Found again (HTTYD FF)

★35★

"Did you bring those people into the nest?" The Alpha growled. He narrowed his eyes and moved closer to the cliff they were all standing on.

Hiccup would have given anything for Toothless' support right now, only the black dragon stood behind him and didn't budge. He was alone in this, Toothless wasn't going to help him, and Hiccup knew it even before they left Berk that morning. Toothless fundamentally disagreed with what Hiccup had done, fundamentally disagreed with the fact that they had shown the humans the location of the nest. This was one of the few things he didn't support Hiccup on. Maybe the only one.

"Y-yes, I-" Hiccup was interrupted by a deep growl, and for a moment he worried that he might have overestimated Bewilderbeast's tolerance. Maybe this time it really was over the line.

"Did it not occur to you that they might be a danger to us? Did it not occur to you that they could turn on us at any moment?" Hiccup bowed his head, but said nothing. "It's dangerous to just go into humans' nests, but it's much more dangerous to bring humans to us!"

"They pose no threat-"

"They will pose a threat until they leave the nest."

"But-"

"No. This isn't a place humans should know about, let alone come to!"

Hiccup fixed his gaze on the ground. There was no point in resisting the Alpha any further. If he was arguing with Toothless or any other dragon, he wouldn't back down no matter what. It was not in his nature to give in. Not if there was even the slightest chance of winning. But the Alpha? The Alpha had the final say, he was his leader - he couldn't resist him. He was the Alpha.

He was about to turn to the others and tell them they had to leave, but before he could make any move, another voice interrupted him. Stormfly.

"We'll vouch for them! They won't cause any trouble!" Stormfly flew from her place behind Astrid and stood in front of Hiccup. "They're not dangerous."

"Exactly! Sometimes they act like newly hatched hatchlings, but they won't cause any trouble. And if they do, it won't be on purpose," the Zippleback supported Stormfly, one head talking over the other.

The Bewilderbeast flicked his gaze from one dragon to the other. Hiccup felt his icy gaze linger on him for a moment as well and bristled. This time it wasn't the calm, loving gaze he usually gave all dragons. It was a look full of suspicion, full of cold distrust. Whatever had caused this distrust of humans, it must have struck theBewilderbeast deeply. He wasn't usually so distrustful.

Hiccup knew that the Bewilderbeast distrusted humans, that he feared what they might do to the nest, but he didn't know that its roots ran so deep that it might affect his judgment. "It doesn't matter if they're harmless or not. They're humans. They have no business being here."

"We've been living with them for weeks and nothing's happened! These people aren't dangerous. Really!" Meatlug joined in. "Give them at least one chance!"

The Bewilderbeast put on a musing expression for a moment. Hiccup knew he wasn't really thinking. He has alredy decided. He was just waiting to see if someone would come up with another reason to convince him not to chase the Vikings away from the nest. Finally, after an interminably long moment, he spoke.

"If those Vikings do anything, they must leave the nest immediately, and all the damage falls on your wings."

Hiccup's ears shot up in surprise. Had he heard right? Was this what the Bewilderbeast had been planning all along, or had they managed to convince him?