[i hated that last chapter]

The visions of blurred Vikings drifted in and out of Hiccup's mind as he felt like he was asleep. He was drowning, he needed to wake up, but he just couldn't. He knew this would happen.

He'd put everyone in danger. He doesn't know how, but he did.

Drago seemed to appear out of nowhere, sneering at Hiccup before walking around him in a predatory manner. The grizzled man seemed to scowl at his dragon-like helmet mask, ripping it off with one swift movement. Hiccup was no longer choking and took a big gasp of breath.

Just then, Dragon grabbed the younger male around the throat and lifted him off of the ground, cutting off his air supply once more. Just as the warlord reared his arm back, sword in hand and preparing to slice Hiccup open, he dissipated into a cloud of mist.

Hiccup heard his name being called as he slowly regained consciousness. Why were they calling out his name? Real name? They weren't supposed to know that.

"HICCUP! Oh, thank gods. He's alive!" He heard someone exclaim as he opened his eyes. 

He swiftly rolled to the side and threw up what seemed to be an endless amount of seawater before sitting up. "Why wouldn't I be?" His throat hurt. 

"Astrid said you must've passed out once you hit the water, and it took a bit to find ya. We didn't know what to think."

"Who are you?"

The young Viking, about Hiccup's age, seemed slightly surprised at the question. Hiccup had to close his eyes and rub them, as the sun was so much brighter than he realised before. "Helix."

"Weird word. I meant what's your name?"

"That is my name. Can you stand?"

Do I look like I can? Hiccup let out a wet cough before stumbling, grabbing Helix's shoulder to steady himself.

Helix made sure Hiccup could fully stand before he walked off to aid with others. Hiccup glanced after him for a moment before walking slowly and unsteadily toward the group of what he assumed to be his friends (gods, what happened to his vision?).

He blinked and saw a semi-blurry Ruffnut picking seaweed out of her hair. "This sucks," she said. "Our dragons are gone! And we don't even know where they went to." Fishlegs nodded.

"It doesn't help that they're with Drago, either! We have no idea if they're okay or not!" He exclaimed. A nod from the others came shortly after he spoke. Hiccup approached, pulling on the lobe of his ear to ease the pressure in his head. He stopped trying to pop his ears when he realised everyone had stopped speaking and were now staring at him.

"What?" He frowned, scratching his upper lip. He felt like they were dissecting him with their eyes.

"Nothing," Astrid said. "Your helmet's with Gobber, by the way."

"Excuse me."

"It came off when you were in the ocean. It was floating nearby, so we grabbed it. Gobber said he'd hold it until you woke up."

"I don't care about that. Could I talk to you for a minute?" Hiccup asked, and Astrid glanced at the others shortly before nodding and walking past him, heading for a more remote part of the beach. He followed silently, shaking some water from his boot.

"Yes, everyone knows who you are now," she said before he even got to ask the question. "Don't be an idiot, Hic. Without your helmet you're the spitting image of your fifteen-year-old self, just a lot hotter." At his blush, she rolled her eyes. "Don't get a bigger head about it. You should've seen Ruffnut when she found out."

She put on her best impression of the female twin and clasped her hands together. "That's Hiccup?! Puberty hit him hard when he left!" She went back to her normal self. "She even muttered 'I'd tap that.'"

Hiccup laughed before saying, "But why is no one acting like they hate me now that they know? I was the literal embarrassment of the village."

"Not anymore, I guess. It might be due to the fact you ride a Night Fury and have become a bit of a badass in these past years."

He hummed. "Maybe. I'm going to go get my helmet. Do you want to come with?"

"Why?"

"I don't know. I don't want to walk through a bunch of gawking, burly meathead Vikings without backup."

"I- Alright," she finished, walking alongside him through the crowds of Berkians that littered the beach around them, going to where they saw Gobber talking to Stoick. Hiccup stopped in his tracks. He grabbed Astrid's elbow to stop her from continuing without him.

"I second thought, let's get it later. It feels good not to have that thing constantly over my face. Let's go talk to the others."

Astrid gently took her elbow out of Hiccup's hand. "You sure? You seemed kinda jittery without it back there." She looked in the direction of his head gesture, eyes landing on Stoick. "So you don't want to face your father?"

"Of course not."

"We can get your helmet later. I don't see why you're so nervous to see him, though. He was broken when you left." She shrugged, lacing her fingers with Hiccup's and leading him back to their group of friends. "Moving on."

Hiccup was expecting her to let go of his hand, punch him in the shoulder, anything basically when they got to their friends since she would usually put on a tough facade when with them. But she didn't. If anything, she gripped his hand tighter.

A faint smile wormed its way onto his face as he engaged actual conversation with them as Hiccup for the first time in half a decade.

A FEW HOURS LATER

"We've come to a conclusion! We will set sail for Berk since that is most likely where Drago and his army are headed. Our ships should be able to accommodate for everyone, as they weren't damaged in the battle. Good thing we kept them out of sight of this side of the beach, aye?" Stoick chuckled at the end bit of his small speech, earning a small round of laughs from surrounding Vikings.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, leaning against a tree. The others were standing with him, off to the side of the rest of the armada. "He does realise that Drago will be expecting us, right? He would've had to have seen that we needed some way to get here, and since he didn't destroy it he knows we have some way to get back and fight him. He'll be ready and we'll be defeated again if we do what Stoick says." 

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Give me more than two seconds to think and I'll come up with something."

[i hate this one too]