A/N: Alright, so here we get to see some of the bonding going on between Hiccup and Toothless. Yes I said Hiccup and Toothless, can't confuse the poor dragon that one person can actually be two now can we. It gets explained in the chapter as you will see. Also a nice twist at the end that will keep things interesting and have everyone waiting for the next chapter, I know I'm evil.
WinterBreath0602: I might do something with that, I certainly have set a precedent for that kind of scapegoat. We will see I feel like I need to mix that up a little bit and just have it be a random crew member who has to deal with all of this. We shall see though. Thank you for your continued support.
CB73: Yeah Simon was pretty much bred for this role. That might be my fault too. As I said above I have set a precedent for not liking Simon too much and I think that needs to change here if only slightly. We get to see where Henry has been going and like I said a nice surprise at the end . Thank you for your continued support.
Guest: I'm glad that you are enjoying the story and I will answer your questions in a round about kind of way, can't give too many secrets away now can we. Your first couple of questions will be answered by the end of the chapter, sort of. The mystery of Helga and her strange behavior will answered in the next chapter or two. The impact of the movie will all depend on how our characters react. I know you probably want more clear answers but I need to maintain some secrets to keep you all interested. Thank you for your continued support.
Thank you for the reviews I love them all. If you went out for St. Patrick's Day I hope you had a wonderful and safe time.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Mexican ;p
(Saturday, November 10th, 2018)
Hiccup made his way through the thicket of trees that surrounded the depression. The well-worn path making it easy to follow. He had long since done away with his markers for the path, certain that nobody was following him. He had some gear to add to Toothless' rig and he wanted to try it out.
Coming up to the familiar branches and vines he tied the rope around his gear and lowered it to the bottom of the depression. He climbed down soon after and was immediately set upon by a very enthusiastic NightFury.
"Down Toothless!" Hiccup shouted out with glee.
The dragon paid him no mind and continued to jostle and lick the boy, covering him in copious amounts of dragon saliva. Satisfied with his work, Toothless backed up and allowed Hiccup to stand up. The boy tried to wipe the saliva off himself but to no avail. Deadpanning an unamused glare at the dragon, Hiccup walked over to his bundle of gear and pulled out a new tunic and swapped it for the ruined one. Toothless let out an annoyed grunt, seeing that his efforts had been wasted.
"What do you have to be annoyed about? I'm the one who has to try and sneak back into the village with a tunic that reeks of fish and drool!" Hiccup countered.
Toothless just snorted and stalked away to a large rock that he had been sunbathing on before Hiccup arrived. Hiccup shook his head and unfolded the bundle of gear. There wasn't much in it, a few pieces of leather to replace some sections of the tailfin, some cable, bolts, and a new riding vest to keep him in the saddle.
Hiccup glanced over at Toothless and admired the saddle and rigging that he had built for the dragon. It allowed his friend to fly like he was meant to. He let out a sigh and thought back to how this all started.
(Flashback)
(Sunday, October 21st, 2018)
Henry had to go back and see the NightFury. He had to see if his theory was correct. He hoped it wasn't, but it was the only one that made sense. The only reason the NightFury would still be down there is if it can't fly away.
He made sure to leave in the early hours of the morning, just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. Once he got to the forest, he was able to follow the sticks he had set up the day before and easily found his way to the depression. Peering down he saw the NightFury lumbering out of the cave and stretching out its limbs and wings.
Henry smiled as he watched the dragon, it looked just like a cat or a dog stretching out in the morning, it even smacked its lips like one too. He climbed down into the depression, a little more confident than the day before and approached the NightFury. The NightFury noticed the boy and fixed its eyes on him, watching his every move with a slight amount of caution.
"Hey there buddy." Henry said carefully.
The NightFury didn't move, still eyeing him up and down. Henry stopped just a few feet away from the dragon, never taking his eyes off the dragon either. He tried to look at the dragon to see if there were any injuries that would keep the dragon grounded, but as the dragon was sitting Henry couldn't see a thing. Its wings were furled against its body, tail straight back, and every time Henry tried to look around it the dragon moved with him. Sighing out Henry figured he should probably tell the dragon what he is doing, after all the dragon seems to understand him when he talks.
"I'm just trying to see if you are hurt. If you are hurt, I want to help you, it must be very boring being stuck down here." Henry said softly.
The NightFury stared at Henry, pondering his words. The dragon had narrowed its eyes in suspicion of the boy, something that Henry was used to by now. After a few moments the dragon shifted its eyes back towards its tail and Henry took it as a sign. Walking around the dragon and keeping his distance Henry saw the damage that he caused.
On one side of the tail a sleek, thin, and flexible tailfin. On the other side, nothing. Nothing but an empty space that was clearly supposed to mirror the other tailfin. Only missing scales and long scar showing where the fin had been ripped off.
An uncomfortable pang of guilt washed over Henry as he took a single step closer trying to examine the injury. The NightFury let out warning growl, obviously not completely comfortable with letting the boy who shot him down close to his injury. Henry looked back at the NightFury, pain and anguish in his eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt, not again, not anymore." Henry whispered.
The dragon's eyes widened at the declaration, it could hear the sincerity in the boy's voice and reluctantly the dragon lowered its head and allowed the boy to step closer. Henry stepped closer and examined the tail, he extended the tailfin that was still attached and pulled out a small journal from his vest. He made some quick notes before running a gentle hand over the long scar on the other side of the tail. He felt sorry for the dragon and knew what he had to do in order to make it up to the NightFury.
"I'll get you back in the air I promise." Henry said as he made to leave.
The NightFury stared at the boy as he climbed out of the depression. When the boy was out of the sight the dragon pulled its tail around and stared at where the missing tailfin should be. The dragon was unsure of what the boy meant but felt that it should give the boy a chance. Snorting the dragon walked over to a rock and began to sunbathe for the day.
(Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018)
Henry was running through the hills and the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. He had the makeshift tailfin under his arm, and he couldn't wait to see how it fit. He really hoped that it fit, they had just finished filming a scene and the dragon went crazy again, nearly killing him and causing even more props to break. Audrey wasn't happy, the twins and Simon took the chance to mock him, Finnick was too nervous to say anything else, and Helga was nowhere to be seen.
It was becoming strange that Henry was getting more excited to see a supposedly dangerous dragon than he was filming the movie that was supposed to be his big break. Nearing the depression, he went to climb down when he realized that he had no way of getting the tailfin down. Looking around to see if there was anything he could use; Henry spotted a vine quickly tied it around the tailfin and then around himself. It wasn't the best option, but it was better than nothing.
He climbed and found the NightFury waiting for him, staring at him and the curious thing attached to him. Henry untied the tailfin and showed it off to the dragon, he opened it up and showed what it was supposed to be. The dragon seemed to instantly understand and began to hop around in excitement. When the dragon managed to sit still for a few moments it gave Henry a toothless smile. Henry couldn't help but chuckle at the dragon and smiled back at him.
"Toothless huh, I suppose there are stranger names out there. Hiccup for example." Henry said as he motioned to himself.
Toothless looked at the boy and gave a hiccup of his own. Henry looked at the dragon who was looking proud of himself and just shook his head. Realizing that Toothless now thought his name was Hiccup. He figured it was best for now, they could address the whole pretending to be someone else thing later.
"Well come on, let's see if it fits." Hiccup said as he motioned Toothless over.
Toothless bounded over eagerly and waited for Hiccup to attach the tailfin. Once the boy was satisfied, he looked back at Toothless who was waiting for the signal to go.
"Well go ahead, try it out." Hiccup said as he tried to get off the dragon's tail.
Toothless in his excited state took off with such ferocity that Hiccup had to hold onto the dragon's tail and hold the tailfin open in order to not go flying off and crash into the ground below. They still crashed into the ground but not before a moment of success where Toothless was flying through the air like he was supposed to. Hiccup was elated as was Toothless but, in their excitement, neither saw how close they were to the ground and ended up crashing, both flipping head over heels until they came to a stop.
"Ow, well it works sort of." Hiccup said dryly.
Toothless was groaning in pain but was up in time to help Hiccup. Hiccup gave a nod in thanks before looking back at the tailfin to make sure it was still intact. Seeing that it was his mind raced with new ideas and he needed to get back to the forge.
"I'll be back tomorrow bud, and I'll bring some food too. We have the day off tomorrow so this should all work out nicely." Hiccup said as he waved to Toothless before climbing out of the depression.
Sprinting through the forest and the hills he arrived back at the village in no time. The sun was starting to set, and people were heading back to their huts for the night. He needed to be fast and get to the blacksmith stall before it was locked up so he could work on his new ideas. Just as he was within sight of the stall an angry looking Audrey stepped in his way.
She was glaring a hole through him and clearly had something she wanted to say, thinking on the fly and hating that he would have to lie again, Henry stepped to the side of her and kept going as he spoke.
"Hey Audrey, yeah I know it was a cluster again. Love to talk about it but I have a meeting with Helga got to go, I'll see you around." Henry said quickly as he rounded a building and dove into the blacksmith stall via an open window.
Closing the window quickly, he never bothered to see how Audrey reacted to his attempted dodge. He suspected he would pay for it later. Pushing that thought away he turned to the task at hand and found the same leather making tools from the other night and got to work.
(Wednesday, October 24th, 2018)
After a nerve-racking jaunt through the village where he had to avoid being seen, Henry arrived at the depression and found Toothless waiting for him at the bottom of the branches and vines he used to climb down. Remembering how hard it was the day before and now with an even bigger package, Henry had brought some heavy-duty rope to help lower the items down.
He took his time climbing down, he didn't want to spill the other package he had brought with him. During his descent he allowed himself to shift into his character, he had already told Toothless, though by accident, that his name was Hiccup. So, he figured it would be easier to actually be Hiccup when around the dragon so as not to confuse the dragon.
Once Hiccup was on the ground Toothless instantly bounded over to him, sniffing away at the basket that was on his back. Hiccup had to push the dragon away so he wouldn't get tackled with it on his back.
"I know, I know you can smell it. Just let me get it off okay." Hiccup said as he batted the dragon away.
Toothless backed up reluctantly but allowed the boy to take off the massive basket that threatened to topple him over. Once the basket was off the lid fell open to reveal a massive pile of fish for the dragon. Toothless lit up at the sight and dove in.
"Yeah, that's disgusting." Hiccup commented as he went to fetch his other package.
When he came back, he saw Toothless hissing at the pile of fish. Acting quickly Hiccup went over to see what was going on.
"What's the matter Toothless, something in here you don't like?" Hiccup asked as he carefully shifted through the pile.
He came upon a sea eel and once he revealed it Toothless started to growl viciously and backing away from the small creature.
"No,no,no,no don't freak out!" Hiccup said in a panic as he quickly tossed the eel away.
"Noted, dragons don't like eels." He said to himself.
"Now then let's see if this will make things easier." Hiccup announced as he turned to Toothless to reveal a saddle and a piece of rope.
(End of Flashback)
Hiccup learned a lot from Toothless over the past weeks. He had used the eel the next day much to the surprise of everyone when the Zippleback went on a rampage. The dragon had reacted just like Toothless, growling and backing away until it was back in its holding pen.
That had earned him a lot of attention, but he was able to escape quickly enough and return to the blacksmith shop to make some improvements for the saddle and tailfin. He had an entire series of cables, gears, bolts and even a foot pedal by the end of it all and now it was time to test it all out at once.
Though there were many crashes and lots of bruises Hiccup was able to learn a lot about dragons in general. He found out that there was a certain type of grass that dragons loved to play in, and that they had a pressure point under there chin that if scratched would turn the mighty dragons into nothing more than oversized salamanders.
He was thankfully able to use these techniques in the holding pens to stop the dragons from trying to kill the others when they went on a rampage. It saved the others but started to make some of them jealous and suspicious of him. Snotlout was still trying to trip him up so he couldn't use his techniques, Astrid was glaring at him and constantly trying to stop him and interrogate him on what was going. It was all getting so complicated and he hated it.
"I don't know how much longer I can take it bud." Hiccup said as he approached the dragon.
Toothless gave a curious coo as he looked up to see Hiccup approaching him. Though there was no actual speech between the two, Toothless' grunts, growls, coos, and his expressive face were more than enough for the pair to communicate flawlessly.
"The deception that I'm putting everyone through. The fact that I'm hiding you when everyone would love to see you, all the tricks I'm learning from you, the sneaking off I'm doing. I was just starting to make a friend to but now I don't know where that stands. At best she is annoyed with me, at worst she hates me because she thinks I'm trying to ruin her." Hiccup lamented as he replaced some of the worn pieces of the rig with what he brought.
"I need to tell her at least; I would like to get out of this ordeal with at least one friend." Hiccup said as he stood up.
Toothless gave a sly grin and a slightly seductive rumble while looking at Hiccup with half-lidded eyes. Hiccup started to sputter and flail his hands around as he tried to dispute what Toothless was implying.
"It-no-I mean-oh you- get your mind out of the gutter." Hiccup finally got out, though he had turned several shades redder.
Toothless let out a throaty laugh at the boy's expense which annoyed Hiccup to no end.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I'm still going to tell her, but not for the reasons you think!" Hiccup clarified.
"After we test this out, I'll go and try to talk to her if she even wants to listen that is, wouldn't blame her if she didn't." He whispered to himself.
Just as Hiccup was about to mount Toothless and test out the new gear, the dragon started to sniff the air and growl. Hiccup startled by the dragon's sudden change tried to calm the dragon down.
"Woah, easier there bud. What has gotten into you all of a sudden?" Hiccup asked as he scratched the dragon.
Toothless was still growling and began to shift back and forth trying to find the source of the new smell. The sound of a twig being broken got the attention of both boy and dragon. Turning towards the sound Hiccup let out a gulp, felt his heart stop, and his blood run cold. The sight of a very pissed off friend that he had mentioned earlier fuming and glaring a hole right through him.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" Astrid and Audrey screamed at the top of her lungs.
A/N: Well this should end well, looks like detective Astrid/Audrey found out what Hiccup/Henry was keeping secret. Pray for Hiccup/Henry because hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Please leave a review as you can see I read them all. See you all next week and stay safe and healthy out there.
Published 03/18/2020