I've had this on the back burner for a bit, but I ought to post it before I forget about it. The scene where Hiccup finds Toothless and cuts him free is such a great example visual storytelling, the emotions, the fear, Hiccup wanting to prove himself, the fear Toothless had. And I wanna explore it! Enjoy!
~Where it Began~
This was the spot where he found him. A Night Fury that would go on to become his best friend and ultimately change everything. He looked at the discarded ropes and rocks that were once apart of a bola used to incapacitate the dragon. His invention worked, he caught a Night Fury! But he wouldn't finish it off.
He saw how afraid Toothless was when he looked at him. He proclaimed he was a Viking, he wanted to finally receive acknowledgment from his father and tribe, but he was unable to kill the dragon. The fear in the dragon's eyes told it all and he realized he did this, ashamed of what he had done and refusing to kill him. Instead, he cut him free.
Three hundred years and he's the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon. Toothless looked as frightened as he was when they looked at each other, he looked at the dragon and saw himself through those eyes. It solidified in his mind that he didn't want to fight dragons.
"You're thinking about it, aren't you? This was the spot where I crashed." Toothless responded, standing behind his human friend.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, bud." Hiccup acknowledged the dragon. "I feel a mix of everything looking at this stuff. Happiness, sadness, anger, guilt, remorse, fear, you know, pretty much everything."
Toothless gave a sympathetic purr. He knew Hiccup felt guilty for shooting him down, the bola and subsequent impact with the ground destroyed the left side of his tail fin, making him unable to fly again. There was no ill will, he'd forgiven the Viking long ago.
"I don't condemn you for it, Hiccup. If you hadn't, then we would have never met." Toothless responded, inching closer and giving a soft croon. "I'm glad you did. You mean a lot to me."
"Thanks, bud." Hiccup smiled, reaching up and scratching the dragon behind his ears, hearing a loud, relaxed purr from his dragon. "Meeting you changed everything for the better."
"Don't feel guilty about shooting me down. By doing that, you ended a vicious cycle and set me free from serving the Queen." Toothless warbled, looking down at the remains of the weapon. "You liberated me, changed the course of history between dragons and Vikings, and freed the other dragons from her tyranny."
Toothless was right, if he hadn't shot him down, or just went ahead with killing him, the war would never end. His father would endlessly search for the dragon's nest until he's driven insane by obsession, eventually be killed by a dragon, or the Queen would've obliterated him and most of the Vikings on Berk when he broke into her nest.
"You freed me from being her slave." Toothless reminded him, nuzzling him as a way to ease any lingering guilt about it.
He had freed his friend from her control, in fact, he and Toothless had freed all the dragons when they killed the Red Death. But on the Viking's mind, he wondered when he cut the bindings, why didn't Toothless kill him in that moment? Surely, it was justified given he shot the dragon down and like an idiot, freed a dangerous dragon when he had the perfect chance to cut out the beast's heart and present it to his father.
"Toothless..." Hiccup trailed off, unsure if he even wanted to finish the sentence. "Did you... Uh, were you going to, uh, kill me when I decided to cut the bolas off?" He finished the sentence, looking away from the dragon.
Letting out a worried warble, Toothless stepped in front of Hiccup and frowned, looking down ashamed. "I did. When I heard that you shot me down." Toothless grumbled, sounding remorseful himself. "I was angry, but when I looked at you, I could see your fear. You were frightened, you were different from any other Viking."
Toothless had Hiccup at his mercy, a single bite down his chest would be enough to kill him. The teenager was defenseless, the knife was out of reach, and he was nothing to him. But despite being enraged, he looked right at Hiccup, seeing the fear and regret in his eyes, it was that same fear he'd displayed when he thought the Viking was going to kill him. He decided to spare his life in return.
"What stopped you?" Hiccup asked.
"The same thing that stopped you when you had the chance to kill me." Toothless responded, closing his eyes and purring when Hiccup rubbed his neck. "You looked as frightened as I was."
Hiccup's eyes widened and he stared back at the dragon in disbelief! It was almost identical to the conversation he had with Astrid when she wanted to know why he wouldn't kill a dragon.
They were both afraid. It could've ended all that faithful day, one of them would've died at the hands of the other. But neither of them could do it, despite wanting to prove himself to his father, and for Toothless, revenge for being shot down, neither of them had it in them to finish the other off.
"When you let me live and after realizing what I did, I realized that I didn't want to kill dragons." Hiccup admitted. "I tried to tell my dad when I got home, but he didn't listen and put me into training with Astrid and the others."
"That's what made you different from the other Vikings. Any other Viking would've killed me, but you didn't when you had the chance. You were hesitating and scared like I was and you spared me." Toothless crooned, nuzzling Hiccup affectionately. "I wouldn't kill you, even though any other dragon would."
Hiccup looked at Toothless and hugged him, wrapping his arms around the dragon's neck. Purring contently, Toothless remained still, enjoying the moment, finding comfort in each other and each looking back on how it all began for them, this spot where their lives were changed forever.
"I wouldn't kill you because you looked as frightened as was. When I looked at you, I saw myself." Hiccup revealed, hugging the dragon a little tighter. Toothless purred louder and closed his eyes.
Giving a soft purr, Toothless nuzzled the teenager's head. "You saw yourself when you looked at me?" Toothless gave a grumble, bringing his front legs up and wrapping them around the human, hugging him and returning the embrace. "We were both afraid, but neither of us are monsters. We are the same, Hiccup." purred Toothless.
"I lost my ability to fly when you shot me down, but I don't need it anymore. I've got you, Hiccup. You mean more to me than anything and when I let you live, I never imagined that we'd meet again and become so close, but I'm glad it happened. I never want to leave you. If given the chance to fly again, I'd rather stay with you. I need you, Hiccup. And I'm thankful for each day I get to have you in my life." Toothless crooned, purring as he engulfs Hiccup deeper into the hug.
"Buddy, you really are amazing." Hiccup smiled, looking right at his happy dragon. "Meeting you and becoming your friend was the best thing to ever happen to me. We really are the same, huh? We both lost a limb, granted your lost fin was because of me, and while I lost my leg doing something crazy."
"Something crazy that ended the war. Only you could've done something like that." Toothless complimented him, purring.
It felt nice to be appreciated for being himself. For all the stupid and crazy stuff he's done his life, it felt nice to have made such an endearing and loyal friend in the Night Fury. Toothless gave him a nice, slobbery lick, as Hiccup groaned and let go of the dragon, slobber dripping off his hair and face.
"Come on! I soaked, bud! Gross!" Hiccup complained.
Toothless gave a gummy grin and chuckled, he found it amusing whenever Hiccup got onto him about certain things. But that smile on the teenager's face told the Night Fury everything.
"This is where it all started, Hiccup. The seeds of our friendship started here." Toothless crooned, looking down at the rocks and sniffing them.
Giving a chuckle. "We weren't exactly friends when we first met." Hiccup remarked, rolling his eyes.
Maybe they weren't too friendly back then, but when Hiccup cut him free, that's when things started, slowly but surely a friendship between them bloomed. But as he looked at the remains of the weapon, he wondered how Hiccup had shot him down? The tribe was full of dimwitted boneheads, mostly.
"Hiccup, when you shot me down, how exactly were you able to succeed at something no other human could?" Toothless asked, his curiosity taking over.
The Mangler, the invention he made for shooting down dragons. It took many hours and lots of tweaks and redesigns before the invention was ready. On the night the dragons came, he brought the finished weapon out, readied it, and launched the bolas, only for the weapon to be crushed by a Monstrous Nightmare.
"It was a bola launcher called the Mangler, I invented it so I could shoot a dragon down, since I'm not strong enough to throw a bola." Hiccup responded, not exactly the most proud of the invention, considering it injured his best friend.
"A bola launcher? Was I the first dragon you hit with it?" Toothless asked, crooning.
"The first and only. It got crushed by a Monstrous Nightmare." Hiccup replied. "But I still have the sketches at my workshop. I'll show you."
Heading back to the village and entering the Blacksmith Shop, Hiccup retreats into his workstation, moving around some papers and grabbing the old sketches of the Mangler. He himself was surprised, as he caught a Night Fury with it, the very dragon that never misses it's target. Grabbing all of the sketches, he exits the forge and comes to his awaiting dragon.
Laying the sketches out and using rocks to keep them from blowing away, Hiccup stood back. Toothless looks down and tilts his head, inspects the sketches. He didn't fully understand the complicated concepts of the weapon and it's use, but he knew one thing, it was effective in shooting a dragon down. If it could hit him, then it would succeed in incapacitating any dragon.
"What do you think?" Hiccup asked, though immediately paling at what he said. "Wow, I'm such an idiot! I just asked my best friend what he thought of the very thing I used to shoot him down!"
"Don't talk about yourself like that, Hiccup. You aren't an idiot, your dimwitted cousin and most of the tribe are." Toothless told him, crooning and looking back at his friend.
The Night Fury always would make sure Hiccup doesn't think less of himself, like any good friend would do for someone they care about.
"If you managed to shoot me down, then you would've shot down any dragon. It's very impressive for a Viking." Toothless complimented him, giving him a friendly lick and nuzzle. "It did bring us together, so there's that."
It did. Toothless had a point. He smiled at the dragon and picked the sketches up, but not before receiving another nuzzle from the happy dragon, who was purring as he's loving on his friend.
All of it did bring them together, otherwise they wouldn't be having this nice moment here. Hiccup reached up and scratched Toothless behind his ears once more, the dragon closed his eyes and purred.
"Let me put these away and we'll go flying." Hiccup said with a smile, hearing the dragon purr louder at that.
Heading back in the forge, Hiccup sat the sketches back in his workstation, looking back at Toothless. He was right, they're together now because of what happened, if he hadn't shot him down, the war would still be raging and he would still be the village's fish bone. Fate can sometimes act in mysterious ways.
That night when it all happened was the stepping stone to their inevitable meeting and bond. It began what would become an eternal bond of friendship between them.
The end.
I'd have posted this sooner, but got distracted and stuff. Love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this work. RandallBeast19, out!