Ay, did you miss me?

Of course you did, I know eet.

I have some boring stuff to read, so yeah, not a lot of time for writing.

Alright, on with the show!

(also forgive me, I do not know how to write accents)

Chapter II

By some wild luck, the harsh storm had calmed by the time they all made it out of that cave. The dark clouds had cleared a bit, allowing cold moonlight to seep through them and guide the unfortunate dragon rider. The fact that this was quite the uncharted territory in the middle of the night didn't help one bit, but that didn't prevent the young lass from rushing through the sky with determination.

'Faster, faster...' she kept repeating in her head, however, she kept such thoughts to herself. She was well aware they couldn't possibly travel faster, so such wishes were merely her paranoia speaking.

The dragon below her groaned softly once more and turned his head as much as possible to glance at the two humans on his back for the nth time since they took off. Near him, the woman's companion also squeaked quietly, almost frighteningly, as she observed the two riders. The atmosphere was clear enough for any animal to perceive, after all.

Astrid managed to curl her lips into a shaky, albeit reassuring smile as she gently patted the clearly anxious dragon, whose green eyes portrayed nothing but worry.

''Everything will be okay, boy,'' she spoke as confidently as possible, though it was unclear who she was trying to convince more. ''We'll take him back to Gothi and she'll know what to do. He can't be hurt that bad, after all...''

However, the thing was, Astrid couldn't possibly know. She kept telling herself that it would be fine, that her friend was clearly alive, she could almost feel his beating heart due to how close and tightly she held him to herself. But she couldn't know how badly he was hurt. The dragon that hit him... They knew nothing about it, she was certain. And judging by how their own dragons reacted, it wasn't the most harmless of beasts. Luckily, they managed to escape it before anyone else got harmed, but the fact remained that their leader received a full blast from an unknown and possibly dangerous dragon. If it had been almost any other, the lad would had surely been killed. There was simply... so much mystery that Astrid decided to try not to fathom about it for now. She had a much more important task at her hands – bringing Hiccup back to Berk as quickly as possible.

/

The young boy wasn't sure what had caused such a reaction exactly, was it that sudden return of that awful headache or was it his previous strange shock due to his accomplishment or gods know what by this point, but the fact remained: he should have behaved differently.

Who in their sane mind wouldn't run when a rather pissed dragon suddenly decided they would be a tasty snack?

However, Hiccup simply froze when he realized a Monstrous Nightmare had sneaked up behind him, growling menacingly with clear intentions. The terrifying beast narrowed its gleaming eyes at the scrawny teen, perhaps for a moment pondering whether he was even worth its time, while Hiccup could only listen to his wild heartbeat and pray for his legs to wake up. Why wasn't he running for his life? Why wasn't he screaming for help? Any moment now the dragon could pounce on him and devour him whole, and that certainly would have happened if Hiccup's lack of reaction wouldn't have confused the beast. For a couple of seemingly endless seconds the dragon simply stared at him, growling lowly, slowly creeping closer, waiting for any sort of move from the human, and yet there was none. At that point Hiccup realized trying to flee would be useless. There was no one around and that Monstrous Nightmare was close enough to bite his head off in a single beat if the teen as much as made the thought of running. Hiccup was completely and utterly doomed, it was merely a matter of time before the dragon grew bored of his strange lack of motion and just roasted him already. It probably simply wasn't used to seeing such weak-looking humans, so perhaps it was deciding whether he wouldn't poison it or something.

Great, Hiccup thought miserably, even a dragon thinks I'm defected.

Not worth its time. Not dangerous.

Not a threat.

Hold on a minute, maybe this could actually work.

This may be the craziest idea Hiccup had had yet, but it was die or at least try not to die.

''H-Hey there, big fella,'' the boy tried speaking with that terribly shaking voice of his, swallowing as much as he could to at least somewhat moisten his horribly dried out throat as he slowly lifted his hands up in a defensive manner. The dragon grew much more wary at that, his growling increasing, and yet Hiccup was still alive. ''It's o-okay, I'm not gonna hurt you.''

Yes, Hiccup had certainly gone crazy. Well, he did say the truth. There was no way he could possibly pose any threat to that beast, so what was the point of telling the obvious? And what made him think the dragon would understand him?!

However, it seemed Hiccup's behavior had peaked the beast's interest. Instead of snapping his head off right then and there, it lowered its own a bit, keeping those eyes narrowed but decreasing the volume of its growling. The boy could have sworn the dragon looked almost curious. Perhaps it was, given how odd its victim was acting. No weapon in hand or anywhere near, body resembling a toothpick more than anything, so not a threat in that department as well, and the foolish viking wasn't even trying to run away! Instead, Hiccup was praying to all gods he knew, too scared to breathe of even blink. Maybe, just maybe, he could stall this beast long enough for someone to come to his rescue, hopefully. It would be rather humiliating for any viking, but no one would find it odd that Hiccup someone managed to tangle himself into this sort of situation. The lad wasn't sure how he should feel about that.

Surprisingly, somehow, amidst all that panic, fear and confusion, a single stray thought managed to brew in the back of Hiccup's mind – while this dragon was showing signs of hostility, he hadn't yet attacked the boy, and the only reasonable explanation for that would be the fact that Hiccup wasn't acting like anyone would anticipate a human would act in the face of such grave danger. He wasn't showing any aggressiveness, on the contrary, presenting himself as not a threat, and the beast reacted to it by not killing him, but rather observing him closer. This could potentially mean these monsters may not be the mindless killing machines everyone thought them to be, but actually hold some form of intellect.

Hiccup decided to ponder on that certain idea at a later time, since a large hammer suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit the dragon to the skull.

The beast screeched terribly and swung its head in the direction of the assault. A bulky viking was quickly approaching the pair, a murderous look on his face, hands clenched to fists, and Hiccup doubted he ever in his life felt this glad to see his father.

For a split second the dragon looked as if he was a beat away from blasting fire at his new target, but in the last moment suddenly changed his mind, threw Hiccup a dirty glare, and without warning took off, away from their village and island. Not only this one, but with a quick look to the sky the boy noticed that all of the dragons decided to retreat and finally end their raid.

Well, at least that was over with.

Nevertheless, now that he was in no immediate danger, Hiccup felt how weakness hit his knees and it took all his strength to not tumble down. Finally, he could take and exhale a deep breath of relief, granting his mind its much needed air, for black dots had begun dancing in his vision and he felt rather lightheaded. Great, add that to his headache, and if he wasn't feeling so before, now Hiccup certainly felt marvelous.

''Hiccup!'' Stoick's shout brought his attention back to the real world and the lad realized the man had been shaking him on the shoulders. ''Are you alright?''

''Ah, um, yeah,'' Hiccup stumbled a bit on his words, but managed to answer the other anyway, blinking a few times and shaking his head. ''Yeah, I'm, uh, fine, just a bit... yeah. I'm okay, I think.''

''For the love of Thor, Hiccup, what were you thinking?!'' his father exclaimed, releasing his son. Even if he mainly sounded angry, worry was also quite clearly evident in his voice. ''Why were you just standing there, that beast was about to kill you!''

Yet it didn't, Hiccup wanted to murmur, but kept his mouth shut. He was still quite dazed by that little fact.

''And why are you out here anyway?!'' Stoick continued his rant, not waiting for the young lad to answer his previous question. ''I told you to stay out of this mess! Why can't you just listen for once?!''

''I'm sorry, I just wanted to help finally, and I-I did, I-...''

...won't believe...

That made Hiccup pause and momentarily forget what he was about to say. Right, he wanted to tell his father he finally achieved something, that he finally took down a dragon, but that sudden thought stopped him in his tracks. And honestly? It was right. Why would Stoick believe him? Of course he would just write his son off as always, because there was no way Hiccup could actually do something worthwhile or productive. Forget about taking down a dragon! Even to himself, the mere idea seemed bizarre, his father would certainly disregard him. No, Hiccup was on his own here, like always. He would need to find another way to make his dad believe him.

''What you did was almost get yourself killed,'' Stoick snapped, but otherwise didn't seem as furious as before. He heaved a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. ''Well, at least you didn't cause too much damage. For once. Head back inside now, I have some things to take care of.''

Hiccup was about to comply without any protest (at least that was how it would have looked like to Stoick) but suddenly a strange, very odd actually thought struck him, and the words left his mouth before he even realized it.

''Di-Did you catch any dragons?''

The man seemed a bit taken aback for a moment, but quickly seriousness once again crept back to his eyes.

''Aye, a couple of Nadders took the sheep as bait, should take care of them soon,'' he informed the younger viking and began walking away. ''Now go.''

For some inexplicable reason a wave of nausea washed over Hiccup at those words and he could even feel sickness rising up his throat. Swiftly, he clasped his slightly shaking hand over his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up. Now that certainly was strange. The boy couldn't detect a single reason why he was suddenly covered in cold sweat, a nasty, chilling sensation eating him alive, creeping up his spine, doubling up with that awful headache from before. Perhaps he really was sick and he should see Gothi, but what was troubling him more than his condition was the strong feeling that came along with it – guilt.

*.*.*

Of course Hiccup wasn't going to wait around for his father to come back. On the contrary, he hoped he would be back from his little trip before Stoick noticed he was missing. Well, Hiccup prayed he would be back at all, and some unfortunate man wouldn't stumble upon his charred or dismembered corpse after his failed attempt at venturing into the woods alone. But no need to harbor such pessimistic thoughts. Really, where did that take anyone?

Probably not to death, at least.

Well, there was no turning back now. Hiccup had all that he needed – his journal, a pencil and his trusty knife – to head on a journey to find his shot dragon.

...Now that he thought about it, it would probably be quite difficult to kill any beasts with that puny weapon of his.

Hiccup hoped it wouldn't come to that. Ah, it would be splendid if the dragon he shot down would already be dead.

A faint painful throb suddenly struck him and the boy only blinked and shook his head at the strange phenomenon. Really, the oddness didn't seem to hold any wishes of leaving him alone.

No matter, Hiccup had more important business to worry about.

Like that clearly recently broken tree and that obvious path of rumble and dirt right next to him.

Okay, perhaps he should begin paying more attention to his surroundings. He almost missed that.

Cautiously, Hiccup took out his knife and slowly began following the path of destruction. Whatever crashed here, certainly crashed, the boy would honestly be surprised if anything had survived such a terrible fall. It looked far too deadly and the mere thought of witnessing what had happened here sent shivers down Hiccup's spine.

However, the lad was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when he finally reached the end of the trail and the view made him freeze in his tracks, a quiet gasp leaving his lips, his eyes widening.

There it was, laying in all its glory, Hiccup's first achievement.

Its wings, legs, and all its body was tangled up in ropes, which bonded the creature gruesomely, rendering it completely immobile. From this far Hiccup couldn't tell whether it was only unconscious or life had already left it. What he could tell, though, was that his heart was suddenly pounding against his chest at an abnormal rate, his lungs refused to function, he almost chocked on the air he was trying to inhale, and it felt as if his head was about to split open. Actually, that last part was quite agonizing, and for a moment the boy forgot his situation and only gripped the side of it, hissing quietly in pain. For the love of Thor, what was wrong with him? Why was he in so much pain and why was dread of all emotions tearing his heart away?

After finally managing to take a couple of deep breaths and finally somehow getting that aching at least partly under control, Hiccup focused on the more important matters at hand.

Which came in the form of a shot down Night Fury.

It would probably be wise to check whether it was still alive before trying anything.

After a couple of more moments, though, this was still a lot to comprehend.

Carefully, Hiccup began approaching the laying dragon, the knife in his hand being held tightly, his senses as sharp as never before. He observed the motionless creature warily, looking for any signs of hostility or anything really. When noticing none, Hiccup couldn't help but feel his shoulders slightly relax.

''Did I... Did I really did it?'' he murmured to himself in awe.

Honestly, he had never been this close to a dragon before. An immobile dragon at least, he did have a few close calls in the past. And now that he had the chance to observe this beast from such a small proximity... Hiccup couldn't help but feel fascination flood him, and slowly he began extending his hand towards its motionless body, his mind overtaken by sheer wonder and the idea of touching such a mystical creature, something never-before seen, something never-before done.

However, just as his fingertips grazed the unexpectedly smooth dark scales, the dragon suddenly jolted with a grunt, and Hiccup immediately shot back in panic, tumbling over himself and falling down. Alright, so the dragon was alive, after all. That certainly gave him a fright. But after a couple of moments of composing himself and shoving down that inexplicable feeling of relief, the boy once again rose to his feet.

The dragon had opened his eyes. And now it was staring at the frightened lad with those awfully narrowed pupils, that wary, pained and... strangely exhausted gaze pierced into Hiccup's skull. It made no attempt to move, no attempt to break free, just... simply looked at the small viking, laying limp as before, and only its shaky breathing was evidence of its great distress. It was odd, though. Why wouldn't it try to entangle itself from its bindings? Perhaps it had already given up or... it was simply in too much pain as it was. That was also an option, and once again it sent an agonizing pang to Hiccup's chest.

In complete silence the boy crept closer to the creature, never breaking eye-contact, observing it closer. Yeah, the dragon was certainly in agony and it probably did indeed give up by this point. It no longer mattered that it was a great beast, feared by all vikings, rumored to be the most fiercest dragon of them all, and Hiccup was the weakest of his tribe, an outcast, a scrawny fish-bone. The creature was completely vulnerable, exposed to the world, and that Useless viking held a knife. Even to an idiot it was obvious who was in control here.

Or perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps it never was.

More than anything, Hiccup wished to prove himself. To be worthy. He had gone over this thought a million times already. He knew what needed to be done in order to achieve his goal.

And yet, as he stared at those green giant eyes, full of despair, hopelessness, pain, exhaustion, and as he felt all those contradicting feelings swirl inside of him, clash against his mind and heart, as his thoughts tumbled against one another, jumbled up together, pounded into his head- Hiccup didn't know what to do. He even forgot what he was needed to do. He only wanted to scream.

For a few moments the boy was certain this whole mess inside of him would drive him insane, but suddenly, just like that- it was gone. Blank. Hiccup almost jolted back from surprise.

There was nothing left besides the loud beating of his heart.

Even that headache seemed to subside.

And strangely enough, never before had Hiccup felt such great responsibility weight on his shoulders.

He was allowed to make the call.

.

..

…

Hiccup had certainly gone crazy, because instead of piercing his knife through the creature's heart, he quickly began cutting through the ropes binding said beast. Obviously, the dragon was no less surprised at this act than Hiccup himself, but for some reason he didn't stop nor did he feel any regret pooling up. On the contrary, with each fallen rope, some imaginary rocks tumbled down from his heart and it was becoming more and more easy to breathe. He just needed to be fast before anyone spotted him committing just a treacherous act.

Right, lets just throw all principles and everything I have ever hoped for out the window, why not, this seems like a fantastic idea-

However, quite unsurprisingly honestly, he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when the dragon felt its restrains drop and without any warning lunged at the young lad. Needless to say, fear and panic spread inside of him momentarily.

Like that last encounter wasn't enough of a warning, no, I really want to get myself killed today, and joy oh joy it seems I will finally achieve that-

Why on Earth did Hiccup think this would be a good idea?

Did he really not expect for it to blow up in his face?

Quite literally?!

This dragon looks more than a little pissed, since somehow it probably has a vague feeling that the one who actually caused all this damage to it was this worthless toothpick right here, and Hiccup doesn't exactly expect to be let off the hook that easily.

No, in fact, the boy couldn't see any other outcome of this situation besides getting his head blown off.

Well, he thought miserably, at least my death will be more noteworthy than my life.

Getting killed by a Night Fury is quite the achievement if you think about it.

...But that dragon only shoved him against the ground roughly, barked right in his face, sent him the most nastiest glare imaginable and just... ran off in a different direction. Not even flew off, though it did seem to try, fruitlessly. Soon enough, the creature was gone from sight and only distant screeches reaches Hiccup's ears. Those, too, after awhile faded away.

The lad didn't know whether to laugh or cry or faint or all at the same time.

Even if the beast hadn't bitten his head off, Hiccup still felt quite dead.

And it took him a good minute to snap out of his daze.

When he did, he wanted nothing more than to retreat back to the safety of his house and refuse to go out for at least a few weeks, because, damn, he had enough excitement and scare for the rest of his life, thank you. He held no wish to repeat that same experience or try his absurd luck again.

However... Hiccup was going to hate himself for this later, he was certain of it, but he couldn't deny that his curiosity was certainly peaked. He had no idea from where he even had enough energy or courage or anything really left after that encounter, but he felt the strangest desire to follow that creature. The way it moved was much too... odd, unnatural. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest if he didn't find out the issue. Or just simply the reason why he was still alive.

Nevertheless, Hiccup decided to wait a good while and see whether this sudden insanity would wear off eventually, because what he had in mind was straight-up a suicidal mission. He was far too lucky that the dragon let him live, and now he wanted to follow it?

Yep, Hiccup was absolutely sure now – he had lost his mind.

But seeing as how that desire didn't seem to fade away with that, the boy decided to follow his instinct.

Well, the stronger one, at least. He still felt that urge to run away from there as quickly as possible, but for the moment Hiccup dismissed that obviously sane wish.

So after a few attempts, the young viking managed to get to his feet and more or less chase away that spinning sensation. After taking a few calming breaths, he tucked away his knife and began following the rather visible trail left by the injured dragon.

Because now that his mind was clearer, Hiccup was rather certain the creature had suffered some sort of damage. He just didn't know the greatness of it. Yet.

…

Finding his target wasn't as hard as Hiccup had initially thought it would be. It turned out the dragon had somehow gotten itself trapped in an awfully convenient cove, and now had no way of escaping it. Upon closer inspection, which in other words meant Hiccup got as close to the edge as his wildly beating heart allowed him, he understood why the dragon was stuck to the ground, not even trying to fly out of the cove anymore, looking quite miserable actually as it tried to, in complete vain, catch some fish.

The dragon had lost its left tail-fin – and as if that wasn't enough, it also suffered a broken wing.

Oh how much he screwed up Hiccup wasn't even aware of at that moment.

Ah, the sweet sweet Butterfly Effect. Are you feeling it yet?

Marvelous.

Hope this interested you, I tried my best :')

What can I say, I like screwing with people.