52. Hometown Hijinks

Hiccup could never seem to get recognition for things he’d actually done.

During his time in dragon training, he’d become the talk of the town for being some sort of dragon conqueror. When in reality, he was just giving the creatures scratches and frightening them with elongated fish.

And now, here he was a year later. And the Berkian people were supposedly hailing him as a hero, before he’d even accomplished anything.

As he chauffeured the Madrigals around the village, pointing out various landmarks, shops, and that one wall where someone lost half his teeth, he would frequently be stopped by overzealous villagers. All thanking him for his noble sacrifice, and proclaiming that they’d write songs about him, and other such sentiments.

In the past, Hiccup would’ve killed to be treated like this. And he almost did.

But now…something didn’t feel right.

All the happy faces felt phony. All the praise felt undeserved.

Yes, they were smiling at him. But he’d catch glimpses of those smiles quickly fading, as soon as his back was turned to them. Whispered chatter and pointing fingers swiftly retracted, as soon as he came their way.

Vikings weren’t as sneaky as they thought they were.

The chief, of course, didn’t notice a bit of this. Obliviously happy that his son was getting the proper treatment, not realizing it was all a guise.

He’d always imagined a moment like this would come when he’d done something to earn it. When one of his inventions finally, finally worked, and he’d shown the village that he could be useful.

But this wasn’t right.

He wasn’t being accepted, his contributions weren’t being acknowledged. They still saw him as a screw-up at best, and a useful traitor at worst.

They were just being extra nice to him, so he would do them a favor.

But he would do this favor. To save the dragons, and prevent the loss of any more lives to a gluttonous beast’s bottomless appetite.

And as soon as he was done, he’d get the hell off of Berk. He missed the Encanto already.

His internal musing was brought to an end, as his group approached the next destination on their tour.

They were walking down a bridge that hung suspended over the sea, in-between the main island and a cage-like structure built atop a sea stack.

Mirabel had her nose deep in a book she’d retrieved from the village library, walking on autopilot. The salty breeze flipped her pages about, and she pulled her hood up to protect her face from the cold.

Camilo noticed this, and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you reading a book you can’t actually read?” He asked, massive horns tilting his head.

“Because I am going to learn!” She responded brightly, before aiming a teasing grin towards Hiccup. “Unlike some people!”

The bemused look he gave her only served to widen her grin.

They entered the arena, taking a moment to look around the circular space.

“This, is the training ring.” Hiccup spoke, voice echoing across the craggy walls. “It’s where the young Vikings are taught to battle innocent, enslaved reptiles...”

At Hiccup’s bitter tone, the looks of fascination on their faces became more downtrodden. They soon realized that this was a place where dragons were harmed. Perhaps even worse.

But Camilo’s face lit up, as he thought of a question. “Wait, you guys fight dragons in here right?”

Hiccup shrugged. “Uh…yeah.”

A wild smirk graced his features, as he looked upon the cages in the ring. “So there are dragons in these cages? Right now?”

The question brought looks of shock to the other Madrigals, and they all looked to Hiccup inquisitively.

“I don’t…really know…” The scrawny teen walked over to one of the cages, eyeing it warily. “I know we had some locked up when I was in training, but that was a year ago. They might be-

A loud thump interrupted him.

Hiccup backed away, and everyone else looked stunned, while something from within the cage repeatedly knocked against the doors. Harder and harder, demanding release.

There were definitely still dragons here.

After a moment, it seemed to give up. And a saddened growling reverberated from the other side.

Toothless stepped forward and sat in front of the cage, warbling to the creature being contained. He received more miserable growls in response.

It was very disheartening.

“It sounds so sad…” Luisa sniffed, her heart going out to the unseen dragon. Mirabel held her hand to soothe her.

The group gazed upon the now unmoving cage, forlornly.

These dragons had been locked away in the darkness for over a year. Barely being fed, with the promise of eventual death. Whether by a dragon-killing upstart, or driven to madness by the isolation and poor conditions.

It was awful.

But for as awful as it was, it actually came as a great relief to Hiccup.

In truth, he had no idea how they were going to defeat the queen of dragons. He just knew they had to.

But now, armed with the knowledge that the dragons he’d fought against were all present, he was beginning to form an idea.

A crazy…crazy idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That is a crazy…crazy idea.”

“So crazy it just might work?”

“No. Just crazy.”

Hiccup frowned at Isabela’s swift dismissal of his plot.

As they walked through the Great Hall, plates of food in their hands, the scrawny teen tried to sell the Madrigals on the idea.

“I mean it, guys!” He insisted, as they found themselves a table. “I think they can help us. And we’re gonna need all the help we can get!”

Mirabel gave him an uncertain glance, from across the table. “I dunno…Fishlegs sure, but the others?”

“The twins will do whatever he tells them!” He gestured to Camilo, making the boy smirk with pride. “And Snotlout…I’ll handle Snotlout.”

“More like Snotlout will handle you!” He snarked, before instinctively ducking.

…He then realized that his sister wasn’t here to smack the back of his head, if he made a joke in poor taste.

He was the one in control now.

“Hiccup, I really feel like you should think this through…” Luisa stressed. “I mean, these guys are training to be dragon killers! Do you honestly think they would- “

“Yes, I do.” He intercepted her, bristling with stubbornness. “Astrid showed me that even the most violent Viking can change…except for Stoick…”

He quickly cleared his mind of the incoming negative thoughts. “If we do this, not only would we have a better chance at stopping the queen, we could make this island a better place.”

Hiccup’s plan was simple. Show the other teens that dragons were amazing creatures, and maybe even get them training their own dragons.

Not only would it give them some extra help for the upcoming battle, which they sorely needed. But perhaps in doing this, the rest of Berk could see that dragons weren’t monsters. And they wouldn’t be captured and killed any longer.

Mirabel saw that glint in his eyes, the oh so familiar spark of determination. And knew there was no use in fighting.

“…You’re gonna go ahead on this no matter what we say, huh?” She asked through half-lidded eyes.

In response, he grew a grin. “You know me so well!”

It was decided. Fishlegs would be easy enough to convince, he already knew that dragons were capable of being tamed. The twins would follow any order from their Loki. And Hiccup would talk to Snotlout.

However, Hiccup now had a rather awkward query. “Should…should we get Astrid in on this?” The incensed looks he received were to be expected. “I know, I’m not her biggest fan either. But she’s a highly skilled warrior, and she already has a dragon! She could be a big help.”

“But if you guys don’t like it, then we won’t do it.” He knew they all didn’t have the best opinions of the girl, he would give this decision to his companions.

Isabela glowered. Camilo rolled his eyes. Luisa grew a stern glare. And Toothless began growling. All at the thought of the girl.

But all their eyes turned to Mirabel, as they silently agreed that she would make the final choice.

The bespectacled girl pondered the quandary.

On the one hand, Astrid tried to kidnap her in some insane scheme.

But she genuinely did seem remorseful for her actions. She hasn’t started any trouble with them since then, and has been downright pleasant at times.

…And that brief moment where they could be considered friends was awfully nice.

Besides, if this would lead to their triumph, then it was the right course of action. She had to make sure Bruno’s vision happened, that future was too perfect to let it slip away.

“Alright.” She decided. “If you really think this’ll help, let’s do it.”

And that was that. They all accepted her choice, no matter how reluctantly.

That matter settled, it was time to finally eat their lunch. It was just sitting there on the table as they discussed, getting cold.

Individually, they all bit into their chicken legs or smoked cod…

And as one, they all cried.

Hiccup remembered Berk food being tough, and tasteless. But after a year of Julieta’s wonderful food, this was almost unbearable.

It was even worse for the Madrigals, who hadn’t developed a tolerance for it like he did.

“Does this even qualify as food?” Isabela asked, nearly weeping from disgust.

“It’s a crime.” Mirabel quietly responded. “It’s a crime in the form of a chicken leg.”

Luisa was sniffling now, as the unseasoned meat assaulted her taste buds. “I miss m-mooom…”

“How do you live like this?” Camilo exclaimed, pounding his fist on the table. “DO YOU PEOPLE NOT KNOW WHAT SALT IS!?”

“Toothless please…” Hiccup was on his knees, frantically speaking to his dragon. “Toothless you gotta take me back! I can’t do this, not again! Toothless please!”

Toothless was very confused.

The four and a half Madrigals continued to have a mental breakdown over horrendously under-spiced food, all throughout lunchtime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t hard to find Snotlout, he tended to make his presence known.

Fishlegs was easy to convince, as expected. He jumped at any opportunity to obtain more dragon knowledge. Camilo was handling Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and he felt like he already knew their answer.

Snotlout was going to be a tough sell, but Hiccup had an idea.

He was currently standing above a puddle, in an alley between two huts, flexing his muscles and grinning vainly. He was lucky that puddles couldn’t shatter.

Upon noticing Hiccup’s approach in the puddle’s reflection, Snotlout’s grin dropped into a frown.

“Oh, great. It’s you…” He groaned.

The chief said he wasn’t allowed to beat up Hiccup anymore. Taking away one of his greatest pleasures in life.

But he could still mock him.

“So what’s up, Useless?” He asked, grin returning. “Come to see what a real Viking looks like?”

Hiccup suppressed a smirk, as he put his plan into action.

“Actually, speaking of real Vikings, it seems like I’ve been getting a lot of respect around here lately…” He spoke, stroking his chin in thought.

Snotlout scoffed. “They’re just buttering you up because they want you to kill the queen! No one cares about you!”

Hiccup knew this, of course, but he didn’t let it show. “No, no I think they’re just impressed by my sheer awesomeness.”

The stout boy bristled with rage. “You don’t have awesomeness! I have awesomeness! I invented awesomeness!”

“That may be so…” It was getting really hard not to laugh at his tantrum. “But soon enough, I’ll be the one with all the glory!”

“Well…me and the others…” Hiccup shrugged.

The bully’s brows furrowed with confusion. “Others? What others?”

“Y’know, the other teens.” He listed off all their names. “They’re gonna help me beat the queen, they’ll probably get their share of glory too.”

This did nothing to quell Snotlout’s confusion. “And how’re they supposed to help?”

Hiccup actually allowed himself to grin, as he activated the crux of his plan.

“We’re gonna train dragons.” He spoke, suddenly filled with determination. “We’re gonna train them to take us to the nest, and to fight by our sides. Together, we’ll end this war.”

Stunned by the gravitas in his tone, Snotlout was silent for just a moment…

Before he busted out laughing.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! And I hang with the twins!” He chortled, nearly falling over from laughter.

But Hiccup had expected this, and had a response ready to go.

“I understand if you’re scared, this mission is really only for the bravest of warriors.” He put his hands in his vest pockets, and began strolling away. “You probably aren’t Viking enough to actually tame a dragon, anyway…”

The stout boy’s laughter stopped cold.

No one…ever…said Snotlout Jorgenson couldn’t do something.

Scurrying to get in front of Hiccup, Snotlout pointed right in his face. “I’m the Viking-est Viking who ever Viking-ed! I could totally train a dumb dragon!”

Smirking, the scrawny teen moved the finger aside. “Then prove it! We’re meeting at the ring, tomorrow. Be there.”

With that, he began walking away. Snotlout petulantly shouting after him as he got farther and farther.

“Oh I’ll be there alright! And I’m gonna wipe that stupid smile off your stupid face!”

“You hear me? I’ll take down the queen myself! Me and my dragon! Who’s gonna be one-hundred percent cooler than a Night Fury, by the way!”

“Are you listening to me!? YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Until very recently, Mirabel had never been threatened by a person.

She’d been in life threatening situations, where she only had a split second to act or all would be lost, yes. But another human had never endangered her safety, or perhaps her life.

It’s what the Encanto was all about. Protecting its inhabitants from such situations.

Astrid had not only punched her, and repeatedly attacked both her and her boyfriend, she’d even tried to kidnap her.

It was an abysmal failure, thanks to the protective Casita. But she had the will. She clearly intended to abduct Mirabel, maybe violently.

It wasn’t like with Ruffnut, she was obviously deranged and beyond reason. Astrid was sane, for the most part. The shieldmaiden’s rational mind made the decision to try and commit a crime against her.

So it was no surprise that the girl felt at least a little uncomfortable around the young Viking.

Mirabel had opted to go find her, and inform her of the plan. Everyone else present insisted that they go instead, but the bespectacled girl wouldn’t budge.

She found her on the outskirts of the village, near the forest. Sitting on a rock and sharpening her axe.

Mirabel stepped on a twig as she approached, the small branch cracking under the weight. Startled, Astrid brandished her axe and quickly spun to face her stalker.

But upon seeing Mirabel, she scrambled to remove her axe from in front of the girl’s face.

“M-Mirabel! Sorry, you scared-I was-I- “She fought to put an end to her sputtering. “What are you doing here?”

Already feeling the discomfort, Mirabel decided to make this quick. “We’re gonna show the other teens how to train dragons, so they can help us with the queen. Hiccup thinks you could help.”

Surprise graced Astrid’s features, and the girl almost forgot to nod. “Y-Yeah, sure! I’d love to help!”

Good. They were done here.

“Cool.” Was all Mirabel said, before she began making her leave.

But Astrid couldn’t let her go without saying what she needed to say. “W-Wait! I’m sorry!”

Mirabel stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“I’m sorry!” Astrid repeated. “I-I was desperate, and angry, and…scared and…I’m sorry for hurting you. And…planning to hurt you…”

It sounded like she had to fight to get those words out, and they felt remarkably sincere.

Mirabel sighed, already feeling her anger dissipating. It wasn't in her nature to hold a grudge.

But that didn’t mean all was well.

“I know.” She said. “I know you’re sorry, I can tell. But…that doesn’t change what you did. What you wanted to do.”

Her gaze hardened. “I don’t forgive you…”

Astrid’s eyes fell, but she understood. She'd soiled everything.

Mirabel’s features then softened considerably, to the Viking’s surprise. “…But, I might be able to.”

Then the girl left for real, eager to evacuate this awkward confrontation.

Leaving Astrid in a stunned, but hopeful silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sky was darkening. The sun was setting. Night was approaching.

Way earlier than the Madrigals were used to.

“We should have three more hours of daylight!” Isabela said, baffled.

“Welcome to Berk!” Hiccup chuckled.

“You said that already.” Noted Camilo.

Hiccup shrugged. “And I’ll keep saying it for as long as it’s relevant!”

Vikings were already beginning to retire to their huts, and the Madrigals decided that they should turn in for the night too. They had a long day ahead.

Together, they sauntered through the village. The cool breeze even cooler, and the moon peeking out from behind the clouds.

Hiccup still got a lot of faux praise.

He still didn’t like it.

Soon they arrived at the Great Hall, their living space for the duration of their stay.

Just as they were about to enter, a familiar stomping alerted them to the chief’s approach.

Stoick, trailed by Gobber, made their way over to the group.

“There you are, Hiccup.” The bearded man addressed the much smaller boy. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Come on, it’s time for bed.”

Hiccup had no clue what he was talking about. “…Yeah, it is. So we’re heading inside.”

Chuckling merrily, and a bit patronizingly, Stoick shook his head. “No, son. They sleep in there, you’ll sleep in your room.”

A pit formed in Hiccup’s stomach, as he thought about going to his old room.

In his old house.

With his old father.

The boy’s entire demeanor shifted, and he was now glaring cold daggers at the chief. “The Madrigals are staying in the Great Hall. I am staying in the Great Hall.”

Amusement fading, Stoick spoke authoritatively. “Hiccup, it’s too late for this foolishness- “

“We’re not having this conversation!” Stoick reeled with shock at the sudden exclamation, and Hiccup kept talking. “I’m going to bed now.”

Saying all that he felt the need to say, the boy marched inside the hall. Not sparing a second glance to Stoick.

The Madrigals and Toothless, still not quite knowing what happened, followed him inside.

The only sound made was the slam of the doors, as Stoick stood in silence.

Completely befuddled silence.

…Until he heard the snickers.

“The lad’s certainly gotten a temper, hasn’t he?” Gobber tittered.

At these words, the chief’s own temper flared.

“I don’t get it!” He raged. “I try to understand what he’s feeling! I apologize to him! I offer to kill the Night Fury with him, and then I tell the people to leave the Night Fury alone! But he’s still like…” He gestured to the area where the boy was just standing. “THIS!”

“Have ye tried talking to him?” Gobber asked.

“YES!” Shouted his friend, with complete indignation. “It didn’t work, obviously!”

“Let me try that again…” The one-legged man sighed. “Have ye tried listening to him?”

That left Stoick confounded. “W-What?”

Rolling his eyes, Gobber elaborated. “Ye’ve been talking at Hiccup, not to him. Telling him what ye think he wants to hear. What ye need to do is just…let him talk. About anything! Ask him about his interests, or that dragon, or that magic village! He’s been on quite a few adventures in the last year!”

“If ye want my advice? Stop talking, and start listening.” Gobber then hobbled away to his own hut, leaving his old friend to think on what he’d told him.

And hoping to any God that would listen that he would get the message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their blankets and pillows acquired, the four and a half Madrigals and the Night Fury all settled in for a night of rest. Their first night on Berk, for most of them.

Despite how spacious the hall was, they all slept relatively nearby. The comfort of closeness, allowing them to drift into slumber in this unfamiliar location.

They were sure to have a full night’s rest.

…If everything outside hadn’t gone to chaos.

The sounds of screams, screeches, and explosions quickly woke them from their sleep.

Four of them had no clue what was going on.

But one did.

Rushing to the doors, Hiccup cracked one open just enough for him to see outside.

And his suspicions were confirmed.

They were under attack.

Looking back, he saw his companions eyeing him with fear and confusion.

He answered their silent questions with two simple words, spoken with a familiar sense of panic.

“…Dragon raid!”