20A Dragon's Humanity
A.N. : My third one-shot. R&R, enjoy!
My son's bed was empty. Again. The aforementioned teen was instead hidden in a cocoon of black wings and paws, in the room's corner, sleeping peacefully with the protective creature.
Toothless.
A dragon. That one dragon that did everything for my son that I did not. It pointed the way to him. It took care of him. It protected him. It loved him. I did not.
How many times did I get an opportunity to fulfill my job, as a father? I've had chances, lots and lots of chances. I ruined every single one of them, and the worst is that I was completely oblivious as I did so.
"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury!" "You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot! It went down just off Raven Point, let's get a search party out there before it..." I interrupted him. I ignored him completely. I scowled him, after he had just done what every viking of Berk dreamed of.
"I don't want to fight dragons." Ignored. "Rephrase : Dad, I can't kill dragons!" "No... I'm very sure that I won't!" I sent him directly into dragon training, not listening one bit to anything he could have told me, or to anything he might have wanted instead.
Everything was right there, on that desk, when I went to congratulate him for his success in dragon training. Designs of his dragon. Of his contraptions for that dreaded dragon. I didn't take any time to care about what he was doing. I just thought about dragon training. About him being what I wanted him to be.
"No! I need you all to see this. They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them." I yelled out loud, banged my hammer and put my own son's life in danger. He had just faced me, proudly showed me the truth, and all I did was deny all of it, and act like an idiot. That blasted Fury saved him, and I found nothing else to do but charge it.
"No! NOOOOO!" It was about to kill me. My son had saved my life and I didn't even have the decency to take notice. "H-He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous!" Ignored again.
"Oh. Nono, no. Dad. No. Please! It's not what you think! Y-you don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen! Dad, please! I promise you you can't win this one! Dad, no... FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME!" It could not have been more obvious. He had told me. He had told me all that he knew. Yet all I did was disown him and charge into battle, completely oblivious to the fact that a dragon that can eat other dragons had to be taken with caution. Hundreds of lives were wasted that day when all our boats were roasted by a single fire breath. Hundreds of souls that will haunt me until Ragnarok, because I chose not to listen. My son saved us all again. And he paid the price. He lost his leg. And it was that one. Damn. Dragon. Who saved him.
Toothless.
It... no. He has all rights over me about Hiccup. I endangered and almost killed my own son countless times and he, every single time, saved him. And until the very end, I found no way to thank him but to attack. Charge in. Like the stubborn and so very dumb viking I was.
That dragon had more honor than I ever did. He could have killed Hiccup, so easily. He could have killed me, in the ring. But he didn't. How did I thank him for that? I thanked him by putting him in chains. By using him as a living compass. By ruining all his efforts to keep my son safe.
My son forgave me for all of this. Hel, he forgave everything everyone did, even if they never deserved forgiving. I, of all of them, never deserved forgiving.
That's why, when I approached my own son, still sleeping happily in his dragonic cocoon, and received a death glare from said dragon, I was the one to look down. That's why, every time I got growled away from my own son, I obliged. That's why I never dared try to keep my son away from that dragon.
I had no right to. He had shown everyone that he was a better 'father' than me. A better friend, too. Everything he did helped Hiccup more than anything I did. I realised that now. And that's why I don't dare to try and be the one at my son's side anymore.
Because that dragon was worth much more than what I ever was or will be.