Hilo. That took longer than usual. It also accrued to me that I haven't been doing my disclaimer. Whoops. That is why I am writing this from jail. Just kidding. But, since I need to do one, I kidnapped a friend of mine to do it for me because I am incredibly lazy. Now, readers, say hello to…Astrid. Astrid, say hello to the readers.

(Astrid) Where am I?

You're in my Mind Palace and that was not a hello.

Why am I tied to a chair?

I don't know what you're talking about. You know what…just read the notecards I gave you.

Fine. Despite what an amazing, awesome, astounding, awe-inspiring, benevolent… OK I am not reading all of these.

*grumbles and snatches notecards, grabbing the last one and handing it to Astrid* Well, you have to read this one.

…And completely insane person GiftedGal is, she does not own How to Train Your Dragon.

Thank you. You can go. *snaps fingers and ropes and handcuffs disappear.* Here's chapter four.

Chapter 4

Turning my back on the boy, I blasted the ground with a small stream of fire. I circled the area once and then lay down on the still-smoking patch of earth. Too bad I can't do this when it's raining, I thought. The chirping of a bird caught my attention, and I followed the sound to see a little white and gray bird perched on the edge of its nest, high in a tree. It hopped of the nest and flew away, and my eyes followed it, and came to rest on the young human.

"Leave me alone." I growled, before shifting on my makeshift bed so I was facing him, then used my single-finned tail to cover my head. My ears pricked up as I heard him moving and I lifted my tail to look at him. He was a lot closer now. Startled, the boy jumped to his feet.

"Anyone ever tell you how annoying you are?" I grumbled as he walked away.

Later that evening, I was hanging from a tree by my tail with my wings wrapped around me, sleeping. I woke to the smell of that human. Is he still here? I thought. Sure enough, I spotted him sitting on a rock with his back to me. Curiosity winning over, I dropped to the ground and trotted over as quietly as I could. He was writing something in the dirt. Peering over his shoulder, I saw he was drawing a picture of me. Well, my face. It was good too. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and continued drawing. My eyes followed the stick as he continued to draw me, and I cooed in approval when the sketch was finished. I thought for a moment before walking away, heading over to the trees and ripping a branch off one. Returning to where the human sat, I copied him, running the branch through the dirt. I paused for a moment and glanced at him before continuing. I spun around and whacked him in the head with the leaves; which may or may not have been on purpose.

When I was done, I sat back and nodded in satisfaction.

"Perfect."

The human looked at the lines in the ground with amazement. He took a few steps forward and accidently stepped on a line.

"No. Off." I growled.

He lifted his foot of the line he was stepping on.

"Good."

He set his foot down again.

"No."

He stepped off the line.

"Yes."

He stepped on the line.

"Seriously, stop that." You'd think he would have gotten the message by now.

He finally stepped over the line.

"Good job, genius." I said, jokingly, like I was talking to a…friend. I pushed the thought aside and returned my focus to the teenage Viking, making a point to call him a Viking in my thoughts, to remind myself why we couldn't be friends.

The boy kept walking, careful not to step on any lines. We didn't have to go through the whole process for every line he came to, thank Thor. Twisting and turning, he stepped through the maze of lines and ended up right in front of me. I snorted, and my breath ruffled his hair. He slowly turned and took a step back. The boy held out his hand, and I narrowed my eyes and growled. After pulling his hand back, he looked at the ground and closed his eyes before slowly extending it again. The hand stopped a few inches from my muzzle, seemingly glowing in the evening sun. Hesitantly, despite my instincts, I pressed my nose into the palm of his hand. In that moment, something clicked and I felt a bond form, connecting us. I yanked my head back in surprise and sniffed, then bounded away. I glanced back briefly to see a mix of wonder and confusion on the face of my human before he turned to leave.

My human.

I nearly tripped over my own tail. Where in Odin's name had that come from? I was still trying to puzzle it out as I lay down for the night. I shook my head violently. I'm losing my mind. He's still a Viking; a strange one, yes, but still a Viking.

Except I wasn't sure that was true anymore.

I had meant to stay up and think, but I was asleep within minutes. It had been a long and interesting day.

§§§§§§§§§§§§

The human, Hiccup, (as I learned his name was) was back in the morning.

"Hey, Toothless." He called.

He gave me a name. I thought, stunned. Dragons don't have names, see. It's very rare, and we are taught to believe they aren't important. I, however, had always liked the idea. I got rather tired of dragons calling me 'Night Fury' or 'Hey you'.

Toothless. I like it.

I watched Hiccup intently as he trudged over to where I sat. He was lugging a basket over one shoulder and a cloth-wrapped package over the other. He grunted, setting the obviously heavy basket on the ground a few feet away.

"I brought breakfast. I hope… I hope you're hungry." He kicked the lid off the basket, and dozens of fish spilled out. My stomach growled. "OK, that's disgusting. We've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel."

I was nosing happily through the fish, but I jerked away when Hiccup mentioned eel. Eel were poison to dragons. I growled suspiciously at the pile. He reached into the heap and pulled out a long, black and yellow striped eel.

"Hiccup, eels are enemies, not food." I snarled.

"No, no, no, no, no! No, it's OK." Hiccup tossed the eel far away; then whipped his hand on his vest. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much, either."

I cautiously resumed shifting through the meal, and a few moments later I had put the whole eel incident behind me and was gulping down fish.

"That's it. Just stick with the good stuff." I was vaguely aware of the human moving slowly backwards, but I was too focused on my fish to care. "And don't you mind me. I'll just be back here, minding my own business."

I flicked my tail back and forth as I ate, and didn't bother to keep an eye on Hiccup. I didn't really trust him; not yet. I stuck my head in the woven basket, snatching the last fish and swallowed it, enjoying the felling of a full stomach for the first time in a while. I shook the basket off when I felt something leather tighten around my tail. I shifted my tail slightly and my wings dropped in surprise. Where my tail fin had been missing, something had been attached. It almost felt real, fitting almost perfectly against my tail. I wondered if it would help me fly, and decided to give flying another shot. I raised my wings and ignored Hiccup, who was muttering to himself.

I crouched down low then leapt into the air, catching the wind under my wings. I started to fall and I couldn't turn, and I braced myself to hit the cliff when whatever was on the left side of my tail moved, and I moved along with perfect timing, angling myself upwards. I couldn't believe it. I was flying. Actually flying. I closed my eyes for a moment to enjoy the feeling of my wings slicing through the wind, something I never thought I would feel again. Once a dragon was crippled, they could never fly again. A downed dragon is a dead dragon.

The object on my tail sent me cruising back to the cove, and I had to go along with it, or fall out of the sky, so I positioned my base fins and tail fin and continued to beat my wings. As I coasted over the lake, my pure excitement was interrupted by something called reality. I couldn't be flying on my own; something, or rather someone, was helping me fly. I glanced behind me. Sure enough, Hiccup was perched on my tail, operating a fake tail fin identical to my own except made from brown leather. Acting on instinct rather than sense, I flung him off my tail, sending him splashing into the water. When I threw the boy into the lake, it had slipped my mind that he was the one who controlled the fake tail fin and allowed me to fly.

Stupid, I scolded myself as I plunged into the icy water. You were flying! Flying! The thought brought back my giddy happiness, and when Hiccup let out an excited 'Yeah', I couldn't help but join in.

Later that day as the sun was setting, I was curled up on the burning patch of ground I had made and was replaying the events of that day. If it weren't for the fact that Hiccup had left the prosthetic fin strapped to my tail, I might have thought I imagined it all. Hiccup had helped me fly. I was devastated when I had realized I would never fly, but had pushed aside the self-pity and focused on survival. Hiccup had gotten me into this mess, but he had also helped me out. Definitely not a Viking thing to do. I wouldn't be able to fly without him working the fake fin, but a part of me was OK with that.

Maybe he was my human after all.

Yay finally finished! Cookies for anyone who can find the reference to Finding Nemo. I had just watched the movie when I wrote that bit. Anyway, if you found it, tell me through review. Hey… that rhymed. Anyway, the other chapters may be a bit slow because my portable DVD player, which I have been using to help me write, is BROKEN! NOOOO! Now I will just have to steal the computer from my parents whenever possible. (The one I write on is mine, but it doesn't play movies. Frown.)