Disclaimer: This story has absolutely no Toothcup! Not as a couple, anyway.
"What is it that you fear the most, Toothless?" I ask the mighty dragon beside me.
Toothless roars forcefully, telling me that he fears nothing.
I smirk. "Are you sure?"
His valiant face, intent and alert for any sources of danger, nods.
He gives me a happy nod. I roll my eyes, determined to find his weakness. He has to be afraid of something.
"Cages?" He shakes his head.
"Falling objects?" He shakes his head.
"Um... no offense, but when I nearly died-" I begin.
Toothless bares his teeth at me, growling slightly.
Oops. Wrong territory to venture into. He's always kind of touchy about this subject, probably because he refuses to let me fall into danger. But is that fear?
Maybe. But I need one that I know that he really fears.
I look around the surrounding trees, hearing the sound of night creatures, the rustle of leaves as the wind blows, the branches cracking under our feet as we walk as one. Then I get an amazing idea.
"Alright..." I begin. Toothless looks at my haughtily, challenging me to think of something he thinks doesn't exist.
"...Eels?" I say mischievously, pretending to reach into my pack and pull out the slimy creature.
Toothless retracts his head in fear, roaring loudly at my approach, all the while whimpering madly. Had it not been me the one producing the eel, he would have blasted the snakelike creature to cinders. Toothless hates eels. He's also scared of them, too.
I smirk. Gotcha.
I slowly pull my hand out of the bag, holding nothing in my hands. Toothless looks at me with initial confusion, then slowly understanding, then, as he finally gets my prank, annoyance. He snorts once, walks up to me, and begins nudging me towards a tree.
"Ah! Stop it!" I say, trying to push the Night Fury back. He ignores my protests and continues to push me forward, my back feeling the tree behind me as I am forced back slowly. Great. I'm stuck between the pissed dragon and a tree. He gives me a glare, pulls back, and whimpers quietly.
"Hey, I deserved it," I say, taking his recent tender movements as an apology for scaring me. "We're even." He snorts again and looks at me convincingly.
Then he looks at the bag intently, then to me. He warbles questioningly.
"Oh, great," I mutter. Toothless gives a rumble of delight.
He's asking me what I'm afraid of. And since he can't guess, and I'd rather not him bringing my worst fears to me now (Astrid), I go ahead and tell him what I fear the second most.
"I fear of dying," I say, trying not to put too much emphasis into it. We are camping, after all.
Toothless's smirk disappears quickly, and is immediately replaced by a look of concern.
Why? His eyes ask me, his body right by my side, warming- but also effectively trapping- me. In fact, all six of his ears are pointed up; a sign that he really wants to know. I sigh. I'm so screwed. I should have said something like "Strawberries" or something. At least Toothless hates that.
"Um, can we, uh, talk about this later?" I ask him politely. I don't want him to get mad, but this subject is not the best thing to be talking about at night- in the woods- with a very, very curious dragon.
Toothless seems to think otherwise, though. He scorches a circumference along the ground nearby, uses his tail to flick several logs into the circle, and lights them on fire. The fire crackles merrily in the color of Toothless's flame- plasma blue. It's almost mesmerizing to watch the Night Fury flames dance in the night, flying about like real dragons in the sky, dissipating with a wiff of smoke and a little simmer of blue-white light. Even the sound of the fire crackling resembles the sound of a dragon in flight, whooshing slightly as if affected by real wind. The flames rise higher than a normal flame, rising dangerously high in altitude.
Toothless sits down patiently and answers my question by looking at the blue flames.
No. Sit down by the fire and start talking, please is the closest thing I can infer from his actions. Or, more like, command. I dare not think what would happen if I refused.
I sit down on a nearby log, feeling its coarse and mossy skin with my hand. As I rub my hand back on forth on the lifeless object, the softness of the moss contrasting against its host's roughness intrigues me. This log had a history, like everything around here. It was once a lumbering tree, before it fell down and was separated into pieces upon impact with the ground, eroded and weathered away by the rain and snow, decomposed by bugs and fungus.
It once had life.
Oh, great. Now even I want to know why I think of like so much.
I didn't come here to ponder about life and death! I came here to have fun!
Toothless has moved from his original spot, and is now sitting by the fire, his eyes looking at me directly into my eyes, creating a very thin line of open feelings passing through our pupils.
And he's still giving me that Tell me look. I sigh again, looking at the ground.
Oh, well, it's not like I don't need to relent or anything. This subject has been on my mind recently. And maybe it's better if I push it out of my mind now.
For the short version, I fear death like Toothless fears eels. And that's a lot.
For the long version, please stay tuned as I make a lot of cheesy comments about death.
It is the only inevitable thing in the world that you can always count on. Not even Toothless is as promising as the final, unavoidable event that claims lives and brings tears upon the masses, consuming every and all souls that it comes in contact with. It's always waiting in the wings, stalking patiently until in swoops in with such force that no one has yet been able to pull it back.
Had it been a few years ago, I would have very much counted on death to do me in. I even wanted it, on some occasions, as I was always the hiccup of the village, the runt of the litter. I felt nothing but pain and neglect, being the dummy for other people as they endlessly pick on and prank me. Even my sarcastic and quiet demeanor did not hide the fact that I was very troubled every day since I got to know the others, the fact that I was different, and would never be like them at all. I sometimes wished that I could just melt into the ground and forget about everything, become a nobody, so that way I wouldn't bother anyone, and nobody would bother me. Like, you know, that people would just forget about me.
And then, it all changed.
It all changed because of the great dragon right next to me.
I found a friend in him. He found a friend in me. Or, well, at least, fish.
But our bond's far not like your typical household pet-owner thing, because Toothless is anything but that. I'd love to say that Toothless is a really a powerful god sent from Valhalla just to become my friend, but unfortunately, I'm not worthy of any gods' attention, which is not surprising at all, given my less than divine past. Instead, I just think that he's a really powerful dragon that likes having a friend around.
I shudder to think what would happen if he gets bored of me, though.
I mean, what's the point in living if there's no one to share the delight with?
I look at Toothless and see him looking back at me, smiling happily and cooing.
"What? Why the smiley face? You know what I was thinking or something?" I snap.
Toothless walks to me and gives me an encouraging snort, confirming my suspicions.
Yes.
"What?! You can read minds?!" I exclaim, looking at him in disbelief. He warbles happily, his snout softly touching forehead, as if to say, Icanreadminds. I'madragon.
Then he snorts. That probably stands for you idiot.
Oh, well, at least I don't have to tell him (out loud) anymore. That's a relief.
The burden of describing death's embrace now out of my head, I lay down and relax, my hands over my head, and my head on the logs.
"What a perfect day to cause trouble and get away with it," I say to Toothless.
He snorts again.
We somehow succeeded in convincing Dad to let us have the night to ourselves for a night or two. Given my almost constant proneness in getting into trouble, it wasn't easy, I have to admit, but Fishlegs was kind enough to convince the old man that it made 'for good air'. Toothless further proved this true by lighting the orchards behind our house on fire and pretending to be know nothing at all as it happened. That gave us enough distraction for us to get permission from him, for he did not want me to do anything with the fire. So did I.
Speaking of which, my father hasn't found the orchard's arsonist yet, because if he had, we wouldn't certainly be here in the middle of the woods, sitting by a warm fire and keeping each other warm- and happy. We'd be screwed.
"I don't know how you did it, Toothless, but you were amazing," I say, rubbing his head happily, letting the wind's melodic breezes blow past me softly. He nudges me, and then looks at himself (how does he do that?), indicating that he isn't amazing.
We are amazing, is very likely what he's trying to tell me. I nod.
"Well, together, anyway," I tell him. "Alone, I'm more of a clumsy idiot who doesn't know what life is worth living for."
A growl from Toothless shuts me up. He looks at me with accusing eyes, his tail threatening to hit me.
"All right! I'm sorry that I called myself that!" I say. Toothless lets his leer down.
I roll my eyes, something that Toothless is quick to imitate, laughing with mirth at his near perfect imitation of the human actions. He then looks at me with wide eyes.
"What, you want me to call myself a superstar?" I ask him sarcastically.
To my surprise, he nods. Suits you much better is what he's probably saying.
Or, more likely, Can you be that thick to believe me?
I decide to go with the first, just in case. Besides, laughter at my expense is always a part that I'm associated with.
"Alright..." I stand up and strike a pose, and begin strutting around the campfire in the most fabulous way possible.
"Hah! I'm Astrid! I can charm every man in Berk, but I can choose only one!" I say, throwing my hand behind my shoulder as if to flick the nonexistent bangs away from my eyes.
Toothless is laughing once again, unable to control himself as he rolls around the ground, thrashing and cooing madly. I notice once again that I'm opposite of him in the circle once again.
"What? Is my imitation of her too bad?" I ask.
Not bad.
"Heh, right..." My face then turns into confusion. Whose sound is that? "What?"
I said, not bad. Isn't that what you-
"Who is talking to me?" I ask loudly, looking around for the source of the sound. It's dark, husky, but... it's very soft...
A young dragon by the name of Toothless.
I freeze, locking my eyes on him, who is tending to his scales happily.
Toothless?
"Toothless? Did you just talk?" I say, walking past the fire and up to him. His ears perk up, now giving me his full attention. He looks pretty surprised, too.
When I walk up to him, though, he only shakes his head, warbling softly in thought.
"Huh? You just talked a minute ago..." I say, clearly confused. "Can't you talk now?"
He shakes his head, snorting quietly. I scratch my head in massive confusion.
This is making no sense! First, I hear Toothless's voice in my head, then he says no, I can't talk now? What is he trying to tell me?!
He gets up, his eyes filled with an idea, as if his head has lit lightbulb above it. He points his head from me to the ground, telling me to stand where I am.
"Alright..." I say uncertainly. What is happening?
He takes his time walking snake-ishly around the bonfire, stopping to rest opposite of me. My eyes never leave his.
"Now what?" I ask, exasperated. I honestly have no idea what's going on. Maybe I should just fall asleep here and when I wake up, Toothless will-
There. Can you hear me now? The husky, tender voice fills my head again. This time, Toothless's eyes are on me, and my eyes are affixed into his.
"Yes..." I say, almost hypnotized by this new sound entering my ears. It's just so... weird. Toothless, speaking... I know that he contains a lot of humane characteristics, but really? Speech? Verbal communication? Talking?
This is certainly a new development.
And it's awesome.
To be honest, his voice is, if any male could judge another's, hot. Like, I like Astrid and all, but if I were a female dragon, like Stormfly... wow. Astrid would so kill me if she knew.
No wonder why he keeps to himself. He doesn't like every female dragon in Berk falling for him.
But don't get me confused- I do not like Toothless. Not that way. Crazy.
"T-Toothless..." I say, wanting to go up to him and hug him, overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events.
Hi, he says, grinning. This is something new.
"How is this possible?"
He looks at me in thought, then launches into full speech with his hypothesis.
I'm not really sure either. The best I can guess is that it's because of these Night Fury flames. We are intelligent creatures, if I daresay, and everything we do is related to our internal flame, our minds. Be it eating, flying, or just sleeping- we use a lot of brain power in order to sustain our actions.
I look confused, but I do not take my eyes off the mighty and now verbal dragon. "How is that related to talking?"
Another smile.
I'm getting to that. I guess since shooting fire is the only activity that uses our mind essence and puts it outside our body, maybe people can hear a Night Fury's thoughts by looking into a 'piece of its mind'-
"Wait. You called yourself 'it'," I say, breaking his line of thoughts. "That makes you look like an animal."
It doesn't matter, really-
"Yes, it does. You are not a common animal," I say, raising my voice at his dismissive opinion. What? Really? It? Why would he call himself that?
Let's not stray from the subject-
"No. Please, Toothless. Why?"
Screw the 'piece of mind' thing. I'm getting to the bottom of this.
He looks pained. I... I've always thought myself of an animal compared to you.
My eyes widen in shock, forgetting that he still owes me an explanation to the whole talking thing. "Why?!"
He paws the ground nervously.
You're... just so kind, he says quietly. You always are. No matter where we go, I am the one that annoys you, and you always laugh it off like it was nothing, even when it usually is. And.. well, you did help me fly again. How am I supposed to compare to that?
"I what?" I splutter. "How am I kind? I was the one that- that-"
That? He asks, head tilting in inquiry.
"I- I- I was the one that shot off your tailfin!" I yell, unable to contain myself. If he is going to find out, it's going to be from me. Not anyone else.
His eyes widen in shock, not unlike my own.
You... didt his? He brings his tailfin up for a closer look, observing it quietly. I can hear smaller, quieter thoughts running in his head, but I don't seem to make any out.
I hang my head. "I... did. I even wanted to kill you back then, remember?" I say, quite guiltily. So guiltily, in fact, that a tear escapes my eyes. How was I so stupid back then? How did I think that I could kill the dragon who would become my friend for life in time to come?
How is Toothless going to forgive me now?
He gives me a long, long, stare. I dare not look at him in the eyes, for I might see anger in there, and that is the last thing I would want to see.
Toothless mad at me. That, I cannot handle.
If he is mad at me, then he will leave me, or ignore me entirely. Both of those choices will kill me. The former will also kill him, too. Our bond is held together by friendship and trust, strengthened by love and care and time. If it breaks, then what are we? We cannot call each other friends, and we will be alone once again. I dare not think of what that would lead up to. I would probably die by either looking for him or him killing me, if he's really mad.
It's hard to think that you only appreciate how strong someone is when their strength is used against you. He's a dragon. I'm a human. How much fight can I put up? None.
Eventually, though, I force myself to make eye contact. His silence is scary, but fear only increases the more you leave it to consume your mind. After what feels like forever, I look up.
Toothless is still looking at me intently, his eyes affixed to where my head is, and with the eye contact present once again, my eyes. They show no emotion at the moment, and I find it even worse than anger. At least I'd have a clue of what he he's feeling.
"I'm sorry..." I say, my eyes watering again. "If it weren't for me, you'd still be a free dragon."
After a pause, he gives me a croon from the opposite side of the Night Fury fire.
Well... a free, but lonely, enslaved, and very unhappy dragon at that.
"Huh?" I say, not quite understanding his most recent statement.
Don't you get it, Hiccup? He says. This is the first time he's called me by the name. The dragons were under the slavery of the Red Death for several consecutive centuries. She possessed the strongest mind anyone has ever seen. Just her thoughts were enough to make others obey her... cause massive concussions to though who resisted... even I could not resist.
"I..."
And then, you shot me down, if that's the truth. And we met. And we killed the Queen. Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?
My mind racing, I struggle not to collapse to the ground. "But- but- your tail! You lost your flight! We could have met some other way-"
Such as?
I take a moment to process the question. Had it not been for my loneliness, my craftiness, and my determination to kill, I would not have met Toothless. I would not have met the best friend in the world. If I was like everyone else, I would have ended up killing dragons, too. I would not have been happy, of course. But who would truly be unhappy would be Toothless. He'd still have been under the influence of the giant beast, with no one to help him.
"So, to say, the tailfin in exchange for a forbidden friendship."
The last sentence I think out loud, coming to realization, then immediately fear.
"I- I- I didn't mean that-" I stutter.
He smiles grimly.
See? The tailfin was a small price to pay in exchange for what we have now, Hiccup. We are happy. We are together. We are unbreakable. And all for just a measly tailfin.
"And your ability to fly!" I blurt out, tears flowing openly now.
Toothless's smile drops, but looks determinedly at me.
After we met, Hiccup, I realized that I felt much happier with you than flying alone. You brought me friendship and care, and it just feels so much better than being isolated and having to just live for another day. I found out that I didn't care about flying that much anymore. I cared about you. I would trade another tailfin to be with you any day, Hiccup.
The way he emphasizes the word 'you' is powerful, but still, tender. Yet it symbolizes far more than just a syllable. It shows that he truly cares about me. That he is willing to give up his freedom just to be with me, because I make him happy just by being here. Because I care.
You're... you're worth far more than me, he says fidgety. Like, when I jumped into the arena to save you; I knew that I wasn't going to make it out. All I wanted was for you to be safe.
"You... did?" I ask, feeling his pain through those now beady green eyes.
Night Furies are the most powerful dragons alive, and yet... Toothless. He defies the very stereotype of the big, swift, and heartless creatures that prey on human livestock and fish. He cares far more than I thought he would. And...
He admitted that he would die for me. He would give up even more than his tail for me.
Which is why everything we once knew about dragons were all wrong.
Because of Toothless. Because the most dangerous dragon in the world turned out to be the kindest.
He turned out to be the best dragon of them all.
I was prepared for the consequences, but I was willing to go into help you. Because... I love you, bud. You mean much more than the world tome. You gave me everything in your power to help me, and I have never seen that type of care anywhere else before. At first I thought it was because you were scared of me, but I quickly realized that you were willing to put your life down for me if the time for that ever came, because of how much care and concern you showed towards me. You even gave my back my ability to fly, even if I don't exactly need it as much as I needed you. Because you mean everything. You mean... more than me.
I stay silent, tears threatening to overflow again. Who knew that dragons could be so... kind? I always thought that Toothless just liked being around me. I didn't know that... that... he meant a lot more than that. Friendship is a complicated thing to describe, but is just so easy to feel. And once you do feel it, you never want it to go away.
You make me happy. I make you happy, or at least I think I do. And I'm not giving this kind of platonicity up anytime soon, buddy.
Even his eyes are the slightest tint of grey, signaling that there is something inside that wants out.
I walk over to him, breaking the line of thought, and reach up to wipe the tears from his eyes.
I don't even care if I can't verbally communicate with him when I'm over here, because all in all, there are far more deeper ways to communicate than just diphthongs and syllables.
One of them is called using your heart.
Feelings are far more truthful and powerful than words that are spoken. They also accomplish so much more, especially as they are so easily understood.
He gives me a light heartening smile. A smile that depicts more than a thousand words.
And, to be fair, I only smile back.
Toothless motions me to go back to the other side of the fire, but I stay by his side instead, hugging him madly. Words aren't going to tell you how much I need him by my side right now, and on the other side of his fire, where his mind will only tell me so much.
See what I mean? Friendship is something felt, not described. Especially since the more you describe it, the more it sounds like love, that kind of love, and it all just gets awkward and you waste a lot more time explaining what you truly mean, which is, of course, impossible.
So I just sit there, by his side, not moving, feeling only our hearts beat together in unison.
A/N: This story is dedicated to PuraStones for his suggestion of the topic!
I'm rather happy with this chapter, being one that I highly enjoyed writing, especially for others (you).