My first Fanfic on HTTYD. Please review and tell me if I should continue, because I'm not sure yet. Sorry if the updates are slow, I'm also trying to do two other stories. Love to all! ~Heart~

~Hiccup~POV~

The Nightmare got scared.

Yes, what a weird sentence. So, let me explain. My hand was an inch away from his chin, so close to his scratching spot. If I succeeded, I was set for life. If this went right, my dad would still love me, and Toothless would be safe. I stretched out, my fingers hovering above his red scales. I had just told the Vikings there was nothing to be afraid of. I tried to tell them that dragons weren't bad! If only they had opened their eyes and seen what was about to happen. But then, that would be too easy.

Within seconds, my dad came in. He was yelling and making a lot of noise, and of course the Nightmare got scared. It wheeled back on its hind legs, screaming. I was knocked back onto my butt, yelling the whole time. Commotion and havoc ensued. Vikings jumped from various places, wielding axes and swords and weaponry that would take to long to list. People were yelling, I was still on the ground shouting, but no one heard me. The nightmare swung his head around, caught sight of me weak and helpless, and let out a huge roar.

And then someone yelled. Two words and the whole arena grew silent as people dropped to the ground. It took me a second to understand what he had said. No, I thought. It's not possible!

"Night Fury!" A man yelled while dropping onto the ground. For a moment, I had hope. Maybe there was another night fury, another one of Toothless' kind. But then, it was the middle of the day. And night fury's only came out at night. A lump got stuck in my throat. No, it can't be Toothless. Why would he be coming here? It's the middle of the day, and he knows to stay away from the villagers! Not to mention he can't fly without me on his back…My questions were answered in less than a second. With a high pitched whine, a blue ball struck the chain of the arena, and none other than Toothless came barreling inside.

I knew it was him, and not some other dragon. Not because of the fake fin tail, not because of the way he looked to me and then swiveled around to the dragon threatening to hurt me. I knew Toothless so well by now, I knew his movements and the way he hunches his back a little like a cat prepared to strike. So why didn't I realize he would come here to protect me, trouble flying or not?

Toothless roared and shot out his teeth, growling at the Nightmare across from him. His back was to me, and I stood warily and backed up as I realized his efforts to protect me would be wasted if I was in the middle of the fight. Toothless let out a low growl in his throat, and for some reason I knew it was a 'thank you' sent my way.

Meanwhile, the other Vikings also had a smart idea, for once; to back up against the wall as well as the dragons eyed each other. I glanced around the circle. There was Astrid, hugging the wall like the smart girl she was as she inched towards me. Her eyes were trained on the dragons, although I detected a hint of worry in her eyes. Dad was in the middle of the group of Vikings, though spread out to get as far away from the fight as possible. I caught his eyes for a moment. He looked afraid, and I realized he was afraid for me. Toothless was less than a foot away from me. Dad was probably thinking I was lucky that the dragon hadn't noticed me yet. He had no idea I had consorted with our enemy, and the dragon in front of me was my friend. There was a sudden movement, and all eyes were suddenly on the fight.

Toothless leapt forward, kicking and scratching his strong legs. The two dragons were a mess of wings and scales as they rolled across the arena, making long scratches in the dirt where they passed. They bounced against the wall and Toothless came on top of the huge red dragon, snarling. His head darted forward like a snake, biting the dragons shoulder with a spurt of blood. The Nightmare roared and brought his hind legs up, slicing at Toothless. The dark dragon darted off, using his wings to propel himself into the air. He landed on the ground a few feet away, snarling. My leg twitched in pain and I hissed, clutching it in wonder. For a moment I didn't realize why, until I noticed Toothless' left leg was bleeding from a huge scratch.

I blinked in wonder. What was that? The pain in my leg died down to a dull throbbing and I stood up straight. Toothless…Suddenly, Astrid was beside me.

"We need to get him out of here." She whispered and I nodded numbly. Her eyes darted to me, and I could tell out of the corner of my eye she was searching me. "You okay?" I shook my head and bit my lip as Toothless leapt again. My adrenaline was pumping, and I was worried for the life of my best friend. My fist clenched and Astrid's blonde head darted back to the fight.

Toothless rushed at the bigger dragon and hit it in the stomach with his shoulder. Then his wing snapped out at the last moment, adding to the Nightmare's blow backwards. The red shape hit the wall and slumped. It took me a moment before I realized it was over, the Nightmare had been knocked out. Toothless growled and backed up again, his green eyes darting to the advancing Vikings.

My dad was leading the group trying to kill my best friend. They raised their weapons to shoulder height, glinting in the sun light. I stepped forward and Astrid grabbed my shoulder, worry in her eyes once again. I stopped and looked back to Toothless. His black hide was inching closer and closer to me, and I realized he thought the Vikings were trying to attack me. And if he could just get away….

I stepped forward with panic in my eyes. "Toothless, run!" His head swiveled and looked to me, questioning. "They won't hurt me! Now go!" Tears threatened my eyes in panic. They were getting closer; they were going to hurt Toothless!

Dad paused for a moment, axe still in hand. "Hiccup, what are you doing?" suddenly, the worry in his eyes turned to anger and fury. "Move away from the dragon!"

I shook my head and stepped up more, only a few feet away from Toothless now. "He won't hurt you!" I yelled to my father. "So please, don't hurt him!" I begged now. Surely, he could see the pain in my eyes. The panic, the concern. My best friend was in danger, and my heart was beating so hard my chest was hurting.

Dad raised his axe more. "Dragons are our enemies Hiccup! You should know this! They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've killed thousands of them!" I could feel the hot tears streaking down my face, assaulting my lips with salt.

"Have you lost your mind?" Dad yelled at me and I realized everyone else was looking at me with anger as well. I didn't care, obviously they couldn't be reasoned with. I turned and locked eyes with Toothless.

"Toothless, go! GO, NOW!" I yelled and waved my arms, but as I did a Viking stepped closer, weapon in hand. Toothless let out a huge roar and leapt towards the man, pushing him back against the wall. Dad led the rest of the Vikings, him at the front, running straight towards my best friend.

I froze, the world slowing for a moment. They were about to kill Toothless. And I was too weak, too helpless to do anything about it. I felt my heart pause for a moment. He was all I had, he was important to me! Why couldn't dad realize that? But for some reason, he just couldn't. And now…Dad rushed at Toothless, his arms raised for the final blow on Toothless' neck. Was this it? How could I go on, without Toothless? He meant so much to me, I didn't know how to describe it. He was my dragon! I flew with him, we ate together most nights. We explored the island, we fought each other jokingly. So many weeks of bonding…and this was it? He was going to die, or worse. They would take him alive, torture him maybe. I saw what would happen, the horrors he would endure. I couldn't let him go through that. But how was I to stop it? I was too weak…I was just Hiccup the useless, and I always have been.

I bit my lip, causing blood to leak out. Dad was yelling, throwing himself forward. I couldn't be weak anymore! Toothless had come out here to protect me, and now I was going to fail him? NO. I darted backwards, grabbing a shield from the wall. I turned, pausing for a moment and taking in the scene. I had to change this…I felt a strength come through me and I darted forwards, past a yelling Astrid. I couldn't hear what she was saying, all I was focused on was the glint of the axe, rising higher and higher. I pushed my feet forward, running faster than I had ever in my life. I pulled the shield up in front of my face and slide across the dirt ground and Toothless turned. The axe came down slowly. I was so close…and then I felt Toothless' black scales against my back. I raised the shield with a scowl on my face.

THUNK.

There was a loud hollow noise, and a pain in my arms. My shoulders jarred against me, my arms aching. But that wasn't the worst of the pain. My right eye seemed to burst into flames and I felt a hot liquid pouring down my face. The sound stopped, along with all movement. With my left eye, I could see the glint of my dad's axe…going right through the shield. It had stopped it, yes. But not before it hit my right eye. There was a pause of shock across the arena. I felt toothless' fear and anger building behind me.

I grunted and shoved the shield back. It slid off my arm with Dad's axe, falling to the ground with another thunk. I stumbled back, my hand to my bleeding eye and the other pressed against the warmth of toothless' scales. I hissed in pain and Toothless roared angrily, but not moving from being my support. I could barely see, the world twisting beneath me. I felt like puking and then falling unconscious all at the same time. I gripped Toothless harder and I leaned against him.

"H-Hiccup." My Dad's scratched voice came to me. My eye darted over to him, to see him staring at me in disbelief. "Son…"

I shook my head, tears pouring down my good eye and mixing with blood. "You…Your not my father!" I shouted angrily. He had tried to kill Toothless! I felt Toothless move against me anxiously, huffing at the scent of my blood. I looked over to Astrid, gaping in horror. Thankfully, the rest of the Vikings were still, also watching with amazement in their eyes.

"I'm sorry Astrid." A sad smile crossed her face as I whispered it.

She took a deep breath, tears filling her eyes. "Do what you have to do, to protect your friend." I smiled and took my hand off Toothless. Suddenly, the dragon was beside me, crouching down and reading my mind. I leapt onto his back. Saddle or not, I had to get us out of here. I kept my hand on my eye, trying to stop the bleeding. I looked to the village, their weapons dropped slightly.

"I am not a Viking." I repeated. I looked to Dad-no, Stoick the vast in sorrow. "I am not your son." I paused, taking a deep breath and setting my hand against Toothless' back. "I am not a dragon killer." Toothless stood and the village gasped at the sight of me riding a dragon, no less a night fury. I chuckled as I realized this would be the first time I had ever rode him bareback. "I am a dragon rider! And I will die before I see you kill my dragon!" More tears streaked down my face.

Before anyone could say a thing, Toothless leapt up into the sky. I glanced down at Astrid, sad smile still on her face as she watched us fly into the sky. I patted toothless' back as I wrapped my arm around his neck best I could. He was flying haphazardly, tail fin flapping loosely in the wind. I groaned and set my forehead against his scales.

"Toothless…"I groaned and he whined worriedly, hitting me with his ear softly as the village disappeared before his wobbly form. "I would do it again, you know." Another moan from Toothless, and I smiled softly. 'And I for you.' It seemed he had said.

I noticed blood dripping down Toothless' scales, some from his leg and some from my eye. Oh god, my eye! Would I be able to see from it again? We had to leave, but where? Where could I go, to get a doctor's help? Would I need it? If it got infected…I groaned again. It hurt so much…and my left leg was still throbbing…We lurched in the sky again, the world turning for a moment and I held on. We were heading towards the place Toothless hung while I was in the village…good thing I left my stuff there from when I was planning to run away. We were going to run away now, run as far as we could go. Hopefully, we would be okay.

My head spun as the sun set, casting pink and purple across the sky. My thighs hurt…apparently dragon's scales were painful. But to tell the truth, I didn't feel it much. The sky spun, and for a moment I panicked, thinking we were going down. Toothless made a small noise in this throat. Telling me not to worry. Go to sleep. He'll wake me when we get back to the clearing….Maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe he didn't mean all that. But for some reason, I really thought he did.

I slumped, letting the tension ease off of me. We were leaving the village I had grown up in and lived in all my life. I had never been anywhere else…I thought of D-Stoick, Gobber, Astrid, all my "friends," but then again…I yawned and Toothless crooned in response. They were never really my friends…Toothless, on the other hand…

I faded into oblivion before I could finish the thought.