The Night Fury's Gaze (HTTYD)

Before Catastrophe

And there I was, the usual, scrawny Viking who was known for messing everything up... quite literally. Not a day went by where I didn't trip over myself and messed things up more than I should have. Of course, Berk hated me, but couldn't exactly exile me, or even tell me off. See, I was Berk's future chief, since I am Stoick the Vast's son. Story says he killed his first dragon when he was around the age of five, his axe cutting through the beasts neck, slicing it in half. It is a very 'gorey' memory, yet it is so... amazing. How can someone at the age of FIVE murder a dragon with a very heavy axe, which is definitely not made for a five year old to lift, let alone fight with it.

Enough about that, I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III, disappointment to my father, and a mistake to my village. You hear the word 'Viking' and think of a very muscular guy, clearly built to beat off anything in its way. This was definitely not my case. I had thin legs and arms, I could rarely even keep myself on my feet, and my body was basically a walking fish bone, as Gobber liked to call it. Ah yes, Gobber, both my tutor and 'second father', you could say. He was basically the only friend I had, though I'm not sure he thinks the same. He most likely sees me as nothing more than an apprentice. Totally.

Moving on, I also had an imaginary girlfriend- which she wasn't imaginary, but she clearly wasn't my girl. Astrid... such an amazing Viking full of confidence and... looks. She stopped at nothing, holding her head up high, fearing no dragon who stood in her way. Even though she was barely a student, she seemed to learn faster than the rest of us. That includes: Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and of course, me.

They were already training for dragon fighting, without me... since my father says I am not ready to face such a big task. Pfft, says who? Me. I was no Viking material. I saw a dragon, I ran. I saw an angry Viking, I cowered. I saw myself, I doubted. Seems like everyone just saw me as the Viking-who-wasn't-really-a-Viking. I couldn't help but feel left out. My tribe was one of the strongest ones out there, also being a menace to the dragon race! And here I was, a pebble in a box full of radiant rubies.

...

One night, there was a dragon raid- as usual. Vikings were scaring off dragons with their threatening weapons, who were clearly trying to steal food from our animal pens. I sighed, knowing my purpose was nothing more than to sharpen swords, axes, spears, and many more weapons. I had to work fast- an angry mob of Vikings waiting for their weapon to come out as sharp as possible. Could I blame them? We were in the middle of a raid, and I was the only one working. Gobber had gone off to take care of some annoying dragons, which left me all alone in the forge. One by one, I left the sharpened weapons on the bar, Vikings taking them immediately and returning to battle.

I had about three people left in line, two muscular men and one vicious woman. They shot me a glare, clearly indicating me to work even faster than I already was. This only worried me more. I have never seen such angry faces ever since I had told off some kid who was pestering me with a twig, telling me how I would never become a real Viking, like the rest. Of course, people had agreed with the child, and told me off for being selfish! Why am I even surprised?

Finally, I handed out the remaining weapons to the desperate Vikings. They quickly took them and ran off somewhere, probably to murder some dragon stealing sheep or something. I looked back at my invention, wiping off the sweat from my forehead. I inspected it for a few seconds, before walking toward it, brushing a hand on it gently, feeling the wooden splinters sticking out of its base. Before I could scan it even further, I heard a warning call that said, "NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!" I shot back into reality, looking around frantically for any potential threat that could seriously harm me. I let out a sigh of relief, seeing that no scaly beast was running toward me, or there wasn't any burning fires all over the wooden pillars, which kept the forge stable. However, the sudden scream sent a shiver down my spine, and I knew how threatening Night Fury's could be, especially since we knew nothing about them.