How to Raise Your Trainer

by artisticRadifyer

Hiccup's been cursed at the end of a fight. Younger, still stumped, and the village on his family's back: what does a newly growing boy do?

I think the only reason THIS is further than most of my things, is because it's not nearly as fleshed as I'd like it to be, but for some reason it's not too terrible.

Hiccup and the gang were battling a witch whom had knocked out the dragons and now each of them were reduced fighting hand to hand combat with her. A fight she was slowly winning. She, finally, was hit with a lucky, fatal blow, but in her dying moment she uttered a curse to the one leading them: the one she swore was taunting her like a child: "If you want to act like a child, then have fun!" She said three words in a foreign tongue while not breaking eye contact with the auburn haired male, faltered on her final and last word, and died on the spot.

No one said anything for all of three seconds before the male, blonde twin of their crew piped up loud and clear, "Can we throw her body in our Boar Pit?"

A platinum blond spoke before the leader even thought to look away from the witch, "No."

A very dark brown haired male spoke next on the twin's side, "What if we let some buzzards have her?"

The leader sighed at the direction of the topic, "We are going to bury her, as is custom for those not of our village."

The three trouble makers, the dark haired male and the blonde twins, were trumped in volume from their groans by a big, sand haired male, "Um, was it me or did it seem like she tried to do something to Hiccup before...you know."

"Fishlegs, get a backbone will ya?"

"Right! Because your back doesn't have any!"

"Ugh, you're such a moron."

"You weren't the only one, Fish."

"Oh, good."

"So how are we getting her to… Where are we burying her?"

"Why not here?"

"Her hut is on the other side of the island?"

"Yeah, let's burn it!"

"Yeah, sounds good!"

"I call shooting the roof!"

"No one is burning anything! We could bury her behind it."

"That sounds good."

"Uh, Hiccup? You haven't said anything in awhile. Are you okay?"

Hiccup looked up from his stare at the witch finally, whose dead eyes were still open and locked on him. He glanced at Astrid who asked the question, "Yeah, only a bit tired; battling is very different on foot still. I really prefer fighting with Toothless."

"You and the leg jokes!"

"Sorry. Let's bury the witch."

Once the dragons were roused and the processional burial completed, everyone headed to Dragons Edge.

Two days passed and Hiccup could hardly get himself to eat anything. A week had gone by and he was frequently tired and whatever they tried to feed him with wouldn't stay down. Their leader insisted to not leave for help, that he would get over it. A day after that he had a high fever and was constantly throwing up: consisting of blood and other materials, some of it Fishlegs solemnly declared as bone. They sent Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and their dragon/s-the twins had the second best dragon for long distance now that Toothless was mostly grounded-to get Stoick and Gothi. Snotlout stayed on lookout for the Edge and Fishlegs went to the witches hut for any and all information; to see if he could find something the others couldn't account for.

That night, almost to dawn, Astrid woke up from her sleep in a slumped position in a chair by Hiccup's bed to an external wiggling of her right leg. She had fell under sleeps spell when Hiccup had stopped vomiting and collapsed into a deep sleep she couldn't wake him up from to try and get him to down more food.

When she sat up she did not expect what she saw.

A strange and amazingly sweet berry from the south was the only thing redder she had ever laid eyes on. Hiccup's face was blushing fiercely and his hands collected and released his now overly large, green tunic nervously. His hair was as messy as ever, but looked more bed ruffled than windswept. His lone foot was bare while the normal prosthetic was gone-which made it look like he had one leg entirely missing, since that one ended just below his knee-and he didn't appear to need the pants that she wasn't sure she could see, the tunic was so gown-like over his frame; it reached halfway down his calf! The shoulder of one though, the left, had slipped and rested halfway down. The sleeves were rolled up to keep out of the way of his hands. His eyes were as big as a dragon's looking at Astrid now and suddenly the younger Hiccup winced hard, his blush disappearing, and looked down to the wooden floor before mumbling, "I don't know either."

"Um… Hiccup?"

"Yep. Though, inherently younger. Guess we know what the witch did now, eh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Uh, actually I'm super...hungry... Now, anyway."

"You...think you can hold it down?"

"I think so, yeah."

As Astrid busied herself with reheating the now cold broth Fishlegs brought earlier, she noticed something, "Are you wearing pants?"

Hiccup blushed hard again as he hobbled out to a cushioned bench, "I sewed up an old, battered shirt into a pair of shorts before I woke you up… Where's Toothless?"

Astrid pulled out some bread for Hiccup to eat while he waited for the broth to warm, "He's helping Snotlout keep lookout. When I check on them, Toothless paces while taking glances at your hut and the ocean."

"Can you bring him in? I want him here."

"But, his post?"

"I don't care! I need him!" he said hotly as he tore off a piece of bread. Calmer, he says, "We just had a fight with Dagur, it takes him a while to strike again."

Astrid doesn't comment on the hot response and decides the newly young Hiccup does need the dragon because of said response. She answers, "...Okay. Don't go anywhere and don't burn yourself trying to get the broth."

"Do I look like a child to you?" He realized what he said and groaned aloud, "Oh, Gods."

Astrid could only lightly snicker as she opened and left the hut. As she walked the situation hit her more and more, Hiccup was a child. He didn't seem to be sick anymore, and was eating again, but how would she explain it to anyone? That, after he had settled down, stopped throwing up blood and bone fragments, that he had slept into the form of a child?

Toothless was in view, Snotlout probably patrolling onto the other side of the island. She shouted lightly, "Toothless!"

His ears perked and he glanced around until his gaze landed on her, before he started running up the paths, taking shortcuts where he could do so to follow Astrid as she motioned him to.

The two of them came upon the hut and Toothless surged forward into the door Hiccup designed to let Toothless, who had no hands, in easily. The moment Toothless caught sight of Hiccup he paused in the middle of the hut before gummy smiling not two seconds later.

"Toothless? Hey, bud!" Hiccup exclaimed before getting expectedly bowled over and thrown to the floor hard. "Ow!"

Astrid didn't say anything as she went to check the broth which now was not as hot as she would prefer but probably good for a child...Hiccup's age. He looked, what, six? Seven? Then again he was much smaller than them when they were younger, maybe he's closer to nine?

She listened to the conversation behind her, "Careful, bud, I'm a good bit smaller now. Squishier."

A grumble in reply.

"I know you have eyes, bud. Just letting you know. I'm small, and you are really BIG. Wow. How do I get in trouble with such a big protector~. Huh? How~~?"

Toothless thumps and trills in happiness as she found a bowl and started filling it up.

Suddenly, she jumped a bit after filling the bowl when Hiccup briefly screamed, "OW!" She looked over the table to see Toothless licking Hiccup's hand that was rubbing at his intact leg.

"See, I told you. I-it hurts easier," he gasped and as Astrid came around to help him up, the bowl ready on the table, she was surprised to see the child furiously wiping away some tears.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, "Food's ready."

Hiccup nodded and when she picked him up by his armpits he made a protesting noise but was apparently too tired to resist. This was made clear with the yawn he made when he was sat down by the bowl.

His cheeks were red and he refused to look at her for a moment as he started eating, but eventually he asked her about the others.

"The twins are off to get Gothi and your father, Fishlegs is at the witch's hut, an-"

""Fishlegs is at the witch's hut?!" Why? Is he alone besides Meatlug? He might get bewitched, too! You were going to say that Snotlout is on Guard?" At Astrid's nod he continued, "Get him to go there. Fishlegs needs to have backup in case something else happens." The child sighed a grown-up's sigh. "I sound so pathetic."

"I'll do that now. When you're done, sleep. You look pretty tired."

"I do NOT need a nap!"

"Make sure he gets in bed at least, Toothless."

The child protested as children were known to, "Oh, come on!"

Astrid walked out to notify Snotlout of his mission and the male took off, relieved from boring guard duty. Astrid figured she would keep up the guard while Toothless took care of Hiccup until Stoick and Gothi came; they should be arriving around a bit after midday tomorrow. With the twins being sent at midmorning yesterday, Stoick will be hard pressed to get here in a day rather than a half more.

In the hut, Toothless succeeded in getting the boy to bed. Only...after Hiccup insisted on washing the bowl he used while standing on Toothless's back and then getting the Night Fury to put more logs on the fire.

Hiccup fell under sleep's spell quickly, and Toothless dozed by the bed with his snout inhaling the smaller rider's scent as they both rested.

By the time late midday came, Hiccup was up again. He greeted Toothless as he normally would in the mornings, even though he knew it wasn't that time of the day. He made his way out of the section of hut that was his room and immediately began to look for more food. Looking around, he found the rest of the broth, but it was too cold for him to want yet. On the table he spotted the rest of the loaf Astrid had torn off for him in almost the middle of the surface. He walked up to the table and reached, just barely nabbing the rest of the bread and dragging it to his person. Tearing off a bigger section than he had last time, he wrapped and put up the remains back on the edge of the table so he could grab it easier next time.

Since his prosthetic was WAY too big for him, he scrambled up the saddle still on Toothless after asking if said saddle was bothering him with how long it must have been on; which the Night Fury gave an equivalent to a 'no.' Hiccup asked go to Astrid and they were off.

Astrid saw them coming and moved marginally in their direction before they had met in the middle, "Hey. You're okay still?"

Hiccup swallowed the bread in his mouth, "If being a hungry kid is 'okay,' then sure." He looked to the sky as he adjusted himself on Toothless's back and tore off another small bite with his teeth. He asked Astrid with his mouth slightly full, "W'n 'll 'hey 'et back?"

Astrid paused for a moment to figure out what he might of said, "When will they get back? We can go get them a bit before sundown if they aren't back by then. Does that sound like a plan?"

Hiccup nods once, swallows, and then frowns. Staring down at his dragon and the saddle that he was not strapped into for safety or connected to in order to control the tail, he thought of how they would fly for a moment. He sighed, sounding resigned, "Well, if we are going to fly, I need to fix some stuff, Bud. And you aren't going to like it. We'll be at my hut, Astrid."

"Okay, you'll know if they come early."

"Right."

Hiccup went to grab the rest of the loaf now that his chunk of bread was gone, and then got to work fixing his harness so he could delay another necessary evil.

Hiccup had just finished showing her his new, hopefully temporary, body harness that looked a lot like his very, very first one, but smaller, and was now most likely back at his hut, when Astrid saw four of the missing members of the island approach. She waved for them to land near, to tell them the news.

Snotlout was down first, "Is he dead yet?" Surprisingly, he said this with an undertone of wary concern at seeing the serious expression on her face.

"He's mostly fine."

Fishlegs followed, "Mostly?" This was said with noticeable suspicion.

"You'll have to see for yourself." Now that there were more people on the island, it was safer to leave the guard to the Night Terrors, Come on, he's at his hut."

They followed her closely, their dragons going to rest somewhere. Along the way, Stormfly found her rider going back to Hiccup's hut and squawked loudly for attention.

"Hey, girl! You should be resting."

Stormfly clicked at her in a pattern as she kept her bound wing as still as possible.

"Oh, food." Astrid turned to the boys, "Go on and see him. Do not make him worse, somehow, please, Snotlout. He might be hungry too, Fishlegs. I'll be by in a bit."

"You worry too much, Astrid. He can take me."

"It's good that he's eating."

"Yeah, it is good. And no he can't right now, leave him be."

The two pairs went their separate ways. When the boys got to Hiccup's hut they heard him pleading to Toothless, "Come on, Bud! I know it sucks, but I can't do anything about it and I probably won't for a while. Please, Toothless. I will still fly with you, but I can't use the controls anymore. I'm sorry."

There was grumbling as they opened the door.

"Please, Toothless?"

More grouching came from behind Hiccup's bedroom wall.

"Toothless, I. Am not. Tall enough. To control the fin! On even my good side! Besides of which the tail needs both pedals to be controlled anyway. I'm sorry. So, please?"

As they looked in, they were there just in time to see Toothless lick Hiccup's cheek a little and see the child whose back was to them giggle in response. After the boy thanked his dragon and apologized again, he turned around and jumped in fright at the sight of the teens staring at him.

Fishlegs apologized before asking Hiccup if he WAS in fact Hiccup, while the child let out a breath and sighed.

Snotlout said a surprisingly interesting question, "How old are you?"

Hiccup hesitated, caught off guard, and then thought for a bit as he inspected his own body, "I think I'm...seven or eight. Closer to eight though."

Snotlout stood there and stared at Hiccup with the other three males in the room waiting for him to respond as well. After almost two minutes maybe, he threw up his hands in surrender of the situation and left, "I'm going to my hut. I don't want to deal with this."

Stoick and Gothi came when Astrid thought, a little after midday, and she told the Night Terrors to be on the lookout as she led the two guests to Hiccup's hut.

"Is he alright? You're not with him?" Stoick asked.

"He's...better. Toothless can take care of him. He stopped vomiting sometime yesterday night, I've gotten plenty of food in him. He's been sleeping a bit more; in fact, I think he went to rest not a little while ago or so. He'll be alright."

"You aren't tellin' me somethin' lass. What's wrong with him?"

"I can't explain it, Chief, but know he seems better than he was earlier."

"Do you know why he was so sick then? What did he have?" Stoick asked as they approached the hut.

"We battled a witch, sir, almost two weeks ago." Astrid opened the door, "Her dying breath was for Hiccup. She did this," she pointed to the bed, whispering now, "to him."

Stoick was silent as he looked, not realizing what he was seeing yet. A mop of auburn hair shifted a bit to get his face into cooler air and in response the black dragon cooed softly while he shifted his own head closer. "How...?"

"The witch, sir. She said he was acting like a child and then by the next week or so...he was."

"So, he was really cursed?" Stoick replied as low as he could.

"What else could cause this? We witnessed her spell: not any flashing lights or anything, she stared at him, said strange words, and died."

"Why did it take so long?"

"Well…" Astrid's whispers hesitated before she spilled the story: "He stopped eating as much by the next day and then couldn't keep anything he did eat down a day after the next. We tried feeding him whenever he was stubborn enough to get up and about for the rest of the week, but he'd refuse. We told him he needed to see Gothi and he said he believed he'd get through it, but that night… Odin, Chief, it was bad. He was throwing up stuff we didn't want to identify along with blood and bone. We sent the twins after that first round and, after Fishlegs helped me set up Hiccup in his bed, he went to the witch's hut to look for answers. Snotlout and Toothless stood watch and I helped Hiccup until he fell unconscious. Next thing I know, little Hiccup is shaking me awake in makeshift pants, a shirt big enough to be a gown on him, and without his prosthetic able to fit anymore."

"Dear, Thor… Gothi, let's wait until he is awake. Astrid return to Guard. I'm assuming you sent Snotlout after Fishlegs?" At her nod, he continued, "Are they back?" She nodded. "Good, he could've been bewitched as well. Best to have backup around this sort of thing."

Astrid did as she was told, thinking of how alike father and son really were.

Stoick had been in the hut with Gothi for about two hours. The healer was asleep and he himself was drowsily close when he heard a noise he hadn't heard in a long time.

His child's whimper escalated a moment before a coo from the dragon soothed it away. It didn't last long, however, and Stoick knew the moment the boy would silently shoot up into wakefulness. Standing up with a grunt he walked over to the now wide awake, but unseeing boy and scooped him into his thick arms. The dragon was awake too now, nuzzling the back of Hiccup's huge shirt and trilling quietly. This, combined with his father's very old routine of simply holding him, seemed to bring his mind out of the after-nightmare-images quickly. That's when Hiccup begins to cry. Hiccup has always been the weirdest crier he has ever encountered in his entire life: a keening so high pitched and so muffled that he always sounded like a boy without a voice trying to screech repeatedly.

"Shhh… Stop that, Hiccup. It wasn't real; you're fine. It wasn't-"

"Yes, it was..."

Stoick is surprised Hiccup has already spoke, he usually doesn't speak until after he is done crying. He asks, "What was, Hiccup?"

A shaky breath full of more tears, the last word a whisper the father could barely hear, "My dream was real. It-that happened."

"What happened?" Stoick was dreading the answer and hoped to Thor it wasn't what he thought was happening.

"M-my leg-eg...i-is...gone!" The boy seized stiff with a small cry, and Stoick recognized the motion immediately. Holding the boy close he rubbed circles on the left knee, pressing down to allow the sensation to filter through the pain. He has helped Gobber with his stumps many times and knows another feeling may distracts the amputee from the pain a bit.

Phantom pains were no stranger to Berk. He has seen them last anywhere from a few minutes to almost a day and a half once. He sits with his son as the boy jolts in and out of sleep with the waves of pain until around forty minutes has come to pass they slow to a throb to leave the little body in a tense slumber.

When evening rolls around, Stoick and Toothless hear people trample into the hut and get shushed quickly. Whispering starts up, and though Stoick knew Hiccup was a pretty deep sleeper in the past, the boy starts to wake up quickly.

Hiccup rubs his eyes and scrubs lingering tear tracks away with the rolled up sleeve of his shirt. After a moment of that he realizes where he is and blushes, "Thanks, Dad."

"Anytime, son." Stoick rubs the boy's hair into something not as rumpled as it was before, "Do you feel better? Leg okay?"

"I'm hungry," comes Hiccup's answer.

Stoick chuckles deeply, "Yes, I suppose you're okay. Come on, up you go."

As Stoick lifts up Hiccup to cradle him on his arm, seeing as a man as big as he is doesn't have hips, Hiccup protests, "I don't need to be picked up!"

"Just after you had a phantom pain? No, Hiccup. I want to help." The father said dismissively.

Hiccup huffs but says no more as he is carted out of the room. He winces as they round the corner to see everyone but Snotlout and the dragons-excluding Toothless from that exclusion though, he was behind father and son-watching him be carried to the table.

He blushed hard as he was sat down and looked away from them, watching Toothless slide up to the table for food as well. As soon as he had turned away, Ruffnut squealed, "Oh my Gods, he's so cute~!" Hiccup whipped his head around just in time to have his face planted in the girl twin's neck as she squeezed him hard.

Hiccup tried to gasp in air but couldn't. He felt his face heat up quickly and panic set in as she squeezed harder in response to his struggling. Luckily, his dad came to the rescue with a booming voice full of worry, "Ruffnut! Let him go, he can't breathe!"

As Ruffnut was startled into letting him go, Stoick walked toward his coughing child and rubbed his back gently. As his coughing struggled to a stop he told the others, "You have got to be careful. He is not nearly as hardy as other kids his age. He-"

"Dad, stop! She didn't mean it…" he cleared his throat one last time and refocused his father's attention on something else so the man doesn't blow up on the girl: "Fishlegs, help my Dad make me something t' eat."

"What?" both of the addressed said at the same time.

In the end, Stoick let Fishlegs make most of the food everyone ate for supper that day, even if he was offended and believed his cooking wasn't that bad; even if everyone else said it was. The group had a good time relaxing and talking; even Snotlout came by, once he realized that that was where the food was.

Stoick, after the supper, asked the awakened Gothi to check Hiccup out and she said the boy looked perfectly fine, excluding the obvious difference in age from what he should be. The father then began pondering what to do with a younger Hiccup. Leaving him at the Edge however, was not an option. The Chief told his son so as everyone with a hut began turning in for the night, Gothi staying with Astrid.

Unexpectedly, Hiccup agreed. Though, he declared, he needed to stay a bit longer: "We need to make sure we have every little item that could help us from that hut. The Edge is a lot closer to it than Berk is, and if we somehow find...a cure or something and an ingredient or two was in the hut? Who knows, I could be stuck like this forever after being like this for so long; every second could count."

Stoick ponders on this for a small moment before finally conceding, "Alright, son. Another five days, and that's it."

Hiccup nodded, accepting the terms as they are.

The next few days consisted of rummaging through the witch's hut, trying to find anything to help Hiccup. The person in question ate and ate almost constantly; he ate anything he could get his hands on that he didn't seriously dislike. Other than all of the food, when he wasn't committing himself to looking for clues with the other teens, or having the occasional nap, he drew endlessly the way he used to do: careless about how 'bad' it looked and shaping out any subject that came to mind.

When the fourth day hit, that morning, Hiccup started eating normal amounts again and took a nap that lasted almost half the day. He didn't eat when he woke in the evening, though.

The fifth day was when Fishlegs said something out loud as everyone went by Hiccup's hut for breakfast since he was packing in between everyone else eating.

"Hiccup, when was the last time you ate?"

Hiccup paused in putting something in a bag, wobbling slightly without his prosthetic, "...I think it was yesterday?"

Astrid stopped in filling her plate as she thought about what Fishlegs said. She demanded in the next second, turning to look him square in the eye, "Hiccup, eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Hiccup," Stoick said, "You need to; for our flight."

Hiccup sighed, and hopped over to the table and tore some bread off of the loaf Astrid brought over and two strips of the meat Snotlout caught the day before. He downed both quickly after restating that he honestly was not hungry in the least.

Halfway through the meal the others were working on ingesting, Hiccup paled and suddenly dashed as fast as his one leg let him around into his room. When Astrid and his father went to follow him, they were greeted with the sound of the boy retching into a bucket.

The twins and Snotlout were chatting loudly enough that no one outside the room heard, but as two minutes past, the brunet voiced,

"Hey, what are they doing back there?"

Fishlegs shrugged his shoulders and finished the last bits of food on his plate.

Snotlout, curious that the three could be discussing something blackmail worthy, put his plate on the table, and traveled up and around the bickering twins to lean on the wall and listen in.

Astrid's voice, "Stoick, this is how he started up last time: he stops eating, he slept a lot more, and then he started rejecting anything he ate. And that," her voice paused and lowered a bit, though Snotlout could still hear it, "Is what would come up even though we were positive he didn't have anything in his system."

"He's a bit warm too. Hiccup, are you alright?"

"Ugh… Define alright?"

"Why didn't you say something?" Stoick addressed. "Gothi could have given you something to prevent you getting sick."

"I felt fine earlier, but when Fishlegs started cooking is when I felt off. Actually eating the food made it so much worse and then…" the boy's weak voice trailed off.

"And then you got sick. You don't look good enough to fly either. I suppose we will have to stay longer now."

Snotlout had heard enough. He finished what was left of his food and practically ran out of the hut to stay away from the witch's affected person.

As the day drew on, Hiccup got worse. He was confined to the bed-Toothless by his side-, a fever rose in him, and he upchucked the same gruelling mess as before again and again. As soon as night swallowed the day, Hiccup passed out and Stoick, Toothless, Gothi, and Astrid stayed up to watch the boy.

They never noticed the changes themselves, but every time they blinked they realized something about him looked younger. By the first three hours the boy had shrunk a good third of his previous eight year old height.

"By the Gods… How young will he be before this stops?" Stoick voiced one of his worries.

"I don't know, Chief," Astrid replied, "but I wonder if when he wakes up if he still carries his mind."

After her comment Gothi tapped her staff for attention. She drew on a sheet of Hiccup's parchment with charcoal on the desk to convey that the spell should only affect his body rather than his mind. Proof, she eventually was able to explain, would be how he retained it the first time.

As the dawn approached Astrid remembered something, "Uh, Hiccup's clothes didn't shrink with him last time either."

Stoick had to implore the old, gnarled hands of Gothi to sew Hiccup's make-shift pants smaller than they already were once he woke up and it was obvious Hiccup's own hands were too clumsy to do the actual process. He did, however, help with measuring and was able to cut away what he needed to in order for the garment to be smaller in certain ways. He also introduced the idea to the woman to simply sew closed the leg for his stump, especially since he wasn't to be bothered to even contemplate making a new prosthetic every week or so if the process continued.

Though everyone was bewildered that the spell took effect again, Hiccup seemed to not pay them any mind. He looked as focused as a child the age of four could muster and he cooped himself up in his hut adjusting the smaller harness and constructing a shirt from the cutoffs of his pants and other scraps of fabric lying around his workspace. That evening, he told his father that they would go back to Berk the next morning and that they would need plenty of food for the cursed child to eat as they flew.

Stoick was astonished, "Hiccup you were just sick last night. I can't take you somewhere 'till you've got some strength."

Hiccup sighed overly loud and loaded his answer with an unmissable 'duh' tone to it, "Dad, you saw how fast I recovered from the sick part of this curse the first time; and that was with a phantom pain right after to boot! I can go now if we wanted, but I don't really want to because my eyes aren't all that good for the semi-dark now. We need to get down to the village, tell all of them what has happened, and make me as many clothes as possible in any size. I also have...an idea, I think, that Gobber could make for me..." The boy fidgeted with his hands, looking for all the world to see like he either was fixing something or struggling with an animal in his grasp. Stoick almost said something before the boy continued, "Would you...Can I show it to you?"

Something in Stoick's memory stirred suddenly: a little boy, this little boy in fact, looking as nervous as the man himself felt, asking a question with all the hope in the world in his voice. The father remembered telling him of how tired his bones were and to go on and let him rest for a bit. The Chief of Berk realized that he didn't have any later memories of this little boy asking his father to look at anything afterwards; he remembered of so many beforehand, but not after. He scolded himself for letting something as precious as that moment-a moment Valka used to share with him as well; showing off small toys for their baby and little clothes they would grow into-go out of reach.

He resolved to fix it.

Hiccup was beginning to look away when Stoick steadied the wobblishly, kneeling boy, "Sure, son. Go on and grab it; unless it's with you?"

"N-no, I have to-I have to grab it from my room." Hiccup climbed onto Toothless's back to go the short distance of one corner of the hut to his room around the wall. His body's age now hindered him from moving even across the hut, his limbs were so discoordinated that, coupled with a missing leg, he could hop maybe four feet before tumbling. Toothless, after watching Hiccup form bruises twice in the span of five minutes, tailed Hiccup; steadying him when he needed it, carrying him when the boy wanted to go longer distances, and even simply picking the boy up and barking at whomever was closest to do what the boy obviously couldn't but was stubborn enough to try.

When the pair came back, Hiccup was carrying one of his notebooks, a smile as plain as the sun. He flipped to a certain page once Toothless laid down, and climbed off of the dragon to lean on his father's knee with the book held over his head. The boy poked his face around it, laid it on his father's lap instead, and began explaining what he had on the paper:

"It's...something I designed back when I was having all of those growth spurts; you know, when I was almost beheading myself on everything in Gobber's shop and my room…"

Hiccup trailed off as Stoick started laughing a bit, the boy giggling right along with him. He resumed explaining as soon as they both stopped their amusement, "It was supposed to be able to adjust the height, but I never got around to making it… It'll also need to have adjustable cups, but I don't think that would be too hard, given how Gobber made his port on his arm. Hm, it would need to be inversed or something though..."

Stoick watched his boy turn the notebook so his younger eyes could rove the page. As Hiccup started to distractedly sink to sit on the floor against Toothless, Stoick picked him up and seated him on his knee with the little back against his comparatively large chest. Hiccup had been too surprised to do more than squeak, and actually dropped the notebook, which Toothless grabbed and returned to little hands with only a small string of drool.

Hiccup laughed and slung his hand toward the dragon-the hand Toothless had licked in welcome to the thank-you rubs Hiccup had given away-which caused the dragon's own saliva to fly off of the boy's fingers and onto the dragon's snout. Toothless snorted hard, so hard he looked to have sneezed, and wiped a single paw along his snout before deciding to get revenge.

When Astrid walked up to Hiccup's hut later in the day to retrieve something she thought she left, she heard a child's squeals mixed with Stoick's booming laughter. She walked quietly, unsure why, but a feeling told her to tread lightly.

When she cracked open the door, she smiled approvingly on the hilarious scene inside.

Sure, Astrid had seen her Chief happy and enjoying himself with his son before. She had even seen quite a few subtle moments where the hulking man made a step toward mending the strained bond they had. She had never seen such a normal scene from her Chief before though.

He looked so complete. He radiated love.

Hiccup, in the same light, she had never seen express so much emotion. He looked at home.

Stoick put Hiccup on the floor and turned away to grab a towel to wipe up any leftover residue from Toothless's excessive licking. As he was turned, Hiccup wiped some of the slime onto his hand from his neck, and then smiled a smile Astrid had only rarely ever seen. Hiccup tried gathering as much of the saliva off his neck and face as he could in both hands before his father was kneeling down besides him-leaving Astrid's sight clear-to clean off the skin. Just when the man least expected it, slimy hands jumped out to touch as much exposed flesh and as many strands of the man's crazy beard as they could.

The assaulted paused a moment and reached up to touch one of the slimy parts of his skin. He sighed heavily, beginning to wipe off the saliva with the towel he meant to use on Hiccup. Who, now realizing whom he just did that to, was sitting on the floor in tense anticipation; most probably waiting to be reprimanded like Astrid believed would happen herself.

Both Astrid and Hiccup had believed wrong, the father holding up a now sticky towel, lightly brandished it at Hiccup. The boy shied away as his father said teasingly, "Now, do you want to get even more messy?"

"Ah, no... I'm messy 'nough..." Hiccup scooted backwards on his rear and bumped into Toothless. His face lighting up with an idea, he started scrambling up onto the resting dragon's back as fast as his covered stump and careless, clumsy, child limbs would allow.

"Toothless will protect me!" the boy stated boldly to his father, and then he addressed the dragon, "Go, bud, go!"

As the family started running around the small space, Astrid let the door shut and smiled the whole walk back to her own, quiet, little hut. She could borrow what she needed from someone else.

The next morning was when they would leave and as Hiccup began slowly putting the saddle on Toothless, he was surprised to see others doing the same at their own huts. Once he was finished, he asked the black dragon to fly him over to Astrid's hut.

"Hey, where are you guys going?"

"Well, since I've got a feeling you will be gone for a long-" she grunted, "time, I figured we would bring everyone home: the dragon eye, and the Night Terrors as well."

Hiccup wasn't sure how to contemplate this, "...Are you sure?"

"Yup, we just have to hope no one arsons the place."

Hiccup hummed thoughtfully before saying with a laugh, "I kinda want to redesign my hut anyway. Maybe someone can take it apart for me so I can reuse as much as I can."

"Sure, Hiccup, they will totally be that nice."

He laughed harder and, controlling himself down to giggles, stated with a tenderly amused face, "I get so happy when the sarcasm that's rubbed off of me, surfaces in you." He turned beat red a second later and urged Toothless to leave without words in the blink of an eye.

Astrid was blushing too, it's rare she gets to hear him open up like that... She wondered if she could take a slight bit of an advantage with this age problem of theirs to fix the slightly strained...thing she and Hiccup had.

Everyone was ready in good time, and they soared upwards, the Night Terrors following behind in a wingspan formation with no body. As they flew, Hiccup was reminded periodically to try going through the food he had at a slow rate to last him the trip until he snapped at someone that he understood the point the 'fourth' time. Though a biting comment, the whole group, including himself after a moment of extremely embarrassed silence, guffawed hysterically about how ridiculous the boy sounded. The rest of the ride held a much lighter atmosphere of playful banter and short games in the air.

Arriving home, the Haddocks realized as they caught sight of their island, would very interesting indeed.

There was a clamor of people grouping up to form a circle where the flock from the Edge were looking to land. As they did, a rush of whispers replaced the greetings from the onlooking crowd.

Luckily Stoick was able to bowl over everyone, "Now, now! If we congregate in the Great Hall for dinner, all we be explained there! Leave us Edge travelers be; we are weary after such a long flight!"

People trickled away slowly, but a good half stayed behind in the group to watch the Edge occupants help Smidvarg disperse the Night Terrors over the village, while the Chief and his son quickly reached the inside of their house.

Shutting themselves in, Toothless, Stoick, and Bonecrusher, each looked at Hiccup who had moaned a bit and buried his face in his hands immediately after the cover of the house was guaranteed.

Stoick walked over to where Hiccup was still strapped into the saddle on Toothless, laying a hand on the small boy's shoulder, "Son?"

When Hiccup tried to turn away from his father, Stoick was surprised to see tears bubbling up in the eyes upon such a scrunched up face. Being restricted in the modified harness, however, did not let Hiccup go very far, and Stoick was able to unstrap and hold on to him before he was able to get away, "Hiccup."

Trilling at his rider, the now also freed Toothless, was able to nuzzle at a slightly struggling Hiccup in varying spots he could reach with the boy being in the large man's hold.

"Come now, Hiccup," Stoick started, heading to sit in his chair, "What's wrong?"

Hiccup almost sounded like he was choking, his efforts to stop crying were so adamant, "I-I'-m cry-cry-ing..." The boy wipes his face on the skin of his wrists to remove the streams on his face and is soon shining with shed tears over a portion of his face and forearms as he tried to continue to explain, "Th-they looked at-at me a-and I 'ou-ld norm'ly be-be okay, bu-ut they loo-ooked at me...and I...I couldn't barely sto-op tears from comin' an-an' I can't stop-stop cryin'!"

Stoick was still confused, but tried to hold him all the same as his son cried harder than he had ever seen. It was different than his after-nightmare crying too, with a low whining that set the hairs on his muscled arms on edge and gasping from lack of air in a closed throat. Stoick was starting to see that his boy was seeming to calm whenever Toothless would try to bump his head in, however. When Stoick tried to turn and hog the child-who squealed at the sudden movement and curled up to try and hide from whatever the haze of tears had him see-with large, blocking arms, but Toothless would have none of it.

Toothless braced his front legs upon the armrest of the chair Stoick sat upon and growled meaningfully. When the dragon was ignored, his wings began to rise threateningly, and he growled louder while looking for an opening. When one presented itself, the black snout dived in and toothlessly grasped a strap from the harness Hiccup wore to yank the small body out from under the hulking arms.

The only reason the dragon was able to do this was because the man knew if he held on, he risked hurting Hiccup. He watched helplessly as the Night Fury waddled on his two back legs to the bottom of the stairs, fell to all fours, and shot up the steps in three bounds without letting the curled up body dangling from his jaws hit anything. Sound normally flowed easily from up there, but since he was concerned, he followed up himself to see the effects of the dragons efforts himself.

When Stoick reached the top of the steps, he was surprised to find the Night Fury settling down on the boy's bed, curling up with the boy in the crook of his forelegs. Hiccup was calming down in his confusion at the mode of transportation utilised, and even then he looked resigned to being miserable for the foreseeable future.

Stoick made his presence renown, and conceding that since the boy was now calm there was no need to try and one up the dragon. He asked, "Can you tell me what is the matter again?"

Sniffing, Hiccup started speaking, "I had all those eyes on me, a-and I was sudden'y so o'erwhelmed with ner'ousness, I was gonna cry. We got away fast 'nough for anyone to see, but then I was f'ust'ated I was crying at all and-" he abruptly stopped, growling at himself.

"Hiccup?"

"Lissen to me! I can bare-ly speak!"

"Hiccup,-"

"No!" the boy shouted, blinked and then lay limp against the dragon he was surrounded by. "Sorry. I'll be fine, Dadd..." Hiccup slipped into a quiet surprise that Stoick was already inhabiting.

"Were you about to say 'daddy'?"

"Um... It slipped out?"