Chapter Text
Berk is… different. Judith thinks it’s in a good way. She misses home, and so many things about home – the food, the technology, and mostly, her family. But out here, at least, they don’t have dragon hunters on their tails anymore. They’re safe in Berk.
It’s a nice life. A simple life. Something they never could have gotten to live if they were… back in their time.
“Don’t let him rile you,” she tells Hannibal, because she thinks he needs to hear it.
“I’m not,” her brother promises, “He’s Snotlout.”
“Uh, I think that’s all the more reason that he is,” Colette pipes up.
She doesn’t get it, either, but Hannibal’s issues with his dragon form aren’t things they ever talk about. “You’re as good a human as a dragon,” Judith says firmly. They and the riders go flying, but Hannibal is struggling with flying. He usually doesn’t, but his flights are fractured.
Snotlout gets a kick out of making fun of it. It’s not funny. Hannibal is terrified of his dragon-part. And with good reason.
The conversation is interrupted with a light rapping. The scent of wood, metal, and plasma reaches her, and Judith perks up. “It’s Hiccup,” she tells them automatically.
“I’ll get it.” Hannibal is the first to the door, swinging up from the breakfast table and opening the door.
It’s Hiccup, just like she said, auburn hair messy across his face, still leaning one-handed on the door to keep weight off his leg, and in general… exhausted. It’s the start of the day, and he already looks ready for bed.
“What’s wrong?” her brother asks immediately.
“The dragons are causing… some problems,” Hiccup offers tentatively. “And we need to do something before my dad has them kicked off Berk.” He trails off, fidgeting, running a hand through his hair. “I promised to take care of it so…”
Ah. Dragons are, at the end of the day, dragons. Some people do still have a hard time seeing this. “We’ll help,” Judith offers immediately.
“Thank you,” Hiccup fumbles out like he really doesn’t know how to say it. Judith wonders – angrily – how many times he ever has, because no one’s ever once done anything actually for him. “I didn’t know who to ask. This is…”
“It’s okay,” Hannibal interrupts, firm but gentle. “We’re dragons. We understand them.”
Hiccup nods. “Yeah, that’s why I came to you. I figured if they listened to anyone, it would be you two.”
Dragons are dragons, but it’s worth a try, right?
***
“All right gang, there’s gonna be some changes around here,” Hiccup chirps, as Hannibal, Judith, and Colette follow through the village streets, looking for signs of dragon chaos. Which, unfortunately, is everywhere.
“Get out! Shoo!” a voice yells from only right down the street and Hiccup spins around to see a Deadly Nadder trying to steal food out of someone’s foot basket.
The woman runs back into her house and the dragon tries to run after.
All of them run for it. Hiccup gets to the dragon first, with a frantically fumbled, “Hold on, I’ll help you, just –”
Judith circles around to the front of the dragon, blocking the doorway, though the dragon’s turning away.
Hiccup rests a hand on the dragon’s snout. “All right - ”
Judith’s eyes glow silver as she eyes the dragon. Its head turns towards her and it makes a disappointed sound.
“What are you telling it?” Colette asks, popping up at her side.
“That it needs to stop stealing other people’s food,” Judith answers.
There’s some dragon growling from behind him suddenly and a crash and Hiccup spins around, ducking as a couple more dragons come bounding past, knocking over everything behind them.
“I’m beginning to see why this was such a problem!” Colette yelps, attempting to dive out of the way.
Looking up, he sees two dragons have climbed onto a ledge above, in front of another house and are fighting with each other. And that also means fire and –
Oh no.
A sheep starts yowling and takes off, it’s wool burning.
“Stop that fight!” Hiccup calls, to Toothless or the dragon shifters – wherever of them can get to them first, “I’ll put out the sheep!”
He takes off running after it, only to run into the middle of the street where people are trying to chase dragons away from their food.
Someone’s furious “enough of these dragons” is what sticks out the most to him, though. If they don’t find a way to stop this, it’s going to get very bad.
He just keeps running after the sheep with a bucket and Colette is quick to join him. He throws a bucket of water at the sheep but misses entirely with the slope he’s standing on and goes sprawling on his back.
The sheep just keeps on running.
Ughhhh. There’s going to be a whole day of this, won’t there?
***
“Everything hurts,” Hiccup says with a long sigh, rubbing at his sore arm that’s aching from he doesn’t even remember what anymore. He bends down to pick up his prosthetic leg. “Even this.” Toothless leans closer, studying it.
“Hiccup?” Astrid’s voice calls from outside.
“Astrid?” he asks, perking up, “Perfect. I don’t look too beat-up, do I?”
Toothless gives him a sympathetic look. It’s even that obvious to him?
“Oh, great. Dragon pity.”
He hears footsteps from behind and turns around as Astrid walks in. “Hey, Astrid. What a nice surprise!”
“So, how was your day?” she asks.
The most exhausting day he’s had in a very long time. And he still managed not to make any progress, even with the other three there. Yeah, maybe Judith talked to a few dragons and tried to get them to stop stealing food but that’s not gonna help with all the others long term and he doesn’t know what to do. “Uh, eventful. Hung around the plaza. You know…”
“Yeah, I do know,” Astrid agrees, “We saw you and the others out there. It’s hard to believe you’re still standing.”
Hiccup flops over backwards onto his bed with a groan. “Ugh, I’m gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month.”
“Hiccup!” he hears Stoick’s voice calling and he hastily scrambles back to his feet, “Hiccup, what’s going on out there?” His father strides into the room and he does not look happy. This is bad. “The plaza looks like a war zone.”
He winces. “I know it looks bad…”
“Really bad,” Astrid unhelpfully whispers.
He has no idea how he’s gonna explain this. “Yeah, but this is only Phase One of my master plan,” Hiccup scrambles to say. He has to think of something and fast.
“Oh, so you do have a plan?” Stoick asks, a bit dubiously.
“I do, of course I do!” he insists, “It’s very complex. Lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it’s, uh, pretty wild.” He is lying so badly. But what is he supposed to say? He has no idea what he’s doing. Not that he’ll ever tell Stoick that. He can’t.
“Uh-huh. Well, this better be real,” Stoick replies, in a tone Hiccup’s pretty sure means he’s skeptical, “Because Mildew’s stirred up the whole island. And if you don’t get those dragons under control, they’ll be calling for their heads.” He spins around, walking away.
Hiccup sees the look that flickers through Toothless eyes, and his gut clenches sharply. Toothless might not have ended up in a cage, but it came close enough. “Don’t worry, bud,” he quickly reassures, going over to pet his snout, “Your head’s not going anywhere.”
“You do realize,” Astrid interrupts, walking over, “There are like a bazillion dragons out there and only one of you?”
“Four,” Hiccup pipes up, because the other three were helping. But they are gonna need more than that.
“Still not enough,” she replies, “I hope you really do have a plan.”
Yeah, well, he’s getting the makings of one. Which will hopefully be enough to work.
***
Hiccup goes to pick up Hannibal, Judith, and Colette first, early the next morning. “We need to deal with this soon,” he says.
“I know,” Judith agrees, sighing.
“My dad is being my dad,” Hiccup replies, “But I got the other riders to agree to help me.”
“Oookay,” Colette replies, “Hope everyone’s ready for a lot of running around.”
He’s really not looking forward to another day like yesterday but if it’s all that’s going to keep the dragons on Berk and stop another war from breaking out, he’s ready to do it.
They leave the house together, going to meet up with the rest of the riders.
“So, what’s the plan?” Snotlout asks.
“I was thinking we could turn the arena into a place for the dragons,” Hiccup replies.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Hannibal offers, “If we gave them a private place, maybe they would stop invading human’s places.”
“Well, I don’t know about anyone else but I wouldn’t want to stay in a town if I didn’t have my own room,” Judith chimes in, in agreement.
“You already did that,” Colette points out sweetly.
They did spend their first week or so in the village staying in Stoic’s room and then in the dungeons, so… that’s fair. Hiccup is almost surprised at how well they’re adjusting to life here, considering that.
“So, that’s your plan?” Ruffnut interjects, “Train dragons?”
“Here?” Tuffnut seconds, “Where we used to kill them?”
“Right… because we don’t do that anymore,” Hiccup points out, “That’s why it’s available.”
“Actually,” Astrid pipes up, “The dragons do seem a little nervous.”
A little nervous would be an understatement, actually. All the dragons are practically cowering. Hiccup winces. He knows, and he’s not surprised. This place doesn’t hold the greatest memories for him, either, but that’s all the more reason they use that to make it into something better. He wanted to fix all of this, and if he has a chance, he can’t just ditch it.
“That’s because they’re very sensitive,” Fishlegs offers sympathetically, patting Meatlug. It doesn’t do much to make her relax as her eyes flit all around the arena in fear. “Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it.”
“Ouch,” Colette supplies.
“Yeah,” Judith agrees, “I wouldn’t want to stay somewhere I used to be imprisoned either.”
“Maybe it’ll look more like a home for them if we tear down the cage doors,” Hannibal suggests.
“Once we redecorate, yeah,” Colette agrees.
“It’s amazing your dad just gave us the arena,” Astrid remarks.
“Well,” Hiccup offers sheepishly, “It would be if he did, yeah, but he didn’t, so that’s another thing we should try not to talk about.”
“I’m sure he’d understand,” Hannibal offers optimistically.
He sounds way more optimistic about this than Hiccup himself feels. “I hope we can convince him,” Hiccup agrees. “Because… Alright, everybody, here’s the thing. The dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village... we've gotta do something about that.”
“Got it!” Tuffnut says, brightening, “Help dragons blow things up! We can totally do that.”
“I don’t think that’s going to help the situation,” Colette interjects.
“Here’s how we’re gonna do it,” Ruffnut agrees gleefully, ignoring everyone else entirely and turning to her brother, who nods along in glee, “First, we make them really, really angry – ”
“No problem,” Tuffnut smirks, “We anger everybody.”
“No, you guys, this is serious!” Hiccup protests. They don’t have time for more chaos when it could get the dragons kicked off Berk entirely, “Mildew wants all of your dragons caged. And I don’t know about you but that’s not okay with me.”
“You’re right,” Tuffnut agrees, deflating, “She’s sorry.” He points at Ruffnut who glares back.
“I think we should get to work on the cage doors,” Judith interjects, “We have a ways to go.”
***
They work on it for hours. Hiccup tries to show the others how to get dragons to drop things they’re holding that they shouldn’t be and they work on redecorating the arena by taking all the cage doors down. It does seem to be getting the dragons to relax a little bit.
Finally, they decide to call a lunch break but when they come back, it’s to see that all the dragons have disappeared.
“I could have sworn we left them right here,” Hannibal declares, pointing.
“Next time, we better leave a dragon baby sitter behind when we go to eat,” Judith decides.
“I nominate Tuff,” Ruffnut perks up.
“Whatever. What time do I be there?” he asks flippantly.
“That’s gonna depend on what time we go to eat every day,” Colette says flatly, before turning away, “Do we need to go find the dragons?”
“We definitely need to find them,” Hiccup agrees.
“Where do we start looking?” asks Hannibal.
“How about the town square?” Astrid suggests and they take off.
They haven’t even made it all the way there when there’s a sudden explosion and Hiccup looks up to see a cloud of smoke rising into the sky. Ohhh no. He sags in exasperation, and they run from the arena. The walk, unfortunately, takes a while even if they’re running.
They run up outside the foot storage house, in time to see all of their dragons eating the fish out of the storage.
Oh. Oh no.
“Uhh, this doesn’t look good,” Colette offers, looking around.
Hiccup runs for the doorway, looking inside. The place is… empty. And, in short, completely wrecked without half of its roof.
“They’ve eaten everything!” Stoic exclaims, storming towards the door. “We’ve got nothing left for the freeze!”
Greaaaaat. Now his dad is angry and that never ends well, and –
“I warned you, Stoick,” Mildew says, popping up from behind him, “But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers in charge. Now look what the dragons have done. Caging is too good for those beasts.”
And Mildew comes to ruin the show, of course. Stoick’s always on a short fuse, and if the dragons do something to upset him or the villagers, he still won’t hesitate to take it out on them. Some things never change, and Hiccup doubts they ever will.
“Dad,” Hiccup interjects, frantic, “I swear I can fix this. We – we were just starting to – ”
“Enough, Hiccup,” Stoick snaps and he clamps his jaw shut, “How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn’t even control your own?”
What? Hiccup’s gaze slowly follows Stoick’s to where Toothless is eating the last fish out of a barrel.
He deflates nearly in unison with Hannibal, Judith, and Colette. “Oh, Toothless.”
This is definitely gonna make things a lot harder.
His dad turns away, calling to the other Vikings to get the boats ready to start fishing again. But he needs to think of something to say and fast before this gets any worse.
“Dad, please. You gotta listen to me,” Hiccup protests, trying to catch up with them as he starts to head away, “I know dragons better than –”
“Not now, Hiccup,” Stoick retorts sharply, whirling around, “I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?”
“Well, about that…” Judith mutters under her breath, but thankfully no one is listening.
It probably wouldn’t be a good time for anyone to realize that actually, no, they don’t have cages anymore. And that’s probably a good thing because he can’t just lock them all up but –
“Bah!” Mildew scoffs viciously, “You can’t just cage these dragons! We need to them away now!”
The other Vikings behind them start yelling out exclamations of agreement.
No, no. He thought they were finally making progress. He thought –
They can’t undo it all right now. They were doing so well, and…
“You’re right, Mildew,” Stoick replies, and Hiccup’s heart lurches, “We’ll cage them tonight and in the morning, Hiccup will send them off the island. I’m sorry, son.” He turns and walks away.
Toothless noses Hiccup, whining softly.
His hand lowers to his dragon’s head, petting him, even while his heart is still pounding. This can’t be happening. But it is. He’s not going to just get rid of Toothless. And he can’t just lock him up either. He doesn’t know what to do.
He can’t defy his dad. Stoick is the chief, even if it feels like he’s usually wrong, and Hiccup can’t just disobey him. He can’t. He… never fought back until Toothless, and since then, everything in his life changed. But still. He can’t keep fighting. And if he tries, he’ll get all of them in trouble. What is he supposed to do?
Why will Stoick never listen to him?
“Uhh, that’s a problem,” Colette objects, the first to speak.
“Yeah, we don’t have cages anymore,” Judith agrees.
“I’m not going to put Toothless in a cage,” Hiccup protests, miserably.
Behind him, he sees Ruff and Tuff hugging their respective dragon head. Fishlegs has an arm around Meatlug. Stormfly is nosing Astrid and for once, Snotlout and Hookfang aren’t fighting. He doesn’t want to think about how this could be the last time he gets to be with any of them.
“It’s a good thing we can’t put them in cages,” Colette offers.
“Whatever we do, we can’t outright disobey the chief,” Astrid cuts in.
“Well, we can’t really do what he said, either,” Colette argues.
“Maybe we can move the dragons to the arena for the night and I can stay with them so they don’t get scared,” Hannibal suggests, “Or Judith could stay with them.”
“Or we both could,” his twin agrees. “And I think we need to ask Stoick some specifications about this rule, because it’s not even possible. And I’m so confused. Does he mean all the dragons, or just our dragons, or us?”
“Yeah,” Hannibal agrees, “What dragons are we supposed to be locking up? Just the dragons we ride or all the wild dragons that fly by? Because you were fighting them for a long time and you weren’t able to keep them away. How would you be able to do that now?”
When he puts it like that, it really is completely impractical and it’s not going to do anything to solve the conflict they’ve been having with the dragons all that time. It’s easier to just think about the caging problem right now, because he doesn’t know how to begin thinking about how they’re supposed to just get rid of them all in a few hours. And then Toothless would just be gone, and…
“We’d need a dragon tower to keep that many dragons,” Judith says flatly, “What? Are we supposed to kidnap every dragon that flies by to lock up, too?”
Colette lets out an incredulous laugh, even if it dies fast. “I guess.”
“We already have a dragon tower,” Snotlout offers.
“It’s a dragon watchtower,” Fishlegs corrects, miserably.
“And besides, Toothless can’t survive on his own,” Hannibal agrees, “I think he, at least, would deserve an exception.”
He does, but that doesn’t mean Stoick’s going to listen. He never listens to anything when Hiccup is talking. There’s no way now is going to be any different.
“Maybe we can try to convince Stoick to change his mind in the morning,” Colette suggests tentatively.
“My dad is my dad,” Hiccup replies miserably, “I can try to talk to him but I don’t think he’s gonna listen.”
Judith pats his arm sympathetically. “I guess all we can do now is try.”
It is. He just wishes he knew it would actually help something.
“Better get started,” Mildew crows. “You only have until nightfall, and the sun is already setting.”
Hiccup knew he was still there but he didn’t know he was still paying them any intention. None of the others so much as looks at Mildew, or if they do, it’s to just shoot him an icy glare. Not that that’s going to do anything to change what’s about to happen.
“Or maybe we can lock all the dragons in Mildew’s house with him inside,” Colette grumbles under her breath.
Under other circumstances, Hiccup might actually find the suggestion amusing. And he hates even more how Mildew’s not wrong that they do need to get started, before they make the situation even worse.
***
They collect all the dragons they can and take them to the arena. Judith shifts to her dragon form, staying behind to keep them company. The rest of them go to the Great Hall and Hiccup still brings Toothless along, even if he’s not supposed to be. He can’t just lock him up.
“I can’t believe we have to send them away,” Snotlout says, glaring at the table in front of them.
“It’s gonna be weird,” Astrid comments, stirring her food in slow motion and making no effort to actually eat it. Hiccup can relate. He doesn’t have the appetite to eat anything right now, either. “I got used to Stormfly’s face being the first thing I see every morning.”
Hannibal pats Astrid’s arm in silent sympathy.
“Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet,” Fishlegs says miserably, slouched on the table.
“Eww,” Colette hisses in a whisper, looking to Hiccup as though he could somehow save her from that knowledge. He has no idea, either – that’s disgusting. Not that it’s his business, either.
“Who’s gonna do that now?” Fishlegs adds.
Ruffnut perks up a little, from where her and her brother are slumped against the table, eating nothing. “I volunteer Tuffnut!”
Tuffnut barely raises his head. “Whatever. What time should I be there?”
Ruffnut looks almost disappointed, probably at not getting punched.
“There might still be something we can do,” Hannibal offers gloomily.
“Any ideas?” Hiccup asks. He’s still trying to think of something and he’s gotten precisely nowhere.
Mildew approaching interrupts their conversation. “You know what your mistake was? Thinking dragons could be trained. But a dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gonna do. It's their nature. And nature always wins.”
Toothless bares his teeth at him.
“Well, obviously,” Judith snarks with an eyeroll, as she glares at him, “Tell us something we didn’t know already.”
The doors to the Great Hall open again, a rush of cold air whipping into the room and putting the fire out.
Toothless stands, shooting a plasma blast into the fire pit to relight it.
One of the nearby Vikings actually thanks him, bafflingly enough. People used to hate dragons for starting fires, and now they’re thanking them because… because they’re working together.
“You know what?” Hiccup asks, smirking and ignoring Mildew’s glower on their backs, “Mildew’s absolutely right. ‘A dragon’s gonna do what a dragon’s gonna do’. Meet me outside.” He swings off the bench and runs for the door.
He sees the others exchange glances before they run after.
“What do you have in mind?” Hannibal queries, once they’re safely outside.
“I realized that we’re still trying to fight the dragons. We can work with them. they can help with things like fishing,” he explains.
All of them light up like a candle catching flame. “I never thought about that,” Colette says.
“They could help us look for berries, too,” Hannibal adds in agreement.
“Boring,” Tuffnut whines.
“Yeah. I’d rather blow some things up,” Ruffnut agrees.
“That’s what we’re trying not to do,” Judith objects.
“Boring,” Tuffnut repeats again.
“Well, I have an idea for you two,” Hannibal replies, “Do you think you try to catch a whole net of fish together?”
They slowly look between each other and their dragon and then nod gleefully.
Hiccup has the serious feeling they’re plotting a lot more chaos, but as long as they keep the chaos out of the village and hopefully at least help a little bit, it’ll be better than nothing.
***
They all get up before dawn the next day, ready to get to work. They have to get as much done and fast if they’re going to make this look like it works by the time his dad is back. Hiccup is still scrambling on working out some of the details, but they are making progress. Real, genuine progress – and then, of course, is when he turns at the sound of Mildew’s shout.
“Those dragons don’t look like they’re in cages to me.”
Hannibal and Judith whirl to glare at him, but Hiccup still thinks Colette manages it harder. Somehow.
“This is not what I asked for,” Stoick tells them flatly.
Hiccup sags a little. Of course. He should’ve known this would happen. He just didn’t entirely expect them to get dragged back to the arena and locked in with their dragons, because, uh…
Their dragons don’t have pens anymore? He should have thought about that one a little harder, maybe.
The door opens and Stoick and Gobber enter. Gobber’s attempted glower would look far more intimidating if he didn’t walk with a perpetual limp. Still, Hiccup shrinks back. Toothless whining distantly from the back where they tried at least shooting them into the cage.
“What’s Stoick gonna do to us?” Fishlegs asks panickily.
“I’m too pretty for jail!” Ruff whines.
“Where’d you hear that?” Tuff asks disgustedly.
“Stop talking,” Judith requests, though there’s an unfamiliar rigidness in her posture.
“You all disobeyed my orders… and there will be consequences,” Stoick states firmly.
“I told you we were gonna get in trouble,” Astrid hisses. “Ugh, you never listen to me!”
She has a point – he is the one who dragged them into this. “Dad, if anyone’s going to get in trouble, it should be me,” Hiccup tries protesting, but hey, where does that ever get him?
“Nope, you all had a hand in this.”
“You took over this place without asking… and remodeled this place without asking.” he gives a pointed look at the destroyed doorways. Hannibal looks on blankly and remorselessly. “You released the dragons against my wishes. Things are going to change around here. That’s why I –”
“You’re getting a Dragon Training Academy!” Gobber shouts, jumping in front of Stoick.
Hiccup blinks. Wha…?
“Gobber!” Stoick yells, “I wanted to tell them!”
“What is happening?” Colette whispers.
Hiccup has no idea, either.
“I’m sorry, you’re right, go ahead,” Gobber shrugs.
“Well, you told most of it!”
“You can tell him the part about how proud you are of them!”
“Gobber!” Stoick shoos his friend behind him, who shrugs and backs out of the way to give the chief the front line, and Hiccup just gapes in genuine and complete confusion. “Hiccup… well, what he said.” He motions to Gobber. “You’ve all made me proud. This Dragon Training Academy is for you.”
The twins are looking around in awe. Hiccup is, too. The other riders run to their dragons, and Toothless jumps out to him. Hiccup hugs his neck. Colette circles to pet him.
“Now all you have to do is train ‘em.”
“Not a problem, Dad,” Hiccup shrugs. “After all, I’ve got him.” He pets Toothless again. “And… them too.” He looks at the rest of his friends, gathered together, Colette having wondered off to get Hookfang to put Snotlout down for a second and Judith over by Stormfly. Hannibal, predictably, is being jumped by terrors.
Astrid whistles. “So, a dragon academy? Where do we start?”
Hiccup has no idea. “I’m still dealing with the fact that this is a thing,” Hannibal replies for all of them.
“Okay, but,” Judith mutters, eyeing Stoick walking away. “Why did he have to say it like that?”
“Adults be adults,” Colette offers, appearing at Hiccup’s side. She pats his arm. “I think we did great.”
“He’s my dad,” Hiccup answers, still watching the open doorway, “And the Chief of Berk. He’s… a bit rough around the edges, but he’s got it where it matters, I guess.”
Hannibal and Judith exchange glances, but neither of them argue to that, which is good.
The truth is, he… doesn’t? Hiccup hates how unsatisfied he is. Stoick is busy. He has things to worry about other than Hiccup, and it’s not fair to demand all of his attention. That’s fine. He survived just fine, and now he’s got Toothless, anyway. That’s all he needs.
He’s… going to be leading this. With his friend’s help, but it means they need to get to work.
“We’ve already started changing this place up,” Hannibal shrugs, “I guess we… keep working on it.”
“I think we should start with a sign. We’re changing everything about this place,” Hiccup decides. “Just to let everyone know that dragons will always be welcome here.”
Notes:
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Chapter Text
Dragon training is… chaos. Hiccup has no idea why he didn’t figure out it would be much harder than this. It should’ve been obvious, on hindsight, but in short, no one has any idea what he’s doing. Standing in front of a giant blackboard is perfectly okay for him, but it feels weird, and Snotlout and the Nutt twins’ team are fooling around instead of focusing.
Colette and the other twins’ team are… trying. They really are, but they’re new, and Astrid-Fishlegs wipe the floor with everybody. It’s not even a fair competition.
The newcomers know so much about the world, but not this world, and they’re so lost here. He feels awful with how familiar it is. It’s…exactly what happened to him when he was little. The outcast one, who never fit anywhere – it hurt. He never wants to make them feel like that. They’re… good. They’re so good. They have something that no Vikings do.
And it’s just normal where they’re from.
“I think you did pretty well,” he tells them, following the three out of the academy, “I’m sure there’s a lot we can learn from you, too.”
“Maybe,” Colette shrugs, “Like… technology? Though I don’t know how to make it.”
What does that even mean? “How do you have it if you don’t make it?” Hiccup asks, lost.
“It’s just not something I ever learned about. There, we always bought it. Like… you know, at a store?”
“Still, there’s got to be something you can purpose with what we have… right?” Their time sounds so, so weird. It’s not something Hiccup can even wrap his mind around, it’s so… different.
“Well electronics are out, there’s no electricity,” Hannibal offers, like those words are supposed to make a shred of sense.
“And that cuts just about everything,” Judith agrees.
“There is one thing?” Colette suggests tentatively, “Greenhouses?”
“A what?”
“Greenhouse,” Judith repeats, perking up, “It’s basically a farm, but insisted a building where you can actually control temperature. You can grow things through all times of year. They’re pretty useful.”
“How would that keep the cold out?”
“We’d need some form of insulation,” Hannibal shrugs, “Which we don’t really have here, so…”
He’s still not following that bit. “And how would it get sunlight? Plants can’t grow without that, not that I know anything about plants.”
“The roof is glass,” Colette answers, “It’s like clear stuff you can see through, if you have that here.”
He nods in quick confirmation – finally something he understands. “Yeah, we have glass,” he nods, “I use it all the time. But making… a roof out of it would be very hard. I guess if we did it in parts, maybe… But we still need a way to keep it from getting too cold.” He has a lot of sketching to do, apparently. Maybe he should talk to Gobber… maybe.
“Insulation,” Hannibal repeats.
“What?”
“It’s like making the walls wear a coat,” Colette answers, which sounds crazy, but… that actually makes sense.
“We have wool,” he suggests, “But that would be a lot of wool.”
“Dirt?” Judith offers, “We need to give this more thought.”
“No, that’s actually a good idea,” he quickly amends, “A dirt wall could keep the cold down. If it was thick enough. You can come over to my house this evening and we can work on some drawings, if… if that’s okay?”
The twins shrug at each other. “We don’t really have anything else to do,” Hannibal agrees.
“’cuz we finally don’t have to worry about school anymore,” Colette agrees, smiling.
“No, just the academy… which you will get better at. Much better,” Hiccup promises.
“Actually, you do have one more thing to do,” Astrid cuts in, lightly punching Hannibal’s shoulder. “You’re going to be late for training again. Come on.”
Yeah. Weapon training. Because the three of them are still working on it – mostly Hannibal and Colette. Judith is a wickedly good fighter, and Hiccup would much rather not test that.
***
“I’m really not getting the hang on the knife thing,” Colette is complaining, rubbing her probably aching finger. Judith winces in sympathy, but knife-cuts are just a part of training. You only get them out with a lot of practice.
“Bows are good,” Judith tells her, patting her shoulder, “But when you’ve got a close-up opponent, or lose your bow, you need a back-up. Not that you’re not good with arrows.” Colette’s actually better than her in that area. Judith’s pick is always knives and swords.
Up ahead, Hannibal swings in to rejoin them, and then she spots Hiccup and Toothless making their way back to the house. Hiccup is trudging a little, shoulders slumped in a way she’s come to realize means he’s upset. On Berk, it could be anything. She tries not to immediately think Stoick when they have no reason to believe it but still gets twitchy.
Colette is somehow the first who makes it to him. “What’s wrong?” she asks as he pushes the door of his house open.
“Gobber made a scene in the arena after you were gone. He doesn’t have a job anymore. We don’t need weapons to fight dragons, so we don’t really need weapons for… anything. I was thinking maybe this project is something he could help with.”
Somehow, she never stopped to think about how many everyday lives would be affected by the end of dragon fighting. The war’s over, but… in some ways, it will also overturn a lot.
Especially for blacksmiths, and Hiccup is fully busy between them, Toothless, the academy, and recovering when he still should not be walking, thank you. Else, he’d be having the problem, too.
“That’s good,” Hannibal replies, “It sounds like all the more reason to get started.”
“We better get to work before Dad gets back, so we have something reasonable to show him,” Hiccup offers.
“We’ve got all night,” Judith reassures, patting his shoulder. “Come on.” They really do have a lot of work to do. She has never built anything in her life, except helping with the barn when it fell down once, but that was years ago, and she had her uncle. Now it’s… weird.
Not strictly in a bad way, but it’s still hard to be on her own.
They go on for a while anyway, with a lot of estimation – it will be lots and lots of trial and error, to be sure. They work until Stoick gets home and Hiccup heads downstairs to check on him.
The notion confuses her, mostly. Why is that something Hiccup needs to worry about? Stoick might not have anyone to babysit or take care of help, but why would he ask his still teenage son to do that? Okay, he’s not asking, but it’s expected.
She doesn’t like it.
It’s nothing like what it was with her uncle, or even her real parents before that.
“I was thinking,” she comments, when Hiccup comes back up, “That Hannibal might be able to help grow the plants in the greenhouse faster, even when it is storming in the winter.”
“You wouldn’t mind?” Hiccup asks, looking to her brother.
Hannibal hesitates. “I can do that,” he replies, “I’ve never really tried to do that but I’m sure I can figure it out.”
“Maybe you can practice on some flowers. I can try to help,” Judith suggests, patting his arm.
Hannibal nods slowly.
They leave it at that for now.
***
They do get approval for their greenhouse project. Hiccup’s not sure if his dad actually believes this is going to work but it’s not really going to hurt anything if it doesn’t. And it’s keeping Gobber busy, which they really need right now.
All the riders come out there to help as they pick a spot and start the very early construction of it. Most of the dragons are helping, or at least they’re trying to even if Stormfly accidentally knocks over their dirt wall at least once and the twins keep trying to make Barf and Belch cause chaos instead of doing anything helpful.
Hookfang is just sitting a short distance away, watching.
Snotlout goes over to him once, to very rudely try to get him to help and Hookfang just growls at him.
And any further efforts on his part to get closer end with Hookfang starting himself on fire and Snotlout taking off as he ends up on fire too.
“He’s never done that when I’m trying to ride him before,” Snotlout complains.
“Maybe he’s just having a bad day,” Judith offers, “Even dragons have those.”
“Or something’s wrong,” Hiccup points out, frowning.
He’s just not sure what.
Colette goes over to Hookfang, very carefully petting his snot. “You okay?” she asks.
Hookfang just growls.
Well, that’s unusual.
He’s usually a lot friendlier with her. It makes Hiccup even more sure that something’s wrong. He’s just doesn’t know what. Which is great. All the knowledge of dragons he’s collected, and the one time he really, really needs to know about a dragon and what’s wrong with it, he really has no ideas. Yay.
***
The sound of a far-off explosion jolts Judith awake in the middle of the night. Years of always having to be alert for danger has her scrambling out of the pile of blankets where her, Hannibal, and Colette all sleep together for warmth. She runs to the window, looking out.
“What was that?” Hannibal asks. He’s sitting up too now, eyes tense and worried.
“Not a dragon attack probably?” Colette offers sleepily.
“I see a fire,” Judith says, frowning. She reaches out with her powers, trying to see what… emotions she can sense. She can feel some panic, and a faint tingle of pain from probably just one person or dragon, and… Well, it must not be anything too disastrous or she should feel a lot more than just that. That’s good.
“I blame the Nutts,” Colette offers.
“Let’s go find out,” Hannibal advises and they take off.
They get outside to see Hiccup running out of his house, Toothless close behind.
“Any idea what that was?” Colette calls breathlessly.
“I’ll fly there,” Hiccup replies, swinging onto Toothless and they take off.
Judith is tempted to fly too but she’s not sure if it’s critical enough for that, so she just settles for running. They have to run half way across the village and by the time they get there, it’s to see there’s dozens of Vikings already there.
Hookfang is outside of Snotlout’s house, rolling around on the ground, spitting out sparks. He
“Everybody stay back!” Stoick yells, “The dragon’s out of control. It’s not safe here.”
“I don’t know what happened!” Snotlout protests, “I was just rubbing his head! He usually loves that. But this time, he went crazy. My dragon hates me.”
“No,” Judith objects, stepping forwards carefully, “Something else is wrong.” He’s the one she feels the pain from.
She reaches out slowly, touching his mind with her own.
“What’s wrong?” she asks him, letting the meaning of the words filter into his mind.
Hookfang projects the distinct feeling of something hurts back at her.
“Where?” she asks, slowly moving a little closer, but careful to avoid the flames.
My mouth he sends back to her.
…Oh.
“I think he’s saying he has a toothache?” Judith translates, looking away from him.
“Hasn’t he been eating?” Hiccup asks.
“Not for days,” Snotlout replies.
“You didn’t think anything was weird about that?” Colette objects.
“I don’t know,” he grumbles, “He’s just moody sometimes. I thought that’s all it was.”
“We need to get him to calm down,” Hannibal says.
Gobber’s pushing his way through the crowd now, following Stoick, holding some kind of weapon.
“He’s gonna kill my dragon!” Snotlout protests frantically, looking between Gobber and Hookfang.
“No, he’s not,” Hiccup argues.
“Uh, yeah he is,” Tuffnut pipes up.
“You don’t use that stuff to butter toast,” Ruffnut interjects.
“Well, I mean, we would, but you don’t,” Tuffnut agrees.
“No one’s killing anyone,” Judith replies firmly. She nudges Hookfang’s mind again, trying to project the need to calm down to him, along with a promise that they can do something to help him so it stops hurting, if he holds still.
He doesn’t seem very happy about it and he’s still spitting sparks but at least he finally stops rolling.
Hannibal approaches first. He’s not hurt by fire, considering that he’s a sun dragon. He reaches out slowly, patting Hookfang’s snout. The dragon whines but at least doesn’t instantly try to set him on fire.
Gobber pushes his way in, and they somehow manage to get Hookfang’s mouth open to pull out the tooth in question. “All this for a toothache?” Gobber asks, as he yanks it out and holds up a badly damaged tooth. Judith winces in sympathy. That does not look pleasant. “What kind of lunatic are you?”
“Hey, he didn’t really have a way to explain what was wrong,” Judith defends.
Hookfang trots over to Snotlout, rubbing against it. Snotlout pets his head.
Well, that seems back to normal.
“I didn’t know dragons could get toothaches,” Colette comments.
“We’re always learning something new about dragons,” Hiccup offers.
“Yeah,” Judith agrees, “I mean, I obviously know dragons could get toothaches, but I’ve never actually seen it in dragon form before.”
She’d like to know how that even happened, though, because it certainly couldn’t be from eating way too much unhealthy food. Anyway. With that settled, she thinks they had best all be getting back to bed.
***
She probably really shouldn’t be surprised when they fight Gobber attempting to brush the dragon’s teeth, the next morning.
“Seriously?” Judith asks, amused.
“At least he has a job again,” Hiccup offers cheerfully, “Other than just helping with the green house.”
That’s true. And hopefully it’ll mean no more middle of the night toothache situations.
Notes:
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Chapter Text
All in all, Judith thinks the greenhouse is progressing fairly fast, though they’re not going to be done nearly on time for winter. Or devastating winter, or whatever the Vikings call it. Some terms still confuse her. She just knows that they were working, trying to keep Gobber from being to… well, Gobber, ignore his crazy songs, and not worry too much about where Hiccup and Astrid are until the two land, looking extra cold and a bit rumpled. Astrid is still brushing snow out of her hair, scowling at the matted flakes.
“Oh, what happened?” Hannibal calls down to them, climbing from the ladder.
“Nothing much,” Hiccup quickly lies, still brushing his own hair out. “Astrid and I got a little sidetracked. We went sledding. Sort of. Toothless’s tail froze. It was too frozen for me to break the ice on it. We went through a crack in the ice… and then the dragons used their wings to block the snow.”
Astrid hops off Stormfly, still visibly intrigued. Excited might be a better word.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Fishlegs replies, “Not even in the Book of Dragons.”
“Probably because you were still killing dragons a few weeks ago?” Colette offers. Everyone looks at her. She shrugs. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin the mood.”
“As I was saying,” Astrid grumbles, “It was incredible! It was as if their protective instincts just kicked in.”
“Who'd believe it? The dragons we fought for years came to our rescue,” Hiccup adds.
“Yeah, if it weren’t for them, we would’ve frozen to death.”
“You know what? You could’ve used your own bodies to keep each other warm,” Fishlegs points out.
“Short-term,” Hannibal amends, “That wouldn’t save you for long.”
“Dragons are protective,” Judith replies, reaching out to pet Toothless. “It’s their nature. Thanks. You too, Stormfly.” She reaches Stormfly, who lets her scratch her lightly, but blinks in what she’s fairly sure is genuine confusion as to what all the fuss is about.
“Hey, Astrid,” Snotlout offers sweetly, “If you’re still cold…” He makes a kissy face. Colette muffles a disgusted groan. Astrid kicks a leaning wooden plan to send a shower of snow over his head.
“Hye, Hiccup!” Tuff yells as the twins land with their dragon – wherever the three of them have been. “Your father’s looking for you.”
“He looks angry,” Ruffnut adds.
“He’s looked angry since the day I was born,” Hiccup grumbles, climbing onto Toothless’s back. Colette snorts. “I’m sure there’s no connection.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Colette mutters snarkily at his retreating back.
Judith laughs herself despite the severe humorlessness of the situation. She doesn’t know what’s wrong, but she’ll admit she’s a bit… wary of Stoick and his mood swings. Or whatever it is. Judith doesn’t like him, and that’s out of more than spite about the prison thing. He’s not a nice person.
***
Hiccup flies back, maybe close to an hour later. Judith’s lost track of time, and they’re busy with the greenhouse. It didn’t feel that long. “Sorry, gang,” he calls, dismounting, “We’ve got another job for us, and we need to roll this fast. The winter storm’s coming in early, according to Gothi, and the yaks have stopped producing milk, the chickens have stopped laying eggs, and Gobber thinks it’s because they’re afraid of the dragons.”
“Uh,” Colete asks after a pause. “Is that really how it works?”
“I don’t know. Most animals are afraid of me,” Hannibal offers.
Judith didn’t, either, but okay, sure. Let’s go with that.
“What are you thinking?” Hannibal asks.
“Having a positive experience with something will usually make you less afraid of it. That’s what happened for me,” Hiccup answers, petting Toothless.
“So, we want to get them aquatinted?” Colette guesses.
“Yep. Good thing we have the training academy already. Let’s get onto this, we have three days.”
In the distance, something catches her eye. “Or do we?” Judith asks, slowly pointing at the dark cloud in the distance. “Not to be the bearer of bad news.”
Hiccup sighs, deflating. “Alright, let’s just get this on with.”
***
He wishes someone had told him how difficult this would be, actually. Right now, Hiccup is just about on the very edge of his sanity. Trying to drag yaks towards dragons is not working. These things won’t budge.
He can’t even carry a sheep; of course he can’t move a stubborn yak. “You can do it. Come on. You’ll really like them if you get to know them.”
“The dragons look scary but they're just big, scaly reptiles,” Astrid tries explaining.
“Just like Snotlout!” Tuff agrees.
Snotlout grabs him. “You’re the guy, right?” he growls.
“No,” Tuffnut squeaks in a high-pitched, Ruff-like voice. Hiccup ignores them both.
The yak doesn’t budge until a dragon moves towards it, and off it runs. Ugh.
“Okay, what if we look at this from an animal's perspective?” Fishlegs suggests. getting down on his hands and knees, crawling around at sheep-height. “Oh, hello, Mr. Dragon,” he offers to Hookfang as the others watch. “I’m just a little sheep here… walking… doing sheep things… Baaa!”
The sheep are watching that warily. “I wonder how this will go bad,” Hannibal mutters, arms crossed, and Hiccup sighs in misery.
“You know, he doesn't really seem so big and –” Hookfang growls and Fishlegs practically teleports across the arena to cower under Meatlug. “Sorry! But I’m siding with the sheep on this one.”
Hiccup sighs. “We really need to try the positive experience thing. Okay, let’s try this.”
It takes him, Astrid, and Judith carefully herding a few sheep over to Hookfang, mostly, because he’s the one who, well… Meatlug is nice and minds her own business, and Toothless is Toothless, but Hookfang is called a monstrous nightmare for a reason.
“And that's what we'll have to do with these sheep. We gotta prove to them that they have nothing to fear –”
Hookfang sneezes fire. A sheep catches fire, Judith runs after it with a bucket, and there’s a collective groan. “Great,” Colette huffs as Hannibal groans.
“At this rate, we’ll never get any milk or eggs.” Hiccup sighs miserably. “Alright, anyone have any ideas?”
“Dragon nip?” Judith suggests, picking up the singed sheep.
“It’s worth a try,” Hiccup decides, “Toothless and I can get some. Try to keep working in the meantime.” They fly away together, back for the dragon nip field. The sky is clouding over in the distance. Snow clouds. Thick, dark, heavy ones.
“We’re really short on time, bud,” Hiccup sighs.
Toothless whines a soft agreement.
By the time he gets back, it’s to discover no progress, except Judith is trying to talk to the animals, trying to drop chicken feed near them and Hannibal to lur the animals out. It isn’t working. Hannibal is a dragon now, and the most Hiccup can say is that the animals are very, very slowly creeping towards him. They probably know he’s the same.
Dragon nip works… until Barf and Belch start rolling in it, whacks a sheep with their tail, and off they all go again.
“What if we showed them that dragons are afraid of things too?” Astrid suggests.
Judith sighs. “I’d say that’s a good idea, but after what just happened…”
“What if we showed them how much they have in common with the Dragons? Chickens lay eggs, too. And a Terrible Terror laid one last week!”
Hiccup nods to Fishlegs with a grateful smile, but he’s still just about out of hope.
“Somehow, I think this will end in terrible terror,” Colette deadpans. Snotlout and the twins laugh.
Hiccup would, too, if he weren’t so exasperated. An egg’s an egg – until cracks form across the top and the chickens poking at it get thrown with a fiery explosion as the terror hatches. “Until it explodes,” Hiccup sighs miserably.
“Don’t worry,” Astrid says in what’s probably supposed to be reassuring but is not.
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Worry?” Hiccup asks with the sweetest, fakest, most panicked smile he’s managed since the last time Dagur the Deranged sailed to Berk. “I’m not worried! Do I look worried?”
“Actually,” Judith tells him sympathetically, “You do.”
Hiccup sags defeatedly. “I have no other ideas, and nothing’s working.”
“But that doesn’t mean nothing will work,” Judith continues, patting his shoulder. “If humans accepted dragons, animals can, too.”
“They’re usually a lot more understanding,” Colette pipes up, “That’s why people have pets.”
“I’m actually out of ideas,” Astrid supplies, “Maybe I’ll get a few more, just…”
“What if we showed them that they all like snuggles?” Colette suggests.
Hiccup looks at the others. Hannibal shrugs. “I’m not going to say ‘where could that go wrong?’”
Neither will he. And oh, of course, just when he thinks that will work, a chicken gets Brave enough to peck at Stormfly’s sleeping tail and away go a series of spikes. Hiccup jumps back himself, shielding his face, and then carefully doing a double take to make sure his limbs aren’t impaled.
“Stormfly!” Astrid scolds, “We were just starting to make progress.” The dragon blinks wide-eyed at her and the little creatures, which have already scattered again.
“No casualties, just ruffled feathers,” Judith assures.
Trying to hold onto these things is somehow the craziest thing Hiccup has ever done. “You know what I'm learning from all this?” Hiccup asks crankily, “Chickens are really, well, chickens.”
The door opens as Gobber and Mulch arrive with a flurry of early snowflakes. “: Everybody out, the storm is here!” Gobber calls.
“Wha – wait!” Hiccup yelps in protest. “We haven't made any progress with the animals!”
“Your father wants everyone in the Great Hall.”
“Take the others. I need to stay and keep working with the animals,” he argues with a shake of his head. “They’re still afraid.”
“You can’t get eggs from a frozen chicken. We've got to get the animals in the barn.”
“I’m pretty sure at this point, we won’t be getting any at all,” Judith grumbles, but off they go.
***
To the barn.
Which is buried in snow already. So much for that. Colette would think it’s funny, except it’s not, and Hiccup suggests taking them to the Great Hall. It doesn’t work, either, when lightning hits a tree. Is there lightning in snowstorms? Never seen that before. Never mind, Berk is a weird place all the way around.
Either way, the dragons panic and the animals scatter. “I’m going after them,” Hiccup calls.
“Forget it, Hiccup!” Gobber shouts back over the wind. “We’ll never get them rounded up in this storm.”
“With Toothless, I can,” he replies determinedly, “I have to try. If I don't, we starve to death.”
“The storm’s getting pretty bad, actually,” Colette worries.
“No! Your father will kill me if I left you out here,” Gobber protests.
“Sorry, Gobber.” They take off. “You better get Colette to the Hall,” Hiccup yells distantly over the storm’s roar. All the other riders are already mounting up, and the dragon shifters fly right after through the ice.
Colette sighs, watching them disappear, shivering at the cold. It’s freezing out here, and they just flew off into a blizzard. This isn’t going to go well. At least she doesn’t know how it could. How is she supposed to just sit this out?
She’s really, really not a Viking.
The walk to the Hall feels like forever as they crunch over the snow, shivering. But the others are still trapped out there, and what is she supposed to do? She has no idea what she’s doing
Gobber finally pushes the doors open. “Stoick, the barns have been destroyed! The animals have scattered.”
Stoick takes one look at them both, frowning in worry – at least Colette thinks it’s worry just this once. “Where’s Hiccup and the others?”
“I tried to stop him, Stoick,” Gobber protests, “They went after the animals.”
He sighs. “We’ll go out to find him.”
“I –” Colette starts saying.
“No,” Stoick cuts her off, “Gobber and I will bring them back. You stay here with the others.”
Oh. Great. She slumps against a far wall and settles in for a long, agonizing wait.
***
They find the animals. The snow’s too thick to see now, and they’re still out flying when his dad and Gobber arrive to herd them back inside. They are, in short, still making no success. The animals are afraid of them, and the storm, and between the iciness and how his hands are completely numb now – the twins are hitting each other because neither of them can feel it.
Hiccup is freezing. Stoick isn’t angry, at least right now, and calls them all together in a circle. He gets what Fishlegs meant about sharing warmth now that they’re all huddled together in the center of the storm. One by one, the dragons follow, lifting and spreading their wings over them.
It doesn’t stop the snow, but it blocks a lot of it. Stormfly and Hookfang add themselves on next to Toothless, soon to be joined by Barf and Belch, Judith, and even Meatlug’s own attempts.
“What are they doing?” Stoick asks.
“They’re protecting us,” Hiccup replies, shivering and leaning closer to Toothless.
“It’s their natural instinct,” Astrid adds with a small smile, arms wrapping around herself with a slight shiver.
Hannibal jumps over them, landing in the center, scales lighting with a soft golden glow. He’s warm. Radiating warmth. The term Sun Dragon has a whole new meaning now. He’s so warm. The snow that hits him melts off.
The dragons start a small circle of fire around them, even if the rapidly gathering snow is smothering it fast. Beyond, some of the livestock are slowly picking their way towards the warmth. Toothless lifts his wings to let in the lamb he saved earlier, and the rest of the animals start slowly trickling in.
Hannibal curls up in the center. Hookfang sets himself on fire, the warmth slowly finally creeping across them.
“Your dragons are really something, son,” Stoick says at last.
“Yeah,’” Hiccup agrees with a fond smile. “They are.”
***
Two days of snow is enough to make anyone cranky. Even Colette a little bit, and she’s the certified craziest snow-lover where she’s from. They’ve been stuck in the Great Hall for two whole days when the door finally creaks open and the missing group limps inside.
With the dragons.
And finally, there’s no screaming or squabbling or things being set on fire, or chickens being chickens. Hiccup sets down the chicken he’s carrying and waves. Snotlout is limping under a sheep.
Hannibal looks tired even as a dragon, but he’s okay. Astrid’s face is flushed from the cold, but she looks fine, as do the other pair of twins – aside from being a little snowed. Judith stretchers her wings, shivers, and curls up.
Colette shoves her way through the crowd to get to them. Two days in a snowstorm? It felt like forever. She had no idea if they’d even make it back. Dragons, too.
Yeah, she’s heard stories – everyone does, but it’s never felt so real that they could’ve died until now.
Hiccup sets the chicken down and opens his arms to hug her. Stoick watching almost ruins it, not that she cares when she hugs him back tightly, anyway. “Hey,” he says, smiling tiredly, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“You were gone for two days.” Two days of misery, but they could have died out there.
“Yeah. But we’re okay. The dragons protected us.”
Toothless coos. Colette turns to hug him, too. “Please don’t ever do that again,” she requests.
“I’ll try,” Hiccup offers weakly.
Hannibal and Judith lift their heads towards her. Colette runs to hug them both, too, and immediately gets squashed between them. despite the cold, Hannibal still feels warm. He always feels warm. Sun dragon?
“Did you know Hannibal could give off heat?” Hiccup asks.
“I didn’t,” Astrid answers, brushing her hair back, “It was really cool. He saved our lives. All of them did.”
“Heat?” Colette echoes, intrigued, “That’s how you survived?”
“I think we should add them to the Book of Dragons,” Fishlegs continues excitedly, pushing his way over to Hiccup, followed by a tired but smiling Meatlug. “Both of them!”
Judith purrs softly. Hannibal just puts his head on his paws and closes his eyes. Astrid sits between him and Stormfly, watching them both in silence. Snotlout has drifted off, and Colette reaches over to pet Hookfang before he follows.
“I think we should,” Hiccup agrees, “What do you say?”
Judith yips her agreement.
“Oh, actually,” Hiccup amends, “They know other dragon shifters. Maybe they deserve a book of their own. I’ll get started on the sketching, anyway.”
***
Hiccup is going to say, plainly, that even a few days after the storm, everything is still cold, wet, and miserable. The dragons go a long way in helping clear the snow… until they start melting it and making a mud mess. Digging out his room was fun, but with every building roof, floor, and street to clear, it takes forever.
And then they go back to the greenhouse, and have to start with clearing the snow off of that.
It’s… chaos. He’s still tired somehow, stubbornly ignoring the early whispering of a sickness trying to crawl up.
The twins keep sneezing at each other. It’s disgusting. Hiccup is trying to ignores them altogether.
Astrid keeps coughing. Snotlout is definitely sick, and Hiccup is actually proud he’s held out the longest. He’s usually the first to drop, last to get back up.
“You really, really don’t sound good,” Judith is telling Astrid as flatly as possible while still being polite.
Astrid for herself slouches onto a rock beside her sympathetic dragon, coughing. “Ugh. Not really,” she croaks. “It’s just a sore throat. This always happens, I’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, still, we can take a break,” Hannibal tells them, “The last thing we need is someone falling into that snow drift, and then then they’ll be sick for sure.”
Hiccup should’ve seen that one coming, because the next thing he knows, there’s a Barf-Belch explosion, Snotlout shrieks, and the twins are cackling. And Hiccup’s cousin, of course, is now buried waist-deep in the snowdrift Hannibal helpfully pointed to.
“Um, we should probably do something to help him,” Colette says after a moment.
“Yeah, we should,” Judith agrees.
“I was going to say ‘leave him there’,” Astrid offers.
Hiccup just sighs. He feels shaky enough as it is, and the last thing he wants is to be dealing with… this. “Toothless?” he requests.
His dragon spits plasma at the snowdrift, exploding it, and Snotlout flails his way the rest of the way out, patting himself off and glowering. Oh, and minus the helmet. Hiccup’s half of the mind to make the twins find it but drops in to help dig through the ice. Must be somewhere nearby. Snotlout sits near the bank, scowling.
“I think we should call it an early day,” Hannibal suggests.
“I agree,” Astrid calls from Stormfly.
Hiccup sighs, leaving Hannibal to do the helmet search and redirecting Toothless back to the next wall addition. He’s so tired. They’ve got a job to do, though, and he ahs to get it done. Stoick never takes breaks. At least rarely.
“I’m fine. Warrior don’t sleep,” Snotlout insists – and. There’s that.
“Uhh, yeah, they do,” amends Colette.
“Actually, you cannot fight when you’re tired,” Fishlegs agrees.
“When we’re all under the weather, there’s no point in pushing ourselves this much,” Hannibal replies, “Let’s just call it a day.”
“What does that mean?” Hiccup calls over his shoulder while wearing them out hammering two planks together.
“Why not over the weather?” Ruffnut asks.
“Yeah, we’re on the snow,” Tuffnut agrees, “So we’re on the weather? Or is on the weather when we’re flying over clouds?”
“It means sick, but not sick enough to call yourself sick,” Hannibal explains over their fellow idiots.
“I’m fine,” Hiccup corrects, climbing back down for the next plank. This takes forever, and half their work was undone by the snowstorm. They threw this idea out – the sooner it’s running, the better. Berk’s going to be relying on this thing.
“You don’t look very fine,” Colette objects.
Really? He has no idea what he looks like, and he is tired, but he’s had worse. He can do this. It’s fine. “Really? I’m fine. See?” Hiccup throws them a feigned sweet smile.
Toothless growls ears flapping against his head and wincing in sympathetic disagreement.
“The dragon pity face? Really, bud?” he asks in betrayal.
“Yeah, you actually look like you’re about to keel over,” Astrid tells him, arms crossed.
“I am not,” he replies firmly, takes a step, foot sliding, and topples. The snow hasn’t started melting much, so at least it’s soft, but he still lands in the freezing ground sideways, blinking in momentary confusion, then groaning. Stupid leg. Ice is so hard to walk on. If his leg gets frostbite all the time, no one needs to know, either. It’s not important. And did he really have to fall with everyone looking at him? That’s embarrassing.
“See?” Hannibal deadpans.
“That was my foot,” Hiccup grumbles, trying to limp upright. His head is spinning. He’s really, really tired. But he can finish first, he… they need progress. Toothless grumbles, nudging his nose under to help lift him.
“Your foot is what’s tired?” Hannibal asks.
“No! My foot is slippery.” Hiccup shakes the stupid thing. “It’s metal, it gets cold.”
“All the more reason,” he points out. “You could get hurt more. Just let it thaw out.”
“It’s fine, really,” Hiccup huffs. But if the others need to go, then… “Fine. I’ll stay a bit longer with Toothless, and you guys can get some rest.”
“Then I’m staying, too,” Colette tells him flatly, moving to help Fishlegs carry over the next plank. Meatlug lifts the other end into the air and drops on it. This is actually going pretty well.
“And what if Toothless needs to rest?” Judith queries.
Hiccup pauses at that, looking at his dragon, who’s still blinking back at him with wide, worried green eyes. Toothless isn’t tired. Hiccup’s seen him tired, and he gets sluggish, cranky, eyes partly closed. He’s fully alert now, though…
Though. Hiccup doesn’t want to strain him. He sighs, sagging. “Alright. Let’s call it a day.”
Hey, if they come back when the others are gone, they don’t need to know, do they?
***
Hiccup’s not at his home the next morning when they check, of course. Judith didn’t think he would be, but it’s still worrying her. He’s obviously sick, ignoring it, and in general, it seems like a really bad repetitive habit with how determined he’s being. That’s not good.
Especially in this cold, without your average hospital, if things spiraled badly enough. Sure, Berk has a healer, but…
He and Fishlegs are out at the greenhouse. Of course. “Hi, Fishlegs, and person who isn’t supposed to be up,” Colette greets.
“Oh, hello!” Fishlegs brightens from atop the wall with Meatlug. “It’s good to see the cold hasn’t gotten you down yet.”
“We’re dragons,” Judith shrugs, “Cold doesn’t affect us too much.
“I thought you weren’t feeling well,” Hannibal states flatly, pointedly looking at the sick and limping person in question.
“I didn’t say that,” Hiccup argues. “I was just a little under the weather.”
Judith is simultaneously proud he’s already adapted the term and not amused that he’s pulling it back at them. “There was this one time one of my sisters got sick,” she relates, “Oh, she tried to ignore it, but then she got stuck in bed for days. Ignoring it’s not gonna make it go away.”
“Meatlug has been doing most of the work,” Fishlegs assures, petting his dragon who purrs and rubs on him.
Hiccup, for his part, sighs frustratedly. “I can’t just go hide in bed the moment I feel a little under the weather. I’m the future chief of Berk.”
“Nor should you,” Hannibal agrees, “But if there’s something wrong, we want to help.”
“And a nap once in the while won’t hurt,” Colette says.
“Oh for the…” Hiccup huffs, rubbing a hand over his face and his snap trialing off into a miserable sigh. Judith won’t claim to know what’s going through his head, but she can feel the hurt frustration and genuine confusion he feels, like this must be confusing somehow. And it makes her simultaneously want to rattle Stoick and every Berkian on the island. How could Hiccup be confused that someone’s looking after him? This is Stoick’s job, the most important thing for any father, and he does so, so little to take care of him.
Hiccup needs him now, and where is he? People take days off from work when they’re paid because they’re sick. Hiccup won’t even take a few hours of daylight off, and he’s a teenager.
He turns away, and then just… stumbles, the emotions fizzing down, which strikes her as odd – and then he just falls. Toothless releases a cry of panic and dives forwards in efforts to catch him. Hannibal reaches him first, helping lower him to the ground. Hiccup just lays there limply.
Judith, Fishlegs, and Colette crowd in, Meatlug worriedly peering over their heads.
“Hiccup?” Fishlegs asks panickily, shaking his shoulder.
“He fainted,” Judith tells him, her heart still pounding a little at the fall. He’s so small. With the climate, she figured he must spend a lot of time sick, but this is her first confirmation. She reaches out to brush his hair form his face a little, her brother still carefully holding him. Colette’s clinging to Hiccup’s shoulder like it’ll make him wake – and her other hand is on Toothless to keep him calm. She’s so sweet.
Toothless whines, nosing Hiccup’s face and licking him.
He groans faintly, eyes slowly opening.
“Don’t say you’re fine,” Judith says firmly.
“I…” Hiccup groans.
“Never mind,” Hannibal replies firmly, “We’ll go back to town, okay?”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Fishlegs adds worriedly.
“What we really need right now is some hot chocolate,” Judith says flatly.
“That’s lost in the future,” agree Colette.
“Technically, it’s lost in the tropics,” Judith corrects.
Hannibal stands, lifting Hiccup and maneuvering him onto Toothless’s back. Fishlegs scrambles over to help. They can’t fly, but Hiccup is in no shape to walk back to town. He’s visibly leaning into Hannibal, who climbs on behind him. Toothless makes a quiet worried whine. Judith carefully pets his snout to hopefully soothe him.
“What are the tropics?” asks Fishlegs as they start walking.
“So it’s like a ball,” Judith offers. This is crazy to explain, but these people are… well, they’re really behind time. “When the sun shines on it, some parts get way more sunlight. So, the area near the equator has a lot more sunlight and it’s a lot hotter there. That’s where the tropics are. There’s a lot of different species – ”
“And super tall trees and everything is muggy all the time,” Colette interjects.
“But… the Earth isn’t a ball!” protests Fishlegs.
“Uh, uh oh.” Judith tries her best not to facepalm to avoid unintentionally insulting him. People don’t know that yet.
Colette, however, actually facepalms. “Oh no,” she groans into her hands.
“I know this is going to sound strange, but it is,” Judith tries.
“When we fly in those metal dragons –” Toothless winces and looks at Colette wide-eyed. “We were talking about you can kind of see it.”
“But it’s flat!” Fishlegs argues panickily. “I need proof.”
“That’s not possible.” Hiccup apparently is still conscious enough to ferally argue that the earth is, in fact, flat. “Dad knows someone who made it to the end of the world.”
Someone help them. Toothless rolls his eyes to Judith in despair. Apparently, even he knows it. Huh.
“Maybe they just… fell into a pit and thought it was the end of the world,” Colette offers.
“But there were legends I heard. Legends we’ve all heard,” Hiccup protests. Toothless giggles. He finds this funny? Oh, that is not fair. Judith wants to laugh and cry in exasperation herself. She should’ve paid way more attention to explanations about how that was discovered.
“I know this probably sounds stupid, but in our time, everyone knows the Earth is round,” Hannibal objects tentatively, arms around Hiccup to keep him steady. The kid throws a confused glance over his shoulder but says nothing, looking mostly overwhelmed and confused.
“I need proof,” Fishlegs fusses.
“Well, um… when you look through binocular thingy or uh what do you call them here – “ Colette rambles.
“Spyglass?” Hiccup offers.
“Yeah and you see a ship, what do you see first?” Colette asks.
“A sail?” Fishlegs offers nervously.
“So, shouldn’t you see the whole ship at once if the Earth is flat?” Colette asks. “It would just get smaller and smaller, not actually disappear. Like when something’s straight overhead, you always see it.” Wow. Thanks.
“But there’s waves,” Hiccup protests.
“There’s not always waves,” Judith replies. “And, if you mark a spot on the ground and leave it there, marking out where the shadows have moved throughout a year, it should be a figure 8. That shows how we orbit the sun – which I need to point out is also round.”
“The Earth orbits the sun?” Hiccup asks, like there was somehow something else he though tit might orbit. Someone tell her it has nothing to do with Asgard, please. Judith has watched Marvel; she can’t take anything about it seriously. Not to offend these people.
“Yeah, there’s a whole solar system,” Hannibal tells him.
“What’s a solar system?” asks Hiccup.
“There’s like… these eight planets that go around the sun. Those really bright twinkly lights in the sky you see sometimes?” Colette goes for.
“Yeah, we know what planets are,” Hiccup grumbles.
Judith sags in relief. Finally something he knows. She learned this in Elementary school – actually, she doesn’t remember a time she didn’t know, and it’s so weird to interact with people who are genuinely clueless. Flat Earthers have never seemed so real.
“I need proof that the Earth is round,” Fishlegs carries on, because somehow, that’s the one thing he can’t let go of.
“Well, everything else in the sky is round, right?” offers Colette.
“Uh, they’re disks,” Fishlegs objects.
“Yikes,” Colette squeaks.
Toothless snickers again.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, bud,” Hiccup grumbles. “You know, Fishlegs has a point. They are disks. It’s not like the moon ever looks different.”
“Ugh.” Judith drops her head into her hands. “The moon has a really weird orbit where it’s year is as long as it’s day. The same side faces us all the time.”
Hiccup and Fishlegs exchange wide-eyed looks.
“I don’t know. I think it’s just scary to think that if the Earth titled, we’d all randomly fall off,” Colette shudders.
“Except that… whatever’s holding us onto the Earth would still be holding us,” Hiccup offers.
“I need to research this more,” Fishlegs decides.
“Oh, look, the house is up ahead,” Hannibal says, pointing. “We’ll get him inside.”
“I can walk,” Hiccup mutters.
“Uh-huh,” her brother deadpans, but it doesn’t stop him from hovering.
Judith gets the door open, and Toothless jump-flies them up the stairs. Getting him situated is easy. “I’ll see what I can get from Gothi,” she tells them, “I used to make some… herbal things. I don’t know what we’ve got here, though. I’ll see what I can find.”
***
Being banished to bed is in short, miserable. It makes the loneliness even worse. Except, every time he wakes, Toothless is here. He can’t do anything without Hiccup. Not anymore. Because of him.
It’s so… touching. He can’t put words to it even with how relieving it is that someone is here. But Toothless is here because he can’t leave. He can’t go anywhere, do anything without Hiccup. It’s not fair to him.
Colette is here when he wakes again, Toothless outside temporarily. He’ll be back in a few, no doubt.
“Any less dead?” she asks, holding out a glass of water.
He takes a drink and nods his thanks. “No. What about you?”
“My head’s still on fire,” she grumbles. Hiccup winces in sympathy. Her face is flushed, a little scrunched with discomfort. Are you okay?”
No and no. “I’ve just been thinking,” Hiccup admits finally. “About Toothless. I don’t know if I’m what he needs.”
“But maybe you’re what he wants,” Colette offers.
Maybe. Hiccup shrugs tentatively. “I know, but I’m the one who hurt him.” He’s the reason Toothless is forever and permanently dependent on humans. He chose to hurt Toothless in his own desperate need to prove himself worthwhile to anyone. He hurt him. He hurt Toothless to save himself, and he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to make it up even if Toothless holds nothing against him. Of course he doesn’t.
“I don’t know if he wants a different rider than me.”
“Well… I’ve ridden him before, and I think he likes it but I’m not you.” Colette shrugs like it’s somehow that simple. It isn’t, because… why would Toothless want him? He has dragon shifters who understand him, talk to him, believe him in ways that Hiccup never could.
“It’s just that… the twins are here, and they’re dragon shifters. They know him in ways I don’t. In ways that I never could. Dragon on dragon?”
“That’s why they can be good translators,” Colette chirps, “And I think it would be as weird for them to ride him as for us to ride another human. But maybe we could have them ask Toothless about it if you want.”
“Yeah, I… thanks.” It’s the most he can settle on after all this, head still throbbing and exhaustion nagging at him. The guilt eats at him so much sometimes. All the time, really. It’s what abought them together, what brought peace, but…
But.
It’s worth asking. Because Toothless deserves a choice. That’s the most Hiccup can give him.
***
Snotlout is so flustered when Judith brings him the same drink and stew she’s passing out to all her friends. He doesn’t need to say it, but she gets the feeling no one’s ever done that for him before either. So, she suppresses the urge to punch Spitelout in the jaw, makes sure Snotlout is actually comfortable (ignoring his flirting), and moves on to the next person.
Snotlout seemed genuinely about to cry, though, so she keeps thinking about him. It’s common courtesy. How could this have been a first?
The day rolls by, though, and she finds herself back with Hiccup, Toothless, Hannibal, and Colette. “There’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about,” Hiccup says, rubbing his hands together, throwing a sideways glance at Colette. She nods a little in a way that gives her the feeling they’ve talked about this before.
“What?” Hannibal asks.
“It’s about Toothless,” hiccup answers, reaching out to rub him. “Ever since I injured him, he hasn’t been able to fly without me. It doesn’t really seem fair to him.”
“No, it’s not,” Judith agrees immediately, eyeing the dragon in question. He seems content, but there’s a difference between content and happy. He might have accepted it, but to be linked forever with another, it’s not fair to him. “I can’t imagine not being able to fly for even a day.”
Hannibal frowns wordlessly – he gets it more than anyone. Judith knows that.
Hiccup’s brow furrows, jaw working. He’s almost hurt. “And you two are dragon shifters so you can understand him in ways I can’t,” he finishes.
“What do you want us to do?” Hannibal asks.
“I was thinking maybe you could learn to ride him sometimes so… if something happens to me, he doesn’t have to be grounded forever.” Toothless’s head turns towards him. Judith can’t fully tell how he thinks of it. He seems a little hesitant, though not fully unwilling.
“I’d be happy too,” Judith promises immediately.
Hannibal nods. “Me too.”
“It wouldn’t be weird to ride someone else the same species as you?” Colette asks.
She shakes her head. “No, my sisters and I did it all the time.” It was amazing. She tries not to think of those flights, not to miss them too much when… she knows somewhere at the end of the day, there is no way to ever get back home. “How about we ask Toothless?”
“What do you say, bud?” Hiccup queries, turning to his dragon. “Would you be okay with Hannibal and Judith learning to ride you?”
Toothless looks from him to Judith and her twin, cooing. That’s… an agreement, though he still seems a little hesitant. Which is okay. Hiccup is the one who found him, and Judith has no intention of interfering with that bond. It’s… who they are.
That doesn’t mean Toothless has to only have one rider.
Notes:
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Chapter Text
The snow from the blizzard is melting now, and that means things on Berk are going back to normal. They’re back to classes at the Dragon Training Academy, for better or worse. Judith’s not expecting to walk into the academy to see Hiccup holding a small dragon of a species she’s never seen before, though. Toothless is sitting behind him, unhappily eyeing the little dragon in question.
“What’s that?” asks Colette, going over to him.
“I found this in the woods,” Hiccup explains. “I’ve never seen anything like this one before.”
“Are you sure it’s not dangerous?” Judith objects. It’s not a species they know anything about, so…
“Just look at him,” Hiccup protests, adjusting his grip on the small dragon, “He’s so cute.”
“It is,” Colette agrees, looking down at it.
The dragon jumps from Hiccup’s arms to hers and she laughs lightly, catching it and petting its head.
Toothless still doesn’t look very happy. Judith’s not sure what’s wrong. But it does make her a little bit cautions.
“That doesn’t mean it can’t be dangerous,” Judith points out.
“I have to agree with both of you here,” Hannibal interjects, smiling faintly as he studies the dragon.
It hops from Colette’s arms to Hannibal’s, nuzzling against his shoulder.
“Fishlegs thought it was a flying squirrel,” Hiccup comments.
“A squirrel?” Hannibal repeats, a bit incredulous.
“It looked like one,” Fishlegs defends.
“Maybe we should name it Squirrel,” Judith suggests dryly. The dragon perks up a little, jumping from Hannibal’s arms to hers instead. She pets it gently. Well, she does have to admit that even if they don’t know what if this thing is dangerous or not, it’s still cute.
“When I took him home last night, my dad named him Torch,” Hiccup offers.
“Hmm,” Colette muses, “I think he’s too cute for a torch, but okay.”
“I’ll get the book of Dragons,” Fishlegs says, taking off and coming back with it a few minutes later, paging through it. “Like I said,” he reports, looking up, “There’s no record of it.”
“And that means it’s time to figure out what it is,” Hiccup agrees. Torch jumps back into his arms again.
“Oh!” Fishlegs brightens, “This is so exciting! Documenting a whole new species... learning all about it!”
“Wait, learning?” Tuffnut asks, scandalized.
“No thanks,” Ruffnut protests.
“What else are you in an Academy for?” Judith asks them flatly.
“Fun,” Tuff replies, over Ruff’s “blowing things up.”
Well, that’s probably the truth for them.
“We even get to determine what it's called,” Fishlegs chimes in again, still focused on Torch, “That is... that is a really big responsibility. I don't know if I'm ready for that.”
“I am! I'm gonna name the snot out of it!” Snotlout pipes up.
“That makes me really think he shouldn’t have anything to do with the naming process,” Judith mumbles under her breath, eyeing Hannibal, who monetarily smirks.
Astrid comes over, taking measurements of the dragon.
“May I have the honor of administering the claw-test?” Fishlegs asks as they’re finishing up, holding out a piece of paper in front of Torch. The dragon cocks it’s head, studying it and then slashes at it with its claws, basically reducing the thing to shreds in seconds. “Look at these talons... They're razor-like,” he breathes, awed.
“Wouldn’t all dragon claws do that?” Colette objects.
“If you could get most dragons too claw it?” Judith offers.
Fishlegs is already moving on to the next test. “You know what's next, don't you?” he asks.
“No, not really,” Hiccup offers.
“Only the single most important test to determine a dragon's reaction to eels… the Eel-Reaction-Test!”
“An eel test?” Hannibal exclaims, incredulous.
“What do eels have to do with anything?” Colette yelps.
Judith entirely seconds both of them.
Fishlegs just goes over to a bucket, pulling out an eel. All the dragons instantly scramble away from it – except Torch, who just sniffs it. And then chomps it down the moment Fishlegs is close enough. Judith blinks in wide-eyed disgust. She has never eaten an eel in her life. They’re snakes. They’re disgusting. Ugh, that’s disgusting. Dragon or no, she does not eat those things. They look and smell revolting. Why would she want to be near one?
“It failed the eel test,” Hannibal observes.
“Don’t you mean it passed the eel test?” Colette objects.
“It ate the eel test,” Judith counters.
“He ate it! He ate the eel,” Fishlegs agrees excitedly.
“Fishlegs,” Hiccup pipes up, “Has there ever been a dragon who wasn't afraid of –“
“Never in recorded history. We're in uncharted waters, my friend.”
Where did it come from? Because it’s clearly not from Berk. Judith reaches out, lightly nudging the creature’s mind. “Hi,” she greets it.
It chirps out loud, in return greeting.
“Where are you from?” she asks it.
It jumps from Hiccup’s arms back to hers again, projecting an image into her mind, of a couple of small dragons of the same kind… and one enormous one. Probably it’s mother.
That… is not good.
“I think this little one run away from home,” Judith announces, “It’s still a baby.”
“Can’t really blame it,” Colette offers. Judith really wonders what’s with her constant comments like that. Judith herself misses home so much. Both her first and her second one. And she’ll never see any of them again. She’s happy here on Berk and she can’t imagine just leaving and never seeing Hiccup or Toothless or any of the others again, but it still hurts.
She wishes there was a way home.
“A baby?” Hiccup asks, curiously.
“Why did you leave?” Judith asks Torch.
I was bored, he answers bluntly. Judith wants to facepalm. He’s lost, too, but this is going to be a problem. A big problem?
“I don’t think I knows where it’s mother is,” Judith translates, looking at the others, “But it said it likes it here.”
“Well, then we’ll have to keep it for now,” Hiccup offers. Torch jumps back to Hiccup again. Judith can’t help noticing the way Toothless twitches a little behind them.
“If it’s other comes to find it, then we might get to see it’s mother too,” Fishlegs gushes, “We’ll get to collect more information about the species. Now we need to get him to fly.”
“We’d have to get it to fly somehow,” Hiccup agrees.
“I can handle that,” Judith offers, nudging at Torch’s mind again, projecting their request to it.
Torch jumps down from Hiccup’s arms and starts walking in circles around the room
“What's he doing?” Ruffnut asks, completely puzzled.
“I don’t know,” Colette says flatly, “But it’s creepy.”
“I think something’s wrong,” Astrid replies, frowning.
“Aw man, we broke him,” Tuffnut whines.
“Maybe we can’t fly?” Hiccup offers tentatively.
“I don’t think that’s the problem –” Judith starts to say, cutting herself off when Torch starts spiraling around the arena, leaving burn marks all around behind him.
“I guess it can be dangerous,” Colette squeaks out, looking up at the flying baby.
“Told you so,” Judith points out.
She has to admit that Torch is adorable, but she still doesn’t have a very good feeling about keeping him here.
***
Judith wakes in the middle of the night to something heavy smacking down on top of her, enough to knock her breath out. Her eyes fly open, instantly braced for something deadly, but it’s just Toothless, who hops off the three of them, whining.
He looks spooked, pupils slitting, eyes darting around but wide with panic, ears flicking back and forth against his head.
“Toothless?” Hannibal asks sleepily, sitting up.
“Whoa,” Colette yelps, “What’s happening?”
“What’s wrong?” Judith asks him, frowning. He’s never come to their house in the middle of the night, certainly not without Hiccup.
Toothless whines, trotting over to the window, and looking back and forth between them and something outside.
Judith clamors out from under the blankets, going to join him at the window, with the other two following. Far away in the distance, she can see a faint orange glow. It’s a fire, burning its way through the forest.
That… really doesn’t look good.
“Yikes,” Colette squeaks.
“Is that a forest fire or… something else?” Hannibal asks slowly.
Judith reaches out, laying a hand on Toothless’ snout. The dragon whines again, pressing a little closer to her. Where’s Hiccup? It’ s weird he’s not here with him.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Judith asks Toothless, projecting the words into his mind.
“I think it’s the mother.”
“Yeah,” Judith agrees aloud, frowning, “Me too.” But… there’s definitely something more bothering him. “Is something else wrong?” she adds.
“Everyone likes Torch. It ate my meal and Hiccup is ignoring me.”
Oh.
Ohhh.
She knew Toothless didn’t look very happy in the arena, but she didn’t realize it was this big of a problem.
Judith strokes his head. “We can get you another meal,” she promises, “Everyone shares in this house.”
Toothless whines softly, nuzzling closer to her.
“What’s happening?” Hannibal queries.
“Toothless thinks Torch’s mother is the one out there,” Judith explains, “And… apparently it ate his meal last night and Hiccup’s been… ignoring him.”
Hannibal winces.
“Ouch,” Colette supplies, reaching out to pet Toothless’ head.
“We should probably check out the fire,” Hannibal says.
They leave the house together. The path through the woods will have to be walked instead of flown – Judith’s glow is too obvious at night, and if they alert the mother, well… it will get dangerous. The glow from the fire grows steadily closer as they enter the woods. It doesn’t look good.
Now that they’re here, she can hear crashing around. It’s something heavy and enormous.
And then they finally see it.
The thing is enormous. It’s just like it was in the image Torch showed her but it still looks much bigger in person.
“Looks like it’s here for its baby,” Judith says, “I think we better bring it back.”
“I’d hate to bring anyone back home who ran away,” Colette pipes up, “But you’re probably right.”
Toothless whines quietly. He’s definitely jittery.
Judith pets him again, touching his mind. “What do you think we should do?” she asks.
“Take it back,” Toothless agrees.
“We’d better go pick it up,” she agrees, and they run out of the woods back for Hiccup’s house.
“You don’t suppose this is actually a problem child who the mother doesn’t want back, do you?” Judith asks.
Hannibal snorts. “Well, that would be a problem.”
“If it is, I guess we’ll have to figure something else out,” Colette offers.
They’ve been over to his house enough that they just go inside and straight up to his room. Torch is sleeping in what Judith is pretty sure is supposed to be Toothless’ spot. Toothless growls at him. Torch opens one eye and makes a noise that she could almost think is laughing.
…she’s beginning to see why Toothless doesn’t like him much. That is nasty, even for a baby.
“Alright,” Judith interjects, picking up the baby, “Time to go home.”
Torch chirps at her happily.
Hiccup stirs on his bed, slowly sitting up. “What’s happening?” he asks, looking very confused. He blinks again, then pushes himself up sharply. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
“Torch’s mother is out there,” Hannibal explains.
“And she’s starting fires in the forest,” Colette adds.
Hiccup’s expression flickers with worry as he swings off the bed. “We better get out there,” he agrees. “We could get the other riders but…” He looks at all of them. “We might be enough.”
“We should be,” Judith agrees, “And we don’t really have time.”
They run.
***
Colette doesn’t fully get what’s going on with Toothless and Hiccup, but well… She feels bad about giving Torch so much attention earlier now. He is cute, but… That doesn’t mean Toothless isn’t still her favorite dragon.
Judith shapeshifts to her dragon form as they fly back to the woods, and she and Hanibal ride her. Hiccup takes Toothless.
Colette volunteers to hold Torch, just to keep the baby away from Hiccup. It doesn’t seem very inclined to hold still, though. It keeps squirming around and trying to fly out of her arms.
Hannibal takes it the first time, but it finally wriggles out of his, jumping back to Hiccup. Judith trots a little faster so they’re right alongside Toothless and Colette takes it back. Which lasts for only a minute before it just jumps back to Hiccup again.
She’d find it a little bit cuter it not for the circumstances.
“It’s like a boomerang,” Hannibal says flatly.
“Maybe we should’ve named it that instead,” Colette offers dryly, reaching to take it back. “Come on, Torch,” she says, petting his head, “I’m not that annoying, am I?”
Torch chirps happily.
She doesn’t think he even knows what she’s asking. Or he’s just laughing at her, it’s hard to say.
But at least he doesn’t instantly fly away again, as they reach the woods. It’s kind of creepy to be this close to a dragon that big, when it’s probably a very unhappy one. She can hear it crashing through the woods up ahead already.
“Alright,” Hiccup suggests, “Maybe I can fly in and try to return it, and you can wait here?”
“I don’t have a good feeling about that plan,” Hannibal objects, frowning.
She doesn’t either but they do… “I guess invisible backup is better sometimes,” she offers.
She reluctantly holds Torch out to Hiccup and the baby jumps back to him eagerly. Toothless torts forwards into the trees and they stay behind to just wait and watch. Hopefully, that won’t be a mistake.
***
The fire is spreading. Judith tilts her head up to look over at Hannibal and Colette, who are not standing next to her.
“I think we better go in,” Hannibal agrees.
Judith spreads her wings, flying out into the trees. She follows the fire and the sound of crashing around between the tree, flying up to see the mother and baby chasing Toothless. Why are they both chasing Toothless? Seriously?
Judith tries to reach out for the mother’s mind, but she just feels of a fierce determination and anger. She’s trying to keep the baby safe and she’s probably not going to be listening to much of anything right now.
Fine.
There are other ways to solve the problems.
Judith swoops in between them and Toothless, puffing out shimmering particles of sleep at them. It hits Torch and he goes down, flopping onto the forest floor, sleeping peacefully.
The mother shakes it off, snarling at her and Judith dives out of the way before she gets a blast of fire thrown at her. The mother goes for Torch instead, though, nosing the baby, and then gently lifting it, flying away between the trees.
Judith watches until the mother is gone before she flies back for the edge of the forest, Toothless following. The two of them land a safe distance away, their riders still on alert watching the dragons while she turns to nose Toothless. “Why was she chasing you?”
Toothless nuzzles her back, though he still doesn’t feel very happy. “It chased me, and the mother was trying to protect it.”
Yep. Definitely the problem child.
She trots a little way back into the woods, shapeshifting back to her human form and redressing before she goes to rejoin them. “Alright,” Judith says, “Now, time to get Toothless another meal.”
Hiccup frowns.
“Apparently, he never got a meal earlier,” Colette explains.
He flinches, lips parting in surprise and head whipping towards Toothless. He didn’t know? Of course, he didn’t know – Hiccup would never not feed him. He loves Toothless. He just can’t talk to him, like he was trying to tell them. Judith hadn’t fully understood the issue at the time. It’s… fair to be concerned about.
But Hannibal’s flight with him ended up with them crashing on a sea stack and limping home, tired, bruised, and cranky. They haven’t tried sense. Translator, then, as Colette calls it.
Toothless coos, tilting his head. He’s so sweet. He’s trying to make sure Hiccup doesn’t feel bad about what happened, though it’s already late for it.
“But… I gave you a meal,” Hiccup protests, “You ate it, didn’t you?”
Toothless backs away, grumbling.
“I’m pretty sure Torch stole it.”
“That tiny, baby dragon? It ate that much? I…” Hiccup sighs, taking his head in his hands. “Oh, Toothless, I’m so sorry.” Toothless licks him.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Hannibal soothes, patting his shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”
“Yeah, but you can talk to him?” Hiccup sighs. “Come on, let’s… let’s go back.”
His limp seems heavier somehow. Judith casts a worried look at her brother, who returns it. It feels a little like something just broke, and she has no idea what to do about it.
***
“Are you okay?” Judith asks Toothless the next morning, sitting beside him as he watches the sunrise. Hiccup is talking to some of the bypassers, some Berk-related conversation that she won’t follow.
He looks down at her – it’s ridiculous how as a dragon, she’s a little bigger than him, but he towers over her as a human. “Yeah.”
His mental voice is almost identical to Hiccup’s. It’s slightly unnerving. “You sure?” Judith sends back. “That whole thing was pretty… uncomfortable for you.” Being stuck as a dragon, not able to fully communicate his needs must be exhausting. She can’t imagine how this would’ve gone down if not for… them?
Hiccup has a way of communicating with them. It’s nothing she’s ever seen, but…
Well, speaking different languages still goes downhill sometimes.
He coos an agreement, looking up at Hiccup again.
“It’s…” She mulls over it for a minute. “Just that you can’t always talk. If you ever want anything else, Hannibal and I are always here.”
He licks her face. “Thanks,” he purrs, “But all I need is Hiccup.”
That’s… touching. Dragon loyalty. Judith looks up as Hiccup returns. “Um,” he says, rubbing at the back of his neck. “If you’re here to go flying, I’m sure we can, I…”
“No,” Judith answers with a shake of her head. “He doesn’t need us to fly him.”
“But…”
“He wants you.” She holds her hand out to him, and Hiccup slowly extends it. She gently grips his wrist, tugging him towards Toothless, lying it on his snout. “You’re what he needs, Hiccup. You two are meant to be together. Stay. You’re what he needs.”
Hiccup blinks a few times, emerald eyes wide. Judith pats his shoulder again, passing to head over to Hannibal and Colette, standing beside each other and watching. “They’ve made up?” Colette guesses.
Judith smiles back, finally relaxing. “I think so. I hope. But if not, we’re always here to help.”
Hiccup and Toothless are meant to be together. And how could she take it any other way?
Notes:
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Chapter Text
They go out flying with their dragons every day. Hiccup’s glad that Colette and the dragon-shifters are here today too. Hannibal’s flying on his own and Colette is riding Judith.
They’re practicing jumping off their dragons and letting them catch them today.
“Someone else try it,” Hiccup calls, once he and Toothless have finished making their point.
All the other riders look at each other.
“I’ll do it!” Colette calls gleefully, sliding off Judith’s back, practically squealing. The silver dragon dives downwards, swooping by and picking her up easily. Colette swings her way back onto it, still laughing. “That was fun.” Judith makes a wordless, eager sound.
“Alright Fishlegs, you’re up next,” Hiccup prompts.
“I don’t want to jump,” Fishlegs protests.
“You have to believe she's gonna catch you! It's a trust exercise,” he urges.
“I like to do my trusting on the ground, thank you very much!”
“Like this, chicken-legs,” Snotlout mocks, swinging off Hookfang, hooting gleefully.
Except… that Hookfang keeps right on flying as though he didn’t notice at all. Hiccup has no idea if he’s just pranking Snotlout or if this is another one of their fights, but he’s very tempted to facepalm.
Judith tilts her head in a way that Hiccup’s grown to realize means he’s talking to one of the dragon’s mentally.
Hannibal just dives down after Snotlout himself, who’s wailing “not feeling the trust!” from somewhere far below.
Hookfang perks up, diving down after him.
They’re falling way too fast for the village now and Hiccup realizes with growing panic, they’re headed right for Mildew’s house.
Hannibal and Hookfang try to grab Snotlout at once and that ends with all three of them going straight through the roof. They come flying back out even faster, Snotlout now on Hookfang’s back again.
“Oh, something tells me we're gonna hear about this...,” Hiccup says, deflating. His dad is not gonna be pleased when Mildew inevitably brings it up to him.
“Yeah,” Astrid agrees, as they land down on the island a distance away and the dragon shifters go to a short distance away to change back, before coming back as human.
“On the bright side, at least if it ever rains or snows, Mildew will be very miserable,” Colette offers.
He wishes he could find that amusing right now but he thinks this is about to end very badly. Even if Ruff and Tuff just cackle at the comment.
““I should have blown up that place. It’s an abomination,” Hannibal grumbles.
“I don’t even want to know what it looks like,” Judith says flatly.
“There’s things from dead dragons everywhere,” he replies with a shudder.
Ugh.
Hiccup got so used to seeing things like that, considering how much those used to be considered marks of being a warrior but that doesn’t make him feel any less horror about it now. Though, he’s certainly not at all surprised that Mildew’s house is full of things like that.
“Not that I disagree but then we’d probably have to rebuild the whole thing,” Hiccup points out.
“We should probably make ourselves scarce before someone comes to find us,” Judith pipes up.
“And pretend to be busy!” Colette is hasty to add.
Hiccup has to entirely agree in this case. But he’s pretty sure that’s not going to be enough to avoid consequences in this case.
***
As predicted, Mildew did go straight to Stoick about the story and he’s gonna have to go fix the farmer’s roof tomorrow. Great.
And he’s so taken up with that that he almost forgot that it’s Boot Night tonight.
“Ugh,” Hiccup groans, trying not to throw up as he carries Stoick’s boots outside the house. Toothless looks no less disgusted, “I think it's going to take more than air.”
He looks up to see his friends approaching from their next-door house, before he goes back inside.
“What’s going on around here?” Hannibal asks, looking around with a frown. Judith’s face is scrunched in disgust and Colette is straight-up covering her nose.
“It’s Boot Night,” Hiccup explains. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that there’s still so much about their society that none of them know.
“What’s that?” Colette and Judith say in perfect, disgusted unison.
“It’s the night everyone takes their boots off to air out,” Hiccup explains.
“Why wouldn’t you do that every night?” Colette asks, sounding absolutely disgusted.
“I certainly do,” Hannibal offers.
“Well if we got attacked in the middle of the nigh…” Hiccup points out.
“Then keep your boots right by your bed.” Hannibal replies flatly.
“You wouldn’t have time to get them on if a dragon was breaking in – though we don’t really need to worry about that anymore.”
“Or you could just throw your boots in the dragon’s face and the smell enough would scare them away,” Colette volunteers brightly, hand still covering her nose.
Hiccup laughs. “I do agree.”
“I think someone just needs to burn these things,” Judith complains, “It can’t be remotely healthy to any human to just – Ugh.”
Colette laughs in a way that sounds like absolute misery and he can’t help joining. “It’ll just be for tonight and then everything will go back to normal,” Hiccup promises, shuddering.
“Eww,” she deadpans.
***
When Judith wakes the next morning, the first thing she notices – aside from the part about how the village still stinks thanks to all the stupid boots – is that all the boots are gone. She assumes right off it’s because everyone’s finally just put those stinky things back on but they can hear conversation pieces drifting in the window and everyone sounds awfully worked up about something to do with missing boots?
They head over to Hiccup’s house, where countless other villagers are gathering, to see what’s happening.
“What’s going on?” asks Hannibal as they approach.
“Everyone’s boots disappeared and Mildew thinks the dragons are responsible,” Astrid explains with an eyeroll.
Is he serious? As though any animal or any sane anything could think about getting near those things.
“Why would anyone want to touch those stinky things?” Colette asks, appalled.
“It’s great,” Judith agrees brightly, “That means the dragons solved our problems for us.”
“Yeah, I hope they burned them,” Colette replies flatly.
Though Judith does have to admit it’s a little weird that there’s a huge footprint in the snow right outside Hiccup’s house. Fishlegs is quick to dart forwards, announcing that it looks like a Zippleback’s.
“So, a dragon walked through here - a Zippleback, according to my friend, Fishlegs. But that doesn't mean he took everyone's boots,” Hiccup protests.
“Well, there's just one way to find out,” Mildew crows, pointing with his staff towards the footprints scattered all about through the snow. “Follow the footprints.”
“Oh my,” Judith feign-gasps, “We couldn’t have guessed that on our own.”
Astrid snorts.
All the adults are ignoring them, which Judith is starting to realize seems to be common here. They’re all following the footprints, so she trails along at the end.
The tracks do, in fact, lead back to the arena. Barf and Belch are sleeping, covered in a pile of boots. Which looks downright ridiculous, and she frankly has no idea how the dragon could’ve piled them on top of itself. Or how it’s even still sleeping because right now, all she’s noticing is awfulness of the stench.
Ugh.
She can’t breathe.
Not that the twins smell the greatest, but how on Berk are Barf and Belch oblivious? Can their dragon smell?
“So, there's a bunch of boots piled around a Zippleback. That doesn't mean…,” Hiccup trails off, deflating as Stoick pointedly lifts one of his boots and holds it in his face. Yeah, it has a pretty nasty claw-mark through it, to be sure, but Judith isn’t buying it, “Okay, fine, he took the boots.”
The other Vikings start yelling on top of each other about how outrageous this is.
“Now, how long before something's done about these creatures, Stoick? How much more can we stand?!” Mildew demands, outraged.
“Is he for real?” Colette asks, “Crying about boots?” Judith makes a disgusted face in agreement. Honestly, he sounds insane. How old is he, five?
“Listen to yourselves,” Gobber interrupts, “’My feet are cold!’ You're Vikings! Everything is cold! I'll fix your boots for ya. You'll be back to work in no time.”
“Finally, someone with some sense,” Hannibal remarks dryly.
“You all heard Gobber. You'll be getting your boots back as good as new,” Stoick says.
“That's it? No consequence for these dragons?” Mildew demands.
“They took our boots, Mildew. The world isn't coming to an end.” She will, begrudgingly, admit that gave her a few respect points for him.
“Oh, don't be so sure. Dragons are wild beasts. There's no telling what else they'll do behind our sleeping backs,” he retorts.
Judith narrows her eyes at him. She doesn’t appreciate the way he’s talking about this and frankly, something just seems off about the entire situation.
“Oh, boohoo,” Colette drawls, “The dragons stole our boots. Oh no!”
“Yeah, whatever are we going to do now?” Judith adds in a fake, panicked voice.
They all laugh a little at that but really, she’s worried. Mildew’s stirring up a lot of people and she has no idea how far that could end up going.
The crowd is still angry, and Hiccup finally turns to them. “They are wild animals. And they need us to keep an eye on them. And rest assured we will do just that!” Hiccup waves Barf and Belch out of the arena, and it patters away, leaving deep footprints in the snow behind.
Ruff and Tuff run after it, laughing about the boot chaos – which is probably not something the rest of the crowd needs to be overhearing right now – but all her attention is presently drawn to the footprints in the snow.
She sees the way Hiccup is eyeing them too, a growing frown on his face. “Something about this isn’t right,” he observes.
“I know,” Hannibal agrees.
“You mean other than that no sane anything could want to collect a pile of something so stinky?” Collete asks, face still scrunched in disgust.
“No,” Hiccup argues, “I mean look at the tracks here. These are much deeper than the ones by my house.’
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Judith agrees.
“Maybe it was walking really lightly?” Colette suggests tentatively.
“Or something else made the tracks,” Astrid replies, frown growing.
“Like a tiny dragon with huge feet?” Colette objects.
Judith sighs. “No, I was going to say more like someone, not something. Maybe we should see if Barf and Belch saw anything. I’ll go have a chat with them.” She takes off to catch up with them. They’re out with the twins, who look like they’re trying to find the next kind of chaos to get into.
Judith goes up to the dragon, reaching out to both of their minds at once. It’s a little harder with two heads but she knows how to have telepathic communication with more than one person at once, even if it’s exhausting.
“Did you steal everyone’s boots?” Judith asks.
Both heads turn to look at her with identical expressions of confusion. “What are boots?” Barf asks.
Ohhh. Great. This conversation is going to be a lot harder than she thought. “The things humans put on their feet. What you must have seen outside everyone’s houses last night.”
“I thought those were detachable claws,” Belch protests.
She sighs. Now really isn’t the time to try and explain what they actually are, even if it’s funny. She supposes it’s also fair that they have no idea what boots even are.
“The pile of things you woke up under this morning,” Judith tries saying instead, “Did you do that?”
She feels an equal measure of disgust from both heads. Clearly, they hate the smell just as anyone ought to.
“It was cold. That made it warm,” Barf tells her.
Well, that sort of explains it.
“Did you see anything?” she has to ask again, hopefully, but both heads project an answer in the negative.
That leaves them basically nowhere, but it does mean one thing. A person obviously did this. It’s just a question of who it was. “Did you know that dragons think our boots are claws?” Judith asks dryly, looking at the others.
Hiccup very slowly turns to look at Toothless. “Hey, buddy,” he says, “Do you think this is a claw?” He points down at his metal foot.
Toothless giggles but offers a head-shake.
“I guess he’s smarter,” Colette replies, amused.
“What did they tell you?” Astrid asks, gesturing to Barf and Belch.
“Like I thought, they weren’t the ones who did it,” Judith answers, “They said they were cold, and the boots kept them warm, which was why they didn’t wake up but that means it had to have been a person.”
“Like someone’s trying to frame them,” Hiccup agrees, worried.
“But who?” Hannibal asks, question hanging emptily in the air.
There’s a lot of people here who are angry at dragons. Judith just doesn’t know specifically who might go this far and she doesn’t want to start pointing figures without some actual proof. “We need to do something about this,” she says.
“I know,” Hiccup replies, sighing, “But I do have an idea. We can go on dragon patrol evat night.”
That’s… Not such a bad idea. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to keep any real problems under control.
***
They do, in fact, go on dragon patrolling. Hiccup hopes this is going to be enough. But really, they quickly realize there’s nothing to see. Dragons sleep just like everyone else, thank you Mildew. He spends a while riding Toothless over Berk long after dark anyway, just to make sure that everything’s stable, before finally heading back to his home for the night.
He thought everything was going to be fine.
So, he’s really, really not expecting the commotion in the Great Hall that morning. Someone slashed up the tapestries and walls during the night with claw marks.
“Who could have done such a thing?” Stoick demands, staring at the marks. Everyone is angry.
Which Hiccup can understand but he also knows that this is way too suspicious. There’s no way this is happening again.
Fishlegs is quick to step forwards, studying the marks. “Oh, it looks like a dragon to me,” he offers.
Seriously? That really, really isn’t a helpful thing to say right now. “We don’t know for sure, Fishlgs.”
“Sure, we do,” he insists, “Look at those claw marks. It was obviously a monstrous nightmare. The spacing of the talons is dead on.”
Hiccup groans. “Once again, Fishlegs, thank you.”
“What?” he objects. “It is.”
“Yes,” Hannibal agrees with a sigh, “But that doesn’t mean now is the time to say so.”
“But how could this happen? We had every dragon accounted for at all times! Right, guys?” Astrid demands.
“When you say, "at all times," and "every dragon," what exactly do you mean?” Snotlout interjects carefully.
Hiccup deflates, facepalming. Oh, great. Thanks a lot, Snotlout – he had literally one job, and he can’t even do that right? “Okay, what happened, Snotlout?”
“Well, I was detaining a suspect who wasn't showing sufficient respect to the sash,” Snotlout complains. He turns a pointed glare on Gobber.
“I think I showed sufficient respect to a sash that says "D.U.M.B.,” Gobber pipes up.
“He has a point,” Judith interjects dryly, which is true, but that’s really not helpful right now. It’s also not a good time to point out to Snotlout that Gobber is the last person they need to worry about hurting the dragons. Or one of the last. He has no idea what’s going on, and answers are so, so elusive. How could they all have been out there, and no one noticed? It was right under Hiccup’s watch, and if something goes wrong, he’ll be responsible, and it’ll be their dragons who suffer for it.
Thanks, Snotlout. You too, Fishlegs.
“We've got to change that name,” Astrid sighs.
“Anyways,” Snotlout says, “As I was questioning said suspect, Hookfang may have, and I'm not saying he did, but it is possible he wandered off for a few...”
“Seconds?” Ruff asks hopefully.
“Minutes?” Tuff chimes in.
“Hours,” Snotlout corrects.
“Oh,” Tuff says, deflating with a scowl, “That’s way longer than minutes.”
“We really think Hookfang might have done this?” Colette asks, frowning.
“I don’t know,” Hiccup replies. It doesn’t make sense. “If he did, why would all the food be untouched?” That’s what makes sense to him the least. And the dragons have had plenty of time to come in and damage the Great Hall before. What’s really the chance that they would’ve done that only one night after the boot incident? It’s too convenient.
The doors to the Great Hall are thrown open moments later, Mildew bursting inside. “Oh, no, it's true! The Great Hall! So many memories. My three weddings, their three funerals.”
Ugh. How does he manage to show up every single time something happens with the dragons? It’s like… uncanny. He never comes to town, but here he is.
“Uhh,” Colette grumbles, “If he’s trying to make me feel bad, it’s not really working.”
“A dragon must have gone on a rampage,” Gobber interjects, unhelpfully, “I hate to say it, Stoick, but you're going to have to – ”
“I know what has to be done, Gobber,” Stoick interrupts.
The way he says it has Hiccup insntantly panicked. This is not going to go well. He thought they were past this point already, but –
“Starting tonight, every night, I want all the dragons put in the Academy under lock and key,” Stoick decides.
Back to talking about locking them up again? It’s better than having to send them away but having to lock any of them up is still awful. He can’t do that to Toothless. He can’t do that to any of them.
“This just doesn't make any sense,” Hiccup interrupts, because he has to try even if he knows his father isn’t going to listen because he never does, “A dragon wouldn't just come in here and destroy the place! I mean, none of the food was even touched!”
“I don't know why dragons do what they do, but I'm not going to let them do any more damage,” Stoick replies firmly, turning away.
“How’s that going to work?” Judith argues, stepping forwards, “What dragons are we locking up? Because dragons fly by all the time during the night. Is it just the ones we reside? Because there are many dragons who live on Berk naturally. We can’t account for them all. And the ones we have here are already tamed. They’re the least likely to cause damage.”
“Any dragons can be dangerous,” Stoick answers darkly. He’s already upset, and Judith throwing her case in is only going to make things worse.
“Yeah, they can be, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to choose to be. Anyone can be dangerous if they’re trying to be,” she retorts. “And I can talk to them.”
Hiccup really, really wants to facepalm. Arguing with his father is not going to help anything. He’s already on a short fuse – is always on a short fuse, and Judith poking him is going to make him take out even worse on the dragons. He’s – he never listens. It never helps. Just stop talking. Please.
Stoick is looking increasingly annoyed. “That hasn’t stopped them from damaging the Great Hall.”
“We still don’t know if it even was a dragon.”
“The evidence is clear enough, and I will not risk the dragons causing further damage.”
“Hannibal and I are dragons, too,” she points out.
Stop. Please stop. Is she trying to get herself and Hannibal in trouble too? Hiccup’s gaze darts nervously between them and Stoick, trying to think of a good way to interject that’s not going to make this even worse.
Colette shifts a little closer to him, eyes dark with anger, though she’s not saying anything. Wisely. Colette is amazing, but the last thing anyone on Berk needs is more fuel.
“You also have a human mind,” Stoick replies.
“You know,” Hannibal speaks up slowly, “There was a rumor about humans that shifted into being dragons for so long that they forgot they were human.”
“That’s enough, both of you,” Stoick cuts him off sharply.
Hiccup darts forwards, grabbing Hannibal’s sleeve and Judith’s hand, trying to tug them away. “Are you trying to get locked up, too?” he hisses in a whisper.
“At sundown, I want the dragons caged,” Stoick adds, looking to Hiccup as he tries to back away.
Judith starts to open her mouth again.
Hiccup really doesn’t want to know what she’s about to say.
“Except those two,” Stoick adds, with a pointed sharp look at them both before he turns away. “Don’t make me retake that.”
Hiccup barely dares to breathe a sigh of relief. His heart is still pounding, and he still feels dizzy with a frustrating amount of panic. Honestly. All of them. Moments like these are when he wants to smack every one, fly away with Toothless, and scream his lungs into oblivion. This can get worse. This will only get worse, and they need an argument based off fact instead of Judith’s… Judith-ness?
“I can’t believe this is happening again,” Colette sighs.
“Me neither,” Astrid agrees.
“I can stay with the dragons tonight,” Hannibal offers, once they’re safely away from the rest of the adults. “To make sure they don’t get scared. And… if someone’s trying to frame them for something, that way I’ll be able to know.”
That’s true, too. They don’t even know if the dragons are going to be safe there. Not if someone’s really out to hurt them. Because… there is someone. He just wishes he had a way to find them.
***
The first night, nothing happens. That’s still not enough for Judith to let her guard down again. Everything right now is too… tense.
It’s the second night now, that they’re trying to put the dragons to bed in the arena – minus Toothless, who still gets to stay with Hiccup. Unsurprisingly, everyone’s just snapping at each other.
Fishlegs is singing to Meatlug which Judith actually thinks is really sweet until Snotlout starts making fun of him.
“Actually,” Ruffnut interjects, to Fishlegs’ defense, “It’s your fault that all our dragons have to sleep in jail.”
“Yeah,” Tuffnut agrees sourly, “You don't see our dragon going on a rampage and wrecking stuff.”
“I think that’s slightly inaccurate,” Judith interjects flatly. Though in the twins’ defense, they only blow up stuff they’re told to blow up, and that’s on the twins.
Barf and Belch smash into a wooden box right on cue.
“Well, not any good stuff,” Tuffnut defends.
“I don't think a dragon wrecked the Great Hall or stole the boots,” Hiccup argues.
“None of us wants to believe it either, Hiccup, but you saw the proof,” Astrid points out.
“I still think the proof was pretty lousy,” Colette agrees.
Their attempt at a conversation is interrupted when Hookfang starts fighting with Barf and Belch. Hookfang starts on fire, and thinks are about to escalate when Hiccup suddenly perks up. “That's how I can explain the Great Hall!” he exclaims, “If it was really a monstrous nightmare in there, there should’ve been fire damage.”
“That… is a good point,” Hannibal agrees.
“I've got to tell my dad about this,” Hiccup decides, running for Toothless.
“Good luck with that,” Judith calls after him, because she doesn’t get the feeling he’s going to be very receptive.
Considering that Hiccup doesn’t come back over to their house with any word later that evening, Judith thinks it’s safe to assume he didn’t get anywhere with Stoick.
***
The sound of an explosion jerks Judith awake again when it’s nearing dawn. There’s the faintest light on the horizon but it’s otherwise dark – aside from the fire that she can clearly see burning outside the window.
“What now?” Colette asks, almost despairingly.
“Let’s find out.” Judith tries not to worry about all the could be’s as she and Colette go to see what’s happening. Hannibal is in the arena with the dragons again so hopefully they’re okay.
When they reach the source of the fire, it’s to see that the armory is burning. Toothless is standing a short distance from the building, looking genuinely spooked.
“Dad,” Hiccup is protesting frantically, “You know Toothless wouldn't do this,”
No, not this again. She thought there couldn’t be any more disasters but there is, and this is obviously not just a chance. But mostly, she’s just suddenly afraid of what everyone blaming the dragons for all of this is about to mean. She can very clearly see how angry everyone in the crowd looks.
“Sure, listen to your boy, Stoick,” Mildew crows, “That's what got us into this mess!”
“Oh boo-hoo the dragons ruin everything,” Colette sasses, “What are we going to do now?”
Though, Judith can tell she’s just trying to cover how scared she is.
“See what happens when you leave your dragon all alone to wait outside?” Mildew mocks, turning to Hiccup.
Hiccup stills, looking up at him sharply. “What did you say?”
Mildew’s already turning away, already going on about how the dragons need to be sent away.
The only way to get an actual answer is going to be from Toothless. She’s been in enough awful and dangerous situations to know how to not panic even if it’s hard. She needs to try being logical.
Judith goes over to Toothless, who’s still standing rigidly, watching the chaos. “Toothless?” she asks, nudging his mind, “What happened?”
“I saw someone walking around and I followed them,” Toothless replies. “Their scent was familiar, but I didn’t see him.”
“Can you show me?” she asks.
Toothless projects the mental image to her. It flashes through her own mind – something of the darkened armory. Toothless goes inside, right in time to see someone disappearing out the window and that’s only a second before the entire thing goes up in flames.
Someone deliberately burned down the armory. It wasn’t an accident. She thought this was just a conspiracy against the dragons but now she’s suddenly wondering, what if it’s more than that?
“These dragons have done too much damage,” Stoick speaks up, drawing Judith’s gaze away from Toothless, “It's no longer safe to have them on Berk. I want them gone.”
“What?!” Hiccup demands frantically, jerking forwards.
Stoick isn’t paying him any mind.
This can’t be happening again. And it’s very unlikely he’s about to change his mind again, like last time. But she’s also worried about more than just that now – it’s a theory she needs to explain to the others before it’s too late.
“Round them up, and take them all to Dragon Island,” Stoick orders, “By the end of the day tomorrow, there will be no more dragons on Berk.”
She really wants to start asking the million questions about how he actually thinks that’s an accomplishable feat but now’s probably not the time. And her mind is too busy whirling with the other questions’ she’s having to think about that right now.
“Oh, what a glorious day that will be. Party at my house!” Mildew exclaims, “Don't forget, boy. Right after you drop off your dragon, you'll be fixing my roof.”
Judith can’t remember ever wanting to punch an adult in the face this badly until she came here. Yeah, everybody has moods, but she can’t remember anything even remotely similar to being as bad as this. She tries not to hate people, but she has no words for how deeply she loathes Mildew.
“Fix your own roof,” Colette mutters, glowering at his back.
“Something is wrong here,” Judith says, turning to the others.
“I know,” Astrid agrees, “It’s horrible. It’s the worst day of my life.” It’s almost jarring to see her looking so miserable.
“That’s not what I mean,” Judith argues.
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Hiccup agrees, and he looks like he’s trying really hard to stay level-headed when he’s also about to panic. Or cry. Probably both, actually, though she’s gotten the point long ago that he’s good at dodging either one. “Something here doesn't add up.”
“All I know is I'm losing my dragon,” Fishlegs laments.
“Toothless showed me what happened,” Judith interjects, “Someone blew up that armory. I can show all of you. Here. We need to hold hands.”
“Hold hands?” repeats Tuffnut, confused.
“Just do it and you’ll see.”
“I don’t even need a reason to hold your hand,” Snotlout offers sweetly and is quick to take Judith’s outstretched hand. She suppresses her disgusted groan and serious desire to pull away, as she takes one of Hiccup’s hands with her other.
Snotlout reaches for Astrid – at the same time, seriously? – and she slaps him away.
The rest of them join hands in a circle and Judith focuses as hard as she can, trying to replay the image Toothless showed her.
“That was an incredible fire,” Ruffnut says gleefully, as she finishes replaying it.
“Yeah,” Tuffnut agrees, gleefully.
“Guys, this is serious,” Hiccup cuts them off sharply.
For once, that’s enough to make them both sober. They don’t want to lose their dragon any more than anyone else does, to be fair.
“Our weapons are gone and now the dragons are being sent away. Berk’s going to be defenseless. Is this a conspiracy against the dragons or all of Berk?” Judith asks.
“You have a good point,” Astrid agrees. “But who could be doing it?”
“I want to blame Mildew,” Colette says flatly.
“Me too,” she admits, “But would he really betray Berk?”
“Hard to know with him,” she mutters.
“Talking about this isn’t going to change that we still have to send our dragons away,” Snotlout grumbles.
“No, but whoever this traitor is, we need to find them,” Judith replies firmly.
“We just need to figure out where to start,” Hiccup replies.
They start with going to the arena, where all the riders go to hug their dragons. She thinks Fishlegs is crying. Ruff and Tuff are actually both hugging the wrong head.
They. have to find a way to stop this.
She goes to explain to Hannibal first, what the situation is right now.
“I can try talking to my dad, but until we have some actual proof, I don’t think he’ll listen,” Hiccup sighs.
“You can tell him I’ll show him what Toothless showed me, if he wants to see it,” Judith says.
Hiccup nods miserably. “I’m going to have to work on fixing Mildew’s roof in the morning. At least while I’m there, I can maybe take a look around.”
“I was going to say you could drop nails on the floor,” Colette says, brightening, “But that works too.”
“Did someone say nails?” Snotlout asks hopefully.
“No,” Hiccup groans, “Or I’ll have to rebuild his whole house.”
“Not if he’s a traitor,” Judith offers brightly.
“And we said leaving nails on the floor,” Hannibal points out dryly, “That wouldn’t destroy his house.”
“Or we could just blow it up!” Ruffnut offers, brightening.
“Yeah!” Tuffnut agrees, and they exchange conspiratorial smiles. Frankly, Judith couldn’t blame them if they are thinking about such an accident, but well… That’s not going to help the situation.
“Don’t,” Hiccup protests, sounding exasperated and also like three times his age. Judith wishes keeping all the dragons on Berk, and just… all of this wasn’t something he had to be worrying about fighting so hard for. He’s too young to have to be worrying about all of this so much. And she knows what it’s like to have little siblings to care of. And Hiccup’s really… the closest to that she’s had since coming here, other than Colette. She wishes there was something more she could actually do.
“So,” Judith decides, “No arson, no nail dropping. Hiccup, maybe you can talk to Stoick and the rest of us can do some patrols on our own and see if we find anything.”
***
Dawn comes far too fast. Hiccup tries talking to Stoick. It still doesn’t go anywhere. He knew it wouldn’t, not even with the offer of Judith showing him what Toothless showed her. It wouldn’t be the kind of proof he could use to talk to the other villagers with, he’d said. Which might be true, but it doesn’t change that they’re sending the dragons away.
And he doesn’t even get to keep Toothless here. He’s gotten so used to waking up every morning with Toothless in his room. They do nearly everything together now and he’s just going to be gone. He’s the first friend Hiccup ever had. And Toothless is going to be stranded on dragon island with no way to fly away if something happens or if he needs food, or… How’s he going to do it?
Everyone looks about equally miserable when they gather at the docks the next morning.
“We were out searching last night,” Astrid says, “We didn’t find anything.”
“I talked to some of the dragons in the woods, to ask if they saw anything suspicious happening,” Judith adds, “All they told me was you and that they wanted to go back to sleep.” She smiles faintly, though it’s fleeting.
Hiccup would find that more amusing under other circumstances himself.
Everyone spends the ride to dragon island in silence. There’s not much to say, except everyone’s stayed next to their dragon the entire boat ride there.
Seeing the island hurts even more now. He thought he changed everything when they’d killed Red Death. But they really didn’t because now they’re almost back to where they started.
At the end of the day, they’re right back where they started. Here, the island he liberated – but does it really matter when he has to leave Toothless here, on an island where he can’t even survive? He doesn’t care what happened. He has to leave Toothless here, and –
He doesn’t have words for this. He… he has to leave Toothless.
“I'll be back for you. I promise.” His voice is broken and shaky, but he doesn’t get a choice in this. Just like he doesn’t get a choice in… anything. A bitter emptiness fills him as he undoes the clasps for what he prays is the last time – that Toothless will come back and they’ll be together forever – and carries the saddle away.
If they can’t bring the dragons back to Berk… Hiccup won’t stay away for long. But there has to be a clue somewhere. There’s got to be.
Toothless whines quietly, nuzzling him.
“No, bud,” Hiccup replies miserably, “You've gotta stay here, and take care of the other dragons. It's gonna be okay, Toothless. Trust me.” He sets the saddle down under a rock. Yeah, he agrees with Astrid. This is absolutely the worst day of his life, too. How could you get worse than this?
Colette and Hannibal are alternating between petting all the dragons – other than Hookfang who already wandered off. Judith’s eyes are glowing silver. She must be having a telepathic conversation with someone.
But they have to leave now. He’s never going to be ready for that.
They all watch dragon island for as long as it’s on the horizon. Hiccup doesn’t tear his eyes away from the spot where Toothless was standing, watching them go, until the island disappears from sight.
He also ignores the totally random part of his brain that’s reminding him of what Colette and the dragon shifters were saying about the Earth being round and how you can actually see that when you’re sailing. He can actually see their point. Not that he has the mental space to think or even care about that right now.
“Did you know this is the first time I’ve ever been on a boat?” Colette asks in what he thinks is an attempt to lighten the mood, but she sounds so miserable that it falls entirely flat.
“How could it be the first time?” Fishlegs objects.
“We lived in-land before,” she says, kicking at a random floorboard and going back to the railing to watch where dragon island disappeared too.
He needs to focus. If the dragons are gone, it can’t get worse for them at least, which also means they need to focus on answers. And… for as wild and insane as it sounds, he can only think of one lead, but at least it’s a lead. Right back to where it all started.
“There's something Mildew said that I can't stop thinking about,” he admits. “’He said, "see what happens when you leave your dragon to wait outside?’ He knew Toothless wasn't with me just before the armory fire.”
“So?” Astrid asks, frowning.
Judith perks up instantly.
“So... so, he lives on the other side of the island. What was he doing in town? And how would he know where we were before the fire?” Hiccup asks.
“Maybe he guessed,” Colette offers, “Or he’s been spying on us or – ”
“Or he really did do it,” Hannibal agrees, expression darkening.
“You really think he set that fire?” Astrid queries.
Now that he’s thinking about it, there’s nothing else that explains any of this. “I think he did all of it. And I think he did it so my dad would get rid of all the dragons.”
“When you put it like that, yeah,” Judith agrees slowly, “I don’t think anything else could explain all this.”
“That's a pretty serious accusation. How are you gonna prove it?” Astrid asks.
Hiccup turns to look out at Berk, that’s appearing on the horizon now. He definitely going to do some snooping when he goes to fix Mildew’s roof. “I don’t know,” Hiccup answers. “But I have an idea. Give me ‘til tomorrow. I’ll see what I can find.”
Notes:
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Chapter Text
It’s been a day, and Hannibal still doesn’t want to move. Twenty-four hours on a Dragon-less island is almost mind-numbing. Someone after the dragons, someone blew up Berk’s armory, which is treason on the highest regard, and for all they know, enemies could be closing in, and guess how well they can self-defend?
Thanks… person.
Mostly Stoick, but everybody.
In short, he’s on his last fuse and very, very cranky when Astrid knocks on the door shortly after dawn and he shuffles to open it.
She looks every bit as disheveled as a Hofferson never does, clothes rumpled, hair uncombed. Probably straight out of bed. He doubts he looks much better.
“Oh, come in,” Judith calls, pushing herself up. She’s more playing with her food than eating, as is Hannibal.
Astrid steps in, pushing the door shut behind her. “Have you heard anything?” she asks.
Hannibal shakes his head. “No. I’m sorry, Astrid.”
She swipes at her messy hair. “Yeah, I guess there’s a lotta that to go around.”
Judith joins them, slinging an arm around Astrid’s shoulders and pulling her in to the table. “Have you eaten yet?” Hannibal mentally kicks himself for not asking. He’s been so confused on Stormfly and not seeing her as a shadow right outside the house when Astrid comes over that he hadn’t even thought to ask.
Astrid scoffs. “I’m not hungry. But thanks.”
The pause is awkward, Colette spinning her spoon in her fingers, like no one quite knows what to do with themselves.
“We’ll figure something out,” Judith promises. “We will, okay?”
“Hiccup has a plan,” Hannibal promises, lingering. He’s glad he had an excuse to get up. He doesn’t want to eat. He doesn’t even know if Toothless can eat right now. “There’s got to be some lead we can use.”
“The question’s how long it takes to find, and if there’s anything left of Berk by the time we catch on.” Astrid sighs.
Colete is gnawing on her lip. She doesn’t say anything, and then there’s a tap on the door again. Lighter, gentler in a way that he immediately knows it who it is. There’s only one Viking who knocks that tentatively.
Hannibal gets the door, already on his feet. Colette is pushing herself to her feet.
Hiccup is in the doorway, brown-auburn hair nearly as abnormally uncombed as Astrid’s blond, eyes red in a way that makes him think he probably spent the night crying. In his place, Hannibal can say that he would have himself, and it makes his heart ache.
“Wow,” Astrid mutters, brows raising. “You really look dead.”
“Did you sleep?” Hiccup asks. He tries to smile, but it falls right off.
“Half an hour or so,” Judith calls. “We were talking most of the night.” Worrying. Brooding. It was definitely one of the worse nights in Hannibal’s life.
“Miserably. What about you?” asks Colette.
Hiccup shrugs. “Okay, I guess,” he answers in tones that promise anything but.
“We were worrying if the next attack could be against us,” Hannibal confesses.
“At least if they tried something against, we might catch them, not that I’m saying it would be a good thing,” Colette offers.
“No, it wouldn’t,” Astrid grumbles, swinging around on her seat.
Hiccup rubs at the back of his neck. “Uh, about that, I actually came to tell you something I found at Mildew’s house.”
At that, Hannibal perks right up. “What?”
“He was out with Fungus, so I had a look around and I found he had these… dragon feet.”
“Dragon feet?!” Colette wails.
Hannibal flinches. Dragon feet? Yeah, he knows people keep dragon pieces as trophies, but he hasn’t been on Berk long enough to see the worst of it. It’s horrifying. Humans are so unspeakably brutal. They may say a lot about dragons and wild animals in general, but at least those don’t brag about all the humans and creatures they’ve murdered.
“So, why isn’t he in the dungeons yet?” Astrid asks impatiently.
“Tiny problem with that,” Hiccup answers, rubbing his right hand. “I also saw him throw them into the ocean, and my dad can’t declare someone a traitor without concrete proof.”
“That’s stupid,” Colette says, scowling.
“Kicking someone off the island is a pretty high response,” Astrid disagrees, “But considering Mildew, I don’t think anyone would miss him, anyway.”
For Stoick, it’s always about the image, isn’t it? He can’t let himself look bad for anything. Hannibal suppresses an irritated sigh. “Then we need to get proof.”
“Already on it,” Hiccup promises, “We need to get the others together and get down to the beach. Maybe we’ll find them.” He turns to the door.
“One, question, who’s Fungus?” Judith calls.
“Mildew’s sheep-wife.” Hiccup waves over his shoulder. “Come on!”
“His sheep wife?!” Hannibal and Judith echo in mutual horror.
***
Gathering everyone down to the beach takes so much longer without dragons. It makes Hiccup’s heart ache even more on top of an already-present crushing depression that never really leaves. Like the days he spent out with Toothless in the cove were the only good times of his life, and everything else is just… existing.
He doesn’t care for anything, but the raw fury bubbling beneath his chest is like a living thing entirely not him. He tries to breathe, but it’s there every time. Colette has an arm around Fishlegs’ shoulder, and the twins spent a touching amount of time comforting each other, mostly Hannibal.
“My adopted family had a pair of twins,” he explains. “They were also walking chaos.”
He had siblings. Like everyone in his life has had siblings except him, and it makes Hiccup’s heart ache even more. All he has of his own is Toothless, who he just left. He wants to cry and scream all at once, a desperate frustration bubbling deep within him. The beach is… empty. Just a lot of sand.
“We’ve been here for hours and we haven't found anything!” Snotlout yells frustratedly.
“We’ve been here for ten minutes,” Hiccup corrects, “And you’ve done nothing but build that!” He motions irritated at the stick castle his cousin has been ferally gathering sticks for.
“That is Snotlout Manor, and all I need now is a queen.” He turns a sweet smile on Judith, who for the first time ever shoves his arm away.
“Are you five?!” she snarls.
Tuffnut jumps on the fake castle with a yell, stomping and crushing everything.
“Wha – what are you doing?!” Snotlout complains.
“Storming the castle.”
“I think he wants to be your queen,” Judith offers.
“Come on, guys!” Hiccup yells frustratedly, and at raised voices everyone finally turns to look at him. “I’m telling you, Mildew framed our dragons! I saw dragon feet in Mildew's House and I watched him throw them into the ocean.”
“I don’t mean to be Norbert the Negative,” Fishlegs ventures, “But the ocean is really, really vast. And our chances at finding those dragon feet are as good as Snotlout and Astrid –”
“Don't go there,” Astrid snaps.
“Going nowhere!” Fishlegs protests, raising his hands in surrender.
Colette scoffs, then crosses her arms again, looking around. “Hey, what if someone went for a swim?”
“I was going to suggest that,” Hannibal replies, “Judith and I can give it a shot. I don’t know if we’ll find anything, but…”
“Try it,” Hiccup requests. Even if he already knows this is going nowhere.
***
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Tuffnut continues with his typical level of feralness when speaking to his sister. “Do I hear you correctly to say that I was the queen?”
Ruff ignores him entirely, chin raised in proud boredom.
“Seriously?” Judith asks disbelievingly, casting a glance back at the other pair of twins. The chaos between these two – but it hurts to see them so depressed now. So… broody without their dragon, almost trying harder to pick fights as they lash out at everything.
“Well, I obviously wasn’t the queen,” Ruffnut insists, “I was definitely the king.”
“You told me I was the king!” Tuff complains, scowling fiercely as he chases his sister.
“Uh, sorry, Tuff,” Judith offers, smothering her first sincere smile of amusement since the dragons left. “But I think it’s obvious she tricked you.”
Tuff’s gasp of outrage is comical. “You are definitely remembering incorrectly,” he accuses, poking a finger at his sister. “Because I never plaid queen in king and queen!”
“I was the king, and you were the queen, obviously.”
“Uh,” Hannibal whispers, “I think we should just… slowly back away.”
“Yeah,” Judith agrees, “Probably.” She’s still sticking around long enough to make sure no one gets too badly hurt when blows start flying, though. “Hey,” she calls, and the twins freeze for half a second. “You know, just because we didn’t find those dragon feet, that doesn’t mean we won’t. There has to be a way to get them back.”
“What are you talking about?” Tuffnut asks miserably. “It’s over.”
“Yeah,” Ruffnut agrees, shoulders slumping on a total mood swing. “It’s over.”
“Mildew might think he can take our dragons from us, but we’re going to get them back. You’re gonna get Barf and Belch back, I promise.” That doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy.
***
“I can’t believe I had to leave Meatlug there.”
Leaving them was the hardest thing Colette has ever had to do. She’s lost a few friends throughout her life, thanks to her parents, and it never hurts less than the last. So yeah, she knows, but Fishlegs looks about to cry right now, and she has no idea what to give him. Hugs only do so much. “Sometimes, adults are just dumb,” she says flatly, patting his shoulder. “Like Mildew. They refuse to see anything good in life and don’t want to let anyone else get it, either. Uh, and Stoick.”
Fishlegs twitches. “I don’t think we should talk against the chief,” he protests.
Vikings are cool… except that. They have to almost literally worship their chief and bow to his every wish. She’s seeing why democracies were so useful now. “Uh,” Colette says carefully, “Not to offend your way of life, but the way people worship him is just annoying. I mean, obviously, he runs this place, but that doesn’t mean he does no wrong. Like this. He kicked our dragons off the island, and our enemies could be closing as we speak.”
Fishlegs shudders. “Don’t remind me!”
Colette winces. “Sorry. Um.” How does she even do this? “Maybe we should all just move to Dragon Island and get away from all of this.” Is that practical? No. Not that she… cares too much right now.
“And live with all the wild dragons?”
She shrugs. “Honestly, it sounds nicer than here sometimes.” Because it really kind of does.
“I guess it would be… nicer,” Fishlegs agrees tentatively.
“A lot less lonely.”
“You get lonely a lot?” Colette asks. She gets that, really – she spent most of her life alone. She always felt so empty until… meeting these people. They’re the first family she’s really had. And no adults, so, plus. And she knows Hiccup spent most of his life the same. Until Toothless, which is great, because no one knows when they’ll see him again.
“I did,” Fishlegs confirms, “Poor Meatlug, she must be so scared. Do you think she’s lonely?”
Yeah. Yep. How couldn’t she be without him? “She has the other dragons to keep her company,” Colette goes for instead. “You gave her plenty to eat. It’s only been a couple of days. And if nothing changes, maybe we can go deal with Mildew ourselves.”
“Is it bad that I… actually want to?”
“Nope. Vengeance isn’t great, but when someone’s that awful… I’m gonna make some exceptions.” And at this rate, she actually might.
***
“Well, no axe training when there’s no axes,” Astrid offers dryly, falling in step with Hannibal as he’s gathering with Hiccup and the other girls.
“I just talked to my dad again,” Hiccup sighs. “Still no luck. But we have to prove Mildew did it if we ever want to see our dragons again.”
“Can’t we just go there?” Colette asks. “Just leave everything and go? I mean, they’re our family, too. Toothless is your family. And he can’t live without you.”
It’s not a fair choice to be faced with. Hannibal knows that, but it’s a fair question, too. Nothing will change unless something drastic happens, and –
“Why would one of our ships be anchoring there?” Astrid asks, leaning forwards, eyes narrowing in a squint.
Hiccup fumbles to pull a spyglass from his vest. Hannibal sees the ship from afar – somewhat, approaching a sea stack near Berk. “It’s not one of our ships. The sail looks like an Outcast boat. I gotta tell Dad. Come on!” He turns to run.
“Oh, look,” Hannibal sighs, deflating. “Now the dragons are gone, and Berk is being attacked.”
“I’ll fly you,” Judith offers, “We’ll make it faster.” Hiccup nods, and the two of them run.
“Quick question, what are the Outcasts?” Colette asks.
“They’re well… outcasts,” Astrid explains. “People who have been banished from many islands and took refuge together. Their leader is Alvin the Treacherous, a man Exiled from Berk many years ago. He’s like our oldest and most dangerous enemy. And if he’s attacking, now…”
“Almost like someone knew we were defenseless and told him,” Hannibal murmurs. It could’ve been anyone. Someone who wants to hurt Berk and has stayed hidden in their midst, and it’s terrifying. He has no idea where to look, and for all Hannibal has become accustomed to carefully watch his own back, it’s never been for a way like this.
“We gotta go. Come on!” Astrid waves them into motion and breaks into a run back for the city.
***
Stoick calls an immediate town meeting. Judith is impressed at the speed by which everyone gathers together, to be honest. They’re a warrior people, and everyone knows without needing to be told how they should react to the alarm bells.
Even more impressive is that they have alarm bells.
“I saw thirty men at least, all armed to the teeth,” one of the Berkians reports.
“Without my weapons, we'll never be able to fight them head on,” Gobber warms.
“No weapons!” Mildew, who just had to be there, laments. “And Outcasts on our shores! All thanks to your boy and his dragons!”
Judith snarls. Hiccup’s body tenses beside her as he glares. Colette looks about to fly at him, with nothing but teeth and nails, and in her current mood, Judith doesn’t doubt she could do some serious damage. She could, too. Mildew destroyed the armory, took their dragons from them, and then he dare blame Hiccup?
“I don’t have time for this right now, Mildew,” Stoick brushes him off, turning to throw out orders. They’re sending the civilians to the caves.
“We can help fight,” Astrid offers. “We’ve been trained as warriors.”
“She may have been trained, but I was born a warrior,” Snotlout brags.
“Take this.” Stoick hands Astrid a hatchet. “It was Alvin’s. But go with the others. You can help protect them.”
“Let me go get the dragons,” Hiccup requests, stepping forwards, “At least if we have them, Dad, we can defend ourselves.”
“Go. But be careful. You don't know what Alvin is capable of.” Hiccup nods, turning for the doorway.
Hannibal catches his shoulder. “Judith can give you a ride.”
He shakes his head. “She sticks out too much at night. She’ll be shot down. I’ll go get Toothless. See you soon.”
She has a bad feeling about this, leaving Hiccup off on his own, but his point is too valid to argue.
“Hannibal, Judith,” Stoick adds, and they both whip around to face him. This is, she thinks, the first time Stoick has publicly called their names. “Stay as humans, blend in. Stay with the other riders. Do not show your powers.”
Look at that? Finally, a fair, reasonable order.
“They can fight as humans,” Astrid promises, “We’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
***
They’re walking through the trees when Judith hears a nearby branch cracking and motions for the others to pause. This isn’t great. “We’re being followed,” she whispers.
“I hear them, too,” Hannibal replies, “Pass the message up. Keep moving. We’ll stay back to cover them.”
Judith nods, and the message is whispered down the line. They have to be careful. She’s got a sword, and a knife, but it’s her against… how many?
Then, all at once, people come out of the trees all around. At least a dozen, maybe. Against only two weapons? Without Judith’s powers, there’s a low chance of success.
In front is a man, about as tall and wide as Stoick, hair dark and helmet pointier in a way that makes him look sharper. “For those of you who haven't figured it out, I am the one and only Alvin the Treacherous. And let me be clear, that name was earned.”
“Ah,” Colette mutters, “Yay.”
“Alvin?” Tuffnut mutters. “How did he earn that?”
Ruffnut shrugs in equal confusion.
“Your leader has abandoned ya,” Alvin continues, “But Stoick doesn't concern me. I'm not here for him. I want the Dragon Conqueror.”
Judith’s heart leaps, but Colette beats her with a blank faced confusion, asking a genuine “what’s that?”
“We don’t know who that is,” Judith agrees quickly.
His eyes narrow in irritation. “Tell me who he is, and you can all go free.”
“I mean, I would,” Judith shrugs, hand slowly reaching for her dagger. In the darkness, she keeps it pressed against her wrist, between her arm and hip to conceal it. “But I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Rumors say he’s ten feet tall,” another man offers from the crowds. “With the strength of a dozen men.”
Hiccup. Hiccup? She could cry from laughter. “Oh, yes,” Judith muses mockingly, and everyone’s eyes are slowly rolling towards her. “I think I actually saw him. He had red hair and I thought I was imagining it.”
“Just tell me where to find him!” he shouts.
Judith blinks. “Uh, in that cave over there?” she points at a random opening with her free hand.
Hannibal is trying not to laugh.
“Enough of this,” Astrid mutters, flipping the hatchet up and throwing it.
“My old hatchet!” he exclaims, casually catching it out of the air. “I was wondering when I'd get that back.”
One of his men grabs Astrid. Hannibal makes an aborted move to get to her, but she’s already being thrown at Alvin, who grabs her by the braid and hauls her backwards against him, pressing the hatchet’s blade to her throat.
Everyone freezes. Hannibal’s chest is heaving, and Judith’s grip tightens on her knife. He’s gone through this before. She knows the story, and how it ended.
“Tell me, who’s your Dragon Conqueror?” Alvin’s no fun and games now. He means it, and he is going to kill her if no one talks.
“Leave her alone!” Hiccup, of all people, jumps from a nearby rock, pushing himself to his feet.
“Hiccup! What are you doing here?” Astrid demands.
“I’m the Dragon Conqueror,” Hiccup answers simply, turning to Alvin, who just laughs.
“You?” he echoes. “Stoick’s little embarrassment?”
“I drove the dragons from Berk. Look around,” Hiccup replies calmly, spreading his arms. “You don't see any on this island, do you?”
He shares a little look with Astrid, who nods, catching on. Judith doesn’t really. This is dangerous. Risky, giving Alvin what he wants. Judith doesn’t know what he wants with Hiccup, but it’s nothing good. At least, she decides morbidly, Astrid is still alive.
“It’s true!” Astrid pipes up. “All the dragons are afraid of him. He even conquered a Night Fury.”
“You’re bluffing,” Alvin accuses.
“Am I?” Hiccup asks carelessly, “Well, there's only one way to find out. Take me to Dragon Island.”
Uh. Oh. That is so clever of him, to talk his way into getting too Toothless and their dragons. Alvin’s going to lead them right into a trap.
Alvin motions to one of his men, who grabs Hiccup by the arm and leads him away. Judith watches, heart pounding erratically, but he looks so calm. Whatever game he’s playing, he’s certain he can pull it off, though she has a really bad feeling about it.
“Hey, the next time you attack someone, make sure we have your back first, okay?” Hannibal requests, patting Astrid’s shoulder.
She shrugs, but rubs wincing at the back of her head. “Yeah. Thanks.”
Branches break, and she tenses instinctively – but it’s only Stoick, Gobber, and a few others who come through. Stoick tackles one of the remaining Outcasts, and the remaining minutes of fighting only last a minute. “Where’s Alvin?” Stoick snarls, grabbing one of them.
“Alvin took Hiccup,” Astrid calls, pushing her way up to him.
He whips around, alarmed for the first time Judith has ever seen him. For all his harshness, he does genuinely care for his son. If only he believed in showing it. “What?!”
“All we know,” Hannibal answers, “Is that Hiccup turned himself in. He must have some sort of plan. They’re taking him to Dragon Island.”
“Then we set sail immediately,” Stoick says darkly, throwing the Outcast aside.
“And where have you been?” Colette’s voice draws her attention to the other girl as she runs up to hug Fishlegs, who… Judith hasn’t seen since this afternoon. It’s been hours. She was worried. Snotlout and the twins are here, but no Fishlegs. He was supposed to be.
“I was down by the beach when Alvin got here,” he explains. “He was looking for Hiccup. I went to warn the Chief. Hiccup was supposed to be going to warn you. I guess he got here too late.”
“He’s gonna be okay,” Colette promises, though she looks terrified. “Hiccup’s got a plan.”
“Obviously,” Hannibal agrees, “Or he wouldn’t have let himself be captured. Come on. He still needs our help.”
***
Hiccup’s already in the air when the others show up. The fight is… fast and chaotic. Berk’s ship starts throwing catapults at Alvin’s, but the boulders are still in the air, so…
Judith dives to drop a sleep spell on them, silver air hitting, but fast misting out in the rushing currents. Aaaand, Colette falls. She dodges an arrow with a cry and slides right off the silver dragon’s back. She falls with a cry, hitting the mast and tumbling the rest of the way to the ground.
Alvin grabs her before she can move.
Hiccup yells her name and Toothless releases a panicked cry.
“Hold your fire!” Hiccup yells panickily. “He’s got Collete!” Snotlout, right on cue, fires. “What are you doing?!”
“I heard you say ‘fire’,” his idiot cousin protests.
“I said ‘hold your fire’!”
“See? You said it again!”
“No, he’s right,” Stoick calls from the ground, and Hiccup peers of Toothless’s side, confused. “Fire again, Hiccup. All of you!”
He looks at the boat, eyes narrowing at the steam rising from the ocean. “Everyone, fire into the water.”
They fire, launching blasts into the ocean, steam rising to hide the boat. They – oh – Stoick rams his ship into the other to go after Alvin himself. The arrows stop, and Hiccup dives down for Colette. Toothless sweeps overhead, snatching her in his claws and dodging an arrow.
Toothless drops Colette onto Judith’s back, and with a few dragon fire blasts, the Outcast ship goes up in flames.
Toothless glides down, landing safely on Berk’s ship again. Colette sprints to Toothless’s side to hug him the second she’s safe. Everyone is reuniting, which about leaves him alone as Stoick’s sole focus… and vice versa. Which isn’t exactly great.
“Hiccup, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking,” he answers calmly, swinging off Toothless. “All I needed to do was to get to Toothless. And together, we'd be able to make things right. The dragons saved us today.”
“And they will have their place on Berk,” Stoick concedes at last.
Hiccup smiles back sincerely, as the others crowd around him.
“Are you okay?” Colette asks.
He shrugs. “It was pretty great. Getting under Alvin’s skin was so much fun.”
“Might I remind you that annoying your captors is not a good idea?” Fishlegs worries.
“He did need me,” Hiccup shrugs. “He didn’t hurt me. Everyone make it out okay?”
“We’re great,” Colette promises, “Just try not to scare us again, okay? That was terrifying.”
“I’ll try,” he promises with a weak smile.
***
The dragons are back, so Mildew will just have to deal with it. Hannibal is, to say the least, smug. This is their reunion, a time forever memorable, and he wants it in memory forever.
“Now is time for a picture of everyone,” Hannibal offers, “I can take one on my phone.” Colette brightens like turning on a light, which Hannibal dearly misses. Some nights on Berk can last for days.
“You mean… a painting?” Astrid asks, confused.
Ah, here they go.
“No. it captures that moment exactly how it is,” Hannibal tries explaining, “And you look… you know, real.”
“Like a portrait?” Fishlegs chirps. “It’s almost time for the traditional painting of the Chief and his son. I’ve already heard talk about it. That must be so exciting.”
He looks hopefully at Hiccup, who just sighs tiredly. “Yeah, yeah,” he concedes, throwing his hands up. “My dad’s already talking about it.”
“What happens if the chief doesn’t have a son?” asks Colette.
“Then it goes to his daughter or to whoever’s next in line,” says Hiccup.
“Like me!” offers Snotlout.
“Weren’t you the one who was playing with sticks the other day when we were looking for a way to bring our dragon back?” Judith sasses.
“And then you tried to play king and queen with Tuff.”
“Tuff and I used to play king and queen!” Ruffnut chirps.
“I was the king and she was the queen,” Tuff agrees.
“You were the queen and I was the king,” his sister objects.
“You are all five years old,” Judith bemoans.
Astrid laughs. “So, are we doing this or not?” she asks, “Actually, what do we need to do?”
“Nothing. Just stand there, like you would if you take a picture.” Hannibal motions to them, hoping they somewhat understand.
As for the actual picture taking, it’s insane. They do get a series of all of them together. The twins are hitting each other and blurred in most of them until Barf and Belch just grab them by the backs of their tunics and peel them apart.
Fishlegs is asking a thousand questions about phones, as is Hiccup, when Hannibal shows off the pictures. Hiccup offers to try building one, but well – they aren’t nearly sophisticated enough for that yet. It hurts so much whenever he thinks about it. When the charge dies, he’ll never be able to see the pictures of his family again, and… they’ll be nothing but memories.
“I have some of my old family on here,” Hannibal admits to them, “But when the charge runs out…”
“I can try to build something,” Hiccup offers. “Or… I can trace some of the pictures up for you? It wouldn’t be exact, but…”
And can he even say how sweet that is? Hiccup is the sweetest person on Berk, and honestly, he’s done so much for them. “Thank you,” Hannibal tells him, throat tight.
“Come on, Toothless.” He pats his dragon’s head. “Let’s go find a spot in my room for this.”
“Do you know what picture you’re going to pick?” Astrid asks.
He flips the phone around as answer – one of all his siblings and parents, together, right after the dragon hunter attack. The last time they were together.
“Do you miss them?” Astrid asks quietly.
He sighs. “All the time. But… I’m using to it now.”
“Missing them?”
“Yes. I left with my oldest brother, and I had to get used to being away from them even if I missed them all the time.”
“Oh,” Astrid murmurs, “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine ever leaving Berk. I mean, maybe someday, but…”
“If I lived here, I don’t think I’d ever want to leave, either.” He misses home. If he could have stayed, he would have. He wanted to.
Astrid punches his shoulder. “I guess Berk’s your home now.”
Yeah. It… is.
Notes:
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Ronnyboy on Chapter 1 Fri 01 Aug 2025 08:12PM UTC
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