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Chapter Text

The gods must hate me, a sentence that seemed to be satirical for most but despite that I find myself saying it on the regular. Anything I touch of great importance seems to shatter and break from an unspoken curse that I cannot control. I have lost sheep to dragons due to my affliction and burned and broken houses all completely by accident and as such receive glares and bad intention whispers to come around due to my presence in the village. I am simply a hiccup, through name and body. 

But tonight would be different because I would shoot down the night fury, It took me a few days to make but I finally finished it in time for the next raid. The mangler, a bola launcher that could allow me to shoot down a flying dragon. 

When I heard the first sign of a dragon raid I twisted the covers over my head, the loud yelling of a viking finally broke me out of my tired stupor. As I took in my surroundings I recognized the darkness of my bedroom and the fire light burning outside my window. I clumsily got out of bed only to find my legs tangled in the blanket and to fall hard onto my chin.

The skin had lightly broke but it wasn't bleeding, I first untangled my feet and made my way to my closet. It held a variety of similarly styled tunics, none too fancier then the other and all of dark forest colors. I shifted through the tunics and came on a cleaner shirt that was a lighter herb green, I needed to at least look decent when everyone sees I shot down the night fury.

I grabbed my shoes and hobbled down stairs in a hurry to arrive to the door and put on my shoes, achieving both by the time I managed to make it to the stable bottom floor of the house. I opened the door only to be startled by a large red monstrous nightmare, before I could think I had shut the door only to come to the realization I was a second away from death. I opened the door again, this time looking around and making sure to be weary of nearby dragons.

The second I saw a clear entrance to the village I took it, I jumped and tumbled on a hill but managed to regain my footing on hard wood and starting running in the direction of the forge. People yelled and screamed either in pain or pride I couldn't decipher. When I passed I got the usual glares accompanied with yells to head inside. 

"Get inside 'iccup!" a slimmer man roared

"Hiccup?! Get inside!" a bigger woman spoke

I felt the back of my tunic lift and my feet lift from the ground before a large spray of fire crossed my earlier path from a deadly nadders lips. The man who grabbed me was stoick the vast and the chief of the hairy hooligans of berk, he took a short glance at me before screaming at the others around.

"What you doing outside? Who let him outside?!" His roar was right into my ear and it hurt but as I was freed from his grip I watched as he took a small food cart and threw it into an escaping nadder.

A group of Viking men came around in front of stoick, They blonde man in front gave a short report on the situation while listing of the sighted dragons.

"Gronkles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh and hoark saw a monstrous nightmare. "The report didn't leave much hope but stoick stayed true to his name and asked a single question.

"Any night furies?" the question was answered with a mirroring calmness from the blonde man. "None so far." 

"Good." Stoick flicked a piece of burning wood off his shoulder, stoick as always.

My feet moved on their own and stumbled as I attempted to run fast toward the forge, as I turned the corner I saw the usual long raid lines that accompanied the forge during these nights. I slipped past the large dense crowd but not without an elbow to the neck and stomach, I held my stomach as I turned to see gobber hammering a beaten sword. 

The old blond man lifted his metal face mask and turned toward me, his prosthetics on his arm and leg in clear display. As I grabbed my apron and went to grab a weapon he finally spoke

"Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" He continued his earlier hammering but lighter so I could speak.

"Who? me? No...I'm much too muscular for their tastes. They wouldn't know what to do with all...this!" I attempted to make a flexing gesture with my arm but failed.

He answered with his usual sarcastic tone. "Well they need toothpicks don't they?" He chuckled at his own joke, The meat head with attitude and interchangeable hands is gobber. I've been his apprentice since I've been little well little-er. I opened the front store area only to be greeted with five dull and bent weapons in my hands, I usually just sharpen but gobber lets me use the forge if I finish of my chores.

As I started sharpening on the rotating block I looked out into the battle, I saw the stoick out there. He seemed to be spitting commands at five or more vikings but he was too far and the battle was too loud to hear. I watched as he ran down and out of sight and I felt more hopeless when it came to the idea of ever becoming a fierce Viking warrior. 

As I finished sharpening a man yelled out "Fire!" I couldn't see him from here but what I could see was the fire brigade running towards a now burning home. They were the same age as me but I still was considered too weak to work in the fire brigade, I watched as fishlegs and snotlout work to put out a fire from the front door. 

it wasn't much to watch as they miserably failed only to hear a large explosion from behind where the fire brigade was, I saw astrid walking away from a rapidly burning building that was obviously too far gone. As I looked back closer to the house I saw the twins near it giggling while covered in soot practically from head to toe.

I've had a crush on Astrid practically as long as I've worked in the forge and its just as hopeless as me leaving to become a glorious warrior like the chief. Another loud shout for a fire led Astrid and the others away, I attempted to get a better look but once again I felt myself dragged by my tunic. 

"Come on! Let me out, please I need to make my mark" Gobber rolled his eyes before placing me down and speaking.

"You've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places." He lightly pushed me back to sharpening but I didn't immediately go back to work.

"Please! Two minutes. I'll kill a dragon, my life with get infinitely better. Hey, I might even get a date." Gobber looked at me with the usual half closed eyes before he spoke again "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe."

He raised a pair of bolas that were normally thrown and I watched as he handed them to an roudy viking who immediately managed to hit a gronkle and strike it out of the sky. He looked back to me with his usual pair of eyes, ones that didn't say disappointment but not something I always wanted.

"Well yes but this will shoot it for me!" I walked back to the mangler, there was still a calibration issue but I could fix that in five minutes max.

As I patted the machine it suddenly flew open and hit a waiting viking right in the head knocking him out cold. Gobber looked back to me again and spoke harshly "See? now this right here is what I was talking about!"

I felt the need to state it was a mild calibration issue but when I attempted to speak I was cut off "Mild-"

"Hiccup! if you ever want to get out their and fight dragons...you need to stop all...this!" He gestured using his false hand towards all of me.

"But you just pointed to all of me." Gobber was usually sarcastic but it could still hurt when it was only serving as a reminder to something I already knew.

"Yes! That's it! stop being all of you" I gave him a dirty look "ooh...well you sir are playing a dangerous game, keeping this much raw vikingness contained! There will be consequences!" I made exaggerated movements as I was being more comedic right now.

He turned around back to his work before speaking "Ill take my chances. Sword, sharpen now" He stuck a dull sword in my hands and headed off but I needed to get out there because killing a dragon is everything around here.

Any dragon would do but with all my mess ups the only dragon that will fix it all is the night fury, it has never stolen food and has never been seen and has never missed. As I finished sharpening the sword a sharp hiss broke the battle with its sound and a scream echoed throughout the village, "Night Fury! Get down!" As I looked outside even the most fiercest warriors were crouched in fear. 

A loud bang of an explosion broke the silence and the battle continued, I looked back to Gobber to see him changing out his prosthetic to his usual axe. "Man the fort, hiccup. They need me out there." as he reached the outside battle he seemed to remember something and turned around "Stay. Put...There" He took a glance back to the battle then me before running off with a viking yell.

I didn't waste any time fixing the manglers calibration issue and reloading it, the small metal parts were so intricate that I think I might be the only one on this island who could make something like this. I took off my apron and wheeled the mangler out of the forge into the ongoing battle. 

I bumped into some people due to the limited mobility of the mangler but they moved quick enough and yelled out that I should get inside as usual. I had been burned a bit on my leg but I was fine because I was gonna shoot down the night fury, I had took position on a cliff and waited for my moment.

The cliff was partially calm with how few dragons were around here, It gave me the opportunity to aim. I looked up through the sight, heart pounding.

"Come on, give me something to shoot please..." Then Its iconic hiss and an explosion of a nearby tower, I saw it...illuminated by the flames for only seconds. 

I took the shot and immediately felt the shock and was sent back yet as the bola kept flying it never connected, I had one shot and missed. I felt really hopeless but it didn't help the only one who saw my utter failure was a monstrous nightmare. It gave me a good long stare as it swept my Invention off the cliff with a good crash that proved it was broken beyond repair.

I ran as fast as my clumsy feet could take me and screamed until my throat felt a bit dry. It snapped empty air with only a foot away from my arm or back, I felt the heat of a raging fire on my back as I turned a corner and felt a spike of pain my in lower left leg. 

I had completely forgot about my burn from earlier and yet I ignored the pain and kept running as best I could, my screams had turned to gasps of air by now. I hid behind a giant wood fixture that was used to see dragons aflight in the dark night sky. I felt a searing heat on both sides of me but it never went farther then heat and as I turned around to look I felt its hot breath nearly hitting my side. Its teeth inches from my face as I heard a slow growl emanate from it.

Stoick seemed to jump from the dark of night itself and punched the large monstrous nightmare bare handed, he had managed to tackle it away and roll back to his feet. It attempted to spew flame again only for it to be unable to conjure up any gas. Stoick smirked before speaking with a sound a sense of pride that felt foreign to me.

"All out aren't yah beastie" He gave a good punch to its sore snout and kept aiming for its teeth and sensitive exposed gums. 

The monstrous nightmare flew off into the dark of night with nothing to reward the nest with and leaving only a few broken teeth shattered on the ground, Stoick turned to look back at me. I was still by the wooden fixture but the earlier fire caused it to burn straight through, enough to fall and break three houses including setting free a caught deadly nadders net. I cringed at each loud crash that were all slowly followed by a fire.

"Sorry...Dad" I lowered my head when I turned to him, I hadn't shot the night fury and by now it was daybreak with the sun making its way up on the sky. Stoick grabbed the back of my tunic forcefully dragging me back to the house, I didn't know what to say as I watched everyone look with hateful glares. I felt more pathetic then usual as he tossed me in front of him leaving me standing in the circle of vikings.

"Hiccup!" He didn't yell it but even his usual voice was loud. It hurt my ears. "Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" That felt like an odd statement since vikings aren't known to die from starvation after all.

"Well between you and me this village could do with a little less feeding." but as usual my sarcasm was met with the same words "This isn't a joke hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?!" 

Did he have to do this infront of everyone in the village? Plus wouldn't the answer be obvious. "I can't stop myself! when I see a dragon I just have to...Kill it!"

I made hand motion of a small neck snapping but I don't think I got my message across very well. "Its just...who I am dad" I felt less confident in my last sentence, the glares of everyone surrounding us just made it harder to speak. Like my throat had been filled to the brim with sharp sand as it weighed down my head till I was looking at my feet.

Stoick ran his hand down his face before speaking again "You're many things hiccup but a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house"

He gave me one last disapproving look before motioning gobber over. "make sure he gets home." Gobber smacked me lightly in the back of the head before we started walking off together but dad had to say one last thing "I have his mess to clean up." Ouch...

I just wanted to go home and sleep far away from how thick the air felt with annoyance and hatred from others. I would have probably already been drowned or stabbed if I wasn't the chiefs son, I'm not the best at getting people to like me I have found. I could see the other kids lightly snickering, the only ones who seemed uncomfortable were fishlegs and Astrid but Astrid seemed more...uncaring not uncomfortable.

Tuffnut spoke first of the group "Quite the performance!" Ruffnut started laughing with him before giving a small fist bump.

Snotlout was always the one who said the worst things but he seemed more tame today "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly!" He laughed to himself before gobber gave him a glare to back off and as usual when an adult...or I guess when just gobber stepped in he stopped.

Vikings thought that some rough housing would toughen kids up and it didn't help most adults disliked when I was around in general. Gobber and I climbed the usual stairs to the house, it was located on the hill and while it may not have been the tallest house it was still far up in the village. As we neared the door I spoke "He never listens and when he does its with a disappointing scowl." 

I paused for a second as gobber looked at me "Like someone skimped meat on his sandwich" In an overly done impression of stoick "Oy barmaid! You brought me the wrong offspring, I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts with glory on the side! This boy here is a walking fishbone!"

I knew at this point I was ranting but I...just...what am I even doing, there's no point in complaining but I can't help but feel angry.

Gobber was picking something out of his teeth "You're thinking about this all wrong now hiccup. It is not so much what you look like he can't stand it is more so how you are inside he can't stand"

I rolled my eyes without caring to hide it. "Thank you for summing that up" As I turned around to open the door to the house he spoke again

"Look, the point is stop trying so hard to be something your not" He gave me a worried look which was rare for me in this village, even from gobber.

But I only had the same dream as everyone else "I just wanna be one of you guys..." I opened the door and was met with the usual empty home, stoick was often gone doing his duties as chief. I considered just going to bed but I decided against it, I didn't wanna be home right now.

When ever I wanted to escape the village I always went to the same place, the forest. By now my once green shirt had lots of soot on it and an area of my pants had been burned off. I went to the cupboard, gothi doesn't like people wasting her time and with it being after the raid she is likely to be busy and after my earlier performance it wouldn't be smart to go back to town when dad told me to go and stay home.

I usually kept some bandages and ointment for some burns and cuts, as I slowly rummaged I finally found it. It wasn't much but it was enough to cover the burn with bandages although we were out of ointment. 

I sat on the nearby chair, the fire from last night was almost completely extinguished so I added a log and stoked it a bit to give the room some light. I placed the bandages down and slowly lifted up my pant leg, it stung with the movement of the pants but since most of my clothes were just a bit bigger then me it didn't hurt too bad. I wrapped it in the bandages and got up to change pants.

Whenever I ripped clothes I either fixed them but if it was a burn or something else then I use it for my projects in the forge that require fabric. I took off my pants and got some plain brown ones that were essentially the same in color but were a bit baggier, thankfully I had some extra string to tie around my waist and keep them steady.

As I went downstairs I headed out the back door, we weren't supposed to go in the forest for the threat of dragons so I always had to sneak. Due to the raid dad wont be home till late at night if he comes home at all, nobody will notice I'm gone since even if he does come back then he won't check on me.

Sometimes it hurt to think nobody ever noticed I was gone, it made it easier to sneak around and steal some small materials for my projects but It still hurts. I knew most of the forest layout by now but I always tripped on a rouge tree root or log at least once. 

The forest was not that dense and the trees were incredibly tall, I could take my time with these walks and relax. Light from the morning sun filtered through the tree canopy and I could hear the singing of birds awakening. Berk almost never had weather as this nice, It is seemingly always either raining or hailing and when it isn't its so humid your sweat could fill the ocean. 

I walked slowly toward my destination, I was tired and the burn on my leg still hurt from lack of ointment. A tree root caught me off guard and I hit the forest floor, I had completely forgot about my fall from this morning but the skin opened due to my new fall and now blood was starting to lightly pile from my chin. As I picked myself up I noticed my soot covered shirt was now also dirt covered. great.

I felt miserable, I was in pain and aching everywhere but soon the trees started to be farther from each other and the forest seemed to be rearing its end. 

What a lot of people don't know is there is a spot at the very back of the forest where a sheer cliff down looking the oceans stands where no trees are. It's a small field that is full of flowers and its where I come to when I don't wanna be found nowadays. As I slowly sat on the soft grass and looked at the sky I remembered my earlier failure of catching the night fury, I felt like a total fool now that I'm thinking clearly. I feel my eyes burn with coming tears but I try to hold them back, vikings don't ever cry after all.

I layed my head down onto the soft grass with summer flowers, the sky was its usual light blue and the clouds were as fluffy as usual. I felt myself drift into the comfort of sleep, away from all that hurts.

Chapter Text

When I woke up the sun was already almost set with the sky holding a golden brown hue, I shot to my feet and started to head back to the house. I had to get back home before dad or else he would know I was in the forest.

As I got to my feet I took in the scenery one last time before heading back into the forest, the trees slowly got denser and the earlier calmness of the forest had disappeared with the sun. I was rushing a bit and got tripped by a squirrel that started me, thankfully I fell on my back so my earlier chin injury was not reopened. It had already scrapped over by now.

I finally reached the edge of the forest by the time the sun had completely vanished from sigh and I was gasping for breath, I held off on entering the house to wait till I catched my breath In case dad was already home but once I had I slowly opened the back door to look inside. I made eye contact with a deadly nadder.

As I went to close the door it used its tail to knock me off my feet, when I fell my dagger and journal spilled out with my dagger clanking to the floor just out of reach. I was unarmed and with no one to save me I was going to die. The nadder started at the dagger when its eyes suddenly expanded a bit, did it think I threw away my dagger?

Suddenly I noticed its eyes kept trailing off to something and that's when I saw it, a basket of fish that we kept was near the door. It must have been needing to grab some food despite the raid ending so maybe...before I could think of what I was doing I had grabbed the basket of fish and thrown it in front of the dragon with the contents of it spilling out.

it looked at me with round yellow eyes, they weren't the usual terrifying slits but instead seemed almost grateful? no. dragons were cruel beasts they would never but this one isn't killing me despite the circumstances. Its scales were a yellow but at the tips of its wings legs and tails even its head had darkened into a brown, in swirls there were areas of a beautiful green that reminded me of the forest I just left.

I was still admiring its scales when the door burst open with a loud thud and I saw my dad, he took one look at the nadder before lunging. The nadder shrieked in surprised and with a single swift move grabbed the bag of fish but as they left through the back door it took one last look before flying off with an oddly somber look. 

I looked at dad, my heart was pounding from the adrenaline and the earlier encounter as he grabbed my arm to pull me off my feet. I felt numb due to the rapid change in events, I was so unlucky yet when it came to my own life I always managed to get out. 

Dad looked not disappointed like I thought but a bit worried? but his worried look didn't last long as he regained his usual stoick attitude and began the questions "What happened?!" I felt myself freeze up as I realized I had to lie, I didn't like lying but I would get scolded for being in the forest. "I was asleep...in my room! when I heard the nadder come in and it caught me...uhm...off guard!" I was a bad liar but dad was worse at reading me. I wish he was better sometimes.

He looked around the room a bit, probably accessing any damage that was done to the house so if repairs were needed he could get them done swiftly. it seemed like only a few scratches in the wood were left, It felt a bit awkward. Wouldn't he think I was just about to die? I thought I was about to die, is it because its me? Why does he always have to be so stoick.

He gave me a rough pat on the shoulder before taking a breath "Hiccup we need to talk" Oh I hated talks with dad, always about honor and how I failed to act as heir to the chief..."About what...?" It would probably be a scolding session, I didn't want to hear this but if I left I would get in bigger trouble. "Dragon Training, you get your wish. You start early tomorrow so don't be late."

When he spoke all my fears disappeared for the reason of I know what he said and the fact that If I learn well in dragon training maybe I will finally be able to kill dragons and become chief one day! It felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest despite nothing having actually happened. "Thank you dad, I'll... try to make you proud!" I doubt I will but I can still try. 

He grabbed a small empty bad and his axe before heading toward the door but just as he was about to leave he came back as if he remembered something. "Were going on a search for the nest, Ill be back. Probably." Oh. Atleast that means I wont have to return for night.

Dad stayed downstairs while I headed to bed for the night, I felt excited about training yet deep down I felt a worried. I could fail and bring the family to shame or even die, it has happened before to kids who were double my size. I cant tell if I should be excited for dragon training or not, the risks make me worried but the oportunities excite me.

I have been asking about dragon training for a while but as I closed the door to my room I remembered my earlier encounter with the nadder. It hadn't killed me, in fact it spared me despite its opportunity to kill me. Did dragons ever spare people?

I practically ripped off my shoes and shirt, I felt oddly coated in sweat either from the death scare or running I could barely tell. I cant tell if It was because I basically slept all day or if its because of the nadder but every time I closed my eyes I remembered those beautiful amber like eyes that had a hint of intelligence to them. I think I might be the first Viking to ever think a dragon looked even slightly smart, I would sound crazy if I told this to anyone. Maybe I'm going crazy.

It felt like I was in bed for hours just thinking of that simple encounter, I wish it had just attacked me, I wish I was a normal stupid viking.

I got out of bed and slipped into a clean tunic, I slipped into my shoes and put my ear to the door, I heard silence and slowly cracked the door open a bit before stepping out. The stairs creaked with each step and yet there was no one in the house to wake, its times like these it always felt so eerily empty. The only thing I was worried about was if they hadn't left for the nest yet but when I took a look outside the ships were far off in the distance although still noticeable.

I stepped outside into the cool air and headed towards the forge, I kept my pace slow as I had no rush. Although the house was on a hill and was annoying to climb up to, it was simple to climb down.  I passed through the empty streets that seemed to have signs of people in forms of slowly burning out torches or houses still bustling with noise from dinner. As I was nearing the forge my stomach growled, I hesitated but since no one should be at the mead hall at this time I'll be fine.

I changed directions and started climbing the stairs to the mead hall, it didn't take long to get to the top but by the time I did my legs ached. I pushed open the large doors and was met with a black void of a room, there was no torches so it was impossible to see even your hand. I stepped out and grabbed a torch before heading back in, I'll just grab a bowl of food before heading to the forge.

I looked around in the dark room, there was still a few bowls of chicken thighs so I grabbed the biggest one available before heading back out. I walked back down the stairs toward the forge, the village felt empty and it made me feel weirdly paranoid. I managed to get to the forge unharmed either from my mind or from outside forces.

I placed the torch in a holster and put on my apron, Gobber let me use the backroom as my own personal space pretty much so I headed there. Right now I just wanted to sketch designs but it doesn't hurt to put on my apron.

As I felt around for my journal I realized I forgot to grab my knife off the floor, its fine I didn't really need it that much anyway. I pulled out my notebook and began thinking of what to sketch, everything I seemed to build either ended up destroyed for safety or got destroyed due to unfortunate circumstances aka it failing to operate correctly.

As I started to think of ideas my mind went back to that nadders eyes, no matter what I did I couldn't get them out of my mind. I slowly started to sketch out the head and eyes of the nadder, it felt like I needed to get it off my mind and onto paper. I couldn't use color but that didn't stop me to shade in the apposed colors, it had light yellow scales that slowly turned a brown with green swirls that littered the dragon like spots and yellow amber eyes that could entice even a sailor into the sea.

As I started finishing up the drawing I held up the journal, it was a pretty drawing and I was kinda proud of it but no vikings draw. Only bucket but he has said to have lost half his brain years ago, He  I liked the drawing but there was a feeling in my chest that I couldn't pinpoint. "Gobber?" I was startled by the sudden voice and fell out of chair onto a pile of some wood and metal with a loud tumble.

Astrid was out at the front of the forge, I quickly picked myself up and grabbed my journal before stuffing it in my apron. "Hi Astrid, uh Hi Astrid what are you uhm...doing here?" I could never act normal around her, I always fumble it up. she gave an irritated look, did I say something wrong again? "Why are you in the forge so late at night?" She looked suspicious of me which was weird because what could she be suspicious about?

"Just uhm...thinking, couldn't sleep anyway! what are you doing out...so late?" I exited the forge to stand next to her but before I could hear her answer I got a straight punch to the gut. "Because of you we had to work all day putting out fires. Stay out of my way and don't cause trouble." I was still regaining my breath when I realized my journal had fallen onto the ground straight open to the page with the deadly nadder on it.

As I managed to pick myself up from the curl of pain around my stomach I saw my journal in her hand. She looked disgusted and I think that look hurt a lot more then the punch, She closed it then tossed it to me before speaking again "Your drawing is wrong." What? did she see a different drawing or something?

"Nadders eyes aren't that round. Stop playing around and man up, our parents war is about to become ours and we can't play around and draw dragons." She seemed mad, I don't know what expression I'm making but I don't think its a smile.

"I came around cause I thought Gobber might be able to sharpen my axe, how long will that take you to do?" she still had that annoyed face on but she had taken her axe off her back and handed it to me. If I had to be honest after she punched me I just wanted her to leave which was something I have never wanted before, I had came out here to be alone.

I looked at her axe for a second before speaking again"Ill finish it in a minute, shouldn't take that long" My throat came out a bit hoarse due to the punch but If I don't accept I may be given a second punch, she rarely hits me. She has only actually hurt me a few times when I caused problems that directly affected her.

I headed back inside the forge, I was gonna rush the sharpening unlike when I usually do it. Im faster then gobber and most of my works come out pretty nice but that only means I get more work shoved into my hands, I once tried to poorly sharpen something in order to not have to do it as often but all it earned me was a hard bop on the head from gobber.

I started rotating the sharpening block, gobber had it personally made into a spinning wheel so sharpening could go faster. The sharpening went smoothly but Astrid stayed for the entire time, did she not trust me or something? I've sharpened her axe plenty atimes yet she does this no matter what, It makes me feel a bit anxious. When I finished I practically shoved the axe in her arms and shooed her away, she hesitated before swatting my hand off her and walking back towards her house. 

I headed right back to the backroom, Astrids words hung in my mind. What did she mean by the Nadders eyes aren't that round? Unless...have vikings never seen a slightly calm nadder or at least Astrid hasn't? I wonder if I could meet that nadder again.

I want to see its eyes again.

I flipped to a new page in my journal and started sketching out a rough full body nadder sketch, it was hard since I didn't have it right infront of me but I feel it was still partly accurate to how it looked. A yawn escaped my lips and I stretched out my back with a few pops, I kept working on the drawing to the point the torch burned out completely. I barely noticed when I fell asleep.

Chapter Text

I awoke to a smack on the back of the head, as I slowly opened my eyes to the seemingly blinding sun that peered in through outside the forge I realized who woke me. Gobber stood over me and was already walking outside, I sat up and took in the scenery of my backroom. Messy papers scattered the floor and desk with clear signs of laboring hours being shown through small dents and projects strung on paper or made through wood.

I wiped the drool off my face before taking off my apron and setting it down and quickly following gobber, arriving outside told me the true story of the weather today. It was cloudy and the air was humid and stuck to your skin like a mosquito. Gobber isn't the fastest due to his peg leg so I caught up fast to him. "Morning, ready for dragon training?" He was always chipper like this in the morning but I still felt groggy. I have always been a night person but my stomach still ache from the punch and the burn had only finally started to subside in pain a bit. I wanted to lay down on the soft grass in the forest and rest.

How Astrid had been acting last night bothered me, it felt out of nowhere but now that I've had some time to think about it, Astrid wasn't acting too out of character last night. She has always hated people who bring down others and the fact I got no consequence must have annoyed her, does she think I'm spoiled?

I feel like I'm going crazy with how haywire my brain has been these past few days. she wasn't like the others but she was still on the same level as fishlegs, she watched but while she could have stopped the bullying she...didn't...gosh why do I even still like her?

I hate the fact that if she or fishlegs were to get bullied, no if any of them were I would probably try and help...why can't I just be a normal bulky and stupid viking.

I managed to crash into a fence and fell into a sheep pen, I caught myself by my hands barely so as not to reopen my chin scab but my hands now had small scrapes from the small rocks that littered the ground near the sheep pen, gobber gave a small laugh before telling me to hurry up. I hurried my pace, even if I did have a lot on my mind none of those things would matter if I did even slightly well in the ring. 

I don't know much about the people of this village and honestly I don't care too much either but I still know enough to understand that if I fail to kill dragons in the future then I might get exiled if I keep screwing things up with my bad luck.

Gobber and I started to encroach upon the kill ring and I slowly started to take in my surroundings again, I never liked the kill ring. I know vikings are supposed to find enjoyment in big bouts of violence but it always made me feel sick as a kid...no, it still does.

When we walked into the circular ring I saw the other kids, the twins and snotlout already giggling at my arrival. They probably planned to push me In front of the dragons blast or something, it didn't do any good thinking about it. 

The kill ring had a few wooden barriers in it that wouldn't block much unless you crouched beside it, shields littered the floor of the entire ring with blood splatters that had no pattern in where it could be found.

The others already had a conversation going, I heard ruffnut say -"auling like on my shoulder or back" which was followed by Astrid "Yeah, its only fun if you get a scar out of it though" ah. pain. everyone's most favorite thing in the world! "Yeah, no kidding right. pain. love it!"

I was immediately met with a reply, thankfully it was in words and not a punch. "Oh great. who let him in?!" Tuffnut was a purposeful chaos maker yet I was essentially liked around the same amount as him by the adults, although I was not equally liked by the others our age. Gobber seemed to read the room and practically cut tuffnut off when he spoke "Lets get started! The recruit who does the best will win the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village." 

I felt myself sigh from his words, killing a dragon felt so far away from reality nowadays. Suddenly I realized why the others were giggling earlier, I forgot to grab a weapon. 

As Gobber finished talking he started leading me over to the other kids with a hand on my shoulder "Don't worry. You're small and weak...that will make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more viking like teens." It was supposed to reassure me but it only made me feel worse, I knew I was small and weak but was I really not even a viking to dragons?

He placed me in the line of teens, I was on the far left edge with fishlegs to my right. Gobber was explaining the dragons "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species that you will learn to fight." he gestured to one of the wooden cages, I had actually helped build most of the locks on this stubborn island.

"The deadly nadder" Fishlegs then mumbled something about speed and armor? "The hideous zippleback" Fishlegs was louder this time so I actually heard him "Plus eleven stealth. times two" what? gobber spoke again "The monstrous nightmare" That cage was rattling from how hard the dragon inside was banging on the walls "Firepower fifteen" I think fishlegs may be crazier then me. 

"The terrible terror" then once again followed "Attack eight, venom twelve" gobber finally had enough and yelled out loud "Can you stop that?!...and the gronckle" fishlegs whispered something to me but I couldn't hear it, is my hearing getting worse? but gobber started to get ready to pull the lever to open the gronckle cage, snotlout spoke up before he did though "Wait! aren't you going to teach us first?" but gobber has a saying "I believe in learning on the job" gosh the amount of times I've been burned in the forge cause of that stupid idea of his. 

He set free the gronckle and it burst out in a quick buzz of its wings, it crashed straight into the stone wall and starting eating stone rocks "Today is about survival, if you get blasted you're dead! Quick, what's the first thing you need?" before I thought of what to do, words came out of my mouth

"A doctor?!" then fishlegs followed with a high pitched squeal about plus five speed when Astrid ran towards one of the many abandoned shields on the ground and shouted "a Shield!" Gosh she is so cool...

"Shields. Go!" I attempted to run for a nearby shield but it was heavier then I thought and I dropped it once before getting it back and returning to running away. I just wanted to get out of this with my life right now and minimal injuries. 

The gronckle chased fishlegs around which lead to fishlegs screaming all the while the twins were loudly arguing about a shield. Suddenly Ruffnut bashed tuffnut with the shield before it got blasted in a loud shattering of wood and metal. I could barely make it out but I heard gobber over fishlegs screams "Tuffnut and Ruffnut, Out!" gosh is that old man trying to get us killed?! 

"Shields are good for another thing! Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragons aim" The others started banging their weapons against their shields so in a matter of quick thinking I banged the shield on the floor instead which resulted in a slightly louder sound but not enough to be noticed. The gronckles flight started to become more wonky and it was slowly losing altitude but the thing I noticed the most was its eyes were moving around unsteadily and it was looking almost like it was experiencing...nausea? 

"All dragon have a limited number of shots, how many does a gronckle have?" snotlout dodged a near tackle from the gronckle in a sloppy roll and quickly spat out "Five?!" only for fishlegs to correct him "No, six!" but honestly I wished everyone stopped talking, as I looked around the kill ring I saw a wooden barrier scooted right up to the wall that I hadn't noticed when I first entered. Gobber spoke again "Correct, six! That's one for each of you" Once he finished talking fishlegs raised his shield in a small act of celebration only to have it blasted out of his hand.

"Fishlegs out!" and with another scream he left the arena but that's finally when gobber unfortunately noticed me "Hiccup! get in there!" A blast hit right next to me and I could feel the skin melting heat slowly dissipate, I quickly retreated back behind the wooden barrier again. 

I took a glance out and saw that snotlout was behind Astrid, was he saying something? whatever it was he was too far for me too hear, I slowly got out of my earlier hiding spot. I just need to get at least a little hit on the gronckle, I need to do something! 

Astrid moved away from Infront of snotlout which caused snotlout to be hit with a direct blast from the gronckles blast, he gave a short yip before hitting the floor hard. Suddenly Astrid was Infront of me but before I could think I heard the clank of the chains that open the front gate, I looked toward the direction and there was gobber. He seemed to be waiting till the match officially ended to put the gronckle back.

Suddenly Astrid returned back into my vision and suddenly I felt the heat of a direct blast shatter my shield. I took a running start away from the gronckle but when I turned around I was face to face with its sharp teeth and as I tried to move I felt my back hit the wall and the gronckle slowly gathered a blast. Oh gosh am I gonna die?

Gobber used his hook to drag the mouth of the gronckle away just in time that I kept my head intact. He shoved it back into the cage roughly before turning to me "Remember, a dragon will always...always go for the kill." 

I was walking through the forest, thankfully I didn't get any injuries during dragon training but I was close to almost dying. That kinda stuff has happened to me a lot over the years but it still shakes me up each time, I pulled out my journal from my pocket to draw the scenery when I bumped into a rock. at first I didn't think much of it till I saw a small area where vines covered and it seemed like there was an entrance to...something, I could see light but that was mostly it.

I pushed past the vines and entered, it looked like a tighter squeeze then it was and almost immediately opened into a ledge over looking a beautiful cove with a lake. I took in the for a second before sitting down, I started to sketch the high rock walls along with the small waterfall all the way to the vines and moss covering the trees. 

It was gorgeous but as I admired my pencil slipped from my grip and fell off the ledge before I could grab it. I took a glance down, it wasn't that far down but I would definitely break at least one toe if I jumped. 

I looked around before seeing a small area where It looked like I might be able to go down into the cove, It was a short rock slope that was essentially a staircase that ended with me squeezing between two large smooth rocks. When I got down I almost immediately saw my pencil a grabbed it again, I looked around for a place to sit and saw a small lone rock on the sand.

I walked toward it but before I could I felt myself get tackled to the ground, I gasped in horror and shock as I saw what had pinned me down with its large claw. a pitch black dragon with eyes that I could only describe as beautiful, no...as alive. 

It gave a low growl and in that moment I realized what had me tackled to the ground, the night fury. 

My head felt like it was spinning and I couldn't tell if it was confusion or from the impact of hitting the ground but my head hurt. The night fury was never seen and never stole yet here it was Revealing itself, was it a territorial type dragon? Suddenly it put more weight on the claw on my chest and I felt another breath escape my lips, it started to sniff my tunic before licking my side? 

It took me a minute to realize it was trying to get the fish jerky that I had stored in my pocket to snack on my walk, I started to move my hand when it growled again. I paused and tried to move slower this time and then finally I took out the jerky and held out the small handful I had. It scorfed it down in a single gulp, I thought I lost my hand for a second when It clamped around my entire hand but instead of teeth I felt my teeth graze against gums?

"Huh...Toothless, could've sworn you had..." Once it grabbed its stolen snack, it seemed to suddenly unsheathed its teeth from its gums almost and immediatly started chewing the jerky. It seemed to remember it still had me under its paw when it seemed to be gearing up gas in the back of its throat, ah Im gonna die. 

It only roared at me, so loud it felt like my ears were left ringing as it quickly burst into the air and flew off.

I sat there still, I want to see its eyes again. 

Why was it here? why did it pounce in the first place, surely not for a little handful of fish jerky? a dragon of its size would need tons of fish a day to sustain its body..."GAH!!" I screamed out loud, usually I try to stay quite but I was so annoyed! Dragons have been acting seemingly outside of what we know and I don't know what to think, I can't even ask it questions and yet here comes the literal night fury! 

People suck. and you know what? lets add dragons to that list too, dragons AND people suck. 

I sat on the sand for a bit longer before heading to leave, I still felt shaken up but I think yelling helped get my frustrations out. I looked back to where the dragon had flew off, it was still gone but just like the nadder I found myself wanting to see it again. I wanted too feel its scales and most of all I wanted too see its eyes, a dirty forest green that had specks of an almost orange brown on the edges of their pupil. Its eyes had slightly dilated just like the nadder when I gave it the fish jerky, they weren't completely dilated and they still had that sharp shape but they seemed so alive. so human.

I found myself practically sprinting back to the house, I was running over large tree roots only to stumble over a log and pull myself back up. I had made it just to the edge when I was alone with my thoughts again, two dragons who could have gone for the kill. Two dragons who let me live.

I felt truly pathetic, did dragons think I was so weak that they wouldn't kill me? is that what it has been all along, god I hope not. I hate the fact I feel weaker then I ever have despite nothing being done to make me feel weak. I tripped again near the edge of the forest when I felt a droplet of water hit my nose, in an instant it practically started pouring. I was supposed to meet with the other kids in the meadhall on gobbers orders but I was muddy and tired and I would rather deal with gobber then the other kids at the moment.

I headed in through the backdoor of the house, the door creaked from my entry but as always it was empty. I slowly trecked muddy footsteps up the creaky wooden stairs and made my way to my room, I opened the door before slipping off my shoes and shirt and flopping onto the bed. My mind was swirling with thoughts and a pounding headache but I thought of one thing before I fell to sleep.

Will I ever be able to meet it again?

Chapter Text

When I woke up I was in a cold sweat and my mouth felt dry, the room was dark and even my window had no sign of light from outside. I pulled off the covers and felt around on the desk beside my bed looking for the candle I kept, soon I felt the cold wax of the candle on my fingertips. I tried feeling around the desk more for some flint and steel to light the candle but with how dark it was my search proved fruitless.

I placed the candle back down and got up from my bed, there might be some flint downstairs but as I sat up the bandages on my burn loosened ever so much that the burns were slightly exposed to the fabric of my pants. I flinched a bit from the unexpected contact and starting heading towards where I was assuming my bedroom door was, I needed to change my bandages aswell it seemed.

I fumbled around my room for a minute before coming upon the door, I lightly pushed it open and saw the flickering of fire light. The fire was slowly dying in the fire place and the few areas still alight were giving off enough light to see, I slowly descended the stairs and headed toward the firelight. 

I grabbed two logs and used them to relit the flame and after stoking it for a bit I stopped and started rummaging through the cabinet for the bandages. I found it but there was only around two rewraps left in total, I would likely have to visit gothi for some new wrappings. 

I went and grabbed some leftover thread and a needle, if I wanted these bandages to last through dragon training I am gonna have to secure them. although I'm not the best at sewing, I know enough to fix rips in my clothes or my shoes.

I sat down closer to the fire, with how early it was at morning it was still pretty cold and I needed the light to view the injury. When I saw it I felt myself recoil a bit, it was mostly healed but still had ugly bits.

The burn itself was light and would heal quickly the only problem was it was over a large area on my lower left leg, I would usually put some cream from gothi to help it heal but the little amount we had had run out days prior to the last raid. I used some leftover beer that dad hadn't taken with him on the search to clean the burn first, it stung but I just had to take it slow.

I put the first wrapping on it, starting with the top and slowly going down until it was double wrapped. Once I had enough I separated the remaining bandages and got the thread and needle ready, I first had to put the thread through the needle point. The needles on berk had to be specially ordered due to how fine they needed to be in order to sew clothes, I finally got the thread through the small hole and slowly penetrated the first point in the bandage. 

I pricked myself with the needle a few times and the rubbing of the bandages were irritating the burn but I kept going, If I didn't finish this now I would struggle during dragon training due to my injury. I'm already the weakest and I need to atleast not let a single thing make me any worse then I could be.

Finally I finished fully sewing the bandage on, I still needed to eat breakfast as I haven't had a good meal in a few days and my stomach was making its presence known. I slowly got up and tried out the bandage a bit before heading into the small storage area where we kept some raw fish and herbs along with a few potatoes.

I could actually cook pretty well due to the fact that dad is inept so he mainly eats with the village in the meadhall, when I was younger I would join him but as I grew less liked I grew to prefer to just cook my food at home. I grabbed 2 fish and some spices, we had some animal fat left over so I grabbed that aswell along with a big potato. Before I left I remembered yesterday, I decided to grab some fish jerky. Just incase.

I just boiled some spices in water with the animal fat before descaling the fish and gutting it. I had gotten pretty adept at prepping fish for the kitchen and nowadays I find it to taste better then the fish in the meadhall. As I dropped the two fish in the water I took the fish bones and used some leftover beer too clean them, They could be used to make some tools and although they are not as good as the real thing they can still help if your in a predicament.

I skinned the potatoes and cut them up with the kitchen knife, I had actually made it myself and did a few engravings but dad didn't care too much about things I made. When I put all the ingredients in the pot, I noticed the fire had started to lightly flicker out slightly. I pulled out the metal stoker and prodded the fire till it was back to its normal glory, I grabbed a candle and lit it before heading upstairs.

I needed to get dressed for the day and change my pants, they were dirty with sweat and dried mud after all that has happened over the past few days. When I got upstairs I realized I had accidentally pushed my blanket off the bed in my earlier scuttle and the flint and steel was actually on the floor near my desk this entire time. 

I pushed out of my pants before grabbing a clean, dark green tunic and a pair of brown pants that had seen some better days. Most of my clothes didn't fit the best, they were always too big and while they gave opportunities to grow into them but they were very clearly built for bulky kids and I was the very opposite of that.

When I finally got dressed I grabbed my fur vest that I used during these days, it might get warm but it had pretty big pockets so it was handy to keep on. I slipped on my shoes before heading downstairs, the soup was still cooking so I sat by the fire waiting till it was done.

I heard the bubbling of the water and got up to check on the soup, it smelled good and it filled the house with a feeling of warmth. It was often a foreign feeling in this house with how often I was gone or just didn't have many good experiences, well I wouldn't say I had any bad ones but it was definitely lacking any good ones. Its just a house honestly.

I grabbed one of the wooden bowls and spoons, the fish was still whole so I scooped both into my bowl before breaking it up then I used the bowl itself to get the broth. I set down my bowl onto the table before taking a thick piece of cloth and using it to lift the pot off the open fire, I didn't want to overcook the broth. 

I went back over to the table and sat down, the soup was still hot and I when I scooped some soup into the spoon I had to blow to make sure I didn't burn my tongue. 

The soup itself tasted good but sometimes I wish that I could eat it with dad, he is out on the search but I know that even if he was here then we wouldn't be eating together. If I ever complained he would tell me to probably toughen up or that its his duty as chief. 

I drank the soup one sip at a time, it was pretty good especially with the animal fat I added. 

I was sleepy due to early morning when I remembered something, I had forgotten my journal in the forge. Ill have to visit before dragon training so I can grab that and my axe, gobber wouldn't be happy with me if I forgot my weapon for the first two days of training. Gobber had practically been my uncle all my life despite having no blood relation between each other, other then dad my only blood relative is snotlout and his dad but that doesn't mean he holds back his punches against me.

When I was younger I was friendly with the kids, even snotlout but slowly he had started pulling away from me and had even gotten physical. It started with games that weren't truly games, chase the hiccup that would always end with me being beat up or kill the dragon. I would always play the dragon.

I sighed and put down my spoon, I needed to do laundry soon and fix up some tears in my shoes. I could do that in the cove I had found yesterday, It had a fresh water source and was hidden so I could do it without snotlout and the other kids finding me. The dragon is probably gone, it had flown off almost immediately after so I doubt I would ever see it again.

I had some fish jerky in my pocket still, its not my favorite but I still enjoy having a snack every now and then. I got up from my seat and put my bowl next to the pot, Ill need to clean these later today so I can cook dinner but that can wait I need to head out so I can get to the forge and not be late for dragon training. 

I cracked the door open a bit before heading outside and heading down the usual path towards the forge, the sky was still dark but the sun was visible in the horizon as it slowly rised up following the hour. It was bright enough to see without a torch yet dark enough that something could probably hide in the dark of the shadows, it was warm but still had a cool breeze with a slightly cloudly sky. In total it was a nice day for berk and would likely leave as winter comes, hopefully we catch enough fish to not completely starve.

When I got to the forge the sun was already completely above the sea, I crept into the forge and headed toward the backroom where I saw my journal. It was closed near an almost completely burned out candle, exactly where I left it the day before I got dragged off into training. 

I pocketed the journal and grabbed a small dagger that needed a slight sharpening but would do well enough during dragon training, I put the dagger into a slightly oversized sheath and put it into my vest pocket. As I headed out of the forge, I could already see some people waking up and heading out of their homes to do their daily jobs. As I traveled to the killring I could feel the light stares of some people, I usually woke up pretty early the problem was that I just never came out of the house this early in the morning. I hated their stares of disdain.

As I walked toward the kill ring I heard some loud footsteps that seemed to actively be growing louder. "Catch the hiccup!" Snotlout yelled just as he lunged forward, arms out to grab me. I felt my stomach drop.

If I got beat up right before training I could end up getting hurt worse by the dragon, I couldn't get caught. I practically screamed for my feet to move in my mind and when they finally did it felt as if they moved too slow, I could hear the twins laughter behind me and snotlouts rough steps. I stumbled a bit but used my hands to push me back up and turn the corner on a house, I could see the bridge to the killring was near the only problem was it was a straight line and I often lost in speed when it came to the twins.

I still kept running when suddenly fishlegs came out from the side of a house lunging for me, although he never personally hit me he did watch and play the games. I tripped right at the moment he was about to catch me and I rolled across the ground before swiftly picking myself up, I felt my hands sting from the small rocks that littered the ground but I kept running despite how much my side hurt from fatigue.

I had finally gotten to the bridge but I could actively hear the twins catching up, I took a short look behind me and saw fishlegs and snotlout were panting while astrid slowly walked but the twins were hot on my train and laughing maniacally. 

I had gotten pretty close to the killring when I saw gobber, he was opening the front iron gate and had just turned around to see the twins chasing me. god I hope he makes them stop, he usually didn't intervene directly if they weren't getting physical but he would often make them stop if they were.

"Oy! stop playing around so early in the morning, we got dragon training!" I practically collapsed from how tired I was, my side hurt from fatigue and my hands were stinging. I was practically gasping for air when the twins came around in front of me, they were huffing but still had their usual demeaner.

"AHhh...we..." ruffnut took another break before speaking again. "didn't even...finish!" He went back to gasping for air when ruffnut spoke. "Yeahh...I was...sooo gonna win though" she started to have a bout of fatigued giggles that made me feel uncomfortable to be locked in the killring with her.

Snotlout, astrid and fishlegs all arrived around a similar time although snotlout and fishlegs were breathing a bit harder then usual, Gobber led us into the killring as usual.

All over were large wooden walls that acted as a small maze, Gobber came by my side and put it hand on my shoulder. "You were supposed to meet up with the others at the meadhall, help me clean the dragon cages for today." I felt myself sigh, the dragon cages were notoriously dirty and often blood covered. It would cause a pause in my plans to wash the dirt laundry but it shouldn't take up too much time.

"AAAGH!" I was currently being chased by a deadly nadder, I turned the corner and heard the sound of quills hit the wooden walls. "Today it's all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet so your job is to be quicker and lighter!" As I looked up to find gobber I instead made eye contact with the nadder who had jumped up to stand on top of the temporary walls.

Suddenly I heard its squawks get farther, it found someone else because I heard fishlegs screech then as he ran I heard him yell "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" I was on the far side of the kill ring when I heard the nadder behind me, I started running when I heard gobber speak again "Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one." I suddenly saw the twins run toward me and end up infront of the nadder, breaking off its stride for me.

"Hide in it and strike" I felt tired from all the running and I had failed to grab a shield before he started the round, I was completely defenseless. I could hear the twins squabbling as usual but I couldn't make out entirely of what they were saying, the walls were seemingly masking the sound from where I was.

Suddenly I heard the sound of the nadder spewing fire and gobber spoke again although this time he seemed to be picking something out of his teeth with how he was talking. "Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot? not so much."

I had met up with astrid and snotlout and was essentially running with them, snotlout seemed upset about it but he wasn't directly harming me so it seemed to be going well so far. Suddenly astrid and snotlout were crouching just before a corner and in a rough motion snotlout pulled me into a crouch position aswell. I could hear it sniffing and the sound of its claws as it trecked across the smooth stone.

Astrid suddenly rolled with snotlout following but I hesitated, what if I couldn't make it? They were already running so without thinking I rolled along with them, it was sloppy and the nadder noticed almost immediately. 

The nadder opened its mouth, attempting to bite me although I had managed to run away just at the right moment. I watched as the nadder flew back up to the wooden walls and was surveying the area underneath looking for one of us, were those other dragons I had met before just anomalies? It screeched and jumped down, I wasn't near where it had jumped but I could hear snotlout say something.

a loud thunk before I heard the sound of the nadder using its fire again, Astrid rapidly turned the corner with the nadder chasing her and instead of turning towards me it jumped on a wooden wall causing it to crash to the floor right next to me. I watched as it ran off after her and I heard the rapid succession of all the wooden walls crashing to the floor as the nadder ran to catch astrid.

The other kids bumped into me as they ran past as I was about to start following I watched as astrid screamed my name from behind, as I looked behind the wooden wall behind me was actively crashing with astrid on top of it. 

My head hit the floor and for a second it felt like I was seeing stars, when I finally managed to stop being dizzy and lift my head up astrid was glaring at me. Without speaking a word she turned around and left, the twins and snotlout were giggling as they walking out of the killring following astrid.

Gobber came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder "ready to clean some dragon cages?" he chuckled before using his hook hand to grab the back of my vest and pull me up to my feet. My head hurt from hitting the stone floor but thankfully I was still stable although a little dizzy.

Gobber gave me a bucket of water and an old brush, it obviously had a lot of use over the years with how the bristles were spread. Gobber led me to the back of the killring which surprisingly had a second entrance to each of the dragon cages. "Aight, my job is to let the beasties out of their cages in the ring whilst you scrub inside the cages." He laughed a bit to himself before heading back out to the front, there was a peep hole that could be slid open and close to see if the dragons are inside.

Eventually I heard a call from gobber signaling to go inside, I opened the door to see a dirty room with grime and shit. I could hear gobber on the other side, he was yelling although it was more of a viking yell rather then one of panic.

I sighed before dipping the brush into the water and getting started on cleaning, honestly it was disgusting to see the crust of poo and dead fish astray inside the cage. Even the prisons were cleaner then this and we often kept outcasts there, despite our strong hatred towards dragons isn't this treatment a bit too cruel? Thankfully the dragon that resided in this cage seemed to only relieve itself in a single corner but it still didn't help the fact there was rotten fish corpses strewn all over the ground.

My back hurt from bending over and having to scrub the grime off in hard motions, it took a lot to get some spots off but eventually my progress started to show.

My back ached and my knees hurt from having to bend over, although it didn't take too long to clean all of the cages it still took longer then I would like. I was walking back up the hill to my home, it felt like each step was making my feet get stuck in mud, each step hurt with how tired I felt but I still needed to do the laundry so I kept moving. 

Eventually I got to my front door and slowly entered the house, I collapsed onto the chair with a sigh before taking a few bites of the fish jerky. I got up and grabbed an empty fish basket, it was cleaned out so it is fine to put my clothes into. I headed upstairs with the basket and shoved my dirty clothes into it before grabbing some thread, the needle that I needed to sew was downstairs so Ill grab that as well as some extra fish jerky for the trip to the cove.

I headed downstairs with the full basket and grabbed the needle before heading into the storage and grabbing around two handfuls of fish jerky. I started my trek into the forest, it was still quite nice as the clouds had mostly cleared by this point and the trees were filtering the light beautifully.

since I was walking slowly I had only stumbled although I managed to not completely fall, after what happened this morning I needed this walk. I took a few bites of the fish jerky, the toughness of it has never been my favorite but it still takes good and is nice to have for a snack.

I finally came upon the cove entrance again, it took me a moment to find it due to it being covered by vines all over but when I did I swiftly entered. I was worried for a second that the basket would fit through the cove entrance but thankfully it was just a quick squeeze. When I got through I was reminded of the beauty of the cove and the memory of the night fury, I quickly headed down to the small lake. I sat near it and took off the basket but as I got ready to get the clothes out I saw some movement in the water, as I looked closer I noticed some smaller fish swimming in the shallows. 

Despite all that has happened today I found myself smiling due to the calmness of the situation, I pulled out the clothes from the basket and sorted them through pants and tunics aswell as socks. I washed the tunics first, most were of forest green colors and often were caked with mud although some had pieces of blood and tears due to snotlouts...beatings. gosh why did I have to remember that now.

I continued to slowly wash the clothes, I took my time when scrubbing the dirt off of them but I wasn't able to fully get the stains from the blood out. Thankfully the stains just resembled a darker patch on the pieces of clothes so it shouldn't cause too may problems although even if I was wearing a bloody shirt it would likely just cause rumors that I have starting to fake injuries to seek attention. I felt my mood darken a bit at this realization, it hurt to feel so disliked.

I had finished washing everything so I laid it on the rocks in the sun in order to dry them, I will have to bring some string in order to hang the clothes next time. All the clothes were laid out so I sat down and took off my shoes, I hadn't realized but they were roughed up more then I thought and the stitching was breaking in some areas along with dirt caking them all over. I pulled out the needle and thread and slowly got to work, I fixed them up and it didn't take very long at all. 

Once I finished I cupped some water in my hand and started to slowly scrub the dirt off of them, soon they were clean and back to their former glory. I went to check on the shirts to see if they had dried, I could only sew up the tears until they had but they thankfully were drying fast.

As I turned my back to go sit back down I heard a low growl, one I've heard before.

I slowly turned around to see the night fury, before I could think I reached into my pockets and grabbed an entire handful of fish jerky. I brought it as a snack but deep down I hoped to see it again, I wanted to draw it and I wanted to atleast learn a little more about it.

It slowly approached me, completely crouched and back arched as it trecked over my drying clothes and slowly over to my hand. It had its mouth open with its teeth sheathed until it suddenly retracted its neck and growled, I lightly lifted my vest to reveal my dagger. I grabbed it with the tip of my fingers before dropping it but it suddenly motioned for me to throw it away, I used my foot to kick it just hard enough that it fell into the water with a small plop.

Suddenly its entire demeanor seemed to change, it was obviously not fully relaxed but its pupils were soft squares and its eyes were a calming green that seemed to have a cedar oak mixed just around the edge of the pupil. It stood in a position reminiscent of almost a human like sit that was oddly cute? I reached out the handful of fish jerky again and with its back arched it slowly approached with its teeth completely sheathed before quickly licking up the fish jerky from my hand, when it came down to it. I would rather not have my hands covered in dragon saliva.

It licked its lips with its big forked tongue before redirecting its attention back to me, its eyes shrinked slightly before it suddenly started sniffing me. I walked backward until I finally tripped and I felt my back hit a rock "No, no..nooo...I don't have any more!" It was so close that I could feel its breath on me, god my heart was beating fast and at this point it was pure fear. Suddenly it seemed to start gagging? It quickly gagged up a half eaten fish right onto my lap, guess I have one more tunic to wash.

It slowly got up on its back legs before plopping down similar to a cat, trader Johann once brought a cat for trade although no one got it I was able to watch it for a bit. The night fury just sat there and watched me...? 

Suddenly it looked at the fish then back at me, oh nooooo... I felt myself sigh before I slowly took a bite out of the raw and half digested fish. God I'm gonna vomit.

I showed it the fish again, mouth still full until it made a swallowing motion. This dragon must have a personal vendetta against me, I gagged a bit before finally forcing the fish down. I looked at the night fury again, it...he seemed slightly pleased so I simply gave a smile.

He slowly revealed the inside mouth more until he made a derpy smile that honestly was quite cute despite him being able to kill me at any moment. I slowly got up from where I was sat and reached out my hand but it suddenly unsheathed his teeth and growled before flying off to the top of the cove. 

He looked at me again before flying off.

oh my gosh I forgot to draw him. augh! Why did I have to scare him away, I feel like an idiot but I guess I shouldn't beat myself up too much. I mean he could've eaten me the second he saw me yet instead of just taking the food he coughed up food and made me eat it, was he caring for me or was it similar to a transaction for him?

How intelligent are dragons, this obviously proves they aren't simply mindless beasts? why are the dragons even attacking us, deep in the archipelago while dragon attacks are rare they are often only from singular dragons and not like flocks that attack in coordination. So what is causing them to flock and attack?

I headed back over to my clothes, they were completely dry now so I went and grabbed the thread and needle and got ready to sew the rips and tears on the clothes.

It was already sunset when I had finished, I got up from my spot on the floor and then in a big stretch I popped my back. I had just finished the sewing and my hands hurt bad, I went and sat on a smooth rock.

There was a small stick next to the rock so I picked it up and started drawing a rough sketch of the...of toothless, yeah that's a pretty good name. I draw the odd ear flaps that seemed to show their emotions along with its rigid face when suddenly I heard a loud thump behind me, I knew it was toothless based on how the footsteps sounded. despite being the offspring of lightning and death itself he wasn't being too stealthy despite me being right here.

Suddenly he came up behind me just above my shoulder, he seemed to be watching me draw as I slowly drew the square pupils and finished the small sketch in the sand. Toothless in one quick burst flew into the trees above and with a quick crunch he came out with a large stick in his mouth. He started drawing...squiggles? he was drawing something but no, this is huge. This is the biggest proof of all that dragons aren't just stupid beasts, they are intelligent and gentle animals.

It took a bit but toothless finished drawing and despite getting hit in the head with the leaves of the branches a few times I didn't care. I got up from sitting and watched as he dropped the large branch, I took a step forward but he suddenly growled.

I looked down and realized I stepped on one of the lines and as fast as I could I picked my foot up and the growling immediately stopped. "alright, sounds good..." I would feel sad if someone ruined my work even if it was simply a small drawing in the sand, Toothless warbled and slowly watched as I stepped around the drawing. I was paying full attention to not stepping on the lines when I suddenly felt warm air hit my back.

I turned around and saw I was only a few inches away from touching the chest of toothless, I felt myself freeze but not in fear but in excitement. Toothless looked down at me with a small warble. "Hey... Toothless" I slowly outstretched my hand and he sheared away for a second with a small growl, I pulled my hand back a bit before turning my head away and outstretching my hand fully. 

My eyes were closed and I could die at any moment if it decided to kill me, yet it didn't. 

Instead I felt warm scales hit my hand. 

It slowly pulled away before giving a short almost kind warble and flying off in one quick burst of speed.

I slowly walked up the stairs of the tower, the other kids were already there and eating so I sat on the only empty chair left and grabbed one of the sticks holding a fish. I wasn't really in a mood to eat but gobber had seemingly finished a story "-and with one twist, he took my whole arm and swallowed it whole!" Oh gosh, ew.

"I saw the look on his face, I was delicious!" that's disgusting. "He must have passed the word, because it wasn't even a month till another took my leg" I didn't vomit after eating that fish but now I will after hearing that, why must gobber do this...Fishlegs suddenly spoke up which wasn't common but when he did it often ended with him being the butt of the joke

"Isn't weird to think your hand was inside a dragon? l-like if your mind was still in control of it then you could have killed a dragon by crushing its heart." what??? Snotlout suddenly spoke up which actually made sure that they forgot about fishlegs weird comment from earlier "I swear, Im so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and beautiful foot. I'll chop off the arms and legs of every dragon I fight, with my face" Furthur proof snotlout is an idiot.

"Mhmm It's the wings and the tails you really want, if a dragon can't fly. It cant get away. a Downed dragon is a dead dragon." I don't know how to feel about that, is it weird to feel a bit somber over hearing of dragon deaths? Maybe Toothless helped me think differently but what happens if I can't kill dragons? 

I got up without eating the fish and started walking down the tower, usually I would head home now yet I wanted to go to the cove. I already put up my clothes from earlier so I had no reason to go home, I could simply...sleep in the cove.

I started out at walking but as I remembered all that happened I started jogging and slowly broke into a full run. I want to get away from the contempt and stares. even if its simply an afternoon. 

Chapter Text

I was awoke by the rising sun shining directly in my eye, I got up expecting my dark bedroom but instead I was shown the beauty of the cove before me. I felt myself sigh but unlike all the times before this it was a sigh of relief, even if there was sand on my clothes and hair but I found myself feeling happy to awake here. 

Off in the distance I made eye contact with toothless, he slowly got up from where he was sitting and heading to where I was. I hadn't realized Toothless came over last night, I fell asleep practically the second I entered the cove so he must've come by during the night. Is Toothless nocturnal? It would make more sense due to his dark scales that could be cloaked in the night sky.

I slowly got up from my seat and watched as sand fell off me, I brushed off the back of my clothes but I still felt slightly grainy in some areas. I looked over to toothless, he suddenly outstretched his front and back legs and arched his back. "Like a cat, huh" Toothless gave a large yawn before plopping down into a shaded area of the cove and laying down, perhaps I was right about the nocturnal theory.

I started to head out from the cove, while our relationship isn't the strongest it may be the only thing that is truly friendly to me on this island...well I guess that's an unfair thing to say because I still have gobber. I was about to head out when I remembered, we didn't have dragon training today. Dragon training was only on the first two days of the week so I was free, the other kids wouldn't find me here. It was complete luck I found this cove and yet I explored these woods for years, It was completely hidden to those that don't even know the forest.

I turned around and sat back down, toothless gave a confused warble when he saw me return. I would get bored quickly if I just sat here so the first thing I did was take off my pants and tunic along with my boots, I would need my dagger in order to complete what I planned but it was still in the water. 

When I took the first step I immediately shivered from the cold, it wasn't as Icey as the ocean of berk but that doesn't mean it wasn't chilly. I slowly etched around the water slowly, by now toothless was at the edge and was lightly cooing at me, he must think me a fool. 

After a few short minutes of light sifting through the mud I eventually found my dagger, I raised it in the air in celebration. "Found it!" Toothless seemed slightly unsatisfied with me going back for my dagger, I was still wet but I found myself lightly shivering due to the cold. Toothless lightly crouched near me before lightly sitting down behind me, I gladly sat down and made sure to keep the dagger where toothless could see it.

The dark scales were warm as if there was a calm fire lit deep inside, I almost fell asleep until I remembered why I got my dagger out of the water. I slowly got up and got redressed, toothless was lightly...purring with his eyes closed in contentment. I grabbed a chunk of wood from the earlier branch toothless used earlier before heading back to toothless and reseating myself, I grabbed my dagger and slowly got to work carving. I wasn't the best but I could always get better, it would just take practice.

I carved the chunk into a more cylindrical shape before slowly hollowing it out then at the end I added a curved cut then another cut that took a slight big chunk out. My goal was to make a dragon call although it would likely take months too actually work how I want it too, I slowly breathed through the hole and it caused a short and high whistling sound. Toothless immediately woke with a sharp growl, I showed him the whistle and let him sniff it a bit. 

He seemed interested and stayed awake to watch me slowly attempt to change the internal structure to make a different sound, I wanted to be able to recreate toothless sounds but I doubt it will sound exact.

I gave another blow and this time it came out more rumbled almost like what I would think baby babble for a dragon would sound like. Toothless ear...flaps? raised in what I would assume is surprise, he gave a low warble that seemed to end in a coo. "Its going to be a dragon call, I thought it might be fun." He curiously turned his head, I couldn't exactly tell his emotions. I was used to reading humans but I think I got the basics down on reading toothless so far.

I tried to make another improvement but the wood couldn't take it anymore and snapped, I lightly put it back down and got up to grab another piece of wood but toothless used his tail to lightly knock me down. He lightly nudged the broken whistle back to me. "Its broken bud" I showed him the split between the wood then gave a light blow which resulted in nothing but air spewing outs of the crack.

Toothless watched me carefully as I got up and grabbed a few pieces of wood from the large branch before sitting back down, I grabbed a lot more then I would need so I could make multiple when they inevitably broke.

I was about to start carving the first one when my stomach gave a loud growl, toothless gave a small surprised look before sniffing my stomach a bit. I felt myself blush from embarrassment before lightly pushing his head away, I got up and put some sticks from the tree in the cove into a small pile.

I needed a fire so I could cook some fish and once I finished my pile of sticks I set some small rocks in a ring around it so that it wouldn't spread, I edged for toothless to light the fire but he only gave a confused warble. Eventually after a lot of charades I managed to get him to light it with a quick...blast? unlike most dragons it was more of a controlled and small explosion rather then the usual raging fire they spew.

After awhile I thought about how to get some fish, I took a long branch and used some leftover thread to tie the dagger to the end. I waited till I saw a fish and stabbed but I came out with nothing in the end, toothless seemed to catch on because he suddenly sent a strong blast just near me. I could feel the heat of the water on my feet and gave a quick hiss of pain before quickly grabbing the now dead fish.

I took two fish and gave the rest to toothless who eagerly ate them, he sat down behind me and watched as I stabbed the fish using some small extra firewood and used it to cook them. Toothless seemed to give a worried look as he kept looking back at me in the fish in rapid succession before eventually he plopped his head down and closed his eyes again followed by a comforting purr.

I untied the dagger from the branch and grabbed the earlier chunks of wood, I started carving again while I waiting for my fish to finish cooking. It wouldn't taste the best due to not having any seasoning but I could likely eat it with scales if the situation required it, snotlout would sometimes force feed me raw or overcooked fish as a form of bullying although that wasn't a common occurrence thankfully.

Soon I made the second whistle of the day and gave it a small blow, just to test the waters but not to wake up toothless. It sounded similar to the dragon babble but much more specific, it was very clearly not done and wouldn't be for a while but I got an idea. I took a very small and thin piece of wood and stuck it in a specific spot that I had seen in a whistle trader Johann once brought, when I gave another blow it sounded more similar to a bird call whistle but this was good. It meant I was making progress albeit slow.

I would have to work in the forge tomorrow just to not bring suspicion from gobber about my whereabouts, If it wasn't for that I would likely stay in the cove for much longer. Even if toothless and I weren't the closest and that our friendship is built mainly on our similar curiosity about each other I still feel safer in this little cove then I have in the village for years.

I could work on some metal work for the whistle as well, gobber lets me use the forge as long as I don't use an excess of materials and I've finished all my jobs for the day. Although It did cause me to make a habit of to see a use in everything, when it comes down to it I find it easier to repurpose items if they don't have a use.

Suddenly toothless made an odd short roar that ended with a coo like warble before he turned on his side leaving his legs to lightly flail, it was oddly cute. 

He lightly grabbed my torso and brought me into an odd cuddle, I could feel the vibrations from the purring dragon and it made me oddly sleepy. I closed my eyes and drifted off.

I wonder if dragons talk to each other?

When I woke up I was met with the starry night and toothless stretching their mouth in a big yawn, based on how the moon was positioned it seemed to be the start of night. I slowly outstretch my hand to the seemingly just awoken night fury and lightly scratched their head, it was almost instant that toothless pushed into my hand for more scratches. I complied and eagerly got any spot I assumed would feel good scratched.

Toothless lightly kicked their back leg and eventually flopped down onto the ground into a fit of content purrs, I felt myself relax onto the belly of toothless and once again felt the smooth warm scales. Despite appearing relatively smooth there were bumps and ridges that no viking would ever notice.

Nowadays it feels like I'm not even a viking by blood, I feel so disconnected from everything and everyone on berk that if I left...would I have any attachment? No. what a stupid question, I grew up here and to leave so suddenly would be leaving my family behind. 

But if I had to leave then would I be okay, even just interacting with toothless like this is treason. If it came down to it, could I leave?

...I couldn't, this is my home even if I feel detached, I can't just abandon it. Toothless could easily survive without me so if never seeing him again means his safety, I would gladly accept. I felt a bit somber at these thoughts, did toothless even care about me or am I simply just a toy for him. Even if I was I'm still going to think of him as a friend because if I don't...I feel I wouldn't be able to take living in berk for so much longer with my current treatment. 

Toothless seemed to notice my change in mood as he gave a soft coo, these creatures are so intelligent and yet so misunderstood. I grabbed my dagger again and got back to recarving my earlier whistle, I gave a small blow and a call similar to an unknown bird came out.

Toothless gave a few sniffs of the whistle and instead of stopping he kept sniffing me until he was standing behind me with his entire snout in my hair, I didn't necessarily care but it was funny. Suddenly I felt a long wet tongue swipe across my hair, I flinched and immediately tried to lightly swat him away to stop any more licks but it only brought a barrage of licks in my hair and on my face. "Eughh...What got into you bud?" I wasn't mad but dragon saliva is definitely very gross, I started to get up in order to wash the spit off me but toothless plopped on the ground and blocked me with his tail.

I attempted to sidestep the tail but was swept off my feet and brought back right next to toothless, he lightly nudged the whistle I was working on before along with my dagger. I still felt gross with the saliva in my hair but I sighed and started working, what was even the point of licking me? Did he think I smelled bad or perhaps he was cleaning me? 

Gosh, this darn dragon.

I continued working on the dragon whistle but I kept getting to bird like sounds instead of the desired warbles, it felt frustrating but when I started this I knew it would take a long time. Although each time I made a modification, even when it would get farther from my goal or closer I still felt inclined to keep going. 

Eventually even when my eyes adjusted it had gotten too dark to see anything I was doing on the whistles, I had gone through 3 through the night due to not being able to see. I took the earlier remains of the fire and brought the sticks closer to where toothless and I sat, it seems that toothless didn't care too much now that his saliva had dried but it was still gross. Once I remade it I had toothless do a similar blast as last time to make a fire, it lit up almost immediately and brought light and warmth with it.

I started getting back to my work on the whistle when suddenly toothless got up and took a large arched stretch that ended with him flying in the air though only hovering. He suddenly dived down and with a blast to the water followed with a quick and short dive, he emerged from the water with a mouth full of fish and landed next to me before returning to his spot with me resting on his side.

That must be how the night fury hunts, if it couldn't fly it would likely die from starvation or...vikings. We have killed so many of them but in the end why do they return, toothless is proof atleast night furies would be intelligent enough to know that the cons outweigh the pros when it comes down to raiding us. We know they have a basic form of communication down due to the fact they attack in flocks and all have the same goal, it truly doesn't make any sense.

I took another look at toothless, he was licking his lips after finishing his food and his pupils were just as dilated as usual. I put down the whistle and dagger and pulled out my journal, I've been meaning to draw him so why not now. 

I slowly drew the sketch and even had toothless pose a bit, he seemed to enjoy watching me work while I doubt he understood the drawing itself. I started the details next, I tried to get every scale close to his actual ones all the while adding the small scars that most would never notice. 

Who knew I could enjoy my time with a dragon so deeply.

Chapter Text

I woke up to a light patting, the sun was up although it was still morning. I turned to go back to sleep when once again I felt a large paw bat at me, when I finally got up I realized toothless was batting their paw at me in his sleep it seems. I slowly stretched until my back popped and I headed out to the forest, I had to get to the forge in order to complete my list of daily jobs. 

I'm free on Wednesdays but for the rest of the week Ill have to work, I climbed out of the cove and slowly trecked through the forest. The cove wasn't too far from the edge but it was just deep enough that it would be impossible to find again if you didn't know the forest. 

My leg got caught on a rotting log but after a small stumble I didn't fall thankfully, I passed a tree that I used as a bit of a landmark due to its recognizable curve by the bottom that changed the entire shape of the tree. I'm pretty sure that a tree had broken on it when it was still growing and it curved around it while the other one slowly deetiolated. I passed the tree and saw the edge of the forest, I always exited by the back of my house so that nobody ever sees me leaving the forest.

Most people will take an opportunity to scold me anytime they can so I usually attempt to avoid leaving through any area except this one. I went around my house and started walking towards the forge and down the hill, it was my usual path and I was feeling a bit peckish so I'll get some food with toothless when I head back to the cove during the afternoon.

It was likely going to be a pretty boring day at the forge since the raid was already a couple days ago, I could make a new carving knife. a dagger wasn't the best for carving, it worked but I could do with a few different tools, Ill be sure to make them in my free time once I finish my chores.

I had already made it to the forge by the time I started to take in my surroundings again, I prefer to zone out when I walk through the village due to the stares. I like to be able to not think about the disdain I can always see on others faces.

When I got to the forge gobber was already there and working on a new double sided axe, He gave me a glance before getting a good look and stopping his work. He pulled up his metal mask and slowed his work although not completely stopping. "Took you awhile to get 'ere, worried you got lost" I felt myself sigh a bit before putting on my apron and getting to the pile of dull swords and axes, gobber knows I go into the forest, well its more he assumed because he was the only one who actually cared to think of where I go.

"Oh well you know me, even if I don't want to I always end up right back here" I said it in a sarcastic tone, its become my go to response to things nowadays as its really the only way to answer to a insult which I often receive. Gobber gave a laugh before speaking again "Well get to work you beastie!" Gosh I'm technically friends with one of you so called beasties you old fool.

I started to use the foot pedal to spin the round sharpening block, it had a trough of water under it so it remained wet at all times and infact we have small metal pieces that are so fine they are reminiscent of sand in the water to help the sharpening itself.

I had actually come up with the idea of the water trough in the first place in order to shorten my workload when it came to sharpening, it helped speed up the process and I've made quite a lot of things in the village or just come up with the idea. The locks for the monstrous nightmare was my idea although I only helped in the construction.

I started on the first sword and slowly got to sharpening, it took a bit longer then I would like for the first sword but once I got into that feel I was able to do a pretty fast job. When I was around halfway gobber suddenly started cleaning up his own work area before heading off, he has been acting as temporary chief while dad is gone, although it seems to be a bit too much for him with dragon training and taking care of the forge.

I continued to work and by the time I finished it was already high noon, I heard some light flapping from the wings of flying birds and footsteps. Wait, footsteps? I looked towards the front area of the forge where I saw all the other kids, fishlegs looked nervous which meant I was likely to get a beating or some type of prank. 

I wanted to run into the back workroom, my workroom and yet I knew they already saw me. Snotlout was the one who would usually insult me first and of course he followed the same old pattern "Hey useless, how does it feel to know that you will never be chief?"

Gosh is me being useless and never being chief all he knows? before I could think of a response the twins grabbed me, I knew what would happen now. I would get beat up until I'm on the floor and unable to respond to their insults but before snotlout could pull the first punch a little terrible terror with dark green with bright red wings came popping into the forge, ah the flapping of wings wasn't a bird earlier but a terror.

Fishlegs gave a high-pitched scream before running out, astrid readied her axe before snotlout grabbed her arm and ran out. I could hear her curses as they ran off but then the twins started swatting at it, trying to kick it out of the air which only served to further anger it. Eventually the terrible terror bit tuffnuts nose and after awhile the twins ran off although the terror stayed behind, it suddenly noticed me. 

It slowly etched forward, even if I met toothless I don't know If I can rely on the friendliness of dragons always. It suddenly shot up into the air near my hair and took a few sniffs, wait is that why toothless licked me? gosh that darn dragon. 

it suddenly jumped onto my shoulder and I could feel it had a soft purr that just like toothless helped calm me in all honesty. Suddenly gobber showed up, he was huffing and obviously ran as fast as he could. "Hiccup!" The terror didn't waste a second and jumped up with a start before sending out a flower of flame out to the roof of the forge before bolting off back to what I assume would be the nest.

Gobber seemed to visibly relax after seeing I was relatively unharmed by the terror but honestly I'm just hoping he didn't see the terror resting on my shoulder before he got here. Suddenly I smelled something burning, it was likely just the forge as there was almost always a fire burning but it was too strong and...growing? I looked up just before the burning wood splintered off from a part in the ceiling, right onto me.

pain....PAIN!!!

I was hurting but it was more of a low vibration that filled a sharp upper corner of the left side of my face, I slowly opened my eyes to see that only one of my eyes was currently able to see. I reached my hand up and felt bandages, I could feel the cool ointment underneath. I slowly attempted to sit up, my throat was sore and the room was dark yet there was a golden brown light coming from the window. Was it already sundown? It was gothis hut, gothi didn't like to treat small things as she thought of them as time wasters but if I was here it meant I could restock on bandages and ointment.

I slowly got out of bed when gothi and gobber came in, gobber looked oddly tired but he still had his usual upbeat aura of him. my voice was hoarse when I spoke and came out almost rusty sounding "wha-" I had a rough cough for a second as they walked into the room, it seemed to be just gothi and gobber so far. "What all happened again?" The situation before this felt oddly foggy, like it all went by so fast I couldn't remember.

God I felt terrible, I could feel that the bandage on my old burn was now completely gone so it seems gothi thought it had healed well enough. Gobber sat down before speaking again "terrible terror, Burned some old wood and made it snap right over yah, while mighty sharp too. Didn't manage to mangle you too badly but still claimed your eye and some scarring on the side" Oh thor almighty, I lost one of my eyes. 

I felt my stomach drop, I was already a weak loser in the village so why must I also have to lose my eye? Loki must love me because it is clear I am his favorite plaything, I want to vomit. 

Despite gobber practically being my uncle he has never been good at comforting, when he noticed my despair he excused himself and left me to gothi. I don't even know how badly I look right now and yet the freedom I had when dad was gone has been stolen along with my eye, I will have to spend my days at gothis and even when I leave people will be curious and want to see me due to the injury. 

I wish to return to the cove with toothless, I looked at gothi who was rummaging for something and then I felt my heart drop when she pulled out a needle and thread. I felt my stomach drop, over time that low vibration has slowly turned into a steady stream of pain.

I can feel things inside, no they're wedged. There are pieces of wood most likely splintered in my eye, I lightly lifted my hand to the bandage only to feel a slight wetness but when I looked at my hand I saw the cause. Blood was wetting my fingertips with a deep red, gothi seemed to noticed I was bleeding through my bandage and rustled through her storage before pulling out some more ointments I didn't recognize and bandages.

"G-gothi...I can feel splinters in..." I had to pause, each word made the situation feel worse. It didn't feel real, I wish it could be a nightmare and that I would wake up right next to toothless. Gothi gave a nod when I finished speaking, she must've understood what I meant because she pulled out a small pair a intricate fish bones that were tied together in such a way they could be used to pull or grab something intricately small.

Gothi first made an odd concoction using some herbs that she promptly told me to drink although not verbally, ever since she took the vow of silence she communicates solely through drawings on the ground. Not many vikings can understand her drawings but gobber is the best at reading them, she came around after a few minutes and had me lay back down on the bed before carefully removing the bandages.

The cold air almost felt like needles on each cut from the splintered wood and what made everything worse was that despite my eye being open...it was completely black on that side, I know thats just common sense but it still felt like a slap in the face. I had to hold back the tears, I wanted to curl up and cry right here. 

After awhile the tears fell but gothi paid no mind, she only took the needle and started stitching up the wounds. Each prick from the needle hurt and as the cold metal touched the open injury it felt like an ice cold sword was quietly cutting a small and precise cut. I went to close my left eye but it...didn't, my eyelids seemed to be partly destroyed and I couldn't close them. Curse you, thor almighty.

Eventually after what felt like hours of gothi going back between pulling out the small splinters to stitching everything up she had came up to my eye, she was very intricate but despite that it felt like the tears kept flowing. I will have scars and my left eyelid is ragged and ripped to the point I can't even close them to hide my mangled eye, do I even still have my eye right now? 

Eventually I felt myself get dizzy from the pain before eventually it just...stopped.

I woke to gothi ushering me out of her hut early in the night, she pointed toward my eye before holding up two fingers. Well shes the healer so she likely pointed to the bandages and two fingers...no two days. "Come by in the next two days for a bandage change?"

She gave a contented smile and with a nod left to the inside of her house, she had given me some ointment to apply myself at home but thankfully she informed me albeit over a long period of time that was essentially charades, that I'm free for the next day and to rest. 

I took a shuddering breath and practically ran toward my house, not because I wanted to go home but because I wanted to go to the cove. 

I wonder what toothless would feel seeing my injury or my bandages, the injuries still hurt and each movement of the bandage only made it worse. I gasped for a breath and tripped over a root as I passed the curved tree, I cried. a strong sob that I haven't done since I was a young child yet I sobbed and held myself back from screaming out my sorrows but instead of an annoyed villager or rude snotlout I was met with warm scales that curled around me. 

I reached out and hugged toothless neck with a loud sob, he gave a worried warble and lightly licked my face. No matter what I did I always felt pathetic and alone and this stupid injury from pure bad luck felt like the final crack on the ice, I just sobbed.

Toothless eventually got up but instead of walking away and leaving me to my own feelings, if a viking was to open up then it was normal to leave them to their feelings. Comfort was foreign to vikings and yet the embodiment of lightning and death itself was comforting me, Toothless lightly pushed me up to my feet and let me use his head as a crutch.

We slowly walked toward the cove but as we got to the entrance, I didn't feel like separating from toothless and I knew he wouldn't fit through the small entrance but instead he used his wing to lightly nudge me onto his neck. I got on but I merely expected him to jump over into the cove but rather instead he burst into the air with a blast from his wings.

I clung to his neck when I decided to open my eyes, I was met with the morning sky and clouds just above my head. I held out my hand and felt...water? clouds were somehow wet and yet it makes sense due to rain but the sky was fully awake while we headed in the direction of the sun, it was gorgeous and honestly it felt freeing to feel the air on my skin and to know that none of my problems could touch me up here. If I could stay here forever with toothless, I would.

"Thank you toothless, I don't know how I'll ever repay you" a short warble that toothless often used when he says more after "gruwhuu....?" nothing came after, I gave toothless head scratches the entire flight and only stopped when we layed beside each other for the night. Safely in the cove.

Chapter Text

I felt the cool night air across my face, the moon was directly above us implying it was midnight but I didn't care. The warm scales under me gave me a sense of comfort stronger then the feeling of freedom I felt in this moment, it feels that all my problems had blown off in the wind and each wingbeat brought me closer to being saved. 

Toothless gave another similar warble "Gruwhuu...?" I should pay more attention to him. I slowly gave scratches upon toothless crown, my eyes felt lightly swollen from crying with my throat being hoarse from sobbing.

I started realizing we were descending when the trees started to regain their form and people no longer looked like ants scurrying against the dark of the village but instead of landing in the cove toothless dropped me off a high sea stack of rock and foliage. When we landed my feet felt like the jelly that we often found in the spine of fish, I almost collasped from the sudden shock when toothless used his head to help me keep my balance.

I separated from toothless and went to collect firewood, it was dark and I felt paranoid despite knowing that no person nor animal would be able to survive up here. There were a few trees that were so dense it made up for how little there technically was, it was as if someone had cut off the forest half way and made a simple patch of grass.

I collected the fallen sticks from the trees but as I was attempting to break off a bigger branch from one of the trees on the edge I felt a heavy burst of air that I knew all too well. I turned around and sped to stand over the edge and watched as toothless sped off down near the impossibly far water, I heard it. The iconic hiss that would usually indicate destruction for vikings but instead I watched a giant blast hit the water before he took a short dive in and ended it with a mouth full of fish.

He flew at speeds I didn't think possible before landing with a loud thud infront of me, he dropped the fish near a spot closer to the trees before he sat down with a good stretch. 

I quickly hurried back over and started my usual routine, I set the sticks down before making a small ring with rocks. I noticed the rocks on the sea stack were rougher and definitely more sharp then the ones at the cove, even the larger boulders showed signs of this. When I finished setting up the small camp fire I laid back onto toothless when he shot a small blast, setting the sticks ablaze in a fit of light and warmth. 

I attempted to grab a fish but toothless lightly growled at my hand before he stuck his nose in the fish pile, I assumed he decided it was his catch when he suddenly started to rapidly sift through the fish instead of gulping them down. It took me a minute to realize what he was doing when he suddenly pushed three fish that were definitely fatter then the others towards me, I gave a chuckle before grabbing the fish and using my dagger to lightly prep it. "Thanks bud, you didn't have to." It felt good to have someone dote on you, even if it was messy work to lightly descale and gut the fish with only a dagger I still felt happy.

Toothless has improved my life but now I worry I wont be able to return to normal day to day life, I've felt the wind through my hair and yet now the smallest things that brought me joy years ago feel so insignificant compared to that. 

Toothless gave a half eyes look with that same growl as earlier before he started gulping down his fish, how did toothless say it? "Grewwhuu?" I didn't get the pronounciation right but at the same time I would likely never get it right even with years of practice due to being human, Toothless suddenly shot up with a growl and eyes slit before looking over to me. 

I attempted to say it again although this time trying to use the back of my throat more. "Gruhruu...?" Toothless pupils went to their normal size of calmness before stretching to a large size that I didn't think possible, I felt a large tongue flop against my face. "Gah! Toothless, gross!" but as he kept licking I was reminded of the bandage on my face, it brought back that sense of dread but it seemed toothless hadn't noticed, infact it seemed it was mainly focusing on the bandage.

Eventually as I attempted to lightly push his head away I felt a large paw bat at my face, it wasn't hard but eventually I felt a claw manage to lightly get hold of the bandage. I attempted to get up but he managed to pull off most of the bandage revealing the injury that not even I have seen yet, instead of recoiling in disgust or saying that its a scar to be proud of he gave a short sniff before licking the wound.

Although I'm not the biggest fan of his licks, this was different due to the fact that it was an open wound even if it was stitched. I gave a short whimper of pain but toothless didn't stop, he used his paw to keep me still as he licked the wound. Instead of the pain getting worse it almost seemed that it was almost being...numbed? Did night furies have a small amount of poison in their saliva that could work as a numbing agent?

I stopped trying to push his head away after awhile and when the licks stopped I felt gross and covered in saliva. I took the descaled fish and started to cook it over the fire, Ill need to wash this shirt after this. I can do it today since I am free for the entire day, I looked up and saw the clouded sky that showed holes full of stars. 

"Should I make a saddle so you could fly without worry of my falling?" Toothless gulped down his last fish before his next coo "grawwhhruuhoo, Gruwhuu" Toothless had a deeper sounded...voice? Yeah, toothless had a deeper sounding voice then most dragons although this was usually high lighted when he gave more growls rather then high pitched screeches. 

I attempted to replicate toothless after taking a few bites of the now cooked fish. "Grahhhwrhuuuwoo...g-...gruwhuu!" I could feel and hear toothless purr as he looked at me, he took up his paw and lightly touched my head albeit sloppily before warbling that same warble. "Gruwhuu." Wait, am I gruwhuu?

is that possibly what I have been getting called all this time...oh gosh. I pointed my hand toward me before repeating again, I had basically gotten the pronunciation correct after a few tries. "Gruwhuu?" Toothless gave a low coo "Rhouu" I guess that means yes but he likely has been thinking the same of the name toothless, I took my hand and planted it on his forehead and saw the confused look toothless had before I spoke "Toothless." Toothless seemed to stay confused until his eyes widened and he gave a small warble that I don't think I would be able to replicate if I tried.

I felt myself smiling, like a real smile that isn't just from practiced sarcasm. I could see that toothless was about to start licking me again so in a quick act of avoidance I shoved the two fish he gave me into his mouth. I could see he wasn't happy that I gave him the fish he specifically gave me but he still slurped them up, It was cute but I could tell that he was still a wild animal. 

I shouldn't try to domesticate toothless as I know most who are in my situation would but instead maybe I should learn how to coexist with the wild just as toothless does. I laid back onto his warm scales, my bed was technically softer then most due to being the heir but I still would choose toothless scales any day. Toothless slowly got up with a large yawn before lightly nudging my side, he must want to return to the cove.

I got up when I saw the bandage, I still hadn't seen the injury but it still hurt to think I lost my eye. Toothless lightly nudged me with his wing to the earlier spot on his shoulders, I got on and as I looked over the edge I felt my excitement continue to rise as he opened his wings. I touched his crown softly before speaking "Go fast this time bud..." I doubt toothless would recognize what that meant but as I felt the burst of air that meant we had left the ground. 

I felt all my worries practically melt, slowly but surely toothless built up speed. I hadn't realized how far we were from berk until I noticed the sun was starting to peak through and there was still no sign of berk.

After a while we were flying so fast that I doubt any ships could see us even as the sun rose, I had to grip onto toothless...ear flaps? I kept urging toothless to speed up although I could tell he wasn't going his full speed, I would likely fall off if he did but the high speeds felt amazing. It hurt a bit though, the cold seemed to grip me with sharp needles that were starting to get harder to ignore.

I need to make a mask to protect my face and a saddle...It will take a lot of leather but more then likely I have the reserves. I don't often use leather, my clothes are a cheaper cloth due to the fact that they had to specially order these clothes because of my smaller side and the fact they needed to make them less with combat in mind.

I soon noticed a far off island that I could likely recognize even if I hadn't seen it for ten years, berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. Its located solidly on the meridian of misery. My village, in a word sturdy. Its been here for seven generations yet every building is new, we have fishing and hunting along with a charming view of the sunsets. Only problem is the pests.

I looked down on the village and saw a large monstrous nightmare fly past holding three sheep and as I noticed the fires that littered the island I realized what had happened during that peaceful night. a raid. "Head towards the cove toothless!" Toothless, even if he didn't understand practically dived towards the cove and with a landing that was too calm for how fast we went I got off and was about to sprint towards the village when I remembered. I forgot to put my bandage back on, its still back at the sea stack.

I hesitated before taking a small step toward the water, I hadn't seen the injury yet but I was scared to see it. It was going to be the same face I had seen my entire life and yet I felt like I would look at my reflection and see a monster. I was a foot away from the water when I felt toothless tongue slap against my face again, I was still worried about any bad side affects but so far it helped with the pain so I was willing to put up with the discomfort of the spit.

I pushed toothless away and saw my face in the reflection. I tripped on my own feet in my attempt at getting away, I knew it was going to be my reality but it still felt hard to swallow. 

I slowly approached again and saw it, the injury. On the upper right part of my face, from my cheek to my forehead were rough cuts that looked as if someone forced my head against a sharp rock. My eye was the worst, I hadn't known if they removed it or not but I guess they must have because a swab of balled up bandages was stuffed into the hole and was showing signs of bleeding with the bandage having need an obvious change. I have to be honest it looked better then I thought it would, it was almost as if I had been healing for a few days instead of a fresh injury of a few hours.

I'll need to recover it with the bandage in my house, I would likely get made fun of by the other kids due to this. The idea of gaining a scar like this to a dragon is a cool idea to the others but a terrible terror? They are treated more as rats rather than dragons in berk. 

I slowly got up before giving toothless a few scratches, his purrs as odd as they were always calmed me when berk couldn't. I slowly stepped away before heading back out the cove, I knew toothless could leave but he and berk were always separate entities to me so when toothless followed me through the forest and attempted to come into my house It took a bit before he understood. 

"No toothless, I want you to stay with me aswell but...I can't risk this." I had to physically push his head to make sure he didn't come in, I just thought he was trying to join my walk through the forest. 

He gave a sad warble before I heard the clanking of metal that I would recognize anywhere, gobber was likely coming inside to check on me and I couldn't let him see me with toothless but if he didn't find me inside the house he would likely send a search party out into the forest. I pushed toothless out into the forest before entering the house, I ran to the cupboard holding the bandages and opened it but as I went to grab the bandages the door swung open. 

Gobber came through and saw I was grabbing for the bandages, he was on the left side of me so thankfully he most likely couldn't see my injury. I finally managed to get hold of the bandages and albeit sloppily I put them on, at this point they are more to hide it then to help it heal. 

"Oy where were you all raid, needed you in the forge." I knew it was a sloppy excuse but gobber tended to believe me about things like this, after all what else could I be doing as the town runt. "I slept through the raid, I hadn't meant to." He gave a click of his tongue before speaking again. "Ay be more vigilant, don't know when a dragon attack will happen. Gotta rest up but you still got your hands, you can work." 

I didn't like that sentiment of his but it helped forge me as a person despite that, if gobber hadn't offered to take me up as his apprentice then I would likely be treated worse then I am now. When I was about to respond I heard a loud thump from my room, I knew what it was even if I wanted to deny it.

That useless reptile.

Gobber had his axe hand still on from the past battle and immediately gave me a motion to shut up, I felt my heart pounding. If he caught toothless then it would be a situation of atleast one of them dying, I needed toothless to get out of the house without being seen.

My heart felt like it might explode from how fast it was beating, gobber likely thought that my panic for toothless was about a dragon being in my house. He put his hand on my shoulder before creeping up the stairs when I got an idea. I grabbed his hand and spoke quiet but I knew toothless could hear from how close we were to the door of my room.

"If you fight the dragon in a room so small then you might fail to kill it and accidentally rid of us our only blacksmith...there is no food in my room so why not only fight it if it comes out." Vikings were stubborn and I doubted gobber would listen but while he didn't back off I could tell he hesitated and was thinking.

I needed him to speak, If toothless heard there was a viking in the house he would leave but thankfully gobber fulfilled my wish. "Hrm true, you make a good argument but a viking shouldn't shy away from a fight 'iccup."  He started his walk back up to my room when I heard the scraping of claws against wood and the thump of toothless leaving through the window and hitting the ground. 

I saw gobber almost visibly calm a bit before looking back to me. "Visit by the forge and fix up your window in your spare time, we don't want a repeat of this." Yeah your right, I'll make sure to find a way to tell toothless to leave with nothing but a small word. 

I watched as gobber slowly approached the door to leave when I remembered about dragon training. "Hey gobber, is training going to go as normal with it being the first two days of the week or..." gobber stopped in his tracks, I felt awkward talking about dragon training. Honestly I wanted to quit but I worried that it might be suspicious to suddenly not want to be in what others would consider is an opportunity of a lifetime for me.

Gobber didn't even hesitate as he continued walking. "Yup, don't be late." he left the house and I watched as the door closed, the house was empty once again but as I looked down I remembered my plans for the day. I needed to wash my shirt before visiting the forge, it still looked wet despite being dry albeit stiff. 

I headed upstairs first to see the damage that toothless might've caused, my room wasn't that small but toothless was a big dragon and practically morphed my roomed in comparison. I walked up the creaky stairs and entered my room where I saw toothless lightly peeking in through the window, his two front paws were through but it seemed that his back paw was stuck. "Toothless?!" He gave a short growl when I stepped forward but after some time I stepped forward again, he seemed to be reluctant to accept the help but once I managed to get a grip on his leg he was through. 

He attempted to give a lick but I lightly batted his head before looking around, there was small scrapes from toothless claws but overall that was the biggest damage. "What are you doing in here, if gobber caught you..." Toothless seemed to slightly understand based on tone when he suddenly started to nudge at my hands, I opened them when he suddenly spat out a slobber covered dragon whistle. The one that sounded too high pitched for a dragon, I had made a better one so why not bring that one? 

I looked through it and realized that despite what I thought there was not much saliva inside and it was really only coated, I cleaned it off using my shirt before giving a short blow but this time I attempted to say the growl that toothless called me. "Gruwhuu" Unlike when it was just blown into it actually sounded similar to a growl of an actual dragon, I felt a smile stretch across my face.

Toothless was bursting with energy and I could tell he was holding back on bouncing around my room when he noticed my smile he attempted to make a gummy smile and with his tongue out on the side, it was cute. Before I could think toothless went from under me and I found myself on his back, I watched as toothless left my room and forced me out of the house.

I was still backwards and I couldn't see at all of what was ahead but we were going too fast for me to turn around, toothless burst into the sky and I watched as we landed in the cove. Toothless bumped me off him and with his tongue still out he lightly swished his tail around in a playful manner.

"Oh is that what you wanted?" I got up and raced to grab him in a chokehold, he swiftly moved out of the way and started running around. I followed albeit clumsily but thankfully due to my continued running from snotlout over the years I'm pretty fast but definitely not half as fast as a toothless. 

Eventually after awhile I collapsed onto the coarse sand and felt toothless sit next to me, he wasn't panting but he was still breathing a bit heavier then usual. I slowly got up and while I was still sitting I took off my shirt and started washing it in the water, I needed to get the saliva out of my shirt but as I continued washing while it may have loosened up and not have been as stiff there was one factor I didn't think about.

The saliva stained my shirt. No matter what I did it wasn't washing out and I felt my heart drop, I would have to have toothless cover it completely in saliva so that it wouldn't be obvious it was stained. I crawled back over to toothless and lightly opened his mouth, he retracted his teeth as he noticed what I was doing but when I put my shirt in his mouth he spat it out in confusion.

I showed him the area where his saliva had stained it on my shoulders. "You stained it, I need to completely cover it now." He tilted his head in confusion but when I showed him the stains again and let him sniff he seemed to understand because he started to lick albeit reluctantly. 

I picked up the dragon whistle that seemed to be successfully able to imitate toothless sounds when toothless gave a short warble, I looked at him before he placed a paw on my face and said it again. I put the whistle to my mouth "Gruwhuu...?" hadn't we already established me as whatever gruwhuu means? 

Toothless gave a small growl at my response before he warbled again, paw still on my face. "Grrawhhnu" oddly I feel like I've heard the sound before, I knew that I had heard it before but I can't tell from where. I attempted to mimic it with the whistle. "Grrraawnuu" I had almost got it but toothless gave another short growl, what did he mean? I suddenly got an idea, I drew a small viking in the dirt.

I drew the hat accompanied with the animal horns that spread out along with the bushy beard and judgmental eyes, I pointed to it before attempting the word with the whistle again. "Grawwhhnu" It wasn't perfect but it got the message across and toothless gave a purr that indicated a yes. It meant viking.

I drew one other thing, a small boy in the sand with a bandage on his face. "Gruwhuu" Toothless gave his usual purr when I was correct but I wasn't finished I drew toothless then formed a bubble around the drawings of each other, toothless seemed surprised by that and nudged lightly the space between the viking and me. I used the whistle to lightly growl, a response that indicated no. 

Toothless pupils expanded and he gave a purr that didn't seem to end, I scratched him a lot that evening.

My shirt was dry by now and while it was lightly stiff due to toothless spit I was able to live with it, winter was getting closer so as I walked towards the forge I thought of things I should do. I could make the mask for flying connected to a large animal pelt to help with the cold during flying, Ill also need to make a saddle to make it easier to stay on without hurting toothless.

I turned the corner toward the forge and noticed snotlout and his little gang hanging around the forge, fishlegs was talking to gobber but it was obvious that the others likely planned to mess around. I didn't see astrid so it was likely she was off training in the forest, it was easy to avoid her since she was loud but sometimes I watch her. Just to see what she does all day.

I tried to stay out of the others sight but I could tell they noticed me when I entered the forge, they must've been too focused on their up and coming prank to care because they didn't even say a word to me.

I grabbed my apron and slipped it on, I saw the stack of sword and axes needing to be sharpened and sighed before heading over to the sharpening block. I sat down and started my usual motions of work, it has been years since I became an apprentice here and yet I still feel so insignificant in this village. I shook my head and attempted to think of happier things as I worked and let the muscle memory take over.

The mask...well its not really a mask if it is gonna work as a cover up too so I guess flying wear would be a better name, It doesn't have to be too fancy due to the fact that I can always improve upon it in the future. I need to work on using not a lot of leather as it can be an expensive item especially during winter, I need to cover the basics.

It needs to have a mask but I could cover my face with a scrap of a blanket that I could simply sew into a scarf, Ill need an eye cover up but I could carve one out of wood though it might be hard to find out how to see as well as protect my eyes. The gloves could be made with leather so they last, if I used simple fabric it could end up weathering away too fast. 

I have the basics down so now I should think of the saddle, we have some old horse saddles back when we thought of keeping them. That was quickly shot down when we discovered they were a favorite snack for the dragons, the saddles are old but It wouldn't take much tinkering to make them fit toothless. 

I need something to hold while flying because I worry about hurting toothless when holding his head how I did, I could use some old animal horns and wrap them in leather straps to connect them to the saddle. Ill have to add some straps to my legs or waist so that we can go faster, I wonder if he will be able to make that hiss even while I am on. 

After awhile I reached out for another weapon to sharpen but I realized I had finished all my chores, I looked out to speak to gobber but it seemed he had already left awhile ago as his work place was cleaned up. I got up and headed to the backroom, I wanted to start the work on the easy part. I could easily take pre existing gloves and modify them to fit my hand so I ruffled through a small storage box. I usually kept my leather items in here so as I rummaged around it wasn't hard to find an older pair of gloves.

I set them down on the workbench and put them on to see what modifications were needed, they were very obviously too big and would slip off too easily in the air. I took them off and got out a small knife that I used to cut the old thread out, I took out a charcoal pencil and started sketching out my hand onto the glove. I made sure to make it a bit bigger than my actual hand so that I could still take them off without issue, I got a new thread and grabbed my dagger. 

I slowly etched out the outline I made with the charcoal pencil with the dagger, the hardest part would be threading the pieces back together. I wiped my forehead before heading back to work, the heat of the forge didn't help.

I finished the entire set, I made the saddle smaller in order to fit toothless better and added the handholds to it along with leather straps that could be tied around my waist. I even made time to make the scarf and the eye cover, I used wood and widdled it down to fit the shape of my face comfortably. it was completely dark now so if we fly then we wont be seen.

I even added some fabric to the side to make it more comfortable, I added some metal clasps that I could use to pin the scarf ends together and to make sure it wouldn't fly off during active flight. I took the whistle and attached a thread around it so I could carry it around as a necklace.

I held up all the products of my handie work proudly, even if none of it was made from pure scraps I still felt proud. I had brought over the fishing basket that I had used for laundry when I went home to get the fabric for my scarf, I stuffed all the items into it before taking off my apron and heading towards the cove. Most would assume I'm heading toward my home and while the cove is in that direction they are unfortunately incorrect.

I made it to the edge of the forest, it was dark and I could tell I smelt of smoke and hot leather. I hadn't exactly hit puberty yet so I didn't sweat much and when I did I stayed smelling okay, I was also one of the only people on this island who used soap. 

Trader Johann had showed me what soap was a couple years ago and each time I buy it but he only really has flower scents due to the main audience for it being woman but thankfully I've managed to hide it from snotlout or else I would never hear the end of it.

I was halfway through the forest when I got an Idea. "Toothless!" When I yelled out I hadn't actually expected toothless to come but when I felt air waft across my face I realized I wasn't truly alone on this island any more. It seems I hadn't been for a while.

Toothless sniffed at the basket on my back, He must've expected clothes like that first time because he tried to nudge it open with his snout. "Lets go to the cove, Ill show you there" Toothless kept nudging so with a sigh I started walking to the cove, toothless seemed surprised and followed closely. He seemed to understand after awhile because he nudged for me to get on.

We flew to the cove but first before flying I wanted to check something, I drew in the sand a poor attempt at the cove in order to make it easier to understand I drew the village then the forest then us sitting in the cove. I pointed to the cove and watched as toothless looked over the drawing, it took a bit but eventually toothless nudged the drawing of the cove and spoke. "Geerwhrr" I took my whistle and for a few minutes I sat there and attempted to replicate the sound and eventually I got it spot on. 

Toothless gave a purr before he nudged the basket again, I opened it and showed him the saddle. I tried to put it on him but he jumped away, tongue rolling out of his mouth. I immediately anticipated it and jumped for him again but he only ran and watched as I attempted to catch up.

After awhile of chase toothless took a short dip in the water before shaking off in the air, when he came back down he finally let me place the saddle on. I will need to make some adjustments to the saddle for toothless comfort but it shouldn't be too hard, I put on the rest of the gear before getting on. 

When I got on it fit quite snuggly but my feet felt too dangly, Ill have to add some foot holds. I strapped myself in with the leather harnesses before putting on the scarf and eye cover, I only had to make one eye hole due to...but the gloves fit snuggly and thankfully everything seemed to work well. 

Before we flew off I got an idea, I pulled up my legs and laid belly down on his back with the straps still attached to me. It felt better then sitting without any footholds and I believe toothless liked it too because he almost immediately burst into the air, It was scary for those first few seconds but as we gained speed my fear became excitement.

I blew the whistle in excitement and toothless made a loud warble that I took for excitement so the next time I blew I replicated the sound. We flew higher and higher and eventually we broke the clouds, I felt a bit unstable when going directly up so it may be good to add extra straps for that. When I saw the moon I felt free and the stars shined so bright that despite the darkness below the clouds it was as if the sun was shining above only for those with wings.

I truly couldn't explain this feeling in a word but I gave another roar of excitement when suddenly toothless started flying down, he brought in his wings and I felt the air shoot past when suddenly I heard it. a hiss loud enough to be heard from far and wide that was soon broken by a single wingbeat, we burst forward and as we kept going I could almost anticipate toothless moves before he did them. 

I felt truly free.

Chapter Text

When we landed the sun wasn't up yet but the moon was almost entirely receded into the ocean, the cove was its usual beauty but as toothless sat me down he flew off again with a quick burst of air. Toothless seemed to eat quite a lot and I've noticed he usually goes fishing after he flies, with me or not. It has made me wonder why he chooses to fly with me, is it pure curiosity or just pity, I will likely never know unless the whistle proves to be more effective then I thought.

I slowly took off the flight gear but as I took off my eye covers I felt the bandage, I often forgot about it when I was with toothless but it always felt like a punch to the gut each time I was reminded. I continued to prep the space for a fire as usual but as I continued I remembered how everything will be, the village runt is now a one eyed loser. 

It felt hopeless for my social standing in the village, I was always the dragon in games or the troll needing to be hunted down. I set the rocks in the usual circle before going off to grab sticks, I grabbed the usual dead sticks fallen by the tree. 

It didn't take long for me to notice there wasn't enough sticks inside the cove itself, I put down all of what I collected and tugged on a branch. It wasn't very big but any viking should be able to snap it easily, I pulled it again and once again it failed to break off. I used my entire body weight to attempt to break it off but yet again it didn't snap, it felt hopeless. I felt weak and stupid and this stupid branch wasn't helping, I kept trying but it stayed. 

I felt the tears start to bubble in my eyes and my throat start to burn with sadness, nothing terrible has happened yet here I am crying. I'm so useless.

I just kept trying yet it never broke, I cried with a loud sob. I could feel my bandages being soaked but it only served as another reminder of the fact I was injured by a damn plank of splintered wood. It was a worthless injury that could be seen as dishonorable for the family, why couldn't toothless have killed me when he first found me. 

I crouched into another gasping sob that no viking would ever be caught dead doing, I must look terrible. when have I ever been viking like anyway, why must I be classified as one if I truly am only one by blood. Perhaps my life would have been better if I had been born with wings and scales, what have I done to insult you thor.

I felt a beat of wings in the other end of the cove, I heard a wet sound of fish slipping onto the ground then soft steps nearing toward me. I looked behind me to see toothless giving a low coo that seemed to emanate worry, he hesitated before giving a sniff and instead of the overwhelming licks I usually got I was greeted with soft nudging. 

I didn't know what to think, toothless had odd behavior but it still felt strange to have someone stay despite seeing me crying. Even the concept of toothless, a friendly dragon still felt so...foreign. Has everything we've known of this species been a simple misunderstanding? 

As I started to calm, toothless lightly bit the top of my fur vest and brought me back to the circle of stones still left with no fire wood in it. He placed me down and I watched as he gathered the sticks I had picked up before I had my breakdown, He slowly brought them back over before dropping them into my lap. Ah, he couldn't arrange the wood by himself. 

I set up the fire but It wasn't that much due to the little amount of sticks I had, toothless started the fire without needing to be told and sat down in his favorite spot behind me. I watched as he slowly went through the fish before nudging a fat one towards me, it was a cute gesture. 

I was about to grab the fish when I got an idea, I grabbed the whistle from around my neck and pointed toward the fish. Toothless seemed to get the idea cause he gave out a call, I found it was easier to replicate the noise if I tried to make it normally with my throat through the whistle. 

Over these past few days I've learned a few words in this odd dragon language, My nickname aswell as the word for vikings along with fish and we have even communicated a bit. I want to be able to hold a conversation with him one day and as I learn more I believe it might be possible.

I drew a small sketch of toothless and I flying in the sky, I wanted a word for flying so that I could ask for it when necessary. I won't always have my flight gear and I don't wanna break an boundaries, I've learned that toothless is most likely is as intelligent as a human so I should treat him with the same respect as one. I pointed to the drawing and went through the same ritual of repeating till I got it correct, I've started to recognize simple phrases said by toothless.

I scratched his head and watched the rising sun, it was peaceful and as I grabbed a small fish I remembered, I had dragon training today. I jumped up with a start and bolted for the exit of the cove, Toothless seemed surprised by my sudden race to leave because he quickly got up and followed me. 

Toothless watched as I left the cove and he even followed me through the forest, eventually he nudged me to get on his shoulders. I didn't know if he would fly or run but whatever he did I would be grateful for the help, I quickly got on in a practiced motion and instead of taking off toothless ran with speed that no viking would be able to mimic in a thousand years. 

I had to grip onto his neck in order to not fall off from an attacking branch or from the force of the wind alone, I felt toothless skid to a stop and I opened my eyes to the edge of the forest. It was the back of my house but if I rushed then I would likely not be too late for training, I got off but before leaving I gave toothless scratches in all his favorite places then raced off toward the killring.

If I ran fast enough I might be able to get there before they started, I just ran. It was the start of the morning so I could already see vikings at work doing their daily jobs, their weren't as many adults around in the village due to the search for the nest but there would always be enough to defend against raids.

I swiftly turned the corner before tripping on a rock and stumbling down a short hill, it only ended with a small bruise that I could already feel forming on my ankle but I got up and started my trek albeit with a small limp. I had managed to get to the bridge when I saw a dark green gas forming in the circle of the kill ring, it seems they had already started and once I finally managed to get to the gate of the arena I was gasping for air. 

Gobber came by and slapped his false hand on my back "bit late aren't yah? I don't wanna hear no excuses now Get in there!" He shoved a bucket of water before practically shoving me into the now completely fogged arena, I couldn't see my hand from how thick the gas was. 

The green gas oddly made it hard to breath a bit, like the air was of lower quality and honestly it most likely was due to the gas. Not many vikings keep zipplebacks even for training due to their venom and gas that requires a sealed chamber and a surgery on the dragon itself, overall they're a hassle to keep but in the end berkians are stubborn. 

I held the bucket of water, I know that a wet dragon can't light their fire but would gobber really put us into a cage of what is essentially a cave of flame waiting to burn? I heard a voice "-ere!" a splash of water followed then the very unhappy sounds of astrid and ruffnut. "Hey, it's us idiots!" ruffnut wasn't usually very physical despite constantly fighting her brother so when I heard a loud punch after a rude comment It was easy to know who threw it.

Suddenly I heard tuffnut screaming in pain. "Oh I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" I could hear a tail swiping across the floor and the panic induced footsteps of the other kids, I felt my heart race as the situation started to finally feel real. I heard fishlegs but he was far on the other side so when he started screaming and bumped past me, he easily knocked me to the floor due to his bigger stature. 

I saw the dark green head that was spotted in brown and yellow, its teeth were jagged and and its eyes...an orange that could burn the sun. It flared its wings which helped dissipate the gas and clear the view, I saw the second identical head but I couldn't make out the entire body. The gas was still thick despite the stirring due to the second heads constant emission, I watched as it stared closely at me when I got an idea. 

I quickly dropped the bucket and fumbled with the whistle tied around my neck, if I could show it I wasn't a threat some how then I might be able to escape with minimal injuries. I pulled out the whistle and blew a soft coo "Gruwhaa..." I pointed toward myself as I cooed again, the dragon head emitting the gas slowly etched toward me and with a sniff its eyes expanded.

The other head quickly followed suite and after awhile gave a short snort before gobber burst into the arena with his false hook hand and led the zippleback right into its cage once again. I felt oddly somber, after seeing the state of those cages it felt odd to be made to watch a creature I had been friendly with just seconds ago be treated like a mindless beast.

The gas in the arena was almost completely clear now and gobber picked up the bucket and the end of my vest to pull both off the ground, the others were looking a bit annoyed although I don't know about what exactly. 

"Ay you missed most of the lesson but thats fine, just meet up for dinner at the great hall later." Gobber stepped out of the arena, these days gobber was always busy due to his job as temporary chief. 

Snotlout stepped up first of the group, his eye was slightly bruised so it seems she hit him dead on. "Hey runt, cause you were late we had to catch a terror before fighting the zippleback." Oh gosh, I get that gobber has to teach us to be on time but why a group punishment? I would've taken cleaning the cages over this, atleast then I could help creatures I actually like.

Snotlout stepped forward with a smirk on his face, gosh the twins are blocking the exit. I'm stuck. "Heard that terror clawed you up real good, Im open for taking a look" I felt myself freeze, snotlout was still walking towards me but he suddenly dashed forward and got a good hit on my stomach. I gasped for air for a minute as I crouched down from the impact, it hurt bad. 

Even if I don't like snotlout I won't deny he can pack a punch, snotlout grabbed my vest with a yank. My feet found the ground and once again I got punched in the stomach but his hold on my vest didn't waver, why must his entire brain be split between his fists. 

He let go of my vest and I stumbled to the ground and from a single kick to my chest from ruffnut I collapsed into a tight pain born curl, his beatings usually weren't this bad but I guess he really hated chasing that terror.

The twins were only interested in chao but they saw these beatings to be entertaining so when the twins lifted me off the ground by my arms and I saw snotlout reach out for the bandage. I felt my heart stop with pure fear, I could take their beatings but the pure humiliation I would feel from them seeing the injury...it would honestly be too much. I started kicking with the strength I had left, everything hurt and I could feel I had a few bleeding scrapes from the rough rock floor. 

Snotlout looked visibly annoyed at my resistance but I couldn't let them take off that bandage, to be honest it was mostly cosmetic as the wound was mostly healed despite the gravity of it. Snotlout reached out again but this time he gave a kick to my stomach, ouch. I felt the fabric slowly leave my face and it all came bubbling back up, I wouldn't cry now but I doubt my ability to not cry when I reached the cove. When I reached toothless.

The twins had big grins on their faces as they spoke "Gnarly!" ruffnut spoke first but as usual tuffnut followed "Sick! I wish that terror clawed me up that bad, I only got a bite mark and it didn't even scar" I felt like I couldn't breathe, in truth there was nothing shameful of the injury but it felt so...disgusting to feel so weak. I want toothless, I miss him.

Fishlegs looked pale in the face, he was fidgeting with his hands while astrid was sharpening her axe on the side. She didn't seem to care and I can't tell if that hurt more or if she had would, I don't want to be here anymore. I want the cove, I want to go flying so high that none of these people will ever reach. 

I want to show the truth of dragons yet it makes me wonder if I want to compromise that world of wonder toothless has shown me, thor would you allow me to be selfish this once?

I felt the twins grip slightly loosen so I tried to pry free but just like that damn branch, they didn't break. After a few kicks by the twins and snotlout and they were sure I was not going to be able to run without a limp they finally left, it hurt. My bones and muscles ached from the kicks yet my skin stung from the dirt and bleeding scrapes, I slowly got up to see astrid standing there with that usual glare that would make my father proud.

"Get your act together hiccup, when you pull stuff like this it hurts all of us. Just stop." SHUT UP, can't she understand how hard I tried for years to be even slightly accepted? I didn't ask to be worthless, did she think I chose to be born weak and frail. I never wanted to be a hiccup, for goodness sake I have grown to hate this loki damned name!

I picked up the dirty bandage and tied it on before attempting to get up, astrid walked out of the cage and joined the others in their small group. I got up but I could feel I was limping, I doubt Ill make it to the cove like this and I don't really want to go to the village so it means I'll have to just dart into the nearest forest edge.

It is quite far, the killring is built on the other side of a bridge but I could pull through if it meant I could see toothless.

I got up again but this time I didn't fall, I slowly stumbled out of the killring. The group was already past the bridge and I could see them heading toward the meadhall, I stumbled slowly past the bridge. Whoever chose to put the killring so far, I hate you.

I stumbled and fell a few times but I got up each time, I finally got to the grass but I forgot about the small hill and crashed into a rock at the bottom. It wasn't a bad fall due to it being mostly smooth but I could feel that the sleeve on my tunic ripped, I would have to fix that up another day. 

I slowly managed toward the edge of the forest and didn't wait to blow the whistle, I warbled out through the whistle my nickname and the cove. It didn't take long before a set of black wings descended near me, I collapsed onto his side for support the second I saw the chance. When I saw his face I flinched from shock for a short moment, his eyes were slit into deep cuts while hits teeth barred. 

He must not want me touching him right now it seems, I got up from his side when I felt him use his tail to kick my feet out from under me. Instead of feeling the hard cuts of earth I felt a large leathery wing curl around me, it was completely dark and yet after all that happened it was comfier then any bed. Why did he look so upset then? could he tell I was hurt by someone, gosh I hope he doesn't hurt anyone.

Eventually the leathery cocoon gave out and I felt the cool sand of the cove, before I could even give a single refusal I felt toothless wet tongue against the scrapes and bruises. It honestly hurt but soon I felt a cool almost numbing effect, I looked at toothless again and saw that while his eyes weren't as fully slit like before I could still see the anger in them. 

I felt tired, I wanted to sleep in the warmth of toothless scales. I slowly closed my eyes but soon I felt toothless wing pull me in to the safety of his scales, I think I've grown to prefer this over dads bearhugs.

Chapter Text

When I slowly woke up I could tell my eyes were slightly swollen from tears that I must've not realized I was crying, my body still ached all over but it felt numbed almost in the worst places. I finally opened my eyes and noticed I was in a completely dark space or my left eye went blind aswell, I tried to move but I felt two large restraints over my body. What?

As I kept trying to move I heard toothless warble my nickn....my name " Gruwhaa " I looked up I saw two big eyes looking at me, I felt the restraints release and as toothless lifted the darkness I realized where I was. It was the cove and despite calling out through the whistle for the cove yesterday, it still felt good to wake up here. 

I looked around and saw that it seemed to be just past midnight due to the moon, I often slept with toothless but that position of being in a winged cocoon was new and I have to admit it might be the most comfortable I've ever slept...well...ever. The wooden bed that simply had a few thinned blankets that didn't help to soften it at all but it has been all that I've known for my entire life, now that I've had an actual good sleeping experience it might be hard for me to sleep in my bed without sneaking out to the cove.

What will I do when dad comes back? I don't wanna have to sneak out and break his trust but I guess I've already broken his trust beyond repair when I befriended toothless. Dad wouldn't even notice if I snuck out each night, I doubt he would ever notice actually.

I looked back to toothless who got up from his side and walked over to me, he gave a few sniffs before nudging my chest and placed his forehead on my chest so I was unable to see his face. I could feel a purr but it almost sounded like a growl was mixed in, I lightly lifted up his head and made eye contact. He had thin eyes that were similar to the size of a carrot in width, what was he mad about?

He lightly nudged my chest again although this time a bit harder, he lightly pushed me down into a laying position before planting his head onto my chest. I could tell he was being soft on me due to the fact I wasn't feeling pain when he laid down, I knew I was atleast licked on my worse injuries with how little pain I was in. I really need to study the effects of that.

I slowly traced the crown of toothless head and started a light scratching, I know that toothless likes fish jerky so I'll have to buy some higher grade stuff next time trader Johann comes by. 

I took a big sigh, although snotlout and I have never had the best relationship his beatings have gotten worse through the years and I think that recent beating was definitely the most violent by far. It must have been because he had a reason to be annoyed, had catching that terror truly been that annoying?

Snotlout compares me to a terror sometimes so he must have...gosh I'll just feel worse thinking about it, I should think about things I like. The flight gear worked well but there could always be improvements, Ill need to add footholds on the bottom of the saddle and around the sides so I can fly while riding and while on my stomach without worry. I could make them interchangeable so toothless doesn't always have to wear both, the scarf flew around too much so Ill have to make it tighter and find a way to secure it better. 

I want to make some leather protectors for things like my knees and elbows, I will likely use those during dragon training so I don't get hurt when running away though...what else...I wanna do something for toothless but I don't know what, I have no idea what toothless would want beside maybe fish jerky. 

I stopped scratching toothless and grabbed the whistle before speaking " Toothless, wanna teach me some more dragon? " it was still late at night but I would be bored to death if I was made to lay down until dragon training that while early in the morning is still many hours away. 

Toothless gave a small warble before pulling his head up although he was still sitting, I got up and sat in my usual spot on the inside of the curve of toothless. I was about to draw in the sand when I saw toothless attempting...something? He was nudging the sand around with his snout but he kept getting annoyed and patting it smooth again with his paw, he looked at me with drawn back ear...nubs? Yeah, nubs anyway he looked at me and gave almost a sad coo. 

It took me a second until I realized he wanted to teach me words using the sand, like how I did. I slowly grabbed his paw and took his claw, he watched slowly as I dragged a rough shape out of the sand. Toothless seemed to have a realization because he gave a light growl at my hand and started to attempt another drawing once I pulled away, I watched as he drew an...oval? He drew a oval with scribbles on the top then a dot with a circle in the middle and then...no way...he was drawing me!

he drew a rough bandage for my other eye before looking at me, his nubs were high and he had that silly attempt at a smile. I gave a laugh and looked at him before warbling out through the whistle " Gruwhaa! " Toothless gave a short snort before going back to drawing, he drew a small winged blob that was either toothless or maybe just a dragon in general. This time I spoke without the whistle " Toothless...? " 

Toothless gave a light growl before adding a small broken oval...wait, baby? Wouldn't it be hatchling if its a dragon then, I looked at toothless and heard him warble while nudging the hatchling dragon. " Gruwhaa " 

Hatchling. My na...nickname is hatchling, this damn dragon. 

I looked at him in pure shock, hatchling was the last thing I thought the name meant. Is it a silly nickname or perhaps it is what he calls all human teenagers, I drew a second drawing next to toothless that while it looked similar I mainly based it off snotlout along with his viking hat and longer hair. I pointed to it and gave a small { Hatchling...? } through the whistle, I wanted to ask if it was just my nickname and this was the best way I could think of. 

He gave a growl with his ears down, I pointed to myself and said the nickname { Hatching? } He gave a purr, it honestly felt sweet to think it was just my personal nickname with seemingly only good intentions. The only nicknames I've ever had were used to make fun of me but it makes since for me to be called hatchling since I am smaller then my peers. 

I gave a good scratch to toothless head while attempting a purr through the whistle, I wanted to show I was happy in a way toothless might understand but I doubt it worked since I didn't get much of a reaction. 

I heard the growl of my stomach which reminded me I hadn't eaten a good meal for a bit, I asked while still asking. { Flying, Fish? } Toothless seemed to understand because without me having to get up he raced over and grabbed the saddle and a few pieces of the flight gear, I had to make him go back to grab my second glove and eye cover before I got ready though.

The moon was still high so I still had lots of time before I had to return for dragon training, I got up and started gearing up. Toothless stretched out while licking some parts of his wings and paws, he didn't look injured so maybe its just a way for him to clean himself.

Once I finished my preparations I walked over to toothless and tightened the saddle, he gave a small growl so I made sure to loosen it until I heard a content purr. I rearranged the straps so that when I laid on my stomach my feet would be more secure and I wouldn't have to worry about sliding off midflight. Toothless seemed to like this position because he was able to go faster then usual or atleast that was my theory, he went faster when I did it the last time unlike when I just sat on his neck. 

I crawled onto it and laid on my stomach and worked on the straps, it was a bit hard but I should get used to working alone because I would have no human help with anything dragon related if it wasn't included in killing them. 

Once I was fully secured I patted toothless on the side to indicate I was ready, we burst into the air and I felt the air swirl around me as we lifted higher. I wanted to try more complicated maneuvers so when we got past the clouds and I felt my air thin, I knew I wanted to go rough this time. 

I indicated I wanted to spin by pulling the saddle to the side and blowing the whistle in a warble, Ill need to ask for a word for that. 

Instead of spinning he dived fast, in a way I didn't anticipate. I gripped the saddle hard and watched as we descended quickly, I could see that toothless wings were pinned to his sides as we descended. The wind was strong but the faster we went the more I heard it, the sound every viking knew and feared yet I found myself being excited to the point I could feel an uncontrollable smile spread across my face. 

How long has it been since I've smiled a real smile, likely too long but to be honest this feels amazing! 

Eventually toothless opened his wings and we were gliding freely over the ocean, we must have flown farther then I thought when we were ascending because I could only see berk as a far off island. Toothless gave a happy roar of celebration { Flying Hatchling! } I whistled back louder than toothless. { Flying Hatchling! } 

When we landed at the cove, toothless had done two trips for fish. We had to do a second one because toothless accidentally ate all of them, although I only needed one fish for a good breakfast toothless was ecstatic to be able to go flying with me for even a bit longer.

I wonder why he likes flying with me, it was still dark by the time I had taken off all the flying gear so I used the extra time to arrange a circle of rocks for the fire but when I went to grab the sticks toothless came behind me and showed a bundle of dead and dry sticks in his mouth.

I lightly bonked him on the head as he released them into my hands, as he sat next to the soon to be fire I could tell he was getting comfortable for me to sit next to him. I placed the sticks down and sat in my usual spot, the second the sticks were arranged a small fire lit them aflame. I drew in the sand with my finger an attempt at different things that toothless could do in the sky, I don't want to end up having a repeat of today even if I had fun.

I drew a variety of moves such as spinning, diving and even ascending all with a mini sand hiccup to join them. I pointed to each one and waited patiently, toothless nudged the nearest drawing with his snout. He gave a growl and a variety of different words that honestly seemed pretty similar once you knew what they meant, who knew this language was so easy to learn. 

I repeated them all through the whistle, I used to need to take a few minutes to get the pronunciation right but I am slightly more skilled in the whistle now so I was able to get it right quite quickly. 

Toothless seemed content as he laid next to me, the sun had started rising by now so I had to get going toward the kill ring. I got up and scratched toothless quite a lot before leaving but when I moved to a certain spot just under his chin, he plopped down onto the ground into a fit of purrs. 

I crouched next to him worried for a second but I soon heard the loud purrs coming from toothless, I would have to ask him about that later but for now I need to head over to dragon training. I wont be late but I can still go early in order to not have a repeat of yesterday, I also have to take in account my injuries.

I started walking out the cove into the forest, now that I knew exactly where I was in the forest and where to go to leave it felt easier then navigating through the village. I'm not saying that I don't know my way around the village, I could likely navigate it with my eyes closed but honestly I feel more at home and just generally safer in the forest.

It's funny to think I feel safer in the forest when were not even supposed to go into it for the dangers of dragons, I slowly approached the edge of the forest and saw the back of my house. 

I exited the forest with a sigh before starting my trek towards the kill ring, it was still quite dark out despite the currently rising sun so I knew I wouldn't be late. I slowly spaced out as I walked through the village, It was my usual routine when I had to walk through berk. I usually attempted to avoid the public eye by going through the edges of town when I did have to but it was early enough in the morning that it didn't matter, eventually I turned the corner and saw the bridge to the killring. 

I sighed before continuing, I couldn't see the others or even gobber so it seems like I got here earlier then I thought. I got up to the killring finally and I cranked the gate open but it took a few minutes to get it even slightly open for me to crawl under, gosh I should probably try working out sometime with toothless. 

Once I finally managed to get inside I looked around and saw the arena in similar disarray as it was left from yesterday, I got up from the floor and looked at the cages. 

I hadn't thought too deeply of these dragons but now that I have time to actually think about it...isn't this too cruel? The cages are small and dirty, I saw it first hand when I cleaned them yet they're treated worst then actual human prisoners when I have proof that they are likely just as smart as humans. 

Why do they even attack us? Gosh, I have a lot to ask toothless tonight. 

I remembered the zippleback and blushed from embarrassment, I called myself a hatchling...almighty thor...I walked up to the zippleback cage and blew a warble { Hatchling... } I wanted to show I was there but toothless never taught me any greetings so I have to use something it might recognize. 

It finally growled out a response { Viking - Hatchling...? } The two heads responded and surprisingly I understood what they had said but they had misunderstood something. I growled at the viking part before speaking again { Hatchling } The Zippleback had a short growl that I couldn't understand before speaking again { Hatch - ling. } 

Before I could respond, I heard the gate to the killring open up behind me and I shoved the whistle into my shirt before I turned around. Instead of seeing gobber like I expected I saw astrid, she had sat down near the weapons rack and was currently sharpening her axe. 

I didn't exactly wanted to be near her, at all. Gosh when did I start feeling this way towards her, It's like all my previous feelings have been slowly been getting chipped away at. Maybe it's cause I've felt actual affection from another being, even if toothless isn't human they still have showed me more care then this entire village...maybe gobber got close but I don't know, he has been a good figure in my life but I...I wish someone could explain how I should feel right now. Gobber has been distant due to the work from being chief, even if its only temporary it is still a lot of work for him.

I heard a voice in the distance and saw gobber with the rest of the teens walking nearer, gobber looked similar to how dad did after an all nighter. I want someones guidance, to tell me I'm not a terrible person for talking and being peaceful with dragons. I wish dad acted how some other peoples dads acted.

Gobber came up first and opened the gate and watched as everyone filed in before closing it, He walked over to the terrible terror cage before speaking. " ay, today is about speed and agility. Catch a terrible terror and bring it back to its cage with minimal injuries! " He gave a glare to tuffnut, it has become well known that terrible terrors tend to dislike him due to his rowdy behavior. 

If it comes down to it then Ill use my whistle, only in a emergency because I cannot leave berk just yet...it still is my home even if there is nothing but the pests to love. 

I watched as gobber pulled up the lever revealing a small green dragon with yellow underwings and highlights, its big eyes were oddly cute and it was a bit wobbly on its legs. I hadn't expected to actually understand anything it said but in a high pitched screech, it repeated a simple word as it ran around. { Fish!! Fish! } 

Terrible terrors weren't the loudest but now that I knew what it was saying it kind of made sense, they're quite small so perhaps they aren't the smartest of the dragons but even so they still have intelligence.

It crawled a bit in fast zig zag motions before licking its eye then seeming to notice something, it made a beeline for tuffnut while squawking about fish. It flew up and squeaked out fish loudly before chomping down on tuffnuts nose, it was oddly funny watching a guy who helped beat me up end up writhing on the floor in pain over a simple bite on the nose.

I backed away from the chaos to be left for the more viking-ess teenagers, eventually it flew off tuffnuts nose and started climbing onto fishlegs. I watched it closely but the longer I watched the more I realized it was just playing, it was simply climbing and squawking instead of clawing and using its fire. 

Eventually it jumped over to me and by reflex I held out my hands, it jumped into my palms and as I saw the others start to get their act together I threw it into the air. It likely just looked like a fear born act but I heard the squeak of joy that replicated toothless whenever we flew together, It jumped into my hands and was bouncing with energy. 

I threw it back up, over and over again until eventually I had led it back into the cage. The others looked shocked but astrid and snotlout both had different expressions, snotlout looked strangely...fearful? all the while astrid looked shocked with a mix of anger, I knew she was competitive but she looked like she wanted to ring all the blood out of my body as if she were drying clothes.

I know that astrid is competitive but what is wrong with snotlout? Gobber seemed to be in a rush because instead of having us fight another dragon despite the incredibly short lesson he let us go " Good work, hiccup. Meet me in the forge tomorrow, dragon training is over for today " 

I followed behind gobber as he left, I just wanted to get away from the stares of the others. I likely haven't broken my cover but instead they likely are just wondering how the village runt managed to do something they were struggling with, injury free at that.

As gobber crossed the bridge we broke paths, gobber usually said something when we walked together even on shorts trips. This was honestly one of the reasons I didn't like when dad went on trips for the nest, gobber either came along or was made to be temporary chief. Both usually ended up with me feeling alone in the village, I preferred when he stayed though for the fact that most of the work in the forge could still be split. 

I still need to do some personal adjustments on the flight gear but I know if I go to the cove I won't wanna leave so I'll do adjustments that can be done without having to need the other pieces, Ill make some extra straps that I can sew onto the saddle later on and Ill make the elbow and knee covers for safety. I could add metal bits for extra safety as well, I wanna try to avoid getting hurt in dragon training but if worse comes to worse then...

As I walked I tripped a bit and although I stumbled I managed to not fall but I could tell that one of the bruises on my ankle didn't get enough licks because it started to hurt. 

I continued walking to the forge, gobber had gone up to the meadhall but I could eat with toothless later. You can't be picky in berk so I've learned to shovel down fish into my gullet even if I would rather vomit, I managed to get to the forge unharmed and started my usual routine. 

I grabbed my apron and headed to the back, I rustled through the leftover leather. Most were pretty good quality so I'll use those, I don't wanna risk falling off during flight. 

When I finished up the final works on each of the parts the sun had started setting already, I had made the leather elbow and knee covers and even added a metal cover. I used a lower quality leather for those but when it came to the foot straps for the saddle I had made them able to be attached and unattached using a metal mechanism but Ill need to sew the mechanism into the saddle later.

I grabbed a satchel and a needle and thread, the empty fish basket is still in the cove being used to hold my flight gear so Ill have to use the satchel for now. I emptied out the contents of it, which mainly consisted of sharp scrap metal. I placed the items inside the satchel along with some extra leather and set on my journey to the cove.

I still don't understand snotlouts expression at that time, was that just how he expressed shock but I've seen him shocked and it definitely wasn't that expression. Maybe I'll find out if he decides to beat me up a second day in a row, hah. 

I saw my house in the distance and thought of visiting, I'll need to dust incase gobber decides to visit but...he will likely only visit if a raid happens so there is no need.

I should still change my clothes though, I probably stink. 

As I went up the hill to the house, I sighed. I haven't come here in so long it barely feels like a home anymore, maybe I should bring my clothes to the cove so I can change without having to come here. I went inside and it was dark, there was no light and I didn't remember where anything was, while I'm here I should use some of my blanket to cover my...eye? I don't exactly have an eye there anymore so I guess it is to cover my lack of eye.

I walked inside the dark room, I couldn't see anything but as I stumbled around it only ended up with me bumping into a table. I took the loss and left, I'll bring a small torch the next time I go in there so that I can grab my clothes. 

I heard a footstep as I exited the house and I made eye contact with astrid, what is she doing here? " How did you do that. " Her voice was stern and her anger was clear on her face, was it that big of a deal?

" I just panicked and...threw it " My voice felt hoarse, I haven't talked much recently besides from using the whistle. I could see on her face that she wasn't happy with the answer but I guess in her mind it was plausible cause she just scowled and left, I felt my soul leave my body as she left.

I was worried she would punch me under the excuse I had gotten in her way...I should head to the cove before she decides that answer wasn't good enough. I lightly jogged toward the cove, I wouldn't be able to increase my stamina immediately but I could do small things like this to help built it overall.

I passed the curved tree and once I saw the vine covered entrance to the cove, I entered hesitantly before looking around for toothless. He wasn't around but most likely he just was taking a nice flight, it gives me time to attach the mechanism to the saddle before he comes then.

I walked down the small path and sat near the fish basket, I pulled out the saddle along with the needle and thread I had packed in the satchel. I took out the extra leather and started securing the mechanism to the saddle, it should be pretty flush to the saddle but If I add some extra leather then it shouldn't bother me or toothless while flying. 

It was a slow process but eventually I tied the stitch down, I looked at it and made sure to triple check everything before placing it back into the fish basket. Toothless still wasn't back but I was in no hurry so I lied down for a moment, It was a bit after noon now and I was honestly a bit worried for toothless. I had simply left after I scratched that spot plus I have to ask those questions...

I got up and called out " Toothless! " It was a few minutes but I eventually heard the wing flaps that I could recognize from a mile away, He descended and lightly nudged my chest as he landed. I didn't feel like flying today so Ill ask to learn the language, it technically needs a name...Here in the archipelago we speak norse but I guess I'm the first berkian to actually start learning their language so I guess Ill have to come up with a name. 

I sat down followed by toothless who sat in his usual spot behind me, allowing me to rest on him. I wanted a greeting that I could use for other dragons but that might have to wait until I find out a way to communicate that I want something like that. 

I knew if I were ever in danger I would likely need a direct call, I started drawing a small running hiccup in the sand before adding mad vikings with weapons raised and a few mad dragons fire blowing. I pointed toward the drawing and started to draw the little hiccup with a whistle then a toothless flying over and protecting me, it was a more complicated drawing then all the other ones but this was important and I wanted to make sure I got the point across.

Toothless nudged the drawing of me blowing the whistle and gave a higher pitched growl that toothless usually did, it was kind funny to hear this big dragon growl something like that. I replicated it and actually managed to get it first try, { Help! } It seems the higher pitched words are easier, I still must learn all I can for the future. 

I drew a forest, I just wanted the word for forest cause I might not always wanna go to the cove. Toothless looked at me before speaking. { Forest } This took two tries but I got it correct on the third, who knew that learning dragon could be so easy.

I wanted a word for no or stop, likely to use on other dragons though. I drew myself with my hand out looking angry toward a random dragon and the dragon stopping but it was a bit hard to correlate that into a drawing but I think I got it. Instead of toothless nudging the drawing he took his claw and attempted to lightly tap the drawing, it smudged it but he gave a warble. { Stop } It was an easy and short word, they had all had different lengths and you really couldn't guess based on the norse word.

Toothless gave a short coo while watching me draw another one, this time I drew toothless with a small bubble with a drawing of us flying while I drew me with an x in my arms. It took toothless a moment but he got it after awhile, he cooed out a word longer then I expected. { No } This was easy despite the length of the dragon word. 

I started the next drawing, I wanted to get some words to start forming sentences.

It is fully night now, we have spent a few hours doing intense charades and I have only learned a few words but it was worth it. I laid down, I was tired and done with learning for the day. So far from the charades I've learned what and hello along with bye and hide. Those few words took hours but thankfully I got it after awhile, I stretched out my back while laying down on toothless.

 I wanted to fly but I didn't want to end up getting scolded by gobber for being late, I felt myself slowly drift off to sleep when toothless suddenly grabbed me and put me in the similar restraints from before. I had no complaints honestly, even if it was unconventional it was the most comfortable I've ever slept.

Slowly toothless covered the space with his wing and I felt a quick breath, I looked up to see toothless looking down on me with his tongue out. 

Thor almighty, I don't know how I had gone without him for so long.

Chapter Text

I woke up to a warm wet feeling on the top of my head, It was obviously still dark out so I swatted it away and closed my eyes ready for more sleep. I felt another...lick? wait.

I opened my eyes again and looked up to hazel eyes looking down on me in the dark, it was hard to even make them out but as toothless opened his wings and let the rising sun filter into my eyes I was able to remember where I was. I had gone to sleep with toothless after yesterday, I slowly got up from toothless love bug grip and stood up. 

I slowly stood up and was quickly followed by toothless, I felt a bit stiff so I started cracking my back when toothless took a big stretch like a cat and returned to my side. I liked this cat like side of his but his intellectual side was just as interesting, it would be impossible for me to choose between the two versions of him.

I would need to head to the forge at noon but I had quite a lot of time to spare, how long has it been since I've met toothless now? I felt a nudge on my waist and met eyes with toothless, oh this big guy.

He gave a warble { Hello hatchling, fish? } I scratched the crown of his head before responding to the question, although I'm hungry I've had way too much fish these past few days. { No fish, flying yes } I would have to visit the great hall for some chicken even if I didn't want to, it would only be a short trip for a plate but as I was grabbing the flight gear I remembered something when I picked up the scarf.

Gothi had asked me to come two days after I had gotten injured yet it was almost four days later, I felt my heart drop. 

That would include atleast a rough thwap on the head and a quick bandaging, I honestly hadn't kept track of my injury. It just looked like it was healing well so...I completely lost track of it, after all I mainly used the bandage as cosmetic more then an actual bandage when the pain had subsided. It seemed toothless saliva had numbing properties so I haven't thought about the injury much but...I lost my eye, even for vikings its an uncommon injury due to most dying from the collateral damage that comes with it.

I felt pathetic like I always did when I thought about the injury, I don't know if dads disappointing glare would change to something worse or if he wouldn't care at all. I looked back to toothless and he gave a worrying warble before nudging my arm back toward the flight gear. { Flying, village, hide }

I hope I got my message across that I needed him to fly me to the village albeit stealthily, toothless seemed to understand because instead of nudging me to wear the flight gear he shoveled his head underneath me letting me sit on his neck before bursting off into the sky. 

even without the saddle I've learned how to stay on toothless back pretty easy even flying fast without the saddle came easily, the sun shown through the holes through the leaves and as we flew he made sure to stay hidden beneath the trees.

I stayed low to toothless neck as we navigated the trees, I lightly steered him toward the nearest point of the forest by gothis hut. When we arrived at the forest edge I got off toothless with a crunch of leaves, the freeze was coming soon and the it seems the trees are yellowing and dying already. This might make it harder to hide toothless when flying through the forest when winter comes but if we flew during the night it wouldn't matter.

Before heading out of the forests edge I heard toothless give a small snort, I looked back and saw him looking away annoyed with his eyes half closed. " Oooh you big baby, sad I can't fly longer! " I jostled his face around in a playful manner, rocking it back and forth before feeling a wet tongue slap against my face.

" Oh ewww! You know that doesn't wash out " It would likely be better to talk to toothless in norse and not just dragonese, if he learns to lightly understand some words then our conversations may become more then just simple words. I wiped the spit off my face but was pinned down but not painfully, it reflected when we first interacted and he stole my fish jerky. 

{ Hatchling, bye! } he patted my head in a swatting manner before getting off me, I scratched under his jaw and started the walk up to gothis hut.

When I finally got up I was gasping for breath, not because it was a hard walk but because I decided it might help my stamina to sprint. When I knocked on the door there was no answer but a few footsteps nearing towards the door, it took awhile but once the door opened I had relatively caught my breath.

I looked down and saw gothi but before I was given the chance to speak I was given a hard thwack on the head, I rubbed the spot that was hit and watched as gothi retreated into her house before signing for me to follow. 

I followed into the wooden hut and watched as she pulled out a new bandage along with some new thread and a needle, wait...why did she need thread and a needle? The injury was almost fully healed, infact I had mainly came here with the idea of getting the stiches taken out.

I sat on the bed and it made me remember the comfort of sleeping in toothless odd cocoon, I doubt it was comfortable for toothless but he seemed to be okay with letting me sleep there. Ill need to learn some words like short and long to indicate the time of flight, if I need to go somewhere and I don't have the word then I could tell him the time of flight and steer him.

She came back over and took another hit on my head albeit with less force before motioning me to take off the bandage, When I took it off I could see her eyes widen. Gothi wasn't often shocked but as she looked at it she gave a shake of her head before putting the new stitching back into its designated cupboard and coming back around needle in hand.

I lowered my head to allow her to work, had it healed faster then she thought? It must have, if it hadn't then why did she bring out new stitching.

She made a quick movement before I could feel an uncomfortable slipping of the stitching coming out, I hadn't realized how...odd it would feel. It wasn't painful but it still made my skin crawl with how it felt. When she pulled it out I could see that it was dyed a brownish deep red that made me remember each cut I felt from that terrible day, She continued her work and each new stitching being taken out felt like each cut being remade and reopened.

In truth I could tell it was fully healed due to the fact I didn't feel a drop of blood on my face but as she worked I remembered the disapproving glares I got from my father before I had any injuries and yet now I had lost an eye.

When she finished she pulled the odd cotton that was kept in my now empty eye socket, I hadn't seen under that cotton yet I truly don't ever want to. 

She put all the bloody scraps into a small pile before sighing, she motioned for me to leave with her staff but I...need something to cover myself with. " Gothi...Do you have something I could use to...cover it? " It felt like a pathetic thing to even ask, for a viking to be ashamed of a scarred injury or a loss of limb is so...shameful. Yet here I am, ashamed.

Gothi gave a somber look before shuffling through her supplies and pulling out a piece of cheap fabric that was often used when we ran out of bandages, she handed it before pushing me out of the hut without giving me time to tie it to my head. 

I tied it with fumbling hands and started my descent down to the forest, while technically it would be smarter to head straight toward the forge I am not operating on technicality due to the fact I have wings...albeit they aren't physically attached to me.

Once I got to the forest I hesitated before blowing the whistle, I blew out a sigh before starting a small sprint towards the cove. I needed to build up my stamina so that I could atleast compete against my peers in speed if not strength, I knew it would take awhile before I saw even the smallest amount of growth but that smallest growth was what I needed. 

As I started to slow I heard rough fast footsteps and when I looked to my side I saw toothless running beside me but I could tell he was being very slow to compare to my speed especially as I slowed from fatigue. 

Toothless ran far ahead of me before giving a chuckling warble and continuing his run but this time he was going an unachievable speed for any viking, I sped up in order to atleast see the end of his tail but as I got farther I noticed that he was in the trees and had been watching me for a few minutes. 

I skidded to a stop but I hadn't gotten used to the speed I didn't often use and got tripped by some foliage, falling to the floor in a hard hit. I heard a thump next to me as I felt toothless shovel his head under me and bringing me to sit on his neck, It hadn't been that bad of a fall and I simply scraped my chin and hands yet he brought me back to the cove through a quick burst of his wings.

When we arrived I half expected to be licked silly but instead toothless lightly nudged me off his neck and tended to the scrapes on my hands with calm licks instead of ones that dragged across what felt like my entire face, I tended to trip a lot even as a kid and I used to just deal with the scrapes by myself since there really was no one. 

I still needed to head to the forge but it wouldn't take too long if I just flew so I had time to kill, Toothless moved onto my chin and while I disliked being licked the numbing effect often helped me get through the day. I still need to figure out if his saliva had healing effects but it is very likely, just the fact that gothi was convinced I needed restitching instead of it just being taken out could be proof.

As toothless finished I pulled the whistle up to my mouth. { Flying, village? } Once I said it toothless nudged my hands in a worrying warble before crouching for me to get on his neck again, I crawled on and gave a few scratches on his crown before he flew off.

We flew through the trees and I lowered my head to lay on toothless crown, once we got to the forest edge I got off and gave a quick hug but toothless seemed confused about the exchange. I started my short sprint toward the forge.

When I arrived I could feel the heat from the working forge as I saw gobber was actively working on what seemed to be a mace. I entered the hot forge panting from the run but I didn't hesitate to grab my apron and start my chores of sharpening, I always started with that before getting to the cleaning so that I wouldn't have to clean up the remains from the sharpening itself. 

I was thinking about what to buy when trader Johann came by but it brought on the fact that I could just fly to a nearby island...As long as toothless stayed hidden in the trees and I brought a few things to sell like animal skin and some spyglasses then perhaps I could buy some new items along with fish jerky, although we can and often do make fish jerky on berk it just doesn't taste that good so I bet toothless would be ecstatic to taste some good quality.

I have never liked sharpening but it seemed like gobber loved pushing it onto me, if I had to guess these next few days I will have to come by the forge quite a bit. Gobber has allowed me to relatively relax due to my injury but now that I'm wearing a piece of fabric instead of bandage, gobber will put me back to work immediately if I had to guess based on how well I know this old man.

As I worked I didn't pay much attention to gobber but when a taller viking came by and called him over I expected gobber to tell him off on bothering him while he's working but instead gobber left immediately, that was odd. 

Gobber disliked when people interrupted his work but the fact he left is a sign that something big might be happening, I paused my sharpening and got up from my seat before walking over to the store front and peaking out. I don't know what I expected but when I took a peak out I saw that a large group of people were standing outside the forest edge, I felt my stomach twist into a knot as my mind thought over everything that could've happened. 

I took a few steps out before turning to a hard run, I had lost my breath a lot today but each step felt almost painful. Running after just being in a hot forge and going at a top speed hurt but the worst thing was that I didn't know what to expect, I could come upon the group to find toothless caught or worse. dead.

When I finally reached the forest edge and broke through the thick group, I couldn't find gobber anywhere and many of the vikings were armed with their weapons. I saw that the other kids my age were there but not astrid, the twins looked giddy while fishlegs looked disgustingly worried about...something.

As I looked around I felt a pat on my shoulder, I looked behind me to see gobber with his axe hand equipped. Before I could speak out my worries gobber spoke. " Snotlout been missing for the entire morning, were sending off a search party since we can't risk losing too many kiddos just before the freeze. " 

It felt like the worries that plagued me blew off and I was immediately infected with a single very strong fear. What if they found toothless?

Honestly I wasn't too worried about snotlout, he was a tough kid even if he wasn't the brightest but if he came upon toothless or they found him during the search...I don't even wanna think about that. That is worst case and right now I'm going to work on making sure that doesn't happen, I separated from the search party before running off to a far off forest edge.

It felt like I hadn't even had a minute of a break before I had started running at full speed again but it didn't take long before I collapsed onto the ground in a fit of gasps for air, I needed to get to a farther edge of the forest before the search started. I needed to lure toothless away from any risk of being discovered and I have to admit I'm worried for snotlouts safety, I know that toothless smelled him when I first got beat up and just cause I have managed to befriend him doesn't mean he isn't a wild animal.

Toothless could've already killed him yet if he did...I wouldn't miss him. I don't want his death on my conscious but I could understand why toothless would want to do it, he came back to find his little human friend beat bloody with obvious signs of a one sided fight. 

I think I would be angry too albeit not to murder, I always have to remember that toothless is still a wild animal. The only difference from the other vikings is that he's on my side and I'm on his, if he did kill snotlout I'll still hide him. I doubt I could be mad at him even if he did, despite the guilt there is a small part of me that is screaming that he had killed someone for me. Nobody in this rundown village has ever done something even close to that for me.

I got up and started a quick pace trek again but this time I held on before going full speed, when I finally managed to get to the forests edge I got another good look at my hands. They were completely healed, it had only been a morning yet the skin had healed over. This confirms it, toothless saliva has healing properties. It is likely that his hard skin makes it take longer to heal but when done to human...

I went past the forest edge and blew the whistle { Hide! Viking Village } I didn't hear anything so I continued deeper into the forest, I didn't usually enter through here so I was essentially going in blind which was never good to do in this forest. 

I blew the whistle again, I needed to lead toothless away from the search party. I hadn't even known if they had started but if they had toothless risk of being found was rising with each second toothless wasn't by my side or in the air. { Hide! Viking Village } No response but after a few more minutes I heard a low growl up in the trees, I looked up and saw slit eyes and pearly fangs. Toothless crawled down near my side before placing the crown of his head onto my chest.

I couldn't see his face as he kept his forehead on my chest but I could hear the low growl that seemed to permeate the air, I didn't see or smell any blood but I could feel cold drops of water dripping onto my shirt. 

I slowly scratched his neck down towards his head before pulling his chin up so I could atleast see his expression, he had an annoyed expression but I could tell it wasn't fully annoyance due to his paper thin pupils. { What? }

{ Viking Hatchling. } The sentence felt like a growl more then an actual sentence but I could still understand what he meant, I don't know if he killed him though but atleast now I know that he saw him and wasn't very happy. He likely recognized him by scent alone.

{ Cove, Flying...fish! } I had completely forgotten about getting food at the great hall but as I was ready to get on toothless neck, he used his wing to nudge me away. { Viking village, hide? } I had completely forgotten...oh gosh. { Forest hide, no cove } I slowly steered toothless toward the deep forest, I wanted to get to the beach so that I could talk to him about some things. 

I walked through the forest but as I heard some footsteps I realized I hadn't led him away far enough, I pushed toothless back towards where we started when he tripped me using his snout then stuffing me under his wing. I felt a rough jump and as I took a peak out I saw that he had jumped into the trees similarly when I found him, he glided through an array of yellowing trees and I watched closely as he...got near the vikings?! 

Toothless is very stealthy but that doesn't mean he should risk his life like this, does he think that all vikings are as weak as me?! As I peeked out the wing again I saw gobber leading the search as many looked around for snotlout, something I noticed was that there was around three fourths more vikings then there is I end up lost...even from when I was younger.

Have I really been this disliked all this time, that even small things like this were different? I felt myself sigh and curl closer to toothless side, his scales were warm despite the chill of autumn. 

Eventually after a few rough runs that ended in a glide with a thunk, I took a peak out and toothless opened his wings letting me fall out onto the sand. I got up and ruffled the sand out of my clothes yet there was still some stuck on my clothes so I shook it out similar to how toothless had in the past. As I looked around the cove I felt my heart drop, the reason toothless hadn't listened and still took me to the cove was because snotlout was lying there...unconscious. 

I looked back to toothless and he had anger written on his face, his snout was raised along with pin straight pupils and teeth were in clear view as he gave a low growl. He moved back to lay down at the other end of the cove as he started to lick his paw, I slowly walked over to snotlout but I soon saw his chest rise with a breath.

Okay, he was still alive thankfully but I could see he had a large bite across his shoulder that looked almost like he was dragged roughly. Just couldn't let him get away, huh bud. 

{ Viking Hatchling, forest hide! } He gave a snort before getting up, he placed his forehead onto my chest again and I could feel the vibrations from the growl before he stepped off toward snotlout. He swooped him up in his claws yet unlike when he carefully grabbed me instead it was a rough claw filled grip that I could tell hurt, sorry snotlout...

I watched as he flew off, I don't know where he will drop snotlout off but I hope he stays hidden. I started walking out of the cove, I still needed to finish my chores in the forge and get some food from the great hall. 

There shouldn't be anyone there because of the fact that they're on the search for snotlout so now would be the best time to go, I headed out of the cove and went through a unique path through the forest. I didn't want to risk meeting the search party so this is my best bet, I would essentially head straight to the meadhall but the search party is likely going in a different direction looking for snotlout.

I started my trek and followed trees that I recognized, an old log that had fallen down a few years ago and a short tree that seemed to have grown in late yet had seemed to have grown with these trees all at the same time. As I walked it made me think of how snotlout got in the woods, had he walked in on his own accord? No, snotlout didn't like the forests of berk and only ever went inside due to the twins wanting to prank me. 

Toothless must've smelt him near the forests edge when I had left and dragged him through the forest with the bite on his shoulder, why didn't he kill him though? There was nothing stopping him...perhaps toothless doesn't like killing, his shots were always aimed towards posts instead of people after all. 

I eventually reached the forest edge and saw the meadhall, I took a sigh before walking up the steps. I never liked this long trek and I was still tired from how much walking I've been doing all morning it feels like, I lightly tripped on a misplaced board before taking a short stumble but I thankfully didn't fall. 

I should make some small metal spikes for the bottom of my shoes so I can get more traction when I run on mud or sand, it would definitely help in that case and I could use it to kick snotlout or the twins and deal some actual damage. It shouldn't be too hard once I finish all my chores in the forge.

Once I got up to the meadhall I slowly creaked the doors open, I could still see some food on the tables eaten or left to collect dust while they search. The torches flickered from the breeze of the outside as I entered, I was around an inch away from grabbing the plate of chicken when I heard some footsteps. " Hiccup? " I turned around to see an annoyed astrid, arms crossed.

I hadn't seen her earlier but I felt like an idiot to think that she had joined the search party, I just wanted to grab my food and leave but astrid stopped me with her axe. " Where were you this morning? " wait what? 

" What are you...? " she didn't give me time to respond as she cut me off with another hit on the table with her axe. " Gobber told me to wake you up for breakfast in the great hall but you were no where to be seen all today and then suddenly snotlout disappears is nowhere to be seen either? Where were you. " Ah. I got unlucky, the one day that I get caught not being in the village is the day that toothless smells hiccup.

" I was at gothis hut, its why I have a new bandage. " It wasn't a lie after all, just a...miss used truth! She gave a glare before speaking again, gosh. " Your story will be held up by if they find snotlout and what his condition is. I don't believe you have the strength to hurt him but I know you're atleast clever enough that if you planned it you could. " Gee thanks.

I grabbed my plate of cry viking chicken and an empty glass, I could get some water later on in the forge. I took a glance at the marks on the table from astrid bashing her axe against them and shivered a bit, a clean rough cut that could cut a dragons scales and human skulls. Yeah, the perfect viking.

I waited a bit before leaving to return to the forge, in truth I wasn't supposed to wear the apron when I'm not in the forge but I guess gobber just didn't notice or care. 

I quickly started tearing into the chicken with my teeth, keeping the empty water cup in my apron pocket for now. It was dry and void of good seasoning that wasn't salt but I shoved it down my gullet like it was the holy savior of food, I had eaten basically only fish with no seasoning these past few days and honestly it felt good to eat something void of scales.

I hadn't even noticed when I finally got to the forge, I simply went in and started my work. I felt sleepy after eating, all the running today felt like it had drained me of all my energy. 

Eventually I heard some yelling from outside but it didn't take long for me to realize it was them finding snotlout, astrid walked by in her group of the other kids that was trailing behind the adults. Astrid stopped and looked at me before giving a small nod but she still had that constant annoyed look on her face.

I watched the large group of vikings pass by and return to their chores or to their homes with various faces of worry, annoyance and the regular overall stoick attitude of many. As much as I would like to go to the cove and meet up with toothless I still must complete my chores and I still need to ask toothless about going to a village and helping me catch some animals.

I continued my sharpening slowly when I heard a loud bang, I looked up and saw bucket and mulch in the front of the shop but bucket was rubbing his forehead raw as if he was in pain. " Ah 'iccup good to see you, might know where gobber is " I liked mulch and bucket but even then bucket is a bit too stupid...even for me, I can't deny that I likely wouldn't know how to draw if bucket never showed me so I am grateful to him.

" Gobber is likely still dealing with the snotlout situation, maybe check gothis if its so important " Bucket was watching some sharpened swords swing on the display, mulch redirected him toward the exit and as I watched them leave bucket sent over a short wave. I waved back.

I nailed the short and dull metal spikes to my boots, being sure to not completely impale my boots. When I finished everything I stretched out my back with a few pops, I put on the boots and grabbed my dagger and empty fish basket before heading out to the cove.

The last time I visited home I couldn't see anything so I had to bail but it was more laziness on my part, I need to change and grab my clothes so they can stay at the cove. I started sprinting lightly towards the forest edge, toothless could help with the lack of light situation. 

When I got to the forest edge I was lightly panting, I took a minute to rest. Although the metal spikes lightly helped with grip when I was running, it offset my balance on rocky areas. I would have to remove them and place them on the front edge instead of the bottom, I took the whistle from around my neck and blew. { Hello! } 

I waited a bit but there was no response, I blew again. { Hello...? } eventually I heard some footsteps that were so silent I doubted I heard it for a second, toothless came out the tree tops with a purr. I scratched his head as he came in distance before leading him to the back of the house, I needed his help on seeing inside. He tilted his head before warbling out a small response { Viking? } I gave a scratch as I led him to the back of the house before responding { No viking, hatchling }

I opened the back door as I looked around in the dark, toothless entered without a second thought as I lost sight of him in the darkness. His black scales always had a shimmer of dark blue but that didn't stop him from disappearing into the shadows.

" can you get me a little light bud? " I doubt he would understand the norse itself but toothless was still intelligent and he could read me quite well from what I've seen, it didn't take long for him to leave the house and bring back a broken off stick. I held it out and a short burst of plasma caused a flame on the end of the stick, I scratched toothless jaw before going inside with my newfound light source.

It was honestly quite dusty and I could tell that I would need to clean up before dad came home but that shouldn't be for awhile, I went upstairs. Torch light flickering as I went up the creaky steps, I just needed to grab my clothes and leave. When I got up to my room, the bed was still a mess and even had a large toothless paw print from the last time I was here.

I ruffled up the covers a bit before looking over to the closet, I started shuffling the clothes into my fishing basket along with some supplies along with my soap. It didn't take long until I finished and was able to head back downstairs, toothless was sniffing at the cupboards and and was looking very excited. I went past toothless who was still lightly exploring and grabbed a small bag of personal change.

I didn't wait for toothless as I left the house and put out the torch, making sure to not burn any foliage. With all the dying trees and the falling leaves, the forest is extra flammable so I should make sure to be careful when having a torch in the forest. 

Toothless eventually came out before mocking me with a swing of his tail and busting off into the woods, I followed along with not even half as much speed but I could tell toothless was having fun and I could agree. This was very fun when toothless did it, even if it was a worthless battle It was fun to chase around toothless.

I hid behind a tree that was on a far side of toothless, I attempted to climb up but when the dull spikes caught onto the wood I was able to get up twice as fast. Maybe I shouldn't take them off my shoes, this could help me get away from snotlout and his gang if needed. 

Once I was in the trees, I knew the green could end up sticking out so maybe I should wear some dark orange instead of my usual forest green. Once I was up I watched toothless closely, he was looking for me but instead of looking around or even up he sniffed the ground. 

I watched as he followed the scent up to the tree, If I didn't move then I would be caught...I've flown on a dragon hundreds of feet above the ground and here I am afraid of jumping between a few branches. I went to the edge of the thickest branch before jumping off, my hands got scraped from the rough bark but I didn't stop. I grabbed a branch and used the metal spikes on my shoes to pick myself up, toothless had seen it and was watching with wide eyes but I didn't stop as I jumped to another tree.

Toothless followed on the ground despite his wings and watched as I jumped between trees, eventually I got to a point where I was standing on a tree just on the outside of the cove. Toothless watched and had jumped on the rocks that lined the cove and kept it hidden, it gave me an idea as I looked at toothless.

" Hey bud, wanna try something daring? " Toothless looked at me with that usual tilted head of confusion before his eyes widened as he saw me prep myself for jumping, as he watched me push myself off the branch with all my weight he followed through. Toothless had his wings spread and as I landed on his back expecting to fly off high, he landed stiffly letting me fall to the floor in a rough tumble.

I looked back to him and he gave an odd warble that replicated a laugh as he layed down next to me, I got up and placed the fish basket down onto the ground before taking off my clothes. I was dirty and I needed to bath as well as change, it would be gross not to.

I was lightly gasping for air due to the earlier fun but toothless watched me get undressed with his usual confusion, once it got to my underwear I hesitated. Even if he is a dragon, I still feel the need to hold onto my dignity.

I got into the ice cold water with a chill but if some cold water stopped me then I would stink worse then gobbers underwear, toothless got up from his spot as he watched me enter the water. I really just needed to clean myself, I scrubbed off with my hands first before going back to shore and grabbing the soap. 

Most soap used by men was for their beards but it left them stinking like a corpse due to their belief that soap was too...womanly. I prefer to smell good so when I washed off I made sure to get everywhere using the soap, although this specific scent apparently smells like roses which I have never smelled in person but I have to say it might be my favorite thing I've ever smelled.

I still needed to ask about going to a town in the night, if we sell some animal skins then I'm sure I can buy some good quality leather. I got out of the water after washing up and put the soap in a small cloth that I usually kept it in, I went toward toothless and sat in my favorite spot against his warm scales. 

The cool breeze didn't help with the coldness from the water but I started my routine when I wanted to learn some new stuff, I drew a deer in the sand before pointing to it. Toothless gave a sarcastic look before warbling { Fish. } wait...did it mean animal...not fish? I looked at him confused and watched as he drew a rough drawing of a dragon eating deer and fish before pointing to the animals and speaking { Food! } Ah that makes a lot more sense, I had been thinking it was just fish but it had meant food in general!

I pointed to the deer before pointing to the dragon drawing, toothless gave a yawn before patting out the drawing. { No } He gave a sassy warble before licking his arm, I batted his head lightly in a playful manner before going back to drawing. 

I drew us flying over to a town then a bigger drawing that showed me buying...something? It was technically just a bag but I wanted to surprise toothless with the fish jerky, I definitely had enough money to buy some. 

Toothless looked interested and nudged the dirty clothes to me, I still needed to change...I got up and put the dirty clothes along with the clothes basket in a protected section of the cove where even if it rained or if someone looked they wouldn't find it, I got some new clean clothes but this time the tunic I chose was a dark orange that felt almost brown in color. I grabbed the flight gear that I stored in the same spot and got geared up. I grabbed my satchel and stretched out my back.

When I was all done I showed the spikes on my shoes to toothless, he seemed pretty unimpressed but that didn't really matter. I didn't actually know many islands near berk but I'm sure that toothless knew one, while I'm there maybe I should buy a map of the nearby islands for the future. 

The gloves would help me if I need to climb trees, my hands still hurt from the rough bark but maybe I should make another pair but with dull metal spikes similar to my shoes. I got onto toothless with the usual motions, I found that I rarely ever used the sitting footholds I just loved the feeling of going fast. 

Once I was fully locked in by the straps toothless shot into the air in a completely diagonal line, Once we were just below the clouds he started a smooth glide across a large area. I inspected the area below but there were still no islands in sight, the cold air felt good against my skin unlike when I had freshly gotten out of the water and was chilled by the water. 

We kept flying and eventually we started speeding up then I felt toothless bring an entire wing inward, leaving us spinning downward before he switched. Eventually he opened both and we were gliding just above the sea, three big seashockers swam past and in the middle I could see a small one that was racing past all the others in a playful manner. 

Their deep blue scales seemed to merge with the waves itself but as the adults watched us I could tell that while on the defensive, they were letting us near their baby even if it wasn't the closest.

As we gained speed and flew past I watched as the baby broke the waves and jumped from the ocean, it was cute with how childish a dragon could act. We started gaining altitude with each burst of toothless wings and eventually we were just below the clouds, toothless must be stopping himself from breaking the clouds in order for me to continue looking for an island.

It didn't take long till I saw a large amount of flickering torch light in the now dark night while we dived, I steered toward the island and made sure to navigate him towards the forest. It was small and if it wasn't night then any person would be able to spot toothless in that forest from the village, the good thing that comes from that is that toothless can always see me. 

With how close this island is to berk I should make note of what is sold here and some good hiding places, when we landed in one of the many trees of the forest I felt myself lightly feeling extraordinarily excited. Most berkians rarely left berk unless for the dragon nest so the fact I came here on my own without anyone knowing is so...exciting to me!

I slowly took off my gloves and stuffed them into the vest before taking off the eye covers, we were suspended in the air on a branch so I sat on toothless neck with my feet dangling while doing this. I had the knee and elbow covers under my clothes so that when I came to town I wouldn't have to take them off but I decided to keep my scarf, it was getting chilly out and I would enjoy the extra warm from it. 

I got off toothless but as I felt the branch and got ready to climb down the stump, I felt the bark and immediately pulled my gloves back onto my hands and slid down the tree. The trees here were relatively shorter then on berk but definitely the same type, I took off the gloves and snuck into the town.

There were many ships on the port so not many are likely to guess where I came from, there were shops all around town despite the fact it was dark into the night and I could see that there weren't many vikings to be seen.

I had assumed that this village was attacked by dragons a lot but as I looked around I notice that there was no way dragons attacked this place, There were beautiful blue flowers that littered the grass and all the homes looked too old...with how close it is to berk there is no way its so nice. 

As I walked I saw a building with a sign that was a simplistic map, I walked up and took a peak inside. There was no windows but the walls were littered with large maps and at the end of the room was an older man who was incredibly skinny, I walked in and noticed the large amount of fox skins that accompanied the maps but instead of the walls it was strung around on the ceiling. Ew.

I looked at the various assortments of maps that littered the room, I needed one that could tell me the islands that were in flight distance of berk aswell as what was on those islands. It would be best if if it wasn't too big so that I could fit it in my satchel when flying, I have to make sure the paper isn't too high quality or else I could burn through my entire pocket change. 

I still need to buy some fish jerky for toothless, just as a present.

I looked to the old man who was brushing the fur of one of the dead foxes, he gave a look before tying the tail up to the ceiling and letting it match the rest. " Excuse me, do you have a map of islands near berk that also labels what is located on the islands? " The man seemed to gain awareness of my presence when I spoke cause he flinched from my voice, he looked around the maps on the walls before seeming to come to an unspoken conclusion to himself.

I watched as he ruffled through a cabinet in his intricate wood desk, it had many details that I hadn't paid attention to but eventually the man pulled out around three maps. He laid them down on the intricate desk and spoke through a raspy voice that felt pained to hear. " These ma- " the man gave a raspy almost gasping cough but stopped with a short of breath word " My apologies young man, these maps follow the requirements you listed, please treat them with care as you choo- " The man broke into another fit of coughs.

I looked over the three maps, overall they were mostly the same in what they showed and the information they gave but they had some differences. One of them had the same width but was relatively shorter in length, It would be a waste to buy that one since it has relatively the same price. 

I looked at the second one in line, it was large and overall covered most of the information I needed although it only had if the island was inhabited or not and didn't list what was on it. It isn't a reason not to buy it because I could just fill it out but I will have to compare it to the other one first before making a decision. 

The third one was perfect, too perfect. It had details on each island of the trees and if there were vikings or dragons that made home there, even if it was a trading town was listed! It was of good quality paper and thankfully wasn't too big but it was too much, I could tell it was expensive..." Sir how much is this map " a bang from under the intricate desk, I had completely lost track of where he was while inspecting the maps.

He rubbed his head as he looked over the map, I pulled out my pocket money and started counting. I should've done this before coming into the village itself but it wont hurt to do it now, I finished counting and it was a good amount overall. I could probably buy the nicer map but it would take all of my money...I still want to buy toothless some fish jerky.

" I'll take this map " I pointed toward the middle map, it would take around three forths of my money but fish jerky is especially cheap so it shouldn't be too big of a problem. The man opened a small cabinet and brought out a cute red ribbon before rolling up the map and tying it with a bow, he practically shoved it into my hands before ushering me out. 

I walked out into the busy street following the flow of the people, I felt myself get pushed from vikings and rowdy kids alike. I got to a less crowded section that had a larger walk path, it allowed me to take a breather as I looked at the small wooden stands that held a variety of goods I couldn't find exactly what I wanted.

as I walked I saw a stand that was near the dock, it had a variety of jerky on display. I could almost hear the purr coming from toothless as he watched me go to the stand, the store owner was a bigger woman. 

" Hello, how much fish jerky would I get for 23 silver? " The woman looked me up and down before pulling out a small leather pouch from behind the wooden stand, she pushed it toward me then spoke. " The silver please. " Her voice was harsh, it was similar to how most of the vikings at berk acted when they had to interact with me.

I emptied the money onto her stand before grabbing the jerky and heading off, it was honestly a large amount of jerky so it should hold toothless over for quite a bit if he learns self control. I placed it in my satchel and put on my gloves from my vest while doing so, if toothless wanted to stay hidden he should stay in the trees. We shouldn't risk being seen with how populated this area is, I continued my walk through town and eventually came to the forest edge.

I entered the dark forest and continued my walk, I knew toothless was above me but I couldn't risk it with how close we were to the town. { Hide } I didn't stop walking till I knew that nobody would see, I can't put his safety on the line just cause I'm impatient. " Toothless, come down " 

He slowly crawled down the tree silently as he sniffed the satchel with wide eyes, I scratched his jaw before speaking. { Cove } He gave a wet lick on my face before jumping around in pure excitement, I put on the gear and strapped myself in the saddle but without warning toothless burst into the sky. 

I gasped lightly from the unexpected departure but it didn't take long for me to regain my composure, instead of back when we were looking for an island toothless flew higher and higher until we broke the clouds but even then he kept going. We were high above even the clouds at this point when toothless started gliding, the bright moon light was reflecting off of the clouds and allowing a beautiful shimmering light to encapsulate the sky. 

we glided over the fluffy clouds that hid the world below, I almost fell asleep from the calmness of the environment but I was brought back when toothless decided it would be a good idea to dive.

When I felt the sudden loss of altitude I had to hold back a scream, I was drowsy from all that had happened today so I hadn't been playing attention when toothless got ready to dive. I lightly laid my head down on toothless neck even as he dived, I hadn't even fully realized when we landed. I only noticed when toothless warbled. { Hatchling...? }

I unstrapped myself and fell into the sand, It felt like all the fatigue of the day hit me with a mace. Toothless looked concerned but he layed next to me and pulled me into his wings, away from the cold chill of the air I felt myself drift off into a deep sleep.

Chapter Text

I opened my eyes to the scruff of my dads beard, the fire light flickered in front of us as he sat. I was held in his arms close to his chest, I could feel the long deep breaths that he took each time. It calmed me and I slowly felt myself drifting off in the rhythm, breath in...breath out..........................dad?

I opened my eyes and saw a degrading corpse, it was staring at me with that same disapproving glare. I stumbled from his now weak holds that didn't even try to catch me when I fell, I hit the hard wooden floor yet the corpse kept looking at me with that same glare. I stumbled back until my back hit a wall and I practically curled into myself, I need it to stop looking at me....STOP LOOKING AT ME!

I opened my eyes from my protective curl and made eye contact with it again, it wouldn't stop staring. It moved it's neck to follow me yet there was no meat on its bones, It looked at me with a glare yet there was no eyes...just rotting holes that seemed to never end.

I felt myself gag from the sight, tears formed yet never fell as I sat on the floor in disarray. I looked forward but the corpse of my father had seemingly disappeared, instead stood a woman...my mother.

I knew she was my mother yet it was as if there was a filament over, I couldn't even make out her face or her hair as she stood unmoving. I tried to get up but I crashed to the floor, tears finally falling. My body felt as if it wouldn't listen to me, I looked forward again and saw her but there were claws of all types around her.

Terrible terror, zippleback and gronckle followed by a deadly nadder with a monstrous nightmares covering her entire chest. I felt my heart drop as I watched her slowly get ripped apart, I gagged from the sight alone with how the blood seemed to pool near me. 

When her entire body was gone...toothless came and a deafening crunch hid her head between his jaws, He slowly approached with an expression of pure anger. I stumbled back over to the wall and watched as toothless slowly came forward, he was covered in blood to the point he was redder then a monstrous nightmare and yet despite knowing deep down that toothless is gonna kill me...an odd calm washed over me with each step he took, as if he could save me from the hell that I had found myself in.

He was practically standing over me now, jaw opened wide and seemingly in the perfect distance to chop my head off to match my mother I watched in shock as an entire cows worth of blood was poured over me. it was oddly warm as it covered me head to toe, I held back a gag as I watched toothless drop a dagger that seemed to have been produced from his own stomach into my hands. 

Toothless moved over and in front of me I saw snotlout, he was alive yet the rough bite mark looked worse then ever. As if his entire shoulder had almost been torn off, everything in the room watched me. 

My fathers corpse, all the dragons even snotlout. He never spoke but I knew what he wanted, I clutched the dagger hesitantly. I felt the tears continue to pour as I slowly raised the dagger, I gagged again and turned to the side with a sob as the dagger clattered to the ground. 

Everyone suddenly shared that same glare as my father, toothless gagged out another dagger into my hands. I knew what they wanted, but did I want it?

I looked at the bleeding out snotlout, the bite looked almost infected with it covered in puss and dirt. I raised the dagger again, all the bullying hurt but what hurt worse was the hatred from the other berkians just for being a runt. I don't want to be hurt again but if I let myself go the same way then...hahaHaHAHAA....I brought down the dagger with a blood curdling stab, twisting the knife before pulling it out and repeating.

I felt myself sob as the tears seemed to clean my face of all blood as they fell yet I kept going, I pulled it out then stabbed again. Over and over, I stopped with a gasping cry before realizing my predicament. I dropped the dagger with a loud clang, before rising my hands to my face to wipe the tears but as I slowly cleaned my face of the never ending tears I felt an empty socket.

Oh yeah, my eye.

I curled into another uncontrollable sob on the floor, Toothless seemed to have actively softened after the stabbed as he curled around me with his usual warm scales. I felt so pathetic, any viking could easily kill another if need be yet here I am crying for someone who has bullied and hurt me all my life. Any dragon could likely do the same, am I meant to never belong in either worlds. 

a mirror seemed to appear in front of me without my wanting, I watched my reflection. I was blood covered and my hair was as messy as a dog, my clothes were tattered and dirty and my skin looked rough and dry. 

I touched the cold surface of the mirror but it suddenly grabbed me as if it was alive, cold tendrils slowly grew over my arm as I watched it come over my chest and up to my neck all the way over my mouth and nose. I couldn't breath and as it covered my one remaining eye I felt my body stop listening to me, as if I had never been in control at all.

I woke up in the warmth of toothless embrace, tears had fallen during my sleep yet the dream stayed fuzzy. As if it had been years ago instead of a few seconds, I curled back into toothless warmth as I let more tears fall.

I'm scared.

Chapter Text

When I woke up to the usual darkness of toothless wings, I didn't think much of it but when I opened the cocoon and saw it was past noon I felt my heart drop. I was supposed to work in the forge today which I usually start in the morning, the fact its already past noon means I'll likely be working late into the night. 

I sighed before I got up from laying down and started to take off my flight gear, I was so tired last night I hadn't even thought about it when we arrived in the cove. I should take off toothless saddle too, it couldn't have been comfortable to sleep in.

Once I had gotten everything off, I took a big stretch before crouching next to toothless. I slowly undid the buckles that kept the saddle on and slipped it off, toothless was sleeping soundly so I tried to not wake him up with too much movement. 

I put the flight gear with my other clothes before grabbing the pouch of fish jerky, I grabbed 3 pieces and took a small stray piece of fabric. I placed the fish jerky onto the fabric as an alternative to a plate, I don't want toothless to have to wait any longer just because I overslept. I stretched out my back and headed toward the village, I had gotten used to flying or riding on toothless to the village but it would be good to increase my stamina. 

I don't wanna get too reliant on toothless, if I can't fend for myself then I'll die even with his protection. I started a light sprint toward the village, although I haven't noticed any growth yet that is to be expected since it has only been a few days. I could see the curved tree in the distance when suddenly a large axe hit the tree to the left of me, I flinched and had almost tripped on a branch but I simply stumbled after regaining my composure.

I looked at the axe, it had caused a large chunk to splinter off of the wood and if it had missed then I would be lying dead on the ground. I looked toward who had thrown it and saw astrid standing there with her usual annoyed look, she took a step forward and I knew I was about to get it. I bolted, I wanted to get to the forge without issue and she was an issue.

I didn't hear her following me, I slowed my steps to take some deep breaths. I'm only a run away from getting to the curved tree but I knew I would have to sprint all the way through the forge so I should save my energy when I can, I started walking then escalated slowly into a sprint. The leaves crunched under me with each step, it was getting colder so I should put on a thicker vest for warmth. I finally got to the forest edge but I didn't stop, I was on a good stride and I didn't want to stop that. 

I had essentially entered the village but I wasn't exactly in the mood to see their glares so I planned to stay in the outskirts, I was around the corner to the forge when I felt a slightly sticky cold liquid wash over me and before I could even react a bucket was slammed over the top of my head. I couldn't see what I had been covered in and I could hear the laughing of the twins, I felt my stomach twist into a knot as I they spoke. " Get it! Sheeps blood cause your a coward...and sheeps are cowards. " I could hear them giggling before running off, when I took off the bucket I was entirely doused in blood. 

I gagged from the metallic smell alone as the bucket clattered to the floor, it made me feel sick. Where did they even get sheeps blood? They aren't supposed to be allowed near the sheep, the twins were known for their pranks but with snotlout it was usually just a beating. I don't know which was worse at this point but I did know I wasn't gonna be going to the forge today.

I started my sprint back toward the cove, toothless likely hadn't woken up yet but I didn't care. I had to force myself to look forward only because each time I glanced down I gagged, the smell was revolting by itself but the sight was too much. 

I was scrambling as I ran now, I tripped over everything I was able to avoid earlier. It wasn't that big deal to be covered in blood if your a viking, after all your entire life is likely to be devoted to battle but I am no viking. Everyone in this village has already made that very clear.

When I passed the curve tree I took a short break, If I saw astrid I just wanted to race past her I didn't even wanna risk . I wiped my face and felt tears, I felt so sensitive lately. I used to be better then this, I wasn't so...pathetic.

I pulled myself up again and started running again, I cried more as I ran. It felt like such a stupid thing to do, to cry over some simple sheeps blood yet here I am. I crashed into a low hanging branch and found myself rolling down a rocky hill, my arm throbbed with a light pain as I pulled myself up. I got up with little pain and started the short trek up the rocky hill, it wasn't that steep but it had a lot of loose rocks so when I stepped on an area full of smooth pebbles and my foot started slipping.

I grabbed hold onto a rock infront of my but it gave out from the earth and I tumbled down, I sniffed and rubbed my sore arm. It hurt but I could deal with it, I just had to make sure I stepped on more solid rock next time.

The only reason I've managed to survive despite being so disliked and accident prone in an island of dragon attacks is that I'm smart, I can atleast outsmart a viking thats for sure. I looked over the hill and stepped up a rock that seemed reasonably stable, I pulled myself up when I suddenly heard a few wingbeats. 

I looked up to see toothless descending toward me, I stopped climbing but I felt a sudden shift below me. The rock slipped out and I rolled down the rocky hill again, this time my arm really hurt and I could tell the tears were still falling. I curled into a crouch at the bottom of the hill, I couldn't control the tears and it felt like everything was against me today.

I felt the end of my vest be pulled before a rough tug that dragged me away from the earth, toothless didn't even fly off he just dragged me by the vest to the cove. It was honestly quite funny to see toothless struggle to not step on my legs, eventually he gave a snort and burst into the air. I doubt that my vest would hold up my entire body in the air for so long but toothless seemed to think the same because he moved me down to his claws.

When we reached the cove I practically drowned myself within a few seconds, I wanted to get this loki damned blood washed off now. When I got out of the water I pulled off my clothes, toothless seemed confused because he went to nudge them toward me but recoiled from the cold not a second later. I laid in the curve of toothless and got comfy when I felt a large tongue flick against my face, it was gross and I wiped it off my face but each time I did toothless just licked me again.

It was a hopeless debut, no matter what I did he would just lick me again. It was gross but I decided to succumb to my fate, I laid down onto toothless. I would get a chewing out from gobber for not showing up today but I didn't really care too much, I curled into toothless shoulder for warmth. 

I was just getting comfy when I felt or...heard something, an odd almost completely silent buzz in the air that felt almost like the echo of someone shouting in the distance. Toothless shot up along with me, it went silent between us and the mysterious noise seemed to follow suit. 

Toothless started acting odd, whatever it was had frightened him. { Flying? } Toothless gave a short warble back before standing up. { Food, flying yes } I went over to my fish...or clothing basket and sifted through it a bit, I chose some smaller pants compared to my other oversized pants and a tunic that was a dark blue so deep that it almost seemed black. 

Once I dressed I slipped into my shoes and started putting on my flight gear, Everything was relatively easy to put on. When I had finished getting ready, toothless had dragged the saddle over already and was beaming with excitement.

I didn't waste time to strap on the saddle, I felt toothless scales around the saddle to make sure everything was snug. Once I knew it was completely secure I hopped on and strapped myself on, as I put on the straps I got the idea of making them easier to remove. Perhaps instead of straps that attach to me, I make a leather wearable that has straps pre attached. 

Once I was completely strapped on I patted the side of his neck, I wasn't in the laying down position so I knew he would go slower which would mean I could relax before we went and got some food. 

He burst off into the sky and flew high, it was still a bit after afternoon so for safety we need to go beyond the clouds. It only took a minute and we were hidden, gone in an endless sky. I loved being this high, it often felt like I was short of breath but I didn't care. I always felt so free here, as if all my problems had never existed.

It was turning to night now, the moonlight shown onto the clouds and illuminated the sky. I took a deep breath before scratching toothless crown, I felt so calm in the moment. { FOOD! } It wasn't loud but an almost reverberation from a loud roar echoed through the sky silently, an odd ringing that you would only hear if you could understand it. 

It was commanding but not in the way dad commands, a cold dead fear washed over me as if I had never left the village in the first place. { FOOD! } Again, it called and rang deep inside my mind. The ringing itself wasn't loud, something that felt as quiet as a baby birds coo.

{ FOOD! } It rang again and again yet each time felt stronger as we went, a swift dive that stopped as fast as it started brought me back. I had zoned out without thinking, I looked to toothless who seemed to be hearing it as well but as I was about to speak it rang again. { FOOD! } I...I'm afraid, whatever that thing is will kill me if I don't bring it something...I...Off in the distance there were a loud amounts of warbles and coos, I could recognize most of the words being spoke.

Granted they were mostly speaking one word. { Viking food ___ _____! } Even toothless started saying it, the voice rang its usual thing but instead of just the words it felt like there was an odd subtext to it. { FOOD! } it was like that one word carried a full sentence of commands, it made my head throb with each ring of command.

I got into the laid down position on toothless, the ring hit again but farther this time. { FOOD! } My head pounded as the command came in again, If I get her food then...wait her? I should just stay low to toothless and...I...I'm scared, I know she can't get me yet every command is screaming that I'll die if I don't get food. 

Its irrational to fear what I have never seen, toothless kept flying while occasionally giving me a warble of pure worry instead of the drone like growl that seemed to come from every dragon in the flock. my heart pounded as berk came into sight, It has been my childhood home and yet the little connection I have is simply through my birth. 

Toothless started rising above the clouds, I watched as the flock of dragons descended while we rose high in the dark night sky. My stomach was twisting in knots with each beat of toothless wings that brought us higher and higher, the air felt as if it had been sucked away and I gasped for each breath. 

We stood there for a few minutes, after awhile I felt dizzy and I lightly laid on to toothless neck just so I couldn't risk falling. I felt us dive and I took a deep breath, all the air that had felt so distant earlier returned and I regained my composure. I could still feel the ringing from the command but it blurred with the sound of our rabid descent as I lightly steered toothless to an outpost, I didn't want to be responsible for any deaths. 

He shattered it with ease as the blast left his throat and with just as much ease zoomed back into the air, as I noticed us returning past the clouds I gathered as much air as my lungs could hold and got ready. { FOOD! } The sudden command caught me off guard and I let the breath escape my lungs as we continued to fly high, I lightly patted toothless head as he gave a worried coo for me. Toothless still had his mind but he was likely going through the same fear as I was right now, is this why all the dragons attack?

The queen is...wait, how do I know that...those damn commands, it's as if they carry more words then I should understand. It's all in the dragon language and yet I still understand everything, my head gave another stark reminder of the pain it was in. I felt us descend again and so I led toothless toward a major outpost that held a large fire to illuminate dragons in the sky as they flew, I looked at the path toothless planned and swiftly aimed his nose lower. 

His blast shattered the lower area and brought a larger amount of destruction then if toothless had done his planned root, as I watched it fall I felt my stomach twist in knots. I hadn't even thought before I moved when I redirected toothless blast, I just did it when I saw I could help. I don't even think the queen had made me do that or if she even could but I had, it felt like my headache doubled as tears fell from guilt or fear I could not tell. 

I lightly clung to the saddle of toothless as I shook from the pure adrenaline and fear, I don't want to be here but now that I have experienced this I doubt that any dragon here wants to experience this. 

Toothless started flying away but I could still see the tons of dragons still fighting, we flew away but my fears and problems didn't melt. They stuck like mold on my mind, the scenery was beautiful even now at night yet it felt like my stomach refused to untwist as my mind pounded from the headache. 

I laid my head on toothless as I let the tears fall, toothless gave a warble. { hatchling... } Toothless...is this what you and all these other dragons have been dealing with all these years, I scratched toothless head. { Cove... } It was the one place I could think of that was completely safe yet instead of following he continued flying toward the source of the command, I shrank as I realized where we were going. The nest.

Toothless was a dragons wings length from the ocean before sending out another powerful blast toward the water, he dived and left with fish in his claws and mouth along with water in my nose. We started joining other dragons that were higher in the sky once we went past the fog that surrounded the nest, as we reared closer my heart pounded with anticipation and fear. { FOOD! } It roared so loud I swear my brain rattled in my skull, I clutched my head as it pounded.

I wanted to shrink into the saddle yet I was forced to continue watching the giant nest slowly come into view, the command wasn't in waves anymore it just came out now in roars that felt ear shattering yet were so silent I could only hear a slight...buzz in the air.

I grabbed a fish out of toothless mouth and clutched it, even if it wouldn't matter in the end I still felt the need to have...just something that could allow me to fulfill the command. I wasn't under control but this...strong unaltered fear that felt as if it felt filled every part of me and drove deep into my bones, I felt nauseas from pure fear alone. When we finally flew in to the nest it was hot and humid, my own sweat stuck to my skin like glue and as I watched the flying dragons drop it into the pit of the nest I followed along with toothless.

We crouched on a ledge that stood over the seemingly empty pit but I knew better with how the buzz soaked the air until you could barely breath, It was practically being screamed in a constant silent buzz that was coming straight from the lava filled pit. 

I watched a nadder go over the pit in the formulaic way that all the dragons did but it had only carried two pieces of fish, I rose and bit it in two. 

I felt toothless freeze at the exact moment as me as it fell back into its large pit of lava, dragons were hit in the splash and I could hear a faint whimpering that seemed to emanate from every dragon in the nest with each movement that came from the large being that laid with its mouth open. It was hidden by the fog...or was it steam?

I was sweating and quite dizzy from the heat alone yet the fear seemed to add bricks onto my shoulders, I laid on toothless as I took breaths that were so hot they seemed to gather in my throat. I closed my eyes and tried to let my mind drift to something that wasn't the buzzing that ached my headache to the point of almost burning.

I was dizzy and hot with fear, the buzz kept attacking but eventually it faded away.

I woke up in the cool sand of the cove but only on my back, I propped myself up with my hands although I felt a slight ache in my arm. My legs were tangled up in the straps of the saddles as toothless slept soundly, he must've not been able to wake me from my...fainting I guess. I undid the straps but instead of falling I just kept my feet where they were, it was only a little uncomfortable but the main reason was because I felt so tired that I just wanted to rest for awhile.

I closed my eyes and just let myself relax, I slowly got up while trying my best to not wake toothless but it was in vain as toothless shot up. I had expected licks but all I got was a worried rub on my chest as he went back to laying back down on the sand by my side, he kept his eyes on me as he watched carefully. Not judgmentally or disappointed just...worried.

I scratched his head as I turned to my side but I flinched back onto my back with pain from my right arm, I reached out my left arm and scratched toothless head. { What...queen? } It was all I could ask with my current knowledge on the language, truthfully there was so much more I wanted to know yet it felt as if there was a large wall keeping me from asking and him from answering.

He gave a worried flinch at the word queen, it was likely confirmation to him that I could understand the command when I learned the language. The buzzing was likely never a dragon centered thing in the beginning the creator of that buzz or the queen just happened to send out the commands in dragon, if vikings...if humans had spoken dragon then we would have fallen under the same fate as these dragons.

So that leads me to one thing, what is the queen. She has to be hundred of years old with how long the vikings have been getting attacked and her size, There has been sightings of dragons so big they could cover berk with their body but they had never shown up on berk themselves and likely only attacked for protection like most dragons. 

She didn't leave specific instructions to steal from vikings so why do the dragons steal, it's dangerous and has repeatedly killed them off far more then areas where they don't attack. Toothless showed me even if he didn't mean to that they don't have to steal directly from a village but It's likely through culture, a dragon in the past possibly once got a lot of food through the village so many followed but when baby dragons came they saw this and followed along. 

I have learned that dragons have the ability to be as intelligent as humans and while some may not be I can say with a good heart that most are, it wouldn't be far off to say it is a practice born through culture. 

Toothless had fallen asleep already as I continued to sketch the scales of his face with my nails, I slowly closed my eyes while listening to the calm sounds of toothless breathing.

Chapter Text

I woke up to the bright sun shining straight into my eyes, I batted it away as I would usually do for toothless but it was the sun after all so I slowly got up. I shed my skin of the flight gear and started my return to the village as normal, I had a strong ache in my arm and overall I just felt bad so I thought I could just walk to the village.

I stretched out my back as I walked, yesterday felt like a giant boat rocking on the waves with how different the morning is. Toothless would likely sleep until I got back as usual but I still felt extremely tired, I've started getting used to toothless sleep schedule recently but I just hope it won't effect anything in the village.  

I yawned loudly as I passed the curved tree but not a second later I tripped on a rogue vine, I fell flat on my arm that had still ached but now was around twice as bad. I gave a short hiss of pain as I got up and continued my walk toward the village, I'll need to come up with an excuse for not being at the forge...and not being found during or after a raid...oh gosh.

When I reached the forest edge I passed the back of my house and started walking to the forge, I can't really think of any excuses that would work for essentially being missing for an entire day. If I used the excuse of being lost or overslept even if I said I was in the forest out right then it still wouldn't hold up, they likely already sent out a search party after the raid when gobber couldn't find me. 

Gah...I just had to fall asleep last night, if only toothless wasn't so cute when he pouted...I could've fought back and gotten to the village in time to stop a search party. I sighed before turning a corner, I never liked this stretch to the forge as it allowed me to see the glares of the people who live around. 

They weren't even trying to ignore the fact they were mad or atleast annoyed at the fact I was missing for a day and a raid and came back unscathed like nothing happened, I want to tell someone what I've seen yet there's a sinking feeling in my stomach because I know the second I do I'll be labeled a traitor to viking kind. I entered the forge but gobber was no where to be seen, there wasn't even a single torch lit.

I grabbed a flint and lit a torch, using it to light all the others before setting down the torch in its holder and grabbing my apron. I sat down in front of the sharpening station after putting on my apron and grabbing a dull axe, I started sharpening immediately and due to the fact that the forge wasn't on and it was starting to get close to the freeze so for once I was cold in the forge. 

I had barely finished my first axe when gobber came by looking exasperated. " Oh hey gobber " It likely isn't the best to bring to notice the fact I just randomly appeared after being missing for around an entire day, I had expected gobber to be atleast a little mad but he just looked relieved. Was he that worried about me?...sorry...

I stopped sharpening the half dull axe and got up from the sharpening table, I headed toward the entrance of the forge where gobber stood outside. The second I was in reach he bopped me on the head quite hard, I rubbed the spot on my head. " I...got lost in the forest after falling in a hole, I got out only this morning..." I lightly lifted my sleeve to show the bruises from when I had fallen down the rocky slope, It was the first time I had seen them but I knew they were there but they were definitely worse then I thought. 

Gobber seemed to be okay with that explanation, it was last minute so I was worried he wouldn't buy it. " Ay, be more careful you been getting lost an awful lot these days. " I walked back to my station and continued to sharpen the axe but now that gobber had lit the forge I was slowly warming up, I finished the axe and grabbed a long sword that was probably longer then my entire torso. 

I almost dropped it but I thankfully managed to get it onto the sharpening wheel without issue, it grinded roughly against the wet wheel slowly grinding it down to a sharp surface. Both gobber held a similar sentiment on the fact that this job sucks but any smith would be thankful to have an apprentice who sharpens all the weapons without a complaint, I've learned over the years that complaints get you nothing but annoyed looks and a sigh.

Gobber seemed to remember something cause as he dunked a red hot sword in the cool forge water. " Ah hiccup, get ready for a big storm in the next few days. Buckets, bucket has been getting tight and even gothi agrees. " Usually if there was a big storm then I would stay in the house while dad stays in the great hall helping people but since no one will be there to check on me, guess I can find out how toothless deals with storms!

I continued sharpening, I haven't seen snotlout in a couple days so perhaps he's still healing...well he should be able to atleast go outside by now. I know I would've already been expected to get back to work after a few days or else there would have been a town meeting saying the viking heir is too lazy, kids are usually not allowed at those but if I sneak then I usually don't get noticed.

I've already accepted that I won't ever be the chief, even if I was pronounced chief then people would likely depose me and have snotlout be made the next chief due to it being his right by blood if I die or am not able to become chief. People don't really like snotlout but they don't dislike him like they do me, he is a traditional viking in a sense if not dumber while I...am the polar opposite it seems.

Well I'm glad to not see his ugly snout or his fist to my face, without a doubt he will brag about how he fought a dragon and show off his scar. It's funny thinking that I'm technically the reason that he got that scar, if I had just healed at home instead of going to toothless that day then he would never have been hurt...I don't wanna say it's deserved but, maybe toothless had the right train of thought...

I doubt he could teach me how to fight but I've seen even the strongest of vikings fall over hurt or unconscious from a piece of metal to the face, if I made some winter gloves then disguised a metal plate or some spikes underneath then...I might have a better chance of defending myself against the twins or even snotlout.

Fishlegs isn't a threat, he is slow and has little stamina but he's heavy and very strong although he was a bit pampered as a kid by his mom so he's too skittish to properly be a threat. The twins are bent on chaos but smart nonetheless and snotlout is just a idiot who thinks with his fists. Astrid is smart and strong along with fast, she is quite literally the perfect viking and would make a good chief...if woman were allowed to be chief, she outperforms all of us through hard work and I respect her as much as I fear her.

If anyone on this island sees toothless then he...we have to leave but only a few people are a genuine threat to his safety and escape. Astrid is a threat to toothless but only if she sees him, she'll go on attack immediately and based on if I'm there toothless will likely attack aswell for my protection. Dad is the biggest threat, toothless will likely have no chance of survival if dad goes on the attack while toothless is on the ground. It won't matter how fast I am, he's just too strong. 

I want toothless to always be safe so...what if I make armor! I'll have to ask later today but if he says yes then it will take a lot of planning, my stomach rumbled as I came back to reality. I had gotten really into my thoughts and had only one sword left to sharpen, I stretched out my back with a pop before getting started on my last sword. 

It wasn't too dull so I finished it quickly as I got up, I took off my apron and grabbed my dagger and started my walk back to the cove. Usually gobber would punish me for not showing up by giving me extra work but I finished a little after noon...no...

Gobber only let me off the hook on that kind of things if he feels bad about something...he probably didn't notice I was gone when I didn't show up. It hurt, it felt like something my dad would do but I was used to that but this was gobber! I thought...I continued my walk to the cove now feeling worse then I had in a while, I was glad to see toothless but...I know gobber is busy recently and he isn't the best chief so he has to work harder then my dad but gobber is supposed to atleast notice when I'm gone, those looks of contempt were just regular looks...there was no search party, no one even noticed I was gone when I didn't show up.

I passed the corner and continued on my way to the forest when I bumped into someone, I mumbled sorry and continued my walk when I was yanked by my shoulder back to where I previously stood. It was snotlout, speak of the devil.

" Hey useless, guess who just got a savvy scar. " Oh gosh I knew how this conversation would go, he would likely gloat while putting me down then give me a rough hit on the head while leaving. Idiots are very predictable. " Yeah, night fury did it because it knew I would be a threat one day. " What. He saw toothless?...I watched as he gave me a smug look while brandishing his shoulder rapped in an old cloth to keep his arm suspended, does he really believe anyone would believe that he got bit by the night fury? I mean I know he did but still. 

" Oh wow, howwww great! and you survived how? " I gave him a smug look, I just wanted to anger him at this point. Would I likely get a punch to the face? Yes, would it be worth it since I'm likely getting punched even if I suck up to him. also yes! He seemed to take a moment before realizing what I fully said, gosh was he always this dumb? 

" It got scared by all...this " He showed off his muscles with his non rapped arm as he roughly hit my head with his palm before walking off, he isn't a complete bone head but seeing the night fury come after him specifically and not kill him must've inflated his ego to the point he got stupider. Does he seriously think that people will believe his story? 

I turned around to watch him start his gloat to the twins and astrid now, before I saw him say something I couldn't make out that he didn't finish until astrid punched him in his bad arm, I heard his ow though. The twins were excited about seeing the injury cause they were practically beaming when he showed off the bite mark on his shoulder, I turned around and started my trek to the cove. 

After being in the hot forge for so long it felt nice to feel the cool breeze but it quickly became a cold breeze, I lightly shivered as I looked over past my house to the forest edge. If I asked toothless to hunt down some small animals I could use the furs to stay warm, It would definitely help when I'm in the air and the cold feels like it get tripled.

It would be nice if I could communicate better, perhaps if the queen wasn't all terrifying and probably evil then she could use the command to help me learn new words. After all I managed to learn queen and I doubt I would ever be able to learn that word at this point in my knowledge.

When I got to the cove toothless was still sleeping soundly, he usually slept during the day from what I've observed but it does make me feel a bit guilty that when I sleep with him during the night he is likely bored out of his mind. Oops.

I crept down the rocks and started to slowly come closer to toothless, I doubt I would successfully surprise him but I think it might be funny if I do. I was at his back and was about to pounce on his wing when he slowly lifted up his head and took a big yawn before his eyes widened and he looked over to me, He raised only one of his head nubs and looked at me sarcastically. I turned around in an almost spin like motion and blew a whistle, who knew he would wake up right when I was about to get him.

I wasn't watching him but I never realized how silent he could be until he dug his head beneath me and brought me up to his neck, he sat down with my still sitting before stretching out his large black wings but as the sun hit them they looked more like a deep blue then a black.

I attempted to slide off his neck but fell onto my face with a plop, I heard a warbling laugh as I looked up to toothless before he used his snout to let me get to a sitting position on his neck. I started drawing in the sand, I drew a stick figure before pointing and saying hatchling.

He gave me a look before going back to watching me work, I drew a fox before drawing toothless killing it. I erased the drawing as I added me wearing a fox skin or atleast I tried to make it seem like that while toothless ate the deer, Toothless seemed to get it cause he didn't waste a minute to stand up and stretch before flapping his wings and bursting into the woods.

I stretched out my back as I pulled out my dagger from my vest, I shivered lightly despite most of the wind not being able to come inside the cove but it still felt cold. I got up and went over to the hidden area containing my clothes and lightly shifted through it until I came upon some huge tunics that I'm half sure I got because of Spitelout wanting to stay on my dads good side, I slipped them on and went back over to a rock before sitting down and staring at the sky.

The sky was unnaturally clear of clouds and I couldn't help but worry that when we flew we might be spotted or atleast toothless could be, with how dark toothless scales are he is bound to stand out during the day no matter what but the clouds could always be used as a cover.

I heard rustling in the woods so I got up from my seat and stumbled up to the exit of the cove, I entered the forest and looked around for toothless when I heard some rustling in the far off woods again so I started walking toward it. " Toothless! " I opened some thick leaves onto to be revealed that there was nothing, I felt myself sigh as I called out again. " Toothless? "

I was startled by a rough thump on the back of my head and was surprised to see astrid, she looked annoyed but I must've looked horrified because I was just caught yelling for toothless. " a-astrid! Astrid what are you...what brings you here! " she gave me a suspicious look before speaking. " Who are you calling for, you aren't even supposed to be in the forest for the danger of dragons. " I took a step back, she hadn't found me out yet but one wrong move and I'll have to leave berk...forever. " You caught me, haha...I've been training a...fox! haha.. " 

Even I could tell she didn't buy it but as her grip on her axe tightened I felt myself gulp and pale from fear, I heard a loud thump and while I immediately knew what it was astrid seemed to have made a pretty good guess cause she pushed me behind her lightly before getting into a battle ready stance. 

This was the worst case scenario, toothless might try to fight her or reveal himself if he thinks of her as a danger to me...if he even gets revealed she will order a search party for a night fury in the forest and people are bound to believe her, especially since snotlout claimed to have been attacked by a night fury.

I needed to protect toothless, I pulled my dagger out and tried to think of something...If I fought her head on I would lose easily and toothless would be discovered but If I caught her by surprise in a killing blow, I felt my stomach twist into a knot as I realized what I was thinking. I clutched my stomach as it slowly twisted into a sense of pain before a burning feeling in my throat that ended with me doubling over and vomiting, astrid seemed caught off guard cause she backed away but I could swear she had hesitantly reached out her hand before drawing it back again.

I wiped my mouth off as I regained my composure, I slowly stood up as I realized I was lightly shaking. I watched closely as the quiet thumps got closer, I didn't wait to blow the whistle as I watched astrid get ready to strike whatever was coming.

{ HIDE! VIKING! HIDE! } Astrid turned toward me anger evident on her face as she went back to the battle position, I heard toothless start to back away and go toward the direction of the cove. I felt myself sigh in relief before astrid spun around and grabbed the collar of my vest, I lightly gripped astrids arm and let the whistle fall back into its resting position on the string necklace.

She dragged me until my back hit a tree, I knew she was strong but thor almighty was she strong. My feet dangled lightly as they were unable to touch the ground with only an inch, astrid looked really mad. " How did you do that?! " I befriended the personification of lighting and death itself and learned the language while also discovering why dragons attack us, but that isn't believable. 

" I...I figured how to mimic the sound of a large dragon through a whistle " It wasn't a complete lie, I mean I did learn how to mimic a dragon after all. She grabbed the whistle before pulling the string till it snapped straight off my neck, she wiped the end with her shirt before giving a blow. It sounded more like a wonky bird call then what I had done, I pulled myself off the ground and slowly came behind her. " Yeah...can I have it back now? " She looked at me before placing it in my hand, she crossed her arms. " Teach me how you did it "

" What...? " She smirked lightly before speaking again. " Teach me how you blew it to sound like a dragon roar " I took the broken string before retying it around my neck, I would have to replace the string anyway. " I...can't, sorry! " I didn't waste any time before running off, I should have toothless take us off berk for tonight. I curved past a large tree and dived into a bush before watching as astrid turned the corner and ran past me, once I was sure she was gone I slowly exited the bush and rushed off to the cove.

I slipped on some dirt right when I entered the cove and tumbled down the rocky ledge until I hit soft sand, toothless was there with blood on his mouth and standing just above me. He used his snout to help me up as he led me to the corpses, I gave him a lot of scratches. 

I felt so relived that toothless was safe and that I lightly collapsed onto his head until he lowered me to the sand, I looked over the many dead foxes that all had a variety of bitemarks all over. It was gross but I was cold and I don't wanna end up sick like I usually did during this time of year.

as I worked slowly using my dagger, I thought about how I always got sick atleast once during the freeze. I would end up bedridden with a fever constantly coughing and with a snotty nose but maybe if I covered up better and stayed next to toothless constantly then I might not get sick, it doesn't make sense in theory but who cares.

I wasn't the best butcher and whenever my dad made me work with other vikings to see if their job fit me they always just left me alone to do their job or just had me sit in the corner and do nothing, Butchering was gross and while I usually failed to properly prepare it for food I often managed to savage the skin. I peeled off the skin and threw the corpse over to toothless who scarfed it down happily, I went on to the next one with each fur being put in a pile.

It took a few hours but once I managed it I celebrated by giving toothless plenty of scratches and as I looked over the furs I thought of what I should do with them, I first started by washing them each one by one in the water but it accidentally brought over a large number of fish. I watched them as they tried to suck on the furs thinking it was a meaty corpse, the blood spread out and as I finished washing them It was dark out.

Toothless was full from all the foxes and rolled over onto his back as he yawned, I rubbed his belly before getting up and walking over to the clothing basket and bringing it over to where toothless was but instead of sitting down I went and grabbed some sticks that I used to make a small campfire with little rocks stopping it from spreading. Toothless didn't even need to be told to light it.

I grabbed my needle before taking my remaining thread and putting it down, I took off the two oversized tunics before placing them down next to the furs. I took my dagger and cut the small knot at the top of the stitching of the tunics, tunics were stupidly easy to make with it just being two tunic shaped pieces of fabric sown on each side.

I layered the two pieces before placing the furs how I want them before I started sewing it, once I was happy with it and it looked more like a fur cape I started sewing them to the tunic fabric. It would act more as a wearable blanket but it wouldn't hurt to add a hood that could also cover my face...I don't wanna be cold in the air after all. I pulled out all the small buttons from a higher quality tunic that was downright ugly before using the second oversized tunic to make a hood as well as add sleeves.

I made a face hood that could attach with a button at the bottom of the fur cover as well as an additional button on the inside of the hood, Now it just looked like a very furry jacket but thankfully I would be very warm when we flew...gosh did he hunt out the entire fox population???

I looked at my boots and added some extra furs on the inside with the last three corpses, I looked up and the moon was directly in the sky. My hands cramped from all the sewing and it was a miracle my fingers hadn't fallen off completely, I laid down onto toothless back as he licked my face. 

" Oh eww, toothless! " I grabbed his face and jostled it around, I pulled on the fur cover and felt warmer immediately. I went and sat on his neck, despite there being no saddle I just planned to give toothless some scratches but I felt my heart drop when toothless spoke. { Flying?! } He turned his head to attempt to look at me with his tongue out. " W-wait No, no nono " I knew that toothless didn't have a good grasp on norse or perhaps he knew and was just pretending but he didn't waste a moment to burst into the sky with the usual energy he had when he wore the saddle.

I held onto his neck as we soared higher and I felt my legs dangling before I managed to get some traction on his scales as I stood, I didn't want to risk hurting him but I was scared for my life at this point. Toothless turned his head and I guess he saw my situation cause he almost made me slip off him when he smoothed out the flight, I practically melted into his scales from the earlier adrenaline as I laid there without a care. 

Suddenly toothless gave a surprised squawk and stopped flying faster then I could react, I slipped off and saw a nadder that toothless hadn't seen when flying. I was falling and all I could see was toothless diving for me from a high point, I could feel the rough air pushing me around before toothless flew past me. I turned around to face the ground and I saw toothless gliding with his wings out before I crashed onto his back, I scrambled up and clung to his neck. 

We were still incredibly high but the adrenaline from the earlier fall still burned, I hollered out loud and while toothless was obviously caught off guard from my excitement. I locked my feet together before spinning around toothless neck until I was upside down, Toothless looked at me with large eyes as he watched me hang upside down. 

I could feel his claws attempting to grab me before he rolled his eyes and starting flying higher, I pulled myself back upright onto his neck as we raised farther into the sky until I could barely breath from the thin air. 

Once I deemed us high enough I slowly started to stand, toothless kept attempting to look at me by turning his head but he was struggling to get a good view. Once I was standing I felt super nervous despite just earlier falling to what would be my death, I turned around before running and taking a leap of faith as I jumped. 

Toothless followed suit in my dive and we slowly fell together while laughing between each other, I shifted myself in the air so It would look as if I was surfing on toothless tail albeit belly side up so toothless could see. Toothless gave a warbling laugh before moving into a flapping motion in the air so I was falling by myself, I crossed my arms as I watched him dive and allow me to lie on his back with my belly up now.

I stretched and gave a yawn before crawling back up to his neck, if we wanted to do the usual fast paced tricks I would need the saddle but when It came to these free falls...maybe we could do it more often. I have essentially lost my fear of heights as we've started flying yet I still thought I would be a little afraid of falling yet even when it wasn't a planned fall I wasn't too afraid...perhaps I've put too much trust in toothless to not throw my life away...

When we were actively gliding in the sky I got an idea, I slowly started standing similar to earlier but instead of jumping I indicated for toothless to fly faster forward. He seemed caught off guard but he listened started to move out of gliding and started to speed up into a flight, I was worried slightly worried but I pushed down my fear and felt us speed up. 

This was more of a test of how fast he could fly and I wouldn't be pushed off, I breathed out and felt the cold air continue to blow past my face but as we continued to speed up I was forced to my knees and lightly gripped the sides of toothless wings. I moved my hands down to his back but felt myself slip, I heard a warble amongst the loud winds. { Hatchling! } He rolled his shoulder of his wings indicating I could grab them comfortably for him.

I felt myself sigh in relief before grabbing hold and lightly pulling myself back up until it likely looked like I was going to take a running start on a race, the air kept attempting to blow me off as we went faster and faster but eventually I felt my grip falter and the wind won. I flew off toothless and didn't waste a moment to start spinning in the air before pulling myself up till I wasn't falling so fast, I watched as toothless followed suit and dived till he was beneath me as I watched him spin in an elaborate showoff.

I crossed my arms before pulling myself till I was diving completely upright, I yawned before diving underneath toothless when I finally took note of where we were. We had been flying directly above berk, I pushed out all my limbs until I was no longer diving. 

I spun myself to look up at toothless before pointing toward berk and blowing the whistle. { Viking village! Fly, Cove! } Toothless mocked me but I only crossed my arms, he went under me again and let me fall on his back before flying toward the cove...then past the cove.

I crawled up to his neck and gave him a thunk before scratching his jaw making sure to be careful of that little dragon soft spot, I honestly don't know where were going but as he flew he was slowly rising in the air just enough that it was barely noticeable. I hung out lazily on his back as I yawned lightly, I was great at doing all-nighters but when I wasn't actively doing stuff It was hard to stay awake.

I laid down making sure to keep my feet over toothless front side as to not fall off, I laid my hands down on toothless outstretched wings as I looked at the dotted sky. I felt somber knowing that I was the only one to ever experience this yet not for the vikings, I had never been treated well but it was simply glares and some beatings from snotlout but it felt like I was so disconnected from viking culture and thinking that...I just can't imagine a future with them, I'll always be the runt or hiccup the useless. I am too weak and worthless as a viking to live as one.

I can't leave, I'm not ready but when the time comes...I'll need to prepare...I wiped a single tear before continuing to watch the pure stars that littered the dark sky illuminated by only the moon

I was awoken by landing, I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep so as I looked around I lightly rubbed my eyes. We were on a cliff that seemed to look over the edge of nothing with how dark it was and the fog clouding the area it made it seem like a bottomless drop, I got off toothless and slowly dangled my feet off the cliff. The fur cover made me feel as warm as I did in toothless cocoon, toothless sat behind me as he looked over the edge with me until I noticed a little movement in the fog. 

It seemed almost like a cloud of smoke itself was flying through the fog and with the speed it was at made it hard to pinpoint it exacts location, It suddenly went up sharply and it flew past so fast that I barely saw it but when I did managed to get a good look I was awestruck. 

It looked similar to a Timberjack but was a dark purple that faded into a soft silver blue and its wings almost looked tattered but as it flew higher at those breakneck speeds I knew I would have lost it had the skies been clouded, toothless watched it bored and lightly mocked me with a warbling laugh. 

I thunked him on the head watching as he got up, I heard him walk away but just as I looked behind me I saw him charging with his wings ready to fly. I realized what was about to happen but simply opened my arms as I felt his claws grip me as we burst off into the night sky, he didn't waste a moment before throwing me into the air and chucking me on his back as he burst off toward the silver dragon. 

It was flying gracefully but as I stayed in a fast pace position on toothless neck, the fight I was making with the air seemed to disappear for a splint second as I realized we were going faster then the phantom. Silver phantom, yeah thats what I'll call this dragon.

When it noticed us it immediately stopped flying and let us continue so that it wouldn't have to face us it seems, I gave a laugh as I climbed up to toothless neck. We started slowing down when I realized, I had completely forgotten to use the fur hood to cover my face.

I fumbled with the button on the inside of the hood before finally getting it and managing to pull it over my face, I felt my face immediately warm up from the heat that had been stored in the cover itself. 

I wanted to communicate to head back to the cove but I found that my whistle was still under the cover so I had to take my arms and squeeze them out of the sleeves before blowing the whistle, I had to lay down with my feet still dangling just so that I didn't fall due to my lack of sight while doing this. Once I finally got the whistle in my mouth I blew out some tired warbles all while still laying down.

{ Cove... } Toothless didn't respond, he wasn't one to ignore me so he likely just didn't hear from the combined muffling of the wind and the fur cover so I gave up and just unbuttoned the face mask before blowing again. { Cove! } Toothless heard it this time and continued flying straight, I warbled out again but this time confused. { Cove? } Toothless didn't waste any time. { Cove. } 

I laid down onto his back and yawned before slowly falling asleep.

Chapter Text

When I woke up it was already mid-day and I was sweaty with a dry throat, it felt as if my hair was sticking uncomfortably to my skin so I didn't waste a second to pull off the fur cover. Toothless woke up with a start and seemed to be in the same predicament as me, I laid down onto his warm scales but stopped without a second to late. His scales were hot and even a little heat felt uncomfortable despite it being the middle of autumn, a few leaves had fallen near us and as I picked them up I crunched them one at a time. 

Toothless joined in and eventually we were hopping around crunching leaves, Toothless used his tail to stop me from crunching a leaf before crunching it himself. I pinned down his tail but quickly found he didn't care as he looked behind me and gave a warbling laugh, I crawled up his back before sitting on his neck as usual but each time he was about to crunch a leaf I crunched it myself. 

He quickly realized what I was doing and bumped me off his neck, I just started crunching the leaves he wanted to crunch manually. He blocked me with his wings so I couldn't but I just climbed them then I heard a shocked squawk and he suddenly fell to his side, I laid against him before feeling his hot scales and jumping off.

I decided to take off my boots and I immediately felt the cool sand on my feet, I dropped my shoes and tackled toothless. He didn't budge since he expected it so I climbed on his back and stood but instead of just standing I went forward until I was standing on his head, it was hard to balance but toothless seemed to struggled trying to stay still as I stood tall on his snout. 

He suddenly pointed his snout up which caused me to slip and fall down onto his back, he plopped onto the sandy floor and I moved up to his shoulders to sit. He suddenly started drawing with his claw, it was sloppy but I could tell what it was because there was only one thing it could be. He had drawn us flying with me on his back before drawing some lines around my head. 

He patted the drawing out in what seemed to be frustration before redrawing it in a bigger scale, he seemed to make an emphasis on the stickman hiccup with a little whistle in his mouth. he drew a new line with each point toward the little whistle, it was kind of cute to see him trying to ask me to ask him to teach me...woo, mouthful.

I got off his shoulders and pulled the whistle to my mouth before drawing a few clouds and then a forest, I drew an arrow that went up and waited.

{ Up } I followed suit { uerp } I tried again. { Up! } Toothless purred at my correct pronunciation, It makes me wonder why he's always so excited to fly with me despite me being a handicap to him...

I drew an arrow down and he gave a response. { Down } { Down! } I got that one immediately! I liked when I learned new things, it was always fun to see how this complicated language just...existed without us ever knowing of its existence.

It was night now, we spent hours learning new words and toothless was done with me. He was laying down on his side with his wings spread out, even I was done with all the learning. I had only meant to learn a few words for moving in the air but I guess this works out, so far I learned up down, left right as well as Enemy and danger but that isn't all. We tortured each other by peeling off our skins in boredom from how long it took for these little words, Play aswell as friend. 

I stretched my back as I heard someone call out my name, toothless and I reacted at the same time. It was snotlout and the twins but I bet that fishlegs was there too, I could hear the earlier calm purr from toothless turn into a silent growl. I guess he recognized snotlouts voice...

I scratched his head trying to ignore the other kids yells for my name, I hadn't meant to eavesdrop but it's hard to not when they're speaking loudly. " Where's that runt?! " Snotlout sounded annoyed and angry but that was his usual tone when it came to me.

" Ughh this is sooo boring, we couldn't find him anywhere! " Ruffnut just sounded bored but as usual her brother followed.

" Yeah and we've already check like the entire village. " I heard a clang of metal " That's what I just said! " I could hear them fighting with short clashes of their metal helmets, gosh why were they always so violent.

" W-What if he's been eaten by dragons?! " That was fishlegs, I couldn't catch what the others said because they had already started walking off but I did catch wind of some laughing. I laid my head on toothless side and felt him cover me with his wings, I could feel the purr or perhaps growl emanating from his throat. 

I slowly rubbed his head back and forth hoping it would be calming, my father had done this for me once when I was sick. I was very young then...the rumbling must have been a growl because it slowly calmed into a purr, he turned his head to look at me and with eyes as thin slits he spoke.

{ Hatchling Enemy. } He got on his belly and drew an image of a stickman with a helmet using his claw but then he added himself, killing them. He pointed toward the dead stickmen and spoke again with a growl lining each word.

{ Hatchling Enemy } The purr was gone, he kept growling as he looked at the crude drawing.

I don't think I should take him to the forest edge if I don't want him to kill anyone.

I took his face to lead him away from the drawing, his eyes stood to the side with thin slits not looking at me. Once he finally looked at me his eyes immediately softened and he curled his entire body around me, I laid my head on his side again but this time I heard the calming purr I was used to.

" Honestly, I would've preferred to be eaten by dragons if I had to be caught by those guys " I had whispered it but deep down I knew he heard even if he didn't understand, I didn't care those. This guy is my bestfriend.

I woke up extremely cold, I was literally shivering and I couldn't see toothless or even feel him around me in the pitch black night. My teeth clattered as a cold breeze blew past me, suddenly I felt a small drop of water on my nose. Despite the darkness I could feel small blips of water, no...snow. 

I felt my heart drop as I realized what was happening, for goodness sake Gobber had literally warned me! Storms in berk happened fast and deadly, snow storms basically were a death sentence. 

I got up still shivering as I tried to navigate the dark cove, I felt a rock catch my shoe and I fell right on my arm. My bad arm.

My arm ached, I've been hurting it a lot recently to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if the bruises were worse then back when I had been beaten by snotlout. I pulled myself back up and tried a slower approach until my hand met a wall, I dragged it across the side until I came upon the exit. 

I blowed a sigh of relief and slowly started my exit, when I had finally managed to pull myself out of the cove and into the forest It was heavily snowing. Each small little droplet of snow that melted on my skin made me feel colder as I attempted to exit the forest in the dark, my fingers hurt from the cold and felt stiff while my face felt almost burning hot. 

As I felt around I realized I forgot my fur cover, I thought about the distance to the cove and to the village. I won't make it...It'll be day before I reach the village with how little visibility I have right now, I turned around back to the cove. 

I started with a short walk but as more snow rained on me I started sprinting, I crashed into a smooth rock and knew I got here. It was a miracle I hadn't crashed into something else or the fact I had even found the cove but I can't think of that right now, I used my hand to find the entrance and as I entered I stumbled down the short slope of the cove and felt the cool sand again.

I felt around the cove for what felt like hours as I slowly chilled, I felt too cold...I'm scared...I...I don't wanna die!

Once I got the fur cover I put it on with some struggle before putting on the face cover and keeping my arms in the center of the cover, I used it like a blanket to cover my entire body, I waited for myself to warm up when I realized. I was too cold, I needed an actual heat source...and he was gone who knows where...

I felt salty tears start to fall as It all came to me, I was scared and cold and toothless wasn't anywhere to be seen. I curled deeper in myself as I heard a large thump and a slimy sound flop onto the sand, I peeked through the eye hole of the face cover but it still remained too dark. 

I couldn't pay attention to what was happening, I'm too cold...I'm scared, I'm sorry dad...I know vikings shouldn't be scared.

I felt a large mass curl up next to me and I felt myself subtly warm up, I knew who it was but it felt as if the subtle warming had made me sleepy as my eyes slowly closed.

Chapter Text

I woke up in pitch black but as I slowly pulled my hands through the sleeves of the fur covers with some struggle I was able to get a grip on where I was, toothless hadn't grabbed me which had surprised me but I didn't mind. I slowly lifted the winged roof and felt the sharp sun on my eyes, snow littered the area and toothless was covered in it. Toothless laid still and I felt my heart drop, I shook his limp body until he gave a short warble and slowly lifted his head to look at me.

I hugged his snout, my head practically resting on his forehead. He was always warm everywhere as if his scales emit heat themselves at the perfect temperature, I took a look at him as he lightly nodded off a bit and while I couldn't tell 

Toothless licked my face before nudging my chest, I scratched his crown all the way down to his neck soaking up his warmth. Toothless drawled off slowly laying his head down on my lap, I laid down while giving him my lap to rest on and allowing my back to lay on the mixture of cool sand and melting snow that still had more snowflakes falling down to join it even now,

I needed to head to my home since it seems to still be morning, I usually stayed at my house during snow ins so just to be sure I'll have to head back just in case anyone checks...just in case as I don't want to risk even a search party for the sake of Toothless. I pulled out my whistle from the fur cover and spoke.

{ Viking Village. } I didn't want to return yet but I'd prefer to not be considered dead or lost by the entire village, I still technically live there even if I don't really go there much at all these days. Toothless cooed sadly as he noticed my movement before using his paw to lightly push me down, I knew he would let me go if I wanted but I decided to still stay for some more rest so after an hour of continuing our nap we both started getting up.

He slowly got up albeit reluctantly and helped me up aswell before I slowly crawled onto his neck, I made sure to keep a firm grip just incase he decides to go the flying route but I was surprised when he lightly climbed out of the cove with the help of his wings boosting him up and blowing snowflakes off course as he navigated the forest. Around when the end of the forest was coming up and the trees were thinning out the snow was thicker so toothless jumped up to the trees but it was more navigating through swift flying, eventually he landed on a branch near the edge and I expected him to climb or jump down.

It took a minute but he stayed still and I wondered why but didn't fight it, I got off and jumped from the low hanging branch albeit with some pain in my legs. I swiftly jogged to the back door and entered the house but it was still as cold as outside.

It was cold, dark and dusty. The first thing I did was stumbled around until I found a lighter on what I assumed was the dining table but It took another long moment until I found the fire pit, the wood was incredibly dry so it lit very easily with only a few tries till the dark started receding from the growing fire. 

I took off my fur cover and placed it in a cupboard before using my hands to brush the dust off of everything, when I was done I had warmed up from the fire but now that the dust was in the air instead of the furniture I kept finding myself sneezing so I took a peak out the door to see if I could air out the room. It was cold but if I just add a bit of extra firewood then I'll likely be fine to have it open for awhile, I opened the door and checked the cupboards till I found a duster made with duck feather. 

I slowly cleaned the places that I wouldn't have cleaned the best with just my hands and eventually the place looked more lived in, I felt a smile cross my face as I felt some pride from my work well done so as a reward for myself I thought I could make some potato soup. I was about to head to the back when I heard quick thumping footsteps outside and was met very quickly with a panting and angry astrid inside the house, I stepped forward to her in order to ask what was happening.

Before I could get a word out she spoke with an her usual annoyed attitude yet this time there was a hint of curiosity in her voice. "Where were you?" 

"Where do you think." I held out my hand to the room, I still had the feather duster so I placed it down on the dining table. I'm confused on what she means, is she wondering why I wasn't in the mead hall? I've never come to the mead hall for snow storms though and when I have it was because my father insisted, I sighed a bit by reflex as I thought about that.

She regained her breath and lightly brushed her bangs to the side before they fell right back down to covering one of her eyes, her usual braid was undone and I could tell that her hair was slightly messy or atleast unbrushed. Maybe I could make her something to keep her hair out of her face like a wooden clip, likely wouldn't take that long I bet.

"I know you didn't go home last night since gobber had sent me to check on you." I felt my heart drop but I decided to keep calm, I lightly played with my finger nails in a short bit of nervousness as she watched me closely. Annoyance becoming more clear on her face by the second, as I kept my head hung I noticed she was wearing some squirrel furs that came accompanied by some new squirrel skulls. Yuck.

"I had likely been out when you came by..." she only lifted and eyebrow in response as she watched me closely, I spoke quietly on purpose as I felt quite nervous despite her not even being very pushy. I felt slightly cowardice or perhaps pathetic was the word, maybe worthless was a better way to answer that.

"People haven't seen you since the storm ended and do you even know how busy it is? I asked around a lot just trying to find you and not a single person could even recall seeing your footsteps, you know I already said this but you've been acting weirder recently." I kept picking at the sides of my nails trying to think of a response quickly before I perked my head up to speak and made eye contact with her, I lightly flushed a bit before speaking.

"Well...I didn't say I went out to the village, I had gone to the forest." a cold wind blew into the house and I decided that the dust was likely cleared out enough, I went and closed it as astrid moved to stand closer to the fire. I kept my eyes on astrid but eventually after awhile I went back to having my head down when I could tell that my cheeks were probably rosy red right now, she spoke again. 

"In that attire? Wouldn't you have been too cold, gosh don't you ever think of what will happen before you do things. You're always so impulsive sometimes and it ends up hurting others, just...think for a moment before doing things!" She sounded a bit annoyed mixed with exasperation as she stopped speaking, ah that's pretty embarrassing but for toothless sake I can deal with it. 

I went to the door and opened it slightly trying to insinuate that I wanted her to leave, I didn't mean it in a rude way it just felt like the proper time to end the conversation.

She seemed to notice and walked out the door, I watched her for a bit before she turned around and spoke. "Bye Hiccup." I know that shouldn't be surprising but for me yet it was, since I don't hang out with people in the village practically at all it can become pretty rare for someone to say goodbye to me who isn't my father.

I slowly got up and looked around for a second, I didn't want to head back to toothless when its only been a few minutes but...there's nothing for me here and I doubt people even want me around at all. I gave a sigh before exiting the house, the fire would go out on its own over time but for now I should head down to the forge to see if there is any work available to bite up my time.

The cold hit me hard and I debated going back for the fur cover but it would be suspicious if I suddenly had such a huge amount of fresh furs, I shivered before starting my walk toward the warm forge. 

Glittery snow littered the ground and as I got to the more populated area I could see a variety of footsteps all around, my teeth clattered and people were wearing a variety of furs from foxes to even a few deer pelts. Most pelts owned on berk were either imported by trader Johann or very old, foxes and squirrels just weren't suited to be worn as full-blown winter clothes from how many you need to make a good pelt and how hard they can be to catch...if only berkians had a loyal dragon companion to smell them out. 

I watched my footsteps carefully as ice became more common in the snow, eventually I reached the forge but gobber was nowhere to be seen. The fire was lit and so it was already warm when I entered and put on my apron as usual, I thought of going to sharpen some weapons but there were none which was surprising due to how little I've been here recently. 

I took off my apron and put it back, I sighed as I left and was met once again with the cold chill of the air and snow that littered the ground. I need to hang around the village enough that atleast a few people see me so that it's not too suspicious if I'm never actually around, maybe I should go to the mead hall...no, I'm not that desperate.

My teeth lightly clattered from the cold and I crossed my arms to help warm myself a bit, I watched my feet keeping track of each spot of ice so I was not to slip. Despite my clothes being oversized they weren't the best at keeping you warm due to the fact that vikings often wear fur or leather for armor so when you're like me and not planning to go to battle it makes it harder to come outside during the winter season.

It used to be fine since I only ever had to be out for a short time to go to the warm forge since it had always been my norm to almost constantly be in the forge or the house, now that I'm always hanging outside or even in the cold sky it just makes since to have the fur cover to stay warm. 

The torches that stood outside were mostly extinguished and I could see that a lot of the younger kids were playing, I didn't exactly know or care about the little ones too much so I kept walking. I watched as a shield maiden exited her home, I expected her to bring in her kid saying that it was too cold but she only told him off and made him put on a furry vest that was much too large for him. 

It was nice to watch the younger kids played but I continued along my walk, I should change when I get back to the cove. Even if these clothes wouldn't be dirty by normal standards I have been sleeping on the ground quite a bit so it would be smart to wash the dirty clothes when I change and maybe even take a cold bath. I shivered slightly imagining stepping into the cove water then brushed off the idea of bathing in the cove, I would need to warm up the water if I wanted to bathe outside in berk during the winter.

I felt some cold water hit my foot and flinched from the sudden cold, I looked down to see the bottom half of my pants soaked from the snow but there was a rip at the bottom of my shoes that the snow had trickled into. I sighed knowing I would now have to add a cloth and stich it over the hole when I washed my clothes, I was already dreading the cold water hitting my skin. 

I was content on watching my steps to avoid slipping, thor almighty that would be embarrassing though I've had worse happen to me over the years. The time I knocked over the soup pot and ruined a good pair of pants and another time where I poured fish guts on my father on accident, dad doesn't like that story too much. 

I bumped into what felt like a sturdy log and I felt flat on my butt, too bad for watching myself to not slip. I looked up expecting to see some post only to be met with an annoyed viking, well I do have to say he was built like a sturdy log...if not fatter.

"Watch where ur going!" What was his name again...I can't remember, I used to try to memorize everyones names when I was younger in hopes they would like me more but it turned out to be a worthless endeavor. "Sorry..sorry, I'll look out when I walk next time" The man huffed out a sigh before walking off I got up and brushed off the snow from my legs as my butt ached from the rocky ground, one thing berk wasn't known for was its soft ground.

Once I get done with my chores it might be smart to go flying for a while or perhaps all night, I was imagining the feeling of going so fast that my head felt as it would've been blown off right there. 

I was smiling now and I tried slightly to hide it but my mind kept going back to the idea of flying and I knew it was a losing battle, I tried changing my thought process. 

I first imagined toothless snarling at me but it just led to me imagining him all adorable rolling around the cove, then it came to me. Why haven't we had any dragon training lessons, I can understand if they got held back due to the raid but the snowstorm could have cancelled them. Gobber is as unpredictable as any viking if not more so and I don't plan to take any chances so I should ask him...first I'll have to find him though, since he's working as chief then I should go over the places that dad would usually go. 

If I could just...remember some places dad was usually, likely the mead hall is my best chance but I didn't run into him much to perhaps that isn't the best choice. I sighed a loud breath and changed my path, even if I didn't like the mead hall I couldn't avoid it especially when I didn't have toothless so I would often just stock up in the kitchen once a week of ingredients. 

Most of the kitchen workers know that so they don't care but I usually have to try and keep it hidden from dad because he likely wouldn't approve of me never actually eating in the mead hall, if he doesn't catch me and tell me I can't then its all fine and dandy I'm sure.

As I walked my teeth clattered and I was at an all time cold as the wind slowly picked up, I started to pick up my pace slightly. It wasn't long before I was at the mead hall and the doors were wide open with an amalgamation of people doing a variety of things that ranged from eating or having a conversation to wrestling, I looked around inside hoping to see gobber but it was a worthless endeavor as he was nowhere to be seen in the mead hall. 

 I sighed before turning around and thinking of places gobber might be, I would probably have to ask around but I held off on that idea. 

I'll likely just have to walk around for quite awhile but I can deal with that if I just try not to mess anything up, I felt a bittersweet knowing the fact that It's been awhile since I've created anything. I used to always be sketching or crafting something up for the chance that it could help the village yet I never got it correct, it was always useless and essentially always ended up with me having to scrap it and make something new with the leftovers...if it didn't get destroyed first.

Perhaps I could make something for toothless with the old scraps but what would he even want or need, When I was younger dad used to care a bit more but after the third time of an invention going wrong he became less enthusiastic. 

Toothless probably wouldn't care especially since he doesn't even need me to begin with, what if I made him some baskets covered in iron perhaps to be waterproof but perhaps it would be too heavy... He could use them to catch fish by diving in the water and having the baskets be open when he blast the fish dead, I changed my path toward the forge and practically started running which helped warm me up from the cold.

I got to the forge and slipped on my apron before heading to the back, I went to grab my journal in reflex only to remember that I had left my vest along with my journal back in the cove. I thought about what to do but settled on using some scrap paper as I sketched out the baskets that I hoped would sit comfortably on toothless while he flew, It would definitely require a lot of tests and tries but I think I could do it.

I made the baskets and wanted them to connect to his torso but I was stuck on how to connect it without it being uncomfortable for him and not end up getting in the way of the saddle, Perhaps it could click into the saddle as well as have extra straps for when the saddle isn't attached. 

Eventually I got a good design going and started rummaging for some items, I emptied two bags and such dirtied my workspace but I could just clean it up later. I got ready to reinforce the baskets but if toothless would dive for the fish then it might be good to have it drain instead, I went to the back and grabbed a small wooden rod that I used to drive small holes before cutting off the straps made for humans.

I used some extra leather to make the individual straps that wouldn't require the saddle but I would need to bring that to the forge to make the adjustments, I sighed a bit as I knew I would have to come at night to avoid not being seen with the saddle. 

Before I had met toothless I pulled all-nighters quite often since it allowed me to avoid coming out at day by sleeping and to not run into most people, I've essentially fixed my sleep schedule but since toothless is often awake at night by what I assume then perhaps it would be fine to go back to that. I finished the baskets without thinking and I was actually quite happy with it once it was done, I got up but as I felt the straps they felt too weak.

The leather felt lower quality and I could tell that it might snap with constant use or heavy use, if I reinforced it with metal then there might be some weight problems and I wanna make sure toothless can carry the baskets along with me without issue. 

I left the basket on the ground near my workplace went to the back to gather some higher quality leather to replace the straps, its honestly on me that I didn't realize the leather was of bad quality but it's better to just fix it now. I found some good leather and was about to head back and fix it when I heard some metal clatter around in the front, I shot up and checked who had entered only to be met with gobber.

He looked tired and gobber rarely looked tired, dad often looked tired but gobber was always the exception. Why did dad even put gobber in charge when its well known he isn't exactly suited for the job, I just...don't understand. 

"Gobber I've been meaning to ask when is the next dragon training, I haven't heard anything about it yet." Gobber seemed to perk up a bit before speaking.

"Ah Hiccup, where 'ave you been? I sent astrid to tell you that its been pushed off for two days, wait for the ice to melt and all." He slowly sat down at his work place where he usually hammers at swords he's forging, I wanted to continue the conversation but he seemed so tired...I shouldn't bother him especially since this is likely his only free time, I grabbed the basket off the floor and went to the back to continue on working.

Once I finished I strapped it on my back although with some complication as it was made for a dragon, I took off the apron and hung it up before leaving and waving goodbye to gobber. 

I tried to stick behind the houses and it didn't take me long to get to the forests edge, I thought about calling for toothless but I wanted to keep it a secret until I got to the cove or even see how I could attach it to the saddle before he gets back if he isn't there. 

I traveled till I found the usual path that I always took and started the calming walk as I slowly hummed, there was an old song that dad would sing me when I was younger so its hard to remember but I know atleast the hummed version. If I remember correctly dad said it was a song that he sung to mom as a proposal, it warms my heart to think that my dad had done such a romantic act yet sometimes I find it hard to believe. 

Eventually I got to the cove and squeezed myself inside, we haven't flown with the saddle for a bit so it's still in the cove in the little protective area where I keep all my clothes. 

I went down and saw that toothless was sound asleep hanging from his tail on the tree, I didn't want to wake him up just yet so I tried to soften my footsteps on the sand as I got to where I kept everything. I grabbed the saddle and thought of how I could attach it, I would need to add some attachments to the saddle itself but that wont be too hard. I didn't need to even use the forge for any metal work so if I just grab some premade metal rings and leather then I could do it here instead!

I grabbed the baskets and went to wake toothless, he was just in reach so I lightly shook his head to wake him. He gave an odd sleepy coo before turning his head to look at me, his eyes grew before he dropped down lazily onto the sand as if he never had legs to begin with. I crouched and checked to make sure he was okay but he seemed to just be...sleepy, he reminded me of dad whenever a dragon raid happened after a few days of him working nonstop with him having barely enough energy to get up and fight. 

I set the baskets down and tried waking up toothless again to show him but he seemed content as he purred, I got in the crook of his legs and laid my head down. It was too early to sleep but I could still take a nap with toothless, the warm feeling of toothless scales and the buzzing of his purrs reminded me of when dad would hum me to sleep in his arms...I think I was only three or four years old then. 

I woke up with the sun setting as the orange light sent a warm glow over the entire cove, toothless was still awake but he was moving around slightly which I took as him going to wake up soon. I jostled his head slightly with this attempt at waking him succeeding as he slowly got up and stretched similarly to a cat, he rubbed my chest with his snout as what I took as a goodmorning.

I got up and showed him the basket, he sniffed it curiously so as I went to clip it onto him but he just shoved his face inside. 

He pulled his face out and gave me a confused head tilt as he sniffed the inside, I gave a chuckle before clipping it to his chest. I had planned to have them just under his wings but I didn't have enough leather so they stay between his legs on his chest, I think I prefer this more but I'm worried the fish will fall out while flying.

I'll have to add a lid or something I could use to block the fish coming out, toothless yawned as I fiddled with the straps of the baskets on his chest. I wanted to get them just right so they could sit comfortably but also so most of fish wouldn't fall out during an active flight but it seemed to need more work in the forge, I took off the baskets and set them aside next to the tree. 

Toothless just tilted his head in confusion, I wanted to communicate it so I sat down and patted the spot next to me for toothless to sit. Once we were comfortable I started drawing, I drew toothless with the baskets attached flying above water blasting some fish. 

I then drew another setting of essentially the same thing but toothless had dive and filled the fish with basket, he looked at the drawing closely before getting up and bringing the basket over by dragging it. 

"Sorry bud, still needs some work but it shouldn't take too long." I scratched his head as I spoke, I wanted to take it for a spin too but It still required some work. 

I got up and brought the baskets over to the small covered hole before pulling out the flight gear and saddle, Toothless bounced around the cove in excitement from seeing me bring it over as I chased after him. Eventually I was completely winded and I felt colder by the second as the sun continued to set, I left my fur cover at the house...its not good to risk it by taking toothless to the village but its too cold to fly without the fur cover...

I put the old flight gear back in its little mini cove and grabbing the saddle before strapping it on toothless as he crouched I got on and got strapped up aswell expecting him to climb out of the cove similar to this morning but instead he burst into the air and kept going sky high but the cold winds weren't helping and made my cheeks and nose burn from the fast blowing air. I fumbled with the whistle in the air before blowing as loud as I can, trying to get the message across before I could barely feel my lips to blow.

{ Stop! down, viking village! } Toothless stopped midair and if I wasn't strapped on I might've slid off from the rapid stop, he changed trajectory and slowly flew down but the slow flight only allowed the cold to hurt more. 

I breathed a sigh of relief as he finally got to the earth outside of the cove, I pointed forward toward the edge of the forest and toothless slowly walked forward although he seemed slightly confused. It wasn't long before he reached the forest edge so I unstrapped myself from the saddle, I got off and started a short jog toward the house when I heard crunching of leaves following. I turned around and was met with toothless following, I breathed a sigh.

It wouldn't be a long time but nowadays I feel bittersweet leaving toothless for even a few minutes, I gave him some scratches as I spoke. "Sorry bud, it's just gonna be for a few minutes." 

I went back and entered the house, the fire was still slowly flickering out so I still had some light to work with as I walked over to the cupboard holding the fur cover. When I pulled it out it felt as soft as I had left it and I slipped it on before jogging outside, toothless was still in his same spot and gave me light rubs on the head. 

I got on his back and restrapped myself in before letting the whistle hang out of the fur cover so it would be easier to grab mid air, I used the opportunity to get some scratches on toothless head before we started flying. 

{ Up! Flying! Up! } Toothless roared in excitement and flew directly up with a repeated burst of his wings, we kept flying directly up and I stuck close to toothless in order to not be directly forced off by the wind alone if I had sat up. Eventually we reached the clouds and evened out above the now starry sky that held a pitch black void that seemed endless, we started calmly gliding as we always did at this height yet the clouds covered all remains of the world below making me feel as if I had found a second hidden realm that only dragons could ever find.

He started to slowly speed up as he blew away the white clouds with each burst of his wings, I could see in the far distance that there was something moving around in the clouds. 

Toothless noticed it too and moved higher up in the sky and glided over where the movement was happening in the clouds while keeping his distance, the darkness of the sky coming to our advantage as we watched a monstrous nightmare emerge but it was acting strange until its wings blew the clouds away fully revealing it was fighting two deadly nadders.

The monstrous nightmare sported a purple so dark I could've mistaken it for black as it moved rapidly to bite the nadders with it practically spinning mid air which caused the bright blue stripes to cause an odd dizzying effect, the larger nadder that was attempting to get a bite on the nightmares neck and its fully pink scales hurt my eyes as a muted orange nadder mixed with green was almost just watching the battle while only attempting to get a bite at the tail when it came close enough. 

Toothless raised himself in the air slightly as the battle slowly got worse and blood started to spill from the nightmares neck as the larger nadder bit down with what I assumed was as hard as they could, it then started flapping its wings hard without unclenching its jaws which resulted in ripping a large chunk of flesh directly from the nightmares neck. 

I held back a gasp and covered my mouth, the nadder flew back till it was farther then the smaller one and squawked something. I watched in horror as the smaller nadder seemed to squawk in excitement and send a flurry of nadder spines toward the monstrous nightmares wings joint, it started crashing at rapid speeds toward the earth...I thought about having toothless dive but that would reveal our location to the nadders and there isn't a guarantee that toothless could hold up an entire monstrous nightmare in the air.

I closed my eyes and looked away as I heard its roars as it fell, It was pathetic and cowardice...I opened my eyes yet the monstrous nightmare was already gone from my view and likely dead in the ocean, Toothless had kept bringing us higher and higher during the entire fight without me realizing and why we were high up I hadn't realized until I went to take a deep breath and couldn't. 

I knew we would like need to leave the area and dive quick or I might lose consciousness if I stayed at this altitude for too long, I was about to blow the whistle when I realized the nadders might hear us. They were squawking similar to how a conversation might go as they suddenly started to glide away slowly with a continued squawking, I blew the whistle while still trying to keep it quiet as I slowly laid my head down on toothless neck as I started to feel dizzy.

{ Down... } Toothless head turned quickly and I could feel his panic as he started quickly descending, too quickly. 

Eventually we reach the ground and I was able to take a deep, real breath. 

I unstrapped and tumbled off toothless onto the grass of what looked like a large sea stack, toothless playfully batted my head. { Play? } I laughed before getting up despite still being slightly out of breath, I lightly batted his head as if I was fighting with my fists but toothless looked unamused.

He jumped up and batted his tail baiting me to chase him, I rolled my eyes before lunging for his tail and grabbing hold of one of the fins. He threw his tail back and forth trying to get me off but I only crawled up and hung tighter, he batted my head with his front paws but I took the opportunity to climb higher and eventually I was on his neck. He batted his wings attempting to hit me off while spinning, I chuckled watching him try to bat me off.

"I" I smirked as I gave a shrug before toothless gave an annoyed look and raised onto his hind legs before stomping down, I had to hang onto his neck as he repeatedly did this motion till I was spun and hanging off his neck.

"Sorry bud, just reaaally wanted to give you a big hug!" Toothless gave a huff before sitting down on his hind legs and lightly batting my body as it hug cheaply from his neck, I was struggling to hold on and I could feel my grip slipping from his smooth scales. 

He continuously batted my body until eventually my grip came out and I fell onto the ground in front of him, he gave a deep warbling laugh as he layed down still watching me on the ground.

I got up and dusted off my clothes and cover before gathering a few stones around to get ready and make a fire, I set them up in a circle as I checked around for some sticks. The sea stack was entirely grass with some foliage but I could see some larger sea stacks lower down with practically whole forests of trees, I called over toothless and pointed toward the forest. 

He gave a snort before licking me and in what seemed to be a single movement with how fast it felt he had managed to grab me aswell as dive down, he dropped me down before flying back up to the sea stack but I could see he was still watching. I gathered some sticks and eventually had enough firewood after a few minutes there was some grass that was growing in abundance but it seemed flammable so I gathered a variety that was growing all around, once I was done I left to the thinner areas and got ready to alert him with the whistle.

I had barely even started blowing when he flew down and grabbed me, I didn't really like when he held me like this but I could make do. I just preferred flying on his back instead, I don't know how to explain it other then it feels more...freeing.

We reached the spot from before and I got to work on the firepit and before I even finished toothless started it, I glanced at him and he looked at me expectantly as if he wanted some scratches or perhaps praise. I rolled my eyes and started scratching toothless as usual.

I laid on his neck calmly when I started thinking about the monstrous nightmare, the younger nadder was much smaller then what I'm used to...perhaps it was supposed to be a lesson. I shouldn't think about it too much, I felt my eyelids start feeling heavy as I tried keeping them open.

I slowly drifted off feeling a bit bitter, I wish I could've saved that monstrous nightmare...or atleast tried.