I will save you

Chapter 5: Her

Hiccup's POV

It had been a few days since I had talked to my younger self and we had fixed Toothless' tail fin. But even though Toothless had a brand new, functioning tail fin, I just could not bring myself to leave. I had some unfinished business to deal with, and there was no way I could go home in good conscience before getting that over with.

Luckily for me, the information I had told my younger self had seemingly not changed very much in the current present, yet. He had been surprised by Astrid in the cove, as intended. Then the two of them had ended up taking a romantic flight, leading to them discovering the dragon nest. At that point, everything seemed to have been going smoothly, which made me quite nervous for the eventual bump in the road that was almost guaranteed to come.

As the new past followed in the footsteps of my past, it meant that there wasn't much time before my younger self would have to prove his worth as a 'dragon slayer' in the arena. And by much time, I meant a couple of minutes. If the sea remained still and allowed smooth sailing, young Hiccup would screw up massively in the ring, almost get himself killed and then get disowned by his father before earning Astrid's undying support as his father made his way towards the dragon nest.

The bolt to the door was raised as the villagers of Berk all quieted down to watch the dramatic scene that was bound to happen in the arena. Suddenly, the doors to the cage were blasted open by a fire that stuck to the inside of the doors and gnawed at the wood. Out came a furious Monstrous Nightmare, looking even scarier than I had originally remembered it to be.

The dragon climbed the walls and the chain enclosure like a spider, hissing at the crowd before blasting a steady stream of fire.

I watched with fascination, and a little fear, as history repeated itself before my very eyes, allowing me the unique chance to see myself through the eyes of the crowd as I let go of the objects that made me a Viking, and exposed myself to the dangerous beast that everyone around me knew would kill me in under a second.

I glanced over at my father, who was sitting on the edge of his seat, face a fuming red as he watched the interaction between the dragon and the fish bone of a boy in the arena. As Hiccup put out his hand to the much calmer Monstrous Nightmare, i saw my father visibly tense before gritting his teeth. "Stop the fight."

"No." My younger self said with such determination I barely recognized my own voice. "You need to see this! They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."

As Hiccup's hand moved even closer to the nose of the Nightmare, my father raised his hammer above his head before smashing it down on the iron enclosure. "I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!"

I watched as all hell broke loose. I watched as the Monstrous Nightmare was startled by the sound of my father's hammer meeting the metal, followed by the dragon growing more and more angry as it spewed fire all over the arena. Before I even had the chance to process what was happening around me, Toothless had showed up, the Monstrous Nightmare had been restrained and suddenly, Toothless had been captured by the Berkians.

It didn't take long before I watched as my father dragged my younger self to the Meade Hall, where I knew he disowned him before setting sail to the nest, with Toothless as his compass. Soon, the only people on Berk were the children, teens and me.

I walked over to where I knew my younger self was standing, looking deflated as he somberly watched the sea, wishing he had done more to save his best friend. Just as I was about to defy destiny and the way of the past to go cheer my younger self up, Astrid showed up, offering him support and some well deserved critique before doing what she did best; inspiring me to do what's right.

I couldn't help but smile as the many inspirational speeches she had held for me over the years flowed through my mind like a flood. Gods, to think that was the last time I would ever hear a speech of hers again.

I followed the teens back up to the arena, where I sat myself down as I waited for them to trying their dragons and get going to save the day. I watched as the sun slowly sank towards the horizon before loud cheering and some high-pitched screaming filled my ears, followed by the twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs and their dragons emerging from the arena and shooting up towards the skies above.

With the other teens already miles ahead on their new dragons, I was certain young Hiccup and his future wife would soon follow their soon-to-be friends, but unfortunately for fate, destiny and everything keeping the universe afloat, I had to make a ripple in the perfectly still water.

As the remaining teens were about to set off towards the dragon nest, I ran in front of Stormfly, arms raised in an attempt to stop them before it was too late.

"Hey! You've got to watch where you're going, unless you want this Deadly Nadder to make you its dinner!" Astrid snarled, sending shivers down my spine as her voice continued to ring through my ears. Gods, how I missed that wonderful voice of hers.

"S-Sorry," I croaked, having completely forgotten everything I had prepared to tell my younger self before his departure. "I-I really need to speak to you, Hiccup."

"I'm sorry, Hicc— I mean Henry! Uh, we're kind of in a crunch right now." Hiccup cleared his throat as he did his best to avoid Astrid's suspicious gaze.

"Believe me, I know, but this is almost equally as important." I said in the most strict and firm tone I could muster, just to give him a taste of how serious our discussion was. And without another complaint, Hiccup slid right off Stormfly and followed me to the side of the arena, out of Astrid's earshot.

I placed firm hands on Hiccup's shoulders as I forced the boy to look me in the eye. "Hiccup, I need you to promise me one thing."

Hiccup gulped before creasing his forehead in determination. "Alright, What is it?"

I glanced over at Astrid for a split second, my expression softening momentarily before hardening once again as I turned back to my younger self. "Don't leave her side on the battlefield, if there is one person in this world you want to stand back-to-back with, it's her."

Hiccup raised a brow, obviously a little confused. "Astrid?"

"Hiccup, you have no idea how important it is that you keep this promise. Please, for both our sakes, just do it." I spoke to him with such seriousness I could barely recognize myself. Hiccup blinked for a second before furrowing his brows and nodding.

"Great, now go, you have a dragon to save!" I let go of the boy as I watched him run back over to an impatient Astrid, who was waiting with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face upon Stormfly. I watched as the two took off in the direction their friends had flown in, only turning back once to wave goodbye. Gods, did I hope he would keep his promise.

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I watched the three of them disappear on the horizon. "I believe my job here is done."

A coo came from behind me as Toothless waddled up to me. The dragon sat down beside me as we watched the dark clouds slowly drift away from Berk. I turned to the dragon. "You ready to go home, bud?"