Chapter Text
I sincerely apologize in advance for the short chapters and for how long it takes for me to update. To be fair, this is the first fanfiction I've ever written.
As much as he hated to admit it, Hiccup couldn't hide Mortem from Stoick forever. The dragonet's mother had been the size of a mountain, and there was no place on Berk that was spacious enough to hide something that big.
Mortem didn't even know how much danger he was in. Every adult Viking on Berk wouldn't hesitate to kill the poor dragonet if it meant preventing a repeat of the great war that had plagued them for three hundred years. And with Mortem always trying to follow Hiccup everywhere, keeping him hidden and safe was no easy task.
Hiccup was admittedly nervous about the potential dangers a fully-grown Mortem would bring. But they all knew so little about the Red Death species, and this could be an opportunity to learn more about them, like Fishlegs had said.
Of course, there was the question of how they could train Mortem. Perhaps if they taught him how to hunt for his own food, he wouldn't need to rely on other dragons to bring the food to him. Or was that something only a nest queen would do?
So many questions, and so little answers.
Hiccup had retreated into his little workshop in the back of the forge where Gobber worked. It was his own little private space away from home, where he could sketch drawings and invent new odd contraptions to his heart's content. Plenty of peace and quiet for him to think about what to do with Mortem.
Maybe a harness and leash could help keep Mortem in line...at least, until he outgrows it.
Well, it was a start.
He immediately set to work, sketching out different ideas for a harness that would fit Mortem. If he made the straps adjustable somehow, it would help accommodate the growing dragonet for a little while. But no amount of leather and metal in the world would be enough to fit around a mountain-sized adult dragon. Not to mention, the combined strength of every able-bodied person on Berk wouldn't provide enough pull on the leash to stop a full-grown Red Death from going where they didn't want him to - more likely, the line would snap right in half.
They'd have to use a chain. It was much stronger than rope, and Mortem would have a hard time chewing through it like Hiccup had seen some dragons do.
The sooner we get him trained, the more well-behaved he'll be.
It took a while, but after a few hours Hiccup had produced a prototype harness and leash for Mortem. The leather straps would secure around the dragonet's four legs, as well as the wings for extra leverage. A metal ring hung below where Mortem's neck would be - that was where the metal chain leash would clip on.
As Hiccup stood back to admire his work, he was startled by a familiar voice. "I thought I'd find you in here."
Luckily for him, it was Astrid. If it had been his father or Gobber the blacksmith, they would have questioned the harness that had been made. And then he'd be in real trouble.
Hiccup turned to find her standing in the entrance. "What is it with you and sneaking up on people?" he asked sarcastically.
Astrid shrugged. "I don't know," she replied. "I thought you'd caught on by now." She noticed the harness prototype he'd made and moved in to get a closer look. "What's that?"
"A harness," Hiccup answered. "I made it for Mortem so we can train him."
She raised an eyebrow. "Do you think it will fit him?"
"Well, there's certainly only one way to find out," was his reply.
Mortem was still waiting in the cove since the night before. He had gotten rather hungry, and there was almost nothing to eat in the cove, except for a small school of fish that lived in the lake. Mortem had tried many times, unsuccessfully, to catch and eat them. All he had ever ended up with was a mouthful of water, which didn't help much to satisfy his hunger, but it did help with his thirst.
The poor dragonet was starting to lose his patience when the sound of flapping wings caught his attention. He looked up to see a flock of five different-colored dragons flying side-by-side, each with a human riding on their back.
Mortem recognized the pitch-black scales of the dragon that accompanied his "mama" and was overwhelmed with joy.
The five dragons landed elegantly near the big tree that grew near the far wall of the cove, and Hiccup was the first to dismount. Mortem trembled with barely-contained excitement as his "mother" approached.
"I'm happy to see you too, Mortem," Hiccup chuckled. He looked over his shoulder at his friends. "Well, guys, who wants to come and say hello?"
Fishlegs ducked and hid behind Meatlug, his Gronckle. Snotlout pretended to fall asleep in the saddle of his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. The twins looked bored. Only Astrid was standing at attention, like the shieldmaiden she was.
Mortem gazed at each of them innocently. Who were these strange creatures?
Hiccup deflated. "...Okay, then. Let's see if we can teach Mortem how to fish."
Toothless wasted no time at all. He sat down near the water's edge, watching patiently.
Mortem sat next to the Night Fury curiously. Whatever was this dragon doing?
It felt like an eternity had passed before Toothless finally moved. He lashed out into the water and came up with a flopping fish caught firmly in his teeth. Mortem jumped back in surprise; the black dragon was so fast!
"What exactly are we doing here?" Snotlout asked rudely.
"We're showing Mortem how to take care of himself," said Hiccup. Moving slowly, he readied the harness and chain leash. "And, hopefully, how to get along with people. We just need to give him a little push in the right direction."
He looped the leather straps around Mortem's limbs. The unfamiliar feeling drew the dragonet's attention back to him, but the baby Red Death didn't squirm or try to break free. He trusted his "mother" completely.
In little or no time at all, the harness was fastened tightly around Mortem. It was a perfect fit...for now.
"Okay, Mortem," Hiccup said, giving the chain leash a tug. "Come this way."
The dragonet followed him eagerly, his clubbed tail wagging excitedly like a puppy's.
"Why are you bringing him over here?!" Fishlegs shrieked fearfully.
"So he can get to know all of us," answered Hiccup. The larger boy's cry of fear had startled Mortem, so he gave another gentle tug on the leash to encourage the dragonet forward. "Mortem, this is Fishlegs and Meatlug."
The baby Red Death padded up and sniffed the friendly Gronckle and her nervous rider. Both of them eyed him warily.
"Snotlout and Hookfang."
The Monstrous Nightmare had curled up to sleep. He half-opened one eye to glare at the dragonet before resting his head right on top of his egotistical rider, who shouted something about repercussions.
"The twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut, and their Zippleback friend Barf and Belch."
Said twins were at each other's throats, as per usual, still arguing about who was gonna train Mortem to eat who. The Zippleback's two heads each grabbed the back of their respective rider's shirt in their teeth and lifted them off the ground. Unfortunately, that didn't help much. The two siblings still swatted and kicked at each other, shouting insults of varying obscenity.
"And, of course, you've already met Astrid and Stormfly."
The Deadly Nadder looked more relaxed than she'd been the day before. Perhaps she'd realized that this little dragonet wasn't going to hurt her?
Mortem sat down at Astrid's feet, looking completely innocent and compliant, like a model hatchling. Despite herself, she leaned down and patted him on the head, earning a delightful croon from the dragonet.
"See, guys?" Hiccup said. "He's not gonna hurt anyone."
As if on cue, Mortem sneezed, and a small puff of flame burst out of his mouth.
"You sure you don't want to rephrase that?" Astrid asked.
After that, Hiccup and his friends visited Mortem in the cove every day. The little dragonet gradually learned how to catch fish in the lake and hunt wild pigs in the forest for food, so he didn't have to order a single dragon to get it for him. Hiccup did occasionally let Mortem out of the cove to explore the woods, keeping Mortem on the leash so that he wouldn't wander off too far.
The days soon molded into weeks, and Mortem was growing unbelievably fast. In just one week, the harness was getting a bit too snug. Hiccup had already started working on a bigger harness, but he knew eventually the dragonet would become too big for any contraption to fit on him.
They were gathered at the academy - the one place on the island where the six of them could all work on studying dragons together without being bothered too much by the other Vikings.
"It actually makes perfect sense," said Fishlegs. "A dragonet that small would have to grow up pretty quickly to reach such a mountainous size."
"But how does such a big dragon lay an egg so small?" asked Astrid.
Fishlegs looked thoughtful. "Well, bigger isn't always better. Logically speaking, if the egg were any larger, the shell would be too thick for the dragonet to get out."
Hiccup fastened the final strap of the new harness and held it up for them to see. "What do you guys think? Will it fit?"
"For now, maybe," Astrid said. "But if Mortem keeps growing at this rate, your father will find him in no time."
"I know," Hiccup sighed, visibly deflating. "But how do you show the chief of Berk a baby Red Death without him pulling its head clean off its shoulders?"
"Beats me," uttered a completely bored-looking Tuffnut, who was slumped against one of the barrels they used for target practice.
"Just leave the thing on another island," said Snotlout. "It can take care of itself just fine."
Hiccup couldn't even begin to list all the things that were wrong with that plan. "And what's gonna stop him from coming back here to me? Eventually he's gonna figure out how to fly."
Fishlegs gulped nervously. "That's true."
"So, what?" Astrid scoffed. "We just keep monitoring Mortem until he gets too big to hide and hope that your father doesn't annihilate the poor dragon when he finds out? That doesn't sound much like a plan to me."
"Well, I don't know what else we can do," Hiccup admitted. "We can't leave Mortem someplace all by himself while he's still dependent, and if we leave him to die, we'll be no better than his mother was. He needs us, whether we like it or not, and we're gonna train him."
"You mean, you're gonna train him," said Snotlout. "That dragon imprinted on you, so that makes it your responsibility, Mr. Mom."
The twins laughed at that. "Mr. Mom," Ruffnut sniggered. "Good one!"
Hiccup went to the cove alone - well, with Toothless, but still - to fit the new harness on Mortem. Hopefully the longer and more adjustable straps would last a little bit longer than the prototype.
The dragonet was about the size of Toothless now, and he had the weight to match. Hiccup didn't want to think about what would happen if Stoick were to stumble on Mortem while out hunting for wild boars or spot him while flying over the village on Thornado the Thunderdrum. That was a milestone they were bound to reach sooner that he'd hoped.
The sound of beating wings preceded the arrival of Astrid and Stormfly. "I thought I'd find you here," the blonde said as she dismounted.
"It's the only place Mortem is safe," he told her, sitting down on a large rock by the lake - the same one where he and Toothless had bonded over drawing in the dirt. "I know you're right, Astrid - we can't hide Mortem from my dad forever. But if I introduce them to each other, and Stoick ends up killing Mortem, I...I'd never forgive myself."
She sat next to him. "I know you're scared," she said. "I am, too. But we'll figure something out, right?"
Her question caught Hiccup a little off guard. In stressful times such as this, it was easy to get flustered and lose his mind a little.
"Y-Yeah," he stammered. "We'll figure something out. We always do." Then he smiled at her. "Astrid, I...I can't thank you enough for helping me out with this. It means a lot to me."
Astrid smiled back. "It's no problem," she said. "After all, someone has to be around to get you out of trouble." That last sentence was dripping with playful sarcasm.
Hiccup's face turned bright red, and he replied with an equally playful tone, "And no one does that better than you."
His blush turned out to be contagious. I love you, she wanted to say. He really did mean a lot to her. Sure, she'd ignored him during the fight against dragons, but after that fateful flight on Toothless, her respect and appreciation for him and his compassion only grew the longer they were together.
And yet, she still wasn't sure.
But Hiccup would be waiting for it. And he knew it would be worth it in the end.
It'll definitely be worth it. For everyone, including us. (Well, us who actually ship it.)