A dragon rider.
A tamed Night Fury.
A dragon raised boy.
A flaming sword.
Those were the rumours that ventured from a boat of dragon trappers.
"I swear to Odin I saw him! Riding atop a Night Fury with a sword of flames!"
"Aye, I saw him myself."
"It was like he was part of the dragon! Bad magic is at work with that boy."
The blonde maiden of Berk, of course, didn't believe in them. It was too ridiculous to even think about, yet the same time, gave her a sense of adventure and wonder. She sat on a large boulder on the beach, sharpening her favourite axe with a rock, thinking about the latest rumours and updates on this stupid sounding myth. She liked to sit here to clear her mine and just think. Out of nowhere in particular, a boy with spiky, black hair appears next to her on the boulder.
"Watcha thinkin' about, gorgeous? Is it me?" he asked, trying to edge closer to the girl.
All she did was recoil in disgusted and shoved him off the rock, making him wince as he made impact with the pebbles scattering the ground.
"What the Loki Astrid-"he attempted to yell.
"Only you would want to think about you, Snotface." she said bluntly.
"You'll soon realise that I am the only one meant for you babe." He said, grinning.
Astrid gagged a little at this comment, but was interrupted by three pairs of footsteps coming towards them. Quickly, Astrid shoved Snotlout down again, shortly after his recovery, making him yelp in surprised pain.
"Wassap, lovebirds!" called a thin boy with long, blonde hair.
The girl next to him, who appeared to be his girl re-incarnation, punched him arm, knocking him into Astrid, who the proceeded to push him onto Snotlout, who once again, befriended the ground. This made the blonde girl laugh, and even made Astrid smirk slightly.
Slightly.
"Good one, Ruffnut."
"You two never learn do you, especially you Tuffnut. Never say that Snotlout Jorgensen and THE Astrid Hofferson are 'lovebirds'." Said the chubby Viking who had walked up with the twins.
"Whatever, at least I don't stick my nose in boring books when I could just go and kill whatever it is you read about, Fishlegs." Tuffnut attempted.
"The Dragon manual can be very useful when dealing with dragons, it tells you their strengths and weaknesses which you can use against them." Fishlegs sighed.
"No one cares." The rest of the young adults said at once.
Fishlegs mumbles some annoyed curses before walking closer to the group and leaning on the boulder. Astrid only glanced around before sharpening her axe and getting lost in thought again. Ruffnut, being a girl herself, noticed her distant gaze. She frowned.
"Hey Astrid, are you okay?"
"Hm?"
"You seem to be lost in thought."
"Oh, I'm just thinking about th-"She was cut off by Snotlout.
"She looked like that when I got here." He said as he brushed the dirt off his shirt. "She's obviously thinking about me!"
Astrid rolled her eyes. "No, actually, I was thinking about those rumours about the Dragon Rider on an islands to the far north."
The rest of the teens, excluding Fishlegs, groaned and rolled their eyes.
"C'mon, Astrid, really?" asked Ruffnut, "You don't really believe that a boy could tame a Night Fury do you?"
Astrid shrugged. "Maybe. It just seems interesting. Don't any of you think it would be cool to be the first ones to find out the truth?"
"What do you think he knows about dragons?" asked Fishlegs. "After all, if he really did tame a Night Fury, other dragons would be no problem for him."
"You just want to know for the Dragon Manual, don't you?" Asked Tuffnut.
Fishlegs could only shrug. He wasn't going into this argument again.
Astrid rolled her eyes at the bickering teens and jumped down from the boulder.
"Remind me why you guys are here again? I don't remember telling you I came down here."
"Snotlout stalks you and he followed you here." Ruffnut said, a 'matter of factly'.
Astrid cast a disgusted glance at Snotlout before walking back towards her house.
"I'm going home, my parents will be expecting me soon. Follow me and I'll swear to Thor I will kill you, Snotlout."
The group winced at the glare she shot at said teen, and watched as she walked away slowly, deep in thought.
Hiccup POV
He watched as the trappers trudged through the thick bushes of the jungle towards the traps they had set yesterday.
Stupid.
All Vikings were.
There were no dragons here that weren't under his protection.
These dragons were relying on him to protect them. Next to the Alpha of course.
Toothless nudged his arm and crooned.
"Don't worry bud, they won't leave with our dragons." He reassured.
Toothless seemed satisfied with that answer as he nodded slightly and continued to watch.
Of course the dragons weren't actually his, in the sense they were owned by him, but they were family, and he would protect them as such. They trusted him.
"Over here!" one of them called.
A bulky, tattooed man, assumedly their leader, followed the voice of the trapper. The snare was empty of course, but it was set off. Hiccup couldn't risk the dragon's safety. A large branch lay, snapped, across the trap. A scowl was plastered on the leaders face.
"This cannot go on!" he screamed, clearly frustrated. "That's the fourth trap, empty! The boss will go ballistic if he finds out we got nothing. I am the great Alfheim! Dragons bow down to Vikings such as me, not run away like cowards! They should bow down to us Vikings."
The trappers cheer, making Hiccup smirk.
Were all Viking this egotistic?
He felt it was time to make himself known.
"These dragons belong to no one." He began, "They are not slaves, to you nor to anyone else." His voice was quiet.
The leader was obviously enraged.
"WHO ARE YOU? SHOW YOURSELF!" he screamed, "YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY THE ONE WHO STOLE OUR DRAGONS!"
Hiccup cocked his head slightly to the side.
"All I did was make sure no dragons were harmed. They are not weapons, they are sentimental creatures that-"
"NONSENSE! They are nothing but pests! We simply put them to good use."
Hiccup had to keep from bursting out of his hiding spot and killing these men on sight, but he was no like that. He wouldn't stoop down to their level.
"They simply fight for survival, they are harmless if not aggravated." He stated calmly.
Alfheim snorted. "Nonsense they are vicious beasts that-"
He was interrupted by a loud, distorted squawk. Hiccup froze. He knew that sound anywhere! A Nadder that had been caught in one of Drago's metal snares, causing devastating injuries. She landed in a clearing not, too far from the trappers, and began to preen herself. Alfheim smirked.
"Well stranger. If these dragons don't belong to you then you won't mind if I take just one, do you?"
Hiccup was frozen, his legs rooted to the ground. They would do nothing of the sort!
"You touch a scale on that dragon, and I WILL hurt you." He growled. Toothless tensed beside him, getting into a crouched position, ready to pounce.
The leader ignored the dragon boy's threat. "Try and stop me." Preparing his weapon, pointing it at the unknowing dragon.
With that, Toothless and Hiccup burst out of their hiding spot. The black warrior was knocking down all of the trappers who had barely had time to reach for their weapons. Hiccup, however, leaped straight onto Alfheim, pinning him to the ground with his sword of flame grazing the leader's neck, causing small yells and whimpers.
"Sorcery." Alfheim managed, "A flame that never goes out? Impossible!"
Hiccup smirked. This never got old. "I have a flaming sword that says otherwise." Ha stated as-a-matter-of-factly. Hiccup lent in close to the leader's ear.
"These dragons are under my protection," he whispered, "so if you harm them in any way, or try to capture and use them like some toy, I WILL kill you. Understand?"
Alfheim nodded.
"Good."
He branded an X on the man's wrist. He needed a reminder.
"Get out of my sight, and let's hope we never meet again."
He released the whimpering man, who instantly ran, calling for his men to follow. When all of the trappers were gone, Hiccup walked to the Nadder.
"Hey, girl. You okay?" he asked, scratching her neck.
The dragon crooned before nodding, leaning in to the touch of his soft fingers.
Hiccup smiled. He couldn't understand how Vikings could ever think of harming such incredible, sentimental creatures. Mum says that they will never change, and that some people were just 'born different', but hopefully that's not true.
'Surely SOMEONE could understand, right? If we just showed them…' Hiccup's thoughts trailed off into a dream like trance. Toothless crooned. He could tell when his brother had something on his mind. Hiccup turned and smiled warmly.
"I'm fine bud. C'mon, let's go home."
Toothless, still concerned, seemed happy about the thought of some rest. Hiccup attached his harness to Toothless' saddle before taking off into the setting sky.
'Maybe someday…'