Good golly, this one is one heckuva whopper, let me tell you! It was not my intention, I swear, but I couldn't find a good place to cut it off. Meh. I guess it kinda makes up for those update-less weeks.
If anything reads weird, have mercy! My brain is burnt out from staring at a screen all day, and I did my best.
R & R!
Hiccup
It was another day at the forge after a terrible time in the arena. I sharpened a sword with practiced ease while my mind was far away. I was worrying about Toothless, worrying about Mom, thinking about Dad, worrying about how Toothless was fairing being alone with the Stormcutter, worrying about Dragon Training, worrying about Toothless again because there were so many people out there searching for him, thinking back to what happened earlier that day at training—
"'Ey lad!"
When Gobber's voice jerked me out of my thoughts so quickly the sword accidentally slipped from my grip. I barely stepped back fast enough for it clatter to the ground without harming me.
The fact that I'd been that close to loosing a finger made me wince in regret. My body was already sore from earlier; I didn't need a missing a finger added to today's list of injuries.
"Sorry, Gobber," I muttered, knowing without looking that a disapproving frown was being sent my way.
With his hook hand, he turned me around and gave me a scrutinizing look. "In all my years of teachin' ya smith'n work, I've never seen ya so distracted," he commented.
Nervously I rubbed the back of my neck and chuckled. "Yeah. Sorry about that."
"Got a lot on yer mind?"
"You could say that."
"It wouldn't have anyth'n' ta do with this morn'n would it?"
I shrugged. "Not really."
This morning's bruiser of a lesson was definitely not my mind's number one priority. No, without a doubt, Toothless had full claim to that slot.
Nevertheless, the very memory of today's training exercise was able to make me cringe. Running around in a maze being chased by a Deadly Nadder was not my idea of a great time. I'd gotten toppled over by Astrid and yelled at for it! She had been the one to fall on me for Thor's sake! Gods I hated Dragon Training.
After a pause, Gobber nodded and hobbled over to his own pile of work, much to my relief. Out of all the people on Berk, Gobber was right there on my microscopic list of people who I liked and who didn't treat me like a pest. Not too surprising though considering the fact that I've been his apprentice for so long—I'd probably drive him crazy otherwise.
Usually I could talk to him about whatever was bothering me. But not this. Definitely not this.
Finally the last of the ordered weapons found its place in my finished pile. I checked to make sure every one of them was just right, and I made sure every weapon in need of resharpening had been finished. When I was sure that everything was in order, I stretched my aching muscles—yes, I do technically have muscles—and undid my apron.
"Hey, Gobber. I'm calling it a day."
"Haaang on." Gobber made his way over to me with a book in hand. "'Ere." I caught it before it could land in the still-cooling embers in the forge. "You're behind on yer homework thanks to yer little disappear'n trick the other day."
I quirked my brow and looked down at the book. It's leather cover had seen better days, and the pages were worn from years of usage. However I could still make out the dragon design on the cover so it was still recognizable.
"The Dragon Manual," Gobber explained needlessly. "Everything we know about every dragon we know of. Ye might be one of the few students in the class to take this 'ere seriously, so be sure to study up."
I nodded as a thought occurred to me. I'd scanned through the book before a few times in the past, but I couldn't recall seeing any dragon in there that resembled Toothless. He wasn't any of the common dragons, that was for sure. But what was he?
One way to find out; I had to get to the cove.
"If Mom asks, I'll be in the woods," I said as I hurried out of the smithy.
"Sure, sure. An' Hiccup!"
I stopped just outside the smithy and glanced at my mentor questioningly. Gobber's back was facing me while he worked on hammering together a new sword.
"If ye find Toothless, remember to bring 'em straight 'ere so I can give 'em a good hook to the 'ead."
I sighed but let a small smile curl up the corners of my lips. "You got it, Gobber."
xxx
Mom would have probably killed me for going out into the woods again. Thankfully all I'd have to say was that I'd been looking for Toothless and she'd say no more. It wouldn't be a lie either.
I raced through the woods, acutely aware that the search parties had already been wrapping up their investigations. I'd heard no word of a black dragon and a Stormcutter being spotted , so I was going to take that as a pretty good sign.
Initially, I tried to search for the cave from memory, but everything looked so different in the daylight. Don't even get me started on the fact that it was nearly sunset. Shadows were everywhere, rendering my surroundings with another layer of contrast from the nighttime terrain. I couldn't tell what was familiar and what wasn't.
I guess that meant plan B. If not the cave, then go to the cove. I knew how to get there at least.
After finding the old tree fort, getting to the cove was easy. It was even easier for me to get in by ducking under that hole I'd found the other night and climb down to the inside of the cove. Once at the bottom, I looked around hoping to see Toothless or the Stormcutter nearby. Nothing. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I wondered how on earth I was supposed to let the Stormcutter and Toothless know I was here.
…
Ah to Hel with it.
"TOOTHLESS?" I called, "STORMCUTTER!? I'M HERE!"
I was so deep in the woods that keeping quiet was hardly even necessary. The last wave of searchers were gone, and I was on the other side of Raven Point. I could be as loud as I wanted and no one would have heard me.
Then I heard a rustling of leaves behind me, and I turned around automatically. A cluster of bushes rustled and shook jerkily. I stepped towards the sound out of curiosity.
"Toothless?" I asked.
No answer. I got closer and closer, tightening my hold on my book. Then the rustling stopped. I froze, debating about whether or not it would be smart to get any closer. My curiosity won out in the end, and I followed accordingly. Then all of a sudden the creature, and source of the rustling, jumped out!
Yeah it was a squirrel.
Lame.
It didn't even stop to look at me or anything; it just ran across the cove, aiming for a mangle of tree roots on the other side of the cove. It was probably going to use them to get out of the cove. Lucky.
I couldn't help but scoff at myself. "Great I'd been freaked out by a—"
Suddenly, a large black form pounced on the squirrel. The little guy screeched in shock as it was pinned down under the larger creature. I had to look away as the creature scooped up the squirrel in its mouth. I swear, I heard a crack before the squirrel stopped making noises. I looked back once I was sure the creature had finished eating the animal. Then I recognized the squirrel killer.
"Toothless?"
Toothless whirled around and faced me, surprised. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel slightly disturbed about what I'd just seen. In the end I found a middle ground and said, "Wow."
Toothless looked reasonably embarrassed.
"So uh…" I vaguely gestured in his approximate direction. "Squirrel hunting. That-That's a...uhh..." As I fumbled with my words, a thought suddenly occurred to me. "Wait, how'd you get down here so quietly?"
Slightly perplexed, Toothless nodded in the direction of the walls.
"Did you…fly to get down here?" I asked.
Toothless shook his head. He scanned the ground until he found a patch of dirt. Using his talon, he wrote in the dirt using bold letters: TECHNICALLY, I GLIDED.
Huh, I thought to myself as I read his blocky writing. This makes things a bit easier.
"Did the Stormcutter teach you?" I asked. He nodded. I glanced around, realizing that the other dragon was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" I finally asked.
Toothless glanced around. He seemed to spot the second dragon, and he immediately gestured for me to stay low.
Oh great. I didn't really want to, but I had no desire to be shoved into a bush. I stepped behind a tall bush and let Toothless do his thing. If things got bad though I was not going to just let anyone get hurt.
I watched as Toothless crept low to the ground. His tail swayed from side to side as he eyed the mass of rocks where the Stormcutter was hiding. Then Toothless broke into a run. As soon as he was close enough, he pounced and disappeared into the shrubbery. Soon, I heard his indignant squawk.
Fearing the worst, I ran out of my hiding place. Upon finding the two, I was surprised. The Stormcutter had indeed pinned Toothless down, but Toothless didn't seem all that bothered by it. In fact, he was just lying there looking kinda…sulky. The Stormcutter rumbled out what sounded like a laugh. I blinked. The larger dragon pawed at Toothless, as though teasing him which caused me to blink again. Toothless merely gave the Stormcutter a half-hearted glare and shoved him off. Then he walked over to me, huffing indignantly at the other dragon.
Okay…what?
"What just happened" I asked.
Toothless looked at me, glared at the Stormcutter who rolled his eyes at Toothless's apparent childishness.
"I feel like I just missed something huge," I said.
Toothless actually cocked his head at me. Like a puppy. Yep. I'd missed something really huge. After dropping my book to the ground, I ran my fingers through my hair and started pacing.
"I left hardly a day ago with you very much against me fraternizing with the enemy," I ranted, "and here you are play-pouncing on pre-mentioned enemy as though that wasn't hypocritical of you at all!"
Toothless gave me an odd look. YOU OK? he wrote.
I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Sorry. I'm just having a really off day today." Now Toothless was concerned. He nudged at me, and gave his signature spill the beans look. "Oh it's nothing. Just dealing with Mom and the lying. And training. And work. And the search parties, and everything else that makes up the insanity of my life!"
I sat myself down while trying to control my boiling frustrations. Toothless laid his head on my lap, willing me to look at him, trying to give me moral support. The Stormcutter even seemed concerned for me. I took a deep breath and forced my overwhelmed nerves back under control.
All the the worrying, and the lying, and the hiding was all building up on top of me. External frustrations, I could handle. This…this was something new entirely. If I made it a week without going crazy, it would be a miracle. And now here was my brother changing his tune too fast for me to keep up. Not that I had a problem with that. It's just that a little warning would have been great, you know?
Plus he was still a dragon. Couldn't exactly forget about that little problem. Speaking of which…
Toothless
"Oh hey!" Hiccup stood up quickly and grabbed the Dragon Manual. "Look at this."
I instantly recognized the manual and quirked my brow in confusion. The Stormcutter's curiosity was a little less than subtle. It stuck its head right up to Hiccup and sniffed the leathery book curiously. The dragon licked it, much to Hiccup's and my surprise, and seemed to consider the taste as it smacked its lips. When it sneezed and scrunched his nostrils, I had to assume that the Stormcutter didn't care for the taste.
Hiccup chuckled. "Well, it not supposed to be food, Dragon."
He opened the pages wherein yellowed paper hosted an array of diagrams for every dragon known to man. I nudged the book and gave him a questioning look. What did you bring this here for?
The Stormcutter, meanwhile, tried to lick one of the pages. Hiccup had to bat its face away.
"See I was thinking—"
I hate it when he says that, I thought as I groaned loudly. He scowled and swatted me.
"Let me finish before you call me stupid." I rolled his eyes and motioned for him to go on. "As I was saying, I think the first thing we should do is try to identify what kind of dragon you are."
I considered my suggestion for a moment. I had an idea where he was going with this. Find out the dragon, and maybe that'll explain why I'm like…this. Like maybe there's some sort of curse associated with it. I wasn't the most superstitious person on the island, but I had to admit, it made some sense. I shrugged and nodded in agreement.
So that's what we did. For two hours. None of the dragons seemed to remotely resemble me. Hiccup even sketched me out in multiple angles. Nothing matched in the book. After scanning through all the different species of dragons known to man, I was about ready to give up. Heck, we even read through the scarce information on Stormcutters just to see if they were in a symbiotic relationship with any dragon resembling me. It would certainly explain a lot. Unfortunately there was nothing.
By the time we had covered three fourths of the book, Hiccup was sprawled on the floor and ready to give up. I laid next to him trying to turn the pages on my own while the Stormcutter on Hiccup's other side looked really, really bored.
Hiccup sighed and watched as the last of the daylight began fading. "Mom's gonna freak out if I don't come home soon."
I perked my head up and felt a pang on loneliness at the thought. The Stormcutter was surprisingly good company, and I was slowly but surely beginning to trust it, but Hiccup was family. It was really freaky to spend the past two nights without him. For him to leave now was like having a sliver of normalcy taken away from my screwed up world.
If it was possible, Hiccup looked even more depressed about the idea of leaving than I did.
"Maybe we should forget about what you are and focus more on how to change you back." He looked over to the Stormcutter. "Do you think you could help us there?"
The dragon cocked its head.
"I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that you know something about this," Hiccup pressed. "Am I right?"
Much to my surprise, the Stormcutter made a shrugging gesture. I was going to take that as a yes. How Hiccup came to such a conclusion, I wasn't sure. His train of thought was erratic like that, I suppose.
"So you know how to change him back? To a human, I mean."
The Stormcutter only cocked his head in confusion. I understood that in this context, that meant Why?
"I think you know exactly why, Stormcutter," I growled, suddenly annoyed.
"Calm down, Toothless," Hiccup said, stopping me from making any hostile moves. He looked between the two of us and sighed. "I really have to go. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?" He turned to me and briefly wrapped his arms around my neck. "I'll see you tomorrow."
I nodded, burying my nose in his hair by accident. With my acute senses, I could smell a scent coming off of him that was distinctly…familiar. His scent, I concluded. I was pleasantly surprised about how familiar it was.
After letting go, Hiccup made his way to the exit and began the climb up the wall. It really hurt to see him go. He glanced back, and he gave a small wave before climbing over the ledge.
Suddenly the Stormcutter chirped. Hiccup stopped and questioningly glanced over at the dragon who ran closer to the ledge. The Stormcutter then did something odd. It whistled. Hiccup looked as confused as I felt. The dragon looked between the two of us before whistling again. I cocked my head. What was that supposed to mean? It seemed surprised at my lack of comprehension. It stretched out its wings and whistled again, but I still didn't get it.
Hiccup furrowed his brows, trying to understand, but he was as lost as I was. Finally he sighed and shook his head. "We'll try again tomorrow."
The Stormcutter looked a little put off. It probably thought us stupid for being unable to understand it. I felt a little guilty to be honest.
Apparently Hiccup did too. "Sorry, Dragon."
As soon as he disappeared, the loneliness hit me hard. The Stormcutter seemed to sense it because the dragon was right by my side. I would've been freaking out and reeling away if it hadn't suddenly draped a wing over me. I froze in place, not daring to move a muscle. It made a cooing noise, instantly assuring me that this wasn't supposed to be a hostile gesture.
After finally letting myself relax, I was surprised about the dragon's action. It was such a…human response. I looked up at the dragon, and it gave me an characteristically human smile. Human, like every other action its been doing in front of me
All my life I'd been told that dragons were these mindless killing machines, but in in under two days, I was seeing some freaky things about them that made them seem too …intelligent. It just didn't make sense. They communicated, they comprehended, they conveyed a range of emotions, and now they performed harmlessly friendly displays of behavior.
I wasn't sure what to think. If they could do all of that, then what else about dragons did we not understand? What made them act so differently from every other occasion I've ever encountered them in? What else did Hiccup and I have yet to uncover while I was like this?
Hiccup
It was late after nightfall. Gobber had called all the recruits to one of the watchtowers for a group bonfire. All the other recruits listened in various degrees of enthusiasm wile Gobber animatedly told the story of how he'd lost his limbs. He retold his plight easily while using grand gestures and evocative descriptions to keep his listeners engaged.
I knew the story from heart, and I could quote it word for word to anyone who asked because of how many times he's told it to me in the forge. For that reason, I ignored him and his audience, and instead, I set aside my still uncooked fish in favor of reading through the Dragon Manual. My last ditch effort at finding a match to Toothless in the manual. I couldn't bring out my sketched depictions of Toothless out in the open, but my memory was pretty good. So far I'd found nothing.
I glanced up as Gobber finished his story only for Fishlegs to ask an odd question.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you still had control over your limb?" he asked. I quirked an eyebrow but said nothing as he went on. "Like if you were still in control of it, you could have crushed the dragon's heart or something." Everyone else was giving Fishlegs a range of different odd looks that all said You're crazy.
I shrugged and flipped through the pages of my book while Snotlout ranted on about how he'd take out every arm and leg off of every dragon he saw. With his face. I took special effort in not snorting at the thought. Like he needs to worsen his face any further, Toothless would have quipped.
A pang of loneliness stabbed through my chest. I missed him despite knowing that he was only a few miles away. So close but so far. I'll see him tomorrow, I told myself. And Dragon too. Yes that is what I decided to start calling him. Forgive me, but I wasn't feeling very original. Maybe he'd like to have some food from home. Toothless likes chicken stew. Maybe—
"Hey what's that you got there, Useless?"
Suddenly, the book was snatched from my hands. "Hey!"
Snotlout opened to a random page and scoffed. "You actually read this stuff?"
"Could you please—" I tried to grab for the book, but Snotlout held it out of my reach. "C'mon! Just give it back!"
Snotlout scoffed. "Fine." With that, he threw it over his shoulder, and it plummeted to the ground below. I should have seen that coming. "Fetch."
I rolled my eyes before making my way over to the stairs. I trained my eyes ahead when I passed the other teens. I could hear the twins snickering, and Astrid and Fishlegs both tried to ignore the scene I'd made. Gobber was giving Snotlout the evil eye—tomorrow would probably be seeing Snotlout on the receiving end of Gobber's passive aggressive revenge on my behalf in the arena—while my jerk of a cousin just sat in his seat with a smug look directed at me.
I've handled worse, really. He just loved to annoy me whenever Toothless wasn't around ready to play guard dog.
Another reason I missed my brother.
Once at the bottom of the watchtower, I relied on the moonlight to guide me to my book. As I dusted the dirt off the manual's pages, I heard an indignant shout from a few paces away. I looked in the direction of the noise only to realize that some viking, who was now shouting curses, had been hit by something. I narrowed my eyes at the lump on the ground. Was that my fish? I whipped my head back and looked up to see the twins cackling loudly at their unsuspecting victim.
Now would be a great time to hide before they decided to make me their next target. The gods knew how well-equipped for causing trouble those two could be. Especially if I looked like an easy target at the moment
The first place I thought of was the forge. So that's exactly where I went.
Once inside, I lit some candles and shut myself away into the back room where I knew no one would bother me. I seated myself at my cluttered desk and sighed. I don't know how long I sat there brooding about nothing and everything at the same time. Eventually, I decided to open my book and look for where I'd left off. I was almost through with the entire manual, and I'd still found nothing. Finally, I turned to a page where it was almost completely blank.1
I mumbled quietly, "What the—?"
"Hiccup? Ye 'ere?"
"I'm in the backroom!" I called absentmindedly while I looked at the blank page. The tarp was pulled away and Gobber hobbled in while I laid the open book out on my desk. I felt under the table until I found another candle.
Critically Gobber glanced around the dim room before looking at me. "I 'ope ye aren't tak'n any of that nonsense to 'eart, lad."
"Oh don't worry," I replied. "I'm used to it."
"Then why're ye hid'n in 'ere for?" Gobber asked skeptically.
I lit the candle and placed it close to the second one. Yep, it was an empty page. "Gobber? Why is the—" I read the page carefully. "—Night Fury section empty?"
"Eh?" Gobber leaned over to look at the page. He clucked and waved it off. "No one's ever seen one and lived to tell the tale."
"But it's still in the book?" I asked.
"It's righ' in front of yer eyes ain't it?"
Technically… "But no one's ever seen it before?"
"That's what I just said," Gobber replied with masked impatience.
I felt suspicious. "How can someone say a dragon exists if no one's ever lived to talk about it?"
"Gah!" Gobber exclaimed. "You're ask'n too many questions for one night! It's giv'n me a headache."
"Just humor me. Please?" I asked. Something told me that this was what I was looking for. A dragon that no one has seen before, and I have seen a dragon that matched no other dragon in the manual. That had to be it; the dragon I was looking for! Just one more clue that's all I needed…
"Oh I dunno," Gobber finally said. "No one 'as seen one 'round 'ere in so long." He stroked his chin as he thought about it for a moment. "Tell ye what. C'mere."
I followed Gobber as he hobbled into the forge area. He rummaged through one of the cabinets I'd been banned from, muttering unintelligibly. Odd knickknacks and trinkets were taken out and placed on the table. I picked one up and examined it only to drop it onto the table when he exclaimed, "Ah ha!" and he pulled out a small chest. He placed it on the table with a thunk.
"This 'ere holds my great-great-great grandfather, Bork the Bold's, notes," Gobber explained, "Everyth'n not in the Dragon Manual will likely be found in 'ere. Now, if ye promise to behave and clean up after yourself, I'll let you 'ave a look see in 'ere."
Jackpot! I nodded eagerly. "Yeah, I promise to be careful."
I reached out for the chest, but Gobber suddenly pulled it away. "Now tha' means no tak'n it outta the smithy."
I nodded. "Okay."
When I tried to take it, he pulled it away again. "An' keep the candles away from the notes."
"Right."
Once again, he kept it out of my reach. "An' if ya think you're gonna doze off, I want ye to put this all away immediately."
"Got it."
"Don't let it near the tools."
"Uh huh."
"Stay at the table."
"Okay."
"Try not to move much."
"Gobber!" I exclaimed. "I'll be careful! I promise!" I tried to reach for it one more time, only for Gobber to pull it away.
"An' double check to make sure ye didn't lose anyth'n."
"Gob-ber!"
"Oh fine!"
Finally, I got ahold of the chest, but now, Gobber wouldn't let it go. I gave him a glare that he received passively. After a brief tug-of-war, I finally wrenched the chest away from him. With a sigh of relief, I opened the box. Inside was a neatly tied together pile of notes and papers. I looked up at my longtime mentor.
"Do you know which one might have the info on Night Furies?" I asked. Gobber shrugged. I smiled slightly. "Thank you. I'll take care of it. I promise."
Gobber chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Ye better," he threatened playfully.
I set myself to work, not even noticing when Gobber had seen himself out. Like I'd promised, I kept the candles a good distance away from me, and I was careful with each sheet of paper. I was determined to keep everything in good shape.
I was a little surprised to find how much raw material Gobber's lots-of-greats grandfather had written on dragons. Bork had also written a thing or two on other odd topics as well: the omen of the day, a log of his…dating life…, a random recipe every now and then, and a few mind numbing depictions of his neighbors. Seriously, who in their right mind would wear something like that in broad daylight!?
I must have been there all night because I was feeling my eyes begin to tire by the time I'd come across a brief sheet labeled Night Fury. I read the page aloud.
"'I was on a desolate island when it had appeared. I didn't see it, and it never bothered to reveal itself to me. The darkness covered its body, but it couldn't hide its voice.'" I frowned in confusion. "It's voice? 'When it attacked, its scream was strangled with vengeance. Rage ignited its fire, and the darkness shielded its presence. If anything was worth fearing, it would be this creature. It's wrath-empowered fires took out half the island, leaving nothing but rubble and charred trees in its wake. I was lucky to leave that island alive. I call it, the Night Fury.'"
I looked up from the entry and let those words sink in. I could almost imagine what Bork had witnessed. A swift form gliding through the air. An unholy shriek before fire devastated everything in sight. It sounded like something spawned from the depths Helheim alright.
I whipped out my notebook and carefully copied Bork's notes onto my own sheet of paper. I glanced outside to see very few people still wandering around. Good. I finished the last word, fury, with an unintended flourish. I took special care to put everything back to the way it had been before. I checked, double checked, and triple checked until I was certain that everything was in its place, nothing was ripped, and nothing got lost. Gobber would give me Hel if I'd lost anything.
I hurried into the house and checked on my mom who was sound asleep at the table. Gods she must have come back from searching for Toothless. She looked exhausted. Juggling chiefing duties and a fruitless search for her lost son must be tough. After this was all over, I was determined to make it up to her somehow.
After draping a blanket over her shoulders and stoking the fire to keep the house warm, I hurried upstairs and lit a small candle. I laid out the Night Fury section of the Dragon Manual, placed my drawing of Toothless's dragon form on top of it. After that, I laid Bork's eye witness account of the dragon next to the two books. A black dragon unrecorded by anyone else in history, not even Bork the Bold, was in the forest right now, and a dragon unseen but not undocumented was in the Dragon Manual. It fit.
Well that's one mystery solved. But it's only a piece to an even bigger puzzle...
Now for a message to my dear mati triops (because I apparently cannot send you a pm): Ok, I agree that the Jedi Order was a failing system, but the Jedi weren't evil; simply misguided beyond the hope of salvaging. No matter what, I will always be an advocate of the light side over the futile, unfulfilling ways of the Sith and their dark side.
And I am ending that argument right there, because we are supposed to be in the trenches of the HTTYD fandom. Inferno may look like a lightsaber, but it is definitely not. So if you want to continue this conversation, let's talk via pm, okay?
—Tenchiko
