Ch. 2
Well. It seemed at that point Hiccup wasn't going to wake up from his dream. Nope. Instead his inner consciousness would rather absolutely terrify him by making the offspring of lightning and death start chewing on his false leg.
Between uncertain yells of "Heeeelp" and "Ahh!" Hiccup tried to free himself from the wet and slobbery clutch of the Night Fury, to no avail.
Pushing against the Fury's head to try and release his prosthetic and grunting with the effort, Hiccup noticed something strange…
"Huh… tooth-less? I would've thought you'd have teeth…" It was at this point the both of them heard a small click, and the gummy chewing suddenly stopped.
Toothless looked down happily letting his tongue loll out of his mouth. He was able to switch Hiccups walking foot to his riding one all by himself. Now they could both go for a nice flight together and feel better.
Instead of the gentle laughter Toothless expected to sound from Hiccups mouth, there was instead silence for a moment as the Viking peered at the disgusting goop of saliva dripping down his false foot. Then Hiccup noticed the sudden difference in shape.
"Ahhhh, did you break it!?" Hiccup squeaked as high as his new, slightly manlier, voice would go. Now he definitely couldn't run away.
Hiccup sifted through the sticky-fishy-spit trying to assess the damage, only to find that the foot wasn't broken at all. He realized that the overall leg looked similar to a blueprint he recently made for Gobber. The blacksmith had refused the idea of a new leg, claiming he preferred his good ol' wooden peg. The plans, Hiccup recalled, had a metal foot for durability while a spring had been added to help make the step more natural.
This model, however, seemed like it had two other feet tucked away behind a rotating cuff. One foot for walking and the other with a jagged pick like surface, possibly to prevent slipping on ice.
'I never would have thought of that. Wow.' Thought the Viking silently.
He brought his attention to the current foot. The straight piece of metal that protruded now was much too round on the bottom for walking and had a hole poked in the center, closed off by a small locking mechanism.
"What's this supposed to be used for?"
At this point Toothless' patience was wearing thin. He waggled his behind expectantly as Hiccup finally looked up at the excited Night Fury.
Hiccup saw the strange friendly dragon's behavior. Not at all sure what to make of his current situation, he simply made an awkward half smile and chuckled nervously at the terrifying creature.
Toothless didn't like this game and was starting to get frustrated with his rider. He just wanted to go flying, not sit around here watching his Hiccup play dumb. He grumbled in annoyance and made a face that looked almost like pouting. Taking matters into his own jaws, Toothless approached the Viking man and using his hard gums grabbed Hiccup by the back of his collar, flipping him into the air a few feet before catching him in the saddle with a thud.
This of course did not go without complaint by the skinny Viking, who kicked and screamed right until he plopped down onto the dragon's back.
Hiccup sat upright, still dazed from the sudden manhandling, and realized exactly where he was. Sitting atop a dragon was not on the top of his 'Places That Are Safe' list.
Despite his panic Hiccup noticed something strange.
"Is this a saddle?" He stated, more to himself than to the Night Fury. Its shape might have been a bit strange for a saddle but Hiccup found himself knowing exactly what he was perched on immediately. 'Someone rides this thing?' He thought. Maybe that's why the beast hadn't killed him. This dragon must have been tamed by someone. 'How exactly do you go about taming a dragon? I supposed if you just yell at it a lot….'
Through his thoughts Hiccup noticed the Night Fury was looking expectantly up at him over its shoulder. Becoming even more nervous, he just looked back at the large lizard with a tense smile.
There was definitely something wrong here, but Toothless hoped Hiccup was maybe just playing around after all.
Toothless hopped up and down gently to tell the rider he was ready to go.
"Woah!" Hiccup squawked at the sudden movement and tightly clutched the handles placed at the top of the saddle. "Um, Mr. Dragon. Sir… can I get off now…?" he asked apprehensively, afraid that he might somehow offend the beast.
Hiccup seemed to genuinely not understand what was going on.
Toothless peered worriedly over his shoulder at the terrified and stiff man sitting in the saddle. He decided maybe it would be better to take Hiccup back home to Berk where the other Vikings could figure out what was wrong with his friend.
Either way that required flying. But with the state that Hiccup was in, could they even get off of the ground?
First was to get the riders metal leg locked in place so he could control Toothless' leather fin.
Toothless glanced at the Viking mounted on his back, then began to contemplate the metal contraption attached to the rider's saddle that allowed the tailfin to be moved.
Noticing the Night Furies changed attention, Hiccup too began to consider the metal pole. His gaze ran along the pulleys attached to the animal's flank that eventually connected to what looked like a leather fin at the tip of the beast's tail.
"Huh?" he glanced down at the mechanism in puzzlement. Suddenly the Viking man had a realization. He whipped his head around to look at his peg leg next to the metal piece protruding from the saddle.
His curiosity took the better of him. Inhaling deeply, Hiccup gently pressed the edge of the locking mechanism on his foot against the metal bar. The pressure lifted the clasp until the bar fit perfectly through the hole in his prosthetic. With a click he was locked in.
The weight of what this all meant hit Hiccup square in the chest causing him to start panicking again.
He was the dragon's tamer.
At least, the person whose body he was in was the dragon's tamer….
"This is all so messed up! I ride a DRAGON!? Wah-how?" The questions burst out of Hiccups mouth unable to contain his disbelief. "Does dad know about this? I sure hope he doesn't, that would mean I'm…What's going on?"
Cupping his head in his hands, Hiccup began to focus on his erratic breathing and the nauseous feeling building up in his stomach. He wanted to wake up and be comfortable in his bed at home very badly with everything back to normal, but it was evident he wasn't waking up anytime soon. The throbbing pain at the back of his head which he had forgotten, what with all his crazy discoveries, became noticeable once more.
Lifting his face out of his hands, Hiccup ran his fingers through his hair to find the bump again. Even the faint touch caused an explosion of pain. "Ow!" Scrunching his eyebrows together Hiccup examined his hand, there didn't seem to be any blood, but it still hurt like Hel.
Toothless warbled at the sudden exclamation of pain by his friend. His head must have still hurt from their fall.
Even more determined to get Hiccup medical help, Toothless cooed to get his bud's attention.
Hiccup glanced down into the dragon's eyes, they were a similar color to his own and filled with concern.
The beast began to move slowly, turning around so that Hiccup had a view of the leather fin attached to its tail, lifting it to make it even easier to see. Toothless flicked his working tailfin open. Then looked up at Hiccup, indicating him to copy.
It took a moment to process, it was a sudden realization. The metal pole, that Hiccup's prosthetic was now attached to, controlled the pulleys, which controlled the tailfin. This was a symbiotic relationship, not a master and servant one.
"Oh." Hiccup breathed. Deciding it was better to do as the dragon wanted, the Viking began fiddling with the mechanism, pulling his metal foot forwards and back. It took a bit more finesse than expected and he ended up either not pushing the lever far enough, or pushed it too far, with the tailfin clanking into the designated positions. After a few painfully long seconds of failed attempts, Hiccup breathed in deeply and decided he was over-thinking it.
With the next try he simply did, rather than tried, and was surprised to find how easily the fin clicked into the correct position from just feeling it out. Hiccup's muscles seemed to know exactly what to do where his brain didn't.
Even without looking Toothless would have been able to tell the fin was finally in the correct position for steady flight. Wanting desperately to get his friend fixed as soon as they could, the dragon wiggled his body spreading his feet apart and-
"AaaAAAAAAAaaAAHHH!"
He shot up into the air with the screaming Viking holding on desperately to the handles of his saddle.