Wow. Hard to believe it's been an entire year since I started this thing. One of the best things amount a year is that it can put things in perspective. You remember the day you start something and then look back all the things that have happened since then. Really makes you think

Anyway. Thanks for sticking around this long and hope you enjoy the chapter.

Valka had barely gotten any sleep last night and she sure that Hiccup had not either. She almost couldn't bear the prospect of getting up, as the overwhelming uncertainty of what was going to happen today still lingered over her head. By the time she was out of bed, Stoick was already gone. Valka went to check up on Hiccup, but he was not in his room, not that she had really expected him to be there.

Still feeling a great swell of anxiety and fear in her chest, Valka made the long trek down from her house to the arena. Everyone else in the village was already present and were jubilantly chanting Hiccup's name throughout the stadium, all of them excited for his big moment. Valka watched from the back of the crowd as Stoick proudly walked up to the podium and threw his arms out wide, welcoming the applause

"Glad I can show my face in public again!" he jested. The crowd laughed together with Stoick. He then raised one hand, which was enough to silence the crowd as he began speaking.

"Now if someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being…well Hiccup, to placing first in Dragon Training? Well I would have tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad. And you know it! But here we are and no one's more surprised, or more proud than I am. Today my boy becomes a Viking. Today he becomes one of us!"

Valka was barely listening to Stoick's speech. Every word he spoke, only filled her with more and more dread. The only thing she wanted to do now was to speak to her son before the test began. From up in the stand, she spotted him standing in the gate entrance to the arena, hiding in the shadow. Walking down from the stand, Valka was about to turn the corner to the ring entrance, but when she did, she abruptly stopped herself, when she saw that someone else was already speaking to Hiccup

Astrid was standing in front of Hiccup at the entrance. Neither of them seemed to have noticed Valka and it looked as though the two of them were in a deep conversation. Valka couldn't hear what they were saying, but she herself was surprised beyond words as to why the two of them were even together right now, right before the match would start.

But what surprised Valka more than anything, however, was the sharp change in Astrid demeanour. Yesterday, it was clear enough that Astrid truly despised Hiccup for besting her in the competition, but now she seemed to be far more anxious and maybe even concerned for him. It was subtle, but Valka could see the hesitance in Astrid gestures, her striking confidence nowhere to be seen. Hiccup also seemed to be a lot more sure of himself as he spoke back to Astrid, not like a week ago where he would just splutter awkwardly around her.

Valka had no idea what had happened to cause this change between the two of them, but before she could make a move toward them, Gobber walked up from inside the arena and signalled Hiccup that it was time to begin. Gobber then walked past Astrid and up to Valka.

"Come on, we need to be with Stoick" Gobber gave a small tug on Valka's shoulder, which was enough to pull her along with him, but her eyes were on Astrid who was watching Hiccup from the metal gate.

Valka and Gobber made it back up to Stoick, who was sitting in his throne like seat which directly overlooked the arena. Stoick gave Valka a quick glance, but they didn't speak to each other, as the both of them were completely focused on Hiccup, who was now wearing the helmet Stoick had given him.

Hiccup walked over to the weapon rack and picked up a shield. Then, without really looking, he just chose a tiny knife out of the rack.

"I would have gone for the hammer" Stoick commented casually to Gobber.

Hiccup paused for a second as he took a deep breath and then looked up to the door of the dragon pen. "I'm ready"

At Hiccup's signal, a lever was pulled which removed the wooden bolt in the door. A second later the doors burst open, as the body of a huge four winged dragon came charging out. It howled, already severely agitated. The Stormcutter jumped onto the metal railing of the ring and clawed along the chains at the top using its hooked wings. It spat out a small blast of fire out through the bars, which the crowd just barely dodged. As the dragon hung from the top of the enclosure, it slowly turned its head downwards, finally taking notice of Hiccup. The Stormcutter detached itself from the ceiling and landed on the stone floor with a thud in front of him. The crowd was now watching with anticipation, everyone expecting Hiccup to make quick work of the beast.

"Go on Hiccup! Give it to him!"

As the Stormcutter drew closer to him, Hiccup steadily and calmly walked backwards, dropping his shield and knife in the process, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture.

"What is he doing?" Stoick asked, furrowing his brow. The rest of the crowd was now beginning to murmur in disapproval, but Valka did not care. She was keeping her eyes firmly focused what Hiccup was doing and nothing else.

"It's okay. It's okay" Hiccup said gently. He reached up and took off his helmet. After giving a quick glance up to Stoick, Hiccup coldly tossed the helmet to the ground. "I'm not one of them"

The crowd now reacted with shock by Hiccup's actions. The Stormcutter looked down at the discarded helmet and then back to Hiccup with a curious expression.

"Stop the fight" Stoick ordered immediately, half way up from his seat.

"No!" Hiccup said, extending his hand out to the Stormcutter, which no longer looked like it had any intention to attack. "I need you all to see this. They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them"

Valka gasped and put her hand over her mouth, as the inside of her body swelled up with more hope than she had ever felt in her entire life. This was it. This was really it. This was the moment where everything was going to change.

And then…

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!"

Stoick furiously slammed his hammer against the metal bar, completely denting it the process. The bang echoed throughout the stadium like a bell. Whatever spell Hiccup had put the Stormcutter under was over and so was the only chance he had to show everyone the truth. The now startled dragon snapped its teeth at Hiccup, who only just managed to jump back in time as he registered what was happening. Hiccup let out a terrified scream as he made a run for it, the dragon's fiery breath coming up right behind.

"Hiccup!" Valka screamed, her hands gripping the railing.

"Out of my way!" Stoick shoved his way through the crowd, heading down into the ring.

Hiccup scrambled to the weapon rack and tried to pick up a shield, but he Stomcutter smashed right through the rack, knocking it out of Hiccup's hands

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried from the gate. Using her axe to lift it up, she managed to squeeze herself underneath. Valka spotted her as she ran into the ring and watched with amazement as Astrid picked up a nearby hammer and threw at the Stomcutter just as it was about to catch Hiccup. The hammer struck the dragon in its head, which caused to turn its attention Astrid and give chase to her as well.

Valka was now looking back and forward between Hiccup and Astrid, having no idea who she was more concerned for. Stoick had made it to the gate and effortlessly pulled it open.

"This way!" he called. Both Astrid and Hiccup ran toward the exit, the Stormcuttter still in pursuit. Astrid got the gate first and was about to be joined by Hiccup, but the Stormcutter fired another stream of fire which forced to him fall back. The Stormcutter jumped up and pinned Hiccup to the ground, underneath the tip of its front wing. It stared down at him, still seething with aggression and beginning to draw its breath back.

As Valka watched this as it happened, everything else in the world just seemed to fade away. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. The only thing in her mind was the single image of her only son, who was about to be killed by a dragon. Every sound, every sensation. It was all exactly same as that night fifteen years ago. It was almost as if Valka had stepped through a door that led into the past, all so that she could relive that same horrible night. And just like that night, Valka was left standing, frozen and completely helpless, just watching, unable to do anything to save her son. Fate was literally repeating itself. And Valka knew that the only difference, was that this time, no one was going to come and save Hiccup.

And then, a very loud whistling noise sound pierced the air. The sound grew louder and as it did, the rest of the world started to speed up again until everything that happened next past by in a literal blur. First was a flash of light over the stadium, a loud explosion and then the inside of the arena was suddenly full of smoke.

The explosion shook Valka back to her senses and now she tried to make sense of what was happening in the ring. The smoke started to clear and Valka could swear that her heart missed a beat

Toothless had just landed into the arena and was now grappling on top of the Stormcutter, driving it away from Hiccup. The Stormcutter thrashed around violently, managing to turn over on Toothless, but he in turn kicked the Stormcutter away from him.

After they had separated, both dragons snarled and roared at each other from opposite ends of the ring. Toothless was standing right between the Stormcutter and Hiccup, not allowing it to get anywhere near him. He held his ground long enough that the Stormcutter seemed to relent and back away.

Hiccup got back to his feet and ran up to Toothless, holding his neck protectively as he tried to get him to leave.

"Alright, Toothless, go. Get out of here!"

Valka took one look around her and she already knew what was coming next as her relief turned to fear once again. The rest of the crowd just went from sacred to angry. Then were all looking at Toothless with a murderous glare in their eyes. Hiccup was now desperately trying to urge Toothless to go, but he too, was now growing aggressive once again, as the crowd started to jump down into the arena.

Finally regaining the ability to use her legs, Valka threw herself down into the arena and tried to make her way through the crowd to get to Hiccup. She then spotted Stoick at the far end of the ring with Astrid. Once Stoick set his eyes on Toothless, he picked up a nearby axe and charged right for him.

"Stoick don't!" Valka yelled to him in vain.

"Dad! No!" Hiccup yelled, trying to hold Toothless back. "He won't hurt you"

The surrounding crowd raised their weapons to attack Toothless, who quickly broke free from Hiccup and defended himself by swinging his tail and kicking his hind legs, easily knocking them all back. In the chaos, one of the men was thrown back right into Valka, sending her tumbling to the ground before she could make to Hiccup.

"No, don't!" Hiccup screamed at everyone, horrified. "You're only making it worse!"

Stoick was now face to face with Toothless as he prepared to swing his hammer at him, but Toothless ducked underneath his arm and then pounced on him. Toothless had pinned Stoick to the ground, his head directly over Stoick's.

"Toothless, stop!" Hiccup screamed once again.

Toothless pulled his head back and inhaled his breath, preparing to fire. Valka put her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening with terror. In another second she may have screamed her heart out.

"NO!"

Toothless stopped in the middle of his inhaled and swallowed back his blast once he heard Hiccup's voice. He turned around to Hiccup, giving him an almost innocent expression.

"Get him!"

The rest of the crowd now took the chance to attack Toothless and throwing him off Stoick. They all clambered around him, at least half a dozen men holding him down.

"No, please don't hurt him-" Hiccup cried desperately, but Valka finally put her arms around Hiccup and held him back. She too, could barely watch what was happening. Hiccup soon ceased any struggling as he weakly slumped down to the ground. Valka still held onto him strongly, pulling his head down underneath her arm

Stoick got back to his feet, fuming and shaken. He glowered down at the pinned Toothless. One of the men offered Stoick an axe, but he just pushed it away.

"Put him with the others" he spat

Stoick turned his glare over to Valka, who was still holding Hiccup in her arms. She looked up at Stoick, his face full of rage, accusation and betrayal. Valka looked away from him and closed her eyes, fighting back tears. She tightened her hold on Hiccup, as if to shield him from everything that happened. But she knew this wasn't over.

The worst was yet to come

Okay. Did NOT enjoy writing this. This was the hardest and most heart wrenching chapter I've done. And what's worst is the next part is even worse. Anyway, not sure to when I'll update again, but I'm still hopeful I can get this done. Please review and peace out