Chapter Text
Hiccup sat in the now emptied hall, his legs curled tightly to his chest. Short, quick breaths broke free from his chest as his eyes started to become blurry. The sharp, unforgiving words his father had snarled still rang in his ears.
“You are not a Viking. You are not my son,” Stoick had said, like he was almost indifferent to the fact. Like Hiccup couldn't see the rage and disappointment simmering just beneath the surface of his eyes.
There had been moments where Hiccup was finally thinking that he had made his father proud, that he was proving that he really was a Viking at heart. Then everything was pulled from right underneath him.
Stoick didn't want him any more. Hiccup had failed his father so horribly this time that it was beyond unforgivable.
Hiccup wasn't a Viking or even a son anymore. He was just a nobody.
He wasn't wrong though. Hiccup wasn't a Viking. He wasn't strong enough, nor was he good enough to be one. No Viking was foolish enough to not kill a dragon when they had the chance. No Viking would ever say that a dragon was something different than they had originally believed. A Viking struck without a second thought because they were strong. Hiccup wasn't strong. He was as weak as everyone thought he was.
His whole existence was a smudge on Berk’s name. A smudge tarnishing the greatness and pride someone had when they said the word ‘Berk’. Hiccup was dragging everyone around him down by simply existing. He failed time and time again to just kill a dragon. What kind of Viking couldn't kill a dragon?
Stoick deserved the better son he always said he wanted. A son that didn't remind him of constant failure and despair. He deserved a son that would make him proud and actually kill a dragon. Hiccup wasn't the son Stoick wanted.
Hiccup was nothing but a disappointment to everyone he graced his unfortunate presence with. From the moment he was born, it was almost like his parents knew that he was destined for failure. Why else would they have given him his name? Was it not his fault that his mother was dead? Was it not his fault that Toothless was going to die now?
He had just lost everything because of his wishful thinking. Why did he think that he could actually convince his father to think differently? Of course Stoick wasn't going to listen. He was a Viking. He was what Hiccup was never going to be.
Astrid no doubt was shaking her head to herself, laying in her bed, laughing silently about how he trusted her blindly. And he had just started to think that they were really friends. The next morning things would go back to how they once were. The others would go back to sneering and mocking him. Everyone would turn a blind eye to the torment that they put him through all because he wasn't a real Viking and they knew it.
And it would worsen because they now saw him as a traitor. A dragon loving traitor. Part of him knew he'd deserve it.
He deserved every jeering comment, every scrap thrown in his direction, and every disdainful look cast his way. It was Hiccup's punishment for turning against all of them. If they chose to cast him out at any moment or feed him to the dragons, Hiccup knew he deserved it.
Stoick always told him that if he didn't get stronger, he'd be thrown out. His father pointed out that if Hiccup weren't his son, he would have been thrown away a long time ago.
Maybe they all would do better if he just left. Then they might not have to see him and be burdened by his useless presence. Maybe then they'd be able to actually accomplish their goals.
Leave. Would that actually do them all any good? How would Hiccup even leave? He couldn't steer a boat and he certainly wasn't Viking enough to threaten someone into steering one for him. The only way out was if Toothless helped him, but the Night Fury was gone. Stoick had taken him and was preparing to leave the very next morning to find the queen.
Tomorrow though, not tonight.
Wiping his face, Hiccup got to his feet and wobbled to the door. He pushed it open and with a determined mind set off to find his best friend.
If Hiccup was quick enough, he might actually be able to leave with Toothless like they all wanted him to. Stoick would be furious that Hiccup knew. He would be disappointing his father for one last time just so that he could finally have what he wanted.
If he were correct, which he was sure he was, Toothless would be stored somewhere done by the docks so he was easy to transport when morning came. When Hiccup's feet hit the wooden paths, he dully noted that the sun had already started to set. It’s last few rays barely peeking over the jagged mountains and jutting house roofs.
Come on. Come on.
His breaths came out in short puffs as he ran down. To his surprise, no one was out. They were probably at the main hall discussing a fitting punishment for Hiccup. Stoick clearly wanted to deal with the dragon loving traitor amongst them before setting out on his quest. He no longer cared for someone who used to be his son. Hiccup knew his father. His punishment was going to be something that he was never going to come back from.
He might as well lay down and die. That would be more merciful than whatever they were planning to do to him. Hiccup couldn't though. Not when Toothless was going to be used on a practically suicide mission.
Hiccup might be a failure of a son and a Viking, but he wasn't going to fail Toothless again. His best friend wasn't going to die because Vikings hated dragons or because Hiccup tried to show them dragons could be trusted. Toothless was going to live with him far away from Berk.
“Toothless? Bud, you there?” Hiccup called, keeping his voice soft as a feather barely touching the air. He didn't see anyone but he didn't want to take the risk when he was this close. “Oh, where are you?”
I can't do this without you. His mind muddled with the thoughts of Toothless actually being gone. Without Toothless he would actually be nothing, less than nothing. His life would be fully useless and more of a waste of space than it already was.
A low, but painfully familiar rumble came from a shadowed part of the docks.
Toothless laid upon a wooden slab, his jaws and limbs tangled up in ropes and chains. Hiccup felt sick to his stomach. How had he messed up this badly? Toothless didn't seem to be in too much pain which was good. The Night Fury seemed more uncomfortable if anything.
“What did they do to you, bud?” he whispered softly, tugging off the leather strap that silenced his best friend.
Toothless let out a soft warble as if to say, “I don't know, but I don't like them.”
He caught himself wondering what his father would think if he saw his former son talking to a dragon like it was a person. Hiccup would only further prove how much of a failure he was to everyone.
“Stay here,” Hiccup quickly said, backing up for a moment.
The Night Fury gave him a flat look, pointing out that he couldn't exactly move in the position he was in.
“I'll need something sharp, or- I don't know. Something to get you out of here.”
Hiccup was weak. He was so weak that he couldn't even save his best friend from the trouble he got him in without needing something to help him.
He began his frantic search for an axe he was sure would just be lying around somewhere. Vikings seemed to carry them almost anywhere they went, in case of a dragon attack as Hiccup had once been told. If he had carried around a weapon like them, would be more of a Viking then?
As expected there was in fact a discarded axe. Someone had shoved it carelessly behind some barrels. Presumably because it was dulled and rusted, clearly not taken care of. It should still work though.
Heaving it up into his arms, Hiccup struggled back to Toothless. He found the dragon trying to take off some of the chains with his own plasma blasts. It worked surprisingly well, pointing to the leather bounds being used for the sole purpose of preventing Toothless from escaping. To offer his help, Hiccup held up the axe and when Toothless merely sniffed it and turned away, he set it in between the two connecting points. With a sharp tug, he pulled them apart. The dragon warbled in satisfaction and twisted around to burn off the ones on his back legs while Hiccup worked on the wings.
Using his freedom, the dragon stretched his wings and shook his legs. The dragon let out a few happy growls before Hiccup shushed him. A few doors opened and closed, but no one appeared yet. Moving forward, he butted his head lightly into Hiccup’s stomach, warbling softly as if to ask, “are you okay?”
Sighing and burying his face into his hands, Hiccup whispered back, “I don't know, but we have to get out of here. They’re going to bring you back there and- and I can’t let it happen. We need to go somewhere, anywhere.”
Toothless snorted, a sharp rush of air blowing into Hiccup’s face. The Night Fury nosed him once more, asking him silently to follow him.
The dragon trotted lazily with no real care in the world like the risk of someone coming outside at any point wasn’t a risk. Hiccup couldn’t help but feel apprehension. They weren’t going to stay inside that meeting hall forever. The two of them should really be leaving soon and preferably quietly. Toothless was walking rather loudly. Was there a chance they could hear the Night Fury’s feet or his own heartbeat?
His best friend clearly avoided contact with the village, instead choosing to loop around it. Hiccup was rather thankful that Toothless didn’t choose to go through it.
When the pair reached the cover of the trees, Toothless turned around and waited expectantly. His wings were slightly spread at a strange angle, slightly unfurled and tilting downwards. When he growled once more, Hiccup wasn’t quite sure what he could have meant this time.
“Toothless, we have to go, bud,” Hiccup told him urgently, gesturing towards the village. “They’re going to come for you again.”
And once they saw the village mess up with the dragon Stoick had captured (and the one Hiccup tried to defend), they might as well rain axes and torches down upon him. Toothless would try and fight back, only further proving his father’s point that dragons were dangerous and could be nothing else.
At Hiccup’s lack of understanding, Toothless huffed and whacked him in the face with his wing. The dragon flicked his tail to the surrounding trees then to the saddle. He let out a low growl as if to tell Hiccup, “that’s what I’ve been trying to do this entire time.”
A familiar rush of embarrassment washed over him. Of course Toothless wanted to leave with some sort of cover in case someone came outside. Hiccup slowly climbed onto his best friend’s back, testing the gear with his foot gingerly. To his honest surprise, it seemed as though nothing was broken or damaged in the slightest. Part of him had been sure that his father would have torn everything off of Toothless.
The Night Fury lifted up into the air, Hiccup safely tucked into his back. Voices could be heard as the Vikings of Berk left the meeting. Stoick was no doubt just about to find a missing dragon and a missing traitor. He would throw himself into a storm of fury, raising his fleets to search for Hiccup and Toothless, seeking out their destruction.
But for now, Hiccup didn’t want to think about their impending doom. He just wanted to find somewhere he could take Toothless and be safe for the first time in a while.
On steady wings, Toothless and Hiccup made for the unknown lands, promising sweet warmth and safety from all the troubles Berk had brought them.