lovecareadore-you,' and it’s not perfect, but it’s so, so good.
+++
It’s cold up on the tower, the conversation’s awful, and the company could definitely be better, but the fire’s warm and the fish is good, so Hiccup supposes it’s okay.
Everyone shrinks away from Fishlegs when he considers how Gobber could have killed a dragon from the inside if he had retained control of his hand. Maybe it’s kind of creepy, but it’s an interesting point. If Hiccup ever loses a limb (not unlikely with where he lives) then he’ll try it out.
Then Gobber says that aiming for the wings and tail is best, and Hiccup shivers. He’s right - those are the parts most important to a dragon’s flight.
It gives him an idea for the Red Death, if he ever gets around to working out how to fight her. He’ll have to iron out the details later, but it’s worth a shot.
He’s distracted enough to not notice Astrid watching him as he leaves.
+++
The next dragon they fight in the ring is a Zippleback.
They’re paired off, and Hiccup’s with Fishlegs. The muttering is making him twitchy, but it seems to be soothing for Fishlegs, so Hiccup doesn’t say anything.
Hiccup considers moving toward the dragon, but he’s pretty sure they’re headed their way so he just turns to face where he thinks they are, scanning the fog.
The others are arguing about something, and then Hiccup hears the familiar sounds of people getting hit, and by the yelps, it was probably Snotlout and Tuffnut.
Then the girls cry out and there’s clattering.
Hiccup listens carefully, and a hissing sound alerts him to the Zippleback’s presence.
“Behind you,” he says, nudging Fishlegs.
The boy whirls around and chucks his water at the first head he sees, but Hiccup knows before the water lands:
It’s the wrong head.
The dragon sprays gas, and Fishlegs is gone, his empty bucket thrown behind him as he runs.
Hiccup stares at the other head for a moment, grimacing, then throws his water and douses the Zippleback.
They recoil, roaring ‘wet no-bad fire wheregone-badpanic.’ Hiccup flinches and watches Gobber shut them away.
The praise he gets makes his stomach churn.
+++
Gobber’s brought out the Gronckle again, and this time Hiccup can’t just avoid her. Instead, he goes right for her, ditching his shield (they’re clunky) and leaping over her tail. Gronckles have a pressure spot at the base of the spine, just above the tail, and he digs an elbow into it.
She swears as her back legs collapse. There’s a cheer from the people watching outside the ring, and Hiccup grimaces.
“I’ll just,” he hooks a thumb at the entrance. “Yeah.”
The other teens try to follow, but he ducks between a couple houses and avoids them.
+++
He sits with Toothless, absentmindedly scratching his neck while he tries to think of a way to get the Red Death out of her nest.
I can’t starve her out. I can’t poison her. I could try to piss her off, but I don’t want to put Toothless in danger. I can’t lead the Vikings there, and even if I could they’d all die anyway.
He groans and lets his head flop back. Toothless chirps questioningly, and Hiccup just shakes his head. “Plans are hard.”
Toothless purs encouragingly. ‘MineLove smartgood bravestrong. noworry you-good.’
Hiccup smiles. ‘loveyou good-uswe lovelove.’
This may be hard, but Toothless will always be by his side.
+++
They’re fighting the Nadder, but this time there’s no maze.
He doesn’t know if she’s still hurt from last time, so instead of taking her down, he scratches a spot under her chin that tends to make dragons go boneless.
True to form, she drops to the ground, and he pretends to be shoving her when it happens.
Astrid looks downright murderous, and Hiccup pretends he doesn’t notice.
+++
He dodges past Vikings trying to congratulate him or praise him. It all feels wrong; he knew he would never be like them, but having everyone be thrilled over something he hates doing has solidified that.
He hasn’t eaten in the great hall for a while: every time he sits down he’s swarmed.
Before dragon training, he would’ve loved it, but now? It just makes him want to scream.
He’s found it’s best to just avoid people altogether.
+++
He plays with Toothless to keep his mind off of Berk. They start with hide-and-seek, and later Hiccup sits with a knife and lets sunlight reflect off of it, Toothless chasing the spot of light around the cove happily.
(They both know Hiccup’s stressed, so they take a break. Have some fun. Enjoy each other's company.
He really needed this.)
+++
Today’s training will be interesting: a Terrible Terror.
Hiccup smirks when Tuff makes a joke about its size only for it to latch onto his nose. Terrors are small enough that most Viking weapons don’t work well against them - they’re too big, too slow.
Hiccup knows that Astrid knows this, but she goes after it anyway. The Terror evades her easily and flies straight at Hiccup. He catches him, holding in a laugh, and chucks him at his door. He catches himself before hitting the ground and scampers through the small door, chirping ‘strongbig nono’.
Astrid looks fit to burst, and everyone’s ribbing her about him surpassing her, so he makes his escape with a stuttered excuse.
+++
Astrid’s axe-throwing isn’t exactly subtle, so when he hears it he makes sure to keep a wide berth.
He doesn’t know when she started coming out here or how he didn’t notice, but he isn’t about to go up and ask her.
+++
Hiccup’s walking home from the blacksmith stall when Astrid confronts him.
“You’re acting weird.”
Am I? “Am I?”
“Well, weird er . What are you up to?”
My best friend’s a dragon and I’m trying to stop the raids on Berk. “I was just finishing cleaning up the stall.”
She stares at him suspiciously and he shrugs.
“I don't know what you want me to say, Astrid."
She glowers. "I want you to tell me what you're doing!"
Hiccup shrugs again. “I did: I was cleaning up the stall."
He leaves her fuming in the street.
+++
He’s out flying with Toothless when Stoick gets back - he sees the ships in the dock and prolongs the flight as long as possible.
They swerve through sea stacks and dart into the clouds, roars and whistles and chirps lost in the wind.
They work on some tricks: Toothless rolling and diving with Hiccup hands-free, him standing Toothless’ back, him falling with the dragon. Hiccup likes them partially because they could be useful, but mostly because they’re fun.
After, they go to an island that’s home to several Terror families. Hiccup doesn’t bother cooking the fish - it’s much better that way, but he’s gotten used to it raw since it’s more convenient.
He plays tug-a-war with a Terror and lets Toothless take a nap before they return to Berk.
+++
He’s in the blacksmith stall fixing a sheild when Stoick comes in. He isn’t quiet, banging his head and knocking things over, so Hiccup has time to take a fortifying breath.
Stoick’s first few sentences are worrying, and for a moment Hiccup thinks he’s talking about Toothless, but then he realizes it’s probably the dragon training.
That’s almost worse.
Their heart-to-heart is a complete lie on his part, and Hiccup almost starts crying when he’s told about the helmet’s significance.
His dad makes an excuse to leave when things get awkward, and Hiccup’s grateful for it.
He doesn’t go home until he’s sure Stoick will be asleep.
+++
The Gronckle. Again. Why is it always the Gronckle?
Astrid shoves her axe at him with a, “stay out of my way. I’m winning this thing,” and all Hiccup can do is nod.
They both know he won’t do that.
He glances at Astrid, who’s pressed against a barrier, axe clutched close to her chest, and sighs.
Here we go.
He throws himself over the barrier he’s behind and runs at the Gronckle.
He blocks a blast with his shield and then shoves it in her mouth.
Gronckles have strong jaws, so she bites through it, but she’s distracted enough to not notice him scratch under her chin and knock her out.
Hiccup’s too busy fighting back a meltdown to notice Astrid having one behind him.
When Gobber asks who won, Gothi chooses him. It might be the first time he’s ever won anything.
He can’t find it in himself to smile.
+++
Hiccup’s going to have to fight the Nightmare, and he has no plan. He doesn’t know if he’s going to try to make the Vikings see that dragons aren’t evil or if he’s going to fake fight the Nightmare and get it to leave, or if he’s going to give up and get as far away from Berk as he can. (He won’t do that. He’s tried, but he can’t just give up and let people die.) (He wishes he could; it’d be easier that way.)
His panicked thoughts are interrupted by Astrid. She’s sitting cross-legged on a large rock, sharpening her axe.
She questions him, but it all goes in one ear and out the other; he’s too busy searching for Toothless to pay attention.
He hears a rustle. Astrid shoves him away and turns to figure out what it was, but Hiccup knows, and she absolutely cannot go over there, so he grabs her.
She flips him over her shoulder with ease, and he’s left gasping for breath as she says, “that’s for the lies. And that’s-” she slams the handle of her axe into his stomach. “-for everything else.”
(It’ll leave a bruise. Hel, his ribs might be bruised, but he’s used to it. He doesn’t make a sound.)
He gets back up to keep trying to stall her, but it’s too late.
The bushes rustle again, and before Hiccup can stop him Toothless flies out and tackles Astrid, the axe flying out of her hand.
He scrambles to his feet. "Don't hurt her!"
Toothless looks at him but doesn’t move. ‘she hurtpain-you. badleaveout.’ he insists.
Hiccup shakes his head and moves over to separate them.
He doesn’t put his back to Astrid, though, and he’s sure they both notice.
“What. Is this?” She manages.
Hiccup stays silent, not knowing what to say.
She does. “You’re what, with them ?” She spits out ‘them’ like it’s a dirty word, a slur, and Hiccup can’t help but mimic Toothless’ growl.
Astrid shrinks back, and Hiccup hates the part of him that likes it.
He forcefully unclenches his fists, then his jaw, then lets his shoulders slacken.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“What?!”
Toothless’ yelp, while a different language, has the same meaning.
“We’re going flying, and I’ll explain.”
Astrid doesn’t move.
"Come on! Get up! I’m not letting you sound the alarm before I have a chance to explain.”
She inches away from him. “I’m not letting you explain anything!”
He sighs. “Look, either you get on his back with me or I have him hold you by the arms.”
That makes her reconsider, and he swings a leg over Toothless and waits for her to get on behind him.
+++
Toothless doesn’t give him a chance to speak (he and Astrid are more alike than either of them would ever admit) before shooting into the sky.
Hiccup lets the next few minutes happen. Astrid clings to him, Toothless spins and dives and dumps them all in the ocean. Astrid screams, Toothless flies up only to shoot back down. Astrid apologizes, Toothless levels out like he’d been flying calmly this whole time.
“Are we done? Is that all you wanted, an apology? Odin give me patience.”
Toothless slaps him with an ear flap.
Hiccup just rolls his eyes. “Anyway. Dragons aren’t evil.”
“How can you say that? They slaughter us!” Astrid protests, her grip on him tightening.
Toothless growls at that, but he calms when Hiccup pats his neck. “So do we, Astrid. This isn’t one sided. But that’s not the point. The point is that they’re controlled. They have a Queen, and she forces them to get her food, and if they don’t bring enough, she eats them.”
Astrid’s silent.
“I’m not saying you have to help me, I just need you to not tell everyone. I haven’t betrayed anyone, Astrid. I just want to help.”
Astrid sighs. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. I won’t say anything.”
+++
They land softly in the cove. Astrid may have agreed not to tell anyone, but that doesn’t mean she trusts him.
“Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow . You’re going to have to kill that Nightmare.”
“Yes, thank you for the reminder.”
“Hiccup.”
“I’ll figure it out. It’s fine.”
Astrid clearly doesn’t believe him (he doesn’t blame her, he doesn’t either), but she lets it go. She turns to leave, then looks back. He isn’t expecting the punch in the shoulder - he and Toothless exchange incredulous glances at her reasoning (kidnapping? Really?) - but he expects the kiss even less.
“And that’s for everything else,” she jogs off toward Berk.
Hiccup blinks after her. He'd had a crush on Astrid for ages, but in the last few years getting to know dragons and even more in the past few weeks during dragon training… the attraction kinda faded away. He'd wanted this so much, for so long, and to finally get it when he doesn’t anymore is odd. He shakes himself and lays down with Toothless.
He hasn’t stayed the night in a while, but he makes an exception.
+++
Hiccup thinks for hours and comes up with nothing. His mind is blank with something - terror, apprehension, resignation?
Stoick’s speech before the fight, while entertaining for the village, makes him feel even more worthless. He goes on autopilot somewhere in the middle of it. He’s pretty sure Astrid came to check on him, but she’s gone by the time he enters the ring.
He steps into the ring with his helmet on, and he grabs a shield, eyeing a knife that he doesn’t take.
“I’m ready.” I’m not ready.
The door to the Nightmare's cage raises. I’m not ready.
The dragon enters the ring. I’m not ready.
“Begin!” I’m not ready.
+++
Nightmares are fast. Hiccup doesn’t bother moving as this one slithers around the ring, across the metal netting above him. Doesn’t so much as flinch when he shoots fire at the Vikings gathered around the outside.
When he sees Hiccup he returns to the ground, waiting a meter or two away from him. The flames don’t feel hot from here, but Hiccup knows they would if he moved closer.
There’s a staredown. A moment of silent expectancy. Hiccup moves forward slowly. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he tries, and the Nightmare’s pupils dilate, head tilted curiously.
The Vikings are unusually silent in their confusion, waiting for Hiccup’s trick, the grand reveal.
There isn’t one.
Hiccup lowers his stance to more of a crouch, lifts his hand, pets the Nightmare, croons at him, and sets down his shield, bracing himself. He looks up at the crowd surrounding him.
“They aren’t what you think they are," he tries. "They’re intelligent creatures-”
His father’s voice interrupts him. “Stop the fight.”
“No!” He protests. “You all need to see this, you need to understand-”
Stoick’s hammer slams into the ring’s covering. “STOP THE FIGHT!”
Hiccup flinches back, away from Stoick and away from the Nightmare who growls, backing away, flames starting to drip from his mouth.
The Nightmare snarls at him, and Hiccup doesn’t know what to do, tries to think of something even as he backs away from the approaching dragon.
He finds his voice when the Nightmare starts moving faster, shooting flames at him.
“No! Please, no, stop!” He dodges a spout of flame. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know you’re scared, but I don’t want to hurt you-”
A hammer flies at the Nightmare and hits him in the head, sending him crashing into the wall. Hiccup looks over and sees Astrid, beckoning to him from the gate his dad’s holding open.
He’s almost made it when the Nightmare blasts at him again, and he’s forced to swerve away. The Nightmare catches up - Hiccup knew he was fast, but Norns , he didn’t realize how outmatched he was; there wasn’t much point running in the first place - and pins him to the ground.
“Please,” he begs, one last time.
That’s when he hears a familiar sound, and Toothless blasts into the ring, tackling the Nightmare off of him.
He roars, long and loud. It's a declaration: ‘minemine himmeWeUs mineprotect no-hurtpain MINE.’
People are screaming, he can hear his dad yelling, and he’s pretty sure Astrid’s voice is in there somewhere too, but he doesn’t have time to focus on the because are flooding into the ring and they’ll hurt Toothless, he can’t let them hurt Toothless-
The dragons are wrestled apart, and Stoick goes for Toothless. Hiccup screams for him to stop, not to hurt him, that’s his friend . Toothless rolls them over so that he’s on top, and Hiccup hears the familiar noice of him preparing for a plasma blast.
“TOOTHLESS, NO!”
He stops, and for a moment no one moves. They’re frozen: Stoick, pinned to the ground; Toothless, looking at Hiccup; Hiccup, arm extended, leaning forward as if ready to run toward them; Astrid, holding him back.
Stoick recovers first, and he punches Toothless. The other vikings swarm him, and Hiccup tries to run forward to stop them, but Astrid’s hold never wavers, keeping him from helping.
He fights her, and he doesn’t stop, even though she doesn’t budge. He scratches and claws and kicks out, all the while screaming for them to stop hurting Toothless.
A good kick to the shin surprises Astrid into letting him go, and he rushes to the pile of bodies surrounding his dragon. He snatches an axe out of someone’s hand and uses the butt of it to knock people away. He fights to the middle so that he’s standing between Toothless and his village.
He grips the axe and he doesn’t waver.
“You won’t touch him.” It’s not a request, or a deperate plea. It’s simply a statement: he’s decided they won’t hurt Toothless, and so they won’t.
Several people step forward, but Hiccup refuses to back down. They try to shove him out of the way and he whacks them with the flat of his stolen axe. They try to tackle him and he lets them ram themselves into the handle.
“Go, Toothless.”
He growls at him. ‘no-leave youme-Us-We.’
He shakes his head. “You have to go, Bud. I’ll be okay, I promise.”
Toothless doesn’t move for a long moment, then he lowers his head in acknowledgement and turns, leaping into the air. Hiccup doesn’t stop watching him until he disappears into the distance, even as Stoick drags him away.
+++
There’s going to be a trial. His dad wants to talk to him beforehand, and he already knows it won’t go well.
They’re in the Great Hall. (It’s emptier than Hiccup’s ever seen it, and it’s a little creepy.) It’s dimly lit, and Stoick’s pacing figure is more intimidating than any dragon Hiccup’s ever met.
“I should’ve known. I should’ve seen the signs.”
Hard to do when you’re never around.
Stoick flings an arm out in Hiccup’s direction. “We had a deal!”
No, you forced me into something I didn’t want, he thinks, but instead he says, "Dad-" and tries to hide his anger. He takes a deep breath, and continues with forced calmness. “We didn't have a deal. I did what I had to.”
“So what, everything in the ring was a trick? A lie? You’re with them?" He says it the same way Astrid had the day before: with enough venom to rival the most dangerous dragon.
“I’m not on anyone’s side! Besides," here, his anger starts to slip out. "You can’t even look at me most days, so don’t act as if I’ve hidden something from you, because I never had to.”
A brief flicker of hurt crosses Stoick’s face, but he covers it quickly. “They’ve killed hundreds of us!”
“And we’ve killed thousands of them! They raid us because they have to; there’s a Queen that controls them, it’s not their fault-”
That stops him up short. “Queen? So you’ve been to their nest? How did you find it?”
Hiccup’s hands curl into fists. Why won’t you listen to me? “I didn’t,” He grits out. “Toothless did. It’s nearly impossible to get to by ship - the sea stacks are right between it and Berk. I don’t know how to get there by boat.”
“So you’re telling me it’s impossible to get to.”
“For anyone but a dragon? Yeah, pretty much.”
Stoick pauses for a moment, thinking, before his eyes brighten with an idea. “Well, we have plenty of dragons.”
Hiccup immediately realizes what his father wants to do and panics. “Dad, no, you don’t understand, you can’t win this one! The Queen’s the size of a mountain! Please, just listen to me-”
He’s thrown aside like a ragdoll, and Stoick leaves without a word. Hiccup bangs on the door, yells, pleads, but no one answers.
+++
Hiccup can’t get out, and he’s panicking a bit. No one’s come to see him, and there are no windows, just the one huge door, and Hiccup doesn’t know how to go about getting the fuck out without putting Toothless in danger.
He’s thinking about trying his hand at lock picking when the doors open.
That’s convenient.
He moves out of sight, hides in the shadows cast by the torches and pillars.
He doesn’t know who came to see him and doesn’t really care, so of course as soon as he thinks that he sees the trademark blond braid.
Really?
He rolls his shoulders and moves closer. If he takes her by surprise he can probably get out the door, and he knows he’s faster than her. He just needs to know if she has her axe…
“Hiccup? I know you’re in here.”
He stays silent.
Astrid fingers the end of her braid. “I came- I came to make sure you’re okay.”
He moves forward, staying out of sight.
Astrid steps further into the Great Hall, peering around, eyes still adjusting to the dark.
Hiccup inches closer, ready to make a run for it.
“Hiccup?”
Now.
He knocks her feet out from under her and sprints out the door and into the woods.
+++
He stands in a clearing not far from Berk and roars for Toothless as loud as he can.
After his friend has checked him for injuries he’s given a look that very clearly says I told you so.
“Oh shut up,” he mutters, bristling.
'you-want savehelp.' It's not a question. 'we-go helpsaveprotect.’
Hiccup smiles, fighting back tears, because Toothless hates Vikings for what they’ve done to him and Hiccup, but he’ll help save them because he knows they’re important to him.
Hiccup swings onto his back and they take off.
+++
They arrive to a raging battle: dragons flying, catapults being reloaded, Vikings yelling and waving weapons around. It’s a mess.
A mess that looks calm and collected compared to the chaos that erupts when the Queen blasts out of the mountain. Her eight eyes seem to barely blink, and she keeps her wings close to her body. Her head swings back and forth, and dragons shriek and collide in their efforts to get away. Hiccup pats Toothless and he curves down into a dive, blasting the queen in the nose before speeding away.
Vikings are screaming now, warnings of “Night Fury!” flying through the air. Hiccup ignores them, leaning with Toothless as they turn around, moving together with an ease born of years of practice and friendship.
Toothless swoops down, aiming another blast at the queen’s head. He immediately starts beating his wings hard, sending them straight up, and Hiccups watches her closely to see if she’ll take the bait and follow.
She does.
+++
She follows them through the smoke hanging over the beach and into the clouds, roaring furiously.
“Hey, Toothless, can you get me on her back?”
He grumbles - probably at Hiccup’s recklessness - but complies.
Hiccup’s met a lot of dragons, and all of them have different strengths. This one, based on the large nostrils and small eyes, clearly relies on smell, so blinding her or hiding won’t be enough.
That just means that he needs to find other weaknesses to exploit.
He’s poking at the red spines on her neck when he notices how thin her wings are. They’re thicker than Toothless’, but not nearly thick enough for a dragon her size. He grins and waves at Toothless. “I’m ready, let’s go!”
The Night Fury shoots a blast at the queen and picks Hiccup up by the arms while she’s distracted. With some odd maneuvering he manages to return to Toothless’s back, and he tells him what he learned. “Her wings are too thin, so if we target them we can make her crash.”
Toothless shifts his wings and opens his mouth wide, and Hiccup hums in confirmation.
The Red Death won’t know what hit her (hopefully).
+++
Not bad. The wings are well and truly fucked, and she’s chasing them straight down like there’s no tomorrow, so Hiccup is inclined to believe his plan will work.
But then again there’s always time for everything to go off the rails.
And, predictably, it does.
The Red Death is going down, she’s about to die and nothing can save her, but as Toothless winds through the spines on her tail, he can’t avoind the giant flap on the end quick enough. He mostly evades, but it clips his side - and Hiccup’s leg - sending Hiccup flying.
The last thing he sees before he passes out from a burning pain below his knee is the panic in Toothless’ eyes as he flies after him.
+++
When he opens his eyes it’s to a much happier Toothless and a room that’s much messier than he left it.
(Later he’ll realize that the collision in the air crushed half of his leg and it had to be amputated. He’ll be told that Toothless saved him by wrapping his body around Hiccup. He’ll learn that while he healed the village opened up to dragons, helped by the ended raids. They haven’t accepted them like Hiccup has, won’t live side by side with them, but there’s peace, and that’s all Hiccup can ask for.
Later he’ll learn that Toothless never left his side while he was unconscious. He’ll learn that for a while no one was allowed close to Hiccup besides Gothi.
Later Stoick will apologize. They will have a short, awkward conversation about his poor parenting, and that will be the end of it. He’ll learn that his mother was just like him, that she saw the dragons the same as him. She was carried off in a raid, and Hiccup knows she isn’t dead. He vows to find her.
But Later is not Now, and Now Hiccup is waking up to a scene he never thought he’d see.)
The first thing he notices is obviously the dragon, then it’s the mess of a room, and then it’s the pain shooting up his left leg and through his spine. He knows what he’ll see when he lifts the blanket, but it’s jarring nonetheless.
He sucks in a breath and holds it for a moment. There’s a peg leg there, much different from what he’s used to. Toothless approaches the bed with soft croons of comfort and sorrow, and Hiccup presses their foreheads together, purring and humming loud enough to drown out the needless apology.
‘youmeUsWe-togetherlove always-stronggoodtogether,’ he insists.
With a bark that Hiccup knows to be a laugh, Toothless shoves his head into Hiccup’s chest and pushes him over, laying his head on his stomach.
With a laugh of his own Hiccup nudges him off so that he can sit up and prepare to stand with a peg leg and a lot of pain.
This is your new normal, suck it up and get moving.
He stands up and immediately falls over with a curse - Norns does it hurt.Toothless catches him (like he always will) and Hiccup uses him as a cane to get to the door. He opens it to his village; it's completely normal except for one thing: dragons. They’re swarming his house. They’re on the roof, and the front steps, and in the trees around it. They perch on windowsills and rafters and carvings. One’s in a torch. Hiccup gasps and grins wildly. The villagers seem to be giving the house a wide berth, but that’s honestly just a bonus. He laughs, loud and delighted, and it’s like he summoned his dad and Gobber. And Astrid. And all the other teens. And quite possibly the whole damn village behind them. (So much for the space.)
“This is amazing,” Hiccup admits, mostly to Stoick and Gobber.
“Well, we figured you deserved this, since you almost died, and all,” Gobber jokes. “I hope the leg treats you well. I’m sure you’ll tinker a bit.”
All Hiccup can do is smile, wide and happy.
It’s not perfect, but he’s alive and Toothless is beside him. That’s all he needs.