Home-Bound: The Beginnings (HTTYD)

1 - Leaving Home

Home-bound can have two meanings:

1. When one is bound to their place of birth or residence, usually due to memories or familial ties

2. When one is bound towards (i.e. going in the direction of) the place they consider home.

In this book, Hiccup discovers he is not home-bound (in the tied sense), and he is home-bound (in the direction sense).

In other words, Hiccup leaves what he thought was home for a place he discovers seems a bit more like a home.

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"I'm leaving!" Hiccup exclaimed, setting down his heavy basket filled with flight gear and a saddle, nearly crushing his feet in the process. He yelped and backed away from the pile of rubbish.

He was not going to kill a dragon. He just couldn't. Everyone thought he was the "dragon killing champion" but he wasn't. Leaving was the easiest way to get out of this mess.

Some people would call it cowardice but for the first time in his life, Hiccup felt brave.

"Toothless!" He called, waiting for the dragon to come to him. There was no response, which was strange for the dragon. Toothless usually always heard Hiccup coming from a mile away, and was waiting eagerly for when his rider got there.

"Bud?" He looked around the cove, and gave a yelp of surprise when the Night Fury pounced on him, knocking him to the floor.

"What? Did you bring fish?" The excitable dragon asked, nudging the equipment, looking for any sign of a snack.

Hiccup stood up and dusted himself off. "Sorry, bud, but no. We can hunt later," he huffed. "Right now, we should concentrate on getting out of here."

The dragon barked in agreement.

Hiccup dug through the basket, and took out an old shirt that barely fit him. The color was a faded brown, and some moths had already started to eat away at the hems. He held it away form his face with a distasteful frown. It smelled weird...

"Can you damage this?"

Toothless grumbled a bit, confused about the command.

"I want it to look like a Night Fury killed me..."

"Ok," the dragon said without further question, ripping apart the shirt with his claws and shooting small plasma blasts at clearly having fun destroying something for once. As soon as he was satisfied, Toothless threw it at Hiccup. The dark green garment landed perfectly on his rider's head, blocking his eyesight.

"Is this good?"

"Yeah, thanks Bud." The boy said, yanking the shirt off his head and shooting a smile at him.

Toothless stared at him, barely containing his excitement. They were leaving! Only the two of them. No more waiting for his rider to come back during the day, and no more being stuck in this tiny cove. Freedom!

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With just a tad too much liveliness, the pair messed up the sand, tore branches off the trees, chipped the rocks, and even left scorch marks just for good measure. They completely destroyed the cove and it's immediate surroundings for the sake of making everything look believable.

To tie it all up, Hiccup placed down a broken dagger and a torn up piece of cloth from his shirt.

"There!" He exclaimed. "Perfect!"