HTLANF AU: How to Raise Your Night Furies

Part 2 ~ Chapter 11

"So you're telling me that my son is in rut? Like a male animal?" Stoick asked as he stopped his pacing.

"That's what Gothi said, yeah." Astrid said with her arms crossed.

Stoick sat down heavily in his chair holding his head in his hands. "Oh, Odin help me..."

"Maybe that's why all the other dragons left. I mean think about it chief. Why else would they just up and leave almost a week before Snoggletog if not for their ruts and heats kicking in? It could be their mating season." Astrid reasoned.

Stoick thought over her words and his eyes widened. "Which would explain why Hiccup's gone into rut himself. Oh that makes much more sense now. We'll let the tribe know tonight before supper. But for now, we must keep Hiccup in an isolated environment. Which means no one goes around him until his rut is over. Especially you. We're lucky he didn't let his urges win when you were in his room earlier, lass."

Astrid nodded in agreement nervously. "What about Toothless and Kala? They'll want to be by his side. How're we gonna keep them from going to his room?"

"Ah, Kala should be fine to stay with him. She's way too young and his parental instincts will prevent him from doin' anythin' to her. As for Toothless, he's old enough to understand what's goin' on. We'll just need to tell him to steer clear of his father for now." Stoick said with a shrug.

"If you say so.." Astrid said as she looked towards the stairs in the hut.

Stoick smiled softly and rested a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be alright, Astrid. That boy is as tough as steel."

Astrid looked back at the chief and nodded with a sad smile. "I know...I'm still worried though..."

"Aye...I am, too..."

~~~HTRYNF~~~

As he said, Stoick called a town meeting before the Great Hall was prepared for dinner. There were murmurs of confusion when he saw that Toothless and Kala were with their grandfather, but Hiccup was nowhere to be found. They had grown so used to seeing the three dragons together in the past few months. So, seeing the two hatchlings without their father was very odd to the Vikings.

"Alright, settle down everyone! I have an important announcement to make!" Stoick bellowed to quiet the crowd. "Now, as you all may have noticed, my son is not with us."

Murmurs started to resurface as the tribe began to talk again, but they were silenced when Stoick raised his hand.

"I know you all are wondering where he has gone, but I assure you that he hasn't run off. Hiccup is being secluded in his room for the time being until he gets better." Stoick explained.

"What do you mean until he gets better?!"

"Yeah! Has he caught somethin'?!"
"In a way, yes. It actually has to do with why all the other dragons left. From what Gothi could tell, and thanks to Astrid's quick thinking, we've come to the conclusion that the dragons left because it is their mating season. As far as how long the dragons will be gone, we are not sure. And as for the location they went, there is no way of knowing the area they chose." Stoick explained.

"Well if it's mating season, then why are Hiccup and his kids still here?!"

"Toothless and Kala are still hatchlings. They are too young to be affected by it at this time. As for my son, he's in no condition to be flying anywhere at the moment. So for now, we will have to make do without the rest of the dragons this Snoggletog." Stoick said calmly. "Now then, who's hungry?"

At the mention of food, all the Vikings crowded to get their fill.

~~~HTRYNF~~~

A few days had passed since the meeting. It was odd to the tribe to only see Toothless and Kala going about the village as compared to all the other dragons flying or running about the island alongside the two Night Fury hatchlings.

Toothless woke up that day to the sound of a rhythmic banging on the roof and the sound of his dad waking up annoyed at the sound. He smiled and shook his head as he got ready and went outside. The hatchling looked up at the roof in curiosity to see his grandfather hammering away at the roof, repairing a bit of damage and putting up decorations.

Stoick stopped hammering when he heard the door open and close and looked down with a smile when he noticed it was his grandson. "Morning, Toothless!"

"Morning, Grandpa! What're you doing?" Toothless asked with a tilt of his head.

"Ah, I'm just fixin' up the roof and puttin' up some more decorations. Glad you're up, though!" Stoick said as he slid down the ladder. "Could ya run up to your father's room and get his helmet for me?"

"Dad's helmet? Why?" The hatchling asked, not understanding in the slightest.

"Odin needs a place to put all the goodies for you, your sister, and your father." Stoick explained as he rested a hand on Toothless' shoulder.

"Oh. Uh..sure I can try to get it." Toothless agreed with a slight nod.

"Atta lad." Stoick said happily as he patted his grandson's shoulder, but as he went to go back up the ladder he turned back with a thoughtful look. "On second thought. Don't worry about it. Better to stay out for now since we don't know when Hiccup's season ends. Why not go help around the village for now? Help get things ready."

Toothless nodded then made his way down the hill. He spent a couple hours helping with cleaning up the plaza and making sure it was good to go for Snoggletog. As he was taking a set of oars, with slight difficulty because of how big they were compared to him, back to the docks he ran into Fishlegs. He had a large basket of fish for some reason.
"Hey Fishlegs. Are you hungry? There's enough fish in there to feed an adult dragon!" Toothless said as he looked at what kinds of fish were in the basket.

"Hahaha... Oh, a dragon? That's..." Fishlegs started nervously, then he bolted mid-sentence into a barn nearby with the basket in tow.

Toothless raised a brow in confusion and followed him to figure out what was going on. Once Fishlegs had left, Toothless set the oars against the barn and cracked open one of the barn doors to peek inside. The hatchling's eyes widened when he saw Meatlug chained up in the barn, struggling to get free.

She broke the chain and bolted for the door. Toothless tried to dodge her with a screech of surprise, but he wasn't fast enough and got tangled in the chain as the Gronckle flew past him. Because of how the chain wrapped around him, Toothless wasn't able to maneuver in any way to get out of it or transform.

As he struggled, Meatlug flew through the village to catch up with the other dragons that left for mating season. Astrid spotted the two dragons as Meatlug flew through the plaza.

"Toothless?! Where are you going?!" She shouted as she ran after the two dragons, very worried for her nephew.

"I HAVE NO IDEAAA!!" Toothless yelled as he continued to struggle in the chain.

Fishlegs ran after Meatlug when he noticed her. "Meatlug? What about presents?! Hey!"

~~~HTRYNF~~~