Yes, I know. This prologue is going to be pretty generic. It's mainly at the very end where it will really divert from the movie canon.

I feel like I should mention that this fic is purely focussed on Hictooth and NOT Toothcup. The couple that will be receiving some spotlight is Hiccstrid, my personal OTP, but weither it will be simply implied or also become a major focus is something I have yet to decide.

For now, please enjoy!

What Friendship Can Do: Prologue

Hiccup Haddock the Third was only fifteen years old when he shot down a Night Fury.

Determined to make his father, the chief of his village, proud and his people accept him, he had created one of many devices to do a job that his scrawny physique simply could not accomplish on his own.

He sought to kill a dragon, preferably the one no Viking had ever seen before. It was the very same one he had finally managed to shoot down.

The young boy had fired his bola-shooting contraption during a raid in an abandoned part of town, somewhere away from the dragon and Viking skirmish. He searched the night sky for his target until he had found it and fired in an instance. The backlash had been great, flinging him back a few feet upon activating the device.

He was sure to have a few bruises and an aching head from its impact with the ground, but it had been worth it when he heard a loud screech as he scrambled to get back up on his feet and watched a black mass crashing down roughly towards Raven Point.

He had done it.

After months of planning, creating, and trying, he had finally succeeded.

Hiccup Haddock the Third, the disappointing runt of Berk, was the first Viking to shoot down a Night Fury.

If this didn't make this father proud, nothing would.

Nobody believed him. Of course.

Following his victory, he had told his father what he had done, what his scrawny son had accomplished, but when he tried to tell him, his incredible deed wasn't even acknowledged.

Granted, immediately after downing the elusive dragon, Hiccup found himself chased by a Monstrous Nightmare and caused even more destruction as he ran away with a most unviking scream and a raging dragon on his tail, allowing the Deadly Nadders his dad had been trying to capture flee the scene when he left to go save his son, but the boy would've liked it if his catch had at least been mentioned.

A pat on the back would've been nice. So would a simple smile and a 'good job, son!' have been.

The chief had been angered when another dragon raid had ended even worse than it should've because of his son and so he had neither the time nor the patience to listen, instead lecturing the boy and shouting in front of the entire village of Berk, whoever was present.

Hiccup was embarrassed at the public shouting, his father's disappointment crushing that small and fleeting feeling of victory he just achieved. He felt like he wanted to vanish into thin air right then and there.

"Stop! Just... stop." Stoick the Vast had made a quick end to Hiccup's rambling about sending a search party for the Night Fury he had just grounded.

"Every time you step outside disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" The man had lectured him, using one Hiccup had heard a millions times before.

The boy had known he was right. His father was the chief and his village came first, even above raising his own son. Hiccup just wanted him to listen for this once.

"Well, between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't you think?" Was all he knew to answer, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest as he could feel every eye on Berk burning holes into him. It seemed like sass was his only way to defend himself.

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?!" The large man had shouted, glaring down at his young son, who fought not to squirm and fidget under his hard gaze.

"I-I can't stop myself! I see a dragon and I have to just kill it, you know. It's... who I am, dad." The teen had tried to defend himself, tried to make himself sound bigger than he truly felt right at this moment.

Stoick the Vast let out a deep, audible sigh as he rubbed his forehead and temple with on large hand, his helmet tipping to the side.

"You are many things, Hiccup, but a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house." He had finished softly, no longer yelling, and ended the conversation with the clear indication that he did not expect his son to talk back to him.

Hiccup hadn't known just how true those words would end up being.

He had to find it. He just had to find that Night Fury.

His father hadn't believed him after all. Something he really should've seen coming by now. Admittedly, he had cried wolf more than a couple of times, either on a whim or because he really did believe he had shot one down. That might've had something to do with it.

After complaining to his mentor in blacksmithing and family friend, Gobber, about his dad, Hiccup had swiftly steeled his resolve and snuck out of the house through the back the moment he had been escorted home and left alone.

Once again he refused to follow a direct order from Stoick and it was just minutes after he had been publicly lectured about his stubborn inability to follow them.

The brunette hurried towards the forest, which he knew like the very back of his own freckled hand. Inside laid Raven Point, where he guessed the Night Fury should've crashed to the ground. It shouldn't have been too hard to find.

Of course, even the Gods seem to hate him today.

It was the very same question that he had asked out loud to no one in particular when his frustrations over finding that Thor-damned dragon grew to a boiling point. It had proven harder than he thought to find something so large and for a good few moments he even started to believe he just might've imagined the screech and the crashing black mass tangled in the bolas he had fired at it.

"Some people lose their knife or their mug, but no, not me, I manage to lose an entire dragon?!" His voice raised as he spoke and let his anger be known with only the birds as his witnesses. And as he proceeded to slap a nearby branch away, that action was quickly followed by having it smack him right back in the face.

'Story of my life.' Hiccup thought as he glared at the branch like it was its fault. He could've sworn that bird chirping up above sounded like it was laughing at him.

But his attention was quickly drawn by the tree that thin branch belonged to.

Thick as it was, it had been snapped right in half. It was as if something big had slammed into it and with incredible force.

Following the broken trunk of the tree, his gaze quickly settled on a deep trench that had been torn violently into the ground. On each side of it stood a couple more broken trees, completely snapped in two aswell. A clear path of destruction had been left behind. Whatever had caused it, it must've been big.

Perhaps the size of a dragon.

It was with little reluctance that Hiccup decided to follow the path laid out before him, sliding down into the trench before walking on towards the upwards slope not far up ahead, avoiding the mess of wood and stones.

Crawling up on the slope, the boy's forest green eyes had only caught a glimpse of something big and black before he instantly dived back down again, seeking a way to hide himself. A surprised gasp had left him, his eyes squeezed shut momentarily as he tried to catch his bearings.

It was just a glimpse, a fraction of a second, but had he truly seen it?

Had he finally found it?

Daring his way back up again, Hiccup peeked and looked towards what had frightened him so. With his mouth agape, he found exactly what he had been looking for all morning and most of the afternoon.

There, beyond two large rocks, laid the Night Fury he had shot down, wrapped tightly in the bolas he had fired.

If his heart hadn't already been racing before, it was certainly ready to leap out of his chest now.

Grabbing his dagger from within his fur vest, nearly losing his grip as he pulled it out in a hurry, he gathered his wits before even trying to approach the downed dragon.

Sneaking from one rock to the next, several deep breaths had been sucked in and blown back out, he came closer and closer to the dark shape until he finally came out of hiding and found the reptile to be motionless. Completely still. Not even breathing.

It was his. He had finally done it. The young runt of the village had done it. His victory, his achievement, was real.

"I did it..." Hiccup muttered as he stood before the lifeless Night Fury, which was much larger than him, and realisation set in with an unfamiliar sense of accomplishment welling up inside.

"I did it! Oh, this fixes everything!" The fifteen year old shouted enthusiastically, allowing this new feeling of pride to flourish and spread.

"I brought down this mighty beast!" Quickly did his achievement go to his head as he exclaimed these words loudly and smugly approached the trapped dragon, setting a foot on one of its front legs.

Turns out it wasn't quite as dead as anticipated.

Upon the mere contact his foot had made with the scaly skin below, the Night Fury he thought to have died let out an agitated groan and pushed the boy off.

Startled, Hiccup quickly backed up and nearly tripped over his own two feet. It was only because of the strong stone behind him that he didn't fall completely on his rear.

He stood there and watched for a good full second, the dragon breathing in and out deeply as if it had been holding its breath until just now, possibly to fool the Viking into thinking it had already been deceased.

Hiccup could not even contemplate if it was even smart enough to do that as his mind reeled with the fact that the dragon was still alive.

Still breathing, its heart still beating, maybe not even unconscious.

The young Viking had to swallow his fear as he approached the enemy, his small dagger clutched tightly into his trembling hands as he inched forward with the blade pointed directly at the beast.

Approaching it warily, his forest green eyes trailed over the sleek, black body all the way up to its face.

And noticed a piercingly yellow eye staring straight back at him, its pupil a narrow slit focussed on his small form.

It was soon after that Hiccup made what he would come to call his greatest mistake.

And that was the prologue!

I can't be the only one who has such a hard time starting fics off right, right?