"Well, I can show my face in public again!" Stoick announced as he laughed along with the villagers humorously. "If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being, well…Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training, I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad. Yes! And you know it! But here we are. And no one's more surprised or more proud than I am. Today, my boy becomes a Viking. Today, he becomes ONE OF US!"
Hiccup was standing at the entrance to the ring, listening, looking burdened as cheers and roars echoed the ring. In fact he felt almost sick to the stomach thinking about what he was going to do and what would happen it either succeed or not. While he was lost in his thoughts, Astrid approached him.
"Be careful with that dragon," Astrid tried to offer her support.
"It's not the dragon I'm worried about," Hiccup said, trying to sound upbeat, but was not really convincing.
"You look a little pale. You alright there, Hiccup?"
"Yeah, well, if you count me waking up as if being spun around in a whirlpool and hurling my guts out before I got here, as well as losing all appetite for breakfast as alright, I'm perfectly fine."
"What are you going to do?" Astrid asked worriedly.
"Put an end to this," Hiccup noticed Astrid's dubious look and sighed, "I have to try. Astrid, it maybe just my nerves, but…if something goes wrong…just make sure they don't find Toothless."
"I will," Astrid replied grimly. "Just promise me it won't go wrong."
Hiccup couldn't. He couldn't even guarantee that he would survive this. Gobber soon approached, looking very excited for him.
"It's time, Hiccup. Knock him dead."
Hiccup nodded and put his helmet on before entering the ring. He could hear his fellow peers hooting and hollering from the stands, shouting their support and cheering for his success. Hiccup then locked eyes with Stoick. Stoick nodded with a smile and he returned a half-smile. Taking a deep breath, he hoisted a shield onto his forearm and selected his weapon from a rack of many, which was a small dagger. He then turned to face a bolted, heavy door and took another deep breath.
"I'm ready."
The door bolt was raised. The crowd grew quiet, waiting in anticipation. The doors then suddenly blasted open the next second with a stream of sticky fire, followed by a Monstrous Nightmare, coated in flames. It tore out of its cave like an irate bull as the crowd roared and jeered. It climbed the walls and chain enclosure like a bat, hissing at the provoking crowd and blasting fire, in which the crowd quickly moved out of the way.
It soon spotted Hiccup and descended, leering and licking the flaming drool from its lips. The crowd grew silent, bracing for the big fight. With the Monstrous Nightmare's eyes locked upon him, Hiccup deliberately dropped his shield and dagger, stepping away from them. The dragon paused, confused at what he was doing. The crowd and Stoick were equally confused, wondering what he was doing. The dragon pressed closer, snorting. Hiccup extended his open hand, eliciting a snarl from it.
"It's OK. It's OK…"
The dragon continued to pace, focused on Hiccup's helmet. Hiccup realized that, figuring out that dragons view this helmet as a symbol of their enemy. He slowly reached up and removed it. Taking a breath to acknowledge the point of no return, he tossed the helmet aside.
"I'm not one of them."
Gasps and murmurs raced through the crowd. All eyes turned to Stoick for questions, and it was clear that he was welling with upset. Hiccup avoided Stoick's glare and remained focused on the Nightmare, holding his hand out. It paced around him, calming down.
"Stop the fight," Stoick ordered.
"No. I need you all to see this," Hiccup said determinedly, knowing that the crowd was getting restless. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."
The Monstrous Nightmare got even closer, to the point where its snout was really close to Hiccup's middle. It started sniffing about, as if picking up a scent, and its eyes seemed to show some form of surprise and curiosity as it continued sniffing him. Hiccup was about to lay his hand on its muzzle when the Nightmare leaned in and flickered its tongue onto Hiccup's middle, as if trying to lick him. To everyone's point of view, it was as if the Nightmare was trying to get a taste of him and Stoick, worried for his son's life, lost his cool.
"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!"
Stoick whacked his hammer against the iron enclosure, rattling the arena with a terrible reverberating clatter. Spooked, the Nightmare snapped at Hiccup's outstretched hand. Hiccup yelped and sprang backwards. The spell was broken. The Nightmare reacted to Hiccup's sudden movements and blasted another stream of fire. Hiccup screamed and barely dived out of reach, scrambling around the ring for dear life. The Nightmare pursued, snapping and springing from ground to wall. Stoick pushed through the crowd, rushing to the doorway.
"Out of my way!" Stoick shouted as he pushed his way through the crowd to get to the ring entrance.
"Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed worriedly as she wedged her axe under the arena gate and squeezed through, trying to come to Hiccup's rescue.
A narrow stream of fire narrowly avoided Hiccup as he continues to dasedh around the ring, evading the Monstrous Nightmare. Desperate, he went to the weapon rack in an attempt to arm himself, but the Nightmare quickly destroyed the rack and closed in on him. Stoick wrenched the grated door to the arena and jumped through. The Monstrous Nightmare was only a few feet behind Hiccup. Astrid was soon in the ring, picking up a hammer and hurled it at the Monstrous Nightmare, hitting it in the head. It turned its attention to Astrid, and began chasing her. Stoick raised the arena gate, waving her toward it.
"This way!"
Astrid made it through, but the Nightmare blasted the doorway, cutting Hiccup off. It pounced on him and prepared to finish him off. Suddenly, a terrible roar pierced the din as Toothless appeared out of the blue. It seemed that Toothless had felt that Hiccup was in danger through their bond and managed to claw its way out of the cove to his rescue. It bounded over the crowd and blasted a hole through the chain enclosure. He flied through it and disappeared in the boiling smoke. The Vikings rushed to the railings in time to see a flurry of wings cutting through the dissipating smoke. Once the smoke cleared, everyone saw that it was the legendary Night Fury battling against the Monstrous Nightmare and were no less than shocked. Toothless and the Nightmare tumbled into the clear, locked in a toothy, vicious fight. Toothless kicked the Nightmare off and planted himself between Hiccup and it. The Nightmare snarled, circling them. Toothless lunged and roared, causing the Nightmare to relent and back away. Once the Nightmare was gone, Hiccup quickly got onto his feet and grabbed Toothless protectively.
"Alright, Toothless, go. Get out of here!"
He could feel Toothless' relief that his mate was alright wash over him, but he couldn't reciprocate as the crowd was growing livid at what they were witnessing. Hiccup tried to shoo Toothless away in vain as Vikings began pouring in, clambering through the enclosure and dropping into the ring.
"Go! GO! Please!" Hiccup begged but the bond told him that Toothless was not leaving without him.
"Night Fury!"
"Take it alive!"
Stoick grabbed an axe and charged into the arena in the midst of the commotion. Astrid called out to him, panicked, trying to stop him in vain.
"Dad! No! He won't hurt you!" Hiccup begged as the other Vikings surrounded and attack Toothless. His heart clenched as he watched Toothless tossing them aside like rag dolls, his eyes focused on Stoick, hell-bent on keeping this massive man away from hurting his mate. "No, don't! You're only making it worse!"
Stoick raised his axe as he charged for Toothless. Toothless ducked and pounced on him. They tumbled end over end until Toothless was on top of him, pinning him down.
"Toothless! STOP!"
Toothless inhaled, the familiar hiss of gas building as he got ready to burn Stoick into a crisp…
"NO!"
Toothless felt the urgency of that bond from Hiccup's command and swallowed back the blast. He turned to Hiccup, not understanding why he wouldn't let him kill the man that was going to hurt him, and that feeling of hurt and worry washed over Hiccup through their bond. Sadly, before Hiccup could explain his actions to his mate, the crowd rushed in, piling on, and taking Toothless down. Hiccup ran towards them to stop them but Astrid held Hiccup back, not wanting the situation to get any worse.
"No! Please…" Hiccup begged in desperation. "Just don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him."
Stoick got to his feet, fuming, shaken. A Viking presented Stoick with the axe he just dropped. He eyed Toothless a moment, then pushed the axe back into the Viking's hands.
"Put it with the others!"
His burning glare turned to Hiccup and Hiccup knew he had some serious explaining to do.
-:-
"I should have known. I should have seen the signs," Stoick muttered as he paced.
"Dad…" Hiccup started but was stopped short by Stoick's bellow.
"We had a deal!"
"I know we did, but that was before…" Hiccup was totally flustered as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Uughh, it's all so messed up."
"So everything in the ring. A trick? A lie?"
"I screwed up. I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please…just don't hurt Toothless."
"The dragon?" Stoick exclaimed in disbelief. "That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?"
"He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!"
"Not dangerous? Did you see what he tried to do to me?"
"He thought you were a threat! He thought you were trying to hurt me! He's just doing what any dragon would do for their mate!" Hiccup couldn't stand it. He had to let it out somehow; the truth was eating him away.
"Mate? You mean…you and…and that dragon…?" Stoick looked at his son in disgust.
"Yes…Yes, I did," Hiccup said as he showed him the mark. "I am bonded with Toothless. I am his mate for life. I gave myself to him."
"You let a dragon, the worst enemy of all Vikings, in on our family secret? You let him defile you? Have you no shame?"
"This has nothing to do about shame! I love him, Dad! He understands me more than you ever did and he loves me for who I am, not what I am!"
"They've killed HUNDREDS OF US!"
"And we've killed THOUSANDS OF THEM! They defend themselves, that's all!" Hiccup begged in the midst of Stoick pacing around dismissively. "They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. There's…something else on their island, Dad…It's a dragon like…"
"Their island?" Stoick leaned in accusingly. "So you've been to the nest?"
"D-Did I say nest?" Hiccup went silent; he said too much.
"How did you find it?"
"No, I didn't. Toothless did. Only a dragon can find the island…"
Stoick glared. A moment passed, then an idea took form on his face, his eyes flared. Hiccup watched, realizing what his father had in mind. Stoick stomped toward the doorway.
"Oh no. No, Dad. No," Hiccup chased after him, panicked. "Dad, It's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. It's like nothing you've ever seen! Dad, Please. I promise you that you can't win this one," he grabbed Stoick by the arm, tugging with all his might. "Dad, for once in your life, would you please just listen to me?"
Stoick threw Hiccup off of him, swatting him to the floor. There was an icy stillness in the air as Hiccup stared back, stunned at his father's reaction.
"You've thrown your lot in with them. You're a cursed child and you have cursed us all. You're not a Viking," Stoick turned to look at him, the same look he gave him when he was first told of the family secret and the cause of his mother's death.
"Dad…please…don't…"
"You're not my son."
Stoick pushed through the door, leaving Hiccup alone, devastated. Staggering on the steps, breaking inside, Stoick called out for all the Vikings to ready the ships, oblivious to Hiccup's cries as the boy suddenly doubled over, hugging his middle and started bleeding between his legs.
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