1 Prologue

     "Oh, the gods hate me." Hiccup huffs out as he places his notebook in his brown fur vest. "Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon-!" He says exasperatedly, hitting a branch out of his way only for it to swipe him harshly on his face. Looking at the tree he takes note of its broken and fallen appearance—and that it follows an uprooted dike going to the crest of a steep slope. Walking through the dike and to the edge, he looks over cautiously and quickly backs down at the form of a black dragon. It lay on its right side, wrapped in a bola shot from Hiccup's launcher, its tail is bent backward and its wing is held secure in an uncomfortable position.

     Hiccup hurtled the crest and slid down the slope into the small clearing. Crouching behind a rock on the same level as the dragon, Hiccup readies his knife. Peaking around the mossy rock and standing upright, feeling relieved that the dragon is downed by a bola. He steps away from the rock and gripped the knife tighter in his hands, pointing it at the night fury's beaten form.

     "Oh, wow. I-I did it!" He exclaims short of breath. "Ohh, I did it. This- this fixes everything!" Hiccup says triumphantly while throwing his hands into the air. "Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!" He proclaims proudly, unaware of the dragon's breathing. Placing his foot on the dragon's shoulder only for the dragon to shove it off forcibly. Hiccup gulps air loudly from the dragon's movements and hastily readies his knife nervously, making him scan the dragon's body for any sign of it's escape. Looking to its head, its eyes stared at him with daggers, knowing what would happen to itself.

     Breathing heavily, to ready himself Hiccup states, "I'm going to kill you, dragon. Then I'm going to cut out your heart and take it to my father." Readying his knife over his head to bring down on the dragon's chest. "I am a Viking. I am a Viking!" He proclaims first to himself then in defense against the beast's piercing green eyes. Bringing the knife above his own head further, he takes a glance at the dragon's eyes, seeing them defeated and glossed over. The dragon resigned itself to its fate and accepted it's death, laying its head on the grassy soil. Hiccup groaned to himself, resting his knife atop his crown. He couldn't do it. "I did this."

     Hiccup quickly got to work cutting the ropes of the bola that still trapped the black dragon to the ground. The dragon's eyes shot open as it realized what the Viking was doing, as opposed to what Hiccup should actually be doing. He's releasing the dragon, and it knows that all too well for any normal Viking's liking. As his cutting continued the ropes became more and more loose, allowing for freedom of movement, allowing the dragon to slip through the rest of the ropes and pounce.

     The dragon, feeling this, made a swift movement. It slipped through the rest of the bola's ropes, grabbing Hiccup in its front paws and pinning him to a nearby boulder. Hiccup gasped for air, as it had been knocked out of his lungs, and tried in vain to back away from the beast hovering above him threateningly with its teeth bared. The dragon breathed heavily above the Viking, growling lowly and hissing at him in defense. The dragon reared up and took to releasing a deafening, screeching roar in Hiccup's face before attempting to fly off, leaving the Viking in his place stunned as the beast glides and shrieks into the thick forest, crashing into rocks and trees alike.

     It is at night that Hiccup returns to his home after passing out in the forest instinctively from his run-in with the downed night fury. The door to his house creeks as he opens and shuts it. Noticing his father by the central fire pit and stoking it, Hiccup tried to discreetly exit the room by going up the stairs leading to his loft and bed, only for the steps to give away his presence.

     "Hiccup," Stoick says, alerted to his son's presence behind him.

     "Dad, uh..." Hiccup began strong, backing down the steps. "...I have to talk to you, Dad." He ended weak, unsure and nervous about his decision.

     "I need to speak with you, too, son." His father says, also unsure of the consequences of his own decision. They both attempted to speak promptly, only to be confused by what the other had to say. "Uh, you go first."

     "No-! No, you go first." Hiccup insists awkwardly.

     "All right. You get your wish." He begins hesitantly. "Dragon Training... You start in the morning." Stoick didn't fully agree with his friend's suggestion to put Hiccup in Dragon Training.

     "Oh, man, I should've gone first. Uh... 'cause I was thinking, you know," Hiccup says becoming alarmed and trying to formulate an easy way of telling his father that he'd really rather not. "We have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings or small-home-repair Vikings?" He asked, emphasizing with his arms and making a small motion with his hands.

     "You'll need this," Stoick says, proudly handing his son an engraved battleax and placing it in Hiccup's outstretched arms, forcing a grunt out of Hiccup as he tried to stay upright with the added weight.

     "I don't want to fight dragons," Hiccup says uneasily.

     "Oh, come on. Yes, you do." Stoick retorts chuckling.

     "Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons."

     "But you will kill dragons."

     "No, I'm really very extra-sure that I won't." He says gaining ground in his voice.

     "It's time, Hiccup," Stoick says sternly.

     "Can you not hear me?"

     "This is serious, son." His father says, quieting Hiccup's failure of attempts to get out of the situation. "When you carry this ax, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us, you talk us... you think like us." He says straightening his son's posture and holds of the ax. "No more of... this."

     "You just gestured to all of me," Hiccup says as he drops his posture again.

     "Deal?"

     "This conversation is feeling very one-sided." Hiccup says deadpanning.

     "Deal?" Stoick asks again with more force.

     Hiccup sighs in defeat. "Deal." He agrees quietly.

     "Good. Train hard. I'll be back. Probably." He says preparing to leave and grabbing his helmet before heading out the door to their home and towards the docks.

     "And I'll be here. Maybe." Hiccup replies hunched over and in a sulky mood, letting the ax dangle with his arms.

     The Viking crowd cheers at the two Vikings in the ring as a gronckle circles the outer edge of the arena, searching for the two. Hiccup and Astrid are both hiding behind a hurdle as the stubby dragon passes by, both of them breathing heavily from evading the dragon. This is only one of the activities that they had to do, but only now is absolutely crucial as very soon, one of them would be chosen to kill their first dragon for the viewing of the village.

     "Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing." Astrid says angrily to Hiccup, he had stolen the spotlight from her and she knows she's angry about it. Shoving his shield to the stone floor, Astrid began glaring venomous eyes at Hiccup's own with envy from the girl beside him.

     "Please, by all means," Hiccup says with sarcasm as Astrid runs to hide behind another wooden hurdle. Hiccup stands, adjusting his helmet and he glances towards his father clapping him on in the crowd proudly. Hiccup gives him an unenthusiastic smile before refocusing on subduing the Gronckle, giving a halfhearted shrug. As the dragon nears the far side of the ring it turns and flies over the middle, heading in Hiccup's direction.

     Astrid readies herself, following the dragon closely from behind by going from hurdle to hurdle. "This time, this time for sure!" She thinks to herself out loud before jumping over the hurdle and a few more while letting out a war cry. Stopping dead in her tracks, she sees that Hiccup had already beaten her. The dragon, laying on its side, and Hiccup standing there in fright with all his equipment on the floor. He uses a nearby hurdle to steady himself before gesturing to the gronckle nervously with his hands and smiling. "No!" She screams in frustration. "No, son of a half-troll, rat-eating... munge-bucket!" She growls to herself through gritted teeth while swinging her ax around.

     The crowd praises Hiccup with clapping and cheering. "Wait! Wait." Stoick says quickly, quieting the crowd with outstretched arms in their uproar of celebrating.

     "So, later," Hiccup excuses himself.

     "Oh! Not so fast." Gobber quickly catches Hiccup by using his hook to scoop Hiccup up and making him stay in place.

     "I'm kind of late for..."

     "What? Late for what, exactly?" Astrid says, pinning his neck in between the two ax heads of her weapon, her eyes staring at him with anger.

     "Quiet down! The elder has decided." Stoick announces to silence everyone, leaving only a few murmurs of betting. Gobber stands in between the two teens and raises his hook above Astrid, an action to which the elder shakes her head. At this, the crowd gasps and oos at the decision while Astrid's eyes quickly dive swords and jealousy into Hiccup's skull. Then Gobber raises his right hand above Hiccup's head and points down at him, the elder smiles and nods at the boy. The crowd cheers to this sending their congratulations to Hiccup.

     "Oh! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber shouts excitedly with Hiccup in his arms while the other teens rush up to give him their congratulations themselves. Fishlegs picks Hiccup up and puts him on his shoulders, cheering his name along with Hiccup's cousin Snotlout as well as the Thorston twins. Astrid stands back, only glaring at them all. All she is able to think is that Hiccup is definitely hiding something from the rest of them.

     Hiccup laughs nervously as he's carried out of the ring on Fishlegs' shoulders. "Yeah. Yes, I can't wait. I am so..." Hiccup says with little effort, not feeling very proud himself.

     "...Leaving." Hiccup says in the cove where his night fury friend is. "We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation." He says defeated. "Forever. Oh man." Placing his basket down next to a boulder he began to check his supplies. Toothless comes up beside his rider and nuzzles his side in confusion, warbling concerns to his human friend. "I know, Bud. I know. But it's time to go, and I don't think we're going to come back here." Toothless began warbling and purring his sympathies to his friend. Hiccup started scratching under the dragon's maw and felt it best to give a hug by wrapping his arms around Toothless' head and continued his scratching, smiling to himself with sadness. "I'm going to miss this place."

     Astrid is crouched down behind rock located on the edge of a cliff face on the inland cove. She decided to sneak another peek into the deep cove to see the black dragon once more crawling around a central lake, presumably looking for fish. She was sure that Hiccup would come here, she had tailed Hiccup here one evening and found supplies of his littered about the ground. He wasn't here that evening, she had missed him, but now she felt sure that Hiccup is coming here now that the sun had set just an hour earlier. She knows she is expected home, her overbearing parents would make sure she is punished.

     When she heard Hiccup's voice she tightened her grip on her ax, bringing it close to her chest and tried to normalize her breathing. Dragon. Hiccup. Deadly? Yes, it is. "Hiccup. Get out of there." She says under her breath, hoping to the gods he would be alright. She breathes out once more before hearing a dangerous growl and the flapping of large wings. "Hiccup!" She is shouting for the teen as she sees him with the dragon, flying rapidly into the air. Astrid drops to her knees in pain, but her head is quickly filling with tasks, masking her suddenly confusing emotions.

     As Hiccup is riding his friend through the air he hears a voice, screams of pain and regret. He hasn't a clue as to why, it is probably his own regret, he may never see his father and friends again. He hasn't even been able to say his goodbyes, not even to his mentor Gobber when he was carried out of the training ring. Hiccup feels guilty, realizing that he is letting his village think him dead, taken by a dragon like his mother was. Who knows, maybe she befriended a dragon like he did Toothless?

     "Come on, Bud. Let's get out of here." Hiccup suggestion is taken kindly, turning back away from Berk and directing Toothless south, a choice that the dragon will easily get behind. Seeing as his scales love the warmth of the sun.

     "Chief!" Astrid screams, running as hard as she can through the forest. She is running so hard to get back to the village that she is deciding to throw her ax to the side, seeing that it has no use for sprinting. "Stoick!" She cries out again, losing her footing on a fallen tree that was downed in a thunderstorm. Astrid screams and grunts as she falls face first into a muddy patch mixed with grass. "Ow..." She muttered under her breath while picking herself up, which she instantly regrets as her left ankle is twisted. Still, besides the besetting from her foot, she continues to rush to the village.

     "Gobber!" She tries, this time coming to the edge of the lush forest, the welcoming sight of the village before her.

     "Astrid?" Fishlegs hollers at his friend in confusion, coming up to her he looks her over. She is breathing heavily, her front and left side covered in half-dried mud, she is hunched over gasping for air and axles. "Astrid!" He realizes his friend's pain. "Are you okay? What happened?" He quickly made his way to her side from where he stood to check her over, supporting her frame with his own. Her voice is hoarse from all her screaming and shouting from trying to get back to the village.

     "It's Hiccup," she wheezes out while clutching her abdomen, never in her life had she ran so far and so hard.

     "Okay, Astrid. We're getting you to the elder." Fishlegs suggestion sounds good to Astrid; noticing Snotlout and the twins he shouts, "Snotlout!" Quickly grabbing their attention.

     "What!"

     "Go get Stoick! We need his help!" He shouts back to him. "Come on, Astrid. Deep breaths, calm down." Fishlegs says scooping her into his arms and hurrying to the elder being careful not to drop the girl in his arms. She had seen something and he needs to know what.