Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A/n very very short chapter

You stood there, just outside your house, your parents weren't home and you were as happy as you could be. You were finally home after a long day at school. You couldn't wait to get home and reread the how to train your dragon finally for the third time (or it was the fourth time?) Just as you placed your hand on the doorknob, you stopped and peered at the road behind you.

You did not know why you looked. Maybe you heard a sound a faint sound. Maybe you felt a presence behind you...or maybe, just maybe it was something else entirely, something far older and more powerful then you or your small american town.

What you did know is that when you looked behind you, you could see a large leather bound book, lying in the middle of the road. "strange," you thought, "that definitely wasn't there before." You decided to check it out for yourself.

The book was very old. As you ran your hands against the inky black leather you noticed that it had a great deal of intricate designs engraved on it or at least, what was left of them. You came to the conclusion that the book had once been beautiful, however, now it was warn and looked like it was practically falling apart at the seems. You flipped through the pages. You were disappointed to find that the book was written in a language you couldn't read. As you flipped through it some more you found each section was written in a different language.

There were a total of 60 sections, each section lasted about 6-9 pages, although some pages seemed to be missing or torn out. Finally as you got towards the very back of the book you saw english. This sparked your curiosity, and excitement. You really should have been paying more attention, after all you were still on an open road. If you were paying more attention, then you would have heard the distant hum of tires. Only at this moment did your ears pick up the sound, now that it was far too late. You only had time to snap you head head to the side and look into the eyes of a person in a car, desperately slamming on the breaks.

Chapter Text

A/n even shorter chapter, I promise they get much longer

You woke up groaning. You wondered, what happened, and why is my whole body covered in bruises? Right, the car… you remembered now.  Shakily you stood up. Your body ached all over. As soon as you were up and could see your surroundings, you could tell that you were nowhere near home.

You were in the middle of what looked like it had once been a village, but now all the shops and houses had beed burned to ashes and reduced to rubble. Behind you you could see a vast body of water behind you, an ocean perhaps? In front of you you could see a large forest. The forest looked more promising than the ocean so you decided to head there and see if you could find people that could help you. Before you went you placed the strange book you found in your backpack. You still had your backpack with you. This was great news, because you had food in your backpack, and your phone. You tried to call everyone you could, but no one picked up. Eventually you gave up. You slowly walked towards the forest. On your way you spotted something gleaming in the ash. As you kicked the ash off of the item you could see that it was a long iron sword.

The sword was plain, bit rusty, and very dirty, but you did not care. To you it was the coolest thing you could have possibly found. You decided to take the sword with you into the forest. You had been camping before, but that was with groups of people. Now you were on your own. There was no telling what creatures would be in the forest, and you thought you heard strange, ominous voices coming from the forest. Having a sword made you feel safer.   

Chapter Text

A/n : tw chapter will contain blood and mild violence

The forest was eerily empty, even though you could still hear that hauntingly familiar sound. You heard something behind you.

“What was that!” You sighed in relief, it was just a squirrel.

Suddenly out of the trees sprang a creature that tore the head off of the squirrel. You screamed, causing the creature to turn it’s head to you. It lunged at your face. Instinctively swung the rusty sword at it. Just like that, the creature lay dead at your feet a puddle of red blood oozing underneath it.

You bent down so that you could examine the creature. It was about the size of your forearm and a muddy brown. It was covered in scales and- wait were those wings? Sure enough the creature had a pair of small wings. You had found a real dragon  “Dragon, dragon…” your brain was trying to tell you something important but your head hurt too much to focus.

The chanting grew louder and you could see the faint outline of some creatures, possibly more dragons, in the sky. Instead of waiting around to see if these dragons were friendly you decided to find some place where you could hide. After some searching you found a very small cave. It was cramped, and of course there were plenty of spiders, but other than that it was perfect.

You decided to take the book out of your backpack and read it over. You could not find anything that explained your current situation in the english section, however, you did find a few spells that would be useful. You decided to test one of them, the simplest symbol you could find. Following the instructions in the book you carefully drew the symbol for intelligence on the back of your hand. Immediately when the symbol was finish you felt different. Your mind felt sharper, more alert. You decided to quiz yourself. “What is 345 * 24?” “8280,” you said to yourself only a few seconds later. “Wow.” You took out a calculator from your backpack. You were right.

As you were taking it all in a cave spider quietly dropped down from the ceiling and landed on your hand . “Aghk!” You brush the spider off quickly, but in the process you smudged the symbol, and your brain instantly felt just as fuzzy and clouded as ever. “So it stops working once it’s smudged, good to know.”

You flipped through a few more pages and found something very useful, a recipe for a translation pendant. The screeching of the creatures, the dragons, it didn’t just sound like just hissing and growling to you. It sounded like words. You looked for what ingredients you would need.

* The blood of one that speaks your language

* The blood of whomever’s language  you seek to understand

* Salvia

* Chopped tongue

* copper pendant

“My blood should work for the first ingredient , even if it will be a bit painful to get. I don’t know about the rest.” You knew a bit about herbs and flowers, but you were unsure if you could find Salvia on your own. You checked your phone, just as you suspected, no signal. You sighed and put your phone back in your backpack. You thought back to the burned village, maybe you could find a copper pendant there. It was not impossible, but it was still highly improbable. That however, couldn’t keep you from trying.  

Chapter Text

A/n : tw again mild blood and violence

On your walk back to the village ruins you were attacked again by what you assumed was probably dragon. Luckily for you it was slow and small. It was barely able to scratch you before being knocked down by your sword. You took a few second to make sure the creature was dead. Well you did need this creatures blood….and a chopped up tongue, as gross as that was. You had never been particularly squeamish, but as you cut the creatures tongue from it’s body and placed it in your water bottle for storage along with it’s blood, you could not help but feel a bit sick.

In the village ruins you were actually able to find several things in the ashes, a bowl, a cup, a spoon, an arrow, some rope and the item you came here for, a flat, copper pendant.

You had found it in the rubble of what you thought was once a metal shop. You guessed this because you found more metal items there than any where else. The items you found were, few metal jewelry pieces (three bracelets and a necklace with a hammer), as well as the arrow and another sword. However, this one had lost it’s hilt and was in even a worse condition than the sword you had. You decided not to take it.

The flat, copper pendant was probably going to be fashioned  into something far more beautiful, like the hammer necklace, however it never got the chance. Even though it was a bit lumpy and not perfectly round, it should still work for what was needed.

It took a few hours looking around the forest, and getting attacked by another dragon to find the long, purple flower that you thought, and sincerely hoped was salvia.

When you got back to your cave you knew that you needed one more ingredient, some of your blood, for the spell to work. You winced as you used the arrow you had found to make a cut on the crook of your elbow. Eventually you had enough blood. You felt a bit dizzy after that. You cleaned the wound with some sanitiser you had in your backpack, and bandaged it with a piece of your shirt.

you boiled the ingredients together in the way the book told you to. The next step was to carve the name of your language on one side of the pendant. That was relatively easy, if a bit tedious, copper was a pretty soft metal. You scraped the word english with the arrow. After that, you had to carve the dragon’s language on the other side.

“Now what would that be called? dragonish, dragon tongue, dragonese?” (Huh, Dragonese, where had You heard that before?)  You desided to put the words dragonese of the back of the pendant since it sounded…familiar.

Finally you had to place the copper pendant in the boiling solution over night. “Strange,” you thought, “even though the mixture is mostly made of blood and should in theory be a dark, sticky, and red color, it has somehow turned into a light, almost clear, lavender color.” You adecided to inspect the drink further. It smelled minty, and lavendery, with a hint of sage. You dipped your finger into the liquid, it was hot, but not hot enough to burn you. You decided to taste  it. You regretted the decision as soon as a few drops hit your mouth. Your tongue stung  with the taste of every chemical and disinfectant known to man. You skimmed the book and found a line you decided to underline with a dark pen. Do not consume pendant brew. The only thing left for you to do,  was make yourself comfortable and wait for the next day, when the pendant would be ready.  

Chapter Text

Last night your dreams had been duller than an unsharpened pencil, but when you woke up in the morning you were filled with excitement.  You took the pendant, the liquid it was sitting in was now a murky brown. You decided to pour it, you had no use for it. It sizzled a bit as it hit the ground. You thought about how you would wear your magic trinket . The fire had burned the string it was attached to, if it was even ever attached to a string. You cut some of the rope you had gotten from the village rubble, and passed it through the hole in the pendant then tied the two sides of the rope together.  Then you put it on.

It was a little disappointing, you didn’t feel anything and the pendant just looked like a sad metal pancake with words scraped on it. You didn’t know what you were expecting, maybe for it to start glowing?

you decided that you would actually need to go outside and find a dragon to test it out. The deeper into the forest you went the louder the chanting became and you could finally make out words.

“Make red your claws with human blood... obliterate the human filth... torch the humans like a wood... the rebellion is coming...”

It made you shiver, but not because of the bloodthirsty lyrics, oh no, what made your skin crawl was that eerie feeling of familiarity. The louder the song got, the more pain you felt in your head. You were walking, spinning, round and round, aimlessly, dizzy with de ja vu.

You heard a sound coming from the bushes next to you you. You focused, putting thoughts of the song behind you. A dragon stepped out of the bushes. It was smallish, about the size of a terrier. It’s scales shone blackish blue but it’s wings were a  beautiful teal color, like the twilight sky.

You decide to test your pendant out, “H-hi.”

“You speak dragonese!?” the creature started in surprise. “Who are you?” it said in a low growl.

“I’m [reader],” you gulped.

“Ok, [reader], you have exactly five seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t kill you before I set you on fire and tear your eyes from there sockets!”

You needed to think fast. You blurted out the first thing you could think of.

“I have candy!”

“What is…candy?” the dragon said, it’s head close to the ground, like a cat ready to pounce.

“Hold on, give me a second.” You fished around in you backpack until you found [your favourite candy]. You took a very small piece and handed it to the dragon. The dragon ate the tiny piece and it’s eyes lit up.

”This is the best thing I ever tasted! Even better than scallops!” The dragon paused, “I want more!”

”Well you can have more, if you help me.”

”You really think I can be bought with food… well I can. Just remember this, I am NOT your pet!” spat the dragon.

“Of course not, we will both be equals in this operation. Now, what is your name?”

“I use to be called Inkclaw, but I DON’T ANSWER TO THAT NAME ANYMORE!” The dragon shouted up into the sky, almost as if it was trying to prove something to the clouds.

“Ok how about -“ The dragon interrupted you.

“You don’t get to name me! You don’t own me! I want to name myself!”

”Ok, what would YOU like your name to be,” you said calmly.

The dragon’s dark, scaley face turned a purplish color. It looked down as it mumbled sheepishly, “I don’t…I don’t know.”

”How about I say some names I think sound cool and you choose the one you like most.” You smile comfortingly at the dragon.

”okay.”

”Ash, Astra, Raven, Vesper, Midnight, Indigo.”

”Stop, I like that one.”

”Indigo?”

“No the one before it.”

”Midnight?”

“Yes thats the one, Midnight. I like the way it sounds.” The dragon smiled and you smiled back.

”Ok Midnight, let’s go home.”  

Chapter Text

Over the course of the next few days the two of you developed sort of a routine. Midnight would help hunt food and alert you when the rebellion was near. In return you gave here a small piece of candy at the end of the day. It was dark outside and Midnight was fast asleep inside the cave. You gazed glumly at the candy you had left, three pieces of gum and four mints. It wasn’t going to last you much longer, and Midnight had made it clear that she only helped you because of the sweets she got. It had been eight whole days since you were stranded here and yet you were no closer to finding a way home. That wasn’t exactly true. You did find a ritual spell in the book that would bring you home, but you were determined not to use it.

You were picking wild apples in the forest when Midnight frantically flew up to you.

“Dragon rebellion dragons! They’re in the cave! Fire everywhere! everything!” Then she darted off.

“Wait stop!” You ran after her.

You almost followedMidnight into the blazing cave, but self preservation instincts held you back. You hoped Midnight was ok. Just as you were thinking that about her, Midnight plopped down next to you with your backpack in her mouth. You were about to scold the dragon and then she dropped the backpack.

“Now I haven’t fail completely!” It was unclear by her tone of voice  if she was being sarcastic or sincere. She tried to smiled, but a few tears forming in her eyes betrayed her real emotions. You decided to bottle up whatever you were about to say for now.

”Look, we could both be in danger just standing here, do you know any place we could hide?”

”Yes, another cave over by the lake. It has snakes in it, but other than that it’s perfectly safe.”

”No place is perfect I guess. That’s we’re headed.”

Midnight lead you to a cave and after an hour of whacking snakes with your sword, you were finally ready to move into your new home.    

Chapter Text

What were you thinking? I know you love candy, but isn’t anything worth losing your life over! I can’t-“

“You can’t yell at me! I didn’t fail! I alerted you of the rebellion and I saved some of your belongings.”

”I- wait what?” You gave the dragon a confused look.

“It’s what always happens, you mess up and then they yell at you. Every day, screaming at your mistake. I got the bag, which means that I didn’t fail completely.” Your body was becoming colder as unwanted memories bubbled up in your mind. No matter how hard you pushed them down, they just seemed to bubble up. “Even if I did fail, why do I even care about failing you? If I mess up I can just leave, I don’t have to stay! What am I trying to prove?!” Tears were rolling down the dragon’s face, but she made no effort to hide them.

This dragon was broken, the same way you were broken, once.

You tried to make your voice sound reassuring, but you couldn’t hide the tremble in it.  “Hey it’s ok, I understand that the people around us can… sometimes …hurt us, but I never will.”

”Really?”

”I promise to never ever yell at you, cross my heart and everything.”

Midnight gave a small smile, and lay down next to you. She licked your hand, which was not something she normally did. After all the days excitement, the two of you grew weary and fell asleep.

“Good Morning,” you said, at least you assumed it was morning, this cave was a lot deeper than the last one, and the sun didn’t reach in very far in. The only light, was the light of a fire, and some blue, glowing blobs stuck to the ceiling.

“G’ morning,” mumbled back Midnight a lot less enthusiastically.

“We need to go to the other cave, maybe some of the book managed to survive the fire.”

“The book? The book…is right here.”

”what are you talking about? The book wasn’t in my backpack and neither of us were holding it and OH MY GOD!” When you turned around you let out a cry of surprise. There the book was, looking old and tattered as ever, but otherwise perfectly fine. Nothing seemed to show that it had been in a fire, apart from the fact that when you touched it, it burned your fingers.

”Ouch! It’s still hot?” You turn to Midnight “Midnight did….did you take this book from the cave. Midnight slowly shook her head. “Ok, I think it might be time to learn a bit more magic.”     

Chapter Text

     A three days after the moving into your new cave you made a decision the moment you were awake.

“I want to cook something.”

“We have rabbit leftovers,” said Midnight. She was still half asleep.

“No, I don’t want roasted rabbit leftovers. I want to cook something special.”

“I don’t see why we have too.”

You paused for a minute, your expression becoming a bit sadder than before. “Today is my best friend’s birthday, they were so exited to spend it with me. They were the only person to ever really care about me deeply. I wish I could be there for them, but I can’t. Even if I can’t be with them, I still want to celebrate their birthday, even though we are worlds apart.”

“Fine,” said Midnight.

”Great! We will need mushrooms, meat, salt, oregano, parsley, garlic, eggs, and a secret ingredient. Midnight, you handle the meat, eggs and mushrooms, I’ll handle the rest.”

You obtained the salt by boiling it out of some sea water. The herbs were a bit trickier. You hoped that all those foraging classes you took online were useful , and that you did not accidentally pick something very poisonous herbs. Truth be told, you did not really know if you could find the secret ingredient here, but as luck would have it there it was. Funny, you really didn’t think that the plant would be native to this region and yet, here it was.

When you got home Midnight had brought 2 eggs, 7 mushrooms and 1 dead rabbit.

“Perfect, now watch me carefully.” You showed Midnight how to cut different herbs and meat, and how to add them to the stew in the right order. She seemed to enjoy herself very much. “Now turn around, I have to add my secret ingredient.” Midnight did as she was told. “Alright,” you said, “now you can turn back around.” Midnight spun round excitedly to face the stew.

“What did you add!”

”Like I’d ever tell.” Midnight bit your hand, but it was a playful and only stung a little. You laughed. “Sorry, but this is strictly a family recipe.”

When the stew was done the two of you had a wonderful dinner. It was the best food you had had in weeks, and the best food Midnight had well…ever.

“What is your friend’s name anyway?”

”[friend’s name]. Here’s a photo of them and me, wanna see.” You pull out an old Polaroid photo, it was of the two of you in elementary school. You kept it in your backpack for good luck.

”To [friend’s name],” said Midnight happily.

“To [friend’s name] you repeated a bit more glumly. Midnight saw how sad you looked.

“Hey don’t worry, you’ll figure out a way to get home eventually, you’re one of the smartest humans I know.”

”Really?”

”Yes. Of course, most of the humans I know are idiots.” This made you chuckle.

“Thank you, Midnight.”

Chapter Text

A few days passed by. You had just given Midnight the last mint you had. You didn’t tell her of course.  Even though the two of you developed sort of a friendship, you couldn’t tell if she would bail on you or not when she heard the news. After all, she was only helping you for the sugary reward. You knew you couldn’t keep this information from her long. By the end of the day she would want her promised piece of candy and you would have no choice but to tell her that you had no more.

What hurt even more was that you still hadn’t figured out a way to get home. It had almost been two weeks and yet the only lead you had was that damn ritual. It wasn’t enough that the ritual would require murder, oh no, it needed a potion to go with it. Mercury! You needed mercury for that stupid spell. Where were you going to find that? You were in the middle of a forest! You also needed a knife with a black diamond hilt, as if the convoluted potion was not enough.

You knew that there was another way. Right on the bottom of the page where the murder ritual  was. “An alternative to this spell, the owner of this book must simply-“ You didn’t know what came next. The page after it had been torn out. As was the page before the spell. This left you with no context to work with, and no idea what anything in the ritual meant or did other than the fact that it would supposedly bring you home.

You tried to to fill in the blank after “must simply” but it was no use. A teeny tiny voice in the back of your head whisperer, “You could do the ritual. It’s there, you will find the things you need eventually.” You always pushed that voice down as far it would go. Still, one word echoed in your mind maybe.

It wasn’t all bad, Midnight was helping you learn new symbols, new spells. You could now turn invisible, with the side effect of being completely  blind while the spell was active. You had categorized the spells in your free time into three groups, ink spells (ones that required symbols to be drawn on skin), pendants, and potions. There was likely much more, but it was missing. A lot of the potions looked really useful, unfortunately you had almost none of the ingredients for, well, any of them, same problem with the pendants. Each of the ink spells seemed to have a unique side effect, (smart=weak, invisible=blind, strong = impulsive) and required the symbols to stay in tact, smuggling would ruined the spell. You were unsure if the potions had side effect or not, because you never made one. The liquid used to make the pendants was called a brew, not a potion, the book made the distinction very clear. You looked back to the part in the book you underlined. Do not consume pendant brew., and you remembered the stinging chemical taste in your mouth.  

Chapter Text

You were scavenging for food in the forest with Midnight, when two dragons jump you. They weren’t huge, about the size of a large dog each, but there were two of them.

“Well, if it isn’t human scum,” said one dragon, a fiery red color. It looked like it was ready to attack, when the second dragon stopped it.

“Hang on Ember, I think I know the dragon with them. Is that? Why yes, it is. It’s Inkclaw the tiny rebellion dragon, or should I say human pet now?” replied an icy blue dragon.

“My name is Midnight.” Midnight growled.

“Aw, did your new owner pick it out for you?” the dragon mocked.

You did not like the direction this encounter was going.

“Midnight, I think we should go.”

”Stay out of it! You don’t own me, I can do whatever I want!” You hadn’t seen Midnight this angry since you first met. This would not end well.

“Don’t worry Ember, I know how to handle stray Ravenhunters.” The dragon reveled that it had a scallop hidden under it’s paw. It dangled the scallop in front of Midnight.

”Do you want a scallop? If you come over to our side I’ll give you it. Do you want it? Yes you do. Yes you do.” The pail dragon was speaking in a condescending baby voice.

Midnight was trying her best to keep her cool. “[reader] has promised me something far better than scallops.”

The blue dragon smirked. You gulped, this was not going to be good.

“Well does your owner have any right on them right now, because I can’t smell anything. I know such tiny creatures like you, Inkclaw, don’t have the acute senses of us beautiful creatures,” the dragon pointed at herself and her companion, “but still I thought even you would be able to tell. The kid has nothing, absolutely nothing. Maybe they once had something, but not anymore.”

“Is… this true?”

You hesitated then nodded slowly.

“Don’t worry Inkclaw, you can still come back to your rebellion brothers and sisters, although, with your level stupidity maybe life as a pet is better suited for yo-“ and that is exactly when Midnight lunged. Even though both the dragons were twice her size at least, Midnight seemed to be holding her own. The dragons may have had size on her, but Midnight had speed and rage. She darter around like a bullet, clawing and bitting. You decided to help her by causing some chaos with the invisibility spell. Although, in hindsight swinging a sword around while completely blind was not the best of plans. Finally your sword managed to strike the chest of the blue dragon. It was not a fatal wound, but one that would leave a nasty scar.

”This isn’t over! Come Ember!” Just like that the two dragons ran back into the forest where they came from.

“I think we should go back to the cave now.”

“You decided to stay? But I don’t have any candy to give you.”

Midnight thought for a minute. “You want to get home right.”

”well that is the plan.”

”and there is candy there.”

“Ya, lots.”

”Then it’s simple, I help you get home then you take me with you and I enjoy eating all the candy I could ever dream of. Think of it as a business investment.” You had never felt so relieved or happy in your life.

“Of course, It’s not that I like you or anything, it’s just…good business.

”Yes, of course.” You giggle, but something told you that maybe, just maybe she was lying.     

Chapter Text

It was now four months later, the green leaves had reddened, and the summer sun had long since disappeared. The nights were getting much colder. You starting to get desperate.

In the pitch blackness of the night, you lay, the cold night air keeping you awake. You were lying on your side, staring at the light your phone gave off. The last thing you saw through your teary vision was a picture of you and your best friend at the water park. When the 1% finally ran out, and the screen went dark, you were left staring hopelessly at your reflection in the black screen.

You knew it was just a phone, but it felt like a piece of you had just died along with the battery. You had conserved the battery for as long as was possible, but it was only a matter of time before it ran out of power. Your last connection to your home was gone.

“Are you ok?” asked Midnight, next to you. She did not understand what the phone was exactly, but she knew it was important to you.

You nodded shakily, “I’m fine. Midnight is there still civilization, towns or cities or anything like that?”

“There are a few, but I don’t know the locations.”

“Then our first item of business is to find them. If we find people we might be able to procure the items we require. “

You sat up, loading your things into your backpack. Your consciousness questioned you while you packed. Are you really going to go through with this? Yes. 

Chapter Text

You searched two islands to find what you needed. Mercury was the first thing you were able to find. It was a lot easier than you had expected. Mind you, not easy, just easier. A blacksmith sold it to you. He was a kind, old man. He didn’t even question what you, a stranger, were doing in his village (the village was surrounded by defenses to keep the dragon rebellion out.) He even made you some tea as he recalled stories of his late, seven year old son. Sure, it wasn’t exactly cheep. It cost you a calculator, all your glitter pens, a ruler, and a keychain. Even so , it was a lot less trouble then you initially thought it would be.

As it turns out finding a knife with any kind diamonds imbedded in the hilt, black or otherwise, was a lot more difficult. Your search took you across three more islands. You had just arrived at an island with a large fortress. Every day boats of slaves, or indentured servants(you assumed this from how they were treated) would go onto the sand and fish for something.

With the invisibility spell, and Midnight helping you guide you, you were able to listen in on the conversation that happened out on the sand. You learned that they were looking for some type of jewel, they did not like a fellow called Alvin, and, this was the information most important to your situation, the people that were actually rich enough to have anything to do with diamonds were all inside the prison fort.

Sneaking into the fort was scary. It was the the first mission you had to do without Midnight. If she were to help guid you as usual, she would have to be visible, making her a liability. You did not want to put her in serious danger.

You were very careful sneaking inside the fort. It was said to be impenetrable, however, it did not account for people with magic. You listened to voices and footsteps so that you did not run into anyone while in your blinded state. Indeed just as you had hoped, you had more luck when inside the prison.

You heard a few people congratulate a “Skullcrusher the terrible” for his accumulation of an expensive new Knife. You heard him brag about how it even had the rarest type of diamond in it’s hilt…a black diamond. After so long searching, you could not believe your ears. Could this be your lucky day? You decided to follow that group around for a while until it was quiet and you heard the sound of what you assumed was a candle being snuffed out.

You rubbed your hand, undoing the spell. You could see that you were in some kind of sleeping quarters.

“Skullcrusher.” you whisperer.

“Who are you?” shouted a man, probably Scullcrusher, as he leaped out of bed and drew his sword. His sudden cry seemed to have also woken up a few of his companions.

“What’s going on?” asked a man. Another one of the men saw you.

“It’s a g-ghost!” He pointed at you.

“Thats no ghost you idiot, and I can prove it,” Scullcrusher said, coming close to you. He gave you a violent shove that sent you into the ground. “See, if it was a ghost then my hand would go straight through. It’s just a kid.” His companions were noticeably relived to learn that you were not a ghost.

“I would appreciate it if you refrained from doing that again,” you remarked coldly as you picked yourself up off of the floor.

“Scram kid, before I run you through with my sword.”

“Not yet, I want your knife, the one with the diamond.”

He scowled, then spoke very slowly. “And why should I give my expensive, beautiful, new weapon to you, brat?” He spat the word brat in your face. You did your best to remain cool.

“I am willing to trade for it.

“Well, in that case, what are you offering?”

You took almost all you had items, except for a few, out of your backpack and laid them out on the floor.

“Useless, boring, stupid, hey what do you have there?” He pointed to your phone, which was in the small pile of things you weren’t selling.

“I never saw a black mirror before.”

“That is a phone, and it’s not for sale.”

“Tell you what kid, I’m willing to sell the knife to you for that black mirror, plus everything else you got.”

You thought a little before deciding that one phone was a small price to pay in order to get home. “Ok.” You handed him your phone.

Just as you were packing up your personal items you heard him say, “Hold on now, I said everything.”

“What? I did give you everything.”

“Do you want the knife or not?”

You glared at him as you dumped out the rest of your backpack. Out fell your personal belongings. All the items you were not keen to trade away.

“Oh, I suppose you can keep these,” he said handing you a chewed up pen, blank notebook and the polaroid of you and your friend. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He smirked as you walked away.

“I hope you contract leprosy.”       

Chapter Text

You used the chewed up pen to cast the invisibility spell again. Making your way through the prison while blind may have been near impossible for anyone else, but you had a plan. You simply worked backwards from where you came in. It also helped that you had also been testing out the invisibly spell for a while. Your senses such as hearing gotten stronger.

Speaking of stronger hearing, you thought you could hear the soft sound of a child crying. Every instinct in your body screamed at you to ignore it and keep on moving forward, after all you were so close. You took a step forward, away from the crying, then a step back. Then, in a split second decision you turned around and followed the noise.

When you believed that you were close enough you undid the spell to see what was wrong. In the dark you could make out a small child, about eight or nine ish, crying on a bed. This sleeping area was a lot more plain and dirty then the one Scullcrusher was in. You guessed this was where the slaves slept.

“Are you a ghost?” asked the little boy in a timid voice.

“No, why does everyone think that?”

“Well, you did just appear out of no where.”

“Um…” You had no counter to that observation. “So I did, but I’m not a ghost. I am a friend. What is your name?”

“Thistleroot.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m [reader]. Can you please tell me why you were crying?”

“I miss my mother and I-I don’t like it here v-very much.”

The voice in your head was screaming at you, Don’t interfere, leave while you still have a chance, helping this child could put you in danger! You ignore the voice.

“Do you know where your mom is?” The child shook his head. “Ok then, I know a nice old man, who i believe would be more than willing to let you stay with him until it is safer. Then you can go looking for your mom. I can get you out of here if you are willing to do everything exactly as I say. Are you in?”

Thistleroot nodded vigorously.

“Excellent, now I am going to do something that will turn you and me both invisible. You will not be able to see, but don’t be alarmed, just hold on to my hand and follow behind me.”

You took out your pen and drew the symbol of invisibility first on Thistleroot, you heard him gasp a little. You remembered how terrifying your first time with this spell was.

“It’s okay, I’m here,” you whisper softly, giving his hand a squeeze.

Then you did yourself.

The two of you walked through the prison. One, two, three, left. One, two, three, four, five, right.  You traced your steps slowly and carefully. You turned what should have been the exit, and stopped. Terror taking root in your heart. You heard people, probably guards in front of you. You had hoped that there were no guards on the inside, but in deep in your heart, you knew that it was a naive hope.

Ok, you needed to come up with a plan. There was an ink spell that you hadn’t tested out yet. It was supposed to, in theory, put the person or animal who the symbol was drawn on to sleep, but that would require getting close enough for long enough to draw it. You suddenly remembered something that you and your friends did at school when you were younger. You would take a marker, draw on a paper really heavily, and create a makeshift stamp. You decided that this would be your best option.

You rounded back to were you came from, and when it sounded like no one was close, you undid the invisibility spell. You quickly worked on making the sleep spell stamp. Once you had it, you redid the invisibility spell and went back to where the guard was. You turned yourself visible so that you could see the guard. “What the-“ Before he had time to react, you grabbed his hand and shoved the stamp into it. He almost instantly fell to the ground snoring.

“Wow, I should really invest some time into making real stamps, that was much quicker than drawing it,” you thought as you undid the locks and ran outside, still holding Thistleroot’s hand. You made your way past the dragon traps. Outside there were many dragons, some were trapped, some were free. A few tried to attack you, but you weren’t going to let that stop you. You dodged, slashed, and ran past them.

Finally you arrived at the safe place where Midnight was waiting. You rubbed the patch of Thistle’s skin that you put the invisibility spell on, so that Midnight could see him.

“Who is this?”

“Midnight, this is Thistleroot. Thristleroot, this is Midnight.”

“Howdeedoodeethere.”

Midnight was surprised. Thistleroot spoken to her in dragonese, very rusty dragonese, for he had not spoken it in years, but dragonese none the less.

“Ok Midnight, there has been a slight change of plans. We will take Thistleroot to that nice old man who sold us the mercury. He’s going to stay there until the war is over and it is safe for him to look for his family.”

The journey to the other island was treacherous. The three of you (technically two of you, since Midnight was in the sky for most of the time) were packed on a tiny wooden raft. The raft barely managed to keep itself from falling apart.

Even though most of the rebellion dragons were on land, some where in the sea. Your tiny raft was an easy target, and ended up getting attacked. Lucky, Midnight was a fierce little dragon and managed to handle it almost completely on her own.

After what seemed like ages, you finally got to the island. You snuck into the village, and found the old mans hut. When you told him of Thistleroot’s predicament he said that he would be more than happy to take him in.

You said your goodbyes to both. Then Thistleroot hugged you.

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome,” you smiled, as you hugged him back.

Thistle root looked up at you with grateful, brown eyes. “Will I ever see you again?”

That sentence broke your heart. The truth was that if all went well, you would never see him again. You however, did not have the strength to tell him this. So instead you used a word that was a bit softer.  “Maybe.”

Thistleroot waved good bye to you until you were out of sight. You would really miss that kid once you got home.

You had what you needed. It was time to brew the potion.   

Chapter Text

   You would soon find that getting the ingredients for the potion had been the easy part. Making the potion would be much hard. It had to be electrocuted, buried in the bottom of the sea and left in the light of the full moon.

There were some more ingredients but they were all easy to find. Getting enough of your blood for the potion was a painful process, bit lucky a non fatal one. You felt dizzy at first, but after a few hours, all that remained was a scrape on your arm.

The very last thing you needed to add to it was the ashes of something you loved. You took out your precious Polaroid, trying not to cry, as Midnight set it ablaze. It would be ok, you told yourself, there would be plenty of opportunities to get more photos with your friend when you were back home.

You ended up making real stamps for all of the ink spells. It took about a month of carving, but now you could do spells much faster.

It was the night before the big day. You had just finished prepping the final parts of the ritual.

“Are you sure you want to help me go through with this? I wouldn’t fault you if you decided to leave. You don’t have to help me.”

Midnight thought for a moment. “[Reader], you are my friend and whatever choice you make I will stand by you.”

Chapter Text

             Third person pov

“Are you sure this is a good idea Hiccup?” a tired Fishlegs asked.

“Pish, posh, you worry to much Fishlegs.” Camicazi was over the moon to be outside in the fresh air again, the wind making her messy blond hair even more tangled.

Late in the evening the trio had heard a cry for help. It sounded human, and that was the reason they were here in the open. The plea for help was getting louder, but strangely no human could be seen.

“Toothless, Deadly Shadow can you see anyone on the ground bellow.”

“N-no T-t-toothless cant’t see a-anyone on the ground, c-can we g-go home T-t-t toothless is cold. Hiccup shook his head, why wouldn’t toothless JUST wear the coat Hiccup made for him.

“I can’t see anyone either but I think I can smell human,” said the Deadly Shadow, “We may have to land to inspect.”

The group landed in the forest. No mater how hard they looked, they could not find the person who was screaming for help. Then suddenly, as if out of thin air a human turned up, nearly giving Fishlegs a heart attack  They looked like they were in there early-mid teens. They were panting. Their cloths were torn and they were bleeding. Then a dragon flew out of the trees and started attacking them. Even thought the dragon was small, it wove around the poor human, clawing and biting at lightning speeds. This must have been why they were crying for help.

Hiccup tried to get a good look at the dragon. It was a Ravenhunter, the vikings used them a messenger dragons because of their speed, they also made pretty good hunting dragons. They had a weak spot for scallop and you could manipulate them if you had some on hand.

Hiccup did not have a scallop on hand. Maybe if he could just trick the dragon into leaving for long enough, they could all get away.

“Hey do you want this big tasty scallop over here,” said Hiccup as he picked up a large rock. This caught the dragons attention. Then when hiccup was sure that the dragon was focused on the “scallop” in his hand, he threw it as hard as the could into the thicket of the forest. The Ravenhunter went flying after it.

“I can’t believe we came out if hiding, and risk our lives for this! The way you were screaming I would have thought that you were being attacked by Brainpickers, not a teeny, tiny hunting dragon!” Fishlegs had only agreed to leave the hideout because he assumed you were in mortal Perl. In fact, none of the group seemed too happy to have rescued you from a very small hunting dragon.

Back to second person pov

You spoke in the calmest most convincing voice you could. “Sorry, I’m not from around these parts. Dragons aren’t something that I’m use to.” Not a total lie.

“Ok,” said the tall skinny boy, with curly hair and glasses. “then why are you here?”

I am searching for my long lost brother. He was an explorer. Acording to his friends that survived, his ship sank here, three years ago. However, he is a very strong swimmer. I came to see if he has survived.” A lie so well rehearsed, you almost believed it yourself.

He nodded slowly. Your story made reasonable sense.

“I still don’t think we should trust you,” said a short blond girl, who looked a little bit younger then the other two.

“You really think I’m a threat? I’m completely unarmed.” This statement was entirely untrue, you had your sword and your knife. However, you had recently learned that the invisibility spell could be used on objects as well as people. Thanks to the spell, you appeared to be carrying no weapons. This seemed to convince the girl. After all there were 8 of them and one of you, and they all had weapons.

“I have some valuables in my bag that I am willing to give as payment. Unfortunately, I seem to have left them over by the creek,” you gesture into the forest, “would you be a dear and go with me to get them. I don’t feel safe going alone.” You gave the boy with glasses your most dazzling smile. You were only expecting one or two people, not a large group. Your best option was to divide and conquer.

“Only if the Deadly Shadow goes with you too,” said the red haired boy, he was still suspicious. Was it just him, or did you not have nearly as many scratches as you should have had. It was almost as if that dragon had not really been fighting you at all, just making a show of it.

You smiled, taking the large three headed dragon (you assumed that, that was the DeadlyShadow) along with you would mean that you could take him out first, before your scheme was known. And after that, when the glasses boy found out, he seem like he would be that much of a threat.

Once you lead them to the creek, you quickly and stealthy stamped the Deadly Shadows back. It dropped down immediately, fast asleep. Fishlegs was horrified. He tried to fright you off, but he was no match. Pretty soon he too was snoring. Now it was time to face the rest of the party.

“You’re back…where are Fishlegs and the Deadly Shadow?” the boy asked slowly putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Relax, they’ll be here soon.” You stepped closer to the second largest dragon. The riding dragon seemed like the biggest threat currently.

As soon as the sleep spell was stamped on it’s scales, it fell over.

Red haired boy gasped. “What did you do?! Is he dead?”

“He’s only sleeping, and you will be too, soon enough.”

That is when the two first noticed that you were now holding a sword. This was a trap.  The two of them both drew their swords and attacked you.

“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you, you lowly, limpet eating liar!”

You payed no attention to the girl’s  insults as you fought. The two of them may have had skill and experience on you, but you had magic, a lot of magic. Normally you wouldn’t risk using more than 3 ink symbols on yourself at a time, this however was a special scenario. You had used at least 10 intelligence symbols , 10 strengths symbols and, for brief periods in the fight, you used an invisibility spell. You felt electric, euphoric, practically steaming with power and magic. You knew however, that you had to work quickly. All spells have side effects. Using them in greater amounts will only increase those side effects. After the sugar high comes the crash. The corner of your vision was starting to darken ever so slightly already. You just needed to stay awake long enough to get home, then this nightmare would be over .

You managed to get two hunting dragons, one green, the other a multitude of rainbow colors.  With the help of midnight you stamp the girl without any serious injury. Now it was just you and the boy.

“Was your whole story a lie?” he asked, dodging your advances.

“Not completely, I’m really not from around here.”

This kid was far too good at sword fighting. Even with magic you could not get close enough to him without risking getting seriously maimed. Finally you decided to bite the bullet, grabbing his hand right hand and pushing up the sleeve. He swung his sword at you arm. The cut that he made was deep and hurt, but you didn’t let go. You pressed the stamp into his freckled skin and he too fell fast asleep.  

Chapter Text

A/n : tw mentioned blood, attempted murder

You had very little time to set up the ritual. You decided the one you would kill was the red haired boy, this however was a completely arbitrary decision. It did not really matter who you chose, all you really needed was a person to kill.

First you cleaned up and bandaged the wound on your arm. You did a pretty sloppy job, but it would keep you from bleeding out for the time being.

You tied the boy to a large and sturdy oak. You also bound his friends, just in case. Now you had to wake him up. You didn’t want to, you would much prefer to do this job while he was asleep. Unfortunately there was something you needed the boy to do.

You wiped the sleep symbol on the boys hand. Once the symbol was nothing more than a dark colored ink smudge, the boy woke.

His eyes opened wide. “Who are you? What do you want from us?” You said nothing, merely retrieving a bottle containing an inky blue potion from your backpack. It was the color of the night sky and swirled mesmerizingly. You held it up to the boys lips.

“Drink.”

The boy was smart and knew better than to drink a strange potion given to him by a person who had everyone tied up. You sighed and took out your knife, pointing it at his sleeping friends. “Drink the potion, or else I kill everyone.” You were bluffing, you could barely handle having to kill one person.  Luckily, the boy seemed to believe that you would make good on your word, for he reluctantly drank the potion that was placed in front of him. Once the potion was drained you flipped to the page that that had the ritual instructions and began to read some words.

“Animam meam tibi praebeo, sicut sanguis meus per viens tuos vadit. Tanto tempore sanguis meus in te manet, anima mea tua est, et tua est maledictio libri. Antiquam magicam peto ut mortem tuam pro mea exciperet; ut sine dolore mortis me transire per fores clausas.” As you said the spell you could feel yourself getting hotter. You could feel magic inside you. At first you thought the evening had gotten a bit brighter, but no, it was you. You were glowing, faintly but getting brighter the longer you read.

As soon as you finished the incantation you fell onto the ground. You felt a hundred times more tired and dizzy then ever before.

“Are you alright?” called the boy.

“I’m fine,” you snarled as you picked yourself back up and brushed the dirt and snow off of your cloths. Why did the boy have to ask if you were ok, it sounded so genuinely too, as if he actually cared if you were hurt. You would much rather he be angry and call you a evil bitch/bastard. It’s easier to kill people who are rude and angry than people who are polite and scared.

“What was in that potion?” asked the boy.

“Deadly night shade, poppy seeds, lily roots, mercury, ashes, graves soil and of course my blood.”

“Thats horrible!”

“Oh please, most brews and potions are blood based besides, did the stuff I give you resemble blood in any way?”

“No.”

“That’s because when it’s made, a potion or brew is not it’s ingredients anymore, it’s something completely new. Now enough small talk.” You drew closer to the boy, trying not to let him see that your whole body was shaking and unsteady. You held the knife to his neck.

“You don’t have to do this.” You could see the fear in the boy’s blue eyes as he tried to reason with you.

“But I’m afraid I do, though.” Your voice was completely monotone, and your expression was perfectly still.

You pressed the knife further into his neck, piercing the very top layer of skin. You tried to move the knife further but couldn’t. Your neutral expression morphed into into one of anger and frustration. Why couldn’t you move the bloody knife? Your body was weak, your mind was starting to drift into unconsciousness. If you were going to do it, you would have to do it NOW.

You took a step back slowly, tears forming in your eyes as you raised the knife, and cut the boy free from the ropes. You couldn’t do it.

“I’m s-“

You didn’t get to finish your sentence as you collapsed onto the snow, the darkness finally enveloping. 

Chapter Text

a/n same trigger warning as last chapter.

Hiccup’s pov

When I woke up, I found myself bound to a tree. I tried to wriggle my hands free, but the knots were very well crafted. This person was not taking any chances.

“Who are you? What do you want from us?” The person said nothing. I watched as they pulled a bottle out of a strange bag. The liquid inside was a mesmerizing mix of various dark blues and violets. It reminded me of the night sky a little.

The stranger uncapped the bottle and held it up to my mouth.

“Drink.”

I shut my mouth tight. I did not know what the mixture was, but judging the circumstances, I figured that it wasn’t likely good. The strangers cold expression was briefly broken by a frown. They took out a beautifully crafted knife, with a large black diamond in the hilt. The knife looked ever so slightly familiar, have I ever seen it before? I was snapped back into reality when the person spoke.

“Drink the potion, or else I kill everyone. Reluctantly I swallowed the contents of the bottle, it’s not like I had much of a choice. I could either do what they said or watch my all my friends die, unable to help.

The potion tasted strange, not really in a bad way, but also not in a good way. When I drank it, it was cold, but not the normal kind of cold. The bottle was room temperature, and so was the liquid inside however, the  potion was cold when you swallowed it. It felt like swallowing water after chewing on mint leaves.

Once I drank the last of the potion they began to chant. I recognized it as latin, however It had been a very long time since I heard or spoke latin, and I was very rusty. I could make out a few important words though, soul, blood and death. That did not bode well. As they continued to chant they started to glow. At first I thought that I was hallucinating. I blinked, no they were still glowing, perhaps even brighter than before.

When they said the last line of the incantation the glowing stopped suddenly, and they fell down onto the ground.

“Are you alright?” It had been a rather rough fall. A fall like that could easly end in broken bones.

“I’m fine.” Despite what the stranger had likely hoped, their anger did not mask the fact that their breaths were shaky and long, and that their movements were slower and more careful.

I decided to ask them a question after all, the more I know about my situation, the more likely I am to get out of it alive.

“What was in that potion?”

“Deadly night shade, poppy seeds, lily roots, mercury, Polaroid ashes, graves soil and of course my blood.”

“Thats horrible!” I gaged. Despite the stories, songs and legends, most vikings aren’t too keen on drinking the blood of their enemies.

“Oh please, most brews and potions are blood based, besides, did the stuff I give you resemble blood at all?”

They were right, there was not any blood like quality in the potion. So I answered back, “No.”

I saw the person take out their knife once more and slowly, as if every step was painful to take they walked towards me. They held the knife to my neck.

Oh Thor, how am I supposed to get out of this situation.

“You don’t have to do this.” I did not sound very confidante. Brilliant plan Hiccup, tell the person about to kill you to just not.

“But I’m afraid that I do, though.”

The metal of the knife was cold against my skin. The stranger pressed it slightly deeper, it stung a little. I closed my eyes and braced myself, preparing for the death I thought was inevitable. But it did not come. After a minute I opened my eyes again, just in time to see them cut the rope that held me. What was going on? Why did they free me?

“I’m s-“ and then they collapsed onto the ground.     

Chapter Text

A/n :Tw death, CPR

Hiccup’s pov

Unlike the first time this person fell, this time they did not get up. Oh by the great, white, flowing beard of Odin! They weren’t breathing. I quickly knelt down to check for a pulse, nothing.

“Ok this is a predicament!” I thought. An old memory came to mind, old Wrinkly had once taught me, a few years back, a way to put a pause on death for a fews minutes. He told me he saw in the fire that I would need it in the future. I am not sure if this is what he meant or not, but I did what he taught me anyway. I locked my shoulders, and placed my arms over the unconscious person’s chest. Then I pressed down one, two, three, four, etcetera.

“What are you doing?'' asked the dragon, terrified.

“Saving their life. People don’t just drop dead. If we know what caused this we might be able to fix it, but we don’t have much time. You’re their dragon right?”

Normally Midnight would protest when Hiccup asked if she was your dragon, and snap back that she belonged to nobody, however she could tell that now was really not the best time.

“Yes.”

“Do you know what could have happened? Did they eat anything, get bitten by anything?”

“S-sleeves, r-roll up their sleeves.”

“I am a bit busy at the moment!” I said , still trying to keep your blood moving, “you have to do it!”

The dragon fumbled a bit, but eventually managed to get the sleeve up. There I saw that the arm of this person was covered with dozens of symbols.

“They-they told me that they don’t wear more than 4 ink spells at a time b-because it made them too tired. I saw them put on more b-but I said nothing. I thought they knew what they were doing. I should have-”

Time was ticking, so I decided to interrupt. “Yes ok, but do you know if it’s possible to help them?”

“The spells stop when the symbols are washed off, maybe if we wash off the symbols [reader] be fine?”

That sounded logical. The dragon tried to lick the symbols off, but it’s small forked tongue was not enough to do much.

“We don’t have much time. Can you go wake and free my friends? They will be able to help.” The dragon did as it was told. First it woke up and freed Camicazi, who then helped to free the others.

“Over here Guys!” I shouted

“What's going on?” asked Camicazi, coming over with Fishlegs.

“Camicazi there’s no time to explain, I need you to wash the ink off of this person's arm.”

“But why?”

“Now Camacazi! Help her Fishlegs!” Two teenage vikings seemed to be more effective than one tiny dragon's licks at getting rid of the ink. Soon the complex symbols were nothing more than one large dark stain on the stranger’s arm.

Once the symbols were gone, the person's chest began to rise and fall on its own. I said a silent thank you to the Gods. They were breathing again, and their pulse had come back, even if they were still unconscious.

“Finally, that’s over and done with.” I sighed as I got up.

“What just  happened?”

I quickly summarize the events that took place while my friends were asleep.

“Wow, just wow.”

“I know right, Fishlegs can you help get them onto the Deadly Shadow? (Midnight had woken up the dragons while Fishlegs and Camicazi were dealing with the symbols) I don't think it’s safe for us to stay here much longer.”

“Get them onto the Deadly Shadow? Have you lost your mind?! You can’t possibly be considering taking them back to the hideout with us, can you Hiccup? I mean they tricked us, betrayed us, and tried to kill you.”

“I have to agree with Fishlegs here. If they did it once, how do we know they won’t try again.”

“Come on guys, the forest is dangerous. A human sleeping in the middle of it is basically already dead, thanks to the dragon rebellion. Even if somehow miraculously they don’t die because of rebellion, the nights are getting cold. A few winter nights out in the open could cause serious hypothermia, and if they don’t wake up in time, death.  If we leave them, they WILL DIE and it will be our fault.”

The group tried to protest further, but I had my mind made up.

“Are you coming,” I asked the small ravenhunter. It quietly drifted down onto the windwalker next to me, then in a quiet, barely audible voice I heard it say “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

A/n : tw suicidal thoughts, mild implication of self harm

Hiccup’s pov

It was the middle of the night in the hideout. Everyone else seemed to be asleep.  However, I had a sneaking suspicion that [reader], or at least I thought thats what their name was, was not. It was my turn to watch over them, so that they did not try to pull anything while the others were sleeping.

They were lying on their slide, facing away from me. Each time I went to check on them, their eyes were closed. Somehow, I still suspected that they might be faking it.

I decided to make a big show of going to sleep. I yawned loudly, and then I lay down. I stayed lying down for a few minutes, until I heard a rustling sound. I opened my eyes slightly. [reader] was sitting up, holding their knees to their chest. Their head was down. I decided to go see if I might be able to talk to them.

As soon as they heard me take a step towards them, they snapped their eyes shut tight again and rolled onto their side, pretending to be asleep. In the warm, gold light of the fireplace, I could make out something faintly glistening around their eyes. They had been crying.

How very strange, only a few hours ago they were about to kill me, and now they seemed so dejected and scared that I almost felt bad for them.

“Hello,” I said. I got no answer in return. “You can stop pretending to be asleep, I know you’re awake.”

[Reader] sat up slowly. “I’m sorry,” they whispered. I was caught a bit off guard by this.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m s-so sorry!” Each apology grew more desperate and tears were starting to fill their eyes again.

“I could have hurt someone. I could have killed you, an innocent person, and for what? My own selfish desires. God, why do I aways have to be such a dumb, selfish bitch?! I don’t deserve to live.”

Oh dear, this isn’t going well. Tears were now streaming down [reader]’s flushed face. Their breathing was becoming more rapid and erratic. They were starting to sound a bit hysterical.

“I should just die. That will fix everything! I will never be able to hurt anyone ever again. Death is all that a terrible person like me deserves. Oh god, I’m so s-“

I cut them off. “You can stop apologizing, one is plenty enough for me. Now, I want to ask you for a favor, does that sound good?”

[Reader] gave a slight nod.

“Ok, I really want you to take a few deep breaths with me, can you do that, please?” [reader] whimpered a yes. “Great, breath in, hold, breath out, hold, nice and slow.” We continued this a couple of times until [reader] was breathing normal again.

“Are you calm now?”

“Yes.”

“So you won’t try to hurt anyone in here.”

“Yes.”

“Including yourself?”

“…..”

“You will not try to hurt yourself, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Then hold still for a few minutes. I’m going to untie you.”

It was an awkward, silent few minutes while I fumbled with the ropes. When [reader] was finally free, they leaned in a bit closer to me, and then they paused. They looked like they were debating whether or not to do something. Next thing I knew, they were hugging me. This really took me by surprise. It was the last thing I would have expected them to do.

The hug was very stiff and reserved, but it grew a little softer when I decided hugged back. [reader] didn’t say anything. They just pressed their head down into into my shoulders and cried. They cried for a long time, and got my shirt wet, but I didn’t really mind.

Once they were finished they moved back and  mouthed mouthed a thank you.

“Oh, it’s no problem. Here, you look like you could use this.” I handed them a grey rag. While they were drying their face I asked them, “Would you like some tea? I can make some chamomile, I heard from old Wrinkly that it sometimes helps relax people.”

“Um, yes. Thank you.”

Once the tea was brewed I handed them the steaming mug. When they took it I saw a wound on their arm. I suppose I already knew it was there from the time we fought. All the madness of the night made me forget about it. It looked a lot more serious than I had initially thought.

“You’re bandage looks like it needs to be changed, I can help you with that, if you want.”

[Reader] looked like they wanted to disagree but were too tired. “Fine.”

I undid the bandage. They squirmed a little. Changing bandaged is rather unpleasant.

“I’m sorry for the cut, the way.”

“It’s ok, I attacked, and you defended. It’s not your fault I got hurt.” Their lips curved upward ever so slightly.

“Did you clean the wound?” I asked

“I rinsed it with a bit of clean water.”

“Good, Did you put any antiseptic on it.”

“No.”

“We should probably do that.” I stood up to retrieve a little jar hidden in a nook of the tree roots.

“This is pine sap,” I said taking the sticky, yellow substance and carefully smearing it over the wound. They inhaled sharply.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, it just stings a bit, thats all.”

“If you say so. Old Wrinkly gave me this. He said that as much as vikings love to preach gloriously dying on the battlefield, at least a quarter of them die from infection because they don’t think to properly treat their wounds.”

I took out some clean bandages are rapped them round the wound. “That’s much better.”

They glanced at me cautiously. “Why are you being so nice to me? I am a terrible person.”

I sighed, “No you are not.”

“I tried to kill you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I still tried.”

“Listen at me, I did not stop you. Camicazi did not stop you. You stopped yourself from killing me, and the reason you did that is because you are a good person.”

[Reader] was quiet for a moment. “I still disagree, but I can’t find a flaw in your logic right now.”

“Why don’t we change the topic to something nicer?”

“Ok, like what?”

“I don’t know, what do you want to talk about.”

[Reaser] paused momentarily, getting a far away kind of look in their eyes. “I had a dream, when I passed out this evening.” Their words were slow and careful. “I was back home, the air was cold, the sun was bright and frost covered the grass. It felt so…so real, shame it only lasted a few minutes. Then the dream faded to nothing.”

“What was your home like?”

“It…was….lovey. It was fast, and big. There were more people in the city I lived in than the entire population of the archipelago combined.”

“Wow, that sounds incredible. What is that city called?”

“[City name].”

“I don’t think I’ve heard a name like that before. Where is it located?”

“I-I’ll tell you a little later, ok.”

Well, that was suspicious. “Ok.”

“I think it may be time you got some sleep, [reader].”

“I can’t, wait how did you know my name?”

“Oh, your dragon called you that so I assumed that was your name.”

“Fine, but it hardly seems fair that you know my name and I don’t know yours.”

“Right, of course. My name is Hiccup, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.”

Chapter Text

Second person pov

“My name is Hiccup, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.”

When You heard that name, something clicked. The books, how could you have forgotten. All the times when something about this place felt too familiar, all those times you got de ja vu, it all made sense now. You didn’t know what it was about Hiccup’s name that finally sparked your memory, but now you remembered everything. You remembered…everything. Oh god, I just tried to kill Hiccup! The protagonist, one of my fictional heroes!

“Are you alright, you look a bit shaken.”

“Ya, I’m fine.” You were very much not fine. You were trapped in a fictional world, with no idea how you got their or how to get out. This was madness. But maybe….not such a bad thing after all. You knew the story very well, you knew what would happen next. Fate had given just you an extremely valuable hand. If you played your cards right, you could save everyone, Snotlout, Furious and countless other dragons and vikings. All you needed was to make really good plan, and to keep the story flowing in the right direction, for now at least. “Hey, if you want to go to sleep now I won’t mind, you don’t have to stay awake talking to me.”

“What about you?”

“Can’t, ✨magic✨”

“What?” Hiccup looked very confused.

“Each spell has a side effect, the particular side effect of the sleep spell is that the amount of people I do it on, times how long they’ve been asleep, equals how long I can’t sleep.”

“Wow”

“Once, the very first time I did the spell, I left the person because I did not know the side effect. I could not sleep for three days. Not that I minded, I was very busy preparing…stuff. Besides, I pulled all nighters for school all the time back home. Now whenever I do the spell I have Midnight undo it, or when that’s not possible, I do it outside, so that the rain can wash away the spell. Anyway, that’s why I can’t sleep for another, oh, four-ish hours.

“But earlier you passed out, how did that happen?”

“I have a theory, that the magical exhaustion from doing too many spells at once was stronger than the side effect of the sleep spell. Although something does strike me as bit odd. I would have thought that the consequences for that much magical use and that much loophole jumping would be, I don’t know, a bit more severe. Are you sure that I only passed out, and that nothing else happened?”

“Nope, just that, definitely just that.” Hiccup looked slightly nervous. He was eager to change the subject. “What if you did it on yourself?”

“Pardon?” You were thoroughly confused by his sudden outburst.

“You say you can’t sleep because of magic. What if you did the spell on yourself, wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

“Unfortunately not, I tried it before and got sleep paralysis.” You shivered. “That was not fun.”

“Oh, hmm,” Hiccup was thinking hard. “What if I did the spell on you? I can afford to lose a few hours of sleep. You however look like you really, really need it.”

“Thats a really sweet offer, but the magic only seems to work for me.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?”

“I guess not,” you said. You took the stamp you had and the little bottle of ink. You handed them to Hiccup. “Put some ink onto the stamp, make sure you get it everywhere, not to much! Yes, that’s great. All you have to do is place the stamp on a patch of my skin and press down. Keep it steady and hold for a few seconds, than lift it straight up. How you undo it is by washing off the spell, although,” you look at your arms, still covered in smudged ink. “I think you already know that. And if by some miracle this does work please, only keep me asleep for a few hours. I don’t want to take more from you than I have already.”

You extended your hand to Hiccup. Once he stamped it. Your last thoughts were, It worked! How the hell did that work?

Chapter Text

 “Well, well,  look who’s finally awake.”

You woke up to see the smiling face of Hiccup beaming down at you. He looked tired, but happy. You realizing that you had fallen asleep on Hiccup’s lap, you sat up briskly. Hiccup found this terribly funny and laughed. Once you were up, and had fully brushed the sleep out of your eyes, you could see that everyone apart from Hiccup was staring at you judgmentally.

“Hey,” you said timidity.

“You are a treacherous, black hearted double crosser, and I think that we should throw you out of the hideout.” Camicazi said scowling.

“We’ve been over this Camicazi, they’re really sorry. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes,” You wanted to say so much more, to give some grand speech, but all the eyes you felt staring you down made your voice close up. The expressions of some in group before you changed when they heard the genuine remorse in your voice. You sounded tired, regretful, sad and scared all in the same breath.

“Even though you are a deceitful coward, those magic spells were still really cool. Can you show me how to turn invisible like you!?” Now Camicazi looked a less mad at you, and a lot more excited.

“I wish I could but it doesn’t really work like that, see only I can do magic.”

“But Hiccup did it.”

“I-I guess he did, speaking of which it looks like it’s mid day. How long was I asleep for?”

“Oh, about eight hours.” answered Hiccup casually.

“Eight hours! You do realize that that is eight hours of magic induced insomnia that you just put on yourself!”

“Look, you have just been through some serious trauma, likely both physical and mental. The fight we had earlier took a lot out of you. You needed the rest desperately.”

“Your too kind for your own good Hiccup.”

“Agreed,” Fishlegs scoffers. He was on Camicazi’s side, and thought that it would be safer to get rid of you as soon as possible.

“So are you going to show me how to do magic or not?”

“Oh, right.” You had completely forgotten about Camicazi’s question.

“Well, in theory you should just add some ink to the invisibility stamp and press it onto something. I would recommend doing it on a rock. The invisibility spell is unique, because it is the only spell I know of that can be used on objects. This is extremely useful when conceal weapons.”

Camicazi did as you instructed and…nothing happened. She tried again, nothing again.

“Here, why don’t you try Hiccup.” This time whatever magic Hiccup had eight long hours ago had gone. The rock still stood there, dull, grey, and perfectly visible.

“That’s strange, let me try.” As soon as you did the spell the rock vanished.

“Amazing,” murmured Camicazi. Fishlegs and the Deadly Shadow reluctantly agreed with her. Even if they didn’t like you, it was admittedly a spectacular trick.

“Quite peculiar, I just don’t get how Hiccup could do spells before but now he can’t.” Abruptly you felt something moving in the pile blanket next to you. A tiny hunting dragon crawl from under a blue blanket.

“Midnight!” A wave of relief washed over your heart. She was here and she was safe. Something about Midnight being next to you made everything seem a little less bleak.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes I’m fine Midnight.”

“Hello…I…am…Midnight,” said Midnight addressing the vikings.

Fishlegs blinked. “Did-did that dragon  just speak norse?” (a/n in this world norse and English are the same spoken language but with different writing)

“This magic pendant allows me to talk to all dragons,” you said, showing them the copper trinket, “but just in case I loose it, I thought it would be a good idea for her to teach me some dragonese and for me to teach her some English, Only a few basic words and phrases.”

“Hold on English, don’t you mean norse?”

“Um, Yes that’s what I meant ha ha.” You faked a weak laugh while mentally scolded yourself. If they found out you were from the “land that does not exist” they would freak out.

Fishlegs shook his head. “You seem like a nice person, I don’t understand why you did what you did yesterday.”

“It was a ritual spell, in order for me to get home. Unfortunately, it required a life to be sacrificed in order for it to work.”

“Couldn’t you redo the spell with one of the Alvinsmen?”

“Camicazi!” shouted Hiccup, who was thoroughly against the idea of killing anyone unless you absolutely had too.

“What, I’m not saying we should, I’m just opening up the possibility. What else would you need?

“The ingredients of the potion are very expensive, I sold all of the things most precious to me in order to get them.”

“If they were that important to you, I could steal them back for you, you know, for I am the great Camicazi, best burglar the archipelago has ever seen!”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Nonsense, It sounds like a challenge, and I love a good challenge. Anything else necessary?”

“The potion is also extremely dangerous to brew.”

“Well, we’ve all been in our fair share of danger so that shouldn’t be a problem.”  Hiccup took your hand making you blush a little (not really in a romantic way, more in a you’ve been alone for so long that physical contact of any kind scares you kind of way). “I promise that we will find a way to get you home, preferably one without murder though.” You chuckled a bit. Even though you didn’t know how to get back without the ritual, you knew that there was another way to get home. You just needed to figure it out.

Chapter Text

 “So,” said Camicazi, trying to fill the awkward silence. “I heard you’re from a far away city called [city’s name]. What’s it like?”

“There’s lots of people, huge buildings and big roads with speeding cars.”

“What’s a car?”

Oh, right…vikings. You struggled a little to find a good analogy. “Um uh, it’s  kinda like a really small room on wheels that can go super fast.”

“Does it fly?” Asked Camicazi curiously.

You laughed, “Unfortunately, no, but we do have other flying machine such as airplanes and helicopters.”

“That sounds cool, want an airplane.”

“Even if you sold everything you owned, you wouldn’t be able to afford an airplane. They are crazy expensive.”

”I could just steal it.”

“Cami, airplanes are huge, you can’t just discreetly put one in your pocket.”

“Never underestimate a Bog-Burglar.” said Camicazi with a mischievous grin.

“Oh, and there is also a lot of art and music where I come from too.”

“Really?” asked Fishlegs.

“Yes, any type or genre you want and with the invention of the internet it’s easier than ever before to share your creativity with thousands of people.”

“You think I could share some of my poems on this internet?”

You just smiled because you did not know the answer to his question.

“And there are vast public libraries filled with knowledge about absolutely everything.” You said turning to Hiccup. “You could spend weeks in them and still only read a fraction of the books. Hiccup’s eyes lit up. If there was one thing he loved, it was books.

“Toothless still does n-not l-l-like you.”

“Oh, and did forget I mention the food?”

“Food?” asked Toothless, his greed getting the better of him.

“Every kind of dish you could ever imagine, and a lot of it. I admit, I’m not sure if I even can take you with me, but if I can then I will show you everything.”

“You will still take me right?” asked Midnight. “You won’t abandon me, right?”

You remembered the deal you made with Midnight all those long months ago. She would help you, and you would take her with you. Truthfully you didn’t even know if that would be possible. “There is a lot I don’t know Midnight, but one things for sure, I’m not going to abandon you, ever.”

“Hold on just a moment,” interjected Fishlegs, “You’re telling us each what we want to hear in order to gain our trust, aren’t you. Whatever trick your trying to pull is not going to work.”

Fishlegs was somewhat in the right.

“I did pick the things that I said based on your personalities and interests, but it wasn’t done with mal-intent. I understand what I did was wrong and that it will take time for you to trust me. But I promise you Fishlegs, that I will do everything in my power to make it right.”

“How did you know my name?”

“Uhhh lucky guess?” You could feel yourself sweat as Fishlegs stared you down.

“Oh, ok.” Phew

“You know what,” said Camicazi decidedly.  “I don’t think we should kick you out after all.”

“Thanks,…I think?”

It took some time for the group to truly trust you but after that day your relationship with them seemed a lot warmer.

Chapter Text

Tw panic attack, bad parents

Camicazi and Hiccup were arguing about something or other and the hunting dragons were having a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest. Other than that it was a relatively calm day considering the war raging on outside.

“Oh, hey Fishlegs,” you said as the tall, skinny boy sat down next to you.  “How are you?”

“I’m…alright, I’ve been meaning to ask about your knife.”

You picked up the knife, its metal blade shone in the light.  “What about it?”

“Can I see it, for a moment, please?” You didn’t see why not. Fishlegs was not a violent person, at least not usually,  so you handed it to him .

“It can’t be. Is it?” he murmured, examining it carefully. “[reader], where did you get this from?”

“Some guy called Skullcrusher or something else incredibly stupid, why?”

Fishlegs lowered his voice. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Of course.” You smiled. You were actually rather glad that he trusted you enough now to tell you a secret, this was real progress.

He motioned for you to move back into a corner away from everyone else.

“So Hiccup is the heir of this man called Grimbeard-“

“Yes, yes I know.” You said hurriedly. You were not too eager to listen to Fishlegs recap the entire series for you.

Fishlegs looked a little surprised. “How?”

You thought of a quick and easy lie on the spot. “This may not be my home but I’ve lived here for many months. I’ve heard a few things.”

Fishlegs then told the story of Grimbeard’s  treasure. Since there was no logical way to explain how you could possibly know this part of the story, you acted like everything he said was new information. Although, you feared that you may have oversold your shock at some points. That would be something you would have to work on.

“Anyway, Hiccup wanted to leave all the treasure there, but I decided to take Grimbeard’s will, and one item. I told myself that I took it in case Hiccup ever needed to prove he was Grimbeard’s heir, but deep down I think I just wanted something nice and expensive.”

“And you’re sure that you took this knife.”

“Definitely, the carvings on the hilt, the black diamond, the shine of the metal, it’s all the same.”

“So then how did it come into the possession of Skullcrusher?”

“Well, when Hiccup got exiled, and his father, the chief, got put into slavery, the new chief… well he did not like me very much…. When I became a slave my hut was searched for anything valuable. I had Grimbeard’s will on me, but the found the knife under my pillow.”

He tried to hand the knife back to you. “No, You found it, it’s yours.”

“I think you should have it, no offense, but your sword is one of the lamest, most boring Viking swords I have ever seen, and that is saying something.”

“Hey,” you said, “It might not look cool but it still works for the purposes of staby staby.”  You did the stabbing motion with your hand, which made Fishlegs laugh.

“Besides if we are being technical, the knife belongs to Hiccup, seeing that he is a descendant of Grimbeard.”

“So are you.” oh Shit

“What?”

“Hm?” You smiled politely as if you did not understand anything.

“You just said-“

“Look, I don’t know what you think I said, but I didn’t say anything.” (Gaslighting at it’s finest)

“What’s going on back there?” asked Hiccup.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Well come over here [reader], there is something that Camicazi and I want to ask you.

You slowly walked over. The knife hilt felt cold in your hand. There are no accidents, especially not in this series.

How unlikely was it that you would find something as specific as a knife with a black diamond in the hilt. Hell, it would have been a miracle if you found a knife with a normal diamond in the hilt.

What if Grimbeard put that knife in his treasure, and Fishlegs took it both for a reason. It was all far too perfect to be a coincidence.

Maybe this was fate’s way of telling you that you were here for a reason. You were no longer just an observer, a reader anymore. You were now in the story. Like it or not, you were now a character in this novel. But one question remained on your mind. Was fate being manipulated by you, or were you being manipulated by fate? 

“What’s up,” you asked coming over.

“[reader], you‘ve been living with us for a while,….and we would like to formally invite you to become a member of the company of the dragon mark.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, so what do you say.”

“Yes! That sounds fantastic.” You said, grinning.

“Great, all you need now is the dragon mark.”

You froze, the smile quickly vanished from your face. Your breathing got shallower, the walls seemed like they were closing in on you, and the world seemed to be spinning around like a carousel. Old childhood memories that you worked hard to repress came crawling back up to the surface to show their ugly faces once again. Your face felt cold and hot at the same time. You were only vaguely aware of people talking, but their words seemed mixed up and muffled. You were brought back to reality by Hiccup shaking you.

“[Reader]! [Reader]!”

“Yes?”

“Oh thank Thor your Ok, what happened?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to get the dragon mark.”

“What!? Why not?!”

“Camicazi please,” Hiccup tried to reason, but there is no reasoning with Camicazi when she is mad.

“What, do you think you’re too good for the dragon mark?”

“You misunderstand me Cami. I want to get the dragon mark, but my parents wouldn’t like it.”

“The parents of a lot of people who took the mark did not like it! Why do you care so much what your parents think anyway?!

““You can’t understand, you don’t know my life!” You shouted. Up until this point you had remained relatively collected. But now  you were starting to loose your patience.

“Why cant you make the decision for yourself? We all did! Are you scared of your parent?” Are you scared of your parents…Are you scared of your parents…

This line echoed around in your mind. The hideout went eerily quiet.

You tried to think of what to say. “Look…guys, tattoos aren’t as….socially acceptable where am from, and-and if my parents ever saw me with a tattoo, well, I might not have a home to return to,” you looked down at the ground in order to avoid eye contact, “or worse….”

“[Reader] if it’s too difficult we won’t make you do it.”

Camicazi protested, “but every dragonmarker needs a dragon mark!”

“Well I am the leader of the dragonmarkers and I say that all rules have exceptions, [reader] it’s up to you.”

You took a deep breath. “I want to take the mark.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, If my family doesn’t love me anymore all cause of something as small as a bloody tattoo, then maybe I should find a new family.”

You squeezed Hiccup’s hand. Your nails actually dug into his skin a bit. You didn’t mean to do that, you were just stressed. Camicazi placed the mark on your forehead. You knew that it should not have been that anxious, it was just a bit of ink on the side of your head, that didn’t stop you from feeling insanely tense the entire two minutes that it took.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” asked Camicazi cheerfully.

“No, I suppose not but if you don’t mind, I think I need to rest a little.”

“Take as long as you think you need.”

“Can I come too?” asked Midnight, she didn’t like seeing you this distressed.

“Sure, Midnight.”

Perhaps your family would disown you, but at least you had a fierce, tiny dragon to cuddle with.   

Chapter Text

A/n : This chapter is not important for the main plot so feel free to skip it, however this is likely going to be one of, if not the fluffiest chapter in this book. If you want fluff this is the right chapter for you.

Boom! You were awoken from your slumber by a loud crack of thunder that struck only a few feet away from the hideout.

“Ah!” You let out a small yelp.

“[Reader]? what’s going on?” asked a sleepy Hiccup getting out of his bed and rubbing his eyes. Oh great, I just had to wake someone. Boom! “[Reader], are you ok? You look a little tense.”

“W-What’s going on,” asked Toothless, crawling up from under the covers of Hiccup's bed. “why i-i-is Hiccup a-awake!?” Hiccup ignored Toothless, he was too busy trying to figure out why you looked so scared.

Boom! You flinched. Suddenly Hiccup started grinning. “No way, you're not…unless…are you afraid of thunder?”

“N-no!” You replied indignantly. Boom! “Maybe…”

“Most people get over the fear of thunder at about five here.”

“Well, I’m not from here, storms did not happen as often in my city as they do here, and even when they did happen the lightning was always far away. I’m just not used to it, thats all.”

“It’s fine to be scared of thunder, I apologise if I came off as judgmental. It’s just that you don’t seem like that kind of person.” Hiccup chuckled a little, but quickly turned his chuckle into a cough when he saw you scowling at him. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

“I don’t know.”

“When T-t-toothless is scared he likes t-to sleep in m-masters bed n-next to master. How did he know about… right, my pendant. Sometimes you forgot that there was no off switch to the pendant, as long as you wore it, all dragons could understand what you were saying.

“Why are you suddenly being nice?” You asked Toothless as this seemed very uncharacteristic of him.

“The f-faster you are a-asleep, the f-faster m-master i-is asleep, and the faster m-master is asleep, the faster t-toothless can get b-back to his l-lovely dream of eating strawberry flavoured jellyfish.” you laughed and Hiccup laughed too. Of course the little dragon was motivated by food. Toothless just looked at both of you as if you were insane.

“Oh Toothless, that is a very good idea, and you are a very smart dragon.” Hiccup said, scratching the dragon's chin.

“You're not actually suggesting…” Your face felt hot. You didn’t know if you were outwardly blushing or not, but you sincerely hoped you weren’t.

“Why not? Just this once. I mean being physically close to someone does tend to help a lot of people when dealing with fear and stress. Besides, the bed has plenty of room (It was true that Hiccup’s small frame did not fill out more than half of the bed) and I’m guessing it would be a lot more comfortable than sleeping on the floor. (Since you were an unplanned addition to the group, there was not a bed ready for you, so you slept on the floor. Hiccup had asked you before if you were ok with this, and even proposed a system where everyone took turns sleeping on the floor. You had insisted that you were perfectly fine. Although you were fine technically, the hard dirt floor could never be as comfortable as a bed.)

“As much as I do not like this idea, your logic is sound, and it actually might work.”

“In any case no harm can come from trying,” said Hiccup. You, however, could think of a lot of harm that could come from trying, but you decided to keep those paranoid thoughts inside of your head.

It felt really awkward trying to get into the bed together. But once you were actually in the bed, with Hiccup cuddled up next to you, it actually felt really nice. You felt warm and safe. When was the last time you felt like this? Normally you would feel sad at the remembrance of your lonely past life but the combination of Hiccup's body heat and his light snoring made it impossible for any negative feelings to stick. It did not matter that your parents would be furious when you got home. It did not matter that the storm was still thundering fiercely, or that the red rage was still in full swing outside. No, none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was that you were right here, right now, and you were safe and happy. You wouldn’t remember your dreams once you faded into sleep, but you could swear they were something pleasant.

Chapter Text

You lay awake the next night, unable to sleep. You were trying to come up with a plan. You were in the httyd books. How did you get here? Why were you here?

“Psst,” whispered Camicazi, “you can’t sleep either.”

“No.”

“Can I braid your hair?”

“Um, sure I guess?”

“Great.” You sat quietly as Camicazi braided your hair. “So, you like Hiccup.” You nearly choked.

“What?! Of course I like him, who doesn't? He's a great friend ha ha ha…”

Camicazi shook her head. “No, you like him romantically.”

“No! Yes?! Maybe? Look, I don't know exactly what I am feeling.”

“But you think that it could be romantic.”

“Possibly…”

“You know telling him how you feel might help.”

“But what if I’m wrong. It's better to deal with this the way I deal with all the emotions that I don’t like or understand, put them in a box and shove that box deep deep down.”

“That sounds like a recipe for trouble and not the fun kind of trouble. It’s ok to be wrong, even though I myself am never wrong…there was one time when I also may have umm….interpreted an emotion slightly different than it was.”

“Go on.” You were intrigued.

“Everyone told me that when I got older I would start liking boys. I met a cool boy, and I liked him so I thought this must be love. Three years later I figured out that I only saw him as a friend. In fact, I didn’t like boys at all, I liked girls, and guess what?”

“What?”

“The sun exploded!”

“Really!?”

“No! I was wrong about how I felt,” said Camicazi, forgetting how she was “never wrong”,  “and absolutely nothing happened. You don’t have anything to fear.”

“That's not true. If I tell him, even if he feels the same way, romantic relationships are messy. Statistically couples in their early to mid teens are bound to break from the beginning. What if we don’t work out and Hiccup ends up hating me? I don’t have many friends, I can’t afford to lose one!”

“You won’t. Do you think Hiccup would ever do anything knowingly to harm you?”

“No, but what if I mess up really badly.”

“[reader], you tried to kill him, and he still forgave you. If you’re truly sorry, I don’t think there is anything that Hiccup will not forgive.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Camicazi paused. “Come to think of it, he didn’t just forgive you, he went out of his way to  save your life.”

You were a little perplexed at Camicazi’s statement  “I guess he did bring me here…”

Camicazi bit her lip, [reader] that’s not what I’m talking about.” You looked back at her in confusion. “Did…did he not tell you?” You shook your head.

“Tell me what?”

“Do you remember when you “passed out” after almost murdering Hiccup”

The memory of that night made you wince. “yes…”

“Well you didn’t just fall asleep, you died, at least I think you did.”

“How is that possible? I’m still here, very much alive.”

“I don’t know everything, all Hiccup told me is that it had something to do with magical exhaustion, and for a few minutes, your heart wasn’t beating.” Camicazi returned to her normal peppy tone of voice. “Luckily, Hiccup managed to bring you back, with my help of course.”

Bring me back indeed, but back from where? Maybe the dream you had of your home wasn’t really a dream after all. Especially since you had not once had a dream that you could remember, since you took the book. Think, what did the two times you traveled worlds have in common? Death. Although you could not say for certain that the car crash had killed you, it did seem very likely. Thoughts began to swirl around, forming in your head, plans that would be too dangerous until you had more information.

At least now you thought you had a good idea of what the ritual was supposed to do. With your miniscule knowledge of Latin and this new information, you were able to determine that the person you killed would have probably worked as a proxy death. The potion and chant gave the other person a part of you, or at very least, a part of your magic. That must have been why after the ritual, Hiccup could do magic, albeit, for only a few hours. You were so close to figuring out everything. You just needed one more puzzle piece.

Chapter Text

A/n : Hey guys before we start I wold just like to say that this is a two part chapter. I split it up so that it is easier to read. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, or just don’t like holiday specials than the only really important stuff is towards the end of part two. I wanted this to be out on Christmas, but I HEAVILY overestimated the amount of writing I would do on break.

Tw : Christmas in March?! The Horror!

You were sulking under a pile of blankets.

“[Reader], what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” You mumbled from underneath the blankets. Someone then yanked the blankets off of you. “Hey! What was that for?” You asked, annoyed that you had to get up and retrieve them. However, before you could do so Hiccup stopped you.

“Something is definitely wrong, I want you to tell me what. Please, talk to me.”

“Come on, spill what’s worrying you,” said Camicazi, coming over. Fishlegs who appeared to be writing something was now engaging in the conversation as well.

“Trust me, you’ll feel a lot better if you talk about it, at least I always do.”

“Ok,” you caved in to the positive peer pressure. “It’s Christmas.”

“What’s Christmas?”

“Oh, it’s a holiday where I’m from. It got its name and some traditions from Christianity and the birth of Christ, but its roots can be traced back to several pagan holidays, such as Saturnalia and Yule. Speaking of which, happy Yule…I think”

“Thank you and happy Christmas to you too.”

“Actually, it’s merry,” you corrected.

“Pardon?”

“You said happy Christmas, it’s merry Christmas.”

“That doesn’t sound right. Name any other Holiday.”

“Halloween.”

“Merry Halloween.” You stared at Hiccup, regretting all of your life choices. “Did that sound right?”

“No, that sounded super cursed. I guess It’s only merry when it comes to Christmas. Strange, I never thought about it.”

“The thing I want to know,” asked Camicazi, “is if it’s a holiday today why are you so, well, sad?”

“I-It’s just that seven and a half long months I’ve been here. It’s been…hard. I did things to survive…I saw the horror of the war. Sometimes the only thing keeping me going was the thought of being home by Christmas. Drinking hot chocolate and baking cookies with my best friend, everything that happened here far behind me.” you smiled, remembering all the good Christmas memories that you and your friend shared. “But now I-I’m still here. I could still die! [friend’s name] is an infinity away! I thought that today was going to be the happiest day ever! It was supposed to be over by now, but today is just as bleak and terrifying as all the other days!” Your face felt hot and wet.

“Oh,” said Camicazi, not quite sure what she should do. This seemed like it could be a sensitive situation and Camicazi was not the best at being sensitive.

“Just because you are here, does not mean having to give up your holiday. I can’t give you a good Christmas, nor will I pretend that I can, but mark my words, I will give you a Christmas. So, what are some things you do around this holiday?”

“Well,” you said wiping your tears,“people usually decorate evergreen trees.”

“We don't have a tree, but we do have this pine branch,” said Fishlegs pointing to the fire wood pile. On top of it there was a pine tree branch about three feet tall and one foot wide.”

“I guess that will do, hmm.” You thought of how to decorate the tree then an idea popped into your head. “Hiccup, do you have scissors?”

“Yes, why?”

“I have some notebook paper we can use, here take these,” you said, handing everyone a sheet of paper. “I am going to teach you how to make paper snowflakes.”

Fishlegs’s snowflake turned out to be the prettiest. Camicazi’s might have been the worst (instead of making a snowflake, she cut out a very angry looking face)  if not for Toothless, who insisted on joining in. Unfortunately the lack of opposable thumbs gave Toothless almost no control over how the snowflake was cut, and it ended up looking like a mess. The beautiful, the ugly and the silly, all the snowflakes hung on the tree, decorating it.  It looked a little ridiculous, but at the same time, rather charming.

“What else do you normally do for Christmas?”

“Well, people give each other gifts. Generally they are either wrapped and put under the Christmas tree or put in stockings. We don’t have any wrapping paper so I think it would be better if we used stockings.” The vikings and dragons looked perplexed.  As soon as you were done further explaining, Fishlegs asked, “So let me get this right, you want us to hang socks over an open fire and put presents in them?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, ok” Strange as it may have appeared to Fishlegs, this tradition seemed to be harmless and it made you happy, so what would be the harm in participating?

“Ooo, why don’t we play secret santa.”

“What’s that?”

“Everyone puts their name into a hat and the hat gets passed around. The name of the person you draw from the hat is who you get the gift for. The goal is to get them not to suspect you as the giver of the gift.”

“But wouldn't that be difficult, seeing as we are all so close together.”

“You’re right, since we are all in the same hideout together, you will need to be very sneaky.”

“That sounds like a fantastic game,” said Camicazi, eager for a chance to show off her skills in stealth.

“Ok, who wants to play?” All of the humans agreed plus Toothless and Stormfly. Two of the Deadly Shadow heads and Wodensfang politely declined.”

“Midnight, Innocence are you playing?” Midnight was currently sitting on top of Innocence’s head listening to her tell stories of the past. Midnight got along surprisingly well with the Deadly Shadow, but she shared a special bond with Innocence.

“Actually If it’s ok with you, I think I would rather listen to Innocence’s stories.”

“That's completely fine.”

“Alright everyone take a name from the hat and read who you got, but make sure nobody else sees it.”

Once the hat got to you and you got your paper you opened it up carefully. Fishlegs. Hmmm, I think I have an idea….. You grabbed a pen and paper and started writing. You wrote in your best hand, or at least you tried to. When it was finished it was not perfect but it was still something. Now you just needed to wait for the right moment to sneak your gift into Fishlegs’s stocking.

“Hey, [reader] what do you want to do now?” asked Fishlegs.

“Well we could sing Christmas carols.”

You sang your hearts out. Even though you all sounded pretty good on your own, when you sang together it became wildly out of tune, but that made it all the more fun. Sometimes imperfections are what bring the most joy.

Chapter Text

A/n : this one has more plot relevant information towards the end. Aso sorry I posted the wrong chapter I’m being haunted by something I think? YALL SHOULD REALLY TELL ME WHEN I FUCK UP PLEASE! 

    “Would you care to join in, Hiccup?” 

     “No thank you, I have a bit of a sore throat.” Hiccup’s throat was perfectly fine, that just seemed like the perfect excuse to get away from the group and talk with Wodensfang in private. 

     “Wodensfang,” whispered Hiccup. 

     “You want to know what gift you should get [reader].”

     “How did you know that?”

     “I am an old dragon Hiccup, I have learned how to tell these kinds of things.”

     “Well what do you think I should get them, cause I don’t have the faintest idea.”

     “There is only one thing they desire. Pick up your pen and get out some piece of paper.” Hiccup did as he was told. 

     “Their native alphabet is similar to latin but there are two letters I must teach you. Draw two v’s connected together, that is a w. Next draw a line, now curve it, no the other way, good. Now dot the top, that is a j. Good, now you know all of the letters. I will dictate and you will write.  Write a t, now write an o, now put a space.”

     When they were finally finished, Hiccup held up the piece of paper. “This doesn’t make any sense, it’s just Gibberish.” (I know that using the logic of the reader and hiccup speaking the same language, just having different writing systems, Hiccup should just be able to sound out half of the words, but just ignore that small plot hole)

     “[Reader] will know what it means.” 

     “Do you know what it means?” Wodensfang nodded. “Well, can you tell me?”

     Wodensfang shook his head. “I do not hold the authority, only [reader] may tell you, if they wish.”

     “Thanks anyway,” said Hiccup bitterly, as he got up to sneak his gift into your stocking. 

     It was now evening and time to reveal who got what gift. 

     “I don’t think this is how other people played, but we always guessed who we thought our secret santa was before opening the gift. Who wants to guess first?” Before you could open your mouth a second time Camicazi interrupted.

     “Hiccup got [reader], [reader] got Fishlegs, Fishlegs got Stormfly, Stormfly got Toothless and Toothless got me.” Everyone stared at her in amazement. “What? None of you are very good at being sneaky.” 

     “Wow, I mean now that the guessing bit is over why don’t we all just take out our gifts. 

     Fishlegs took a poem out of his stocking 

I know we don’t know each other that well,

But there is something I would like to tell.

I truly love your sarcastic sense of humor,

I know my disposition can be a bit of a doom and gloomer.

The poems you shared have been works of art

I love both them and you with all my heart

You’re always there to support your friends.

I know this poem is short, but it must come to an end.

When it comes to rhyming, I am not that skilled. 

I hope that all your gift expectations have been filled.

     “[Reader] that is so sweet, I didn’t know you also wrote poetry,” said Fishlegs.

     “I don’t, at least not normally. Somehow I managed to scrape together something half decent.”

     “Half decent?! This is better than almost everything I wrote back when I first started, thank you.” Fishlegs gave you a hug, you tried to hug back, but you were still pretty ridged. “You are a really bad hugger.”

    You laughed, “I know.”

    Stormfly got a very stylish yellow knitted scarf. 

    “I didn’t know you could knit,” said Camicazi.

    “I try to keep it a secret, if people knew that I knit I would be bullied even more than I was.”

    “Well your secret is safe with me,” Camicazi said with a smile. 

    Stormfly had gotten toothless a dried fish with a bow tied to it. It was clear that she did not put much effort into the gift, but Toothless was happy anyway. “Th-th-thank you Stormfly, s-see Wo-wodensfang, T-toothless has m-manners.” 

    “Very good,” said Wodensfang, complementing the excited Toothless on his excellent display of manners. 

    Toothless gave Camicazi a cool, glassy, black rock that he had found on lavalought island. He did not want to part with it, but he also really wanted to be part of the game, and he did not have much else to give. 

    Hiccup reached inside his stocking and drew out… his diary?(Hiccup had started keeping a diary since becoming an outcast. Writing out the horrors of the day helped him keep his sanity.) 

     “Camicazi! How did you get this!”

     “Oh, you know, just some light burglary. It was easy peasy. By the way, if you don’t want me reading it, you really should guard it better. Your gift is inside.” 

     It did look like there was something chunky between the pages. Hiccup opened the book. Inside he found a bracelet gleaming at him. It was one of Camicazi’s nicer bracelets. Camicazi had always been fond of large jewelry, but due to her daredevilish ways she kept losing them. That is why she only wore copper, bronze and wood jewelry. The kinds that were cheap and easily replaceable. This bracelet however, was solid gold.

     “Camicazi I-I can’t take this.”

    “Sure you can. I do like it, but it would make me feel even better if you were the one wearing it.”

    “If you insist.” Hiccup put on the bracelet. It fit him rather nicely. 

     When you reached into your stocking, you pulled out a piece of paper, this is what it read.

To the owner of the book, The book has chosen to appear in your sight, and you have picked it up. This means that the book is now yours. The blessings, and the curses of the book are bound to you, and only you for 100 years, no more, no less. For the safety of humanity, this book can not be possessed by the dead. Please refrain from dying while in the possession of this book, as this may have unintended consequences.

Signed,

Them

     You had so many questions. Why did the book choose you? Who is Them? You looked up at Hiccup inquisitively. 

     “I have no idea what I wrote, Wodensfang instructed me. Can you tell me what it says?”

    “I…uh…”

     “[Reader], I’m your friend. You know that you can trust me, right?”

     “How about I tell you tomorrow.” You stalled, secretly hoping he would forget by then. 

     “Ok.”

     It was getting late, but nobody seemed to be eager to return back to their individual beds. It felt warmer, and safer together. Camicazi and Fishlegs fell asleep huddled together. You and Hiccup decided to join them. 

     “Well, was this a good Christmas?” 

     “I think it was one of the best Christmases ever.” You really hadn’t been expecting it to be any good at all, but Christmas isn’t the food or the decorations. It’s about the love and the laughter shared with friends that care about you. 

     “Good,” said Hiccup, and then he kissed your cheek. Or did he? If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If a boy kisses you and goes to sleep immediately afterwards without acknowledging anything, did he really kiss you? No, it was probably just your lonely heart messing with your brain. And in any case, you did not have time for these feelings anyway. You had your final puzzle piece. You knew now that death really was the way to travel worlds. You were finally ready to set the plan that you had been working on for days now into motion. You and only you could fix the future of this story. 

Chapter Text

Once you were sure everyone in the group was asleep, you quietly got up, and got your stamps, ink and weapons.

“Where do you think you’re going? Out to find ingredients for the soul proxy potion?”

So that is what that potion was. “How did you know, and how did you know about the things you told Hiccup to write?”

Wodesfang sighed, “[Reader] I am a very old dragon. I know the book because it is not the first time I have seen it.”

“Wait, really?”

“I even helped write one of the sections, if you look towards the middle, you might find some old norse, although it seems as if a few pages are missing.”

“I know that, but the book can’t be destroyed, believe me I have tried.” You had attempted to destroy the book several times in tired, scared and frustrated fits of delirium. “How were they torn out and where are they now?”

“That is one of the few things about the book that I do not know,” answered the Wodensfang.

“You can’t tell Hiccup that I went out of the hideout or anyone else for that matter.”

“[Reader], these are powerful forces you are messing with. I fear that if I remain silent, you may get in over your head, and drown.”

You frowned. “If you tell anyone that I was out, or what I was doing, I’m going to tell Hiccup that you were planning to betray him to Furious, or should I tell Furious that you were planning to betray him?” Wodensfang looked a little surprised. “I might not be as old as you but I still know some things.”

“So you know that the dragon jewel is a fake.” You did not answer, but Wodensfang did not need an answer. “Are you really going to resort to blackmail?”

You didn’t want to, but it felt like fate was pushing your hand. Could it be necessary, even right, in these times of war to let go of previous moral standings, if it benefited everyone in the end? “It’s not blackmail, it’s a deal. Keep my secrets, and I will keep yours. Can I trust you to do that?”

“Go if you must, I will not tell, understand that all magic comes at a price. You can not outsmart the order of the universe.” On that chilling note, you left the hideout. 

Chapter Text

Using the invisibility spell, you were careful to make sure that no one saw you leave the hideout. Once you judged that you were far enough away from the hideout, you undid the invisibility spell.

You could finally see the moon shining down on you. It was snowing quite a bit. That was good news for you, as it meant that the snow would cover your tracks. You just hoped that it would keep snowing. You shivered, it really wasn’t a good idea coming out here with only your cape. It was an unusually still night. You felt strange. It had been a long time since you were alone. It felt odd not having Midnight by your side. You were all alone, but no, wait, was that a figure slowly walking through the blankets of snow?

Yes indeed, it seemed to be the figure of a very small girl. Upon further inspection you could tell she was a dragonmarker. What could she possibly be doing out here? You rushed over.

“Hi little girl. Why are you out here all alone? Don’t you know that it’s dangerous?”

The girl looked up at you. “I’m not little, I’m eleven, and if it’s so dangerous, why are you here?”

“I’m a bit of a special case,” you said, turning a rock invisible. “My magic will protect me, but you…you should not be out here all alone.”

The girl looked gloomy. “I was not alone. I was scouting with my father, but then we got ambushed by a group of Alvinsmen. They took my father prisoner, but I managed to slip away. Sometimes being small and quiet is a good thing. People never notice you, I don’t even think anyone apart from my father remembers that I even exist.”

“I’m sorry,” you truly felt bad for the girl. “It’s not safe in the open. Do you have a home?”

“My home was burned down a long time ago.”

Well isn’t she just a ray of sunshine You inhaled deeply. “Ok, but do you have a safe place you can stay?”

“I am currently staying with the other dragonmarkers.” The girl looked up at you, in order to confirm that you were indeed a fellow dragonmarker.

“That's good,” you said smiling at the  dreary little girl. “Do you know where they are?” The girl shook her head. “What do you mean you don’t know?!” After a bit of a struggle you composed yourself. “No, no, that’s fine. You couldn’t have walked too far away. How long have you been walking?”

The girl shrugged her shoulders, “Two, three days, I don’t know.”

“How in the blazes have you survived out here for that long!?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

“You know what, new plan. I know an old man that can take you in for a week until this whole war thing is over. Then I will come back and reunite you with your dad, does that sound good.”

The girl thought for a little. “I suppose.”

“Great, come on.” You extended a hand to the little girl and she hesitantly took it.

“So, is it just you and your dad, or do you have more family?” you said trying to make small talk with the child.

“I had a mother, but she died.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” you said trying to comfort her. She gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“It’s fine, we saw it coming for a long time. She would faint randomly during the day. No matter what medicine we gave her, she wouldn’t get better. It kept getting worse. One day she passed out and just didn’t wake up. Even though we all saw it coming, it…it  still surprised me when it happened.” The girl was now crying ever so slightly.

“Shh, it’s ok.” you said, hugging the girl as you whipped the tears off her face.

“I had a brother too, you know.”

Had, this was sure to be an interesting tale. “Is-is he also…”

“Dead? No, but I’m not sure if I would care if he was. He betrayed both me and my father. Now he’s working for that treacherous Alvin.”

You didn’t know what to say, so you said nothing. You observed that even though the little girl was wearing a coat, she was still shivering. “Here, take this.” you handed her your cape.

“But won’t you be cold?”

“Nah, I have a spell to keep me warm.” Even if there was such a spell, you did not know it, but she had been out in the elements far longer than you and likely needed it much more.

“Oh, ok then, thank you.”

“So, what are your interests,” you said trying to lighten the mood.

“Well my cousin really likes dragons, but I like frogs.”

“Really, so you’re a frog girl?”

“Yes!” The girl went on to tell you many, many frog facts throughout the entire voyage.

“We're almost there.”

The girl looked up at you. “You never told me your name.”

“Right, sorry. My name is [reader].”

“I’m Adelaide.” What wasn’t Adelaide the sister of…oh. It all makes sense now.

“Look,” you said, peering down at Adelaide, “even though it may not seem like it, your brother Snotlout loves you.”

“I don’t care.”

“It is possible that he might not…survive the next few days.”

“I don’t care.”

“I promise that I will do all in my power to save him.”

Adelaide looked up at you coldly. “Don’t bother.”

“Huh?”

“He is a traitor and a disgrace. You are a good person, and I don’t want you to risk your life for him.”

“If he ended up doing the right thing would you forgive him?”

“Yes, of course, but he won’t. Snotlout is my brother, I know him. He is not going to change. He never has, and he never will.”

“Well, here goes nothing.” You knocked on the wooden door of the hut. 

Chapter Text

   “Why hello [reader], it’s been a while, come inside.

“Hello Torvic, it has been some time. I have a favor to ask of you, if it isn’t too much.” you said walking into the hut, and gesturing for Adelaide to do the same.

“[Reader]!!!” A little boy sprinted towards you and hugged you. “You're back!”

“It’s nice to see you too, Thistleroot. My how you’ve grown.” You smiled at him, ruffling his hair. He had gotten about an inch taller since you last saw him.

“Look [reader], I lost a tooth!” Indeed, Thistleroot was missing one of his left canines.

“Wow, that's so cool!”

“Ok now Thistle, run along and play with the other child.” said the old man.

He took a kettle off of the fire and poured two cups of tea. He handed you a cup and gestured for you to sit at a small, round, wooden table. “You're here for a reason. You need a favor, I believe you said.”

“Are you planning on going to the island of Tomorrow?”

“I am old, and not well suited for voyage at sea, no, my niece Tormentil will bring tidings to me of the side that won.”

“Good, see that girl?” you pointed to Adelaide.

“Yes, a sweet child.”

“Can you please take her in, and keep her safe. Only until I get back I promise, which should not be long.”

“Of course, I would be happy to although, I am starting to wonder where you keep finding all these children.” The man chuckled.

“There is another thing.”

“Oh?”

“I need some more mercury, but this time I don’t have anything to pay you with.”

The man stood up and retrieved a small glass bottle with a silver liquid inside. “Take it.”

“Just like that? For free?”

“You have brought the light of a child back into my life, which is something that I haven't felt in a long time, that is worth more than gold. Besides, there are some theories going around that mercury might not be… the best for health, so I try to avoid the stuff when I can.”

The two children seemed to be getting along very well. Thistleroot came up to you and handed you something.

“Here, I’ve been learning how to write and I made this for you.” This object in question was a copper pendant, like the one you had made in order to speak to dragons, except this one had viking runes on it.”

“Thank you,” you said, smiling awkwardly trying to hide the fact that you had no idea what was written.

The old man, noticing your distress, decided to help you a little. “It means family,” he whispered in your ear, “He thought you might like it.”

“Aww.” You gave Thistle another hug, trying not to cry. “I will keep it forever.”

Well, you would keep most of it forever. Thistleroot had unintentionally given you the perfect last ingredient for your potions, the one that you would have the most trouble getting on your own, the ashes of something you held dear. You would later burn the string that the pendant hanged on and put the ashes into the fire.

“I know you have to go soon, but maybe it will bring you luck. You helped me, and I want to return the favor.”

You waved goodbye as you headed back, satisfied with the day's mission. When you got back all of the group was still sleeping which was great, but they should wake up any moment. A few minutes later Hiccup woke up.

“Why is your hair wet?”

Chapter Text

A/n : I just want to let you guys know that because the fic is starting to sink up with the books, a lot of dialogue will be similar, but abridged, purely for the sake of me not wanting to write every little thing everyone says.

“Why is your hair wet?”

Oh no, oh no no no! Lie, come on, think of a lie!

“My hair was feeling really greasy so I washed it with a little water, I hope that’s ok.” you said sweetly.

“If what you say is true then yes it’s fine, but if you were outside, [reader], that could put all of us in serious danger.”

“I know, and that is exactly why I wasn’t outside. You’re my friend Hiccup, I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“You’re right, I probably sound paranoid. It’s just this war, it’s got me overthinking everything.”

“I know the feeling.” Yawn.

“Hey, did you even sleep last night, you look exhausted.”

“Who me? No, I’m fine.”

“If you say so.”

This time making the potion went a lot quicker, now that you knew how to do the complicated bits, you were just lucky that there was a full moon that week. Every night you would go out and do what you could, then you would return to plan for the next time. At last when you were so exhausted that you could barely stand. You finally heard the desperate cry for help that you had so long awaited for. It was show time.

The cry for help was getting louder. “Come on, we have to help that person!”

“No.”

“What!?”

“I’m sorry,” said Hiccup sadly. “The last time we helped someone it was a trap. It's only a few more days until the crowning of the next king of the wilder west. I want to, it’s just too risky.”

It was just as you had feared. The stunt you pulled a few weeks ago had made the group more suspicious. No, the story had to flow its natural course.

“Please, Camicazi you're with me, right?”

“Of course, I love me a bit of danger!”

You grabbed Camicazi’s hand. “Me and Camicazi are going to save that human, with or without you.”

“Fine, we will all go, it’s safer that way.”

“Oh brother,” moaned Fishlegs.

“[Reader], have you ever rode a dragon before?” Hiccup asked. You shook your head.

“Then maybe you should ride with me. I can uh..try to keep you safe,” Hiccup helped you onto the deadly shadow. “hold on tight.”

Flying through the air on the back of a dragon was a sensation quite unlike any other, you felt the wind zip through your hair. You were hit by a new wave of adrenaline.  For the first time in  several months, you truly felt alive.

“Besides, I feel like a bit of exercise. We’ve been cooped up in that hideout for way too long, don’t you agree [reader]?”

“What? Oh, uh…right.” You snapped back to reality. You didn’t realize that you had drifted off again. You hadn’t been getting much sleep for a while, but these last few days, you had not slept at all. Just a few more days, you kept telling yourself.

Your lack of sleep made it so that all words sounded fuzzy unless you were paying close attention to them. The people and dragons around you were talking, and talking. You wondered if they were saying the same lines as in the books.

You soon spotted a chunk of ice on the river. On it a young man was floating. So this is Snotface Snotlout, interesting.

“Let's go back to the hideout.” whispered Camicazi.

“I’m afraid I agree.” sighed Fishlegs.

“Hang on a second! Now that we are here, we can’t just go home and leave Snotlout here,”

“I agree with Hiccup.”

“It’s a tied vote,” said Fishlegs “What do we do.”

“This is not a voting matter. We are going to save Snotlout,” you said firmly. Something had changed inside you in these past eight months. Your words were stronger, more fixed. Everything from your voice to your posture to your facial expression radiated authority.

“Fine, but let me just say that I completely disagree with this decision! This is Madness! This is crazy!” You two have really lost the plot now…” Camicazi paused suddenly, then drew her sword. “I better go down there!”

“Be careful Camicazi!” you called out sincerely hoping that she heard you. Camicazi was swinging from the rope, having her conversation with Snotlout. Even though you couldn’t hear what they were saying, it seemed to be going well, or at least going along with the plot.

You could see Snotlout look worried and Fishlegs start to panic, the hogfly had woken up. The hogfly was a sweet, good natured creature, but unfortunately for your current situation, it was very stupid and very loud. Hiccup tried to convince the Hogfly to play the be really quiet game, and it worked…for a few seconds. When the razerwing opened its jaws slightly and softy began to sing the dreadful tune of the dragon rebellion, it made every hair on your skin crawl.

Suddenly the eyes of the razorwing snapped open, along with the tongue twister. Hiccup snatched up the Hogfly moments before disaster.

“What are you doing, you jellyfish-brained IDIOTS! Is this your idea of rescuing someone! You have woken up the dragon rebelion dragons!”

At this time the sound of roaring water became so loud even you could notice it.

“THE WATERFALL!” yelled Hiccup,”YOU HAVE TO GET OFF THAT ICE RAFT BEFORE YOU HIT THE WATERFALL!”

All the dragon rebellion dragons attacked. You said a prayer to whatever gods might live  above that Camicazi would be ok, as she and Snotlout sped down the waterfall. Thank goodness Camicazi caught the rope in time.

Just as Snoutlout was about to fall onto the rocks below, the Hurricane finally woke up. The dragon flew alongside the Windwalker and Camicazi jumped onto it, in order to pull up Snotlout, who was still hanging by a chain connected to the Hurricane.

The red rage was becoming almost deafening, which did not help your disorientation. You nearly fell off the Deadly Shadow as it made a sharp turn.

“Careful!” said Hiccup, catching your arm and pulling you back up. You blushed slightly, then mentally slapped yourself for doing so. “Take the others to the underground treehouse and I’ll hold up the dragon rebelion.” Hiccup said to the Windwalker

“I’m staying with you,” you said.

“No, you are not.”

“I’m not leaving you. Besides, if I try to jump onto the Windwalker now, I will probably fall to my death.” Even though Hiccup did not want to let you stay, he agreed that in your currently, you should not be doing any dragon hopping.

When you saw a glowing pair of red eyes you slashed at it with your knife, as  Hiccup just stared at the spectacle in astonishment. Somehow the dragon still managed to bite Hiccup, although you couldn’t quite tell if it had lost its tooth in the bite or not, at least not yet.

Right before the flames of the dragon Furious hit you, the Windwalker dove through the Ivy draped entrance of the underground Hideout. There you would find out if Camicazi had made it back or not. You prayed that she had, not only because you cared for her, but also because it would mean that you would not have to go through with the overly convoluted, incredibly dangerous plan that you had been scheming up these past few weeks.

Chapter Text

          “Camicazi …where is Camicazi?” Hiccup panted.

“Hang on Hiccup, you’re wounded,” said Fishlegs, wrapping some bandages around Hiccup’s arm.

After a few moments looking around you could see that Camicazi was not there. This meant that she had been captured. You would have to use your plan after all. You shuttered, even though you had been prepping this plan for what seemed like forever, you weren’t at all excited to follow through with it.

Hiccup tried to go outside to look for Camicazi, but was stopped by the Wodensfang.

“Where has she gone?”

“She was taken,” answered Snotlout from the shadows.

“What do you mean taken?!”

“She was taken alive by the witch’s Spydragons.”

The entire hideout was horrified and deviated as Snotlout told what had happened to the Bogburgler.

That is all were devastated except for one. You had been expecting this since you first realized the world you were truly in. You thought that you would be sadder, but your soul was tired, overworked and overwhelmed. Besides, you knew that Camicazi would be fine. Sure you felt a little sad, but you mostly just felt apathy, that is until you heard Hiccup.

“Oh no..This is all my fault. I am so sorry.”

I am so sorry…I’m so sorry. The present moment faded away. You were now back trapped in that painful day. You could feel every single sensation of that past moment. You had tried to kill Hiccup weeks ago, but now it felt like only a few hours ago. All the guilt turned inside you, past words flowed out of your mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m s-so sorry. I could have hurt someone. I could have killed you, an innocent person, and  for what? My own selfish desires. God, why do I always have to be such a dumb, selfish bitch?! I don’t deserve to live.” Was this a dream or was this real…Or is this Hell?

Hiccup finally broke you out of your nightmare by shaking you violently. “[Reader]! Thank the gods. We have been calling your name for a solid fifteen minutes. You are really worrying me.”

You smiled weakly “Sorry, I’m just tired.”

“Promise me you’ll get some sleep tonight.”

“I promise.”  You had every intention to break your promise. You could sleep when the war was over. Instead you brewed some strong tea from a caffeinated herb you had discovered. You had been saving it since you did not have very much. It wasn’t as strong as coffee, but it would do. You planned to drink two cups this evening and three in the morning. That in combination with a few glyphs of strength and intelligence made you feel like yourself again.

It wasn’t a great solution.  In a few days you would feel a hundred times more tired than now, but in a few days you could afford to rest as long as you needed.

“Finally that nutcase is awake. Really Hiccup, do you intentionally pick out the weirdest of people to be your friends?” Snotlout said. Midnight bit him on the arm. “Aughhh!”

“Hah! Way to go Midnight!” You saw Hiccup frowning at you in disapproval. “I mean that’s very bad Midnight. You can’t go around biting people, even if they are very rude.” Then when you were sure that Hiccup was not looking at you, you mouthed “good job.”

Snotlout made the infinitely dumb decision of insulting Camicazi, and Fishlegs hit him. Hiccup looked like he wanted to intervene but you held up your hand.

Bam! Bam! Fishlegs hit snotlout two more times. You finally got up.

“That is enough, Fishlegs.”  you said, your voice in that moment was cold, and stern. Fishlegs stop.

Hiccup tried to get everyone to calm down as you helped him with his wound. You looked at the deep scar on your arm. Oh how the tables turned. Now it was your turn to rub pine sap on Hiccup’s wound. The tooth was lodged in the arm. Damn it! You had hoped that the Vampire Spydragon had not had enough time to plant the tooth, but apparently you were wrong.

Snotlout told the story of how he was planning to doublecross the witch and Alvin for the dragonmarkers.

“You can’t seriously be buy this?” asked Fishlegs.

You spoke slowly, “I think we should trust him.”

The Wodensfang told the story of the dragonmark and how it became the slavemark. You listened quietly in the shadows. You already knew this story.

“Camicazi is fine, I know it.” You said trying to comfort Hiccup.

“How do you know that?”

“I just do.” Hiccup wasn’t very convinced but he was touched that you were trying to comfort him. 

Chapter Text

I’m really sorry that this happened again, but for some reason I didn’t Notice the fact that chapter 20 : realization did not copy over and forgot about it. I’m sorry if the original chapter 20 seemed choppy, there was a missing chapter before it. If you want to I would recommend reading it as it has some helpful information. Also, there is a “new” chapter under Finally Awake titled home. It was always meant to be there, somehow I ended up copying the chapter twice.

Again, I am sorry,

Creative Cookie

Chapter Text

    “Snotlout, Hey Snotlout. Wake up.” You tried to nudge him awake but he would not get up. At least he would not show any signs that he was awake.(you suspected that he was not really asleep, after all you had pulled that trick yourself.” You had to get him up now it didn’t matter how, after all this was life and death. “Wake up Bitch! You whisper yelled as you karate kicked him in the stomach. 

     “Awww.” Snotlout groaned in pain as he finally got up. “Why on earth would you do that, you pathetic lunatic?!”  

     You looked up at him grimly, ignoring the insult. “Snotface Snotlout, I come with some information, and a deal. It is your choice whether or not you wish to take it.”

     “I don’t make deals with crazy people.”

     “I might be a crazy person, but with the knowledge I currently possess, I am a crazy person in a position of power.”

     “Prove it!” sneered Snotlout.

     “Back in the Pirate training program, you tried to kill Hiccup by removing the wooden box off of Dogsbreath’s sword.”

     “How did you know that? Are you a witch?” 

     “Eh…well, that technically would depend on how you define witch…” You shook your head. “That’s not the point. The point is that I have knowledge of both the past and future, and I have a proposition.”

     Snotlout looked like he wanted to make a snarky comeback but realized that it might be wiser to bite his tongue, at least for a bit. He crossed his arms “What are you proposing?” 

     “I know that you are planning to betray us to the witch and Alivn.” Snotlout’s eyes widened. “I also know that you are planning on betraying the witch and taking the things for yourself, which will not work by the way.”

     “Since you know all this, are you going to tell the others?”

     You shook your head. “No, it has to be you. If I tell them then you will forever be known as a traitor. If you tell them you will be a last minute hero.”

     “If you know the future then you already know what I do.” You had forgotten that despite his brutishness Snotlout was still clever, almost as clever as Hiccup. 

     “I know what happens if fate is not intervened. Take warning, I am giving you a chance at a better destiny. But if you do go the course that has already been carved out for you, I have a plan even then.” You handed him some thick leather armor you had made. “Do not ask me how I know. But if you do not heed my warning you will be shot and burned. The fire will hurt, but if you fly low enough, it should not be enough to kill.” You paused. “I am giving you the choice to take or leave the armor.” 

     “Wait, why? If you are so keen on helping me, why give me the choice to die?” 

     You sighed. “If you betray Hiccup to the witch, as I hope you will not, there will be no coming back from it. Hiccup will forgive you and so will I, but others will not. You will be ostracized and isolated. You will have to prove yourself again and again. Secondly, even with all my calculations there is only a 62 % chance of you making it to the island of Tomorrow alive. And only a 44% chance of living past that.  Even if you do survive, you could be permanently disabled. If I am being honest, I would not blame you for choosing a quick death via arrow.”

     Snotlout thought for a little while, “Why are you helping me?”

    “In truth, I made the same mistake you’re making. I pulled the same trick, a cry for help. I even tried to kill Hiccup directly…for my own selfish gain. I see a bit of myself in you and I want to help you. I made my choice, make yours.” You turned around to give Snotlout a bit of privacy. When you turned back around the armor was gone, which was a good thing, right? Then again, was it just you, or did the fire look a little brighter than before. 

     “Oh and just a safety precaution.” You said, smiling, stepping closer to Snotlout. “Even though I know that in the end you will make the right choice. “If someone in the group dies because of you, or let's say our little conversation got out, I will hunt you down, cut you open and sell your organs on the black market. Do you understand me?” 

     Snotlout gulped. He understood far too well. 

     “Excellent, G'night.”

Chapter Text

   A/n : tw talking about death

It was morning, at least probably morning. You guessed that it was about 4 am. “Midnight,” you whispered, nudging her gently.

“[Reader], huh? What’s going on?”     “Shhh everything is fine. I have a plan that will make sure everyone is ok, but I need your help.” Midnight nodded slowly. “I need you to drink this potion. Assuming my calculations are correct, this should last you longer than it did Hiccup, maybe 32 hours, but that is still not much time.” Midnight drank the potion obedient and you said the chant that went along with it. You felt a lot more tired afterwards, but you reminded yourself how you had to keep focused. It was only two more days, you could make it.

“What now?” asked Midnight

“The potion will let you do magic, are you familiar with the spells?” Midnight nodded, even though she herself had not ever been able to cast any spells, she saw you do it many times. “Good, this will make more sense later, but when we get to the witches hideout I want you to follow Snotlout, but make sure he does not see you. If and when he fights Hiccup do not intervene unless it is absolutely necessary. When he falls into the sea, save him and get him to the Island of Tomorrow. Use the Invisibility spell to get him past the dragon guardians. I know it’s a lot. Can I count on you?”

“You can count on me for anything.” Midnight said proudly. “But wait, what will you be doing?”

You smiled bitterly, “I will be going home, hopefully.”

“How are you planning too…”

“The answer that question is simple. All I have to do to get myself home… is get myself killed.”

“What?!”

“That’s the key to traveling between worlds, death.”

“No, that's crazy! I’ll scream, I-I’ll wake up Hiccup!”

“Midnight,” you said warningly.

“He will stop you. This is Madness!” Midnight started to fly towards Hiccup.

“MIDNIGHT SIT DOWN NOW!” You had never yelled at Midnight before. You had just broken a promise.

Midnight dropped down instantly, tears forming in her brilliant blue dragon eyes. Lucky you had used the sleep spell on all of the rest of the hideout, which kept them from waking up because of your outburst. You really did not want to spell them, but you had a feeling that this conversation would not go well, and you really needed them to stay sleeping.

“Midnight, I am sorry, but please trust that I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you know for sure?”

“Well I… I have a good hypothesis.”

“What if you are wrong? What if you don’t come back? I’ll be alone again! You promised me you wouldn’t leave me! You-you-” Midnight was getting choked up.

“I will come back, I promise, I’ll even bring back candy for you.”

“Please don’t do this.” Midnight begged, “or at least take me with you.”

“I can’t, not until I know that it is possible and safe for life to travel with me.” You grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something down. You folded the paper up and handed it to Midnight. “Here, it’s the secret family recipe for the stew we made months ago. If I don’t come back it’s yours.” You winked, “Someone has to keep the secret alive.”

“What am I supposed to do if you are wrong, if you die and nothing happens, and you are gone forever?”

“What do you like doing?”

Midnight thought for a bit, “Well I like cooking…I think.”

“Then you will become the first dragon chief in the world. You’ll be sad for a bit, maybe even quite a long time, but eventually, you’ll move on.” You boobed Midnight on the snout.

Midnight looked up at Hiccup, Camicazi and Fishlegs, still snoring peacefully, despite all your yelling.

“You spelled them, didn't you?”

Your guilty eyes met Midnight’s. “It’s probably the best sleep they’ve gotten in weeks.”

“They won’t like that you spelled them, especially Hiccup. He already has some suspicions about you.”

The two of you were quiet for a while, then Midnight asked “When will you unspell them?”

“In a few hours.”

“What do you want to do now?”

“I- I want to just be with you, and talk for a few hours until… until, well you know.”

You told Midnight stories from your childhood and she told you stories from hers. It was nice, but it couldn’t last. Eventually you undid the sleeping spell on all the hideouts. You were incredibly lucky that most of the hideout was still asleep even after you undid the spell. They woke up half an hour later though.  

Chapter Text

     The next morning you felt as if you were marching to your doom. You looked at Snotlout, silently pleading with him to tell Hiccup the truth. That would spare both of you so much pain.

Once you were at the waterfall, Hiccup whispered plan B. “Ok [reader] you stay behind with Fishlegs, in case anything goes wrong.”

“No, I am going with you.”

“You can’t, it’s far too dangerous.”

You squeezed Hiccup’s hand. “Everything I do, I do for a reason. Trust me on this one Hiccup. Besides, I’ll have invisibility.”

“Ok, fine.” Hiccup did not look very happy.

Oh god, you were actually going to do this. Before today the fact that you were going to actively try to get yourself killed had not really sunk in, but now…if you were somehow wrong… there would be no turning back.

The Deadly Shadow flew fast through the waterfall. You covered your arms with your cape. Underneath your long sleeves, you had a plethora of ink glyphs on, in order to keep both your mind and body running sharply, since you had been pulling far too many all-nighters. You really didn’t want them to get wet, because then they would smudge, and that would ruin the magic.

It happened at lightning speed. One moment you were dry, the next your hair and the top part of your shirt were all dripping. Your Glyphs seemed to have managed to survive, which was a relief.

You could hear the angry voices of trapped dragons. Oh, the things they said. Those things would haunt you for the rest of your life.

As you followed Snotlout through the maze that was the Alvinsmens hideout, you would be lying to yourself if you claimed you were not the least bit disappointed. You told yourself that you knew snotlout would betray you, you had planned for it. Yet somehow, it still hurt a little.

Once you came to the hatch, Hiccup asked, “and who is in there guarding them?”

“Just a couple of dozy Alvinsmen guards. But we can with them, can’t we?”

“He lies,” Stormfly whispered, “trust a liar to know a liar.” Hiccup leaned close to Stormfly so that the others couldn’t hear what he said.

“If you know so much about when people are lying, what do you think of [reader]. They have been acting…strange recently.”

Stormfly folded her wings. “I reserve the right not to answer that question.”  This was not a reassuring reply.

“I’ll go in first,” said Snotlout.

“Then Hiccup can go, and I, using my invisibility spell, will go in right behind him.” you said loudly.

“Can’t you use the invisibility spell on Hiccup?”

“No, it leaves the user fully blind while the spell is working. You either need a visible assistant, or in my case, have a lot of practice moving around while blind.”

You stamped your palm turning yourself invisible, then smudged it on purpose.

“Oh darn, when the spell gets smudged it stops working.” The group seemed confused by your forced and random exposition. Hopefully Snotlout caught that.  Then you did the spell for real.

Chapter Text

     Even though you could not see anything. You could still hear what was going on. You heard Hiccup trying to shuffle back. You heard one Alvinsman “scream got him!”

“Why if it isn’t Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, as I live and breathe. Thank you so much for joining us…” So this is what Alvin the treacherous sounds like, huh. It was similar, and yet slightly different from what you imagined in your head.

“We got him! we got him! The little wretch, victory is ours!” That must have been the witch. She went on to congratulate Snotlout, who seemed to have forgotten all about you. You let out an inaudible sigh then took out a pen that was practically out of ink and slammed it onto the floor as hard as you could. Bam!

“Who is there!” You heard Snotlout gasp a little, he had likely just remembered about you. You could sense someone's hand waving in the air, likely trying to find you. His attempt was rather pathetic. You could have easily left, but that was not what you needed. You helped Snotlout grab hold of your hand and undo the spell that kept you invisible. Instantly, a blur of colors and shapes came into your vision. Eventually, you could see clearly.

Time to see if those middle school theater classes were worth the money. You pretended to look shocked and horrified that Snotlout would betray you like this.

“Who is this?” asked a person who you could only assume was the witch.

“Another dragon marker, has some kind of strange magic. Hiccup is so weak that he fell for the same trick twice. This one double crossed him too! And they tried to kill him!” You could feel faces stare at you in destain but you kept your expression neutral.

You heard some guard that looked familiar mutter, “Oh dear it’s them again. I gotta get out of here.” You shot him a quick glare. He shook his head, mumbling. “This will not end well.”

“Oh this is all so wonderful. I shall be eating Hiccup’s heart by this evening.”

“You are revolting.” You heard a voice coming from a chest, it was Camicazi.

“Camicazi! Are you alright?” exclaimed Hiccup.

“I’m fine! Could not be finer. Don’t worry about me, I am perfectly OK!”

“Why have you put Camicazi in a box?”

“We didn’t want the little escape artist escaping,” sneered the witch.

“Eating his heart! You should be ashamed of yourself, Alvin! And you never learn, witch, Hiccup will trick you again, like he always does, and you will be the one checkmated.”

“Poor little BogBurgler,” the witch cooed. “The winds of war can change, my sweet, the winds of war can change. Your boyfriend Hiccup has a weakness…”

“Hiccup is not my boyfriend!” protested Camicazi, “besides [reader]…and I uh..both have no romantic feelings towards Hiccup whatsoever.”

Nice save Camicazi, you thought sarcastically.

“He wants to believe the best in people, and as a result Snotlout has tricked him easily. In fact, if what Snotlout has said is true, then 2 people have tricked him. Just goes to show how naive he really is.” You wanted to bite back, but you kept your nerves under check. “Kings mustn’t be so easily tricked. Can you not see that you have backed the wrong side? The boy’s father failed to find our hideout, the boy’s mother failed to find the lost things. The boy himself is so weak that he walked right into a trap. He isn’t really king material, is he?”

“You are evil!” shouted Camicazi from the box.

The witch smiled a poisonous smile. “Thank you, as I was saying the winds of war can change in a heartbeat, and you too can change sides, if you wish.  Everyone in this room should know it's not too late to change to the winning side.”

“Never! I will never turn my back on Hiccup!”

“Why would you follow Hiccup? He is a fool! Fool! Fool! Fool! He keeps believing the best in people, and he keeps getting betrayed. He is an idiot!” The witch screamed.

“I know there is good in Snotlout,” said Hiccup stubbornly.

“Oh for Thors sake, stop forgiving me Hiccup. It’s really irritating,” sneered Snotlout.

Even though you trusted the story completely, you still thought it might be good to remind Snotlout of the consequences that would befall him if the people you loved were taken away from you. If he betrayed you a second time you would not be merciful. You stared him directly in the eyes, unblinking and smiling ever so slightly and mouthed the words “black market.” Snotlout swallowed a little. He would never admit it in a million years, but you scared him, ever so slightly. Satisfied of having jogged his memory, you became motionless once more.

“Snotlout you are a traitor!” bellowed Gobber from a cage.

The dragon markers all booed at Snotlout, each taking their turn to call him a traitor.

Snotlout blushed. “You betrayed me. You betrayed everything you ever taught me about life. Look what has happened as a result of this weakness! The world at war! The dragons on the edge of destroying us all! And you still say that I am the traitor? You are all the traitors!”

“How dare you!” roared Gobber. You watched, l as Gobber threw insults at Snotlout. “I invite you to turn your backs on this dog, who’s name will go down in history as a byword for treachery and decide. You watched as all trapped dragonmarkers turned their backs.

“You can’t see me in my box,” said Camicazi, “but I am turning my back as well. You of course did not turn your back. You just kept on staring  at him, unblinking. Boy, he really wished you would stop doing that. It was freaky.

“Well, I couldn’t be more upset at you turning your backs on me, if it weren't for the fact that you are the people who elected Hiccup as their leader. I mean just look at him. It could be admitted that at that moment he did look rather pathetic. Half of his body was purple, although it has not swelled quite as badly as the books described. This was likely due to your interference. Still, his messy red hair shone brilliantly in the light, and his freckles were awfully cute…Damn it [reader], you don’t have time for that now! Focus on the task at hand.

“He is so stupid,” continued snotlout, “that he brought the last lost thing with him…”

Alvin drew a wriggling toothless out of Hiccup’s waistcoat. Toothless squealed in protest.

“Oh, this is too good to be true,” the witch said. The dragonmarkers gasped in horror.

“This time I will keep good care of the last lost thing. Hide it immediately with the others. Snotlout, you have excelled yourself.”

Snotlout smiled and bowed, “Will you do the honor of entrusting me to carry the last lost thing to the hiding spot?”

The witch's eyes became slits. “That is a very great secret.”

“And I have proved myself loyal. I have betrayed both tribe and kinsman. I am no longer a Hooligan, but a loyal subject of King Alvin.”

“We are grateful for your service,” the witch smiled, “However I am not going to entrust you with that secret. You have brought Hiccup to me, sure enough. But do you think that means that I will trust you? You are a weasel. You make a good minion, and now that you have betrayed your own, you are bound to our side forever.” Snotlout flinched. “You will have a place in our new kingdom, of course, but I do not trust a weasel, no. For I can see into the weasel's mind.” The witch now sounded sweet as honey. “You might be planning to steal those things for yourself, in order to become king. But in your heart, you know that you aren’t good enough.” You couldn’t help but feel pity for Snotlout at this moment. Snotlout paled. His eyes met your gaze and it seemed to tell him, now what did I say would happen. “You may have thought to trick us all, But fate knows her business. She always picks only two players. Hiccup or Alvin.” You couldn’t resist.

Cough cough, “logical fallacy.” Cough cough, “False dilemma.”

“Quiet!” screeched the witch. You had managed to brush on a nerve, good, good…

“As I was saying,” continued the witch. “Fate has shown today what you really are, a treacherous worm.”

The room went quiet. Snotlout looked slightly sick. Everyone stared at him with contempt, even his fellow Alvinsmen. No one likes a traitor. Snotlout bowed his head and sagged his shoulders.

As they took toothless away, the little dragon begged Hiccup to come and save him. Hiccup promised that he would. You wanted nothing more than to hug Hiccup tightly, but you could not do that. As painful as it was to see him like this you could not show any signs of affection, and signs of weakness yet.

“Now that we have all the lost things, your cause is doomed. Alvin will be crowned king. It is not too late to repent and switch sides.”

“Never! We will stand by Hiccup Forever!”

“Hic-cup!” “Hic-cup!” Yelled out an array of dragonmarkers.

“Very loyal,” purred the witch gritting her teeth, “the question is, will the boy stand by you? Chain him up!”

It was almost time. You had to get this right, you had to die tonight. In case Alvin and the witch decided to spare you, you had your dagger invisible attached to your leg via an equally invisible strap. Even though your hands were bound behind you with ropes, you should still be able to slit your wrists, if push came to shove. It would not however, be easy or clean… You would much rather the witch and Alvin do this for you. You just had to convince them…and you knew exactly how to do so.

Chapter Text

A/n : tw death, not super graphic, but a bit graphic

“What are you doing,” asked Alvin. “Remember last time? I have been dealing with this kid for a while and the only thing to do with him is to kill him the second you have the chance. We have the last lost thing. We should just kill him, then kill all his followers!”

“We can’t just go around killing everyone, Alvin my sweetest,” said the witch. “We need to change the minds of his followers. It’s politics. Leave the politics to me. Open the trap door!” “Hiccup is going to break the loyalties of his irritating followers by telling us where the dragonmarkers are hiding.”

“I most certainly am not,” said Hiccup firmly.

“You most certainly are, for I am going to lower you down into this freezing water, wrapped in chains and leave you down there until you see sense, or drown, whichever is the sooner.”

“I will never betrayed my friends,”

Watching Hiccup get waterboarded might have been the hardest thing you ever went through. You could handle being in pain yourself, but it was far harder to watch the people you loved being hurt. You wanted to scream. You wanted to attack, you had magic and a knife. You could possibly cut yourself free…but you wouldn’t make it far, you could win a fight against two Alvinsmen, maybe even three if you were lucky, but you had no hope against a room full of them. Your only hope was to stick to your carefully crafted plan. Mark my words Alvin the treacherous, you will pay. I will make sure of that.

You let the witch and Alvin lower Hiccup into the water twice before you finally decided to intervene.

You cleared your throat loudly. “Ahem,”

“What do you want?” the witch snarled.

“Greetings, my name is [reader’s full name] and I know where the dragonmarkers hideout is.” You spoke with a loudness and confidence that comes from having rehearsed this conversation many times before.

“Really?” asked the witch apprehensively. Now that she looked at you closer she could tell that she had never once seen you before in her whole life, which was odd, because she knew about most people. “Have you been there?”

“No.”

“Has the Hiccup boy, or anyone else told you?”

“No.”

“Then how could you possibly know?!”

“I would advise you not to question my knowledge, Exelinor, wife of Algarick Ogglelebert and blood of Rome” Your extensive knowledge of the httyd book universe once made you feel like a nerd. Now it made you feel powerful. It felt good knowing that you knew more than the other people in the room.

“How…” You had caught the witch off guard, which was something that you knew she despised.

“Besides, didn’t you just witness that I was invisible only less than an half an hour ago, is it really that implausible that I know some things?.” You could hear people start to murmur.

“[Reader], what are you doing?” whispered Hiccup.

The witch smiled, “If you do know where the hideout is then please do tell us.”

“I said that I knew, not that I was going to tell you.”

“Why you insufferable child! Chain them up and throw them in the water as well!”

“If you throw me into the water with the winter fleshers I will likely say anything to save myself from the physical pain and you will have no way of knowing if I lied or not until you actually got there.”

The witch was quiet; she hadn’t thought of that.

“This one is tricky, I can tell. Please mother, please let me kill them.”

“Not now Alvin!” snapped the witch.

“I have ways of telling when someone lies.” purred the witch.

“Maybe when someone like Hiccup lies, but not me.” You were right. The witch could not read your expression at all. Curses, she thought.

“If you lie I could take you with us and kill you.”

You sighed, “Look into my eyes. There is no light in them. I have lived practically alone, in the woods, in the middle of a war, far far away from my home and any person I used to know for eight months. I don’t fear death, not anymore.” This was not a complete lie, but not the full truth either. You still very much feared death, you had just come to terms that you would have to face that death.

“Excuse [reader], I don’t think they’ve slept in the last four days, they’re delusional!” cried desperately Hiccup.

“I assure you that I am perfectly sane.”

The witch contemplated “I could kill Hiccup if you lie.”

“Fine.” Out of the corner of your eye you could see that Hiccup looked a little hurt. “If there is one thing I care about less than myself, it’s other people. Snotlout can testify if you don’t believe me. What was that he said? Oh yes! I even tried to kill him myself.” You could hear a couple of the dragon markers call you vile and selfish, you chose not to pay close attention to them. “No you can’t manipulate me by killing somebody close to me. Hiccup however…”

The witch smiled an evil smile. An idea had finally dawned on her. Took the old hag long enough.

“Hiccup, as I have said before, has a weakness. And that is that he cares for others too much. But it has occurred to me that no matter what happens, none of Hiccup's close family or friends ends up getting hurt. The boy may think that he is invincible, but he is not, and I will prove that. Guards Seize that child and bring them here!”

You did not even try to resist, after all why would you, you wanted this, didn’t you? You were brought over to the witch and Alvin. You would love to say that you were not scared of Alvin at all, but that would be untrue. Silly as he was in the books, he was absolutely terrifying in person. You did your best to keep cool.

“Do I get to kill them, mother?”

“Possibly, Alvin my dear, possibly.”

“Goody,” Alvin said, rubbing his hook.

“You have a choice to make Hiccup, the kind that kings must make. Tell me the location of the hideout or your friend dies.”

Alvin held his hook right over your throat. There were cries of “Don’t do it Hiccup!” Someone yelled out, “They told you that they would let you die, why betray everyone for them.” The words did sting a little, but you had far more pressing things to worry about.

“I-I” Hiccup was struggling to breathe, then he hung his head down low. “The location of the dragonmarker hideout is…”

“Hiccup, listen to me, do NOT tell them.” You spoke as loudly and with as much authority as you could with a hook pressed to your neck.

“Is where! Is where!” screamed the witch. Hiccup said nothing. “Kill them! Kill them now Alvin! Let this be a lesson that the boy never forgets!”

You gasped in pain as Alvin’s hook pierced an artery in your neck. Red blood oozed down your neck. You could feel yourself getting dizzier and choked up. You had only a few seconds of consciousness left. “Don’t worry Hiccup, I’ll meet you at Tomorrow and… in case I am wrong about everything and don’t come back I… love y-. The darkness closed in around you before you could even finish your sentence. The last thing you remembered was Hiccup's horrified expression, tears streaming down his face.

Chapter Text

     You woke up with your head spinning. You had lost a lot of blood… You touched your neck. Owww! It had healed up enough so that you weren’t bleeding, but you could still feel a painful scab. God, you hurt so much even though you knew that you needed to hurry, you had to sit and rest. Even though you felt guilty about it, you stayed resting for at least an hour.

Your eyes adjusted. you could see that you were sitting in the middle of a street, not too far from your house. You felt a feeling of warmth inside. You were finally home. Everything was familiar.

You rested for what you guessed to be around half an hour. It dawned on you, when a kind woman bent down and placed a 20 dollar bill in your lap, that you might look… out if place, to put it kindly.

You did your best to keep clean the eight months you were gone, you even made a teeny tiny handcrafted soap. However you hadn’t slept in the last four days, much less washed, you were covered in cuts and dirt and your hair was probably a mess… If you didn’t want to attract attention, you would have to fix yourself up.

Since you really didn’t want to go back to your home house, you decided to go shower at your local gym. Since you didn’t have a membership, or if you did, you sure as hell didn’t have it on you, you would have to sneak in. That wouldn’t be too hard. Even though Midnight had the book and stamps, you had long since memorized the form of the spell. All you needed was a pen with some ink.

You saw an artist sketch a tree in the parking lot, perfect. You came up to her. “Can I borrow a pen please?” At first she seemed annoyed, but when she turned around to see you, her annoyance turned into fear. She handed you the pen.

“Thank you.”

“A-Are you sure that you don’t want anything more, like maybe a d-d-doctor.” You  disappeared around a street corner without saying anything more to the artist.

You decided that you could probably also use some new clothes. You went into a thrift shop where you knew they were cheap. For twenty dollars, you managed to get a new shirt and new pants and a comb. Everyone at the store stared at you. When you finally got a good look at yourself in a mirror, you could see why.

You really did look pathetic, dirty and ragged. If that wasn’t enough, the scab on your neck looked bad…really bad. That must have been why the artist offered to call a doctor. You stole a scarf to cover your neck. You would have loved to buy it, but you did not have enough money. You had your debit card, but that money needed to be saved for what you were planning. You promised yourself that you would pay the store back later. One employee saw you stealing the scarf. They however, did nothing to stop you.

Getting into the gym using the invisibility spell was easy. Even though their security system told them that an intruder was there, since they could not see anyone, the staff just brushed it off as a malfunction.

You hadn’t had a hot shower in months. The steamy, warm water felt heavenly. You didn’t have anything fancy like shampoo or conditioner. Really, you only had the cheap gym shower soap that was freely provided, but you were grateful even for that.

When you walked out you felt like a new person. It is truly amazing what a hot shower, new clothes and a five dollar comb can do. 

Chapter Text

     You walked towards your friend's house. People around here would know you, so you would have to be careful not to get recognised. You just hoped that none of your family would see you.

You got to your friend's house. The lights were dim and the cars were gone. Maybe no one is home? Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try. You rang the doorbell.

[Friend’s name] opened the door. They looked tired and annoyed. “What do you want?” Suddenly their eyes grew wide. “Oh..oh my God…[reader]. I-is it really you?” [friend’s name] said through a stream of tears. Then they pulled you into a tight hug.

You could feel your face getting hot and wet as well, “I’m glad to see you too, but can we step inside.”

“Yes of course.” Your friend led you inside their house. It was familiar, and comforting in a way that your house had never been. If you were honest, you actually preferred spending time here over your place.

“So, where are the others?”

“Business trip, but they should be back in a few days.” You nodded. This was very good news for you. “Would you like anything to eat or to drink…” [friend’s name] started choking up again. “Damn it [reader], where were you? I saw you got hit by a car. I-I saw you fall onto the ground blood pooling under you! I thought you had died! I went to go get some help, but when I came back your body was gone. You have been missing for eight months! Did you know that?! Where were you? At… at least you’re here now.”

You smiled sadly, “I’ll give you an explanation, but I can’t stay.”

Your friend looked alarmed. “Why? Is it your parent’s? I know you don’t like them and frankly, I don’t like them either. Because if it is that, then you can live here with me. I’m sure that I could convince my parents. W-we’d say we adopted a kid. We could dye your hair and buy you colored contacts. No one would know!”

“Shh,” you said, hugging your friend in order to comfort her frantic state. “It’s ok, I’ll tell you everything.”

[friend’s name] smiled a little, “You’ve gotten better at hugging, ok.”

You told them about the book, and about how you had fallen into the httyd book world. they did not believe you, until you turned a cup invisible.

“Well I guess that explains the tattoo… [reader], you’re not really planning on going back there, are you? I mean why leave behind your real life…why leave behind me, for a few fictional characters.”

You shook your head. “They may be fictional here, but let me assure you that they are very much real. Real, living, breathing, flesh and blood humans are getting hurt, and I have the power to help them.”

“But what if you get hurt?”

“I wouldn’t die, I already told you. If someone kills me, I’ll just end up back here.”

[Friend’s name] frowned, “I’m not talking about that. Take off your scarf.”

“What?”

“I know you're hiding something. Take it off.” You did as you were told, slowly unraveling the piece of [favorite color] cloth. Your friend gasped in horror as your neck wound was revealed. “Look at you, you are covered in scars, cuts and bruises. The magic may protect you from death but it sure as hell doesn’t seem to protect you from getting hurt. What if someone inflicts a non-lethal injury on you? What if someone cuts off your hand hmm?! What then?!” [Friend’s name] was now blocking the door. “I’m not going to let you go!”

You were painfully aware of the reality that going back to that world meant that you could get seriously injured. “[Friend’s name] I always knew that I wanted to do something…something grand that would help thousands of people, I just never knew what or how. Now I have the power to help an entire world. My life finally has some purpose…please…”

With a sniff, your friend moved away from the door. “Ok, is there any way I can help you?”

“As a matter of fact, there is.” You handed them a list. “Get these items put them in suitcases then tie the suitcases together with strong rope.” You were not a hundred percent sure if it would work, but hey, you could bring a backpack into the other world, so why not a bunch of suitcases tied together.

“[reader], this list has over 600 items…I don’t have that money.

You pulled out your debit card, you kept it in your backpack. It was just about one of the only things that Skullcrusher hadn’t swindled from you.

“Use the money from my college fund.” Your parents had wanted you to become a doctor or a lawyer. They had indoctrinated you from a young age into thinking that college was the most important thing in the world. You had thousands of dollars in your fund. Even though you could technically spend it at any time, they knew that you would not spend a dime. Going to an Ivy league school had been your dream, and those could be very expensive.

“[Reader] I can’t. What about your dream?

You chuckle, “I won’t need a degree where I’m going. By the way, has Mr. Wilkson moved?”

“No, he’s still living in the same place as before.”

“Can I borrow 600 cash, you can take 600 out of my fund. I just need it in cash.”

Your friend slowly opened a box with all her money in it. they only had 615 dollars. they handed you the cash.

“I will not take money from you. Consider this a parting gift.”

“Thank you, meet you back here in 7ish hours, oh and one last thing…”

“Yes?”

“How is my family?”

“Oh,” said your friend solemnly. “They were sad at first I think…but as time passed…[Reader] I think they’ve moved on.”

“So they’re happy?”

“Yes…” [Friend’s name] said carefully, this felt like a loaded question to them.

“Good.” You may not have liked your family but you didn’t want them to miss you. They were happy without you, and you were happy without them. It gave you a bittersweet kind of satisfaction. You wanted your family to live their best life without you.

You gave your friend a tight goodbye hug and went on your way.

Chapter Text

     “[Reader]? How did you get into my house?” Mr. Wilkson gasped. 

     “I got in through the back door, you really should lock it more often. I don’t want trouble, please. All I need is a gun and some ammunition.”

     Mr. Wilkson was a teacher at your old elementary school. You didn’t know him too well, but you did know that he had bought a gun after being robbed in his youth. You also knew that he was too kind and soft to actually fire at you, or anyone else for that matter.

     “[Reader], you were on the news a few months ago. The police were looking for you. Do your parents even know where you are?”

     You ignored the question. “I have money, six hundred in cash, I could give you more if you are willing to wait. I know that you can barely afford rent. Think of your children. Think of what six hundred dollars could do for your family. All I need is a gun and a few bullets” you pleaded. 

     “How did you know about that?”

     “Playground gossip travels fast, besides a house in this area, with five kids, and a single teacher’s salary… Well it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that your financial situation would be tight.“

     Mr. Wilkson looked like he was contemplating your offer. He spoke slowly, “And what… are you planning… to do… with the gun.

     “Make the world a better place,” you answered vaguely. 

     “You are planning on killing somebody aren’t you.”

     You thought about lying, but realized you were too tired. “Yes, but they deserve it!”

     “[Reader], since when is who lives or dies man’s decision?”

     “They tried to murder a child several times eventually torturing him, started a war, enslaved hundreds and practice cannibalism.”

     “You’re right, they deserve it,” said Mr. Wilkson, getting his gun from where it was located. He also got a handful of bullets. 

     “Before I give this to you, I won’t be linkable to this, will I?”

     You smiled. “The place I am going is far from here, believe me there is absolutely no way that anyone could trace that gun back to you.”

     He handed you the gun, and you gave him the money. “I trust that you know how to use a gun?”

     “Of course,” you said. You had been to a shooting range before, but this gun was a bit different. You would have to practice. 

     You crept out of the house, quietly, leaving Mr. Wilkson thoroughly confused. At least he was six hundred dollars richer now.

Chapter Text

     You made your way to a dark alley. This took some time, seeing as you lived in a relatively good neighborhood. This place was far away, but you needed some place to practice shooting the gun.

It was the kind of place that mothers warned their children not to go. It was also the kind of place where there were usually no prying eyes, or ears. And if someone did try to mug you…well you still had your knife, and eight months of wilderness survival skills.

You took a paper out of your pocket and used your pen to draw a circle in the middle, then you stuck the paper onto the wall. The first time you fired, the bullet  hit the top right corner of the page. The second time you got closer to the target, but still missed. It was only on the third try that you managed to hit the bullseye.

Satisfied with your “training”, you reloaded the gun and turned around, ready to head out. Just as you turned around, you came face to face with a little old lady holding a phone.

“Yes I would like to report a dangerous teenager with a gun.” Shit. You panicked, smacking the phone out of her hand and started running.

You cursed yourself. You should have been more careful. Even though a few people have told you that you were mature for your age, there was no way you could pass for 18.

You ran through parks, streets and even a mall. A clock in the mall told you that you had about five more hours before you needed to meet back with your friends. You had finally managed to lose the old lady.

You spent a few hours just relaxing and having fun. You felt guilty about it, but you knew that you wouldn’t be back here for a while. Visiting your favorite places gave you closure. You sighed heavily, you were really going to miss this place. It was true that you could technically come back whenever you wanted but…death is painful…. incredibly painful. You wouldn’t want to go through that often. You stole a bit of your favorite food, visited all of your favorite places and did anything else you deemed necessary. (A/n Tell me in the comments what else you would deem necessary)

You felt satisfied and happy, but a little bit sad too. You were giving all this up for a chance to build up a new world. Yes, you could improve the archipelago, but it would always be trapped by the nature of time. You were only one person. The archipelago would never have cars, or wifi or hot running water…still, you could make it better than it is now.

Your skin turned to ice as you heard a voice behind you.

“Freeze right there, put your hands in the air.”

There were two police officers behind you, the little old lady standing next to them. You did as you were told.

“Have I done something wrong, officers?” you asked innocently.

“Hand over the backpack.” Your backpack was where you had stored your gun, along with some helpful notes and maps. You muttered a string of curses in your head. You pretended to comply while simultaneously drawing the invisibility glyphs on the back of your hand. The glyphs was complex, but you had drawn it so often that you could do it with your eyes closed. In only a few moments you vanished.

You could hear voices.

“What the Hell Gary?!”

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know what’s happening!”

“This is a trick, they can’t be very far.” You started running. “I hear something. I think they went that way.”

You could feel people close behind you. Your heart was pounding in your chest. You felt scared and disoriented. The main way you navigate while under the blinding effects of the spell was through sound. You had never, up until this point, realized just how loud a city could be. You had no Idea where you were.

“Oww” you hissed in pain as a bicyclist hit you. You scraped the back of your hand on the pavement just enough to distort the spell, making you visibly again. The biker blinked, crossed himself and backed away slowly, whispering something about the devil.

“There they are.” You heard one of the policemen say. You weren’t too far from your friend's house, and it was about meeting time. You decided to just bolt for it, running faster than ever before in your life, pushing people out of your way.

The police were close behind you. You banged on the door a few tears forming in your eyes. “Please open! Please open!” The door finally swung open and an arm pulled you inside, slamming the door shut. 

Chapter Text

A/n : Tw suicidish, pills (remember children [reader] has a magic book that guaranties that they will not be hurt after overdosing. You do not. Don’t overdose on pills.)

“What the hell, [reader]!” your friend shouted at you.

There was a loud bang on the door. “It’s the police, open up!”

“You brought the police here!”

“Yes I know, and I am sorry.”

“Never mind that, help me,” your friend said, pushing a very large arm chair to the door. Together you manage to barricade the front door. After that, you spent some time barricading the rest of the house.

“That should keep them out for a while,” [friend’s name] said, rubbing the sweat off of their face. I have the suitcases in my room.

As you followed them into their room, you could see a stack of suitcases, all tied together with ropes. You still weren’t sure if this would work, after all, one backpack is far different from a stack of seven suitcases, still it wouldn’t hurt to try.

In the corner of a room you spotted a small, mossy green  lizard. “I don’t remember you having a lizard.”

“Oh-um,” your friend blushed, “My parents definitely didn’t get me a pet after you disappeared, and I definitely didn’t name her [reader] as a coping mechanism, and I most certainly do not talk to her for hours!”

You laughed, “Aww. Wait, can I have her?”

“Why?”

“I want to see if I can take life with me.”

“Will she be ok?”

“I-I’m not sure…”

“I love lizard [reader], but I love the real [reader] more. Please, if she survives…bring her home.” Your friend placed the lizard onto your shoulder.

“There is only one last thing for me to do… [friend’s name] would you be a dear and get a bottle of pills, I think you know which one. Your friend solemnly retrieved the bottle. They knew that technically you would not die, but it still felt wrong.

“Would you like something to swallow it with, water or whiskey…”

“[Friend’s name]!”

“Just saying, if you need it, we got it. Heaven knows I could never do what you are about to do sober.

“Actually, do you have [favorite drink]?”

[Friend’s name] nodded, tears pricking at their eyes. They left the room and came back with a glass of [favorite drink]. “I always kept some in the fridge in case you came back.”

The drink helped you swallow the pills, but it still took effort to down the bottle. When you were only half way through the bottle you could already feel yourself struggling to keep the pills down. You forced yourself to swallow the whole bottle. You needed to die, you couldn’t just put yourself into a coma, or something like that. If you did then who knows what would happen. 
“[Reader]… do you feel okay?”

“I-uh I-umm huh?” You tried to shake your head. Your stomach hurt. You felt cold and sweaty and your eyesight was starting to blur. 

“Would you like to lie down?” You nodded weakly. Your friend helped you onto the bed. You had one of the suitcase handles in one hand. Your friend was squeezing the other. It gave you comfort to feel their touch still…

It took effort but you managed to croak out. “Let go of my hand.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what will happen to you if you are still touching me when I die. It’s not safe.” 

Reluctantly your friend let go of your hand. Death may have been just as physically painful as the other instances, but this time, you had [friend’s name] close to you. You were on a soft bed, in a comfortable room with someone who loved you. You smiled as you closed your eyes. 

Chapter Text

      You found yourself in a vast open space, or a very small closed space. It was black, but not pitched black, as you could still see yourself perfectly fine. There was no light nor shadow to give you any perspective of how big the place you were in actually was. You felt frozen, lost in time and space.

A small girl startled you by popping into existence, nearly giving you a heart attack. She looked to be about twelve, maybe thirteen. She wore a peculiar outfit and her short messy hair was jet black, save for two locks of purple at the front. Her eyes shone the same purple as her hair.

“Who are you?” you asked.

“What do you think?” the girl smirked.

You thought carefully and took caution when you spoke. “I think that you are a hallucination that my mind made up due to a side effect of the medication I just took.”

The girl giggled, “Nope, but that wasn’t a bad guess. A little skepticism is healthy.” The girl’s smile abruptly fell. “No, I am afraid that I am very real, and here for a serious reason, the magic.”

“The magic?”

“Yes, did you really think you could go around reality hopping without anything happening or anyone noticing?”

“I-“

“Let me tell you something, each time you die and move realities, it forms cracks, sometimes even holes that I have to fix!”

“Wait, so you're in charge of “realities”? How many are there?”

“103, but each reality has about 30 fragments, give or take. Yours has about 24 the one you were about to go to has around 34 fragments. And as a result of your actions, one of your doubles has fallen into one of the httyd fragments, and wreaked havoc on that world.”

You stared at her in shock, “There are more of me?”

“There are two more of you, one is actually kind of sweet and the other is well…”

“Psycho?”

“Exactly,” the girl shook her head. “I’m getting off track. The point is that if you pay me, I will allow you to keep exploiting this little loophole you found.”

You folded your arms, “And if I don’t agree, how are you going to stop me from killing myself and traveling anyway?”

The girl's face darkened. Before she looked cheekily cheerful, now she looked so grim it was almost scary. “You are not only dealing with me here. You are playing with death, which gives my brother dominion in this situation. I may not be able to kill you for another 99 years, 3 months and 19 days, but your friends are not immune to death like you. I can and will tear everyone you love away from you, with the help of my brother. Do NOT test me.”

“Oh,” Her words sunk in, you really only had two options, yes or no. “Hmmm, and what exactly would I be paying you with?”

The girl giggled mischievously, “Nothing much, just your soul.”

“My what?! No way!”

“I’ll even sweeten the deal, if your friends are touching you in any way they can travel too. I can even give you back the missing pages in your book.”

“Wait, you have them, but how? I thought the book was indestructible.”

“Lot of good it did me,” muttered the girl, more to herself than anything else. “As to answer your question, it is one of the many mysteries of life.”

“But you clearly know some-“ The girl shoved a finger in your face to shut you up.

“I said it is one of the many mysteries of life, so have we got a deal?”

“I’ll think about it.” You could see the girl clench her jaw in frustration. Then she blinked and her expression changed to that of undoubtedly fake innocence curiosity.

“You want to help others don’t you?” she spoke sweetly, too sweetly.

“What are you saying?”

“You aren’t fooling me. Do you really think that I would believe you need a suitcase full of antibiotics, painkillers and other medication, just for yourself? And what about all those books on how to build cities and run economies? You wish to people.”

“Why are you bringing this up?”

“If you don’t take my deal, I’ll keep you here until paramedics arrive. They will revive you and you will be home once more, but you will never be able to travel to other realities ever again, or at least not without severe punishment. Just think, their world is currently in the dark ages; plagues, wars, famine, hundreds of thousands dying and you can change all of that. You have the means to bring light, make the world better, just like you always dreamed

You suddenly understood why the girl was telling you this. You felt a knot in your stomach. “If I refuse the deal, that would be selfish of me.”

The girl smiled, “Oh extremely, but it’s your choice….You might want to figure out soon though, I don’t have all day. If you don’t decide in the next five minutes then I’ll automatically assume that your answer is no.”

You felt a cold bead of sweat trickle down your neck. You had to take this deal, consequences or no. There was just too much relying on you. “I accept the deal.”

“Excellent,” The girl snapped her fingers making a scroll, a quill and a knife appear. The scroll glowed a light purple, but both the quill and the knife were black. The knife had a large black diamond in the center of its hilt…wait a minute. “That’s my knife?!”

“Actually, it’s my knife. My name’s on it.” Sure enough, when you flipped the knife over there were letters faintly engraved onto the blade.

“I-a-n-u-a. Ianua?”

“I keep a copy of this knife in each reality, and every reality fragment, for deal making purposes.”

“So there are hundreds of these knives?”

“Technically, but there is only one per fragment. I think you know what to do.”

You did. Making a small slit, you took a deep breath and sucked some of your blood up with the quill. You signed your name on the line at the bottle of the contract. You had scanned the fine print hoping there was something you could use, but all it did was seal up any loopholes you might have been able to exploit.

The girl's last words echoed in your head as she disappeared, “Remember, a contract is a contract, if it is made in blood.”

What have you just done?

Chapter Text

You woke up on the cost of an island. You were still holding the suitcase handle, and the others were still tied to it. You felt the lizard crawl down your shirt. “Aghhkk!” At least you knew that the demon girl, whoever she was, had made good on her word. Or maybe it was just a dream? You would need your book to be sure. The book was with Midnight and as long as she still had some of that potion in her system, the book wouldn’t teleport back to you.

You felt god awful, likely medicinal side effects. you rolled around and threw up into the sea. After an hour of feeling sick, you were ready to go.

Hang on, this island coast looks familiar. You decided to explore a little in order to see where you were. Before you did that, you made the suitcase invisible and made a rock circle around them, in order to find them later. As you headed into the woods, you heard a quiet chatter, as if invisible children were whispering.

“Who’s there?” The chattering stopped. “Come on, I know you’re there, you can come out, I mean no harm. Two children stepped out, from behind the trees.  You recognised them as Thistleroot and Adelaide. I must be on the island of that blacksmith. “Children, what are you doing here?” you said as you hugged both of them tightly. “No matter, I need you to do me a favor.” You took the lizard and placed it in Adelaide’s hands. “I need you to keep this lizard safe. It is very important to me. Can you do that?” Adelaide nodded enthusiastically. “Now I just need a way to get to the Island of Tomorrow.”

“We can help!” exclaimed Thistleroot. Adelaide jabbed him in the rib, and he stuck his tongue out at her. “Follow me!”

You ran after Thistleroot. Adelaide sighed and hurried after you. Thistleroot led you to a place in the forest hidden by vines. There you could see a raft. It was crudely built, but It looked like it could survive at least a few trips out on the archipelago seas.

With the help of the children you dragged the raft to shore. As you got on the children told you their goodbyes. “I will be back soon. I know you made this in order to get to the island of Tomorrow.” Thistleroot and Adelaide looked at the ground uncomfortably, confirming your theory. “But you must stay here.” Thistleroot winked at Adelaide, and she winked back. “I mean it, it’s too dangerous. Just wait one more day, please.”

Sailing on the raft was hard, and you got attacked by several dragon rebellion dragons, and a few neutral dragons, but eventually you made it to the island of Tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

     Fishlegs gave his speech listing all the reasons why Hiccup was the rightful king. The crowd started cheering. “Hiccup for King!” “Hiccup for king! Amidst the chaos one voice rang out clear. “Hiccup for king.”

Everyone fell silent, turning their heads. There, as if a fantom, stood a raggedy teen. You had made it to Tomorrow.

You strolled casually up the island. The crowded split to let you pass. Everyone was murmuring. News of your recent interaction with the witch had spread like wildfire. Some people whispered of you being a ghost, others said that you had to have been a god. A few people knelt, because they didn’t know what else to do.

“No! No! No!” the witch screamed, spitting in your face a bit. “You should be dead!”

“Really? Do you have a body?”

“Yes we do!”

“Did.” you corrected smugly. Alvin looked like it was taking all the strength and willpower he had not to attack you on the spot. He had killed you with his own hook. He was sure you should be dead, and yet here you were, very much alive, and, apart from a scab on your neck, looking better than ever.

“How are you still alive?!” he groaned.

“✨ Magic ✨The most killing I will achieve is a minor inconvenience.” You smirked, “But when you killed me it was actually a favor.”

“What!?”

“Yes,” you said, now smiling ever so sweetly. “I needed you to off me so that I could get home…it’s a long story…But I feel that you would love to know that you played straight into my hands, and did everything exactly how I wanted. Thank you.” After this you finally turned away, leaving a flabbergasted Alvin and his equally dismayed mother behind. The witch was livid. She had always pulled on the stings of other people, but she herself had never been the puppet.

As soon as you turned around you felt arms wrap around you so tight it almost felt like you couldn’t breath. Hiccup was crying tears of pure joy. “[Reader], I-I thought I lost you!”

You laughed, while also crying slightly, “I told you I’d meet you here didn’t I?”

Hiccup whipped his eyes, “I guess you did say that, I was just focused on a whole lot of other things…” Hiccup blushed a little. “By the way, did you really mean the other thing you said?”

“Oh, I-um-“ you could feel yourself start to get flustered too. Before you could answer, there was a great cacophony among the crowd. Some invisible being was trying to push through. There was a glitch in the air, then four figures appeared, a young man, two children and a dragon. You guessed that the timer on the potion had finally run out and that’s why they turned visible. Wait, would that mean? You opened your backpack, sure enough the book was now in there, as the potion no longer tied it to Midnight. You flipped through the book. Sure enough, all the missing pages were filled in. It hadn’t been a dream. You really did sell your soul.

The children were pretty bruised and bloody, but nothing looked too deep, so you didn’t worry.  Snotlout on the other hand looked rather bad. The burns were worse down at his legs. He limped when he walked forward and looked like he wanted to collapse.

Midnight looked fine…until you saw the other half of her face. “Midnight!” you cried out in horror running towards the dragon. She was missing an eye. “Midnight, I’m so so sorry!”

“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Besides, I can still see.” Midnight smiled as she licked your hand

“Well if it isn’t the little weasel,” cooed the witch at Snotlout.

Roars of “traitor!” and “Fiend!” erupted from the dragonmarkers.

“No no guys,” Hiccup said hurriedly, “Snotlout dressed as me and took the arrow that was meant for me, inordinately to help me escape with the lost thing, course then I got shipwrecked, but that was not his fault.”

“That’s right, my brother is a hero. And we helped get him here!” boasted Adelaide pointing at herself and Thistleroot.

You shook your head, “wait, you had two rafts?”

“My mother taught me to always have a backup plan, of course she isn’t here anymore. I hope you’re not mad.”

“No no,” you laughed, “that was rather clever, if I was you I would have done the same thing.”

Adelaide spotted her father and ran to him waving. He picked her up and hugged her. He had not stopped thinking of her since they got separated.

Thistleroot frowned. As it turned out, his mother had been one of the many casualties of the war, and his father was far, far away. In this moment he realized something. Everyone else had some family member, or someone close to them, but he did not, at least not yet.

“How on earth did you survive Snotlout?” asked Hiccup

“Well, Midnight fished me out of the water and got me to land, where those two rascals found me and after some explaining, they decided to help me.”

“But that does not explain how you survived the arrow. It went through your heart, we all saw it!”

“Ah,” Snotlout smirked, “But did it really go through my heart?” Snotlout lifted up his shirt to reveal the armor you had made for him. “[Reader] had a feeling that this would come in handy.” Snotlout chuckled a bit, and you smiled. You stopped smiling when your eyes met Hiccup’s dark gaze.

“You knew it would happen.” 

Chapter Text

     “W-what?”

“You knew it would happen, you knew Snotlout would at first betray us to the witch and then be shot by an arrow, and you didn’t bother to tell me?!”

“I-” You tried to speak but Hiccup was only getting started.

“How, how do you know so many things, after I told you my name you seem to know everyone else’s names off the top of your head. You appear to know everything that is about to happen before it does!” Hiccup paused and when he continued spoke in a very low and quiet voice. “You know the secret of the dragon jewel, don’t you?”

You were silent, you didn’t know what to say. The world suddenly felt extraordinarily small, like it was closing in on you.

“Unbelievable! You know all these things and yet you never tell anyone anything! Look around you, this is not some ridiculous game, people are dying! Haven’t I done enough to earn your trust?!

“I swear Hiccup, I’ll explain everything soon.”

“When, ToMoRrOw,” asked Hiccup, mocking the many times you had evaded answering a question by stalling. “Well guess what?! We are literally at Tomorrow, and you still won’t answer!  Tell me, what was written on the paper I gave you? How do you know so much? Who are you!? It had happened, Hiccup had finally snapped.

“I-” Hiccup cut you off again.

“And don’t even think about lying to me. I’m sick of all your lies. All the time, you twisted the truth, telling me that you didn’t really say what you said or that I was remembering something wrong. I want an honest explanation, and if you can’t provide one we are done!”

“Surely you don’t mean that, Hiccup?” stepped in Fishlegs, gingerly. Hiccup did not listen. He was beyond mad, he was furious, and he was scared. He wanted to trust you, but he was unsure if he would ever be able to trust you again.

“Yes I do mean it! If you can’t answer my questions then it is through, we are not Comrades, companions, friends, pals or anything else anymore .” Hiccup fell silent and so did the rest of the people.

You knew you should give an explanation, but that would mess up your plan. No, no, no, like Hiccup said, people’s lives were at stake. You couldn’t just give up the ace you held in your hand, and maybe, if you were being perfectly honest with yourself, you didn’t want to tell Hiccup the truth.

“So that’s your choice,” Hiccup , “You can talk to me when you have an honest explanation ready.” Just like that Hiccup turned away. Although you could not see it, he felt  just as hurt and betrayed at that moment as you were.

The crowd of people was still and hushed. It felt to them like they had just witnessed something very personal.

You felt despondent. No matter how hard you tried to breathe, you just couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen. You felt dizzy and cold. You decided to slip to the back of the crowd and sit down on a mossy rock. You needed a minute’s rest. Your head was full of thoughts, This couldn’t have really happened, could it. D-did I just lose Hiccup as a friend. Hiccup would still forgive you, right? Right???

Chapter Text

     You sat on the rock for a while.

“Hey, are you ok?”

“Ya, I’m…fine,” you said looking up. Thistleroot, Adelaide and Snotout had come over along with Midnight. Midnight licked your face, which made you feel a little better.

“Hiccup sounded pretty mad,”

“I did much worse than you, and Hiccup still forgave me. I'm sure Hiccup will forgive you. Just tell him the truth,” said Snotlout.

“That’s the thing, I can’t tell him the truth, not yet, and even if I did, he might think I’m strange or crazy.”

“[Reader] you are strange, but you're also one of the coolest people I have ever met….and also kinda the creepiest..”

“What was that?!”

“Nothing, the point is that, no matter what happens, you will always have us four by you. Isn’t that right guys?”

“Absolutely!”

“Definitely.”

“For sure!”

“Thanks guys,” you said, slowly getting up from the rock.

“Now, if you'll excuse me I’m…I’m going to go lie down.” Snotlout didn’t look near death, but he also didn’t look too well either. Some rest would do him good.

“And I’ll go see if I can get my brother some medical help,” said Adelaide, before she went, she opened her hands to reveal a small mossy green creature. “I have your lizard.” Sure enough, it was the same lizard that your friend had entrusted you with. The poor thing looked frightened to death, but unharmed. “Do you want it back?”

“Keep it for now. I’ll be back soonish.”

“Ok.”

Chapter Text

Hiccup was crowned King. Just as planned. You would have been overwhelmed with joy if not for the fact that the past 15 minutes had left you completely miserable.

The Wodensfang frantically explained to Hiccup that the dragon jewel he had was not real. When the dragon switched to English it felt like all hell broke loose. The witch seemed delighted. No matter, Hiccup still had to face the dragon furious alone in single combat.

You joined the line that formed before Hiccup. Each viking gave him an item, you however, had something different to offer. You knelt down in front of Hiccup to show loyalty. He folded his arms crossly. “It-it’s in the lobster claw necklace ju-just thought you might want to know.” Hiccup grimaced and his back to you.

Only when it was too late and you were already out of sight, did he turn back around and ask, “What is in the lobster claw necklace.” But you were not there. Pride had held him back, he felt a twinge of regret starting to take root. Was he possibly too harsh with you? Then again, your actions had hurt him thoroughly. Hiccup, by nature, was not a boy who held grudges, but the way you lied really bugged him. It was so natural, so natural that it was hard to disbelieve you, even when his own brain and memory was telling him the complete opposite. Furthermore, Hiccup felt bad  that after everything you two had been through together, you didn’t trust him enough to tell him a single bit of information. He had hugged you when you cried, he comforted you when you were scared. Every day he tried to be the best friend he could be, but none of that made a difference. He really liked you, maybe he loved you, and you did too, but what is love without trust? Nothing but broken promises.

Hiccup had no hope of repairing the relationship, for he was sure he would die in battle facing the dragon Furious. Furious was a mountain of a monster, and Hiccup was just one skinny little boy, he couldn’t possibly survive…

Chapter Text

  As Hiccup rode into battle, he heard the thousands of warriors singing the Hooligan anthem. One line stood out to him, berk is my lobster. That’s a strange line, why would it be in the song unless.... The last words you spoke came back to him. It’s in the lobster-claw necklace! Hiccup let out a small laugh, a bit hysterically. He didn’t know if he wanted to punch you, or to kiss you. Hopefully, you were at least being safe. Unfortunately, you were about to do one of the least safe things, confront Alvin and the witch.

You took the gun out of your backpack. It was fully loaded and the safety was off. It was time. You moved silently behind Alvin and his mother, ready to finish it when, Crunch! Your foot landed on a dried branch. This immediately alerted the two of your presence. They quickly turned around.

“Oh, it's this brat, don’t worry mother, I think I can handle this,” said Alvin the treacherous. “You have come to assassinate me with that thing, I presume.”

“How do you know that?” You knew for a fact that the vikings had never even heard of a gun, let alone seen one.

“Well for starters you’re holding that thing like a weapon and pointing it directly at my chest. Secondly, us treacherouses are very good at recognizing weapons. It’s how we stay alive for so long. Let me guess, you pull the trigger and something comes flying out at me, maybe an arrow, maybe a poison dart, or maybe something different entirely…”

“If you know that I’m trying to kill you, then why aren’t you stopping me,” you growled.

Alvin sneered, “Because I know that you're weak, just like that Hiccup boy. You are far too soft to pull the trigger.”

You widened your stance, planting your feet firmly into the ground. “You’re going to bet your life on me bluffing?!”

“As a treacherous,” drawled Alvin, “I have a knack for spotting the murderous, the violent, the bloodthirsty…that is not you. Oh, you try to make yourself look big and tough and scary, making grim and ultimately empty promises, but deep down you know that you are just a sad, pathetic, lonely, broken child.”

You clenched your jaw. “This sad, pathetic, lonely broken child is going to put a bullet through your heart.” You were about to pull the trigger when something changed.

Why were there trees surrounding you? You were just in a grassy meadow, this couldn’t be right. Now you were back in the meadow. Then you were in the forest again. Forest, meadow, forest, meadow, forest, meadow. You looked up to see Alvin the treacherous yawning, except it wasn’t Alvin anymore, it was Hiccup, tied tightly to a tree, overwhelming fear in his eyes.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all! You were having a hallucination. You hadn’t had a hallucination since that incident in the hideout, and even then it hadn’t been so bad. The whole reason you went to the trouble of getting the blasted gun, was so that you wouldn’t trigger a hallucination.

Hiccup spoke with the voice of Alvin, or was it Alvin who spoke with the voice of Hiccup? You couldn’t tell anymore. Even though all words sounded like static to you, you could still hear Hiccup’s voice in your mind. “You don’t have to do this.”

Yes you did. What you saw in front of you was an illusion, it was not real. You were pointing a gun at Alvin, not Hiccup. Alvin was a terrible man and deserved to die! It was different! Your head was telling you that it was different…so then why didn’t you feel different?

You wiped your face, which was now wet with tears of anger and frustration.

You put the gun down onto the grass. Then you sat down and buried your head in your thighs. Everything Alvin had said had been true, you were weak, you were soft, you were pathetic and broken. You couldn’t even do this one simple thing.

“See, I knew it! I knew it, mother!” Alvin laughed. The witch and Alvin found this all terribly amusing. After he had a good laugh, Alvin drew his sword. He might not be able to end your life but he could still make you suffer. There was a lot of pain that could be experienced before the human body gave into death. He crept towards you. Your head was still down so you did not see him approach. You were unarmed and distracted. Right at the moment when Alvin’s sword was about to make contact with you, Bam! Bam! The loud sound of three gunshots being fired echoed through the entire island. Your eyes widened as you shot up.

You saw the witch and Alvin dead on the ground, holes with bleeding holes in their heads. Who had fired the gun? You slowly turned around in time to see Thisteroot, with the gun in his hands, still shaking, say  the words, “Don’t you dare hurt my family.”

Chapter Text

People were starting to come over. You stood in front of the murder scene to cover it up.

     “Nothing to see here folks move along,” you frowned, ushering the people away “that’s right move along.”

     One viking woman, who was evidently smarter than the rest, peered behind you. “Oh Thor, they’re dead !”

     More people started coming over and you heard the crowd talking loudly. Some looked happy, others, particularly the Alvinsmen, looked angry. One large Alvinsman came forward, you recognised him. He was Skullcrusher. 

     “Which one of you two killed Alvin and his mother,” he asked crossly. Drawing his sword. 

     “I did,” you said, pulling Thistleroot behind you. “So if you want a quarrel, it’s me who you will have it with. You brandished your knife. 

     “ Actually ,  I never liked that Alvin fellow much.”  The rest of the former Alvinsmen murmured agreement and gave their own excuses for walking away. None of them wanted to face a seemingly god-like teenager, especially not an angry one that had just had killed two grown adults. 

     As Skullcrusher was about to walk away when you grabbed his arm forcefully. He tried to pull away but your grip was too strong. “One last thing before you go, Give. Me. My. Phone. Back.” 

     “Here,” spat Skullcrusher, throwing the phone at you. “I don’t want it anyway.” You caught the little black rectangle right before it hit the ground. It may have still been out of power, but it didn’t look broken, at least not more broken than before. One of the suitcases back on that island had some portable chargers. You might be able to get it working again, and then…Oh, boy were you going to have some fun.  

     You hugged Thistleroot tightly. “Are you ok? How do you feel.” He looked fine, but his hands were still a bit shaky.

      “I’m fine. You didn’t have to do that, cover for me, you know.”

     You smiled, “Maybe I didn’t have to, but if I didn’t the big brutish Viking was probably going to kill you. Besides, that’s what family does. I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt my little brother.” 

     Thistleroot’s eyes lit up, “Did- did you just…”

     “ Yep , now help me throw the bodies into the sea, and then we’re going to get you and me both some therapy.”

Chapter Text

Hiccup had just arranged a peace agreement with the dragon Furious. The war was over. When Hiccup got back all the vikings were clambering to congratulate him.

“Well done Hiccup my boy, well done.” said a very proud Stoick. Fishlegs and Camicazi had to fight their way through the crowd to get to Hiccup.

“It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant how you negotiated with the dragon Furious by throwing away the dragon jewel. I mean it was complete madness, but it was brilliant.” said Camicazi.

“I still can’t believe that Alvin, that treacherous worm of a man, is my father.(Thistleroot had shot Alvin some time after that information was revealed) Speaking of which, where is he?”

“Maybe he’s finally gone for good?” The trio laughed together. Hiccup's face fell, when he saw you approaching. “What do you want,” he said coldly.

“You-you wanted a-an explanation, and I’m ready to give it.” Hiccup’s expression softened. You looked around. “But not here.” Hiccup nodded. You tried to take his hand, but he pulled away, that hurt quite a bit. The four of you edged away from the crowd to some place where prying ears wouldn’t hear.

“I’m kiiiiinnndddaa from an alternate reality where everything that happened here is a book series oh and also… I’m from future America…sorta” The trio stared at you in shock.

“An alternate dimension,” Fishlegs sat down, this was too much to take in standing up. “Wait-how come you said sorta from the future? Are you or aren't you?”

“I’m not technically from the future but my world did go through a past that is shockingly similar to your current world, except for a few details. So I am basically from two thousand-ish years in the future.”

“I can’t believe it, America…” mumbled Camicazi, stunned.

“But why didn’t you tell us any of this sooner?”

“Since I knew what was going to happen, I could make sure things went the way they were meant to and even make it better, but if I told you, that would derail the story so much that I wouldn’t be able to plan for anything. Also,” you blushed, “Also I might have been a little scared that you’d think it was weird and that you wouldn’t like me anymore.”

Hiccup laughed, “[Reader] what you have just told me is undoubtedly the weirdest thing I have ever heard or experienced in my life, which is saying something, but it doesn’t mean I like you any less.” Hiccup took your hand, a sigh that all was forgiven. You’re sure there isn’t anything else bothering you.”

You thought about telling him about how you literally just sold your soul, but you could do that later…that deal wouldn’t bother you for 99 years. “Nope!”

“American! What’s it like there? You know we all almost went there,”

You chuckled, “I know. Well, the people there love weapons, beer, food, always speak their mind and are just a little bit crazy.”

“Oh, so exactly like here.”

The whole group burst out laughing “I guess some things don’t change.”

“You said this world is a book series. How much of my life exactly do you know?” asked Hiccup.

“Oh um,” you felt your body grow hot as you recited all the key details you could remember.

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief, “So you don’t know any of the really embarrassing things.”

“What!? Tell me!”

“No!”

“I know at least three of those moments,” sang Camicazi, drawing out Hiccup’s diary.

“How on earth do you have that? I left it in the hideout!”

“A Bogburgler never reveals her secrets.” Camicazi flipped the book about a quarter of the way through. “June 14th, I’ve been going through some changes, physically and mentally.”

“That’s enough!” exclaimed a flustered Hiccup, yanking the book out of Camicazi’s hands. “You shouldn’t be reading other people's diaries. I swear I’m going to start writing in french.”

Camicazi shrugged her shoulders, “then I’ll just learn french.”

“What?! I tried to teach you years ago and you refused.”

“You were trying to open my mind to “learning” and “understanding different cultures”. That is not a valid reason to learn a language.”

“And spying on people is?”

“Yes. It is the only valid reason to learn a language. I actually learned a bit of Gaelic just to listen in on some of the conversations immigrants from the mainland have.”

“You never told me you knew Gaelic!” You and Fishlegs both laughed your asses off while Hiccup just stood there, rethinking everything in his life. Eventually you calmed down.

“Camicazi, Fishlegs, would you be so kind as to grab us some drinks.” said Hiccup, gesturing to the party that was currently going a distance away. Everyone was celebrating the end of the war.

“Sure.”

Thistleroot was playing with Adelaide and Midnight. Toothless was trying to impress stormfly and everyone else seemed too wrapped up in partying to notice you two. You and Hiccup were alone.

“Did you really mean it? Do you really love me? " asked Hiccup.

“That depends, did you really kiss me?”

Hiccup blushed scarlet looking a bit embarrassed, “It was a split second decision and you reacted as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on you, so I panicked and pretended it didn’t happen. I-I’m really sorry.”

You punched his shoulder, “Hey, I know how it feels.” You  now saw just how badly your gaslighting must have affected Hiccup, and quite frankly everyone else too. You felt guilty putting everyone in the group through that.

“I answered yours, so now it’s your turn to answer my question.”

“The truth is I’m not sure, we are both still very young. But do I know one thing for certain, and that is that I care about you deeply.”

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, “That’s good because I don’t know exactly what I’m feeling either.”

Your fingers wrapped around Hiccup's hand, “Want to not know together?”

“Sure. Does this mean we’re like an thing now?”

“I guess.”

Hiccup brushed your cheek smiling, “Then I think I owe you a proper kiss.”

Chapter Text

     Over the course of your relationship, you and Hiccup mutually broke up twice, although no feelings were hurt and you remained as friends. Both times however, you ended up back together in a matter of months.

You and Hiccup would ultimately get marriage, in your late twenties and have two daughters (Are they biological, adopted, serigot? Whatever you decide.)

Midnight would make waves by becoming the first dragon to own a bakery, although it was difficult to run it on her own. Eventually she managed to find a few dragons who shared her interest in baking as well.

Thistleroot became a highly skilled assassin, his favourite weapon being a pistol but being well trained with darts and crossbows too. Through out the course of his whole career he only ever killed five persons, and for good reason.

Fishlegs would  become one of the most successful bards in the archipelago and manage to successfully woo Barbara the barbarian, albeit not for many many years. Even though they did mary, their relationship remained relatively open.

Camicazi had a few girlfriends here and there, but never married and was one of the most well known are respected burglars in the old world.

Snotlout miraculously made a full recovery, apart from some scaring and a faint limp, and became a warrior serving king Hiccup. His sister Adelaide found a career in poison and medicine as well as natural biology. She would often provide Thistleroot with poison darts secretly. Even though the two never formally get married, they moved in together as adults. Adelaide and Thistleroot had a loving relationship and a deep connection all though it was purely platonic.

Even though you never went to college, the amount of educative texts you read made sure that you were still extremely well educated. You and [friend’s name] got more distant as time went on. You still remained as friends, just maybe not best friends. You tried to visit home every few years, for business as well as fun.

Over the course of your reign, thanks to the hard work of you and Hiccup, and all the things and information you got from your world, you effectively moved the dark ages into the renaissance 500 years before it was supposed to happen. You revolutionized housing, pluming, education and medicine as well as helping Hiccup with trade deals.

Hiccup taught you latin and French, and you learned Egyptian on your own. Over time, you were able to figure out more magic that was written in other languages. You even managed to combine spells and brews and potions to make your own recipes which you wrote down on a few  blank pages at the back of the book. Using your knowledge in medicine and Magic you were able to create a antidote to the sickness in the dragon jewel.

In this fragment of the httyd reality dragons never went away. In 1350 a violent civil war happened among the archipelago. No one knows if it was on purpose or on accident, but the dragon jewel was broken. The people were thankfully able to find your recipe and recreate it in time, but the dragon population was cut nearly in half. The dragon protection act of 1593 made poaching dragons a crime akin to murder. Slowly but surely the dragons population increases. There would be more wars between dragons and humans, but they would all end in peace treaties. There were dragons when you were a child, and thanks to bravery, sacrifice, and just a touch of magic there would still be dragons long after your death.

Chapter Text

It’s sequel time  The readers life after the events of this book :https://archiveofourown.org/works/46678231/chapters/117559342

The gang visits the reader’s home of modern America : https://archiveofourown.org/works/46678060/chapters/117558898

Reader facing the consequences of their actions in the afterlife :https://archiveofourown.org/works/46678498/chapters/117560029

Chapter Text

I added more to chapter 23, for some reason it didn’t copy over I’ve had this problem like four times already. At this point I’m going to start burning incense and drinking holy water, I seriously think I might be cursed. If you want to read it that’s great, if not that’s cool too. It’s just the story of the reader getting the dragon mark.

Chapter Text

There is a small chapter i missed copying over it’s titled therapy for all and its right after alvin’s death. It isnt super integral to the plot but it does have more thistleroot bonding time and makes the transition a bit smoother

Chapter Text

Check out chapter 27 again. It should make more sense now. Also send an exorcist cause im pretty sure the fic is possessed.

Chapter Text

check out a new chapter titled chatting with snotlout or something. I think its chapter 34 or around that. again I am REALLY sorry but the curse is gonna curse

Chapter Text

Chapter tilted wilkson didnt get coppied over properly. Its good now. WHAT DO THE FANFICTION GODS WANT FROM ME!? WHY DOES THIS CURSE PROCIST! EVERY TIME I OPEN THIS FIC A CHAPTER IS MISCORDERED! EVERY TIME! WHAT MAGIC FANFICTION FAE IS FUCKING WITH ME?!