Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be.

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Mike looked over the assembled harness and equipment critically. It worked, at least all of the pieces individually worked. However he could see every substitution, every modification that led to it being functional (hopefully) rather than perfect. From the saddle that was made for a horse more or less fitted to the dragon, down to the fin with it's patchwork design of leather (getting thick enough pieces to work had been a bear in that pile. Not to mention it had contained some rather unusual colors he'd found when sorting through it. Really, why would you dye leather electric blue?), if it were a car it was closer to Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang than a Formula 1 racer, and putting it on Toothless was like decorating a star model for the red carpet with cheap air-dry clay jewelry made by a five year old. But he had to console himself that this was the best he could do on his own with out involving other people. Dan had been risky enough, and an expert in design and manufacture could've done a better job, but such a person would've started with the difficult question of "What were you thinking?" and then gone on to the really hard ones.

Toothless shifted, craning his neck to look over the entire ensemble. This was the first time the whole kit had been put on the dragon. Mike had placed bits on before, he'd tested the saddle's size, as well as how well the climbing harness he'd found for himself would work with it (fine, at least on the ground), and attached the fin a couple of times to make sure it was the right size and could open and shut as needed. But seeing the bits and pieces versus the whole thing was a totally different feeling.

He checked the pedals he'd managed with his hands to make sure the tension was right. At least it looked right. He hoped it would work, he was almost out of time. His family was here only two more days. The past three had been so hectic he was amazed he'd gotten through them. At times he'd even snuck out of the cabin to do a bit more work by moon and fire light next to Toothless. He has found an awl to help with stitching the pieces he'd cut from the lousy hides to piece together. Granted it was bent in half along the haft of the metal, probably by someone using it as a pry-bar, but it helped puncture the leather and he'd bought some thread and a needle to sew with.

Mike felt his stomach twist at the thought of how short a time he had left. Originally he'd simply been thrilled to have a chance to see dragons in the wild, now there was the dread of separating from Toothless. He knew he could return after high school, do a road trip out here before college, but the idea of four years of separation was driving him crazy. And he hadn't even left yet. He hoped to figure out how the fin would work, maybe do a few short glides from small (very, very small) cliffs in the area today. Mike still wasn't sure how to get to a real flight, he wished he had at least two more weeks, maybe more to really test things out.

"Okay buddy, let's see if I got the tension right so I can operate the pedals with my feet." Mike said aloud as he patted the dragon's shoulder before climbing onto the saddle. He promptly fastened the carabiner clips to rings that he'd replaced on the saddle. He wasn't sure what they were originally for, saddlebags? Maybe rope or just another place to add normal stirrups to, but they worked perfectly for anchoring him to the saddle, though he'd realized that if he had the time he'd make some sort of addition to his own harness that would go over his shoulders, rather than simply around his legs and waist. Toothless has seemed pleased for some reason at the snap link of the carabiner clips, sniffing them over and giving an approving croon at them.

Mike busied himself, making sure the pedals could move and adjust them if necessary. The left was sticking a bit so he leaned over to poke at it, not really noticing the Night Fury had shifted to his feet and had moved closer to the cliff except in passing as he shifted to stay in the saddle. He was hoping that the rope he'd found hadn't started fraying already. It had taken forever to find a long enough piece in decent shape as it was.

They had started to hang out at this particular cliff edge shortly before Mike had finished working at Dan's. He'd started assembling the pieces into a whole here. Nearby there was, well not really a cave, but an overhang that was deep enough that it was dry at the very back, Mike was able to wrap everything in the rest of the ponchos he'd gathered from his cabin and everything stayed pretty well dry, if not warm. Toothless enjoyed lazying about in the sun that perfectly caught the cliff, and both had a beautiful view of the valley the campgrounds were situated in. Though today, while sunny now, he could see a dark line to the west that looked to be some nasty weather headed their way. Probably not for a couple of hours though.

Mike was really not focusing on the view at the moment, being far more interested in adjusting the line's tension until it felt right. Which he tried not to think about how he knew it felt "right". Toothless frequently shifted around anyway, generally moving to where he could get better sun. Just because Mike was on his back didn't mean the dragon wouldn't move to a more comfortable position.

The jumping off the side of the cliff, however. That was new.

Mike screamed in complete abject terror. They were falling! He was going to die!

Time really did slow down when you were near death he realized. Despite the paralyzing horror at the quickly approaching ground, he had time to notice how Toothless didn't seem panicked, only determined. He saw the way the treetops were coming closer. And then, at that moment he felt something inside of him change. Like the part he'd been listening to recently, whispering about going into the woods, how to make the harness, all the bits and pieces through his life that made him a little different from anybody else had melded into him. All the dreams, the hunches, everything. No longer a feeling, a different part, just him.

And at that moment he found himself shifting his weight like so, adjusting the pedals of the harness this way. Something completely foreign, yet so familiar he swore he could do it in his sleep. Like he was born to do this.

The trees were no longer growing larger, instead they were speeding past beneath the two of them. Toothless roared, beating his wings to soar upwards. Mike clung to the harness for dear life even as he moved with the dragon to help him fly. Exhilaration replaced terror and he found himself whooping with glee as they flew, diving and spinning for the fun of it.

It was similar to his dreams in the way a Polaroid picture could show a mountain. It didn't really convey the true feeling of being there. Feeling the wind whip his face, grinning so hard his face hurt, Mike was in heaven. He saw how small everything below was, only to have it grow larger suddenly as the Night Fury dove, skimming above the trees before regaining height, obviously enjoying himself as well.

Far too quickly for his taste he realized that they were heading back to the cliff. Toothless back-winged rapidly as they approached, landing rather heavily rather than gracefully as Mike had somehow been expecting. He de-attached his harness from the saddle, and slid off, spinning around in a circle grinning like a loon.

"That was awesome! The most… Most… Everything ever!" He crowed, coherence lost for the moment. He felt energy zinging through his body, he wanted to run, to laugh, to race around and scream like a toddler force-fed chocolate covered expresso beans. He turned, still smiling widely, to look at the dragon who was still standing, spreading and folding his wings, making quiet moaning sounds.

Mike suddenly realized that this was the first time in centuries the dragon had actually used his wings seriously for flight. Not just flaps to help with jumps or glides, but actually working them.

"Aw man, are you okay?" He asked as he gently put on hand on the dragon's shoulder. He felt the muscles twitch slightly under his hand. Mike remembered the way his sister had complained about her aching back and legs after she went horseback riding. He also remembered how she had ticked off Drew by co-opting the bathroom to soak in the tub. While they didn't have a nice tub to soak out the pain, Mike figured a massage might help. He began to press harder at the smooth shoulder, rubbing in circles, pressing as hard as he could. At first he felt Toothless stiffen, but as he worked along the shoulders and around the base of each wing the dragon relaxed. Actually the description was closer to melted. Pretty soon he had a pile of happy purring dragon laid out next to him. It was hard work giving a dragon a massage. Besides the hard muscles there were the slick scales that his fingers occasionally caught on. By the time Toothless was completely at ease Mike had worked off the adrenaline he'd gained during the short flight.

Mike looked down at Toothless and smiled. The dragon opened one eye to look at him. The dragon hummed at him and he found himself yawning and rubbing at his eyes. The dragon curled himself on his side, lifting one wing easily, without the signs of pain he'd shown earlier. Mike stretched and crawled underneath the dark membrane and snuggled up against the Night Fury's side. It was still early. He had at least two hours before his parents were back, that was plenty of time for a nap. He found himself yawning again and was asleep seconds after his eyes closed.


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There was one minor problem that neither of the two had taken into account. That problem? That it was no longer the 10th century. This was the 21st century, the century of interconnected information sharing. Of everybody sharing everything they saw immediately.

For one it was simply that such ideas had never existed when he was around humans. It could take months for information to get from one country to another and by then they were likely so far changed from what happened it might as well have been something from a tale-spinner.

For the other it was distraction. The need to build, to marvel, to be, here and now wiped all thoughts of the surrounding world out of his head completely. It wasn't by choice really, simply that it was so normal it really didn't register with him as long as it didn't keep him from what he was trying to accomplish here.

Within seconds of their take-off several of the tourists aimed their cameras at the sight of a dragon in the air, just by habit. On one dive one of them managed to zoom in enough to notice the human on the dragon's back. Within seconds of that realization everybody else focused on the dragon doing acrobatics in the air.

Within five minutes the first video titled "OMG Dragon Rider!1!" was posted to Youtube. Several more followed quickly.

Within ten minutes the Park service had been notified.

Within twenty they were receiving calls from local and national media.


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Addie threw the phone down in disgust before flopping down in one of the decrepit office chairs next to the desk. Disgusting vultures. Every single phone call from news media, respectable or otherwise, eventually devolved into "have you found/identified the body yet?" She scratched at her hair, feeling tired.

She'd been thrilled to get an internship here at Rocky Mountain National Park. It was considered one of the highest regarded parks to work for, and would look great on her resume. Not to mention that the vagaries of working in and around dragons was fascinating to her Natural Resource Management degree. Now however…

She rolled her chair over to one of the desks with a computer that actually was fast enough to load video without stuttering. Bringing up the dragon rider clip she watched it for the first time. They'd all been told that some idiot had been filmed on a dragon and immediately went into damage control mode, locking down the park, trying to identify who it had been, where they might find the dragon, rounding up and checking on everybody within the park, everything that needed to be done that she was pretty sure nobody had actually watched this video. Tracking down all the people wasn't as easy as it sounded as the number of people registered to stay at the park didn't mean the number of people within the park at the time. Not to mention all of the scientists scattered to the far winds to observe the various species, dragon and other. Hell she'd spent two hours on an ATV going out to check on far-flung blinds where said scientists tried to observe wild dragons unobserved themselves. She'd gotten her backside chewed more than once while checking on them as the noisy vehicle startled and chased off the creatures they were trying to watch.

She gazed at the video, setting her chin in the palm of her hand. She looked at the video, really seeing it suddenly. Addie hit the mouse to start the video from the beginning. Her jaw dropped. The triple fins, the speed… The black color. Oh my god…

"Why are you sitting around? We have a full-blown emergency going on here y'know."

She blinked looking up at Grant who was glaring at her. He had circles starting to form under his eyes already.

"Have you seen the video?" She asked him.

"Haven't had the time. Some idiot decided to try and ride a dragon and I've been trying to find him or her." Grant snapped at her.

Addie glared right back at him. "And what kind of dragon did this idiot try to ride?"

Grant opened his mouth to rant back at her and paused. "It was a… Hang on, was it a Nightmare? I haven't the video, really. Why? Does it really matter what probably ate him? Or her?

In return Addie restarted the video clip from the beginning, turning the monitor so Grant could see it. She watched as Grant started off irritated and then startled, and then stunned. He paused it around the same time she had, when there was an almost perfect outline of the dragon from below.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that looks like the outline of a Night Fury. Since none of the scientists have been having raptures I'm assuming we haven't had any unusual visitors recently." Addie started, "which means that-"

"It's Loki…" Grant finished, grabbing a chair and falling back into it.

"It's Loki. Who can't fly. Who's known for two things, not flying and being a cussed pain to track down." Addie replied.

"Which means that instead of one question 'who was stupid enough to climb on a dragon's back?' we have two. A- How did they track down the most reclusive dragon in the park, and B- how did they get him in the air?" Grant leaned back in the chair.

"Yup. That about sums it up." Addie added. "Any idea who it might be? We've been tracking people down for the past two hours."

"There's still a few possibilities. One family is missing a son, apparently the kid has been hanging around the park, unescorted." Grant shook his head disgustedly. "Serves them right if he gets eaten. They claim he's stayed either the campsite or on tours, but if they weren't watching how would they know? Otherwise there's a couple of researchers unaccounted for and one grad student."

Addie winced at hearing a kid could've been killed. It was bad enough finding that some biologist had decided to not follow the rules and all you found was some scattered equipment, it was far worse to think some kid had gotten killed.

"Teams are set up." Grant started after a bit of quiet. "Ranger Mitchell sent them towards the cliff where it looked like the dragon landed. If it's Loki he's probably already moved on, but that's the only lead we have."

"Tranq gas and bullets, if necessary?" Addie asked. While they were a dragon reserve, any dragon that showed signs of being a man-eater had to be dealt with before such a thing became a habit. Or worse, before they started to range outside the boundaries looking for a meal.

Grant nodded. They both looked at each other. Loki wouldn't have been ridden if he didn't want to be, hell the dragon generally wasn't even seen without effort. Ridden and, far more shockingly, flown was just baffling.

"It'll be settled when we find whoever did it. One way or another." Grant announced. "And I need to get moving again, we'll have the press here probably before breakfast."

Addie grimaced and nodded. It didn't help that the last known attempt at riding a dragon had been back in 1982, giving a feeling of shocking newness to the whole thing and making everybody talk about it. The phone started ringing again and she gave it a dirty look before picking it up, giving Grant a wave as he left to do whatever else needed doing.


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Toothless slowly came to. The aching stiffness in his wings and back had completely faded. Between his species' quick healing and the wonderful rubdown by his Mike, there was barely a twinge to be felt.

He glanced at the boy at his side feeling fondness and complete acceptance permeate his entire being. Beneficence's tale was now not just a story but complete truth. Watching Mike struggle to build something that resembled his old flying harness had been unsettling at times. Past memories of Hiccup modifying this lever, or adjusting his tail fin had been overlaid with a boy occasionally holding two pieces like he had no idea what to do with them, only to matter-of-factly fit them into the whole. Flashes of recognition mixed with complete foreign-ness. Part of him was drawn to the boy, with only his stubbornness keeping him somewhat aloof. Not that he succeeded very often at that, finding himself play wrestling with the boy, or letting the human lean against him as they looked at the clouds after Mike had finished whatever part he was working on for the day.

Feeling the completed harness on his back once again, he simply couldn't wait any longer. He needed an answer, one way or another. He'd gotten to his feet, ambling over to the edge of the cliff, feeling Mike shift on his back as he poked and prodded at the contraption he'd made. Toothless had looked over the panorama. He didn't have gods to pray to, but he hoped, based on the flashes of almost memory he'd seen in this human's eyes, that this wouldn't turn out to be a suicide run.

He spread his wings and leapt into the air. And began to fall. He controlled his fear, focusing on holding his wings as steady as he could, trying without much hope of pulling off a slight glide rather than a complete tumble. Grief began to fill him as he knew that even if he were likely to survive, the human that he was beginning to care for wouldn't.

Then, the change. The feeling of complete rightness he'd missed for centuries as the boy shifted both his weight and his feet and all of a sudden they were speeding along, so close he could've bitten off a couple of tree-tops as they passed. He shifted the beats of his wings, feeling a thrill pass along him as his human, no, his Rider followed and they soared into the air.

He loosed a roar of pure joy, feeling whole for the first time in a long, long time. He immersed himself in the dives and loops he'd assumed were out of his reach forever. It ended far too soon for him, he would've happily flown to the moon before landing, but his long disused muscles along his back and in his wings informed him he had two choices. Land or fall. His landing was one of his worse ones, not as bad as the out of control landing when he'd lost his tail fin while wrapped in ropes, but far worse than any landing he'd had since he was a hatchling. At least he didn't land on his nose.

Mike slid off his back, dancing around in a fashion he'd've found highly amusing if all of his muscles hadn't picked that time to scream in agony over the abuse he'd put them through. If he could've he would have cried at the pain, as it was he managed a moan. It probably wasn't as bad as when he lost his fin, but time had dulled the memories of that time and this was definitely the most pain he'd been in for a long time. Then hands, soft but firm, rubbing at the pain, soothing. As the pain faded he rejoiced, not really in the flight though that was still part of it, but in the feeling of having a Rider again. He would not allow anything to separate them now, not when he'd finally found him again.

His head jerked up, coming to wakefulness quickly. Mike moved slightly, shifting at his side. He knew he'd heard something. He began to growl lowly, causing his Rider to jerk slightly and get up. Something was out there. Seeing his human was up now, he got to his own feet, sniffing to what was coming.

He knew that it had been a bit and his Rider would usually be back at the human campsite by now, but he had him now. The dragon certainly wouldn't let anything happen to him. He didn't really pay attention, focusing on what he'd scented. Humans, their machines, and… Oh. That nasty smell that made one weak. His growl became louder, causing Mike to come closer to him.

"Toothless? What's wrong?"

He turned his head back and forth and snarled, he'd been do wrapped up in his human he hadn't smelled the others approach. The stink that clung from their noisy machines followed them, letting him know they'd been encircled. He began to shove his Rider behind him, it was closer to the cliff which wasn't the safest place, but it allowed him to interpose himself between the boy and the oncoming humans.


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"Wha… Huh?" Mike rubbed at his eyes. Suddenly they snapped open. "Oh crap!" The sun was hidden by dark clouds so he wasn't quite sure what time it was, his watch had been lost during one of the trips out to Dan's. The clouds that had been a goodly distance off were rolling overhead, dark enough to create a kind of twilight below the tree branches.

He realized Toothless was looking out into the trees, away from the cliff and growling. The dragon's head turned back and forth, scanning the trees warily.

"Toothless? What's wrong?" Mike peered into the trees himself. He couldn't see very well in the dim light. He was knocked back suddenly by Toothless, finding himself shoved back as Toothless growled louder.

Mike knew he was screwed. The sun was probably going down, clouds alone wouldn't account for how dark it was getting. His parents had probably been back long enough to really start freaking out. And now Toothless was getting between him and the rest of the forest making him worry that another dragon was coming close. They'd never been bothered yet, but…

"Kid?" He heard a man's voice, querying.

"Um, hello?" He ventured back. People? Why were they here?

"It's okay. We're going to help." The man called back soothingly. Despite the calm tone in the man's voice Toothless snarled in that direction.

"Help? Wha… Wait! Wait! It's okay!" Mike finally woke up enough to realize that they thought he was in danger. He shoved at Toothless to get the Night Fury to move, which was rather similar to shoving at a hillside. With about as much success.

"Toothless, c'mon, move," he growled at the dragon who was still watching the trees, jerking his head back and forth, apparently keeping an eye on wherever the other humans were. He received a glance and a short purr from the dragon before Toothless resumed watch.

"I'm okay, really!" Mike called back. "Toothless is just being stubborn."

There was muttering coming from the left as he was facing. Now he could see about four or five people gathered there. From the way they were glancing to either side he assumed there were more teams around.

"Kid, Mike right?" The man started again, the calm sounding more forced, "That is a wild animal. I know it seems fun to be around, but sooner or later it will turn on you. We're going to get you to safety, but you need to listen to us."

Mike gave one last shove at Toothless' shoulder before huffing and matter-of-factly rolling under the dragon. Getting up he dusted himself off, grinning slightly to himself at the sound of outrage from the dragon behind him. He turned and reached out and Toothless must not have been too upset as he was allowed to give the Night Fury a quick scratch of reassurance. He heard the quiet chatter from the people surrounding them grow a bit louder at the casual behavior he showed towards the dragon.

"Okay, so I hadn't really planned this, and I'm not sure how to start. I'm sure my parents are freaking out right now, but since you're here I wanted to show-"

Mike had taken a few steps away from the dragon to try and calm down the rangers, or whatever they were, who were obviously tense. Now he found himself thrown to the dirt as an adult covered him yelling, "The kid's covered!"

And that was when it all hit the fan. He barely had a chance to realize he was on the ground with somebody holding him there when he heard a scream of pure rage from Toothless. He'd never heard something so terrifying in his life, if he wasn't completely sure the Night Fury wouldn't hurt him he would've been frozen in fear. Shortly after that sound, the man on top of him was knocked away. Toothless was standing above him now. He rolled slightly to see Toothless' head above him with lips peeled back, baring all of the dragon's teeth, just about to dart forward and bite the man who'd grabbed him.

"No!" He yelled, smacking the dragon's chest above him. Toothless may not have wanted to listen, but he did, pulling back and spinning in place to use his tail to smack the human instead of biting, as the man tried to get to his feet. Mike froze as the dragon moved, despite the speed, not a single claw came close to snagging him.

Mike rolled out from under the dragon as chaos broke out, trying to get to his feet and decide which side to try and calm down first. Toothless moved again, shoving him back away from the humans. There was another yell from one of the groups of humans and suddenly a canister spewing a nasty smelling gas landed so close to him he yelped. Toothless shrieked, shoving him further back before giving a strange sounding screech. A blue white light flashed, exploding the canister and creating a decent sized crater along with several other small fires.

And hello there night-blindness, Mike thought, eyes dazzled by the brightness. He groped at the dragon next to him, as close as he was to the cliff edge he would feel better being on Toothless rather than stumble and find himself falling face-first off the cliff. One hand managed to grasp leather and he hung on, blinking as he began to see something other than purple and green blotches. Granted the view didn't make much more sense, humans running around yelling, Toothless letting loose another blast. At least the dragon wasn't aiming specifically at the humans, he seemed to be going for rocks around them which caused splashy bolts of fire, but didn't seem to be hurting anybody. And with the smell of heavy rain on the air, no fire would have a chance to spread too far.

Mike pulled himself into the saddle, snapping his safety harness and getting his feet set on the pedals. He leaned over Toothless' neck to be close.

"How about we leave here? I think they might listen better in the light of morning." Mike murmured to the dragon.

The still tense dragon below him rumbled deep in his chest then turned towards the cliff. Mike had a bit of fear pass through him as he realized exactly how close he'd been to the edge, but didn't really have time to focus on that before the Night Fury did a replica of their afternoon flight, diving over the side.

This time Mike moved with the dragon with confidence. The two of them quickly leveled off and soared upwards.

Mike wondered exactly how big of a pile of trouble he would find himself in tomorrow.

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A/N: This is the chapter I had all written up, so I decided to post it rather than make you all wait. Thanks to everybody who's been reading and waiting (im)patiently. Those messages I got when I was stuck cheered me up, even when they were simply "Write More Naow!" So, here's more.

Random note: No spell-check recognizes the word carabiner. It's a real word, knows it, but every spell-check I've run flags it as being wrong. Go figure.