A/N:
Thanks for hanging in there, and thank you Deadly-Bagel for your help. I figure we got 2 more chapters after this. Maybe I'll add an OOC epilogue where I Rick Roll you or something silly like I did in Dragons 101.

Dragonrider's Fury, I figured that if Ruffnut is so adamant that it ain't fun unless you get a scar, she'd be such a common customer that Gothi would get her revenge by putting Ruff to work.

Toothlessgolfer, you're right, the gemstone hasn't been recovered yet. Even if Ruffnut tried to get at it, Fishlegs and Meatlug would make effective bouncers. You're right that the Skrill eggs present so many opportunities, but may the gods have mercy on us all if the twins get to train baby Skrill.


You Can't Make an Omelette...

Toothless idly watched in the fading light as three dragons swooped in to land – or four, depending on how the Zippleback counted, which was liable to change at any time. They had taken off the previous morning to fly to Berk, where they would have delivered the news, acquired some land-strider things, and rested overnight before returning.

Adding Cloudjumper and Valka to their party had not been part of the plan, but here they were.

What also caught Toothless' attention, as Valka unclipped the tethers and cautiously descended, was the saddle clinging to Cloudjumper's back. Valka had always ridden her dragon bareback, relying on her admittedly impressive agility and reflexes to avoid falling through any spins, swoops, or dives.

"Saddle look good on you," Toothless said through a chuckle. He pressed his palm to the dragon's snout as he was sure there would be an amusing story behind this.

Cloudjumper snorted. {I feel like a horse. Now I know how you feel.}

Toothless lightly whacked his snout, but the dragon was conveying mirth more than derision. It was always a point of pride to have been the one and only dragon who never had any bits of leather clinging to him for his rider's sake. However, Valka had her heart set on returning Nuffink to his parents, as the joy it would bring Astrid would surely help her to heal. Valka had scrounged up some large, heavy coats, bits of leather, and shed carapace plates to cobble together a sling that pressed the child to her bosom and protected them both from the elements. As an added safety precaution, her request for Cloudjumper to allow a saddle on his back was granted as he preferred that to losing his rider to another dragon for the flight over.

"Valka, Cloud, surprised to see you," Astrid called out, peeking out from underneath Stormfly's wing. "You look like you're bundled up for ragnarok with all those coats… Wait a moment, if you're here, what did you do with Nuffink? No, don't tell me you…"

As Valka started to remove most of the coats, the sound of crying rang out. "Storm, bite her!" Astrid hissed. "Valka, how could you be so reckless, putting him in so much danger, flying out here?! I thought you had more sense than that! He could have frozen or fallen or–" Valka slipped into the winged tent. "Awww, heyyyy, there, little guy. Who's Mamma's handsome little boy? Who's Mamma's snoogie woogie? Is that you? Ahahaaa, it is you!"

Valka emerged and stood, brushing her hands together with a satisfied grin on her face.

Ruffnut slipped in with some clothing wedged between her elbow and hip. "Here, I got your old outfit from your home. And for the record, sending Tuffnut to do that job while I grabbed more bandages was a mistake." She stepped out into the open and said over her shoulder, "Trust me, you just don't want to know."

Something bumped into Toothless' back and he spun around to see Hookfang's snout in his face. {Toothless, there is a cave in that mountain, and there are Skrill eggs inside.}

Toothless looked up at said mountain in alarm, then at the sleeping Firefly, then back at Hookfang. "You not smash eggs, did you?"

{No, it was a tight fit for me anyway, but you should be the one to smash them. You are a black dragon after all, on the inside at least, and the lightning dragons are hated by your kind the most.}

"I… I... " he looked over at Firefly, unsure of himself. Initially, when he first saw those eggs in the cave, he naturally wanted nothing more than to destroy them. However, he did feel a pang of guilt for what he had put his Firefly through in participating in the death of that mated Skrill pair that laid the eggs. Firefly always wanted to find the more peaceable solution. Toothless… wasn't so sure what to do.

Hookfang clearly picked up on this. {You will smash the eggs, right? If you won't, then I will."

"I… I…" Toothless cast a panicked look at Firefly, but he was still deep in sleep after having inhaled most of a boar carcass.

Hookfang was greatly disturbed by this. {How can you doubt that they should be destroyed?! You know what will hatch from those eggs!} He projected a flash of memories, some from his time in the nest before Toothless was dragged in as a hatchling, and other encounters after the demonic queen was destroyed and they encountered Skrill. Those dragons were always full of hate for all others, lashing out and killing just for the sake of spite. They were almost entirely uncontestable in a lightning storm, though they were so rare that they were thought to be extinct for all practical purposes. Firefly had nearly been killed by Skrills on multiple occasions, years ago, though he did manage to get one to leave them alone after what had appeared at the time to be a brainless maneuver to save the Skrill's life.

Still, Toothless couldn't contest Hookfang's assertion that it would be a liability to leave the eggs alone. True, when they hatch, the hatchlings would be feeble and dependent on another dragon to provide for them for some time, but what if some maternal dragon came by and wasn't thinking clearly as she provided for them? What if they somehow survived and grew up to make lightning storms deadly again and kill dragons whenever they could? What if they became a threat to Firefly?

However, what would Firefly do? Toothless couldn't help but allow his imagination to wander. What if those hatchlings survive and Firefly can intervene? This body that Toothless occupied, with its wonderful imagination, was like a hammer. Toothless could clumsily whack at things with it and produce some crude artifacts, but Firefly could elegantly wield it to create an amazing masterpiece.

Assuming that the lightning didn't destroy the gemstone, Firefly would be restored to his normal body in a year, and he would once again be back at doing his regular Firefly thing, encouraging peace and cooperation, turning his most threatening enemies into his most loyal allies through his Firefly magic. If those eggs were destroyed, then this opportunity to work his magic would be denied, and that would sting him on the inside, and the thought of that stung Toothless.

"I not know," he finally said. "Not destroy eggs now. Firefly decide later. Safer that way. Not deny him choice."

{How can you say it is safer to leave the eggs alone?!} Hookfang was shocked and angry, and Toothless could smell the Nightmare's fuel squeezing out of his pores to coat his body. {These eggs will produce lightning dragons! Leaving them alone is never a good idea! You're not thinking properly!}

With that, Hookfang's entire body flashed into an inferno. Toothless hopped back with a yelp as Hookfang whirled around towards the mountain and spread his wings to take off.

"STOP!" Toothless shouted. Hookfang stiffened, then turned around to glare at him, billowing fire and smoke from his body.

"Not go there," he calmly said. "Not destroy eggs. Firefly decide."

Hookfang advanced. A monolith of immolation towered over Toothless and growled at him. However, even though he had to look up at his opponent, he stared him down in stoic silence, daring him to speak or act in defiance of his demand. For what felt like an eternity, everyone stared at them in shocked silence, but Toothless would not be deterred.

Finally, the flames engulfing Hookfang's body flickered and faded. He bellowed out a roar that literally rattled Toothless, then leaped up to fly into the sky, fortunately not towards the cave. Firefly didn't even stir in his sleep.

Tuffnut walked up to stand by his side with a rare display of awe on his face. "Dude, that was…"

"Intense," Ruffnut finished for him.

"What was that all about?" Snotlout demanded, arms crossed. "What did you do to get under Hookey's scales like that?"

"Hookfang fine," Toothless said dismissively. "He need be reminded who I am."

"But…" Snotlout started to say. "You mentioned eggs. Is that what Hookfang saw in the cave on the way in?" His gaze drifted to the female Skrill, which had been dragged downwind of the clearing, then back to Toothless. "Those are Skrill eggs in that cave!"

"Yes," Toothless confirmed dismissively.

"Then how can you not want to smash them? You're a Night Fury for Thor's sake! Look at what they've done to anyone unlucky enough to cross their path! Look at what they almost did to you and Hiccup on multiple occasions! Look at Astrid!"

He gestured at Astrid, who had just emerged from underneath her dragon's wing, cradling a fussy child and now clothed in her old attire with blue tunic and leggings, skull shoulder pauldrons, and a spike-studded skirt. While her clothing covered most of her, the stitches on her shoulder and arm were plain to see.

"Back in blue, brings back memories," Ruffnut said.

"Good or bad?" Tuffnut asked.

"Yes."

"You can stop staring," Astrid said coldly as she brushed past Snotlout.

"Sorry, Astrid, it's just… your clothing seems to have shrunk a little in certain areas, if you know what I– HRK!" He doubled over as Ruffnut landed a knee in his groin. "Why are girls always so cranky?" he wheezed.

Astrid ignored them as she thrust her child at Valka and stepped right into Toothless' face to grab a handful of his tunic. "Are you crazy?!" she shrieked. "We almost died! Hiccup had to literally break every rule we know about this physical world to save us from that thing! Do you want to allow these bastards to hatch and finish the job their father failed to do?!"

"You think I not want smash eggs?!" Toothless shouted back, nose-to-nose, jabbing a finger towards the mountain. "You think I want see Skrill again?! You think wrong, but I loyal to Firefly more than I want satisfy myself!"

Both of them had balled fists, arms trembling. Toothless wasn't afraid to come to blows. He knew he could not win a fight against such a skilled opponent, but he would not back down because he loved his Firefly. He would fight to the death without a second thought.

It was Ruffnut who placed a hand on each shoulder and shoved herself between them. "Astrid," she said in a threatening voice, "if you rip out any of the sutures I put in you, if I have to fix you up again, I will make it so painful you'll be begging for a merciful death before you're all patched up."

It was enough. Both of them took a step back and a deep breath. "You not know how much I hate Skrill, how much I want smash eggs," Toothless said coolly. Astrid looked like she had a heated retort to that, but Toothless cut her off as he gave a level stare. "You. Not. Know."

Astrid took a few deep breaths, took her child back from Valka, and sat down against Firefly's side. For a long time, nobody said anything.

Finally, Toothless hummed apologetically. "I not want make you upset," he said quietly. "I sorry for that."

Astrid had eyes only for her child. "Well, it's not like they'll hatch and start flinging lightning tomorrow."

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The rising sun could not have been brighter. The sky could not have been bluer. The gentle breeze could not have been more pleasant. Hiccup had just woken up, feeling revitalized and full of energy, and Stormfly took a moment to share with him everything that he had missed, including how happy his wife was with their child in her arms.

Still, he kneaded the ground beneath him as he grumbled to himself.

"Oh, quit your whining," Astrid said before going back to holding their child up and making faces at him.

She flicked her head towards the body of the female Skrill. "And you still have to recover that gemstone." It was a task that nobody besides Hiccup and Toothless were allowed to do as they had decided from day one that nobody else would touch it… just in case. Fishlegs and Barf and Belch took turns keeping Ruffnut away from it.

Hiccup huffed at her. She understood why he was upset, now that he was actually awake for longer than it took to inhale a boar carcass. While he was deeply relieved that the threat to his wife and his rider had been dealt with, he was upset that it resulted in the death of the Skrills. He just knew that, if he was in his human body with his imaginative human mind, he would have found a more peaceable solution, though he had no clue what that could be.

Hookfang grunted at Hiccup and let out a cavernous yawn to offer a good view of his namesake before flying off on his own. He didn't like it, but in the end, he would follow Toothless, and Hiccup couldn't help but marvel at how a human could assert his dominance like that. Dragons looked on the mind more than the body, and intensity of will carried much more than physical strength. That was how, on one island, the alpha was a Terrible Terror.

"So, now that you're awake, have you thought about those Skrill eggs?"

Hiccup groaned. He knew that Toothless wanted nothing more than to smash them, and he was far from alone on that. Fishlegs was convinced that any possible reward did not justify the risk. Even Valka had said that there was enough hurt in this world without more Skrill adding to it.

Hiccup did not want to simply smash them, but he felt no certainty what the alternative would lead to. There were some obvious possibilities were they to allow them to hatch. The hatchlings could be left in the wild to allow the forces of nature to make the call for them. They could be raised on Berk, maybe taught compassion. After all, Toothless had once told him that, before he was shot down, he was full of spite and contempt for all other creatures; everything existed solely for the purpose of being dominated. Hiccup's ways of compassion and peace had always been so alien to Toothless that it was only their depthless bond that allowed them to function as a team.

However, such a bond would not exist with the Skrill. For all he knew, it could be that their dominating nature and hatred was instinctual and could not be weeded out. He simply didn't know, and following his heart and doing what felt right was not an option for a dragon. Maybe, after he was back in his human body with his human imagination, he could feel more confident on the course forward, but that ran the risk of choosing something that would sting Toothless so deeply that Hiccup would never forgive himself. It would be as vile as committing adultery, and while Toothless tended to follow Hiccup's lead, this could strain their bond and stain his image in Toothless' eyes.

In the end, he was left with nothing solid. He had no sense of direction. Trust in his rider was his only compass, making the valid conclusion painfully obvious.

{I can only admire the restraint Toothless exercised in allowing me to decide, but I will put it back into his hands. I will support him unquestioningly in his decision on what to do with the eggs. However, if he refuses to make the decision, it would be because he really wants to smash them but does not want to upset me, so I would smash them myself.}

Astrid whipped her head around to stare at him with a studious look. "Really?"

{Yes. That is my decision.}

"This cannot be easy for you."

{It is logical.}

Astrid nodded and smiled. "I'm proud of ya, Babe."

Hiccup returned the smile and nuzzled her cheek before slowly rising to stand. Astrid leaned forward for a moment as Stormfly dove in and shoved Hiccup out of the way to replace him as Astrid's backrest.

Hiccup was bare of any saddle or tailfin, but after a quick dash into the forest to relieve himself, he was able to quickly sniff out both items near the fire. He cringed at the tailfin, though. It was functional, technically speaking, but it had seen better days.

"They bring other tailfin," Toothless said as he approached with one of the spares Hiccup always had lying around on Berk. He wasted no time in rigging up his dragon. "We fly, yes?"

Hiccup nodded and gestured for Toothless to hop up. Nothing was said as they took off and flew into the sky for a lazy joy flight. That quickly devolved into a bout of wild and erratic loops, spins, and dives as they reveled in the thrill of flying together once again.

During all of this, Toothless said nothing. Hiccup paid close attention to any tells he could discern, but Toothless showed no apprehension or anxiousness. Granted, it was impossible to feel anything but a euphoric excitement when flying like this.

When they were high above the island, Toothless loosened the tethers and kicked off for a little freefalling. They twirled around each other, basking in the feeling of absolute freedom before Toothless mounted up again and they leveled out around the top of the mountain.

Hiccup dove down a little more, and Toothless followed his lead, and it wasn't until his paws touched solid rock that Toothless looked around at where they were. Darkness stretched out in one direction, and the blue sky and green forest stretched out in the other.

Toothless dismounted and stared at his dragon. "I say to others that I let you decide. You know what I want, but I not want take away what you want. Maybe selfish to place burden on you, but I want you decide.

Hiccup stared at his rider for a moment. {Wait here.}

He then trotted into the darkness, not that it was an issue for him. Some light managed to stab its way into the depths, and his night vision was plenty sufficient to see the Skrill eggs in the nest. He grabbed one and trotted back to Toothless, warbling as he went, and dropped it at Toothless' feet about a wingspan from the edge.

"What… I not understand," Toothless said, full of uncertainty.

With his rider staring on with a slack jaw, Hiccup returned to the nest to retrieve the second egg, then the third. Toothless stared down at the eggs, then up at Hiccup, down, up, down, up.

{Two can play at your game. I'm passing the responsibility back to you. You have my imagination. You can tell what feels right and wrong. Since it will be much easier to clean my scales than your hairy flesh, I will go and retrieve the gemstone from the Skrill's stomach.}

"But… but…"

{Meatlug is waiting nearby to fly you down to the campfire whenever you want, and I'll join up with you there.}

"But… but… I not want take from you. I take away chance to make peace with those Skrill, but you will be normal again before hatchling can even fly." He gestured to the eggs. "And I not want take this from you."

Hiccup crooned and nuzzled Toothless. {It is my desire for you to do what will make you happy. I want you to have the satisfaction of doing what you want without me even knowing until it's already done. In fact, I know what you will do. There is no doubt about it, and I am content.}

"What if what I want not what you want? What if thing I think is right not thing you think is right?"

Hiccup slowly shook his head. {What is wrong in your eyes cannot be right in my eyes. I cannot love what you hate. For years, you have blindly trusted my intuition. How can I not return the favor?} He fixed his rider with a hard stare. {Promise me that you will decide for yourself, that you will do what you want without trying to guess what I want.}

"That what you want? Truly?"

Hiccup nodded and gave him a gummy smile. {I won't know what happened until you tell me, and I had the dragons agree to keep it that way. You can even choose to keep it all your little secret. It makes no difference to me.}

Toothless stared at his dragon. He knew better than to try to pull a fast one on the Night Fury. He tapped his prosthetic foot on the ground. "What if I not strong enough to break egg?"

{Simple. Roll it off the edge and it will splatter on the ground far below. Also, you're strong enough to pick up the egg and drop it on the cave floor. You could even drop one egg on top of another to crack two at once. If all else fails, you can always ask Meatlug to smash them for you.}

Toothless smiled at his dragon, feeling greatly encouraged and empowered. "Good. Thank Firefly. Love Firefly."

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Toothless squinted at the rising sun as he watched his Firefly leap out into open air, flick his tailfin to lock it into position, and glide down to the ground. The dragon soon disappeared below the lip of the cave entrance, and his eyes landed on the Skrill eggs at his feet.

He already knew what he wanted, and he knew that Firefly's idea for destroying the eggs was more reliable – and probably less painful – than trying to kick them in, so he crouched down and heaved to pick one up. Smashing it here inside the cave would be a lot more satisfying than rolling it off the edge, and lifting the egg higher would probably make the crash all the more enjoyable.

The egg was heavy, but his wobbling arms managed to raise it above his head. He looked down and found a good spot to drop it, right next to the other two where the rocky floor rose up to a point.

"You cannot hurt us anymore!" he shouted triumphantly, and with that he looked down at his target again and–

His trembling hands were not holding an egg above his head, but the handle of a knife. At his feet were not two eggs, but the eyes of a Night Fury staring up at him, bound in ropes and helpless, awaiting its fate. He knew how that dragon felt after it was shot down, thrashing around impotently as it woke up from the demonic queen's mind snare to realize that its entire life was an exercise in humiliation before her. The dragon wanted nothing more than for its suffering to end, to silence the memories flashing through its mind that could think for itself for the first time ever.

He worked up the will to drop the blade of his knife into the neck of the dragon, to bathe in the blood of his enemy and claim the ultimate victory.

The dragon laid its head on the ground with a defeated groan. {Just kill me now, land-strider. You want it. I want it. Everyone wants it. Perhaps, finally, you will be happy.}

Firefly had always wanted nothing more than to demonstrate his prowess, to slay the most feared dragon and make the world a better place, but he stopped himself from taking what he wanted even though it was at great risk to himself. Why? Simply because doing so felt right, and it was maddening that there was no other justification.

"I not Firefly!" Toothless shouted down at the defeated Night Fury, frustrated with his hesitation. "I not do what he do. I… I…"

He did not know who he was. The dragon did not know who he was. They were both lost souls, broken and haunted. They had nothing. They were nothing. They were worthless. Useless.

Toothless started to bring down the knife, but he realized he couldn't do it; it just didn't feel right. If they were at their lowest, the only way to go was up. If they were broken, the only thing that could happen to them was to be healed. If they were nothing, they could only strive to become something!

He hauled up on the knife in his hands, but it was very heavy. No, it was not a knife, but a dragon egg of a species just as broken and dysfunctional as his own. He tried again to lift the egg back up, but it was on its way down and there was no stopping it. His shaking hands slipped and the egg fell, so he leaped forward to grab it on its way down.

WHUMP!

"Owwwww!" he cried out as he flopped against the ground and something heavy smashed his arm and hand against the stone. The egg rolled away, and it was with his heart in his throat that he realized it was approaching the edge of the cave.

He scrambled to his feet to chase after it, but his knee slammed in the most painful way into another egg and sent it rolling to join its partner. Lightning coursed through his leg when he put weight on his bruised knee, but he hobbled forward as fast as he could to chase after the eggs. He was so close…

But he was too slow. As the first egg dropped over the edge, a thought suddenly sprang to mind.

"Meatlug!" he shouted. "Catch! Eggs! Catch eggs! Save them!"

He had put so much concentration into forcing his addled mind to find the words to shout out that he ended up stumbling forward. His hands flew out to break his fall, but one of them found only empty air no matter how far down it reached. He frantically thrashed to find some footing to stop himself from sliding over the edge, but it was too late. He scrabbled at the lip, but it was too smooth to grab onto anything.

In that moment of weightlessness, there was only one thought that came to mind.

Even before hatching, these blasted Skrill somehow managed to kill me! Is this my reward for trying to save them?!

Something squished his sides in, and claws dug into his tunic as he was lifted back up to the mouth of the cave. The buzzing of a Gronckle's wings told him that Meatlug had just saved his life.

As he was released to collapse on the floor of the cave, he looked up at the one remaining egg, and it was with great disappointment that he realized he actually felt relief. It was only one, but one was better than none. Maybe, in the end, one could change the world, just like one crazy land-strider and one maimed dragon.

Something clattered behind him, and he turned to see two eggs rolling out of Meatlug's large mouth.

"How…" Toothless started to say.

Meatlug gave his face a lick, drenching him in saliva, and offered her muzzle for him to touch so he could hear her.

{That was fun! Do you have anything else you want to toss out? I do enjoy playing fetch almost as much as a certain black dragon I know.}

Toothless stared at the two eggs dripping with saliva. "How…"

{Oh, catching two falling eggs and one land-strider without breaking anything wasn't even a challenge, and you should know that. Let's do it again, but with all three eggs! Please don't throw yourself again, though, as I would never forgive myself if I made a mistake and allowed you to come to harm.}

Toothless stared at Meatlug, blinking the saliva out of his eyes. He couldn't take it any longer, so he threw himself at her and flung his arms around her maw. "Love Meatlug. Thank Meatlug!"

The dragon stepped back to arms-length to give him a hard stare. {Do you really intend to spare these eggs, at least for now?}

Toothless straightened. "Yes. I… I… I think I want hatch them and raise them. It just–"

{Yes, it just feels right. Even with the mind of one of the most pragmatic and ruthless dragons I've ever met, you land-striders are very silly creatures!}

Toothless fell to his knees as he lost himself in laughing and crying.

Silly land-striders, crying when sad and happy.

"Yes, Meatlug, yes we are!"