Chapter 3

Sticks and Stone

A/N- Yes, I am borrowing the title from the end song in HTTYD. Jonsi owns the song and title though. =)

Hokay, so here's the Earth… just kidding. =P

I'm going to try not to drag the beginning of this story too much. I don't think too much of the introductory blah-blah is necessary though. =) I will be detailed and descriptive as much as possible though. So expect that to increase.

As always I appreciate feedback, so be sure to review if there's something you liked or something you'd like to see more of (story-wise I can't make any guarantees as to whether or not I'll include your ideas or not- but I will consider it to say the least). I write by my own standards (but I am responsive to comments made by readers in general).

Well, I think that about covers everything that needs saying for this chapter. I'm going to move the rating for this story down a rating (and will move it back up if the need arises). So far I don't think there's a need for an M rating.

Need I say it? Oh, very well. THANKS FOR READING!!!

Happy, Toothless? (Shrugs) At least Toothless is at any rate.

Toodles,

-Don ^_^

Hiccup's body curled into a ball as he fell and he felt the pull of gravity on his prosthetic leg, making it hard for him to resist the already inevitable fall. He could only hope that he'd fall slowly enough for Toothless to catch him, but the thought soon left his mind as he saw the slowly approaching tunnel of flames that first swallowed Toothless and then Hiccup. The flames tore through his clothes, burning into Hiccup's arms. He was infinitely glad that he was wearing a thick fur vest or his entire back would have been burned as well. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and his fall quickened, forcing the air from his lungs momentarily. For that moment, he felt nauseated and his senses were thrown into a whirl, not that they weren't already. Hiccup turned his head as he saw Toothless emerge from the flames to swoop underneath Hiccup, growling his concern at his rider's burns.

"I'm fine, Bud," Hiccup said, though he knew he really wasn't. His burns were already sending a cold shiver through his body. Hiccup winced as he set his prosthetic leg down in its stirrup. He almost didn't want to see what had happened to his legs but did anyways. Both pant legs were almost completely burned away and pieces hung loosely to reveal the severe burns that lined Hiccup's leg and what remained of his other one. He sucked in his breath and turned his head around as the attacker appeared out of the clouds once more.

"Odin alive," Hiccup's breath barely managed to mutter, half in awe and half in horror. The monstrous dragon flapping its way towards Toothless and Hiccup was not only twice the size of the Green Death, but it was an unusually familiar shape.

"Toothless, please tell me that's not your mother," Hiccup said, forcing his legs to not lose their grip on the saddle. It was becoming increasingly difficult as Hiccup was steadily losing the feeling in both of his legs. Toothless let out a roar and shot fire at the incoming dragon. The oversized Night Fury let out another roar and sent another tunnel of flames, this time knocking Hiccup clean off the saddle and causing him to fall, this time straight into the water below.

Astrid let out a grunt of frustration as she threw yet another ax at the tree she'd been using for target practice. Not only had she not been able to hit the same place more than once, she was also unable to locate her Nadder, Rooney, for most of the day. The dragon had decided to take a long flight and hadn't returned for her daily training with Astrid. Why Astrid had decided to call her dragon Rooney, she didn't know. It was a name that had come up when she'd been talking with her mother and the dragon liked it so much that it stuck.

It was better than the names of the other dragons in the village. Snoutlout, in his excitement had decided to call his dragon "The Killer" which had translated to the dragon as "Triller" so that stuck. The twins named each head themselves, Ruff calling hers "Buff" and Tuff naming his "Brute" as the dragon had the annoying tendency to barge into the fights Tuff had with his sister at all the wrong moments.

Fishlegs had gone with the name "Boris" since he had had a fascination with the name since his first pet had shared the same name. Unable to think of anything else and seeing as the Gronkle had no issues with its new namesake, it stayed as well and to Astrid's dismay, Boris ended up being a much more normal name than her choice.

Astrid was about to throw another ax when she heard a low roar and trees crunched as her dragon made a characteristically ungraceful landing next to Astrid.

She sighed, "Do you have to make an appearance every time you land?" Astrid gave her dragon a look of pained exasperation and in response Rooney snorted smoke into Astrid's face before the dragon let out a low roar and jerked her head up, gesturing to the sky.

"What's wrong?" Astrid questioned. The dragon continued to wail and jerk her head towards the sky to the point where Astrid was forced to climb aboard the dragon and hover in order to see what was wrong.

The sky was normal up until the mist started, and there in the midst of the mist was a growing ball of flames and every so often Rooney would wince as if she'd been struck.

"Rooney, what's going on?" The dragon jerked her head from side to side now, as if trying to rid herself of a thought. "Rooney!" Astrid groaned, realizing that she wasn't getting anywhere with the dragon's jerking and roaring. She would have to investigate the matter herself. Astrid quickly situated herself, but before she could take off, a loud crunching noise turned her head.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Astrid blinked to see that not only had the rest of the trainees arrived in the forest, but they were all with their dragons.

"Why should it matter to you?" Astrid asked, narrowing her eyes. Snoutlout, who had spoken first, frowned.

"Because Triller wasn't shutting up and the rest of the dragons seem to have lost their nerves," Snoutlout jerked his thumb back at the rest of the trainees. "We're wondering if you know anything about it."

Astrid shook her head to the dismay of the rest of the trainees, "I don't know, but I have a hunch," She glanced up at the sky where the mist was steadily growing into what looked like a giant storm cloud of gray smoke and flame.

"That's the direction Hiccup went in," Fishlegs said and then caught himself when he noticed that Astrid had twitched at the mention of Hiccup's intended destination. Astrid then urged Rooney into the air.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Snoutlout yelled, climbing aboard his own dragon.

"Where else?" Astrid said, her blue eyes flaring, "To find Hiccup and Toothless. I have a good idea that they're the center of whatever's over there." In a second all the other trainees were on their dragons and hovering next to Astrid and Rooney.

"You're going to need this," Ruffnut said, tossing Astrid a bag, which she caught and inspected. It was filled with rations and supplies for travel. "You really don't know what you're doing, do you?"

"Like you do," Tuffnut retorted, receiving a punch from his sister.

"I think we should, um, go, Guys," Fishlegs said nervously and the others followed his gaze to the growing cloud and flames as it expanded. Astrid needed no second telling as she urged Rooney into the sky once more, this time followed by the other dragons and their trainees.

Toothless let out a low wail of despair as he watched in horror as his rider fell into the crashing waves of the water below. With his current engagement with the massive Night Fury, Toothless was helpless to do anything to aid his friend, and didn't like it one bit. Toothless let out a low growl before he sunk his teeth into the leg of the other Night Fury before letting loose a flame into its left wing. The leathery skin sizzled and then ebbed away to the point where the dragon was thrown off. Toothless wasted no time in using the distraction to dive bomb towards where Hiccup had fallen.

The dragon slowed as he approached the waves, jerking his head left and right to look for where Hiccup was, but didn't see him. A roar shook the sky and the massive Night Fury dove, quickly gaining on where Toothless was hovering. The small night fury turned his head up and as the larger dragon opened its jaws, he shot a blast of flames into its mouth. The large dragon coughed and then responded by shooting a blast of flames into the water and then winged itself away, a soft cry emitting from its mouth.

Toothless roared, his cry almost drowned out by the steady growing of the storm as it gathered momentum. The waves crashed against the few rocks nearby but nowhere did Toothless see his rider. Growing panicked, Toothless let out an unearthly wail and then shot a purple blast into the mist above him.

Toothless then jerked his head around as he noticed a small figure near one of the rocks. Somehow the limp form wasn't floating away and as Toothless flew lower he noticed the brown hair of his rider. Toothless dove down and noted that the only reason Hiccup hadn't drifted under the water was the fact that his prosthetic leg was lodged into a crevice in the rocks and though it was at an awkward angle, it had managed to keep him from falling off the small platform and into the water. Toothless gently touched down beside his rider and used his teeth to pry Hiccup's prosthetic leg from the crevice.

With his rider in his claws, holding on as firmly as possible without hurting Hiccup any further, Toothless took flight, flying further into the mist until an island loomed in the distance. He hadn't even noticed how far his fight with the other night fury had brought him from where they had flown originally. He could only hope that it wouldn't be long before Hiccup woke up. Toothless landed on the shore of the island, laying Hiccup on the ground before Toothless.

The small boy was pale and still hadn't moved. Toothless made a low moaning sound and nudged Hiccup, but the boy did not stir. Toothless snorted and then backed away, breathing a small amount of fire onto the ground before pulling Hiccup into the warm embrace of his wings. Toothless gently rested his head on his rider's chest, but didn't feel the steady thumping. With a frightening whine through his nostrils, Toothless let himself hug Hiccup tighter.

When nothing happened, the dragon let Hiccup out onto the sand again. Two yellow and mournful eyes regarded his rider. It was then that Toothless heard roars from the sky and immediately bared his teeth and moved in front of his rider, poised to attack.

"Look! It's Toothless!"

"Where's Hiccup, can you see him?"

"He's-"

Several thuds shook the sand as the trainees and their dragons landed. Immediately Astrid leapt off of Rooney and rushed forward, only to be stopped by Toothless, who was growling, not moving from his place in front of Hiccup.

"Toothless, it's us," Snoutlout said, stepping forward but backed off when Toothless' snorted fire onto the ground in front of him, a clear indication that he wasn't going to let anyone near Hiccup. "Astrid, you've got to talk to him."

Astrid felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as Toothless' growl grew steadily more defensively aggressive. The dragon was clearly frightened for Hiccup and because of it wasn't going to let anyone near the boy.

"Toothless," Astrid said in as calm a voice as she could manage, "We need to get to Hiccup in order to help him." She took a step forward, causing Toothless to growl and snarl. "It's the only way, Toothless." The dragon didn't seem to be listening because he snapped his jaws and pawed at the ground, backing away so that his wings sheltered Hiccup from the rain that had started to dot the ground in a light drizzle.

"Astrid," Fishlegs said in a low voice. She didn't turn. "Astrid, look." With some irritation she turned and then looked up, now seeing why Fishlegs had sounded so frightened.

Hovering in the sky above them was an entire flock of dragons, all of them black Night Wings and in the center was a Night Wing twice the size of the Green Death. Its left wing was badly singed but it seemed to fly just fine without the wing bothering the dragon.

Silently the dragons all glided down to where the trainees were all standing, their own dragons baring their teeth at the newcomers. The largest dragon stepped forward and seemed not to register the other dragons or their trainees as it approached Toothless.

Steam emitted from the dragon's nostrils as it stood over the smaller Night Wing. For what seemed like an eternity the two dragons stared each other down before Toothless let out a warning growl. The larger dragon lowered its nose and touched it to Toothless' own. Slowly Toothless' growling subsided and he let out a rumbling purr from the core of his chest.

"What is he-?" Snoutlout began but Astrid smacked him in the chest. The boy fell silent, though not without a wary glance at the large Night Fury. Toothless then blinked and then began to once more shelter Hiccup with his wings. The larger dragon's eyes glowed with an indecipherable light and mix of emotions. With one look at Toothless, who was now cradling Hiccup and then another at the rest of the flock, stepped forward. The dragon touched its large nose to nudge Toothless until he let the larger dragon see Hiccup.

Astrid's breath held. She couldn't be sure of what this larger Night Fury wanted or what it thought of Hiccup or Toothless. For all she knew the larger Night Fury was an enemy of Toothless and had been the cause of Hiccup's current state. The larger dragon then pressed its nose onto Hiccup's chest and immediately the boy sputtered and he choked water from his mouth and then lay back on the sand.

The dragon then turned its head to face Astrid, as if to say, "It's alright now." Though what was alright with the fact that the dragon had known exactly what to do to help Hiccup was beyond Astrid's scope of understanding and she was positive that no dragon, unless it had been around humans, could have known just how much pressure to apply to a human in order to revive someone who was unconscious.

Astrid found herself becoming steadily more and more perplexed as the scene before her grew clearer. It was obvious that this flock of Night Furies knew Toothless and that at this point she knew that they weren't enemies. Beyond that Astrid could only make a guess as to what was going on.

Suddenly Astrid found the larger dragon's eyes resting on her. The yellow ovals narrowed and then widened, as if searching Astrid for her true intentions. The eyes bore deep into Astrid's body and went the dragon finally returned its eyes to their normal position, Astrid felt extremely vulnerable.

Then she turned her head to where Hiccup lay, still very much protected by Toothless' wings. All the Night Furies were calmly sitting a good distance away from their leader now that they sensed nothing was amiss. Astrid looked at Toothless, who had now stood up and was looking at the large Night Fury with an expression that Astrid had seen many times before.

They had found Toothless' family. The large dragon turned its head to regard Astrid as if to affirm her realization.

"You can hear me, yes?" Astrid nearly fell over. The dragon's piercing gaze rested on her. The mouth of the larger dragon was moving and Astrid could only jaw her own mouth in stunned silence.

"It is surprising that you have lost your speech, Ki'shna," The larger dragon then said to Toothless, who could only make a small growl in response. The name uttered by the larger dragon sounded more like a cacophony of humming noises that Astrid could make out to sound like "Kiii-sh-nnaaa." It was a beautiful harmony but it was one that Toothless had never uttered in all the time that Astrid had known the Night Fury. She doubted Hiccup had ever heard such a harmonic sound from Toothless either.

"What do you mean he lost his speech?" Snoutlout blurted. The large Night Fury turned its head to look at Snoutlout.

"All dragons are born with the ability to harmonize and thus are able to speak through pitches to any and all creatures, even humans, who have terrible voices," The dragon squinted as if trying to erase the painful sound of Snoutlout's voice. "That is why you can understand me now. Ki'shna understands you as well, but he has unlearned his ability to sing by spending time among other speechless dragons." The large dragon looked over at the rest of the dragons, who seemed to falter under the larger dragon's gaze. "I was trying to sing to Ki'shna earlier but he didn't understand me so he attacked.

"I feared he was under attack by humans when I saw the boy on his back," The dragon looked over at Hiccup. "But it seems I was wrong in thinking that of someone Toothless has come to regard as kin."

Astrid looked at Toothless, who was still staying close to Hiccup, but his ears were moving to listen to the words the larger dragon was humming.

"You all are lucky to have spent as much time around dragons as you have," Another one of the Night Furies said, "It is because of this that you can understand us to the extent you can. Though your voices sound horrible."

"Gi'laaa," The larger dragon hummed in a lower octave, silencing the other Night Fury, "There will be time for idle chatter later. Right now we must all get out of the storm before it hits." The larger dragon spread its wings and nodded to Toothless, who scooped Hiccup onto his claws and then the larger dragon looked to the trainees and their dragons.

"Well, Young Ones, shall we?" The dragon's wings spread and nearly reached from the gathering of Night Furies to the trainees in wingspan. As soon as all the trainees were mounted, the dragons took off, following the largest Night Fury into the far reaches of the mountains on the island.

They passed over forest after forest, lakes, plains, and then cliffs loomed in the distance with a cave large enough to swallow the entire village of Berk and then some. The Night Furies landed inside the cave, folding their wings back as they walked inside.

As soon as all the trainees were inside, Astrid looked up as two of the Night Furies landed and placed a piled of logs, sticks, and stones in front of her feet. The Night Furies then followed their kin to the back, leaving the trainees, their dragons and the largest Night Fury.

"Build your fire, it will get cold at night," The large Night Fury hummed and then lay down, resting its head on its front legs, still watching the trainees as they built their fire.

Astrid cast a glance backwards at the dragon, wonder lit in her eyes. She then re-focused her attention on Hiccup as Toothless laid his rider next to the campfire that had just been built. She pulled out a blanket and gently eased it under Hiccup's head. Without pausing she then went through the supply pack until she found the bandages and salves.

The large dragon watched Astrid silently, yellow eyes soft and almost with a gentle regard for the girl. She then turned to look over at the large dragon. "You haven't told us what your name is," Astrid pointed out. "I'm Astrid, this is Hiccup," She gestured to Hiccup, "That's Snoutlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and the one on the far end is Fishlegs."

The large dragon inclined its head, "I am Kuuwaay," The dragon sang, "I trust you've realized by now that I am Ki'shna's parent."

Astrid paused at the singular use, "What happened to Toothless-I mean Ki'shna's mother?"

The large dragon turned his head to look over at Toothless as the small dragon watched over Hiccup with a watchful eye. "The same storm that separated Ki'shna as a hatchling also separated him from his flight with his other parent or mother as you humans sing it," There was a sad sound in the hum of the dragon as he sung the last few words, "Her wings were broken in the storm and as you may have already realized, a dragon without wings, is a fallen dragon." Astrid winced at the words. They were the same ones that Gobber had used when teaching the young trainees how to kill dragons in the ring. If it hadn't been for Hiccup, she wouldn't be here having this conversation with a dragon of all creatures.

Then Toothless must have found the nest with the Green Death in it as a substitute parent and begun to live by causing terror on Berk. No wonder there weren't any other Night Furies around the nest, Toothless wasn't from there originally. It all made sense now. Astrid returned her attention momentarily to bandaging Hiccup's cuts and the small gashes he had on the back of his real leg and torso.

Toothless let out a low moan that sounded to Astrid like a cross between, "Is he okay?" and "I'm worried." The two were definitely similar sounds and Astrid knew them well from her own experience.

"He'll be fine, Toothless," Astrid assured the dragon, who growled again to show that he would keep watch. Kuuwaay looked at his son and then at Hiccup, a smile, a well formed smile that was different than the ones Toothless usually showed, crept across Kuuwaay's features in a content way that only a parent could express when looking at a child.

Astrid had to smile herself at that before returning to finish bandaging Hiccup's injuries and then using the salves to treat his burns. As the fire dimmed, she forced her eyes to stay open. Even Toothless' head and eyes were starting to droop in unison but he force them open as well, his gaze still watching over Hiccup.

It was only when Kuuwaay brushed his wing over the smaller Night Fury that Toothless drifted off to sleep with the reassurance that his father was watching over the entire cave. Astrid soon found herself comforted with the fact, after all, what was safer that being watched over by a giant dragon?

She didn't manage to answer before sleep took her.

A/N- Woo, that was a long one. I hope you guys liked it. =)

Again thanks to the following people for reviewing, alerting, and/or favoriting:

Celestial-Kitsunei

Zego

FuyuSarah

Kenyon Trials

You guys rule!

Until the next time!

This has been,

Don "QuixoticQuest" ^_^