.

Chapter 15: A Profound Link

(Toothless)

Something was wrong. It was dark, even for a Night Fury's legendary eyesight. Was he in a cave? Toothless could not remember how he got there. They had gone to sleep in the caves, because of the rain. He remembered that much. Yet, this cave was different, bigger, darker, and somehow filled with sorrow.

He tried to look around, but couldn't. He did not panic though; it felt normal. Besides, he wasn't chained, but he had the impression (in fact, it was almost a certainty) that he was back inside Berk's underground prisons. And yet this cave was not at all like the one in which he had been confined; he could not make out the details, but he was sure of it.

What was he doing here? It didn't make any sense, and, at the same time, it was all as clear as a bad memory. The absurdity of the situation was the only thing that kept him from losing his nerve.

There was a noise. He did not hear it with his ears, but it had been there. Then, though he could not produce any discernible sound, he growled with anger.

The girl, Astrid, was standing before him, her arms folded under her chest. This probably explained his desire to growl. Toothless hated her. She had caused them so much trouble, and, worst of all, Hiccup was unwilling to blame her for what she had done. Instead, the boy seemed more willing to blame himself, which only fueled Toothless' dislike of her.

"I'm sorry, alright?" The girl said.

Toothless did not care. I won't spare her this time! He thought. I don't care if Hiccup likes her!

He growled harder, but again, no sound came out.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice oddly gentle. Then, just like she had back then, the day she had fled from the cove to report them, she unbuckled her shoulder-guards, and removed her armored skirt.

Part of Toothless thought: Even better. Easier to chew on. Yet another part of his mind was asking: Why is she removing her armor? She doesn't need to run here.

"I am so, so sorry," the girl repeated as she entered the cage, slowly breaking the lock with the unlikely strength of her lean arms. For some inscrutable reason, it seemed very plausible.

Toothless could not remember the iron bars, but they had been there all this time. He knew that too now, as if he had known all along.

She came closer to him. The girl began to remove even more of her garbs, until her pale skin was completely bare. Toothless could not see her naked body clearly, but, somehow, he was very much aware of it. She then came even closer, crawling on her knees, sinuously as a stalking cat, or an unstoppable rogue wave.

"Please don't be mad. I really am sorry." She was whispering into his ear now, her voice a low moan. "Let me show you, Hiccup."

Is she talking to Hiccup? Toothless wondered. Is he here too? He tried to look around. Again, he could not.

The girl reached out towards him, and there was nothing Toothless could do about it. He wanted to bite her hands off, to run his claws across her face, but he was unable to move, as if the body he inhabited was not his to command.

Something began to change around him. The cave was still the same, still big, still dark, but, suddenly, it was sorrowful no longer. Soon, however, Toothless' irritation at his inability to claw Astrid to shreds reached its limit, and his own wrath and confusion finally jostled him out of the dream.

Toothless lay awake, his eyelids peeled back just enough to confirm his true location. He was once again in a cave, but this one he remembered quite well. It was morning, and the rain was still falling lazily outside, making constant trickling noises as it flowed down the volcanic rocks. The air was tepid and moist, infused with the scents of minerals and grass and wet dirt. Hiccup was still asleep beneath his wing, despite the fact that, beyond the grey clouds, the sun was high already.

The constant downpour had led Hiccup to look for shelter inland, inside one of the small, cramped caves by the feet of the mountain. The other dragons had not joined them. They preferred sleeping on the much more comfortable floor of the forest, by the northern shore. Hiccup had promised Toothless he was not going to need those hard caves as soon as his house was ready, but it still required a lot more work, and, for now, they would have to stay there, trapped in that mountain until it was dry enough again to resume construction.

Toothless closed his eyes again. He found it strange that he had awoken earlier than his rider. He remembered having some bizarre dream before waking, although he couldn't recall the details. All he knew was that he had awoken with the taste of anger in his mouth. He checked under his wing, trying not to stir the boy.

Hiccup was sleeping on his side, with Toothless' paw supporting his head, just like usual. His lips were slightly parted, and his mouth produced the most delicate whispers when he exhaled. At a closer inspection, the little human's breathing was rather fast, though not irregular. His face looked somewhat flushed, but not sickly. Overall, Hiccup appeared strangely restless.

Is he having a bad dream too?

Toothless considered waking him, but decided against it. His rider was muttering something in his sleep, and he didn't want to interrupt. There was barely a sound at all, but Toothless was a Night Fury; his hearing was as sharp as a Nightmare's claws.

"… sst… sst…"

What is he trying to say?

Before Toothless could lean in to listen again, the boy tensed, and a pained frown furrowed his brow. A few heartbeats later, he seemed to relax, and, before long, his eyes were opening as well.

Hiccup blinked a few times at the light. For a moment, he seemed unsure as to where he was. Toothless stared questioningly at the waking boy. He looked unusually ruddy, the thinnest layer of sweat glazed his forehead, but he was clearly not having a fever, unlike a few months before. Instead, he looked quite healthy, perhaps even more than usual.

Hiccup got slowly on his feet. He began to stretch, though there was still some confusion lingering in his eyes, and perhaps some... was it disappointment?

Then, Toothless understood what had occurred to the little human. He would have never realized this, had it not been for his keen sense of smell. Before Toothless could confirm his suspicion, Hiccup realized what had happened to him as well. He yelped, checking the cause of his discomfort.

"What the… Oh man…" Hiccup muttered. Then, he turned to look at him. In an instant, Toothless could see Hiccup's face turn red like Dreyri's crimson scales; his ears in particular seemed to glow bright as hot coals.

Toothless tilted his head curiously. While he found this rather amusing, he tried his best not to laugh, at least not before he could see what Hiccup's reaction was going to be. Unfortunately, Toothless did not manage to control his eyes, which scanned Hiccup's body knowingly, giving away the fact that he too had understood what had happened. It had been just a fleeting glance, but it was enough to make Hiccup's cheeks, if possible, even redder.

"Berightback!" Hiccup exclaimed with alarm, bolting out of the cave, under the waning rain, as if his head had truly been on fire. Before he was outside, however, he turned around.

"I really have to… I need to stop drinking so much water… before sleep." He gave an uncomfortable chuckle, pretending like nothing unusual had occurred, all the while failing at giving an impression of calm nonchalance, his hands nervously trying to hide the discomfort underneath his breeches with movements that looked anything but casual. "So I'm just going to… you know… I'll just go." He hastily took some effects from his basket, and ran outside.

"Don't follow me!" The boy added with a hurried shout once he was out of sight.

So, Toothless obeyed, and waited.

Although Hiccup's reaction had been amusing (perhaps even more so than the accident itself), Toothless could not help feeling sorry for the boy. While Toothless was not at all knowledgeable about human behavior on these matters, it appeared that mating season had started for humans as well, just like it had for most dragons; in that, they were apparently more similar than he had previously thought. It was full-blown summer after all.

Sadly, both he and his rider were on an island without any suitable mates, and unless they went to look for some, accidents like that were probably bound to happen. Toothless had already begun to consider asking his rider for a trip to some nesting grounds, before similar accidents occurred to him as well. In fact, Toothless knew he could not avoid them for much longer, since he was refraining from any form of physical self-gratification, which, somehow, he was sure Hiccup was not going to appreciate witnessing, considering how far the boy would delve into the forest to satisfy himself, unaware perhaps that, like today, there was no hiding such things from a dragon's sense of smell.

Perhaps, Toothless thought, he too could be secretive about it, but even so, he was not the kind of dragon to resort to such things. He was a Night Fury. He could easily find mates on any nesting island, if only he could find a way to convince Hiccup to fly there...

When Hiccup returned (a somewhat long while later) Toothless could tell his rider had taken the episode rather badly. Hiccup was awkward, almost shaken. Toothless tried cooing softly at him, but the boy merely glanced back with a polite smile of acknowledgment. He had chosen to spend the rest of the morning scribbling absently on his journal by the cave's entrance, all the while purposefully avoiding Toothless' eyes.

Hiccup had many project designs in that bundle of parchment, one of which he had defined as 'the most complicated thing I've ever thought of,' and, most importantly, 'a surprise', to which he had added: 'I can't show you what it is until I'm sure I can make it'. He had never allowed Toothless to stay too close whenever he was working on it, and that was exactly what he was doing now.

This let Hiccup keep some distance from Toothless, who would otherwise peek at the journal's pages. It seemed like the perfect excuse, since the young human was clearly trying to distract himself, today more than usual, though it was actually not an uncommon behavior.

Lately, beside their customary morning flight, Hiccup spent much of the remaining daylight alone, working restlessly on building his shelter. Sometimes, he worked without pause, until he was completely exhausted. There were days (those when he looked gloomier than usual) that Hiccup worked himself to sleep, as if fearing to stop. Toothless had the growing suspicion that his rider was afraid to rest, and risk being visited by thoughts of his home. Part of his mind was still there, more often than either of them would have liked.

At times, Toothless would also catch Hiccup mumbling to himself, perhaps inadvertently, about some previous argument, about things and people that used to be part of his daily life, and now were there no more. The boy's past still populated the one-sided debates that he often muttered to himself under his breath, between gathering stones and chopping wood. Then again, it might have been a good thing that Hiccup's tribulations seemed to lay solely in the past.

So, as he did every time, Toothless waited patiently, giving his rider some space. To pass the time, he listlessly contemplated the cave's damp, iridescent ceiling, trying to identify the stalactite with the fastest-falling droplet of water.

Drop after drop, details of his latest dream began to reemerge from his memories, and, as he mulled over them, he realized that, given what had happened, the very same dream made much more sense if Hiccup had been the one having it. Though it pained Toothless to acknowledge it, his rider had often admitted to liking Astrid as a female.

Could it be that he had seen Hiccup's dream? Had he somehow managed to access Hiccup's sleeping mind, without even noticing? Toothless had never even known this to be possible, though it was not entirely inconceivable to a dragon. If true, it was a very promising sign. Their minds were growing closer. While awake, there seemed to be a wall between them, but perhaps… perhaps the latent faculty was truly there. Perhaps it was worth another shot.

Around midday, Toothless decided he had waited enough. He stood up, and assumed his usual playful stance, before approaching his rider, disregarding his request for secrecy.

"Alright, fine," Hiccup agreed, turning a few pages. His voice had lost all the previous awkwardness, much to Toothless' relief, and was replaced with mock annoyance. "I'll do something else so you can watch too, you nosy lizard. How about I start writing my own dragon manual, eh? I've been thinking about it for a while. And you can be on the first page."

"Part one: The Night Fury," Hiccup recited, pretending to write down the runes on a fresh page. "Night Furies are very silly dragons, and their threat is often overestimated. Truth is, Night Furies are probably the least dangerous dragons you'll ever meet."

Filled with sudden self-importance, Toothless listened intently at the description, but as soon as he realized that the boy was taunting him, he narrowed his eyes with faux spite and offense.

"They might be dark," Hiccup continued, nodding solemnly, "but they are very cute, and harmless, and entirely lovable."

Toothless began to growl.

Hiccup shot him a mischievous look. "Not. Dangerous. At. All." He spoke each word clearly, as his hand pretended to write. "The worst they can do is cover you with fishy spit…" He gave another look, but, this time, it carried the slightest hint of preoccupation. "They are also a bit... ugly."

Toothless finally snarled. He clasped Hiccup's writing arm between his gums, making the boy drop journal and charcoal both.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Hiccup howled as he was dragged out of the cave by his arm.

On the soft ground outside, Toothless pawed him playfully, with his claws fully retracted, as the boy apologized for his mighty offense.

"Alright! I yield! I'm sorry!" Hiccup laughed. "You're very dangerous! Very, very dangerous!" When Toothless didn't stop, he added: "And beautiful! Very beautiful! Like... like a tree in spring!"

Toothless paused to consider it, then resumed.

"Alright!" Hiccup shrieked, trying to defend himself. "Not like a tree! Like… Like the sea! Yes! Powerful and charming... like the sea!"

Toothless paused, nodded, and dropped the act.

Both lay sprawled on the cool, slippery grass of the small glade. The rain had stopped, and rays of warm summer sunlight had begun to break through the exhausted clouds, making the wet vegetation glisten.

Toothless lay with his head on Hiccup's chest, pinning the boy to the earth. He could feel the human's tiny heartbeat under his jaw, whilst Hiccup stared contentedly into his eyes, without speaking. The boy's fingers drew carefree circles around his nostrils.

For a long, silent time, Toothless stared back at his rider, intently, searchingly, when he finally found it. What he found, he couldn't understand right away. It felt as if someone else was there between them, but he was too small to see. He could feel this tiny new presence only whilst losing himself in Hiccup's irises.

Realization dawned on him like a flash of lightning. He almost jumped in surprise.

It's him! It's there!

Toothless could feel it now, Hiccup's inner sense, but it was as if buried, and entirely different from a Night Fury's. In fact, it was unlike that of any other dragon. It had a different nature, but it still seemed capable of vibrating in its own odd way, or perhaps just under very strange conditions.

Maybe like having a fever, or during dreams...

And yet, as Toothless focused harder, it seemed potentially more flexible than that.

Maybe humans are not so strange after all!

This confirmed the suspicion he had been carrying around for months. Humans did have an inner sense, which implied, at the very least, an inner ear, and perhaps even an inner voice.

Toothless had never felt more relieved, excited, worried, and afraid in his entire life. Such conflicting emotions stemmed from the now fierce desire to finally open his rider's mind to the real world of dragon existence. He could not wait. He would not wait. Now that he knew where to look, he knew what he had to do.

It was probably going to be hard, but he was a Night Fury, one of the rarest, most ancient dragons in the world. While not nearly as powerful as the queen's, his mind was still sharp and strong, and he was going to try his best to be careful. If it were any other human, this would have likely been impossible, but Hiccup's mind was so accepting of Toothless, so devoted to him, that it was bound to work. It made Toothless feel both flattered and heartbroken at the same time.

Only a dragon would have been able to understand what this kind of profound devotion truly meant. To expose one's mind this way, it was like leaving oneself completely vulnerable to someone else's will. A dangerous thing for any dragon. In fact, it was the highest form of unconditional trust any dragon would have ever been able to offer, and, on top of that, Hiccup was doing it spontaneously, without even realizing it. Even a Night Fury like Toothless couldn't help feeling that such kind of fondness was more than a broken dragon like himself deserved.

This only made it harder, of course. If he was to make a mistake, damaging Hiccup's so openly devoted mind, Toothless would have never been able to forgive himself, for not only would he be breaching the little human's trust, but he would also be inducing his own demise, destroying his only means of flight.

I'll just be very careful.

"What's wrong, bud?" Hiccup asked, stirring Toothless from his intense reverie.

I can do this.

Toothless rose, allowing Hiccup to sit up and lean with his back on the fallen trunk of a nearby tree. Birds chirped in the forest behind the boy, and, for a moment, Toothless hoped he was doing the right thing. He looked at the boy, studying his little human figure.

Hiccup was shadowed by the treeline, whereas Toothless stood under the sunlight, close to the boy's feet. One ray of light pierced through the foliage, and shone on Hiccup's smooth hair, revealing its true reddish color.

He is so small, Toothless thought, but humans have very big brains, don't they?

"Toothless, are you alright?" Hiccup insisted, his brows curved with worry. "You look… weird."

Toothless nodded slowly. He licked the tip of the boy's chin, to wipe the worried look from his face. Then, he began to peer into Hiccup's mind, just as he fruitlessly had a few times before. This time, however, he knew exactly how to control his inner voice. It was almost like trying to push a heavy rock off a cliff. Whilst once it had felt like trying to break the entire cliff, now he could see exactly which rock he had to push.

"Are you sur- What are… Toothless?"

Hiccup began to show some signs of discomfort, but Toothless did not relent. He stared deeper and deeper into the boy's eyes, so as not to lose his concentration.

"Hiccup?"

Not yet. He needed to push further.

"Hiccup!"

The boy's face turned from confused, to disturbed, to outright frightened. Toothless knew his own expression was one of strenuous focus. His teeth had unsheathed from the effort, and his pupils had surely narrowed. He was hissing, but he could not stop. He could not let go just yet. He was almost there.

"What... are you... doing?" Hiccup muttered, raising a hesitant hand to pat Toothless' snout. He changed the hand's course, however, and touched the side of his own head instead, squinting with pain. He was pressing his back harder on the trunk of the tree, trying to distance himself, but he appeared unable to move.

"Can you hear my words?" Toothless kept repeating.

Seeing Hiccup with such pain in his eyes soon became unbearable. Toothless could not afford to continue and risk irreversible damage to his rider's health. It was time to desist, and abandon his hope that the little human would one day be capable of understanding him.

He would never be able to bear doing this again; he knew. The mere notion that he had tried to violate Hiccup's mind once already felt sinful enough. Even if he had tried to be careful, even if he had not injured him yet, even if he had not done it with any ill intent, this had still been an abuse of Hiccup's trust. For any dragon, across every species, even among the most conceited of Night Furies, this kind of act, the same act that the awful queen performed every day, was considered more repulsive than killing. He had been blinded by hope. Humans and dragons could not communicate. It had all been a stupid fantasy.

Toothless began to pull back from Hiccup's mind. He did it slowly, so as not to damage it. Yet, just before he could pull back completely, before he could cease pushing on the obstacle that stood between his and his rider's mind, something suddenly snapped.

The rock didn't fall off the cliff, it turned to rubble, and its parts began rolling down into nothingness. Toothless stumbled forward, dizzily.

For a moment, he could feel it, Hiccup's mind resonating with his own.

"Hiccup! Can you hear me?" Toothless asked for one last time, all his hope and guilt and fear imbued into those simple, human words. Had he done it? Had he succeeded?

The boy's eyes were nearly popping out with fright and pain. "Tooth...less...?!" He wheezed, his voice rough and trembling.

Just then, before Toothless could begin to celebrate, a thick, red stream of blood started gushing out of the boy's right nostril, trickling down quickly over his lips and chin and tunic. Hiccup looked down, reaching his nose with one hand. He looked at the blood painting his palm. Then, he looked at Toothless, and, finally, his eyes rolled upwards, and he fell.

Toothless felt his heart stop in his chest.


AN: Although I don't seem able to reach the level of sophistication I originally wanted in this chapter, I still hope you didn't find the part about Hiccup's dream gratuitous, or otherwise distasteful. Hiccup is a thirteen-year-old boy, however, and this is a coming-of-age story, so it seemed dishonest of me to ignore aspects of life that are part of his development, and which will clearly impact his personality. I tried my best to be tactful, and I don't believe I was particularly explicit, so I'll keep the rating to T for now.

As I've already said, I'm not planning on writing very explicit stuff in this story, but suggestive themes (both romantic and personal) will be recurrent. If I ever feel like describing some actual smut, I shall be doing it separately (assuming there's any demand for it of course...).