[LOL SO WE'RE AT THE STAGE WHERE I'M DELETING MY OLD WRITING IN THESE DRAFTS AND THIS ONE HAD ME WEAK IT WAS SO BAD

seeing my old writing really makes my current work seem less cringy]

When they landed, it was chaos the moment their dragons' talons touched the ground.

Everyone suddenly had their weapons in their hands as the three riders dismounted. The villagers balked their assault when they saw that Fishlegs was riding a dragon. A Gronkle, no less.

"Fishlegs?! What in Odin's name is goin' on?" One of the female Vikings asked from the mass of bulky people with maces and axes and swords. The young man in question gave a nervous chuckle before clearing his throat and beginning.

"I must speak with the Chief, please, Helga. Someone retrieve him."

A booming voice suddenly spoke up from a small distance away, quickly growing louder at that distance lessened. "No need, Fishlegs. I'm already here," Stoick pushed his way to the front of the crowd, a weapon of his own in hand. Fish looked glad to see him.

"Ah, Chief Stoick! Something terrible has happened. I-"

"Damn right something terrible's happened, boy. You're riding a dragon!" A wave of anger flashed over Stoick's face as the man snarled out his words.

"Yes, that's what I wanted to speak about. They aren't what you think! The reason they attack is because they're under control of bad things, they aren't doing it on their own! It's not in their nature." Stoick looked near ready to smash something with his bare hands.

"How is it not in their nature, lad? Enlighten me with why exactly you've come back, on a beast and without the others. Where's Gobber, Astrid, and the rest of 'em, ey?" Stoick waved his arms.

Hiccup stepped forward. "One topic at a time, old man. Fishlegs is here without the other Berkians because they're helping us prepare for a war. Our sanctuary is going to be attacked by dragon trappers, and the reason we're here is to convince you to aid us in it."

Stoick huffed. "Well, you aren't helping your case by calling me old man. Why would I send anyone to help you? You're housing dragons. If anything, we should be helping those trappers." He stepped forward, and it looked as if he was about to strike Hiccup. Toothless sprung in front of his rider, wrapping his tail around the masked rider defensively as he growled. Stoick stumbled back a few steps.

"You..." Anger rose in Stoick once more as he readied his sword in his hands. "You're that Night Fury." He slowly stepped forward, and Toothless growled lower, more dangerously. He was warning the chief that if he stepped much closer, something bad would happen.

"You killed my son."

"Wait, no!" Hiccup threw his hands out in front of him. "Toothless hasn't killed anyone.I can assure you, your son wasn't killed."

"And how do you know?" Stoick's attitude had changed once more; he now seemed mildly irritated and bemused. His sword rested idly by his side, still in his dominant hand. Hiccup put a calming hand on Toothless, the Night Fury standing down at the signal. Hiccup thought for a moment, not wanting to tell them who he was, and finally spoke after a moment of silent tension.

"I know him personally. I've even seen him recently. Not dead, unless I've been acquaintances with a ghost this entire time." He swallowed thickly and nearly sighed in relief when, after a moment's hesitation, sheathed his sword.

Valka stepped forward and placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "So, will you help us or not?"

"Of course not- dragons aren't good. That's what we believe, whether you do as well or not. That said, we refuse." Murmurs of agreement vibrated through the crowd.

The hand that wasn't on Hiccup's shoulder balled into a fist. "You don't understand. It's Drago Bludvist! Our dragons are not meant for war, but you people are. I know it. I also know what Drago's name means to you." At the mention of Bludvist, Stoick stiffened. There was a long period of silence as the older villagers bristled, while the younger looked on, confused at the name's significance.

"How many warriors do you need?" Came Stoick's eventual reply. Valka was mildly surprised that he'd agreed, considering his attitude to all of it beforehand. Now that someone of importance was involved he was all ears.

"All. All that are available to stand and defend the nest. They'll have to train, though. They need to earn the trust of the dragons, and our King. We'll need your strongest." At her declaration, Stoick turned to his people and began listing names, telling them to prepare for a journey and whatnot.

"We'll be ready in two days time. You stay here, and guide us to your nest."

"Okay, but-"

"There aren't any other choices. You'll be staying in the Great Hall, where there's room for your dragons. Be glad I'm being this hospitable with you." There was a soft edge to his voice, like he was just being tough for the sake of his chiefly image. "Goodbye." And with that, he was gone, lost among the dissipating mass of Vikings.

"Well, that didn't go as expected," Fishlegs said. Hiccup turned to him and shrugged.

"It still worked out."

Valka smiled from under her helmet, scratching Cloudjumper under the chin. "Come. Let us get settled in this Great Hall."

***

Meanwhile, Astrid was having difficulties. While Gobber was the adult, she had taken charge since she had the most leadership skills (it was an unanimous vote). She wondered how it was going with Fishlegs and the two dragon riders. She'd made nicknames for the two mysterious riders, the one with the Night Fury being Nosy, and the one with the Stormcutter being Bluey.

Don't ask. She got bored for a few hours.

She was doing her daily rounds with Stormfly. Recently, they've bonded a mighty amount, almost to the point where Astrid didn't have to voice what she wanted Stormfly to do. It was almost as if the Nadder subconsciously knew what the young Viking wanted and complied (most of the time).

As her companion did a graceful swerve in the air to avoid a rogue Terrible Terror, Astrid took in the sudden change of weather. A few hours ago it'd been sunny and warm; like it'd been for a majority of that morning. Now that it was reaching late afternoon, almost dusk, the air had grown chilling, cold enough to make Astrid pull up her fur hood.

The clouds were different, too. There'd been an abundance earlier, but now the mists had grown sparse. It was still beautiful as the sun's dying rays shone through them, though.

The perfect moment was ruined when she heard a scream, most likely Snotlout's, radiate out of the nest's main area.

"Oh, gods," she muttered to herself as Stormfly was already veering to the left and through the nearest entrance.

[i didn't really like this because i don't feel like i captured the emotions correctly for Stoick?? like he was kinda all over the place and i've looked through it a thousand times and don't know how to make it better smh

also ty for 11k

thanks for reading!!]