Chapter 6.

It was hailing on Berk.

Again.

Gobber sat by the dying embers of his forge in the dark and the dank, ruminating on his fallen apprentice. A week had gone by and they'd combed the entire island from top to bottom and found nothing. The dragon that ate him didn't stick around either after the nightmare that had been the arena battle.

Gobber was toying with the idea that Stoick had staged the 'torture' a week ago as some way to gain the favour of the Gods, or to have the dragon present him his son back, they'd tell them they weren't far off; a last ditch effort to find Hiccup again.

He did a very similar thing when Valka was taken; tying as many dragons down as he could and personally executing them very slowly and painfully. Took years for Gobber to forget the terrible, blood-curdling cries the dragons made. He knew the beasts were mindless and wild, but the sounds they made were soul-bearing and chipped away at his being.

Gobber, of course, would never tell his best friend these things. But their silent understanding let him know that he was right.

Stoick, this time around, hadn't locked himself away from his people. This time, he'd engaged with the more violent of them; inviting them to the Arena and torturing dragons and swigging mead and ale and passing out by his house, only to start again the day after. He'd sent out most of Berk's fleet to capture dragons for this purpose - the most bloody kind of therapy there is. Gobber was worried for him, but he was more worried for Hiccup. He held the small flame of hope in his worn mind that he was alive somewhere, somehow, and prayed each night before bed to the Gods that he was safe, wherever he might be.

He'd ignored the party a few of the more callous villagers had thrown in Hiccup's name; a celebration of a lost person - a teenager no less - was disgraceful. But he could not afford to throw his opinion in by knocking the food off the tables and socking Vikings, not when he was so close to Stoick; it could affect the standing of the Chief, which was already a little shaken.

So, Gobber stayed in his quiet, cramped yet empty forge. Missing the wit and sharpness of his apprentice and hating the silence that seemed to scream the truth at him. He made sure Hiccup's room off to the side was tidy for when he came back, and checked each night before he snuffed the candles to sleep.

The heavy Viking sighed, and heaved himself up off of his small stool, looking around the echoing, empty space before putting the lights out and heading to his house.

Hiccup would be back. And he would be waiting, one way or the other.

Hiccup stirred slowly from his sleep, yawning loudly and keeping his eyes closed. He could hear the rushing of water and the chorus of dragon calls, albeit quieter than yesterday. Toothless was still gently resting behind him, and he knew his friend was awake by the steady breaths he took - and also how the dragon crooned a morning greeting to him as he yawned.

"You sleep?" Hiccup rumbled tiredly, tilting his head a little further and looking at the bigger dragon hunched down behind him, and saw his head bob as a nod.

Smiling, he slowly stretched his body out, squirming his legs into the air a little and standing up to stretch his wings and fins out a little, his body stiff, but he found he had plenty of energy. Hiccup frowned and realised; he'd mostly been resting and relaxing off the events he'd experienced for the last few days. Aside from trying to learn to fly, which had gone terribly as anything that required physical ability did. He grinned a little and turned to Toothless, crouching down low.

The other dragon raised an eyebrow and slowly started to stand up, playfully growling at him before Hiccup pounced, pushing off his hind legs like he'd been shown, and barreling headlong into Toothless, who gawked loudly and yelled at him. He batted his paws at the dragon as they rolled together, pushing against his snout and his chest happily. They eventually rolled out of the warm cave and he let out a yelp as he fell down a short ledge onto a patch of mossy rocks, Toothless pinning him there and pushing against his chest and shoulders with his paws, and started to drool down on him, the saliva leaking out of his maw and over his tongue.

Eye wide, Hiccup began to scramble as he could away from it, leaning his head back and off to the side, but Toothless only moved with him, grinning at him. He stared at the oppressive drops of drool coming down toward, screeching and hissing at him in panic.

"Tooth-less! Do not!" He yelled, writhing and kicking what he could. It all only seemed to make Toothless grin wider and drool more, the strands of saliva slowly but surely moving downward closer to his head. He snapped at him and tried to make him roll off, before he got an idea, and used his stronger hind legs to kick Toothless up and off of himself, instead of randomly flailing them.
He almost yelled in delight as he heard the sudden screech from the dragon who was assaulting him as he was tossed back and to his side, landing in a pile of scales.

Hiccup quickly got up again before he could be pounced and leaned down, swaying his tail side to side. Toothless was on his paws too and growling at him, Hiccup growling back and the dance of play began again. Hiccup made sure he didn't run too close to any other dragons nesting; not knowing how they'd react to a stranger playing through their den, and Toothless seemed to do the same, the two rolling around and messing the dirt and grass up just around their little cave in the enormous icey world he'd been taken away to. They batted and smacked and nipped and pounced each other for Odin knew how long, but Hiccup never got tired of it somehow. The thrill of chasing his friend and his friend chasing him was more than he knew how to describe; it was just fun. Growing up he'd never had anyone to play with, and even when he was smaller the other Vikings refused to play with him too much, like he'd shatter if they did.

Toothless didn't care. They played and played, and the minute scratches and gentle bruises felt good to have, like he'd earned them. It's only fun if you get a scar out of it, after all. He was light headed with it all, he was so glad to have the simple escape of chasing and being caught. The excitement had to come to an end, as all things did. Hiccup made sure they played until he was absolutely unable to go any further, and he came to a skidding halt, tumbling to a shaky, panting bundle of scales nearby the lake the King resided in; though he noted he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he slept lower into it.

Hiccup was down, as he panted and shook at the lakeside, curling his toes and stretching his claws out, Toothless coming to a much more graceful, patient landing beside him. The larger dragon wasn't shaking whatsoever, only huffing a little harder than normal.

"I winner." Toothless grunted out with a lopsided smirk on his face, sat in front of him.

"You… no fair. Much bigger." Hiccup pouted verbally, leaning gently against the cool, wet rocks.

"But, you much faster!" He argued back with a little 'rrrhuh'. Hiccup thought about that for a moment, tilting his head.

"If you bigger then, not matter… and you can use wings better!" The smaller male cooed, annoyedly. He saw how Toothless had been able to propel himself a little and take sharp turns off slippery surfaces, or to angle himself a little better in a pounce.

"You think too little of yourself, Small-Claw." Toothless huffed, annoyed too. "You Night-One now. You not two-leg. You fast, you cloaked!" He leaned forward, eyes squinted at him. "You are stronger, faster than you think." The dragon said to him, never one to be aloof as Hiccup was learning the more they spent time together.

Hiccup thought on his words for a few moments before glancing at him and then up to the roof of the ice nest.

"Not… not know how."

Toothless paused for a second, before standing up and walking toward him and looking down. Hiccup almost thought he was going to pounce him again, until he looked off to one side and purred softly. The bigger dragon leaned forward and sweetly nudged his head against Hiccup's, placing the flat of it against his and he couldn't help but purr as well. The gentle headbutt was as if he could feel every thought through Toothless' head, like when he looked him in the eyes but a dozen times stronger. It was… soft. It felt warm and had a smell like a campfire on a crisp summer evening, and the spray of salty ocean water on your face; it felt so homely to be pressed against Toothless like this. Like the cold nights he'd kept warm under his wing, but amplified a thousand fold. All of the muscles in Hiccup's body relaxed and he purred louder.

"You… are cared for. You are not useless. You can do anything you want." Toothless crooned so soft he could barely hear anything else, but it was somehow simultaneously the loudest thing around him, the words echoed in his mind.

That wicked enemy of his he'd battled and sparred with for years rose up quickly; the doubt in his gut, roiling and clawing at the kindness Toothless was giving him, attacking his words like water to flame, intent on dousing his truth with it's lies. Everything that'd been ingrained in him since he was able to walk rising up and battling at him.

As if Toothless could sense the inner turmoil he purred louder, and came closer somehow, able to find the warmth in his scaled body.

"Tooth-less care for Small-Claw." The gentle dragon crooned again and the lies inside him went away.

They held the position for a while, and when they parted Toothless seemed to be a little bashful, not quite meeting his eyes and sitting beside him again. Hiccup didn't spoil it by making a quip or saying anything, he just valued it for what it was. He didn't question how Toothless knew what he was thinking and let the warmth sit in his mind from the sweetheart action. The only sounds he had were the chirping of dragons and the trickling of water. It must be late, he didn't realise they played that long, it had been midday when he started playing with Toothless.

Hiccup looked up while they basked in that comforting quiet between them and admired the nest. He could see the actual structure the steppes had been in beforehand; they must have been inordinately old. He could make out the points where the ice had been… shot? It looked like they'd come from the inside; huge torrents of ice like a blast or a wave up and out from the bottom. It looked like, from the small caves in the place that there were additions to it over time. Did a dragon do this, he wondered to himself. It must have been the King, or a series of other dragons. He didn't know a single one that could've done this from the Book of Dragons or even rumors and myths. It was eerily beautiful, all the same. A chaotic carving of ice and stone and slate.

Hiccup was pulled from his musings by Toothless nosing him gently, and he blinked back to the present, looking down at his friend and smiling a little, bumping muzzles softly and tilting his head, raising a scaled brow.

"Feed time. Want some?" Toothless asked with a gentle rumble, licking his lips, a playful little grin on his muzzle, and Hiccup sensed he was hiding something, and apprehensively nodded his head, watching him get up and leading him back toward their cave, where the scent of fish was incredibly strong, which made him frown. He lead the way up toward the little hiding spot in the rocks, and as he poked his head in, Hiccup's jaw dropped.

There was the biggest pile of fish he had ever seen. It must have been four baskets worth back in Berk - the entire haul of a fully-manned ship on a regular day, and Gods did he know it by how aggressively and loudly his stomach all but roared.

Hiccup didn't even register his motion, only that one moment he was outside the cave with Toothless, and in the next, he was head first, snout-deep in a pile of fresh fish, gulping them down in loud, deep mawfuls. He chose to ignore the deep belly laugh Toothless was chorusing from behind him, and only lightly swatted him with his tail when he decided himself humourless enough to join in beside him.

This must have been a sight - two Night Fury's scarfing down enough fish to feed a hamlet with no shame. Hiccup enjoyed letting himself go, and was currently focused on not rejecting what his body wanted and needed, instead gulping fish down happily with his friend, his tail wagging and his hips moving side to side. Each fish had a different texture and taste than when he'd eaten them as a Viking. Cod was slippery and smooth, the scales adding that satisfying small crunch. Haddock, ironically, was his least favourite, too… crumbly and chewy scales. The flat halibut was much nicer, and somehow sweet, too. There was even an entire adolescent shark that he savoured, it's flesh so juicy and exquisite he couldn't believe he'd never thought of it before. Hiccup found he enjoyed the chewing of scales to flesh to be satisfying on his teeth, and gulping each fish down brought it's flavour to the forefront.

Hiccup knew he could never eat them cooked again.

It took a few jaw-gnashing minutes, but two hungry dragons were a force to be reckoned with, and soon the enormous pile of fish was a few leftovers which they agreed mutually to tuck away in a corner of the cave for later snacking. Toothless collapsed first with a happy sigh, and Hiccup followed suit, giving his friend a few licks of the scales and fish flesh that remained on his maw, the action being reciprocated gently and he sighed.

"That was the most fish… I ever had." Hiccup panted softly, tongue out as he lay on his side, comfortably stuffed to the fins, his friend doing much the same on his side, huffing and nodding his head happily back to him.

"Good?" Toothless roared, expressing his happiness to his friend.

"Amazing… didn't know… fish taste like that!" Hiccup squeaked, wondering if a dragon could blush at the sound he made accidentally, shaking his head of the embarrassment and grinning at Toothless.

"How not know? Two-leg eat fish." Toothless wondered aloud, head tilted to one side in curiosity. Hiccup wondered for a second too.

"I think it's because… scale maw different! Taste so much more." The smaller dragon tried to explain, continuing. "More in every mawful. More in every fish."

Toothless seemed to understand and smiled wider at the words, nodding his head at Hiccup. It was a strange thing to explain the changes from human to dragon, but he enjoyed sharing it with someone instead of trying to think to himself of what was happening and why. Having nobody to talk with in general had been difficult, and it was much better to get things off his chest. An idea came to him then.

"Tooth-less. You teach me how fly, again?" Hiccup asked; that veritable well of energy from sleeping so much rising up in him again, smiling gummily to his companion.

Toothless seemed to have been in some deep thoughts because he shook his head free of them before he tilted his head, as if to recall what he'd been asked and nodding slowly.

"Small-Claw very eager. Good learner." He warbled proudly, standing up and Hiccup mirrored the other, getting onto his paws before frowning at the heaviness in his gut, looking between his forelegs and noting his belly was distended some with his meal, furrowing his brow at Toothless, who seemed to know what he thought.

"All scale-wing eat like this. Fly like this is fine." Hiccup deflated a little and the enthusiasm to learn to fly came back again, and he bounded out of their fish-scented cavern and out onto the mossy stone at the entrance a ways, heading for a flatter area, before Toothless butted him from behind and nudged him toward the water, like in the cove; safer to land in the shallow water than on land if he came to yet another fantastic landing, as he'd established he could do already.

Toothless stood behind him and nudged him a bit forward, where Hiccup stepped into the establish take off position, braced to leap forward and upward, wings spread slightly, prepared to flap hard to give him that first blast of speed, his fins and flaps ready to angle him forward once he got into the air. At his friend's affirmative chirp, he shot skyward.

The meal had definitely helped, and this time, his wings did not sag without the energy available behind him, and this time he was able to push up through the air and get high enough where he could open his wings after flapping enough, soaring and the ecstatic freedom he'd only been teased with while carried and trying to fly in the cove came burning bright in his heart as he managed to glide, only for a few seconds. But those seconds, Hiccup knew he'd give up his human body for if he had the choice again; the light feeling of his body, the currents against his wings as he flew.

But it was not forever, as he forgot to adjust his fins or flap his wings and tilted downward, coming quickly crashing down into the pool and yet fear did not clutch his heart as he fell. Hiccup gave out the most ecstatic, happy roar he could as he tumbled into the waters, rolling to a stop in the coolness only just shallow enough to soften the fall. He rolled up onto his legs and paddled to the edge, before sprinting up to Toothless, who was simply staring at him with amused eyes, a small grin on the corner of his snout.

"Told you! Small-Claw must think he do, before he do." Toothless warbled, licking Hiccup on the snout, replacing the water with his saliva, and he barely even moved his head at the realisation. Hiccup had needed to fly back then, but he did not precisely want to; fearing that it would cement him as a dragon and not a human. But in the nest, here, he wanted to fly. He wanted to join that chaotic dance and chorus with his own song and dance. But something hit him and he frowned, looking at Toothless.

"Small-Claw feel bad. Tooth-less not fly, but show anyway." The dragon barely let him get a whine out before he huffed and batted his jaw with a paw, Hiccup scrunching it up at the light sting and frowning at him

"Tooth-less not fly because can't. Small-Claw not fly because not know how. Tooth-less not care. Hatchling." Toothless huffed, but nuzzled his nose to Hiccups tenderly and he dropped it, nuzzling back a little as reassurance.

Hiccup tried to keep those words at heart and braced himself to take off, which he managed to do with just a little more grace that time, and each time after that. He'd been doing it so long he could hear the activity of the nest getting louder and more bustling; hatchlings squawking to their parents as they wanted food, he assumed. Adults stirring to leave the nest for food. And there was Hiccup in the midst of it all, flying as best he could for as long as he could before an error or a misguided motion sent him tumbling. He was bruised after this much time - not every fall had been into the water after all.

Each time he fell on the rock, Toothless was there, nudging and licking him and giving encouraging calls when he was up in the air right until he hit the ground again where it began anew. Hiccup would rise, chasing the fantastical high of flying, flapping and gliding and soaring - the other dragons flying in the nest able to tell he was learning - wings flapping against the air and taking breakneck turns and hard dives around rock outcroppings and pillars of mossy stone. It all gave Hiccup a good scale of the entire icy palace as well; if he started going up from their small lake on the bottom it took him a good amount of time flapping wildly to get to the ceiling of the place, able to look down and see the entire place was something like a cone, with rings of stone outlining the edges, randomly jutting out, with deeper points of small icy caves. There was water dripping from the ceiling in drops and from some lower areas, in smooth waterfalls, holes in the ice at the sea level letting them through into the cave, where they splashed and had eroded pits in stone that were heated by the springs beneath. It was serene. Natural. Safe.

Hiccup lost count of how many times he took off and landed, or how many times a landed scuffed and he was bruised or splashed down. But this time, he took off perfectly, leaping skyward and managed a loop of the ring of rock without faltering or failing, and when he came in to land beside Toothless, it was with barely the hint of a stumble. Hiccup could see just how utterly delighted his friend was at his successes and it only invigorated him all the more, as he bounced on his paws with his teacher, nodding and bobbing his head happily, up and down and nuzzling at each other wordlessly.

"Small-Claw flying so good! Almost like not-hatchling anymore! Now you fledgling." Toothless teased, but Hiccup could only smile widely, gums showing as he stared into his friends eyes, seeing all the warm pride and happiness reflected back at him, his tail swaying.

For a dragon, learning to fly was like learning to run. But Hiccup had done it.

Author here again. This one's about 1k shorter than usual. Just doing some nice things with them and some Berk catchups before things move forward.