Second part for today. Enjoy.

Toothless was bored. It had been ages since Hiccup had last spoken to him, and nice though the color green was, he'd seen all he wanted to of trees. A rush of air on his back caught his attention, and he looked up as Stormfly landed in the clearing, her wings stirring up clouds of dust. He sneezed as Astrid walked over to him.

"Hey, Toothless. I'm glad you're awake. Do you know where Hiccup is?"

The black dragon lifted his wing to reveal the small boy, curled up against him and asleep once more. Astrid looked down at him and smiled.

"I'd be surprised if Hiccup slept at all last night, we got back so late and set off so early." Then she grinned and looked right at Toothless.

"It seems a pity to wake him, you two look so cute like that."

Toothless gazed at her with his expressive green eyes. Just now they were radiating annoyance at being called 'cute'. Astrid laughed it off.

"Don't you agree, Stormfly?"

'You have to admit it, Toothless. Hiccup's very cute when he sleeps on you like that.'

'That doesn't automatically make me cute.'

'No, you were cute to start with.'

'I was not.'

'Yes you were, you've got cute little green eyes and a little cute nose and a very cu -'

Toothless lowered his wing and shielded Hiccup from the girls' laughter. Stormfly was like a little sister, but sometimes she was as annoying as an older sibling!

He was feeling a lot better now, his headache had gone and the scratches had fully scabbed over. Scared of a repeat, he hadn't moved his legs again, but he hoped that they would be a lot better by the time he actually took off. Hiccup was sleeping soundly, pressed up against the scales on his belly in a warm ball. It warmed his heart to see Hiccup trusting him so much.

Astrid pulled a large basket out of Stormfly's saddle bags and lugged it over. It was obviously quite heavy, and even from where he was, Toothless could smell the fish. He suddenly noticed how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten the day before because they'd demonstrated the Hugon before breakfast. So the last time he'd eaten was… Toothless gave up on the math. It had been a long time ago, that was for sure. Astrid saw his hopeful look.

"I think we should wait for Hiccup to wake up..."

Toothless mock growled at her. She was such a tease! Astrid turned around and tossed him a trout, then pulled out a chicken bone for Stormfly.

"Ok, you can eat, I guess."

The hungry night fury grabbed his trout, and swallowed it whole. It settled pleasantly in his stomach and he ran his tongue over his face to make sure he didn't miss any of the wonderfully fishy taste. Stormfly carefully avoided the bones on her drumstick, but didn't finish much slower than Toothless. As Astrid turned round from pulling out some food for her and Hiccup, she was confronted by four, pleading, reptilian eyes. She rolled her own eyes.

"You'll have to wait a bit. I have no intention of letting you finish your lunch before I even start mine. You can have one fish every three bites, okay?"

It wasn't really a question so the dragons waited impatiently, gobbling each fish the moment Astrid threw it to them.

Hiccup woke up again a bit later. He yawned and stretched, then looked around and noticed Stormfly.

"Oh, hello Astrid. When did you get here?"

He tried to flatten his hair, unsuccessfully. The brown strands looked as though a pack of terrible terrors had flown right through them, skidded to a stop, and flow right back through them again.

"About an hour ago. You looked like you needed the rest."

She threw him a sandwich.

"Eat your lunch."

Hiccup dutifully bit into his sandwich and choked.

"Err, did you make this sandwich Astrid?"

"Yes, of course. Nothing quite like homemade food, is there Hiccup?"

She said pointedly.

"It's definitely one of a kind." He wheezed.

Ever curious, Toothless sniffed it.

'Ew, gross! Are you actually going to eat that thing, Hiccup?'

Hiccup choked the sandwich down and stood up.

"Shall we go home, milady?"

Astrid looked slightly disappointed that Hiccup hadn't asked for more food, but it was getting late.

"Yeah, don't want to be out too long, mother would have my head if I missed curfew."

Astrid mounted up onto Stormfly, and Hiccup once again admired her ability to climb onto the tall nadder. He turned to Toothless.

"Shall we?"

Toothless started to move a paw and almost yelped in pain. No, no, no! They had to be better by now! The night fury grit his teeth and stood up, ignoring his screaming muscles. He didn't need the humans to worry about him, they'd been scared enough already. Hiccup started to mount him, and his prosthetic brushed Toothless' front leg as he climbed on. Toothless flinched and his legs trembled. He remained standing, but only just. Stormfly jumped into the air and circled around the pair on the ground.

"You coming?"

Astrid called down to them. Toothless coiled his legs for the leap that would carry him into the air, but the movement sent a cramp spiralling through his paws. For a moment his vision darkened and he felt like the world was spinning. When the light returned he was lying on the ground and Hiccup was looking down on him. The viking's face was creased and his green eyes were filled with worry.

"What's wrong, bud?"

'My legs…'

From high above them, Astrid leaned over and cupped her hands over her mouth.

"What's up with Toothless?"

Hiccup yelled back,

"It's his legs!"

"I'm coming down!"

Their voices faded into meaningless noise.

Everything scattered.

Nothing was solid.

Red swirled in his legs.

Down.

Down.

He was sucked into the heart of the pain.

Spinning.

Why wa -

Blackness muffled everything.

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