Author's Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda or How to Train Your Dragon. I am earning no profit from this story other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others. I hope you all enjoy reading it!
"Hiccup, wake up," Astrid whispered, gently shaking Hiccup's shoulder.
"How is he?" Hiccup asked, sitting up.
"Fine, nothing's changed," Astrid replied. "But, Hiccup we need to talk. We were supposed to go home today. You promised."
"I know, I know," Hiccup said, "But we couldn't just let this boy bleed, could we?"
"I agree with that, but tomorrow we're leaving," Astrid said. It was not a question.
"But what about him?" Hiccup asked.
"Teach one of the villagers how to tend to his wound," Astrid answered firmly. "We can't stay. An injury like this will take weeks to heal."
Hiccup sighed. "Okay, fine," he concluded, "tomorrow I'll teach the villager how to tend to his cut. But how can we just leave? What will they think?"
"It doesn't matter," Astrid said, "we're never seeing them again."
"But-" Hiccup objected.
"Hiccup!" Astrid cried in frustration. "These people will be of no help in our war. Their kingdom is in ruins. This small village is probably the biggest town on the continent!"
"Come on, Astrid," Hiccup begged, "we haven't even had an opportunity to explore it yet."
"We are not leaving Snotlout and the twins alone any longer," Astrid commanded. "We are leaving tomorrow." She turned to lay down to go to bed.
Hiccup, knowing he wasn't going to change her mind, stood up and sat on the end of the bed, carefully lifting up the leaves to check the cut. The underside of the leaves were completely red with blood, and Hiccup gently applied a new makeshift bandage onto the gash. He sat and thought about what Astrid had said. Hiccup sighed, knowing she was right, and yet he wanted to explore the rest of this vast land. Perhaps, after the Dragon Hunters had been defeated, then he could return to this place.
The boy's eyes opened abruptly, revealing his sky blue irises. He sat up quickly, only to grimace in pain and put one of his hands over his wound.
"Woah, woah," Hiccup said, "you have to lay down. You need to rest."
"Do I know you?" the boy asked, laying down again.
"Uh, no?" Hiccup guessed, "I don't remember ever meeting you before."
The boy nodded, and turned his attention to the leave covering his deep gash. He began to lift the pile of leaves.
"Don't do that," Hiccup said gently, "we need to get the bleeding to stop."
The boy ignored him, and continued to lift up his bandage. "Where is my horse?"
"Outside," Hiccup replied, "but you need to put the bandage back."
"In my saddlebag, there is a bottle with a fairy in it. Can you go get it, please?" the boy asked.
"A fairy?" Hiccup repeated, "Fairies don't exist."
The boy looked at Hiccup like he was crazy. "Please go get it," he asked again, looking at the blood running from his cut.
"Okay," Hiccup replied, confused. He walked outside and over to where the horse was picketed. It snorted when Hiccup got close, but allowed him to walk over to the saddlebag. Hiccup found a few bottles of several different colors of liquid, but no fairy. He gently pulled out each glass bottle, and placed it on the floor next to him. On the very bottom of the bag was a glass bottle with a glowing pink ball with wings in it. Hiccup pulled the bottle out, and watched in fascination as the glowing ball bounced up in down in its cage. Hiccup carefully put all the other bottles back into the saddlebag, patted the horse gently, and carried the bottle with the glowing ball back inside.
"Is this it?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, that's the one," the boy replied, holding out one hand. Hiccup handed the bottle over and the boy uncorked it. The fairy flew out, and gently the boy touched it. The fairy wrapped around and around him and slowly, the wound closed. Hiccup watched, amazed, as the wound on the boy's stomach closed, as though it was never there. The fairy disappeared in a small flash of light, and the boy stood up.
"Thanks for taking care of me," he said as he walked over to his weapons, "er, I never caught your name."
"Hiccup," Hiccup answered.
"My name's Link," Link replied. "Well, I need to be going. But seriously, I really appreciate it. Oh, and can you toss me my shirt?"
"Yeah, here," Hiccup said, and threw Link the blue colored shirt.
Link put his shirt back on. "Here, take this," he said, digging through one of the many pockets on his belt. He pulled out a gold colored, hexagonal gemstone.
"Wow, thanks," Hiccup said, staring at the curious gemstone. It was unlike any other gem he'd ever seen. It wasn't actual gold, and yet no other gem had that same yellow color. Link bent down to inspect his shield, bow, sword, and quiver. He ran his hand over his shield, then slung it over his back. Link gently pulled the bowstring, and slung it over his back. He counted his arrows in his quiver, and slung it over his back. But for his sword, he drew it, and stood up again. Link swung it back and forth, and stroked it gently with his hand. Link sighed, then asked, "You're not from around here are you?"
"How could you tell?" Hiccup replied.
"Your ears are different," Link answered, "and your voice sounds funny," he paused, "er, no offense."
"None taken," Hiccup said, "even where I'm from people would agree with you."
Link laughed. "Where are you from then?" he asked, sheathing his sword.
"An island called Berk," Hiccup replied.
"Berk, Berk," Link said, thinking, "I've never heard of that before as far as I remember."
"Yeah, we'd never heard of Hyrule before my friend found these," Hiccup said, showing Link the documents. Link looked at them for a second, then his eyes widened, and he froze, intently staring at the documents.
"You okay?" Hiccup asked. Link didn't reply. He continued staring at the documents. Hiccup considered waking Fishlegs up and asking him what was wrong, but then Link shivered, and he blinked.
"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, lost in thought. "I remember," he said, then trailed off.
"Remember?" Hiccup repeated.
"That happens sometimes," Link said, shrugging, "I remember parts of… before, when I see things that remind me of them."
"Before what?" Hiccup asked, confused.
"The Great Calamity," Link replied, "But, I guess you wouldn't know what that is."
"No, I don't," Hiccup agreed.
"Well, have you seen the castle?" Link asked.
"Yeah," Hiccup replied.
"Well, right now, the princess of Hyrule, Princess Zelda is locked in combat with Calamity Ganon in that castle. Calamity Ganon is this like, terrible, powerful beast. He wants to take over Hyrule. Apparently, 100 years ago, Calamity Ganon attacked Hyrule castle. Four Champions of the four races of Hyrule each piloted a huge, mechanical animal, called a Divine Beast."
"Hold on," Hiccup interrupted, "the four races?"
"Yeah, well there's five actually. Hylians, me, Rito, bird people, Zoras, fish people, Gorons, rock people, and Gerudo, a tribe of very strong women. Anyway, the four Champions and their Divine Beasts attacked Calamity Ganon, along with the Princess Zelda and her swordsman. The six valiantly fought the Calamity until the end. The Champions all died in their Beasts when Ganon hijacked them and turned them against us. The princess's swordsman tried to save the princess from the monster and was fatally wounded. Princess Zelda herself used all her power to seal Calamity Ganon in the castle, where they remain today, Princess Zelda still struggling to contain the beast of Calamity Ganon. But the swordsman was rescued by a few survivors of the battle, and put into the Shrine of Resurrection. When he woke up, all his past memories had been wiped."
"So, you were the swordsman?" Hiccup guessed.
"Yeah, apparently," Link sighed, "so now it's my job to turn the Divine Beasts back to our side, destroy Ganon, and save the princess."
"So, what sort of things bring back memories?" Hiccup asked. He couldn't imagine waking up with no idea who he was.
"Well, people just tell me mostly," Link shrugged, "but sometimes it's a statue or a picture or even a specific place."
On the floor, Astrid stirred, and woke up. "What is going on here?" she asked, seeing Link standing over her, with Hiccup sitting casually on the foot of the bed. "Hiccup! He needs to rest!"
"Relax, Astrid," Hiccup said, nervously, "he's fine."
"Fine?" Astrid cried, "How could he possibly be fine?"
"It's okay," Link butted in. "I'm fine, seriously. I can show you." He moved his hand to lift up his shirt.
"Ew, no!" Astrid yelled.
"You had it off earlier," Link said.
Hiccup laughed.
Astrid shot him a glare.
Hiccup shut up.
"Okay, in all seriousness, I'm fine," Link said, "my wound is completely healed."
"But, that's not possible," Astrid replied in disbelief.
"I'm guessing in Berk you don't have fairies?" Link asked Hiccup.
"Nope," Hiccup answered.
"Fairies?" Astrid repeated, "have you gone mad?"
"Astrid, I saw it for myself. He had this little like, glowing ball that healed him," Hiccup explained.
"Alright, whatever," Astrid sighed. "Now we can go home."
"Right," Hiccup agreed quickly.
"Well, it was nice meeting you Hiccup," Link said, hefting his sword sheath onto his back, "but it sounds like you're leaving and I really have to go."
"Okay, bye," Hiccup replied, waving. Astrid got Fishlegs up and Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs walked out of the house just as Link was getting onto his horse.
"How is he okay?" Fishlegs asked, "I'm still confused."
"It's a long story," Astrid replied. "Come on let's go."
Suddenly, a loud shriek sounded overhead, and Toothless, Stormfly, and Meatlug flew down into the village. Villagers ran away, screaming. Link drew his sword. The dragons flew down toward their riders, and Link spurred his horse toward the flying beasts.
"Link, no!" Hiccup cried, grabbing his new friend's hand.
Link paused, and allowed each dragon to land next to it's rider. "You know these animals?"
Hiccup soothed Toothless, who bared his teeth at the mounted swordsman. "Yes," he replied.
Link sheathed his sword, and Toothless calmed down. "What are they?" he asked in wonder.
"Dragons," Astrid answered impatiently. "Come on, Hiccup."
"May I touch it?" Link asked tentatively, dismounting from his horse. He stretched his hand out, but Toothless growled.
"You'll have to ask Toothless," Hiccup said, gently stroking his dragon.
Link nodded. "Forgive me, Toothless. May I touch you?" Toothless allowed Link to gently rub his scales. "He's quite small for a dragon, isn't he?"
"Well, not really," Hiccup replied. "Why did you ask?"
Link laughed. "Well, around here, that's what we call a dragon!" Link pointed to the sky.
Above them was an enormous beast that flew high in the clouds, without wings. It looked like a Whispering Death, but with a smaller and more elongated head. This dragon was red, and his scales changed colors like flowing lava.
"Whoa," Hiccup breathed.
"We've got to go check it out!" Fishlegs said, excitedly.
Astrid growled. "You have got to stop creating distractions," she snarled to Link.
Link raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry," he replied.
"Hiccup, you promised me, we'd go home," Astrid said, turning her attention to Hiccup, who was staring in awe at the enormous dragon.
"Oh, come on, Astrid," Hiccup said, "we found a new dragon! Can't we just study it a little?"
"The longer we stay here, the more time the Dragon Hunters have to attack the Edge. We have to go!" Astrid commanded. She mounted Stormfly, "Now come on. We're leaving."
"Fine," Hiccup sighed, "come on, bud. Let's go home."
Link mounted his horse. Hiccup mounted his dragon. They locked eyes, then turned and headed in opposite directions.