Disclaimer: HTTYD does not belong to the author

Everything else is by Travis Church

The young boy and the dragon both woke up and peered around the underground room. The fire in the hearth had faded away and left in its place was a thin rising trail of smoke. The room was still lit by the thin torches that adorned the walls, although lit poorly. And the egg was gone.

"What?" The boy's eyes focused on the fireplace and noticed the immediate absence of a dragon egg. "Come on bud!" He nudged the ebony dragon, "We need to find that egg! It's gone!"

The dragon's beryl oculars honed into the fire pit and he was just as shocked as the boy. The two then jolted up the incline to find the man and, hopefully, the egg in one piece.

They almost approached the exit until the woman they had met was peeking through the large wooden doors.

"Dragon tamer! You are awake!" She approached him and began to hug the boy in a vice grip. "Please, follow me; something wonderful has happened while you were asleep."

She led them out the gargantuan doors and into the merciless daylight. The scent of bad wine and rotting meats ambushed their senses when they entered the remains of the festivities. Tables were monoliths to last night's feast, footprints in the dust were signs of some impossibly large migration, and the occasional sleeping body was a monument to the free flowing wine that was offered. It was disgusting to say the least.

Instead of climbing up the dirt path they traveled to find this place, they were led to a grouping of hills to the east. They rode the waves of grass and Earth and navigated the terrain with the woman as their compass and chart.

It was a fairly short distance until they saw a house, mild in sizing and color. The sandstone walls blended nicely into the prairie, giving it the illusion of another stone in the grassland. The three approached the wooden door and waited for a response. There was unfortunately no way for his dragon to enter the home so he consoled him, scratched under his chin, and told him to be patient.

The boy and woman entered and navigated the rooms until they met the man from last night.

"Where's the egg?" The boy asked.

"The egg is gone." The boy was afraid of what he implied, "But there is a dragon instead." And his heart stopped palpitating with fear at, what sounded to be, the loving statement.

The three followed him to a room furnished with cabinets and baskets of food. The man took down some cloth from a wall and light streamed through a window to shine on a fireplace burning with wood roasting a piece of meat on a split.

But what caught the attention of the boy was a tiny creature resting inside a cupboard, body pulsing in a gentle largo rhythm.

The man walked over to the creature and cradled it in his arms. It awoke slowly and nuzzled itself to his chest while purring softly.

He walked over to the boy and offered him to look at the little dragon. Its body was the color of lightly roasted barley and it rubbed its hornless head affectionately near the man's heart. It opened its eyes carefully to look at the world and scanned the face of the man with soft golden eyes.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" The young one asked as he tickled the creature's jaw.

"It is a boy." The man said lovingly.

"Congratulations."

They stepped outside and the large dark dragon craned his head forward to the, now four, people exiting the humble abode.

"What did you name your dragon?" The man asked the boy while watching the newborn dragon playfully flair its soft leathery wings at the larger dragon.

"I named him something that made sense to me at the time."

"Hmm," the man thought aloud as he saw the hatchling croon. "Well, I saw him sleeping in my cupboards this morning. And he certainly likes to play inside them…" The baby dragon looked up to the man in question before he answered, "Hutch. I shall name you Hutch."

In response, the infant dragon crooned playfully and purred happily before jumping up to his shoulders.

"I think he likes the name." The boy chuckled.

"Thank you very much," the man bowed to him. "Last night, that egg was my life. You would not believe what I had to do to protect that egg. And now," he said as he watched the dragon outstretch its thin body, "I have a something to live for. To protect for. To love for." The young boy watched in fascination as his dragon gave a grin to the newborn dragon and the little vocalizations that spewed forth. "You gave me hope last night, that I could live out my dream to love someone aside from myself. Because what is a life that you love no one but yourself? A vain one. I have had enough vanity for a lifetime," he spat out. The infant dragon looked up curiously to the man and he sighed contently. "Last night, I was another person who lived their life alone. In silence, I sustained myself for no other reason than 'because I can.' But now, I have a purpose. I have a son. Thank you dragon tamer and thank you dragon for everything you have done for me. I am in your debt."

The light warm air danced around the grouping as the boy said, "If you ever need anything, you know where I live. A few days north of 'hopeless' and a few degrees south of 'freezing to death.'"

"I shall make sure to come to you if needs be."

"Bye Tergus," and he motioned over to the little dragon to tickle his wings, "bye Hutch."

"Good bye Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and good bye Toothless."

With their salutations in order, the two flew back to Berk knowing that Hutch was certainly in good hands.

A/N: Well this was fun, in a crazed whimsical way, and thus concludes the An Offer of Proof series! Anyway, so this in my head is going to act as a prologue to The Dragon Who Ate Nothing, which is coming as soon as The Strangers or Pomona is completed.

A big thank you to SkyHighFan, Pterodactyl, Kara Crane, and meggie6 for subscribing to the (short) crazy train!

Please rate, review, and give me your thoughts!