Two days later:
Ariel had just finished signing Harry's release papers and was pushing him down the hall in a wheelchair, toward the elevators.
"I can walk," Harry protested, not being overly fond of having to use a wheelchair.
"Hospital rules, babe. You have to leave in a wheelchair. Plus, you are still having dizzy spells. Walking is a big no-no for you right now," Ariel pointed out as they reached the elevator and she pushed the down button.
Harry crossed his arms and pouted for second before changing topics. "Where's Toothless at?"
"He's at home with Stormfly, safe and sound," Ariel answered. "No, you can't fly him. The president doesn't want anyone flying the dragons until he can locate an expert and find out what is going on."
"I'm an expert," Harry pointed out. "Well Hiccup was, but I'm him, so yeah. I am an expert. Maybe Mom can talk to him when she goes back to DC."
"She's already on it," Ariel assured, pushing Harry into the now open elevator. "It might take some convincing though. He's not the wisest man to ever take office."
The two rode the elevator down in silence. When they reached the ground floor, John was sitting in a nearby chair waiting for them.
John stood up when he saw the young couple exit the elevator. "All squared away?"
"Yeah," Ariel answered. "Though we need to make a follow-up appointment with our GP for next week."
Harry inwardly groaned. "No, we don't. Dr. Clark recommended it."
"I'll call him during my way to work," Ariel continued, ignoring her cranky fiancé. "Speaking of which, I got to get going. Don't want to be late. You got it from here, John?"
"Yeah, I got him," John nodded, taking the wheelchair handles from Ariel.
Ariel walked in front of Harry and gave him a quick kiss. "You listen to John. He's going to keep an eye on you. And don't try anything stupid, or I'm bringing you right back here. Understand, babe?"
"I understand, mi' lady," Harry said with a smirk. "See you when you get home."
Ariel returned the smile, before jogging out the door to her car that was just outside.
"Ready to go home, kid?" John asked.
"Yeah. I miss my bed and real food," Harry remarked.
Jorn began to push Harry out the door to his car that had been parked behind Ariel's. Once they got within a couple feet of the car, John locked the back wheels, opening the passenger door before helping Harry stand up. Harry swayed for a second trying to get his balance.
John looked at Harry with concern. "You okay, kid?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah. Just a bit dizzy."
"Okay," John acknowledged, refusing to let go of Harry. "When you feel like it, try small, slow steps forward. We'll move at your pace."
It took some time, but Harry was eventually in the car. John buckled him in before taking the wheelchair back into the hospital.
The drive home was silent. Harry just looked out the window at all the dragons in the sky and perched on buildings. It was a sight to behold. Harry recalled a story his grandfather told him about how during the time Vikings roamed the seas, dragons were everywhere. Very few places got along with the beast. One place, in particular, was an island called Berk. The Vikings spent 300 hundred years fighting the mighty fire-breathers until one boy changed all that. His name was lost to time. He tamed the mightiest of dragons. A Night Fury, The Offspring of Lightning and Death itself. He and the beast were the best of friends. Some years after the boy and the dragon ended the war, the dragons disappeared. It had become clear that not all of mankind was ready to accept that dragons were creatures of peace. So the dragons disappeared beneath the surface of the world to wait.
Harry shrugged the story off at the time, knowing his grandfather liked to tell tall tales about mythical creatures. Only in the past few days had he come to realize that his grandfather was right. He wondered if his grandfather knew that he was the reincarnation of that boy.
Before Harry knew it, John was pulling into his driveway. The young man looked at his home. It looked like a barn or a boathouse, depending on how you looked at it. In reality, it was two separate apartments. One upstairs and one downstairs. He and Ariel lived in the bottom one, which was two bedrooms and one bath. Space was limited, but, hey, the rent was cheap and it was cozy. It was going to get a lot more cramped with two dragons moving in. He just hoped they hadn't eaten the cats.
John got out and walked around to Harry's side to help him out. As soon as Harry was out of the car, a lady started screaming out of the top window. "It's about damn time you got home. Whatever it is you have down there has been making noise all fucking day. Get whatever it is you have in there under control, or I'm calling the cops. It's bad enough you have ambulances showing up at odd hours every other day, but now you've added out of control animals to the mix."
Harry tiredly looked up at the screaming woman. "Screw off, Amy. If you don't like it, move out."
"That's it," Amy screeched. "I'm coming down there and putting an end to this nonsense. Don't be surprised if you're in jail by the end of the day."
Harry looked over at John, who seemed flabbergasted at the howling monkey leaning out the top window. "Just ignore her and let's get inside."
Once inside, John carefully helped Harry sit down before Toothless had a chance to pounce. The young man looked around and couldn't find any immediate damage done to the house. He could also see that cats were in fact still alive and hiding behind the TV stand.
Toothless started to lick his Rider, but John gently pushed him away. "Later, Toothless. Harry isn't well right now. He needs to rest."
Toothless backed away, looking at Harry with concerned and made a low crooning noise, as if to say, he understood. A second later there was a pounding on the door.
"That would be Amy," Harry groaned.
"Stay there," John gently ordered. "I'll take care of her."
John opened the door just enough to get through and not show Amy the inside of the apartment. "Ma'am, please go back upstairs. Harry is unwell right now. He is in no shape to deal with you."
"You sound just like that little blonde slut that lives with him," Amy insulted. "Who are you anyway? Her dad?"
"No, I'm a close family friend," John replied. "Please, go back upstairs."
"Sure, you're a family 'friend'," Amy remarked. "Even if you were, you would know he was faking it to get that sweet, sweet welfare check. I should report him for welfare fraud, but I guess I'm just too nice a person. You know what? I am going to report him, right now. I'm tired of putting up with bullshit excuses and constant abuse of 911."
John watched Amy pull out her phone and call, who he assumed, was the cops. He just went back inside and let her call.
"I'm not on welfare," Harry stated, making it clear he heard everything. "I work from home. She knows this."
"I know," John muttered. "If the cops do show up though, our only problems are Toothless and Stormfly."
Harry shrugged. "Don't worry about it. People have been letting dragons into their homes since they came back. Cops aren't going to worry about it."
John just nodded and sat down in a recliner to wait. Toothless rested his head on Harry's lap and purred. Harry scratched the top of his dragon's head.
Twenty minutes later, the two men heard a car pull up and two doors open and close. John stood up and motioned for Harry to stay seated. Harry didn't object. A minute passed before there was a knock on the door.
John opened it up. "Can I help you, officer?"
"Yes. Your upstairs neighbor is reporting noise disturbance and welfare fraud," the officer stated. "May I come in?"
"Sure," John obliged as he opened the door for the cop. "However, you should know. I don't live here. I'm helping out the gentleman does."
The police officer stepped inside and almost jumped out his shoes at the sight of two fairly big dragons lounging about.
"Don't worry about the dragons," John said. "They're tame."
The officer looked at the doctor skeptically "Yeah, tame. We'll go with that, for now." he turned and looked at the younger, who was sitting on the couch, with a rather large bandage just above his left eye. "I take it you're the one Miss. James is complaining about."
"That would be me," Harry answered. "She's full of shit by the way. I'm not on welfare. I just had a handicap placard for the car I share with my fiancée."
"Care to tell me why you would name a placard?" the officer asked.
"Because I'm an amputee and have seizures," Harry remarked in an exasperated tone.
The officer looked at Harry. "I count four limbs."
Harry bent forward to roll up his left pant leg, only to be hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness. "John, I think I'm gonna, h-" He was unable to finish his sentence as vomit came spewing from his mouth.
John rushed over to him and held him as he hurled chunks all over the floor and himself. Once he was finished, John helped him up. "Give us just one second."
The officer just nodded and allowed John to help Harry to the bathroom and get cleaned up. After a few minutes, John came back alone. "Sorry about that. The kid has a grade 3 concussion. He's not doing too hot. Can we wrap this up as quickly as we can? I would really like for him to get some rest."
"Just explain how he's an amputee. I saw four limbs," the officer pointed out.
"Most the lower half of left leg is gone," John answered. "He lost it a car crash five years ago. He wears a metal prosthetic designed to function the same way a regular leg would. That's what he was going to show when he started to vomit. Does that answer your question?"
The officer nodded and pulled a business card out of his pocket. "Yeah. Just have him call me, to follow up sometime tomorrow. I still have a couple of questions, but I would like for him to answer them. And try to keep the noise down."
John took the card. "Sure thing. Have a good day, officer."
The policeman nodded again walked back outside, and headed over to his partner and Amy, who started screaming when he came out alone. John didn't pay any attention to it, he just turned and headed back to the bathroom where Harry was still emptying his stomach contents.
Ariel smiled as the customer left her store. She walked out from behind the counter to go and pull the gate down for the evening. As she was closing it, she spotted Frank and Simon walking by, backpacks slung over their shoulders. It looked they had just finished their shifts at the stores they work at in the same mall. Simon worked at Aeropastle. And Frank worked in the jewelry department at JC Pennys. Rhea and Tommy worked at FYE and were probably still dealing with several customers.
"Hey guys," Ariel called out, waving at them.
The two men spotted her and walked over, waving back.
"Finally finishing up?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, I just got to do inventory, restock, and count the safe before I can leave," Ariel answered.
"Wow," Simon stated sarcastically. "It must be so hard running your own store."
"Like you would know," Ariel scoffed. "You're just a part-timer in a small store. You have no idea what it takes to keep a store running."
"Shut up, Ariel," Simon pouted.
Frank let out a chuckle. "You want us to wait for you? We can all go and grab a bite to eat at O'Charley's".
"Can't," Ariel denied. "Harry needs someone with him."
"Come with us," Simon insisted. "You can just order something to go, and hang with us until it's ready."
Ariel pondered for a minute. "Sure, why not? Let me just see if Harry wants anything. I'll meet you guys outside. Tommy and Rhea should be done by the time I am."
"We'll be in the food court," Frank promised.
Ariel walked under the partially closed cage screen to finish up her closing tasks. She took out her phone and called Harry, only to have John pick up.
"Hey Ariel," John answered.
"Hey, John. I was just calling to see if Harry wanted anything from O'Charley's," Ariel replied. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah, just sleeping," John said. "He threw up earlier, though. So if you do get him anything, soup and crackers would be good. Doubt he could handle anything else right now."
"I know just what soup to get him," Ariel stated. "Other than that, any problems?"
"Your upstairs neighbor is quite a piece of work," John replied.
"She called the cops?" Ariel guessed.
"How'd you know?" John wondered.
"She calls them on us for the smallest of things," Ariel explained. "When Harry had his latest seizure, she called them, complaining that he was faking and looking for drugs. Another time she called them because we were talking too loud. See where this going?"
"Yeah, nut case," John summed up.
"Anyways, I should be home in an hour or so," Ariel said.
"We'll be here," John promised.
Ariel hung up and went about her tasks. When she was done, she locked up the store and headed for the food court.
Author's Note: Originally beta read by DraconicBeing2.0. Thank you to the few that have reviewed, followed and favorited. Please share this story with your fellow HTTYD friends. The more the merrier. Sorry for the slow updates. I meant to put this up over a week ago, but it's been nonstop in my house. I've finally found some breathing room to post this chapter real quick. As always don't forget to follow and leave a review. I hope you all enjoyed.