I... I have no words. Things were going well until I got towards the end of the chapter, where my suddenly disappeared and I was left with a shorter chapter than usual. I'm sorry for disappointing you in that regard. The next chapter, I will make sure it meets the usual length that we all know and love.

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

A How To Train Your Dragon Story

A Different Beginning: The Rise of Hiccup

Chapter 6: A Work in Progress

"Hey Toothless?"

The dragon lifted his head to look over at his hatchling. After telling the story of that idiotic fleshbag who dared to hurt his hatchling (he'd get his teeth in that one one day), his hatchling had hunted for his own food in the pond and had left his Dragon Nip with him. He'd just finished coating himself in the scent when his hatchling called. He warbled to show he was listening.

"Could… Could I use some of your scales? The ones you shed," Hiccup asked, looking at Toothless. He had a single black scale in his hand, which he'd been inspecting carefully. The scale was thinner than the other ones he'd managed to get his hands on- much thinner. Due to their thinner state, he had a feeling he'd need more than if he used Gronkle scales, but he had a feeling it would be worth it. "I want to use them when I forge my sword. Like how I used Gronkle scales with my dagger." Hiccup pulled out the single dagger he kept on him now and plunged it in the dirt.

Toothless stood and walked over, sniffing the dagger before examining his hatchling. He wished to make a proper weapon with his scales? For some reason, the dragon felt rather pleased at the idea of his hatchling making his main weapon with his scales. He let out a chittering noise as he nodded. His scales were scattering the ground of the cove from his impact with the walls on the first day when he was trying to escape, so he was sure his hatchling would have plenty.

Hiccup let out a little laugh and hopped up, hurrying over to the tree root and pulling out a large leather sack. He usually used it for fruits he found on the trails, but it would do. "Alright. Would you help me gather them?" He smiled when Toothless began stalking towards the nearest scales, and hurried to do the same, tossing them in the pouch as quickly as he could. If he wanted to do this right, he would need as much time as he could get to work in the forge. Considering that there would be no Dragon Training the next day so that trainees could get some training in, he'd guess that he had a rough 36 hours. Would that be enough time?

Hiccup turned when he felt warm air suddenly rush against his back, making his wool shirt flutter, and held out the sack. He momentarily wondered where the scales were when Toothless opened his mouth and unloaded the saliva slick scaled. The dragon chittered and retracted his teeth, one more popping out of his mouth. It'd gotten wedged between his teeth. Hiccup lifted the bag, which was now dripping with dragon saliva and gave Toothless his signature smile.

What was that strange look his hatchling was giving him. He narrowed his eyes as he inspected it before retracting his teeth and attempting to work his mouth into the same shape.

Hiccup's eyes widened a fraction as he watched Toothless attempt to smile. His ear plates twitched when he finished and he looked at Hiccup expectantly. Hiccup smiled brightly and set down the bag, taking Toothless's head in his hands. "You amaze me, bud." Toothless warbled in response and butted his head against Hiccup's. Hiccup stayed there for a moment before pulling away and picking up the sack again. "Thanks for the scales."

Toothless followed Hiccup as he walked around, clothing himself in his tunic and vest before going to retrieve his Mint Leaves. He kneeled down and was about to put them into a pile so he could take them when something caught his eye. A long stick was laying nearby, one end pointing at his leaves, and the other end at the eels. He furrowed his brows as an idea formed in his head. It would be tricky….

Hiccup straightened, tying the small bag of what he now deemed as Dragon Nip to his hip before heading to the eels. He picked them up and placed them in the sack with the scales. "You don't mind do you?" He chuckled at Toothless's unamused snort, grabbing his dagger on the way to the entrance of the cove. He picked up the fish pack on the way and turned to Toothless. "I'll be back as soon as I can. It'll take a bit to forge my swords." Toothless warbled and nuzzled into Hiccup's cheek, making the boy break into a smile. "I'll bring extra fish next time to make up for it."

With the promise of extra fish, Hiccup left the Cove.

Hiccup looked over the equipment he'd gathered, tying his leather apron to his form. He'd gathered what little titanium they had for his extra project. They didn't use titanium often, so he'd be able to replace it before they needed it. He'd start on the extra project after he got the work on his swords underway.

The first thing he need to do was get the scales into the heat. He placed the scales inside the melting bucket and lowered it into the coals. He threw his weight onto the bellows several times until they coals were burning orange from the heat. He'd have to keep on that.

He set up the mold for later now. He walked over to the mold he'd made for his swords, running his fingertips over the unused insides. Hiccup closed the molds after checking to make sure there was nothing inside them, and after putting on his gloves, began to tighten the mold. There were several different knobs that he had to turn- he'd put extra on his special mold as he didn't want anything leaking out. Each drop of the molten liquor was precious, and he couldn't risk a single drop of it escaping. He turned the mold upright on its hold, checking it over before pouring water inside the molds. That would not only cool the inside of the mold, but it would tell Hiccup if there were any leaks.

Hiccup opened and closed his fists when he finished, popping his knuckles lightly. Without the gloves, he was sure he'd have blisters on his hands by the end of the day. He turned back to the forge and pulled out the metal forceps, rooting around in the bucket of scales. Just as he thought, the scales would take a few hours to melt, unlike the steel he'd be using for the base of the sword, which would melt within an hour.

With that note, Hiccup picked up the bucket that held the titanium and threw his weight on the bellows again, forcing them down and pushing air into the coals once more. He wiped the back of his hand along his forehead. After checking over everything, he headed over to the nearby table, where a small tub of Toothless's saliva sat.

The took off his glove and swirled a finger around in the liquid, examining it. It was thick and sticky. Perhaps it could help…

He wiped off his hand before taking out one of the eels he'd brought with him, twirling his dagger between his fingers before getting to work on skinning it. He had a side project to work on.

After another hour, he'd placed the titanium in the mold he'd gotten out for it. He'd had to make a few adjustments to the mold itself, but he thought it would work. Then, as he was checking the dragon scales, a shock when through his system.

"I forgot about the dinner!"

He shed his apron and gloves and splashing water on his face to clean himself of sweat, drying himself off before taking off. He was so late, so very late.

When Gobber had been leading him towards his grandmother's hut, Gobber had mentioned about how all the teens had been told to come to the Mead Hall for dinner for an analysis of how training went. He'd told Hiccup to come along so he could make some points.

And Hiccup had forgotten.

He headed towards his house and grabbed the thick book Gobber had asked him to bring before heading out off the house and towards the Mead Hall. Hiccup jumped over a sheep that happened to be in his way, making the woman leading it shout in surprise. "Sorry!" He turned back towards his destination and yelped, ducking under the log that was being carried by two different Viking men. His hand trailed the ground as he bent backwards, his feet sliding against the ground as he stared at the log barely passing over his head. He could've sworn that the log bumped his hair. "Sorry Mr. Ingerman," he called as he straightened, leaving three stunned Vikings behind as he raced to the Mead Hall.

Gobber grumbled under his breath as he paced along the length of the table the teens were sitting at. They were conversing and eating, ignoring the fact that they were there by force. 'Where is that boy,' Gobber thought in annoyance. He looked towards the door, having thought he saw Hiccup. Nope. Just a man carrying a whole cooked chicken.

CRASH!

The teens and Gobber looked to the door in surprise as Hiccup barreled in, running into the Viking man carrying the plate. He yelped as he rolled and jumped to his feet, catching the plate. He looked upwards and seemed to shift on the balls of his feet before extending the plate suddenly, catching the chicken and balancing the new weight. He let out a relieved sigh and handed the man his food before turning to Gobber. "Sorry I'm late."

Silence. Tuffnut dropped his cup.

Hiccup shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck. "What?"

"How… How did you…" Tuffnut looked between the shocked Viking man and Hiccup, opening and closing his mouth when he couldn't find the words.

Hiccup looked back at the man with the whole chicken and cleared his throat as he looked at Gobber. "Shouldn't we start with the analysis," he asked, trying desperately to change the topic.

The man gave Hiccup one last look before nodding and turning back to the teens. "In the ring t'day, ye all performed t' yer best." The teens looked at each other and smiled, thinking that was good. "Yer best is a'solutely terrible." They looked shocked. Um. What? "Hiccup. Explain how each o' them messed up t'day."

Hiccup picked up a small wooden plate that had a chicken leg on it. "Well," he started, grabbing a nearby cup of water that had been set out on the table and taking a sip. "I don't think they did terrible, but if it had been a real battle, I think they'd all be dead, with the exception of Astrid. Tuffnut and Ruffnut took their attention from the dragon to argue over a sword that had a skull on it. A shield with a skull painted on it won't save your life any more than a shield with a flower on it will." He took a bite from his chicken, pausing. "And fighting over it definitely won't keep you alive."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut looked at each other before huffing and turning to their food. They began hitting each other with the bones not two seconds later.

"Knowing facts about dragons is great, but you let it distract you Fishlegs," Hiccup said, looking at his sort-of-friend. "You lifted your shield into the air and the Gronkle shot at it. In a real battle, chances are that you would've lost your arm."

Fishlegs nodded, taking the information to heart.

"Flirting on the battlefield is not smart either." He glared at Snotlout, aware that the teen was matching his gaze. Except Hiccup had a black eye. "Flirting could get you and the person you're flirting with killed."

Snotlout grunted, taking an angry bite from his large fish.

He looked at the final person, growing hesitant now. Out of all the teens, he still sought her approval. He couldn't help it. "As for Astrid…" Hiccup paused. Perhaps being honest would be best. "Well, you kept your attention on the dragon, distracted it well, and kept your shield in the proper place, but you abandoned a Viking without a weapon."

"Doin' so pu' naht only Hiccup's life in dangah, bu' i' put yer life in dangah too." Astrid looked shocked at this and looked to Gobber, confused. "If Stoick heard ye abandoned a Viking in need, naht t' mention his own son…" Gobber trailed off as he hobbled towards Hiccup, the point getting across with ease. Astrid wouldn't be on Berk long after Stoick found out. "But, I won' tell 'im. Aftah all, ye didn' know. But don' expect t' ge' off tha' easily nex' time." He stopped in front of Hiccup and took the book, walking over to the table. "This is the dragon manual," Gobber stated as he dropped the book on the table with a resounding thump. "Everythin' we know abou' every dragon we know of. Study up. Hiccup an' I have work t' discuss."

Hiccup looked at Gobber in surprise before realizing that he probably wanted to ask about the black eye. He finished off his chicken leg and downed the rest of his water before following, leaving the teens behind. "I'm guessing you want to know about this," he asked, gesturing to his bruised nose and eye.

"Tha' an' why ye were late."

Hiccup hesitated before nodding. "Sorry about that. I finally started on my swords. And Snotlout wanted to make sure that I wouldn't tell dad anything bad about him," he stated simply, rubbing the bridge of his nose gently.

Gobber sighed softly and shook his head. "Tha' boy… I'll have a talk wit' his father when they get back from the search," he stated firmly. "He know his father wouldn' approve o' this."

Hiccup sighed and nodded, knowing that it was nose use to argue.

"Now, tell me all 'bout those swords o' yers." Gobber smiled lightly. "Wha' scales did ye finally deci'e on fer 'em?"

Hiccup had expected this and had come up with an explanation while he was working. "Well… I don't know what they are, actually."

"Wha'?" Hiccup removed a single black scale from the inside of his vest and handed it over. "Wha's this?"

"I… I thnk it's a Night Fury scale."

"WHA'?!"

Hiccup shushed him, looking around as he took the scale back. "I know how it sounds, but look at it. It's really thin and I haven't seen a single scale like it. You've been letting me take a look at the scales before you got rid of them, so you know I would've recognized it if it belonged to any of our usual dragons."

Gobber looked at the scale Hiccup held between his fingers. "A Nigh' Fury… I can' believe ye got enough scales from a Nigh' Fury t' make yer swords from 'em."

Hiccup let out a little breathless laugh. "Yeah. Me too."

Hiccup picked up the forceps and plunged them into the bucket of scales, stirring it around. "Perfect," he murmured, wiping at his forehead. The scales had finally started to break down. It'd been several hours since he and Gobber had parted ways, and Hiccup had almost finished his side project when he had decided to check on the scales. By this point, the sun had started to rise again.

Dragon scales, no matter how much heat was applied, couldn't be completely melted. They just started to soften and loosen up, allowing them to be mixed with metal. Gronkle scales were easily ten times thicker than Night Fury scales, which was why they'd taken so long to break down. It was definitely worth it though. His daggers likely wouldn't chip unless he sharpened them too long on one side.

Hiccup picked up the steel with the tongs and carefully lowered the pieces of ingot into the bucket. He repeated the action several times before going to the bellows and throwing his weight on it (which was more taxing than making the swords, Hiccup was sure). 'I've gotta move fast when that's melted,' he thought to himself, catching his breath and wiping the sweat from his forehead. Dragon scales not only 'melt' slowly, but they cool extremely fast. After the steel had melted down, Hiccup would have to stir the concoction before carefully (but quickly) pouring them into the molds. The quick cooling was part of the reason for why the weapons gained the streaks of color. That was also due to the mixing with the metal, which allowed the scales to finally break up into small pieces.

Hiccup had realized some time during his weapon forging that scales never truly melted down. They just softened and broke up into small pieces when heated enough. That was one of the reasons why dragons were fireproof- no dragon could breath a fire that hot.

'Except maybe Toothless,' Hiccup thought as he sat down at his work station, looking at his newest project. After cleaning it up and making sure it was smoothed down, he'd coated the length of it in a thin layer Toothless's saliva and wrapped the it in leather strips. Upon drying a few hours later, he realized that he couldn't remove the strips even if he wanted to. Hiccup made a note to clean off anything he got Toothless's saliva on as fast as he could.

He placed the unique weapon on the table with a sigh, turning back to the concoction in the coals. He plunged the tongs into it carefully, stirring it around as his mind raced.

****Line Breaker Here****

Hiccup splashed water on his face, taking a deep breath. He'd just transferred the scaled liquor to the molds and had set them to cool. Now, he decided, was the perfect time for a break. He needed to eat before setting to wait for a few hours, so after cleaning himself up a bit, he headed back to the house for some bread.

Eating in the Mead Hall would garner unwanted attention, so he simply grabbed some bread and ate while on the way to his Grandmother's.

His grandmother was the village elder, Gothi. She was the mother of his mother, and had helped raise him after his mother had died. Well, more like she'd raised him. His father had distanced himself from Hiccup after the dragons took his mother.

She didn't talk much, but when she did, she was very soft spoken and kind in a way the other Vikings weren't. Despite that kindness though, she wasn't against giving someone a hard whack with her cane if she felt they deserved it.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his lightly, remembering the last time she'd hit him. It had been several month before, the day before he'd changed his ways. He'd been talking about how he would be the first to kill a Night Fury and that everyone on Berk would have to respect him then. She'd given him a whack on the head and simply stated that he needed to stop trying so hard to prove to the others that he was a dragon-killer.

He sighed. She seemed to know more about who he was than he did. He started to wonder just how much she knew about his future.

For those of you who were wondering, I got the Icelandic Translation from the last chapter through Google Translate. I know it's not totally reliable, but it's useful when you need a translation fast.

Review response time.

Jokul Frosti The Winter Child: The swords have Night Fury scales, and the bow has Terrible Terror scales.

saberstorm: He'd probably faint.

RushAlias: I'm still thinking about that.

Maerk: Sorry. I'd decided on Toothless losing his tailfin before I even got to that part in the story. And as you know, Hiccup has a tendency to be an oblivious twit.

For those of you who are interested and in that fandom, I recently created a new Community dedicated to LadyNoir. Take a look at it if you're in that fandom.

Until next time.

Jessika.