The Night Rider

Chapter 29: The First Interaction

HICCUPS POV.

"AHHH get off my devil!" Hiccup heard his father yell from his bedroom. The sound of his fathers yells pulled Hiccup out of his sleep suddenly. Hiccup heard his father push something making a loud thud when it hit the floor followed by the loud collision on his fathers fist with something. "How'd you like that one devil!" Exclaimed his father.

A threatening dragon roar billowed out of his fathers room and shook the house vibrating Hiccups bed. Panic shot through his entire body as he tried to get out of his bed without succumbing to the pain of his injuries. Hiccup swung his legs out of his bed and sat up letting out a small cry but he wouldn't let that deter him. There was a thunderous crack of what his father had called a devil as it's tail whipped itself into something sending his father flying into something making it collapse.

"No!" Hiccup said pushing himself up from his bed and stumbling a few steps before catching himself on a wall. 'I did it!" He exclaimed mentally, he was surprised he had managed. Not only was he still severely injured but with the dim morning light that streamed through his window he could barely make out what was what. Hiccup stumbled out of his room and into the hallway making his way slowly towards his fathers room at the end of the short hallway. Hiccup heard his father throw a successful punch but when he tried it again all he heard was the first cutting through the open air. There was another loud thud and Hiccup through the open door into his fathers room saw his father collide harshly into the wooden wall.

There was a sudden flash of darkness that jumped around from wall to wall eventually landing on his father and dragging him out of Hiccups's line of sight. "The only one killing me in my house is me!" Yelled his father punching the so called devil three times and then smashing something wooden over its body. "No!" Hiccup yelled and with a final push of energy he propelled himself off the wall and into his fathers room landing on the floor with a thud making him groan out in pain.

His fathers room was a mess. A shelf that had been in a corner of the room was nothing but a pile of broken wood with its destroyed contents mixed in with the pile. His father was standing in a far corner of his room brandishing a shattered wooden board staring his enemy in the eyes. They were almost perfect mirrors of one another, his father and his enemy. The devil that he had just undergone a fearsome battle with... Toothless. Toothless was staring back at his father, his pupils and eyelids both making slits as he let out a guttural and dangerous growl. There first interaction was not off to a good start.

When Hiccups body had hit the floor the two that had been locked in battle with one another turned their heads towards him completely forgetting about the other and Hiccup could see on both there faces how concerned the two of them were for him. "Hiccup!" Yelled his father in a panic and Toothless to made a sad and worried coo. His father dropped the wooden board and began to cross over to his son but Toothless reached him first.

The shadow black dragon positioned himself over Hiccups collapsed body extending his wings out as far as they could go in the room and growled at his approaching father. "Let me past dragon!" Commanded his father picking up a piece of wood from the ground but before he could act Toothless once again whipped his tail at his fathers hand with unthinkable speed and shattered the wood into a dozen pieces. The room then began to fill with an ominous purple light as Toothless opened his mouth the sound of a plasma blast building in his throat.

Hiccup lifted one of his arms up to the side of Toothless's neck and began to pet him calmly. "It's okay bud, I'm all right." He said soothingly and he felt his friend begin to calm the purple light beginning to dim and finally the sound of Toothless's teeth retracting back into his gums. Toothless crept off Hiccup allowing Stoick to come closer but never once did the two have the other out of their sight. Hiccups father knelt down beside Hiccup and scooted him up to a wall so he could sit upright.

"What are you doing out of bed on your own?" Asked his father placing his hand on his shoulder and out of the corner of Hiccups eye he saw Toothless's gums begin to rise slowly. Hiccup outstretched a hand and placed it on Toothless's head trying to calm his friend as much as he could. Hiccup ignored his fathers question and asked his own more important question. "What happened in here?" He asked and his father looked around his room and then back to Toothless who now laid next to Hiccup.

"That beast attacked me." Said his father the concern in his voice being overpowered by anger until that was all that remained. "Toothless wouldn't do that." He said quick to defend his dragon. "You must have provoked him some how." Explained Hiccup which seemed to anger his father more. "The only way I could have provoked it is if the beast didn't like the position I was sleeping in!" Said his father through his gritted teeth. Toothless raised his head from Hiccup's lap and to Stoick's eye level and let out an angered snort.

"Watch what you do around me beast or I'll have your hide pinned against my wall before the next dark." Threaten Stoick reaching for anything around him that he could use as a weapon. Toothless opened his mouth and ejected his teeth showing his father that he was not scared. "Okay let's just all clam down." He said placing his hand on Toothless's snout and his fathers chest pushing the two away from each other. "Remember we're all friends here." He said jokingly. "Oh yeah it was real friendly when it tried to eat me." Said his father. "He wasn't trying to eat you he was just defending himself." He explained.

"Save it son, your dragon started the fight. He was on the offense. I woke up and it was on top of me trying to make me it's next meal." He exclaimed eyeing Toothless with a deadly glare. "He just trying to say hello." Hiccup said but his father wasn't having it. "Look at my room son! Does this look like the beast was just trying to say hello?" He exclaimed gesturing to his room. His father had a point, from the point of view from a man who had fought dragons his whole life, then lost a wife to them and then in many years in a way a son. From that point of view it could appear that Toothless may have been attacking but he knew better.

He knew Toothless better than that. He knew that never in a million years would Toothless attack a person without that person attacking them first. "Why is it even here?" Asked Stoick. "Me and Astrid last night went down to the arena and I decided to bring him here." He summed up. "And why would you think that was a good idea!" Questioned his fathers who if he wasn't already was almost out of patience with his son. "Because I couldn't leave him out in the cold." Hiccup said and Toothless let out a sad coo placing his head in Hiccups lap letting out a series or short whimpers.

"He is friendly once you get to know him." Hiccup said outstretching his arm and offering his hand to his father. "Let me show you." Stoick looked down at Hiccups hand and then over to Toothless a few times before reluctantly giving his hand to his son. Hiccup flattened out his fathers hand and began to lead it towards Toothless's snout. His father pulled away but Hiccup caught his wrist. "Trust me." He said and after his father nodded he began to lead his fathers hand closer and closer to Toothless's snout. Toothless looked up at his fathers hand cautiously and then over to Hiccup before closing his eyes waiting for the hand to make contact.

As his fathers index finger made contact with Toothless's scaled snout the front door to their house burst open. "Stoick we have an emergency!" Yelled Gobber in a panic beginning to make his way up the stairs. Stoick acted fast and rushed to the stairs blocking Gobber's accent to the second story before the iron mason could see either of them. "What is it Gobber." Asked his father trying to match there usual banter. "The Night Rider and his dragon are both gone!" Exclaimed Gobber. "He must have escaped under the cover of darkness and him and his dragon must have flew the coop!" He said trying to catch his breath from the sentence.

Stoick turned his head back towards his son and his dragon and gave Hiccup a look. He knew what that look was. He was asking if he should tell Gobber that he was alive and was the Night Rider. But he wasn't ready, he wasn't quite ready to let Gobber in on his secret just yet. He shook his head left to right multiple times and his father returned a slight nod. "I had the two moved to a more secure place." Lied his father. "I thought it would be best for the village if the two weren't so close to everyone." He said.

"Aye, guess that's wise." Said Gobber beginning to make his way back down the stairs and towards the door but before he left he asked one more question. "Stoick, do you know a lad named Garth?" He asked and Hiccup's throat tightened. "No why would I?" Asked his father in return. "No reason, I was just curious." He said leaving the house. Hiccup let out a sigh closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the wall. Returning to Berk was so much more difficult than he had anticipated, so much more difficult...