Danny's gaze followed Sam's gesture into the forest. His eyes briefly widened in surprise before narrowing in suspicion when they landed on Hiccup. He was sure the Viking was up to something. What that something was, he had no idea. A sharp whistle from the man made the dragon wince and sent Toothless bounding eagerly away toward him. Hiccup greeted the smaller creature cheerfully, but made no move to either approach or leave.
Cautiously, Danny walked over to Sam. After another quick glance at the man, he gave Sam a meaningful look. She frowned back at him doubtfully, an expression that wordlessly asked if he was certain. The dragon nodded once and looked back at Hiccup. With a heavy sigh, the girl crossed her arms and spoke up.
"If you want to talk, then talk," she called out fiercely. In an afterthought, Danny bumped her with his elbow and looked pointedly at his front claws. It took her a moment to understand, but her voice rang out again the moment she did.
"No more of that hand thing, though. Danny doesn't like it." The larger black dragon shook his head vehemently to emphasize the girl's words. With a nod of agreement, Hiccup tentatively began to walk forward, the oblivious Toothless at his side. The man's face was etched with worry as he continued onward, his eyes glued to Danny. With each step, the larger creature grew more nervous.
"I'm…uh…I'm just going to sit right here," he said as he suddenly stopped and sat on the ground, seemingly unwilling to increase Danny's discomfort. His dragon, with a confused tilt of his head, laid himself down behind the man, ready for a nice, mid-day nap.
The girl and the larger dragon looked at each other, dumbfounded. Hiccup had just willingly taken a disadvantaged position. The intense gaze coming from the man's green eyes made it clear that it was an intentional move. Danny scowled and looked around, his ears swiveling in every direction to detect any sign or sound of a trap being prepared. He huffed nervously. He could neither see nor hear the other Vikings, but that didn't mean they weren't there. They hadn't seemed the sneaky type, but then, neither did some of the beings who had ambushed him before.
Danny shook his head, ridding himself of the memories. He looked at Sam and tilted his head toward the Viking. She nodded and looked at Hiccup. It was time for answers.
"Why are you here?" demanded Sam, a heated glare darkening her features. Danny might be willing to give him a chance to explain himself, but she would be paying close attention to anything that might prove him untrustworthy.
"I...came to apologize," the Viking started hesitantly. Taking a deep breath, he dove into his explanation. "Snotlout saw something and he jumped to conclusions. Then Ruffnut and Tuffnut got all excited, and…well… What I'm really trying to say is, I'm sorry my friends scared you. Both of you." He looked between the two, a mournful earnestness in his eyes.
Sam narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She hadn't really been expecting an apology. His motives were unclear. Danny hummed a questioning note beside her, but she ignored it.
"Are you sure you're not setting up an ambush? No plans to burn us at the stake or vanquish us?" she asked with biting accusation. Hiccup's eyes widened in horror.
"Burn you at the—what?!No! That's barbaric!" his face paled visibly in horror and he waved his hands in front of him in denial, "what do you think we are? Monsters?!" In shock, Sam's eyebrows shot up, and her crossed arms fell to her sides. She looked over at Danny to see him wearing a similar expression. His blue eyes met hers before they both turned back to the Viking, wearing matching frowns of confusion.
"So why was I being chased?" the girl demanded, her arms crossing in front of her once again. The Viking heaved a heavy sigh and ran his hands through his auburn hair. He looked at Toothless, seemingly searching for his words, but the dragon merely opened one eye and peeked up at him before settling back into his attempt to doze off. With another sigh, the man looked back at the pair before him.
"See…Snotlout thinks he saw Danny walking through a tree, so he started going off about how you two were the 'Spawn of Loki'. He doesn't do well with things he doesn't understand." began Hiccup. Sam noticed the larger dragon shift his weight with guilty unease and elbowed him. Unfortunately, the Viking noticed and frowned. The man's eyebrows drew together in confusion, but chose to continue his explanation instead of commenting on the interaction.
"Then there's the twins…" the Viking continued, "and, well, they have pretty much dedicated their lives to the Trickster, so I'm pretty sure they were about to either worship you or ask you to join them." He shrugged. Sam blinked, surprised once again. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. Hiccup tipped backward in his shock to land on Toothless. The smaller dragon, startled out of his nap, scrambled to his feet, causing the Viking to fall further and hit his head on the ground. Hiccup raised himself onto one elbow, one hand raising to the back of his head with a wince.
"Danny, you already have fans here!" laughed Sam. The larger dragon dropped to his belly and groaned in dismay. His black paws slid up to cover his eyes. The girl patted his shoulder in mock comfort.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure none of them are going to try to marry you," she said with a smirk. Her violet eyes glittered with amusement as the dragon lifted his claws to offer a roll of his eyes and what sounded like a very sarcastic laugh.
"…People want to marry a dragon?" Hiccup asked, his eyebrow raised and his voice pitched up in disbelief. Sam and Danny abruptly froze and looked at him. The girl winced as his words sunk in. She'd slipped again.
"It's…a long story…" she couldn't meet his eyes. Danny scowled up at her and raised his head. She gave him an apologetic smile and was about to turn her eyes back to Hiccup, but the larger dragon slapped the ground with his claws. The girl frowned, not understanding until the creature began to scratch into the hard soil, still lying on his belly.
"Archaeology, Danny. Loosen it up, first," Sam suggested. They were already somewhere they didn't belong, and her boots would already be cause for a mystery to the archaeological community. They didn't need to add another. Danny snorted in annoyance at the girl's words, but clawed the soil into a thin layer of dust anyway. He then began to clumsily scratch out words. Sam frowned. The dragon's handwriting had never been the best, but at that moment it was nearly unreadable.
"What is he d—?" Hiccup began to pull himself onto his feet, but a nasty glare from Danny sent him back to sitting on the ground, his words quickly silenced. Toothless snorted grumpily at the larger dragon but returned to his spot behind his human, though this time, he kept his eyes on the other creature watchfully. Sam rolled her eyes at the scene and went back to trying to decipher what Danny had written.
"I can't read that," she complained with a sigh. His scratchings were a complete mess. With a frustrated grunt, the large creature smoothed out the dirt and wrote three words very slowly.
"Hand thing control?" Sam asked in confusion. Danny nodded and glared at Hiccup again. The girl turned her own scowl at the man to convey the message.
"He's really angry about that hand thing you did to him," she declared crossly, "he really doesn't like being controlled." The Viking had the good grace to grimace at her words.
"I noticed," said Hiccup, a strange sadness in his voice, "and I'm sorry for that, too. I never meant to betray your trust." His words, heavy with sincerity, were directed to Danny. Sam turned to see the dragon's reaction. He was already writing in the soil again, though. His tongue poked out the side of his mouth as he concentrated on keeping the words legible. The girl rolled her eyes at him. She was certain he was getting more and more annoyed at being unable to speak for himself.
"…Is he…writing?" the Viking asked in amazement, "Danny can read and write?" It was the dragon's turn to wince. The creature grimaced and looked over at his friend. Sam sighed in exasperation.
"He's not exactly a normal dragon," she said with a vague wave of her hand. She had hoped to get away with a minimal explanation, but, at the look on Hiccup's face, she knew it wouldn't work.
"Look, Fishlegs said you're making a book about dragons, right?" asked Sam. The Viking confirmed it with a nod.
"Danny can't be in your book. Besides, we don't know if there are others out there that look like him. If you put him in there, your information is going to be dead wrong," the girl continued. She rolled her eyes at the sound of Danny's amused snort.
"Wasn't joking, Danny," she warned. The dragon merely snickered and went back to scratching in the dirt. Sam watched the letters form and scowled at her friend. When he finished, he turned a calm look at her and raised an eyebrow. The girl crossed her arms and turned to the Viking, her face still contorted bitterly.
"For whatever reason, he forgives you. Probably as long as you promise to never do that hand thing to him again," she said. Danny nodded, acknowledging the term she produced, his face set in as neutral of an expression as his reptilian features would allow. The Viking readily agreed, and Sam continued on.
"Next thing…how safe are we around your crew?"
"What?" Hiccup's eyebrows drew together in concerned confusion.
"How safe are we around your crew?" Sam repeated, and began ticking things off on her fingers, "Danny's been mobbed by fanatics like those nut twins before. We've had people like Snot Face—"
"Snotlout," Hiccup corrected, halfheartedly.
"Whatever," Sam waved off the interruption, "point is, we both nearly got killed by people like him. Neither of us is really comfortable with Fishlegs trying to study Danny. And then there's…Astrid? Anyway, I can't even figure her out." Hiccup frowned and leaned forward in thought where he sat. The girl tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the Viking's response.
Finally, after several seconds, the man bowed bowed his head and shook it slowly.
"I wish I could tell you you're perfectly safe with us, but I really don't know," he replied, looking up to see the pair, his face filled with concern, "they all mean well enough, but… I can't guarantee Snotlout won't freak out again, and I'm pretty sure you guys will be hounded by Ruffnut and Tuffnut, whether you've got connections with Loki or not. The others…I think I can work with them, though." Sam frowned and turned to Danny. Her features took on a surprised expression when she saw the creature smiling.
"What are you so happy about?" she bit out irritably. The dragon's smile only spread further across his scaly face as he tapped the last word he had scratched.
"You can't be serious…" the girl muttered. Danny tapped the word again and raised an eyebrow. Sam narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously before turning back to Hiccup with yet another sigh.
"Can we trust you?" she asked flatly. The girl thought it was a terrible idea. She was certain her friend's new form was starting to drive him crazy.
"Uh…" the Viking's face went slack with bewilderment, "sure?" Toothless raised and tilted his head at his human. The Viking absently reached over and scratched behind the creature's ear.
"This is crazy…" Sam muttered to herself, then addressed the man once more. "We'll make a deal with you. We explain to you what Snozzlout—"
"Snotlout."
"Whatever—saw, and you help us find our way home." Sam knew the brawny Viking's name; she just didn't care to say it correctly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Danny's amusement. A wicked smirk threatened to cross her own face, but she forced it back with a disaffected scowl. Her draconic friend might have known what she was up to, but she wasn't about to let Hiccup figure it out.
The Viking frowned a moment and fell still, forgetting he'd been scratching Toothless until the creature nudged his hand for him to continue.
"You seemed to know something about what was going on with the Night Terrors…" he drawled out, "or at least, you two looked like you had an idea…" His eyebrows lowered over his green eyes. "Help me find out what was happening with them, and you've got a bargain." Hearing the Viking's words, Sam allowed the smirk onto her face. She saw Danny nod in satisfaction. With a nod of her own, she strode forward toward the man.
With a look of determination, Hiccup stood and met her half-way. As a smile began to tug at his features, he clasped the girl's hand, and the two shook on their agreement.
The two humans began to walk over to where Danny still lay on his belly. Toothless, eager to be included, though clueless on what that meant, bounded up behind them. Hiccup noticed Sam wince when she stepped on a particularly sharp rock. He was about to offer to carry her, but the scathing look Danny shot him quickly dried up the words. The possessiveness the Viking saw in him was more than a little alarming.
Hiccup also noticed that as soon as Toothless looked at the larger creature, a practiced expression of neutrality was on Danny's face once more. As they drew nearer, the larger dragon began to paw at the blanket near him in a frustrated attempt to unfold and smooth it out. With an angry snort, the beast held his claws out and stared at them accusingly. It didn't take long for the man to figure out what he was attempting to do and jog forward to assist. He was thanked with a whine and a forced smile. It was confusing.
"So," began Hiccup as he and Sam sat on the wool cloth, "what did you mean when you said Danny isn't a normal dragon?" It was the question that had been bothering him since the day before. Every time he watched the creature, it grabbed onto his mind more tightly, more demandingly. Sam and the creature grimaced and looked at each other. With pursed lips, Sam's eyes returned to Hiccup.
"He's…well…to put it simply, he's been cursed," the girl said haltingly, "he's basically got the mind and memories of a human." Hiccup frowned. He'd never heard of anything like it. Sam definitely wasn't giving him the whole story, but it did explain some things.
"So that's why he's so expressive…" he murmured, "and literate… Is it why he's so possessive, too?" At Hiccup's question, Danny's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, and he frantically shook his head at the man. Sam frowned at the Viking, not seeing her friend's reaction.
"Possessive? What do you mean…?" she turned to look at the dragon, but the creature had taken up an act of innocence and pretended to watch a bird. When the girl turned away, he gave Hiccup a pointed look and shook his head again. The Viking's eyes widened and he forced his face into a grin.
"I…uh…must have been imagining it…" he laughed nervously. The girl frowned in confusion, but the dragon relaxed visibly. Hiccup would have to find a way to communicate with him in private later.
Danny's relaxed state didn't last long, though. Toothless seemed to have decided to go back to napping…right next to his "brother". The larger creature froze and craned his neck so he could see the smaller dragon.
"Is the whole curse thing why he can't be in the book?" he asked, though his eyes were still on the reptiles. Danny was tense, uncertain what to do about the already snoring creature that was leaning on him.
"Not exactly…" Sam broke off to look at her dragon, "Danny, just…leave him. Dogs do the same thing, sometimes." The larger creature huffed grumpily and lowered his head, decidedly unhappy about the situation. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at him, which earned a roll of the dragon's blue eyes.
"See…he's…" the girl hesitated and looked at the dragon once again. Danny nodded minutely for her to continue and looked away. The irritation fell away from his features to be replaced by something both nervous and haunted.
"You could say he straddles the line between the world of the living and the…uh…underworld…" Sam told the man. She raised her hand to bite her thumbnail, waiting anxiously for his response.
Shocked wasn't the right word for what Hiccup was feeling. It was neither accurate, nor strong enough. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and his jaw slack with disbelief. The dragon shifted uneasily, which made the Toothless hum irritably in his sleep. The girl still watched Hiccup, still gnawed her thumbnail, still waited nervously.
"You mean…he's…" the Viking searched for words, but his brain had ground to a halt. Fortunately, the girl supplied what he was looking for.
"He's half ghost," she clarified, "a completely separate curse. Or blessing, depending on the day. So…yeah…No clue what he'd be capable of if he were just a dragon." Hiccup frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. The new information was going to take time to process.
"Okay…so…cursed and half…ghost…" the man said. He took a deep breath, trying to kick his mind back into working order.
"That means he's got, what…ghost abilities and human intelligence, right?" he looked at the larger dragon, who had decided to be interested in the conversation again. The creature nodded slowly, as did Sam. The girl heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. Hiccup was certain that, wherever they had come from, such things were not readily accepted.
"So…what all can he do?" he asked, his curiosity prodding him onward.
Sam smirked wickedly in response. Hiccup was no longer certain he wanted to know.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, my lovely readers. Large portions of it got scrapped several times. :(
Thanks for all the reviews! I got some much appreciated compliments and some welcome suggestions. For those who worried, no, I don't plan to give up this story. I already have a sequel for it in the planning stages. ;D We'll get there. Just a heads up, I do have some things coming up this week here in Doom-land, so the next chapter or two may have a bit of a delay. Hopefully not too long, though, because I'm kind of excited for the next chapter. X3
Anyway... As always, thanks for reading!