#my gut says nightfury

[nachtvale101]

Been thinking about a How To Train Your Dragon/Sword Art Online AU. Combine my two biggest hyperfixations lmao, feel like it'd be fun. Maybe I'll write or draw for it? Shall see, got a few things in mind already if I do decide to make content <33

[cafecourage]

Dragon Au Part 2

I am saying these here, Thank you @luimagines to help describe Hyrule. My brain was dead on that stream thank you for being my brain cell.

Hc under here:

Sky:

Sky as a dragon is very lizard like, think Nightfury from Httyd, his scales are typically black but if you shine light on them they sparkle as if stars were encased in them.Sky has a bit of light magic but because of the amount of knight training his lighting magic is the strongest. It gets to the point where he could control the storms itself. Sky is second for fastest flier in the group.

His scent gland is on his back between the wings, this man goes full cat mode sometimes when claiming things as his. It's actually kinda cute in a way.

Since you are human, Sky would go around courting a human as well. Trying to keep things at your pace. See if you like him back or not. He doesn’t want to overwhelm you but just asks straight out.

Like most of the Link’s it happens by accident but Sky did know what he was doing when letting you ‘steal’ his sailcloth.

It was hard to steal things from dragons, mostly because to them its an immediate sign of threat. Traveling around with nine of them has been an eye opener for you, with how they kept things secret from you. It was until the roose was up that they actually told you. Which was fine it didn’t explain anything about their behavor from you. But you assumed your were just apart of their horde or whatever. From what you understood however was that Sky was very relax about giving you his sailcloth. To the point wear you just steal it off of him to wear around or sleep with. The others seem to give you a look when you do wear it willingly. Other then that they let you do what you want with it.

Sky promises to himself that he will explain to you why soon enough. For now he just wants to enjoy his time with you and court you properly as a human.

Stated before Sky wants to follow human traditions with dating and such. It gets to the point where he probably won't tell you about being a dragon to begin with even with their trust.

Frustrations might ride high if another dragon tries to flirt with you even though you’re claimed. But he can keep his head. It’s Sky after all, he is quick to hold on to you.

Now this was talked about. If you somehow. Some way. Mark yourself. By accident. He will instantly turn into a house-husband of sorts. It’s a strange incident.

Legend:

While having the biggest horde of the group Legend is probably the smallest dragon. His body takes the form of a small rabbit with the horns and wings. While most of his body is fur, his horns, wings and tail have pinky opalescent scales. 

Like Time, Legend is a jack of all trades master of none when it comes to his magic. Legend because the amount of things can use each element in the basic forms. But his element is earth, specifically crystals, each gem he can bring out the magic they hold with in. Ruby houses fire, Sapphire houses water etc etc.

Legend hates the smell of his own claim, making things smell like a rainy day, that he tends to do physical claims. His scent gland is on his elbow. He is still going to elbow someone in the gut.

The chain may or may not have something connecting them back to the Vet. Its definitely not a familial claim. Nope. Not at all. 

The claim set by Legend was almost as soon as you got yeeted into hyrule. He looked at you and went “this one.” Not literally. He more or less recognized you as the person that watched over him and instantly gave you a power ring. He wants you to be safe. It's not a claim claim. At least… it wasn’t supposed to be.

Something changed, or it could have been his dragon instincts told him that the claim should be something more. More it became. Little to your knowledge that small ring you wear was telling the world that you're his and only his. What does the group think about this? They are all cackling behind both of your backs.

Legend will tell you soon enough. Don’t worry. It will probably be when he shows you the horde underneath his house. It’s one of the biggest out of the group. 

Since what is his is yours so to say your aloud to actually use some of his stuff. Just… not the fire rod. You're banned from all fire magic items.

There are going to be many times the chain would catch you cuddling a small bunny dragon during an afternoon nap.

Hyrule: 

Hyrule is the most fantastical dragon of the group, with stained glass dragonfly wings. The top of his body is covered in green scales while his belly is orange. Hyurle has a man, while it has the appearence of hair, his ancles, wrists, tail and around his neck are lined with feelers. Small thin feather like antenna that used to feel signals and chemicals in the air. They are incredibly sensitive as a result and tend to move and ungelate as if they were underwater. He has three orange horns on his head, one in the middle of his head like a unicorn and two pointed backwards. (Thank Pinky for helping to write that explanation.)

With his ties to the fae Hyrules magic element is nature but is strongly connected to the fae, as he can use the same magic as they could. Examples being, glamor, healing, he can also upgrade weapons and armor for a limited amount of time. There is a way to permanently upgrade the item but for hyrule it has to be small or else he uses too much magic.

His scent glands are on the inner part of his forearm, his scent is a mix of pine, cinnamon and vanilla. 

While he is aware of his body, his tail seems to have a mind of its own and tends to hit into things alot. This mainly happens in two scenarios, one is when he is angry and his tail is swishing to mimic his mood. Second is when he is very happy and content, he will purr as his tail swishes.

There wasn’t much to Hyrules claim as he didn’t want to scent you. Since that was going to be an issue for you when you get to his Era. But at least he tells you about his feelings and explains that a Dragon’s claim is how they court. He wants to make you something physical and that will last for a while. So with Wild’s and Legends help Hyrule crafts and enchants a bracelets. It ends up to being a flower bracelet that he has woven. While he made a design Legend and Wild helped refined it and help gather the materials he needed for the enchantment. Not only will it protect you, only you can take it off. Just so no other dragons try to take away the claim.

Hyrule would be more likely out of all the links to be protective over his hoard. During his adventuer he easly took the hoards of many other dragons. He is self aware enough to know that can happen to him at any time.

He is also touch starved. So while he doesn’t want his scent on you, its more likely your gonna have it on him anyway.

[p-artsypants]

In Due Time (3)

A short fic exploring the concept of Time travel. Older Hiccup in HTTYD 1 while Little Hiccup is in Late RTTE.

I’m putting off writing anything else until this is done, because it’s supposed to be short in the first place.

FF.net | Ao3

—

Little Hiccup had a nice dinner at home with his father, Gobber, Astrid, and the rest of the riders. He simply ate his fish and just smiled as his friends talked about all the fun adventures they had together. They told him all about the Edge, and the good he was doing out there.

He still din’t know how he felt about dragons, though. Sure, Toothless just seemed to love him and stayed firmly at his side the whole time, but to hear that he loved them now and he had changed nearly everyone’s mind about them?

It just didn’t sit with him right.

“Um…can I say something?” He spoke up, meekly.

“Of course!” Stoick encouraged. “Speak up lad!”

Hiccup nodded and swallowed. “Uh…I don’t know…I’m still…I still don’t like dragons.”

Everyone became quiet at this, and just listened.

“I know that I’m supposed to be the…expert on them, and whatever…but I’m supposed to want to kill them, or I did, yesterday. And I will when I go back.”

Stoick laid a hand on his shoulder, which made him tense up. “We understand, son. We don’t expect you to be the same Hiccup we know, and we don’t want you to change. We…just want to give you something to look forward to.”

Little Hiccup sniffed and rubbed under his eyes. “I never thought my future would be so bright.” He curled in on himself, “has your Hiccup talked about back then? About my time?”

“No,” Astrid said softly. “I’ve tried to get it out of him, but he doesn’t like talking about it.”

“Then, maybe I should? Would that be okay?”

Astrid squeezed his knee. “If there’s something you need to say, then go right ahead. It’s fresh to you, and it’ll help you to get it out.”

He nodded and swallowed, then he looked at the floor, suddenly shy.

Toothless rested his head on his lap, just content to be near him.

Finally, Hiccup spoke, baring his heart on a platter. “I don’t like the way you guys treat me,” he began. “Everyday, I try my hardest to fit in, and be like you guys. I know I’m not like the other vikings, but I want to be so badly. But no matter how hard I try, you guys seem to focus on all the stuff I do wrong. I feel like a complete failure, and a waste of space and resources.”

“Hiccup, you’re not a failure—“ Stoick began.

But Hiccup shrugged away from him. “Now you say that!” There were tears in his eyes. “You probably don’t remember what you said a few days ago, but it’s been clanging around inside my head and…you’re right, dad.” He looked down to his toes as a tear fell down his cheek.

Stoick swallowed thickly, fearing the worst. “What…what did I say, son?”

Hiccup bit his quivering lip, suddenly wanting to take it all back. “Please don’t hit me…”

“I would never—“ Oh, but he would. He did. Several times, as his father hit him. But gods, he regretted it. “I promise, I won’t.”

Hiccup spoke so softly that the few on the other side of the room could barely hear him. “You said that I was the one that killed Mr. and Mrs. Hacksaw, and that I was a curse from the gods. That I was your punishment for not saving mom…and you said it was my fault she had been taken, and you wished I had never been born.”

Stoick remembered that. He had been drinking, a common evening habit in those days. Two people had died that day during a dragon raid, and Stoick had to shoulder that burden. Hiccup had gone for water in the well, and ended up breaking the lever at the top, right in the middle of the raid. The fires had been what had killed that couple in their home. In a drunken mind, Stoick found Hiccup too easy to blame.

Hiccup was sobbing, and Stoick had been rendered silent. “You wished that I was the one who had died, so that you could finally be free from me messing up!”

Astrid said nothing, but rested her hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly.

“And you were right! It was my fault! Everyone else said so too—“

The other kids vaguely remembered that day. But more so, their words and actions from that time just seemed like a guilty haze.  

Spitelout had told his son that Hiccup had broken the well. In turn, Snotlout told the other kids, and they mercilessly picked on him.

Way to go, genius.

You’re a hazard.

I wish the dragons would take you.

Go jump off a cliff.

For someone so small, you sure do a lot of damage.

Why don’t you just stay at home, where you can’t mess anything up? But I’m sure you’d screw that up too.

It’s only because you’re the chief’s son that you haven’t been exiled yet. It won’t save you forever.

Get lost, roach.

You shouldn’t be allowed to eat. You don’t deserve rations.

Astrid just sat quietly, doing her best to console him. She remembered that raid too, and despite Snotlout’s badgering, she never said a word to him. Her parents had trained her well enough to be nice to Hiccup, as he was the chief’s son. But if it was too hard to be nice, she just didn’t say anything. Which meant many months of silence.

Gobber’s gut churned. He remember vaguely telling Hiccup to get up and get over it. He didn’t mean it, lad. He’s just mad at the situation. But that hadn’t really been much of a consolation. He just wanted Hiccup to get back to work.

“And if I hadn’t come here…I would have—“ He stopped himself, biting back a sob.

“What?” Urged Stoick, his heart in his throat. “What were you going to do?” Though he had a feeling he already knew.

“I was going to kill myself.”

Stoick stood suddenly and scooped his son into his arms, and began wailing. “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare!” He cried, nearly crushing him. “I’m so sorry Hiccup…I had no idea.”

Hiccup just clung to his father and wept into his shoulder.

The others in the room were in various states of distress and guilt.

Finally, Hiccup pushed away from Stock slightly and wiped his face with his sleeve. “Thank you…”

Stoick kissed his forehead. “No, thank you for telling me. For telling all of us.”

Snotlout spoke up. “Man, I am so sorry for all of that—“

“Me too!”

“And me!”

“And also me!”

Snotlout rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t hate you, as much as it seemed like I did…I had some…personal beef I was dealing with. And making you feel like crap was how I felt better. I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve my insults or my poundings.”

Hiccup managed a small smile. “Thanks Snotlout. That means a lot.”

Astrid came over and crouched so she was eye-level with him. Then she delicately brushed the bangs from his face. “You are so brave, Hiccup. By telling all of us this, you just did something really helpful for your future self.”

He blushed slightly as she cupped his cheek.

“You’ll forget what you saw here, that you were ever in the future, but I pray that the relief we give you stays and you grow strong. It’s going to be rough going back, but you have some important battles to face soon.”

“I know,” he said resolutely. Though, Hiccup had other things in mind.

He wasn’t going back, not if he could help it.

—

The fire was extinguished, Big Hiccup doing most of the work.  

“Gods this was so much easier with dragons,” he muttered to himself as he dropped the bucket on the ground.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you just did what I said,” said Fishlegs to Snotlout, starting everything all over again.

Hiccup groaned, “guys! It doesn’t matter who’s responsible! If you see something that needs to be done, do it!”

“But I couldn’t!” Protested Fishlegs, “I was putting out another fire!”

“And I was fighting a dragon!”

“We’re not allowed to fight dragons!”

“Stop!” Hiccup shouted, catching their attention. “Snotlout, if someone asked you to do something, why didn’t you do it?”

“Because I’m not listening to Fishface! And I’m listening to some stranger that starts yelling at me! Who are you anyway!?”

Hiccup smirked. “You really don’t know?”

“You kinda look like my shrimp cousin Hiccup, but you’re clearly too tall to be him.”

“What if you aged him by five years?” Astrid posted.

Snotlout made a box with his fingers and closed one eye. “Hmm…maybe? Though I doubt Hiccup could ever get that tall.”

Hiccup gave him a blank look. “Snotlout, I am Hiccup, from five years in the future. Gothi sent me here.”

“What?!” Snotlout shouted. “Why would she do a thing like that?”

“Because, we’re making a medicine and we’re short an ingredient, something that’s not in the future anymore.” He was beginning to feel like a broken record.

“Okay, but why you? Surely, I’m a better pick. I should probably follow you and make sure you don’t screw this up and get everyone killed.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Good ole Snotlout. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”

“What in blue blazes—!?” Stoick’s voice cut off the argument as he and the baker stared at the husk that used to be the baker’s house. “Hiccup! I told you to stay inside! What did you do!?”

“ME!? I’m the one that put this out!”

“Then who’s responsible for this!?”

Astrid and Hiccup pointed at Snotlout, while Fishlegs and Snotlout pointed at each other.

The chief started yelling. It wasn’t even words. He was just red in the face and yelling obscenities while throwing his fists around.

Just like old times.

“Hiccup!” He finally spat out.

“Yes sir,” Hiccup answered, with no sass this time.

“You, and you, and you, and you.” He pointed to the four teens assembled. “Go take a hike!”

“But Astrid—“

“GO!” He bellowed, and lumbered off without a word.

“What did you do?” Asked Astrid.

“He was born,” laughed Snotlout.

“Alright,” Hiccup said, clapping his hands. “Who’s up for a camping trip?”

—

The next morning, Little Hiccup awoke with a smile. He looked over to the sleeping dragon across the room and sang, “good morning Toothless!”

The Nightfury looked up him with a blink. It wasn’t often that Hiccup was this active in the morning.

He hopped up and got dressed, tying the pants tightly around his small waist, and tucking the access fabric into his boots.

He skipped down the stairs, finding Stoick sitting by the fire.

“You’re up early.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Hiccup tried to shrug casually. “I was too excited to spend the day with you and my new friends.”

Stoick gave him a broad smile. “Well son, we’ll have a nice breakfast together for sure, but then I’ll have some chiefing to do. Since there’s so many people sick, some of the winter preparations fell to the wayside. But I’ll be back for dinner.”

Hiccup grinned, he was actually counting on that. “That’s okay! I understand.”

Stoick placed a warm, gentle hand on the back of his head. “Are you doing okay, son? You gave me a good fright last night.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay now. Astrid was right, just talking about it made me feel better.”

“Alright then. If any thoughts like that come up in the future, you just make sure to tell me, okay?”

Hiccup doubted he’d ever feel that way again. “I promise.”

Stoick smiled back, but heard his young son’s voice in his head. A memory that haunted him from years ago. A sentence that had quelled his anger and strengthened his patience.

I don’t want to live anymore.

“What do you feel like? I’ve made some toast and some eggs…”

After Stoick left, Little Hiccup made his way back upstairs and began to sift through his belongings.

He came to find the leggings he was currently wearing belonged to Astrid, as his older self’s pants were even bigger and missed a third of the leg on the left side. Hiccup winced at the sight. So he had one pair of leggings for the night. That was fine, he’d deal. A clean tunic, a cask of water, some bread and dried yak jerky...this would work.

His room had changed a lot in five years. In fact, one half of the room was completely taken up by a slate rock, where Toothless was currently laying and watching him. He used to have a lot of great drawings about dragon slaying on his walls, but they were gone, replaced with schematics for what looked like a dragon tail and some other foreign ideas. One looked like a sword.

He glanced back at Toothless. Something had changed his mind along the way. Something had made him decide to betray his tribe and befriend a dragon.

Though, given how he had left things at home with his father, betrayal didn’t seem that far-fetched. But then he killed a dragon, and now he’s a hero.

There seemed to be too many holes in Astrid’s story.

Leaving behind these confusing thoughts, he dug out his knapsack and began to pack. Tonight, he’d sleep here at the house, but in the early morning, he’d sneak out and hide until the next day. That way, they wouldn’t be able to send him back!

But first, he’d need to find a good hiding spot.

Before he could even consider it, the front door opened and Astrid called out, “Hiccup?”

He quickly threw the pack under his bed as he heard her coming up the stairs. “Uh uh uh just a minute!”

She came into his room anyway, as she always did. “Hey!”

“Hey! Hi! How—how are you?”

“I’m good, Stoick said you were up, so I thought I’d come get you. We didn’t really get the chance to take a tour through the village, and I know a lot of people want to talk to you—“

He paled. “Uh, yeah sounds…sounds great.”

Astrid picked up on it immediately. “What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing…nothing’s wrong. Honest!”

Toothless stood from his spot and stretched, then he trotted over and nudged Hiccup’s knapsack out from under the bed.

“Oh! Hey, what’s that?” He feigned.

“Hiccup, no matter what age, you are a terrible liar.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“You don’t want to go back to the past, do you?”

Hiccup set his mouth into a tight line and avoided looking at her.

“Look, I don’t blame you, especially with what you said last night…but you have to go back! I need my Hiccup back.”

Hiccup sneered out of habit. “Why? What’s so different? In a few years, I’ll look like him! Is it just because you hate seeing the way I used to be? You hate seeing the Hiccup who was a useless waste of space!?”

Astrid raised her voice, “shut up!”

Hiccup recoiled, wincing heavily and curling in on himself.

Bracing for a hit.

Instead, Astrid rested a hand on his arm, and then moved down to take his hand. “Come with me.”

Hiccup nodded minutely, and followed.

Together, they travelled up the steps to the Great Hall. Astrid only let go to pull open the doors and then took his hand again.

Inside, two dozen or so vikings laid out on cots. The room smelled, as buckets sat next to the occupied beds. He could hear disgusting coughing and moaning. Still, he followed her to the corner of the room.

Finally, Astrid came to stop in front of a pair of beds, occupied by her parents. They were both asleep, but gods they looked awful.

“Do you remember why we brought you here in the first place? My Hiccup has to get an ingredient for Gothi’s medicine. Without it…they’ll probably…”

Now Hiccup felt guilty, and extremely angry. But all he was able to do was ball up his fists and tremble.

“Alright, lets talk.” She urged him out of the Hall.

Outside, she sat on the step and patted the seat next to her. He complied, dropping without grace and winding up into an anxious ball.

“I don’t get it.” He finally said.

“What? I thought I was pretty clear…”

“No no…” He groaned. “Why would I go? Why send me back? I...” His lips curled into a snarl as he sprang out of his ball. “I don’t owe these people anything! All they ever did was ridicule me! I don’t know why I would willingly choose to go into battle with a ferocious dragon just for this stupid village! You said it yourself! My father disowns me and I befriend a dragon! So why, why would I risk my neck back then, and now?!”

Astrid leaned back, crossing her ankles. She seemed unperturbed by his outburst. “I’ve wondered that myself the last few years. And I’m sure Big Hiccup figured this all out already.” She gave him a disarming smile, to try to calm his anger.

It didn’t completely work, but he wasn’t yelling anymore.

“Perhaps I should start from the beginning. About 4 and a half years ago, you shot a Nightfury out of the sky.”

This was surprising, to say the least. “What? I did?”

“That Nightfury was Toothless. You shot him out of the sky, and you ripped his left tail fin off.”

“Toothless is a��I did…how?”

“You had some sort of machine, I think it was called The Mutilator.”  

“Ha! So it works!”

Astrid frowned.

“Sorry, go on.”

“Anyway…you told me that you found him in the woods later that day, wrapped up in a bola, presented for you to kill on a platter.”

“But I didn’t…” Hiccup finished.

“You did not.”

Hiccup merely gave a soft sigh.

“Whatever it was, you cut him loose. But his tail was damaged, so he wasn’t going to make it on his own. So, you set out to build him a new tail.”

“And…when did I get disowned? When I cut him loose?”

“No, Stoick didn’t know about it. No one believed you when you said you shot down the Nightfury.”

“That’s the first part of this story that makes sense.” He droned.

She smacked him on the arm, not enough to hurt. “Anyway…while you were studying and training Toothless, you started to pick up on things. Nuisances. And during dragon training, you used what you learned to subdue the dragons in the Kill Ring, and shot up to the top of the class.”

“Cheating without getting caught is still cheating.”

“And that’s what made me mad.” She added with a grin. “I was convinced you were cheating, so I followed you into the woods. When I found the cove where you hid Toothless, I waited to surprise you with my axe. But in the wait time…” She paused for a moment, going back to the day in her head. “You were calling out for him, and you said you were leaving Berk forever. At that moment, even at the height of popularity, you decided to run. Granted, you had been picked to kill the Monstrous Nightmare…”

“Yeah, running sounds like the smart thing to do.”

“But I threatened to out you to the tribe, so you…kind of kidnapped me…which worked out in the end, because I came to understand you. But, that flight was interrupted when we found the Red Death. Just this…huge dragon that consumed everything.”

At this point, Hiccup was sitting again and leaned towards her, listening intently. Unbeknownst to them, several others were listening as well, curious about how all this had really happened.

“You knew that we had to do something about it, but not if it meant harming Toothless. So…you decided that the middle of the Fight was the best time to renounce your viking ways.”

“Oh boy…”

“And that’s when Stoick disowned you. He took Toothless as a guide and with the entire tribe, they set sail to the Nest.”

Hiccup groaned. “And then what?”

“You and I watched them sail off, knowing that we’d never see them again. And at that moment, you said you wished you had killed Toothless. I asked why you didn’t…you looked me in the eye and said ‘I looked at him, and I saw myself.’”

“Well, what does that mean?”

“Perhaps you saw how vulnerable he was. How trapped and alone...and how he was resigned to death.”

“Oh…”

“So then, you decided to risk it all. We semi-trained the dragons in the arena and flew off to save the village. You killed the Red Death and lost your leg, but you’ve been hailed as a hero ever since.” She rested a hand on the back of his neck, playing with his hair.

“But I still had to kill a dragon.”

She shrugged. “Well, Stoick seemed a lot more forgiving when you just came to save him. He said he was proud of you.”

Hiccup gasped slightly, and then in a voice much too small he asked, “he was proud of me?”

“Yes.” She kissed his forehead. “And so was I.”

He considered all of this heavily, and then glanced back at the Hall. “Okay. I’ll go back.”

[rosesnvines]

Hiccup Haddock

For the prompt Leif Erikson Day, inspired by Zagtoon’s Zak Storm. 

Hiccup panted heavily as he pushed his legs to continue down the path. He was running out of time, and fast. He shot a quick glance at the setting sun, only an hour or so left of Leif Erikson Day. Would he be able to defeat Drago with enough time to get to the portal and return home? Otherwise, he’d have to wait until another portal opens up and hope to get to it in time, or wait for another year before this one opened up again. He glanced at another spot in the woods, he really hoped this would work. He came to stop at a hill to catch his breath. Just a few more feet, and he would soon be facing Drago. He just hoped everyone else was alright. How could he have been so stupid? He literally left them open to Drago’s attack in his frantic search for a portal to take him home. He gritted his teeth and continued forward, he needed to take care of Drago, once and for all. In a matter of minutes, he had reached the enormous cave, but what he saw within nearly twisted his gut in anguish, though he would describe the pain as more akin to being kicked, rather hard. He had found the rest of his crew, Princess Merida of Avalon, Eret the Viking, and little, spunky Gustav, all in cages hanging from the ceiling, at a perfect height for a large dragon to simply open its mouth and torch them, or, in Drago’s case, freeze them. Hiccup had to keep himself from glancing to the side, anything to keep Drago from suspecting that the final member of his crew, the friendly, lovable Toothless, was waiting for Hiccup’s signal. Hiccup the sword at his side and let out a breath before walking into the cave.

“So, you did come after all,” said Drago, rather surprised.

“Hiccup! What are you doing? You can’t let Drago have the Dragon Sword!” blurted Merida from her cage.

“I can’t let him hurt you either!” Hiccup shouted back, his hand on the hilt of the sword.

“So, you have decided that your friends are more important to you than going home. But now, you have to decide if keeping that sword from me is more important than their lives,” said Drago as his large dragon reared up behind him. As Hiccup thought as he watched it rise with dread, the cages were at the perfect height, just in range of its mouth.

“How about a duel?”

Drago glanced at him questioningly. “What?”

“A duel, until the first one loses their sword. If you win, you keep the sword. But if I win, you and your dragon have to leave these islands, never to return. Either way, you will have to let them go.” Drago stroked his beard as he sized up Hiccup. Hiccup knew the answer before he spoke since he began to grin.

“Deal. But, I’d like to add one more thing to my prize pool.”

Hiccup gulped. “W-what?”

“I get to kill you.”

“No!” cried out Merida.

“In exchange for your friends’ lives.”

Hiccup replied through gritted teeth, “Fine.”

“Good.” With a roar, Drago unsheathed his sword and charged. Hiccup barely had enough time to unsheath the Dragon Sword and block Drago’s attack. He let out a yelp as Drago pushed down on the swords. That was clearly Drago’s plan, win by sheer force. He was bigger and clearly stronger than Hiccup. But Hiccup had found out not too long ago, in fact, that being smaller was great, because you had brains to go with it. That was Hiccup’s plan, to outsmart Drago. And he needed to put his plan into action, now. Hiccup pushed back as hard as he could, his muscles screaming with the attempt. Once he had pushed up Drago’s sword enough, he dropped and quickly crawled under Drago. Drago let out a growl as he turned to bring his sword down on Hiccup.

“Hiccup, look out!” shouted Merida. Hiccup rolled, Drago’s sword missing his head by mere inches. Hiccup  rose quickly and took the opportunity to strike. But Drago quickly brought his blade up, blocking Hiccup’s sword. The two paused for a minute as they glared at each other, Drago’s hate seething in his eyes, before the two got into a flurry of swinging blades. The battle intensified, the clashing of metal against metal was the only sound that could be heard as Hiccup’s crew watched mesmerized as the two kept swinging and blocking, parrying and thrusting. Hiccup had to sidestep Drago’s blade a couple of times, but for the most part, he was holding his own rather well, which seemed to surprise Drago. But that allowed Hiccup to stay on the defensive, which let him lead Drago on, getting him into a position that would let Hiccup win.

“You’ve gotten pretty good,” said Drago as he paused for a breath. Hiccup was glad for the pause, he was sweating and panting hard.

“Well, I have been practising,” returned Hiccup before Drago rushed him again.

“That won’t save you!” he shouted as he brought up his sword for a strike. Hiccup blocked it. His eyes widened as an evil smile grew on Drago’s face. “Nor your friends.” He glanced at his dragon, which began to open its mouth.

“No! Toothless, now!” A black streak zoomed into the cave and a ball of purple fire blasted the giant dragon.

“No! That’s cheating!” blurted Drago.

“And you weren’t?” quipped Hiccup before striking at Drago. Drago parried the attack, but he only growled in reply to Hiccup’s question. While the two continued their sword fight, their dragons took up their own fight, Toothless keeping the larger dragon’s attention on him so it wouldn’t freeze up the cages. The large dragon, however, was finding it hard to keep up with Toothless. As Hiccup had figured, Toothless’ smaller body gave him an advantage that the sheer force of the larger dragon didn’t have, and could fly around it, attacking it quickly before it could turn its head to effectively retaliate.

“What are you doing? Fight him!” shouted Drago as he swung wildly at Hiccup’s head. Hiccup ducked and stepped to the side, the blade missing him by inches. But he came back with a well-aimed kick at Drago, which tossed him to the side. The kick surprised Drago so much that he managed to lose his sword. “No!” shouted Drago when he realized he had lost, according to the rules laid down by Hiccup. He let out a growl as he crawled towards the sword, but Hiccup reached it before him and picked it up and aimed both swords at Drago.

“You lost, Drago, now, you and your dragon must leave, and never come back.”

“Is that so? Very well,” muttered Drago as he rose and walked towards his dragon.

“Toothless!” called Hiccup as Drago neared his dragon. Toothless landed next to Hiccup. “Go free the others, bud.” Toothless gave a snort and licked Hiccup’s face before heading towards the cages, releasing Merida first before heading towards Eret.

“Now!” yelled Drago. Everyone glanced at him, his dragon’s mouth open as wisps of steam formed around its mouth.

“Hiccup, look out!” screamed Merida.

“Oh no!” yelled Hiccup. Toothless let out a cry as he left the two and rushed to Hiccup’s side, getting there as a wall of ice formed around them.

“No! Hiccup, Toothless!” called out Merida as she rushed towards the ice as Eret freed Gustav. She pounded on the ice. “Hiccup! Toothless!” She turned to Drago, rage burning in her eyes. “You, you monster!”

“Merida!” called out Eret. She glanced at the ice, a blue glow was emanating from within. Merida quickly backed up.

“What the?” began Drago before the ice exploded. Toothless was glowing. He looked at Drago and his dragon and let out a mighty roar. He was not going to let Drago hurt his friend. He let out a fireball at the two, the force of which was so strong it sent them tumbling.

“Drago! I suggest you leave now, or I’ll let Toothless finish the job!” Hiccup shouted, right as Toothless shot off one of the larger dragon’s tusks. Drago let out a roar as Toothless sent out another fireball, catching both him and his dragon in the fire. Hiccup saw Drago say something to his dragon, and the two practically slithered away.

“I will be back, Hiccup! The Dragon Sword will be mine, and you will be dead!” shouted  Drago before they disappeared.

“Alright, Toothless, that was awesome!” shouted Gustav as he hugged the Nightfury.

Merida turned to Hiccup. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. What about you?”

“Better, knowing the two of you are alright.” She took him by surprise by pulling him in for a kiss, though he quickly overcame his shock and kissed back. Toothless warbled as he grinned at them, sharing knowing looks with Eret.

Gustav interrupted them with, “Well, it’s about time.” Eret and Toothless laughed as the couple separated from their kiss and glanced at them.

“Well, I mean, I can’t exactly become king of Avalon, I still want to go home and . . . the portal! Toothless, quick!” Hiccup climbed on Toothless and the dragon soared out of the cave, speeding towards the portal. Hiccup could still see it, but watched with panic as it began to close, and fast. “Come on, bud!” Toothless put on speed, shortening the distance fast, but the portal was closing even faster. “Come on! No!” The two were just mere inches away when the portal snapped shut. Hiccup let out a groan and a yell of frustration. “Come on, bud, let’s head back to the crew.” Toothless warbled sadly as he turned and flew back to the cave. The crew rushed forward to meet them as Toothless landed and he dismounted.

“We’re sorry, Hiccup,” said Merida, wrapping him in up in a bear hug.

“Yeah, man, sorry,” echoed Gustav.

“You did try,” said Eret, placing a reassuring hand on Hiccup’s shoulder.

“It’s alright. We can always look for another portal. And if worse comes to worse, we’ll just have to make sure to get back here next year.”

“Well, by then, you’d have at least visited Avalon at least once,” stated Merida with a smile.

“You think we should head there?” asked Hiccup.

Merida nodded. “I’ve been away from home too long myself. Maybe my mother knows of another way.”

“Well, that sounds like a plan. Alright everyone, back to the ship!”

“Woohoo!” exclaimed Gustav as he bounded towards the ship harboured in the cove just below. Eret followed him with a laugh, before turning and shooting a grin and a wink at Toothless. Toothless grinned back and bounded after the two, leaving Hiccup and Merida to take up the rear.

“So, um, about earlier, seeing as how that’s the main reason why they left us some space,” pointed out Hiccup. Merida let out a giggle before pausing and pulling him in for another kiss.

“I love ya, Hiccup Haddock the Third, and I’m sorry you didn’t get to go home, but, I did kind of wish that you’d stay just a bit longer.”

Hiccup wrapped his arm around her waist as the two began to walk down the hill. “Well, maybe staying here a bit longer won’t be that bad, not with you lot keeping things interesting.” He grinned at her as she chuckled. He pulled her in for a kiss. “I love you too, Princess Merida of Avalon. And maybe, just maybe, you could convince me to stay for good,” he said upon breaking up the kiss.

“I’ll take that challenge,” said Merida with a smile and kissed him again.

“Come on you two! We’re happy you two have finally realized that you’re in love, but, we need to go!” shouted Gustav. The two laughed.

“We’re coming!” Hiccup shouted back. The two continued on walking, joining up with their friends and getting the ship back out to sea, heading off for new adventures.

[p-artsypants]

Headache (HTTYD Oneshot)

This takes place Post HTTYD 2. Always a happy ending.

I have fallen face first into fanfiction inspiration. (And I want to do canon-verse stuff while I work on my Modern AU)

——

Holy crap.

His head hurt.

Hiccup awoke in Gothi’s hut. That much he knew by the scent of herbs and medicine. He blinked his eyes with a groan.

“Hiccup! You’re alright!”

Turning his head to the side, he saw Gothi, obviously, Gobber and…Astrid? Couldn’t be. But he’d know those unearthly blue eyes and that sunshine gold hair anywhere. She just…looked different.

Gothi scratched into the sand on the floor while Gobber translated. “He will be disoriented for a while, with headaches, nausea, and memory loss, but it’s temporary.”

“How do you feel?” Astrid asked.

“A-Astrid! Hi! Uh…I feel fine, a little woozy. But it’s not that bad.” He rubbed a hand over his face and pushed himself up on his arms. “What happened?”

Gobber answered, coming closer and wagging his hook in his face. “You fell off that dragon of yours trying to do something stupid!”

Hiccup shrugged, with a laugh. “Sounds like me. Well, I’m fine now and I better get back to work.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Astrid stated, resting a hand on his shoulder, “you are taking the day off. You hit your head really hard.”

“I must have for you to be worried about me.” He said it quietly, almost under his breath, but she heard it.

Astrid looked put off, but she always did when she looked at him. Why was this any different? “Hiccup, I always worry about you.”

He laughed awkwardly. “Okay, sure. I get it. But I promise I’m fine. I’ve felt a lot worse.”

“You need to rest,” She emphasized.  

He rolled his eyes, “okay, whatever, I’ll just rest at home.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and heard a distinct ‘thunk’. He investigated the noise and found his left leg was replaced by some sort of contraption. It looked like a hook. “…oh gods…”

“What’s wrong?” Astrid asked.

“Oh nothing!” He threw his arms in the air, “except my leg is gone! Did someone want to mention that? Or-or just wait to let me figure it out?”

Astrid held his hands, patiently. “It’s been gone for a long time, Hiccup.”

The boy pulled his hands away, shaking his head. “No…I-I must be dead. That Nightfury must have killed me after all.”

“Hiccup, you are very much alive,” she assured. “You’re just confused.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Right, because I fell off a dragon when I was trying to kill it. I get it.”

Astrid took a step back, horrified, “no, you fell off when you were riding him.” She looked to Gothi, hoping for an explanation.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Gobber asked, after translation.

Hiccup shook his head, “it doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

Astrid grabbed him again, “you need to be honest, what was the last thing that happened?”

He looked to the assembled crowd with confusion and skepticism. Then he stood on wobbly legs, “I shot down a Nightfury early this morning. After no one believed me, I went into the woods to kill it myself, but…”

Astrid, Gobber, and even Gothi looked at him in surprise.

“See! I knew it! You don’t believe me! No one ever believes me!” He grit out in frustration. “Not this time. I’m going to hunt it down and kill that dragon. Even if it takes me the rest of my life.” He made his way to the door, shouldering past Gobber. He only dwelled on the sudden height difference for a split moment.

“Hiccup, wait!” Astrid called, but he ignored her.

He opened to door to Gothi’s hunt, only to slam it shut again. The Nightfury was right outside waiting for him. His heart pounded in his chest as his knees trembled.

“It’s right outside…” he whispered. “It’s here! He came after me first.”

Astrid rolled her eyes, “It’s just Toothless, calm down.”

“Astrid, I know you can kick my ass into next week, and I know you think I’m a screw up and a liar, but I’m telling you, that dragon out there is a bona fide Nightfury, and rest assured, he. has. teeth.”

She huffed again, looking as him with pity…and something else he wasn’t sure of. But there was definitely pity. “You’ve lost a lot of memory Hiccup. Trust me, that dragon out there is very friendly, and he loves you.”

“Trust you?” He accused, his voice still a whisper. Then a look of realization came over his face. “This is a plot isn’t it. I bet everyone is in on it. Trick the Chief’s worthless son into befriending a dragon. I either fail and die, or I am successful and get exiled from the archipelago. Either way, everybody wins, right?”

“Oh Hiccup no…no no…” She shook her head, trying to dissuade his fears.

“Everyone thinks I’m so stupid because I mess things up, but I’m not! I’m not falling for this!” He held out his hand towards her with a scowl. “Give me a knife.”

“No.”

“Astrid, please, I need to do this. You don’t understand.”

“I’m not giving you anything! You need to just calm down and listen to me! Listen to us!” She gestured to the other two in the room.

He turned his face towards Gobber and scowled, a look of betrayal marching across his face. Then he patted his body and found a dagger in his suit. Then, without a word, he slowly opened the door.

The Nightfury sat on the deck, tail wagging and eyes wide.

Hiccup stepped out slowly, eyeing the beast with menace. “Okay dragon…this is what’s going to happen. You’re going to sit still, and I’m going to finish what I started in the woods…” He brought the knife out and started bringing it closer to Toothless. Confused, the dragon only sat a little taller, but didn’t move.

Astrid saw that Hiccup wasn’t stopping and tackled him to the ground. “Run Toothless! Get out of here!”

Toothless watched the scene with confliction. Hiccup would never hurt him.

Would he?

Astrid kept Hiccup pinned to the floor. “Are you out of your mind!?”

“ARE YOU?!” He shouted back, looking between her and the dragon who was fleeing down the mountain. “You had the chance to kill him too! To end his terror on our town! Why did you tackle me instead?!”

“Because!” She shouted, getting right into his face, “the war between Berk and the dragons is over! You are the one who ended it!”

Hurt passed over his face, as he looked her in the eye. “Astrid, what kind of fool do you take me for?”

Frustrated and a bit angry, Astrid clambered off of him and pulled him to his feet. “I don’t think you’re stupid.” Then, she smiled slightly. “In fact, you’re the smartest person I know.”

He blushed hotly from the compliment, despite his anger. “I’m going to find my dad, at least he won’t lie to me. He’s always been brutally honest. Even when no one else had the guts to be.” He tore away from her.

“Hiccup, your dad’s not here.” She spoke softly.

He stopped, and then replied, “right. They went to look for the nest.” He sighed. “Okay fine. You think I should rest? I’ll rest. That way I can’t get in the way, right?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

He ignored her and kept walking down back into town. Astrid quietly followed along, watching him, worried.

In town, things got a whole lot stranger, as Hiccup surveyed everything he thought he knew. There were new buildings everywhere and strange contraptions he swore he saw in his dreams. It was a bit awe inspiring, to say the least.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Astrid spoke from behind him.

He jumped, but looked at her.

“You designed all of this, you know. This is all you.”

He was speechless as he continued to his house. “I must be dreaming then.”

She held his hand, “It’s not a dream. This is all real. We have changed so much and you…you just can’t remember it right now.”

“It’s so hard to believe.” He admitted. “Everything I know…I’ve been the butt end of jokes. I’ve been called everything from a waste of space to a disappointment. How—how could I ever do something as great as all of this?”

She tugged on his hand, stopping him. “You’ll remember, in due time. Gothi said it was only temporary. I could just tell you what’s happened, but I think it’s better if you remember on your own.”

He looked at their intertwined hands and blushed. “Um…” He began.

She didn’t let go, only smiled at him. Actually smiled, with actual joy and pleasantry. “Hmm?”

“What are we?”

“What do you think?”

He swallowed. “I…I hope this doesn’t ruin anything, but I know I had a huge crush on you.”

Her grin got wider. “You’re getting closer.”

He took in her pretty face, and realized what the difference was. She was older. “I don’t think I’ve stood this close to you before. I could have sworn you were taller then me.”

“For a while, I was.” She chuckled. “Then you outgrew everybody. And you actually have stood this close to me, a lot closer, too.” She stated, suggestively.

“Oh…we’re not…we’re not dating, are we?”

“Oh it’s much worse then that.” She cupped the side of his face and planted a kiss on his lips. He stood rim rod straight and burned from head to toe. She pulled away. “I’m your wife.”

“W-w-w-wife?!” He barked out.

“Yeah, pretty cool huh?”

He only blushed harder as he whispered, “we had sex?”

She snickered. “Isn’t that what married couples do?”

Then pouted heavily, “I actually got to have sex with Astrid, and I don’t remember any of it. That’s just my luck.”

Astrid pulled him closer and hugged him. “There will be more nightly trysts in the future, don’t you worry you’re cute little butt.”

Hiccup’s embarrassment and shyness only grew. “You saw my butt!”

Astrid only laughed.

“Hey, uh…is leisurely walking considered resting?”

“Why?”

“Maybe walking around the village will jog my memory.”

She released him from her hug and held his hand, “we can certainly try.” She worried that things might get overwhelming, if he didn’t remember he was chief or about his mom. But above all, she worried about how he would react when he couldn’t find his dad. She knew that back then, Hiccup and Stoick had a bad relationship. Who knew how the old Hiccup would have reacted back then?

As they walked through town, Astrid was quiet, only waving to people as they passed by. Folks yelled out, “good to see you’re okay, chief!” “Really gave us another scare there, Chief Hiccup!” and “a bit early in your rule to bow out now!”

“So, I’m chief then.” Hiccup confirmed to Astrid.

“Yeah, for about a year now.”

“Did dad go into early retirement?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Her answer was vague, but he didn’t push it.

Suddenly, a group of young adults came running over and patted him on the back and arms. “You’re okay!” “That fall was nasty, man!” “I totally saw it coming.”

Hiccup stood shell shocked as he realized a few things. A) He really was taller then all of them, even Snotlout and Fishlegs, B) They were looking at him with adoration and respect, and C) he had yet to be punched. It was weird.

“Ah, yeah…” He rubbed the back of his head. It was still tender from his tumble, and he winced in pain. “I’m okay.”

“He has some memory loss, though,” Astrid provided. “So, he might say some funny things.”

“Hiccup always says funny things.” Tuffnut added.

Snotlout scoffed, “well, what did you expect? He leapt from Toothless to an unstable roof 50 feet in the air. I’m surprised he isn’t dead!”

“And I’m sure you’d just love that, wouldn’t you?” Hiccup snapped back.

Snotlout shrunk. “No, I wouldn’t. We’re friends Hiccup…aren’t we?”

“Since when?” The chief challenged. “Since when have any of us been friends?”

The group looked at each other and then to Astrid.

“I told you, memory loss.”

He wasn’t quite sure where he got the courage to speak up. Maybe it came from the new title of ‘Chief,’ but he felt a burning rage in his chest from just hearing Snotlout’s voice and spoke, ���You know, memory loss or no, I still find it really shitty how you guys treat me. Or treated me. I’m just supposed to pretend none of those insults or pranks ever happened?”

Everyone turned away, too ashamed to look him in the eye. Hiccup had never brought this up, and they assumed that all was forgiven. But, they hadn’t forgotten what happened back during the war. And it wasn’t fair to Hiccup to try to blow it over, since it was so recent to him.

“You guys make my life hell, and have no idea how hard it is to just exist in this stupid, viking, survival-of-the-fittest world. I wake up every morning with dread, because I know my dad is going to yell at me. I hate just leaving the house, because of the scornful glances I get from the village. No matter how hard I try, I am never good enough. I just want—wanted to be accepted. I didn’t need fame, or the whole village to sing my praises…I just wanted someone to talk to. Because no one ever listens to a scrawny little fishbone!” Tears had started to come to his eyes, despite his damnedest not to show weakness. “But now you’re going to listen to me, whether you like it or not. I hate you. I hate you all. You will never know how much agony you put me through. How many sleepless nights, how many—“ he choked on a sob, “how many wounds you caused! All because I was different from you!”

Fishlegs started whimpering before bawling. “I’m so sorry Hiccup! We’re the worst!”

Ruff shrugged, ashamed. “We were pretty terrible. Those pranks weren’t really that funny.”

“Except that one time you were bathing in the hot spring and we stole all your clothes except a sock, and you had to walk through town with it on your weiner. That was pretty funny.”

Hiccup gave him a blank look. He had looked back at that and laughed with Tuff, but that was forgotten.

Snotlout didn’t look apologetic. “You know, Hiccup. You should be thanking us for all of that. Because of that, you became stronger. Not such a wimp. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll let you go ahead and punch me in the face.” He slapped his cheek lightly.

Hiccup grit his teeth. “Oh, I want to. But I’m not falling for this again. My dad has enough to work about.”

Then Snotlout looked sad. “No, I don’t think he does.”

His words struck a chord, and Hiccup finally figured it out. “My dad’s not coming back, is he?”

“No,” Astrid assured, “he’s not.”

“What happened?”

Awkward tension went through the group, as Snotlout was the first to answer, with the worst words. “It’s kind of your fault.”

Hiccup gasped in horror. “N-no…oh gods…I—…” He cupped a had over his mouth.

“It was not your fault!” Astrid corrected, pointedly. “It was an evil man named Drago. He…Stoick protected you.”

“Protected me from what?” There was a glimmer of a memory, something significant in his mind. Stoick shouting ‘Son!’ with all his might. “Was it…a dragon?”

“Yes.”

“What…what kind of dragon?” His eyes were closed, trying to imagine it. Black, like the night. A blue flame flickering…green eyes with slits. A killing machine. “A Nightfury.” He stated, his eyes blowing wide. Then he was overtaken with anger. “That same damn Nightfury from the cove. It is my fault.”

“Hiccup, now calm down…” Astrid placed a hand on his shoulder, but he retched away.

“War or no war, I’m killing that Nightfury!” And he took off running.

“No!” Astrid called after. But he was gone, disappeared between the buildings. “Everyone fan out. Toothless is somewhere in the village and Hiccup will find him eventually, we can’t let them see each other!”

Hiccup ran to the forge, where he knew there was a weapon for every occasion. But when he arrived, he was startled and frustration to see hundreds of saddles instead. A fat dragon laid sleeping in the corner, and Hiccup was quiet not to announce his presence. Silently, he started searching, there had to be something.

He came face to face with a shield hanging on the back wall. It was plated in a shiny metal and bore a symbol of a Nigthfury on it. He sneered, but caught his reflection.

The person staring back was foreign. Scruff on the chin, thick brow, and a proud chin. It was a man. Surely a man with enough courage and strength to finally kill the dragon that plagued him.

“Hiccup?” A woman’s voice spoke.

The boy turned slightly, and saw a woman unfamiliar to him. Then again, a lot of things were unfamiliar. She must have been new to Berk, and so he pretended. “Yes?”

She sighed in relief. “Gobber said you fell and hit your head. I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Oh, uh thanks.”

She chuckled, “That’s all you’re going to say? ‘Thanks?’”

He looked back at her, with a questioning glance, “…yeah?”

She came closer. “I know I can’t tell you to be more careful, because it’s in your soul to be free and wild, but really you have responsibilities, Hiccup.” She reached her hand up into his hair. “This village can’t lose another chief so soon.”

He took a step back, uncomfortable with a stranger touching him. “And I’m going to do something about that right now.”

A sword, a little rusty from disuse, laid on a shelf in the corner. He picked it up and examined it. It was dented, but it was sharp enough. It would have to do.

“What on earth is that for?” The woman asked.

“I have to go take care of something…” He said evasively.

“Like what?”

“A dragon problem, don’t worry about it. Uh, ma’am.” He spoke as he headed out of the forge.

The woman’s eyes widened instantly. “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, you come back here right now!”

But the chief was too far gone. He slipped in between buildings and scanned the shadows. He watched the roofs and perches. “With my luck, he’s probably all the way out by the Bogs by now.”

But then suddenly, he spotted a black blob by the cliffside. It sat alone, and looked to be asleep. Hiccup couldn’t believe it was still alive, that someone hadn’t killed it by now. What had ended this war? Surrender? Were the vikings of this island now slaves to the dragons? It was the only explanation.

He knew how fights with dragons always went. The viking would scream, alerting the dragon of their presence, and then they’d dodge the shot limit of the dragon.

Hiccup decided to skip all that. He snuck closer, his leg squeaking with every step.

An earflap on the dragon twitched, and the Nightfury suddenly sat up.

“Shit.” The chief whispered to himself.

The dragon crooned at him, cocking his head to the side.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” he spat. “This ends now.” He gripped his sword tighter.

“Hiccup!” Astrid’s voice called. The footfalls of many followed after.

“Oh for the love of—!”

The Nightfury stood and rolled it’s shoulders. Every ounce of fear Hiccup felt suddenly tripled as the dragon locked eyes on him, the pupils narrowing into slits.

Astrid stopped when she saw Toothless was going to protect himself. “Hiccup! Drop the sword! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

But Hiccup ignored her, as all he heard was his pulse in his ears. He held a hand up to the crowd, warning them to stay back. This was it.

He raised the blade and charged. A battle cry ripping from his throat.  

The Nightfury easily caught the blade in his teeth and ripped it out of Hiccup’s hands, tossing it away.

“No! Don’t!” The woman from the forge tried to intervene, but Toothless rounded on her with a growl. A warning to stay back.

Hiccup took a step back and immediately tripped. He landed on his back as the Dragon nearly stepped on him.

His breaths were rapid, never getting enough oxygen. His heart thundered as tears pricked his eyes. He was foolish, and he was reckless. Everything he swore he wasn’t, and now he was going to have the same fate as his father.

The dragon reared it’s head back, inhaling. Hiccup prayed to every god he knew.

Then Toothless let go an earth shattering, ear piercing roar. Much like the one he gave on the first day they met. It blew back his hair and pinned him solidly to the ground. Once finished, he waited.

Hiccup laid on the ground, almost in a trance, as a flood of memories washed over him. Some were pleasant, like the time spend with Toothless in the cove. He saw his dad speaking to the crowd, telling them how proud he was of his only son. He saw Astrid, the affectionate glances and the absolutely beautiful bride she made. But then the horrors came, and he saw the Red Death and it’s teeth closing in on him. He saw the faces of enemies and his father’s disappointed gaze. Then finally, he saw his father running, a blue flame, and then his own reflection in a pair of green eyes.

“It wasn’t your fault, bud.”

Toothless eyes returned to their friendly, dilated disposition and he lowered his head to rest on Hiccup’s stomach. A loud purr reigned over the silence of the crowd.

Still frozen to his spot on the ground, tears poured out of his wide eyes as six years worth of memories hit him over and over. He raised a hand and rested it on Toothless’ snout.

Finally, he stood, his legs shaking and trying in vain to wipe his face. “Um…” he began, sniffling. “I’m sorry.” The tears would not stop. “I’m…I’m really sorry. To all of you. I—I’m not the chief you deserve.”

Then he gave into his emotions, his face hid behind fists as his body shook. Though he remembered all that had happened, the past was still prevalent in his mind. He was filled with doubt and regret.

Almost instantly, he was being squeezed into warmth and when he looked up, he found everyone in a group hug around him. Astrid kissed his cheeks as his mom rubbed his back. Then rest of the village cried out to him with encouragement. “You’re the greatest chief we’ve ever had!” “We love you Hiccup!” “Because of you we don’t have to fear for our lives!” “You’ve made us so happy!” “You’re father is so proud!”

A fresh round of tears came up, these ones of happiness. And, you know? He didn’t try to hide them.