━━ chapter eight
hiccup the horrendous
(not so horrendous?)
part three!

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━━"Look at all these great leaders..." murmured Astrid, her blue-grey eyes gazing up at the set of shields along the wall of the Great Hall; generations of chief's and their eldest sons. Valkyrie peered at them all, and tried to imagine Hiccup being among them. It was crazy, but not too crazy. Maybe to some, but to Valkyrie, she could see that Hiccup that led them against the Red Death━the Hiccup that refused to let Toothless get hurt━chief one day (even if he didn't). "And tomorrow, your picture's going to be hanging right next to them!"

Snotlout scoffed, "There goes the neighbourhood."

"You're just jealous your father was the second-born," said Valkyrie, crossing her arms. Snotlout narrowed his eyes, and she sent him a mischievous smile.

The group of teens walked past the many generations, gazing at each picture eagerly. Valkyrie nudged Hiccup, smiling and pointed to the empty spot next to his father and his grandfather, and he rolled his eyes with a small blush.

"You are part of an elite group now, my friend," said Fishlegs. "And one of the few who wasn't killed by the successor."

"So far," Tuffnut punched Snotlout in the shoulder, snickering.

Hiccup pursed his lips, "I guess ... I guess it is a pretty big deal. I mean ..." he frowned up at the empty place where his painting would soon be placed, "it's like ... being a part of history, right?"

Valkyrie nodded, smiling brightly at Hiccup, "Yes, and there will be no chief like you'll be one day." He blushed again, and the two gazed at each other for a second, before Astrid coughed into her hand.

"Oh, gross..." Ruff muttered, and Val glared at her. She elbowed her in the gut.

"Yeah, she's right," Snotlout snickered. "He'll be the only weakling clown in this history of buff clowns━" he pointed up to the portrait of Hamish the First and his son, Hamish the Second (so original in the name department).

"That is Hamish the First," Fishlegs said matter-of-factly. "He was our richest and most revered leader. And his son, Hamish the Second."

Snotlout rolled his eyes and stepped forth before the portrait. "'I'm Hamish the First'," he said in a very high-pitched, nazally impression, holding up a hand with a snobby nose into the air. "'Bow down before me and kiss my pointy shoes'."

The Twins shared a look, and Valkyrie sighed knowing that something on the lines of trouble was already in the making. They approached Snotlout, feigning to do as he said—before Ruff pushed him and he tripped over Tuff kneeling on all fours behind him. The twins barked with laughter, and even Astrid and Valkyrie joined in (they loved it when Snotlout got what he deserved).

His fall knocked the portrait from its hook, and the shield knocked Snotlout over the head before rolling to his side. Astrid laughed again, doubling over. Fishlegs gasped in horror and rushed to put the portrait back up. "Oh no! Look what you did to the Hamishes!" placing it back on the hook, he bowed his head. "Forgive us, please!"

From behind the shield, a pece of parchment floated down and Snotlout snatched it. Tuff's eyes widened, pushing his sister over to see. "What's that? It's probably mine━!" he tried to grab it, but Snotlout held it out of his reach.

"Looks like some sort of map ..." muttered Snotlout, frowning, "... with poetry."

Valkyrie frowned herself, nose turning up, "Poetry━? Let me have a look at that━" but before she coud take it from Snotlout's fingers, a meaty hand swiped it away faster than any of them could even blink.

"I'll take that!" said Gobber, standing over the teens with a disaproving scowl.

"Hey!" whined Snotlout. "That's my poetry map!"

Gobber ignored him, and gazed down at the parchment with a breath of awe. "All of these were supposed to be destroyed..." he murmured, and Astrid's interest was immediately piqued.

"Why?" she demanded, reaching for it but Gobber held it away. "What's so special about it?"

"Men lost their limbs, their lives and their minds trying to find that treasure."

Fishlegs clapped his hands in realisation. "Oh! Oh!" he hurried over. "I've heard about this! The Treasure of Hamish the First. His son buried him with it and left this map. They say that the clues are so complicated that only a brilliant mind can decipher them."

Valkyrie's nose scrunched in disbelief. "Sounds a bit wish-washy to me. Probably leads to nowhere."

"Stoick and I even went after this treasure," Gobber gestured his hook at her, and she sighed, here they go again with the unbelievable stories. The blacksmith put on his story-telling voice, and gestured to the wall as if a vast ocean awaited them. "It lured us high into the mountains in a blinding snow storm. We fought like badgers over the meaning of the clues! We were lucky to make it back with our lives ... and our friendship intact."

Val crossed her arms and jutted out her hip. She shared a glance with Astrid. "Let me guess, a hammer-head yak saved your life?" Snotlout shoved her to say, let him finish!

Gobber froze and narrowed his eyes at her, "For your own good kids," he pointed the hook at them all, "forget you ever saw this." He hobbled off, his peg leg thunking on the wood.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and turned back to Hiccup. "It's all probably yak dung anyway. Come on," she led the way back towards the centre of the hall. "I want to see this portrait."

The Vikings all gathered in the centre of the Great Hall before the chief's council table. Stoick stood in front of them all, searching for his son in the midst as Bucket lugged over a shield covered in a sheep-fleece blanket. Reaching the group, Valkyrie nudged Hiccup forward with an excited grin, shuffling in next to her friends as they all waited for the reveal.

"Ah━Hiccup!" Stoick lodged an arm around his son's small figure and brought him in tightly to his side. Hiccup wheezed, not expecting it. He sent Valkyrie a look that said, save me, but she just stifled her grin, bouncing back and forth on her toes to get the best view. "Here it comes, son," the chief squeezed his pride and joy, smiling. Valkyrie's heart warmed to see it; it was such a nice change in consideration to what they used to be like. "This is our legacy."

Bucket gestured to the covered painting dramatically, and Valkyrie nudged Astrid in her excitement. He reached for the fleece blanket, the crowd held their breath, he tugged it away and━

Valkyrie's excitement fell away.

"Whoa," Tuffnut let out. "What happened to Hiccup?"

(What happened indeed...?)

There was an applause from the crowd with mutterings of praise to Bucket's work, but Valkyrie was not amongst them. She frowned, confused to see someone that was nothing like Hiccup standing in his place at his father's side: it was like someone had morphed Snotlout and Hiccup together and ended up with that horror.

"Uh ..." Valkyrie glanced around awkwardly at the applause. She whispered to Astrid. "Why did they make Hiccup buff? That's not him."

Astrid just clapped, her eyes set on the picture with a small grin. "Who cares?"

Val crossed her arms and gave her a scowl. On her otherside, Ruffnut was in a similar situation, both the girls gushing over buff Hiccup and she did not like that at all. "Hey!" she snapped her fingers in front of them. "Don't encourage it."

(Especially when Hiccup━the real Hiccup━looked as horrified and hurt as he did, gazing at the portrait in front of him).

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━━"Unbelievable!"

Valkyrie listened to Hiccup vent as they travelled away from the Great Hall; down the long stone staircase to the centre of the village. Fiddling with her arm-guards, tightening the wraps to keep them secure and her skin warm, she sighed and shrugged. She didn't know how she'd feel, if she was in his position. She spent most of her life constantly trying to prove herself to her parents, yes, but never has someone made a portrait of who they wished her to be and showed it to the real her declaring it better (even if it was without realising).

"My father likes that painting better than the real me!" went on Hiccup, gesturing angrily to his chest. "A━am I not enough, like? I'm brave and heroic, right?" he turned to her for assurace, and Valkyrie only just missed being whacked in the face by his wild gestures. "I'm a brave Viking? I stood up against my father and the whole village and I touched a dragon━" he pointed to his palm, "━I touched one! That's brave," he told her. "That's hardcore!"

Valkyrie gently pushed his arms down, giving them a pat. Hiccup sighed, his shoulders slumping. "What do I have to do to get my father to accept me?"

"He does accept you," she said, rubbing his arm comfortingly. "He just ..." Valkyrie tried to think of the right words, "... accepts the painting more...?" she winced. That sounded way better off in my head.

Hiccup gave her a blank stare, "Yeah, thanks."

She rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. You're his son, and he's proud of you, not of the painting━that's just pigment and water on an old wooden shield. It's nothing compared to the Hiccup standing here, right now." She punched him across the shoulder to prove her point, and Hiccup let out a usual, ow!

They passed the forge only to double-back in suspicion at Fishlegs awkwardly standing by the front, looking around and sweating than a dragon stuck in a room with an eel. Valkyrie arched a brow━someone was up to something (most likely the Twins) and they decided it would be smart to drag Fishlegs into it ... when will they ever learn? He was sensitive and anxious in situations like these!

Hiccup crossed his arms, "W-what are you doing out here...?"

"Nothing!" said Fishlegs quickly, and Val narrowed her gaze in her suspicion. They came to a stop in front of him, and Fishlegs gave her a sheepish smile. Thinking they wouldn't notice, he tilted his head towards the closed window of the forge, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

Hiccup's arms dropped in realisation, "Oh, gods. Okay, where are they?"

"Who?" Fishlegs kicked the wall behind him not-so-subtly. "Who-hoo! Who-hoo!"

"Argh, great━" Hiccup led the way to the back of the forge, where the Twins froze in their positions outside. Out of the back window, Snotlout and Astrid both climbed out, and Valkyrie stared at her best friend in shock.

"Astrid!" she breathed, surprised. "You're better than this!"

"What are you doing?" Then asked Hiccup and Astrid sent a deadly glare to Fishlegs who hovered behind.

"I've got the map!" Snotlout held out the roll of parchment proudly, and Astrid looked ready to whack her axe over his head.

"We got the map," she corrected. "We're going to find that treasure━and you━" she spun on Fishlegs who whimpered and hid behind Valkyrie, "━are a terrible lookout!"

Valkyrie shook her head in disbelief at them━especially Astrid. It was low of her to join in their antics. "You heard what Gobber said! The bravest warriors in history have died trying to find that treasure."

"Yeah, and we'll be the first to succeed!" declared Astrid. "And I will find that treasure before any of you."

"Oh, I get it now," Hiccup rolled his eyes. "It's a competition! Of course, Astrid will join in!"

She glared at him and held her axe out threateningly. Hiccup chuckled, holding up his hands in surrender. Valkyrie groaned in her annoyance, a hand still on her hip. "Well, I don't know about you, but I want to be alive for my next birthday."

"Oh, come on," her friend matched her stance. "Don't you want to have that glory? Not you to turn down the chance of victory and competition."

"Because I know the difference between something I'd obviously win, and something that is stupid and crazy and probably doesn't even exist! Guys, not even Stoick could find it."

Those words struck something within Hiccup, and his eyes widened. "You're right," he muttered. "He couldn't..." he walked up to Snotlout, his hand outstretched. "Give me that map━" he took it and Valkyrie sighed in relief.

"Finally," she said, "someone with some common sense around here━"

"All right, where do we start."

Valkyrie slumped, take aback. "What?"

Fishlegs gasped, and soon grinned. He shuffled over towards Hiccup and the rest of the riders hovered over his shoulder in a circle around him, leaving Valkyrie alone with her disapproving frown. "Are you serious?!"

Hiccup met her gaze, "Think about it, Val━my father couldn't find that treasure. What━what would he suggest if I did something that even Stoick the Vast━" he put on his best impression of his father, "━couldn't do? How great would that be?"

She wasn't amused. "Hiccup, you don't need to prove anything━especially not by doing this: going off on a wild yak chase for a treasure you don't even know exists."

He frowned at her, not expecting her refusal. Usually, she was always on his side, but right now, she stood her ground with a stubborn glare that matched his own. "Val, I do need to prove myself━"

"Yeah, he does need to prove himself━" Snotlout fell silent at the scowls they both sent him.

"━You saw that painting, my father's reaction; they don't think I'm good enough to be the chief's son!"

"But you are," Valkyrie tried to reason with him. "Hiccup, you don't need to define yourself from a painting━"

He set his jaw. There was no getting through to him, and Valkyrie gritted her teeth in her annoyance. "I'm going, Val━and you can either choose to come with us, or not at all. It's up to you."

Her hands clenched into fists. He knew she wouldn't let him do this without her, even if she disagreed. She had his back, no matter what, and the fact that he was using that to his advantage infuriated her. He was better than this━the strive to prove himself to his father was getting in the way of that. Valkyrie knew that she had to go to be the voice of reason, to make sure he didn't go too far, because none of the others were sure to do it━they wanted to find this treasure just as much as him. She just wished he saw the same stubborn, knuckle-head (and annoying, especially at this moment), but courageous Viking she did. The one that stood up to her in the forest. The one who refused to let his best friend be killed. He had shown her a better way, a freedom; the truth about dragons, and a truth to himself that made her see him in a whole different light. That wasn't some random old treasure no could find that did that, that was him━just him, nothing else.

With a frustrated growl, she stormed up to them and said, "Fine. Where do we go?"

Hiccup met her gaze for a moment of fierce show-off, before looking back down at the map and pointing to the drawings, "It looks like the map leads you to these spots."

"And the riddles are clues to what we're supposed to find!" grinned Fishlegs, and Val rolled her eyes.

"Blah-blah-blah━" Snotlout snatched back the map, "━where's the treasure? Ah━here, Clue Number One: 'Where the land meets the sea, in the crook of the master's knee, that's where your search will be ...'" he frowned as the words stopped flowing well, "' ... gin.'" Astrid scoffed.

Ruffnut snickered, "That doesn't sound so brilliant."

"Okay, think, think, think," Tuffnut pressed his fingers against his temple, concentrating. There was a moment of silence before he gave up. "I forgot what I was thinking about."

Astrid shoved him. "You're an idiot."

Hiccup frowned in thought. "The 'master's knee'...?" He snapped his fingers in recognition. "I've seen this before!"

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━━Hiccup's thought process led them to a sea stack in the south Berk bay. Sure, it kind of looked like a knee, and it definitely was the sea stack Hamish the First's knee was pointing to in the picture, but Valkyrie didn't let herself fall for this that easily. She still thought this was stupid and uneccessary, and she tried to her best to get Hiccup to see that while they flew to the location. It was agravating him, for sure, but she didn't care. She wasn't saying this because she hated him, and wanted him to fail, it was the opposite━he didn't need to do this (but of course, it's Hiccup, so he didn't listen).

They landed on the rock formation, and Zephyr was just as grumpy as Valkyrie was over all of this. Hiccup frowned at the map in his hands, and Val rolled her eyes at it. "Listen up, guys," he said. "'From here you will see the seed that's been sown. Look to where water turns to bone'."

"Water turns to bone?" Snotlout laughed, dubious. "Hamish isn't even trying to make sense."

"That's because this isn't real," Valkyrie stated, trying to push forward common sense, but no one listened to her. It made her grit her teeth and cross her arms in her saddle. This is stupid, she told herself. Hiccup doesn't need to do this━why doesn't he see that?

"No, it━" Hiccup gave her a brief, annoyed glance as he tried to figure it out, "━water turns to bone ..." he muttered the riddles words, tapping his fingers in thought. "Water turns to ... He must mean ice!" he exclaimed. "The glacier!" he tapped his heels against Toothless's side. "Come on, gang!"

Valkyrie was the last to follow, shooting her gaze up to the heavens to ask for help in trying to stop them. As Zephyr launched into flight and they took a wide swoop to the far side of the island where the glacier stood amongst the back of the snow-capped cliffs, Valkyrie wondered what she could say to persuade Hiccup he didn't need to prove himself. She didn't know how to explain it to him━especially with the others around. She was far to pideful to do that. And how does she even tell him about what she felt? What she saw that night in the cove? Would that even work? Would he even believe her? Or listen to her?

The cold air grew colder as they ducked under the opening of the glacier, soaring inside. On either side was frozen waves of ice that hung over them, cracking and moving━and Valkyrie was scared that any second, they could break and fall ontop of them. Slipping off Zephyr carefully, her boots slid against the ice, and she had to catch herself before she fell. Wishing she had something warmer, even though her fleece vest wrapped around her shoulders, she walked up to the others who all shuffled back into their usual circle as they discussed. She threw over her hood, greeting the warmth of the sheep fleece.

She came to a stance next to Astrid and whispered, "Come on, you have to think this stupid?" her dear friend arched a brow, and Valkyrie sighed. "Oh, right, forget I said anything."

Astrid sighed and crossed her arms, "Look, how about you just let Hiccup do this for himself?"

"But he doesn't need to."

"You think that," she said. "But he needs to do this for him to realise himself. And I want that treasure, so..." her voice trailed off when she spotted something in the ice. She whacked Valkyrie in the shoulder and pointed through the frozen water. Her eyes widened in seeing the face of a Viking staring right back up at her, frozen in mid-shock. His hand reached out towards something; a piece of intricate design. "There's somehting in there."

"I bet that guy saw it, too," muttered Fishlegs.

Hiccup sent Valkyrie a smug look to tell her, you were saying? She narrowed her eyes back. He turned back to the map and read aloud, "'Call on Magni, you'll go astray. Freya, though, will show the way."

Snotlout didn't think much before declaring, "I got it!" and rammed his helmet straight against the ice. Valkyrie watched him, dead-panned.

"This is why you have no coherent thoughts left," she told him as he continued to break the ice around the object stuck below. "You could have just asked to use my mallet instead of just whacking you head━"

The sound of ice breaking up above made her stop halfway through her sentence. She glanced up and gasped. "No!" she cried and pulled Snotlout out of the way, the two of them tumbling to the side as a gigantic mace broke down from above and slammed down onto the place they had been only seconds before.

Valkyrie pushed Snotlout away from her and stood up. "Urgh!" she wiped her hands on her leggings to get the residue of Snotlout off of them.

"We can't break the ice," Hiccup said, and Val shot a look to say, oh, really, genius? "That's what Magni means. He's the God of strength."

"That's right!" said Fishlegs. "And Freya ..." he and Hiccup hit a moment of realisation, and met gazes to exclaim together, "━Is the Goddess of fire━!"

"━and that is exactly what we're going to us," finished the chief's son. He rolled up the map and called out to his dragon, "Toothless━you know what to do━" he pointed to the object in the ice. "Light 'em up."

With a low beam, the Night Fury melted away the ice above the object, turning it back to water. Steam burst up from the metal as it hit the fresh cool air, and Hiccup crouched down to pick it up with light fingers as it started to cool down.

The glacer around them shuddered. The teens all froze, waiting to see what would happen, but it seemed to stabilise itself, and Valkyire let out a breath of relief.

"That's it?" Ruff walked up to Hiccup, hand on her hip. "This is the treasure?"

Hiccup turned it around in his fingers, eyes bright with curiosity. "No, can't be. But I bet this will lead us to it━" Tuff snatched it away.

"Take us to the treasure!" he shouted at it, and Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Let me know if it answers," she muttered.

Valkyrie crossed her arms as Hiccup turned towards her, taking back the object and showing her. "This is just the first piece," he said, smug. (She was not amused━like, at all).

The glacier shuddered again. At there feet, hairline fractures appeared, jagged from the edges as the walls crashed together, moving around them. Valkyrie cursed. "We got to get out of here!" she yelled.

No one needed to be told twice. They called to their dragons, leaping up onto their backs and shooting through the open entrance into the ocean. The glacier collapsed around them, and Valkyrie gasped. Close to Zephyr's saddle, they dashed in and out of the falling ice, using as much momentum as they could to keep his wings in and away from the shards that could slice them right open.

Reaching the breath of sunlight, Valkyrie pulled Zephyr upwards and they all relocated above, hovering a little aways from the glacier to watch the ice above the entrance fall and lock it all away.

"That was close," muttered Fishlegs.

"Close?" Valkyrie snapped. "We could have gotten killed! All for that!" she gestured to the object in Hiccup's hand. "Come on, how long until you realise that you don't have to prove anything?!"

Hiccup frowned at her, "You didn't have to come!" he snapped back at her. "So, if you don't like it, you can leave! You have a choice, Val!"

Valkyrie gritted her teeth. She didn't leave. She just shot Zephyr past them and into the front of the formation, glaring into the distance. When Hiccup realised she wasn't going to say anything else, he turned back to the others and said, "Come on, lets keep going, gang. We have a treasure to find."

They soared the seas around Berk for a little as Hiccup read the next directions: "'At the edge of the world, admist the raging sea, in the serpent's mouth, lies another key."

"Serpents?" Tuffnut frowned. "I hate serpents. Those are reptiles, right?"

His sister face-palmed. "You do realise you're sitting on one?"

Tuff glanced down, and let out a strangled, "Eurgh!" at the sight of Belch.

Valkyrie took a deep breath, calm ... it's okay ... calm ...

"Hey━" Snotlout pointed up at the sky, "━that cloud looks like a snake."

"Yeah, and in five minutes, it'll look like a bunny," muttered Astrid.

Hiccup shushed them with a, "Wait, wait━wait a minute," he gestured a wild hand at them, narrowing his eyes at the map. "He might be onto something." They all stared, alarmed. Snotlout pointed at himself to say, wait, me? "'In the mouth ... lies the key ...'" he turned Toothless around to gaze at the farthest sea-stack the eye could see, lying at the edge of the horizon. He held up the map next to it, and grinned when the drawing and rock formation matched up. "Look! Right there! Toothless━let's go!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Fishlegs stopped him, "are you crazy?!" (Yes, very, thought Valkyrie). "You can't take a Night Fury with a wingspan of forty-eight feet and expect him to hover in winds like that! You'll be killed!"

Hiccup pursed his lips, brows furrowed in thought. Soon, he smirked, "Well, what's the wingspan of Meatlug?"

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━━"Look! They fit together! We must be on the right track."

Valkyrie leaned her elbow against the edge of her saddle, watching the setting sun with a tired look upon her face. They had been trying to find this treasure all day, and after their argument in the air, Val knew for certain that Hiccup would definitely not listen to her now. They found the second piece in the dragon's mouth, and now set off to the next location which described to be in the woods. Zephyr trotted along beside Toothless, the two dragons having a small conversation in gutteral groans and mutters while their riders refused to look at each other.

"Hiccup," Ruffnut leaned forward over Barf's head to hover down next to the chief's son, "what are you going to do with your part of the treasure?"

"I'm not really here for the treasure," Hiccup replied, and Valkyrie set her jaw, careful to keep her thoughts to herself.

"Great!" Snotlout clapped his hands, "I get his share!"

Hiccup glanced at Val, seeing the frown upon her face. But she didn't say anything, continuing to watch the path in front of them. He wouldn't listen to her even if she tried. She heard him sigh, and they continued on. It wasn't long before they reached the mountain pass where a wall of stone covered the entrance of what Valkyrie could guess to have been a cave generations back.

"This must be the spot," said Hiccup. "Why else would someone build a wall in the middle of the woods."

"Uh, duh━" Tuff scoffed, "━to keep out the other trees."

(Valkyrie has chosen to ignore him from now on).

Hiccup sent him a incredulous frown. "Uh ... okay━!" he unrolled the map again, "━I've got another one for you. 'The world is right, when stars align; when not in sync, the danger you'll find'."

"Stars?!" Snotlout gaped. "I'm not waiting around here 'till night!"

"No, I don't think he means actual stars. I mean, the water didn't really turn to bone."

"Well," Astrid pulled Stormfly up next to him, "what do you think it means, Hiccup?"

"Why are you asking him?" Snotlout crossed his arms (if not a bit miffed). "Maybe I know." Valkyrie arched a brow at him as the others glanced over expectantly. He went a little pink at the ears. "I said maybe. Turns out, I don't."

Fishlegs hopped off his dragon and ventured towards the stone wall, eyes narrowed as he scanned each brick with a humm of attention. "Huh ... There are shapes carved into each of these bricks."

Hiccup's shoulders shot up in excitement. "Keep a lookout for anything that looks like a star."

The rest of the riders slipped off their dragons' saddles, coming to a stance in front of the wall. Astrid propped her hands up on her hips to glare at the symbols, searching for anything that looked even remotely like a star. Valkyrie helped, but reluctantly, crossing her arms and standing a little ways back.

"Ooh! Got one!" Snotlout siezed his fingers around a rock the size of his chest and tugged. The whole wall shook. He froze. "Uh━oh..."

"Put it back! Put it back!" shrieked Fishlegs like a baby yak, and Snotlout's feet skidded along the ground in his effort to push the brick back in.

"Hookfang!" he screamed. His dragon ignored him, watching the falling of the leaves with his tongue out to try and catch them. "HOOKFANG!" this brought him back to focus. Hookfang screeched in alarm and rushed to push the brick back in with a shove of his snout. The wall stabilised, and they could all breathe again.

Valkyrie waited for a minute, ears piqued for any sound of falling stone, and was grateful for the silence. "Okay ..." she muttered slowly. "Well, the thing said in sync ... so, maybe there must be another star━we gotta pull them out together."

Hiccup frowned at her, and she crossed her arms. "What? I'm helping. We've gotten this far, might as well."

Astrid spotted another, and she pointed up to the top, "Over here!"

"All right," Hiccup nodded. "Ruff, Tuff━" he turned to the Twins, and they knew what to do. Walking up to the wall, their dragon followed and with a signal, Barf and Belch snatched their teeth onto the two bricks and pulled them out.

A sound like gears turning echoed behind the wall, and with it, the stone surface split in two, revealing a dark corridor leading deep into the mountains. The Dragon Riders all pushed through, stepping into the shadows with murmures of awe at the workings carved amongst the stone all around them.

    Slam! The wall closed behind them. They were shrouded in complete darkness. Valkyrie felt her chest cave in (that wasn't good). Snotlout said what they were all thinking, wincing, "Oh, man..."

"Guess there's only one way to go," muttered Hiccup, and they set off.

Finding old starch torches on the walls, they lit them up with a quick blast from Toothless, and the path in front of them was illuminated with a soft glow. Valkyrie didn't know where they were heading, but the passageway only seemed to just get more and more narrow as time went on. Soon, Valkyrie grew worried that they'd have to leave their dragons behind until it expanded back out into a massive cavern. It was too dark to see how big, but their footsteps echoed for ten seconds at least.

"Whoa..." murmured Astrid.

Despite being in a large cavern, Valkyrie was sweating. She shuffled, uncomfortable in her winter fleece as the heat in the room hit her.

"Ugh," Snotlout wiped the sweat from his brow. "It's so hot. Is anybody else hot? 'Cause I'm really hot."

"I know!" sighed Tuff, exasperated with the heat. "I'm sweating like a dragon at an eel party."

Something shifted in the corner of Valkyrie's gaze. She shuffled back closer to Zephyr, frowning at the floor that in the dim light, seemed to sweep back and forth, the cobblestone scuttling. "Um ... Is it just me, or is the floor moving?"

She shone her torch down at her feet, and gasped━a spark of orange scuttled past, and a wave of heat hit her skin so hot in felt as though it burnt just at the feel. "What in the name of━?"

Astrid yelped, backing away as she too saw slithers of orange shoot past, away from the light like beatles by the fire. Hiccup glanced around at the floor, growing distressed. "Toothless━can you give us some light?"

The room lit up in purple and blue, showcasing a floor that wasn't moving, but instead crawling with huge orange worms━that was until Valkyrie got a better look, and saw that the 'worms' had small wings, and snouts, and beady little eyes. They were dragons.

"That's why it's so hot in here!" said Fishlegs. "Fireworm dragons!"

"Uh ... and let me guess," Astrid shuffled back closer to Stormfly, "Not good?"

"No," Valkyrie shook her head, "not good at all."

Tuffnut peered down at one of the dragons, eyes wide in curiosity━a gaze that was always followed by trouble. "Whoa ..." he reached out a finger to touch it, but Hiccup cried out━

"No, no! Stop!" Tuff froze, frowning up at him. "Their skin burns hotter than the sun."

The younger twin scoffed and picked it up anyway. He held it close to his face, and his sister hovered over his shoulder. "Yeah, but how hot can the sun really be?" The tiny dragon's skin lit up with fire in his palm, and Tuffnut howled. "YEOWWWW! OW! OW!" He flung the Fireworm into the cavern, blowing on his burnt-red skin as if that was supposed to make it better.

"You had that one coming, Tuff," muttered Valkyrie, and he shot her a glare, but it soon faded as the whole floor glowed.

Each and every one of the Fireworm Dragons grew restless at the distress of one of their kin. Their skin lit up in flames, and advanced towards the teens with no mercy. Valkyrie jumped back, dancing away from the small dragons as Zephyr shot a column of flame to send them flying back. There were hundred of them, all surrounding the cavern. The riders clung onto their dragons for safety, kicking and scurrying away from the small beasts that could burn their skin to a crispe just by it's touch. Hookfang roared in anger, and let loose a blast that surrounded the entire circle of the centre podium, keeping the Fireworms away for now and giving Hiccup enough time to run towards the next object.

"Grab 'em ad let's go!" shouted Snotlout at his hesitation.

"N━No," said Hiccup, "it's a choice. Listen to this, guys━'Something pure and something strong. Look first to yourself, and you won't go wrong'."

"Strong..." Fishlegs found it hard to think amongst the heat. "That must be the one made of iron."

"But iron's not pure," argued Astrid, her hair wet with sweat. "Take the gold!"

The heat from the Fireworm Dragons grew worse and worse until Valkyrie's whole body was coated in sweat━head to toe. She coughed, feeling like she was inside the core of the volcano at Dragon Island again, only worse. Hiccup continued to frown at the objects set out in front of him on pedestals; Hookfang was out of fire, and the Fireworms started to break through the barricade (even with Meatlug taking his place).

"Hiccup," Valkyrie called, "might want to hurry━it's starting to get really hard to breathe!"

"That's what happens when you're getting roasted alive," cried back Fishlegs, letting out his usual whimper of a scream.

"'Look to yourself...'" Hiccup mumbled under his breath, brows furrowed as he slowly started to come to a decision. He focused his gaze on the only metal he could see his refletion in. He reached out towards it.

"Careful!" shouted Astrid. "It could be a trap!"

Hiccup picked it up.

For a second, nothing happened. The dragons continued to fire at the Fireworms, and the cavern grew hotter by the moment, but nothing drastic had changed when Hiccup's fingers touched the silver and lifted it off the pedestal.

Valkyrie thought he had done it.

Until the floor collapsed under his feet.

"NO!" she screamed, trying to run after him but Zephyr grabbed her by the tunic, hoisting her up and away. The Fireworms scurried away, but she no longer cared, all that mattered was Hiccup and Toothless's shouts and cries as they both fell into the darkness. "HICCUP!" The whole cavern was collapsing above them━they had to get out of here, but Valkyrie refused to leave. "No━let me go!" she cried to her dragon, kicking and shoving out of his tight hold. "Hiccup!"

"We got to get out of here!" shouted Tuffnut.

"No!" Valkyrie snapped back, hating how a lump grew in her throat at her distress. "We're not leaving them!"

"Val! If we don't go now we'll all be trapped!" Astrid reasoned with her as Stormfly took to the sky, narrowly avoiding the falling rocks. "Then there won't be anybody to help Hiccup and Toothless."

She was right, and Valkyrie hated it. She felt like she was committing some sort of crime, leaving Hiccup and Toothless down there were they could be injured━or worse. But with the whole cavern falling around them, soon they would be buried as well, and no one would know where they were.

And so, she let Zephyr chuck her over and onto his saddle, and they launched up, following the others out of the opening that cracked away, leaving Hiccup and Toothless behind.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

━━Hiccup managed to get himself out. Valkyrie, Stoick and the rest of the Dragon Riders spent their sweat and blood trying to dig away at the collapse when he reappeared in another. (Yes, she's serious). The land behind them sunk, dwelving and curving in, trembling the earth underfoot, and out of it, unharmed, stood Hiccup with Toothless at his side, smiling and holding a feather in his fingertips.

Valkyrie was beyond relieved. She had chuckled in her delight, hands flying to her mouth. Hiccup climbed out of the crator he had made with his dragon behind him, and was immediately wrapped up into a tight hug by his father.

"Uh, Dad━" he wheezed, "━I can't breathe."

The teens rushed over with flurries of cries of, "Hiccup, you're okay━!", "━Oh, thank Thor━!", "━Hiccup, what happened━?"

(Except Snotlout). "Blah, blah, blah━" he shoved his way to the front. "Who cares?! Where's the treasure?"

Hiccup just showed him a rolled up piece of parchment. It fell down, revealing the true portrait of Hamish the First and his son. A small blonde boy; a hiccup. Valkyrie found herself smiling. Snotlout gaped, "That's not treasure."

Stoick placed his hand on his son's shoulder, "To a father, it is," he told him. Hiccup looked up at his father, but instead, he crouched to his level, cupping his cheeks. "I never meant to make you feel like you had to do something like this."

"I know, Dad," sadi Hiccup. "But I had to do it. For myself."

Those words hit Valkyrie, and she glanced at Astrid, remembering what she had said earlier. Ashamed, she picked at her nails as Hiccup threw his arms around his father, giving him another tight hug. (Maybe she had been harsh on him. Maybe she should have stopped and realised that just because she saw something, didn't mean someone else did, and needed to figure it out themselves in a different way than what she thought necessary━even if it nearly got them killed, like, what? Five times?)

A feast was celebrated in Hiccup's honour later that week, where the real portrait of him and his father replaced the old, showcasing a small Viking (one that none of them at first thought ever to be worthy), but a Viking nonetheless; one of the bravest, in Valkyrie's opinion━and his father, gazing down at his runt of a son with a beam full of pride.

Valkyrie found Hiccup standing in front of the new portrait alone, for once looking happy with himself, and who he was. She snuck up behind him, and when she was close enough, cried out, "Yah!" and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him back. He yelped in alarm and she laughed, "Haha! Surprise attack!"

In realising it was her, Hiccup relaxed. "Ouch," he mumbled, and she grinned, letting him go. He spun around to meet her gaze, and her grin faltered back to a sheepish look in her eyes as she tucked her hair nervously behind her ear.

"Um..." Valkyrie found her next words hard to say. "I━I came to tell you, uh━that ... um ... I'm sorry." Hiccup arched a brow, if not surprised more by this than her attack from behind. "For not realising you needed to do this for yourself. I should have understood, and been supportive, but I wasn't, I'm sorry."

Hiccup's frown softened to a breath of realisation that she was apologising, "Oh," he let out. "Well ... um ... that's all right. It's in the past," he shrugged it off. "And I guess I'm sorry, too, because you were right, I didn't need to prove myself to my father."

"But you needed to prove yourself to you," Valkyrie told him. "And I should have helped."

"But you did," Hiccup said, giving her a gentle smile and she knew all was forgiven. "Val, I know I was angry, and I lashed out, but ... to be honest, I was glad that you came. I couldn't have done this without you."

Those words made her heart flutter. Valkyrie blushed, and instead of punching Hiccup in the shoulder like she usually did, she leapt forward and gave him a hug. Startled, it took him a second to respond, but soon wrapped his arms around her waist. Valkyrie smiled, and held on tighter. "I didn't understand you needed to do this for yourself because you already have proven yourself to me," she told him softly so no one could overhear. "I believe in you; I always will. You may not be strong on the outside, but you make up for it on the inside━your bravery, your loyalty, your leadership and kindness. That's who I'll follow. You don't need to prove that to anyone━at least, never to me."

She pulled away, and gave him a smile amongst her rosy cheeks. Hiccup's ears went bright red, breath hitched as she leaned in and pecked him on the lips. She left him after that, smiling to himself like an idiot.

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

no one:

valkyrie and hiccup: *casual cute kisses* oh yeah, but we're still friends.

everyone else: okay. sure. whatever you say.

no, but in all seriousness, like i've described in previous chapters, valkyrie doesn't want to promise to something at her age in case it ends. they're only fifteen; they're just kids. and while they like each other, and kiss when they want to (or rather valkyrie kisses hiccup) out of the blue, i don't imagine them 'being together' until they're a bit older and have themselves figured out better. they're kids, they're going on adventures, they're living their life; promises aren't meant to be forever, at least, not right now.

Surprise attack!
They're so cute I love them so much

Also feel free to comment headcannons! I might draw my favs and post them next chapter!