"It'll be fun to sit on the beach, bud," Hiccup says cheerfully to the despondent little Night Fury on his shoulders.

He wants this transformation to be over sooner rather than later. He's okay with not flying for a while - the important thing is for Toothless to be well - but his friend has an adult consciousness in that Tiny-Wing body, and not flying is starting to grate on his dragon soul. Hiccup's caught him staring into the clouds, such sorrow in his big green eyes that Hiccup would cut out his own heart just not to have to see it.

"A downed dragon is a dead dragon." After the dragons came to Berk, Hiccup found that that wasn't strictly true: some dragons, especially the elderly ones, scarcely flew at all, maybe once a week at most. He asked Toothless about it: his dragon, as best he could, helped Hiccup understand that it wasn't the physical act of flying so much as the knowledge that one was not deprived of the skies. The choice.

And his Toothless doesn't have a choice, tied to the ground by wings that won't carry him even if he did have two working tailfins.

Hiccup loves those tiny wings. He loves the single tiny tailfin - Hel, he loves every part of his little best friend, and his big one too for that matter. But what Hiccup likes or doesn't like isn't the issue. The issue is that Toothless is starting to be sad, brokenhearted. And Hiccup would die gladly a thousand times over than see that defeated look on his best bud.

The silence from Hiccup's shoulders tells him Toothless is mourning his flight again. "Hey," he says, swinging Toothless down to his chest, letting his fur vest wrap around him like wings. "It's gonna be over soon," Hiccup murmurs, nuzzling his face, holding him close to his heart. "Hang in there, bud. I'm here. Hang in there, okay?"

Toothless' head droops sideways onto Hiccup's chest. "How about we go fishing? Huh? You like that? We can get a nice fish, and..." Hiccup trails off. Tiny-Wings don't miss flight because they've never had it. It takes them a while to learn, and in those flightless months, they're kept busy meeting their sire and dam, learning about the big new world outside the egg, scarfing down fish, playing with their clutchmates...

Well, that's one thing Hiccup can do. "You know," he says, letting his grin become toothy and predatory, "this is probably the first time a Viking captured a baby Night Fury."

Toothless' beautiful green eyes look up at him listlessly. Undeterred, Hiccup grins wickedly. "You're mine now!" he crows. "I have captured this little helpless," that usually gets Toothless riled up, "fledgling..."

But it's not working. Upping the ante, Hiccup grabs Toothless under the dragon's armpits and holds him out at at arm's length. "I FOUND HIM!" he yells, stomping up and down the beach. "I found him and I will train him and uh, make him my uh ...my hostage and..."

Toothless blinks. Then he shrieks as he's yanked out of Hiccup's arms.

Hiccup looks up and around wildly. Behind him is a mastodon of an Outcast, towering above him - not so hard, really - who took Toothless from him by the simple expedient of bending forward and plucking the baby dragon out of his hold. "The gods must be looking out for me!" the Outcast rumbles, grinning widely as Hiccup stares on in horror. "Alvin is going to love this! Why bother training wild dragons when you can have your very own baby dragon to raise up so's it's loyal to you!"

Of all his monologue, Hiccup hears only two words: "Alvin" and "it." With a roar, he launches himself at the Outcast. "HIS NAME IS TOOTHLESS!"

In retrospect, it wasn't the best line.

Not the best move either, since he immediately gets batted out of the air like a fly and crashes into the rocky beach hard enough to half-stun himself unconscious.

Dazedly, he hears shrieking above him. He forces himself to blink and try to focus through the screeching and roaring.

When his eyes manage to focus, he sees the Outcast double. No, wait - there are two Outcasts. One of them is clutching his bleeding arm and cursing a blue streak, mainly focused on Night Furies, baby dragons, the entire draconic species, and anyone who wanted to catch them too for good measure.

The other is holding baby Toothless by the throat, pinning his wings behind his back.

The sight makes Hiccup sick. It has him crawling up as best he can, grabbing the Outcast by whatever clothing he can reach. "Don't hurt him! Don't, don't-" he manages before he's kicked aside.

"We have the dragon!" one of the mastodons yells, triumphant. Hiccup blinks hard, forcing the dizziness away. He calls out, "I'm the Dragon Trainer! Take me with him! I can train him for you! What do you know about tak-" Nausea bursts up in his gut and he has to pause. "taking care of a baby dra..." He falls to his knees and elbows, retching.

Toothless shrieks, high-pitched and unmistakably Shut up, egg-for-brains. But the sight of Toothless' wings pinned like this is more than Hiccup can take. "I'll train him, I'll train your dragons, I'll do anything," he babbles.

"What do you think, Theobald? Should we take him?"

"What kind of idiot are you? He's the Dragon Trainer! Of course we should take him!"

"Then can I make him take care of this blasted creature? It's more trouble than it's worth!"

"I suppose so…" And he lets go of baby Toothless, dropping him into Hiccup's arms.

The moment Hiccup has his best friend in his own hold again, he tucks him into his vest, ignoring the outraged squawk, and starts to run, pounding along the beach so hard his metal leg is sending sand spraying for yards and yards in either direction. He may be dizzy, but he doesn't need balance for forward motion, just needs to outrun these idiots. "You okay? Huh? You okay?" he whispers desperately as he runs. "I gotcha, Toothless, I'm here, I won't let anyone..."

"THERE 'E IS! Ran right into our arms!"

...he skids to a halt. "Except for that bunch of Outcasts over there."

It's only a boatful, six or seven men, but it's plenty to overpower one Haddock fishbone and a tiny flightless Night Fury. They don't waste time separating them: they throw them in a cage. Hiccup curls up in the corner as they load the cage up into the rowboat, preparing to set out to sea again. "Are you okay?" he whispers, frantically pressing his fingers against Toothless' wing-joints to reassure himself that nothing is hurt. "Did they hurt you? Did they do anything-Hey!" he yells as the tiny tail-fin smacks him across the face. "C'mon! Quit that!"

Toothless scowls at him and roars squeakily, gesturing with his wings about Hiccup being an idiot. You put yourself in danger you should have left me and come back later, he says.

"Good to see you too, bud." Hiccup laughs and nuzzles him, giggling even when the tail hits him again. Being with Toothless is so reassuring, so wonderful, even in this miserable circumstance, that it feels like flying. Hiccup can almost feel the cage beneath him taking flight.

…Wait - it is taking flight.

"Steady there, Meatlug! Hold... Hold... And fire!"

The boat beneath them is blasted to splinters as their cage is winched into the air by an enthusiastic Zippelback. Fishlegs is in the vanguard like in last week's exercise, and Stormfly and Hookfang are taking the flanks. "Outcast ship two miles out!" Astrid yells. She and Snotlout peel off, presumably to take care of it, while the other Riders carry the cage back home.

They land in the arena, where a concerned Stoick is already waiting. "Hiccup! Thank Thor you're safe." Barf and Belch set the cage down on the flagstones, and Stoick grabs it and wrenches it open, sending the bolt flying somewhere across the arena. Hiccup staggers out, keeping Toothless still wrapped in his fur vest. "The early dragon patrol said there was an Outcast ship by the beach, but you'd already left. The Dragon Riders went to warn you..."

"It's a good thing they did," Hiccup cuts in. "They did great," he smiles warmly at Fishlegs and the twins.

"Yeah, well I still say it would have been more fun to drop that cage in the water and take turns diving for it," Ruffnut mutters. "Fishlegs is such a killjoy."

Hiccup rolls his eyes. "And thank you for your input."

Astrid and Snotlout come in for a landing. "We blasted them to kindling!" Snotlout crows.

"Report," Stoick commands. "Was it just the one ship?"

"Yes, as far as we could see," Astrid nods. "We circled high but there was only the one."

"Someone's gonna have a long swim back to Outcast Island," Snotlout grins.

There's a squirmy, grumbly disturbance in Hiccup's vest. "Oh no!" Hiccup quickly opens his vest. "Was I holding you too tight, Toothless?"

Toothless jumps out of the vest onto Hiccup's arm, like a parrot. Then he screeches, also like a parrot. Then he smacks Hiccup in the face with his tailfin. "Ow!"

The other Riders, and his dad, guffawing, are not improving his mood. "Is it always going to be like this? Because it's getting old in a hurry!"

Toothless smacks him again. Then he shrieks. Hopping off Hiccup's arm, he stalks away to take some distance from Hiccup. Since each of his steps covers approximately two inches, it takes a while.

When Toothless has the floor, he starts an elaborate mime. Someone grabbing someone. Someone jumping, someone falling to the floor unconscious. Someone throwing themselves... off something. Or into something.

Hiccup rubs the back of his neck. "What else was I supposed to do?" he mutters.

Toothless shrieks the loudest yet, and uses his claws to clamber up Hiccup's body. Hiccup lets him. But then he regrets it when Toothless perches on his shoulder and starts to yell and chatter in his ear, punctuating his baby dragon lecture by batting Hiccup's head repeatedly with his wings and tail.

"Whoa," Snotlout remarks. "Who pissed in his yak milk?"

"He's mad about something, for sure," Fishlegs volunteers.

"Yeah, no kidding, Fishface! Tell us something we don't already know!"

Tuffnut steps forward. "My dear ladies and gentleVikings, it is obvious. Clearly, Hiccup here has performed some suicidal stunt, and Toothless is merely expressing his panic over said suicidal stunt. QED."

Into the silence that follows, Ruffnut whispers to her twin, "What's QED?"

"Queen of Easy Death," Tuffnut whispers back.

"Ah."

"So," Astrid fixes Hiccup with a narrow-eyed stare, "you put yourself in unnecessary danger again?"

It's Toothless who answers her. Even Stoick can almost make out the "YES!" in the dragon-shriek.

"Is there ever really such a thing as necessary danger?" Snotlout bursts out, sounding irritated.

Astrid folds her arms. "What happened, Hiccup?"

Toothless sits on his butt on Hiccup's shoulder and puts tiny dragon hands on his hips. Yeah, Hiccup, he's clearly saying. Tell them what happened.

"Nothing happened!" Hiccup snaps. "I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this!"

"Out of what?" Oh, great. Now Stoick has gotten in on the act. Hiccup does not appreciate the dose of Night Fury smug he's getting from the direction of his shoulder.

"Someone snatched Toothless. I tried to get him back." There. Now that doesn't sound unreasonable. At least, not until Toothless hops off Hiccup's shoulders and gestures to Stoick with both wings, up and down. A guy as big as the Chief. He raises one eyebrow, narrowing his other eye. Then he gestures at Hiccup.

"You took on an Outcast by yourself?" Stoick says.

At least, Hiccup thinks hopefully, he sounds thoughtful, not outright hysterical like a certain Night Fury who shall not be named. "Well, it sounds bad when you say take on take on. It was more like a..." Hiccup has never been good at sustaining a monologue, and he grimaces as he feels his words dry up.

Toothless squeaks for attention, then holds up two claws.

Stoick's eyes widen. "You took on two Outcasts by yourself?" The chief's voice starts to rise in pitch. "Unarmed?"

Hiccup shrugs, shuffling his feet. "They had Toothless."

Astrid's eyes narrow further. "Is there anything else you're not telling us?"

Hiccup looks from Astrid to Stoick. "No... Yeah... Uh, well..."

"Son?"

"I... might... have... toldthemI'dcomewiththem uh... to takecareofToothless." At the dropped jaws all around the arena, Hiccup clenches his fists. "I had to!"

And with that, Toothless lets out the mother of all shrieks and half-leaps, half-flies into Hiccup's chest. Snotlout helpfully trips Hiccup as he takes a backward step, and he lands on his back in the center of the arena, Toothless on top of him. "YOU DON'T GET KILLED PROTECTING ME!" is pretty easy to understand as he screams and flaps his little wings and roars in Hiccup's face. "YOU DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER!"

Stoick looks down at the spectacle, along with the slightly stunned Riders. "Hiccup," he finally says when the dragon shrieking has subsided a bit. "Did you offer yourself to the Outcasts for Toothless?"

"Not for him." Hiccup feels terribly vulnerable lying on his back like that, so he sits up. "Uh, with him."

Stoick's mien turns even more serious. "You would have given them yourself? Along with your dragon?"

Toothless shrieks again and bats Hiccup with his tail.

"Toothless..." Stoick says. "Please be quiet. Unless," he adds, "you can say with all honesty that you wouldn't have done the same in Hiccup's place."

Big hatchling eyes stare at Stoick. Then Toothless stalks into Hiccup's lap and curls up to sulk.

Hiccup's hands pet him ceaselessly throughout Stoick's next monologue. "Hiccup," Stoick says. "I know you'd give your life for that dragon of yours. It's a safe bet he'd do the same for you. I'm sure," he looks up at the Riders, "a lot of you would say the same."

The riders meet their chief's eyes silently, with one exception. "Oh yeah, Hookfang would totally give his life for me. He can't live without me."

After Snotlout gets his feet swept out from under him by a Nightmare tail, and things have calmed down, Stoick resumes. "On Berk," he says, addressing all the teens, "We could be called to war at any moment. We are Vikings, and our neighbors are not above breaking peace treaties."

The circle of faces around Stoick listens, wide-eyed. "Vikings are known more for killing outright than for hostage-taking. But it has been known to happen. The more open you are about your love for your dragons, the more you put them in danger."

Fishlegs nods. Snotlout squares his jaw defiantly. Astrid's eyes flicker to Stormfly. The twins just barely catch each other's eye, and pretend not to have done so.

Hiccup clutches Toothless to his chest. "They already know," he says, sounding stricken.

Stoick sighs deeply. "Yes, they do. But in your case, the damage is not so severe, because you would have been a target anyway." He doesn't need to explain why. "And because Toothless is a Night Fury, he's always going to be a target as well."

Hiccup slumps. Toothless presses up against his chest, purring. "I'm sorry, bud," he whispers. Toothless starts to climb him, Hiccup petting him ceaselessly. "I'm sorry about flying, about everything."

Never mind flying. The tiny dragon flaps a dismissive wing, then licks Hiccup's face and puts his paws round his neck. The important thing is that you're safe. That's the only thing that matters.

"Ah, bud…" Hiccup smiles. He closes his eyes and presses his cheek to Toothless' snout. Toothless purrs and snuggles in. They nuzzle each other as if no-one else is there.

Snotlout breaks the moment. "You do realize you're doing exactly what the Chief told you not to do, right?"

"If the price of winning a war is stifling our affection..." Stoick says slowly, seizing the teaching moment, "that price might be too high. So I'm not asking it. What kind of community would we be if we kept ourselves from showing our love for friends and family? All I ask," he concludes, "is a little discretion."

"Okay, Dad," Hiccup says, amid a chorus of agreement from the Dragon Riders. "Discretion. Got it."

Stoick's mouth quirks as he looks at his son. He doesn't add, as his former self might have, that he's only asking it of the other teens: he knows getting Hiccup to take his heart off his sleeve is just too much to ask. Especially when it has anything to do with Toothless. And judging by the way the tiny Night Fury is trying to weld himself to Hiccup, squeezing into the nook between neck and shoulder and nuzzling his face with fierce adoration, trying to instill this principle into his dragon is just as much of a lost cause.