58. Making Bonds and Breaking Bonds

It was surreal.

When Hiccup agreed to return to Berk, he was fully expecting to be treated like trash for the entire duration of his stay.

He figured he’d just take it, while he worked on freeing the dragons. Once that was done, he’d head back to the Encanto. Never to return.

Not once did he think that he’d be treated…nicely.

And none of that phony friendliness from before, when the village was just trying to get him to kill the queen for them.

When he, along with Mirabel and Toothless, had helped out during that raid…he actually started to get some respect.

He was greeted cheerily at the start of each day, instead of being shouted at to get back inside. Vikings would approach him, and attempt to engage in idle chit-chat. No longer fearing that having him around was bad luck. There were no insults or vitriolic scowls to be had.

Not an utterance of Hiccup the Useless.

And it didn’t stop there. When it was learned that he and the other Dragon Riders had defeated that Skrill yesterday, they’d been getting showered in praise.

Suddenly, the people wanted to know how they’d managed to train those dragons.

And when he told them that, once freed from the mind-control, they made surprisingly good companions…the Berkians began wondering what else they could be used for aside from battle.

Could they help with farming? Or construction? Perhaps baking? Or smelting? Did they make good pets?

Some people had even asked if he could teach them.

He was peppered with these questions nonstop, and it was almost overwhelming. But he answered each one happily.

Because this was exactly what he’d wanted.

He and his riders had shown them that dragons weren’t mindless beasts, that they could be trusted partners. And they’d sparked their curiosities.

Though as intrigued as they were, he was sure they weren’t completely convinced. Not yet.

And some wouldn’t even consider the possibility.

Spitelout, for instance, insisted that Hiccup was a conniving traitor. Spreading his treacherous lies to try and get everyone to let their guards down around dragons, so they could strike.

Decrying this as Hiccup’s plot for revenge, against the people who’d treated a runt as one should be treated.

He wasn’t alone in this thinking, a decent number of Hooligans sided with him in the debate.

Though surprisingly, Snotlout wasn’t one of them.

Spitelout had been standing on a soapbox in the plaza, preaching to anyone who would listen about how Hiccup’s ideas were dangerous and radical. The Riders, who were on their way to the arena, watched this from afar. Highly annoyed.

Spotting Snotlout, he singled his son out and basically demanded he come up and parrot his thoughts.

But the stout boy refused.

“Hiccup? A traitor? Pfft, no way!” He laughed, much to Hiccup’s surprise.

Spitelout bristled at the disobedience. “What was that, boyo?” He asked, threateningly.

But despite his every instinct telling him to back down, Snotlout stood his ground.

“Sorry, dad. But being a Dragon Rider’s pretty cool!” He’d said, brimming with confidence. “If you got a problem with it, take it up with Hookfang!”

Ignoring his father’s red-faced rage, he turned and smugly walked away before the man could say anything else.

His companions followed, baffled at the interaction.

Ruffnut’s jaw was hanging open. “Snotlout…just defended Hiccup…”

“What is this world coming to!?” Cried Tuffnut, pulling his own hair.

As soon as he and the other riders were far enough away, Snotlout slumped over. Releasing a deep breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

“Did I really just talk to dad like that?” He thought, terrified.

Astrid was walking past him, and for the brief moment where they were side by side, she turned to him.

“That was pretty cool, the way you stood up to your father.” She spoke, nonchalantly. Before moving on ahead.

In that instance, all doubt was removed from Snotlout’s mind.

It was totally worth it.

They were strolling down the bridge suspended over the sea, ready for another day of dragon training.

Mirabel wasn’t currently present. She wanted to sneak in a little extra flying practice with Mariposa.

Hiccup still couldn’t believe the fact that Snotlout of all people had taken his side.

And he really felt the need to talk to him about it.

Approaching the stout boy, he spoke. “Hey, why’d you stick up for me? I…I really didn’t expect that from you.”

That caught him off guard. Snotlout seemed to hesitate, as if he was fighting to find the words necessary. “Er…um…I mean-uh…”

“Look, I’m still better than you in every possible way!” He started, brashly. Before his expression became more earnest. “But…if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have met Hookfang. So…y’know…”

“And…” He was really struggling now. Sweating and panting and gritting his teeth. These next words looked like they caused him physical pain.

“And…I’m sorry for beating you up so much!” He shouted.

Hiccup took a step back, stunned.

He never expected to hear those words from this boy. Not in a million years.

Just as quickly as it left, Snotlout’s smugness returned. “B-Because it was a waste of my precious time! There were so many better things I could’ve been doing, ha-ha!” He snorted, before hastily scuttling away.

But try as he might, he couldn’t erase his sincere apology from Hiccup’s memory.

The scrawny teen just stood there, in disbelief. As the others kept walking onwards.

Isabela approached him, having seen what just transpired. She gave him a questioning glance, her fluffy collar rustling in the cold breeze. To which he could only shrug.

“Dragons change people!” He grinned.

And it was the truth. Astrid, Snotlout…both very different than how they used to be. All thanks to dragons.

At this rate, it was possible that they could change the whole village’s minds on the dragons.

Hiccup could only hope.

Isabela moved on ahead, and he continued his walk across the bridge. Jogging under the cloudy midday sky, to catch up to his fellow riders.

Upon entering the arena, Hiccup couldn’t help but notice that everyone was staring at something. With varying levels of surprise.

Pushing through the small crowd, Hiccup was quite confounded to see no one else but Stoick the Vast.

He stood in the middle of the ring, towering over everyone present besides Luisa.

And he was still a bit taller than her.

His arms were crossed, and his face was locked in a stern glare. His bold voice echoed across the craggy space.

“Let’s talk…about these dragons.” He huffed.

And just like that, Hiccup’s good mood was gone.

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

Stoick had been trying to talk to Hiccup for a while now, for two reasons.

First of all, he needed a definitive answer on just what was going on with these dragons.

The people were growing restless, with some spouting off ideas about dragons being tamed, and others furiously asserting that all dragons needed to be done away with.

As chief, it was his job to get to the bottom of this dispute.

And second of all…their relationship was still very poor.

But Stoick was as determined as ever to fix that.

Ever since he and Gobber had that talk about listening, he’d been trying to put the advice to good use. But Hiccup had been avoiding him for the whole week he’s been on Berk.

An attempt to talk, even the smallest of small talk, was met with the boy darting off in the other direction.

Every time he put his foot down and demanded they communicate, the teen would shout right back that he would do no such thing.

Whenever he approached him, as gently and patiently as could be, Hiccup would very politely suggest that he had something else to do. Even if he didn’t.

How were they supposed to reconcile if he couldn’t get the boy to stand in front of him for thirty seconds?

But now, with this whole dragon training debacle, Hiccup seemed especially eager to answer any and all questions related to the topic.

And Stoick had some questions.

Not only that, but perhaps the topic could lead to them actually talking.

He felt the chances were slim, but he had to try.

Stoick had risen early, as the chief always does. And he’d stomped his way through town, heading for the arena.

He stopped along the way, several times. Some villagers would come up for a chat, which he indulged in. The conversations always seemed to lead back to the idea of training dragons.

He’d overheard the mutterings of other Berkians, all pertaining to whether or not they should train dragons.

He’d caught children running around, playing pretend. Imagining that they were dragon riders.

He spotted Spitelout, standing on a box. Rambling about how training dragons was a sign of the end-times to a very bored looking crowd.

It seemed this was all anyone wanted to talk about.

The bearded man encountered the forge, on his way. And decided to pop in and ask his old friend for his opinion.

“What do you think about all this…” Stoick began to ask, from outside the forge. “Dragon training…stuff?”

Gobber scratched his chin with his hook, as he thought.

“…Well it’s certainly strange, no doubt about that. It goes against everything we know!” At these words, Stoick nodded. He completely agreed.

The blacksmith looked Stoick straight in the eyes. “But I’m not gonna lie to ye, Stoick…I think Hiccup may have a point.”

He continued, leaning against his shop’s counter with a burly arm. “There’s something about the way he interacts with that Night Fury. He doesn’t treat it like ye would a beast of burden, he treats it like its his best friend or something. And y’know what? The dragon treats him the exact same way!”

Gobber started to gesticulate wildly. “And did ye see how they all fought that Skrill? The Dragon Riders, they call themselves! People, on the backs of dragons, defending Berk from other dragons! It sounds like insanity…”

“…But, when ye see them in action…it doesn’t look too crazy. Y’know what it looks like to me?” He asked.

“It looks like Berk’s future…”

His grave tone rendered Stoick speechless.

But it was gone in a flash, and replaced with a goofy grin.

“But what do I know? I’m just a one-legged lout!” He snickered.

And then he hobbled back into the forge, to continue working.

Leaving Stoick with his thoughts.

Berk’s future?

Allowing Hiccup the Night Fury was one thing, it was needed to defeat the queen dragon. But this?

Humans and dragons living together in peace, was Berk’s future? Could such a thing truly be possible?

He figured he wouldn’t get any answers just standing around. And so, he continued to stomp through town and into the arena.

Upon his arrival, he could see that he was the first to arrive. None of the teens were here yet.

He could also see that all the dragons were in their cages.

But the cages were different, in a way.

They were all decorated with bright colors, and a variety of symbols. And each one was adorned with a stylistic depiction of a dragon’s head, presumably to represent which creature slept within.

If he had to guess, he’d assume that the insides were changed to be more welcoming too.

They looked less like cages, and more like cutesy bedrooms.

“So that’s what they did with the paint they borrowed…”

Not only that, but each cage had a name written on it. Stoick did a quick turnaround, inspecting every single one.

Of the dragons they’d had here already, there was Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch.

And then there were the dragons they’d captured in the last major raid. Technically, two sets of names were written on each door. But he could only read one of them.

The cage holding the Crimson Goregutter was labeled Hercules.

The Snaptrapper’s cage had four names, Rosita, Violeta, Lilliana, and Pam.

And on the Changewing’s door, Tonta was written.

They’d even given the creatures names? Did they truly view them as companions? Like a dog, or a cat?

He realized he’d get the answers he wanted soon, and so he waited.

It wasn’t long before he heard footsteps and chatter reverberate through the ring.

He turned, while crossing his arms. He adopted a stern glare as he looked upon the teens that were pouring in. To let them know that he wasn’t messing around this time.

Every supposed Dragon Rider was present, except for Mirabel. The reason why, he didn’t know.

He saw a mop of auburn hair shuffling through the crowd, as the others gazed up at him with trepidation. Or annoyance, in Isabela’s case.

Hiccup made his way to the front of the pack, and when he saw who everyone else was staring at, he grew an exasperated frown.

Now that they all knew he was here, Stoick spoke.

“Let’s talk…about these dragons.” He huffed.

While the others expressed fear, or perhaps frustration, Hiccup just rolled his eyes. As if to say “Here we go…”

“I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about training dragons, riding dragons, living with dragons…” He began slowly advancing on the group, causing a few of them to step back.

He loomed over Hiccup, speaking authoritatively. Fully in chief mode.

“Do you expect me to believe, that after three-hundred years of war and bloodshed, we’re supposed to keep these creatures as pets?” He asked. Speaking calmly, and yet giving off the same energy as a man screaming with rage.

Hiccup released a deep sigh.

“It’s not their fault. They’re being controlled, I’ve told you this…” He said.

Stoick nodded. “Aye, I know that. But there’s a difference between acknowledging that perhaps some dragons aren’t mindless beasts, and taking them out for walks.”

Fishlegs raised his hand.

“Actually, most dragons prefer going out for flights! It stimulates their wing muscles, activates several neurons in their brains that respond to being in the air, and it serves to…” He slowly stopped speaking once he saw all the odd looks he was getting.

Annoyed at the interruption, Stoick turned to Hiccup once more. Regarding him with a steely glare. “Show me.”

The boy sputtered in shock. “W-What?”

“Show me.” The chief repeated. “Show me what you’ve been doing here. Show me that dragons can live with people, peacefully.”

Hiccup’s eyes looked as if they’d burst out of their sockets.

Twice.

Twice now today, Hiccup had heard someone say something he never expected to hear from them.

Stoick the Vast. The most stubborn, dragon-hating Viking he could imagine…

Had just asked to be shown the true nature of dragons.

This day kept getting weirder and weirder…

But if this worked out, it’d be beneficial for everybody.

So he had to try.

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

It was really awkward.

Trying to have a dragon training session normally, while the chief was just standing in the corner. Glaring at you.

But they managed.

They went about their usual activities. Bonding exercises, play sessions, dragon fun facts, courtesy of Fishlegs…

At this point is was less of a school and more of a club. But they were fine with that.

Stoick had to admit, the things he was seeing were very interesting.

He would raise an intrigued eyebrow, whenever he saw a giant reptile bounce around like a puppy.

Like when Meatlug bounded after a rock Fishlegs had thrown, and ended up ramming right into the Snaptrapper sisters. Who Isabela collectively referred to as her Blossoms.

It took a lot of effort on Isabela’s part to keep the irritated dragon from going full flytrap on the Gronckle. But while she whispered sweet things to try and calm their anger, she couldn’t help but glare at the rotund boy herself.

He didn’t let it show, but Stoick had found this interaction rather humorous.

Later he saw Snotlout, flexing his muscles in a fruitless attempt to impress the girls. In the middle of his performance, Hookfang tripped him over with his tail. Rumbling with laughter.

And this captured the man’s thoughts. Could dragons really laugh? Did they have senses of humor?

Once again, Hercules had sat his large head in Luisa’s lap. The hulking girl running a gentle hand over his antlers. He seemed to really enjoy snoozes, especially with her.

It was so odd to Stoick, seeing a beast like that look so peaceful. In the company of a human, no less.

But what really caught his attention, was when they started talking about battle strategies.

Astrid and Stormfly stood in the middle of the ring, opposing Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Barf and Belch.

Hiccup spoke, both to them, and the others on the sidelines.

“Every dragon has its own unique abilities. For generations we’ve been taught to defend against them, but now its time we learned how to defend ourselves with them.”

“In this pretend battle…” He really emphasized the word pretend, specifically to the twins. “We’ll demonstrate some basic strategies.”

He snapped his fingers, and both participants mounted their dragons. Awaiting his next word.

“Dragon scales are completely fireproof! If a rogue dragon is firing at you, your buddy’s got you covered.” He pointed to Astrid.

At her command, Stormfly launched a blast of magnesium flame. Barf and Belch brought up their wings to defend their riders. Protecting them from even an ember.

“Not to mention, that you can then fire back if you feel the need to...” He then gestured to the twins.

Barf released a cloud of green gas, though Belch didn’t light it yet.

“But if you can’t stand the heat, and need to get out of the kitchen, then just hop on your dragon!” Once more, he gestured to Astrid.

Stormfly ascended upwards, away from the gas. Just as Belch ignited it.

Not even flinching from the explosion, Hiccup turned back towards the group as Astrid made her landing.

“Dragons are intelligent, amazing creatures. And if you earn a dragon’s trust, there is nothing it won’t do for you.” He stated, finishing the lesson.

It was a simple one, for Stoick’s sake. But by the way the man was stroking his beard, Hiccup felt like he got the point across.

Astrid was just about to dismount from Stormfly, when a Zippleback head chomped at her foot.

“Hey!” She cried. “What are you doing? The lesson’s over!”

“The lesson may be over, but the battle isn’t!” Ruffnut declared.

The shieldmaiden groaned, dodging another chomp. “It was a pretend battle, you muttonheads!”

Tuffnut grinned. “Yeah, and we’re pretending we don’t know that!”

Stormfly stomped away, Barf and Belch hot on her heels, while Hiccup could only sigh.

Their classes would usually end like this.

But while the chaos ensued, with other dragons and their riders getting involved in one way or another, Stoick tromped up to his son.

“How?” He asked. When the boy turned to him in confusion, he elaborated. “How do you earn a dragon’s trust?”

Hiccup looked to him, baffled.

He knew the answer.

But he didn’t know how Stoick would respond to the answer.

“You gotta promise to do exactly what I tell you.” The boy said, suddenly very serious. No dragons were getting hurt. Not in his class.

While at first off put by Hiccup’s response, the man soon nodded. “Fine.”

Hiccup opted to introduce him to the smallest dragon they had present, as to not make him feel too threatened.

Lucky for him, the smallest dragon in the ring was barely any bigger than a lap dog.

Hiccup approached Stoick, walking slowly. Toothless beside him, to ensure things didn’t get out of hand. The unnamed Terrible Terror was cradled in his arms, fidgeting and squirming like a child who’s had too much sugar.

Once they were close, the Terror took one look at the towering man and yelped. Scampering out of the boy’s arms, climbing up his shoulders, and hiding behind his auburn locks.

Stoick felt a burst of pride at being able to scare a dragon so easily, but it faded when he saw Hiccup’s displeased expression.

“You gotta drop your axe.” Hiccup said.

Stoick furrowed his brow, almost feeling insulted. “Don’t be ridiculous- “

“Drop. Your. Axe.” Hiccup insisted, in a tone that left no room for debate.

Toothless started growling, to get the point across.

After a brief stare down, the chief saw that the scrawny teen wouldn’t concede.

With a sigh, he removed his axe. Handing it to Fishlegs, who had stepped forth to retrieve it.

“And the hammer.” Added Hiccup.

With a groan, he also gave his hammer to Fishlegs.

Hiccup smirked, feeling a bit smug. “And the little dagger I know you keep in your boot.”

Fighting the urge to punch the nearest wall, Stoick did as he was requested.

“I’m gonna need those back!” He called after the chubby boy.

Finally, the Terror didn’t seem as afraid. Still wary, but it had come out of hiding.

Hesitantly, it skittered down Hiccup’s shoulder. The boy held his arm out towards Stoick, and the small dragon inched closer to the man. Eyeing him with suspicion.

“Now, hold your palm out…” Hiccup said, softly.

Every instinct within Stoick was telling him to grab the little thing and toss it outside.

But this was the most he and Hiccup had interacted in…

A year, honestly.

The boy seemed to glow whenever anything dragon-related was brought up.

And if he could manage to earn a dragon’s trust…maybe he could manage to earn his son’s trust as well.

Slowly, he held his arm up. Splaying out his palm.

The Terror sniffed at the large hand, which dwarfed its own head, unsure.

It stared up at the man with bulbous eyes, narrowing with apprehension.

Stoick glared at the creature, narrowing his own eyes with equal apprehension.

Everyone watched with baited breath, waiting to see what would happen. And placing bets on whether he’d strangle it or not.

Finally, Stoick was tired of looking at it. At its big eyes, which should have been hostile and soulless, but housed an unsettling degree of self-awareness.

He shut his own eyes, and looked away.

…

And felt the tiniest snout bump against his palm.

Every jaw in the arena dropped, including Stoick’s.

It was the briefest of touches, from the nose of a tiny reptile…

But the feeling was indescribable.

Suddenly feeling playful, the Terrible Terror hopped from Hiccup’s arm onto Stoick’s. Scampering up his bicep.

As its tiny paws tickled him, the man couldn’t help but an involuntary chuckle.

His stoicism, forgotten.

The Terror clambered up his back, and proudly perched atop his helmet. Relishing in the feeling of being tall.

“Bet you don’t feel so little anymore, do you?” Stoick asked the dragon, amused at the sight.

Hiccup’s worldview was absolutely shattered.

In a good way.

Of all the things he never expected to see, this was at the very tippy top of the list.

Chief Stoick the Vast, legendary dragon slayer extraordinaire…

Playing with a dragon.

It was nearly incomprehensible. His eyes were beginning to strain, almost as if he was looking at something not quite real. His brain couldn’t work out what he was seeing.

Clearly he wasn’t alone in this reaction.

Every Dragon Rider, and every dragon, had looks of pure shock on their faces.

It was just so unbelievable, so wildly outside of everything Hiccup believed to be true…

That he laughed.

A short, disbelieving sort of chortle.

Caught off guard by the boy’s reaction, Stoick faced him.

Before chuckling too.

And then Hiccup started giggling, and Stoick began to snicker, then Hiccup was guffawing, and Stoick was releasing full on belly laughter.

The ring was filled with the sounds of their shared laughter.

The Dragon Riders watched on, terribly confused.

“Yup, they’ve lost it…” Camilo snarked, leaning on Tonta.

Soon enough the tittering died down, both Haddocks wheezing and coughing while wiping tears from their eyes.

The Terror remained perched on Stoick’s head.

“This…this is crazy!” Stoick panted, still slightly laughing. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever witnessed!”

“But…” He crouched down, and placed a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. “I think you may be onto something, son.”

The boy’s eyes sparkled but he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“It’ll take some work, and some time, and we’ve still got to deal with that queen…” The man sneered at the last thought, before he regained a more genuine smile.

“But…from what you’ve shown me…perhaps there's a way that Vikings and dragons can live together.” He proclaimed.

He looked to Toothless, who was just as wide eyed, and nodded. The dragon, unsure of what to do, mimicked him by nodding back.

Stoick took this as a good sign.

Meanwhile, Hiccup was pinching himself.

Because clearly he was dreaming.

There was no way that he was experiencing this in reality, right?

But try as he might, he could find no signs that this was an illusion.

This was real.

Stoick the Vast had just promised him that they’d work towards a shared future, between Vikings and dragons.

This will go down in history as one of the weirdest days of his life.

But despite his unending confusion, he smiled as brightly as he possibly could.

Dragons really did change people.

“Can we go now?”

From the crowd, Tuffnut spoke up. “Because I really gotta poo!”

“And I gotta make sure he doesn’t fall in the bowl…” Ruffnut groaned. “Again…”

This elicited a multitude of ewws form the other riders.

“Uh…y-yeah!” Hiccup sputtered. “Class dismissed!”

The dragons were all moved back to their cages, but they didn’t do so reluctantly. Every room had been furnished and decorated, with torches for light, and extra food left inside.

Everyone began heading out, with Hiccup making to join the Madrigals. But he was stopped by Stoick.

“Actually, Hiccup. I was…” He seemed afraid to even utter these next words. “I was thinking maybe we could take a walk and just…talk…”

He braced himself for the immediate dismissal, but to his surprise…

“O-Okay.” Hiccup said, meekly.

Both Stoick and Toothless looked to him, stunned.

“Really?” The chief asked.

The boy shakily nodded.

“Really.” He replied. “W-What do you wanna talk about?”

Stoick fought for a response, fishing for a variety of topics…

Before he settled on one he thought the boy would like.

“How exactly did you meet Toothless? How did you become…friends?” Stoick questioned.

At this, Hiccup grinned. Reaching over to scratch his dragon behind the ears.

As they began walking, he began talking.

“You remember when I said I shot down a Night Fury?”

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

The open sky.

Boundless, limitless, freedom exemplified.

Mirabel loved it.

And she was no stranger to it.

But this time was different.

She wasn’t flying on Toothless, she was flying on her own dragon.

Her Mariposa.

It was a bit of an adjustment. The Stormcutter was a bit bigger than the Night Fury, and apparently she’d grow even larger with age.

Not to mention that figuring out the two-winged and four-winged formations was still a work in progress.

But that didn’t take away from the exhilaration of flight.

They danced through the air, doing flips and twirls over the sea of clouds. Skimming wing tips in the water, and ducking and dodging sea stacks.

…And knocking into a few of those sea stacks.

She winced every time the Stormcutter made a pained trill, in that soft voice of hers.

“Lo siento, Mariposa…” Mirabel would whisper, caressing one of her frills.

As they soared over the ocean, she looked up into the field of cotton white clouds in the bright blue sky.

She grinned to her dragon. “You wanna try something cool?”

The naturally apprehensive Stormcutter was, of course, apprehensive. But she agreed, anyway.

Beating her wings, they rapidly began to ascend. Pushing higher and higher, until it felt like they could kiss the sun.

Once at the very apex of their climb, they fell into a spiraling dive. Spinning at high speeds as they plummeted towards the waters below.

It’s a wonder Mirabel’s glasses didn’t fall off.

Right before they hit the sea, Mariposa spread her wings out. Launching upwards, until they settled into a steady glide.

Mirabel hollered with glee from atop the dragon’s back, feeling the rush. The Stormcutter couldn’t deny that it was kind of fun.

They soared, gracefully. Watching the sun as it began its journey to setting.

But it was here that the girl realized that, while she intended to be a little late to dragon training, she’d actually missed it entirely.

“…We’d better get back.” She said, before turning her dragon around. Back towards the island.

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

“She set up an entire scavenger hunt in that magic house, just so you and her sister would be on better terms?”

Hiccup laughed, and shrugged. “That’s Mirabel for you!”

Stoick couldn’t help but chuckle at the girl’s antics as well.

They were walking around one of the island’s cliffsides. Toothless pouncing on insects he’d find in the grass. A dense forest lied on one side of them, and the endless seas under the pinkening afternoon on the other.

They’d been talking. Actually talking.

Stoick had asked Hiccup several questions, mostly about his life in the past year.

It felt so odd for Hiccup to do the talking and for Stoick to do the listening.

But the scrawny teen appreciated it.

The boy had told of his forbidden friendship with Toothless, and how tricky it was to hide it.

He detailed his crash landing in the Encanto, and his first days there. How most of the people were afraid of him, or flat out didn’t like him. And how that all changed.

He couldn’t skip over the magical mystery, and Casita’s collapse. That was juicy stuff.

He described each member of the Madrigal family, his family. Heavily emphasizing that they weren’t witches.

Talking about them made him miss them.

He wanted to hug Julieta and Augustin, or suddenly be caught in a snowstorm by Pepa, or read an overdramatic romance novel with Bruno, or tell Antonio more dragon facts…

But it was alright. He’d be back with them soon.

Then, Stoick shifted the topic.

“And speaking of Mirabel…” He started, awkwardly. “Gobber told me you two were…”

Hiccup was immediately stricken with a dopey smile. “Yeah, w-we’re dating...

"More than that honestly, I…I’m in love with her…” The sappiness in his tone made Toothless roll his eyes.

“I mean, how could I not be!?” He suddenly exclaimed, to both Stoick and Toothless’ surprise.

“Have you seen her? She’s incredible! Gods, the things she does! She goes to the farthest lengths, just for the people she cares about! And she’s a genius! I don’t know how she thinks up half of her plans, but y’know what? They always work out! Not to mention that she’s beautiful! Her hair, and her nose, and her eyes, and her smile, Gods! Her smile! Honestly, everyone says she didn’t get a gift, but I don’t believe that. There is no mortal way a girl this amazing could be natural, magic has to be involved! But if it’s not, then that just reaffirms my theory that she is, and I can’t stress this enough, a miracle. A miracle given human form!”

Both the chief and the Night Fury stared at the boy like he was crazy.

It came completely out of nowhere.

Virtually nothing had prompted Hiccup to launch into that lovesick rant.

And yet, when he did…

Stoick understood.

He understood exactly what his son was feeling.

Because a long time ago, he’d have these exact same rants about Valka.

Completely unprompted, the woman only had to be slightly mentioned. And Stoick would go off.

Just like Hiccup had.

Panting from his rant, Hiccup had one more thing to say about her.

“…I’m gonna marry her…”

Stoick looked down at him, his eyes widening. “W-What was that?”

A small smile grew on his features. “I’m gonna marry her! I-I mean, technically I already know that. But I think even before I knew…I knew…”

Right then and there, Stoick knew.

He knew Hiccup wasn’t staying on Berk.

That girl’s home was the Encanto. And wherever she was, was home to him.

Not to mention the rest of that family, and the townsfolk. Hiccup seemed fond of all of them.

His immediate reaction was to plot some scheme to convince Mirabel to stay, therefore causing Hiccup to stay.

But…

Once again, Gobber was right.

He’d be safe there. He’d be happy there.

And if he respected his decision, Stoick could still be a part of his son’s life.

Even from afar.

“I…” The bearded man swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’m happy for you, son. Truly.”

Hiccup, lost in a lovey-dovey daze, was shaken out of it by those words.

“Uh…thanks…” He responded, softly. Not expecting to hear that.

A nostalgic glint flashed in Stoick’s gaze. “Y’know…you remind me a lot of me and your mother. When we were young…”

Hiccup jolted with surprise.

They almost never talked about mom.

It’d been over a decade, but the wounds were still fresh.

Despite that, he’d been so curious.

So curious about the woman who’d brought him into the world, and was then taken from this world to keep him in it.

He’d tried asking around the island for years, but no one wanted to talk about it. And after a while, no one wanted to talk to him.

He looked to Stoick attentively, eager to hear any words about his mother.

“She would always- “

“Sorry!”

Stoick was cut off by a voice.

Mirabel’s voice.

She and Mariposa descended from the skies, landing in front of them.

Mirabel hopped off her dragon, and ran right up to Hiccup. While Toothless leapt over to his new friend.

“Sorry I was late!” She said. “We were flying and just kinda…lost track of time!”

“It’s alright, no big deal!” Hiccup laughed. “I’m happy you two are having fun!”

Looking over, Mirabel snorted.

“Speaking of having fun!” She pointed to the dragons, and Hiccup followed her direction.

Mariposa was sat, almost completely still. Watching Toothless with unblinking eyes. Slowly swishing her tail left to right.

Toothless was crouched down, eyeing her tail with the piercing gaze of a hunter. Periodically, he’d paw at her tail. But she’d move it over before he could touch it, every time.

The teens laughed at these shenanigans, remarking on how adorable it was.

…

Neither noticed Stoick in the back.

His blood running cold. His skin turning pale. His eyes becoming bloodshot.

His breathing growing heavy. His teeth gritting. His fists clenching.

As he looked upon what he believed to be the monster that killed his wife.

No one saw him slowly reach for his weapon.

No one saw him brandish his axe.

And when they finally noticed him rushing in, going straight for the kill…

It was too late.

Blade met skin.

Flesh was pierced.

And blood splattered onto the grass…