Reflections of the Heart
When Valka came to Berk, she nearly doubled Berk's dragon population with her own. Among the new citizens, was a dragon even Valka couldn't train... But a certain Dragon Master might.
-Rated- K -Genres- Hurt/Comfort/Friendship- Minor Spoilers for, and Post, HttyD 2- Two-Shot.
Oo-o-oO
-Reflections of the Heart-
-Part-One-
The Alpha of dragons watched over his, and his rider's village, forest green eyes keeping watch for any possible threats posed against them.
Not that they were expecting anyone, or anything, but they didn't know when danger would strike. He wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea of seeing Drago Bludvist again any time soon, but it had now been approximately four months; if that madman was going to attack again as soon as possible, now was the time- four months would probably be enough time to recover from defeat for someone like Drago.
His rider, who had become Chief of Berk, the Human Alpha, had already taken to hid bed for the night, making sure to get as much sleep as possible. Toothless didn't mind this; his human needed his rest. Thankfully, ever since he had ascended to Chiefdom, he had been getting more and more comfortable with his role by the week, until eventually he had settled. Toothless greatly liked this.
Sure, they didn't have nearly as much free time together, but it was still rare for them to be apart, only ever because of emergency or dire reasons. They still flew together for pretty much the whole day, and that alone was enough for them.
With the Bewilderbeast's dreadful ice melted, and repairs completed, the well-beloved and popular Dragon Races were back for usual scheduling, and in their glorious full swing.
Flying, playing, and racing were the moments he was most loose, free from his serious role of Alpha... And as they flew with a panicked sheep in tow, both of them felt an old sense of freedom unlike any other.
Back to his job, Toothless smiled with a shake of his triangular head, now greatly wishing to be snoozing with his rider, burn off a few Zs.
His silent request was granted, coincidentally by Cloudjumper, his second-in-command soldier- who was a typically proud Stormcutter, who just so happened to be bonded to Hiccup's mother, Valka.
The shimmering tan dragon landed landed behind him, neatly folding his to wings, and transferring onto his second pair of wings to walk. It was a peculiar thing, seeing four wings, as they were the only known species with the dilemma. But somehow, it was so fitting for the Stormcutter- It was no wonder they were proud. It was a factor that was about as unique as unique could get.
Toothless warbled, glancing at the large four-winged dragon for a second. 'Greetings, Cloudjumper.'
Hissing briefly in a show of respect, the dragon shook his head to be rid of hatchling saliva with a grimace. 'You too, Toothless. How was you and Hiccup's day?' He paused. 'Long?'
He spoke casually, in a manner that most dragons would be shocked at. Toothless may be his Alpha, he would tell them, but they were still close friends- In fact, he saw Toothless and Hiccup like his sons... He had never had children.
The Night Fury simply nodded.
'Excuse my curiosity, but where is your rider?' Cloudjumper asked, delving deeper.
Toothless sighed, shoulders and wings slumping. Now the wave of exhaustion hit him. Then again, it always did. 'In bed, he turned in for the night about an hour ago. All that partying has now caught up to him, don't you think?'
Cloudjumper nodded curtly, although he still had a smile on his owl-esque face remembering the Chief cursing and mumbling on the way to his house. Stupid twins, he had said, First time drinking. He stepped beside his respected commander. 'You are tired too, are you not?'
The king of dragon kind began to deny it, but then stopped. The lie sat on his tongue, and instead of rolling off, it changed into a burst of guilt in his gut. He was tired. Hiccup wouldn't want him to stay awake like this... He would of stayed up with him.
'Rest, my Alpha.' Cloudjumper quietly lowered one of his upper wings, so the wing claw wrapped around Toothless' front paw, and lifted it gently into the air. 'I will stand watch, and I shall do so willingly; you must rest with your dearest loved one, and prepare for the next dawn. Now, go.' The dragon took his place, turning the smaller dragon in the direction of his residence. By now, the Night Fury felt like he would happily wed his bed...
And with that thought and Cloudjumper's loyal assurance, the black dragon walked away, after quickly thanking the Stormcutter.
He entered the Haddock Household, where he lived in near silence. He saw no one in the house. Padding up the stairs as quietly as he could, he nudged open his beloved humans door, and all at once he could see, smell and hear him.
Toothless noticed Hiccup's blanket had moved with him, so it only covered his side. Gently pulling it over, he mused at how so very quiet his humans snores were, for not the first time. After lovingly nuzzling his Hiccup's head and snorting softly, he walked over to and curled up on his stone bed, drifting into the magical realm of sleep and dreams.
Oo-o-oO
Hiccup jolted awake, suddenly risen by a sharp stab of pain in his navel area. He noted he was sweating, but paid it little attention thanks to the soft humming coming from outside. His room had changed since the attack, considering about half of it had been wrecked during the attack. Just his luck.
Since then, they had changed the household considerably, somewhat on account of the factor he was the current chief- and there were dragons now. It was much larger, so Cloudjumper could be inside too (and Stormfly, when Hiccup finally got around to asking Astrid to marry him...) with them. The large dragon generally slept downstairs, keeping guard with Valka usually sleeping beside him. His mother had moved in with him, and there was just enough room for Cloudjumper to sleep in there too.
Hiccup's own room was much larger, sporting half of it open to the outside world. The side of his was outlined with a metal barring, which held two large curtains up. He had large wooden doors, painted black, which served as protection from cold winds, rain, and all in all, hazards. On the outer side of the fabric, there was a large wooden platform, supported by wood beams, that even had a little staircase of its own to get onto. They actually now had a huge underground basement, for reasons he was still figuring out... Same with the three spare rooms.
His room was able to fit Toothless and Stormfly with comfort, and still had room for his desk and drawers, and also a double sized bed.
He wasn't quite there yet, though... He had to make a ring first, then find the courage to ask though... Hearing a growl, Hiccup snapped back into the scenario he was in, eyes quickly locking onto the source;
Toothless. The dragon had also woken up to the noise, although he looked more annoyed than anything else. Clearly the Alpha had been attempting to sleep again and again, and couldn't. Poor dragon.
"I know, it's not nice in the middle of the night, but, hey, it could be worse." Hiccup said, grinning at his successful attempt to annoy his partner even further. He winced at how cracked his voice sounded, but the Night Fury had already risen and smacked the side of his head. Laughing, the young man set everything aside as he grabbed Toothless' saddle, and his own gear.
It looked like they were going on a late night flight after all.
Oo-o-oO
Dragon and Rider flew silently towards the sound, which could have been classified as a song.
Chirps, hums, and soft hissing were some of the various sounds, clashing together in a gentle, smooth melody that was sweet & soothing to the ear.
Toothless was quietly humming along, and that was something, considering the dragon basically hated music. Then again, the vocals were usually that of deep-voiced and drunken viking men. Not exactly masterpieces.
It honestly reminded Hiccup of a mother's lullaby- despite the fact he hadn't heard one in nearly 20 years.
The young chief actually considered it for a prolonged second, but then jumped back to reality. Too loud for that.
He eased Toothless down to hover just above the 'roof-line', allowing them to get a clear look of the place. They flew slow and steady, ears and eyes searching for the sound's source. Hiccup occasionally frowned, feeling a dull pain in his upper abdomen; had he eaten to much at dinner?
That, or drank more mead than he should of... Then it was definitely no average cramp.
Sheesh. Can't a man ever have some cheer? As he shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, the pain stabbed at him, making him realise once more; You can't have nice things post mead. Next up was probably the hangover. Odin's Ghost.
They found their search subject after a while, sitting on a cliff.
It was a dragon.
With an incredibly long neck, a narrow snout, and spread wings, it was a dragon that shocked and amazed them both. His glistening scales were a metallic silver, reflecting a gorgeous reflection of yellow, purple and blue. His head arched to the bright moon above, he sang with plentiful emotion shining in his eyes, shifting his paws and wings to the melody.
Hiccup and Toothless landed nearby, feeling as if they were probing a sacred moment, so they simply listened. When the mysterious dragon finished his song, Hiccup decided to approach, and ignored, eventually forgetting, the pain within him.
The dragon's first reaction was shock, then it was quickly replaced by fear. Despite Hiccup's attempts to show he was friend and not a foe, the dragon only got more nervous and shy.
Eventually Toothless intervened, shooing his rider away with a bat of his paw. For what felt like an eternity, the adolescent man simply blinked. In the end, Hiccup obliged, albeit hesitantly. Toothless felt concern rise up in him, emotions and priorities clashing. It was the shy dragon's whimpers that brought him to his decision.
Being the Alpha, Toothless was able to order the dragon out of his hiding, but didn't. He would only ever use such force when necessary... Not like this. He instead chose to coax him into the open, so the dragon was a few feet from his rider. Toothless wasn't sure why he hadn't seen the graceful dragon before now (especially with its stand-out colours), but he simply hadn't.
When Hiccup tried to take a step forwards towards him, he panicked, immediately flaring his silvery shimmering wings open and taking flight, landing on a nearby sea-stack while whimpering, pacing and roaring softly.
Hiccup watched the whole ordeal with surprise, and despair.
His eyes widened as he watched the animal flee from him as if Hiccup was some type of serial dragon murderer covered in dragon blood and holding a humongous axe...
Had a dragon ever ran away from him like that...?
Oo-o-oO
The door creaked open, and he poked his head in. He immediately felt a sense of dread fill his aching stomach. He knew they should of gone in by the window.
They had been caught.
"So, what were you two doing at this peculiar time of night?" Valka said in a agitated, low voice, folding her arms over her chest. She glared even colder as her son's Night Fury, who slipped inside the household. She watched as they dragon sat beside his rider, head ducked and tail between his legs. "Tell me." She demanded.
Hiccup sighed, feeling debilitation threaten to take him under.
"We were investigating." He pushed away a surpassed groan, seeing her unconvinced facial expression. "We were woken up by this crazy sound, so we went to check it out. And believe me when I say I'm tired." He wanted to snap at her and put his foot down, but he knew she was only concerned that he and Toothless weren't sleeping adequately.
Valka eyed them; they did look exhausted. And she wasn't doing them any good by casting their story aside, and being overprotective... Was she?
"Just... Go back to sleep, boys." She finally said, walking over to the table and seating herself, head on her hands. "We'll discuss this early tomorrow." She looked up concisely as Cloudjumper strode in, giving the two adolescent rulers an peculiar, dismissive glare. Toothless shifted uneasily, knowing the protective Stormcutter wasn't any happier than Valka in the current point of time.
'Go ahead.' Cloudjumper growled softly. He then narrowed his eyes. 'Actually get some sleep, Toothless.'
The Chief and his Alpha both dipped their heads, before hurrying up the stairs to their room.
Cloudjumper rested one wing over his rider's back for warmth, as he had noticed the drop of temperature in the room. A moment later, the fire flickered out.
Cloudjumper grumbled in annoyance, before releasing a small jet of flame back into the fireplace, lighting it back up. "Thanks Cloudjumper... How about we sleep down here again tonight?" Cloudjumper purred low in his throat, slithering over to their usual spot. Valka smiled, standing up to join her dearest dragon, curled up by the fireplace, offering her his own warmth, and the special love they shared every day and night.
Oo-o-oO
Once inside, Hiccup closed the door behind them, and silently cursed. The atmosphere of his room was bitter and cold, already biting at his face. He lit a candle, and walked over to the huge black doors. Taking out the safety pin, he drew the doors across the open space, darkening the room considerably. He closed the curtains over the doors, forming a loop to connect them.
He made his way over to his bed, undressing. He set his armour to the side, left his shirt on- despite this, he still shivered in the thin clothing.
Sensing his discomfort, Toothless grabbed a spare throw blanket, dropping it over his bed. He warbled thoughtfully, before bounding over to a chest by the wall, taking out blanket after blanket to drop on his bed, wearing an adorable and gleeful expression on his face as he did so.
"Ok, bud... I think I'll be warm enough." Hiccup chuckled softly, beckoning Toothless over.
The dragon padded over, as Hiccup shuffled under the multiple covers, pulling them up to his waistline. He propped himself against the back-board, watching the black dragon.
He shifted again under the sheets, slumping in the wonderful heat and comfort.
"Thanks Toothless." He murmured, taking the scaly head into his arms. Thoughtful, he rested his cheek against the dragon's forehead. He replayed the events of the week, smiling faintly at the progress they had made, and the fun they had all experienced. What a week, he thought, as he gently stroked the side of Toothless' face.
Finally, the Night Fury lifted his head, meeting Hiccup's loving gaze. Toothless affectionately licked Hiccup's forehead, cooing.
The oh so deadly and terrifying Night Fury slithered across to his bed, settling down on the brand new black slab of shiny rock. Just as he was about to prepare a plasma blast to burn it, he paused, racking his brain for where the lever was.
Hiccup had invented a new slab heating mechanism, which was built underneath the slab. A lever attached to the back right corner of the wall, where his slab was built, suddenly popped out to his eyes, considering there was a red stripe on the end... Which was pretty obvious. He swiftly flicked it on with his tail, before resting his head on a red cushion. As well as the heating mechanism, Hiccup's mother had sewn him some blankets to cover the hard rock, pillows, and cushions, giving him the luxury and comfort of a king...
Well, ironically, he was a king. The king of dragons. The Alpha.
To say in the least, Toothless had been overjoyed by the gift's appearance- he had been watching Hiccup work on something, although he never expected this. His reaction honestly had reminded Hiccup of a certain five-year old Fishlegs on Snoggletog Morning.
Toothless simply curled up on the slab, having no need to light it up. A moment later, a soft hum filled the room, and the rock beneath him started to heat up to a nice, lovely temperature.
Hiccup couldn't help but grin. He had been thrilled by Toothless' overjoyed reaction to the surprise gift, from the morning, to see it in use by a very happy dragon was even better (and Gobber said he didn't believe it was possible). Hiccup settled back into his covers, resting on his side, like always. He softly said goodnight to his dragon, getting a coo in return, before he blew out the candle, enclosing them in darkness. To be honest, he had no idea why he slept like he did. He just did.
Oo-o-oO
Hiccup woke up to, yet again, a nasty pain burning hot and painful in his stomach. It felt like it was snarling and raking and burning his insides, most likely grinning sadistically in the making.
Whimpering, and setting his jaw, he opened his eyes and looked around, realising he was still enveloped in darkness. He considered going downstairs and see the time from out a window, or just opening the shutters...
But that would wake Toothless, and he didn't want that, no, not at all... And the warmth of the blankets was so nice... The darkness lulling him to sleep... Yet this pain kept him awake.
Just as the pain seemed to dissemble and leave him, it returned with terrible ferocity that sent agony through his entire body. He gasped, swallowing massive gulps of air. For what seemed like an eternity, he stayed where he was, terrified that if he moved, it would come back. But he made his mind up, deciding laying on his back might help. It didn't really work, but it was better.
Hiccup generally enjoyed and was comforted by the soft sound of the heater under Toothless' bed, which he could still hear over the dragon's quiet, gentle snores. It almost reminded him of his father's thunderous snores... He chuckled lightly at the memories.
But right now, nothing at all could soothe him... So he waited for the darkness to take him, drag him into the depths of sleep...
Which it eventually did, but he never slept in peace that night, or in comfort...
… Courtesy of chasing baby dragons around all morning.
Oo-o-oO
-Reflections of the Heart-
-Part One-
Oo-o-oO
A/N:
So, this may not be much, but I think I like it. Not too thrilled with the 3rd Section, but it'll do. I've absolutely been dying to get this out here, so yeah.
Gods, I feel terrible. Seeing everyone else remembering a simple disclaimer...
..I feel like an idiot...
…...
A really, really, REALLY dumb idiot.
DISCLAIMER:
I do not own How to train your Dragon, sadly, or its amazing, beautiful characters, and they all belong to their respective owners at the amazing Dreamworks.