A/N:
In chapter 18, the second-to-last, I left you with a cliffhanger where the magical gemstone that did the soul swap between Hiccup and Toothless had been charged up, and they returned to the "cursed" cavern where they tried to change back to normal. Zero people were surprised that it totally worked, but what would I have done if I wanted to be a bit more evil? This is an alternative to chapter 19. Let's call it "19 prime".
What's New Is Old Again
"Hiccup?"
A blinding light stabbed at Hiccup's eyes when he opened them, so he closed them again.
"Hiccup! Oh gods, are you alright?"
Hiccup let out a groan. He recognized the voice of that Meathead, Arn, so he slowly cracked his eyes open again, but the glare was painful, so he scrunched his lids.
"Oh, the lantern. There, it's behind me now, should be better."
Hiccup fluttered his eyes open, blinking at the spots in his vision that slowly cleared.
Arn sighed with relief. "Whew, glad you came around! I was afraid that your big friend back there–" he jerked his thumb up the tunnel – "was getting ready to roast me if anything happened to you. Hey, Toothless," he made eye contact with Hiccup, "Get up, ya big oaf. I doubt your rider appreciates being squished like that."
Realization came slowly, then it struck like lightning. Hiccup jumped up on all fours with a harsh yelp.
It didn't work. He was still a dragon.
Oblivious to the situation, Arn offered a hand to Toothless. "Can you get up, Hiccup?"
Toothless groaned and slowly worked his way to his feet. "I–" He coughed. "It n–" he coughed again. "Rrrrrrrrr!" He took a few deep breaths and swallowed a couple times. "It not work."
Arn gave Toothless a friendly slap on the shoulder. "I was worried for a moment. Cloudjumper was suddenly all up in a tizzy, and practically threw me into the cave, and I told him it's not my fault if some fool goes into the haunted cavern and…" he gasped. "Well, stuff my britches with fish and call it a feast. It's… just… gone!
"Whaa…?" Toothless started to ask before he coughed again.
"Yeah," the Meathead said, wildly pointing at a wall nearby. "That cursed cavern just… disappeared."
In unison, the duo turned to look at the featureless wall that Arn was gesturing at where the chamber with the gemstone–
Solid rock met their eyes.
"Not here," Toothless drawled out.
"Yes, here!" Arn cheered exuberantly. "It was right here, but whatever you did, it worked! The cursed chamber is… gone. It's just gone!"
"What? No…"
Arn brushed his hand against the opposite wall. "Here's the little channel I started picking out to see where this copper vein led. I fled after a moment's picking, though, got the shivers just being so close to the haunted cavern, but it's just… gone. It's like the gods themselves swooped in and scooped it clean away, leaving nothing but stone behind." He gestured impotently at the uninterrupted stone wall where the chamber used to be.
"Gone…" Toothless echoed breathlessly.
A sudden feeling of loss overwhelmed Hiccup. He was ready to accept that the gemstone didn't magically change them back now, that they would need to take it back and maybe try the lens idea, but...
"Uhhh, nice dragon?" Arn squeaked. "Hiccup, could you ask your dragon to stop growling at me?" he asked, still oblivious.
Hiccup took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. The cavern couldn't just disappear, could it? What, was some god specifically playing with them? Did they think it would be funny to just drop a cavern into a cave, let some poor fool figure things out, and then whisk it away to… to… prank someone else somewhere in the world? If so, then the gods were definitely heartless jerks.
"Hahahahahaaaaa!" the Meathead howled, hopping and visibly straining to contain his excitement in a nonexplosive manner.
He grabbed a pickaxe and struck the wall in a few places, sending some stone chips flying. Hiccup winced and snarled at the noise. "Oh, sorry there, Toothless, really, I'll stop, but Hiccup, look at this!" He bent down to pick up a chunk and a flake of stone as he impatiently gestured for someone to bring a lantern closer. "This is the purest copper vein I've seen in my whole life! Wowee! Whatever you did in there– … This is… Incredible!" He shook Toothless' limp hand enthusiastically. "Oh, Hiccup, thank you! Know that Arn Gilsson is in your debt. Woohoo!"
He skipped up the tunnel with his fellow Meatheads following. "C'mon boys!" was his exuberant shout that echoed through the tunnels. "Let's build another smelting stack. We got copper for days baby!"
Hiccup and Toothless looked at each other and sighed in unison. "We look around. Maybe find gemstone somewhere," Toothless offered, sounding as hopeful as Hiccup felt.
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Astrid watched as a Night Fury and his rider descended to land in the clearing with a delicate flaring of his wings and an elegant trot. Already, she was studying them, analyzing, trying to figure out what had happened. The dragon sure did move with the sort of grace of one who was used to being a dragon for a while.
The rider unclipped the tethers and slid off, landing in a crouch and springing up to trot over to Astrid with his arms open… as if he was so used to being in a human body…
Astrid left Nuffink to sleep where he lay on the ground to accept the hug for a moment, then held… her husband's body… out at arm's length. "So?" she asked.
The man held the embrace in silence for a moment before taking a step back. Astrid looked at the Night Fury. "Well?"
They stared at each other. Astrid could tell already.
"It's okay, Babe," she consoled him. "We can still try that lens idea and…"
Dragon and rider were slowly shaking their heads.
"What… But… How…" She pressed her hand to the muzzle. "Show me."
It didn't take long to convey all that had happened yesterday. They touched the stone, woke from sleep, and searched the caves thoroughly, then they got the Meatheads to help them search it again. And again. And again.
Astrid felt her knees shake as she took in everything. They hadn't changed back, and on top of that, the gemstone was gone. Gone! Her husband was a dragon for the rest of his life, and his body was occupied by Toothless. Forever.
"If… this is a joke," she shakily forced herself to say, "you win. You got me good…"
The Night Fury draped his head over her shoulder and let out a sigh, crushing any doubts.
Gone… it was gone. There was nothing else to cling to for hope.
Astrid swallowed hard to prevent any tears from coming out. She was strong. She needed to be strong… for Hiccup. No doubt he was as distraught as her except for having had a day's head start in processing all of this.
"Well, at least we still have the gemstone," Ruffnut said as she ran up. She took in the three shaking heads. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She fell to her knees. "I was gonna use it to swap places with Eret so I could feel his bulging biceps whenever I wanted! But now you come back and all my hopes explode in my face!"
Snotlout sidled up next to her. "You can feel my bulging biceps any time you want."
Ruffnut turned to her dragon. "Just eat me now! End my suffering! I beg you! I'll even brine myself first if you want!"
Valka rushed up and threw her arms around Hiccup and Astrid.
"I'm sorry we can't find a fix," Fishlegs said sullenly. "Especially since you had wanted more chil–" He put a hand over his mouth.
"Oh how the gods have blessed you with discretion and tact," Ruffnut sarcastically said.
Astrid sighed. "Not gonna happen now. Not unl–" She stopped and avoided eye contact with Hiccup. "Not gonna happen."
"Ya know," Tuffnut slowly drawled out, "back when we had dragon raids, with men dying left and right while most women kept the kids safe…"
"I dunno," Ruffnut threw in. "A male concubine? I guess, technically, it could work."
Astrid stared at the ground, but Hiccup nuzzled her. {I can tell what you're thinking, and now that we know I'll be like this forever, I approve. It was a thought I had entertained, but I refused to voice it because I didn't want you to feel any pressure from me to do it. Whether Nuffink is an only child, or he ends up with a dozen siblings, I just want you to be happy.}
Astrid smiled at him, then flicked her eyes to Toothless. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Toothless snorted. "Nobody wants to know what I think about this con… con...bine… that thing?"
Fishlegs scratched his chin. "And though highly improbable, what if we discover a female Night Fury, and she takes an interest in Too– I mean Hiccup?"
Everyone was silent.
Toothless grinned at Hiccup, who whined softly and pawed at his snout. "A saying comes to mind. Tit for tat."
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Astrid chuckled at Hiccup's antics. "Hold still you big goofball!"
{How about you hold still and let me do my thing.}
"Uh-uh!" She slapped his scaly hide. "We're doing this my way. And watch those claws!"
They both grunted and growled, breathing hard, wrestling with each other by all outward appearances.
Hiccup let out a yelp. {I never realized just how sensitive it is.}
"Oh quit your whining. There's only one direction we can go from here anyway."
{Retreat is a very valid option to consider.}
Astrid snorted. "No Surrender!"
They both grunted with the effort. Astrid grit her teeth. "C'mon, work with me, you limp little lizard!"
{I told you this was a bad idea, and the only thing here that is little is what we're trying to ram this into!}
"Oh shush!" She grunted with the effort. "We're almost there."
{You do realize what people would say if they saw us doing this?}
"There!" she ground out with one last burst of effort, sweat dripping. She wheezed and groaned as she sprawled out on the belly of Hiccup, who let out something between growl and a sigh as he went entirely limp on his back.
{I do sincerely hope this was as uncomfortable for you as it was for me.}
Astrid rolled off and flopped on the grass on her back. "Oh, gods, I'm so sore," she moaned. She forced a few more slow deep breaths as she stared up at the leaves fluttering in the wind. "At least, now, nobody can ever question our commitment to each other as husband and wife."
She shook out her arms.
Hiccup rolled to his side and curled his tail around again so they could both inspect their handiwork. The sun reflected brightly off the gold wedding ring that Hiccup had once worn on his human finger, now tightly clinging to the tip of his tail behind the tailfins.
"I mean, really, my forearm is on fire. Who would have thought that trying to shove that ring onto your tail would have been such a trial?
{I do recall voicing my reservations.}
"Oh shush."
{Do you think it will stay there?}
Astrid pressed a few fingertips against the ring and gave a cautious tug, then a more aggressive one when it didn't budge.
"I think a more relevant question is if we can ever get it off."
A/N 2.0:
Hiccup and Astrid play the pronoun game to intentionally mislead the reader. *DING*
Well, ya know, I can't think of any other part of Hiccup's new body that could wear his old wedding ring, considering that he would never pierce his sensor lobes for an earring.
BTW, in chapter 19, the real final chapter, a reader commented on how Hiccup never had a chance to hold Nuffink in his human arms as he was immediately whisked away by Astrid for their date night in the cave. I made an addendum to address that. Thanks for pointing that out, fluffy11cat!
Oh, and I have some news. I'm writing a story that covers HTTYD 3 The Hidden World… sorta. I really don't wanna do a straight-up adaptation, but it will include the Light Fury and Grimmel. I'm also gonna bring back some of my original characters that you'll recognize if you've read Dragon Whisperer, Dragons 101 or Lost And Found. (#ShamelessIncidentalSelfPlug). Don't worry if you haven't read them, though, as I always design my stories to not depend on you having read some prequel.
I'll post the prologue here next week and then start the new story called "A New Dawn".
