Chapter 1

Hiccup yawned as he woke from a deep sleep.

The tiles of roof would be coming down soon. That dragon of his decided to wake him up so early everyday for a flight.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he shouted. Hiccup turned himself in bed to allow his legs... er leg and stump rather to hang of the bed. Hiccup wasn't completely used to seeing his leg, or lack thereof, but it wasn't so bad anymore.

He put on prosthetic and tied it tight. He tested it on the ground and when he was confident that it was sturdy, he stood up walked over to where his helmet lay on the ground after he had carelessly taken it off the prior night.

He put on the helmet and headed out of his room. He could hear his father's snores rocking the house almost as much as Toothless had been by jumping up and down on the roof only a few minutes ago.

Hiccup stepped outside, careful to avoid any ice. Even the most weathered, frozen over, sturdy footed Viking could slip on the ice on Berk.

It didn't help that Hiccup was clumsy even before he lost his foot, but now with this metal prothstetic even a walk around his house in the winter was a risk in it's own right.

Toothless stood at the side of the house like he did most mornings waiting for Hiccup to come out so they could go flying.

" 'Morning, Toothless," came the tired but happy greeting from Hiccup.

Toothless responded with a soft crooning sound. All he could think about was getting in the sky.

Well Hiccup couldn't wait either so he wasted no more time and got right to putting on the saddle and Toothless' own prosthetic.

They were soon ready to go.

"Come on you over grown lizard!" Hiccup said jokingly. "Let's see what you can do!"

Toothless made sure he would get him back for that comment, joking or not, but right now he just leaped into the air in a vertical take off.

For the Night Fury, flight was as similar to him as breathing. After his time in that cove he thought he would never touch the clouds again, but now, thanks to this scrawny Viking atop him flight came- although he would never admit this to any of the other dragons- easier.

Hiccup and Toothless became one mind when flying. Hiccup's foot moved in the stirrup in the exact way that the dragon wanted to go without even specifying and Toothless flew towards wherever the human wanted to go without even having to be told.

They had an unbreakable connection.

Well as soon as they broke through the clouds, they started flipping and turning in the air, slicing through it effortlessly. Hiccup performed his favorite move with Toothless, the Free Fall, he called it.

Hiccup would jump off the back of his best friend and simply fall towards the Earth with Toothless falling right next to him. Before hitting the ground he would remount and Toothless would unfurl his wings and the amazing speed would start to slow and it would create a sound like no other as it knocked to snow from the trees.

After a good hour or two of flying they came down right in front of the forge.

"Good morning Gobber," Hiccup said as he entered the building.

"Mornin' Hiccup! How was the flyin'? The sky seems pretty calm today." Gobber replied with his usual enthusiasm.

"It was great!" Hiccup said."I think Toothless is actually getting faster! Fishlegs will kick himself for getting the wrong speed in his notes. He'll probably correct it on the spot."

"Aye. So why are you hear anyway? You're not on duty."

"Yeah I know. But, I'm pretty close to finishing my new project. I think today could be the day its all done." Hiccup said confidently.

"You've been working at it since before the holiday. I'm sure its bound to be done soon. What is it you're working on anyway if I might ask?" Gobber inquired raising an eyebrow.

Hiccup raised his finger at his mentor and waved in a "Not just yet" manner.

"Its a surprise for my friends and no offense Gobber, you're not exactly the best at keeping secrets."

Gobber frowned but then laughed it off. "That I'm not boy! That I'm not." Gobber stopped laughing and went back to sharpening some massive battle axe.

Hiccup went to his own station in the forge and picked up some tools to go back into his private space in the back.

What he was working on were new weapons for his friends.

Vikings had been using the same weapons since the first generation of Berk. Hiccup felt it was time to improve them. While yes the war with the dragons was over Hiccup felt that someday they may need to fight again and so did all the other Vikings.

The weapons he was improving were the usual cutting/bludgeoning weapons that gave Vikings such a fearful reputation.

There was a club for Fishlegs, a war hammer for Snotlout, two matching spears for the Thorston twins and a battle axe for Astrid.

Astrid, Hiccup's crush since before he could hold a knife. Everything he was not and nothing that he was. Hiccup had a harder time believing that they were together than he had at the fact that he had lost his foot.

Although Astrid was never torturously mean to him like the other Viking children had been she wasn't exactly nice either. She ignored him as if he didn't deserve to draw the same breath as she did.

But Hiccup was no petty man. And although he had to train dragons, kill a dragon the size of an island and lose his foot just to earn their respect he had forgiven them all despite the fact that not one of them asked for his forgiveness.

He shook off the thought. No use dwelling on the past. You live in the present.

He personalized each weapon and after a whole month of testing and tweaking he was confident the weapons would be ready for tomorrow.

He was particularly proud of the weapon he had made for himself.

A few years ago Hiccup stumbled upon some designs for what the Romans called a crossbow. It was this design that had given him the idea for the bola launcher he used to shoot down Toothless.

Their version was heavier and required more work to use than it should.

Hiccup made it lighter and easier to reload and fire. With an added touch for close quarters combat.

With the Roman version the butt of the crossbow was solid and together. What Hiccup did was he somewhat forked the end so that in between it, he placed a large knife-like single edged blade with a partially serrated edge. With the flip of a lever the blade would hinge out of between the forked butt and acted as a deadly tale for the crossbow.

Hiccup had proven he was a good shot the night of the final raid. He prayed to the gods it was not just a fluke.