Chapter 3
Hiccup
As he leapt down each drop from boulder to boulder, Hiccup tried to reconcile his shock. Not only had Astrid followed him, but he had actually reacted with anger! He'd never had the guts or the will to respond to anyone like that in living memory, preferring to make light of all situations and reply with varying degrees of sarcasm. That was how he dealt with the Vikings, but that… that had been an actual confrontation. He replayed the memory of the encounter in his head as he landed on the spongy moss that covered floor of the cove.
The sun was just passing its zenith, its light sparkling off of the lake's surface. Toothless was out of sight, much to Hiccup's relief. If Astrid had seen him... gods, he didn't even want to think about it. Even as that unpleasant thought had crossed his mind, he was struck from behind by something big. He ended up with his face pressed into the moss and his lungs slightly compressed under the weight of one of Toothless' large forepaws.
"Mmph!" Hiccup tried to speak through his mouthful of moss. "'Oothless! …Et …Off!"
The dragon responded with an amiable rumble and removed himself from his rider's small body. Hiccup got to his feet still feeling slightly dazed and spitting out earth as he went, but as soon as he was standing he was nearly bowled over again as Toothless thrust his head against different points on his body, sniffing thoroughly.
"What's wrong Bud? Do I smell weird?" The glance that the dragon gave him clearly questioned Hiccup about the happenings leading up to his return. The human promptly launched into a narrative of his less-than-satisfactory day while his hand absently stroked lightly along Toothless' shoulder, calming him.
Toothless seemed a bit overly-concerned as of late. Whenever Hiccup returned to him, he always made an inspection with his nose, prodding and sniffing, crooning every time he found a bruise or scrape, though this behavior didn't much concern the boy - rather, it felt nice to know that his friend cared so much for his well being. When Hiccup reached the part of his story that concerned Astrid, Toothless let out a rumble that was almost akin to a growl.
"Whoa there, Bud. Let's not go antagonizing the village by devouring annoying girls." As he formed that sentence, Hiccup realized that Astrid had become just that to him; an annoyance. No longer did he fawn or stare at her, but instead tried to put as much distance between himself and her as possible.
He actually found her truly distasteful, which brought him back to what he originally had been thinking about; since when did he, Hiccup, the Talking Fishbone, have the spine to stand up to, and even yell at, Astrid Hofferson? The very idea seemed absurd, yet he had done it. The anger he had felt at the time had boiled to the surface quickly, then disappeared just as fast.
Then there were his problems for the morrow, when he would have to face off against a Monstrous Nightmare. That was going to be just great. The Vikings wanted him to kill a dragon - he could not kill a dragon. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.
During his musings, Hiccup's hand had involuntarily begun to scratch Toothless' thick scaly neck. The surface was smooth, yet ridged where one scale ended and another began. The Night Fury was leaning into the contact, letting out long drawn out purrs of content.
"C'mon Bud, let's ride." Toothless ceased his nuzzling immediately and leapt to his feet, letting out a jubilant screech and bounded for the bush where the flying gear lay hidden. Hiccup was hard pressed to keep up with him, but he managed to retrieve the gear from beneath the bush, strap it to Toothless' back and mount up before the dragon had begun to dance with impatience.
Hiccup had barely managed to secure his safety line before his powerful friend leapt almost vertically, pumping his wings to achieve height while his tongue lolled out of his maw. Looking over his shoulder, the rider watched as the cove began to shrink away beneath him, and the air rushing past his head deafened him.
It was perfect weather for flying. The breezes at higher altitudes were strong enough to make things challenging but not cold enough to cause Hiccup discomfort. The endless blue of the sky continued on to all sides, stretching out to the horizon across the ocean. They passed flocks of birds listened to their terrified screeches as they passed. Hiccup drew a deep breath in, letting the open freedom of the sky fill his entire body.
Toothless tapped on Hiccup's hand with his ear, and gestured with his head to the side. Further out to their right, a great stone arch rose from the ocean floor. Hiccup obeyed his dragon, flicking his heel to open the tailfin wider, and leaned to the side as Toothless began a slow, banking turn.
Hiccup glanced behind him for a look at the tail fin. It seemed to be secure, and responded smoothly to his movements with the stirrup, but the view beyond the tail distracted the boy. They were up so high, he could see mile after mile of Berk's forest, dotted here and there by clearings and bodies of water.
The view was so amazing that Hiccup did not notice that in their course correction to fly near the stone arch, they had entered into the forest of columns and archways that dotted the shallows near Berk's cliffs. Toothless gave a warning snarl, but though he caught his human's attention, the boy was not fast enough to adjust the tail for a bank away from an oncoming column. They collided with it, and Toothless gave a growl of pain and distress.
"Sorry!" Toothless merely gave another cry as a second stone column came hurtling at them. Hiccup flicked his heel again to avoid the obstacle, but they were not quick enough to evade it. "That was my fault..." was all the boy had to offer. As they peeled away from the column, Toothless whipped his ear backward smacking Hiccup in the face. "I know! I know I'm sorry!"
This exchange of frustrations was quickly forgotten however as Hiccup made another adjustment and leaned back to encourage Toothless to climb. The dragon did so with a cry of joy, rocketing upwards with each thrust of his wings.
Toothless let out a sharp roar. Hiccup responded with his own exclamation, feeling the wind rushing by at speeds no human had ever traveled. He glanced down, grinning ear to ear at the sight of the ocean shrinking ever smaller. As his fist pumped in victory, he felt himself tumbling into empty space, and the ocean quickly began to look much larger.
XXX
Toothless
Hiccup was getting better; he had changed the fin to the perfect width to allow for the role. But in the split second they were upside down, Toothless felt a sudden release of tension in the saddle. Looking above him he saw Hiccup plummeting toward earth, a puzzled look on his face. The sight terrified Toothless. His human. His Hiccup, spiraling toward the ocean. The boy was not sturdy enough to survive such a fall!
Toothless angled his wings and dove straight downward. The boy still had that puzzled look on his face. Of course he wasn't thinking about his impending demise. He was wondering why his line had snapped. Toothless had to stop him. The thought of Hiccup's death made his eyes squint and all four shoulders tense.
As the slight, skinny figure of his human came closer and closer, Toothless began to open his wings just a tiny bit of a minute degree. The resistance it offered immediately began to slow him. Just a little closer, just a little more… There! With his teeth retracted the dragon caught hold of his rider's leg. Hiccup's puzzled expression seemed to clear, and he reached around Toothless' head for the strap of his saddle.
XXX
Hiccup
How disorienting. One moment he had been trying to figure out why his line had snapped, and the next his leg was engulfed in a soft squishy dampness. Toothless had caught hold of him. Hiccup remembered in that moment that they were extremely high in the air. He reached around Toothless' head and grabbed the strap of the saddle, and with all his strength, pulled himself around and back into riding position.
The line was useless now but Hiccup had just been surprised by the flip before. He would not fall so long as he was paying attention. Then he realized that the tailfin was in the wrong position for Toothless to climb, and the ocean was coming up fast! He immediately adjusted and the pair began to pull out of the dive. Hiccup could feel the wind tearing at his grip on Toothless but he managed to hold on. Unfortunately, they were now flying with great speed straight for the tangled mess of rock that made up a large portion of the coast on this side of Berk. And of course, an afternoon fog had rolled in.
Things seemed to slow down for Hiccup. He flicked his heel and they dodged an oncoming stone. With another flick they drifted to the right and over another. With a third flick, they flipped to squeeze through an opening barely big enough for the two of them. Hiccup could feel his heartbeat pulsing through his veins. And there was something peculiar that he had noticed the second he had seen the obstacles before him. He could feel Toothless' heart pulsing beneath him. And as they had neared the stones, his heartbeat had slowed, and matched with the dragon's. He could no longer distinguish between his heartbeat and Toothless'.
And with their triumph over the puzzle of flight, Hiccup and Toothless let out a joyful cry in perfect synchronicity.
XXX
Toothless
Flight. For more than forty winters he had roamed the skies, a master of all life, and death. Yet he had taken flight for granted. The sky was his home. He could always return there and let his cares fall away to earth. And yet, he had not realized how very much he loved the act of flight. And now, he shared his joy with another. The small human on his back felt as he did about the sky, he was certain of it. He had no idea how, but he could feel Hiccup's joy radiate through him like the heat of the sun. Now he was holding a mass of fish in his claws, and Hiccup was piloting them toward a large outcropping of rock on the cliffs, where they could feast and celebrate.
How very strange it was. A mere matter of days before, and he would have been happy to devour the small boy. Now the very thought of harm coming to him sent a stone dropping into his stomach. It was a strange sensation. A sense of protectiveness that he had not felt since… he stiffened. His human, observant as he was, noticed immediately.
"What is it bud? What's wrong?" Nothing was wrong of course. But that thought had made Toothless freeze. He himself personally had never thought this way about another living creature, but in his mother's memory, he'd seen his kind cavorting and jubilant in the skies above the snow. Feelings of possessiveness. Protectiveness.
And now, he felt exactly the same way about Hiccup. HIS Hiccup. That's how he thought of the boy. This would require some thought. Toothless touched down on the rock outcropping, just as the sun touched the horizon.
