Five: Back to Normal

Hiccup groaned as he stirred out of unconsciousness. The young viking opened his eyes to find that he was back in his bedroom on Berk as if nothing had happened at all. Hiccup rubbed his eyes, sat up, and looked around. Toothless wasn't sleeping on his stone slab, and the house was quiet. Hiccup guessed that his father had gone out to do his daily chief duties, because on his bedside was a bowl of porridge. Hiccup knew his father made it because it was very lumpy.

Hiccup threw off the covers and rolled up his pant leg, hissing at the sight of the arrow wound. It must have been deep, because the gauze was stained with red and it still hurt. Hiccup rolled his pant leg back into place and leaned against his headboard with a sigh. He closed his eyes, thinking about the previous events that had occurred. What had happened to Lumina? Did the Outcasts gain a hold of her? And where was Toothless? All of these questions were beginning to make Hiccup feel extremely worried, but his worrying stopped when he heard the door open and the familiar thudding off Toothless' paws hitting the ground.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called from upstairs. And an instant later, Toothless was licking Hiccup's face like crazy. Hiccup groaned, but didn't push the dragon away. Toothless eventually pulled back, a gummy smile on his face. The Night Fury licked his rider one more time.

"Ugh, Toothless...you know this doesn't wash out well," griped Hiccup playfully. Toothless warbled and then stepped to the side so Astrid could make her way through. The Hofferson seemed just as happy as Toothless was to see that Hiccup was awake. Astrid threw her arms around Hiccup and Hiccup hugged her back. Astrid pulled back and then punched Hiccup's arm.

"Ow! What is with you and the punching, lady!?" exclaimed Hiccup as he rubbed his arm.

"You could've been killed!" shouted Astrid. Then, her face softened. "But what you did was really brave Hiccup. I'm proud of you."

Hiccup blinked, a light blush creeping onto his face. "Th-thanks."

Astrid smiled, her blue eyes sparkling. She plopped onto Hiccup bed and said, "So! I'm guessing that you're wondering what happened to Lumina?"

"Yep," said Hiccup. "Did you guys manage to get her back home?"

Astrid nodded. "The others managed to get her back to her home island without any trouble. There has been no sign of the Outcast's either, so I think we're pretty safe from any revenge attacks for now."

Hiccup nodded. He wished that he had gotten to see the Skipta one more time before she went home, and he never did thank her for switching his and his friends' personalities back. Hiccup sighed, knowing that sometimes things don't go according to plan, but he was home and safe. And Hiccup was glad that his injuries weren't serious.

"I've been taking Toothless out on flights since you were out," said Astrid.

Hiccup blinked, surprised. "Wait, how long have I been out?"

"About two days," said Astrid. "It's noon right now."

Toothless nuzzled Hiccup's cheek and Hiccup patted his dragon's head. "Well, at least I wasn't out for a week or something."

"Yeah," said Astrid. The Hofferson then stood up and asked, "Does your bandage need to be changed out?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. There's a roll of gauze on my shelf over there."

Astrid picked up the roll and tossed it to Hiccup. The young viking quickly changed out the old bandage and replaced it with a fresh, new one. Hiccup flexed his leg. It still hurt, but not as much as it did when it first got shot. The wound wasn't bleeding as heavily either, and Hiccup guessed that he would be back on both of his feet in at least a few days.

"Oh! The others and I got a surprise for you," Astrid said, a smile spreading on her face.

Hiccup cocked his head. A surprise? "What is it?"

Astrid pulled Hiccup out of bed. "It's at the Academy. You can ride Toothless there."

Hiccup mounted Toothless and the Night Fury bounded down the stairs. Astrid followed not too close behind and soon, the trio reached the Academy. Toothless walked inside with Hiccup on his back. Astrid walked in soon afterward.

"Hey, guys," said Hiccup.

"Hey, Hiccup!" said Fishelgs cheerfully. "Glad to see you're awake!"

"He was only out for two days," said Snotlout with a roll of his eyes, but Hiccup caught the quick glance that Snotlout sent him. Relief was in his eyes. Hiccup knew that deep down, Snotlout did worry for him, even though he never admitted it. His pride got in the way of that.

"So, Astrid mentioned that you guys have a surprise for me," said Hiccup. "What is it?"

"She isn't here yet," said Tuffnut.

She? "Wait, who's she?" asked Hiccup.

A familiar dragon call came from above and something landed in front of the Academy. In her full glory and magnificence, walked in none other than Lumina. The Skipta trilled a greeting toward the other dragons, and Toothless gave her an affectionate tail bump. Hiccup smiled as Lumina walked up to him and bowed her head so she was eye level with the young viking. She crooned and gave him a lick across the face.

Hiccup laughed. "Hey, Lumina! It's nice to see you!"

"She seemed upset when she noticed that you weren't with us," said Fishlegs. "So, we decided to show her the way to Berk so she could come visit."

"She's been visiting every day," said Ruffnut. "I think she likes us."

Hiccup gave Lumina a pat on the head. "Well, we are pretty awesome."

"Of course, we are!" said Snotlout. Then he paused. "But mostly me. You guys are average."

"Average?" repeated Astrid. She grabbed the Jorgeson's shirt collar and pulled him close, her fist pulled back. "Is this average?"

Snotlout yelped. "No, no! It's amazing! Magnificent! Awesome! You're amazing!"

Astrid let him go and a satisfied smirk crossed her face. "Thank you."

Fishlegs pulled out the book of dragons and a charcoal pencil. "I already started writing the information about Lumina down, but the last thing we need is an actual drawing of her." Fishlegs handed Hiccup the large book and Hiccup took it out of Fishlegs' large hands.

"I'll get right on it," said Hiccup. The young viking turned to Lumina. "Do you mind posing?"

Lumina didn't seem to mind at all. The dragon laid down on her belly and Hiccup began to draw her out. His friends were arguing about who was the most awesome out of the group, but Hiccup drowned all the yelling out as he drew. Toothless curled around Hiccup and watched the charcoal pencil scribble across the paper. The Night Fury loved watching Hiccup draw. After some time, Hiccup finished the drawing of Lumina and held it up proudly. Lumina gave it a nod.

"Ooh, ooh! Let me see!" Tuffnut said. He peered over Hiccup's shoulder. "Wow. It looks exactly like her."

"I bet I can do better," said Snotlout.

Hiccup shook his head. "Is it always a competition with you guys?"

"Remember, competition is the very essence of life itself," said Ruffnut, almost philosophically. Then she shrugged. "Yeah. If there's one thing that everyone knows about us—-not including you, Hiccup—-it's that we're extremely competitive."

"Drawing competition! The best drawing of Lumina wins!" announced Tuffnut, and the Riders ran off to grab charcoal and paper. Hiccup only rolled his eyes, but a small smile crawled onto his face. He turned to Lumina and said, "You don't mind staying for a little while longer?"

Lumina shook her head. She didn't mind at all. She watched with amusement as the other Riders tried to draw her. Hiccup laughed at his friends' faces of concentration. They looked ridiculous, but he could tell that they were having fun. And he was too, even if he wasn't participating in the challenge. But what he was most happy about was that he and his friends were back to their old selves again.

"What the heck is that, Snotlout? It looks like a rat!" exclaimed Astrid.

"Excuse me?" said Sntolout, although he didn't seem the least bit offended. "This is Lumina!"

"Either that's Lumina or Lumnia with extremely skinny legs," said Tuffnut, and the Riders burst into laughter. They were friends, all of them, and they were a team. Even if their personalities got swapped, they still worked very well with each other. Hiccup watched his friends continue their little drawing competition and smiled. Things were back to normal. His friends were back to normal. And he was back to normal.

It was good—great—to be back to normal

The End

Author's Note: And that's the end of "Swapped!" I had so much fun writing this story. I hope you guys enjoyed it! =D

Until the next story!

-BeyondTheMoon1203