Welcome! This is Absi B's chapter.
I'm sitting by the edge of the river, really wishing I hadn't agreed to this and just gone hungry for a while. After all, how difficult can it be to catch a fish or two? All I need to do is make a rod, find some string or something I can use as string, get something strong to use as a hook, find some worms or something as bait, and then throw it in the river and wait for a fish to come biting, right?
Right. When I actually think about it, it seems a lot. Although… I think it would be infinitely preferable to swimming. I dipped a toe into the water (toes, not claws! Humans have five of them) and it was freezing. The water is rushing so fast, too. In some places it's foaming white where it is hitting submerged rocks. Not to mention the fact that I almost drowned in this self-same stream.
I can feel something strange broiling in my stomach. It's almost like there's a load of insects trying to worm their way out through my midsection. I also feel faintly like I'm going to throw up. And my hands, when I hold them up to my face, seem to be trembling slightly. I feel really hyped up and alert, every movement of my surroundings intensely reviewed for any sign of an intruder or a nefarious entity.
"Hiccup?" I call, and he gets up from where he's been sitting to come over to me. He's taken off his sheepskin vest, and now he looks even scrawnier without the extra fur to bulk out his figure. I look at his narrow frame making its way towards me, and I see how it needs protecting. I should be the one protecting him.
"What is it, Toothless?" Hiccup asks, thudding gently down on the grassy bank beside me.
"I've got this weird feeling… here," I gesture to my stomach. "It's like… I'm filled with worms or something. What's happening? Have I got an infestation inside me? Am I going to die, eaten from the inside out?" At this point, I am working myself up even further. I can feel this strange wetness and clamminess on my hands, and my forehead feels hot and wet. My breathing is getting heavier and more rapid, and I can feel my heart beginning to race.
Hiccup must have seen some kind of expression on my face, because he says simply, "Toothless. It's fine to be scared. I've been scared plenty of times too. Do you think it was a walk in the park when I first went to the Cove and tried to befriend you?" This thought draws a small smile to my face.
"Scared? I don't think I've ever felt… fear… before," I reply, looking wide-eyed at Hiccup. And what I say is true. I cannot remember a time when I felt any fear. I had no need to. I was the legendary Night Fury, ruler of the skies and terror of all mankind. The unholy offspring of Lightning and Death itself. I didn't fear anything.
"I guess you haven't. I don't suppose dragons need to feel fear often. You know, you're getting really worked up there. All hot and bothered. I think now would be an excellent time to learn to swim. So you can cool off," he says mischievously, getting to my feet and offering his hand to help me.
I take it, and whilst being pulled to my feet, say, "But… swimming is what I'm afraid of, Hiccup. I'm… scared," I whimper. The moisture on my face is threatening to spread to my eyes as well. I look up at Hiccup (which in itself is strange, because usually I have only ever looked down at his diminutive figure), trying to hold that expression. But all I get is a steely, hardened expression in return.
"I'm not going to let you get out of this just because you're scared. The only way to beat your fear is to conquer it, beat it into submission. So I probably look like the harbinger of death to you, but trust me, once this is over you'll see that I'm only trying to do the right thing. Shall we get started?"
H
I hold Toothless' gaze for a few seconds more, then he bows his head and breaks eye contact and I know I have won this battle. I reach down and grab his hand, then lead him like a child over to a shallower section of the river, where there are fewer rapids and the river flows at a much more sedate pace. When we stop here, I can see Toothless visibly relaxing as he realises that the water isn't as terrifying as he first thought it was.
Casting a second quick glance at Toothless, I remove my woollen shirt, sighing with relief as the itchy material clears my head. I may be the son of the chief, but even the finest quality woollen shirts can get a bit uncomfortable at times. Toothless follows suit, and for the first time I can see how his body, small though it is, is far more muscled than mine; he possesses a wiry strength that I lack.
"Go on," I urge. "Jump in. You'll be fine. The water's shallow enough for you to touch the bottom, and the current is so gentle it'll be like a gentle massage. As long as you keep your feet on the bottom, you won't go anywhere. Trust me."
Toothless is shaking like a leaf. I can tell that this is a big step for him, and that he wants me to do it first, to prove that it's safe. But as much as I want to protect him now that he's smaller and younger, and he doesn't have fire or flight like he used to, he's still incredibly strong and very fleet footed; I have to make him realise that he needs to learn to protect himself in his new form first before trying to protect me.
I mean, what if I get shoved into a river by an attacker, and Toothless can't swim, what hope does he have of saving me? Or if he gets pushed into a river, and he can't swim? What if I'm not there to save him? What if he spent so much of his time trying to protect me, he didn't protect himself? What if his lack of care for himself got him seriously hurt? Or worse, killed?
It's a lot of what ifs. The future is never certain, especially when all that you know has been turned upside down. I would never have imagined a year ago that my future would include all that it has. A year ago, I was the runt of the litter. The outcast, the loner. Wanted by no-one, cared for by no-one. And one rope and a couple of boulders changed everything. That bola turned me into a hero. Someone people looked up to. Someone people wanted to be around.
Somebody people cared about.
And for me, when no other being had shown care for me until Toothless, the sudden care was rather overwhelming. I didn't know what to do or say to the people that showed me kindness. I was too shy to say thank you, afraid that they'd turn round and insult me again. It was like learning how to be in society all over again. Only the second time, it was learning how to be a part of society, not just an outcast dabbling at the fringes of sociality.
I'm hoping that I handled the transition into society fairly well, although at some points I have probably made a fool of myself. It's a big change, going from solitude to a multitude of people in the space of a few short weeks. Especially when many of the people are twice your height and three times as broad. That certainly takes some getting used to.
So, now Toothless has to do what I did. Learn to be a part of a new world. Learn to use his new body to his advantage. Even though his fire and flight are absent, he has many other abilities that he's never had before. His hands, with their dextrous thumbs, are able to build, create and draw anything he sets his mind to. His legs are strong, and they can help him to climb and swim. His small size allows him to hide more effectively in small areas or areas with little cover, and his comparatively massive strength in relation of his size means that he will be often underestimated in a fight.
"You have to make this leap. I'm not going to go first to catch you. You've got to learn to take care of yourself, and you can't-" My sentence is cut off as Toothless flings himself off the bank and lands in the river with a splash. I wait a moment to see that he has surfaced in the shallow section, then I sit down, remove my prosthetic and push off the earth mound into the water as well.
The icy water hits my body like a kick in the guts. It is almost physically painful to be submerged in the water, but I do it anyway, balancing precariously on my one foot in the gentle current. When I've got used to the cold (basically my limbs are so numb it makes no difference to me what the temperature of the water is- I can't feel it anyway) I gently swim a few strokes towards Toothless, making sure to demonstrate the technique clearly. He watches me intently, tilting his head gently to one side as he considers the motions my arms and legs are making.
"Okay. First of all you've got to get the leg action right," I say, standing on one leg and using the other to demonstrate the kicking action of breaststroke. Toothless looks a bit confused; I'm not surprised, since my shortened leg can't do the full kicking action properly. I turn round and sink lower in the water to try and grab one of Toothless' legs and do the motion for him, but when I try and reach for his leg he kicks away violently, catching my cheek, and sends a cascade of water towards my gasping mouth. I end up swallowing a large portion of the river, and come up, coughing and spluttering.
"What was that for?" I demand, rubbing my cheek and privately thinking that Toothless would make a very strong swimmer if he decided he actually wanted to learn.
"I could ask you the same thing. You were going to pull me under the water!" Toothless replies, an effortless look of fear and anger plastered onto his face.
"No, I wasn't. I was going to show you how it was done using your leg as an example," I reply, realising that I should have warned him before I lunged for his legs. Toothless' face changes from furious to lucid in less than a second. I sigh, and stroke over to where he is now standing. The water here is deeper, much deeper, so much so that he's having trouble keeping his head above the water. This is the perfect time to test out his natural swimming abilities.
"Right. I'm not going to show you anything, just swim over to there."
"What?"
"You heard me. Just do what you would naturally do if you were in some water and you had to get from one place to another."
"But… what if… what if I drown?" Toothless replies, his voice full of fear.
"Well, I've saved you before, haven't I?" I say placatingly, and he seems to accept that I am capable of handling it should anything go wrong. Convinced, he faces in the direction I have set, and suddenly breaks into a frenzy of splashing and thrashing about. It's not pretty or fast, but he makes it over to his destination. When he surfaces, he is red- faced and panting from all the effort. I follow him, effortlessly gliding through the water, barely making a splash as I do so.
When my head emerges from the water, I see Toothless' shocked face staring down at me. I give him a puzzled look, and stand up.
"Is that really what you would naturally do?" I ask, frowning.
"Um… yeah…" Toothless looks down at the rippling water, which is now level with the top of his arms. "You've forgotten that I used to be a dragon, Hiccup. We don't do swimming. It's more… flapping madly on water?" He shuffles awkwardly at this point, and the full meaning of his words hits me like a kick in the guts.
How could I have forgotten so quickly? He's only been human for a few days, and yet any thoughts of Toothless being anything but human have already been banished from my mind. Maybe my mind's just so overwhelmed by the fact that he is human, and how quickly he has managed to adapt to his new form. No. That's no excuse. I should never be so insensitive. Especially towards Toothless. Especially since all he's ever tried to do for me is protect me and care for me more than anyone else in the world.
Even now, he still wants to do his utmost to protect me. I can't believe I've been so stupid. I'm meant to be one of the smarter ones on Berk, for goodness' sake!
Smart about inventions and metalworking, yes. Smart about relationships and care… no. I've been with Toothless for over a year now, but I have still yet to learn the subtleties of when to ask questions that could hurt. I don't have the uncanny ability to judge someone's mood like other people do. I hide behind a mask of antisociality and sarcasm because I don't know what to do when I'm around people. I guess that's what comes from being the outcast for too many years to count.
But as much as I hate myself for saying something so stupid and insensitive, I know that being bullied, being the outcast, has made me stronger. Strong enough to be able to handle any insults thrown my way. Strong enough to hold in my emotions until I am alone with my best friend, when I know I can trust him to listen forever and always try to comfort me, even if there is nothing I can take comfort in. Even though I am in some respects a failure in life, there are some aspects of life that I excel in where nobody else does, and I am proud of it. The bullies don't know that they're not hurting me; they're making me stronger with every bad word.
Though I may be weak and scrawny on the outside, no bodyguard to anyone, on the inside I am stronger than any man; I can protect Toothless with my heart and soul.
I am pulled abruptly out of my reverie when a torrent of water whooshes up into my face, and I flail around, scrabbling for the surface and some clear air to breathe. When I emerge, I see Toothless finally managing a perfect smile, laughing and looking so carefree. I'm just thankful that he's forgotten my accidental verbal barb, and I've no mind to remind him of it. My inner happiness threatening to burst free, I manage to keep a straight face for long enough to send a huge wave of water back in his direction, and the swimming lesson becomes a water fight. We just keep splashing and arcing water towards each other, not caring about anything anymore.
Toothless may miss being a Night Fury at some points, but surely this is something he'll look back on fondly.
A/N I hope you enjoyed, and please tell us what you think!
