Dragons Race to the Edge: Oneshots

Hiccup's Birthday (Hiccup POV)

Hiccup opened his eyes to look up at the same wooden ceiling of his hut on Dragon's Edge.

'See? Everything's exactly the same.' he told himself, pushing himself up and out of bed. To be perfectly honest, he wasn't particularly excited to be nineteen - it just felt like he was now one step closer to becoming chief, something which he'd been trying to put off as much as he could. In fact, that was part of the reason he'd been so intent on journeying out here in the first place. Of course, he'd wanted to see and experience what lay beyond the Archipelago and he'd always known that there must be new species of dragon to learn about out here, but the fact that he wouldn't be tied down with chieftain responsibilities on Berk was also a huge relief. He loved his father and admired him greatly but, as a chief, Hiccup could just never see himself matching up the great Stoick the Vast. Besides, he felt far more free being able to fly Toothless and pursue his own interests as he could now. He knew this kind of freedom wouldn't last forever, so he had to make the most of it now - the passing of another year just proved that.

"Morning bud." He said with a yawn, expecting a roar in response as Toothless stretched, but silence rang throughout the hut instead.

"Toothless?" he called to his dragon, who would usually be shuffling along the wooden floor of the hut, looking at Hiccup expectantly for his early morning flight. He looked around the room. The dragon eye lay on his desk among several scraps of paper containing various designs for his Dragon Blade, Toothless' tail fin, as well as other inventions he'd come up with over the last few months.

'I really should tidy that up...' he thought to himself, knowing that that was never actually going to happen in reality. Scanning the room, he saw that the large, flat slab of rock Toothless usually slept on was empty, with just the scorch marks of the Night Fury's plasma blast imprinted into the stone.

"Where are you, bud?" Hiccup called again, ruffling his hair, Toothless' absence feeling strange. He paced over to the door and opened it. The dawn sunlight was still gentle. Nothing stirred as he looked out across the Edge. From what he could see, none of the other riders seemed to be up yet.

'Good.' he thought to himself. He didn't want anyone to do anything different just because it was his birthday. In fact, part of him wished the had all just forgotten.

Silence rang out across the Edge, apart from the faint singing of Terrible Terrors that Hiccup could hear from over the hills. The amber sun reflected in the calm waves of the ocean as it began to rise, the whole sky tinted with a rosy glow. It was a beautiful morning - serene and calm - something which had become a bit of a rarity on the Edge, with the whole Viggo fiasco going on lately.

 Normally Hiccup would have been able to swoop down to the clubhouse in a matter of seconds on Toothless' back, but today the walk took him at least two minutes, as he scaled down ladders and across rope bridges to the heart of the Edge. Again, there was nothing - nothing had moved since last night. He couldn't understand it: Toothless would never wander far unless there was something wrong. Looking around, Hiccup saw that the doors to all the other riders' huts were shut, confirming his previous assumption that they were all still asleep. A quick trip to the stables also confirmed all the dragons were still in their stables too, except Toothless who was still nowhere to be seen.

This couldn't be some kind of trick could it? There couldn't be some kind of second Loki day he didn't know about? (then again, with the twins around, every day was Loki day). Despite every attempt to remain clam, Hiccup couldn't help a slight feeling of dread creeping into his body as the unusual quietness of the island hung over him like the shadow of death. Something wasn't right. 

He had now done a full tour of the main huts and infrastructure on the Edge and there was still nothing.

 'Relax, Hiccup' he told himself, 'This is the same as every morning - no one's crazy enough to get up at this time except you.' A loud cluck from the floor startled him, as he jerked his attention to Tuff's chicken, who was flapping its wings frenziedly from the wooden deck of the clubhouse. Hiccup had never been one to actually believe that Tuffnut and Chicken actually shared much communication beyond what Tuff imagined in his own head but, for once in his life, Hiccup couldn't help thinking that the chicken was actually trying to tell him something. Looking down at the floor beside the chicken, Hiccup saw scratches in the wood. In fact, more than just scratches - deep gashes in the deck, like those from a sword or axe wielded with considerable force. In other words, this looked like the remains of a battle.