Chapter 3: New Friendships

A/N: Woah! Another chapter? Yup! I think we all know what this chapter is going to be about XD. Also, a note: I made a mistake about Hiccup IV's age, saying he was twenty, but he was meant to be 18, as the rest of the story rests on him being 18. So, I've made the necessary changes. Also, dragon sounds will be marked like ~this~ for dialogue purposes. I'm only testing it out, if it doesn't look good I will update the chapter and change it, but I'm trying it so I don't have to write "the dragon did this" all of the time.

Again, there are spoilers for THW in here sprinkled in, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, I would recommend seeing it.


The black shadow leaped out from the bushes in front of Hiccup, and in less of a second he saw immediately the characteristics of the creature: it was black, bat-like wings, four legs and a single row of sharp, white teeth.

It was a dragon.

Reacting completely on instinct, Hiccup pivoted his left leg clockwise and ducked out of the way of the leaping dragon, feeling its hot breath hit his back as it soared over top of him. As he was completing his pivot, facing the dragon as it landed in front of him, something hard hit him square in the back. The force knocked the knife out of his hand and knocked him to the ground, defenseless.

Remembering from his training that the ground was never a good place to fight from, he threw himself forward from the ground into a sprint. He had lost his knife, and now had no way to defend himself.

He needed to run for his life.

Behind him, he heard a roar again, although this time he noticed it was a bit softer than the previous roars were before. He heard the stomping footsteps for a few strides before a gust of wind hit him in the back, not enough to knock him over but letting him know that the dragon had taken to the air.

Thinking quickly, he made a hard right turn around a tree, hearing the swoosh of the wings as they passed him by. Don't look back, something in mind told him, just keep running. Sprinting through the brush, he soon couldn't hear the beat of the dragon's wings anymore, not even any footsteps. Running for a few more meters, he quickly dove behind a nearby tree and scurried to hide against it. Taking a few seconds to get his breath back, he cautiously peeked around the corner, his eyes scanning the dark underbrush for any signs of movement.

Luckily, he saw none. "Woah," he muttered, bending over to try to calm his racing heart, "That was…woah." He mentally went over the dragon's appearance, trying to match it to the book, but nothing he could remember matched the book. It was too dark to make out any significant details. Maybe I can ask Grandpa, he thought.

"Oh no." His grandpa. Frantically, he tried to think about what could've happened to him. No blood, and the tracks didn't reveal any signs of a fight. Could he have just left?

He contemplated heading back towards their campsite, but going back towards the camp meant possibly coming across the unknown dragon again. He could go around, the island didn't that big, but even then it would take hours. He could also head towards the thicker underbrush near the base of the cliffs and make his way back there, it would probably give him more cover in case the dragon came back. Or, as a very last resort, he could make for the cliffs and climb to safety, leaving his grandpa behind to fend for himself.

"Well, crap. You've gotten yourself between a rock and a hard place thi-"

WHAM!

He felt two hard, scaly paws connect with his right shoulder and ribs, hitting him hard. It knocked him off of his feet, throwing him rapidly into the ground. He let out a quick yell of surprise and pain. He felt claws on his neck and right shoulder, along with the headache from the whiplash and impact blurring his vision for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and grabbed at the claws, screaming for help, but stopped when he heard a low, guttural sound and a gust of hot breath hitting his face. His heart began racing, he started breathing erratically, and his mind was becoming frantic, looking for ways to escape. He opened his eyes, wanting to see the beast that was likely going to end his life. And as his eyes adjusted, he saw it.

Eyes that were a forest green, its pupils no longer slits but rounder, with a low guttural humming coming from its throat. It had two large flaps on top of its head, like ears, but he couldn't tell. It had a head that triangular, with a snub nose, looking almost like a cross between a cat and something else. It had four legs, and its wings were attached to its back, a long tail sweeping behind it. And by the looks of it, there wasn't a prosthetic on it.

It was a Night Fury. And if he wasn't pinned down by it, about to get killed, he would've been awestruck by how deadly and amazing it looked.

The dragon continued in its guttural humming, sniffing him and looking over him, baring its teeth after smelling the armor he was wearing. Not good. It started smelling his hair, making some high pitch warbling sound, while it did so, until it locked eyes with him.

Hiccup was not sure what the dragon was planning on doing now. It appeared as if it was looking into his soul. After what felt like an hour, it shifted its weight to its hind legs and opened its mouth, breathing in as it did so.

Hiccup closed his eyes, silently praying and hoping that, if it was his time to die, it would be a quick one. Squeezing them shut, he steeled himself to go out with some dignity. He noticed the dragon was no longer inhaling, and prepared himself.

Instead of feeling a flame upon his face, he felt something coarse, wet and slimy rub up against his cheek. Is this thing licking me? He put his hands up to try to stop it from licking, but the Night Fury's saliva kept getting in his eyes, and he couldn't rub it out and stop the licking at the same time. From beside him, he heard a voice call out, "Ah, come on now-ok ok ok-stop, come on, stop!" He felt the pressure from the Night Fury being lifted off of him, and a series of growls, warbles and trilling, almost like two dragons were talking to each other. He rubbed the saliva from his eyes, wiping his hands on the armor as much as he could before opening his eyes.

Above him, he saw his grandfather with his hand outstretched, a small grin on his face. "Well, I see you met my best friend's grandson."

"Huh? He's…uhh…he, uhhh…"

"Alright, come down, son. Just take a deep breath, you'll be fine." Behind him, the two dragons seemed to be in conversation.

"He's…They're…dragons…"

"Yes, yes they are-"

"Night Furies…"

"Woah, how did you know that? I only just told you about dragons, how did you know what type of dragon they were?"

"Uh, I might have snuck back into the cave, the one we were at earlier, and read the books you had in there."

"Really? How many books did you read?"

"A few," was his first answer, but upon seeing his grandfather smile, he assumed that he would be able to tell the truth and not be rebuked. "Ok, I read a lot. Several, some of them about dragons, some of them about the history of Berk, and some about your adventures from Berk to the Edge and after Drago, and maybe one or two that had drawings and sketches and stuff."

"Wow. Fast reader, huh?"

"Yeah, well, I was curious, and…"

"And what?"

"It was…It was really cool. I mean, the stuff you did, the things you built, the people you met, the places you've been…It's…It's amazing!"

"Oh, well thank you, I didn't know anyone-"

"No, really, its so cool! My dad has done nothing and is basically a puppet, but you…you actually went out into the world and created real change, on a massive scale! And you learned so much from so many different people, and…it seems like you've done everything. And in only a few years."

"Well, my time from when I was 15 to when I was 22 were probably the toughest times I've ever had in terms of failures and learning. The strain, the toll it took on my friends and I, both scaly and non-scaly, was immense. Now, I know what you're thinking…"

"How is the time you had dragons harder than when you didn't have dragons?"

"Because at that point, we already knew what we were doing. We already knew how to raid, how to fight, how to plan and how to attack and defend, we all had learned those things by that time and it was kind of muscle memory. But, when we were younger, younger than you, we had to learn how to survive on our own. We had to build an outpost and stayed there for more than a year, fighting an enemy that was better equipped and supplied than we were, as well as twice our age and way more experienced. In fact, Viggo, Ryker, Johann and Krogan taught me more than anyone else other than Toothless and my father, because they exposed me to the different kinds of leaders I would face: ruthless, violent leaders and cunning, intelligent, patient leaders."

"Yeah…"

"You know, by the looks of it, it seemed you were looking at more than just the books that were in there," he unholstered the sword form Hiccup's leg and examined the armor on Hiccup. "You like this kind of armor?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Yeah? That's good," He took a step back, looking at his grandson, "You know, you remind me of myself at that age. In fact, you look a lot like me, too."

"Weird, huh?" Hiccup IV had to smile a little bit.

"Yeah." A moment of silence came between them, Hiccup III looking at his grandson standing there, smiling at him, almost like he was proud that his grandson was wearing his armor, armed with his sword, reading his books. It's the way things could've been.

In Hiccup's mind, it's the way things should've been.

Behind the two of them, the dragons continued to make more and more noise, finally catching their attention. "What's going on back there," Hiccup IV asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, that's nothing. Don't worry about that," a smile began to emerge once again on his grandfather's face, "So, you met the dragons, huh?"

"What? No, just the younger one."

"Hmm, ok. Well, how about this? The sun is about to come up, and Toothless hasn't eaten yet. Since the fish are most active at dusk, how about he and I leave to get breakfast, and leave with the younger dragon?"

"Wait WHAT? For WHAT?"

"So you can meet the dragon, don't worry," he laughed.

"So…you…what…wait, no, he tried to kill me!"

"Oh, come on, he wasn't trying to kill you! He was just aggressively showing you his affection and how excited he was to meet you!"

"He tackled me! He, like, completely laid me out!"

"Ok, I admit, he was a little overzealous with it all, but trust me! This will be good!"

"Wait, why do you want me to meet the dragon if he's just going to go back into his…what was it? The hidden world?"

"The reason is why WOULDN'T you want to meet a dragon before it disappears? All of your life, you've lived without knowing of the existence of these magnificent creatures, and I'll admit that was because of me and the Kingdoms keeping a secret for our own reasons, but now you have the chance to actually meet a living dragon! Also, he's not going to go back to the Hidden World for some time, at least Toothless isn't."

"Why?"

"Well, uhh, that's a complicated question."

"I have time…"

"The short answer is because I don't have much time left, and since this is the first time Toothless has seen me in decades, I'm assuming he sensed something was wrong and now he's going to try to make up for all that missed time until it's my time to go."

"You're…dying?" For some reason, this hit Hiccup IV harder than he expected. True, he had only known his Grandpa for not even a full day, yet it still hit him hard.

"What's wrong?" His grandfather noticed the souring of his grandson's face.

"It's just…You're probably the coolest and most interesting person I've ever met, and you're my grandfather…"

"Well, thank you for the compliment-"

"But I just wanted…well, hoped, we could spend more time together."

"Oh. Ok."

"Yeah. Sorry," Hiccup IV rubbed his shoulder, trying to avoid the awkward moment he just created.

"Hey, you know what? I've still got some time left, and I've got nothing to do…"

"Wait, wait no no no, I've…"

"You have what?"

"I…I have to become a king soon, I have to be married soon, I haven't even finished my training yet-"

"None of that matters. In my experience, going out on your own and learning from mistakes you've made in real life is a better teacher than reading about it in some book. You can't be expected to be a good leader without any experience in these kinds of things."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that right now, since you're stuck with me indefinitely, you're going to be learning stuff that your instructors are never going to teach you. It doesn't matter how many languages you can speak if you can't command another person's respect."

"Ok, yeah, but…"

"And you don't even like that stuff I'm assuming! Ok, tell me if I'm wrong: You don't want to become a king yet, if at all, but you want to explore beyond your territory, learning about new and exciting places and people you've never heard of, see the world with clear and open eyes. You want to live an adventurous life because for eighteen years you've been tied down to Berk, yet there's this feeling inside of you that hungers for more, a hunger urging you to search and go out into the wide open world, searching for something you don't even know yet. Am I right?"

"I…Well…"

"Alright, how about this? You don't know what you want in life yet, correct?"

"Right."

"Ok, now I'm going to do exactly what my father did before I and four of my closest friends left to explore: Think of the most important in the world to you. Ask yourself, honestly, how far you would be willing to go to get it. What would you risk?" Hiccup IV stood there, knowing exactly what his answer was, but not wanting to say it for fear of never finding it. "Well, what is it you want?"

"I…I don't know."

"That's true. I can see it in your eyes that's not true. Don't be embarrassed, you can tell me."

"Well…" He took a deep breath and exhaled, "I want to go out into the world, yes. I've always thought there's more to this world than just a few islands and the Kingdoms and the mainland. I've always wanted to go out and see the rest of the world, experience new things, meet new people, live without any responsibilities of a king. I want to explore uncharted waters and lands, I want to live on the razor's edge, and now that dragons exist, I want to learn all about them. I want to learn things I had never known previously or would have never known, I want to learn more about the people who came before me and changed the world. I want… I want to find my own way in life. Ever since I first heard about you and your raids, I felt like something out here was pulling on me, trying to drag me out of Berk, and I used to think it was just the guilt of being related to you, but now I know its not. It's…It's this feeling of not knowing what's out there and wanting to know, to go as far as my curiosity takes me. I don't want what my father wants for me or what the Kingdoms want for me, I don't even know what I really want yet. But what I do know is I want to find it, I want to go out and find that thing, the purpose of why I'm here. The most important thing to me right now is finding a purpose in my life, something I can believe in without ever having to doubt myself, something I can fight for, and something I can carry with me for eternity. I want to find out who I am, what my purpose is, and I'm willing to risk everything I have for that. I swear." The two of them stood there, one breathing a sigh of relief, anxious about the other's reaction but excited because he finally got to tell someone what he wanted to do in his life.

The other? He couldn't be more proud. Here was his grandson, someone he'd never thought he'd meet, telling him that he wanted to go into the world and find out who he was. The same thing he'd wanted and found in his life, now he could help someone find that same thing. Here before was a red-haired, lanky eighteen year old who wanted to explore and find out more about the world, willing to leave home indefinitely and sacrifice his birthright for it.

In almost every way, he was looking at himself in the past, a mirror image of himself, wanting to right the wrongs done to him and others while trying to find what he was meant to do in life. And, judging by how quickly and eagerly he had taken to learn about dragons, he figured that it probably had something to do with them.

It made him proud knowing that even when he was gone, there would be someone who would know of the existence of the dragons, and possibly even protect them from the dangers of civilizations and humanity.

"So…Did I answer your question?"

"Yes. Yes, you did."

"Ok. That's good, because…"

"And with that, I'm going to leave-"

"Wait, what?"

"-because it is now your turn-"

"No, no no no where are you going?"

"-to make some new friends, ones you didn't think existed-"

"Grandpa, this isn't funny!"

"I'm going to leave you with some fish," he threw down some supplies and a bag of fish, freshly salted, "Alright, you two kids have fun!" He called as he walked through the tree line, soon replaced by a bounding, excited and happy jet black dragon. Behind the tree line, not a few moments later, he saw a black blur shoot off from the ground into the sky, roaring as it went.


It's going to be a long day, Hiccup.

His grandfather had only left a few minutes ago, but sitting in front of a Night Fury made it feel like hours. On the bright side of being left alone with this dragon staring at him, he was finally able to see in it it's full glory. The light of dawn beginning to come over the horizon behind them made it easier to see the dragon's characteristics, like the two earlike flaps on top of its head, the nubs underneath them, the slim frame of the dragon, the long tail, wings, all of it.

Under normal circumstances, he would be in awe of the appearance of the dragon, stunned merely that it existed. As if the existence of dragons wasn't enough of a shocker, he would admire the dragon's regal appearance, how it sat up completely straight, like the statues of the lions near his house, signs of royalty, power and respect.

However, given that not long ago he was running scared from it, along with the fact that the dragon nearly dislocated his shoulder and almost destroyed his ribcage, he decided that it would be better to be a little more cautious of the dragon.

He sat on a log, about 10 feet from the dragon, a staring contest between the two. Something was off about it though. Now that he could see the dragon, it seemed a little more scared of him than before. Wonder if it was because another one told it off, or something. He analyzed the dragon a bit more. It was not a large dragon, it's body was about the size of a smaller cow or a very large man, but the wings and tail made it look a lot bigger. He remembered from the Book of Dragons reading that the Night Fury wasn't the largest of dragons, but he still surprised that it was smaller than he would've thought. Maybe they grow up to be really big, or something.

A few minutes of the staring contest had passed before the dragon made a small warbling sound. It laid down and chirped at the bag at Hiccup's feet, looking between him and the bag intently.

It took Hiccup a few seconds before he realized, "Oh! A-a-a-are you hungry? You want some, uhh…" he opened the bag, "want some fish?"

The dragon warbled and sat up, sticking it's tongue out and wiggling its tail. Is it smiling at me?

"Ok, well uhh… here ya go!" He tossed a fish towards the dragon, watching it catch the fish, chew it a few times, then throw it up in the air and swallow it whole. It was weird, yet somewhat cool to watch. "You want another one?" He held the fish out tentatively, watching how it slunk towards him, cautiously opening its mouth.

Then, in the blink of an eye, teeth shot out from its gums, taking the fish whole. "Woah!" Hiccup pulled his hand back the second the fish was gone, not wanting to risk losing a limb, but he smiled. "Forgot you had retractable teeth, I got that from my grandpa's book." He pulled another fish out, tossed it in the air and watched as the dragon jumped and caught it, swallowing the fish before its feet even touched the ground. "You know, you're actually pretty cool," he said, about to reach down for another fish when he heard a weird noise come from the dragon. He looked up, noticing how its throat was contracting with the sounds. "Hey, are you ok? Are you choking?" He hoped it wasn't choking, because he really didn't know how to save a choking dragon.

He took a few steps towards it, about an arms-length away, when it turned towards him. He noticed that its eyes had turned to slits, which worried him, and slowed his approach. The dragon then turned to him, and what happened next was something that Hiccup didn't read in the Book of Dragons.

It regurgitated half of the fish, right onto his feet. "Ew! Oh, come on!" He kicked the fish off of his feet.

The dragon hissed at him, before grabbing the fish in its gums and dropping it on his feet again.

"What do you want me to do for this?" He gingerly picked up half of the fish, "Do you not like this or something?"

The dragon warbled, nodding its head to the fish and to him.

"What?"

Its eyes shot from him to the fish and back once again.

"Wait…no…"

The dragon licked its lips.

"No, oh, come on!" He smelled the fish, "Oh come on! This was in your throat! You ate this!"

~warble~

"No! Here, you eat the rest of it!"

~grrrrrr~

"Oh, come on! Man…" He took one more whiff of the fish, "Come on Hiccup, why are you even thinking about doing this. Oh, yeah, because there a couple tons of mythical dragon in front of you telling you to do it. Ok, ok ok ok okokokok-" He took a breath, closed his eyes, and took a bite of the fish.

The taste was probably the single worst thing he'd ever had. He almost spit it out the second he bit into it. "Mmmmmmm," he held the rest of the fish out towards the dragon. Maybe it'll take the rest of it and then I can spit it out later.

The dragon, unfortunately, did not want the rest of it. It swallowed at him.

"HMM?" Oh, come on! You actually want me to swallow it?

~Chirp~

He started to swallow the fish, but it came back up. Holding his mouth, he forced the rest of the fish down. It was definitely the worst tasting thing he had ever had. "Bleh, that was so bad. Just…ugh, disgusting." He went to go get some water from his grandpa's supply bag, noticing how the dragon followed at him at a distance. He drank some water, realizing it wasn't helping his stomach digest the fish and decided to remove the armor so he could air out. He removed the leather armor, leaving only his shirt, pants and boots. He turned around, expecting to see the dragon ready to ambush him with affection, but was surprised to see that it was backing up a little, sniffing loudly as it did so. "What's wrong," he took a few steps towards it, but it backed away, almost like it was uncertain of who he was. "Hey, hey, it's ok…Wait, why am I comforting you, I barely know you."

Then it dawned on him. He looked back towards the armor then back towards the dragon. "Oh, I get what's going on. You were more comfortable around me because you recognized the smell of the armor! You associated me with my grandpa!"

~warble~

"Ok, so you…don't really know me yet, huh?" He slowly took another few steps towards the dragon, which seemed to trust him a little more at least. He took another fish and gave it to the dragon, which it seemed to appreciate at least, although he was really hoping that it wouldn't make him eat another part of the fish. He sat down on nearby log, letting the dragon get comfortable around him before going any further. "You know, I think there was something about this in the Book of Dragons…"

The dragon cocked its head. "Ok, so let's see…" He closed his eyes, trying to remember what the book said about Night Furies until he heard a scrambling of feet in front of him. He opened his eyes to see the dragon was gone, but after a cursory glance around, he saw it hiding behind a rock. "What are you up to?" He walked towards it, seeing how it crouched slightly as he got closer and got down from the rock. "Are you playing hide and seek or something?" As soon as he said that, the dragon ran out from the rock and ran behind a tree, it's tail poking out from behind it. Not two seconds later, it changed spots again, this time running from behind the tree to go behind a small boulder a little further back.

Hiccup walked towards the dragon, still unsure of what was going on, but once he decided that it wasn't any sort of trap, he became more enthusiastic.

The gap between him and the dragon began closing until Hiccup was running after the Night Fury, which it seemed was not as nervous of him as before. As the two ran through the forest together, the Night Fury looked back at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth, eyes wide and full of happiness, like a big, scaly puppy. Hiccup himself laughed, jumping over the logs and branches, squirting around the trees and rocks as he ran after the dragon.

Eventually, the two of them came to a clearing, surrounded by some very large stones that seemed almost unnatural. There were no trees in the clearing, and the stones were set upon what looked like giant mounds of dirt and rocks. Hiccup, taking a moment to gather his breath, was intrigued by the stones. He moved closer to investigate them, noticing something different about the mounds and rocks than the ground, until a low growl brought him back to the Night Fury.

"What?" He resumed walking towards the mounds.

~grrrrrrrr~. He stopped again.

"What is it? Do you not want to go near these? Is that it?"

~huff~

"You know, this would be really easy if you could, I don't know, speak English. Or, I guess it would be easier if I understood you. God, can you imagine if dragons had their own, tangible language?"

~warble?~ The dragon lifted its head and tilted its face, ears perking up. It reminded Hiccup of a confused puppy.

"You know, like if dragons like you could speak in a real language, as opposed to growling and roaring and moaning and warbling and stuff like that. What would call a language like that?"

~wuff~

"Dragonic? Draconic? Dragish? Wait, hold on, I got it!" The dragon perked its ears up again and the corners of its mouth lifted, almost like it was excited. "Are you ready?"

~warbles in excitement~

"We'll call it…Dragonese! Good, right?"

~huff, grrrrrrrr~

"What? You don't like it? Oh, come on! It's good! It's cheesy, but it's a good one!"

~warble~

"You don't think you can do better?"

~laugh~

"Oh, what, is that a challenge? You don't even know what a language is!"

~chirp~

"Alright, first let me show you what a language is," he ran off to the treeline and grabbed a stick from the ground to draw letters in the dirt. The Night Fury seemed interested in the drawing, and walked over a little closer to him. "See, this one here is 'A', it's the first letter of the alphabet, then there's 'B'…" He went through all of the letters of the alphabet, scribbling them in the sand in a circle. "Now, do you think you can do that?"

To his surprise, the Night Fury seemed to laugh at the challenge, running off to the tree-line and snapping a branch off of a low tree, trotting as it came back. The branch it had was at least a time and a half the dragon's length. "Are you sure that's not too big for you, bud?"

~warble, huff~

"Ok, well then show me what you got!" What happened next astounded Hiccup. While he expected not to see any letters being written, the Night Fury seemed to grasp the concept of individual characters in the alphabet, and made twenty six unique scribbles in the sand below Hiccup's alphabet, dropping the stick when it was done. "Ok, so…wow…That's…That's really impressive!"

~happy warble~

"Wonder if you're any good at drawing…Here, look here," he walked over to an empty spot towards the middle of their dirt alphabets, "Can you draw though? I used to dabble in it, so let's see if I can't best a dragon…no, let's see if I can't best a Night Fury." He began sketching the outline of the Night Fury's head, taking note of the floppy ear flaps, the stubby, wide nose, the eyes and the wide, grinning mouth and five minutes later, he was finished with the sketch of the head of the unholy offspring of lightening and death itself.

~long warble~

"You like it?"

It looked at him. ~happy bark~

"Great, glad you like it! The head is a little too narrow for my taste though, also your eyes were a little tou-hey what are you doing?"

While he had been critiquing his own sketch, the Night Fury seemed to like enough to try his own drawing, picking the large branch back up and making these large, sweeping lines in the dirt, groaning, warbling and chirping as it did so. Hiccup watched the dragon sweep all around him, hopping and bounding on four paws, standing up to two paws, bending his neck to and fro to get everything right.

Hiccup watched, fascinated by this creature who he had only met last night, and now, as dawn was approaching and the first hints of the sun approaching the horizon, was showing signs of intelligence on a scale that he had never seen before. It grasped the concept of a language, it was drawing, not to mention its responses and the sounds it made in response to Hiccup's comments were to him a form of a vague understanding of what he was saying, not on a basis of a few simple words, but nearing a conversational level. It was astounding, and he smiled, "And to think that you guys hide yourself from the rest of the world. You're so amazing and fascinating, why would you do that?"

~warble?~ It looked up at him, the stick still in his mouth, white teeth having shaved a lot of the bark off of the branch.

"Nevermind, that's something for another time. Are you almost done!"

~ruff~ It quickly made another few sweeps with the branch, almost smacking him in the head with the leaves, before setting it down outside of the circle of letters to admire his work. He seemed impressed with it, even nodding in approval.

Hiccup, on the other hand, could not tell what it was. "What…in the…" He scratched his chin, looking around at the lines trying to make out what it was supposed to be, but he couldn't tell. He took a step forward to try to get a new angle-

~grrrrrr~ Hiccup immediately retreated back to his original spot, looking at the dragon's eyes turn to slits, like it was offended.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what it is! I just need to see it from a different perspective…" He took a step forward again…

~grrrrrr~ The dragon seemed angry again, and Hiccup retreated once again.

"Oh, come on! I don't know what you want me to-" He took a step again, making the dragon angry again, before it clicked. He looked down and saw that his foot was on one of the lines the dragon had drawn, and he saw what the dragon was mad about. "Ohhhh, you don't want me stepping on your work?"

~croon~ The Night Fury seemed satisfied with that, and backed off a little. Deciding to make his way out by playing the dragon's little game. He put his left foot between two of the lines on a spot of untouched ground, pivoting his right foot to another free spot. He repeated this over and over, sticking his tongue out in concentration with his head fixated in the ground. Ok, so if I put the left here, right foot here, go here, there, then I go this way…

Eventually, after dancing his way around the ring, his right foot made it outside of the Night Fury's puzzle. Finally, he thought to himself. He carefully brought his left foot out, and looked up, expecting to see the dragon staring at him, but he didn't see the dragon and didn't know where it had gone to.

Until, that was, he felt a breath of warm air hit the back of his neck. He turned around to see the Night Fury sitting on his tail and two hind legs staring right at him with these big, green eyes that looked happy, but a jumping around kind of happy. It was excited, but it was restrained in that the Night Fury seemed to know this was something very important, and it should therefore not act like a hatchling.

Hiccup didn't see it instantly, but soon, he caught on, his eyes widening slightly upon realizing how close he was to the dragon. Only then did it occur to him that he was the first human in decades to have seen a dragon, the first in ages to get this close to it. He was born in the second generation after the dragons retreated underground, their existence already reduced to myth. He had not seen nor heard of dragon remains, the only tales of them being told as legends and myths, creatures of power and destruction, fire breathing reptiles with a primeval sense of good and bad. Up until last night and this morning, the only pictures he had seen of dragons were in storybooks, and they were not anything special, essentially just lizards with wings sprouting on their backs. He had never given a second thought to dragons as a myth, as something existing outside of tall tales and legends and mythology.

And yet, here he was, standing in front of one of the most powerful dragons of them all, a Night Fury. Not only were dragons real, they were intelligent. He had just seen how a Night Fury could grasp language, how it could understand him and draw, how it could form complex thoughts. This was not primeval, unintelligent creature who dealt out death and destruction, this was an intelligent, gentle, albeit excitable, Night Fury. And there was something about it that Hiccup saw was fascinating, something that drew him in for more, something that started to make him question what his life had been before this.

In the nanosecond after looking into the Night Fury's eyes, he began to see something, something that brought out a part of him that he didn't know existed. He began to see the possibilities that dragons could hold, how many avenues it would open for him to explore and learn more about the earth he lived on. He began to see himself traveling all over the world, discovering things that had not yet been seen before, meeting people beyond the borders of the mainland Kingdoms, learning something new each and every day. He saw himself with this Night Fury, not merely as a creature, but as a friend one that was, in many ways, like himself. He saw the similarities they shared, how alike they were, and had a feeling that there could be a great friendship between the two of them. This Hidden World they lived in was one of them, an underground haven for who knows how many dragons, all living down there peacefully and happily. No wars, no conflict, no destruction. He could learn so much from them, not only about themselves, but about himself and the rest of humanity, too.

Put your hand out to him, a voice in the back of his head told him. Hiccup put his hand out towards the snout of the dragon, but it moved its head to the side, like it was shying away from him. No, not like that. Put it out to him, but let him choose to come to you, it said.
Hiccup obeyed the voice, putting his hand out slowly towards the dragon, but stopped short of touching the dragon. He closed his eyes, and waited.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Hiccup, with eyes still closed, took a deep breath, and turned his head away, hoping that maybe the dragon hadn't crept away, that maybe there was still a chance for him to learn all about dragons through the Night Fury. He outstretched his fingers, and waited.

It was not a moment after that when his palm felt something smooth, scaly and warm come into contact with it. His fingers felt it too, and his heart jumped out of his chest. Not wanting to startle the dragon, he opened his eyes and slowly turned his head, looking at the Night Fury. It had closed its eyes, leaned forward and put its head into his hand, snout fitting perfectly into his palm. He felt the black scales of the dragon and the warmth beneath them, vibrating with the dragon's deep purring. Slowly, the dragon opened his eyes as well, staring at him. Hiccup felt like the dragon was looking into his soul, seeing how the two could teach one another, how they could both benefit from one another.

They held their position for what was in reality a minute, yet for Hiccup, it felt like an hour. By the time they both pulled back, the sun was already in the sky, the orange morning glow bringing a red sheen to the dragon's scales, still black as night. It was magnificent, and all Hiccup could do was marvel at the dragon he had just befriended.

There was something exciting about it. He felt like he had made a lifelong friend, if his grandfather's relationship was anything to go on, and it was exciting to think about the future. He didn't have to worry about becoming a king, or winning any wars, not even who he had to marry. All he had to think about now was how to make the perfect saddle to ride his new dragon.

"Well, I take it you both got along pretty well, then," a voice called to him from behind, "How about Toothless and I take you up for a little bit of a first flight?"


A/N: I was going to have this be two chapters but I wanted to end it after this scene because 1.) I didn't want to overdo this chapter and keep this moment special and

2.) Next chapter will make more sense if it's just…well, look at the last line…
Also, Chapter 1 will probably be going to get a rewrite here soon, so stay on the lookout for that. Nothing too big, just wanting to bring in more depth to the background of the Kingdoms presence on Berk and the HiccupIV/Asher relationship.