"You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies," Hiccup asked, looking up to Gobber who was above the arena observing and supervising the training. "Is there another book? Or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?"
A blast took the axe head off the hilt of the axe Hiccup was holding, taking him by surprise.
"Focus, Hiccup! You're not even trying!"
"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs protested as he ran for cover.
The recruits were learning to attack this time, the usual shenanigans followed. They managed to last out so far, and figured out the Deadly Nadder's blind spot (indirectly, thanks to the bickering twins), but Hiccup was still not satisfied with his question unanswered.
"Hey, so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"
"None one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!" Gobber urged.
"I know, I know, but hypothetically…"
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup turned to see Astrid hissing at him to get down as the incoming Deadly Nadder leapt over the walls. While the dragon was busy looking for them at the other side of the wall they were hiding, Astrid managed to somersault her way to the next cover. Hiccup tried to copy her, but the weight of the shield cut him off, and the Nadder immediately caught sight of them.
A chase ensued, with Snotlout trying to (unsuccessfully) be a hero for Astrid, Astrid expertly maneuvered her way around the obstacles and Hiccup just basically running for his life as usual. While the Nadder tore off after mostly her and Snotlout, knocking down walls in pursuit, Hiccup managed wandered up to Gobber again.
"They probably take the daytime off," Hiccup tried his luck again. "You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?"
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup spun round at Gobber's warning to see the maze walls collapsing like dominos toward him. Astrid, who had been going around like a trained gymnast in a sense, came flying through the dust and crash-landed on top of him, laying him out in a limb-tangled mess.
"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut teased as he and his twin were the first to see them mushed together.
"She could do better," Ruffnut chided as the Nadder closed in, emerging through the cloud of dust.
"Just…let me…" Hiccup struggled to untangle himself from Astrid. He could've sworn she was sort of rubbing her knee against him between his legs, which was still a little sore, by the way. "Why don't you…"
Astrid groaned and managed to untangle herself from Hiccup as the incoming Nadder spun around and raced back toward them like a raptor. She tried to pull her axe from Hiccup's shield, but it was quite attached to his arm, so she had no choice but to plant her foot on his face and yanked the axe free, still burrowed into the shield. Within moments, she swung the axe and shield, scoring a direct hit on the oncoming Nadder's head. It yelped and scurried off, trying to shake off the buzz.
"Well done, Astrid," Gobber said as he made his way to get the dragon back into its cell. Unfortunately no one shared Gobber's praise as Hiccup realized all eyes were on him as he got to his feet. He turned to find Astrid glaring at him, a little winded, but a whole lotta pissed.
"Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parents' war is about to become ours," Astrid pointed her axe threateningly at Hiccup. "Figure out which side you're on."
Hiccup watched guiltily as she and the others stomped off and walked out of the arena for their well-deserved break.
-:-
Or to be more specific, he wanted to know why the dragon did what he did to him.
Holding onto the cod he brought along tight, he looked around cautiously again, wondering where the Night Fury was. That was when he felt a sort of foreboding presence behind him and a quiet snort out of the blue. Turning around, he saw the Night Fury, crouched on a rock like a stealthy panther. His breath caught in his throat a little as it descended, approaching him, ready to pounce.
Swallowing his fear, Hiccup offered the fish to the Night Fury. The dragon eyed at it warily for a second before it suddenly growled. Hiccup flinched for a second before he realized the problem: his hunting dagger he brought along tucked in his waist band. Quickly but carefully, he took it out, eliciting another growl, before he dropped it on the ground. The dragon was still not satisfied, jerking its head. Hiccup got the message and kicked it into the pond. Almost immediately, the dragon calmed down and revealed to him the most docile pair of eyes he had ever seen. He would've felt something was awfully cute about this if it weren't a killing machine before him. Slowly, the dragon approached the fish, opening its mouth to be fed, and that's where Hiccup noticed that it was missing its teeth.
"Huh. Toothless," Hiccup noted. "I could've sworn you had…"
A set of razor sharp teeth emerge from its gums suddenly to grab the fish. Hiccup exclaimed as it snatched and gnashed the fish up, swallowing it.
"…Teeth."
The dragon licked its lips before it pressed closer with an expectant look. Hiccup retreated nervously.
"Uh, no, no, no, no…" The Fury backed Hiccup against a rock, placing himself the same position as before. Hiccup was trying hard not to hyperventilate, the dread of the dragon violating him again resurfacing in his heart. "No, I don't have any more!"
The dragon closed in over him, staring blankly. A tense moment passed before the dragon suddenly made a weird choking sound and regurgitated a fish tail onto Hiccup's lap. They exchanged stares, with the dragon flashing a glance at the fish then at him. Hiccup soon realized what the dragon wanted him to do.
Hiccup crouched slowly and squeamishly picked it up. The dragon waited expectantly. He knew he had no choice. With the dragon's eyes watching his every move, he gagged and gnawed off a bite of the slimy fish. When he tried to show that he did what he was told to do, the dragon made a swallowing motion, wanting him to actually ingest the fish. Hiccup groaned inwardly and reluctantly swallowed the fish. It tasted slimy and fishy and raw and nasty and everything in between. He couldn't believe dragons could stand eating like that as he shuddered from the experience. He looked up to see the dragon licking its lips, as if asking him if it tasted good. He forced a smile to show that everything was fine. The dragon squinted its eyes at Hiccup's facial expression before it slowly stretched its lips, trying to mimic him.
Hiccup blinked at the sight before him. There it was, the dragon, the legendary dragon that no one has ever seen, ever caught or ever killed, the dragon that subdued him and robbed him of his innocence, the dragon who had the chance to blow him up into smithereens at any given time, right there in front of him, trying to smile like a human. This was not the dragon he thought he knew. This was not the scary, deadly dragon that burnt down dozens of houses and killed hundreds of people and invaded thousands of villages. This was not the dastardly dragon that tore through his clothes and discovered his family secret and violated him till he almost couldn't sit for a week. This was a dragon that was curious and inquisitive. This was a dragon who just wanted to be left alone and have nothing to do with anything. This was a dragon…that didn't know any better.
Amazed at this revelation, Hiccup sat up and tried to touch him. The dragon started for a moment and hissed before it flapped off to a crash on the other side of the cove. He blasted the mossy ground to a red-hot temperature and curled up on it like a giant dog. The sound of chirping from a bird's nest distracted it and it watched as the mother bird flew off to search for food for its young and turned to find Hiccup seated beside him. Hiccup grinned and waved awkwardly at him but it somehow tolerated his persistent presence, giving him a bemused look. It hid its face with its half-tail and Hiccup tried his luck to touch it. Unfortunately the dragon didn't take too kindly at him invading that much of his privacy and glared at him. Hiccup took the hint and scampered away.
This is gonna be harder than I thought, Hiccup thought to himself as he made himself scarce.
-:-
The most important thing right now was for him to get to know this Night Fury and find out why it did what it did to him instead of killing him when it had the chance.
Hiccup stole a look at the dragon that hanging upside down from a tree, obviously taking a nap. He sighed and shook his head as he picked up a random stick and sketched the dragon's face on the sand. He had been trying to reach out for the dragon for quite a while after he scampered off the first time. He tried sitting a slight distance away from him, he tried giving him a reassuring smile at him, he tried to prove that he was not a threat but the dragon wanted none of it. It made it clear that he was not welcomed anywhere near it, and Hiccup had to make do for the rest of day sitting at the other side of the cove staring at him, wondering and pondering until he himself got tired and managed to sneak forty winks himself. By the time he woke up, the sun was setting and the dragon was on the tree, snoozing like nobody's business.
As he sketched some more, he felt a gentle huff against the back of his head and realized that the dragon had taken an interest in his sketching. Aware of his presence, Hiccup continued, trying not to scare him off. Once he was slightly done with the sketch, the dragon walked off. A moment later, he reappeared with an entire sapling, drawing lines in the sand. It rushed here and there, making haphazard lines in every direction, brushing past Hiccup and occasionally stealing a glance at Hiccup, in which Hiccup kept still, not moving from his spot so that he wouldn't drive the dragon away.
Finally, the dragon dropped the tree and inspects his work, seemingly pleased. Hiccup stood and took in the sprawling scribble, amazed by it. He tried to get a good look at what it had drawn when he accidentally stepped onto one of the lines, eliciting an instant growl from the dragon. He flinched at his growl, then stepped on it again to try his luck. The dragon growled again, and got even fiercer each time he did it. Realizing how sensitive it is, Hiccup stepped carefully between each line, turning round and round until he unwittingly bumped into the dragon, earning a snort from it.
Hiccup turned around to find himself face to face again with the dragon. He was a lot closer than he was before when he fed him the fish. The dragon stared back at him in a sort of curious, odd way, standing its ground. Hesitantly, Hiccup slowly extended his hand, hoping that this time, he could actually touch it without feeling cornered. The dragon was not too happy about it as it growled under its breath, but it didn't run away like it did before either. At least that was an almost good sign.
Hiccup finally decided to avoid eye contact with it and let it decide the next course of action. He turned his head away and closed his eyes, keeping his hand held out and hoping for the best. To his amazement, he felt the cold, scaly skin on his fingertip moments later and when he looked up tentatively (after resisting a flinch), he saw the dragon's muzzle pressed gently against his hand. Its eyes were closed and for that short moment, he could see that the facial expression the dragon had was calm, relaxed, comfortable and, most importantly, at peace.
Finally, after the overwhelming feeling of time standing still, the dragon removed itself from Hiccup's hand, wrinkling its nose a little bit, before realizing that Hiccup was watching him. It gave him a slightly defiant look and snorted before going back to his side of the cove, leaving Hiccup quite astounded at this turn of events.
-:-
"…And with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face," Gobber said almost proudly. "I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg."
"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something," Fishleg theorized, oblivious of the weird looks he was getting from his peers.
"I swear I'm so angry right now," Snotlout growled with gritted teeth. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face."
"Un-unh," Gobber said with his mouth full. "It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."
He looked calm and stoic in front of the crew, but in truth Hiccup was trying to hide his horrified look of what he had done to the dragon from them. That was when everything started to make sense to him: The missing part of the tail, the dragon unable to get out of the cove, its frustrations, the reason why it violated him…it all made sense. It was all his fault. Him and his machine. He took the dragon down with his device. He wrecked his tail. He defeated the most dangerous, most prideful and most legendary dragon in the world. He took away its pride. He took away its freedom.
And it did what it thought was the worst punishment it could think of. The worst punishment it thought he deserved.
Taking away his innocence.
"Alright, I'm off to bed," Hiccup's musing was broken when Gobber stood up and stretched. "You should be too. Tomorrow we get into the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing it?"
As soon as Gobber hobbled off, the teens reflected on what their mentor had said.
"It's gonna be me," Tuffnut said in a matter-of-fact way as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal something to the group. "It's my destiny. See?"
"Your mom let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs gasped as he saw that it was something that looked like a red dragon marking.
"It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark."
"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before," Ruffnut asked suspiciously.
"Yes, it was," Tuffnut replied indignantly. "You've just never seen me from the left side until now."
As the team bickered over whether or not that 'tattoo' was real, Hiccup got up and walked away from the group, almost ignoring Astrid who watched him for a moment as he left the bonfire. The training was not important. The dragons were not important. The kill was not important. All that didn't matter.
What mattered most was making up for what he had done to the dragon.
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