Chapter Text
Hiccup thought he had been doing pretty well.
Despite his father forcing him into the dragon training after Hiccup had realised he wouldn’t kill a dragon, he was able to stay as an unassuming guy. He stayed in the corners, sitting somewhere out of the dragons sight or trying to look like he wasn’t a threat to them during the ”training” sessions. It worked quite well, after all, nobody was expecting much from him and the dragons ignored him after noting he wasn’t a threat. Though, Gobber wished he would be more active in the battle ring. But even the village blacksmith had relented and let him be, after Hiccup told him he didn’t want to fight dragons anymore and was content working in the forge with the peg legged smith.
And so Hiccup was able to live his days in peace. He was still the ”useless” hiccup of the village. Nonetheless, he was fine with that. Probably for the first time in his life. As long as he didn’t have to hurt or kill dragons and he could keep his best friend Toothless safe, he didn’t mind staying as the letdown runt.
So when Astrid was given the right to kill the Monstrous Nightmare, Hiccup felt troubled and thought he had to save the dragon. He had went to a night flight to clear his mind and devise a plan, but before he could do the latter, Toothless had flown him to the dragon nest. And suddenly he had a way bigger problem.
After they had returned back to Berk, Hiccup went to release the dragons. He didn’t have much of a plan. Just open the doors and let Toothless blast some of the locks and scratch them, so people would think dragons were behind the jailbreak. Strangely enough, the dragons didn’t fly away, but wanted to stay with him. Grumbling, Hiccup had led them to his and Toothless’ secret cove. It was a temporary solution, but it had to do.
He had went to sleep after the hectic night, and put his acting skills to test the next morning as the village was babbling about the disappeared dragons. Hiccup did feel a tad bad for Astrid, as the lass had been waiting for her chance to slay her first dragon – as sickening as it sounded in his ears. But what could one do? That was how it worked in Berk.
Rest of the day he had silently worked in the forge, head filled with concern about the big boss dragon. He knew he couldn’t wait or plan for too long. More dragons would raid Berk again at the behest of the damned dragon queen; innocent dragons would get killed and captured, and vikings wouldn’t fare any better. He needed to act quickly.
He decided to attack the gigantic dragon that night. Hopefully the dark night would give them advantage. As he left with Toothless, he had not calculated that the dragons he had freed would join him on his crazy mission, but he wasn’t going to turn them away either. Any help was welcome to him.
Thus one human and six dragons flied to their own secret mission. And Hiccup finally had to remark.
He wasn’t doing that well anymore.
>>=<>=<>=<>=<♦>=<>=<>=<>=<<
Toothless didn’t know what to do.
He held the scrawny boy close, safely tucked under his wings. The Red Death was defeated, but his friend was now unconscious and missing a leg. He couldn’t fly them to safety even if the boy woke up. Not only because of the leg… problem, but because the artificial tail fin was broken and they didn’t have a spare.
He lied on the ground, whole body aching, tired but still alert for any danger. He noticed the other dragons that fought with them coming closer and crooned to them. A plan started to form in his mind. Hiccup needed help. The auburn haired boy needed to get back to the village where he could be assisted and here he had dragons that could fly and do just that. So he rumbled to the dragons, telling them of his plan.
The bluish Deadly Nadder took hold of Hiccup with its talons and flew to the sky. Other dragons quickly following. Toothless watched them, ready to stay and wait in the now desolate nest, but suddenly big claws grasped around his body and brought him to the sky. He craned his neck to see who was carrying him and was met with a grin from a reddish-orange Monstrous Nightmare. Toothless warbled his thanks to the bigger dragon and lied limply, enjoying the free transportation.
The ragtag group flied towards Berk in the receding shadows of the night.
>>=<>=<>=<>=<♦>=<>=<>=<>=<<
It would be an understatement to say Hiccup was confused. He was pretty sure he was dead after opening his eyes and finding himself in his house instead of in the grey island. The whole ordeal couldn’t have been an awful nightmare.
He was utterly flabbergasted.
As Hiccup sat in the bed, staring blankly ahead, he suddenly had a strange feeling, like ache, on his leg. Slowly he stretched out his hand, grabbed the covers and uncovered his legs.
A silent gasp reverberated in the house.
Hiccup gazed at his left leg. A simple wooden peg was affixed to his stump. He took deep breaths as he stared at it, his green eyes never leaving it, as there wasn’t anyone to redirect his attention to something else.
A door creaked.
”Son!” a burly bearded man exclaimed as he opened the door and noticed Hiccup sitting on the bed.
”Dad?” Hiccup finally turned his gaze away from his new leg and looked at Stoick. The one question holding many behind it.
”You are finally awake! Gave me a scare”, Stoick walked beside his son’s bed and sat down. ”We found you few days ago near the village, covered in soot and missing a leg. We tried to find out what happened, but there weren’t any tracks”, He looked at him deeply. ”Son, what happened?”
Hiccup gulped. His mind raced quickly, trying to come up with… something.
”I-uh. I-I can’t remember”, he stuttered. It wasn’t a complete lie. He certainly didn’t remember, or more precisely didn’t know, what happened after they hit the queen’s tail. He glanced at his father, who wore an unimpressed look with one eyebrow raised.
”I-I think there was a dragon. Which attacked me? But I really can’t remember”, Hiccup said, wishing that his father would let it be.
Stoick stroked his beard as he listened to the laddie. Maybe the shock was so great that Hiccup forgot what happened to him. It might be for the best.
”One question. What were you doing outside during the night?” Stoick gave a hard look to his son. He might have let the boy run around the forests, but that was during the day. Nighttime was different.
”Uh, I wasn’t moving at night. It was very early morning. I lost my knife and wanted to find it. It was bugging me the whole night and I thought I could find it in the morning light”, Hiccup blabbered. Again, partly true. He was missing a tiny knife, but he knew exactly where it was. He had kicked it in the pond when he was trying to get Toothless’ trust and it still lied there.
”How were you going to find a knife with so little light?” the sturdy man inquired.
”I thought I could find it on the path I took”, it sounded a bit like a question.
”Haaah, Hiccup”, Stoick sighed and shook his head. Hiccup really was something, but he wouldn’t scold the boy this time. He had already went through so much. Losing a limb was shocking no matter what age you were, but a child shouldn’t go through such an experience.
”Rest a bit more. I’ll get you some food”, the man patted the boy on the shoulder and left the room.
The auburn haired teen let out a breath as he was left alone. It was a fluke claiming he was moving at morning. He just assumed the dragons must have brought him back and left him for the village’s care, which meant they must have traveled near the end of night, otherwise watchmen would’ve seen the dragons.
He wondered how the dragons were doing, especially Toothless. Actually, Hel, where would the black dragon be? Was his best friend alone in the deserted island or was he carried back to Berk too? It sounded crazy, but he was at home now. Would it be that strange for dragons to take care of one of their own, especially one who helped them take down a tyrant?
Hiccup wiped his hands on his pants. His hands were sweaty and he wasn’t sure if it was because of his nervousness answering his dad’s questions, the occassional pain he felt on his leg or his concern regarding his bud.
He would need to get back to the cove to check things out; if the dragons returned, if Toothless was there, if they were all right, if… - there was a lot. The anxiety of not knowing what happened to his companions was eating him and he could do nothing but wait.
>>=<>=<>=<>=<♦>=<>=<>=<>=<<
It was few weeks later, when Hiccup could finally treck into the forest. The whole time he had been under watchful eyes. Be it in the forge, at home or simply walking through the village. He got sympathetic looks from people wherever he went, which, yes, was generally better than the scornful and disappointed gazes he usually got, but he didn’t need any of that. He didn’t want that. It was a constant reminder to him that he was missing a leg and how he had ”upgraded” from an useless runt into an useless runt of a cripple.
As Hiccup limped through the forest and arrived outside the cove, he took a deep breath before stepping in. With bated breath he looked around the open area, his whole body stiff and mind nervous.
A dragon roared and rushed at him, knocking him to the ground.
”Oof”, the teen gasped as he lost air from his lungs.
Green eyes met another and Hiccup let out his first laugh in weeks.
”It’s good to see you bud”, the auburn haired boy said, as he patted the obsidian coloured dragon and got licked in return.
Hiccup glanced behind Toothless when he heard different dragon noises, and was glad to see the other dragons that had accompanied him at defeating the Red Death. The big reptiles looked at him with joy and relief, slowly sifting closer to him and Toothless. He could feel his tense body finally relaxing and his worries disappearing. It felt like he could at last breathe and actually rest.
The boy hugged his dragon and for the first time for the past weeks, he felt truly at home and safe.
