Hello everyone! Welcome to my new story A Dragon and His Blacksmith. Some of you may know me from a story by the name of 'Transformation' which was a recently discontinued story. A week after this chapter is posted I will be deleting that story, for many reasons. Now, this story will be recieving a much more attention, to it's counter-part. My last story definitely needed some work and I've decided to re-write the entire thing from scratch! That's right, new dynamics, exposition, etc... These will all be reinvented to make this story unique and amazing.

Now that this really formal introduction is over... let's get this show on the road! or rather... chapter...? Short-story? Well, I don't know what to call it, but I hope you all enjoy. Also, I need everyone to know that the transformation of Human Hiccup to Night Fury Hiccup will be adamantly in the story, but it will be much better explained and introduced.

Words this Chapter: 4,695

Summary: Being told to stay in the forge made Hiccup hot with shame. It was a prelude to his failures... the reason his actions weren't needed, for ther were entirely useless. Thinking of how he could fail? Well, that firmly planted Hiccup's feet in that forge. Ten years later, he's a well respected blacksmith. Shooting down a Night Fury? It wasn't in the job description, but he was going to use that to his advantage. The dragon that was shot down? So will he.

~Prologue~

The smell of hot iron lingered in the forge, making the small space seem hotter than it truly was. Hiccup wiped away beads of sweat from his forehead as his hammer struck with hot iron, beating the misshapen metal into the sword it once was. He looked around for his tongs before grabbing the sword and dipping it into a vast trough of murky water. Steam rolled from the container making Hiccup pull back as the moisture made him gag. While he did enjoy the forge, there were still some cons to working the job.

Hearing a knock on the wooden pallets which blocked the exchange window, Hiccup looked around trying to find if something had fallen. It had been far from opening time and Hiccup still had to ding out the final dents in A LOT of weapons. Sadly he heard another knock and sighed, knowing someone needed something.

"COMING!" Hiccup shouted as he placed down his current project and quickly walked over to the window. Pushing the left pallet out he saw Astrid standing there with her axe. He smiled as he pushed the right pallet over and gave her a look over. Even ten years after being simple teenagers, she was still the most beautiful girl in the village.

"Hey Hiccup. Listen, I need my axed repaired, so do you think you could fix it?" Astrid said sliding the axe to him across the counter. "I need it for tonight in case the dragons decide to raid us again." He grabbed the hilt and flipped the axe over multiple times, inspecting each side of the blade.

"What have I told you about throwing this into oak, Astrid?" Hiccup retorted under a sigh as he rolled his tongue in thought. She sighed and rolled her eyes refusing to say a word. "Come on. I know you can spea-"

" 'Astrid if you keep throwing your axe into oak trees it will chip the blade and crack the base. So I suggest throwing it into softer wood, like Aspen' " Astrid replied mocking Hiccup's voice to emphasize her annoyance. He chuckled before making a response.

"Well, I was right. The blade is chipped, and since you didn't get that repaired, it overtime fractured the inside of the blade, which makes it impossible to repair. I'll just have to craft you a new axe blade entirely." Hiccup said looking up at Astrid who was shaking her head.

"No, Listen is there any way that can be done by tonight?" Astrid said looking Hiccup straight in the eyes. Looking back at the blade he sighed, turning around he saw the amount of weapons for repair and sharpening he turned to Astrid shaking his head.

"No. Not possible. My work load is full today." Hiccup said, watching as Astrid slammed her fist on the counter. "In the meantime I can give you a temporary weapon while I craft the blade for your axe, but I won't have it done until tomorrow."

"Fine..." Astrid drawled as she looked on with disdain. Hiccup walked into the back room and grabbed an axe about the same size as Astrid's and walked back handing the weapon to her.

"It's just not the same..." Astrid muttered as she swung the weapon in her hands. The axe reflected light as Astrid swung the weapon around, testing it's worth.

"I know, but it'll work if dragons decided to attack tonight." Hiccup said shifting nervously as she looked back with a slight glare.

"Thanks Hiccup... I guess you're right. You always are." Astrid said walking away. "I'll pay for my axe tomorrow when it's finished!" She yelled back. Hiccup leaned over the counter looking on as she walked away, her hips swaying with each step. Almost in a trance, his head swayed with each step Astrid took following each sway as if his life depended on it.

"Daydreamin' are we lad?" Gobber said loudly as he pushed Hiccup's back lightly. Hiccup, not expecting Gobber to be awake yet yelped and fell face first onto the ground below as he slipped from the counter and landed outside the shop. Hearing Gobber's unmistakable laugh, Hiccup groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and lifting himself up onto the counter.

"How can you sneak up with a pegleg?! That thing should make it impossible!" Hiccup grunted as he pulled himself up from the ground.

"Practice! Lots en' lots of it too!" Gobber said wiping away a tear with his hook. Hiccup rolled his eyes as he walked around to the door and walked back into the shop. Throwing his apron onto a hook he tossed Gobber's his before stretching.

"Well, I have to go check on the sentries to make sure they know how to use the bola launchers..." Hiccup stated as he hung Astrid's axe on the wall for later. Gobber laughed curtly as Hiccup began to leave the forge.

"They still haven' figured it out?" Gobber asked with a laugh.

"Lots en' lots of practice Gobber!" Hiccup yelled back as he ran down the stone path leading to the sentry towers. Gobber shook his head with a smile as he began to heat the forge, once again filling the small space with heat as the new day started.

Hiccup had eventually slowed to a soft walk as he made his way to the sentries where his bola launchers had been set. Hiccup had remembered the first time his contraption had been taken seriously, including how helpful it had been at stopping dragons well before they had gotten close to the island. Most of the village had actually started to respect him, including his father, Stoick. Hiccup smiled at the memory, but stopped when he tripped and fell, while hearing laughter shortly after. A few villagers who had been around chuckled softly as Hiccup stood and faced Snotlout and the Twins, their laughter still playing out as they held their guts.

"Very funny Snotlout, you found another way to move your legs, other than when you see Astrid." Hiccup snapped as he wiped the dirt off his clothes. Snotlout, not expecting the remark, froze as his face went red as the twins tried to stifle their laughter towards him.

"It's pathetically true!" Ruffnut said laughing loudly, her brother joining in the chorus.

"SHUT-UP!" Snotlout shouted in embarrassment as he clenched his fists, shaking them at the twins. Hiccup, taking this opportunity to escape, quickly walked away as Snotlout continued to yell at the laughing twins.

Hiccup laughed softly at the antics of his cousin. While Snotlout could sometimes be a jerk, there was a small bit of respect between them as the years had progressed. Hiccup looked around the village and watched as life seemed to continue on with almost not quarrels, save for a few stubborn vikings fighting over something silly or not worth it. The dragon raids were always quite a problem, though Hiccup tried to stay out of the way, he seemed to mess thing up now and then and would be scolded by the village for quite awhile. Breathing in Hiccup could faintly smell the smoke from the most recent raid, and still noticed that houses were being repaired or sheep being herded into small barns that were still being re-roofed from damage done from the recent attacks.

The burnt wood from the other houses was being turned into charcoal or was simply grinded to be mixed for fertilizer to use for the small farms the island could hold. Hiccup felt the wind whip his hair as he walked near the docks, the smell of fish and ocean air running wild through the air. Anytime he needed to cool down after being in the forge all day, Hiccup would usually walk to the docks and let the ocean breeze cool his nerves or even lull him to sleep. Somedays Gobber would join him and talk about the old days, when he and Stoick had been in dragon training and how any girl would swoon for Stoick and his amazing dragon fighting abilities. They even shared a few laughs of when Hiccup had been in dragon training, but barely made it through each session of training.

Eventually Astrid had been chosen to kill the Nightmare and had successfully done so, showing the village that she had proven herself to be the best warrior, next to Stoick and a few other vikings. Looking back on those memories saddened Hiccup more than he'd like to admit, but the past couldn't be changed. He felt that if he had left the forge ten years ago things could've been different, better even. Hiccup scoffed at the idea, the most he would've gotten out of leaving the forge so long ago was a missed bola and a big screw up that would most likely destroy his credibility even more in the village.

Shaking his head, he continued to walk down the path leading to the sentry towers. Hiccup had found solace in walking the village and watching the villagers walking around and conversing. Some could be seen on-top of their homes, repairing any damage previously done, while also sharing laughs about some small joke that would circulate through the village. It was actually funny how people would find the same joke funny for a straight week, before it finally died out.

Seeing that he was now at the sentries he climbed the tower and got to the top where the two vikings, who had asked for help were standing around poking and pulling at the machine, until one of them accidently pushed the release lever shooting a bola that would have knocked Hiccup out of the tower had he not ducked down in time.

"Really?!" Hiccup yelped as he crawled the last step until he felt safe in the center of the tower, where two vikings stood whistling and kicking a few loose pebbles. "Listen, the two of you need to figure out how to work this thing and then teach the others. This is the last time I can do this, got it?"

"Sure thing, Hiccup..."

"It's just really confusing..." The two vikings replied solemnly.

"Okay, now, you stand on those two foot pedestals. Those will keep you steady as you make the aim." Hiccup stated as he lead one viking to stand on the two pedestals coming from the launcher.

"So now what...? Do I grab the handles?" The viking asked as he slowly reached for the handles sticking from the metal base of the contraption.

"Yep, now this button under the left handle releases the bola. It's up to your friend over there to reload the launcher." Hiccup said pointing to the other viking who nodded and walked over to the bola pile, picking up one and walking to the front of Hiccup's invention. Hiccup followed, leaving the other viking, to help reload the bola. After getting it reloaded and ready to fire, Hiccup pointed them towards a dummy on the far left and carefully led them to aim and fire. The bola whistled through the air as it made it's way through the air towards it's target, effectively wrapping around the dummy and knocking it to the ground.

"That is how you should do it. Perfect!" Hiccup encouraged as he shook the viking's hands. "Just practice with those small rocks and when the dragons begin to attack you should be good."

Hiccup shook his hand lightly as he slowly made his way down the tower. Turning back towards the docks, Hiccup began to follow the same path to the forge, ready to finish his work load and end the day on a hopefully peaceful night.

~Seven Hours Later~

Hiccup chugged a flask of water as he wiped the sweat away from his head. Moving the hair out of his eyes he sighed as he finished his last item for the day. The sun had set quite some time ago and he eventually began to tire out, but thanks to Gobber's help the repair and sharpening requests from the villagers had been finished much faster than Hiccup thought. Gobber belched lightly as he gulped down some water and sat in his chair wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I hate days like these..." Hiccup said as he slid down against the wall, eventually softly plopping on the ground.

"What do ya' mean lad?" Gobber said pulling the cup from his mouth, letting the water slosh and drip slightly.

"Well, everyone in the village is lazy about repairing their weapons until the very last moment! Then they just pile up and we end up having to work the forge non-stop. I'm surprised that we even finished this entire quota before nighttime." Hiccup complained as he looked at the stack of freshly sharpened weapons. Gobber sighed in agreement.

"It's true, but if we didn't have days like this one, we mighta got lazy in the past... ya' know?" Gobber stated shrugging as he chugged the last of his water.

"I guess... I just wished people would be more consistent about caring for their weapons." Hiccup said as he stood slowly, dusting off his pants. Gobber stood with him and stretched before carting the weapons outside the shop and setting up the forge for a possible raid. Both blacksmiths knew it possible because the last raid had been about a week ago, which meant that the dragons could attack at any moment. The two watched as vikings came and picked up their weapons, moving out of the way every now and then as a few vikings swung their weapons to test the weight and quality.

"Good job as always, Hiccup. Gobber." A viking greeted as he picked up his hammer and flipped the weapon a couple of times to test the weight.

"No problem. Just bring it in for regular repairs and it'll turn out better than that." Hiccup said nodding to the viking. He nodded a response before walking away.

"You know lying is goin' to come back a bite ya' in the hiney...?" Gobber said whispering across the stall.

"I'll worry about that later. If I can shorten our work load, this is what I'm gonna do." Hiccup whispered back. Gobber chuckled, shaking his head as he took off his hook attachment.

"What do you think I should use tonight? Hammer, sword, axe, or fork?" Gobber asked laying out the attachments on the counter. Hiccup laughed lightly as he leaned on the counter from the outside, the crisp night air nipping at his exposed skin.

"Fork?" Hiccup asked ludicrously. "Are you okay Gobber?"

"Wha- What do ya' mean?! A fork can be extremely dangerous! Think about it!" Gobber exclaimed smiling like a sap. "Poke 'em in the eye and that'll send 'em running back to the hel they came from!"

"Well, as tempting as that sounds..." Hiccup shivered slightly as he looked among the weapons. "I suggest you choose the axe. It seems to be what you're the best with."

"Yeah, ya' make a good argument lad!" Gobber laughed as he twisted on the weapon to his arm. Hiccup laughed, shaking his head as Gobber hobbled his way to the exit of the forge and stepping outside to join Hiccup.

"That was barely an argument Gobber..." Hiccup replied shaking his head lightly.

Just as they were about to continue their conversation, Hiccup heard a soft clack hit the stone path in front of them. The two moved forward slowly shining a torch to the ground, finding a dark as night scale shimmering under the light of the torch. The two look at each other before standing and running to the forge.

"SOUND THE ALARMS!" Gobber yelled into the night, to the sound of bells tolling shortly after. He made his way into the forge to grab the last cart of weapons.

"Hey! Find my father! We need him down here, NOW!" Hiccup alerted a viking who had come to pick up his weapon. The viking made no hesitation to Hiccup's command and began to run towards the villages Mead Hall to find Stoick. Hiccup, looking around, saw no dragons until a fireball crashed down next to him destroying the weapon cart including all the weapons within it.. Shards of the metal found itself within Hiccup clothes and hair making him brush off the shards and shaking his head.

Looking around he noticed that Gobber lay on the ground directly next to the destroyed weapons cart, unmoving.

"GOBBER!" Hiccup shouted over the increasingly loud roar of the vikings and dragons as the raid ramped up in intensity. Running to Gobber and hooking his arms under the heavy man's arms, with all his strength, pulled Gobber into the safety of the shop. Hiccup patted Gobber on the face a couple of times, but to no avail Gobber didn't awake. Hiccup ran across the small forge and grabbed a bucket, scooping water out of the trough and running over to Gobber.

"Sorry... Gobber." Hiccup said looking at the dirty water. He quickly dumped the bucket over the unconscious man, making him sputter and cough as the water went down his nose. Gobber sputtered awake sitting up slowly as Hiccup helped him shift his weight. Hiccup, feeling something warm run on his hand pulled away from Gobber, noticing blood oozing from a large gash in Gobber's side.

"They... s-snuck up on us. The sneaky devils that they are..." Gobber said grunting as Hiccup pushed a rag to his wound.

"Keep the pressure, I'll grab the bandages from your room." Hiccup said as he stood quickly and sprinted up the stairs. Running to the desk Hiccup began to throw open drawers finding needles and some thread. Taking the supplies he threw open the other drawers, not finding the bandages within any of them. Looking around the room he noticed a cabinet. Running over to the cabinet, Hiccup attempted to pull open the small doors, but found them to be latched shut.

"Hurry up... l-lad!" Hiccup heard Gobber shout from the bottom of the stairs.

"Where's the key?!" Hiccup shout back frantically searching for the key for the cabinets.

"Top a' the window!"

Hiccup paused and paced over to the window reaching for the top of the window frame only to be stopped as a gronkle slowly hovered across from Hiccup, just outside the window, facing Hiccup with slit eyes. Slowly bringing his arm back down to himself, Hiccup began to reach for the pallets of the window with a nervous laugh.

"Y-you wouldn't have happened to have s-seen a key, would you?" Hiccup asked the Gronkle who only grumbled in a response as it began to charge a shot. Acting quickly Hiccup slammed the pallets shut and hugged the floor just as a hole was blasted into the wall directly behind him. The Gronkle hovered there, glaring at Hiccup who was coughing as the think pillows of smoke began to envelop him. Flames licked at the wooden walls as Hiccup stood, coughing. Covering his mouth with his shirt Hiccup was about to leave the room only to be stopped by a familiar scream.

Hearing the scream Hiccup looked around, only to barely make out his father hopping from a roof and slamming a hammer into the Gronkle's head, knocking the dragon out of the sky. The Gronkle crashed into the ground below with a sickening thud, the dirt around the dragon being pushed up from the force of the impact. Stoick landed on the gronkle, continuing to bash the Gronkles head with his war-hammer, until he was certain it wasn't going to get up.

"Thanks dad!" Hiccup yelled as he waved to his father, who nodded to him and made his way to the front of the forge. Remembering what he was there for, Hiccup frantically looked for the key, finding it luckily buried under some burnt wood and roofing tile. Hiccup kicked the burning rubble away with his foot, avoiding the flames. Hiccup, grabbing the key rushed over to the cabinet and pushed the key into the lock only to watch as the small doors fell off the hinges leaving the cabinet's content completely exposed. Hiccup rolled his eyes and he sighed heavily before grabbing a small roll of bandage and making his way out of the burning room and back down to the stone forge.

"I got the stuff!" Hiccup said as he slid next to Gobber, taking the bloody rag from his side and looking at the wound. Hiccup shuddered as he watched the blood ooze from the open gash and slowly began to work at cleaning it. Soon, Hiccup had patched up the wound and left Gobber to wash his hands in a pail of water, earning a grunt from Gobber as he stood and laughed.

"Who woulda' thought that I would get hurt by my own weapons!" Gobber said slightly patting his wound.

"Yes, well these raids seem to get more desperate by the years..." Stoick said as he clamored into the shop, as a house exploded behind him, a Zippleback flying away soon after. Stoick grumbled in annoyance as he watched the house crumble to the ground, leaving a smoking mass of rubble.

"Well this time, it wasn't just a straight frontal attack. These dragons snuck up on us. They got us with our guard down..." Hiccup replied a slight admiration in his tone. Stoick sighed as he looked out the window of the forge seeing the dragons and vikings clash as a few dragons carried away livestock.

"Listen, I came down with reports of the sentries jamming the launchers. I need you down there to take care of it." Stoick said as he took an apron from the hook. "I'll look after the forge with Gobber."

"Really?! I SHOWED them what to DO." Hiccup said throwing down his apron, his anger very evident.

"I know, but you know that it's hard to have all these new contraptions of yours changing our village. Even if it is for the better. Besides, this is going to be your job as future chief!" Stoick said as he passed weapons to awaiting vikings out of the window of the forge. Hiccup only sighed in response as he made his way out of the forge and down the stone foot-path leading to the sentry towers.

Hiccup jogged down the path, running past vikings and narrowly avoiding dragons in the process. He made his way through a few alleys of the houses, avoiding dragons as much as possible. Eventually, he made his way down to the sentries and eventually found the tower where the jam the vikings reported had occurred. Hiccup quickly climbed the tower and saw the two vikings from before panicking as they pulled and pulled at the release lever. Hiccup ran over and began to pull along with the two vikings, pulling as hard as he could. The release lever unlatched with a sick clap and shot a bola into the night sky, not hitting a single target.

"Reload! This time bola balls first! The rope will jam the locking mechanism!" Hiccup shouted over the roars and yells of the vikings below. The two vikings nodded and Hiccup stood on the pedestals as he aimed the reloaded launcher. Hiccup froze as a searing whistle was heard through the night sky making vikings freeze in their tracks. A sentry tower to the left of Hiccup was blasted with plasma and exploded in a fiery ball as the two vikings occupying the tower were engulfed by the searing flames.

"Jump off the tower!" The viking beside him said running to the edge and flinging himself off. The other viking followed suit flinging himself off leaving Hiccup to the bola. Hiccup, not moving from the launcher, slowly looked around the night sky, seeing nothing but stars and a few clouds. Slowly pushing with his left foot Hiccup caught a slight glimpse of a shadow flying through the stars. Following the shadow, Hiccup took in a deep breath and closing his eyes, shot the launcher hearing the bola whiz through the air. Looking ahead he saw nothing, but heard the contact as the dragon screeched in pain.

Hiccup watched as the shadow fell through the night sky and somewhere into the forest.

"I-I hit it! Did anybody see that?!" Hiccup asked overjoyed as he jumped up and down. Hearing a growl behind him, Hiccup slowly turned around to see a Nightmare looking at him with a ferocious glare.

"W-well... You have to admit, it was a good s-shot." Hiccup said backing away slowly, only to be stopped by his bola launcher. The dragon only closed the distance between them and lighting itself aflame. Hiccup quickly ducked under the snapping jaws of the nightmare as he crawled around his bola launcher and ending up at the edge of the tower opposite of the ramp leading down. The Nightmare clutched the launcher with his jaws and threw the contraption off the tower, Hiccup watching as it crashed through the ramp and destroying it in the process.

Thinking quickly, Hiccup looked over the edge where he sat and looked back at the Nightmare closing the distance to him. Seeing nothing but black, Hiccup took a leap of faith and jumped from the tower, feeling his stomach lurch as he fell through the air. Without warning Hiccup found himself submerged in water, surrounded by freezing ocean as his shocked body attempted to swim to the surface. Gasping for air as he surfaced he noticed Astrid running down the docks. Realizing how close he was to the docks instantly made him start swimming toward the closest land, only to find that his strength was being quickly being sapped by the ice cold water as he attempted to swim towards the docks.

Sinking under the water, Hiccup began to panic as he found himself sinking lower and lower into the water. Kicking as hard as he could, Hiccup found no progress as he felt his vision fade in the already dark waters. Choking on his last breath, Hiccup finally succumbed to the water, gasping in water and blacking out.

The last thing he felt was a sudden yank on his arm as his vision eventually dimmed to black.

Now, I realize it's a terrible cliffhanger, but keep in mind that I'm just testing the waters! (Pun not intended) So... If you enjoyed the story, good! If you want you can leave a review on what you think so far. I might be working on the next chapter when I know people will enjoy reading it! Anyways, I'll be taking my time to work out what's to happen in the next chapter, so I hope you guys don't mind waiting, for those who did enjoy reading this AU.

See you in the next chapter!

~TLV