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❛ sᴛᴏʀᴍʙᴏʀɴ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ʙᴇʀᴋ ꒱


❝ THAT'S FOR SCARING ME ❞

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The smoke began to clear away from the fallen queen and Stoick wasted no time in stepping through the fog to look for his son. "Hiccup!" He shouted, peering desperately through the dust and debris. "Hiccup!"

Drogon's distressed screeching continued overhead, lending an eerie sound to the scene. The chief took several more steps towards where the boy had landed as his cries echoed over and over. "Hiccup! Son!"

He froze as a limp black shape emerged from the haze. He gave a sharp intake of breath as realization dawned on him— the Night Fury wasn't moving. "Hiccup."

The chief picked up his pace and jogged to where Toothless lay still. The leather saddle that his son had made was horribly empty as it rose and fell with the dragon's exhausted breathing. Toothless let out a low moan and flopped over. His prosthetic had completely burned away, leaving just half of his tail remaining. When there was still no sign of Hiccup, Stoick fell to his knees and hunched over with grief. "Oh, son." He bent his head guiltily. "I did this."

Drogon finally landed on the Night Fury's other side, but the chief didn't even feel a flicker of fear. The large dragon gently nudged his smaller counterpart with his nose, his great nostrils flaring as he sniffed at his friend. The other dragons landed as well next to their respective riders.

Now that Drogon's cries had stopped, silence fell over the rocky beach. The other Vikings moved closer to the scene while still keeping a respectful distance away. Despite their deference, their reaction to Hiccup's sacrifice was arguably hypocritical as many had viewed him as a nuisance just the day before.

Astrid pushed her way to the front of the crowd, only to give a sharp intake of breath when she saw the scene before her. As everyone lowered their heads in sorrow, Toothless let out a pitiful rumble as his eyes blinked open sleepily. Then, one of his wings shifted as a figure moved underneath. The Night Fury lifted his wing entirely as a girl with silvery-blonde hair pushed herself into an upright position. The Vikings stared at Daenerys Targaryen in awe as she sat up, for she appeared to be completely unharmed, except for the ash that coated her skin and clothes.

She returned their looks with mild discomfort and confusion as she didn't understand why they were looking at her so peculiarly. Then, she looked down at the boy who lay limp in front of her. The relief on Stoick's face was obvious as he pulled his son close with a cry of, "Hiccup!"

The chief threw his helmet to the side so he could put an ear to his son's chest to listen for a heartbeat. He laughed, happy beyond belief that he was— or, at least, would be— okay. "He's alive! You brought him back alive!"

The villagers cheered and clapped at the news, shouting their delight to the sky as they thanked the Gods for the safe return of the chief's son. Stoick first met the Night Fury's eyes, and then the Targaryen's, though the girl's quickly flicked down to focus on his beard instead. "Thank you for saving my son."

Gobber limped to his friend's side and gazed curiously over his shoulder. He grimaced at the sight that greeted him. "Well, you know. . . most of him."

🏹🏹🏹

Hiccup woke slowly from the darkness that had clouded his mind. The light behind his eyelids turned from black to grey, but he took his time in opening his eyes. He didn't know how it was possible, but every part of his body ached— even the parts that he didn't think could hurt, hurt. The hard wooden pallet that he was sleeping on didn't help, but thus was the livelihood of a Viking. At least his pillow was soft and the blankets he was tucked into were warm. So warm, in fact, that he might just drift right back off to sleep. That would be nice, he thought, because in sleep, he wasn't in pain.

But then there was a low rumble of curiosity. He caught a whiff of something that smelled suspiciously like spoiled fish and his mind began to whir, unbidden. Toothless. He would recognize his friend's stinky breath anywhere. There were more dragon noises as Toothless began to sense that he was waking up. The boy sighed, knowing that he would never be able to get back to sleep now.

His eyes fluttered open to take in the blurry image of the black dragon above him, his emerald eyes wide with interest. The Night Fury leaned in close again and nudged him on the cheek with his snout. As Hiccup's eyes opened completely, the dragon began to nose at him even more energetically. He quickly put his hands on either side of his friend's face to calm him as the brunet gave him a weak smile. "I'm happy to see you too, bud."

As Toothless began to give him space, he accidentally stepped on Hiccup's stomach, prompting a cry of discomfort from the boy as he sat up. He gazed around the room in confusion, though he recognized the support beams and hearth. He even recognized the chair that had been pulled next to his bed. The one thing that was new was the shelf next to his bed— which had been previously empty— had a small collection of rocks on it. He looked at them curiously; one was large, round and smooth, another had a reddish hue and looked as if a storm was brewing on it. A third wasn't a rock at all, but as clear as glass. There were about ten, all of unknown origin.

Tearing his gaze from the unusual sight, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Uh. . . I'm in my house." He turned to his dragon with wide eyes. "You're in my house!"

He certainly wasn't thinking clearly yet as it still felt like his head was filled with smoke, but as he watched the dragon bounce around his house and knock over furniture and weaponry, he knew that this wasn't a good idea. What would his father say?

"Does my dad know you're here?" he asked, though he really shouldn't have expected an answer as Toothless was too busy knocking over a cooking pot. "Uh, what? Okay, okay." He tried to calm the Night Fury, but to no avail as the dragon jumped onto the support beam. "Toothless, no. No, Toothless."

His friend continued to ignore him and hung upside-down from the wooden beam. "Toothless! Oh, come on."

He swung his feet to the floor to get out of bed, but two things struck him at once and prompted very different reactions. The first— and more pleasant one— was that the floor had an unusual sandy texture. Looking down, he saw that the wide planks were covered with golden brown curls, some as large as his pinky and others as small as, well, sand. He picked up one of the larger ones, examined it closely, and saw that it was a wood shaving. His heart skipped a beat— there was only one person in all of Berk who worked with wood like this. Dany.

The thought of her sitting by his bedside as she once again attempted her carving of a Night Fury made the fluttery feeling in his stomach expand to his chest and fill him with warmth. Although he felt a bit silly, he held the wood shaving close to his heart for a second before he stored it in his vest pocket. He began to suspect that she was also the one who'd gathered the rocks for him, but why was still unknown, except for the fact that they were pretty. But, knowing Dany, there was probably more to it than that.

These pleasant feelings helped to pair down the wash of panic that he'd ignored for as long as he could. He peeled the blanket off his lap completely, his fingers trembling for the discovery he would find underneath. There, where his other foot was supposed to be, was where his leg ended at his knee. He quickly understood that this was the focal point for the pain that he was currently experiencing, as the tender skin around the end of his leg was raw and soft, rubbing against the metal appendage that was attached to it.

Even Toothless seemed to feel that this find was distressing him and stopped his energetic antics. He dropped to the floor with a concerned warble and sniffed the prosthetic foot curiously. As the dragon met his eyes, Hiccup swallowed thickly. This was his new normal. He wasn't dreaming and he couldn't go back and change the past— not that he would, if given the choice. He would now forever have to learn to carry himself on his peg leg; walking would be different, flying would be different, but this wasn't the end. (After all, Gobber got around just fine.)

Bracing himself to face the newest challenge— just getting to the door, that is— he placed his hands on the bed and stood up shakily. He grit his teeth against the sudden, shooting pain, and reminded himself that he was a Viking. Hiccup put one hand in his pocket where the curl of wood lay smoothly against his fingers and took his first step forward.

Expectedly, he faltered, but Toothless was there to lend a helping hand (well, paw) and offered to be a support for him. They made their painstaking way to the door, which the boy heaved open with a grunt of effort. A Monstrous Nightmare roared just on the other side. He gasped and slammed it shut before he pressed his back against the wood, breathing heavily. "Toothless, stay here."

He opened it once again, only to see the dragon on the other side being ridden by Snotlout, who shouted: "come on guys, get ready! Hold on tight, here we go!"

Hiccup stared at the scene before him with wide-eyed disbelief; Berk as he knew it was no more. Instead, dragons were perched on the roofs of houses and more circled playfully in the air. Statues of the winged reptiles had been erected seemingly overnight and feeding troughs boasted hundreds of fish.

"I knew it, I'm dead," was the conclusion that he came up with.

His father approached him and let out an amused chuckle as he patted him on the shoulder. "No, but you gave it your best shot. So, what do you think?"

As they walked down the steps, more Vikings began to notice their presence. "Hey, look, it's Hiccup!"

A group quickly formed around them as the villagers wished him well. His father waved a hand in front of him. "Turns out all we needed was a little more of this."

Used to the line applied in a negative way, the brunet frowned and pointed to himself. "You just gestured to all of me."

As usual, Gobber had his own bit to say. "Well, most of you. That bit's my handiwork. With a little Hiccup flair thrown in. You think it'll do?"

He held up his foot. "Eh, I might make a few tweaks."

The surrounding Vikings laughed, but the reaction was lost on him as Dany made her way through the taller men. The sight of her made his breath catch in his throat; the way her silvery-blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders, contrasting with the light blue flowers in her hair. The way her expression lit up so that her violet eyes became more of a lavender shade, and the flushed color of her cheeks, which she quickly explained as, "they were saying you were awake down by the docks, so I came as fast as I could."

She made her way up the last few stairs, only to punch him on the arm. He winced and rubbed the spot where she'd hit (although she didn't look strong, he made a mental note to never get on her bad side.)

"What was that for?" he demanded.

"That was for scaring me." Then, Dany threw her arms around his shoulders to pull him into a fast hug, releasing him almost as soon as she held him. "I'm glad you're okay, though."

Over the coming months, he would learn that— unsurprisingly— Dany was the one who'd come up with the plans for Berk's newest citizens. After she'd helped save him, most of the villager's minds had been changed about Targaryens and they'd let her lead most of the projects involving dragons. He'd also learned that she had sat next to him almost every day while he'd been out and had kept Toothless from destroying too much of his house. And, perhaps most importantly (to Hiccup, anyway), she was the one who'd started his rock collection and often made impromptu visits to the smithy or his house to give him little presents. Although he wasn't quite sure what the gesture meant, he began to hope she would come by every day with an unexpected token.

All in all, Hiccup could say that he preferred new Berk over the old one. Although they still had terrible weather and even worse food, the upside to living with such unfriendly conditions were the. . . dragons.

A/n: and that's a wrap for the first movie! There's one more chapter for this act (the Christmas episode) and then we'll move on to ROB :)