Hello everyone! I'm finally back with another chapter! I'm sorry it took so long, I was on holiday, then I became ill from the return flight, and the minute I wanted to post this earlier, FF's servers decided to take a break as well. I like this site, but they really need to get better servers, this is like the third time this month there are serious issues.

I'm rambling again.

Anyway, review replies:

TomBoyBookGirl: I'm sorry that I woke you, but I'm glad you like it! I really wanted to show Hiccup's and Toothless' determination in helping each other. I think that's really what their entire bond is about. Mutual, unconditional willingness to help the other, whatever it takes.

HappyPup1: *Runs away* AAAAAAH! I'm sorry! *throws update towards HappyPup1* Please don't kill me! If you kill me, you'll never get another update!

SMR. Freeze: Thank you!

dracologistmaster: Well, let's just say the crash has some serious consequences.

Roughgunner: Yeah, they're both awkward and distrustful around each other now, for various reasons.

Clank2662: Are you referring to the arrows carved in the stones? I envisioned them more as ridges he can feel with his shoes. In the Netherlands at least, we have these special road tiles with ridges on them that blind people can follow, and I wanted something similar to that. I'm not sure if I'm describing it right, if you want more info send me a PM.

EmmaLennyEddie: Thank you for being so understanding about the hiatus.

Drew Luczynski: Normally I don't give away spoilers, but I do guarantee Hiccup will never regain his sight, and certainly not by Bewilderbeast magic.

Guardian of Azarath: I really liked the "You're acting weird" scene in the movie, and it inspired Hiccup's awkward/obvious behavior in this chapter. You'll see what happened with the crash in this chapter.

Watcher321: Indeed! I originally planned to have Toothless crash into a cliff, and then Hiccup would be hanging, and it would have ended on a literal cliffhanger, but I decided that was way too cheesy for what had to be a serious scene.

Taechunsa: Thank you for your support. While echolocation won't be in the main story, I will be writing a number of one-shots set after the end of the movie. I'm currently considering adding one about Hiccup trying to learn echolocation with Toothless' help, but I'm not sure yet if it will be included.
Thank you for the suggestion about using copper! I planned to use iron for various symbolic reasons as well, but I've been thinking and with copper I can do even more symbolism and other stuff that I like to think is deep. So thanks!

Ivanganev1992: Hiccup's blindness will not be cured. But he will find ways to ride Toothless, and it will be shown in a couple of chapters.

Dilloncoll: I sent you a PM, but I'm not sure if it arrived, with the server weirdness and me sending it from my phone. If it did arrive, I understand that you didn't reply. If it didn't, well I guess it's a little late for a sneak peek. Sorry…

Dragon Lord Draco: Yeah, I ended it in a dark spot (pun totally intended)

Nimbus Llewelyn: Thank you, it's very nice to hear such praise from such an experienced writer and reader (at least from what I saw on your profile). Thanks for the advice on punctuation, I should have paid more attention in English class. I'll update the old chapters when I've got some time to spare.

Guest: Thanks!

Sozphenia: It's certainly not a joke. The crash will certainly have consequences, and they're starting in this chapter.

Chapter 11: Useless

Groaning, Hiccup pushed himself up from the pile of leafs he found himself in. For a moment, he couldn't remember what had happened, but when he moved his hands and found a big bump on the back of his head, it all came back.

His entire body hurt, and Hiccup slowly moved his hands across his skin, trying to locate his injuries. He found a nasty cut on his cheek, and when he touched it he could feel something wet on his hand.

Then he heard a roar, and he remembered he wasn't the only one who had crashed.

"Toothless!" he called out as he started running towards the sound of the roar, limping slightly from a bruise on his knee. He tripped over tree roots several times as he followed the roars and whines of the dragon.

He collided with a fallen tree, and then he heard Toothless warble right next to him.

"Are you okay, buddy?" Hiccup said as he reached out his hands, and he felt a wing. He followed the skin to the head, but before he could find the ears his hand was blocked by the fallen tree. The tree was pointing diagonally upwards, and Toothless should have room on the other side to move away from the tree. He could feel Toothless trashing and he heard a smashing sound, and his dread increased. Why wasn't Toothless licking his face yet?

Carefully he moved around Toothless' back. His chest was hit by Toothless' tail, and he grabbed it.

"It's okay, buddy! I'm gonna help you!" he tried to comfort Toothless, and the tail stopped moving. Hiccup moved his hands up to the artificial fin, and what he found made him gasp. This time not just the ribs had snapped off. The spine had nearly cracked in half, and the top half of the thick hollow rod seemed to hang on by a small sliver of metal and one of the buckles.

Maybe there was a reason that rod had been in the pile of scrap metal.

The broken spine was bending Toothless' tail in an awkward way, and Hiccup quickly undid the buckles. Toothless warbled happily when the fin fell to the ground and he could stretch his tail again. Hiccup moved his hands over the twitching tail and he quickly found a bleeding wound. He briefly released the tail to feel the ground, and he searched for the remains of the fin's cloth.

After feeling around a bit he found a strip of cloth and he wrapped it around the wound as best he could.

"That's better, right Toothless?" he asked as he tied a knot, but he felt increasingly worried by the lack of movement from Toothless. Why wasn't he turning around and pouncing him yet? Hiccup knew he wasn't dead or unconscious, since he was still growling and warbling.

Fairly sure the tail was okay now, Hiccup continued moving around Toothless while running his hands over the dragon's skin, looking for more injuries. He didn't find any more wounds as he carefully walked around the right wing. Hiccup could hear Toothless trying to smash something, and he moved faster, desperate to find out why Toothless wasn't moving as much as he should.

He finally reached the dragon's neck, and as he felt around he discovered why the Night Fury was stuck. The tree seemed to have fallen on his neck from his left side, and a thick side branch of the tree had pierced the ground just to the right of the dragon's neck. Hiccup felt his heart skip a beat as he realized that the tree could have killed Toothless if it had fallen a few inches more to the left.

The gap under the tree seemed too narrow for Toothless to squeeze his head through, and his paws were trapped under his body. Hiccup crawled under the tree and moved to the dragon's head.

"It's okay Toothless, I'm gonna get you out of here," Hiccup told the dragon as his brain desperately tried to find a solution. If Toothless wasn't strong enough to lift the tree, there was no way Hiccup could do it. He didn't have any tools to cut the tree, and he didn't have any oil or other lubricant to try to squeeze Toothless' head through the gap.

Toothless whined sadly and reached his tongue out to touch Hiccup's hand. In spite of the stress, Hiccup couldn't help but smile and scratch Toothless' face. As he rubbed his hand over the warm dragonskin, he got an idea.

He started feeling the ground, trying to find a long stick. After a few minutes of searching around the crash site, he found a branch under Toothless' wing. He quickly ran back to Toothless' front and showed it to him.

"Toothless, can you light the end of this stick on fire?" he asked, hoping the dragon could understand what he was trying to say. "So I can burn the tree," he tried as he held the stick out in front of the mouth.

Toothless was silent for a few moments, then there was a small explosion. Hiccup felt a wave of heat on his arm as one end of the branch started burning. He carefully moved the branch to the tree until he was sure the flame was touching the wood trapping Toothless. He hoped Toothless' skin could withstand the heat as he moved the stick around to light more parts of the tree on fire.

Hoping he didn't cause a forest fire, Hiccup kept rubbing and scratching Toothless. After several minutes, Toothless started moving again, trying to break the tree. Hiccup stepped back a bit to give Toothless some space. A few moments later, there was a loud cracking sound and he could hear Toothless moving.

"Good job bu..." was all Hiccup could say before he was lifted into the air without warning. Toothless seemed to have grabbed his fur vest and moved him to his back. All Hiccup could do was hang on to Toothless with all his might while keeping his head down.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked, but Toothless' only response was a short warble while he kept running through the forest. Hiccup buried his head in the dragon's neck when he could feel them glide for a moment before landing again. Toothless finally stopped moving, and he carefully climbed down.

"Are you okay, bud? Are you hurt anywhere else?" Hiccup asked as he felt around the neck of the dragon. He could feel a few shallow wounds where the tree had touched the dragon's skin, but they didn't appear to be too dangerous.

"Where are we?" he asked, immediately realizing Toothless wouldn't be able to answer him. Nevertheless, Toothless started pushing him in a certain direction, then warbled loudly. Hiccup hesitantly felt around, and his hand landed on a basket.

The fish basket he had brought to the cove.

"You brought me back to the cove?" he asked, and Toothless gave a happy warble. Hiccup's mind seemed to move at a million miles per second as he considered the implications of this.

Why had Toothless brought him here? Was it because this was 'home'? Was it because Toothless understood that Hiccup could only find his way back to Berk from the cove? Did Toothless realize that he had been free, but by going back to the cove he was trapped again?

Somehow, Hiccup believed that Toothless did know that. He turned around and hugged Toothless, being careful not to touch the wounds. He couldn't believe it. The dragon seemed to have given up his chance at freedom in order to make sure Hiccup could find his way home. Even after what had happened, Toothless still cared about him that much.

"I'm so, so sorry, Toothless," he said into the dragon's skin as the guilt overwhelmed him.

"You could have died." he whispered, as the full extent of his folly became clear. By smithing blindly, he was creating fins that could literally break apart at any moment. And that made flying dangerous. But Hiccup wasn't the only one flying. The dragon had nearly been crushed or pierced by the tree, and his death would have been Hiccup's fault if the tree had fallen slightly more to the left.

He realized he didn't really care that much about his own life or injuries. But the thought that he could have lead his friend to his death was unbearable.

He felt useless. Everything he had done the last few days had only lead to a dangerous crash. Who had he been to think he could smith blindly, to think he could do anything?

He moved back a bit and sat down in front of Toothless' head. "I guess this just isn't working, is it bud?" he slowly said to Toothless. His only response was a confused warble.

"What I mean is, you could have been killed. Me smithing that fin blindly is dangerous and irresponsible. And I can't risk that anymore," he said, hoping the dragon understood him.

"I can't risk losing you," he admitted after a short silence.

Toothless warbled, then he pushed Hiccup onto his back and licked his face, paying extra attention to the cut on his cheek. Hiccup laughed as the dragon's saliva soaked his blindfold, and for a moment he imagined the dragon was telling him: "I'm still here! And I still care about you!"

While he was playing with Toothless, he considered the conundrum. He couldn't smith blindly, that was just too dangerous. He needed an assistant to help him forge the fin. But he couldn't tell anyone about Toothless. Maybe he could pretend it was for something else?

With that thought, he gently pushed Toothless off him. If he was going to convince Gobber or Astrid to help him in the forge, he would need all the energy he could get.

"Sorry bud. I've gotta go to sleep. I'll be back tomorrow, okay?" he told the dragon. Toothless gave a sad warble, but he moved away from Hiccup.

As he grabbed the fish basket and walked out of the cove, he silently thanked the gods that Toothless had survived. The gods may hate him, but it seemed they weren't done with the dragon yet.

Astrid felt annoyed as she walked up the hill to Hiccup's house. She had been thinking all night about Hiccup's strange behavior, and she was sure he was hiding something. She couldn't think of anything it could be, though. What could he be doing in the forest that was shameful or embarrassing enough to hide?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt insulted by Hiccup's lies. Why did he have to lie so obviously? Did he think she wouldn't see through them? Did he think she was that stupid?

But the anger wasn't just aimed at Hiccup. It was also aimed at herself. She couldn't figure out why she was so annoyed by Hiccup's secrets. Why should she care? Why did it matter that Hiccup didn't trust her? Why was she so pissed about the fact that she was apparently untrustworthy?

Why did she care so much about things she never cared about?

She wanted to scream. She wanted to hit something. As she reached the house she settled for kicking one of the marker stones.

It only made her more angry, as she now had a sore toe as well.

As usual, she barged into the house without knocking, calling out Hiccup's name. A few moments later, a groggy voice said "Coming, coming," from upstairs. Annoyed that she would have to wait for Hiccup to get out of bed, she sat down in one of the chairs, waiting for him to get dressed. She briefly considered going upstairs to check his room, but she didn't want to see him change clothes.

She also didn't want to risk seeing him without his blindfold.

She heard a crash from upstairs, and a few moments later Hiccup stumbled down the stairs. She stood up and grabbed his arm, trying not to look at the blindfold.

"G-Good morning to you too," Hiccup said as they walked outside, and she turned towards him.

She wanted to say "Good morning," but all thoughts of smalltalk disappeared when she looked at him.

"What happened to you?" she asked as she looked at the cut on his cheek and the leafs in his hair. She took a closer look at him. Was he limping slightly?

He laughed nervously. "W-What? N-Nothing's happened to me!" he said, and her annoyance at Hiccup spiked again. But for some reason, she didn't want to yell at him. Something about him cooled her anger, and she couldn't raise her voice against him.

Something in her mind told her she had hurt him enough.

So she just took a deep breath. "Then where did that cut come from? And why are there leafs in your hair?" she asked as calmly as she could, lifting her hand to run her finger over the red line.

"Oh, that. You see, Astrid… I… I was t-taking a bath last night… a-after you left… and after I was done… I fell… on a rock. Yes. That's what happened," he stammered, and she sighed. It was obviously a lie, but she didn't want to force the truth out of him. That didn't make her less angry, though.

"Right," was all she said, and the conversation fell silent.

They had nearly reached Gothi's tower when Hiccup suddenly spoke up.

"Uhm… Hey Astrid, I was wondering… Since you're doing so awesome in dragon training, I was wondering if you might… have a bit of time to spare… if you're not too busy… and you feel up to it…" he said, and she mentally sighed.

"Get to the point," she thought. She was getting annoyed by his stuttering.

"Maybe… Help me in the forge today? After dragon training, I mean. I-I know you normally go training by yourself then, b-but I have this new project I'm working on, and I could use help, since I'm having trouble getting the metal to the correct temperature, because of… you know…" he continued mumbling in an increasingly soft voice, and she turned her head to look at him. His face was bright red, and he was 'looking' at his feet.

She couldn't deny that for all her anger with Hiccup, she wanted to work in the forge with him again. For all his stuttering, she marveled at his proficiency at smithing, and the adrenaline she got from handling the hot materials was better than another day of mindless training.

She tried not to think about the fact that she really wanted to hear his jokes again. Warriors don't laugh, she reminded herself.

"Okay, I'll help," she said, and his head snapped up to face her.

"Really? I mean… Of course! Great! Awesome! Cool!" he said, and she smiled at his rambling.

"So what are we making?" she asked as she lead him up the stairs.

"Oh, it's… it's like a… windmill of some sorts. It's hard to explain. I can show you the plans later, if you want," he quickly said, and she raised her eyebrow. She knocked on the door of Gothi's hut, and a few seconds later Gobber opened the door. Hiccup walked in after a murmured "Thanks."

It was only after the door had shut that she wondered how Hiccup was supposed to draw plans to show her.

Although he had been scolded by Gothi for 'falling', Hiccup left the healer's hut feeling relieved. Apparently he wouldn't need daily check-ups anymore, and he was glad he wouldn't have to show his wounds to anyone anymore.

But a small part of him also felt sad. Going to the healer had sparked some crazy hope that maybe there could be a cure. But now it was once again confirmed: There was nothing to be done. Hiccup's wounds were healed, they would never get any better than they were now.

As he ran his fingers over the blindfold, Hiccup didn't feel healed. He felt useless and weak.

"Hey Hiccup. How did it go?" Astrid asked him as she grabbed his arm.

For a brief moment, Hiccup considered telling her everything he felt, how useless and weak he was, how he wasn't healed. But then he came to his senses. He couldn't show weakness. She would just laugh in his face. He wasn't going to risk this… thing he had with Astrid by showing her how unworthy he was of her attention.

So all he said was "It was good. I don't have to come here anymore."

"Oh. Okay," Astrid said, and he wasn't sure if she was relieved or surprised. Or was she feeling something else entirely?

As she guided him down the stairs, Hiccup felt surprised she had actually agreed to help him. Surely she didn't actually want to spend time with him, right? Maybe she was just… bored… of training. Yes, Astrid Hofferson must be bored of training.

Hiccup felt so confused.

"Here we are. I guess I'll see you at the forge after dragon training?" she said as she let go of his arm.

"Well, I won't see you, but… you know… Good luck with dragon training," he said, and she made a snorting sound.

"I don't need luck," she said, and before Hiccup could respond, she hit his arm before running away. Hiccup mentally kicked himself for insulting her. Why couldn't he have a 10 second conversation with her without being useless?

He sighed as he walked down the hill towards the forge. He could hear Vikings talking as he counted his steps. It was busier than usual, and Hiccup wondered if he was going to the forge later or earlier than normal. He tried to ignore the conversations, but he couldn't help but notice a lot of the gossip was about him.

"Look at him…"

"He'll be the most useless chief…"

"…heard she did it on purpose…"

"…useless to the village now."

"…wasting the time of the Hofferson girl…"

"…useless fighter…"

"He's useless..."

His only response was to walk faster, and when he reached the village square he all but ran to the door of the forge. He tripped over a tile, and fell on his face.

Laughter filled the square as Hiccup scrambled to the door of the forge. He shut it behind him, but jokes and insults still reached his ears through the open counter.

He sat with his back to the door for a few minutes until he was sure most of the Vikings had left the square. When the room was silent except for the wind, he got up and walked over to the pile of scrap metal. He wanted to run to the forest and hug Toothless, but he reminded himself he was doing this for him. He had to make that tail.

He realized his plans for the fin were still at his house, but he didn't want to traverse the village again. So he searched in the pile of metal for a new sheet of iron. After a few minutes, his hands touched a thin piece of metal, and from the weight he guessed it was copper. They didn't use a lot of copper in the forge, it was softer and weaker than iron. But maybe, Hiccup thought, that could be an advantage.

He put a few blocks of copper on his desk and grabbed the decoration knife. He was happy to find that it was easier to 'draw' on the copper than it was to draw on iron.

"Maybe weakness can be a good thing at times," Hiccup thought.

Knowing he had a few hours before Astrid would be done in dragon training, Hiccup started designing a saddle with an attached pedal after he had copied the fin schematic. It would be nice to control the fin without having to hang on the tail, but he had no idea how he could forge this. It was one thing to tell Astrid they were making a windmill fin when they were really making a dragon's tail fin. But he couldn't think of any way he could disguise the control system as anything else.

Sighing deeply, he decided to hide the plans in the storage shed behind the forge. He didn't want Gobber to see them and ask questions, and he knew a small hiding place under the floorboards.

He was just putting the wooden planks back in place when a familiar voice reached his ears. Dragon training must have finished already.

"…just makes me so angry!" Astrid said in a furious tone, and Hiccup froze. He wasn't sure he wanted to walk in if she was in an angry mood.

"Have ya told him that?" Gobber's voice said as the door to the forge was opened, and Hiccup realized they must have walked to the forge together. He wondered who they were talking about. Probably Snotlout, Astrid had ranted to him several times about Snotlout's bad behavior in dragon training.

"It's just… he's so annoying! I bet he would just give another useless sarcastic response!" Astrid said heatedly, and Hiccup frowned as he silently crawled towards the back window of the forge. That didn't sound like Snotlout, he never understood sarcasm.

"Well, that's how he is, Astrid. Hiccup's always been different like that." Gobber said, and Hiccup gasped. They were talking about him? Astrid thought he was annoying? He made her angry?

"Yeah, I guess, but that doesn't mean I like it. Why can't he just man up and do something about it? Now it's costing me precious training time as well!" Astrid ranted, and Hiccup felt like his stomach had turned to stone. That's how she felt about him? Like a burden, a waste of time?

"Astrid. You know what you agreed to. We made a deal, remember? You agreed to help Hiccup adjust," Gobber said in a gentle tone, and Hiccup's breath caught in his throat.

"Yeah, yeah, show the village I'm a good Viking and all that," Astrid responded in an annoyed tone, and Hiccup felt like the world stopped for a moment.

That was all this was? All that time she spend with him, all the meals she shared with him? Just some deal? Some… scheme to make her look good for the rest of the village? Some… chore for her to do?

"But that didn't include this! Why can't Hiccup be a good Viking as well? Why do all of our conversations have to be so… useless?" Astrid continued, and Hiccup released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

He desperately tried not be gasp too loudly as his mind reeled with what she had said. So she thought he was useless as well? He had developed a hope that they had some kind of… mutual trust and understanding. Some kind of friendship even. But she only interacted with him because of some deal? Some political scheme in which he was only a pawn? What about that time they fixed her axe together? What about all those times she laughed at his jokes?

Was it all a lie?

Were all his attempts to get closer to her… useless?

Hiccup crawled backwards until he was sure they couldn't see him through the window. He didn't want to hear any more of this. He wanted to get away. He wanted to go to Toothless, and be hugged by the one being he was sure would never betray him.

He forced himself to walk slowly around the smithy, hoping Gobber and Astrid wouldn't notice him. But before he could reach the arrow he had carved in the stones, he was grabbed from behind.

He recognized the sweaty smell even before he heard the voice.

"Hey Useless. What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Snotlout asked him in a menacing voice.

This was the last thing he needed. "Just let me go, Snotlout," he said, trying to sound like his heart hadn't just been smashed into a million pieces.

"Aw, but where's the fun in that, Blindy? You're coming with me now. After all, a blind kid shouldn't be out by himself, right?"

Knowing it was useless to resist, and feeling too drained to even try, Hiccup let himself get dragged away by the stronger teen.

"Hey Tuff! Ruff! Look who I found!" Snotlout shouted, and Hiccup mentally sighed. The gods really, really hate him. Hel, everybody seems to hate him, except for a dragon.

"Ooh, it's Hiccup! He still owes me, you know. He got burns before me!" the male twin said.

"Yeah, and we were gonna see how much easier it is to prank him now!" his female counterpart added before hitting him in the arm.

"That wasn't a prank! That was just hitting him! I get to hit him first!" Snotlout said, and a moment later Hiccup doubled over from a hard punch to the stomach.

"Didn't see that coming, did you, Useless?" Snotlout asked him, and Hiccup didn't even bother coming up with a sarcastic response. He just hoped it would be over quickly.

The teens continued to punch and kick him some more while they argued over who was allowed to hurt him the most. Hiccup didn't bother to listen to their insults, he'd heard it all before.

"Oh, I've got an idea for a prank!" Tuffnut suddenly said, and Hiccup slightly relaxed from the ball he had curved himself into when he realized they weren't going to kick him for a few seconds.

"He can't see, right? So I say, we dump him in the forest. He won't be able to see the trees, so he'll keep walking into them," Tuffnut explained.

"Ooh, and he'll never find his way back! I mean, we get lost there all the time, and we've got working eyes. I like it!" Ruffnut said and a moment later there was a loud banging sound. Hiccup guessed the twins had banged their helmets together again.

"Hmm, if he can't come back to Berk, he can't be heir. Let's do it!" Snotlout said, and a moment later Hiccup was lifted into the air. The three teenagers carried him away from the village, and Hiccup's heart filled with dread when he realized they were walking south. He had only marked trees in the northern forests, he couldn't find his way in the south.

After a few minutes of walking, in which the teens turned so often he had no idea which way was north anymore, he was dumped in a patch of leafs and mud. "Ha, Hiccup the Useless is where he belongs," Snotlout said before kicking him between his legs.

By the time Hiccup unfurled from his little ball his tormentors were long gone. He slowly stood up, being careful not to put too much weight on his left leg where Ruffnut had kicked him hard in the knee.

He started walking, or rather limping in a random direction. He had no idea which way he had go to return home, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. The Vikings of Berk hated him.

Astrid hated him.

Berk didn't feel like home anymore. He wished he could just disappear. He wished he could fly away on Toothless and never face another human again. But he couldn't fly on Toothless because he was so useless at smithing.

He couldn't even find Toothless.

"Are you happy now, Odin? Is this some funny joke to you, Loki?" he said to the black air around him, wondering if the gods were laughing at him right now.

"Well… I'm just gonna walk this way. You gods up there in Asgard decide if I get back to Berk, or find Toothless by accident, or get eaten by a passing Gronkle. I don't really care anymore," he told whatever gods were listening.

And so Hiccup the Useless started wandering through the forest, alone in his dark world.

So, that was a very dark chapter, and I'm not sure if I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm not sure if their behavior is still in-character, but I wasn't sure how to write the dialogue better than this.

Also, somewhat related to this story: Bullying is an important, if somewhat… subliminal theme in this story. I wrote a short piece on my profile on the messages in HTTYD about bullying, and what you can do to help people who are bullied. I don't want to seem preachy, and I certainly don't want you to feel forced to read it, but it would mean a lot to me if you could take a quick look. Bullying is a thing I am very familiar with, and unfortunately so are a lot of other people, and I want to do what I can to help them.

So review or PM if there's anything you want to say, and I'll be back soon with another chapter.