The Forgotten Haddock

Chapter 7

Once Hiccup gets home, I immediately jump up and say quietly, "Hiccup! Astrid likes girls and more importantly likes me! We kissed and now she's my girlfriend. If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tell me what happened." Hiccup says. I tell him everything that happened, except about the second time we kissed. I can tell Hiccup is sad that his crush will never like him in that way, but he's happy that I found someone who loves me. We go to bed and wait for the next day.

We get to the arena and the crowd is cheering Hiccup's name. I'm waiting with Astrid and Hiccup in the entrance of the arena. We can hear Dad's speech to the whole village.

"Well I can show my face in public again! If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from, well, being, uh, Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training, well I'd have tied him to a mast and shipped him off, for fear he'd gone mad! And you know it. But here we are. And no one is more surprised or more proud than I am. Today, my boy becomes a Viking. Today, he becomes one of us!"

"Well that was terrible. I feel worse and it's not even directed at me." I say as the crowd goes wild.

"Be careful with that dragon." Astrid tells him.

"Oh he better or I'll drag him down from Valhalla and beat him to a pulp." I threaten him, half joking.

Hiccup gulps, looks at Dad and says, "It's not the dragon I'm worried about."

"What are you gonna do?" Astrid asks.

"Put an end to this. I have to try. Guys, if something goes wrong, just make sure they don't find Toothless." Hiccup says.

"Hey! Don't think like that. If something goes wrong, I have my dragon nip blunts right here."

Gobber comes up and says, "It's time, Hiccup. Knock'em dead."

The crowd cheers his name and he puts on his helmet. He walks to the weapons rack and grabs a shield and knife. I notch a dragon tip blunt.

"I'm ready." Hiccup says. The blocker slowly rises and the Monstrous Nightmare throws the door open in a blaze. The crowd gasps as it roars. Still ablaze, it runs around the arena, looking for a way out. Once it realizes there's no way out, it drops to the floor and starts stalking Hiccup. Hiccup backs away and drops the knife and shield. He puts out his hand and starts trying to calm down the dragon. He takes off his helmet and gets ready to fire. If that dragon tries to attack, it's going down.

"Stop the fight." Dad says.

"No! I need you all to see this. They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them." Hiccup says.

The crowd is whispering and Dad roars, "I said stop the fight!" He bangs his hammer on the railing and the dragon immediately starts freaking out.

"Gods damn it, Dad." I say as the dragon bites at Hiccup. I shoot my arrow, but the dragon has already left. The Nightmare starts chasing Hiccup and I'm trying to distract it with my blunt dragon nip arrows. Astrid uses an axe to slightly open the door into the arena and I slip through. Dad rips open the first door to the arena and runs past Astrid. I get a shot on it's horn and it starts firing in my direction. It smacks me with its tail and I go flying

"This way!" Dad says opening the second door. I run towards his voice and hug a slightly hysterical Astrid. She hugs me back and we walk out of the arena.

I suddenly stop and whisper, "Oh no."

"What?" Astrid says. But the crowd hears it. The railing explodes and I hear Toothless roar at the Nightmare. I hear Toothless and the Nightmare fighting and I reach for an arrow, but I'm out. The Nightmare tries to grab Hiccup, but Toothless defends him. Suddenly some of the villagers run in and start running at Toothless. I hear Toothless get ready to fire, but Hiccup tells him not to. The villagers run and grapple Toothless to the ground. Hear Dad drag Hiccup past me and I run after them. I try to keep up with them, but I can't. Once I finally catch up to them at the Great Hall, I hear Hiccup plead,

"For once in your life would you please just listen to me?!"

I hear Dad say, "You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a viking. You're not my son." I just stand there and I feel Dad walk around me. "Ready the ships!" I run inside and feel the tears run down my face. They soak the bandages around my eyes as I hug Hiccup.

Astrid finds us like that and says, "They're taking Toothless and the whole village is going to look for the nest." We run out and head to the docks. Hiccup just stands there. After the boats are long gone Astrid walks up to Hiccup.

"It's a mess. You must feel horrible. You've lost everything. Your father, your tribe, one of your two best friends."

"Is everyone in this village a bad pep talker?" I wonder out loud.

"Thank you for summing that up. Why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods? Would have been better for everyone." Hiccup says.

"You and me both, brother." I say.

"Yep. The rest of us would've done it. So why didn't you? Why didn't you?"

"I don't know. I couldn't." Hiccup says.

"That's not an answer." Astrid says.

"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" Hiccup blurts out.

"Because I want to remember what you say right now."

"Oh, for the love of... I was a coward. I was weak. I wouldn't kill a dragon."

"Did he just call me weak, by association?" I say.

"You said wouldn't that time." Astrid says.

"Whatever! I wouldn't! 300 years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon." Hiccup says. There's a long pause before Astrid says,

"First to ride one, though."

"Actually that was me. At least properly. I don't think holding onto the tail counts." Astrid smacks me on the back of the head.

"So...?"

"I wouldn't kill him because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him and I saw myself." Hiccup confesses.

"I bet he's really frightened now. What are you gonna do about it?" Astrid says.

"Eh, probably something stupid."

"HA! You've already done that. What's next?" I say.

"Then something crazy." He runs off and calls for me to go grab Vision.

"That's more like it." Astrid says as she runs off to collect the other teens.

I run through the forest and saddle up Vision. I hop on and fly to the edge of the treeline. I run to my house and grab my quivers of real arrows. I put one on each hip and another on my back. I then run to the arena. When I get there, everyone's already on dragons. Snotlout is on the Monstrous Nightmare, Fishlegs on the Gronckle, The Twins on the Hideous Zippleback and Astrid and Hiccup on the Nadder.

"Every dragon is already taken. Sorry Nara, but you're staying here." Snotlout says smugly. The Twins start laughing, but then I call for Vision. Immediately, he comes in and lands next to me.

"You were saying." I reply sweetly. I hop on Vision who walks over to Astrid's Nadder.

"Were you jealous of Vision, so you got your own Nadder?" I ask sweetly.

"Oh hush you." She says back to me.

"Girls, get a room. Anyway. Nara has the most experience flying so she's leading us to the nest." Hiccup says.

"Come on, everyone. Up!" I shout.

"To the nest." I whisper to Vision. He squawks in confirmation and we soar to the nest. 

(A/N: Hey guys! I hope you're all doing well and I finally released this chapter. Have a Happy Halloween and I hope you all get a lot of candy and stay safe. Till next time, goodbye!!!!)