Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: The Comedown

"Fucking idiots!" Hiccup shouted as he kicked his way through a small thorn bush.

From the moment he woke up that morning, Hiccup knew it would be a bad day. He woke up extra groggy, completely forgetting that he slept without his prosthetic foot and fell flat on his face as got out of bed. The house was devoid of food and Toothless saw fit to cough up half a fish head onto his only clean tunic. The long to-do list he found waiting for him on the kitchen table from his father didn't help to brighten his mood either.

Since he woke up from his coma, Stoick decided his son needed to practice more responsibility than just being a blacksmith's apprentice in order to prepare for the Chiefdom. As Hiccup became more adjusted to walking with his prosthetic, his daily list of chores grew longer. At first, his time was mostly spent running the dragon training academy, but he was occasionally asked to help with the construction of a new house or aid Gobber with a project in the forge.

In recent weeks, Stoick had sent Hiccup out to take care of some of his chieftain duties in order to work on his nonexistent people skills. Most of the work consisted of acting as a mediator between hot-headed vikings who couldn't solve their own petty disputes with neighbors.

The growing responsibility ebbed away at the calm exterior he tried to display to the world and his need to kill only grew stronger. But, he was never presented a good opportunity to sneak off and find a victim. He longed for the days when he was social pariah to his peers and nobody bothered to know where he was at all times. Sneaking out at night was out of the question since he was usually exhausted with a throbbing leg by sundown. Even Toothless got antsy when he left the dragon's immediate radius. He never alone.

Until now he realized.

He stropped in his tracks, unsure of how long he had been walking. It was mid-morning when he stormed out of the academy- but the sun's position in the sky told him the daylight was coming to an end. Had he really spent the entire day angrily pacing around the forest with nothing to show for it?

"Bahhh!"

Hiccup spun around to see a sheep making it's way through the woods. He looked at the animal with confusion; sheep normally stayed in wide-open fields grazing with their herd. It was odd to see one off on it's own, but he was never one to question the personal choices of livestock.

Smirking, he pulled the dagger from his vest, held it behind his back and approached the sheep slowly.

"Hey buddy, what are you doing out here all by yourself?" he knelt down and raised a gentle hand to pat the animal's head. The sheep eyed him warily, but allowed Hiccup to stroke his wooly head.

"Don't worry, I might be hungry as hell- but I've never been a fan of mutton." he assured the animal jokingly. The sheep took another step closer, pressing his side up against Hiccup to receive a more thorough petting.

It was like dealing with a newborn dragon; not at all threatening but he still had to gain the animal's trust. He seemed to be good at earning trust from people and dragons when he really didn't deserve it. People were far too trusting in his opinion; the entire village seemed to trust him with the handling of fire-breathing dragons even though he nearly destroyed the village several times in the past. One big act of heroism seemed to wipe his wrongdoings clean from their minds.

"Bah!" The sheep cried out as Hiccup buried his dagger into it's stomach. He looked down at it's shaking form and the blood dripping onto the forest floor with subdued satisfaction.

"Ach, boy! What in the name of Asgard are you doing to me Fungus!?" a shrill voice called out. Hiccup looked up to the village grouch, Mildew hobbling towards him with a look of outrage on his wrinkly face. He withdrew his dagger from the sheep's stomach and watched it collapse dead onto it's side.

"I thought his wool would look better in a shade of red." Hiccup sneered, enjoying the look of pained outrage on the old man's face. Mildew sank to his knees and grabbed the sheep's warm corpse, blubbering into his neck.

Hiccup stood up and watched Mildew sob like a little girl over the only thing he loved in the world, ropy strings of snot poured from his nose and clung to his scraggly mustache. He found the sight humorous and disgusting.

"Why you no-good, dragon-loving traitor son of hag! I ought to skin you alive!" Mildew croaked through his tears as he clutched the dead sheep to his chest. Hiccup palmed his dagger and looked down at the old man, thoughtfully.

"Not if I skin you first..."


In the past, Hiccup had always been careful to keep his kills as quiet and clean as possible. When killing with a dagger, it was impossible for blood not to spill- but with enough practice he learned which parts of the human body spill out the most blood when pierced. He could usually get the entire process over with one clean strike.

But with Mildew, he decided to just let himself go.

Even after the old bastard had stopped moving, Hiccup continued stabbing his corpse with a ferocity he had missed for too long. Face, gut, chest, legs- he didn't want to stop until the entire body resembled a big, bloody puncture wound on the ground.

The muscles in slim arms were burning as he finally ceased his actions and looked upon his work. The chilled evening air brought a cooling relief to his sweaty skin and aching lungs. Despite feeling like he just sprinted five miles, Hiccup couldn't remember feeling this satisfied in over a year.

He should've thought of it sooner, really. Mildew had always been a difficult man for the village to deal with- hence the reason he lived so far from the center of town. But after the war ended, he was one of the few vikings to protest Berk's changing atmosphere. Just because the man had lived an obscene amount of years he saw fit to stand in the way of progress to preserve useless, outdated traditions.

He was not only an obstacle for the academy, but for his father and entire village.

In a way, Hiccup had done everyone a favor. He was certain someone would question Mildew's absence eventually and go to his house to check in. But he was even more sure that no one would trouble themselves with searching for the man after finding his home empty.

Nodding to himself, Hiccup decided it was time to head back to the village. But upon standing up, he realized there was far too much blood on his clothes for anyone to believe he was simply hunting small game. He groaned in annoyance and started making his way to the nearest stream to rinse off the evidence.


Hiccup returned to his house just after nightfall, shivering in his still soaking pants and bare chested beneath his fur vest. The tunic he wore earlier was abandoned in the forest; the stains were impossible to remove. Luckily, he didn't pass anyone on his way back to the village to question his half-dressed state. Upon entering the empty house, he immediately lit a fire in the hearth and bounded upstairs.

Up in his room, he stripped down and pulled on a dry pair of pants with a tunic that didn't smell too horrendous. Just as he was reattaching his prosthetic, he heard the front door creak open followed by footsteps entering his house.

"Hiccup, are you home?" a familiar voice called out.

He stood up and ran his hand through his still damp locks and called out, "Yeah Astrid, I'll be down in a second." After giving himself one quick glance in the looking glass on his wall, he made his way down the steps.

Astrid stood with her arms crossed at the bottom of the stairs, her face stiff with worry.

"Feeling better?"

Hiccup gave her easy smile and nodded, "Yeah, I just needed a few hours to cool off; walked around the forest, took a refreshing swim."

"That would explain the wet hair; weren't you freezing?"

Hiccup waved off her question and put on his best apologetic face. "I'm sorry about this morning, I was frustrated by the idiotic antics of Snotlout and the twins and that's no excuse to act out."

"I think Snotlout is the one you need to apologize to, but I'm glad you're feeling better." She shortened the space between them and pulled him into a comforting hug. "You really gave everyone something to talk about this morning."

"Oh good, they must be getting bored of all the dragon-training chatter." he chuckled with light sarcasm.

Astrid pulled back from the hug, still gripping his shoulders. "I told anyone who asked that it was a temporary loss of control." she wavered with a rare uncertainty, "That's all it was, right?" Her eyes looked doubtful.

"Well what else could it have been?" he assured her. Astrid sighed.

"It's just that I- well no one really- has ever seen you get that mad. You've been known to brood and and be a sarcastic prick on occasion," she paused, acknowledging his eye-roll, "but whatever happened this morning...it was like you were a different person."

He shrugged. "We all have our breaking point. A certain level of tolerance in dealing with aggravating situations and people; I guess mine was a long time coming"

She eyed him warily, letting her hands fall from his shoulders to retreat to her own sides. "And you're over it now?"

A cool laughter rang in his ears.

"The beast is asleep once more." His smile was easy and convincingly genuine.

"Good." Astrid giggled, stiffness melting from her voice and posture. "Toothless has been missing you all day."

He slapped a palm to his forehead in realization. "We didn't even go for a morning flight today, he must going stir-crazy right now." he grabbed his fur vest from it's hook on the wall and slung it over his shoulders. "I should go find him and beg for forgiveness." he joked.

"Well he's right outside with Stormfly; are you up for a little company?"

"Only if it's you." Astrid blushed and gave him a light punch in the arm. He wrapped an arm around her narrow shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss because it seemed like the right thing to do. Astrid leaned into him, sighing contently against his lips before he pulled away and led her outside to their awaiting dragons.


Toothless's ears perked up at the sight of his rider opening the door and making his way down the stone steps of his house with the Nadder's rider hot on his heels. The boy was smiling again and didn't appear to be looking for anyone to hit which eased the dragon immensely. He should've been angry with his rider for neglecting him all day, but he was too excited about the prospect of a night flight to hold a grudge.

He jumped up from his spot on the grass and stretched out his wings, accidentally smacking the dozing Nadder who began one of her usual squawking episodes. The teens laughed at the Night Fury's playful antics as he started bounding his way towards them, tongue rolling out of his mouth like a giant dog. But suddenly, the dragon froze in his tracks and inhaled through his snout deeply.

There was a time, Toothless remembered, when his rider was almost always angry and reeking of rabbit blood. That hadn't been the case anymore, ever since he was welcomed into his rider's home after the Red Death nearly killed both of them. The boy didn't hunt nearly as much anymore, so the smell of blood that permeated through the Night Fury's snout was baffling. He could tell from the scent that the blood was fresh and not from a small animal, it smelled far too similar to human blood- a fragrance he was very familiar with having spent so much time in the company of vikings over the past year.

But he knew the blood also wasn't Hiccup's as he was more familiar with his scents than that of any other human. Also, the boy appeared to be uninjured.

"Toothless, what's wrong bud?" Hiccup questioned the dragon's stalling with a confused look.

He inhaled through his snout again, deeper this time. Along with the copper scent, he could also detect faint traces of sheep and a muskiness that was common among older vikings. He was reminded of the ornery old man who was always causing problems for his rider and the large man who lived with them.

His eyes widened at the realization.

Hiccup took a step forward to check on the dragon's frozen state only stop in his tracks as Toothless let out a deep growl as his wide pupils turned into slits.

"Uh...Hiccup, what's going on?" Astrid questioned, confused by the dragon's sudden aggression.

"I don't know," he answered honestly, he reached out a steady hand and slowly took a step forward, "Tooth-"

He was cut off by an even louder growl as Toothless forsook his namesake and bared his razor sharp teeth with menace. It was all connected, he knew it. The boy's anger that morning, storming off alone and returning with faint traces of blood wafting off him. Toothless was smarter than most dragons, a calling card of the rare Night Fury. He had a better understanding of humans and how they lived in packs, working together and protecting their own kind. Unlike wild dragons, humans didn't kill the older, weaker members of their pack. And although Toothless never cared for the old grouch, he knew the man was too old and feeble to be a physical threat to him or his petite rider. But the boy had gone and killed him anyway.

Toothless flared his nostrils in disgusted snort as he eyed Hiccup with a coldness he hadn't felt for the boy since he was shot out of the sky and crippled for life.

"Come on bud, let's just go for a flight and you'll feel better." Hiccup eased himself closer to the dragon. Astrid bit her lip and reached out her hand to rest on his shoulder.

"I don't think he's in the mood, Hiccup. Come on, you can ride with me on Stormfly." she suggested

He shook his head. "No, no- it's fine. He's just being moody with me for ignoring him all day." Disregarding the dragon's threatened stance, he moved forward at a normal pace much too fast for Toothless as he let out a roar that could rival that a Thunderdrum. Startled by the outburst, the viking teen stumbled back, landing flat on his ass as the Night Fury made a run for it.

"Hiccup! Are you okay?" Astrid shrieked, plopping down on her knees beside him to see if he was hurt.

Feeling his face flush in a rare moment of insecurity, he quickly brushed off her hands and scrambled to his feet. "Yeah, I'm fine." he cleared his throat and stared off in the distance as the Night Fury's running figure disappeared into the night. He let out an uneasy chuckle and turned to his girlfriend who was eying him strangely.

"I guess he wasn't up for any of my bullshit today." he shrugged.

"That was really weird, Hiccup. Toothless never acts out that aggressively unless something is really wrong."

"Uh, I don't know what to tell you." he looked down at his remaining foot, hoping she would just drop the subject for once.

"Did something happen in the forest?"

His eyes widened and he almost lost his cool.

"Like what?" he asked in the calmest tone he could manage.

"I don't know, did you come across any wild dragons?" Hiccup shook his head. "Maybe you rubbed up against some plant that's poisonous or unpleasant to reptiles?" she suggested.

A brilliant lie popped up in his head, and he nearly smacked himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Well, come to think of it- I did eat some smoked eel for lunch."

Astrid let out a huff and rolled her eyes. "You idiot! No wonder Toothless didn't want you anywhere near him."

"I figured the scent would've washed off during my swim, but I guess it wasn't enough for his superior sense of smell." He reasoned.

"Obviously," Astrid muttered, "so are you still up for a flight? Like I said, you can just ride with me."

Hiccup looked over at Stormfly as she gnawed at an itch on her lower leg. The prospect of pressing up against Astrid was tempting, but it wasn't worth the risk of getting nearly attacked by two dragons in one night.

"Actually, I think I'm just going to call it a night." Astrid looked a bit disappointed, but gave him a soft smile and a nod.

"Suit yourself," she shrugged and gave him a quick peck on the lips before mounting her Nadder and flying off, promising to see him tomorrow. But her words fell on deaf ears as Hiccup was stuck contemplating his altercation with his best (non-human) friend.

Inside his house, Hiccup poured himself some mead and plopped down his father's over-sized throne of a chair. It was obvious to him why Toothless became so agitated; the beast's powerful nostrils could sniff out a single rose buried in a field of shit. Additionally, his impromptu bath didn't even include a bar of soap- only cold water to dilute the stench of blood.

Sipping his drink, Hiccup thought back to his life before Toothless, and the brief glimmer of hope he felt after they defeated the Red Death. That was a time when he thought he really could change. When he first met Toothless, connecting with another living being and taking to the skies. His normal inner rage morphed itself into an excited sense of wonder and what might've been hope. And then, the world had to intervene and send him flying off into a war he never understood, gaining a battle scar that couldn't just scab over and heal itself. Whatever hope for he had for changing fizzled all too soon.

Hiccup stared down at his prosthetic limb, noticing how it caught the glow emitted from the hearth's fire and gave off a small glimmer of light which he could control moving his forged foot. If Toothless had been in the house, the overgrown reptile would've worked himself into a frenzy trying to catch the little spot of light. He sighed at the thought and stared at the metal extension of his left leg, eyes widening when he noticed a small fleck of dried blood clinging to where his big toe should've been.

Quickly leaning forward, he scrapped off the offending evidence with a blunt fingernail just as the door to his home burst open.

A/N: I apologize for the delay in updates; procrastination is my forte. There is one chapter left and I will try my hardest to complete this story before the month of May is over.

Thanks to all who've favorited/followed this fic and an even bigger thank you to those who have taken the time to submit reviews.