Chapter three, it's here where things take a turn from the original plot.

"Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on!" Astrid scolds me for my latest blunder. The Nadder that had been chasing us around for most of our dragon training session had looked more confused than angry. It reminded me of the intelligence and emotion I had seen in the Night Fury's eyes. Unfortunately, my preoccupation caused me to stand there like a doofus and Gobber had to save my hide. Again. Astrid had been forced to dodge around me and missed her swing.

"Alrecht, evr' one except Hiccup an' Astrid will be helpin' me clean up th' arena today," Gobber announces to the class

"Wait, why does Hiccup not have to clean up the arena? I understand Astrid but why him?" Snotlout glances at Astrid and before sneering at me. He would be the last one to admit that he has a slight crush on her. Luckily, Astrid is as oblivious to his interest as she is to mine.

"Hiccup has work t' do in th' forge today, we've gotten backed up as th' only two blacksmiths are stuck here an' Ah am th' only one tha' knows where these walls go." Gobber gestures to the walls of the maze. The other four trainees groan as they begin putting away the maze walls.

As Astrid and I make our way to the village, I'm flooded by a sudden rush of courage. "Hey, Astrid, is there any chance you could help me with dragon training?" Astrid pauses and looks back at me. Her face has this odd look, a cross between impatience with my proven ineptitude and curiosity about my sudden interest in improving.

"I'll think about it." Astrid hefts her ax from one shoulder to the other and jogs into the forest, probably to practice ax throwing.

Since Gobber made the forge excuse for me I figured I might as well get some work done. I look at the pile of weapons that need repair. The crate contains only a sword and half a dozen axes that need sharpening. I won't bother questioning Gobber's reasoning for having me sent over to the forge when there is so little work that needs to be done and get to work sharpening the weapons. When I put one of the ax heads on the grindstone, I'm simultaneously trying to convince myself that what I plan to do involving a feral, pissed off, and hungry Night Fury isn't utterly insane.

Unfortunately, my time in the forge is not enough to convince me that walking into the canyon of a Night Fury that hasn't eaten in days with a fish in my hand is a good idea. It might as well be the appetizer for the main course: me.

Whelp, no time like the present. I stop by one of the storehouses and snag the largest fish I can carry, (which isn't saying much.) I also stop by my house to grab a shield and make my way into the woods towards Raven Point.

I'm not sure if this dragon is willing to accept my help, but I need to try. (Plus, it's not like I have anything better to do.)

I vent my anger for the latest failure at healing my tail by firing a blast of plasma at the dirt. None of the techniques the Queen had me learn were of any use. Plus my soul fire is running dangerously low, and scorching an innocent piece of ground is not helping. I need some food soon, like sea-pray. Maybe a no-spines, ooohhh what I wouldn't do for a tasty, mouth-watering-

SPLAT!

SEA-PRAY! I almost jump for the delectable delight, but I manage to stop myself. Where did this tempting morsel come from? Could it be a trap? There is only one creature that knows where I am. That puny bleating Two-legs sharp-eyes, whom is the reason I am stuck here in the first place. Thinking quickly, I hide behind a boulder, observing the direction from whence it came. From the crevice in the wall (that I'm too small to fit through. Believe me, I've tried) walks the young two-legs that shot me down. It attempts to tug free a slab of wood and metal that gets wedged in the gap, a shell I think it's called, but it is stuck fast. After giving up on removing the shell, he picks up the sea-pray by the gills and wanders through the canyon, looking for something, probably me. As the two-legs sharp-eyes stalks past the rock I'm hiding behind, I make my move.

I slink down the boulder, but my semi-starvation has made me clumsy. My claw scrapes against the rock. The young two-legs whirls to face me. His puny paws clench spasmodically, clutching the tasty fish to his skinny chest. Maybe I can make him drop it. I growl. The two-legs sharp-eyes, immediately corrects his mistake and stretches out the arm holding the fish.

Giving this oddball two-legs a chance, (plus motivated by hunger) I stalk towards him one cautious step at a time. my nose picks up the scent of salt, pine, smoke, and-

Wait! Is that metal?

I glance down at his thigh, and jump back into a pouncing stance when I see the glint of a weapon. Two-legs are soft things, without the natural armor and weapons of a dragon. They have overcome this deficit by arming themselves with sharp bits of metal that hurt when thrown or slashed. Normally I would just fly or run away, or blast him to cinders, but I really want that fish. The two-legs sharp-eyes, proving that he is as intelligent as I thought quickly realizes what the problem is and drops the blade to the ground. I'm kind of surprised (and impressed) when he lifts the blade atop his hind paw and tosses it into the lake. My expression, induced by shocked curiosity, must have reassured the boy in some way. He relaxes. This time, he holds the sea-pray with both forepaws towards me. A few sniffs to check that he is now weaponless, I inch forward so I'm now a foot away from that slimy, salty, scaley…

Oh for the love of the Queen, just give me the sea-pray already! I unsheathe my teeth to snatch the sea-pray from the boy's paws. I bite and swallow the two halves, It feels so good to have something in my stomach again. I feel even more relief as my soul fire begins recharging. I glance back at the two-legs sharp-eyes in front of me, I now have a chance to satisfy my curiosity. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to understand that I have no intention of eating him and has backed himself against a large rock. As loathe as I am to do this, it seems I must show him that I'm not intending to eat him. I tug on my throat muscles and regurgitate half of the sea-pray into his lap.

He must be so grateful to me for sharing my food in this state.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when the Night Fury backed me up against a boulder. But I did not expect it to regurgitate half the fish into my lap. After depositing the thing in my lap, the dragon sits on its haunches in front of me, waiting.

I stare at it. It stares back at me, an expectant look in its eyes. Feeling awkward and a little self-conscious I drop my gaze from its face and study the rest of the dragon. This is the closest I have ever been to one that is still alive and not trying to eat me. My attention is quickly drawn to the gem on its chest. A steady purple glow is emanating from the gem, but what I find baffling is the unusual crescent shape of the thing.

The Night Fury makes a sound and I drag my attention back to its eyes. The dragon looks down at the fish in my lap and back to my face. It swallows and shuffles a little closer. I suddenly understand what the dragon wants me to do, but I don't like it.

Screwing up my face I take a bite. It is gross, the regurgitated fish. It tastes… fishy, but also oddly rich and spicy. Trying not to gag, I smile and nod, planning to spit out the fish when the dragon loses interest. But when the Night Fury makes a swallowing motion, I conclude that the slimy texture of the fish does not make the bizarre taste any better. I do a full-body shudder that the dragon in front of me imitates. Not sure why I smile, but the way the Night Fury tries to copy it is oddly… adorable.

Thinking the toothless smile is an invitation, I put the fish down and reach towards it-him, but I misread the situation. He unsheathes his teeth with a growl and retreats to the other side of the canyon.

Not ready to give up, I walk around the pond towards… Toothless? Yeah, Toothless is a good name for him. (Hey, you remember what I said about Berkian naming customs.)

Thanks to the sea-pray, even half of one, I'm feeling a little better. He follows me for a while, but a little growling and showing of teeth finally convinces him to keep his distance. While my belly is nowhere near full, I decide that it is more important to sleep than to burn precious energy trying to catch my own sea-pray. But now I have enough reserves to indulge myself a little. Finding a nice patch of ground, I heat the dirt with a steady stream of plasma. After getting quite comfortable, my attention is drawn to a song-bird in the branches above me. The lucky bird is just another reminder of my crippled state.

What the? When did you get there? The two-legs sharp-eyes is sitting there with his forelegs in a bizarre contortion. He does this upward motion with his forepaw and bares his teeth in that odd non-threatening way. While I am grateful for the sea-pray I'm not in the mood to indulge him. Hoping he'll take the hint, I use the remains of my tail to make a screen between the two of us. But he doesn't seem to be taking the hint. Hearing him scooting forward, I lift my tail out of the way. There he is. Seeing my annoyed expression has him quickly stand up and walk away awkwardly.

I climb up to one of the low-hanging branches so the two-legs sharp-eyes cannot reach me. It's a shame I wasted that power heating the ground.

When Toothless hangs from one of the tree branches out of my reach, I decide to pause my efforts on that front and let him take his nap. With nothing better to do, I spend some time trying to remove the shield from where it's stuck. I'm not sure how long it takes, but the sky has a noticeable change in hue when I finally get the Loki-cursed thing unstuck.

With nothing better to do, I begin drawing in the dirt. It takes me a moment to decide what to draw, but I ultimately decide on drawing the canyon's other occupant. I momentarily freeze up when the very thing I am drawing stands behind me while I am outlining his head. Deciding not to let Toothless's presence bother me, I continue drawing his chin and lower jaw. (I'm pretty sure he is purring like a cat while I draw him.) I am just finishing drawing the perplexing gem on his chest and am adding more detail to his eyes when I hear something snap behind me.

I turn around and am… perplexed? No, that's not it. How about disbelieving? I suppose disbelieving will work since I am currently watching the Night Fury I've dubbed Toothless drawing… something in the dirt on the shore of the pond.

I am utterly captivated by the two-legs sharp-eyes's activity. As he makes various strokes in the dirt with a branch, I slowly realize what he is making an imitation of. It is the same thing I see whenever I'm looking into the water: me! He is making me!

Maybe I can try making him in the dirt as he did for me. Looking around the canyon, I spot a shrub that will suit my needs. Getting on my hind legs (much like the two-legs in question) I walk over to the tree and pull it from its roots with my teeth; the snap of the tree trunk echoes across the canyon. With the shrub in my jaws, I drag the end across the ground, attempting to create a likeness of the boy. A curve here, a circle there, a curve for the indent on his cheek. Done!

It's not as good as his, but for my first creation, I think I did a pretty good job!

I'm not sure what Toothless is trying to draw, but I am nonetheless captivated by him drawing it. He is so immersed in the activity his gem starts glowing. (I hope that's because he's happy.) He glances at me partway through, doing his gummy smile despite the branch in his mouth before ending one line in a curve. Then he shakes his head and slaps me (accidentally or not, I'm not sure) upside the head with the leafy end of the shrub. I stand up to get a better look at his work at the same time he drops the trunk. Nodding to himself (I had no idea he knew what that meant,) he lets out a satisfied purr.

I feel proud of the two-legs head I made in the dirt. The model is curious about it as well. But while he is looking he steps on a line.

What do you think you are doing, boy?! My growl makes him flinch and look down. Realizing his dreadful blunder, he lifts his hind paw from the groove in the dirt.

Good two-legs, I purr. Unfortunately, he puts his paw down again, I growl. He lifts it and sets it down again.

Are you trying to incur my wrath, puny two-legs! I growl out more threateningly. He seems to get the idea this time, standing next to the line instead of on it. Good two-legs.

Confirming Toothless doesn't want me stepping on any lines, I slowly make my way out of the maze he drew. I feel I am having more fun with this than I should be. My eyes are kept down to earth, weaving between lines drawn by a Night Fury.

There's a snort right behind me and something breathes down my neck. Toothless is right there, barely a foot away.

The boy is right here, easily within touching distance. Yet I don't feel I'm in any sort of danger. He reaches out to me. I flinch, lightly growling.

Not yet, boy.

He doesn't trust me just yet. I seriously hope I don't regret this. I lift my hand and turn away, saying something any creature can understand.

I trust you.

That's what the boy is saying. He trusts me. I can't! Can I? This two-legs sharp-eyes is probably my best chance of escape. So I respond in kind.

I trust you.

I feel something warm and scaly touch my palm.

My forehead touches the boy's paw.

"What happened?" I ask myself.

"Why are my clothes so tight?"

What are clothes?

"Wait, am I taller?"

I look at my paws. My hands are tipped with claws for some reason. Why are my fingers so long?

What am I?

… Who am I?!

Two-legs sharp-eyes Hiccup? No, that's not it.

Night-wing crescent-heart Toothless? Who is Toothless?

I make my way over to the pond, hoping to solve this confusion. I'm not sure what I am expecting, but this is shocking nonetheless. I'm not sure how to describe it visually, but there is one word that encompasses what I- what we've become: a fusion.

We're a fusion.

I decided to change the name because I don't think people understand what I'm trying to portray in this story. If people prefer the old name I'll change it back.

Someone please review, it feels like nobody is reading this.