Chapter 14

Small-Claw flapped shakily as they headed towards the nearby small-land, following Cloud-leaper with Toothless at his side. He panted as he flew, his mind fixated on staying conscious and there in the sky as his wings ached so sorely. Having them bound for so long, he had almost forgotten the sensation of flight. It helped calm him, and centre him. Pulling his thoughts from the mire of pain and sorrow that was two-legs and all of their evil, of his sore body and scared mind.

The small flock flew low to the ground, once they were a safe distance from the two-leg nest, and the water rippled as they sped over it. Small-Claw pumped his wings as fast and hard as he could to keep up, groaning occasionally and faltering before catching back up. His ear-plates pulled to his skull, and his head swivelled as they flew, wary and searching for two-leg vessels that might have followed, or that might be in their way.

Soon enough, they reached their destination. A single seastack that rose high into the sky from the sea-level with a sparse patch of grass in the centre, which Small-Claw all but threw himself onto with a whine. A few chirps behind him sounded, but he drew into himself with a quiet groan. Until the comforting and familiar scent of Toothless was with him again, and he tilted his ear plates back.

Toothless inspected him with his nose and eyes, chuffing and growling to himself as he looked over his aching, battered scales; and he heard the two-leg woman approach. He drew himself in a little tighter as he heard her come closer, and whined at his kin.

"She help. Come." Toothless crooned, fear.

Small-Claw lifted his head from where he had tucked it, under his wing and into his chest, and he slowly looked out at the world.

Toothless was staying closest, but the nest-kin had all left. It was just the two-leg and Cloud-leaper. He looked into her eyes, tilting his head at her as he watched her, trying to calm the racing of his life-organ. She was a friend, a nest-kin, she is safe. He repeated it to himself, over and over until he slowly spread himself again, laying on his side in the grass, his head on the ground, flat. He chuffed at her and then Toothless.

She came closer still, moving until she was near enough to reach out and start touching him. Small-Claw flinched, and nearly growled, claws pushing into the dirt, but he stayed still. Her hands roamed the cuts along his side and his neck, rubbing over the scales tentatively as he braced, afraid of her. Afraid of the only two-leg he could trust. He whined to her and looked at himself, trying to inspect what she was looking at, but Toothless butted his head softly to the side.

"Stay still. Please." His brother whined, worried, and he nodded. Instead of looking over at her, he pushed his snout under Toothless' chin and hid there as she made soft noises and ran her hands over him. A poke here, a prod there. Every touch flashed danger, but he let her do as she pleased. Unable to disappoint or worry his brother any longer.
It did not last long, he found, as she soon retreated and fetched something. He ignored her still, and whimpered into the other Night One's throat as she applied something cool and wet to his wounds, curling his claws into the dirt and slapping the ground with his tail. He was anxious for her to stop, and he vocalised it with a whining keen that rolled off the rock they were on into the ocean around them.

Small-Claw did not know how long she did this, but he only felt tired when she was finished. He still ached, but less so. The two-leg probably had something to do with that, but he was still terrified of her. He knew she was safe but he could not bring himself to truly believe it. To trust her.

Toothless whined at him again and wrapped him in his wings and tail with a quiet croon.

"We never stopped looking. Not one cycle." His kin shuffled around him, and Small-Claw leaned his head back up to look at those comforting green orbs and nodded.

"It's my fault. I ran, I fled. I was afraid and I…" He cut himself off, and huffed a little, still sad and still scared despite the safety his brother offered him. This feeling was so familiar, he knew it and he hated it. He felt so helpless.

So he groaned this to Toothless, who shook his head vehemently, eyes wide.

"You still here! You alive, you fly! You not taken by Queen, you beat her. Small-Claw strong!" The Night One chirruped and then butted their snouts against each other again. Small-Claw did his best to mirror his kin's delight but found himself simply tired.

He no longer wanted to think of these things; no longer wanted to suffer them himself. Toothless was supportive, as ever, but Small-Claw simply knew he was not enough. They were not - the King might not be enough. The Queen could take the life-fire from all of his nest; maybe even from him. She was a monster, and everything around her nest was doomed to suffer her influence until the day she passed from this world. The onyx scaled lump curled into his twin and pulled himself in as much as he could before realising something.
Small-Claw before they had parted, had fit rather comfortably under his brother's wing; but now parts of him spilled out, even curled up so tight. He had grown - almost imperceptibly, but it was definitely there. This comforted him a little.

He would not be small and afraid forever, he mused.

"Small-Claw not so small now. Soon be Big-Claw." The Night One purred into Toothless, who seemed a little shocked at the playful tone, but quickly nestled into him and purred. That throaty chuckle rolling over him.

"Mmm. But I always Tooth-less." The larger of the two crooned, and hummed. A chorus of safe, us, safe, love. Small-Claw took utter solace in it and began to give in to the pull of exhaustion resting over him. He gave up thinking, and instead pushed into his best friend, cuddling close as he could, and letting the blanket rest of sleep take him.

Small-Claw woke up when the sun was high in the sky again.

Toothless had moved off of him in his sleep, and was sprawled beside him on his back, still fast asleep. He looked at his friend and noted the shallowness of his gut, sending a pang of guilt through his life-fire. He shuffled up as he stirred, blinking sleep from his eyes to find that the two-leg woman was also asleep with her companion. Cloud-leaper circled her body protectively and she nestled under him in a bundle of furs.

Small-Claw sighed a little as he looked around at them, and felt overcome with a desire to apologise. He was conflicted - thankful to be helped, but contemptuous that someone might do so much for him and he had done nothing to earn it.

So, the Night One Stood up, looking at the wraps on his leg and making sure they were secure. He grumbled satisfactorily at them before stepping to the ledge and walking off of it, his aching wings less so now he'd had some sleep, and he let the air hold him aloft as he began a slow glide. He looked around the endless blue around him. He relaxed a lot more now, unknowingly tense as he slept.

He passed some time, simply relishing in being given the gift of flight back and feeling the air pass around and underneath him, flapping his wings to gain height before folding them in to drop like a stone. But, not wanting to be sidetracked for too long and have the others worry for his safety again, he quickly located a school of fish, their silvery scales glinting in the low light like stars. Small-Claw dove into the water head first, pulling his limbs in and cutting through like a knife, snapping his powerful jaw open and closed until he had a good mouthful, and swallowing as he cleared the water. Pulling up, he repeated this only once more - hoping the offering would be enough for the three of them, and sped back to their towering stone in the middle of the sea.

Thankfully, only Cloud-leaper showed any sign of stirring and that was only a noncommittal grunt. Small-Claw pulled himself in for a controlled descent and hit the ground with a light hop. Shaking himself off, he wobbled a little, before manipulating the throat muscle he'd found months ago to pass up the food he'd brought back. The slimy pile was a little grotesque, but the fluid covering it was an odd mix, he discovered. While any other creature might find it horrendous, the smell was almost enough to make him consider eating the pile himself.

But he didn't. Instead, he curled up next to it and rested his head on his paws, watching the three of them. Small-Claw shuffled in closer to Toothless, who was belly up, legs kicking - a priceless picture the last time they'd been somewhere safe together. He missed the nest every day he wasn't in it. It was the picture of security and happiness - unity. No scale-wing was left to starve or be cold when there were thousands of them to help.

Small-Claw recalled the fuzzy memories of Berk and almost laughed at the similarities as he compared them side to side.. Due to the raids, every two-leg was given food and shelter, for free. It didn't matter what your family was or your name - if you were able to fight a scale-wing, you were one of them. Even some of the least favourable two-legs were treated better in his old nest than he had been. His own sire would willingly accept his death than any alternative. This in turn, dug up a memory he'd not dredged up from the pit of awful, terrible things his life had conspired to be made up of in cycles and cycles.

Small-Claw - Hiccup - remembered finding out how his sire had reacted to his dam's death. He recalled the desperate, pointless searching by a man who only had his heart set on revenge and not grieving. The viking with fake limbs; he told him all of this.

His sire, his father, the Chief, Stoick. Rage bubbled in Small-Claws chest as he thought about what he'd been told.
His father had not corralled his allies, had not created a plan of any kind, he had simply sailed. Toward the Queen's nest, with as many vikings as he could - he had left his son. He had left him. Small-Claw had the blurriest, faintest recollection of watching them leave his nest, his village. He had just lost his mother and now was facing the loss of his father.

He had lost his father, he surmised, then. On that rock in the middle of the ocean, he realised it - and it didn't feel… bad. It more so felt like something he'd known for a long time but not come to terms with properly.

Small-Claw furrowed his scaled brow, thinking back to those moments. His father unseeing and unhearing of his attempts to be 'one of them'. To be the prodigious son everyone wanted him to be, to be the Viking they wanted. Their faces and their scowls when he had just been 'Hiccup' and not his father's spitting image. He felt angry, then. Nobody, perhaps not even Gobber had seen him for who he was, or what he could do and be. They only saw him through the Viking way, through the Hooligan eye, and he was more than that. Especially now.

Toothless had stirred, in his self-introspective daze, and apparently poked their snouts together, he realised as he felt something bump his nostrils. He blinked, and looked up to find his brother staring at him worriedly.

"Small-Claw okay..?" He asked, and despite himself, he nodded. Toothless seemed to believe him, and grinned, flopping his tongue out of his mouth as he noticed the pile of fish he was near to. Without even bothering to look again, he gestured his head towards the fish, rolling his eyes.

"Save some for the others, crazy hatchling." He purred, joy, as Toothless set about devouring whatever he could in typical fashion. It set him at ease a little, finding that his brother's appetite only waned out of necessity and not out of something worse. Worse than him being taken away probably meant a permanent inability to eat, but he did not linger on that thought.
Instead, Small-Claw sat up and stretched himself out, moving his wings and his various flaps, his tail a little less sore than it had been when he'd flown. He was very glad that he hadn't been permanently downed - but also bitter. At least then he and Toothless might be even in some way. He scrunched his snout up at that intrusive thought and shook his head, ridding himself of it.

Hiccup did self-pity. Small-Claw did not.

So, he stood and approached the pile, nosing a couple of fish for himself and tossing his head back to enjoy their flavour and their feeling as they slid down his gullet. He then approached Cloud-leaper, who was awake, and simply watched them like they were his newborn hatchlings. Small-Claw warbled hunger, sleep, confusion, to the taller scale-wing, who simply gestured with his snout to his two-leg. He assumed that she wanted to sleep longer, but he was beginning to feel antsy. He did not want to be on this island any longer - he needed to be back at the nest. In his cave.

He barked, gently, and looked out to sea, before looking back at Cloudjumper, who raised a thick, oaken brow. They held eye contact, verdant green meeting hay yellow. Moments passed, and Small-Claw grinned as the larger scale-wing seemed to give up. He knew that the two-leg would rest better in familiar surroundings, and this sea stack was not particularly safe. Small-Claw knew that it was a raid path for the Queen's nest; he could smell it on the breeze. The combined scents of untold numbers of scale-kin who were sent to their deaths for her gluttonous self-service.

Toothless slid up to his flank and stood beside him, sitting and turning his head to scratch the side of his chest underneath his foreleg, grunting at the two of them.

"We go back nest, now-fast. You two follow?" His kin purred, tilting his head out from his ministration to give the larger, senior four-flyer a look. Toothless was… worried for the two-leg, Small-Claw realised in a moment, but kept it to himself. He'd been averse to her last they'd met. But that had been cycles ago, in fairness.

Small-Claw chuffed and nipped his brothers chin as Cloud-leaper nodded, crooning safe, speed to the two of them. Toothless returned with a slap of his tail to his brother's cheek, before darting off and leaping from the sea-stack and letting the air buffet him to the clouds.

As ever, Small-Claw was right behind him, stumbling and limping awkwardly, but he managed to pounce off the edge after his friend and into the air, where his movements became smoother. Flight was second nature now, and he loved every second of it as if he'd truly been born into this life. In the air, his body and soul were free to soar and dive and do whatever he liked - he was the King of the skies. Or, Prince - Toothless was a little better at showing off. The Night One was currently doing spirals and loops through the clouds, thick tails of moisture tugging along after him as he tore through them, leaving odd patterns as they headed towards the nest. Small-Claw shot up with him, and did the same; there was something strange about clouds. They were almost heavy as he dove through them, but they weren't at the same time. Like soaring through a soft bushel that went on forever and left his scales shining with water.

They both dipped and dove, trying to leave patterns in the clouds, but only making odd squiggles and lines, turning this way and then through the skies until they grew bored of it simultaneously. Toothless alighted with Small-Claw, the two of them above the clouds now as they headed to their nest, and the larger sent him a small look. He realised quickly that Toothless wasn't looking at his eyes, but his missing paw, and he almost dipped a wing to hide it from him before realising his brother would never judge him like that.

"Does it hurt?" Toothless whined across to him, loud enough to be heard over the gentle whisper of wind. He shook his head in response.

"It's… sore. But not bad-sore." Small-Claw chuffed, hoping to abate his twins worry. He gently scraped their wingtips together and sent his counterpart a gummy smile, which was hesitantly returned by his friend. He quickly set to cut his brother off at the proverbial pass, speaking quickly.

"Not your fault. You not the two-leg that do this to me. You tried to find me. If we swap scales, I wouldn't know where to start." The young Night One chirruped, looking his friend in the eyes and sending every emotion he could to him. The sheer amount of grateful affection for his friend was a flow, a crashing tide that washed over him and made their life-fires swell.

"Not feel bad for me when I safe now. We together, we not apart again. Swear." Small-Claw warbled, a series of clicks and chirps as he expressed his love and his promise. Nothing would separate the two of them again, not if he still had fire in his gut. Two-legs could take all of him and he would still come back to his brother. He grinned wide at that thought, and did a little spin through the air with a yip and a happy roar.

They flew together in silence, exchanging tricks and spins and dashes. Toothless flared his wings out at their full span, stretching them after gaining a burst of speed with a screeching roar, before folding them in and diving, pulling up in the blink of an eye, taunting the ocean with his tricks. Scraping his underbelly over the waves and then sharply pulling up to level alongside Small-Claw, who had put on a very deadpan expression, a scaled brow quirked up and the hint of a grin on his maw.

Silence followed for a few moments before they broke out in throaty chortles, the two of them pushing out of the sombre quiet all of a sudden. Normalcy returning and in that moment in the air, soaring with one another, they were just themselves again. Small-Claw was not burdened with thoughts of two entire species, or his past, present and future failings - he was just a Night One with his brother.

Their laughter trailed off naturally and they fell back into a happier quiet, Toothless looking at him and then back ahead.

Small-Claw took in the land beneath them - he vaguely recognised it from their first journey from the Nest, and reasoned they must be rather close. He was eager to get inside of the large ice cavern again and be around kin. He pumped his wings a little faster, only for Toothless to huff behind him.

"Nest not going anywhere, you mad hatchling." Toothless puffed, the cool air becoming fog around his snout as he exhaled at his excitable self.

"Neither are you, slow-tail." Small-Claw goaded, playfully, doing a small aerobatic loop around his brother and turning his head back to grin. "We've been flying for weeeeks." He grinned, pushing his luck as Toothless' expression took on one of mock offense, and then narrowed his eyes. The race was on, and Small-Claw did not waste anymore time. Pumping his wings hard, he shot ahead, hearing his brother do much the same. He immediately noted that Toothless was, in fact, still faster. The black blur shot past him and he roared in slight indignation.

It became a game of hitting the other's tail and then trying to avoid them - Toothless was much more adept than he, but Small-Claw came to note his brother did have some ebbing slowness to his flight after seeing it for long enough. Not that he was slowing down for him, (Small-Claw would never allow a victory made so easy), but as if he were slower by other means. He internally felt a little queasy as soon he noted this; and connected the ideas.
Toothless had not been eating properly, as he had. But out of terror and not captivity.

Small-Claw grimaced. He didn't have to think further on this to start changing how he was playing. No longer darting and dipping to the sides so much, he continued further forward on their bearing to the Nest. Occasionally twisting or turning to avoid his brother, but trying to get them back to where they could both eat and be safe again. Toothless seemed to notice, as he sped past his brother he noted a rather unimpressed chuff, but they didn't stop their game.

They flew until the sky-fire was beginning it's descent, and they were both panting and wobbling on their wings. In hindsight, it was not a very wise idea, but Small-Claw couldn't bring himself to just fly placidly to their home when he could have some fun reconnecting with Toothless. He silently thanked everything he knew for reuniting them, and barked as he saw their Nest ahead. It's magnificent ice spires jutting out into the sky like a jagged marker that a King lived here, a crown for the earth to mark their home.

The two Night Ones sped ahead - Small-Claw not dashing through the tiny gap he saw like he wanted to - and flew into the nest.

The first thing that occurred was a tremendous outcry of joy and love - the Nest had been still for the blink of an eye until they were in the main cavern, and then every scale-wing flying was squawking and roaring delight. They screeched return, return! To the heaven's. Small-Claw felt small again, humbled, and he roared his greeting triumphantly, Toothless doing the same. They did a loop around the cavern and screeched their love to the nest, before he felt he could fly no longer.

Small-Claw alighted to their cave, noting how not a single other scent invaded it in the long time since he'd left it, and almost crawled inside on his belly with how happy it made him to see their cavern again. It was quite literally a hole in the ground; but it was their hole in the ground.

Toothless sent him a warble and he heard shuffling behind him as his brother entered with a little more grace, siding past him to get to the warmest stones at the edge of the cave, where he opened his wings wide and laid against the rock. Small-Claw hurriedly shuffled and curled himself against the other dragon and let out a contented groan.

"Nest-kin bring food soon. You want sleep?" Toothless hummed, resting their heads side by side and laying a wing over him.

Small-Claw shrugged a little and his stomach answered for him with a rumble, and he sheepishly nodded his head as Toothless guffawed at his expense. Silence followed, the only noises the distant echoes of the jubilant scale-wings outside, and it was his brother who broke it.

"We not leave the Nest-Waters a long while… not let you go and save-help two-legs. Yet. Tooth-less, Small-Claw together." He huffed out, a toxic green eye staring into his own and he nodded. His recent experiences left him with no desire to do otherwise. His life-fire still waned softer whenever he thought of his self-imposed responsibilities, and perhaps it was selfish, but Small-Claw believed he deserved some calm after the storm.

"But we do go back, we do help." Small-Claw said firmly, and Toothless nodded, apprehensive. He butted their snouts together as an affirmative gesture and shut his eyes, purring to his brother. Feeling their bond spark again, that emotional tug at his life-fire as they momentarily shared everything. Words would not suffice for what they had been through, so they shared it the way only they could.

Toothless showed Small-Claw the depths of his terror and his fear, of the idea of never seeing his brother again. Of finding him in chains in two-leg dens, of seeing his head mounted, eyes empty. He couldn't eat, he could barely sleep until exhaustion pushed him or the nest's two-leg put him to sleep with her tricks. Each time his eyes had closed, he had been haunted by nightmares of Small-Claw being gone and dead, his soul fading from this world and never able to bring warmth to his bleak existence ever after.
In return, Small-Claw shared his fear - of being alone again. Of being seen as only the animal and not the boy he had once been; the one he had regressed into as survival became priority. His inability to protect himself without help, his self hatred that he was not enough. That even if he had been saved, he would forever be a burden to all who crossed his path. His hatred of violence second only to that of himself as he saw only weakness.

All of this passed between the two in mere moments, the beat of their hearts and it was gone.

Small-Claw shuffled closer to his brother, who pulled him in tightly. The gesture echoed between them; "I will not let you go."

They did not remember to get the fish as they both fell asleep, a bundle of scales in the warmth and safety of their home nest.

Author here.

This is leading into sort of the second arc / third arc of what I have planned for this story. Thank you deeply for reading this far, and my apologies for my inconsistent updates.

Sometimes, looking at the page, all I can do is compare it to other fics I have read and I only find my own fic wanting.

Anyway.

Thanks for reading Chapter Fourteen. Toothless and Small-Claw are safe in their nest again, and healing. Next time will be a little Berkian update.