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Chapter 10: Truly Toothless

(Toothless)

The stars suddenly vanished from the night, and, beyond a wall of heavy rain, everything was dark, the sea and clouds merged together in unified blackness but for the occasional bolts of light piercing the sky, like gargantuan white teeth biting the world whole. Soon the storm was all around them, and Toothless had no choice but to let the winds lead them inside that immense, violent mouth of churning air and water and fire.

"You know, Toothless? I think the gods really do hate me," Hiccup complained, speaking loudly against the winds, his sarcasm clearly overpowered by worry. "I mean, not only do they never answer my calls, but now it appears they're actively trying to kill me too!"

Toothless glanced back at his rider, but otherwise said nothing. After all, he still was not sure what Hiccup meant by the human word 'gods'. Instead, he braced himself, before fully entering the storm. Hiccup had also crouched lower on the saddle, and they both squinted when heavy raindrops finally started to viciously gnaw at their faces.

The flight against the winds became downright turbulent. Fortunately, Hiccup had become quite adept at handling the prosthetic fin, so Toothless was confident the winds would pose no problem to the most agile of dragons, even if crippled. Lightning, however, was a different matter. Not even a Night Fury could dodge the sky's white flame. Toothless decided to lower their altitude in a hopeful attempt to avoid being hit. Truth was, dragons seldom took to the skies during storms, for it was risky and dangerous. Alas, it was too late for them now.

"Please tell me you see some land, bud!" Hiccup shouted, spitting rainwater. "Anything will do!"

Toothless swung skillfully against the fitful gusts, yet not even his excellent eyes could see through that storm, and, with the rain washing away every scent, his nose was useless too. He could only beat his wings faster, flying rushedly towards the hope for land, not so much for himself, but rather for his rider, who had begun to shiver on his back.

Both of them fought together against the winds, feeling grateful each time lightning slapped some tall frothy wave, instead of their sorry scales, though the violent roars of thunder would still painfully pierce their ears.

When the heavy rain before them appeared to disperse, a broad, powerful bolt of light curled on the horizon, revealing, with a flash, the dark, unmistakable silhouette of a mountain.

Toothless growled in triumph and beat his wings with a new strength. He cut through the air as only a Night Fury could, making encouraging noises for his rider.

He received no response. Hiccup was still on his back, and the tail-fin was still being controlled, but the boy was not acknowledging his hopeful chirps. Toothless probed with all of his six ears towards his rider. There was no human voice, only a light clattering of... teeth?

What did that sound mean? Toothless had never witnessed this kind of reaction from his human hatchling. Hiccup was still a hatchling after all, wasn't he? Toothless decided to reach the island as soon as possible, anxious to find out what was wrong with him.

The landscape was not overly welcoming. Despite the darkness, the island appeared to be a dormant volcano, surrounded by its own black, solidified lava, which had burned and eroded parts of the forest, forming countless crevices and caverns. Toothless chose to descend inland, where it was safer from the elements. He saw a large opening in the mountainside which provided shelter from the rain. When he landed, Hiccup stumbled down the saddle, shivering like never before as they made their way inside that shallow, but very wide cave.

"I need t-t-t-to…" Hiccup said, his clattering teeth preventing him from speaking further.

Toothless licked Hiccup's cheek. The boy was cold. That was why, he assumed, the human's teeth were making that disturbing noise, and it was probably a bad sign. Dragons had no particular issues with low temperatures, or water for that matter. Humans, however, appeared to suffer the cold particularly when wet. Yes, that was probably it.

While Hiccup removed the basket from the saddle with trembling hands, Toothless considered making a fire for his human, but the whole forest was soaked, so dry wood was not an option. Besides, he would need to leave Hiccup to find it. He decided to scorch the ground before him with his own flame, to make it warm. Then, he tried to pull the boy towards his chest to embrace him.

"Wait-t-t-t," the human mumbled as he spilled the contents of the basket on the floor of the cave. "Could you t-t-t-turn around?" He added through trembling teeth.

Toothless did not understand the reason behind the question. He did look around, but nobody else was there, so he looked back at Hiccup, who did not appear to care about enforcing the strange request. Meanwhile, Hiccup had retrieved some of the strange, human-made skins from the basket, and was now removing his own upper skins, the one which the human called the 'tunic'.

For the first time, Toothless could see the bare, pale, freckled, but smooth skin of his rider's back, and was appalled to observe that he could almost count the boy's ribs. Was Hiccup not fed on his island? Why was his human so bony? All the skins and furs he wore hid the truth of the boy's poor physical condition. Toothless resolved to be even more obstinate about having his rider eat more food in the future.

Hiccup replaced his wet tunic with a dry one from his belongings, and began unrolling his large pelt onto the ground, hands shivering. Once he was done, the boy turned towards him.

"Bud, c-c-can you-" He didn't finish the sentence, before falling towards Toothless, unconscious.

Toothless didn't have the time to growl in alarm as he swiftly grabbed his pale rider, clasping his gums to the neck of the boy's tunic. He then worriedly pulled his human towards the pelt, and wrapped himself around him, trying to raise his own body temperature by burning more of his inner gas, hoping it would help Hiccup recover quickly.

Fortunately, the boy was just sleeping, and, after some time, his shivering receded. Toothless checked on his rider constantly to make sure he was fine.

A long while later, even Toothless began to feel fatigue overtake him. Reassured by the now calm breathing of the little human, he allowed his eyes to seal, and he finally fell asleep as well.


Toothless woke up gradually, wiggling his ear-plates to listen to his surroundings. It was still raining outside, though in a more tranquil manner than the previous day. The cave echoed with the sounds of heavy drops leaking from the rocky ceiling, pooling in large puddles of fresh water around them.

When Toothless opened his eyes, he could see daylight seep through the overcast skies. How long had he slept? How long would Hiccup need to sleep? Should he raise his wing to check on the little human, and risk waking him up? He pondered those questions, until apprehension made him finally decide to peek under his wing.

Hiccup was still asleep against his chest, the boy's soft auburn hair brushing his forepaw. The boy's breathing, however, was somewhat heavy and… irregular. Once again, Toothless had never observed such a condition on his rider. Hiccup hadn't slept like that the day before. Was this normal?

Humans are so strange, Toothless thought.

He gave a cautious lick to Hiccup's cheek. The boy was now unusually hot. Toothless raised his wing completely, letting the chilly air hit the human's face. Was it his fault? Had he overheated his own blood, and subsequently the little human's too? Hiccup hadn't complained during the night.

His heart racing, Toothless rose, allowing the boy to rest solely over the fur pelt.

"Are you all right?" He said, using human words, stomping his front paws worriedly on the ground. "Hiccup, wake up!" He tried again. Unfortunately, he had never been able to connect to his rider's mind. He had slowly and painstakingly learnt more and more about the human language, but he could not use it himself. Dragons could not make those complex sounds with their mouths, and humans could not use their inner ear. And to think that they had such large brains.

Humans are so strange.

Toothless paced back and forth, trying to think of something. He decided to poke Hiccup's cheek with his snout, to force him out of his sleep; he could not bear to wait any longer without knowing whether the little human would be fine or not. The boy was his only means of flight.

Hiccup stirred, but did not wake. Toothless prodded him again, and, finally, the boy half-opened his eyes.

"Hey Tooth'..." Hiccup whispered hoarsely. "Oh... my head." He touched his forehead with the palm of his hand. The boy tried to sit up, but he appeared unable to do so. Toothless helped him and warbled his concern:

"What is happening to you?" Toothless tried asking with his inner voice.

"Bud… I think… did you just… I must be… oh man... my head...!" Hiccup did not finish the sentence. Instead, he crawled on all fours towards one of the deeper puddles of fresh water in the cave, and splashed some on his face. For a moment, he seemed stuck; then, he drank, and finally crawled back towards the spilled objects on the floor, picking up the wool blanket, a cloth, and one of the wooden bowls. He filled the large bowl with cold water, soaked the cloth in it, and flung it on his forehead with a splat as he lay on the pelt again, looking completely exhausted.

The little human seemed to know what he was doing, which only increased Toothless' astonishment, without alleviating any of his worries.

Why was the boy trying to cool himself, when only yesterday he had been freezing? Why was he so warm today? And why did he look so tired? All these doubts made Toothless' throat emit countless little whimpers of distress, whilst his paws kneaded the rocky floor.

Hiccup flicked his eyes open for a single glance towards him, and then shut them again, as if it had been too strenuous a task. The boy took two deep, heavy breaths, and finally said:

"I'm sorry, bud. I think I have a fever… I need to rest. Don't worry about me." His voice lowered to a mumble. "Don't worry…" he repeated under his breath, "don't…"

Hiccup fell asleep again, and Toothless, unable to obey his rider's request, couldn't help worrying even more. How could he not worry? He did not even know what the word 'fever' meant! Was it a bad kind of sickness? Would sleep be enough to cure him?

Humans are so strange!

Powerless, unsure of what to do to help his rider recover, Toothless felt stuck. He knew nothing about human health, and he was most certainly inexperienced when it came to tending to others. Night Furies were by nature solitary dragons who preferred flying the skies above all other creatures, basking in the pride of their own legendary speed and strength.

Toothless, of course, had forfeited his pride the day he allowed his mind to be captured by the Queen's spell. Not even he knew exactly how many seasons he had spent as her slave, but even a single day would have been enough to break a Night Fury's spirit forever. Night Furies were supposed to be kings of the skies, not minions. So it should not have surprised him when, after getting to know Hiccup in that cove, he had found himself unable to feel anything but gratitude towards the boy. This human had unknowingly saved him from the Queen, and he had even spared his life. Alas, it had all come at the high cost of his flying ability.

It had been (and sometimes still was) very hard to accept, not being able to fly by himself; almost as hard as acknowledging he was not really a king of the skies. He had never been one, and he never would be now. Yet, Toothless carried on, failing to fret too much over his losses. He did not understand why or how he could be so calm about it, but he suspected it was in no small part thanks to his little friend's unexpected devotion.

His little friend was sick though, and Toothless was not sure whether he was going to recover by himself. If Hiccup died, Toothless would probably follow not long afterwards. He would be stuck on that island. Maybe he could manage to survive there, but he was going to be a hostage to the earth's pull, confined to that rock forever, imprisoned and unfree. To any dragon, that was not a life worth living, and this was even truer for a Night Fury.

So, there was only one thing left to do; he was going to try his best to take care of the hatchling before him, even though he knew not where to begin.

Toothless brought fresh fish to the little human, and moved the bundle with dried meat closer to where the boy was resting. He did the same with the water bladder, the one that did not smell like a strange poison. He also recovered some wood branches, which he broke and dried with his flame, before lighting them up to make a fire in the cavern, just like Hiccup usually did, only larger.

For almost half a day, Toothless did not know what else to do. He stared expectantly at his friend, hoping he would wake up again, if only for a single moment, just to reassure him that he was going to be all right.

Toothless waited, stared, whimpered, and waited some more, but Hiccup would only stir or turn in his restless sleep. The boy's eyes kept darting nervously left and right under his eyelids, but he did not wake once for the entire day. Sometimes, when his breathing became too faint, Toothless would panic, and he would rush up close to check whether the boy's lungs were still working, though he could not bring himself to touch his rider again, for fear of disturbing him and perhaps making things worse; the little human had always looked fragile, but never like this.

When night fell, Toothless noticed that the cloth on the boy's forehead had become dry. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he assumed it was supposed to be wet in order to help Hiccup lower his temperature. He moved closer to the boy, and, as carefully as he could, he removed the cloth with his teeth, dipped it in the bowl of water, and then tried to readjust it on Hiccup's forehead with a few cautious movements of his claws.

It was dripping. Perhaps he should have squeezed some water out of it.

"Thank you, mom…" Hiccup suddenly murmured, half-opening his baggy eyes, and looking in Toothless' direction. "…sorry I got sick again," he added.

Toothless did not know what to think. Was the boy dreaming about his mother, despite his semi-wakeful state? Toothless had heard Hiccup talk about her only once, and he only knew she wasn't alive anymore.

The boy stared at him for a while, his eyes lost and distant. "One day I'll become strong like dad. I promise. Then I'll never get sick."

Like that, Hiccup ended the imaginary conversation, and fell asleep once more.

Toothless could only watch, partly disturbed by the exchange, partly worried. Little did he know, however, that such visions were about to get much worse. In fact, it wasn't long, before Hiccup woke up again, green eyes now wide with fear. In them, Toothless could see the reflected flickers of his attempt at a bonfire, the sole source of light in the cavern, as the rain outside concealed the night's moon.

"Father, please! I'm sorry," Hiccup cried towards the ceiling, dragging himself up on his trembling elbows. "I'm sorry!" He turned swiftly towards Toothless, and locked eyes with him, terrified; the motion made the wet cloth fall.

Toothless made to retrieve it, but, as he approached the hallucinating human, Hiccup let out another hoarse scream.

"Father, no! You can't feed me to the dragons! I said I was sorry! What do I have to do?!" He yelled, raising his forearms to protect himself.

At least this time Hiccup was seeing Toothless for what he was, a dragon, but he was not recognizing him, which, to Toothless, felt somehow even worse. He decided to keep his distance, leaving the wet cloth on the ground. Something about that scene was making him feel sick himself. While his rider was obviously not in his right mind, it still felt like his own flame had burst into his chest.

Fortunately, after that, Hiccup fell asleep for good, although, for the following while before morning, an abundance of little moans and jumbled cries would constantly escape his throat. At one point, water started trickling from the corners of his closed eyes. Toothless did not like it when that happened. He had learnt to associate that human impulse with the feeling of intense sorrow. He remembered, merely two days before, when the little human was sitting by the edge of a cliff, spilling so many drops. It was as if his face had been raining, which Toothless found to be an uncomfortable sight.

What was a Night Fury supposed to do in those situations? Ignore it, probably, fly away, but he was not a proper Night Fury anymore.

Toothless had produced a few timid noises to catch his rider's attention, but he hadn't been heard. He was sure the human was sad, though the reasons were still unclear to him. He had always thought Hiccup would have been more than happy to leave his island; that's what the boy had kept claiming for days, before finally deciding to leave.

Of course, Toothless was aware that Hiccup had failed to carry out their departure in the way he had planned, but wasn't their freedom ultimately more important now? Was his tribe's opinion that relevant to him? All throughout that winter, when they had slowly, secretly gotten to know each other, Toothless had heard his rider often rant about his life in the village of Berk, about how he had never truly fit in with the other humans. Toothless had become increasingly sure that leaving would have been a great pleasure to the boy. Not so much apparently.

Maybe it was not easy for humans to abandon their homes. After all, Night Furies, unlike most other dragons, had no fixed concepts of family, or kin, or home. The sky was their home, clouds were their friends, and winds were their very large, supportive family.

Perhaps Hiccup had actually sacrificed a lot for his sake. The thought made Toothless feel even more grateful towards the little human, no matter how unnatural the emotion was for a Night Fury. Toothless fought his instincts, and kept watching over the boy, a task which was turning out to be harder than expected.

Morning finally came again. One full day had passed. The rain had calmed, and so had Hiccup's sleep. Toothless, however, had not shut his eyes once. He had become a vigilant statue by the hatchling's side, with only his tail occasionally moving, slowly patting the ground, once left, and once right, expectant, hopeful.

When Toothless refreshed the wet cloth on the boy's forehead, he decided to brush his tongue on the boy's cheek. Was it cooler? Was it the same? He could not really say.

Suddenly, but softly, Hiccup breathed out a murmur: "I'll be fine, bud. Don't worry about me."

His eyes were closed, but he was finally awake, and, most importantly, he was conscious. Hiccup reached out with his hand to scratch Toothless' chin, but his strength failed him, and he was forced to lower his arm again.

As the arm fell, Toothless managed to slip his head under the boy's hand, so it would rest upon his snout. It was probably selfish of him to search for comfort from the ailing boy, but he could not resist the urge. He could not hide the truth. He had been terrified.

"Tomorrow… I promise," Hiccup said, his voice raspy, but soothing. "Tomorrow we will fly again."


AN: If you notice any particularly heavy anachronisms in my story, I would really appreciate it if you could point them out to me. I've so far tried to avoid mentioning modern slang, or even words like "okay". I'm also trying to avoid the metric system, and the usage of hours, minutes and seconds throughout all narration (for Vikings had no way to measure them), as well as some technologies and tools that even pseudo-Vikings could not possess. Still, something might have escaped my attention. This is fiction, but I'd like to keep it realistic and gritty when I can. Thank you!