Chapter Text
The entire village of Berk held its breath.
The Monstrous Nightmare towered before him—scales like molten armor, eyes burning with fury and pain. The crowd above in the stands was silent, hundreds of eyes glued to the small, skinny boy standing in the kill ring, axe in trembling hands.
Hiccup stared into the dragon’s eyes. He saw fear. Confusion. Pain.
Not rage. Not evil. Not a monster.
His hands dropped to his sides.
Gasps rippled through the arena.
“Hiccup… what are you doing?” Astrid’s voice was quiet, sharp, almost frightened.
He turned slightly toward the crowd. “I’m not gonna kill him.”
“What?” That came from Gobber. His one good eye bulged in disbelief.
“I said—” Hiccup turned back to the Nightmare and slowly lowered his weapon, “—I’m not gonna kill him.”
The Nightmare stepped forward, a low growl rising from its throat, confused, uncertain.
Hiccup looked back to the crowd. “I’ve seen them up close. They’re not what we think they are.”
“Hiccup, move!” Stoick’s voice thundered from the stands, half warning, half command. “Pick up your weapon!”
“I said I’m not killing him!” Hiccup shouted, chest heaving. “He’s scared! He’s just like—”
The Nightmare lashed out with a sudden burst of fire. The arena flared in orange and gold. The crowd screamed. Smoke clouded the air.
From the shadows, Toothless dove.
With a scream that split the sky, the Night Fury leapt into the ring, tackling the Nightmare to the ground. The two dragons collided with roars, wings and claws and teeth flashing in the chaos. Then—to everyone's horror—Toothless flung the Nightmare across the ring and placed himself between it and Hiccup, crouching protectively.
The crowd was in uproar.
“Night Fury!” someone shrieked.
“Get the ballistas!”
“HE’S CONTROLLING IT!”
“He brought it here!”
Toothless roared at the crowd.
“No, wait! He’s not going to hurt anyone!” Hiccup ran to Toothless, arms raised. “Don’t shoot!”
“GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!” Stoick bellowed, pushing through the crowd and leaping into the ring.
“No! He’s mine—he’s my friend!”
“YOUR FRIEND?!” Stoick grabbed Hiccup by the arm and yanked him away from the Night Fury. Toothless snarled, moving to protect him.
“Don’t hurt him!” Hiccup cried.
“I should’ve known!” Stoick roared, voice ragged with disbelief and rage. “All this time! That’s how you knew so much about them—how you trained them! You lied to me. You lied to all of us!”
Hiccup’s voice cracked. “I was trying to help! You don’t know them like I do!”
“They’re killers, Hiccup!”
“They don’t have to be!” Hiccup shouted back, tears stinging his eyes. “You just don’t want to see it!”
“You betrayed everything we stand for.” Stoick’s face darkened. “Everything your mother stood for.”
Hiccup’s heart shattered at that.
He backed away.
Toothless growled lowly, eyes darting from father to son.
“You’re not a Viking,” Stoick said, voice low and final. “You’re not even my son.”
Silence.
Then Hiccup whispered, barely audible: “I know.”
---
That night, the village felt colder.
Torchlight flickered across empty houses as Hiccup sat alone in the forge. His father’s words echoed like thunder in his skull. He turned a small iron scale over in his fingers, unable to stop the tremble in his hands.
Not his son.
Not his anything.
He felt like nothing. Just a mistake that had somehow survived this long.
Toothless paced the forge restlessly, sniffing the air. He nudged Hiccup, gently—concerned.
“I can’t stay here, bud,” Hiccup said at last, his voice hoarse. “They’re going to chain you. Cage you. Kill you. And maybe I deserve that... but you don’t.”
Toothless whined softly.
“I tried, okay? I tried to be one of them. I fought in the ring. I learned everything. I even tried to kill—but I couldn’t. I can’t be like them.”
He stood, pacing now, fingers clenched into fists. “I thought if I could just fit in, maybe he’d finally look at me the way he looked at Mom. Like someone he could be proud of. Like a Viking.”
He stopped. “But I’ll never be that.”
Outside, the wind blew hard off the sea, rattling loose shutters and carrying with it the faint scent of smoke and iron.
“I don’t want to fight them,” Hiccup murmured. “But I won’t help them kill something I love, either.”
He pulled out a folded piece of parchment and unrolled it with shaking hands.
> Dad,
> I’m leaving. I know you don’t want me here. And I don’t belong anyway. Maybe I never did.
> Toothless and I are going where we won’t hurt anyone. Where you can all go back to hunting dragons and pretending they’re nothing more than beasts. But they’re not. And one day, you’ll see that.
> I’m sorry I wasn’t what you wanted. I really, really tried.
> I hope one day... you’ll understand.
> Hiccup.
---
Before dawn, Hiccup tucked the letter into the cracks beside their front door—where his father always hung his helmet—and turned away.
The sky was dark as he and Toothless climbed the cliffside. The boy’s silhouette was small against the stars. When they reached the edge, Toothless lowered his body, wings stretching wide.
Hiccup took one last look at the only home he’d ever known.
He didn’t belong to them.
But maybe, just maybe, he could belong to himself.
He climbed onto Toothless’s back. The dragon spread his wings. And together, they vanished into the clouds.