A/N: Apologies, but I get distracted. This is what happens when my amazing reviewers prompt me to change the ending of a story. XD I regret nothing!
Oh, and if you'd check out the poll on my profile, that would be great. I can't take it down any later than Sunday evening, so it is kind of short notice, I know. The next chapter is pretty much ready, too, but I need help figuring out how to play out the final scene. 0w0
Response to guests:
Random Fan: Same here! He might not look like a dragon, but he sure acts it, so you might as well treat him like one! XD Astrid is pretty much in denial at this point. XD
Calliope: Thanks! It's good to know people are enjoying this as much as me!
Hiccup had finally calmed down by the time Toothless took off, for which Toothless was grateful. He didn't want to be fighting Hiccup again, especially since that would only spook him more.
Toothless kept his flight steady, enjoying Hiccup's excited roars as he leaned back-and-forth.
"Wind-Riders not fly," Hiccup informed him. "Glide."
With that, Hiccup leaped off Toothless' back. Toothless yelped in surprise and heard the Riders yell. Toothless prepared to give chase, but Hiccup only pulled into a glide beside Toothless.
"See?" Hiccup said, unaware of the panic he'd caused.
Toothless huffed. "Nice."
Toothless dove, then came back up under Hiccup, forcing his Rider back onto his back. Hiccup grumbled, but Toothless didn't want him to fall.
"Stay," Toothless growled in warning when Hiccup moved to jump again.
"No fun," Hiccup grumbled, settling down.
The rest of the flight was quiet while Hiccup cooed at the view. He started to get restless when Toothless landed in front of the Clubhouse.
"Home," Toothless said.
"Human home. Where den?" Hiccup asked.
Toothless beckoned with his head toward Hiccup's hut. Hiccup looked up, then grumbled. Toothless cocked his head, then rumbled in surprise when Hiccup sprang off his back.
Toothless spun, but Hiccup was out of sight. He looked up, and found his Rider perched on the doorframe.
"Hiccup. Down," Toothless rumbled.
Hiccup chirped and shuffled further up. Toothless was about to stand to grab the wandering Hiccup, when he was distracted by the Clubhouse door opening. Toothless glanced down as Snotlout stepped out. Above, Hiccup stiffened.
"Toothless?" Snotlout said. "Back already? Where's Hiccup?"
Toothless glanced at Hiccup, who was eyeing Snotlout. "Friend."
Toothless just wanted Hiccup to know Snotlout wasn't a threat. Hiccup took him very seriously and proceeded to prove how relaxed he was with the Riders.
By jumping on Snotlout.
Snotlout gave an impressive shriek as he was toppled by the Viking half his size. Hookfang immediately thrust his head from the Clubhouse, halting mid-roar at the sight of Hiccup perched proudly on Snotlout's back.
"Get him off of me!" Snotlout whimpered.
Toothless chirred at Snotlout. Hookfang, less impressed with his Rider being "attacked," stepped forward. He snagged Hiccup by the back of his armor and lifted him, allowing Snotlout to scramble away.
At the same time, the other dragons landed. Astrid rolled her eyes at Snotlout, but the other three Riders acted rather amused with Snotlout's plight.
"He knows we're friends now." Astrid dropped to the ground, then cocked her head. "I think."
"You think? Exactly," Snotlout said, standing and brushing himself off. "You say that now, but the next thing you know- Hooky, you okay?"
Toothless looked at Hookfang. The Nightmare had a disgusted look on his muzzle. He dropped Hiccup to the ground and gagged.
"Stink," Hookfang whined.
Hiccup gave an insulted growl. Toothless leaned forward and sniffed. His muzzle wrinkled. It had been a couple days since Hiccup's last bath, and he had been doing a lot of running since then…
"Is everything okay?" asked Astrid, already on edge.
Hiccup stiffened when the other Riders started to tense. Toothless rumbled in exasperation and picked Hiccup up. Hiccup yelped, but didn't resist. Toothless made his way past the huts, where large pits had been dug out, lined with stone, and filled with water. Toothless made his way to the largest pit, where he dropped Hiccup.
Hiccup's screech was cut off when the water closed over his head. He flailed to the surface, growling and shaking his head.
"Hiccup need bath," Toothless said firmly.
Hiccup snorted and splashed water at Toothless. Behind Toothless, the other dragons had followed. They chirred at Hiccup.
"Oh, I get it," Astrid said, coming up beside the Night Fury. "But, was that really a good idea, with all his clothes on?"
"Drying leather sure chafes," Tuffnut commented.
Toothless rumbled. Was he supposed to think of everything?
"We'll just get him some dry clothes," Fishlegs said.
"Will he even know what to do with them?" Ruffnut asked, drawing weird looks from the others. She sighed. "Hiccup thinks he's a dragon. Dragons don't wear clothes. You get what I'm saying?"
Astrid groaned. "Great."
"Changing his clothes would be like the dragon version of molting, except he's got to put his new 'scales' on," Tuffnut went on.
Toothless gave a throaty laugh. Leave it to the twins to figure out the thoughts of his dragon-minded Rider!
Fishlegs looked horrified. "We aren't changing Hiccup's clothes!"
"He's going to be embarrassed enough once this mess is all fixed," Astrid added.
The Riders looked at Hiccup, paddling around the pit. Finally, Astrid looked at Toothless.
"I have an idea."
Hiccup was pretty sure most dragons didn't change their scales themselves. Or need help from another dragon to do so.
Nevertheless, with Toothless' guidance, Hiccup pulled off his wet scales -he had also wondered why his scales held water when Toothless just shook his scales dry after retrieving him- and put on new scales.
Once he had on his new scales, Hiccup looked around the den Toothless said was his and Hiccup's. It was human-made, full of human stuff, rather big for two dragons, had few exits, and was overly exposed in general.
Yet, somehow, it felt… right. The same kind of right Hiccup felt when he was with Toothless and the Riders. The same kind of right he'd felt with Heather and Windshear.
Hiccup blinked. "Where Heather and Windshear?"
Toothless cocked his head. "Hunters."
"What?!" Hiccup leaped to his paws. "Rescue!"
"Hiccup. Heather and Windshear Hunters. Bad."
Hiccup firmly shook his head. "No! Good! Help Hiccup and Spike-Flingers escape!"
Toothless warbled thoughtfully. Hiccup huffed and returned to inspecting the den.
Hiccup climbed to the second level of the den, just finding more human stuff. He poked around the objects piled on ledges on the walls, curious. He perked up when his paw pulled out something soft and shaped like a dragon.
"Hiccup toy," Toothless said as he joined Hiccup.
Hiccup cooed and sat back on his haunches. He pawed the dragon-toy's soft face and hard eyes. The toy was… very familiar.
"Hiccup?"
Hiccup blinked back to the present. Toothless was watching him. Hiccup rumbled and shoved the dragon-toy into a pouch he'd discovered in his new scales.
"Ready?" Toothless asked, offering his back to Hiccup.
Hiccup chirped and scrambled onto Toothless' back. Toothless hopped to the first level and nudged away the wood that covered the den entrance.
Outside, the other dragons and Riders were waiting. Hiccup wondered why they were all following him around, but quickly decided they didn't want him to run off again.
Stormfly pushed past the dragons to Toothless' side. Hiccup turned away from her, still mad about the Hunter's floating den.
Hiccup felt her grab the back of his scales, then he was suddenly pulled into the air. He screeched angrily, twisting to swipe his claws at her. Toothless spun and growled a warning. Stormfly responded by putting Hiccup on her back. This seemed to throw the Riders into a panic, but Hiccup decided to just turn his back and ignore everyone.
"Hiccup no mad," Stormfly pleaded, pressing her muzzle to Hiccup's back.
Hiccup shifted away. "Mad. Why Stormfly take Hiccup? Riders… friends? Stormfly hide Hiccup."
"Wanted Hiccup. Friend alone," Stormfly said sheepishly.
Hiccup huffed, but Stormfly persisted. She kept tapping his back and cooing hopefully. Hiccup felt the corners of his muzzle turn up. He turned and swatted Stormfly's nose.
"Greedy Stormfly," Hiccup grumbled.
Stormfly squawked and licked Hiccup. He scurried away, roaring in protest.
"Stormfly! Hiccup clean!"
A loud roar startled Hiccup. He crouched against Stormfly's back, while the Spike-Flinger braced herself defensively. Both relaxed slightly when they saw Toothless glaring at them.
"Stop," Toothless said. "Scare Riders."
Hiccup looked at the humans. None of them were moving, though fear was obvious in their eyes.
"Why scared?" Hiccup asked.
Toothless cocked his head to the side. "Hiccup… small."
"Riders think Stormfly hurt Hiccup," Stormfly added.
"No hurt." Hiccup straightened. "Hiccup fine."
The human called Astrid stepped forward and spoke. Hiccup still didn't understand human, but he was starting to recognize the sounds Astrid made to get his attention. His name in the human language?
Hiccup cocked his head in thought, but was distracted when Barf and Belch jumped onto Hookfang. The pair wrestled around, their playful growls and snaps largely ignored by the others.
Hiccup glanced at Toothless. The larger dragon was distracted watching Astrid, making him the perfect target…
Astrid yelped as Hiccup leaped over her head. Toothless grunted, though he barely budged when Hiccup crashed into him.
Hiccup rolled to the ground and kicked at Toothless' muzzle, falling short. To his disappointment, Toothless didn't go for it. He was busy looking at Astrid. Hiccup snapped in annoyance and crawled under Toothless. The larger dragon grunted and shifted so he wasn't over Hiccup.
Hiccup grumbled, then grabbed the vine-like strips Toothless and the other dragons wore. Ignoring Toothless' agitated rumble, Hiccup scurried up the strips to Toothless' back.
He balanced on his new perch, nimbly dodging Toothless attempts to reach back and grab him. Laughter from the other dragons urged Hiccup to further his antics. He flung himself flat, holding onto the human thing strapped to Toothless' back. He was too low for Toothless' teeth, tail, or paws to reach. He rumbled with laughter as Toothless' efforts quickened until he was spinning in useless circles.
Eventually, Toothless stopped spinning. He staggered sideways, and Hiccup's own vision was spinning.
Without warning, Toothless flopped onto his side. Hiccup, plenty dizzy himself, lost his grip and tumbled across the ground.
Hiccup scrambled to his paws and squawked. Toothless rolled onto his paws and crouched playfully, paws spread wide and tail sticking straight up. His tail twitched invitingly. Hiccup lunged, narrowly falling short when Toothless sprang backwards. Hiccup jumped after him, laughter bubbling in his throat when Toothless continued to evade him.
It wasn't long before the other dragons joined in the chase. Toothless dodged them all for a time, until Hiccup pounced on his tail. Toothless jumped and looked at him, distracted long enough for Stormfly to crash into him.
"Dragon pile!" Hiccup, still holding his prize, shrieked.
"Stop!"
Despite Toothless' yelp, the rest of the dragons clambered onto him. Toothless squirmed, but he was well and truly pinned, so he gave up. Hiccup released his tail and marched to sit in front of Toothless' muzzle.
"Hiccup win," Hiccup said proudly.
Toothless huffed. A mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes. Hiccup started to stand, then Toothless lunged. The other dragons, having relaxed when Toothless stopped fighting, tumbled off.
Hiccup's alarmed screeched turned amused when Toothless snagged him in his paws and rolled off to the side. Toothless held Hiccup firmly and gave him a sloppy lick.
"Toothless!" Hiccup wailed.
Astrid watched Hiccup and the dragons' antics from her seat on one of the walkways. She sighed, then curled her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around her legs.
It wasn't even midday, and Astrid was ready to scream.
Or hit someone. It was probably a good thing that the Riders had scattered when the dragons started to play, because not even Fishlegs would have been spared in her frustration.
It was all just so wrong! While she was glad Hiccup had readily accepted the Riders, it wasn't Hiccup. It was too easy. He was just… just a dragon in a Viking body.
Astrid closed her eyes against the sight of Hiccup rolling on the ground with Toothless and pressed her face to her knees.
On the opposite side of the base, Heather watched Hiccup with equal horror. She had been sure that a night back at the Edge with Toothless and the Riders would jolt him back to his normal self.
"This isn't good," Heather breathed, inching back to where Windshear waited in the trees.
The Hunters were making good progress in repairs. Heather expected them to be seaworthy by morning, if not evening. She'd gone on a scouting mission, in the hopes of finding Hiccup normal. If Hiccup was his old self, Heather would be less concerned. If Hiccup was in his right mind, the Riders would know of the damaged fleet getting themselves back together on the opposite side of the island.
But Hiccup still wasn't right in the head and the Riders were obviously too distracted for it to even occur to them to patrol!
"They are hopeless without Hiccup," Heather muttered, mounting Windshear. "I thought at least Astrid keep her head. But no. Looks like it's up to us, Windshear."
Windshear rumbled comfortingly. Heather's scowl melted as she ran a hand down her dragon's side.
"You're right," Heather said. "Come on. Let's get back before Dagur sends a search party after us."
Windshear warbled, then turned and made her quiet way through the forest.