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I step back from the visage I see in the lake, baffled by the… the thing I see in the water.

"So this is-"

Panicked, I release the energy stored in the memory stone and the fusion shatters.

After the fusion, MY fusion, disperses, I crawl back to the canyon's exit. I don't know what happened, but my only desire is to get away from it before it happens again.

'Confusion, discomfort, wonder.'

I let out an undignified yelp and collapse on the ground as strange feelings wash over me. I'm not sure how, but somehow, I can tell that is what Toothless thinks at me at the moment; it's like he is projecting his emotions in my general direction.

Almost as soon as I pick up on the emotions, Toothless breaks the connection and runs back to his corner on the other side of the canyon. He leaps into a tree and hides himself in his wings, seeming as shaken by what happened as I am.

Picking myself up from the ground, I stumble out of the canyon. My brain keeps replaying the strange fusion over and over on an endless loop. I can't seem to make it stop. I really hope I haven't broken it. It's the best thing I have going for me. But, for now, I just need to get home. I've done enough today. We both need to think about what happened.

It hurts, and the separation feels forced. I'm left panting with fear and a little pain, staring at this creature I should never have been able to fuse with. It's not even a dragon!

How? Why? How is it possible I fused with a human? Human? Another word for two-legs? Word? What kind of things did I- we think of in our fusion? No, Oh no no no! What will the Queen think? I've fused with a hu- two-legs! A fusion formed between different types of dragons is said to be impossible, let alone between two different species. So how did we fuse? I peer between my wings at the human who is running away as fast as his legs can take him. He keeps looking back at me, but after bouncing off a couple of trees and tripping over a rock, he decides to watch where he is going. I don't understand it.I swear he is just as shocked as I am by the situation. Was this his first time fusing to? Can humans even fuse in the first place? Probably not, considering how much panic he is emitting.

Hold on, since when can I pick up on two-leg emotions? Can he sense mine? All this useless worrying is giving me a headache. I stop emitting emotions temporarily and wrap myself firmly in my wings so I can get some much-needed rest. It has been a long day.

I'd hoped my mental state would fix itself by the time I made it home. Nope, I'm still freaking out. Not wanting anyone to see me like this, I enter my house through the back door. Luckily, Dad is on another nest hunt and Gobber is probably at the smithy. Plopping myself down in a chair next to the hearth, I try to relax. I'm scratching my forehead, trying to figure out what to do when something grabs my attention.

'Distress'

When I feel the emotion I freeze up. Did Toothless send that? Or did another dragon call for help?

'Bargain'

This time I look to the mantle above the fireplace, where my dad's trophies are kept. My attention is drawn to an oval cyan gem with a four-cut facet. I remember Dad saying that this gem came from a Windstriker.

'Teach, bargain, distress.'

Bargain? Is there a dragon still alive in there?! I wonder if I can communicate with it? I was able to hear Toothless's emotions. Perhaps I can do the same with this gem.

I get up, pick up the gem from the mantle, and sit back down. How to do this? The gem did seem to want a trade, perhaps I can try and project my emotions towards it. What emotions would a gem understand? Does a gem without a dragon even have emotions? I find that I have been staring at the gem for several minutes as if it might grow teeth and bite me. Cautiously, I focus and try to convey willingness and a wary curiosity.

Unfortunately, my concentration is interrupted by my pseudo-parent.

"Oi, Hiccup! ye in there?"

Startled by the knock, I quickly return the gem to the mantle and head for the door. Gobber is standing there, beaming at me as if I hadn't been attempting something most of the tribe would consider crazy and worthy of banishment. Or at least being locked up for the rest of my life.

"Ye okay, laddie? ye seem frightful."

I probably look like I've seen a ghost. Gobber looks concerned and on the edge of offering to help. This I don't need! His idea of help is to dose me with home remedies like his granny used to prescribe. I'm not in the mood to try and choke down a foul brew that smells like dirty socks and tastes like rancid seaweed. I need an excuse and fast!

"I was trying to figure out where I went wrong earlier and fix it!" Nailed it.

Gobber's concern seems to ebb away, "don't worry abit it, laddie. a'Lotta folk makes mistakes, yours jist hev larger… consequences."

I want to roll my eyes or smack myself repeatedly in the face. Instead I just sigh. "Is there something you wanted, Gobber?"

He gives me a funny look. "Don' tell me ye forgot? Ev'ryone's waitin' fer us at th' tower I'll be tellin' some of me own tales o' dragons an' gems." He waits for a bit, but when I still don't look too thrilled says, "We got chicken."

…Gobber, you still need to work on your motivational speeches. "Let's just go to the tower."

I try to ignore the thoughts of my messed up life by listening to Gobber talk about his messed up life. Right now he is in the middle of the story where he lost both his hand and his leg, and not even to the same dragon. Unfortunately, one can only pay attention to the same story so many times before they lose focus.

Now I'm stuck scratching my forehead on the more concerning topic of my accidental fusion and the draconic pathokinesis which I've developed.

Thankfully my loutish cousin knocks me out of my internal monologue. "I swear I'm so angry right now! I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs and gems of every dragon I fight. With my face."

Good news: I finally got some feedback. Bad news: the visualization is so, so, so indescribably wrong I have to stop for the night.

I'm not sure what's going on elsewhere on the island, but if two-legs big-horns are killing in such a way, well, I'm glad to be trapped here instead.

Thank you, cousin, thank you for the inevitable visualizations that result from your insightful commentary.

Gobber, being a typical Viking, ignores my cousin in favor of tearing into the bird speared onto his spitroast attachment. "It's wings an' tails along wi' th' gems ye want. if it can't fly, it can't get away. a downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Wait, if Toothless's tail is injured, that's why he can't fly. But if Toothless can't fly, it's like Gobber just said, Toothless is as good as dead with his tail in that condition.

Knowing what I must do, I lay the bait. "Hey, Gobber, what exactly is the purpose of a dragon's gem?" I ask. While my question draws some slight acknowledgment, it's quickly overshadowed by Gobber's next story.

"That subject is complicated. Th' most notable use is that it's needed fur fusion. but some speculate th' gem is used t' create their fire. Though when it comes t' gems, th' Boneknapper is th' most unusual as it builds its gem from th' shards o' several dead dragons. in fact, that's where this shard comes from." He points at the shard wedged into his gums. "Ye see, ah was a wee laddie when ah got this shard."

As Gobber tells his old Boneknapper tale, I set my food down and head for the smithy. Gobber will probably continue his saga well into the night. I wonder if he will make it to the part about the hammerhead yak before the others decide to s

steal away. I don't think anyone notices when I leave, but, out of the corner of my eye, I see Astrid watching me. Though, when I look back she seems to be fascinated by the story of dragons, gems, and stupidity.

It takes me a moment to figure out what I need to do, but eventually, I'm able to properly visualize the blueprints. I hold the image in my mind and copy it onto the pieces of parchment on my desk. Well, everything looks good, I just hope the size is proportional to his other tailfin.

Before I start, I make sure to sneak over to the tanners and snag some leather for the prosthetic fin.

All right, let's get started.

I probably should have questioned the two-legs sharp-eye's foggy state of mind when I sensed his presence, but I could also smell sea-prey, and lots of them. I still wasn't having much luck catching the tasty little morsels swimming in the lake and let my hunger dull my instinctive wariness. So my focus was obviously preoccupied, even more so when he dumped them out of the grass creel. As I was sniffing the pile, the Viking was providing some tasty imagery of sea-prey dull beaks,sea-prey no-spines, and shock-wo-wait, SHOCK-WORM!

He must have picked up on my distress because the two-legs sharp-eyes pulled the slimy, lightning-infused shock-worm yellow-stripes from the pile. He did not need to read my thoughts to see my distress now. Thankfully, he threw the shock-worm away so I could gorge myself properly for the first time in days.

I suppose that's why I didn't realize what the human was doing until after my stomach was no longer so achingly empty. I'm not sure what he did, but I just felt… right. Like order had been restored. Deciding to test this new balance, I take off. I can sense the two-legs sharp-eyes distress, but I chalk it up as being too close to the point of launch.

Just as I believe this flight might work, I'm headed for the ground.

Instinctively I clamp my arms around Toothless's tail and squeeze my eyes shut. I manage to pry them open and almost slam them closed again at the dizzying sight of trees and ground rushing by. I might have screamed, and who could blame me. Riding a wild dragon was not on my to-do list for today. By the time my screams die down, my attention is drawn to the tailfin I made, which is held closed by the wind blowing past us. It takes some effort, but I'm able to open the fin, and just in time too.

"Oh my, It's working!" I can't say I couldn't believe it, I'm just surprised this experimental tailfin works so well. It takes me a moment to realize how high up we are, so I turn the fin up, thankfully Toothless follows and is gliding over the canyon.

"Yes! Yes, I did it!" I'm not sure if Toothless hears me or felt me wiggle the fin, but he takes that moment to fling me off into the lake. But I'm too excited to be mad at him.

Plus it helps that without me, he is forced to do a swan dive into the water.

After the human and I make our way to the lake bank, I do a proper inspection of my tail. The replica is a near mirror image of the fin on the other side. The only difference is its color and the smell of the four-legged animals the Queen likes to eat.

What would the Queen think of this two-legs sharp-eyes? I know she says they're evil and getting close to one will spell out doom for the dragon in question, but he's trying to help me fly again, maybe she'll make an exception for him.

Speaking of the unusual two-legs sharp-eyes, he walks towards me with joy radiating from his whole being. I'm not much better. I flew again! There's still hope! In my excitement, I collide with the human.

I look down at myself, "I- we've fused again, haven't we?" My voice is much deeper now, less congested. "Let's get a look at ourselves." We leap over to the lake.

I think the second set of eyes is the most off-putting addition to this form. But my wings feel bigger and my body is definitely sleeker. So the flight should be fine. I look down and- okay, this is weird, I'm not used to seeing behind myself, but the skill could come in handy. Anyway, looking down, I can see my memory gem has gone from purple to a dark blue shade for some odd reason. My paws, or rather hands, resemble a human's more than a dragon's. Something falls in front of my face, it seems I also have the human's hair. (Which finally made up its mind and chose red.) Not sure if it will improve my flight or not, I'll have to check when the - hold on!

The fake tail has detached itself and is lying crumpled on the ground. Along with all of the clothes we – he – I had been wearing above the waist. A glanc down and I see a pair of tight fitting pants. Did the cloths fall off before? I can't remember.

My tail seems to have healed slightly. The fin isn't whole, but the spines have grown back somewhat. Maybe a different tailfin for when we are fused would work better. I reach for the notebook in my vest, but pause before I even touch it. What is a notebook? Do I – we – even know how to write? Shaking off these unsettling thoughts, I pick up the article of clothing and pull out the journal. Comparing my fusion tail to the prosthetic that had been made yesterday, I can tell that my new tail is slightly bigger. About four percent, maybe five. Looking around, I see a stick, which I make use of by creating several notches on its surface that correspond to the spines on our tail. Once all of my notes have been jotted down, I unfuse.

Looks like I'm me again. And naked from the waist up. I hurry back into my clothes. I hope this isn't going to happen every time we fuse. While this is certainly not what I had planned, I won't deny that it was insightful. I'm brought out of my musings by Toothless, who pushes his head into my back, purring. 'Joy, hope.'

"Don't worry Toothless, I will make this right." I wander back to the wicker basket I carried Toothless's meal in, put the stick and fin inside, and make my way to the exit.

But the last thought Toothless sends to me makes me freeze in my tracks.

"Hiccup."

I was informed by my editor that the constant switching of POVs felt confusing. If anybody has such trouble, I'll do what I can to fix it.

Arthurshade: glad you like the idea

Guest: more about that will be explained later, not sure how much later though.

Sorry to say I don't think I can keep posting on a weekly basis. The only reason I've been able to do so is because I was injured and unable to work, giving me plenty of free time to write. Now that I've sufficiently healed, life is getting in the way again. Once again, sorry about that.