AN: This chapter might be a little slow. Tell me if it is. That wasn't too long a wait, was it? Little Snippets from Riders Of Berk will be included in this piece, if you can recognize them. Read on.
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Hiccup
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"I think I'll just leave it at this." Hiccup huffed, hefting one last crate over to the cave's entrance. The cold, spiky rocks dug painfully into his knees, but he rested for a while, blowing into his hands to keep them warm. The Icy Wastes were harsh this time of year- harsher than usual, even for someone like Hiccup, who was used to difficult conditions. There was a thin layer of frost over almost every surface, and even the ocean was beginning to freeze over.
Toothless murmured something Hiccup shakily understood as, "I don't see why not."
After nearly a year and a half of practicing, Hiccup could recognize and understand a fair amount of conversational dragon-speak with few mistakes, given he could actually hear the words being spoken- that was the complicated part. His ears were sensitive, but still human, and his own very human vocal chords allowed him to speak only a few phrases at this point in time. There were days when the guttural sounds and rumbles became too much for his throat, and he had to stop before he injured himself. He had a theory that his voice would become stronger over time, the more that he spoke.
"After all, I don't look like much, do I?" Hiccup chose to ignore the shrugging his dragon was over exaggerating. He pursed his lips without meaning to. "No one would expect me to be living a more than ordinary life...and this really is the pits."
Toothless grumbled something, nodded with a hum of agreement, and lied down on the stony ground as if it didn't bother him at all. A moment more and he was rolling around, grinding his scales against the dark rocks that made up the entirety of the beach. The rough edges didn't do so much as scratch his glossy hide.
"A small forge, maybe, and a fire pit...a hammock or some sort of sleeping area." Hiccup nodded to himself. "Some knick-knacks, tools and furniture- it's not like I don't have any to spare. It could work. This place could almost be livable."
A harsh wind, so powerful that it made him stagger, caused great sprinkles of slush to come raining down on him from the empty branches. Hiccup once again blew into his hands to keep warm.
Toothless grumbled again, and the low volume combined with the wind and slushing in the trees made it especially hard to hear. "What was that, bud?"
Toothless struggled to make his guttural voice louder, and glanced up at the darkening sky. This time, Hiccup could vaguely make out Toothless' concerns for their flight home. The only two words he caught clearly were, "The storm."
Hiccup raised his own eyes to the sky, and shivered again. Hopefully, they would make it home without getting caught in the rain. Toothless was a fancy flier- he could fly in almost any weather, as could most dragons. However, now that Toothless had a passenger, Hiccup knew he worried, no matter how much he teased the boy's clumsy ways. His clumsiness had gotten better with experience, but they'd still had a few close calls.
"Yeah, this is enough for today, anyway." Grumbled Hiccup, as he slid on and fastened a winter coat long enough to stretch to his knees. He'd been hot earlier, unbelievably, but his lower half was still clad in insulated leggings and boots. He shoved on a worn pair of gloves. Toothless was a dragon, and had no need for such adornments, and Hiccup always found himself warming rather quickly to the point of easy comfort in the first few minutes after they'd taken flight.
Today was different. The air seemed cold enough to freeze right out of the sky, and unusual, dark clouds were quickly overtaking the normally white sky. It was taking far longer than usual for Toothless' warmth to reach Hiccup. Maybe things were different in the Icy Wastes, the coldest part of the known world.
Or, at least, the world known to Vikings and the like. Hiccup had learned a long time ago that it was best to not have anything to do with even the name.
"Woah!" Hiccup exclaimed as they swerved to avoid a sudden bolt of lightning. Thank the gods Toothless could sense the electricity charges in the air- or they probably would've been shot down a long time ago. Having metal replacements for limbs had both it's ups and -often severe- downs. "We good bud?"
"Fine." Hiccup clearly understood the response. The storm was both agitating and exciting the both of them. On one hand, it was completely and totally awesome to soar at full speed through a lightning storm...on the other hand, if they happened to slip and get struck, there wasn't a good likelihood that either of them would make it out unscathed- or alive, for that matter. And another thing...what business did a lightning storm have in the middle of winter, in the Icy Wastes?
It was all beginning to really unsettle Hiccup.
And Toothless too, by the looks of it. Hiccup felt an unusual tension in the beast's muscles that only became evident when he was on-edge.
"Toothless?" Hiccup squinted, trying to see through the sudden onslaught of icy spray in his eyes. What the heck was going on? Was this normal? "Toothless-"
The dragon gave a loud shriek that sent Hiccup's nerves on overdrive. In the split second it took for Toothless to charge a plasma blast, Hiccup could see two lights streaking towards them. One was a lightning bolt- another was an odd, swirling ball that glowed green. Toothless' small but powerful blast hit the swirling green ball, and the lightning bolt struck them.
And although Hiccup had been through worse, it still hurt like Hel to be caught in the grip of electricity. It was as though the hand of Thor himself was squeezing his insides, as though all of his muscles were locking up at once and at the same time being stabbed by millions of tiny needles. His head throbbed uncontrollably, agonizingly. Releasing a cry of pain and anguish, Hiccup pitched forward onto the hard saddle, wet with precipitation, and only had time to hear Toothless' roar before falling unconscious.
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Toothless
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Hiccup? Toothless' eyes were wide, his breath coming far faster than usual. Oh gods, Hiccup.
"Come on, Hiccup!" Toothless murmured, nudging his human's chest with his snout. Feeling the boy's exposed skin made him shudder- it was cold as ice!
How could he have allowed this to happen?
"Hiccup." Toothless whined, and leant down, listening intently and then giving a huge sigh of relief when he heard the reassuring thrumming of the boy's heart, and the swooshing of air through his lungs.
So, he had just been overwhelmed- that was it. The human had been struck by lightning before, but this time had been much worse. He'd never been asleep for this long, and Toothless' internal timekeeper told him that it had been roughly twenty minutes since they'd crashed. The dragon himself had already been awake for maybe five minutes, recovering from the fall. It had not been the lightning that got the best of him- it had been the rapid descent to earth, and the hard collision with the rocky grounds that had knocked him unconscious. He could see that he'd done a fair enough job of protecting his human with his wings, but...why wasn't he waking up?
"...You're okay, bud." Toothless says lowly, the nickname feeling unfamiliar on his tongue. "You just need to wake up, so we can get out of-"
The dragon growled suddenly, first lowly and then loudly as he wrapped himself around the small frame of his friend. A figure was approaching, and Toothless wondered angrily how he could've missed the sound of soft footfalls on the soil, or the scent of magic in the air...
Magic.
Toothless bared his teeth. Just from the oncoming presence of the green ball alone, he could tell immediately that it was magic, and that it had been unnatural. Humans weren't meant to wield magic...they use it too freely, too irresponsibly. They weren't to be trusted- just think of the havoc they could wreak! That's why he struck the glowing ball rather than the lightning to keep it from striking them. The lightning would do some damage, sure, but magic? No way in Hel was he letting any of that touch Hiccup.
"Stay back!" He warned the figure in Dragonese, the language of the dragons. He's taken to speaking even when he didn't mean to- a habit picked up by teaching Hiccup the dragon language. He had to hear it as much as possible, so Toothless spoke frequently, everyday- far more than what was good for him, probably.
He couldn't decide whether or not he was surprised when the figure stopped. He growled again.
"Stay there! You'll be ash before you take another step!" He slunk close to the ground, standing protectively over his best friend- his scales were a lot more damage and magic-resistant than human skin.
"I believe you." The figure answered in a decidedly female human voice and Toothless could only find it in himself to raise an eyebrow. "Strange, you are, Toothless. Even with your human companion, it's highly irregular for a dragon to take to speaking so much. Especially for one as young as yourself."
"You don't fool me, human wench!" Toothless again bared his teeth, and allowed the plasma in his throat to flicker, letting purple light seep through his teeth.
"I mean no harm." The female held up both hands to show that they were empty, but Toothless only snarled more insistently than before. Magic needed no weapons to be wielded.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Magna." The woman answered, and with a slow hand, removed her hood, and then her cloak entirely, tossing it to the ground as though her peasant dress alone would protect her from the winter air. Toothless was surprised to see that the woman was rather...elderly. The Night Fury didn't exactly pride himself in being particularly skilled at identifying human age, but even he could tell that she was old. But she didn't sound old. She sounded strong...calm. Maybe even peaceful.
"I am peaceful, Toothless." Manga replied, and Toothless narrowed his eyes. It understood Dragonese and it could hear his thoughts? This woman could not be trusted.
"Not in the way you think, young one." She cautiously took a few steps forward, much to Toothless' anger. He had begun to hear rustling in the ugly bushes next to them, though he couldn't imagine what animal was insane enough to choose to live here.
"When your as old as I am, you pick up a few things along the way." She smiled. "Like you, I will live many lifetimes more before my time is over."
Just then, a trio of Terrible Terrors, a very small Cauldron, and even a baby Thunderdrum came bounding from the bushes, and curled around her, completely at ease. Toothless blanched- they were young, just hatchlings. So young in fact...she may well have been able to brainwash them. But they didn't seem brainwashed, and dragons had a very keen sense of these things. They just seemed...comfortable.
"Now, Night Fury...I have no ill will towards your friend here." She was less than three meters away now, as Toothless was ready to either fire or pounce at any moment. "I would like to help him, if you'll let me. Maybe he could use a little human help. For the moment."
Toothless glanced at the dragons playing by her feet. The comfort they felt didn't mean she couldn't turn on any of them at any given minute. But Hiccup...was he okay? Would he be okay?
"I'll carry him, if need be."
Toothless had to take into consideration what was best for Hiccup.
"I'm carrying him." Toothless insisted in a not-so-nice tone. He wasn't feeling very nice at the moment. Especially looking at Hiccup...his fair skin was paler than usual, almost blue with the cold and turning from pink to red in places where Toothless hadn't been quick enough to cover him in the fall. Pieces of his hair were even singed off.
So, it was with a heavy heart, and a growl to the younger dragons that Toothless stood up on his hind legs and took his human as gently as he could into his front ones. Now, Toothless didn't necessarily have ARMS, and this wasn't the most comfortable position to walk in, but he would bear it. He just hoped the walk didn't go on for miles.
"My residence is not far." The woman -Magna- says from in front of them. "A mere two minute walk, at most. Do watch for the rose bushes. Those are the plants with thorns and red blossoming flowers."
I know what rose bushes are! Toothless thought with a scowl on his lips, and if he wasn't mistaken, he might've even detected a bit of amusement in the old woman's voice. Nonetheless, he carefully dodged and weaves through the bushes around him, taking care not to let them injure Hiccup further. How on earth did this woman get anything at all to grow in these frozen-over lands? Oh, that's right...magic.
Human magic, Toothless sneered mentally and fought the urge to physically snarl. Dragons had magic of their own, and they were NOT stupid enough to put it to use just any time that they wanted. But if this woman laid one claw on Hiccup with the intentions to harm him...he promised himself that she would not enjoy the results.
"We're here." Magna called back to him softly from where she was entering the mouth of the cave. "Do try not to destroy anything on the way in."
"We'll see." Toothless muttered darkly, and found himself staring determinedly ahead instead of at the many colorful and glinting possessions decorating the walls. When the cave's tunnel opened up a bit more into a larger cavern, Magna gestured to a bed, where Toothless lied Hiccup down as gently as he could. Thor, did it feel good to be back on four legs instead of two.
"There now." Magna murmured. "Isn't that better?"
Toothless had to agree- it certainly WAS better than when Hiccup was lying on the cold, sharp stones outside. In the cavern, there was a roaring fire burning in the opposite wall, and the bed looked adequate enough to be comfortable. Still, there was the matter of Hiccup's trembling and sickly state. At that moment, the dragon wanted nothing more than to strip Hiccup of his cold, wet clothing and wrap his wings around him, as he so often did on the coldest nights.
"Goodness, he's shaking like a leaf!" The old woman exclaimed, and did exactly what Toothless was thinking to do. Gently, with Toothless keeping a close watch and never sitting more than two feet away, the lady peeled Hiccup's clothing from his body until the coverings ceased to be wet. When she was done, all that was left was a thin tunic and his undergarments.
Crooning, Toothless blew a breath of warm air over the teen, hoping it would offer him some body heat. Over and over he did this, never allowing his breath to get too hot, while Magna hung Hiccup's clothes by the fireplace to warm and dry.
"This won't develop into anything serious." The woman commented. "I believe he just needs a bit of sleep and warmth, and a bit of tea."
"This is your fault." Toothless kept himself from growling. It was all he could think about, the green ball of magic. "If I hadn't have seen your wretched magic streaking towards us, the lightning could've been avoided. We would've been safe. Don't try to deny that it was you!"
"It was indeed my magic that you saw. Bad timing on my part, I suppose. I'm sorry."
"That's supposed to make it better?" Toothless narrowed his eyes as he settled in next to the bed that cushioned his friend.
"No, it's not." Magna sighed as she gingerly stepped around Toothless to lie a blanket over Hiccup's shivering frame. Toothless suspected that the careful behavior was more for his comfort than her own. "But I do have a justified reason. You two were meant to come here. The lightning strike proved it more than my own magic could have."
"What are you talking about?"
"Every so often, I receive visitors to my island that are in great need of assistance, see? This week, I received a vision that you two would be flying near, and it's ritual for every visitor to be struck down and to land on this island. The boy is so young...I wasn't sure if his body could take it."
"He's stronger than he looks." Toothless answered, grumbling slightly as he looked over his rider with carefully disguised affection.
"I see that now." Magna appraised them both as she crossed the room to where a slim mug was steaming on the table. She took it in her fragile-looking hands. "The magic was but a warning. I wanted to warn you to land before you were struck. I can see now how well that worked out."
"I could've told you how well it would've turned out." Toothless bared his teeth. "Humans were never meant to wield magic. All they can cause is damage and destruction."
"But what if one used that magic to help others?"
"Unlikely. Do you see what it's already done?" Toothless shook his head, more from exhaustion than anything else. "I tire of speaking to you, sorceress."
"Then allow me to speak and yourself to listen." The old woman chided, still surprisingly calm. "I am an oracle, Toothless. That means that I've been given a great ability to gaze into the present, past or future, and every once and a while, I'm allowed to intervene in the lives of those that I see. This gift was not a welcome one, not at first. It was forced upon me."
Toothless grumbled, an unspoken question.
"I've long forgiven any bad blood between I and my gift-givers. After all, I've saved and helped many people because of it." Before Toothless knew what was happening, a hand was raised just before his snout, and he reared back, letting out a small roar of anger.
"Let me show you." The oracle offered, and it took Toothless a long while to calm his anger enough to settle back down. How dare this witch think she could touch him?!
"Please."
The Night Fury's eyes closed, and he heaved a great breath. Hiccup was still asleep beside him, and if this woman planned to do anything to "help" him, Toothless wanted to know firsthand what she was capable of. Reluctantly, he leant forward and allowed her hand to touch his scales, quickly as to keep himself from having second thoughts. Immediately, he found himself assaulted with images of a village, and nearly recoiled.
"Be calm. They are only memories." Toothless snarled, but held himself in place as the images began to flicker. He realized with a flash of anger that what he was seeing was the pathetic little establishment known as Berk.
"What is this?" Toothless asked, seeing from sky-view a small boy playing alone by the ocean's edge. With a start, he realized it was Hiccup.
"I've been watching you both." Magna's voice seemed to float through his head. "Since Hiccup was a child."
The image wavered, and just as suddenly, Toothless was seeing himself. A small Night Fury, less than a quarter of his current size, jumping from rock to rock in a place far away...somewhere Toothless hadn't seen since his hatchling years. Someplace he hadn't thought about in ages. "Since you were with your family. Visions of each of my charges come on their own maybe three or four times a year, if I don't seek them out."
Toothless shook his head and pulled away from her hand as his mind was assaulted with unwelcome memories of Hiccup's earlier days, when he suffered through in that village. The dragon couldn't imagine what he would do if Hiccup were ever subjected to such torment again. He would probably blast anyone who dared to harm him...which, he guessed, would be rather fatal. Not that he minded.
"You're loyal to your rider." The oracle smiled, and Toothless allowed her to stroke his jaw a few times before pulling away into his position by the bed. "There's nothing you wouldn't do for him. Yours is a bond that becomes more and more rare with each year that passes." Her eyes shifted to the area just behind him. She smiled.
"You're dragon loves you, Hiccup. Whether he ever tells you or not."
"He's a good dragon." Hiccup's voice drifted from behind him, and Toothless perked up, turning until he was face to face with his rider and could nuzzle him with his warm nose. The teenager smiled and reached up until he could rub his dragon's neck comfortingly. "He's my best friend."
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Hiccup
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"Thanks." Hiccup smiled slightly and nodded to the old lady in front of him who held out a mug. It felt warm in his shaky hands, and the aroma was pleasant, if not unfamiliar. It smelled faintly of roses, but a little of other herbs he didn't recognize. "So, I guess you've been talking to Toothless. You speak Dragonese?"
"Dragonese, Norse, Latin." She smiled as Hiccup took his first sip, and then another larger gulp. "A few others."
"Wow." Hiccup raised his eyebrows in surprise. When he was younger, his grandfather on his mother's side used to teach him how to speak Latin, but he died before Hiccup could memorize more than a few phrases. He couldn't imagine learning four or five languages other than Norse.
"More tea?"
Hiccup hadn't realized he'd drank all that filled his mug. "Uh, yeah. Thanks. So, how exactly did we end up here?" He surveyed the room, which held more odd and beautiful items than he expected any one person to own. The cavern was large, and he could see passageways probably leading to other rooms in the opposite wall. "We've been over these seas before. I've never seen any homes anywhere around here."
"Not many people choose to make their homes in the Icy Wastes." She shrugged. "I was placed here, in exchange for my second sight. I live here for most of the year, but every other month I'm allowed to leave and visit another land for a short time."
"I can't fathom staying in one place for so long." Hiccup visibly shuddered, though he tried to hide it. It would drive him mad.
"It comes with it's ups and downs." A few baby dragons pattered into her cave and jumped on the bed, chasing each other around Hiccup. "I'm never alone."
"When you were younger..." Hiccup asked carefully, reaching over to scratch Toothless' ears and side-frills. "Did you ride dragons?"
"When I was allowed." The oracle smiled. "That was long ago...and you've reminded me of something." Her expression became troubled. Hiccup never liked those looks, on anyone.
"What's that?" He asked, halfway through his second mug of tea.
"What do you need help with?" Magna's eyebrows frowned. "Believe it or not, but it's you who has come to me, in your time of need. You would not be here otherwise."
It was Hiccup's turn to frown. By now, he understood that this woman was some sort of sorceress who had brought them into her cave so he could rest somewhere warm. From Toothless' vague grumbles, he gathered that the dragon hadn't taken an immediate liking to her, however after nearly two hours of being in close quarters, the Night Fury had begun to accept that maybe the woman wasn't all bad. The dragon had made it very clear also that he had no high opinion of humans who wielded magic...something about their impulsive nature, which Hiccup didn't exactly object to. He'd heard only horror stories about witches when he was younger.
"I think..." Hiccup shifted uncomfortably. He didn't quite know if he believed in magic or not, but he was still hesitant to tell a stranger about his troubles, especially if they involved Toothless. But...how else would they have gotten here?
He shot Toothless a look, who was already watching him. Toothless blinked his big eyes and crooned lowly, and Hiccup got the silent message. He trusted him.
"I think it might have something to do with my ability to learn Dragonese." Hiccup admitted, scratching behind Toothless' ears when the dragon leaned his head into him. "Toothless and I...well, he's all I have, really. We communicate really well, but our conversations were one-sided...so, when I learned that they had a language, I went crazy trying to learn it. It's just that at the rate I'm learning, it'll take forever for me to actually speak it. It's the speaking I have trouble with."
"It's always the speaking." Was Magna's only reply, her voice laced with sympathy. "Yes, it nearly took out my vocal chords as well, when I was first learning to speak. Took me a good twenty years to finally be able to speak freely to my own dragon."
Hiccup's heart sank. Toothless whimpered and looked up at him with those green eyes of his, trying to comfort him. The teen's expression fell, and he was just about to apologize...or maybe even break down, something, because after over a year of believing he could do this, and then being told that it would take twenty years just to have a full conversation with his best friend? He was down, now more than he'd felt in a long time. But did it really matter? Of course he would keep trying...
"But that was because I didn't have help." Magna went on gently. "Your ability will come much quicker, child. Don't you worry. You've suffered enough, don't you think?" She set a hand on his shoulder, still wrapped in a cloth blanket.
Hiccup sucked in a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment. His eyes burned, whether from the lightning earlier or from all the emotion he was suddenly being crushed with. Just when he had calmed most of his nerves, the oracle spoke again.
"You are important, Hiccup." She leveled her bright eyes at him. "You might not think it, or believe it, but you are. Both of you. Now, I know that you may not have had the highest opinion of yourself in the past years, but I'm telling you now...it's you that will make a change one day. You already have."
"Come." She stood on strong legs and headed off into another cavern. Hiccup looked at Toothless.
"This is turning out to be an eventful trip. We were supposed to be back at nightfall. I'm supposed to meet Gilden tomorrow afternoon, and we're still hours away from home."
"Let's get...over with, and then we...home." Was exactly what Hiccup got out of Toothless' next sentence. Which, really was enough.
"Yeah. Let's go, bud."
The cavern they entered was pretty bare in terms of furniture, except for two low tables and a couple of thick rugs. One of the tables held a large flat shell with ashes inside and an array of tools and cloth material right next to it. The other table held something spherical wrapped in colorful cloth, and an assortment of candles and incense. The walls were adorned with herbs of all kinds, tools, pouches of unknown items and crystals hanging from nets and leather strings. Even a few horns and a cluster of multi-colored feathers hung from the ceiling, as well as what looked like sun catchers, though he couldn't imagine how sunlight got in.
Leaning against one of these walls was a flat, black stone about the size of a shield. The rough edges looked sharp and the surface facing them was shiny. Like a dark mirror, Hiccup could see their reflections perfectly, save for the little scratches and nicks in the stone. The whole room was lit with carefully placed torches and a couple of lanterns.
"Are you familiar with magic of any sort, boys?"
"A little." Hiccup answered while the oracle chose a stick of incense and Toothless rumbled something that sounded rude under his breath. "Besides what I experienced today, I guess my old village had an...elder? It always seemed to me like she could do magic."
"Hmm...perhaps. But Vikings are wary of magic. They're often superstitious. It's more likely that she was just wise and revered due to her old age. I know how that is." Magna smiled, lighting the incense by sticking it into the flames of one of the torches. "What I'm about to show you may be a bit nerve-wracking, dear. Or overwhelming. Are you ready for it?"
"I don't know." Hiccup answered honestly. "What is it, exactly?"
"I can't tell you...only you will know, and maybe your dragon. The world you come from is foreign to me." She placed a finger on her temple, and then stuck the burning incense into what must've been a hole in the stone. The glowing tip disappeared, and then something odd happened...the surface of the rock began to get cloudy...smokey. The white smoke came from the place where the incense had been stuck in, and was now making it's way to fill the entire surface of the stone. Was it possible that it was hollow? Magna placed the hand that had been raised to her head on the sharp edge of the stone.
"Let me show you what I first saw when I begun receiving visions of you, Hiccup." Before his eyes, the shiny surface of the rock flashed with a white light and he found himself looking at...himself? The overall quality was a little faded, maybe, a bit smokey in the background, but the colors and image was as clear as day.
"What..." Hiccup's eyes widened. "Oh Thor.."
"I do love children. You were such a thoughtful and kind boy." Magna's eyes crinkled when she smiled. "It set you apart from your peers."
From the light of the rock, a small Viking, looking to be only five or six, sat by a rivers edge. From behind him, a trio of kids approached, but small Hiccup's back was turned towards them as he studied something on the river's bed. So, he couldn't even catch himself when he was pushed into the water by two of the equally young but larger boys Hiccup recognized as Snotlout and Tuffnut. From her seat on a boulder, Ruffnut laughed and kicked dirt in Hiccup's eyes when he resurfaced from the current, lucky not to have been carried away and gasping for air.
The real Hiccup's eyes closed, and from beside him, he could hear Toothless growling.
It's just a memory, Hiccup reminded himself. When he opened his eyes again, he stared at himself, a little older and standing rigidly in front of a wooden slab with knives and daggers stuck all around him. One of said daggers struck the side of his arm, and though it was badly thrown, the real Hiccup watched as blood trailed down the boy's wrist and fingers. Watched as his younger self flinched when another dagger came close to his leg. The images wavered, and then came quicker, flickering to brief instances in which Hiccup was pushed around by bullies, insulted by Astrid, ignored by his dad and alone in his room. More than once he was at the forge, and with each memory he became older though not necessarily bigger, and he began seeing himself with Toothless.
The real Hiccup smiled as stone-image Toothless playfully jumped on stone-image Hiccup on the sands of their new island-home. Boy and dragon wrestled and kicked up sand in their rough-housing, but both of them laughed. Hiccup fell into the waves, but it was nothing like his memories of the stream. Toothless was splashing around right next to him, throwing him up into the air, never in the deepest parts of the shore and always close by. More memories flickered, of homey things like working together to make weapons, interacting with the other dragons, and sitting together in their cave as Hiccup drew or as they practiced speaking to each other.
The teenager sighed. This stone had unsettled him with the very things he tried not to think about...but in the end, Toothless was there. As he had been for nearly all the time they'd known each other.
"Is it too much?" Magna asked softly, as the stone went dark. The smoke still swirled within, and Magna's fingers still rested softly on the edge.
"No." Hiccup answered immediately, and then shook his head. "It's nothing I haven't seen before...do you know who those people are?"
"I know only what I've seen...but that's enough. I know more about you." The oracle tilted her head. "Are you upset about that?"
"Not really..." Hiccup fiddled with the hem of his tunic. "I mean, it's not like you asked for it, right?"
"Thoughtful, as I said. Considerate." She nodded and then paused, seeming to hesitate greatly before speaking her next words. "Dear, I know that you might not like me to being this up...but I've seen your future, and I've seen what would have been if you hadn't have run away from your island. I'd like for you to see a select portion of it."
"What do you mean, what would have been?" Hiccup asked, though he was afraid of the answer.
"Your story is a special one, darling. One that will be told for generations to come. The gods always pack more than a few surprises." She smiled.
"Please just show me now." Hiccup closed his eyes one last time, rubbing his face tiredly. "Before I lose my nerve."
"As you wish." The old woman nodded and again the surface of the seeing-rock lit up. "I'll just jump right into it then, and tell you. There are many ways your fate and the fate of your village could have went." This memory was from that dreadful day in the arena. The day he left his village. Hiccup stood with a stony face as he watched himself getting chased by the hot-tempered Monstrous Nightmare he'd come to know as Hookfang, and then watched Toothless came to his rescue.
"If you're father hadn't have been so stubborn, or if you hadn't have left...if Toothless had stayed in that arena a moment longer," Magna's lips pursed. "Chaos would have ensued."
Hiccup felt like growling himself, when he seen the father who disowned him charging to overtake Toothless. In seconds, the Night Fury was outnumbered and brought to the ground. The teen's heart constricted when he saw his dragon struggling within the confines of a muzzle and metal chains attached to a cart. Toothless was being taken out to sea on a ship...he was drowning.
Thank Odin I didn't choose to stay, Hiccup thought with a heavy feeling of dread, but then felt relieved beyond belief that he had chosen right. He never in his life had wanted to see his best friend so helpless...but it wasn't real. In another lifetime, maybe it would have been, but not here. At least there was that.
"But you would have succeeded." Magna went on, thankfully not watching his expressions. The stone blanked and then presented a confusing sight of a new Berk, one with dragons everywhere; crawling on rooftops, flying over the village, herding the livestock. For a second, Hiccup even saw himself with Toothless.
"What is this?" Hiccup asked, his voice heavy with disbelief, his expression one of shock. "This couldn't have been possible."
"It could have been." Magna disagreed, her voice a bit sad. "In an ideal world, you and Toothless would have prevailed, and humans would have made peace with dragons. You would have reached all corners of the seas with your teachings."
In the smoke of the stone, Hiccup saw Toothless and himself, sledding on Toothless' smooth belly down a long, snowy slope in what the teen recognized to be the forests of Berk. Next to him, Astrid rode a Deadly Nadder Hiccup had named Stormfly not too long ago. The blonde girl had a smile on her face, and Hiccup realized that they were racing. Willingly. Together. With dragons. Having fun.
The sight of his childhood crush made his heart flutter in his chest, and he had to look away for a moment. No matter how hard he tried, he'd yet to completely let go of his past. He couldn't not remember how badly he'd been treated by everyone, and the sadness still crept up on him, some nights.
When he looked back, Magna was looking at him with a mix of concern and a bit of confusion in her eyes, though he couldn't imagine what for. In the smoke of the stone, the alternate-Hiccup spoke animatedly with five other teens he'd known as his classmates and dragon-training group. They each had their own respective dragons, which came as another shock- they were dragon riders? He himself stood in front of a large stone with chalk writing on the front, with Toothless right next to him, and he appeared to be...teaching? Was he hosting a debate or something? Lecturing?
Hiccup couldn't decide whether he was sad or disgusted at this could-have-been reality.
"I think I've seen enough, Magna." The boy said in a dazed voice as the memories still flashed. His green eyes were a little unfocused, and maybe even a little misty, as though his mind were somewhere else. He was thinking about Berk. "Um...I think I need some fresh air."
"I'm sorry, Hiccup." The oracle said, seeming sincere. "I hope this revelation didn't ruin your time with me too much. I thought you should know...hoped it would give you a bit of an advantage."
"Well, you never know, I guess." Hiccup smiled half-heartedly, but there was a look of resignation on his face.
I'll never know, he thought quietly. "Knowledge is power, as my father never said. Listen, guys, I'm gonna go look at the clouds real quick. We should be getting home soon."
With that, the teen drudges out of the room, making his way outside the cave. From where they stood, the pair of oracle and dragon could hear the dragon hatchlings follow the boy out into the night, nipping around his feet playfully before dispersing to find their mothers.
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Toothless
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"That poor dear." The oracle next to him sympathized. They had followed after him soon after he'd left the cavern, and were now standing at the very mouth of her cave, watching Hiccup sit by the shore. Toothless imagined that for a human, the rough black rocks that made up every shore in the Icy Wastes didn't feel too good on his skin. Then, he thought that Hiccup must not have cared either way.
"I try to help him forget." Toothless answered, looking down to where his claws scratched at the dark soil. Wondering how it was that he and Hiccup had ended up together, best friends. They were so different. "They were cruel to him. I didn't know exactly how cruel until I seen for myself tonight. He didn't deserve that. He deserved to have a family who loved him, and friends that supported him."
"He deserves a companion like you." Magna smiled, and Toothless found himself lightly leaning into her touch for the first time. "Odd how it could've took the friendship of such a fierce dragon to bring him out of the darkness."
"I never want him to experience that again. That's not how it was supposed to be!" Toothless' eyes were wide, and the dragon could tell that although he tried to hide the fear in them, his efforts were in vain. He worried for his rider and friend. Scars like his didn't just go away on their own. How the humans treated him...even dragons weren't that bad to each other. "It's been two years, oracle, and Hiccup has yet to form any bonds with humans of common age. I fear that he's lonely."
"Oh, Toothless." Magna chided. "Hiccup could never be unsatisfied with the friends that he's ready made. He values you just as much as you do him...and you're forgetting dear, that although he doesn't have human companions of the right age, he still has you. There's another reason you two have gotten along so well...are you and he not the same age?"
"Don't tell him that!" Toothless groaned in a very human-like manner. "I've never told him. He's under the impression that I'm somewhat older than he is. If he finds out, I'll never hear the end of it."
"False superiority is a bad habit, Night Fury."
Toothless growled playfully, and then yelped as he was whacked on the behind and urged towards the door. "Now go and see how you're rider's doing. He's had quite a night, with many unpleasant surprises."
"No thanks to you." Toothless snobbed, then muttered, "Witch."
"Teenager." Toothless growled, but Magna only smiled and headed off into another room, where the shadows were immediately lit with a bright light. The dragon blinked. "Make sure he comes back in soon, or he'll catch a cold. I have some tea for him that will heal his vocal chords quickly and make them stronger, may even add some volume to that gentle voice of his. I also feel that it's best if the both of you stayed the night."
Without answering verbally, Toothless made a noise of noise of affirmation and trotted off to where his best friend sat in the rocky shore. His eyes were green and caught the moonlight in only the way that his could, but they seemed dry. At least he hadn't been crying, then Toothless really would've felt bad. The dragon crooned softly, and his human greeted him with a smile and a stroke to his head.
"Hey bud." Hiccup scooted closer to the Night Fury as he sat down, and blew in his hands to warm them. "It sure is cold out here."
"Nice, though." Toothless replied softly, casting a sideways glance at the human. Deciding that it was best to get it all out now, while they were alone, he just came out with it and hoped that his message would get across. He gave a soft croon. "Hiccup..."
"I'm okay, Toothless." Hiccup's voice was soft. "I'm more numb than anything else, but I guess that's better than the alternative."
Hiccup's boot kicked gingerly at the rocks, digging for the dark sand underneath. "What did you think about all that?"
"I thought it was a little useless, honestly. I'm sure the oracle meant well, but I didn't really want you to see that." Toothless wasn't sure how much of that Hiccup understood, but knew that it was good to keep his answers long. It was important now more than ever for Hiccup to practice. Toothless NEEDED him to understand...he wasn't alone. "I'm just worried about you."
"I know, bud." Hiccup sighed, looking out into the crashing waves, which were all but slushy with the cold. He was surprised it hadn't started snowing yet- it had back home when they'd left.
"I'm going to try not to let it bother me all that much." He closed his eyes. "It's not like it matters anyway. There's nothing anyone can do to change the past."
"What's done is done." Toothless replied gently, then pushed his head against Hiccup's chest, against his heart, trying to offer comfort.
"I don't care." Hiccup said more firmly. "I'd much rather have one great friend than lots of fake ones. Those kids probably only liked me in that other reality because I'm the reason they had dragons..." Hiccup blinked. "Dragons. In the other reality, there would have been Vikings riding dragons, making peace with them. There could've been peace..."
Toothless interjected with a low growl. He lifted his head and butted his nose against Hiccup's forehead.
"What happened to not letting it get to you, Hiccup?" He softened his voice by force and garbled gently. "None of it was your fault. You're way better off since you left that village. They didn't value you."
"I keep telling myself that. It just..creeps up on me, sometimes, you know? Of course you do." Hiccup smiled, though there was still a certain deep sadness to his expression. "Maybe one day I'll believe it."
Toothless sincerely hoped he would. It was the truth, after all. His rider had too much potential and goodness to be held down by so much doubt.
The human shivered as a cold wind whooshed by, and the first snowflakes to touch the island drifted down from the heavens. Something strange was going on in the direction of home...it looked like a great snowstorm had already begun. Now that Toothless thought about it and looked around, it seemed that a snowstorm had begun all around them, except for immediately around the island. Only a few flakes touches the beaches, and above them he could see stars.
"It's gonna be alright." Toothless insisted, and was relieved when Hiccup let out a heavy sigh and leaned closer to him, allowing a large black wing to wrap around him like a warm blanket.
"Yeah." Hiccup agreed, staring out into the ocean with tired eyes that were no longer quite as sad as they were before. "It will be."
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AN: Just over 8,000 words! So, a little downcast, this was, and a little slow...but, I thought it'd be interesting, you know? To have Hiccup see what would have happened if everything had gone different for him in the kill ring. I dunno...hopefully, it wasn't too bad. The next chapter' be a lot less depressing.
Tell me how I did! Also, thank you to all who reviewed, and please tell me first if you expect an answer to your review, otherwise PM me. Suggestion? Thoughts? Grammar errors? Special thanks to Elements99 for giving voice (words?) to you're interest in my stories. xx Makes me feel good.
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Updated: 6.28.15 - 3:45 AM
