'ello! I will or will not be finishing this story today, and if not today, then tomorrow for sure. :) I believe this is my FORTH or FIFTH update today (something like that). You guys are awesome. Shout-outs:
Let my dragons roar: No idea. I just can't stop myself. I just see a story and I just got to...update it. You know. It's...who I am, fandom. :)
StormflyGoesForASpin: Nooo, Toothless! :'(
silverwolvesarecool: Pretty much my reaction. Poor Toothless! :( I feel so bad for him!
thewookie1: Yeah, at least Hiccup's alive, and it will probably end up well in the end. *clears throat* Probably...
KidJr: :)
Wanli8970: Poor, poor Toothless. Poor Hiccup, too. Toothless thinks Hiccup's better off without him and I'm just here like "Noooo!" And yet I'm the one writing it...sad.
Edlover23: Yes, me too. I feel so sorry for all the Berkians, in all honesty. Hiccup especially. Toothless, too, since he's so guilty about it and thinks it's his fault.
AnimeAngel: No, he will not. Well, actually, he kind of has already broken my heart (and yet I'm the one writing it). *sniff sniff* COME BACK, TOOTHLESS! YOU DON'T WANT THE SCAULDRON TO COME AFTER YOU!
Little Did You Know: He'd better.
xFaerieValkyriex: GAH! TOOTHLESS NO!
He couldn't stop thinking. No matter how many times he tried, it was impossible. His mind always drifted back to the Night Fury who had left because of guilt. Guilt. Knowing that made Hiccup feel guilty. He was sure Toothless had learned that it hadn't been his fault, rather the Alpha who had control over his thought process, but he was wrong. Toothless obviously still felt it were his own fault.
Hiccup held his charcoal in one hand, his notebook in the other. He was sketching out a brief map of Berk just by his memory, trying to think of somewhere Toothless could have run and hidden. It wouldn't have been out in the open; the other riders would have found him already. He had to be somewhere out of sight.
Valka was downstairs making dinner. She had left after making sure Hiccup knew he wasn't allowed to leave. She had been tempted to tie him to the bed, but that was taking it a little bit to the extreme.
Hiccup crossed Thor's Beach off the map. Toothless wouldn't have hidden there. What about the beach they found Heather on? No, the other riders would have looked there, too. Toothless was smart. He knew where to hide. He was a Night Fury, too, on top of being intelligent. Stealth masters, Night Furies were. If it didn't want to be found, you didn't find it.
But Hiccup knew Toothless. He knew how he acted, where he would hide. He had lived on Berk his whole life; twenty years to be exact. He had seen it from dragon back, and on foot. He had been everywhere; there wasn't one spot he hadn't been before.
"Where would you hide...?" he asked himself, tapping his charcoal on the paper, creating dots on it without hardly even thinking about what he was doing. He crossed out every location that would be in the open. He wasn't anywhere near the village, obviously, because someone would have spotted him. Raven Point? Possibly. He circled it. The Cove? He circled that, too, even though it was in Raven Point.
He continued on until he narrowed it down to Raven Point and a few other locations. Raven Point was the closest, though. Probably the easiest one to get to, considering his condition. He would need a walking stick...no...maybe two walking sticks, to use like crutches. He would need a distraction...he couldn't let his Mom or Dad learn what he was planning, even though he was certain they already had an idea.
He would have to wait until nightfall. That would be the best time to leave. Unfortunately, it would also be the hardest time to look for Toothless. He was a Night Fury, after all. His scales were black; he could blend into even a simple shadow, and you wouldn't even know he was there.
It was all so messed up. How would he pull it off?
A few minutes later, he heard the front door creak open, followed by distant murmurs. He could only figure his Father had come back and was talking to Valka downstairs. About what, he could only guess it was him.
He heard footsteps. He closed his notebook and put it away as quickly as he could. No one needed to know what he was working on. His Father appeared in the doorway just a few seconds later. After a moment of hesitation, he walked forward and sat down beside Hiccup on the bed.
He gave him a hug, which Hiccup returned wholeheartedly.
"How are you doing?" Stoick asked.
"Fine, fine," said Hiccup. "Toothless is still missing."
"Your friends have been looking for him like mad," said Stoick. "They'll find him."
"And what if they don't?" said Hiccup. "What if no one ever finds him?"
Stoick sighed. "I'm sure they will," he said.
"Yeah?" said Hiccup. "I wish I could be that sure." Hiccup sighed. "It's been two weeks, Dad," he said. "Do you really think Toothless would stay away this long, and then come back?"
"Hold on," said Stoick. "I know where you're going with this. Toothless will be back, Hiccup."
"Neither of us know that," said Hiccup. "Neither one of us. No one knows. And no one will know until it becomes obvious. But when will that be? No one knows that, either."
Stoick sighed. "He'll be back," he said. "End of story."
Somehow, that didn't make Hiccup feel any better.
...
A little later on, the dragon riders came back and gave Hiccup a report on what they had found. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No sign or trace of Toothless. Of course, Hiccup hadn't expected they would find anything, so it wasn't like he was disappointed.
Well, of course he was. He had wished they had found his dragon, but he hadn't gotten his hopes up about it. He was ready for defeat.
After that, Hiccup lay awake most the night, thinking, waiting for the right moment to leave and look for Toothless. He had his notebook and charcoal, he would just need a walking stick, which really wouldn't be too hard to find. Give or take a few minutes.
After about an hour, he listened. Silence. Now was his time. He just needed to think about how he would do this...
Getting down the stairs? No, it would be way too hazardous and noisy. Out the window? Possibly. It wasn't too far a drop. What other choice did he have? Toothless needed him, possibly. Probably. No, definitely.
Hiccup stood up; really a lot harder to do than it sounded. He had been unconscious for two weeks. He wasn't exactly used to using his feet (that is to say, foot, of course). He grabbed one side of the bed and pushed himself up, wincing, but managing it nonetheless, purely because he was stubborn.
He grabbed his satchel without hardly moving, and then put his notebook and charcoal in it. He felt another deja vu, like he had felt so many times that day; the time he went out the first time to look for Toothless, before they even made peace with the dragons. After shooting him down, he had done a similar thing to what he was doing now. Leaving in secret with a notebook and charcoal, looking for a Night Fury...
Pretty much the same thing. Only this time, Hiccup wasn't saving Toothless from a physical trap. He was saving Toothless from the trap he had made for himself. The dragon probably thought himself to be a monster; Hiccup needed to make sure the poor Night Fury knew the truth.
He put his hands against the wall as he made his way over to the window to steady his shaking legs (leg). This was crazy, but he really didn't have the choice. Of course, he could have just backed out of it, but he wasn't going to. Toothless needed him. End of story. Nothing more to be said.
He let go of the wall for a split second and put his hands on the window sill, staring out into the darkness. This was it. He put one leg over the side, so he was half in, half out. Then, all at once, he jumped.
It hurt more than he had expected. He landed on his back (thankfully not his chest, which would have hurt to the point of him screaming) in some of the bushes. The branches carved tiny scrapes on his face, but he ignored it as he stood up and looked around the bush pile for a stick.
He found one that was just a little shorter than he was. It relieved him; now he wouldn't have to worry about finding a walking stick. Then, after making sure he had the satchel, he stumbled towards Raven Point.
He had a Night Fury to find.