AN: Well, I'm very sorry about the delay. Work had been extremely busy and the only chance I have to work on this is on the weekend. I know that ending on such a cliffhanger last time probably wasn't the best chapter to have a delay, but at least it's here now.

I give you:


A Fury's Tribulation

Quintessence of Equilibrium

Part 2


The feeling of having one's heart sink to the depths of the unknown. The feeling of losing everything that one holds dear. The feeling of failure beyond the point of coming back. I knew everything the moment I saw that weapon, that person, that betrayal. I knew that my retaliation would be worthless, but I was still willing to proceed with it anyway. My defense may be futile, but at least proceedings would happen with my heart not quite as heavy as if I had lain down and accepted my fate as a coward

I looked up to the ledge on which I had once stood before tumbling down into what I now saw as a prison. The two men that stood there now, watching, waiting, targeting- they were out for blood. My blood.

I never once thought about the consequences of turning into a dragon and simply living my life in the woods. I never once thought about what could potentially happen if someone came looking for the old Hiccup; the old Hiccup was not one I cared to remember, but it seemed that pushing him out of my mind had been to my detriment. Never in a million years could I have thought I would be facing what could very well have been my death, my demise, by the hands of my own father.

Time seemed to slow as I saw Gobber taking aim with Ballista.(1) I saw the target that he had within his sights. I saw the Night Fury, who was completely oblivious to what was about to come down upon him. Even with time slowed to a crawl, there was never going to be enough of it. Even if I could save him from one shot of the weapon, there was nothing we could do. The next, and the next, and the next would soon bring us to our knees. We were both trapped among the high cliffs that surrounded us. One of us injured, the other lacking experience. We had little on our side in terms of an advantage. It wasn't a level playing field.

As I shouted to my friend to catch his attention, I heard the snap of Ballista being fired. The projectile sailed through the air just as intended. The weapon was flawless; I knew it would be.

I designed it.

Toothless instantly looked up from where he was laying, just in time to be hit. The shell of the encased shot exploded upon impact, producing an ear-splitting sound that was loud enough to send animals scurrying for miles around. I immediately fell back on the rock in which I was standing on, forced to helplessly watch as Toothless struggled to clear his eyes from the debris of Ballista.

There was nothing I could do. The mere sound of the weapon was strong enough to paralyze the strongest of dragons for over a minute. I could only watch in horror as my father and Gobber nimbly descended the cove walls into what I now expected to be my final resting place.

I could hardly move; with my paws pressed down on my ear plates with as much pressure as I could muster, I had to watch as my father raised his weapon towards Toothless. When I was finally able to release my paws from my ear plates, the ringing in my head began to wear off. I leapt off of the rock and sprinted over to Toothless, thankful for the little bit of training that I had received from the dragon.

I barreled into Toothless just before I heard the weapon fire, successfully avoiding the incoming bola net. We both fell straight into the pond that occupied over half of our cove, but with the near-freezing temperature of the water, I was out so fast that one could have thought that I walked on water. Toothless scrambled to get to his feet, not knowing which way was up or what had essentially just blinded him. I called over to him to encourage him to swim my way; all the while, Gobber and dad were reloading their weapons.

Toothless managed to finally remove most of the debris from his eyes thanks to the water. He leapt from the frigid water and scrambled to my side. || Hiccup, we need to get out of here, now! ||

Both of us were warily backing away from the two Vikings as they aimed their weapons at us once more. "How do you propose we do that?"

Toothless watched carefully as Stoick pulled his weapon close, ready to fire. As soon as he pulled the trigger, Toothless barreled to the side, effectively evading the net once again. || We're going to have to eradicate these mortals! It's the only way that we'll be able to get out of here safely. ||

Just as he finished speaking, Toothless bounded over to my father, his teeth and claws unsheathed and ready to kill. I felt my heart drop in my chest as the Night Fury barreled towards dad. I couldn't let him kill my father; even though I would most likely wind up being killed instead, I couldn't let him die in my place. It was my destiny to die in this gulch, and mine alone; I was not willing to give up my doomed fate to another, and especially not my father, little though he did for me during my human lifetime.

I took a few leaps and slammed into Toothless just before he made contact with his target. We both rolled several yards away from our attackers, with Toothless landing on his feet, ready to go again. || What the hell is your problem!? I could have killed him right then and there! ||

I scrambled to my feet as Toothless started approaching me in anger. "We can't kill them! He's my father!"

The dragon looked over to the adversary just in time to see another shot from Ballista heading in our direction. We both scattered from the area, but the explosion still managed to impede our senses with the incredible reverberations. I could hardly move, the sound effect nearly crippling me. Toothless, however, managed the task of getting to his feet and charging into Gobber, successfully managing to knock the weapon away in the process.

We both collapsed on the ground, trying to rid ourselves from the aftershock of Ballista. My father rushed over to help Gobber get to his feet. They quickly started reloading the net launcher together, as it needed two people to do so. Even the burliest Vikings were unable to reset this mighty weapon; the power needed to overcome that of a dragon was far greater than a single Viking could muster.

I finally managed to stumble to my feet; another hit of Ballista, and I would have been down for good. I looked over at Toothless, who was also staggering to his upright position. "Can't we settle this in some peaceful sort of way?"

Toothless looked to me then back to my father just as he finished reloading the weapon. || If you want peace… then prepare for war. ||

The Night Fury once again started barreling towards the weapon wielder, ready to slaughter him for all he was worth. I knew it was a suicide mission, but I had to stop it. I took off once again, this time with determination fueling every bound. Just as I hit Toothless, my father fired the weapon. We were both sent rolling to the side, only this time we were encased in a corded trap.

As we came to a halt, Toothless desperately tried to free himself from the rope entanglement. I knew that it was hopeless to try and break free; it would only tighten further around us.

I watched as Gobber ran over and picked up Ballista. He forced one more shot into the weapon's barrel. He glanced quickly between us, deciding whose head to take aim on, picked Toothless', and fired.

Just as when I first spotted the men, perched on the ledge above us, time slowed down once more. Sound seemed to completely escape from my ears as I watched through blurred vision, Gobber and my father walking towards us, forms blurred by overwhelming despair and the aftereffects of the explosive weapon.

I could feel Toothless struggling to move as he attempted to escape, but as a blinded, deafened, and flightless Night Fury, it was no use. We were both subject to whatever my father had planned. Toothless could fight as much as he wanted, but there was no plausible way out of this predicament other than a quick and merciful death. Although it did not seem so quick and merciful when we were on the receiving end.

I observed, with the little vision I had left, as my father raised his hammer and slammed it down onto Toothless' head. The body that had once been flailing and fighting with no intent to give up suddenly fell limp beside me. All at once, his violent movements came to a screeching halt, ostensibly a lifeless soul.

My father came to stand over me, staring down with an exasperated expression. He gave me a look of disgust, as if I had been the one to take away the human version of myself. He raised his hammer and took one last look into my eyes. His movement halted, his eyes were frozen on mine. I could almost see him thinking that I was still Hiccup. I lifted my head slightly, hoping that he would see the person that was encased within the body of a Night Fury.

My hope fell as he managed to banish the thought from his mind. He shook his head in annoyance and brought down his weapon. The pain was quick, and nearly absent in its flightiness.

I fell away into the shadows of my mind.

###


###

We stood over the motionless, almost lifeless bodies of the two Night Furies, heaving for breath; the battle had taken so much out of us. It was as expected, we knew that the dragons would be difficult to put down, and they didn't disappoint. We were fortunate that we managed to catch them, what with Night Furies being the deadliest of the dragon species. Even though we came out victorious, I couldn't stop thinking that we got lucky.

We were the first Vikings to even see a Night Fury and live to tell the tale; it was astounding that we actually managed to capture them. Which didn't help my reasoning that we did it alone.

I couldn't believe how much the smaller Night Fury looked like Hiccup. The resemblance stopped me dead in my tracks. I had noticed that the eyes of the beast were an exact replica of the boy's very own. Even though the larger dragon had similar eyes, there was no doubt that the eyes of the odd looking Night Fury were exactly like Hiccup's once were.

The dragon even looked up to me as if it were trying to tell me something.

I couldn't believe it.

Of the hundreds of dragons that I had killed in my lifetime, not one of them had stunned me as the one seemingly marked by acid that lay before me had. I had never thought twice about taking down a dragon right then and there. Until now.

I let out another exasperated sigh, and looked down at the Night Fury again. "Gobber, I need you to go get the others. Bring back several men, as well as something to transport these beasts back to the village, and some muzzles to keep them from attacking."

I could feel Gobber looking over at me with a questionable face. He was no doubt wondering why we couldn't simply kill the beasts right away. To be honest, I wasn't sure why myself. I just knew that I needed to get another look at the Night Fury. If he was the one to have killed my son, I wanted him to be fully awake as I ripped his heart from his chest, still pulsating weakly with the last few droplets of blood it would ever force through it atria, gently dripping down onto the soon-to-be lifeless body of the beast it had been taken from.

Gobber remained exactly where he was, still questioning my motives. "Just go, Gobber! Just go and get the remaining Vikings so we can bring these dragons back to the village!"

The man apparently needed no further motivation, as he quickly removed himself from the cove and back into the forest. The man had always been excellent at watching my back, and his perspective was more often than not one to be considered, but this was something I needed to settle myself.

I sat down in front of the net that surrounded the two reptiles. I continued to loom over the dragons, examining all of the distinct features each possessed. The two dragons differed far more than I could have ever imagined. I couldn't stop thinking about all the destruction that they had caused to our village, how such a relatively small dragon could create such an impact, or devastate so many lives.

But while unconscious, they seemed to be essentially harmless. The two dragons simply lay across their paws in a rather cat-like manner. The ear plates that protruded from the tops of their heads seemed to have reflected their emotions while we watched them from above.

I shook my head and turned away from the deceiving creatures. I didn't want to think about how they could be peaceful when they had done so much to prove themselves otherwise. I didn't want to think about how they could be simply misunderstood, when I knew very well that my wife had been killed by one of their kind.

My mind kept tracing back to the battle, back to how we should have lost. At the time it didn't really occur to me, but now that I thought back on it, it almost seemed like the smaller one was trying to protect us. It was like nothing that I had ever seen, one dragon diving onto the other in order to prevent his attack.

But... why would he be protecting me?

It made no sense whatsoever. The smaller dragon clearly didn't want the other to try and kill us. Did he want us all to himself? Did he want to kill us in a different way? Neither of those ideas made sense; nothing was adding up. It was obvious though, that when I made eye contact with the strange looking Night Fury there was fear in his eyes, the same look of fear that Hiccup had.

After what felt like ages, I saw a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. I threw myself into a fighting stance in case I needed to kill the beast that was in question. I quickly unsheathed my sword and held the blade over the Night Fury that was slowly coming back to reality.

And once again, I saw his eyes.

The smaller dragon looked up at me with a clearly worried face. He was obviously afraid of what was coming to him. Maybe he had seen what we had done to the dragons that we captured. Maybe he knew that the short lifespan that he had remaining would be excruciating and dreadful.

The one thing that was puzzling me was why he wasn't putting up a fight. Dragons never simply gave up. They always resisted until they were locked away for good. The beast before me had no such intentions.

He simply stared up at me with his emerald eyes, pleading. Pleading for what? Does he expect me to just let him go? Does he want me to just release him to be on his merry way? Does he expect me to lay down my defenses and set him free!?

But when I thought I couldn't have gotten any crazier by thinking that a dragon was capable of forming coherent thoughts besides fly, shoot and run,he shook his head.

My heart nearly skipped a beat. I thought that I was seeing things. There was no rational way for me to explain it, he had answered my question. But how did he read my mind? How did he understand my thoughts enough to make a response? Was it just a coincidence?

But then it happened again. His head shook from side to side just as a human would.

I glared down at the dragon, infuriated. "You did not just shake your head at me! There is no way that you could understand what I'm saying, much less read my thoughts!"

The dragon shrunk down in fear. He didn't know how to respond to my anger, he didn't know how to react.

I was breathing heavily, my mind racing, and my heart pounding. I shrieked from anger and picked up my hammer. The Fury continued to look up at me in fear, shrinking down to the ground.

There were voices echoing through the forest. I knew that Gobber was finally returning with the other men so that we could bring the ruthless animals to Berk. I shook my head once more at the horrified dragon and brought down my hammer, the blow knocking him out immediately.

Just as I was recovering from the swing I saw Gobber crest the rim of the cove. He looked down at me with a questionable face. I simply turned and walked away from the Night Fury.

After a few more moments I could feel Gobber's presence at my side. He walked beside me and whispered quietly. "Is everything alright, Stoick? You looked a little spooked when I first spotted you here."

I heaved a deep sigh and shook my head. "It's nothing, Gobber. I'm still just a little shaken up about Hiccup. I feel like it's all just a dream."

Gobber gently patted his hand upon my back and let out a sigh of his own. "There's no need to try and be a hero about this. You have gone through more than any other Viking on this god-forsaken rock. I don't think anyone expects you to simply forget about Hiccup and move on. We wouldn't expect that of anyone."

I closed my eyes and slouched slightly. I wasn't tired from battle, tired from lack of food or water, tired from the long night that I had to endure. I was tired of being distressed. My heart was aching, and the rest of my body was following suit. It was not my time of pride and authority, it was a time of mourning and bereavement, and there was no room within me to do much more.

I slowly looked up to the closest friend that I had as a tear streamed down my cheek. "I need you to be the chief right now. I need you to get these dragons back to the village. I-…. I just need some time to myself."

He didn't say a word. He knew that I didn't want him to. I just wanted him to agree and do as I instructed. He simply nodded, and walked back to where the other villagers had huddled around the unconscious dragons. I could hear him telling the men what to do as I started to ascend the rocks to leave the cove for good. Nothing he said formed into intelligible words to me, remaining just a dull murmur of voices and commands.

If Hiccup's death had yet to hit me, then I knew that it came at that moment. My heart dropped as I took each step away from the cove. I desperately wanted to go back to that night. I wanted to go back and embrace him and his notion about the Night Fury. If I would have followed him into the forest we could have killed the beast together, and not had to deal with the harsh reality that was now taking place.

I'm sorry, Hiccup. For everything. Odin knows I should have told you this before.

###


###

I could feel my aching head as I was being carried along to whatever wasteland the mortals had in mind for me. I could feel the strengthened bonds that wrapped all around me, along with the metal shackles at my feet. I was truly lost as to how I came into my predicament. I remembered the two mortals coming to fight us, I remembered attacking the two vile creatures, but everything else seemed to be an indistinct blur.

I could feel each and every rock that the cart I was strapped down to passed over. I could hear the constant yammering that the beings around me insisting on vocalizing. Each of them seemed to be ecstatic that they finally had brought down the infamous Night Fury, a few of them curious about who would get to kill the vicious reptile.

Nothing of what the men said gave me any sort of clue as to how I fell into this trap. I kept replaying the situation through my mind, but nothing came to light. The two men must have been more formidable than I had initially assumed.

It was nearly testing my sanity as to why I couldn't figure out how I had ended up where I was. I remembered Hiccup, me being livid with him for something. But... why? Where is Hiccup?

I snapped my eyes open to see several men in front of me pulling at ropes that were attached to the cart I was on. I could see the forest around me, the gray sky above me, none of which seemed too familiar. I looked to my side and saw the dragon that I was captured along with. His breathing was erratic and shaken. His eyes seemed to be clenched as tightly as he could muster, simply wanting to get out of the current situation. His binds were just as voluminous as mine, surrounding him and ratcheting him to his own cart.

It wasn't a pleasant sight to see.

He looked frightened, as if his worst fear had been realized. I could hear his heart pounding and his nervous breaths quickening. I knew that he needed to relax; his heart rate needed to be controlled and he needed to put his mind at ease. || Hiccup. ||

In complete opposition to how I had initially seen him, his breathing ceased, his heart rate slowed, and his eyes shot open to reveal refined slits. He looked over at me with a guilty expression. He didn't want to state the obvious about the situation that we were in. He allowed his breathing to continue as he let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Toothless."

His apology caught me off guard. Why is he saying sorry? What did he do wrong to get us into this mess? I cocked my head as much as the muzzle would allow to show my confusion. || About what? ||

The Fury's eyes widened and he slowly looked up to me. "For getting us captured, it was all my fault. I-…. I just couldn't let you kill him."

I was about to protest when everything flooded back. I remembered him jumping in front of me just as I was going to attack. I remembered him tackling me, which ended up with both of us being intertwined in a net. I remembered him screaming for me not to kill his father. I remembered it all… and it infuriated me.

My ear plates fell to the back of my head and my eyes shrank to slits. I could feel the fire burning in the depths of my throat, desperately wanting to be released upon his unfortunate soul. If it wasn't for the constricting leather that wrapped my snout, the fire would have met its target as soon as the realization had dawned. || You betrayed me. ||

My voice was so low and venomous; it nearly pained me as the words rolled out. I couldn't believe it. After what we had gone through, after what I did for him, he would still let me die over the one that was trying to kill him. I shook my head in disgrace and looked away.

"Toothless."

|| Don't call me that. It's not my name, it no longer degrades me. ||

There was silence for what felt like an eternity. Even the mortals had seemed to fall silent as they wended their way through the forest, pulling with all their might at the carts we resided on. I didn't dare look over to the dragon that had deceived me. I couldn't handle the loss of what I thought was nearly tangible. I couldn't handle the feeling of embracing something so tightly, only to be thrown aside.

Maybe this is why I never had a family.

After about an hour of silence I heard Hiccup speak up. "You can't assume that."

It had been so long since we had spoken that I had forgotten what he was referring to. || Assume what? ||

"You can't just base your theory about all families betraying you on me. I understand why you're upset with me-"

|| Oh, you understand, do you!? You understand that the only person that I ever allowed to get close to me took it for granted, and then threw me aside like I was worthless! You understand that for centuries I never so much as spoke a few words with others, much less let them into the depths of my heart! You understand that for the first time in my life, I thought I had someone I could call a brother, only for them to stab me in the back! ||

I was so caught up in my anger as I glared down at Hiccup that I hadn't realized that the cart had stopped moving. The mortals were turned around, staring at me as I growled menacingly at the dragon beside me. One of the men seemed to shrug off the situation as he scoffed at me. "Looks like these two have some issues of their own they need to settle."

The others shrugged, and turned to start pulling the carts once again. My eyes remained locked on Hiccup as he looked up at me in guilt. He knew very well that I was right. He knew very well that I should have killed the men while we had the chance, and he now knew very well why I was so astonished that he would betray me.

I continued to glare at him until we entered a clearing. I looked away and saw the many buildings that the mortals had built. I could see the damage that had been wrought by the most recent dragon raid, and I could see the towers that I myself had destroyed not too long before. I looked around the village to watch as each window was shut to avoid glimpsing the deadly Night Furies. Well, at least one.

The group that was transporting us remained silent. The entire village stayed silent. There were five young members of the village that watched us as we rolled by. I could see Hiccup staring at them intently, as if he knew them very well. I assumed them to be his former friends, even though he had told me how much he was ridiculed by the group of Vikings. I couldn't care less about the younglings though. None of them seemed to pose any threat. Each of them looked to be completely unintelligent or too malnourished to put up a fight.

I looked away just as I heard one of them speak up. "Looks like Hiccup was right about there being a Night Fury in the woods. Too bad he was too foolish to ask for help before trying to take one down."

I glanced over to Hiccup, seeing that the comment had hit him hard. His posture seemed to fall into an even more depressive state than the one he had already been in.

One of the larger mortal children decided to voice his opinion on the subject before we were out of earshot. "Hiccup was just stupid. Everyone knows the only Viking in training that could capture a Night Fury is me. He was just the only one dumb enough to go and start looking for one."

I rolled my eyes at the overly cocky teenager, and turned forward to where the mortals were taking us. We started our way down a wooden bridge that led to a metal cage-like structure. I wasn't sure what it was intended for, but I was sure that it wouldn't have been a place to release dragons and give them food and shelter.

We were rolled into the structure, and I could instantly see the burn marks scorched on the inside walls. I noticed the remains of several weapons and shields that the mortals used to protect themselves scattered around where we had been brought, which seemed to be an arena of some sort.

One of the two men that we had originally fought pulled down on a lever that was mounted to the wall. After a few moments, two large doors swung open to reveal a small cave dug out from the rock. The two of us were wheeled inside and turned around to see the doors close around us.

I looked down that the cart I was mounted to. It didn't seem to budge even in the slightest as I fought against the restraints. It was clear that I was going to have to wait until the mortals released me to make a break for the entrance, which seemed highly unlikely. Especially with the few men that remained in our cell.

I looked over to Hiccup with disgust. || So this is what you do with the dragons you capture? You chain them down and starve them!? ||

He didn't bother looking up at me. He simply kept his focus on the ground below him. "It's much worse than that."

I shook my head in bemusement. || What could be worse than starvation? ||

He slouched down slightly and let out a sigh. "This is where they train the Vikings. It's where they bring out dragons to fight the young warriors. They keep the dragons fed just enough so they will still fight. That is, until they die from training."

I turned my head as a low growl escaped my throat. || And you say that dragons are malicious creatures. ||

Once again, there was silence between us. Nothing but the constant chatter of the men behind us broke the stony wall of silence that had been built so quickly to separate us from one another once more. I couldn't help but listen in on their senseless chatter. One of them seemed to be oddly amused by the fact that I was missing one of my tail-fins. I know who to thank for that.

Hiccup turned toward me, obviously hearing my thoughts as I emphasized them. His look of sorrow did nothing to lessen the loathing I had for him at the time.

"Why does this dragon have two tail-fins and the other only has one?"

"I don't know. Why does this one have green slashes across its body while the other is solid black? Probably because they were born that way, imbecile."

I rolled my eyes at the idiotic conversation that the mortals were having. Isn't it obvious that mine was taken from me?

One of the men laid his hand on my tail, examining the damage that had been done. I instantly whipped him in the face for daring to lay his hand on me. "Ouch! Damn dragon."

He rubbed the tip of his nose where I had made contact and gave me a glare. One of the other men was laughing from his friend being hit in the face. "That's what you get for questioning things too much."

The curious man shook his head and walked over to Hiccup's tail. He eyed it carefully then walked back to look at mine, from a distance of course. "I'm serious. This one had half of its tail removed. Remember what Gobber said? A dragon without its wings or tail is flightless. I'm sure that this one can't fly anymore."

"Why does this matter in the first place?"

"Don't you see? A downed dragon is a dead dragon. I bet this other dragon was trying to help it escape when Gobber and Stoick found them. That's probably why they were able to capture both of them."

"I still don't see why this is an issue. Why does it matter if one can fly and the other can't?"

The man stood up from beside my tail and unsheathed his sword. "Because it means that this one can still escape."

The other man started to catch on to what the man was getting at, and unfortunately I was as well.

I looked over at Hiccup, who was still zoned out and looking at the ground. || Hiccup, you need to move your tail. ||

He glanced up at me with a incredulous face. "Why, so you can bite it off?"

I shook my head as the man started to walk behind Hiccup. || No. You need to move it out of the way before that man cuts it off! ||

Hiccup cocked his head and glanced back to the men behind us. Just as the man raised his sword, everything seemed to click for Hiccup. He shrieked and immediately started to pull back his tail, but just as the man's sword came down and Hiccup pulled away, the two made contact. A clean slice tore Hiccup's right tail-fin clean off.

I flinched at the sound of Hiccup's cries of pain. The blood immediately started flowing from the gash, coating the floor below in red. The Night Fury roared in pain as he desperately tried to free himself from his binds.

I could do nothing but watch.

For the first time since we were captured, I felt bad for the dragon. I started to have sympathy for him, knowing that he never planned for this to happen. I watched as the men laughed at Hiccup as he writhed in agony. "Look, now they are equals!"

Equals.

The word sank inside me like a rock in the sea. Truth be told, we were equals. We both had no families, we both had nowhere to go, and now we were both flightless Night Furies.

I had always thought of myself as a Dark Sentry, but, now, with the two of us being the only ones known, maybe we were Night Furies. It seemed like a suitable name for our kind. If this was how a Dark Sentry was to live his life, then I didn't want anything to do with it.

The sound in the room seemed to pull away to dull hum as I watched one of the men pick up the severed piece of Hiccup's tail and bring it to the front of our cell. He took out a nail from his pocket and, grabbing a stone hammer from the floor of the arena, pierced the fin, nailing to the wall in front of us.

Hiccup's eyes were clenched shut as he was still trying to overcome the throbbing from his tail. The man continued to laugh as he and his acquaintances exited the cell, leaving Hiccup and I in the faint light of a single torch.

I glanced over to Hiccup. His eyes finally opened and I saw a tear stream down his cheek. "I'm so sorry, Tooth-…. Sentry."

I heaved a deep sigh and lowered my head down onto my shackled paws. || It's Night Fury….. it's... Toothless. ||

###


###

I awoke to darkness. Total, complete darkness. It was strange, to say the least. I could hear the smooth inhaling and exhaling of the one friend that I still had. He seemed to be asleep, as anyone would be if they couldn't see their paw in front of their face.

The one thing that told me I was awake was the throbbing from my tail. I had no idea that I had put Toothless through so much pain. Even though it made perfect sense that we had both essentially had limbs torn off, I never thought a single tail-fin could hurt so much.

I looked around the room for any source of light, for anything to tell me what and who was in the cell. Unfortunately, nothing was in sight. It must have been night outside, seeing as there wasn't any light even through the cracks of the door. I could only rely on sound, or lack thereof.

I heaved a deep sigh and looked over to where I assumed the Night Fury to be. "T- Toothless?"

His eyes slowly slid open. I was amazed how even without light to reflect upon his eyes, they still glowed, luminous emeralds on a canvas of black. He continued to look forward towards the ground. || Yes, Hiccup? ||

His voice was low and soft, almost sounding defeated. It pained me to see him the way he was. Even in complete darkness, I could sense that he was slumped down in his chains, completely hopeless to whatever was to come. I now had an entirely different outlook on the Night Fury now than that of what I used to have. A dragon of such raw power and talent, bound to the point where movement was unthinkable.

He slowly turned his head to face me, his eyes questioning me. I let out a deep sigh and looked forward myself. "I wanted to let you know that I'm-"

|| Don't apologize, Hiccup. ||

I quickly turned my head toward the glowing eyes that were staring at me. "But it's my fault about your tail, and it's my fault we got captured, and it's my fault that we'll probably not make it out of here."

Toothless seemed to struggle for a moment, then he let out a high pitched whistle that seemed to light the room temporarily. I could see his face for the brief moment, his stern look and his firm decision. || Does it look like I'm upset about any of those things? I made my choice back in the cove that I would stick with you. I made my choice, that no matter what, I would stay by your side. Despite that you are at fault for my damaged tail, you have been willing to risk your life in order to fix it. Before you, I was alone. I had no one in my life. Before you, I was someone who simply went through life wondering if there was more to it. It took me until seeing you lose your tail-fin to realize that you simply trying to protect your old species as well as your new species. It took me until then to realize that you weren't trying to betray me to give give me over to the mortals, you were simply in the same situation as I was. Even with the circumstances that we're in right now, my life is still better than what it once was. ||

Then we were back to relying on sound, or lack thereof. Toothless had closed his eyes, the reason for which I could only assume, was because tears were falling. His words made me think of my own situation, the life I had before. I was one who had no life. Toothless had changed me wholeheartedly, not by just transforming me, but by being there for me. I finally had a friend, a brother.

|| We will make it out of here Hiccup, I know it. ||

I was glad that he had such high hopes, but my outlook was a little bleaker. For I had seen what the Vikings did to dragons, and I had seen the suffering that they were put through. I knew what we had coming for us. Toothless had never been exposed to the ways of the Vikings.

I couldn't take away his hope, though. I had to entertain him, even if it was for only a few days. "I trust you, Toothless."

He opened his eyes, looked over at me, and nodded. || And I trust you, Hiccup. ||

We continued to rest in the darkness of our cell. The only sounds were those of the breathing of two Night Furies. Eventually, a sliver of light was visible through the crack in the door before us. It was obvious that daylight was coming, and along with it, the rest of our lives.

I heard some shuffling on the outside of the door where Vikings were apparently gathering. We could hear the massive latch being moved so that the door could once again be opened. My heart started racing as I feared what was to come. I looked over to Toothless, who was eying the crack in the door with great intensity. He was not a dragon to show naked fear. I had never seen that particular emotion portrayed on his face- his courage was far greater.

After a few more moments, the doors swung open to reveal several men with weapons of every sort. One of the men, who I recognized as the twins' father, seemed to be in charge. He slowly walked towards us, and knelt down in order to be eye to eye with us. "We have something special lined up for the two of you. The chief has ordered for some... different... accommodations that should suit you just fine."

The man stood up and turned towards his men. I looked over to Toothless, who was still eying the man angrily. He turned to look at me and shook his head. || What are they talking about? What do you normally do with dragons who are rare and sought after? ||

I looked out to the twins' father, who was instructing the men to start taking us out of the Kill Ring. I looked back to Toothless in confusion. "I don't know. Normally they just let the strongest Vikings fight with them, but we're Night Furies. We are on a completely different level when it pertains to dragons."

He looked forward at the Vikings that were coming into the cell. || You don't have any special way of killing dragons that is more harmful or more drastic? ||

I turned towards the men that were pushing me out of the cell and into the open arena. "The only thing I can think of is drowning, but they haven't done that in ages. Ever since one dragon managed to escape before the drowning, they haven't done it since."

I looked back to Toothless who was being wheeled out of the cell as well. He was taking in each and every detail of his cart to see what the easiest escape would be. He writhed within his chains, trying to budge them in the slightest.

I knew that it wasn't the time to try and break free. Even if he were able to loosen his chains enough to break free, there were too many Vikings around to recapture him, or worse, kill him.

I looked forward to see that the men were pushing us back into the village. We had crossed the bridge and went past the town's central square. We rounded the boat docks; relieving me from the notion that we would be drowning right then and there.

We finally came to rest at the doors to the Great Hall. Why are we at the Great Hall? It's always been the last place that we would bring dragons. I looked up at the two doors, stretching from the ground just below me far up the side of the mountain. Toothless was wheeled beside me and he gave me a look of confusion. || What are they doing with us? ||

I shook my head, and watched as the men around us pulled the massive doors open to reveal the cavernous room that could house every Viking on Berk. I turned back to Toothless as we were pushed inside the structure. "I have no idea."

I soon found out why the Vikings had brought us to the heavily used building. I found out why they wanted us to be in the Great Hall rather than in a cell in the Kill Ring. I found out that they didn't want us to be out of sight for any time of the day.

We were to be on display.

As we entered the massive room, there was one object that I had never seen before. Centered on the back wall of the room stood a large cage that was clearly built to hold a very strong creature. We came up alongside the cage and one of the Vikings started fumbling with the lock. I watched carefully as the man finally unlocked the mechanism and swung open the door. I turned my head away from the cell and looked forward.

Then I saw him. My father was standing off to the side of the room with Gobber at his side. He was looking directly at me in frustration. I couldn't take my eyes off of him; I could tell that he knew something was off between us. He could tell that I wasn't an ordinary dragon, that I was different.

I felt someone unlocking the harness that held me onto the cart. I twisted around to see what the men were doing, only to have them all unsheathe their weapons and prepare to strike. I nodded to the man that was still at my side to indicate him to continue.

The surrounding men all looked at each other then back at me with confused faces. The man seemed to shake it off as he continued to unlatch the chains and ropes that held me tight. Once the binds had been removed, they gestured to the inside of the cage. I heaved a deep sigh and slowly walked into the barred mass of metal.

Once inside I turned back to my father, who was still eying me carefully. Gobber seemed to be jabbering away uselessly at his side, but not a word got through. We continued to look at each other, as man and dragon. I had never had the courage to look at him as a human. The man had been so intimidating and so controlling. I never wanted to even spend time with him as he never let the serious expression escape his face.

I heard the latch beside me close, and I turned to find Toothless standing in the cage right beside me. He looked at me with wide eyes and sighed. We both still had muzzles trapping our snouts, but our present situation was far better than being chained down to a rolling cart.

Toothless walked behind me and started examining my tail. I had almost forgotten about the amputation, simply getting used to the constant throbbing that was emanating from it. He continued to look at the half-tail and used his paw to lift it up. I flinched slightly, but allowed him to continue nonetheless. I circled around so I could see the damage that had been done.

It was just as Toothless', but on the opposite side. The entire fin was missing as if it had never been there. The only clue that there used to be something was the scabbed line that ran up the side of my tail, still losing blood in a few remaining spots.

Toothless set my tail down and looked up at me. || It looks like it will be fine, no infections. Unfortunately, this means that neither of us can fly until they are remade. ||

I looked at him slightly let down. "Which means that it's going to be a while?"

Toothless nodded and lay down beside me. || So long as we can figure out a way to get out of here. ||

I turned back to towards where my father was to see that he was walking towards the entrance to the room. Once he made it to the door, he turned to look back at me. I'm not sure if it was the sun reflecting off of his eyes or the enhanced vision that I seemed to now have, but I could have sworn that for the first time in my life, I saw a tear stream down his cheek.

He does miss me after all.

###


(1)- Ballista, as it is represented in this story, is a fictional weapon designed by Hiccup that shoots explosive projectiles. They produce an ear-splitting tone that is too high-pitched for humans to hear, but not dragons.

AN: Well, what did you think? Were you upset to find out the outcome? I assure you, I have much more planned for this story. We aren't even half way there yet.

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I want to say thank you to all the betas as well. Without them, this story would not be what it is.

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