AN: What's up y'all? I am so happy to be back with the Fourth Book of this series! I hope you are all just as excited for this as I am! It's finally Hiccup's turn to shine, and I know a lot of you have been waiting for this! Because of the longer-than-usual hiatus, I am pleased to say that I am giving you guys an extra long chapter for your enjoyment! Hopefully all of you will like what I have in store for Hiccup, Jack, Merida, and Rapunzel. Anyways: Read, enjoy, and if you're feeling generous go ahead and leave a review! :)

NOTES: "Since the time he could crawl he's been... Different."

DISCLAIMER!: I own nothing within this story except for the plot.

Chapter 1: This Is Berk

It felt as if something were screaming directly into his ears, but there was no sound. There was so much pressure, but nothing was holding him down. He could barely breathe, but there was plenty of air. His head throbbed with a horrible migraine that made his closed eyes twitch and his stomach lurch. The only thing he could feel besides the pain was Hunger and Danger.

A shout came from outside, but to Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, it may as well have come from right next to him.

Hiccup could already hear the yelling and screaming of the adults as he flew out of his bed and down the stairs of his home. Despite the painful screeching in his ears and the fuzziness in his peripherals, he pulled the heavy door of his house open to go outside, and immediately came face to face with a giant, red-scaled beast. The young boy pushed the door closed as fast as he could, feeling the heat on his back as he pressed against the door to keep it shut while the creature blew fire straight into it.

"Dragons." Hiccup breathed, feeling the adrenaline rushing through his system. His heart was beating hard and fast, and he was having trouble sorting through the jumbled mess of screaming and colors and thoughts and feelings.

Despite that, Hiccup opened the door and ran out into the early morning, ignoring the pain. Outside the sky was still dark and dotted with gleaming stars. The fields were already blazing, the sheep were running in every direction, and the adults were trying to fight off the dragons that attacked the flock. The village was strangely warm with all the fire, and some kind of energy or magic cracked through the air like lightening, making Hiccup's senses throb and writhe as his hair stood on end. His vision cleared and the pain eased slightly as he felt his heart pounding in his chest and his blood rushing through his veins. The sense of Hunger and Danger and Trouble and Bad flooded Hiccup's being as he ran through the village, dodging an ax and ducking beneath a log carried by two of the adults. Hiccup turned and looked around, trying to catch his bearings, but somehow ended up on his back with one of the villagers screaming in his face.

"Mornin!" The Viking smiled cheerily before running off after another dragon.

After picking himself up, Hiccup ran through the village, avoiding the running people and burning buildings as he rushed on. Most of the adults shouted at him as they passed, asking what he was doing out or yelling to get back inside. Hiccup ignored the warriors, trying to keep his thoughts on his destination. He couldn't afford to let himself get distracted. He'd gotten in far too much trouble last time.

"HICCUP!" A familiar, booming voice filled his ears.

Hiccup yelped as he was yanked out of the way of a fiery blast by the scruff of his fur vest. His feet dangled above the ground and he cringed at the sight of the large, red-bearded man holding him. The man didn't look at Hiccup, but addressed the surrounding warriors who were too busy fighting to listen.

"What is he doing out again? -What are you doing out?" He demanded, looking Hiccup directly in the eye. The small boy noticed the man's eyes were storming with adrenaline, fury, and distress, but before Hiccup could answer the man's question, he was given a mighty shove towards the nearest building. "Get inside!" The man ordered, and Hiccup hurried to do as he was told for the first few running steps, but couldn't help lingering to watch the man in action.

The man saw a Nadder flying over the village with a sheep locked in it's talons. The man turned and grabbed a damaged cart, lifting it over his head and throwing it through the air. The cart crashed into the dragon, breaking into a million pieces, and the dragon fell to the ground, dropping the sheep in the process.

That man was Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Hooligan Tribe. He was known throughout the entire Archipelago as one of the greatest Vikings to ever live. Stoick was a legendary warrior, an incredible Chief, and they say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of it's shoulders.

Hiccup believed every word.

The warriors flocked to Stoick like the sheep they were trying to save, giving reports and looking to him for orders, and as much as Hiccup wanted to stay, to be included in the war efforts and plans, he knew the Chief would only have him dragged off to the nearest building to be put inside if he lingered too long.

Hiccup ran towards an open-stall type building where light poured from every crack in the wood while all around him the warriors were raising the giant torches to light up the night sky, revealing hundreds of dragons flying over the village. The scrawny boy managed to stay out of the way long enough to make it to his destination, running straight through the opening of the shack-like building as he yanked off his fur vest.

"Oh, nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" Gobber the Belch heckled him as he ran into the forge, working a piece of metal back into a shape that actually resembled a weapon with the hammer that replaced his missing hand.

"Who? Me? Nah, come on, I'm way too muscular for their taste!" Hiccup quipped back with a dry half-smile as he finished tying his leather apron into place and bent down to pick up one of the arm attachments that the older man had, no doubt, thrown on the floor to get on to his next project in a hurry. If Hiccup wasn't always tidying up after the man, he'd be tripping over his own hands while he worked. Literally. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this." Hiccup drawled once the spiked hammer attachment was back on it's hooks on the wall, curling his arms in an attempt to show off his non-existent muscles.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" The man replied, smirking at the boy and changing his arm from a large, rectangle hammer to a clamp-like attachment that allowed him to grab things.

Hiccup ran passed the snarky man, throwing open the stall window where the warriors waited for their damaged weapons to be replaced with something usable. Hiccup gathered the large pile of swords and axes that laid there into his arms, hefting the whole thing over to the open bed of hot coals. He threw the weapons on top and then used his whole body to work the giant bellows that pumped air into the fire from below, heating the coals and weapons until they were red-hot.

Hiccup had worked in the forge as Gobber's apprentice ever since he was little, well, littler, and while the large man may have lost two of his limbs while fighting dragons, Hiccup knew he was well-respected among all the tribes. Gobber was the finest blacksmith in the Archipelago, and held a high place on Stoick's counsel. Everything Hiccup knew about smithing had come from Gobber, and the older man was both Hiccup's mentor and friend.

"FIRE!" The frantic shout of a viking distracted Hiccup from setting out fresh weapons on the window for those who might come looking for them, and he quickly looked out the window just as several blurs shot passed, shouting at each other and running towards the burning building across the way.

Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Astrid were all a part of the Fire Brigade, set with the task of putting out fires during raids. They ran forward, pulling a large keg on wheels that was filled with water. They grabbed a bucket each and ran to throw them on the fire. They spread out, coming from all sides, and Astrid went straight at the front, dousing a large flame. As she turned another blast of fire hit the ground behind her, exploding into an inferno as she flipped her braid over her shoulder. Hiccup watched, completely awestruck, as she and the other teens walked away from the fire without looking back and looking totally fearless in the middle of all the chaos.

Their job was so much cooler.

Hiccup leaned out the window, watching as the other teens passed by, but the moment was ruined when, for the second time just that morning, he was grabbed by the scruff of his vest and lifted from the ground.

"Eh!" Gobber frowned as he turned Hiccup away from the window and back towards the inside of the forge.

"Oh, come on." Hiccup mumbled as he dangled. "Let me out, please. I need to make my mark!"

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks." Gobber said, putting Hiccup down on his feet. "All in the wrong places!" He punctuated this by poking at Hiccup's shoulder with his prosthetic.

"Please, two minutes! I'll kill a dragon, my life will get infinitely better -I might even get a date!" Hiccup begged, but it turned dry rather quickly as he knew his reasonings were not good enough for Gobber to let him out of the forge.

"You can't swing a hammer, You can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!" Gobber listed off on his fingers and then held up a bola for emphasis on the last one.

"Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me!" Hiccup admitted, but smiled as he moved towards the back of the forge where his invention was. He rested his hand on it, and the weapon sprung to life, sending a bola flying through the air. Gobber dodged, but the bola continued out the window and hit another warrior directly in the face, knocking him out.

"See, now this right here is what I'm talkin' about!" Gobber exclaimed, as he tromped towards Hiccup while the boy stuttered.

"Mild calibration issue -" Hiccup tried to explain once he managed to stop his stammering.

"No, Hiccup!" Gobber cut him off, getting the boy's attention. "If you want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all... This."

"But you just pointed to all of me!" Hiccup said incredulously.

"Yes!" Gobber lightly shoved Hiccup's shoulder, obviously pleased with himself. "That's it! Stop being all of you!"

"Ooh." Hiccup hummed.

"Ooh, yeah." Gobber nodded.

"You -You, sir, are playing a dangerous game." Hiccup told him, trying to look authoritative and intimidating. "Keeping this much Raw Vikingness contained. There will be consequences!" He cried.

"I'll take my chances." Gobber said dryly, looking completely sardonic. "Sword. Sharpen. Now." He ordered, throwing a sword into Hiccup's unsuspecting arms, and the boy was forced to catch it with an uncomfortable 'oomph'.

Hiccup carried the heavy weapon over to the stone wheel, hefting it up so he could sharpen it. As he worked he swore to himself that one day he'd get out there. Because killing a dragon was everything on Berk. A Nadder head was sure to get him, at least, noticed. Gronkles were tough, taking down one of those would definitely get him a girlfriend. A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status. Then there was the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They had this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire. But the ultimate prize was the dragon no one had ever seen. They called it the...

"NIGHT FURY!"

"GET DOWN!"

The shouts were immediately followed by a high-pitched scream and then an earth-shaking explosion that crumbled the entire stone tower of their largest catapult. The only trace of the destructive creature was a glimpse of a shadow across the night sky.

Hiccup dropped the sword he'd been given in the middle of wrapping the handle in leather and stuck his head out the window to try and spot the beast. The Night Fury never stole food, never showed itself, and Never missed. No one had ever killed a Night Fury. That's why Hiccup was determined to be the first.

Hiccup pushed himself from the window, and then caught sight of Gobber changing his arm again. This time he threw his tongs to the ground and latched his battle axe into place.

"Man the fort, Hiccup. They need me out there!" Gobber grinned as he hobbled towards the entrance. When he reached it, he turned as if he'd forgotten something and pointed a finger at Hiccup. "Stay... Put... There... You know what I mean." With that, Gobber gave a mighty yell and ran out into the battle, leaving Hiccup to his own devices.

Within a couple of minutes Hiccup was running out of the forge, pushing his invention through the village as all the adults were far too busy to stop him. He pushed the cart-like contraption out to the nearest ledge that overlooked the ocean, and then pulled on several moving parts until the invention looked like a small catapult of some sort with a small scope for aiming and everything.

"Come on, give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at." Hiccup muttered under his breath as he watched the night sky intently.

He heard the familiar shriek that struck fear in most vikings hearts, and then another catapult exploded into flames near Hiccup. He ignored it though and moved to line up his shot. His eyes squeezed shut as he hoped beyond all odds, and he felt... something. A pull, a sense, that told him exactly where it was, though he wasn't sure what 'it' was. Still, He pulled the trigger, the force of the launch sent him flying backwards onto the grass. He shot up to a crouch, though, his eyes snapping open just in time to see the bola fly through the air and latch onto a dark figure. The shadow roared, and Hiccup watched in utter astonishment as it fell all the way down into the trees somewhere deep in the forest.

"I hit it." Hiccup mumbled, shocked, and then pure excitement rushed through him. "Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" He cried, but as was typical, no one was in sight. No one, that is, except for the Monstrous Nightmare that stood directly behind him. "Except for you."

Hiccup screamed as he ran as fast as he could, ducking and jumping to avoid the snapping jaws of the furious dragon. He ran through the village square and ducked behind a large pillar just in time to avoid the giant blast of fire that swirled on either side of him. Terrified, and his heart pounding in his chest, he inched to the side to peer around the wooden pillar to see where the dragon had gone. Then a blur of red hair and brown fur cape flew passed, knocking the Monstrous Nightmare away from Hiccup. Stoick rolled to his feet, facing the beast, and fixed his slightly tilted helmet. The beast roared angrily, and then tried to shoot fire once again, but all that came out was a tiny spurt of flame. Stoick curled his fists, knuckles cracking, in satisfaction.

"You're all out." He muttered in a deadly calm voice. He advanced on the creature, radiating Fury and Protect, and Hiccup watched in amazement and admiration as Stoick punched the Nightmare right in the muzzle once... twice... three times! Followed by a mighty kick that sent the dragon fleeing from the village.

Stoick shook out his shoulders, watching the beast fly away, and then he turned to Hiccup. The wooden pillar stood between them until the burned portion gave way, causing it to collapse. The pillar just so happened to be supporting one of the giant torches, so when it fell, it sent the giant fire-filled basket rolling down the hill and through the village, destroying everything in it's path. Hiccup cringed again and again with each bit of the village that was destroyed.

"Sorry, Dad..." Hiccup said lamely, and then watched as the dragons made off with most of their herd. His stomach curled tightly with nausea, his head was starting to throb nastily again, and the entire village gathered around, looking at him with annoyance and disapproval. Hiccup glanced around, and figured he didn't have much to lose. "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury." Stoick grabbed the back of Hiccup's vest, all but dragging him towards their house. "Oh, it's not like the last few times, dad! I mean I really actually hit it! You guys were busy, and I had a very clear shot. It went down just off Raven's Point, let's get a search party out there before it -"

"Stop!" Stoick boomed, rounding on Hiccup and cutting off his rambling. "Just stop." He said more softly, but just as firm. "Every time you step outside disaster falls! Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here, and I have an entire village to feed!"

"Well, between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't you think?" Hiccup responded dryly, offending some of the more weight-sensitive Vikings that were standing all around them.

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup!" Stoick rebuked him immediately. "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

"I -I -I can't stop myself! I see a dragon and I have to just Kill it. You know? It's who I am, dad." Hiccup replied weakly, but even he didn't believe it.

"Oh, you are many things, Hiccup, but a Dragon Killer is not one of them. Get back to the house." Stoick ordered, his tone softening only because of weariness, which disappeared in the next instant as he addressed Gobber. "Make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up."

Gobber gave Hiccup a good smack to the back of the head, and the two started up the hill towards the Chief's house. The passed by where the other teens were gathered, and they were already laughing at him.

"Quite the performance." Tuffnut said, pointing at Hiccup with both his index fingers.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" Snotlout mocked him.

"Thank you, thank you, I was trying, so..." Hiccup brushed them off, walking faster, and Gobber shoved Snotlout roughly before following. Once they were far enough away from the village, almost at his house, Hiccup found the courage to speak up. "I really did hit one..."

"Sure, Hiccup." Gobber nodded, motioning for him to keep walking.

"He never listens." Hiccup told him.

"Oh, it runs in the family." Gobber replied.

"I don't mean to mess everything up all the time!" Hiccup said once they reached his front door. "I just want him to realize that I can help! I know I'm skinny and weak and small, but I'm not Useless!"

"No, you're thinkin' about this all wrong." Gobber smiled in his attempt to be comforting. "It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand." Gobber looked pleased. Hiccup had one eyebrow arched.

"Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup responded sarcastically, turning to open the door.

"Look, the point is; stop trying so hard to be something you're not." Gobber tried to explain to him.

"I just want to be one of you guys." Hiccup replied, and then pushed the door open, leaving Gobber outside as he closed it.

Hiccup didn't bother waiting. As soon as the door was closed he ran across the house to the back door. Out front, Gobber turned away, saddened that he couldn't help his apprentice, and at the same time, Hiccup pushed out the back door and ran out into the forest.

"Those who stay will look after Hiccup." Stoick announced at the war meeting, and a hundred voices cheered, preferring a very likely death searching for the dragon's nest over watching the Chief's son. Stoick sighed and dismissed the meeting, moving over to Gobber so the two could speak.

"Great. I'll pack my undies." Gobber said, after taking a large drink from his tankard prosthetic.

"No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits." Stoick told him, sitting down next to him at one of the many tables that littered the Great Hall.

"Oh, perfect. Yeah, and while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall! Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself! What could possibly go wrong?" Gobber quipped, and suppressed the urge to clench his fist. The lad had made him promise to never tell, and the blacksmith always kept his word, but Gobber would never forget that wretched image of a tiny, green-eyed boy cutting a slit into his open palm with a freshly sharpened dagger.

"Oh, what am I going to do with him, Gobber?" Stoick sighed defeatedly. He could lead an entire village, fight dragons, lead armies, but for the life of him, Stoick couldn't get his son to just do as he's told!

"Put him in training with the others." Gobber murmured quietly.

"No, I'm being serious!" Stoick replied in frustration, thinking his friend was trying to be funny.

"So am I!" Gobber retorted.

"He'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of it's cage!" Stoick said, his chest tightening at the thought. He had already lost a wife, he refused to lose his little boy, too. He'd find a place for Hiccup. One far away from any dragons, where he'd be safe and Stoick wouldn't have to worry about him as much. It had almost worked with the forge, so they must be getting close to a solution, right?

"Oh, you don't know that!" Gobber exclaimed, waving him off.

"Listen. You know what he's like." Stoick sighed, standing up so he could pace about the Hall. "From the time he could crawl he's been... Different." Stoick couldn't help but think of a time, long ago, when Mildew tried to convince the village that Hiccup was some sort of demon. It was the one and only time Stoick had seriously considered exiling anyone. "He doesn't listen, he has the attention span of a sparrow, I take him fishing and he goes hunting for... for trolls!"

"Trolls exist! They steal your socks! But only the left ones, what's up with that?" Gobber told him.

"When I was a boy." Stoick began, ignoring Gobber's mutter of 'oh, here we go'. "My father told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it! I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache?" Gobber guessed lazily.

"That rock split in two." Stoick said. "It taught me what a viking could do, Gobber. He can -He can crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become... Hiccup is not that boy." Stoick heaved a heavy breath as he sat back down, feeling tired and lost.

"You can't stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him." Gobber told him, his eyes softening with some sympathy towards his friend. "I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you won't always be around to protect him. He's going to get out there again. He's probably out there now."

Stoick knew that Gobber was right, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. He had promised himself the day Hiccup was born that he would always protect his boy. He was so small, so frail, but he was so creative and spirited like his mother. Stubborn like her, too. But Stoick had to accept that he wasn't always going to be there. He wasn't always going to be able to protect his son.

Hiccup groaned as he walked through the forest, having just checked off another area from his map and shoved his notebook into his vest. His head and vision were significantly more clear out in the forest, away from the noise of the village and the people. It allowed him to think while listening to nature's quiet song, bringing him peace.

Though he was a bit too annoyed to feel peace in that moment.

"Oh, the gods hate me." Hiccup muttered. "Some people lose their knife, or their mug. No, not me, I manage to lose an entire dragon!" In his frustration, Hiccup smacked a tree branch, but immediately regretted it when it swung right back and hit him in the face. "Ow!" Hiccup yelped, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at the tree.

He stopped though, because the tree was completely broken. As if a strong wind, or a stone from a catapult, caused it to fall. Hiccup followed it and saw a deep grove in the earth, freshly made. He slowly made his way down the incline, looking at various roots and broken branches. He made to climb over the rise, but gasped and ducked back down the second he saw a black-scaled creature. Slowly, Hiccup peered over the rise, looking at the beast. It was laying on it's sighed, tied in the bola, and possibly dead as it wasn't moving at all.

Hiccup quickly pulled out his small dagger, and stumbled down the rise to press his back against a large rock that was between him and the dragon. He crept around the stone, slowly approaching the creature.

"Oh, wow. I -I... I did it. Oh, I did it! This fixes everything!" Hiccup grinned, imagining the looks on everyone's faces. This was it! He was finally going to fit in! Everyone would finally listen to him, start treating him like the future Chief that he was. He could finally prove himself to everyone! His father didn't have to wait for him to do better anymore. His Dad could finally be openly proud of him. "Yes!" Hiccup cheered, walking over and placing one foot on top of the dragon's shoulder. "I have brought down this mighty beast! -Ah!"

Hiccup yelped and scrambled away from the creature when it suddenly rolled it's shoulder, groaning pitifully. Hiccup pressed his back against the stone he'd been hiding behind moments before, and then pushed himself up. Holding his dagger out in front of him with his right hand, and trying to look brave, Hiccup peered around the dragon's wing, and felt his breath catch in his chest when the dragon's once closed eye was suddenly staring right into his. Everything slowed for a moment as Hiccup stared into the gaze of the dragon. This was the closest he'd ever been to a dragon, well, the closest he'd ever been without having to run for his life, and for a moment everything in the whole world was still.
It was quiet. It was quiet and it didn't hurt.

Hiccup shook himself roughly. His arms trembled as he steadied his right hand, pointing it at the dragon's vulnerable chest. He narrowed his brow and rolled his shoulders. He could do this. He had to do this.

"I'm gonna kill you, dragon." Hiccup muttered, breathing heavily as he tried to steel himself. "I'm gonna -I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a viking. I am a Viking!" Hiccup shouted, promptly refusing to admit that he was trying to convince himself more than the dragon. He raised the knife over his head, ready to plunge it down into the beast. He gripped knife tightly, but when he opened his eyes they immediately locked with the dragon's once again, and he wondered if the Night Fury could see into his soul and that was why he could see himself reflected in that green eye. The shade of green that was so similar to his own.

The dragon looked at him for a moment longer, and the leaned it's head back, offering it's neck to him. More than anything Hiccup knew what he should do. What should happen. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not move his arms. He could not hurt the creature.

He couldn't kill the dragon.

His hands dropped onto his head, and he let them fall to his sides with the knife in his left hand as he looked down at the dragon, bound in ropes. Bruises littered the black scales, the ropes kept the beast trapped on the ground. Trapped.

"I did this." Hiccup murmured, stepping back, his eyes locked on the ropes. He didn't want this. He gripped the handle of knife tightly.

Hiccup grabbed one of the ropes and started cutting them with the dagger, his left hand moving quick as he glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was there to see what he was doing. He cut the last rope, and in the next instant was pinned to the ground by a giant paw, a dark figure looming over him. Hiccup gasped as the Night Fury stared straight into his eyes. Hiccup looked up at the dragon fearfully. The dragon growled deep in it's throat, towering over him, and then planted it's front paws on either side of him as it let out a long, loud roar right into Hiccup's face.

The air whooshed around Hiccup, and he opened his eyes just in time to see the Night Fury gliding off, deeper into the forest. Hiccup suddenly found it hard to breathe as he panted and his heart pounded in his chest. Everything came rushing back with a start, and Hiccup cringed as his migraine came back with full-force.

He forced himself to his feet, listening to the distant roars of the dragon, as he trembled from shock and sudden pain. Somewhere in his subconscious mind, Hiccup knew he should get back to the village and he took a few shaky steps in the right direction before collapsing to the ground in a dead faint.

Hiccup returned home late that evening to find his father stoking the fire with a deep frown on his features. As usual, Hiccup hesitated for just a moment before hurrying towards the stairs that lead up to his bedroom.

"Hiccup." Stoick said softly, just as Hiccup was halfway up the stairs.

"Dad, uh..." Hiccup cringed, knowing that he shouldn't let this wait. "Uh, I need to talk to you, Dad."

"I need to speak with you too, son." Stoick told him, walking over to stand in front of him and clasping his large hands together.

Apparently, both father and son had the same idea of forcing themselves to say what they needed to, so they wouldn't lose the nerve to say it at all. This resulted in them speaking at the exact same time, causing both of them to look at each other and say, "What?"

"Uh, you go first." Stoick said.

"No, no, you go first." Hiccup replied, coming down the steps so they could speak properly.

"Alright." Stoick sighed, reminding himself firmly that this was what was best for Hiccup. "You get your wish." Stoick managed to force out. "Dragon Training. You'll be enrolled with the others at Hogwarts."

"Oh, man, I should've gone first!" Hiccup said rather quickly. "Uh, cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread making Vikings? Or small home repair Vikings?"

"You'll need this." Stoick said, lightly throwing axe to Hiccup who had to use both arms just to catch it.

"I don't want to fight dragons." Hiccup told his father, looking up at the large man nervously, but Stoick waved it off.

"Oh, come on, yes you do!" He chuckled, turning away to do something else.

"Rephrase: Dad, I can't kill dragons." Hiccup tried again, more desperate this time.

"But you will kill dragons." Stoick told him cheerfully.

"No, I'm really, very, extra sure that I won't." Hiccup responded dryly.

"It's time, Hiccup." Stoick turned back to him, facing Hiccup.

"Can you not hear me?" Hiccup cried.

"This is serious, son." Stoick cut him off, his tone leaving no room for argument. "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us, talk like us, and think like us. No more of... This."

"You just gestured to all of me." Hiccup pointed out flatly.

"Deal?" Stoick asked.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided." Hiccup remarked.

"Deal?" It wasn't a question. This was an order.

Hiccup sighed, and then replied with a weak, "Deal."

Stoick lifted a sack up onto his shoulder, ready to set out on another venture to find the nest. He nodded to Hiccup. "Good. Train hard." Stoick said. "I'll be back, probably."

"And I'll be here... Maybe." Hiccup said, watching his father leave to lead the village as Chief of the Tribe.