Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They call this place Berk. Rocky, cold. smells like fish. Constant yelling. Probably one of the worst islands. They have food there, mostly fish, but it is sufficient enough to feed.. her. If you don't mind being attacked at all times. The two-legged creatures here are the worst. They're loud, hairy, and somehow always hide a weapon on their bodies. They build wood nests, they're massive and take up way too much space. They don't understand us. To them, we're monsters. Flying storms with wings and teeth. Nothing more than beasts to be destroyed. Yeah, they don't believe in mercy for us. They call us dragons. We are survivors. However, one night while I was watching from a distance, I noticed something. A small one. Not as hairy, and rarely carried weapons. He's actually pretty quiet for one of them, I'm guessing they don't like him very much. 

The sky rumbled as my wings slice through the sky. Below, Berk glows like a dying ember. Somehow, the humans always know when we're coming, and they're always ready for a fight. A horn bellows from their watchtower. How dramatic, it's extremely loud. I never understood how such tiny creatures could make so much noise. I stay high, above the chaos. I always let the bigger, scarier dragons take the credit. The humans nicknamed the others as well, the Monstrous Nightmares burst into flame, incinerating everything they touch. Gronkles pick up rocks to toss around and destroy the nests, I think it's like a game to them. Hideous Zipplebacks just enjoy causing confusion and flying overhead, making the humans think there's more dragons than there are. Not a bad tactic, just not my style. 

I have a bit of a reputation with these guys. They call me the Night Fury, which isn't too bad of a name, especially because most humans never even see me until they're left in my fiery trail. Fastest thing in the sky. Nobody ever sees me coming. 

But then, the tiny one seems to be looking up in my direction. It has a strange contraption, I've seen those rock throwers they use, but this thing was nothing like it. His head is whipping back and forth, trying to find something; me. It's pathetic, nobody has ever even seen me, a small creature like that could never-

Suddenly I feel the pain. Sharp, and sudden. And then, I plummet down.

Everything hurt. Thankfully, it was still night. I doubt any humans would come roaming around at this hour. The trees caught me like claws, branches teared at my scales as I crashed through the forest. I remember hitting the ground. 

I should've died. I knew I was helpless, I couldn't do anything, scream, roar, nothing; because if I did, it would just alert the humans of my location. Surely the small human was already on its way, probably being a mob of the rest of them. 

I don't know how much time passed as I laid there. I couldn't move a muscle. Soon, daybreak came. The sun shone on my dark scales, I felt exposed, but there was nothing I could do about it. There was nobody, nothing came, and nothing moved in the forest except for tiny creatures with fluffy tails. Until, I heard something coming this way. 

It was him. The small human with wide eyes and dark hair. He crept closer, bringing a tiny dagger with him. It was very small, even in comparison to him. 

He stood over me, speaking in a foreign language. I watched. I waited. 

A little voice in me whispered, do it. End it. Prove to me you're just like the rest.

I watched as he raised the blade over his head, ready to strike. He shut his eyes. 

But he didn't move. His hands shook and he opened one eye, it was strange. He didn't have that look of hatred in his eye, no.. it was.. different. Fear, doubt, and.. guilt?

He glanced back where he came, and then started to cut the ropes. I pounced on him as soon as I was freed. But something nagged the question I needed to know. Why didn't he just kill me? If he couldn't, he could have brought someone who would. Why did he hesitate?

As I straightened up, my claws still pinning him down, I saw that look of fear again, he looked absolutely terrified. Usually, I would be enjoying it, but this felt strange, wrong, almost. I opened my mouth, and he closed his eyes, ready for death. I roared in his face and took off, not sparing a glance back. I opened my wings to fly, taking off, but then I began to fall. Again. 

Chapter Text

I crashed. And I couldn't fly high enough to get out of the small area I had landed in. There were high rocks surrounding the place and some water. I tried to fly back up, multiple times. I tried different angles, different positions, but I still couldn't get out. Feeling defeated, I saw some fish, so I waited and then tried to grab one in my teeth, but they swam away too quickly. I decided to lay down, until something fell on the other side of the water. It was a small stick, I looked up, and the small human was there. He didn't do anything, just looked at me curiously.

And then, he came back. Instead of watching from the cliff like he did before, he came down and walked out into the open. I watched him from a rock. He had a fish in his hand. He must have seen me, because he turned his head and his eyes went wide. He gasped and his arms went closer to his body as I stepped down onto a smaller rock, and then on the ground. It looked like he was hugging the fish, his mouth was partly open. I kept my guard up. 

But then, he put out his right hand, holding the fish. I decided to investigate as I slowly inched closer, it seemed to be a real fish, at least that's what it smelled like. Curiously, I opened my mouth, turning my head slightly, but that's when I saw a glint from inside his fluff. He moved it, revealing the dagger from the first day. My guard was back up, I growled lowly and backed up. He took it out of the brown thing on him and held it out to the side, dropping it. I wasn't about to trust him that easily. I moved my head, telling him to remove it. He balanced it on his foot before tossing it away. I watched it. He didn't have anything else on him. 

I looked back, remembering how hungry I was. He had a fish in his hand. It looked delicious. He held it out again, but this time with two hands. I opened my mouth again, he seemed intrigued.. I displayed my teeth before grabbing the fish and downing it with a few chomps. Finishing it, I licked the outside of my mouth. I looked back at him, he was so small. I went closer, surprisingly, he backed away, putting his arms up. He tripped over his own feet, and still backed away until he was cornered by a rock. I was face to face with the small human. He looked scared, but not as terrified as he had been. 

I regurgitated the bottom half of the fish, it fell into his lap. I stood on my back legs for a few seconds as I sat on the rock behind me. The tiny human looked confused. He just held the fish in his hands. Did he seriously need instructions? I stared at him intently and lowered my head and lifted it back up as a gesture to the fish. Surely he knew what to do with a fish, right? His eyes went wide for a second, like he finally realized what to do. He looked down at the fish and then back up at me. 

After a while, he bit into it. My ears went up. Finally! Except, I could still see it in his face, the fish was in his mouth. What was he doing? After I gestured again to him with a nod, he swallowed it and gave a weird face. I showed my tongue, I wanted to know if he actually swallowed the entire thing. Then, he showed me his teeth.. I squinted at him, it didn't seem like a threatening gesture. Maybe it was a human thing.. Although we didn't speak the same tongue, in that moment, something passed between us. Not words, but something, simpler. I didn't understand him, but he wasn't like the others. He didn't want to hunt me, it almost seemed like he wanted to know me.

For the first time, I didn't feel like a monster.

Similarly, he didn't look at me like I was a monster. 

For some reason, he put his hand out, I didn't like that, so I growled at him and flew off, the best I could fly off. I went back to where I decided to make my bed. Using my flames, I burned the ground and laid down. But, the human didn't leave. Instead, when I lifted my head again, he sat next to me. I adjusted myself and put my tail in front of my face. That's when I heard him, he was moving closer. Why would he do that?? I felt the heat from his hand, it was going towards my tail. I moved it, looking at him. Before he jumped back, he had this look on his face, interest? He started to walk away awkwardly, so I went the opposite direction. I wanted some space. 

Eventually, day turned into evening and I was hanging by my tail on a tree. I opened my eyes, and he was still there. Instead of being close to me, he sat on a rock facing the other way. I decided to investigate. As I got closer, I saw him pick up a stick and start scraping the ground with it. I watched as he scratched into the dirt, and the creature looked like me. How did he do that? I stood up, and walked away, he seemed to notice because he glanced back at me. I grabbed my own stick and scraped the ground, just like he did. Instead, I used circles, there were no lines or symbols, I just scratched the ground how I wanted. I looked at what I scratched on the dirt and grumbled, satisfied. He stood up, looking at my scratchings. His head moved back and forth, looking at it all, he started to walk forward, but then he stepped on one of the scratches I made. I growled at him, and he lifted his foot. He placed his foot on it again and I growled, and he lifted it back up. He seemed to understand now, which was strange, because no human has ever understood. He stepped on the ground again in between the scratchings. He kept stepping backward, making sure not to step on my creation. He didn't even realize it, but he was backing up straight towards me. He paused as I exhaled, and audibly gasped, looking at me with wide eyes. 

He had that look in his eyes again, awe, interest, amazement. What was with this tiny human that made him so different from the rest? Hesitantly, he reached out again, I showed my teeth, giving him a huff, a warning not to overstep his limits. He retracted his hand, and then turned his head away. With his eyes closed, he put his hand out fully. I was completely able to bite the tiny human's whole arm off, and he knew that. That's when I realized what he was doing. He was exposing himself to me, making himself vulnerable. Any dragon would have killed him the first time. Maybe if they hadn't, they certainly would kill him now. But I didn't move. And neither did he. I didn't understand what he was doing, what the purpose of all this was. What did he want from me? I could hear his heart pounding, like he was scared, but didn't show it. He was.. trusting me.

Hesitantly, and slowly.. I pressed my nose to his hand, and slowly, he lifted his head, only enough so he could see what I was doing. He just looked at me. Again.

I huffed at him playfully, showing off my eyes, and went back to my bed. 

Chapter Text

Dragons are meant to fly. Wings to a dragon are more than just limbs, they're who we are, what we're defined by. If not for our wings, we would be the same as every other creature confined to the ground. To lose wings is like losing the sky. The air doesn't feel the same on the ground as it does in the air. The ground becomes a cage, and the sky forgets who once soared in it. That's what it's felt like since I crashed. I can't fly properly. I stretch my wings. prepared to fly, but as soon as I launch myself into the air, I crash. I can't balance, can't climb, and I was missing part of my tail. It's broken, and I didn't know how to fix it. But he tried. One morning, he came with a large thing of fish, and an eel. He learned his lesson there. As I ate, he went behind me, but I didn't mind, I was busy eating. I felt his hands on my tail, but I didn't feel threatened. Then, he sat on it and attached something to my tail. I felt that. The thing of fish fell to the ground as I moved my tail a bit.

I might be able to fly like this.

I stretched my wings as he continued to do something with it. And then, I took off. I could still feel him on my tail. Whoops.. 

But I needed to know if I could fly. 

And I was, I flew higher than since I crashed! 

But suddenly I started turning, I was completely off balance. But just as I almost crashed into the ground, he did something, I don't know what, and I was able to fly again! 

I soared into the sky, flying higher and higher. I felt free.

I looked at him on my tail, and decided to toss him, it wasn't high, but as soon as I did, I was unbalanced again, and fell into the water. For some reason, he seemed, happy? 

The next day, he came back with a strange looking device, but he seemed happy about it, so I didn't mind. Except, I think I knew what it was for. So I ran. And he chased me. Eventually, I let him put it on and he sat on it. On my back. That was a strange feeling. He tried to guide me one way, but the wind caught my wings, and I flew in the complete opposite direction. He ended up falling off. He made something new, and we tried again. I saw a big field of grass and needed a break, so I crash landed into it, on purpose because grass feels great on the scales. 

He also found the spot. The spot is this part on my back that I can never get, it's right behind my head and he scratches it and it feels so good.

Then there was a device he used, it made this small light circle? It moved around and I wanted it, but I could never seem to catch it in my claws. 

Then we tried something new. He attached more things to me, which, if it would help me fly, I really don't mind. But he attached me to a tree stump? We practiced flying in the wind and it was going good, until the rope broke. 

We tried again and again and again. Each time would get smoother, higher and faster. At first, he would tell me directions, too many, too loud. But eventually, he stopped. We stopped needing words. He learned me.

He didn't ride like a rider. He flew like a dragon.

Chapter Text

We were flying. Not perfectly, but it was more than I ever thought I'd feel again. After realizing that I lost part of my tail, I thought I'd never fly again. But here we were. The tiny human on my back as I flew through the clouds. The wind roared in my ears, the sun danced across my wings, and for a moment, I forgot I lost my tail, I forgot that I couldn't fly by myself. I was free. The sky remembered me. The tiny human controlled the fake tail he made that helped me fly, it was clumsy, but it worked; I was flying.

But then, something flew out of his hands, and he yelled something, I think he wanted me to stop? So I stopped mid-air... Probably not the best idea, but he was.. helpful? With him, I could fly. I trusted him. 

Suddenly, he was higher than me. What..? How was he- He wasn't attached to me anymore. Not good. We began to plummet downwards. I never thought my death would be as simple as falling from the sky. How pathetic. 

But then I remembered that he was falling with me. He had to know what to do, right? And suddenly, I could understand him-? 

"You gotta kind of angle yourself-"

I tried my best, but it was hard to "angle myself.." I was spinning? I accidentally hit him, because he was further away than I remembered. 

"Come back down towards me-!"

I tried, but it wasn't working all that much, thankfully, he somehow managed to grab on, because the next second, I felt him on my back again. I was back up straight, and quickly put my wings out, avoiding the incoming trees, flying right above them. 

The large rock formations were coming into view, we were going to crash into them. At the last second, the tiny human pulled up and we flew around and in between the large rocks. It was exhilarating. So much that I shot fire from my mouth, and it rebounded. The tiny human wasn't hurt or anything, but he looked funny. His hair was.. odd looking. 

We found somewhere quiet on a deserted island and decided to get some food. I regurgitated half a fish, but he just gave me a weird look again.

"No thanks, I'm good."

Soon enough, some small dragons came along. I think the humans refer to them as the Terrible Terrors? Something like that. I did not like how they were going after my food, so I gave one of them a fire shot in the mouth, that kept the rest away. 

Something was wrong. I sniffed the air. Human. A new one. I didn't like that. 

Then, I saw her. She held a weapon in hand, and was yelling. At him. 

But then, she spotted me and tackled him to the ground. I bared my teeth, jumping on a rock to boost myself, I stretched my wings out, making myself look scarier. She got up quickly, readying her weapon. Just as I was about to pounce on her, he tackled her and threw the weapons away. He stood between us, turning to me, he put his arms up, trying to calm me down. I wanted to rip her to pieces, she was just like the rest of them. How could he let her here? But I couldn't bring myself to go past him. 

"She's a friend.." 

Of course she is. I don't know what kind of friends humans have, but this was not a good choice. I didn't trust her. I growled lowly, getting my head closer so she could see my teeth. As always, he held me back. He started talking to her.

"Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid."  I bared my teeth again, showing them off. I know he wanted me to play nice, but I don't do that. Especially not when she's threatening, had a weapon and wandered into my territory. 

After staring for a little while, she ran off. I noticed that humans had a tendency to do that. I patted my feet on the ground. I didn't care for this other human, I turned around and started on my way back to my bed. 

"Hey, woah woah woah, where do you think you're going?"

I had wanted to go back to my bed, but I wasn't able to. The tiny human talked about why we need to go get her, but I wasn't really listening. It was exhausting trying to understand humans. I spotted the girl and flew low, grabbing her small arms. She screamed, extremely loudly. This human thing was not cut out for me. The only human I could decently tolerate was the tiny one. I really need to figure out his name. 

After putting her on a tree, she continued to yell while the boy tried to reason with her. Eventually, the girl was on my back and the boy directed me to go to the ground, gently. Thankfully I had other plans. I flew off quickly as she screamed and the boy was annoyed with me. She asked for it by being rude and yelling. I dove down to sea level a few times, and after a few spins, she eventually apologized. That's when I decided to play nice. We flew in the clouds for a while, and she was finally calm, and finally not being loud. Just as I was about to fly back to my cove, I smelled other dragons. That's not good. 

I played it cool, pretending to fly back to the nest, unfortunately, we made it all the way there. After flying over the whole where she sleeps, I doubled back and hid in the shadows behind a rock wall. A tiny Gronkle left a small fish for her, but then got eaten. I glanced back up at him, they both seemed shocked. I forgot about her incredible sense of smell, because she suddenly became alert and tried to attack. Thankfully, the other dragons noticed too, so we were able to get out safely. We got back to Berk and back to the cove. That was exhausting, so I went to the water and started drinking. I paused when I noticed how tense they both were. They were talking, but I couldn't understand them like I could before, I only got bits and pieces. 

"Let's... your ...."

"..No..no.."

It was her I couldn't understand as much. Well that made sense, she wasn't much better than the rest, but.. he seemed to trust her completely, and I trusted him.. 

"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragons' nest..."

Hiccup? What's that? Was that his name?

"...And you wanna keep.. a secret... to protect your.. pet dragon..?"

"Yes."

How surprising.. I decided to trust the humans and they're already planning to tell everyone where the nest is...

Chapter Text

It was daytime, my least favorite part of the day. The sun was shining and I felt exposed, as usual. This small area didn't offer much shade because there weren't a lot of trees around. I had been sleeping in the bed I made by burning the ground underneath, but something felt strange. I closed my eyes, repositioning myself, but that's when it happened. I could feel him- my boy, Hiccup-his scent sharp with panic, heart pounding like war drums. He was in danger. The walls around me shook as I threw myself against them, roaring, clawing, until finally- I grabbed the top, bearing my claws. 

I burst into the open landscape, wings open, running like I never had before. As I got closer, I could smell Hiccup's fear, and I could feel heat. At last, I found the arena that Hiccup was in, that's when I saw him. Trapped in a Monstrous Nightmare's claws. I leapt with a whistle and shot the metal wires of the arena, blasting it open. Despite the smoke that enveloped everything, I could still see. I crashed into the beast, wings folded, knocking it away from Hiccup. 

I bared my fangs, growling and roaring at it with a sound that could only mean one thing; "Mine."

Hiccup was on the ground behind me, I stood in front of him, my wings outstretched and my body low, shielding him. I roared in every direction, telling everyone to back off. I had never felt this ferocious before, but I wasn't about to let anyone touch him.

Suddenly, I felt his hands on me, pushing me away, telling me to go before I was caught. I wasn't going anywhere until I made sure he was safe. But then, people from the stands burst through, jumping down. A large man came running at me from the exit, he had a large weapon in his hand. I pounced on him, pinning him down, ready to strike.

But I heard him, his small voice through the crowd and angry mob of humans. He screamed for me not to do it, and it clicked. The man that I pounced on was someone important to him, his father.

I hesitated, I didn't want to hurt Hiccup. If I hurt this man, then I would hurt my only friend.

But I didn't get a chance, because the people jumped on me, pinning me down. Pain lanced through me as they dragged me down. I thrashed, growled, and twisted, just trying to reach him. But I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe, and worst of all, I couldn't see him even though I knew he reached for me somewhere in the crowd. 

But I could still hear him. His tiny voice seemed so loud now, but nobody listened. 

He pushed through the others, begging and screaming for them to stop, yelling my name. He looked smaller than I ever saw him. 

He looked like a boy desperate to get to his friend, and everyone stood in his way. 

But I felt the ropes against my scales, tying my wings with chains. Darkness fell, and I felt nothing. 

I couldn't see him anymore. The cage pressed around me, cold iron and thick shadows. My wings were pinned, and my legs were tied down with chains. Every breath I took was shallow, tight. I was laced with fear for the first time in my life. Not for myself. For him. 

Where was he? Was he hurt? Footsteps. Voices. I didn't even bother to lift my head until I smelled him-Hiccup. And another-the one who I almost killed earlier. The alpha of the humans. He smelled like Hiccup, but louder, angrier. I froze, my ears flicked up, allowing me to hear more clearly..

"For once in your life, would you please just listen to me?" 

I could hear the desperation in his voice, I smelled his fear. But it wasn't for himself, it was for me. 

"...You're not a Viking. You're not my son."

The words were loud, sharp. Hiccup's scent changed, pain, shame, desperation. I shifted, growling softly in the dark. Then, hands were on the cage. Chains, cranks, movement. They were taking me somewhere. I growled again, but they didn't care. They loaded me on a ship, putting a device around my neck so I could barely move at all. My legs were tied down with chains, and so were my wings. The cold metal bit into me anytime I made a sudden movement. 

The large man boarded the boat, he looked at me and said something, but I didn't care about listening. He paused, looking back at something. When I glanced up, I saw him. Hiccup. He looked so defeated, like he just lost everything. And I couldn't do anything to help him. He stayed in the same spot as we sailed away, further and further, until I couldn't see him anymore.

It wasn't the restraints that bothered me anymore, it was the distance between us. 

Chapter Text

I don't know how they did it, but they read my every move. They used me to take them to the nest. Not that I fought in any way, she was there. Maybe they could finally rid the world of her.

What wishful thinking. The big man in charge stepped on the island and everything went silent. What a fool, had he no clue that dragons could sense humans invading their nest? They used their human weapons, launching boulders again and again until there was a large hole in the mountain. Then, they sent a flaming boulder through, alerting the dragons to leave. In a mess, they all flew away, scattering. The humans cheered, assuming the fight was over. But I knew better. She was still in there.

I wanted out. I tried to step back further, but the metal rings around me forced me in place. My ears dropped as I heard her. She came crashing through the mountain, screaming with anger. I knew the humans were no match for her. She decimated them, using her fire to destroy their ships, their way of escape. It was over.

Until I heard the familiar sound of wings flapping, coming this way. A Deadly Nadder, Gronkle, Hideous Zippleback, and Monstrous Nightmare were all flying this way. On their backs were human riders. That surprised me, I had no idea that there were other humans that weren't killers. 

Suddenly, the Deadly Nadder came close, and a human dropped down. Hiccup. He came for me. He struggled with the chains, trying to break them with anything, but the ship went down. I was sinking, still chained to the wooden plank beneath me, with the metal bars keeping my head from moving. He came after me, desperately pulling at the chains. It was never going to work. I looked at him, this small creature that was trying to save my life by risking his own. 

His eyes rolled back, closing. Something grabbed him. I struggled against the restraints. I had no idea what grabbed him until it came back for me. It was the man from before. The leader of the humans. With a few tugs, he broke the chains and metal bars. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed him, swimming out and gliding down to the ground. 

I heard her scream again, the others were struggling against her. I looked back at Hiccup, and he understood immediately. Soaking wet, he climbed on my back. But his father grabbed his arm. I think he uttered an apology, but it was still too hard to decipher what that man was saying. Although, I could figure humans out by looking at their bodies or faces. I didn't always need words to understand. 

We took to the skies. Hiccup told me the plan. We set it into motion. But first, we had to rescue the others. The girl from before, Astrid was falling, I grabbed her by the leg. Glancing down at her, I gave her a friendly smile. She had changed from when I first met her. She wasn't a ruthless killer anymore. She returned the smile. 

We lured her into the sky, I blasted her, making her angry. She followed us up higher and higher into the clouds. The sky was my domain. She couldn't see me because of the clouds. I blasted her, and would fly to another position to blast her again and again. It only made her more angry. She fired everywhere around her, not good. By the time I heard Hiccup say, "Watch out!" my replacement tail was already burning. But we used that to our advantage.

Using the tail as a flare, we dived straight down. She followed, as she always did. It was getting harder to control my steering, but I held on. For Hiccup. We waited until she loaded up, and then fired into her mouth, she screeched, crashing into the ground with a large explosion. 

We weren't safe yet. The tail was completely burned and I couldn't control my flying. Her massively large tail came upon us, and I tried desperately to evade it. I did, just barely, but it hit Hiccup, knocking him off my back. I called for him, turning myself around, I flapped my wings hard, going into the flames right after him. 

When I came to, I was on the ground. There was dust everywhere, and the big man was now on his knees before me. He took one look at my burned saddle and began to despair. He whispered an apology to Hiccup. That was all I wanted. I opened my wings, allowing him to see Hiccup nestled safely in my forelimbs. The man took Hiccup into his arms, taking off that helmet, he put an ear to Hiccup's chest. I looked at me with hope. "You've brought him back alive."

Well, yes. I wasn't going to let him die, he's my friend. 

The man put a hand on my head as he looked me in the eyes, "Thank you."

I don't know how long Hiccup laid in that bed, but it was agonizing. Every slight rustle and I thought he was awake. Until.. I heard groaning. I stared intently, willing him to open his eyes. And he did. I was overjoyed. Maybe a little too much, I accidentally pressed my pads to his chest a little hard. He sat up with a wince and then turning, he put his legs over the side of the bed. He looked shocked when he looked down to see his one leg and the wooden fake that replaced his old leg. He tried to stand, but failing miserably, he began to fall, when I caught him. He leaned on me as he limped to the door. Opening it, he gasped and slammed the door again. I couldn't help but snort a little bit. He's funny when he's not trying. He opened it again and was surrounded by people. His father filled him in on everything and I jumped on and around people to get to him. 

All of this started with this boy. He changed lives, including mine. Although I lost part of my tail, I gained something worth much more than I could ever realize. I never knew I would become this soft for creatures that used to kill dragons without mercy, but this boy who showed me a little kindness, became my best friend.