Morning Patrol

A/N: Hey guys. Wow, it's been awhile since I've done anything on this site. A lot has happened over the past several years, including a rather new obsession with How to Train Your Dragon. This is my first HTTYD fan fiction and I hope you enjoy it.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was afraid.

And to make matters worse, he wasn't even sure what he was afraid of.

All he knew was that he was running through darkness. He couldn't make out his surroundings in the pitch-blackness. The silence was so absolute that his own frantic heartbeat sounded like war drums. His breath came in sharp, ragged gasps. And still he ran on, glancing occasionally over his shoulder but seeing nothing.

But just because he didn't see anything back there didn't mean that there wasn't danger. And there was definitely danger. He could sense it.

Something was coming. And someone was in trouble.

Who? Who was in trouble? Whose life was on the line? Who was he trying so hard to save? Images filled his head: the faces of the people and dragons he loved. His heart clenched. If one of them was in danger…

"Dad?!" Hiccup cried, his voice echoing eerily in the silence. No reply came. "Toothless?! Astrid?!"

His metal leg snagged an unseen obstacle, and he tripped and fell with a grunt. He looked back, half-expecting to see something lunge for him, but the darkness concealed whatever might be lurking out there. He stood shakily to his feet and turned slowly on the spot. The silence pressed on his ears as he strained to hear any sound that might warn him of impending attack. He squinted and then widened his eyes, but nothing helped penetrate the inky blackness around him.

And then…

A roar…a roar he knew only too well…a dragon's roar…

"Toothless!"

Hiccup jolted and jerked upright, eyes flying open. His little bedroom, illuminated by early-morning sunlight, came into focus. Heart still pounding, sweat pouring down his body, he looked around, struggling for a moment to get his bearings. Then he sighed and relaxed. It had only been a dream.

He threw back the sheets and set his feet on the floor, his prosthetic making a soft clunk as it met the wood. He stood up, stretched his stiff muscles, and yawned. Then he turned to the raised platform on the other side of the room, where his dragon Toothless slept. The bed was empty, but that wasn't really a surprise: Toothless often woke before Hiccup and would leave the house via a large square hole in the ceiling to roam about while he waited for his master to get up. Or else he would sit on the roof and hop impatiently, trying to wake his young Viking companion, making the wooden house creak and groan in torment as it struggled to hold up under this barrage of attacks. Why exactly Toothless attacked the house instead of simply prodding Hiccup awake was anyone's guess, but Hiccup preferred it to being licked awake. Toothless' saliva was nearly impossible to wash off.

This morning, however, Toothless must have decided to go wander about the village, for the roof was quiet. Wondering absently what his friend was up to, Hiccup headed down the stairs and found his father, Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, seated at the table. He looked up and smiled as Hiccup entered the room. "Morning, son," he boomed (Stoick hardly ever spoke softly). "Sleep well?"

Remembering his nightmare, Hiccup shrugged and said, "Uh, yeah, I guess." He ran a hand through his hair, and his fingers paused over a single braid. Astrid had lately gotten into a habit of braiding his hair, something he'd opted to tolerate in silence. It was preferable to a punch in the arm.

Stoick seemed to realize that Hiccup wasn't being totally open, and he frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hiccup replied, trying to force some confidence into his voice. "I just had a weird dream, that's all."

"Oh." Stoick's face cleared. "Want to talk about it?"

Hiccup tried to picture himself discussing his dream with his father but found he couldn't quite manage it. For one, there wasn't much to talk about: darkness, silence, running, and a nameless certainty that something was wrong. For another, Stoick wasn't really the kind of person who understood dreams. Hiccup's grandfather on his mother's side had been a soothsayer, someone who could see into the future, and he'd reportedly been really good at dream interpretation too (which was lucky, as apparently he was prone to misreading the future and dream-telling was a good fallback). But Stoick? Stoick understood battle strategies and anything involving an axe, mace, or hammer. But dreams? Not really.

So Hiccup answered, "No thanks. I don't really remember it anyway."

This answer seemed to satisfy Stoick, who nodded and took a bite out of the fish he was eating for breakfast. Hiccup watched him for a moment, his thoughts wandering. He'd been certain in his dream that someone close to him was in danger. Was it possible that…?

He shook himself mentally. It was only a dream, he told himself. It was nothing to get uptight about.

"I'll go get started on the morning patrol," he said and headed for the door. Stoick grunted around a mouthful of fish in acknowledgement. Before the door closed behind him, Hiccup thought he heard his father call out, "Be careful, son!" but wasn't entirely sure.

The Isle of Berk lay before him. Where it snowed nine months of the year and hailed the other three. Where the food was tough and tasteless and the people even more so. Where dragons had once been a nuisance but, following his and Toothless' defeat of the Red Death, were now right at home living alongside the Vikings. And all because he, Hiccup, had refused to kill a dragon. And not just any dragon: a Night Fury, the most elusive and mysterious of all dragons. As Astrid had once put it, any other Viking would have killed the dragon on sight, but Hiccup had instead befriended and trained him, opening the door to a whole world of new possibilities…

Speaking of which…

"Toothless!" Hiccup called, and he waited for his dragon to respond. Usually it only took one yell to bring Toothless running to his master, but today he seemed to be too engrossed in whatever he was doing to heed Hiccup. So the young Viking cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a roar, a sound that was nearly identical to Toothless' voice. This time, he heard an answering roar echo off the hills further inland, and he smiled. Practicing those dragon calls had been a wise idea.

Moments later, Toothless came bounding into view, his long black body lithe and graceful as a cat, green eyes wide and pupils dilated with excitement. He skidded to a stop in front of Hiccup and growled happily, the deep rumbling noise reverberating up his throat. Smiling, Hiccup held out his hand, and Toothless leaned his head into his friend's palm without hesitation. "Hey, bud," Hiccup said. "Been out exploring?"

Toothless crooned, and Hiccup chuckled. "All right. Well, we have work to do, so let's get you saddled up."

Toothless could barely hold himself still as Hiccup placed the artificial tailfin on the dragon's tail. Hiccup then attached it to the special stirrup designed for his metal left foot. He smiled wryly: We match, he thought, and he felt his heart swell with joy.

As soon as the saddle was fastened, Hiccup climbed onto the dragon's back and said, "All right, Toothless, you ready?" Toothless snorted impatiently in assent, and Hiccup laughed. "Then let's go!"

The Night Fury spread his massive wings and a second later they were airborne. The wind whipped Hiccup's face, making his hair billow, and he couldn't stop a laugh of pure delight from bubbling out of his mouth. It didn't matter how many times they flew together: the sensation of freedom and grace never ceased to amaze him. He adjusted the tailfin instinctively, and Toothless banked a little to the right, leveling off. The dragon rumbled impatiently: he wanted to climb higher. "Sorry, bud," Hiccup said. "But we have to patrol first. Then we can have some fun."

Toothless snorted and dove sharply just to make sure Hiccup knew he wasn't pleased. "Hey!" Hiccup gasped, and then as they leveled off again he sighed and muttered, "Useless reptile." The humor in his voice prevented the comment from being truly insulting.

The dragon swooped over the island, and Hiccup squinted down at the village below. There wasn't much activity yet: it was too early. But there were a few Vikings milling about, opening up shops and sweeping dirt off of doorsteps, preparing for a new day. In front of the forge, Gobber the Belch was talking animatedly to his first customer of the morning, probably, Hiccup thought with a grin, regaling him with another of his wild stories. With Gobber, it was hard to tell if these tales were true or not: fiction had a peculiar way of weaving in with the truth. After all, he'd been right about having the Boneknapper dragon pursuing him, but Hiccup highly doubted a hammerhead yak had anything to do with it.

Certain that everything in the village was as it should have been, Hiccup directed Toothless toward the ocean. Seeing the great expanse of blue before him, the dragon whined in yearning. Hiccup laid a hand on his neck and said, "I know, bud. A perfect day for flying."

Toothless soared over the seastacks, and Hiccup scanned the water lapping at their bases for any ships that might have been hiding in their shadows. There hadn't been an attack in quite some time, but Hiccup knew better than to underestimate the enemy tribes. The Berserker tribe in particular could be rather unpredictable. But he was able to relax: the only ships on the sea today were from Berk. The only exception was a boat moored at the docks. The crest on its sail proclaimed it to be from their friendly neighbors, the Bog-Burglar tribe. Hiccup's heart lifted: perhaps his childhood friend Camicazi had come over to visit. He made a mental note to ask his father when he was done patrolling.

From the ocean they headed back inland and scanned the forested hills for any signs of wild dragons encroaching on the village, but everything was peaceful. Before long it was time to report back to Stoick that all was well. On their way back to the village, they passed over the old dragon-killing arena where his dragon training lessons had been held what felt like a lifetime ago. The arena now held the Berk Dragon Training Academy, where he and his friends trained their dragons to coexist with Vikings and defend them against attack. Hiccup's heart swelled with happiness as he gazed down through the metal bars covering the arena. Snotlout was teaching Gustav how to ride his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. Or rather, Snotlout was trying and failing to keep his dragon under control while Gustav watched. As usual. Nearby Fishlegs was studying the behavior of a baby Terrible Terror and was recording information into the Book of Dragons while Meatlug, his Gronckle, snoozed by his side. The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut were fighting, and their two-headed Hideous Zippleback, Barf and Belch, mimicked them, the two heads snapping and hissing at each other. Hiccup rolled his eyes. Some things never change.

Then he frowned. One of the dragon trainers was missing: his girlfriend Astrid, along with Stormfly, her Deadly Nadder. Where could she be? Astrid took dragon training very seriously: she wouldn't miss without a good reason. Was she perhaps ill? He straightened in the saddle and urged Toothless a little faster back to the village. He paused for a brief moment to let his father know that he'd seen nothing to be concerned about on patrol before turning and heading over to the Hofferson house. Hearing a noise from the shed where Stormfly slept, he peeked around the corner of the hut and relaxed. Astrid was there, patting her dragon on the shoulder as she ate fish out of a barrel. Astrid looked around at the sound of his approach and smiled. "Good morning, milady," Hiccup said with a grin.

"Good morning, Hiccup," Astrid replied brightly. "How was everything on patrol?"

"Eh, the usual. Gobber is gossiping, Snotlout is making a fool of himself, the twins are at each other's throats." He ticked each item off on his fingers as he spoke.

"A normal day, then," Astrid confirmed, nodding.

"Well, not really," Hiccup said. "See, normally you're at the academy training with the others. But here you are. Are you feeling okay?" He made to put his hand to her forehead, and Astrid swatted it away good-naturedly.

"I'm fine, Hiccup," she insisted with a laugh. "I just felt like taking the day off, that's all. And besides, Stormfly's been working really hard lately. She deserves a break." She patted the Nadder's shoulder. Stormfly acknowledged her with an affectionate screech before returning to her breakfast.

An idea occurred to Hiccup, and without pausing to think he asked, "Well then, would you care for a ride, milady?" He bowed and grinned, gesturing toward Toothless, who was watching this exchange with a distinctly bored expression on his face. At the suggestion of a ride, however, he perked up and crooned excitedly.

Astrid looked momentarily surprised, but she smiled and said, "Sounds like fun." She gave Stormfly one last pat before following Hiccup over to the impatient Night Fury. Hiccup mounted first and then held out a hand to help her climb on behind him. With a click, he slid his metal foot into the stirrup and said, "All right, Toothless, let's go."

Toothless didn't need to be told twice. With a roar of joy, he spread his wings and bolted into the sky. Astrid gasped and wrapped her arms around Hiccup's torso. She hadn't been expecting such a rough takeoff. "Sorry," Hiccup called back to her. "He's been wanting to fly all morning, so he's a little, well…"

"I'm fine," Astrid said, relaxing her grip slightly, though Hiccup noticed she kept her arms around him. He felt a warm stirring in his gut and grinned.

Hiccup adjusted his dragon's tailfin, and Toothless turned neatly to the left, heading out toward the ocean. He made a rumbling sound of delight in his throat, and Hiccup said to Astrid, "Hang on," before adjusting his foot again. In response, Toothless dove, streaking toward the sea faster than an arrow loosed from a taut bow. Behind him, Hiccup heard Astrid laugh as adrenaline coursed through her. At the last possible second, Hiccup straightened the tailfin, and Toothless leveled off, his feet just skimming the water's surface, sending up a faint spray. The Night Fury then rocketed upward, going into a spiral followed immediately by a couple of loops. "You okay back there?" Hiccup asked over his shoulder.

"Never better!" Astrid replied, grinning a little wildly.

Hiccup chuckled and leaned down toward his dragon's head. "Okay, Toothless, let's show her what you can really do…"

Toothless purred happily and launched himself skyward, his powerful wings flapping with every ounce of strength he could muster up. Soon they were in the clouds and still climbing higher and higher…

And then they were freefalling, Toothless' nose pointing straight down at the world below, picking up speed exponentially until Hiccup felt his cheeks being pulled back. Astrid's arms were wrapped tightly around his body, but he could tell from her wordless cry that she was enjoying this just as much as he and Toothless were.

They fell out of the clouds and Toothless leveled off as they descended into the seastacks. As they had done many times before, Hiccup and Toothless worked together to navigate the maze of stone, weaving left and right, Hiccup's foot adjusting the dragon's tail as if of its own volition.

Then they emerged once again into open air, and Toothless let out a happy roar as he slowed down to a more easygoing speed. "That was incredible!" Astrid said breathlessly, and Hiccup grinned, patting Toothless' scaly head fondly. The Night Fury crooned in response.

After that, their ride calmed down. Hiccup directed Toothless up over the island, allowing them to gaze contentedly down at the goings-on below them.

The peaceful silence was broken by Astrid: "Okay, Hiccup. What's going on?"

Hiccup gave a little start. "Huh? What are you—?"

"You're usually not this quiet, and your muscles are tense," Astrid observed. "What's on your mind?"

Hiccup grinned wryly. "You're perceptive," he said.

"I know you," Astrid returned, and she put a hand on his shoulder. "So what's bothering you?"

Hiccup hesitated for a moment. Then he decided that he could tell her. Astrid wouldn't laugh his fears away; they were too close for that. "Well, last night I had this weird dream…"

He told her all about his nightmare, leaving no detail out. Not that there was a lot to tell, really. But Astrid stayed silent throughout his explanation, and when he had finished, she was a moment in speaking.

"Well," she said slowly, "I guess I can understand why you're worried. We don't exactly lead easy lives. There's always the threat of some attack. There're wild dragons to deal with, and even the trained ones can go a little nuts sometimes…" Toothless snorted indignantly but Astrid ignored him. "…And then there are the people in the village, who aren't always the easiest to get along with…"

"Thank you for summing that up…" Hiccup said with a small smile.

Astrid didn't acknowledge the jab. "But hey, that's why your dad's got you doing morning patrols, right? To make sure nothing's wrong."

Hiccup didn't answer immediately. The thing was, he wasn't sure that was Stoick's reason for starting the morning patrol. His father had brought up the fact that he, Hiccup, was the future chief of Berk several times recently, and this seemed to him more like Stoick was trying to prepare his son for the responsibilities he'd be expected to uphold. But he decided on the spot that he didn't want to discuss this with Astrid right now. He knew she'd be excited for him, far more excited than he himself was. So he answered her question with a quick nod and said, "Right."

"So I wouldn't worry about it too much," Astrid said, apparently satisfied with Hiccup's response. Then she frowned, sensing that he wasn't entirely convinced. Her grip on his shoulder tightened a little as she added, "But even if something does happen, don't forget that we're all here to help you."

Hiccup smiled. "Thanks, Astrid."

Not long afterward, Toothless came in for a landing in front of the Hofferson house. Stormfly screeched a greeting to her master as Astrid dismounted, Hiccup right behind her. She smiled at him and said, "Thanks for the ride, Hiccup. It was…"

She broke off, her smile fading to be replaced by a bewildered look. "Astrid? What's wrong?" Hiccup asked, concerned.

Astrid just stared at him, at a loss for words. She managed to splutter out, "But…how… when did that happen?!"

"When did what happen?" Hiccup looked down at himself worriedly. "What, have I grown a third arm or something? Ow!" Astrid punched his arm. "What in Thor's name was that for?!"

Astrid put her hands on her hips. "When did you get taller than me?!"

For a moment Hiccup just gaped at her. Then he realized that he was indeed looking slightly down at her. It had happened so gradually he had totally missed it. After so long of having to look up at Astrid, the tables had finally turned. A laugh escaped his lips before he could stop himself. Astrid punched his arm again, though there wasn't much conviction in it this time. She was grinning, and soon they were both laughing together. On impulse, Hiccup pulled her close and kissed her. Her laughter hadn't completely died away when their lips met, but she fell silent pretty quickly, leaning forward into his embrace. When they broke apart, she looked up into his eyes and murmured, "I guess I could get used to it."

Hiccup chuckled.

After a moment, Astrid pulled back and said, "Will you be going to the academy this afternoon?"

Hiccup nodded. "I suppose I'd better, just to make sure Snotlout and the twins don't burn the place down."

Astrid grinned. "Great. I'll see you then." And with another light-ish punch to the arm, she turned and headed into the house.

Hiccup reached up to rub the spot where he'd been punched. Three times. He was going to have a bruise. He looked around at Toothless, who had watched the entire exchange with a blank, slightly bored expression in his eyes. Hiccup shrugged his shoulders. "Women…"

Toothless grumbled noncommittally, but he purred happily when Hiccup reached out to stroke his forehead. "Come on, bud," he said, turning back toward his house. "Let's get something to eat before heading out to the arena."

Toothless crooned in agreement, and Hiccup grinned. For a moment, the memory of his dream threatened to invade his mind again, but he pushed it aside firmly. Astrid was right: as long as there was nothing wrong, there was nothing to worry about.

And besides, with Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, he already had enough to deal with.

"I wonder what kind of mess I'll be cleaning up this afternoon?" he wondered aloud as he headed up to his house.

As if on cue, he heard a shout and looked up in time to see Snotlout and Hookfang streak past, the dragon's scaly body aflame, smoke trailing behind them. They vanished from view, and a moment later a loud crash came from the direction of the Great Hall. Hiccup sighed. "Oh great. I can see the look on my father's face already…"

And with that, he took off at a run, his faithful dragon running contentedly alongside him.