"Fishlegs!" Mrs. Ingerman's voice echoed up the stairs. "Fishlegs it's time for breakfast!"
Hiccup startled awake and tried to jump to his feet, only to trip over one of his similarly startled friends and fall back to the floor. He heard muttered curses from Snotlout and Ruffnut as they all tried to untangle themselves. Fishlegs managed to wiggle out from the bottom of the pile and blinked in sleepy surprise at the mass of teenagers on his floor.
"Fishlegs, are you up? Your father and I are leaving soon, and you start dragon training today!" A bit of panic entered Fishlegs' expression as his mother's footsteps began to make their way up the stairs. Snotlout dived out the window, and Astrid vaulted out on his heels. They both shed their momentum with graceful, well-practiced rolls and sprinted off towards their respective houses. The twins jumped in sync, landing shoulder-to-shoulder in battle ready crouches. Hiccup tripped on the windowsill, fell sideways, and crashed into the twins, bringing both of them to the ground with him.
Hiccup felt a Thorston grab each arm, and then he was lifted up and dropped on his feet. He took off in the direction of the Chief's hut as the duo wove off towards their own home. As he ran, he giggled to himself at the absurdity of the situation. Yesterday he had been the Chief of a dragon riding Berk at war, his friends as his closest advisors. They had flown together against impossible odds, had sat beside each other at strategy meetings and marched as one through places of nightmarish legend. Now, they were scrambling off home to hide their super-secret sleepover from Fishlegs' Mom.
oOoOoOo
The sun was nearing its peak as Hiccup made his way to the arena. He had taken advantage of Gobber's absence from the forge and spent the morning creating the base structure of Toothless' tail fin. A basket on his back contained the carefully crafted metal pieces, as well as the leather and sewing supplies needed to create a saddle and finish the fin. It also held enough fish to tide over a hungry Night Fury over until they had time for a proper hunt.
Aside from the basket of supplies, he carried only a small knife on his belt. It was the very same blade that had spent a decade on the bottom of a cove's lake in another life. The oversized axe had been left behind. He knew he would not need it.
He found his friends waiting for him on the bridge to the arena. They slipped automatically into V formation as they made their way to the great stone pit. Memories of the first time they had walked this path were prominent. Today so long ago, six children had begun training for the day their parent's war would become theirs. So it was that despite this being the least dangerous adventure they'd had in years, it was a solemn, serious group that marched to the gate of the kill ring.
Gobber was waiting for them. He looked surprised when Hiccup was the first one into the tunnel, but shrugged it off as he glanced at the rest of the teens. He pulled the heavy metal door up and turned to address the class.
"Welcome to dragon training," Gobber announced grandly as he gestured into the arena. He stepped aside to let the teenagers pass.
Hiccup led his friends into the pit. He felt his spine stiffen as they moved to stand shoulder to shoulder before Meatlug's pen. This was not the dragon training arena where he had spent the best years of his childhood learning to fly alongside his friends. The night before he had been too lost in the shock of time travel and the relief of having Snotlout alive and the dragons with them to pay much attention to the state of the arena itself. He struggled to keep his eyes locked forward, but he couldn't help noticing details that made his stomach turn.
He saw the scorched silhouettes of Vikings on the walls. There were bloodstains splattered over the entire arena floor, some as small as his finger nail, others too large to have been made by a human even if every drop was spilled. Nadder spikes were scattered around haphazardly. Weapon racks sat about prominently, waiting to supply a fresh batch of dragon slayers. The severed tip of a Monstrous Nightmare's tail was caught in one of the joints where the chain roof of the kill ring met its stone walls. Hiccup forced his attention to the doors of Meatlug's cage. They were solid wood, with a crack barely big enough to slip a finger through between them and the floor. In Hiccup's time, the doors were metal bars, so the dragons could interact with their riders and get fresh air and light.
Hiccup glanced at his shield mates. All of them were tense, angry and upset at the state of what they had thought of as their place for so many years. Snotlout was pale, his face a mask, and Astrid's hands were clenched into shaking fists. Hiccup suddenly realized that this would be even more jarring for those two than the rest of them. When it became apparent that the second dragon hunter war would be significantly more brutal than the first, Hiccup decided that more Vikings needed to learn how to fly in order to protect Berk. As the two most skilled dragon riding warriors in the Barbaric Archipelago, Astrid and Snotlout were the perfect candidates to instruct the Berk Guard in the ways of winged warfare. They had spent a significant part of the past two years in this very arena, training warriors how to ride dragons to protect dragons.
Hiccup brushed the back of his hand lightly against the knuckles of Astrid's clenched fist. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tuffnut shift almost imperceptibly closer to Snotlout. He heard his wife let out a held breath beside him, before she lifted her chin and straitened her spine.
"No turning back," she said in a reflection of the past. Both the words and the steely determination within them were the same, but they set an opposite course. The rest of the gang nodded solemnly, jaws clenched and eyes locked on their dragons' pens.
"Okay then," Gobber said, coming to stand in front of the teens. He sounded unsure, glancing over the teens in some confusion. Hiccup figured that he was expecting the immature rowdiness of his first life rather than the tense silence of the now.
"Let's get started," Gobber continued, getting back into his spiel as he shook off his bafflement. "As you know, the recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."
A small, hurt and angry noise forced itself through Snotlout's clenched teeth. After all, it was his Hookfang queued in for that 'honor.' Gobber shot Snotlout a look at that. He then seemed a bit lost when the group failed to show any kind of excitement or anticipation at the prospect of gladiator style dragon slaying. As a man used to dealing with the violent and emotional fire of angry Vikings, it must have been unnerving to face the uniformly emotionless expressions and cold steely eyes of the gang.
"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight," the blacksmith continued, attempting to regain his footing. "The Deadly Nadder,"
Stormfly squawked and nudged at the doors of her pen. Astrid's lip twitched in what might have become a smile if she wasn't quite so on edge.
"The Hideous Zippleback,"
The twins' stares became even more intense, and didn't move on from the doors hiding their other two fourths.
"The Monstrous Nightmare,"
Hookfang could clearly smell his rider and was impatiently shoving against the gate.
"The Terrible Terror,"
Hiccup made a note to himself to grab the Terror before they left. If things went South, it wouldn't be right to leave the little dragon to suffer the wrath of angry Vikings.
"and… the Gronkle."
Fishlegs shifted slightly forward in anticipation. Hiccup glanced at his friends out of the corner of his eye. They all exchanged a hardly noticeable nod as Gobber placed his flesh hand on the lever to open the iron bound doors.
"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber announced with a smirk before shoving the lever down. The riders immediately dashed into their pre-planned positions. Meatlug calmly pushed open the heavy doors and buzzed toward Hiccup, the only time-traveler who hadn't moved.
"Today is about surviva…" Gobber started, before his smug drawl turned to panic. "Hiccup!" he shouted as he noticed that the smallest trainee was just standing in front of the approaching dragon. He began to charge forward but was stopped by Snotlout grabbing his shoulder.
"Hey, wait," Snotlout said. The riders had decided that Snotlout objecting to Gobber's 'learning on the job' mentality was the perfect excuse for his interference. At the same time, Fishlegs moved to stand in between the one-legged dragon slayer and his beloved dragon. While Gobber was detaching himself from the Jorgenson, Hiccup held out his hand. Meatlug stopped in front of him and nuzzled his hand happily before gently setting down on the stone floor.
Hiccup heard a thump and a yelp as he brought his other hand up to scratch behind Meatlug's ears. He turned just in time to see Fishlegs 'accidently' step into the path of Gobber's charge and shoulder him back a couple of paces. He frowned when he saw Snotlout picking himself up with a wince near the entrance of Meatlug's pen, and it became obvious that the thump was his cousin slamming into the wall.
"Hiccup! Get away from that beast!" Gobber shouted as he prepared to resume his twice interrupted rescue mission.
"Gobber stop," Hiccup said, and despite his mid-puberty vocal cords it was the Chief's voice that spoke. Hiccup forced himself to weaken his voice as much as he could to avoid giving away that he was not the Hiccup Gobber knew. "They aren't what we think they are. She won't hurt me."
For a moment Gobber paused, thrown by the calm confidence and authority that Hiccup had been unable to completely hide. Then Meatlug shuffled closer to make it easier for Hiccup to scratch the scales on the side of her neck, and Gobber made to take another step forward. Before he could, Astrid was there.
"Wait," she said, grabbing his wrist. "I think he's right. Listen to him."
"Fishlegs," Hiccup called before Gobber could attempt to throw Astrid into a wall as well. He knew that wouldn't end well for his old mentor. Fishlegs hurried over to be reunited with his Meatlug. Hiccup took his larger hand and placed it on the Gronkle's snout, then took a couple steps back.
"Hi girl," Fishlegs said happily as he ran his hands over the dragon's face. Meatlug chuffed in delight and nuzzled against her rider's chest. Fishlegs wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Oh, I love you too Princess."
"Wha…" Gobber tried to ask, but trailed off into stunned silence when the Gronkle's deadly, mace like tail began to wiggle like that of an excited puppy.
"I don't think that this war is their fault Gobber," Hiccup answered anyway. "I believe that they're more than mindless killers. We could have peace."
Gobber would have normally scoffed at such a notion, but he was too busy staring at the spectacle of a dragon rolling onto her back for belly rubs. Fishlegs was happy to oblige.
Fishlegs seemed to remember his role in convincing Gobber that the dragons were good while maintaining the illusion that this was all new to him. "She's amazing," he said. "I think I'll call her Meatlug. Do you like that girl?" Meatlug gently licked his hand. Gobber was staring mesmerized as the husky boy's hand came within inches of the dragon's incredibly strong jaw and jagged teeth.
"Okay, so we're riding dragons instead of killing them now. Cool. My turn!" Snotlout said as he marched off to the Monstrous Nightmare cage. Ruffnut shot him a thumbs up and pulled the lever to release the firedrake.
"What!" Gobber exclaimed in shocked panic as the roaring Nightmare burst into the arena and charged.
Hookfang skidded to a halt right in front of his rider. He brought his enormous head down and grabbed the top half of the stocky Viking. "Hookfang!" Snotlout shrieked in outrage as he was hoisted into the air.
Gobber let out a cry of murderous rage and charged, only to trip over a waiting Tuffnut. Hiccup sighed. He now sorely regretted letting Snotlout go second. He should have known this would happen.
Hookfang tossed his rider in the air and caught him with his snout. "Hooky," Snotlout said happily, his previous outrage forgotten as he wrapped his arms around the dragon's face in a hug. Hookfang let out a rumbling purr as he lowered the teenager back to the ground.
Gobber pushed himself to his feet and stared at the burly teen in shock. "How are ye not dead?!"
"We haven't figured it out yet," Snotlout answered, more focused on peeling a loose scale off of Hookfang's snout then on the current situation. Astrid flicked a pebble at his head, and he looked up with a glare when it pinged off his helmet. He caught sight of Gobber's disbelieving face and remembered the role he was supposed to be playing. "Ohhh… you mean the dragon. Well, uh, you see, I figured if Hiccup and Fishface could do it I could too. And Fangster's a Monstrous Nightmare, so he's the best, obviously. So now we're best friends." Gobber sputtered incoherently. Snotlout hugged Hookfang's neck defensively. "He's a good dragon." Hookfang glared at Gobber protectively and puffed smoke out of his nostrils.
"I'll take the Nadder," Astrid cut in before the shipwreck that was Snotfang's diplomacy skills could continue. She marched confidently across the arena to stand before the doors to Stormfly's cage.
This time, Gobber only managed to get out a weak "but.." before Ruffnut pulled the lever.
Astrid cut off anything else the blacksmith might have said as she and her dragon began circling each other. "Stormfly. I'll call you Stormfly." She held out her hand. Stormfly lowered her snout to rest against Astrid's palm. Astrid smiled before stepping forward to rest her forehead against the base of Stormfly's frill. She closed her eyes for a moment, and some of the tension bled out of her shoulders. Then she straightened and turned to face Gobber, who Hiccup nudged closer.
"Be careful lassie, that beastie's dangerous," Gobber warned, eying Stormfly cautiously. Stormfly snorted and stepped closer to her rider. She rested her chin on Astrid's shoulder and tilted her head to eye Gobber back.
"Of course she is. So are we," Astrid said. "All three of us are warriors. That doesn't mean we have to be enemies."
She turned her attention back to the birdlike dragon. "Look at her. A Nadder can hit a fly off a yak's tail at 50 yards. Her fire burns the hottest of all the dragons, and she can fly as fast as the Northern wind before a storm. Everything about her is built for speed and efficiency, and yet look at her! She's as beautiful as she is deadly." Stormfly preened at the praise, and Astrid smiled up at her, disguising her affection as awe for Gobber's sake.
"She sounds a lot like you m'lady," Hiccup said with a smile.
Astrid grinned back at him. "I'd love to agree with you, but I'm afraid that would make me sound too much like Snotlout."
"Hey!" Snotlout protested from halfway across the arena. Gobber was staring at them in shock again, although this time Hiccup wasn't sure why.
"Well, I'd say it's a perfect match," Hiccup continued.
From behind them came the familiar sound of an explosion. "Zippleback baby!" Tuffnut shouted gleefully.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "Another perfect match," she said.
Hiccup pulled a fish out of his backpack and slipped over to the Terror cage while Gobber was too distracted by the spectacle of the twins playing with Barf and Belch to notice. He quietly pulled the lever and gently tapped the door to get the miniature dragon's attention. It burst out with a growl. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Hiccup said softly. The Terror stopped it's charge but continued to eye him warily. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Behind him, Gobber finally recovered his voice and began to incredulously question the twins. "So you two want to make friends with the Zippleback?"
Hiccup knelt down in front of the Terror, who he now recognized as Sharpshot. "Hey buddy, do you want some fish? I bet they don't feed you guys the good stuff in here." Sharpshot still looked wary, but he shuffled closer to sniff at the fish.
"Well, yeah. Belch here is great," Tuffnut answered.
Sharpshot darted his head forward to snatch the fish out of Hiccup's hand. He gulped it down, then sniffed curiously at Hiccup's fingers.
"This is Barf. He spews gas. Blows stuff up. You know, cool dragon stuff," Ruffnut said.
The Terror allowed Hiccup to touch the side of his head. He ran his fingers over the leathery ridges running down his back. The tiny dragon let out a little chirp and moved closer.
"I'm so glad they're my dragon," Tuff said dreamily.
Sharpshot started to purr and climbed into Hiccup's lap. Hiccup grinned down at him. Terrible Terrors are incredibly social creatures that always travel in packs. As such they're the easiest dragons to train, always happy to make a new friend.
"What are you talking about, they're clearly my dragon!" Ruff refuted angrily.
Hiccup gently picked up the little dragon as a full-blown twin fight erupted across the arena. "You want to come back to the cove with us little guy?" The Terror gave a crooning trill and nuzzled up against Hiccup's neck. The scrawny teen figured he must be lonely from spending so much time in his isolated pen.
Hiccup stood up and turned around. Ruff and Tuff were yelling and swinging fists at each other but were being held apart by their dragon. Barf and Belch each had a twin by the back of their vest, and were holding them off the ground and as far away from each other as their necks could stretch. If nothing else, Gobber would at least get to see a dragon playing peace-maker.
No longer needing a distraction, Hiccup decided to cut in. "Same dragon guys," he called as he made his way back to the group.
"Oh yeah," Ruffnut said.
"Forgot about that," Tuffnut added. They both twisted around to climb onto their dragon's necks and sat there as peacefully as the two of them ever did anything.
"You see Gobber?" Hiccup asked, coming to stand in front of his mentor. "Everything we know about these guys, is wrong." Hiccup desperately hoped that Gobber would accept this. For all of the teens' earlier ribbing, Gobber had been the only one to believe in him throughout much of his childhood. It had been Gobber who took him on as an apprentice when the whole village thought he was useless. It had been Gobber who taught him the blacksmithing skills he used to build Toothless' prosthetic tailfin, and it had been Gobber who helped him learn the ways of a Chief after his father's death.
Gobber stared at the Terrible Terror purring like a cat in Hiccups arms. His eyes swept around the arena and the dragons happily allowing Vikings to climb on their backs. Then, with the air of a man making a profound statement said, "I need a drink."
While that was not quite what Hiccup was hoping for, it was better than screaming and axes, so he decided he'd take it. "Alright. Are we still meeting for training tomorrow, or…" Hiccup let his eyes roam meaningfully over his friends and their dragons as he trailed off.
"Yes, same time tomorrow," Gobber said, still sounding a little dazed.
Hiccup made his way over to Astrid and Stormfly as Snotlout began talking. "Okay, you go have your drink, have fun. We'll just take these bad boys for a test ride while you're gone."
Gobber's eyes widened in realization when he saw that Fishlegs had opened the main arena gate while he'd been distracted with Astrid and the twins. "Wait, What? No," he protested, but Hookfang was already in the air.
"See ya!" Snotlout shouted out as he and his dragon made their escape.
"Wooohooo!" Ruffnut yelled as she and her brother zoomed past.
"To freedom!" Tuffnut cried at the same time.
Fishlegs realized that all his friends were leaving and stopped feeding Meatlug the pebbles he had stuffed in his pockets. "Hey guys, wait for me!" Meatlug made her way out to the sky far more sedately than her flock mates.
Astrid had pulled Hiccup up behind her on Stormfly in the commotion. Hiccup used one arm to hold Sharpshot against his chest and wrapped the other around his wife's waist. Gobber came running towards them. "Hiccup," he yelled, waving his arm in the air.
Hiccup purposefully misunderstood and let go of Astrid to wave back. "Bye Gobber, see you tomorrow!" Stormfly charged out the tunnel, and Hiccup barely managed to regain his hold on Astrid before they were going vertical. He couldn't help but laugh in delight as Berk shrunk behind them and they glided in the freedom of the sky.
AN: Hello! I just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful comments, they really made my day and encouraged my writing. I also wanted to apologize for how long it to get out, I ran out of pre-written chapters, and didn't have much time to write between finals, moving back to my hometown for the summer, and taking a summer calculus class. I'll try to get the next one out faster, but I apologize if my updates are slower and a bit erratic.