Chapter 3

Snotlout held his modest, handmade flute to his chest protectively as if that was what the creepy guy who was staring at him intently from the shadows of the trees was after.

Snotlout's false bravado was beginning to return and he yelled at the man defiantly, "You better not mess with me, you creepy weirdo! I'm the – "

"- Fiercest warrior on Berk?" the shadowed man cut him off, "Of course you are."

Snotlout glared at the man, now fully under the spell of 'daytime Snotlout' once more. He wasn't the sharpest axe on the wall sure, but he wasn't stupid. He knew a condescending tone when he heard one, he'd been hearing them his whole life after all.

"Listen here you," he began, carefully tucking his flute into his vest before cracking his knuckles, "You're clearly not from Berk, and I would suggest that you leave before I force you to!"

The man stepped forward into the light of the torches, revealing his lean, clean-shaven face and spindly frame. His face was that of an older man, but it was not yet lined with wrinkles. Snotlout put him at roughly his father's age, maybe slightly older. His distinguishing feature was his two different coloured eyes, one brown, and the other the lightest shade of blue. He wore traditional Viking clothing, but it looked all wrong on him, like he belonged in something less scruffy and more elegant. Perhaps it was his voice that gave off this air. It was clear but soft, and he spoke in accented Norse. Where the accent was from though, Hel if the boy knew, nor did he care. All he cared about was the fact that this stranger had landed on their island by not following the correct channels. He had stolen onto it like a thief in the night which, for all Snotlout knew, he could very well be.

He smiled a sinister, crooked smile at the dark-haired teen and bent over so his face was on his level for, even with Snotlout standing at his full height, this mysterious newcomer stretched a good few heads above him.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me the whereabouts of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, little boy?" Snotlout was taken aback, what did this man want with Hiccup?

"Why do you want my cousin?" he jabbed an accusing finger at the man's beak-like nose while he bristled with anger. He and Hiccup had only grown into a relationship that was some semblance of what their ideal familial bond should be recently but, family or not, he considered his cousin a friend. And no one got away with harming his friends, or even looking like they would harm them. Yeah, that was a little prejudiced, but hey, if you looked and acted like a bad guy, Snotlout would treat you like one.

And this man positively reeked of evil. Or, according to Hiccup and Toothless, cleanliness. Same difference.

"Oh ho! Your cousin, is he?" the man stroked a non-existent moustache, "No matter then. We simply require someone of the chief's bloodline to complete our mission."

Snotlout's face paled and he began to sweat, the flute that he had shoved into his vest starting to slip lower between the fabric and his bare skin.

"W-we?" his bravado had shattered at the prospect of there being more of these strange, bird-like people on the island.

"Naturally," the man straightened up and began pacing around the clearing.

"You didn't think I'd come alone on an attempt to kidnap the chief's son did you? Oh, pardon my mistake. I meant to say, his nephew."

This last word was hissed out between clenched, but grinning yellowed teeth as several more shadowy figures approached the clearing. Snotlout jumped in fright, how had he not heard them approaching?

He was surrounded and the clearing had suddenly grown terribly quiet. The poor boy didn't know what to do and was about to breakdown and plead for his life, when his flute fell out of the bottom of his now drenched shirt and clunked against a hollow log he was standing behind in the clearing. The sound seemed deafening in the quiet environment, but he was the only one who flinched. There was a beat of silence.

Then the forest exploded with a single, heart-stopping sound.

This time all the men in the clearing reacted, either jumping out of their skins (so they were human after all) or reaching for their weapons as a monstrous roar ripped through the quiet night air.

What felt like a gust of air whirled through the clearing, blowing out all of the torches but one, before seeming to settle at Snotlout's feet. Gusts of air weren't big and black though, nor did they have wings and sharp fangs. And they most definitely didn't have murderous, green eyes.

Snotlout shrieked at the sudden appearance of the dragon in front of him, but was thankfully drowned out by the several other shouts erupting around the edges of the clearing as the disoriented group of men laid eyes on the fearsome beast that seemed to be quite partial to what they considered a cowardly, insignificant boy.

"Toothless?" Snotlout breathed with giddy relief. The dragon turned its head at the sound of his voice and the teenager gasped, resisting the urge to raise a hand to his mouth. Those eyes were the grey-green he had once shared with his cousin when he was younger, and he would recognise them anywhere.

"Hiccup?!" he hissed at the Night Fury, but the dragon had already lost interest in him and was eyeing the men surrounding the odd couple, daring them to make a move. Snotlout's mind clouded over. When he had looked into Hiccup's eyes, he hadn't seen his goofy cousin. He had gazed into the pine pools of a ruthless predator, and somehow he felt lucky to be alive. Hiccup's pupils had narrowed into slits so small, they were almost non-existent, and he hadn't shown signs of understanding what Snotlout had said at all, other than merely reacting to the sounds around him.

Boy oh boy oh boy, this is bad. This is very bad. Snotlout wrapped his arms around himself for comfort.

Although, the fact that Hiccup was protecting him instead of attacking him counted for something, surely. That must mean that he was still there! Of course it did.

Snotlout wasn't sure who he was trying to convince as he took in his cousin's coiled appearance. Hiccup wasn't just defending him, the dragon was ready to attack.

Hiccup snarled and snapped at the two-leggeds that surrounded him and the one who smelled like family. The dragon's mind was clouded with a rage he had never before experienced, which was why, he was sure, he was seeing his flock member like a two-legged rather than a dragon which was what he surely must be. His mind was in an unfamiliar place. Yes, that was obviously it.

He felt like he had been in a situation similar to this one before, the sight of angry, yelling two-leggeds brandishing their fake claws at him while he protected one of his own. Although, the scenery now seemed wrong in comparison. The Night Fury remembered there being a cage above his head in the original memory and shuddered involuntarily at the thought of something cutting him off from the sky.

He brought himself back to the present with a snort and continued facing each of the circling men, trying to judge which one would attack fir – Ah, there we go.

Seeing the tension in the two-leggeds hind legs, Hiccup prepared himself to counter the lunge. He had to keep the fight away from his nest mate, that much he somehow instinctively knew. Something told him he was not as capable a fighter as he himself was.

The human man leapt towards the beast, spear held high and ready to plunge into its side, but the dragon's head snapped towards him at the last moment and the man's eyes widened. He could have sworn the black demon gave him an evil grin, but he shut his eyes in preparation for his fate. Death never came though, instead he felt a searing pain around his torso. He opened his eyes to find that the beast had bitten into his midriff. Deeply, although he hadn't seemed to have punctured anything extremely useful. Fractured a few ribs maybe, but the foreign warrior was certainly not in any danger of dying anytime soon.

He craned his neck upwards to try and follow the movements of the flying devil, but could only catch glimpses and brief flashes of the action in the dying light of the single torch that had been left aflame. Before long, he saw that not one of his comrades had been left standing. Icy fingers grasped at his heart as he wondered whether he was the only one left alive, by fluke on the demon's part. On the more likely assumption that that was the case, the soldier played dead and waited for the boy and his beast to leave the area. He didn't stay awake for very long though, the pain in his torso soon over took his blackening vision, and he fainted.

"Uh. H-Hiccup?" Snotlout squeaked at his cousin, who was pacing back and forth in the middle of the clearing like a caged big cat and shaking his head occasionally, as if to clear it of confusing thoughts. He was clearly still not in his right mind. The human boy immediately regretted his timid squeak however, because the dragon's eyes snapped to him as soon as he spoke and he began approaching him slowly. Hiccup's eyes were still narrowed into tiny slits and his mouth had curled into a snarl that had remained in place since he had started fighting the foreigners.

Snotlout was worried that they had been killed, more for Hiccup's sanity's sake than any actual concern for the men. Although, the older man who had spoken to Snotlout before, and who was clearly their leader, was nowhere to be seen. He had apparently escaped amidst all the chaos that had been unleashed in the small wooded clearing. Now, it was Snotlout who wished he could do the same.

Being fixed by those decidedly un-Hiccup eyes was more than a little terrifying, especially as he approached him purposefully, with a predatory swagger in his step. He knew where the two of them lay on the food chain, clearly.

Although, to his relief, Hiccup simply stopped in front of him and looked down at him, staring into his eyes and, Snotlout felt, his very soul.

The boy gulped, and reached out his hand, the appendage at which Hiccup looked at with apparent disdain. Knowing what he needed to do to regain his cousin's trust, he shut his eyes tightly and looked away from the imposing form that appeared almost demonic in the flickering light of the fire.

Hiccup was confused. There was no doubt about it in his mind now, his nest mate was a two-legged. Although how that could be possible escaped his knowledge. He growled. His head hurt. This was all so unnatural and, to put the icing on the cake, when he had walked over to the two-legged, the young male had reached out his hand as if to pet him.

The audacity.

Hiccup didn't move his head, waiting to see how the boy reacted to his defiance. Needless to say, his reaction was not one that Hiccup expected. He had seen what he had done to those of his kind. The dragon had simply incapacitated the men as the thought of outright killing them just did not appeal to him in the slightest. He did not know why though, he was sure they had killed countless of his own. That was correct, was it not?

And yet, Hiccup smelled the conflicting emotions rolling off of the boy in waves. He was unsure of whether the men were indeed alive but, in spite of these doubts, he still reached out his hand to Hiccup's head.

It was what the boy did next however that triggered another memory of an experience that his previous fury had locked deep into the dragon's mind. Although, how odd, his own experience had been from the boy's perspective, and not his own.

As Snotlout looked away from Hiccup, hand outstretched, Hiccup saw another male two-legged stretching his hand out to him. This one had auburn hair and was thin and gangly looking. It looked up at him, and Hiccup gave an inward gasp.

This male human shared his eyes.

No, no that's not right. Not shared, it…

Snotlout's hand had almost reached his snout and Hiccup, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to go the rest of the distance, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead into the calloused palm from which spread the agile fingers of a musician.

Wait…a musician? That's right! That male two-legged did not share my eyes…his eyes are mine! Hiccup's eyelids snapped open and his once narrowed pupils were now wide and round, looking every bit like a scared child. Snotlout was still looking away from him, but the dragon nudged his hand and breathed a gentle puff of air through his nostrils that ruffled the dark hair not covered by his helmet.

Snotlout opened one eye hesitantly but, when he saw that Hiccup's eyes were filled with a good portion of black pupil, his other eye opened and he gently placed his other hand on Hiccup's scaly cheek.

"H-Hiccup?" he enquired softly.

If dragons could cry, those massive doe eyes would have certainly been welling up as the large head nodded once.

Yes. It's me.

"Ha!" Snotlout let out a disbelieving shout of victory as his face lit up with a radiant smile, "You're back! You did it!"

Hiccup shook his head, Snotlout's hands still attached to his face, and the boy's mouth formed a confused "o". The dragon gently nudged his cousin's chest with his snout, uttering a low rumbling sound of reassurance.

It was you. You did it. You brought me back.

Snotlout seemed to understand, "Me?" he looked at his hands on the dragon's snout, and then up at Hiccup's sad eyes. He didn't need a mind reader to tell that Hiccup's heart was broken by the latest turn of events and, in that moment, Snotlout forgot everything he had learnt about being a "proper Viking". He tugged Hiccup's head closer into his chest and stroked his neck comfortingly. While the dragon's form racked with dry sobs for his momentarily lost humanity, Snotlout felt his own eyes well up and spill over.

"Hiccup," he managed to choke out eventually, "You know this wasn't your fault right?"

The dragon didn't make any response.

"From what I saw, the only reason you went all…y'know… was because you saw I was in danger. Your friend, your family," Hiccup lifted his head morosely to look his cousin in the eye when he said that. Snotlout continued, undeterred, "You didn't try to attack me once. So, I know you can control this, cousin." He ceased his stroking and instead, gave Hiccup a friendly bop on the nose with a closed fist. Hiccup only looked at him doubtfully.

"Hey!" Snotlout grabbed the dragon's face with both of his hands, "YOU'VE GOT THIS, I said. Okay?"

This time Hiccup, still extremely shaken but miraculously feeling better thanks to Snotlout's words, nodded his head and attempted a toothless smile.

Snotlout shook his head at this and rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Well cuz, I guess it's about time we left," he bent down to pick up his now crushed flute and looked at it dejectedly, before looking at all the bodies strewn about the clearing floor.

He cleared his throat nervously again, "Uh, Hiccup? Are they -?"

The poor dragon had a look on his face that could only mean oh gods, no! and he shook his head frantically to convey his answer.

Snotlout only gave a weak, relieved chuckle before leaning heavily on Hiccup's flank. The adrenaline had left him and his knees buckled from the night's stressful events. The boy was not used to experiencing such an influx of emotions at any one time and he was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted.

Snotlout wheezed happily, "Well then, what are you worried about? I told you – you've. Got this. I believe…in…" Hiccup mentally filled in the rest of the thought as Snotlout's exhausted mind and body gave in to the peacefulness of sleep.

He was right, Hiccup decided. Instead of getting depressed because of something that had been out of his control, he should just make sure to never put himself in a position where that could happen again.

Because then, he shuddered to think about the possibility, they might not be able to bring me back.

He lifted Snotlout effortlessly into his gummy mouth, trying his best not to let his tongue touch the sleeping figure. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to subject himself to the kind of punishment that tasting Snotlout would have been.

He chuckled at his thought, but quickly sobered up as another entered his mind.

I guess I need to watch my temper from now on, Hiccup gave himself a solemn nod and decided that he would not think about what had happened that night from then on. He had learnt his lesson from the event, and it did not require any further thought on the subject. Satisfied, the boy turned dragon left the clearing and headed back towards the village. Snotlout would sleep in his bed that night.

Toothless and Stoick watched the dragon and boy leave, similar, solemn expressions on their faces. They had arrived in the aftermath of the fight and, judging by the moment that the cousins had had with each other, it was clear to the both of them what had happened. They glanced at each other and didn't need communication to make the silent decision that what they witnessed that night from their treetop perch would not leave the little, insignificant forest clearing to be shared with humans and dragons alike. But, they were both sure that it would be in both of their minds for a while, or at least until their favourite human was turned back into one.

Stoick broke the silence that had once again descended onto the forest, "Well, Toothless. Looks like we've got some cleanin' up to do." He gestured towards the fallen soldiers, heart-broken that his son had had to have been the one to do that. The dragon at his side whimpered, clearly sharing the sentiment.

You can imagine their surprise when they found that their boy, even with his humanity briefly receded, had left every single soldier he had attacked that night alive.