The Rider That Could


The smooth horizon, where the ocean touched the sky, stretched out endlessly in all directions, giving a sense of freedom that never grew stale. Uncountable stars twinkled brilliantly in the cloudless sky above. Orange fires glowed mutely on the ground below. The air was crisp and cold and perfect!

The black dragon stretched his wings to their fullest extent, allowing the force of his winds to make his joints to crackle and pop. He casually angled to level out again before dropping too low. Though invisible at any height to the pathetic eyes of those land-striders below, he didn't want to take any chances. Content to simply enjoy the scenery while the others caught up, he settled into some lazy circle patterns high above the land-strider nest below.

There was food down there and the queen wanted it. Whatever she wants, she gets. The queen loves the dragons. She protects them. She guards them against the dangerous land-striders. She has needs, though, and demands tribute from the greedy land-striders and the dragons are always happy to oblige her. They would do anything for their queen. They would steal, fight, and die for her.

Down below, the land-striders continued their little lives, completely oblivious to the dragon soaring above. A group of them was gathered around a large fire, engaging in some strange activity, probably a mating ritual. There was a steady stream of concussive sounds from some of them as they beat sticks on various round pieces of hide. Others were shifting their weight, twirling around, jumping in tempo with the beat. From his dragon's-eye perspective, it was actually pretty mesmerising.

A familiar sound echoed across the island. It was the deep, roaring bellow they produce at the start of a raid to welcome the dragons. The others have caught up.

Finally.

Folding his wings, the black dragon settled into his usual routine. His beloved queen wanted the land-striders' food and that's exactly what she would get. However, he would not be the one bringing it back. She would never allow a dragon so valuable and rare to take such risks. The black dragon was gifted with more than just elusiveness in the night. With his ability to hear the faintest whispers of thought from afar and even project his own thoughts in far-reaching, focused bands, he was his beloved queen's eyes and ears in a raid. She enjoyed watching through his eyes and would give commands for the black dragon to relay to the others.

After coordinating with some of the dragons to help a few of the spike-tails ensnared in a web of vines, the black dragon received permission from the distant queen to start a fire run. Folding his wings, he traded altitude for speed as he opened the flaps in the rear of his mouth, producing a piercing shriek that always made land-striders react in funny ways. His target was one of those wooden structures that hurl rocks at dragons. The fireball he spat out sailed through the air in a glow of blue and purple.

BOOM!

The boundary layer ruptured on impact and the core ignited violently in a marvelous explosion. It never got old! The loud crack from the concussion was so crisp. The splintering of wood was so satisfying. The shockwave hitting his wings lifted him up so effortlessly. The intense burst of light and heat was stunningly beautiful. Behind, the entire structure groaned and clattered as it crashed down and tumbled off the cliffside.

Is there no other creature in the world so magnificent!

{DON'T FORGET YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A LITTLE MOTH COMPARED TO ME.}

Except for the queen, of course. The black dragon projected a formless apology for his arrogance and pride.

The raid was going well so far. Some dragons died. They do that, sometimes, but it was inconsequential. The queen was all that mattered. If these tributes pleased her, then these few deaths were worth it.

The black dragon gained some altitude and dove into another fire run. There were no land-striders nearby to notice his distinctive shriek, except for one, but it didn't even have the decency to do anything entertaining, like dive to the ground the way the others would. It looked so small and sickly that the dragon paid it no heed. He waited until he was almost right on top of his target before releasing another fireball.

BOOM!

The wave of heat and sound from the blast against his scales made him feel powerful!

A hiss from the cliff signaled danger, but it was too late. Something twined around his tail and one of his wings. He had seen other dragons lose their flight in a similar way. Instead of fire, land-striders shoot out bits of wood, iron, and flexible vines that ensnare. However, there were no land-striders nearby… except that little one...

Fortunately, the dragon was able to make a hard landing on a cliff that jutted out from the edge of the nest. His left foreleg stung from the impact, but he managed to get down in one piece. With solid ground beneath his paws, he started working his way out of the vines that dragged him out of the sky.

The queen would not permit him to land and fight, but he had no choice in this case. His gaze locked onto two little, green eyes that stared back at him from only a couple wingspans away.

The dragon narrowed his eyes in fury. That thing tried to kill me!

The land-strider's eyes practically popped out of his head.

The dragon roared out his anger and rage. The land-strider squeaked in fear.

The dragon launched himself forward. The land-strider merely managed to stumble back in shock.

A quick strike knocked the little critter off its feet. Before it could even fall to the ground, the dragon snapped up its leg in his mouth. With a crunch and a twist of his neck, teeth sunk through flesh and bone, tearing the leg apart. The pathetic rodent cried out in pain.

The dragon had killed before, but never quite like this. This was necessary. This was revenge. This was righteous.

This felt good!

Of course, the land-strider wasn't dead, yet. These stubborn rodents take a lot of abuse before they have the decency to die. The dragon spat out the shredded limb and was about to lunge forward again, but he caught a noise from the side. Once again, his distraction at his own power over others made him lose track of impending danger. He saw a very large land-strider flying through the air with a large, broad, shiny claw held over his head. Though most of his face was covered in fur, hatred and fury burned out from his eyes.

It was too late to react. The dragon felt the claw break through his scales and sink deep into his neck. It stung worse than anything he had ever felt in his life. He howled in pain. He closed his eyes to the cruel world around him and writhed around in agony. He roared and yelped and whined.

Something felt off.

The pain was gone. The roaring of the land-strider ceased. The taste of his own blood was still there, though. The dragon opened his eyes to a familiar sight of stone walls in the dark of night. A fire, encased in a wall of stones, spat out shadows that flickered across the walls.

The dragon worked his way to his paws and shook his head, trying to dislodge the fog in his mind. He twisted his neck experimentally and found it to be just fine. The pain in his foreleg had vanished as well.

He was healed!

Well, his tongue still throbbed. Rubbing it against the roof of his mouth, he could feel a few raw punctures from his own teeth.

But why?

How?

A few wingspans away, he saw another black dragon.

Toothless.

Yes, that was his name. He was wrapped around a diminutive land-strider, who was also blinking the sleep from his eyes to stare at his dragon with amusement. Suddenly, it was all clear what happened.

Locking eyes with Toothless, Firebrand projected his annoyance. {That was your dream, Toothless, wasn't it? You projected that. That obviously never happened because you are not dead, so stop it!}

Toothless gave a groan as he used his front paws to pull Firefly a little closer, enjoying his newly restored command over his limbs. The land-striders had been shocked to see the dragon fully recover from the lightning after only a couple of days.

Firefly warbled in his usual sing-song way as he talked to his dragon. Well, it wasn't quite the usual warble. His prolonged exposure to water and cold air almost killed him. He was recovering, but was a bit raspy as a result. Regardless, he was quite proud of his dragon for having such a dream.

That's the thing, though. Dragons don't have dreams. They don't take a memory of a past event and twist the thoughts to follow a new path. Land-striders do that, but not dragons. Somehow, though, Toothless did just that and was even rude enough to project it to those around him.

Toothless rolled his eyes and flattened his rider to the ground, eliciting a giggle from below. He didn't share his rider's enthusiasm. Firebrand couldn't blame him and hoped to never experience anything like that ever again.

A loud squawk heralded the arrival of a spike-tailed dragon with blue and yellow scales around a white belly. As per usual, she was adorned with a land-strider on her back. This one had sun-colored hair and blue eyes that seemed to stare into one's very soul. The land-strider had named her dragon Stormfly.

The land-strider was named Zealot, but it wasn't Stormfly who named her. Toothless had given her that name when he first met her. Zealot was so fiercely loyal, not to an individual so much as to an ideal or a standard. In a single instant, she changed from Firefly's worst obstacle to his best ally when she realized so many of her assumptions about dragon behavior were wrong.

This duo had arrived the night after Skullcrusher and Stalwart, along with four other dragons… or five, depending on how the two-headed dragons are counted. Stalwart allowed only Stormfly and her pet to stay and sent the other dragons and pet land-striders back to their nest. Ever since then, Zealot has been looking after Firefly, helping him get around, bringing him food and water, and providing... other assistance... cleaning his lips with her tongue.

At the moment, Zealot was sitting with Firefly's head in her lap, gently stroking him while she hummed, warbled, and crooned. Firebrand could feel such tenderness and care radiating from her that he rolled his eyes and gagged on his tongue.

Now that Firefly was awake, he was telling Zealot about that night the lightning dragon attacked them. In fact, as he realized, it could very well have been what inspired Toothless' dream. The main theme in both events was the fault of reveling in one's own dominance over others at the cost of ignoring the present danger. Firebrand lounged around, listening in on the projected thoughts from Firefly and Toothless, ready to voice his disagreement about any details he may embellish.

It was a time when the rider's ability to be an annoying pest had reached unprecedented levels. When Firefly challenged Firebrand to what was essentially a fight that ended with first blood, he was amused. That little rodent really wanted to fight? He better be prepared to be humiliated.

However, Firebrand wasn't prepared for how sly and quick that rodent could be. It was still hard to believe that Firefly actually knocked him unconscious just by… by… scratching the underside of his jaw! It wasn't fair! He cheated!

Thankfully, Firefly actually had the decency to skip over that next part. When Firebrand awoke, he was furious. It was so humiliating! His blood boiled with rage. He pounced and swiped his claws. This infuriating little insect deserved death. He deserved to be torn apart limb from limb!

In retrospect, Firebrand had to admit he took it a bit too far, but his blind rage simply got the better of him. Toothless intervened, striking when Firebrand was distracted. Toothless was smaller, Firebrand was stronger, but that damned dragon took after his rider and fought like a mink. Firebrand couldn't land a single hit. In the end, it was speed that won the fight.

Toothless managed to smack the back of Firebrand's head into a rock once, twice. Dazed, Firebrand was dimly aware of claws digging into his hide. He could feel himself lift up before crashing back down. Claws kneaded his belly. Even in his semi-conscious state, he could feel the rage and frenzied indignation boiling off of Toothless.

He knew that he crossed the line when he tried to kill that little land-strider instead of just drawing first blood and now the killing bite to the neck was about to come. Any moment, he would be choking on his own blood. Well, that would have happened if Toothless wasn't zapped by lightning at just that moment. To think that the lightning dragon could actually be credited for saving Firebrand's life… Everything just made him so mad!

That was where Firefly picked up his storytelling again in that mind-numbingly slow way land-striders think with their lips. The strike from the lightning dragon left Toothless mostly paralyzed. Firebrand groggily stumbled to all fours and willed the world to stop spinning around him.

It would have been suicide to try to fight a lightning dragon in the storm. The only way to deal with them is to hide, try to draw them out of the storm, or ambush them when they're resting on land. Their lightning cannot be dodged and can incapacitate or even kill a dragon in a single blow. Even if a fight came down to a melee of claws, if the lightning isn't depleted, they can still shock you.

Tolerant snatched the land-strider and took off, shooting a couple fireballs at the lightning dragon to get her attention. Firebrand stretched his wings and caught up as his dizziness slowly abated. The lightning dragon gave chase, but they were faster.

Firefly suggested they land on a nearby island they had flown over the previous day. It used to be a land-strider nest, but they had been wiped out hardly a full generation ago, when the demonic queen decided they were too much trouble to raid and allow to continue living. However, their iron and wood artifacts remained behind.

Being faster fliers, they landed on the island ahead of the enemy and Firefly set to work gathering any iron artifact he could find and stuck them in the ground. Since his ribs were freshly broken, they didn't hinder him too much and Tolerant even helped, using his mouth to grab sticks with iron bits on the end and shoving them into the ground. Firefly had explained that land-striders can project their thoughts onto dead animal skins for future generations to learn and, by looking at these, he learned that the lightning would be diverted into these bits of iron to protect them.

When the enemy caught up, she shot out lightning, as expected, but the land-strider's system actually worked! The enemy roared her frustration. She knew better than to land when she was out-numbered. All this iron would protect the black dragons from the enemy, but wouldn't protect the enemy from their fire and claws. The storm was thinning out in the area, anyway, so she ended up flying away to follow the storm and recharge.

That was when Firefly set to work using and changing various land-strider artifacts. He had explained that he could use this new artifact to take down the lightning dragon so they could deal with her on the ground. Relying on the black dragons' fireballs would not be the wisest idea. They would have to get in dangerously close and the enemy would be alerted to an attack long before it hit. Also, for some reason, the fireball explosions have been known to cause dragons to be struck by lightning.

While Firefly was busy with his artifacts, Firebrand idly licked at a curiously large piece of black iron that was shaped similarly to what the little land-strider had used to hold water and food. His tongue instantly stuck to it and he panicked, trying to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge. Trying to pull hurt so much!

The fact that Firefly lost himself in a fit of laughter didn't help at all. In fact, that devious land-strider had the nerve to say he could help, but only if Firebrand promised to never harm him again. Having no other choice, Firebrand agreed. Firefly simply asked Tolerant to blow some fire on the iron object and the tongue pulled away without any pain.

As Firefly was telling this part of his story, Toothless, having heard it for the first time, started rolling around on his back, hacking and chortling in mirth. Firebrand gave a snarl, but Toothless just rolled over to his side and looked at him with amusement. Apparently, he had been in a very similar situation, too. Somehow, these iron artifacts can cause a tongue to stick to it when the ground is covered in ice, but heating it up with fire releases the tongue. These land-striders think it's very funny.

Firefly resumed his story, getting to the part where Tolerant actually allowed the little land-strider to ride on his back and attach that artifact to him. Even now, the thought of the proud and strong Tolerant serving as some beast of burden seemed so disgusting. Firebrand gave another heartfelt snarl and death glare for good measure and turned his attention elsewhere. He did not need another reminder of this.

Stormfly, who was lounging nearby. flicked her head in his direction and gave out a cawing laugh. Firebrand felt the need to take a jab at her. Not a physical one, of course, as these land-striders and their pet dragons cared about each other so much that to attack one is to attack them all.

{Stormfly, I can understand why Toothless would allow Firefly to ride on his back. He's crippled and requires his rider to work the tailfin, but how can you allow Zealot to ride you like you're some beast of burden?}

The blue dragon, which was sprawled out on her side, pawed at the ground to shift around to face Firebrand, crooning in contentment. {I have learned of a joy that is fueled by something greater than pride, more intense than rage, and burns hotter than any dragonfire. Zealot's companionship outweighs the burden of her body on my back by an immeasurable degree and I feel a loss without her. I dare to say that you would gain a lot by befriending a rider.}

Firebrand huffed indignantly. Even the dragon's projected thoughts flowed and splashed around in a similar manner as her rider's. It was as if the thought patterns of the rider were seeping into the dragon, changing her very behavior and the way they thought. He could think of nothing else to do at the moment than argue about nothing, so that's exactly what he did.

{You are just a pet to her. What can she possibly offer you to justify granting her the thrill of flight and dragonfire?}

Just then, Zealot pounced on Stormfly. The two tumbled and wriggled around until Zealot started using her slender limbs to scratch her dragon's jaw, neck, and belly. Stormfly managed to give a wink at Firebrand before she was lost to the world around her, twitching, stretching, and writhing in pleasure. Firebrand just snorted derisively and sulked off to go find some fish to eat. He had enough of these land-striders for now.

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Stoick puffed out a plume of fog as he set down an armful of branches he had collected from outside the cave. Hiccup's recovery was moving along at a very encouraging rate. The sooner they could take him back to Berk and away from that grouchy Night Fury, the better. That dragon almost ran right into Stoick as he entered the cave, but seemed to be too distracted to even notice.

"Now, hold on there, son," Stoick briskly said as he tossed some more wood into the fire. "Ever think your old man would want to hear about all the ways you foolishly try to kill yourself to satisfy your damned curiosity?"

Toothless grumbled in annoyance, but Hiccup grinned mischievously at that.

Astrid, who was sitting next to her Nadder, idly giving her a belly rub, turned her head and shouted, "HA! I'm not the only one, dragon boy!"

"Not to worry, Dad," Hiccup said. "I would never leave you in the dark regarding my near-death experiences. I was only telling her about the stuff I've told you before. Ya know, the time I kicked Firebrand's butt... the time he kicked mine, our retreat to that island to the East, my latest invention that would have made Toothless jealous if he were there- Mmphhhf, ack! Toothless!

A big, pink, slobbery tongue voiced the dragon's thoughts about being referenced so casually. Hiccup had nowhere to flee, being laid out on his back on a pile of furs, nestled between his dragon's forelegs. Toothless licked his lips and looked down at his rider with amusement.

"Good boy!" Stoick shouted. "Wish we had ya when the lad was younger. You coulda taught him some manners and respect."

Hiccup wiped the back of his sleeve across his face, groaning at the strain it put on his healing ribs. "Excuse me? Here I am, pinned under a bully of a dragon, as helpless as a rabbit in a trap. I was just assaulted by a slobbery tongue and you're telling me about manners? Toothless, I demand justice. Lick him! Lick him now!"

Toothless flicked his head and licked his lips. Stoick scowled through his massive beard. Toothless whined plaintively.

"Really, Bud? You're such a wimp. That is what's stopping you?"

Astrid shifted a little closer. "What's stopping him? Fear of retribution?"

"Nah," Hiccup said dismissively. "Toothless says he would rather die than lick a beard like that. He won't even let me grow out my little bits of stubble."

"Ha!" Stoick laughed. "Now ya know the real reason we grow our beards long. Gotta protect ourselves from the dragons, somehow. Tooth, claw, and fire can't hold a candle to the destructive power of the tongue."

Hiccup smirked at his father. "That is the most amazing accidental bit of philosophy I have ever heard."

Stoick grinned. "Who says it was accidental?"

Astrid shifted over to sit next to Toothless and his rider. Stormfly hadn't moved at all, still lost to this world after her belly rub.

"So, you really built another bola ballista?"

"Well, it was mostly built. Just took a small ballista and modified the catch to accept a bola. It was rusty, but the timber was still good."

"And you mounted it on Tolerant?"

Hiccup grinned. "Under the belly. Ran a rope to activate the trigger."

"And you got Tolerant to not only allow you to ride him, but also use him as a mobile shooting platform to take down the Night Fury's most hated enemy?"

"That about sums it up. After a few practice shots, we felt confident enough to go after the Skrill, who was still hanging around this island because of the storm. We knew it was a long shot and a far cry to hope that a fireball or two would take the Skrill down. Their lightning can strike instantly and intercept the fireball. There's no sneaking up on them if they're paying attention, either. They can... sense you nearby. So, I convinced them that my idea would be better. I did have a precedence to lean on, after all, if you know what I mean."

Astrid quirked an eyebrow at Toothless. "And you let this punk ride on your back?"

The Night Fury huffed and rolled his eyes.

"In my defense," Hiccup said, "I had no other option. I would have used Toothless if I could. I'm sure he understands, right, Bud?"

The dragon huffed in annoyance.

"He says yes, by the way. He completely understands and does not hold a grudge against me."

Toothless groaned and snapped his teeth right over his rider's face. As his dragon reared his head back to snap his teeth one more time, Hiccup grinned and stuck his hand up in the air. Toothless yelped and jerked his head back to avoid harming his rider.

"Awwww," Hiccup taunted. "You're so adorable when you're trying to scare- Mmmphhhffff!" Hiccup wiped some more slobber off his face. "This is not fair!"

Stoick asked, "So, I guess it worked? You brought down the Skrill?"

Hiccup's expression instantly turned somber.

"Just in time, too. The storm clouds were building up again over this island and the Skrill was coming back to finish off Toothless."

Hiccup gave his father a contrite look. "Everything that could have gone wrong, did. The bola sorta worked. It brought the Skrill in for a hard landing, at least. I immediately released the bola ballista and Tolerant landed and practically shook me off his back. I was done in, anyway. Broken ribs, lacerations, soaking wet, exposure to the cold. I... I shouldn't have-"

Hiccup's breathing became ragged. Astrid shifted over, shooing Toothless, who rolled over on his side so she could sit with Hiccup. Stoick simply sat nearby, silent as the stone walls of the cave. Hiccup looked up at Astrid and slowly spoke out between forced breaths.

"I tried... to stop the violence... stop the killing." He gave a sad smile. "You think I talked them into letting me use the bolas because I wanted to kill the Skrill? Tolerant fought the Skrill and I... I tried to stop them. He died protecting me from the Skrill. That's when you showed up, Dad. I... I killed Tolerant... I killed Toothless' own father. I tried to stop a fight and I ended up ruining his life... again."

Toothless jumped to all fours and let out a hair-raising snarl at his rider, his sensor lobes and back spines stiffened like hackles. Astrid instinctively rolled to the side, hand resting on the handle of her bushcraft knife at her waist. Stoick had his fingers wrapped around the head of his hand ax. Neither was certain of this situation. Stormfly was on her feet, staring intently at the rider and his dragon, but didn't appear to be too concerned.

Of course, Hiccup was completely unphased. His dragon would never harm him and he knew it. Toothless was simply expressing his distaste for what his rider said.

Hiccup looked up into his dragon's eyes with a sad expression and said, "Roles reversed, would I so easily forgive Toothless if he killed my father? Damn dragon doesn't even have the decency to be upset with me."

Toothless let out a loud roar in his rider's face and sprinted out of the cave with Stormfly chasing after him. The whitened knuckles of Astrid and Stoick relaxed to their sides again.

"Son," Stoick said as he sat himself down. "What... was that?"

Hiccup took a shaky breath to steady himself as Astrid settled down and wrapped a comforting arm around him.

"He's fine. Toothless has always looked up to me for wisdom and guidance."

Stoick gave his son a flat stare. "I'm going to assume that was supposed to be funny."

Hiccup shrugged. "When the Red Death was stomping around and Toothless was drowning, he wanted me to leave him and save myself."

Stoick muttered, "After hauling you back to land, it just felt wrong to leave your dragon down there. You can thank the ale I downed before that battle for making me do something so insane."

Hiccup smiled. "And when I shot him down and found him in the woods, he was actually very disappointed I let him free instead of killing him; waking from the Red Death's mind snare can do that to any dragon."

"You were lucky," Stoick grumbled.

Hiccup's face lit up. "Exactly! And the fact that I even hit him with my bola ballista in the first place … Even though dragons lack imagination, they are in no way our inferior when it comes to logical analysis. Toothless always insists I am his rock and sturdy cave. He insists that I have some sort of… instinct or… I'm guided by the gods at certain times, or something."

"Hiccup", Stoick said, "I don't care if your dragon thinks you fathered Odin himself. Let's stay in Midgard, alright?"

"I am in Midgard, but what about Tolerant? Dad, I killed Toothless' father!"

"You can't say that, son! You were only trying to help. Granted, in your own crazy way without thinking ahead."

Hiccup scrunched his eyes shut, slowly shaking his head, refusing to meet his father's stare.

"Well," Stoick said, "I trust, at least, you've learned a lesson with the Skrill. Sometimes, you have no choice but to-"

"No!" Hiccup snapped. "It can't make sense! I don't accept it! Dad, that day I shot down Toothless and found him in the woods-"

"Back to that, again." Stoick rolled his eyes. "Does a day ever go by..."

Hiccup gave his father a sad smile. "Not a single day I don't think about it. Dad, listen to me. Please?"

To the surprise of Stoick and Astrid, Hiccup held his silence, staring at them, waiting for some acknowledgement that they would let him speak. He seemed so vulnerable, exposed, and afraid. The people of Berk had come to respect him as an expert on dragons. Ever since he found Toothless, unknown to anybody else at that time, Hiccup had transformed into someone who was always confident – reckless and hasty, but still confident. To see him like this was unsettling.

"Hiccup," Astrid said. "We're here for you. Just Let it out. Let it all out."

Hiccup quirked a smile. "I'm not going to cry. I'm not sad, I'm just angry. I don't even know who I'm angry at. That day I found Toothless in the woods changed my life. I discovered who I really was. It was the day I finally stopped trying to be like..."

Hiccup cast a quick glance at his father and got a subtle grin in return.

"Dad, when I cut Toothless loose... well, it was stupid, idiotic, reckless, and foolish. Anybody who says they could have predicted that would have been a good idea would be lying through their teeth. But it was the start of the one-and-only time I made the world a better place. When I tried to show people that dragons could be friends instead of target practice, I was a heretic, a crazy fool... a bastardized outcast-"

"Hiccup!" Stoick scowled. "C'mon, don't! You know I regret-"

"I know! Just... Please. I don't harbor any resentment. Please believe me when I say that. Nobody can argue against the fact that you made the most logical conclusion, but that's just the thing. It wasn't about dragons against Vikings or whose side I was on. It was about my compassion against your aggression. My madness against your logic.

Astrid lay herself down next to Hiccup and put an arm under the back of his neck. "Hiccup, I give you permission to start making sense."

The boy groaned. "You see, you dislike, you chop. And who can blame you for that? My one moment of mindless compassion that anybody could rightly call a moment of madness is the one anchor I have in life. Before I met Toothless, I was a perpetual failure and source of disappointment. After the dragon war ended, I'm nothing more than a political vice. The moment of insanity when I cut Toothless loose was the one thing I did right. How can I just forget about it? How can I stop trying to do that again and again? What else do I have to hold onto except that thing that caused me to spare a life and stop a war? How many hundreds of years would our people endure dragon raids if somebody didn't do something so incredibly stupid?"

Astrid gave a hopeful smile. "And you see what happened? You did a good thing, Hiccup. Why is this weighing you down?"

Skullcrusher, who had laid down next to the young riders, craned his neck around to nuzzle and lick Hiccup affectionately.

Astrid smiled widely. "And even though I can't hear dragons as you can, I know I speak for Skullcrusher when I say we are very thankful for what you did."

The dragon chuffed his agreement and Hiccup rubbed his cheek against the snout. After a few breaths, he rolled his head back to the shield-maiden.

"That's just the thing, Astrid. You once mentioned that anybody else would have killed Toothless after finding him in the forest and you were right. You would have taken his head back and we'd worship the ground you walk on. Dad would kill him and we'd cheer at the victory. Even Fishlegs would have done the deed and nobody would even have a second thought. But I didn't. That moment of madness was my greatest accomplishment in life. Something about me is different. That something is the only thing I can hold onto.

"I was trying to fight the logic of aggression with the madness of compassion when I first cut Toothless loose. I tried it again with the Skrill, but I only got Tolerant killed. Where do I draw the line? If you tell me to abandon such thinking, then please please please give me something else to hold on to! Otherwise, what stability is left in my life?"

Astrid didn't even hesitate. "You'd still have Toothless as your anchor in life."

"And how did I get Toothless in the first place? Madness of compassion!"

Astrid scoffed. "That's circular logic. Besides, you got me, too."

"And how did I get you?"

Astrid narrowed her eyes. "If your answer involves Toothless-"

Hiccup closed his eyes and groaned. He was right and she knew it. Before Toothless, Astrid just gave "Hiccup the Useless" the cold shoulder. She was never mean, but was never kind, either, and would simply stand to the side when the other kids decided that beating up the village screw-up would be really fun.

Ever since the dragon war ended, though, they started to really like each other. Hiccup could tell she wasn't comfortable talking about that transition and he didn't want to take any risk of losing her friendship.

Opening his eyes, he wrapped his fingers around Astrid's. "Sorry. You're right."

"You're patronizing me."

"And you're unyielding and beautiful. That still doesn't change the fact that nothing makes sense."

There was a long silence, punctuated by the hissing and crackling of the fire in its stone cage. Astrid cast a pleading look over at Stoick, whose face remained unreadable behind his massive beard. Would his son be so confused about his integrity and what he stood for if he had a better father? Sure, this might just be a product of his teenage years, but then again, if he wasn't such a social outcast who could never please his father, would he have been driven to do something so crazy as to release what was the Viking's worst enemy at that time?

The father wasn't sure if he should feel remorseful or relieved that he drove his own son to the brink of such desperation and insanity that forged his bond with his dragon. The chief was an amazing leader and fighter, but...

"You just grin and bear it, son. Live and learn. Do what feels right and learn from your mistakes."

... there was a reason Hiccup always went to Gobber when he felt lost and scared.

This conversation has been going in circles for too long, now. The chief decided to handle this the way he always handled awkward or difficult situations with his son.

Standing up he said, "We should be able to fly you back home in a couple days. There's no way you're flying Toothless in your condition and he can't fly alone, so I'll go find the forge on that island you mentioned and make a bracket for Astrid's boot so she can fly him. You can ride on Skullcrusher with me or... we'll find some way to get you back without aggravating your healing ribs. Stay warm, son. I'll be back in a bit."

Without waiting for a reply, Stoick got his dragon on his feet and strode out.

The two lovebirds could use some privacy, anyway.


A/N:
Thank you for reading!

Hopefully, things should be falling into place by now. I wanted to try some new things, especially for a storyline so cliche as Toothless finding his family. Most stories I've read go something like this:

One day, Hiccup said, "Hey, Toothless, let's go find your family."

"Ok," Toothless said. Or something like that.

And, so, they set out and found like a billion Night Furies next to Santa's workshop and Hiccup and Toothless were inducted into the Night Fury Illuminati. And Toothless found his family and they loved him. And he found a mate and had babies and Hiccup oozed all over them.

So, yeah, I dunno what to call this sort of story opener, aside from "Star Wars Storytelling", but I wanted to start in the middle of an action scene and reveal the surrounding plot over time. There's still more Firebrand and Toothless origins in the following chapters, but I really am curious how you like (or don't like) this sort of storytelling. If you don't wanna leave a comment, could I ask for a PM? This style of storytelling is new to me and I'd be grateful for even just a drive-by roxors/suxors. Thanks!