Ahem, my first attempt at a human!Toothless story, although this will not be slash. You guys won't want to see the crap I write about that genre. 'Sides, I like their friendship as it is, and I just want to see a human Toothless dealing with Hiccup and the Vikings. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Saying it once for this story only. I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

Warped Images

It was winter, the time when blizzard after blizzard hit the town of Berk relentlessly, over and over and over again, and the time when even the tough Vikings, the town's inhabitants, resorted to staying in their home with their pets and keeping warm rather than going outside to do any sort of work, not that any work was even possible.

And by pets, they meant dragons.

It had been – what, six months? – since Berk officially accepted dragons as part of their lives, and the more they discovered about this species, the more they were thankful that the dragons were on their sides. For one, the unlucky Vikings who were stuck on coast patrol (boring and terrifying like hell in this weather, but necessary nonetheless) had some Monstrous Nightmares to warm themselves with, and if somebody has to get something, all they need to do is send out a dragon to get it for them, since the beasts were as smart as any human and their scales could let them last hours in the cold before they started shaking. Their eyesight was splendid, so they didn't get lost so easily either.

Still, there is a certain list of things dragons can't fix. Like, for example, your rider suddenly came bounding down the stairs yelling for all to hear, "It's stop snowing!" and startling his napping Viking chieftain father from his sleep, causing him to fall off the stool he was sitting on and crashing to the floor with a mighty THUD that shook the house.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, draped in layers of fur, blinked at his father's grumbling form on the floor and his smile dropped a bit. "Oh, hey, Dad," he said, somewhat hesitantly, but then he shifted the rolls of parchment under his arm and grinned again. "I'm going to the forge. Have some new improvement ideas for the dragon saddles. I'll probably be there all day, so if you want to find me, just come get me. Bye!" With that, Hiccup all but bounced out the door, but then stopped short as he realized his Night Fury, Toothless, wasn't following him. Normally the dragon would've been up and at his side, but the dark reptile was nowhere in sight.

Stoick the Vast, who'd picked him himself up from the floor and saw his son's puzzled and concerned glance roaming the living room, pointed at the roof. "That pet of yours' up on the roof," the chieftain grunted. "He's been up there ever since the blizzard stopped last night."

"Oh," Hiccup frowned in confusion, but he ducked out of the doorway and rounded his house, struggling a bit in the knee-deep snow, but his worry fueled him. He kept walking until he could clearly see the dark form resting atop the roof.

Toothless lied there, eyes half-lidded, looking perfectly content. His gaze was on the rising sun in the distance, tail wagging slowly, peacefully. The Night Fury let out a contented coo as breezes flew past him, raising his wings so that he could catch it.

With a grin, Hiccup realized how much agitation the dragon must've felt, locked up in their shared room and had nothing to do but chew on some fish, rationing for the day when the blizzards would stop so he could at least try to go hunting again.

"Hey, buddy!" the boy called up, still grinning, and Toothless turned his head to look at him. With an affectionate grumble, the Night Fury dropped from the rooftop and nudged his snout against Hiccup's palm.

Scratching with his free hand, Hiccup said, "I'm gonna go to the forge. You coming?"

Toothless paused and looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow – well, raised eye, since he had no eyebrow – the question clear even though no word was given, "And where else will I be?"

Laughing lightly, Hiccup put his hand on the patch of skin behind Toothless' ear. "Just checking," he chuckled, turning around and hobbled through the snow, facing more difficulty than before the Dragon Treaty, since he still had both his legs then, but it was no big deal. He was in a happy mood today.

Toothless trudged along, watching his friend struggle a bit more, then suddenly wounded his tail around Hiccup to stop him in his track, then at Hiccup's inquisitive glance, sucked in a breath and blew ice-blue fire at the snow before them, effectively making a wide, wet but snow-free path.

"Okay, now why didn't I think of that before?" Hiccup scratched his head, causing Toothless to roll his eyes and nudged his shoulder. Maybe Gobber will have fish. Who knows? That blacksmith is unpredictable in his own rights.

They continued walking, this time Hiccup hitching the parchment rolls up higher, away from the water to protect the charcoal drawings on them. Only ten minutes later, dragons and Vikings alike awoke, and the early fly-aholic kids and adults came out with saddles and harnesses while their dragons appeared before them, almost out of nowhere, ready for an early ride.

As the Monstrous Nightmares walked around the village, melting the snow for easier passageways like Toothless had, dragons started to take flight and the younger, not-yet-licensed-for-dragon-rides children ran around with dragonets, throwing snowballs at each other, built snow forts and threw out challenges. And of course, being Vikings (junior or no), the losers always had to have some sour consequences.

Hiccup smiled as he watched the Vikings and the dragons. "I still can't believe it," he muttered at length, still walking with Toothless alongside with him, distractedly acknowledging the waves and the helloes from his village. "No matter how many months have passed, this still just seem so…unreal." He paused shortly to scratch a Terrible Terror that had run up to him and was nudging his leg, then started off again.

Toothless got distracted from glaring at the little dragon and swung back to his human, blinking, then nodded slowly, following Hiccup, his eyes also on their surroundings. It really was remarkable, the dragon thought. Seven generations. Seven generations of trying to kill each other, of boasting over each other's death, and now, suddenly, in the eighth generation, everything just changed. With the help of a chieftain's son and a Night Fury. That was all it takes.

But it seemed so impossible.

Then again, the Night Fury thought, looking at the boy limping next to him, whistling one of the strange human tunes, the hatchling is like one of those gigantic catapults the Vikings used. Things landed on him, and he shot them into the sky smoothly, only his bullets never go in an archway. It soars higher and higher and higher until it was lost to the world below.

Shaking his head, the Night Fury grumbled in amazement. As close as they know each other, Toothless could not truly defy Hiccup. He was just…Hiccup. There was no word to describe him correctly. Intelligent, yes, wise, yes, reckless – definitely a yes – but that wasn't all. He had that touch in him, that uniqueness…

"Hey, who's that?" Hiccup's voice pulled the dragon out of his minute-thoughts, looking at a shadowed alley. They have moved into a small system of narrow avenues because Hiccup wanted to avoid all the attentions that he would surely attracted had he taken the main way to the forge. The streets were empty, but he had seen something move. A shadow.

Toothless' ears pricked up as he wounded his tail around his friend, sniffing the air. The smell of snow, of that human stink tangled in the air, of Hiccup's smell, a combination of soot and parchments. Nothing was amiss, and he didn't hear anything.

Crunch.

Both of them turned left at the noise, Hiccup's hand going to the place where he kept his dagger while Toothless unsheathed his teeth, eyes narrowed into slits. They both bared their weapons, glaring at the shadowed alleyway to their immediate left.

There was nothing.

Even to Toothless' advanced eyesight, perfectly clear in the dark, there was nothing hiding in the shadow. No figure. No shoeprint visible. Just silence and the snow.

They held still for what seemed like an eternity, but nothing else came. Slowly, Hiccup sheathed his dagger, green eyes still darting around a bit nervously. He then put a hand against Toothless' neck.

"C'mon, buddy, let's get out of here," he said in a whisper, unnerved by the sounds and by the fact that nobody was present to be responsible for the sounds. Together, they hurried back to the main streets.

Toothless felt they were being watched, but he didn't have the chance to turn back, so he didn't see the pair of bloodshot eyes following them, hatefully from the alley they have just confirmed that nothing was there.

"Found you," its owner whispered in a voice not much less than a breeze.

I cannot write slash - it's a proven fact. However, I can write something that is in the Toothless-turning-human genre. So here's my attempt. I hope you like it!

~the Apprentice