The rest of our walk passed in silence, neither of us wanting to break it. It was far too nice to pass up, and we both needed thinking space. Well, I know I did. Everything was a jumble. Dad was home and there was no search, that was unheard of. Hunters were in our home poisoning his mind with who knows what. And Arden was being horrid. What was happening to my world? Everything was perfect and now it's falling to pieces.

I didn't know what I'd be doing anymore. I loved spending time with him, I thought it was the same for him. I don't know how this happened. Such a stupid fight. Toothless nudged at my hand making me jump, I must have dropped into the back of my mind. Smiling I stared down at my dragon, hoping I didn't look quite as depressed as I felt. He gave me knowing eyes, the kind you receive from your parents when they know you're keeping something from them.

"It's nothing, honestly. It's nothing important." I could hear the lie in my own words, and I knew he was too smart to fall for it. But he did let it drop. Something I was very thankful for.

Gobber's house was starting to near, the smoke from the fire inside starting to thin from the chimney. A clear sign he was fast asleep. He never let the fire die down, his house was drafty and the lack of fire made it bitterly cold. I had always asked him why not fix it, he could, he was very good with his hands. But he always had the same answer. 'Let it be, don't change what's happened just make it better'. I never understood that. I always put it down to laziness. That and he'd rather gossip with my dad. Manly gossiping of course.

"We're almost there" I noted the obvious, just so it wouldn't sound awkward when I spoke. "I need you to stay quiet for me, don't talk to anyone, stay quiet. I can't have Gobber find out about you. It'd give him a heart attack and kill my dad." I could see him laugh at that. Could dragons laugh? They must be able to. I hoped it wasn't at my dad dying and just the image of people from this village, he must have known the general size of everyone, being scared witless. "Don't. Come on" I motioned him to follow me as I finally reached Gobber's practically hand built home.

The old man's snore could be heard from outside, how his neighbours slept was over my head. They must get used to it, that or ear plugs. I never had though. He was so loud the tiles on the roof shook.

Moving over to the windows, the curtains open, I glanced in. And sure enough, Gobber was laid out on his arm chair a pint of what I presumed was ale by his side. His mouth was hanging open, his stone tooth shifting in his mouth. I never understood how he could sleep soundly when his tooth constantly fell from his mouth. I couldn't fathom how he could sleep knowing he could wake up with no tooth, it having been swallowed in the night.

Oh well. He's out cold and that's all I care about.

Tiptoeing back to the waiting dragon I motioned for him to go around back. I didn't want to risk waking Gobber up, and though I believed it impossible, I vowed to keep speaking to a minimum. We seemed to be on the same train of thought as he just nodded, not making a, I presume, pointless noise like he usually does. We both crept around the back of the house, the house may have been well made at a time, but the garden was overgrown. Weeds stuck up from cracks in concrete. Grass that surrounded the garage at the bottom of the garden was beginning to peak through cracks in the windows.

I didn't know why he had a garage. He didn't have a car.

Pushing that thought from my mind I decided to take it as a blessing. Toothless could use it as a home, and if there was enough space maybe I could too. I hadn't eaten anything for a while, but hunger was the last thing on my mind. At least I wanted it to be, all I could think of was Arden sitting at home with a warm meal before him. My poor, neglected, stomach growled at my mind's taunting. The growling was as loud as an earthquake as painful as one too.

Toothless nuzzled against me, staring up at my tired face with concerned eyes.

"I'm fine" I whispered, my voice barely above a whisper. So quiet it was almost inaudible. Thankfully he heard and I didn't have to repeat myself. All I wanted was to hide him possibly have something to eat and have a lot of sleep. Probably go to school tomorrow, but I don't even know what day it is anymore. Ushering him over to the dilapidated shed like garage I tried not to scrunch my face in disgust. It smelt.

The stench of oil and rotting wood filled my nose, making me want to gag. Raw fish was better than this. The lock was rusted and, like everything else he owned, wasn't locked. He never bothered with them. I used to chastise him for it, now I couldn't be more grateful.

He made a short noise to grab my attention making me jump two feet into the air and spin. Facing him I tilted my head in confusion. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to risk it. But I was so curious. What could he want?

He motioned with his head towards the house, and it was then that my heart stopped for what must have been the millionth time.

A light was on.

My eyes widened considerably.

"Damn, damn. How did he hear us? We were silent!" I panicked as quietly as I could. He was by the kitchen window, and thankfully he'd changed the curtain. Something I'd hassled him about for months. To one that actually closed.

Toothless gave a half-hearted grunt, and that terrified me. If he was awake from us being silent he'd hear that. Right? I clamped my hand over the dragon's mouth, silencing him completely. I watched with baited breath as Gobber dragged himself around the kitchen. Oblivious to us so far, I could see the shadow of the fridge being opened, and him disappearing for a few milliseconds.

Forcing myself to take a few deep calming breaths I moved closer to the garage, not caring that I'd most likely be covered in flakes of old paint. The garage had a large overhang, some of the tiles and wood falling down, it didn't make it the safest hiding place but it did offer cover from his outside light, if he checked all he'd see was some shadows. And hopefully he wouldn't investigate.

I couldn't see what he was doing, his shadow was slouched against the kitchen counter, his back to me. If anything it made me more nervous. I almost wanted him to see me, as strange as that sounds, just so my fear of being caught could dissipate.

Toothless nudged at my hand, trying to urge me to continue with whatever he thought I was doing, but I couldn't. I had to wait for Gobber to leave, if I didn't we'd be damned. I could see it now, I'm fiddling with the lock, a light passes around the garden just catching Toothless' eyes making them shine like jade. Gobber comes screaming out to investigate and Toothless attacks, thinking he's protecting me. I could already feel the blood on my skin.

I jumped as the cold feeling finally registered my back slamming against the wood of the garage in a very painful way. It wasn't till I glanced down that I saw Toothless staring up at me, his head tilted to the side. I was getting far too jumpy, I was lucky I'd only hit a side panel of wood, anything else would have given off a much greater sound.

A string of curses flew from behind the curtains of Gobber's house, the old man inside stumbling about. I wasn't sure what was happening but I hoped it was good, maybe he was going back to bed. I could only hope. Holding a hand up to silence the dragon I listened intently for what was coming from his mouth.

"Bloody rats, eatin' through m' leg. I'm poison them little things" I was glad he'd ceased his swearing, his had a sailor's mouth. "Ah, I'm gonna have to fix this, less I get a new un. I swear, the little bleeders ain't gonna see tomorrow." The sound of stomping feet filled the air as Gobber's shadow shrunk into the light. A light which soon vanished.

It wasn't till the sound of heavy snores that shook the house once more pierced the night sky before I breathed a sigh of relief. We weren't caught. Patting my dragon's head in as calming a way I could, I turned back to the lock. It was a normal lock in all sense of the word, relatively easy to open. The only problem being that I wasn't a lock picker. Turning to look at him I motioned to the lock with the corner of my eye. Hoping he'd catch on.

His eyes squinted in confusion before he nodded. Stepping to the side I gave him as much room as I could without potentially revealing me. Opening his mouth gas formed in the back of his throat hissing filling the silent night air and it wasn't till my hand clamped on did it fall quiet once more.

"No fire" I whispered quietly. "It'll wake him up" the dragon rolled his eyes as he shook his head, gas spilling from the corners of his mouth and evaporating into the sky. It was strange seeing the remnants of what would have been an explosion floating up lackadaisically looking as dangerous as...me. Insisting he find something else he pulled away weighing up his odds.

Before I could even question what he might do his claws slashed down, slicing through the lock as though it were paper. I stared with wide eyes as the old lock dropped, half one way half the other. I almost wanted to chastise him for doing that before I could think of anything but another, my tired side, was just happy that it was open. The air was getting chilly and I wanted nothing more than to curl up beside something warm.

Grabbing onto the handles that were now free I pulled them back, with much difficulty. Everything my father and Gobber seemed to have always weighed a ton. I believe it's a conspiracy, they're trying to give me muscle. Something that's an impossible feat.

"Come on" I mouthed, managing to open the door enough to slip my body through. He followed after, turning his head sideways as he tried to follow through. But it seemed his body was far too big. He managed to get his head and one of his arms through. But that was it, any more and he was sure to bang something and alert Gobber to the two intruders in his garden. As he moved to push his arm though I grabbed hold of him. Steadying him as best I could.

"Hold on, you're too big." I warned, forcing myself against the inside of the door, willing it to open. It did, and to my horror it groaned in response. As soon as he was big enough to fit through I stepped back, letting him waddle in and praying to the Gods above that Gobber hadn't heard.

When no light came on I took it as a good sign and proceeded to yank the doors back closed, wanting only a sliver of moonlight to pass through. The sound of crunching reached my ears and in the dismal light it sounded so much louder than what it really must have been. Turning I could barely see Toothless' jade eyes shining in the silver glow. He was bedding down. Not a bad option.

The day's stress had finally caught up to me as my eyelids grew heavy. Dropping to the ground I tried to get as close to the dragon as possible without waking him. But he did extend his wing out to cover me, pulling me back so I could rest my head against his neck.

"Thank you Toothless. Goodnight."

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