So, Chapter 2 is up. Hope you guys noticed the slight change in the first chapter. You'll see Tumble's actual nature in this chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Dreamworks owns Dragons and How to Train Your Dragon. I own only my OC's.
Chapter 2:
Tumble's eyes slowly blinked open but quickly clamped shut as the sun's light seared his vision. He was in absolute pain as he sat himself up and stretched carefully despite the pain. Every single joint he had popped loudly and clearly, and places where he didn't think had joints gave a soft yawn and finally, and his eyes finally became used to the sun again.
He remembered what happened before he passed out and quickly looked around him. He wasn't at sea anymore, and he was nowhere near the Perimeter. Instead, he found himself in a bed in someone's house. He shifted his weight and almost screamed in pain the moment he moved.
"I wouldn't move around so much, if I were you," a voice called from below.
Tumble looked to his side and found a large and greatly bearded man climbing up a flight of steps with a smaller familiar-looking brunette behind him.
"How did the night treat you," the man asked. "Hiccup mentioned you had a restless night."
Tumble looked over to the boy, who waved amiably at him. Tumble felt uncomfortable at the gesture for some reason.
"I've had better nights, honestly," Tumble admitted. "But what happened?"
"You landed in the village square," the man replied. "Took a nasty fall and suffered some injuries. Some of the villagers tried to help, but your dragon kept scaring them away!"
Tumble's mind went blank for a moment. "My... dragon?"
"Yeah," Hiccup chimed in. "Your dragon's not like anything we've seen. I'd like to add in our Book of Dragons later, if you don't mind."
"Slow down a second," Tumble urged. "I'm lost, here. Where am I? And... who are you?"
"Why, you're in Berk!" Stoick informed. "I'm Stoick the Vast, chief of this small island. And this," he said, swinging a hand behind Hiccup, "is my son, Hiccup."
"Nice to meet you," Hiccup introduced. He held out his hand, but recoiled slightly when Tumble only looked at it with shy uncertainty. Hiccup found himself at a sudden loss for words, and the air between them became awkward.
"I'm Tumble," the boy shyly introduced.
Stoick smiled and patted the boy's shoulders.
"Well, you rest up here in our home, Tumble. I have to go make my morning rounds, but Hiccup will keep you company."
Stoick stepped downstairs and the door creaked and slammed shut. The boys were left alone in an awkward silence.
Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but found himself clamping it shut before he could speak. Hiccup shift his weight from one foot to the other before deciding to take a seat at his desk.
Tumble looked over and noticed all the drawings behind the desk. There were so many of them. The vast majority were of what Tumble assumed to be a night fury, a dragon known only in reputation but never thought to have been seen. The pictures of the dragon were often drawn with some sketches of some mechanics that Tumble couldn't understand.
"What are they?" Tumble asked curiously. He quickly bit his tongue, fearing he said something out of place.
Hiccup eyed him cautiously and chuckled. "Dude, relax. I don't bite." He took down one of the sheets pinned to the wall and handed it to Tumble, who had to lean to reach it.
"Sorry," he said as he scooted the chair closer. "Gobber said not to do anything strenuous like reaching."
"Who?" asked Tumble, but barely heard Tumble as he looked over the parchment.
"He's the local blacksmith, but he's mainly the village's dragon vet."
Tumble could have sworn he was hearing things and shot his focus back to Hiccup.
"Dragon vet?" he asked. "Really?"
Hiccup shrugged. "What can I say? Dragons became a necessity of the island. They're our family and friends now."
"So you mean to say that you live with dragons... and you don't force them to do your bidding?" Tumble eyed Hiccup keenly, trying to understand what the island was about.
"Er, 'against their will' is pretty harsh. We have to coax them to do it."
"With swords and whips?"
"What, no!" Hiccup insisted. "We feed them and we show them what they could do. Then they just do it on their own. No swords or whips or axes involved at all!"
Tumble let out a sigh. It wasn't one of relief or one of frustration, but a sigh of long-held dread that he was forced to cope with.
"What, dragons are still being hunted where you're from?" Hiccup asked. "I mean, it's still common practice and the idea that dragons can be trained is really hard to swallow-"
"It's not that," Tumble intercepted. "I've been training dragons since I was small. Growing up in a village where dragons are only seen as heartless weapons is pretty hard. It was my father who sanctioned the idea that dragons could be trained. But my village mistunderstood and thought they found the greatest weapon imaginable."
"So dragons were a means of slave labor," Hiccup morbidly concluded. "That's terrible."
Tumble inhaled deeply. The two sat in another silence, before Hiccup decided to break it before things got too awkward.
"So," Hiccup said . "The dragon that brought you here; was that your dragon?"
Tumble frowned. "No. He's my father's. I'm alive thanks to him. But, where is he?"
"He flew off towards the forest once we got here."
"Then, he's just getting away from the commotion. He isn't used to being approached without suspicion."
"Can you see if you can find him? I'd really appreciate that."
Hiccup smiled. "Sure." And left the house.
Aster's light blue eyes locked with the striking yellow eyes of the night fury before him. It was an intense territorial gaze that could become physical with one move.
Aster thought a cove hidden in the forest would be a good hiding spot from the village until Tumble came calling for him. He expected the cove to be tranquil and relaxing. What he didn't expect was for a young night fury to be perched atop a large rock. The night fury seemed to have been roused from his nap and put up his guard once he smelled the presence of another dragon.
Toothless crouched, ready to pounce if the white dragon took another step closer. Aster looked just as menacing and was unwilling to leave. Aster stalked off to the other side of the cove away from the cove's firstcomer. Their scrutinizing gaze never broke as the night fury leaped from from his perch and slowly stalked towards Aster.
Aster paused. And so did Toothless.
Their gaze momentarily broke when Aster cocked his head towards the sky. He left the ground with a boom and within seconds he was high above Berk. Toothless watched until the foreign dragon disappeared behind the tops of the surrounding trees.
He grunted and returned to his perch. Toothless was about to close his eyes when he caught a glistened flash in the corner of his eyes. Aster returned, but this time with a fish in his front claw. Aster walked towards Toothless. He was far enough not to be considered any more of a threat than he already was, but was close enough to show what he had.
Aster put the fish down and backed away. Toothless eyed it suspiciously, leaped down from his perch, and sniffed it. It was safe, and he swallowed it. He turned to Aster who began looking around for a suitable perch for himself. Toothless returned to his own perch, but by the time he reached it, Aster had already flown to it. The night fury gave a territorial roar, only to be answered with what he thought was a condescending smirk.
Toothless snarled, but went off to a cleared area to scorch the ground. He circled it to find a comfortable position and settled atop the heated soil.
The sun settled low when Toothless awoke. He looked at the rock and found it vacant. Aster must have left, he thought, but a shimmering light by the pond flickered in his peripheral. Aster was bent low to take a sip, unaware that Toothless was awake. Toothless felt playful and devised a nasty trick. Silently, he breathed in then burst out a small plasma blast that exploded harmlessly just above Aster's head. The night fury expected the unkown dragon to screech in surprise, but was interested when Aster took on a battle stance instead.
Toothless stood and was ready to pounce. His teeth bared when he gave a low and rumbling growl.
Aster gave something like a scratchy growl and stood on two feet. The dragon was bipedal, able to stand stable on his hindlegs, and his arms were raised with ready talons. The dragon's body was longer than Toothless by a full head, but his spread wings made him seem much larger than that.
Toothless didn't back down. He hopped over to the side and blasted another fire, this time at Aster. The foreign dragon folded his wings and dodged the fireball. His motion on the ground was fluid. Even though he was running on four legs, he moved like a nimble snake.
Aster rapidly approached Toothless and before he could even blink, the night fury was swept aside by Aster's tail. Toothless stuck his landing and fired two more shots at the dragon. Aster dodged both easily, but failed to see Toothless bounding at him. The white dragon was tackled down, the two quickly became a tangled mess of black and white as the two wrestled. The fight ended when the scuffle had them falling into the pond.
"What's going on here?!" Hiccup yelled from the cove's entrance. Hiccup arrived not even a minute ago after seeing the flashes of the plasma blasts, and saw the dragons brawling on the ground. When the dragons dragged themselves out of the water, Hiccup approached them. "What the heck is going on here?"
Both dragons looked away from each other and pointed to the other dragon.
Hiccup sighed.
"Toothless was playin' a prank on that other, badass dragon," a familiar voice called from above. Hiccup looked up and found the lanky form of his friend, Tuffnut, stand at the ledge with his twin sister, Ruffnut, and their two-headed hideous zippleback Barf and Belch.
"Then," Ruffnut added, "that other, badass dragon went all defensive and they started fighting." She fisted the air to animate her description.
"Oh," said Hiccup. "So that's what happened. You're having a little less fish tonight, bud."
Toothless whined and snarled at Aster. Hiccup reprimanded him for that.
"Stop that, Toothless. And you," he said to Aster. "I'll be letting Tumble know what happened."
The dragon turned his head away highly, as if trying not to care, and flew off to another location. Toothless flew up to the twin's location.
"Astrid's looking for you, by the way," Tuffnut added as he mounted Belch.
"What does she want?" Hiccup asked.
"Dunno," Ruffnut said devilishly. "But she looked mad enough to be hurling her ax at almost every tree nearby. She and Tuffnut laughed when Hiccup paled and gulped dryly.
"Dude, relax! I'm joking. She wants to ask about that new kid."
Hiccup sighd and silently thanked Thor for sparing his life.
"Actually," Tuffnut asked. "Who is that kid, really?"
"And was that his dragon?"
"Yeah," responded Hiccup to Ruffnut. "The kid's name is Tumble, son of a big time dragon trainer on his island."
"No way," the twins gaped in awe.
"Yeah, and he's been training dragons much longer than us."
"That is so cool!" Ruffnut said excitedly. "Where is he?"
"Resting. He took a bad beating when he crashed into the square."
The twins said their goodbyes and quickly flew off, and Hiccup departed in the same direction.
Hiccup found Astrid at her house tending to Stormfly. She just finished brushing the deadly nadder's brilliant scales and went pick up a bucket when she caught a glimpse of Hiccup off to the side.
"Hey," she greeted. "So, I take it Tuffnut actually relayed the message?"
"Yep," Hiccup said. "You had some questions you wanted to ask?"
Astrid soaked a rag in the bucket and began scrubbing her dragon. Stormfly's cooed contentedly as she thoroughly enjoyed the moisture of the rag.
"Well, my first question: Where did he come from? Why is he here? And, lastly, who is he?"
Hiccup felt the intense suspicion Astrid held. This wasn't the first time, and he still regretted not listening to his friend in favor of trusting a stranger who came out of nowhere. Much like Tumble had.
"I don't know where he's from or why he's here," Hiccup answered honestly. "His name's Tumble, and he's a dragon trainer."
Astrid paused scrubbing Stormfly, much to the dragon's confusion.
"He's a dragon trainer?" Her brows furrowed. "Do you trust him?"
"Eh, not so much," Hiccup admitted. "His dragon did just fight with Toothless a while ago, but that's mainly because of this guy," he said poking Toothless on the forehead. Toothless brushed off the gesture and snorted casually. "Yeah, yeah, Mr. Nonchalant."
Astrid giggled, but hardened. "Just... don't let it be like last time, okay? The Outcasts nearly had the Book of Dragons then. We don't need that to happen again."
Hiccup sighed. "I know. We can't let Mildew's surrender be in vain."
Astrid's face hardened a little more. "What..." but she trailed off.
"What,'what'?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid turned. "I don't know. What if Mildew didn't surrender? What if he planned to stay behind? Did you show him anything? Did you tell him anything?"
She trailed from one question to the other, and Hiccup felt guiltier when he realized he could answer most of them and still see the thread of tricks that was being wound together. Before he could answer, Astrid sighed.
"Nevermind. We can't do anything about it. Yet. Going back there now would be suicide."
Hiccup agreed. "So, what about Tumble? Do we just ignore him and let him do as he pleases or do we keep an eye on him 24/7 and hope he doesn't try anything?"
"You know, I think we should keep an eye out for him. Let him roam the town. Let him do whatever he wants. But we'll be watching him every step of the way until he can prove to us he can be trusted."
"Agreed," Hiccup nodded. "I should let you get back to bathing Stormfly. She looks impatient."
Astrid gasped and began apologizing to her while scrubbing her back. Hiccup laughed and returned home.
Tumble laid bedridden in Hiccup's bed. The sun was falling, and he had been looking over his journal since Hiccup had left. It was his fathers journal the had been handed down to Tumble the day before the invasion was announced. It was to commemorate his coming of age as a professional dragon trainer and to mark his maturity from boyhood to manhood.
Tumble flipped through the first portion of the book, which was his father's. It contained much of his father's past and how he came across numerous dragons. Among the first were his personal battle dragons: Aesir, the monstrous nightmare, whose voice is the fire that coats his body like fur on a beast. Vanir, the deadly nadder whose beauty matched her vicious prowess as a sharpshooting archer. And finally, the scauldron Aegis, who was said to have roused tidal waves and whirlpools with a flick of his tail. But of all the dragons Odrich the Ominous confronted, none was more mysterious than the dragon, Aster, who fell from the heavens in Odin's light. His father wrote how this dragon appeared the very same day Odrich Hiccup McFadden II was born. This was Tumble's true name, whose name was given because he learned to walk late, and would always fall trying.
The rest detailed Tumble's childhood and bloody wars he fought over the course of time until he passed it on to his son. Tumble's favorite had to be when he was small. He was playing in the Grove of Dragons with his father, basking in the sunlight with a pack of terrors, when he saw a beautiful dragon sleeping in the middle of a flowerbed, he ran up to his father asking, 'what is that?' His father, thinking he was point at the flowers - thanks to Tumble's lack of coordinaiton - replied, 'Morning Glory.' Tumble ran up to the dragon and said, 'Hi, Morning Glory!' His father laughed and found the misunderstanding endearing, but thought it was a fitting name. Aster was indeed a glorious sight to behold during the early hours of the day when dawn had just broken through the night. He was a star that shone brighter than any other dragon.
Tumble flipped through more pages and found his own section, filled with not journal entries, but drawings and short notes of dragons. The evening he recieved his father's journal, he took his own journal and copied everything he noted since he was small into it. There were page after page filled drawings of dragons he had close encounters with and how they behaved. Nadders, gronkles, zipplebacks, and terrors. But there were less common dragons he encountered, such as skrills and boneknappers.
Tumble took out a charcoal pen from a pocket inside of his fleece vest and began doodling on the very last page. He felt his sweat run cold and his vision blurred slightly, but he finished the sketch of a silhouetted beast that towered over his ship. Three eyes shone through the darker clouds, and the water he drew rippled violently.
He heard the door open and shut the book. He pulled the covers over himself and feigned sleep.
"Huh. He fell asleep," he heard Hiccup say to himself. "I'll just have to ask him later, then."
He heard footsteps go down and shifted his weight to the other side. The moment he pulled the covers down was the moment he wished he hadn't. Hiccup staged his exit.
"So," Hiccup said. "How come you don't wanna talk?"
Tumble stayed silent and ignore the pain as he sat up.
Hiccup rolled his eyes and was about to actually go downstairs, but his eye caught a glimpse of something: an odd outline under sheets. Hiccup quirked an eyebrow and too a seat- not at his desk like before, but on the bed on an open space near Tumble.
Tumble scooched away and tried his best to avoid eye contact, but the odd look in Hiccup's eye made him uncomfortably curious. Before he could even spat, "What?" Hiccup's hand quickly reached under the sheet and grabbed the hard object that caught his attention.
Hiccup pulled out the book and walked over to his desk. Tumble resented his body being bent out of shape, and futilly reached for the book, and almost fell out of the bed in the process.
"What is this? A journal?"
"Give it back!" Tumble finally spoke.
Hiccup turned the cover. "What is it?"
Tumble shot Hiccup a glare and hissed as he struggled to get up.
"W-what are you doing?" Hiccup hurried to ease the boy back down into the bed. He gave Tumble back the book. "What is it?" he asked again.
Tumble said nothing and returned te journal back to his vest.
Hiccup huffed and sat leaned back into the chair. He wondered how to get the boy to open up to him. He looked around and saw the schematics for Toothless's tail. They brought back so much memories. He looked back down at his leg and a smirk formed on his lips.
"Man, do I miss my leg," Hiccup acted. This immediately caught Tumble's attention, who looked down and saw the prosthetic.
"What the hell happened?"
"A dragon. That's what happened. It happened after I had finally earned Toothless's trust."
"Toothless?" Tumble muttered. His thoughts returned to the drawings on the wall and immediately recognized its breed from rumors he only heard from elders. "He's the night fury, isn't he?"
Hiccup had a proud smirk across his face. "Yeah. Took me a while, but he finally warmed up to me. When my dad found out, he took him with an armada to find a dragon's nest in Helheim's Gate, this near-impenetrable fog that covers the whole area."
Tumble froze. The description matched the Perimeter. Hiccup didn't notice his shock and continued.
"I had to train my friends how to ride their dragons and we managed to get there in time to save everyone from this gigantic dragon. It was half the size of a volacano, and the ground shook as it walked. It had three eyes and a fire that could decimate a fleet of ships with a single breath."
Tumble stopped breathing. The memories flashed across his mind and his entire body shook violently. Hiccup panicked and tried to calm the boy, but failed. The last thing Tumble saw before he passed out was Hiccup scurrying down the stairs, yelling frantically for help.
