The End of the Beginning (Hiccup x OC) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 8

The arena was crowded with all of Berk on its platforms, banners and flags flapping in the wind. Everyone turned to hear Stoick speak as I walked into the arena toward Hiccup who stood alone in the entrance.

"Well," Stoick began, "I can show my face in public again. If someone told me that in a few weeks Hiccup would go from being, well . . . Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training, I would have tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad!" The crowd roared with laughter. "Yes! And you know it!"

I walked up beside Hiccup and the two of us watched his father speak.

"But here we are," he continued once his audience had quieted. "And no one's more surprised or more proud than I am. Today, my boy becomes a Viking. Today, he becomes one of us!" He lifted a fist into the air as the crowd cheered.

"Wow," I said under my breath as I looked at the chief.

"Don't think about it too hard," Hiccup turned to me. "Marish."

My eyes shifted and gazed into his green ones. Who knew his eyes were so green?

"If something goes wrong . . . just make sure they don't find Toothless." His face was filled with earnest and I no longer saw the timid, weak looking Hiccup I had known, but a brave, loyal Hiccup whom I was beginning to know.

"I will. Just be careful." I gave him a loving smile as Gobber hobbled up to us on his peg leg.

"It's time, Hiccup. Knock him dead."

I touched his arm lightly in a silent farewell and left to return to my mother on the platforms. "Where were you?" she asked, raising her right eyebrow.

"I just went to wish him luck," I replied simply with a shrug of my shoulders, knowing that if I dismissed the fact as nothing, she would overlook it.

The crowd went wild as Hiccup entered the ring, shouts from Tuffnut resounding loudly, "Show 'em how it's done, my man!" Amazing how a few magic tricks with dragons can earn you the hearts of all the girls on Berk, pretty and ugly. But I knew that he hadn't earned my heart by his tricks. He had earned it because of his personality.

On a piece of wood hung a series of weapons ranging from a large hammer to a small dagger. Hiccup hoisted a shield onto his arm, and selected the dagger, much to the surprise of the crowd. Normally a Viking would choose a large weapon. A small tool left too much to chance. He turned toward the cage door and nodded to let Gobber know he was ready. The heavy door began to lift creakily.

The crowd went silent and I squeezed my way through to the front row so I could see better. Fire blasted out of the door as a Monstrous Nightmare emerged, flames covering its body. The crowd made noises as the dragon climbed the walls, lurking and hissing.

Its eyes fell upon Hiccup and it dropped to the ground, slinking toward him. Hiccup purposefully dropped his shield and dagger, stepping away from them. I bit my lip nervously as he extended the palm of his hand toward the dragon.

He took off his helmet and with a pause, threw it aside. The crowd gasped and murmurs fluttered through the crowd. "The fool!" one murmur reached my ears.

"What in Thor's name is he trying to do?" another came. He's trying to train the dragon. He's going to train the dragon. I smiled excitedly as I realized his plan.

"Stop the fight," Stoick ordered. I looked at the chief who was disgusted and upset.

"No," Hiccup said loudly. I returned my gaze to him. "I need you all to see this." My smile had faded and suddenly I was afraid for him. His plan seemed like it would work at the time, but now . . .

"I said stop the fight!" Stoick shouted and stood up, banging his hammer against the chain enclosure forming the roof like structure.

The dragon, startled by the noise, broke out of the trance and snapped at Hiccup's hand. He yelped and jumped backward, the Nightmare reacting by shooting a line of fire at him. Hiccup dodged the flames that almost swallowed him whole and scampering away to find safety somewhere.

I squeezed out of the row and ran down to the entrance, grabbing a nearby axe. I shoved the axe in the bottom of the entrance gate, prying it open with some effort so I could slide through. "Hey, Nightmare!" I shouted at the dragon, running to the opposite side of the arena.

It turned and roared when it saw me, running in my direction. I waited until the right moment, bouncing from side to side on the balls of my feet. Come on . . . Closer, closer . . . The beast was a few feet away when I ran toward it, sliding between its claws and under its belly. The crowd roared with amusement as I ran from the confused animal.

"Hiccup!" I shouted as I continued to run from the dragon in pursuit. "I could use one of your plans right now!"

"I was hoping you had one!" He stood, holding a hammer he looked like he was going to drop on his feet any second.

"Nope!" I ran toward him and grabbed his arm, dragging him with me. He tripped because of the hammer's weight and fell, my grip broken and my feet still running.

I slowed to a stop and looked back to see the Nightmare on top of Hiccup, ready to finish his life. "Hiccup!" I ran toward the beast, axe in hand when a dragon roar filled the arena. But it wasn't the Nightmare's.

"Night Fury!" Gobber's voice shouted. "Get down!"

A hole was blasted through the chain dome and smoke filled the arena. The only thing we could see was the flying wings of the dragons that fought. When the smoke cleared and the dragons were revealed, Toothless stood defensively between the Nightmare and Hiccup.

The Nightmare moved toward me, but Toothless blocked him with a hiss, his tail swishing out to push me behind him and next to Hiccup. I, too, was under his protection. The Nightmare began to circle us when Toothless lunged forward threateningly with a roar. The opponent shied away, returning into its cage.

Hiccup put his hands on Toothless and gave him a shove, "Alright, Toothless, go. Get out of here!" The dragon just looked at him with loving big green eyes, not seeming to understand the order.

Vikings began to shower into the ring, "Take it alive!"

Stoick ran at Toothless, hammer in hand and prepared to strike the beast that would dare harm his son.

"Dad, no!" Hiccup shouted. "He won't hurt you." The Vikings surrounded Toothless, separating the dragon from us.

"We have to do something!" I looked at Hiccup beside me who ran after his father.

"Dad, No! He won't hurt you!"

Toothless was surrounded by Vikings that piled onto him. He threw his head, the Vikings falling like dolls to the ground. Toothless didn't care about the Vikings. His focus was on Stoick.

"No, don't! You're only making it worse!" Hiccup stopped running and stood helpless as his father raised his hammer at the beast we had come to love. Toothless pounced and pinned the chief to the ground. He opened his mouth, the sound of his charge building up as he prepared to fire a blast. "No!"

Toothless suddenly stopped, swallowing the charge and looked at Hiccup, confused.

"Get him!" The Vikings charged toward the dragon as they seized him in the moment of confusion. I ran over to Hiccup and grabbed his arm as he tried to run after them.

"No!" His voice called out desperately. "Please . . . just don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him." He relaxed a little and my hand slid down into his, giving it a discrete gentle squeeze before releasing it.

We watched as a Viking gave Stoick an axe for him to kill the Night Fury, but the chief refused the weapon. "Put it with the others!" He shifted his eyes with a glare at Hiccup and walked toward us, grabbing his arm. He dragged him out of the arena, Hiccup taking a last look at Toothless and then me. Our eyes met for what seemed like only three seconds before he was out of my sight completely.