Reading Ledger:

"Normal Speak"

-Dragon Speak-

'Toothless&Hiccup Telepathy' [This telepathy has no limit distance-wise, but only Hiccup and Toothless can hear it.]

*All Dragon Telepathy* [This version of telepathy is not long distance, but can still be used if individuals are close enough even when they are not within each other's vision. Has around a 100-meter distance.]

Original Character Names:

Terrible Terror - Remi

Chapter 10 - Lutto di Mezzanotte

Hiccup's first journey to the arena in the middle of the night was less challenging then he had expected it would be. Night vision made everything a whole lot simpler when it came to sneaking through Berk, and his increased strength made getting through the gate easy as pie. Hiccup had been surprised to find out that the guards were slacking off because no one was around while he was making his way inside. If anyone else had learned of their laziness the Vikings who'd been assigned guard duty would have been screwed because anyone else would have reported them, but Hiccup was more then willing to take advantage of the situation. Anything that made getting the dragons out easier was something he would use.

Hiccup looked around the arena taking note of anything of interest to him, making sure to look over as much as he could before heading into the cages. The first thing that he thought when he got inside was that the space was unbelievably small, *What the hell? Why did they make this space so small, they knew that they'd be housing dragons when they made it so why is it not bigger than this?*

One of Nadder's responded to him, *Our comfort is not of importance to them, so they enclose us in cages smaller than the places they live in themselves and use us as training dummies.*

*The only thing that could live here comfortably is a terror and even that wouldn't be very cozy,* Hiccup thought as he looked around the area.

He saw a number of smaller metal cages holding dragons within the cave like a small holding area. The elderly nightmare was in the far left corner lying down in the biggest cage in the room. Hiccup walked over and opened the cage moving inside to sit beside the kind gentle beast. He softly rested his hand on the Nightmare as he gently rubbed it's neck, *I'm sorry that you have to spend your last nights in such a wretched place. I would try to get you out if I could without destroying the one chance of getting the others out too.*

The large nightmare weakly moved its head to rest on his lap and nuzzled against Hiccup the best he could, *Thank you youngin', but this is all I need from you.*

Hiccup gazed down at the creature in front of him and smoothly continued to rub his neck. He sat there with the dragon for as long as he could just trying to soothe his own anger at not being able to save him. After a while, he felt the creatures breathing slow, but not much and its breathing had stopped altogether. Hiccup shut his eyes and tried to calm himself down. He hadn't been expecting the nightmare to die that night. When he managed to pull himself together enough, he moved its head off his lap, before crawling out of the cage closing it behind him. He moved to the door and checked to make sure no one was around, and when he saw no one he made his way out. It was still rather dark out which was a good thing as he made his way out of the arena. Once clear of the area he made his way out of the village, he needed to get away or he feared he'd end up hurting one of the villagers out of anger for the death of the nightmare.

'It died,' Hiccup thought as he moved through the forest, 'They kept it in a dinky little cage and treated the gentle creature horribly, and tonight it died.'

'It's sad, but all things die Hiccup. Understand that it has gone to a better place and focus on what you can save,' there was no response, 'Hiccup are you okay, at least?' Toothless asked sadly.

'I don't know…I think I'm okay. I'm just furious about everything. I never even knew that their cages were that small. Children are kept out of the cages, but I always thought they had more space. Yet, they are kept in those cramped conditions. How can humans be such horrible creatures, treating another living thing with absolutely zero respect? If they knew it was going to be holding dragons then they should have at least made the cages a bit bigger. Maybe we do deserve to be killed by dragons, ' Hiccup was clearly still quite upset even though he was denying it.

'They can do it because they don't care about us,' was the only response he received.

Hiccup continued on his path into the forest not sure what to do with his emotions. He was just so upset that it was overwhelming him, and he couldn't understand why he was so angry since he'd barely known the dragon. He'd never felt this way about anyone before, and he'd been surrounded by the death of other Vikings his whole life. Hiccup stopped walking as he felt tears dripping from his eyes, and no matter how much he wiped he couldn't make them go away. He turned and punched the closest tree immediately causing it to shatter into pieces. He was completely shocked out of his anger and sadness by the surprise at seeing the decimated tree and his black scale covered hand. He spoke out loud to himself, "What the hell?" Before he looked back at his hand and began to trance the scales with his other still normal hand. He was now rather calm now since his curiosity had won out of all his other feelings.

While Hiccup was simply standing by the tree looking around and thinking about everything that had just happened, he didn't even notice Toothless and Remi come up behind him. Remi flew over to land on Hiccups shoulder and Toothless rubbed up against his hip, *Calm down. Breathe. Everything's okay.*

Hiccup turned and dropped down on his knees to hug his dragon half and just let the tears that had previously stopped begin falling again, *He really died didn't he?*

*Yes, but you did the best you could because you were with him in the end,* Toothless explained as he tried to comfort his soulmate.

Remi curled his tail around Hiccup to show that he was also there for him, *He's in a better place now. A place that he won't feel pain anymore.*

Hiccup didn't fully stop crying until he felt completely worn out both physically and mentally. Toothless made him get on his back and then flew them to the den in the cove. Where he curled around the boy who is the other half of his heart to keep him warm and safe, while he mourned for the old dragon who'd become a cherished friend.

(-Hiccup3Toothless-)

Toothless was slightly worried about Hiccup because after 2 days of avoiding the subject when Toothless asked when he'd be returning to the village he'd flat out refused to go back. Toothless could feel the hatred that the boy had developed for the villagers bleeding across their bond, and he wasn't exactly sure what he should do about it. Hiccup was usually full of emotions, but hate wasn't one Toothless saw in the boy very often. Sometimes he could feel Hiccup radiating loneliness, and other times he could feel the younger one's rebelliousness. Even anger and sadness were rare possibilities, but hatred wasn't an emotion that Toothless thought belonged anywhere near the boy.

The Night Fury wished that he could take away his anger and rage, but the only feelings he could try to lessen for the boy was physical pain which wouldn't help in any way with his current problem. He looked at the boy who was curled up against him resting underneath his wing for warmth, as rain fell down outside in cold sheets to match the young one's feelings perfectly. Toothless could feel him shivering but whether it was due to the cold or not he couldn't exactly tell. As he was thinking Remi returned to the cave soaked but still carrying a couple of fish for them to eat. Remi set them down in front of Toothless, -I brought as many as I could carry. How's he doing?-

-He's shaking but I'm not sure why what's the situation like in the village?- Toothless asked.

Remi lit a small fire on a dry spot in the cave before attempting to cook the boy a fish the way his own kind do, -They haven't been worrying about him too much between the constant downpour and dragon raids, as well as, dealing with the body of the old Nightmare.-

Toothless nodded slightly, -That's good, but if they start worrying, we will have to convince him to go back. He'd regret it otherwise and I won't let that happen.-

Remi flew over and sat down, -I'll make sure to check on the situation daily so we know. Do you think he'll be okay?-

Toothless hummed, -He'll be fine, he just needs a little time. I think the connection dragons have with other dragons is much stronger then humans so he's having a difficult time coping with it. He will need more time to adapt to these heightened emotions, but he's strong so he'll be okay.-

-I guess until then we care for him the best that we can,- Remi simply stated.

With a shake of his head, Toothless agreed, -We care for him as we would any other hatchling.-