A/N-Over 400 views already! Much better than what I was expecting, considering how the first part of this story is written out. Thanks to all who are following, and remember, while I feel these early written chapters are less than stellar especially compared to my later writing, I do like hearing your thoughts, and reviews are more likely to help me keep up the quick upload pace!

Two Worlds Collide

Chapter 8: A Hero of a Different Kind

I woke up to the third morning of my unwilling time in Berk due to a large crash coming from upstairs. "Hiccup! What in Thor's name are ye doin' in there?" I heard Stoick yell. Toothless and I gave each other twin glances of annoyance. We were both of the type that likes to sleep late. "Sorry," I heard Hiccup reply, "The shield just fell off the wall! Everything's fine!"

A couple of minutes later Hiccup came running, or more like stumbling, down the stairs and landed in front of Toothless and I. " Morning," he said. "Guess what?" I shrugged, not liking the look of excitement on his face. "What?" I replied sarcastically. With Hiccup, excitement usually meant disaster waiting to happen. "I've got the day off Come on, hurry up and get up! Time's a wastin'!" Hiccup said, speed walking toward the door. Toothless and I exchanged glances, and I looked back at Hiccup as I sat up. "Shouldn't we at least have breakfast first?" I asked. Hiccup slowed and turned around. "I guess you're right. It is the most important meal of the day." I raised an eyebrow. "So you know that saying too, huh?" Hiccup just nodded, and proceeded to make a hasty breakfast consisting of some sort of porridge for him and I, and a basket of fish for Toothless.

Exiting the door, I saw there was a whole lot more hustle and bustle than usual in the village. Hiccup explained that it was market day, the day all the villagers set up stalls to sell or trade the extra goods they had. "Occasionally other villages send ships to trade with us as well," Hiccup continued, " but today it's just us." I let out a breath of relief. If anything were to happen today, I didn't want to instantly make a name for myself throughout the whole Viking populace. We spent a couple of hours wandering about the stalls, with Hiccup occasionally buying some food here or some sort of craft or material there, Toothless still defiantly limping behind and helping carry the items. As it turns out, some Vikings appear to be pretty good tailors, considering the designs of the clothes and scarves I saw, and the decorative hats and helmets that were everywhere as well. I happened to be looking at a batch of throwing knives in one of the stalls near the forge when I heard Hiccup yelp.

"AAHH! Oh, uh, hi Astrid." I turned around and burst out laughing at the sight. Hiccup was beet red, apparently never having completely gotten over his difficulties with talking with girls. Astrid was just smirking, having scared Hiccup by way of a simple tap on the shoulder. "You never learn, do you," she said. "Always watch everything around you. Focusing on just one thing can get you into trouble." I stepped up. "She's right, you know," I said, "it's happened to me more times than I care to elaborate on." Hiccup just deflated. "Oh, great, now there are two of you," he said. Astrid stepped up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt. "What's that supposed to mean?" she said, a hint of danger in her voice. "Well, I uh, I didn't mean it that, uh….." Hiccup began stuttering. Astrid let go of him and punched him in the arm. "That's for unintentionally insulting me," she said. Hiccup threw up his hands. "How was I…." he was stopped by a full kiss on the lips from Astrid. "That's to show I know you were joking," she said.

::Can we get moving again?:: Toothless asked. I looked at him, then up to Hiccup. "Hey, can we keep moving? It's kind of boring standing in one place," I said. Astrid gave me a fisheye. "I still don't trust you, you know," she said. "Nah, really?" I drawled. "He's right, I've still got a few stops to make before I'm open," Hiccup said hurriedly. We started moving again, Astrid tagging along to keep an eye on me and talk to Hiccup, and Toothless followed behind. After a while, we started to head down toward the docks where the fishermen were and where the boats were kept. Hiccup wanted to see if he could help, and also see if there was anything good in the catch of the day. At this point, I should mention that any permanently grounded creature should only traverse the walkways down to the docks when absolutely necessary, and stay as far from the edge as possible. The wooden boards making up the paths are placed directly into the cliff face, and hang out from 300 feet above the ocean to the docks, and there are no railings of any kind to stop you from going over the side. Even worse, specifically for Hiccup, the boards are uneven, and so Hiccup's prosthesis kept getting stuck between the planks.

Normally this would not be a problem, but this was a place where the people had little fear of open spaces, and there were very large animals around. The four of us made our way slowly down the pathway, watching the bustling crews below us on the docks. Eventually we came to a point where the path curved around a point, and no one could see us from the village or the docks. Hiccup stepped into a crack in a plank, and began working on getting his prosthesis out. This had happened a number of times, so Astrid and I just slowed up a bit and continued. Toothless, however, was behind us, and kept walking as he stared out at the horizon. Two plus two equals four, and a twenty foot dragon behind a boy with his foot in a crack spells disaster. Toothless walked right into Hiccup, dislodging his foot from the crack, but destroying his balance and he began to fall…. off the edge.

"HICCUP!" Astrid and I stopped and jumped toward Hiccup at the same time, hoping to grab one of his flailing arms. Unfortunately, jumping for the same spot often causes collisions, and Astrid and I slammed together, falling onto the planks in a daze. Toothless jumped for Hiccup, but was too late. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hiccup teetered off the edge, and fell toward the ocean, a good hundred foot drop. The three of us still on the path jumped up, even in pain, and glimpsed Hiccup just as he hit the water. He did not come up. I turned to Astrid. "Go get Stoick and Gobber! Meet me at the docks!" She shook her head. "I'm going in after him," she said and turned to jump. "NO!" I yelled, and grabbed her arm. She gave me a look of death and fear. "He's got a metal leg. There's no way you could reach him in time," I said, "plus there's probably an undertow, and he's being dragged further away. I can get him though. I'll explain later." She nodded, and began sprinting for the chief's house. I turned to Toothless. "Go with her." He nodded, and began running as well, limp ignored. I turned, and jumped over the edge and into a dive, focusing on a picture that I thought could help. Instantly, my body lengthened and became covered in scales. Two large fins appeared at the end of my new tail, with wings modified into powerful fins, and a pair of finlike crests ran down my back. I depth charged into the water, and finished changing, growing webbed feet, and finishing out at around 50 feet in length. My vision switched to being able to see better underwater, and I looked around frantically. Too much time had already passed.

Astrid sprinted up the path toward Stoick's house, and burst through the door. "Stoick! Are you here?!" she yelled urgently. Stoick came down the stairs with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Hiccup fell off the path to the docks!" Stoick's face lit up with fear. "Come on!" he yelled. "We need to get Gobber!" They raced to the forge, passing Toothless on the way, who was starting to slow down due to his injured leg. They reached the forge, where Gobber was pounding out a new axe head. "Ah, Stoick, what brings you here?" Gobber asked cheerfully, barely looking up. "We need to get down to the docks! Hiccup fell off the path!" Astrid yelled. Gobber dropped the axe head and his tools, and came racing out. They all ran down to the path, and down to the docks. "Where is that Hawk-whoever kid that was supposed to be with Hiccup?" Stoick asked as they raced to the end of the longest dock. "He jumped in after him," Astrid said, "and he told me we needed to meet him at the docks." Stoick shook his head. "What can he do? Now we'll have to rescue both of them!" Stoick said. "Get a rescue boat ready!" he yelled. Gobber grabbed his shoulder. "That'll take too long. Hiccup will sink with tha' leg o' his, and we won't get out there in time. We had better just hope that the boy Hiccup was with knows what he's doing."

I continued to search all around me for Hiccup. There! Hiccup was struggling to reach the surface, about twenty feet down and a couple hundred yards out, and moving further away fast. I began power swimming toward him, but before I could reach him, Hiccup stopped struggling and quickly began sinking. I poured on more speed and dived down, positioning myself underneath him and rising up. He landed on my neck, and I continued to force my way upward. I surfaced quickly, head and neck exploding up out of the water, and angled over to shallower water at the base of the cliff. Once I reached there, I turned my head and nudged Hiccup. He didn't move. "Come on, wake up!" I said, and nudged him again.

Hiccup suddenly began coughing and sputtering, water spraying out of his lungs. He put his arms around my neck to hold on and keep from falling off, and looked up at me. Th-thanks, whoever you are," he chattered, probably from the cold. I gave a huff, and smiled. "No problem. I'm not about to let you drown. I don't work that way." Hiccup froze, and glanced back up at me. "H-Hawken? Is that you?" I nodded. "But how did…?" he stopped, unable to form the next words. I looked back at him as I turned out to deeper water to get around the point and to the docks. "I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to get you to the docks so that you can recuperate and dry off. I doubt that falling 100 feet into an ocean and nearly drowning will give you nothing but a wet shirt." Hiccup winced and tried to stretch. "Now that you mention it, I'm afraid I do feel pretty sore. My head hurts too." He sighed and laid down on my neck. "Thanks, again." I gave a gentle shrug and rounded the point, heading for the longest dock. I could see Astrid, Stoick, and Gobber race up to the end and begin frantically searching for me and Hiccup. They couldn't see us, since we were a ways away and I matched the color of the water. That, and I was at such an angle that my head obscured Hiccup as well. Oh, well, this will be good for a little joke, I thought.

I continued to swim toward the dock, taking it slow so as not to jostle Hiccup around too much, since he was a bit injured and waterlogged. As I neared the end, I began picking up the conversation. "It's been too long," I heard Stoick say, "We need to get out there!" "I'm afraid that won't help now, Stoick, we need to see if any sign shows of them." I hear worried sighs escape from all three of them, and at this point, I reached the end of the dock. I rose up above the platform, and began to climb up onto it. All three of them gasped and jumped back, and Astrid instinctively reached for her axe. I gave her a glare, and she, out of uncertainty, dropped her hand. At this point, Toothless made it back down to the docks, out of breath and limping badly. He spotted me, and began moving faster. I shook my head, and he slowed back down.

"What the devil is that?" Stoick blurted out. Gobber just stared at me and blinked. I chuckled. " Actually, nothing at all like the devil. You have nothing to fear from me." The three of them gasped again, and stared, shell-shocked, with their mouths agape. I laughed. "Close your mouths, you'll catch flies." They shut their mouths, and Astrid tentatively stepped forward. "Who are you?" I smirked. " The one who saved Hiccup." I turned my head, and nodded, and Hiccup gingerly slipped off my back, as he had slid backwards when I climbed up onto the docks. Stoick rushed forward and grabbed Hiccup, embracing him in a bear hug. "Thank goodness yer safe," he said. Hiccup squirmed. "UH, Dad, can't breathe. In pain." Stoick let go. "Sorry," he said, then turned to me. "Eh, thank you for saving my son, whatever you are, but could you please tell us why you saved him and not the other boy as well?" I raised an eyebrow, or at least my draconic version of one. "Wow. You really haven't figured it out yet?" I began shrinking down, and everyone gasped again, while Toothless reached us, and began nuzzling Hiccup. Hiccup hugged Toothless, and Toothless looked up at me. ::Thank you for saving him,:: he said. I nodded.

At this point, Astrid pointed a questioning finger at me. "Are you Hawken?" I burst out laughing. "One and the same! It's about time you figured it out." By this point, I was nearly myself again, an the last hints of bluish green scales faded away, replaced by my clothes. "Pardon the dramatic entrance, but…" Stoick stared at me, mouth wide open again. "How in Thor's name did ye do that?" he asked. I shook my head. "It has nothing to do with your gods at all. Someone very different allowed this. I know a much longer explanation is needed, but right now I am going to help Toothless get Hiccup up to his house." I stepped over to the pair, and Hiccup put one arm on Toothless, and the other around my shoulders. "Thanks," he said. "No problem. You need it," I replied. We then proceeded to head up toward his house, Astrid following close behind, but not close enough to be part of any conversation. She was now even more apprehensive about me, but not for the former reasons.

Word spread far faster than we walked, and before we were even halfway through the village, I began receiving stares from the villagers, and kept hearing whispers of "devil," and "Loki" all along the way. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. ::Ignore them,:: Toothless said, ::They don't understand yet, and I don't think they like you any more than before.:: "Nah, you think?" I drawled sarcastically. Hiccup gave me a strange stare, or at least as much as he could what with exhaustion and cold. "Who are you talking to?" he asked. I mentally slapped myself. "You're an idiot, Hawken," I whispered, then sighed and turned to Hiccup. "Thanks to my abilities, I can understand everything dragons are saying. Though, that's not always a good thing." That earned a growl from Toothless. ::You're not funny,:: he said, and Hiccup and I laughed. "Hiccup and I disagree," I replied. Toothless deflated and began mumbling under his breath, something about unpleasant humans or other.

We made it back to Hiccup's house, and got him dry and warmed up. I helped Toothless check Hiccup for any breaks or other injuries, nothing too personal, though, and he was good as new, save the aching muscles from the impact with the water. Astrid never came in, and I assumed she had gone back to talk with Stoick. A couple of minutes later Stoick burst into the house. "Meeting in the Mead Hall," he said tersely. " Hiccup, if yer feeling well enough, I need all three of you in there as soon as possible." "Yeah, be there in a minute," Hiccup said. Stoick left, headed for the hall. I groaned, and looked back at Hiccup. I shook my head, and said, "Well, time for one heck of a bad conversation."