Chapter 5 - Twins + Dragons = Two Dragons One Egg Right?

Hiccup had spent well into the night designing and making a new tail fin for Toothless, as he had now named the dragon. It was early morning when he was done and decided to get in a quick nap before going. He thought about waking up Helga and taking her too, but she was still sleeping, and although she had been sleeping for a very long while, she still looked like she could use it. In the end, just after dawn, Hiccup made his way to the Cove in the hopes of getting that Nigh Fury into the air. He had stopped by the store house to get a basket of fish in order to distract Toothless while he fitted on the tail. He crept carefully into the Cove, looking around as he did, "Hey, Toothless."

He made his way over to where the dragon was curled up, dropping the basket of fish, "I brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry," he says, knocking the basket over with his foot, the fish spilling everywhere, "Okay, that's disgusting."

Toothless was making his way hesitantly towards the fish as Hiccup continued, "We've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod and a whole smoked eel."

This did not seem to sit well with Toothless as he started growling softly, so Hiccup picks it up carefully, this only makes Toothless even more upset as he starts to roar in what looked like fear. "No, no, no, no, no! It's okay," Hiccup says quickly, throwing away the eel. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much, either."

As Toothless then began to devour the fish, swallowing them whole, Hiccup started making his way around behind him, "That's it. Just stick with the good stuff. And don't you mind me. I'll be just back here, minding my own business."

Hiccup went to place the fin onto his tail when it moved away as if Toothless knew about it, but after a quick glance towards the dragon, he determined he was just moving it around while he ate. He tried again only for the tail to move away again as well. It happened another time before Hiccup went to grab the tail that was now going up and down, "It's okay."

He tried holding it down, but then Toothless moved forward, sticking his head in the basket, pulling Hiccup along as well. Finally getting fed up, Hiccup then sits himself onto his tail, his back facing Toothless' head. Eventually, after a little tightening, Hiccup had finally attached the tail fin. He sat back to look at it, opening it up a little, "Not bad. It works."

It is barely a few seconds later that suddenly, Toothless was taking off, Hiccup having to quickly wrap his arms around the tail so as not to plummet to the ground steadily getting further away. "Woooah. No, no, no, no!"

Hiccup looked as the fin just stayed closed and as soon as he felt them start to fall, he opened it all the way. Just before hitting the ground, Toothless was able to get back in the air, flying higher and higher, "Oh my…! It's working!"

Moving it up, Toothless is able to turn and move back towards the Cove. "Yes, yes, I did it," Hiccup gleefully shouts.

However, it was at this moment that Toothless noticed his unwelcome passenger, flicking his tail and dislodging Hiccup, causing him to drop into the pond. Toothless, his tail now closing up and being unable to fly, also ends up crashing heavily into the other side of the pond. Hiccup swims his way back to the top, and facing where Toothless had fallen, he raises his arms and lets out a shout of joy. While it was not perfect, yet, it had still worked and it appeared he would be able to get Toothless back into the air.

When Astrid was making her way to the ring for today's training, she noticed the twins walking ahead of her. By that, she meant the intelligent pair and not the muttonheads. As usual, Hiccup was leading his sister around by holding her hand, he was the only one who did this as others always used their arms, but Helga also appeared to be using her cane to 'see' what was immediately in front of her. The sight of the other girl, and her cane, reminded Astrid of the, uhh, 'conversation' she had had with Helga the previous day. Even before the accident that took away her eyes, Helga always appeared to Astrid as a quiet and reserved girl. When she went around with Hiccup, he talked more than she did, but when alone, Helga generally only ever spoke when spoken too. When she did speak, it seemed measured, as if she always thought about what she was saying before she said it.

Perhaps, though not the heir, being the young daughter of the village's Chief meant Helga had to be mindful of how she talked to others. However, in all honesty, Astrid had no idea how she behaved when her and her brother were the only ones around. Yesterday, Astrid saw a side of Helga she had never even known existed; the rage-filled bystander to her brother's torment. Astrid knew the other teens were never very nice to Hiccup and sometimes by extension, his sister, though it was usually the other twins and Snotlout. Fishlegs stayed out of it, but even Astrid could see he looked about ready to say something. His timid and fearful nature made him unwilling to have the bullying turned around on him for speaking up.

Astrid, after having heard Helga's outburst, realised that although she had never participated, she had never stopped it either. She could have if she wanted to as well, the others would have listened to her if she said anything. However, she had not said a thing and with the sudden realisation also came the understanding that she was really not much better than the ones who were actually doing the taunting.

As she kept walking down, she watched as Hiccup led Helga over to the same place she always sat during their training. They were softly speaking to each other, and she could only make out the tail end of what Hiccup was saying, "…to meet him later. How does that sound?"

Meet who? Astrid wondered to herself, but before she could even hear Helga's answer to the question, Hiccup noticed her and with his eyes wide, he was quick to speak up, "Oh, ah, hey Astrid. Lovely weather we're having today."

Astrid did not miss the way Helga tensed at hearing she was the one who just arrived, her mouth slamming shut from when she had opened it to answer her brother. The hand that was still holding his must have clenched, because Hiccup took his eyes off Astrid to look down at them, "Hey, I need that hand you know, mind loosening the grip?"

Instead of simply loosening, Helga decided to full on release his hand, placing both of hers in her lap, but she continued to be silent. It also appeared as if she was making sure her face was not even close to facing Astrid's direction making it obvious to the blonde girl that attempting to speak to her right now would be a big mistake. So she turned her focus back to the male twin, who was giving his sister a curious frown, he had yet to realise that it was Astrid's presence that brought on this strange behaviour. Not wanting Hiccup to eventually realise, she addresses him, "The weather is the same as yesterday, nothing special, let's just go already."

Not giving him a chance to answer, and not catching his look of shock, she quickly makes her way into the arena. The other teens were already around and holding buckets of water in their hands. No weapons in sight, which was a curious thing, but before she could wonder further, Gobber was calling out to them, "Glad you two could make it, grab a bucket and find a partner, I'll explain soon enough."

By default, the two girls were quick to partner up. Tuffnut, not having his twin to partner with, ended up with Snotlout. That left Fishlegs and Hiccup as the other pair. They were waiting around for Gobber to get started, but the first thing to happen was the opening of a gate with a large explosion. "Today is about team work," she heard the man call out as thick smoke began to spread around the arena. "Now a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

The smoke had now covered most of the arena, making it hard to see the other pairs, the only one in Astrid's sights being Ruffnut. She then started to hear Fishlegs spouting his usual unhelpful knowledge, "Razor-sharp serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attacks, crushing its victims.."

Hiccup though quickly interrupts with a shouting whisper of "will you please stop that?"

It then was mostly silent, but Astrid could hear soft growling from the dragon and its two heads. Her and Ruffnut were carefully moving around, ready for if a head makes an appearance. Then Snotlout opens his big mouth, "If that dragon shows either of his faces, I'm gonna…There."

Astrid was not sure where 'there' even was until both her and Ruffnut were soaked with both his and Tuffnut's buckets of water. "Hey, it's us, idiots," Ruffnut shouts at them angrily.

"Your butts are getting bigger," Tuffnut rudely cuts in, "We thought you were a dragon."

"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque figure…ow," Astrid had not given him a chance to continue as she walked over and punched him right in the face while Ruffnut threw her bucket right into her brother's head.

It was then that Tuffnut was pulled into the fog by the dragon, but when Ruffnut was about to walk in to follow, Astrid put her hand in front of her, "Wait."

Barely any time goes passed before the dragon's two tails knock the girls over by literally sweeping them off their feet. Tuffnut then comes running out of the fog, trampling all over his sister as he does, "Oh I'm hurt, I am very much hurt!"

Following his trail with her eyes, Astrid just makes out the figures of the other two boys, Fishlegs speaking up, "Chances of survival are dwindling into the single digits now."

While his words continued to be unhelpful, a single dragon head comes out of the smoke towards him and Hiccup.

"Whoa, whoa," he shouts before dumping the contents of his bucket on the dragon's head, but when the dragon starts breathing out the gas, he realises his mistake, "Oh, heh, wrong head."

The dragon then sprays the gas right in Fishlegs' face, making him run away with a scream as Gobber calls out his name. This left only Hiccup, now being surrounded by both dragon heads, "Now, Hiccup!" Gobber shouts to him.

In classic fashion though, Astrid can only watch as the water does not even make it to the intended dragon head, "Oh, come on," she hears Hiccup say, looking incredibly despondent.

Just as it looked like the dragon was going to eat him, Gobber calling out his name, the dragon suddenly retreated away from Hiccup as if it was afraid of him. Hiccup was getting to his feet from when he had fallen over, and she was watching in disbelief as it kept moving backwards. "Back, back," Hiccup says to the dragon, "Now don't you make me tell you again! Yes, that's right."

It continued as the dragon made its way further in its cage, "Back into your cage, now think about what you've done."

He then proceeded to close the door and then turn to face them, no doubt noticing the looks of shock on their faces. Astrid even heard Fishlegs drop his bucket. Hiccup is quick to pretend that that did not just happen, "Okay, so are we done? Cause I've got some things I need to…with my twin, because you know…uh yep, I'll see you tomorrow!"

With that he was running off to grab his sister who, now that Astrid was looking at her, was…smirking?! Astrid could not say she had ever seen that look on either twins' face as she and the others just watch them leave the area.

"What in the name of Thor?" she heard Snotlout say beside her.

She could only nod in agreement.

"When you told me about the eel earlier, I honestly thought you'd finally gone crazy," Helga says from her place, sitting on her stool in the forge, playing with the ends of her braid, "but sure enough, it scared the living daylights out of that dragon."

Hiccup, who was working on a saddle for Toothless, does not bother looking in her direction as he dryly responds, "Yes, thank you Helga, I knew I could always rely on your confidence in me."

"Oh come now Hiccup," she scoffs, "dragons afraid of eels, it just seemed too good to be true."

"I guess, but it worked didn't it," he answers, sewing the pieces together.

"It certainly did," she agrees, thinking about the sounds the dragon had made while shrinking away from Hiccup and his eel.

"So, you didn't get a chance to answer earlier, but how do you feel about meeting Toothless tomorrow?" he asks after she is silent for a while.

"I don't see why not," she shrugs, letting go of her braid and flicking it back over her shoulder, "If you think it's safe."

"It should be," is his reply and she hears him fiddle some more, "like I said, his biggest problem with me was my dagger, after ditching it, he didn't seem to mind me all that much. I think we've come to some kind of understanding now that I'm the one that's going to be getting him into the air."

Helga thought about it, she had been a little miffed that he had left her behind the other times, but now that he was going to let her, she was hesitating. Probably because there would be no way for her to protect herself if the dragon did try to hurt her. However, she trusted her brother and if he trusted that Toothless would not attack her, then she trusted that too. "Alright Hiccup," she finally says, "I'll go with you tomorrow."

"Great."

Tomorrow came rather quickly, as after finishing the saddle, the two of them had gone straight home to bed. Helga was not too happy waking up so early, but she figured it was the only way Hiccup would be able to see Toothless in the morning before training. He held her hand as he led her down a small decline in the hills, letting her know when a dip might happen, she had not brought her cane just in case Toothless perceived it as a weapon. The ground eventually leveled out as Hiccup pulled her further into what she imagined must now be the Cove. While she could not see it, she could hear the birds in the air and the wind blow gently through the trees above them, enough for her to know this place was beautiful. "Alright," Hiccup says, bringing her back to reality, "Just stay here next to this boulder and I'll bring him over."

She felt for the boulder he spoke of and when she found it, stood still in her place. She listened as her brother walked away from her, calling out for Toothless. She had no idea where the dragon even was, but she soon heard him walk towards her brother, his tail dragging softly behind him. He must have noticed her because he started growling lowly in his throat and Helga took a moment to be afraid. What if he thought that Hiccup was turning on him and attacked? She kept having these thoughts as she listened to Hiccup try and placate him, "It's okay Toothless, she won't hurt you. This is Helga and look, she has no weapons either."

Toothless stopped growling and slowly made his way closer. She stood completely still, not knowing how he would react to any sudden movement. He stopped moving, but she could not really tell how far away he was. She heard him shifting around, her brother then talking, "She can't see you Toothless, you need to let her know you're there."

So Toothless must have thrown her brother a confused look, and he got his answer, because he started moving closer towards her. Just as she felt his breath on her face, she then heard him start to sniff her. Trying to figure her out, she guessed. She heard him jerk his head back after a few seconds and she wondered if she smelled bad. She could not smell any worse than her brother did, but then he sniffed her again and started crooning gently. Noticing her frown, Hiccup laughed slightly, "I think we smell similar, he kept looking back and forth between us in confusion, he smelled you again to make sure he wasn't wrong."

She could hear Toothless continue to smell her, and so she finally spoke up, "It's because we're twins Toothless," she said quietly, hoping hearing her voice would not startle him, "Wait, do dragons understand the concept of twins?"

"Well, I mean, they have dragons with multiple heads, but it's still one dragon. One egg, one dragon I guess," Hiccup replies, making his way to stand beside her, "Toothless, twins means that we were born together, I don't know if this even happens for dragons, but it's basically like if two dragons hatched from the same egg."

"Do you think he understands?" she asked softly.

"He must, because he's sitting on his haunches, which I think means he content," he answers, "so I guess he's no longer confused?"

"That sounded like a question."

"Well I'm no dragon expert."

She would have answered if Toothless had not started warbling, it sounded like he was laughing. He then made his way back over to her, she could feel his breath on her face again, "Uh, what's he doing?"

"I think he's ready for you to touch him now," he answered in what sounded like awe, "He knows you can't see, so he's coming to you first, you just need to stretch out your palm and he'll do the rest."

So she did, she stretched out her hand and that is when she felt the most amazing thing ever, a dragon's scales as it gently pressed its head to her palm. When he did not move away, she placed her other hand on him as well, brushing them around his face as she tried to grasp how his head looked. Her brother had tried explaining it to her before, but having the feel of his scales and the general shape painted a bigger picture than his description ever could. She eventually let go, hoping inside that eventually he would let her feel all of him so that she could 'see' what he looked like completely. Until then, she was satisfied as she listened to her brother pick up the saddle he had placed down beside her earlier, "Alright, let's try this saddle."

It was then that Toothless suddenly ran off, clearly not liking that idea very much. She could hear her brother run after him, "Hey come back here."

She burst into laughter as she imagined the sight before her, sitting down to relax against the boulder.

A/N: another chapter, another funny moment

50% movie content, 50% new content, because I decided too. Can't have my story just be a complete regurgitation of the movie with a single OC being thrown in the mix, got to have more than that of course. Also making Astrid a little more aware of things, which was never my original plan, but hey, when you start something, you have to see it through. Will it change her scenes much? Maybe a little, but not really a lot. She's still gonna get mad now that Hiccup is one-upping her and winning, that's part of her personality throughout the movie, can't change her that much.

Also, thanks again to Luna Nightrider for the review. Yeah, I'm planning on trying to do a chapter a day, though I know I skipped a few days between 2 and 3, but I'll be trying. Helga is able to generally tell when someone is walking nearby, it's easy enough for her to distinguish dragons by their roars, because well, each species has its own, but people walking is a little different. She can generally tell a person's relative size by how lightly or heavily they walk, but specific people, not so much. Yeah, she'll be able to know when it's Hiccup based on his walking with the peg leg, that thing also squeaks haha. If you really do decide on a Hiccup has a twin sister story, I'll be all over it :D

Anyway, until next time, Seza out.