AN/ Thanks to toothlessgolfer for beta reading this chapter. So, I finally manage to post a chapter on time. That hasn't happened very often. Thanks for the wonderful reviews! Also, this story is about to break 10.000 views!(yay!)
CAPS LOCK means that Hiccup is writing something on the ground.
An Unexpected Gift
Chapter Eleven
S
"You're finally awake, son." I said while tearing up. These past two weeks had been hard on me. I knew we had rescued Hiccup and that he was in his room, sleeping, but a certain part of me felt like he was still missing. When I peeked into his room I saw a dragon, not my son, even though I knew with certainty that it was him. But now, when I saw him standing there awake, when I saw those dark green eyes, I was finally able to come to terms with his transformation.
The way he held himself was exactly like him. Although they changed dramatically, his eyes still held that dark green hue. His mother's. I was so afraid of losing him to the Outcasts because I didn't want to lose the only thing I had left of her.
The memory of her only added to my emotional turmoil and I was closer to tears than I had been in years. A Viking chief wasn't supposed to cry, ever, but now I was in serious risk of breaking that rule.
Then he wrote HI, DAD and I lost it. I ran up to him and hugged his neck as hard as I could. He was nervous at first but soon relaxed. Relief flooded through me.
"I'm so glad you're back. I'm so glad." I whispered, holding on tightly. I don't know how long the hug lasted, but I didn't care. Eventually I had to let go though.
I MISSED YOU TOO DAD
Then there was a long uncomfortable silence between us. Someone had to break it, so I decided that it had gone on long enough.
"Well, I better get going. I've told the village to leave you alone, so that shouldn't be a problem. Anything you need?" I asked. My son shook his head.
"Well then, I'll see you for supper I suppose." I said as I walked off briskly. It was seldom that conversations with my son went smoothly, and this was no exception.
H
After the emotional yet awkward conversation with my father, I and Toothless headed inside for a nap. Once the nap was over, Toothless told me to follow him and together we snuck into the forest. We then entered a clearing. Once there, he explained to me why he led me here.
"We obviously need to work on your walking and probably your running. If you want to get in the air you need to get used to your body and its senses. The fastest way to do that is with practice, and that's what I intend for you to do here. I chose this spot because there's plenty of space and privacy." He said. I was glad about the privacy part because it would be extremely embarrassing if someone were to watch me while I practiced walking.
"Now, show me how you walk." He said. I got on my feet and took a step with my front-left paw. Then I did the same with my back-right paw. Then the front-right one and lastly the back-left one. After that I took a step with my front-left paw and repeated the whole process. By doing this over and over again I made slow but steady progress. Toothless watched me intently. After about five seconds of this he told me to stop.
"You're thinking about it too much. You almost have the right idea. You need to move more than one leg at the same time. Try focusing on a tree or something and walk towards it, only thinking about the tree." He said. I thought what he said over. It would be hard not to focus on something you've been told not to focus on. Well, it was worth a shot.
I located a tree on the other side of the clearing, focused on it, and starting walking slowly towards it. I increased my speed steadily and managed with limited success to clear my mind of the act of walking. Before I knew it, I was trotting towards it as if I had been a Night Fury my whole life. But when I realized it, I thought about it and tripped over my own feet. Toothless really was right.
I did the same thing with a different tree, but I thought about it too much and didn't do as well as last time. On the third attempt I almost made it to the target tree before tripping over some body part. I continued practicing for quite some time until Toothless again told me to stop.
"Great job, you've improved significantly. Now, you're going to try running. Just try to do the same as last time, but focus on speed. Try to go as fast as possible. You'll probably trip and fall a lot, but this is the best way I can see." He said. Running sounded difficult.
"Hold on, I've seen you run, and it's not sped up walking. It's more like a series of jumps, moving the front legs together and the back legs together, whereas I've been moving them all independently of each other." I retorted.
"That's where you're going wrong. You're already overthinking it. What you said is true but you're not going to master it by simply observing me run and trying to replicate it." He said. Well, he was right the first time so I decided to trust him the second time.
T
Hiccup positioned himself at the edge of the clearing. He started slow but quickly picked up speed. But when his body unconsciously switched from walking to running and took the first 'leap' he was so surprised that he landed on his head. Not surprising.
His second attempt was a bit better and he managed to land the leap but then completely fell out of it, tripped on his feet, and fell. His third and fourth attempt went the same way. As did the fifth and sixth. When he failed to make any progress by his seventh attempt I decided to intervene.
The problem was that the leap distracted him from the tree and he started to think about what he was doing, causing a crash. He needed something that he wouldn't be distracted from, a better incentive than a tree.
So I leapt up into the air as quietly as I could. He didn't notice me because he was too focused on his task. I hovered behind him and just as he was about to start running, I fired a plasma blast at him.
Well, not directly at him. I intentionally missed so it would land less than a meter behind him. The effect was immediate. He panicked and his instincts made him run as fast as he could to get out of the clearing. Now he had no problems sticking the landings. I grinned maliciously.
To put his mind at ease I landed in front of him to tell him that there was no danger.
"Don't worry, I did that. Great job by the way, much better than the other seven times." I said happily.
"Why would you even do something like that? You could have killed me! Ok, maybe not quite kill me but I could have been hurt! Very much hurt!" He shouted, angrily, although his anger was fading quickly.
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to hit you, just give you an incentive. You can't deny that my methods were effective at getting you to run properly." I said matter-of-factly. He wasn't seething anymore, but he was still very annoyed.
"Hmph, fine, you made your point. I'll get back to it, just promise me you won't do it again!" He said. It was tempting not to promise not to shoot at him, but I guess I owed him.
"Fine, I promise not to shoot at you. Happy?" I said. He didn't really look happy.
"Good. Should I continue what I've been doing or do something else o great tutor?" He replied bitterly. I think that since I've shown him that he can run under certain circumstances he can learn to do it much more easily.
"Yes, continue the tree exercise." I said, positioning myself to watch.
T
A few hours later, I called it a day. He could now run at a decent speed and jump a little and his walk was much better. A few more days of this and he would be prepared to start flying lessons. He was utterly worn out, though, and looked like he seriously needed some rest.
We both decided on getting some well-deserved rest and headed home. Once there, we saw that someone was waiting for us. Astrid was leaning against the house. When she saw us she started walking towards Hiccup. I could tell that this could get personal, so I stayed out the way.
A
I almost couldn't believe it. Even though the dragon standing in front of me didn't look like Hiccup, it still radiated... Hiccup-y-nes. His eyes were the exact same color as they used to be and the way he held himself still stayed the same.
"Hello, Hiccup." I said shyly. I really had no idea what to say to him, this was so weird.
HI ASTRID,
HOW ARE YOU?
"I'm good, you?" I replied. What else was I supposed to say?
IT'S BEEN DIFFICULT ADAPTING
TO THIS BODY, BUT I'VE MADE
A LOT OF PROGRESS. I HOPE
FLYING IS AS GREAT AS IT
SOUNDS.
"That's great! Anything I could do to help?" I said. I really hoped I could help him somehow, I hated standing idly by while Hiccup struggled with something.
NO. WAIT, ACTUALLY THERE
IS ONE THING YOU COULD DO.
I WAS GOING TO ASK FISHLEGS
TO DO THIS BUT I SUPPOSE YOU
CAN INSTEAD. CAN YOU GO TO
GOTHI AND FIND OUT ALL YOU
CAN ABOUT NIGHT FURY VENOM
AND ITS PROPERTIES?
"Sure, I'll do what I can. If I find something in one of her books should I just tell you what I found or bring you the book?" I asked. Reading through all that was going to be tedious even with Gothi around to help but I was prepared to do it if it helped Hiccup. I might recruit Fishlegs to help me since he was much better at this sort of thing than I.
GREAT, IT'LL BE A HUGE HELP.
THANKS
JUST BRING ME THE BOOK.
NOW, IF YOU EXCUSE ME I
NEED TO GET SOME REST, IT
HAS BEEN A TIRING DAY.
"Of course, by all means! See you later!" I said as I started walking towards Fishleg's house.
Once there, I knocked on the door. Fishlegs answered it.
"Hello Astrid." He said politely.
"Hi Fishlegs. Hiccup wants us to dig through Gothi's library to find out about Night Fury venom." I said bluntly. The surprise was clear on his face.
"Hiccup's awake? How is he? Is he adapting well?" He asked and I stopped him before he could ask more questions.
"Yes, he's awake and he's doing fine. Now let's go to Gothi's place!" I said hurriedly. I'm not sure why I was in such a rush but I didn't care.
"Fine, fine, I'll just put on my boots and I'll be on my way. What's the hurry anyway?" He asked. I just shrugged and soon we were on our way.
A
After a short walk we were at Gothi's door. She welcomed us in and allowed us to search her private library for information on Night Fury venom. She even pointed us towards some books that were likely to have the info we were looking for.
One of those books was called 'the Magic of Dragons'. After some reading I found something interesting. If a Night Fury bites without intending to cause harm, sometimes the one who was bitten gets healed of almost all injuries. This could allow Hiccup to heal Toothless's tail!