Berk's Forumvine

How To Find A Hiccup

"Dane's Past"

End part 1

Hiccup Haddock was at a lost. Everything was going south and there was noway for him to fix it. Dane had every upper hand there was; from the dragons to having leverage his friends and Astrid. And now, he was just waiting. Waiting for Hiccup to do something just so that he can mess with him some more.

The seconds seemed to be like minutes and the minutes felt like they stretched on for hours.

He sighed. Hiccup was stuck in his house along with Gobber and Stoick. Phlegma was there, too, sitting in the corner on a wooden chair. They didn't talk much, but just sat in silence.

The calm before the storm.

The four were going to attempt to brake into Dane's little island and rescue the hostages. They tried to get a few more people, but they were either scared or hated Hiccup's guts. Most were the latter option. Stoick did order most vikings to stay put and protect the village, should the worst happen.

The room was dim, the fire the only thing generating light. It was an eerie feeling the light caused. The flames made their gloomy state deepen, depressing them ever more. Hiccup fidgeted in his chair, eying his hands on his lap as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. The pain and sorrow had left him, but he wasn't anywhere near happy. When the feelings left, they left behind a strange aftertaste. He didn't understand what he was feeling. The young rider was broken.

Stoick didn't like this anymore than his son. Everything had finally seemed to be looking up for him. His son was back, what else did he need? Then Dane reared his ugly head and shattered the illusory of peace and happiness. That's all happiness is; the time when you forget all the bad in the world. The evil, however, outweighs the good.

But the good has something the evil will never have; a will. The good has a will that could kill a thousand demons if need be. That, and a master dragon rider.

(~)(~)(~)

The four needed to act. Hiccup's dragons were gone, gone to be ruled by Dane against their will.

The four were made up of the elite of the elite. Stoick and his strength, along with his impressive ability to wield a battle ax, made him a shoe-in. Besides, he wasn't going to let his son go alone. Hiccup had more intellect than anyone one on the island; his swiftness with a sword made him a threat to anyone who challenged him. Gobber's years on the battle field had made him strong in many ways. If you were going to war, you would have an advantage if he was on your side. Than there was Phlegma the Fierce. She earned that name in the heat of battle against a viking raid; she cut down 20 enemy vikings in the span of just one-minute. The four vikings were indeed the best of the best on Berk. And they all shared a common goal, uniting them and making them impossibly stronger.

They were at the docks, preparing a small rowboat to infiltrate Dane's hideout. The heat of the summer sun beamed down on them without mercy, making the vikings sweat, dampening their clothing and making it stick to there bodies. It wasn't even 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but to Berk, it was one of the hottest days of the year.

The village behind them buzzed with activity. Preparing for an attack sent them running all over the island. Some carried buckets and others boxes. Food was stored in a safe place in case the food storage house got destroyed. All the running around mixed with the heat of the day made the air seem damp with perspiration. But that wasn't the worst; vikings don't always bathe on a regular biases. Needless to say, they stunk. The island seem to have its own atmosphere that trapped the smell of the vikings. It didn't seem to bother anyone... except Hiccup.

He wasn't used to living with the vikings anymore. Heck, the dragons and the teens he stayed with kept themselves cleaner than this. He shook his head and went back to preparing the little ship to set sail. Of course, they wouldn't leave till nightfall. They were just getting it ready, then they would go and help the rest of the village.

The little boat would need to carry all four of them plus supplies, should they get into a fight. Hiccup loaded one more crate onto the boat and release a breath, glad that one job was over with.

Before any of the Berkians on the dock new what happened, something shot forth from the depths of the ocean, sending droplets of water onto Hiccup and his small team. The sudden appearance of the creature made Hiccup jump. He quickly regained himself, craning his neck to look into the sky. What he saw looked to be some kind of dragon. He couldn't tell the color, but only the silhouette of the dragon. The body shape, however, resembled that of a Thunderdrum.

Those on the dock began to panic. Some went to warn the village, others took up arms right there on the docks, fearing Dane was about to wipe out the island. They held their shields over their heads, swords and spears gripped in their hands were pointed towards the sky.

Hiccup squinted his eyes at the object. Dane wouldn't attack now, would he? He would want Hiccup to come to him.

The rider gasped when the being came into full view. It wasn't Dane. In fact, it very well may be Berk's salvation...

"Put you weapons down!" Hiccup yelled hurrying by the vikings and pushing their arms down. This was met with grunts and angry – and confused – looks. "It's a friend!" Hiccup shouted again. "Make room for her!"

The vikings gave him an odd look that was a mixture of "are you insane" and fearfulness. Stoick stepped in, repeating his son's orders. The vikings shook their heads, but obeyed.

Looking back up into the sky, Hiccup motioned for the dragon and its rider to land. From what he could tell, the figure gave a slight nod. The beast began its descent.

The vikings surrounded the dragon on all sides, Hiccup and Stoick at the front. The Thunderdrum was strange. Instead of the normal bright and vivid colors most dragons of that species were, this one had dark gray skin with black, hollow circles on its back.

The girl atop it wore a black cloak that hid her face. She wasn't that tall, about 5'6'', but, to the vikings, anyone siting on a dragon, especially one as big as a thunderdrum, seemed to look bigger.

The dragons rider did a small sweep with her head, looking at the vikings that surrounded her. The dragon didn't seem to pleased either, and gave a low rumble.

The girl patted its head. "Easy boy."

Hiccup smiled and took a step closer. "You two need to stop pulling that water stunt, you're soaked."

The girl pulled her hood back, revealing her black hair, brown eyes and dark brown skin. She shook her head, sending droplets of freezing cold water onto the vikings, much to their displeasure.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But the looks on your faces was worth it," she giggled. Hiccup scratched his forehead. Why did she have to come at this time?! Everything just wants to make itself more complicated for me. He sighed.

"What are you doing here, Kyla?" Hiccup asked as Kyla took off her wet cloak. She was wearing a gray chest plate along with armored arms and legs. The vikings were impressed, that armor didn't seem all the light, but a few put together that perhaps Hiccup had something to do with it not being unbearably heavy. Kyla stashed her cloak in her saddle bag. She opened a separate bag and pulled out a small piece of parchment and handed it to Hiccup.

Hiccup eyed her wearily, afraid of another surprise. Her face was unreadable... until she rolled her eyes.

"Just take it," she said. Hiccup groaned, but snatched the poorly rolled up paper.

Before Hiccup got the chance to read, the other members of Kyla's group shot out of the water. They spiraled upward, sending water splashing onto the dock and... onto the villagers.

Another water dragon landed beside Kyla while the rest stayed in the air, circling the vikings. It was a species Hiccup discovered called an Ocean Splitter. The body was similar to a sharks, but the tail was flat like a dolphin's. It didn't have fins or gills – it breathed air – and it's face was a little flatter than a sharks. It walked on all fours and had small wings on the side of its body. The wings were to small to fly, but were built to push the water and propel the dragon forward under the water. Blue scales covered it's body.

The rider pulled back it's hood, revealing a young boy. He was gasping for air.

"Must we do this every time we visit an island?" He asked, Kyla rolled her eyes. She motioned to the note in Hiccup's hand. He unraveled it.

This message goes out to the "Water Devils"

and their leader, Kyla. Hiccup is in a dire situation,

one that he can't overcome by himself. He is located on

the isle of Berk; the island's inhabitants are

our friends and mean no harm. Hiccup is there,

stuck between a rock and a hard place. Get there,

he'll explain the rest.

-Raden

Hiccup let a small smile creep onto his lips, despite himself. A sense of relief washed over him. He knew that, at least, Raden hadn't betrayed him.

The words on the paper were an eerie red and seemed to have ran down the page before the ink dried. Hiccup didn't know where the boy got red ink, or when he found the time to write. He assumed Dane was keeping Raden under surveillance, so... Hiccup sighed. The letters weren't written with ink, but blood.

"So, you're here to help?" Hiccup asked.

"Duh?" The boy said. Kyla punched him in the arm.

"The only thing we understand is that you're in trouble," Kyla said. "Nothing new, really." Hiccup groaned.

"Yeah, well, I don't go looking for trouble! It just... has a way of finding me."

"Hiccup," Stoick said, stepping beside his son. "I don't think arguing with an 8 year old-"

"I'm 17!" Kyla interrupted, but Stoick ignored her.

"- is going to help our problem with Dane. We need to move!" Stoick finished.

"Dane? What happened to him?" Kyla asked. Hiccup rolled the paper up and folded his arms. Great, now I have to catch everyone up to speed, Hiccup thought.

(~)(~)(~)

"Any sign of them?" Dane ask his dragon who landed beside him.

"No," was his deep reply. Dane ran his hand through his hair and started to walk, his Skrill beside him.

"I hate waiting!" Dane yelled. "Do another sweep of the island, Zippy."

Snotlout sniggered.

Dane had just walked into a small cave where his captives were. His dragons name being revealed to the group.

"What!?" Dane shouted.

"You named the dragon Zippy?" Snotlout laughed. Dane kicked him in the gut.

"You have some nerve," was all Dane said. He turned to leave, but Astrid called out.

"What the hel, Dane? What's the point of this? Hiccup didn't do anything to you!" She yelled, pulling on her chains that fastened her to a boulder. Dane gave a toothy smile. He crouched down close to her face.

"Let me tell you what he did," he said.

(~)(~) – 3 years ago – (~)(~)

The earth rumbled beneath his feet, making him swing his arms frantically trying to regain his balance. But to no use; Dane fell onto his butt, his head continuing all the way to hard soil. He grunted as his head slammed into the earth.

A whispering death broke through the surface just below the boy's feet. Dane screamed as the whispering death showed his rotating teeth, smoke emitting from its mouth.

"That's when he showed up."

Dane heard another dragon roar, but this one was different. He couldn't place his finger on it at the time, but it sounded like the roar came from a human.

The dragon snapped his head towards the roar. Dane did the same.

The whole island was in ruins, it was a dragon raid unlike the which Dane had never seen. Fire littered the ground and houses. Corpses of burning and mutated bodies littered the ground. The smell coming from everything mixed together, creating a stench so fowl Dane would argue it was the worst part.

From a wall of fire a dragon as black as the night came flying through, landing just a few feet away from Dane and the Whispering Death. Nightfury. A man jumped off its back.

He was wearing some kind of leather armor, a helmet blocking the mans features. He pulled out a flaming sword and started to swing in what seemed to be a series of patterns. If Dane wasn't already scared enough, the stranger started to roar and growl, the Whispering Death doing the same back. They couldn't be talking... could they?

The Whispering Death gave one last roar before it dove back down into the ground. The man and the dragon rushed to the boy.

"My name's Hiccup Haddock, I'm here to help," the stranger said quickly. "No time to explain, my dragon, Toothless, won't harm you. Come on!" Hiccup pulled the boy to his feet quickly. Dane guessed the man couldn't be more than 17 years old.

Hiccup helped Dane onto Toothless's. He was to scared to even question why Hiccup was putting him up onto the back of the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.

"You're the only survivor I've seen and the island's about to sink! To many tunnels made by Whispering Deaths'." Hiccup explained hastily as he hopped onto Toothless and ordered him to take off. "HANG ON!"

Toothless took off into the air at great speed. The dragon left Dane clutching to Hiccup as hard as he could. Toothless leveled off high above the island.

Dane looked down upon his island. Parts of it were crumbling into the ocean. Dane didn't know when, but it was a few seconds before he realized the tears sliding down his cheek. Hiccup sighed.

"I'm really sorry, kid. I found the island like this. If I had known... I would've brought my water dragons... put out the fires... sorry." Hiccup bowed his head.

"Who are you?" Dane asked in a wavering voice. "How can you ride these beasts that do... that?" He pointed to the island. Hiccup looked down at the boy's home; most of it was in the ocean now.

"I'm Hiccup, King of the Dragons." He said. "I don't know why they did what they did. Perhaps your people provoked them..." He trailed off to the point where Dane didn't hear the last part. At least, that was what he wanted. Hiccup didn't want the boy to think that it was his people who led to their own destruction. In a way, it was half the people and half the dragons fault. But Dane did hear.

"My family was on that island," Dane said quietly.

"Come on, bud." Hiccup said, patting the dragons neck. Toothless gave a soft croon and flew away from the island. Dane looked back just in time to see the last piece of rock get swallowed up by the ocean.

(~)(~) – Present – (~)(~)

"Hiccup was King of the Dragons, yet he couldn't control them. And because of it, I paid the price no one should ever have to pay. My way of life is gone and it's all because Hiccup didn't have what it took to rule," Dane said. He stood up and walked out of the small cave with his dragon following him. Astrid couldn't help it, but she felt a little sympathy for him. Then she looked at her friends, and that sympathy turned right back into hatred.

Astrid new Hiccup was devising a plan to try an save them, but the longer she was around Dane, the more she wanted for him to get onto Toothless and fly as far away from him as possible.

There are many kinds of people in this world. There are those like Hiccup who turn the other cheek when hurt. And then, there are people like Dane who can't let something go. They let the hurt and pain well up inside them until they can't hold it anymore. All that pain comes rushing to the surface and when it does, you don't want to be anywhere near them. Dane is a monster. Dane has to be stopped... before it's to late.