Hiccup was 11 when he met that dragon again. The day had been going surprisingly well. He managed to avoid Snotlout and the twins and his father was on another nest hunt. Which meant that he could spend the entire day exploring the forest without anyone being sent out to find him. Well… that is, if he's completed the work Gobber assigned him for that day. Regardless, it was him and the forest and he wasn't about to lose out on the opportunity.

The problem he's had with finding the dragon is, surprisingly, the timing. Apparently the dragon frequents the stream quite often, if the indents in the ground were anything to go by. Though, if he thought about it, it could have been just any dragon, but he would rather believe it was the dragon he met. That problem is solved thanks to his early arrival. With the sun barely peeking over the edge of the world, his pack stuffed with his lunch, book, and pencil, and a perfect resting spot near the stream but not immediately noticable, he was ready. Today would be the day he confronted the strange talking dragon.

Which brought about mixed feelings. Dragons were supposed to be every Viking's worst enemy, yet the one from four years ago simply spoke to him. Albeit in an odd and aggressive manner, but that's all it did. Was he supposed to hate it, or think that it was cool? He didn't know. He would leave that decision to be made for after today. Once he's confirmed that it wasn't just a one time deal.

It took hours before the dragon finally arrived, and thankfully it did. He had almost fallen asleep. The dragon landed with a heavy thump, and, if Hiccup didn't know any better, stumbled a bit before righting itself. It stood proud for a moment, then gave itself a shake and released a sigh.

And wow, it was unlike any dragon he's ever seen. Easily larger than a nightmare, in both height and length, yet it sported no spines or sharp pointy bits aside from it's claws. It was mostly blue with oddly patterned white spots covering its sides and chest. Its tail, which he thought was disproportionately long, ended in a fan of feathers. Feathers, he finally noticed, that went all the way up its tail and spine. Well, what he could see of its spine anyway. He couldn't see the second pair, but he definitely remembered it having four wings. Which also had a plethora of feathers. Its head was needle-like, short, but very quickly narrowed to a point. He also remembered, and could see, four piercing silver blue eyes. Which were currently staring at him.

"Motherfucker, you doing that staring shit again? The fuck is wrong with you?" The dragon narrowed his eyes for a moment before shaking his head. "Nevermind. The fuck you want?" He lowered his head towards the stream, took a drink, then assumed a position not unlike their first meeting. Once the dragon was comfortable he gave a quick head bob and turned his attention on Hiccup.

It took Hiccup a few moments to realize that the question wasn't rhetorical and that the dragon was expecting a response. The first couple of attempts at speech came out as nothing more than weird strangled noises, however, he was able to get a response out. "What… what's your name?" It ended with a squeak, but he did it. He's talking to a dragon. Something that if he told anyone about they'd think he was insane.

"My name huh?" He closed his eyes while a small hum floated through him. "I supposed I could tell you." At Hiccup's surprised look, that slowly turned excited, he added, "But be careful with it. My name carries a lot of weight in certain places and not all of it's good. Don't go spouting it off to everyone you meet. Got that?" He narrowed his eyes once more and let out a growl to emphasize his point.

"Yes!" The dragon chuckled at the vigorous nodding that the boy once again responded with.

"Good. Name's Zaerkrox, and unless I give my ok, around anyone else you'll call me Z."

"Ok!" Hiccup gave the dragon a full, sun reflecting smile. "Thank you. I-"

"Yeah, we're going to skip that little bit of pleasantry." He regarded the human child curiously for a moment, a couple of thoughts beginning to bubble around in his head. "So, kid, I have to know. Why ain't you all," he rotated a forepaw, as if it would help make his point, "you know, stab happy? Like the rest of your kind."

Hiccup didn't immediately answer, instead, he put a good deal of thought into why that was. For the most part, he, the dragon, was the only person that hadn't picked on him. Or, at least, hadn't hurt him. Also because the dragon talked. Most dragons, from what he was told and was able to read, didn't talk and always attacked on sight. So maybe they were all wrong about dragons and he wanted to give them the chance and see for himself. He explained his thoughts as such.

"Huh. You're weird." Zaerkrox shrugged his shoulders, which was more of a bobbing of his wings than a shrug. "Keep it that way. Fuckin morons the rest of your kind."

"Thanks, I think?"

"Yup."

Hiccup awkwardly looked around for a little while, unsure as to what to say next. Eventually, he decided to pull out his book and draw his new… friend? Not enemy? It took time to do it, what with so many details to put in. Four wings and eyes, spineless, and other things tested his picture to a surprising degree. He enjoyed it though. In a way, it was relaxing. Bring able to take his mind off everything else and just focus on his art. Chances like these were rare in the village.

It wasn't until the sky was darkening, and a shuffling sound coming from behind him, did he finally grow aware of his surroundings. He gave a little jump when he realized his dragon companion had his head hovering over his shoulder. His head was angled in a way where his right two eyes could get a full view of the drawing. It was of said dragon in his resting pose. One pair of wings dipped in the steam, the other bathing in sunlight. He continued drawing, finishing off the last bit of the tail before putting his pencil down.

"That's me." Z almost whispered. Hiccup ducked his head a bit, before quietly nodding. "It's good." A pause. "The image, not me."

"Oh. Uh, thanks." He really didn't know what else to say.

"Could you do more? Not just me, but others?" Z's head angled to look at Hiccup.

"If I saw them, I probably could." Did this mean what he thought it meant?

"Cool. Well, weird human child, I need to leave. I may not be enslaved, but I'd rather not deal with a hunting party. I'll see you around." With that, and a sudden flap of his wings, he was gone.

To say Hiccup was excited would not be inaccurate. However, said excitement was quelled upon hearing the distant howls of wolves. He was surprisingly nimble and lucid on his trek back and the sky had completely darkened by time he managed to make it home. He also didn't have to worry about sneaking into his room. Something he's starting to appreciate about the nest hunts. If only he thought to ask why they raid them so often. Questions for next time.

Next time happened to be the very next week. He was walking from the forge to the great hall when shouts of alarm rang throughout the village. Dragons were attacking. Being the morbidly curious child that he is, he turned to see what was going on. To find out that the term 'dragons' was incorrect. It happened to be a single dragon. A single, very familiar dragon. A single very familiar dragon that was definitely diving towards him. Diving, and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Found you pipsqueak, hope you're ready!" He was not ready. He doesn't think anyone could be ready.

"Yoink." So when he was suddenly lifted from the ground and Berk was rapidly becoming nothing more than a small speck, he screamed. It was a manly scream, something he would vehemently deny otherwise, but really. Who wouldn't scream when they were suddenly kidnapped by a dragon?

At least, once the terror of being dangled who knows how high up in the air wore off, it was a pleasant experience. The wind rushing by, almost as if it was coaxing him to break free and let it carry him instead. He knew that was a bad idea, but it was a nice feeling. Everything also looked so small, like he could reach out, grab the fading islands, and hold them in the palm of his hand. Though it was a bit cold. Well, colder.

The sun had disappeared quite a while ago before they spotted any sort of land. It should be noted that he didn't spot anything until they landed; it was mostly Z doing the spotting. Zaerkrox was none too gentle when he released Hiccup, and when he hit the ground and fell over, he decided to just lay there for a while.

"I'm dead. This is the afterlife. A sick, twisted afterlife." Hiccup mumbled through the dirt he was currently face planting.

Zaerkrox snorted. It was funny how much emotion one could gleam from such a simple and abrupt noise. "You're not dead. Get up. There's a friend I'd like you to meet."

Hiccup wasn't given enough time to actually get up when he was suddenly lifted in the air again. He stifled another scream when he realized they weren't flying. Though, being carried like a pup wasn't all that it was cracked up to be either. "You know I can walk right?"

"Eh, took too long." Nevermind how the dragon was talking without moving his mouth, he was barely given any time at all to move!

"Hey! You barely gave me any time!"

"Yes, but you didn't even bother to move. I just sped things up. Now stop whining, it's annoying and I have you in my mouth." Hiccup wanted to continue to argue, but the occasional poke to the back reminded him that angering a dragon was very unwise.

The trip to where it was they were going felt like it took almost as long as the flight, but before he could start counting the stars he was suddenly dropped to the ground. Landing with a quiet "Oof." Hiccup slowly stood up, his legs wobbling from hours of disuse. When he finally took stock of his surroundings, he noticed that Z was looking right at him. He was more inclined to believe it was behind him, however, due to the very audible, and very terrifying, growl coming from right behind him. He stiffened like a petrified log, hoping beyond hope that the dragon behind him wasn't hungry. Or angry.

"Cool it, Ny. I didn't bring him here just to get him killed." Z took a couple of steps forward and pulled Hiccup to his side. "This is the one I told you about. The one that can create copies." Hiccup tried looking at where the dragon had his head facing, but all he could see was a pair of glowing gold eyes. Not a yellow like he's seen from nightmares or nadders, but more like the eyes themselves were made of actual gold.

"I could. But not now. He's too young. It would probably kill him right now." Z looked at him as the dragon growled some more, though, it was a lot less threatening than before. "He's frail compared to the others." A nearly quiet hum was the response from the still mostly invisible dragon. "Can we skip this and let him do his thing? You won't regret it." Zaerkrox gave the floating eyes a tooth filled grin that Hiccup was completely fine with it being directed at anywhere but him.

Hiccup didn't get to complain when Z shoved him forward, because at the same time the hidden dragon revealed itself. It was night given dragon form. It was small, compared to Z, but it was also lithe, compact, built for speed. Power too, most likely. He could barely make out a pair of subwings, at the base of the tail, in the moonlight. Any further was still hidden. It's wings were folded, but even then they were massive. Probably larger than itself per wing. Golden eyes narrowed in on him when he mouthed out a wow.

"This, pipsqueak, is my friend. Her name is Nysaela. You can call her Ny, she won't mind." Hiccup could hear the smirk the dragon behind him was no doubt displaying. Nysaela, or Ny, loosed a short bark at Z who responded with quite the hardy laughter. Something that sounded like a mix of a bark and a hiss. It was a very strange sound.

"Uh, hi? I'm Hiccup." Nysaela gave him an odd look but nothing came of it other than a snort and her focus being redirected to Z.

"Humans and their weird names. Anyway, can you do that thing for her that you did of me?" Z leveled his head with Hiccup's as he asked that, his two visible eyes giving him a curious look.

"I can but…" he paused for a moment, re observing the dragon, dragoness? Dragon lady? Questions for later, before him.

"But what?"

"How does she want it? Just an image of her? If so, I would need to see the rest of her tail. If she wants the pose as it is right now, I could do that. I'll take a while though. When would she want it by?" Sometimes, a ball of confidence would form itself in the tiny little human and he would be able to pull off seemingly impossible feats. While this was no impossible feat, it was certainly interesting to see the change from timid boy to confident… well, boy. Still a young child, but if he played it right, he could fool people into believing there were two of him.

The subject of his inquiries sat on her haunches and curled her tail around her legs, fanning what he could see were two tail fins. He took that as the pose she wanted done and got to work. At first he had to look up a few times to ensure he had the right details, but that stopped after a few times. Instead, he now had two dragons looking over his shoulders as he drew the newer one.

Just as it was for Z, it took awhile for him to complete the drawing; this time, it was dawn. And just as it was for Z, he jumped when he realized there were dragons hovering behind him. He let out a long yawn before talking. "So what did you kidnap me and have me draw a random dragon for?"

His question went ignored as Z gave Ny a very toothy grin. "Told you. Looks just like you." Nysaela gave a short hum in response. "As for you, pipsqueak, nothing you need to worry about." He merely laughed at Hiccup's petulant look. "Alright short stuff, let's get you back to your nest."

"But I'm tired." Hiccup groaned. "Can't we leave after we've rested?"

"I thought you'd be thrilled to leave so soon. But, no. We leave now." The human child looked like he was about to say something but Z quickly cut him off. "Deal with it. You aren't the one flying. Now hop on, we're leaving." He crouched low enough that his belly was touching the ground and gestured with his head to get on.

"Wait, you mean… on your back?" Hiccup really didn't know what to think.

"Sure, unless you want me to carry you like earlier." Z smirked at the kid's widened eyes.

"I'll ride on your back. Thanks." He hastily responded.

Z had to assist the human child on getting to his back. He was still too big, even while crouched, for him so he had to use his paw to lift the small kid. Once he was sitting comfortably, and practically whispered a ready, he looked to his golden eyed friend. "Stay safe. Hunters are coming in from the north. I'll be back to deal with them, but you might want to find a new home soon." She bobbed her head and he took off with a quick thrust of his wings.

The flight back wasn't nearly as stressful as it was heading to Ny. In fact, Hiccup would say that it was relaxing. So much so, that he found himself waking up just as Z was flying over Berk. Instead of dropping him off in the middle of the village, like he thought, Z brought them to where they first met. The small stream still pushed on, as if the world around it was never disturbed.

Hiccup slowly slid off the dragon's back when he crouched, and immediately fell to the ground when his legs turned into jelly upon impact. The numbness was a strange feeling that he was certain he would like to avoid in the future. Z calmly leaned down and picked him up off the ground and stood him on his feet. Hiccup wobbled a bit, but he managed to stay standing.

"Hiccup." His friend called as he started to walk towards his village. He didn't say anything, but he did acknowledge him with a hum. "You trust me, right?" He didn't know what this was about, but sure. He trusted Zaerkrox. The dragon had plenty of opportunities to hurt, or even kill, him but all he ever did was talk strangely. And kidnap him so that he could draw the dragon's friend. Which was weird, but dragons weren't human, so he'll give that a pass for now.

"Yeah, I trust you."

"Cool." Z nodded his head. "Good." He looked at Hiccup with a distinct seriousness that ensnared his attention. "No matter what happens, remember this. You're a friend, and I don't kill my friends." And suddenly, he was gone. No, really, just gone. No flap of wings, no jumping, just gone. As if he never existed in the first place. Part of him wanted to write off the entire experience as a very lucid dream. But the rest of him knew that Z was real. And it might be a while before he got to see his strange dragon friend.

This took a bit more of a serious turn than I expected. You won't see it yet, but the story's changed.

Also, shameless promoting. Check out Deadly-Bagel 's work. Super good must read. Only reason it ain't in my favorites is because it ain't complete.