Chapter 9: Closer

Stoick awoke to find a young man sleeping on the floor amongst the dragons, but it was plain to see that this wasn't Hiccup. This figure had a paler complexion, had a wild head of black hair, his face was angular with a strong jaw, his frame was long and lean, and he was completely clothed in black. Stoick looked about the room and saw that the only dragon missing was a Night Fury.

The young man woke up and found Stoick looking down at him, the Chief saw his vivid green eyes, there was no doubt that this was the other Night Fury! Toothless looked down at himself and flinched at the sight of his hands.

Stoick helped him to his feet, he had walked on two legs on occasion, but it felt strange to stand to tall.

"Uh, can you speak?" Stoick asked. Toothless made a few odd noises, trying to figure out how to command such a complex larynx, but he managed to find a few words: "I… speak… you… tongue."

"Ah, you mean 'I speak your language', you may get the hang of it." Stoick stated.

Hiccup's head rose and was taken aback at the sight of the human Toothless. He figured that Toothless would be taller and leaner than him, but he didn't take in that he'd take on a handsome face.

Stoick offered up a few fish for all of the dragons and served Toothless some fresh bread and boar bacon. Toothless looked at it with a confused expression and asked: "Vat's dis?"

"We Vikings call it 'breakfast', we can't live on fish or meat alone and we prefer to eat certain foods at a certain time of day. Go on, try it." Stoick replied. Toothless practiced swallowing as a human first and figured that he just couldn't swallow whole bites. He took a bite of bread and didn't quite know what to think of it, he never ate anything quite so fluffy with a crunchy shell. As for the boar bacon, he did like that, even if it was a bit greasy.

"So… Toothless, how do Night Furies compare to other dragons?" Stoick asked.

"We be smarter, usually; very strong, but not the strongest, we are the fastest dragon of all!"

"Hmm, and what can you tell me about your experiences with other dragons?" Stoick asked. Toothless told him everything he knew about other breeds of dragons, and then Stoick offered to show him around the village with the other dragons in tow. The villagers shied away from their chief as he passed by, some of them even held up their weapons, ready to strike the dragons if any of them so much as looked at them funny.

"Their weapons, they threaten me by holding them up." Toothless whispered to Stoick.

"They're more afraid of the dragons than they are you right now." Stoick told him.

"Shouldn't they know that the Clan of the Cursed Axe were once humans? Tell them, and please tell them that if they want to break the curse the weapons spook dragons." He replied. He was scared of the Vikings this way. Not only could he not fly away, but he also didn't have much in the way to defend himself.

"Listen up everyone, these dragons were those who found Loki's cursed treasure, you remember from that old Berkian story. Well, you've learned that it is true, and since we are to break their curse, then let's show them a bit of respect. Away with the weapons." Stoick ordered. The villagers obeyed, and Stoick continued the tour of the village. Bones, Slagathor, Moldy, and Bladeshine looked about and reminisced about their human days and remarked about what had changed over the years.

Toothless, still able to understand the Dragon Tongue, turned and snapped: "Will you be silent while the Chief speaks!?"

"You can still understand us?" Bladeshine asked.

"Of course, you speak my birth language!" Toothless replied. He looked over to Stoick and confirmed that he could still understand the dragons, and that he was willing to translate for them.

Toothless didn't care for what he saw at Gobber's forge, and looked upon the blacksmith with a cold stare that made Gobber step back from him. Even as a human, Toothless held a certain draconic aura about him, and Gobber could feel it in his bones. However, when Stoick showed him the food storage, he was legitimately fascinated with it! Dragons never had the concept of preserving food for later, and it just seemed amazing to him.

The last stop of the tour was the dragon training arena.

"We used to train to kill dragons here, but I've since put a stop to it. Although we still have an assortment of dragons in our hold." Stoick told Toothless.

"What dragons? I want to see them." Toothless told him. Stoick opened one pen and out came the Gronkle, but Toothless demanded that Stoick ought to release all dragons. Stoick refused, for fear of the dragons acting out against each other or the numbers would provoke them to attack them through the chain barrier. Not withstanding his protests, Toothless turned and opened up another pen, and out came the Deadly Nadder. Toothless kept pulling the levers, releasing a Terrible Terror, Hideous Zippleback, and Monstrous Nightmare!

Toothless looked down and saw the collection.

"They're strong, young, healthy dragons… Well, at least they've been kept in good health during captivity. They're pretty common types though. Clan of the Cursed Axe is slightly more exotic, rarest dragons being Hiccup and Astrid." Toothless replied.

"Now that you've released them all, what's the plan to get them back in their pens?" Stoick asked.

"No pens. Dragons are meant to be free. No threat to dragons, and dragons won't threaten you. Let me in, I'll show you; or should I just show myself in?"

Stoick opened the gate into the arena, and closed it once Toothless was inside, and Toothless approached the Deadly Nadder after grabbing a fish. She approached him, and then Toothless passed her the fish, and touched her gently.

"There you go, you're a pretty girl. It's nice to stretch and get out of that dank trap now, isn't it?" Toothless spoke. He calmly approached each and every dragon, gave them a fish, and was able to befriend them.

As Toothless was mingling with the dragons in the arena, the teens: Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, approached the arena and watched what was going on. They were amazed to see Toothless in the ring, mingling with the dragons. He looked up to Stoick and announced: "See? No threat to the dragons, and dragons don't threaten me!"

The Monstrous Nightmare let out a low growl and nudged Toothless gently. Toothless looked back to Stoick and told him: "Now we're friends!"

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After the excitement at the arena, the dragons were left out of their cages for the day, but they were not allowed to be out of the arena. If they could befriend humans, then perhaps they would be of some help as a line of defense for Berk, or so Stoick figured.

As the day drew to a close, Hiccup approached Astrid and asked her: "How about we go for a moonlit flight?"

"I think that I would like that." She replied.

They took off and soared above the clouds and among the stars. The air was calm, the moon was bright, and the overall atmosphere was rather romantic. Astrid didn't want to admit it, but there was something about flying alongside Hiccup that just felt so right! She no longer cared that she was a dragon; in fact she was enjoying her wings, their power was almost magical. Then, looking to Hiccup, she really couldn't imagine anyone else being at her side.

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With Hiccup and Astrid out flying, Stoick and Toothless shared a dinner.

"So, what do you think of humans now?" Stoick asked.

"You are fascinating creatures, but I'm happy to be a dragon."

"I see, well it's not that you really knew any different, and you've certainly caused my village a panic before you befriended Hiccup. Why do you look out after him?"

"He was the first human to prove to me that you all weren't just mindless killing machines. Then I heard the story of how he came to be cursed, not because he took Loki's axe, but because Astrid took the axe and he cares for her… You know, he does make for a good dragon."

"Yeah… I-I suppose he does." Stoick replied.

They ate in silence for a while, and unbeknownst to them, Hiccup and Astrid had landed outside the house.

"What do you think of Hiccup being a dragon?" Toothless asked. Hiccup and Astrid could hear the following conversation through the walls.

"I don't like it. Sure, Hiccup had his problems, but he's the best connection I have left with his mother. Like him, Valka wasn't much of a fighter and was rather intelligent. I may have wanted a son that would've grown as big and strong as I am, but that was never really in the cards for Hiccup, and after seeing his creative mind, I had him apprentice with Gobber in hopes that at least some more Viking qualities would surface. When Valka was taken away by a dragon, Gobber had lent me a lot of help into helping me raise the boy. Now that he's a dragon, it's almost like everything just blew away in the wind. I was close to shouting at him in anger, but then I realized why he took the curse; I would've done the same thing if Valka was cursed. Still, Hiccup should be a Viking, that's how he was born and instead of flying and breathing fire, he should be learning how to be a leader for the tribe." Stoick replied.

Back outside Hiccup looked to Astrid with a sense of disbelief.

"I'm certain that I can learn to appreciate dragons and accept them into the village, if that's possible, but I don't know if I can ever accept that Hiccup's a dragon, no matter how good he may be at one." Stoick stated.

Hiccup turned away from the house and retreated into the forest, Astrid followed after him.

When Hiccup sat down, Astrid spoke: "Y'know, my parents wouldn't even look at me as a dragon."

"Yeah, and in the clan's case, their families never saw them as humans again… I know that I don't have things as bad, but it still hurts."

They turned away and kept walking, and Astrid spoke: "Hey, during that flight, it was the first time that I didn't care that I was a dragon. Hiccup, you really are making this curse a lot easier on me."

Then, something drew them closer together than they have ever been before, human emotions for each other aside there was something in the back of their minds and within the air they breathed that drew them physically closer and closer, until…

… They merged.

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A bit of a filler chapter, but I wanted to give you guys something you wanted: Hiccstrid fluff and to acknowledge that Stoick is actually upset over Hiccup's choice.

How'd you like the chapter? Please review!