Dragon Prince Ch. 10

I own my imagination not HTTYD if I did dragon nip would be everywhere.

Hiccup spent another late night secretly creating something that would get him in lots of trouble if he were caught, thankfully Gobber went to bed early again and so the pre-teen didn't have to wait long so he only had to wait for night fall to sneak into the smithy and work on his private project. Once it was night it was all to easy for him to slip from shadow to shadow to avoid the night watchmen that patrol Berk, the darkness had always seemed to put him at higher ground than anything else.

That was another mystery about himself he could never quite figure out but, when it was completely pitch black and nobody else could even see their nose, Hiccup had the uncanny ability to navigate his way around and avoid the bumbling, toe stubbing chaos that plagued him every other moment of his life. With his possible ability to talk to dragons, he couldn't help but wonder if the two skills were related and what they mean.

Right then, though, he was just happy he wasn't caught creating the saddle for Toothless. He could probably be able to make a tail for the dragon that wouldn't require a rider but, he couldn't do that unless he could figure out how to get the current tail to work and that's why there was need for a saddle. Hiccup really didn't want to fall off the dragon again, and to prevent himself from plummeting to his death the boy needed more to hang on to. The Night Furys' smooth scales were not good hand holds.

It wasn't the most complex design, it was just some extra leather scraps sewed together with adjustable straps. It didn't need to be intricate of nice to look at because it's purpose was safety for the rider and comfort for the mount. Even so, the boy was aware he would have to make adjustments to the saddle after seeing it on the dragon, he did after all estimated the measurements.

Of course Hiccup kept it in his mind not to make it look too bad, he doubted Toothless would be happy with wearing an eyesore and having a scrawny kid riding on his back. So he made sure the leather he used were scraps of the same color and were in relatively good shape. The end result was impressive for a nights work using materials from the reject pile. He just hoped Toothless approved.

(Line)

Toothless was insulted when the hatchling first showed up in the cove with the saddle, after all he had seen humans degrade other creatures by forcing them to carry the humans' weight. However, it quickly dawned on the black dragon that the boy wasn't trying to insult him;he was trying to help the Night Fury fly again.

Toothless never thought he would experience such kindness, the child was raised to hate his own kind while believing he was something he wasn't. They should have been enemies and yet, somehow, they had become friends, both of them defying the laws of their social customs.

Still, Toothless thought to himself, the boy would have to catch him first. It was a simple game that the young of nearly every species play, one chases while another evades. Toothless felt almost silly playing such a childish game, he was a full-grown dragon after all but, the hatchling was working so hard to help him, the youth had to play, so why not?

"Hey! Get back here!"

(Line)

"Hi."

The Night Fury stared at the boy who was sitting on a rock, what was he trying to do?

"Hello." What was the point of the greetings? The two had been resting together in the cove after their little impromptu game for an hour, wasn't it a little late for the mannerisms?

"Good day to you." The boy sighed at the unresponsive dragon and shuffled his feet.

"Nice weather we're having." Really? The weather? The green-eyed child managed to get a saddle on him, an `uncontrollable beast` according to the vikings, and he comments about the weather? Why was he figiting so much?

"How's your day going? " The hatchling sighed again after the long pause that followed his question, "You do realize I'm trying to start a conversation right?"

"Oh, well in that case, my day has been wonderful thanks for asking. How's yours?" The burnet fell off his rock with wide eyes.

(Line)

After he finished his freak out and calmed down enough to act normal, Hiccup and Toothless started flying around the cove after a few questions had been answered. The boy had moved the straps of the saddle up slightly in order for it to sit more properly on the dragons' back. Toothless had been concerned about how Hiccup would control the fake fin from the boys' position by his head but was quickly reassured that it was possible with the leather rope he brought with him.

The dragon was actually quite surprised at how quickly Hiccup accepted the fact he could talk to dragon after his initial surprise and slight panic attack, then again it was only natural. After all he was a dragon; it must be instinctual. Not that the Night Fury would tell the boy he was not human just yet, he'd give him a few days just encase he wasn't as accepting about speaking to dragons as he seemed, it would be too much to process in too short of time.

Besides he had to focus on flying, one move out of sync with each other and they would be taking an unplanned bath in the water below.

Of course they ended up there anyway.

(Line)

"Toothless?"

The Night Fury looked at his still-damp friend who was resting on the elder dragon's side,"Yes?"

"What's your real name? From before we met?"

The dragon was taken aback, "My name? I didn't have one, but now I suppose it's Toothless."

"What do you mean you didn't have one? How do dragons identify you if they don't have name to call you?" Hiccup seemed genuinely shocked, how could Toothless not have had a name.

"We called each other by breed. It may not be as creative as 'Hiccup', but it works." Toothless said simply.

Hiccup's eyebrows came together in confusion. "But doesn't that get confusing sometimes"

"It can, but everything can get confusing at times."

"Doesn't make you sad though? Not having a name? I mean, even if you have nothing else, you can still have a name?" Hiccup looked down at his boots, wonder what his life would be like with a name.

"Didn't you hear me? I do have a name, it's Toothless." The two met each others matching green eyes and smiled.

(Line)

Hiccup returned to the cove the next day with a new piece of equipment and idea on how to control his friends prosthetic. The only problem was that Toothless thought they almost completely redundant.

"So the belt will..."

"Help keep me on you. Unless you like it when we crash." Hiccup said as he secured the rope to his boot and hoped on Toothless.

"And your tying the rope to your foot because..."

"I want to hold on with two hands so I don't fall."

"What was the point of the belt again?"

"... Are you going to keep asking questions or fly?"

Toothless chuckled at the hatchlings' antics before launching them smoothly into the air. After a while of flying he realized the child was having an easier time controlling the fin with his leg then with his hand. That encouraged them to go faster. Bad move.

While flying at a nice, gentle pace tying the rope to his foot worked perfectly fine, but at a faster speed the tail-piece wouldn't stay open, and so they ended up crashing into a meadow of tall, light green colored grass.

The grass was warm, soft, sweet-smelling and felt oh so good, both Hiccup and Toothless spent the next hour rolling around in it. Later on, they got insanely hungry and ended up eating half the fish population in the cove. The survivors of the massacre would only whisper the horrors of that day for a very long time.

(Line)

"I used some of that grass on the Gronkle today in training." Hiccup began, "It made her fall over before she was hurt."

"That's good Hiccup, I'm sure she appreciated it." Toothless nuzzled the boy to see if he had any traces of the grass lingering on him.

"I had to focus really hard not to fall over too, but there isn't a plant on Berk that can do anything like that to a viking... Is there something you're not telling me?" Hiccup said moving away from his friend to look him in the eye.

"I haven't told you many things, mostly because we barely know each other." the black bodied dragon replied evasively, unable to meet the childs' big emerald eyes.

"Toothless she called me 'Night Fury Hatchling'." Hiccup watched as the dragon's head snapped up. "I can speak to dragons, I like raw fish, I hate eel and I am called a hatchling by dragons. What aren't you telling me?"

"You are smart." Toothless sighed, "I was going to wait until I was sure you'd be able to handle it, but I suppose since it seems like you're already half way to figuring it out, there's no point in waiting now."

"Don't you dare say, 'Hiccup, I am your father.'" Hiccup didn't think he would be able to handle something so overly dramatic.

"I won't, because I'm not. You are a night fury though." Toothless watched as boy fainted. He really needed to work on delivering news better. He was horrible at it, apparently.

(Line)

"So... I'm a dragon?" Hiccup had recovered somewhat from his previous shock enough to start asking questions, even if they were statements.

"Yes." Toothless said with a dip of his head "I don't know why you look human so don't ask, but it could have something to do with night furies going extinct."

"What!? Why!?" the youth seem alarmed to find out the breed he just found out he was a part of was leaving existence.

"Many reasons, mostly because it's really hard for us to reproduce. A female is born every two or three years, our race consisted mostly of males. Then there's the greed." Toothless said calmly, "If a dragon of another breed kills a night fury they gain a lot of respect and power. That being said, it is extremely hard to kill one of us and so many power-hungry dragons go hunting for newly hatched night furies."

"That's horrible!" Hiccup gasped. What if he wasn`t an only egg? What if he was an only survivor?

"Don't think about it Hiccup, those times are over, now scratch my chin."

"Uhh... Why?"

"You'll see."

The result amused Hiccup to no end and it kept him from thinking about the possibility that he may have had unhatched siblings that were slaughtered.

(Line)

As the days went on Toothless continued to teach Hiccup certain quirks that dragons have that would keep him and the other dragons safe in the ring and Hiccup would spend most of his time helping Toothless fly again. Hiccup also learned that what he once thought were ears were actually just a part of Toothless's body, almost like fingers only not really.

The saddles' rigging became more complex as the time passed, Hiccup added stirrups that would control the angle and how open the fin was, the leather rope was secured to the older dragons body during the flight and extra precautions were taken to keep the saddle from sliding too much while in use and keep the cords from tangling.

In the training ring, due to Toothless helping him, Hiccup quickly became the best in the class. He toke down the Nadder and Gronkle single-handed, literally, with no weapon and backed the Terror into its cage with out laying a finger on it. It was obvious to the recruits and villagers that Hiccup would come in first no matter what at that point. Everyone wanted him to answer their questions about his success but, it always blended together in a mess of garbled chatter that no one could figure out.

Astrid became irritated with the pest like vikings that swarmed Hiccup, couldn't they see he wasn't use to so much positive attention? He would always run off into the forest every chance he got to avoid them for gods sake! She barely said anything to him since she snapped at him about the first day with the Nadder and she desperately wanted to apologize.

"Hey there's Hiccup!" Astrid growled as she watched Hiccup stiffen before he was bombarded by rough people way bigger than him. There was no way she'd get chance any time soon. Maybe there were some trees she could kill.

It turns out people were excited for a high Hiccup. I grazed over that, this chapter was more about bonding than drugs. Also I received a lot of support about the funeral thing, thank you. Thanks also for all the favs/follows/reviews.

Pepsi out.

P.S I really couldn't resist the quote. It had be there.