Quick note for all you lovely people: The 'See You Tomorrow' sequence is the most challenging to write because it's a montage, since they don't give much to work with in those little clips. This is going to be interesting...
Stupid title thingy won't cooperate with my obscenely long chapter title. The full title of this chapter is "The Most Ferocious Kitten in the Archipelago".
Without further ado...
Aranon woke that morning to the pleasant sound of rushing water.
It had rained relentlessly the night before, putting the dragon into a rather sour mood while he held his wing over him to repel the water, but it must have set something off outside of the cove, because a waterfall had appeared on the far side from his rock bowl nest.
The rain must have caused the riverbed to shift by washing a few rocks and dirt away, and now a small stream of water tumbled over the side of the cove and into the pond. The water level had rose considerably because of this, but also spread so much that it reached a crack in the cove wall, and the water soon turned clearer and revealed the living fish that now swam happily through the water.
Aranon slipped into the pond, the surface warmed by the morning sun, and slipped through the water like a seal. The water shed off of his scales as if he was covered in oil.
It was rather refreshing, and the water tasted fresh in Aranon's mouth, which was very welcome after only drinking the scummy water for the past days.
The Night Fury dove under the water, searching inside the log that sat on the bottom of the pond. But just as he poked his head in, a giant fish jetted out, stirring up muck from the pond bottom. Aranon whipped his head around, following the enormous brown catfish that wriggled away in the water. Aranon watched in astonishment – the fish was easily as large as his head. He realized that his heart was kicking against his ribcage, a heavy thudding to his water filled ears.
In sudden remembrance that he was not a fish and needed to breathe, Aranon kicked off from the bottom, then burst out of the pond and onto the shore, panting. He shot a dirty look back into the pond, where the catfish was looking back at him with its cataract laden eyes, staring at him blankly, mouth agape.
"Never again, I swear it." Aranon said harshly to the fish, which responded by returning to its log. The Night Fury huffed in exasperation. Dirty, rotten catfish with it's disgusting, foul, stupid face. He was the Warhawk, and somehow, he had been frightened by a bottom feeder. This was unacceptable. He fired off a plasma blast at a nearby rock, then another. And another. Once he had reached his shot limit and only did a blue smoke come from his mouth did he stop his crusade against the now non-existent rock – for that matter, all the rocks in that general vicinity were reduced to molten ooze.
Aranon suddenly felt a strange sensation on his head, niggling behind his ear plates. He swiped at it with his foot, to reveal a very small dragon. And by small, it was very, very small.
It squeaked and pecked at his foot with its strange tube-like beak, its little tongue slipping in and out like a hummingbird's. A Brainpicker. The Night Fury was momentarily startled, then quickly put his full weight on the reedy little dragon. The sturdy shell popped and the small dragon was crushed. Remorse didn't exist where none was due. Brainpickers were savage little dragons that, true to their names, sucked the brain out of their victim by the ear holes using their special beaks. Every dragon species was deathly afraid of them, even dragons who didn't even have ears. He didn't chide himself for being frightened this time – there was no shame in being scared of a Brainpicker.
Luckily, Brainpickers were rare as they were dangerous, and almost never gathered in packs unless in mating, which was, thankfully, not very often. Aranon scooped a hole in the earth, then brushed the crushed body into it. He shoveled the dirt back over and packed it down. He didn't want to see the awful little dragon ever again.
With a swish of his tail, the patch of dirt looked like it had always been like it was there, aside from some darker streaks from the wet dirt beneath. So easily forgotten. It would never be missed, however much it was feared.
Aranon didn't know whether or not that was the case with his own reputation at the Crescent Isle. He didn't doubt that some had forgotten him, especially the pups, they had the attention span of sparrows, but he had always gotten along well with them. Raising pups on the Crescent Isle could be counted as communal upbringing. While pups spent a lot of time with their parents, they would sometimes wander off for more than weeks at a time, circuiting the colony.
Two particular pups that usually hung like shadows behind himself and Tempest went by the names Abernea and Heldane. The two cheekiest like monsters to grace the Isle with their antics and never ending schemes. There were bets on how their pups would turn out some day. Besides Tempest, they were probably the dragons he missed the most from the Crescent Isle.
The Night Fury scolded himself for becoming homesick. His work here was not finished. But would it ever be?
Hiccup sidled down the steep slope into the cove, jumping off clumsily when his momentum grew, the satchel that looped over his chest swung wildly. He wasn't too ungainly, but his natural aura just reeked of awkwardness. And Zippleback. Also faintly of eel. But more importantly – of Zippleback.
Aranon bounded up to the boy, smelling the fin he carried in his spindly arms with pup-like excitement. It smelled of human sweat and fire, as well as old leather.
"What do ya think of that, eh, Toothless?" Hiccup smiled, holding out the prosthetic out closer for the Night Fury to inspect. "I padded it for ya." He noted with satisfaction that the inside of the wooden tube had been padded with old, worn leather that would be soft on his tail.
Aranon sneezed. The tail also smelled like Zippleback gas which, to dragons, had a distinctive peppery smell. The Zipplebacks liked it, but other species couldn't control their reflexes. The Zipplebacks found that amusing to no end also. The smell of eel didn't help either.
The dragon cooed, bringing his tail around to the human, he wouldn't mind giving flying another shot, but the Viking seemed to have other ideas. Hiccup smiled weakly and produced a small clay pot from his bag. He broke the seal and showed it to Aranon.
Inside was a gross looking green paste, the ridges still on it from being scraped into the pot. Aranon cringed back, skepticism written clearly across his face. He hoped to Nótt that the human didn't expect him to eat it. He hesitantly stuck his tongue out.
Hiccup laughed, closing the pot. "It's not for eating – it goes on your tail. I snitched it from Gothi's hut after training. Don't look at me like that," The Viking indicated to Aranon's tail, "If you want infection to stay out, you'll need this."
The Night Fury rumbled in contempt, then allowed the boy to take hold of his injured tail. Hiccup sat cross legged with the tail in his lap, then motioned for Aranon to lay down also. Aranon obliged, laying behind the human to receive a better look of what was being done to his tail.
The pot was opened again, the cloying scent of crushed flowers snaked into his nose. Hiccup scooped the paste from the pot with a cupped hand, then gobbed it onto the wound. He slathered it along the abrasion, and Aranon purred as a warming sensation blossomed in the area – it certainly felt like it was healing already.
Hiccup went to the water to wash his hands of the poultice, then returned to Aranon's side, humming.
Aranon lay his head on the ground, his eyes half-closed with narcotic-induced bliss, listening to his human hum. That's when he felt a strange sensation on his tail. He whipped his head up, then shook his tail away from Hiccup. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked in annoyance.
The Viking grasped the tail again, then persistently began doing what he was doing before – wrapping a long, yellowed strip of cloth around his tail fin. Hiccup furrowed his brow, "Well, how would you bind it?"Aranon snorted. I wouldn't bind it at all. "Look, I can't wrap it any other way, and if I don't wrap it at all, you'll start scratching it against rocks and open your wound up again. Then we definitely won't fly and you'll be down two tail fins."
Aranon huffed in disdain, then allowed Hiccup to wind the cloth around his tail. The poultice oozed and soaked into the yellow strips of bandage, and the cloth bound his remaining fin against his tail tightly into the most uncomfortably position imaginable.
Hiccup tied it off, observing his handiwork. But Aranon was less than unimpressed. Within a matter of minutes, the pup had managed to turn his tail into a cloth-bound club. "Any apology you attempt to make up will not be accepted." Aranon said blankly, hitting the boy over the head with the cloth tail bludgeon.
The Viking scowled, rubbing his head. "Just wait until it starts to itch, you big baby, then you'll be glad this is on there."
Aranon narrowed his eyes. "I see how it is," then he stood up and stalked off, dramatically dragging the bandages behind him. But when Hiccup didn't turn around to follow his progress, Aranon slipped behind him silently, then grabbed him by back of the shirt collar.
"Wha-" Hiccup started, his limbs flailing as the Night Fury transferred the human like a young pup towards the water's edge. "Toothless, put me down!"
Aranon grinned cheekily, "Wish granted." And with that, dropped Hiccup into the pond.
The human came up sputtering; he glared at Aranon, "Is this going to become a regular thing with you? Do you enjoy my suffering?" When the Night Fury chirred, he was greeted by a splash to the face.
He looked at his human in astonishment. "Did you just-" he narrowed his eyes, "Oh it's on, pup." The Night Fury reared up then smashed his front feet down into the water.
A wave rose on the surface of the pond, then smacked Hiccup in the face, driving the boy under the water. He resurfaced, "Toothless, you are so getting it!"
The dragon huffed and pressed Hiccup back in with a forefoot, "You smell awful, like Zippleback gas and eel. You'll thank me when the hounds of your village don't run to the hills at the smell of you. The dogs will thank me too, for saving their noses."
Hiccup sprawled on the ground next to Aranon, his arms and legs spread-eagle in the sparse grass. Aranon was laying beside him, marveling at the miracle of hair. He rubbed it with his head, ran it through his teeth, even licked it. It truly was a strange thing. Meanwhile, Hiccup was telling him about the other humans in his colony.
"The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut – they aren't too bad, except for that one time they hung me upside down off the dock, or the time they set their hounds on me, or that time when – you know what, they're actually horrible people."
Aranon huffed in agreement, rustling his human's auburn hair with his snout, then blowing it flat with his heavy breaths.
"Fishlegs isn't too awful, I mean, he doesn't bully me like the others, but he doesn't say anything either. And I guess that's just as bad." Hiccup rubbed the Night Fury's jaw, making the dragon rumble in happiness, "Gobber; you could say he's always been there for me. I've apprenticed to him since I was little – well – littler. Makes fun of me like the rest of 'em, but he's the nicest by far."
The Night Fury leaned forward, getting more into the scratching. But Hiccup's hands dropped, "And then there's my dad – Stoick the Vast." He puffed up his chest, mimicking a stronger man. He put on a fake accent, "Big an' strong and burly!" he dropped the impersonation, his chest deflating back to its original, scrawny form. "He just doesn't understand, he wants me to be a great big Viking. That's not going to happen very soon, probably... never at the rate I'm going."
Aranon warbled indignantly as Hiccup moved, making the ordeal of combing his human's hair more difficult than it had to be, seeing he didn't have opposable thumbs like the Viking, or even fingers for that matter – or hands.
Hiccup stayed in his laying position, staring at the sky turning dusk overhead, "Toothless, I don't think I'll ever be a Viking. No matter what I do, I'll probably just end up being shoved into a box – quite literally." He swiveled his head to Aranon, "And you know what? I don't think I want to be a Viking, cause I have you."
The dragon continued his conquest of Hiccup's head, beginning to hum. It was no particular tune or order; just a series of pitches that tired parents used to settle their pups down, it had the same narcotic effect to them as the green paste of the humans.
The Viking smiled, "For the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, you act like a giant kitten." Aranon cooed, he didn't know what a kitten was, but they must be fearsome creatures with large teeth and intimidating claws, perhaps a good set of poisonous spines. The most ferocious creatures in the archipelago.
Aranon suddenly jerked his head back, then he rolled over. He came face to face with the ball on his tail. Nótt, the human was right; the thrice damned poultice was itchy. Hiccup bolted up, "Toothless? Toothless, spit it out!" Aranon paused; the ball of bandages was in his mouth in his attempt to rip it off in order to get to the itching skin beneath. He kept it in his mouth, assuming an innocent demeanor. But his lower jaw was discreetly working at the binding. But Hiccup set his jaw, "I told you this would happen, didn't I?"
Aranon grumbled. Then unwillingly spat the soaking wad out of his mouth when Hiccup started to pry his mouth open, Aranon only complied so that the human wouldn't strain himself from the effort. "You're going to kill yourself someday, sticking your hands in a dragon's mouth. Honestly," Aranon snorted, smacking the pasties on the roof of his mouth away with his tongue.
The human assessed the damage on the cloths, then dropped the wad nonchalantly on the ground. "You're lucky those didn't come out in your mouth – otherwise your tongue would start to swell." Aranon widened his eyes in question and Hiccup sighed, "The twins pranked me a few years back, haven't eaten chicken since."
Aranon chirred.
"What? You think that's just hilarious, don't you?" Hiccup's face twisted in distaste of the dragon's humor, "Well, I'm not the one who's going to suffer the itchy stuff, am I?" That shut Aranon up.
The next day, Aranon saw Hiccup slip into the cove holding the strangest thing. It a flat oval, made from pleated leather strips and buckles attached by longer leather straps.
He set it against a rock, then strode over to the waiting dragon, who willingly offered the bandaged tail to him. The human accepted the cloth-bound tail with a smile, then set to work cutting the linen loose with his dagger, the knot too haphazardly twisted by Aranon's exploits for even Hiccup's nimble fingers. Aranon purred gleefully when Hiccup peeled off the poultice, which had become a putrid solid on the dragon's tail as it leeched out infection. The dragon wiggled his living tail fin in experimentation, his ears pricked up in excitement when it still responded to him after being entrapped for a day.
Hiccup smiled at the dragon's pleasure, then opened the fish basket, which Aranon pounced on in anticipation. He wasn't too hungry, as dragons didn't have to eat much to stay alive, so he picked for his favourites. Cod, haddock, and the choice salmon. He had to be careful, or Hiccup would let him become fat.
The human grinned at the dragon's enthusiasm, then retrieved the prosthetic from its cache in the wall, clipping it onto Aranon's tail. The Night Fury barked happily as Hiccup tested it, pulling the rods into the various positions.
Hiccup fetched the pleated leather oval from its propped position against the rock, then hoisted it up for the dragon to see. "This, Toothless, is a saddle." Hiccup held it up triumphantly, like he thought it the best idea in the world to place it on the Night Fury's back. Aranon had a whole different line of thinking.
He crouched in challenge, eyes wide in anticipation of the chase, then bounded off. The pup chased after him, "You have to catch me first!" the dragon barked, chirring as the human stumbled to keep up.
Aranon suddenly stamped his feet down and wheeled around, flaring his wings. Hiccup tripped over his tail and onto the dragon's back, his face narrowly missing the Night Fury's crests on the base of his midnight tail. The dragon chirped, confusedly regarding his human who sprawled on the ground, holding his nose with one hand. "Loki's teeth, Toothless, don't do that!" His voice was higher and reedy, almost like the drone of a bee's wings.
The Night Fury tilted his head in confusion. Wondering why his human's voice had changed, and why the boy was holding his face – he had hit Aranon's tail on its side, he couldn't have seriously hurt himself. He rumbled, bringing his head closer to assess the damage he accidently inflicted on the boy.
Suddenly, Hiccup leapt up and grappled Aranon's neck with a victorious cry. Aranon backed up awkwardly, dragging the boy along the ground, but Hiccup held firm. The Viking laughed, and Aranon threw his head up in confusion, the human used the momentum of the tug to throw himself onto the dragon's back with a triumphant howl. The Night Fury froze, awkwardly standing, wings flared, with a human pup on his back. Hiccup grasped around his thick neck with arms wide, the saddle pressed between his boney chest and Aranon's hide.
The dragon snorted in surprise, trying to twist his head around to make sense of his strange position – being underneath a human like this was a concept new to him. "What in Nótt's name..?" He stepped backwards in an awkward circle, the prosthetic tail fin clicked and scraped over the exposed rock, "Hiccup?"
Hiccup leaned over and, as if he had understood Aranon's earlier challenge, state, "Caught ya."
He felt the pup's hands slide under his throat, one leading a leather strap from the saddle behind it, the other pushing the strap through a metal buckle. It was tight to his jaw and slightly uncomfortable as it made it difficult for Aranon to swallow the metal links on the sides had sharp edges. Hiccup's hands continued to strap another leather binding further down Aranon's throat, broader than the other, but the tightness was slightly more comfortable than the one situated above it.
Hiccup gave Aranon a satisfied pat on the side of his neck, then slid out of his uncomfortable position on the dragon's back and onto the ground. He ducked under Aranon's neck, checking the girth by trying to slide two fingers between it and Aranon's hide. The bottom was fine, but when hiccup tried to place his fingers under the top one he caused Aranon to gag. Hiccup pulled the clasp off the strap, and the top end of the saddle released. The Night Fury took a grateful breath.
Hiccup pulled off the second clasp, and Aranon gladly let the saddle fall to the ground with a soft thud. The human picked it up, then started to mutter to himself, tugging and fretting at the pleated leather with his thin fingers. He crouched and pulled the white leaves bound in leather form his vest and dropped it to the ground, then opened it to an already inscribed page. He started to furiously scribble in it with his charcoal stick. "I need to make the saddle longer – and the straps too. You're bigger than I thought you were, Toothless."
Aranon purred proudly, "Of course I am."
Hiccup grabbed Aranon's tail and stared at it as if to burn holes in the leather. He tossed it to the side despite the Night Fury's rumbled protests of hurt. Hiccup didn't even notice in his deep concentration. Hiccup shoved the white leaves back into his vest after scratch a few more lines into it, then stood up. He took advantage of Aranon's confused state to run his hand over the dragon's smooth back. "I could use your crests to anchor its back in place, but then I should probably make a metal skeleton for the back to keep your spike from tearing the back open, and maybe reinforce it with braided leather. Yah, that could work." He observed Aranon's main body, "You know what? I think I'll just get rid of the bottom strap." He took out his dagger and cut the threads holding the back straps on, "And then I can make some links to go around your legs, like a sled dog." Aranon growled. "But nothing like a dog." Hiccup added hastily.
The human wasted no time in gathering his things; the fin, the saddle and straps, and the fish basket, then make his way to the only exit from the cove. Aranon followed him like a giant winged shadow, making small whines in askance for Hiccup to stay. He butted Hiccup in the back, but his pup only placed a hand on Aranon's head in a soothing gesture. "Sorry, bud, but if you want to fly, I need to get this stuff done. And believe it or not, humans have to sleep too. So I get this done in the forge tonight, then I get a good night's sleep, I fail training in the morning, then I come back and spend the afternoon with you."
Aranon rumbled in hesitant agreeance, then allowed Hiccup to use his head to reach the ledge above, "Be safe, Hiccup." The dragon backed away from the ledge as the pup disappeared under the shield that was still wedged between the rocks. "May Night hold you in her hands."
Ta da! Another chapter, made by the one and only: Me!
I believe I answered the question: (I don't know if I'm the only one who noticed this) why Hiccup is the only one eating fish at the watchtower campfire while the others are eating chicken. Obviously it was a traumatic experience. The drumstick he ate in the great hall before reading the dragon manual – turkey – or some other large bird. I checked; it was too large to be chicken (that or the chickens are like super A&W 'chubby chicken').
"To review or not review – that is the question." It might be the question, but the answer is pretty obvious. Hit that review button. Hit it! Paste your paragraph. Be awesome.