Chapter 1

Hiccup stared on in horror as the villagers put restraints on Toothless and bound his own arms together to prevent him from trying to help. He saw his father, Stoick the Vast, giving orders to the men as they began dragging the Night Fury out of the cove and towards the village. He knew he should have chased her when she ran off after following him to the cove and finding Toothless there, but he thought he'd have more time and that no one would believe her when she told them he had a dragon in the forest. The girl in question stood nearby watching alongside Gobber and the other teens he had been training with, Gobber had a shocked and saddened look on his face while Snotlout and the twins sneered at Hiccup as his only friend was dragged away like a deranged animal. Astrid was on the other side of their teacher with one arm holding the other and Fishlegs stood next to the twins looking back and forth from Hiccup to the Night Fury he had trained over the last few weeks. They all snapped back to reality when Stoick stood in front of his son with rage burning in his eyes, they watched with baited breathe as the chief decided what to do with his only child who had turned his back on his tribe.

"Let me save you the trouble of having to shout at me again," his son spoke softly, just enough so only his father and the men holding him could hear. "I know you're disappointed and are about to throw me in prison for what I've done. But I have done something no one else has done da… Chief Stoick." The boy lamented the last part of his sentence, knowing full well that his father would disown him for befriending a dragon, what he didn't see was the gruff look his father wore falter for a second.

The Chief looked over his shoulder where his close friend stood with the five other children Hiccup's age, and then back too his son before he spoke. "Put him in the cells and lock up that beast with the other dragons, we will execute it before him tomorrow and then he will stand trial for treason." The tears that slide down his son's cheeks were noticed by only three people: Stoick, Gobber and Astrid.

*three hours later, Berk prisoner cells

Hiccup had been in the cell for over an hour now, he refused to eat and sleep evaded him. His thoughts entirely focused on Toothless and trying to find a way to get him out of this mess; he cared nothing about his own life as long as he could find a way to spare his friend. The sounds of footsteps and a familiar voice brought his head up for the first time since his father had given him his sentence, "Hiccup?" Astrid asked, the boy stared at her for a moment and then lowered his head again before turning around to face his back to her, he had nothing to say to anyone and she was at the very top of his list. "Hiccup, I…" she began, thinking carefully what she wanted to say. "I never meant for you to get locked up for treason. I… I just had to tell your father about that dragon."

"Why?" It was the first thing he'd said since he had spoken to his father, and the question caught her off guard. Why did she have to tell the chief about a dragon? Because it was a dragon and they were the Vikings sworn enemy, mindless killing animals that had no conscience or soul. She was about to tell him this when he cut her off. "Don't give me that mindless animal crap our parents have force fed us since we were born, I spent weeks with that dragon and I was perfectly fine the entire time. He had plenty of opportunities to kill me if he wanted and instead he let me go and then became a friend. And before you quote everything my father said on the trek here from the cove spare me. I don't care that I betrayed the Viking way, I know what I did was the right thing and I'd rather die for doing something right then live doing what I know is wrong." His voice was calm and steady, Astrid couldn't think of a time when he spoke this long to anyone without stuttering over his words. For him to speak in this manner and to her of all people whom he could normally barely construct a coherent thought spoke volumes about how he felt. She thought of saying more before he continued, "Astrid you can't understand because you've never been afraid, so you could never have seen what I saw the day I found him. I even thought of showing him to you, thinking you might be willing to understand, but I wanted to be sure he wouldn't do anything." Silence was the only answer he needed, he knew she hadn't moved otherwise he would hear it, sound tended to be amplified in the dungeon cells. "…I was in love with you Astrid and I know you'll never feel that for me, but I loved you all the same." That was where he stopped, he had nothing more and he waited in silence until she left. He heard her shove someone and Fishlegs grunted or squeaked, but Hiccup would remain silent until it came time for him to face the village that now called him traitor.

*The following morning, Dragon training ring

His arms were bound once again as he was brought into the ring to the jeers and shouts of the village, he noted his father and Gobber standing in the center talking quietly, and his father seemingly snapped at the man who had taught him everything he knew about working in the forge. He approached the pair wordlessly and stood before them. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, you are charged with treason against Berk and the Viking way of life, for hiding a dragon on this island." Stoick spoke loudly so everyone could hear him, "Before your trail we will offer you one chance to make amends to your people." The guards who had been following him were sent over to one of the dragon pens, opening it to reveal the Night Fury in question. Hiccup noted that the artificial tail and harness were still attached, a plan formulating at his luck that the adults weren't smart enough to remove them. "Kill this dragon and you will serve one month in the cells and perform repair work on the village as needed in that time before being allowed to rejoin the people of Berk as one of them." Hiccup knew this offer was only being given because of his father, but his plan was already formed but he needed someone physically stronger than himself to play the unwitting pawn for it to work. As Stoick held out a dagger for him to make his choice, the boy could see his father trying to beg him with his eyes to take it and kill Toothless, something he could not do. Hiccup took the blade and looked at it for a moment. He looked around at the crowd of people who had berated him and tortured him, both emotionally and verbally, and on more than one occasion physically, before spotting the five his age.

Snotlout merely stood with his arms crossed, his own cousin and he was perhaps the worst of them all. He picked on Hiccup from day one and only expressed kindness towards him when he had shown promise in dragon training, thanks to all the tricks he learned from his time with Toothless. Fishlegs stood there with his hands on the rings metal bars, he had tried to speak to Hiccup after Astrid along with others who failed to receive a word from him, and was watching with wide eyes. The twins where alternating between encouraging him to do it before banging their heads together, and yelling to let the dragon eat him. And then there was Astrid, who merely stood there trying not to make eye contact with him, she would glance at him but then divert her eyes to his father or Toothless. After a second of staring at her intently their eyes met and she backed away from the ring so he wouldn't see the tears threatening at her eyes, once she was out of sight the young 14 year old looked at his forge master and gave him a curt nod, expressing thanks for everything he had taught him over the years (and silently for the skills to make his friend's new tail.) before finally resting on the chief of the village, his father. Hiccup then did the bravest thing he had ever done; he looked his father right in the eye and threw the dagger to the side earning a gasp from everyone watching.

Stoick closed his eyes and took a shaky breathe before pushing his son to the side, "Who will be the one to step forward to slay this beast!?" He shouted. Astrid froze just away form the ring and rushed back seeing Hiccup get back up from the place he had fallen near his dragon, the villagers went into an uproar all except her volunteering to be the one to kill a dragon; Snotlout then pushed his way to the gate and grabbed a sword off the entrance wall.

"I'll put that thing down chief, and show Hiccup here how a real Viking deals with them." The brawny boy said, Hiccup smirked ever so slightly for he couldn't think of a more fitting tool. He watched as his cousin approached Toothless only feet away from him and waited for the crowd to quiet down and watch, the guards hadn't moved from the pen doors so everything fell into place perfectly. He regained his footing as Snotlout raised his sword and took a moment to make sure the other teens, especially Astrid, were watching and when his grip tightened to signal he was about to swing Hiccup made his move.

Snotlout brought his sword down and seconds before it would have met the dragons neck he was slammed from the side by his scrawny cousin. T he villagers began shouting once more in both surprise and anger, all of them failing notice that the sword had come into contact with a lock on the restraints holding the dragon in place. This was made clear when the guards came and forcefully pulled Hiccup off of Snotlout and he shouted, "Now!" The dragon burst out of the collar and tackled men before swiping its tail and throwing Snotlout several feet into Stoick. Hiccup mounted his friend and turned him towards the exit and the pair headed for it, blasting the gate to ensure they got out, the other teens were standing beside the exit and put themselves in the dragon's path and were ready to pounce, Toothless slowed and looked to his rider who merely nodded. With a blue light a plasma blast hit the ground inches in front of them and the pluse sent the all to the ground, Astrid turned to find a very angry reptile looming over her and knew she was about to die, but instead received a loud roar right in her face before it took flight. She turned over as the villagers made their way to where the dragon had been and saw Hiccup riding it and stopped just out of the range for the archers, Stoick shoved his way to the front of the crowd next to her and heard Hiccp shout.

"Dragons are not our enemy! They can to trained and they can make the future better for Vikings everywhere." All eyes were on their Chief except for Astrid; her eyes never left the boy whose life she had just changed forever.

"You have thrown you lot in with them! You're no Viking! ...You're not my son." Came Stoick's reply as the people of Berk once more began shouting traitor and all manner of other names and curses, Hiccup never heard anything after his father proclaim and simply clicked his left leg as Toothless sped off into the air and away from the place he called home. Once he was out of sight the people began to disperse, the last ones remaining were Stoick, Gobber, Fishlegs and Astrid. The forge master and large boy eventually set off as well, leaving only the chief with the young shield maiden in training, when the sun finally set Astrid left Stoick alone, he had not spoken a word since he disowned his son and she figured he probably wanted to be left alone. Once she was gone and out of earshot Stoick fell to his knees, and for the first time in fourteen years had tears running down his face.

*one month later

The event at the dragon ring had slipped from the minds of many people on Berk, few people mention Hiccup's name and even fewer mentioned him without disdain. Stoick had fallen ill, and resigned to his home for several weeks, many felt sorry for him that his son was such a disappointment, but only Gobber knew that the man was suffering from a broken heart once again. Astrid tried to push all thoughts of Hiccup from her mind and was usually successful, a week and a half after he'd left another attack came and she had been forced to defend herself from a gronckle and as a result killed it making her a full fledged shield maiden, she was proud for finally having become a Viking in the eyes of her people, but her thought drifted at the feast they threw in her honor to what Hiccup would have thought had he been there. These thoughts were usually interrupted by Snotlout, who had been named the new heir as Hiccup was now officially branded an outcast and disowned by his father. He still kept up his flirtation with her despite her telling him she's rather share a bed with a dragon than him and even going so far as to break his wrist once. She looked out over the cliff as the sun was beginning to set on another day and silently wished that Hiccup was alive and well, while she was plenty mad at him for his betrayal of the tribe as much as the rest of Berk, she knew that he probably was the only reason that dragon hadn't killed her that day, the day a Night Fury missed. She twirled her axe in her hand before heading back home, Trader Johann would be arriving the next day and she wanted to find some new polish for her weapon of choice.

*Two years later

Dragon attacks had practically stopped over night, Berk hadn't suffered a raid in close to eight months(roughly a year and a half after Hiccup left), and the only dragons left were the wild ones on the island which had grown in number since the attacks stopped. Also news had come from other tribes that a mysterious young man was traveling from village to village helping with dragons. Some rumors said he killed them himself and others said he made them flee in terror, no one actually saw what he did that ended the problems, just after he left the wild dragons in the area were gone and he would disappear, without a trace. The only other constant is that he always came from outside the village and not from the seas by his boat; a village claimed he would be leave one day and either later that day or the very next he would show up at another village faster than any boat could carry him even if he were traveling alone. He refused payment from every village only asking for supplies or food when he needed it, and he wore a strange helmet that hid his face so no one knew who he truly was. Trader Johann brought the first news of him around the time the raids had stopped, claiming he was behind it; Stoick practically strangled the poor man demanding a name before Gobber got him to calm down. The smithy knew his friend wanted to know if it was Hiccup but alas Johann didn't know and neither had many of the villages who had received a visit from the man that they had visited for trading and other business reasons.

Stoick wanted to know if his son was still alive, he regretted disowning Hiccup the second the words had left his mouth and it took him over a month to be able to return to his duties as chief, but even then he began to delegate more to others as he still could not completely forgive himself and his regret would continue to eat at him. First the love of his life, Hiccup's mother, Valka was taken by a Stormcutter dragon when he was protecting their newborn son. And then he'd lost the only family he had left to a dragon once again, and this time the dragon was chosen over him, Stoick's greatest shame was not that his son was different or clumsy, but that he would rather risk his life for a dragon than be his son. This thought haunted him as he ate dinner in his house by himself every night, and as a result formed a permanent stain on the table where his tears would fall.